Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-03-02
CLYDE BAKER WRITES FROM lLOILO
Tells of Soldier Life on Shin Board. =
Some Interesting Incidents.
On Board Steamer pennsylvania
Jan. 8, 1899. Iloilo Harbor.

On Board Steamer Pennsylvania
Jan. 8, 1899. Iloilo Harbor.
DEAR EDITOR:
As have nothing much to do
today l thought would try to write
few lines to you of our situation. We
are all in extra good health. more SO
than when in camp. We have been on
the ship sixty-seven days and we are
getting used to being penned up in close
quarters. We stayed in Manila haroor
from the seventh Of December until the
26th. We then received word to 60
down to Iloilo, a place about three
hundred miles south of Manila We
left Manila harbor in the evening OF the
Goth of December accompanied by the
cruiser Baltimore" one dispatch boat,
the Newport" with the 9Th Artillery
and the Arizona" with the 18th Regu.
lars. We left Manila harbor about 10
o'clock in the evening and steamed along
in sight of land all trip. The scenery
was very beautiful and it made us feel
anxious to land and hunt. In the after.
noon Of the 2Sth of December we run in
the harbor and anchored. In the har-
Dor there is a very strong current and
our ship kept turning with the current
and tide. The Captain had hard work
finding solid place to anchor. The
water is shallow and they had to be
careful not to run the ship on the bot
tom We have moved the boat forward
80 many times that we are now nearly
up the harbor. We moved past the
other boats yesterday. Ever since we
anchored we have been anxious to re-
ceive word to land but have not as yet,
and now we have given up all hopes OF
ever landing. We git word the other
day that we would not land until we
received word from Washington and
that will take at least twenty days.
Every day we hear a number of false
reports and now we can't tell when we
do get true one. We have some signal
service men on board and they are busy
nearly all day and night signalling to the
Baltimore and the other two trans
ports.
The island on which Iloio is situated
is Punay. 1t is a large island and very
heavily wooded. All around this island
are many others and they are also
covered with trees and all along the
coast are small villages. We noticed
soon after we came here that the natives
were hauling their families and house
hold goods to the other islands. 1t
looked as though they we're preparing
to fight. We could see the natives work
ing hard on the old fort but 1 don't
think the fort could stand more than
two good sized shells if we fired
on it. I understand there is two more
forts up in the city. The city is set
away back and is hidden from our sight
by large trees and cocoa-nut and banana
palms. All we can see of the city is a
large number of flag poles and the tall
domes of large buildings.
We can see large number of long
white buildings close to the coast. We
heard that these buildings we're used as
barricks. If this is true we. would have
very nice place to stay if we land here.
When we land we will surely have to
land under fire but 1 don't think that
the landing will be the hardest fight. l
think the hardest fight will be when we
try to take the city. The natives are all
armed with knives and are all sneaking
and will wait till he gets the advantage
of person and then jump on him.
We heard the other day that they
were planting some guns on the fort and
that is the reason that we were moved
up the harbor SO that we would be out
Of danger from those guns. We also
heard that the natives we're in possession
of four Krupp guns. II they are the
Spanish must have left them when they
left the city.
There is a German gun boat and a
Spanish gun boat here in the harbor.
The other day the German boat was
caught trying to land some guns on
shore. For an excuse they said they
were only going to practice. We soon
knew that was false because no such
work as that was allowed in an enemy's
country. There is a great many Ger
mans on the island and that is the
reason of the work. We also captured
sail boat loaded with ammunition the
other day We have captured some
steam launches and have guards on
them. On one of these launches two of
the guards were stabbed by three OF the
natives. One of the natives jumped
over board and escaped but the other
two are kept IN irons.
There has been parties picked from
each Company to learn to row the boats.
They have real good time and it is very
good exercise. Yesterday one crew went
out and the water being very rough and
the wind strong, they drifted far away
and they went on shore for rest. Before
4 &I,ox, mana % ol>al hu N