Editorialana. 223
longer contemplate buying that property,
as it had been purchased by Mr.
A. M. Woolson, who they were glad to
learn proposed to preserve the
landmark, and, it was understood, would
set off a portion to the Daugh-
ters of the American Revolution. There
was also some discussion con-
cerning the proposition that the
association acquire possession of the old
court house at Maumee, which building is
located on the spot of the
famous Dudley massacre. The court house
would be a most fitting build-
ing for a museum of the relics of the
pioneer days.
Rev. N. B. C. Love pronounced a fitting
eulogy upon Mr. J. R. Tracy,
a deceased member of the association.
Upon adjournment of the associa-
tion, the board of directors held a meeting
and re-elected the old officers,
as follows: President, D. K. Hollenbeck;
Vice-President, William Cor-
lett; Secretary, J. L. Pray, and
Treasurer, A. F. Mitchell.
TO RAISE PERRY'S FLAGSHIP
"NIAGARA."
The Cleveland Plain Dealer, of
late date, in announcing that a move-
ment is in contemplation of raising the
Niagara from its watery grave,
in Lake Erie, says:
"Whatever may be the objections to
raising the hull of the battleship
Maine from the mud of Havana harbor,
none of them can hold in the case
of Commodore Perry's flagship, the
Niagara, which it is now proposed to
raise from the bottom of Misery Bay, in
Erie harbor, where she has
reposed for three-quarters of a century.
The ship was built in Erie, and
when her day of usefulness was over was
sunk out of sight, and for a
long time almost out of memory. The
house committee on naval affairs
has ordered a favorable report on the
bill, providing money for raising
the Niagara and turning her over to the
state home for disabled soldiers
and sailors.
"The Niagara was the flagship of
the man who performed off Put-
in-Bay in September, 1813, the
unprecedented feat of compelling the sur-
render of an entire British squadron,
and as such she should fairly share
that affection and veneration which the
American people have long lav-
ished on the Constitution and one or two
other historic ships, none of
which really performed such a glorious
part in naval war as fell to the
share of Perry's flagship.
"This national neglect can be
attributed in great part to the fact that
no gifted lyrist like the author of
"Old Ironsides" has embalmed the
Niagara's achievement in deathless verse
and in part, perhaps, to the
American tendency to forget the day of
small things. The Niagara was
little if any larger than one of the
boats which a modern 16,000-ton battle-
ship carries on her deck. In these days
a 2,500-ton war vessel is not con-
sidered worthy of a place in a line of
battle, and is used chiefly for sea
police duty, yet the combined tonnage of
Perry's squadron did not exceed
2,500 tons. An ordinary lake freighter
is larger."