1901: Massacre of Barrio la Nog
December 27th, 2017 Headsman
Corporal Richard O’Brien gave the following account of the summary execution (or simple mass murder) of Filipino villagers during the furious American backlash after Filipino insurgents’ Balangiga Massacre of American infantrymen.
It was on the 27th day of December, the anniversary of my birth, and I shall never forget the scenes I witnessed on that day. As we approached the town the word passed along the line that there would be no prisoners taken. It meant that we were to shoot every living thing in sight — man, woman, and child. The first shot was fired by the then first sergeant of our company. His target was a mere boy, who was coming down the mountain path into the town astride of a caribou. The boy was not struck by the bullet, but that was not the sergeant’s fault. The little Filipino boy slid from the back of his caribou and fled in terror up the mountain side. Half a dozen shots were fired after him. The shooting now had attracted the villagers, who came out of their homes in alarm, wondering what it all meant. They offered no offense, did not display a weapon, made no hostile movement whatsoever, but they were ruthlessly shot down in cold blood — men, women, and children. The poor natives huddled together or fled in terror. Many were pursued and killed on the spot.
Two old men, bearing between them a white flag and clasping hands like two brothers, approached the lines. Their hair was white. They fairly tottered, they were so feeble under the weight of years. To my horror and that of the other men in the command, the order was given to fire, and the two old men were shot down in their tracks. We entered the village. A man who had been on a sick-bed appeared at the doorway of his home. He received a bullet in the abdomen and fell dead in the doorway. Dum-dum bullets were used in that massacre, but we were not told the name of the bullets. We didn’t have to be told. We knew that they were.
In another part of the village a mother with a babe at her breast and two young children at her side pleaded for mercy. She feared to leave her home, which had just been fired — accidentally, I believe. She faced the flames with her children, and not a hand was raised to save her or the little ones. They perished miserably. It was sure death if she left the house — it was sure death if she remained. She feared the American soldiers, however, worse than the devouring flames.
On this day..
- 1895: Joseph Cadotte - 2019
- 1787: Three robbers, "very penitent" - 2018
- 1864: Richard Hale, but not Cecilia Baker - 2016
- 1539: St. John Stone - 2015
- 1821: Ketaukah and Kewahiskin, the first hangings in the Michigan Territory - 2014
- 1504: Ivan Volk Kuritsyn, Ivan Maksimov and Dmitry Konoplev, Judaizers - 2013
- Themed Set: Heresy - 2013
- 2001: Kojiro Asakura, frustrated realtor - 2012
- 1666: Nine Covenanters in Ayr and Edinburgh - 2011
- 1944: Not Sim Kessel, Jewish boxer - 2010
- 1899: Hilda Blake, poorhouse orphan - 2009
- 1979: Hafizullah Amin - 2008
- 1739: Penelope Kenny and Sarah Simpson - 2007
Entry Filed under: 19th Century,Borderline "Executions",Children,History,Innocent Bystanders,Known But To God,Mass Executions,No Formal Charge,Occupation and Colonialism,Philippines,Power,Public Executions,Shot,Summary Executions,U.S. Military,USA,Wartime Executions
Tags: 1900s, 1901, december 27
