The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-05
Lieut.. e. 8. Paxson Returns
From the Front.
MOSQUITOES ARE A PEST
Their Bite IL Very P~oisonous-No enc OF
vermin-Rain Keeps Everything
Musty-Ther Will Be No Trou-
BILE About Annexation.

o&eCa 49, ITO bl
sick leave. put has since rendered his
resignation. which has been accepted.
and he will not return TO the regiment,
as his health Is not equal to the climate
of the Philippines. Lieutenant Pax
son Is not greatly changed since he
went away. a little thinner and very
much Drowned by Luzon's torrid sun,
but otherwise In looking very well, con-
sidering that he was i'll nearly the whole
time he was In the Philippines. He was
very unfortunate i'm this respect. as he
was taken with malaria soon after ar
irving at Cavite: then he contracted
catarrh of h stomach. and he says
he wasted away to nearly nothing be-
fore he finally gave w and decided to
come home. Once at sea, however, he
soon commenced to pick up, n I'm the
six or seven weeks that have elapsed
since he left unhealthy Manila his
health has been so nearly restored that
he now shows few traces of his long
siege of sickness. though he Is still far
from being as vigorous as when he went
away. When seen at his home last
evening Lieutenant Paxson gave an
Interesting account of his experiences
as a soldier, gave his impressions of the
II nllDDlltS anu Ttldltu nluCn lnteTtSN-
Ing news of h regiment.
You have no doubt heard all about
the voyage over" said he. 80 1 will tell
you about u experiences after we got
there; they are more interesting. We
landed I'm Cavite at night and a funny
experience IL was. There were no lights
except the few we carried. and the
quaint. picturesque old place looked
strange indeed to our foreign eyes. We
marched through the narrow streets, in
and out OF narrow passages. and final
ly brought up at the old arsenal. where
we slept on u arms that night. for
the report had come of trouble with the
insurgents, but nothing occurred ex-
cept the little skirmish with some IA
tives who were looting the smaller
Spanish vessels. of which. of course, ac-
counts ave come home. The mex few
days were spent in getting settled and
since very little has happened outside
of the ordinary army routine. The eli
mate is awfully hot and very enervat-
ing and zone of the boys like IL. Then.
too, there Is so much rain that your
clothes are always musty."
Here Lieutenant Paxson o k part of
a uniform from his trunk to illustrate.
II smelled like a garment that had lain
in a moist place till nearly widowed.
Everything over there" he said.
smells just like Thu. Then there Is no
end of vermin and the mosquitoes are
terrible. Their bite is very poisonous.
and the boys have bad sores on their
hands and limbs much of the time from
them. So you see. soldering in the
Philippines is not at all pleasant.
There has been considerable sickness
in the regiment, but the Montana boys
seem to be tough. for ours was the ban
ner regiment Of them all as far as sick
ness was concerned, Some Of the off,
GERS and men were pretty low at one
time. but l think l can safely say they
are all improving now Just before |
left we got an officers call one day and
orders were issued to get the regiment
in light marching order. We under
stood we were TO be sent to drive the
insurgents back, who were in control OF
the water supply outside of Manila. n
take control ourselves, but IL turned out
to be only an order to move the first
and second battalions to Manila, so
were when ] left, while the third was
still at Cavite."
Asked concerning the reports that
have come from the regiment to the
effect that IL was rumored the regiment
would soon be ordered home, Lieuten-
ant Paxson said IL was more than like
ly the boys would be homeward bound
at no very far distant day. for the rea-
son that in all probability the peace
treaty will soon be signed and volun-
teers cannot be required to serve more
than so days after the signing OF the
treaty of peace. As the boys are all
anxious to come home, they will doubt
less avail themselves of their right as
soon as possible after the treaty is
signed.
Lieutenant Paxson does not appre-
hanh thara will he anv SnrintG dffHau1-
ty with the insurgents over annexation.
He say the natives are divided as to
annexation or independence, and that
he does not think anything worse than
a show of resistance likely. PERSONAL
ly. Lieutenant Paxson favors acquiring
the Islands II it could be done without
paying anything for them, but he does
think this country should pay anything
for them. He says the natives are an
intelligent class Of people as a rule. n
that their artisans are highly skilled at
their trades. He thinks that in time
they and their islands would become a
valuable acquisition to this country.
Lieutenant Paxson had a very un-
welcome experience on the voyage
home. He sailed on the City of Para.
m five days out from Yokohama the
ship ran into a typhoon. The storm
ragged with terrible fierceness for many
days. and on the 18th OF November the
vessels stern was stove In and before
repairs could be made there was two
feet of water over h saloon deck. No
one on board expected to ever see land.
but the ship was eventually repaired
and the water pumped out and the
storm at length abated. The delay had
beer so great. however. that supplies
got short, and the last -four or five
days out there was precious little to
eat. He states that his Thanksgiving
consisted Of canned meats, wat
er and jelly rolls.
Lieutenant Paxson brought back a
great many souvenirs OF his visit 20
the Philippines. relics from the sunken
Spanish vessels. Spanish and insurgent
arms. etc, which are very interesting
and which he expects TO exhibit for the
benefit Of his Butte friends.
J. w. Morris will open on Dec. 1 ele-
CANT coffee and chocolate parlors in
connection with his confectionery store