The Illustrated Una
IMibllshed Weekly by The Bee Publishing
Company, Bee Building, Omaha, Neb.
JTtre, 6c Per Copy Per Tear. $2.00.
Enteral at the Omaha Poetofllce aa Second
Class Mail Matter.
For AdvrrtlKtng Rates Addfenn Publisher.
Communications relating to photographs or
artU'len for publication unoulif be ad
dressed, "Editor The Illustrated Bee,
Omaha."
Pen and Picture Pointers
M
IINNE-LUSA (Sweet Water) pump
ing station Is known to most of
Omaha's people as the prettiest
beautiful places In and surround
Ing the Gate City. It Is not commonly the
case that pumping engines are associated
with lasselated floors, frescoed walls and
ceilings, delicately moulded w&lnsrollng,
arched and groined doors and windows,
potted plants, pretty and even costly pic
tures, graveled walks between dainty
Dower beds, with smoothly shaven grass
plots and broad lawns, everything in ap
pointment and keeping being equal to any
private establishment that on may wish
to cite. Yet that Is Mlnne-Luea, where
permanent housing Is given to a mighty In
stallation of majestic engines, son of
which aro without known peers in tho
world; monsters of machinery which move
as endowed with sentient life, doing tre
mendous duty In the way of lifting Innu
merable thousands of tons of water from
the Missouri river and forcing It hundreds
of feet Into tho air and through many
miles of main and service pipe to supply
tho commercial and domestic wants of
Omaha, South Omaha and surrounding Til
lages. Entering tho building through tho
handsome south entrance, the visitor Is at
once Impressed with the beauty of the in
terior, which Is greatly set off by the steady
movement of tho ponderous machinery, '
without a Jar or tremor, without smell of
team or odor of oil, slowly, surely dis
charging Its function, but with absolutely
no external evidence of the stupendous
task it Is fulfilling. A great quadruple ex
pansion Reynolds pumping engine, not
hown in tho illustration, Is continually
drawing through Ita great cylinders the
bot breath .of battery of two dozen hon
ors, converting It Into energy that drive
the constant stream of water required for
tho city's use six miles through a forty-two-inch
main and up almost 400 feet Into
a great reservoir. The energy needed to
maintain this tremendous column of water
In steady motion at a rate of flow which
exceeds that of the river's current, besides
lifting It to the height mentioned, Is de
veloped with so little exterior evidence that
the untechnlcal visitor is far more Im
pressed with the sweep of the great By
wheel than anything else. Just acrosa from
this leviathan of pumps Is a huge Holly
affair, quite a different type, but so effi
cient within Its scope that It Is from time
to time called upon to take up the giant's
load and carry It for a time while needed
repairs are being made. In the eastern
wing of the building another of the great
Reynolds puraps is being Installed, and
when it I ready to begin Its labors tho
Episodes and Incidents in
b M -SSACHUBKTT lawyers sun use
I the little green bag In which to
carry toeir papers 10 couri. n 1a
related that once on a frosty
moralna Chief Justice Holmes was
walking down town thus equipped. He was
met by a smart youth of his acquaintance,
who saluted htm with: "Hello, Judge!
What have you got In your bag? SkatosT
Phil E. Chappell of Kansas City, man of
affairs, formerly stats treasurer of Missouri
and distinguished throughout the state, last
week Journeyed to Jefferson City to attend
tho funeral of "Uncle Brit" Chappell. a
negro who was born on the Chappell plan
'tation In Virginia eighty-four years ago.
For a long time Mr. Chappell had been look
ing after "Uncle Brit's" comfort snd when
news of the old negro's death reached him
he laid all business aside, taking, the first
train to Jsfferaon City, where he personally
superintended the funeral.
Terence V. Powderly, formerly commis
sioner general of immigration, has been,
confined to the house all winter by an old
Injury to his knee, which has recently given
him much trouble. He was out last week
almost for the first time in several months.
He met Senator Penrose of Pennsylvania
Just outside the White House one morning.
"How's your gout getting along?" aa by
atander askvd Mr. Powderly. "Oh, I sup
pose you might as well call it gout as any
thing." he replied. "Up my way," re
marked Senator Penrose, "they call It
whisky on the hoof.' "
R, &. Clark, the former railroad conductor
who served on the anthracite strike commis
aioa aad- Is now slated for assistant secre.
tary of commerce, first attracted the presi
dent's favorable notice by delivering a pithy
address at a convention of locomotive fire
men last year. It abounded with common
sense and resulted In his being named aa
. on of the coal strike arbitrators. His work
TIIE LLIUST
Mlnne-Lusa plant will have the finest In
slallatlon of high pressure pumping ma
chlnery to be found anywhere.
t
In another room, by themselves, are
pair of the busiest low pressure pumps
known to tho pumping world. . Theirs It
Is to lift the almost liquid mud from tho
Missouri Into the highest of the settling
basins, from which It flows back over wnlra
from, one broad and deep tasln to another
nntil the great load of soli snd silt ha
been deposited by gravity, and the air and
sunshine have done perfect work in puri
fying It. This pair of beauties move with
the same rhythmic precision as do the more
ponderous machine in the front room, and
receive the same careful attention from tho
engineer and his assistants. Below stairs
one gets a notion of what the real work
is. Here In the twilight iron walks care
fully railed, lead one through mazes of huge
steam pipes, Immense water mains and
around pita In and out of which -rise and
fall the great pump plungers. The silliness
of the upper floor is lost, and the clack of
valves and the swish of water almost pre
vents conversation. Under the low pres
sure pumps one can look down Into the
swirling water at the end of the intake.
It looks like bubbling mud churned by
titanic dashers, but Is In reality the water
that runs In from the river many yards
away, along the rock bottom. The valves,
the pipes, the whole arrangement here.
Impresses the visitor with something very
near to awe for the beautiful engines be
admired on the floor above.
Towering high shove the building Is a
smokestack, tapering to s slendernesa that
seems almost weakness as the eye follows
It from base to erown, yet a symmetrical
piece of the Impressive whole. But never
a smoke cloud wreaths Its top; never a
plume of black Issues from Its mouth.
Viewed from a distance, one is Inclined at
first to think the pumping works have been
shut down for the day and the fires put out.
The absence of smoke seems to Indicate
this. Even when the building is approached
there is no sign of the great work that Is
going on within. But that slender spire is
carrying off the waste product of the com
bustion of many tons of the blackest and
dirtiest of steam coal every day, the gases
th.t are not consumed In the fires that roar
under a line of boilers that fill a room
nearly a block In length. Here the stokers
sweat day and night, winter and summer, to
keep the fires at a steady constant heat,
shoveling their tons of slack coal into the
furnaces snd dragging out and wheeling to
the hoists huge heaps of ashes and clink
ers. A little Investigation will show you
that tho furnaces are built to burn smoke
aa well as coal, and that almost theoretic
ally perfect combustion la secured through
the admission of air heated to an Intense
degree Into the combustion chamber that is
directly beneath the boiler and behind the
furnace Itself. Plenty of smoke gets Into
this combustion chamber, but none of It
gets out. All the heat Is secured for mak
ing steam to drive tho pumps. This fur
nace, too. Is a device of Captain Reynolds,
chief engineer of the plant. As no sign
of smoke is visible, so there Is no trace of
escaping steam. All the engines are of the
condensing type, and the steam, after It
has performed Ita function la the cylinders,
is released, little more than a bot vapor.
Into the condensor, whence It Is soon trans-
on that body brought about his selection for
the new office. Mr. Clark began life as a
locomotive fireman and eventually became
head of the order of conductors.
Many years ago. before "Billy" Mason
became a United States senator, he was
called from Chicago to New York on a
very Important matter. Just at that tlm
tho railroads were having so bitter a '
rata war that the far between these two
cities was reduced from 22 to S2.
On his way to the train Mason was met
by Lorin Collins, then speaker of the Illi
nois house of representatives.
"What's the matter, Billy?" the speaker
asked. "You look as if you had lost your
last friend."
"No." said Mason, "I haven't lost my
friends, but this Infernal railroad war has
cost me 20."
"How's that?" '
"Why. I've got a pass to New York and
It saves me only 2 instead of $22."
A Boston business man who has a very
poor opinion of the detectives In that city
sent tor two of them recently and showed
the photograph of a rather tough-looking
person , whose' Identity he seemed anxious
to learn. One of the sleuths at once Iden
tified the man as a noted bank robber; the
other Inclined to the belief that It was
an equally notorious forger. They finally
agreed that It was the bank robber, where
upon the business man showed the back of
the photograph, on which they read the
original's name William Dean Howells.
When the author heard that he had been
mistaken for a noted criminal he thought
fully observed that ha could not blame tho
detectives.
Senator W. B. Bate of Tennessee has
often been urged to writ a book of rem
iniscences, but now declares that he It too
old to undertake such a tatk. . Th old
BATED BEE.
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O. W. FLOCK. M. D., OP OMAHA.
formed into hot water and forced back Into
the hollers to take up Ita work as steam
once more. Here In the boiler room, as
elsewhere, the utmost neatness prevails.
The most daintily dressed woman may walk
through without fear that the delicate fab
ric of her costume will be Injured. No
housewife ever kept her homo neater or
cleaner than Captain Reynolds and his corps
of experts keep the Itinne-Los pumping
station.
It is the Intention that the people of the
city of Omaha shall become the owners of
all this mechanical magnificence. Somo
weeks ago The Bee published pictures of the
Board of Water Commissioners appointed
by Governor Mickey to proceed to secure
the title to the waterworks plant of tho
Omaha Water company, and operate the
same for the cltisens. In connection with
the pictures taken at the plant In thie num
ber of The Bee, we give a picture of the
water commissioners, taken at the time of
their first session.
Still bale and hearty and showing but
lightly the Imprint of the finger of time. Dr.
and Mrs. Christopher W. Ploek, who have
passed the three score and ten milestone,
celebrated the golden anniversary of their
wedding November 17 last, surrounded by
their family of two sons and three daugh
ters. Dr. Flock comes from Canadian stock
and was born in Toronto. Ont.. March 12,
1831. At the age of 19 he was graduated
from the University of Victoria college, and
was one of tho first graduates to receive
a license from that college to practice med
icine and surgery. He has the distinction
of being one of the first persons to go be
fore the provincial board of tho old uni
versity before the new college of medi
cine and surgery was founded. November
17, 1852, he was united in marriage with
Miss Helen Ellxa Nelles. She was born
In Hamilton, Ont., May 29, 1S29. Estab
lishing his practice In the city In which he
was wed. he remained there until eleven
years ago, when he Journeyed westward,
locating in .this state. He bar since made
bis residence in Bancroft, Gordon and
the Lives of Noted People
gentleman served as a youth In the Mexi
can war and in tho confederate army hi
was reckoned one of the most Intrepid
men who ever wore the gray. From start
to finish he was on the firing line and as
colonel of his regiment he won deathless
fame on the bloody field of Shiloh. In that
fight he had three hones killed under him,
while ho himself and four members of his
family were simultaneously bleeding. His
heroism won for him tho rank of major
general sad since those stormy days there
has been no office that was too good for hint
in the opinion of the people of Tennessee.
"Be good to th9 office boy," is a moral
taught by the career of William Alden
Smith. By 1879 he had saved a little money
and wanted a place to 'study Blackstone.
He thought first of Chicago, and even '
. went so far as to go to that city and apply
for a Job as office boy in the firm of Walker
& Dexter. But it was In the summer, and
the beads were all out of town, and he
ended by returning to Grand Rapids, says
the New York Evening Post." . Here he se- .
lected the firm of Burch & Montgomery. He
had suggested it before, but they had not
needed him; he was thia tlm confronted
by a closed door and a card tacked on the
door saying that they were out of town
and would not be back for' several weeks.
But this did not daunt Smith, who looked
up Mr. Pierce, the owner of the building,
and a man of some prominence In the town.
He told Pierce what he wanted and Induced
him to give him a pass key to the office.
So It happened that when Judge Burch re
turned he found his offices swept and gar
nished and a brisk young clerk diligently
reading at one of the desks. To the in
quiries of the Judge the young fellow re
plied that he 1 had come to stay that he
waa the office boy at nothing a week. All
he wanted, he said, waa a chance to make
himself useful and Incidentally to read a
little law. Things looked so clean ad th
. young man was so respectfully determined
Apm t, iMt
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MRS. G. W. FLOCK.
Chadron, but expects to end his days la
Omaha. Dr. Flock though 72 years of ago
shows how well he withstood the rigors
endured during the early years of his prac
tice, when calls were not made in easy
riding carriages, but upon horseback,
through all manner of weather. He still
considers himself young and hearty. His
wife still retains her youth to a remark
able degree and is most sprightly for one
of her age, and most motherly. Mrs. Flock
Is a niece of the late Judge O'Reilly,
master of chancery of Toronto, whose son,
her cousin, succeeded his father on the
Canadian bench. Mr. Flock still has dis
tinguished relatives in Canada, his brother,
John, but recently deceased, having until
the time of hfB demise been the chief cor
oner of London many years. Another
brother, James, is now king's counsel in
the Canadian capital. Dr. and Mrs. Flock
had born to. them ten children, of whom
five are living. They are Robert, a col
lector for the Talbot Ice company; James
Henry, sales agent for the Cromwell com
pany of Blair, Neb., and also ex-mayor of
that city; Miss Sarah Flock, who resides
in Bancroft; Mrs. V. A. Bell, who resides
at 619 South Twenty-sixth street, this city,
and Mrs. E. H. Farrow, now living In Bell
ville, Ont. Dr. and Mrs. Flock are making
their home with their son, Robert, 80S
South Twenty-third street.
The Burr Mcintosh Monthly Is the latest
magazine to bid for public favor, the first
number having been Issued on April 1. it
Is the idea of a man wh9 has been active
In a great many useful ways aad it. ore or
less known to the public for twenty years
aa an athlete, a reporter, a war correspond
ent, a photographer, an actor and an author.
He proposes to edit his own magazine, but
the attractive feature will be the illustra
tions each month, a portion of which will
be photographs, not engravings, and these
will bo supplemented by engravings done
on a new process. On the fourth page of
this number The Bee reproduces some of
the photographs of prominent actresses
taken by Mr. Mcintosh, which are samples
of what he expects to furnish with his
magazine.
to remain that Burch good-naturedly ac
quiesced. In seven years Smith was a member of
-the firm. In seven years more he was part
owner in the principal newspaper In the
place and proprietor of. a branch rallroal.
In another seven years he had added two
more railroads to his assets and was in
congress. Meanwhile the wheel 0 fortune
has been turning; Montgomery Is on the
bench of the Michigan supreme court;
Judge Burch, through the Influence of his
former office boy, has been appointed as
sistant to the United States attorney
general and resides In Washington; while
Pierce, who had met with financial re
verses, was rewarded for the pass-key
which he had given Smith by an appoint
ment as assistant sergeant-at-arms of tho
United States house of representatives.
These gentlemen have found that It Is quite
a thing to entertain a William Alden un
awares. At the annual d'aner of the Bowdola
college alumni in Washington recently
Congressman Stevens told his experiences
as a country school teacher. "I endeav
ored at North Haven, a fishing community,
to contribute to the sum of youthful in
telligence. The people lived on fish, which
I much enjoyed. But the choice dish
among those folks' was goose, which was
always set before the parson and th school
teachers. I did not like goose, but I
boarded around, and I had hot goose, cold
goose, hashed gco3e, and every other kind
of goose, till In that cold climate I had
nothing but gooseflesh on my body." Mr.
Stevens depicted many Incidents of th
country rchool how he went home from a
country dance with the best looking girl
and was followed by her sngry "steady"'
with a lantern, who waa waiting for a
chance to thrash him. "I was pleased to
stay at that house all night." concluded
Mr. Stevens. "In my winter's experience
In North Haven I am confident that I
learned more than my rural pupils."