Cañon City record., 1898-10-06
COLORADO BOY AT MANILA.
An EntertainIng Letter from WI
Sweesey, A Pueblo Lieutsn-
ant Now At MaslIs.

SWgys - = h0SDsO s-ssess9A
ant Now At MasiIa.
Mr.. Jas. H. Peabody is in receipt Of
very entertaining letter from biz
nephew, Mr.. Will Sweeney, lieuten-
ant in Colonel McCoy's First Regi-
ment Colorado Infantry, now stationed
at Manila. viii was formerly city
reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and
is we'll known to many in Canon. To
show they send letters without post
age this one was sent as a Soldiers
Letter" No postage stamps are on
the envelope whatever, but where the
stamp usually is seen this device is
written: Soldiers Letter, o. K,
Henry B. Mccoy, 1t. Col. lst Regt.
Colo. Inf. U. S. W That brings the
letter through all right but postage
is collected here. Following is an ex-
tract from the letter:
my DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT:-No
doubt you are beginning to think that
! am decidedly unappreciative because
! have not written to you. but while
| apologize for my neglect it has been
in way excusable, for this is the
first time that have had a chance 70
sit down like white man and write
letter.
SO far our experience with this
war has not been an unpleasant one,
and while the Colorado regiment has
been pushed to he front on every
possible occasion and has been in the
thick of every scrap that has CONE
up so far we have lost but two men,
both shot in battle. This fact would
seem to indicate that our regiment
was tilnid, but such is not the cass.
We have been commended in general
orders; have been given the place Of
honor in all parades and engagements
and were the first to enter the city Of
Manila at its fall on August 18th
We feel that We have done the state
credit in our campaign. Personally
/ have done nothing for which l feea
that should have a medal, but | vsa
praised highly by Col Hale for wha*
seemed to me to oe m unimportaslt
piece of work..
Ne do not feel as yet that oer
/ troubles are ended for evepth
points to me didicnlty With ths
rebels. Their insurrection ia some
eighteen months old, and until Ad-
miral Dewey armed them it was very
small, but since they have been fur
nished with the most approved model
OF small calibre magazine guns the
war on their part has been of much
more consequence. They were bent
on looting Manila and were thorough
ly disgusted when the American
troops occupied the Spanish lines to
prevent thea from carrying out their
purpose. Subsequent events viii be
ancient history by the time this letter
reaches you so that l will refrain
from putting it in If We have to
drive them out We can do it.
Manila is quaint old city, eastern
in most respects, yet up to the times
in others. There are horse cars, pc
culiar affairs, strangely run; electric
lights, both arc and incandescent; a
telephone. 80 called but "mucho malo"
(very bad); shops where all sorts OF
things aae sold at prices that are not
unreasonable; and homogeneous
population of nearly 100000. The
residents have been on the verge
Of starvrtion for some two weeks and
have had to resort to all sorts of
things for edibles. Horses, caribou
or water buffalo and chickens were
the sole supply of fresh meat and
they sold at outrageous prices. Hens
were quoted in the market at 1915.
Mexican money, and by the way. that
IL the medium of exchange. An
American silver dollar is worth but
fifty cents. but our gold brings trife
more than two for one. ! am afraid
that the financial ideas of some of our
Colorado men will have changed ere
our return. Books have been and
more could be written about this place
but don't think that / will ever in
flict long suffering public with one.
In MY opinion the Unilej States
would be making a serious mistake in
keeping these islands. This subject.
of course. il one that Ia open to dis