The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-04-07


various regiments have been coming
back from there with various
souvenirs of the battle. Co. H, Twen-
tieth Kansas, got about fifteen feet of
the foremast of the Reina Christina
and are making IL into canes, large
gavels. pen holders, rulers, etc. They
sell these things for good price. A
cane costs $3.50 American money,
gravel $l,00. There were ten in our
party. We understood that all
the woodwork that had not
been burned on the day of
the battle was carried Off, except a
mast, fallen overheard, whose head
was just visible above the water at
low tide. We armed ourselves with
rope book and tackle, saws, axes,
etc, and went out to help complete
the destruction that Dewey had
started just nine months ago that
day. Veto the ferry boat, lisa
bill H." an old broken down, side
wheel steamer, went down the river,
across the bay, past the fleet of
American transports. ct Is not good
for the soldier to gaze too long
at the transports 1t might make
him homesck) We passed near
two British warships, beauties, the
CENTURION and Narcissus. Our own
war vessels are not so much in evil
dence. On the lelt flank of our lines,
where the Kansas outposts are. we
could see the cruiser, Charleston, and
the monitor, Monadnock. They are
kept here for emergencies. At night
their search lights are frequently
turned on the enemy and the space
between them and us. Around
Cavite were few more of our boats
OF Cavite, itself, can write but little
as l only spent short time there.
On arriving we Immediately bargain
ed with native boatmen to take us to
the Christina for $500 Mexican, and
$3.50 American money, and were
rowed out to our work. Other wrecks
were in sight, some of them are not so
badly damaged. These are guarded
and the relic hunter who approaches
will have bullet whistling about
his care with little warning. The
Christina being the flag ship is, OF
course, the center of attraction. We
found our foremost and went to work
We soon discovered that it was
weighted down with wire cable, etc.
We succeeded in getting up about
five feet and cutting it off at the
water's edge, My share will make
about eight canes and all the rulers
and pen holders that have the
patience to work out. got two nuts
and bolts from the forward starooard
cannon, pieces of melted glass, lead,
etc. We returned to Cavite at 2:30
p IN. and got our dinners at
Chinese restaurant, and soon boarded
the ferry for the return trip. / shall
certainly revisit Cavite for what lit
tie | saw interested me greatly. Yes
NN'NJ VPOhb III
the log. One section about eight
inches long and the diameter of the
log, % inches, is cut off for the Kan
sas University. 1t will be cent to
the X. 5. L. by Lieut. Hull with our
names and kodak photo, taken while
hauling the log from the eide of the
vessel. We felt highly repaid tor
our labor. A cane from this log is
certainly valuable souvenir, espec-
tally when one helped to get it.
To-day native funeral passed our
barracks The deceased had died OF
smallpox. He was evidently large
man in small and very frail coffin.
The box was born on the shoulders of
four native pail bearers. The corpse
had bloated, burst the coffin lid, and
one could see the swollen face and
protruding eyeballs and the marks
left by the terrible disaaae