Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-11-15

Two interesting letters have been
received by E. M. Pierce, of the South
Sire. from Norman S. Wood, a Wheel
ing boy, who is now stationed as a
member Of company B, Twenty-third
United States infantry. at Jolo Jolo Is
land, in the Philippines. Mr.. Wood is
former compositor of the Register
and has many warm friends here who
will be anxious to learn something Of
his life as a soldier. The contents of
the letters are as follows:
"JOLO, P. l.,
Thursday, Sept. 20, 1892
"Dear Friend:-I suppose you think
l never intend to let you hear from me
again, but l have no excuse 10 make
except that the paymaster did not
! make his appearance here until Tues
day, on which day l was in the kitchen.
Yesterday I was on guard, came off
this morning, and now to-day | hasten
to write several letters before the
sBatuan" leaves for Manila. l got the
papers and magazines from you all
right, and of course I was delighted to
receive them. l send you a Manila
paper, couple of japanese papers and
a small paper published on Dewey's
flagship Olympia, that did such great
work at Manila. 1 send the papers
simply to show you how the art Of
printing has progressed in the East. 1
consider Freedom" the most wide
awake paper in our new possessions.
Other English dailies there (Manila)
are the American, Times and Insular
Press, the latter new paper. At some
future time I will send you copies of
those papers. / hope all the boys are
enjoying good health, and | am thank
full to say that l am. There is much
sickness here, mostly from stomach
trouble, and in the last three weeks
there have been five deaths. There
was a terrible amount of drunkenness
here this pay day; and nine of my COM
pany are in the guard house Gin is
| only one cent a drink and champaign
is fifty cents bottle. Since we have
| been here much beer is imported from
| the States. 1t is sold in pint bottles
at IS cents Mexican bottle. There is
no way of getting ice, so the drinks are
not fit to drink. The "Butuan" brought
| an ice machine for the government.
| The principal saloon keeper is a Fill
Pine, whose wife is daughter of the
Sultan. He owns great deal Of real
estate inside the walls, and several
coffee plantations outside the wall.
| "The Sultan was in the city several
weeks ago, having come here at the
request of Brig.-Gen. Bates to arrange
for terms of peace. l understand that
| he is to receive just what Spain paid
him-$12, 600 Mexican a year-really a
J bride to maintain peace. The arrival
at the main gate Of the city of the Sui
|
savage state, was an unique spectacle,
and one l shall never forget. 1t really
resembled a scene from comic opera.
! The effect of the terms has been to thin
out our ranks here, as two companies
| have been sent away-D company to
a lighthouse south of here, and L COM
pany to an island near British Borneo,
| the town of Sandakan, Borneo, being
visible across the water in clear
weather. There is much talk of two
more companies leaving here, and as B
company and G company were inspect
ed in heavy marching order last Sat
| urday, we are picked out to go. Our
| destination is said to be the town of
| Jamboanga, island of Mindanao,
though of course it 81 all mere conjec-
ture. No troops have yet been landed
on Mindanao, and if l go there l will
certainly see hard service. There is
much fighting on the islands, and the
/ paymaster has brought word that the
ports of 1loilo, Cebu and Zamboanga
are closed. At Cebu (Seeboo, accented
like saw MILD is where the First bat
talon of the Twenty-third is stationed,
and four men of NJ company were re-
Gently ambushed outside the lines and
three OF them killed, one a sergeant.
Now the order there is to kill niger
on sight.
AT Iloilo pronounced eelow-eelow,
accented like zer-ozero) the insurgents
| put on pigtails and crossed the lines at
will, being taken for Chinese, and much
dirty work was done by these impos-
tiers before the fraud was discovered,
and now every Chinese has his pigtail
pulled just a little TO see if it is genu-
| inc. No matter what the papers may
say against the soldiers, the soldiers
have TO take more than they give. as
the natives will come into town with
eatables, get two prices for them. and
| then go out and stay in the trenches
for a time. There has been very little
rain here. and it is not near SO hot as
you may think. There is always a
pleasant breeze blowing from the sea.