Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 221, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1916 — Page 2

SUBMARINE MINE LAYER CAPTURED

Strange German Craft Is Caught Off East Coast of England.

DARING DEED BY OFFICER

Goes Down in Diving Suit and Dataches Detonatora From Mines— Novel Boat ia Laid Up in the Thames.

London. —A queer Germnn submarine, caught Just as it was about to lay mines off the East coast, lias been placed on exhibition in the Thames and viewed by hundreds of thousands of sightseers. This is not one of the fast, big Üboats which have preyed on shipping, but a little fellow without guns or torpedo tubes, built solely for minelaying. Some we«Ks ago a British destroyer was out exercising <*ff the coast. When she sighted this submarine, the German boat was in difficulties. It was misty weather. The destroyer drew close and the English seamen noticed that all the crew of the U-boat seemed to be on deck. The British commander called out for the Germans to surrender. The latter hauled down their, flag and put {heir hands above their heads. At a word from their commander they jumped into the water and swam for dear life away from the ship. Saves the Ship. . r " _ Internal explosions followed and at

German Submarine Mine-Layer Lying in the Thames Off Temple Pier, London.

the last and heaviest a cascade of hammocks and other debris shot out of the open conning tower to a height of 40 feet. That there was this vent for the explosive forces probably saved the ship, but as it was she took a good deal of water. Although the submarine had laid no mines, two had been released by the force of the explosions and were foul of the bottom of the vessel. Contact with the “horns,” which jutted out all around the mines, would have set off enough high explosive to wreck a battleship.

A young British officer now performed a highly difficult and dangerous task. He went down in a diving suit and made the mines safe by detaching the detonators, afterwards .«e----curing the mines in a safe position. This submarine is the "UC-5,” and carried 12 mines. She was built in five sections in Germany, brought to Zeebrugge, on the Belgian coast, bt freight cars, and there put together. She displaces 195 tons floating and 210 submerged. She submerged by blowing out certain tanks and by the use of hydroplanes. Her length is 110 feet. Carries Mines. Amidships is the conning tower, with periscope and wireless mast. Forward of the conning tower are six shoots or air locks in which the mines are stored, two to a shoot. The mines were discharged electrically from the conning tower. '■ These mines weigh 1,200 pounds loaded and cost about SBOO each. When one of their horns Is Jarred by a ship's bull, a glass vial in the interior is broken, letting loose a liquid which energizes a battery, and the Oiaeexplodes with terrific violence. , The craft is propelled by Diesel

heavy-01l engines and electric accumulators ehurged before leaving pbrtv She crawls along at a speed of only six knots. Her officers and crew numbered 16 persons in all and they were very uncomfortably crowded when their boat was under water.

CHILD’S SKELETON IN CAVE

Interesting Discoveries Made on a Farm In Dry Rock Canyon • in Utah.

Vernal. Utah.—A cave In which on a solid rock wall there is the Imprint of a human hand as If It were made when the rock was plastic has been discovered on the farm of John AV. Weist In L>ry lioek canyon, eight miles northwest of tills town. On the rock are all sorts of hieroglyphics and the cave contained the skeleton of a child wrapped in bark, Indian fashion. In removing asli heaps Weist found corncobs, a few grains of corn and an arrow of cane spiked with greasewood. He regrets now that he did not preserve the kernels of corn and plant them in hope that corn of an ancient culture might be again produced, but at the time he thought, of course, their presence nmong the ashes precluded the possibility of life germs being retained. “The arrow was kept, but the bark-wrapped skeleton was put into a five-gallon can and buried.

POKER CHIPS RUNNING SHORT

Card Players May Get Relief Through Discovery of Large Deposit of Barite In Texas.

Llano, Tex. —It has been several years since open gambling was allowed In Texas. Even poker playing is becoming an almost lost art. Few people realize that there now exists an unprecedented shortage, of poker

chips, due to the war across the seas. The knowledge of this threatened crisis has caused a demand for the -mineral known as barite. This fact caused a search for barite to be instituted here, with the result that a large deposit of the metal has just been discovered ten miles north of town. The poker chip supply will soon be replenished from this new source of raw material.,

HATCHES A BROOD IN TREE

Hen Belonging to Delaware Man Makes Her Nest Twenty Feet in Air.

Georgetown, Del. —Perched 20 feet in the air, an old hen on the farm of former United States Marshal John Cannon Short; lias 'hatched out"ten chicks where the whole family is nowmaking their aerial home. The nest is in a large tree and is reached by a 40-foot ladder which lies against an adjoining building. The hen Climbed the ladder and made her nest in the tree and there she hatched- out her family. So far the chicks have not yet set their feet on the ground, and the old hen carries their food up to them. The owner highly prizes the hen and will allow no one to disturb her unique abode,

Gives Skin to Save Wife.

Tulsa, Okla.—To save the life of his wife who was believed to be fatally injured by a gasoline explosion at her home in this city recently, H. L. De Witt submitted to the removal of 160 square inches of cuticle which was at once grafted on the wounds of his wife, who is in a hospital. The grafting was successful and Mrs. De Witt will recover.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

HAVE TOO MUCH LEISURE IN AIR

Aviator Says There Isn’t Enough to Do While Flying Aloft.

THRILLING TALES OF AIR

“Sail for Hours Without Putting a Hand on Lever," Says OneClouds Most Deadly Things They Have to Fear.

London. —The hardest part about flying in war Is the thinking that a flying man has to do. Here's the idea in an English flying man's own words: “There isn't enough to keep a man’s mind busy in the air since the war has developed the aeroplane. In the old days of the aeroplane there were so many things a flying man had to watch that he didn’t have time to worry about what might happen to him. But In these days sitting ta-your-ma-cliiue is about like sitting on a dog and waiting for something to happen. “We don't have to use our hands as we used to. There Is only one lever, and you don’t have to watch that very closely. You can fly for hour, without having your hand on it. You can write or read or smoke, and unless you touch the lever to change its position you will fly along at the same level indefinitely owing to the selfstabilization of the machine.

Look Down; Watch Shells. “So, with your attention only mildly occupied, you keep looking down over the edge to see what’s happening. You get to watching the wires and wondering what would happen if a bullet cut cue of them. You look at the frail irons and consider how frail they really are. Shrapnel is breaking below you and around you, perhaps. That’s a daily occurrence. There’s no use of trying to dodge it, for by doing so you may only run into it. “So there you sit imagining all sorts of horrible possibilities. You’ve been told to go to a certain place and then return. Your route is all laid out for you and your duties are so simple and easy that while you’re performing them you have a thousand times too much spare time for thought and worry. As for myself, I’d much rather have the aeroplane a less simple affair, just to have my attention occupied. An imagination is a curse to a flier.”

And then there’s the problem of the whirling compass. An airman flies into a cloud; suddenly the finger of his compass begins to whirl around like *' a clock gone mad. Scientists say it doesn’t whirl, but so many English airmen have had the experience that even the scientific men are wondering whether the phenomenon isn’t worth studying.

The Whirling Compass. Here’s a flying man’s wide of it: “My compass finger hau whirled like a top when I have gone into a cloud. It’s enough to turn you' demented. It’s, bad enough, goodness knows, to be- lost in a cloud, but to have your compass go back on you ut the same time is too much. Our scientific instructors tell us that the compass doesn’t change but that we lose our heads when we get into the mist and change our courses without realizing it, so that the compass indicator changes naturally. “But in some clouds your compass doesn’t change. It remains as steady as it was in the sunshine. Why should a flier jiggle his course unknowingly In one cloud and not In another? My opinion is that there are certain kinds of clouds that are charged with electricity.' In such clouds your compass goes crazy. In other words, where electricity is not present your eon?fc>ass behaves itself.” How far are the clouds above the earth? As high above as we wish to climb. But the chief question with a flying man is how low the clouds are. A crack English flier told the correspondent something about low clouds. “You may be walking along the street on a heavy day and, lboking up, may think that the clouds are miles high. As a matter of fact they may be only 200 or 300 feet above you. That’s the kind of a day that the airman dreads. I’ye been lost in a cloud in France and come down out of it only to find myself flying around among the church steeples French town, with good chances of killing myself. “In a cloud you can never tell whether you’re over the enemy’s lines. You may come right down into his trenches before you know it. Clouds, the low kinds, are the most deadly things w« have to fear.”

Little Boy a Hero.

Janesville, Wis.—Theodore Snyder, seven yeurs old, son of Claud Snyder, who resides on a farm six miles north of the city, is hailed by his playmates as a youthful hero. When the home occupied by the Snyders suddenly took Are during the absence of both mother and father, young Snyder’s first thoughts were of the - six-months-old baby who lay on a cot In one of flis front rooms. While he sent the other children for aid he hurried Into the house and carried out the infant and Its bed. The house and its entire com tents were destroyed before neighbor! arrived. *

MARVEL OF ENGINEERING SKILL

Huge Three-Track.One-Leaf Lift Over the North Branch of the Chicago River, Replacing the Swing Structure Which Is Seen at the Right, Resting, Bisected, on Its Center Pier.

Two and a half million pounds of concrete and steel counterweight balance the new railroad bridge over the Chicago river between Clybourn and Deering stations of the Northwestern railroad. Part of the weight is to be seen in the picture the section showing white just above the ground. It is from two to three feet in thickness. The black spots are holes left in the concrete mass so the counterweight could be increased if necessary.

MADE RECORD TIME

ENGINEERS PROUD OF SPEED IN BRIDGE ERECTION.

Putting in Place of Structure Over Chicago River Claimed to Be Most Pemarkable Achievement in Railroad History.

One hundred and sixty passenger trains and 35 freight trains daily are uow crossing the large new bascule bridge of the Northwestern railroad between Deering and Clybourn, just south of Fullerton avenue, over the North Branch of the Chicago river, as the result of the successful completion of one of the greatest achievements claimed by the operating officials of the Northwestern in the history of that company. The work that has been finished included the removal of the old bridge after it had been cut to pieces, and suburban patrons over the Milwaukee division watched with Interest the work of taking away the pieces of the structure over which they were carried fpr many years.

Traffic on the old bridge was suspended at 12:23 Sunday morning and the new bridge was in position ready for trains at six o’clock' Sunday evening, the period of interruption to traffic being less than 18 hours. The schedule of Work provided for the removal of the old swing bridge in the center of the fiver, as the new bridge could not be lowered for service before the old one was out of the way, and putting into place a considerable number of parts of the new bridge that could not be put in while traffic was maintained of until the bascule span was lowered.

Immediately after the last train had crossed the bridge the structure was opened and the ends were blocked up on the timber fender. A scow derrick pulled up on each side of it and began removing the operating equipment. At the same time eight oxyacetylene torches were set to work cutting the old structure in pieces small enough to be lifted by the derricks. By 7:30 in the morning the old bridge had been cut to pieces and the middle portion removed, leaving the way clear for the new bridge to be lowered.

During the time the old bridge was being cut apArt erecting crews were rapidly settirg In place for the new bridge those parts which could not be erected without lowering the structure. Promptly at 8:15, the time fixed in the schedule, the new bridge was lowered to within a few feet of the closed position. The new bridge contains 2,625,800 pounds of structural steel. To counterbalance the weight of the span, concrete counterweights containing 14,000 cubic feet were molded, the total weight of the two being 2,360,000 pounds. Holes in the counterweights were left to add weight in the form of pig iron or more concrete, but it was found unnecessary. From the time the first earth was turned for the foundation until the first train passed over the completed bridge was only eleven months.

Testing Ball Bearings.

An experiment of unusual Interest is the test bf the real efficiency of ball bearings ; on freight cars, as undertaken by the electric state railroad carrying ore from the great Kiruna mine in Sweden. The line operates xmder exceptionally regular and uniform conditions, and, having 50 new ore cars equipped with ball bearings, two trains of identical make-up and load —one with ball bearings and one with plalh—will 6e compared. The power consumed by each StMin will be recorded from day to day by means of watt meters.

Railroad Men Use Periscope.

The Santa Fe railroad men guarding a dangerous crossing at San Bernardino, California, now use a 20-foot war periscope to watch for trains coming ronnd a dangerous curve. The periscope extends over the roofs of bulldintrs that obstruct the view.

CHANGES IN COLOR SCHEME

Complete Alteration of Signal Indications Has Taken Place on the Pennsylvania Railroad.

A complete change in the color scheme of signal indications will be effected on the entire-Pennsylvania railroad system, both east and west of Pittsburgh, as soon as the necessary materials can be obtained. Orders for the required material are now being placed.

White lights are to be eliminated altogether as a signal indication. Green will replace white for “clear” or “proceed,” while a bright, distinctive yellow, visible at great distances, will be used for “caution,” Red will continue to mean “stop.” The elimination of white from the signal color scheme has been rendered desirable by the increasing use of w-hite lights of various kinds in buildings, driveways, roads and streets close or adjacent to the railroad’s right of way. The Pennsylvania railroad system, however, was unwilling to proceed with the change until a yellow glass could be obtained for the “caution” signals which would give a bright light at long distances and still would not be liable to be mistaken for white, and so confused with other, lights along the line of the railroad. Progress in the art of coloring glass, after years of experiments, has resulted in the*production of such glass. Adoption of the new signal system will mean the changing of hundreds of thousands of colored glasses and lenses. This will require considerable time for completion, especially as slow deliveries are to be expected owing to industrial conditions resulting from the European war. The proposed signal system has been tried out on the extreme eastern end of the New York division and has been found to work satisfactorily. It is also being adopted in portions of the country off the Pennsylvania railroad lines, so that desirable uniformity will be obtained.

No change is to be made on those short portions of the Pennsylvania railroad lines which are protected by “position light” signals, in which the various indications are given by rows of electric lights showing against a black background in the various positions of the semaphore arms.

CLAIM RECORD FOR SAFETY

American Railroads Occupy Proud Position, According to Figures Given Out by Bureau.

That American railroads are now the safest for passengers In the world, is the cheering assurance drawn from the figures for 1915 put forth by the Bureau of Railway News. The fiscal year to June 30 passed, Tor 325 railroads with two-thirds of all our mileage, without killing a single passenger. On all railroads, with 250,000 miles and more of track, the passenger deaths were 196. They were ’ 265 in 1914, and 403 in 1913. In 1905, of little more than half as many passengers 533 were killed. The latest returns from Europe, covering 207,015 miles, all but a small fraction, and showing 700 deaths, are not a fair test because' of war. More passengers were killed in Great Britain than in the United States, but 157 were lost in a single troop-train disaster. In 1913, 124 passengers were killed on 23,000 miles of British track. Their number* of passengers, 000, was greater than ours last year, but by passenger miles our 1915 record Is cleaner than Britain’s in the last year of peace. Fewer employees also were killed in this country in 1914 than in Britain in 1913, in proportion to passenger train miles and freight-ton miles. But in the list of trespassers and others slain - on the tracks we continue a shocking tale. Let the praiseworthy efforts of our managers to check this drain upon Ilf* be crowned with success and the record of American railroading will no longer require apology. . ...

ELDERLY WOMEN SAFEGUARDED Tell Others How They Were Carried Safely Through Change of Life. Dnrand, Wia.—“l am the mother of fourteen children and I owe my life to ■ Lydia E. Pinkham’a gave me such relief am now well and healthy and recommend your Compound to other ladies. 1 * —Mrs. Mary Ridgway, Durand, Wis. A Massachusetts Woman Writes* Blackstone, Mass. —“My troubles were from my age, and I felt awfully sick for three often and frequently suffered from pains. I took Lydia E. Pmkham's Vegetable Compound and now am well. 1 * —Mrs. Pierre Cournoyer, Box 239, Blackstone, Mass. Such warning symptoms aa sense of suffocation,hot flashes, headacheß, backaches, dread of impending evil, timidity, iounds in the ears, palpitation of tho heart, sparks before the eyes, irregularities, constipation, variable appetite, weskness and dizziness, should be heeded by middle-aged women. Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound has carried many women safely through this crisis. THE HIGH QUALITY SEWINB MACHINE NEYSKQME NOT SOLD UNDER ANY OTHER NAME Write for free booklet "Points to be considered before purchasing a Sewing Machine.” Learn the facts. THE NEW HOME SEWING MACHINE CO.,ORANGE, MABB. P 1 1 Hypnotism. “Do you believe this assertion that „ anybody can be hynotized?” “Well,” replied Mr. Dustin Stax, “I understand that the old mesmerists used to start by holding some shining substance before their eyes. I know a lot of men who seem to lose their ordinary ideas If you show them a silver dollar.” Think of Noontimel The ship’s officer was talking to the Inquisitive old lady who was making Tier first sea trip. “There goes eight bells,” he said. “Excuse me, it is my watch below.” “Mercy on us,” exclaimed the lady. “Does your watch strike as loud as all that?” Obtrusive Garment. Miss Ruffles—Look at the green and white striped sweater the blonde in the next foursome Is wearing 1 Mr. Truffles—Anything as loud as that Is distracting and should be suppressed under the head of unnecessary noises.” —Judge. Too Suggestive. “I wish our landlady wouldn’t read the war news so attentively.” “Why, why Is that_ your business?” “My business? Great Scott, man, she’s put us all on meat cards for twice-a-week days.” Home, Sweet Home. Tommy (home on leave after 15 months in the trenches and ready to praise all familiar things)—Hey, Jimmy! Don’t the gas works smell lovely?—London Sketch. Most contributors to charity manage to be caught in the act. Two Fellows are trying to get ahead. It's easy to see who’ll win. If you have any doubt about holding some people back —in fact many — leave the hesitating class, stop coffee ten days, and use POSTUM This delicious pure! fooddrink, made of wheat, roasted with a bit of wholesome molasses, has a delightful, snappy flavor. It is free from the drugs in coffee and all harmful ingredients. Poatum is good for old and young, and makes for health and efficiency. " There’s a Reason”