ENNIS, OCTOBER 4, 1902

Page 138

Appendix L.

War Department,
Adjutant-General's Office,
Washington, October 4, 1902.

The Commanding General Division of the Philippines,
Manila, P. I.

Sir: I inclose herewith copy of communication addressed to the President by a committee, of which the Hon. Charles Francis Adams is the chairman. In the letter, dated August 22, 1902, a specific charge of wrongdoing is made against certain officers of volunteers who were stationed at Banate, island of Panay, during the month of December, 1900. The returns show that Company D, of the Twenty-sixth Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, constituted the garrison at Banate at the date in question, and that Capt. Cornelius M. Brownell, Twenty-sixth Volunteer Infantry, was its commander, and that First Lieut. William Sullivan and Second Lieut. Sanford E. Worthington were on duty with the company from March 1, 1900, to February 26,1901. I also inclose the affidavits of certain members of Company D, Twenty-sixth Volunteer Infantry, which have been submitted to the Department in reply to a request to that effect.

The Secretary of War directs that the matter be made the subject of immediate and thorough investigation. The officers composing the garrison are no longer in the military service, and that branch of the inquiry will be conducted in the United States. The post surgeon at Banate at the date of the acts above alleged, Capt. Oscar W. Woods, assistant surgeon of volunteers, is now in the military service. In December, 1900, he was a contract surgeon, and is possibly familiar with the acts which are said to have occurred there in connection with the treatment of Father Augustine de la Pena. He also directs that, so far as possible, the inquiry shall be confidentially conducted and that the Adjutant-General be advised from time to time of its progress. Should it appear that any persons now in the military service have been connected with the unlawful acts which have been made the subjectof the inclosed allegations, he directs that they be brought to trial with the least practical delay.

Very respectfully,

William Ennis,
Lieutenant-Colonel, Artillery Corps, Assistant Adjutant-General.