The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1892-1907, 1898-12-17
nusrER rnrn aur.
That e the Earnest visa Of ths Idaho
Volunteers.

I NN88MNNNAN
MANILA, Oct. q, 1893.
EDITOR PREss:--I wish, through your
columns. TO inform the people Of the
state that Idaho volunteers do not wish
to remain IN the service after the sign
Ing OF The peace treaty OF Paris. Meth
er Is 1t the wish OF the enlisted men TO
be sent 10 lIonOlaiu 70 serve out their
enlistment ss stated by Senator Sh0np
iE Washington City. The only Infor.
nation he got on the subject. IL any,
was from some OF the commissioned OIL
GERS who never had a. much money In
their lives rs they are now earning. con.
sequeDtiy they are anxious to remain
10 the servics under any and all cir
cumstances regardless Of the wishes
of the men under them. Some three
weeks ago we attempted to get up
petition asking the governor Of idaho
TO intercede and secure for as q speedy
aud honorable discharge, basing our re.
quest on the fact that the war was over
aud garrison duty became tiresome.
Some Of the officers got wind OF this
and. disregarding the right Of petition
guaranteed to every American citizen
by the constitution, arbitrarily prohib-
tied the men from circulating or Sign.
Ing the same. The enlisted men were
informed that any oEe Of them caught
signing the petition would be put under
arrest. That put stop to the petition
aud shows TO what extremes officers
sometimes 60 in oppression toward those
under them. But when we found that
Theodore Link was going TO be dis.
charged we secretly had a petition sign.
ed by majority Of the regiment, ex
cepting companies T and z, and Link
now has it safely with him on the wide
ocean headed for home. Captain Link.
formerly known around Ceur d'Alene
IS Corporal Link, kept such close watch
on Co. r that the boys were afraid to
sign. You can see by this that we are
not allowed to express our wishes TO the
people at home or the government in
whose honor and defense we took up
arms; but hope the time is not far dis
tant when we will be on an equal foot
Ing with other American citizens, and
can express our thoughts without ask
ing the permission Of = commissioned
officer.
Almost q month ago We moved from
Malata TO the Exposition building. and
as yet there has not been an effort made
TO have baths pat Ia or place arranged
for washing our clothing. Our rations
are very poor. hardly sufficient TO satisfy
hunger. We get small piece Of bread
three times day and some hard tack
along with the other army rationS; but
I think there will soon be an improve.
ment. as Quartermaster Graham has ar
ranged 70 open q -canteen" for the ben.
e6t OF our battalion. the proceeds to 60
into the company funds. This will give
US funds for the purchase OF fruits and
other articles not included In the gov
eminent ration.
J. W. Frederick is In the hospital
suffering from dysentery. but seems to
be recovering rapidly and viii be with
the company before long II his improve
ment continues.
The deaths among the troops here
average six q day. with 800 patients In
the hospitals. II We stay here much
longer we viii lose as many men as they
did in Cuba. The percentage Of deaths
Is constantly increasing. In our com.
pany Of 50 men there are only Il marked
for duty. The doctors say that dysen-
terry. which Is the prevalent disease, Is
very fatal In the tropics. bat they refuse
to send the patients home where they
might recover. Such Is garrison life
and we wish TO escape Il, not having
enlisted for that kind Of duty.
W. L. MERRIAM,
Company d, First Idaho Volunteers.