The Wickes Pioneer (Wickes, Mont.) 1895-1896, January 11, 1896, Image 3

• 4e. S 1;•1 rks In C. .5.5 IL HI% rri^. In It urefL ,Ohis • reef I 5. t OUR COAST DEFENSES. GEN. CUTCHLON SAYS WE ARE IMPREGNABLE. New York Pity Is Not at ti. o Merry of . - oreign Nations -sou reviiielaro is Well l'r••te• ted lh• 4,reaL Uthappror • itiu MICHIGAN daily paper contains an interesting inter- view with Gen. By- ron M. Cutcheon on the present condi- tion of the coast de- fenses at New York and other import- ant harbors, Gen. Cutchcon served three years in the field during the late war, and eight years in congress on the military committee, being chairman while his party was in congressional control. From congress he went on the board of ordnance and for- tification, where he served four years, until his resignation a few months ago. When asked if New York city could be successfully defended egainst an En- glish ironclad fleet, the general said: \New York is, in my opinion and in the opinion of our best military author- ities, fully prepared to receive any Iron - \lad fleet. The defense work done there since the fortifications board was organized, eight years ago, is of the most modern and complete character, calculated to defend the city from any number of the best battleships afloat. During the past eight years the fortiti- Hens board has built five new batteries to command the entrances of New York harbor, which an incoming steamship passenger would hardly notice. The most of the walls and all the guns are down out of sight. .The outer walls, or first lines, are at Sandy Hook, the en- trance to the main or south channel, where powerle 1 batteries of twelve - inch rifled steel guns and rifled twelve - inch mortars are planted, The bat- teries, when on high ground, have walls even only with the surface, and on low ground they are slightly raised. The outer wall is of Concrete, forty feet thick. In the concrete are blocks of stone, thrown in promiscuously, to de- flect projectiles which penetrate the surface. Inside this wall is thirty feet of sand, covered with concrete; then another concrete wall, under which the men and guns are protected. Under- neath all are steam boilers and power- ful engines for handling the immense guns, which weigh over fifty tons each, and the carriages weigh as much more. The largest guns on an war vessel ate thirteen -inch, but the gun on land, with a firm foundation, has more power and accuracy than one on ship. \In addition to its twelye-inch guns, the Sandy Hook works have a mortar battery of sixteen twelve -Inch modern rifled mortgrs. Their shells Can carry 100 pottuds of emrnensite, equal to 300 pounds of powder in explosive force. If one ot these monsters strike the pro- tected deck of an ironela ' it will go through it and explode. Aside from these equipments, Sandy Hook hns three of the lately invented dynamite guns, ready to throw 250 -pound charges of dynamite on or against an invading ship at long ranee. \For an inside line behind the Sandy Hook batteries 'the board has also planted barbette and mortar batteries nearly as powerful nine miles up at the Narrows. One set are about Fort Wordsworth, on Staten Island. These are 150 feet ebove the sea, and very powerful. Across the channel Is a line of batteries one-half mile long about Fort Hamilton. An attacking fleet would be in range of the Sandy Hook guns when eight miles out. Lilt passed the Hoak it. would then be under the concentrated fire of the Sandy Hookand Narrows batteries for another eight miles. No fleet could stand this fire for any long period, and torpedos or submarine mines would prevent any quick passage. New York is easy to defend. An attacking fleet could not deploy, as the English did at Alexan- dria, forni a semi -circle, and concen- trate the fire of every ship. Thor' IC not room for such tactics. The ships must approach head on, In single tile. Powerful searchlights at all the bat- teries would help the gunners at night and prevent tampering with the planted mines or torpedoes, \These powerful batteries are the backbone of the New York defenses. Next comes the modern submarine mines, which are an enlargement and improvement over the old-fashioned torpedo. A large stock of mines with their appliances all numbered are stored on Staten Island, and at Wil- lett's Point is a force of len men from th • 'engineer corps, thoroughly drilled for years in the work of placing and working t hem. Ttw East river entraned to New York harbor in dciended by new and powerful batteries lately built et Willett's Point and raven; Island, tho same as those on the South channel. \Next to New 1 (ark, san Francisco has received the most attention. New, powerful barbette nod mortar batteries have been built Ilmre, like thase In New York. Fan Pe - ander° is safe and secure. So are Boston and Hampton Roads, where modern batteriee have been placed end submarine mines fully provided. Other places, like {Mendel- phin, Baltimore and New rleans, for the present must depend mainly on submarine mines and our armorial naval force. There is another impor- tant fact to consider. The very largest war Fillpft of Europe draw too much water to enter New York, or any other American harbor, excepting San Fran isco, Nuirfolk and Portland. Me. The eight, ten and twelve inch grins now be log made at the new government fac- tory at the Watervielt Articniki, West Troy, N. Y., am the best earthen in the world, Krupp:shot excepeel.\ WHY MEN STAND, Porrapiez Mechanism Renders It Possible but the Attitude Is Not Normal. From the Scottish American: We are so accustomed to standing upright as a natural attitude that few of us think what a special complex mechanism is required for this purpose. A moment's con:eider:Item will show that the or- dinary explanation of the erect posi- tion (the (*dee • gravity to be direct- ly above the feet) is insufficient. When a man is suddenly shot, whether from the front or behind, he drops on his face, for the truth is that there is much more weight in the front of the spinal column than behind it. The fact is that when we are standing a large number of powerful muscles (both front and back) are simultaneously at work, the effects of their action being to neutral- l7,1n each other. Thus, the legs would fall forward were it not that they are kept vertical on the feet by the strong tendon (the \Aehillea\) at the back of the heel. At the same time the muscles Of the thigh are tightened so as to pre- vent us taking a sitting position, and the muscles of the back are pulled tense so that the trunk does not stoop for- ward. The head is prevented from dropping on the chest by the ligaments in the nape of the neck. That the up- right is not its normal position is easily. shown by the fact that a man nods as he falls asleep; for as soon as the con- trolling nervous force is deadened the head drops forward by its own weight, oply to be puled back in position again with a jerk when the brain becomes suddenly aware of an unusual attitude. AGAIN MINIATURES. Women Carry the Staff of Life front Door to Door. The largest loaves of bread baked in the world are those of France and Italy. The \pipe\ bread of Italy is baked in loaves two and three feet long, while in France the loaves are made in the shape of very long rolls four or five feet in length, and in ninny cases even six feet. The bread of Paris is distributed almost exclusively by women, who go to the various bakehouses at 5:30 a, m. apd spend about an hour polishing up the loaves. After the loaves are thor- oughly cleaned of dust and grit the \bread porter\ proceeds on the round of her customers. Those who live in apartments or fiats find their loaves leaning against the door. Restrura- teurs and those having street entrances to their premises find their supply of the staff of life propped up against the front door. The wages earned by these bread carriers vary from a couplet shillings to half a crown a day, and their day's work is completed by If o'clock in the morn,ng. The Lady and the Burglar. From the Chicago Times -Herald: The lady, hearing some one in the dining room, thought it was her husband, anel slipped down to pour a glass for him. She confronted a burglar who was mak- ing a vigorous search of the sideboard. She stepped to a closet and brought out a heavy basket. saying: \Here is -the silyer; now go away, my good man, be- cause I hear my husband at the front door, and he caries a pistol.\ The bur- glar fled with the basket and the lady fainted. When her husband revived her she told the talc and explained that the basket contathed an immense Mal- tese cat that slept in it. She fainted again for the possible fate of pussy. The next morning the cat scratched at the basement door. It looked no worse for the adventure, and it bore a note tied around its neck, which conveyed the compliments and admiration of her victim—the burglar. Apples Are Brain rood. \The apple,\ declares a hygienic jour- nal, \18 one of nature's best gifts to wo- men. Esthetically it clears and beauti- fies the complexion by exciting the ac- tion of the liver. Hygienically it aids digestion, prevents calculous growths by helping the kidney secretions and, as it thoroughly disinfects the mouth, is one of the best-known preventives of throat disease. Apples are excellent brain food, for more than any othri food do they contain phosphoric acid in an easily digested state. The best time to eat apples is just before goiag to bed, for they are sure to promote sound and healthful sleep.\ One questions, per- haps, the latter part of the paragraph. for all persons cannot eat fruit, even the wholesome apple, at bed time; but the rest is undoubtedly true.—Cincin- nati Trii•une. Butterflies for the Hair. Jeweled ornaments in the hair are goitig to be much worn this win r. In ine stalls of a smart theater, a few nights ago, I noticed that nearly every third lady wore a diamond butterfly or star lightly poised with excellent effect. A true lovers' knot of diamonds caught In a fluffy, fair fringe looked will, but a ruby and diamond butterfly perched on a coil of dipiky hair was still more pleas ing. Velvet bows, aigrettes and tiny plumes were also to 1,e seen. The Prin cceS Vote lues in Mb higan. te, !Ahern Michigan is swamped III1,101 a phenemenal crop of potatoes, and lu stead of the good crop bringing good times it has brought severe loss to very many farmers. Nothing like the present alillndance was ever known before, and there is abselutely no market for po- tatoes there to day. Many flirmere put all their money into potatoes this year, and ere in hard airelts now became , while line:ng realized a ilanilsome crop they can't realize anything on It. \it ain't the mere nintter of (cretin: arrested I mind rimee.\ said the pug! list, \hut suppose dev wan to shut me up?\ The heelers 01 , 1,1 , 1meel Indian- apolis Journal. SOME OLD CRUISERS. CRAVE YARD OF THE CONFED- ERATE GUNBOATS. — Tim Wont Indies Marked With the Bulks of English Built l'•-••ateer• Soole Odd lituuor. rs .11 4.roup Vector* of the Wrecks. N ,wandering about certain of the land- locked bays and harbors of the West Indies, the wonder of the traveler is often excited at the appearance of an occasional stranded hulk. lying e its bows emong the shrubbery of the mango swamp& unclaimed and owner - legs. The tine lines and capacious en- gine -rooms of these derelicts bespeak a capacity for high speed, and there are sometimes traces of elegant carving and paneling of the cabins aft. These ships. in their deserted and dismantled condi- tion, are instinct with the mystery of a past ocean life; but seldom can informa- tion be obtained from the natives along Wheeler, less capable in apearance and lees beautifully equipped than was the Meteor. She lies with her prow high upon the beach at the harbor of Segue Grande, on the northern tamest of Cuba. This vessel was fired upon and itejured one of the blockading fleet and put into Segue, where elle was sunk after beeig deem:ted by her crew. Her cargo of votton was partially removed before she was abandoned. Beneath the !nil effulgence of the tropic moon, her masts, mantling bare from her broken decks, her ancient black funnel still held in plifte s in spite of the loarriettnes of the past Harty ‘ years. and her sides leaning well to etaliboard, seen' like the shadows of a pliant/4n ship rising from the glistening watersetelie bay. Beyond the prow one can distinguish the dark -green foliage of the lever - stricken mangoes; the mountains rise in the blue distance, while upon her decks crawl the deadly scorpion and centi- pede. It is a scene of desertion and death. Another trace of the blockade is the schooner Ranger, which was captured off the Gulf coast. She was apparently lost in a storm, but ultimately made her way to Jaomel, where she was beached and deserted. This ship is in good condition, except for the loss of her masts and the decay of time. The Ran- , - ARTISTIC HINTS. Good Taste Rather than Striking Effects In Vogue. The tables loaded with bric-a-brac, which had the effect of making a dray, ing-room look very mach like a china shup, are not to be the rage any more. There may be bits of bric-a-brac about. but those bits must be of some in- trinsic value, and they uteri not all be grouped together as though offered for sale. The prettily bound books which are now the fashion are allowable eveniege in a sitting -room, and books always give a homelike air, even if the leaves are not cut. The silver tables will still reign, but these collections are really iuteresting in many cases, and the dark plush or velvet on which the ornaments are leased is really a thing of beauty as a general rule. The tea table is part and parcel of the furnish- ings of the room, but need no longer be in evidence. It must be placed be- hind some sofa or lounge and near enough to be brought forward at the proper time. Brocades and tapestry are used for furniture coverings, and there are many new designs. Now that it is no :onger a fixed rule that all furniture should match, different materials are combined in what would have been thought a few years ago a most imposel- 1-14t1LI\2r Srk ritrces.'ers , 2Peee,V.eS.a(qtraT 3 ,5t ku l a ,,,iseePr' \- ere': 4 5r e r eQ 15, 3, ‘ G ) . - the coast. Occasionally, though, there is A trace of history to be gleaned from some old negro who remembers the time. thirty years back, when the steam- er was run up close under the lee of the mangoes and another ship lay off for weeks IlS if awaiting her prey. Then, when worn out by waiting for the with- drawal of the enemy, the crew had abandoned their !chip and escaped to the nearest port, disgusted with the perils and losses ot the Impanel contest. No page of history has adequately narrated the romantic story of the blockade run- ners of the civil war, After a brief ex- istence of daring adventure, corpered at last by the Federal war vessels, many of them found a grave amcng the quiet harbors of the West Indies, where their stranded hulks are still to be found, now natneless and forgotten. Built and manned in England expressly for the large profits of the Southern trade, by means of their great speed they long de- fied the efforts of the blockading fleet to take them. In this they were aided by the depre- dations of several privateers, also of English construction and manned by English -drilled crews, although com- manded by Southern officers. In the Bay of Port an Prince Iles the hulk of the steamer Meteor, one of the swifteat of the vessels plying between Charles- ton and Liverpool during the war. Her bow is high in the verdure of the swamp, at the edge of wleich she has been grounded by the tide', while her stern is settled low down in the water. Beneath its failed timbers the sharks dart to and fro undisturbed and the sea dimples In the placid serenity of the tropical bay. Her enginee have been re- moved, but her long. narrow hull and sharp prow Indicate the ability with which she mast have fl•ii from Uncle Ham's fleet in bygone day It In her ills manfled cabin can still he dieter/usl tram.% of fernier comfort, for she was built to carry the escaping refugees as well as the Milehineedi'd oterellandho• ot daily use which commanded Ruch a price (hiring the blockade. A Komi tient member of the Confederacy hail made his esenpe from charieeton on board this cc rt. ;Old Was un tier whir she was cooped op in the Cult of tin llfilVeft by an Ainerieen w:urahiljn 11.1 sa ili n g days are gine now, for her back is broken and her held Is full of water end overgrown by the rapid marine erne ths of tropical Seas The Albe- marle Is another. She was a side- TZ.t ;:041/ .:/ / if e:; '-. 1 !; :4 'j r •i%!..,. , gcr was comlnanded by a Yankee from M.iine, who made a large fortune in run- ning the blockade with cotton for Eng- le h ports. It was found that the man placed on hoard in charge of the crew when she was taken had been killed in a mutiny. and the crew had thus es- caped to Flayti, where all traces of them were lost. Such. if It were repeated, wcatid be the common history of a large number of the long, low -built hulls which are to he found on the Cuban coast or in Porto Rico, or even scattered among the low reefs of the Bahama Banks. The excitement of the night voyage alopg the rebel coast, when no light was shown, no voice heard aloud: the tremor of discovery and the anxiety of the long chase and the escape; the vibrations of the engines as every pound of steam was utilized to quicken precious speed these remain only in the memories of the surviving few who participated In them. Then, too, came the despair, when. cooped up within a narrow bay of some palm -elect island, the anxious fugitives awaited the departure of the diStant steamer, whose presence outside that three-mile limit meant inevitable captere. But the steamer waited until It waa useless to hope, and now the de- caying wreck le the only witness of the long -forgotten tragedy of flight. One other reminder of war times is lying in the Gulf of Gonaives. off Port sit Prince, In the shape of the old United States war vessel Carondelet. This ves- sel, whose reeord during the naval Movement(' of 1864 made her jusdly famous. watt Rohl to the Ilay,lan Gov- ernment iiiirIng the Presidency of Salo- mon. She %YRS never utilized am a war step by the Black Republic, and now UPS Stranded in sight of the city. A Hoar Farm F..porlmont. leeink Schuette was engaged in bear farming near Superior, Wis. Some of Inc live stock got ho - are the other night and ate Frank up. At last aceounta the neighbors had arseembled and were get - riling the estate with their rifles. A small hoe gives his views on a very pertinent all tqe, t in these graphic words: \Some boys is honester than ethers, end thereli no way to tell there apart oxcept yotilltr s ;:enil to forget you k r n d w knife. anah te 'e jump for it. The one Lat Jumps last az the enneetest one. - 1,ondon 11r I - V_ r f rn If iWT . • ble combination. Brosaile, plus' tapestry, corduroy even, have all bee: maseed together without looking badly WOMEN OF NOTE. Mrs. Mary Jackson, of Louisville, has just completed her 103d year. Lady Ann Blunt. a granddaughter of Lord Byron. is deeply imbued with so- cialistic ideas. Modieeka says nhe will never play Shakespearian roles in New York again. New Yorkers, she asserts, prefer Henry Guy Carleton to the immortal William. Miss Frances E. Willard declares that the one thing she likes in men Is that \they stand together,\ and she adds that the three things she waets to live to see are prohibition, woman suffrage and the sk / e41;. Haniczka He zka, a Bohemian wo- man, said to be the inventor of the polka, 18 still al1ve and vigorous, al- though 65 years have elapsed since she first gave public exhibit:on of her danct in a farmhouse at Cestelae. THE CLERGY, The King's Daughters of the Lexing- ton Menne Baptist church, New York city, have opened an industrial school where girls are taught the elements of newleg. The school is nonsectarian, and well patronized. Archbishop Ireland, of St. Paul. de- clares that Mgr. Satolli will be given much larger authority in 'he United States since he has been raised to the cardinalate, and is much pleased at the honor bestowed. Dr. George William Warren, famouP organist and composer, and father If the prominent Warren family of musi- cians, was honored In New York last week with a memorial aervioe in honor of his is cot y-fivri yearte connection s It h St. Thomas' church. . Rev. Henry Schelf relete - Crid recent- ly the sixtieth annIvereary of his pas- torate of Zion German Lutheran church at Italtimore. This record ie unparal- leled In any church, The Moravian church mends 0111 tem the foreign field one tn texts' of its members, while the Protestant bodies average only one In 5.000. Out of 5 0 , tlioux Indians over 4,000 arc. now mentsera of Congregational, F.eizcopal or Ili esbYterlan churchell. PORTRAITS ON LEATHER. Introit. lion Into This Country of * Now Species of Art Work A few months ago Misr Christiana Item arrived in Milwarkee frolil Mtui- ich, and introduced it, till • reitill clir a species of decorative en -'k which haul hitherto been prat:twee; inn.kaownu there. Miss lietz is an ettee !tom the crown of her head to the st ier of her feet, an allatroidd Ur tie' It% auwlimg how to 'paint beautiful iiesiern ti tags in oils and watsr colon , . as well as to re- produce in ninny the rare and costly relics of early Get map art work. She is as skillful with her needle as with her brush, as clever with the sharp tools of the woodcarver outfit as she is with the litte Ltexes and queer instruments with *Mee stie cults leather into intricate bet most of all does she do eeedviful pgro- graphic work on wood mei leather, Us- ing, in a marvelous v es. the red-hot point of a little iron re It, hi mg out light anti shade. So I..' e ,ss tietz has not put much of her v..ot r, t atnibi(toni, although she bad serf water colors hung at the exposition tat smeary and a few pieces of burnt wood and loather work have been shows in art storttt, but many have had a private e enspection ,of her work. Notable among the pieces which she has is a heat: of Rembrandt done in wood and framed in a flat wooden frame, the pieture and the decoration of the frame tering done with the red-hot needle, the whole being in soft delicate shades of 'brown like an etching by the mast( r himself. An- other larger piece of week is a wooden cheat covered with pyrographie orna- mentation, with the top ol leather . simi- larly treated. Combirgeg the illumi- nated and pyrographIc work, Mies Bete has made some beautiful cushion cov- ers, chair hacks and rrii..iler pie •es, the brillient gilding and bleght colors showing effectively on eht , rich brown back ground of the theta:sited leather. This particular form of work is having a great run In Nets' Ydri; and Mies lletz has received a number of commissions. The old Swedish work on wood and leather consists of geometrical designs In colors combined with scroll work in pyrogravure. The effect seems stiff at first, but grows upon the eye mid pleases by its simplieity de color anti form.. The cut leather work - eonsists of raised patterns in dark leather, and is especially suited for teeth bindings, chair Jracks and cushions. The work is Imitated by machinery to a consider- abl . extent In these degenerate days, but there is not the friltets nor beauty in the machine work that is found in the labor by hand. Miss Betz leceived her training In all these brunette.; of decorative art work in the Munieh &hoots and she has stielied in the gal- leries and museums ateuad. many of her patterns being exact cepies' of rare old articles in the nit:km:it museum at Munich and the Gerniatie museum in Nuremberg. Antique pi envti tapes- tries also furnish her with suggestions, while many of her tialtertis are origi- nal. FLOATERS. There are in Wales' about 910,2E9 Welsh speakers, and abeut 236,00 out- side the principality. Goveeneeses able to cycle will soon be in demand in Pam'. Slleh Is (ho rage for cycling among girls. Calceolarlas, fuchsias, musk, creep- ing jenny and tall nasturtiums do best 'In shady window boxes. An antarctic Iceberg bas been seen that was twenty miles e id(. forty miles in length and 400 feet in height s For the first time In history cran- berry pickings on Cape Cod had to be smapeaded last week betetine of a snow a: orrn. In the famous cellsrr m f the Hotel 'le Ville, at Bremen, there are a dozen razes of holy wine, wile la has been pre- served for 250 years. Chris/tines trees by the uundreds are being marked for harvest in Maine. In abfevi: weeks the crop will be started toward New York and other big cities. The first fossil insect m ver found in the southern coal field of Pennsylvania, according to Naturalist W. Victor Leh- man, of Tremont, Pa.. -wee sent by him to the Smithsonian itelltution las/ week. FASHION NOTES. The latest sleeve is molded to the arm from the wrist to tee inches above the &dem, and the peff at the lop is full, short and droopier. !Lessem collars t It teseeti revere and high Medici colleite or fur, with narrow capes, are mote fashionahle than boss for those ann sap afford tee luxury of such a triet. One of the useful tatireehifts of fash- ion la a wide collar anti reeers of satin, embraiderfd all over path let awl steel or gold and Yrt, which ean tie worn with any eveeing tires.. Leather for drees waist's is romethina unique in tee wihter fastitene. it Is tan In rehire thin enough to lie pliable, and is decorated with applique lace as if It sere satin of velvet. ['lack satin ribbon, four or tiec inches wide and elaborately jetted, is used for trintrnIng silk and velvet capes. It is sewn lengthwise at tatervale all around, and the upper ends le el port' In loops and are gathered In to partially force the rut he, Neelshes angle of .1 1.:tiu) ii fin - \our o: five lurches v. tile. flee heit In front ith little beads and at the hack wen a big t•Plid of velvet, are emetic Me: line- eltler ha neck protmeeTee sv hito othsrs have lace ell1114 Of Velv. I t.,tei with vel- s et rosettes et the eider The newest Mush le in eapes sae allaped to show the outline of the shoulder. whii v h I , not u•ompletely guise,' le- fluffy frills ae it was in the spring, end the very datutiost things ea the list ere short camel for evening made of whi:e velvet pat :erne() all over with shmine y roses. > •