The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-07-30

ton and immediate needs of some
orawny, big-voiced, suQ-tanned and
hopelessly healthy fellow in our ranks
who guffawed loudly when told the
home folks feared he was dying of neg
| lect in hospital.
A sounder and healthier legion than
the Eighth corps probably never took
the field in the tropics when called up
on late last AUTUMN to man the block
/ houses about hanila against possible.
Filipino attack.
The men were well fed. despite the
| tact that Australian beef and Luzon
chickens are tough and stringy.
we had efficient medical officers and
ample hospital accommodations.
Praise For Otis.
General Otis, our corps commander.
left no stone unturned to see that the
few men he had were kept in as eff
Client state as possible
Ship after ship came laden with food
and clothing, and, though foreign mill
tary attaches looked with politely
veiled dlsapprobation upon the battered
Stouch hats. and at the bare brown
throats showing through the gaping
flannel shirts and noted the utter lack
OF military ornament in the garb of of
ficers and men, they could not but see
how free and unhampered were their
movements and how serviceable ard
convenient was the rough dress. Even
after the brown Khaki uniforms were
received and issued to the men, and
they had strutted about in them a. few
days, pleased as 4-year-olds with a new
toy, they speedily drifted back to the
use OF the old blue flannel. with its
roorny chest and sleeves. They never
felt comfortable on the march without
the long-laced leggin. The Fourteenth
regulars splendid body of men-and
few of the volunteers were pictur-
eSque in the extreme in a tropical pa
rade uniform of their own devising
Blue flannel shirts, with the crammed
cartridge belt and knife at the waist
Trousers of white drilling or light blue,
tucked into the long brown leggins,
and the whole topped by a light high
crowned PREDETERMINED straw hat
looped up, after the manner of Roose-
Welt. on one side, and encircled by a
black silk ribbon, with the designation
of the regiment in gold letters.
Fighting the Heat.
For over three weeks after the battle
of Santa Ana my men marched and
fought and slept in the trenches in
their old blue shirts and trousers, WITH
hardly a change of any kind. and were
hearty and merry as school boys all
the time. but with the LIST of March
the weather grew hot, and by April
1t was far worse than anything l ever
experienced in Arizona, and then Old
Sol began to get in direful though not
deadly work. Heat prostrations were
many, but 1 heard of no fatalities. We
used to strip the leaves of the banana
tree and put them in our campaign
hats with fall down the back of
the head and neck. They served us
well, but all the same the exposure
was great. April is the hottest month
of the year in and about Manila and
where we were serving. up the Pasig,
and where Lawton and Macarthur
were hammering at AguinaldO'S field
works on the lines of the Bagbag. the
Quingua and the Rio Grande de Pam
pangas. the sun beat down untem-
pered by the breeZes from the bay as
in Manila. and there was no lodging
il. Foreign residents, you know, and
even the natives. shut up shop every
day and retire indoors and stay there
until the sun is well down in the west.
but no such shelter could our fellows
seek. The sun by day. the dews by
night end the eXhalatiOns of the rice
fields at all times had they to stand
as best they could. and stand II they
did CALAMITY and uncomplainingly.
What is more | believe they would
gladly stand it all again if by so doing
they could stand off, the drenching
rains that cool the air for an hour or
so each day now, and then turn all
nature into a steam bath until sunset
and all the fields to flood. Without 4
dry stitch on them. perhaps. the stall,
wart fellows stretch themselves on
their rude hunks at night and sleep
as only tired soldiers can: yet thou
sands of them seem to mind il as lit
tie as a mild shower. They are nearly
all vigorous young fellows who were
sound" to start with.
Small Percentage of Sick Men.
of course We hear of hundreds of Of
ficers and men physically broker
down and returned to the states, but
the percentage is slight as compared
with the war of the rebellion. and very
many men are simply tOrmented 10
sleeplessnesS by an annoying skin dis
ease-an itch-that is Obstinately prev
aIent around Manila, yet yields TO treat
ment after a few days at sea, and *
gone entirely by the time the patient
sees the Golden Gate. Once last winter
there was cause for anxiety The small
poX is said to be epidemic in Manila.
and the native takes il lightly, and soon
RECEIVERS, but it is oddly fatal when 1t
strikes the AngloSaXon, and there
were grave faces everywhere when We
heard of its appearance in the ranks
of Funston's gallant regiment, the
Twentieth Kansas. Yet so promptly
was the matter met, so complete was
the isolation enforced and so strict the
quarantine established that the malady
never spread beyond the battalion in
which il first appeared, and in less than
Il month it was stamped out entirely
Now as to the Filipinos- know
nothing of the people except the lnsur-
gent tribe-the Tagals-and a most
active and enterprising foe they make.
Their leaders are skilled, and. as a rule,
highly educated men. They themselves
have all attended school as children,
and the priests, the Filipino officials
/ and Filipino authors declare that nine
: tenths of them can read and write
They are superstitious. They are SrS-
picious of everything, Spanish or Amer
ican and icredulous to the verge or
idiocy where Aguinaldo's proves or
personality is concerned. Tney are IA
natical and die bravely, yet on almost
ievery dead or wounded soldier our sur
geons found the amulet, with all It's
absurd cabalistic scrawls and writings
sold them by their priests and war
ranted to render them bullet-proof. De-
vout Catholics they are, too. Clearly
are they in their ways, but most in
genious and plausible liars, incompar-
able sneak thieves and uneXcelled cock
fighters. About their homes thew bow
and scraDe and do homage TO the
American soldiers. declaring themselves
''Muchos Amigos" but look out for a
shot or stab in the back the next min
ute In the field they have The pa
thence and stealth of the Apache. Even
old Indian fighters found themselves
arnbuscaded and surrounded by the
little warriors on more than one occa-