Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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BREAKER Farewell, -wild hearth, where Among jour stones the ?r< The brant are flown, the ma] The goldenrod is brown-ai Good-by, calm nights and ni Of brave, free hie devoid c Of hunters fare, of merry-ch . And woodland hush more i The owl all hoot across a In whose full depths our m ?Whose drowsy waves no fias Whose pebSled shores are The buck shall stamp and Iii Where once we dwelt the The bat shall hang beneath ; Whose birchen cover knew Armstrong; \ BY ALBERT 1 In the lower part of Penobscot Bay, where the ocean currents, pulsa strongly among rock-bound, inlet broken islands, is a shoal bearing upon its summit a r.:d9 stone-heap known locally as "Armstrong's Pyra mid." The ,spot, which lies at least three miles from the nearest land, Is bare until more than quarter-tide,' rising from the water like the rounded back of a long turtle. The pyramid itself is a four-square pile,' with a base perhaps ten fset cn each side and over six feet high. Its slopes are festooned with rockweed and en crusted with barnacles and at high tide its summit is several inches un ?or water. Slangers who pass the place when the venter is low enough to allow them to see the irregular mound of rough boulders wonder why it should have been built. Its tumble-down statt? shows that it c3i.not be a- gov ernment beacon; besides, therevseems no rf?.son for any mark in a locality SJ far out of the track of navigation. At the time when the heap, was thrown up, however, there were very good and urgent grounds for its erec tion, grounds which prevented care iron hoing taken and made haste an absolute necessity. The Egyptian pyr-'V'ids -were constructed as me mor?is to the dead: this pyramid in Penobscot Bay was built for the liv ing, and its story is this: In the month cf August. 1SS3, Alexander Armstrong, a boy of seven teen years old, was living with his mother and two younger brothers in a small.house on a rocky street of Carver's Harbor, the thriving island village on the southern end of Vinal baven. His father was absent from home on a fishing-schooner the greater part cf the year and this left Alexander practically the head of thf? family. He was a strong, active young fel low. " At seventeen he had a man's strength and judgment and a stranger would have set his age at considerably over twenty. Occasion ally he worked cutting paving in the granite ' quarry, but whenever any geed excuse could be found, he was on the water. His principal - occu pation during the summer was taking visitors out fishing. On the first Wednesday of .the month mentioned above he had arranged with three city men to mako a day's cruise after cod to certain banks four-, miles southeast cf the island. The three men were Robert Green ough and Carlyle Saunders, salesmen for a large drygocds concern in Bos ton, and Marshall Nea!, -a Hartford insurance man. All were spending a brief vacation at a small hotel in Carver's Harbor. Before six o'clock the next morn ing, after an early breakfast'of cof fee, doughnuts and cold corned beef, they were fairly out on the open tay', moving slowly southeast in a gentle breeze. Before eight o'clock they reached the fishing-grounds, where they met with very good success, getting a couple ?o?-hundredweight of finev cod and haddock before noon. Then fie lines were pulled in for a time, while everybody took a hand in the prepar- -. ation of a chowder on the rusty stove In the little cabin. Armstrong superintended the pro cess; and when the three land^nen, with appetites sharpened by their forenoon in the sea air, had tasted the steaming contents of the kettle, they wer6 willing to vote him the, best of cooks as well as an experi enced navigator. After'the dishes had been washed, the party returned to their fishing. Not long after dinner their bait be came exhausted. They did not wish to go back home until evening; and as the tide was now dead low, Arm strong decided to sail to the turtle backed shoal, ?which was visible about a mlle off;, and then, to dig some of the largb clams. for which it was famous. The wind, which had been south erly during the forenoon, was grad ually shifting to tho eastward and the fog. which in dog-days looms like a low, fleecy wall on the eastern hor 'izon, now threatened to roll in and spoil their sport. The young cap tain, however, did not doubt his abil ity to find his way back to port, even if lt were as "thick as a dungeon," as the coasting phrase runs; his passengers, too, were eager for an other chance at the cod. So the boat was headed for the shoal and the keel soon grated on the rocks in a little cove at its northern end. The bow cf the craft was pulled np on the beach and Armstrong asked Saunders to stay on watch, while he and the two others went for clams to a little fiat near the southern ex tremity of the shoal. The east wind, cold and damp from the Banks, was growing stronger, and already wraiths pf fog were blowing in; be fore long Its misty folds concealed the bo?t from the men at work with the. grating clam-hooks. As the boatman looked up after digging a large hole, he was sur prised to see Saunders standing near ;by. The sentry explained that he ?had grown tired of waiting alone in .'the fog and so had come to see what (success the others were having. ?Sandy dropped his clam-hook and Iran back through the thickening Isnist to the northern cove. No boat '.?is in sight! The rising tide, run G CAMP. i many logs have burned! ??weed maj- grow. pie leaves have turned, . ad we zaust gu. irepented days if care and wrong, orused lays, sweet than any song. lonely lake oon imprisoned shines, "I hing paddles break, fringed with dreaming pines. t a furtive hoof ! bear shall make her den; a broken roof the dreams of men. -.Arthur Guiterman. s Pyramide Sf: TOLMAN. nins by tho end of the point in a five raile current, had drifted her away. What, was'to be done? Here were four men^ marooned at three in the afternoon on a sea-encircled bank, shrouded in fog and with the water rising rapidly about them. In one hour the shoal would be half cov ered; in another the flood would have risen above the highest rocks; in still another it would be swirling over them two feet deep. It required no prophet to tell what the end would be; That was the situation. How could it be met? . Armstrong wasted no time in use lessly reproaching the sentinel to whose carelessness their perilous plight was due. but he thought hard. There was little prospect of out side help. The fog prevented them from being seen from land or from any passing vessel. Still, it was barely possible that by shputing to gether they might attract attention, and the lad determined to make the effort' before trying anything else. Explaining his plan to the others, he grouped them cn the centre of the shoal. "Now all together!" he cried; and their blended voices blew westward on . the moisture-laden breeze. "Again:" And once more the loud cry rang across the leaden water. "Again!" And for the third time their voices pealed forth. They waited a few minutes, but there came no answering shout, or welcome blast from a fisherman's horn. "It's no use counting on help from anybody else," said Armstrong. "We've got to depend on ourselves." In a few words he outlined his plan. A large part of the shoal was covered with small boulders, weigh ing from twenty-five pounds upward. It was his idea to build of these a cairn high enough to give standing room above the reach of the tide. Was there time enough (to do this? They must make it euough. "It's our only chance," said Arm strong, as he threw off his coat and } vest and rolled up his sleeves. The ' others fellowed his example. It was necessary to give the pyra mid a base sufficiently broad so that its- top should allow them room to stand on. There was not much more than an hour for the collection of material; for after that only the sum mit of the shoal would be above water. Here was a problem in con struction' that called, for no. mean skill on the part of the architect. If too broad a foundation were laid, there would be neither time nor ma terial to raise the pile high enough to insure safety; on the other hand, If the base were made too small, the entire structure might topple over before the strong tidal current that scoured tha-; section of the bay. The slightest miscalculation might prove fatal. The four toiled like beavers, bringing boulder after boulder to the slowing increasing pile. It is safe to say that not one of thb city men had ever worked harder in his life. The boy made his assistants fetch first the reeks lying at tho edge of the water. "We can't get these later, when the tide 1s higher," he explained. The outer wall he laid of heavy stone, throwing the smaller frag ments into the middle. The pieces were rough and slippery, covered with barnacles and slime; and some weighed so much that it took all four to lift them. "Why do we need such heavy rocks?" said one of the laborers, complainingly. *"?ou don't think that cur lives are really in danger, do you?" "Wait and see," replied Sandy, briefly. All this time the tide had been rising rapidly. At first it had been impossible, because of the thick fog, to see the ends cf the shoal from its summit; hut now, so diminished was its size, the entire surface was easily visible from the spot where they were busy. A half-hour more passed and the wavelets were lapping the base of the heap. Another thirty minutes and the toilers splashed back and [ forth, bearing their final burdens j through a steadily increasing depth ! of water. I Drenched, slime-covered and pant ing, with the skin worn off their fin ger-tips and their hands bleeding from the sharp barnacles, they per severed, until the last available rock j had been secured. The pyramid wae now more than six feet high, with a summit something more than a yard "In the Red Stre H The survival of the fittest is the primal moving cause o changes. In the red stress of process of selection is sometii selection is the beginning of dc itself.^ The only race degenera duced by those forces which dei fathers of the future those w: business of war or in that of emigration are on a parallel wli this enormous difference: the ? not lost to the world. The los: another. But the losses In wa gain. The warlike nation of to to-morrow. It has ever been si it must be ever.-President Da Peace Congress, Chicago, May ! square. On this the four tuen xooS their stand, to await whatever might come to them. Then passed three hours of silent apprehension. To the prisoners hud dled together on the apex of that hurriedly built stone-heap, the mo ments were--marked by a growing dread, as they watched the gray green water creep up toward them, gradually submerging boulder after boulder in its ceaseless course. Far westward a faint whistle sounded. A steamer was feeling her way down through the Muscle Ridge Channel. Then came a louder, deeper blast, as White Head Light Station bellowed mournfully in reply: Hoo-oo-oo! And again at intervals, regularly recurrent: Hoo-oo-oo! The dismal notes sounded like a dirge to the men on the pyramid. A flock of gulls, lying low, winged their way overhead, their dreary, unmelodious: cries piercing the mist like the creak ing of rusty, unoiled hinges. The sounds died in the distance, and there was silence, save for the sucking of the hungry flood through the interstices of the cairn. The only remarks exchanged between thc prisoners were occasional brief com ments on the progress of the tide. It wi\s now nearly six o'clock anc! approaching dusk made the fog seem thicker, than ever. The wind hacl died out and it had just begun to rain, the scattered drops failing straight down, pitting the breezelesii surface with tiny circles. The watei: had almost reached the top of tho rocks. Would it never stop rising? Armstrong knew that the tide would attain its highest point not far from seven o'clock and that after the be ginning of the ebb they would be safe until the next morning. But was the pyramid high enough to en able them to withstand the force of the current until the ebb began? It was this dreadful uncertainty that made the next hour so terrible to all. Higher and higher rose the tide. It rippled gently about the soles of their shoes. Soon it was swirling around their ankles and the rock crests ceased to break the surface. Higher, higher, higher still, until the pale-faced and desperately fright ened watchers stood knee-deep in the chilling flood. Would it never stop rising? Under their feet the loosely built pile quivered before the strong running of the tidal currents. Again and again they seemed to feel the mass falling to pieces. Should it topple down, four lives would go with lt. But, thanks to its builder's skill z.nd forethought, the pyramid resisted all assaults. " The water was now above'; t!ae knees of the marooned men, and still rising. Greenough had the only watch in the party; his two friends had left their timepieces at the boarding-house, when they put on their old clothes and Sandy had never owned one. He knew, how ever, that it was full flood at ten min utes to seven. As the salesmen pressed the spring that opened the gold case of his re peater, all strained their eyes eager ly for a glimpse of the circle- of fig ures on the little white dial. Twen ty-five minutes to seven! A quarter-hour moro and the water would be at its highest point! If they could but hold uut till then! With its increasing depth the cur rent had become so strong that it threatened every instant-to sweap them from their foothold; ' even though they had joined arms and re sisted with their combined strength. One man alone would have been washed away like a log of driftwood. Onca they were nearly involved in a general catastrophe. In changing his position, Neal slipped and fell upon his knee, and it took thc united efforts of the three others to lift him upright and restore the stability of the party. Armstrong saw that it would not do to risk another such ac cident. Stooping until he was up to his neck in water, he worked for a minuti.3 at the boulders beneath; then he straightened up again. "New take hold of me," he said. He had pulled a heavy rock over both feet, thus fastening himself to the pyramid. His position was a painful one, but it meant safety foi all. Th? tide had now reached its high est point, and soon began to ebb pre ceptibly. A few minutes after eight o'clock the top of the pyramid was bare once more, rising like Ararat above the surrounding waters. Just as the four fishermen were contem plating the unpleasant prospect of a night without shelter in the bay, they heard the welcome creaking of pulley-blocks not far off in the dark ness. Fivt. minutes later they were safe on board a little smack that was feeling her way slowly homeward through the fog to Carver's Harbor, after a week's lobstering near Isle au Hs.ut.-From Youth's Companion. There is great interest among the farmers and property owners at Sack ett Lake, N. Y., over a discovery ot a clay that burns as well as coal and abounds in great quantities. This clay, Vichen dug up and allowed to dry out in the sun becomes porous and hard as flint. A lighted match will ignite the clay and it burns until consumed. A specimen of the clay has been sent to Cornell University to. be analyzed. The water of the ocean Is rich In radium. ?SS Of uman Hls?oryJ7 in ths struggle for existence f raci progress and of race human history, this natural nes reversed. A reversal of ?gradation. It is degradation Ltion ever known is that pro stroy the best, leaving for the bo could not be used in the colonization. The effects of :h the effects of war, but with itrong men who emigrate are 3 of one region isl the gain of r can yield no corresponding -day ls the decadent nation of >, and in the nature of things 7id Starr Jordan, at National 3, 1909. -Cartoon by UNITED STATES G?VER OF NAVAL ORI Important Experiments Costin : termine Relative Eff icier of Offence J . Washington, D. C.-The experi ments in naval ordnance, for which the last naval appropriation act con tains an appropriation of $100,000, now available, will be conducted in sepret. For some time the naval ord nance officers have been anxious to conduct certain tests whioh require much expense, and which could not be made out of the usual allotment for tho naval hureau of ordnance. It was not expected that Congress would make provision for such a purpose, largely, for the reason that objection prevailed in some quarters to the ex penditure of public funds in direc tions which did not always show tang ible results. It was pointed out, however, that the beneficial effect of the tests would b?'no less real mere ly because new material was not be ing acquired. There was much in the way of theory which it Was de sired to supplant by actual knowledge obtainable only by tests. So many questions have arisen among the ex perts aB to the relative efficiency of various elements of offence and de fence that they are highly gratified to have an opportunity to settle them. One of the most important tests, is that which will show whether the armor now being placed on American battleships, will resist the projectiles of high power guns at battle ranges. Guns are now fired in tests at short ran?e with velocities which are esti mated to equal that which would exist If the distance were what is known as a battle range. It is as serted by many that the tarmor will not serye its purpose. Actual experi ments in Arin 5 at such ranges, against armor, supported in the same manner as on a battleship have never been carried out, and no one knows what' the actual effect will be. Another question is whether high explosive . shells will have, the effect claimed for them and whether the pressure of the gases of such a vio lent explosion will blow in the armor side of a battleship. Then, too, lt is desired to know what will be the ma terial effect of such explosives on the personnel and whether the structure of the ship will stand it. Connected with such an experiment is the de termination of the maximum depth to which a twelve-inch shell will pen etrate the water at battle ranges and the effect of ihe explosions bn the underwater body. TeRts will also be conducted to determine the resist-1 MUIR GLACIER I Strange Changes Wrought by Jn the Famous A Victoria, B. C.-A recent remark able phenomenon In Alaska ls the drifting away of icebergs from the frortt of Muir Glacier In Glacier Bay so that for the first time in nine years this famous river of ice,, the most noted on this continent, has been vis ited. In 1889 a subterranean earth quake occurred at Yakutat and ever Blnce the approach of this glacier has been so choked with Ice. that boats have turned away, with their passen gers disappointed. Now through some, peculiar drifting of thelce steamboats can enter the channel and go near the right, wing of the glacier, and after cautiously pushing their way get a 'glimpse of tho left face. In the nine years that it has been inaccessible the glacier has under gone remarkable changes. When Professor John Muir, after whom lt was named, visited lt lt had a solid face two miles long and rising about 250 feet above .the water line. It was a live glacier, and great masses of ice Indiana Post?nico Will Have to Go to a Democrat or Close. Limcdale,. Ind.-For thirty-two years W., J. Steeg, a Democrat, post master at Limedale, has hoped in vain that some Republican would move into thir. town and get the job. The office didn't pay much anyhow, and on tho Fourth of July Steog de cided to assert his independence and threw yu hin job. Stee* was an oointsd p^sMurster here by President I Kayes. "A Democrat will be his sue-j cesser, ber?""? Limeiale Is still with out a republican vote:-. . -..- i An:ong tile Workers. Tho Nottingham (England") lace-1 makers' strike ended recently, the j employers conceding the terms de-j manded. j Representatives of the furniture trade societies of New So.u-'t Woles, Victoria. South Australia atad Queens land "recently mat in Melbourne to form a federation. The New York Central Federated Union recently adopted a motion granting full privileges of voice and vote to the delegates of the Women's Trade Union League In the central body. ig $100,000 Planned to De? icy of Various El?ments md Defence, I ance of exterior armor to the attack 1 of twenty-one-inch torpedoes. It may ; develop that the armor now used will not exclude torpedoes, in which event the disclosure would be disconcert-! lng, to say the least. It would haye Its value, however, in showing to what extent and in what direction improvements must be installed ta give exterior armor its necessary .power .to resist such a form of naval attack. It is also proposed to ascertain whether the turrets as now con structed and equipped on battleships will withstand the impact, of heavy, projectiles at battle ranges. It is a question whether there will not bo under such an attack material dam age to the structure itself, to the sights, the electric and other gun gear contained in the turrets. It ia important in this connection to as certain whether the sights now in stalled on the twelve-inch turret would be permanently disabled by six-inch gun fire, which demonstra tion would show whether it is neces sary to design a turret that can be disabled only by heavy gun fire. One of the important experiments will be with movable water planes in stalled on the sides of a battleship, operated automatically, so as to di minish the roll of a vessel, and so im prove the accuracy of gun fire in time of battle. The record target practice of the Atlantic fleet this summer will be with the vessels rolling, so as to ascertain If the target could be hit j under the most adverse conditions at sea in time of war. It is also deslr- j able to ascertain if under such unfav- | orable conditions it would be poss!- j ble to offset the influence of the sea ? and contribute to the stability of tho ship ?s a gun platform. It is appre ciated that anything which improves marksmanship on board ship is a di rect and vital contribution to the fighting power of the navy. . I These are only a few of the sub jects which will be taken up by the i naval ordnance officers during this j fiscal year. No previous announce- ', ment will be made of the experi ments, most of which are likely to be conducted at the naval proving gr?nd at Indian Head, Maryland. The tests will be made solely with the view of obtaining information for the Navy Department and no an nouncement of the results will be 1 madel -REE OF BERGS. ' a Subterranean Earthquake alaska Ice River." . .. toppled into the sea from.time to time with reverberations like thunder. Water splashed fifty feet high at eacbi fall and the sight was fascinating. To-day the glacier assumes a differ ent aspect. Erosion has worked out a new bay, which will soon be charted, and the glacier itself seems to have two parts, the live part, from which icebergs break and fall with tremen dous noise, and a dead arm, with land forming between it and the sea. This change is due to a hill which projecfed through the top of .the ice when Professor Muir was there. Now that hilltop is a large mountain di viding the ice fields. The Ice has al30 receded four miles in the nine years. The captain of the first steamboat piloted in front of .this glacier in re cent years was presented with a sil ver service marked in large letters "Muir Glacier." This is without doubt the most remarkable known glacier on this continent It has 354 square miles of ice. Coffee Planters of Hawaii Had Hard Luck With Shipment o? Workers. Washington, D. C.-The immigra tion bureau will send an inspector to Portugal to obtain workers for tho coffee planters In Hawaii. These planters have found It difficult to ob- ? tain hands and enlisted the assist ance of the immigration authorities. Some time ago the bureau secured about two cr?r leads of men in New York for ?he Hawaiian planters. When the train arrived at San Fran cisco the fovco of men had dwindled to three individuals. The Field of Sports. Stanley Ketchel received the deel? sion over "Billy" Papke ia a twenty j round figbi in California. Yale will be particularly well off for swimmers nsxt season, with much veteran material on hand. Edward Morley, one of tho crew in an eight-oared s":ell partci;:ailng In the regatta o2 the New England Ama teur Rowing Association, was drowned after thc boat capsized. The 'varsity letter at Lafayette is presented to any track athlete who makes twelve points or more in the season's meets. Diamond Gossip and Gent Johnson Fails to Put Husky Ital ian away. Makes Ketchel's Chances Better. . (BY A. JAY COOK) Pittsburg-Before a crowd of eight thousand fight fans on Wednesday i night Tony Ross, the New Castle, Pa., pug put up one o? the gamest fights of his career, with Jack Johnson, claimant of the world's heavy weight championship. Everybody knew that Ross never had a chance and this was accentuated when Johnson entered the ring. He weighed close onto 245 pounds while Ross tipped the scales at 201. The negro had the reach and heighth on the Italian and during the light one could see the great advant age of his reach. In the first round Johnson'sailed in with a bunch of right and left upper cuts to Tony's stomach and jaw. Ross did nothing more than guard and clinch. At the end of the round Tony was felled by a right to the jaw, seeming to fall more from fright than the punch which Johnson handed him. The bell rang when Buck Cornelius, the referee, had counted 6. The next five rounds dvd not vary, Johnson generally leading with his left and planting right and left upper cuts either on Ross' guard or his stom ach. The negro landed a heavy one on Tony's nose in the second bringing the claret. The negro was constant ly smiling durinig the bout, showing his teeth covered with gold. "Lil" Artha is certainly cutting a swath with those among his admirers. In the fifth and sixth Ross landed jolts to the jaw which took the smilo off the negro's face for a minute. But. as everybody expected Johnson put it all over his opponent Ross was un doubtedly suffering from a severe attack of stage fright. If he had put up his usual fight, even with the great advantages in weight, height and reach which were against him, he would have made a much better show ing. The preliminaries to the main bout of the evening were excellent, plenty of good hard boxing. In the opener Billy Griffiths had something on Jack Young, a colored fighter of New Cas tle, Pa. Young was nearly out at the end of the sixth. t Joe Getz nf Johnstown. Pa., bv a ral ly in the fifth and sixth rounds drew a shade on Battling Terry, his oppo nent who had it on Getz during the first three sessions. "Cyclone" Johnny Kijbane of Cleve land, O, knocked Jeff Gaffney, of New York, out cold in the fifth round. Gaffney's actions reminded one of a Hebrew selling a second pair of shoes on Chatham street. The punch that did the work was a hard right to the jaw, with a left swing as a straight ener. Stanley Ketchell's chances against the negro are taking a big boost. Johnson is not famed for his punching power, in fact, precious few of his vic tories have been by .the knockout route. This fight together with his exhibition against Jack O'Brien at Philadelphia, tends to further show this. Ketchell will have a terrible disadvantage in the height and reach of his opponent. This must be made up for by his gameness and punching ability. Ketchell's game would be to battle his way in close to the negro and tear loose a succession of those ripping punches directed at the wind. Ketchell is game and if one of his punches ever reaches Johnson it would be plain sailing. The negro's best punch is a right uppercut to the stomach or jaw, at medium long range. He is rather slow on his feet, but at times shows speed. Jim Jeffries could beat the negro to day. With head lowered and massive arms flaying. Jeff's bull-like rushes would completely smother the giant negro. The boilermaker is too fast on his feet for Johnson and besides John son has nothing in his offensive reper toire that would make Jeff bat an eye. No matter if Johnson does manage in some may to put away Ketchell. Jeff ries will briner hack the title to the white race, if he fish ts. J am not simply passing judgment, on what Johnson did to Ross last night. He had the easiest kind of a proposition in Tnny Ross, who forgot that he was in the rin^ for any other reason than to stay the six rounds out. It must be said for Ross, though, that he put up a game fight. Tf he h?d wanted to quit., there were pVntv pf times when he could have laid down. American Horse Beaten. Newmarket, England.-The Friday all-aged soiling plate of 103 sovereigns, distance five furlongs, was won Friday by Base Metal. Rosemeath was sec ond and Surf third. Among the 15 starters was H. P. Whitney's Bally hoo filly. The Princess plate of.300 sovereigns, for 2-year-olds, distance five furlongs, was won by Duchess Christine. Zoetrope was second and i the Tathwell Lassie colt third. Among i r-o i? starters werp H. n. Whitney's Oversight and August Belmont's Fond Memories. i WESTERN TRACK CHAMPIONS. Chicago.-The University of Illinois captured the Western track and field championship Saturday by winning the ninth annual conference meet with a total of 30 points; Leland Stanford was second with 2S points and University of Chicago finished third with 21 points. The followiing are the other scores: . "Wisconsin. 12; Purdue, G: Minneso ta, 0; Michigan, 5; Colarodo, 5; Western Reserve, 4; Miami. 4; India na, 3; Notre Dame. 3; Knox. 1; Iowa. 1; Northwestern. Ripon, Lake Forest i and Beloit failed to score i SIR THOMAS LIPTON HAS EYES ON THE CUP. Rothesay, Scotland.-Sir Thomas Lipton's desire to '.'lift" the Ameri ca's cup, in which he has been twice unsuccessful, has led to a special con ference of the board of the Royal Ulster Yacht club, at which it was decided to ask the New York Yacht club, present hilders of the cup, exactly what conditions will be "imposed upon a challenger. Sir Thomas has felt keenly that his previous efforts to. win back to Eng land the cupiost more than 50 years ago arounds the Isle of Wight, have met with rebuffs. He has been dis cussing for some time past with the members of the Royal Ulster Yacht club the prospects of having another challenge for the cup accepted. Sir Thomas told the members of the club, however, that under the present condi tions he could not possibly win the cup, the handicaps against a foreign yacht being too great. He declared he was willing to challenge immedi ately if the New York .Yacht club would accept certain conditions, chief ly that the race should be sadled under the modern rules, instead of the rules that prevailed 60 years ago when the America first won the cup. He added that he was willing to concede to the New York Yacht club the choice of the modern rules selected and did not care whether thc English or the American rules were adopted. It was Slr Thomas's stipulation, however, that the size of the racing yacht should not be limiited. In the past no yacht with a water line of greater than 90 feet has been allowed to compete. ' The Royal Ulster Yacht club did not care to lay down these conditions as final, so that it was decided that the secretary of the club should im mediately open negotiations with the New York Yacht club and ask upon exactly what conditions the New York Yacht club would accept challenge. The letter goes forward immediate- . ly and if the reply is found favorable Sir Thomas will immediately issue his challenge through the Royal Ulster Yacht club. The race would of neces? sity be sailed off Nev/ York. COMISKEY AFTER REAL SLUGGERS Chicago.-President Charles A. Com iskey of the White Sox is still looking for players to boost his team. The r old Roman is still able to make the deal that will land Dr. Harry Gessler from the Boston Red Sox club, but he does not care to give the pitcher for Gessler wanted by the Boston club. If it were only a matter of money Gessler would soon be wearing a Sox uniform, but owner John I. Taylor is looking for a good pitcher to bolster up his pitching staff and refuses to part with Gessler for money only. Gessler is a former Cub. He has not been in his best form this Bprlng, but is now rounding into condition fast Last year as a members of the Boston team he was something of a sensation as a batter, and it was due to his hard hitting that the Red Sox attract- 4 ed the attention of all the league on the final swing around the western cities. Comiskey does not want to sacrifice I a star pitcher like Doc White to make a center fielder of him if he can avoid it. White is invaluable as a pitcher. against several of the leading teams of the American League, and if he Is kept in center field he will soon be out bf commission as a pitcher. The White Sox staff is the strongest in the league, with Walsh, Smith, White, Burns, Scott.Sutor and Ficne, but with White out of it the staff ls greatly weakened. <* Wagner Leads Batters. Pittsburg.-Hans Wagner is now where he belongs-at the top of the National League list of batsmen. The "Flying Dutchman" has been the real leader for several weeks, but now the men who were high up in the Hst be cause they had batted well in the few games in which they had .participated have dropped down, leaving the Car negie Teuton at the top, with the proud mark of .400 flat. This is just one point less than that of which he boasted a week ago, which shows the Pirate star's work has been consistent J as well as brilliant. Fred Clarke is the only other Pir ate in the .300 class. He has a per ren tae:e of .313. as against .333 when the last batch of figures ^as Issued. Wagner is credited with 7C hits. He was the first player In the league to pass the 75-mark in bingles. He has a total of 100 bases, haying one homer, three triples and 15 doubles to his credit He has scored 33 runs, stole 22 bases and made 14 sac rifice hits. Pittsburg as a team is still leadine the league in batting by^ a comfortable margin. Future of Horse Racing Looks Good. New York.-Additional indications that nrominent horsemen have entire confidence In the future of the Ameri can turf, desoite the recent laws against open betting on the Metropoli fan tracks, are being jrlven dsrtly. R. T. Wilson. Jr.. one nf the wealthy na rrons of the sport, who refused to shin his horses abroad last fall, has lust bought 20 yearlings from John E. Mad den. This ls the b'ereest purchase of rhnrruehbred horseflesh that hos been runflo Y- r^-no mm l-> rn "riv montb? and demonstrates Mr. Wilson's confidence jj in the future success of the turf. 1 Vanderbilt Heads List of Winners. New York.-W. K. Vanderbilt heads the Hst of winners on the French turf since the season opened on March 12 last, his horses having won $160,400 up to June 30. Maurice Rothschild comes, next with a total of $121,200. Baron de Rothschild's horse Verdun was the greatest sinele winner. $110, 000. including the $75.000 grand prix. Vanderbilt's Oversight comes next with S61.000 to his credit. lack of nrtlve fuel is the rhief rltawba^k to the development of Bra silina factories.