The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-10-22
A Massacre Which Was Foreseen.

A Massacre Which Was Foreseen.
The fearful and bloody disaster which
befell Company c of the Ninth Infantry,
at Balangisa, on the island of Samar,
in September, in which forty-eight
American soldiers lost their lives. seems
to afford a melancholy confirmation of
the views expressed as to the situation
in Samar by our staff correspondent. Mr..
sydney Adamson, in Leslie's Weekly or
its issue of September 14th. 1t will be
remembered that Mr.. Adamson. writing
from Manila under date of July 20, said
that even the pro-civil commission people
in Manila admitted that Samar was IN
a threatening state. The Filipino gen.
eral in Samar, Lukban, was said then to
have under his command no less than 200
rifemen and 1000 bolomen. The natives
generally were declared to be bitterly
hostile and exceedingly treacherous.
One officer we'll scqua ,nted with the sit
uation in Samar was quoted by our cor
respondent as saying, Take a gum go
out and kill the first ten natives you
meet. and every one will be an insur-
recto.'
Another correspondent OF Leslies
Weekly, writing from Catbalogan, in
Samar itself, under date Of February 10,
1901, spoke of the island as "One OF the
worst insurgent pest-spots of the East
The little brown men, of Samar We're
represented by this correspondent as
particularly active, aggressive, Willy ana
elusive. Running and fighting another
day." was said to be their plan of action.
1t was declared to be the opinion or
American officers then in Samar that
the only way to stamp out the insurrec-
ton there was to employ a sufficient
number of extra troops to make a deter
mined movement that would sweep the
island Of rebels from one end to the
other.' Had this been done the mas
sacre at Balangiga would doubtless have
been avoided.
Mr. Adamson, in his letter of July 20,
strongly predicted further serious trouble
because of the premature substitution OF
civil fer military rule. The affair at
Balangiga would therefore seem to be q
case where it was the expected that hap
pened, so far at least as the situation
was regarded by many competent OBJ
servers in the Philippines. The Inflated
company itself had evidently been lulle1
into a feeling of security, since all &C
counts of the disaster thus far received
agree in the statement that our men
were at breakfast when surprised by the
bolomen and without means of making
an effective resistance. AS it was, the
Americans killed 40 of the enemy before
they were overpowered The insurgents
captured all the supplies of the COM
pany and a considerable store Of arms
and ammunition. Our men who escaped
We're nearly all wounded. The officers OF
Company c were Thomas w. Council,
captain: Edward A. Bumpus. first lieu
tenant; DR.. r. S. Griswold, major-sur-
geon. all of whom are believed to have
been killed. It was altogether the hard
est blow that our forces have suffered
since the beginning of the instruction.
Looked at from any point of view, the
affair was most deplorable. resulting. as
it did, in the cruel death of many brave
men and the probable encouragement OF
the insurgent cause, not only IN Samar,
but in other parts Of the Philippines.