The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1878-02-07
Archibald Forbes.

porter Of the London Ners, has had
an eventful life. Here are some of his
adventures IN his profession. In a re-
ZEN interview he said: 81 crossed the
channel to join the Crown Prince Of
SaxOny's army. | determined to throw
oyer all literary %pretentions, and henc9
forth adopt the telegram style Of
ing-two words and a full Stop
that | dill | did through sheer audacity.
was the first man that entered Paris
after the siege. | got wind Of the sur
render, slipped through the Porte de
Chappelle OH a stout butchers nag, and
rode straight down the Boulevard Ma
genta, though 1t was crowded with
drunken National Guards. / neverd did
a riskier thing. / wandered all night
about the streets ofthe famine-stricken
city, ate for breakfast the last leg of
chicken in Paris, got my passport rised
at the American embassy, slipped back
along the bouleyards, was stopped at
the gates by one Of u OVID German
troops, was rescued by a friendly Off
Ger, caught the only train running to
the frontier, wrote my dispatch in the
ear, and arrived at Strousburg too
late, for the telegraph Office was closed
for the night. That was a blow. l
found ont where the clerk lived, rang a
peal at his door, brought him down in
his nightcap, produced the belt of SOW
creigns which ] carried round my waist
and offered TO pay twenty francs a word
for the message. He dressed himself,
went to consult the authorities, and re-
turned after an hour to say that he
would take the dispatch at the usual
night rates. 1t contained 400 words.
1t appeared in the Daily News next
morning, and | got back to our lines in
time to enter Paris with the first battal-
ion that passed the Are de Triomphe-
the first man that entered Paris and the
second"
81 thought" said a skeptic of the
party, "that telegraph offices in France
were open all night"
During the war, sir" said Mr..
Forbes, with asperity, "they were
scarcely eve open in the day. That
was my main difficulty. When we lay
before Metz, the German commanders
said, Let nothing pass out of camp
Nevertheless all their movements, all
their plans, all the officers CONVERSE
tiOns, all our festivities, even the pro-
gramme o fmusic which the band played
at mass, appeared next morning in the
NeisS. They were dumbfounded. The
truth was | had suborned a country tel
egraph master and lived outside the
camp, SO as to send him my message.
At last | was detected and new precau-
tiOns were taken. One night a joke
went ripping around the mess table,
and an old Colonel shouted out my
name. Thunder and lightning SIR
said he, you won't putthat in your pa
per Tomorrow L said nothing, but
escaped at an early hour from the Ia
bic. My servants met me with the
news that the usual lines of commune
cation were blOckaded. / had my two
horses saddled and rode off at full gal
lop on one of them, leading the other
by the bride. After going twelve
miles at high pressure, l changed
mounts, left the first at a roadside inn,
and reached the town of Thionville,
twenty-five miles from our camp, in
time to transmit my daily dispatch, the
ColOnel's joke and all"
"And what do you consider your
masterpiece of gencralship? asked
Rattle.
my last exploit before leaving Eng
land?" he replied. 81 went down to
Falmouth to meet the Warrior Gron-
clad), having on board the single sur
vivor of that wrecked vessel, whose
crew were adrift in a boat for eight
days, and ate two of their comrades.
Falmouth was full of correspondents,
so l put up in a pot-house outside the
town, and engaged the only steam tug
there was in the place. l waited three
days, and on the night of the third, l
was playing a quiet game of billiards,
when in walks one of the cO%rrespon-
dents.
wHallo, Forbes, says he in astOnish-
ment, you here p"
''Ten minutes afterward came word
that the Warrior was sighted. My tug
at once put out, and we lay quietly in
the harbor, burning no lights. Pres
emily a dark mass doomed upon us, and
shouts arose.
"Forbes, Forbes | say, come. Come,
no shamming. We know you are
there"
"But l kept quite silent, and remem-
bered, with no little vexation, that a
second tug had arrived in the harbor
that morning. At length the Warrior
appeared. We steered toward her, and
as she passed, l sprang for her chains,
and was dragging in the ships wake up
to my waist in water. However, | got
on deck. l ran down to the stewart
and offered him 95 to bring my man
into the cabin. He did so, and locked
the door. Then l offered ESQ to the
poor lean devil of shipwrecked sailor
in exchange for his story. He began it
and | scrubbed away.
"Ten minutes later came u violent
rapping."
'"Let us in Forbes said the we'll
known voices"
"But | only wrote the harder, At