The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-08-25
BATTERIES AT THE FRONT.
Men Were Preparing For an Advance
On the Enemy.
Especial Correspondence


On the Enemy.
Especial Correspondence
Camp Dewey. Near Manila, July 2S.-
One week has passed away since the
Utah boys set foot on Philippine soil,
and it finds them camped amid para
disc of tropical trees and sea breezes
Every night the boys are lulled TO
sleep by the music of flying bullets and
roaring cannon. They tell the story
of rebel attack on the Spanish out
posts. and its repulSe. Just south OF
camp runs the main insurgent road,
and each morning and evening the lit
tie army passes up this road 10 the
scene of battle. They fight just as men
would pillow a field. They go out IN
the morning, shoot "a few hours, return
for dinner and then go out to hight
again
But soon this road will echo the tread
of more determined feet than those of
native insurgents, for as this Is writ
ten a large force of engineers is pre-
pairing it for the advance OF Utan'
batteries. Lieutenant Gibbs is author
ity for the statement that the batteries
will advance soon to the fighting line
and demolish a Spanish blockheuse
containing four mortars and three
inch gun Captain Young says horses
would be useless in this country, as
the condition of the ground prevents
their use to any advantage. He in
tends TO caff on the infantry for suf-
ficient number of men, and move the
guns by hand. Where practicable he
will use water buffalo.
If il be true that men live in
thoughts and actions, and not in fig
ures on the dial" then the Utah boys
! are doing some very fast living. The
Atrip so far has been almost a grand
Summer vacation, with every pleasure
imaginable attached to it. The I'M
sophisticated country youths have
learned more OF life and humanity in
brief two months than they could have
learned in Utah in ten years. They
will remember not only the Maine. but
a few other things. Among them will
be the landing from the Colon. 1t was
a hot sultry day, and the sea was as
calm as d mill pond. AT II o'clock they
ate an early dinner and disembarked
onto a line of native lighters, in tow
of a captured Spanish gunboat, flying
the union jack over a Spanish coat Of
arms. The whole crew of the Colon
stood at the gangplank to wave them
q last farewell. The good old jolly
Irish boatswain cried as they left,
You're the only soldiers on shipboard
1 am sorry to part with
Then the boys drew away from the
good old ship. which had been their
home for so days, and turned their
faces Manilaward. AS they drew near
the shore a Spanish flag was seen f1ut-
tering in the breeze in the city, and it
stirred a thousand sentiments up in
the boys minds.
HAD TO SWIM.
The lighters drew six or eight feet
OF water and could not approach with
in 500 feet of the shore This distance
the boys had to swim, or, if they chose,
hire a native canoe to take them
ashore. Scott Wells and Billy Ritter
chose the latter. The canoe was just
getting away, and the boys, thanking
their stars that they did not have to
wet themselves, when a third party
leaped in, completely upsetting the
canoe. The heavy equipment on their
backs sunk them and achored them
safe in the sandy bottom. When res
cued, they solemnly declared that they
would wade ashore next time.
From the beach the boys made their
way through thicket of bamboo and
banana trees, among which nestled a
few native grass houses, to the Amer
lean camp. They chose a spot in the
northern extremity of the camp i'll
which to pitch their tents. AS the sun
sank, crimson and clear, in the west,
they ate a meal of bareback and black,
unsweetened coffee; and they enjoyed
it, too. Sergeant Fisher, who had COM
planned of the grub all the way over,
declared that bareback tasted better
than any cake he ever ate, and he Won
dered how he ever could have kicked
at it. The dish so much reiished is
made by soaking bareback in the coffee
until it gets soft enough to bite into
without loosening any teeth. 1t is
styled "slumgullion.
BATTERY UNITED.
Hardly had the battery finished its
feast when Captain Young announced,
''One-half of battery B has landed
from the China and is on the beach"
You should have seen the rush. And
such a meeting as the boys hadi 1t
was the first time they had met since I
leaving Honolulu. Stories of the trip
were exchanged and every one told all /
his troubles. Then they all came up to
camp and rolled their bedding out on
the sand Then they fell asleep and /
slept the sleep of the just. And thus |
ended the first day.
PREPARED FOR BUSINESS.
The camp is organized for business /
only, and all idle show is done away /
with. Officers have sewed their Shout !
der straps on canvas Jumpers, and /
wade in with the men to do the neces- /
sary work Lieutenant Naylor is now
passing with an AK thrown over his j
shoulder, and his trousers rolled up
above his knees. His bare feet are
covered with mud, which bears evil
dence that he has been heading a for
aging party into the swamps after
frewood.
The guard no longer PAGES his beat
armed with a tent peg, as he did at
Camp Kent. but he now has loaded
weapons and orders to shoot to kill