The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-08-09
ARMY HOSPITAL CORPS.
WHAT TT HAS DONE IN THE
PHILIPPINES.
Jerome w. Annis Tells Of His Ex-
periences in and Around
Manila.

Jerome w. Annis of this city, who
was with the Hospital Corps Of the
regular army at Manila, has returned
home. having been regularly dis
charged
He gives many interesting details of
his experiences there that are similar
TO those already stated by others, as
well as some not SO well known. He
was most of the time on the north line
OF fighting, where most of the heavy
Hghtlng was done. His experiences
started in on the night the Filipinos be-
gan the war and he says it was lively
one. The trouble was not unexpected,
as they had been haunting and abusing
our men and trying to force them to
become the .aggressors, and the fusilade
following the first shot showed that
they We're prepared. He was all over
during the subsequent fights, one of
his hottest experiences being with the
Fourteenth Infantry on the south line,
when it lost thirteen killed and forty
five wounded in the two companies en-
gagged. They We're down in a swampy
place where the insurgents had good
chance at them He helped bury
Howard l. Ladder of this city when he
its fight it was against a crack regi-
ment of Filipinos that the Spaniards
had drilled while they had the islands,
which accounted for the heavy loss.
He says the. Filipino trenches are
marvelously well constructed and al
most impregnable. so that our boys
generally drove them out by a flank
movement, while others engage them
in front q of he faly of
Calumpit and San Fernando and says
he recovered an insurgents rifle from
the river and with it fired at the color
Sergeant Of a Filipino regiment, MAX
ing him drop his flag and run and he
secured the flag, which he now has. The
natives would not fight as they do if
they were not forced by Aguinaldo and
his officers. They found one sharp
shooter in a tree, an old man with one
leg, who was dressed in banana leaves
to hide him. and had enough provisions
with him to stand two weeks siege.
At Ca1umpit two of Aguinaldo'S Adju-
tants came to the hospital under flag
of truce, and gave the wounded Fill
pinos money. Some of the soldiers took
it, but others turned their backs to the
officers and refused it. After the Off
GERS were gone, they said they wanted
nothing more to do with them, as they
had lied to their men. They had found
the Americans their friends. At Santa
Tomas five prisoners were taken and
the commanding officer offered to turn
them loose so that they could go and
tell their comrades to come in and stop
fighting, but they answered no; that
they would be killed and they preferred
to GO as prisoners TO Manila
Mr.. Annis says he wants no more
hospital service, as they had to work
day and night, while the infantry could
rest and sleep at night. He prefers
the cavalry or artillery.
The climate, he says, is not bad If
men will take care of themselves All
the hospital corps came through all
right. The volunteers do most of the
kicking, but the regulars do very lit
tie The former are mostly young men
and do not like to submit to discipline
and obey orders, or they would fare
much better in health. He came home
in charge of a lot of invalided soldiers.
and tells of Sergeant who was con-
valescent. At Nagasaki, where they
touched, a boat came aboard with ber-
ries and fruit. He had been told not
the boat away. He saw the Sergeant,
who had objected to the boats being
driven away with a bowl of berries,
and warned him not to eat them, but
the fellow persisted, and in two days
was dead, and three deaths occurred
afterward from flux because the men
would not obey orders.
He says the country is ours and we
ought to hold it. 1t is a rich country.
and great acquisition to the United
States. The better class Of Filipinos
want the Americans to stay, as do also
the Spaniards. Business has increased
greatly and prices and wages have
doubled. The natives are intelligent.
If given a chance, and are quick to
learn. The Cinnamon are the wealthiest
men on the island The natives can
not see, with an American soldier on
guard every two blocks, how such good
order is kept at night, the old style
being to have several soldiers together
every six or eight blocks.