The Savannah morning news., 1903-01-10


sisting of 104 loaded cars, containing
4,O13 tons. was handled between Sayre
and Weldon. Penn, a distance Of
eighty-two miles, by a single loeomo-
tive. From what we are able TO
learn" says THE Railway and En-
gineering Review" this is one of the
heaviest trains ever handled with one
engine for the distance, or over an en-
tire freight division
Thomas b Walker. who has been
many years, says the Minneapolis
Journal, has returned to Minneapolis
after an absence of six months. the
holder of enough timber lands to give
him the title of lumber king of the
world. Mr.. Walker now owns the
largest tracts of pine timber possessed
by any person or firm in the country.
In Northwestern California he has
purchased standing timber tracts which
viii last for manufacture sixty years.
200-mile railroad will be built
through the tract. Mr.. Walkers time
will be devoted to development of this
timber land.
There seems to be a growing ten
dency on the part of Fifth avenue
firms that do a good deal of billboard
and street car advertising to write
their address with" avenue instead of
the old-fashioned Fifth avenue, to
which we have been accustomed, says
the New York Times. Even out-of-
town correspondents seem to be TAX
ing up the habit, and postmen report
that they handle number of letters
addressed to NSuch-and-such a number,
With" avenie. So far as has been OBJ
he Ioxr -
adopted the Roman numerals, but the
chances are that within another year
We will all be riding down lid"
WITH" and With" avenues.
The provision of the Virginia Code
exempting from service on the grand
jury the owner or occupier of a grist-
mill, says Law Notes, is an interest
ing example of a law which has been
allowed to remain on the statute book
long after it's usefulness and the con-
dition that called it into being have
ceased to exist. Attention has been
directed to it by reason of the fact
that some days ago a citizen of Nor
folk claimed the benefit of this exemp-
tion-the first time it has been claim
ed, according to reports, in many
years. When the statute was passed,
serious Inconvenience to the citizens
of the surrounding country might have
arisen as a result of summoning a
mill owner from his work, but the
mill owner is no longer so important
a member of the community.
-Hathamite, the invention of Penn
sylvanian, G.. M. Hathaway of Wells
borough, is the newest and said to be
also the most powerful explosive
known. 1t has also many qualities
that render it remarkable. Lighted
matches may be thrown into it with
out producing any effect according to
a description of it given by the Scien-
tific American. A handful of the ex-
plosive may be laid on an anvil and
pounded into impalpable powder with
a sledge. Similarly shells may be ex
ploded near a quantity of hathamite
without inducing disastrous results, and
finally rifle balls fired into small
masses of it are likewise without in
f1uence. This latter is in a way the
most severe test to which an explosive
may be subjected, and consequently no
little surprise was created when at the
recent initial demonstration of the
properties of hathamite the inventor
filled a tin box with the explosive and
fired rifle balls through it at a speed
of 1880 feet a second.
KS
in the anthracite. regions certain, indi-
viduals turned to the huge piles of
mine refuse, called culm, which litter
the coal fields. The finely divided coal
recovered from these heaps which had
been exposed to the elements for d
great many years, and the coal taken
from river beds where it had been sub
merged for perhaps a decade. found
a ready sale. especially to manufactur-
ing concerns. When the purchasers
undertook to burn it under their boil
ers it was found practically valueless
The scientific explanation why this coal
was really, after all, not coal, is illus
trated by recent communication to
the Paris Academic DIES Sciences by VI.
Moissan. Coal is amorphous carbon,
and the French savant found that
while the temperature of the combus-
ton of amorphous carbon is between
three and five hundred degrees Cent?
grade yet oxidation takes place slowly
at much lower temperatures, either in
dry or moist air. Now combustion or
burning, is only rapid oxidation, and it
is plainly obvious why the fine coal
which had been exposed in piles or I'M
der water for long time had so ma
terially deteriorated. OF course, the
oxygen of the air and water had grad
ually combined with it, and slowly
but surely. burned it up without either
heat or fire.
An entirely new thing in boat
building, notes the Scientific Ameri-
can, is in the course of construction
at one of the yards near st. Louis,
Mo. 1t is boat which is designed to
meet all the requirements of traffic in
both deep and shoal water. The craft
is the design of Capt. George o. Rog-
ers, who is well known in transporta-
ton circles in the South, having been
identified with marine and railroad
hulls, one within the other each form
ing perfect boat. The inner hull is
of much greater draught than the out
er one, and in shallow water service
1.-THE inner one is raised by means of
jacks, so that the greater part of it's
weight is sustained by the outer hull
and the upper works are raised about
ten feet above the deck of the outer
hull. In this position the boat has a
very light draught, calculated to be
available for use on the shallow riv-.
ers of the South. For deep-water traf-
fic the inner hull is lowered. This
boat was especially designed for the
trade between the Beaumont oil fields
and st. Louis, but the inventor sees a
much wider range of usefulness for it.
He expects to demonstrate it's value
by the boat which is now being built
and which will soon be ready for serv-
ice. Capt Rogers was at one time a