Bisbee daily review., 1903-05-03

cases of extreme cruelty of soldiers towards the natives of the Island.
 Here is an extract from Gen.Miles'
 report which will give some idea of the conditions now prevailing in our
 American colony:
 Tn my journey through the archi-
 pelago was frequently appealed to to aid in assisting the people to obtain food supply. of which they will be in
 great need in the near future. I do
 not think there is today a people SO
 sorely afflicted as the s,00O.000 in habitsnts of this archipelago.
 Their country has been devastated
 by war and several provinces are sui fering now severely as the result of recommendation in the past. In some places locusts have destroyed the crops. Pestilence has prevailed. re sulting in the reported death of nearly
 75.000 people, while it is estimated that the number not reported is fully as large"
 He says that in going from Calamba to Batangas, in November last, he noticed that the country appeared de yastated and that the people were very much depressed. Stopping at Lipa, he says, a party of citizens, headed by the acting Presidente, met him and stated that they desired to make complaint of harsh treatment of the people of that community, saying they had been concentrated in towns and had suffered great indignities; that fifteen of their people had been tortured by what is known as the wa ter torture, and that one man, a high ly respected citizen, aged 65 years, named Vincente Luna, while suffering from the effects of the torture and un- conscious was dragged from his house, which had been set on fire, and was burned to death. They stated that these atrocities were committed by a company of scouts under command of Lieutenant Hennessey, and that their people had been crowded into towns, 600 being confined in one building"
 A doctor of the party said he was ready to testify that some of the 500 died from suffocation. General Miles says he looked at the building which was one story in height, eigh- teen or twenty feet wide and possibly sixty or seventy feet long. He asked for written statement to be forwar.i- ed him at Manila. but says he never received it, and adds:
 T have no reason to disbelieye their statements; iu fact, the instances of torture. the man Luna having been tortured and burned to death, are con frmed by other reports"
 Few officers returning from the have dared to tell of the real conditions. knowing that to do so would subject them to the enmity VI SACAA SuPSAAOiS Wh1SH mSdus very much more in military than in civil life, but Gen. Miles has about rounded put his military career and being at the very head of the army is free to tell of the conditions as he found ihem. Many times since the begin hing of the Spanish-American war has General Miles been snubbed by he war department and criticised by he President, but still Miles continues to occasionally stir up things with his lepunciation of inefhciency in militia y service. General Miles will soon be retired from the head of the army ] Dy reaching the age of limit; he would have been forced into retirement last year had not a storm of public senti- ment threatened the administration if this old hero was disturbed When Miles is free from the restraint of mil itary rules he no doubt will take oc- easion to stir up the war department and the administration, because of its many failures in the Philippines, with a sharper stick than he has heretofore used.