The Dickinson press., 1898-10-01

Ink MritessFfsa
IR. Turner u Gladstone ,has55kindiy
permitted u to publish arecent Letter
from A. w. Link
Manila, r. ], Aus.96th. IS.
FriendsR. Turner:
According to promise will write you
while / have leisure time.a / sup
poGesyou have my other letters (all but.
oasl by This time. Well / suppose you,
hayesailSthe news from Manila BY cable
now, for the cable has been in working,
order for some days. | know this for l.
was Corp. of IS guards who guarded the.
cable house for three days after The fall
of Manila. Well i must go back 10 the
18th of August, upon that dayswe were
placed on the line Of battle. WI march
ed up to the American trenches; some Of
these were dug by the soldiessewho had
landed prior to us. Here the hard work
began. Digging trenches in sasswampy
land, filling sacks with mud. gravel, sand,
stones, in fact. anything that will stop a
ball or make a hiding place. This work
was carried on day and night.especially
at night, when the Spanish soldiers could
not see our boys so well. 1t was dan
gerous for our men to work in bitches,
for the Spanish trenches were within
the range Of the guns. There was a con-
slant fire kept up and at night, particu-
larly, the Spaniards would advance upon
our troops and cntrenchments. On the
Sunday night before the 18th inst. the
Spaniards came outof their breast works
and advanced upon our line but We were
prepared for them. We let them come
within fifty yards Of our entertainments
when a whole company and fired
three volleys into them. and the Utah
9th artillery also poured death into them,
about 4so Spaniards we're left on the
field. We lost one man killed and seven
woundedss Nowslll. tell you something
about, thefgrosnd where the fighting was
done.',slt is nothing but a big low marsh.
with here#5and there aIice field, and this
great marsh or swamp is covered with,
thick underbrush.an and bamboo trees. The
fighting here is what you 3may:caIl bush-
whacking. On the morning Of the I3th
the Spaniards opened up on us about
6:3o; At o.7o the FIRE got too hot for our
boys. At this time Co. X was taken back
of an old 4ehurch wall so as toabe more
safe from the Spanish fire. Here we
took extra ammunition SO as to have I5o
rounds. We knew well whatawas COM
ing, at the same time it wass pouring
rain with heavy peals Of. thunder. Co. K.
was to support the Astor battery, sta.
toned about:2so yards to our right, the
Utahs battery 10 our left and the U. S.
regular field battery to our left wing. and
Dewey.to our. extreme left in the. Bay.
The ships drew up in battle formation,
about o:3o to 40 Hmksbroke loose. The
Utahs, Astors and devils began
to pour u all they, could. The earth
,andiaii omit shook for miles. The large
ships of the feet began to lombard the
Spanishsfortsat the south entrance of the
city, the smaller ships poured schrapnell
into the Spanish 4breastworks; things got
too hot for them as the whole army was
advancing upon them. About IL o'clock
the Spaniards tried to cut in onto US on.
the right wing, Co. X was ordered under
a heavy fire to the front and right wing,
here we ran right into a trap for a few
minutes. When the bullets began to fly
over our, heads the major ordered us to
make a ruin and get under cover, SO we
did the best we coulds but we had little
protection-only brush. Some of the
bullets struck very near some Of the
soldiers, l saw n strike about three
inches in front Of Morton Bonney's face
as he was lying fiat on the ground, one
struck between me and Mr.. Gorrie,
filling my face with mud, and one land
ed in my knapsack and into my shirt
iwhereI took it out. One of the boys
got n through his hat; but the greatest
wonder is that no n was hit. OF
course iw~e@wereslying close to the ground
and they shot over us mostly. The 18th
Minnesotas advanced in a right oblique
movement on them and poured volleys
into them, The Spaniards soon took to
their heels and put for the walled city.
The. battle continued until dark when
they were rounded up and stacked arms.
On the outskirts Of the city the fighting
was keptup nearly all night. Our cons
pany was stationed GRO a narrow
road going to the city, we held the in
surgents out of the city, they wanted to
go in and cut the threats of all Spanish
prisoners and loot the town. Here the
trouble began again. We fought the
Spaniards, now we have to fight the
natives. Since the capture of the city
we are doing outpost and guard duty
at the outskirts Of the city. We expect
an attack most any night. They made
ansattack apGn.s4me Of the pickets last
night and twenty natives were killed.
The insurgents generalsis angry now, he
wants tosbe, ruler Of the island and
foolish enough, thought that after we
would capture the city it would be
turned over to him to be chief ruler.
The d-n Indian could not govern a
mule say nothing of a great ignorant
set of people. There will be some fun.
here yet and pretty soon our hardest
work will begin.
don't think we Americans want this
island inhabited by 4 set Sf Indians
much lower than our Indians ever were.
There are several races here; some have
the4color-o of the American Indians. The
Others are blacker and live in the noun
tains. Then there is another class called
the Cannibals or man eaters. They tell