Omaha daily bee., 1899-06-14
ECHOES or ruE Wan.

Sergeant l., c. Peters Of the First Ne
braska In q letter In the Chicago Record, re-
latcs Incidents of the war in Luzon, iu
which squads Of Nebraska AMI Iowa boys
experienced a greater degree Of temperature
than Is served up daily by cid 5 j. one
was q scouting trip under orders; the other
a private exploring tour beyond the firing
line. The scouting trip occurred on Feb
ruary II, the purpose OF which was to pick
cut trails suitable for military movements
in the country between sanitation and San
Pedro Macati. The party consisted Of Ser
geant Peters, a German, a Yankee and a
wyoming frontersman. After scouting the
country for three miles the quartet ran
into hot nest of insurgents who pro-
ceoded to make the country exceedingly
warm for the unwelcome visitors. The
scouts were on to the game and lost no
time in spelling the trap set by the natives.
Both were lodging about in the jungle-the
scouts to get back to their camp, and the
natives to ambush them.
1t was necessary to use great caution now
in proceeding" writes Sergeant Peters.
and 1t was by the skin of our teeth that we
escaped discovery once or twice. San Pedro
Macau lay on the opposite bank OF the
river from us and it soon became evident
that We were the only Americans on that
side' Things began to look pretty serious
ABOUT thls time, and we thought ourselves
trapped, as it is impossible to swim the
river at this point. However, we reached
Guadalupe church safely and rested there
short time before making for the river,
which we decided to try rather than be
taken prisoners. AS we lay in the shelter
oil the church California sharpshooter cs-
pea us, and, mstaking us for insurgents
began TO take pot shots at us. The insur-
gents also espied us and opened fire. ana
1or awhile we thought we were doomed No
one NIT us, however, and soon General King
who was looking at us through his field
glasses, made out that we were Americans
and stopped the fire of his sharpshooter. The
rlllplnos were coming clCse However. ani
every once in awhile Mauser bullet would
throw dust in our eyes. This got too un-
tuHlioFtable to be amusing, ami we decided
10 Try Tor the river. To reach It we had
10 run across one open place where there
was no protection at all for about 25o
yards and we decided to try If some.
thlng had to be done and that quickly. so
we made the break. We were not much
AFRAID Of the bullets as long as we were
III the brush, but when we struck the omen
now we dld fly! We got out about 6ftv
yards before they got our RANGE. and were
hoNinS along pretty swiftly when the bul
ieIs began to cut around us and tear I'm
'ne ground. | remember thinking as ran
about shooting gallery and Hkened nv
sell and comrades to the little white rab-
bits that glide slowly across the target in
front of the marksman.
we crossed the opening without getting
MT ana reached the river bank in safetv
ueheral King had watched our run and came
th1
INV 10 the opposite bank himself with a
9qu"u ol men TO cover our retreat If possible.
li9 '"lieu 70 US TO lie down, which we did,
and ordered his men to fire a couple of vol.
iegs over us. This checked the insurgents
VINO VIII never advance in the face of an
American fire, and presently rasco was
sent over to get us. We reported to Generar
hihs with our orders, and after a brief in |
terVlew he Informed us that he would send
US uoWn TO Manila in his private launch, as |
we could more safely rejon our command
from that point than by cutting across from
San Pedro Macati again"
Ihe exploring adventure happened beyond /,
Malolos late in April. Two Nebraska bows |
and four from the Iowa regiment struck out
into the country thereabouts ION an explor- |
ing tour of one of the numerous churches |
Ihat are scattered through the country" |
IN the way to the church." writes Sergeant !
Peters, they encountered no natives and
after investigating it thoroughly they de-
cided to go on up the road into the deserted |
village beyond.
While they saw no natives, some natives |
saw them, and when they started back to |
camp they found themselves cut off by a |
BODY Of about twenty insurgents, who opened |
lre, causing the boys to seek cover in |
hurry. number of shots were exchanged |
rom behind trees the Americans holding
heir own very well until the insurgents be-
gan to flank them 1t soon became evident
hat an effort would have to be made to
each camp very quickly if they ever ex-
'ected to reach camp at all. Every time one
If the boys exposed himself Mauser would
rack, and they had to lie down and crawl
rom one bamboo clump to another. This
vas slow work, as those ahead had to wait
or those in the rear. While one or two
we're advancing the rest would watch for a
Filipino to show himself and when the ad-
'ance party had reached cover, they would
watch while the rest crawled up. AS they
yormed their way through the brush they
lsed every pre2auton to prevent making a
loise but some times twg would crack
md then pop, pop, pop would go the
Iausers, and zip, zip, zip would cut the bur
cts around them.
Finally they passed the church again on
heir way back and soon they came to
Itch, where they could get good protection.
The insurgents by this time began to fear
heir prize would get away, and so made a
ush on the little party. The boys opened
re and soon checked the rush and were able
o hold them back until the cavalry arrived
0 rescue them. Three natives were
but no Americans.