Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-07-21
LIFE IN PHILIPPINES.

/ july lU.j
FIGHTING LIFE IN PHILIPPINES.
An Explanation of Savagery and Bru-
tally in the Philippines by Such
Men as We See About US Every
Day
In McClure's Magazine for July Dr.
Henry c. Rowland, who has seen two
terms of service in the Philippines as
|acting assistant surgeon. explains the
loonmissio nof cruel and savage acts in
the islands "by exactly such as we see
about us every day" The average
reader of the newspaper accounts, DE.
| Rowland says. is apt to think that If
all the men in the Philippines We're like
the particular Tom. Dick, or Harry he
knows there would be no such dis
] graceful blots on our recent history.
/ But. las n matter of fact ii is just some
/ Tom. Dick, or Harry who has done
| these things" TO demonstrate the
truth of this assertion DR.. Rowland
takes three typical soldiers and follows
they thru their experiences in the Phil
| ippnes Tom is an intelligent young
Irish American, whose father is 4 fair
/ ly prosperous contractor in New York.
| Dick has been raised in Georgia. he
| is high spirited boy. Harry is a clerk
| in u store in n middle western village.
| For one reason or another they enlist
lin the army and meet at San Francisco.
| After n heart breaking period of home
sickness, which in some of their COM
panions produces suicidal or homicidal
l.mania, the three soldiers are ordered to
one of the southren islands. BY this
time they and their captain have come
+ to believe that the Filipino soldier is
only TO be trusted when a krag has
crashed thru his vtals." They have
found comrades who trusted friendly
natives" cold and stark. hacked and
dismembered in the bananas.
One evening they pitch camp and
while it is still light two privates stray
away; curious, investigating, compar-
ing Filipino ferns with Pennsylvania;
teak with hemlock timber admiring
greatly Then within easy earshot of
the company they stretch out upon the
moss and sleep, nor dream of the fur
tive stealthy steps that encircle them
as they lie.
A blaze of yellow light, and it is
broad day. The sleeping company rises
stiffly; pipes are lit. and the drowsy
mess cooks kindle tiny fires here and
there. /, Coffee is quickly over. and at
roll-call two of the company are miss
ing. Unanswered shoutings re-echo in
eerie calls from the shadowy gorge be-
low. A purposeless noise in an awsome
place vibrates the nerves that carry
fear. so the clamor is stopped, and hur-
rying squads are sent to beat the near
by thickets. The brother of one of the
missing men, and an old chum of the
other are in the party that finds them
finds part of them-headless, wcltering
in n pool of blood beneath fern tree.
There are other things about them that
are strange, things that are missing, for
aborigines are queer collectors.
The men of the searching squad look
at them for a moment in silence, a ST
lence observant of every detail One
curses softly, another bursts into tears.
not of sorrow and sympathy, but tears
of homesickness and past fever The
corporal says no word, but soon he
shakes his head and smiles. smile to
jar the reasons of those that see. The
hard-faced captain gives some sharp
tone borders, and the mutilated corpses
are quickly inferred where they lie. AT
the conclusion man has chill, and
after the chill he raves. Two men car
ry him bound to a stretcher until he is
able to walk again.
Down they go, slipping and failing,
bruising their bodies on roots and
stones, stung by insects and poisonous
plants, choking with thirst, and haunt
ed by the shadows now creeping inl
from the west. Then suddenly they
plunge from the tangle into a beaten
path and see far below them vista
of sparkling waves. The head of the |
column halts While the stragglers come
in. Down the slope beneath them a
smoke rises straight into the brcathless
air. They see it without heed, for the
town below is friendly, and it is at the
earnest supplication of its presdente
that they have come. On they swing in
column of tours, strongly but in silence,
for their spirits are as low as the sun
that is dropping in the sea beneath At
the bottom of the hill the path turns
and winds between cane and
bananas. Here the captain calls anoth-
er halt, while his keen and restless eye
IoNeS. -SeiTcuiISlS over lile lHtChel III
the line of march. The jungle advances
thick as a fog, darker
than Il forest, for the light that they
have just left. The last squad has en-
tered, when n rustling arises from the
on both sides. 1t smites first
the ears of the captain.
Lie down." Many have obeyed be-
fore they hear the order The jungle
spouts flame. There follow parabolic
flashes of light and the CLINT of spear
and barong, kris and bolo, as the thick
IT swarins with life; foul, fostering
life such as only a tropic sun can
spawn. Nimbly the slant-eyed prowl-
ars slip thru the bamboo stalks, and
heavy knife in hand leap agilely into
the road To complete the massacre be-
gun, never thinking that one of the
weary footed foe can have WithStood
the shock of the unexpected onslaught.
The corporal who is bunkie to the
murdered man of the night before,
aughs for the second time that day as
ne parties bolo thrust, wrenches the
Weapon from the claw-like hand that
Yields it, and send ii crashing thru the
lome-shaped kull. He laughs again as
ne picks long spear from the ground,
md digs in into the bowels of a native