Evening star., 1898-04-22
ANNIHILATES DARKNESS.

Electric Searchlight to Guard the
Entrance of the Chesapeake.
From the Baltimore American.
The greatest electric searchlight in the
wcrld. now being erected at Fortress Mon
roe to guard the entrance to the Chesa-
peake, has a beam Of light nine feet i'm di-
ameter The glass lenses are also nine
feet in diameter The light is so binding
that 1t cannot be looked on at short range.
and 1t even hurts the eyes when they are
closed.
1t will illuminate an object 100 miles on.
and can be seen on the clouds at even a
greater distance. When the light was on
exhibition at the worlds fair in Chicago
it was seen in Milwaukee. The lamp,
lenses and supporting frames weigh twenty
tons, but the adjustments are so delicate
they include the poising Of the mechan-
ism a hollow steel cylinder floating In
mercury-that the whole mass may be re-
volved by the push of a finger. The lamps
have interchangeable carbons Of different
sizes, SO that the light may be varied in
intensity, according to the density of the
atmosphere. One-inch carbons give pow
er of from 5000 to 10000 candles.
The light is gathered into a nine-foot
beam, which has an estimated intensity OF
S0,O00O00 candles. The light revolves six
times minute. 1t was manufactured in
France, but American generating appara-
tus has been substituted for that built
abroad, and the dynamos. engine and boil
ers are to be duplicated in case of accident
The beam of light from the lamp will illu-
inmate newspaper at a distance of 100
miles. 1t will turn day into night around
Hampton Roads. Its location at Hampton
Roads is especially appropriate, as vessels
passing the Chesapeake for Baltimore or
Washington cannot be seen from Hampton
Roads during the night or hazy weather
and they are barely visible in daytime.
The distance from the fortress TO sea is
fifteen miles. Vessels bound up the Chesa-
peake dc not pass within miles of the fort
and this is probably the reason why the
channel leading up the Patapsco to Balti-
more is to be mined with torpedoes.
The Coal Hole a Hoodoo.
From the Chicago Tr,es- Herald
Down on South Clark street, about one
hundred feet north of Madison, there is on
the west side of the street coal hole
shaped like a coffin. Originally the OPEN
ing was not different from any other coal
hole. 1t was of ordinary size, and was
closed with a hexagonal cover. Then a
large piece Of the stone was broken off the
sidewalk, enlarging the hole TO "a great ex-
tent When the stone was replaced by a
sheet OF iron the hexagonal opening was
elongated. so that the shape of a coffin was
formed. Then the pedestrians along South
Clark street had their troubles.
1t is asserted that attention was first
called to the ominous hole in the sidewalk
when a man had his leg sprained by a mis-
step on the cover. A number of persons
witnessed the accident. and at the same
time noted the peculiar shape of the cover
1t was not long before everybody seemed to
be aware Of the casket-like figure Now.
any one who watches the crowds that daily
pass along Clark street near Madison will
be attracted by their actions when they
walk near the coal hols. All the men keep
a safe distance from Ne awe-inspiring OBJ
5ect. while the women carefully raise their
skirts as they walk shyly away from the
cover. To the casual observer these pecu-
liar antics are unexplainable, but the men
and women who are acquainted with the
history of the cofin-shaped cover are too
wise to place themselves In the power Of
''the evil eye.'