The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1900-06-02
FPO1 THE PHILIPPINES.
Continued from last week.

Editor Of the Sea Coast Echo:
The rain was falling in torrents
and if ever fellow felt like the
lost Babes in the Woods these
poor fellows did. for we had heard
! all sorts of stories Of how the ter
rible "Bolo Man" would glide
with otealthful steps. aa nolseless-
| ly as a shadow, upon his victims
unawares and with one slash Of
| his deadly bolo he would lay his
victim low and would then pro-
ceed to chop bis gibIet, out, hack
his dead and unconscious remains
to mince meat for a pastime. The
numerous accounts of the blood
curdling atrocities of the blood
thirsty Filipino had impressed
! themselves very deeply i'll the
minds of the boys, and every one
of them felt as if he was liable to
never again see the girl he had
left behind him and had promised
faithfully to send photo with his
! fighting clothes on, which | pre-
sumo they have all done ere this,
for everyone of the boys Of COM
pany &C" is still in taot, except
one poor fellow that we lost of
typhoid-pneumonia at Muntinlu-
| pa. Wei, about Il or. l O'Clock
| that night the report of one Of the
ever-red-hot blazing Krags that
YOU hear so much abOnt rang out
on the stormy night down the
line at one of the other compan-
| les of the 29th, and in a few min
utes another red hot blazing Krag
was up the line. Pretty soon there
seemed to be a lot of promiscuous
firing along the line, and it was a
good thing that'it was still raining
as if it had no notion of ever stop
ping, or some of those red-hOt-
| blazing Krags would have set the
woods on fire.
was not on guard that night.
but | got out my grip sack and
opened it. taking out some band
ages and putting them into my
pocket that | may render prompt
and timely assistance, and we all
turned out with our krags
and got in the trenches knee
deep into the mud and water, and
raining IS hard as it could with
out having a irst-class cloudburst.
| Wc,stuck to the trenches, waiting
| to support our outpost whenever
they fell back in due order with
the muzzles of our guns toward
| the enemy, but the firing cease for
a while, 50 we concluded to go
back to our tents and let some of
the water drip off Of us, and with
our krags in hand to be ready at
1.-The slightest warning but as there
was only an occasional shot fired
we remained in our tents the bal
ance of the night. Next morning
at Z o'clock our outpost came in
to our Company quarters, We
were all eager to know the cause
of the firing. They swore positive
| Iy that it was the outposts Of other
companies and that they dId not
fire a shot, but they heard some
thing several times splashing
in the water that surrounded
them just like someone creep
ing along, but they did not fire at
it. Well, we did crOss-quGstiOn
them a good deal about it, for 9
new guard had to go On the next
might and we did not know just
who 1T would be. The captain
was put out, and with fire in his
eyes, SAID that "If one of his mer
fired a shot on outpost and die
not bring in a dead, dying OF
wounded Filipino that he wouIc
put him in the guard house anC
give him extra duty besides, but
everyone Of the boys who were or
= outpost that night deny to this day
that they did the firing, but say
that it was the two other cOmpan.
les trying to annihilate the double
ranks of the imaginary enemy who
were advancing upon them II
overwhelming numbers. But | an
told that every regiment that has
held this line has had the same
experience with the phantom ar
my Of the duSky warriors of Bo!C
men, consequently our boys SHOULD
not take 50 much pain to avoi(
any mention Of our first night
! soldering in the faraway Philip
pines. But, strange to say, the
phantom has never appeared since
on the north line or any 0thel
point that have heard of. Some
Iof those Krag bullets must acci-
| IdentaIlv have been loaded with sill.
yer, forI have a truthful old col.
ored woman who used to belong
| TO my mother say Just before |
| left New Orleans that if you would
fire silver bullet at spook il
would never appear again, and
what most Of those good colored
people in the Southern States
! don't know about all manner of
Ispook5 and ghosts is not worth
| knowing.
| We all here believe. the back
bone of the cruel war to be brok-
en- and that the hand of reconcial-
iation will soon be offered and ac-
cepted, and also that the sangui-
+! nary boIo that has furnished so
much material for the thousands
of pens Of newspaper correspOn-
dents that have so graphically des-
cribed it and told so much of its
| death-deaiing powers until it has
! become the best known implc-
Iment of ancient and modern war
fare Is ahout to be buried deem in