Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-08-03

An Insurgent Lieutenant Colonel Made
Chief of Police Under American Flag
A Lively Exchange of Shots on n Moon
light Nieht-A Severe Earthquake June
I6-SoIdiers Faring Better.
Jaro, Island of Panay, z. l.. June %.
1891 am still in the Philippines.
My regiment is fixed up pretty com
fortably now We are using the Span
ish convent as our barracks now at
Jaro and our boys are doing outpost
duty every other day in trenches 1t
has been some time since we had our
last skirmish with the insurrectos, or
insurgents. We call them either, or
niggers or kak-kie-acks.
The exchange of shots was pretty
lively last. evening about 10 o'clock.
it being a lovely moonlight night and
exposing all outposts on either side
of the Jaro river, the insurgents on
one side toward Santa Bara bar and we
on the other. But no one was hurt in
our troops.
The insurgents wear white and blue
uniforms. Our men wear brown and
blue.
An insurgent lieutenant-colonel who
surrendered to our troops the day we
took Jaro and Iloilo was made chief
of police under the American flag The
former chief, an American, was re-
lieved.
We caught three insurgents about
two weeks ago and disarmed them
after but little trouble. They were
put in our guardhouse and furnished
with clothes. as they had very few.
Eight days later they were put on pa
role, and now they are working in our
exchange, getting $50 a month and
rations to eat with Company G, 18th
infantry. And there are others, hav-
ing been prisoners, employed in the
same department as myself getting
$50 and rations as teamsters, driving
bull carts and caribans, or water buff
falos.
An Earthquake.
The 10th of june hope l will
never see another DAY like it, Every
thing was just as nice and quiet as
could be up until 8 p. M, when the
earth began to rumble and shake.
This lasted but a second or so when
it got a shake that not soldier in
Jaro will ever forget. The earth did
not burst, as we still are here. But
| think the next time one of those
earthquakes hits Jaro, Jaro will be
no more. 1 was nervous for the next
four days and unable to write. Many
of our boys got slight wounds, and
say they don't care for any more of
such excitement. Soldiers sprang
from high windows to the hard earth
below.
The commanding officers wife,
Mrs. Van Valyah. was very much
frightened, and is just getting over it.
1t is raining nearly two-thirds of the
time. The mosquitoes are worse than
those of Jersey, without n doubt.
Our soldiers are feeding little bet
ter now-those that like native beef.
Here are prices of some of the articles
bought by soldiers at Jaro: Chicken,
weighing about two pounds, 80 cents
Mexican, 40 cents American; turkey,
five pounds So, Mexican eggs, . cents
each; mangoes 10 cents each American
money.
All men who enlisted in the regular
army between April % and Oct. 20,
'9S, are under general orders 40, par
agraph 2, act of congress May 10, '9S,
and are ordered discharged from the
service of the United States. / come
under this order, and expect to be
discharged and on my way to the
United States by August next. The
health of the regiment is good.
MARTIN II. DANIELsoN,
Company B, 18th Infantry.