Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-03
ap12- If

port ne reached del1r1ouS with fever and
| Worn to the bone by starvation, Waller
| held an inquiry into the conduct of three
| or four-by one account nine-of his native
| carriers or cargadores. These men, it
| should be remembered. had enlisted with
| him as camp followers for the journey and
| consequently they were much under the
| jurisdiction of military law and his supreme
command as were any of the marines At
| ter hearing the statement of his officers and
men-and if there was a dissenting voice
| or any contradiction in testimony it has
| not been cabled-Maj. Waller became salts.
fed that these men, while in the United
| States service, gave aid and information to
! the enemy, who hung on his tanks, so that
| they might time their attacks to the best
| advantage; that they had stolen the pro-
visions and ammunition they agreed to
| carry, and conveyed them to the enemy;
| that when the marines were starving these
| camp followers sustained life by edible
| roots to be found in the country through
which they marched, which they refused
| to share with the marines or to point out
where they were to be found. Whereupon
Maj Waller ordered them to be shot, and
| the order was carried out.
Ignorance Of Facts.
| One somewhat bloodthirsty advocate of
| the gentler methods writes he could under
| stand a summary execution in the heat Of
| blood while yet in the enemy's country but
| to commit such an atrocity latter reaching
| Basay-." Here, as in most comments upon
the Philippine situation, we have to con-
| tend with ignorance of the facts rather
| than with any wish to misrepresent them.
This writer is evidently under the impress
| sion that when Waller and the survivors of
his column limped into Basay, footsore and
| starving. all their troubles were over; that
| they drove up to the local Waldorf-Astoria,
| had good dinner, and went to bed thank
| ing God and their good rifles that they
| were we'll shut of the Samarites.
| With the very vivid recollection which I
have Of my experience in Basay three
weeks before Maj. Waller arrived there, I
have no hesitation in saying that here he
found greater dangers threatening him and
| more savages thirsting for his blood than
those who logged his footsteps though the
mountain wildernesses. The people of Ba-
say at this time number about 5OO0-not
souls, but beetle-browed savages brothers
| in blood and in brutality of disposition to
| the people of Balangiga, only twenty miles
away And what the people Of Balangiga
| did every American should remember be-
| fore passing judgment upon the warfare
since waged in this district.
When 1 arrived at Basay I saw crowd
| Of savages walking up from the beach bit
| ing away at long, Shiny, uncooked fish
| fresh from the sea. as though they were
! eating sticks of candy. One glance at their
faces and would not have been surprised
to see them eating quivering human flesh.
| A jungle swamp surrounds the town, and
| In its impenetrable Businesses lay the
| hordes of Juan Coloneros. We heard their
conch shells blowing by day and saw their
elated. and even the townspeople within our
grasp could hardly conceal the delight with
which the news from Balangiga, that made
our blood run cold, inspired them. Unsign-
ed correspondence was daily intercepted
| showing that the people in the town were
in league with the insurgents outside and
that an attack from within well as from
the foe In our front was at any time to be
expected.
Night Attacks.
Night after night the attacks were made
and night after night Capt Bookmler,
Lieut.. Drouillard and the half-company Of
the 9th Infantry, reduced still further by
many casualties, stood to their guns and
drove them back. I only had three days of
it. but they bore the ordeal without finch
we had before us the horrible picture like
some blood-drenched canvas Of Goya, of
the twenty survivors of Balangiga-one
with an arm Topped off, another with a
and one with twenty CHASTITY cuts across
his body. In none Of the fights of which I
have knowledge did the Samarites ask for
quarter-they do not understand fighting
in that way-but had they done so do not
believe 1t would have been granted by any
man who saw the living and the dead wit
nesses to their fiendish savagery.
These are the things which the marines
saw when they landed at Basay, and it
must be borne in mind that there were the
closest ties of friendship between the MUIR
| UeESQ men OIL the SuH ana w alters ma
rines. They had stood shoulder to shoulder
| in he battle of Tien TSin and walked side
by side on the march to Picking. Again the
critics are at fault-through ignorance Of
the facts, not wrong-headedness. perhaps
as to the motive which actuated Waller in
furnishing the traitors in his ranks as sum
marily as possible.
Self-Defense, Not Revenge.
1t was certainly not in revenge. If their
past offenses had been the only considera-
ton. Waller might, and very probably
would. have waited, and not placed his
| name and commission in jeopardy. But he
| determined to safeguard the lives of those
| intrasted to him and leave his commission
| to be passed upon by the judgment of all
| fair-minded men. He was more careful of
| the army post of Basay, with all its sick
| and wounded, than he was of his personal
| fortunes. There had never been any doubt
| but that If unity of action could be ar
| ranged between the insurgents outside and
| the insurgents inside, our little garrison
would be quickly overpowered, and here he
discovered men in direct communication
with the enemy. And by means of
| drumhead court-martial he put them where
| they could do no harm. as he had right
| to do under martial law. At any moment
/ these men might have brought to sue
| cessful termination their career OF treason.
! and Major Waller had not the troops to
guard such people as these while bringing