The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-07-19

From Our Soldier Correspondent
SANTA ANNA, Luzon, P. l., May e.
You willhave to excuse paper, etc, for all
my possessions excepting tooth brush,
camera and canteen are stored in the
freight depot at CaMmpIt. This is our
ninth day out on the present campaign
and when or where this letter can me
mailed don't know, for We are thirty
miles from the railroad. VIII endeavor
10 send II back by some one bound for
the hospital, for we shall probably be
ON the march daily until the rainy sea-
son sets in fully.
A fellow readily learns to do two
things when campaigning. He doesn't
march many miles before he throws
away everything but his rifle, ammuni-
don, tooth brush and canteen. The
tooth brush he slips through two holes
cut in his campaign hat and the can
teens contents he jealousy guards at
ell hazards. The second lesson springs
likewise from necessity In two days
time he has learned to take all the rest
he possibly can obtnIn-he INDUCES in
the luxury of considerable correspon-
dence only by stealing time from this
period.
When the bugle calls halt in the
long, dusty column he fiops under the
first shade available. When arms are
stacked for the nights bIvouac, he
quickly folds his campaign hat for a
pillow and begins to repel the evening
attack Of ants and mosquitoes without
delay,
1t was a well seasoned. well equipped
expedition which started from Calumpit
nine days ago. Moreover 1t was the
first force composed entirely of regulars
that ever assembled on Philippine soil.
ofCourse the Reporters.
II the number of reporters who &C.
company the expedition is a criterion
of the quantity of news to be furnished
the weary reader in the states, 1t would
seem presumptIous for me to attempt
to add anything. These news gather
ers are everywhere. When your COM
pany is deployed as nn advance guard.
they help you beat through the jungle
in search OF hidden entertainments or
leaf covered sharpshooters. Their sup
piles Of tobacco and good nature seem
alike inexhaustible. When our wagon
train went through bamboo bridge
near Candaba and mules, hard tack,
corned beef and army prunes were mis-
celIaneously distributed in the mud
twenty feet below. saw the Associated
Press man and the New York Journal
cub" fondly rescuing two small chick
ems from underneath a wrecked wagon
where they had been craftily tied at a
previous stop.
Calumpit is, or at least was when we
were last in touch with civilization, the
terminus Of the railroad service. This
paRupan and Manila railway is a mar
row guage affair owned by English
capitalists. AT present to all intents
and purposes It is controlled on the
south for half its length by Americans
and on the north by insurgents. The
worst feature OF It seems to he that the
insurgents were decidedly unfair in the
division OF rolling stock When Calico
can with It's repair shops fell into
American hands. few disabled loco
motives and half hundred damaged
or scattered freight and passenger cars
were all of rather large collection
which the goo goo failed to haul to
,r, ,,t1,,r and NJ tho line
The versatility OF the American SOL
dIer was illustrated by the rapldIty
with which a forty mile stretch Of this
badly crippled roadbed with Its dam
aged rolling stock was put in shape for
operation. Machlnlsts. engineers, mail
agents and train crews from the ranks
readily volunteered their services and
have given tho utmost satisfaction. SO
important is this sole line OF communi-
cation between the base Of supplies at
Mnnila and the lighting brigades which
are making history and good" Fill
plnos with equal success on the north,
that the limited train service can be
devoted to transporting troops only for
few hours each day.
when the Seventeenth piled into n
train OF stuTy compartment cars Mt
Caloocan after weary march of ten
miles from Nariqulna, 1t was hauled