The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-07-26

Point-Both Men and Horses Are
Numbered and Sent Out In Turn
With Dispatches-The Service at
Night Most Dangerous.
A correspondent now with the Rus
sian army in it's retreat sends the St.
Petersburg Zeitung an interesting de-
scription Of the flying post" which is
used to keep up constant communica.
ton between the leaders and to carry
dispatches, the daily orders and re-
ports, says the London Globe. The
flying post is quite distance from
the field postal service, which is man
aged by the field post. The headquarters
Of the three Russian armies are connect
ed by line Of posts arranged as fol-
lows. The chief Of the flying post"
with the armies the lines of this post
are under a lieutenant, who belongs
to the staff Of his army and who must
have his quarters in the post road In
the neighborhood Of the headquarters
The flying post" of the Third army
is under Lieutenant Baron Won Tiesen-
hansen, and three Chinese farm houses,
lying apart from a certain village, have
been fitted up as its central point. The
choice Of such a position was very
practical, for the place can be seen
from afar, and at night time it can be
found easily.
This central point connects, firstly,
the army with the headquarters; Sec
ondly, the army with the other armies,
or at least with those in the neighbor-
hood, and thirdly, the army with the
staff of the army corps connected with
It. For this purpose the commander of
the flying post" always has at his dis
posal varying number Of horse soldiers,
according to the distance separating the
lines. In the Third army the connection
thus mentioned was kept up by a squad
ron Of dragons and by men belong
ing to all kinds of Cossack and mount
ed troops, who are told the direction
which they are to take and the dis
lance Of their journey, but who have to
choose their own way. Naturally, so
far as possible, only smart and handy
men are picked out for this work,
which becomes more difficult during q
battle or when there Is any activity
on the part Of the enemy. When there
is a lull in the warfare, the posts"
are quartered in a village. but in case
of a sudden attack, the men have to
fall in with the rest, and once Baron
Won Tiesenhausen had to lead his men
to the attack.
At the central point Of the flying
post there are kept about score Of
horses, but the number varies accord
ing to the number of men sent out with
dispatches, for the lines Of communica-
ton extend on three sides. From the
single posts only one man is away ut
time as a rule, as the dispatches do not
follow one another SO quickly. Ac-
cording to the regulations. the posts
are stationed from five and half miles
to eight miles apart on good roads and
from three to four miles apart when
the roads or weather is bad or when
an enemy is at hand. Experience has
shown that the distance Of four miles
Is the best, as that space represents
the average distance that can be trav-
ersed by a Dragons horse at full gal
lop. The posts under Lieutenant Won
Tiesenhausen are stationed almost ex-
actly at intervals Of four miles. At
every post are seven horses, and non
commissioned officer is In charge of ev-
cry post.
The men and their horses are num-
bered, and they are sent out in turn
with dispatches. One horse always
stands ready saddled. If horse No. Is
sent off, then horse No. is saddled at
once, so that no time may be lost. The
rate Of speed desired Is marked upon
the envelope. Thus a cross signifies FIVE
minutes trot and five minutes walk in
turn, while two crosses signify that the
message has to be carried at full gal
lop. When a soldier sent off from the
central point reaches post No. l, the
noncommissioned officer in charge re-
ceives the post bag. takes from 1t the
various letters and copies into the Post
Journal their titles and numbers-thus.
for example. Orders from the COM
mander in chief, Nos. Alb to Al" Then
he gives the bearer of them a receipt
for their due delivery at that post and
hands the dispatches to one Of his own
men to carry farther. When a post
bag contains many dispatches this
method Of acknowledging their arrival
at every post leads to great loss OF
time 1t would be better to inclose the
dispatches in one large envelope, on
which the arrival at and dispatch from
the various posts could be marked By
the officer in charge.
Both for man and horse this work OF
the flying post" is most exhausting
To carry a dispatch means an out and
home ride Of eight miles. Sometimes
a horse has to make this journey thrice
a day in fact, although there are days
on which fewer calls are made upon
the post; but the correspondent saw
from the mems ''time books" that on
an average every man makes three