Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1913-05-08
The Hopkins Letters
Fifteen Years Ago

My Dear Mother:
AS you will see by the letter mead
above have got a new job. | am
here on special duty as s1enographer
for General Macarthur. | am unable
to say at This time whether ! Will be
able to hold the job, for the reason
that we are liable to go to war with
the natives any time. Night before
last, two natives tried to kill one OF
our sentiHrls on the outpost, but fail
ed. One native is dead and the
whereabouts of the other unknown.
Yesterday there was a street excite
ment. | do not know what was the
cause, but in a moment rigs of all
descriptions were flying over the city,
orderlies We're whipping their horses
from one place to another, officers
ran bareheaded into the street to see
What was up. There are a good
many natives working in this build
ing in various capacities, and in less
than. half a minute there was not a
Niger in the building or on the yard.
All these natives are connected with
the insurgent army. Our %ou1posts
are right up against the insurgents,
and every day there is friction OF
some sort or other. At this time it
seems to me that all it needs is the
spark to start the fire and then We
u;ll l.-, Ia, 80 .~llSo.;,, ~ L~DJ
] hope We will not have any trouble
with these natives as there will be
an awful slaughter, perhaps. on both
sides, but whatever happens | am
ready to do my part. When | took
this position | made a stipulation thar
in case OF hostilities breaking out
was to go with my company. We are
all supplied with bandages to be used
on the battlefield. If there is any
fighting our regiment will be in it, as
we are the first regiment on the fir
ing line. Major General Otis says
we are the best regiment on the is
land. We furnish the guard for Gen.
eral Otis, General Miller and General
Hale, besides a detail of four to eight
men from each company for outpost
duty every other day and our reg
mental guard, so you see there is a
great deal of guard duty. All troops
are held in quarters all the time with
blanket-bags packed and two hundred
rounds of ammunition ready to form
in ten minutes. Tie temper Of the
men is in the finest kind Of shape for
fighting. You know, if you tie a dog
up he viii get ugly.
Aguinaldo has issued a proclama-
tion8in which he makes a very hard
kick against the sovereignty of AM
erica in these islands. He makes
some sort of a claim that the Am
orleans are not dealing fairly with
him. My impression is that he would
like to establish a monarchy here,
with himself at the head. These
Philippines are not fit for self govern
ment now, and it will be a long time
before they are as there are. three
hundred years of Spanish m~is-rule
and oppression to overcome. In ad-
dition to this, the natives who live
TALLY civilized. They have a few of
the, elements of civilization; raise a
good deal of their food, and make
some of the few things they need. In
the interior they wear no clothes, IN
til they are nearly grown, and then
only a single garment made of cocoa
nut fibre or some other coarse ma
terial. Some of the interior tribes
are ~canibals. Even here it is no un-
common sight to see children around
clad only. as Bill Nye said, lin their
flowing thoughts" Imagine a people
of this kind establishing a republic"
Last week / experienced the sensa-
ton of being before a summary court.
Another non-commissioned officer
came along and shot off his mouth to
me, and shot my mouth off to him,
and first thing I knew he handed me
II a pulCll hNSo, dS We say i LIZ
army. / then went after him, to the
best Of my ability, and put a head on
him. Well. then he ran down and
reported me to the officer of the
guard. We We're both placed under
arrest in quarters for a few days then
taken up for trial before q summary
court. We We're fined two dollars and
a half each, then the court reprimand-
ed the other fellow for starting the
fight, and also for reporting it. | am
stiIl a corporal, but ! understand that
the other fellow has been reduced by
his captain.
The health Of u Company is ex-
c~eptionally good. There were several
days this month when there was no
one On the sick book, and ait this time
We have nc one in our Company who
is in any way seriously IA. Ny own
health is splendid, and I never felt