The National tribune., 1902-08-28

accuracy for marksmen at long dis
tances, and its smokeless powder. Its
| greater accuracy for long distances was
neutralized by the fact that the Filipnos
| are not sharpshOoters, and thus the mat
ter was narrowed down practically to the
| matter Of difference in range and smoke
less powder. These differences were vital,
as few incidents will show
A PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION OF IN
FERIORITY.
When In March "Wheaton's Flying
Brigade" undertook to clear out the Pa
sig region, l was stationed parts of two
days on the side of a bluff across two
rivers from the city of Pasig for the pur-
pose Of firing volleys into the intrench-
| ments surrounding that city and into the
tower of the church, which was, as in all
| cases, used by Filipino sharpshooters, if
such misuse of the word may be par
doned. as .f
Between the two rivers was corn
field. With the sight leaf up and aiming
across its top, the longest sighted range
of the Springfield, the bullets kicked up
dust in the corntield. Aiming then some
distance above the top of the trench, the
bullets fell into the water in front of it.
Finally l aimed at the tops of the trees,
and then the bullets just fell at their base
| among the branches. When l wanted to
hit the church tower ! directed the aim
| far into the sky above it. and the bullets
| just reached it. l know they actually
got there, because two days later l saw
| them lying on the ground at the base of
the church by the handful.
While we were thus barely able to
make our bullets reach the Filipino
| trenches and church, and therefore could
fire with no accuracy whatever, the Maui
| ser bullets fired at us in return went sing
L. L
did not stop their flight for another half
| mile or more. Just behind my company
| a man of another company, who was sim
| ply looking on, was shot clear through
| the lungs by one of these bullets, while
ours would have scarcely penetrated ut
ali, being spent when they struck the
ground.
Every time we fred a volley n cloud of
white smoke arose, outlining our exact pO-
sition to the enemy, while ON their side
| there was nothing to guide us as to their
! location except the line of the trenches,
many Of which were not occupied at all.
a photograph of my company firing one of
| these Iolleys, taken by an officer of the
| Signal Corps, shows clearly our disadvan-
| age. Smoke appears issuing from the
| muzzlcs of the guns, and the reader can
understand why it was impossible for us
| 10 keep from the enemy knowledge of our
| exact position after single shot had been
fred.
Quite different was 1t on the Filipino
side. They always constructed their
| trenches in a concealed location, and fired
suddenly upon us at long range. Where
| the bullets came from we could not tell
We could hear the sound of the guns and
"ould tell from that and from the direc-
ion of the bullets over our heads the
general direction Of the enemy, but wheth-
cr they were 4 thousand yards or half as
far again away, there was no way of es-
timating, or whether at the base of hill.
half way up or clear to the top. All we
could do was to fire at whatever place we
| conceived they might be, and keep feeling
| around until in some way their position
was located. Generally as soon as that
was done they abandoned it and took up
another little farther away, to repeat
| the performance when we came within
range again.
| AS our guns did not carry more than
half as far as theirs, and they began
shooting as soon as we came in sight the
practical result was that we had to ad-
vance under fire long distance before
getting within shooting distance for our
| selves, and as soon as we had done that
| and began shooting where they actually
were they cleared out. 1t is no wonder
| TINT. after days of this kind of work, al
ways under fire from concealed enemy
WHOHu IL WAS iiupOsSlDie u TeucU. the vol
unteers had hard things to say about the
criminal stupidity Of the War Depart
ment.
l remember once one Of our Majors
tried the comparative range Of the Ameri-
can yell and the American Springfield.
1t wns at San Rafael in May, in fact. on
May Day. The Filipinos had by that
| time learned that whenever the Ameri
cans charged they yelled, and that it was
not wholesome to remain in their trenches
to meet a charge. After the first few
days OF fighting they never defended
trench Oh any other position against an
assault. When the Americans began to
yell it was time for the Filipinos to be-
gin to run.