Evening journal., 1888-09-27
snoorrNn THE GRArNEr..

The uniform of the mountain troops Is
an adaptation Of the regular French uni
form, with caps, jackets, gloves and over
coats for the Alpine cold and boots with
flaps extending above tho knees. These
arc for protection in crawling over rocks,
ico and glaciers, and in climbing the
cliffs. Each soldier also carries q long
and stout alpenstock, one end terminal.
ing In a stout hook and tho other in a
sharp metal tipped point, so that it can
be firmly planted In the snow. The
soldiers are trained to climb singly, or to
cross over glaciers in long files, with a
rope attached from man to man like the
guides on Mont Blanc Thus equipped
the soldiers have lately been put through
n complicated set OF exercises and cvolu-
tions which satisfy the war authorities
that at short notice they could seize and
hold every commanding point.
Of course each officer in these exercises
has exerted his talents in the way OF ex-
tenporizing bridges by throwing Lines or
Telling trees across chasms, and the more
ambitious soldiers have WED with each
other until, as one officer reports, more
than one man can balance himself with
an alpcnstock, on q trunk far above a
mountain torrent, in q manner that fairly
rivals our celebrated Blondin"
The mules, too, have been educated in
mountain climbing, They have hauled
artillery to the SUBMITS of the highest
range, where it could hurl destruction
into all the passes Of approach At the
sano time tho telephone is utilized; the
officer ia command of q squad on a peak
10000 feet high converses freely with his
commander in the valley 5000 or 5000
feet below, and that commander, in in
slant communication with the squads on
all the peaks around can map out the
progress Of the battle far more rapidly
than a commander In the open country,
who must depend on mounted orderlies.
But the most ingenious invention Of all
was by En obscure captain Of an artillery
company. Taking light cannon with a
small bore, he loaded" it with wrought
iron rod terminating at the end IN stout
hukes like those Of an anchor; to this rod
was attached stout rope fitted with
knots foot or so apart The gun was
pointed at an inaccessible peak and fired;
the grapnel fell on the peak and caught,
and there was rope ladder fixed. One
nan climbed and secured the upper end
more firmly; then the entire company fol-
lowed, drew up the gun, and a light bat
terry was established on n peak which
only the birds had hitherto reached.
This was an achievement, indeed; but
when they had lowered the guns and the
men had descended, there was the anchor
and the rope-must they be lost2 On the
first experiment they were, but private
soldier solved the problem. When anchor,
gun and men were safe below, the last
man on the summit attached a small time
torpedo to the upper end of the rope,
calculating the fuse to give him timo to
get down. Soon after his descent the
torpedo goes off, blows the rope loose
above and down it comes. There need
be no surprise that tho commanding OH
Ger closes his report in these words.
These ascensions and the passage Of
artillery along the edges Of precipices are
at times painful and exceedingly danger
Gus; but such Is the skill and sang froid
Of men and officers that wc are without
grave accidents IN any OF these ma
neuVers."