Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-06-14
AN INTERESTING LETTER


on Duty in the Philippines.
The following interesting letter
from Thomas Oldham, of this city.
has been received by his sister. Miss
Maggie Oldham, and is by her fur
hished for publication:
DONSOL, P. l., April 81, 1900
My Dear Sister:-Your more than
welcome letter received some time
since, and as there has been no boat
Cut since could not answer sooner, and
car not say when l will be able to
get this off. We are completely isolat-
ed from the outer world for weeks at
a time, as we have no communication
with our troops by land. We depend
entirely on the few steamers that
come not any too often Our ration
boat is overdue some time. Have been
without flour and bareback since April
10th. Pounded rice, native style, is a
poor substitute. We drank our last
coffee last night. But do not fear,
we will not starve, as we still have
On hand few hundred pounds of
bacon, some canned apples, some dried
peaches, few beans, salt and pepper
and plenty of beef back in the country
to kill. But we are watching and
praying for the ration boat. Old
bareback would be a luxury indeed.
but If one does not move around much
and keep quiet in this hot climate
you can live on very small quantity
of food
The heat here is something awful.
especially back few miles in the
country, but here on the coast there
is some breeze going most all the
time, for which we are very thankful
All our news is near two months old
when we get it. We even do not know
what is going on in other parts of the
island, and are thankful for any kind
OF an old newspaper. We are still
fighting little every day or So I was
out with a party last week. We kill
ed six Filipinos, captured eight, and
wounded number. One died in the
hospital some days back. He was shot
with a Krag bullet through and
through. The ball entered at the right
hip bone well up, passed through the
abdominal cavity and bladder, and
came out at the upper end of the left
forearm bone, which it shattered, and
fractured the hip joint.
The above case was brought in on
a Sunday morning. We dressed his
wound and gave him every possible
attention. He died on the following
Friday at a. m. do not think any
white man could have lived so long
under the same conditions We had
great time with him, as he could not
understand word of Spanish. You
must know we have a smattering of
Spanish by this time. We have been
very fortunate so far here We have
only had one man killed and none
wounded, and we have been in over
sixty engagements of one kind and an
other. The natives have few guns and
handle them very poorly. Their
bows and arrows are not effective, as
they will not stand at close range:
they will shoot and run. They do not
surrender unless you have them sur
rounded. so they cannot get awav.
but will run and nothing will stop
them but a bullet I saw one killed
that I counted twenty-three bullet
holes IN him.
MounCs MdyOu, Lne volcano near
here. has been in eruption for some
time. Il is the grandest sight I ever
saw. At night it lights up the heavens
for miles and immense volumes of
smoke ascend that look like clouds
1t is about thirty miles north of here
and about 5000 feet high. and in
plain view We have had several
slight earthquakes. The health of
this command remains in an excellent
condition. We have sent but one pa
tent to Manila since we came here
and have really had no sickness to
sneak of. | can only account for it in
that we get the good. pure ocean air
and our doctor is something fine. He
takes common sense view of things.
and with a liberal use OF castor oil
salts. ouinine. compound cathartic ana
old-fashioned mothers cures" we
keep this command Al We are not
afraid to use disinfectants of all kinds
as il some one else paid for them. and
we make what few natives we have in
the town live as they never lived be-
fore. that is. keep themselves and
their grounds clean like a Christian.
Sunday. 2eth. the longed for ration
boat arrived. for which Ta ara vary