Evening star., 1901-05-24
A HEAVY MAIL FROM MANILA
REPORT OF TAFT COMMISSION RE-
CEIVED.
Copies of Aguinaldo's Proclamation
at Observation-Disclosures of
FiIIpfnOs.

| About COO pounds OF Manila mail were re-
| ceived at the War Department today. hav-
| ing arrived at San Francisco some days
ago on the transport Sheridan The most
! important document received was the
| port of the Taft commission on the scheme
| Of civil government for the Philippines,
| which, it is expected, will be put in opera
| tion July 1. If approved by the President
and Secretary of War The document is
quite voluminous and it's consideration will
require some time
| Copies of twelve acts of the Philippine
commission also arrived at the depart
ment. Among them is act regulating
the salaries of officers and employees in
the Philippine civil service an act to regu-
late the commerce of the islands, and an
act appropriating $3.50 for the widow ana
six children Of CeleStfno Cruz, the late
presidente Of Santa Cruz. Marinduque, who
was murdered while in the discharge of his
official duties in September last. This ap-
propriation was made because of the e1ll-
cient administration of the deceased ofh-
cial, and his loyalty to the United States.
AgufnaIdo's Proclamation.
The department is in receipt Of copies of
Aguinaldos proclamation delivered shortly
after his capture by Gen. Funston, and
heretofore reported by cable. The insur-
gent chieftains address is printed in three
languages English, Spanish and Tagalog-
and is prefaced by Gen. MacArthur's order
for the immediate release Of 1000 Filipino
prisoners Of war.
Military Trials of FilipfnOs.
The incoming Philippine mail brings to
the department the records of thirteen
court rt-martial cases of Filipinos charged
with various crimes. In eight of the cases
the charge was murder. and the records
disclose the same barbarous cruelty and
treachery which has marked like crimes
among the Filipinos for some time past.
Natives were the victims in all but one Of
these cases, the exception being that in
which Matias A1ipie was tried for the muir
der of two American soldiers, names un-
known, who were held as prisoners in the
hands Of the insurgents. Alipie pleaded
Guilty, because L was ordered to do it,
but because of meager details offered by
the military commission which tried him
Gen. Macarthur commuted the sentence of
death to Imprisonment at hard labor for
the life term.
Natives Played Significant Air.
Another peculiar case was that in which
two natives were held and tried on a charge
OF being "accomplices and accessories be-
fore the fact in the crime of murder"
The natives were musicians and members
of a travelling band. They stopped one day
| near the quarters Of Company L of the
18th Infantry, near Oaoa in Pangasinan
province. ana proceeded to play There III
be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight"
whereupon an armed band of some sixty
bolomen and rifemen attacked the Ameri-
can quarters. killed Corporal Steiner and
Private Seaholm and wounded three other
privates. 1t was charged that the mus-
clans played for the purpose of Turing the
American soldiers from their quarters into
the open, and General Macarthur, in his
review of the case, said that it was the
theory that the very title of the tune
played had a suspicious Specification and
applicability to the impending melee of
the attack and that the whole affair was
prearranged. However, General Mac
Arthur did not deem the evidence sufficient
to establish guilt, and therefore disapprov-
ed the sentence of the court of confine-
ment at hard labor for fifteen and twenty
FIVE years, and ordered the accused set st
liberty.
Lorenzo Prieto, a spaniard, was found
guilty of giving intelligence to the insur-
gent army in violation of the rules of war,
and was sentenced to be hanged General
Macarthur commuted this sentence to ten
years Imprisonment at hard labor.