The Omaha, Sunday Bee PART III. HALF TONE SECTION FAttKS 1 TO 4. THE OMAHA DEC Best & West VOL. XXXVII NO. 43. OMAHA, SUNDAY MOIJNINO, APRIL 12, 11)08. SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS. CHARLES R. NO YES SOLDIER THROUGH PEACE AND WAR Thirty Years of Active Service in Uncle Sam's Army Takes Him Into Many Quarters of the Globe and Calls Him to Perform a Wide Range of Soldiers' Duty MAJOR CHARLES R. NOTES during thirty years' service in the United States army has had a breadth of experi ence with which men in this peaceful, matter-of-fact age are rarely blessed. ( He has fought red Indians on the western plains, swarthy Spaniards in Cuba, brown Filipinos In Luzon and yellow Chinese in Tien Tsin. During the last four years he haB exercised his administrative abilities as ad jutant general of the Department of the Missouri. The four years for which he was assigned to, this duty expired on April 7, when he was relieved by Major Chase W. Kennedy. Major Noyes will rejoin his rrglment, the Ninth Infantry, at Fort Sam Houston, Tex. Charles R. Noyes was born In Springfield. Mass., April 16, 1858. His father was a graduate of Yale college, a thorough New Eng ender, true to all the traditions of that erudite section. He had been engaged in the banking business at Brattleboro, Vt., for a Mire, later was editor of the Springfield Union and still later was on the ftaff of the Boston Transcript. Shortly after the birth of Charles the family moved to Newton, a small town near Boston, and in that Intellectual atmosphere the boy lived until his young manhood, with the exception of two years, 1871 to 1873, during which time the family sought its fortune in Chicago. Traditionally the Noyes family was a family of high ldt-silfl, of admiration for the arts and sciences and for human ad vancement. They might have been numbered among the blue stock ings, for they traced their genealogy back through generations of honorable ancestors to Nicholas Noyes, a Puritan, who landed on th" New England shores in the year of our Lord 16a2 and became a man of solid standing in the community. With these traditions to live up to, and with a father who was himself a graduate of prim and proper Yale, the young man natu rnl'y fell Into the classic education which is to be expected in a to n so near Boston as Newton'. And he was pursuing his course, with the Masachusett8 Institute of Technology as a goal, when one day his father suggested that he take a course at West Point, and vln due time Charles passed a competitive examination and was appointed by the congressman of his district to the national military academy. Into the Regular Army lie entered the institution in 1876, pursued his studies there and nag graduated with good standing in 1879. Among his class mates were Police Commissioner. Bingham of New York City and Brigadier General Albert L. Mills, now in the Philippines. In the class below him was Colonel George W. Ooethals, now in charge of the digging of the Panama canal. With all these men Major Noyes was Intimately acquainted. Upon h!r graduation he was ordered to Join the Ninth infantry, whkh had Its headquarters then at Fort Omaha and detachments all over the west where the Indians were still troublesome. Colonel John H. King was then at the head of the Ninth and the young officer reported to him at Fort Omaha. He was immediately as signed to join a company of the regiment then stationed at Fort MtKlr.ney, Wyo.. near the site of the present town of Buffalo. "I thought I had come about as far west as white men ever ven tured when I reached Omaha," says Major Noyes. "But when I was ordered on nearly a thousand miles further into the wilds to a point 225 miles from the nearest railroad I began to think I would never see my friends again. I had been brought up In the lap of civilization and the plunge into the wilds was sudden to say the least. Omaha was only a small town then. Farnam street didn't extend much farther west than Sixteenth street, where the hill was so high and steep that it formed an effectual barrier." The young man's rank was that of second lieutenant of Company F, the company at Fort McKinney. Scarcely had he completed the long Journey thither when orders came for the company to march the 225 miles to the railroad, take train for Rawlins and march from there sixty-five miles south to reinforce troops operating in the vicinity of White river in the campaign against the Ute Indians. He saw his first service there. Next he was sent to Camp Carllng, near Cheyenne, Wyo.. and then for two years was stationed at Fort Sidney, Neb. He was Stationed at Fort Douglas, Utah, In Septem ber, 18S2. and at Fort D. A. Russell, Wyo., four years succeeding thai year. During the rioting at Rock Springs and Evanston, when the miners were protesting against Chinese cheap labor and were threatening the terrified Mongolians with annihilation, Lfeutenant Noyes was in command of a Gatling gun detachment. Services in Arizona vIn 1886 the Ninth was transferred to Arizona and a year later Noyes was advanced to be a first lieutenant and saw service at Whipple barracks. Camp Verde and San Carlos, the latter being the agency of the Apache Indians. The red men, whom a benevolent government was trying to instruct in the civlllxed arts of farming and digging irrigation ditches, .rebelled against the authority fre quently. Once a warrior named Kid led a band of his brethren into the mountains and dared the soldiers to come and get them. The soldiers "called the bluff" and the rebellious Kid was captured and placed in prison, where he served a long terra; but subsequently he escaped and was never again captured. Lieutenant Noyes was called from active service In 1888 to be instructor In mathematics at West Point, in which duty he con tinued until June, 1892, when he rejoined the Ninth, which bad changed station to Madison Barracks, near Sackett's Harbor, N. Y. The next two years were years of peace and of more or less monotonous routine of barrack life. Then one day the regiment was suddenly and unexpectedly ordered to Chicago. Almost before the soldiers could think what was the cause of this astonishing order they had boarded a special train and were speeding at express speed westward. President Cleveland had taken his famously decisive action and sent federal troops into Chicago to protect life and property during the big railroad strike there in 1894. During the ten days that the regiment remained there Lieutenant Noyes acted in the capacity of adjutant, having been appointed to that office in 18U2. i When through the country rang that battle cry, "Remember the Maine!" Lieutenant Noyea was at Mount Pleasant, la., as military Instructor In the college there, to which duty he had been assigned a ft w weeks prior to the declaration of war. His first duty in con nection with the SpanUh-American war was as assistant mustering officer at Des Moines, mustering in the Iowa National Guard. Upon the completion of this work in May he was ordered to Joiu his regi ment at Tampa, Fla., Just embarking for Cuba. On the island he saw very active service. His regiment was close to the famous Rough Riders of Roosevelt In the battle of San Juan hill. Major Noyes' regiment, with the Thirteenth and Twenty-fourth infantry, formed Wikoff's brigade, which was in the thick of the fight. Wlkoff was shot and killed at the beginning of the engagement. Lieutenant Colonel Llsrum of the Twenty-fourth took command and almost Im mediately was shot. Lieutenant Colonel Worth of the Thirteenth followed him and was disabled by a severe wound. The command then, fell to Lieutenant Colonel Ewere of the Ninth. Something of tho severity of the engagement can be secured by this excerpt from Captain Sargent's "Campaign of Santiago de Cuba:" On the Way Up San Juan "Pushing aside the men of the Seventy-first New York, who still blocked the path, or stepping over their prostrate forms, these three ' regiments soon forced their way to the front. As they advanced along the narrow trail the shot and shell and hall of bullets and the sight of the dead and wounded were enough to make the bravest men recoil, but the soldiers of this brigade, with the heroic Wlkort st their head, never for a moment wavered. Arriving upon the left bank of the San Juan they leaped In, waded the stream and clam bered up the right bank, where they had a clear view of the block house and intrenchments of Sin Juan hill scarcely more than BOO yards away." Lieutenant Noyes commanded bis company la this battle and he was not far from the strenuous Theodora Roosevelt In full action on " ; y i . ' x y. : .. ' ; ; 'i...;;,;v';::y".''.. :f yy:y";:V":- " 'w -8 ,'.' .'I'll'1 J MAJOR CHARLES R. NOYES, U. S. A. that memorable day. The day before he had seen the future presi dent the center of a group of soldiers in the adobe village of Siboney. Teddy was utilising three and a half minutes which he had failed to provide for in his day's strenuous routine to describe, to a number of comrades In khaki the particulars of the battle of Las Guaslmas in which he had participated. The Ninth regiment was selcted to occupy the city of Santiago after its capitulation and Company C, Lieutenant Noyes' command, was assigned to occupy the Spanish ships in the harbor until the navy should be prepared to take charge of them. Lieutenant Noyes was present when the stars and stripes were first unfurled over the administration building In Santiago, a ceremony at which General Shatter presided. But a stronger enemy than the Spaniards attacked the soldiers. This was the yellow fever. Lieutenant Noyes was among those attacked by the malady. He attributes the cause of the disease entirely to the bites of the mosquitoes, which were very thick and venomous. While In Santiago he received his commission as captain in the regiment, having served it as second lieutenant for eight years and as first lieutenant for nearly eleven years. After a short leave of absence following the Cuban campaign he rejoined his Company, which was sent in December, 1898, to Fort Ontario, N. Y., where It remained until March, 1899, when it was ordered away to the far off Philippines to assume its share of the white man's burden.' The regiment went by way of San Francisco. Shortly after its arrival in the islands Captain Noyes was appointed to a second term as adjutant. The regiment participated in campaigns south of Manila and with General MacArthur along the railroad from San Fernando to Tarlac, north of Manila. Captain Noyes was frequently under fire and was commended for meritorious conduct by his regimental commander. He had command of a battalion duridg the advance from San Fernando toward Angeles. x y From December, 1899, to January, 1900, he was stationed at Tarlac, seventy-five miles north of Manila, which city was regimental headquarters while the regiment was scattered among surrounding towns engaged in ferreting out insurgent arms and pursuing maurauding bands. As adjutant his duty was in garrison rather than In active field work, requiring constant attention to the many details of headquarters' administration and to the dissemination of the'lnstructions and orders of the colonel In the direction of the field movements of the numerous, detachments in a wide area. The colonel of the regiment was then Emerson II. Llseum, whose energy snd activity and excellent direction of operations resulted in the capture of a large number of Insurgent arms, so that in June, 1900, the district over which he had control was thoroughly cleaned up. Campaign in China The scene changes now to a country of more fascination than any of those so far visited by this globe-trotting regiment China. The fact that the Ninth regiment was stationed conveniently on a railroad in the Philippines was largely responsible for Its drafting into service with the other powers during the Boxer outbreak in China. At Manila the regiment took transport for Taku, China, a little trip of 2,000 miles to the north, up past the Island of For mosa, with a stop at Nagasaki, Japan, then on through the Yellow sea past Port Arthur and finally to the open anchorage off Taku, where sixty men-of-war, transports and supply ships were tugging at their anchor chains. There the regiment disembarked and was towel up the river in Junks to the city of Tien Tsin, a human ant hill ot 1,00,000 people. , , There they were met by the allies, Englsh, Russian. Japanese and French. The Ninth was Just in time to participate in an attack made on the Chinese In the walled part of the old city on July 13, 1900. The fight lasted all day and part of the night and resulted in the capture of the Chinese stronghold. Major Noyes as captain and adjutant was with Colonel Llseum, who led two battalions of his regiment in a charge made against tin loop-holed walls. Many of the officers and men fell in this attack. Colonel LI scum was - killed. Major Noyes was wounded in the arm and the leg. The latter wound developed serious symptoms. He was removed from the hospital at Tien Tsin and afterward back to Taku and thence to Nagasaki, Japan. Then he was sent across the broad Pacific to the general hospital at Saa Francisco. After two months' recupera tion he was sufficiently recovered to return and join his regiment. Landing again at Taku, he proceeded inland through Tien Tsin and on to Peking, the Forbidden City, the city of mystery, covered with the dust of centuries yet shining in the celestial sunshine and gay with the brilliancy of 10,000 roofs made ot glistening red, blue and green tile. The empress haj fled from the Purple Forbid den City, which is within the Forbidden City which is within the Tartar city. The queen ant had flown and all-the other yellow ants in that great hill were rushing about in consternation. The foreign troops were encamped within the great walls of the Chinese city. The Ninth had its tents pitched in the Temple of Agriculture, an open space nearly a mile square. Upon this space is a magnificent marble altar. There the emperor has come at sunrise on December 22 of each year for the last ten centuries, a short time in China, and offered sacrifice to Shang-ti, in order that the crops throughout the empire may be bountiful and the people have plenty to eat. - Back to America 0 The United States forces were withdrawn from China in May, 1901, and the Ninth infantry returned to the Philippines, being assigned to service in Samar shortly after its arrival, with head quarters at Calbayog. It was during this time that the regiment lost many men by attacks upon detached companies at Balanglga on the Gandara river and during the operations of the numerous de tachments which were constantly endeavoring to find the wily Insur gents in the fastnesses of Samar. The regiment returned to the United States In 1902 and was . reassigned to Madison Barracks, N. Y. It received ovations at various cities in the state because of Its distinguished services abroad and particularly In China. Captain Noyes was promoted to the grade of major in August, 1903, still remaining with the Ninth regiment and in September of that year was detached for duty at Omaha. On April 7, 1904,. he received a four-years' detail in the adjutant general's department. The full term being served, he was reassigned to his regiment and will rejoin it at Fort Sam Houston, Tex., after a short leave of absence." . Major Noyes was married In 1898, Just before leaving for Cuba, to Miss Gertrude H. Noyes, his cousin, at Kenwood, N. Y. They have three children, John R., 6 years old; Richard W.", 3 years old, and Margaret S., 6 months old. Though Major Noyes will celebrate his 50th birthday anniversary next Thursday, the birth register alone ma-ks him as that old. In appearance he is at least ten years younger. He Is a deep student of army affairs and a broad student of affairs of the world. He has done considerable writing. When the "Centennial of the United States Military Academy" was Issued In 1902, Major Noyes was called upon to write the chapter on "Services of Graduates of West Point in China." , Blind Girl Learns Typewriter and Earns Her Living Miss Miller First of Her Sex to Enter This Field of Work NJSW YORK. April 11. The modern edu cation of blind children alms to give to them the capacity to become wage earners. The system has been es pecially successful at the New York State School for the Blind at Batavla. Not only has it trained a large number of young men and women along Industrial lines, en abling them to earn their living, but it has also four graduates going through college, some of them earning their way. It has opened the way to the employment of blind persons as stenog raphers and typewriters. Miss Elizabeth G. Miller of Buffalo is said to be the first blind woman to earn her living by stenography. , To quote O. H. Burrltt, superin tendent of the Batavla school, who directed her training, there Is "no other young woman who is totally blind who is similarly employed anywhere in the United States or Canada." But the girl who would follow in her steps must possess the genius ot hard work, unlimited patience and at least be endowed with Intelligence equal to' the average. A great misfortune of the blind is their frequent feebleness of mind. Miss Miller worked hard to acquire her ability to compete with her seeing sisters. She had the handicap of being obliged to use a shorthand writing machine, where the seeing writer is bur dened only with pencil and pad. , Miss Miller must write her notes In embossed dots, the language of the blind known as Braille, and the dots must be translated Into written lan guage at the typewriter. The picture of Miss Miller dictating in the office of the Batavla school before she secured work In a mercantile house gives a fair Idea of what the Braille typewriting machine is. Miss Miller has passed the same tests given to socio g students of stenography. Before her grad uation from Batavla at the regents' examinations she passed with honor both the 60 and the 100-word-a-minute test prepared by the department of education of the state. f Then came a long and trying period of waiting before the head of a responsible business estab lishment had sufficient faith in her work to give her a" place) She Is now earning $10 a week in a mercantile house in Buffalo and, living at home, is practically independent. v Batavla's achievement in demonstrating that a blind girl may make her living as a stenographer is Its chief distinction from other American schools for the blind. But other schools for the blind ' have been and are sending boys to college. Dartmouth has in its sophomore class Joseph Bartlett, who has passed all examinations with Phi Beta Kappa rank. Batavla has four boys in New York universities, and, although, blind, most of them are earning their expenses by means of the Industrial education obtained at this school. Oregory Martin is now a senior in the Uni versity of Rochester. He stands well In rank among his seeing brothers and has adopted the profession of a masseur as a means of paying part, If not the whole; of his expenses. Sometimes he makes as much as $12 a week; and he ought to make more, since for some unexplained reason the blind boy possesses a more gentle and effec tive touch than the seeing rubbers, There are over 1,000 blind masseurs employed In Yokohama, Japan, where for a while, In order to encourage 'the blind to take up the work, the government would not allow seeing masseurs to work. There are a few in New York City working with the help of the New York Association for the Blind, and It has been very hard for them to se cure employment Blindness Is not only a bitter handicap to the blind, but In the United States, when they have proved their ability to earn their bread la soma branch, cX work the scepticism of the public has often denied them the oportunity to work. John Fowler, another graduate of Batavla, is a student in Syracuse university. He learned to tune pianos at the school, and during his first year in college paid all but $2 5 of his expenses by fol lowing that trade. He has distinguished himself for scholarship and his instructor in mathematics has written to Batavla that In algebra he considered him the best of the twenty-eight men in the class. His in structor in German has written that "his blindness has been an advantage rather than a disadvantage for languge work, since the Importance of learn ing a language through the ear alone cannot be overestimated." There are two graduates of the Batavla school in Columbia university, Benjamin Berlnsteln, who entered without conditions on the credentials of the State Board of Regents, and James Mullen, who passed the examinations successfully. These boys are qualified to do work to help to pay their expenses. Berlnsteln can do typewriting, as Miss Miller does, and has contributed articles to news papers, and both are eager for something to do to aid them in paying their way through college. There has been much experimentation at Batavia as to the best line of industrial work for the blind. Broom-making and chair caning have received much attention, but as a mainstay they have not been altogether satisfactory. When there is sufficient musical gift, combined with mechanical ability, the work of tuning and repairing pianos seems suited to the Wind. This has been demonstrated In Boston, where the Perkins Institution for the Blind has given to many boys the ability to earn a living in this way, snd piano manufacturers hav been glad- to em ploy them. Some of the recent graduates of Batavla have become free lances as tuners. One ot these report that he baa earned as much as $24 a week and In spring and rammer averages about $18 a week. It sometimes happens that an educated blind man will work out his own salvation along lines not suggested by the Intellectual or Industrial training In the schools. One man In New York Is the proprietor of a successful livery stable. He does not drive his horses, but he hires men who can, and he can' harness and hitch up or unhar ness and stall his own horses, and be possesses the business sense to make It pay. But he became blind in later years. Glen B. Wboeler, a graduate ot Batavla, de sired to be a physician after be had tried broom maklng for a while. He became an osteopath, married a seeing osteopath, who was graduated from the same college with him at Kirkville, Mo., and the two together have made a success of the business. "Financially," he writes to his home school at Batavia, "we have averaged about $30 a week. For a month back it has been about $40, and bids fair to keep up to that figure, or better." In recent years all educators of the blind have discovered the value of a vigorous course in pbyalral culture for their charges. The usefulness of these movements lies In making boys and girls self-reliant, in curing them of the habits they formed as blind children, such as extending their arms as If expecting to run Into something. The work in physical training is the most spectacular thing about Batavla. ' The first out-of-doors meet too,k place last year, and was such a success that it' will be re pealed every year. Tbre were ten events and each blind contestant could only enter in five. If he won a first place he received five points, three for second, two for third and one for fourth. There were three gold and four silver medals awarded, and the contestant with tha greatest number of points came first.