Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-02-16
WORLDS FAIR LETTER.
Turks VIII Try and Put out Chicago
Fires-~We can see genuine Blacks
at the Fair..AuStrs33a Oddity--
some white Kaagnroos.-Repro-
duction Of the Home of Washington.
(From our Special Correspondent

our SpeCldA dASOKiScpoAAOSut.j
One of the most interesting events Al
jackson Park next summer will be 6
competitive fre-drill between Chi
cago fire company and q picked hun
dred of tire-fghters from the Orient
The competition will be held on an
open field, where a large, light wood
structure is to be erected for the pur'
pose of testing the relative merits o.
the companies of the old and new
world.
The Fasteners are attached to the
Turkish village. Last week a full bri
gade of 100 men left Constantinople 70,
Chicago, bringing with them two of the
peculiar hand-pumps used in Turkey,
This method of handling fires seems
rather crude to one who is accustomed
to seeing the large steam engines used
here with the big chemical adjuncts and
the numbering hook and ladder trucks
The pump the orientals use and which
they SO confidently offer in competition
with the modern affairs would hardly
make respectable smokestack on an
American engine. The whole working
apparatus is comprised in Q box five
feet long, three feet wide and three and
a half feet deep. In the center of the
box is vertical rod which forms the
fulcrum from the pump handle. The
hose used is fully as large as that used
in this country. When In use seventy
five engine men are required to handle
the pump. The water used is carried
in fifty-gallon leather bags from wells
which are strung over the city. It is
poured into the reservoir from which
the engine receives its supply. The
method of giving the alarm Is just as
unique as the, way in which the fires
once underway are handled. At the
highest point in the city lofty tower
is erected, in the top of which is
stationed signal man with a telescope,
who is expected to decry the first sign
of fire in any part of the city. AS soon
as conhagration is seen in any direc-
ton messengers, who are stationed in
the basement, are notified. They
Immediately make the round of the
city, arousing the different companies
and leaving word as to the location OF
the blaze. In one corner of the
Turkish village will be highly ornam-
entail pavilion, in which will be located
a typical Turkish restaurant. About
the street Of Constantinople will be
ranged several coffee men, who will
dish out coffee and tea in little china
cups in true oriental style.
Popular curiosity is to be satisfied al
the fair-the desire to see an aboriginal
Australian. Real genuine blacks will
be there such as the boys Of twenty
years ago used to read about in novels
the men who live in the land of the
kangaroo, hurl boomerangs, eat Lizards
and possess other facinating character.
istics of a savage and unciyilized race.
Yesterday Commissioner Renwick o.
New South Wales, after consultation
with his assistants, decided to dispatch
a letter to his far away Australian home
recommending the government to en-
dorse a project for brlnginga colony O
aboriginal natives to Chicago. Hi
recommendation will carry all the
weight of a request, and, therefore
without doubt, Worlds Fair visitors
will be able to see the black, in all hi
primeval simplicity of customs anG
dress, disporting himself in some ode
corner of Jackson park.
Lady Martin, widow of the late chic
Justice Martin of New South Wales
has promised to send her famous white
Kangaroos to the fair. They are known
all over the colony as the best speci
men of a rare freak of nature. They
will be looked at with as much scienti
fic interest as will be given to the abort
gines.
Lovers of the stars and stripes viii
have no difficulty in recognizing il
Virginias builds-g a reproduction o
the home of George Washington
The building has progressed
rapidly toward completion in the
last month, the exterior being en-
tirely finished. The building wa.
erected through the energy of the
Mount Vernon association, whose mem
bers are women, and who banded to-
gether for the purpose. The structure
is faithful to the original in the smalles
detail.
That your readers may have some
idea of the amount Of money expended
to carry on the work connected with
the exposition we would state that a
the directors meeting held last Satur
day the treasurer made his repor
which show that the officials have thu.
far received the enormous sum o.
$15, sos, ,419 and have expended $15 ,O29
$50 and still thousands of dollars art
being daily paid out to carry ON anC
complete the work.
There is on the way from New Yorl
an enormous cheese known as the
Cheddar, which is valued at $487. Thi.
great cheese is sent as an exhibit from
Bristol, England, by Edward Manning
A more busy scene then that nov
presented at the western part of tht
grounds 1t would be hard to imagine
Moreover, SO cosmopolitan an. aggre
CATION of workmen has probably beer
seen by no man since the confusion o
tongues at the time construction worl
ceased in tha forar of RQhal An on