The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-11-13
TELEGRAPH FROM BALLOON.
STORY OF THE OPERATOR WHO
WENT Up AT CANEY.
Two Men Wounded by the Enemy
Aeronaut Hit by Mauser Bullets
Lieut.. NcNorn's Courage-Only
One Nan 10 Work.

4 am l-@S Telegraph operator VIC NsIl1 up
IL the war b2.8oon at Ii G2Rey ana SANE
t.&go, and ms IL me FIRST story CT the as
ce1S.on- tie balloon MAS snoi f4A o. no-es
50 itiai Il Locked Ike S.sye Hnea II crop
pee resolved a slanc-ns shot over me
eye, leaving 4 scar that 1 VIII carry Tor
.ife.
The balloon service proved practically 4
laAGTe. 1ul the experience Aas A.ird Slt3
tAE3l-ns incidents which / am not likely 20
forget aSn want any more OF IL
The ad4loon aas one Q. foar, ana vas the
ot.F one Used IL was under charge Of ti.s
signal cons / made Ioaf ascEns. t,.ls. L4leur.
A4cNoEn @as u command. -i5ud AcnaIo
@as the aerols4l anu Was me is-es-
FapAer. enlisted on May - IN he Seventn
company, LHltea states volunteer signal
Coz ~. and Went 70 IoDa IL j 4ae. / WAS
too tina. Was III tf.s oa..oon detachment.
DID no. relish the Jop. Dut Was %. taere
10 obey or1ers. and that Was a. There wSs
~ X.
Tie gas aas manufactures. for US al Tam
pa ana sent over - rs n tubes. so tAat
tners Was 40 trouble Ia gel..ng 70 Work Tor
cur hrs ascension oa June -.
Inc oalio0n Was laid Oh, over the rougn,
hl.iy ground. ard ia forty minutes it wts
flied with gas. The Spaniaros began TO
HE al II tie FIRST crack oaI OF tins DaX.
oe-ose II Was I'VE ieet OF the ground. RiH
tGe!F sioLs @eie lev aud scattered. and 81
IL c.cea The o4I.oon Vas ready for the
llTsl iTip IL Was wei morning. Rain Was
iaA!hg heavy and The Da..oon ssesed III
Ia il swung 10 a ne.gat OF 1850 feet.
Tie first Trip was really without exciting
incidents. A few p-ckeis firec al the bal
loon, Du, Gid no damage 10 speak Of We
coull see the sp@1.aTds IL tneir intrcnch-
meatS, our Owl men in camp and our ships
al sea lac Telegraph line extended TO
camp Greeley ana worked perfectly.
All The messages were sent n clpner. We
sent The Location OF the ea-mys lines as We
could see them. but had no trouble. The
second trip on july | Wa. quite like the
first. We heard a few scattered shots
took similar observations. and put in about
THO and half hours on the work.
The third and .ast trip was al Santiago
on the morning OF July 3 ana | am telling
You ii vas a "trip 10 make mans hair
turn white. Tue fghiins lines had been
that We were In for a not time. The leu
tenant knew il, too. and | remarked to
Bud that ii would be a lucky morning
for Us # We al got back alive.
II look forty minutes 10 pump the bag
full Of gas and at II O'Clock we were ready
for this days work. There was a nasty
ram ram on: II rams there al the time | can
pouches around ourselves. adjusted the tel
esraph machine and got into the BASKET
which was about five feet deep and four
feet across. There was just room for three
men and the Instruments
Twenty or thirty OF The boys who assisted
IN the rigging Of the balloon gave US the
good bye, ard as the balloon swung slowly
upward | heard different shouts:
Delaney, Try and land on yorr feet"
and another yeiis. 1t is a long jump from
UP there, old mani!
I said 20 myself that there was no use Of
thinking abou: t. If was in TO get shot
that was all there was to 1t. There was no
chance TO get back at the dagoes. for ! only
carried revolver. We had all the worst
OF II If Il came to a fight. for balloon vas
ar easy mark.
The balloon rose about a. fast as d cable
car runs. and for the first twenty or thirty
bag was drifting well over the water when
We heard the first ping. Ping! OF he
Nauser bullets across the SIDE OF the bas
kel and against the bag. When the bullets
came singiy IL sounded like they were str.k-
ing against stone wall.
a few holes in the balloon did 70 dam
age, and We kept on rising. though II was
sure thing that We were In for trouble
We knew that the Spanish firing line was
within 1.50o feet. and that they had the
range on us.
The lieutenant leaned over the basket
with his glass 10 his eyes writing a mes
sage TOW and then. All the messages were
in cipher For instance, ! remember one
which he wrote On a leaf OF his notebook.
and which read:
"Adritt. abaf'. ahhor, abhorrence.
Now, this might mean that the eremy
had 50 many field guns and the intrench-
something else, | MAS not supposed 70 know
anything about that. ] tucked down per
haps. a couple OF bulletins minute Be-
tween messages | looked over the basket
was swinging upward You see. the Span-
iards Suddenly stopped firing on Us.
a thousand feet below | saw a Spanish
sharpshooter drop out OF a tree once Ia
a hjle and ! could tell by the way that
he dropped that his sal, was no accident
He was knocked out. that was sure
thing; Then ] could see the Spaniardz
crawl through the tall grass TO their In
.renchm@nts.
TIE aeronaut. Bud" Was quietly sailing
the balloon moving a lever now and then
were carrying or a quiet talk looked
over the hssket and re'na -ked
'But there drops another daEo from
fall vas easy "a The one We VII get
Wen tire balloon was probably % ~ elY'
height s0a feef~a-1 ! was pjlshir~ away
on tHe ticker when trouble began II
seemed as If the Standards he'd turned all
Mavserz against re bag was Hike Y0rtv
hod@aTriers falling down ladders with thasr
hos
The aeronaut c7ouchea down IN the
basket hanging on - his leve- white
14eut NrNor- stood in his Disca glass IN
hard ara Kept o0 writing dispatches
TIE basket and into the bag. ana striking
1 '~ q Storm
Noacsay was ratified. We kept on rfa>ta,
ball ! expected that the Biz bag would -
would 'all Ike a lot ~ ~ KS Instead -
thar We began - gradually dosse0d Tic
}atoon RaS helDg f.0rked ,.il OF holes
hu' very lii'ie gas vas escaping
The rain of bullets never let uu for
second. "Hud" had Just asked n Z
wasn't getting 4 Iittie nervous. when he
Yeiltf. Ny .ioa they've got met'
t5s 3rappej ever "a tie oettofn # tre
groin and The other n has lee f7ot
rflrr3 t@2 eoies n me basket as ao
dren@e tne lever. hal ms. hee0 v3ad 49,
3rg waa fne fYs; man ~ pu38 ot tn e-5-
arr .-eukeal -FEf3 If-H asked NuG .4l+E