Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-11-05
in ENGINEER CORPS
John e. Baker Writes From Ma
Mia, P. I.
He is WELL PLEASED WITH HIS LOT
Looks for an Instruction at Any Time
Among the Natives-Gets Plenty of
Good Food and Has Good Place
to Sleep.

N. A. Baker sends the Courier clip
pings from three letters received re-
Gently by him from his son, John e.
Baker, now serving in the Philippines
They detail soldier life in the new pos
sessions, and apparently Mr.. Baker is
well satisfied with his lot. The let
tiers are as follows:
Lultor Courier: | enclose herewith
extracts from three recent letters
from my son, John E. Baker of the
Second Battalion Engineer Corps,
Company E, United States Army, Ma
Mia, p. l., bearing dates from Sep
TENDER 10 to %, 1901. These refer
ences are made by him in direct an
swer to inquiries by me written to him
and received there September s, 1901,
and may speak for him on the mat
tiers mentioned which thought might
be of interest to your readers as an
swering many who are anxiously in
quiring as to the state of affairs there
and the treatment received. He says:
The First Letter.
81 arrived here at last all safe after
voyage of thirty-eight days. We left
San Francisco August /, at noon, ar
iifSu at lloilOlulu Aug. IU. we were
there allowed shore leave of two
hours and took in the town which is
a veritable Garden of Eden" | visit
Jed the old'Queen's Palace now used
| by the United States government.
Prices are very low there. We left
there Aug. II for Agana, Island of
Guam, arriving there Aug. &c, after a
! fine voyage. We remained four days
unloading naval stores. We left the
| thirtieth for Manila and had a rough
trip with head winds. We arrived at
Manila September 6. We lay in the
bay two days, landing on Sunday, the
eighth, and moving to the camp of the
Twenty-fourth Infantry, rested three
hours. and thence to the engineers
barracks. There are two companies
located her. e and H.
Rainy Season Over.
The rainy season is about over and
| it has not rained for three days. 1t
| is nice and cool now in the shade. We
had an easy time coming over; had no
guard duty and drilled only eight
days. We had a good captain. There
was bakery on board the ship and |
worked in it two weeks. / had ice
cream four times day and cabin pas
senger fare. Prices here are high
Beefsteak sells at so cents pound,
butter 80 cents per pound, lard 371s
cents per pound and cows milk can
not be had at any price as there is
not COW in the PHILIPPINE Islands.
! A light earthquake was felt this
morning which lasted about three sec.
onds l shook as if l were at sea
in stormy weather.
| have just been figuring it up and
| find | am $500 miles from home. A
transport arrives and leaves here the
first and fifteenth of each month or as
nearly SO as the weather will permit
Under date of September Is he
writes:
cam feeling very we'll and weigh
four pounds more than when I enlist
ed.This is a queer country and queer
people. The natives are dark brown
people of the Malay race and they run
around nearly nude. A good many OF
them can speak English pretty good
Our headquarters are located at a
place called Malate, which is in new
Manila. ! am writing this in the wall
ed city of old Manila. Our barracks
w uDouI III VI IL llllS llOll
1.-THE seashore. ! am getting along fine sc
far draw $3.50 per month more here
than | would in the states. We have
la lieutenant in command now. Oul
captain being absent from duty. He
i is nice fellow but very strict. All
our drinking water is boiled before We
use it. We have company barber
and hair cut costs fifteen cents and
a shave ten cents while laundry costs
50 cents per month.
A Wants News of Mckinley.
4 Give me particulars of McKinley's
4 assassination. All we know here is
4 that he was shot and died in a few
\ days. Give me all the latest news"
He writes again September 90:
4 You are right about conditions
here; the only trouble is from bands
of robbers called I.adrnnes who do 9