Evening star., 1912-11-03

BY ERNEST MCDANIEL

onds, and then deliberately and lesurely
clambered up among the soldiers Fegning
fatigue, he took hold of the bamboo fagpole
and leaned against it for support. The as
tonished and bewildered insurgents excitedly
asked him several questions, in Spanish, in
rapid succession. He really did not under
stand any of them, and SO indicated.
Estimating the strength required to
wrench the fagpole from its fastenings, its
being about the size Of the average bamboo
fishing pole, and reckoning the distance he
would have to leap to land on level ground,
Jones suddenly Strengthened up and tight
ening his grasp on the pole, gave it jerk,
swapping it a foot or more above its socket.
As the pole snapped he made a quick leap
and, landing firmly on his feet, sped rapidly
back toward the American lines, bearing the
f1agpole and flag triumphantly as he ran.
His comrades saw and cheered, frantically
shouting, run, Jones, rum
The insurgents seemed to have been liter
ally paralyzed with astonishment and the in
credible audacity of the man who had walked
alone into their Notifications and, snatchng
their flag from their very hands, as it were,
made off with it. As soon as they fully
grasped the meaning Of this daring feat, there
were loud shouts, and a rapid fire was opened
on the swiftly fleeing man with the flag. By
the time the firing began Jones had covered
nearly hundred yards, and, running OBJ
iquely to their fire, then suddenly changing
his course, he came on through a rain Of bull
lets that pelted the ground all about him.
His comrades could not fire, on account of
Jones being between them and the enemy,
and like enthusiasts at horse race kept
shouting, run, Jones, run! You'll make it
yet! RUM"
Half the distance, and yet he kept his feet
and ran on. He began to show signs of ex-
haustion, and we could see that his speed
was gradually growing slower, while it
seemed to us that more and more rifles were
firing at the fleeing man. As he ran he had
broken the fagpole off within two or three
feet of the flag, in order to be able to run bet
ter with it. Realizing that the daring man
with their precious flag was about to sue
ceed in getting safely away with it, the
insurgents increased their fire and shouted
with rage.
Shouting, weeping, and swearing, his
comrades saw Jones run the gantlet of the
entire six hundred yards under terrific fire
and finally reach the bank Of the river and
tumble down into the water, utterly ex
hausted; but safe, and untouched by single
bullet. His comrades in the blockhouse
were wild with joy and excitement.
Regaining his wind, Jones waded the mar
row stream, climbed to the bank IN front
of the blockhouse, and waved the flag de-
family at the insurgents, then turned and
walked into the blockhouse. As he entered,
he greeted us with smile and said, II got
that flag, and here it is," as he held it up in
front of him.
THE boys hugged Jones, slapped him, con-
graduated him, and swore at him; but
he was SO exhausted from the long run that
he begged them to let him rest
Finally, carefully rolling the flag up
around the piece of pole to which it was at
tached, Jones left the blockhouse to return
to camp, saying, ave got my real insurgent
war flag to take home as souvenir.
The capture of the flag having been out of
line of duty and in violation Of the army
rules, as we'll as in disobedience of orders,
Sergeant Jones never received any military
credit, but was censured and given repri-
mand The incident was briefly told in the
press dispatches, and one of the illustrated
weekly magazines used it for front cover
design. Further than this and the plaudits
of his comrades, he received no reward.