The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1902-08-30
THE POWDER
MAGAZINE

or the town and among the hills wa
Situated the big powder magazine. /
was Il great building Of stone. an,
| during active operations II containe,
! haII a million pounds Of powder ant
other explosives. When ms regimen
mare he'd up TO Kalabag to relieve liz,
| Fourth Of the line. there was Il truce
and this ended In a treaty Of peace: $,
/ that we saw no fighting. We were de
/ tailed to guard the depot and II came
| lpout that | was placed In charge ol
| iIc powder magazine with guard OF
iifte,n men. As the magazine was
so far from the other dcpots and its
situation so lonely and it's guard sC
small. one would have expected il IL
be given the most attention by the hill
men, but they gave us no trouble. Now
ana then we caught sight of native
on the hills around, aud now and then
he screamed defiance and fired hui.
let against the walls. but 1t would
seem as II they had orders to let the
Eunrd alone. got to thinking inut.
tors over one day and with the aid OF
the sergeant, who was a bright sort OF
fellow, came to the conclusion that the
gucrrllas had some sort of trick up
heir sleeve.
We had fortified our camp among
the hills, but 1t was commanded from
a dozen elevations, and hundred
gucrrillas could have carried 1t with Il
rush any night believed they had
kept clear Of us for a purpose and that
biz surprise would sooner or later
turn up, but the only thing | could do
was to wait for Il. | figured that II
any attack was made II would he un.
der cover Of darkness, hut | was not
cute enough FOR the hill men. They
Clmc with rush one afternoon at 3
o'clock, and before any of MS knew
what was up they had possession OF
the camp and magazine. There were
tvonty-cight Or them, and instead OF
shooting MS down they contented them.
selves with tying our hands behind
our backs and putting n guard over
Us. They put out scouts aud Sentinels
In the direction Of the town. aud then
N w ''IlN y .l'lll '|'lllllllN lllWl llVNl INfll
brought down ruvlnc close To the
camp were driven up to he londcd with
powder They had the door open I'm
minute, and thcy worked rapidly aud
intrlligcntly In loading the elephants.
Each was loaded with eight kegs
or twelve bugs of powder. aud when
every elephant had his burden eighty
OF The men picked mp u kcg apiece and
started OF 10 the north The two Of
Gccrs IN command waited until MI the
others except on" three guards had
gone, ana | was wondering If we were
to have our throats cut when one Of
them approached me ana smlllngly
said:
There Is to be- war acain. and we
wanted your powder. | am almost
sorry TO 20 away and leave you alive.
but ns no one has been hurt and as we
nave made grand haul shall spare
YOU"
The guards remained with us for
hair an hour longer and then departed
NJ 81 swift pace, and II was not long be.
fore ono OF In" men worked u hand
ooSc and then freed the rcst Of us. II
was big thing those hin men had nc.
and nothing could have
,eeu moro neatly d.uc. but ms stood |
u the open door Cf that looted maga
line ! almost wished they hal put mn |
md To me before they left. our briga. |
licr was n fiery tempered old chap. |
eHdy % CrltlClso ana cenSurc sub. !
rd.nutc, ma knew that | was I'm for |
court martial and a disgracefUl dis
niSsal from the service, II was NY |
cspair ana desperation that gave me
sudden idea, They had neither do
troyed nor taken away our arms. ara |
would follow ON their tran with my |
uurl ~ fifteen men. II wag u forlorn
orc, ana | could not see how any nd
autagc was To- come Of II, hUt we set
n soon after the guHrls were out Ct
ight, ana within az h--.."We cNugm
light of the elephants as they topped a
lstaut ridge. Fearing no pursuit, the
IN men hal lCrt no rear guard, and |
,hou we reached the ridge we looked
own upon stirring scene. The pow.
~ WIS N'fllla iA'N Hl''.l W. ~ III NlIfl. |
mt directions. There were at least
OO men, lCO Eorscs and ten or fifteen
l0rc clopruGts. There was great
cal Cf wl 0Cgrg aud yelling ms the
Dads were 'v.d"d nud the force wa
10 srrong rnat . gave rp any more Of
tack ana wished that had M once
,ported at headquarters. / was about
D give the order 90 retire when big
mr. Of smoke suddenly lcHpod hun
red feet into the air aud there was q
Dom ms II from n h'g cannon, The
un was almost instantly followed by
second aud third aud then by one
b large that 70 seemed 10 cover the
'bOlc valley As this latter shot up
'ard every man Of ms on his feet al
he time was dang down and rolled
yer and the bowldcrs around ms were
,ckcd or moved from their beds. The
rash that followed was something ter
hc and was heard sixteen miles
way.
For ten minutes a pail of blacR
nokc hung over the valley. When IL
earcd, we saw half a dozen horse.
ZEN and three or four elephants hurry
.g away. Some Carclessness had ex
.odcd n Ecg or bag of powder, and
,ncral explosion had followed. Down
lcre lay 2SS dead and blackened ana
utilatcd natives, nlncty-nye horses
ld twcnty-sevcn elephants, and by
Ner of the brlGadlcr they were heap.
! up and burned IN one grand pyre,
ur powder haG been lost, but the ma.
yes had not reapcd the beneAt OF II,
nj because Of my pursuit though II
ld accomplished nothing ] escaped