davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11
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how to make them balance was one Of many worked out with failure after failure Much more was needed than the mere power to fly. The problems that arose and the hundreds Of eXperl- ments and failures that attended years of faithful effort would Lake long story even in briefest outline. But f1n- ally in 1896 came the success that war rants the action of Congress.
 The flying machine that would really fly suggested a big dragon fly. There were two sets of rigid wings, thirteen feet from tip to tip, made or canvas and steel rods and attached to long steel rod which was the backbone. to which were attached two propellers connected with the engine suspended from the rod. The furnace was in front. the coils of the boiler wound toward the rear and the smoke stack stuck out behind toward the rudder. The entire weight of the aerodrome was thirty pounds and the odd boiler and engine weighed five pounds. and would supply one and one-haf horse power for five minutes, driving the propellers at 1900 revolutions a minute. The cylinder in front was designed merely to keep the machine afloat when 1t landed in the water.
 When this queer but comparatively simple flying machine was ready there were months of trouble in solving the problem or lduncn1iS IL III lue dII ONCA the Potomac River chosen so that the machine might land uninjured in water Finally successful apparatus on a barge was devised.
 In 1896 this aerodrome repeatedly flew from half to three-quarters of mile at a speed of thirty miles an hour, descending in safety to be recovered. "A miraclei'' said wondering witnesses. A flying machine had at last flown, and it was the scientific evolution of years. A thousand problems had been solved, and the practicability of mechanical flight demonstrated, Langley paused in triumph and said to the world. "There are the principles; go ahead. Now the nation tells him to go ahead himself.
 There is a long way to go before mails men and dynamite will fit about the upper air, but Langley's success warrants the faith that our wings have almost got here. It is not unlikely that we will fly into the twentieth century as a past generation steamed into the nineteenth.
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11

little electric machine which tattoos
 a picture in a single day that would
 require weeks by the old hand process.
 MT. -O'Reilly had never seen a battle picture tattooed, but being an artist at heart he told the seaman very prompt
 ly that he would illustrate him in col
 ors Accordingly he purchased news
 paper containing photographic repro auctions of the American fleet as sta toned off Santiago harbor, and pictures of the Spanish ships as they appeared after the fight. He ascertained that an engineering officer holding the rank of lieutenant, and temporarily stationed
 on the Brooklyn. had drawn detailed sketches for the use of the Government,
 showing the various positions assumed
 by our ships and by the enemy from
 the time the battle began until after Cervera surrendered. In some way he
 managed to secure a set of these offi- l cial drawings, which he showed me; i and then he outlined the design as it
 would look when tattooed on the sail 1 or's body.
 | ''The seaman came around on time, and I set to work with electric needles | and inks" MT. O'Reilly adds, and I
 worked in the hills at the entrance of ! the harbor, with the Morro frowning
 on one side, and then Cervera's ships 1 coming out and running down the coast
 with our fleet chasing them and firing. l It was a long time before this difficult
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11

moves easily and is very elastic, and it is absolutely necessary in using the high-speed needle to avoid making sev- eral punctures at any particular spot lest the flesh be torn. In other words the customer must hold still and the operator must keep his needle moving constantly over the surface.
 Years ago sailors were about the only Americans who thought of being tat tooed. and they only because they saw people in far-off lands who had been so treated But nowadays great many men in different walks of life bear designs larger or smaller upon them; and even women not infrequent- ly have a single flower or initial pricked into the skin. One curious development of recent years, Mir. O'Reilly says, is that it is not at all uncommon for a man to bring in design of a crest or coat of arms to be tattooed in special colors upon them. Other persons are tattooed upon the death of a relative or the birth of child, or to commem- crate some other misfortune or fortune Again, many a man or woman will be tattooed upon entering religious life, or upon reforming from career of drunkenness, crime or vice. Nearly al- ways such persons desire to have placed on them a crucifix. or a figure of the. Virgin, or a head Of Christ Yet others will have sacred emblems tat tooed upon them when there is no need
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11

hawks soaring in graceful circles and advancing through the air without using any power at all. Rules apply1ns to horses, ships and so on evidently did not apply up in the air.
 So he began a search for first prin- ciples. Twelve years ago he set up at Allegheny, Pa., big whirling table, run by a steam engine and carrying an arm 100 feet long which could be speed ed around at seventy miles an hour. All sorts of apparatuSeS and planes were attached to the end of this arm, drag ged through the air at varying speeds, and the power, resistance and behavior were tested in all sorts of ways for three years. For instance he attached a sheet of brass weighing one pound to the arm by a spring scale. When suspended still the scale of course showed a pound of pull by the plate. When the arm was whirled and the plate dragged through the air he found that the scale registered less pull. At the highest speed the pull was less than one ounce. In other words he discov- cred that in rapid motion it took but a fraction as much power to not only sustain the plate in the air, but to keep it in motion, and the further new and strange fact that the faster the motion the less the power required. He thus worked out new and valuable scientific truths and felt his way toward aerial flight All this, of course, related to "horizontal' movements of planes.
 Years of experiment convinced him that horizontal mechanical flight was
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11

Professor Langley's disposal, and he will now proceed to carry out on a larger scale the remarkable eXperi- ments which he conducted privately for many years, resulting in the discovery of certain principles of flight and in an "aerodrome"-a steam driven flying machine of steel and canvas-which re- peatedly flew distance of three-quar- ters of a mile and was the first flying machine capable of actual and inde
 pendent flight which man had created.
 This initial success gave him world
 wide fame and pointed to the way which other inventors must follow to reach success This was two years ago. He said then that he had demon- strated the principles and possibilities of mechanical flight and would aban- don the problem to others. He had given much of his time for years and thousands of dollars to the work, and many thousands were needed to go further But now Congress has said, Here's a small stake of $25,000, Mr. Langley; now go ahead" So Professor Langley will proceed to go ahead, and it looks as though American genius will teach mankind to soar with the eagle and pass the swallow in it's flight
 The term flying machine has come to be applied to a contrivance for flight in which buoyancy is wholly ignored. It is to be sustained in the air wholly by horizontal planes and given motion by propellers or possibly Tapping wings. The balloon principle has been wholly abandoned by eXperimenterS
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11

with scientific knowledge who recognize the fact that the great bulk of buoy ant car in any form is an impeachment to speed and mobility, and is at the mercy of the winds.
 The soaring machines of Otto Lllien- thai and others. the gliding machines of Chanute and Herring and somewhat similar contrivance of Dr. Woelfert have helped show the possibilities in this way as well as the dangers of try ing to fly, for Lilienthal and Woelfert have both been killed during eXperl- ments within two years ,s,is t =4
 But Langley has taught the world more about flying than all the rest and his accounts of his long experiments are interesting reading and inspire re- spect for him and for his efforts When Langley took up the problem he didn't go to building a big artificial bird that he could ride on. He began inquiring how bird flies and no man could tell him little bit about themystery of the way of a bird in the air" He says that he could get no help from books when he asked himself years ago if the problem of human flight was hope less and absurd. Sir Isaac Newton had figured out the resistance to advance through the air and other mathema- ticians have worked out formulae show ing how enormously power must in crease with the velocity of flight He applied these formulae to a swallow and found that according to the great mathematicians a swallow must be as powerful as a man. Then he watched
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11

design was finished; that is, it was long for electric tattooing. When it was fin ished that sailor had the whole battle of Santiago stretching like a panorama across the front of his body"
 One of those who came to have patri- otic designs placed upon him now bears, in addition to the regulation picture of Admiral Dewey on his left arm, DOT
 trait of General Fitzhugh Lee on his right arm, and on his chest the Ameri- can and Cuban flags intertwined. The greater number of customers brought to the tattoo shop by the war have been either sailors or naval reserves station ed on vessels that had seen active serv- ice, and the reserves especially have been partial to two designs, which are shown herewith in illustrations, Lib erty," and "The Man Behind the Gun" :" These two have been and are by all means the most popular, but third favorite is an American eagle with flag and shield, executed in four colors. A good many volunteer soldiers, espe- cially from the various troops of Rough Riders, have had permanent souvenirs of the war with Spain tattooed upon them, and of course these are almost without exception of patriotic nature. One of the most elaborate examples of tattooing caused directly by the war is huge dragon done in red, green. yellow, blue and black upon the back of a man who was stationed on an auxil-
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11

for any special reformation, merely as a part of their growth in religious life
 Of all classes and conditions of men who are oftenest tattooed, however, the British sailor stands first. Do you ask why? can't tell you, and don't know any one who can.
 If it is necessary, tattooed designs can be removed and new flesh and cuticle will form so that no scars need be left, it is said. We were speaking of this, MT. O'Reilly's assistant and I, and he carelessly pulled an envelope out of the desk and slid upon the table designs of an anchor and star and one of Venus, which last was fully five inches long. They were blackened and looked as if they had been made of charred pulp which had been dried un- til stiff and hard.
 "The anchor and star once decorated the hands of a man who is now a New York policeman explained MT. Get chell, the assistant. He had passed all the examinations, but couldn't get on the force so long as he was tat tooed, so he came in here and we re- moved the marks. That Venus is from the arm of another man. I don't know why he wanted her removed; but he did. Originally she was more than five inches long, but the skin has shrunk since 1t was taken off.
 HENRY EDWARD ROOD.
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11

in ink again and four more holes would be pricked. This process was repeated over and over until the design was fin ished; and slow, tedious and irritat- ing process it was. Nobody can tell how long it took to cover the body of the Greek Captain Constentenus, the first "tattooed man" who travelled with F. T. Barnum, but in all probability a year or two passed away before the work was finished. When the convent ent little electric motors came into gen. eral use MT. O'Reilly began to think of some way whereby the slow hand needle might be improved upon, and finally he invented and patented his tattooer, which performs work with rapidity almost incredible. The operat- ing end of this machine consists of a single fine needle which is made to dart in and out of it's case at rate Of speed approaching thousand strokes a minute.
 The illustration showing the sailor from the auxiliary cruiser will indicate clearly how the work is done. The GUS toner stripped to his waist and MT. O'Reilly quickly traced in outline a fig ure of large dragon, which was trans ferred to the barred back by means of a black carbonized substance. Then the sailor sat down in a chair. facing its back, to which he held tightly. so as to steady himself This was necessary for two reasons. The human skin
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11
Special to The Sunday Call.

N CORES of jack tars in the North
 Atlantic squadron wear Admiral
 George Dewey on their left arms above the elbow. It is a DOT
 trait tattooed in green and red and if the tar happened to be flush when the pricking was done it is sur rounded by wreath with the stars and stripes entwined. Measured by tattoo ing, Dewey is by far the most popular man in the navy, with Fighting Bob' Evans a close second. There are also a few Simpsons, a Philip, Schley and any number of Liberty" and "The Man Behind the Gun"
 Indeed, since the war began the navy and army of the United States has been expressing it's enthusiasm in the red and blue skin pictures of the tattooer to a degree hitherto unknown. Some of the designs used are most extensive and re- markable.
 One seaman who came to Samuel O'Reiuy, the artist of Chatham square, wanted a picture of the battle of San tiago pricked into his chest. MT. O'Reilly is a Yankee in spite of his name, and he has invented a wonderful
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11

iary cruiser. The accompanying illus tration showing MT. O'Reilly at work upon this man is reproduced from a flashlight photograph. The customer thought he might be killed before the war ended and was very anxious to have upon him some mark of proper identification. He got it; and he sur vived the war.
 By examining the picture carefully it may be seen that the tattooer is hold ing upon the subjects shoulder curi- ous instrument connected with a wire that ends in an e.ectric motor upon table near by, and the instrument on the shoulder is an electric tattooer. Un- til half a decade ago Mir. O'Reilly used for tattooing the ordinary instrument which had been common property in Burmah, Japan, the Sandwich Islands and Chinese Tartary for a thousand years-in fact, wherever tattooing has been practiced. This instrument differed somewhat in form in various lands, but substantially it was of a single type, consisting of four very fine needles placed close to one another in row and bound together very tightly. The blunt ends were then firmly fixed in a handle, leaving the pointed ends ex- posed for about a quarter of an inch. The operator would dip this set of needles in ink and then prick the skin of his customer. and four little holes would result. Then 1t would be dipped
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11
PROFESSOR S. C. LANGLEY of the Smith sonian Institute.
 From a photograph

Sonian Institute.
 From photograph.
 theoretically possible with engines that could then be built. That was one step. There were other almost insuperable difficulties regarding upward and down ward motion and the acquisition of the "art" of aerial navigation. But 1t was plain that the first necessity was high speed-the higher the easier. This is one thing that Langley taught, and it seems to promise that when flying ma chimes fly the petrel will be laggard and lightning express" trains will be creeping things.
 When he finally got to the building of his first flyer the problem of an engine of unprecedented hghtness in proportion to power was long worried over He wanted one that would weigh less than ten pounds to the horse power and few years ago the average engine weighed 1000 pounds to the horse power Compressed air, electricity and gas engines were tried and finally abandoned for a steam engine in which every economy was sacrificed wholly to lightness Engines were made by doz- ems for little aerodromes that worked wrong and got smashed. These first flying machines were something like the last one-the one pictured. They were driven by propellers set amidships and with rudders, but they wouldn't balance in the air and the problem of
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11

TT; HE United States Government
 has started building experiment.
 al flying machines, and in that
 and associated facts lies ra-
 tional expectation that naviga- tion of the air will be practical real ization of the comparatively near future.
 When a man first safely travels a few miles in aflying machine, regardless of air currents, the realization will have come, for the further distance to com mercial practicability will soon be trav-
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11

eled by inventive genius and indomit- able enterprise. Nothing that man has achieved in scientific and mechanical ways has ever worked so profound a revolution in the world as will quickly attend aerial navigation.
 At the last session of Congress an appropriation of $25,O0O was given in aid of experiments in aerial navigation, and it was expressly stipulated that it should be expended by Professor s. c. Langley of the Smithsonian Institution through the Chief Signal Officer. The other day this money was placed at
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11
UNCLE SAM WILL TRY AND CONSTRUCT AN AIRSF1F

The Government Has Set Aside $25,OOO for the Use of
 Professor Langley of the Smithsonian Institution, and Has Commissioned Him to Do His Best to Construct Successful Air Ship Professor Langley Ranks Among the Highest of the Experimenters Who Are Trying to Solve the Problem of Aerial Navigation
The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11

Y Y WASHINGTON \ for a kI\J applicants
  be made through the Chief Signal Officer of the army" to of pecte begin shortly construction of machine that will dec
  said to-day that Professor Lngeys model at the Potomac  ally until the Major Crozer said fur  Th problem the arshp the model having done
  experiment will be- What be required the storage of  intelligent force the machine for it's direeton,
The age-herald., 1898-08-12
HUNTSVILLE GETS CAMP.
Alabama Boys Will Remain in Florida
 Under General Lee.

Special Dispatch to The Age-Herald.
 Washington, Aug. 11.-Orders were sent out today for the first division of the first army corps to start at once for Hunts vile, Ala, where they will remain in camp for the summer. At the suggestion of Gen. eral Sternberg, the troops moving north will not go by marches, but by train. The surgeon-general advises strongly against marching, as the men are exhausted al- ready by the heat and work they have undergone.
 It was said this morning that the First and Second Alabama would remain in Florida under Lee. asl it is not proposed to remove his corps. From this 1t is believed that this command will be the first to go to Cuba after the equalization by the Span- iards. General Lee will doubtless be made the military governor, and he will take his corps with him for garrison duty.
 It was stated at the department this morning that political influence had noth- ing whatever to do with selection of the various camps, but that they were chosen entirely with a view of the health of the men.
The age-herald., 1898-08-12

The Wanderer has steamed more than 16,- OoO knots in carrying news to the cable sta tlons in Jamaica, Hayi and St. Thomas slnee leaving New York on May B. The yacht witnessed the bombardment of the defenses outside of Santiago, was present at the landing of the troops at Baiquirl and Siboney; witnessed the destruction of Ger vera's fleet, having on that occasion taken on board eleven surviving officers and men OF the Spanish torpedo boat destroyer Plu- ton, and was present at the landing or American troops at Ponce, Porto Rico. Now, that cable communication has been restored in eastern Cuba and southern Porto Rico, the necessity for dispatch boats has ceased for time at least. The Wanda has on board as a relic of the great sea fight off Santiago a six-pounder quick-hring gun taken from the deck of the Spanish cruiser oquendo by the Associated Press dispatch boat Cynthia The Wanda brings mail from the fleet off Porto Rico, and also carries mail from Nassau, owing to the irreguarity with which steamers now touch at that British port.
The age-herald., 1898-08-12
FRAMES KILLED ABRAKEMAN.
Were Stealing Ride, and When Order
 ed Off Replied With Bullets.

Special Dispatch to The Age-Herald.
 Annston, Aug. LA negro brakeman on an eastbound freight train on the Southern railroad was shot to death by tramps about 1 o'clock this morning at Leeds, between Birmingham and Anniston There were three white men and two negroes in the party of tramps, and they were beating their way on the train. The conductor sent two negro brakemen forward to make them get off, when the tramps opened fire on the brakemen, wounding one, who died few hours later. The train crew was poorly supplied with weapons, so 1t made no fur ther effort to dislodge or arrest the tramps, but telegraphed the police here to meet the train on its arrival Policemen Harts- field and LeGrand responded and when the train reached Oxmoor Junction about 2:30 o'clock two men jumped from the train on the side on which Policeman LeGrand was stationed, but some cars away, and ran off in the darkness. The policeman ordered them to halt but they did not obey, and he fired on them five times The shots only made the fleeing tramps run the fatser. They were soon lost in the darkness and have not yet been apprehended. A saarch of the train failed to reveal the other tramps, who had probably left the train at the time the brakeman was shot.
 John Shafer, a member of the switching crew of the Illinois Car and Equipment company, while swinging to the side of moving car this morning, swung too far out and struck the ends of some rails piled near the track, receiving internal injuries which 1t is feared will prove fatal.