Show I UTAH SOLDERS HAPPY How the Batteries Enjoyed Themselves Them-selves at Honolulu ROYALLY ENTERTAINED I WROTE LETTERS nOM FROM i THE ROYAL TON Sea Voyage Was Thoroughly Enjoyed En-joyed By the Utah Boys Mutual Improvement Society Organized On the Colon Bill of Tare Not Entirely Satisfactory Special Correspondence Palace Honolulu H I June 25 1S93 330 p mHerald Salt Lake The Utah boys have reached the first pause in their journey to Manila and as this is being written they are seated in the grounds below the palace eating I the finest meal they have tasted since leaving home I consists of pineapples pineap-ples bananas oranges and the more substantial bread butter and beefsteak beef-steak As they go farther from home the people become more hospitable in their treatment of them All Honolulu is wild at their arrival and is treating them royally The natives believe that their arri Te natves arr val means annexation and they are so glad that they look upon the soldiers a almost gods Decked in highly colored calico gowns they have stood all day = 5g = = r AWAU j TfIh fV lm llJ Badge of Welcome Worn at Honolulu around the lines of soldiers and all work is suspended A holiday has been declared There is an old Salt Laker in Honolulu Hon-olulu Mr Kenney and he has a warm corner in his heart for the Utah boys This morning he chartered a railway train and took both batteries out to the great sugar factory at Ewa 20 miles from Honolulu The route lay along the shore of the famous Pearl harbor and through the rice pineapple pineap-ple banana and sugar cane plantations planta-tions THE OCEAN VOYAGE The trip across the ocean was pleasurable pleas-urable to all The ocean lived up to its name mill pond weather having held sway during the entire trip Of course the boys got seasick that is most of them but the cases were very light and by Saturday all were over them and enjoying the ocean trip At this writing not a man is on the sick list While aboard ship the discipline has not been relaxed and the work of making soldiers out of the boys has gone steadily onward Each morning at 9 oclock and each afternoon at 4 oclock drills were held on the deck of the Colon where one of the guns i is mounted As there is much work I connected with the ship discipline has been of the severest order the punishment punish-ment for each offender being to do some of the necessary w ork The officers were kept busy perfectIng perfect-Ing the organization of the battalion and selecting permanent details The signal corps was the most important detail chosen I consists of six of the brightest men in the ranks and they spend all their spare time studying the code and preparing for active service They are already proficient enough to I read the messages sent from other I ships Another thriving organization is a Mutual Improvement society started by the boys from Bountiful I consists con-sists of all the religiously inclined on the boat and is making a specialty of studying the Bible The crew of the Colon is truly a jolly good crew and they interest large audiences each night in telling stories of sea life and shipwrecks Many of the stories concern the ship herself The gun mounted on deck has only been fired once and that was on the morning of June 23 when several shrapnels were fired out into the sea where they exploded ROBBED BY THE COOK The food during the first few days consisted of hardtack and corn beef and loud and long were the complaints made The cooks came into the scene with bread at 50 cents a loaf prunes 25 cents a quart and other edibles in proportion But these were nothing compared with what the boys offered One hungry fellow offered the cook 1 for a bowl of soup and 50 cents for a biscuit However the food soon improved and a commissary was opened where the boys can buy everything needed at government cost prices This has done away with the cooks side trade and also with the complaining The ships are expected to sail again tomorrow and as ten knots an hour i is the fastest they can go it will take probably 20 days to land them in Manila nilaThe The battery has just returned from a moonlight dip in the bay of Honolulu They didnt go in swimming with the consent of their officers but climbed out of their port holes protected by life ureservers against danger from sinking They swam out across the narrow channel to where the Hawaiian warship Ohican lies anchored Several climbed aboard and fell to chatting with the crew They learned that the old boat has been prepared for action acton for sometime and her crew has been sleeping at the guns for weeks Six i days ago reports c ne that two Spanish Span-ish gunboats were frig ted off the heads and she immediate steamed out of the harbor where the men stayed at the guns for three days without getting any sleep On the starboard side of the Ohlcan lies the Monterey which arrived this afternoon CELEBRATED ANNEXATION Today Is the busiest the men have spent since enlisting Honolulu was in geod spirits for quite another reason The town believed that she was annexed an-nexed and declared a holiday in honor of the occasion Whether or not the rumor is true no one here is able tot to-t < Jf t h < say authoritatively but among the town folks it Is not doubted After all the debates and speculations we used to hear in Salt Lake as to whether or not the people wish annexation it may be interesting to note how the news was received by the people Early in the morning when the ships came in sight of the town the soldiers were greatly surprised at the profusion of American flags Everywhere old glory was to be seen flying in the tropical breeze I was not until the palace was reached that the men saw a Hawaiian flag On every street corner crowds gathered and discussed the news and by noon the demonstration was nearly as active as when Utah received word of the passage of the statehood bill In congress con-gress a like demonstration was made The senate met early In the morning but adjourned sQon afterwards Its members then set about preparing the palace for the use of the soldiers TWO THOUSAND LETTERS During the day over 2000 letters were written in the legislative halls some soldiers even sitting on the throne while writing Th Hawaiian Govern i ment furnished the paper envelopes and postage for l these letters And she did it with a glad heart One of the senators remarked a he distributed the stationery that it was about the last act the government would perform and in a little while the stamps would only be valuable to a stamp ollector Therefore they could well afford to give them to the boys gve Those on the letters written in the pa ace are only used on diplomatic occasions occa-sions and persons in Salt Lake receiving receiv-ing them will do well to preserve them as mementoes of a dead government MET COLONEL FISHER While strolling through the palace grounds your correspondent had the pleasure of meeting Colonel J H Fisher commanding the Honolulu national na-tional guard His name will live as long a memories live of the islands for it was he whos strategy overthrew the monarchy and succeeded in estab lirhinir the republic He has been in charge of the military of the islands for ten years and has managed every campaign and skirmish during that time He took me over the ground where the fierce battles were fought in 1SSD and showed how his forces worked work-ed to repel the impostor who had seized seiz-ed the palace He also showed where the giant powder had blown up the bungalow in which the enemy were concealed and where each of the men fell feUJe described very vividly the king of the palace and overthrow of Liliou kalani The committee of safety a the conspirators called themselves had been in secret session continually for nearly two weeks and the day before the blow was to be struck the seri ser-i geants of Captain Fishers company were let into the secrets These sergeants ser-geants were instructed where to post such men as they could depend on to keep the matter secret and they were given signals as to when to begin the attack At the appointed hour everything every-thing was prepared The committee had selected a set of officers for the new government and had prepared a proclamation to be read from the palace pal-ace portico Captain Fisher with only 12 men was stationed back of the castle in one of the side streets while the rest of the command was collect lug But a row was precipitated downtown down-town In some way and the whole plan was spoiled The whole town and the native soldiers sol-diers who held the palace were aware of the intended attack As Colonel Fisher stood there wondering what to do he noticed the guard leave the palace pal-ace for the scene of the row down town This was his chance and with his dozen men he marched in and secured the batteries and palace These batteries are now stationed in the rear of the palace and they are a splendid collection of modern guns There are eight Krupp guns of the large size and six of a medium me-dium size Besides these there are a large number of gatling guns and Hotchkiss saluting rifles As the guns are mounted on light carriages they I can easily be moved by hand When the Monterey came in today two COmpanIes com-panies of native artillerymen ran their guns down to the coast and saluted sa-luted here The supernumerary men who pull the guns carry carbines so that they can serve as infantry in an engagement Colonel Fisher states that it is the wish of his life to be call ed to take six batteries down to Manila nila and prove to Uncle Sam that Honolulus native sons will be loyal to him This feeling Is shared fully a deeply by the men as by their colonel Tonight one of them came aboard the Colon and pleaded long and hard to be allowed to go along with her and tears were in his eyes when he was refused I There are 600 men in the guard half of whom are natives As they have all seen considerable service and are extravagantly ex-travagantly equipped Uncle Sam will find them a valuable acquisition to her Philippine forces NATIVES ARE SAD Amid the general joy and merrymaking merry-making there are slight traces of sadness sad-ness I met one large native tonight who wore a woebegone expression and on inquiring what he thought of annexation annex-ation I was informed thatiannexation could do no good We natives said he who have been descendents of natives na-tives and whose blood is pure cant help feeling bad to see our power go from us What we want is to see the old queen or the princess on the throne again We were powerful once and it is hard to see our power go irum uo With a native queen we can live free and independent like Americans live and be our own rulers Our embassa dora tell the congress at Washington about these things but they wont listen simply because our color is red and not white If the pureblooded natives na-tives could vote on the question I am sure they would prefer to have a queen than be annexed But the natives are indifferent to the question I am assured by white men and their only objection is the mere regret re-gret that they are no longer the powerful pow-erful tribe they once were As a parting word to the parents and friends of the boys let it be remembered remem-bered that a letter from home is the most welcome visitor he can receive j especially if money is enclosed The I boys were more than disappointed at j not receiving much mail at this port Their friends in Utah seem to have thought that they cannot get letters to them now All mall addressed care Battalion Utah State Artillery Philippine Philip-pine Expedition will reach them RUSSELL Battery A |