Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-05
AMERICA i'm THE LIPPINES
I-PASSTNG OF BRTGANDAGE
By Frederic L HaSkin

he hed to the bosque. AS It CHANGED
that brigand leader had just died,
he proclaimed himself the chieftain of
the clan. He announced that he was
Pope of Negros. He adorned himself
with resplendent robes and wonderful
headgear, and performed marriage cere-
monies which had no validity, sold
antings-antings, which had no virtue.
and baptized the unenlightened in
droves.
Like Papa Pablo" he became truly
great man during the insurrection
against Spain. He had grown to the
proportions of q first magnitude hero
when the government of Negros was
turned over to the insurrectos. He was
wned and dined and made military
chieftain of La Castellana, which
pleased him as much as 1t humiliated
and frightened the educated people of
Negroes He was talking of proclaim
ing himself Ell Presdente when the
alarmed inhabitants of Negros ran up
the stars and stripes and raised a
Macedonian cry for American protec-
tion. Papa Isio" declined to come
in" In due time he was reported to
have been killed by the constabulary.
1t was not a bad ruse after all. for
when he was found alive and captured
and sentenced to death, the authori-
ties decided that Papa Isio" alive, but
moral effect upon pulajans than Papa
fsio" buried, with a second and fraudu-
lent Pope of Negros in the bosque. So
his death sentence was committed.
Cleverer than the popes of pulajan-
ism, and of higher caste, was Cornelio
Felizardo, a ladrone chieftain who
also wore a shirt made bullet proof
by Spanish inscriptions and strange
pictures made with pen and ink. He
was a cruel and relentless murderer
and carabao thief. He was q fugitive
from justice before the insurrection
against Spain. During that insurrec-
tion he was an officer under General
Cailles and later under Noriel. When
Noriel was captured Felizardo made
himself brigadier general by procla-
nation.
After the insurrection he became h
ladrone chieftain and spread terror in
the provinces of Cavite, La Laguna ana
Batangas. Once, in connection with
Julian Montalon and Lucio de Vega, he
raided a constabulary Quartet in CaVlte,
killing an American surgeon and II
number of men and capturing a few
stands of arms. The regular army was
called upon to help suppress him, ana
he achieved the distinction of being
chased by 5000 soldiers. His band could
not withstand the pressure. but Fell
caught, killed and dispersed.
After the band was crushed lone
bandit entered the barrio of Calca, in
Batangas, and demanded food. A VIII
lager forestalled his gun play by maui
ing him over the head with a rice pes
tie, and the neighbors aided in casting
his body over a cliff. The world learned
that Felizardo had been chased to u
cliff and, despairing of escape, had
hurled himself to death upon the rocks
below. The authorities recovered the
body and interested themselves more in
the question of whether 1t was that of
Felizardo than in the question of whose
rice pestle made the dent.
Three members of the band, taken
separately from Bilibid without infor-
nation as to where they were going,
positively identified the body. The last
qualified his Identification by observ-
ing casually that Felizardo had
broken Atooth in the upper left jaw.
Such a tooth was found. The feet and
hands were small, the instep arched
and the left leg SCARED by a bullet
wound such as Felizardo had received.
Identification seemed complete, but
there was a final witness. Felizardo's
mother was summoned. She identified
the body and accompanied 1t to the
grave with much lamentation. Colonel
Bandholtz of the constabulary. whose
experiences with ladrones and puljans
had made him extremely suspicious,
subsequently found that this remarka-
BILE identification was fraudulent. When
he succeeded in tracking down the real
Felizardo two Filipinos detailed to cap
ture him laid down their rifles because
they believed his shirt was bulletproof
They tackled him bare-handed and in
the scuf1e he was killed with his own
bolo.
A book might be written about the
personnel of the pulajan and ladrone
leaders, another about the outrages
they committed and still another about
their cunning methods But some 1900
officers and men are now making them
selves useful in prison Their names
adorn a long dishonor roll in the office
of the chief of constabulary. After the
record of each there might be written
the expressive word 'finish," which is
understood by men of all races from
the Mediterranean to California. 1t
might also be written at the end of the
history of pulajanism and ladronsm--
accomplished under the rule OF the
American flag in the Philippines.
Tomorrow: America in the Philippines
vi: Native Thirst for knowledge.