The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-04-03
WANTED-A STRAIGHT STORY
As to the killing Of Women and Chill
dren OF Mount DajO.

uren OH Mount DaiO.
1t occurs to us to suggest that the
various government officials, civil and
military, as we'll as the editors, states
men, and assorted wiseacres who ap-
prove Of the Mount Dajo killing,
Ought to get together an agree upon
a story At present we are very much
in the %quandary in which the Abys-
sinians wallOwed, some years ago,
when the Christian missionaries were
preaching Is different kinds Of doc
Urine to them, each one guaranteed to
be the only genuine passport to the
skies. Like them, we do not know
EXACTLY what to believe. How much
ibatter it would be for all of us if the
advocates and %apOlOgists could pool
their new conflicting and homogeneous
eulogies and give us a neat, compact,
and coherent presentation Of the case:
In The Post of last Tuesday we pre-
scented a sort of symposium apropOs of
the Mount Dajo triumph of American
Iarms." Previously We had published
the official account of the affair. Since
then, we have had two Or three other
versions. They are all interesting, but
they cannot all be true, and that is
where our emotions are OverwOrked.
First General Wood "regretted' or
"deplored" the sacrifice of women and
!children-inevitable because of the fe-
rOcious nature Of the Moro resistance.
Next, we were told that the women
and children had been killed by artil-
Ilery fire from a distance, which, of
course, accounted for everything. Then
lit appeared that the women dressed
like men, and both fathers and moth
ieTs used the babies a. shields, which
made it perfectly plain that, unless we
proposed to increase our casualties
from 16 to nearly 20, the very sternest
measures were absolutely necessary:
A distinguished army officer assured
us that the MorOs are cOngenital
thieves and murderers anyhow. and
to be exterminated on general
principles. Another introduces us to
quite q number of theories, from
which the individual is free to select
that which most powerfully appeals
to his taste and fancy.
1.-The Moros are a fatalistic race of
possessing, as far as | was able
Ito ascertain, but one redeeming fea-
Iture. They will lie, steal and kill,
but their love for their wives and
children is very noticeable.
Il have no idea Of the exact condi-
'tions surrounding the battle of Dajo,
but | imagine from what / know of
that part of JolO that the band of out
laws who were exterminated had built
village in the crater of an extinct
volcano, and having been unmolested
for some time, they naturally were
Joined by their families.
while the MorOs are fatalists and
will plunge into battle regardless Of
yet in the face of their foes they
become panic-stricken and totally in
capable of consecutive thought.
When surrounded by the American
troops and all points Of exit abso-
lutely cut off, the Moros will not sur
render; neither will they quietly sit
down behind Notifications and fight
their last battle with method or pre-
Instead, they will grasp their
knives and other arms and dash about
a frenzy. Their love and tender
ness for children will create in them
a wild desire to save them. Instead
of leaving them in places of safety,
where they would not be mOlested by
the troops, the MOros grab up The
children and run toward the enemy's
lines in an effort to break through and
save them"
Thus, it seems, the Moros are the
most savage and fanatical of fighters,
"yet in the face Of their foes they be-
come panic stricken" They adore
their wives and children. but at the
same time actually push them into the
most perilous if not necessarily fatal
positions. In a word, we have high
authority for thinking almost anything
we please about them, and among their
innumerable characteristics there is
always some popularity which fits
into every conceivable emergency.
They are desperately ~ferocious, Vet
thew are disgracfully timid when cor
fronted by the enemy. They are AMI
mated by the most devoted tenderness
for their wives and children, yet DELHI
sacrifice them to the rifle and
the bayonet. All the same, the laure-
ates of the Mount Dajo victory ought
to agree upon some n definite prop
and let US have it. The our
try is ready for anything by this lime,
provided it will wash.-Washington
Post.