Omaha daily bee., 1909-10-31
GREATNESS SOON FORGOTTEN
Wonders Of Modern Times Crowded
Off the Track.
GHOSTS OF THE has BEENso
RecOIIectiOns ~ Events that MOnOp-
OIiEed the Spotlight in Re-
cent Years and Faded
Away.

Where are the roses OF yester year?' is
= question that has exercised the ballad
mongers in some form or other since Fran
co.'s Villon. Objects that were Of first inn
poTtanoe a short time ago have vanished
into the mists. Where are they2 A shrug
is the common answer. Who knows? They
are gone, and no man has marked the pass
ing Of them. The basic refrain of the bal
lad monsers Is Into the night go one and
ALL"
There Is no better term to describe OBJ
jects lost to fame than the somewhat vulgar
one Of has beens." And, picking at ran
DOM, there is no better has been" to serve
as an example than No. $50, the most
famous, almost the only famous, locomotive
in the world. Locomotives do not easily
acquire the quality known as objective
personality" but No. 800 was a parsonage
in It's day
The New York Central railroad sent as
Its exhibit TO the Chicago Worlds fair it's
first engine and its last. It's first was the
little De Witt Clinton, built in 1880. Its
last was No. s99, then the latest word IN
machine construction and in speedy rail-
reading. When. in 1893, No. 800 made a
short run at a rate OF 112h miles an hour
u VI AAb AAAE maui III ClItulA
of the earth. II was regarded as one Of
the wonder OF the age.
Two years later No. 999 established a
record which still stands unsurpassed. It's
trip was between New York and Buffalo,
and was the fastest long-dlstance run of
less than 40 miles ever made on a rail-
road. Drawing a heavy train, with two
stops and twenty-eight slowups, II main
tained an average speed for the journey of
6h miles an hour.
1t did It's work well, but there came a
time when locomotive old age began to tell
upon It. In 1901 II was taken off the pas
seng6r service and assigned to draw a milk
train on the local division. Public atten-
ton followed It that far and veered to
something else.
But No. 800 is still at work. working none
the less faithfully because It is no longer
feted. Dwellers along the st. Lawrence d.
vision OF the New York Central, running
out OF Utica, sometimes stop to decipher
the dingy numerals on an implanted, rat
Ting. snorting, leaky locomotive that draws
a slow local train. What they make out, II
they look close enough, is ''s9a." and after
that they are willing to forgive the labor
and racket with which It performs its
duties.
The Ferris Wheel.
While the Chicago exposition was still
a matter OF hazy plans and statistics en-
Einaers throughout the country derived no
little quiet amusement from a suggestion
advanced by George w. Ferris, a me-
chanical genius whose inventions bordered
upon the eccentric. He conceived the idea
that a monstrous wheel might be con-
structed to carry swinging passenger cars
about it's rim.
While the experts smiled certain persons
not so we'll equipped in theoretical judg-
ment took up the Ferris scheme and
formed a company to exploit 1t. The great
wheel was made and put together to the
accompaniment Of satirical comments from
the wise ones. Afterward It afforded an
other kind of amusement to millions. Its
construction cost $685., 900.
The Ferris wheel was a great success
while the fair lasted. The inventors share
OF the profits was said to be 100000. After
the exposition the wheel, like many an
other enterprise in Chicago, felt the cold
breath OF disaster. Ferris lost his money.
The company went hopelessly bankrupt
For ten years the wheel was operated on
the North Side, but at a loss. A week
after q receiver was appointed to take over
the affairs OF the company Ferris himself
died, The wheel was sold to a junk dealer
as II stood for 1880
But the junk dealer had no intention
OF converting the gigantic structure into
old iron. He had an eye ahead to the st
Louis fair, and when the crowds gathered
on the Mississippi they found the Ferris
wheel once more the greatest of al
amusement ventures, 1t coined money foi
its new owners and. made Its revolution,
daily until the fair was over.
So the famous Ferris wheel stood until
all the exhibition buildings a been re
moved and a wide, clear space had beer
prepared on all sides Of 1t. On May II
1906 large charges Of dynamite were place,
at vital parts about it's frame and at tn
closing OF a circuit It was blown to fraK
ments. Its shattered parts, with the ex
eeption OF a few pieces preserved a
souvenirs, went TO the scrap heap.
The Cardiff Giant.
On October 16. 1863. the Cardiff giant
the greatest fraud Of the century, was un
eRrthed In Onondaga county. New York
It's appearance was the signal for a heatei
controversy extending over years, whicI
brought opinions from most OF the anti
Quarians and scientists OF the country a
TO whether the object was a p~etrified ma
or a statue.
The fame OF the Cardiff giant SVEN
the country like wiidfire. Il was take
20 Syracuse and viewed by hundreds O
thousands, and then the debate begaI
A chief justice Of the New York cOuI
OF appeals, who was among those VIII
held to the petrlfied man theory, re
marked that "no man man can look upo
that calm, grand smile OF mingled sweet
ness and strength without being convince
that the giant once lived and had
being"
All the discussion carried on through tn
press, In magazines and in lectures helps
20 advertise the giant. which meanwhil
was yielding returns equal to Z per Ger
on &,O0000 Four thousand persons pal
90 cents each to see Il In one day. tn
New York Central stopped It's trains a
Syracuse long enough to allow passenger
10 visit the museum.
p 4. BaTnum, who had tried In vain
buy or obtain a lease OF the CURIOSITY
then took his own method OF divertin
part OF the golden stream that flOws
about the Cardiff giant. He had a &c.
man sculptor. Otto. make an imltatio
OF the statute In plaster. weighed wit
iron. This he exhibited In his museum
announcing Il as the only original pc
life man, and ~denounclng the Syracui
giant as a counterfeit. But while this WI
prnftabfa for Barnum. Otto decided thi