The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-13
WAR DEPARTMENT PUBLISHES,
FUNsTONS ACCOUNT OF CAP
TURE OF AGUINALDo
LITTLE KANsAN IS MODEST
But Speaks Most Highly of Amerf.
can Officers Who Assisted in
the Capture of the In
surgent Chief.
FORGED LETTERS A SUCCESS

WASHINGTON, July 12.-The war 5e.
Partment today made public Brig. Gen.
funstons report of the capture of ARutn-
aldo' made under date of Nav This.
report presents in detail all the facts re-
latlhg TO the capture of AguinaIdo which
We're made public at that time Cen
funston shows that his entire plan Of
the expedition was submitted to the
commanding general of the department
or Northern Luzon, and then was sent
to Gen. Macarthur, by whom it was an
proved. Gen. Funston goes into detail
concerning the captured correspondence
from Aguinaldo and the use he made
OF Ceclno Sagismundo, who had present.
ed hlmself to Lieut.. ]. ID. Taylor, of tha
FWenty-fourth infantry, with letters OF
Aguinaldo that he was to deliver to vari-
Gus lnsurgent chiefs. Gen. Funston gives
the following account of the forged let
ters which were used to deceive Aguln-
aldo:
CAPTURED A SEAL.
On Oct. q, 1900, while scouting in the
vicinity of Gapan, NueVa Ecifa | baI
surprised sur the insurgent chief. Lacuna, in
MS camp, and had captured among other
Things, some writing paper which bore
his headquarters seal. On this paper two
letters We're written to Aguinaldo over
the carefully forged signature of Lacuna
One of these letters was dated Feb
"a, ISVl, al Bulac a place in the noun
taIns east of Panaranda In ii Lacuna
acknowledged the receipt of Aguinaldo's
letters of Jan. 13 and Il, and thanked
him for the confirmation of his Oa-
cuna' 81 appointment as brigadier general,
made some time previously by Alejan-
drino.
1T will be remembered that the letters
of Aguinaldo referred to had fallen Into
our hands. Our letter INDUCED I'm the
usual rhetoric employed by the insuIgent
n DON
glowing account of the progress Of
the campaign from the standpoint Of
Lacuna.
FUNSTON'S READY WRITER.
Another letter. supposedly from the
same place, but dated Feb 2S, was Sre-
pared, stating that the writer mad juSt
received a communication from Baldo-
nero AguinaldO ordering him TO send one
OF his best companies under a reliable
chief to Emilio Aguinaldo in Isabella
In accordance with these orders he
was sending this force under Lieut. Col
Hilario Placldo. The latter, he stated had
been captured by the Americans a year
ago, and after his release he had lived
In Jaen. but recently had taken to tho
field again when ordered to do so by
Lacuna. This was included In the letter
for fear that Aguinaldo might have heard
that Placido had been captured by the
Americans and had taken the oath of al
legiance. The letter stated that Aguin-
aldo's courier, Ceclio SigismundO, was
column. These two letters were dictated
by me, but were written by Segovia. We
were In possession of a number Of
samples of Iacunas signature and had
previously succeeded in executing a very
neat forgery of his autograph at the end
of each one of the two sheets"
or the actual capture, Gen. Funston
says:
MACABEBES RATIFIED.
"The Macabebes started up into the
town and we heard a few shots, follow
ed by scattered firing. We hastily cross
ed the river, and running upon the town
found that the Macabebes were some
what demoralized and firing wildly in
every direction. They were gotten un-
der control with some difficulty. Aguinal-
dos guard of about fifty armed and neat
ly uniformed men had been drawn up TO
receive the reinforcementS and on being
fired into broke and ran, few Of them
returning the fire as they retreated.
Aguinaldo, with his officers, had awaited
In his quarters. Placidio and Segovia en-
tered the house to report their arrival,
and after a short conversation Segovia
stepped outside the house and ordered
the Macabebes who had Just come up
from the river bank to open fire on the
insurgents, who were standing In line at
a distance of about fifty yards. The
Macabebes were so excited and nervous
that their fire was very ineffective. But
two of the insurgents were killed, the re-
mainder in their fight throwing away
eighteen rifles and Zoo rounds of ammu-
milton. AS soon as SegOvia had given the
order he ran back into the house and
opened fire on the officers surrounding
AguialdO. He wounded Villa and AIham-
bra. The latter Jumped out of the house
into the river and was not seen again.
Villa, on being wounded, surrendered. as
did Santiago Barcelona, %guinaldos
treasurer.
THE five remaining officers escaped
from the house and swan the river Pla-
cido seized Aguinaldo and told him that
he was a prisoner of the Americans At
this JUncture the Americans arrived on
the scene and gave their attention to
getting the Macabebes under control and
protecting the prisoners from them One
Macabebe was slightly wounded by a
gunshot wound in the forehead"
In conclusion Gen. Funston deals out
praise generously to all who had a share
in the expedition. mentioning Capt IIaz-
ard, Capt. Newton, Lieut. Hazard and
Lieut. Mitchell, while especially praisng
Lieut.. Taylor for the discretion he
showed after obtaining the Ag1naldo let
ters. He also speaks IN high praise OF
Commander Barry OF the Viczsburg. and
the assistance the navy rendered him.
FUNSTON THE POPULAR HERO.