Schell, Johann Christian and His Wife.
Schell, Johann Christian and His Wife.—One of the most inspiring stories of the Revolutionary war centers around this brave Palatine couple and their six sons, who tenanted a lonely cabin three miles northeast of the town of Herkimer, N. Y., and who in August, 1781, while at work in the fields were attacked by 16 Tories and 48 Indians. The marauders captured two of the younger boys, the remainder of the family gaining the shelter of the cabin. Here they successfully defended their home all day. With dusk the chief of the raiders, Capt. McDonald, succeeded in evading the vigilance of the defenders and to reach the door, which he tried to pry open with a lever. A shot struck him in the leg, and before he could effecthis escape Schell opened the door and dragged the wounded man inside, where he held him as a hostage against the attempt to fire the house. The defenders now awaited the next move of the enemy and burst into singing Luther’s famous battle hymn of the Reformation, “Eine Feste Burg ist unser Gott.” In the midst of the song the attacking party rushed toward the house, gained the walls so that they were able to thrust their guns through the loopholes to fire at those within.Quick as thought Mrs. Schell seized an axe and beat upon the gun barrels until they were useless, while the men directed their fire so well that the miscreants were driven to flight, leaving eleven dead and twelve seriously wounded on the field.
Schley, Winfield Scott.
Schley, Winfield Scott.—American admiral who conquered Cervera’s Spanish Squadron in Santiago Bay during the Spanish-American war, was descended from Thomas Schley, who immigrated into Maryland in 1735 at the head of 100 German Palatines and German Swiss families. Founded Friedrichstadt, afterwards Frederickstown, Md. Thomas Schley was a schoolmaster, and Pastor Schlatter of St. Gall, in the story of his travels (1746-51), wrote: “It is a great advantage of this congregation that it has the best schoolmaster whom I have met in America.” Admiral Schley graduated from the Naval Academy and participated immediately upon his leaving the Academy in numerous naval engagements during the Civil War. He was then attached to various squadrons and distinguished himself during the Corean Revolution in the bombardment of the forts.
When the Greeley North Pole expedition was practically given up for lost Captain Schley one day modestly presented himself to Secretary of the Navy Chandler and said: “Mr. Secretary, I realize that by rank I am not entitled to the honor of commanding a relief expedition, but, seeing that no volunteers have offered themselves for such command, I want to offer my services in order that it may not be said that the navy was found wanting.” Schley’s manner made a strong impression on the Secretary, and in a short time he received orders to head an expedition. The relief of Lieutenant Greeley by Schley when the exploring expedition was practically down to a few starving survivors forms one of the heroic chapters in the history of the American navy. Schley’s rapid rise and success at Santiago, together with his popularity with the rank and file of the navy, raised a cabal against him among the bureaucrats, and he was brought to trial for his manouvering of the Brooklyn in the Santiago battle. Cervera, the Spanish commander, when taken prisoner, attributed the failure of the Spanish squadron to escape to the famous “loop” of the Brooklyn, but a court martial found a contrary verdict. Admiral Dewey dissented. The verdict had no perceptible effect on Schley’s popularity, and the American people give him unqualified credit for the battle.
Steinmetz, Charles P.
Steinmetz, Charles P.—One of the greatest scholars and scientists in the electrical field of today, Chief Consulting Engineer of the General Electric Company, and professor of electro-physics at Union College; Socialist president of the City Council and president Board of Education of Schenectady. Intimate associate and collaborator of Thomas A. Edison, and to whose genius many of the most important developments in electrical science are due. A native of Breslau, Germany; born April 9, 1865.
The New York “Times” of March 12, 1916, says: “Everybody knows that applied industrial chemistry would be a comparatively barren thing if everything that had come to it as the result of this man’s research should be taken away.” Fled Germany to escape prosecution for his Socialist writings. Came over in the steerage and worked as a draughtsman at $2 a day. In the “Times” he was quoted as having buried all resentment for his experience of thirty years ago. “Germany,” he said, “is so different now. I would not know the country if I went back to it. When I left it was merely an agricultural country. Now it is the greatest industrial country in the world.”
Sauer, Christopher.
Sauer, Christopher.—The first to print a book (the Bible) in a foreign tongue (German) on American soil; famous printer and publisher of German and American books. Born in Germany, arrived in the Colonies in the fall of 1724, settling in Germantown. Published the first newspaper in the German language, “Der Hochdeutsche Pennsylvanische Geschichts Schreiber, oder Sammlung Wichitiger Nachrichten aus dem Natur und Kirchen Reich.” His magnificent quarto edition of the Bible, issued in 1743, after three years of endless toil, has never, in completeness and execution, been excelled in this country. He died in September, 1758, leaving an only son, also named Christopher, who continued his father’s business but gave it additional importance by employing two or three mills in manufacturing paper, casting his own type, making his own printers’ ink and engraving his own woodcuts as well as binding his own books, many of which passed through five or six editions. (Simpson’s “Lives of Eminent Philadelphians.”)