Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-08-13
down IN PORTO RICO
Rock Island Boys Tell of the
Weary March Through
the Island.
CAMPED IN AN OLD FLOWED FIELD.

1
Having a Circus With the Nstives-In-
teresting Accounts by j. c. souders and
william Ransom.
ETTERS from the Rock Island boys
= at the front received during the
past few days tell Interesting stories
of the conflict in Porto Rico and of the
little island over which Uncle Samuel
has spread his protecting wing.
Mrs. Mai. w. L. Channon hears
from her husband at Ponce, under
date of Aug. 3. Among other things
he says.
Saturday, July so, we left Guanici
and marched to YaucO, and Sunday
we left Yauco for Penuclas. We left
Penuclas for Ponce Monday. We are
now camped outside Ponce, doing out
post duty. Ponce has a very nice
harbor and quite a number of battle
and merchant ships are here Lieut..
Gaylord, of Moline, who is suffering
| with typhoid fever, is aboard the hos
pital ship, which left Ponce for Ameri-
ca Tuesday night. / think he is very
sick and hope he will get home all
right. We are camped in an old
plowed field and Lizards and cent?
pedes are plentiful. Our hauling is
done by OK teams. the oxen
pulling the load with their horns
being driven by men with long
sticks with Il sharp nail in the end.
Ponce is a queer old town, having all
low buildings, none over two stories.
There are no glass windows, all shut
tiers. The stores have number Of
doors but no windows and the side is
the front. We get at the bank $1.75
in Spanish money for 81 Of our money.
had "A SO bill changed Yesterday and
got more money than | could carry
haDdily. The members of our regi
ment are all together again, but we
have had a very hard time. after being
separated like we were, to get
together, and we are consequently
happy. Col. Foster has been sick
since we left Charleston, but not seri-
ously. but the boys of Company \
are all well.
Expects TO BE Home Thanksgiving.
Private Saunders writes under date
of July 29th to his folks, and states
he believes the boys will be home
Thanksgiving. His letter follows:
Wei. we are in Porto Rico ut last
the first time | have ever been on
foreign soil. We left Guantanamo.
Cuba. Thursday last. and arrived |
here Monday. We were on the Yale |
II days and nights. | tell you | was |
mighty glad To pass up the old boat |
and get on land once more. We got |
here early Monday morning. pro
tected by the battleship Massachu-
sets and the gunboat Column bia. |
Guanica is on Il little bay and one
cannot see it from the ocean. The
Gloucester steamed into the bay and
found 300 Spaniards running around
the streets getting ready to skip out.
We took them by surprise, as they
didn't know we were coming. She
sent about n dozen shots up the main
street, and they took TO the hills. |
leaving everything. Some threw
away their guns. We were sent right
out on the skirmish line. We were
divided into two platoons; one party
on top of one mountain, and one on
another. We had a hard time up
there. All the provisions we had
We're in our knapsacks, 4 little SOW
belly and hardtack was all we had for
three DAYS. and the water had to be |
carried up from below. IL was y
fright getting up. We had no sleep !
for 80 hours, and the last night we |
expected an attack and we were all or |
guard for - hours without relief. 1t |
was terribly hot through the dav and !
cool at night. The top of the noun |
tain was nothing but lava rock with |
hardly any brush for shelter, and |
we had to stay right there for two |
days and nights. We arc camping at |
the foot of the mountains now. ana |
are living again. The boys in |
our company are all well. Ten !
of them are out or Il 3-iavs scout.
We expect to push on today or to- |
morrow. There is a town called /
Yauca about ten miles from here. and |
we will drive the Spaniarls out and
take possession. W. viii most likely
march across the island t. san Juan
by easy stages and occupy that city.
Ii i the capital and the largest city.
Gen. Miles i here and h. saws we will |
all lie home for Thanks giving. There
is no yellow fever ON the island. but
a few cases of small poN. We can
get all the cocJanuts and bananas we
want, and the natives give Us moias-
ses and milk One can rent a horse
for 10 cents day. and we bought a
tine heifer for 1925. We lived high
for de- on two. The horses are
small and tough and are only used
for riding. They have oxen to do
what hauling they have. 1 can drive
an OK team to perfection We are
having n circus with the natives
They don't knew the valre of our
money. One can buy more for a
cont than for "A dime ar nickel bu, |
they viii soen know the difference -"
Aug FL didn't havea chance to
finish and mail my letter at Guanica.
so viii finish here We have had n
5-davs' march since then, and ara
now at Ponce. II is one of the larg-
est towns here. We all feel pretty
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