Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-07-17

Ellsworth. Confederate. at Lebanon.
and a Federal operator at station
between Lebanon and Louisville:
To B lebanon: What news: Any
more skirmishing:-Z"
To L ,station Unknown: mo. We
drove what little cavalry there was
away-B." Ellsworth
To p: Has the train arrived?-Z."
To T.: NO About how many troops
on train:-B." ELLSWORTH
To p: About 50O.-Z
There was but one railroad. a branch
from the Louisville and Nashville. but
the -e endorsements were evidently
coming in answer TO the call of the day
previous sent to General Boyle. and
the important thing 10 Morgan, next
to their strength. was their location ut
the moment. To ascertain the station
signal as Ellsworth adopted the fol
lowing clever ruse. telegrdphing to Z:
a gentleman here bets the cigars
you cannot spell the name of your sta
ton correCtly.-B." ELLSWORTH
To 3: Take the bet. Lebanon
J-u lI-c-t-i-O-n. How did he think l
would spell IT,"
To z: He thought you would put
two BIS in LebanOn.-B-" (EllSworth.l
Lebanon junction was the point of
intersection OF the thirty miles Of
branch road from the Louisville line
to Lebanon. Morgan Immediately sent
out a party to burn the bridge and de-
strOy the track. After some time Els
worth heard the call of Lebanon again
and received word from the unSuspeCt-
ing Il that the train of soldiers had re-
turned to the junction. Then. with a
little urging. Il sent forward for the
information of the Federal commander,
whom he still supposed to be in con-
troll ut Lebanon. the copy of Il long dis
patch sent by the commander of the
reinforcement to General Boyle. This
gave Morgan just the news he wanted.
He now proceeded to seize all the
Federal supplies in Lebanon. SuhSe-
| Quently Ellsworth received diSpHtche
by way of Il mt the junction. showing
that General Boyle did not know OF
Morgan's capture Of Lebanon. They
showed also that Federal troops from
Louisville were on the road south in
. anticipation of his coming. and so in
! stead of gCinE to Louisville the raid
erS moved northeast. striking the
Louisville and Lexington rniIroad be
. tween Frankfort and Lexington at a
station called Midway.
In the Heart of Kentucky.
The command reached Midway in
/ the forenoon of the 18th. Morgan was
/ in the heart of Kentucky Ellsworth
| entered the telegraph Office at Midway,
/ surprised the operator and made him
| prisoner and after few words OF
/ professional coincidence careleSSly ask,
! ell him to call the Lexington office and
4 get the exact time of day. This was a
! ruSe to get the operators style, and
when he responded Ellsworth found
| that he was II register operator. using
/ paper to receive answers. A little
search brought 10 light a signal book
giving all OF the calls on the line. and
, it appeared from dispatches which
passed over the wires that the towns
all about were alert for Morgan. On
, testing the wires the raider found that
he could safely cut off the Frankfort
Office and receive all its business al
| Midway. In a short time Lexington
asked Midway if it would be safe tC
run train between those stations
The answer was:
'All right. Come on. No rebels here
Following this came military order
from the Federal commander at Lex
/ ingtOn 20 his subordinate at Frank
fort 10 move all his forces out on the
| railroad and await orders at Midway
1t was now necessary to deceive the
Federals and give Morgan a chance tC
be Off in one direction while his
enemies were massing troops in an
other direction. Ellsworth then tele
graphed to Fedora headquarters a
| Lexington that the raiders had passed
by Midway toward Frankfort
ITO Cincinnati, Sixty Miles"
The command then moved on toward
! Lexington. reaching Georgetown a
night Ellsworth seized the telegraph
office. found the Instruments removed
put In his own and called Lexington
Morgan had decided to scare Lexing
ton and ride around il, north. so as tC
cross the line at Paris and get out OF
the state. He was within sixty mile.
Of Cincinnati. Ellsworth said TO Lex
ington: Keep mum. | am in the Of
nee reading by the sound of my mag
net III the dark. Morgan's men are
here. / cruwled in when no one saw
me" To this be signed the George
town signal Obtained at Midway and
received the answer: Keep cool. Dom
be discovered. How many rebels are
therey"
Il don't know. ] did not notice. As
Morgan'S operator was asking me
about my instruments told him SEM
them TO Lexington"
Cincinnati now broke in and called
Georgetown. asking if the rebels
were there. Ellsworth answered:
Yes. Morgan's men are here"
And so. while Morgan struck and
his scientific ally. Ellsworth. stole dis
patches and sent out bogus ones. the
alarm spread all over the country, anG
even Washington awOke to the star
ting fact that mischief was brewinC
in Kentucky. On the 18th Of July thi.
characteristic dispatch was sent from
the White House 10 the headquarter.
of the Federal army ut COrinth. Miss
Nafhr General TJaIIagL-J~ba,, o, - b.,.g-,s