Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1907-06-26
SIGHTS OF BROOKLYN NAVY YARD.
THE WONDERS OF THE CITY AS VIEWED
BY THE COURIER MAN.

and New York are beginning to "sweat."
Very little of my time ia spent in New
York, but on severn, occasions during
the past week have gone over after $50
In the afternoon, and downtown the
heat, though not excessive, is sitting and,
to one accustomed to the free, open air
of Walhalls, oppressive in the extreme
80 much SO that, though CROSSED the
river to find amusement and pleasure, I
recrossed it within half An hour to find
at least comfort in cooler Brooklyn.
In way like both cities, but am
countryman enough to prefer that section
Of South Carolina known as Goods coun-
try" the Piedmont; but above all pre-
fer old Walhalla, with all her short-com-
ings. Lacking much that the oity affords,
she yet has that which more than offsets
the city's advantages-pure, health Civ
ing air and water; a climate in which one
can really live until one dies, and not
Idle daily" all through life.
Last Saturday afternoon (the Mergen-
thaler Company closes everything at 12
o'clock Saturdays) spent at the Brook
lyn Navy Yard, where there are battle
ships, cruisers, gunboats and few sub
marine boats anchored for repairs, and
ono large battleship in suoh early stage
of construction as to scarcely give an
idea ss to its shape, and not even an ink
ling as to immensity when completed.
Our party Of five was shown through the
alabama" Though not one of the
really large boats of Uncle Sans fleet,
yet she is quite an imposing vessel, with
| 13-inch guns fore and aft. These guns
throw shells weighing 1880 pounds a
distance of fifteen miles when the guns
are trained at their highest elevation.
The charge of powder required is 24O
! pounds. To the sides of the Alabama
and in the turrets are guns of all sizes,
ranging down to 3-inoh guns that throw
the long steel projeotiles. The velocity
attained by these projeotiles is greater
than that of the shells from the l3-inch
guns, but they are shorter-range and in.
tended for use in actual combat between
battleships rather than for effectual de-
structive work in firing inland from the
"'sSA' wv "0Ao NV pOl ulOIcu W
the Connecticut, which is one of the
largest ships in the Navy, and the largest
in the Navy Yard at present. She is q
monster, and was discharging her stores
OF ammunition preparatory to going into
the dock for examination and possibly
repairs.
Returning from the Navy Yard we
came through Navy street, and there
| witnessed sight that impressed upon us
the fact that, while Brooklyn has neither
Bowery or Chinatown to compete with
those of New York, still she has street
that is close akin to both in the character
and looks of the Chinks, Dagoes, coons
and half-breeds that infect it. AS we
turned corner little street Arab was
run over bya heavy dray, a rear wheel
crushing his foot from instep to toes.
The cries Of the little fellow brought a
comrade to his assistance; then another
joined them, then another, and another;
the street filled, packed, jammed, over
flowed into stores and side streets-all
eager and determined to see the ragged,
grimy urchin as he passed; some catching
leg, an arm, his shabby clothing, and
pulling him back in order to witness his
wound and his suffering. Where the
mass of dirty humanity thronged the
street came from was moro than we could
tell. They dropped from windows, rose
from --openings-came from any
where, everywhere, nowhere to all ap-
pearances - moro like rats frightened
from rat-infected barn than anything
else I can picture. Where all these peo-
pie stay, and how they manage to exist
IN their grimy, filthy surroundings, is a
puzzle to me. When once a Dago or
Chinese settlement is started in a street,
that street is doomed AS fast as the
white people (the respectable ones) can
move out they do ii, and soon the whole
population of the district is reveling in
its dirt and mire.
Brooklyn has it's beautiful streets and
avenues, however, and large and impos-
ing public buildings. Within a block
from where / am staying is Pratt Insti-
tute, one of the largest and best known
| colleges of this State. The final exami-
nations have been in progress now for
s"o 7Taohs, and to-day it Closed. There
were more than 1900 students this year,
and the faculty runs into the hundreds.
just across the street from it is the Pratt
Public Library, both having been heavily
endowed by Mfr. Pratt, one of the early
presidents of tho Pennsylvania Railroad,
and at one time promoter of the system
of street railways, subways and elevated
railroads in New York and Brooklyn,
which are now consolidated into one