The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-04-21
MEANS THAT MUST BE USED
TO SUBDUE THE NATIVES OF
 HE PHILIPPINES,
MnniIa, "vouched for as Person of High Character and Unimpeached VerRclfy.
Veracify.

courts-martial which are now being
 held there, and of which you will learr
 by cable long ere my letter reaches you
 One of them is convened in Batangas province to try Lieut.. Sinclair of wan ton cruelty-cruelty, strangely enough not to an ative but to an American
 soldier Just what the facts were can
 not, of course be known, but it seems
 that the soldier, who had been put in-
 to the guardhouse for drunkenness, re-
 fused to be quiet, but sh Juted insulting | things at the officer in command. In
 the effort to keep him quiet, the man
 was, as the charge runs, given the wa
 ter cure,' as result of which, or the
 drink, he died. Hence the court-n1ar- | tial.
 | The other court-martial is convened | in Samar to try an officer, Waller by name, for wanton cruelty to the natives, If these cases are reported to the Unit ed States. your readers will no doubt hear much of the water cure and may
 wonder what in detail it is
 The water cure with other equally
 devilish tortures, is, of course, a means to an end, and it is justified by the
 army because, as a. means, it succeeds.
 What is the end? The administration
 press. ably seconded by Governor Taft,
 is loudly declaring that the natives of
 the islands are, upon the whole, friendly
 to the Americans, but no one, practical
 ly who is on the ground and who comes
 in touch with the native believes this.
 Here in Manila it takes fines of $50 to
 prevail on cocheros to haul Americans
 in their carriages, they preferring to
 haul Fflipinos or Spaniards at less than
 the rate paid by us. From the deck of
 a ship in Manila bay, while still in plain
 sight of the city, you can see the smoke
 of burning barrios in Cavite province,
 and Laguna province, with Batangas,
 the seat of the recommendation policy
 in Luzon, are but afew miles away.
 The natives do not love Americans, and with god reason. An army column, out, perhaps, burning barrios, falls in With a native, He may be Villager tilling his garden, or a fisherman. The Americans demand information as to the whereabout of rifles, the location of insurgent bands in the neighborhood, and their cuartel Now the Tagalog Is by nature and by training sullen and disinclined to talk, and conversation be- comes doubly difficult when questioner and questioned do not speak the same language. The Tagalog knows perhap1 one English word, the universally known "Hello!" and the soldier is equally deficient in Tagolg. Each will know a little Spanish, but not enough to make exchange Of ideas even under most favorable circumstances at all easy. A native, friendly to the Ameri- cans or-God save the mark!-a Maca bebe as interpreter, presents awful pos abilities for mischief
 Now, it must not be forgotten that the native who gives to the Americans information is in an unenviable posi- tion. He is not in Manila, or in a gar risoned town where the Americans can protect him, he is among persons un- friendly to our cause; and the friendly native, when he thinks of the gratuitous cruelty of the American. soldier, may well hestitate before arousing the an- tagonism Of his Filipino neiehbors
 But he who will not must be com pelled to divulge information. The past masters in the art of torture are the Macabebe scouts, hereditary enemies of the Tagals. Soldiers will tell you with | glee of their hellish tortures. Men are tied up by their thumbs; men are pull ed up to limbs of trees and fires l1indled i them, the heat and smoke | submission; men are pound- | ar particularly about the chest. for |
 you'd be surprlsed,' said soldier,
 how few knocks it takes to cause bleeding at the mouth." Punches of f tied at one end have the in- 1ividual rods pushed between the fn- gers of the hand. When the other end If the bundle Is squeezed together the pain Is excruciating.
 But the water cure! If the tortures I've mentioned are hellsh, the water 'ure is plain hell. The native is thrown lpon the ground, and while his legs and lrms are pinioned. his head Is raised partially, so as to make pouring in the water an easier matter. An attempt to leep the mouth closed is of no avail, bamboo stick Or pinching of the nose will produce the desired effect And ,ow the water is poured in, and swal- bW tue pUoE NIeltH must, or SLTd1lGl6. 1 \ gallon of water is much, but it is fol- owed by a second and athird. By this ime the victim is certain his body is bout to burst But he is mistaken, for
 fourth, and even afi fth gallon are toured in. By this time the body be- omes an object frightful to contem-
 late, and the pain agony While in his condition speech is impossible. and Q the water must be squeezed out of i'm. This is sometimes allowed to oc- UT naturally, but is sometimes hasten q by pressure, and sometimes we imp on them to get it out quick" said
 young soldier to me, with smile
 young soldier, am ere boy hardly ten ears out of his mothers lap. I did ot wonder when an officer, in answer ) my question how often he had seen , said, Not often, my feelings too luch revolted' Does it seem possible nat cruelty could further go? And hat must we think of the fortitude of ] le native, when we learn that many mes the 'cure" is twice given ere the ative yields? I heard of one who took
 three times, and died. How often is 1t given? is natural uestion. No one knows. A sergeant i'd nle he had seen it taken by between 70 and 300, by as many as 20 sometimes
 a day: Another had seen S0 An off, 1T saw four, but knew of its happen-