The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-13
MORE WATER.CURE CASES
SERG;T EVANS, EXPERIENCES IN
 THE PHILIPPINES.
Instances That Came Under Ills Ob- servation-Burnins of Native Villages Natives Treated Humanely Except in the Cases Noted--Other Testimony

Washington, June 12.--Mark H. Evans, formerly sergeant of Co. F, 32d volun- teer infantry, to-day testified before the senate committee on the Philippines concerning the administration of the
 water cure to Filipinos on four different
 occasions. He also related the partic-
 ulars of the burning of several native
 villages. All these events occurred, the
 sergeant said. during the year 1900, in
 the province of Batan, Island of Luzon,
 and in or near the town of Orano, where
 his headquarters were. In one case
 the cure was administered by native
 scouts and in the others by an Ameri- can soldier The first case occurred at a little town where there were suppos- ed to be some insurgents. The scouts picked out the suspected people and taking one of them to nearby creek, poured quantity of water into his mouth from a canteen. The purpose in this, as in other cases, was to secure @ confession. On another occasion the witness said that he had seen an Amer ican soldier take two suspected natives into the water and duck them, holding them under for perhaps half minute at a time. He secured a confession in one case, but none in the other.
 After the first case of ducking the vic- tim seemed, the witness said, to be dis abled, apparently so weak that he was unable to rise
 MT. Evans said he had been present at the burning of four or five native villages and that the destruction of these places had been due to the pres ence of insurgents. The orders were to destroy all the native huts along the coast near the mountains for thirty miles in Batan province so as to force the natives to come in and this, he said, was done.
 The witness said the orders to the troops were to treat the natives hu- namely and that with the exceptions noted their treatment had been in &C., cordance with these instructions. The natives had not, on the other hand, shown any appreciation of this consid- eration. They refused to divulge in- formation in their possession and in many cases they subjected the Ameri- can troops to indignities. In one case. he said where two soldiers were killed their ears were cut off.
 Edward J. Norton late private in Co. l., 18th United States infantry, said he served two years in the island of Panay and stated that except in isolat- ed cases the treatment accorded the natives by United States soldiers twas humane and all that could be expected or desired"
 In the isolated cases referred to he said the treatment was not consistent with humanity and the law of war.
 He described one occasion where he had assisted in ''water curing na- tive. The mans mouth, he said was forced open with stick and the water poured down his throat. The effect of the treatment was temporary strangu- lation In this particular case, he said the native, after receiving the cure de- livered up number of rifles and pis- | tols. Tt was the practice in marching through villages" the witness related. | when fired on by the natives to inme- | iiately burn their houses'
 He said that the F'ilipinos regarded | the kindness of the troops toward them | as weakness and became hold in con- also that the general under | standing in the army was that the pol | cy of General Hughes was one of kind | ness and humanity.
 He took issue with Senator Culberson | on the subject of the burning of vil- | ages and declared it to be a military | 
 The committee adjourned subject to he call of the chairman.