Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-14
FIFTY YEARS AGO
IN THE STAR

Great interest was taken in the visit to
washington OF the Chicago Zouave Ca
dets, under the command OF
AOuaVe capt Ellsworth. in the early
nr;11 part of August. 1860. In The
Star of August is a report
of the reception OF the Zouaves by Presi-
dent Buchanan at the White House, and
the following description of the drill given
by them on the lawn south of the man
sion:
1.-The word being given, in an instant
they Invested themselves of their knap-
sacks and prepared for their exercise.
The drill ELECTED the applause of every
person present. It exhibited on the part
of every man complete mastery of the
Hardee system of evolution. The first
movements were merely foot evolutions,
wheeling, filing, etc. The men moved in
every variety of combination, in single
and double file. in piatoons, in company.
etc. They marched with the greatest
regularity. The next movement was be-
yond excellence. The company was drawn
up in double files. facing front At the
word of command they shouldered and
dropped arms. The simultaneous flash OF
forty white-gloved hands and the stimuli
taneous erection Of forty muskets were
like the movements of the parts of
huge machine. There was the sharp.
quick order of the captain, and the quick
unerrlng flash OF the hands and the rifles,
as If the order of nature were reversed:
first the deep thunder and from a hundred
point the simultaneous electric fash
Inc finest old soldiers on the ground, ac-
customed to the slower details of the
Scott manner of drill. were obliged to
hn l. -.
ultra OF military beauty
\ luminous meteor flashed upon the
local sky on the night of July 90 and
caused considerable dis
Jumping cussion. Several letters
Mo+o., were printed in The Star
A' afterward on the :ubject of
this celestial appearance. In the issue of
August 0, 1860. is the following from
reader, under date of July %:
'My daughters were at Point Lookout
Friday night and saw the meteor with
many other persons. They left at mid
night, reaching home the next morning
and they both insisted that the meteor
progressed by series Of jerks, and that
all those down there saw it to be So 1t
was not mere quivering that they saw
but the irresularity of the motion was a
regular irregularity, to be described per-
haps a succession Of slow bounds or
what might be better described as a
progress by pulsation. The distance be-
tween the luminous point which preceded
and the luminous point which followed
the first one. they both agree, was more
than one moons breadth, but less than
two moons breadth, and the meteor did
not reach the eastern horizon at all, they
say, but simply died out in the sky after
It had reached some considerable distance
east of NORTH
The Great Eastern made it's way around
from New York to Norfolk and thence up
to Baltimore and Annapolis, to
Monster enable the people of this
u, part of the country to inspect
'e"'sA' the marine leviathan, in
which the keenest interest was manifest
ed. President Buchanan went over to
Annapolis on the 9th Of August, 1860,
with large number Of Washingtonians.
The Star of August 10 prints an account
of this expedition of more than a column
in length. The following description of
the ship is Incorporated in the report:
Our passengers were soon aboard the
big ship and scattered in every direction
to scan with amazement her gigantic pro-
portions. Arriving alongside in steamer
of respectable dimensions, the first thing
that attracts the visitor is the inSignif-
canoe Of his own vessel. The Baltimore is
perhaps the largest steamer belonging to
the Potomac river and Chesapeake bay
lines. and yet the Great Eastern will
measure three times the length of the
Baltimore and from siXty-five to seventy
feet over. Those of our readers familiar
with the length of the squares fronting
on Pennsylvania avenue can form some
idea of her length when we tell them
that she will measure as far as from the
corner OF the store of our friend Shil-
lington, Az street. to the corner of what
used to be Gadsby's Hotel, at Sd street,
and half the width of Sd street over. Our
reporter remained on board her about one
and one-half hours and travelled in that
time, at a moderate estimate, say three
miles, and had then seen only her main
deck and a portion of the deck below
probably not one-Sixth of her"
Potomac fishermen have for many years
been bringing up curious creatures of
the deep for classification by
Strange the scientists. In The Star of
nj August II, 1860, is the follow
ing paragraph about pisca-
torial mystery that had come from the
lower part Of the river:
This morning Mr.. James Vanskivez
exhibited a strange fish at his stand in
the fish market which attracted much at
tention from visitors. Old fishermen,
some OF them having been engaged in the
business as long as forty years. say they
know nothing of that fish, never having
seen one before. The aquatic stranger is
about twelve inches long and scaleless.
having skin similar to the shark. The
under jaw protrudeS considerably beyond
the upper. The head is long and fat
upon the top, the surface of which is cor
rugated, resembling the inner surface of
a shoemaker's pincers. The body is slim
for its length. The fish is entirely black.
tail. which are edged with white. Mr..
giving the history Of it's
capture. 1t was taken by the fishermen
near Blackstone Island and was found
attached to the body of a large skate.
Mr.. Vansliver was informed at the in
stitution that the captive is an ocean fish,
and subSiSts by attaching itself to
the under jaw of the whale: that as the
whale feeds the waste particles become
the food of this parasite. How this
strange fish got into the Potomac is a
query for the curious"
PLEADING.
They were engaged; it was, OF course,