Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1901 — FILIPINOS SLAY MANY. [ARTICLE]

FILIPINOS SLAY MANY.

Kill Forty-eight Members of Company C, Ninth Infantry. Forty-eight soldiers belonging to the Ninth regiment of the United States infantry were killed and eleven were wounded during a sudden attack by Filipino insurgents while at breakfast Saturday morning. Adjt. Gen. Corbin expresses the opinion that the company’s officers mist have been negligent in the

matter of posting pickets, otherwise the camp could not have been so completely surprised as to lead to such slaughter. The troops were attacked while unprepared by 400 bolomen, of whom the Americans killed about 140. Many of the soldiers were killed in their quarters before they had time to grasp their rilles. The insurgents captured all the stores and ammunition of the company and all the rifles except twelve. American officers in the Philippines fear night attacks more than anything else, and it is common gossip in military circles that they have a habit of withdrawing their pickets at daylight upon the assumption that all danger of attack is then over. In this instance it>is probable the outposts were permitted to come in to breakfast, no relief being sent to take their places. The insurgents, who had probably been lurking for several hours in the brush, took advantage of this opportunity to rush and surprise the camp. Samar is one of the most fertile of the Philippine Islands, and has an area equal to the of Ohio. It was never subdued by the Spaniards, and is in a very wild and uncultivated state. The natives near the sea are all friendly and recent reports indicated that there were only about 350 insurgents in Samar.