Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-21
COL. aRoEssEsys CRITICISM.
lie Says Walters Detachment Was Not
Properly Equipped.

A dispatch from San Francisco yesterday
says: Col. Stephen Groesbeck, formerly
judge advocate of the division of the Phil
ippines, has arrived here from Manila en-
route to Chicago, where he will take sta
ton as Judge advocate Of the department Of
the lakes. Col. Groesbeck was chief re-
viewing authority in the trials of Major
Waller and General Jacob II. Smith, both
of whom were court-martialed for methods
used in the Samar campaign.
Discussing the Waller trial, Col. Groes-
beck characterized Major Waller as a tacti-
Clan' not a leader. In reviewing that case,
he said:
could only give a qualified approval
to the findings of the court, because l be-
leVed him responsible for the conditions
mat caused his men to commit the Of
lenses charged. An attempt was made TO
lead detachment of his command, con-
s1sting of four officers, ffty-four enlisted
men and thirty-three cargadoros.' from
east towns across the Island OF Samar In
search or the enemy and when about mid
way of his course he found himself in the
heart or an uninhabited. mountainous sec
ton, without rations and without medical
attendance.
The march had been begun without
proper provision being made. The mems
sshoes mad worn away. their clothing hung
IN tatters, many were stricken with fever,
thelr feet bruised and bleeding, their bod
49,
Wretchedness, the leeches, which abound,
ATTACKED and greatly aggravated their eX-
posed wounds. To the cry for food the car
gadoros, 1t Is alleged, did not efficiently
respond, and the suspicion was aroused in
the minds of the starving men that the
carsadoros were conniving at their destruc-
ton. For this they We're placed under
guard, and all those from whom cry OF
retaliation came We're executed
Referring to the famous "kill-and-burn'
order alleged to have been issued by Gen
erai Smith. Col. Groesbeck said:
NO such order was ever issued by Smith,
put ne is an impetuous and erratic man,
ana When going over the ground al Ba-
langiga, after the massacre of an entire
company of the 9th Infantry, he remarked
to Waller that they would be justified in
Killing and burning as they went.
Col. Groesbeck did not think that Waller
or any Of the officers of his command
should be held accountable for the lives
destroyed but he believed that had more
careful provision been made when the fatal
march was begun It would not have ended
with such disastrous results. He spoke of
General Smith a fine officer, and eX-
pressed regret at the humiliation attached
II the recent orders for his retirement.
Col. Groesbeck believes in the water
cure, and said that in all the complaints
caused by this method of forcing the in
sursents to give information as to where
arms were hidden, etc, it had been abused
only by young officers, overzealous and in
experienced in their work
Il believe he said. the water cure as
practiced by the American army in the
Philippines to be the most humane method
of obtaining Information from prisoners of
war that is known to modern warfare
On the Philippine question in general Col.
Groesbeck said: We are there to stay.
The price that has been paid for the islands
demands that we hold them, but to civiliZe
and establish a government that can be
ultimately given into the keeping of the ma
tiVes is task beyond the comprehension of
those unacquainted with the treachery that
has been instilied into the people by their
former rulers The uplifted bolo is the only
law that they have feared for ages. and
strenuous means must be adopted to eradi-
cate such ideas"