Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-11-16

man to me would get wounded or
Killed. 1t made me feel sick to pick
MIN up and examine him to see how
badly he had been wounded, hut as
soon as the hospital corps got to him
1t came surging over me that these
devils in front were responsible, and
ones only ambition was to extermi1i-
ate as many as possible. A dead Flip
mo had no effect on me; they were
just SO many animals, that was all. I
remember one time of going down to
the river to get some water, when I
ran across an ambulance. You know
how they are made-two cots above and
two below. I pulled the curtain to one
side and said: How are you, bows,
feeling nretty badly?' The man in the
top cot raised up his head and said:
I guess they do; they are all dead but
me-. That shows what q man becomes
accustomed to-"
What were your feelings in the first
big battle you were engaged in?" and
the reporter drew picture of the car
mage, whistling bullets. and of the
events as he imagined them to be.
yOu SOLuc uOWu 10
facts of the case" said Mr.. Balm, t'there
are no big battles. The Filipinos en-
trench themselves in Notifications that
are marvels of engineering execution
and neither artillery nor anything else
in the way of death dealing instruments
Will get them out except q volunteer
yell and charge. They are as afraid of
that as anything i know of and the
combination in every case is too much
for them. They break and run for
cover, and how they can run. A Yam
kee isn't in it.
when we were first in action we
were at disadvantage. The niggers
were armed with Mausers and we with
the old Springfields. They would stand
off thousand yards and pick, off the
men, while our guns would not touch
them; 1t was very annoying, to say
the least, but after the Krag- Jorgensen
was issued we were on an equality as
far as range is concerned, and after a
time they learned not to be SO saucy.
They are in the foothills now. and will
be harder to reach. do not think
there will be a surrender of any large
force, but we will make capture of u
handful here and there and break them
into small bands, which under proper
police protection will not give much
trouble. Aguinaldo is the main guy Of
the whole business now, and as soon
as he has been disposed of they will
be minus a leader and will loose
heart.
"The water in that country is very
bad, and that, together with the hui
nudity of the atmosphere, causes much
fever. A man might lie down at night
perfectly well and wake up in the
morning with his pulse at 1o4, and he
gets well or dies just as quickly.
Speaking of the water: One the march
one hot day we came across a well and
We're all very thirsty. The water
smelled and tasted fearfully bad, but
there was no alternative and we drank
the stuff and were glad 10 get It, The
next day the Utah bats. y came along
and found the water to be in the same
fl. we left it, but they had more curios-
!, ity than we and fshed out two dead
Cinnamon. That was only an incident.
but all the water is bad and not fit for
white man to drink.
What is my impression OF the aver
age Filipino? do not think much Of
the beast. He is a mixture of Japanese.
Chinese and low grade Spanish. II YOU
can pick out worse cross than that.
trot out the animal. / never saw it before
and don't want to again. There are a
few educated ones and they are very
decent people. That class does not
think it would be well to give the Fill
ipino his independence for several gen
erations yet. The highest idea of the
/, lower classes is to loot. and thew were
very angry when Manila fell because
they We're NOT SLOWED to pillage to
their hearts. Content. I saw Aguinal-
do. He looks like a sharp, tricky fel-
low, and has more education than most
Filipinos, but outside of that there was
nothing impressive about him. He does
not have the cause of his people at
heart, but is in the struggle for what
he may possibly get out of it, believing
that he can eventually wear the Amer
leans out, although we hold more
ground at the present time than Spain
has held for twenty-five years. We are
al war with only one tribe, the Tagalos,
which are the most numerous on the
island OF Luzon and around Manila.
The American is somewhat at disad-
vantage. The Filipinos will hide their
guns, hoist flag of truce, come inside
the lines, where they are free to go
about without guard, and the first
thing we know we have as many of the
, enemy behind us as we have in front.
We first tried the plan of taking them
prisoners and putting a guard over
them, but they were SO dirty that dis
ease broke out among them and we
We're compelled to turn them loose.
They could not be kicked out, however;
they would rather be prisoners with
government rations than soldier i'm.
der Aguinaldo with whatever they could
find to eat.
Il am u railroad man and consequent.
ly took great interest in the railway.
The gauge is slightly wider than ours
but the rolling stock is In bad condi-
ton, behind the times, like everything
else in that country. The railroad was
a great help in our campaigns, and
more progress would have been made
if the enemy had not torn up the track.
That is the reason why they are no,
making faster progress in the cam
paign Of the north now. The Filipin.