LUKBAN
Two Balangiga bells exhibited at Fort D. A. Russel, now F. E. Warren Air Force Base( http:// www. wikiwand. com / en / Balangiga _ bells)
town, and the few Filipinos remaining fled hurriedly into the jungle as Bookmiller landed with 60 men.
Bookmiller surveyed the scene of the battle. The dead of Company C were strewn all over the plaza, barracks, convent and some even down a well. All the bodies were stripped and many horribly mutilated; some were covered with flour; others had their stomachs split open and stuffed with codfish. Lt. Edward Bumpus was found in his room with his face half severed by a bolo cut, and jam smeared in the sockets. The dead were buried in a common grave and the town was burned to the ground. 33
In the United States, the devastating defeat came with a shock.“ News of disaster to troops causes sensation at Washington,” wrote the Associated Press in Washington in its banner story on September 29, 1901.“ It reached the department during the early hours today and Adj. General Corbin realizing its importance, at once made it public after sending a copy to the White House,” the news dispatch said. An unnamed official was cited as having said that the attack was a“ consequence of the assassination of Pres. McKinley.” The source added that the shooting appeared to be the result of some popular outbreak against the president, and that the“ natives had seized the opportunity in the flickering hope of retrieving some of their losses.” 34
Gen. Arthur MacArthur, like the other generals, dismissed the incident as an isolated one that had no effect on the general result of
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