The Topeka state journal., 1899-04-29
HIS LAST LETTER.
ResiI Manahan's Story of the
Philippines.
An Interesting Recital of
Events at Manila.
SHREK OF MAUSERS.
How It Feels to Be Under
Fire
Told by One Who Was Soon to
Give Up His Life.


1t is written in an easy, entertaining
style and is entitled to place among
the best soldier letters received. He
said.
If you ever want to experience a
feeling that nobody can describe, just
be sleeping in the middle of road and
be woke up with Nauser and Rening-
ton bullets flying over your head, then
have two old cannon go off about
twelve feet from you, have the man
next to you say, My God, I'm shot
watch the doctors bind up the wound,
have a splinter knocked out of the
pocket, and hear the ping ping of
the MauSer bullets. If you can, you will
know where 1 was Saturday, February
4 The next day we advanced on the
Insurgents and that surprised them
more than anything else. We captured
churches, block houses, trenches and
everything they had That afternoon
Pratt Of Company NJ. was killed. the
first man killed from our regiment. I
saw him a few hours after he was shot.
His face was black. something like a
Mulatto- Next Tuesday February :,
another charge was made and we again
routed them We lost four men and
seven were wounded We captured the
Philippine flag It is made of silk and
as their color bearer always wears the
flag wrapped around his body it was
all bloody as the man was shot full of
holes. The flag is to be given to the
Kansas Historical society Our regi-
mental flags presented US by the state
of Kansas have several holes in them.
After the 1th, we lay in the trenches
until the 10th when the order to ad-
vance was given. We advanced. took
CalOOCan, and dug the trenches in front
of the city, where We still remain
Whenever we made an advance Dewey
would fire shells over our heads at the
insurgents.
You just ought to have a few s-inch
shells go over your head; they sound
more like the exhaust pipe of an en-
g1ne than anything else. Wen, that af-
IernOOn, the 10Th, after Wading through
mud and water from Il at noon It'll
after dark and digging trenches for
two hours, and going to sleep in wet
clothes with nothing to eat, and being
woke up every fourth hour to stand
guard; after you have done all that
you ought to be pardoned if you think
the Philippines are not worth the trou-
Bile they are causing Our company was
sent back down town to guard the Bill
bid prison as officers thought that there
would be an outbreak Everything
went along very smoothly until the
21st- Some way or other the insurgents
got in behind the lines and the first
we knew a fire was started about two
miles from our camping place It was
about II o'clock at night We went
down there and saved goods. etc. The
Filipino fire department must now be
described. In appearance they look
like any fremen. Their hose threw a
stream of water at least 80 feet. They
only had one hose, and they would take
the stream of water off the fire and
drink out Of the nozzle, then they would
quit ever SO often and make a cigarette
and light it But what they liked best
was to hit somebody with the water. A
Chinaman ran out of a burning build
ing and they took the stream off the
house and turned it on the Chinaman-
It struck him in the side of the head
and knocked him down. Then they had
to stop and say, "Chino muchO malO,'
or Chinaman very bad, just as though
it was the Chinaman's fault. About I
o'clock another fire broke out and we
had to go there We had plenty Of
fighting at this one The next morning
we went to our camp and they shot at
US from the churches and filed our
tents full of holes. That night we had
to patrol the burnt district, and the
next morning just as the sun was ris-
ing. a Filipino senorita- came up to me
and said Cara Matrimony," which
means in English, ''WiH you marry
me- As there were three of US, a cor
pOra1, another private and myself, 1
think ought to be proud But l am
not.
The next day volunteers were called
for to take prisoners from Bilibid to
bury the Fiipinos that were killed the
day before. Each OF US had Chlna-
man and the first dead gOugon was
across a canal There was a boat there
and I had my Chinaman take me over
We buried thirty-f1ve that afternoon
and 1 got three quarts or ChInese
money. besides two fine knives and a re-
voIver from the dead bodies One had q
hole in the center of his forehead When
we got back to town we had to fall in
and go out to the trenches The next
day eight Of US were put on guard at
the cOmmissary where we remained
seven days. While there we had TO
have barricades to keep the bullets out
Two of the boys were wounded and
one was killed while we were on guard
there. Four of Us were sitting behind
our barricades reading the papers when
a Remington bullet fell in the center
1t was so hot you could not pick it up
After being relieved from there I stayed
with the company one day; then came
here to the hospital where / am stop
ping at present The Filipinos are not
| ca apabIe of running a government They
put up white flags and then when our
officers go out to see what they want
they are fred upon They shot from a
church just across from the smallpox
hospital and killed one of the patients
| who was looking out of the window We
| do not take prisoners; neither do they,
/ so you see ii is kill or be killed L told
| you about the natives around our bar
| racks. how they liked the Americans so
/ much Well, 1 have seen four of them
/ with bullet holes through them That
! shows how treaCherOuS they are Ihey
! are talking of sending our battalion to
| Guam in the Ladrones- Tomorrow our
| regiment is to be armed with krag-
| JorgenSen rifles Our regiment has re-
cefved more praise than any other on
| the island The natives have a flag of
! truce up n front of our regiment, so
Of course We have no fighting at present.
Col Funston is always seen where the
bullets are the thickest-
"RESIL MANAHAN,
| go. A, Goth Kan Vol Inf
[ Manila P. l.
Mr.. and Mrs. Manahan have received
| a great many letters OF sympathy from
friends who knew their son bright