El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-11
AN OPERATOR IN THE WAR.

d. w. KyIe's Lively Experiences
During the Battles South Of Ma
Mia.
The following from the Globe Dem
Ocrat will be of interest to the railroad
people in Texas, as it is devoted to the
adventures of one of the Philippines
who was at one time closely identified
with them. He was connected with the
Texas and Pacific for rum Der Of years
as telegraph operator:
"MANILA, Philippine Islands, June
21.-Friend Jack: After q rather I'M
eveutful trip of thirty-two days, with
four days stop at Honolulu, after be-
ing starved 10 death on government
slum and rice, we landed in Manila bay
and dropped anchor In the midst OF
Dewey's warships. The signal corps
were the fret off, and they brought US
up to draw tropical clothing, consist
ing of very light brownish material,
the proper layout for this climate.
After day or two of rest we operators
we're assigned to duty about the city, l
catching q job at headquarters, M
Office. A few days later a hurry
up call came for linemen, and operator
and fifteen miles of insulated wire, to
90 with Gen. Lawton on his new flying
movement. I was elected the indi
vidual to work the box relay, and en-
tered into it with a will, anxious to see
the fun We landed at Guadalupe
Ridge little after daylight, and about
5000 troops began taking their positions
waiting for Capt. Capron's old battery
to open the ball. We were standing on
the ridge watching the moving troops,
when the boom of the cannon announc-
ed to US that the battle was CD. We
followed the line betw cen the main
body and the reserve, striuging the
wire on the ground and bushes. Soon
came the rattle of the Msusers and
Remingtons of the 'Googoos' and the
volley fire of our boys with their Krags,
The battle waged fiercely for about
thirty minutes. Our boys were
or kneeling and pouring al
deadly and telling fire into the tren-
ches, while the 80 inch guns and the
mountain bsttery's shells were burst
iDg IN their midst, causing death and
des tructlon everywhere. Soon the
yell was heard, and the charge, that
thrilled one and made my heart al \
most etop beating awaiting the out
come. On and on they went. when
the insurrectos who we're not dead or
TOO badly wounded bounded out of their
by. Here the boys stopped for wind.
"The tropical Gun was coming dow
and beating fiercely upon the now ut
terIy exhausted Americans, many of
whom had fallen by the wayside DUR
ing the charge. We ran our wire 300
yards in advance and hoisted our signal
Tag. L cut in and began receiving
messages from headquarters to Gems.
Lawton, Ovenshine and Wheaton. The
5Sho
spotted, and the way those Mausers
dug up the ground around us was some |
thing to be dreaded. 1 lay fiat on the
ground, had piece.of the top of a crack
or box to write Oh, when bang! went
she Krags of our special guard and Or
erlies, and we were the center OF q
little scrap OF our own. Between mes
sages I'd look up and scan the ground
ahead until zip! would come a Mauser,
and would try to burrow a hole in the
ground for myself.
A few months ago D. W. Kyle, ST.
Louis telegraph operator, enlisted and
was assigned to company E, United
States signal corps. He was sent at
once to Manila, and Jack Magill has
just received the following letter des-
oribing his exciting experiences as a
telegraph operator at the front in the
that, the niggers making an attempt
At a stand for about ten minutes every
mils or so, sthey killing or wounding
but fewsof our boys, while their dead
and wounded were scattered all over.
We camped on the battlefield that night
near Paranaque, ad I put 'the Office
in-consisting of half shelter fly, q
candle aud box relay on a rice dyke
and opened up for business. Gen.
Lawton was full of it. The rain came
down in torrents. The livery heavens
seemed to have opened their foodga tes
to give US a bath after our hard tramp
of the day under tropical sun,
through swamps, rice fields, fording
creeks and rivers often shoulder
deep. The mark 1 left of my person in
the mud was soon filled with aqua
pura,' and some Pood-nstured crowd
started up that old, familiar song,
'TentinR tonight on the old camp
ground 1t would have been more sp-
propriate to have sung Swimming to-
night in this came old mud Now and
then few Mausers would come singing
over just to let us know that the Goo
Coos were not all dead yet.
swell. our boys captured everything |
Las Pinas, Paranaque, Zapote bridge