The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-05-26
Dooey Topeka Wounded Fighting Philippines

so they have some money. There have
been large quantities of rice found in
all of the towns we have gone through
and the only way to Starve the in
SurgentS out will be to drive them up
into the mountains for in the valleys
rice and vegetables grow the year
round
In our advance on Malolos we have
followed the railroad all the way. The
road follows the center of the valley
which lies between the bay and the
mountains and is about 20 miles wide.
The land between here and Manila is
almost level and is one continual rice
field. At this time of the year there is
no rain: no rice grows on the high
lands but in the lowest part of the val
ley there is a strip of ground, sometimes
several miles wide, SO low that it can
be flooded by the tide water from the
bay and rivers. The rice on these lands
Is now headed out and greatly resem-
bleS a Kansas wheat field only it is
much prettier for the rice grows in wa
ter and the stalks are tall and very
bright green. If this valley was set
tied by civilized people it would make
one of the richest valleys in the world
as we'll as one of the prettieSt- Bananas
and cocoanuts grow wild Also oranges
and other tropical fruits The natives
generally have a banana grove in the
yard and raise lots of chickens, pigs
and vegetables of the same kind we
have in the states. 1 have sampled their
chickens and pigs on several occasions
and found them up to the American
u L
pay for the aforesaid chickens and pigs.
THE natives raise no Irish potatoes
but have large fields of sweet potatoes,
tomatoes, onions and sweet corn. I'm
fortunately we are too early to find
many vegetables but have plenty of
chickens, pigs and sometimes kill a
buffalo calf or some of the native cattle
While we were advancing from Ca1oOcan
we generally camped at night near some
town or village and the first thing the
boys would do would be to start after
the chickens and pigs. sugar and salt
We could find plenty of sugar but salt
as very scarce. Most of the well water
is so salty that 1 believe the natives
do not use much salt.
We left the trenches at Caloocan
March % and arrived at MalolQs on the
31st. When we left the trenches we had
only to cross a mile of open prairie to
reach the insurgents. We started at
daylight across the prairie on a run
We soon had the enemy on the run too
and kept them going until evening when
they made a stand on the opposite side
of the river and tried to prevent our
troops from crossing. They killed sew
era1 Of our men but their side of the
river wasn't a health resort. As soon as
we found a shallow place we waded
across and found 80 of them dead in
front of our company and the company
on our left
There were many pitiful sights As
soon as our wounded are cared for the
hospital corps always does all it can
for the wounded insurgents. When any
of our boys find wounded Filipino
they always put him in the shade and
give him drink of water. These Fill
pinos are not savages and our boys
know it. While the sight of dead ma
tives does not affect the boys much
they always pity the wounded and do
all they can for them.
CLOSE to the river where we camped
were several large 1nSurgent barracks