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About The Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 19??-1984 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1921)
4 WHERE DO SEALS GO IN WINTER? *---------------------------------------------------------- Ancient Mystery Remains Un solved to This Day, Says a Writer. HERDS ARE NOW SMALLER Formerly the Annual Kill Was 100,000, but the Law Now Bars Wholesale Slaughter—Killing Done by Natives. indiscriminate killing and leased the islands of St. Paul and St. George to the Alaska Commercial company, giv ing the company the right to kill 100, 000 seals a year for 20 years. .The islands were later leased by the gov ernment to another commercial com pany and the killing was cut so that it could not exceed 60,000 seals a year. In 1891 this figure was still further re duced to 15,000 a year, and since that time it has varied form 15.000 to 21,000 annually. In 1913 the United States assumed entire control of the sealing Industry and It has conducted it since that time. “In 1919 about 30,000 seals were ta ken for commercial use. There are now approximately 400,000 seals In Alaska and the government has taken strict measures to prevent this number from being depleted. No one not authorized by the government Is allowed on the two principal seal islands except nt the time of the killing, when the Aleuts or natives are permitted to go there to attend to the actual killing of the ani mals and the salting of their skins. The seals selected are driven slowly in shore for a mile or more, every care being taken not to alarm the rest of the herd. The process is similar to that of ambushing a company of sol diers, cutting them off completely from the rest of the regiment and disposing of them before they are missed from the lines. Clubbed to Death. “When the natives have arrived at the salting houses, near which they have driven the seals, they kill them by clubbing them on the head. After skinning them, the skins are heavily salted on the flesh side and put in piles Washington—With the growing pop ularity of fur coats the Interest In their origin is also developing, and many an owner of a handsome sealskin coat muses Idly over Its history before reaching her and the phases of its pro duction. But very few are aware of a real mystery attached to the garment which Is so Important to the smart woman’s wardrobe—for there is indeed a mystery surrounding the seal and in all the years these animals have been put to commercial use and have been under such close observation no one has ever been able to discover where they go in winter. No one yet has been able to make a record of their hiding place, according to Gas Logic, which gives something of the history of the seal. “In Alaska, the seals begin to appear on the Islands of St. Paul and St George about the end of April or the first of May," reads the article, “and toward the latter part of August or in the first weeks of September, they dis appear as strangely and mysteriously as they came. This is one of Nature’s secrets which she has kept most suc cessfully hid from scientists as well as the prying eyes of the merely curi ous and Inquisitive. Seals Desert Islands. “Even in the days, years ago, when the seals numbered five millions or more, apparently some signal unknown to man would be given and the uext day the fog-wreathed rocks would be bare, the seals having deserted the Inventor Perfects Model After islands. With their slipping off Into Exhaustive Study of Wild Bering Sea, all trace of them was lost Goose and the Eagle. until their return the following spring. Then some morning they would sud denly reappear, disporting themselves In the water or on the shore. “When the United States bought Alaska from Russia In 1867, outsiders without any rights or privileges were Ninety-Six Mlles an Hour With Eight In the habit of going there to kill as Revolutions a Minute Claimed for many seals as possible. In order to New Machine—No Vacuum Re prevent what might prove the extinc quired and Is Nonrigld. tion of the sealing industry the United States government In 1870 stopped this Norfolk, Va.—An airplane with wings that flap like a bird has been patented by Thomas J. Bird, formerly of Johnson City, Tenn., now a resident Rebecca Was Late, of Hampton, Va. It can get up from the water ns well as It can from land. Pastor Was Merciless It Is different from the rigid winged airplane, which receives Its impetus Washington, N. C.—A certain from a rapidly revolving propeller. In young and devout church wom several tests the machine has proven an of this city, whose name s that it can fly, and It Is claimed by Rebecca, never misses divine the inventor and government experts services, but often Is late. that it will probably prove a much Last Sunday she arrived just better flyer than the present-day air- as the pastor was reading from plane. the Scriptures the story of Re Mr. Bird says his machine In the becca at the well. As the late- “take off” and flight through the air ' coiner tripped up the aisle the does not create or require a vacuum, minister read : as does the present-day airplane. Mr. “And behold, Rebecca came Bird, who is a marine engineer, sev forth.” eral years ago took a course in avia- Broad smiles played over the ation at San Diego, Cal., and became faces of the worshipers. Blushes a regular licensed aviator. His Idea flooded the face of Rebecca. was to do away with the present pro Courageously she went on. quickening her steps. peller and construct a machine with moveable wings or planes that would “And she made haste," con- flap like any winged creature of the tinued the clergyman. Snickers from the youngsters, air. broader smiles from the grown- Studies Bird Flight. ups and half-suppressed giggles To attain this end.he made ex- from the half-growns were the haustive studies of and observed the response. tights of wild fowls, especially the By that time Miss Rebecca wild goose and the eagle. His obser had reached her pew. She vations of the sustained flight of the stumbled In and sank down as wild goose convinced him that that if she hoped the cushions would fowl is one of the swiftest of all swallow her. winged creatures. “Let the damsel abide with lie then built a machine that he us," said the minister, closing flew successfully at Santa Monica, his book and ending the reading, Cal. much to the relief of Rebecca. The motive power necessary for the propulsion of the mechanism of of six, being arranged in three pairs, the fleshy side of each skin against the fleshy side of another skir. Later they are rolled in packages of four and put into casks, then shipped to San Francisco, whence they are reshipped by rail to the Eastern fur centers. “Seals weighing less than six pounds may not be killed, according to law. Experts say that the best skins come from those mammals between the ages of two and four years. For the first time this year some of the older seals —those from six to eight years—are to be killed as an experiment. The fur of these ‘Wigs,’ as the older ones are called, is courser and not as long and soft as that of the ‘pups’ or young sters. It takes from two to four skins for a coat, depending upon its size and style. Though it is not possible to set an exact price on the value of a seal skin, it Is now about $70. Innumerable imitations of sealskins are sold, the best known being ’Hudson seal.’ which Is dressed and dyed muskrat. Then there are numbers of near-seal varie ties, which have such names as French. Siberian or Baltic seal, etc. All of the near-seal furs are simply dressed and dyed rabbit.” Twins Born Twenty Miles j Apart Within Six Hours : Although they were born 20 miles apart and in different counties, Reuben and Ruth Walden are twins. The stork visited the home of Mrs. Nancy Walden, wife of a farmer of Hill Top, Colo., and left a lusty boy. The attend ing physician placed Mrs. Wal den in a motorcar and drove her to a Denver hospital, 20 miles distant, where a daughter was born to Mrs. Walden six hours later. « Children of Panama Send Stone for Roosevelt Grave %. Y, 1 Car* (} t & { - (* The school children of the canal zone have picked out and sent to this country a boulder, to be placed by the grave of Col. Theodore Roosevelt. The illustration shows, at the right, Helen and Harriet Hertz, twins, selecting the stone, and, left, the presentation of the boulder to Mrs. Roosevelt. KOREANS SLAIN BY JAP TROOPS 2 Missionaries Tell of the Atrocities Perpetrated in Chientao Dis trict of China. © MANY VILLAGES DESTROYED NEW PLANE HAS WINGS LIKE BIRD «------------------------------------------ —--------- U. S. EXPERTS APPROVE “Baby Congressman” Gets Pointers this flying machine is a gasoline en gine or engines. The most essential mechanism is, first, the universal joint bearing boxes, which connect the wings of the flying machine to the body, and wherewith the wings are caused to swing, flapping like those of a bird In the air; and, sec ond, the wing guiding disk that causes the wings to move downward and upward In an oblong circular movement similar to that of an oars man rowing a boat. This eliminates all jerking motion in the wing. It is tho constant alm of mechani cal engineers In the construction of gasoline engines in operation to hold down the speed revolutions to keep the heat produced by gas combustion and friction at a temperature that will prevent distortion of the engines, For the type of airplane now in use the propellers must revolve very rapidly, and consequently, the en gines are speeded up very near the danger point, as where a speed of ninety-six miles an hour is main tained continuously for many hours, which speed is that of the wild goose with Its wings and by muscular energy alone. In Mr. Bird's flying machine, with wings likened to those of a wild goose, to attain this speed the wings will be propelled eight revolutions per minute, whereas the propeller airplane will require 1,400 per minute. The wings or planes in this inven tion are formed from overlapping slats, and are so constructed as to automatically close on the downward and forward thrust of the wings and open as the wings rise or recover, thereby permitting the air or water, as the case may be, to pass through without retarding the movement of the wings. The Inventor claims that no dif- Acuity will be experienced In develop ing an engine revolution of 100 to 200 per minute, and a speed of 175 to 200 miles per hour. The aviation department of the United States government has signi- fled its encouragement of the device by offering aid in the building of a | machine this coming summer at Its chief construction base at Cleve- land, O. TEETH PROVE DOCTOR FALSE He Blamed Them for Neuritis, So Pa tient Calmly Removes the Set. Winsted, Conn.—Charles S. Warner, a commercial salesman, loves a joke and likes to tell one. Getting no relief from a doctor’s treatment for neuritis he said he vis ited another doctor and received a thorough examination, after which the second doctor told him his aliment re sulted from poor teeth and that he could not expect any relief until the teeth had been taken out. Mr. Warner protested, but when the doctor Insisted, he yielded and re moved his false teeth and handed them to the surprised physician. Mato Gold and Silver Fowls. London.—Experiments In the depart ment of genetics, at Cambridge, of mating domestic fowls, one sex of gold HARRIS & EWING and the other of silver-marked plum age. brought Interesting results. When a silver hen was mated with a “Uncle Joe" Cannon, the oldest member of the house of representatives In point of service, was snapped recently while visiting with Representative golden cock, all the sons were silver Clarence J. McLeod, the newly elected “baby congressman” from Michigan. and all the daughters were gold. A “Uncle Joe" was battling on the floor of the house long before McLeod was silver cock transmitted the silver fac born. McLeod was twenty-five years old last July 3. tor both to sons and daughters. - - ( ; 4 Charge Deliberate Intention of Wiping Out All Young Christians—Not Punished for Religion, Say Japs, but for Banditry and Rebellion. Tokyo.—Details of alleged massa cres of Koreans by Japanese troops, the burning of Korean villages and the destruction .of native crops are given In statements received from Canadian missionaries in the Chientao district of China, supplementing previous re ports on this subject heretofore re ceived. One of the missionaries, Dr. S. H. Martin of Newfoundland, physician, at tached to the Canadian Presbyterian mission at Yongjung, who visited the village of Norabawle on October 31, two days after the Japanese went through that district, states: “The facts recorded below apply to the whole district of Kando or Chien- tao, in the southern part of the prov inces of Kirin, China. Japan, under the strongest protest from China, has sent over 15,000 men Into this part of China with the seeming Intention of wiping out of existence, if possible, the whole Christian community, especially all young men. Charges Wholesale Murder. “Village after village is dally being methodically burned and the young men shot, so that at present we have a ring of villages surrounding this city that have suffered from fire or whole sale murder or both. The facts below are absolutely accurate: “At daybreak a complete cordon of Japanese infantry surrounded the main Christian village of Norabawle and, starting from the top of the valley, set fire to the immense stacks of un threshed millet, barley and straw and then ordered the occupants of the houses outside. In each case as the father or son stepped forth he was shot on sight, and as he fell on his face, perhaps only half dead, great piles of burning straw were thrown on top of him. “I was shown the blood marks on the ground caused by the bayonet thrusts inflicted on the men as they strove to rise from the flames, in spite of the fact that they had been shot three times at close range. The bod ies were soon charred beyond recog nition. The mothers, wives and even the children were forced spectators of this treatment of all the grown males of the village. Houses were fired and soon the whole country was full of smoke, which was plainly visi ble from this town. The Japanese soldiers then spread out and burned the houses of Christian believers In other villages all the way down the valley to the main road. Then they returned home to celebrate the em- peror’s birthday. Photographs of Murders. “As we approached the nearby vil- Inges we found only women and chil dren and some white-haired men. The women with young babies on their backs were walking up and down walling. I photographed ruins of 19 buildings, among which were old men tearing their hair and crying, while mothers and daughters were recover ing bodies or unburned treasures from the burning ruins. So many women were crying and I was so angry at what I had seen that I could not bold my camera steady enough to take a time exposure. “We have names and accurate re ports of 32 villages where murder and Are have been used. One village has had as many as 145 Inhabitants killed. Houses have been burned with wom en and children In them. At Sonun- tung 14 were stood up in front of a large grave, then shot and their bod ies destroyed with burning wood and oil. This is typical.” Rev. W. H. Foote, Canadian Pres byterian missionary at Youngjung, names several villages in which the homes, schools or churches of Chris tian natives were burned and says that in one of them 25 people were shot and the bodies burned. Those cases, he declares, are “absolutely authentic,” the premises having been inspected by four missionaries and a customs official. Eighty Shot at Un Tong Ja. Quoting Koreans as his authority, he says that 23 persons were shot and seven burned to death In their own houses at Cheng San ; that 80 were shot at Un Tong Ja, and that these were all Christian villages. “The soldiers and commanding of ficer who go to these places," assert ed Mr. Foote, “as a general thing have no conversation whatever with the people, but do their diabolical deeds and pass on. Kue Sei Tong is the only place where any reason was given to the people for the action. “A Korean accompanied the soldiers and told the people that the officer said he had evidence that the owner of the house had collected money for Korean patriotic purposes. If only the offenders suffered, even the Kore ans would not seriously object ; but it is because the perfectly innocent and helpless are done to death with out even an opportunity to say a word in their own behalf that the in justice and hardship appear.” Describing the action of the Japan ese soldiers at Kan Chang, Rev. Mr. Foote said that the young men of tnat village were “herded in front of a Korean house and, without even a form of examination, shot down, 25 in all. Then the bodies were heaped to gether in two piles and covered with wood and burned. • When the fuel was being placed on them some of the wounded still were able to rise, but were bayoneted to the ground and met their fate in the flames. Were Hard-Working People. “I know these people well,” Mr. Foote continued. “They live In an out-of-the-way glen. The land was not fertile and firewood was scarce. They Were a quiet, hard-working peo ple, who struggled hard to make a liv ing. Their church and school, their Bible and hymn books, their Sunday worship, and, above all, their Savior, were their joy. They were not pa triotic soldiers, and disapproved of the church taking part in politics.” Miss Emma M. Palethorpe of On tario, a member of the Canadian Pres byterian mission at Yongjung, tells in her statement of the execution of five men from the village of Suchilgo, who, she says, were led by the Jap anese soldiers to the top of a hill about three miles from Yongjung and there put to death. ‘Tn the top of the hill,” she de clares, “there Is quite a large hollow not visible from the road or village. The victims were made to sit at the bottom of this, where they were slashed at with swords. It is reported by an eye-witness that two swords were broken and then the awful work was finished with bayonets. Then the loose earth was pushed down from the sides of the hollow to cover the mu tilated bodies.” In answering Inquiries at the Jap anese war office, Lieutenant Colonel Hata told a press correspondent that the number of Japanese troops employed In the Chlenta affair was 5,000, not 15,000. Villages had been burned, he said, but only in cases where the majority of the Inhabitants were known to be in league with the outlaws. Referring to the charge that an or ganized attempt was made “to wipe out the whole Christian community,” Colonel Hata said that it was possible that a majority of those who had been executed were Christians, but they were not punished for their religion but for banditry and rebellion. No charge was made against the mission aries. Colonel Hata, while admitting that harsh measures had been adopted, said bad conditions had existed in that dis trict for a long time owing to the unchecked activities of Chinese ban- dits, Korean outlaws and Russian Bol- sheviki. He said he was confident that the Japanese soldiers had not been guilty of the barbarity with which they had been charged. Sultana Orders Dazzling Gown. Paris.—Like a glittering golden beetle, holding itself gracefully to the lines of the figure and ending in a dazzling court train, an evening gown of remarkable design has just been made for Sultana Menelik of Egypt by Captain Molyneux, the English dress designer in Paris. The dress, which is cut very low, front and back, hangs from the shoul ders by gold cord and is made of shimmering sequins. The materials cost $2,500. Statues of Suffrage Pioneers $0*** ■ it Bar. 7 s ——a. • — ra Memorial statues on tne tree suffrage pioneers, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B, Anthony, which the National Woman's party will present to the national capitol on the opening day of the Woman's patry con vention. February 15, Susan B. Anthony's 101st anniversary. They were photographed in one of the early stages of development from the block of marble In the studio of Adelaide Johnson In Carrara, Italy. A portrait of Mrs. Johnson la inserted.
