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Show ONE OF THE THING8 THAT BROUGHT GEN. FUNSTON HIS BRIGADIERSHIP. r We could see that the farthest Bpun of the fine steel bridge had been lot down Into the water, so that an attempt at-tempt to rush tho itructuro and get directly Into the trenches on the oth-or oth-or bank wns not practicable I thought It jnlght bo done by BvrJmmlng around tho broken span, and called on the men nearest me to come along Most of those were from a smnll detachment detach-ment of Company E, under Lieutenant Colin H. Ball, that had Just reported from a reconnaissance down the stream, but 1 wns also accompanied by Barshfleld and Warner and b First-Sergeant Enslow of Company K About ten of us ran up the embankment embank-ment to the end of the bridge, and then discovered that tho ties and rails had been removed, so that wc hnd to work ourselves along the Bides, a slow and tedious operation. But ery few shots wero fired at lis, none at all after wc had got half-way across, as the enemy had a bread v begun to varate the works. I thought It advisable to get Into them at once, nevertheless, for fear that they might be reoccu-pled. reoccu-pled. The bridge. Including tho sixty-foot Bpan thnt had beon dropped Into the water, was a llttlo more than two hundred hun-dred feet long, but In time wo reached tho gap. It doveloped now thnt some of us could not swim, but It would at any rate be a good Idea for eomo men to remain on the bridge and cover us with their fire in case the enemy snould be "playing possum" or ehould make a codnter attack on thoae of ua who succeeded In croo3lnjj Taking off our shoes and leaving behind our arms and ammunition. Lieutenant Ball. Sergeant Ser-geant Enslow, Chief-Trumpeter Barsh- flnM rVirnnrfil A T Popminn nf f!nm- pany E, and ravself swung ourselves I down until we could grasp a steel rod ' that ran diagonally from the top of one pier to a point on the opposite one a few feet above tho water slid down this, and were eoon In. As soon as I ' got In I reached for bottom, but could not find It. subsequent examination showla? the stream to bo ten feet deep at that point so that we had to ; swim for It, no great ta9k. aa the distance dis-tance was about forty-five feet. Although Al-though I had got Into the water first, Ball boat me to the bank, being a faster fast-er swimmer, and the four of us, barefooted, bare-footed, unarmed and dripping, rushed rush-ed Into tho trend), to find In It only the dead and disabled. - on |