The Irish standard., 1902-05-03
A Description of the Tortures Inflicted
on the Filipinos is Given
by Our Soldiers
Orders Were Issued by General Smith to
Make Howling Wilderness
of One Province.

I The circular further commanded off,
GERS to wage war in the sharpcst man
ncr, SO that they would "crcate burn
ing desire on the part OF the natives
for peace"
| General j. Franklin Bell, in COM
mnnd OF the province Of Batangas,
used the expression that the troops
should make the people want peace
and want it badly"
1t was also charged that Major Wal.
Ter had used the form Of torture called
progressive woundng" OH the natives.
This consists in tying a man to n tree
and shooting him in the cXtrcmities
once or twice a day. taking care not to
wound him mortnlly. The reports
which have reached this country so far
make it utterly impossible to tell what
foundation there is for this charge.
The court found Major Waller not
guilty OF the charges against him after
half an hours dribcration. This is
/
his defense that he was strictly obey
ing General Smiths orders.
This case was promptly followed by
President Rooscvclt's order that the
statements concerning General Smith
should be investigated. ana that he
should be court-lnartalcd At the
same time the president ordered that
Major Glenn, Captain Ryan and Sur
gCOn Lyon, now in this country, should
he court martialcd for acts of cruelty
in the Philippines. ........
The "water cure' is generally sup
posed to have been invented by the
Spaniards, who were experts in tor.
turc. The Macabcbes. the Filipino
tribe who lave been aiding the Amer
leans in this war, learned the practice
from the Spniarls, and it has been
stated that our soldiers learned it from
these natives.
The victim is held down with his
back OH the ground his mouth is pried
open ana held open with a wooden gag.
One of his captors then takes Il large,
powerful syringe filled with water, and
squirts it into the victims open mouth.
The prisoner cannot possibly help swal-
lowing it. The operation is continued
until the mans stomach swells to q
considerable size. III he remains OBJ
stinate in refusing to do what is asked
of him his stomach is cmpticd by pres
sure and the "watcr cure" is continued
until lie yields The method seems to
be invariably successful.
Private John p. Monahan, of the
,Thirty-fifth Volunteer Infantry, reports
an even more severe form of the
"watcr cure" He says that he and
the other soldiers used to take the pris-
0ncrs and hold them under water until
the bubbles ceased to come, then they
took them out for n little fresh air and
immersed them again. 1t is quite pos
siblc that Monahan is an irresponsible
person.
| Reference has already been made to
Sergeant Rileys original revelation of
the water cure. The other day Ser.
geant Edward T.. Davis of the same
regiment, the Twenty-sixth Volunteers,
gave further details to the Senate Phil.
ippine committee to the torturing Of
the Prcsidente Of Igbaras. He said
that Major Glenn, Lieutenant Conger
and Surgeon Lyon were present at the
operation. Davis said that the Presi.
dentc squealed terribly, and that his
eyes were bloodshot, but that next day
he was able to ride his horse and lead
the American scouts to the mountains.
The investigation ordered by Presi-
dent Roosevelt may also have to decide
whether cruelties have been committed
by American officers on their own men,
as well as on natives. The war de-
partment admits that Private Edward
G. Richter, Company I, Twenty-eighth
Infantry, was killed ut Dasmarinas,
Cavite, on February last.
Richter was native Of Rochester,
New York state. His lieutenant, ST..