The true Democrat., 1899-04-15
Notes From Manila.
being part of a letter written
hOme" by Dan I. Bowman.)
CaIocan battle-ground,
four miles from Manila.

ItOtNtN tb -btt'
Well | am unable to finish this
lettcr st one writing SO | viii con
mcnce again. The weather is Oh,
so hot, only the small day tents for
partial shelter and imagine ne as
long AS | am, lying in a 81 foot tent.
Since wrote last eve, We that is,
Go. c. moved on the line nearer to
Malabnn, about l.! miles, heavy
marching order. At night scntIIcS
are put out about 400 yardsin front
Of the trenches. Each man gets
two hours ut a time, and with two
relicfs at nj 5ht, makes four hours
every other night. 1t is a lone
som2 old guard, and every night we
Get shots at us frGm some sharp
shooters.
The situation of affairs is any
thug but pleasant. An English
| syndicate owns Il narrew gauge
railroad from Maniiato the north
cn part Of LIzon island. We have
| the road as far rs Calocan, with
engines and ears which we use for
our heavy stuff and boys going in,
to town. Dewey sighted at two
different times, carloads of insur
gents with two cannon they had
brought from MaIolos, about 30
miles ahead of rs. These loads
had nearly reached Calocan wien
he and tie Utah Battery together
pnt shells and shrapncls among
them, killing most of the insurgents
and Knocking ont the cannon.
AS near as can be estimated, the
enemy has lost over 2GG0 men. This
must be near the figure, for we have
buried them until We are tired of
doing it. at times, We have put as
many as thirty in one hole. Some
of the boys still find many bodies
dcCompOsed. Some days ago We
found an insurgent officer, still
alive, with both legs broken by !
Springfield bullets. lie WAS almost
starved, and tie maggots had eaten
most Of the flesh from his legs. He |
was taken to our hospital, where
we have many of their wounded.
In the walled city prison we have
about 5000 prisoners. These peo-
pie have shown their want of ca
pacity to govern themselves, They
are lazy and filthy and must be
driven to work. The SpaniardS
made all the great improvements
that exist here, together with some
English and Germans. This is a
great sugar country, also rec and
fruit, and | feel sure with proper
cultivation anything can be grown
here. Do you think the natives
will plant anything No, they only
want easy jobs and steal and loot
wherever they 90,
| like this country and would like
to remain here if we control the
but unless we do, it would /
be utterly impossible for the aver,
age American to go around and DO
to make money. i
The streams here are certainly
excellent for placer mining, as las
been seen already by scouting plr,
ties. 10 go into the interior and
pan for gold would be Just grand,
and no one doubts that man could
make q fortune at it, but it rests
solely withiUncle Sam. | am in
favor otIlleeping the islands, for
they will, i'll time, pay us back all
the money our government has ex-
pended in this Spanish war.
i am anxious to see Asia before !
return TO America. Indeed | am
in no hurry to 60 back. j must try
to see China and Japan any way.
70 write everything now is impos-
SibIe, ! am lying OF the groand |
writing under difficulties, 50 you
must make all excuses.
Rec'd at st. Francisvil!c, La,
March 20th.)
Prehistoric CGEsl.