The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-05-24
Lieutenant Clad Hamilton De-
scribes His Experience.
Sing of the Mauser is Not Con-
dueiTe to Comfort.
RIGHT AND WRONG.
He Says That They Are Con-
siderably Mixed.
Politics of the Situation is Be-
yond His Comprehension.

Lieutnant Clad Hamilton Of company
". Twentieth Kansas. has written let
ter 10 J. W. GIeed Of Topeka which is
filed with interesting facts about the
Philippine campaign Lieutenant Ham
uton was employed as an attorney in
the office of GIeed. Ware & GIeed be-
fore he enlisted in the volunteer army
He is the only private who has won a
Heutenant's shoulder straps
Lieutenant Hamilton was detailed as
brigade quartermaster, but Joined his
regiment early in March
He says in his letter:
Perhaps you may be interested to
hear something of the situation from an
eye witness III chance it I have
myself always been interested in these
sorts of situations, and 1 assume that
you viii be The political phase is be
yOnd me. The right and wrong Of II,
in the large sense. is pretty considera-
bly, mixed. il seems to me But have
never doubted the concrete propriety of
an American soldier returning the fire
Of anybody who shoots at him And
the man who won't stand by the soldier
Of his country. who is fighting a foreign
foe. regardless of politics It should
not be forgotten that Aguinald0 and his
kettle-cOlored crew commenced to
shoot The American soldier cannot be
blamed if it turned out at the trial that
he was a better shot than his adver-
sary.
our firing was almost exclusively by
vOIleys- The men fired as though at
battle drill You have seen sham bat
ties and know the sound OF a vOuey OF
muskeCry. Well. 1t is the same in bat
tie, except that you have an unearthly
constituencies TO it at first The vOlleys
from the Springfield rifles have aw-
fuI roar-there is the roar and its echo.
k-r-r-r-oomi There is sort OF heav-
mess about the end of the sound that
fairly shakes the earth The insurgents
fired only in irregular vOIIeys- The
sound of a Mauser bullet at 800 TO 500
yards is peculiar. indeed The sound
seems TO be produced right over your
head incline to the belief that it is
made by the bullet passing through the
air at extraordinary velocity
After the first few days our head
quarters were not near the Kansas regi-
ment, and what know OF the Orgauiza-
ton until I rejOined my company on
March s is only from hearsay- But
that hearsay was good Everybody
had words Of admiration for it. It was
regarded as a regiment that could be
relied on under every possible cfrcum-
stance The boys rushed the trenches
and the woods and the stone walls and
the rivers. everything that stood before
them. with a spirit that nothing could
withstand
There was heavy firing on the right
on the Montana regiment Presently
a few shots whistIed over Us. AT one
| thousand yards, fire by companies;
commence firing- same the or
a
| fields reared From that on it was al
[ teruateIy forward and commence fir
/ ingt When we came within two hun
dred yards of the trenches the FIHpinOS
began TO jump out and run Fire at
| will was the command Lord help the
| poor devils who were running away.
| We carried the trenches Half a. mile
beyond the trenc hes We came TO a river.
There We fought for an hour and had
eight men hit. We swept through the
river and the natives commenced to
=
ar not more than 80 yards apart 1t
was a horrible sight we saw on crossing
the river. Someone said there were So
dead F'iIipfnOs- I had no wish to count
them. and I was rather Disguised with
the newspaper men Creelnan was here
and other writers and photograph hers
" no came TO take pictures Of those in
animate defeuS6I6SS forms l honor the
soldier who fights with courage and in
| teIligence. but I do not find in my heart
much sympathy with the men " no follow
the tracks of the fighting because of
commercial demand
one afternoon We rested where we
| could see the whole fight by other
troops The batteries sheIled the
trenches for a short time and then the
| Montana and Pennsylvania regiments,
with the Twenty-secOnd regulars, walk
ed steadily out against the enemy Puff
came the smoke from the fringe Of
the woods and the insurgEur bullets rat
| tied down our way They might have
been frefiies. for all the attention those
soldiers paid to them Puff puff came
the smoke, and then the bullets and the
report-the insurgents always firing
scattering or at will Then. crash,
The Spring1eIds and Krags began 10
90 off in even, measured vOlleys. We
could see the straight. clear lines Of
no time the puffs Of smoke from the
fringe OF timber ceased We could not
els were running 1t is a diseoncertiug
I