The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-08-10
ANACONDA news.
he IS ON THE MARIETTA
Joseph McGuinness Writes an In
teresting Letter to His Brother.
TRIP AROUND THE HORN
First Heard OF the Declaration of Wal
When at Rio Janeiro Now
on Blockade Duty in
Cuban Waters.

OF the many letters which have been
received from soldiers and sailors in the
war. that written by Joseph A. Nc
Guinness to his brother. Deputy Sheriff
J. ]. McGuinniss. of this city, is un-
doubtedly the most interesting. Mr..
McGuinness was formerly a fireman on
the Butte. Anaconda & Pacific. and
is well known here. He is now on the
L. 8. S. Marietta, concerning whose
safety in the voyage around the Horn,
much anxiety was felt. The letter is
dated July 10, off Havana and is as
follows:
After leaving Anaconda I went to
Vallejo. Cal. and underwent an ex-
animation at the navy yard. | had
hut little nope of passing. but succeeded
beyond my hopes. Well. they shipped
me. and here l am. After going aboard
of this ship l was put to work imme-
diately. and must have given satisfac-
ton. as ] have a very good record,
never having been at the mast on re-
port. as most every one else on the
shin has. We went to Sitka, Alaska,
a very dismal sort of a place with
nothing but Esquimos to look at. 1t
being winter. the Klondikers had not
vet started for the gold fields. After
staying up there for exactly one
month. we went to San Francisco
again. arriving there for Christmas and
New Years. where / became acquaint-
ed with a fine lot of people and had n
good time. We left there on the 18th
of January. and went to Acapulco.
Mexico. stayed there a while. and were
we'll treated by the people. We then
went to San Jose. Guatemala. A few
of the first-class petty officers were al
lowed to go up to the city of Guatemala
on a three days furlough. | being one,
had the pleasure Of seeing the country
and being treated like a prince. While
standing on the platform an engineer
from the Wisconsin Central came up
and asked me IL I was not a greasy
neck" ] told him ] was, n no at
once tool charge of me. introducing
me to the other railroaders and giving
me a good time all round. We would
have liked to stay there longer. but
had to go back 10 the ship. The rail-
readers wanted me to stay and offered
me a job at Sl2 a day in their
money.
W. then went south to San SALIVA
dor, Panama. Peru and all of these
places were full of interest, but 7 can
not tell you of them now. Arriving in
Valparaiso. we were in danger from
the Spaniards. who openly insulted our
officers on the streets. We had to pa
troll the ship with the steam launches
every night while we were there. as
well as having the assistance Of the
CHILEAN launches. They have the finest
lot of cruisers there that ! have yet
seen. l counted % brand new ships of
the New Orleans type. We then went
TO Sandy Point. where we met the Ore
gon. and kept company with her To Rio
Janeiro. We had a good reception by
the Brazilians. who were friendly to us.
II was here hat we were notified of
tho dar1a ~ finn NJ NElEs nNTaFV ono NEnG
glad. and the men before the mast went
Wild. We then had the Nictheroy fnow
the Buffalo) in convoy. The oregon bid
us goodbye. We sighted and spoke
the Lord Carnes of Liverpool. who ave
us a cheer as she passed. We lei
spoke the Hiram Emery. an American
ship. and spoke her. The captain did
not know war had been declared and
he felt very bad. declaring. ! am very
sorry: this beGgars me- he having
taken us for a ~Spaniard. He then took
another look at our flag and nearly
went wild. the crew cheering and dane
ing around. We coaled from our con
xoy in the Amazon river. cut loose from
her and went direct to Kew West.
wher we did a little repairing and
were assigned TO the b~lockading fleet
off Havana.
W have chased a good many ships.
hut have only one bum old brig to our
AItdlAa We ffAAFa Eith ~ ilf ilk
steamer of 5000 tons burden. I can
see her bow sticking out Of the water
from here. her CAPTAIN having tried to
run her ashore rather than he can
tured. She caught fire before she
sunk.
II have not time To give YOU full par
ticulars of the doings Of the ships. but
no doubt you know as much as we do
from the newspapers. our arms seem
TO be very victorious In the naval bat
ties. but not So much so on shore. In
Key West the hospitals are fun Of the
Wounded. many Of whom are from the
West. I met a man from Dublin gulch,
Butte. who belonged TO the rough rid
ers. He knew me. though ] did not
remember him: he was much pleased to
have me talk Montana To him. I was
no there almost a whole dav. I met n
nan from Fort Smelling badly wounded.
There were lots Of fellows | knew who
had been wounded at Santiago. I was
almost busted when I went aboard
from buying tobacco for the poor boys
Y knew. and they number quite n few.
They say il will be no Joke To take the
town. as the Standards fight COURAGE
ously. ] hope they will move on Ha-
wanna pretty SOC as we are getting
very impatient. The coast Is lined with
heavy guns. SO I guess they will give
us a hot time taking IL. will send
some buttons by next mail and also
my rating badge. Remember me to my
Anaconda friends"