Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1882 — WAR TELEGRAPHING. [ARTICLE]

WAR TELEGRAPHING.

• r-7 — Ingenious Devices to Convey Information During the Rebellion. Gabriel N/P;d&ala, a widely known through his hotel Connections, and brother of the present proprietor of the Hotel Lafayette, narrated to'a Philadelphia Press reporter Saturday three interesting 'Stories of war telegraphing: The Union s army in 1862 lay encamped on the north bank of the Rappahannock. opposite what was to be the disastrous field of Fredericksburg. On the bank of the river, in the extreme front of the Upion line, stood the house of Mrs. Gray, a long, rambling stoner building, whose front of three stories faced the river. The roof* sfojied steeply toward the rear, where the stone side was >ut one story high. Mrs. Gray herself. an elderly widow, had received the Union advance with every demonstration of welcome, and her hor.se soon became a favorite rendezvous for young officers. A prime cause of this, aside from Mrs. Gray’s cheerful hearth and good fare, was the beauty of her daughter Sallie, a brunette of perhaps 20 years with glossy black hair and deen blue eyes. A young lieutenant wes badly wounded by those batteries, and spent all Ins spare time at the feet of this fair southerner, who professed such sympathy with the Union cause. Late one rainy night a sentinel pacing back and forth before the stone front of the Gray bouse heard a faint but sharp noise cutting the still air. It sounded like the click of a telegraph instrument and it seemed to come from beneath his feet. Greatly perplexed, he called tho sergeant of the guard, fhey listened carefully and were presently joined by the gallant lover of Sallie Gray. Conviction of the treachery smote his heart, ■and with the sergeant he unceremonious!v “ntered the Gray dwelling. Sallie and her mother, despite the late hour, were busily sewing by a table in the sitting room. The ladies rose in apparent surprise and indignation at the intrusion. “Step aside, if you please,” said the sergeant. “Whatdoes this meanPLasked Airs. Gray sharply. “Frank, I appeal to you for protection,” cried the young lady to the lieutenant. That officer could only shake his head and sternly v. ave her aside. “You are false. You have deceived me,” lie said hoarsely, as the girl who had promised to be his bride sank sobbing upon a sofa. Tiie soldiers could hear tho ticking moro ..laudy now. They moved the table, lifted the carpet, and discovered a trap-door leading to a. cellar of whose existence they had io suspicion. Alight below was mstantlv uieuchod, but they fearlessly descended and discovered a telegraph instrinnent. with an »nsulated wire running through the cellar wall and evidently passing beneath the river to the enemy on the other side. Crouching in a corner was the operator, a young and handsome man, who had never before been seen about the house, having lived for days in thecellar. “You are my prisoner” from the sergeant brought the distressed wail from pool' Sallie of “My husband, oh, my husband!” The heart of the Union lieutenant went back once more to the girl he left behind him. But? notwithstanding the detection of this line of communication, the enemy seemed to know of every movement of the Union troops. It was a mvstery to the officers how :hey gained their knowledge. There wore no more telegraph wires, and there was no passing across the riter. At last the mvstery was solved. Within the Union lines, out in sight of the enemy, there stood a low frame house, occupied by a negro who did washing for the soldiers. He hung his (Nothing to dry in the front yard; but it was noticed that in the porch there always hunthree flannel shirts, one red, one white anti one blue. The negro said that they’ were his Union colors. But the shirts were not always in the same position, and a suspicion* sergeant finally became convinced that the negro used them to signal across the Rappaaannock. The arrest of the negro and the effectual use of tho shirts to deceive instead of to inform the enemy- followed. At another time the army of the Potomac was nearing Berlin, Va. To receive order* from headquarters in the rear, the troops had laid* ten miles of insulated wire, running through the woods, now beneath the leaves tnd again carried among the tree tops. It was impossible to picket the entire line, and a large part of it was exposed; but it was thought to be effectually concealed. A scout one day, lying in ambush, heard a sound like the a clock. Creeping forward, ha was astonished to see a “Johnny" in his gray uniform, setting on tho ground? chuckling to Idmself and busily writing. The scout sprang to his feet, and leveling his revolver, said to Jthe laughing rebel, “What are you doing here?” “I surrender,’’ was the chagrined reply, tho smile suddenly disappearing. The scout discovered that the rebel had cut the wire and had connected the ends with a loop running into a clock, the electricity securing Che escapement so that the messages ticked themselves plainly into the rebel’s ear. The ingenious machine was captured with the rebel. Gould’s Tin Box.—l am gratified to learn upon my return from Bermuda that our friend Gould took the advice I gave him some months ago to take an inventory of his worldly possessions, that is, his chromos lithographs, and other works of art. Mr.’ Gould’s little maneuvers about his tin box remind me of the maneuvers of two youn<* gentlemen in the western part of this’ state who were very hard up for money. They managed to collect enough to pay for some highly colored posters and a few hundred hand-bills, setting forth that they would exhibit a wonderful monster from heathen shores, called the Ghi-as-ti-cu-tis—something similiar to what Barnum wishes us to believe his Jumbo is. After borrowing, begging, or stealing an ox chain and a horse and buggy from a neighlxiring farmer, they arranged that one should take up his position at' the door to receive the money, and the other should exhibit the monster on the stage, going behind the scenes, of course, before the audience arrived. On the eventful day the wondering countrymen came pouring in with their families, until the-hall was crowded. At a given signal, when the hall had become packed, the showman rattled the chain furiously, rushed out, dripping with red paint, and shouted: “Ladies and gentlemen, save yourselves, the Ghi-as-ti-cu-tis is loose!” And in the uproar which followed, the young gentleman escapes with the door money and"ti e horse and buggy. SooUr friend Gould advertised a show, called together a moderate audience, rattled his tin box, and shouted to the bears to save themselves, and in the uproar which followed, he escaped with his family and physician in a palace car for unknown regions in the southwest—probably with the intention of examining undiscovered railroads. Meanwhile his confidential broker sails in the Germanic for foreign lands, to the surprise of even his most intimate friends.

The smallest circular saw in practical use is a tiny disk about tbe sizo of flve-cent nickel, which is employed for cutting the slits in gold pens. They are about as thick as ordinary paper, and revolve some 400 times per minute. Their high velocity keeps them rigid, notwithstanding their extreme thinness.