The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-13
FATE OF s. S. PRESIDENT
 ONE OF SEAS MYSTERIES

| Seveuty-five years ago Englishmen and Americans were rejoicing that steamers had succeeded In regularly crossing the l Atlantic, that a voyage could be made | in a fortnight and that the first of the Cunarders, the side=wheeler Britannia, had come into Boston after one of the quickest passages known, says the Detroit Free Press. Steam, 1t was said. had con- quered the sea, and men who had gone to London spent nearly a week in England, and came back, all within 90 days, was regarded as a wonderful example of the new celerity in transatlantic travel,
 One of the vessels which had not long before been launched and which the Eng fish speaking world hailed with admra- tion as a steam leviathan, was the Pres
 dent The liners which now blow their way across the Atlantic In five days are not more impressive than this ship with her 26S feet in length, her GA feet in width and her 2360 tons register was to the gun eration which welcomed her into the har- bor of New York.
 The President was less than a year old when, on March 10, 1s41 she left her dock at New York and steamed slowly down the bay. her hgurehead, which was bust of Washington after Canova, pointing proudly along the ocean route to England.
 In April reports began to come from Liverpool that the President was overdue, that nothing had been heard of her. .aand that great anxiety was rife. The only ray of light that was shed upon the mystery was that q Portuguese brig had sighted a large steamer moving slowly under sal. but she did not hail the brig nor did she appear to DC in disabled state.
 Through the spring and far into the summer of 1Sh there was agony of sus- pense in England as well as in the United States Tn this country the superstitious fahcied strange omens in the coincidence that the first President of the United States who died in the White House William Henry Harrison--had passed away at tho time when the ship which bore the name of his office began to be missed
 Among the passengers were two men who. although they had little in common with each other, had been each an idol in his profession, and who had given de- light to multltudes In the United States. One was an actor who for the first time had raised the portrayal of Irish charac- ter upon the stage to the level of art. and whose rich sense of native humor even Dion Boucicault probably failed to sur pass in future years. His name was Ty- rome Power. He had been hailed fin Amer ican theatres as the prince of comedians. He had made three tours of the country. He had written book on his American impressions. and he was returning to England at the height of popularity sUN in middle age.
 Even more striking was the personality of George Clugston Goldman whose elo- quence had spre.d his fame among Amer lean Methodists and to whom even men of the world, like Henry Clay and Dar- iel Webster. listened admiringly. Indeed, he carried with him when he went on board the President the first dispatch which Webster as Secretary of State. had written to England.
 The fate of these men, as well as of the son of the Duke of Devonshire, and a hundred other messengers on the ship. has never been known. Whether the steamer foundered in some tremendous storm, as was thougA most likely. or was de- stroyed by Yre. no man to this day has been able to tell.