Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-04-06
BADGER BOY AT MANILA.
F1lipinos Fairly Dazed at American
Methods of Fighting.

James T. Roache writes TO the
Whitewater Register vivid account of
the opening of the fighting against the
insurgents in the Philippines. His let
ter is dated at Manila Feb 20 and is
as follows:
The natives opened hostilities Jan.
Is, 1899, at about $50 p. m, trying to
force our outpost and gain entrance to
the city 70 loot, murder, rape or almost
any other savage thing, but they fig
ured without their host. A squad OF
Filipinos, under a lieutenant of their
army, approached a Nebraska sentry
on outpost in Pace district and was
ordered to halt. They paid no atten-
ton and kept advancing: the sentry
again ordered them to halt! but re-
ceiving no answer or seeing no sign
of them halting, he fired, wounding the
| insurgent lieutenant. This was the
signal for attack along the line. 1t
was not five minutes after the first
shot was fired until every American
| soldier was on the move All you
| could hear was call to arms and for
| imaginable and it continued hot and
heavy for so hours; no sleep, no eat,
no nothing for us; but oh, the excite
ment! You have no i1ea how excited
| a fellow gets; he wants only one
| thing and that is to shoot. Well, for
a while it was nobody's game but we
commenced to gradually gain ground
and on Wednesday morning, Feb. 1,
we had them going over rice fields
like so many jack rabbits in Idaho.
On Feb we fought the battle of Co
loogan, captured the town and drove
the natives into Malabon without los
ing a man. The American losses are
very light; the Filipinos can't shoot;
they can no more train a field piece
than you could navigate a steamboat
across the Pacific. Their loss is some
thing terrible; up to this morning the
official report of natives killed is S,345
and God knows how many are wound
ed. Our loss up to this morning is IS
killed, 800 wounded and missing.
The country from the suburbs of Ma
Mia for about miles out fairly reeks
with the stencil Of dead natives. They
decompose in one night in this hot
climate and stink before the Ameri-
cans can bury them.
Gen. King, of Milwaukee, is with
us and is a prince. There is not
man in the Sth army corps that won't
go through fire and water for him.
He is always along the line with a
word here and there and always in q
quiet, encouraging tone. He is as
great fighter as he is a writer We
have not done anything for a week
but lay in camp and quarters, but
, maintain firing line % miles around
the city. The Filipinos are dazed and
do not know what to think of us
They say, Americans much malo, no
chow chow, no matitulo, always boom.
boom! which translated means, The
Americans are bad and 90 not fight
fair; they don't eat, don't sleep and al
ways keep up constant fire and ad-
vance on them They think we ought
| to stop firing when they do. A promi-
nent Spaniard here says he doesn t
wonder any more over SPANS defeat;
also says that we have accomplished
more in two weeks with $4,000 men
than the Spaniards have in 16 years
with $4,000 men! 1t is rumored here
today that the United States are going
to give up these Islands to Filipino
government. Why, these natives
are no more capable of governing
themselves than pig and if the
United States does give them up she
tears herself"