The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-01

, been associated with me in undertake
! ings involving large capital.
/ L felt now that I not only had a stake
! in the community in which 1 liVed-in
| the home we had bought and paid for.
! but that had standing in the world
| OF capital.
Meanwhile Mr.. Scott was rising all
! the While in the pennsylvania Railroad
company. In 1858 he was made general
! superintendent; March 4. 1860, he was
/ made vice president, and in May, 1861,
/ he was called to Washington to become
| assistant secretary of war. i'll charge of
military railroads and telegraphs. As
he went UP he took me with him, and
l was now superintendent of the west
ern division of the road. When he de
cided to go into the government ser
vice he said l must go, TOO. L didn't
! want to go much. for l had d most re-
/ sponsible position, attending to the
moving of troops and stores, but ne
wouldn't hear of my staying behind.
So to Washington / went with him, go
ing from Philadelphia to Annapolis by
water, railroad communication having
been broken. at once set to work with
a large force of men to repair the rail-
road from Annapolis TO Washington.
THIRD MAN WOUNDED.
I rode into the capital on the first
locomotive that made the journey-but
not without being wounded en- route. l
was, in fact. the third man wounded in
the war. The way of it was this: Be
tween Elbridge Junction and Washing
ton the confederateS had pinned the
telegraph wires to the ground, thus
grounding the current, and observing
this from my passing locomotive, 1 got
down to release them. The very first
wire unfastened from the ground
l.,
ting quite severe cash in ii. When /
got to Washington 1 was covered with
blood.
DEVISING A WAR CIPHER.
1 was in charge of railway commune
cation at the battle of Bull Run, and
was the last official to leave for Alex
andria, where there was much confus-
ion in getting across TO Washington.
But it was in Washington, in the war
department, that had my most inter
esting experiences at this time. L
found it impossible to transact govern
ment business over the wires in ordi-
nary terms. We could not afford to
have everybody know the movements
of troops So, by necessity, kind of
cipher the first used, was devised then
and there. 1t grew by degrees. and at
last became extremely valuable. The
principle upon which it was construct
ed was disguise. Calling Sherman a
chair, and Grant a sofa, and so keep
ing the proper names out Of the mes
sages, was not sufficient. We soon
made one word do the work of a num-
Der. For instance, The enemy has adj
vanced in force might be rendered by
the one word Sequel Reinforce
mentS are needed at once" could be
transmitted by the one word, Bark
for example. when once we all under
stood il. Lincoln and Stanton oftenest
Stanton, used to come in my room and
watch the messages come and 60
June l. 1862. Colonel Scott returned to
the service of the Pennsylvania rail-
toad, and / went with him. He had
done me many good turn, and l was
soon able to do him one. Among the
young ladies l knew in Pittsburg was
Miss Riddle, the daughter of Robert
NJ. Riddle, the owner and, think the
editor Of the Pittsburg Journal. Colo
mel Scott was Il widoWer and knowing
him as intimately as l did l had often |
spoken loosely to him about his mar
rying again. Without mentioning any
names. l told him several times that |
knew the very girl he ought to marry. |
He was now stationed in Philadelphia. |
of course, while l was in Pittsburg, su-
perintendent of my old division. One |
day l got letter from him in which !
he asked: who is that young lady of |
yours, anyway" I kept quiet, for
knew he would come to Pittsburg on
business soon. and sure enough he did. |
I'm going back Tuesday, Andy" he |
said. No, you are not. Mr.. Scott" !
replied. You are not going until |
Thursday; and. what is more. you are
going to escort to Philadelphia on |