The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-08-25

| at any prOWler seen near his post. To
/ go to sleep on post would mean death,
] for a squad of guards off duty are con-
/ tinually going the rounds testing the
lines.
/ Owing to the heat, which has not yet
! been severe, all work is done in the
morning and evening. Reveille sounds
at 4:30, and after breakfast drill is held
j until 10 o'clock when the men are off
duty for the day.
PRIVATE BLEUTH'S ILLNESS.
The health of the boys in both bat
/ teries is excellent, with the exception
! of Private Bleuth. He took sick with
appendicitis just after reaching Manila
bay. DR.. Critchlow says the treatment
given him on the China was disgrace
full. Three hours after taken to the
hospital the army doctor did not know
the nature of his illness nor had he
taken his temperature. DR.. CritchloW
then took the case in his own hands,
and had the patient removed to Cavite
hospital, where he was operated upon,
and is now improving rapidly. Since
then Utah's men have studiously
avoided the brigade hospital, and this
they think accounts for their good
health. Drs. Critchlow and Harry
Young are both able physicians, and
they treat the few cases of colds, con-
ollpcllOtt anu q Ai-OAO AAN~' -
been prevalent.
The big battery fund has been ex-
pended in provisions, and these are
now where the boys can get at them,
so that in the future Uncle Sam will
not feed them. Such luXuries as con-
densed milk, mush. dried apples and
rice will Supplant the pork and beans.
This, combined with the medical facil-
tiles, makes the batteries almost indie
pendent.
There have been a few changes in
the non-commissioned officers. First
Sergeant Eddy of battery B was re-
duced to a private. and Sergeant
Haines promoted to fill his place. Cor
poral Peter Olson was reduced and
Private De Montabello promoted TO his
place.
CAPTAIN GRANTS REPORT.
When asked what could be said of
battery B, Captain Grant replied:
You can say they are the best soldiers
1 ever saw, and that 1 am proud of
them; every single one. Why, look at
them out there, all as straight as an
arrow, and lively as a cat. When we
got hold of them they were great big,
awkward fellows, who would fall all
over themselves, but now-well, you
see what they are. Why, would take
them out and drill alongside of this
Astor battery camped just behind my
tent, and guarantee to outdrill them
at every point
SPANISH WEATHER.
The weather here is Spanish. The
animals here are also Spanish, and
both fight desperately for their coun-
try 1t rains nearly all the time. An
immense war cloud will cover the
camp and pepper away until every
thing is soaking wet and all the boys
have retreated into the tents. Then it
will retreat, leaving only a few skirm-
ishes to keep the guards good and wet.
Then the sun comes out blazing in
tensely. All the soaked goods are laid
out to dry, but just as soon as they get
somewhere near wearable, an outpost
cloud will discover them and summon
forth the army of clouds to wet them
down again. The mosquitoes hold saber
drill on the army all the time. At
night they come escorted by firef1ies
with lanterns lit so that no soldier can
escape. The ants-large red ones
march and countermarch over every
one. They throw up breaStworks, dig
trenches and tunnel through the skin.
If there is anything that will make a
fellow feel lonely, forsaken and home
sick, it is to hear the croaking of frogs
in the night For this reason an i'm
camp every night and croak until day.
light.
DARING OFFICERS.
1t would be hard to find two men
more brave than Captain Young and
Lieutenant Gibbs. They have pene-
trated the wilderness of flying bullets
farther than any other Americans, and
have procured maps of the entire Span
ISL Notifications. Captain Young says:
"Oh, yes, the bullets fly around us.
Today I was standing on the top of
hill looking down into the Spanish
lines, when they opened a volley fire
at us. To hear those bullets come a
whizzing by was sweet, 1 tell you. A
little later 1 was looking at a Spanish
block house from the insurgent
trenches, and to get a better view 1
climbed to the top. Suddenly a sharp
shooter opened fire from a point 100
yards in front of the block house, and
the bullet passed two inches above my
head, striking bamboo tree just be-
hind me-
Captain Grant and myself were
making some plans in an insurgent
grass hut when a cannon ball tore off
the roof. These are nothing, as far as
am concerned. l am very cautious,
but Gibbs is going to get shot He
stands in the most exposed positions,
needlessly. He is as careless and free
as though no Spaniards were there.
Why if I didn't call him back, today
he would have been a corpse
Lieutenant Gibbs, when interviewed
on the subject, said: THE firing gets
pretty near sometimes. The Spaniards
fire brass, explosive bullets, which are
barred by an international treaty. One
of these exploded in the center of a
bamboo tree. about a foot to my left,
yesterday, and tore the bamboo tree |
right in two, sending splinters all over |
me. | am very careful not to expose |