The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-09-10
A LETTER FROM MANILA
Daniel Slattery Writes of the
Trip Across.
BEFORE THE BIG FIGHT
Some OF the Utah Light Artillery Cap
tured Through an Oficer's Blum
derivatives Laughed al
Slattery's Red Hair.

-
any of the Butte boy who joined the
ranks of the volunteers to go to the
Philippines reached Butte yesterday in
the form of letters to Assistant Post
master Thomas j. Flavin from Daniel
NJ. Slattery. who was formerly one of
the postoffice gang. Dan, who was one
of the most popular boys in the Office,
was a member of the National Guard of
North Dakota, belonging to the compa-
ny at Bismarck. His term of service
had not expired when the war broke out
and when volunteers were called for
Dan left his position and went back TO
Bismarck to join his He
went to the Philippines with his regi-
ment, sailing on the Valencia. and is
now at Manila. His first correspond
ence is dated on board ship and the rest
is sent from Manila. under different
dates. His letters read:
Near Sheol, on the Pacific, July %,
1896.
Il am still sailing over the bounding
main with the thermometer registered
every day and night above 80 and the
further we go the hotter it is getting.
We are all suffering greatly from lack
of good water. Our officers discovered
that they did not take on a sufficient
AaHCeA' ~ wv oAit dS N iNSaiAs We
are restricted to two pints of water,
which must last us "a hours. Our bill
of fare is out of sight We have fat
pork, coffee and a potato for dinner;
for supper canned hat pork and
coffee. Occasionally they make a change
and cut out the tomatoes. For break
fast we have coffee and hard tack. To
get these meals the men all line up, 6S1
strong, and march to the cook house
and get their rations on a tin plate.
There is no UGH things here as tables
and chairs. We nave five vessels in our
fleet-Indiana, Ohio, City of Para, the
Morgan City and our little vessel, the
Valencia.
''Ou boys are all healthy and so far
none have died. Their have been a few
deaths on the Morgan City and In
diana. 1t makes a fellow feel queer to
see them throw the bodies of the dead
overheard, all tied up in anvas and
shot at their feet. You cannot imagine
the suspense we are all in. You see,
we are all 80 days out from San Fran
cisco and don't know what is happening
in the outside world. Neither do we
know what we are going to go up
against. We are all wondering whether
peace has been declared. We have not
seen a vessel, that is, outside of our
fleet, since we left. We are out of the
usual route. The officers seem to be
afraid of something, but we do not
know what it is. / am very light now,
only weigh 100 pounds, and seem to be
getting thinner every day on account
of the heat We expect to sight the
island of LuZon tomorrow morning.
Manila is situated on this island, but
we have to go entirely around it to get
into Manila bay.
July 2S-We are in the midst of the
Philippine islands and can see land
-aE
sea and going towards Manila at the
rate of II knots per hour. You will
doubtless note that l am getting quite
nautical in my expression. We expect
to meet an American gunboat tonight
or tomorrow; they will bring us our
orders. Most of the boys here on the
boat are betting that peace has been
declared n we shall go back home in
a month or two, but l do not hin so.
II suppose o heard of Company b
of Butte going on a strike in Frisco
and refusing to drill On account of the
grub they were getting. brennan placed
them all under arrest. / do not know
how they came out, as we left before
they settled it. The China sea is like
a plate of glass, not a ripple except
what is made by the boat
July 31-We reached Manila bay at
noon to-day, and We are now anchored
in the center of the American feet.
The flagship Olympia is anchored right
alongside of us. Dewey is aboard of
her, and we all saw him this after
noon. We received a great reception.
There were about $1,000 men all yell
ing and bands playing when we
steamed into the bay. We lost our
convoy. the monitor Monterey, and
everyone is worried about her. As
soon as she comes Manila will be bonn
barded, and then we will have a chance. |
We will witness the bombardment
within a week. and you will probably |
know all about it before this letter
cache you. We are anchored right
on the battle inc and not 300 yards
from where we are you can see the
smoke stacks and masts of seven of
the Spanish fleet. Cavite is at our
right, and a very bum looking fort it
is. Some of the second expedition are
holding it. 1t is a dead sure PROPOSE
ton that we are going To fight, nd
fight hard. too, but we will give them
the best we have got.
THE bay is full of German men-of-
war. but for every one of them Eng
land also has one. Japan also has a
few. There are IL United States /
transports and Dewey's inyincible fleet
of six or seven. In fact, the bay is
full of ships. The insurgents are fight
ing tonight. and we can hear them
cracking hell at the Spanish outposts.
You know Dewey supplies the insur-
gents with the ammunition and guns
that he captured at Cavite. and as a
result they are doing something in the
service with them. The boys are all
good, and I think they will put
|