SAVAGE WHO WON FAME

Evening Star, Issue 19791, 15 February 1928, Page 10

SAVAGE WHO WON FAME

JUHGLE IDEALIST NOW MAYOR A nun) who was once a savage in a tropical jungle and has risen to a position of great responsibility is at present in this country (says the London ‘ Sunday Chronicle ’). He has been received by the Lord Mayor of London, dined by Lady Astor and other notable people,’ and lunched at the Guildhall. The career of Mayor Miguel Roraauldcz, of Manila, Philippine Islands, is stranger than liction. Colonel F. L. Minnigerode, of the United States Army, told the story to tho ‘Sunday Chronicle.’ Out in the Philippine Islands a quarter of a century ago a company of the Ninth United States Infantry station in the Island of Samar were attacked without warning by an overwhelming number of savages, and only a few escaped massacre. GIANT RESCUER. Two of (bem got into a native boat and put to sea. They drifted and paddled for many hours, and when they finally hi proachod tho shores of the Leyte they saw the beach lined with armed savages and feared to land. Suddenly a large man, much younger and of a much lighter complexion than the other natives, wearing a white blouse and white trousers, waded into tho sea and beckoned in a friendly way to the two soldiers. The big native took the soldiers to his own shack, fed them, and gave them rest. Two days later he escorted them to Tacloban, an American station. This young man, who is now M.ayor of Manila, soon became known among the natives as the “ Amcricanisto.” because of his rescue. FANATICS’ REVOLT QUELLED. Several years later, when some religious fanatics known as Pulajanes were again on tho warpath, Miguel Romauldez, then chief man of the coast barrio of Tolosa, gathered in rifles and revolvers from the fanatics and helped the American authorities to restore order. “We spent many, many hours together when I was the only ofliccr in the barrio, and turned naturally to him for companionship," said Colonel Minnigerode. “ Romauldez loved his islands fervently. lie would say: ‘ I want to assume a position of responsibility in my country’s affairs, but here in this little barrio I am lost, I am imprisoned, only a handful of ignorant people about me.’ PROPHECY FULFILLED. " When I was ordered away from Tolosa tears filled his eyes. The last link with a man of the great outside world was snapped, and he must remain encompassed by the jungle, the ocean, and ignorance. “As I shook his hand I said; ’The time is coming when you will be a man of influence in your country. -You are only twenty-six, and roads must open up before you. We shall see each other again.’ "Now Miguel Eomauldez has become a great figure in his own country. His daughter is a lawyer in Manila, one son is studying finance at Columbia University, New York, and another is studying medicines at the University of the Philippines,”