The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-09-27

Nosing Its way swiftly up stream
in the Mississippi river, truly "long
and rakish craft, n torpedo boat de-
stroyer of the United States Navy,
will anchor on st. Louis in time
to be present at the city's celebra-
ton, October Sd to 9TH, of the one
hundredth anniversary of its incor-
poration. With 1t will be three tor
pedo boats.
The gold lace. glittering insignia,
and white and blue uniforms of Of
fcers and men of the flotilla will add
to the brilliance and color of the
weeks festivities. The boats will par
ticipate In the river display, one
of the great daily events which
have been arranged by the st. Louis
Centennial Association on land, on
water and in the air.
The officers will be invited to APP
pear in uniform as guests at the
the Yelled Prophet BAH and other
functions. and every effort will be
made to provide for the entertain
ment for the men when on shore
leave and to afford them facilities
for seeing the aeroplane, airship and
balloon races, the various pageants,
and other, features of the celebra-
ton. Hence persons who have not
seen men fight for Uncle Sam on the
seas VIII find them mingling every
where with the Centennial crowds.
The boats themselves will be one
OF the notable attractions of the Cen
tennial celebration. The destroyers
themselves are among the mist pic
turesque crafts of the navy. Built
for speed, they are long and slender
From height of perhaps dozen
feet above the water line Mt tho
sharply pointed bow, they taper TO
four or six feet at the stern. Four
tunnels in groups of two, riseout of
them. Their color is green and in
full motion they are veritable green
streaks.''
Atypical destroyer measurese 245
feet in length at the water line, while
lts greattst breadth of beam meas
urement Is only 23 feet. With n
mea draft of feet 6 inches and n
displacement of 425 tons, II is capa-
BILE of cutting through the water q.
a speed of 81 miles an hour
The Centennial fotila, accordinESto
presetn plans, will consist of the tor
pedo boat destroyer MacDonough.
torptdo boat Thornton. Lieutenant
Wills G. Mitchell commanding; the
tirpedo boat Thornton, Lieutenant
charles a. Blakcly commanding: the
torpedo boat Tingey, Ensign Warren
Z. Nixon commanding; the torpedo
boat. Wilkes, Ensign George C. Pgram
commanding.
The vessels named make up the
second division of the Atlantic tor
pedo fleet. The McDonough Is one
or the largest of the torpedo boat de-
stroyers, having a displacement of
400 tons. Its length at low water
Is 24O feet and l ihches. and its en-
gine is S400 horse power. 1t carries
two Is ton, whitehead torpedo tubes
ana four other guns of small er sizes
Ten officers are expected to come
with this little fleet and the crew Of
each boat vii consist of from 30 to|
go men. or the officers eight will
be OF the line, two on each boat. ana
the other two naval surgeon and
paymaster
The other officers probably will he
ensigns or possibly two ensigns and
two midshipmen.
The officers will appear on shore
In white or blue uniforms, dependent
upon weather conditions. When in
olue, their insignia will be as follows.
senior lieutenant, silver anchor and
TWO silver stars on each side of col
lar of blue blouse: on sleeves two
stripes Of gold lace, each one hair
inch wide, with gold star above tben,
Junior Lieutenant, Silver anchor
but only one silver bar on each side
OF collar; on sleeves, one stripe Of
gold lace one-half inch wide, and
one stripe one-quarter inch wide.
with gold star above them,
Ensign, silver anchor on each sido
or collar; on sleeve, one stripe of poId
lace one-half inch wide.
With white uniforms will be shouI-
der straps, with black cloth ground
on these is the same insignia os on
the sleeve of blue uniforms, but no
otner marks of rank are worn.
FOR the benefit of those who u,isb
10 visit Saint Louis to see the naval
craft' officers and crews, and the
many other features of the Centen-
MAI celebration. the Centennial Asso-
cation has secured reduced rates on
all railroads from Virtually all narts
or the United States, including the
Pacific coast. VIC
we received today fresh cor .,