The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1892-06-18
The Fastest Things.
From the St, Louis Republic.

The fastest railroad train in the world
was the special train over the New York
Central and Hudson River Railroad, which
made the distance from New York to
Buffalo on September IA, 1891, 440 miles
in 433 minutes A seconds. There is no
possible doubt but that the time and dis
tance were exactly as stated. Angus Sin
clair, in the National Car and Locomotive
Builder, attested the official velocity of the
train as being 60.69 miles per hour.
This achievement was so remarkable as
to attract the attention of the world. The
Birmingham Daily Mail declared that not
until then had Americans disputed the
records with English railroads. Itpointed
to the fact that the Northwestern Railroad
in running from London to Crewe, 146
miles, in three hours and five minutes, had
opened Americans eyes. 1t conceded the
triumph, however, to the New York Cen
tral road This was an experimental train.
The first regular train TO emulate this
time was the Empire State express, com
posed of buffet, smoking and library cars
in addition to the regular coaches, and
drawn by the same engine. On October
! &c, 1891, it made the 40 miles in eight
hours and forty -one and three-quarter min
utes, now the regular schedule time and
the fastest in the world.
The fastest cooking, authentically at
tested, was done not long ago by Prince
| Bismarcks famous chef, who is now chef
cook in a famous restaurant of Berlin.
He had made bet with regular guest Of
the place of S25 that he could kill, dress,
cook and serve chicken in six minutes
The exploit was to be performed in the
presence of invited spectators. At nine
o'clock on the appointed evening the cook
appeared with his gas cooking stove on
platform in sight of all in the room.
He waved the chicken around his head
and it cackled loudly. Decapitating the
fowl with one blow of glittering knife,
this gastronomic expert, within sixty
seconds, had removed every feather from
it. The gas stove was already lighted with
broiler upon it. The fowl was cut open
and drawn in one other minute and placed
upon the broiler; a hot dish garnished with
water cress was at hand, and it lacked just
a second of the six minutes when the
chicken was served amid great applause.
The fastest trotting ever done by horse :
flesh was the accomplishment Of Sunol,
daughter of the famous stallion, Electioneer,
on October q, 1891. The event attracted
the attention Of the world. The perfor-
nance was made on a new kite-shaped
track at Stockton, Cal, in 2:0S4 This
was one clean half second better than the
famous time of Maud s., which up to that
moment constituted the record The best
time for mares before then had been 2:O83,
and for stations had been 2:091. Nelson
and Jay Eye See had each 2:10 to his
credit, and Allerton 2:09l.
The fastest machine is a matchmaker
that eats up $50 different bands of wood
at the same time, the wood having been
shaved of a uniform thickness, and turns
out 10000 matches day.
The fastest book-writing is supposed to
be the achievement of T. p O'Connor, of
the London Star whose book reached its
fourth edition in forty-eight hours. Its
length was $1,000 words, and the manu-
script was in the hands of the publisher
within twenty-four hours after its author
was requested to produce it. 1t was the
life of Charles Stewart Parnell, the order
for which was given the day after the great
Irishman's death.
The most rapid talker in the United
States is Bishop Brooks, of Massachusetts
recently chosen bishop of that diocese
Baron Dowse, the Irish attorney general,
was heard to speak $50 words minute,
while the Rev. Arthur Mursell could not
be reported. Rev. Phillips Brooks ser
mons are said often to be delivered for an
hour continuously at the rate of 2l5 words
a minute DIR. Chauncey NJ. Depew, the
most popular American speaker, rarely ex-
ceeds 160 words a minute.
The fastest mile on record for six-day
bicycle race was made in October, 1891, in
; Madison Square Garden by William Mar
tin, of Detroit. He covered 1864 miles
in that time, beating the worlds previous
record by 81 4 miles.
The fastest long distance transmission
of message is over the Atlantic cable.
About three seconds are required for a
message to traverse it from one end to the
other. That is speed of about 700 miles
a second.
The fastest leather-making on record is
done at Frankfort-on-the-M Main by elec-
tricity. An alternating current is used
the alterations being about sixty second.
In one-tenth the time required for ordinary
tanning processes the electrical method has
? termed out perfect article of leather.
The fastest homing pigeon, of which ac-
curate records were taken, is the property
of A. P. Baldwin, of Newark, Nj On being
T liberated in Boutte, La, it returned home
1,150 miles, in an incredibly short time
In one year it journeyed $3.50 miles, re-
turning each time with great speed TO its
loft. No other pigeon, it is believed, has
been known to make such distance.
The fastest typewriter in the world is
F declared to be Frank e. McGurrin, of Sail
Lake City. His record is 124l words ;
minute, exclusive of errors, from dictation
On single memorized sentence he wrot'
at the rate of 156 words minute. Tht
F fastest woman typewriter, Miss Orr, o.
New York, was defeated by McGurrin BY
three words Miss 0rr's best record va!
SO 4-5 words a minute, On later tes
, McGurrin wrote 104 words in one minute
blindfolded, and 131 words from dictatiol
in ffty-nine seconds. This last perfor
nance, at Portland, Ore, was not official
, Horned Men and Women.