The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1899-04-28

Our readers will find pleasure in
reading the following extract from
letter written home by Thomas Cla-
gett, Esq, son of Mr.. Thos Clagett, of
'keokuk," who is a private with the
Idaho Volunteers in the Philippine
Islands.
| Pace. MANILA, Z. l.,
January q, 1899.
BY this time you must have received
some of my letters. My last was
written about Nmas from our other
quarters. Our present quarters are
not so good as those we had 1t is
called the "Gallrra Paco' otherwise
"Paco Cockpit 1t is very large
building nearl Y three hundred feet
long and 4 hundred and seventy-fve
feet wide in its widest part, where in
former days the Filipinos had their
chicken fights.
1t is constructed of bamboo with
thatched roof and sides and has now
mahogany or teak floor put in by our
authorities. 1t is not bad place al
though somewhat crowded with nearly
four hundred men qnartered in it.
Just now our rations are better than
they have been at any time since we
have been in the service. | get all
want to eat and am enjoying the best
of health.
The climate is healthy one. In
fact, | can not think OF any town in the
United States that under the same
sanitary conditions would be half so
healthy. You can dig any where in
town and get water before you get
down four feet. Where we bury dead
we generally strike water at 3 feet
and go a foot deeper before we are
diven out of the hole, then when the
coffin is lowered in the sea service for
the dead would be better-''we now
commit his body to the deep"
About the time when you say Otis
sent word that only one death had oc-
Cured during the week, we could hear
the vollies Of the firing parties three or
four times every day in Paco cemetery.
Perhaps the boys took week off
though. The death list from disease
has not been extreme though, for as |
say the climate is salubrious and the
sickness has been due more to the ma
ture of the food given the troops than
to any other cause. | am down for
evermore on militia. Their officers
are generally incompetent or worse.
And while | do not believe in stand
ing army of large proportions, think
the safety of the country demands
larger army than at present. Its well
enough to talk of the bravery of our
volunteers, but they couldn't be much
braver than the dervishes in the Sou
dan and of what use was their courage
against modern discipline and methods.
| am not running down the men, but
that class of material of which polt-
cal officers are made is of poor quality
and, at its best, too often only means a
case Of the blind leading the blind. / +
believe in no system that tends to
make me ashamed of my country's uni
form.
There is considerable small poX in
the army. | was told that % men
have died in the Kansas regiment and
that they have 50 cases in the hospi
tai | was vaccnated in San Fran !
cisco but it did not take very well so .
they gave it to me three more times
without effect. kept going up any
way to make sure. Finally some Ja-
panese lymph was secured and that
took effect on me, so now | have two
fine scabs on my lett arm. For few
days it was pretty sore, SO much so
that could not do the setting up ex-
erciSes.
JANUARY 81, 1899.
| have just come in from signal prac-
tice. | am not in the signal corps but
belong to what is known as company
detail which is used for regimental
purposes. Things look queer just now
and we don't know what is going to
happen. We turn out at I o'clock in
the morning and get our breakfast,
then get on our havcrsacks of ammu-
milton, guns and belts and remain un-
der arms until 6 clock. The balance
of the day we must remain close to
quarters. They have the lovelest
things imaginable in the stores here
and cheap iii our money. The Japa-
ncsc china is exquisite and for II or
- pesos, say 500 or Sc in our money
one can buy sets of china that are eN
quisitely decorated and as thin as good
thick paper There are the old blue
china dishes too, such as grandma
f;..ichal used to make pies on. | am
going to send you two OF three pic
lures of Spanish executions, but don't /
think | will be able to get them off on