[13] Volume v., Philippine Reports.
[14] Mr. Garfield was President Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Interior.
Chapter XX
Governor Ide—1906
The Tariff is a local issue.
General W. S. Hancock.
After Governor Wright left the Islands finally on November 4, 1905, Vice-Governor Henry C. Ide acted as Governor-General until April 2, 1906, when he was duly inaugurated as such. He resigned and left the Islands finally in September thereafter.
All through 1905, Governor Curry, as Governor of Samar, which is the third largest island of the archipelago, wrestled with the Pulajan uprising there, aided, as has been stated in the previous chapter, by the native troops, scouts, and constabulary, and also by the regular army. But at the end of 1905 “the situation” was not yet “well in hand.” Since his election to Congress in 1912, Governor Curry has told me that in 1905 many thousands of people of Samar participated actively as part of the enemy’s force in the field during that period. By the spring of 1906 Governor Curry was getting a grip on the situation, and in the latter part of March of that year, some of the main outlaw chiefs agreed to surrender to him. The report of Colonel Wallace C. Taylor, commanding the constabulary of the Third District, which included Samar states[1]: “After several weeks of negotiating, during which time the camp of the Pulahanes was visited by Governor Curry, and the Pulahan officers visited the settlement at Magtaon”—a settlement in south central Samar—“an understanding was arrived at by which the Pulahanes were to surrender, March 24, 1906. Instead of surrendering as agreed, the Pulahanes, commanded by Nasario Aguilar, made a treacherous attack on the constabulary garrison on the day and hour appointed for the surrender.” The constabulary numbered some fifty men, the pulajans about 130. After the pulajans opened fire they made a rush on the constabulary and a hand-to-hand fight ensued. Colonel Taylor’s report continues:
After the first rush the fighting continued fiercely, and when the last of the pulahanes disappeared there remained but seven enlisted men of the constabulary able to fight. Seven more were lying about more or less seriously wounded and twenty-two were dead. Captain Jones received a bad spear thrust in the chest early in the fight, but fought on, regardless. Lieutenant Bowers received a gunshot wound through the left arm, which, however, did not put him out of the fight. Thirty-five dead pulahanes were found on the field and eight more have since been found some distance off. The number of wounded who escaped cannot be determined. The unarmed Americans present with Governor Curry escaped to the river and afterwards rejoined Captain Jones who armed them.