GIBRALTAR PREPARED
FOR A LONG SIEGE
An enemy’s fleet could be sent
to the bottom in ten minutes be
fore getting within five miles of
Gibraltar; not even a torpedo
boat could succeed in entering
the bay unobserved on the black
est night. That sums up the
opinions of the most eminent
navai experts as to the impreg
nability of the world’s greatest
fortress, says Cassell’s Saturday
Journal (London).
But disappointment awaits the
sightseeing visitor. The rock,
though banen, is covered with
luxuriant vegetation; not a fort
prominent; not a gun to be seen
even with the most powerful
glasses; no discernible ammuni
tion magazines; no strongholds;
only a peaceful, prosperous har
bor, and a sleepy, straggling
town.
It is night; and the maneuvers
are on. Swift-playing search
lights transform the bay into a
sheet of shimmering silver, upon
which are seen majestic British
warships, and elongated flying
shadows—the torpodoes. Guns
answer guns from every conceiv
able crevice and corner, blending
in one deafening uproar, while
scores of shells plow the water
for miles around.
Sentries are everywhere; in
fantry parties crouch in the
shadows; hundreds of gunners
stand ready behind hundreds of
guns in these mysterious laby
rinths hewn out of the solid rock
—“the galleries;” the vicious
barking of Maxim guns gives
contrast to the deep-toned bay
ing of these mammoth pieces of
ordnance, the mere report of
which cracks stone roofs and
bursts doors and whole windows.
Could any fleet live through the
murderous hail of gigantic shells?
Gibraltar never sleeps. By day
and night two perfectly-equipped
signal stations, proudly Haunting
Britain’s flag of ownership, un
ceasingly sweep the seas around
to a" distance of 15 miles on a
clear day, instantly reporting the
coming and going of each vessel.
Sentries guard all the prominent
forts, magazines and gateways;
gunners sleep beside their guns;
engineers are. ever-ready beside
the powerful searchlights.
Modern “needle” guns, the fin
est in Europe, are installed on
all the most prominent points.
They are unreachable from the
sea, even as they are undiscern -
ible, owing to the skill with which
they are painted and draped to
match the surrounding vegeta
tion, whilst -huge screens ' drop
automatically before them as
each shell is fired. They have a
range of 15 miles, and could drop
shells on Ceuta, in Africa, oppo
site, quite comfortably. One gun
weighs 110 tons, and is capable
of throwing a shell weighing
three-quarters of a ton. In that
marvel of engineering under
great difficulties, the galleries,
are concealed guns for every day
in the year.
These galleries are divided into
three sections, entry to which is
guarded, whilst one is closed
even to high officers, containing
preserved stores, munitions of
rain water (for Gibraltar has no
springs), and a complete con
densing plant—all calculated to j
outlast a siege of seven years.
The firing is the most mathe
matically perfect imaginable.
The surrounding waters are
mapped out into squares, upon
which certain guns are kept
ready trained, so that it is almost!
impossible to miss. During prac- j
tice targets are towed across the j
bay, the object being to hit the j
water a fewT yards in advance of i
them. Although the sentries have !
_ !
now been reduced, a few years
ago 158 were needed daily, the
most important point being the
North Front, where the sentries
face the Spanish sentries. But
the mere pressure of an electric
button, by the officer of the
guard wrould cause a miniature
earthquake on the neutral
ground. _
TOO FAT FOR THE PRISON
Jefferson City, Mo., May 8.—
Louis Decker, the St. Louis ex
member of the house of dele
gates, who was sent to the peni
tentiary recently for a term of
five years for boodling, is causing
all kinds of trouble for the prison
authorities. The first hitch came
when Decker was ‘‘dressed in,”
and it was found that there wasn’t I
a suit of prison clothe3 in the
possession of the state large
enough to fit him.
When Decker was turned over
to a deputy warden for assign
ment to quarters it was discov
ered that there wasn’t a bed in
the institution large enough to
hold him. But the worst was yet
to come; prison cells have nar
row doors, and it was discovered
that Decker's rotund figure could
not be squeezed through one of
them. A bed has been built es
pecially for the ex-alderman and
he spends his nights in the
prison hospital building. Decker
is 5 feet 10 inches in height and
weighs 320 pounds.
LIAR IS BREACH OF PEACEj
Atlanta, Ga., May 4.--‘‘To call
a man a liar in Georgia is a
breach of the peace and means a
light,” declares the Georgia court
of appeals in a recent decision.
The lower court which refused
damages to W. M. Ramsey, who
used Bullard for $100 for calling
him a liar, is reversed, the opin
ion by Judge Powell concluding:
“Being to the manner born, I
the judge of this court takes j
judicial cognizance of the fact;
that in Georgia to call a man a i
liar, even without threatening
him with a weapon, most gener
ally means a fight. There may
be exceptions to this rule, but
they are exotics and find little
nourishment on Georgia soil and
under southern skies.”
SMITH MARRIED BOTH
St. Joseph, Mo., May 1.—In
the probably fatal shooting of
William Smith, a carpenter, over
a comic valentine, there came to
light a strange domestic entan
glement. Mrs. Cora Smith, who
fired the shot at Smith, told the
police that she w?as married to
Smith, knowing that her mother
was already his wife. The three
having lived together for years,
the man posing as the husband
of both mother and daughter.
The daughter, who is 22 years
old, sent Smith a comic valen
tine. Smith became angry when
he received it, packed up his
clothes and started to leave the
house. Thinking he was going
to desert her, the daughter-bride
shot him.
The mother-wife says she was
married to Smith secretly in 1902
I and took her 15-year-old daugh
! ter by a former husband to live j
with her and Smith. A year after |
the marriage, she says, her j
daughter and Smith fell in love. |
and the mother made her hus- j
band marry her daughter with
out getting a divorce, thinking
that no one knew of the former
marriage. Daughter and hus
band bear out this story the po-;
lice say. _
FIRST ARRIVALS BY WATER
A party of Kemperville people vis
ited Hot Springs last Sunday—the first
arrivals this year by water. There were
two ladies—Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Car
velson—and four gentlemen in the I
party. They came in a poling boat, 1
and the trip up required over three
hours’ time, arriving here at 3:30 in '
the afternoon. The party visited with
friends until about 8:30 in the evening
and started for home, where they ar
rived at midnight.
All kinds rubber shoes at Tracger's.
° i
; If you can’t find what you want at
home, call up Carter’s drug store on
Sullivan. He has ’most everything.
ORDER NOW!
SHOES
Largest stock ever unpacked in Hot
Springs is now on sale at low prices
O. A. TRAEGER
HOT SPRINGS
HOT SPRINGS’ NEWEST HOTEL
First-Class Restaurant Frank S. Stanley, Prep.
Of?. O. D. CARTER,
Crown, E:id£3 and Piate Work. Painless Extraction
SULLIVAN CITY
Office at Carter's Drug1 Store
CHA8. B. ALLEN,
Attorney at Law
Rampart, Aka.
Legal Papers Carefully Drawn.
ARCTIC BROTHERHOOD — Camp
Hot Springs No. 24 meets every Mon
day evening at 8 o’clock in hall over
Traeger’s store. Visiting brothers
always welcome.
V. L. Bevington, J. F. Nell any,
Recorder. Arctic Chief.
Neatly-Printed Stationery
ADDS MORE DIGNITY AND GIVES GREATER SATISFACTION IN YOUR
BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE THAN ANY OTHER ITEM OF OFFICE
EQUIPMENT.
Post” Furnishes That Kindi
AND SOLICITS A TRIAL ORDER. OUR PAPER STOCK IS THE BEST
OBTAINABLE. TELEPHONE US YOUR WANTS IN THE STATIONERY
LINE, OR FOR JOB PRINTING OF ANY KIND. SEE OUR LINE OF
LETTER HEADS, BILL HEADS, ENVELOPES, ETC., ETC.
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