The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-07

volleys flew by us. the last about $50 yards
TO our right; then came the order, Gun No.
z tour gum with canister "a shell full of
nails, iron. stones. etc., load. ready, aim,
No. 2. fire. l pulled the cord with a strong
jerk-a boom-my ears rang. A second lat
er a second report sounded as our shell
burst right in the line of rebels who yelled
and many of them broke and ran We fired
again and the third exploding time shell
finished their fighting vim, and we had no
more fighting to do that night. However
/ stood guard the rest of the night and
when my relief came in the morning l was
so tired out that / almost fell on my blanket
asleep.
SATISFIED IN DOING HIS DUTY.
wei. we have captured Manila. stood
all kinds of hardships and slept about two
days in a week. and for this $500 600 900 prize
we took for Uncle Sam we get bareback,
weak coffee, cornbeef and that old army
horror, salt horse. We have not been paid
cent, and expect none for a month at the
shortest. / am ready TO come home; have
done my duty as a soldier, though some
times it went hard. l came to assist in
taking Manila, and 1 did it, and now / am
ready fer my discharge when it comes.
which may be in sixty days or 1t may be in
a year. am satisfied with myself in the
fact that | can stand exposure and doglife
l am not a coward. either as / did not run
when facing death, nor did l wish to. l
always kept my presence of mind and did
what my commander ordered, so | have
fully Kept my oath of allegiance 10 my
country and am anxious 70 settle into civil
life as soon as possible. What life work /
may adopt do not know. | know that |
am now capable of any kind of labor. 1
trenches, carried heavy weights, curried,
hafnessed and cared for horses (our artil-
so. you see. l have astonished myself by
at that;
i lAfdfaCK |
letter. was unfortunately kicked by
horse, and am now laid up for while, /
limp, and am on the sick list for few
days Tell all friends I was wounded by
spanish SI,a mule . KICK IN the CAPTURE of Ma.
already told you, except that | am picking
up little Spanish and that we have given
the rebels until the oath to lay down their
arms. If they do not, ho for more battle.
You see, they expected us to come here and
take Manila, thing which they for years
hand it over to them to plumber and gov
eTn, and, as we have concluded not to do IT,
they are quite mad Pshaw! the pesky
and maybe even go so far as to aim before
they give up, They must be made to un-
derstand that Uncle Sam is not case of
con or bluff, and then all will be o. K in
the Philippines. Write soon, or, rather,
write every three or four days. as am so
glad to hear from my mother, 1900 miles
away. Tell BERTHE to write, too, and often:
she has sighted me. think of both of
you as i lay on my D6Q OF paving StOHSS,
and hope the time may be short until | can
sit in a nice furnished room with an Amer
lean cigarette in my hand and an Amer
lean newspaper on my knee and American
air around me, and my mother and sister to
tell my yarns to. / guess l am homeSick.
but there are 165 men out of 100 men in the
epidemic. Goodbye, and love to you both
Tell Mrs. Warner, Hally and the doctor
that AAerman works hard and has the re-
spect of every man in the battery for doing
his duty. He don't complain, only TO me,
and is quite as ready to come nome. we
both are in excellent health. and are sta
toned only two blocks apart. | i think
neither of US will ever groan about, work
when we get home again, but will take
pleasure in pleasing our mothers, as we
have both learned valuable lesson. name
ly. There is no place like home and when
you are there try to keep there by helplnS
to keep the home. If l am still here by
Nov. you can send me box of fifty small
boxes of cigarettes for Christmas, and you
can be assured l will be- happy,
"P. ST. must add that one dollar OF our
money is good for two dollars of the money
here, and when pay day comes l will draw
S. equal to $40 in Spanish coins, and leave
the rest with the paymaster, so | can buy
clothes when 1 get home | must add that
Manila is a very squatty, dirty and uncom-
Portable city. The climate is awful, and
full of malaria and fever. The city is over
full of people, all hungry and poor. and ev-
cry article is hgh-priced, but not first
class. The fruit here is not good, and is
unusually scarce, and ! was disappointed
stagnant water STANDS for weeks IN the gut
tiers. Everyone smokes cigarettes, which
here makes 100000 a day. and it is a COM
mon thing TO see baby two years ola pun,
ing dry, long cigarette. The natives and
Cnlnese eat Il ee,r hS % s4 sa harrel bread is
unknown except to the English, Dutch and
rich Spanish. Silk articles are cheap. as
are also shoes and these 1 shall buy before
leaving. SILK socks sell for % cents Silk
underwear SIPS a suit