The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-12-28
HOUSTONIAN AT MANILA.
JOSEPH II. sTAHL TELLS OF THE
FIGHTING DONE
Preceding the Surrender OF Manila.
lie WINS with General Merritfs
Command.

A citizen of this city yesterday received
a letter from Joseph n. Stahl OF the quar-
teimastsr's department I'm General VIM.
Msrritt's command at Manila Philippine
| Islands The ietter-head Is iNumined with
O picture of that commanding officer and
shows the fort and powder magazine >.
Antonio Abad. and Capuchin's convent. Pa
! cay. captured before the battle of Manila,
July 81 and August i. The cover or en-
yeiops Is a souvenir Gu which is repre-
sentaEion of large battleship carrying the
| American coluis and commentaries NAH
| ia. August 10. 1885," Tho latter was dated
| November IL. 1898, and the reporter of The
| fost wes privileged to give tie public the
| following summary of the contents, which
| Will be iead with interest BY Mr.. STALLS
! friends i'm Houston:
have received several letters from Hous-
ten and tell You | was glad TO hear from
| Gods osuntry. Army life Is NO, what 1t is
cracked up to be-
| AS i am one OF those heroes who escaped
desth on the battlefield in one OF the hot
| test ',.gats OF tho Philippines, July 81 and
ausuBti, / Will give you a few OF the in
| cld!nts. Talk about grit! A man did not
want to lack any OF that commodity that
night. The soldiers who make soldering
their regular life kept in the shsl.,s from
the bta!1ets, but the volunteers went TO or
We're sent to the frcnt and protected the
Stars and Stra0s. We were callet out at
IL O'Clock p. M, July 81. We had 500 men
in the trenches. Tie Spaniards gave us
| u 2t5t flank and opened the ball They were
5000 strong and but loo yards from our in
trenchments. They gave us voley after
violley The Tenth PENNSYLVANIA had TO re-
treat because they were out of ammunition.
But UP came fighting battery X, with u
yell along the Pasay ro3d. Talk about a
hot time. One was killed to nv right. an
| esher TO my left and quite a number fell
all around | was detailed to carry a sup
posed wounded ccmralie back to the relief
hospital. could not get any help and l
threw him over my shoulder and took him
back myself, only to learn that the com
iade was dead He had received a bullet
I'm the back as carried him away. That
bullet was evidently meant for me, but
was not destined to die that way. Well. up
the read went again. Bullets seemed 10
iall like hail. The sky was perfectly clear.
The lannon's roared like thunipr. | had
Ia go about 1000 yards to get in safety.
The shells would burst over me and could
distinctly feel tGer conclusions. But all
Thought wes Remember the Maine and
was fairly cursing the Spaniards for max
ing "a night assault. they knowing the ter
ritoly better than we. We drove them
back however to their intrenchments. The
fighting continued till 8 o'clock D. M. Au-
gust 81. They fairly perforated the con-
vent building ntar which were our In
trenchments. They had their guns trained
on US from the very start. Oh, how did
like 10 hear their cannons roar and hear
their shells whz by without hitting any
thing But when Utah battery X began to
play on them. went wild, / scarcely knew
what / was doing, but I dill know was
yelling all the time to give them hi.
The next fight was the capture of Man
lila. Uncle George Dewey gave all foreign
shirs rc,.ice to clear the barbor While he
lined his ships In front of the city. He
sisralled General Merritt that he was
ready to give the button punch. AT his
eom~.nd 10000 boys In blue went TO the
front. besides the Aston battery and Utah
battery. After we all got into cur intrench-
msh,s tbia balls began u roll. Uncle George
Dewey sent his number skies INTO the
trenches and drove tho dons out and gave
them hail on the run with his rapid firing
guns. This was CLOSE to the beach and en-
he extreme left. Then no turned his guns
loose toward the right and cut jumped the
husky devils. who left their intrenchments
eEd ran for the city walls. Dewey d!da.t
do thing 10 their fort He put an S-inch
shsll clear through the side wall, forty feet
shiok-.T stepped the distance myself. This
fort was where the first American flag was
raised and the flag bearer was killed. This
S-pounder burst and kSlied fifty nine Span
iards and wounded 100 more. Talk about
a nrs ssacre-men with heads blown off ana
arms and legs pulled out. The bigle was
sounded Forward ALL" and the air flled
with yeNls as onward we ran at double
quick, firing as we ran. BY this time the
Spaniards had slampcded and were on the
run and we kept them going until they
were within the walls Then for the big
fray, But we were all disappointed. Uncle |
George Eswey trained tbs big guns Of the
Monterey and Monadnack on the Splniards |
No. Krupps. the other American ships be-
ing in Fine. when all at once up went the |
white flag. down went the Spanish flags. |
End Within thirty minutes up went the |
Stars and Stripes and Uncle Sans boys had |
charge of the beautiful walled city called |
Man1a.
TIE city 70 fine with A Novty-foot wall
around IT and we'll fortified with old-style
suns--No. breschIoaders were
trained principally en- the bay.
The palace Is fns building, The ma
ives dress seni-nude. This soil of the pro-
,inces is very rfch. Rice is shait the only
rrcauct cultiveted hut pn1anples, cocoa
nuts and other kinds Of fruits ami nuts
crow wild II is no place for white man
10 live whc respects life and health They
have SMALLPOX. with pesthouse In \
;wsmp and our own doctars ftsVe lttlc
-e,:ltsr facilities as yet.
i have tald you as much as can for the
present and will el-se wishing Won all
MFrry Christmas and Happy New Yesr
Tire letter was sccc,mpanied by a SOU
renar S,ng Book" OF twenty-five original
7,lrgs and pens written by members of
he F. ghth army corps and is very neat
work Of Philippine artists md printers,