The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1900-11-08
LETTER FROM THE PHILIPPINES.
Lieut.. R. s.Knox Writes of Ills Adv entures.

OF that popular soldier.
San Mateo. p. l.. Sept. 2lst 1900.
This past week has been week OF
fighting for the entire regiment Last
Saturday | had little skiTmish with
the Filipinos, and one Of my oulposts,
while / was officer of the day. We
drove them off with no one hurt on our
side Sunday was an all.day action
with artillery engaged on both sides.
No one hurt on our side, though we
had some very narrow escapes from
bullets and hslf.spent bullets Two or
our artillery horses were shot through
the neck bv the same Mauser bullet
without killing or incorveniencing
them in the slightest. On Monday, ac'
oording 90 the enclosed clipping from q
Manila paper. l apparently met an out.
post Of the enemy, but the paper did
not have oil the facts OF the case The
four FilipinOs were armed with ritl s.
and | fired on them and got one Rem
ingtOn rife. two hats and one bag Of
rice-their food for the day; and two
hundred yards farther on. after scat
tering the Outposts. / jumped toto
about I 900 Flliplnos IN strong posi-
tion on the crest If high HILL from
which | would have received the IRE
from three sides and knowing this and
expecting O. Kill or capture the whole
party, they allowed me 60 get within
six hundred yards without fringa shot
| studied the situation with my glasses
and found that with only Thirty men.
which l had with me. l could not do
much fl mixing with the Filipino lire
extending mile, so l pulled ont cf the
affair without hurt aud moved u the
left about two miles aud watched pro
oeedinRs for two hours and then pulled
out for S N Mateo with my report AZ
9 o'clock Monday night l pulled out OF
San MateO with seve nty-iiye men, join
ing Capt Sloan's company &C Moutsl-
ban and the whole expedition under,
Captain Oasteel started after the mig
gers AZ 4 O'Clock Tuesday morning.
The FilipinOs attacked Company ]. 9th
Infantry. az NJ0dlches, and Company
I managed 10 drive them of after hav-
ing one man killed and two wounded
At2 O'Clock Tuesday we completely
surprised the Flipinos whom we had
been following OIL day, completely
routing the coo with two hundred and
fifty Americans, capturing oil their
supplies, ammunition, swords buRies
recapturiug one sergeant and private
Of the Both Infantry, who had been
prisoners for ten days. We killed a
good many, captured several and had
only one Cf our men wounded, shot
in the heel and an artery cut, bnt Is
doing we'll now The bullets were evi-
IDENTIFY singing around me. judging
from the way the ground was cut mp,
bat being so busy with the men trying
10 get them into shape and make them
fire volleys instead Of rapid fire, that If
there had bean twice as many flying
IS we bad | would not have heard a
single one, which was the case IN that
scrap. though | could see the fash and
smoke Of the Filipinos guns was
trying TO estimate the distance aud did
not have time to think # the bullets
until after 1t was all over aud | saw
the doctor attending 20 the W. uuded
man
Every company in the regiment has
now had several fights or sklrmishes
except + aud & We have just had
nav day. which, so far, has been very
duiet. for the men are only getting one
night in quarters aud they propose to
have clear heads while on duty Dap
tain Graham. Of Dc. X. with about
thirty men rounded up party Of FLIP.
mos and got 26 rifles. one sabre, one
revolver, numerous papers supplies and
one Insurrecto Captain
These people believe that Bryan Is
going 10 be the next President and that
they will be given their freedom a.
soon az he takes his seat, which Is the
cause Of the activity around Manila, 20
influence politics and keep in the pa
pers. and also 20 annoy the Americans
AS much as possible. Another Of their
beliefs is that Washington will be the
next President after Bryan and that
Thomas Jefferson r. az the present time
a member Of the Cabinet
Two companies under Captain Jud-
son @ and ID. with some men from A
are out Ia the direction Of San Jose's
which is directly north from here and
which is one Of my old stamping
grounds.
Sm8ll scouting parties are no longer
the order Of the day. but reconnaissance
in force with medical officers Is now
the proper thing, until after the cleo
tion, at the very least.
Yesterday. being pay day was a very
busy day for company commanders get
ting all the money which the men care
to deposit with the paymaster aud max
ing the deposit, and also paying the
men who were on guard while the
others were being paid After hand
ling thousands Of dollars l came out
pretty we'll tired out. bat square with
the whole world, and today l have had
few moments to read some Of my pa
pers from home.
You ask about the native fruits
Small bananas and small oranges and
cocOanuts are about the only thing In
that line that l eat There are PLENTY
of others which the natives eat, but ]
would not touch them with a ten-foot
pole they have nothing like our apples
peaches, pears, plumbs, grapes figs or
cherries. and the only apples are little
hard rocks which come from China and
sell five cents gold apiece. The bs.
nanas grow wild and are very small
and generally very good; very small
tomatoes and sometimes red maize are
about the only thing we eat Ia the ma
tive line outside Of eggs and chickens.
Everything else is canned goods which
we boy from our commisssry. even our
fresh meets both beef and mutton, we
get in Refrigerators from America and
Australia, canned butter, canned evsp-
GRATED cream, corn, sweet potatoes, to-
matoes, succotash, lobster, salmon,
shrimps and all manner OF canned
goods.
Give my love to all the clan and
lost at the present stage I am very well
except for the hiking in the sun.
1