Newspaper Page Text
A famous sea fight.
ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN • CHILEAN
AND PERUVIAN IRONCLADS.
DMtrmtfam of the HumcW Off th.
Bolivian Coeri A Terrible Slaughter
wh#t * Fight Between Modern War Vee-
. The Century Claude H. Wetmore
. flf go article on “A Famous Sea
pjght,” describing the engagement be
tween Chilean and Peruvian ironclads
o{t the coast of Bolivia in 1879. Mr.
Wetmore says:
From the first of the battle the en
couraging voice of Grau had come to
the men in the turret through the speak
ing tube from the conning tower, but
when the Blanco crowded into the thick
o f it and great shot struck the Huas
car’s sides as regularly as blows of a
battering ram the orders of the com
mander were no longer heard. The offi
cer in charge of the turret called to his
superior. There was no answer, and
when Commander Elias Aguerreran up
the narrow little ladder that led to the
tower he stumbled over the dead body
of his admiral. A shell had struck the
conning tower and had taken off Grau’s
head as neatly as if the decapitation
had been by the guillotine. This shell
also killed Lieutenant Ferre, the ad
miral’s aid. There was only time to
puah the corpses aside, and the hew
commanding officer pulled back the
tube flap to give his directions, but as
be did so the Huasoar staggered, keeled
over, then shook in every plate, while
a concussion more terrific than any so
far told that a shell had entered the
turret and had burst there. When the
fumes had cleared away so that a per
' son oduld speak, a midshipman called
out that one of the great guns had been
dismounted and 20 men killed. The
survivors tumbled the bodies through
the hatch that opened into the deck be
low, thus releasing the clogged ma
chinery, and as the corpses rattled down
other men rushed up, throwing off their
clothing as they jumped into the pools
of blood to seize hold of the gear and
swing the remaining gun into position,
that it-might train upon one of'the
ships—they could no longer make out
which, nor did they care—and it was
discharged, hauled in, loaded and dis
charged again.
Once more all was silent in the con
ning tower. Lieutenant Palacios has
tened there, but before he could enter
he was compelled to push three bodies
out of the way* He had barely given
his first command when a bullet from
the well aimed rifle of a marine in an
enemy’s top lodged between his eyes.
Then the fourth to command the Huas
car that day, Lieutenant Pedro Garezon,
took the place, and as he did so he call
ed through an aperture telling the
quartermaster to put the helm to port;
for he had determined to ram one of the
adversaries and sink with her if neces
sary. Over and over rpun the wheel,
but the Huasoar’s head still pointed be
tween the Chileans.
“Port I Port, I say I” screamed the
commander.
“She won’t answer,** came back the
sullen reply from the only one of four
quartermasters alive. The bodies of the
others were lying upon the grating at
his feet.
“A shot has carried away the star
board steering gear, sir,’’ reported an
ensign, and he dropped dead as the
words left his mouth. .
The Huasoar now lay drifting in a
hell of shot and flame, but all the while
the red, white and red fluttered from
the peak. One by one, in twos and in
threes, the men in the turret dropped
at their posts, and at last the remaining
great gun was silent, its tackle literally
choked with dead. The turret could not
be turned for the sama reason. Corpses
hung over the military top; corpses
clogged the conning tower.
With coats and waistcoats off the sur
geons had been laboring in the ward
room upon the wounded, who, shriek
ing in their agony, had been tumbled
down the companionway like so much
butchered beef, for there was no time
to use stretchers or to carry a stricken
comrade to a doctor’s care. Steam and
smoke filtered through the doorways,
and the apartment became stifling.
While they were sawing, amputating
and bandaging a shell tore into the
wardroom, burst, and fragments wound
ed the assistant surgeons, the chief of
the medical staff having been killed
earlier in the conflict. Those unfortu
nates who were stretched upon the ta
ble awating their turn under the knife
and those who lay upon the floor suffer
ed no more pain. They were killed as
they lay groaning. This shell tore away
wardroom and stern cabin, and hardly
a trace was left of the bulkhead. After
that what little surgery was done was
performed in the coal bunkers. .
Huddled in a passageway near the
engine room were a score or more of non
combatants—stewards, pantrymen and
stokers. They were in a place that was
lighted only as flashes came from the
guns. It was filled with powder smoke,
and clouds of steam that drifted from
below told -tflSt the Huasoar had been
struck in a vital spot—her machinery.
Suddenly they heard a crash, followed
by the rending of the deck, and the lit
tle ironclad swayed as if she had struck
a reef. Some one passed the word that
the maintop mast had been shot away.
As it came down it brought living men
to be dashed to death, also corpses that
had been hanging over the sides of the
military top.
Accounts Squared.
Hicks—l owe you an apology. The
fact is, it was raining, and I saw your
umbrella, and supposing you had gone
home for good I took it.
Wicks—Don’t mention it I owe you
an apology. You left your new hat, you
«now, and wore your old one. As I had
no umbrella and as I didn’t want to
Wet my hat I put on. yours. Hope you
don’t mind.—Pearson’s Weekly.
SOME ROYAL DOGS.
Nearly All the Sovereicna of Burope Are
Fond of Canine Pete.
Nearly every one of the sovereigns
of Europe, it appears, has one or more
pet dogs. The collies of Queen Victoria,
the fox terriers of Princess Beatrice,
with Jock as prime favorite, are known
at least by hearsay to everybody.
The emperor of Russia is also a great
lover of dogs. A London paper reports
that he is always accompanied in his
walks by a couple cf fine Danish
hounds, whose strength and vigilance
their master considers his best safe
guard. The grave czar is often seen
playing with these monster pets. He
himself has taught them their tricks,
and they are nearly always about him.
The king of Greece shares the czar’s
taste for the Danish hounds, which are
as intelligent as they are strong, and
Which, with hardly a bark to announce
their intentions, will fly at the throat
of any one whom their master may
point out to them in case of need.
When the empress of Austria goes on
her long walks or rides, several pet
dogs always accompany her. But per
haps the most widely known of all the
“royal dogs’’ of the present day is
Black, the pet dog of the Russian Grand
Duke Alejns.
Black is a sportsman’s dog, of no
very aristocratic breed. Indeed, if the
truth must be told, he is a member of
the race of mongrels which the fisher
men in the south of France take out to
sea, employing them to recapture any
wily fish that may fall through the
meshes of their nets or slip suddenly
back into its element after it has been
once landed on board the barge. Black
is still rejoicing in the days Os his
youth, but his record,; not only as a
common fisherman but as a • ‘fisher of
men, ’’ is already great, for he has saved
no fewer than six persons from a watery
grave. -
Some three or four years ago the
Grand Duke Alexis was staying at
Biarritz. One storm/ night he went out
on the cliff to get a View of the angry
sea. A boat was just being wrecked be
low, and he saw a dog dashing with
angry growls and barks into the water
and bringing to land, one by one, three
drowning men, while the crowd cheered
.tho brave mongrel to the echo. The
grand duke approached to caress the
dog, and the animal’s master then
offered Black to him, refusing to accept
any payment—St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
CURIOUS INSECT.
A Butterfly That Eqjoys Oaly Five Hooh
of Life.
It is in August that 'the naturalists
observe the marvelous insect which is
born, reproduces and dies in the period
of a single night, on the banks of the
Marne, of the Seine, and of the Rhine.
It is the ephemera of which Sirammer
dam has written and which is spoken
of in Aristotle.
The life of this insect does not last
beyond four or five hours. It dies to
ward 11 o’clock in the evening, after
taking the form of a butterfly about six
hours after midday. It is true, how
ever, that before taking this form it
has lived three years in that of a worm,
which keeps always near the border of
water in the holes which it makes in
the mud.
The change of this worm in the
water to an ephemera which flies is so
sudden that one has not the time to see
it If one takes the worm in the water,
the hand cannot be taken away before
the change is made unless by pressing
the worm slightly in the region of the
chest By this means it can be taken
from the water before the change takes
place.
The ephemera, after leaving the
water, seeks a place where it can divest
itself cf a fine membrane or veil, which
entirely covers it This second change
takes place in the air.
The ephemera assists itself with the
point of its little nails as firmly as it
can. It makes a movement similar to
that of a shiver, then the skin on the
middle of the back breaks apart, the
wings slip out of their sheath, as we
sometimes take off our gloves by turn
ing them inside out. After this strip
ping the ephemera begins to fly. Some
times it holds itself straight up on the
surface of the water on the end of its tail,
flapping its wings one against the
other. It takes no nourishment in the
five or six hours which are the limit of
its life. It seems to have been formed
but to multiply, for it does not leave
its state of a worm until it is ready to
deposit its eggs, and it dies as soon as
they are deposited.
In three days* time one sees appear
and die all species of ephemeras. They
last sometimes until the fifth day, for
the reason that some malady has affect
ed some of them and prevents them from
changing at the same time as the
others. —Exchange
Gold and Silver GotpeU.
“The Gold and Silver Gospels" is
the name of a very peculiar book now
preserved in the Upsala library in Swe
den. It is printed with metal type, on
violet colored vellum, the letters being
silver and the initials gold. When it
was printed, by whom or what were
the methods employed, are questions
which have great interest for the curi
tes, but have never been answered.
MoM and Widow.
By the old Saxon law a maiden and
a widow were of different value The
latter could be bought for one-half the
sum which the guardian of the maid
was entitled to demand. A man, there
fore, who could not afford to buy a
teaiden might, perhaps, be able to pur
chase a widow.
The herd of European bisons protected
by the czars of Russia in the forest of
Bjelowski, Lithuania, numbered 1,900
in 1856, but is ndw reduced to 500 and
shows no sign of increase. The dwin
dling of the herd is ascribed to inbreed
ing, due to the confined area of the res
ervation
ENGLISH INNKEEPERS.
Said to Ba Mainly Eoore Who Treat Fto
trone aa Intruder*.
If your pocketbook allows or fate or
the desire to see the country compels
you to remain in England, there are
parts where you con ride on your wheel
with great satisfaction and at great ex
pense. Nothing could be more beautiful
than the midlands, lovelier than the
counties that surround London, but
Westward go no farther than Bristol or
Truro, northward than Chester, avoid
ing Manchester—that is, unless you
mean to go still farther north into Soot
land, which at times will repay your
enterprise. The southwest is largely to
be avoided. Cornwall and Devon have
the worst roads in civilized Europe—in
fact, the roads and inns explain that
the country is not and never has been
civilized; In the inns you are often
treated as an intruder, and sometimes
cheated in a fashion that would bring
a blush to the cheek of a Swiss landlord,
for the emptiness of the larder the bill
makes up in lavishness. There is hard
ly anything to eat save cream, but for
that and salt bacon and ancient eggs
you are asked to pay as much as for a
good dinner at the Case RoyaL The inn
keepers are mainly boors.
As for the roads, they go straight to
the top of all the hills, as uncompro
misingly as the roads of Bohemia, then
drop down the other side and are unrid
able in both directions. When not
climbing precipitately, they lie buried
at the bottom of a ditch. They are'
shadeless and uninteresting, rarely ap
proaching the seacoast or passing nepr
anything that is worth looking at, and
yet we know Englishmen who are pro
foundly impressed with the belief that
they are the best in England, and there
fore in the world. The roads, inns and
innkeepers of Scotland are in every way
better, but * the fact that the average
Briton spends his holiday on the conti
nent when he can proves not only that
he wants to get there, but also that he
is driven from his own country by the
shortsightedness of the people who keep
its inns and look after its roads.—Mr.
and Mrs. Pennell in Fortnightly Review.
ANCIENT MEDICAL METHODS
The Manner of Doctor** Consultation* In
the Fourteenth Century.
Coming to Mondeville’s exposition of
the method of holding a discussion, we
find his description almost a story of
what might take place today. “First, ’’
he says, “we should inquire into the
nature of the disease, examining care
fully and feeling, because the diagnosis
is made by touching with the hand and
observing with the eye. All the consult
ants engage in turn in the examination.
Then, if the case demands it, they make
a new examination all together, point
ing out to one another the symptoms of
disease and the special or remarkable
features either in the patient or the dis
ease. Then one of them, the highest in
rank, says to the patient, ‘Sir, we per
ceive very clearly what is the matter
with you, and you ought to have full
confidence in us and be glad that there
are so many of us here and such doctors—
enough for a king—and to believe that
the youngest of us is competent to pre
scribe and Carry on your treatment and
bring it to a good result. ’ Then he in
terrogates the patient about tho circum
stances of his attack, ‘Sir, do not be
displeased or take it ill, but when did
your illness begin?’ following this with
many other questions, the answers to
which are recorded as indications fur
nished by the patient.
“When all the questions called for
by the case have been asked, the con
sultants retire to another room, where
they will be alone, for in all consulta
tions the masters dispute with one an
other in order the better to discuss the
truth, and sometimes they "come to a
pass in the heat of discussion which
would cause strangers witnessing their
proceeding to suppose there were discard
and strife among them. This is some
times the case. ’’ —“Fourteenth Century
Doctors, ” by M. E. Nicaise, in Popular
Science Monthly. _ __
Mozart’* Method.
Mozart’s method of composition was
such as could only have been pursued
by a child of genius. He would rise
early, eat a hearty breakfast and then
stroll for several hours in a forest near
his home, where, inspired by nature’s
beauties, heavenly melodies came troop
ing through his brain. Repairing to his
cottage, he would summon his wife,
a very witty woman, and bid her tell
him stories. He would then mount his
high stool and proceed to commit these
inspirations to paper, his wife telling
him jokes and funny stories while he
wrote. These ho enjoyed immensely,
frequently interrupting her with hearty
bursts of laughter and sometimes even
falling from the stool and rolling on the
floor. But amid all this hilarity and
uproar the flow of music which was to
move the world went steadily on. His
productions were wrought without the
least thought or study, but came almost
unbidden “direct from heaven.** Like
Shakespeare, he war purely the creature
of inspiration, a genius of the highest
order.—G. C. Hieatt in Housekeeper.
Remote Sotortry.
“It has long been supposed," soys
The Outlook, “that the most startling
genealogical claim is that of the negus
of Abyssinia, who insists that his de
scent has been in a straight line from
the union of Solomon with the queen of 1
Sheba, but some one has discovered a
noble family in France, the counts of
Noe, who not only claim Noah as their
remote ancestor, but show on their fam
ily blazon that veteran seaman in the
ark.”
Ijjlnf Brick*.
A bricklayer can lay about 1,500 or
1,600 bricks in a day of 10 hours where
the joints are left rough, about 1,000
per day when both faces have to be
worked fair and not more than 500 a
day when carefully jointed and faced
with picked bricks of a uniform color.
—Exchange i,■
BARNATO IN THE COMMUNE.
‘ .'W ’ '. t: '
Bow the Diamond King Saved the Baah
of Fraaee.
A writer of stories about Barney
Barnato says, in the Philadelphia Bul
letin, that there is a circumstantially
definite account of his presence in Paris
during the commune of 1871. In the
utter break up of all-social fabric he
found his capacities of a paying order.
For there is little doubt that his was
the craft that enabled the shrewder
communards to realize the money need
ed to supply the sinews of war.
One day, during the gloom and stress
of the government siege, the president
of the Bank of France was confronted
by an unkempt mob. The demand was
explicit They wanted ail the gold in
the bank’s vaults. The spokesman
flourished a bloody saber and the mob
accentuated the demand by all sorts of
ferocious threats. It was in tho height
of this melee that a man who had been
counseling the financial deputy of the
commune rode up, adorned by a red sash
and other insignia of the terrorists. He
made his way through the vociferous
throng and handed the governor of the
bonk a large envelope. While the official
was reading it the besashed emissary
turned to the clamoring nomads and, in
a tongue unknown to the officials and
probably to many of the mob, addressed
them a few sentences. A singular event
followed. A dozen of the ringleaders at
once began haranguing the rioters. In
a few minutes every'one of them with
drew. The besashed personage remained
in consultation with the governor and
when it was ended withdrew. An hour
later six covered wagons came to the
bank and were laden with bags such as
the bank always makes use of in trans
porting specie.
When Barnato appeared as the dia
mond king in South Africa, a score of
the -communards, who had fled from
France, were in exile in the region
where Barnato had cornered the mines.
One day in the plenitude of his afflu
ence he was waylaid, riding in the
Rand, by a company of miners. One of
them, by a few words, succeeded In
gaining his private ear. This man was
known as the most ferocious of the blood
thirsty gang who had taken part in the
killing of the hostages in La Roquette.
He recognized Barnato as the emissary
sent by the commune to the Bank of
France, and the knowledge enabled him
to get in on the ground floor of the dia
mond deal. The tale goes on to tell that
Barnato, who figured as Felix Barnette,
had fallen desperately in love with a
figurante in the Folies Bergeres just as
the war of 1870 broke- out; that he had
lingered in Paris, became a member of
onp of the “Red" societies, exploited
the ardent patriotism of his coworkers
and succeeded in getting several mil
lions of the cash he had forced from the
Bank of France. The tale, whether
true or not, is by no means so improb
able as the actual facts known in the
man’s mastery of the African diamond
yields, for to do that he was forced to
put himself against such schemers as
Cecil Rhodes and to contend with
the “dour" shiftiness of the Boers, and
particularly with that astute old fox
Uncle Kruger.
ARMY LIFE.
Its Social Informality Constitute* Ono of
Its Great Charms.
"Army life is informal to a degree,”
said Mrs. Custer, during a recent inter
view. * ‘The custom of using cards when
calling is only of very recent date
among officers* wives. When I lived in
garrison, we should never have dreamed
of such a thing. It is only at a few of
the larger posts, near the cities, where
there is anything like the formality of
civio life. The people in a garrison are
like one great family. Nothing that
deeply concerns any member is a matter
of indifference to the others, and the
spirit of good fellowship Is universal
In time of sickness the friendly helpful
ness of the women for each other is
shown strongly. Many a time I have
known a number of women to detail
themselves, in regular military fashion,
to duty in the house of sickness at cer
tain hours, relieving one another
through the day and night with abso
lute precision, so that the sick person
should never be left without an attend
ant
“ With all this close intimacy there
is surprisingly little friction or ill feel
ing. There are, of course, at every post
a few people who are disagreeable or
hard to get along with, but they cause
no more trouble in general than they
do in their own households. They be
long, we feel, to our army family, and
their shortcomings must be overlooked
just aa we should overlook the faults of
a husband or brother or sister. No dis
tinctions between rich and poor are
ever observed. There is occasionally a
question about calling upon new ar
rivals, but it is solely on account of
reputation and honor. If there has been
anything discreditable to the good
name of an officer or his wife, the cir
cumstances must be investigated before
other families of the post will call ”
—Philadelphia Times.
Where Prince* Ar* Surrell
When a young prince of Japan wishes
to learn the mysteries of chirograpby,
; young maidens bring paper, others make
the ink and prepare the paint brush.
1 The master expresses admiration by
gesture and face, for no words must be
; spoken by him to the prince, his mouth
even being bandaged that his breath
may not blow upon the'face of the
prince. The teacher must move about
in the quietest manner and give com
mendation only.
How Dead gridlore Look.
A British army surgeon is authority
for the statement that the cause of death
is clearly shown in the expression of the
face of a corpse on the field of battle
He states that those who have teen
killed by sward thrusts have a took of
repose, while those killed by bullets
usually have pain of an intense nature
clearly depleted.
«cs==-3kSas,—
vrtli L-t. I I ELrx
To MOTHERS.
WE ARE ASSERTING IN THE COURTS OUR RIGHT TO THE
EXCLUSIVE USE OF THE WORD “CASTO HI A,” AND
“PITCHER'S CASTORIA,” AS our TRADE Mark.
I, DR. SAMUEL PITCHER, cf Hyannis, Massachusetts,
was the originator of “PITCHER’S CASTORIA,” the same
that has borne and does now oneoary
bear the facsimile signature of wrapper.
This is the original “ PITCHER’S CASTORIA,” which has been
used in the homes of the Mothers of America for over thirty
years. LOOK CAREFULLY at the wrapper and see that it is
the kind you have always bought vi* on the
and has the signature of wrap-
per. No one has authority from me to use my name ex
cept The Centaur Company of which Chas. H. Fletcher is
President. ,
Burch 8,1897. -'**'*•*-'*••*•
Do Not Be Deceived.
Do not endanger the life of your child by accepting ‘
a cheap substitute which some druggist may offer yo"
(because he makes a few more pennies on it), the in
gredients of which even he does not know.
“The Kind You Have Always Bought”
. BEARS THE FAC-SIMILE SIGNATURE CF
. Insist on Having
The Kind That Never Failed 'You.
THE OSNTAUR TT MfMUV •▼MET.
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