Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-03-13
TRIP ACROSS SAMAR
Major Walters Official Report OF
the Famous Expedition
Is Received.
Graphic Account Of the Terrible
Sufferings Which the Party
Endured.
Dog Meat and Roots Only Means
OF Sustenance--Nine
Driven Insane.

formal. and do not go into details. bu
the news of the affair is contained II
a dispatch from Lieutenant r. w
| Shoemaker, U. S. N, who conducted the
relief expedition that succored the ma
rines. After detailing the arrival in the
American lines of Captain Porter anC
| the men, the report gives the state
ments of Captain Porter and Lieuten-
ant A. S. Williams, which are combines
in the following statement
"On Jan. /, being then on half ra-
lions, with little food left, Major Wal
| Ter decided to split the party, he taking
| fifteen of the strongest men and push
| ing on for Basey, and Captain Porter
following his trail as rapidly as posi-
BILE with the main body. On Jan. q
native came back from Waller with a
note stating that he (Waller) had given
up the idea of getting thru and would
return, and directing Porter to make
directly for the river and build RATS for
the entire party. This Porter tried to
do but failed to find wood that would
| float. 1t was raining hard at this time
and the river was about ten feet above
it's normal level and running with vio-
lence. AS Major Waller did not appear
Porter sent Captain Bearss to him to
ascertain his plans, then return AMI
report. Bearss failed to return. but he
ION Jan q 1 think, Porter pushed
T.. 4 1T xl,% -
the strongest men, leaving Williams to
follow with the crippled and lame as
far as the boat, which had been Sc
GREETED on the way up to be used in an
emergency like the present. Porter
reached the boat, but found it had been
damaged and was unfit for use. So he
started on twenty five mile hike for
Lanang, and reached there with three
men on the afternoon of the 18th. Five
men had given out, but, living on two
dogs that strayed their way, they final
ly reached the post.
The relief expedition under Lieut..
Williams, First infantry, on account of
the height of the river. was unable to
get away until the morning of the 14th.
Williams deserves the highest praise
for his twenty five miles fight against
the current and up the rapids, hauling
his boats along by hand a good part of
the way. 1t was not until the morning
of the 18th that he reached the starving
marines on their last stopping place
near the river.
Their condition at the time was ter
rible For days no man among them
had strength to carry a rifle. Nine of
them had either gone crazy or had fall
en- by the trail half dead from starva-
ton and exposure. 1t had rained stead
lily for eighteen days. Lieut.. A. S. Will
liams had made every effort to get them
along, but had to abandon them. He
could only save the men who were able
to reach the boat by the river, the prob
able point of arrival of the relief eXpe-
dition. He got there on the night Of
the 10th inst. his party having been
without food, except roots, the pulp of
plants and a few sweet potatoes, for
fifteen days.
ITO further complicate matters the
native bearers. about thirty in number
became sulky, practically refusing as
sistance to the white men. They would
build shacks as a protection from the
continual downpour for themselves
only, and, knowing the edible roots and
plants, We're more slsillful in obtaining
food.
"a time came when no white man
could carry rifle, and those not lost
We're in the hands of natives; under the
altered condition, 1t required considera-
Bile diplomacy on the part of Lieut..
Williams to handle them at ALL Just
before reaching the river two bearers
tried to kill Williams, stabbing him
about the chest with a bolo. He tried
to shoot, but had not sufficient strength
to pull the trigger. Then they tried to
kill him with his own pistol, but did not
know how to work the weapon.
Williams was rescued by few OF
his men, who tottered up, armed with
sticks, and the natives took to the bush.
No Filipinos We're seen in the region,
there being no food. The relief party
saw some coming from the direction of
Hermane; so it is probable that the in
surgents about there got wind of the
desperate condition of the marines, and
We're hurrying up to take advantage of
it. Relief came just in time.
1T took practically all of Jan. Is to
get the sufferers, thirty-one in number,
including two officers, eighteen in
unable to move, across the
river and out thru the surf to the yes
sell The job was finished at 6: 80 D. M,
and at we started for Tacloban direct,
as an army surgeon said at Lanang that
an hour saved in transit might mean
an arm or leg to some
I'VE reached Tacloban at s a. M, and
the worst cases were at once transfer
red to the hospital. The others, includ-
ing eight or ten natives, not included in
the above total of thirty-one, / trans
ported to Basey, seeing Major Waller.
His party appears, from the statements
of the officers, to have been reduced to
nearly the same extremity as the other.
They had practically given UP hope
when the opportune capture of a small
boy, the only native seen, resulted in
their getting thru to the coast"
Girl Steals Employers Child.
Chicago, March 10 The mysterious
of 2-year-old child
with a 23year- woman who had
become much attached to 1t is thought