On the seventeenth day of May the Thirteenth Regiment and two battalions
of the 23d Regiment went on board the Spanish transport, "Leon," and
sailed for the Island of Jolo.
I was a member of one of the battalions of the 23d. We boarded the
"Leon" under a Spanish crew and sailed under the Spanish flag. The
"Leon" was a large vessel of rapid speed, and made the run from Manila
to the Island of Jolo in a little more than forty-eight hours, a
distance of 800 miles south of Manila. Land was in sight almost the
entire voyage. We passed through straits and seas, by Iloilo on the
Island of Panay, Cebu, Negros Island, through the sea of Jolo to
Zamboanga on the Island of Mindanao, and to Jolo. The group of islands
forming the Sulu Archipelago is the southern islands of the Philippines.
The "Leon" sailed into the Jolo Bay in the evening on the nineteenth of
May. A large force of Spanish soldiers was stationed in the town
performing garrison duty. Our force was to relieve them, and they were
to return to Spain on the transport "Leon." On the twentieth of May we
went ashore. The Spanish soldiers seemed to be very glad to be relieved
and return to Spain.
The garrison was short of rations, and the soldiers were living very
hard when we relieved them. These Spanish soldiers were the last who
left the Philippines for Spain.
We were landed in small boats, which could not carry very many men. The
boats were rowed by Chinese. All supplies have to be carried in by these
small boats. It is a very slow and tedious piece of work to land the
contents of a large ship, and requires several days to do the work.
Captain Pratt was in command, and Company E was ordered out to the block
house, which stands about one thousand yards back of Jolo, and towards
the mountains. A guard detail was made out, and the Spanish soldiers
were relieved. I relieved the first Spanish of his post at Jolo. When I
approached him he began to speak in Spanish and tried to make me
understand what, I supposed, were his orders he was turning over to me.
I could not understand him, and told him to go. Of course I had enough
orders without his, if that was what he was trying to explain to me.
The Spanish went to work with a rush getting everything ready to leave.
They had been there for a long time. I learned that the commanding
officer, who was an old man, had been there twenty-eight years. In the
evening at two o'clock the Spanish flag on the block house was hauled
down by the Spanish soldiers and the Americans unfurled to the breeze
the Stars and Stripes. The Spanish seemed to be very much grieved, the
officers wept; the Americans were jubilant. Everything passed into our
hands, and the various responsibilities of the place with all its
dangers also passed to us. The natives, who belong to the Mono tribe,
are treacherous. We knew nothing about them and their intentions. Guards
were put on duty at once, six being around the block house so that a
Morro could not get in if the attempt were made to enter it, and thus
made it a place of security to our troops. The Morros a few years ago
massacred more than one hundred Spanish soldiers in the block house
Astora. It was a cruel and treacherous piece of cunning of savage
barbarians. The Morros had been warring against the authority of Spain,
and causing the Spanish troops much trouble. At last apparently tired of
rebelling, the Morros agreed to make peace with the Spanish. According
to an ancient custom of the Morros, when making peace with an enemy they
would give pearls or some other gift to their enemy. The captain of that
Morro company was going to make peace, according to this custom, and
taking some fine pearls and a body guard of one hundred of his men he
entered the enclosure where the Spanish soldiers were lined up in two
columns with unloaded arms to receive them. The Morro captain and his
body guard marched between these lines, and as the guard neared the
Spanish captain the Morro advanced with his pearls, and getting near the
Spaniard instead of giving him the pearls he quickly drew his sword and
dealt the Spanish captain a death blow. The Morros, who understood the
prearranged treachery, opened fire on the Spaniards, who were helpless
with unloaded guns, and the entire garrison of more than one hundred men
was massacred except one man, who, in the noise and consternation,
succeeded in crawling into a sewer pipe, and through it into a big
stream of water, and escaped without injury. The Morros gave the Spanish
a great deal of trouble, probably as much as any other tribe of the
Philippines. The Morros have a bad record. I believe that I had rather
fight the other tribes than the Morros; they are more treacherous than
other tribes. They go armed all the time with the bolo, a large knife
carried in a wooden scabbard. From the oldest man down to little boys,
they all carry the bolo or a big knife. I have seen old men, so feeble
they could scarcely walk, carrying a fine bolo. They will not part with
them day or night, but keep them as their only friend, refusing to let
any one take them from their hands to merely look at them. These arms
are very fine, and range in cost from five to fifty dollars. They are
manufactured of the very finest steel, the handle of many of them is
made of silver and finely engraved. The edge is kept very sharp. The
blow of this dangerous weapon is generally enough to kill a man. I was
informed that a Morro never struck his enemy but two blows with his
bolo, one on each side; if that did not disable him the Morro would run
for his life.
A steel armor is worn by a few of them, to furnish protection to their
bodies. But most of the tribe would rather risk their life than wear
anything, even clothing. Only a piece of cloth is worn around the waist
and loins. In this piece of cloth is carried a box containing a stuff to
chew called beadle nut. Only the married men are allowed to use this, as
they have a law prohibiting its use by the single men. It is a soft
green nut growing on a tree which looks very much like a hickory tree. A
piece of the nut is placed on a leaf, which is always carried in the
chewing box, and some salve is also placed on the leaf, then the piece
of nut and the salve is rolled up in the leaf, and the chew is ready for
use. The married men can be very easily distinguished from the unmarried
ones simply by the use of this, which makes the chewer's mouth as red as
red paint and the teeth black. The teeth of the single men are very
white, but just as soon as one marries he begins chewing beadle nuts,
making his mouth red and teeth black in a few days. Their marriage
customs are not exactly like ours in America. A Morro can marry a woman,
or buy one for a price ranging from fifty dollars up to one hundred and
twenty-five dollars. After marrying a woman or buying one, if she
doesn't suit her husband he doesn't have to wait for a court to set
aside the marriage, but can simply let her go and proceed to get another
in the same manner.
The men are prohibited from having a plurality of wives at one time, but
are allowed to have just as many as they desire, simply getting rid of
one and then getting another.
The women wear big legged trousers, which only reach down to the knees.
Sometimes women are seen with more clothes on, but they look as if they
were torn almost off. The clothing of both men and women is worn out
before they ever change. A few who lived in the towns wore more clothing
than those in the country. The men wore pants which seemed to cling to
the skin, they were so tight. Those in town were no cleaner than
outsiders. They get so filthy and slick that an American can smell one
as far almost as he can see. The more clothes a Morro wears the filthier
he is. Those wearing no clothing, except the girdle around the loins,
are the less filthy. Nothing is worn on the head and feet.
Leprosy is a common malady, as well as numerous other diseases of the
skin. All of which doubtless arises from the filthy habits of the
people. Doby itch is very common. It is a very bad skin disease, and
hard to cure when it gets a firm hold, and will have fatal results in a
few years in that warm climate. One doctor said that it would require
three or four years' careful treatment to cure an acute case of doby
itch in another climate.
Almost every day I saw a bad case of it. The legs will become swollen,
and large knots and tumors cover them until walking is extremely
painful. It is easy to contract doby itch. About two weeks after I
reached Manila the first time, I discovered a small sore spot on my leg,
which looked like ringworm. I was informed that it was doby itch, and
that I should have it doctored before it spread. I began to treat it,
and it itched seemingly to the bone, and began to scatter. I would wake
at night scratching and clawing the itching spot, and lie awake for two
and three hours. I had to trim my finger nails closely to keep from
ruining my leg scratching it. It continued this way for several days
before I checked it. Many of our soldiers had a similar experience,
some of them much worse than mine. I guarded against it afterward, using
all the precaution I could to avoid it. A friend of mine who enlisted
when I did, caught a severe case of the doby itch which kept him in an
almost helpless condition for eight months. He was finally discharged
for disability, a wreck for life, without anything but a small pension
of about eight dollars per month.
To the Morros again. There is a class whose religious teaching is that
when one of them kills seven white men he will go to a better country
when he dies. He thus makes sure of his entrance to what is heaven in
their religious belief.
The Americans soon learned to distinguish one of this class, and watched
them very closely. One of them will not wait for much of a chance to
kill a white man, but will make his chance to do his deadly work. I have
seen a great many of them, and know that they attempted to kill our men
on duty as out-posts. They would not have any guns and would go to the
walls of the fort and try to scale them to get to the Americans and kill
them with bolos. Without trying to kill them the soldiers would shoot
towards them to drive them away. When one of their number dies the grave
is dug one day and early the following morning the funeral begins. Every
one carries something to eat, a big bottle full of beno (a native
beverage) and a bottle of whiskey. Four men carry the corpse on two
small poles, all the others fall in behind in column of twos and then
they proceed to the graveyard, drinking their beverage and enjoying
themselves. The crowd stays at the graveyard all day, and drink and
carouse until they are well filled with liquor, and all get drunk. This
is the program every time one of them is buried. It is a big picnic for
them.
Once a year regularly they prepare some of the best rations they have
and carry them to the graves and leave them there through the night,
believing that these are enjoyed by the dead. I learned that this was an
ancient custom of theirs, having been learned probably from the Chinese.
The Morros seem not to care for anything, not even for life. A large
number, probably two-thirds, never had any home. They did not know where
they would go, and seemed not to care.
Some of the islands had two or more tribes of negroes, who would have a
governor to each tribe and make laws for themselves. If natives of one
tribe crossed the line into the territory of another and stole fruits,
cocoanuts, of anything else, and the injured tribe could catch the thief
or thieves, their heads were cut off and their bodies left on the spot.
This is according to their laws. Beheading for theft, and leaving the
bodies where they were beheaded. I have seen five or six in this
condition two or three times.
One tribe would sometimes array itself against another for battle and
fight till great numbers of them were killed. Our troops stopped several
such battles by going out where they commenced to fight. As soon as we
would arrive they would stop fighting, and there seemed to be an end of
the trouble between them. They appeared to be in great fear of our
guns. They have a few old rusty guns, which are only used to fight
enemies of other countries; never using them to fight each other with.
When General Bates made a treaty of peace with the Sultan of Jolo, the
sultan was received by General Bates the first Sunday in May, 1900; we
were drawn up in line and presented arms to his excellency. The sultan
was to maintain peace on the island of Jolo, for which he was to receive
500 dollars Mexican coin every month. We presented arms to him, and were
forced to treat him with great honors. I can assure the reader that for
myself it would have been more pleasant to have gone out to meet him on
the battlefield, and when I speak thus I feel safe to make the assertion
that many more were of the same disposition.
After these formalities were over I had opportunity of examining the
guns of the sultan's body guard, also the ammunition. The guns were so
rusty that I would have considered it safer to be shot at by one of them
than to shoot the gun. The barrels were almost closed with rust.
A lot of the bullets were wrapped with cloth, and stuck in the shells.
Some of the bullets were loose, and some were driven in very tight. All
of the shells had the appearance of being in use a long time, and that
they had been fired as many times as they would stand.
A man was taking his life in his hands to go out into the country alone.
Many people have been killed in this way. There is a tribe that would
cut off a man's head for amusement, or to see how it looks.
Guards were kept on duty all the time, and no American was permitted to
go outside of the wall without having a pass. This was kept up for a
long time after we went to Jolo, and was then restricted to one thousand
yards from the fort, and no less than four men together. The Morros gave
us very little trouble, doubtless the result of extreme caution. They
never had an opportunity of making any demonstration, so it is uncertain
what they would have attempted had the opportunity been given them. They
are too treacherous to be trusted about anything whatever.
They have very little knowledge of firearms; probably the only guns they
ever had, and also those of the sultan's body guard, were old, worn-out
guns given or sold to them by the Spanish. With our improved rifles I
believe that one man could withstand the attack of twenty of them armed
with bolos, that is to say, were the American in some fortification, and
opened fire on the Morros when they came in his range. They, of course,
would not fight in this way, their method being one of sneaking
treachery. They slip up behind the unsuspecting victim and behead him
with their bolo.
I was anxious for them to engage the Americans in a fight. I desired to
know something more of their methods, but they seemed not to care to
fight us. They are a wandering people, seemingly with no definite
purpose. As night suits their sneaking better than open day time they do
as much traveling, or more, in the night than in the day time. They
could be seen on the hills around Jolo with torches moving about all
night. When we first went to Jolo and saw these torches at night we
thought they were signals, and close watch was kept on their movements.
They evidently made some preparations for resisting us at first, and
stored away such arms as they could obtain, for later I saw twenty-eight
new Mauser rifles hidden in an abandoned house on the beach. Another
soldier and I secured a pass and went, at the risk of our lives, beyond
the limit of our pass, and on this outing discovered the hidden Mausers.
We went up the beach about fifteen miles, and went into two towns where
there were a great many Morros. We watched their movements very closely,
and kept at some distance from them, and never bothered anything or any
one. They watched us very closely, and acted to us very strangely, but
made no effort to get near us. We were a little frightened and thought
it safer to get away from them, when we started on our return, the
nearest and quickest route that we could. Our pistols were no doubt the
instrument of keeping them away from us, and at the same time tempted
them to kill us to secure them.
Some of the soldiers were afterwards killed, and their guns and
cartridges taken. It was very dangerous for two or three men to be out
in the woods away from any help. In the mountains of Jolo and Mindanao
are wild cannibals, who would kill and eat a white man should he be
found in their midst. We were not allowed to go out in the mountains,
but the places where we were prohibited from going by orders of the
commanders were the places most desirable of all for us to slip out and
go to. The dangers to us by going out were only fascinating rather than
hindering.
It was my belief while there that the natives were gathering up and
storing away arms and ammunition preparatory for resisting the Americans
when they thought the proper opportunity was offered. The guns I saw
hidden in the house on the beach, and many other things, led me to this
belief. They claimed to have some big guns posted back in the mountain.
Whether this was true or not I am unable to say, for we never went to
ascertain the correctness of the story. While stationed at Jolo a vessel
arrived loaded with ammunition for the sultan. It was discovered and
taken into custody by the custom house guards.