Arizona republican., 1909-07-13
STAND
 IF J|k|R| -r....- t.=s Ha Story of the Battle With the
 Outlaw Moro Chief IA SAVAGE ENGAGEMENT
High Up on a Ledge of Rocks Which Guarded the Bandits Last Refuge. His Last Act Was to In
 capacitate a Lieutenant.

Manila, July 12.-While detailed &C., counts are lacking of the last fight with Jikiri, the famous Moro outlaw chief tain who was killed and his band ex- terminated in a pitched battle near Patian on the Island of Jolo July 5, several brief dispatches and letters frQp American officers who fought against the outlaw give a fairly com plete story of the fight.
 Hunted from place to place by regu- lars and the constabulary who had been in close pursuit for days, Jikiri with seven followers, two women and one child, composing his party, took refuge in a cave pierced the side of the crater of an extinct volcano. The mar row hole had two entrances, the prin- cipal one opening on a ledge of rock high up on the steep slope. Here the outlaws gathered to make their last stand. As the soldiers came up the scouts located the party and the troops worked their way around the place until it was entirely surrounded and there was no chance of escape
 Capt. George L. Byram of the Sixth cavalry commanded the attacking force then ordered a white flag displayed and. through his interpreter, called upon Jikiri to surrender. The outlaw leader refused and declined also to ac- cept a safe conduct for the women of his party. who remained with the band and bore their share of the fighting.
 Captain Bryan ordered up the guns and a terrible shell fire was opened on the cave. The missiles broke above and around the opening, but the ledge protected those inside from the fire of the guns and little damage was inflicted. The storming parties then worked their way up the steep slope and gained a footing on the ledge, and attempted to rush the larger entrance to the cave
 The fighting for few minutes was desperate, but the outlaws drove their assailants back by a savage spear charge. The soldiers were not com pletely routed, however, and taking up posts at the ends of the ledge poured terrible rifle fire into the mouth of the cave, the bullets glancing from the walls and throwing showers of SIldTp spllHteTS Ol TUCK dHloiiS lie pc- sieged.
 Accounts of the final encounter diff fer. One dispatch says the rifle fire made the cave untenable, and that the outlaw band finally rushed from the entrance in body to assault the besiegers. All perished on a narrow ledge fighting with barongs and kriss- es against the bayonets and clubbed rifles of the troops. The other yer sion of the struggle describes the na- tives as coming from the. cave one by one to face the bullets of the soldiers. Both accounts agree, however, that they died fighting to the last
 Jikiri himself singled out Lieuten- ant Arthur H. Wilson of the Sixth cavalry who commanded one section of the attacking party. Dashing from the cave, the outlaw leader flung himself upon the American before Wilson could raise his pistol. With one hand gripping the officers hair. the bandit slashed at his neck with a heavy native knife he carried, en- deavoring to behead him. Lieutenant Joseph A. Baer of the Sixth cavalry saw his comrades peril and dashed in. AS JlkfTl swung UtCh liiS hhiS " strike again. Baer shot him dead and Wilson dropped to the ground, cover ed with blood flowing from the gashes in his throat It is feared that Will son will be incapacitated for further service in the army, as the muscles and chords of his neck were severed by the bandits knife.
 Writing of the fight, American of1- cers say that in the desperate hand-to- hand engagement on the narrow ledge some of the attackers may have been wounded by their own fire. In their anxiety to save each other they were forced to shoot quickly and the high power rifles at close range are doubly dangerous as the bullets pioy through several men. Hundreds of Moros watched the fight at close range. Perched among the rocks where they could see the ledge no movement of the combatants escaped their eyes. Many of them believed that Jikiri bore a charmed skin and was impervious to knife and bullets. They were not con vinced that he was dead until they saw and felt the body.