The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-08
ENGINEERS SEE Big GUNS.
ALIENS IN THE PARTY PLEAS
ANTLY IMPRISONED.
Not Allowed 10 inspect the Secrets Of Uncle
Sans Most Perfect Coast Defence
Plant MANY BIg and Little Guns and
Mortars Are Fired st sandy Hook,

AHN NA1N
Was appa rently mad.
For he sat on the after rail;
And he fred salutes
With the captains boots
In the teeth Of the bowling gale.
Cur Wetmors CGrrUL
So far as firing salutes in the teeth OF
bowling gale was concerned, nearly en
members Of the American Society OF Me
chanioal Engineers who went yesterday
to the Sandy Hook proving ground ana
Fort Hancock on a special train were ready
to indorse the Carryl Jingle, but there were
seven members Of the party who were
almost willing to indorse the ditty literally
To them Uncle sam apparently was mao
n the salutes he fired might as well havs
been from the after rail and with the cap
tsin's boots. They were aliens receiving
special courtesies, and not until they had
been kept prisoners in the library Of the
c~ommsndant's Office for nearly an hour d'd
they realize that they were under duress
and the polite Lieutenant who had been
detailed to look after their comfort wss
really their Jail keeper.
They heard the big guns and the little
guns boom and roar and they saw the
throng of sight seers pass and reosss, the
latter holding their ears in the cold or
digging the sand out Of their eyes or nos
trils, and the polite Lieutenant kept telling
them how much more comfortable they
were where il was nice and warm. Ihey
idgeted about and several times trled 70
get out. Then. when a reporter, who was
one Of them and whose newspaper ex-
| pected a good story" from him, caught on
and began TO refer to his fellows in cap
tivity as the Ellis Island bunch and 70
ask the warden if they would finally get
their clothes back, the Others grew wise
! and the Lieutenant had TO blurt out that he
had orders 10 keep the lonely seven where
they were until il was train time, when he
would put them on the cars and see That
they got out safely without being able 70
look at the finest coast defences Uncle Sam
has. and which more American citizens saw
in a lump yesterday than all the other
American citizens combined ever did. with
the exception Of army officers, since the
/ Notifications were starter.
For lie it known, il is against the Law -
allow aliens 10 visit our Notifications. The
army knew that and the task II tired
10 carry out was to hold the seven aliens
/ DrlkOIl0fS ana not leL ItlcID tpdhy wv" '"N'
were in Jail. The army wanted to be polite;
the reporter spoiled the game. One Of ths
partv was a Japanese. Somebody with a
nose for news got on the telephone and
forthwith an evening newspaper came our
with a great story of a Jap spy being caught
a, Sandy Hook trying 10 steal our secrets of
war.
The aliens were gathered up by a russ.
When the train reached Uncle Sans prop
erty an army officer with Prof r, r. Hutton.
the new president of the society, anne
through and the army officer asked; ANY
one not a citizen of the United states
please be kind enough 10 follow me Theirs
was a hint of special couTtesies. The
foreigners bit and trailed into the last car.
where they were introduced to a genial man
in uniform. Lieut.. Cross. who had bee"
detailed TO look after their comfort specially.
They were pleased. He kept them IN .
bunch AT the proving ground, where there
are no Notifications and then hlandlv lei
them into captivity and tried has best TO
entertain them in a nice warm library,
Conversation soon ran low, the epog1er
woke up and il was all on.
There were two Germans. one English
man. one Frenchman, one japanese, ons
Canadian and one Scotchman IN the party.
The reporter was Scotch. After the thud
came the Engli-hman grew touChy. Va
called the treatment he received poppy
cock" and -tommyrot. and he asked what
there was in the old fort anyway Engian1
had ten times a. fine defenCeS, and besides
who cared to look at an old sand heap with
a lot Of guns buried IN it. The Germans
simply couldn't talk. When the Scotch
man, alive 10 the situation. suggested NAV
one of them write 10 Kaiser Bill about
il the German said
Il dink ~. les, mebbe, no.
The Frenchmar and the Canadian we're
too ~astonished to make any remarks Not
' so the little Jap. He pored through the
books and then he got foxy. He tried "a
pump Cross. The latter was as dry az the
whirling sand outside. The Jap asked for
a map. Gross finally got him . railroad
splash with Sandy Hook marked on it.
That wouldn't do. Then he asked for .
man of the Qualifications. There was none
for aliens. He then wanted to know how
many guns, how large they were and In
what position.
Cross suddenly began to talk about the
latest variety OF bull pup and the potential
energy of a fullback 5 kick against the wind
in the Army-Navy game, with comments
on the balllstio power of a forward pass
when the man who catches H. rIDs up against
three Of the other side. The Britisher laid
some more about -tommyrot," and Cross
looked panied. He got tangled and he
mixed up Peary's dash for the North Pole
with the Vanderbilt cup race-booml out
side-and the Horse Show will the-boomI
boom, outside mortar battery goes on
poolroom raids, and united States flag flap
ping on a pole in a fifty mile gale w~ith-great
big booml outside Qand mine explodes)-ar
army post laundry swatting against the
sand in the gusts--rattlety bang, zip.
, c-r-r-r-r-r screech a inch howitzer doing
stunts along the shore). Well, Cross had
run down and he wiped his brow as he
slowed his grumbling guests on the cars and
heard the train whistle its starting signal
Cross is willing now to take a job in this
l Philippines.
The train that brought the party had
= first been shunted on a Y TO the proving
ground, where close 20 the track lay the