The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1918-06-15

front line where they stick to the end of their
wires under terrific shell fire until ordered TO re
ion their commands if they can get through alive
IAN experience of this kind happened to me
short time ago in a lonely chateau OF the 1pres-
Nenin road" an English officer wrote home. The
chateau was the center Of a perfect hell OF Ger
man shrapnel for nearly a week. until it became
almost untenable and was abandoned by the head
quarters staff.
1.-The general gave instructions that q telegraph
fst was to remain behind to transmit important
messages from the brgades, and l was lett In
charge Of the instruments In this sheiFsWep1
chateau for day and night
ION the second day the Germans broke through
our trenches and the wires were cut by the shell
fire was given orders to evacuate the building
and smash I'D my instruments These saved oy
burying in a shellproof trench, and then mad TO
escape between our own fire and that OF the
ene1ny's across q field under a terrible tornado OF
shrapne.
"On the early morning Of the same day one OF
our cable detachments was cut up and announcer
captured by the Germans. only to be retaken by
our sappers and drivers after a uespera'e anu
glorious fight"
The linemen also have regular patrols, stretches
Of line which have to be constantly examined nos
only for breaks but also to make sure that they
have not been tapped by enemy spies IN sucn
way that every bit Of information sent over them
where the hill country offered good cover to spies.
the wires were constantly being tapped
One day q nneInan passing along the road no"
ticed q lot Of cable lying at one SIDE He started
to coil it up and found that piece OF wire mao
been tied to the main line. When he traced 1t ne
found that it ran to a haystack- He went on,
tapped the line and sent In word to headquarters
and an armed escort found spy hidden In the hay
with several days supply Of food
IN thaJp
pairmen. and no is permitted to interfere with
the swift execution Of their work. Word coming
over the line that the wire to a battery was re-
paired is often the sweetest sound In the world te
an observation officer up front, even If 1t comes II
a rough brOgue which French weather has not LIB
proved.
So when ANYBODY else breaks In on the line ane
interferes with the repairnan he gets rolled. es-
pecially If he has been sitting for several hours
q she'll hole with an icy rain dripping down hi
hack An English officer told Of what happened
TO a general who broke in once.
"a general came In tfe hut and told me l RAM
IN the telephone just now and said, Give me u
- brigade. please" bat some one with a lou
voice replied deliberately and distinctly: Get OF
the blinking line" I got OFF renarklng tnat a
soon as convenient I should like to speak
onolopized and explained that the line had bee
down and was being repaired. He went of Wit
q merry twinkle in his eye"
AS the number Of in the American ANN
abroad grows with the weeks the number OF ins
men. those who make possible all that the ar1i
lery and infantry together accomplish, will steae
ily increase until they are small army IN tnen
selves. And probably 1t will not be long before al
,ornconnant will be made that some plain Bi
smith. wire repairman has been given medal fc
bravery under fire. which attracted attention eve
among the hundreds of brave acts which tines
men perform every day.