The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-08-11
OF GENERAL INTEREST.

1t was to solve the problem that has
racked the brains of inventors for
years. Il was taken out on q recent
Saturday for trial, when. much to Mr..
Fosters surprise, the continuance
would not fly. The problem of aerial
navigation is still unsolved.
The coop that is to house the hon.
ing pigeons aboard the cruiser New
York is splendid piece OF work. built
entirely of mahogany and polished
brass bars. There are eight colnpart-
ments for the birds to rest in, and
twelve roosts in the open cage The
latter can be closed in during bad
weather with close-ftting shutters.
The coop will be placed on the super
structure deck of the cruiser, near the
skylights.
The United States national salute is
a gun for each state; for the president
twenty-one guns, seventeen for the
vice president, fifteen for ca binet OFF,
GERS. governors, etc. Originally the
president was saluted with as many
guns as there were states in the union.
This idea was finally abandoned in the
year 1919, when there were exactly
twenty-one states. the commissioners
deciding that hereafter '.twenty-one
guns shall be the national presidential
salute
Great things are expected of the
cruiser Columbia, the largest triple
screw vessel IN the world, and the first
American ship to have three screws
Her horsepower is $1,000. Ex-Secre-
tary Tracy says she hasn't parallel in
the world. 1t is admitted however,
that shipbuilders have not completely
mastered the science of single, double
or triple screws. and that the pitch"
or proper inclinat ton is matter of
chance rather than exact scientific
demonstration.
The portable house in which Lieut..
Peary and his party will dwell during
their winter soiourn in Greenland has
been in course of construction for some
months. 1t will be thirtyfive feet long.
sixteen wide and thirteen and quarter
high, and viii contain accommoda tons
for the twelve men who are to compose
the party. When it is in position on
the shores of Inglefeld gulf stone
wall five feet high and two feet thick
will be built around it to shelter it
from the arctic blasts. Tar paper is
laid between the walls of the house for
the sake of added warmth.
Albany, the political capital of the
state of New York is the oldest exist
ing town within the domain of the
original thirteen states. 1t was first
settled By Dutch traders in 1914. They
built trading house on Castle island,
a little below the site of Albany, and
eight years afterwards Fort Orange
was built on that site. The settlement
was called Fort Orange at first, then
Beverswyck, and after the province of
New Netherlands passed into the pos
session of the English, it was called
Albany, the second title of Duke James,
afterwards james the Second, of En-
gland.
On August %, 1862, an act of the
British parliament was passed which
required uniformity in public worship
throughout the realm. Under this act
some two thousand dissenting ministers
were elected from their benefces with
their families Soon afterwards they
were banished five miles distant from
every corporatio in England. At the
same time the Church of England was
made the esta blished church in Vir-
ginia by vote of the assembly. Churches
were ordered TO be built, globes appro-
priated and ministers furnished. and
all others were forbidden to preach the
gospel, on pain of Punishment from the
colony
THE value of putting your name
on your belongings says a woman,
twas emphasized to me in d recent visit
to Chicago. On a bench at the fair one
day found a notebook. Looking it
over to discover its owner / found it
filed with elaborate notes, evidently
the result of a considerable stay, and
written out with a care which be-
tokened some intended future use be-
yond their mere jotting down. Yet,
not a line that | could find betrayed
any way to restore the property. l
could only turn it in to the authorized
desk for lost articles and hope that the
want of forethought which withheld
the name from its place on the book
would not similarly prevent inquiry at
the proper point"
A Paris restaurant keeper. recently
deceased, left 100000 francs to two
nephews on condition that instead of
melancholy memories, that no one
would believe, they should for one
year each day affix copy of one of his
culinary recipes to his gravestonc, so
that even after his death he might
benefit his fellow-men. No less than
365 prescriptions were found among
his papers. Unfortunately, the Paris |
tombstone commission, which exam
ines and decides upon the inscriptions I
to be placed upon cemeterial monu- /
ments, refused to admit the fulflment /
OF the culinary philanthropist's last /
wishes. What aggravates the nephew's |
grief is the unpleasant TACT that the +
court has now decided that they can /
not get those 80, 900 francs their uncle I
left them under certain conditions
The recent tests of the twelve-inch 4
a-mor- piercing shells at Indian Head /
have proved very successful. The plate 4
fred at was twelve-inch imported Cru /
soc steel plate The first shell was /
fired at 4 velocity OF 1900 feet per sec {
ond, ana was intended 10 90 Just 4
through the plate II went about six +
teen inches into the hacking, rebound /
ing forty feet. and wss found To be /
only slightly upset in body. The seq
ond shell was fred at q velocity OF I, 81
feet per second. the increase being in
tended 70 penetrate the plate and back
ing. This shell wen: through both and 4
fell nine feet in the rear, and was n
the same condition as the first Com
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