Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1902-01-31
HIKING THROUGH SAMAR
Hsrdships of American Soldiers
Fighting Filipinos.
MARCHING IN ENDLESS RAINS.

6emb Der OF q Column Com m an0e0 by
Captain jackson Tells Of Wading
Swollen Rivers, Fighting Leeches
and Dodging MISREPRESENTATION
Log Trap Safely Avoided.
The expedition just returned com.
prised about $50 men moving in eight
columns, all under command Of Cap
tain Jackson, First infantry, who com.
manded the main column, writes the
Mauo (Samar) correspondent of the
Manila American under the date Of
Nov. 80. The hike performed by this
column Is deserving Of mention as prob.
ably the longest ever made by Amer.
lean troops in Samar. The men were
absent from the - station about eight.
cen days and covered nearly $50 miles.
On the tenth day out over twO-thirds
Of the men were unable to proceed on
account of exhaustion and sore feet,
and two days rest was taken in camp.
The columns were ordered to con.
verge toward Mount Puros, water.
| shed about thirty miles from the west
, and fifty miles from the north coast OF
! Samar. simultaneously with this move
troops were ordered to make demon
straton all over Samar in order t.
prevent the enemy. fleeing to the south
and east. The expedition Cleaned up"
SO to speak, an approximate total Of
80 insurgents killed, 20 prisoners taken,
rebel strongholds and 20 barrios de-
stroyed. 500 sacks of rice and so cara
baO captured.
The column from Mauo, under Cap
tain Jackson, had for it's sole purpose
the capture of Lukban 1t consisted of
twenty Ilocano scouts and fifteen men
Of Company l., First infantry.
The little column left Mauo at 7
o'clock on the morning Of Nov. Is in
pouring rain. 1t may be added that
from that time on to Nov. %, eight
days. dry feet and dry clothing were
unknown. After three hours march
ing toward the interior, half of which
was through ricefields in deep mud.
the Catipunan river was reached. which
at this place was very deep and swift.
by two rocks. 1t was found necessary
to bridge the first channel which was
done by fastening one end Of a log to
the shore. the other to the rock. A
rope of bOjuck. strong vine, was
stretched as hand rail, and on this
log. submerged several inches by the
force Of the current, the channel was
crossed. The other two channels were
only breast deep and were forded, the
big fellows helping the little ones.
The hike was resumed early the next
morning, and on this day had
chance to see what hiking In Samar
was like. On this day also had my
first experience with the gentle and
seductive Samar leech. When we were
not wading in the beds Of mountain
brooks, we were climbing the sides of
mountains or else foundering in mo-
rasses. Hill succeeded hill In endless
succession. and not until night, when
we made camp at the foot of a beauti-
full waterfall, were the limits of our
vision extended to more than fifty
yards before cut off by hills. Through
out this as the previous day there was
NO sight of any human habitation.
During the day we covered less than a
mile an hour, the men being obliged to
join hands and pull one another over
the steep places
On the next day. Nov. II, the leeches
made their appearance in force. These
little pests are found only on the noun
tain slopes, never in the valleys. They
are about an inch and quarter In
length, of the thickness Of knitting
needle, and when they walk they hump
themselves. They reach the soldiers
from the grass and bamboo bushes
and quickly enter leggings and shoes
through the laceholes and fasten them
ankles. They absorb blood until about
the size Of mans finger, when they
loosen their hold and drop off, leaving
an open wound which bleeds for hours.
l have seen a soldier pick as many as
thirty of these off his legs and ankles
at night. and, as each puncture leaves
small bleeding wound, the loss of
blood is sometimes quite serious. The
natives, being barelegged, acquire
more leeches than the American SOL
diers, but, for the same reason, see
them sooner and pick them off before
serious damage has been done.
In addition to the pest Of leeches, we
now began to find many mantraps-
pits dug in the earth, with poisoned
spear points pointing upward. and the
whole covered over with leaves. There
were also spring guns set SO that when
the trigger was released javelin
would be discharged, taking effect In
the abdomen of the victim. Many OF
the men fell into the spear pits, but
none was seriously hurt. In crossing
one small mountain we came upon a
most ingenious log trap. The road
was cut narrow and clean, precipice
on one side and a steep bank on the
other. Half way up the mountain
three pits were dug in the road, and on
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