Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-12-23
ROYAL ENGINEERS, THE BRAvEST
men IN THE ENGLISH SERVICE

en- building was ablaze. and the Zulus
held one room. but they never gained
the other. All night they hurled them
selves on the weak defense heralding
their coming with showers Of asse-
gales, but the dawn saw them in full
retreat. leaving the breast work piled
with dead. and the ground In front
q pavement of fallen. Never has the
earned. than by those two young lieu
tenants of h Royal Engineers.
Defense Of Wagon Hill.
The sternest fight in the siege OF
Lady Smith in the Boer war. was the
attack n defense Of Wagon hill. The
first ON rush of the assaulting column.
fell on Il small party of sappers, under
Lieut.. Digby Jones, r.. e. The party
was practically wiped out. but they held
the ground till reinforcements came:
right in the front of every charge,
Digby Jones was conspicuous for GAL
liant self sacrificing. daring, he died,
but he Victoria Cross conferred upon
him after death. was the reward OF
conduct v surpassed even IN MS
hard fighting corps.
Nor are the exploits of the Royal En-
gineers less famous in peace. The re-
capture of Khartoum. the ~recOnquest
of the Soudan. the fall OF the Boerish
power, were made possible by the des-
pct lWa ELEVEN young OdppcI =.
ficers. died from sun, disease and over
work. 1t was al impossibility. every
one said so. but Kitchener ordered it,
and Girouard the French Canadian
royal engineer put 1t through. There
is a rocky gorge, on the Canvery
India. Above it is an island below it
a rapid. spanning it is a great dam.
This %irrigates many square miles above.
and drains more miles below. also 1T
holds up the water w to run the
turbines of a great electrical installa-
! ton. In the summer OF 1909 this dam
went out under pressure Of abnormal
rains. AT once a cry went up that the
upper farms were being dried out and
the lower flooded n a horde of peas
ants poured into Banzalore, begging
the acting chief engineer to come and
help. Inquiries from all who knew the
river said nothing could be done till the
dry season came. but the acting chief
was "A royal enginee officer and he
went along.
knew the river agreed that no boat
could live; but. animated by the de-
termination of the white man, 20
fishermen were found to man a scow
and accompany him. A mighty anchor
of rails and concrete was dumped and.
dropping down on her cable, the scoW
made comparatively smooth water
just above the wrecked DAM. The
survey completed, they proceeded to
return, hauling hand over hand on
the cable.
Death Of the Engineer.
Exactly what went wrong no one
will ever know, but the scow was seen
to lurch and fill, while the crew was
swept hither and thither in the waves.
Twenty gained the rocks in safety;
one. a coolie, vas missing when the
white man called the roll. The miss
ing man was sighted tossing on the
waves far down the rapids. Without
a moments hesitation, the royal en-
gineer turned and headed for the
breach in the dam. He was seen to get
his man; they were seen to shoot over
the breach together, and the white
man was seen to thrust the coolie onto
a fiat rock just as the torrent drove
him head first against a boulder.
On the little island is q monolith,
and on it's surface is an inscription
just the name and rank and regiment
of the officer. and beneath the inscrip-
tom: "Inasmuch us We did it unto one
of the least of these. We did it unto Me-"
The Maha"ajah of Mysore, in his spe-
cial order on the event, has put it on
record that Such a deed will do more
to cement the loyalty of the governed
to those who rule them han all the
orders of viceroys and the DEGREES Of
councils"
aurels are gained in peace as we'll
as in war. Given the emergency, you
will always find a man to meet it in
His Majesty's Royal Engineers.