The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-05-22
INSURGENTS


Edward Spencer short time man
aboard the Manila has SLAIN, I'M
vanished tale to- tell of the ImaJ nike
with MaiOr Waller and of Iha up.ru-
tiOns of the now celebrated water cure
ON the Filipino insurgents. Spencer
himself was not an eye witness of the
persuasive eloQuence of the cure but
he has snap shots of the actual occur
renee and the story of the happen
ing from member of Major Walters
command who is a friend and fellow
townsman of his from Manchester, near
Dubuque, Iowa.
According to the story of the eye
witness, private, now corporal Hansen
a great deal of the cruelJies practiced
by the soldiers i'm the Philippines is due
to the fact that the army Of some fifty
thousand men, had by reason of the
very nature of the guerilla warfare
praCticed by the insurgents, to be dt-
Vided into over five posts commanded
by subalterns and in several instances
by sergeants. The number of field de-
taChments far exceed the posts and it Is
from these reasons that the cases of
water cure occur. Spencer emphasizes
very strongly the feeling of the men to-
wards the treachery and ambushed war
/ fare of the insurgents and the feeling Of
! the men in the field towards them when
/ they have a chance to get even, with
/ out consideration of women and chill
4 dren. After harassing marches with
i lack Of proper sustenance and the con-
I slant danger from bullets or poisoned
arrows, through steaming iungles and
/ across Shiny rivers where the bamboo
! bridges have been burned away along
] the narrow paths from village to village
/ with dense thickets between where Turk
| the insurgents. After treachery of
amigos and muulation of comrades,
the men are ready, according to Spen-
Ger to wreak a fearful vengeance on any
native they get hold of and the slight
/ influence possessed by nOn-cOmmis-
stoned officer is nullified entirely by the
knowledge that he is at heart in sym
/ pathy with the men.
The photographs secured by Hansen,
| purporting to be taken on the actual
scene shows Filipino stretched on the
ground, his feet secured and arms
bound under him. section of mamboo
! is bound across his mouth enforcing
! silence and a passage for the water.
| Three privates stand around him in a
! little clearing in the tangle. Hansen
does not seem to think the pain of the
| operation so intense as has been depict
| ed and believes it is the fear of death
! resulting from the water rather than
the anguish that induces them to tell
what their captors will The affair
|
| longer when the subject is very stub
born and invariably results in the yield
! ing up of information of buried wea-
pons.
According to the accounts of the boys
on the Manila, the orders issued by the
supreme command, presumably General
! Smith were such as to preclude escape.
| The commands handed down read to
| kill all over the age of ten, women and
children except when they did not run"
None of 'em stood and waited for us"
said Spencer, land while many of the
chaps just hiked 'em along when they'd
come across 'em Just like chasin' rab-
mits lot of them would use their rifle
butts and bring EN- down like an alley
full of skittles. There's one man aboard
now got a club with blood on il that
was used on the natives OF course its
all excitement chasing them and you
don't know what you are dOin' until it's
all over. No one is going to stop and
size up whether a yOungster is nine on
twelve when you are all het up with a
chance of getting even on a village
that's been shooting at you and cutting
you off whenever they got a chance.
Il never killed any of them myself
but there's plenty of our fellows out
there that's cut lose and wiped out the
score on a bunkie snipe off from the
back of bush. There's no doubt about
the water cure and there's a whole lot
of other matters that wouldn't look
well in print that happens too. It's no
good trying to fight them insurrectOs
fair anyway They don't understand 1t,
just think you're a lot Of blooming fools
throwing away your chances The
woods are fun of them back in the in
terror, but our fellows are getting into
their villages now and finding out their
ways and l guess we'll lick them fast
enough now We're getting down to~busi-
ness.
This talk about gold mining is pretty
near all talk, to my mind. l used to
put i'm little time quartz and placer
mining myself out west and l kept my
eyes and ears open for any color. ]
never got any closer to il than talk. |
guess there's mineral alright but not
much of it and precious hard TO get al
them. There ought to be money in the
forests though If they can get the wood
shipped out. Lots Of the streams are
too small to float anything down"
FINEST RAILWAY STATION.