The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-02
He IS NOW IN MANILA
A Letter Received From Private
Sam Sherlock.
IN CHARMING QUARTERS
There Is Still Plenty OF Work TO Be Done
n Il Is Expected That the
Insurgents VII Yet
Make Trouble.


be very pleasantly remembered in
Butte. writes an entertaining letter
from the Philippines. Young Sherlock
was for years a carrier boy on the
Standard up to the time that he enlisted
for the war. His letter is dated Cavite
Arsenal. Cavlte. Philippine Isles. Aug.
26. 1898. and Is addressed to his mother
as follows:
II am going TO try to write you a few
lines to let you know how l am getting
along. i suppose you have heard by
now that we reached here Wednesday
after a long and monotonous. bat veIy
healthy. trip Of n days. 7 said monot
nous. but that hardly expresses IL. I
never put i'm time so tedious tiresome
ana uneventful in my life. and 1 have
ha1 quite enough ct he ocean for me.
/ assure you this thing Of Life on the
Ocean wave and oh, What a beautiful
ocean may seem fine la poems. but i,
for one. fail to see the tePuty OF IL. But.
t. tell the truth, i don. think there Was
"A ma in the regiment who stood The
trip n better than / lid. anu 4 think
this WAS due in a great measure II dIGt.
w. had n sort OF Irish stew. or slum-
gulliOn, for breakfast and dinne every
d:y, a pork and leans for suppsr.
The result was that 4 ate only once a
day. quite enough, i tho ught. consider
Ing we had no exercise whatever. .Al.o-
gether, though, the health of the regi-
ment was excellent. Ours was the only
boat that went over without a funeral
at sea.
But Columbus, in his quest of a new
world. never welcomed the sight of land
any more than we did the first glimpse
of the Philippines. 1t is a very pretty
sight. anyway. The islands jut up out
of the water like a floating garden. and
five separate and distinct mountain
chains form a very pretty background
TO IL all. But "A more imposing sight.
the first to thrill and always to inspire
us, are the remains of Is Spanish fight
ing vessels strewn all over the harbor,
fitting monuments to the loss of the
Maine and ar outraged nations venge-
ance. II does my heart good to see
them. The harbor is almost impossible
with their h~alf-sunken hulks. The
Pennsylvania anchored abou a quarter
Of a mile out. and a small steamer Zone
OF many which Dewey captured) came
and took US ashore, a battalion at a
time.
I'VE are quartered in the old Spanish
barracks, historic old buildings of 2JO
years ago. but they are well laid out
and well built of brick and tile, the
only evidence of time being their an
tique architecture, moss-grown walls
and trailing vines n foliage. almost
hiding them from view. The barracks
cover some 500 acres of "a little penin-
sula that extends out into the bay. and
back of them is the town of Cavite, a
place in which / was as much disap-
pointed as I was surprised and pleased
with Honolulu.
THE buildings are, like the barracks,
built of a sort of brick. or adobe, but
they are low and dingy and their dl-
lapidated condition and general aspect
fully indicate that they are not inhab-
tied by the proud and wealthy race who
built them some two or three centuries
ago. The present inhabitant (native) is
a sort of Malay of dwarfed stature, not
in the least degree comparable to the
natives Of Hawaii. l don't think they
ever do anything for a living, but just
at present about every other abode has
been converted into "A store. where they
offer bananas and other fruits for sale
to the soldiers, and all that haven't
stores peddle them around in baskets.
Owing To the long siege of the city there
isn't very much in the way of eatables
left. and the scant supply of fruit isn't
any too good or cheap. Banana cost a
cent apiece. oranges ? cents and cocoa
nuts 3 to 10 cents. but American money
is taken for double the value of Spanish
or Mexican, which is the legal tender.
/ have sampled all their fruit and none
of IL is scarcely worth eating: even the
bananas are little, dried-up, tasteless
things. no comparison to what we get
i'm Butte.
Il have been all over the town. clear
up TO the insurgent lines in the rear
(there are some 5000 camped outside),
and on every hand are the marks Of
desolation and ruin. Among other
things there is an old chapel. larger
/ ,ho, Rra ,hnf,haa I'm RnttA hnflt
in the style prevalent in those days and
finished in walnut and imitation, some
say real, marble, but the Insurgents be-
headed the priest. destroyed the altar,
organs and fixtures, and even took the
heads off some dozen or more life-size
figures of air and stood them upside
down. Every Spanlard in the town
fed for his life. nj the insurgents APP
tured quite "A few. and. judging by the
way the poor devils escape and surren-
der to US, they must be treated very
shabby. IL is the custom to send a
guard CAmerican) out with a half dozen
Spanish prisoners to do work around.
and when the guard returns with his
detail IL numbers more than he took
out. Dur picket line extends clear vi
10 the insurgent outposts. and hardly a
night passes but what shots are eN-
changed. due mostly, though, to mis-
take. We also have to guard seven OF
the sunken gunboats to keep the ma
tives from stealing stun from them, and
have killed two. wounded three and
captured several others in such at
tempts. We are done with he Span
iards. but / guess we are likely to have
some trouble with the insurgents before
everything is serene. But then they are
a cowardly lot and We can easily beat
them 10 TO 1.
II wish l QUIZ give you a good de-
~scription Of our barracks, but nothing
short OF seeing them would convey an
idea OF how charming and picturesque
they are, with the harbor on one side,
the bay and sea OF the other, The old
walls and parapets and tropical trees
and foliage all around. We are sleeping
on walnut beds. with split bamboo and
wickerwork springs. But the most novel
part Of all is 70 draw our rations and
"a ro-I than in~liNIdnauN In the lffIa