The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1900-05-26
FPO1 THE PHILIPPINES.



Editor of the Sea Coast Echo:
| | intended writing you fey
items of the political sltuatio
and happenings here ere this, bu
/ I have been prevented by sariou
causes from doing so until now.
! The gallant 29th Regiment In
fantry, U. S. V. left San Francis
co. Cal. on October ), 1899. w
proceeded by the way of Honolu
Ilu, Hawaii, and remained there
three days for the purpose of re
lplenishing our coal binns and wa
ter tanks, SO we took advantage
| of the opportunity and visited The
Paradise City of the Pacific Ocean
1t is beyond doubt the most pic
turrsque place | ever saw. l Wis
tied ex-Queen LiIioukalani's pal
ace and grounds which were very
| pretty and artistic in every de
tail. The natives are Of a fine
| physique and intelligent.
The city was quite lively anc
seemed prosperous. and the Anne,
rican and English citizens seem
more fast;dious in their dress than
the people of New Orleans or the
Gulf Coast. | saw the life size
portraits of the royal family of
the queen, which adorned the
wallis of her palace, large two
story house with Il large marble
partico on either side. There
were many stately Royal palms
that set the grounds off in due
style becoming her majesty.
Many of those beautiful palms
that were growing along the walk
nearest the palace had been struck
by bullets during the political
trouble when she was dethroned
and several of them appeared to
be rotting out hollow and were in
tested by millions of ants. There
were also many cocoanut trees,
date, palms, and a fine Banyan
tree and large Calabash tree
ladened with CaIabash. The flow
er garden was artisticalIy arrang-
ed and contained nearly every
variety of flowers and shrubbery
of every description.
The harbor presented an ami
mated picture, containing many
ships flying the colors of America
and nearly all the European ma
tiOnS.
On the evening of October the
IS. 1899, our transport, City of
Para, steamed out of the harbor
of Honolulu and we headed once
more toward the Philippine Is
lands, which was our point of des-
tination. About half way between
Honolulu and the Island of Luz
on we passed near an island about
three hundred feet high which
was an active volcano and emitted
great volumes of smoke. 1t was
a pretty sight. | do not remember
the name of this mountain that
pushed its way from the bed of the
ocean and reared its fiery peak in
triumph three or four hundred
feet above the sea level. We had
a mosl pleasant voyage and with
out incident, with the exception
of one of the ships crew who was
a young man of about % years of
age and a resident of San Fran
cisco, Cal. He had told some of
his acquaintanceS of the crew that
he WAS married and that his wife
had proven faithlcss; that he
would never lay his eyes on her
again. But no one thought by his
remark that he contemplated self
destruction, as he appeared to be
somewhat under the influence of
liquor, Bnt the next morning he
was in a very melancholy mood
and dld not appear to take notice
of anyone or anything that was
going on around him or would
talk or reply to anyone that spoke
to him. As precaution they
passed his arms on either side of
a small iron post and handcuffed
him to the post, but as be, after
several hours, seemed to improve
so much that the ships physician
said he thought him alright and
could be released. He went on
deck and walked aft, and, reach
ing where there was no one near,
be sprang on the railing of the
side of the ship, and before any
one could prevent him, leaped in
the ocean. The sea was rough.
The captain threw several life pre-
servers to him he could easily
have gotten had he wanted, but
deliberately swimming in an OPP
posite direction soon disappeared
beneath the briny depths. a life