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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 1899)
THE OMAITA DATLT BEE : WEDNESDAY , SEPTEMBER G , 1301) ) . n % % % % % % % % % % gfc % % § 3N t ? V ; V V * * ' ' V * - * * v r v tjf'jr < & ' 'sir'Utr * * r $8 * an illustrated , true and concise histon oi theo o -d ® o Special Pictures of the 1st Nebraska "Old Olory" at I'ort Snnta Cruz , Xndrone Islands , including the late Colonel Stotsenberg , Camp Mesa , the Hospital Reproduced from an UlniUatlon In " Ou to Manila illustrations taken pital and the fighting line a complete roster of the regiment , at the time by showing promotions , etc. Douglas White , the war correspondent all the to be ent of the San friends Francisco Examiner Pre of the First Nebraska an opportunity of hav iner , served ing a complete and correct history of the regi for ment The Omaha Bee has at great expense placed this beautiful future The Old Bell nt Snmnye , Indrone book within their reach no coupon required order quick as we Islands. Cast In iGSo. refer Reproduced from RTI Illustration la . have only a limited number. "in to Manila. " ence. J3L l&A4 $ BfpM t > Jfe * l % $ ! x 28 $ & & Sent prepaid to any address upon receipt of the price. The First American Flag Raiaed Over Manila. Address History Department Omaha Bee. . , Reduced from an illustration iu "On to Manila. " TALES OF STIRRING TIMES Thrilline Eeminiscences of Heroes of the Wires During the Civil War. WORMED OUT OF MANY WARM CORNERS MiiKiilflccnt CournKc Under Fire nnd llriive Deedd In Ijlnc of Duty of the- Military Tele- Corp * at IloNtou. At Boston , on the IGth Inst. , the pioneer operators of America will moot to swap lories over the Juvenile days of the most wonderful discovery of the century , the electric telegraph. Said ono o ( tha old guard of civil war operators still doing duty at Western Union headquarters : "It will be a notable gathering at Boston and I hope I shall not bo taken In a spirit of rivalry nor boastfuluess when I say that thu men of the original Military Telegraph corps will bo the llotis of the occasion. Why shouldn't they ? Army heroes are having their In nings once more and let me tell you that the first tuon I saw killed at the fron , and I got there , musket hi hand , about MI foon as the next one , was an operator doing a piece of rusU work out of purely voluntary enthu- 81 sunn. The affair took place at Yorktown the 4th of May , 1802. When the confeder ates evacuated Yorktown a bright Ohio boy uamod D. 13. Lathrop and his comradn of the corps , II. L. Smith , followed the federal skirmish Una Into the works and dashed for the confederate telegraph olllco to test the wires toward Itlchmond. The wires hal bcuu cut and were dangling from the pale. the conll rule fairyland , by the mysterious might of magic. "Tho anelenis made use of swift runners or of men with phenomenal voices to carry battle news and orders , while Napoleon , Im itating Caesar. brouEht to his aid carrier pigeons. The very first method In our war to come to my notice was primitive Indeed simply a line of men stretched across the Held passing messages and orders by word of mouth. The theory of the Inventor of this ss-Btpm was that the line could find shelter In a ravine or under a low ridge , but It turned out In this case that our men were hemmed In upon a broad coen plain and the telegraphers made better targets than did the armed combatants. They stood the ordeal bravely. AVItty IXliedlentN. I Shortly after this skirmish , which was near Yorktown , May 7 , 1SG2 , all enlisted men \vlio could handle the key , I myself being of that number , were put to work upon a Held telegraph , and wires strung upon bayonets or pointed saplings net In the earth came Into use on every battlefield. Every risk was taken "in order to get a line working as qulokly us possible. The getting at wires and establishing a circuit was the flrat thought of an operator when the army ad vanced. The bravery of young Lathrop , at Yorktown , was only ono of the many In stances of the same class which might bo cited. In moving through the enemy's coun try tflo old wires , poles and offices Tvera looked after flrot. If they had been des troyed or damaged , as was often the case , other means bad to bo Improvised , and the wits of the operators were equal to the oc casion. Operator Nichols , of our detach ment , serving at General Sumner's head quarters during the Sevan Days' battles on the peninsula , found during the battle of Savage Station that he had but three feet of spare wlro to lay a line twelve feet from I.V.lirop gave a leap , landed at the basu of , , the polo and came down with full forc > > I i upon a percussion shell lying half hidden ry' ' omo light rubbish. The shell exploded and was fatal. "Yes , the war operators wore the real pioneers of the bustling uiotuoda that put dot and dash on tha skirmish line at Amer ican procrois. The principle of telegraphy \\iia In its Infancy when thu war broke out forty years ago. Commerce was conservative and not all given to the rapid pa" ot n.od- rrn times. There was needed a ereat war with Its fearful draft upon public patlunco , ix > pular Interest and universal sympathy. Added to these , war's Int'mratlre demand for lightning communleaU'tis between armies served to develop thu voult-rful s > t > twu oi rullne the world's destlulra as the ground. The main wire of the army was In constant use and could not be grounded , although Sumner was anxious to communi cate with his chief , goni ; miles down the line. With the aid of some commissary men Nichols piled cracker boxes against the pole , climbed up and opened his olllce. It was just dark and It was necessary to have a lantern to do the work , The light made a good tar get which the enemy shelled briskly , but Nichols held hla perch until Sumner ordered him donn This daring operator at that tlmo was only IS. "Another witty expedient wan adopted by Operator Kullor of General Doyle'a com mand during Morgan's raid , In 1862. Mor gan's men captured Fuller's outfit while be V.YU marching toward Columbia with [ Uo > ! o's trocjis , trying to head off the raid ers. AVhen the force reached Columbia the I telegraph office was found dismantled. General Doyle had some urgent messages to send to distant posts asking for help for the emergency and , threatened to shoot Fuller If ho didn't get the wires In working order. To vindicate his good intentions he was n civilian employe as well as to save his life , the unlucky operator seized the ground wire In ono hand and the main wlro in the other , using the ends as a key , and eent the message on its way. This was not so difficult , but It was necessary to get a return , which could only bo done by reading the shocks on the wlro. This ho managed to do by using the tip of his touguo ns a receiver. Crlt to the HncUlione. "Sometimes more than the ordinary nerve to bo expected In an operator when near his key was demanded by the emergencies of war , as WRS the case In the confederate slego ot Knoxvllle In 18C3. Uurnslde was sbut up in Knoxvllle by Lougetrect's corps of Virginians , whllo Grant and Sherman were hammering at Chattanooga , As soon as Mission Ridge fell before Grant's attacks Sherman set out to relieve Knoxville by forced marches. Meanwhile a message i cached Grant to the effect that Durnsldu could not hold out against Longutreet longer than December 1. Sherman was to make the point by December 2 , nnd Grant , army headquarters and Washington were all terribly excited over the crisis. Finally It was arranged to wlro Burnslde , through the four offices nearest Knoxvllle , to wait for help until December 2. It was the dead of night when the messages came to hand and a telegraph corps man at each office set out with the message secreted on his person. All four , by hook or crook , stole through the hostile lines and Knoxville was saved. Army men have received medals for services no more valuable nor dangerous than that midnight Journey through the Tennessee mountains. "And operators were grit to the backbone In sticking out through the dangers In volved In extra hazardous work. Ono of our beat men In the southwest was S. L. Robin son , a cipher operator at the headquarters of General A. J. Smith. Smith went on a raiding expedition Into Mississippi In 1504 and In order to clear the country ahead of him of Forrest's cavalry he dispatched his own cavalry under the noted Grlerson to the front , giving the column n day's start. One day It became necessary for Smith to communicate a warning to Grleraon , and Robinson started out with two orderlies for escort to overtake the advance guard. When the party was well outside of the friendly lines It fell Into an ambush and Robinson received the full contents of a double-bar reled shotgun loaded with slugs and buck shot In his arm and shoulder , also bla right leg and hip. He was stripped of bis instru ments and dispatches , then set adrift In the woods. In spite of his wounds the bravo fellow struggled back to meet Smith's ad vancing columns and fresh dispatches were sent forward In time to save Grlerson from danger , "Even under flre the operator was the equal of any soldier and his case was even more trying , for he was not prepared to fight back , While Banks' army was evacu ating Winchester , pursued by Stonewall Jackson's troops , the federal operator , Frank Drummond , eat at the key until the last bluecont was out of sight. The con federate yell sounded nearer and nearer , llko the baying of bounds , and from all sides came the rattle of musketry. Driun- mend had secreted all bis dispatch coplos on his person and was detaching the Instru ment from the board to keep It out of the enemy's bands , when a belated orderly rushed In with a message for the com mander of the reserves at Harper's Ferry , With one hand on the Key be managed to draw out and burn his secreted dispatches. His horse , standing loose at the door , began to get nervous and he dropped the key long enough to tie the frightened animal an ! glvo him an assuring caress. Going back to the key Drummond again called Harper's Ferry , but getting no reply ho took out the Instrument and dashed It to pieces en the stone pavement. The confederate were then firing down the streets tn 'juriult ot straggling or belated federals and Drum mend ran the gauntlet of their bullets only to fall Into the hands of Ashby's confederate cavalry. A term In a war prison was the re-ward this bravo fellow got for sticking to his post. "From the confederate side , through ono , of our corps mon , I have a story scarcely paralleled in soldierly devotion to duty. When the confederate army abandoned Little Rock , in 1SC3 , one of the military op erators , David O. Dodd. stayed behind and lived some tlmo In the federal lines. Ho was a lad of 17. Shortly after things had quieted down under federal control young Dodd loft Little Rock , ostensibly to go to i Mississippi , but In n few days he returned , and lingered a short tlmo In his old haunts. A second time ho rxibscd out ol the lines unrestrained until ho reached the outposts. There the guards searched his person and discovered eome curious pencil marks In n memorandum book carried openly In his pocket. "The boy was detained and examined at headquarters. The strange marks proved to be telegraphic dots and dashes , which , when written out , furnished a description of all the new federal fortifications nnd the dis tribution of the garrison troops around Little Rock. This Information In the hands of the enemy would be dangerous and the boy bad forfeited his life In attempting to pass the lines with It. When under examination Dodd admitted that he had accomplices and was offered pardon If ho would betray them. He refused and even on the gallows , In spltu of the appeals of friends and relatives , put the temptation aside , himself signaling the executioner to do his duty. The drop foil , carrying this bravo boy operator nnd his wcret Into oternlty. My Informant , who witnessed the execution , declared that the lad mot his doom with the coolness of a stoic , while the spectators , chiefly soldiers , wept like children. "From the southern camps cornea , too , the moat romantic piece of daredevil operating on record. I mean tbo exploits of George Ellsworth , the lltrbtnlnc manipulator whom Morgan , thn great Kentucky raider , carried along on his staff when he crnsnex ] the Ohio into federal territory In 16C2. Ellsworth was a clever Alabama boy , who had mustered all the details of the art. He tapped wires and took off messages from federal general ? valuable to his chief. He had albo answered messages In a way to mislead the enemy and I throw the troops attempting to catch the raiders off their route of operations. The career of George Ellsworth on that one raid will make a chapter for the future history of old-time telegraphy. Ho Is btlll living In Alabama , just where Morgan originally picked him up , and attended the confederate reunion at Nashville last year , much to the surprise and joy of all of Morgan's men , for there was a tradition among the survivors that Ellsworth fell In the famous Ohio raid of 1803 , or had died In captivity. GEORGE L. KILMER. A POLE FO It AN OFFICE. SCIILEY OX UHMl.MSCHXCnS. HJMV Kncli Mini ThlnlCN He IN the Cen ter of " Ilnttle. "Even ono man's part In this many-net drama Is too long , too full of changes and complications , too much entangled with the lives nnd acts of others , too Intimately Identified with the evolution of his own character nnd soul , to bo Heen by hlmscrf In Its true proportions , " writes Admiral Schley In Leslie's Monthly. "Ho can only plunge Into tbo sea of hU recollections nnd bring up now and then a detached Incident or name , perhaps trivial enough , perhaps of a significance unporcelved at the time , yet destined eventually to bo woven Into that vast fabric of realistic fiction known as history. The real cum of his experience , or the memories of it , Is embodied in his opinions. Opinions , ns wo know , are often times variable ; or they may be as Ect as tbo eternal hllfs , and yet erroneous. "The Imagination sees much more than the eye. The commander of one ship In a certain naval action was Indignant at an other commander because the Inttor'a re port of the affair differed from his own- 'I could see him plainly enough , ' said the agrleved captain , 'and how In It that he couldn't see mo ? ' The matter seemed sim ple enough to one who was not present at the fight , but had learned all about It from the accounts of others ; yet both the disput ing captains were sincere and truthful In relating what they thought they had Been , and that of which they wore really a part Lifelong friendships , which nothing < -lso could shake , are sometimes broken by differ ences of this kind so Justly sensitive ar men of war as to their personal records of bravery and honor. "When General Zachary Taylor , after the Mexican war. l > ecame president of the United States he was overwhelmed with applications from veterans who had participated In the battles of Huc-na Vista. Every one of these old soldiers was able to give n Mailed de scription of some Incident In the fight and would attempt to recall to the general el'1- cumstances which ho could net In the least remember , but which he was obliged to conclude he had known and perhaps forgot ten. At last the old warrior exclaimed ono day : 'Was it a dream ? Did I fight that battle at all ? I thought Ias there onrp , but If all these accounts are straight then my memory has tricked me. ' "General McClellau , twenty-four hours after the battle of Antletam , requested the commanders of his four divisions engaged to report their respective positions on the field. When these positions -ve.'e fixed on the map of the field it was discovered that , taken altogether , the four rtlvlulons were placed directly behind ono another at n sln- glo point and that point directly opposite the portion of the enemy's Unas where the fighting had been thickest. "That Is the way with soldiers an.l sail ors. Each man thinks himself the center of the action , with all the rest revolving about him In secondary orbits. This fijnrit Is right nnd proper enough and such per sonal narratives are the raw material of hlstorv , but they require careful editing. " I.ONCM Nearly Half UN MeiulierN , MEMPHIS , Tcnn. , Sept. G. At today's ses sion cf the convention of postolllce clerks the secretary reported that 119 branches failed to pay the regular per capita tax nnd recommended that they be dropped. This was favorablly acted upon , leaving only 165 branches In the national association. Civil service reform was then discussed In secret session. SPANISH OFFICERS SET FREE General 1'areda anil Captain Morou Fun nil to lie IlliimeleNN In Tlielr Conduct Off MADRID , Sept. 6. The trial of Captain Diaz Morou , who commanded the Spanish crulsro Cristobal Colon at the battle of Santiago do Cuba , and General Pareda , who was on board the Colon , on charges arising from the destruction of the Spanish fleet oft Santiago on July 3 of last year , was con cluded yesterday , both the accused officers being acquitted. Arrive * . CAPE HENRY , Va. , Sept. 5. The Monon- gahfla Is anchored Inside the capes ; signals "Report mo all well. " The Mononguhela was taken In tow by the tug Standlsh at 8 30 and started for Annapolis. PJCTURKSQUB TUA-aOWN PROM IIAKI'KK'S I1AZA * Picturesque tea gown made of flowered silk nnd pink mouwellno do sole Elbow cleevcs , and the front of the waist of the mou-selino do oic