davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-07-27
No. 3O2 west CLAY street,


THE LOT FRONTING % FEET on
THE NORTH LINE OF CLAY
STREET,
AND
RUNNING BACK BETWEEN PARAL-
LEI LINES AN IRREGULAR
DEPTH TO BROOK AVENUE.
HAVING TWO DESIRABLE STREET
FRONTS.
BY virtue OF the provisions OF certain
deed Of trust, dated July II. 1896. OF rec
ord IN the Clerks Office Richmond Cham
Gerry Court. Deadlock lJS {, page ~,
default having been made IN the payment
of certain note therein secured. and be-
irg required so to do. we will sell by pub
lie auction, on the premises, on
THURSDAY. JULY q. 1889.
at 6 o'clock p. NJ. the DESIRABLE
TWO STORY AND BASEMENT
DWELLING, No. 302 west Clay street.
The lot has a front OF % feet on Gay
street. and runs back TO Brook avenue.
TERMS: Cash as 60 the expenses or
sale and the sum of Sl,236 with interest
from July II. 1899: balance at one ana two
years, in equal payments.
G. l.. DENOON,
JOHN HUNTER, Jr.,
~ % Trustees.
Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-07-27
COURT ORDERS.

VIRGINIA-iN THE CLERKS or
flee of the Hastings Court OF the city OF
Richmond. July 3. 1893 the following APP
plication. under act OF February H. 1898,
was filed i'm the Clerks Office Of said
court on the 2Sth day of January, 1893.
To the Clerk Of the Corporation Court OF
the city OF Richmond, in the State OF
Virginia.
l. the undersigned. Joseph +. Glenn
hereby file with you this, my application
as provided by statute, 10 purchase one
lot GO. 40, fronting % feet on Page
street, in Jackson Ward. situated an
said city. and being the same lOt sold
by the Treasurer of said city, on the
day of September 1885, for delinquent
taxes due thereon for the years Of 1876 10
SO, inclusive, by and I'm the name II
Richard Whitfield estate, and bought at
said sale by the Auditor Of Public Ac-
counts of Virginia for said State and
city. said lot being assessed on the Com
missioners book of said city fOc the year
1898 I'm the name of william j. Ryan,
Richard Whitfield. deceased. has no per-
sOnal representative of record.
And | hereby agree 20 complete said
purchase, as provided for by law.
Given under my hand. this 81 day Of
January, 1893 JOSEPH H.. GLENN.
Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-07-27
TRUSTEES SALE
nE

DESIRABLE TWO-STORY AND BASE
MENT DETACHED BRICK
nNVI-IIING
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07

step forward followed quickly. when
the contracts for the great dOuble-tur-
reted monitors MiantOnomah. :, ops tons.
and Puritan, 2.S9S tons, were awarded
to us in &c. These vessels, each a pio-
neer on it's own lines, grew under my
very eyes, and their great hulls and
engines are as familiar to me as the
rooms in my own home. For though
born in Monroe street, in New York,
while my father was still working at
his trade as an ironmoulder, 1 have,
since 1871, devoted my entire time to
the shipyards in Chester. Since the
day when / went into the Aetna iron
works, in Goerck street, between Riv-
ington and Stanton. at the age of is,
shipbuilding has been my study, my
ambition, my lifework. l was proud of
the yard, which, before we secured it
in II, had turned out in SO the sister
ships Wateree. Shamokin and Suwa
nee. all double ended sidewheel iron
gunboats. When a tidal wave picked
up the Wateree out of the harbor at
Callao, in Peru, and carried her inland
miles from the ocean, to spend her last
years as a summer hotel, / felt a sense
of personal grievance. But 1 fOresaw
that all which had been done in the
way of metal warships would soon be
distanced.
In March, 'sS, congress authorized
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07

ton in 1852, forty-seven years
ago. an iron steamboat of $50
tons was successfully launched from
the shipyards of Harlan e IIcliings-
worth, still one of the best known
plants in the country. That every
steamer, built of boiler iron, and IRON
ically called a tin boat by the wooden
shipbuiders of that day, who alleged
that she would break in two if she
should strand on a bar, is now still in
actual service, running from Philadel-
phia to Salem, n. ]. She is, of course,
a side-wheeler of low freeboard, called
after her first owner, the Major Rey-
bold, and 1 can see her daily from
my office windows plying her way
along the very stream into which she
was first launched almost a half GEN.
fury ago.
The inaccuracy of the charge OF
structural weakness made by a par
tisan examining board against the Dol
phin, which was launched April T.
1884, was made apparent in more ways
than one No ship ever made without
repairs such a voyage as the Dolphin's
famous cruise around the world. She
is now in actual service. as is the BoS-
ton, which was in Dewey's gallant fleet
in the battle of Manila bay. and is still
IN the ASldtlc station Oeal1ng with the
recalcitrant Filipinos. The Dolphin is,
like the Boston, a remarkably interest
ing type.
Nowadays we use by preference open
hearth steel for our ships. We can
weld steel as easily as iron, and work
it cold, bending it as iron never would
bend. If not bent at right angles TO
the grain. iron splits like board.
whereas steel has no grain. But in
those early days, the days of expert,
ment. we knew comparatively little
about working steel. The substitution
even. of angles of iron for straight
iron beams, to which the outer plates
were to be riveted, was then of COM
paratively recent date The angles fit
into the keel or backbone of the ship,
the plates are riveted to the angles. and
the result is a marvel of strength. as
far superior TO the straight beams used
before. as an iron ship was to wooden
ship. Yet the first angle frame Put up
on the Delaware was in 1854 And to
the magnificent steel ship of 1892 with
her internal machines numbered by the
score and adapted to all the varying
uses of her complement of hundreds OF
men. thing of beauty and utility per-
fectly conjoined. is the creation of less
than half century of human skill and
industry, perseverance and daring.
JOHN B. ROACH.
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07

Allen spends every afternoon out of
doors. He is an enthusiastic cyclist.
One of his favorite rides is around the
capitol and down the broad avenue in
front of the congressional library.
When he is in New York, and he lived
there until the winter of '9S, he invar-
iably dined out. In Washington, how
ever he is applying himself more siren
uouSiy to his work, and dimes at his
boarding house. AT night there is a
theatre. vaudeville. concert or opera.
He is a lover of music. He caught the
first melody in his childhood when the
note of the cardinal reached his ear in
the Kentucky forest-land.
Allen the Man.
individually, James Lane Allen per-
sonifies the gentleman. He is cordial in
his welcome, but never demonStratlVe;
enthusiastic, without being effuslVe
There is sincerity in his greeting and
warmth. He talks with grace and dig
nifty. His voice is rather low, but his
enunciation is admirably distinct. He
is one of the most accessible of the re-
ally famous men of America. He alb
hors superficiality. and is outSpoken in
his sentiments.
The author of 1.-THE Choir Invisible"
has taken all of his characters from
life. or rather, from the elements of
experience and observation as revalued
and made concrete by the imagination.
Contrary 10 the general impression,
there are no originals for the people of
his imagination. Only with his short
stories is there any semblance of work
ing models. King Solomon of Ken
lucky was based on an actual Incl
dent in early Kentucky life. The only
clue to the celebrated parson in THE
Choir Invisible" was slab bearing his
name in the Episcopal church at Lex
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07

brated Kentuckian in Washington, and
one Of the most successful writers of
fiction of the last decade of the nine
teenth century
Ten years ago James Lane Allen was
tasting the first fruits of =. hard-earned
literary success. and was emerging from
d struggle with poverty such as few
American authors have known. With
his Own hand and brain he has made
for himself a way that is now one of
distinguished ease. He has probably
reached a wider audience than any liv-
ing American writer, and in strange
contrast with the scope of his hearing
In the absolute lack of knowledge con-
cerning his life. 4 vast clientele knows
him as the author of a book that mas
passed the hundredth thousand, but it
Is quite another thing to be in touch
with the temperament of the man who
created John Gray and the sweet sis
terhood that has for its ornaments Sis
Dolorosa and Amy Falconer.
a certain reserve has characterized
James Lane Allen, precluding the en-
croaChmentS of a curious public. His
own life has remained the thing apart
from his success. and as that success
has crowded him more and more into
the worlds gaze. he has remained the
Bame dignified gentleman as when in
the years ago he walked hand in hand
through the bluegrass fields with the
children of his fancy. He is thoroughly
Identified in life and letters with Ken
lucky. and his triumph has not meant
an alienation for the original locale"
Years have passed since he has lived
In Kentucky, and far from his own peo-
pie drew their pictures and opened his
gallery to the reading world. In the
Avondale hills of Cincinnati. where the
hills of Kentucky We're only a misty
blue across the Ohio, he wrote the idylls
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07

building OF the ironclad Warrior. But
nobody knew what an ironclad was
good for. until Ericsson's Monitor dem
onstrated it, The raced wooden
steamships, which the confederates
protected with railroad iron and chains,
on the southern rivers, gave American
genius another strong hint. But when
the war came to an end, but little more
had been accomplished. The monitors
then building We're gradually finished.
and no new ironclads We're ordered I'M
til 1874.
In that year we built for the govern
ment the Alert and the Huron, the first
iron slOops-Of-war ever constructed.
They were of 1,246 net tons. Another
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07
Signed Fac-Simile of manuscript Page of he Choir Invisible

was careful and painstaking in his
studies.
1t was while at college. when he was
u years of age, that his father died.
The absolute care of his family de-
volved upon him, and it was to remain
many years. In 1872 he graduated
with honors.
For the next twelve years he was
either a schoolteacher, private tutor
or college professor.
In student days at Pennsylvania he
had written considerable verse, and
had translated some of Schiller's poems
into English. From his earliest man
hood he had entertained a profound
dislike for fiction. He detested novel.
and looked even with disdain upon the
modern standard romancers. Upon his
return to Lexington he felt an ire
sistible impulse to write.
His First Writing.
In 1884 Allen had yet to read his first
novel. During that year someone
placed i'll his hands a copy of Henry
James Portrait of a Lady" Allen
read it with the critical mind of peda-
gogue. To him the work fairly bristled
with incongruities- His criticism took
the form of a paper entitled. THE
First Page of the Portrait of a Lady, 4"
his first prose production.
He sent the paper to the Critic, and,
to his indispensable delight, it was &C
cepted. He received check for IS. In
the fullness of his joy he resolved to
devote his first literary earnings to art.
He took the first train to Cincinnati
and heard the production of THE Mes
siah." Thrilled by the music of the
great Handel oratorio, his fancy took
wing in verse. On the train home he
wrote a poem, Tn Midwinter." He sent
it to Harper's, and it was accepted,
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07

! struction of the first metal sailing ship
| built in the United States and one of
the very first in the world. This was
! the Tlliie F. Starbuck. a full-rigged
| iron ship, launched April 4, 1888
The Starbuck went into commission
June Il, 1883, and she is TODAY trading
around the world. one of the most pic
turesque and profitable vessels of her
/ class III existence, sailing from New
/ York to San Francisco and from San
] Francisco to Calcutta as readily as
though steam had never been diScov-
cred. She was built for William II.
Starbuck of New York and named by
| him after his wife, Miss Tillie r. Irv-
ing, a Chester girl. This vessel was of
2.O3S tons, cost $150.0OO. which was con-
sidered great deal of money to put
into a sailing ship. was 273 feet long,
42.3 feet beam, 26.3 feet depth of hold
and 115 feet from her main truck to
| the water. She was the first sailing
vessel in the world to carry metal
masts. hers being of three-eights-inch
iron plates. But the Starbuck's super
iority TO many tramp steamers did not
depend entirely on her speed.
In building this vessel interesting
new problems had presented them
selves.
Comparing wooden shir with an
iron ship. the original cost 81 the latter
would be. saw, so per cent more thar
lHdl OF the former. But inc wooden
ship would have to be practically re-
built in fifteen years. while the cost
OF maintaining the iron ship for the
period would be ordinarily less than 10
per cent of the original cost The sea
worthinesS of the iron sailing ship was
splendidly shown by the behavior OF
the Starbuck in Il terrific gale around
the Falkland islands; her iron masts.
which We're purely experimental,
neither broke nor strained. although
she went through a test which proved
fatal TO MANY wooden vessels of the
highest class. which happened TO he in
the southern seas at that time
The StarbUck was an iron ship. The
first steel side-wheel merchant steamer
in the United States was the Alaskan,
launched in the Roach yards in SO.
for the Oregon Railway & Navigation
company. Her length over all was 1854
feet. her beam 500 and her depth 15.3
1t was from the successful achieve
ment of tasks like these that we turned
to the construction of the Dolphin. And
1t was only fitting that these great de-
partureS in this most ancient of trades.
now become an art as we'll as Il science,
should be made on the Delaware river
On that stream ShiDbuilding had re-
corded other notable achievements be-
fore my day. John Mills. our boat
yard foreman. who had charge as fore
man of the Starbuck. occupied The same
relation to the Dolphin. While he was
learning the trade at Whining
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07

the United States ever owned, was
also the first steel propeller built In
this country. Yet the Dolphin-now In
admirable trin-although she made
single voyage of $1,000 miles, the long
est on record, without an hours delay
for repairs of any kind, was not even
authorized by congress until March IL,
1888, but little over sixteen years ago
1t is owing to our mastery of steel
working in the past twenty years that
the steel ship is now the accepted type
of all marine architecture
The practical differences between the
iron plates in use on ships for many
years previous, and the steel plates
now universally adopted, are so vital
as TO be understood even by a non
expert. Yet there are doubtless few,
save those who have made the subject
a special study since boyhoOd, with
abundant opportunities of working out
practical problems, who realize the
romance in the history of the metal
ship. There is no more splendid eX-
ample of mans triumph over the forces
of nature. The idea of an iron ship,
structure requiring the greatest
buoyancy, made out of metal of the
greatest gravity, would have been con-
sidered by the ancients d contradiction
i'll terms. Yet they were fine workers
=
builders after their own ideas.
Iron-plated Wooden Fortress.
When the Dutch conceived the idea
of building a floating wooden fortress
and then plating il over with iron, they
made a. brilliant but unsuccessful start
in the right direction. The FINS
Belli had no steam to move her, and
became unmanageable. BY and by
there was a steam warship built, the
Fulton, or DemologCs, in 1914. but
she had no iron plates, and her deck
was sheathed with nothing more for
midable than heavy scantling. Yet
the idea of sheathing was still in evil
dence. When Ericsson invented the
propeller in 1887, in was inevitable that
there would be a screw warship, ans.
the Princeton was launched in 1889.
Then, in 1872, John Stevens built his
floating fort, sheathed it with iron, and
put heavy guns aboard, going back to
the idea of the Dutch, but nothing
practical came of it.
The civil war naturally stimulated
shipbuilding to renewed activity. John
Roach, my father. had already one of
the best equipped foundries and engine
works in the country. l can speak
from my own knowledge, for l had
served my apprenticeship under him in
the Aetna Iron Works, and later in the
Morgan Iron Works, and, as n boy,
even, had carried his dinner basket to
him when he was a workman in the old
Allaire works in New York. all of
which he afterward owned. When he
purchased what has since been Roach's
shipyard at Chester, Pa, in 1871, L
took an active position there, and.
since his death, in 1887, have had
charge of the works.
First Iron Gunboat
In the sixties, in this yard, there had
been built for the United States gov
eminent the monitors Lehigh, Sanga-
mon and Junxis, at least one of which
was again made ready for harbor de-
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07

and the spring of 1897.
In 1885, as a matter of preference,
James Lane Allen moved to New York.
where he resided until the winter of
1893 when he went temporarily to
Washington.
'The Choir Invisible
The story of the naming of The
Choir Invisible" his most successful
book, is interesting. The book is a re-
vision of John Gray" 1t was the orig
inal intention of Mr.. Allen, as well as
his publisher, to retain the first name
The agents of the house were on their
way to California, and every arrange
ment made for a thorough advertise
nent of the book as John Gray"
One morning Allen received a message
from the publishers. 1t was suggested
to him that it would be advisable to
change the name of the book. We can
reach our agents by Wire" il was said
before they get to San Francisco. We
must have the name, if there is to be a
change, at once
Give me two hours replied the
author
Allen went to his home at So Madison
avenue, and bowed his head upon his
desk. Suddenly the words of George
Eliot's famous poem came to his mind.
80 shall join the choir invisible
Whose music is the giadness of the
world
81 have it," said Allen.
Two hours later the title of the most
successful volume of American fiction
in twenty-five years had been tele-
graphed to San Francisco
J. F. MARCOSSON.
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07
EVOLUTION OF THE STEEL SHIP.
John Roach Tells Building Ago-Deve
ment OF the MeaHow the Dolphin"
the Modern Vessel Tine Sarbuck, Ship.

In the twenty-seven years I've been
shipbuilding on the Delaware, the first
steel warship. the first iron sailing ship
and the first steel steamship in the
United States have been built in our
yards, and the first compound marine
engine ever erected in this country was
also constructed here. 1t seems hard
to realize that such a thing as a steel
ship was unknown a quarter of a CEN
fury ago; whereas wooden ships plated
with iron were attempted as long ago
as 1855, by the Dutch. when they built
the FINS Belli in the river Scheldt,
hoping to annihilate the SDaniards
The Dolphin, the first steel warship
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07
AUTHORS STRUGGLE FOR FAME.
Intimate
of Him Washington Him DalyWhe He Works HW-Why
He Writes About Kentucky breads the Curious Public

Every afternoon, whether the sun
Shines or not. tall, dignified gentle
man walks down the stone steps Of a
plain looking private residence at 1921
K street, in Washington. and disap-
pears along one of the adjacent ave-
nues. He is erect and almost soldierly
In appearance, his hair is gray and his
mustache shows the white marks of
time. There is a kindly but fearless
look in the eyes that twinkle behind the
gold-rimmed spectacles. The dignity of
demeanor and innate charm of man.
ner strongly suggest the southern gen
tIeman of type fast passing away
This tall gentleman is the most cele-
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07
When Allen Was a Boy.

Allen comes from Virginia ancestry,
with Scotch-Irish antecedents. His
grandfathers on both sides were SOL
diers, and he is related to many of the
most distinguished families of the
south.
His father was Richard Allen and his
mother Helen Foster. Both had con-
siderable fortunes, but the recklessness
of the father resulted in a gradual
shrinkage of estate. James Lane Allen
was born in handsome two-story
brick country home on the Versailles
pike. seven miles from Lexington, in
the farfamed blue grass lands. 1t is d
most beautiful country, with rolling
lands and picturesque woods. Here
the boy spent his early childhood, alone
often with nature. When he was 4 years
old the family estate passed out of
their hands, and his mother moved to
a small area of land, which came to
her in the division of her fathers es-
tate. The new home where Allen was
to complete his youth and begin his
early manhood was only two miles
from Lexington.
His mother was woman Of rare
charms and gracious manner. From
his earliest childhood. Lane Allen was
much in her company. She was his
first teacher. The enforced solitude
when a child directed the whole course
0f Aliens life. In 1868 Allen matr1cu-
ated at Pennsylvania university at
Lexington. He entered under a seri-
Gus financial handicap. His father had
just failed in business. and he was
forced to walk to Lexington every day
and return Often he was insufficient
~ clothed. and one winter he was
without underwear. He suffered much
from exposure, and his death in later
years showed the results. Aliens first
college distinction was the fact that he
was the tallest man in his class. He is
remembered today as a finished class
zeal scholar. and was the best student
in Greek in the history of the institu-
ton. He detested mathematics, but
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07

graph. Through the window there is a
view of the housetops, with here and
there a patch of green, and an occa-
sional clump of trees. Every morning at
8 o'clock finds the author at his desk,
which stands alongside the window.
From 9 o'clock until noon Allen is hard
at work. All his work - done with a
stub pen. 1t is later copied by his
stenographer. He writes leisurely and
with great care. He never allows him.
self to be hurried, and is one of the few
authors who are absolutely blind to the
beck of the publisher. The first draft
of his work in manuscript is a mere
mould in which the remaining thoughts
are cast and reshaped and from which
the story issues in its complete form.
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07

afterwards sold to the French, who re-
christened her the Rochambeau.
The engagement in Hampton Roads
between Ericsson's Monitor and the
Merrimac had not only drawn the at
tention of France and other foreign
governments to the improvements
made in iron warships in the United
Staes, but resulted also in our govern
ment ordering the construction of the
iron Canonicus and AIahopas, and the
other "ninety-day boats" 1t was now
evident that the ironclad was the war
ship of the future. France. indeed, in
1854 had built the monitor Devastation.
and the Gloire in 1858, while Great
Britain had in 1859 authorized the
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07

our first steel warships. the dispatch
boat Dolphin. of 1.2o2 net tons. and the
protected cruisers Boston and Atlanta,
of 1926 tons, and the Chicago, of S,507.
The contracts for their construction
were awarded to John Roach, the low
est bidder. The building of a warship
of steei-a metal then so little known
in practical wOrking-waS a task that
might well tempt the most ardent am
bition. But already in December. 'S2.
we had taken a contract. fraught with
almos; equal possibilities, for the con-