Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-05-21
THE DATTO OF HIGAN
q Chicago Man who Has Great Powes
in a District Under the Sui
tan of Sulu.

can girl whom he had never seen,
Kiram, the sentimental sultan of Sulu,
has issued q mandate and heaped hon
ors upon the head of a Chicago man.
Each day in Iligan in the Lake Lanoa
district of the far-away island of Min
danao, Captain John J. Pershing calls
about him the dusky inhabitants and
5ispenses what little law he has to
guide him. Capt. Pershing is what
Hiram calls a datto. \ datto is a big
ger man in Iligan than the mayor is in
Chicago, and Capt. Pershing is the first
American to become a datto, says the
Chicago Inter Ocean.
The present datto of 1ligan was
formerly a well-known bachelor of
Kenwood, and there he led many a
c~otillon and created many a futter in
one of the smartest circles. He was n
of the eligibles. But he went to war
and now he is a datto as well as a
bachelor. He was chosen by the sultan
upon request of the latter's subjects
and has been given the same rank as
The princes of Sulu enjoy.
To be a datto is almost as interest
ing as being the sultan himself. Datto
Pershing is subject to the commands of
the sultan. that is so far as is commen-
surate with his duty to the stars and
stripes. But in spite of the fact that
the sultan of Sulu is supreme in author
ity, Capt. Pershing is virtually an indie
pendent ruler in his own district OF
Lake Lanoa. welding a kind of mystic
power over the Moros which not even
the sultan himself may boast of. For
Datto Pershing is a white man, and the
pale skin of Americans is an awesome
thing to Moro superstition. He has
been hailed as a prophet" as a divine
messenger, sent by Mohammed and the
president of the United States to teach
them the ways of civilization.
Datto Pershing's councils held each
morning with Moro chiefs are famed
from corner to corner of Mindanao,
and a continual procession of savages
visits the white mans tent. He is
councillor, guide, and prophet for the
entire district, and every conceivable
kind of business, both private and pub
lie, is brought to him for adjustment,
When Gen. Davis, commanding the
department of Mindanao and Jolo, sent
Pershing to Iligan as commanding Of
fcer, he selected one of the most eff
ficent officers in his command to preside
over the turbulent district of Lake
Lanoa. Datto Pershing's levees arr
more like family councils than any
thing else. The swarthy, brilliant-eyet
Moro bellies bring gifts of tropica
fruits and rare-woven textures to lay
at his feet. Their attitude toward him
is one of w%orshipful alteration. Moth
ers carry their children to him to re
ceive his commentator, for it's salt
that the favor of Datto Pershing will
insure a bright future. He lives Of
, terms of friendliness with the natives
and his very unpretentions bearing
= his very apparent attitude of friendli
ness, won them from the beginning
| and they made him their chief office
! when they found that rule with hin
meant kindliness, sympathy and un
Outstanding. Alone and unarmed, h
ventured into the district which h
commands, establishing himself Their
at the very doorstep of the Nor
stronghold. His very GOODNESS wo
their admiration. And when the
found that he had come as a friend
instead of an enemy, it won them ur
co~nditionally.
The savage Moros appreciate gent
Y inc friendship. They know the DAFT
: is in sympathy with them, for he ha
e paid them the compliment of respec'
a ing their customs, and they carry thei
grievances and their difficulties to hir
r as children would to a parent. HI
e rule seems to be absolute without e>
ception. They go to him for permi'
e sion to marry, even persons of distin'
ton showing him this confidence. II
: stands sponsor at the wedding. settle
4 differences between rancherias. and
o Judge. ruler. and friend in one. +
6 rules by persuasion mainly, and tn,
all respect and reverence him. becau.
he has taken the trouble to come
touch with them and to understar
d them. When he sits in council, wit
" the Moro chiefs in a circle about hir
n they hang upon his words in rapt a
t%ention, and follow his requests to IL
q letter.
e So firmly fixed is he in this respe,
that the Chicago bred datto may We
r ture with impunity into any fortife
1t stronghold under Moro comman
- Leaders from all parts of the COUNT
crowd about him when he ventur,
n u of Iligan. He has had ,iudgmel
enough to talk of no religion save the
Mohammedan beliefs, and he quot
the Koran with them daily and discu
ses their own laws better than Il
best informed priest or pundita amor
them. He has placed them upon the
,e honor in carrying out his orders.
His influence is so strong that
n makes periodical expeditions about Il
lake with a mere handful of men, pas
RS ing en- route under the very gates
Bacalod, the native stronghold. We
turing among rancherias where the j
habitants have never seen white ma
and he is invariably received with be-
&c barrie pomp and ceremony. At an o,
n break of hositilities in Mindanao
10 held the North Lake Moros out of t
IL resisting force solely by personal j
~fuence. He makes each native dat
with whom he comes in contact thil
III there is none other who is on quite SUI
&c terms of confidence, nor who hol
quite so important a position in t
eyes of the American commandant
is himself. All who have ever met h
it. have returned peacefully to thu
in homes, and laid down their arms.
III The Phrase Applied.
81 understand that most of the pr
fessors got a trife mellow at la