The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-07-21
The Colonel Records His "Only Quail
fed Approval" of the Findings of
the Court-MartiaI at Manila.
THE "KILL-AND-BURN" ORDER
HE DECLARES THAT GEN. SMITH
DID NOT GIVE 1T.
French View of Governor Taft's Mis-
sion TO Rome-Queer Conclusion
Reached by the Paris Temps.

SAN FRANCISCO. Cal, July 2O-Colonel
Stephen w. Groesbeck, formerly judge ad-
vocate of the division of the Philippines,
has arrived here from Manila, en- route 10
Chicago, where he will take station as
judge advocate of the Department of the
Lakes. Colonel Groesbeck was chief re-
viewing authority in the trials of Major
Waller and General Jacob II. Smith, both
of whom were court-martialed for methods
used in the Samar campaign. Discussing
the Waller trial, Colonel Groesbeck char
acterized Major Waller as a tactician, not
a leader. In reviewing that case he said:
Il could only give qualified approval
of the findings of the court. because 1 be-
lieved him responsible largely for the con-
ditiOns that caused his men TO commit the
outrages charged. An attempt was made
to lead a detachment of his command. con-
sisting of four officers, ffty-four enlisted
men and thirty-three 'cargadoros,' from
east towns across the Island of Samar in
search of the enemy, and when about mid
way of his course he found himself in the
heart of an uninhabited, mountainous sec
ton, without rations and without medical
attention. The march had been begun with
out proper provision being made. The
mems shoes had worn away their clothing
hung in tatters, many were stricken with
fever, their feet blistered and bleeding,
their bodies lacerated by thorns, and, add
ing to this wretchedness, the Ieeches which
abound attacked their greatly aggravated
wounds. To the cry for food the carga-
doros, it is alleged, did not sufficiently re-
spond, and the suspicion was aroused in the
minds of the starving men that the carga-
doros were conniving at their destruction.
For this they were placed under guard, and
all of those from whom a cry of retail
alton came were executed.
Abiding to the famous "kill and burn"
order, alleged to have been issued by Gen
Smith, Colonel Goesbeck said. mo
such order was ever issued by Smith, but
he is an impetuous and eccentric man and
when going over the ground at Balangiga,
after the massacre of an entire company
of the Ninth infantry, he remarked to
Waller that they would be justified in kill
ing and burning they went
He did not think that Waller or any of
the officers of his command should be held
accountable for lives destroyed, but he
believed that had more careful provision
been made when the fatal march was
begun it would not have ended with such
disaster. He spoke of General Smith as
humiliation attached to the recent order
for his retirement.
Colonel Groesbeck belives in the water
cure and said that in all the complaints
caused by this method of forcing in
surgents to give information to where
arms were hidden, etc, ii had been abused
only by young officers, inexperienced in
their work. II believe" said he. " the
water cure, as practiced by the American
army in the Philippines, 10 be the most
humane method of obtaining information
from criminals of war that is known to
modern warfare
On the Philippine question in general Col.
Groesbeck said: I'VE are there to stay.
The price that has been paid for the
islands demands that we hold them, but
10 civilize and establish a government that
can be given into the keeping of the natives
is a task beyond the comprehension of
those unacquainted with the treachery
that has been instilled into the people by
their former rulers. The uplifted bolo is
the only law that they have feared for
ages, and strenuous means must be adopt
ed TO eradicate such ideas"