Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-05-05
Mines and Counter.nines at sehsssepsl.

The information gained BY the Bus
sian Commander-in-C Chief on the subject
of the mines dug by the allied armies
had been sent to him by a Prussian Off
Ger living at Paris, where q lithographie
plan of them had appeared in q shop
window. This was at first supposed to be-
a mere ruse de guerre of the allies for the
purpose of misleading the defenders of
Sebastopol and inducing them to dig
counter-mines where there were no mines.
A few days later IN Italian deserter from.
the Legion Etrangere of the French
Army arrived at a Russian outpost and
was taken to headquarters for examine
ton. He stated that he had been work
ing in a mine close to one of the bastions,
and he described the place as being ex-
actly where it was represented in tho
photographic plan that mines had been
dug by the allies. Still, the cautious
the possibility Of a secret military opera
ton being made known by the publicac
ton Of a plan of it. He supposed that
the so-called deserter had been designed
~ sent to convince him of the accuracy
of that plan, in order to divert his at
tention from the real position Of the
mines which were being dug. The man
was therefore taken in the night to one
of the trenches, where he was left in the
dark and blindfolded. He was soon
made prisoner by a French sentry; a re-
liable Russian scout followed him, and
brought back intelligence of his having
been shot as soon as he had been
recognized as a real deserter.
Russian counter-mines were then.
at once commenced, according to,
the photographic plan of the mines of
the allies. One night a distant rumbling
noise was indistinctly heard at the end Of
a Russian gallery. On comparing the
position with the plan by the assistance
Of a mariners compass, it became evident
that the sap was approaching one of the
enemy's mines, laid down in it as being:
near the salient angle of one of the Rus,
sian bastions. It was then certain that
passages were in process of formation
through the same stratum of clay as tbs
Russians had cut theirs in. The advance
of the latter was therefore stopped, and ..
large chamber was constructed. In Il
400 pounds of g%unpowder were placed in
barrels touching each other and without
lids. The end Of a long fuse communi-
Gated with n of them. Clay was
then filled into the passage, strength
ened by transverse scafoldings of thick
wood and we'll beaten down, to act a.
wadding, through which the fuse wal
made to pass. Men were placed on the
rampant 10 watch the third French
parallel, and the fuse was set fire to.
After a little time something like an
earthquake was felt, a smothered roa,
was heard, and a cloud of smoke rose
from the parallel. When it had cleared
away men were seen carrying dead bodies
from the breach where the smoke had
escaped. Eighteen of those mangled
victims were counted. On going into the
gallery from the fort it was found by the
Russian officer of engineers that the wad-
, ding of clay had not been in the least
disturbed, and that an aperture had
burst into the enemy's sap. Sentriel
were placed in it to report any sound
which they might hear. Three day,
/. afterward they announced that digging
had again been commenced. The Rus
| slams then proceeded to remove the wad.
, ding of clay, with the view of getting
near enough to the enemy to spring othea
mines against him. The French fired 9
mine, but it did NO harm to the Russians
who met every advance by an opposing
passage. Mines and counter-mines were
frequently sprung on both sides, with
more or less success and this fighting in
the bowels of the earth resulted finally
in the establishment Of the fourth French
parallel.-Ismple Bur.