Evening star., 1909-03-07
CLEARING THE. WAY
Cadets Work for Seven Hours
Removing Poles.
VALIANT SERVICE DONE
Allow Trains Behind to Reach This
City.
OPEN ROAD GIVEN ROOSEVELT
West Pointers Arrive Just in Time
to Take Their Places i'm Line of
Inaugural Parade.
OPEN ROAD GIVEN ROOSEVELT

| w hSI FOL /, \. y. MdrCn h-i he
corps of cadets of the United States Mill
| tary Academy has returned from the in
| auguration ceremonies with a new record
| of duty we'll performed. The cadets had
| not only been a feature of the inaugural
| parade. but they had performed real war
| duty in clearing the PENNSYLVANIA rail-
| road tracks of fallen telegraph poles be-
tween Baltimore and Washington. To
accomplish this the cadet specials got
the right of way over all other trains at
o'clock Thursday morning.
When the two special trains bearing
the corps of cadets arrived at Baltimore
early Thursday morning the conditions
were such that none of the railroad Off
cials had any idea that either section
would arrive at Washington in time to
permit even one of the battalions to par
ticipate in the parade. But Col Sibley
and Capt. Charles. the officers in COM
mand of the trains. decided that the
cadets should hold their place in the line
Of march. Capt. Charles went to the
railroad officials and made inquiries
Tracks Covered With Poles.
"There are as many telegraph poles on
the tracks between here and Washington
as there are in the woods back of old
Fort Put he reported on his return.
The company was gathering forces to
remove them, he said, but had had diff
Guilty in rounding up the men.
Well answered the commandant,
quickly I'VE have a fine crowd of husky
young fellows, not to mention score OF
equally husky young officers with us
What is to prevent us from removing
those poles ourselves"
Not a thing in the world" answered
Capt. Charles. 1T will be some real
war practice for them and will do them
a lot of good
SO the cadets thought when the mat
ter was explained to them. Here was
one of the real emergencies for which
they had been trained, and they were
anxious to go ahead.
The result was that at am. Thurs.
day the cadet specials got the right or
way over everything going to Washing
ton and started on tedious journey
through tho now, and ice for the capital.
The first seS[ion was in command of Col.
Sbley, while Capt. Charles had command
Of the second section. Meanwhile Capt.
Heron. the adjutant of the Military Acad-
emy was waiting disconsOla tely in the
new Washington terminal station, Won
dering If the corps would arrive in time.
Cadets Tackle distractions.
When the first special cleared the Bal
timore tunnel the snow was falling in
binding sheet. The train came to a stop
while member of the victorious West
Point foot ball team Of last year and
dozen other cadets hurried forward TO
make an inspection. There were poles
across the track everywhere. In five min
utes 200 cadets, under Col. Sibley, were
dashing down the tracks to- begin the
work of removing the debris.
The cadets entered into the spirit of the
work with enthusiasm and with the pre-
cision due to their training for just such
tasks. Old railroad men, who also had
gangs out clearing the tracks. gaped in
wonder at the vim with which thsy
tackled the job and the scientific way they
removed obstacles. 1t was not play with
them, but the execution of military Or
ders given by superiors, with as much
discipline eXerted as though they were an
engineering corps clearing the way for
an army to go through to Washington in
wartime.
when the poles for about 200 yards had
been cleared away the second special
steamed out of the tunnel and the 200 ca
dets in that train hustled out into the
snow and joined in the work.
Only Six Miles an Hour.
The average speed of the trains after
this was only about six miles all hour,
the long line of cars creeping along be-
hind the two battalions that were scat
tered far ahead. At 10 o clock the cadet
specials We're about twenty-one miles
south of Baltimore, with nineteen miles
of clear track behind them and about
twenty covered with poles ahead but the
work proceeded with clocklike regularity.
At noon only five miles separated the
two trains from the capital. One hour
later they pulled into the Washington
spick and span in the dress uniforms to
which they had changed, and showing no
signs Of the forty miles of hard work,
marched out of the station to take their
places in the inaugural parade. The path
they had made nabled hundreds of others
TO reach the city on the trains that fol-
lowed. and also ena bled Mr. Roosevelt TO
get out