Show WDES OF BATTERY G t I Utah B ys t Angel lsIaud Sigh For Home t + TIRED p HOUSECLEANING 4 FLEAS ANOTHER BANE OF 1 TaXrn ONOT9NOUS LIFE t Sol ljers Expected to Be Sent s1 > nie When Oraered From the Presidio Thtcresting Story of the Troops Daily Life Its Pleasures ahd DutiesA WrecK at Night j I SDeclal Correspondence I gel Island Cal Nov GIt was with 30 hail of delight that we received orders to leave the Presidio and come to Angel ifjland For weeks we had lain around in the dirt of the Presidio sUffering from colds ntracted in the damp dirty tents and doing nothing but fatigue and drilL Finally one evening it was whispered whis-pered that we were going home But we dare not give vent to our pentup feelings until the good news had been confirmed Th captains orderly came up md summoned the noncommissioned noncommission-ed ofiicers to his tent As the captain started to speak we held our breaths in anticipation of the joyous nevs Yell said the captain the order has come and we aTe to go Ye that is most of us felt like giving three cheers but restrained ourselves Yes we are to go to Ange1 island be armed with carbines and remain there until further orders At first the men were very much disapPointed dis-apPointed but upon its being explained they too realized how much better it would be Nothing JPore vas heard of the intended move unLiI a lay or so later when Lieutenant Stacey and one man were ordered to report at Angel l land On lonaa morning I was ordered or-dered to take Corporal Doyle and 15 1 men and report to Lieutenant Stacey at the island UNIQuE NIGHT DIVERSION We were assP1ed to eat with company com-pany I First Washington volunteers and had the school room in which to sleep The Washington boys expected to sail the next day for Manila so that they kept the post wide awake whey sang discordant songs shouted and erded it all by rolling cannon balls down the stairs in the quarters On Wednesday morning the 15th they marched aboard the McDowell and as they drew nway from the wharf to the strains of their band the boat whistled three times and we replied with a salute sa-lute fired from our one brass cannon Then cane work for us Ye mounted guard supplied a baker teamsters cluk in the commissary and I took the remaining men on a foraging tripe trip-e went through the kitchens of all of the barracks and through the cellars cel-lars The result was that we collected about SOl pounds of good onions a barrel bar-rel of flOur onefourth of a barrel of oatmeal several pounds of tea a case of canned salmon several pounds of coffee and sugar about 100 rations or fresh bread two gallons and a half of syrup and some other small articles About 110 in the afternoon the remainder re-mainder of battery C arrived The departing de-parting troops had left the place in a horrible condition Everywhere was j dirt and filth In nearly every kitchen or cellar were found old rotting vegetables vege-tables and in one or two cellars there 1 were about 200 pounds of ribs of beef 1utt1n fon the floor The stench from this was terrible and millions of worms were crawling upon this decayed mass 1 and upon the floor Outside the kitchen doors the refuse of tle tables had been thrown and the odor arising from it was stifling FILTH EVERYWHERE 1 Inside of the barracks the floors were 1 covered with broken bottles papers clothing of all sorts and rubbish without out end What struck us with most force was the number of open love letters found on the floors Our boys only made 3 fewvery uncomplimentary I un-complimentary remarks about those who had left the letters and consigned them to the fire We made short work of the litter and in the course of tWO or three days had the whole post clean and looking greatly improved The post is a beautiful place built 01 the sid pf the hill the parade ground running down to the waters edge Ve are situated in such a position that the Golden Gate and San Francisco are in plain view Only one boat calls at the island to carry passengers and freight It is the little steamer General lIe Dowell This boat makes three trim jaily bringing mail twice AN HOUR OF INTEREST When the McDowell arrives at the wharf a noncommissioned officer of the guard and three privates are present pres-ent and no soldier is permitted to go aboard without a written pass and no unauthorized person is allowed to land The arrival of the boat is announced hy a boat call blown by the trumpeter and a great many of the boys go to the wharf to watch its arrival One day it pulled up and we saw some long wooden boxes aboard marked From Benicla Arsenal They contaIned our carbines Next morning they were issued to us and drill commenced Vle have only 53 to our 106 mel but with two men to a carbine we ought to do deadly work We also received a number of old J aibres and pistols for the noncommis ioned officers There was one satis jfaton however Ve had arms suf iitient to arm our guards and do away with the ridicule with which our sentinels senti-nels used to be greeted About a mile from the post near the southern end rf the island is stationed our outpost consisting of a corporal and three privntes or the guard This is fir t1C purpose of guarding the new eishtinh gun emplacements now be log nmpleted there The place is on tOp of a hill overlooking the bay From the nnmher of old mortars which used to be in place upon the hm it is known as Mortar hill and no one is allowed to c nter the encl sur WRECK AT NIGHT A few nights ago a stranger came galloping into the post and notified us that a steamer had been wrecked off the southern end lJf the island Th boys were qui k to respond and nearly all went ovOrtO reliUer phat aid was necessary whle the boat crew made the run from here to Tiburon a dis ULl1Ce of over a mile in 14 minutes Here they sent a telegram for the torecking tug Thc wreck Droved to be the steamer J D Peters which carries passengers and freight between San Francisco and Stoolton She had been run down by a comer and immediately began to sink The hundred or more men women wom-en and children aboard were taken to the shore in small boats where the Utah boys did all in their power to make them comfortable It was a strange sight for men and women were landed from the boats some of them In their 11ightroles Soon after a tug came up and most of the passengers and crew were taken i I aboard There were some however who had xone into the post and there lcmained all night quarters beIng fixed up for them None of the passengers pas-sengers were drowned and only one man hurt he having his head badly cutWe We ttrQ now comfortably quartered in barracks with tables at which to eat and heavy china dishes But the fleas here axe np rlY eating us up Their bite 1s as severe as that of n mosquito and seems co be morO poisonous Some of the boys are covered with red blotches and small sores the result jf i r flea bites At night it is almost impossible impos-sible to sleep on account of them Ve have tried hverything to drive them away but they grow fat and flourish bn nIl of the soCalled flea medicines Our chances for going to Manila are gone A fv days ago it was rumored here that orders had been receIved assigning as-signing us to the expeditionary forces but in a day or so this report was de Died We are doomed to fatigue and garrisOn duty Ye cleaned up Fort Douglas we polished up the Presidio where the Fourth cavalry had been we cleaned up after the Utah cavalry we helped police the whole Presidio we helped clean out the pond at the marine hospital we cleaned Angel island and now we are waiting for the next place Probably when the Philippine Phil-ippine expedition returns we will be sent to Uanfla 10 clean up th islands and police Honolulu on the wayhome Ts it a wonder that the men of battery C ar sick at heart and are praying to be mustered out |