William Jones was born in Oklahoma, USA on March 28, 1871. He was the nation’s first Native American to get a Ph.D. in anthropology. In 1908 he was working as an Assistant Curator in the Smithsonian Museum. William Jones, Fay-Cooper Cole, and Albert Lewis (all Assistant Curators) were responsible for the Smithsonian’s great ethnographic collection from Melanesia and the Philippines, with help from S.C. Simms, Fletcher Gardner and Laura Benedict. Jones was said to be a student of the Indian and Filipino races, and a friend to all indigenous peoples despite the conditions surrounding his premature death.
William Jones did much of his work in the Philippines. After spending 16 months doing fieldwork among the Ilongots, he was assassinated. It began because of a dispute over transportation. Towards the end of his research, Dr. Jones had packed all of his specimens into crates and arranged with the Ilongots for the crates to be brought down the Cagayan River on bamboo rafts called balsas. The shipments for the Field Museum were to be brought from Dumobato to Echague and then to Manila.
Jones was promised, repeatedly, but despite his efforts, the balsas came in late and in insufficient numbers, which wore his patients thin. An angry Jones yelled and screamed at the Ilongots for not going through with their agreement. One day William exploded with rage and he did the unthinkable. He grabbed the arm of Takadan, the respected elder, and threatened to detain him until the promised balsas arrived. Soon after he was visited by 3 native men, Palidat, Magueng, and Gacad who approached him in a friendly matter about the balsas. Without warning Palidat struck Jones over his left eye with a bolo, Magueng pierced his right arm with a spear, and Gacad speared him in the abdomen. Romano, Jones' assistant, fended off one of Palidat’s bolo blows, and Jones pulled out his revolver and fired some shots, scaring off the assassins. Jones was thankful and as a token of his appreciation he gave Romano his wristwatch and gave instructions for the preservation of his notes and specimens. Jones took medicine for his wounds and he even bandaged the hand of Romano. Despite the effort, he died four hours later.
The date of his death isn't definite, many report the date of March 28th, but his last entry in his diary is said to be on April 21st. Despite the date of his death, he was killed at Dumobato and he was buried in Echague. His tombstone reads, “William Jones, Ph.D. Born in Oklahoma, USA March 28, 1871, killed at Dumobato March 28, 1909. A student of the Indian and Filipino races and a friend of all primitive peoples.”
The three men responsible for his murder where caught and sentenced to death, but the Supreme Court reduced the punishment to 17 years and four months imprisonment and a fine to be paid to the heirs of Jones. The ruling was due to the mens wild nature and ignorance of the laws. In fact, the men served nothing because during their transfer to the Bilibid Prison in Manila, they escaped. In retaliation, Lt. Turnbull ordered the houses of Ilongots in the area of Jones death to be torched. As a result, a minor civil war broke out, turning Ilongots against their fellow Ilongots. The blame was pointed at the community of the murderers, and Ilongot heads were taken by rival Ilongots and delivered to the authorities, who just looked the other way.
http://www.inq7.net/issues/feb2001/feb23/opinion/ambet.htm#top
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/research_collections/anthropology/history.htm
Written by: Justin Petersen, 2001.