The Red Cloud chief., 1898-09-09
FIRST ~NEBRASKAIN 1T
FIRE FIRST SHOT AT THE
DOUGHTY DONS.
lsecopnc Tired Of Idly Watching the Span
ish Behind Manila Qualifications and
Start the Dali to Rolling Rear Brunt
of second night Attack.

of second slight Attack.
OMAHA, Sept. THE Bee prints the
following excerpts from the reports
sent to the Hong Kong Mail by its Ma
nilla correspondent. They contain an
account of the part the First Nebraska
took in the operations around Manila.
From the account IL appears the First
Nebraska fred the first shot sent by
the American army into the Spanish
lines:
Within half q mile of the front line,
the natives have returned TO their
homes. Here we have peace and war
in congruons juxtaposition and it Is
not till the American outposts are
passed. some distance beyond the diver
sion of the ''Camino Real towards
Pasay, that we find the houses deserted.
The American troops under General
Grccnc's command have invested the
Spanish lines FROM the beach some few
hundreds OF yards inland towards
Pasay. The soldiers were marched
out there with instructions TO entrench
themselves between the Filipinos and
the Spanish lines and on no account To
fire unless first attacked by the span.
iards. The new trenches are eighty
yards beyond the insurgent lines, ear
er Malatc, and the American lines en-
brace two houses of Europcon design
-ou said to be the house Of an Eng
lishman, the other the residence of IA
Spaniard The Englishman's house is
nearest II shore. Beside IL, Captain
Grant OF the Utah field artillery has
thrown up heavy earthworks In which
one field piece will be mounted. A line
OF rifle pits connects Captain Grants
battery with hat of Captain Young
(also of the Utah light artillery. whose
earthworks extend eastward beyond
the Spaniard's house. We were intro
duced in the trench to Captain Young,
who Is "a grandson of the late Mormon
prophet, Brigham Young. Gabions of
bamboo wattlewor.S were thrown up
and the men were busy with pick and
shovel building up substantial earth
work and preparing platforms for tho
two field pieces lying ready at hand to
place in position.
FIRST SHOT BY A NEBRASKAN.
These operations were covered by a
battalion Of the First Nebraska volun-
tecrs, who had replaced the First Col
orados in the trenches that morning.
The two houses In the lines presented
a terrible example of the destructive
effects of the Spanish and insurgent
fire. The walls have been perforated
by shot ind shell. Everywhere the
.nrln.Nrl. 10 ,,ee.l ND t,,, H., l,,I
lets. In the Intel Of one doorway we
counted no less than thirty-scvcn bul.
lets. American soldiers, with their
bayonets and other instruments, were
picking out the bullets TO keep ~
souvenirs OF the operations in the
Philippines. There may come q time
when these same young fellows will
have become SO familiar with bullets
and other warlike missiles hat their
proclivity for relic hunting will dis
appear. A portion Of Il two-inch shell,
some Mauser bullets and leaden pei
lets fell to the lot of our party. On
the second door of the Spanish house
four cement barrels filed with earth
were stuck through the wall facing
Malate fort. Behind each barrel
crouched a Nebraskan sha~rpshooter,
his rife ready to knock over the first
Spaniard appearing above cover. My
companions had returned to the trench
es and the infantry officer and I were
e~ndeavoring to distinguish some fig
ures O N the landscape, when the man
next to me pulled the trigger and sent
the first American bullet speeding to-
wards the Spanish lines. l confess /
could not see any Spaniard. A minute
or two before a Spanish officer sp-
peared at the broken roof of "a matched
house, took O survey of the American
movements through a telescope md
then disappeared from view Just as
our sharpshooters were preparing 70
get his range. But when the first shot
WAS fred saw no one, although we
seemed to be less than 900 yards from
the opposite lines. The Nebraskan of.
ficer, however, stated positively tina,
] he could distinguish the dark forms OF
! Spanish soldiers creeping stealthily
! from trench to trench, and presumab-
ly his men had made out the objects
? ut the same time. We could not tel
the effect of the first shot. Not tina,
any n seemed TO care much. At the
time there were twenty or thirty men
at work In the house tearing up the
floor TO make a platform in the trench
. es. The first shot vas the signal for Q
stampede for the stair. In less time
than Ii takes to tell there was no one
in the house but the Nebraskan officer
his four sharpshooters and myself anG
as soon as ] realized the probability o.
the Spaniards returning the fire intS
the house l did not hesitate about join
, ing the remainder of our party In the
, trenches.
: The First Nebraska and Eighteenth
infantry held the trenches before Ma
late last night. About 10 o'clock tn,
Spaniards opened fire from Malat,
battery and sand fort. One man, Pri
yate G. l.. Lewis, Company Il, Nebras
ka, was killed by the explosion OF /;
shell in the trenches.
Seveh Nebraska men were wounded
only one, George Harrison, Compan,
A, seriously. This man was wounde,
by the same shell which killed Lewis
The Spanish loss is reported as heavy,