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VOLUME LXXXYI-KO. 139. VICTORY PERCHES ON THE SPEEDY COLUMBIA In the First Actual Race of the Present Series for the America's Cup the Defender Outsails the Shamrock From Start to Finish. + ♦♦-♦-♦♦♦♦♦-♦--♦••♦-•♦-♦-♦■♦-»■ ♦ ♦ -♦• NEW TORK, Oct. 17.— Favorable -♦• ; -♦- weather Is predicted for to-day's -♦- -♦- race. The wind, it Is predicted, will + j -♦- be from easterly to southerly, with ♦ -♦- a velocity from ten to twenty miles -♦ 1 -f an hour. -♦• -♦• The race to-day will be over the ♦ -♦- triangular course, ten miles to the -♦- -f leg. and the Shamrock wi,!! have an ♦ -♦- opportuuity to show what she an ♦ -♦- do at her favorite point of sailing. -+ -♦• ♦ -♦• ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦-►♦♦ ♦ -♦- + ♦♦♦♦-♦"♦-♦ <n f? EW YORK. Oct. 16.— Hail to Co |^SNj lumbia! Victory is hers. Nine ! A minutes and forty-seven seconds [I, Jj, ahead of the challenger, at th.c outer mark, and ten minutes and fourteen seconds In the lead at the finish. There is the record for the first rare— that old. almost obsolete one of fifteen miles to windward or to lee ward, which had seemed as though it wculd never be run. But with the mist and fog of to-day [ there came a fair racing wind, and on Its heels rode some surprises. With th. gray drizzle swirling through her canvas the Columbia, the much abused and somewhat discredited' defender, owed that despite all criticism she is still worthy of all con fidence and of all praise. And she showed it from the moment the starting gun was fired, and from the time when the two racers swept over the line— the Shamrock having then a slight lead over her rival— tr , reP seconds the judges counted. instead of another languid drive before failing winds, this contest began with a lively beat against a freshening easterly breeze. The mainsail, club topsail, .lib. baby jib and staysail the Shamrock was wearing as she went spinning across the line and away in tbe southwest, where fifteen miles away, the outer mark was anchored. Gaily cutting her way through the waters, she seemed conscious that if Fhe were not to win, at least she was not to be eaten, so often had she man aged to show her heels to the Herreshoff racer, or to quit on even or very nearly even terms with the boat on occasions •when the races were declared off. . With wet bows swinging and reeling and occasional splashes of spray over her deck, the Columbia went driving .in pur suit of the flying leader. The one seemed saucy, careless even: the other bent on winning. Observers had not had too great cause for admiring the set of the Co lumbia's sails, but all marveled at the superb fit of her canvas. Nor was there any lifting of leaches or any other indi cation to show thai the Herreshofl boat was paring the wind too fine. Instead, every fitltch seemed to be doing all the work of which 11 was capable, and the foam swishing away from the bow told. how well that was done. Abeam of the Shamrock drew the Columbia, and then daylight, such as it was. showed between them. That was within less than two minutes of the start. Fool fast and pointing high the Columbia opened the pap stll! wider, and steadily, surely, drew farther and farther in the lead. The Shamrock seemed then to realize that this was to bo no day of fooling if the cup wore to be won, and trimm.ng her sheets flat aft she endeavored to tie close to that easterlng wind. Hut In spite of all her ardent efforts to hug still closer that breeze from her native isle the Co lumbia continued to outpoint and to out- foot the Irish yacht. The day was dismal, -with its fop and drizzle, and bo thick was the weather at times that both yachts were almos. nid den from view. The big Plant l'i.e steamship Grand Duchesse. from which Marconi was sending his wireless teleg *vr.aphy report to the Herald and '' he Call,' rode within one mile of the racers, but often vapor boiled up in banks so thick that it was difficult to discern the yachts. The San Francisco Call At times one would show like a fai/.t blur In the thickness, while the other would look like a patch or' .whiter fog. But it was for brief Intervals only that the yachts were veiled from observers. on the Grand Duchesse. And every time the vapor thinned and a clear view was had of th.c racers a shout of acclaim would go up from the decks of the big steam ship, tor it was plainly seen that the ■ American boat was not only maintaining the lead which she had gained, but was steadily increasing it. The wind had freshened to good twelve miles an hour and to a racing yacht ' showing as much canvas as the Columbia exposed, that certainly seemed enough to give. her a sharp heel. Upright as the just ; the Columbia sped along, pointing in t.,e j wind and plainly outfooting the slippery! Irish cutter. Then came an effort at jockeying on the part of Captains Ho garth and Wrings In a futile effort to out- 1 do the Columbia by maneuvering. They i failed signally. The Columbia was under the same rig j as was the Shamrock and to many ciose j observers it seemed that she was handled j even better. One thing was patent to all] who looked, and that was that Captain Barr did not mean for the Shamrock to j get away from him. Thus, when the, Shamrock spun upon her heel just one- ; half hour after crossing the line, the o lumbia Immediately followed si.it, still j holding the weather berth. Eight minutes later the Shamrock came about again, the I Columbia following the Shamrock, which j was then on the starboard tack. Her filled sails had no more than given her I RECORD OF CUP RACES UP TO DATE. The following is a record of the races for the America's Cup, giving the dates of the contests, the contesting yachts and the corrected time of each of the winners: Time. Aug. 27, 1 85 1, America won from Aurora in 20:00 Au£. 8, 1870, Magic won from Cambria in . J . . '. . . '. . . .39:12 Oct. 16, 1871, Columbia won from Livonia in ..... .25:28 Oct. 18, 1871, Columbia won from Livonia 'in. '..... .10:33 Oct. 19, 1871, Livonia won from Columbia in ... 15:10 Oct. 21, 1871, Sappho won from Livonia in . . 30:21 Oct. 23, 1871, Sappho won from Livonia in 25:27 Aug. 11, 1876, Madeline won from Cntess of Duff. in. 10:59 Aug. 12, 1876, Madeline won from Cntess of Duff. in. 27:14 . Nov. 9,-1881, Mischief won from Atalanta in. . : . .... 28:20 1-4 Nov. 10, 1881, Mischief won from Atalanta in . ..... ; 38:54 Sept. 14, 1885, Puritan won from Genesta in .-. . . . . . 16:19 Sept. 16, 1885, Puritan won from Genesta in :.... .....1:38 Sept. 7, 1886. Mayflower won from Galatea in... . . . : . 12:02 Sept. 1 1, 1886, Mayflower won from .Galatea in . . ... .-.29:09 Sept. 27, 1887, Volunteer won from Thistle in.", .v; .\ .19:23 3-4 Sept. 30, 1887, Volunteer won from Thistle in. . . . .'. . .11:483-4 Oct. 7, 1893, Vigilant won from Valkyrie in ..... . 5:48 Oct. 10, 1893, Vigilant won from Valkyrie in ..... ... 10:35 Oct. 13, 1893, Vigilant won from Valkyrie in... ; :40 Sept. 7, 1895, Defender won from Valkyrie 111 in. .... 8:49 Oct. 16, 1899, Columbia won from Shamrock in. 10:08 '".7:. ■■■•' 7 7777: * ■■■ :■ . . ■OBOBOBOBOBOBOBOBOBS B 808 O B OB»B.OBOBoBOBOBOB.OBOB SAN FRANCISCO, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1899. headway before she swung around to the port tack. The next moment the Colum bia's head .sails were shivering and around to the same tack she went. Back to the old tack went the Shamrock and pitiless as fate the Columbia followed. Within the next ten minutes the Sham rock tacked half a dozen times, but she could no more shake off the Columbia than she could her shadow. Every time she came about the Columbia came about also, and finally -convinced that there was nothing to be gained by that sort of work. she gave up jockeying and bent all her en ergy to overcoming that big lead which the Columbia had gained. But plain sail ing helped the Shamrock no more than did the jockeying which she had vainly at tempted. Opinion as to the merits of these two boats had been much divided by their per formances during the indecisive tests of last week and the week before. Some were of the opinion that the Shamrock would show better when reaching against a brisk wind than the Herreshoff boat. Others held a different view, and these are now con vinced that the Shamrock is no match for the Columbia when going against the wind. In the language of a devotee who went down to the . races on board the Grand Duchesse, the Yankee cutter "made a show of the Shamrock." That yacht was almost lost in the haz« astern when the excursion fleet took up its position off the outer mark and .waited the outcome of that beat against the wind. The question was not then which boat would round it Continued on Second Page. AMERICANS ARE PLANNING AN EXPEDITION TO THE TRANSVAAL I /-> ALL HEADQUARTERS, WEL- I if INGTON HOTEL. WASHING- T I TON, Oct. 16.— 1t. is .reported here | 4> I j to-night that . plans are being se ♦ cretly prepared in Washington I 4> to send a large private expedition ♦ to the Transvaal. The chief promoter of ♦ the scheme Is said to be a retired array T officer, and back of the project are said ♦ to be several men of military experience, ♦ mining experts and capitalists, i -whose purpose is to form a com- I pany and ultimately secure control of a * portion of the gold fields of the South * African republic The plan, so far as & can be definitely ascertained, is to or ♦ ganize a mining and colonization com <§> pany, with the ostensible purpose of go ' t *+■<$>-+-<$>-•-&-+- & -*~<^-«-4' -•-&-•-_' ♦- © Ing to South Africa, taking up some claims and working In the gold fields and affording them protection, whether from the British or Boers. The scheme contemplates that the main body of recruits will be composed of hardened frontiersmen, Indian fighters, cowboys, miners and. daring adventurers, not unlike the Rough Riders of the Span ish war. Although they are .to be equipped for fighting the company ex pects to evade the neutrality laws by the fact that It Is to be organized as a colo nization and mining project. While rep resentatives of the company are in the West quietly working up the matter ar rangements are being made In the East to provide a ship for transportation. It is stated that the plans are so far com pleted as to enable the expedition to start upon comparatively short notice when the situation in the Transvaal has reached that stage when it would be deemed wisest to have the expedition embark. OPERATIONS OF THE INVADING BOERS LONDON, Oct. 16.— Dispatches from the Cape are very meager to-night, but they Include an important message from Glen coe Camp, dated 3:35 this (Monday) after noon, announcing that the Boer comman dos, which Invaded Natal through Laings Neck and, after occupying Newcastle, ad vanced to Pannhauser, retired on Ingag ene yesterday evening, their transport ser vice being reported defective. This will delay indefinitely the anticipated and hoped for assault on the strong British position at Glencoe. Another dispatch reports activity on the part of the Free State commando in the neighborhood of Allwalnorth, on the southern frontier. The Boers' advance patrol, the dispatch says, go to the fron tier bridge nightly to keep watch, firing shots at intervals as signals. It Is believed the enemy intends shortly to try to rush the railway station, with the help' of ar tillery posted on a ridge commanding the town. There are rumors that the Boers have been repulsed at Mafeking and are at tacking Vryburg. A Cape Town paper has a dispatch from the Orange River stating that the tele Scene of the South African War. graph wires have been cut between Vry burg and Kimberley ar.d It Is believed that the Boers are taking advantage of the presence of a large gathering of disloyal farmers at Vryburg celebrating Nacht maal to attack the town, hoping the farm ers will assist them against the British. The same dispatch says that the British force at Kimberley Is confident of its ability to hold out, but advises the dis patch of a relief force. This question of a possible rising of the Dutch farmers in the northern portions of Cape Colony is very important. The Daily Mail's correspondent at Coles burg has been inquiring regarding the matter and on the whole thinks the chances are against a rising. He bases his opinion on the'prospect of good crops after four lean years, which he believes will predispose the farmers to peace. Nev ertheless there is serious distrust and much anti-British agitation in these dis tricts, while the Free State Boers threaten an immediate invasion of Colesburg and Allwalnorth. The Daily Mail's correspondent asserts that Sir Alfred Mllner is worked to death and that Cape Town is surging with bit ter resentment at what is called the Schreiner cabinet's betrayal of Mafeking by its constant refusal to send a force of volunteer artillery thither. Many . resi dents of Cape Town have relatives at Vryburg, and they are furious with Merriem and Souer, respectively colonial treasurer and commissioner of public works, and the Ministers are mobbed whenever they appear in public. Mr. Hoffmeyer, the Afrikander leader, has gone to the country In order to escape the outburst of Indignation. On Sunday night the streets were filled with angry citizens, and it was feared that rioting would oc cur. This, combined with the pressure of the Imperial Government, brought the Schreiner government to a sense of its peril as well as of Its duty and moved it to decide to call out the volunteers. The Ministerial party also worked Its hardest to prevent the ovation to Conyng ham Greene on his arrival from Pretoria, but failed. The volunteers are "000 strong and have eleven pieces of artillery. The Natal Invasion was made in three columns at dawn on- the 12th through Pothas Pass, Laings Neck and from Wak kerstroom, the objective point of the in vaders being Newcastle. The Boers utll PRICE FIVE CENTS. ized several thousand natives who were tramping from the Rand to drive their heavy guns up Laings Neck. Precautions are being taken for the de fense of Pietermaritzburg and Durban, in the remote contingency that the enemy may elude the vigilance of the British at Ladysmith and Glencoe camps. A dispatch from the latter place says the partial closing down of the Natal commercial lines will not interrupt the supplies for the imperial transports at Durban, as is imagined by the Boers, large quantities of coal being already on the way there from India. Regular ship ments will arrive from India until the Natal mines open again. The Cape Town correspondent of the Times says he learns on the highest au thority that there is no truth in the statement • being circulated— doubtless with seditious motives— that the imperial Government has decided to place small bodies of troops in the country district. Martial law, he says, has been proclaimed at Mafeking. Vryburg, Taungs, Herbert and Barkley West. Dispatches from Dundee say that ac cording to the report of refugees the Boer invaders of Natal are estimated at 16, --000. All the non-combatants and women and children have been sent from Dun dee. The news that the Boers had ar rived at Dannhauser raised hopes that they would risk an engagement In he open, but it Is now ascertained that the detachment which reached there was only a small advance body of Commandant General Joubert's main column. The ad vance of the Boers was accompanied by some looting of stores at Newcastle and Ingagene. The refugees assert that Commandant Viljoen's command contains a surprising number of Hollanders, Germans and Eng lishmen. GERMAN GUNNERS AMONG THE BOERS CAPE TOWN. Oct. 16.— The Orange Free State troops have cut the telegraph wires and destroyed the railroad track at Nor vals Point, just across the Orange Free State southern borders. A dispatch from Dundee, Natal, says Continued on Third Page.