The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-04-27

| the savages chose 10 fight Downs wa.
! leading the forlorn little column with th'
"point," when all at once. with tigerlik,
suddennesS. the savageS sprang out of tn,
4 un6erbrush and were upon them. The hand
| to-hand fighting lasted for half an hour
| No rifles could be used, owing to the confu
sion of the melee. but in the end our fel-
] lows beat eff their assailants. with heavy
| loss, however. including the death of their
! gallant leader. Downs.
| Precisely similar were the tactics of the
| Gandara savages in the fight at Dap Dap
| on Christmas day Captain Francis schoef-
| fel was scouting with a detachment of the
| were too impatient and made their attack
within hearing of the garrison. Two bolo-
man of SchoeTers party of twenty-four,
and eight of our men were killed in the first
rush.
When Lieutenant Lang came up with
his column he found the survivors with
Schoeffel who is a man Of herculean
strength and stature. at their head. in
ing their lives dearly. When the reinforce
ments drove off the disappointed savages IL
was found that among the survivors there
was not one unscathed and many afterward
died of their wounds
The question of granting quarter In war
fare of this nature is very difficult one; As
a general thing. the SavageS of Samar fight
TO finish. I know of only one instance
where quarter was asked and refused. and
in the Investigation which followed the
tion of our men was held to be fully justi
ton. = .,..s,
come under my personal observation. be-
ing at BalanEiga at the time. but | verified
them in the most careful manner on my re-
turn to the scene of the occurrence, Few
days later.
The commanding officer at. Calbayoc aI-
vanced post OF twenty-five men, under
Lieutenant Wallace. to the first fork of the
Gandara River. Here they were ordered to
intercept the smugglers, who. as had been
ascertained without doubt. were carrying
nv .fefAt n
encamped in the mountain fastenesses
about the head waters of the Gandara.
Concealed for Days.
Our men lay concealed for ten days on
point of land covered with thick brush.
without. however, getting wind of the
smugglers or receiving any orders from the
coast. Under these circumstances Leuten-
ant Wallace. thinking that his orders had
miscarrie0 or the bearer been cut down in
the jungle. decided to. repair to head
quarters in person. and left the camp in
canoe on the night OF October II last, ac-
companied by one man.
AT daylight the camp was aroused by a
shot from the most distant sentry. a shot
knife blades in his body. and in the next
minute band of savages numbering a1
were upon them The majority OF
half dressed.
Fortunately. or else there had been no
survivors, the savages iirst fell with tre-
absent officer, cutting the canvas into rib
bons. However, ten Of our men were killed
and several others mortaiiy wounded in the
hand-t hand encounter before the survivors
brought their rifles into effective use and
cleared the camp. The savages retreated
in two directions. some back into the
Jungle from whence they came. but about
100 of them. having run through the camp.
took refuge in the brush that covered the
little point of land surrounded by water.
Urged on by a Dios-dios priest. who :s
said to have been the leader in the slaugh-
ter at Balangiga. the repulsed savages re-
newed the attack. Our force was reduced
to ten effective rifles. with 200 bolomen on
both fianks.
Finally the savages huddled together and !
separated from their comrades on the point !
begged for quarter. but the main body did |
not desst from their attack. 1t was i'm |
possible for a force so reduced to take pris- |
oners, and in the end 1t was found that |
eighty-four savageS had been slain. In /
pause between the attacks. in need of a |
leader and of a doctor. our men withdrew |
to their boats and returned to Caibayoc.
General Smiths investigation. |
Two days later General Smith investi- |