Newspaper Page Text
rn**** ********* ********* * *:« £
$ THE RECORD-BREAK INK
•4 RACE OF THE ILLINOIS. *
* i
By fHnnhop* Sum*. Hpeciul Corro
spomlttiit of Collier's Weekly.
%¥¥**¥***¥¥***¥***********
s HE seemed almost conscious of
the part she played-the great
battleship Illinois—as she
settled down to her race
through the ocean path that had been
marked out for her to prove that she
was the swiftest, and withal the most
terrible, sea-fighter of her class afloat.
Klie gave the Impression that the
beauty and splendor she will some day
Wear lind been renounced, and that
here she was to exhibit only her
Winged power of flight and her deadly
Strength. So Stripped was she that
every muscle seemed laid bare, and
she wns still begrimed with the sweat
of labor that had fitted her to ran and
win the race against a hundred rlvnls
In the navies of the world.
The Illinois, a dull, dingy, gray hulk,
lay beyond the brooding Islands nnd
//
nii... *• Wl:i
- [Vi
’’-.a
I
i .*<' * "JlP.W* , V
-"1ft ■ *
/ftre \
i.
> A * J* ...
/A /j 55 I
M ■■MRlU ■/, % J. W| u
/- zr '
/ISm »•< p * a
tr ISi V.
S–la WmM i -'fsir SIB- V
c W H o Pi pUgi
,;a:2 'TP*®
2 CP) '■V'-ls
r. • • . (fti, "•
v \
\ ^ , -A'f-. - m - 1 1 f
i.-.'X-’ __
■AS?
M-* u*..
^r
- 7 *"•*
■ i —
TIIE BATTLESHIP ILLINOIS, THE FINEST WARSHIP AFLOAT.
the busy harbor traffic of Boston, on
the morning of June 12, awaiting the
supreme moment that should , seo her ,
transformed from a germ in Iron and
steel into a battleship. She laid lain
there for some time, and every hour
her picked crew and her shrewd build
ers had made her fitter, and stronger
and fleeter. They had let the grime
and dirt accumulate on her decks, and
soil the creamy white of her graceful
ly curved sides; but they kept the ina
chlnery clean aud free, and as sleek
with oil as the mouth of a million
gallon “sponter.”
The test of the ship had been re
garded by all as a dramatic climax
toward which everything was moving.
Her builders had been preparing her
for this moment over since her launch
ing on October -1, 1898; and the United
States Navy, which was to reject or
accept her on the result of the trial,
had selected a trained body of offi
cers to witness the race. As if to
mark the occasion ns a sort of baptism
of fire, Rear-Admiral “Fighting Bob”
Evans was placed at the head of this
Board.
Ou one, however, not even her build
ers or her crew, expected that she
would run the marvellous race she
did, eclipsing all records. But after
she reeled off tier wonderful speed of
17.31 knots so steadily, without fret
ting or quivering, Admiral Evans said
she could easily be forced to eighteen
knots.
As soon as the members of the trial
board, which consisted of Rear-Ad
miral Evans, Captain C. J. Train,
Captain J. N. Hemphill, Commander
Charles Itoelker, Lieuteuaut-Com
mander Charles E. Vreelnnd, Lieuten
ant-Commander T. F. Rodgers and
I 4 m \ k
r v
£a fj
A. m. v;.; ' r
\i ’
mm cl !'#*
i
IS FiTT< N
m 1 M ■ ■ *
N
e \ ■Si v IP'
IjEsg; IP \ 1
LOOKING AHEAD FROM TIIE TOP OF TIIE FORWARD TURRET.
Naval Constructor J. J. Woodward,
had made a tour of Inspection of the
ship, she left her anchorage In Presi
dent Roads and steamed slowly out
of the hay. At first she moved with
extreme caution, ns If wary of the tor
tuous channels, and her helm was In
the hands of a harbor pilot Then, as
the wide seaway opened before her.
r '
,
•
? • «**
>i «
*
m
LOOKING OVEH THE STERN—HOW THE
BATTLESHIP STIRS CP THE WATER
IN HER BROAD WAKE.
she dropped the pilot, shook off her
swaddling bands, as It were, scorned
all guiding hands, save those of her
masters, nnd turned her head toward
Cape Ann for her life or death race.
The course of thirty-three knots
had been carefully measured the day
before, and was marked by six boats
and buoys stationed at Intervals of
little more than six knots, the total
to lie gone over twice, out
and in. The path lay directly across
the deep bight in the shore-line of
Massachusetts and New Hampshire
and ended off Cape Porpoise beyond
Mount Agamenticus on the Maine
coast. The guuboat Hist was the first
stake, and the others were, in their
order, the training ships Lancaster
and Essex, the gunboats Newport and
Peoria, and the naval tug Potomac,
Long before the Illinois reached Cape
Ann she had w’orked up to a high
speed, and when she swept around
the first stake-boat and swung easily
iuto the path she had to follow, she
was making more than seventeen
knots on hour. So smoothly did she
rush through the water, without vibra
tion or clatter, that even the naval ex
perts could hardly believe she was
moving at that wonderful speed. Only
the white beaten foam she dashed
wide and far from her hows, and left
in a broad swath behind her, told of
.......... —------g driven. Admiral
Evans and President Calvin B. Orcutt,
of the Newport News Shipbuilding and
Drydoek Company, the builders, who
were on tho bridge. Admiral AV. T.
Sampson, who watched the first part
of the trial from a station near the
wheel, and all the other naval officers
present, held their watches to catch
the exact time of the start and finish
of the first reach, as if the ship were
a racehorse nearing the wire In a
sharply contested lient
The gunboat Hist saluted as the bat
tleship crossed the starting-line, aud
the great fighter snorted curtly
through her siren whistle in aeknowT
edgment.
At this moment, as tho Illinois had
attained almost her utmost pitch of
speed, she presented a remarkable
spectacle, viewed from her own for
ward fighting-top.
That she could and would make the
speed required by her contract—six •
teen knots on hour— was evident to all
from the moment she rigHted herself
from the turn and moved down the
line of stakeboats that disappeared
In the direction of the Maine coust.
The crew, from Captain Hanlon and
helmsman and engineer down to the
deckhands, regarded the race ns a
personal affair. Each one knew exact
ly what the Alnbama and the Wiscon
sin had done, and, therefore, what the
Illluols was expected to do, and each
felt the heavy responsibility that rest
ed alike on steering wheel, or engine
shaft, or pack of coal, or on a single
drop of oil.
At the end of the half-course a sin
gular thing happened. Until the race
Is finished every power of the ship is
guarded against mishap. For this rea
son, the ship usually swings about on
nu easy helm, and reserves the test of
her ability to turn in a small circle
to the very end of the race, But
there was some confusion in orders,
and the ship suddenly came about,
hard a-port, and then as suddenly and
mysteriously swung hard to star
board, like a tipsy sailor. Then she
swung again in a short curve, and
came round, beautifully righting her
self, and seemed to leap back into
the path for her spurt home. Shs
behaved exquisitely under the severe
strain, neither listing too much in the
abrupt swings to starboard and to
port, nor throbbing or quivering under
the immense tension of her engines.
At the finish, the Illinois made the
usual figure “8,” to show how quickly
she can turn, and swept a complete
circle within three times her own
length.
Then she dropped anchor again in
President Roads, and the great record
breaking, historic race had ended.
New records had been established,
and a new goal and prize set up for
ifi
■
fesartis m .-w
ON THE BRIDGE DURING FULL SPEED.
all future battleships to strive for.
The Illinois had made 17.31 knots.
But as a fighter? It is not enough
that a battleship can steam fast. She
must be able to vanquish her ad
versary after running her down. Can
the Illinois do this? Let “FIghtiug
Bob” Evans answer:
“The English sometimes say wo
overburden our ships with armament.
That is what the lighting ship is for—
to carry all the guns she can effectu
ally use. She is a floating battery,
aud if she can hurl more weight of
inetal than her enemy, and can hurl
it as accurately and timely, she will
win, and the ship is built to win.
She must get to her fighting ground
quickly, and outfight her foe.
“I believe the Illinois can do both.
I believe she is the fleetest ship of
her tonnage and fighting power on
the sea to-day and can whip anything
that can now force her to fight, and
many battleships that she could force
to fight her on her own terms.”
The Illinois was launched October
4, 1898, at the yards of the Newport
News Shipbuilding and Drydoek Com
pany, Newport News, A'a. Her hull is
368 feet long at load-water line, her
beam seventy-two feet, and draught
at normal displacement of 11.525 tons
is twenty-three feet and six inches.
Her indicated horsepower is 10,000;
her speed Is 17.31 knots, and her
coal supply is 1500 tons. She will
have forty officers and 449 seamen
and marines. She has triple-expan
sion twin-screw propelling engines,
capable of 12o revolutions a minute.
Her ormor consists of a belt four
feet below aad three and a half feet
above the load liue, of sixteen and one
half aud nine and one-half inches
thickness, The turrets are protected
by seventeen Inches of steel plate.
She carries two thirteen-inch guns
each In her forward and aft turrets,
fourteen six-inch rapid-fire guns, and
a secondary battery of sixteen quick
firiug six-pounders, and four quick
firing one-pounders, and two Colt and
two field guns.
The speed of the Illinois In the trial
race, as given above (17.31 knots an
hour) Is the actual time made against
tide and currents. Her corrected
speed, calculated by the Board of In
spection and Survey, Is much better—
17.45 knots. This great speed places
her still further in the lead of Ameri
can battleships, and is her warrant to
rnnk pre-eminently ns the fleetest
ship of her class in the navies of the
w'orld.—Collier’s Weekly.
TALLEST IN AMERICA.
Texas Man Who Enjoys a Unique Dls
Unctlon ’
I.iving on a big ranch of his own In
Titus County, Texas, lives a man with
several claims to distinction. His
name is H. C. 1 hurston and he stands
Ttocklng 0
“mSS his 1 JZtIcZ feet Air Jto Thurston is a
w« tl»
age of seventy-one years lie is still cn
joying good health. He was one of
the original forty-niners, nnd went
around the Horn and buck across the
-. , 1
1
•'■I ’c:
r ».
/M
I toSESP M Illlf 5
Hi f/
mm r
THE TALLEST MAN IN THE UNITED STATES
isthmus in the days when the trip
meant something. When the war
broke out Mr. Thurston promptly en
listed in the Confederate cavalry, and
served until the surrender of his regi
ment in 1865. His great height and
towering figure made him a favorite
target for Federal marksmen, and it
is estimated that thousands of shots
were fired directly at him during the
war. But some good fortune seemed
to watch over him, and he was wound
ed but once, and then slightly. In
1871 Mr. Thurston removed to Titus
County, Texas, where he has since re
sided. He is one of the prominent
I>lanters of Mount Vernon in tho Lone
Star State, and has refused countless
offers to exhibit himself as an attrac
tion at a dime museum.
Odd !Lock From China.
Probably no objects of greater curl
osity will reach tills country from
China, as a result of the receut
troubles in that country, than the lock
and key of the front gate of the
sacred city of Pekin, which have just
been delivered to the National Museum
by Minister Conger. The sacred city
is surrounded by a wall, and in front
of the Emperor’s palace is the gate
from which the lock was taken.
The lock, which looks something like
ail old-fasliioned bassoon, is neariy
four feet long, and consists of a cyl
indrieal piece of wrought iron con
tinued at the end where the key is
inserted with a six-inch loop, which
extern s ac*. m 10 oim aw
and one-quarter inches in diameter
parallel with the cylinder passing
through the hasps of the gate; thence,
at about two-thirds of the way,
through the lock guide, which is at
tached to the lock proper. The latter
n
J
fH Nm
i 71
v
LOCK OF THE SACRED CITY.
is provided with four tumblers. Tho
cylinder is re-enforced with cast iron
rings apparently welded on.
The key, which is about as long as
the lock, is also of wrought iron,
rounded for a portion of its length and
flattened for the remainder. The flat
end* has four wards, which, when In
serted in the cylinder, release the
tumblers, thus causing the look to
open.
The new German cruiser Adalbert
can steam 7000 miles without recoal
ing.
BOAT
SENT TO BOTTOM
More Victims are Caught
In Steamer Disaster.
SEVENTEEN OR MORE GO DOWN
Squall Strikes and Upsets Vessel
Plying Between Paducah, Ky.,
and Ellzabethton, 111.
The steamer City of Golconda, ply
ing between Paducah, Ky., and Eliza
bethtown, Ill., was Struck by a Squall
during a storm about 7 o’clock Mon
day nigbt ag s . he was en route to Pa
ducah ghe turned over in 10 feet
Qf water) six miles above the city, as
ghe wag gQing iatQ Crowells landing.
Si * teen Persons are reported drowned,
“■« disaster occurred as supper a-.s
served, and many of the seventy-n\e
persons were in the cabin. The wind
struck the boat without warning and
there was no time for those on the
inside to escape.
Captain Jesse Bauer and Pilot E. E.
Peck were the last to leave the boat
and swam to shore. They saved sev
eral persons struggling in the water
and left the survivors in a house near
the bank and came to the city. Cap
tain Bauer, who arrived in Paducah
two hours after the catastrophe, said:
'hae boat was getting ready to land
when the squall struck her and she
listed. Several passengers, who w r ere
inside, jumped overboard and were
caught by the boat. The ladies, all of
whom were m uie cabin, could not be
reached. The boat settled down ;n
ten feet of water over a reef and two
of the men who were in the cabin—
H. E. Worten and N. S. Quartermouse,
of Hampton—broke through the glass
and were saved. Three colored deck
hands saved a woman and child, and I
think she was the only woman saved.
A yawl that had broken loose was
caught by some of those struggling in
the water and taken to the bank. We
returned to the boat on this, but could
find no signs of life, and returned to
shore.”
The bc»t was valued at about $2,-
500 and had been in the trade for sev
eral years. There was no way to de
termine the number of dead and their
names until the boat’s books should
be found. Captain Peck places tho
number at sixteen. The Mary N. left
soon after the survivors reached the
city for the scene. She returned at
11:30 o’clock Monday night with those
saved. They report that ten women
were drowned and the total number
of those who perished will reach sev
enteen or twenty. None of the bodies
were recovered Monday night, as t-he
rescuers could not get into the cabin.
KOW1SOX IS CHALLENGED.
Schley Counsel Interogates Member
of the Inquiry Court.
The navy department has decided
that the Schley court of inquiry shall
be held in the gunners’ work shop at
the nav y y ard - The work sb °P is a
new building , and well adapted
to meet the requirements of the court,
Judge Jere Y/ilson and Hon. Isadore
Raynor, counsel for Rear Admiral
Schley, called on Acting Secretary of
the Navy Hackett Monday and made
inquiries regarding the department’s
list of witnesses. During their confer
e nce Messrs. Raynor and Wilson ad
vise d Hackett that a communication
would be sent him relative to certain
statements reported to have been
made by Rear Admiral Howison, a
, f th conr t innuirv cou’trover- in -e
gard to the Schley-Sampson
gy> Tfae letter to Secretary Hackett
-will inclose copies of interviews
porting to have come from Admiral
Howison, stating among other things,
that the battle of Santiago was won
by Sampson; that the latter’s presence
was unnecessary at that fight; that
Schley deserved no credit for the vic
tory, and that between the two officers
Sampson is the better one.
Mr. Hackett is requested to forward
this communication to Admiral Howi
son for his consideration, and a copy
of that officers reply to the depart
ment is asked for.
---
TRUST GOBBLES BETHLEHEM.
-
Big Steel Works Turned Over to Cor
poration Bj Schwab.
It was indefinitely learned at New
York Monday that the control of tho
Bethlehem Steel Company is no lon
ger in the hands of Charles M. Schwab,
president of the United Steel Corpora
tion. Mr. Schwab, it was authorita
tlvely stated, has allowed his interest
in the Bethlehem Steel Company to
pass into the hands of a syndicate
identified with the United States Steel
Corporation, the manager of which is
the banking house of J. Pierpont Mor
gan – Co.
TOBACCO GOES UP IN SMOKE.
Cigar Factory In Richmond Ruins
With Loss of §200,000.
At Richmond, Va.. Monday, fire de
stroyed what is locally known as the
J. Wright Company plant of the
American Cigar Company. There were
about 400.000 pounds of leaf tobacco in
the building, and this, with the ma
chinery, it is estimated, was worth
$Hj, 000. The total loss is placed at
about $200,000 insurance $112,000.
NEWS SUMMARY
Paramount Events of the
® a 7 Briefly and Succintly
Paraphrazad. J
—At Hogansville, Gu„ Friday there
will be a contest of “fiddlers.’' There
will be prizes offered for best,
p° ortst - the leaa and the fa t.
—Farmers in Mississippi are send
ing agents to the cities and towns for
labor to help gather their crops. La.
bor is growing very scarce.
The post office inspector at Nor.
folk, Va., has ordered the mail of the
Fidelity Mutual Company held, It has
thousands of contracts out.
The number of persons who Per
ished by the sinking of the steamer i
lander has been placed s .
at slxty-sevea
The passengers were asleep when the
steamer struck.
—The steamer City of Golconda
went down near Paducah, Ky., Monday
and sixteen persons— ten of them wc
men-were drowned,
Two negroes were lynched at
Pierce City, Mo., Monday for assault
ing and murdering a white girl.
—Monday the steel trust succeedej
in placing in operation some of the
plants which have been crippled by
f be strike,
—By the explosion of a shell at Fort
Riley, Kans., Monday, two soldiers
were killed and seven injured.
—Admiral Schley’s attorneys have
c la ' en –ed the right of Admiral How
lson serve on the court of inquiry.
—Four men were blown to pieces
and a roundhouse destroyed at Her
kimer, N. Y., Monday by an explosion
of dynamite.
—An explosion of benzine at Phila
delphia kills three, injures twenty and
destroys property valued at $500,000.
—The Textile Workers’ Union will
disband and members will unite with
the Federation of Labor. A ten-hour
day will be demanded in the south.
—Americans stopping at a London
hotel leave because negro delegates
to the ecumenical conference are ar
riving. The proprietor refused to
make any distinction as to his guests.
—It is reported in London that J.
Pierpont Morgan has bought the city
line of steamers owned by Glasgow
parties.
—The British surprise a Boer laager
and kill twenty, but are forced to re
treat.
—Colombia has requested the Uni
ted States not to interfere on the isth
mus until requested to do so.
—Ruskin commonwealth of social
ists, near Waycross, Ga., is breaking
up, having proved a failure. Sheriff
will sell the property.
—The people of Harmony Grove,
Ga., criticise the verdict in the Gus
Fellows trial. They say tho negro
should have been hanged.
—Officers have succeeded in recap
turing seven of the ten prisoners that
escaped from jail at New Berne, N. C.
—Confederate veterans had a grand
time at their reunion at Lexington,
Ky- It is estimated that there were
over ten thousand of the old soldiers
P resent -
The steamer Islander struck an
iceberg off Douglas island and went
down, carrying sixty-five to eighty
persons.
—The steel trust has smuggled ‘tu Into
strike f ,, nrn
j be Monessen mills
Tl _ ' easurar Hayden, of „ the New
v York branch – Company, is
t
missmg ’ together Wlth a lar « e sum of
— Tke carriage manufacturers of
Cincinnati ha.ve discharged all union
ma n and will run their plants non
unicn -
General MacArthur has reached
^ an Francisco from the Philippines.
He says war has caused many natives
to revert to barbarism.
—Mr. Kruger, In an interview, says
the Boers will never yield until grant
ed full independence.
—Ecuador ha3 joined forces with
Venezuela and has sent an army
across the border of Colombia.
—It is alleged that continental Eu
____, ... ... „
blnatlon ’
—Ben Hill Madden was shot by
Henry Smith at Concord, Pike county,
Georgia. Smith caught Madden in
the room where his children were
sleeping.
—A third oil well is now gushing at
Sunnybrook, Tenn.
—H. Hauser, a Wilmington, N. C.,
jeweler, is charged with Incendiarism.
At a fire in his establishment evidence
was seen of his guilt.
—International Typographical Fn
ion adjourned Saturday after a week's
meeting at Birmingham. Ala.
—Communication has been restored
throughout the storm swept section,
The property loss is great, but fe w
lives were lost.
—The strikers have succeeded m
closing the Bay View plant of the Illi
nois Steel Company, Fourteen cun
dred men will go out.
—The crops have failed in Euro; jean
Russia and over forty million p^opit
are in danger of starvation.
—France, Germany and Great Brie
ain will send warships to the isthmus
of Panama to guard their interest o«
—The praliament of Great Britain
was prorogued Saturday. There
nothing notable in the king’s speecn.