Port Royal standard and commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, February 24, 1876, Image 1
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VOL. IV. NO. 12
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Ilofl it Down.
Whatever you may have to say, my friend, Whether
witty, or grave, or gay,
Condense it as muoh as ever you can;
Say it in the readiest way;
Aud whether you write of househoid affairs
Or particular things in town,
Just take a word of friendly'advice :
' Boil it down!
For if you go spluttering over a page,
When a couple of lines would do.
Your butter is spread so much, yon see,
That the bread looks plainly through.
So when you have a story to tell,
And would like a little renown,
To make quite sure of your wish, my friend,
Boil it down.
When writing an article for the press,
Whether prose or verse, just try
To utter your thoughts in the fewest words,
And let them be orisp and dry ;
And when it is finished, and you suppose
It is done exactly brown,
Just look it over onoe more, aud then
Boil it down.
RANCH LIFE IN COLORADO.
Kheep Raisin* as a Bnsiness.'on the Westera
Prtlrie.
Sheep raising is one of the great in
tereste of Colorado, writes a Sun correspondent.
Mexican ewes are bought
for $1.75 to $2 per head, and crossed
with Cotswolds to increase the size.
South Downs and fall Merinos are
brought from the States to improve the
blood and bring the wool up to the finer
grades. The grasses of the prairie are
nutritious, and tne abundanoe of space
allows vast herds to find maintenance
without the expense of fencing or cutting
hay for the winter. There are several
varieties of grass that follow one another
in succession, some curling in the sun,
and although brown and dry at the top,
remaining full of nourishment Near
Trinidad a gentleman found in an acre
of prairie sixteen different kinds of grass
The pinons, a low species of pine and
cedar, grows near the edges of the
canyon, and affotds protection for the
sheep from the storms. In the canyons
the sheep find water. These are deep,
opeu seams in the earth, or rook, riven
apart ages ago by some mighty convulsion
of nature. They are filled with
nnderbusli, evergreens, wild plum
trees, aud cotton wood, and generally
have water holes, and sometimes springs
of pure water. In times of long rains,
or of snow melting on the mountains,
they are found with swift, muddy
streams. They are wild and romantic
in appearance and of various depths,
some even reaching on the rivers 2,000
feet. One man can care for a flock of
1,000 sheep, but two are required for
ny>re than that number?one to super
vise, keep the camp, cook, and watch
the sheep at night, while the other herds
them by "day, the latter receiving from
$12 to $15 per montlf and rations, and
the former getting from $20 to $25 per
month. If the owner cares (or his own
sheep he of course saves this amount
and generally losses less sheep, having
the vigilance of ownership.
CS 1 -J 1.1. _ 1
oome saeep rnou upcuu me jurger pur i,
if not all their time iu camp, moving
wherever i)ie pasture is most inviting, hi
winter on the prairie and in summer on
the mountains or in one of the national
parks. As two men can herd 4,000
sheep as well as 2,000, the cost of running
large herds is not proportionately
great. More hands are needed in the
lambing season, and when shearing is
necessary, professed shearers must be
hired to cut the fleece. The preference
is given to California shearers, they
handling the sheep better and shearing
closer than Mexicans. The Californian
holds the sheep with one hand, between
his knees, and shears with the other,
while tlio Mexican ties and throws down
the sheep, sitting on them, and frequently
cutting the skin. The Mexican !
gets five cents a fleece, the Californian
six cents. The average weight of Mexican
fleece is two and one-half pounds,
and sells at from twenty to twenty-five
cents per pound. The average weight
of improved wool per fleeoe is from three
to four pounds, and sells from twentyfive
to thirty cents per pound. Tnere
is a difference of opinion with regard to
shearing sheep before or after the birth
of the lambs, which are born in early
* spring, about May. If shearing takes
place after the weather gets hot, the
wool, haviug absorbed much grease,
weighs heavier aud is therefore more j
profitable to the seller. Lambs are i
It *
LUKi-ii xruiu tutjix mutuers iu oepwimuri i
and formed "with the wethers into a I
separate herd, seeking their own main- j
tenance. They are driven ont before or j
after the sheep in early morning, with a 1
herder, till they are thoroughly weaned,
requiring abo^t four or five months
when they are again united to the large
herd.
The homes of people in this country ;
are called ranches. They are generally
b nilfc of logs or adobe and sometimes of j
both. The adobe is formed of a peculiar i
kind of earth, found in the canyons and
other localities, and when mixed with j
cut hay and water forms a mud that j
hardens with exposure to sun, wind and 1
rain. The process of making adobe mud J
is usually performed by Mexicans, who
cut the hay into short lengths, and beat
the whole mass of earth, hay and water
with a hoe, and also tread it thoroughly
with their naked feet. Both men aDd
women apply it to the logs by throwing i
large handful?, worked into balls, on the j
wall, and then smooth it with their
hands?a dirty process, but resnlting in i
an even, flat surface, resembling a gray
stone, which will, but seldom does, rc-1
ceive a coat of whitewash. Another style
of ranch is formed of adol>e bricks, the
mud being mixed in the above manner
and burnt in the sun, and being set up j
like ordinary bricks, the same mud while
wet answering the pnrpese of moriar.
The whole, including the roof and chim- (
ney, is covered with adobe. There are
also wooden cottages, with shingle roofs,
but they are very expensive, the lumber
being hanled by ox teams. The ranch
is often composed of only one room,
where all the housekeeping flourishes iu
the most approved bachelor's style, the
larger proportion of ranch people being
young men seeking their fortunes. They
ignore luxuries, and the appointments
of the kitchen are marveloualy few. A
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coffee mill and coffee pot, a frying pan,
a tea kettle, a baking kettle, a few tin
plates and tin caps, knives, forks and
spoons, a broom, a lamp, a pile of blankets,
bags of flour, salt and sngar, and
a side of bacon complete the contents of
a bachelor ranch. I might add saddles,
spurs, shoes, and other articles of wear,
and occasionally a pack of cards and a
flask of whisky. Some ranches are built
on a more extensive scale and have separate
rooms for sleeping and cooking;
also sheds for wagons and horses, chickep
coops, and corn cribs for those who
wish to feed their horses, and all have
corrals made of pickets cut by the Mexicans
at two cents apiece, or built of
rocks from the canyons or logs of cottonwood
or pine. &ome hew down the
pinone and with the brush make impenetrable
corrals.
Sheds are necessary for shearing, and
dipping pans are a valuable acquisition,
since the scab imported with the States
sheep and lice brought in the dry wool
of the Mexican sheep are almost the only
disease to contend with, and these are
cured by dipping in a decoction composed
of five pounds of sulphur and
twenty pounds of tobacco, boiled in one
hundred gallons of water till the strength
of the tobacco is extracted. Sometimes
arsenic is added. This bath is given by
forcing the sheep off a platform about
four feet high into the mixture while
warm, and from the bath up an inclined
plane, from which they soon dry in the
sun. Care must be taken that the bath
is not too hot, otherwise it will scald ;
and if to cold, will not take effect. Now
as to the profits of this great interest of
sheep raising. They lie in the increase,
which is wonderful, the shearing pay11
r\t a oinnrlo
ing uie runwug cipcujo^ ui ?*
herd, but rendering a good income as
the herd increases. Some men buy interests
in rarge herds, or serve, taking
sheep and lambs in payment of their
services. This requires patience and
close attention to the business. The
life is exceeding lonely, and the isolation
to ladies is very trying, servants being
very difficult to get, except Mexicans,
who serve for housework from $12
to $20 a month. They lack industry,
thrilt, and neatness. They understand
but little English, and one mnst learn
their incorrect Spanish to deal with
then. Herding seems to be their avocation,
and for that, if they happen to be
honest, they are admirably adapted.
Their poor relatives are most attentive,
and through them many sheep disappear
when not well watched. Should any
one desire to settle in this conntry they
can select a locality not previously occupied,
or included in any of the large
grants, and take np a claim by crossing
four logs. In one the name and date
should be cat, which claim will hold
good for thirty days. At the expiration
of this term they mnst build a house at
least twelve feet square, with a door and
a window. This will hold the claim for
six months. During this period it is
filed upon, and six months from filing a
patent is proenred from the government
by paying $1.25 an acre and about $20
fees. \ This is called pre-emption. In
homeeteading the same improvements
are to be made on ths property, and living
on it for five years, a patont can bo
procured from government by paying the
usual office fees, about $20. In homesteading
first, all right is lost to a claim
by pre-emptiou, bat by pre-emptiug
first a homestead can be acquired afterward.
Squatters' claims are respect .d
as long as they live on the land, custom
having made possession nine-tenths of
the law.
Feet of the Chinese Women.
A lady, writing in St. Nicholas of the
thufl cwao Ir a r\ f
' nil 11UU1C, luuo ui uuu
girls and one of their noted peculiarities.
She says, speaking of a young Chinese
girl: j
She had the tiuy, pressed feet that j
the Chinese consider not only beautiful, !
but necessary to high breeding ; and !
they were encased in tho daintiest of
j satin slippers, embroidered in seed
! pearls. But finery could not hido the
deformity produced by so unnatural a
process, nor the awkward limp of the
poor little lady as she leaned on the
shoulders of her maidens in hobbliug
from room to room. I asked if the
I feet were still painful, and she replied
that for tho last two or three years
j sort of numbness had succeeded the
pain, but that formerly, and from her
j earliest recollection, her ^tailorings had
I been so intense that she would gladly
I have died; and that she had often, in
| frantic agony, torn off the bandages,
, and when they were replaced, shrieked
and screamed till delirium, for a time,
relieved tho consciousness of suffering.
But after the fifth year the pain gradually
became less intolerable, she said,
and now she did not think very much
about it, except when the bandages were
changed. Then the return of tho blood
to the feet was such toiture as language
could not describe. Yet in reply to my
question on the subject, this geutle girlwife
said it would be cruel in a parent
not to press the feet of his daughter, as
he thereby shut her out from good
society, and made a plebeian of her for
life.
Tfca V?!>rsr?aor^?a fvta nrmlied in
early infancy, and before putting them
on, all the toes except the first and second
are doubled in beneath the soles of
the feet. The length of the foot, after
undergoing this painful operation, never
exceeds live inches, and ordinarily is
scarcely four.
The Proper Treatment.
A correspondent writes to the DrugI
gifts' Circular, describing a mode of
treatment for lime in the eye. He says:
A colored man came to me in intense
agony, some unslaked lime having got
I into his eye. That the lime must be
neutralized at all hazards I felt certain.
II chose sulphuric aeid. I put one drachm
i and a half of the diluted acid in a four
I ounce graduate, filled it with water, and
I told him to wash his eye with the liquid.
| He did as he was told, and was relieved
I almost immediately. Then I made him
| rinse his eye with pure water, and after
| that I told him to anoint it with olive
! oil and to continue the application for
| some time. To-day he is almost well,
' and can see with his eye again. In another
similar case no remedy was imme.
diatelv applied, as a doctor had to be
I sent for from some little distance, and
I the man lost his eye entirely.
POK
RD A
BEAUFORT, S. C..
THE LAW'S DELAYS.
Diary of an Exhausted Litigant, whose
Lawyfr'i rnmuy wni linrjr ann vnruiB
Few.
According to the Hartford Courant, a
tattered memorandum book was recently
found on the steps of a very humble
dwelling "out West." Some of the entries
are as follows:
My father had a slight misunderstanding
with a neighbor about a division
fence which he had inherited from my
grandfather. After several disputes he
consulted a lawyer who had a good
many children, but little practice.
This was fatal. A suit was commenced.
Several yoars ago my lawyer said I
must get ready for the trial. I did so,
and went to *ourt at every term. But
it was postponed upon every pretense
which human ingenuity could invent.
1870. March term.?Counsel for defendant
moved a continuance because
he was engaged in the court of common
pleas. Court granted the motion, but
intimated, with great dignity, that such
an excuse would never avail with him
again.
September term.?Counsel trying a
case in an adjoining county. Judge
hesitated, but yielded.
December term. ? Defendant ill.
Proved by the certificate of a respectable
physician.
1872. March term. ? Counsel had
made an engagement to meet a client
from New York, who could not conveniently
leave his business again. Continued,
the judge suggesting that New
York clients might find counsel nearer
home.
1873. September term.?Carried the
title deeds to my lawyer. Surveyor examined
the premises, said the defendant
had encroached on me. But another
surveyor (partner and pupil of the first
one) said that my deed spoke of a hack
mataok stump in the line of the fence, a
foot in diameter; whereas, the only tree
anywhere near the fence was a pepperidge
tree, not more than seven inches
and a half across; case postponed, to
employ other surveyors.
December term.?Counsel agreed that
court might visit the premises in dispute.
Judge refused to go, but said the
jury might do so, provided that nobody
went with them to explain and confuse.
Next morning a heavy snow fell, and the
boundaries were covered. Case continued.
1874. September term.?Motion to
postpone on the ground that the defendant's
attorney wished to be absent,
hunting, for a few days. Motion prevailed.
I remonstrated, but my counsel
said the lawyers were very accommodating
gentlemen, and the courtesies of the
bar required it.
1876. Mareh term.?One of the jurors
taken sick. Motion to go on with the
trial with eleven jurors. Defendant's
counsel objected with great strength of
voice, and demanded a full jury trial,
pure and simple. I think he called it
" Palladium of our liberties." Case postponed.
v
September teim.?Received a bill for
retainers, term fees, clerk's fees, and expenses.
One item was for the amount
of a retainer which my lawyer had declined
from the defendant. Offered him
the farm, provided I gained the case.
Ho said that this would not be deemed
honorable practice, but would take it
! and give me credit as far as it went.
Took the cars for the east, coming
mostly on freight trains and after nightfall
|inii?
Mem.?Don't forget inscription for
my tombstone: "Here lies one who
died of a lawsuit, bequeathed by nis
father."
"Other Snns than Oars."
! Mr. Proctor, in oue of his lectures on
I the subject of " Other Suns than Ours,"
! declared it a fixed fact that all stars
were suns. Every star visible to the
naked eye on the clearest night was the
oeuter of a system of worlds like our
own, and although the most powerful
telescopes were still unable to reveal the
circling planets, the imagination could
certainly discern the millions of worlds
clustering around each of these hundreds
of thousands of bright suns. The
uearest star to our system was Aldebarau,
in the constellation Centaur, a star only
visible in southern latitudes. This star
was 200,000 times as far from the earth
as the sun is, and its sizo was much
greater than that of our sun, being
about 1,125,000 miles in diameter. The
next nearest star, Sirius, was much
larger than Aldebarau. Astronomers
knew that this star was at least a certain
number of billions of miles from our
system, but how much more distant they
could not tell. The lecturer supposed
that the progress of life in this myriad
of worlds was about the same as it is in
our system, and for every inhabited
world there were thousands of worlds
upon which life w;is either extinct or
had not yet begun. The thought that
death and desolation were so predominant
in the universe was not so melancholy
to the lecturer as it might be to
many others. The rame change was going
on in the life and death of all th0se
worlds as is seen on every hand and
among all things that are at any time
endowed with life and being.
The Decay of Seamanship.
The decline of the American merchant
marine, says the New York Evening
Pout, is a familiar story and unfortunately
well founded in fact. It may bo
questioned, however, whether, in one
-respect, the character and qualifications
l of sailors, other nations havo not fallen
away as far as ourselves. There is a late
j case in poiut. An inquiry is now going
on before the British board of trade in
j the matter of the British bark Island
Belle. The vessel was lost on the twenty-first
of December?why, the situation
of affairs on board shows pretty clearly.
It is charged that there was only one
seaman who could steer, and he was in
irons for threatening the officers. The
second mate was ill, but the captain
compelled him to work until he fell
from exhaustion, and then kicked him
violently. The man died in a few hours.
This bit of fresh maritime history, added
to the recent instance - of incompetency
on government ships as well as on
private .vessels, suggests that there is
yet plenty of work for Plimsoll and men
like him to do among British sailors,
masters and owners.
T RO'
lND <
THUESDAY. FEB
RED TAPE IX THE ARttY.
The Story of Patrick Noonan. and the
Tronble he had Abont his Clothing.
PftfnW "MnrmAn war a soldier in the
army of the West, and was stationed at
Fort Leavenworth. On the twentythird
of January, 1875, the stables at
that post were burned. Private Noonau,
being on duty at the stables, worked
getting out public property from danger,
and while so employed the tent in
which his clothing was took fire, and the
whole was consumed. Very naturally
Patrick asked that other clothing be
issued to him in place of that lost. On
the fifteenth day of February Patrick
commenced his public career by addressing
"to the post adjutant, through posl
quartermaster and company commander,"
a brief but touching recital of
his loss, accompanied by the request
that it be replaced by a gratuitous
issue. To this document he affixed in a
firm Roman hand his X mark. On the
sixteenth of February, F. H. Hathaway,
lieutenant Fifth infantry, Regl. Q. M.
and A. A. Q. M., indorsed the letter
with the statement that it was necessary
Private Noonan's clothin? should be
kept in the tent which was J)urn?d, and
that the request was reasonable, and
should be' granted. On the eighteentii,
Capt. Samuel Ovenshine of Co. G. Fifth
infantry, indorsed his approval and
forwarded it. On the nineteenth Col.
Nelson A. Miles of the Fifth infantry
indorsed and forwarded it "for the action
of the department commander."
On the twenty-second, " by command of
Brig.-Gen. Pope," R. Williams, Asst.
Adjt.-Genl., respectfully referred it " to
the chief quartermaster of the department
for remark." On the twentythird,
" Stewart Van Vliet. Asst. Q. M.
Gen., Bvt. Maj. Gen. U. S. A., Chf. Q.
M. Dept. Mo.," returned it with fhe
recommendation that the gratuitous
issae be made under the restrictions of
paragraph fifty-five, Appepdix B, of revised
army regulations, 1863. On the
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twenty-sixtn, "Dv command 01 Jong.
Gen. Pope," R. Williams, Asst. Adjt.
Gen., returned it to the commanding
officer at Fort Leavonworth, inciting attention
to "general order 13 War department,
commissary subsistence, the
requirements of which will be complied ,
with." A copy of the order was in- ,
closed. It is printed in full in the '
pamphlet. "
It relates to the gratuitous issue of ,
clothing and requires the appointment (
of a board of survey. On the ninth of j
March, accordingly, a board of survey i
was appointed, and the order of appoint- ,
ment is printed in full. On the"same i
day poor Private Noonan's letter- was f
further indorsed by " G.-* W. Baird,
First Lieut, and Adjt. Fifth infantry, 1
post adjutaut," as referred to the board
i of survey of which Capt. Samuel Oven- ,
shine was president. On the nineteenth
of March the board met, and "after
carefnl examination" decided thatNoonan
was entitled to his clothing, and that i
the gratuitous issue should be made,
j Their report, signed by the three offi- ,
cers comprising the board, was forward- i
ed to the Asst. Adjt. Gen. of the depart- <
ment of Missouri, by Capt. Simon Snyder,
on the sixteenth of April. On the
twenty-first it was forwarded by Brevet i
Maj. Gen. John Pope " to the adjutant-1
general of the army through the Asst. !
Adjt. Gen. military division of the Missouri,"
with a recommendation that the I
! issue bo made.
Accompanying this communication J
I were the affidavit of Noonan as to the i
loss, etc., the order detailing Noouan us !
tea aster, and a letter to the post adjutaut,
dated March 19, asking informs- j
tion for the board of survey, which was ;
referred to the acting assistant quarter- !
master on the twentieth, returned to the i
post adjutant on the twenty-second, and j
to the board of survey on the twenty- 1
third; sent back for further information >
on the twenty-seventh, referred to the I
nnsf. nnartermaster on the thirtieth, ill- i ;
dorsed by that officer on April 5, au3 ! i
returned to the board on the eighth, !
having seven indorsements. These are j <
printed in full.
On the twenty-fourth of April, P. H. j
Sheridan, lieutenant-general command- j
iug, indorsed private Noonan's letter, |
with a reference to the adjutant general j1
of the army. On the twenty-eighth of 1
April, E. 1). Townsend, adjutant-gener- ^
al, referred it to the judge advocate- 1
general; on the thirtieth the judge advocate-general
made a long indorsement i1
on it to the effect that Noon an's loss j ^
could only be made good by action of j '
Congress; ou the third of May the ad- i1
jutant-general referred it to the quarter- | <
master-general " for examination and re- j '
mark before being submitted to the !*
secretary of war, with a view to the 11
presentation of the case to Congress j:
on the thirteenth, Quartermaster-Gen- j1
era1 Meigs returned it with a recommen- J
dation for favorable action. On the ! ^
nineteenth, the adjutant-general referred <
it to the secretary of war; on the thirty- '1
first of December the secretary of war |
transmitted the documents to the Houso i
of Representatives, aud on the twelfth
of Jannary, 1876, a joint resolution an- !
tlini iy.inc the issue was referred to the !
? o
committee on military affairs and all the
documents ordered printed. !
Piul that is the true story of Private
Patrick Noonan's clothing, first cost $40
or ?o0. And yet there are people who
say the government is careless in its ex- 1
penditures. The case of Patrick Noonan |
eternally refutes the charge. He hasn't
got his clothes yet. But if they'll give
him the red tape that has been n3ed on
his letter, he can clothe himself in such
manner as to bo the pride of the prairie
and the envy of the Modoc, and be
warmly and comfortably clothed at that.
?Xeiv York Tribune.
\
Congratulations,
The editor of the Statesville (X. C.) j
Landmark recently took to himself a
partner for life. His contemporary, the ,:
Raleigh Sentinel, tendered his congratu- j:
lations as follows: Mallard, of the 1
Stat?sville Landmark, has at length
found his kmg-soughtduck, and is happy 1
as a buck. We wish him lots of luck; ; i
may he nevermore get stuck in misfor- | i
tune's mire and muck, but have abund- ; I
ant pluck and worldly gear and truck to j
run him filled up chuck, till by death's <
dart he's struck and up to heaven '
| "tuck."
"5T-A.Hi
V>M]\
RUAEY 24, 1876.
AX UNNATURAL MOTHER.
The Execution of Women In France-?A
Wife's Last Request.
The Paris correspondent of the Lon-1
don Telegraph writes as follows:
Sophie Grauthier had been found guilty
of a horrible crime ; she had killed all
her children by means of pins, which
she had stuck into their brain. The
death of this revolting criminal recalls a
few interesting facts connected with the
execution of women in France. Since
1840 nine women have been executed,
and they have all met their death with
great firmness. Ten years ago a man
and woman was executed at Chartres for
having murdered their parents. In
those days the guillotine was not the
horribly neat and compact little instrument
that -it is now ; there were steps to
ascend before coming into contact with
the executioner. When the criminal
couple reached the foot of the scaffold
the woman said : "I should like to embrace
my husband before dying. Pray
untie my hsnds ; you can tie them again
immediately afterward." This supreme
wish was reluctantly granted, for it was
contrary to the regulations. Her hands
were no sooner free than she gathered
up all her strength, and gave her husband
a ringing box on the ear. According
to custom, she was the first to suffer
the extreme penalty of the law. Before
the man recovered from the stunning
blow she had dealt him, her head had
fallen into the sawdust.
Another woman, who created great
sensation at the time, was Virginie
Dezon, who had murdered her husband
and two children. She was only twentyfive
years of age, wonderfully beautiful,
and belonged to one of the best families
of France. She had not the slightest
fear of death, and the moment the'sentence
was passed she sent a letter to the
emperor, begging there might be no delay
in carrying it out. Prison life and
the loss of" her long black hair produced
a much more disagreeable impression
upon this delicate woman than the sight
of the hideous chopping block and
knife. Many summary executions of
women took place when the reguhu*
troops entered Paris during the insTCrrection.
I remember seeing one of the
advanced republican ladies placed
against the wall behind the Great Northern
railway station. She had just been
taken with a recently fired rifle in her
hand and standing by the side of a dying
sentry. " Did you shoot this man?" inquired
the officer, pointing to the writhing
body of the sentry. " I did," was
the. reply, "and lam only sorry that I
ilia not see you before, ns you were better
worth the trouble." Two minutes
afterward she was lying on her face withtwelve
bullets in her body. Death had
been instantaneous ;'her Wcthn, the
soldier, lived two hours after her, and
expired in horrible pain.
Mysterious Fires.
Mysteries of a fire are of three kinds
?the mystery of fraud, the mystery of
carelessness, and the mystery of ignorance.
The latter characterizes people
of all ranks in life, and is, seemingly, as
persistent as carelessness, and sometimes
as culpable as fraud. For instance,
how many people know precisely
what a defective fine is? How many
know anything about spontaneous com
bustion ? How many know that hollow
? * i * ii. .
walls aro actual flues, wwcn nave me
power of carrying flames from the bottom
of a house to the top, almost instantly
? How many know that the
heat of a stove, even when separated by
some little distance from wood, will, in
the course of time, so char it that a
spark will fire it ? How many know
that, under favorable circumstances,
fires will smolder for hours, ready to
flash into actual flame when fanned by
the openiug of a door, or the slightest
current of air caused in any manner
whatever? In brief, how many know
anything of a hundred and one circumstances
that will cause mysterious fires,
which a slight degree of practical knowledge
might easily prevent?
Did not Like Dogs.
Among \nd&rsen's peculiarities was a
mortal fear of dogs. He once wrote to
in intimate friend residing in Geneva I
that he meant to come and pay him a
risit, and would arrive on a certain day.
The family possessed a large but perfectly
gentle and very intelligent Newfoundland
dog, which, in anticipation of
the poet's visit, was carefully chained
up. The day appointed for his arrival
2ame, but no Andersen made his appearmce.
Days and weeks succeeded, and
still he did not come. At last the
family received a letter from him, post
marked Nice. " Dear friends," he
wrote, "I arrived at your house on the
lay I stated, but when I got to the gate
[ saw such a big dog in the yard that I
lid cot dare go in, and so I took the
first train ro Italy."
The End of It.
There is no knowing to what uses
?ome of great enterprises may come at
last. Some years ago a great hole was
:lug nnder Broadway, New York, to
lemonstrate the feasibility of a pneumatic
tube for underground transportation.
A show was made of it for some
time, and neonle made underground ex
mrsions at twenty-five cents a head.
Latterly this dismal orifice has been forgot
ten, bnt at last it has been utilized
is a rifle range. While the stages rat- '
tie over the pavement, aud the line of
traffic goes on overhead, competing!
marksmen fire away at targets at short:
er long range, the crack of their rifles :
being inaudible to the passer-by, aud |
the much-talked-of pneumatic railway is j
forgotten.
Cost of Living.
Much discussion has been going on
relative to the rate of living expenses
now and before the war. In a ledger of
1855 we find the following charges:
sugar, three and one-half pounds for
twenty-five cents; saleratus eight cents
[now twelve cents) ; lard, five pounds,
seventy cents (now ninety cents); wood,
53.50 per cord (now $6); tea, seventyfive
cents (now SI); molasses,Jforty-two
:ents (now ninety oents); and the same
with spices and other articles, Board
was then extremely low,
$2.00 peri
An Old-Time Mystery.
The following story is now told as a
sequel' to the noted Burdell murder of
many years ago:
Capt. William Hyde started in life as
a clerk many years ago, in what was then
a humble Little tobacco store in New
city. He fell in lovo with a New York
girl, and was engaged to be married to
her; but she jilted him, and the disconsolate
boy left the city, and for a
number of years was believed to be
dead. His cruel sweetheart had married
a Mr. Cunningham, a name that will
be forever associated with one of the
most mysterious nyirders ever recorded
in the annals of crime. She became, in
short, the Mrs. Cunningham in whose
house in Bond street Dr. Burdell was
murdered, and who was t^ied for the
crime and acquitted.
Young Hyde shipped aboard a whaler
bound for the Pacific, served his time,
engaged in the pearl fishery in the gulf
of California, and at last settled in the
old town of Loreto, the ancient capital
of the Californias, when he married a
native woman, who died soon afterward.
About this time he discovered a copper
mine in the high mountain known as
"La Giganta " just back of Loreto, and
for a time busied himself in developing
its resources. He might have been
working there still, but for an unfortunate
% and no less singular circumstance
that' again changed'the current of
~ * . 9
his li'e, and again sent mm a wanaerer
ont into the wide world.
At the close of the .rial of Mrs. Cunningham,
she disappeared fjrom New
York, and various were the surmises in
regard to her abouts. She was frequently
seen, according to the reports, in a
dozen places at the same time, but could
never be fully identified ; and her death
.was so often announced that many people
began to doubt whether she ever had
an existence. The truth is that, taking
a son and a daughter with her, she went j
tp. Lower California, and at Loreto met
Capt. Hyde. 'Hie intimacy of bygone
.years was renewed, and in due time they
were married. The marriage proved an
unhappy one, and poor Capt. Hyde fled
to another part of the State, leaving his
mine in charge of a superintendent, a
Mexican. Shortly after the old man's
disappearance his wife ran away with
the superintendent, and sold the mine
for a large sum. The company who
bought it having failed to comply with
the Mexican mining laws, the property
was confiscated by the State. Mrs.
Cunningham's children then made a demand
for it. It was transferred to them
and is now in their possession. The son
and daughter still reside at Loreto, a
miserable out-of-the-way place of less
than a hundred inhabitants. It was
onoe, however, a large bity, bnt .was .destroyed
by an earthquake many years
ago. There are several flue ruins in and
about the place that prove it to have
been at one time a lordly city.
Young Cunningham supports himself
and his sister by working a small rancbe.
She lives in the village with her child.
She was never married, and in the haggard
woman of thirty-five, old long before
her time, there is no trace of the
beautiful young girl who played so conspicuous
a part in the great mystery of a
few years ago. The old man gained a
scanty subsistence by teaching here and
there, and finally settled at Purissima, a
small village above Magdalena bay, near
the outer coast. Here he died. When
last lizard from Mrs. Cunningham was
living in luxury in California.
A Desperate Remedy.
Those who attended the sale of animals
from Barn urn's hippodrome in
Bridgeport, the other day, report the
following occurrence. A tiger was being
offered. The bid ran up to $4,500.
This was made by a man who was a
straDger, and to him it was knocked
down. Barnum, who had been eyeing
the stranger uneasily during the bidding,
now went up to him, and said :
" Pardon me for asking the question,
but will yon tell me where vou are
from?"
"Down South a bit," responded the
man."
" Are you connected with any show?"
" No."
" And are you buying this animal for
vourself ?"
' "Yes."
Barnum shifted about uneasily for a
moment, looking alternately at the man
and the tiger and evidently trying to reconcile
the two together.
"Now, young man," ho finally said,
"you need not take this animal unless
you want to, for there are those here
who will take it off your hands."
" I don't want to sell," was the quiet
reply.
The Barnum said in his desperation :
" What on earth are you going to do
with such an ugly beast if you have no
show of your own, and are not buying
for r ome one who is a showman ?"
"Well, I'll tell you," said the purchaser.
" My wife died about the weeks
weeks ago. We had lived together for ten
years, and?and I miss her." He paused
to wipe his eyes and steady his voice,
and then dded : "So I've bought this
if ?
tiger.
"1 understand you," said the great
showman in a husky voice.
Retrenchment in the Army.
An important bill was introduced into
the United States House by Gen. Banning,
chairman of the military committee.
It provides that the pay of all
general officers shall be limited to pay
proper, fixing the pay of Gen. Sherman
at $13,500, Sheridan at $11,000, majorgenerals
at $7,500, and brigadier-generals
at $5,500. No change is proposed in
the pay of field officers, except the reduction
of commutation of quarters
from $18 to $9 a month. Among the
line officers the second lieutenants are to
have their pay reduced $200 per annum.
The pay of officers on special duty is to
be limited to the pay of their rank,
while no officer below the rank of brigadier
general can receive longevity rations
or commutation in excess of $5,000 a
year. The argument in favor of the reduction
of the pay of second lieutenants
is that they are young men, mostly unmarried,
and do not require as much in
proportion as the officers of higher
rank. The forage account also is reduced,
making altogether a total of
$500,000.
J
J
^ %*
. ? ? "*
AL.
Jk/,
Iran. Single Copy 5 Gents.
Items of Interest.
Lord Derby says that people must not
seek learning and expect that it will
oring money.
The population of Ireland is set down
i at 5,412,397. During the last ten years
849,836 immigrants have left the country.
The saying that "there is more pleas- t
ure in giving than receiving " is supposed
to refer chiefly to kicks, medicine
and advice.
The warm weather ir. Kentucky, it is
said, brought out elder, blackberry and
peach leaves, which the grasshoppers
greedily devoured. j
In a case in bankruptcy just concluded
in the southern district of Georgia, all
claims were paid in full, and a balance
returned to the bankrupt.
The New York Musical Monitor says
that the next President will be the man
whose party hires the most brass bands
during the coming eight months.
" Don't be in such a hurry," said a
reckless California murderer on his way
to the gallows, to the hastening crowd;
" take things easy, as I do, if you want
to enjoy it."
The Sandwich Islanders aro going to
adopt a new flag, but they can't decide
whether to take a gray horse blanket
with hole in it, or an old vest with the
back ripped out.
-A stump speaker, in dealing with the
"modem physical degeneracy of
women," exclaimed: "We must take
good care of our grandmothers, for we
shall never get any more I" .J
J. G. Chapman, New Haven's philanthropist,
has daring the past year placed
2,120 postage stamps on letters dropped
in the post-office stampless, at a cost of
- ? ? ? > - " ? * 1# j. ain n/> a.
8411.46, ana nnas rum sen ju^t *x~.oo out
of pocket. . z
A6 an evidence of the hard times, it
may be mentioned that a young man
wrote to every bank in Detroit, offering
to " be your kasheer for 820 per month. .
and board," and no bank could give
him a place.
A waggish speculator recently said :
" Five years ago I was not worth a penny
in tne world; now see where I am
through my own eaertkras." "Well,
where are youf" .".Why a thousand
dollars in debt."
Recent statistics show that on the entire
globe there are 3,704,000 Methodists
in full membership," and 23,707 Methodist
ministers. The number of Methodists
in Great Britain is 350,000, and of
preachers 13,000.
A Scottish stndent, supposed to be deficient
in judgment, was asked by a professor,
in the course of his examination,
how he would discover a fooL " By the
questions he woula aek^' was the prompt
and suggestive reply.
In St Lawrrnce county, N. Y., where
dairying is carried on extensively, there
aro some 86,000 cows, and estimating
the amount sold from each cow to be
830 above home consumption, which is
a low estimate, an income of 82,580,000
is realized.
A singular deatL took place the other *
day at Lincoln, in England. A grocer
named Picker, who keeps fowls, was
feeding them, when a bantam cocic
spurred him in the left thumb. Mortication
set it, and all efforts to save the
unfortunate man's life proved unavailing.
Marshal Boult, once showing the pictures
he stole in Spain, stopped before
one and remarked : " I value that picture
very much; it saved the lives of
two estimable persons." An aid de camp
whispered in the listener's ear : "He
threatened to have them both 6hot immediately
unless they gave it up."
Revivalist Hammond illustrates an
argument with a horseshoe magnet and
nails of various sizes, from a taca to a
railroad spike. He likens the magnet to
Jesus. The tack typifies little children;
he shows how readily they cling to the
magnet A simple touch, too, attaches
the shingle nail, which he likens to a
youth. The larger nails are less and
less affected, until the big spike?a tough
old sinner of the most intractable kind?
will not stir under the influence.
G. H. Hazleton, of Greensboro', Vt.,
has a little girl four years old, who,
when about three months old. fell off the
bed, striking on the back of her head,
hurting her severely. Very soon after
this her head began to grow rapidly, and
in three months had increased nine inches
in circumference. All efforts to arrest
the growth prove futile. The head
now measures twenty-six and one-half
inches one way, and twenty four and
three-quarter inches the other. The expansion
of the head seems to be all
above the eyes.
General George W. Cole, who in 1867
shot H. L. Hisoock, in Stanwjx Hah,
Albany, died at Mora, N. M., on the
eleventh of September last, of pneumonia.
He was acquitted on the trial
on the plea of insanity. At the time ho
shot Mr. Hiscock he was a resident of
Syracuse. On his acquittal he came to
New York city and held a position in
the post-office, and subsequently removed
to New Mexico, where his death
1?u V/iJfiiflr hfs wiffi nor her
I'-MJA J J IBUCi ^vi?uw?
grown up daughters have lived with
him sinee the tragedy at Albany.
?? ?
Cure for Toothache.
Dr. Dyce Duckworth, an English
physician, contributes a short memorandum
on this subject. He was called
on lately to treat a case of very severe
toothache, and tried various ordinary
remedies, including chloroform and carbonic
acid, without any benefit to the
patient. He then remembered having
read that the pain might be relieved by
holding in the mouth a solution of bicarbonate
of soda. He gave the patient
half a drachm in an ounce of water, and,
to bis astonishment, the pain ceased
immediately, and oomplete relief was peered.
He thinks that, as the remedy is
so simple and the disease so distressing
and often intractable, tbis treatment may
be worthy of notice and imitation.
Thk Anniversary.?The New Jersey
Historical Society has resolved to have
a centennial celebration at Princeton on
the second of July, the one hundredth
anniversary of the day in 1776 when
New Jersey declares herself a free and
independent State/