The Mena star., 1898-11-23
SINGULAR NAVAL MYSTERIES.
War Vessels Thas Have Disappeared Without Leaving Any CIew
 to Their Whereabouts.

dents to our warships characterize the early history of our navy, and. in spite of all the efforts of the navy depart- ment fo explain the cause of the dis assers. many of them are as abso- iate mysteries to-day as when they happened.
 When the government built ten new gnnboats 10 prosecute the war against Tripoli. in 1905. they were sent out as soon as they were finished and be- fore they were named. Each one was given number and dispatched to the scene of war. No sailed from New York June 20. 1905, under command of Lieut. Ogelvie, and after she cleared Sandy Hook light she was never heard from again. She went down with all on board before she had ever been named.
 < most extraordinary accident hap pened to the corvette Monongahela at Santa Cruz In 1867. While at anchor in the harbor a trcme endous tidal wave lifted her upon it's crest and carried her clean over the town of Frederick stadt and back again without injuring the town or the boat to any great ex- tent. The receding wave landed her on the beach instead of in the deep waters of the harbor, and it cost our government $100.0O0 to float her again. slooP-of-war Wateree.
 She was anchored in the harbor of Arica. Peru in 1868. when a huge tidal wave swept inland and flooded the whole city. The wave carried the sloop several miles inland and finally landed her in the midst of a tropica, forest. It was impossible to release her from such a peculiar position, and the government sold her for a nominal sum. The purchasers turned the vessel into a hotel. and the remains of the once formidable war vessel loom up in the tropical forest to-day as monu ment to the power of tidal waves.
 Among other cases of disaster which are attributed to the violence of the waves or weather there is none more interesting than that of the strange fate of the Saratoga. When she sailed from Philadelphia in October, l7S0, un- der the command of Capt. James Young. there was no finer or hand somer war vessel afioat. That she was as formidable as she was attractive she soon demonstrated in a practical way. After cruising around n short time she captured hree British vessels in succession. and then with her prizes she started to return to Philadelphia But off the Delaware capes she encoun- iered a British ship Of c .;;is. A. .ss. <. Saratoga carried orly IS guns and the Intrepid was a 74-gun ship, Capt. Young considered it safer to run away The enemy did not chase her far. but returned to protect and reca pture the British prizes. The Saratoga sailed away in the very teeth Of storm, and she was never heard from again. Did she founder al sea in the gale, CT was she blown up by her own magazines?
 There were some peculiar accidents 10 our naval vessels in the past that are accounted for. but, while he mys- tery of their loss is removed and ex- plained, the strangeness of their mis- haps is no less interesting. For in- stance, there is the sinking of the United States sloop-of-war Oneida in 1869. She was bound home from Yoko- hama, but when a short distance from port the British steamer Bombay ran into her and cut off her stern. The in- jury was so mortal that the Oneida immediately fired her gun of distress. but in the darkness the Bombay crew crept away instead of returning to assist her. Tn short time the sloop went to the bottom. carrying all of her crew with her. When the news reached Yokohama the captain of tbe British steamer was mobbed by the indignant populace and he was dis missed from the service in disgrace.
 Hurricanes have been responsible for the wreckage of several of our naval vessels other than those at Sa- mon in 1889. The brig-of-war Bain- bridge was turned over by q hurri- cane off Cape Hatteras in 1863, and everybody on board was lost except a colored cook, who managed to cling 10 pieces of the wreck until picked up Ninety-eight lives were lost by the "icChiuB OA tue siOOp-OI-Waf Huron in 1877. A small hurricane blew her on the shore off Norfolk, and she was pounded to pieces by the violent surf The Saginaw was wrecked ia the very middle of the Pacific in 1S70.-George Etbelbert Walsh, in Leslie's Weekly.
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 Coughed Twenty-Five Years.
 1 suffered txventv-five years with a