Following the battle of Bud Dajo, a change of government came to Sulu with the relief of General Wood by General Tasker H. Bliss on April 16, 1906.

The administration of General Bliss, extending up to November 28, 1909, has been termed the "peace era" in Sulu. General Bliss placed particular emphasis upon the industrial and agricultural training of the Moros, and the term "peace era" signifies that there were no battles of magnitude during his administration. Throughout his governorship there was the usual trouble with Moro bandits but matters did not come to a head until much later during the administration of General Pershing.

A period of quiet settled upon Jolo and the Americans turned their attention to Mindanao, where a particularly revolting murder took place.

In the southern part of Cotobato Province, matters were in a condition of great unrest due to activities of a Moro priest named Simbanon who moved through the country stirring up the population against the United States. Governor Bolton of Cotobato knew that Simbanon was at the bottom of all of the trouble and he accordingly set out with an American planter named Christian to see if he could effect the capture of the recalcitrant priest.

Bolton and Christian proceeded to Malita, near Sarangani Bay, where the governor was joined by a Moro headman called Mangalayan and the Moro's two brothers. Mangalayan had been faithful to the Americans and Bolton depended upon him to aid in the capture of Simbanon.

The party, consisting of Bolton, Christian, and the three Moros, set out in a vinta as far as a hemp plantation near Tubulan, where they disembarked.

Here Bolton, in the presence of the hemp farmer, called Mangalayan to him and gave him instructions as to the capture.

Bolton told the Moro:

"You will go into the hills and look for Simbanon, taking with you my revolver with which to make the arrest."

Bolton unstrapped his pistol and gave it to the Moro, who immediately started into the mountains on his errand. the Governor and Christian waited at the plantation for Mangalayan's return. Christian remonstrated with the governor at this expression of confidence in the Moro, but Bolton had laughed off his fears, stating that Mangalayan had worked faithfully for him among the hillmen for several years.

Mangalayan soon found the worthy Simbanon, who was under cover in a Moro village high in the hills.

The wily priest took Mangalayan into a small house on the edge of the jungle and there demonstrated a magical power which soon convinced the gullible Moro, and the latter was quickly persuaded to turn against the Americans.

In the presence of the awed Mangalayan, Simbanon built a small fire and threw thereon a powdered substance which produced a terrific smoke. Standing in the smoke, Simbanon orated:

"As this smoke penetrates my pores, it has the power to make me invulnerable to the American bullets. Now is the time to join me and begin killing all of the white men who seek our island."

Mangalayan returned to the hemp plantation where Bolton and Christian waited and informed the Governor that Simbanon was not to be found, suggesting that they proceed overland as it was growing late.

Bolton's revolver was replaced inside his blanket roll and the party started along a narrow jungle trail. After walking for a few miles, they came to a place where the trail went across a rocky spur and here they paused to rest.

Christian had not shared the Governor's confidence in the three Moro's and he sat on the alert with his carbine across his knees. Bolton threw himself upon the sand at full length.

Upon pretense of being hungry, Mangalayan told Calibay, one of the brothers, to open a coconut. Calibay did so, using a long campilane for the purpose. He passed half of the coconut to Mangalayan, who was standing between Bolton and Christian. Mangalayan at once drew his campilane and began to gouge the meat from the shell. Sumunsung, the other brother, was leaning idly upon his spear.

Apparently they were simply eating, and Christian, who had been watching them closely, had his attention diverted by a remark of Bolton's. As Christian turned his head to answer the Governor, Mangalayan came down with a vicious sweep of the campilane which drove the blade through the helmet and into Christian's skull. Christian died instantly without making a sound.

Governor Bolton was attacked by the two brothers as he lay on the sand. Sumunsung ran his spear into the Governor's side and Calibay attacked with the campilane. The Governor staggered to his feet and, grasping the spear shaft, pulled the weapon through his body in an effort to reach the spearman.

Bolton had drawn a short knife from his belt and was apparently holding his own with the two Moros. Mangalayan, now finished with Christian, rushed in behind the governor and dealt a blow which severed the leaders of Bolton's knees. As he collapsed to the ground, the assassins made short work of him.

The vitality of the Governor was amazing. He turned in midair as he fell and inflicted a severe wound upon Mangalayan.

The American community at Zamboanga was shocked by the news of these murders and troops were immediately sent into the country to apprehend the murderers. The Moros talked too much and the whole story was soon laid bare. Mangalayan was killed by Sergeant Casey, and shortly afterwards the two brothers encountered a Constabulary patrol under Inspector de Goicouria and were eliminated.

The extermination of these scattered bands of outlaws was an undertaking presenting every difficulty. All of Mindanao and Sulu became infested with small bandit gangs who struck and vanished into the thick jungle. Organized troopers were helpless in the field against the robber bands. The American forces split into small detachments and were thus able to follow the raiders far into their mountain retreats.

American army files are filled with instances of individual attacks of Moros upon American soldiers during this grim period. The Moros operated in deadly detachments of two or three to twenty men and guerilla warfare of the worst order swept the islands.

Two Moros killed Sergeant William Nehrer as he hiked the Malabang-Camp Vicars road. Privates George Cott and Floyd Borst were attacked on the same road a few months later. General Bliss and his staff were fired upon as they inspected lake garrisons. John Burns, a packer employed at Malabang, was murdered by Datu Sampurna. Private Balaine, acting in the capacity of deputy-governor at Tucuran, was seriously wounded by a krisman.

The American post at Parang awoke one morning to find their guard tent a shambles, following a raid conducted by the Sultan of Djimbarra ( a Moro named Matanug) and two companions.

Shortly before dawn, the three Moros had silently penetrated the guard posts and entered a large squad tent containing several soldiers.

So quiet were the Moros that one soldier, awake in the tent, heard no sound until Private Wickham received the first wound and shouted, "I am stabbed."

The soldier who lay sleepless in the tent called to him: "No, you are not; you have a nightmare."

At that moment, Private James McDonald received a mortal wound from a spear thrust and cried out in agony. the soldiers in the tent leaped to their feet and called for help. The camp became a scene of wild confusion.

The sentry in front of the tent fired several shots at the Moros as they fled into the jungle; but Matanug and his two companions made good their escape, leaving a dead man and several wounded soldiers behind them in the squad tent.

After a search of more than a year Matanug was captured by a party under the command of Captain A. B. Foster. Foster took a detachment of the 19^th Infantry into the Buldung country in search of the murderer of McDonald. The troops were fired upon shortly after entering the Butig Mountains, and while in camp near Buldung the sentries got their first intimation of the whereabouts of the outlaw.

A fifteen-year old boy was arrested in the act of stealing cartridges from the American camp. The boy told the soldiers that he was a slave of Matanug and that he had been ordered into the camp to steal ammunition.

Under the guidance of the slave boy, the troops took up the march at daylight, eventually surprising Matanug and bringing him in for trial.

Matanug was condemned to death on May 24, 1907. A month later, American forces captured the Moro Lauang, who confessed to the assault on Cott and Borst on the Malabang road. This Moro died in prison while awaiting trial.

In reading a history of the Moro wars, one is struck with the regularity with which the Moros died in prison while serving sentence or awaiting trial. Confinement of a few months was equivalent to a death sentence for a Moro. Many observers have noted that under conditions of captivity, a Moro in perfect health would lie down on a cot, signify his intention of dying, and there wait patiently for the death that speedily came.

After a period of comparative quiet, terror now broke out anew in Jolo. Juramentados again ran the streets of the Sulu capital.

On the morning of December 14, 1906, an American sentry, McLaughlin by name, took his post at the outer guard gate at Jolo. A crazed Moro selected McLaughlin as the object of his attack and with one swing of the kris almost severed the arm of the soldier. McLaughlin leaped upon a mule and started for the main guardhouse, holding his dangling arm while the Moro followed in hot pursuit.

Warned by the the shrill cries of the Moro and by the shrieks of the badly wounded American soldier, the main guard post poured a volley of the five krag bullets into the advancing Moro. The krisman came on, apparently untouched.

The sixth shot from the guard post broke the kris blade at the hilt, but the juramentado, weaponless now, closed rapidly and sought to get at the Americans with his bare hands.

At a distance of five feet, a well-directed shot from a .45 caliber pistol burst the Moro's heart and he dropped in his tracks to spray the guard post with a froth of blood. Examination disclosed that every bullet had found its mark, for there were seven bullet holes in the dead Moro's chest.

To add to the chaos, the pirates of Pilas Island now resumed activity. These Samals, only temporarily scotched by American forces the year before, now laid siege to the sea lanes of Sulu. A very profitable trade in pearl shell had developed between Zamboanga and Jolo and the pirates were quick to seize upon this opportunity to waylay the pearlers.

Internal confusion among the Moros again came to the fore and the pirates aided in their own elimination. A most interesting David and Uriah incident occurred on Pilas Island.

Maharajah Turabin, the ruler of Pilas Island, cast covetous eyes upon the attractive wife of one pirate Jimauang. Being a direct actionist, Turabin sent his chief lieutenant, a Moro named Ejan, to remove Jimauang from competition. This task Ejan performed with a neatness which won for him the approbation of the Maharajah.

The Maharajah then dispatched a menial to the house of the disconsolate widow inviting her to accept the hospitality of his harem. Great was the shock to find that the lady had decamped to Basilan Island and there sought the aid of the American authorities. The Maharajah eventually found solitude in the confines of an American jail and Ejan's head, carefully wrapped in gunny sacking, found its way to the office of Governor Findley.

Cotta warfare raged all through the years 1906 and 1907. American troops were in the field continuously. Captain William Green, with a force of sixty men, stormed the cotta of Apunagous and Nural Hakim, capturing seven rifles and killing nineteen Moros. Lieutenant Fort, working in the Davao country, ran a band under Badudao to earth and killed the eighteen outlaws. Lieutenant James L. Wood entered the Lanao country with a force of twenty-four men and had an engagement with the Moros near Bacalad which resulted in the death of thirteen Moros and three Americans.

Lieutenant J. M. Merrill led a force of forty soldiers against the strong cotta of the Sultan Ulama. the Moros were one hundred strong and were entrenched at the head of a steep ravine. After several hours' fighting, the American troops charged the cotta, killing fifty Moros. The Moros opposing the Americans in this case were better armed than was usual. Merrill found many of the tribesmen armed with modern Krags and Mausers. The Moros opened up on the Americans from behind walls and bushes and the climax came when the double cotta of Magning was stormed with the American leader engaging in hand-to-hand battle with the Moro Sultan on the cotta walls. The Sultan was killed and Lieutenant Merrill was badly wounded.

A few of these cotta fights have been indicated to show the nature of the struggle. There were hundreds of these bush engagements going on during the period of 1906 and 1907. They were undertaken not without serious loss to the Americans. Lieutenant Jewell of the the 4^th Calvary was killed in the assault of the cotta of Usap. Lieutenants Hall and Woodruff died in the fight against Datu Ali at Duluan. Every isolated cotta was razed only after a loss of several American lives.

Juramentados still terrorized the army posts. There could be no defense against a juramentado. A company street might be quiet and peaceful, with a sentry on vigilant guard. Suddenly a juramentado appeared in the street, bringing death and seeking death. Guard posts or sentries had no terrors for the juramentado; rather he sought them out as the most available victims. A few minutes of wild scramble and a desperate shooting and slashing and then everything would be quiet again, with only the dead juramentado and his victims to show that a horror had walked the company street.

On April 6, 1907, one of these wild men ran the streets of Jolo and succeeded in dropping three soldiers of the 4^th Calvary before the bullets of the guard sent him to Paradise. The Moro ran directly into the fire of three soldiers on guard duty at the city walls and he was struck by eleven rifle bullets, any one of which would have been immediately fatal to a white man. But it was not until he had been struck over the head with a revolver butt that the Moro gave up the struggle.

The region of Basilan Island, long the hang-out of an incorrigible element, now became the scene of severe fighting. In September, 1907, Basilan outlaws under the leadership of Datu Tahil, instituted a reign of terror within twenty miles of the town of Zamboanga. Tahil, who had twenty rifles, frequented the islands of Basilan and Tapiantana.

Lieutenant Furlong, one of the ablest of all of the American field officers, was sent to Basilan to mop up the island. Tahil came to bay at Mangal, on the south coast, and there Furlong landed at three o'clock on the morning of September 26, 1907. A terrible fight in the heavy forest resulted in the death of eleven of the outlaws. Tahil escaped to cause more trouble, but was eventually captured to serve a long prison sentence. Furlong found the Moros killed a Mangal all had shaved heads, indicating a desire to run juramentado.

Lieutenant Furlong was also responsible for the rounding up of eighteen Moros who were actively carrying on a slave trading depot in defiance of the law.

Beyond doubt, the most romantic figure of the entire American-Moro conflict, was this same Furlong. His career as a fighting man was so remarkable that to this day the Moros of Cotobato bow their heads when his name is mentioned. Furlong has become an undying tradition to these fierce Moros who respected, more than anything else, the terrific valor displayed by this man.

Furlong had a strange and tragic history, the details of which were supplied to the writer by men who knew him well and who fought beside him in Mindanao. After an unfortunate love affair which made life futile to him, he came to Mindanao to seek death on the krises of the Moros. He was in the thick of the Moro fighting for several years and it was said by his associates that no odds were too great and no charge too forlorn for this soldier seeking death. His reckless disregard for his own life often took him alone across open country to the very walls of cottas swarming with hostile Moros. It is said that it was his habit to enter the cottas, far in advance of his men, and that the Moros gave way before him, denying him the death he sought.

Furlong seemed to lead a charmed life. To the Moros he was supernatural, and he came through the campaigns without a scratch. When the period of cotta warfare came to and end Furlong resigned his commission and sailed for Manila.

There in the capital city, he took is own life, accomplishing that which the Moros had been unable or unwilling to do.

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