Semi-weekly herald., 1913-02-10
BRIG. GENERAL ALLEN REr1REs

After a life chock full of adventure
and achievement, honorei N the serv-
ice of his government, Brigadier Cen
eral James Allen, chief signal officer
of the United States arAy, will on
Feb. 13 retire from active service and
go back TO live the remainder of his
life at his boyhood home, LaPorte,
Ind.
General Allen has military record
Of forty-one years which reads like q
novel. Himself of modest bearing, it
is in the official, routine, perfunctory
records of the war department, that
the full story of his adventures may
be CLEANED.
All the way from fighting on the old
Indian frontier down to handling the
highly scientific questions of devel-
opment of military aviation and the
wireless, General Allen has been in
the forefront.
Allen graduated from West Point in
1872, and, in the cavalry branch, i'm
mediately saw service in the Indian
campaigns in the middle west. In
1891, he was transferred to the sig
nal corps because of his unusual abil-
ity in arranging means for military
communication.
1t was, however, in the Spanish
American war that the army officer
forever established the reputation of
the army signal corps. For locating
Cevera's fleet in Santiago harbor and
supplying the information which re-
suited in it's destruction, Brigadier
General Allen received a letter of
commendation from President McKin-
ley.
Colonel Allen,' says the official
military report, furnished daily COM
munications under the most difficult
conditions. He reported that the
Spanish squadron was short of coal
and could not renew its supply in
port. His efficient work enabled the
navy to strike the blow that destroy
ed the entire fleet"
Brigadier General Allen is very
proud of the fact that the president
was notified of the destruction of the
Spanish fleet, by his cable dispatches,
fourteen hours in advance of any other
official information.
He was ordered by the secretary of
war to destroy the Cuban cables. On
the cable ship Arias, with a foreign
crew and harassed by Spanish torpedo
boats, he completed this perilous task.
While working on the last of the ca
bles a Spanish ship opened fire on
the Arias, and Aliens crew revolted.
At the point of pistol, he, assisted
by several other officers, forced the
crew to work until the cable was cut
in two places. At the close of the war.
Colonel Allen restored the cables.
For the next three years he laid
telegraph lines in the Philippines and
kept communication from the interior
parts of the islands open with Ma
Mia. Then he was ordered to Alaska
to take charge of laying the Seattle
and Alaska cable.
since becoming cnleI slgnai oIHcer
Brigadier General Allen has been in
charge of military aviation. He was
instrumental in inducing congress to
make the first appropriation for an
army aviation school. He purchased
two aeroplanes, designated five avia-
tors, and selected a site at College
Park, Maryland.
Each year he has urged congress
to greatly increase the appropriation.
He has fostered the science and is Sc
cure in the knowledge that when he
retires he will leave behind an avia-
tion branch of the signal corps which,
although not as large as that of many
other nations, is considered by experts
to be probably the most perfect.