Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-05-27 | Page 3 | Portuguese are Keenly Awaiting Arrival of Yanks

PORTUGUESE ARE KEENLY AWAITING ARRIVAL OF YANKS EY WALTER DURANTY. tNew York Times Cable, Copyright.) LISBON, May 27. Lisbon has a new forenoon sport. It is called listening for sirens. Never did the anxious Parisians listen more intently for the eerie wail that foretold a raid of German aircraft than the people of Lisbon for the steamer whistles led by the United States cruiser Rochester and factory hooters which will announce at noon one of these fin1? davs that NC-4 has left the Azores and again some hours later that the arrival on the Tagus' is due in sixty minutes. On the principal squares and in the cafes as midday "approaches one sees the peop'e looking at, watches and comparing the time. For not only are the Portuguese intensely interested in the American flight and delighted that their capital was chosen for the point of arrival, but thev also are inveterate gamblers and large sums of money changes bands each noon according to whether the plane has started or not. I am informed the betting has been fast and furious for the, past week. At the beginning as much as 10 or 12 to 1 was offered against a successful crossing. But when the Azores was reached the odds dropped to evens with side bets as to the number of planes that would make the flight and the hour and date of arrival to quicken interest further. In the exclusive night clubs where roulette rou-lette and dancing exert rival attractions, as much as a thousand dollars Is often wagered on a single number. Last night a Portuguese captain with French and British war crosses, staked at evens, five hundred dollars he just gathered from the wheel on the belief that the NC--1 would be floating in the Tagus hefore tomorrow night. Americans on the streets are frequently fre-quently stopped and asked the latest news, "and the telephone in the office of the naval attache is forever ringing with similar inquiries. This morning th? correspondent cor-respondent was assailed by a group of Portuguese university students who would let no barrier of language interfere inter-fere with their determination to know the exact details of the NC-3's adventure. The costume was a remarkable kind oi a frock coat over which is draped an Immense black clonk, like the conspirator wars in a melodrama. They were hat-less, hat-less, and t he spokesman, who murdered French and English with equal vigor, h.xrt an amar.ing bnshv head of blonde ha:r of which lie evidently was proud which would have done credit to a Fiii Wander. Before leaving he declared with portentous porten-tous gravity his faith in America was so great that he bet half a month's allowance allow-ance last week at 9 to that one or more pl;t nes would make the flight. "U;d ' I not think that he wou'd v. in V Reas- ! sured bv my opinion and congratulat ;ons j he went off to plan if not to order a i colossal banquet to which I was grandiloquently grand-iloquently invited.