The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-09-17
WIRELESS WAR NEWS.
Service In the Far East a Mar
vel In Science.
A FEAT OF THE NEW CENTURY.


Success Of the new service Bring.
Periis.
The wireless telegraph service in the
far east organized by the London
Times is described by a correspondent
Of that paper Iii a recent issue. After
recounting the various obstacles that
had to be overcome before the details
OF the system could be perfected the
correspondent says In effect:
1.-THE splendid efficiency Of the De
Forest system, the invention of an
American, used throughout the period
Of the press boat Haimun's activity,
was demonstrated by the frequent
dispatch messages 70, 100. $50 and
200 miles over sea. sometimes with
stretches Of land intervening. The
longest distance through which mes
sage was successfully sent was 2l0I
nautical miles from point outside
Chemulpo, when the distance was bro
ken by the islands Of the Prince I'm
perial archipelago. A small portion of
this message was not ineligible, due
20 the fact that at the moment OF send
ing British war vessel was entering
Chenulpho and using wireless arrange
ments actually as it was passing with
In cables length of the Haimun. The
near proximity of this rival machine
destroyed for a moment one of the
most sensitive parts of the apparatus,
and some twenty-five words were bun
gled9
OF ala important development Of this
period the correspondent adds:
@Cur apparatus was now working 50
well that we were beginning to make
other uses Of 1t than merely for trans
hitting news from the theater Of the
sea operations. We were now able TO
receive both Russian and Japanese
messages. These messages, OF course,
came in cipher, and as we possessed
no key it was impossible for us to
make any improper uses Of messages
thus received, but we could easily rec
ognize the difference In the systems
employed. and by this means and here
another very important thing In favor
OF our system was proyed-we We're
able approximately to tell the distance
we were from the various ships. More
over, our operator, who was extremely
expert. began to recognize the notes Of
various ships that IS to say, he could
tell IL a Russian ship was at sea by
listening for the answering communi-
cation from the shore.
| Gle could also detect whether the
I japanese messages were being trans
/ mitted by relay to the naval base or
| whether the fleet itself was at sea.
This, Of course, was to us possibly OF
more value than II we had been able
ID deeipher the actual messages sent,
and during the period that the Haimun
was In operation during April our most
successful issues resulted from O care
full listening for the wireless telegra-
ply of the opposing fleets. We Lis
tened and came TO conclusions which
| invariably correctly guided us in our
movements.
For instance, If for space Of six
hours on end the Japanese were abso-
llutely silent we knew that Togo had
taken to the sea, for invariably when
lie entered upon some enterprise for
the time being all wireless commune
cation ceased. This being the case, we
knew exactly what course to steer.
ssThe Haimun was near spectator OF
the late Admiral Makaroff's sortie
from Port Arthur April IL. when the
Russian feet, after hot running fight
was forced to double on its course and
take refuge In Port Arthur. The dis
patch steamship made q hazardous
! dash through the tortuous entrance to
) Chemulno late on April II, and IN the
morning found itself trailing Admiral
Toqo's squadron In its dash toward
Port Arthur, a wireless message hay
ing informed the admiral Of the Rus
sian sortie. The story Of that running
fight as reported from the Haimun
s, over 100 nautical miles, was received
IN London. New York and Philadel
phia eight hours ahead Of any othel
: news Of the fight. The report would
! have been absolutely exclusive but FOL
the fact that the British sloop Espie
Gle. returning to Weihaiwei after win
] tering at Newchwang, passed Port At
thur Oh the morning Of the battle, ans
her officers gave meager accounts 4
correspondents at Weihaiwei
! OF the experiences on board the Hal
mun on that occasion the correspond
& ent says
ut may be readily understood tina
we were very careful not to use GU
/ wireless telegraphy until the battle
3 ships themselves We're engaged witt
3 the Port Arthur batteries, The reasol
for this Is obvious. If we had com
menced to send news Of the position 9
the rival fleets we should have at one
3 interfered with the wireless telegraph.
Of both belligerents. This would Ger
4 tainIy have been an unfriendly acl
but, although we did not use our owl
instruments for sending, we listene
1 attentlyeIy.
"The Russians We're hard at WORK
They were Just repeating the alphabe
over and over again in order to quee
the Japanese recording instruments.
Elm fact, am not sure 1t was not tn
constant use made BY the Russians 3
their shore stations that prevented TS