St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-06-19

to render any assistance and went on he
way. The Mortified began to sink i'm
mediately but succeeded in almost reach
ing a pier before grounding. A tug boat
pushed her bow between the pier aEC
the sinking boat thus making bridge
over which most of the passengers IS
capped. Many others were saved by the
| tug boats which rushed to the ferry
boats aid. Only two lives were lost.
The United States transport ingalls,
tipped over in dry dock in the Erie Basin,
where she was awaiting repairs earlier
in the afternoon. One life was lost and
twenty-five or more men were seriousl y
injured. The transport was badly dam
aged and it will take several months to
put her in serviceable shape again. The
accident was caused by careless adjust
ment of the bilge blocks under the ship,
and by recklessness in attempting to ad-
Just the snoring timbers along her sides.
The Ingalls, was formerly the British
steel steamship Clearwater She was
240 feet long, with beam Of SO feet and
a depth Of 121A feet. She was used in the
fruit trade and was known in her earlier
days as "the Louisiana lottery boat"
because the results of the drawings in
Honduras were made known on her ar
rival at New Orleans. Some said the
drawings were made aboard of her. The
dry dock in which the accident happened
is said to have been built in 1850 and to
have had but few modern improvements.
Cubans Accept Plat Law.
The Cuban Constitutional Convention
Wednesday accepted the Plat amend
ment by a vote OF 16 to II. -Four men,
bers were absent. On May % last the
Cuban Constitutional convention voted
Is to IA, to accept the Plat amendment
in revised and modified form, to be at.
tached as an appendix to the Cuban
Constitution. These notifications pur-
ported to give the meaning of the
amendment as explained" by Secretary
Root to the members of the special COM
mission of convention delegates which
visited Washington and conferred with
the secretary OF war there. On May 81,
at a cabinet meeting in Washington, it
was decided that the action of the con-
vention was not Substantial" compil.
ance with the terms Of the amendment,
and the convention was informed that
the United States insisted on the adop-
ton OF the amendment without qualih-
cation. On Saturday, June 8, the Gu
bans in the meantime having appeared
to assume defiant attitude, Secretary
Root sent another sharp note to the
convention, informing the delegates that
until the Platt amendment was accepted
Cuba would continue to be ruled under
the war power of the president. The
chief points on which the first action of
the convention was satisfactory to this
government related to naval stations,
sanitation and intervention. The obi
gatory character was taken from the
naval stations paragraph, the santa
ton paragraph was modified in an OBJ
jectionable manner, and the right of the
United States to intervene was made
doubtful.
The administration officials have felt
confident all along that the ratification
would be accomplished when the Cubans
realized that this government was firm
in its attitude regarding the amendment
and that its acceptance would be neces-
sary before the United States would con-
sent to withdraw its supervision from
the island.
Now that the Cubans have demonstra-
ted their good faith in the United States,
it is expected that fairly speedy evacu-
alton of the island will follow, contin-
gent only on the establishment of a
stable government in the island.
A New Feature of Arctic Exploration
Packed in Theoretically sealed cans,
forty balloons have been shipped from
Quincy, ILL.,, to Tromsoe, Norway, where
the outfit will be added to the equipment
of the Baldwin Ziegler North Pole expe.
dition. These balloons are to be used to
mark the path of the expedition. To
each will be attached ten buoys, ten feet
apart, hanging one below the other,
weighing ten pounds each, and arranged
with liberator for detaching the buoys
one at time as they strike the earth. |
Each buoy will contain message, show
ing the latitude whence the balloon was
sent up, and such other word as the ex-
plorers care to leave behind. The buoys
are made of copper and cord and are
shaped like top. In the centre is hol-
low space, which will contain the mes
SageS. When a certain amount of the |
gas has escaped the balloon will descend. |
AS soon as it gets near enough to the
earth for one of the buoys to strike, the
lower one is Immediately detached, and,
liberated from the weight, the balloon
at once begins another ascent. This
operation is repeated automatically I'M
til all of the buoys have been dropped,
when the balloon, emptied of it's gas,
collapses and sinks to the ground. AS
there are forty of these this operation
will be continued until the four hundred
buoys are scattered over the Arctic re-
gions.
No Masonry for Negroes.
Thegrand lodge of Masons of the state
of Washington have rescinded the reso-
luton adopted two years ago recognz.
ing negro masonry. The action of the
lodge at that time was severely criticised
all over the United States and as a result
the next session of the grand lodge at
tempted to return to the old established
principles, but the resolution was so art
July drawn that sister lodges refused to
it as an honest expression. The
lodge has now in unmistakable language
made its position known.
Valuable Pearl.
About three weeks ago a Wisconsin
clam fisherman started down the Mis-
sissippi near Lansing, Ia, and foated in
his boat with the current until he
reached Prairie du Chen. Somewhere
between these two points he caught
clam in whose shell was h;dda,, tho