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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