Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-02-04

before crossed one of those two points,
or who cannot show a certificate to that
effect. We crossed the 1S0th meridian
on Friday the 18th. hence we dropped
Saturday the 10th from the calendar,
jumping from the 18th to Sunday the
goth; all on board the 'Buford' only
having % days in the month of Sep
TENDER, instead of so. That being the
case Sunday morning the Goth was set
for the initiation. King Neptune is
one of the sailors or passengers Ga
Capt. of the 26th Inf. enroute to
Manila in this case) dressed as hid
eously as possible, with long flowing
beard like Father Time, and he has
four followers as assistants, who are
| dressed in the same manner. The
candidates are brought before King
Neptune one by one and he gives
sermon of foolishness. They are then
passed up to his followers who are on
the platform about twelve feet above
his head. They are there placed on
stool with their backs to tank of wa
ter from IS to 20 feet deep. While sit
ting on the stool the act of shaving
the candidate is gone through. mix
| ture of red paint, soap, grease and
land knows what is applied to the face
with a large whitewash brush, little
caring Whore the mixture goes, in
eyes, mouth, ears, in fact everywhere.
| feet long is produced and while the
shaving process is under way the can
| didate is suddenly hurled backward
| into the tank of water, and left to get
oct the best way he can 1t does no
! good to. resist as all are initiated, by
! force or otherwise, there being enough
| helpers to do the work up good. There
/ was one captain on board who thought
| he would be 1T off easy if he dressed
| in his best clothes. so he took off his
uniform and appeared on deck in
white boiled shirt. a standing collar, a
| blue silk necStie, a pair of blue serge
pants and highly polished shoes. The
result was that he was the first spot
ted. and he was ducked, shoes, clothes,
and all. l was one Of the last and
hence did not get the dose that some
did, as they We're in q hurry to get
| through and had run out of paint, or
soap as they called it.
Visits Guam.
We anchored in the Bay outside of
Guam Sunday noon September 81, and
had our l30 tons of cargo for that
| place unloaded by ten o'clock that
night ready to sail the following
morning at five o'clock. AS ] had been
told that Guam was a very barren is
Hand, ] did not have any desire to land
other than to say that | had touched
nv foot on that island, as there are
few people outside of army and navy
people who can say that, as only the
! United States transports stop there
it being out of the course of all regu-
lar steamship lines. In the evening al
the invitation of the third officer OF
the ship and the chief stewart, l went
ashore to see the cable boys at that
place and spent very pleasant three
hours. / was surprised at the beauty OF
the island when l landed and was
sorry ! had not landed in the day time
and seen the entire place. The towr
of 10000 inhabitants Gall natives with
the exception of the governor and his
staff. who were navy officers) was To-
Gated about ten miles from the cable
station. I was informed by one of the
cable boys that the island was cele-
brated for cocoanut market; in fac
1t was stated chat one native farmer
had a farm of 10000 trees, each o
which netted him an income of $1.00 ;
year. l would not like to be stationed
at Guam / assure you, it being too re-
mote. There are about sixteen youns
fellows stationed there and only on
white woman, who is the wife of Thu
chief operator. The only excitemen
they have is the arrival of the u. S. A
transports which touch the island one
a month
Sees the Fleet.
AS stated early Monday morning W.
, started on the last stretch of our Jour
ney. We arrived in the Bay of Manila
, about noon Saturday October 3 1905
without incident. When coming int
[ the bay beautiful, as we'll as impos
l ing sight met our gaze. There in tn
} harbor, drawn up in a perfect doubl
line. We're sixteen of Uncle Sans bat
! tleships, the same that had made sue
long cruise around the world. 1t wa
grand sight, and if the United State
: had just such a navy in both seas sh
/ need never fear of losing control c
a ( both the land and water Little did
, think, when reading of the celebra
!, tons they We're having in honor of tn
i fleet last May in San Francisco. that
!. would have the pleasure Of seeing tn
: ships so soon. They had arrived !
e the harbor the day before, and Manil
/ was planning on entertaining the sea
a men in great style; in fact. had dc
= claied Saturday a holiday throughol
the city in honor of the event.
0 great disappointment, however, was
store for both the seamen and II
people of Manila, inasmuch as tt
sailors We're not allowed shore leav
e owing to the cholera epidemic whic
s was predominating throughout the is
p lands BY the time the quarantir
- officers were through with us and W
S it was one o'clock and when the Gu:
n tom officers had inspected our has
: gage it was five o'clock. The 26th il
e fantriy band met us at the wharf as
IF welcome to two of their captains WI
!" had been to the States to be marie
if and had brought their brides bat
70 with them. The music sounded fin
o, 1t being the first since leaving Hol
v olulu we had heard. Under any CT
It cumstances it would have sound
ar fine, as the 26th Infantry band is t
q best on the islands. if not In the arm
d Search for Hotel.
= The Nevada hotel had been recon
~. ~ mended to us, SO when we were a
~ lowed to leave the dock we went
70 that place only to find that 1t was flu
- - there not being a single empty roo
.. We therefore went to the Delmonic
~ ~ where We succeeded in getting t
~ last two vacant rooms they had. ON
= ing to the arrival of the ships of w
VI there We're great number of visitc
IN in Manila, and nearly all of the hote
w were crowded. This being the case,
&c were lucky in getting what we did.
u the hotel was one of the best in t
=, city.
IN Sunday Octoher 1Q0S Manila VI,