The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-09-05

OuA special In Ouf new
Possessions Writes Another Interest
ing Letter on the Philippines and Our
War There Many Interesting Facts
That You Do Not Hear of in the
Dailies.
Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.
JARo. Panay Island, P. l.,
July II, 1899.
Thought / would be on the
briny deep, on my way home, by this
time, but I've no assurance OF my inn
mediate discharge, Uncle Sam en-
ploys q liberal amount of red tape"
so he consumes much time in doing a
little thirg.
About two weeks ago these we're
two distinct earthquakes on this isle.
The first was a slight one, but the other
was severe, and greatly scared many
OF US. There was no advance sound of
it, but it came on very suddenly, first
jarring our house, then increased to q
terrible quaking, making it difficult
for us to stand up. The chandeliers
in our house jingled a merry tune, and
many of our boys jumped out Of the
windows. I now see why nearly all
these dwellings were built on posts, so
that instead of tumbling down-as
houses solidly built from the ground
up would-the posts bend, thereby
preventing a collapse. Natives fear
eartt quakes more than anything else.
Il is said they are caused by a terrible
ocean current, which stricks the island,
and Filipinos fear that s0me time a
mighty current may sweep over the
entire island, thereby sweeping every.
thing in its way into the sea. OF course
l see no reason why any intelligent
person should lose any sleep worrying
over such a thing.
Since the earthquakes, rain has fall
en- here day and night, with a stop of
only q few minutes at a time.
The "typhoon" season is here, and
the waters are dangerous to ships Of
all sizes, as one is now held at Manila
until the typhoons end, when it will
proceed to Iloilo. There is q first class
Weather Bureau in operation here,
and IL warns all ships Of the location
Of the typhoons, when they will arrive
here, and all that is of benefit to the
mariner.
One battalion Of the Sixth Regiment.
Regular q. 8. Infantry, has arrived
here and gone into quarters near as,
but as yet they have done nc duty.
Their uniforms are Of the style pre-
sCribed for Cuba and differ from ours,
In that they have small shoulder pieces,
also small pieces on the sleeves, which
look similar to officers uniforms.
When they arrived u boys mistook
several Of them for officers, and saluted
accordingly, which caused the other
fellow to smile with q broad grin, to
think that another enlisted man had
saluted him. Our boys oon learned,
however, that they were making
laughing stocks of themselves, so now
they don't look at the fake" officers,
much less salute them.
The GLORIOUS Fourth" was not for
gotten by US down here. There was
the National Salute of twenty. one guns
and a few fire crackers. Each CON
pany of my regiment had a very good
dinner.
A battalion of vols is being organ
lied here, to become a part Of a regi-
ment known as the First "Luzon."
Several of the Tenneseeans have taken
their discharges and re enlisted in the
battalion. Gen. Otis issued an order
allowing any Of We boys who enlisted
for the Spanish American war to be
discharged Immediately, il we would
re enlist in the new battalion. Nearly
a dozen men of each company of the
Eighteenth Infantry have taken their
discharges and enlisted in the new
battalion, and all those I've talked
with about it say the ''travel pay
in some cases $6O0-is the powerful
motive for their action.
I've not seer a man who likes any
feature of this country.
A Greek merchant Of Iloilo was
stabbed to death by a Filipino clerk.
The amount of cash in the store was
too great a temptation for the Filipino,
so he watched for a time when the
sentry on that post was a block away,
and no one else near, and then cruelty
stabbed his employer, snatched the
money and ran, thinking he would es,
cape, but our sentry saw him, and as
the excited crowd yelled stop thief,"
he shot, killing the murderer.
I've not heard q shot fred on out