McCormick messenger. (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current, June 17, 1937, Image 6
McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C., THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1937
“Death Over Miami"
By FLOYD GIBBONS
Famous Headline Hunter
H ERE’S a tale of the high seas, of “Sparks,” as the seamen
call the radio operator who sits day and night over his set,
picking up messages that may mean life or death to some hap
less souls.
In this case, thanks to Ray Hutchens of Long Island City, N. Y., it
meant life to the victims of a hurricane which had just swept a path of
death and destruction over Florida 1
Ray tells me the Ward Line passenger ship Sibor.ey, with him on
board as chief wireless operator, and a chap named Milton Kitchen as
junior, pulled out of Havana, bound for New York, on September 18, 1926.
Just before they left the dock at noon, they received a hurricane warn
ing from a station in New Orleans whose call letters were WNU.
Now Ray says such warnings were a dime a dozen, and most
of them came to exactly nothing. So when they ran into a gale
with moderate sea on passing Morro Castle, they thought little of
it. All unsuspecting they turned toward Key West.
Somebody Called the Siboney.
Ray tells us that at 10 p. m. that night he was on watch. Static was
bad, the sea was running a bit more heavily, and the wind at gale force
threw clusters of spray against the radio-room ports so forcibly it sound
ed like hail. The passengers, their vacations over, were asleep or pre
paring for bed, secure in the thought of the trained men in whose hands
they had entrusted their welfare. Ray, watching with anxious eyes the
rising storm, could think only of the helplessness of even these trained
men when Nature goes on a rampage.
Idly running through the 600-meter band, Ray found things dull, with
little traffic. At ten-thirty, against a rasping background of static, some
fellow called WRN (the Siboney, Ray’s vessel) slowly and repeatedly.
“Shucks,” Ray thought to himself. “This’ll be some two-by-
four tanker about to ask for a relay.”
Unable to send their messages the full distance because of lack of
power, the smaller ships occasionally asked help from a ship with better
equipment. Ray was certainly justified in jumping to this conclusion,
for what else would be sending a signal that was not the clear, musical
note of the shore stations, but a weak, straggling sputter, “like someone
shaking a bucket of pebbles,” as Ray puts it.
But when this puny station signed WAX, which was the shore station
at Miami, Florida, Ray was shocked into action! Miami, whose high,
clear note always rang with ample volume through the thirty miles of
static that separated them. Something was radically wrong, Ray was
Relayed the Tale of Disaster to the World.
sure of that. Hurriedly he snapped back a brief “Go ahead.” Ray
knew the shore station must be able to hear the Siboney much better
than Ray could catch the thin signal that trickled in from Miami.
“Ham” Told of Miami Hurricane.
And WAX, Miami, came back with the hottest row of dots
and dashes Ray ever had directed toward him in his life! A piti
ful appeal for food, clothing and medical supplies for the victims
of the Miami hurricane, which had just swept a path of death and
destruction across Florida!
There was not a second to be lost! Out there in those waste stretches,
battered and swept clean by the fury of a Nature gone mad, were help
less men, women, yes and little children, their homes destroyed, their
last link with the world this little ship’s radio room, where a horrified
man sat over a delicate instrument and relayed the tale of their dis
aster to the world.
Ray jumped to his feet, ran into their quarters, slapped his junior.
Kitchen, on the stomach. For the next twelve hours, while Kitchen
stood by and tended the arc and spark transmitters, Ray alternately re
ceived from Miami and sent to WSA, in East Moriches, Long Island.
A pal of Ray’s, A1 Kahn, who was on the Orizaba, near Hatteras, helped
to keep other ships’ signals off the air while Ray was slowly trying to
pound through the thousand miles between the Siboney and WSA.
Static Made It Almost Impossible.
You fellow-adventurers who are “hams,” as the radio amateurs call
themselves, will know what Ray was up against trying to pick up the
faint code of WAX with static buzzing, sputtering, crackling, crashing,
drowning out the almost inaudible signal that meant aid and succor to
thousands of souls. Ray sat there glued to his chair for twelve hours,
straining his ears to catch the pitiful appeal, receiving under almost
superhuman conditions. “So bad was the static,” Ray tells me, “that
each dot was a drop of sweat and each dash a moan.”
Captain F. L. Miller hove the ship to so as to keep tfye oper
ators within range of WAX’S low-power transmitter. He hail been
asked to bring his ship into the harbor with food and medicine,
bat the ship’s draft would not allow it even in calm weather.
And all the time Ray was racking his brains wondering how the
Miami operators, whose big station was obviously out of whack, were
getting even this faint signal through. “Those boys certainly deserve
credit,” Ray says proudly, “all their towers were down; the roof was
blown from their quarters, power and telegraph lines were all out} they
were sheltering one hundred men, women and children in the control-
room, and even then they rigged up an emergency transmitter, pow
ered with batteries stolen from wrecked cars, to get the first word of
the hurricane to the outside world!* “So far as I know,” Ray says, “it
was the first time a land station ever sent an SOS to a ship!”
I guess we can sympathize with Ray when we imagine the feelings
of that operator at WAX, who called the ship so slowly and prayerfully
with that pathetic little sending shebang, knowing that the Siboney was
due to pass and had continuous watch. Those boys got very little
credit in the papers at the time, but Ray will always remember them
with pride in his profession.
<0—WNU Service.
Ruins of Cuzco
In Cuzco, Peru, once the metrop
olis of the Incas, are massive
ruins on a par with those found in
Egypt. When the city was captured
by Pizarro its temples were marvels
of magnificence, says the Washing
ton Post. The Temple of the Sun
was covered with a roof of gold.
The railroad to Cuzco skirts Lake
Titicaca, an inland sea, 161 miles
long, 60 miles wide and 12,500 feet
above the level of the sea. The water
never freezes, even when the tem
perature drops to 30 degrees, and
steel knives thrown into it do not
rust.
Varnish, Paint, Different
What is the difference between
pai::t and varnish? If you get paint
on your hands it will be soft and
oily—easy to remove with turpen
tine or gasoline; the varnish will re
quire more scrubbing. Paint is
made by grinding pigments (colors)
in drying oils. Varnish is made by
melting transparent gums and mix
ing the melted gums with similar
drying oils, after these oils have
been raised to a high temperature.
Paint is opaque and is intended to
hide surfaces. Varnish is usually
transparent and is intended to re
veal surfaces.
The
SUPREME
COURT
AND HOW
IT WORKS
“The Public Welfare* 9
By ROBERT MERRILL
T HE Supreme court of the
United States has frequent
ly been called upon to act as
umpire in cases where citizens
protested that their health or
their crops were endangered.
A number of such appeals have
resulted in the elimination of condi
tions causing pollution of the water
an affected community must drink,
or contamination of the air it must
breathe.
In one instance a company made
a practice of discharging waste ma
terial into a river, whose waters,
farther along the course, were
utilized for irrigation purposes.
A citizen whose crops and food
supply were thus damaged obtained
an injunction in a local court. The
company appealed to a higher state
court, which modified the decree to
the fesaent which allowed it to oper
ate if it provided facilities to pre
vent the waste being carried down
the river. An appeal was then car
ried to the United States Supreme
court, which affirmed the ruling and
explained:
“In giving a right to use the wat-
eri of the public streams . . . the
statute does not provide that such
a user may send his waste material
or debris down the stream to the
destruction or substantial injury of
the riparian rights of users of water
below, and no such invasion of pri
vate property rights should be in
ferred or implied . . .”
State Seeks Fresh Air.
In another instance a state ap
pealed to the Supreme court of the
United States to enjoin certain in
dustrial plants in a bordering state
from polluting the air and endanger
ing the citizens’ health and crops.
The Supreme court granted the in
junction, pointing out that a state
has an interest in all the earth and
air within its domain.
“It has the last word,” said the
opinion, “as to whether its moun
tains shall be stripped of their for
ests and its inhabitants shall breathe
pure air.”
On one occasion, a church in
Washington, D. C., carried to the
Supreme court its appeal against a
railroad company which had erected
an engine house and repair shop
next to the church property. It pro
tested that the noisu and smoke thus
caused interfered with services and
greatly inconvenienced worshipers.
The court decided in favor of the
church.
Handles Small Cases.
But the individual citizen, no mat
ter how obscure, does not need the
support of his state or any other
organization to appeal to the Su
preme court if his Constitutional
rights have been infringed upon.
Naturally the Supreme court ap
pears most prominently in the news
when it umpires cases involving
prominent names or great organiza
tions; but its work includes also the
job of umpiring cases which, apart
from their constitutional aspect,
would seem of little importance.
Here’s one case involving a $25
fine:
The penalty was imposed by a
District of Columbia police court
on a resident charged with conspir
ing to extort money. When the pris
oner refused to pay, he was turned
over to a United States marshal.
He protested that the Constitu
tion of the United States secured
to him the right to be tried by a
jury on the charge, and since that
right was denied, the police court
had no authority to impose a fine on
him or to order him imprisoned
until the fine was paid.
Jury Trial Guaranteed.
Because of the constitutional as
pect involved, the case went finally
to the Supreme court. The court
agreed with the prisoner, and ex
plained :
“Except in that class or grade of
offenses called petty offenses which,
according to the common law, may
be proceeded against summarily in
any tribunal legally constituted for
that purpose, the guarantee of an
impartial jury to the accused in a
criminal prosecution, conducted
either in the name, or by or under
the authority of, the United States,
secures to him the right to enjoy
that mode of trial . . .
“In such cases a judgment of con
viction, not based upon a verdict of
guilty by a jury, is void.”
© Western Newspaper Union.
Named Lions for Kings
During the time of King George
II of England it was customary to
name the lions in the tower menag
erie after the reigning kings, and
the fate of the royal beast was
thought to be bound up with that
of human majesty. Two years Ibe-
fore the death of King George II,
he suffered a serious illness, and
was near death; but he rallied, and
regained good health. A curious
circumstance, illustrative of popu
lar superstition, is mentioned in
connection with this illness by Lord
Chesterfield, and quoted by Earl
Stanhoi i in his “History of Eng
land”: “It was generally thought
his majesty would have died, and
for a very good reason—for the
oldest lion in the tower, much about
the king’s age, died a fortnight
ago.”
IMPROVED""'””
UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
S UNDAY I
chool Lesson
By REV. HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST.
Dean of the Moody Bible Institute
of Chicago.
@ Western Newspaper Union.
Lesson for June 20
JOSEPH’S KINDNESS TO HIS
KINDRED
LESSON TEXT—Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30; 90:
*4-26.
GOLDEN TEXT—And be ye kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one an
other, even as God for Christ’s sake hath
forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32.
PRIMARY TOPIC—When Joseph Saw HI*
Father Again.
JUNIOR TOPIC—Joseph Honoring His Fa
ther.
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC—
Kindness in the Family.
young People and adult topic—
Mutual Helpfulness In the Family.
A happy ending—yes! Modern
writers may look with disfavor on
It (and perhaps rightly so, for most
of them write about life apart from
fellowship with God) but to those
who trust God and who seek his
will, the story of life has a bright
and joyful conclusion.
But someone may object that the
lesson for today closes with the last
words of the book of Genesis, which
are “a coffin in Egypt.” Is that a
happy ending? It is, because even
that forbidding emblem of death
pointed in faith toward the day when
God was to keep his promise and
bring his people into the promised
land.
Our lesson centers around the last
of our patriarchs, Joseph, and his
kindness to his father and his fami
ly. The highest official in the land
of Egypt (save for Pharaoh him
self) proves his inherent greatness
by forgetting position and power,
except as they enable him to be a
loving son and brother. We consider
his kindness as it is centered in his
devotion to God, shown forth in
thoughtful provision for others, ex
pressed in affectionate deeds, and
as it imparted itself by faith to oth
ers.
I. Founded on Fellowship (Gen.
46:1-4).
Jacob, having heard from his sons
that Joseph was in Egypt, and hav
ing thus learned of their treachery
and deceit, came at last to realize
that his beloved Joseph is alive. He
has been urged to go to Egypt but
he hesitates about leaving Canaan.
How shall he know whether to be
lieve in and respond to Joseph’s in
vitation. He asks God, the One who
is the joy and center of Joseph’s
life, and of Jacob’s as well, and he
has his answer.
Real family life and devotion cen
ter around a mutual fellowship with
God. There may be little else to
share, but “little is much when
God is in it.” Has God been honored
in your home? Has He been made
the center of family life? These are
vital questions.
II. Evidenced by Thoughtfulness
(vv. 5-7).
Joseph had arranged for Pharaoh
to send wagons to bring his aged
father, the women, and the little
ones.
Many men in our day glory in be
ing “hard-boiled.” In their relent
less pursuit of fame and riches they
ignore and even trample on the
members of their own families.
They are ashamed of the broken
bodies, the humble apparel, the un
educated speech of their parents,
fearing lest their new-found friends
in the circle of wealth and position
may ridicule them. There is a crude
but apt expression that describes
such persons as “stuffed shirts.”
HI. Manifested in Love (w. 28-30).
Joseph kissed his father whom he
had gone out to meet, and held him
close and wept for joy. Again he
showed his true greatness by being
his natural self.
We are not all demonstrative in
showing our affection. Furthermore,
we would not plead for more of that
sham public expression of affection
which is so distasteful to right-think
ing people. But may we not suggest
that there is room for improvement
in our loving consideration for our
kindred. Let us ask ourselves how
long it is since we did something
to show that we really love our
mother, our father, or a faithful
wife, son, or daughter? How long
is it since you wrote home to moth
er, or went home to visit?
IV. Imparted by Faith (50:24-26).
Jacob had been gathered to his
fathers; time had gone on its re
lentless way, and Joseph is about to
die. What shall be the heritage to
his family? Money, property, posi
tion? No; he leaves them something
infinitely more valuable—a forward-
looking faith that will keep alive in
iheir hearts the expectation that
God will in due season bring them
into their own land. Joseph had
spent most of his years in Egypt,
he had attained high position and
great honor, but he never lost his
vision of the promised land. He
imparts to them by faith that hope.
Hope
Ah, what thoughtful, loving pro
vision God hath made for us in the
gift of the angel of Hope! There is
no path so dark but we may see the
glimmer of her shining wings, no
misfortune so heavy but her helpful
hand is outstretched to us, and her
•mile still ready to cheer and en
courage us.
The Natural Tone
Peace is the natural tone of a
svell-regulated mind at one with it-
*elf.—Humboldt.
'^'OW, Milady, that you’ve
seen all three, which
will you choose, the lovely
dance frock, an easy-to-sew
runabout model, or a slick
all around the clock dress to flat
ter your every move and moment?
It’s a personal question but one
you’ll surely want to toy with
since Sew-Your-Own makes the
answer so easy.
The romantic fashion at the left
will make memorable occasions
of your summer parties as only a
lovely appearance can. Its two
pieces are young, cool and
streamlined. For the Miss whose
interest centers about matinee go
ings-on, there’s a dashing shorter
style—it differs only in length, and
either will be picturesque in mar
quisette, dimity, or organdie.
A Tip for Tea Time.
When you’re keeping up with
the Joneses, wear this stylish all
occasion dress. It will do great
things for you socially, and, fig
uratively speaking, it will cut
inches from those high spots and
make you feel pounds lighter.
Think of what that means to chic
and comfort when things get hot
out your way. Dark sheer crepe
is the material that lends top
charm to this creation.
Easy to sew and always ready
to go is this new spectator frock
for young women and those who
want to turn back the clock. With
this number handy there’s no need
to pause for reflection about what
to wear. And that holds good
whether you’re bound for sports,
business, or society. It is becom
ing as a sun tan, as simple to sew
as a dress can be, and a cinch
to launder. Why not make a car
bon copy for the morning after?
Remember summer chic depends
upon the company your wardrobe
keeps. Be sure it’s amply suik
plied with cool convenient Sew-
Your-Owns!
The Patterns.
Pattern 1291 is designed in sizew
12 to 20 (30 to 38 bust). Size 14
requires 6 yards of 35 or 39 inch
material. Size 14, walking length,
requires 5*6 yards.
Pattern 1847 is designed in sizes
36 to 52. Size 38 requires 4%
yards of 39 inch material.
Pattern 1279 is designed in s&es
32 to 49. Size 34 requires 4Va
yards of 35 inch material. Ribbon
for belt requires 1 yard.
Send your order to The Sewing
Circle Pattern Dept., Room 1020,,
211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, HL
Price of patterns, 15 cents (in
coins) each.
© Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
Face Opportunity I Needed at Times
Don’t let opportunity stare you A little bit of dynamite is an
in the back instead of the face. I elevating thing.
t
CHEW LONG BILL NAVY TOBACCO
E-KO EDGE JAR 20c with your dealer’s name ^or a Trial
RUBBERS
United Stains Rubbnr Products, Inc., Room 604,1790 Sroodwgy,
wii.u y vur ucaicr 9 name ivr a a nai
Package of 48 genuine Pe-Ko Jar,
Rings; sent prepaid.
Rubber Company
iour roum-qouR stores
OT „ ^
f I Our community includes the farm homes surrounding the town.
The town stores are there for the accommodation and to serve the
people of our farm homes. The merchants who advertise “specials” are mer
chants who are sure they can meet ail competition in both quality and prices.