one thousand acres of land.

A great variety of wild animals and many different kinds of birds were
there, and I found in it a great deal of interest and amusement. Crowds
of people were there every night. Many people were there for the purpose
of committing some crime. People were frequently being sandbagged and
robbed, or sometimes boldly held up, and money and valuables secured.

I knew a great many soldiers who were robbed, sometimes they received
bruised heads just by loafing in the park at night.

No reflection is intended to be cast upon the police whose duty was in
the park; there were a great many of them, but they did not know all
that was being done in the park, and it was necessary for a man to keep
a sharp lookout for himself if he wished to escape uninjured.

The date of our departure the Red Cross gave a fine dinner for all who
were going to leave the camp. This was the custom with that society when
any soldiers left there for the Philippines.

All those who left while I was there partook of a splendid dinner just
before leaving.

This society, in addition to the dinner given to us, had several hundred
dollars worth of provisions put on board our transport, and all marked,
"For enlisted men only on deck."

At three o'clock in the afternoon of the seventeenth day of October,
1898, we sailed on board the transport "Senator." The provisions put on
board for us were well cared for--by the officers, who took charge of
them and guarded them so well that if an enlisted man got any of them,
he had to steal them from under a guard. Actually had to steal what
belonged to him by gift, and if caught stealing them he was court
martialed, and fined enough to buy his rations for a month, but the fine
money was not appropriated in that way.

We had a rough voyage, not on account of the weather, but because the
transport was so packed and crowded that a man did well to walk from one
end of the ship to the other. We were crowded like a cargo of animals
bound for a slaughter pen.

A private may think all or anything he pleases, but he does not have an
opportunity to say very much about anything. He must obey the commands
of his officers.

Our officers on the transport had everything to suit themselves, and the
private had to do the best he could and try to be satisfied, or at least
appear that way.

It would take two-thirds of the deck for half a dozen officers to have
room. They thought themselves so superior