El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-03-27

Can Sit and watch a PIANO, anu
Touch One Occasionally Without Sa-
luting. ~
Sergeant Harry G.. Walk, late of
troop l, 18th United States cavalry, sat
idly paving the worries of a piano in
the rear of Wall & Cos. store this
morning, when a Herald reporter drop
ped in to see him. He has been fight
ing the battles of his country out In
the Philippines for the past eighteen
months and has just returned to his
own fireside here in Ell Paso and resum-
ed the role of private citizen once
more. If there is one thing o 9TH
ers thai Harry WalZ can do 1T is to
make music. He is the master of sew
eral instruments and in addition can
MARBLE in a very attractive
You're caressing that keyboard as If
you hadn't seen a piano for many
moons said the reporter as the young
soldier swept his fingers in arpeggio
movement over the keys.
We'll, there's more truth than poe
try In tina remark" replied Walz.
During the whole time l was in the
Philippine islands l only saw two
pianos. and they were badly out OF
tune. The colonel of u regiment had
one at his house and l was invited up
to play for him and his friends several
times. OF purse it came in the way
Oh a request but requests of that kline
are best complied with. / played a
number of times but as I did not get
even a thank you for it l would quit
just as quickly as / could. OF course
L don't mean to say hat l wanted any
compensation for it. but / was a COM
mon soldier and therefore not entitled
to the courtesy of thanks. However"
Mr.. Wall added with a smile. that
don't cut any figure now"
The reporter then asked some ques-
tions as to his experience during his
share of the campaign Said he:
Il enlisted in September 1899 in troop
l. 18th cavalry regiment. n went to
Manila on the troop ship Pennsylvania
/ remained in the troop for about two
and during that time was in
seven engagements. Shortly after our
arrival the fight at San Mateo occurred,
il which General Lawton lost his life.
I was in the thanking troop n We had
some hard work while the engagement
lasted. A river separated us from the
town which lay below us. There were
nine troops of cavalry and they were
proceeding down a narrow road four
abreast leading to the river with the
intention of crossing it. The first
troop had just reached the edge of the
river when the "niggers' opened up
from an ambush on the other, side. 1t
was my first fight and I'll tell you /
felt rather yellow for awhile and I be-
lieve there were others. Our troop be-
ing engaged in the f1anking movement
were kept holly engaged. 1 did not see
Gen. Lawton killed but from the
men belonging to the troop who acted
as his body guard told me hat he was
repeatedly warned by his staff abou
exposing his person so unnecessarily.
The enemy kept shipping away at him
and the bullets played all around him.
but he paid no attention. Finally n
of them struck him and he fell.
The next fight We had was at Mon
talban. and hat was the biggest in
point of numbers hat took place on
the island. The insurgents had ove
1000 and we had about 2,20 ~0engaged.
The fight lasted for about four hours
and around a series of Notifications.
We did not have many killed but about
fifteen were wounded. How many of
the enemy were killed / couldn't say
they always take their dead with
them. but the lumber was consider
able. I was in five other engagements
after hat but they were small and I'M
important.
Afterwards / was transferred to the
band. in which l played h fife and
piccolo. The band worked hard and it
was acknowledged to be the best band
the islands. We gave a series of
concerts and got up quite a reputa-
ton"
Mr.. Wall was asked what the pros
poets were Of the war closing at al
early date.
THE war is practically over now"
replied. Ever since the general
in this country a more ag-
campaign has been pursued
the insurgents and the result is
that they are coming in as fast as they
can. Under the law now in force If a
is encountered outside of the
garrisoned towns he is challenged. If
refuses to stop and explain what he
is doing he is shot. This proceeding is
directed to the Tagalogs n the re-
suit is that they are surrendering wher-
eever they can. In n few months there
will be nothing left of the enemy but
q few guerrilas and bandits.
Thorough the campaign. business
has beer carried on by the Spanish and
European firms and they are prospecting
under the new order of things.
in the way of produce and