The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-27
VOLUNTEERS IN HONOLULU
INTERVENING LETTER FROM 4
 FIRST NEW YORK SOLDIER.

Now Stationed in Hawaii - Regiment
 Treated Handsomely on Way Across
 the Continent and in Camp-Recep-
 ton iM HonOlulu-Cas of the
 Voyage to the Islands.
 The following interesting letter was
 recently received from a member of
 Company M, First New York Volunteer
 infantry, now stationed in Honolulu, by
 young woman in Brooklyn, who is a
 sister of a man residing in New Ia-
 ven:
 Camp Mckinley, Honolulu, Hawaii, Aug. 27, 1898. Dear As you seemed interested in our soldierly life at Fort Hamilton l thought probably you would like to know how we have fared since leaving Jersey City. In the first place, it has seemed very little like war, especially to me, as I haven't even as much as fired my gun off and have carried car- tridges in my belt only once, while on guard; in fact, I am afraid that when we return the people will tin-soldier us as much as they did when we only played soldier in our armory at home. Our trip across the country was jolly good time and was enjoyed by every one. At every station there would be crowd of men to stare at us and young girls to present us with flowers. In re- turn we gave them hard-tack and some-
 times a button. At Cheyenne, Omaha, Ogden and San Francisco we were
 treated to regular ovations in the shape
 of lunch, flowers and speeches. Our
 stay in San Francisco was just long
 enough to see the principal points of
 interest. We were sent first to Camp Merritt, but it was so sandy and disa- greeable that our colonel had us remov- ed to the Presidio, the finest military
 reservation in the country. Here we
 were comfortable and enjoyed the same liberties as at Fort Hamilton. We were looked upon as a swell lot of men, hav ing two suits of clothes, while the other regiments were lucky in having one most of them having only brown over~ alls. The weather was miserable all the time, sometimes the fog being so thick that we could almost call it rain, and when there wasn't any fog there
 was always a gale of wind; but the weather and all the other hardshipS of
 camping were forgotten in the pleas
 ures we received at the hands of the people, It seemed to me that about all the people in the city had lived at one
 time and another in the state of New
 York, and they did everything possible fn make ct ro1a mt nd tn
 be remembered, and when we finally
 marched from our camp to the wharf to | take our transport to Honolulu we were
 one and all sorry to leave, even though
 the people all told us what a splendid country we were going to. Our boat the Charles Nelson, was a good sea-
 boat, almost new, and about two hum
 dred feet long. She had good engines
 and with the help of her sails in fair weather would average about fourteen miles an hour There were 5S5 men on board, with accommodations for about 450. As a, result the trip was not very pleasant for a good many of the men. To make it worse, the cooking arrange
 mentS were poor and caused a good
 deal of grumbling. Being a sergeant I
 was better cared for, occupying state room, with two others, on the main
 deck and eating at second table in the
 main saloon.
 We had fair weather during the en-
 tire voyage and under different eircum- stances the trip would have been a rare treat for us. We did not sight ship
 of any kind from the time of leaving San Francisco until our arrival in the l, oc calm all the way, causing very little | seasickness. Among so many men there was always enough fun and accidents to keep the trip from becoming monot- onous. Only one accident was serious. It happened on the third evening out when a private from Company c ap- peared on deck minus hat, coat and shoes, with a canteen over one shoul- der No attention was paid to him as he calmly rolled and smoked a cigar cite, after which he deliberately climb ed the rigging and jumped overheard. In lowering the life-boat the ropes somehow got mixed and the boat upset, throwing two of the sailors in the wa ter. One seemed to strike his head against the boat in going over and was drowned before help could reach him. l The boat was finally righted and the jumper rescued after being in the wa 1 ter about half an hour. He had been sick the early part of the voyage and had often spoken of taking a swim, but l no one suspected that he would do so The doctor pronounced it case of de- 1 lirium brought on by worry and sea- | sickness.
 We arrived in Honolulu Sunday eve- | ing, August IA, and were greeted by an | immense crowd, comprising a few | Americans, a great many native Kama kas and a few Chinamen and Japs i They all seemed as pleased to see us as we did to get the splendid pineapples | and bananas thrown on board. We were allowed ashore for a short time only. The Kanaka girls showed their good nature and easy ways by letting | US jolly them with all sorts of nonsensi- cal questions about the islands. The next day we marched three and half | miles out of town to a race course, where we will stay until the permanent camp can be selected. It is a splendid site and deserved 50 be called after our | president. There is a mile track for | racing and the grounds are well taken | care of, giving us a large and level fr,, 1c;1J V,