Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-03
APACHES OF.THE ORIENT
MAJOR WALKERS REASONS FOR
EXECUTING PoRTERs.
United States Soldiers Did Not Shoot
Islanders in Malice, but as Meas
ure of Self-Defense.
Stephen Bonsal in Golfers Weekly.

hoppeillHS, ana, once there, he has always
got 10 the front. He won his spurs in
Egypt, when with a handful of men, he
cleared burning Alexandria of the remnant
OF Arab Pasha's dissolving army. He led
the marines on the march to Pekin. a
coioneis command, with such distinction
that he was brevetted a lieutenant colonel
IN lieu of the solid rewards which his COM
rades of other nationalities obtained, but
which we do not give,
General Smiths record is equally excel
lent. volunteer from Illinois during the
civil war, he was retained in the regular
establishment for meritorious service. Dur
ing the Santiago campaign he commanded a
pattallon OF the I'd Infantry. On San Juan
Hi ne was shot through the chest. wound
which would have disabled most men for
tIe war: Smith declared that, while it him
dered him little, it was not sufficient to
separate him from his command, and the
nrst-a1d bandage was all the attention
his wound received until the Spaniards
hoisted the white flag. The division com
mander, General Kent, who had ordered
MAJOR Smith to the rear several times ac-
guessed in his disobedience when Smith
made his explanation II couldn't leave
them, general; you see how it was. They
unloaded $50 recruits on me in Tampa, and
wasn't sure-but they're all veterans
now"
His weakness, If he has any, has always
been a picturesque extravaganza of Ian
guage and a bewildering flow of words
which have earned for him in the army to
distinguish him from the other Smiths, his
sobrfquet of "Hell-roaring Jake"
Smiths Rapid Rise.
In the Philippines his success and ad-
vancement have been phenomenal He was
the right-hand man at the front of Mac
Arthur and Wheaton. When Aguinaldo's
forces ceased to exist as an army he was
given the command of Pangasinan, then re-
garded, and justly, as the most disaffected
province in Luzon When Smith was re-
lieved and sent to Saniar 1t was the most
tranquil, and his success here indicated his
selection for the tremendous task In that
island. OF course, he was not very popular
among the half-educated half-breeds who
fawn around the average civil governor
wheedling well-paid positions out of him.
the salaries of which they divide with the
revolutionary treasury. He was hated by the
men inside the lines who sustain the insur-
rection while they furnish his excellency
the civil governor with the material of the
pipe dreams upon which he plumes himself
as great pacificator, which are so plausi-
bic that he sometimes believes everything
WouI- be lovely il only the soldiers (who
are keeping his throat from being cut) could
be removed. ~
General Order 100.
General Order 100" was the answer
when / asked Gen. Smith how he had sue
ceeded And I enforced 1t to the letter
OF course understand why the insurgents
hate me. 1t is because I have knocked
them out. If that order had been uniform
ly enforced throughout Luzon there would
not even be the ghost Of a rebellion today
1nhuman? l think not. If it was not too
severe for our own people at home during
the civil war 1t is not too severe for these
Malays."
These lines are not written in defense Of
what has happened, but in explanation
Maj. Walkers point was well taken, and
every conscientious, truth-telling officer will
bear out his statement that the fighting in
southern Samar after the Balangigan mas
ssacre was not what goes by the name Of
civilized warfare. 1t was simply the slaugh-
ter and determination, whenever the oppor-
tunity presented, of those on both sides
who were capable Of bearing arms and I
venture to say that similar conditions have
produced like results everywhere, even
upon the humane and sef-restrained Amer
lean soldier, whose behavior during the
China campaign was pride and the ad-
mration of all foreigners. 1 shall make no
comparison between what has happened in
Samar and our recent Indian wars, though
the comparison would be an apt one, the
savage of Samar having more of the at
tributes of the truculent Sioux than any
foeman the American soldier has met with
during this century; but let US see what
occurred, what revenge was taken, after
the slaughter of Americans in the Alamo.
And yet it is clear day that the killing
of Travis, Crockett, Bowie and their gal
liant comrades was not half as reprehensi-
be under the laws of war as was the butch
cry at Balangiga.
The Alamo Recalled.
Santa Anna made his attack in the open
day with his uniformed soldiers in their
overpowe ring numbers, after several sum-
monses to surrender had been declined In
the last minutes of the gallant Defense
when our people were scattered in little
punches about the great Enclosure they
were too few to defend. each man fought
with desperation not only for his own life
but because the position he had been order
ed to defend was indispensable to the COM
mon good, and as no one survived it is
quite possible, as Santa Anna always main
tanned. that the quarter which he offered
was refused. Davy Crockett was too old to
learn how to surrender. Here we have the
killing Of fighting men with deadly rifles
in their hands, with which they had already
slain that day three times their number
and in the heat Of blood we can under
stand that it was as hard for the Mexicans
to offer quarter as 1t would have been for
the Americans to accept it. But at Balan-
giga the fifty unarmed men of the 9th In
fantry were butchered by murderers who
claimed to be non-combatants who wore
no uniform, who protested their friendship
and came-the majority of them, at least
into the post asking for work, for rice to
give their women and children.
What was done in Texas in 1886 with the
OF 'RememDeFi lHe AldIuO! the l1pS
of the avengers was done in Samar in
memory of Balangiga-a The historian tells
us that at San Jacinto many threw down
their arms and pleaded, ME no Alamo, me
no Alamo!' and he adds succinctly: 1T was
not the day of mercy.
Heroes and Assassins.
The successes ofrthe, insurgents at Balan-
giga and elsewhere are not comparable to
the storming of Ticonderoga and of Stony
Point. They were not worthy feats of
arms, but the acts of assassins who. while
belonging to the band of Juan Coloneros,
wore peaceful clothes and dwelt within our
lines, communicating with the enemy OUT
side and patientlE awaiting the opportune
moment to strike. For this alone their
lives were forfeit under military law, and
when to this was added the merciless
slaughter of fifty unarmed men and the in
describable mutiIation Of their bodies the
Samarites placed themselves beyond the
pale.
were, first, that he treated as enemies.
without first awaiting hostile acts from
them, all the natives met with in the course
of his wonderful march from Lanang to
n. a,o., southern So poar Rv