The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 31, 1901, Page 5

/JOHR HYSLoP, GSSERVER AT POINT1oBOS; EXCHANGE—, LOOKOU’T \j - e /5 B g0 for re Exchange, of cou u ever stop to tk But aid y change gets the first rel ews of th cor g and golng of al t There 1= & Cupid sits uwp a watches o'er poor Jack But the Merchants’ Exchange doe trust the poet’s Cupld. They have a ma st the Point Lobos observatory, who sits up aloft and with his eye glued to a glass flashes the news to the exchange the sec- ond he sights a sall against the horizon. John Hyslop is the name of this man on whom rests the sole responsibility of re- THEMERCHANTS® EXTERIOR OF THE~ R LOoKouT < th the movements of tt e vessels that r. Mr. H; t he i= the oldest end of the ships that sail the s never a new vessel puts hat Mr. Hyslop does not ighly from bow to stern e to recognize her in second trip. .As for the teady here, Mr. Hy an tell them with half an eye, his eve at his telescope, which 1 foot magnifier with half and a inch lens, and every en smudge on the horizon becomes a ship of some kind, which he can usually nams Jong before the letters are visible even in All ships do not look alike to landiubber they have to him each individual ship has character and a distinguishirg mark that makes it possible for him to name it at a distance when even the telescope i8 powerless to decipher the let- ters, For instance, on the Thursday that the — Clever &domen F=HERE has been a recent discussion || as to the employment of women as & detectives in hotels, in shops and in | Women have been em- e detectives for years by cases requiring For procuring ev es they are often em- ness has been proved ective can change hef h her costume far more easily 1f she is tactful she can win will arouse mo suspicion. ages fit her pecullarly for cases s agencies in work. th These the work Women have In recent years made rec- ords in the big department stores, where they detect shoplifters amd pickpockets. These women dress as though on a shop- ping tour and are not known to the sales women. They pass about from counter to counter examining goods, but msnage to keep an eye on people they suspect and follow them about until they see them actually taking goods from the tables. In the customs service about a dozen women are employed as customs inspec- tors. They look out for women smugglers end have been very successful in detect- ing these falr swindlers of the Govern- ment It not the amateur smuggler or the immigrant that these women look after, but the women Who of late years have made a profession of smuggling, acting in collusion with men and apparently mak- ing the trade pay well. They are always g00d looking, well dressed and lberally supplied with money, which they dispense in generous tips to the stewardess and boys Women take naturally to smuggling; s the professionals are adepts at the game. Even the average woman likes the idea of getting in lace or jewels or clothes in this way and proudly displays her smug- gled goods ang tells the story of her feat whenever an occasion offers. It was net until women began to make a business of smuggling that it was thought necessary to employ detectives of their own sex to apprehend them. Evi- dence is usually obtained against them by one of the women inspectors who travels from the other side as a passenger and observes or makes the acquaintance of the suspected person on the trip across. If evidence has been secured the word unfortunate Rio anchored in sight of port the fog was so thick in the afternoon that it was impossible to see a stone's throw deross the water. 'Hyslop did nol ect the Rio that night, but around 6 o'clock hé heard a steamer's whistle out toward the bar, and some note in the hoarse screech told him that the long- looked-for Rio de Janeiro was anchored out there in the fog. Through the still watches of the night he could hear the steamer’s anchor bell. At 4 o'clock in the morning he awoke and through the break in the fog saw the lights twinkling on the Rio, that lay “as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean.” Then suddenly the tinkle of the anchor bell was hushed, there was the clanking and straining of chains, those on board were making preparations for get- ting under way, and then slowly the steamer moved for the home port. Deteclives &dho Caich Smugglers. is quietly passed to the inspector on the pler, and when the smuggler prepares to go ashore she is asked to submit to a search. Every known device Is resorted to by the women smugg.ers in their efforts to conceal gems and lace. Frequently the contraband articles are securely sewn be- tween the lining and the material of a gown. and in pads and bustles, and some ~omen have been found with yards of costly lace rolled about their bodfes. The women detectives in the employ of the Custom-house pass through a civil sefvice examination and receive $3 a day. The work, while exacting. Is not heavy, the working day usually ending at noon Sometimes an immigrant woman is dis- covered in an attempt to smuggle, but the effort is always a clumsy one, easily de- tected. But the professional smuggler is always cool, collected, plausible, with plenty of perve and many excuses when detected. She always affects to make light of the matter. Even when subjected to a most bumiliating search by the women detect- ives, she never gets angry or loses her smooth, easy manner, Diamonds are hidden in the hair | - THE SUNDAY CALL. But almost as suddenly as it had lifted the fog shut down again like a pall, shrouding land and sea. Hyslop heard the Rio’s whistle and waited once more to hear her anchor clang. But instead the steamer went plowing through the dark and fog. Then out of the night and’ the mist came a long whistle. But Hyslop could not guess that that one sound was the death rattle of the Rio going down with its precious freight of human souls Jones® locker. “If only the Rio had fired her guns or glven some signal of distress I might have flashed the news in time,” said Hyslop, ‘“for T was awake, but beyond that toot of the whistle she gave no sign. “A somewhat similar experience was with the Palestine about ten years ago. I sighted her in a break of the fog and telephoned to the exchange that she was crossing the bar. About fifteen minutes afterward the fog all blew away and the Palestine was not in sight. I didn't know whether I had been in a trance or seen the Flying Dutchman. I nearly ruptured an eye trying to find the old coal vessel, but she had completely disappeared, which fact I telephoned to the exchange ““Two or three hours later I learned tha: my wits had not gone a-glimmering. The reason I could not see her was that sh: had had & hole punched in her bottom by a thump on the bar, had drifted out to sea again and sunk in twenty-six fathoms of water before the fog had lifted.” Mr, Hyslop has the finest record of any man in the United States for sighting ships at long distance. A fleck out at sea has often been named by him. One of his great feats was sighting, identifying and reporting a steamer at a distance of twenty-seven and a half miles. It was the Que:n of the Pacific bound in from | Vietoria, B. C., and when Mr. Hyslop got his eye on her and reported her to the ex- change she was making out from Point Reyes. At the exchange the clerk did not like to receive and post the report with the ship at sucH an unusual dis- tance. Mr. Hyslop's professional pride was aroused and shortly after when the ship came nearer his judgment was vin- dicated, for it was the Queen. He named the steamer when the glass only revealed the tips of her spars and the smoke, stak:- OISTIN SlanAaL Ing nis reputation on the correctness of his estimate of the distance between the smoke and the masts, which of course was all he had to go by. However, the Queen was an old chum, through frequent visits, and Hyslop regards this feat very lightly. Mr. Hyslop suddenly beckoned the photographer and reporter to the tele- scope. ‘‘Here,” he rald, “you can see a transport coming in. The Pennsylvania, I'm pretty sure.” To the untrained eye of his guests naught was visible but the merest smudge. In an hour she was near enough for Hyslop to verify his first identifica- tion of her. When she finally came with- in a mile of the observatory the people on deck could be plainly distinguished. All was excitement on board—the stir and bustle of “port in sight.” We almost seemed to hear their happy hurfahs, so distinctly were their features and move- ments revealed, and Mr. Hyslop smiled at our marveling at his having named the Pennsylvania at a distance of fifteen & THE- FLAazS miles. To us It had locked a jumble of salls and spars. “Fifteen miles,” sald the observer, “is as long a distance as I care about swear- ing to the identity of an ordinary saip. The hull is not in sight from this alti- tude under eighteen miles. Of course there is a good deal of method about it, but sometimes I think there is as much instinct as anything else. “Many times I am absolutely certain of a ship's identity, yet I could not give any definite reasons for my bellef. A thousand white sheep would all look alike to a dry goods clerk, and yet to the shep- herd they have their distinctive features. So ships all have differentiating marks— not to a landsman, or even to an unob- servant sailor; but there is always some- thing to fix a vessel in my mind after seeing her once. “Hulls, as I sald before, do not show over eighteen miles from this point, and unless the weather is very favorable they are of little aid beyond fifteen miles. The first thing is to settle on the nationality VESSELOR ' THE NORTHWEST iy of the ship. ident e man- there | that help iden- The olulu, still six; steamer Tot« rooner Nov-| were white! us } the Mer-| ce he was al boy eld run Every]| one liked and as soon as he wa# old enough was sent down tof Meiggs wharf to learn that end of the business. There he began to take point-§ ers on the nt ships that put intof port here, ar 1a had a valuable§ stock of informat stowed away that§ enabled him to take the important posi- n of observer at Point Lobos lookout. e little house is anchored In a bed of for anchors. Be-| ps rocks with rock spik sldes the telescope Mr. Hyslop's appar< atus conmsists of an anemometer, a bar- ometer, dozens of signal flags and three thermometers which he reads four times a day and reports to the exchange and the weather prophet. Mr. Hyslop's home is & steep climb from 3 the aerie perch to a bit of level land near | the ClUff House. There he lives with his | aunt and cousin when he is not busy in the lookout. There is a pretty patch of § garden around the house and Mr. Hyslop is well content with this home by the sea. In fact he says he could not sleep away from the music of the billow's roar. Mr. Hyslop is not only en rapport with the ships, but he seems to have an almost clairvoyant power of identifying the men on board the pilot boats. For Instance, some one helloed to find out what pilot had boarded a steamer, and Hyslop after a careful scrutiny answered that it was Pllot Newton Jordan. “I have trained myself,” he sald, “to be able to recognize them from the slightest clew. I know the set of thelr heads, gestures, height, etc., #0 even when I can’t get a good look at thelr faces I can make a pretty safe guess.” Although Mr. Hyslop is perched way up there above the world, he has come into closer contact with death than his fellow- men who rub elbows with the throbbing world. For up there within Mr. Hyslop's ken have been enacted some of the great tragedies of the sea. Then, too, many people of suicidal bent wander out in that | direction and voluntarily plunge to & wat- | ery death. Mr. Hyslop has found the bod- ] fes of several sulcides washed up om the | beach. How many others have taken the | plunge in the black of the night under his very eyes it is impossible to say. But day in and month out these many I years John Hyslop has sat up aloft apd reported the doings of Jack Tar to the Merchants’ Exchange. And it is thanks to his prompt and unusually efectent work that anxious hearts on shore can get such quick news of “In sight of port.” Since the death of Queen Victorta pub- Hc Interest concerning the Koh-l-noor has revived. The famous stone s not, as usually supposed, part of the late Queen's regalia, but was her private property. It | was made Into a brooch and worn occag | sionally at state functions. It was exhibe ited at the great exhibition of 1851, and at that time was valued at $700,000. In fits original uncut state It weighed 800 karats, but after being cut and recut its weight 1s only some 108 karats. "‘—'“—%‘—’——‘——*—\,. Jome Pet Amusemenis of the World’s Royalty. be never so harpy as when he can snatch a momcnt from affairs to de- vote to embfoldery. He is very skiit ful with the needle and his work is said to be beautiful. He takes the greatest interest in it and is particularly clever in the arrangement of colors. Besides em- broidery he is devoted to music, dancing and acting. “I can ging as well as any of them,” says the Czar of Russia, who has a fine tenor voice, which 1t is his chief pleasure to use. “My enemies say many harsh and unkind things about me,” he once sald when In gay spirits he had been en- tertaining a family party with lively arias, ‘‘and accuse me of being destitute of any accomplishments, but I defy them to say that I cannot sing as well as the Lest of them.” Another royal tenor is King Oscar of Sweden, who is the most musical of mon- archs. In his young days he was regard- ed as possessing the most accomplished voice in Europe, and he could have mado @ success of it on the stage. ‘Wholly unmusical was the: late King of Italy, on the other hand, and a story was THE Grand Duke of Hesse is said to once told regarding his lack of ear and voice for music by the present King, then Prince Victor. King Humbert disliked to be reminded in any way that the Queen was growing old, and he had a particular antipathy to seeing her wear glasses. The Prince described one of the domestic scenes thus: “When papa saw the glassés going up to mamma’s eyes ho erigd: ‘Margherita, put déwn those glasses? M; aid not obey. ‘Margherita, if you don’t take off those glasses I shall sing.’ And mamma had such a dread of papa's false notes that she obeyed at once, to save herself from torment.” Singing s not the only pet amusement of the Czar. He has a passion for collect- ing caricatires of himself, and he is hav- ing a room papered with pictures of which he is the victim. On the other hand the Emperor of Ger- many becomes angry at the sight of a caricature of himself, A caricature room has been suggested as a good way of tak- ing a little vanity out of the gentleman, All his palaces, both inside and outside, might be adorned with amusing presemt- nts of himself, for he has supplied the caricaturists of two continents with bread ever since he appeared om the publie stage. All the caricaturss published in Paris and London the Emperor sees; that s, they are collected and pasted into a book for his inspection, as well as everything important that is sald about him in the foreign press, be it pleasant or unpleasant, polite or cynical. 1In this respect he 19 tomething like his grandfather, Willtam I. who made a careful collection of the most ridiculous caricatures of himself printed in France from 1868 onwar{, Although not*fond of carlcatures, for Photographs of himself the present Ger- man Emperor has a positive eraze, and ' his favorite pastime is posing for the camera. A fad at present with him s ¢ blograph. There i3 no request for priv- ileges to take pictures which the blograph company has asked that he has refused. He even goes turther, and Is constantly sending word to the biograph headquar- ters of military and other events and of- fering an opportunity of making photo- graphs. He prefers himself as the central figure of every picture, when possible, no matter where the otber fellows may be, -od