The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-03-14

turned in their arms and given up, and
all the hundreds of lives and all the
| millions of money expended since that
time would have been saved.
There is no possible doubt in the
| world that by this time, more than two
! years afterward, we would have been
pretty well on the way, instead of
lighting with the Filipinos. toward
| fighting the thing out amongst our
selves as to what we would finally do
with the Philippines.
| WAS WASHINGTON AN ASSASSIN?
hope that may be allowed to COM
bat another impression that is alto
gether too prevalent in the United
| States; that is. that the insurgent lead
/ ers in the Philippines are a very high
| type of men, patriots, fighting for the
/ good of their country, and all that sort
| of thing, and that they are to be COM
! pared with the men who won the indie
| pendence of the United States more
| than hundred years ago. I shall in a
] few moments give you a few samples
/ of some of these patriots over there,
and allow you to make your own COM
| PARSONS.
| About the ablest military leader the
| insurgents had was Antonio Luna. who
| was brave man, a good officer, accom-
| plished; and as to the capability to ham
| Gle troops in the field he probably
would come up almost to the officers of
| our own army. This man account of
| his personal courage was gaining such
/ prestige with the insurgents that Agui-
! naldo ordered him to be assasSinated
| which was done at the town of Planan.
| the man being shot down in cold blood
| by the sentrieS on guard at Aguinaldo'S
| door when he stated to the sentry on
| duty that he wanted to see Aguinaldo.
I talked with the late lamented dictator
| himself on that subject, and asked him
about it. He said:
why yes. / had him killed simply
because if / had not he would have
been dictator in my place.
Can you imagine George Washington
doing such a thing as that? lCheers.)
DID GEN. PUTNAM MURDER Chill
DREN?
In the town of San Isidro, where
commanded for a year and half, was
a family of the name of Baya, a Fill
pino family. The father had been an
opponent always of rebellion; he was a
large landowner and had a considerable
family. He had five or six sons, among
them, the youngest boy, a chap of about
10 years. This boy had gone to school
for a couple of years in Manila, but
during the war had returned to his
. home.
He came over quite often to visit me
and talk with me. He spoke Spanish
and wss thinking of studying English
Consequently he got hold of gram
mar and was working away at the
English language, and he came to me
half a dozen times to get some aid
when he would get all tangled up on
some of our beautiful words.
ing a spy because he came over to my
headquarters a few times. One day, a
little over year ago, his father sent
him just outside the town to see if the
crops on his land were ready to cut
It was considered perfectly safe to al
low the boy to go out there; but the in
Surgent chief, Tagunta, had ordered this
boy captured at all hazards, not only
because he was suspected of being a
spy, but also because his father had re-
fused to pay taxes to the inSurgent
government and would recognize no
government but that of the United
States.
This poor. helpless boy, who was as
innocent of being a spy as any one pos
sibly could be. and who in fact had
never discussed any phase of the war
with me at all, was taken by these
murderers, tied to stake and logged
to death; they f1ogged him for three
hours, until he fell dead.
Can you imagine Israel Putnam doing
a thing of that kind? (Cheers.)
A few days later the same chief who
had had the boy hogged and who had
been unable to collect any taxes in the
town, made raid in the town with a
number of guerrillas; he made the raid
and burned about 300 houses and killed
more than fifteen hundred people, with
out any just cause or provocation what
ever, in order to compel them to pay
taxes to the alleged insurgent govern
ment- We had been hunting him for
fully year, and laid for him for many
next time / had command of a de-
tachment that got him, and now he is
with the angels. daughter and APP
plause0
EVERY CHIEF A MURDERER IN
OUR EYES
1t would be impossible to exaggerate
the number of crimes that have been
committed by the insurgent leaders, |
crimes almost against their own people, |
the assassinations of F'ilipinos not only |
those who were suspected of being in |
sympathy with the Americans, but peo-
pie who had refused to pay insurgent |
taxes, men against whom there was no
suspicion whatever The number would |
run not only up into the hundreds, but
even up into the thousands.
There is not a town in the Philippine !
islands in which men have not been |
assassinated by the orders of these men, |
and there is not a single chief, from
Aguinaldo down to the lowest leaders |
of band of guerrillaS, who could not |
be put on trial and convicted of murder |
before any jury in the United States |
downright, deliberate. cold-bIooded |
murder
Aguinaldo himself, tried in any court
in the world could be convicted of the |
murder of Luna, and there is not one /
who could not be convicted of the as |
sassination of men, women and chill |
dren.
OCCASIONALLY A FEW GET
HANGED, OUR STYLE
We had at San Isidro a sergeant of |
ponce named Lopez, ne mao Deen a SOL |
der in the Spanish army. We appointed |
this man a sergeant of police. and he |
was very efficient in the obtaining of in |
formation regarding the insurgent tax |
collectors who came into the town, and |
also in ascertaining the hiding places of
concealed arms. The insurgents made |
every effort to capture this man, but
he slept with our soldiers and they I
found it impossible.
One day he and his wife and daugh-
ter, young girl of about Is years, went
in a small vehicle, about as large as
one of our buggies. to a little town not
far off on visit lessons men were
lying in wait for them and captured
them, and they took these two women
and this man out into the fields and
brought them before a guerilla chief.