Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 262, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1916 — Page 3

SAVING OUR FIRST "U-BOAT

Thrown away by the Navy Department, later an object of barter among junk dealers, this important relic finally found its way into patriotic hands and soon it will rest in a permanent public museum • •

r- „ i HE first successfulsubmarine, I I triumph of American genius, is not to go on the scrap heap. With a guard of honor furnished by the government, the Holland No. 9 was taken through the streets of Philadelphia recently, then loaded upon gondola cars in sections and removed to New York, where It will be adequately housed and assured of care forever. For one year, dating from next May 30, the Holland No. 9 w\ll be on exhibition at the Bronx International Exposition. After that, it will be placed in a museum housing relics showing developments of remarkable human achievements in industry, surrounded by early models of the telephone, phonograph, motion picture machine, aeroplane and other American inventions. In 1604, William Bourne of England constructed a submarine. It submerged and that is all that could be said of. it. In 1777 Professor Bushnell, a Connecticut man, invented a submarine which was termed the American Turtle.

In 1797 Robert Fulton constructed for the French emperor, a submarine boat which succeeded in staying under •water four hours and twenty minutes, and, placing a torpedo under a hulk arranged for the purpose, blew it to smithereens. As a reward for 111 is, Fulton was considered to be a little bit crazy and was allowed to return to America to construct steamboats on the Hudson.

The history of the submarine then took a long lapse. It was not until 1850 that a Bavarian by the name of Bauer built a submarine in which the method of control was by shifting a weight forward and aft to dive and arise. This boat collapsed in the harbor of Kiel on one of its trial trips, and remained partly burled in (he mud until 1887, when it was located during the deepening of Kiel harbor, and taken to Berlin, where it is now In the Museum of Oceanography.

It was not until the Civil war forced the Confederates to attempt some way to escape the blockade around the southern ports that submarines again were heard of. The first of these was “The Hunley,” a cylindrical shaped craft about 30 feet long and 6 feet in diameter, with bow and stern shaped to form a stem and stern post respectively. Water ballast compartments were located at each end. of the vessel. She was propelled by hand power, eight men turning cranks which operated the propeller shaft. This boat was sent out of New Orleans tn an endeavor to run the blockade, but lacked longitudinal stability, and during her experimental trials, dived headlong to the bottom. She was

located and recovered each time but too late to save the crew. In this way the designer and 32 other men met death. * The “Hunley" was finally fitted with a spare torpedo. On the night of February 17, 1864, Lieutenant Dickson succeeded in approaching the U. S. S. Housatonic and sank her by exploding a torpedo under her bottom. This probably was the first Instance

of a battleship being sunk by a sqbmarlhe, but the wave thrown up by the explosion swamped the “Huntley” and again she was sunk with all her crew. Shortly after this another submarine Was built by the Confederates, its intentions being to destroy the blockading northern ships. This was known as the “New Orleans Submarine.”

FROM ALL OVER

A concrete keg said to be almost indestructible has been patented by a Wisconsin inventor. Helmets for aviators have been Invented, with wireless receiving tele'phones built into the ear flaps. The Japanese are paying much attention to Australian ores suitable for refining or smelting In Japan. One automobile to every eight families is the ratio which will be reached In the United States this year. J

When the vessel was completed, the designer thought it would be a fine performance to have the vessel plunge under water as she left the ways and make a short trip before coming to the surface. Accordingly,, he instructed two of his most intelligent slaves how to operate the vessel when submerged, and sent them on their wpy. About 20 years later, when the Mississippi was being dredged at New Orleans, this boat, with the skeletons of the two negroes, was found burled tn the mud. It was about this time that John P. Holland came upon the scene. Holland was born in Llscannor, Ireland, in 1844. He came to the United States before the Civil war and the battle between the Monitor and Merrimac set him to thinking on the subject of submarines. In 1875, after nearly 15 years of study and ■experiment. he submitted jilsjjlans to the United States navy department. The naval engineers who examined them pronounced them to be practical in every way, but gave it as their opinion that men could not be found to risk their lives in the experiment. . Soon after this he built the “Holland No. One” on the Passaic river, near Paterson, N. J. She was 14 feet 6 inches long; 3 feet wide, and 2 feet 6 inches in depth. Holland made experiments with this boat,' but engine trouble caused him to abandon it as a petroleum propelled craft, and steam was substituted. The old shell now lies at the bottom of the Passaic river.

Holland continued his series of experiments. He built eight boats before the construction of the “Holland No. 9,” the first submarine craft to be bought and officially commissioned by a national government. She was built at the Cresent yard in Elizabethport, N. J. She is 53 feet 10 inches long; diameter 10 feet 3 inches, and has a submerged displacement of 75 tons. •

She was propelled on the surface by a gasoline engine of 50 horse power, and when submerged, Jby 50 horse power electric motor. On the surface she could make six knots under gasoline engine, and about eight knots under the motor. Submerged she could make about five and a half knots under the motor. Her armament consisted of one bow torpedo tube, one bow pneumatic projection gun, and three short Whitehead torpedoes. „ After she was launched, she was towed to Perth Amboy and it was from there she sailed for her first dive, and proved to the public that she was a reality; a terrible weapon of war, and ( not the mere senseless concoction of a dreamer.

The story of the first dive of the “Holland No. 9,” as told by the inventor himself is: "On March 17, 1898, we left the pier for our initial dive. It was about three o’clock when we starred. The sky was overcast land a few drops of rain pattered upon the water. But tyust before we got under wmy a strong wind* scattered the clouds and the sun came out strong. Also, a ritinbow appeared. This was pointed out by*many as a good omen for the success of the test about to be taken. Regarding our feelings at the time, I felt confident, havIng designed theTioat. My crew, while they trusted me to see them through, were more or less shaky. It must also be borne in mind that they had never been under water before. They were courageous men. risking their lives to help me prove to the world the value of my invention. “At the signal from Mr. Morris, the company’s engineer, we started our motor, cast off and glided away from our mooring place. yWe were riding so low In the water, -tlZit the bases of the masts were washed by occasional swells mounting over the superstructure. This was accounted for by the fact that we had aboard about 400 pounds of pig iron as extra ballast. As soon as we arrived on the course marked out for the dive, I filled

One hundred species of oysters have been classified by scientists. Ah English inventor’s electrical tool for removing boiler scale delivers 8,000 hammering and tearing strikes a minute. Only one out of 160 inmates of a certain lunatic asylum had red hair, and only fodr were of light hair and complexion. ♦ A woman 4s the patentee of a dou-ble-looped strap for street cars thjafc will serve either tall or shorts passenger* who are obliged to stand.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

the trimming tanks and steered the boat down. Her nose- went under all right, but her stern projected out of the water. In a word, we still lacked enough ballast entirely to submerge her. I immediately stopped the engine and whistled for my convoy. She came up at once and we proceeded to transfer more pig iron into the boat. “Again we tried to dive, and again we failed. A second time we whistled for our convoy and took an additional ballast. This time we succeeded. “As soon as I steered her down she plunged beneath the surface and the only part visible to the onlookers was our flags fluttering from the masts. After running for about 100 feet submerged, I steered her up again and she immediately rose to the surface. This was a great relief to many of my friends, most of whom doubted w r e would ever be able to make the boat come to the surface when once we succeeded in getting her under. “During the dive we never had more than four feet of water over our deck, as I was not sure of the shallow spots and did not relish running aground and damaging the boat. “We now held a consultation and decided we had better attempt no more dives' owing to the lateness of the hour.

“For some time after this we continued our dives in the lower bay, but eventually picked out a more suitable diving course in Peconic Bay, Long Island. It was there that the ‘Holland’ went through her best paces and the crew received a thorough training in the handling of the boat. “After about a year of trial dives, both in the Peconic Bay and later on in Chesapeake Bay, she was accepted by the navy department.

It was just about the time Ahe “Holland” was launched that war against Spain was declared. Holland offered to take his boat and its crew to Santiago and destroy the entire Spanish fleet. When this proposition was made to the United States government, the authorities refused the offer with the statement that it would be an inhumane form of warfare. It was not until two years after this war w'as over, that the government finally purchased the “Holland.” After suffering the hardships of old age and financial reverses, Holland died 12, 1914. As time passed the “Holland No. 9” became obsolete. The United States navy department holds no particular sympathy for inanimate objects, even though they inay represent the early achievements of American genius. So the “Holland” was sold for scrap. The firm .making a successful bid for the “Holland” was the Henry A. Hitner’s Sons company of Philadelphia. They removesl ■the eiigines* and -dts** posed of other valuable portions of the old vessel, and then placed the shell In the Philadelphia Commercial museum, for exhibition purposes. There came a time when the directors of the museum cared no longer to retain the old boat on the museum grbunds. The Hltner company offered the shell of the “Holland” for sale as scrap iron. Walter A. Hall, a member of the original crew of the “Holland,” now an electrical engineer and amateur aviator; appealed to the public for the preservation or the “Holland.” The boat was finally bought by Dr. Peter J. Gibbons and his son,'Austin Flint Gibbons, of New York city, who have lent it for one year to the Bronx International Exposition.

BRIEF FACTS

A thread spans the space between jaws of an implement invented by a Kansas City man for cleaning between the teeth. Norway is to huve a plant that will use a Belgian engineer’s process for the ejectrical extraction of zinc from ores heretofore regarded as worthless. The inventor of a new square funnel contends it operates more rapidly than a round one, which causes a rotary motion in liquids and delays their flow.

SALADS A LITTLE DIFFERENT

Two Unusual Ones and Two Good Dressings to Be Served With Them.

Fruit Salads^— For fruit salads any combination may be used. Canned pineapple goes well with canned or fresh white cherries and bananas; seeded white grapes or canned peaches with oranges may be added as desired. Dressing for Fruit Salad.—This is an excellent dressing for fruit salads where a mild but well-favored dressing Is needed:

Yokes of two eggs, two tablespoonfuls of butter, a scant half cupful of sugar, two tablespoonfuls each of vinegar and lemon Juice, two teaspoonfuls of olive oil, one teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of mustard (ground) and a pinch of red pepper. Cream the butter and sugar together; add the beaten eggs and other Ingredients. Cook in a double boiler until thick. Keep in a cool plare and, when ready to use, add one-half cupful of whipped cream. Another salad dressing for fruit calls for two eggs, one-quarter cupful each of lemon Juice and sugar. Beat the eggs, add the other Ingredients and cook in a double boiled, stirring constantly until the dressing commences to thicken. Cook and pour sliced fruit, any combination desired. Frozen Cream Cheese Salad. — Add a half cupful of cream to two cream cheeses and stir to a smooth paste. Season with salt, paprika and a little lemon Juice, then turn into a freezer and freeze slightly. Remove, pack In a brick-shaped mold and cover for two hours with Ice and salt. Then slice and serve on lettuce leaves with a French dressing.

FIRELESS COOKER IS BOON

Contrivance Which Will Prove Big Aid to the Housewife Can Be Made With Little Trouble. Dread of long cooking processes renders the fireless cooker desirable to the housewife in the cooler seasons as well as during hot weather. The following will be found to answer the purpose. A candy pail or butter tub makes the outside. Inside this is fitted -fi galvanized pall leaving a two-inch space. t The intervening space should be filled with ground cork, shavings, sawdust, or even chaff. The cover of the candy pail should be built downward and also filled with the insulating material. A second cover is fitted Just below the rim of the galvanized pail extending to the sides of the wooden bucket. This covers up the insulating material. It may be made of wall-board or thin wood. _

Cooking vessels can be purchased at almost any hardware store at a small cost. It Is usually found best to use one stone below the cooking vessel and frequently one above. These are heated on the stove and with the heat of the hot vessel will continue the cooking process for several hours. Well shaped stones or even hard brick will answer though the usual soapstones are better. —E. W. Hamilton of Idaho University.

HOW TO CLEANSE CURTAINS

This Mixture Will Make Them Look Like New and They Will Not Be Worn Out in the Washing.

After shakjng out the loose dirt cover curtains with cold water. Cut up half a bar of good white soap, add K a large tablespoonful of borax and melt to a jelly with hot water. Take this from the stove and add half a cupful of kerosene. Make a thick hot suds with part of this mixture and boiling water. Squeeze curtains from cold water and dip one at a time into the hot suds. The dirt will simply run out. Put through a second lighter suds, rinse In hot water, starch, adding a little bluing and put dn stretchers. The result is curtains which look almost like new and are not worn out In washing. With two large pans this can be done in bhthroom or kitchen. This mixture Is sufficient for four pairs of curtains.

Apricot Roll.

Sift 1 pint of flour with 3 teaspoons baking powder, a little salt and 1 tablespoon sugar. Mix 2 tablespoons each of butter and any shortening and about % cup of mt Ik to make a soft dough. Roll out lightly and spread with a cup of apricots (or any dried fruit) which have been cleaned and stewed. Roll up and place in baking tin, with half a cup of juice drained from the fruit and baste with this during the cooking. Serve hot with sweet liquid sauce.

Flower Salad.

Cut the whites of hard-boiled eggs into pointed, petal-like strips. Lay aside two whole yoiks, mashing the rest. Mix with mayonnaise and fill the calyx of the arrahged petals Mth the mixture. Put the 'remaining yolks through a fine sieve or ricer, dropping over the petals to give the appearance of pollen. Cut lettuce leaves in fine points to simulate outer green. Serve if possible on a low glass dish or small Individual glass dishes to represent „water.

Mint Sauce.

Chop two tAblesipoonfuls of mint fine and-heat In about half a cupful of white or cider vinegar. Keep covered while heating, but do not let the vinegar boil. Add one tablespponful of sugar and strain into a sauceboat. Put a, few fresh, small leaves into the sauce and pass this after the lamb is served.

NATIVE LIFE IN GUANGJUTO

A STRIKING picture of native life in Guanajuato, the treasure chest of mercurial Mexico, Is given In a communication to the National Geographic society by Frank H. Probert Mr. Probert reveals the Mexican peons as they are known only to the American who has lived among them. Leaving the walled Inclosure of the railroad yards, says he, one looks down on the apparently cramped and crowded city of Guanajuato, capital of the richest of the south central states of /Mexico. Hard by, to the right, is the bull ring, the scene on Sundays and fiestas of farcical combats between two-legged brutes . and four-legged beasts.

In the soft sunshine of summer days the first vista of the city is striking indeed. Churches of magnificent proportions; ancient and modern architectures strangely blended in the game edifice; stately buildings; Imposing markets; stores of all descriptions; and dwelling places, rudely bare, variously colored with neutral tints of calcimine, their grated windows and open doors exhibiting Io all the sparsely furnished interior where bird, beast and human eat and live together. The sordid squalor of the many contrasts strikingly with the oppressive opulence of the few.

The cobblestone crooked and narrow; so narrow. In fact that Caballeros must take to the sidewalk to permit of the passing of any kind of vehicle. The alngy tram cars drawn by relays of mules, three abreast, beaten into subjection by the stinging lash or coaxed into action by thd curses of the youthful drivers, whose vernacular Is wonderfully expressive and effective; indeed, I doubt if anything but a mule can really appreciate the depth of feeling and irresistible persuasiveness of the vile expressions. = Odd Sights in the Streets.

What strange sights one can see in these main arteries of the city! I have set my camera on the balcony of my room at the Woods hotel and will snap what passes by. At first, a herd of patient-plodding burros' loaded down with slabs of the pale green sandstone quarried near by and used for building purposes; a legless cripple shuffles along on a board, propelling himself with his hands; a cargador trots along tirelessly with his awkward burden, in . this case a sewing machine; more-bur-ros overloaded with charcoal; another pabk struggles under the weight of sacked ore from the mines; still another bearing grain to the market, and the street car demanding loudly a clear track; a funeral procession where laughing children carry a baby’s casket, swaying from side to side to the accompaniment of anything but appropriate music, and behind the mourners in silent solemnity.

Strangely superstitious are these people. Grossly ignorant, constant in their faith, pathetic in their simplicity, kindly and respectful, their life is epitomized in the verse: “Let the world slide, let the world go ; A fig for care and a fig lor woe! If I can’t pay, why I can owe, And death makes equal the high and

low.” Hanging Judas Iscariot In Effigy. ’Tis Eastern Sunday morning. lam awakened at early dawn by the tooting of tin horns, accompanied by the sonorous screeches of bass viols and fiddles as sounds are sawn from their. strings; by the shuffling of sandaled feet over the stones of the street, and by the babel of voices of passing peons. Church bells clang, sirens scream, whistles wildly mingle in the melody of merriment; for is not this the day when Judas Iscariot is to be hung in effigy. A grotesque dummy figure is paraded through the town, followed by the jeering and cheering crowds, who have risen early to give expression to their righteous indignation against the betrayer. After circling the city the procession halts, Judas is promptly yanked by the ropes from the bearers and dangles in midair, a sorry sight, spit upon, cursed, condemned, consigned to everlasting purgatory, to which place, at sunset, he is sent by the explosion of dynamite concealed in his carcass. Ribaldry runs riot as the day advances, and night falls on an exhausted though happy people. What matters if the prison is overcrowded that night, or that the supply of pulque or mescal is depleted almost to the degree of exhaustion ? To the casual visitor from the States the habits and customs of these lowly people are strange, but fascinating. Tbay do not need our com-

SCENE IN GUANAJUATO

miseration or sympathy; they are content in their mode of living, and who shall say that they are the less happy or human in their habitat than many Of ÜBl - Peon la Always a Peon. The Mexican peon knows that he la born to serve, as did the old southern darky, and caste or class distinction is emphasized on all occasions. The mozo rides sllentty behind the lordly caballero; the peon woman steps into the street and bows her head as the padre passes; in the plaza on Sunday evenings,-when-the melody of martial music fills the air, the upper classes parade in one direction, while the peons gyrate as an outer ring in the opposite direction. As a class they are Industrious, and skillful If the time element is eliminated. The peon miner Is a competent workman when unhampered by modern machines and has a “nose” for ore that Is truly remarkable. .Aa tillers of the soil their methods are primitive but productive; they still use oxen and the wooden plow share, and the fields are fenced with imperishable dry-rock walls. In the making of pottery and basketry they excel; Jn tanning hides, saddlery and the working of metals they are inimitable. The women, too, ( can grind corn on a metate, cook tortillas and frijoles, raise families, launder clothes on a rock near the creek, and make the most exquisite laces and the finest of drawnwork with equal skill.

IS MODERN MILES STANDISH

Bashful West Virginia Youth Speaks Proposal Into Phonograph and Sends Record to Sweetheart. It is too bad to have to climb up and remove the laurel wreath from the beetled brow of Miles Standish. His has always been a name to thrill the youth of the seventh grade and the inroads he made upon, the Indian population of New England entitle him to a high place in the hall of fame. That little piece of love-making which he carried on with Priscilla, with John Alden as his proxy, has long appealed to the hosts who look upon bashfulness as one of the attributes of a brave warrior. Of course, Napoleon, Alexander and Antony weren’t particularly backward about their wooings and Richard IH was rather a parlor favorite in his way; but soldiers, that is, good American colonial soldiers, haVe usually been bashful. Washington was; he says so himself. And so was Standish. Both lost girls because they were too slow. But when it comes to downright dyed-in-the-wool bashfulness we must all stand back and let the ushers lead Alfred B. Manning of Parkersburg, W. Va., down to the front seat, says the Pittsburgh Gazette-Times. Gentlemen, bring forward the cruse of oil and anoint Mr. Maiming. Hand him the cake. Amid all these wars and rumors of wars comes from Parkersburg a story which alleges that Mr. Manning, unable to nerve himself to the point of asking a young woman to be his wife, spoke his little piece into a phonograph and sent her the record. ord. Putting it on his machine and cranking up, he released the mechanism and, while great beads of perspiration stood upon his brow, he heard the little oak doors emit the tingle word “Yes.” To the captious, Mr. Manning’s methods* might be considered as smacking too much of Indian customs. It will be recalled that the aborigines, meaning to declare war, would send their enemy a snakeskin filled with bullets. ‘But these critics are too harsh; proposing by phonograph is businesslike, to the point and sanitary. It may lack some of the sentiment, but it accomplishes the purpose. It fetches home the matrimonial bacon. We sincerely hope that in the years to come Mr. and Mrs. Manning will have no occasion to smash the record!

‘*We won’t stand for suggestive motion pictures in this town.” —“wr “Yesterday, just as a kiss began on the screen, something went wrong with the projecting machine and it lasted for nearly three minutes.” “Well! Well!” “But in the meantime 24 Indignant matrons got up and left the place."

Strongly Disapproved.