The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-21
FORMER ALABAMA
 GIRL WR|TESFROM
 FAR DISTANT JOLO Gives Delightful Description
 of Life Among Ameri-
 cans on the Island WEEK FROM MANILA:
 TWO BOATS A MONTH Letter Gives Especially Intimate Glimpses of Home Life As It Was Not Originally Written for Publication

cavalry, United States army, now sta
 tioned at Jolo, Island of Jolo. Mrs. Sir
 myer was formerly Mss Margaret Moore
 of Auburn, Ala and has numerous
 friends in Birmingham and other Ala
 bama cities who will read with interest this sketch of army post life in the fsr-off
 Philippines. The sirmyers have spent
 several years in the Philippine service.
 They have two Neautiful boys. The inti-
 mate style of the letter is due to the fact that 1t was written to the family with no thought of publication.
 Augur Barracks, Jolo Jolo, P l., May l4 1912 My dearest People:
 Well. here goes for a lette from our new station We have been iiere a week and day; left Camp McGrath Thurs day May ?, with four troops and head quarters for Jolo, and two troops with | major in command for Camp Overton. | Island of Mindinao The trip down was perfect as far as the sea and comforts | of the boat were concerned. We had Q lovely stateroom, better than anything I fin the big transports; we had four hunks , and long settee and plenty of room We landed here Monday afternoon and came ashore to look around, but slept in : Aht ppdi Ahsil ibHilt. we CdlIle dSnOTb 1 for keeps" carly Tuesday morning: got | a lovely house and went right to work getting settled. We went to the mess at the club for lunch and dinner. but | had breakfast at home the next morn | ing. I brought my houseboy and his wife (for nurse) from McGrath and Cap
 tain Fitch had secured an excellent | 'Chno" cook for HIS.
 | The Jolo houses are lovely, better than lan fy. ha fcIa I L | body here lives in the second story the lower floor being used for store rooms, servants. baths, kitchen. etc. Our house Is built right over, the sea wall At high tide the water is quite deep underneath, and at low tide none at all except t the back, where 1t Is | quite shallow. The splash Is useful and the breezes cool and refreshing There are only three houses of this grade, and Capt. S- ranking third among the officers of the regiment we 1 fall heir to one of them. The house | Is roomy. halls spacious. and upper | and lower porches running entirely | around, adorned with masses Of lux
 uriant ferns, air plants and orchids. | The exterior walls are painted green, l the roof red
 The fire trees everywhere. with vines and orchids clinging in great profu- sion, make the town truly a beautiful place.
 The post is the town. there being scarcely anyone here except army peo- pie and civil government forces with the inevitable chinos and Indians who keep stores for the Americans. And such prices Ye gods It will cost us double what 1t used to- 10 live here This Is the Moro country and ev- erybody goes armed. Capt S--'s of
 flee is outside the walls surrounding
 the town. so he straps his pistol on ev- cry time he goes out. There Is no danger except when a juramentado is
 loose. or wild Moro runs amucS."
 Mrs. Fitch says 1t is like bolt of light
 ming. you never can tell when or where
 it will strike. If a man is armed and
 sees a juramentado coming he has some
 chance to live; if not armed he has no
 showing whatever.
 juramentado pronounced "hura-
 mentado") is a man who wants to die.
 He slaves his head and eyebrows, straps a "g string" tight around him.
 takes his knife. and goes out on the
 warpath 10 kill a Christian; then he
 dies forgiven of all his sins They
 don't touch women or children because we have no soulsl
 A mar who runs amuck' Is one who
 has a sudden desire to die and feels that
 he must kill a Christian before he dies
 in order to be saved The juramentado
 must go to the priest before he can go
 on the warpath and sometimes a warning
 is given that one is a large, but not al-
 ways Every Moro that comes through
 the gates Is searched before he is allowed
 to come into the town. and they all have
 to be out at retreat f6 D. m.)
 Guards are stationed everywhere. two and two, 10 psces apart, one with pistol one with gun. Last night we were awak- ened by the fire cal--pistol shots and a big gun.
 Captain S. rushed into his clothes and flew to the scene The town Is so com pactly built and so infammabe that a fire would be awful thing The chl- dren and were horribly scared. but soon Captain S. returned and reported that it was only Chinls lighting his bakery fire.
 There is an infantry post about half mile from here-three officers and one woman out there. with two companies of soldiers The whole post is surrounded by a barbed wire fence. There is lot of barbed wire about some of the quar- ters in the other side of town, over near Tulia and the market.
 There Is a native "barrio' built right out in the sea back of our house about three blocks" away The Moros there are friendly. That village is named Bus Bus
 me lsid1Q oif JOlD ls oniy li U11leS long. It used to be called Suld. and the Sultan's old palace is near. We can see it from our back porch. I shall go horseback riding soon, but well attended, as no one ever puts their nose outside these walls without two armed guards
 You will note from a sketch enclosed that our house. with those on either side are outside the wall, but we have a guard day and night. pacing from the soldiers down to Colonel Kingsbury's and back. No one seems to be the least bit afraid, or nervous. and probably will not feel so unless we have trouble with the Moros.
 The Second cavalry. whom we relieved, had terrible things to happen. Lieu tenant Rooney walked out on the road leading to the infantry post one after noon with his little girl, unarmed, which was against army rules. and 1urarnen- tado sprang from behind a bush Lieu tenant Rooney knocked the man down, and had he been armed. could have shot terly helpless and was soon cut to death with the terrible "barang" carried hy the native The guard could not shoot because the child was in the way.
 The Moro was killed, of course, al- though he didn't touch the child The lieutenant should have gone armed and with two guards a. least
 My letters will be much less frequent than at Camp McGrath. There we were only five hours from Manila: here w.e are a week from Manila, with only two or thrar boats a month. Our d,yn are long.