The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 7, 1896, Page 9

THREN FOMM AND " SPRAY AHEAD First Real Trial of the Great Battle Ship Oregon. MADE TWELVE ENOTS. With Her Engines at Half Power She Exceeded All Expectations. PREPARING FOR THE RACE. Her Engines Worked Perfectly and the Ship Will Win Golden Premiums. Just as the gray dawn of yesterday crept over the hills back of Oakland, the windlass of the Oregon creaked ana rat- tled as the big battie-ship was brought to her anchor. She was to start training— training for a run against time—and her engines had to be loosened up and her boilers well heated before the time of trial comes. The floating fortress must be traided for her run as carefully as a record-breaker trains for a race. Her valves have to be set so as to give most advantageous ser- vice, the bearings have to be turned to wear smooth and true, her pipes and boilers must be blown out clear of all ob- structions, and her plates must be free from barnacles and seagrass. When she was on the dock some days ago, she was cleaned and painted—now she is trimming her engines to do the most work with the steam supplied from the boilers. Leaving her anchorage, the Oregon steamed up the bay until off Hunters Point, and then she was *‘swung” to rec- tify her compasses. These being satisfac- torily adjusted, she headed for Red Rock. On her decks were Henry T. Scott, president of the works; Adm:iral Beardslee, who will be president of the official trial board; Lieutenant Stoney, United States Nav ief EngineerWilson, United States Navy; Lieutenant A. F. Fechteler, United States Navy; Nelson E. Whitaker of the Whitaker Iron Works of Wheeling, W. Va C. Mechling of New York, William R. Eckart, consuliing engineer of the Union fron Works; Robert Forsythe, who was in charge of sthe engines and ship generally ; Captein C. M. Goodall, who was captain and pilot; Dr. Joseph Soper, W. H. E is of the Hongkong and Shang- | Robert P. Foreman, John F. Merrill, Lieutenant Thomas F. Rulin, naval constructor, and several others. As she passed up the bay, ships that be- fore seemed large dwindied almost into insignificance beside her ponderous bulk. I:is not that the Oregon is large in dimen- sions, although she is ample in beam, | length and draft, but in every curve and | line from the truck of her military mast | down past her frowning guns and armored | turrets to her k strength and power | speak as plainly as the roar of her siren. As she stands to- she weighs 9600 tons; when she makes her record she will be over 10,000 tons; she is 348 feet long, 69 feet 53 inches beam, and she draws 24 feet | of water aft and about 23 feet forward. She will get $50,000 for every quarter knot she will make over fifteen knots. As she plowed up the bay on her way to Red Rock steamers'saluted her on every | side. was not running fast, the en- | gines will be gradually worked up to the | supreme test, but even at half speed evi- dences of her motion disturbed the water on every side. Curling away from her bows a seething foaming wave reached for a hundred feet on either side. Her heavy lines forward seemed to pick up the water as she went on, and throwing it ahead of her churned it again and again into a wall of white. Just above where her keen cutwater divides the waves the flat end of a torpedo | tube threw the lifted water out into a great fan, and it gave her whole stern the appearance of being buried in a bank of SNOW. ong her sides the bow-wave was thrown out azain in a second line of white, and behind ner she left a wake of swirls and eddies bubbling up from the thrust of | her powerful screws. ' Twelve knots and over was her best rate yesterday, but she did this at “half speed” and with an ease which augurs well for her run for wealth and fame. This does not mean that at full speed the Oregon will cover twenty-four knots in an!' Lour, but it does mean that sixteen knots, one knot over the extreme speed she is expected to make, is within her grasp. Far down in the bowels of the ship, however, where the engines throbbed and beat, and where forty firemen peered into 4s many raging farnaces, was where the real work and worry and watchfulness were concentrated. Like the strokes of a pendulum the con- necting rods threw down and up, over and back, the heavy castings on the screw shatts. Wherever one piece of steel rubbed on another there was a man with an oil- can, and spraying down on the main crank bearings were jets of cold water. As the cranks spun around drops, like rain, were thrown around the engine-room. Without a sound almost the main en- gines swung up and down, with only the niss and groanof the steam, like the heavy breathing of a toiling laborer, to tell of the power they wielded. They were making 110 revolutions a minute, with 165 pounds l{pressnm and 8500 horse- power r’erpreasnte the thrust of their right arms. They can do more—much more—if only Forsythe would open wide the valve that stops the flow from the boilers; but down in Santa Barbara Channel the chance will come, and there is "no expert who has seen the ryvhthmic beat of that living steel but says that they will nobly avail - themseives of it. But the engine-room was not silent, for the cogwheels of & condenser jarred and clattered so loud as to make conversation difficult. The condenser is of Government pattern. The builders wished to put in one of local design, which at least had the virtue of silence, but the Government in- sisted, and so the engine-room that would otherwise be silent is made to,resound. Forward of the engine-rooms nearly fifty furnaces, each with & man attendin it, hissed ana crackled and consumed coal at a rate almost inconceivable. There was djml a good draft on—not the real forced draft which shrieks down into the’| firerooms from the blowers with the force of a gale at sea, but just enough, the fire- men said, to ‘“‘keep her going.”” It was not hot—tbat is, for a fireroom. Notmuch over a hundred was all a tnermometer {at the southern end of the course, big | | fication of force and power. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1896. | THE OREGON AS SHE WAS MAKING OVER TWELVE KNOTS AN HOUR ON HER PRELIMINARY TRIAL IN THE BAY. tween Red Rock in the Narrows to ofl‘ Hunter’s Point, ana Captain Goodall kept the deepest water, but often when down | clouds of mud would come to the surface, and stretch behind the ship in turbulent red-brown wake. The bottom is too near the surface in San Francisco Bay to give a boat like the Oregon a fair trial. She wants greén water with miles upon miles in every direction, and the mud fathoms deep under her keel. She is quick to her helm, once the rud- der takes hold, but she needs a careful hand at the wheel. Down by the drydock at Hunters Point she turned in less than 200 yards. A line drawn from her course | down the bay to her new course, back again, would be less than 200 yards long, and beyond it would be a semi-circle of foam. This was with only 20 deg. of heim, and the Oregon’s wheel is *‘hard over’” at 40. Once swinging to her helm she turns rapidly, and it seems, almost upon her keel, but it takes a strong hand to meet her when her heavy body comes around, and the hydraulic gear creaks with the strain as. sheis bronght to her course. Her steering-gear is the heaviest ever made, but a glance at the vessel shows that she needs it. As the battleship is now she needs but her secondary battery and her stores and ammunition to make her ready for sea. 1t is almost impossible to describe her ap- pearance, except to say she is the personi- She passed the Comanche, the little old monitor lying | off Folsom-street wharf, every time she came to the southern end of her run, and her pest description lies in a comparison between the original turret ship of '63 and the latest addition to the United States navy. The Comanche is not over 200 feet long. She has one soft iron turret, two guns of obsolete pattern, and under water she is like a tank—all open and every sec- tion connected with the other. She has a single screw and a single engine, and she looks like a board upon the water. The Oregon has six turrets, all of the hardest steel. She has sixteen big guns and over thirty small ones. She has two screws and two engines, and each engine is compounded to thrice its old - time ower. She looks like a destroying aneel. owning high over her superstructure 1s her single mast and her two yellow smoke- stacks. Then comes her bridge, then her superstructure deck, then her main or gun deck. Below thatis her berth deck, then her orlor or protective aeck, then the “apper platform,” then the lower plat- form, and then below the double bottom is the keel. She slopes from her smoke- stacks down to stem and stern, her thir- teen-inch turrets easing the line down to her low decks fore and aft. She Las twelve feet of free board, but the waves may beat over her if they will, for she moves forward as if nothing on earth could stop her. At her beak isa ram, in her nose is the mouth of a tor- pedo-tube; peering from all sides are her gans, and walled around her are plates of steel 50 hard and thick that no shot made by man or propelled by Eowder can reach her vitals. She is divided into over 200 water-tight compartments, and it needs but the closing of a door to rob the deadly torpedo of much of its terror. She cost $3,000,000 for hull alone; as she floats she is weorth $5,000,000. Her builders expect bher to drive the foam and spray ahead of her at over sixteen knots an hour, and when she shows her teeth in the name of the tricolor at her stern -there is nothing afloat she need be afraid of. PASSED COUNTERFEIT MONEY. Isaac Hannah Is Convicted in the United States District Court. Issac B. Hannah of Salinas, Monterey County,was convicted in the United States District Court yesterday of raising a §2 silver certificate to $5and passing the same on Quong Chong, a Chinese laundryman of Salinas. Hannah was also convicted on could sbow, but the proximity to the fierce heat of the furnaces and the flames that leaped and played around firedoors whenever they were opened gave a sug- gestion of the temperature within and made it seem hot, anyway. The firerooms will be botler under forced draft, but they are not expected to go above 120. To a marine iireman. it seems, this is but like a warm day in summer. Charles Miner Goodall was in- command of the Oregon as sue picked her way up and down the roadstead. The import- ance ¢f his position may beimagined when it is known that oiten there was no more than four or five feet under the vessel's keel. It isnot often thata shipof twenty- - four feet draft is sent up and down the bay on a trial trip. The course was be- three other counts of having altered cur- rency in his posseskion. Sheriff Mathewsand Deputy Sheriff Nes- bit of Monterey County swore to the arrest of Hannah of the latter’s acknowledgment that he had passed the raised bill on Quong Chong. They also’ identified three other raised bills found in the prisoner’s possession. ‘The jury returned a verdict of guilty without leaving their seats. Sen- tence will be passed Saturday. —————————— A Three-Legged Hen in Town. Compagno & Co., Clay-street Market, have on exhibition s three-legged hen which arrived from the firm’s ranch at San Jose among a lot of pouliry. The third leg is an excrescence thigh of one of others, and has a &'3:?4‘:3;15% knee joint and a single claw. ALONG THE WATER FRONT Narrow Escape of the Barken- tine C. C. Funk Near Mile Rock. SAVED BY THE TUG VIGILANT. The Homer Will Be Replaced on the Coos Bay Run by the Fast Steamer Czarina. | | | | The only feasible plan_submitted by them | the task. Whila lighter beams could have been made here, the weight and price would have been 90 per cent greater. “The whole matter was fully discussed, -and the representatives of ‘the rolling- mills had several consultations with us. was that of intermediate columns, but owing to the extra weight our engineer did not think it practicable, have all there is to the matter.” . The steamer Homer, which has been carrying Beaver Hill cosl for some time past, is going into retirement. The Czarina, purchased in Pensacola by J. D. Sprechels, is expected here in a day or so, and she will at once go on the run. Cap- tain Drisko, Mate G. W. Seaman, First | Assistant Engineer Charles Blum and | Purser F. M. Bueklin of the Homer will | 8o overtothe Czarina, much to the delight of the traveling public. Henry Miller, the boatman, thinks his boat is & hoodoo, and be is willing to sell her for asong. About a year ago he saw three Chinese in a whitehall drifting to- ward Goat Island in a southeaster. He Now you The barkentine C. C. Fank had another narrow escape last Saturday might. The captain refused a tow when it was offered him by the tug Vigilant because he con- sidered $75 more than the regular charge. Four hours later he was only too glad to pay a great deal more in order to get out of his dangerous predicament. The Funk was bound in from Kahulni, H. I, with a cargoof sugar. She had made a fair passage of twenty days and as the wind was fair Captain Challeston determined tosail in. Captain Randall of the tug Vieilant spoke to him apd offered to tow the barkentine in for $75. Captain Challeston offered $50 and Randall re- fused. Soon theréafter the wind fell light and the sugar boat began to drift down on Mile Rock. Rockets were fired, the an- chors let go and preparations made to abandon the vessel. The anchors onl held for a few hours and when the full force of the ebb tide struck the barkentine she began to drift again. More rockets were sent up, but there was no response from the lifessaving station. Just as the crew was preparing to leave the vessel the Vigilant once more hove in sight, and Captain Challeston was only too glad to pay $175 for a tow to a safe anchor- a ge. In talking about his narrow escape Cap- tain Challeston said: “We arrived off port Tuesaay night, and about 8:30 p. m. we were 5o close to Mile Rock that I had to let go both anchors, There was a strong ebb tide and no wind to speak of, and rec- ognizing that we were in a dangerous po- sition I sent up some rockets. The life- saving station took no notice, and we might all have gone to the bottom for all the life-savers cared. We had the boats provisioned and over the side, expecting every minute to have to take to them. Luckily, at the moment of our greatest pcrilfithaVlgllln! hove in sight and pulled us off.” The Funk put in here in distress on February 6 last. She was on her way from Pufiet Sound to Honolulu with a load of coal and was caught in a southeaster. She sorang a leak and nearly foundered. After repairing she proceeded on her way. At Kahului she was towed to sea by the steamer Claudine and there was more trouble. The towing line parted and the recoil struck Mate Holmes and Seaman Bob Robinson. Holmes was laid up for a week and Robinson had both his legs broken. Captain Challeston is beginning :o think there is a hoodoo on the barken- ine. The work of nhinf the Blairmore is pro- fixes:ing. Nearly all the standing rigging as been cut away and yesterday the lighter Catalina was taken out to. receive the debris. The maste will next be re- moved and placed on the lighter and then the real work will begin. It will be very difficult to get the hull on an even keel, but when that is accom- plished Captain Whitelaw does not expect a very hard task in raising the vessel. Japtain Burns, who represents the Eng- lish underwriters, is on the scene every dn{. and is well satisfied with the progress being made. Harpor Commissioners Cole and Chad- bourne are expected here from Sacramento this morning, so the usual weekly meeting of the board will be held this afternoon. In regard to the making of I beams for the new terry bnudlng by the Carnegies, about which so much has been written, President Colnon said in substance yester- day: ““There is no mill on the Pacific Coast that can turn out a 20-inch steel I beam, and, to the best of mz knowledge, there are only two in the United States equal to went to their assistance, but only saved the overturned boat. He had the white- | hall fixed up and went into business. Dur- | ing his first trip he got into trouble with a | sallor and was shot through the hand. Next he was capsized off Pacific-street wharf, and yesterday the wash from the battle-ship Oregon turned his boat over | again and Miller drifted around for over half an hour before he was picked up., He has about come to the conclusion that the spirits of those three departed Chinese are still pursuing the boat. SUFFERS FROM APHASIA A Young Man Who Appears Not to Konow His Own Name. His Peculiar Case Is Puzzling the Physicians at the Receiving Hospital. The physicians at the Receiving Hospital are puzzled over the case of a young man, and he is being kept there for ‘‘observa- tion,” as it is expressed on the register. Early yesterday morning Policeman Jerry Dinan was attracted by the pecaliar actions of a well-dressed young man on Bush street. He seemed to be under the influence of liquor, and Dinan accosted him, asking his name. He got no reply, and further questions met with the same stubborn silence. Dinan rang for the patrol wagon, and the youag man was taken to the California- street station. There he also refused to answer any questions, and was booked as *John Doe.’” ; Yesterday morning he was taken to the City Prison. There he also refused to an- swer any questions. When asked his name he looked in the desk sergeant’s face with a broad grin. And so it was with other questions. About 10 o’clock he began to talk to him- self, and another attémpt was made to learn his name. He stopped talking and looked blankly at' Sergeant Lindheimer, who several times asked him his name without eliciting a reply. It was de- cided to send him to the hospital, as the rison officials were afraid that something End happened to turn his brain. I think the young man,” said Dr. Bun- nell yesterday, *‘is suffering from a’ form of aphasia, which in plain language means a loss of memory. He can speak all right, but he does not seem to remember any- thing, It is a peculiar case.. No,Idon't thinfi he is simply stubborn, or tkat he is suffering from_ delirium tremens. The latter supposizion may prove the correct one, but that will soon be developed.” There were Do finpen_ in the young man’s pockets which mignt lead to his identification. In fact, his pockets were empty, and_the police think it probable that ge had been drugged and robbed and is st1ll suffering from the effects of the drug. - " He is in a padded cell in the ho'gihl and keeps continually mumbling to him- self. Unless thereis a chnng in his con- dition this morning he will likely be taken before the Insanity Commissioners. QUEER MIDGET CANINE. Only Five Inches Long and Rides Inside Mr. M Lure’s Vest. BIDS DEFIANCE TO ENEMIES. Is a Great Traveler and Has Been All Over the World—A Fighter From Away Back. *——— J. Y. McLure of Troy, Ala., who has been on a visit to Cuba, Venezuela and Guatemala, is among the arrivals at the Grand. Mr. McLure hasa sirange travel- ing companion, in & miniature canine, only about five inches long, which occu- pies a coign of vantage next to his shirt, on the inside of his vest. In this position, with his head thrust over the top of the vest, the small dog bids defiance to enemies of whatever sort. His bark has scarcely more volume than the notes of a canary, though it is, as may be s upposed, pitched in a different key. Many a huge mastiff has had his curios- ity aroused by the defiant challenges huried at him from some unknown quar- ter by the Lilliputian canine. Mr. McLure secured the fmdizy in an obscure town in Alabama. It isof a light- ish dun or somew yellowish color, and the hair is as fine and soft as that on a mole. The little fellow is per!ectl{ formed in every way. The eyes are bright and saucy and the teeth are as white as ivory. Mr. McLure has been offered plenty of money for the canine, but no money can get it of him, for in the long years that he has traveled he has become attached to the midget and the latter to him. Tt would be like trying to buy achild of a varent. F: The do'g has pienty of pluck, but, despite the air of bravado which he assumes from time to time, he is so little that any one would think & Norway rat 1in a free fight would throttle him to death, This is the opinion that numerous persons have en- tertained of his prowess. However, ina real battle the dog is said to spread terror to beasts much larger than himself. **This little fellow has been over a good rt of the world with me,” said Mr. Mec- uare, ‘“‘and he knows as much about me as any man alive—knows all my whims, when I am sad and glad, and governs him- I weuldn’t self accordin le. *It is needless for me to sa: sell him. I have been ofleroc{ large sums at different times, but none of them were any temptation. It is too valuable a dog for me to sell. After all, there are things you don’t want to part with for money, no matter how much you get."” Mr. McLure was here about & year aj and had the dog along then. The ge - man will be here a few days, and will then proceed to his home in Alabama. He travels for a lar, icture-ho in whi hie 13 interested. © s A NEW PAPER. The “News” to Be Started by Loeal People. The News Publishing Company, de- signed to publish and print the News, filed articles of incorporation yesterday. As stated in its prospectus the News is to be a paper for the masses and furnish- inf the truth about all things to its readers. t has a capital stock of $35,000, part of which is subscribed oy F. 8. Barney, J. T, Cochell, J. M. Maxwell, C. R. Moore, W. . Overstreet, J. K. Phillips and E. W. Thurman. s S gt e Held to Answer. The preliminary examination of James Phil- lips, the !hom-lr‘;!ur, eharged with adminis- ter ison to the racing mare Gracie S, Ihcm WDb‘rlet track, ':| conciuded fi!m.: Judge Campbell yesterday afterncon. The Judge, afier reviewing the evidence, held the defendant to answer before the Superior Court in $3000 bonds. Children Cry for Pitcher's Castoria. NEW TO-DAY—DRY GOODS. e BIGANTIC SPEC AL PURCHASE! 5000 PIECES New and tylsh Dress ool THIS WEEK we place on sale a gigantic special purchase of COLORED DRESS GOODS, consisting of FIVE THOUSAND PIECES of the NEW SEASON’S CHOICEST which, owing to the advancing se 10US DISCOUNT for spot cash, an prices that make them At 18 105 pieces 40-INCH CHANGEABLE FIGU be offered at 15c a yard. e offered at 20c.a yard. At 20 134 pieces 37-INCH ALL-WOOL NOVELT will be offered at 20c a yara. S At 2 164 pieces 36-INCH ENGLISH MIXED TW offered at 25c a yard. At 25 98 pieces 37-INCH ALL-WOOL NOVELTY at 25¢ a yard. At 85 9 piec:is 52-INCH PINHEAD CHECKS, yard. 40 t 5O regular price §1, will be offered at 50¢c a At SO 69 pieces 38-INCH ALL-WOOL STRIPED at 50c a yard. S0 price $1, will be offered at 50c a yard. t 7S fered at 25c a yard. At SO At GO At 20 -, 150 pieces 36-INCH ALL-WOOL FANCY PLAID BOU A 113 pieces 54-INCH FINE ALL-WOOL FRENCH A 59 pieces 48-INCH ALL-WOOL NOVELTY DRESS GOODS, regular price $1 25, will be offered at 75¢c a yard. At 2 91 pieces 52-INCH ALL-WOOL NAVY ST STYLES AND NOVELTIES ason, we secured AT A PRODIG- d in turn offer our customers at The Most Astounding Bargains of the Season! Cents. RED MOHAIRS, regular price 25¢, will Cents. RETTES, regular price 40c, will Cents. Y STRIPED SUITING, regular price 40c, Cents. EED SUITING, regular price 50c, will be Cents. PLAIDS, regular price 50c, will be offered Cents. g regular price 50c, will be offered at 35¢ a Cent At -. 63 pieces 50-INCH SCOTCH CHEVIOT SUITING, in plaids and mixed effects, regu- lar price $1, will be offered at 40c a yard. Cents. SURAH SERGE, plain colorings, yard. Cents. SUITING, regular price 75¢, will be offered Cents. At 83 pieces 46-INCH SUPERIOR ALL-WOOL FRENCH NOVELTY CHECKS, regular Cents. in brocatelle effects, Cents. ORM SERGE, regular price 50¢c, will be ofe CTents. 64 pieces 45-INCH HEAVY ALL-WOOL ENGLISH DIAGONAL NAVAL STORM SERGE, regular price 75¢, will be offered at 50c & yard. Cents. 71 pieces42-INCH HEAVY ALL-WOOL DIAGONAL NAVY STORM SERGE, reg- ular price $1, will be offered at 60c a yard. 85~ OUR NEW SPRING CATALOGUE is now ready for distribution to our COUNTRY PATRONS ONLY, to whom it will be mailed free on receipt of address. MURPEY Market Streel, comner of Jones SATN FRANCISOO. BUILDING, ever e largest piece of 200D tobacco sold for iocents | Weak Men andWomen HOULD USE DAMIANA BITTERS, THE ‘ Sireat Moxtonn A A B it and 10 the Sexual Organs