The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-05-17
SUICIDAL MANIA IN THE
ARMY IN THE PHILIPPINES,

. man who had been detained for some
minor offense.
Then he went to bed. and the next that
was seen Of him. and the last. was the fol-
lowing picture: At reveille In the morning
~ the men FASTENED to the parade ground.
rife balls came zippinE In their midst.
For q moment-but only for q moment
there was confusion. then the hostile IRE,
which had already brought down two men,
wal traced to the Captains quarters. The
First Sergeant took command Of the com
pahy and acted promptly.
II was evident to him and to the men that
the insurgents had sneaked into the town
during the night, murdered the Captain and
intfenched themselves in his quarters. be-
cause that was the most commanding po-
sition IN the o.n, .- :.
the company in small diminishing squads
charged the quarters.
CAPTAIN FIRED UPON THEN.
What was their dismay a. they drew near
to see the Captain, intrenched behind mat
tresses and furniture. firing Upon them with
his rife as fast a. the magazine could be
loaded.
The Sergeant. In imminent danger Of his
life. patleysd with him. but to no avail.
The men withdrew. ana d telegram was
sent to the district commander informing
him Of the strange situation and asking for
Instructions
Before these came. however. the Captain
left his quarters and charged down through
the barracks yard with q pistol In one
hand and q knife In the other.
Six men OF his company had been seri-
ously wounded and several natives. when at
last one OF the soldiers who was lying on
the ground. almost helpless from the wound
he had received, shot the Captain as he
was approaching. with the evident purpose
Of finishing his victim.
The cases Of lingering melancholy. the
symptoms Of which are 30 Suggestive OF
softening Of the brain. are more common In
the Isolated stations. and in those where
the strain caused by a rnof1entarily eS-
pected attack ID not upon the fneii.
Z, For II IL a curious thing that inactivity
and ennui claim more victims than the
active service in a tropical campaign.
However. there are instances where the
constant vigilance and the unremittIng
strain Of command at a post Of danger have
| produced results in the individual which
army doctors are only beginning to recog-
nize and to diagnose with charity.
One man I have in mind was
Captain, commanding a lonely post on the
shores OF Samar. Just before General Smith
took command Of that island and began
his memorable campaign.
The post which my friend commanded
was one of the greatest Importance and
one upon which attacks were frequent
The garrison vas composed OF about fifty
men. and there were three American WON.
en- in the place, the wives and sisters Of
officers. - = s. s...
For four months Captain X. never had
three hours sleep night or day:
Now he would be in the bush. with a
marching column. now pacing about his
poet. that was always under fire.
His requests for re-enforcements were
ignored, or at least they were NOT an.
upon was a Second Lieutenant. just up
pointed. a boy who has since shown the
good stun that is in him. but whose only
preparation for military lie. at that time
had been what he had learned as messenger
boy and clerk in a country grocery store.
BEHAVED 1 A CHILD.
The attacks upon the post. becoming
more and more persistent. the Captain. a
prey to the most terrible anxiety. particu.
larly on the score Of the women OF the gar.
rison, tagged a little gunboat. which by
some good chance came that way. on ths
lookout for smugglers who were providing
the insurgents with arms.
The young Lieutenant in command of the
gunboat appreciated the situation when 4
was explained to him. and agreed to take
the women to a larger garrison severa!
hundred miles away, across the Sulu
where they would be In perfect safety.
The Captain of the post saw them of
and then returned to his quarters.
An hour later he went out on the parade
ground. picked UP some pebbles and called
out to his men to come-he wanted to PLAY
marbles with them. Fol-. ten days his be-
navior was that OF . child OF