The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1901-01-03


lpitfalls and entanglements, which their
lack of staying qualities under fire rem
dered worthless. Such is the Filipino and
his methods of warfare.
THE POSITION AT MALABoN.
But to return to Malabon, to under
stand which this depression has been made.
During the six weeks of inactivity on
our part, the Filipinos busted themselves
constructing elaborate defenses on their
side. In some places as many as five lines
of intrenchments were constructed, one in
the rear of another, the last line being on
the north side of the river, to guard the
various bridges crossing the stream, which
were mined for destruction as soon as the
Insurgents should cross them in the re-
treat they evidently expected to make. On
our flank, also, across the bayouS in Mala-
bon, were other intrenchments defending
the road approaching the city, and offer
ing flank fire upon our advancing lines
when the assault was made. A whole
Ispan of Il long stone bridge, crossing the
bayou into Malabon, was destroyed, and
thus direct entrance into the city was
closed, because the depth of the bayous
rendered fording impossible
All of the Filipino intrenchments were
concealed in the woods, and varied from
800 TO 1000 yards distant from ours, the
ground between being an open rice field.
offering no cover to advancing line except
the rice ridges, about Il foot high, behind
which the line lay at times to fire volleys
Early in the game the Filipinos made q
heavy attack from their trenches upon
ours by opening rapid rifle fire, but the
Kansas and Montana Springhelds, and the
guns of the battery, soon convinced them
that this was losing game. and they
| ceased. As for our boys, they did not fire,
except to reply to such attacks, and after
a few days heavy firing ceased entirely,
except at night, when the Filipinos usual
| ly fired scattering shots and occasional vol
leyS, to which our men, securely sleeping
under the shelter of the trenches, paid no
heed whatever. The Filipinos then began
sharpshOoting from trees, which were so
far away that the old Springfield could not
reach them. Perches were constructed in
tall trees, and a long bamboo ladder
served as means of reaching them. With
a plentiful supply of Mauser ammunition,
and an equally plentiful supply of cigar
cites, the sharpshooter would sit on his
comfortable perch and enjoy himself all
| day popping at the Americanos. They
We're not sharpshooters in the ordinary
sense of the word, for they were not
marksmen. They simply shot in the gen.
eral direction of orr lines. They wasted
n great deal of ammunition, but an occa-
sional chance shot brought man down.
Scarcely a day passed that some one was
not killed or wounded from these trees or
the trenches on our flank in Malabon.
Being out of range of our Springfields.
and their exact position not being known,
because of the smokeless powder, it was
usless to attempt to silence these sharp
shooters.
No attention was paid to this "sniping"
by our men. They went about their bust
ness as though the occasional Mauser bull
let that whistled by was meadow lark.
have seen them engaged in game of
ball-KanSas against MOntana-with a
big crowd of both regiments yelling and
coaching the players, while every few min
utes a Mauser bullet sang solo in the air
over their heads.
This utter Indifference to stray bullets
becomes universal after few times under
fire.
| once stood on hill, across the river
from the City of Pasig, watching the
Washington regiment capture the town of
PaterOs. By my side was three-inch
gun of the 9th Art, which was Smelling a
stone fort in advance of the firing line. |
Back of the gun stood a group of about 80
men in bunch. Suddenly there was the
noise of an approaching bullet of the Rem
ingtOn pattern. These have brass jackets, |
which often split and go through the air
buzzing like Il small sawmill. Sharp
shooters in 4 church tower at Pasig, about |
1000 yards distant, had been pecking away
at us Il long time. Their Mauser bullets |
had been singing over our heads unnoticed. |
Some of our own sharpshoOters, nearer to |
them than our position, were attending to |
their case, and so there was no reason for |
us to bother about it. The Remington is |
doing good work when it holds up 1000 |
yards, and for that reason this particular |
bullet was coming slowly and making a |
great deal of fuss. We all turned to look |
at it, when it went right through the |
bunch of men, without touching one of |
th,,, n,NFtI hi
chug. A man could not have stuck a stick |
through that crowd without touching some |
one, and how that bullet got through |
never could understand. No one worried |
about it. Several turned to see the place |
where it struck the ground, but most of |
them continued to watch the Washingtons
jump the Filipinos out of their stone fort |
at Patcros.
Speaking about bullets making noise,
every old soldier knows the disquieting
sound of a mimic ball when it is nearly |
spent and is getting wobbly. Standing in
active among the supports, or even when |
marching to the front to take 4 position i'll
the firing line, one of those spent balls, |
wheeling and grooming past his ears, will |
test his nerves more severely than 100 |
swiftly-speeding bullets when he is in ac-
ton. But the old soldier has never heard |
in the bullet line like these brass
jacketed Remingtons, with their vests I'M
DuttOned ana saving the AR. y man has
to be pretty busy, indeed, il he does not |
dodge when it comes along. L remember
an instance one day while We were chas-
ing Pho Pillars men through the brush,
rice ridges and steep gulches near the
Laguna.
We had been on the jump since day
light, and had been ambushed several times
without being able to infiict any damage
ourselves. About IL o'clock the compa-
MES on my right came into action, and
pushed my line up steep hill to get on
the scene as rapidly as possible. AS soon
as we struck the ridge we came under 4
flank fire from the bullets that were flying
high over the heads of the companies in
action to our right after the usual Filipino
custom of shooting at the sky. In min
ute one of these split-jackct Remingtons
went across the entire company front,
about face high and within foot of every
mans nose, mine first for | was on the eX-
IRENE flank accommodating the situation. L
lodged so hard it made my neck ache
Feeling a little ashamed of this exhibition
Of weakness before my company, | turned
to see if any of them had noticed it, and
found every man just Strengthening up his
head. They had all lodged it and my repu-
tation was safe. Just then heard one of
the men say to another, Say, Jim, did you
and saw teeth" In little while
we were i'll action in good shape, and was
walking up and down the line steadyng the
men and giving commands for yolley fir
ing, which we found the most effective