The record-union., 1898-11-09
Manila, P. L, October il, 1898.

Manila, P. L, October 4, 1898.
Dear Mother: I received your most
welcome letter several days ago, ana
was very glad to hear that all are WeH'
Mail is luxury here. You can see al
together a different look on the poys
faces after the mail comes in You
See we don't get mail very often, anu
very few papers, and consequently we
all go wild when we hear Of the man
coming in.
Well, everything here is as quiet as
one could ask for. There are good
many Of the boys sick, still l cannon
See what makes them so. have had
little trouble with my stomach, put
that is all I don't suffer from the
heat at ALL There are few cases OF
smallpox here, but as fast as they are
found they are taken to a separate
hospital, so others will not catch it.
Business is improving wonderfully in
Manila. The streets are crowded so
that a person can hardly get by. The
river is filed with shipping, from the
bridge to the outlet, and everything
seems to be on the move.
l am working on special detail with
the United States Official Photographer.
We have a quantity of work to do, and
are up early and late. During the day
we are out travelling around looking
for subjects, and in the evening we de-
velop the pictures. We hardly ever go
to bed before II o'clock, but he is a
fine fellow and I enjoy working with
him. We intended going on trip up
the Pasig River last Sunday, but did
not get off, We will probably go next
Sunday.
The more I see and hear of them the
more I hate the Spaniards. It's no Won
der the people fight for liberty. The
walls and forts of Manila and Cavite
are simply honeycombed with cells and
dungeons for torturing prisoners.
1 went down the other day in one that
answers very closely to the description
of the famous BLACK Hole" where so
many prisoners were smothered to
Adeath. When 1 went down I had no
candle, but I took my time and finally
managed to get to the bottom. You
enter a door at the surface and pass
down a dark narrow stairway, dis
tapce of ten or twelve feet, and enter
another door that opens to another
stairway that leads down. The stair
way and walls are Of stone, and the
steps are badly worn. The passage
way is very dark and leads down about
ten feet farther
The door to your right leads into the
vault. Beside the doorway there are
two air-holes, about four inches in di-
ameter, and one just above the other.
They are funnel shaped, so they can
be easily closed. The vault is made Of
rock, the same as the walls. They are
very black and almost crumbling with
age. The room is not much larger than
the diningroom at home (about twelve
by twenty feet).
The rocks are covered with moss or
mold, and are quite wet, and in sew
eral places the water drips through the
roof and the odor is terrible. With the
door closed there would hardly be a. ray
of light.
I was talking to a native last night,
and he related to me what his father
went through just prior to the war.
He is an educated, well-read man, and
speaks English quite fuently. He re-
ceived his education in Japan. He said
that while he was away studying, the
Spanish became aware Of the fact, and
had his father thrown into prison. The
charge they made UP and punished him
for was that he had furnished the
rebels money, which was absolutely
false. They tried him, threw him into
q dungeon and kept him confined for a
little over nine months. The confine-
ment was so close and complete that
when they turned him out he could
hardly see, and could not speak, and
Was almost starved to death. The food
he received was simply boiled rice and
l. h. p,
be bought for a trif1e, and that were
not fit for the market other than for
cattle or horse feed. He was not given
one-tenth part enough to keep him in
good condition.
The machines of torture that were
used here prior to the war are many
and terrible, but they are very hard
to find, as they have been hidden in
Cathedrals and religious buildings.
regret very much that the Ameri-
cans do not investigate and unearth
some Of them. I think there would be
many strange things brought before the
public eye.
1t is a great pity these buildings are
not searched thoroughly. All Free
mesons that were found were either
tortured to death or shot. Citizens
would be shot and no one would be abla
to tell what they were shot for, bat
this was one of the reasons.
The soil is extremely fertile and veg
citation grows very rapidly. The land
on which the battle took place has pro-
duced so much vegetation that you
could hardly tell where it was.
If it wasn't for the bamboo being
shot off about fifteen feet from The
ground, and scars on the trees, you
could not tell the place.
/ haven't seen any snakes, to speak
of. since 1 have been here, and no
lizards except small ones that live in
the houses, and we don't think any
more of them than Of the ones at home
on the fences. They are very small and
live on mosquitoes and flies.
understand that in the interior there
are very large reptiles Of different
kinds 1 have been told they get the
largest anacondas in the world from
these islands, but 1 doubt it. Monkeys