The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-04-11

. "a
rendered to Admiral Dewey and Gen.
eral Merritt, there were many Spanish
families, men and officers. with their
wives and children, there. 1t would
have been the blacklist page in Amer
lean history If we had surrendered
them to the insurgents, a blot that we
could not have wiped out in a thousand
years Of good conduct among the ma
tons Of the earth. The whole civilized
world would have regarded it as such.
I don't suppose that A~guinaldo and his
officers would have c~ountenanced It.
but there would have been a slaughter
without parallel. One has but to know
the pitiful story Of 1899 and the butch.
cry Of Spanish troops to realize this.
"Joint administration Of the city be-
tween the Americans and the insur-
gents was o possible. The dema-
gogue Aguinaldo ordered trenches dug
about our lines from so to $50 yards,
and he filled them with an army Of
over 10000 The insurgents in
suited and provoked our men. The ex-
IRENE discipline enforced by General
Otis kept the armies from conflict,
There was the greatest patience, and
finally a sergeant on sentry duty, with.
two other men, met some insurgent Of
fcers and men, who insisted on cross
ing a bridge. He challenged them
three times. and then at one shot he
killed with his Krag one insurgent
lieutenant and one insurgent private.
The Nebraska soldier knew how to
shoot, and within a minute or two the
rifle pits Of the insurgents were blaz-
ing against their liberators, and the
war had begun.
IF that sergeant had not fired that
good shot, he would have been liable
to discharge, dishonorable discharge
from the army. He would have suf-
fered the same IL he had not killed his
own captain If that officer had refused
three times to answer the challenge.
AT the time of the outbreak of the
war in the Philippines the Twentieth
Kansas had seventy-fve men outside
the lines on patrol duty. I was in Ma
Mia sitting on a porch with Major Met
calf. l had fallen asleep. and he woke
me, saying that the dance had CON.
menced. He was right. There was
the rattle of the Mauser coming from
tntrenched insurgents, and the trouble
had begun.
I'VE hear of the abuses and extrava-
gances of behavior Of our soldiers in
the Philippines. | want to testify that
out Of u regiments 95 per cent are
hrn vo h1yVnovn md n avo1l% ~ %l,-:.
country. The other 5 per cent who are
writing to the newspapers, telling of
alleged abuses, have served more time
inside the guardhouse than they have
in the field.
"But l would like to say a word
about those who died in the island for
their country. There was Captain
Godfrey Of New York, beloved even by
the natives, a humane and just man
without malice in his heart. He died
in an ambuscade and, dying without
hatred in his heart. heard the curses
of his men and saw the tears in their
eyes. There was Sergeant O'Brien.
who had been in the service Of the
flag for twenty-five years. He was i'll
in the hospital when he learned that
his company must go to the front, and
he told the doctors to go towel. a
different place from the one believe
he went to. He was shot through the
heart.
1--WE who have seen those we loved
killed know that their deaths were due
to what has happened in the United
States since January, 1900, and we
know that the deaths of the enemy
were due to agitation in the United
States, because they had been misguid-
ed into the belief that there were many
in the United States who wanted to
see them free.
"Can you say that these Filipinos
who died for a dictator can be COM
pared with the men who fought for
and made the United States?
"Aguinaldo's ablest aid. Antonio Lu.
ma, a good officer on account Of his
personal courage, was ordered by
to be assassinated. He was
shot down in cold blood. | talked with
myself about this, and he
told me that he had the a killed be-
cause If he had not done 20 he would
have been assassinated himself. Would
George Washington have done thatt
There was a little boy in Manila
who came to my house once in awhile
He wanted to learn English and had
obtained a grammar. In so far as l
could | helped him, aud then one night
be was taken by a savage and whipped
to death. 1t took three hours to kill
him. Could Israel Putnam have done
that! ! nm glad to say that the next
day we caught Tagunta. the murderer.
and ] hope he is with the angels.
1.-THE United States has been the most
lenient government on earth. There is
not a single instance in which the IN
surgent chiefs could not have been con-