Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-05-26

given sealed envelope, with instruc.
tions to present it at the captains
quarters at o'clock in the morning
Inside each envelope they had blocked
out on a piece of paper the words
April Fool. Many happy returns OF
the day. The envelopes they had
pinched at headquarters.
They even went further, for they
decided to get the presidente Of the
town along with the rest. The presi-
dente had been friendly to the Ameri-
cans, and because he was afraid some
Of the insurgents would get him while
he slept we had a member Of the guard
detailed every night at his house
Murphy and Henderson had some diff
ficulty coming the sentry, but their
sealed envelope quieted him.
I'VE turned in early that night so we
would be up in time to see the fun,
for we were uuartered on the plaza
just opposite the captains shack and
were in a position to see everything.
II don't believe I'll ever get over that
sight. It was the funniest ever saw.
About $50 two or three bull carts ar
rived so as to be on time. They were
loaded with all sorts Of stuff. A little
later a couple Of Chinos, followed by
native boys Juggling all kinds of dry
goods, came along and Joined the
growing mob. They came from every
direction.
"All Of them were afraid to knock on
the door, but they didn't wait long for
the captain to appear. When you get
80 or more Filipinos together and in
the gang are half a dozen who don't
like each other. there will not be ST.
lence. Absolutely not. And their chat
tering had awakened the old man.
He broke out Of his door to the rail
Of his second story veranda. He was
In his pajamas, and II ever heard a
white man cuss and rant he certainly
did do it, He scared those Gugus so
that they didn't move a finger
Right at the height of the storm
the presidente appeared. all diked out
In a fresh duck suit but looking like
he was miffed about something He
had a boy going ahead Of him with a
lantern. although dawn was just be-
ginning to show. He stopped stock
still when he heard the captain, and
his face looked like a squeezed lemon.
He was sore all through.
choked off his profanity. He ducked
inside his room and appeared I'm about
30 seconds in his uniform. He called
over the rail to the presidente to come
in, and in a minute or two the door
was open and the presidente and the
captain were shaking hands very for
mally on the veranda-
Meantime the mob below was get
ting impatient, and one old Chinaman
with q long, thin beard-I forgot his
name-pushed through the bunch and
called the captain. In pretty rotten
pidgin English he explained what he
had come for and extended his envel-
ope. All the rest Of the crowd did too.
and the presidente produced his. The
captain took 1t in a sort Of bewildered
way and opened 1t first.
1.-The plaza wasn't an extensive
place, although 1t was about twice as
wide as an ordinary street, but all the
way across that space, with the feeble
light Of dawn the only light in sight,
we could see his face get red. He
looked at the slip Of paper in his
hand and then began to swear all over
again. The presidente looked ready to
run, and the mob below was scared
considerably. Two Gugus jumped on
the carts ready to beat 1t.
"The captain stopped after while
and laughed a pretty sorrowful-look-
ing laugh. He started to talk to the
presidente and we found out later from
the captains native boy that he was
explaining that it was a time-honored
American joke. The presidente
couldn't see any joke about 1t, but af-
ter lot OF explanation the captain
took him indoors and gave him cou-
pie of eye-openers, so that he came out
presently and drove the natives and
the Chinos off.
I'VE thought there would be some
thing doing for us that day, but there
wasn't. The captain might have been
sore, but he didn't let anybody know 1t,
and that night the bull train left, with
Murphy and Henderson in the escort.
was a corporal then and was detailed
too.
I'VE spent a good part of the day
saying goodbye to our native friends,
most of whom were the vino sellers.
The consequence was that by the time
the train was ready to start the whole
outfit of 80 men were all lit up and
happy I didn't like the stuff myself
and let 1t alone, and guess there were
only half a dozen other really sober
men in the bunch when we left.
S"Henderson always was bad actor
and he'd gotten his hide fuller than
ever of vino until he had a rip-roaring
fighting jag. We hadn't gotten very
far out of the town before Henderson
began to curse Aguinaldo and the In
surrectionists. He swore that he
wasn't afraid of the whole blooming
bunch, and If he ever got a chance at
them he'd put them on the run In less
than II would take him to roll a cigar
cite. Oh, he was brave all right, and
the bottle Of booze that he was fight
ing as he hiked aloEg helped his cour-
age out lot.
This was right in the middle of the
insurrection, you see, and we didn't
exactly know how many OF the enemy
might be around. So we hiked as II we
were in the presence OF the enemy.
was marching ahead in command OF
the point, keeping a sharp lookout
The responsibility of a point-a nom
commissioned officer and three men
marching 100 yards ahead to keep a
watch for the enemy-is considerable
and we didn't want to be disturbed.
IN the outfit back OF us the SER
geant In command was having his
troubles, and not much attention was
paid to Henderson. He'd run ahead to
where we were hiking and yell out his
defiance. He'd come running up, curs-
ing the insurgents in Pampanga talk
and English as we'll, and we finally
got tired Of 1t.
One of the men in the point-Kelly
got his nerves all unstrung from his
fool business that Henderson was car
rying on. Corporal, can't we fix this
guy and keep him quiet? he said to
me. | told him I'd fix him all right,
and I got to thinking that 1t was the
first of ADril, and that since Hender-
son had framed up a job on the COM
pany commander something was due
him.
"A short distance ahead the road
made a half circle to skirt the jungle,
and before us was an open space. The
army engineers had decided to cut on
the distance of the Filipino road. when
probably made the bend to take ad-
vantage Of the shade, and had built a
road straight through. The jungle at
this fork of the road was pretty thick.
and the two or three trips had MADE
by 1t had made me believe that 1t was
a pretty good place for an ambush.
II had about decided on my scheme
when I heard Henderson hollering ana
shouting, and ! saw him leave the rest
of the escort and come busting ahead.
Kelly l said, run ahead there and get
in the bamboo and We'll send Hender-
son ahead. When he passes you tire
shot over his head. think thatll nix
him. Kelly ran forward and about a
minute later Henderson arrived and
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