Manila, Luzon Island –Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo Dist.
More or less cloudy; air still; weather hot; dry. Heavy smoke cloud rose straight up in the sky & hung above the horizon, northward, probably more house-burning in Malibon [Malabon]. Tonight weather lovely, clear sky and bright full moon, shining. Nature is so still & the “meek-eyed angel of peace” seems to have his wings shadowing the land in outward seeming, but the reverse is the case. The Filipinos are desperately fighting for existence & death is abroad. Bombs made of high & powerful explosives are beginning to be used in this city; three I hear have been exploded; one in front of the U.S. Quartermaster or Commissary Dept. building.
I remained in Manila all day. Rev. Owens brought word that no one can go to the front without a pass on the railroad. Capt. Crow walked out to the trenches. Is a sea captain.
On my awakening this morning, launched the day as its mission with Bible reading & prayer, then breakfast & dish washing. Private Geo. Schumerhorn of Co. D. Oregon Vol. Inf. came in early this forenoon. Put his Springfield rifle & belt of cartridges in my bedroom & spent the larger part of the day in the city, about 4 p.m. he walked out to Caloocan to rejoin his regiment. We prayed together before he left.
Schumerhorn took an active part in the recent fighting with his regiment at first later by supplying his regiment with ammunition while in action. Had charge of a Chinaman or two & a caraboa [carabao] cart loaded with ammunition. Schumerhorn told me today that Prince Lowenstein (whose full name is Henry Ludwig Lowenstein Wertheim Freudenberg) of Bavaria, Germany, was shot through the stomach & instantly killed by the squad under the charge of Corporal Frank C.E. Edwards C.M. of of the 2d Oregon Vol. Inf. Edwards (who was also severely wounded) said they saw two men dodging about in a house some distance in front of the Oregon line. They could not recognize the men & did not know they were non-combatants, because Filipino sharpshooters were firing from some of the houses in the vicinity at his squad. The strange thing connected with the Prince’s habit of venturing between the lines & near the Filipinos was the fact that the latter never molested him. Loewentstein’s companion, Mr. Wm Neggli, a Swiss, was shot thro’ the hand. The sad mistake occured about 1. o’clock p.m. last Sunday. Schumerhorn saw his body lying in a church near the bridge about 2 miles beyond Caloocan, covered with a cloth. The prince was too rash for a spectator.
Wrote & copied 2 letters. (1) Capt V.R. Post, acknowledging receipt of $36. for one month’s salary –date Feb. 17–
(2) To Lieut-Col. Alice Lewis, 134 W. 14th St. New York a 7-page letter –my 21st weekly– describing as per her request the situation down here & that if the S.A. leaders conclude to hold the Philippines, foreign Salvation Army officers should sent here against whom the natives would hold no grudges as they are likely to do against Americans as the outcome of this war. Cited the case of Rome preparing Italian priests to supplant Spanish priests on the archipelago. I consider this letter as very important.
After bidding Schumerhorn good-bye I went down to the Escolta. Got shaved in a Spanish barbershop; then called at the post office. Got a letter from my niece Miss Eva Milsaps, Shawnee City Oklahoma Ty. Writes very affectionately. Says I am about the only person who seems to care for her in this world. Wants to see me. Is keeping a Scrap book of my Manila letters to the War Cry.
Rec’d several publications (English) & forty copies of “El Amigo de la Infancia” in Spanish; letter from Madrid, Spain. God is good to me praise His dear name. –I drew at the post office the $36. postal note, turned my tenth $3.60 over to the Lord’s fund.