Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-01-21

city will, no doubt, be anxious to
learn of his recent experiences on the
Islands and the letter is given in part
as follows:
ZAMBOANGA, Mindanao,
Sunday, December 8, 1898.
Friend Ezra:-I hope you are all well.
Many of the boys, including myself,
have had severe attacks of fever, mostly
since coming here, but l had mine in
Holo, and finished it up on the boat.
| did not go TO the hospital, but many
did. On November %, at noon, orders
came to pack up to move, and by z p.
m. we were on the beat, the "Bolinan,"
together with part of G Company, and
on the "Arminia'' were C Company
and the balance of G Company. The
othAr two companies beat us on, as we
had to move in from the blockhouse,
IF Company took u place., and we
also brought our lockers, which c and
u did not do. At 10 p. m. we drew
anchor. and, accompanied by the mos
quito gunboat Alva, started for this
port, which VIZ reached at noon, Novem-
Der %, and came ashore at 2 p. M, the
first American soldiers to ever land
here. We were given a hearty well
come by the Filipinos, and by the York
town, Castine and Manila, lying in the
harbor. Much to our regret the Amer
lean flag was raised several days prev
lous to Our arrival by the company of
Fllipinos occupying the fort We
marched out the Gale Ejercito to the
large building formerly used by the
Spaniards as a military hospital, (B and
G did, and G occupied the street
Gale Felipe L. Zamboanga was evil
IDENTIFY a city Of $4,000 or 10000 people,
but when the Spanish left they burned
the great stone fort Pillar Gel Fuerza del
P1lar), and the insurgents burned the
town, so it is much like Iloilo and the
Tondo district of Manila. The fort
must be 400 feet square, with a solid
stone wall 25 feet high, the southern
side washed by the sea. On the north
exterior is a Catholic shrine, where can
dies burn always. 1t is about ten min
utes walk along Ealzado Egercito to
the central part OF town. Nearby is a
graveyard with the graves arched over
with cement. Strange to say, the head
OF each body has been cut Off and placed
IN a box at the head, and many arches
are caved in, exposing bones and skulls
"a most gruesome sight. The place
has gone to ruin, the fence fallen over.
and among the tall grass are poisonous
snakes. Along the entire of the main
street|Calle Madrid-runs a stream Of
fresh water about six feet wide and
waist deep, crossed at frequent intervals
by short bridges, and stone steps lead
to the water, where the natives get
their drinking water and bath.
There is no wall, as in JoIo,
SO, as a consequence, we do outpost
duty. There are al posts, and night
and day patrol. the outposts occupy
ing tents. The company of Filipinos
living at the fort do outpost duty at
night. They are sworn into our SER
vice, and draw rations and pay from
Uncle Sam. They have a Filipino cap
tain. The first time l did guard duty
here l was post No. Z, a lonely road,
and by me stood a Filipino soldier.
We could not talk much. l under
stand a little Spanish now. Every half
hour from 8 p. m. to 6 a. m. we called
the hour. and | had a time making
No. 8 hear me on top of the fort wall.
The natives have old Remingtons.
They looked at our Krags with curious
eyes, and when on guard duty here
we keep them loaded all the time.
There is no water here fit for Ameri-
cam to drink. so all our water is
brought from the gunboat Castine, and
it must be condensed sea water. |
drink no water, and most of us drink
cocoanut milk. Cocoanuts are only l
cent Mexican here " cent American),
and bananas four for / cent Mexican.
The natives make all kinds of good
candy out of cocoanut, and bananas
are cooked a dozen different ways.
There are chickens for a peseta go
cents Mexican), green corn, sweet po-
tatoes, egg plant, Holsters, crabs,
shrimps, fish and many strange things
/ never saw or heard of before. We
had fine green corn for dinner to-day
-220 ears cost S1.10 American. Our
boys have spent days in the market
sampling the different dishes. Fresh
lard is unknown here. Everything is
cooked, fried and boiled in osate
(cocoanut OLD. Coffee grows plenti-
lul mere anu d uHe cup COSLS 4 cent
Mexican, and a dish of green corn cut
from the cob and cooked in osate costs
/ cent Mexican. Z~amboanga lies on
the Celebes Sea, at the extreme south
ern end of Mindanao. and is the capil
tai of the island, which is the second
largest in the group, representing one
of the three stars on the insurgents
flag. The other two are Luzon and
Panay. The island is ruled over by a
president-Yosario Midel-who lives
here, and the chief is Dato Mandi. who
also lives here. The city is on the
sea route from Australia to Chinese,
Japanese and Northern Philippine
points. and large steamers pass
through weekly. The Filipinos here
are very intelligent and clean. and
there are not many Moros. There are
not many Chinos, but there are many
coming from Jolo, and new stores are
being opened daily. There are many
C-o-sorIc hara nh0 u-nra fnrn.a~Ir, :