| Show b THAT FIRST SHOT i S The Omaha Bee reviews one para I graph made by Mark Twain In his ro cent article sharply I quotes from I Twain 3 follows AFilipino soldier crossing the ground where no one had I a right to forbid him was shot by our son try The Bee tells him that Nebraska Ne-braska has a peculiar Interest In this phase of the Filipino Insurrection Inasmuch Inas-much as It was a Nebraska soldier who ilrcd the shot which brought on the I war And then the Bee proceeds In this strain 1 I Is but a lIttle more than two years since February 4 1 1SDS being tho exact date since Private Grayaqn oC D company I com-pany First Nebraska Infantry chill Nebrasku longed three Filipinos who approached i his sentry beat When thor declined to I halt or respond to his chnllenpo he performed per-formed a soldiers duty and tired on I them Men who served in the regiment of which nil NcbrasHnns are proud aproo that for several days maters at tho front had been equally The Ncbrislut boys had been moved from tho waterfront water-front to a station ut Santa M sa which was practically nn outpost The pIcket who Ilrcd tho shot was on actual outpost duty Less than MO yards separated the lines at this point while the Filipinos were apParently friendly enough up to within three or four days of tho beginning begin-ning of hostilities It was evident to all IloBtlte that a clash was Imminent The shot that opened the campaign was not fired wls campnll at a Filipino by ono who had no right Ito I Fipino I to forbid him crossing the ground l was t ilrod by a Bontry In the discharge J of his S r duty and the volley tviucn answers i from the Filipino camp was nn Indorse mont of tho Judgment shown by the soldier sol-dier who declined to allow n suspected Icclned j enemy to pass his post unchallenged Such debaters is Mark Twain has apparently ap-parently become should wait until the becme actor aro all dead before they asSail tho genesis of the drama I IB too easy to confute their sophistical arguments with admitted and established facts What makes the case very much worse foi Mr Clemens Is that papers have been published and are now on I fllo In adepartment h Washington which show that those Filipinos were right then under orders to massacre i every white man woman and child in Manila and nowR any American knowing know-Ing that fact and if he does not know i It he has no rlgh to discuss Itcan still holdup the American soldier JIB a murderer and draw the mantle of sympathy sym-pathy around the wouldbe niurdcrers that were In front of our soldiers at the tIme would be Inexplicable had we not seen that to carry out some part 8U spites C Whole great party in this country are willing now to dishonor their own soldiers and the flag above them In order to win n partisan advantage ad-vantage Apparently 1 Mr Clemens waited too long before he began to take Interest In American politics Most of the men engaged tho war on the Confederate Con-federate t side have been reconstructed It rfcems that Mark Twain never has I tcems and unconsciously perhaps he talC up his Idea of the American soldier of the North and the Republican administration admin-istration I where he dropped thorn both and retired from the war some thirty nine years ago S |
