The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-08-29
HOW PRIVATE HARTLEY SAVED
GIBRALTAR.

The most memorable siege of Gibral-
tar, indeed one of the most memorable
OF all SiegeS, was that which the fort
reSS sustained from the combined sea
forces OF France and Spain during the
years 1873 to 1883.
The great attack on the place was made
on the 18th of September 1892 and all
the resources of power and science were
exhausted by the assailants in the fruit
less attempt.
1t was on this day that a humble pri-
xate performed an act which history has
handed down to us. The business OF the
teries sent forth its splinters to deal
destruction around at every impact of
the Spanish shot; but the return fire was
of the most telling description and most
steadily kept up by the British.
But removed from the smoke and din
in the laboratory of the garrison, sur
rounded by the chemistry of war, sat one
man, a humble private. His duty it was,
while his comrades worked the guns in
the suffocating easements of the covered
batteries; to prepare the. shells for the
use of the mortars. A dangerous task
so dangerous, in fact, that even the eX-
animation of the deadly missiles is con-
sidered sufficiently perilous on board
ship to warrant a stage being slung over
the side TO be occupied by only one or
two men. the others being kept at a dis
lance. But familiarity with peril robs
men of their fear, and Hartley sat busily
making ready shell after shell, filing
them with the explosive composition, and
afterwards fitting in the fuses, driving
them home and ranging the prepared
shells in cases till they should be fetched
to be sent in fiery arcs to deal death and
destruction amongst the enemy.
The laboratory was at that time full
Of explosive material. every grain of
which was of inestimable value to the
beleagured garrison; and it had been
accordingly placed in a position which
shell of the enemy 10 reach it. But now
the danger guarded against from with
out threatened. if possible. more terribly
from within-threatened to destroy at one
blow the whole of the explosive COM
pounds stored for defense, and this at a
time when such loss would have been
irreparable.
Shell after she'll had been filed, the
grim black spheres, as they lay ready,
giving but small signs of their deadly
power-the force that should rend them
into innumerable snreds of cast-irOn, each
to main or slay.
Suddenly. while calmly proceeding with
his work, and driving a fuse into a. fresh
filled shell, the fuse took fire, kissing
loudly as it discharged its rain of sparks,
and burning rapidly away. There seemed
hardly time for thought, much less for
action. and the first feelings of Hartley
were those of blank dismay
He had seen the discharge and fight
of shells so often, that he knew he
could only reckon upon its burning for
a few seconds; and then would come the
dire explosion that should act upon the
part of the fortress where he was like an
earthquake-the bursting of the shell be-
ing, as ii were, but the flash in the pan
that should prelude the blowing up of the
laboratory. But with the calmness of the
man whose trade was one which brought
him daily face to face with DEATH, Hart
ley seized the shell in both hands, hurried
out into the open air. and then with a
tremendous effort hurled the deadly globe
far into space, where a couple of seconds
after it harmlessy burst. 1t was not
until some time after that the performer
of this daring act could thoroughly realize
the great danger that had threatened
him with destruction. and though the
peril was past, it was some time after,
and then only with unstrung nerves, that
he returned to his perilous task.
EMILY WINDSOR.