White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1919-02-23
Got THROUGH TO
WHITTLESEY,B But
HE WAS SCARED
Delehanty Sent to Support Fa-
nous Lost Battalion.
IS GIVEN PER|LOUs MISSION

formation Of Great Importance to
Americans. Which Later Got Whit
tIesey Out Of His Death Ravine.
How Capt. Bradley D~elehanty Of the
Three Hundred and Eighth got
through to Whittlesey" when that now
famous battalion commander was cut
off In the Argonne forest is a story
that ranks with the heroic defense of
Whittlesey itself.
Like Whittlesey, Delehanty Is
city man, a New Yorker. He Is a
dapper little architect. But he comes
of fighting blood. He is a son OF the
late Capt. Daniel Delehanty of the
navy, who hoped down from the
bridge Of his gunboat off Matanzas.
Cuba. In 1898, and himself pointed the
gun that sent the last Spanish flag
toppling Off the battlements of the
old forts there. He is a nephew OF
Supreme Court Justice Francis b. Del
ehanty of New York.
Before the war be had studied In
Paris. so when he arrived In France
his knowledge of the language soon
landed him on the regimental staff as
Intelligence officer.
But during that fierce month OF
fightlng up through the gun-blasted
Argonne, as Delehanty says. revert
Ing to the navy. iii was a case of
was that on the night Of this pars
ticular exploit he was In command of
a OF the Three Hundred and
Eighth infantry of the Seventy-seventh
division, the draft division of New
York city.
DeIehanty Ordered Up.
WhlttIesey, In command of his I'm
mortal battalion. was leading the ad-
vance. With his grim jaw set and
his shoulders hunched he was form
Ing the tough spearhead Of the Amer
lean advance 90 the west of the
Neuse. He had got orders TO go ahead
and he had done II. He had done II
better than anyone thought he could
and he had been surrounded. A
dozen Intellectual attempts had been
made 10 pierce the screen Of German
machine guns and trench mortars that
had filtered In behind him. When
night fell the colonel of the Three
Hundred and Eighth sent for Dele
hanty.
go up TO the support" he said.
Take command Of X company and
get into touch with Whittlesey.
We're getting nothing but a pigeon
message from him now"
Its tough country, that Argonne."
Delehanty told the story later. Its
hard country to get through in the
daytime. It's worse at night. And
when ! got up TO X company, ma
chine gun bullets were flying like
%locusts. and whizz-bangs out of those
trench mortars were Hopping over
every 30 seconds and blowing boys
to smithereens when they hit. I
sent out half a dozen n But
none OF them ever came back.
Finally I sent out two whole patrols
with orders TO reach Whittlesey by
different routes. Then | reported TO
the colonel. Anything else meant
moving the whole company, and |
had TO ask him about that.
Then every half hour or so he'd
call IN the telephone and ask me IL
I'd heard from these patrols. Finally,
about midnight. he couldn't stand II
any longer.
Delehanty Got There.
"Delehanty.' he said, you've got a
hundred and seyenty-seven men there
with you. You take them all. You
60 up through the woods until you
connect with whittlesey and you keep
at 1t until you do get him. IL you
only have seven men left when you
get there"
And Delehanty got there-not
with seven, but with the whole hum
dred and seventy-seven. But he frank
y admits he was scared.
SWELL" he said. turning with a grin
TO Lieutenant Scott. General Scott's
son. who was with him. 'This Ii good
by, old kid"
Yeah" replied Scott, at looks like
good-by."
Delehanty called the company
round him.. He told them what the
orders were. Not a man finched.
There's one chance Of getting up
there" said the young captain.
IF we go through the woods wen
get lost and shot. But there's a rail-
road track running up that way. II
we follow that we may get shot-but
we won't get lost. It's single file and
every man keep n hand on the man
ahead of him. Come on"
And D%elehanty led the file. A tiny
radio compass gave him the direction.
The railroad ~embankment had been
shelled and machine.gunned for
hours. BY n strange streak Of luck
the Boche had decided to let II alone
for a few minutes. And X company
sneaked up that track between bursts,
the whole lit of them.
Suddenly Delehanty bumped into