Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-02
WHALE IN FRISCO HARBoR.
Secretary Of Agriculture Called Upon
to Stop Leviathan's Trespass.

San Francisco's woes did not end with the
earthquake and succeeding labor troubles
Just at present the water front is terrorized
by hobo whale which interferes with the
shipping and has everything its own way
An impassioned appeal reached The Star
this morning from Maj. g. W. S. Stevens
Coast Artillery Corps, who is in charge Of
the harbor Mines asking If the Bureau of
Commerce and Labor could not be induced
to take the matter up. at is pretty tough. :"
says the major, that the harbors are not
respected by the denizens of the Pacific
Details OF one of the outrages committed
by the lawless cetacean are given in a elm
ping from a San Francisco newspaper in
closed by the petitioner for assistance 1t
appears that on the afternoon OF September
~ the launch Warrior. manned by Engineer
Peruzovich and Robert Farrelly. was choo-
chooing along merrily, with Farrelly sitting
happily in the stern rolling a cigarette
when suddenly frightful bump disturbed
the serenity Of the voyagers. 1t turned out
that the launch had hit the whale The
whale promptly hit back, Shaping the boat
SO hard that 1t was lifted several feet from
the water and dropped with a bang with
some of the planks started.
The lookout on the torpedo boat DESTROY
er Preble saw the occurrence, and that fra1l
craft, constructed only for war and not i'm
mune TO whales. promptly fled and hid be-
hind the liner st. Louis. The water began
to pour into the started seams of the
launch and she was hurried to a dock
where she sank before her lines could he
made fast.
Undoubtedly something ought to be done
| to protect the sanctity Of San Francisco
harbor, but 1t Is a question whe Their Mai
Stevens request that the Department OF
| Commerce and Labor be stirred I'D should
| be complied with However as the depart.
ment contains the bureau Of navigation II
| might be appealed to on the ground of in
| reference with the shipmasters and en-.
| gineers whom 1t has under its protecting
| wing. Although the bureau of fisheries is
also one of the subdivisions Of the depart.
| ment. that Is barred by the laws of natural
| history, since 1t has no Jurisdiction over the
| whale. which happens not to be a fish
| AS nearly as The Star can figure 1t ont
| the difficulty comes chiefly under the nur.
| view of James Wilson, whose duties as Sec
| rotary Of Agriculture already cover so wide
| a field that few more will hardly trouble
| him. Plainly the whales activities come
| under the bureau OF animal industry and 1,
is the duty of that subdivision to guide the
| energetic mammals misdirected efforts int
| the right channel. Possibly conferees might
| be invited from the bureau of navigation
| from the Navy Department., in view of the
danger to torpedo boats. and from the Wal
department. ON account of the threa tened
| displacement Of Maj. Stevens mines But
| with or without conference, it appears tC
| be the duty of Secretary Wilson either tc
| tame the whale and teach him how to be.
| have, or to consult Commissioner Sargent
| OF the bureau of immigration and have the
unnatural and unnaturalized alien removed