The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-01-23
OBSERVANT SOLDIER
TELLS OF MANILA LIFE.
Volunteer Fairbanks Writes of the
Old T0vsa and the quarters
of the Arms

The following interesting letter has bee1
received from W. II. Fairbanks. Of COM
pany u. Washington volunteers, station
60 a, Manila
Our battalion is stationed In q to-
bgeeo factory. This factory employs 100
men, women and girls One good point
keep themselves fairly clean. The Second
battalion IS quartered IN deserted place
formerly occupied by a Catholic bishop.
fhe house and gardens are extremely
beautiful The gardens are 100 yards
square. and are filled xItn d profasson OF
tropical tfsss and plants. The house Is
busls III Moorish style OF architecture.
open all sides, and made Of stone and
marble.
If anything typiaes captured city.
the interior appearance Of this place does.
As you enter the main corridor, made OF
beautiful mosaic work and with q num-
her of bronze statuettes ali you see On
any side Is the presence Of rude soidiefy.
One group or fellows viii he sp-awied on
the floor BY statue OF Venus de Mile
or something like IT. gambling. drinking.
swearing. Others Will be scattered
around. cleaning their equipment or read
ing, And everywhere are guns belts and
the numerous other items that tend 10
keep fellow cut Of mischief by the care
required 10 keep them 'spic and span The
fellows living there say the place Is very
pretty. but the stone floors ate not con-
dncsve 10 comfort.
'ssur Third battalion is In a couple OF
recently private houses. Ever since land
quarters, and have been able 10 go down
town only once Everything Is OF course,
novel and strange. out here there Is moth
ing but residences. They are made Of
bamboo. and mounted on stone pillars
from three to eight feet high Some OF the
large places have corrugated iron roofs.
but most OF them are some Kind of straw
woven into "A sort ~ thateh or mat The
sides ~ the houses are a Venetian blind
arrangement ia that they are kept open
IN the daytime by sliding three or four
sections together As they are made on
the shutter plan, this allows free circu-
iation OF air all the time
The town Itself Is divided into three
parts. which are the old town or walled
city. the new city. and the Chinese quar-
ter.
THE old town is a sort OF medieval
place, being surrounded BY a wall twenty
feet high and ten feet wide. Outside the
wall is a moat thirty to forty feet broad
Entrance Is made through gates. protect
ed BY Ranking towers. a portcuiiis and a
drawhridge. The town Is built entirely OF
white stone. The sidewalks are FIVE fee.
wide, the streets fifteen about the width
OF wide American sidewalk. The Chi
nesc quarter ~ something like the abode
81 the same people in San Francisco.
I'm the walls OF the old town are placed
most OF the arsenais OF the dons we.of
course owning and guarding them now.
The boys say there are tens OF thousands
of tons of powder and shot there One OF
the sergeants of the guard recently dts
covered 500 Aanser rifles and l.Ua 90
rounds Of ammunition In hidden cham
Der Ii. the wall.
Nearly everything here is on the dwarf
order. The natives ar. from three Ia 1--WE
and hair feet high. and you ought TO gee
the horasss 4 good-sizsd Shetland pony
IL large 81 comparison. one may hire a
horse and t@o-seated rig tsonsethlng like
the pictures We OF Japanese convey
anCesl with driver fer NJ cents an hour.
All the heavy hauling is done By water
oxen or bQliocks, These animals are NO
swift that when the drivers want TO back
up to deer they HnharneSs the oxen and
back the cart hy hand
Before we came here the city was one
vast pig pen, and there was scarcely any
law and order. As " Is now the city ix az
cIgas IA Is America. and heiug under
martial law IS even more peaceahle
The thermometer ranges from NJ 10 20
degrees ia the shade