The St. Johns herald., 1899-05-06
LETTER FROM GEO. F RABER.
One Of the Clifton Boys Now sta ton q at I!OiliO, Panay Island in the Philippines, with Co.
 L 18th [ s Infantry.
Ilollo, or Jaro Feb. 2. '99.

My Dear Mother and Father.-At
 have little time this afternoon
 thought 1 wonld write you a few lInes
 wrote you on Feb. g telling all ih,
 news, so there is not very much more tC
 write abr ut sinre 0e took tiiS town. The rebel natives still make lif. m ! pleasant for ms by shooting at us every time they get chance Our ontposts and theirs are not over 1900 wards apart, | Ve can tee them and hey can see ns very plainly. and VI have little skir- l mlsn with them most every day. When l thplr shot comes uncomfortable close it makes fellow think of home and mother. Ynu my rest assured that 1 tnonht of my mother on February 12, when we formed skirmish IIue out in the rice fields and brush, and abnut that tune the bullets flew thick and fast. or course l did not know what mInute bullet would come along and knock me off from thIs mundane sphere F"r all that when could see some thing to shoot at I was not bit afraid; {; home or nothing else ever entered my mind.
 When we got on the firing line. it was nothing but load, aim fire and forward. There WAS not a coward in auy.of the companies where l was.
 We routed ahont l 800 or l7OO insurg- ents in taking this place, as near as we can figure out. and they think they fired ah0nr 50 000 sh, ts at ns. By the looks of the empty shells I can't see how 1t was that they did not hit more of Us than they did. We lost one m m. kiLlad and five wounded The reheIs lost about 200 killed and 300 wounded, but all we could find was 8 killed and two wounded. as the, carry along their dead and wounded except when pushed roo hard
 The Chinamen who stayed in the town say that when the rebels retreat ed they carried lots ofdead and wou. d. ed soldiers.
 We have had seveal little skirmishes with them since, but no one on our side got hurt.
 l nave made lit:ie record for Go l. and myself 1 was acting corporal on on the night of Feb. 25th. on outpost No. 4, north of town un the bridge that spans the river which divides the op- posing forces. The outpost of both are not over l500 yards apart at this polnt. Lieut. Falls, our 2nd ieut. and wer standing together talking " hen 2 . went a bullet over cur heads; and ab0nt two seconds later z'p vent ! another. md then another. During this time 1 Was looking around tO see where they came from. Finally I dIs- covered a slrarp-shnot"r mp in q cncoa- nut tree about HOO yards of; SO pulled np my K J and took good ui:n and let her go. and Mir Sharp-sh oter came lnt of inc tree head first-sO 1 suppose killed him. or was tue ranse of his ieatli, for he h about 75 feet, andsif he bullet did not kIll hIm the fall dId Tor after h.. struck the ground he never moved He was too near the insrrgent ines for me to go over and see what I 1ad done. l suppose there was new ace in hrav n hal night score mark ,d up n tire big book again st me, but can't help it. ldon't like the bnsi- less of killing natives, but il $ dog eat be killed or kill them. They 'ay every thi 2 is fair in war. And now vhen there is any shaTp-shonting to be lone, il is Raber! 70 to the front amt ee what yOu can do '' This Is the only sharp-shooter that ve have any pront of killing. do not :hink We Nil be here long. or we are expecting rwo regiments Of ol0red infsntr the 24lh and 9 h. most any day General Miller says That re has blanks and orders 10 discharge { II men that enlisted f,r the war with : pan; ami all tha, he is waiting for is ( roops to relieve us. hen they come re will be hipped back 10 Frisco and ' Ischarged there. He has ordered us not tn advance any lrthur on the insurgents uniIl We get and then that will lran our relief and discharge. T have several relics to bring home. | mong them cane knife and a C. upIeo of 7 a ygers look from dpadin -rgent. 1 e end you two cartridges from Cayite.
 From your son,
 George. r
 Copper Era, '