The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1907-05-24

latsdc HIS repor and from then ia MAS
actively I'm the government service.
In Apiil, when the volunteer army
Mas authorized, he was commissioned
cret service. Here his splendid men
tality and energy came into play. His
s~clentary. absteTnious lifo rendered him
physically ut for anything. His head
quarters were with the army in the
tcld, but he operated solely under the
direct orders of the president. His
command over his department was alb
solute. aud he ran things with an iron
land. Among his other duties he was
required to take charge of and enter
tain all the foreign military attaches
who joined the army to witness it's
m~aneuvers. They came from every
quarter of the globe. and were given
the best of everything. Padget, of the
Royal British navy, and Lee, of the
British artillery: Won Goetzen, Of Ger
many; EnVor Pasha. of Turkey; Shiba,
OF Japan, all We're there, and one morn
ing Cheney heard Il familiar voice say:
Il am looking for Colonel Cheney"
CHANGING UP he beheld his Russian
friend, Count Yarmoleff.
i ann Colonel Cheney, count. How
do you do?"
You-arc-Colonel-Cheney" said
the county, slowly. "Why-the last
time saw you was at Yarvailar, Rus
siS W loLl !ltLlIIt WAS IIitultS.
Yes, count, that's all true. But I
was then busily engaged trying to keep
out of the a of your Third Section"
You succeeded. l see" replied the
count.
Yes, but it was a close shave" Che
ney and Iarmole1f thus resumed their
very pleasant friendship.
Information was wanted by Spain
as to just what the American army
WAS going to do, and numbers of spies
We're turned loose in Tampa and other
points of concentration. 1t vas Che
ney's duty to prevent this, and he and
his men We're kept busy. His organ
woman arrived in Tampa that Cheney
did mot luno about. Many arrests We're
made and the prisoners sent to Fort
Mcpherson. Atlanta. for safe keeping.
Tomas Estrada Palma, afterwards
president of Cuba. reported to Cheney
and assisted him in his work. Many
other Cubans reported, but they We're
generally all title and no work.
One night Cheney heard of the ex-
istence of a Spanish club at Ybon City
and, taking one man with him. went
over and broke it un. There We're
about forty Spaniards in the club when
Cheney and his man broke in the door.
Quick as a flash Cheney covered them
with his six-shooter. His man did
likewise n they drove the Spaniards
into a corner and held them there. With
one hand holding q revolver pointed at
the crowd, Cheney 'phoncd to General
l1ppinger for troops. In fifteen min
utes a company of regular infantry ar
rived and marched the prisoners off
to Jail. Some of Tampa's most promi-
nent citizens We're caught in that raid.
The war board in Washington was
playing hattledore and shuttlecock with
an army. One day it was going TO IIa-
wanna, the mex to Porto Rico. Santiago
or Cienfuegos, or where-not. Cervera
was at large on the high seas, and until
he was corrallcd the army couldn't go
taUny place. And this war board wanted
information about all these places, and
Cheney was told to get it. With these
multitudinous details piling on his
shoulders mis- time was occupied for
about twenty hours out of each twenty
four.
In his own mind ne was convinced
that the army movement would be
either against Havana OF Santiago. OF
the latter place the government had a
good deal of information. but of IA
vana they We're u bit shy. In a gem
eral way they knew, of course, of the
MORO and Cabanas forts. but of the
movement OF troops, etc, since the war
broke out they We're ignorant. Havana
coalG be attacked by the navy from the
sea. mac an army could ON up in rear
of the city from Ratabano. forty miles
away. Would the Spanish army be
ready for such a movement? This was
the Information Cheney wanted 10 get.
He had numerous civilian employees and
officers OF the army under his COM
nand, but just the right person did not
appear. lie was not hanpesed for
funds and could pay amy price for this
information. He offered 81 900 or more
TO several men. Three of them tried it,
but the Spaniaras were Very alert
around Havana and naught came of
the attempts.
The FIRST man got to Hatabano ali
right. and then his feet became cola
anl he came back. The second ttiad 10
get i'm from the seaside. hut allied T~ba
II laird man. a bright Jrisi11nan na,nad
Murphy. landed at Matanzas and an
preached Havana from the eas; IJa
got in the city. but nothing more was
ever heard of him. preellnablv be vas
captured and tried as . SPY ana shot
spain treated spies different than
.Arerica-sle shot them. We lent tl,ena
prisoners. fed them on the fat of Inc
land and after three montha lat them
81.
one morning about tho 4Gfb of ,T,,.
Cheney sat in his office i'm the ,Tan,n,