The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1906-03-16
MORO REBELS
BITE THE DUST
Six Hundred Slain in Battle en- Is
land Of Jolo.
TROOPS LOSE FIT TEEN MEN
Besides the Killed, Thirty -Four Ameri-
cans Were Wounded Every Moro
Was Slain.

A Manila dispatch says: An impor-
tant action between American forces
and hostile Moros has taken place
near Jolo. Fifteen enlisted men were
killed, four commissioned officers and
thirty enlisted men were wounded and
a naval contingent operating with the
military sustained thirtytwo casual
ties, The Moros lost 600 men killed.
The attack was made under the
most hazardous circumstances. Start
inly early in the afternoon of March
6, the assailants climbed for dis
lance of 2.100 feet up a lava cone,
the thic&ly wooded ridges of which
furnished the only foothold. The last
500 feet of the ascent was at an. angie
Of go degrees, and the last fifty feet
almost perpendicular. At the top
Were 600 fanatical Moros armed
with rifles, and knives and support
ed by native. artillery. The fortified
crater was almost invisible and seem
ingly inaccessible. At the word Of
command the troops rushed into the
crater and hand to hand encounter
followed
Major General Leonard Wood, COM
gnander Of the division of the Philip
pines, reports as follows from JoIo,
capital of the Sulu Islands:
"a severe action between troops,
naval detachment and constabulary
and hostile Moros has taken place
at Mount Daio, near Jolo. The en-
gagement opened during the after
neon, of March, and ended in the
morning Of March g. The action in
volyed the capture of Mount Dajo, a
lava cone, 2,100 feet high, with a era
ter at it's summit and extremely steep.
The last 400 feet were at an angle Of
60 degrees, and there were fifty per-
pendicular ridges covered with a
growth of timber and strongly forti-
fed and defended by an invisible force
of Moros,
'The army casualties were fifteen
enlisted men killed, four commission
ed officers, and thirty enlisted men
wounded.
Colonel Joseph w. Duncan of the
sixth infantry directed the operations.
All the defenders of the Moro strong
holds were killed. Six hundred bod
les were found ON the field.
"The action resulted in the extermi-
nation of a band of outlaws, who, rec
ognizing no chief, had been raiding
friendly Moros and owing to their de-
fance of the American authorities
had stirred up q dangerous condition
of affairs,
''The artillery was lifted by block
and tackle a distance of 300 feet into
a position ON the lip of the crater.
"Brigadier General Bliss and my
self were present throughout the &C
ton.
The officers and men engaged high
ly commend the Moro constabulary,
who did excellent work, their casu-
altios numbering seventeen out of the
force Of forty-ive engaged.
"IC IS Impossible TO conceive a
stronger natural position than that at
tackled"
Some of the army officers in Wash
ington, who have served in the Jolc
group, say that Mount Dajo, the
scene of the action, is located about
ii miles from Jolo the capital of the
island. Moro Coto is on the very
top Of the mountain. Once before the
garrison of natives was induced to
vacate the place by the exercise of
diplomacy, but heretofore no force
has been able to capture it. The sixth
infantry, which seems to have borne
the brunt of the fighting, was from
Fort Leavenworth, and has been in
the Philippines about a year. The
officers of the general staff fully ac-
quainted with the habits of the Mo-
ros say they have not the slightest
fear that the Moros will try to re-
taliate for the crushing defeat admin
istsred to them.