Valdez daily prospector., 1916-05-12
J. J. PERSHING
 THE MAN OF SORROW"

ties by diplomacy is rarity. But that is the distinction accorded Brig adler General John J. Pershing, the man of sorrow of the army, whose beautiful wife and three baby girl children were burned to death Fl a fire that destroyed their home in San Francisco August 27, 1915.
 Many and picturesque are the tales told of this Beau Brummel of the army; a handsome, dashing sol dier; brilliant and bloody in battle, equally brilliant in bloodless con- quests, hero of romance and strife; a linguist, diplomat, scholar; man who won his rank as much through peaceful conquering of his enemies as through daring leadership in mili- tary campaigns against them.
 Pershing and the Philippines are synonomous. It was Pershing, then Captain Pershing of the First, later the Fifteenth, Cavalry-who drew the task of subsiding the fanatical Moros on Mindanao and Jolo. He was given 2,2OO men-and free rein. Not one of those men were sacri- feed in battle. Instead of beginning war of eXtermination against the Moros, Captain Pershing began study of their language. He soon mastered their tongue. He assembled the Moros, fanatical Mohammedans, on Fridays (their Sundays), and in taking tests from the Koran, talked to them on reconciliation with the United States government. In this way, without fighting a single bat tie, he won all but two of the noun tain tribes, and was consecrated Datto by the Sultans of the tribes.
 But with the two tribes who spurned his efforts at peaceful con- quest, he showed relentless, crushing power. Their strong mountain forts fell before his onslaught until forty had been captured and their last stronghold taken. One hundred and seventy-fve Moros paid the extreme penalty in battle for their folly. Only 13 American soldiers were wounded, none killed.
 His conquest in Mindanoa result ed in Pershingss appointment as Ad- jutant General of that island and Job and Colonel Roosevelt, then Presi- dent, surprised the entire army or ganization by promoting him over the heads of S62 ranking officers to be Brigadier General.
 But this promotion came only af- ter bitter struggle that threatened for time to blacken him forever. He had married the daughter of Senator Warren, of Wyoming, year before promotion, in January 1925. The wedding was one of the most brilliant social affairs in the history of the capitol. Angry criticism arose, some charging that the promotion was due to favoritism. Roosevelt as serted that he did not recall at all the fact the General Pershing was a son-in-law of Senator Warren when he promoted him.
 Of his three little baby daughters who were burned to death vixen his wife lost her life, one was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1906, while the then Captain Pershing was military attache at the Japanese embassy; one was born in Baguio, Philippines, in 1908, and the youngest was born in Zamboango, Philippines, in 1912. General Pershing's first fighting experience was against the Indian outlaw, Geronimo, on a punitive ex- petition into Mexico in the late sos. He later fought against the Sioux In- dians in the Dakotahs, served as mil itary instructor of cadets at the Uni versity of Nebraska, and as adminis- trator of affairs in the provinces of Mindanao and Jolo, Philippine isl ands. He speaks almost every mod ern language as we'll as the tongues of many Indian and Philippine tribes. General Pershing was sent to the Mexican border in 1912, and served continuously there.