The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-08-15

| he graduated in 1865, the second i'll his large
class. While n Lieutenant of Engineers he was
| for n long time employed with the famous
Wheeler Surveys in the far West, and when
| the Government of the District of Columbia
was organized be was made its engineer Off
Ger. it was he who designed the plan of in
creasing the water supply of Washington by
/ tunnel through the solid rock, and if his plan
of cutting on direct instead of a curved line,
deep enough TO 20 through the solid instead of
| loose rock formation, the gigantic swndle that
Maj. Lydecker's neglect made possible could
| not have been perpetrated. Capt. Hoxie told
| me not long after the water-tunnel was well
| under way, that the alteration of his plan
! would make IL necessary to line the tunnel, and
| that even then il would always be source OF
possible danger.
COZ. cURRY's DEATH.
| Thursday night of last week Col. James
| Curry. First Lieutenant on the Army Retired
List, died suddenly at his homo at Mill Creek,
near Fort Monroe Va.
Col. Curry was veteran In years rs well rs
| in length of service, for he 65 years of age
! in April last. aud entered the military service
1 in the Fall of 1sl9.
] He served in the Cd Art. in battery and as
4 Regimcntal Quartcrmaster-S Sergeant, until the
outbreak of the rebellion, and was then APP
/ pointed Captain and Commissary Of Subsistence.
All Of his service during the war was in Nir-
J
/ early in 1865, by reason Of being the Senior
/ Commissary officer of the Twenty-fft Corps
under Gen. Godfrey Weitzel, he became ex-
/ oficio a Colonel. Before that time, however,
/ he had been brcYeited 10 the grade of Lieu
/ tenant Colonel for his faithful services
lie was mustered out of the volunteers in
/ March, 1867, aud in the following jane was
! appointed TO Lientenantcy in the 9th u. S
Art, in which regiment he served until he
I was retired in September 1885, for disabilities
resulting from his long service and his increas-
ing years
NEW STEEL PRACTICE VESSEL.
| The board of officers recently appointed by
| the Secretary of the Navy to report upon all
I vessels for the Navy have completed plan for
the steel practice vessel TO be used at the Naval
4 Academy. Ii will be of 500 tons displacement,
+ aud will very much resemble the gunboat Pet
4 rel. The design Of the huh. with slight modi-
/ hcations. is that of the Petrol. The new vessel
/ VIII have triple expansion engines, which will
develop 200 horse power, which is expected
/ to produce a speed of at least 12h knots an
hour. The specifications for her hull aud ma
ehinery are now being prepared in the Bureau
/ OF Steam Engineering, aud advertisements
viii shortly be issued The vessel will cost
$26Q00O.
THE PETREL's TRIAL TRIP.
The official report of the trial trip of the new
GuBboat Petrol has been received at the Navy
| Department. IL seems that the contractors,
although warned by the Board regarding poor
coal and inexperienced firemen, persisted that
they knew Just what they were doing. The
I indicator cards show that during the first hour
the Petrol developed the necessary 400 horse
power called Tor in the contract but from that
time, on account OF poor coal and bad fires, il
went down 10 800 horse power. Another trial
has been asked for, and will without doubt be
| given, as the officers conducting the trial are
] Al - & ~.
ments OF the contract.
GEN. NOBLE AND THE SUPREME COURT.
Secretary Noble, Of the Interior Department,
when questioned recently regarding The rumor
that he was to leave the Cabinet and 20 upon
| the bench of the Supreme Court, laughed
/ heartily at the idea, and said that newspaper
hOnors were SO abundant and unsubstantial
/ that he had made il rule neither TO affirm or
deny them when he was mentioned, but he
weuld say in this particular case that he had
/ no knowledge Of any intention on the part OF
| President Harrison Of making such change.
4 liz is generally admitted on all Sides however
4 that the President could not select better
4 man. Gen Noble has leased, for three years
\ the handsome residence on X street, between
4 Thirteenth aud Fourteenth streets. which Was
formerly occupied by the late Ben Holiday.
TIE MICHIGAN TO GO TO MILWAUKEE.
One of the novel features Of the National En-
campfHent of the Grand Army at Milwaukee
/ Aug. - 10 90 will be naval drill and a sham
battle ON the water. Consequently Secretary
Of the Navy Tracy has ordered the United
States Steamer Michigan TO be Mt that port sew
eral days ia advance Of tho dates named, and
70 receive instructions from the managers Of
the EncampmeHt. This fact viii no doubt So
cure the attendance of the old "shellbacks"
from all over the country, who will no doubt
be pleased to sec " how the thing works IS
{
ARCTIC MUsgETogg.
The facetions reception by the press Of the
story Of muEketOes in Alaska, AS told by Coy
Alger. OF Michigan, on Isis return recently, aud
the ridicuons suggestion by one paper that the
Governor IL trying 20 boom our Arctic posses
sion as Summer resort. makes relevant story
told me here by All eKN Navy officer who Is now
newspaper man.
He was In the United States Steamer Tieress.
with Commander now COMMODORE James A.
Greer, when that vessel was sent 10 the Arctic
IN search Of the POlaris and the survivors OF
that exploring expedition, aud so tells Of what
he and others on the vessel observed for them
selves
while we were crossing Melville Bay" said
the TigreAs's officer, we caught up with the
sun-bad continual day, and after reaching
Cape York had constant sunlight TO show a.
the whole coast, as we steamed slowly along
looking FOR signb Of the PolAris or her people
About ! o'clock i'm the morning Of Aug Il.
1873, we steamed around Lyttleton Island aud
up toward Cape IBgiefield.
+" About 10 miles north Of the island boat
was lowered to visit and examine a stretch Of
low shore on the Greenland side There We
found the abandoned Polaris camp and a party
Of innuits. Two boats went ashore, aud M
there was much curiosity among u.s. each boat
was manned by officers Of the ship instead Of
the usual crews Gf blue jackets.
There was a very narrow strip Of beach,
and the low plateau beyond was about 10 feet
above the water. As we gained the top of the
4 little bluff where the Innuits stood we were
assailed by dense masses Of muskctoes that at
! tended TO business as promptly and thoroughly
4 as they ever did at the League Island Navy
/ Yard, and all the time we were ashore we
worked nearly as much driving of the pests as
1 we did examining the abandoned property and
/ collecting books aud papers.
/ " In making the two trips every officer had
I gone ashore. and not one escaped being severely
I bitten. ! went in the boat with Capt. Greer.
/ and he s9 much worried by them that Capt.
George T.. Tyson, the famous Arctic traveller,
who was with u.s. laughed at him. Capt Greer
could not believe they were mnsketoes, on ac-
count Of their size; but they were, and Capt Ty-
son and Acting Master Chapman, our lee mas
ter, and an old Arctic wllaler told us they were
common all over the Arctic for about month
! every Summer, and they told Of one excellent
! harbor on the west side that was abandoned ON
that account.
Size? Well, even In talking about the
| Arctic, have never dared hint in the least
1 az the enormous size OF the musket0es we saw