Had they
then entered the town, they would not have found any women, children
or non-combatant men to kill for the reason that all such persons
had been sent away some time before. The town was burned, in part,
but by the Insurgents themselves. They fired the church and a great
orphan asylum, and did much other wanton damage.
Being able to speak from personal observation as to the occurrences of
that day, I sent a long cablegram direct to the _Chicago Times-Herald_
stating the facts. After my return to the United States, President
McKinley was kind enough to say to me that if there had been no
other result from the visit of the first Philippine Commission to the
islands than the sending of that cablegram, he should have considered
the expense involved more than justified. He added that the country
was being flooded at the time with false and slanderous rumours,
and people at home did not know what to believe. The statements of
army officers were discounted in advance, and other testimony from
some unprejudiced source was badly needed.
On April 2, 1899, Colonel Denby arrived, and our serious work
began. The fighting continued and there was little that we could
do save earnestly to strive to promote friendly relations with the
conservative element among the Filipinos, and to gather the information
we had been instructed to obtain.
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