Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-12


the camera was struck.
the pilot of an engine, sharing your narrow
rest with the camera and being compeIIed
to keep that camera in operation Is an ex-
peTience Of which one installment will sat
lSfy the ordinary man. But risks must be
run where it is question of satisfying the
publics appetite for entertainment"
When this moving picture business first
came into existence, said another oper-
ator "a favorite subject the view of
an express train going sixty miles an hour
The effectiveness of the view was height
ened, of course, by showing the train as
nearly head on as possible. We tried to
find how close to the track we could set
our machine-and incidentally ourselves
without being overcome by the suction Of
the train. We found that there was no
agreement among railroad men themselves
on this point. but We finally figured il out
that We could take up our stand five feet
from the track if We had an anchorage.
so we made ready to take a through
express on one of the big roads and set up
our camera, securely fastened, five feet
from the track. There was a signal pole
beside the machine. which we intended to
use for our own anchorage.
The man with me had had some rail-
road experience. and | had relied largely
on his opinion in arranging the business
Well sir, when the express reached the
curve and came toward US, il looked ex-
actly as though she was going TO run over
US The ex-railroad man stood it for about
Two seconds, then he dropped his ropes
and bolted for the fence L was tempted to
follow but L set my teeth, turned on the
connection and started the reel. Then
grabbed the post and hung on to it for all
L was worth. The train was only a frac-
ton of I. second in passing me- but it SEEM
ed like an hour. The suction of the train
at that distance was terrific, but the men,
tai strain was worse. l actually thought
that my arms had been pulled out of their
sockets and felt them carefully over be-
fore | was convinced that they were all
right and S0llnu They
the next day, but have never cared to get
SO near to fast train since that time"
Reproducing an Execution.
The men who were sent to Cuba to pho
tograph the Spanish-American war in
action had some blood-stirring experiences
in the pursuit of their duties. Arthur Mar
win, who had charge of the Photographic
apparatus of the largest American bio
graph company, relates some of these:
|. "One OF our unusual experiences" said
Mr.. Marvin. came before the actual be-
ginning of the war, during those weeks of
tedious waiting in Tampa We heard that
there was to be an execution by hanging in
Jacksonville, and in the interests of science
and the camera we decided to obtain views
of it if we could. We got permission to set
up our machine in the jail yard, and sue
ceeded In photographing the proceeding
from the time the death march appeared
outside the Jail door until the drop was
sprung. That is perhaps one of the most
by means of photographs.
Some OF our attempts to make camera
records OF the events OF the war were not
so successful as this. One of them was
frustrated in a somewhat ridiculous way
by circumstances temporarily beyond our
control
I'VE had followed SIMPSONS fleet east
ward from Key West to Porto Rico. 1t
at the time of the bombardment of San
Juan. AS that bombardment was our first
opportunity to do any work, We were anX-
ious, naturally, to get some good views.
When the firing ~oegan We steamed up to-
ward the battle ships and got where we
could take in the whole range of operations
pretty well. We kept urging the captain
of the yacht to get in nearer the shore, and
he gradually did so.
A Stampeded Crew.
Pretty soon the Spanish batteries began
a reply to the American fire. Some of their
shells came within three or four hundred
yards Of US, ! presume, and We began to
congratulate ourselves on the fact that
there might be a good exhibition before
long. Presently the Spanish shots began
to come faster and to splash up the water
little nearer to US. We were interested
in watching the argument between the
ships and the batteries, and didn't notice
what was happening to ourselves until our
yacht had got under pretty good Roadway
and was making rapid time away from the
shore.
I'VE shouted to the captain to- hold IN
and veer around, but he didn't hear US
We tried to argue with the crew, but they
We're equally deaf By the time we got
those scared fellows to listen to us we were
twenty-five miles out at sea- When we got
back the performance was over, and the
American fleet had sailed away
Chased by Spanish GunbOats.
Although we missed the main show, we
figured in a principal role for side per-
Torrance that followed There were two
small Spanish gunboats in the harbor, and
when they saw us nosing about outside
they came out and started in our direction
We had received no order to photograph
pursuing gunboats, and we weren't certain
as to whether a moving picture apparatus
would be considered contraband of war or
not So this time we made no effort to dis
courage the energies of the crew. In fact,
We turned to and poured oil over the coal