New-York tribune., 1902-03-10
FUNSTON TELLS OF CRUELTY.
HE THINKS JUDGES OF FILIPINO MUIR
DERERS HAVE BEEN TOO LENIENT.

Brigadier General Frederick Funston u S. A
who is staying az the Holland House. much
interested last night in dispatch received yester
day from Washington. which gave detailed
count Of the atrocities committed in the Philip
pines by insurgents. He said that the cruelties
practsed by these chiefs horrible
You have no dea," he said, what these rascals
do. They confne their devilIsh efforts mostly
against the peaceful and friendly Filipino. They
burn natives alive. bury them alive and throw them
into well when they suspect that these unfort-
| unates have shown sympathy 10 Americans. They
make a practice of burning towns when the inhab-
| itants delinquent in the payment OF taxes and
revenues exacted by the insurgents. In Taykay
the insurgents buried alive five men in one grave
We caught the executioners and tried and hanged
them. One-half of the natives captured by these
desperadoes burned alive. Frequently when
they cannot find the husband in the house they
throw his wife and children down a we'll This hap
pened IN the of Sergeant of Police Lopez The
insurgents found him. after a long search, in
vehicle. They threw the driver. the sergeant and
two others to the bottom Of a S5-foot well We
hanged the murderers
again, the wife of scout and two of her COM
panons were thrown into we'll The womans
legs broken and she sustained internal in
jures. but finally recovered We never caught the
insurgents
"AI the insurgents from Aguinaldo down 10 the
meanest of them, are murderers Some of the
chiefs have treated our fairly we'll Chief
Texan had two American officers and some soldiers
prisoners, but released them. Sandico another
chief. has treated our men we'll But. with these
exceptions. all the chiefs have handled their Amer-
can prisoners with great brutality Scores of our
whom have missed will never be heard
from again. Other Americans have been barbar-
ously killed. In many have been able 10
execute the murderers We caught the insurrenrs
who killed five men in the 18th Infantry
american soldiers do not torture Sometimes We
have eXtorted by force information from the enemy
but never mutilate them. Our men despise the
insurgents for very good reason but their orders
are 3 strict that they rarely transgress them
by cruelty treating an insurgent prisoner some
Americans have been sentenced to long terms of
IMPRISONMENT for killing Ftlipinos These mon
would have been murderers in any country OF
course YOU understand that do not handle The
barbarans with kid gloves | frequently hear
stories of i'll treatment of insurgents by American
the Fourth District. in Northern Luzon and so
can speak from experience The natives killed our
men when they could. but seldom got an oppor-
tunity except when they overwhelmed a small de-
who have been executed have all been tried by
military commission. They have had an officer 10
defend them, and all evidence bearing each case
has been If proper admitted just $ Jury trials
lent in refusing to convict them.
THE ordinary Filipino stays at home and works
his farm, while the insurgent burns and kills
not far away. Americans have burned few villages
l have ordered the burning of houses where the
people had fired AT Saniscidros the
insurgents burned three hundred houses in one
night because the natives would not give them
money.
Il think that Lieutenant Brown of the 2d In
fantry unjusty sentenced for shooting a ma
tive. The killing justihahle He was sentenced
to five years at hard labor which sentence Was
wisely Commuted 10 the loss of thirty numbers
General Funston said that II he were ordered
back TO the Philippines he would start on April 10
at the expiration of his leave of absence.