The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-19
(sneclal Correspondenrel

Manila, March 13.-Long. long ago Il
little BODY of men VINO had Just held
up their hands and sworn to serve their
country for two years. unless sooned
discharged, stood in the heart of Gods
own country and heard the governor
of that country speak to them about
the long journey before them and the
big work for them to do. And they
saw a large number of ladies staEdin-
behind the governor. And they saw
the governor take two small red tiaSs
from one Of the ladies and call the
chiefs oe the little band before him:
unto each he gave one Of these daes.
Upon one was written in gold letters,
''B. a. L. e. s. W." and upon the other
was written b. B. L. n. s. v" With
these flags at their head the little band
went out of the heart of Gods country
in search of gore and glory. After
many moons of wandering they arrived
in the heart of the other fellows cOun-
try, where they We're given large
chunks of glory. They ate glory and
gore without the gore three times Il
not fly Ger the country because of the
mud and wet. Yet the warriors reInem-
bered that the governor had promised
them that the red flags should float o FER
this land and lead them into battle.
MANY moons have passed since then.
ard now the little red battle flags laugh
triumphantly in the soft summer breeze
and not a day passes but what the old
reliable Utah guns belch forth their
shrieking shells loaded with hell and
damnation into the ranks of the missing
links. The cable news has kept the
home folks fully informed as to the
progress of this ''goo-goc' hunt. so it
IS unnecessary to recount any details
of battles.
No Cruelty Too Severe.
The cruelties of Spain toward these
people have been fully discussed. but
if the thing were written up by a re-
cent arrival here he would make tale
Just as narrowing. But the old boys
will say that no cruelty is too severe
for these brainless monkeys, who can
appreciate no sense of honor, kindness
or Justice. One of their wounded wilt
cry for water and attempt to stab YOU
while You bend over him to give him
the last drop in your canteen. They
will hoist a white flag on the barrel OF
d gun, and under its protection come
up close to d lone sentry, then suddenly
lower the gun and fire. The HOngkong
papers accuse our forces of numbering
=
on, including women and children. 1t
is true that in the Tondo fire and but
break over one hundred insurgents
were buried in one spot, among whom
were several women and children. How
ever, in the nOn-cOmbatant force Of
TOGdO there was not an able-bOdied
man TO be found and the women ali
had knives upon them with which they
intended to kill the wounded Americans
" IN Sbp11T5 "a in be Wild rba4-cre4 he
insurgents did not make into Manila.
Guards have often caught men disgUis-
ed in WOmenS clothes attempting to
run the lines; when our forces took
the waterWOrkS they captured a large
amount of rice. which the insurgents
sent their women down to beg for the
use of their army. With an enemy like
this to fight, it is not surprising that
the boys should soon adopt no quar-
ter as a motto, and fill the blacks full
OF lead before finding out whether or
not thew are friends or enemies.
Battle Of Horse Fall.
The batteries have been in some very
tight places during the fighting. and on
more than one occasion have come
within an ace Of being taken bT the
insurgents.
A few nights ago a large body of in
surgents surprised a Nebraska COM
pany doing outpost duty on the Mari
quina road, and. for the first time in
the history of the campaign, captured
some American Dlunder. The company
fell back to the main body in a hurry
leaving their mess-kits and haversacks.
The next morning section >. battery a,
was ordered down to shell the missing
links off the road. With their little
native horses they were Immediately on
the run across the country to the spot
out Of which the company had been
driven. The insurgents located them,
and poured a constant stream of bull
let's in while they unlimbered ard
loaded. As the vOlleys We're a little
high. the boys got down on their knees
and pulled old Betsy Jane into posi-
tion. and fired her with shrapnel
punched to explode at the cannon $
mouth. a few of these soon drove the
links on a run out of the road and
they have not attempted to take it
back. Just before the gun was unlim-
bered, one of the horses fell over stun
ming his rider. Corporal Mabey. in
charge of the gun crew, Immediately
and detailed couple of men to carry
his rider to camp, as he thought both
were killed However. the horse
jumped to his feet. and the rider soon
recovered. From this incident the fight
has received the name of the Battle of
Horse Fall" 1t was after this fight
that Major Bell made the much-quOted
statement that the Utah artillery were
doing better work than he had ever
seen in his twenty-five years OF army
life.
Batteries In Every Scrap.
Up to the present time there has not
been a single battle on the island of
Luzon in which the Utah batteries have
not engaged. As this is being written,
Lieutenant Webb's gunboat. the Oesta,
and Major Grants gunboat. the Lagu-
ma de Bay. commonly called Utah. are
training their rapid-fire guns into Pa
sig City. which has been under siege
fer some few days. The Oesta was
just finished last night. and went up
the river this morning. Just a word
about her commando, Second Lieuten-
ant Webb. 1t viii ne remembered that
the Salt Lake papers stated that he
had been recalled from the battery for
inefficiency and that he was too young
to serve as an officer Now, however
we must take off our hats TO him as d
natural born soldier, and give him the
credit of developing into one of the
very best officers in the volunteer field
Nor are battery men the only ones who
recognize this. He was chosen before
the outbreak to take charge of invoic-
ing the ordnance of the arsenal. and
cd n