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Show CAUSTIC CHARGES MAI5 GEN. MILES IN A REPORT ON N . ARMY IN TIE PILIPPMES i Cruelty to Prisencrs, Outrages Out-rages on Natives and Other Salty Accusations; Accusa-tions; Judge-Advocate Davis Replies. "WASHINGTON, April 27. The "War department today made public that portion of the report of Gen. Miles which refers to misconduct of officers and soldiers in the Philippines. Secretary Secre-tary Root has received several requests for this report, some of them from persons per-sons in Boston, who stated that it contained con-tained much matter that never had been brought out in the investigations. The Secretary has held that such reports re-ports were confidential. In order that the officer making them might be free " to make such comments as he desired, but as it was learned that Gen. Miles had no objection to the publication of '4 the report, it has been made public, with a brief comment by Gen. Davis, Judge Advocate-General,- who has charge of all matters pertaining to th subjects referred to in this portion of the report. The statements made by , Gen. Miles are the result of his tour of inspection In the Philippines last autumn au-tumn and winter. Horrors of Concentration. Gen. Miles report on his Philippine , observations is dated February 19, 1303, and is addressed to the Secretary of War. He says that in going from Ca-lamba Ca-lamba to BatAngas, in November last, he noticed that the country appeared '. devastated and that the people were very much depressed. Stopping at Llpa.-he Llpa.-he says a party of citizens headed by the acting Presidente met him and stated that they desired to make complaint of harsh treament of the people of that community, saying they had been concentrated con-centrated in towns and had suffered great indignities; "that fifteen of their people had been tortured by what is known as the water torture and that one nrttn, a highly respected citizen, aged 65 years, named Vicente Luna, while suffering from the effects of the torture and unconscious, .waa. dragged - -from his house, which had been sev-oa fire, and was burned to death. They stated that these atrocities were com- mitted by a company of scouts under command of Lieut. Hennessey and that their people had been crowded Into towns, 600 being confined in one building." build-ing." A doctor of the party said he was ready to testify that some of the C0 died from suffocation. Miles Believes Statement. Gen. Miles says he looked at the building, which was one story high, eighteen or twenty feet wide and possibly possi-bly sixty or seventy feet long. He asked for a written statement to be forwarded for-warded him at Manila, but says h3 never received it, and adds: -I have no reason to disbelieve their statements; in fact, the instances ' of torture In the case of the man Lura having been tortured and burned to death are confirmed by other reports." Concerning the failure to receive the statement. Gen. Miles says: "Whether any Influence was brought to bear to prevent their statement, either by persuasion per-suasion or coercion, I am not prepared to say at the present time." Gen. Miles then refers to other case?, saying that on the island of Cebu it wa3 reported and published in November, 1902. "that two officers, Capt. Samuels, Forty-fourth infantry United States volunteers, and Lieut. Feeter, Eight-eeth Eight-eeth infantry, had committed similar atrocities against the pepple of that Island. "It is also reported that at Laoag, on the island of Luzon, two natives were whipped to death. Alleged Shooting of Prisoners. "At Tacloban, Leyte, it was reported that MaJ. Glenn ordered Lieut. Caut-fleld, Caut-fleld, Philippine scouts, to take eight prisoners out into the country, and that if they did not guide him to the camp . of the Insurgent Qulzen he was not to bring them back. It was stated that the men were taken out and that they cither did not orcould net do as directed. di-rected. One of the' men, who had a son among the scouts, was spared, but the others, were separated into two parties, numbering three or four respectively, and while tied together were all murdered mur-dered by being shot or bayoneted to death, some being in a kneeling position " at that time. "The pretense was -made that they were killed whii attempting to escape, but so far as I know no official report was ever made of the circumstance. These facts have Nen reported by MaJ. "Watts, who investigated the case. Besides Be-sides Lieut. Caulfield. Civilian Scouts Ramos, Preston. Corn and McKeen were participants. Water Torture In Samar. "At Calbayog, Samar, it was reported that several men In that district had been subjected to the water torture. I saw three men who had been subjected to this treatment. One was the Presidente Presi-dente of the town, Mr. Rosales, who showed me long, deep scars on his arms which he said were caused by the cords with which he was bound cutting into his flesh. ' "The pecond man was named Jose Borja, and the third was Padre Jose Diaznes. who stated he was one of three priests who had been subjected to torture tor-ture by the troops under command of Lieut Gaujot, Tenth cavalry; that his . front teeth had been knocked out. which was apparent: that he was otherwise other-wise maltreated, and robbed of 1300. It was stated that these priests had been taken out to be killed and were only saved by the prompt action of MaJ. Carrlngton, First Infantry, who sent out for them. "Lieut. Gaujot was tried, pleaded Continued on page 84 C .... i fr. r. - n ' . f 1 v f , t ? trivi.-.l 5 . ' t ' . ' .ret? i .i ,' . pension f. f ' c ... .-. i, forfiil.. t J.j j er momh ' fr , ti-.e same period, ilia pleading guii.y rreventM ail the facH and circum-,. t'T.ft J t '. ' C :Y- ' ; r.e '. ' Up to llzz-ts to Explaia. "It app' irs that llaj. Cionn. Lieut' Conner and a party of assistants and native scouts were rr.oved from place, to place for the purpose of extorttng; statements by means of torture, and It became f notorious that this party was called u;enn"s brigade. -Whether-it waa possible for o"icera to be engaged In such acts without the personal knowledge of the General upon whose' . staff they were serving at the tlme,f namely Brlg.-Gen. Hughes, I leave for' others to conjecture. "These facta came to my notice In a v casual way and many others of similar character have been reported in different differ-ent parts of the archipelago. In fact, I waa Informed that It was common talk at the places where ofScera congregated that such transactions had been carried on either with the connivance or approval ap-proval of certain commanding officers. It Is, however, most gratifying to state that such atrocities have been condemned con-demned by such commanders as Gens. Lawton, Wade, Sumner. Lee, Baldwin and others. f . Ulles Issues an Order. "I found that with certain officers the Y impression prevails that such acta were Justifiable, and I felt It my duty, in or- J der to correct such erroneous and dan-' gerous impressions, and to prevent the possibility of such acts being committed commit-ted in the future which must impair the good name of American arms and bring ' discredit to our service for all time, to address to the division commander the fellowing-letter of Instructions." Then follows an order addressed to the commanding General of the Philippines, Philip-pines, under date of February IS. 1303, in which Gen. Miles calls attention to the' reports of atrocities, and directs that any orders or circulars of personal instruction which would Inspire or encourage en-courage any act of cruelty, be annulled. The order says that "the excuse that the unusual conditions Justify the measures herein- condemned are without with-out foundation.". Prisoners Mads to Buy Pood. Continuing his report to the Secretary. Secre-tary. Gen. Miles directs attention to the . acts of reconcentration by Gen. BelL' and claims that they were In direct vio- , latlon of law. He says that the law was also violated in handling and buying buy-ing large quantities of rice, which was sold at a profit. The people who were In the reconcentration camps were, says Gen. Miles, "considered prisoners of war, but were compelled to buy food from those who held them, at a large profit," Gen. Miles characterizes this as unprecedented. un-precedented. He speaks of the magnitude magni-tude of the transaction, which involved 21,000,000 pounds of rice and other supplies sup-plies at a cost of $306,320. He says that-"an that-"an extroardinary feature of this transaction trans-action Is the action, which was disapproved disap-proved by a division commander, who assumed command and who turned thf matter over to the civil authorities, and that it has been carried on under an I act of the Philippine commission. ' Gen. Daris Hakes Reply. A reply to the foregoing portion of the report has been prepared by Judge Ad- . vocate-General Davis.' in a letter to the Secretary of War, In which he says: "The incidents which are set forth In the enclosed special report have been -made the subject of special Investigations; Investiga-tions; In some instances these have been conducted by courts-martial and their findings and sentences have been duly promulgated In orders. In others the inquiries have been entrusted to' in- -spectors, or to officers designated for that purpose by the commanding General Gen-eral in the Philippines. Where administration admin-istration action has been called for, as a result of such investigations. It has been taken by the proper military commander. com-mander. It the parties continued within his Jurisdiction; in other cases the matter mat-ter has been submitted to the department depart-ment with a view to the resort to such punitive remedial orders as were deemed appropriate, and these, representations repre-sentations have resulted in a number of courts-mart laL . . Investigation Not Completa "As to some phases of these inquiries the investigations are not yet complete, and a reference of the papers to the Philippine islands or officers who are ' now serving In the United States has been necessary. Whether fhe necessity for any further administrative action, in addition to that already taken, will be disclosed as a result of such- investigation investi-gation can only be determined when inspection in-spection reports are received at the department. de-partment. Gen. Davis explains that the inquiries . are especially difficult because the incl- dents complained" of were not made . known at the time, and officers and soU dlers of the volunteer army have been named to be discharged. Military Necessity Invoked. He discusses at some length the distribution dis-tribution of rice in the provinces of Ba-tangas Ba-tangas and Cavite. which is a matter that has been considered In the department. depart-ment. It is explained that in order to restore civil oroer. and to provision the people in the concentration camps, it was determined by Gen. Bell, with the approval of the commanding General, that purchases of rice should be made by the subsistence department, the latter lat-ter to be reimbursed by the military government. Upon this point Gen. Davis Da-vis says: "The measures resorted to were dictated dic-tated by military necessity; they were undertaken with the approval of the local military commander, and were calculated to meet an emergency of im pending famine in such a way as to relieve re-lieve actual distress without pauperizing pauperiz-ing the native population and without casting the burden of their support upon the insular treasury when public order had been restored1 and the provinces prov-inces relegated to civil control. . Measures of Relief. "As the distress Increased after the military occupation had terminated and the demand for relief continued without substantial abatement the balance of profits accruing from the sales of rice by the military government was transferred trans-ferred to the insular treasary and applied ap-plied by the civil government to the relief re-lief of the widespread distress occasioned occa-sioned by the prevalence of cholera and famine in the provinces of southern and southeastern Luzon." |
