The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-07
A TELEGRAPH HERO.
Working the "Key" in Midair while
balloon Was RiddIed with shot.
FROM the BaItlmore sun.

From the Baltimore Sun.
Sergt. Thomas Carroll Boone of Com
pany X, Second Massachusetts Volunteers
who was detailed as telegrapher for the
balloon which operated over the field of
Santiago, is also a Marylander He Is a
son of the late Thomas c. Boone Of An
napolis. As telegrapher he was with Col
Drew of Gen. Skaters staff and Mai
Maxwell of the signal corps. in their bal
loon operations over the field of Santiago
July /.
The balloon propelled by strong rope
1000 feet in length and held by eighteen
men, was carried all over The field. and
the movements of troops was directed
from ID until it was finally shot to pieces
at about u O'Clock. A telegraph wire
connected the basket of the balloon with
the ground and observations were trans
mitted In that manner to the officers be-
low. Finally a point that Is now known
as HelPs crossing was reached by the bal
loon men, and a scathing fire was poured
into the initiating bag. Three shells from
a shrapnel battery tore great holes in Il
and showers of bullets made IL resemble
a large sieve. Remarkable is the fact
that the three men in the basket at the
time 1t was destroyed escaped with but
one slight injury. Three of the men
holding the rope on the ground were
wounded. The balloon was finally landed
in the middle of a stream waist deep Just
as the First and Tenth regiments OF cav
airy (dismounted) were charging a Span
ish ambush in a field of wild corn on the
west side of the stream which for the
terrible slaughter there Is known as HelPs
crossing.
Sergeant Thomas Carroll Boone. OF
Company X, Second Massachusetts, Regi-
ment, lived in Springfield, Mass, about
three years and is an expert telegrapher
He is assistant manager of the Postal
tal0prlnh of 40 1tfr
pounded brass ever since he was a
boy, when he began as a messenger In
Annapolis. He has worked in Wilmington,
Del, and New York, and has taken news
paper copy in the office Of The Philadel-
phia Press. Mr. Boone is twenty-five years
old. His father, the late Thomas G. Boone,
who resided in the third district Anne
Arundel county, died when he was a boy.
and his mother, Mrs. Mary A. Boone,
lives In Annapolis. He has four brothers
and two sisters, one Of his sisters being
the wife of Mr.. Robert Moss. Mr.. Boone
has one brother, William H., who Is a
clerk with the Baltimore and Ohio Rail
road, one, S. Acton, who represents the
Columbia Photograph Company in Balu-
more; one, Lewis A. a telegrapher, and
his oldest brother. Bernard H., Is al Camp
ThomasS Chickamauga Park, Ga, with
Battery II, Ohio Light Artillery.
A recent letter from Mrs. Boone to Man
ager Seely, of the Postal Telegraph Com
pany in Springfield, states chat il Carroll
has opportunity Massachusetts and Mary
land will claim from this war q hero"
He seems to be doing his best to bring his
prophecy true.
Mr.. Boone states In note that he was
injured when the balloon came down. The
note Is as follows: II was injured inter-
naly in the fall from the balloon, but 1t
did not incapacitate me until later. Rid
ing in an army wagon, IN the dark, over
a horrible road the wagon overturned and
1 received quite a crushing. My right foot
was badly wrenched by being caught I'M
der a large bale OF hay. Guess / win be O.
X. in few days. Writing paper of any
kind cannot be gotten here. / picked up
this piece on the field just now. This IS
the most God-forsalSen country l ever saw.
The Cubans go around entirely naked In
a great many cases. They were half-starv-
cd when we arrived. Government feeding
them daily"
Perhaps none but a telegrapher can I'M
agine the tremendous nervous strain I'M
der which Mr.. Boone must have been dur
ing his period of~anchorage In mid-alr
with bullets and shrapnel flying about him
as thickly as heavy rain drops In an April
showers. 1t required a steady hand with
which to transmit the intelligence to the
ground below where a receiving operator
was transcribing the news from the clouds
for the transmitting "key" is but a small
instrument, with a gutta-percha knob
about an inch in diameter, on which che
fingers rest in order 10 form the dots and
dashes into letters, the operation Of which
Is somewhat delicate and not without
considerable tax on the nerves. As It Is
likely that the instruments were kept hum
ming for a considerable length OF time,
one can imagine the result Of this adven-
ture had Mr.. Boone become nervous and
tried 10 locate a shaking hand and trem-
bling fingers on the small knob. upon which
the success Of the ascension depended. Hap
PLY however this seems not to have
happened.
-Disapproyed.- What nOnsenseP ex-