Two minutes! The officer was aiming the big gun at the base of the monument, and was just giving the word to fire when the heavy bronze door swung open, and between the two bronze soldiers appeared Elias A. Smith, a white-haired veteran, over ninety years old, with a bronze medal on his breast and the Stars and Stripes wound around his waist.
“I fought in the Civil War!” he cried, in a shrill voice. “Here’s my medal. Here’s my flag. I’ve been the guardian of the monument for sixteen years. George Washington’s up there on top, and if you’re going to shoot him, you can shoot me, too.”
The Germans were so surprised by this venerable apparition that they stood like stones.
“Hi! Yi!” shouted Colonel Reading. “It’s gone!”
“Hurrah!” echoed the old man. “I was with Grant at Appomattox when Lee surrendered. Why don’t you fire?”
Then they did fire, and the proud shaft bearing the statue of George Washington crumbled to earth; and in the ruin of it four brave Americans perished.
CHAPTER XII. — REAR-ADMIRAL THOMAS Q. ALLYN WEIGHS CHANCES OF THE AMERICAN FLEET IN IMPENDING NAVAL BATTLE
While the main German army pressed on in pursuit of General Wood’s fleeing forces, a body of ten thousand of the invaders was left behind at various points in northern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania to pacify this region and organise its industries and activities. The Picatinny arsenal was now running night and day, under the direction of a force of chemists brought from Germany, turning out shells and cartridges for the invading army. The great Roebling plant in Trenton was commandeered for the production of field telephone and telegraph wire, and the Mercer automobile factory for military motor-trucks and ambulances.