Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-08-08
BINANG. LAGUNA, p. l., I
June IL, 1902.


have been here in command lust
a month and eight days. Since the
23rd of May cholera has been raging.
Fifty to sixty deaths day and all
of the worry and responsibility of
the thing. Only two soldiers have
been attacked, however, and they
lived only twelve hours after becom-
ing sick. This was on the 27th
of May. They we're negligent
and diG not obey orders as to
taking care of themselves. The
natives are very ignorant and say
the Americans were poisoning the
wells so as to kill them all. They
would not believe it was cholera
This made them careless, and disobey
all orders as to police, eating aud
drinking. They concealed the dead
would bury them under their
houses-and when a case appeared
they would not report it. Nothing
but daily inspections of every house
would discover the sick, and as there
are 10000 people here inspection
took time. Moreover, cholera is so
deadly that many would die in from
two to six hours, so that to bave dis
covered all would have required four
inspections every twenty-four hours.
In one house we found girl of
ten laid out; the father was sitting
nearby smoking a cigarette and the
mother was absent. The father
smiled and welcomed US. We thought
there bad been only one death aud
he said 1T was not cholera but some
ordinary disease. When we turned to
leave we noticed q small dry goods
box with lot Of stuff piled in it,
and on examination we found the
bodies of two other small children
crammed down in the il.
We had to dig up sixteen bodies
buried about two feet deep under
houses, without time or any prepar-
alton to kill the germ. The bodies
had been buried four or five DAYS
and it was hard task. They had
To be burned, and this caused great
distress to the poor ignorant natives.
| use nothing but boiled water
either for drinking or bathing. The
bakery is required to use boiled
water for making bread. | keep a
basin of carbolic solution on nv
washstand all the time and use it
frequently each day. The most
stringent rules are enforced to keep
it out OF the soldiers, who are pretty
badly Scared and are easily con-
trolled. All are required to rinse
their hands in boiled water frequent
ly, and before each meal this is done
Under the inspection of AL siiicei. No
vegetables or fruits of any kind, ex-
cept canned ones, are allowed. Yes |
terday showed improvement as deaths
dropped from fifty to thirty-four and
new cases from sixty to thirty-six. |
Today progress is still better. j was
ordered to report to the Inspector
General daily in Manila, but re-
quested to be allowed to stay here
till things were in better shape.
How long for your good Vir-
ginia food.
There is little danger of contract
ing the disease if one is careful and |
does not get the germ in the mouth.
/ visit the Cholera Hospital several
times day. 1t is horrible disease,
that drains all the water out of the
system and leaves the patient
shriveled up mummy even before
death. An hour after one takes it |
the change is so great that his best
friend could not recognize him.
The eyes SO way back in the skull,
the skin shrivels and turns very dark
and a deaths head appears before
you can realize it.
The disease is widely disseminated |
over Luzon and thousands of natives
have been carried off, but compara-
lively few officers aud soldiers.