'Sfc Within the last month ninety-seven derelicts have been seen and reported to the government hydrographic of fices in New York and Washington. This is nearly a score more than have ever been recorded during the same period in the history of the office, and Uncle Sam in preparing a remedy for the situation is stepping pretty lively. The remedy is, of course, submersive dynamite. The government wrecking ship Nina is starting on one of the most remark able cruises ever undertaken by a ves sel sailing from these waters. Her mission will be to run down and de stroy every piece of dangerous wreck age afloat within two hundred miles of the Atlantic seaboard. She will be provisioned for a three months’ cruise, and will carry in her magazine twenty thousand pounds of gun cotton, or enough high power explosive, under certain conditions, to sink a navy. If within three months the east coast of the United States is not swept clear of derelicts the Nina will be restocked with provisions and explosives pre paratory to resuming her roving com mission. Once Uncle Sam makes up his mind to do a thing he is given to doing it thoroughly, and he is going vigorously about the present under taking. One particular danger of the situa tion is the number of derelicts drift ing in or near the lanes of trans oceanic travel, and the roving fleet, hover like so many vultures in the pathway of commerce. “Our reports show more rough weather on the ocean highways than has been recorded for this season in nearly twelve years,” said the govern ment hydrographer. “Even the big gest of the new ocean liners has been none too big to withstand some of the immense combers reported. Add to j this the unusual number of merged j and submerged derelicts in the im mediate traffic lanes, and the result is an exceptionally ugly state of affairs. Suppose, for instance, a liner like the Campania has about all she can do in a gale blowing sixty to seventy miles an hour. All around her are mount ing seas, and she has all she can do turtle, Is a pretty hard nut to crack. Being of substantial construction, such a derelict frequently requires two or three torpedoes before it is rendered harmless. If the vessel has turned turtle the problem is still more knot ty, necessitating cutting into the hull in order to place the charges. This very frequently results in sim ply making two pieces of wreckage where there was only one, as was the case not long ago with the steamer Drisko, which was waterlogged and deeply submerged. It was impossible and crew has only been conjectured. The facts as gathered by Consul Ho ratio I. Sprague of Gibraltar have been preserved in the archives of the hydrographic office. Thirty years ago the Marie Celeste was sighted for the first time as an abandoned wreck in latitude 38 deg. 20 min. north and longitude 17 deg. 30 min. west. The ghostly craft was scudding westward on the starboard tack. Several sails were set, and the vessel, apparently spick and span, gently careened be fore the brisk wind and pursued her course in the direction of her port of destination. The sighting vessel was run close under the lee of the abandoned brig and she was lustily hailed, but no response was awakened. There was not a soul aboard when an investigation was made. Yet the board ing party found everything shipshape, the cargo well stowed and in good condition and the vessel perfectly sea worthy. The decks appeared to have been recently flushed and no sign ot disorder appeared in the cabin. Evidently the strange ship had not encountered heavy weather, for a phial of medicine stood upright on a ■■■■!■■. SSI TKE "DRI^KO VHICK'-RDVED TK?L^/ ATiAKTIC TORL—-WEIiKay to tow her to port, so the officers of i the cruiser San Francisco, who diag nosed the case, decided on the torpedo treatment. Three torpedoes, each con taining thirty-six pounds of guncot ton, were accordingly fastened, to the heel of the derelict and exploded. They nearly accomplished their mis sion, but a considerable portion of the bulk remained intact. Five more tor pedoes were then exploded before the back of the wreck was broken. Then the cruiser rammed the derelict amid ships. The cargo began sliding and the two parts slowly settled. As they sank the cruiser fired several shells into them as a finishing touch. What is the common origin of the derelict? Frequently it is shrouded THIS* HALT _ OTRITTED 1Z00 KILIa^ w get uvn duu imuugd Lilt?ill cum fortably. Suppose, as was recently the case, the vessel is caught in a pocket and swept by a five thousand ton wave. “Then suppose, under cover of dark ness, she crashes into a subs'aniial derelict. The best result would be a panic on hoard, while the worst might be tragic in the extreme. Hence the importance of taking immediate ac tion in clearing the North Atlantic of at least the most menacing pieces of floating wreckage. Whi e nearly a hundred derelicts are now reported to be in or near the traffic lanes, twice that many are known to be moving up and down the Atlantic piloted by wind and wave only.” A full sized ship floating about on the open sea frequently having turned in mystery, ror instance, more tnan ; three hundred vessels have strangely disappeared on the Atlantic since 1875. , Several of them are still believed to | be floating about, but are so deeply submerged that it has been impossi ble to identify them. One of the strangest of all ocean mysteries, and one that probably will never be unraveled until the sea gives up its dead, envelops the American brig Marie Celeste. Absurd accounts, full of fantastic inaccuracies, have ap peared from time to time professing to give the story of this ill starred vessel, but the true story is extraordi nary enough without fanciful embel lishment. The Marie Celeste was a combina tion freight and passenger boat, but what became of officers, passengers The Tragedy of Ex-Presidents. This story was toid by Corporal Tanner, who has seen many presi dents and knows much about them: “On the Cth of March, 1885, I ca led on ex-President Arthur, who had not yet quit Washington and was staying at the house of his Secretary of State, Mr. Frelinghuysen. To my intense surprise Mr. Arthur, when he learned that my visit was only a personal and friendly one, was so affected that tears came in his eyes. “ ‘Tanner.’ he said, ‘I never before knew the tragedy of the ex-President. Until noon of the 4th of March men were crowding each other for the privilege of speaking to me. I was treated with profound deference and sought by everybody. Since that hour I have been alone and neg ected. Tan ner, you are the first man who has called upon me since noon of the 4th of March.' ”—New York Times. China Forfeits Manchuria. The Manchuria Daily Report, the Japanese paper published in New Chwang. Manchuria, recently said edi torially: “We repeat that every inch of Manchuria under Japanese occu pation now has been bought for a dear price in blood and money. China has forfeited her suzerainty over it by oncp making, so to speak, a pres ent of it to Russia ” Fashion in Hair Dressing. Twenty of London's most expert hair dressers have decided the fash ion for 19CC, which is thus described: “The hair Is arranged high in three different sections, with divisions like those in a Bishop’s mitre. Fascinat ing little curls nestle in each division. On the neck and forehead the hair follows the style for 1905.” * _ Disapproves Verdi’s “Otello.” That arbiter of musical understand ing and taste, the Oerman Emperor, ban informed the director of the Ber lin cpera that Verdi's “Otello” does not Interest him and need be seldom pnrtormed. Herrings by the Million. Six hundred and ten million her rings have been landed at Yarmouth and Lowestoft this season by the local fishing boats, aided by 1,000 boats from Scotland. The catch comprises 46,000,000 more herrings than were taken last year, and the total value is above £50,000,000. The 1,000 Scotch boats were manned by 7,000 men, and ashore 5,000 Scotch women were em ployed in preparing and packing the fish. Irrigation in Egypt. A London dispatch says that the Egyptian government has resolved to construct a barrage at Esneh at, a cost of $12,000. Esneh is 100 miles ; below Assouan. When the new bar : rage is completed it is estimated that j 240 miles more on either side of the Nile will be brought under perennial irrigation. Greater Boston. If Greater Boston were expanded to take In all the population within a radius of fifty miles from the State House it would have 3,089,159, and be larger, it is figured, than any simi larly constituted greater city in America, save New York; greater by 300,000 than the population surround ing Philadelphia, 400,000 greater than that around Chicago and nearly three times greater than that surrounding St. Louis.—Boston Transcript. Great Feat of Towing. A remarkable towage feat was ac complished by the Australian steamer Airlie during her voyage front Singa pore. She towed a 2,500 ton sailing vessel to Goode Island, a distance of 2,500 miles, in the quick time of six teen days. The daily towing ranged from 158 to 200 miles. Bust of Oom Paul. News comes from Strassburg that a large bust of the late President Kru ger, destined to mark his grave in Pretoria, has Just been completed by a sculptor at Saargemund, Lorraine. 1 cabin table. This smail bottle must have upset had the ship fallen in with any sea. The personal effects of offi cers. crew and several passengers were undisturbed. The log and slate were in their proper places, as were the chronometer and yawl. Thirty years have left the mystery as profound as ever. Every foot of the vessel was inspected in vain. On the evidence of dents discovered on the topgallant rail and several gashes in both bows it was at first concluded that there had been mutiny and mur der. This supposition was found af terward to be erroneous, for when a sword, on which blotches as of blood appeared, was subjected to a chemical analysis it was ascertained that the alleged blotches of blood were imagi nary and the dents and cuts were ac cidental. Her papers showed that the brig was bound from New York to Genoa with a cargo-of alcohol in bar rels. Her skipper and part owner was aboard with his wife and child. On. Dec. 4, 1875, the Marie Celeste was spoken by the Highlander and reported all well. The vessels saluted and parted company. Ten days later everybody on board had vanished. The English bark Siddartha was an example of a derelict getting too cock sure and being caught napping. She sailed from Jacksonville and was aban doned when nearly a month out. Then the Quixotic bark began cavorting in the lane of travel, much as the White Ghost had done, being sighted first in one place and then a hundred miles away in the most surprising manner. She was reported no fewer than fifty times, but managed to circumvent every government vessel sent out to dynamite her. Finally, getting saucy to the point of foolhardiness, so to say, she went sailing merrily up the Irish coast one day, and it proved to be her finish; for a British man-of-war went out and towed her into port, where 3he was broken up. ui otner iamous aereucts, tne Fan nie E. Woolston, abandoned Oct. 14, 1901, and dynamited by Capt. Bell last February, drifted 7,025 miles; the schooner Manantico drifted 2,600 miles in 206 days; the David Hunt 4, 800 miles in 347 days, and the aban doned schooner Twenty-One Friends 3,525 miles in eight months and ten days, when she was last reported head ing toward the North Carolina coast.— New York Herald. Derivation of Word “Row.” “Row” is one of the many words which are rising to respectability with advancing age. Todd's edition of Johnson's dictionary (1827) de nounced it as “a very low expression.” Since it appears to have been occa sionally written “roue” about a cen tury ago, some have wished to find its origin in the French “roue.” Todd identifies it with the older "rouse,” a drunken bout, big drinking glass, or big drink, in which sense that word several times occurs in Shakespeare. Hamlet observes that “the king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse.” “Row” is supposed to be a false sin gular formed from “rouse," mistaken for a plural, as “pea” for “pease,” “sherry” from “sherris,” “cherry” from "cheris.” But it seems simpler to explain “row” as short for ‘row-de dow," an excellent word for noise. Chinese Royal Color. China has recently issued an edict prohibiting, except in the treaty ports, the sa’e of metal-rimmed spectacles. Tan shoes are also tabooed, and any one dealing in them renders himself liable to decapitation. This latter drastic regulation is due to the fact that yellow is there the imperial color, to be worn by none save mem bers of the royal family. London Women’s Clubs. London is undoubtedly leading the world in the matter of women’s clubs. Twenty-one years ago there was not a single institution of the kind; now there, are thirty, with a total mem bership of over 20,000. There are also several mixed clubs, of which the women members number about a thousand.—The London Woman at Home. Wife of Japanese Ambassador. Aoki, the first Japanese ambassador to Washington will probably bring with him to this country his wife, who is a German woman, he having been educated in that country PQRT1N9 tfdytf v. ft Late News by Wire. Sir Thomas Lipton has offered a 1500 cup for yacht racing this year and the Brooklyn Yacht club has no tified Sir Thomas that it will hold a contest for it. The race will be from Gravesend bay to Bermuda, a dis tance of 650 miles, and it will start on Saturday, May 26. Superior weight and strength gave Frank Gotch the victory over Charles Hackenschmidt of Sweden in their Greco-Roman wrestling match at Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 9. Gotch won the first fall in 35 minutes and 10 sec onds, and the second in 49 minutes and 20 seconds. Gotch outweighed Hackenschmidt by about eighteen pounds. jrvmi ijatuaiu oi n>iigiauu, me world's champion court tennis and racquet expert, finished his American tour with a victory in an exhibition court tennis match with George Stand ing at the Racquet and Tennis club, New York, Jan. 13. He conceded Standing odds of one-half fifteen and won in straight sets, 8-5, 8-1. Latham has sailed for home. At a meeting at New York of the American committee of the Olympic games, scheduled to start at Athens next April, it was decided that $25,000 would be required to carry out the present plans for American partici pation. It was decided to select a team of champions in all sports to represent this country in all the games to be contested at Athens. | Football. Delegate R. S. Powell introduced a bill in the lower house of the Virginia legislature tending to prohibit the game of football in that state. A pen alty of from $50 to $500 for each of fense is prescribed. Stevenson, the star quarter back of the Pennsylvania eleven, whose election to the captaincy for 190C was not ratified by the university athletic authorities, made the statement that he would remain in college and make good in his studies if possible. After considering the matter two days and discussing it at great length, the faculty of the University of Wis In what turned out to be a slugging match instead of the classy fight that had been looked for, Aurelia Herrera, in the fifth round, knocked out "Young Corbett” at the most large ly attended fight seen at Los An geles in years. Corbett forced the fighting from the start and did most of the leading. He landed several body blows, but found Herrera game, the Mexican coming back for more each time. The Mexican won the fight by permitting Corbett to wear him self down with his aggressive tactics. Herrera, under an agreement made before the fight, is to meet Herman next month. On the Turf! The war between the Crescent City Jockey club and the New Orleans Jackey club will continue until the spring meetings open in the north. The last hope for a settlement was ended when “Curly’’ Brown, the leader of the conciliatory faction among the ■stockholders in the City park track, sold out his holdings. This action left Edward Corrigan master of the situation. At the annual meeting of the jockey club, Schuyler L. Parsons was elected a member and the four retiring stew ards, August Belmont, James R. Keene, J. P. Bradford, and F. K. Stur gis, were re-elected for two years. Following the meeting of the jockey club the stewards were in session, re electing Mr. Belmont as chairman and Mr. Sturgis as secretary and treasurer. According to an announcement made public by Secretary John Boden of the Narragansett Breeders’ associa tion two running race meetings will be held at Narragansett park during the coming season. It was announced that steeplechasing would be an ad ded feature of the meetings. It also was stated that the number of stake events will be increased from ten to sixteen during the season of 1906. Harry Harris, a New York book maker, has filed a suit in the United States court at Covington. Ky., against Joseph Rhinock, trustee; ex Mayor Fleischmann of Cincinnati and Secretary Harvey Meyers, who hold JOfW TT'CZQS&El^' In signing John J. McCloskey to manage the Cardinals this year, Frank De Haas Robinson, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, has engaged a man who, it is believed, will carry the team well to the fore. Of course, he has his work cut out for him, but on the other hand, there is believed to be fair material in the thirty men un der him. Among them are Burke, Shay, "Spike” Shannon, Beckley, Tay lor, Grady, Smoot, Dunleavy, Arndt, Hoelskoetter, Brown and McVarland. It will go hard if, from the whole bunch, Mac can’t carve out a first divi sion aggregation. He is to train his men in Houston, Texas. McCloskey was born on April 4, 1862. The incident occurred in Louis ville. He has a square look and is an all-around man. Thousands of friends will wish him good luck in his battle for place among the topnotchers of the old league.—New York Plbss. consln adopted resolutions instruct ing the Wisconsin representative to the university conference in Chicago to recommend the suspension of in tercollegiate football for two years. Rlpon (Wis.) college is to take up the game of lacrosse, which so far has not been played in colleges and universities of the West. Dr. Cutler, a Harvard medical college man, who has charge of athletics at the college, is an expert lacrosse player, and has taken the students in hand. The col lege authorities decided on lacrosse instead of the game of soccer football, because lacrosse is more spectacular, therefore a better drawing card, and as good or better for the student him self. The college will not abolish football at present, as long as the other schools keep up the game, but lacrosse will be made an additional feature of college athletics. f Boxing. Willie Fitzgerald of Brooklyn and Willie Lewis fought twenty-five rounds to a draw at Colma, Cal., Jan. 12. The battle was well contested all the way. The decision of an even break did not meet with the approval of the great er part of the crowd, which yelled for Fitz. Arrangements for a match between Marvin Hart and Tommy Burns for the heavyweight championship of the world were completed. The bout will be pulled off before the Pacific Ath* letic club in Los Angeles, Feb. 23. Pat Callahan, a miner, will meet Ha:c in a four-round bout, the champion to dispose of the miner in that time or forfeit $100. Tom O’Rourke wired to Aurelio Herrera offering him a match with Young Erne at the New Tuxedo club, outside of Philadelphia. Herrera wired back that he would not bind himself to fight anyone but Nelson or Britt O'Rourke then sent a second message to the Mexican, stating that the Tuxedo club would give $15,000 for a twenty-round battle between | Nelson and himself. a controlling interest in the Latonia race track. Harris will seek to enjoin them from disposing of stock in the property. ' This step will be prelim inary to his attempt to recover on al leged claims amounting to over $100, 000. Baseball. Amherst will not be on Michigan’s schedule for a baseball match next spring. Graduate Director Baird re fuses to give the Easterners the game they want. Efforts are being made to induce Rockford to take a franchise in the Wisconsin Baseball league, which is to be made an eight-club organization this year. Freeport, especially, is eag er to take Rockford into the circuit. The principal opposition to the plan comes from the press of Rockford. La Joie has signed a contract to manage and captain the Cleveland Baseball club for the season of 1906. For the first time since he joined the Cleveland club he has affixed his name to a paper calling for his services. Four years ago, when the deal was made for his release from the Ath letics, La Joie had been working un der a wartime contract, but to-day he Is probably the highest salaried play er now in the business. While not of ficially announced, the amount to be paid him is known to exceed any paid a single player in the two major leagues. I Trotting. The schedule of the grand circuit trotting season of 1906 was announced at a meeting in New York of the stewards of the grand circuit. The racing season will open at Detroit with a two weeks’ meeting, beginning July 23 and ending Aug. 4, and there after meetings of one week as fol lows: Buffalo, Aug. 6 to 11; Pough keepsie, Aug. 13 to 18; Readville, Aug. 20 to 25; Providence, Aug. 27 to Sept. 1; Hartford, Sept 3 to 8; Syracuse, Sept. 10 to 15; Columbus, Sept 17 to 22, and Cincinnati, Sept 24- to 28. To-day and To-morrow. We cheat the heart with waking dreams. Through all life's rapid range. And change what is to that which seems The better for the change. No swarthy clouds along the sky Blot out each spot of blue. But look like net work to the eye Of fancy peeping through. A mother closed her weary eyes. And they were red with sorrow, A>