Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1899-05-12
LETTER FROM MANILA.
Harry Dawes Writes Graphic Descrip
ton of Hts Ocean Voyage and Adven-
lures of Capt. John CaprOn.


Beginning with his ocean voyage,
he says:
You talk about your sick boys down
south: they were not in 1t. Whichever
way would turn my head, some fellow
would be down on his knees with his
head run in pail, shouting New
York; another would have his head
out of one of the port holes, feeding the
fishes to finish. l will have to plead
guilty to the same charge myself, for
my three trips across the Atlantic pre-
vious 10 this one did not help me out
any, as it made me wish ] could ct off
and walk at meal times. When |
would be passing the grub around, the
two men that sat at the ends of the
tables would have to hold me there to
keep me from rolling away. The ship
rocked worse than cradle. Our
course across the Atlantic to Gibraltar
was little south of the Azure islands,
which we saw on the 9th. When taps
sounded on the night of Jan. 81, every
man was on deck embarrassing at
the lights that were shining off the
coast of Spain and Africa. 1t took us
till " o'clock, Feb. l, to get through
the Strait OF Gibraltar and drop anchor
in the harbor on the west side of the
Rock of Gibraltar, which is one OF the
| finest places l ever saw in my life.
The rock is not quite as high as Look
out mountain, but the scenery is beau
tiful. The enlisted men were not
and families went at every stop we
made
After coaling up and getting fresh
supplies, we sailed out of Gibraltar at
O'Clock on the evening of the 4th for
Port Said, Egypt. Our voyage through
the Mediterranean sea was pleasant
| one, as there was scarcely ripple Oh
the water. We had the pleasure of
seeing land most of the way to Port
Said, which we reached at IL O'Clock,
Feb IL, and anchored right at the
mouth of the Suez canal and about
80 yards from shore. A dispatch came
aboard about the fight that broke out
in Manila on the morning OF the 9Th.
When leaving the Gulf of Suez to go
into the Red sea, we had the pleasure
of seeing Mount Sinia, where the ten
commandments we're written and where
Moses crossed the Red sea into Egypt.
Our voyage through the Indian ocean
and Arabian sea was a pleasant one.
On Feb. %, Washington's birthday,
we had swell dinner.
We arrived at Singapore at o'clock
on the night of March 4, and sailed for
Manila at o'clock on the morning of
the 9TH We had 1t little rough in
the China sea, but nothing TO speak of
taking everything into consideration.
We had fine voyage of 1900 miles
in all by water, which took us so days.
We dropped anchor in front of Admiral
Dewey's flagship, the Olympia, at 10
o'clock, March TO-
The battalion of the 18th went ashore
the same day to help hold position on
the left of the firing line, but our regi-
ment did not 90 ashore till the l1th.
Before we left the ship Admiral Dewey
came aboard but did not stay long.
When we got out of the lighters and
stepped ashore we had one hours rest
before we commenced our march of
two miles to our camping ground, but
it made me more tired than any march
| was ever in before We pitched our
shelter tents and went to bed for that
night. On the 18th we moved into
some Spanish cavalry barracks which
guard the suspension bridge over the
Pasig river. 1t Is nothing to see dead
niger come floating down this river.
What L have seen of Manila In the
short time have been here L think it
will be nice place when the boys
In blue get through with it. Every
thing around town is getting put in
American style by the prisoners that
have been captured. Our company has
they call Chinatown, and any man seen
on the streets after o'clock at night,
unless it is an American soldier, is liza
able to turn up his toes. We have to
keep strict guard or the first thing we
know the whole town would be on fire.
l could not begin to count the fires that
have been around the town since we
have been here. Two privates out of
l4th u. S. infantry had to use their
guns on two FllipinOs the other night.
After they had shot at them they walked
over to see what they were up to. One
had a box of matches In his hand and
the other one was in the act of setting
fire to house. If they had succeeded
in setting that house on lire it would
have burned the whole of the bamboo
settlement.
l have not heard any news from the
firing line today, but the FilipinOs be-