Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1910-06-24
4 cnAsTLy p,cTvKE.

There is before us q picture, the hor-
.ors of which are beyond human inn
agination, and the wanton cruelty,
and slaughter it presents are
OF description in the Eng
fish Language. 1t is from a photograph
taken at q point just after the end OF
one of our sbattles" in the Philippines.
Our readers will recall that about the
last ''battle our troops engaged in
was that of Mount Dajo. Very
meager reports Of the battle were ever
allowed to reach America. Soldiers
were not permitted to write its details,
and all photographs Of the scenes Of
that fight were destroyed in SO far as
the authorities conld do SO by strict
censorship in the Philippines. This pic
ture ''got by" Our readers further re-
call that the scene of action was on top
of high mountain where these people
had entrenched themselves and where
our soldiers had to use scaling ladders
and take up their machine guns by
ropes and pullies; they will further re-
call that this band of ''savages" had
withdrawn there, taking all their be-
longings and all of their women, old
men and children. When the United
States had finished the magnificent
work its soldiers had been made to do,
not one, to the smallest infant, was
left alive. So long as life was seen in
any of them we now know they were
made the receptacle of mauser bullets,
not one being left to tell the tale, and
''quiet reigned in Warsaw" The story
of Herod and the first born is as
sweet romance beside the horrors here.
When enquiry was made as to this
conduct, why the black flag had been
raised and determination ordered? we
were told that these were very dan
gerous and warlike people, and that
there was but one thing to do to insure
peace and that was to skill 'em all"
The picture we have before US shows
our soldiers just arrived on a scene,
portion of the bloody field. The dead
lay in heaps. 1t is easy to see the
youth of many by their size, it is also
easy to tell many are women. What
means of defense these half clad sava-
ges had does not appear in the picture,
but it is safe to say that they were
abolos" kind of knife sword, ''mach-
etes" a sort of sword, possibly some
ANTICIPATED muskets, and the National
Museum at Washington shows some
cannon captured from them at that
time. These are little muzzle loading
guns made by the Spanish in the 10th
century, mounted on wooden wheels.
They we've about like toy guns before
our rapid fire Maxims. These people
wee as defenseless when our soldiers
got v thin range of them, after they
had climbed The mountains, as flock
ol quail before magazine gun.
The first question when this CAM
puSu OCEdA was, why !" 90 Az nSS'
sary? " herein had these people in
jured us +? and, why must we extermi-
nate them? They had done us no
harm, save in that fancied harm we
felt after we. invaded their country.
What harm could they do us If left on
that high and almost inaccessible
mountain? The question has no ans
wer. We are fighting no battle for the
Fillipinos. 1t is for our own justifica-
ton we speak. Can any one look on
this picture and not feel that it dis
graces our country. Without justifi-
cation, without reason, without any
regard for human life, savagely, bru-
tally, were these defenseless people
bu1chered, and not the men, young
and old, but the women and children.
This picture is loo CHASTITY 10 behold.
But photography which paints not,
which cuts true 10 the line, shows this
nalicn plunging its arms into blood tc
the elbows, kneading the dough Of
Benevolent Assimilation. Well may
the Black Hole of Calcutta and the
Alamo hide in shame. Well may we
blush when viewing this scence. We
are consoled by one thought. 1t was