Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1898-12-09
Interesting Letter From Musician w.
]. Pettee With the North Da.
kotans at Manila.
Gossip of the Regiment and Doines of
the Bismarck Company Boys
in Particular.
Various Items Of Interesting News
Gathered in and Around the Cap
ital City.
MANILA, P. L. Oct. 20. 1898

in the mail which gladdened the hearts
of the soldiers in Manila yesterday. 1
am much gratified to find out the exact
extent of the terrible fire from the dia-
gram enclosed in your letter. 1 suppose
we would hardly recognize old Bismarck
now, nevertheless, everyone Of us boys
longs for home, and while we regret the
great loss to the town we should be glad
to see home if there were nothing left
but a place for the train to stop. l do
not mean to say we are homesick nor
exactly unhappy Or discontented, but
then it is in the heart of everyone of us
who has left home and friends to come
to this far-away place-a kind of longing
to once more wear citizens clothes and
see an American once in a while who is
not in the service of Uncle Sam.
We are fondly hoping that the deiiber-
ations OF the Paris peace commission
will result in our speedy return to the
states. We hear today that there is a
probability of a disagreement and a re-
sumption of hostilities; but I fail to see
what Spain has to resume" with. She
may depend on her extensive submarine
fleet here, and the thousands of rifles
and other munitions which have been
captured by the Americans.
Don't believe for a minute that any of
the troops here volunteers or rregulars)
want to remain in the Philippines. A
canvass of the enlisted men here showed
that not l per cent Of the men want to
stay. There are a good many of the conl-
missioned officers who are getting more
money every pay day now than they ever
saw before, and of course, they do all
they CAN to create the impression that
we want to stay in the service. This is
not, to my knowledge, true of any OF the
officers in our regiment, but it is very
natural that some men should feel that,
way.
OF course Peterson and I rejoiced to
learn that our band would compete for Il
prize at the state fair. | am sure the
band must be much improved by the adj
ditlon OF the players you mentioned as
they were the very ones needed most. I
have received several letters from Belk
and he writes entertainingly of band and
other matters in which I am interested.
There arc several American newspap-
ers published in Manila now. One of
them "The American" receives cable
grams from Hong Kong every day, so
now we know the principal things of in
terest which occur at home. This
paper was started by a subscription
of over $1,000 which was raised by the
officers of the U. S. army and navy here.
That amount was necessary to secure
the use of the associated press news re-
ceived at Hong Kong. The sheet is, of
course, greatly appreciated by all Amer
leans here, and is getting a good adver-
tising business. 1t will soon be self
supporting. The other papers are pub
lished by the different regiments here,
and contain only local news
A base ball league has been organ
lied here and includes a team from each
regiment now quartered in Manila. Tho
American Commercial company, a prom
inent Manila firm, have donated Il fine
silver cup which will be competed for
by the different teams. The winner of
the cup is to be determined by a series
of games which have been arranged.
The Nebraska and Colorado regiments
had a hotly contested game this after
moor which resulted in victory for the
Nebraska boys, the score being 6 to 2.
The personnel of the North Dakota
team is hardly decided yet, but we have
plenty Of good players to make it hot
for the Pennsylvania boys next Monday.
I think that Lieut.. Mclean will be be-
hind the bat, and if we only had Bartron
here those coal miners wouldn't make
home runs every time they swing the
bat.
We had dress parade tonight but it
was spoiled by a heavy shower which
started while the band (the Idaho band)
and field music were passing in review.
So the men were marched of the parade
ground double-quick and took the short
est route home. Campaign hats white
duck suits and leggings are the regula-
ton for dress parade now, and there isn't
a finer looking body of men in Manila
than the 1st N. D. when they "cover
guides on a line" and go through the
manual of arms.
The government has a large force of
men at work removing all the barricades
and other temporary Notifications erect
ed by the Spaniards. They had sand
bags piled across the streets, and barbed
wire fences built everywhere where they
thought the Americans might want to
pass. Manila is one of the best fortified
cities in the world Just at present. With
Dewey's fleet and what troops are here
any nation attacking Manila would have