Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-29
KING TO SUPPORT
OLYMPIA Project
Regards Washington as Ap-
propriate Place to Moor
Historic Vessel.

Senator King, Democrat. Of Utah,
will support the movement to preserve
as memorial the Olympia, flagship of
Admiral Dewey in the Spanish-Ameri-
can War. While he believes the per-
manent resting place of the ship should
be left to the Navy Department and
the President. the Senator indicated he
regarded Washington as an appropriate
place to moor this historic vessel.
Senator King recalled that when he
was boy visiting in England he was
taken on board the ship that had been
the flagship of Admiral Nelson in the
battle of Trafalgar.
II shall never forget" Senator King
continued, the thrill l got as l stood
there on, the deck where the brave Nell
son fell. To me the frigate stood as
memorial to the courage Of Britain's
sailors and as a symbol Of her might
on the sea-"
Source of Inspiration.
Senator King said the Olympia, from
tie of Manila, would be a source of
equal inspiration to Americans.
An interesting story Of the back
ground Of the offer Of Edward w.
Harden, now a New York financier, to
purchase the Olympia and give her as
q memorial to the Nation Is related in
the Baltimore Sun today by j. Fred Es-
sary. Washington correspondent.
I'm 1885," he writes, Edward w.
and John T. McCutcheon, budding
cartoonist of the same city, had an
ambition to make a trip around the
world. They were without means, and
the trip as they dreamed OF naturally
presented its problems.
But one of them remembered that
Frank A. Vanderbilt. a former financial
writer on the Chicago Tribune. was
Assistant Secretary Of the Treasury.
This was the same Vanderlip who was
destined to become president OF the
figure of international note.
Go as Paying Guests"
"Mr. vanderlip had under him in the
Treasury the Revenue Cutter Service,
now the Coast Guard. Harden and
McCutcheon petitioned their friend to
send them on a cruise aboard the nrst
cutter making for the Orient. The old
Mccullough happened to be bound in
that direction and the two young men
were taken as paying guests
1T so happened, however, that the
MCCULLOUGH arrived in Chinese waters
on the eve of the battle of Manila
Bay. Admiral Dewey, commanding the
American squadron, was authorized TO
draft any American vessel useful to
him. whether armed or unarmed.
1.-The Mccullough, then at Hongkong,
with the two civilians aboard, was Or
dered to Manila and arrived IN time
to take part in the battle.
LAS the battle ragged she f1red her d
little guns as CALAMITY as the biggest
vessel. There was no putting the pas
sengers ashore, nor did they want to go
ashore. They were eager to see the
fight. They were put to work and 1t
was the most thrilling days work either
ever had or ever has done.
Harden Makes Offer.
1.-THE wears went by and Harden be-
came a man of great wealth, just as
did his friend Vanderbilt. Not long ago
Harden read in the newspapers the
Navy was about to junk the cruiser
Olympia, that had served as DeWeys
flagship and had led the american
column into the engagement that de-
stroyed Spanish sea power in the Pa
cific.
i mfr. Harden's sentimentalism was
stirred. He could not believe the Navy
would deliberately turn over to the
wreckers one of the most interesting
relics In the country.
ut occurred to him he might be per-
mitted to buy the old Olympia at a
reasonable price, not as ship on which
he might sail the seas. but as a man
of-war which had helped make his
tory and had a right to be preserved
as Old Ironsides had been preserved
and as the old frigate Franklin was
preserved.
mfr. Harden, with these sentimental
motives. approached Charles Francis
an offer to buy the Olympia. then to
give 1t to the people of the country"