Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-09-30
Natives, Used to Small and Swarthy Spanards,
Thought Tall, Fair-Haired, American Captain
Was God-Arms the Natives, Kills Off Irrecon-
cilabes and Brings Peace to Bloody Territory.

| Pershing sailed for the Philippines,
reaching Manila November 2S, 1899.
Meantime, on May II, 1899, he had
been honorably discharged from the
volunteers, only to be reappointed
again June 6 of the same year, this
time as major also and as assist
ant adjutant general.
He did not remain long in Manila.
He was ordered from there to Min
| danao. Four hundred miles south
ward from Manila lies Mindanao,
one of the largest of the Philippine
archipelago, and in 1899, wild, semi
mysterious. Inhabited by savage
Mahomedans - Moros-occupation
tand investment of the island meant
| the vanquishment and subjugation of
tribes than whom none less tracable
ever existed.
Goes to Mindanao.
Black Jack landed in Mindanao
at Zamboanga, the administrative
seat of the government, and located
on the eastern extremity of the is
land December "a, 1899, and from
that time until early in 1902 he filled
different administrative Offices. He
! was in turn adjutant general of the
district of Zamboanga, the adjutant
general of the department of Min
danao, engineer officer, signal Off
Ger, ordnance officer and collector
of customs at Zamboanga.
Meantime he had been promoted
in the regular service. February 2,
1901, he was made captain of the
First cavalry. June of the same
year he was honorably discharged
from the volunteers and then, two
months later, on August 20, trans
ferred from the First cavalry to the
| 18th cavalry.
| Soon afterwards he entered upon
those achievements OF his life which
brought him to worldwide fame.
Part of the story was told to me by
that same General Summer, who
commanded the Second brigade of
the unmounted cavalry division in
| Cuba.
First of all, though, that one may
understand what follows, one must
have an idea of conditions as they
existed in Mindanao when our
troops first went to the Philippines.
Spain, for centuries, had tried to oc-
cupy and invest Mindanao without
success. The Moros, led by their
dattos, or chiefs, could not be con-
quered and subjugated. Only on
the coast was Spain able to secure a
footing and that most untenable.
Pershing's Own Story.
Here is what Pershing himself
said of the MORGAN excerpt from
one of his reports:
Accustomed for centuries to re-
gard human life, including his own,
as of no value, it is no easy matter
to change the habits of the Moro.
When friendly Moro farm 1aborer
kills his white employer for re-
volver and at once delivers himself
up and confesses his crime, knowing
that death will be the punishment,
a problem in criminology is present
GU llldt Is ullHCulC 10 solve.
"Pershing," General Sumner told
me, proved his worth from the
moment of his arrival in Mindanao.
Instinctively, it seemed, he knew
how to deal with the Moros.
HE became an intelligence Of
ficer and, as such, at great per-
sonal risk, attended only by an in
terpreter, made many expeditions
into the very heart of the hostile
country. As I look back on Perish
ings work doubt if another could
have accomplished it.
Awed the Natives.
"Pershing's presence awed the ma
tives. They are small men-a small
people. The Spaniards had been
small-small and dark, swarthy.
Pershing appeared to the natives as
a god. Tall, of commanding fig
ure, and with heavy shock of light
hair, they could hardly bring them
selves to believe he was human.
A god he was to the natives. And
his fearlessness-they could not I'm
derstand it.
Pershing made friends of many of
the dattos. He learned their lam
guage-not so he could speak it,
perhaps, but so he could understand
what the natives said. 1t has been
said that the natives made him
datto. l do not know. But they
did learn to respect him and the
friendships he made among the dat
tos played a tremendous part in
the subjugation Of the Moros."
April 10, 1902, found Pershing at
Lligan. on the northerly coast of
Mindanao, not far from Lake
Lanao. On that day he received,
by cable from Manila, a copy of
proclamation serving notice on the
Moros that resistance to the au-
thority of the United States would
not be tolerated. Pershing was
ordered to distribute copies of this
proclamation. What ensued is the
history of the vanquishment and
subjugation of the Moros of Min
danao-a history which centers
about Black Pershing.
In Heart of Hostiles.
Acting under further orders from
Brig. Gen. George w. Davis, COM
handing the Seventh brigade, to
which he was attached, Captain
Pershing made arrangements to go
himself into the Lake Lanao re-
gion-the very heart of the hostile
stronghold-that he might confer
personally with certain of the tribal