WAR STORIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 59, 10 March 1915, Page 10

WAR STORIES.

JIKIRI'S LAST-HGHTk-

r PAUL \U ALPISER4.

(The American Government has had a good deal of trouble with Moro; outlaws in the Philippine Islands, but none-jof these gentry had a record equalling-that of Jikiri, who was here, there, and everywhere, defying ail attempt? at capture. He committed every crime in the calendar and created a veritable reign of terror, until at lact t'ae> soldiers "rounded him up" in his eeimingly inaccessible lair —a cave :n the crater of an extinct ToJcanc. Here there took place a desperate night battle, as described in this story, which resulted in the.extei> inination or this human fiend ariJ.all his men. In compiling tlw "narrative Mr. Alpieer has had the valuable assistance of Colonel C. C. Walcutt, juu., Acting Chief of t:i? BureauTdi Insular Affairs, War Department, Washington.)

When the Spaniards held the Philippine Islands thvy had continual trouble with Moro pirates and outlaws, and made_ praciically no headivay against them. "With the coming of the American dominion a systematic campaign against theee iandits was instituted, but -for a long time the authoritras able to accomplish very little: the hundreds of scattered islands offered innumerable hidingplaces for the pirates: the fastnesses of the impenetrable gave shelter to the outlaSs. Still the Government persevered, and one by one the outlaw chiefs and pirate leaders vere_ stamped out and their bands dispersed, though not without infinite difficulty andmuch lore of life. ~ I " .' So far as boT3ness and cunning the last bandit "rounded uj£™eno— undoubtedly the mcsT "notable "of all the "VTtirn t ha Atthpt-itoit iTfivprn-" mem has had to deal with. He had. ■srithout qirestlon, been guilty of many crimes long before his identity had been established, but by November, 1907. the pißage and murder, and the authorities had vowed to brinjr him to book. Thereafter he was hunted persistently by soldjsrs of the regular army, and by the Rnllipine scouts and constabulary. Almxst captured a score ot tini'es, he escaped again and again, until he eventually became a veritable nightmare. Jlkiri was here to-day, and to-morrow many miles distant He Hesitated at no cpjine in the calendar: robbery, arson, pfllage, rapine, torture, death —all proceeded from tlie hande of thie monsrer. Ec rerrified not .only "the peaceful naf.vee, but all white, men and foreigners living in isolated parte of the Sulu district, and algj) In Southerns■ Mindanao- and "the islands adjacent thereto.. His outrages were so frequent that the Americans and foreigners became much alarmed, and- demanded military protection.

ZThe governors of the several districts I eefit out pursuit parties and called on ] each other for help. The civil government asked the military government for ' assistance in exterminating Jikiri; the mttitary government complained that the civil government had withdrawn the armed cutters that formerly patrolled the Snlu Sea,., arid called on the naval commander for assistance. Tinally about July. 1909. .Captain Byram set- out from .Tolb with- the gun■bokts Axayat and Parairua, and the lannches Sabah. Nashville. Atalanta, Point, and Jewel, carrying detachments of -the- Sikifi - Cavalry. --a machine-gun section, a section of Battery E, Second Field Artillery, and a defachmeiil of the hospital corps. Captain Signor, of the navy, was in command bi~lhe~ sailors.

Captain Byram located Jikiri on the island of Patian, which is of volcanic origin, and covered with a dense growth of- brush. Tie island is, in fact, an extinct volcano, perhaps a thousand fefit high." The crater is about a taoasajid yarii in diameter at the top, and". alront rafttr hundred feet deep. The bottom is practically 2t sea level. The. outside slope of the mountain is quite 6teep. but tae inside walls are much more so, b?:ng so precipitous as to make | climbing, even by an agile, unencum- I fcered psEcn, very diffienlt.- - - - Jildri's hiding-place was a <le?p, Toomy cavern jn- the inner wall of t'ue

crater, and -sloping uptsjazd>raoout three hundred ieet from tic top. 3-he cavern, had entrances, opening- oat upon a ~ledge~ of stone, along the outer edge of wnieh the outlaws 3iad up a strong breastwork. Their ehelter was protected from above JjjSTanotlief" overhanging eheif of stone, ftcm which it was impossible to reach *ny of the openings. SVom the tave th<; crater-wall sloped •haxply downward to a precipice not fax helow. The position of the outlaws was certainly a strong one, and might 3KeH have been considered impregnable. Captain Byram now learned positively ■finrfc the outlaws had gone into the carern. as is to eayi as ianatical Slohainniedans fchev had. swam to destroy asr~maiiv_ Chrisbefore^Taeing- * .killed; fifenisfireßj.wiieh'-made £h«h <|oublj~fors thje Moro- -character i Byram wse^certain'Jikiri flndj3i>3 men-^oaW,-at—a-.—favourable moment,. make -a- raea-with » view to;

dorng-aa much barm zs tSey could, and then, escaping to the buehl ~ -

Captefifßyram -farther "realised that this meb would in ail profcabflitv occur ■t night, when the outla-we would crawl from the cave one at a time, worm their end, -when near enough, suddenly burst npon tie with their * deadly "barongs." If fhis were permitted, in •fl probability a number of the eoldiere ■sconld be MHed and eojne of the outJssis escape. Tie eastain_.there£ore decided, cost wiat it might, to boiaiy charge the lair of the bandite, and endeayour te extermin-ite them. Immediately ;qn—rEaehingv Patian; a force of iiifcy eoWiers hed been posted arouad the caver-the machine-gun was got into action, and for two days and nighto a continuous fire was directed into -jhe caye. This fire was hotly responded to by Jiidri-and his men" and one soldier was filledEvery there-would rise on tSe afrtne bideous'MoVo yell adopted by iheZ- -""00-00-ali,- —Jikiri '. '■' DnringTEf nTglit~Uiis terrible cry, aided by vicaduS "hordes' 'rhbsnuHoes and sheets of tropica! rain, drove all possibility of sleep from the minds of thy besiegers. Lieutenant' Blank, a yowng soldier not

long out of 'West Point, was in com

jnand of tlie-'niountam"gTln"l)elonging'to Sattery-Eof the Second Field".Artillery, end tbe belief that he could make-goad cpatrtuy-to ■the opinSßn fit Castajn_ Byxaie. : He pferfectiy trfDing to.-l** Ws cAorainite l»-«!0!aI4-do,4old m-Beutenmitettr£c>"a}Ba4, :r ,

This was no easy job, and the lieutenant, after closely inspecting the inner slope, would have backed out if he "catiTdrbut"*h'6 felt "that" The guru _ which—weighed,.a thousand pbtfhds,* had to ' beT'hahdlea" with "block and tackle, but was finally got into position and_.tr.ained_j3n _tUe_ca.Te, not fifty fe_et-;digtantr~ officer; was..about-tCK-.-fiire-.bis-.first round, how-' everi three -of *his~Tn.en were wounded bv-a3diicharge-gf ,J bslck-shot from the outlaws.. .........;....•:.

; . position. the-pia<se-:beiiig'sp.-Bteep--that Lieutenant Blank was compelled to fix the tackle to the gun and then to a tree on a protruding ledge overhead. Even then, when U.. turned overj. backward leaps it badly bruised a sergeant. To make. .matters worse, it had to. ia operated, in the-open, without any protection • whatever for the gun-ners.—-The— the-"soldiers k*l>t ■down-Che fire of The outlaws-somewhat.-hut when the signal was given 7br another shot froni the gun, the soldiers had to withdraw for fear of the bursting shells, thus leaving the cave uncovered for an instant.

Jikiri speedily discovered this, and as soon as the rifle fire ceased he and his men would open up fiercely on the mountain-gun. In its tirst position the gun Cplaced ten" shells in and near the cavern, doing considerable damage, and clearing away all the "brush in front. The lieutenant then moved his. gun. twenty feet nearer the cave, and was ready to fire when his sergeant fell mortally wounded. The gun fired several more shots, then thej;ackle broke, and the grm-wentr out of -action, for •Captain Byram "at that'momeHt ordered the. finai assault.

- Slowly the soldiers closed round the cavern, keeping up meanwhile a steady, .accurate, merciless^'nrf_ into the fourmpiiths. which" vormtcd-liuftets- sp_ears. and stones -iti-reph l .—4>nfr-*oWßer-was: terribly gashed by a spear in his shoulder, but the other casualties were slight. ~Atr last-the ouflawsseeriied toTie jfiirffTnT?---<Htfc-ot-aivtß>unit4oiH-for, they-began tvi.tfll. larse boulders down "on their assailants. Nearer and nearer came the triumphant, inexorable line of soldiers, feeling sure that at last their cunning, ferocious fee-had-rwR-his-course—Une- n"'l »f thft, enJTreling line - was' vnfnm a lew fPot~ffr" the entrances when a big Moro jumped forward with a blood-curdling yell, his "barons" flashing in the light. Four bullets from the rffies of Lieutenant Blank and his men met the pirate in mid-air as he jumped, and he rolled over dead just behind the breastwork.

Then came the last mad rush of Jikiri and his men at the other end of the' breastwork. Lieutenants Wilson and Kennedy were the first wounded. L\e\itenant Wilson was on one kiip.3. firing right into the mouth of the cave when, before he could rise to his feet, the ferocious Jifciri himself was upon him. Seizing the lieutenant's, hair with his left hand, and giving his head a sharp twist forward and to one side, with the keen

"barqng" in his right hand ho dealt the •unfortunate oSVcer two blows across the neck in rapid succession. Lieutenant Wjlson would, without doubt, have been decapitated by the crazed bandit had it not been for Lieutenant Baer, who, armed with a Winchester pump-gun, rushed forward and blew Jikiri"s head to- pieces with a load of buck-shot. Lieutenant Bafr is. credited with having killed jour of the outlaws with this gun.

Meanwhile, spite of the death of the leader, the fight waged fiercely between the "barongs" of the Moros and the sabres of the soldiers, the latter being afraid to use their rifles for fear of hit-

ting their comrades in the general mixup. The. Moros would jump several feet .into- Gie -air. giving their fearsome -cry. "00-00-am, .Takiri!'' then to one side and another, with every jump bringing down their heavy "barongs" with' enough force to have clipped' off a human head at a blow." '

Lieutenant Kennedy got a slanting blow across the back of the neck and shoulder, making a nasty wound. Lieutenant Miller received. the fiat of a

"barong" cross the back with sufficient force-to-have cut him in two had it struck him edge- first. As it was. he was laid up" for several-weeks from the effect of the blow. A soldier had a hand taken clean off by. a vicious cut.

When the fight was over every membeT of tile band of outlaws had been killed. There had been eleven cf them in all. Jikiri was really dead this time; he wa6

but a terrible memory. The troops suffered a loss of two men killed outright, ■three officers and eighteen enlisted man \touhded, of whom two of the latter died of their wounds. Some of the wounded

were permanently crippled; one poor fellow hadTjoth eyes shot out. Lieutenants Wilson and Kennedy will

probably have "stiff necks", for. tie re-

mainder of their lives, and the noble soars they carry are eloquent tributes to their courage and devotion to duty. Thus ended the atrocious and murderous career of one of the worst outlaws the Philippine Islands ever sheltered.