Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-09-18
DAILY SHORT STORY
A TELEGRAPHIc CLICK.
tOriginai.l

| ear instead of by sight After that
we drifted apart, TO come together
again. in telegraphic parlance, on the
same railroad. Ray being operator ut
one station, / at another. We We're
| bosom friends and had many CON
/ fidcnce over the wire.
| When the civil war broke out ]. who
had come north from Georgia TO learn
tclegraphing. went back TO my native
state and enlisted as d cavalryman in
the Confederate army. What became
OF Ray Dexter / did not know.
One morning in the summer of 1862,
| while we were confronting the Union
army in Tennessee. 1 was sent for by
the colonel, who asked me II l were
not a telegrapher. When / admitted
that l was. he told me l was wanted
ut general headquarters. There l met
the general, who said that copy of
the enemy's cipher code had fallen into
| his hands and he desired 10 avail him
self of it 10 learn something of their
| movements. Our interview resulted
| in his sending me out to the enemys
| rear for the purpose of tapping his
I wires. / dressed myself as Il camp
follower and provided myself with
basketful OF suspenders. socks. but
| tons and such other wares as are usual
! ly sold by peddlers. Underneath
false wooden bottom l hid my tele-
| graph machine and connections. When
| fully equipped I sailed forth.
General Rosecrans was then at Muir
| freesboro threatening Bragg at Tulla
homa. My object was to strike some
point on Il main telegraph line where
| could tap the wire and, If possible,
take off orders indicative of the enc
my's intended movements. / followed
the Nashville and Chattanooga rail-
road till i reached the Federal pickets,
circled around their right outpost at
Triune and came down i'll their rear
between Triune and MurfreeSboro.
This plan had been laid out for me by
my general and had this advantages:
When the enemy moved against Tulla-
hOma he must first draw i'll his right
wing at Triune, since the troops there
had the greater distance to march.
The result showed that this view was
| correct.
For several days 1 lurked near the
military telegraph between Murfrees-
boro and Triune without any results.
L
but there y%as nothing of moment pass
ing over il. / concealed myself In the
woods, not attempting to sell my wares
to the Yankee soldiers, only relying
on them to conceal my telegraph ma
chine and have a reason for my pres
ence in the locality If suspected. !
had a lonely time of it in the woods
by myself, my fears of detection hav
ing ample opportunity to assert them
selves. 1t is one thing to be cut down
In n charge and quite another to be
dragged to the limb of a tree and be
hanged for a spy, as / certainly would
he If caught either tapping the wire or
even with my apparatus.
One morning / awoke in my bivouac
just as the dawn was breaking. /
knew that the Federal pickets were
kept under arms from about 2 till 4
o'clock in the morning every day to be
ready for an attack. Perhaps 1t was
this that induced me to try the wire.
/ did so, and took off an order for the
general commanding at Triune to
march by roads leading southeastward
ut once Glad to have my watch over,
/ was winding up my wire prior to
hiding 1t under my wares when troop
of Federal cavalry came riding through
the bushes. 1t did not take them long
10 determine what l was up to, and
they hurried me off to the general COM
manding the right wing.
He was preparing to march, but took
time to attend to my case He scrib- |
bled something on piece of paper |
and handed it to an operator of the |
fAfA =, xx-l.2 30,
instrument in the same tent and be- |
gan TO click the key. I heard him |
send report of my case to general |
headquarters and the reply: Try by |
drum head court martial and hang i'm |
mediately. Since you are preparing |
TO march, never mind the court mar |
tial'
The moment the message began to |
come over the wire l recognized the |
touch of my old friend Ray Dexter. |
The announcement of my immediate |
execution and hope for it's recall or
at least postponement came at the |
same moment.
Take it to Captain L." said the
general to the operator when he had
read the message and tell him to send |
for the officer of the day to execute the
order"
The operator went out, leaving his
telegraph instrument where 1 could
almost reach it. / bent over and
clicked:
Ray, I'm the man you have just
sent the order to hang. For Gods
sake. help me-'
The general was SO busy with prepa-
rations that he did not notice my use
of the instrument. Ray simply sent
an o. X. to Indicate that he understood.
and / heard no more till he sent a
call to the operator. who heard it as
he came back. / was delighted to |
hear an order to send me to Murfrees-
hpro.