The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-04-27

teen. Each and every one of these garri.
sons was in state of siege. and to some OF
| them at least the long-looked-for re-en
! forcements came at the nick of time. l
the island. but, nevertheless. | am not to
be deferred from describing II. drawing my
information as to what l did not see from
the accounts made 10 me personally by SOL
diers who have crossed the island from end
to end.
To begin with, Samar Is not like any other
tropical island that l have ever seen. Il
| does not recall Cuba or Java. Ceylon oil
Martinique. 1t just looks like Samar: and
then. again. it doesn't look like samaS for
every section of it that comes to view is
quite different from all the preceding views
, you have obtained. The southern portion OF
the island. known now generally as the
Santa Rita and the Baiangiga districts, is
composed. from the coral coast line to about
twenty miles inland. of a jungle swamp
,S, tnT,4Sugn % which two two or three three ma, narrow; deep
sible passage.
The center and northern part of the island
is a high tabIeland. covered with dense for
A tableand. IL Is intersected. however, by
rivers rushing TO the sea through gorgeltke
valleys. Extending from the middle to the
northern end OF the island (Which is comput-
ed to have an area of about 500 square
miles, run coastwise chains Of mountains Of
equal height and abruptness on both the
Pacific and the China Sea sides of the
Island. These mountains are higher and
more difficult to scale than those met with
iii iHc anu DtileNS liieS nave new
er been crossed except through the gorges
by which the pent-up rivers rush on their
way to the sea. Behind these barriers are a
succession Of steep valleys and precipitous
hills.
Hardships of Our Fighters.
Up hill and down dale our soldiers have
advanced, until utterly worn out with the
mountain leeches sucking at their blood.
be fought ard an ambush to be overcome
at every step. Under these circumstances
it is not astonishing that but few of the
many columns we have sent out have sue
ceeded in crossing the island from end to
end, and coming out upon the mountain
heights at the other side. have caught
Gods country. 5000 miles beyond.
Indeed. there have been only two such eX-
peditions where all the sacrifice and all the
suffering have been crowned with success
/ refer to that of Captain Preston now dead.
with detachment Of men from the Forty
third United States Volunteers. and that OF
Major Waller. with his detachment OF ma
rines. Even in the case Of success the diff
culties to be overcome have eNacted a
heavy tribute Of men, as the casualty lists
of these expeditions show.
Before barriers such as these the Ameri-
can mule the Pike County (MisssourD mule,
who has followed our army everywhere, anS
other armies. too, into all the rrighttui
places of the earth. has had to CONFESS lts
mortality. In these fields OF sharpened
RuTee ,S baSs dT
and died. Only one mule has crossed the
island on foot 1t was a little, tiny mule,
not up to the standard at all. but when all
the other mules died it was made much of,
carrying the medicine chest and the lauda-
mum bottles which help the wounded men
to die.
Suit of Mule Hide.
been a butcher and he skinned the dead
mules and made suit OF armor out OF
mule hide for the survivor. His h0ofs were
the pumice points: lifting them up or put
ting them down gave excruciat.ng agony.
but soon the benevolent butcher & had him. him
made out Of his dead companions hides.
and a chest protector that would stop
And so the little mule reached the Pacific.
Half a mile away from the coast there Is
not road on the island. Such paths as
exist were merely footpaths-sendas. as
they are called:
Every footpath leading into the interior
was fortified in a way which. with the ma.
could not have improved upon, These de- |
fenses and traps in samar all go by the
infinite variety that have only the space |
to describe few. /
One and all. however, are effective. The
simplest are merely pitfalls dug in the path |;
or in the center of the deflle through which |
the invader must come: deep. broad pttA
der twigs or bamboo shoots, covered with |
leaves and vegetation, all so arttully ar
ranged that none but the eye of the ex-
perienced woodman could detect the hand
of man
spearhads in Manpit.
The bottom of the manpits or pitfalls are
planted with stout spearheads, hardened to
an ironIike hardness over slow-burning
fire. And, as the clinical history Of the
wounds which they have inflicted goes to
show, in almost every instance these spear
heads have been smeared with the poison
BUS Juice OF some native vegetable. to which
as yet no antidote has been found. The
only remedy lies in cauterization and surg
cry.
We have lost many men in pitfalls such
as these and learned to avoid them And
they can be avoided when the object which
the expedition has in view permits Of
slow, careful advance. Under these cir |