ANDERSON, NOVEMBER 15, 1902

FORT CLARK, TEX., November 15, 1902.

The JUDGE-ADVOCATE-GENERAL, U. S. ARMY,
Washington, D. C.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of October 6 and November 6, in regard to the arrest and alleged subsequent treatment by members of Company D, Twenty-sixth Infantry, U. S. Volunteers, of a parish priest, Father Augustine de la Peņa, of Dumangas, Panay, P. I.; also with regard to the administration of the "water cure" and other unauthorized forms of punishment, which might have come within my knowledge while serving as an officer of volunteers in the Philippines.

In reply I beg to inform you that during December, 1900, I was stationed at Jaro, Iloilo Province, about 60 miles from Banate, and have no personal knowledge of any facts in connection with Father de la Peņa's arrest and subsequent treatment. As to Father de la Peņa's attitude toward the insurgents, he had many relatives among them, and, from the information gotten in my district many times, I was firmly convinced that he was an arch insurgent, and that to his influence and financial aid was in great part due the length of the insurrection in Iloilo Province of the island of Panay. As to the "water cure" and other forms of unauthorized punishment, I have never seen the "water cure," and I have no personal knowledge of the alleged use of it.

Very respectfully,

EDWARD D. ANDERSON,
Captain and Commissary, Twelfth Cavalry.