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Shows March of Progress in Transportation
The early Indian, the ancient automobile, a “prehistoric” bicycle, and the modern airplane formed this diver¬
sified group at an exposition of the progress of American transportation held in Los Angeles.
Guardians of the Golden Gate at Practice
Machine gun battery of the Sixty-third Coast artillery from the Presidio at San Francisco shooting, at a moving
target one-half mile away nnd In range for 15 seconds. These Browning guns throw 695 rounds of 30-36 ammunition
per minute. Accuracy Is deadly.
Here’s the Chance to Buy a Cruiser
s?
The U. S. cruiser Cleveland at the Charleston navy yard where it is
being dismantled preparatory to being sold to anyone that wants such a
vessel. It was commissioned in 1903.
Harnessing the Father of Waters
Maj. John C. Gotwals, under whose supervision the stabilization of the
Mississippi from the mouth of the Missouri to Cairo, 111., was made possible,
will continue the enormous task by further harnessing of the river down
to New Orleans. The project, which up to the present has necessitated the
expenditure of $10,000,000 by the United States, will continue by converting
a winding river into a controllable channel. The photograph shows Major
Gotwals at his desk at the custom house in St. Louis.
CLEVELAND COURIER
CONDEMNED TO DEATH
Sarah Powers of Macon, Ga.. sev¬
enty-one years old, is the oldest wom¬
an in the history of the state to be
condemned to death. She was con¬
victed of plotting the murder of James
Parks to collect insurance on his life.
SNAKE CHARMER
Miss Doris Carey of Fort Worth.
Texas, a coed at Louisiana State uni¬
versity. who is winning renown as a
snake charmer. She Is shown with
one of her “pets.”
Butterfly 5,000 Feet Up
For the entomologist Mount Wash
ton lias long been a favorite collecting
ground, says Nature Magazine. Pass¬
ing through tl\e rich Canadian fauna
at the, base, where, the natural condi¬
tions have been practically undis¬
turbed. we enter near the timber line
the sub-Alpine where in August are
found the mountain fritillary and the
wingless grasshopper, two of the
more striking species of this zone. At
an elevation of above five thousand
feet we reach the home of the White
Mountain butterfly.
GIRL, 8 YEARS OLD,
IS MUSIC PRODIGY
English Maid Has Composition
Published.
Bexhill-on-Sea, England.—Life is
becoming just one child “phenom”
after, another. Novels, poems, long
stories, short stories, biographies,
fake biographies and what not from,
or alleged from, the hands and heads
of child “phenoms,” ranging from
four to sixteen years, are being pub¬
lished every few days.
The latest child “phenom” strikes
a new note, or a whole cord of
them.
Her name is Ruth Gipps. She is
eight years old, which is rather aged
compared to most of the child prodi¬
gies who have broken into print, but
she was making herself beard, lit¬
erally and figuratively, when she was
three years old and she demonstrated
that she was a true child “phenom”
when she submitted a story for pub¬
lication at seven.
Having had her career as an au¬
thor checked by a rejection slip. Ruth
turned to music and is having a mu¬
sical composition printed. It is a lit¬
tle piece in the thoroughly modern
style called the Fairy Shoemaker, and
she suggested the design for the cover.
Her publishers have a high opin¬
ion of the work which they accepted
on its merit, and it was awarded sec¬
ond prize in the Brighton Music festi¬
val. All the other competitors were
adults, and the judges were unaware
that they were giving the prize to a
child.
Ruth comes of a musical family.
Her mother, who is Swiss by birth,
and her mother’s six brothers and
sisters are all in the musical profes¬
sion.
There Is nothing of the “prodigy”
about Ruth’s temperament. When
she was introduced to her publisher
she was in a bathing costume, playing
with a bucket and spade on the sands
at Eastbourne.
Sword of Franklin Is
Discovered in Paris
Paris.—The long-drawn-out polemics
and discussions as to whether Benja¬
min Franklin ever wore a sword at
the courts of France and England
have been solved by the discovery of
the weapon in the private collection
of M. Honore Hecquest d’Orval, a de¬
scendant rtf P. J. Cabnnis.
It was presented to M. Cabanis by
Franklin shortly after the conclusion
of the treaty of peace by which Great
Britain recognized the independence of
the United States of America.
A unique feature of the sword is
that it is not similar to those usual¬
ly regarded as a “courtier’s sword,”
being of full military length with a
triangular blade of the finest Shef¬
field mottoes and the elaborately chis¬
eled hilt and guard—the gift of Louis
XVI—it might have been the sword of
an officer.
The blade bears the inscription:
“Sword which, was carried by Ben¬
jamin Franklin in the battles fought
in America for the cause of Liberty.
He gave it later to his friend, P. J. G.
Cabanis.”
The discovery is due to M. Girodie,
curator of the museum established in
the historic chateau of Bierancourt by
the citizens of the new French repub¬
lic, shortly after Franklin bade his
final farewell to the soil of France.
Rust-Proof Steel Easy
to Weld, Says Expert
Washington.—-Rustproof steel is eas
ily welded by the acetylene-oxygen
process and is even more rustproof
after welding than before, due to loss
of carbon, silicon and manganese dur
ing melting. These findings by W.
Hoffmann. German metallurgist, have
just been announced by the national
advisory committee for aeronautics
here.
The physical characteristics of rust
proof-steel welds are better than
those of soft-steel welds, but the hard¬
ness of the metal due to welding
must be removed by heat treatment.
Philanthropist Buys Camp
for Students Who Work
Springfield, Mo.—L. A. Jones of
Bristow ,'Okln., millionaire oil man and
philanthropist, has purchased a 1,004
acre tract of land to be devoted to
boys who work their way througti
school. The tract, purchased in the
Ozarks, will have a large administra¬
tion building, dining hall, dormitory,
and several cabins erected on it. A
large lake and swimming pool are also
to be built.
French Court to Reform
Bandits With Marriage
Bourg, France.—Will marriage re¬
form a bandit? Three bandits think
it will and the justice of peace of this
town has decided to give them their
choice of hymen over a prison ceii.
The ceremony was performed tn the
town jail. The bandit trio married
three sisters whom they have Courted
off and on between raids around
countryside.
Secretary Get* $5,000
New York.—The Merchants’ associ¬
ation announced that It had been
making a survey to discover what sal¬
aries clerks, stenographers and secre¬
taries made in New York and that the
highest salary in this class, paid to a
man who was principal stenographer
and secretary to an officer of a bank,
was $5,000.
GOTHAM VAULT HAS
BIG SILVER HOARD
Bars and Ingots Come From
All Over World.
New York.—The biggest store of
pure silver in the United States lies
under the pavement in Spruce street.
Its repository is the vault, reaching
out under the street, of a company
which so dominates the world silver
market that it is virtually a clearing
house for the metal.
Bars and ingots of the treasure are
constantly coming into the vault from
the mines of the world, and as con¬
stantly being shipped away to mints
and jewelry manufactories in the
United States and Europe, and to
China and India, which, because of
their silver coinage system, are two
principal silver-consuming nations of
the world.
Insurance Rate Low.
The business of getting the pure
silver in and out of the vault is highly
organized. Armored cars and caged
wagons bring it in and carry it away.
It is carried up and down between
the sidewalk level and the steel vault
in electric elevators, and armed at¬
tendants are always on guard. The
trucks that carry the treasure back
clear up to the elevator shaft so that
the stiver can be transferred with
minimum exposure, and most passers
by do not even stop ‘o watch the oper¬
ation. At the docks the metal is
handled under guard, and on ships
and liners ft is kept in specie rooms.
So efficiently is it transported tiiat
the insurance rate from New York to
India is only 15 cents on $100 worth,
and In 25 years not an ounce of silver
has been stolen.
Is Handled •‘Naked.”
The silver is handled “naked," with
no covering around the bars. Handlers
are careful not to rub them against
each other and, although the metal In
Its pure state is comparatively soft,
riie loss from scratching In shipment
averages but live ounces in every 8,335
pounds. Before the war London was
the great silver bullion market.. Now
New York has usurped the place,
principally because the use of silver
has become so much more extensive
here.
The phrase “born with a silver
spoon in his mouth” hasn’t much sig¬
nificance any more in this country,
for almost every family has some sil¬
verware now, and since the war Amer¬
ican Industry has found many new
commercial uses for silver. The laws
require sterling silver to be 925-1000
pure. The silver in the Spruce street
vaults runs higher than 999-1000 pure.
Find Faculty of 22 in
School with Nine Pupils
San Francisco.—Opera bouffe ar¬
mies, with a dozen officers to each
private, were rivaled here by the .lesse
W. Lilienthal school, it was revealed,
when an auditor’s check was made of
the pay roll.
The school staff was discovered to
be 22, consisting of 16 attendants, a
principal and five teachers, to care
for the instruction and needs of nine
boy students.
The school is a correctional institu¬
tion founded 50 years ago and taken
over recently by the city. At that
time there were 72 inmates. The drop
in attendance came under the regime
of Juvenile Judge Michael Roche, who
returned the “incorrigibles" to their
homes whenever possible for “adjust¬
ment and correction.”
Only one teacher will now be pro¬
vided, and the attendant staff will be
cut to Dine, with further cuts sched¬
uled.
Ancient Village Perched
on Roof of Old St. Peter’s
Rome.—One of the oddest villages
in the world is located on the roof of
St. Peter’s in the new Vatican state.
It has been there for ages, and con¬
sists of little cottages in which sev¬
eral persons live. The view from this
village is said to be unequaled in the
world, commanding the entire “Eter
nal City” and a magnificent stretch
of the Campagna and the Appian way
Massachusetts Town Has
More Cars Than Homes
Hudson, Mass.—There are nearly 200
more automobiles in this town than
there are houses, according to the
board of assessors. Citizens have reg¬
istered 1,810 automobiles while the
number of bouses is about 1,620, ac¬
cording to the assessor’s statistics.
Last year there were 1,291 power ve¬
hicles in the town.
Plague Slays 500
The Hague, Holland.—Three hun¬
dred and twenty-two persons have
died of a mysterious plague in Java
tn September. One hundred and sev¬
enty-eight died in August, bringing the
total to 500.
ooooooooooo-o-o-ooo-oooo-oooooo
o So Old Dobbin Again §
Moves to Back Seat §
9 Winchester, Kan.—That the o
X tractor and the motor car vir- 9
9 tually have made “Old Dobbin” q
X useless on the farm, was demon- 5
o strated at the Mike Hoffman o
O public sale, held five fniles east x
9 of here. A mule brought $1.50 6
O Several horses sold for $2.50 g
9 apiece, and a span of work 9
<5 mares brought $12.50 each.
0000000000-0000000000000000
LIGHTS i
oS NEW YORK j
>—------------------------
For Baby
New York.—There are, even in this
day of fabulous royalties and sales of
motion picture rights, writers who are
not wealthy. Of several such that I
know, one recently became a father
and all his friends showered the
young son with gifts—appropriate
clothing, silver spoons, mugs and
what-not.
“But the best present of all,” the
writer told me, “is one good old George
X sent George gave my young hope¬
ful two $20 gold pieces, and my wife
and I have been instructed not to start
the child's bank account with them.
Instead, we must, each morning, hold
the coins close to the baby’s eyes and
dink them together.
“As he grows up he will realize
what real money is, and he will be
trained to grab for it whenever he
sees it.”
• * *
Detective Story
A colored man walked into a pawn
shop with a $250 camera. The pawn
broker was suspicious and questioned
the man regarding where he got such
an expensive instrument. The colored
gentleman tiiereupon departed hastily,
not even troubling to take the camera,
and not getting a ticket for it, either.
The pawnbroker turned the camera
over to police, who found a roll of
film in it. This they had developed
and prints made from it. The pic¬
tures were scenes aboard a yacht
and at obviously expensive beaches.
“Aha!” said the detectives, “A rich
man owns this camera. " One snap¬
shot showed a close-up of a man in
yachting costume, aqd a detective
recognized tlie subject. It was Ed¬
mund O'Brien, an actor and the son of
a former Supreme court justice, I’ur
suing the picture clew still further,
the detective learned that tfie camera
had been stolen from •O'i rien. who
hadn't even bothered to notify the
police.
* * *
Sensitive Fellow
Here is a story they are telling
about Jimmie Durante, comedian.
Durante, who used to play the piano
for a singing waiter named Eddie Can¬
tor, is known far and wide as Schnoz
zle, because of his de Bergerac nose.
He is, perhaps, sensitive. At any rate,
rather than have people laugh at him,
he expends tons of energy in making
them laugh with him.
He was playing golf one day, out on
Long Island. Bart of the course lay
alongside a railroad track, near a sta¬
tion. A crowded passenger train had
pulled in, just as Durante was get¬
ting ready for a tee shot.
Decidedly nervous. Durante was the
last of a foursome to drive. He took
a terrific swing, and missed the ball
entirely. Without a word he started
down the fairway.
His companions called to him:
“Hey, you missed the ball!”
Durante gestured for them to pipe
down:
“I know It,” he said, guardedly,
“but look at all of those people in the
train watching me. They don’t
know it.”
* * »
Acid Air
Chemical properties in New York
atmosphere are hard on woodwork, it
has been found after an examination
of the steeple of St. Paul's church on
lower Brondway. The church is 135
years old. and in excellent condition,
but the wooden steeple has been eaten
away. Scientists insist that it is chem¬
icals that have done it, for the steeple
has received as much care as any old
Colonial mansion, many of which look
as good as new. The old steeple is
being demolished and will be replaced
by one made of metal, colored to re¬
semble the original. Eten that may
not last, for not long ago it was dis¬
covered that the metal figure of Jus¬
tice, atop the Municipal building, wa3
all but losing her flowing robes, due
to a peculiar rivet disease in her cos¬
tume.
(© by the Bell Syndicate, Inc.)
Tooth Aches, So This Hero
Removes It With Revolver
Santander, Spain.—The most orig¬
inal method yet discovered for re¬
moving an aching tooth was employed
recently by a laborer in the town
of Astiilero, who shot out the offend¬
ing molar. Unable to stand the pain
any longer, be placed the barrel of a
revolver against the tooth and pulled
the trigger. He said he was relieved
immediately. The only trouble was
that the bullet also penetrated his
cheek.
Women Give Cup to
Town’s Model Husband
Cushing. Okla.—A man who never
drinks “more than enough,” swears
only moderately, drives a new car,
uses tobacco in every form, plays a
moderate game of golf and fills in at
bridge only when forced to has been
selected the “model” husband by the
Cushing Women's Professional and
Business club. Dwight Buell, the
model, was presented a silver loving
cup by the club.
Doctor Roll Grows
Washington.—The average Ameri¬
can has at his beck and call more doc¬
tors than has the citizen of any other
nation, the United States bureau of
education has discovered by a survey.
And the number of physicians is in¬
creasing every year.
America’s His now support 149,521
physicians, it was found.