Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-12-21

And this was the reason why, after the
transport had cleared Honolulu and was
| on the last tack for Manila, that John Sloan
| found himself detached from his company
| and on duty in the officers quarters, where,
much to his surprise, certain captain
often spoke kindly to him and gave him en-
couragement.
Il have watched you enough, Sloan, to
know that you are mortally afraid OF what
we are going into. You are bundle OF non
sensical nerves; but whatever is going to
| happen when we are on shore, remember
| this, Sloan, don't run"
Men pray even in these hard days, and
| John Sloan prayed that night for strength,
nraved as only man can who knows that
| he is a coward, yet is determined to fight to
| the end In the morning, while looking over
| his kit, he came across a Northwestern
| railroad folder, which was the only one re-
naming of several he had provided himself
with when starting from home, and some.
| how it gave him cheer and comfort to read
| the old familiar names IN the states, ana 10
know that back there many were thinking
| and living for him.
The.ianding was rough. Their transport
| had passed up the harbor by the Olympia,
| the Raleigh, the Boston, flags flying, bands
playing, and the great admiral on his bridge
| bowing and raising his hat as the troops
cheered, which had come to his and. Even
| Sloan forgot his fidgets, and waved his cap
| high in the air, and yelled:
'Hurrah, Dewey"
Manila was still in the hands of the Span
| ish. Aguinaldo was seeking to secure recog
milton from the United States, and at the
same time to capture Manila and loot the
city. Dewey was holding the insurgents
| in check and preparing to take the city lhe
| Tenth PENNSYLVANIA was landed at Cavlte,
| and then marched to the trenches at Malate
| in front of the Spanish eutposts. Active
service was commenced at once. The hrst
duty that came to Sloan after the regiment
was in the trenches was that OF picket. Ills
post was on the edge of thicket, scarce
mile from the Spanish line. The tropical
rains had commenced, and the fever
was already upon some OF the men.
| He was given particular instructions to
watch out for surprise, the Spanlards hav-
ing displayed great activity during the day
| along the front of their line.
Wrapped in his rough weather coat, hold
ing his gun underneath it to keep It dry,
Sloan paced up and down his post, splashing
iE the water, wondering at the brilliancy OF
the lightning, and shivering in dread an
ticipation of trouble. A fash of lightning
| him, moving toward him.
Only the enemy could come from that di-
rection. Sloan stood still as if welded to the
| ground. His hair rose on end He yelled
| and fired in the direction of the advancing
| foe.
Strange, is it not, that that shot-fred by
John Sloan, coward-gave to The American
army its notice of the advance Of the
| Spaniards at Malate, defeated the enemy,
and made hero of a trembling, frightened,
half-boy, half man!
Sloan, after firing, ran back towards his
own lines and stumbled or fell at the feet
of that captain who had first encouraged
him to do his duty. He jumped up out Of
the sush saturated, and was ordered to take
position with his company. Twice during
the battle did Sloan have the widest desire
to run. But, as it has done many times be-
fore in the worlds history, that name
Mary" held him to his place and duty.
When morning came and it was realized
| that American pluck and valor had won the
| day, ii was Sloan's captain, who sendlng for
| him, said:
you knew your duty last night. You
have placed yourself in line for promotion.
The colonel knows of your service as picket -
Then, out of the boys heart rushed all
those years of misery and doubt; all those
unnamed fears that held manhood back and
| kept him the child. There came messages
from far-away home. At the end Of his
mothers letter there was penciled line:
The Dodd boys have written home of
| your bravery at Malate. We hear you may
be promoted. Keep up, John. Mary Carr"
| That kind of love letter would not sat
isfy all men, but it did satisfy John Sloan,
who tucked it away in his blouse and read
| \ IN he 70 H.
would sit in the shade of his tent, read the
short lines from Mary Carr over, draw out
his Northwestern railroad folder, and on
the ground work out the Typographical map
of the long range of country from the Golden
| Gate to the Juanita region.
| Other soldiers came to watch his self-ap-
| pointed task. Some suggested the outlines
Of the Missouri valley, others the location of
Ames and Clinton, still others the topo-
graphical building of that beautiful sweep
of Illinois from Clinton to Chicago. The
little time table and folder from which they
drew their general plan was preserved as
though priceless in intrinsic value. Nos
talgia, that dread disease of all armies called
in the German "Heimweh," in English
"Homesickness" fought off with this
strip Of printed paper and these rough trac-
ings on the face of the earth, time and time
again.
There was not much soldering to be done
after the July fight until late in Dece.u-
Der. Hostiities with the insurgents COM
menced shortly afterwards, and by February
real war was again raging on the island of
Luzon. The day and the night of February
will be remembered by Sloan SO long as
he lives.
During the day of February insurgents
kept creeping up on the American outposts,
| and there was desultory firing. That night
Sloan was stationed on picket duty, perhaps
200 yards from Chinese hospital in which
were several hundred Filipinos. The OPP
presisve darkness of an oriental evening had
already settled down when number of these
insurgents attacked the American lines or
outposts at the point where Sloan was
placed. At the first scattering volley that
apprised him he was under fire, he ran like
madman toward his own lines There was
a ditch to cross, and in the brush of its bot
tom was a barbed wire. Becoming en-.
tangled in this he fell and stunned himself