The Washington herald., 1918-11-01

seek to have civilian lawyers defend
them The seventeen accused men are
confined in solitary cells.
Thirty-four hundred carrier pige-
ons at the sound OF whistle were
liberated from their coops at the
Union Station, at 10 o'clock on
October 6, to begin a flight to New
York City. The birds had been
brought by rail from their home
stations in New York and it was'
expected that they would complete
the home journey in about six
hours. As the cages were opened
the birds arose in a mass, but
quickly spread out in a revolving
circle that in turn took the form of
a. gigantic s. Then they broke into
several large groups. but owing to
heavy mist they were kept flying
about for a quarter of an hour or
more before they got their bearings.
Then almost in body. but leaving
a few laggards, they set of on their
course TO the northeast. Maj. Frank
F. Griffin, S. c., who is at the head
of the carrier pigeon service, ex-
planned that these were all young
the training is rather for the men
handling them than for the pigeons.
as none of the birds bred in the
United States will be sent to France.
As the result of the Tecommenda-
tions submitted by the board on Sc
lection of the corps of chaplains in
the navy five members of that
he - H.. 40
of captain, the report of the board
having been approved by the Presi-
dent last week. The chaplains thus
selected are Mathew c. GIeeson.
Sydney X. Evans, George L. Bayard.
Evan w. Scott. and Arthur w. Stone.
All these chaplains are now holding
the rank OF commander, although
not in the order in which the names
were announced at the department.
The order in which the names ap-
peared in the January register was
Bayard, Stone. Gleeson. Scott, Stcv-
ensOn, and Evans. This is the last
Of the boards convened to select
STAFF officers for promotion. Up to
this time Secretary Daniels has not
approved the recommendation OF
the bureau Of navigation that a
board be convened to select profess
sors OF mathematics for promotion.
Under the law one professor with
the rank of commander is due for
permanent promotion to the rank
Of captain and one with the rank of
Lieutenant commander for perma-
nent promotion to the rank of COM
mander.
During the recent explosion Of the
Gillespie shell-loading plant at Nor
gan. n. j.. reports TO the Division
Of Military Aeronautics show that by
means of observation from an army
airplane it was possible to SO direct
the fight against the confiagration as
to check the flames and probably pre-
vent further loss Of life and property,
at least to save from destruction
S.oOO,o00 pounds OF T n T Lieut.
Cyrus F. Smythe was the pilot of
the plane and Mai II. L. Armstrong,
of the British army, was the OBJ
server.
Flying over the wrecked works al
an altitude of 900 feet, Lieutenant
Smythe so placed his plane that
Major Armstrong was able to get all
necessary information quickly. For
one thing. he saw lanes of fire lead
ing from the demolished loading sheds
near the creek working towards stor-
age warehouses containing hundreds
OF thousands OF pounds Of T n T.
He also was able to make out open
ings in these walls Of fire and wreck
age through which men could be sent
to check the flames and attempt to
save the property. Explosions sent
molten steel and blazing wood dan
gerously near the plane. Attempts
were made by airplanes to photo
graph the fire and explosions. but the
films were rendered worthless through