The National tribune., 1902-09-18

keep on firing at our smoke, for our men
were certain to be in it.
| The Americans pushed the Filipinos
back as far as they cared to do, or, more
| properly speaking, as far as Gen. Otis
cared, for the men themselves We're eager
to pursue, and would have driven them
20 miles as easily as they did one. The
most progress was made along the south
side of the Pasig. where Kings Brigade
of Anderson's Division drove them about
seven miles and captured Santa Ana and
San Pedro Macati. 1t was gossip that
this move was insisted upon by Gen. An
derson, who told Gen. Otis that he must
advance his lines to better defensive po-
sition, or else this much offensive work
would not have been undertaken, but l
have already expressed my opinion of the
reliability of army gossip. Subordinates
do not know very much about the plans
and purposes of their superiors. but they
are prone to think they do and discuss
| them.
ROUNDING UP FILIPINO BUsHwHACKERs.
During the day my battalion was sent
| down to the Pac0 Cemetery to clear out
| the bushwhackcrS who We're firing upon
the ambuanccs and the persons going to
and from the front. These bushwhackers
| fired from the shelter of the SwampS and
| from the windows of houses or from little
trenches made beneath the houses and
screened by banana leaves and bamboo
branches. SmOkeless powder made this
! sort of work easy, and made it difficult
for. us to discover them. The ambulanccs
were continually fired upon, and there
were several casualties among the wound
| cd being brought III from the front by
/ the bullets of these bushwhackers. They
had special range on the Paco bridge,
| and it was dangerous to cross that struc-
ture, even after the real fighting had pro-
gressed several miles from that point.
| These ambulanccs thus assaulted contain
ed Filipino wounded as well as Americans.
for several hundred wounded natives were
brought to the hospital from the field and
fact of itself being sufficient disproof OF
the SANDER that no prisoners were taken
and the wounded killed.
| Perhaps the greatest piece of savagcry
of this Kind was perpetrated at the hos
pital in ETmita. Some concealed sharp
shooter made the hospital his special tar
get. A soldier standing at the window
| was killed in this way. Finally squad
was sent out to see if the shooter could
not be located and he was discovered
| perched in a tree several hundred yards
distant. smokcless powder having pro-
| tected him from discovery sooner \
shot or two brought him down. and then
| it was seen that he was man who had
until few days before been the driver of
the hospital carriage. He was lombard
ing the very hospital that had employed
him. The lack of all sense of gratitude
or obligation which all students of the Fill
pinO character agree is their chief defect,
was well illustrated in this case, as well
as the innate savagery that prompted him
| to fire upon a hospital and his compan-
ions to shoot into ambulances.
In clearing out the bushwhackers it is
possible that our men fired upon natives
not engaged in that business. 1t was i'm
possible to tell the difference between a
mar in white clothes who was a bush
whacker and one who was not, provided
the former had secreted his gun. Every
man out in the swamp and acting suspi-
ciOusly was treated as bushwhacker.
Finally we made roundup of all the
men in that district and sent them to
town as prisoners, and in this way the
shooting was practically stopped.
During all this time spent balls from the
| front continued to drop into the street
around us and go Gathering through the
| bamboo sides of the houses, showing by
their travel of some two miles that excited
natives had pointed their guns pretty high
| into the air when they pulled the trig-
gers. We knew that this meant that they
were lying down behind some protection
and shooting without looking. AS the
ambulances drove by us the drivers would
hold up their fingers to let us know how
many wounded men they contained, while
men wounded in the arm or elsewhere
| slightly continually passed US on foot on
| their way to the hospital, each man hay-
! ing been given first attention at the field
hospital and bearing his diagnosis tag tied
| to his clothing. This was a system of dis
elimination which saved many lives. The
Surgeon in the field made hasty exam
inatiOn OF the wound and then a card was
filled out with the nature of the wound
and all the information possible to procure
on the spot about the mans name. regi-
ment and cOmpany, The card bearing
this was fastened to his clothing. after the
wound had been dressed preliminarily,
and the ambulance picked him up as soon
as possible and took him to the hospital.
The color of tie card told whether the
man required immediate attention or not.
and so as fast as an ambulance load was
received there was no delay in picking
out the cases requiring the most prompt
attention. while the identity of the man
was quickly established and an approx
mately correct report could be made at
| once.
The men who struggled past us, some
| wounded and others on various errandS,
gave us disjOinted accounts of what was
| u.
| accurate and succinct account of the con-
ditiOn of affairs was given by red-headed
private of the Washington regiment. about
| whose head was tied bandage whose
| blood stains matched the color of his hair.
To the query of '.What are you fellers
doin' to 'em out there?' fired at him by
| one Of our men. he replied:
Nothing much. We've chased them
seven miles Out into the country, and
cnaSS thav'r runuinU vnt "
On the following day the Nebraskas and
battalion each of the OregOns and Ten
| nessees made. Il dash for the water works
at Santolan and captured them and estab-
| lished posts protecting the entire pipe line
to the city, distance of about ~ miles.
A hasty attempt had been made to render
the engines useless by removing some of
the parts. but after Il search these were
discovered and in few hours the works
were performing their usual functions.
-Four days later the MOntanas, Kansans
Utah battery and the battalion of the Sd
Art. pushed the north line further out
and captured CalOOcan. Then the lines
were established from CalOOcan to the
SantOlan water works and thence back
and south by the way of San Pedro Ma
cati to Malate, total distance of about
% miles. Then Gen. Otis ceased all Of
fensive operations for six weeks, waiting
for reinfOrcements and permitting the in
surgents to recover from their defeat and
decentralization, get their army together
again, construct new and formidable in
trenchments and make our next advance
fIxr. +ha f.,.t