The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1900-04-19
CHARLEY MATHEWS
Writes of the War in the Philippines
He Kills His Man.

He Kills His Man.
Suol, P. l., Feb, Z, 1900. We moved
from Mangaterenr January 10, marched
north three days, companies H and G
going to this place and companies d
and G going to Alamios. Nothing
OF any importance transpired until the
morning OF the 22nd of January. We
had taken possession of the convent and
were taking life as easy as one can when
he gets army rations straight. On the
morning of the 2end thirty men of each
company,D and G., marched away from
quarters at Z o'clock, going southwest
about seven miles over good road,
where our one piece of artillery and
the company G detachment halted, the
"niggers" being discovered about one
half mile ahead we'll entrenched on a
hill overlooking the road. Company d
filed off to the right going down by
path around the town of Ballencoggen
and coming up the river in the rear of
the insurgents. BY this time the ar
tillery and company G had drawn the
fire of the niggers, company ID coming
around in rear of the church. Here
Capt Craig left part of his company
and taking the remainder, about tw elve
men, proceeded up gully to cut off
the niggers. On the other side compa-
ny G and the gun were having a hot
time. The niggers were pouring hot
fire into them. OF the four men with
the gun three were hit. The corporal
in charge was very badly injured by a
ball which struck the gun wheel, glanc-
ed and entered under his left arm. The
wound is very serious one. Private
Reynolds, OF Watauga, Tenn, was
Just touched on both forearms, one 9TH
er was hit in the foot and the pony was
hit in both forelegs and afterwards had
to be killed. During this time we were
going up the gully in the niggers' rear.
They discovered us when we were only
about 100 yards away and you should
have seen them run. For the next
three minutes there was the hottest lit
tie scrap l ever saw. They only had to
run 30 yards to get into the brush and
safety. l was going up the hill shooting
away about as much ammunition as any
one when niger jumped out of some
bushes about twenty yards away 1
guess my Krag. was so hot that it ex-
ploded and happened to be pointed
right toward the nigger. He is good
uIgger now, for when we came back af-
ter the fight we looked at him and
found that he had died from heart fail
ure. There was little spot just over
his heart and few drops of blood;
that's all. There were thirteen dead
niggers, eleven prisoners, seven or
eight wounded that could not get away,
and twenty-one rifles. 1t was hot work
but it was all over much sooner than it
takes to tell it. We then had dinner
and proceeded to hike back to Alaminos
with the spoils Of war.
The war is over, but there is yet few
small parties who are called Ladrones.
They are kind Of military organiza.
Ition who live by looting and terroriz-
ing the natives. They are only in small
parties and are not capable of doing
much. Soldering is now very much Of
q hunt. Since our last brush we have
been on hike OF six days and meyer
saw an insurgent, we seldom find them,
but when we do we handle them rough.
| The prisoners we captured told us that
1 the force we engaged at Ballencoggen
numbered 1O3, fifty-fve of them being
armed with rifles the others with balos.
Their pay was three pesos a month
| $l.50 in our money-and they had not
received any money for three months.
They were very much surprised thai
we did not kill them, as they told us
the Spaniards always killed their pris
toner's.
| This part OF Luzon being the PENN
sula between the gulf of Lingayen and
the China sea, is probably about the
most healthful part Of the island; being
| high, rolling land, suitable for grazing
cattle. The grass is dead now and is
being burned by the natives. Under.
meath is the green young grass which
will commence to grow very fast az
soon as the rains come. There are {
good many cattle here and we expect tC
have fresh meat regularly Lieut.
Wing who had command of the comra
my was in at San Francisco, died O
smallpox afew days ago. The general
health of the men 10 excellent. Genera
Bell, with l2Dinfantry, 1870 cavalry an(
o large pack train, has just left here OF
ten days hike. They are now goinG
up the mountains about one mile wes
of this place and are being h )tograph
i ed nv n hiOOranh min I must close fo