The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1899-03-24
AsToRfAN'g EXPERIENCE
IN TILE PHILIPPINES
Conditions IN The Islands Described by
Robert Harris. Formerly of This
city. But Nov Volunteer.

NW"eIt HhTfh' E0rmHfly Of THIS
City But Now a Volunteer.
w. ~ Adams IN In receipt OF letter
from Robert Harris, formerly in the ON.
plOy 0f Wells, Fargo N Co, Of this dty
but now u member Of company X. First
Washington volunteers Mr Harris
wrllop an interesting letter Of ilfs In
lhe Tar east ilc enlisted al Vancouver
nnd soon after his company went "a
Han Francisco, from which place Il sailed
october y. Honolulu was reached eight
days later and tho sights Of tho city wefe
taken IN by the troops T'wenty.one days
after leaving Honolulu. Manila wha
reached The writer was at that time III
with the mumpH and was kept on board
FOR 70 days. Recovering. he was ordered
ashore. Ills description Of Manila is an
Interesting one, 40 the following extract
from his letter shows:
There are twu f1iieH-One tho walled
city ana the other the new city, lhe latter
built around the former The wa.ied city
WIS bulh In li2g and at that time Il was
asserted that the combined powers Of tho
world could not take H. n you could
see the wall that surrounds IL you would
not doubt tho assertion. Tho wall IL
about three miles IN circumference.
about % feet In thickness and az many
feet In height on top Of me wall fnnny
lold'fnshloncd cannon are mounted, and,
10 Il further prrcautlon. broken glass was
ccmcntcd on A. On the outside. and
about 10 feet from the wall. is a ditch.
about ~ feet wide. which extends around
tho wall The ditch IL br1dgcd In places.
and when those bridges are raised en-.
trance 10 tho city In closed.
The streets In the walled city are very
marrow, and the buildings are horrible.
looking old onc-si0ry aharka although
! they are all OF stone. The only attractive
features In the wailrd chy-or. for that
matter IN the whole ~ MHnlia-nre the
churches. They are magnificent struc.
lures, built OF stone or gruidte and arr
very large After the Americans took
Tho city they had 1900 prisoners 10 take
care ~ and belng unable TO secure suit.
abir quarters for them took possession
of ihrrr ~ The churches. IN which the
NHAl' lNtfH was HuhrtTfFd,
'1'he Oregon boys are quarlered IN tho
walled rty whore they are doing police
duty Incidentally they are keeping their
eagle eyes on the Spanish prisoners.
visited the boys In lhc hope tha. would
soc some Astoflars among them that I
know. learned that an Aaorian-Ed.
win Young had joined the regiment. but
THAI the unfortunate young man had died
a, cavite he was highly spoken OF by
his comrades The only ASiorian / met
here IL Sam krlhhcr lie and are the
only Representatives of Astoria now at
Manila
Mr. Harris says the climate 10 not az
severe az has been reported. whlh 2
there has hcon considerable sickness. he
attributes ii TO the men. The regiments
had been fortunate. Mr Harris writes.
rtce"t the Twentieth Kansas IN which
company smallpox broke out Eight men
died of the disease within two weeks.
That the outbreak OF the insurrection.
Isia was not unexpected II evidenced by
the following extract from Mr.. Harris
letter which was written January q.
nearly two weeks before the Filipinos
made the frst attack ON our forces:
II am under ne Impression that We
arc not going to get. away from Manila
very soon, ~ things an looking very
warlikc at this writing. and actually
believe that you viii hear ere long OF
Uncle Sam administering sound licking
10 Agulnaido and his CORY army, II
seems 20 be the impression here among
The white classes that scrap with Agu-
iunldo cannot bc averted. for the Ffliplnos
have formed republic. and won't have
anything whatever to do with the United
States, That being the case. something
nus, drop.
But VIZ ATE ready for them. ana when
hey come they will gct damned warm
cccptlon. We have from 100 10 900 men ,
II the trenches every night and for the
'asJ month the lines have been closed on ,
N the regiments which shows plainly ,
hat Uncle Sans boys arr no, golGg to
c caught mapping.
I'm tho past month the insurgents have +,
riej sncaklng up behind our sentr4cs and !,
ticking them with knives. but In every =,
nNanco thoy not only failed. but lost :.
man or two In the bargain, Last elk ;,
hey tried the trick ON Montana boy, :,
nd they dropped him, but before they !,
", away he had killed two Of them. !.
hey are u very trcacherous race, and ;,
'hcn am on outpost duty, my hands :,
re not In my pockets, / assure you, -
Some days ago 'Aggie' announced thA, :,
e was going to drive the Americans { ON
ne Islands, aud things booked pretty
nstie for while, All night We We're In
he trenches armed TO the teeth, The
hin poured down IN torrents Aggie
'ilcd to show up however, and al We
OF for our trouble was a good drtnch- 8
~" u
Mr. Harris sent several Manila papers
, Mr., Adams. one OF which Is called
Freedom" Ho also sent souvenir
ON the wreck OF one OF the Spanish
lttleshlps Although the First Washing ID
N has been IN tho hot OF the fighting
nee the outbreak of hostilities Mr.
arrls has escaped injury, which will A,
cheerful news to his many friends In ".
storia. oil