Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-03-20
HOW WALLER WON
In a Struggle, with Death During
an Expedition Across
Samar.
MANY OF HIS MEN IN THE GRAVE
Starvation and Hardships Puts All of
Them in the Hospital
for Time.

Washington. March 2O.-The navy
department has made public 4 report
from Major Waller recounting in detail
the stirring events of his tragic effort
to cross the island of Samar. Major
Waller begins with Il statement that
Lieutenant Williams. Seventh infan-
try. who had just returned from Il
twelve days "trip i'm a fruitleSS search
for trail. and Captain Pickering.
ged him not To make the attempt
to cross Samar. on account of the diff
fucltieS. But he decided to make the
attempt. in view of the commanding
generals evident desire TO find the
trail and run Il Wire across. starting
with fifty men on Dec. 2G from La
nang The rivers were much swollen.
ana it took long time to get the
boat through the rapids. Trails were
picked mp only To he lost again and
the rain came down in tOrrential
bursts.
River Was Fearfully Crooked.
The river the men were following
curved almost to circle. and the
banks held no trails. The route
crossed and recrosSed the river every
few minutes. and the men began to
develop water sores and chafeS. Tho
knowledge that they made only fOuI
or five miles in direction for each
twelve miles of march was depreSS-
ing. ON the 3Oth reduced ratiOnS werc
issued. No sign of human habitatiOn
had been seen except lonely fishing
shack. There were not even birds
1t took the whole of the 31St to reach
the mountain pass. All the elements
seemed To be against the men. De
scending. the trail was again lost. The
men were suffering from sores from
cnts made by thorns ana from tester
ing bites of leecheS.
Waller Goes Ahead for Help.
They could get no fire. and ate raw
bacon. \ raft was built. but sank
with one man on it. Starting down
the river word came TO Waller that
many men could not keep il un. so he
decided to forge ahead for relief with
thirteen of the strongest men. leaving
Captain Porter i'm command of the
main body. Another effort to build Il
raft failed. Waller finally came upon
4 clearing. where he found Il shack
and some growing vegetables. The
lenses of his field glasses started Il fire.
and 4 two-6ayS' supply of potatoes
was cooked Word from the rear was
that the men could make only three
miles Il day. There was only enough
bacon to fry the potatoes. The ma
tiveS were reported to he threatening
Porter. ana altogether the expedition
was i'm bad way.
Finally They Strike Good Luck.
Two natives were captured and
pressed into service rs guides. Finally
the Spanish trail was found. but SIM
Il large boat was diScov-
erCd and the start was made for Ba-
sey The report says: The men. real
iZinC that all was over. and that they
were safe and once more near home.
gave up: some quietly wept others
laughed Historically. Most Of the men
had no shoes. Cut, torn. bruised and
they had marched without
for twGnty-nine days and had
achieved what no white troops had
done before. They thought not of it,
hut of each other"
Expedition Was of No Value.
At Pasey Waller was taken sick
with fever and suffered also from an
injured ankle. He says that the eX
pedition was of no value except to
show that the mountains can be pen
ctrated and that there are no inSur
gents there. Concluding, Major Wal
Ter says that he was the only one of
his party able to move on Feb. s.
Ten of the men died of exhaustion.
and one in the hospital. All of the
except Captain BearSS, Lieu
tenant Halford Lieutenant Lyles and
Major Waller himself. either were or
had been in the hospital at the date
of the report. The length of his march
was 80 miles.