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<OL. XI V.
MACE HATH HEJW
B. CLARK irf
~v><4 Coby/umt by iv a a > att~b>?bo/v .-/v \\y *W X7 W Y?
F THE war and navy depart
ments would publish In book
form the records of the serv
ice of officers and men In
times of peace the readers
thereof would be dispossesed
of the thought that all the
hardships undergone and all
. the heroism displayed by men
' of the armed forces were of
necessity connected with deeds
of warfare, there are many
thrilling stories and many hu
man interest stories in the
“peace records" of the army
and navy.
Recently the monitor'PugL
tan, a heavily armored craft
of one. of the older types, was
used for purposes of experi
ment with a new high explo-
i
slve. Willard S. Isham, an ordinance engineer.
Invented the explosive, and his claim was that
with it a vessel could be destroyed from the
outside just as well as from the inside. It has
been held that high explosives lose their force
unless more or less confined. It was known to
be the rule that the effect of the explosion
generally went upward and outward away from
the object against which it was discharged.
Mr. Isham believed that a charge of his ammu
nition against the side of a vessel would open
the armor and would not expend its force in
the air.
The monitor Puritan was chosen for the ex
periment. A charge of 200 pounds of the ex
plosive was placed in an uncouflned condition
against the Puritan's armor plate near, the
stern. Capt. A. M. Knight, president of the
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special ordnance board, with feur volunteer
Bailors agreed to stay on board the Puritan
when the explosive was detonated. More than
this, Captain Knight had the task of punching
small holes in the explosive with a lead pencil
to permit the introduction of fuses. This was
an exceedingly delicate operation and because
of the fact that the explosive was a new com
bination it was possible that something might
happen during the puncturing, lightly as it •
was performed. After the fuses were inserted
Captain Knight connected electric wires with
them and then went forward to a position on
the berth deck with the four enlisted men
who elected to stay on board with him.
The ordnance board officer turned a switch
and the explosion took place. The report was
thunderous. “It felt like an earthquake,” said
Captain Knight afterward. With his men the
venturesome captain escaped injury, but their
heroism was just as real as if they had been
blown to atoms, for because of the fact that
the explosive was a comparatively unknown
quantity, no one could tell definitely what
might happen.
Writing of the Puritan, which is a monitor,
brings to mind the fact that officers ami men
nerving on vessels of this type undergo hard
ships of which the people of the country know
little. The monitor gradually is passing as an
active service vessel and it is not likely that
anybody connected with the service from ad-
Ipiral down to cook's mate is sorry for it. The
heat in the monitors is something intense, and
as the waves wash over the low decks of the
vessels when any kind of a breeze Is blowing
the men are confined below with no air except
•uch as is pumped down to them byway of
the engine room, and this air is hot, oily and
productive on many occasions of sickness,
galled sea sickness, but which in reality is
nothing of the kind, although It has all the
attendant symptoms of the real article.
The modern battleships are frightfully hot
below decks, especially when they get into
tropical and sub tropical waters. A civilian
who went to Panama with President Taft said
that in his cabin when dressing for dinner he
was obliged to stand directly in the draught of
a blow pipe to prevent the profuse perspira- '
tion from so "melting" the bosom of his dress
shirt that it would be unpresentable when he
appeared at the president s table. The ther
mometer in the staterooms stood at about 112
•i -grees.
Some years ago an officer who was sta
tioned on a monitor was found dead in his
berth and the surgeons pronounced his death
to have been caused by apoplexy, heat apo
plexy the officers of the ship called it. An old
naval officer in Washington has told me that
e thermometer in the cabin of the officer
zho died stood at 140 degrees and that the
1 eath v, as due solely to a heat stroke.
During the Spanish war the monitor Mian
t-nomah was on blockading duty off the port
j's Havana, Cuba. The Mlantonomah is an old
.teel monitor cased in metal and with the
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A BATTLEDH/P * + *
deck just peeping above the water. When the
sea was calm and the sky was clear the sun
beat down on the metal and the men who had
stood the night watches and were trying to
sleep suffered more severely than do the
people in the crowded back tenements in New
York city on a hot July night when death
walks through the streets. An officer who
served on a monitor during the Spanish war
• told me that the average temperature for a
long period of time in his cabin was 104 de
grees.
Recently two young officers not long out
of the naval academy were forced to resign
from the service because they were constantly
seasick while on service on the battleships.
The young fellows stuck it out for several voy- ’
ages, but when it is remembered that a seasick
man as a rule is so sick that he is perfectly
willing to die, it can be understood what these
young fellows suffered during the weeks of
the voyaging. They resigned from the navy
simply because they could not be of any serv
ice. They were sick from the moment the voy
age began until they were back once more in
port. They were competent officers and since
their resignation they have been given land
berths as officers of heavy artillery in the
United States army.
I asked an bld naval officer recently, a man
who served on the old frigate Constitution, if
he knew of any cases of chronic seasickness
among officers and men during the old days
of the service. He said he knew of only one
case, that of an officer who developed seasick
ness after some years of service, but that it
was thought that a slight Injury to bis spine
had affected his stomach and that it was this
more than the motion of the vessel which was
the cause of his ailment.
This same veteran officer said that there
is considerable seasickness today in the navy,
although comparatively few cases that could
be called chronic, and that they were due. he
believed, more to the heat of the modern steel
vessels than to the motion caused by the
waves. In the old days of wooden ships with
sail power only, there was no heat on board
(except that given out by the galley and by the
small stove which occasionally was to be found
in the captain’s cabin. The old-time ships in
winter were kept in warm climates as much as
possible or otherwise the men would have
frozen to death.
The old wooden vessel, Jamestown, once
commanded by Commodore Perry, who opened
the ports of Japan to the commerce of the
United States, is anchored in Hampton Roads,
where it is used as a marine hospital service
station. A surgeon stationed on the Jamestown
once told me that in the old days, when the
vessel was in commission the only way the
captain could warm himself without going to
the galley was to have a roundshot heated in
the stove, then dropped into a bucket of sand
to be carried aft to his cabin, where it gave
out just enough warmth to temper tor a few
moments the cold of the quarters.
COLQUITT, GA., WEDN A f ELi i GARY I, lull
was tow g the
glnlus back to America Midshir an Li i
wood was one of two or three fleers .0
were assigned to the Virginius to ok rt< it
while the towing process was on.
The life on board the Virginit is c- ie t .at
It is impossible to describe. T Span uds
had left her in such a filthy, stat that ng
on board was intolerable even a n cl; using
processes had been tried. After s’ w ay son
board that ship the men looke as though
they had been through a siege f sickness.
Finally when off the Virginia c: es the Vn
glnius gave every evidence of be 4 in a sink
ing condition. She foundered qn kly an 'i l,!e
officers and men on board escape to the Os
sipee, being obliged to leave tin i belongings
behind. The beneficent United -y»tes govern
ment, because of some red tr. . eason or
other, declined to make good tie devoted
sailors the property which 1 y i'a-3 * ost
through no fault of their own ar.lm lire it line
of duty.
Captain Underwood was for wo years in
command of the United States gJernrnent sta
tion in the Samoan islands. ri was consid
ered one of the handsomest mer ‘h th service'
of his country. He was over tlx fe-t high,
finely proportioned find a .fine yivslC’ti speci
men generally. No war with mat went on in
the Samoan islands, but the hea and the food
and the devilishness of the clinate generally
did the work of the battlefieh. If Captain
Underwood had never been givm an assign
ment at the Samoan islands : is probable
that he would have continued in the active
service until the age limit of ixty-two years
was reached. The dangers of ’arfar» are not
the only ones by any means :bat navy and
army officers are obliged to me'.
It may do no harm here to ecal! the story
of the heroism of Lieut. JanusiE. Bell of the
United States army, who died.localise of his
devotion to duty, died at a Unit when no bul
lets were flying, but when an even deadlier
foe of necessity must be met. .’llls story has
been published many times, butM has Its ever
lasting lesson.
Fort Jefferson, on the Tortlgas, in August
of the year 1873 was garrisone by Battery M,
First United States artillery. Outside of the
surgeons there was only one .ffleer, Lleuten.
ant Bell, at the post. Capt. L.L. Langdon had
been granted a leave of absece to go north
to the bedside of his dying fat er. On August
28 yellow fever appeared at tie post. Within
two days four of the garrison .ad died. Upon
the first announcement of theapjjearance of
the scourge Lieutenant Bell sc t all the women
and children and some of the married men to
an island three miles away. Vithin a day or
two he sent to the same plan nearly all the
well men of the garrison, retaining only
enough to nurse the sick. Tiere could have
been no criticism of Bell’s cotlse had he gone
with the garrison, leaving the lick to the care
of the surgeons and the nurse He stayed and
devoted himself to the sick in :he hospital, as
sisted by the men who had v lunteered. The
PV<
Capt. ’ in nd A He cal. iln his first lieutenant and said: “1
Underwco -'nit I have h- . 1 orders transferring you immediately
States nai , Rivet to Verm. t. You have done a noble work here.!
from the' <■ 'o nl There is > reason whj you should Btay longer. :
cently «•’ > fort.>v,. You hav- been through enough of this awful
years’ ser oin the\ thing. G- ’
line. Ju 1 'tarCap-' Bell gj <1: "Captain, I don’t want th- order.,
tain Uni r woo d If 4 read it 1 suppe; ' 1 shall have to obe;- simply '
came 06' 1 ; i»'txc it is an m 'er. »You keep it in your
-•4, 'J**- ' Y o, ’Aocket until the feve is pv-r and then 11l read
t J it ;’t >. -h, . „K»»d »o.’’.- A
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-I nt ■- 1 vgCv
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s lip OstliSe. which,
went to tuba to
bring backk vessel
<-tiled the 'llglnlus
, which mil bee:
dzed I>'< tip Spa'
1 rds in Clba t- 1
i s crew of Am'
■ tans pu « d<’
This co )try c
near hu hg a
v ith Sp a 1 over a
Virginius i-rci
When t s Ose
heat was fearful. There was
»t a pound of ice on the
land and many of the deaths
mt followed one after anoth
i were due to the lack of this
n cesslty. There were 20
■■i :es of the fever and for days
and nights continuously the
devoted lieutenant command
er, the surgeons and the
nurses knew no rest. With
their own hands they dug the
graves for the dead and with
their own lips repeated over
them the burial service.
Captain Langdon in the far
north heard of the yellow fe-
Fort. Jefferson. He in
s' . relinquished his leave
sence and hastened to
: tn to his station. Some
months before the outbreak of
tb ■ fever Lieutenant Bell had
put in an ripp'd.-a I ton to' be de
tailed a:, instructor of military
science at the Lniversity of
Vermont. The application had
been granted, and Captain
Langdon, hurrying southward
to join his command, carried
in his pocket the order reliev
!ng Lieutenant Bell from duty
at Fort Jefferson and detailing
him for work In Vermont
Langdon reached his post.
YU. ' .
J " 1 ’.IS wos 1 ;n>
VeiiTSn wit if '-is '.wrk. xi. a . ,• r
he felt the Lot hand of the scoffirge ou-. ):h brow.
He went to hts tbnt.kpulled up his lit le camp
table and wrote an offic: J letter to the assist
ant adjutant general at .oadquarters , the de
partment of the gulf, Il 'lb Springs, Miss. It
was a long letter, coverim. many pag< There
was in Bell’s heart that the fear '.hat he
might die and lea e undone an act of duty tc
others. Ho cherished the t- ignt of the loyalty
of the surgeons and the enlisted men who bad
so nobly performed their duties to the sick and
dying, facing the fever and death Itself without
flinching. He mentioned in this official com
munication each doctor and man byname,recom
mending them for recognition at the hands of
the department. Os himself he said nothing,
his whole thought was that recognition should
be given to others.
Lieut. Janies E. Bell put down his pen. v. ent
to the hospital and in three days was dead.
MARKED BY A MIRACLE
Extraordinary excitement has b--e 1 caused
among tlie peasants in the neiglibc hood of
Kiltiraagl- County Mayo, this we- by a
series of -.hat are described as mir. ious hap
penings .it the convent there, a .r. corre
spondent of the St. Louis C Democrat
writes.
Amour ibe children who ar- . educated
by the <od nuns of Kilt!m:f> i 1 girl of
thirteen, who has been an inma'i. of the con
vent school for the las. tree c four years.
She is describee as extremely lie and af
fectionate and more than usually eligious. A
few nights ago one _-tl the nuns was awakened
by fearful screams from the dormitory where
the girl slept, and on going to her she was told
ihat the child had had a terrible dream, in
which she saw Christ on the cross and a sol
dier driving a lance into his side.
The nun comforted her and she went to
sleep, but in the morning she complained that
her arm was sore and on examination it was
found to be marked with a cross in red and
underneath the cross were the letters “I. H.
S.” A few days later a crown of thorns ap
peared below the cross and the letters “I N.
R. 1.,'” and these were followed by the appear
ance of a chalice surmounted by a host in
red. The marks have been examined by the
parish priest. Rev. Father O'Hara, and by Dr.
Madden of Kiltimagh, who vouch for their be
ing there, but decline to express any opinion as
to their cause. It is said that during the doc
tor’s examination the stigmata bled freely. The
nuns maintain stoutly that the child had no op
portunity of inflicting the injuries, if injuries
they be, on herself, and I understand arrange
ments are being made for a thorough investiga
tion of the mystery by a committee of ec
clesiastics and medical men.
Another case illustrating in another way the
credulity which still is to be found in some
parts of Ireland has just come to light by the
prosecution at Grauard of an Australian who
had been traveling the country extracting
money—not teeth—from country people who
are afflicted with toothache. Thomas Kiernan
said that the man told him he could cure him
by extracting the nerves of his teeth and that
when he consented to undergo the treatment
the man took an instrument like a long
needle, picked at his teeth awhile and then
laid what looked like a little white caterpillar
on his sleeve, saying this was the nerve and
that he would never suffer from toothacne
again.
Os course, he did suffer, and when he went to
a medical man for relief and told his story he
learned how he had been swindled.
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j A-Apparatus Penetrate Sea Bed and Locate Vessel. B—. Section Pump
t Raise Sn ail Treasure. C- Sand Pump. D—Diver Probing. E—Boreh
Bringing Up Mud. r—Hull of Gai'eon. G—Suction Pipe, H—Pump. ,
i —Treasure n Sand J- Pieces of Eight” (Drawn on Large Si ale;. K-
' Treasure Chests.
tWISTORY repeats i with ’
E strang - reversals st tthne«
j And now and then, embedtit d
Jt in otherwise prosaic facts. , lie i
records romancer, and acts of
I heroism worthy of great novels. Such 1 '
I a reversal of history and act of hero ■
I ism was found the other day aner.i 1
| the “Treasure Ship of Tobermory - '
; A-woru regarding the parallel. Amer : '
1 lean newspaj ~-rs have been telling ' J
Js’-iy e’’ fV” rijw'ixg'' the b:,ttjf-p
h,-<.... .
■ the part that ; ‘■'■k- ' So.-mieh-w
'wy played in t s The 'Tret.sure Ship
I of Tobermory. ’ me < f the Spanish \r-
. : mada, was bl. a n up in a Scotch loch j
’ I more than two centuries ago. Span |
: ish treachery caused the disaster. The |
i ancient gailee the hull of which is
i being uno >ver' ' was one of the fleet. :
j sent by Spain to humble England ami j
: change th destiny of the Anglo-Saxon '
I peoples. In the modern parallel, the '
| destruction of the Maine ended Span
! ish rule in America, and forced the
I United States into the far east byway
lof the Philippines. The parallel and I
reversal may go still further —but let
1 the facts shape the romance.
Details have recently reached Amer-
I ica as to how the treasure seekers in
I Scotland ar>- recovering the loot of the !
j Spanish galleon. The picture and the |
! synopsis tha> goes with it explain I
I themselves. They disclose three meth- I
: ods for bringing to light the beams of
! African oak. cannon shot, swords, !
I arquebuses and lend shot, the silver ?
plate and Spanish “pieces-of-elght" bu-
' ried in the sea mud that has been !
piling up on the sea bed for genera
1 tions.
First the diver probes the sea bed
i with a long steel rod. When he finds
| indications of wreckage the well-boring
apparatus is moved up. It is like
< those used here in making artesian -
shafts, only attached to a boat. The ■
I pipe and anger are driven downward
through the sea bed until splinters of j
1 ancient, oak or metal in the bore hull- ,
cate the presence of wreckage from ;
the galleon. Then the other boat of
the treasure hunters is moored over i
the spot. It is provided with an iron
pipe reaching to the bottom of the
loch. On the deck this is connected '
with a powerful centrifugal sand :
pump. The pump sucks up sand, mud ;
and water from the sea bed. The out- i
let curves over the side of the boat
and under it are wire screens which 1
have retained shot, some sword hilts, j
and stilettos from the Spanish wreck I
that were burled in the mud.
This is not a search for treasure at i
haphazard, either. Enough is known ,
■of the Spanish galleon, how she •
came to be in a Scotch loch, and of J
her destruction to warrant all this ex
pense and trouble.
That you know about the Spanish I
Armada goes without saying. This';
story begins after the English navy J
met the Spaniards in a running sea 1
fight In the British channel, and the I
Armada drew out of the battle lines I
and came to anchor off the coast of i
Flanders. The truce was a short one. j
Drake's fireships appeared, threaten- i
Ing destruction of the Spanish ga.l- I
leons. The Armada, still numbering j
120 battleships, troopships and con- i
voys. slipped their cables and fled up
the North sea. There more than half 1
of them were wrecked in a great storm j
or were driven, crippled, asbere. Only
fifty-three shattered hulks of the 120 j
limped back to Spain.
Some of the Spanish ships went to
pieces on the coast of Scotland, others
to the west of Ireland, and some as
far north as the Scotland island". “The
Treasure Ship of Tobermory" escaped
N 9 ■
'lie ravages of etc: is ar I th- re-fs
nd ellil's of dangerous <o, v ..ts to be ile
t.royed by a Scotchman's act of 311 '
preme revenge.
The galleon, rounding the nort’ eru
capes of Scotland, put into the Loch of
Tobermory on the west coast 01 sn
plies. Food was running short,
storms of the North sea meant -<»nt
spars and tackle, which must b ■ r>
nowed for the voyage to Spai:. The
Spaniards intended tc help themselves
fro,ru t’’c 'Lgniar : s • -■ .it ■
Loe-'’;- knew the Sj .. . i
j found that Si. Lan ' lan had dragged
l some of bls gqns 1 ■ n r
' hanging Tobermory n ; ’he gal-
I leon covered.
“Pay for wha: yo’ : . H o: i ■ .
i you." was his ultimatum. Tll pan
lards came to terms
Sir Lachlan war 1 -e ■ ■’
Spaniards' pleces-c’ • -ig.,t I : -a
lor his sheep, beeves, s: ; rs ':
woodlands, and fresh ' •’.ter
ship’s casks But he milt- .! n
•lans Mar ian and >'• ar lit raid v - b
I enemies. He saw a' e .g m.
soldiers arms to crit-.h it. •
jof rhe payment be i-.t u;ne> i’-
j the rest in a ius.n id ini ir '-. •<
I the Marian and He.
This seem '1 ' tit
As they laid In
paired their rpa.-s r : ’
f.achlan led a leta-a
--i marines again ■< '' ri
laid waste tin slai
Eigg. and Meiek and
; mainland : : Ardam 1
j sieged Military cas'..e
Mull.
The siege w is st I
' came to the S; arm
ship, as she was
Laucblan demur:-.
| pit ces-of-elght had
Spaniards could no' ■
returning to th. ir -
I lan held three of •!.
I tages—pledges if t r
til the mone' was , : .
The Spanish . ■
smooth-tongued am! ‘
but did not pa
these promises 1.0
1 of his men. Don: I
galleon for the 1: •<
' Scotch lead r had .p
aid Gias had no
' ship than he was -•« ’
: oned below . ecks
j That night te ;.
ing their three he
I Lauchlan, made re
I As the day broke i
j timent or erm I
1 brought 01. le< k a,
■ his home i r th"
I Scotchman was ■■ 1
1 tion at sight of the >
. Highlands. H<
. back to his celt. t!> ' I.
I more.
1 The Spaniards wi
: Highlanders on sh:>- s . t
I just beginning to fii ' i-b
I the end came —an aw. d rm •
i Donald Gias had four I hat .
' was near the pow-ler .... z;.
I the night be had laid n t’-um of .<
from one to the other Now ... I
i the magazine.
When Ihe column of flame and
1 bris ami the clouds of smoke had
I cleared away Sir Lauchlan saw- a bru
I zing, dismembered bulk drift a littlw
i while toward the sea, then sink, a com
j plete loss.
An Illinois young man is reported
to have recently beet, winning 4JI),OC(i
a day at Monte Carlo. But it appears
that be remains at Monte Carlo