1.17.?
..—
Minimalism
Bids Received for Building Four,
Large Monitors. + __
WILL BE GOOD FIGHTERS
Lewis Nixon, Newport News, Bath and
Union Iron Works Likely to Get the
Contracts—The Bids Were” wen With-
in the Limit Fixed by Congress—A List
of Those Who Presented Bids ”
“Washinwton, Oct. 3.——Bids were open-
»:ed Saturday at the navy department
ifor the construction. of four harbor de-
ez'fense vessels of the monitor type, au-
ti'chorized by Congress at an expenditure ,
.‘of $1,250,000 for each monitor.
There were some limitations in the
.act, .such, for instance, as that ,not
smore than two of the vessels should be
.builtin one ship yard, while an allow-
«ance of four per cent. was made in fa-
‘ vor of the Pacific coast shipbuilders in-
case they bid. , The act also provides
:that the secretary of the navy shall
..award the contract to the “lowest .best
responsible bidder," which is unusual
- and. seems to admit of'the disregard of
hi. .5 from any but the most responsi-
lo . firms. ,
.‘he abt also directed the secretary
»:--.' i have in view-“the best results and
.ost expeditious delivery.” Conse-
._,uently the department in laying down
ts requirements made twenty-seven
..months the maximum time for the com-
..pletion of the vessels providing a pen-
alty ranging from $300 to $600 per day
for any delay in their completion.
The bids were opened and announced
iiby Judge Advocate General Lemly, ex-
.a ined by Chief Constructor Hichborn
.an Engineer-in—Chief Melville,.and rc-
gported by Constructor Zam and Passed
Assistant McFarland.
All of these concerns submitted bids
.as follows: flak-w , .
Lewis Nixon, $825,000, to be complet-
ed in ‘27 months; Newport News, $860.-
000, in 27 months; Bath Iron Works,
$862,000, in 27 months: Union Iron
Works, $874,000,. in 27 months; Maryland
Steel Company, $876,000, in 26 months;
‘Wolff & Zwicker, $937,500, in 27 months;
{the W. B. Fletcher Company, $927,000,
:in 21 months; Columbian Iron Works,
231,015,000, in 27 months, and John Dia-
logue, $1,171,000, in 26 months.
From the face of the bids it would
“appear- that the” lowest bidders for the
.four vessels were Nixon, Newport
.News, Bath and Union Iron Works.
'll‘he last would seem to be entitled to a
monitor even without the allowance of
four per cent. which the law provides.
This is made possible by the fact that
.all of the bidders, including the three
"who were lower than the Union Iron
‘Works, limited their bids to one moni-
itor each.
‘The bureau chiefs of the navy de-
gvpartment are congratulating them-
:-;selves.fhat .the bids are well within the
T..limits:fixed by Congress, and as there
‘1'
his little opportunity for irregularity in
fthe..bids, owing to the fact that only
one set of plans were open, it is proba-
lblez'thatihere will be no difficulty in
.a warding the contracts.
il‘hé. monitors are to be built strictly
in accordance with the» department’s
.1 designs, no provision being made, as is
,- usually the case, .for .the submission of
. .contractors’,.plans. iIn type they have
.. no duplicates in modern ship construc-
ztion, and, morethan anything else, re—
-- semble the little .monitors which dis-
- tinguished themselvesin the civil war.
The board of bureau chiefs would have
. liked much'to have _provided a more
bircwerful class of vessel, (but the small
. ..limit of cost fixed in the appropriation
‘ (31'.
y.
"old vessels.
and prevented this, and they were 0b~
z‘iiged to content themselves with single
turreted monitors of.2,700 tons displace~
merit.
“(While- rescmbling roughly the war
:‘mon‘itors, these new .vessels will be
avastly superior’to them in actual pow-
Their speedier-instance, will be
twelve knots. about double that of the
Their batteriesvwill consist
of two twelve-inch breech loading rifles
capable [of piercing fthe side of .nine~
tenths of the .naval vessels ‘of the
”world; four four-inch rapid fire guns.
and seven smaller calibredmapid fire
: guns like those thatdid such service
in the. destruction .ofi.C~ervera~’s..sq.uad-
‘5 ron.
-‘-” fliS‘hI-‘e'lther‘ guns, :armor or turrets. Thai kel-Hoyt, wife of Charles Evident, the
‘Lturrets, by the way, are to be electri—g actor and. playwright,. died. yesterday
The-buildersiare not required to fur-3
cally controlled, like those on the cru-i— E
ser Brooklyn. These turrets will be of
.the balanced type, ten inches thick, be- j
'Cnind 11-inch barbettes, and a belt of
armor eleven inches thick and five feet
abroad will be placed on the sides of
‘7 the vessels.
5
The monitors will be 225 feet long,
fifty feet broad, and draw about twelve
. and a half feet of water, enabling them
er
(
to move freely in any of the. shallow;
Atlantic coast harbors. “
.u
r
.- ._.. t1.
:3.
w» ’7‘- :“"-»‘ i=3" . .
..4 {9 Forest Fires Spreading S
2'
'Denver, 001., Oct. .3.——Forest fires axis“.
the west slope of the Rockies continue-f)
”‘ to spread, and only a heavy rain sang.
stop them. In the vicinity of Steam-4'
‘ boat Springs there has been a. rainfall’l:
‘ which checked the fires there, but they-(i
.
are still smouldering and will start into-g
-. life again unless there is more raimfi
‘e‘soon. "The local forecaster says .no:
i
_ in the weather is in sight, _
‘though the welcome prediction of atheJ
maker bureau in Washington is:
” ‘;‘.sh0.Wgrl. ' ” 7
o. \Qovernor Adams said yesterday that:
"from what he has been able \to learn:
the fires are due wholly to accident.
Within a day or two fires have ap-
ppeemed on the west slope of the Pike’s
Peak range, and large sections of tim-
l.
1
her are being destroyed.
The fires seem to be burning fiercely
.-along the. west side of Mount Baldy,
which rises to an altitude of 13,000 feet,
- four miles south :of. .Pike’s peak. The
people of‘Pitkln. county are terrified.
a at the havoowrou’ght by the fire rag~
ing near Aspen.
o
__,______.._.__——
Porto Rico a‘Mllltary Department
Washington, Oct. 3.—The pregiaent
has issued .an order creating a new
.-~ military department, to be known as
the department of Porto Rico, with
_‘ _Major General John R. Brocke in com-
Tl‘he headquarters of the de-
wlll be at Ponce until after
the evacuation of the island by the
Spanish army. when ,it ..Wil‘l be trans...
ferred tofiov Juan.
13..
’fiftmenl
A ..',-...,1..
” .“ . .0. u...
... /.n-D<:
«é .
:that time was desperately. 531,. amdi the»;
vwords of. sympathy that camato- idiom.
.theaaffeétion in which: Caroline.- Misha]:- .
' .a lovely actress.
M
MILESAND ALGER ‘ 1.”~
Alleged Act of Dylacourtesy Shown to til.
Secretary by the Genes-31',
Washington, Oct. 3.~Army circles
are considerably wrought up over what
they claim has been a great act of
by General Miles.
It is said that General Miles has not
held any intercourse whatever with the
secretary since the latter’s return to
Washington and that he has not even
made his official call upon the secre-
tary in his office. ’
Both the men have their business (if-
fices within a few feet of each other.
General Miles occupying a” commodi-
ous suite of apartments on the first
floor of the war department building,
while thehrooms of the secretary are
on the second floor, just above those of
the general commanding the army. The
relations between the secretary and
General Miles continue to be strained
and there is no telling What will be the
final result.
Military men, as a rule, think that
General Miles is making a mistake in
permitting his quarrel with the secre-
tary to influence his business and ofli-
cial relations with him.
Cases are cited where well known
officers have been on such unfriendly
terms that they have not spoken to
each other in private, but in all these
cases, it is said, they have always tak-
en great care to have their official re-
lations remain cordial, so as not to at-
tract public attention to their quar-
rel.
General Gomez is Graleful
Havana, Oct. 3.—General Maximo Go-
mez has left the Rojas camp and is re-
tiring to the estate of Boarl-Yaguyay,
near Remedies, province of Santa ,
Clara.‘ He has given his staff permis-
sion to visit their families. Gomez ,is
only accompanied by General Luis and
by the Dominican author, Senor Des-
pradel.
Captain Page, General Butler’s aide-
de-camp, who has ben on a visit to
General Gomez at the Rojas camp, says
Gomez seems grateful to the United
States and confident that the American
authorities will be able to establish
a stable and independent government.
Jose Thomas and Pedro Cano, repre-
senting the central committee of the
Cuban workmen at Key WeSt. arrived
here yesterday morning on board the
steamer Mascotte for thte purpose of
collecting funds to relieve the necessi-
ties of poor families desirous of. retur-
ning to Cuba .inzthe month of October.
It is reported that the Cuban junta
has obtained from the American gov‘
ernment a promise to furnish trans-
ports to bring back to Cuba the poor
workmen who emigrated during the
war.
Doesn’t Like Their Looks.
Paris, Oct. °.—The Paris correspon-
dent of the Imparcial of Madrid has
telegraphed to his paper that he is
amazed at theappearance ot the Am-
erican commission. He says:
“They do not appear as a delegation
of diplomats, but as Cook’s tourists.
There are some of all sorts—ladies more
or less young, children and even a
nurse. Their luggage fills two omni-
buses."
The correspondent then gives the bi—
ography of each American commission-
er, and of Judge Day he has the follow:
ing to say:
“He, unfortunately, is too well known:
politically. He is a small man, short,
thin and careless in dress, with a stake
1y appearance, sallow cheeks and prom—-
inent cheek bones. -
There is a total of the commissio.-
of thirty-four and not one of themi
brings a servant.” -
Severe Storm in Savannah.
Savannah, Oct. 3.-—For fifteen hours...
from 3 a. in. until 6 p- 1:11., Sunday, Saw
vannah was held in the grasp of a
discour’oesy shown to Secretary Alger l
’ Santiago on the visit of the commission
' to that city.
'” ers: Birney. ordnance. bureau.
A THOROUGH EXAMINATION '
, __..._._' 13:} "N I
One Hundred and Fifry Already Called '
to Give Testimony.
' W’ashington, Oct. 3.—A heavy week’s
work'is ahead of the commission for
the investigation of the conduct of the
war. , ‘
Probably the most conspicuous wit-
nesses will be called this week. Among
them will be Generals Wheeler, Young,
Kent, Hawkins, Chaffee, Shaffer, Miles
and Lee.
It is doubtful if there will be time
enough during a week to examine them
all, but that is the expectation at pres-'
ent. .
It is feared, after inquiry into the
subject, that as former Secretary Sher—
man’s charges are based on hearsay he
will be a valueless witness, but the
development of the inquiry may ren-
der some statement from him necessary
in which case he will be called.
General Lawton will be examined in
After the work here is done, the com-
mission will go to New York cityF. It
will devote its inquiry to the investiga-
tion of numerous complaints.
One hundred and fifty witnesses have
been summoned and the committee will
remain there for several weeks. Among
the witnesses called is Miss Helen
Gould, who will tell about the alleged
hospital inadequacies of various kinds.
Every brigade and division comman-
der at Santiago will be called. The
cause of summoning these omcers at
once is that the greatest number of-
complaints is filed against Santiago,
and they will therefore be first taken.
The complaints thus far are divided
into five groups: Santiago, Camp
Wikoff, Camp Thomas, ransports and
Tampa. What General Lee has to say
will be classed under the general head
of Tampa.
In the investigation of the'transpor—
tation'department, Colonel Hecker' will
be called upon for a statement clearing
up complaints against his office.
For example, it has been charged that
although General Wilson in his report
pronounced Charleston to be a good
harbor, regiments were taken hundreds
of miles out of the way from Chicka—
mauga to Newport News, causing both
discomfort and expense. They were
carried over the road of which M. E. In-
galls of Ohio is president. Against this
action on the part of Colonel Hacker’s
department it is said” he has just urg-
ed Charleston as a good place for the
embarkation of troops to Cuba.
The inspector general’s department
will be looked into, and General Joseph
C. Breckinridge will be put upon the
stand. There has been a strange ab-r
senCe of officers from the inspector
general’s department in the camps.
General Breckinridge only has been
heard from, and he was first a staff
officer and then in command at Chick-
amauga. The regular officers in this
department have been used for other
purposes and straW' men have been-
added from political considerations.
'~ thing Ready to Occupy Cub-.1
(Washington, Oct. 3.—Secretary Alger
had an7extended conference Saturday
with Quartermaster Luddington‘, Gen-
eral Eagan, commissary of subsistence,
and General Sternberg, surgeon gener-
a1, regarding; the preliminaries for the
occupation ofCCuba. ”
The conclusion was reached that a
board of officers. should be sent to Cuba
to examine the. various points where
troops are to be stationed and to select
sites for camps;
This board will consist of Colonel J.
G. C. Lee, quantermaete-r; Lieutenant:
Colonel Lasker H. Bliss, commissary
of subsistence; Colonel. Robert N. Riley,.
surgeon, and Lieutenant Colonel Rogv
They will visit Havana, C'ienfuegos,.
Matanzas and Mariel- There will be'
four United States-1 military posts in
Cuba. aside from those at Santiago
“rest Indian cyclone- During that
time the wind blew steadily from fifty
to seventy miles» an. hour.
While the city escaped with. compan-
atively little damage, the loss of prop- g
erty among the sea islands of the. g
Georgia and Souli- Carolina. coasts is
believed to be heavy.
All telephones, telegraph, police, light
and fire alarm wires are down, and the,
city is in. darkness.
For miles in. every direction aim-mid
Savannah. the lowlands- along; this riv-
ers are submerged. '
.._,.
-.
'n
——.
CM‘oldne blight-Hoyt:- ”bade
New York, Oct. 3.~Mrs. Carolina Mis— '
afternoon at two o’clock, soon after'
giving birth to a daught‘enaszl‘ien'linmie, _
No. 2.3~ East Thirtieth. street. The child.
survived the mother only a. few. hours. .
Mr. Hoyt is bowed. down witl'n his}
great sorrow. Only two. years. ago; he;
lost a little daughter-a. The mother at?
from a large circle of friends showedi
Hoyt was held, for she was as.clia:im—‘
iii-gain! attractive a. woman assha-was ,
o
Bohenotein Still Pres-ion
Vienna. Oct. 3.—-The report; that,
Count von Thun-Hohenstein, the Aus—j
.trian premier, has resigned, is minim...
ded. The premier appeared in the-i_
Reichsrath. where he made- twoi
speeches.
a.
The opposition demanded that he: ex«
plain the agreement amused with
Baron Banffy, the Hungarian premier.
in case of its being impossible to. pass
the Ausgieich constitutionally.
Count von Thim—Hohenstein refused
whereupon the opposition. demanded a
division on the question, and the pre-
mier was defeated by ten. votes. His
defeat, however, does not entail his re--
signation. . ,
Gen. Miles in Town
New York. Oct. 3.-—Major General
Miles arrived! in this city Saturday and:
called at the Army building about 9 a.
in. He was. in Colonel Amos J. Kim»
hall’s office for a half hour, and left.
the city for Sandy Hook to witness.
ordnance tests. General Miles was ac~
companied by a member of his staff,
Colonel Francis Michler.
After the tests the general went to
Colgate Hoyt’s country place out on
Long Island. er. 'Hoyt is a. relative
of Mrs. Miles. . ' '- . :. .. , ~
Generals Will Be Mastered 01"..
Washington, Oct. 3.—Four.ma.10r gen.
seals of volunteers and twenty-five brié
gadier generals of volunteers are to be
. mustered. out of the United States sch
vice soon. 3»
_..._p . .1
5 necessarily have to be garrisoned and
‘, ”duties as engineer 'of that department.
and Manzanillo. The forts, and mili-
tary positions of the- Spaniards will
stations of troops will be placed in such
localities as will insure their availa-
bility for service. »
Gen. Lee Talkie.
new York, Oét. 3.—-General Fitzhugh
Lee arrived at the Fifth; Avenue hotel
Saturday night with Captain Algernon
Sartoris, who is on his staff.
“I came up to see my son, who is at
West. Point, before i go to Cuba; odid
General Lee.
“My army corps will- go about the
middle of this month,. 3 think, and-I
believe we shall land in Havana prov-
ince.”
This. prospect of returning to the city
of Havana at the head. of American
troops seemed to, please General Lee.
“Our camp at Jacksonville is all
right?" he said. “Sanitary conditions
are excellent, and we have been treat-
ed well. by the commissary and medi-
cal departments. We have no com-
plaints to make. I'shalb testify before
the investigating commission next
‘Wednesday.”
The Great Battleship Illinois.
Washington, Oct. 3.-—A-.t 11 o’clock to-
mornow there will glide off the ways
at the yards of the Newport News
Shipbuilding Company the biggest,
mosh powerful and probably the most
generally effective battleship in the
United States navy. This will be the
Illinois, which is expected by the na-
val. designers to be a. worthy godchild
of the state whose name she bears.
lager by a thousand tons than the
Oregon, larger than the Iowa, now the
biggest battleship in the service, the
Illinois is still so designed that she'
will be able to enter any harbor cpen
ml the smaller battleships, while in the
matter of speed she will rank with the
fastest afloat; ' fl
tn...
. .5.
Safe Factory Closed Indefinitely.
Providence, R. I... Oct. 3.—The works
ofthe Mosler Safe Company at Aumm;
have closed for an indefinite per 0a,
and the company “will hereafter min-
ufacture the Corliss safe at their work.
at Hamilton, Ohio. ‘,
The reason given for the change it
that Corliss safes can be more ecgnomk
cally manufactured at the Hamilton
plant than at Auburn. some of the
more expert workmen will be sent from
Auburn ‘to Hamilton.
matter ‘to Come to New York
Washington, Oct. Pin-Major Ge‘neral
W. R. ’Shafter has been assigned tei-n-
porarily to the command of the depart-
ment ”of the east. relieving General
Gillespie, who will resume his regular
0.-
ATERSIBLE BAT‘i‘L'E. ” ' ~
The Night Battle of Wei Hei Wei Revo-
lutionized Modern \Varfare.
The battle of Wei Hei Wei revolu-
tionized those notions of naval war-
fare that have come down to us from
the days of Nelson and Trafalgar and
demonstrated that the fortunes of war
depend upon rather uncertain condi-
tions and minor tactical advantages.
The Chinese came out of that cam-
paign with a loss of thirty-four pro-
tected cruisers and men-of—war. Of
these twenty-two were destroyed—the
greater proportion in the single en-
gagement—and twelve were captured.
0n the other hand the Japanese lost
but one 'gun vessel and one torpedo
boat throughout the operations. cap»
turing the fort of Wei-Hei-Wei and its
commander and utterly routing the
Chinese forces both on sea and land.
Five miles out at sea the Japanese
fleet was visible on that fatal March
evening as it kept its armed vessels
under steam ostensibly waiting an op-
portunity to attack the Chinese flee:
which lay at anchor in the bay and
protected by armed forts on either
side. The Japs awaited the'cover of
darkness and then quietly sent a flo-
tilla of fifteen small torpedo boats to-
wards the East entrance of the harbor.
They stole past the line of torpedoes
and booms protecting the harbor of
Wei .Hei Wei, and before their pres-
ence was discovered they were in the
midst of the Chinese fleet, each deadly
torpedo tackling one of the fourteen
ironclads, cruisers, gunboats or other
naval craft lying at anchor. Two tor-
pedoes were directed towards the more
powerful “Ting-Yuan" and the great
ironclad sank at once. Suddenly the
greatest consternation reigned in the
harbor; and men were screaming and
ships going to the bottom in all di-
rections. Ironclads partly Vkeeled over
and forts now combined opened a wild
fire, While the speedy waSps of war
that industrio'usly plied their stings
upon every object bearing the Dragon
flag with which they came in con-
tact. Having caused havoc to the
Chinese fleet the swiftly.‘ moving to:-
pedoes all shot back around the point
from which they. came, having ‘sus~
tained a loss of one boat with its crew
of eight men. - The more powerful-
vessels of the Japanese squadron did
not lift an anchor, though some of
them steamed over next morning to
exchange congratulations with their
brothers who had also silenced the
guns of the forts, or to view the beach-
ed vessels of the Chinese fleet strand-
ed and crippled in the water.
BOEING WATER WITHOUT FIRE.
It Can Be Done by Stirring \Vith a Paddle
For Five Hours.
It is possible to make a pail of water
boil without putting it on the fire and
without applying external heat to it
in any way. In fact, you can make a
pail of water boil by simply stirring
it' with a wooden paddle. The feat.
was recently performed in the physical
laboratory of Johns Hop-kins Univer~
sity in Ba timore, Md, and any one
may do it with a little trouble and per-
severance. A‘Jl. you. have to do is to
place your water in a pail—it may be
ice water if necessary—and stir it with
a wooden paddle. If you keep at it
long enough it! will certainly boil. Five
hours of constant and rapid stirring
are suificient to: perform the feat suc-
oessfully. The water will, after a
time, grow warm, and then it will
grow hot—so hot..in. fact, that you can-
not hold your hand in it, and finally it
will boil. Professor Ames of Johns
Hopkins annually. illustrates some of
the phenomena of heat by having one
of his students perform: the trick in
front of his class. It is a tiresome
job, but it is perfectly feasible.
The pOint which Professor Ames
wishes to illustrate is. what is known
as». the mechanical. equivalent of heat.
Itrequires just so many pounds of
work to develop.- a. given quantity of
heat. By turning the paddle in the
water at a regular speed: it is possible
tel-find out just how. much work is re-
quired to raise the temperature of the
water one degree. The best measure-
ment so far modes. and, in fact, the one
which .is accepted- as the standard of
the-world, is that which was measured
in Johns Hopkins College.
Heat is developéd in almost any
substance which is subjected to con-
tinuous or .very. violenb action. It is
an old trick fora blacksmith to forge
without a firez- Long continued and
violent hammering on two pieces of
wire Will heat them to such an extent
thatthey can be welded together. A
lead bullet, if shot directly at a stone
wall, will develop heat enough by the
contact to melt and fall to the ground
a molten mass. There are many other
occasions ’Wnerein this mechanical de-
velopment of heat becomes manifest.
—Ciucinuati€ Commercial Tribunef
Etamine waists in p‘ale colbrs. have
the yoke finished with a ruching of
etamine, edged on both sides by a nar-
row ribbon ruflie of the same color.
This ruche is finished on either side of
the waist by a large rosette composed
of narrow ribbon set on in clover pat-
tern. The centre of the rosette is a
circle of the same ribbon ruching fill-
ed in with lattice checking.
..—
Muswell-hill, England, to be let for
building purposes is a cottage known
as “Lalla Rookh,” where Thomas
Moore, the poet, lived, and wrote at
least part of the poem of that name,
which was published in 1817.
“Clerk: “I believe you said, air,
ithat after. the first of the month you
-would raise my salary.”
Employer: “You are mistaken.
What I said was that after that date
a- -‘,l..
- ”c..." «0“.5-uv . " ”T. ..u — I
you would bav‘vorth more to “l."n
Included inxan extensive. estate at.
T H E E v EL: 1 is: GGA Z E'r r E "
l
l
my. .— w. __.
” THE YEAR
BY
FOR. THE
Elill ‘ BAZETTH
AND
Y. WEEKLY TRIBUNE.
Born PAPERS »
\"
.Sent to .anv Address
FOR
One. —- ‘ Dollar! _
‘Usr
graissgiiiiionninswoman-m!i
a,
Norwalk Chronicler