The San Francisco call., 1898-08-18
COL. SMITH LOST
 HIS REGIMENT Funny Incident Before
 Manila.
FALSE ALARM AT NIGHT
CALIFORNIANS SENT OUT TO
 REPEL ATTACK.
Their Commander Returning From a Solitary Reconnaissance Finds His Entire Force Missing
 From Camp.
Special Correspondence of The Call

Special Correspondence Of The CalL
 CAMP DEWEY, with the Second Brigade before Manila, July 21.-There are now nearly 5000 men in camp under General Greene, a force strong enough to hold it's position in the con- tingency of a Spanish sortie. And speaking of Spanish sorties reminds me of a rather funny occurrence night be- fore last, which for time looked as though 1t might have a grimly tragic side. You will have heard something about it, of course, by cable. This is the story:
 There were two battalions of the First California in camp, and the en- tire First Colorado, the California boys lying closer to the Spanish lines and about two miles away. The Colorado men had not been here as long as the Californians, and their officers did not understand the situation so we'll. Col onel Smith, for example, knows what the Spanish and the Tagalles are in the habit of shooting back and forth across their respective lines every morning and evening, not, apparently, so much for its purpose of killing each other as to convince each that the other Is at attention in the trenches. These sk1r- miSheS, as a rule, mean so little that the Americans down here have ceased to pause when commencing to count the shots, and, although a Spaniard or a Filipino Is shot and killed occasionally. that seems rather in the nature Of acci- dent.
 To return to my tale. The officers of the Colorado regiment, being tender feet, were not case-hardened to this hr- ing and, being ambitious, threw line of outposts toward the Spanish posts well beyond the California pickets.
 Matters were moving with the usual routine in camp on Wednesday even ing at o'clock. Colonel Smith, watch ful as usual, had been out to see how the Spanish line looked at night with
 a view to handling his men with greater effectiveness after dark. This is a country wherein men do not fight in the daytime, nature doing all the necessary heating while the sun is at meridian, and, as the boys say, the col onel was never slow in getting next
 The boys In the shelter tent dozed peacefully, and the officers about head quarters gossiped of the relative merits of the Springfield and the Mauser rifles as a dealer of death. The cruiser Boston, sent over by Admiral Dewey to cover the landing of Ameri- can troops, lay under the trees lining the beach, covering Manila with the threat of her guns. The American camp, Camp Dewey, 1t should be re- marked in passing, is well within the range of the Spanish guns. It is not shelled for the very good reason that Augusti understands perfectly that one shell thrown among the troops will bring upon Manila swift destruction from the fleet.
 To return once more and finally to my story. The camp dozed peacefully.
 The big guns of the Spanish and Aguinaldo's old smooth-bores at Pasay groWled sullenly across the trenches, the growing broken, now and again, by the sharp snap of the Mauser, like the quick barking of terriers. Sud denly into the peaceful scene was in jected an element of disturbance. A man in a blue uniform, panting like a tired dog, rushed down the Calle Real (King's road) from PaSay, tried to rush the California sentry, and being halted could gasp only the one word, Dis patches!" Then he caught his breath and told how the Spaniards had made a sortie, driven the insurgents from their works and were coming down the road at double to attack the Ameri-
 can camp. Then the dispatch bearer ran on to the Colorado camp.
 There was the widest commotion at once. The whole peaceful aspect was changed. In fact the only really peace ful place was at the trenches, where Colonel Smith was calmly watching the firing on both sides, thinking how much
 better his boys would do if given a chance. A few insurgents had run back past him, panic stricken for moment, but had quickly advanced again. He
 was at the one place where nothing
 was happening.
 In camp Lieutenant Colonel Duboce turned out the regiment quickly, talk ing a strong position on a line from the Calle Real to the beach. Colonel Hale
 of the First Colorado turned out his men with equal promptness, his left
 resting on the California troops and his right extended in the trees lining
 the cross road from the Calle Real to Pasay. It was magnificent, though dark, but it was practice drill rather than war. General Greene, having his headquarters at that time on board the China. was sent for hastily and came ashore with his staff. Colonel Smith, returning from the front in a caramat-
 ta. rode peacefully into camp and l found his regiment missing. That Is | not as small a matter as 1t seems at
 first glance. A thousand Americans Is 1 a pretty large quantity in this land of
 mangoes and small men. The colonel found his boys presently, agreed to the | disDosition of them which had been
 made and waited in the darkness for tbe coming of the Spaniards he had not
 seen at the front. The Spaniards that
 tbev waited for never came. And that
 is the true story of the first battle be- | fore Manila
 Late this afternoon the insurgents l captured five Spanish spies at the out
 hosts of Pasay. They had passes rolled
 i1n in cigarettes They were taken to Racoor and will be shot in the morn l inc SOL N. SHERIDAN.
 THIRTY PERSONS KILLED. l .11 Ne1lsein,, on a Railroad i,,