Mountain Home bulletin. (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1888-1889, 1888-09-08
CAUGHT BY SUN-FLASHES.
How the Heliograph AIDED In the Captur
OF Geroniino's Apachcs.

|
OF Geronino's Apachcs.
AT this stage of the campaign Gem
eral Miles decided to make use of the
signal service, and to this end request
ed the Chief Signal Officer to provide
him with detail of men from the corps
to report to the commanding General
of the Department Of Arizona for mill
tary signal duty in the field. Signal
stations were located on the highest
peaks along the line of communication.
Each station was equipped with from
two to four operators, according to the |
amount of business which passed |
through it. In addition to these oper-
ators there were lookout men who |
swept the surrounding country and
neighbo'ing peaks with powerful field
glasses While ON dnty, opera.ors and
lookout men We're guarded by de-
tachment of infantry, the numerical
strength of which depended upon the
location Of the station, having refer
ence to its liability to attack by hos
! tiles
Messages were transmitted from peak
to peak and down in the valleys by
what is known as the photographic
system of signals. The Photograph, or
sun writer, consists of an arrangement
of mirrors mounted on tripod, and so
adjusted as to enable the operator to
throw flash of reflected sunlight on II
distant point with mathematical exact
ness. In making signals long and short
sun-hashes take the places of the dots
and "dashes' of the magnetic sounder,
the same call being used for both in
struments. In clear atmosphere sig
nails made by this instrument can be
easily read by the naked eye at u dis
lance of eighty miles, and by an expert
operator at the rate of fifteen words
per minute.
TO and fro across the valleys and
lower mountain ranges fitted the mes-
sages which told of the recent where
abouts of the hostiles, and close upon
the heels of those messages came others
ordering the troops in pursuit.
presume it would be difficult task
to try to imagine the surprise that the
Indians felt when they suddenly saw
that they could not move without find
ing that almost Immediately their trail
, would be cut by scouting cavalry. They
, saw the light of the photographs flash
ing across the valleys, but they did not
at first comprehend its true signiti-
canoe. At last they began to associate
r those flashes with the fact that they
, were constantly being pressed and har-
! assed. and within two weeks from the
: date Of the establishment of the hello
graph they fed southwark across the
| Sonora border, there to remain until
S chased back again by Captain Lawton
: to the place of surrender.
/, For nearly two months following the
G flight of the hostilcs into Mexico not /,
: sound came back from the shadows OF
Q the Sierra Madres. into whose depths
Q pursued and pursuer had disappeared.
At last. on IA scorching hot morning
near the close of August, a Mexican
courier galloped into Bisbee "a mining
town near the border-with the intel
ligence that Geronimo and band were
e in the mountains about twelve miles
l. from Fronteras, Mex, wishing to tres
d with the authorities of Sonora.
l. There was II Photograph station a
It Bisbee, and the information furnished
O by the .'Greaser" was flashed prompt,
}. to Fort Bowie, scventytive miles away
p Within two hours from the time of tn,
h arrival of the Mexican courier at Bis
" bee five troops OF cavalry We're making
r. forced marches on FrOnteras. Whei
q Geronimo had escaped from the ne
d that the United States troops sought Il
% weave around him at Fronteras ant
IS was flying eastward, pursued by all tn,
As cavalry in the field, "a whisper passe,
ct along the line that negotiations ha,
q. been opened looking to the surrende
I'd of the hostiles. Consequently all sig
le nal-men were on the tip-toe OF expect
N ancy.
,e One evening about the last Of Angus
10 the operators at a station in the Swiss
Mt helm mountains We're nodding lazil,
n under the shelter of their tent-hy, whel
suddenly from the highest peak in tn
a Chiricahua range came the flash OF
Ia Photograph, and the following messag
~ was received:
at "Send IA blackboard to meet me at SEQ,
,s Whites ranch. | shall be in Bowl
an tonight and shall bring some Indian
- with me.
- This is the modest manner in whicl
i General Miles announced the surrende
lv of Geronimo. That the employment Q
n the Photograph was most importan
IL factor in bringing the campaign to
Ia speedy and successful issue is general
70 conceded. -S5rgt. Whitney, IN Louis
;. Uiiie Hrier-yoUrnai.