Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-06-13
BEATING THE MARY POWELL.
The Yacht StilettO Distances Her I'm q
Race to Sing Sing.
TwENTY-EIGHT MILES IN AN HOUR AND SEVEN
TEEN MINUTEs-THE STEAMBOATS, PASSEN-
GERS LAUGH AT THE STILETro AT THE START.
From the New York Sun, June IL.

From the New York Sum- June IL.
When the big steamboat Mary Powell shot
| up to the foot of West Twenty-third street yes
| terday afternoon her stokers and engineers
were laughing, and her purser was SO tickled
| that he could hardly make change. A big
crowd which had gathered on the wharfseemed
much amused also, and SO did all the passen-
gers, because a little boat which was darling
around out in the river had challenged the
Powell to a race, and had vowed to beat her.
For long time past no boat around these
waters had dared to challenge the swift Mary
Powell, and the idea OF her being beaten by a
| little thing which could have been put in her
| cabin only made her crew laugh and advise the
passengers to get back toward the stern if they
wanted to have good view of the race.
| In the midst OF all this dersion the small boat
Kept dashing around CALAMITY, putting out OF
its small smokestack arrogantly, and exhibit
ing to the four points of the compass its name,
"Stiletto," painted in white letters on black
background. She was only 80 feet long, with
pointed wedge. Her general appearance. was
IKE that OF lead pencil sharpened at
boah ends ana old sailors who never saw roi,
over If she ever tried to go fast, and other an
cient mariners remarked that she would blow
heard Of speed Of twenty.six miles an hour,
which her owners claimed she could make. But
old sailors do not know everything, and there
When the Mary Powell padded away from
| her landing she found her dminutive chaIlen-
wa9E e of the Mary peoe
a good view of the Stietto and saw what she
really was, the joke struck them as a better
| to squelch presumption at once, and inn
%ssaS Ss ss s si But shs 4sh,
black smoke that would have done credit to a
much bigger boat, and throwing up the water
from under her stern in q way that made the
old sailors stare. Seeing that the Stletto would
not be distanced at that rate Of speed, tue en-,
glneer OF the Powell put on a little more, and
advised the pilot to steer clear OF the little boat,
Us she would certainly explode if she tried to
a1pd aid keep Mr. the bnd
boat builder OF Providence, who made the
Stiletto, was on deck with party of friends.
face Of insults from the Powell, but when they
saw that big boat jumping through the water as
fast as she was able they let loose their exulta-
all. One said something to the man who ran
the engines, and the others all took off their
Then the smoke poured t thicker out Of the lit
tie funnel, the water jumped up from under
the stern until it wet the fla. floating aft, aud
cradle.
Gradually she stole away from the fast flying
Powell, and before the friends of that boat had
recovered from their establishment they were
enjoying stern chase and listening to the
taunts of the stiletto people blown back to
steam, until the big boat began to jump, and
the men who knew something about boilers
got as far aft as they could. This lasted
rate of twenty-five miles an hour, faster than
she had ever gone before. But even that gait
was not fast enough to catch the Stiletto, and
that small yacht was still steadily gaining.
Then the Powell people sought other consola-
ton They said the little boat must either bIow
that cDnld SDnp6
length of time. Her maker, they said, had con-
trived some devilish means of making her go
like creased lightning, but she could not pos
they were wrong ali the way through.
At Yonkers the little boat shot past Jay
Gould's swift yacht, which was going at full
Mr.. Goulds yacht has been beaten by the Pow
ell, and it evidently did that tinancier much
good to see the boat which beat him struggling
In the wake. He took off his high white hat,
waved it wildly to the people OF the Stiletto
and had cannon fired in honor on the flyer.
That small boat whistled thrice to acknowl-
edge the polite attention, and flew along faster
than before. AT YOnkers she was more than a
quarter of Il mile ahead of the Powell, and took
ii easy. At Hastings she was half mile ahead
to see what she could do. She flew over the
ten miles between Yonkers and Tarrytown in
less than 23 minutes, and got there while the
Powell spurted desperately along more than a
mile behind.
At Sing Sing the race ended, as that was the
destination of the little boat. The distance of
twenty-cght miles had been made by the Still
etto in hour and Z minutes. The Mary Powell
arrived there seven minutes later, Whistled
cOurteously three times to the Stiletto, and pro-
the river.
The model of the Stiletto is entirely new, and
her maker says that there is no danger in send
ply can't blow up. The engines, he said, were
in the same way would do something stunning.
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