Evening star., 1899-04-05
IN SERVICE OF UNCLE SAM
Former Washington High School Boys Ex-
perienoe in the Philippines.
The Wall About Manila Designed as
Prison-Field Duty In the
Brush.

Several letters have recently been re-
ceived In this city from a former High
School boy in Washington, who. after en-
tering as a student in the university at
Boulder, Col, enlisted. in April Of last
year. for service in Uncle Sans army
against Spain. and was later sent to the
Philippine Islands. Extracts from the let
ters-written to his aunt here-are as fol-
lows:
MANILA, January so, 1899.
This paper 1 have found after searching
| all my stuff through, and now l can write
you letter and have it ready to leave by
the next boat for Hong Kong. This busi-
ness of having to write letters according to
the schedule of departing boats is not
what It's cracked up TO be, but It's the only
way.
Several of the fellows have gone over to
Corregidor Island to the place. 1t was
there, You remember, that Dewsy first
turned on his guns, and now portion of our
he spital is located over there 1t Is about
fifteen miles from here, and it costs
peso zone dollar) for the trip. Last Sun
day ons of the fellows got q piece of glass
from the lighthouse and is going to use it
for paper weight. L have couple of
pieces of shell which I can use for the
same purpose. One piece is part of shell
that exploded a few yards back of the house
where we were intrenched one night while
on outpost.
ebfuilfy 1.-Two days nave elapsed.
Meanwhile three mails have been received,
but all Of them were small.
We have drawn our Khaki suits. and
they look first rate. Mine didn't fit, and
now the tailor is adjusting il to the curves
of my body. Every time / go up to see If
he has the coat fixed he tells me 'manana.
and this seems to be the motto of the race.
No wonder they haven't advanced per-
ceptibly in the last thousand years.
We moved from the monastery FIVE
months ago, and have twice since changed
our quarters 1 can't imagine that L have
not told you about this before. and L guess
that perhaps one of my letters has been
lost. But there are others that have mis-
carried, too, so l am not surprised.
Since this fnsurgent business started i
haven't been much over their lines, al
though l went over there with one of our
sergeants and made a sketch of the whole
thing where we expected to capture one of
their fayorite positions, 1t was slightly
| risky, and we had to be cautious How
ever. it is a poor plan to go wandering
around their country. and, indeed, II is quite
a matter now to get outside our own lines.
I'VE haven't had any dress parades for
| long time but | am afraid that they soon
are to be resumed, for We started in again
with battalion drill this morning. We have
! ali kinds of gun drills now, and are contin-
| ually learning more, and every morning
| just after drill we have 'non-com school,
and are studying ali about our post duty
| and war in general
! Wall Impregnable.
Several days ago comrade and / went
! down around the wall and we found out
| good many things We didn't know before.
| The wall is about thirty-five feet high and
| varies in thickness from twenty-five to
| seventy-fve feet. 1t would be impossible
| for the largest cannon in the world to bat
| ter down this wall, and 1 can't why
the Spaniards surrendered it. All along
that wall there are places three feet apart
for SharDSh0OtprS and there
innumerabe. You can't imagine a more
| secure position, but still those Spaniards
| thought it best not to continue the contest,
| and SO we got the town. All that saved
! us was Dewey. who peppered away at their
| 10-inch guns with his rapid-fre guns, thus
| making it impossible for any Spaniards to
| operate them. Dewey has a sound head.
| and / don't believe this 'Aguinado propo-
| sition worries him very much.
But L was going to tell you about the
wall. In one place it is hollow for half
mile, a regular dungeon, and here it was
| that they confined their prisoners The in
| side is divided up into chambers and in
| one of these there is nothing but water
and bones They say the place was full
| OF prisoners. and that the water leaked in
| there unknown to them and drowned the
unfortunates, but pipes have been found
| leading into the chambers from above and
a place where the water could be turned
| on, and l guess that is the way the water
| leaked in. And the worst of it is, IT was
| right here that they had planned to keep
US prisoners Wnen we surrendered to them.
Ihey had the place all fixed up for u.s.
| These dungeons are below the sea level
three floors down from the top and never
cry from prisoner could be heard out
siue, @ Inese Spaniards are cruel, treach-
| erous, worse than heather, and | wouldn't
| trust them behind ladder with the rounds
knocked out. The Filipnos are nearly as
| PAD, but they don't know so much.
| dont trust them. and 1 always carry a
| knife with me in case l should get tangled
| up by any means with any of them. We
expect TO get the Krag-Jorgensen rifles in
| a few weeks.
| The War Opens.
MANILA, February TO- ls9a
| several days ago / sent you a few lines
just to let you know that the war had be-
| gun. Long before this reaches you, you
will have heard all about cur trouble with
these Filipinos, knew it must come SOON
er or later. 1t may end within a few DAYS
| may last a year. We have just been play-
| ing havoc with them. Our loss has been
| great. too, but not one-twentieth of that of
| our enemies.
"Our company has not a man either killed
| OF wounded, but our captain had a close
| shave. A Mauser ball grazed the skin on
| his temple. If he had moved his head one
fourth of an inch to the left he would have
| been killed; 1t is he has only a skin
! wound There have been lots of narrow es-
| capes. One fellow in Company was shot
| twice through his hat just above his fore
| Heau- ohe pullet SraZed the front Of his
| hat right where the brim joins the crown
and the other bullet passed through the
| hat. He was also shot in the hand. Some
| poor fellows have been shot up horribly;
several in Company B have been wounded
! Saturday night we expected trouble and
| slept with our clothes on. but this was no
| novelty. Just after taps-l9 o'clock-we
| heard heavy firing. 1t continued some time
| Our company acted as patrol all the first
! night, so we didn't get chance to go to
| the front, but from the way the bullets
| went whizzing by you would think we were
| on the firing line. The reason for this was
| that these 'insurrectos' always shoot HIGH
| and again, the town was full of insurgents
| concealed in houses, who kept constantly
| popping away at us, but they shoot in the
| same of-hand way as those outside of the
| lines, so their bullets simply passed over
| our heads, striking the houses on the op-
j rasite side of the ir,ala