The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-12-14
WANT TO BE BACK HOME
THEY ARE TIRED OF THE CUE
RIII4A WARFARE.
HOW THE FlLIPMoS TREAT DEsERTERs
Cut Them Up and Send Them in Baskets TO the
American Lines. The Weather Hot in the
Day Time and Cool at Night. Mr..
Coke Writes From Hawaii.

Sometimes from a letter written by
private soldier one can get at the real
conditions existing in a war much better
than i'm censored press dispatches. Here
are three letters received here by friends
from young men now i'm the United
States army I'm the Philippines. They
give some interesting facts:
From Iloilo, October 2Sth Mr. Henry
Safer, a member of the band OF the
18th United States Infantry, writes:
",Ihe natives are firing on us-into
cur Outposts--every night. Very often
we have to get out the old Gatlin gun
and chase them awhile We are making
no advance now, only holding the towns
we have. We are awaiting orders to
move any time, and are expecting
tough time.
'aI'he Filipinos are so close to us that
every yolley they fire takes effect right
in the town, and in the house-tops.
When we were giving Il band concert in
the plaza the other day the bullets were
whiStling over our heads. These fell
lows are getting too fresh now, but we
will quiet them down in Il few days.
We have finished the bridge across the
river, so that we can get the big gun
over. We will land on them now. The
gun boat shelled their trenches the other
day and little town was totally de-
stroyed when the thirteen+inch shells
were thrown into it. | was up in the
tower and saw the "Monadnoc" do the
work. 1t was great sight The Fill
pinos flew in every direction. Three
hundred or more came into cur lines and
were captured
when the natives capture an Ameri
can they tie him to a carabon, with his
hands and feet tied. and drag him
around over the island When they
catch one of their own men that has de-
serted they kill him, cut him UP, put
him in a basket and send him to the
American lines with a note saying This
Is what we will do to all natives in the
American lines They caught four ma
tives the other night While. under
heavy fire they were signalling to the
men across the river to come to where
our men We're.
We are all packed up now and ready
for lighting, and will start soon, /
think, so maybe next time | write
can give you the details of stiff fight
Another letter comes from Mr.. Fa,-
Fayette st. Jacques, company L, 18th
United States Infantry. The letter is
dated from Manila, November ). He
writes:
Il have been in a fight for a week.
We captured six towns, a large quantity
of clothing, liquors and stores and 500,
900 in gold and silver.
I'VE lost two battalion officers and
had fourteen men wounded.
''War is hell. When you get into
fight you don't know what to do; the
bullets come everywhere, all round YOU.
War isn't home | wish / were there
now.
Il will send you some more papers
when we get back from this fight. We
are going around the island to put this
thing to u close. We will be in the
States this spring. They don't want to
send us there now because the weather
is too cold for the men. The fighting is
nearly over.
"The weather here is cool at night and
warm in the day"
Mr.. Octavius Coke, of the Fourth
t. s. cavalry, writes an interesting let
ter from Honolllu. He says that his
transport reached Honolulu, November
10Th. and will remain three days 1t will
require three weeks to reach Manila, 81
900 miles from Honolulu. Mr.. Coke
writes:
Honolulu is a beautiful city, with
palm trees and all the plants peculiar
to the tropics in full bloom, the very
air is sweet-scented by the shrubbery.
There are many japanese. The Japa
nese mothers all have kind of big
pocket attached to their dress behind
and they stick the little kids in there and
20 skipping off as unconcerled as can
be. You can't see any part of the kid
except his little round black head and
a part of his face"