The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 16, 1898, Page 14

ndermatt, Canton Url, ars 11 mont! lley Lodge No. 30, A. ative of nd, aged 47 ember of Va aintances are respect- the funeral this day 3 late resi- . Anthony's . near Folsom, where a mass will be celebrated soul, commencing at t Holy Cross Cemetery. , the officers and members of No. 30, A. O. U. W.—Brothers: y notified to attend the funeral - brother, Frank Russi, this d »m_his late Golden Gt s. H will e of city John and uncle of . a native hs and 4 | 1] SENSATION S OF THE SOLDIER IN HIS FIRST FIGHT Vivid Description by a California Volunteer Who Was at the Taking of Manila. aged 60 years 3 months and | \ Says There Is Little Romance ip Life at Front, but No Order Is More Welcome Than That to Attack. BY CORPORAL the American boy ever lived not at one time or another had h fan captured and his ambition arous- — | ed by tales of war and martial heroism. . October 1. andia, Dowdel 13 days from hingvalla, from Copen- GENOA helm H Stmr Welmar, for a York. — e REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS. | s from Ma- | .| Since the commenceme Oct 15—Stmr Augusta | Loeber to ne Erzgraber, re- Cathe n E line o 'ourth ave on ornia street south (Deeth), | 0 W of ; $1 o Charlotte Brumund (wife), of Forty-ninth ave and I ; $10 onislawa. act No. | Craut, E | | Everything pointed toward a big fight S1i to Moses H. . Dean to same, nistrator) any and and James W. Dean to same, Alameda County. J M A rt to Tonea F. , Tract B, Berk vement Associat n, Young to Minor Second street, 260 the N it block , Brooklyn Bank 2% ald to Alameda Savings f Ce 973 SE lots Nof ent of mortgage tr s, lot on W line Seventh, 8 2 by of lot 18 and S Oakland; $10. 1li{ams to Thomas corner of Twelfth an 109, ‘block 168, Oax- Hackett, Mack ar - vided half int following: Lot on line of Fourt 100 W of Oak, W by 8 160, block 187, and; also lot on NW corner of Twelfth and Oak_streets, W 150 by N 100, block 168, Oakland; $10. ¥ 2 “Theodore Wollitz to Frank Telchmann, re- record . lots 45 and 49, block 10, resub- diviston of blocks 10 and 11, Howe Tract, Oak- land Annex: $10. Kate Bliven to Annie B. line of Bancroft way, 101 W W 48 by S 150, College Humestead Assoclatic 1o cormact deed of ¢ 1, 1808, Berkeloy 100, W. F. and Effle L. Kroll to William B. Quig- ley lof o N lne of Sixth street, 100 1o ‘Brush,- E 2% by N 100, being lot 27, bl Onkland: 6. Jgck William B. and Isabella E. Quigley to Meth- odist Episcopal Church Extension Soclety of Voorhles, ot on S waiteh street, Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley, same, Oak- land; $10. Albert W. and Emma E. Stilwell to Willlam * H. Weilbye, lot on N line of Eighteenth street, 1% W of Telegraph avenue, W 25 by N 113, being lot 6, Campbell Tract, Oakland: $i0. J. Quinlan vs. P. Roach St. et al. (by A. H. Breed, réferee) to Thomas Evers, lot 22, block -4, lands Oakland Point Railroad Ferry Land- ing in Tract 406, Oakland; $400. James Warner et al, (by commissioner) to Union Savings Bank, lot on SW corner of Cen- tral avenue or Twelfth street and Oakland street, W 150 by S 100, block 185, Oakland; v | 1 dor’t suppose there ever existed in { America or any other country a man | or woman for whom the tale of a hattle did not hold a shuddering fascination. literature held for me terest contained between the calfskin had finished readine the some battle like Waterloo, Austerlitz, Gettysburg or Shiloh, or had come to the conclusion of a tale recounting the downfall of a Metz or a Sedan, 1 would close the volume and let my imagina- | tion try to picture for my entertain- ment an actual scene of battle, while I would try to conceive what my own action and while under fire. nt of our op- erations against Manila I, in company with the rest of the regiment, have been two engagements, which, though small, were exceedingly sharp, have been shot at a score of times and have taken part in a campaign which | has resulted in the capture of a forti- jed city containing over two hundred thousand inhabitants, and defended, before our own guns got in their deadly by over fourteen thousand sol- most of whom were veterans. I have tried to analyze my own feelings, which I find on inquiry were about the same as the feelings of every other man in the regiment, and if it will interest | you at all I will try, while giving you a short account of the assault on Manila, 1o tell in a crude way of the sensatic which are felt by a man in the ranks when he is first under fire. First, of that which has been written about battle, etc., is so much bosh. 1 hav read many accounts purporting to give a faithful account of a soldie lite, both in tke camp and on the field, and unless the men of thirty or forty y ago were of 2 different ciay fr-m the men of to-day they are about as mis- | leading as a vivid and romantic imag- an make them. A soldier's life in camp is one long, monotonous routine of ha and J eeable werk, filled with sickness and comfort and clouded with a sordid- which th seldom ination ness th ough y breaks eves the faintest glimmer of anything gloricus. As for the romance, 11, that comes in when the vet n irns bcme and lies to nis sweetheart | fcGaw, | about the great things he iid at the 1n camp everything is as pracii- ine and a rematical f scanty rations zan make return to the fail of Manila and th second regular enguagenricnt participaics 1u by the Califoriia Volun- teers The assault took place on Saturday, August 13. On the previous Thursday e went out to take our twenty-four- hour turn in guarding the trenches. front. cal a; in the near future, and from the work we were ordered to perform most of the boys came to the conclusion that the bombardment would open on the following (Friday) morning. We passed | the whole night waiting amid the rain ‘W 1ine of | Telief arrived and we in a state of sopping expectation for the coming of the dawn. The dawn came at last, but that was all that did come, save a few scattering Spanish bullets, and at the regular hour our , turning our backs on the trenches, marched to camp and rest. On Friday afternoon orders for the cooking of extra rations, distribution of ammunition, etc., commenced to ar- rive, and finally, about sundown, the | news that we were to make the assault on the morrow became a confirmed cer- tainty. ted to witness a great deal m, cheering and all the sort of thing one about and is conjured up before one's mind by poetry and song of “The Night Before the Battle, Mother” variety. There was nothing of the kind. A little cheering did take place, but only a lit- tle. The boys received the news just about as they would have received any general order. First with a little buz- zing discussion in a general conclave and then, breaking up into groups of three or four, they walked to their tents talking about the prospects of the scrap and separating shortly to clean their arms and get their accouterments in proper condition. Their whole de- meanor was a businesslike one, and as devoid of anything in the romantic line it could possibly be. The morning came all too soon for a fellow who wanted a good, long sieep, and wanted it badly. But quickly as the dawn appeared the cooks were up before it, and when we turned out at reveille a steaming hot breakfast of bacon and coffee awaited us. Men fight best as they make love best—on a full stomach, and for once we got all we wanted to eat. Dishes were has- tily washed, blanket bags and belts strapped on and the boys, rifle in hand, stood ready and expectant, awaiting the order to fall in. But it did not come. A burst of music issued from the camp in our rear and soon the head of a column emerged from the city of tents and, with a band playing gayly in its front, marched past us and dis- appeared in the woods toward the fir- ing line. We cheered these fellows to the echo as they passed us ana the boys, turning away, stood ready for the long expected assembly to sound, as we supposed that we would be the next to go. But we were doomed to disappointment. Body after body of troops came out of the white ant hill in our rear and were lost in the brush in our front, and still we remained im- patiently idling about our company street. Then one could perceive how much in earnest the fellows were and get some idea of the feverish turmolil in the hot young blood running under their bronzed skins. As each succes- sive troop filed past our company street the men in its ranks would jeer at our boys and tell them to be sure and keep the camp kettles bofling, as they would want a nice hot supper when they had finished whipping the Spaniards. 4 The poor fellows from San Franclisco 4 MANILA, Sept. 4—I don't suppose | who, above and beyond everything else, has 1 know, for my own part, nothing in | ne-half the in- | covers of a history, and often, when I} account of | ations would be before going into | i | would like to say that the greater part ars | the FRED A. HEALY, Special Correspondence of The Call. at first attempted to answer, but, as it became more and more apparent that they were to be left behind, their laugh- ter dwindled down to sickly smiles which, subsiding, gave way in turn to an expression of bitter humiliation and keen disappointment. “H—” said one fellow.” *“We have worked like slaves and starved like castaways and now | | they won't even give us a chance to get a shot at’™ But he was mistaken. The First Cali- fornia was to receive plenty of shots before nightfall. Finally, Anderson suddenly made his appear- ance, and the shrill, stirring notes of | the assembly floated out on the air. I | have seen men fall in many times since | I joined the army, but I have never | witnessed anything like the prompti- tude with which that call was obeyed. Men came out of their tents as though propelled by a catapult, and a regu- lar race for the end of the street en- sued, the boys fairly falling over one another in their eagerness to fall in, while the whole field rang with their wild cheering. but when we once started no time was lost. and then the marched ters, where the flag joined us and where our chaplain, Father McKinnon, blessed us and gave us absolution. It was a sight never to be forgotten. The flag, its folds gracefully drooping about its staff as though it rested in prepar- tion for the work it knew was to come; the chaplain, standing between it and the ranks he was addressing and exhorting by everything they held whole regiment was world to come to act like men In the work before them, and promising them destiny should be death, and lastly, the long, brown ranks stretching from end to end of the encampment, bare head- ed, reverent and resolute, longing for the commencement of the action, not- withstanding the death and carnage which must accompany it. When Father McKinnon had con- cluded we were marched in columns of | fours to the right of our camp, where |the column. turning to the left, marched past the fringe of bamboo lining the front of our encamp- ment, and took up our position as re- serve in the open flelds in front. We were lined up in battalion forma- tion, our left resting a short distance from the beach and our lines stretching across to the Calle Real, or Royal Road, on our right. Ahead of us we could see great masses of troops drawn up in similar forma- tion resting on their arms and awaiting the opening of the ball. I don’t know what weight the other troops carried into battle with them, but I do know our load of ammunition, rifle and ra- tions amounted to nearly sixty pounds, altogether too heavy a load for troops to go into action with. As soon as we had reached our position we were halt- ed, arms were stacked and rubber blankets thrown over them to protect them from the light rain which was falling, while the boys, unslinging their blanket bags with the heavy loads of ammunition and rations, proceeded to make themselves comfortable while waiting for the bombardment to begin. I have often heard of the sensations which animate a man under similar conditions. I cannot speak for other but lack of sensation more than any: thing else would express what I did not feel. The humid heat was sométhing terrible. My whole body was reeking with perspiration, which was helped along by my canteen, the stopper of which had come out, and which was iy emptying its contents of hot cof- down my legs. I was tired, wet, hot and uncomfortable, and I did not par- ticularly care what happened so long as something did occur which would change my condition. My back was aching from the load it was forced to bear, and my shoulders where the straps passed over were raw. The only sensation I had was one of relief as I sank down on the wet ground and watched the native boys passing along the lines with trays of bananas and oranges, which they tried to sell to the troops. The boys about me were smok- ing, laughing, joking and conversing about the coming battle. Our officers stood in little groups in our rear and talked together. Colonel Smith and a few other officers had disappeared from sight “in the fringe of trees that stretched along the sandy beach and hid the water from our sight. They had gone down to the shore to witness the opening of the bombardment. In a word, the whole scene was just such a one as one would see at a review in the Presidio while the troops were resting for a few moments. ‘We had rested for but only a few moments when b-o-om—the sound of a great gun burst through the fringe of the trees and passed along our lines, while In the same moment the wild whirring and shrieking of an eight- inch shell was heard, as it were, hurtling over our heads toward the Spanish in- trenchments. The effect of this first shot was very curious to note. A pro- found silence fell upon the ranks, cig- arettes and cigars were dropped, and the men’s faces suddenly assumed a different expression. They grew strained and hard in an instant. Wrinkles came into their brows, while lines which I had never noticed before stretched down past their nostrils and along the edges of their upper lips. Their jaws set hard together, and one could hear their respirations as they sucked their breath in as though straining it between their teeth. Out of their eyes all good humor and friendliness had vanished. They had grown cold and hard, while in their depths there glittered a strange sort of light. Yes, with that first shot a great change had come, and it was not pleas- ant to see. Following the initial shell came an- other, then another, and still others, in rapid succession. The Utah batteries in the trenches, which constituted our firing line, joined in, and the din be- came terrific. The nolse of the shoot- ing, terrible as it was, was nothing when compared to the horrible hum- ming and shrieking the shells made as they flew past us from the mouths of their cannon on the ships, which were stationed in the bay on our left and slightly to our rear. The fringe of trees, of which I have before spoken, hid everything from our view. We could only tell what was going on by our ears, and when the sharp, quick I about 9 o’clock, Brigadier | We had waited long, | more | We fell in, counted off | down in front of headquar- | dear in this world or hoped for in the | the forgiveness of their church if their | | FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16 rapping of the rapid-fire guns on the vessels commenced we knew that things were beginning to get close and warm in the Spanish trenches. As soon as the bombardment had be- come general and the boys had grown a little accustomed to the whizzing and whirring of the great shells over their heads they began to recover from their awe and to show up in their nat- ural colors. Some continued to listen in strained attitudes with tense nerves, which would jump at each explosion; some kept very quiet, as though think- ing deeply on what was in store for them; a few attempted to joke, but their humor was not appreciated, and their unechoed laughter seemed strange and lacking the quality of mirth. Men would reach for their rifles and then withdraw their hand, would suddenly get on their feet, look around in an aimless manner, and then as suddenly settle down in their former positions. Small things, which under ordinary circumstances would attract no attention, suddenly became matters of absorbing interest. I re- member I became more interested in a small dog just behind me which was diligently hunting for fleas than I have been in anything for a long time, and my anxiety as to the final outcome of his explorations was hardly less than his own. 1 also noticed that no one’s belt seemed to hang properly, nor did any one's clothes set comfortably on him. They both needed constant and oft-repeated adjustment. Inane re- marks and queries were common and excited no comment. Every man at the time considered himself perfectly cool, yet every action was eloquent of the strain and excitement under which he was laboring. ¥ Suddenly the firing from the ships ceased as abruptly as it commenced, and we saw our colonel riding toward our lines out of the fringe of trees along the beach. With his horse prancing under him, while he smiled and waved his sword above his head, he made the first and only martial picture, of the kind one reads about, I have seen since the beginning of the campaign. He came straight toward us on the gallop, but there was no need to tell us the order he was about to give. It was “forward.” Every man could see that written all over his features, and quick- | ly as he came the boys were still quicker and were on their feet, rifles in hand, cheering wildly ere he had reached the nearest files. The order came. “Battalion, forward!” com- manded Major Sine. “Company, for- ward!” re-echoed the captains and lieutenants of the different companies and the Second Battalion moved on- ward toward the firing line, following them, in regimental formation, the First Battalion and being followed in turn by the Third Battalion in its proper place. On we pressed, passing the troops we had seen and envied ear- lier in the morning as they passed out of the encampment before us. We now took the lead of them. Coming to a thick line of brush and trees the com- panies split up into squad formation and pressing onward through the brush, mud and water passed beyond | the support in the second line of| trenches, and kept on until they stood | in the first line of American trenches facing the Spanish breastworks a half mile away, on one portion of which the American flag was now floating. But| the order was still “Forward,” and the Californians, marching by the left, with the Second Battalion under com- mand of Major Sime in the lead, started out over the trenches and along the beach, marching in column of fours toward the outskirts of Manila, while Mauser bullets sang and whistled about their ears and spat into the sands at| their feet. On toward the Stars and Stripes, waving over what had once been Fort Malate, they went. A river flows into the bay a short distance in front of the fort. Into this we plunged up to our shoulders and waded across, while the Spaniards away to our right splattered the water into ouf faces with their badly aimed bullets. Crouching amid the ruins of Fort Malate we found a body of regular troops sheltering themselves and awaiting orders. We lay down -beside them for a few mo- ments to catch our breath, and here occurred the second inspiring sight of the day. One of the regimental bands, the one belonging to the Minnesotas I think, though I am not sure, came marching up to us, every man stand- ing erect and paying absolutely no heed to the bullets which fairly rained about them, while they played for dear life. The tune was ‘‘Dixie.” At the head, straight as an ash and as unconcerned as though on parade, marched their drum major, showing them the way. How the boys cheered them. And they deserved it, for their action was as gal- lant a one as has been performed dur- ing the whole campaign. But Fort Malate was merely the edge of the Spaniards’ outermost works, which had been reduced to a pile of crumbling ruins by the guns of the fleet. Manila was our objective point, and again came the command "‘For- ward.” The regiment sprang to its feet. The Second Battallon, with Company L, Captain Eggert commanding, in the lead, started onward and entered the outskirts of the city with a rush. From that moment until the fighting was all over I saw no more of the rest of the army. The Second Battalion followed its gallant colonel and major wherever they led, and their course, which was ever forward, was so rapid that even the scouts were passed and the balance of the army and regiment was left far in the rear. Captain Eggert, Lieutenant Curzons and Lieutenant Adler of L Company exhibited the highest gallantry, and the manner in which these gentlemen led their men along the shot-plowed streets right up to the very walls of old Ma- nila is still the talk of the city. Friend and enemy alike join in praising them and their little band of followers, while Major Hugh Sime, who alone and far ahead, led them all, is the hero of the hour. ‘We entered the suburbs over walis and fences and through gardens. We fought our way up streets, through houses and over barricades under a continual rain of rifle fire. Not a man in the entire company flinched for a minute. Not one weakened. You may criticize the San Francisco youth as you please. He has many faults, but cowardice is not among them. He is dead game. Lieutenant Curzons had charge of the firing line, and under his directiva the trocps sent volley after volley up the street. That they were well aimed the big splashes of blood and occasional bodies that were met as we advanced convineingly assured us. Gven here I witnessed nothing of that glorious enthusiasm which I had ex- pected to see. Men lowered their heads as though they were making their progress through a heavy storm of wind and rain, and advanced with a doggad determination and 2 coolness of de- meanor which was surprising. Thé only evidence of the excitement whici arnnated them came from the flashing of their eyes, which had lost that cold, stony glance produced by the first shot from the fleet, and now looked red and wicked and as though they were suf- fused with blood. A man becomes more or less me- chanical under such conditions. He knows he has been ordered to go up the street, and the idea that he must get there possesses his mind to the ex- clusion of all else, and the only desire he has is a wild, well-nigh uncon- trollable wish to kill some one or some- thing. He doesn’t care much who or what. I know at one time, while com- ing up the street, four or five of us went into a large, rambling barracks on one side of the road, and that we met a polite native who, standing in a doorway raised above the level of the ground by three stone Steps, informed us that the Spaniards Bad been there, but had left a few ments before. 1898. as ever knocked the head off a bottle, and have never before felt any desire to: slay any ome. Yet I strongly desired to kill that native who stood there un- armed, smiling, bowing and protesting his friendship. I had never seen him before, nor do I ever expect to see him again. I felt no hatred or enmity for the man. Yet only the strong restraint of discipline prevented me from send- ing a bullet crashing into his brain. 1 spoke to two of my comrades after the battle, and they told me they felt exactly as I did. 'Tis a good idea to keep out of the way when troops take a city. But to return to the assault. We continued up the street, Company L still far in the lead, advancing almost at a double quick despite the bullets which the Spaniards sent down upon our front and in on each flank from every cross street we passed in a vain endeavor to check our proeress. Half way up the thoroughfare on which we were advancing we came upon a small body of insurgents, who had appeared from God knows where, and who had taken shelter in a church, the bell of which they were wildly ringing, while they spasmodically shot their guns out of the doors and win- dows, pointing the muzzles carefully into the air before pulling the triggers. They greatly helped the confusion and heightened the effect of the scene, though I am afraid they did but little execution. Some of our boys wanted to fire upon them, but were restrained by the officers. ‘When we had advanced a little far- ther we came across a peppery little captain of regulars who had managed to get a few of his own men up toward the front. These he had pieced out with the help of a few stragglers from other regiments until the whole formed a small body of twenty or so, who were acting as scouts. As our boys came up to this gentleman and his hetero- geneous command he turned to a fellow by the name of Campbell, who was the first man in the first squad, and or- dered him back. Campbell paid no at- tention, but continued to push ahead. Then the rotund little, fire-eater drew a pistol and threatened to kill the first man who dared to advance ahead of him. The boys merely laughed at him and rushed past. He came along some- where or other in course of time. Shortly after this the firing com- menced to slacken and soon died away altogether. The streets became as si- lent as the halls of death and our foot- falls echoed from the empty houses on either side with a strange uncanny sound. This was the only time I saw any signs of nervousness in the boys. They continued to advance with the same rapldity and spirit they had ex- hibited from the start. But one could seee by the glances they sent down each side street and by the readiness in which they held themselves to meet any emergency that they could not un- derstand the strange and sudden si- lence. They were used to being shot at, but when they were let alone they be- gan to look for a trap. Suddenly a shout came from the first squad, and Ben Clancy, waving his gun high in the air, started forward on the run, crying out that he saw the walls of the old city and that a white flag was floating over them. This was enough, and the entire company, offi- cers and men, started forward pell- mell, each man on the dead run, trying to be the first up. It was true. Manila had surrendered, and L Company of the Second Battalion, First California Vol- | unteers, was the first and only body of troops in at the death. They were ahead of the army, ahead of the scouts, ahead of the flag, ahead of all save their own officers, the gallant Major Sime, Captain Eggert and the two lieutenants, Curzons and Adler, who had led them well and bravely from start to finish. In about ‘ten or fifteen minutes other troops began to arrive on the scene of the surrender until the entire Second Battalion, together withy a few others, was lined up on the broad driveway running between the walls of the old city and the houses of new Manila. Spaniards still manned the walis, but the gates were open and their higher officers had come out and were mixing with our officers, trying to make them- selves understood. Up one of the streets to the right there came a large body of Spanish soldlers who had sur- rendered and who had been outflanked by the rapidity of our advance. They were slowly and sullenly retreating into the old city to lay down their arme. Our position was between them and the walls. * Suddenly from behind this body of returning troops there broke out a furious fire. The insurgents had come up and started to massacre the enemy they could not conquer. The Spaniards on the walls started to reply. The American troops got under cover wher- ever they could, each man loading his piece and covering some Spanish officer, prepared to sell his life as dearly as possible. For a few minutes it looked as though a general hand-to-hand fight and massacre was to take place, the end of wkich would come with the wiping out of the entire Second Bat- talion and the sacking of the city by the rest of our troops. Spanish and American officers ran among their troops, working hand in hand to pre- vent the threatened tragedy. Every- thing swayed in the balance when the third incident of the day took place. Private Carl Moltke, jumping to his feet, waved a white handkerchief over his head and called for the flag to ad- vance. It came, borne in by Flag Ser- geant Taylor of B Company, who, ac- companied by Major Sime, Moltke and one or two others, advanced down through the retreating Spaniards until they came right up to the muzzles of the blazing insurgent guns, when they halted, and pointing to the Stars and Stripes which floated over them, com- manded in the name of that banner, which is as powerful in peace as it is dreadful in war, that the slaughter cease. And it did. This concluded the day, and march- ing across the suspension bridge over the Pasig River we stacked arms on the stones of the famous Elcolta and, unslinging our blanket bags, sank down on the pavement thoroughly ex- hausted to eat our lunch of cold bread and meat. The boys had marched at almost a double quick gait nearly five miles, fighting, breaking in doors, scal- ing walls and breastworks and pack- ing nearly sixty pounds the entire dis- tance. There was not a fellow who had fallen behind, though, when all was over, several rolled over and fainted with exhaustion. We were not excited, so we thought. Yet our load, which we had never noticed during the battle, became as heavy as the Old Man of the Sea as soon as all was over. Scattered firing was kept up all day and night, but it amounted to nothing. Manila fell with the raising of the white flag on its walls, and the war in the Philippines was at an end. In the evening we were marched down to the former residence of the Governor General, where we were bar- racked. As I stood on my post as sen- try at midnight I turned to my com- panion on watch and said: ‘‘Adding- ton, how do you feel, now that it is all over?” *“I feel as'ghough I had been in a trance,” he answered. I felt that I had been in a trance, also, a trance which had encompassed more in the brief limits of its duration than was held in all the other years of my life. Developing an 0il District. SAN MIGUEL, Oct. 15.—Machinery for the ofl prospecting work in the new pe- troleum district near here has arrived, and work will soon be commenced to deter- mine the nature and extent of the alleged oil discoveries. County Surveyor Lou G. Fiare of Sallnas is setting stakes to lower the {mdes and straighten the county road leading to that section, and the road Will_be improved to withstand the heavy traffic that is expected to pass over it within_a short time. It is also reported Then, crossing his a over his chest, mijed and vowed for America and all to. Now, Iam as mild- that the road will be surveyed t and built to Coalingo in Fr?lno (?or:n“t‘yh —————— Advances made on furniture and planos, with | “or without removal. J. Noonan, 1017-1023 Mission, ik FROM HUNGER 10 POSSIBLE STARVATION What the Teslin City Stampede Means. HAZARDOUS CHANCES TAKEN MANY START OUT WITHOUT WINTER OUTFITS. Horses Sold at One Dollar Each Will Be Ridden to Death and Then Eaten by the Gold Hunters. BY HAL HOFFMAN. Spectal Correspondence of The Call. JUNEAU, Alaska, Oct. 1.—Lots of | wild-eyed stories are begat in the new | diggings around Lake Atlin. Their father's name is Boom and their mother’s Exaggeration. The latest is that the mother lode has been struck in there, radiant with gold. Another | story is that a creek has been found beyond Surprise Lake, where the sur- face gravel runs from $1 75 to §5 to the pan with the pay streak not yet lo- cated. Only the richest claims on El Dorado and Bonaanza are in it with this kind of gravel, but it is a fact well known to conservative miners who have been on the ground and returned here for the winter, and with whom I have had many conversations, that nothing yet has been found at Atlin which com- pares with the best in the Klondike. This, however, should not be taken as a limit to the discoveries that may be made. Nobody can yet write or speak with accuracy on the possibilities in the | Atlin region. It is the rule in placer camps that pay streaks are found which are very rich in gold, and all the signs so far indicate that Atlin will prove no exception to the rufe. One of the best-known placer miners in Alaska sunk a hole to bedrock on his | claim. He said to another miner, “I am satisfied.” I heard about this in a round-about way. That expression among miners means a good deal for a prospect. In an interview 1 had pre- viously with this same man he did not express himself so confidently to me. \The area of what seems to be a gold- bearing country, prospected and unex- plored, from the best information I can | obtain at this time looks to be the equal if not larger than the Klondike. Com- paratively few holes have been put down to bedrock, and for this reason it is not yet known how valuable the ground is on a vast majority of the lo- cations. That there is gold in the beds of Pine and Spruce creeks and several of the smaller creeks emptying into Surprise Lake there is not the slightest doubt, but the facts in regard to the maximum value of most of the located ground may not be known tiil next Au- gust, by which time considerable de- velopment work will have been done; and by which time, also, many new lo- cations will have been staked. It is idle to overlook the fact that there will be a rush to Atlin next spring from Alaska towns, saying nothing of people who may come from farther away. A hungry stampede has already started from Tesln City on Teslin Lake, William Reisch, who has made nine trips from Juneau to Teslin since last spring over the Taku trail, left the town at the head of that lake less than two weeks ago. He says about six hundred horses carrying men and non- descript outfits are on the trail between Teslin and Atlin, and perhaps have reached Atlin by this time in large part. The men preferred taking chances in reaching a camp where gold has been found than remaining where practi- cally no gold has been discovered, where food is scarcer than starvation prices and where there is nothing to look forward to under existing circum- stances. Their chances in reaching At- lin are hazardous, for many have headed across the country depending on their guns for food, instead of follow- ing the trail. More than 85 per cent of this caravan started out with less than enough grub for the trip, and less than 5 per cent have a winter's outfit. The situation of these men is very serfous. They are running away from hunger probably to meet starvation face to face on the way. Winter with blinding snowstorms and intense cold has already come in the interior. The tops of the coast range of mountains are already hooded in white. The critical condition of the men of Teslin is the result of the attempt and failure of trying to get in with their outfits over the Stickeen trail from Wrangel. Hundreds got through with light packs, but most of their supplies are still at Glenora_or cached on the trail near there. The Hudson Bay Company has a store at Teslin City, and there are two other stores there, but prices are too high to be reached by the average gold-seeker, who left home with little money. Reisch says he saw a man walking around Teslin City recently offering $500 which he held In his hand for 500 pounds of grub, and didn't get it. Horses are selling for $1 each at Teslin. There is no feed for them. The stampeders to Atlin paid that sum for their horses, expecting to ride them as far as the starved and weakened beasts could go on what forage they might find on the way under the snow, and then when they could go no far- ther to eat them if they must. Whole armies in the field have eaten horse- flesh and considerable of it is now canned and sold under the name of roast beef. Canned horse meat is sup- vlied to the Pacific Coast by an abat- toir at Portland, but that is another story. Before Teslin City is an island and on each side of it mud flats. Two large scows, built for carryalls to Daw- son, have not been able to get over the flats since the lake has fallen and are still at Teslin. The water in Teslin Lake recedes from eight to twelve feet at the end of the summer when the mountain snows cease to melt. The steamboat built there sailed during high water for Dawson, but has not made a round trip. Gold was found bevond Teslin Lake last summer, a considerable distance up in the country drained by the Nasutlin and Big Salmon rivers. Both are large streams. Nasutlin empties into Teslin Lake between fifiy and sixty miles up from Teslin City on the northeast side. Hundreds of mien stampeded for the Nasutlin, but only nine succeeded in getting eighty miles up the river and over a portage to Quiet Lake, near which the discovery was made. These nine men, of which Reisch is one, and a California miner of Los Angeles named Funk another, formed a company, and they will stay there this winter and =o to bedrock. _Quiet Lake is about forty miles long. It is one of two lakes much smaller than Teslin, of which the Big Salmon River is the outlet, and they its source. A Canadian surveying party was at work in that country last sum- mer, and was met by many of the stampeders from Teslin. Reisch has a claim in the new diggings at Atlin, He also staked one for An Juneau, a Hungarian 1y from Lucerne, Switzerland, bil quickly become noted here for his al i- ity to mix and drink whisky punches in three languages and carry on a conver- sation in a fourth. Mr. Kengvel “95“3 in the lapel of his vest an enamele button containing the figure if not the fragrance of sweet clover leaves, pre- sented to him in_Budapest DY ?-ht: Countess Wishkowski as a talisman o good fortune while seeKing Alaska!: golden fleece. In passing it might no be amiss to make the list of noblemen complete. There is another here— French. Fortune has had for him, SO far, only a marble heart. He is mak- ing both ends mest by selling pop from & wheelbarrow for a local sulphuric acid battery. I took a picture of this gentleman the other day, as in an idle and unguarded moment he was turn- ing a hose into the yawning jaws of a pet bulldog which was trying to bite the stream of water. Such is life in the far North. The country up the Nasutlin River, around Quiet Lake and the headwaters of the Big Salmon, it is said, was never entered by white men before, and its mineral possibilities are wholly un- known. Reisch says that the discovery of gold is on a small tributary that comes into the Big Salmon River near its head, and not far from the smaller of the two lakes composing its head- waters. That gold was found so early, though not easily, as the region was reached with only the hardest kind of physical effort and many discomforts, is looked upon a favorable sign and as promising still more for that unexplored interior. This morning the Alaska Commercial Company’s steamer Dora, Captain Johensen, came in from Valdez, Copper City, Cooks Inlet, Kadiak and other ports to the westward, with about eighty passengers. Among them is Robert Michelson, who has been mining in the Cooks Inlet country about eight vears. He and assoclates call them- selves the Polly Mining Company. This company has one, if not the best, of the very few good placer claims in the Six Mile District. They were embarrassed by high water all season, all mining operations being retarded by the un- usual floods. On September 5 last the Polly Mining Company’'s dam was swept away, and the working season shortened about a month on that ac- count. Nevertheless, it is reported that the season’s clean-up for this company is close around $23,000. It will cost over $2000 to renew the dam. Men in the other company working in that sec- tion disagreed during the season. They are from Fresno, Cal. A man named Ducey went off to a clalm by himself, and he is said to have made nothing. Thomas Willlams and Thomas Atkin- son worked the original ground, and it is understood will make a considerable clean-up, though it is not known how much. The Fresno people will not come out, but will winter at Sunrise City. No new discoveries are reported in the Cooks Inlet country. Captain Johensen says about 1000 men will win- ter at Valdez and in the Copper River country. They have plenty of grunb and will be housed in log cabins. Two hundred more will leave for their homes i the States. A number of pros- pectors on the Kyack River are ready to come out for the winter. No reports have vet been received from them as to results of the season’s work. On ac- count of the number of people who want to go below the Dora will make two more trips than usual this fall, and may not arrive here on the last re- turn voyage until about the middle of November. Altogether placer mining to the westward this year has been far from encouraging, but there is an im- mense country over in that section of Alaska never prospected or explored, but believed to be gold-bearing. The “westward” is the part of Alaska prom- ising most in agriculture and coal. Sev- eral miners and tenderfeet on the Dora Xlllll go to the new diggings at Lake tlin. An effort 1s being made In Jsneau to organize a company to string a tel- egraph line to Atlin City by way of the Taku trail. The estimated cost is $7000 and the distance is about 100 miles, half water. Juneau Chamber of Commerce has appointed F. S. Nowell a committee of one to provide an Alaska mineral ex- hibit for the Paris Exposition. Among the Californians from Cooks Inlet and Copper River homeward bound are: George Paden and W. J. ‘Wilson, Fresno; P. W. Lancaster, En- cinitas; William Shutt, M. L. Bennett and A. Carlson, Pomona. FOR LACK OF PROSECUTION. The Case Against the “King of the Dumps” Dismissed. James Gallaudet, the “King of the Dumps,” was ready in Judge Mogan's court yesterday morning to defend him- self against the charge of assault with a deadly weapon brought against him by J. P. Kramer, a watchman for the South- ern Pacific. The assault was alleged to have been committed on September 24 owing to a dispute between Kramer ana Gallaudet as to the ownership of a small wharf at the foot of Kentucky street. When the case was called Bailiff Far- rell called three times for Kramer, but there was no response, and the Judge dlfismlssed the case for lack of prosecu- tion. B Held for Murder. Cornelius Sullivan was yesterday held to answer before the Superior Court by Judge Mogan on the charge of murder Without bonds. August 27_Sullivan shot and killed his stepfather, J. L. Pratt, in his house on Minna street. Mustered Out. United States District Judge Hawley yesterday discharged H. W. Bigelow, a minor who enlisted in the First Washing- ton Regiment without the consent of his parents. ADVERTISEMENTS. DANGER IN SODA. Serious Results Sometimes Follow Its Excessive Use. Common soda is all right in its place and indispensable in the kitchen and for cooking and washing purposes, but it was never intended for a medicine, and people who use it as such wi > dav:‘/, fde ch will some e refer to the common use o to relieve heartburn or sour stomics}?d: habit which thousands of people prfic- tice almost daily, and one which is fraught with danger; moreover, the :gdaelolgl{hgivtes ten;)pomrg relief and in 03 e stomach trouble an’l('lhworse. gets worse e soda acts as a mechanical irri- tant to the walls of the stomach and bowels and cases are on record whera llt acgun::latgd hil ‘tlhe intestines, caus- ng dea y inflammatio; - to!filtlx n or peri. r. Harlandson recommends safest and surest cure for sour st?::n;'cll: (acid dyspepsia) an excellent prepara- tion sold by druggists under the name of Stuart’s Dyspepsia Tablets. Thege tablets are large 20-grain lozenges, ver pleasant to taste and contain the 'natuy ral acids, peptones and digestive ele. ments essential to good digestion, a:zi when taken after meals they digest the food perfectly and promptiy before it has time to ferment, sour ang i the blood and nervous system, s Dr. Wuerth states that he invarfabl uses Stuart's Dyspepsia Tablets in AIJ; cases of stomach derangements and. finds them a certain cure not only fo ; sour stomach but by promptly dlgestr ing the food they create a healthy ap- petite, increase flesh and strengthen the action of the heart and liver. They are not a cathartiv, but intendea only for ::fi;ng:hf dlagase?l and . weakness- and- ound reliable in an i utmrl: r«laxxgcge‘gt cancer of therl gt;rt-?a:cni.{ch s sell Ttls - eps: Tablets at ito per iR Rimeneia; e book describin rms of stomach weakness .un{l al'.lh&or u'm?: 1l v E’Joe:d free bli addv mn;x‘;u?ejst‘:gn