Waterbury Democrat., 1902-06-13
ABOUT WATER CURE
Soldiers Testify Before the
 Philippine Committee
THE TREATMENT FULLY DESCRIBED
Except Tn Isolated Cases Natives Were HumaneIy Treated-Kfnd- ness shown by Americans
 Regarded as Weakness

WASHINGTON, June 13.-MarR H.
 Evans of Des Moines, la, formerly a l sergeant of Company F, Thirty-sec- ond volunteer infantry, yesterday tes- | tified before the senate committee on 1 the Philippines concerning the admin l iStratiOn of the water cure to FilipinoS | on four different occasions during his 1 service in the islands. He also re l lated the particulars of the burning of 1 several native villages. He was ques- toned by Senators Patterson, McCo- ! mas and Beveridge. All these events
 occurred, the witness said, during the year 1900 in the province of Batan,
 island of Luzon, and in or near the town of Orano, where his headquar- ters were. Three of the cases of wa | ter cure occurred outside of the town. In one case the cure was administered by native scouts and in the others by an American soldier. The first case occurred at a little town where there
 were supposed to be some insurgents. The scouts picked out the suspected
 people and, taking one of them to nearby creek, poured a quantity of water into his mouth from a canteen. The purpose in this, as in other cases, was to secure a confession.
 On another occasion during an ex- petition to neighboring islands the
 witness said that he had seen an American soldier take two suspected natives into the water and duck them, holding them under for perhaps half minute at time. He secured a con- fession as to the hiding place of guns in one case, but none in the other.
 After the first case of ducking the victim seemed, the witness said, to have been quite disabled, being ap- parently so weak that he was unable to rise.
 In another instance of the admins tration of the water cure in Orano tooth of the victim was knocked out but so far as he knew no other injury was inflicted MT. Evans said he had been present at the burning of four or five native villages and that the de struction of those places had been due to the presence of insurgents. The orders were to destroy all the native huts along the coast near the noun tains for thirty miles in Batan prov ince, so as to force the natives to come in, and this, he said, was done.
 Replying to questions by Senator Beveridge, the witness said the orders to the troops were to treat the natives humanely and that with the excep- tions noted their treatment had been in accord with these instructions. The natives had not, on the other hand, shown any appreciation of this con- sideration. They refused to divulge information in their possession and in many cases they subjected the Ameri- can troops to indignities. Tn one case, he said, where two soldiers were killed their ears were cut off.
 Edward J. Norton of Los Angeles, Cal, late private in Company L, Eight eenth United States infantry, was the witness at the afternoon session. He served two years in the island of Panay. Answering questions by Sena- tor Culberson, MT. Norton stated that except in isolated cases the treatment accorded the natives by United States soldiers twas humane and all that could be expected or desired"
 He said that the Filipinos regarded the kindness of the troops toward them as a weakness and became bold in cOnSeQuence