The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-26
A. NJ. Moss, Of the
United States Army, Re-
lates a Thrilling Expert
ence Encountered by Him
self and a Band of Col
ored Minstrels He Had
Organized to Give Minstrel
Shows.

Capt A. M Moss U. S. A." the
Ryan hotel register said in clear, bold
| handwriting.
The owner of the name was in st.
| Paul last week and, in a manner en-
| tirely unlocked for in a man Of war
| fare, he told the interesting story of
| how he liquidated debt. of long stand
| ing by the novel means of forming
minstrel troupe in the island of Luzon.
| was the tragic end to which the enter
| prise came, the least interesting of the
| recital.
Capt. Moss is a man of about thirty
| years of age-tall, dark and of COM
| handing mien-the very man one
would choose out of throng as the hero
| of exciting incidents in the line Of duty.
| His visit to st. Paul was paid during
flying vacation. He has in prepara-
| ton "A Subaltern's Manual" the pub
| fishing of which he is certain will
| greatly lessen the cares of a commits
| stoned officers life. For the purpose
of collecting data for this work he is
| paying a visit to all the different forts
in the United States.
L was born in Louisiana nearly
thirty years ago." he said, forty miles
from the gulf. All my childhood was
spent with the cullud folks l was
| nursed by black mamnies, and my
CH1l1ISH ScfdpeS were with plckan1n-
MES.
But was going to tell YOU of the
eventual days put in out there in that
God-forsaken archipelago Of the ORR
| ent. When our command, the Twenty
fourth United States infantry, a COL
ored regiment, landed in Manila, we
-sWelled the roster of commissioned
officers pretty well to 200 men, and the
rank and file numbered 5000 Then we
started out with Lawton on that jour-
ney of his north, through the inter-
minable morasses and sweltering jun
| giles Of the island of Luzon.
One Long SweIter.
For a time we were stationed at
Iuyug, near Tuguegarao, in that prov
lnce, and life was one long, long swell
! ter, with nothing totdo but look after
p, the outposts.
| 'The buildings we had for quarters
| were, with all due respect to the gov
| eminent, because Of the times in which
| we moved, lived and had our being, the
| VtleSt of the vile. No one can imagine
the things with which we had to put
up. Indeed, constantly envy the rank
| and file, for they had the luxury Of
| clean, wholesome tents.
There were many things we wanted.
We wanted carpets for the quarters
| We wanted pictures We desired
|
| GERS fund, which 1 had taken over, was
only $500, and there was an outstand-
| ing debt Of $500 that must be discharg-
| ed. The problem was how to do it. I
| canvassed the situation thoroughly I
consulted every person from whom I
| thought l might obtain the slightest
1nkling Of enlightenment, but no one
could help me.
/ Then did what every other officer
! In my dilemma would have done. I
sent out a circular begging telegram
| Then 1 sent out letters; and these
| reached all the officers on the island
They responded nobly and soon I had
enough to go ahead with an idea that
had been assuming definite shape in
! my mind for some time
| L went to the commanding officer Of
| the post and obtained his permission
and 1t must have been my enthusiasm
rather than the feasibility of my plan
that appealed to him and secured his
! permission, for l recollect the smile Of
| incredulity that curled his lips as I re-
cited my plans in an eager manner to
him.
My first step was to send letters to
all the posts asking the commanding
officer for the names Of the very best
minstrel men, end men, singers clog
| gers and the like, among their troops
! They all responded to this as well.
Then l obtained permission from my
! commanding officer to have these men
brought to Tayug and entered on the
! muster roll of our command. This was
| done, also.
Trained Their Voices.
Then the band master and I went
to work on these fellows, and together
we whipped their voices into shape in
no time. Car1ambo, how they could
sing! 1t was like the rolling cadence
Of some vast organ with all it's reeds
| in absolute harmony. I wrote several
! sketches descriptive of the lot of the
soldier in the islands, and these were
! studied up, and soon the elimination of
my hard-wrought plans was at hand.
1 got permission to dispatch a man
TO Manila with full instructions as to
| what We required; and soon he return
ed with a complete department store
full of stuff bought of the Chinese mer-
| chants of the capital. I set all the
native tailors in the place, as well as
our own men, at work making the cos
| tunes we needed, and our wardrobe
was In readiness before we We're pro-
nounced fit for our work by the band
| master. So good were these costumes
that many thought we had sent to
Hongkong for them
! My scheme, you will probably have
! guessed, was to form a minstrel troupe
and give performances for a nominal
sum of admission. But where we were
to give this performance was more
| than L could figure OUT My enthusi-
asm failed me at this fnsurmountable
problem. AT least to me, with my lack
Of mechanical ability, 1t seemed to be-
inSurmountable.
THE first thing we must have was a
stage-and what do you think we made
1t of? Bread boxes! Yes, sir, bread
boxes, over which was stretched
huge tarpaulin to hide the crudeness
of the thingi The curtain was easy
we sewed together pieces Of tent cloth:
and, as we had several very good paint
ers in the troupe, we did not lack for
! scenery
| "The matter of seats troubled us
| somewhat. Several of the prospective
auditors objected to the proposed man
| ner of seating. We had intended to
| have them all one height and the prices
the same. But to this they strenuous
| ly objected, saying that it would not
| be fair for these behind. So we rene
| died this by having the front row sit
| on the ground. The next row we seat
ed on sacks Of flour laid on side; the
next was two rows high. and the next
| three. After that we fixed things as
| well as we could.
4 For footlights we took the tin boxes
in which had been shipped hard bread
| from the states. With large pair Of
| shears we slit one side, turned back
| the portions, and the inside made a
| magnificent reflector. In each of these
| was placed several candles, and, as
we had about twenty boxes in com
| mission, there was plenty Of illumina-
ton.
1.-The men had not been paid for
three months-the very situation de-
| sired to exist. You know one can sell
/ q IN