The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1900-02-02

Tuesday with loss of a few men killed
and wounded, Gen. Lawtons death
was a great shock and SURPRISE Capt.
kennan of my regiment and one Of my
best friends was wounded-.not serious.
r. My company were greatly 'disap,
pointed that we, too, were not allowed
to take part in the fight. o.. y,
The general health of the troops. is
good. Nearly all of the provinces and
most CT the islands are very healthy.
Manila is said to be one of the unhealthy
provinces, but it is so far ahead Of
Santiago that it hardly occlrs to us
that we are in the tropics. Just think
we were organized in July, and hay.
been at this po~t, fox seven weeks and
an examination Of my sick book this
morning reveals only three names on it.
| left two sick in Georgia, and have
two in the hospital here one with a
broken leg, the'other with paralysis or
sbmething Of that kind. Aid this is out
of II company Of lOC' men
These people (Tagalos) here area much
better and more intelligent people than
the Cubans of Santiago province. This of
course refers to those In the cities AMI
country contiguous thereto, i know
nothing about those far removed and
IN the mountains This island Luzon}
iS tcly re'y thickly settled. Every little
grove has its village of nipa hutss /
have made good many patrols for sew.
eral miles in front Of us and the nun
ber Of inhabitants is astonishing. By
the way, on one of. these patrols the
other day madea neat little capture,
an account of which ! sent you. publish.
ed in the Mnnilla Times Of Dec 1 Eth,
The question of retaining .ths Philip-
pines is one that must be settled by the
politicians, thought Cupa RICH in. re.
SOURCES, but she does not. in. the least:
compare with this. island, and it is said
that there are others which excel this
in fertility, productions and mineral re
sources It, is hard to: understand but /
am ready to believe it, Some Of the off.
GERS coming. from, the north have
brought $1,000 worth of gold dust
apiece for which they paid the untutor.
ed inhabitants OF the northern noun
,tains 800. Every island has mountaln.
and every mountain has gold All that
is now secured is washed from, the
sands of the rivers, save an occasional
nugget found. in the ledge of noun
tain rock, This is no. day dream but
fact, Ameri cans are coming, in by
'dfoves. A large party Of prospectors
(American) was organized here last
week and some Of them have gone TO
thc mountains of the north, and some
70 the islands "f the south. ..'',
l.never knew anything about military
until since my connection with this
regiment 1t is not vanity to say that
am now q thoroughly competent cap
tain. There were two Mississippi cap.
tains in the battalion that was in the
San Mateo fight yesterday-Shields of
Natrhez and McGhee Of Columbus.
There was another badly hnrt and dis.
appointed that he was not allowed 10
go. ~ - ''"'
l have said nothing about the .'fertil
ity of the soil, bnt have seen immense
rice fields, banana groves and the finest
sugar cane of the world. -
Iwas glad to get your paper. With
one exception it was the only Missis.
sippi sheet have seen since the day |
was in your tent at Camp Meade. 1
see that you still know how to use the
pen and express yourself in the most
vigorous English. Write me a long
letter and send me paper once in a
while. Kindest recollections and re-
CARDS to my friends.
Yours truly,
J. NJ LIDDELA..
I r. MANH 4, (,ov.so .oI1;~. A.t,