The Saint Paul globe., 1898-10-20
LOOK LIKE SKELETONS
CONRAD ROVgE'S DESCRIPTION OF
THE SOLDIERS OF THE THIR-
TEENTH REGIMENT.
DO NOT GET THEIR RATIONs


1t Is Suspected That There Is a
Large Margin of Profit for the
Quartermaster I'm Some Cases
Big Difference In Weights of
Bread and FIOur-Some Severe
Criticisms.
eff you were to go to a cemetery
and blow a bugle and call up the dead
from their graves, you would have
good idea of the Thirteenth regiment
as it looks now in Manila"
The speaker was Conrad H. Rowe,
late company cook for Company D, OF
the Thirteenth. Mr. Rowe has Just
arrived from the Philippine islands,
having been honoraibly discharged on
account Of illness. He brought pock-
ct full of letters from the boys to their
friends in this city. Mr.. Rowe says
he is glad to be back in st. Paul, and
that there are only a very few mem
bers of the regiment who would not
have liked to accompany him home.
Manila" he said to a reporter for
The @ j e, lis no place for white
men. The climate is bad, the food is
unsuited to white men, and there is
I left the place there were $50 Thir-
teenth regiment men sick in quarters
and hospitals. Dysentery is the pre-
VAiling complaint, and a number of
men have died from it,
There is a feeling among the men
in the regiment that they are not
treated well. Somebody is making
money from the men. They do not
get the food they should have or
enough of what they get, yet, if they
complain, they are sent to the guard
house. Gen. Reeve will not let the
men use profane language, he is so
religious, but he lets them starve, and
Furnishes them If they are rebellious.
CANNOT GET BEEF.
The stories told by some of the
men that they get fresh beef every
day are false. 1 cooked for our COM
pany and I know they did not get it.
They could not. If they got meat three
times a week they did well. The rea-
son is simple. Meat comes there In
shiplOads and one shipIoad is divided
among all the forces at Manila There
are Il, 600 soldiers there, and it would
be impossible to give meat every day
to all OF them. The food they get is
unhealthy. Their principal diet is
pork and beans. The water is warm
and is not fit to drink until 1t has been
boiled, and everything is unpadatabie.
But the men have to eat what they
can get or die Of starvation.
1T is customary for the quartermas-
ter sergeants to exchange flour for
bread at bakeries A pound of -four
IS exchanged for loaf of bread
There is at least one QuartermaSter
sergeant who is making money from
that arrangement. 1 had occasion one
day to inquire of a baker why he gave
rrofr- =
five pounds Of flour, and the baker told
me he gave the balance in cash. 1t
was wrong, for the men of that par
tcular company went with a short al
lOwance of bread on account of that
deal. What became Of the money I
never learned. Perhaps it was turned
In to the company mess fund.
Those who do not want to come
home are making more money there
than they could at home. Gen. Reeve
draws two fat salaries, one as a mil
ftary officer and another as chief mag
fstrate of the city. The majors are all
inspectors of police and draw $3.50 a
month for that, besides their salaries
as officers. But the privates get no
show at all. They patrol the streets
twelve hours day with guns on
shoulders, and then for twelve hours
more they are on watch. They have
tWenty-four hours of continuous duty
every three days. 1t is hard work pa
trolling the streets in the hot sun or
in the rain and on insufficient rations.
The men are exhausted when they go
off duty, and they are hardly rested
when they have to go on again. No
one who has son there should be
cOntented to let him remain.
1T WAS A HARD TRIP.
1.-The trip over to Manila was the
worst 1 ever experienced. We were
slowed away in our hunks like sar-
dimes, and there was hardly room to
turn. On the transport there were
scme officers who made some money.
We thought the Red Cross supplies
were sent to US by that society and
were to be dealt out to US free, but
when we applied for anything from
the stores we were obliged to pay for
1t or go without it. We could get no
tobacco unless we paid for. it.
The battle of Aug. 13 was hardly a
battle. The heavy fighting was done
by the Astor battery The men used
their guns is long as they could, and
then their revolvers, and the Thirteenth
reinforced them with bayonet charge
The battle was fought after the Span
tsh had raised the white flag, but
neither the Spanish or the Americans
knew the city had capltulated until the
city gates were opened and we were
let in.
During the fight Company D had
no opportunity to show it's mettle We
were not on the firing line, and, though
We heard bullets whizzing past US. we
were not allowed to shoot. AS we