The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-02-17
Visited the Philippines, Ties
Up at Yokohama.
Experienced Severe Storm at
Sea; Fully Satisfied.
Interesting Letter From One
Who Has Seen Much.

From Thursdays Daily
William Koke is in receipt of the fol-
lowing letter from his son, Will, dated
Dee. 20, '04, at sea:
"By the time this letter reaches you
/ hope to be at the end of my des-
tination, thirty-iive miles from Masbati,
Nasbati Island, p. l., where We expect
to build the dredge. We sailed from
Seattle on Dec. l3 and encountered bad
weather nearly all the way. Today,
Dec. %, has been the best day since we
started and not any too pleasant at
that. Dec. l6 we had terrible hurri-
cane which might have been the end of
us. l never thought it would get so
rough. The ship, which is a Japanese
liner, $50 feet in length, and 800 tons,
was tossed about like a cork. Our cap
tain said he couldn't remember when
he saw such a sea. The seas ran
mountain high and washed clear over
the highest part of the vessel, smashing
in stateroom doors and filling the rooms
with water. The room next to mine was
smashed in by the seas, which also car
ried away the guard rail- Luckily for
me, | quit my room and moved into
the dining saloon, and by moving from
place to place, managed to keep dry
during the night. / did not try to
sleep, for the way the wind howled was
enough to scare sleep out of almost
any one. l have often expressed de-
sire to witness a storm at sea, but
in the future an oil painting will do
very nicely.
''We have lot of Filipinos on board,
going back from st. Louis to Manila.
We had a funny experience this trip by
not having Christmas. On the oath
we arrived at the $50 meridian and
we jumped from the Gath to the 26th
of December. They celebrated Christmas
by giving us champagne dinner on the
26th
''Will finish when we arrive at Yoko-
hama which will be in day or two.
yokohama, Japan, Jan. l., 'O5.-We
got here all safe and made port Sun
day noon, Jan. /. We did not take
the regular course on account of the
Russian cruisers. Our cargo consisted
principally of flour, canned beef and pig
lead, and would have been a rich prize
for Russian man-o'war. Besides sail
ing in a different course, we were
blown 600 miles off our route by the
hurricane and for twenty -four hours
were only able to make fifteen miles,
which accounts for being over due.
Il went ashore Immediately after
our ship got in, and saw the sights.
We could not have come here in bet
ter time, for the natives are ating
New Years, which lasts all this week.
They are also celebrating the fall of
Port Arthur. The city is all decorated
flags of all nations, except the Rus
sian flag.
monday 1 ran up to Tokyo by train.
It's only an hours ride from Yokohama
They have the German railway system,
first, second and third class coaches.
Tokyo is the capital city of Japan. 1t
has nearly 100000 inhabitants The
streets are very narrow but well kept.
Horses are quite curiosity here There
are very few street cars. 1 don't know
where they would put them on most
streets. They have what they call the
jinrickasha, a two-wheeled cart pulled
by a man. You can hire them for 10
cents per hour. They take you all over
the city on a dog trot. TIT almost i'm
possible to get rid of them. l went
ashore yesterday just to take walk
around town and one fellow followed me
for two hours. He knew well enough
as soon as / got tired I'd give him a
job. They are very trustworthy and
can be depended upon if you 60 into a
place. No matter how long you stay, the
moment you come out he's Johnnie on
the spot
81 expect it will be about fifteen days
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