Major Marsh went through Bontoc close after Aguinaldo in December,
1899. The Igorot befriended the Americans; they brought them food
and guided them faithfully along the bewildering mountain trails
when the insurrectos split and scattered -- anywhere, everywhere,
fleeing eastward, northward, southward, in the mountains.

When Major Marsh returned through Bontoc, after following Aguinaldo
into the heart of the Quiangan area, he left in the pueblo some sixty
shoeless men under a volunteer lieutenant. The lieutenant promptly
appointed an Ilokano presidente, vice-presidente, secretary, and
police force in Bontoc and also in Sagada, and when the soldiers left
in a few weeks he gave seven guns to the "officials" in Bontoc and
two to those in Sagada. A short time proved that those "officials"
were untrustworthy men; many were insurrectos who had dropped
behind Aguinaldo. They persecuted the Igorot even worse than had the
insurrectos. They seemed to have the American Army behind them --
and the Igorot stood in awe of American arms.

The crisis came. An Igorot obtained possession of one of the guns,
and the Ilokano chief of police was killed and his corporal wounded.

This shooting, at the time apparently unpremeditated, but, in reality,
carefully planned and successfully executed, was the cause of the
arrival in Bontoc pueblo of the first American civilians. At that time
a party of twenty Americans was at Fidelisan, a long day northwest
of Bontoc; they were prospecting and sightseeing. The Ilokano sent
these men a letter, and the Igorot sent a messenger, begging them to
come to the help of the pueblo. Three men went on August 27, 1900;
they were Truman K. Hunt, M.D., Mr. Frank Finley, and Mr. Riley. The
disagreement was settled, and several Ilokano families left Bontoc