New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-06-21
DID NOT USE WATER CURE.
MAJOR WALLER SILENT ABOUT COURT
MARTIAIs-HIS MEN DEFEND
ARMY'S COURSE.

No finer lot Of men physically has ever en-
tered the navy yard than the Dos marines who
arrived there Yesterday under command of Ma
jor 7. w. T Waller, with Captains r. NJ Gibson
D. T. Porter and r. H. Dunlap. and Lieutenants
Day Low and Little. fresh from the Philippines
where Major Waller court martialled and
acquitted for executing natives The marines
were brought over from the Jersey City station
of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the navy tugs
Traffic and Narkeeta. and were met at the dock
where they landed. astern of the battleship
Kearsaree. by three companies from the marine
barracks in command of Captain Fuller.
The band of the cruiser Brooklyn played
Home Sweet Home" when Major Waller and
his command landed and drew up in order on
the dock. Tears filed the eyes of many of the
marines. Several of them broke into fits Of
weeping. For half hour the air rang with
huzzas from crews of the ships The marines
were Justify cheered as they passed TO the ma
rine barracks, carrying a flag of which nothing
had survived the battles in Samar except the
pole and shreds of bunting.
Major Waller said he had no statement TO
make regarding his court martial or the water
cure
AS to the water cure" the major declared.
I'VE don't know anything about that. We didn't
have any of il where were. We didn't
the water cure AS to statements in the news
Papers about cruelty TO the natives, can say
that a great deal of what has been written about
is the product of diseased imaginatons."
While none Of the marines said they had
the water cure administered by Major Walters
men, several acknowledged they had heard from
others that il had been employed They main
tanned that it was justified by the conditions
with which the Americans had to contend in the
Philippines, and was the only effective method
OF getting information which absolutely
necessary in the campaigns The pouring of
, water out of a Canteen into the mouths of the
natives until they were willing to talk hurt and
scared them. but was never known to result in
death or to injure man permanently
One of Captain Porters said the worse the
Filipinos treated the more respect they
! had for person.
You don't dare TO treat those people right"
/ he continued. The minute you begin to treat
! them right they stick a knife in you. I should
say that the water cure must be all the rage
/ here we heard about it at every station on
our way from San Francisco. OF course We
/ burned villages. There are some terrible burn
ings going there but what could do?
/ When reached village the people would be
gone. ana If We went away they would return TO
/ their villages SO burned the villages and
! they had place to return to.
! Sometimes. while on the march, We would be
! hit by poisoned arrows. You couldn't tell where
! they were going TO come from. as the brush is
so thick you be within ten feet of house
J before il. We had TO trust to scouts,
and had one dandy. niger named Smoke. We
4 were anxious bring him home with U.s. but he
wouldn't come AS to shooting women, this was
! the way OF il. The native men would dress up
! like women escape being fired at and would
/ fight from the trenches with the other men.
! When we found that out we shot everything in
! dresses that was shooting at us. The band in
Quinapunda, in Samar near where forty-eght
! men and three officers Of the 9th Infantry We're
! maSsaCred. was commanded by q in
mans clothes. There is all he'll to pay if any of
! the natives given the water cure, and yet
! there wasn't anything said about il in the news
/ papers when men left the camp just outside Of
Manila, four five at time. walked through
the streets and disappeared, and nothing more
heard of them The only good Filipino is
dead one. and people who talk about the water
cure ought go out there and experience what
have gone through"
The marines declared that Major Waller was
/ a splendid officer, of judgment, and that he
| had got Samar into reasonably good shape.
| Twelve of the command lost through lack
/ of food and exposure Two were suffering from
starvation
! Major Waller went to Washington last night.
! Before leaving he said he would ask for a leave
! of absence, beginning on July /. He intended to
go from Washington. accompanied by his wife,
! TO Norfolk where he would see his children for
/ the first time in three years. He had been away
! in the East two years and ten months. and some
! Of his men had been away even longer.