davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25
WAR TELLING ON THE QUEEN.
THE STRAIN WITH TRULY RE-
MARIIABLE FORTITUDE.

Rigid Routine and Plenty of Fresh
Air-These and a Somewhat PhIeg-
matte Temperament Keep Her in
Fair Health, Despite MOtherIy
Suffering That Would Have Killed
More Nervous Woman, Though
No One Denies That She Is Failing.
LOndOn's Profound Social Depres-
siOn-Recent Incidents in VictOria's
Daily Life.
London, Feb. 10-(Special correspond
enD-Queen Victoria's Teutonic tempera-
ment, her increasing passion for system,
regularity and routine, her persistence in
getting fresh air by a long drive twice
a day, are all that have saved her health
in the present war, for she has taken ii
10 heart more in the fashion of mother
mourning for her dead sons than an
Empress presiding impersonally over the
destinies of men.
A nervous, imaginative woman who in
sisted on having a hand in the actual
management of affairs. and who. there
fore, would have to hold herself response
BILE to some extent for conditions in the
ed great age, would have been killed by
this war had she felt its horrors as keen
ly and personally as does the most phleg-
matte Queen Victoria.
Although il is no longer attempted to
conceal the fact that the Queen is fail
ing, 1 have not been able to find any good
authority for the report that she is fail
ing very rapidly, or that she has given
way to spells of sobbing upon the receipt
of bad news from the seat of war, or
that there is any present indication that
the Prince\of Wales will be anything more
than heir to the throne a year from to-
day. 1 understand that unless these con-
ditions change soon no especial fear will
be felt for her. And after she has got
away to her beloved outdoor life in the
Riviera she will be all right. 1t was
hoped she would go there direct from
quiet Osborne, but it seems that she has
determined to come back to Windsor first
Thus far the Queen has made no change
In her private life on account of the war
She has said, however, that the telegraph
has brought ii closer TO her than the Cri-
mea came, and there is no doubt that it
is troubleing her sorely When the only
other great war of Her Majestys reign
that with Russia-was fought the Queen
was only "a, and her husband was by her
side. She is now in her S1st year, and
seems to feel as much alone as when the
Prince Consort was newly dead.
Keeping Watch of the War.
Last Christmas was the first since 1886
when little Alexander of Battenberg
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

Ste Ignace and the Ste Marie. Russian Off
GERS came from time to time 10 report up
on the boats, and at last their designer
Frank E. Kirby of Detroit, was invited TO
go to Russia, and submit plans Tor an Ice
breaker. He accepted the invitation anu
his plans for the Lake Baikal ferry, with
a wheel in her bow, were adopted 1t was
expected that the ship would be built IN
Detroit and delivered knocked down.
but the terms offered were unacceptable
aud the contract fially was to an Engi
shipbuilding firm. The vessel is Ettle
shorter than the Ste Marie, but somewhat
broader. and very heavy and substantial
in her build.
Since then several ice breakers of the
Ste Ignace type have been built in Eu-
rope, one of the most noteworthy being
in the service of Finland. She is compara-
lively small, 202 feet in length by 40 feet
bear, and is used principally in keeping
the port of Hango open through the WIN
ter season.
The Ermack is the latest. Her winters
were to be spent in the Baltic, and dur
ing the spring and summer she was to
cruise northward to the Kara Sea ana
along the northern coast of Siberia The
task laid out for her was the hardest ever
allotted to any ship, and Admiral Makar-
off, her designer, was evidently determlh-
ed to profit as much as possible by the
experience of previous ice breakers. Not
satisfied with reports made by subordi-
nate officers he came himself, and spent
some time in personally inspecting the
Ste Marie watching her movements in the
ice and consulting with her commander,
Capt Boynton. The result of the Admit
rails investigations and his skillful plan
ming was the most perfect ice breaker
ever built. The Ermack is the same length
as the Ste Marie, 305 feet, but consdera
bly, broader, deeper and heavier. La her
stern are three propelling screws, each
fourteen feet in diameter, and in her bow
is a fourth wheel thirteen feet in diam
eter, for breaking ice. All are of nickel
Steel and tremendously thick and heavy.
The engines aggregate twelve thousand
horse power, and they, with the propeH-
ors, are made so strong and substantial
that they can be brought up all standing,
by striking heavy ice, without danger of
serious injury. one of the Ermacks most
intere sting features is an arrangement for
pumping hot water so as to allow it to
flow through suitable valves and run
down the outside of the ships skin, melt
ing off any ice that may have accumu-
lated on her bow in freezing weather. An
other popularity is a V-shaped recess cut
in her stern, into which the bow of an
other vessel can be dashed, thus enabling
the Ermack to tow a consort, or the con-
sort to help the Ermack in pushing
through an unusually heavy ice gorge.
But the great secret of her success lies,
not in the features which Admiral Max
aroff may have added, but in the wheel
under her bow.
William D. Hubert.
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

was born-that the Queen has spent at
Windsor. She is in the habit of leaving
for Osborne House, in the Isle of Wight,
a few DAYS before Christmas, but the dis
heartening nature of the news from South
Africa and the prospect of immediate fur
Their developments caused her to postpone
her journey in order to be more closely in
touch with the war office. In those few
DAYS it was her custom to request public
men who were TO dine with her to eau
upon both Lord Lansdowne and Lord
Wolseley before leaving town, so as TO
bring her the latest news.
Soon after Christmas, however, the
Queen went to Osborne, where she is al
most entirely free from state and social
duties. But she arranged beforehand to
be in constant communication with the
war. office and IT is in retirement there
that she has been following the war,
feeling bitterly every loss sustained by
cher men" as she loves to call them,
entering earnestly into every movement
for their relief and the care of their wives
and children. and occasionally sending
personal messages of encouragement to be
read to the soldiers
She requires that all lists of the killed
be shown to her and has frequently man.
Tested deep grief over them, especially
when men she knew personally and val
ued highly have been among the slain.
For this reason her attendants strive to
keep her from dwelling on tho subject,
and several mes recently when the con-
versation at the royal table has turned
UPON the war, one Of the ladies Of the
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25
STEAMER STE. MARIE.

From 1881 to 1888 the Straits of Mack
mac We're the scene of many desperate
battles with the ice. Early in 1880 three
railways arrived at the strait-two from
the south and one from the north. Be
tween Mackinaw City. the northern term
mus of the two southern lines,
and ST Ignace, the southern terminus of
the northern one, lay the straits broad
channel six miles in width from wharf TO
wharf and blocked with ice for weeks
and months every winter and spring. A
connection of some kind was absolutely
necessary, and the three roads co-operated
in organizing the Mackinac Transports
ton Company. whose sole business was to
keep a steamer running continuously,sum-
mer and winter, across the straits.
The Algomah, the first boat built for
the service, was modelled on the tug Pilot
of Croustadt, Russia. The Algomah is
only 1876 feet long and thirty-three feet
in breadth, but she is strong, heavy and
substantial. Her hull is of good sheathed
with steel. She draws thirty feet aft. To-
ward the bow her bottom rounds up out
of tue water, in a shape some what like
the front of a sledge. Her engine is large
for her size and her owners thought she
could force herself up on TO the heaviest
ice, and that her weight would crush ii.
Her arrival at the straits caused much ex-
element, naturally, and her subsequent
struggles with the ice where watched
with interest, 10 h at st. Ignace and Mack
NAV.
The first winter of the Algomah's SER
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

upon the secret of the successful ice
breaker. Out there In the ice pack Of the
Straits of Mackinac the Ermack was
born
But, though the secret had been found,
the Algomah was not very good al making
use of it. The current would not reach to
any great distance, and every little while
il was necessary to stop the engine, back
the boat into the opening which she had
made in the jam, take a new hold with
the anchor and lines and repeat the sper-
alton. But she kept at it. now stern fore
most, now bow foremost, now pausing to
give the dynamiters a chance, and after
three weeks work she steamed into St
Ignace. McCool then tried to get his prin-
cipals to build bigger ice breaking
steamer of an entirely new type.
in her bow, which was 10 throw a cur
rent of water forward and break up
the ice, while another and larger wheel
while some of The men TO whom he sub
others held back and so the matter was
dropped for the time. McCools idea was
much talked over among vesselmen, how
over. One lake captain declared that he
had once worked through the straits by
flashing two propeilors together, bow to
bow, ana causing one to push the other,
stern first, through the ice thus making
practically one boat with wheel in each
end, though mis- story cannot be vouched
for
Meanwhile The Algomah fought her fee
be way through the ice fields for years.
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

absent herself from concert at Windsor
Castle while he was there. 1t was said in
excuse of these falings that she was in
mourning for the death of the late Prn-
cess Won Leiningen. This preteXt is believ-
ed to have been nothing more than time
~ and tactful afterthought though, for
it is one of the strongest traditions of Her
Majesty's family that royalty should ana
must be above weakness or ailments This
was a precept introduced into England by
George III, though Of long standing in
the Hanoverian succession. The Prince
Consort was among its sianchest support
ers; but the doctrine is deiied by the Prince
of Wales who insists on being III when he
is i'll.
The Queen. however, clings closely to
tradition. She is disturbed If the furniture
or the appearance of any part of her
dwelling is changed the slightest II was
only after long argument that she per-
mitted the castle at Windsor and the
Royal Mausoleum to be lighted with cleo.
tricity, and she was greatly shocked and
displeased the other day on hearing that
the remains of the Duke of Westminster
had been cremated. though by his own or
der.
Deep Personal soIicitude.
The heavy contributions made from her
privy purse to the war fund. her personal
patronage of relief funds, her marked con-
sideratlon of the American nurses and
surgeons who went to South Africa on
the hospital ship Maine. the recent gift IF
two highly priced paintings. one by her.
self and the other by the Prince Consort,
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

vice was comparatively open, and for
some time she had things her own way.
But late in January a bowling gale came
down the straits form the West, bring
ing great quantities of ice which blocked
the channel completely 1t took the AL
eomah a week, though helped with dyna-
mite, TO make her way across. and her
final victory over the ice was a hollow one
for clearly she could not maintain contin-
uous navigation. She had little further
trouble that winter. however, but in the
middle of next January, 37-mile-an-hour
gale arrived at Mackinac, and the straits
began TO fill up with ice gorges, much as
they had done the previous winter. The
Algomah left st. lgnace at the hight Of
the storm, and. after battling with the
gathering ice for two days, succeeded IN
reaching her wharf at Mackinaw City.
Starting back. she worked along for two
miles, and then ran up on to some very
heavy ice and hung there. Superintendent
McCool of one of the three railroads was
sent for and he came down from Marquette
on a special train. bringing a dynamite eX-
pert along. They saw at once that the
blockade was the worst they had encoun-
tered ana that even with the aid of ex-
plosives ii would be difficult If not impos-
sible. 20 open the channel from shore 10
shore.
McCool's Idea.
But McCool remembered having seen
tug fastened 10 the bank on the Ham
burg canal at Buffalo, and working at fun
speed 10 make a current and carry of the
sewage which drained into the ditch. Her
wheel was making tremendous disturb
ance, and AcCool conceived the idea that
a current produced I'm the same manner
and thrown against the ice pack might
loosen 1t and wash II TO pieces. So the
Algomah was turned round and the crew
made her fast by lines and anchors to the
solid ice that surrounded her. Then the
engine was started ahead. and as she
could not move forward on account OF
her moorings. the water was forced TO
move back. The big screw threw perfect
cataract astern. 1t might not have had
much effect against a wall of solid ice,
but, like most Ice gorges on either the
lakes or the ocean, the frozen windrow in
the case was composed of many layers,
cakes and fragments. and the rushing wa
ter,penetrating every crack and Granny be-
tween them, swept them away al q spring
.reshet carries everything in Its course
ne problem Was solved; McCool had hit
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

Battalion of the same regiment, now serv-
ing in South Africa and prominent in the
battle of Belmont, all touched the hearts
of the people. This last occasion was a
memorable one. The women and children
clustered eagerly about the Queens car
riage and the little ones were held up by
proud parents, who wished them to be able
to say that they had seen the sovereign
at close range, while the Queen spoke a
few words of personal sympathy to each
of the wives whose husbands were at the
front.
The general feeling of gratitude to the
Queen for disarranging her plans and re-
naming at Windsor for Christmas was
not shared either by her servitors or the
trades people of the town. 1t was no small
task to pack up a whole court take it out
of its wrappings and then pack it all up
again, but this is what the folk at Wind
sor Castle had to do. Over half OF the
court servants We're already at Osborne
House. when the Queens sudden decision
brought them all hurrying back again, and
one of them. an officer, who had been IN
Her Majesty's household for fifty years,
took cold during the trip and died, leaving
a wife and eight children. There was a
corresponding disturbance when the
Queens intention TO retire to Osborne was
announced.
Among the shopkeepers of Windsor,
however, the Queens periodical fittings
are welcomed joyfully, for as soon as she
is gone the state apartments are thrown
open to visitors, strangers promptly ar
rive in shoals and the trade barometer In
Windsor rises.
At BOrdighera.
When the Queen leaves England few
weeks hence, instead of visiting Nice, as
she has done of late years, her majesty
will inhabit the Hotel Angst, at Bordig-
hera, and Italy is correspondingly bene-
fitted at the expense of France, thanks TO
those caricatures. Brodighera is not
gay sojourning place, although it tried TO
be once, and a casino intended to rival
Monte Carlo was started there, but the
high minded italian government put its
foot down hard on the project There is
little English settlement, presided over
by George Macdonald, the novelist, but
the village is chiefly celebrated for its
palm trees. There are more of them, 1t
is said, than in the entire city of Jeru-
salem, and the little town supplies all
the palms that are used in the churches
at Rome
At the Hotel Angst the Queen is to be
surrounded by furniture, which will be
counterpart of that at Balmoral, and she
will occupy the bedroom used frequently
by the Empress Frederick, her daughter
who on the occasion of the Queens visit,
will take villa near by. Her majesty Will
be accompanied by Princess Beatrice, who
is her righthand In all save state affairs
and, Of course, by her household and la
dies-in- waiting. Marshall Lord.
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25
HIS ASHES FIRED FROM GUN.
Strange Pledge of Closson TO HIS
Dead wife FuIfIIed.


Philadelphia, Feb. 12-The body OF
James Closson, former Union spy, was
cremated in Germantown yesterday and
within a few days the ashes will be blown
from gun to the four winds. Closson
died a few days since at his home in
Manayunk. Many years ago he agreed
with his wife that when they died their
bodies should be incinerated and blown TO
the winds in the Virginian mountains
where he had courted her. When Mrs.
Closson died the Borrowing husband iul-
filed his contract. Then, in anticipation
of his own death, he drew up papers or
dering the disposition of his own body ID
like manner Before death he made a son
promise to carry out mis- wishes to tho
letter.
Blossoms career was romantic one.
He was born in Manayunk, in 1882, but
left there when a boy for a wandering
life, and was not again heard of by reia-
tives for forty years. He spent his youth
and early manhood in Virginia as a boat
man. and possessed a wonderful knowl-
edge Of the inland waterways. When the
Civu War broke out the Confederates
confscated his property, in revenge he be-
came a Union spy, and rendered invalu"
able service.
He met his future wife in mountain
GERS cottage in the Virginia mills one
day, when the Confederates were hos on
his trail. The young woman concealed
him in loft without the knowledge OF
her father, and threw the soldiers who
were In pursuit off the track. She gave
him food and shelter for several days.
Closson acknowledged he owed his life
to the mountaineer's daughter, and after
the war he went back and married her
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

half as broad again, and very much deep
er. with railway tracks laid upon her deck
so that she could carry train of cars
bodily across the straits. The feature
which most interested us was the screw
in her bow There has been a good deal
Of discussion as to who first suggested
this feature. Some say that 1t was Nc
Cool, others that it was Capt. James, Mil
len of Detroit, and still others have claim
ed that Capt. George C. Ketchum of Mac
kinac Island was the real inventor.
'the new boat was completed in the early
spring, and Capt. Boynton went down to
Detroit to take command. She left De-
troit April l. and Port Huron on the sth.
A morning or two later she hove in sight
hftfen or twenty miles away to the east
ward, and surrounded by solid fields of
ice twenty-four TO thirty inches thick.
All DAY she drew steadily nearer. MUNICH
ing her way through the ice fields as a
darky goes through a slice of Watermelon
Many and many a time we had watched
the steamers coming up the north channel
by the exact route that she was taking
but never before had one come saiIinn
through the ice pack in this fashion. And
never before had a steamer received such
welcome TO the straits as she got Five
miles TO the eastward she was met nv n
crowd OF men, women and children. some
on root and some in sleighs, who walked
and drove beside her and In front Of nor
ana escorted her in triumph up the chan
mel Ior many years IT had been the Gus
toIn OF fort Mackinac to fire a gun as a
salute 10 the first boat that reached the
island after the ice went out in the enrinr
but me Sc lgnace received three guns
she reached her wharf about 10 o'clocl, g.,
the evening, and the cheering and shout.
ing of the welcoming crowds were heard
mile away.
Copying the 50, Ignace.
The best testimonial TO the nrou,es, .,
we oIe ishace Is the manner in which she
has been copied. After a few vears sbo
was found 20 be too small for the increas-
ing traffic at the straits, aud IN 1q8 nc
SIC Marie was launched. SHE resembles he
older boat aud operates in exactly ~
same way but is much larger and NOR.
powerful.
Early in the 9O's the Russian govern
nent was IN need Of a steamer that could
transfer cars across Lake Baikal, on the
line of the Trans-Siberian Railway and
its attention was drawn TO the work of the
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

Sometimes she would be weeks getting
across the straits. Several times her steel
sheathing was torn off. Her screw was
twisted out of all shape by the ice repeat
eddy. One winter she was laid up for
weeks, the ice being so bad that attempt
ed naWgatio was apparently equivalent
to shipwreck
1t took patience and perseverance, cour-
age and energy, to run the Algomah. My
fathers house stood on high ground over
looking the straits. When the beat was
stuck we boys used to drive pins into the
window sash and sight across them to see
whether she was moving. Sometimes she
did not seem to make an inch of Roadway
from one day to another. Sometimes, when
We came down to breakfast and paused at
the dining room window to glance across
the pin heads, we found that she had
moved few lengths since the previous
day. Or perhaps she had disappeared al
together from her old position, and, look
ing from another window, we could see
her ploying steadily through the ice to-
ward one or the other of her two ports.
But there came a time when McCoof 5
idea was put 20 the test.
McCOOFs Idea Utilized.
All through the winter of 1888 reports
kept coming up from Detroit of a wonder
full steamer which was being built for the
Mackinac Transportation Company, and
was to be capable of demolishing all the
ice in the Great Lakes. There was an I'M
verified rrmor, indeed, that if desired the
new boat could dig a canal across the
upper peninsula. She was 10 be named
St Ignace IN honor of our town, and was
to he 100 feet longer than the Algomah,
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

Detroit, Feb. 22.-Vesselmen and ship
builders who are interested in keeping the
ports of the Great Lakes and the ST.
Lawrence open have been generally adj
vised TO study the great new Russian ice
steamer, Ermack. Without doubt she the
most powerful craft of her class ever
launched, and she is. certainly doing great
things for the winter commerce of north
European ports But though built on the
other side of the Atlantic under the d.
rection of the Russian Admiral Makaroff,
the Ermack is essentially an American in
Venton.
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

Queens family has signalled that another
topic would be desirable.
The personal depression felt by the
Queen when news of heavy losses is re-
ceived is intensified by the fact that It
reminds her of her own loss. Dec. II,
the anniversary of Prince Albert's death,
found her in great bitterness of spirit.
She was unable to give much personal at
tention to the entertainment of the Kaiser
when he visited her and was obliged to
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25
ICE IN MACKINAc STRAITS.
AMERICAN PROTOTYPES OF THE
FAMOUS RUSSIAN ICE BREAKERS.

Admiral MakaroH Took Lessons
From Captain BOyntOn-How the
st. Ignnce and the stiII More Pow
Through the Earlier Algomah's
FaiIures-Its Design Was Suggest
ed by an Earlier Russian Model.
Long and Patient Contests With
Frozen water That Were Finally
Crowned with Success.
IItlllAnrf
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

Jones erumbles at cold weather."
Eyes"
"And he grumbles at hot weather."
YES"
what does he like?"
"Ie likes to grumble. Chicago Recor'
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

Queen Victoria still adheres to set
of dietary rules and health prescriptions
given her many years ago by Sir william
Jenner.
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

Gaybead purely vegetable medicine Hon W. Treadwel
Ga, said of it. 1T medicine take it
health should have particular
Gaybead bottles
Graybeard Pills 25c box. Ointment
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

Copyright. 1900, by w. D. Hulbert)