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FIRST SUBMARINE.
The American Turtle Was Tried
Out at New York In 1776.
GAVE THE BRITISH A SCARE.
Hsr Attempt to Blow Up the English
Frigate Asia Didn’t 8uceeed. but the
Enemy’s 3hlps Fled In Terror—Her
Second Escapade Sealed Her Fate.
The American Turtle deserved a bet
ter fate. It was the drat submarine
war vessel of tlje United States. It
was tried out In 1778 In New York
hbrbor. Its Inventor and builder was
David Busbnell of Connecticut, of
whom little Is known. The man who
went under water with It and In Nfew
York bay tried to blow up the British
frigate Asia, under General Washing
ton's orders, was Colonel lfiara Lee.
« The Turtle was built at Saybrook,
Conn. After its vicissitudes of being
captured, sunk and resting for years at
the bottom of the East river it was
raised and taken back te Its birthplace.
There, after more years. It was taken
to pieces. Its metal went Into grand
father’s clocks; which are still ticking
in the hallways of New York and New
England homes,, its oaken, pitch
smeared timbers were put to struc
tural usee and all trace of them lost.
Busbnell did not get even a tardy re
ward for his inventiveness. The coun
cil of safety of Connecticut In 1777 di
rected that he be paid £300 for his
services In •‘annoying ships.” but there
is no record that he avor got the
money.
Here la the story ef the American
Turtle’s ««rt eiploUt as It Is told in
the quaint plmauedassr ,*f <*» y<dl»w-
lug maw Merit* Mfceira If was set do wn
long agat
-Mtm 1km wm* U* *►
** *
YMl «3» IMR*
Iml MMMlM *f A* «** ***
▼eqr matom w ha rid *f ma» urig*-
bora. David ttaabae* «f fiayfcw* lu-
vented * wabumTno auafentey united
the America* TartS*. wWrii received
General WashSagian'* approval for
that pnrpwie. A JMuihnr ef the In
ventor was to operate.the BHrehlite. but
ou trial he declined t» hazard his aeiw-
ice. Colonel Lee. distingntshed for his
courage and patriotism, volunteered
his services, and after practicing with
the machine to discover Its powess a
night waa died upon for the attempt
•‘General Washington and his associ
ates In the secret took their stations
upon the roof of a house on Broad
way. anxiously awaiting ,the result
Morning came, but no intelligence of
the bold navigator. While the anxious
spectators were about .to give him Up
as lost severhl barges were seen to
start suddenly from Governors Island,
then tn possession of the British, and
move toward some object near the
Asia, ship of the line, and as suddenly
they were seen to put about and steer
for the Island with springing oars. In
I wo or three minutes an explosion
took place from the surface of t he wa
ter. resembling a waterspout, which
aroused the whole city. The enemy’s
ships took the alarm, cut their cables
and proceeded to the Hook with all
possible dispatch, sweeping their bot
toms with chains and with difficulty
preventing their affrighted crews from
leaping overboard.
‘‘Colonel Lee. coming to. the surface
during this scene of consternation,
was obliged agaiu to descend to avoid
the enemy’s shot from the island.
After forcing his machine against a
strong current under water he lauded
safe at the Battery amid a great
crowd. General Washington express
ing himself as much pleased that the
object was effected without the lose of
life.
"Colonel Lee had . been under the
Asia more than two hours endeavor
ing to penetrate her bottom, which, be
ing sheathed with copper, resisted all
attempts to attach the magazine to
the ship.”
Apparently the American Turtle
made oue more attempt to "annoy the
euemy’s shipping" before she ended her
career. Another old diary preserved by
a Connecticut family mentions this In
cident. It seems that the Turtle,
manned by some nameless hero, per
haps again by Colonel Lee. ttrough the
chronicler does not state, made an at
tempt to blow up a British ship ia tbe
East river. By. this time the British
aupear to have discovered what unture
of craft it was that bad eoeajred to de
stroy the Asia and .*• were ou the
lookout, for anything suspicious that
disturbed the surface'of the water. At
any rate, the American submarine was
discovered before she had made any
progress ou. her second mission of de
struction.
The British bouts gave
hoisted aboard, sail was set. and tbel
American boat tried to show a clean!
pair of heels lo her pursuer, but It wusj
In vain. She was sunk by the English]
guns.
For a long time the Turtle lay lu the I
submerged vessel’s bold. After tbe war]
was over, however, the ship was raised]
and the Turtle was recovered oud car-]
ried back to Saybrook, If every one]
else bad forgotten her and her achieve-]
ments by that time the people of her]
Inventor’s nntive towu still held thoj
Turtle In uffeetionate remembrance.— ]
Tbaddeus S. Dayton In Boston Post
Welcome Joy.
Ef you ain’t got manners ter teH .Toy I
good mawnln* when you meets him,
how does you expect him ter call roun'
by de place you live at? You better
be mighty keorful, fer whilst he Is [
alius In a good humor he sho‘ do ex
pect you ter moot him half way.—At-1
lanta Constitution.
banOhecks. '“T
The Part They Play In the Payment ef
a Debt.
A young man hud kept in his pos
session for several days a check from
bis uncle. His uncle died, aud he
hastened to tbe bank to each the
check. When be found the hank would
not pay the check until It bad orders
from .the heirs or from' the courts he
was surprised and observed to hla fa
ther that be thought of a check as be
ing so much money if the signature
was good.
As a matter of fact, however, a
check Is merely an order from A. to
B., who bolds some of A.’s money, to
pay a eertaiu umouut thereof to C.
It Is not money, even If the names on
the check are good and Well known
and the hawk Is solid as the govern
ment. Although checks are given In
payment of debt and a receipt usually
Is signed on tbe sput. yet the passing |
of a check does not constitute pay
ment of Indebtedness am* It Is paid j
by the bank. j
ft«r wftt tfe»'«me»nwi<tt receipting ef
We t» which ft to gbr-eu change
this. Yt rite, cheek te aatgaid oa pros-
t* rite hank the otfgnal claim
***** a a* Host the drawer or steer ef |
the cheek. But a certified check dim-
stimtse payment on the part of the j
perse* who draws tt
Checks may be antedated or post-1
dated—that la, dated before or after
the date of delivery. If postdated
cheeks are paid before the day sped-]
fied the drawer cau recover the mon
ey, for the bank has acted not in ac-|
cordance with any order from him. J
but ou its own responsibility.
If a btunk la left for the date the]
holder Is authorised to'- Insert the truel
date of delivery, but no other date. |
The Insertion of any other date or]
changing the date without the consent]
of the drawer makes the check void.— ]
New York Herald.
BIBLICAL TROUBLES.
Knotty Language Problems Translators |
Have to Solve.
Some of the riddles that have to be]
solved before the Bible can be trans- ]
lated Into remote aud barbaric tongues |
are cited In that annual wonder book,
the popular Illustrated report of the|
British and Foreign Bible society.
How, for example, can you find
name for “lamb" among the Inhabit-1
ants of some Island where the only |
quadrupeds are pigs and rats? How'
cau you render “whiter than snow" In I
the dialects of West Africa, where |
snow is utterly unknown?
Occasionally the difficulty Is one of I
sheer space. Leugua, the speech of
an Indian tribe in Paraguay, which
has been furnished with the gospel
according to St. Mark, is so unwieldy
that the word eighteen can only be rep
resented thus: "Soliogomek-wakthla- 1
mok - emlnik - antauth,l«ma.” Literally
translated, that means “finished my
hands, pass to my other foot—three.”
for fingers and toes serve as, unite.
The word .for butter In Leuguu Is
“waltky - anamankukingnink - ikpith-
mukv’ which means literally “the
grease of the Juice of the udder of the
cow."
In New Guinea the translator want-1
ed the proper idiom for "far be it |
from me to do this thing.” so he con
sulted an intelligent cateehumen.f
"Yen." replied the catechumen, ‘‘I un- j
derstand exactly. We have the pre
cise-idiom. We say. ’May I speak to I
uiy mother-in-law before I will do this I
thing?* ” for In that laud of strange I
taboos one of the unpardonable sins Is
for a man to open his lips to his wife’s |
mother.—8t Louis. Globe-Democrat
slderlng that the maximum speed of
Jwstifiabla Deception.
The talk, bad gone back, and fro]
and tbe youthful Socialist bad been]
announcing that no man ought to get]
his living by cheating, and we all lis
tened to him and agreed that it was I
tTreadful when men and women did]
notjteil the truth, but tried to make]
tbelr living by deceiving people. Mll-
ttae Turtle was three mites an hour, Honalros. landowners, financiers, wej
the pursuit could not have been a very' Mjjl “
long one. At any rata, an American
vessel, probably some small schooner,
was waiting for the submarine, and
the Turtle fled thither for protection.
fcUuUhr riri add .S*
scarified all of them who cheat the]
public. . .
“No one should make a living by de-|
caption." said the young man.
Then * quiet voice from a woman |
.coiner of
