Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-01-16


Outside OF the army few Americans
know much about Jolo. They think
of the island as a sort Of mythical
place with a sultan in 1t, somewhere
out in the Pacific near the Philippines
AS far as 1t goes that idea Is correct
Jolo is the main island in the Sulu
archipelago, a chain Of islands stretch
ing between Mindanao and the coast
Of British North Borneo.
The sultan Of Sulu has been shorr
Of almost all his power now and Is
practically nothing more than a pen.
sioner of the American government.
Jolo is a neat, we'll kept little town
with an odd distinctive atmosphere all
It's own. The streets are laid out with
mathematical precision. On the sea
front are the officers quarters and
the clubhouse, with a little square in
front, where the band plays in the
evening to inspire the officers in the
post dances. On the other side Of the
town are the red roofs of the bar
racks.
Across Jolo from the sea front stands
the old gate, the opening scene in the
Sultan Of Sulu." This controls all
approach from the country, and is
always we'll guarded. The sentries
here must protect the town from dan
gerous characters. for 1t Is through
this gate that fanatics who have sworn
death vows in the country must pass
before they can glut their religious
passion on a Christians blood. There
are always two sentries at this gate.
One covers every Moro who comes in
with his gun. while the other searches
him.
The sultan, like all his subjects, was
entirely reckless Of human life. In
human cruelty, in fact, was one Of the
chief characteristics Of old Sultan
Harun, "his excellency Faduca Maja-
sari Maluana Amiral Mauinin Sultan
-Harun Narrasid," to give him his
full title. There Is a story, and It Is
vouched for bv one Of the most en-
inent historians Of the island, that he
used to cut down slaves to try the
edges of his new barongs.
On the memory Of many Americans
who perhaps have never heard Of Jolo
the name Of Jikiri is indelibly i'm
pressed. Never did godfather choose
a more appropriate name, for the very
sound of 1t makes the reader think
of brigands. The story is that he and
three other Moros swore eternal en-
nifty to American rule and vowed in
the Moro fashion that they would kill
800 of the hated foreigners before
they died. The deaths Of scores OF
American soldiers and civilians at
tested to the thoroughness with which
they fulfilled that vow. They finally
met death in the crater Of an extinct
volcano on a sand reef off the south
ern coast Of Jolo.
The end came on the morning Of the
Fourth Of July. UP till that time the
Moros, being so well covered, suffered
practically no damage, but succeeded
in killing three men and wounding q
dozen others. BY the morning Of the
fourth their ammunition had almost
given out. Clearing the path by one
last volley. they dropped their rifles,
seized their terrible barongs and
krises and, rushing down the side Of
the crater in a cloud Of dust, threw
themselves on the troops like a pack
of dervishes. Jikiri himself sprang
at Lieutenant Wilson, seized him by
the hair and struck a deadly blow at
his neck with kris. Wilson would
have been decapitated had not Lieu
tenant Baer just In the nick Of time
shot Jikiri in the head and killed him.
So died the last Of the Moro outlaw
chiefs.