Iron County register., 1900-05-10
From the Philippines.
Los BAsos, P. l., March 25. 1906

MI EGSt0T-a III you p16ase spare
me little space in which ] may ex-
press 10 the readers Of your paper and
my Belleview friends my experience in
the Philippines?
| We left Fort Crook, Neh., Oct. IA,
for Vancouver Barracks, Wash, arriv-
ing there the 18th. Here the Sd bst-
TALON, under command Of Maj. Parker,
had been recruited, also two compan-
les of the 25th. Nov. ID the regiment
went on board the boat 81 Portland.
Ore. The first ten days were rough
and awful stormy and much sea sick
ness Was On board. In 6 company
there were three who weren't sick dur
| ing the long and lonesome journey,
and I was one Of the lucky ones
We arrived at Honolulu Nov 18th.
There We disenbarked and the ship
was thoroughly cleaned and enough
/ coal was secured there to run Us 10 the
end of our destination During our
short stop in Honolulu We had the
pleasure OF marching out on top of the
Punch Bowl, al extinct volcano, which
lies just back Of the city, where We
took 8 view of the beautiful city and
the harbor Honolulu is one Of the
most beautiful cities think that ever
saw.
We embarked Nov 17tn. sailing out
of the harbor about 1850 A N. The
sea WAS perfectly calm. which made
the latter part of our journey very
pleasant
We arrived at the entrance Of the
Manila Bay Dec 9TH at 4:S0 P. NJ, go
ing in north of the island OF Corregidor
and dropping anchor about one mile
from the city.
As the harbor of Manila is not deep
enough TO admit the larger vessels, the
eargoes are taken ashore On casooes,
''a kind of tow-boat.n
The next day about 1870 P NJ. the
S9th regiment set foot upon the Phil
ippine soil. We then marched to
MalatR, two miles south of Manila,
where We made our home until Dec.
14th. We thence embarked OF cascoes
and were towed up the Pasig River to
Calanbo, about 40 miles southeast Of
Manila, on the southern shore Of La
guns-De-Bay.
CRlanbo is town of about 5000 in
habitsnts OF nearly ali natives. The
San Juan river, and 81 the time Of our
arrival it Was surrounded by insurgents
from the lake on the right TO the lake
on the left of the town, and al no place
were there outposts more than two.
miles from our camp.
The natives were permitted to go
| through our lines unarmed, and thus
they came and went to the insurgents
keeping them well informed as to our
movements,
On New Years morning. 1900. We
| left Calanbo, going out on the battle
field for ny first time. We hadn't got
more than p miles from town before
the ball was opened by the enemy from
bamboo thicket about 1000 yds to our
right. The bullets come bnzzing past
our beads and made things rather IN
comfortable for q while. but the re-
ports Of their guns was soon drowned
out by the cracking OF Krags and the
heavy roar from the cannon. We soon
had them routed from their trenches
and vanoosing cross the rice fields.
We then had good thing, and Of
course We pushed it along.
There is but little fighting going on
Rt the present time, except with the
Ladrones. They sometimes fire on us
while going from one town to another,
but 1t doesn't amount to anything.
The insurgents armies are all
broken up in small squads OF about 40
and Sc each. They lie by the side Of
road and rob al the natives that pass
along, and sometimes make an attack
On our wagon trains, but have always
found their task an Improbable one.
The weather here at the present
time is real pleasant. The rainy sea-
son hasn't yet begun, but from ali ap
pearance Of the natives it is growing
near. They are~all repairing their
bamboo houses and preparing to SOW
rice.
The general health of the soldiers is
good. I'm sure that I am enjoying
good health. At the time of my en-
listment I only weighed 124 lbs. I
now pull 152 lbs.
The natives are burying from two to
eight every day, which seems to be
caused from feYor- Their cemetery Is
planted full Of graves, and the skulls
and bones OF bodies are lying thick
over the ground. One grave cannot
be dug without coming in contact with
another one, but the corpse Is laid IN
the grave and old skulls and bones are
thrown in on top of him.
Mr. Editor. if this letter escapes the
scrap basket, I'll mike another attempt