| Show iL9 GAPTUR Of AGUINA DO Gen Funstons Report of the Taking of Filipino Chief I I FORGED LETTERS WERE USED iI Name of Eobol Chief Lacuna Used in Order to Deceive the Head of tho Insurgents of Knnsnns Expedition Ex-pedition Was Approved by GCn I I ilncArthur Gon Punston Gocs F Into Details Concerning tho Cnp J I lurcd Correspondence of Aguinnldo I nnd tho Use Made of Ceciamxindo l I i II Washington July 12The War department de-partment today made public Brig Gen I i Funstons report of tho capture of Aculnaldo made on May 2nd This report I re-port presents In detail nil the facts t relating to the capture of Afjulnaldo which was made public at that UmC Gen Funston shows that his entire plan oC the expedition was submitted 4 to the commanding General of tho department de-partment of Northern Luzon and then was sent to Gen SrncArJhur by whom It was approved 1 Gen Funston goon Into details concerninG con-cerninG tho captured correspondence of Aguinaldo and the use ho made of Ccclllo Ccfilsnmndo who had presented V himself to Llout J D Taylor of the Twentyfourth Infantry with letters of Aguinnldo ho wag to deliver to various I insurgent chiefs Gen Funston gives L the following account of the forged I letters which were used to deceive I Agulnaldo Hu un uccouor jaw wnne scouting In tho vicinity of Gapan Nueva Eclja I had surprised tho Insurgent chief Lacuna In his camp and had captured among other things some writing paper which bore his headquarters seal Otx thin paper two letters wcro written to Agulnaldo over fi tho carefullyforged signature of Lacuna I I Onu of thcso letters was dated February Feb-ruary 21 1901 at Bulac f place In lob mountains cast of Itanaranda In It Lacuna La-cuna acknowledged tho receipt of Agul naldoo letters of January 13th nnd llth and thanked him for tho confirmation ot i his Lacunas appointment ns Brigadier L General made soma time previously nt Alcjandrlno I will bo remembered that tho Icttors of Agulnaldo referred to had fallen Into our hands Tho letter in dulged in tim usual rhetoric employed by tho insurgent chiefs In their correspondence corre-spondence and gave a glowing account of tho progress of the campaign from tho standpoint of Lacuna campaf I Another letter supposedly from tho name place but dated February 2Sth was I prepared slating that tho writer had t1 Just received a communication from Bn dimoro Agulnaldo ordering him to send J ono of his beet companies under a reliable re-liable chief to Emollo Agulnaldo in Isa bela In accordance with these orders he was sending this force under LlcuUCol Hlla rio Placldo Tho latter ho stated had been captured by the Americans a year 1 ago and after bis relcaso ho had lived In Jaen but recently had taken to tho field again wheuJordcred to do BO by Lacuna This was Included co tho letter let-ter for fear that Agulnaldo might have heard that PlacAfo had been captured by I tho Americans and had taken tim oath I of allegiance rim letter also stated that Agulnaldos courier Cecilia Ccglsmundo was with Lacuna and would accompany tho column These two loiters were dictated l by me but w < ro written by Segovia Wo wore in possession of a humbeV Yor samples of Lacunas signature nndJiad previously Duccccdcd in executing a Very neat forgery l for-gery of his autograph at the end of each ono of the two sheets a Of the actual capture Con Funston says Tho Macabebos started up Into tho town and we hoard a few shots fired Wo crossed tho river and running up on the town found that the Mhcabebcs were r somewhat demoralized and firing wildly rlnS widly In every direction u They were gotten under control with some difficulty Agulnaldos guard of about fifty armed and neatlyuniformed men had been drawn up to receive tho reinforcements and being llred Into t broke and ran a few of them returning the fire as they retreated Agulnaldo I with ters his officers had awaited In his quar tersPlacldo Placldo and Segovia entered the house to report their arrival and after a short conversation Segovia stepped outnldo 4 tho house and ordered the Macabcbes Ii who hud just come up from the riverbank ii river-bank to open fire on the insurgents who wore standing In line nt a distance of about fifty yards The Mncabobes were HO excited and nervous that their lire was very Ineffective But two of the Insurgents In-surgents were killed the remainder taking 1 tak-ing flight throwing down eighteen rifles and n thousand rounds of ammunition 4As noon at Segovia had given tho i order he ran back into tho houso and opened fire on tho officers surrounding Agulnaldo He wounded Vln fmrrounlhlS brn The latter Jumped out of the house Into the river and was not seen again Villa on being wounded surrendered asp as-p did also Santiago Varcclona Agulnaldos I treasurer The five remaining officers escaped from the houso and swam tho riverPlacldo Placldo seized Agulnaldo and told him that ho was f prisoner of tho Americans At this Juncture the Americana arrived on tho scone and gave their attention to 4 getting the Macabebcs under control and protecting the prisoners from them One Macabebe was slightly wounded by n a gunshot wound In the forehead Ii In conclusion Gen Funaton deals out praise generously to all who had shared I In tho expedition mentioning Capt Haz 7ard Capt Newton LlouL Ilaxzard and Llout Mitchell while especially praising Lieut Taylor for tho discretion he showed after obtaining the Agulnaldo letters Ho also speaks in high praise of Commander Ii Barry of tho Vicksburg and the as I olotanco the navy rendered him |
