Sunday Washington globe., 1902-03-23
The American Officer Who
Committed this Crimep
DESERTED HIS MEN
Who were Left without Arms at the
Mercy OF the Enemy-Every Man
Murdered in Cold Blood. But the
American Officer and not the Fill.
pinOs should Swing for il.
[JEanila .fmeyicanl

Can Americans be made to believe that
soldiers Of Uncle Sans army who were
transported eight thousand miles across the
broad Pacific to fight for their country's
flag were deliberately deserted by their
commanding officer and left alone, ia charge
of an iusurgent presidente, without a single
gun, rations or money with which to buy
food footsore, sick and fororu1 And when
the truth Is related that these same deserted
men were putto death with bolos within an
hour or two after the officer who had de
serted them had passed on with the rest Of
his command the blood of all patriotic
men, regardless of color or nationality, will
boil with righteous indignation. But such
a thing was done in the Philippine Islands
The men who were deserted were members
of the Twenty-fourth Infantry.
In the declining days of the year 1899
battalion Of the Twenty-fourth Infantry,
consisting Of Companies II, c, /, and X,
went OH a march through the northern par
of the Island of Luzou. They ~ushed
northward until they got into the Cagayan
Valley They were the FIRST American
troops that ever went that far north, and
they found themselves in a very hotbed Of
insurrection. There was not a friend on
their contempt and hatred Of all foreigners
The march was a frightful experience for
those who took part in IT, It was one un-
broken series Of hardships from start 90
finish. The finish for some Of the poor
fellows was death at the hands of theii
enemies They were not slain In battle
with their faces to the foe, but were
butchered like rats in a trap, without a
afrtula Of wit vrrrf 10,
defend themselves from the savage thrusts
of their assailants.
After the men had been marching on very
light rations for several days they began TO
grow weak They had no medical supplies
except a small quantity of quinine, and that
drug is not good for empty stomachs nor
sore feet Soon men began to fall by the
wayside, and after fair percentage of the
marchers we're physically unfit to proceed
further, the commanding officer of one
company hit upon the diabolical idea of
leaving his poor, sick, half starved men in
the different towns as they we're passed.
He also conceived the happy idea of taking
their arms from them, and it did not strike
him that these men ought to be left with a
little money with which to purchase food
Eleven men were left at the town of
towns. Those who were left at Naguilan
we're placed in the tender charge of the
presidente of the town, who said he would
take care Of them, and send them to Ilagan.
He took care Of them, all right enough
The rest of the troops had gone but few
miles from where they had been compelled
to see their comrades willfully deserted by
their commanding officer when the pres-
dente, a man named Floreua Mondece
had them placed in a small room. and
ordered Filipinos to kill them. His orders
were carried out to the letter, and the wretch
who ordered the assassination was an eye
witness to the crime. lust imagine small
room of bamboo shack in which were
eleven sick American soldiers being hacked
to death with bolos in the hands of savages
who hated them because they fought for a
flag that represents honesty and Justice
Can one not in his minds eye, see those
poor men making a gallant struggle for
their lives against overwhelming odds?
Closing in on their assailauts, and with
| what little strength was left in their frail
bodies, see them stay the fall Of the terrible
war knives for a few seconds oulyl Does
| blood not boil when one thinks of them
there without the vestige of anything with
| which to defend themselves, fall one BY
one, still in death? Even the stars as they
peeped through the tropical foliage, must
! have been dimmed at the sight of such a
/ death to brave men.
1t is not related how the commanding Of
hcer Of this company accounted for these
men. But murder will out, and Lieutenant
/ McKain, Sixteenth Infantry, began an in
vestigation The bleaChed bones of the
honored heroes were discovered Their
murderers we're run down, and tried re-
Gently at Echague before a military com
mission, of which Captain George French,
Sixteenth Infantry, was president. The
inhuman wretch who ordered the assassina-
tion of the sick soldiers, has been sentenced
to death, as have FIVE Of the men who
killed them. Others have been given SEN
teuces Of life Imprisonment