The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1892-1907, 1899-01-21
modern artillery. Had it been necessary

for the forces Of General Merritt to have
made an assault on this place on Aug.
Is, spain could have crowed, and justly
have claimed, to have killed more Amer
leans than was killed in Cuba, by either
Mauser bullets, or disease, or both. be-
cause q successful assault would have
been an utter impOssibility. The force
which Spain had here, and which capt.
ulated with the fall Of Spanish power
here, could have moved US down, and
done % without the use Of single piece
Of artillery. Msuser nfes would have
been all that was requisite. The writer
remembers that, during the late civil
war, he was one Of an asSaulting party
consisting Of geo men, in Oct. 1852.
when Price and Van Dorm attacked
ROsecrans, at COrinth, Miss. and also
remembers that in that charge and sub
seQuent engagement. lasting two hours
and half, we came out with |. $40 men,
out Of the number who moved 10 the
assault And yet Fort RObinett aud Col
lege HUI, though hard to take, were
mole hills compared with the walls
which would have confronted us had
we been ordered to take it with the bay
onet. The fact OF the matter was. and
Ia, that Dewey did 1t. Had it not been
for the fear Of the aeet turning loose
upon their rich city, many poor SOL
der would have passed In his chips"
When the Spanish commander. st. Au-
gust, saw the coast defense vessel,
Monterey, moved up 10 within less than
mile Of the Spanish ten-inch guns,
and heave 70, as much As to say, 81 have
q chip on my smoke stack, dare you
to knock IL OF" there can be no doubt
of the fear entertained by the Spaniards
that their city would be totally de-
stroyed either by Gre or one OF the Mon
sereyS thirteen-inch guns. During the
entire bombardment Of the remainder of
Dewey's feet. the Monterey lay within
mile OF SPANS strongest forts in the
Asiatic waters, ana never found It nee
essary to FIRE shot. The Monterey can
be excused when we take into consider
alton that each shot from one of the
thirteen inch guns would cost the gov
eminent twelve hundred dollars.
have a sneaking idea that the repre-.
sentatives Of our government here in
these islands did not care to let France,
Russia and Germany. each Of which
governments had ships here, know the
extent Of American resources; in other
words, Dewey did not play his highest
trump until it became necessary to dc
so. Since the capitulation the German
government has but one man-of-wal
here, while France. Russia and japan
are not represented at all. England ha:
one, while only the Raleigh Of our navy
rides at anchor near the city; the Mon
terey. OLYMPIA and two Others Of Dew
ey's feet are over at Cavite, presumably
as a menace to the insurgent forces
surrounding that place. The remaindel
Of Deweys feet Is at Hong Kong, o.
looking after our interests In some Of
the many islands OF this archipelago.
Among the Washington troops her
l met Charlie Christie, formerly OF Ceu
d'Alene, and Fred EngIeback, formerl!
with Neil Paul: also 4 couple Of cousin:
OF Frank Duncan, Wood by name. Tn,
Washington boys all speak highly o.
their colonel, John II. wholley. The!
are all In flne health, and a "husky" lo
Of men, but are anxious to land and ar
equally anxious TO return to the states
20 they declare.
Bert Weeks Is not In good health. bu
except John Frederic, he is the only on
Of the C9ur dAlene boys who Is unde
the weather.
The Rathdrum contingent are amoni
the healthiest Of our company. Mccall
Is tanned like a Filipino; Cervenay I
the model soldier, and has not had
sick day since he landed; Caswell an,
Guy 0verstreet hold their own. Simp
son. Flora, and Strong from Bonner
Ferry are cheerful and fully able physi
cally 10 stand the severe climate the re
mainder Of their time, II necessary
Frazier OF Sand Point and Gray o
Hope, are rs rugged as bears. Ton
| Martin "a In tht, hasni4al tina anlv an,