The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-09
BACK FROM THE PHILIPPINES.
JOHN r.. MASTERS TELLS OF HIS
EXPERIENCE AROUND MANILA.

| the Eighteenth Infantry and Went
out to Help Dewey-TOok Part in
| the Capture of Manila and Helped
RepeI the First Night Attack of
the Insurgents, After which He
Saw Service with His Regiment at
HOiIO-Has Had Enough of SOL
dfcring and Is Glad to Get Back
TO savannah.
John r. Masters, the only one of the
several hundred Savannah boys who vol
unteered for the war with Spain to see
actual fighting. reached Savannah last
night, after an absence of year and a
/ half. Masters was In Macon in the spring
of 1893, when Uncle Sam began calling for
volunteers with which to lick the Dons.
and, although several volunteer companies
were being formed there, he decided to
throw In his lot with the regulars He
enlisted at Macon May IS, 1898. and was
! sent 20 San Francisco to join the Eigh-
! teenth Infantry, leaving that port with
his regiment June 26, 1898, on the trans
port Ohio and reaching Manila July 81.
! The Eighteenth was one of the first OF
! the troops sent to help Admiral Dewey
hold down She situation In the Philip
! pines. arriving there in time to take part
in the capture of Manila from the Span
| iards, and the subsequent exchange OF
amenities with the Filpinos. Masters
| had the good luck to be mixed up in sew
eral of the affairs which have been de-
! scribed at great length by the newspaper
! correspondents, among them the capture
of Manila. the first night attack of the
insurgents and the fighting around IIoilo
! Morning News reporter found the re-
| turned soldier al the home of his father,
! Police Clerk r. B. Masters at 500 Hun
| iingdon street, east, last night The re-
turn Of the soldier boy was evidently guile
an event with the family and his younger
brothers and sisters of whom there are
several, were listening with wide-eyed
amazement to his account of his experien-
ces in the Far East. Mr.. Masters was In
the theatrical bus ness before he turned
soldier, and knows how TO tell a good
story He briefly sketched some of the in
| teresting events Of which he was witness
or a participant.
we reached Manila bay July 81" he
said, "and took part in the capture of
Manila Aug. 10. The capture was about
the easiest job we had during my whole
stay in the Islands. 1t was a picnic, barr
ing the fact that we had beIn lying Ground
In the mud for two weeks W tn onsy one
DIdAhtl apiece anu uOB teEtS 10 sleep IN.
We started from camp al O'Clock in the
morning, and at II O'Clock we were in Ma
Mia. The Spaniafds put up no fight what
ever, and an hour after we got into the
city the American and Spanish officers
were walking ere streets arm n arm We
were put on guard duty In the rain and
slept on the sidewalks al nieht when off
DUTY. We had a comparatively easy time
of II in Mani a until the insurgents tried
TO play Their little game. Then we slept
for two weeks wi n our clothes on and 200
rounds of ammunition besides, and our
guns under our heads. There were fire.
quent alarms and we were constantly he
ing turned out to repel expected attacks"
AT the time of the insurgent attack l
was just out of the hospital, and was at
tached for rations to Company NJ of the
Twenty-third Infantry. The alarm came
about 10 o'clock at night. The Twentys
third was not ordered out, but l seized the
best gun of fellow who had been using
IL to get orderly and went out with the
First Tennessee. We had a right lively
for awhile, but when we cleared the in
surgents out the next morning there were
800 dead Filipinos left behind. We captured
a lot of the insurgents and made them
bury their dead in trenches"
the Eighteenth remained at Manila I'M
I'll October, when we moved TO Cavite
where we did garrison duty and guarded
prisoners. The name of this place is pro-
nounced Ka-veet. Our hospital there was
established in a handsome building which
had been the residence of a Spanish Off
GER The insurgents had captured lot of
Spanish prisoners at Cavite and had turn
ed the building into a slaughter house
The walls We're spotted with blood and
there marks of the spikes where the prs-
oners had been crucihed by mailing them
to the walls and then shot to death We
remained at Cavite until Christmas even,
when we went aboard the Arizona bound
for loilo, 600 miles away. We We're on
board the transport forty eight days liv-
ing on salmon and hardtack awaiting the
surrender of Ioilo. Feb. II, at a. m,
the gunboats Petral and Boston opened up
on the fortihcations and the rebels were
compelled to light out. Ioilo was a very
handsome city of about $4,000 Inhabitants
having many fine buildings The city was
fired by the insurgents and reduced TO
ruins. We landed right after the lombard
ment and were quartered for the night UNI !
der an cd sugar refinery near the bridge !
over the Jaro river. The next morning we
crossed the river on a accommodating tour
and found the insurgents about two miles !
away. They were intrenched behind a |
heavy stone wall, which was fianked by
our skirmishers. The insurgents were
slaughtered with rifles and Cuttings, about |
800 being killed"
FEB. Il we marched out with two bat |
talions and the First Tennessee and found |
the insurgents about eight miles from
Jaro. They put 6p hot fight, but were |
routed with loss of about 700. As our |
force was small, we fell back TO faro, |
where the regiment remained up to the |
time of my discharge, Aug. 2S"
Masters said that Col Carpenter of the |
Eighteenth, who was in command of the |
American forces, did not attempt to PEN
citrate the country around Iloilo and Jaro. |
because his force was less than $500 men. /
while the insurgent force was estimated |
al $4,000. The rebels remained close in the /
vicinity and annoyed the troops with con- |
slant firing on the picket lines
THE insurgents did not have time to |
destroy Jaro," said Masters. I'VE sur
prised them at dinner, and they deserted
the town, leaving everything they had in
the houses and their dinners on the tables
We lived high for a few days, and fur
nlshed the company messes with the fin
est kind of plate and glassware. There
must have been a pretty well-to-do lot
of E.lipinOg i'm fbp TOWN Tharo ,ra.. -