The Appeal., 1902-02-22

IA penthe will drive dread
homesickness and everything
else out Of the victims head
except hellish desire to do evi It is
not a desire to do general mischief that
enters the mind of the "yino fend" He
almost always turns toward one specific
OBJECT to the accomplishment Of which
he bends all his energies. ::
AS the thing which he tries to do is
something exactly opposite to what is ex-
pected of him when sober and in his
right mind, one soldier in camp under
the influence of vino is worse than
dozen Of the enemy. -. --.
''Philjppinitis Is the word coined to
describe the, condition of the man ad-
dicted to drinking vino, Not one but
dozen orders have been issued by COM
manders in the Islands prohibiting the .
drinking of this sense-benumbing product
of the sap of the Nipa palm, but they
hardly can be called effective. The last
Luzon, who placed the drinking of vino
among the graver military offenses.
Insanity, leading to murder or suicide,
Is the extreme to which this native con-
cocton drives it's victims. These cases,
fortunately, are few, because the COM
manding officers are awake to the dan
ger, but it is said authority that 80
per cent of the offenses against military
discipline committed in the Philippines Is
by men whose brains have been turned
fore, cannot be held to be strictly
countable for their actions.
With the return of every transport to
America patches of men so broken in
mind and body as to be unfit for service
are relieved from duty. discharged be-
cause of disability is the charitable
try opposite the names of many on the
roster, how many only those who keep
accounts in Washington know. Severe
service in a tropical climate had much
IN yinn n or Of
ats enticing forms had more. And all the
records are. not in Washington by any
r. means, for where a habit becomes a
disease there is always a little latitude
for an effort to save an honorable SOL
der's name.
This was done in the case of a member
of the Twenty-first regiment, who went
through Cuba with an irreproachable
record, and as a model soldier, gentle,
honorable and brave. His company was
electrified one day by his arrest in the
streets Of Manila He had complained
against himself and wished to be pun
ished for stealing several dollars from a
wealthy old Spanish woman He told all
he knew about it, which was that he
had taken three drinks of vino out of a
bottle given to him by native, and was
seized with an insane idea to get money.
How he entered the woman's house and
stole her hoard he did not remember.
The surgeons made careful study of
his case and were convinced that he told
the absolute truth. The money was re-
turned and what punishment he received
is not recorded in Washington.
A remarkable case was that of a reg
nlar who probably had another name but
who was known Familiarity by his COM
rades as Texas. He was q big fellow,
who had seen hard service and had run
the gamut of the liquors of this country
from mescal to old rye and escaped I'M
scratched. He was uuartered with a
he al rf IN nno
of several shacks. This was in the dam
gerous days OF that city, when trouble
was looked for from within its confines
as we'll as from without. 1T was severe
guard duty, with nothing to do except
look down the burning road until the
eyes grew red or pace his allotted space
of sentry-go until Texas heavy heels had
worn a path to the next guard From a
jovial fellow he became strangely silent
with the bitter monotony Of 1t all, but
his mates put it down to their implaca-
BILE enemy, homesickness. When they
spoke to him he replied with curses, and
he answered his captain sullenly.
One night there was a scream from a
shack near by, where a woman kept a
small store, principally Of fruits, but with
the inevitable bottle of vino to be had
Texas was the first OF the guard to
get there, and let go his Krag-Jorgensen
several times into the night at what he
said was flying figure Of a man. The
awakened by the swaying of the .thatcheG
roof of her shack, as If some heavy body
were up there tearing it apart. Fher
she heard some one drop softly to the
floor of her stureroom and screamed. She
saw man go back through the roof as
,nimbly as a monkey, and a bottle of vino
was gone. She looked fearfully at Texas
as she told this, and was more scared
still when he. good naturedly, told her
he would keep a sharp eye on her place
ftnvs Nf,n q I'M q an
was torn from neck to waist, but 1t was
not known until afterWard that the fel
low had choked her. When asked il g
soldier or native had attacked ner, she
tremhfingly said, with a strange look al
Texas. that it was . native. She disap
peaned the next day. abandoning hel
store and all It's contents.
In the same company with TexassMas
chunky little sergeant who kept dhial
eye on the big Westerner after that
They had been friends, and nothing was
thought of 1t when the sergeant removed
his quarters to the same shack occupied
by Texas and his comrades. The big fel
low resented the closer scrutiny of the
sergeant and they quarreled, with the
ass Texan doing all of the quarrelfng. This
45 was against all discipline, but the ser.
geant interceded for his former frienG
4 and punishment was averted for time
Shortly after that Texas forgot to take
a shell out OF his Krag when returning
IrOlH UuIS. seemed TO Jei1i. dIll
when yanking at it impatiently It ex.
ploded. The bullet ripped through the
shack wall and passed within an inch OF
the sergeant's head. He was swinging
idly on hammock outside
AS Texas ran OUT o. The shack. ex.
claiming that he feared he had hurt some
sgs one, the sergeant laid him over with 6
gun stock, and then sent for the surgeon
Texas was sitting up smiling at the
sergeant when the surgeon took auicl
look at his eyes, ss
Vino = he said, and told the captain
that Texas probably had been both drnnl
and crazy for Il month. rs The littlt
sergeant had known It ali the time, bu
hoped to save his friend. and almost los1
his own life In the effort. Dnce IN tho
Euardhouse the big Westernerss MIND
spapped eompletelys HI once bls