Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1899 — TRAP DEWEY’S MEN. [ARTICLE]

TRAP DEWEY’S MEN.

* ", ‘ ‘ 1 ‘ rl ' T • FIFTEEN OF THE YORKTOWN’S CREW CAPTURED. Ambusbed by Filipinos at Baler, in Sale of Luzon—Gunboat Had Gone to the Rescue of Spanish Prisoners— Admiral Cables Brief Details., The dispatch from Admiral Dewey received at the Navy Department in Washington, reporting the ambuscade of Lieut. Gilmore and his party, and stating that their fate was unknown, caused great concern at the department. Because of the cruelty known to be used by the Filipinos toward their prisoners it will be a most grateful surprise to naval officers to learn that the heads of Gilmore arid the others have not been cut off and their bodies mutilated. Instructions were sent to Admiral Dewey to use every effort to ascertain if the party is still alive, and if so. to secure their release, if possible, either by ransom or in exchange for some insurgents held by the American forces. Gen. Otis and Admiral Dewey have about 1,600 Filipino prisoners in their possession. Aguinaldo’s well-known reputation for feathering his own |jest leads to the belief, however, that he will prefer to listen to overtures for the purchase of the freedom of the Americans. According to Admiral Dewey's dispatch the warship's cutter, with fifteen men aboard, was sent from the Yorktown at night to make soundings near Baler, where a small Spanish garrison had been resisting the insurgents for nearly a year. The object was to ascertain how close to the shore the gunboats sent by Admiral Dewey to rescue the Spaniards could go. The cutter had gone for some time when suddenly three volleys, fired in rapid succession, were heard aboard the Yorktown. A curious feature of the affair is that no reply to the shooting was made by those aboard the cutter, which had a machihe gun in her bow. This leads to the impression that Lieut. Gilmore and his men were ambushed and iwrhaps all slaughtered before they could raise a hand in their defense. Dewey’s dispatch reads as follows: “The Yorktown visited Balor, Luzon, east coast of Luzon, F. I„ April 12, for the purpose of rescuing and briuging away the Spanish -forces, consisting of eighty soldiers, three officers and two priests, who were surrounded by 400 insurgents, some of the insurgents armed with Mauser rifles, as reported by natives. Lieut, J. C. Gilmore, while making an examination of the mouth of the riter in an armed bont, was ambuscaded, fired upon and captured. Fate unknown, as insurgents refused to communicate afterward. “DEWEY.”