The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1900-06-08
A Soldiers Letter.

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John F. Henderson, Hood River, Or.
My Dear Father--Enclosed find one
OF the latest pictures Of Aggie and staff,
with few friends scattered in group,
also single picture Of Aguinaldo. On
April 9th, after l had begun writing
this letter, telegram arrived from Co
lomba, ordering me to report to Lieut..
Fred Boyer as bodyguard, which ! inn
mediately did, and we took the Filipino
steamer for COLOMBIA. l won
dered what he wanted a bodyguard for,
but did not dare to ask him. At last he
relieved my curiosity by telling me that
he had ten thousand dollars in his little
valise, and, of course, had TO have a
bodyguard.
We went slowly up the river, and l
began TO look around. Far in the dis
tance ! could see the green mountains
and the smoking volcano to the east,
with wide stretch of level country to
the west, north and south. Winding
along up the Pasig river, past women
industriously washing clothes at the
rivers brink, and "hombres fishing
with scoop and cast-nets and line; past
cargoes Of hemp, cocoanuts and other
products, and here and there a canoe
or bouea would pass alongside with a
family OF Filipinos bound for Manila.
We passed by several old forts and cuor-
tells, which were pretty we'll filled up
with troops, and as we struck the wilder
part Of the country we could see the
American outposts.
At last We we're in Laguna del Rev,
and then began the fun. 1t was rough
on the water, and the Filipinos would
holler and grunt, like drove OF pigs"
the lieutenant said. How she pitched,
and how the googoos rolled around A
heterogeneous mass OF hombres, senors,
senoritas, chow-chow, chickens, pigs,
boxes and bags, tumbled helter-skelter
from one side of the boat to the other.
How we laughed. The lieutenant and
myself knew how to balance ourselves
on rough seas, but those niggers would
run from one side to the other and back
before they could strike balance.
Howling, cursing and crying, squealing
Of pigs, squawking of chickens-such a
rumpus you never heard.
There we're a few Cinnamon aboard,
and one of them had hold OF a post and
about five Filipino girls had hold of his
pigtail. How he would chin-chin in
his pidgin profanity whenever the boat
gave an extra lurch.
We reached COLOMBIA safely, but when
we got there we could not get ashore.
The canoes were SO numerous that we
could not get out of reach and away for
half an hour. At last we got ashore,
and the ambulance took us and the
money to headquarters, and after awhile
/ got something to eat. The lieutenant
told me TO leave next morning at six, 80
at five / arose, and at six was on my
way. I"hiked" two miles down to the
landing, and took canoe with a SER
geant and one private, who were going
down to Manila with three prisoners
sentenced to fifteen years each, at hard
labor, in Bilibid; one of them, major
in the insurrecto artillery, one an infan-
try captain, and the third lieutenant,
supposed to have been one of the party |
that boloed Sergt. Votrie. AS we
reached the river we ran into a mix-up. |
We were on the government boat, and |
had three canoes in tow. The two Fill
pino boats ran aground, and two gov
ernment launches, with two canoes each,
were also aground, and as we came
down at full speed, with three big can
oes, it looked pretty tough. The river
at that point was 90 or rs yards wide.
We were in the channel, and would
have been all right if the pilot had done
rs the captain told him. There was
about 25 feet space between the two
boats, and they had a two-inch line
strung across, trying to get each other
off. The captain told the pilot to run
into that line, and that he would cut it,
and went back to get his big butcher
knife. When he came back the pilot
had turned aside, and ran the boat
high and dry aground. We ran o rope
10 the opposite side OF the river and tied |
to bunch of bamboo, and everyone got
hold and pulled.
In about an hour we got off, and were
once more on our way to Manila, which
we reached at o'clock, and took pris-
oners to provost marshal, who ordered
that they be conveyed to Bilibid. l
had had no chow-chow" for twenty
iour hours, so, reported at cuortel and
filled up.
Your loving son,
EDWIN A. HENDERSON,
Cuortel del Fortin, Manila P. l.