The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-05-17
CONTTyUED rRoM PAGE ONE.

Undoubtedly many cases Of melancholia
are due to the indescribable isolation of
some Of the small army posts In the archi-
pelaso. Happily. owing to the recent con-
centration orders. bringing the army back
to the larger stations Of each Province.
over. at least for the present.
But last year. when I Travelled through
the islands. the army occupied between Ho
and 600 posts. Not infreauently there was
only one officer at the post.
The loneliness Of Napoleon at st. Helena
was nothing to the isolation of one OF our
army officers placed in circumstances such
as these.
Social intercourse between the ofhcers and
the enlisted men Under any circumstances
even such as these. Is destructive OF dis
ciplins. and has to be frowned upon. IN
the majority Of the very few towns where
the inhabitants show any education and
culture the Tinted States oflcer was Under
q social boycott.
Never were men thrown moro on their
resources. The result was In many cases
attacks Of acute mania. Of which the out
side world and the unfortunate families at
home know nothing. except when the con-
sequences were permanent and tragic.
All Alienists agree that cheerful surround
ings have wonderful effect upon those who
are mentally infrm.
The percentage Of insane among those
UA0 NWSi vi III IohClN 6hSCP uuo Va
Australia Is greater than can be found In
any other occupation the world over.
Ten years from now. when the statistician
adds UP the figures, we will know what Is
the exact tale Of the losses that are indi-
Gated day by day by the scrappy and often
unpublished cablegrams from Manila.
Perhaps 1t will then appear-and from
what L saw with my own eyes 1 am in
clined to hazard the prophecy that 1t will
that that homicidal mania called running
annuck" by the English is not d popularity
or very disagreeable racial characteristic
OF the Maiays or q form Of religious en-
thusiasm, but that 1t is a form OF insanity
from which the ssundest and most healthy
Of Anglo-saxons Is not immune when he
has been transplanted. with little warning
ana no preparation. to live In Malay lands.
TEEfOTALERS ALSO AFFECTED.
There have been many cases of running
afnuck" among American soldiers and
American officers in the Philippines.
| They have generally been assigned to ex-
cessive drinking. particularly to the use of
the various vegetable poisons with which
our men unhappily have became acquainted,
such as vino in the Philippines and sam
shoe in China, and undoubtedly these poi
sons have done their devils work, but there
are. 1 believe, a score of well authenticated
instances OF where the man who ran amuck
was an absolute teetotaler.
At least one Of these instances came al.
most directly under my notice. and 1 can
vouch for the truthfulness and exactitude
of every detail.
The officer. who lost his life in this in
stance was one of the most promising Of
men.
I knew him well in the trenches before
Santiago and in the lonely station In the
Philippines. to which he was afterward as
signed.
He stood 6 feet 2 inches In his stockings.
was magnifcently proportioned. and was
known throughout the service as the hand
soonest man OF his rank, and there was GER
tainly no one who CAV more certain prom
Use of An honorable career.
He was a student, and It seemed to me
when l left him in one Of the loneliest
Provinces Of Luzon that here was a man
upon whose hands the time would not hang
heavy as long as he had his district to
police. his men to take care Of and his mil
itary books to study.
A few weeks after I left him, however.
he ran amnck in his own garrison and
wounde six men. two of whom afterward
died.
\ The night before the frenzy. manifested It.
self he had shown himself kinder to and
more appreciative to his men than ever be-
fore.
He visited the hospital. and with his own
hands changed a bandage which he thought
the hospital steward had arranged some
what awkwAfdly.
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