Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-11-19

was Nov. 13, 1899, when the two men
above named were captured. We
were attached to Wheeler's brigade
and MacArthur's division of the sth
army corps and were campaigning in
Luzon about sixty miles north of
Manila. On the morning of the 18th
we were ordered to advance from
Capas, where we had been stationed,
north along the railroad track. We
were followed to Tarlac, the next
station. After advancing several
miles we came to a stream too deep
to ford, where the bridge had been
dynamited by the insurgents, render
ing n crossing impossible. \ halt was
made and finally, to avoid the neces-
sity of our spending the night there,
orders were issued for us to return
to Capas. The main body turned back
over the ronte we had come, but
about n dozen of the mounted men,
including Peterson, Norval, an aid or
two, some scouts and myself, struck
off TO the right across the swamp to
do little exploring on the way in.
We struck road that Law at the foot
of the mountains and angIed off to
the cast and followed it through n
thickly settled country till we were
several miles from the track. Peter
son and Norval, being attached to
the commissary department, had an
eye out for forage and by and by
noted some fine chickens running
about one of the native shacks. So
they dropped behind the rest of us
and prepared to gather up some of
the birds. Their disappearance was
scarcely noticed for some time and
the remainder of the party went on,
finally cutting through the swamp
and after n long and tedious ride,
gained the track once more. and so
came struggling back to Capas.
Some hours after we reached camp
inquiry began to be made concerning
the two who had dropped behind and
considerable anxiety began to be felt
for their safety, but it was then too
late. to start on n search for them
before dark. The next day, as they
still failed TO show up, a searching
party went out and hunted high and
low over the country through which
we had travelled on the previous day,
but no trace of Norval and the ser
geant could be found. After a few
days had gone by the pair were given
up for dead, another cOmmissary ser
geant was appointed and another
cook found for Company Il. and
things went on much the same as be-
fore, except that the loss of the pa
pers that Peterson carried Kindred
the company from drawing its rations
for time and the members had to
go several days. on rather slim fare.
I'm January l was assigned to the
scouts of the I'd division, a party of
20 tried men under the command of
Capt. Slavin. We were then at Peni-
que, about twelve miles north of Tar
lac. The scouting party to which 1
was assigned was ordered back
through the mountains to the south
east to beat up the brush and learn
if possible, the location of the strong
hold of Gen. Aquino, an insurgent
chief who was believed TO be located
IN a retreat in the vicinity of a peak
called Mount Ararat. On the way
we found the 41st infantry, a green
regiment, encamped and fortified at
San Pedro Magellan, and after stop
ping to assure them that they were
not surrounded by hordes of fierce
brown men, which they verify be-
lieved, we took party of them with
us and went on in the direction of |
Mount Ararat. This eminence stands |
out by itself in a broken country |
and is very steep and difficult of ac-
cess. We reached the base after a |
days hard marching, in which we |
came near putting our convoy from
the 41st out of the running.