The record-union., 1899-05-31
LIFE ALONG THE TRENCHES.
RICHARD CoYNE WRITES TO
HIS MOTHER.
Graphic Description of the Daily
Doings of the Soldiers at
the Front.

The following letter was received
few- days ago by Mrs. w. Coyne from
her son Dick who is member OF the
Fourth United States Cavalry that has
done so much fighting at the front
near Manila. His brother Frank Is
also member of the same troop. Both
lads were formerly carriers on Rec
ord-Union'' routes:
Malolos, April IS, 1899
My Dearest Mother: Have just sue
ceeded in getting some writing ma
terial out here from the quarters, or
would have written sooner.
OF course you know all about the
fall of Malolos, and l will only attempt
to tell you what we were doing. AS
body the cavalry were not ON the
firing line all the way, it being their
duty to escort a wagon train consist
ing of nearly 400 vehicles. We were
occasionally fired on, and enc man IN
our troop, Rankin Nebinger, and
couple of Chinese bull-whackers were
wounded
On one occasion, being temporarily
relieved from the train and advancing
up a road on the firing line E Troop s
advance of about twenty men dis
mounted, walked up to within fifty
yards of a small fortification and had
eight wounded. The natives had de-
stroyed a stone bridge about forty feet
wide. and banked up their end with
two iron runners across the walls, and
our men had to put their shots inside
slit forty feet long and about two
and one-half feet wide to get any of
them. They We're soon routed. being
fianked by the rest of the line on
sither side, and four dead and one
wounded We're left behind this particu-
lar stand About twenty yards down
thu ravine they had another excellent
TO t built of woven bamboo filled with
sand the hight of man, behind which
they should have stood off anything
but artillery. This was at the Mala-
bon Water Works.
After this we We're kept a mile in
the rear of the line, but had to work
like beavers in the heat moving the
wagons, etc, over the small streams or
rivers on RATS, the bridges being
burned in NEST cases, with the excep-
tion of the steel railroad bridges, which
they could not destroy, but which
teams could not use.
The heat was terrible at times espe-
cially when we would halt in one of
these fire-devastated towns in a road
lined on both sides with smoking en-
bers' hundreds of yards each way.
The insurgents burned all the prin-
cipal buildings in these towns, but in
almost every case left the churches
-tn md
volunteers appropriated such of the
contents as they could carry as souve-
Mrs. They are filled with heavy coin
silver ornaments and life-size figures
of Christ and the apostles, some crude
While others are excellent pieces OF
artistic carving, probably imported
Spanish work
In one of the largest towns in which
we remained over night with severa
thousand volunteers stood a stone
church the size of the Catholic Cathe-
dral in Sacramento. Around a piano
stood a hundred husky voices singing
"A Hot Time in the Old Town" The
statue of Jesus wore an old campaign
hat, and the Virgin was guiltless Of
clothing. In an adjoining room filled
with wounded F'ilipinos one would al
intervals shout ''Vive, Vive Montene-
gro." and continued to do so until he
died. This is only one of the many
scenes we shall never forget
| can hardly describe to you the ap-
pearance of these towns. in some ol
which hardly anything remains but tht
stone foundations, the wells. chicken:
and dogs, the latter bowling by hun
dreds all night. In the many buffalo
wallows back in the fields they con
cealed the most valuable of their pos
sessions-trunks and boxes. in some
cases, very fine Filipino clothing, etc
line chinaware and furniture All thi:
was probably looted from Spanish resi-.
dences. as l saw pianos of blacl
ebony and suites of furniture inlaic
with pearl and bone that no Filipino
ever paid for. All this was hauled ovel
by the Chinos and strewn all along the
roads
In many cases money was round II
small amounts, though we are told tha
volunteers, who. it seems. are allowed
to loot at will, found a thousand peso:
at time in some few buildings lef
standing. Up in the vicinity of Ma
lolos they either decided not to or haC
are all standing, with the exception O
few on the outskirts of town an(
Aguinaldo's large palace and tn,
church, of which, however, there re
mains only the walls.
We are now encamped in tents cas-
of Malolos, doing outpost duty. Thi
Is worse than being continually on th
firing line as in case of an attack tn
outpost is usually cut off, and is virtu
ally a sacrifice. Occasionally a littl
frightened Filipino will come to us TO
protection, and tell US that there is
squad of bolomen working in our yer,
midst among the few amigos
tfriends) who remained in their homes
drafting men for the insurgent arm,
and threatening to kill them if the,
do not come. They never dare to poin
them out, however
We go out on accommodating expedi
tions outside the lines every few day
with the saff. at one time being fire,
on and capturing a small town abou
three miles north of Malolos Some O