GATES, OCTOBER 11, 1902
Gardner Gates, late of Company D, Twenty-sixth Volunteer Infantry, having been first duly sworn to testify the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth as to the matter respecting which he was to be examined, testified as follows:
Q. Where do you reside?-A. I reside at 42 Elmwood avenue, Burlington, Vt.
Q. What business are you in, Mr. Gates?-A. I am a salesman of marble and granite.
Q. Were you ever a member of Company D, Twenty-sixth Volunteer Infantry?- A. Yes, sir.
Q. From what time until what time?-A. From the 29th of July, 1899, until May 13, 1901.
Q. Where were you stationed in the fall of 1900?-A. I was stationed at Banate, island of Panay, Philippine Islands.
Q. Was that the station of your company?-A. Yes, sir.
Q. Who was the commanding officer of Your company?-A. Captain Brownell.
Q. Did he command the garrison?-A. Yes, sir, and the district.
Q. Were you a noncommissioned officer at this time?-A. Yes, sir.
Q. The whole time?-A. Yes, sir.
Q. What rank?-A. First duty sergeant.
Q. Do you know, of your own personal knowledge, anything about the water cure having been administered?-A. Yes; in this way. I have seen it administered in one case at headquarters at Banate.
Q. You have seen it administered at the post headquarters? Can you remember the man's name? Was he a native-a Filipino?-A. The water cure was administered to him. I was there some of the time and saw it given to him.
Q. Under whose direction was this done?-A. I could not say for sure, because I do not know who gave the order, but I understood that the post commander gave the order.
Q. Is that the only instance which you can remember?-A. At that time I was acting inspector of customs and had my office in headquarters. My duty required me to go around upstairs. The water cure was administered in one of the upper rooms of the officers' quarters where they lived upstairs. In that way I saw it administered, although I had nothing to do with it, and had nothing to do with the so-called water cure squad.
Q. While you were there did you see a Roman Catholic priest brought in there as a prisoner?-A. I saw a so-called priest once or twice when he was taken out of the room where he was kept-confined in a close room-I saw him twice, I believe, once when I was going downstairs from the officers' quarters down below, and I met him when he was speaking to the sentry, when I think he said something about "el capitan," and that he wanted to see him. By the appearance of the man I judged him to be a priest, because he was shaven on top of his head. He had the uniform of a sergeant of artillery on him-i. e., he had the trousers and I think the blue shirt on with a red stripe on the sleeves. They say he was brought to Banate on a gunboat disguised as a sergeant. He was brought up at night, and I saw him a day or two after that. He was a thickset man, about 175 or 180 pounds, although he would perhaps measure not more than 5 feet 7 or 8 inches. He was very stocky and broad, was brown in color, very dark-darker than the majority of the natives living in the towns, showing him to be a full-blooded native. I think he was a Visayan belonging to the island of Banate in the Visayan group. He was a very coarse-featured man, and I should think from seeing the man that he was of a low order and devoid of intelligence to a great degree, and of a cruel nature. I can not say that he was without anv intelligence because he must have had some to be a priest, but he did not show it by his features.
Q. How did you know him to be a priest?-A. He did not tell me that he was a priest, but everyone said he was a priest, the natives said he was a priest, and with his shaved spot on the head I took him to be a priest. Of course, I had no other way of knowing, so I could not be sure; but I think I saw enough of him to be sure that he was a priest.
Q. Have you any personal knowledge as to why he was brought a prisoner to the island of Banate?-A. Nothing only what we all knew; that he was brought there because he was suspected of being the headman on the island of Panay for the insurgents.
Q. You suspected him of being that?-A. It was known to more officers, and to General Hughes, the commanding officer of the forces in Panay, that he was such a man, and that was why he was brought to Banate. He would have been arrested a long time before only for fear of an uprising of the natives.
Q. Did you ever talk with him?-A. No, sir; I never had anything to do with him.
Q. Have you told all that you know in relation to this matter-in relation to this priest?-A. I do not know personally how this priest died. Only I understood, and it was common report, and we all, I believe, knew about the same thing, or heard the same thing, that he died at one time from the water cure being administered to him. I thought, however, that he was a dissipated man; as soon as he was captured and brought to Banate the ardor was taken out of him. He knew that the insurrection was dead, or that it was ended there, because he had been the instigator and had been the plotter, and had collected moneys through his office as priest from the poor people and rich people alike in the towns and cities through the island of Panay, and I don't know but what through other towns, to carry on the insurrection. This was known to General Hughes.
Q. You don't know personallv that the water cure had been administered to this priest?-A. Not to this priest. I was not there. I think I know of one or two of the men who were there, though they never told me much about it. I know that we were all glad that the man was out of the way. He was not murdered, or anything of the kind, and that he did die while the water cure was being administered to him was a shock to all those there, I believe. I believe myself that it really broke the backbone of the insurrection.
Q. What did?-A. The death of this priest on the island of Panay.
Q. Did you personally at any time see this priest in any way maltreated?-A. No; at no time. I believe that he had all he wanted to eat, plenty of food and water, though he was kept all the time in a dark room. It was not totally dark. I saw him only once or twice when he was brought up by a sentry. I do not believe that he was in good physical health. By the looks of him, he was a man who drank a good deal. This, I believe, caused his death more than anything else.
Gardner Gates,
Late Sergeant, Company D, Twenty-sixth Volunteer Infantry.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 11th day of October, 1902, at Burlington, Vt.
Edward Hunter,
Judge-Advocate, U. S. Army.