The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-08-09
WON HIS LEAVE OF ABSENCE
1t Had Been Refused hut He Got 1t By
Perilous Exploit.

1t Had Been Refused hut He Got 1t Isy {
PeriIous Exploit.
There is young soldier from Bling.
hampton in Captain Hitchcock's com.
pany Of the First Regiment. New YU:a
Volunteers, at Governors Island who
won much desired leave of absence
one day In a novel way. This young
soldier wanted to 60 over to New York
for two days in the worst kind Of a
way. Some friends from home, whom
he hadn't seen since he marched out
of Binghamton with his company near.
ly two months before. were coming
down for visit and had invited him
to spend the time with them. As..he
hadn't had any leave either at Camp
Black or at Governors Island up to
that time, he felt sure that there would
be no difficulty In getting 1t then, and.
accordingly. he put In an application
for forty-eight hours.
In just one hour he got his applica-
ton back, marked Refused" There
was no explanation Of the refusal. and
the young soldier was disgruntled
about It and went off to sulk.
The next afternoon there was q
heavy windstorm. 1t blew great guns
on Governors Island, and many things
that were not secured were blown out
into the bay. The most serious dam
age done. however, was the swapping Of
the halyard on the big steel flagpole on
the parade ground and the sudden de-
scent to the ground In consequence Of
the American flag. officers and men
regarded this as an evil omen. and.
despite the fact that the wind was still
blowing gale. they ran out on the pa
rade ground to rescue the flag and see
what could be done toward fixing the
broken halyard.
IL want man to shin up that pole
and fix that rope. said the officer of
the day. who was one Of the Lieuten-
ants of the company. Who will do
IT."
The first half Of the flagpole was
solid enough, but up toward the top it
was bending in the wind like slender
branch of a tree. It was smooth
climb, too, and 1t was evident that 1t
would take pretty good man to make
it, and pretty strong one to hang on
after he reached the top. For mo-
ment after the lieutenant called for
volunteer there was silence. Then
soldier stepped forward and said he'd
make an attempt.
There was burst OF applause from
the others as he tied the end of the
rope around his waist. No one who
heard him doubted that he could make
the climb, as he had served six years
in the navy before Joining the National
Guard. Half way up, the soldier
stopped and yelled down that he
couldn't go any further.
1.-THE winds too strong" he shouted.
81 can scarcely hold on now"
"Come down, then" cried the Lieu
tenant.
When the soldier reached the ground
the Lieutenant turned to the men and
said
"Wlll any other man try it? We
must fix It, boys, for the flag cant fly
until we do"
Two or three men said that they
would do 1t Willingly, If they could,
but they were sure they couldn't climb
a quarter of the way up. Then the
young soldier, who had been sulking
because his application for leave had
been turned down, stepped forward and
said:
Lieutenant, l made application for
forty-eight hours leave yesterday and
It was refused. want that leave bad
ly, and if you'll promise to get 1t for
me III make stagger at this Job.
never Skinned up smooth steel pole.
but have climbed trees. and think l
can do this job"
81 can't promise you the leave" said
the Lieutenant, but I'll premise to do
my best to obtain 1t for you
I That's satisfactory" said the SOL
OlGr, ana IllOmeHI ldlel ue "ao 6oIH6
up the pole, the end of the broken hal.
yard tied around his waist. He went
UP very slowly, resting every few feet
and finally reached the top. His COM
panions below were too scared to ap-
plaud, for the top Of the pole was bend
Ing first one way and then another In
the gale, and It looked as though the
young soldier might be blown from his
perch any second.
, But he wasn't. He was earning that
much desired leave, and he succeeded
in slipping the end Of the rope through
to the pulley block and bringingit down
with him. Then he was allowed to
haul up the flag himself, while the
other soldiers cheered him, Thorough.
ly exhausted, he went back to his quar-.
tiers, where, an hour later, an orderly
handed him a paper, informing him
that, on the recommendation of Lieu.
tenant Blank, seventy-two hours leave
OF absence had been granted to him
by the Post Commander. Colonel. Bar.