The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-11-29
Special Correspondence Of Tho Tribune.

| United states infantry, of which am
member, is comfortably quartered in
| the barracks used for a good many
years by the Spanish soldiers. / am in
good health and enjoy soldering in the
Philippines much better than 1 thought
1 would. / received package of Trib-
| unes yesterday and am very grateful
for them. 1t is n great treat to get
| papers from home when one is 6,O00
or 1000 miles away from his country.
our stay here will be short. as we
are now under orders to move to El
Pardo to take part in another battle
| with the natives.
Cebu Is the capital of the island of
Cebu, and has a population of about
4O,OOO The streets are about forty feet
wide, but are very dirty. The city itself
is lald out in foreign style and was at
one time considered a very nice city,
but the Spaniards bombarded it before
they left and the principal part of the
town is mass of ruins.
The other part of the town is built
mostly Of bamboo houses or huts, as
we would call them in the states. The
population is mostly composed of the
natives of the islands. though there
are quite number of Chinese here,
but not near as many according to the
population as there are at Manila.
NOT AS BAD AS PAINTED.
l thought when I arrived here that I
would find the inhabitants much worse
than they are. They are, of course,
very ignorant, but very ingenious as
wei, as they can make almost every
thlng from a needle to house. In q
tght place they make their own am
munitlon. by using charcoal for their
powder, and moulding their own bull
lets. They give us considerable trouble
In pelng able to do this and are able
10 Keep us from capturing them, as
they generally have themselves pretty
we'll fortified.
one of the forts that we captured the
other day was trenched clear around.
and this trench was large enough 70
hold three hundred men. In front of
that was bank from four to six feet
wide and about five feet high. 1t would
Keep regiment from taking the fort,
with fifty good American soldiers be-
hind 1t. In front of the fort and on
each side of it they had trenches dug.
six feet deep and five feet wide, and
inside OF the trenches they had bam-
boo sticks, whitfield down to sharp
points, and stuck solid in the ground
The top of it was covered up with
leaves, so that If we ever undertook
to take the fort at night many of
us would have fallen on these man
killers, and consequently would have
lost their lives. But the Americans
are getting too shrewd for them and
do not undertake anything at night
any more, so that we are coming out
ahead in all we undertake
Here in Cebu the police are all ma
tives, and even they are not to be
trusted, though the government pays
them $50 per month. One Of them was
caught the other day with a lot of
our ammunition pulling for the hills.
AS the insurgents have a number of
our guns, it looked suspicious, so he
was put under arrest and brought
back here.
The city is under martial law and
everyone has to be at home at $50
p. m. A squad of our boys patrol
the city every night, and any one
caught on the streets after that time
Is taken care Of for the night.
The climate here is not as warm
as 1 thought it would be, and l do
not see as it is any unhealthier here
than it is in the states. Our company
has men no healthier than any COM
pany. and we only have one man in
the hospital on account of sickness.
OF course a man has to take good
care of himself, and not eat every
thing the natives do. If he does the
fruit, naturally, will make him sick.
DnNy,u, IHNyT TcU I,nT, T>rrrr
I have been here now nearly two
months, and will say for the benefit
of anyone who reads this not to enlist
for the Philippines, unless they want
to see some hard times, as there is no
use in kicking after you get here once,
but do your duty as a soldier and you
will come out all right
a good many papers of the states
have criticised General Otis a good
deal. While he is not a perfect man,
and probably has made mistakes while
here, he has done we'll and deserves
the praise of every American for hold
ing the Filipinos down as well as he
has with such a small army, as he
has had here.
The hardest trip in my short stay
here, was on Oct. l when we started
on TRIP over tne mountains, on q
one days march, but were gone three
days, In one place, in climbing the
mountains, we had to strap our guns
on our packs and pull ourselves up
by the roots, and in coming back we
waded a creeK for five miles, sometimes
in water three feet deep, and were for
over thirty-siX hours without any
thing to eat. Such is life in the Phil
ippines.
I see by The Tribune the Thirteenth
has reorganized. Success to them
and may the boys of old Company b
have as much success as we had in
Camp Alger, Camp Meade and Camp
Mckenzie.
The Scranton boys in this regiment
are all in good health, and would of
course like to be back in Pennsylvania,
but are doing their duty without
murmur.
James Vaughn. Of Tunkhannock. Is
a member of my company. He is a
good soldier and has a good many
friends in Scranton.
l noticed also in The Tribune that
Captain Hewitt, of our regiment, was
recruiting in Scranton. He is our COM
pany commander, and is still attached
to our company He was at Ponce,
Porto Rico when l Joined the COM
pany last April.
William j. Boyce,
Co, X, 10th Infantry,
AhNN L