Omaha daily bee., 1885-06-24
LIKE A lead PENCIL.
A New Marine Graft shows Up on
the Hudson.
New York Dispatch Boston Herald, June 10.

New York Dispatch Boston Herald, June 10
When the big steamboat Mary Powell
shot up to the foot Of West Twenty
third street this afternoon, her stokerI
and engineers were laughing. A biz
crowd which bad gathered on the whsr
seemed much amused also, and 80 did tn,
passengers, because q little boat which
was dartlug around in the river hat
challenged the Powell to q race, and haC
vowed to beat her. In the midst Of al
this derlsion the small boat kept dsshine
around gallantly, putting out of It's small
smokestack arrogantly, and exhibiting
to the four points of the compass it'
name "Stiletto," painted In white letterl
on black background. She was only 9t
shaped like q double.pointed wedge.
Her general appearance was like that Of
a lead pencil sharpened ct both ends,
and old sailors who never saw a boat
shaped like this said she would roll over
if she ever tried to go fast, and other
ancient mariners remarked that she
would blow up IL abe tried to chow any
thing like the unheard of speed of TWEEN.
ty.six miles an hour, which her owners
claimed she could make. When
the Mary Powell padded away
from her landing, she found her
diminutive challenger waiting for her
to come along and be downed. The
two boats kept side by side for a short
distance and seeing that the Stilettc
could not be d!stsnced at that rate Of
speed, the engineer of the Powell put or
a little more, and advised the pilot to
steer clear Of the little boat, as she would
certainly explo6 e if abe tried to keep up
But the Stiletto did not explode, aud did
keep up. Nj. Herrescheff, the boat
builder, of Providence, who made the
Stiletto, was on deck with o party Of
friends. They had remained modestly
silent In the face of the 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 exultation
and showed that they were proud after
all. One said something to the man that
ran the engines, and the others oil took
off their hats, bowed politely, and yelled
'gocd by" Then the smoke poured
thicker out of the little funnel, the
water jumped up from under the stern,
and the little boat rocked like an old
fashioned cradle. Gradually ahe stole
away from the fast flying Powell, aid be-
fore the friends of that boat had recov-
cred from their astonishment they were
enjoying a stern chase and listening to
the taunts of the Stiletto people blown
back to them on the wind. The engin.
eer piled on more 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 until the Powell was flying along
at the rate of 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. At Yonkers the little
boat shot past Jay Gould's swift yacht,
which was going at full speed, to enjoy
as much of the race as possible. Mr..
Gould's yacht has been beaten by the
Powell, and 1t evidently did that fnan-
cler much good to see the boat which
beat him struggling In the wake. He
took off his high white hat, waved 1t
wildly to the people on the Stiletto, and
had a cannon fred in honor Of the flyer.
At Hastipg GO the little boat spurted just
for fun, to see what she could do. She
flew over the ten miles between Yonkers
and Tarrytown and got there while the
Powell spurted desperately along moro
than q mile behind.
At Sing Sing the race ended, and that
was the destination Of the little boat.
The distance of twenty-eight miles had
been made by the Stile.to in l hour II
minutes. The Mary Powell arrived
even minutes later, whistled courteously
three times to the Stiletto, and proceeded
on her way, no longer the tasted boat on
the river. The model of the Stiletto Is
entirely new, and her maker ssys that
there is no danger In sending her at any
possible speed, because she simply can't
blow up. The engines, he said, were not
particularly large, and a bigger boat built
in the same way would do something
~stupoipo