The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-08-20
.SchofieId ! Regiment Met Filipino
lirBulIets With ReaiiEn-
.g2eHii' thusiasrn '..f. y "> ,
BATTLE INTERRUPTED rH4
A7BASEBALI DISCUSSION
General Blocksom Inspeots Force
Twenty Years Later and
Pronounces It 0. K.
BY A. p. TAYLOR

Il
ment Of colored soldiers ever get to
France, will il know just. how to buck
the kaiser's line for touchdownf 1t
certainly win, but it win think in
terms Of baseball rather than of foot
ball, for baseball is the 25th s middle
name. .s
! I saw the old regiment do some fight
ling down in the Philippines in the good
old q Empire Days. fas the old-time
lofiieers still refer to 1898 and 1899
when Aguinaldo and Pho Pillar and a
lot of other scrappy Filipinos were
buzzing like hornets around the Amer
lean forces, and making them lose a
lot Of sleep. .|
But IL seems that baseball and fight
ing are never to be separated from the
25th 3 activities. Where il got the
baseball fever, which has never been
eliminated from it's system, probably
only candy" Burt ever knew. But it
got this fever over in the "states" 3"
long before II ever went over to the
Philippines.
Long Legged ANDY
"Andy" Burt, by the way, was Colo
mel Andrew Burt, U. s. A, for long
| years commander of what he said was
'the best regiment in the army" He
was baseball fiend. It was contagious
and the 25th caught the infection. Colo
nei ANDY, when not administering
the laws and regulations of the United
States Army in the regiment, was fig
nring out baseball scores and sizing up
his next seasons nine and seeing to it
that the baseball equipment was as
complete as the arms. There is a story
THAT once candy" got so enthusiastic
that be believed he could play on a sack
ON the diamond better than one of the
men, and one day donned a uniform.
"Andy'' batted one, n good hot lin.
or somewhere out in the war garden and
then started to leg it. Baseball is a
leveler Of titles and rank. Baseball
knows no distinctions of persons when
4 they are I'M baseball uniform. And
then from the side lines came the melli
fluous tones Of q coacher: "Go II
Andyl Run yuh long g-legged sonsof.a
guni Run yuh-"
| And then Andy quit. He remember
ed that he was colonel; well, after
that, he contented himself with picking
the team.
i And 80 II happened one day down al
La Iona, near Caloocan, along that
famous line which the volunteers estab
lished from the Water Works through
Caloocan and La Iona and further, and
topposite them was long line of Fill
lpinos.
Baseball Stun in Church
La Iona church was semi athedral
really a mortuary church, for it wa!
surrounded by a high, wide wall, full
of oven-ike inches in which were de
posted the coffins containing the dead
General Burt established his headquar
ters in the church and his office anC
sleeping room was the vestry, the doOl
opening out on wide field covered will
long grass and rdshes and probably
fifteen hundred yards away was a for
Fest and in this forest were General PIT
Pillars Filipinos.
The church proper was a hospital ant
ladjutant's Office and general lobby.
Ibig hole in the dome and a SMASHED
Lpillar, near the altar showed where
Eshell from one of Dewey's vessels haG
landed one day-4a shot that fell shor
when it was intended for their forest
D On day candy" was getting read,
, for some baseball, The big box con
tanning the equipment was opened IL
, the nave of the church. Cots were oc
cupied by i'll soldiers. Out came tn
masks and gloves and balls and bats
The prospective team men were an
xiously waiting to be listed.
Jackson, l DOM think you can pla
third; no siree," said the general, an
q jaw dropped. And so Andy fixed u
his nine and
= Regiment In Action
H. Just then came the rata -tat-tat O
rifle firing the bullets plunked agains
3 the heavy walls of the church. aBugle
sounded, the general dropped a baseba
: and rushed to the vestry where he buck
] led on his belt and revolver. The sic
soldiers left their cots, donned un
q forms and rushed out to join their con
panies. Headquarters was alive in a
b instant. The writer grabbed Kra
= which had bayonet attached; the
= lifted a belt, also containing bayOne
= from a wall peg, and with this arsent
: started out through breach in the wa
upon which Capt. J. P. ONeil, now
n brigadier- general on the French from
+ stood sweeping the fields with h
o glasses. He had time, however, to sc
the walking arsenal pass through tn
y breach and whistle, "Johnny, get you
gun and your sword and your pistol
!, whereupon a part of the ordnance wa
i dropped.
A battery at that instant, which wa
l. masked in front of the wall, barke
Q and shell tore through the rushes an
exploded in the center of the field. Th
guns were served rapidly and, bein
worked fanwise, swept the rushes whic
= were then filed with Filipinos. The
: had been discovered by an alert sci
try and that started the fun.
}. The regiment, by companies, VIZ
o soon in motion and started forward, IL
o men stopped to work the same mCthC
!, the Filipinos had begun. Then came
Q yell, for a company had come almo
,. In contact with Filipinos and sturted
I, rush them. II didn't last lou5., TT
n Iilipinos broke and fled for, the fore
aud diaanneaFed The AmericrD troon