The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-29
he WAS At SANTIAGO
Delansy's Thrilling Experience
at the Front.
IN THE SIGNAL CORPS
Went Up in the Balloon at n Caney-It
Was Filled Fun OF uolss-He
WIN Garry . Scar to
His Death.

Peter J. Delaney. a telegraph operator,
who formerly worked in Butte and Hell
ena. n who is well known to nearly
all the operators in this part Of the
country. to whom he is Familiarity
known as Mike the Brakeman" was
a conspicuous participant in the San
tiago campaign. He left Butte to go
to New York shortly before the out
break Of the war with Spain and enlist
ed in a signal corps which was sent to
Cuba. He was attached to the balloon
service and had a thrilling experience.
He returned from Cuba recently and
wrote the following account Of his ex-
perience:
Il I'M the only telegraph operator
who went up In the war balloon at Ell
Caney and Santiago. and this is the hrst
story of the ascension. The balloon
was shot full of holes so tina 1t looked
u a sieve when IL dropped. I re-
ceived a scar that ] will carry for life.
The Balloon service proved practi-
cally a failure. but the experience was
hlled with thrilling incidents which I
am not likely to forget. l don't want
n more of II.
The balloon was one of our. nd
was the only one used. 1t was under
charge of the signal corps. ! made four
ascensions. Lieutenant McNorn was in
command. Bud McKalb was the
aeronaut n I was the t~elegrapher. I
enlisted on May % in the Seventh COM
pany. United States volunteer signal
corps. and went to Cuba in June. was
told that I was in the balloon detach-
ment, j did not relish the job. but /
was out there to obey orders, and that
was all there was to II.
The gas was manufactured for us
at Tampa. and sent over to us in tubes,
so that there vas no trouble in get
ting to work for our first ascension on
June 20.
The balloon was laid out over the
rough. billy ground, and in 40 minutes
II was filled with gas. The Spaniards
began to fire at 1t the first crack out of
the box, before IL was five feet off the
ground. But their shots were few and
scattered. and at IL o'clock the balloon
was ready for the first trip. II was a
wet morning. Rain was falling heavily
and the balloon sagged until IL swung
to a height of 1,50o feet.
The first trip was really without ex-
citing incidents. A few pickets fired
at the. balloon. but did no damage to
speak of. We could see the Spaniards
In their in~trenchments, our own men in
camp and our ships at sea. The tele-
graph line extended to Camp Greedy and
worked perfectly.
All the messages were sent in cipher.
We sent the location of the enemy's
lines as we could see them. but a no
trouble. The second trip on July / was
quite like the first. We heard a few
scattered shots, took similar observa-
tions, and put in about two and a half
hours on the work.
The third N last trip was at San
tiago on the morning of the Sd of July.
and i am telling you IL was a trip to
make a mans hair turn white. The
fighting lines a been getting closer
for three days. and I knew that we were
in for a hot time. The lieutenant knew
IL, too. and I remarked to Bud" h
IL would be a lucky morning for us IL we
all got back alive.
1T took 40 minutes to pump the bag
full OF gas. and at IL o'clock we were
ready for this days work. There was
a nasty rain on: IL rains there all the
time. / can feel IL raining now. We
wrapped rubber ponchos around our
selves. adjusted the telegraph machine
and got into the basket. which was
about five feet deep and four feet
across. There was just room for three
men n the instruments.
Twenty or 80 of the boys who as
sisted in the rigging up of the balloon
gave us the goodbye. and as the bal
loon swung slowly upward / heard diff
ferent shouts. m old chum yelled:
Delaney. try and and on your feet.
n another yells. 1t is a long jump
from up there. old man.
II said to myself that there was no
use OF thinking about IT,: IL I was in 10
get shot that was all there was to II.
There was no chance to get back at the
dagoes. for I only carried a revolver.
We had all the worst Of Ii IL Il came to
a fight. for the balloon was an easy
mark.
The balloon rose about as fast as
a cable car runs. and for the first 20 or
30 feet in the run we did not hear a
shot. The bag was drifting well over
the water when we heard the first Ping,
ping!' of the Mauser bullets across the
side of the basket and against the bag.
When these bullets came singly II
sounded like they were striking against
a stone wall.
"A few holes In the balloon did no
damage inc we kept on rising. though
II was a sure thing that we were in for
trouble. We kne that the Spanish
firing line was within 1.500 feet and that
they had h range on us.
THE lieutenant leaned over the
basket with his glass to his eyes. writ
ing a message now and then. All the
messages were in cipher. For instance,
/ remember one which he wrote on a
leaf of his notebook and which read:
"'Adrift, abaft, abhor, adherence.
"'M'NORN.'
Now this might NEAR that the enemy
had so many field guns m the in.
trenchments were so many or II might
mean something else. I was not sup
posed to know anything about that.
licked down perhaps a couple OF bulle.
tins a minute. Between messages
looked over the basket and saw a few
strange sights as the balloon was
swinging upward. You see the Span
iards suddenly stopped firing on US.
"A thousand feet below I saw a Span
ish sharpshooter drop out of a tree once
in a while. and j could tell by the way
that he dropped that his fall was no &c.
cident. He was knocked out. that wal
a sure thing. Then i could see ths
Spaniards "a through the tall grass
to their intrenchments.
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