Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-04-23
FIFTY YEARS Ago
In THE STAR

Only within few years have steel
passenger cars been in use on American
railways, but the idea
iron Cars for of employing non-in-
flammable and resistant
"oJS' material for railroad
vehicles is by no means a new one. In
The Star of April 10, 1866. is the fol-
lowing paragraph:
The Chicago and Great Eastern Rail
way Company has recently adopted
the use of passenger cars wholly con-
structed Of iron. which are in the high
est style Of railroad architecture and
complete In all their arrangements for
strength and comfort. We have for a
long time been waiting for the adop-
ton Of this Improvement. as 1t will
render railway travelling much safer
than 1t ever yet has been. The effects
of collision will be almost entirely neu-
tralized by the adoption of the iron
cars. We may have Commissions. but
not dangerous wounds from splinters
and broken beams. These new cars are
manufactured in New Brighton, near
Pittsburgh"
These iron cars proved too heavy for
use and were quickly abandoned. The
present cars are made Of pressed steel
which gives structural strength with
out weight.
X x
The cholera scare occasioned by the
arrival Of the steamer England at Hal
flax with several cases
Cholera in on board quickly sub
sided, but it was revived
New 4oIk. few days later when
the steamer Virginia reached New
York from Europe with cholera among
the passengers. The Star of April 90,
1866. says:
'The disease on the steamer Virginia
is pronounced Asiatic cholera by the
New York health officer. She remained
at upper quarantine until IL o'clock
Yesterday, when she went to the lower
bay. No communication has been al
lowed between her and the shore. Ar
rangements are being made to remove
all her passengers from the ship to-
morrow. It is said there will be no
danger of the disease reaching the city
from the vessel The cholera appeared
when she was eight days out and from
100 to 200 persons were attacked, of
whom thirty seven died. Twenty-one
are now sick, eleven are doubtful cases.
Nearly all the other passengers are re-
ported convaleScent. The disease is en-
tirely among the steerage passengers.
large proportion of the passengers
are German, and it is supposed they
brought the cholera aboard The NOR
tally has been greater among them
than among the Irish and English pas
sengers. 1t is mentioned as a singular
circumstance that the disease broke
out about the same place on the ocean
at which the passengers on the Eng
land were attacked. There is no panic
.on board and it is not expected that
many more passengers will die. The
sick will be placed on board the hos
pital ship Falcon. She can accommo-
date 800 patients. The Virginia will
be closed up at once and fumigated"
~
Crinoline was still the rage in this
country fifty years ago, but its doom
had been sounded ir
Passing of Paris. and critics of the
c-1 fashion. who found i,
incopvenient in places
of public assemblage, were rejoicing
In The Star of April u, 1866. is the
following extract from the Paris cor.
respondence of the New York Times:
Talking of fashions. crinoline is
done for. 1t has gone out of the fash
ionable world all at once, like a melt
ing snow or vanishing rainbow. How
could poet say. "A thing of beauty is
joy forever? Only the servants and
very common people now wear the
wonderful expansions, and they droI
them as soon as they get good look
at their slim betters. The sudden
in the street and look behind her to
see if she has not dropped something
The rotundities gradually collapsed
and all at once vanished, and are now
though lost to sight, to memory dear.
But what is to become of the manufac-
turers of those wonderful articles
which the French call cages? Can they
be used in the fisheries, or as hen
coops? Now we have the gored dresses
and trains of the first empire, which
ing and beautiful that we shall wonder
how we could ever have admired any
other fashion.
On the Sd of April, 1866 an explo-
sion occurred on board the steamer
European at Aspin-
Ni<roo1vcsrin wall, destroying the
vessel and 400 feet
GAploslonS. of wharf. killing
fifty people. The explosion was sup
posed to have been caused by cargo
of nitroglycerin on board. The Star
of April p. 1866. commenting on this
happening just reported. said:
Our readers no doubt remember the
To-. avra1o q
widely discussed some years ago None
of the doubt which made that mooted
point attaches to the fact of the de-
structiveness of nitroglycerin, SO thor
oughly demonstrated by the recent &C
currences at San Francisco. Aspinwall
and elsewhere, and which have directed
the public attention to an article hith-
erto little known outside Of mining,
commercial and scientific circles. Glyc-
erin is the sweet principle of oil. is
ND