The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1900-10-05
Interesting Letter
From Philippines
BY a Harrison County Young man
now in Uncle Sans Army
Over there.
SANTA ANNA, 7. !.
AuguSut II, 1900.

Try IL IL, DuU dL duy EdLC VIII kiNS
you some OF my views Of the things
have seen and heard.
The first thing that struck my atten-
tion particularly was the seeming, won
derful management OF our ship on our
long voyage to this country. when
one not accustomed to 1t sees how a
navigator can tell within a half mile
OF where he Is, at any time, and the
exact distance Travelled, IL is certainly
wonderful.
The Meditcrrean sea was beautiful,
but not half so pretty as the Straits OF
Malacca. before going into Singapore.
The dress and manners OF these strange
people we saw, was curious In every
way. noticed particularly AT Alden,
in Arabia, when they. the natives,
surrounded our ship. They only wore
a little rag around their loins and
their talk sounded like u flock Of
hawks. on the Sucz Canal IL great
many natives wore no clOt.cS at all.
Our company, Company +, Of the
4lst U. S. vi Is now at Santa Anna
town, sixty five miles northof Manila.
We were for two months AT Magallang.
town fifteen miles away. We Occu-
pied while there the native church. |
have seen as high rs ten native funcr-
ais in one day. The Catholic priest
was a rccluse fellow and would not
communicate with any Of the soldiers,
only when forced to do SO. Was true
hearted insurrecter, aud we finally
:rove him from the town. He went To
another tcwn and was soon run out OF
It. The priest here is good fellow,
and Is bitterly opposed To the inSur-
rection. He associates with all the
boys. Our out posts at Magallang
were fired on good many times, but
no damage done. One night just
about half an hour after the firing
ceased, with three other privates
made patrol around the out-postS. !
and my men were going at very slow
walk, taking care to not expose our
selves any more than possible. The
bamboo and tall grass were immense
and we came To big banana grove,
the night being as dark as Stack OF
black cats. One of my men caught
me by the arm, saying, there is some
thing coming towards US. stopped
and commanded halt three times, then
raising my trusty gun with all the
GOODNESS could assume fired. There
was crash and nothing else was
heard. We went on our way. When
day break came we went down toScc
what could be discovered, but be-
hold just a dead pony which was
loose from some cause.
None of us have been so unfortunate
as to get hit yet. 1t caused funny
feeling to have the large brass balls
lying round your head, singing home
sweet home. We made frequent cS.
peditiunS into Mt. Ariat. very high
and large mountain near here. The
boys as Il rule marched fifteen miles a
| day, but this has been cut down since
the rainy season has approached
When ii is not raining the sun is so
hot il almost burns man up. What
water we use is always boiled.
While at Magalang thirty of my
company. | being among the number,
with several other companies, made an
expedition into MI. Ariat, under Gen.
Fred Grant. We were the advance
guard. The trip occupied three days,
resulting in nothing Of much import
ance. We have now gotten in four
months rations for the rainy season.
We are now within eight miles of
Sanpenando, the next largest town
on tile Island. 1t is on the railroad.
Tie railroad is little Jerk water
thing, and nothing like We have in
the States. Ii has been torn up many
times by the insurgcnt army. 1t be-
longs toan English company. 1t was
only last week that a train was tired
on and one man killed.
did not get to see much OF Manila.
but ii is a fine city and has many
| beautiful drives and handsome build
ings.
We have adScvcn men 10 die in our
regiment, but not man out of our
company. one man died some time
ago near here with the small poX.
There was one more case think. lie
is slowly getting over it. All the boys
from aud near ClarkSburg are doing
fairly we'll. None ofthem have been
sick but very little. had the measles
and Earnest JohnsonwaS sick for some
time but is stout AT this writing.
sgt. Wade II. HoIsendS his respects
to the numerous readers OF The Tclc-
gram.
We have very good officers and very
few fights and quanels among the
! men. The native PHILIPPINE is not as
big as our colpred people. neithcrare
they as intelligent.
shall he glad to have letter from
any inquiring friends With best wishes
| am
Yours truly,
A. REID.
Co. i, 4lst U. S. V.
Manila, Philippine Islands.