Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-06-13

W s. :: : : :: :: :: ;: : ):
| K5nCIn 0ol more or our brave blue
the navy or if the deed
was of such heroic qualities as to
merit special attention, by receiving
the American medal of honor from the
hands of the president of the United
States. The American medal of honor
ranks with the Victoria cross of Eng
land, or the Iron cross of Germany,
and it is as hard. if not harder. to win.
This medal always carries with it a
gratuity of s100, but to either man or
officer it means a good deal more.
The pathway for a medal of honor
/ man is made easier to advancement
and an enlisted man who is holder
of one of these medals may take ex-
animation for warrant officer, no mat
ter what his present rating. There
are cases, however, where heroic
deeds have been performed that have
not been made the subject Of report.
sometimes through ignorance of the
dangers experienced or of all the con-
ditions
There is the case of James F.
Scott, a gunner's mate on the U. S. S.
Montgomery, who, knowing OF his dam
ger, oheyed orders and went to the
bottom of Narragansett bay in a div
ing suit, after lost torpedo, which
had slowly sunk after being fired from
a submerged tube. and which might
start off at any moment. Down he
went and found the torpedo resting
In dangerous position, but approach
ing carefully he inspected it. and
thinking it still dangerous went up
and reported conditions He was
again ordered down to fasten line
to it, and he went-but let him tell his
own story.
Torpedo Practice.
"It was on Aug. %. 1909. and we
were firing torpedoes on the range in
Narragansett Bay 1 was working in
the forward torpedo room preparing
an 1s-inch Whitehead torpedo for fir
ing from the submerged tube The
torpedo was set to run 1000 yards at
q knots per hour We made ali the
adjustments and placed the torpedo in
the tube ready for firing Having pre-
pared the torpedo for the run | was
naturally interested in its perform
ance, and went to the forec'stle to
watch it. The gunner remained be-
low to see that all went right. as he
torpedo was to be fired from the
bridge-firing apparatus The torpedo
left the ship without turning over its
/ engines, but went about Sc yards
with its own initial impulse headway
and then slowly sank to the bottom in
about "A feet of water. Boats were
called in from the range and buoys
| were dropped over the spot where the
torpedo sank. The diving launch was
prepared and ordered away from the
ship. did practically all the diving
on the Montgomery for lost torpedoes,
so it was who went out with the div
ing launch. We get $12O an hour ex-
ira pay for diving, you know
We'll, the executive officer from the
ship had seen bubbles rising to the
surface from the escaping air of the
| torpedo and was in terrible hurry to
get after it. knew that 1t was dan
gerous to go after a torpedo that had
went to the bottom the way this one
had. 1t might start off at any min
ute, and besides it would probably
float of its own accord by the way
the air was escaping from it. You
know the compressed-air charge gives
a torpedo negative buoyancy. but
when certain amount would leak out
the torpedo would have positive buoy
ancy and rise to the surface. Th,.
was understood, but it was insisted
that go down. although stated that
we did not generally dive for torpe-
does that sank like this one did. It
was thought, however, that the tor
pedo might get adrift and that 1t
would be all right for me to go down
II went right away.
Was Gaining Buoyancy.
$50 went out in the boat and
donned the diving suit Before the
helmet was put on, told them l
would find the torpedo first and look
over the ground and then come up
for line to put on 1t. Going down
followed the buoy line. The water
was not very clear and couldn't see
moro than few feet, but just before
touched bottom the he. of the tor
| redo appeared right below my eyes,
apd thought that It was already On