The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 51, October 28, 1897 by Various
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Various >> The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 51, October 28, 1897
While in the performance of this duty, Mr. Kellet was attacked and
beaten by Siamese soldiers.
One of our gunboats, the _Raleigh_, was sent out to Bangkok to
investigate the matter, and to protect the interests of our citizens
there.
At the time the trouble occurred, the then Secretary of State, Mr.
Olney, thought that perhaps Mr. Kellet had been over-hasty, and the
soldiers were not to blame.
The message from Bangkok which now reaches us shows that Mr. Olney was
wrong.
The Siamese Government has decided that the soldiers were in the wrong,
and a lieutenant and four privates who took part in the affair have been
severely reprimanded, and suspended from their regiments without pay for
several months.
The Siamese Government has offered to make the fullest amends for the
outrage, and Consul-General Barret, in his despatches, says that Mr.
Kellet's conduct throughout was all that could be desired.
The commission sent up to inquire into the matter declared that the
viceroy of the district should have been able to check the ill-feeling
of the soldiers, and he, too, has been reprimanded.
The story of the affair, as it now reaches us, is that Mr. Kellet's
servant was arrested by the native troops who act as police in the town
of Chang Mai, where the Vice-Consul had gone to look into the Cheek
claim. Mr. Kellet's interference on behalf of his servant enraged the
soldiers, who set upon him and beat him severely.
The Siamese Government has taken such a determined stand, and has
offered such complete apologies for the offence, that there is now no
ill-feeling about the matter, and the relations that exist between the
two countries are more friendly than ever.
The king of Siam, Chulalongkorn, who has been travelling through Europe
since the jubilee celebrations, and of whose visit to Italy we told you
in a former number, has made many friends for himself and his country
by his intelligence and his charming manners.
This king has manifested a close interest in the progress of
civilization throughout his travels, and his country will certainly
benefit from his broadened views when he returns home. His two sons are
being educated at Harrow, which is one of the great English public
schools, and the rival of the famous Eton, of which you must have heard.
Public school in England does not mean free school for the benefit of
the public, as it does with us, but a high-class school where the
classics are taught, and which is patronized principally by the wealthy
and titled classes, because the fees are so high that they are beyond
the reach of ordinary people.
* * * * *
Reports are coming in from various sections of the country of the
disastrous forest fires that are raging.
In Michigan and Indiana, the smoke from these fires is so dense that it
lies over the surface of Lake Michigan like a thick fog, and the sailors
have difficulty in finding their way through it.
In the southern part of Canada the losses have been terrible from these
fires. Thousands of dollars' worth of timber has been destroyed, and
many persons have lost their homes and their crops.
In Manitoba the flames are said to be spreading, and there is great fear
that the fire will reach the more thickly populated districts. Every
effort is being made to prevent the fire from getting a start on the
Minnesota side of the boundary, but it is feared that it will be
impossible to do so.
Settlers have been fighting the flames day and night for over a week,
but have made little progress.
Some two thousand Canadians have been rendered homeless and ten persons
have been burned to death. In their advance the terrible flames have
destroyed the towns and villages that lay in their path, and the report
from Ontario alone states that farms, dwellings, stores, churches, and
schools have been swept away by this dreadful scourge.
The fall of the year is always the time when forest fires are to be
dreaded. In dry seasons like the present, there is always a danger that
some chance spark may light on the fallen leaves and the grass dried out
by the heat of summer, and thus set the forests on fire.
The latter part of this year has been particularly dry. In the Western
and Middle States they say that rain has not been so badly needed in
years. In many sections of the country there has been no rain for
months. Water-courses and wells are reported as dried up, and many of
the live stock are dying, for want of water.
The grass has become so parched and dry that the farmers are having to
feed their stock two months ahead of the usual time, and drive them
miles to water. It is feared that later in the year there will be a
fodder famine.
As a regular thing, the cattle graze in the fields and feed themselves
until the frost comes, when the farmers begin to feed them. Enough
fodder is raised during the season to carry the stock comfortably
through until the grass is up again; but as the corn and roots are
liable to rot or mould, little more is grown than is necessary. You can
see that it is a serious business for the farmers to have had to touch
their winter supplies two months ahead of time.
It is this drought which has caused the forest fires.
In those sections of the country that have as yet escaped the fire, the
prairies are as dry as tinder, and the owners of the fields are in
constant fear that a spark from a passing locomotive may set fire to
them. Men are kept on the watch night and day to prevent such a
calamity.
The Tonawanda Swamp is also on fire.
Tonawanda is in the northern part of New York State, in the neighborhood
of Buffalo, and is a great lumber town.
The swamp covers twenty-five thousand acres, and adjoining it are many
rich farm lands and valuable buildings.
The underbrush grows so thickly in this swamp that it has always been
necessary to clear it out every little while, and so the people have
been in the habit of setting it on fire every year a few days before the
equinoctial storms were due. They had found from experience that by the
time the storms came the fires had burnt out enough of the undergrowth
for their purpose, and the heavy rains which usually accompany the
storms put the fires out for them.
This year, however, the equinox brought no storm with it, and the
lighted fires have continued to burn with such fierceness that not only
the swamp, but the surrounding country, is in danger of being laid
waste.
The equinox is that period in which the sun, in its yearly course,
crosses the equator, and makes the day and the night of equal length.
This occurs twice in the year,--about March 21st and September
22d,--and, as we have told you, is usually attended by high winds and
severe storms.
In Virginia there is also a serious forest fire. The Dismal Swamp, as it
is called, is on fire. The smoke has become so dense that the people on
the trains which run through are forced to keep all the windows closed,
and even then the smoke is almost unbearable.
The train hands report that the game and wild animals that have made
their homes in the swamp are deserting it and fleeing in all directions.
All over these sections of the country the constant prayer is for rain,
rain, rain!
Curious, is it not, that in one year we should have had a period of such
heavy rain that dams were burst, rivers overflowed their banks, and the
farmers lost their hay crops, and that this wet season should have been
followed by such a severe drought that the forests have taken fire!
* * * * *
The latest news from Guatemala is that the government troops who are
supporting Dictator Barrios have succeeded in recapturing the important
city which the rebels had previously taken by storm.
It is necessary that you know the name of this city, but it is one of
the hardest we have had to encounter so far. Quezaltenango is its name.
(Strange, isn't it, that foreign names should sound so funny to us, and
be so difficult to pronounce? In many foreign tongues the _e_ is
pronounced _a_, and the _a_, _ah_. If you remember this it will help you
to a correct pronunciation of many names and places.)
Quezaltenango being once more in the hands of the Government, Barrios
has plucked up fresh courage, and attacked the insurgents with such
vigor that one wing of their army has been defeated and driven into
Mexico.
President Diaz does not, however, intend to allow the rebels to use his
country as a refuge, and he is sending forces to the frontier to drive
them back into Guatemala, to be captured by Barrios.
* * * * *
An interesting sham fight took place in Van Cortland Park last week.
The soldiers were divided into two forces, the attacking and the
defending, and the object of the fight was to see what the commander's
idea of defence would be, in case an enemy attacked the city.
A number of officers from the regular army attended the fight, and
praised our citizen soldiers in high terms for the excellent work they
did during the action.
The attacking party came up from the banks of the Hudson River at
Riverdale, and endeavored to steal down the high-road to Kingsbridge,
where they could cross over the Harlem River, and so find themselves on
Manhattan Island, with the upper part of New York city at their mercy.
The defenders divided their forces into two divisions,--the army of the
West and the army of the East: the one to check the invaders if it was
their intention to march across the country to New Rochelle, and the
other to prevent any attempt to reach New York city.
The general of the defending army took up his position on Woodlawn
Heights, where he could see just which way the attacking army was going
to move; and finding that the attempt was to be made on New York, sent
troops to the roads and the fields through which the invaders must try
to pass.
So well did he lay his plans that the invaders found themselves checked
at every point. There was not a loophole left unguarded for them to
creep through, and at last, after much good generalship had been
displayed on both sides, the invaders were driven back, and the
defenders claimed the victory.
The sham battle was followed by a review of the troops engaged, and when
it was all over the citizen soldiers returned to the city, tired and
dusty, but proud of their good day's work.
G.H. ROSENFELD.
INVENTION AND DISCOVERY.
An interesting advance in the postal system of our country was made
recently when the first of the pneumatic tubes which are to carry mail
underground from one office to another was declared ready for use.
Some three hundred prominent men were present to see the first package
of mail matter sent.
[Illustration: Self-Registering Mail Box]
This tube extends from the Produce Exchange to the Post-Office Building,
and the trip can be made from one office to the other in one minute and
a quarter.
Mr. Chauncey Depew was present at the opening ceremonies, and having
made an appropriate speech, sent off the first carrier of mail matter
that passed through the tube.
In less time than it takes to tell the story the carrier returned,
bringing a receipt for the mail that had been sent, and a pretty little
kitten which arrived breathless from its spin through the tube.
The carriers are two feet long and seven inches round, and are made to
fit the tube closely.
Other tubes are to be laid throughout the city, and before very long
every post-office in the city will be connected with the general
post-office by pneumatic tube, and letters will be posted in Harlem and
sent flying down the seven miles to the City Hall in a few minutes.
Another ingenious postal device which has just been put on trial is the
scheme for registering letters yourself.
The first thing to do is to put a ten-cent piece in the slot. The coin
opens a small registering window, and reveals a pad on which you write
the address of the registered letter, and also an aperture through which
the letter is to be dropped. The letter must first have been stamped
with a two-cent stamp.
After the letter is mailed the sender pulls a handle until a gong rings,
and a receipt is then pushed out toward the sender. This receipt is in
fact the second half of the order which he himself has written. As soon
as the receipt is given the machine locks itself, and nothing will
unlock it but a fresh dime in the slot.
Worn coins, or those that are not full size and weight, are instantly
rejected by the machine.
The coin, after entering the machine, passes over a very delicate
balance, and if it is found to be light or bad when it is weighed, the
machine throws it out on the floor in front of the would-be registerer.
Three of these machines have been placed on trial: one in the
Post-Office Building, one in the Equitable Building, and one in the
branch office at Forty-second Street.