University of South Carolina Libraries
/ 1 l ■ w 3 ^ - ■' '"v , : • .>'%S'' : - S / %f'.::-i-^ - - ' r =' P?|^» ^ iP^i * l M^#rg5^y%jp * KF^r?" * -s A FATAL RAVINE. A Place in Yellowstone Park Where the Air is Poisonous. The Bones of Many Animals Found in the Deadly Gulch. “In Yellowstone Park there is a ra- ▼ine that proves as deadly to animal life as that Djath Valley of Java, where wild beasts perish by the score, ” said Henry W. McIntyre at the Palace Hotel the other night. The gentleman was con nected with the party who surveyed the Teservation, under the leadership of Ar. nold Hague, the park geologist. While following the streams to trace the ex tinct hot springs the explorers reached a ravine in which the bones of many ani mals, bears, deer, rabbits, and squirrels, were found. The presence of the re mains caused the party much wonder, and a solution of the strange affair was found only when a crow that had been seen to fly from the side of the valley to a carcass that was yet fresh lit on its p:cy, and almost immediately fell to the ground. “The death of the bird,” continued Mr. Mein yre, “was caused by gaseous exhalations, whose presence in the park had been before unsuspected. The larger game also met its death by inhal ing the deadly gas. The ravine is in the northeastern part of the park, in the vicinity of the mining camp of Cooke creek, and not far from the line of the mail route. AU about this region gas eous exhalations are given off, which form sulphurous deposits. In the al most extinct hot spring areas of Soda Butte, Lamar River, and Cache and Miller creeks the ravine was found. This region is rarely visited, although it is an admirable spot forgame, which, however, goes unmolested by man, the law’s against hunting being very severe. The road to the valley has few attrac tions, and the visitors to the fossil forests and Hindoo basin seldom make the trip. “In the centre of a meadow, reached by an old elk trail, is a shallow de pression that w T as once the bed of a hot- spring pool. This is now dry and is covered with a slight deposit of salt, and that is a bait that attracts the elk and other game of that region. The ‘lick’ extends for seventy-five yards up the ravine, and is thicker and more palpable toward the upper end. The creek runs past along the side of the valley and boils and bubbles as if it were the outlet of a hot spring. But the water is cold, and the disturbance on its surface is caused by the emission of gas, mainly carbonic acid. It also contains sulphur, as particles of that are on the sides of the creek. As^ we^ went up the stream the odor of sulphur became very strong and caused irritation of the bronchial passages. About eighty yards above Cache Creek were the bones of a large bear, and near by was a smaller grizzly decom posed, but with the skin and hair yet fresh. Only a short distance farther on were the skeletons of many more animals, such as elk and deer and other large game. Squirrels, rabbits, birds, and insects were lying about in quanti ties, and the ravine looked as if it had been the ‘scoop* of a drive into which the animals of the park had been hunt ed .ami had been left there to die of hunger out of mere wantonness. There were no wounds apparent on the bodies before us; all the animals had been as phyxiated by the deadly gases that hung a few feet from the surface of the gulch. “The first bear we saw was a good way down the gulch, where a neck is formed. To that point the gas must have been driven by the wind, and its deadly nature may be easily guessed when it is remembered that the slight est motion causes a diffusion of ether that would tend to decrease its noxious properties. Here is the explanation of the oft-repeated assertion that game was being exterminated by hunters in the Yellowstone, notwithstanding the strin gent laws that had been passed for the protection of animals there. I had seen it noted that each year bears, deer, mountain tigers and other wild animals were disappearing from the reservation, and it was asserted that friends of the people who had charge of the park were allowed to hunt there in defiance of the law. There were probably 150 bodies of wild animals in the gulch w’hen I was there. But, although there were skele tons entire and single bones, it rau*t not be supposed these were the remains of all the game that had found death iu the ravine. They had accumulated only since the last rain storm. Through this gulch a mountain torrent runs when the snows have melted from the mountains or after a hard rain. Then all things, stones, bones, and bodies, are tumbled together on tbeir way to the mouth of the gulch, whence they are carried away iu the creeks or are left to mark the course of the stream and bleach on the table lands. I had noticed near the Mammoth Hot Springs the bodies of mice and bugs, but had never attributed their presence to the deadly gases that were so rapidly killing off the large game of the park. Sharpshoctlng Fish. Dr. Carl Meister, a German traveller, is telling some very curious stories just now about shooting fish which he found in the rivers and small lakes of Siam. The shooting fish passes most of its time doing nothing in the deep, quiet pools near the shore. When it becomes hungry it swims slowly down stream near the surface of the water. As soon as it sights a fly or bug on a bush or bit of grass at the water’s edge it floats up to a position within two or three feet of the insect. For a few seconds it remains motionless, apparently taking aim with its mouth about a hair’s breadth under water. Then it projects its under jaw slightly beyond the upper jaw and fires from the little round aperture thus formed a drop of water at the fly or bug. This drop of water moves with lightning rapidity, and invariably hits the insect at which it is aimed. The insect falls into the water and the fish gobbles it. Dr. Meister says he has often seen a shooting fish bag thirty or more insects in quick succession after this fashion. Bugs with hard shells or heavy wings are sometimes impervious to the shoot ing fish’s drop of water. Any ordinary insect, however, of smaller size than the end of a man’s thumb is usually knocked senseless by it. In Siam Dr. Meister caught and pre served in his aquarium several shooting fish. They became very tame. They would shoot at almost any kind of an object that was held over their tank. To test the accuracy of their aim. Dr. Meister occasionally held over the tank a bit of white pasleboard, on which was painted a black fly of about half the size of the top of a lead pencil. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the fish hit the fly squarely, and the one 1 hundredth time missed it only by a hair’s breadth. The end of a pencil, or a finger, or any small, round object, held over the tank, always attracted a tiny shower of drops from the fish be low. Three of the shooting fish were trained by Dr. Meister to jump five or six inches out of water to sret bits of food from between his fingers. Dr. Meister considers a shooting fish to be the most intelligent of all fish, and destined to supplant gold fish in the parlor aquariums of Europe and America. The shooting fish is usually the size of a man’s hand, short and thick, and of a grayish-green color. Four heavy black stripes cross its back, which, near the sides, is of a silvery hue. It is a very shy and cautious fish, is rarely found near other fish and is very difficult to catch. A Height of Atlantic Waves. Accurate measurements prove that, during stonus, waves in the Atlantic rarely exceed forty-three feet from hol low to crest, the distance from crest to ■ f ictft7—fffltl t’uu'n V.'peuCi thirty-two and onc-half miles an hour. More recent observations in the Atlantic give forty-four to forty-eight feet as the highest measured waves; but such heights are rarely reached, and, indeed, waves exceeding thirty feet arc very seldom encountered. The monsoon waves at Kurrhchee breakwater works were found to dash over the wall to the depth of thirteen feet, or about forty feet above mean sea level. The greatest height of waves on the British coast were those observed in Wick Bay, so famous for the exceptionally heavy seas which roll into it, being thirty-seven and one-half to forty feet. Gicer. seas to the depth of twenty-five feet poured over the parapet of the breakwater at intervals of from seven to ten minute?, each wave, it was estimated, being a mass of 40,000 tons of water, and this continuously for three days and nights. During severe storms the waves used to rise high above the top of Smeaton’s Eddystoue tower, while at Bell Rock the seas, with easterly storms, envelope the tower from base to balcony—a height of 400 feet. A “WHITE CHIEF.” Colonel Jordan, a Pale-faced Leader of the Sioux Nation. How He Persuaded the Indians to Cede Their Lands. Erratic Courses of Bullets. Bullets have been known to flatten round a bone as if the bone, having been broken, had been thus joined W’ith the pliant lead. In another curious case, a bullet went exactly six times in and out of a skirmisher’s body without doing him any serious harm. Kuceling when firing the ball had passed first in and out of ouc ar.n, had traversed the ribs, entering one side and making its exit at the other, and finished its erratic course by entering and finally taking Us departure from the other arm of that curiously perforated soldier. Another bullet passed through thick plate-glass and smashing against a wall, flew into particles, bespattering a man’s face without seriously injuring him; while the instance of a little child, -who, en deavoring to stop, in her childish play fulness, what turned out to be a spent cannon-ball, which danced like a play thing before her, and who was crushed to death by its falling on her as she ran forward to catch it, is still fresh iu the memory.—Argonaut. The Eighth Wonder. Gus: “Frank is an original man ” Joe: “How so?” Gus: “I met him. He was seedy fend I offered to lend him 50 dollars.” Joe: “Well?” Gus: “He said 10 dollars would do.’ TUe Snow Plant. The snow plant was first discovered in the Sierras by a naturalist accom panying General Fremont’s party to the Pacific slope in 1843. The early de velopment of the plant takes place un der banks of deep snow. They come to the surface as the snow melts away from them. A recent arrival from Emerald bay brought with him a plant the stem of which is eighteen inches in length. It is kept in snow and looks as healthy as when it was plucked from the place where it grew. — Virginia City (fitv.) Chronicle. The “white chief” whose marriage to a squaw princess put it in his power to become a leader of the Sioux Nation is Colonel Charles P. Jordan, and to his influence more than to that of any other white man, except General Crook, is due the ratification at the great Rosebud Agency of the act dividing the Indian reservation in severalty among the Sioux and opening up to the whites a vast and fertile tract of land in Dakota. Mr. Jordan not unnaturally feels pleased with the result of the labors of the Com mission at Rosebud, where he is now the Government’s licensed trader, and where he was for a year or two in partnership with Marion D. Lytle, the stepson of President Harrison’s brother Car ter, and nephew of General William H. Lytle. Colonel Jordan is a spare but well proportioned man of keen, penetrating eye, bronzed face, brown hair and mus tache and medium height. By right of marriage to an Indian princess he is a “white chief,” and has more influence among the Sioux than any other white man perhaps in Dakota. When asked how the Sioux were persuaded to cede their lands and what were the new and dramatic features of the ceremony,Colo nel Jordan said: “We first called the half breeds and •squaw men’ together and argued the matter to them. The next day we ap peared in the grand council, which was exclusive and where a large crowd had assembled. I made an earnest speech after several chiefs had spoken bitterly against the bill. Afterward when the main council with the commissioners was held, when the crisis was expected, and when hundreds of warriors had at- sembled, the hea l chief, Swift Bear, called upon me to speak after several Indian chiefs had talked against the bill. “I referred to my speech made in the Indian council and advanced other argu ments. When I sat down I saw that while many were willing to sign, each feared to take the initiative from dread of the opposing chiefs. Knowing Crow Dog, the slayer of Spotted Tail, to be all right, because of conversations I had had with him, and knowing that he was more feared and fearless than any other Indian, I quietly moved over to where he sat and asked him t<^ come forward with me and start the signing. * -He got up, and another influential Indian, Standing Bear, accompanied us "to Hie tabic at which the Commissioners sat. They both signed their games, and I then motioned to the head'chief, Swift Bear, to come forward. He did so and signed. Then the rush ' com menced, and two additional tables had to be supplied to accommodate those who wished to sign, and hundreds came forward, and the work was favorably commenced. The next day another counsel with the kickers was held by the Commission and Two Strike and several other chronic kickers again harrangued against the bill, and things looked very unfavorable. When Two Strike had concluded his bitter speech I sat in the rear of Gen. Crook and suggested that, notwithstanding the unfavorable appear ances of things, he notify all who de sired to sign that they could do so at the agency office. The council then broke up and many started for the agency office. I went there also and, seeing the crowd was unable to sign as fast as was required, I asked that another table be furnished. This was done and enough signatures were obtained to make the negotiations successful here. ‘ 'Several councils were held by the Commissioners with the Indians, during which time my lieutenants did the in terpreting along with Louis Richards, and when the councils broke up the four of us corralled the kickers and brought most of them to time.” Colonel Jordan is about forty years of age. He has several children by bis Sioux wife, and a valuable and well stocked cattle ranch near Rosebud. The influence of such men with the Indians is one of the most hopeful signs of the progress the two races are making to wards a better understanding of each other.—A'ew York World. Rat and Poll Parrot. Chris Pharo owns a poll parrot that is a dandy. The other morning a rat, lured by the luscious smells of the bake shop, left the stenches of the cellar and sewer, and, climbing up stairs, made a raid on cream puffs, gorged down a few tarts, nibbled the macaroons, and sam pled the pies and giugerbread before his depredations were discovered. Then he was hustled off with a vengeance, and, rushing into the room where the parrot was, succeeded in breaking into Polly’s cage. Polly was playing circus with her claws and bill, and when she spied the rat she came down on his back with both claws and he d it firmly to the bottom of the cage. The rat rolled over and twisted its head around, squealing like mad as Polly pecked at its eyes and soon had them both out. The rat snapped and tore out some of Polly's feathers, but she held fast to the varmint and succeeded in killing it. Then mounting her perch and ruffling her feathers about her neck, she au- aouaced, “Polly waats a cracker.” A Perennial Lai Joseph G ear Johnson‘was sent to Roff Home, at 31 tson, Ga.. a few days ago, and his cisc is probably one of the most remarkable that ever went to that or any other hospital. He is a paralytic, anl one side is en tirely useless. The stroke came on him some two months ago. He is a locomo tive engineer, and was able to mak- a good living. He had seen a good deal of the world, and geuerally saw the bright side of it. It was in the town of Clinton, S. C., that the stroke came on him. He was on a run that carried him into that town. He was one day doing some work on his engine and talking to some one ^standing near. At the moment he received the blow he was in the act of laughing and, strange to say, the muscles and nerves of the face that are brought most into play m the act of laughing are the ones that are most affected, and over' these he has no control whatever. He feels, of course, as if there is little left for him to live for, being utterly helpless.' But he can not think of it nor tell of hist roubles and the doubts and fears that torment him without laughing. He has a wife and five children, and when this affliction came upon him he went to his father-in-law, who lives in Wilmington, N. C., and told him of his condition and of his inability to care further for his family, and telling him at the same time that he did not wish to be a burden upon any one, but would go somewhere and seek seclusion and calmly await the closing of what was henceforth to be a useless life. The re cital of his parting with his wife was most pathetic and heartrending,yet with tears in his eyes and a heart full of ago ny he was forced to as though ho was telling the mostbJBrwous incident. He has wandered from one country to another, and has frequently gone for several days without a* morsel to eat. Recently he spent a n:ght in the woods in a violent rain storm.^ His crippled leg refused so serve hiss!. 1 longer, and he was compelled without shelter, to take the violence of the storm. His thin clothing was wet to the skin, he suff ered the pangs of hunger, and the reci tal of it made him shudder all over, yet he laughed all the time he was telling it. It was a most pitiful sight. He savs he dare not go to church lest he be accused of making sport ofythe services and be requested to leave the church. And as for a funeral it would be out of the question for him to attend 'one. Cattle Breeding. That “blood will telP'^s as true of cattle as of horses or any other domesti cated animals. Breeds of cattle can be improved just as surely and with as good results as trotting or running hor ses can be bred to a I standard of , ’excellence” andlTia of interest to know | that much more attention is being paid to the breeding of cattle in the United States at present than was the case for merly, when everything with a tail and hide and horns was considered good enough for range or farm cattle. Richard Johnson of the Bureau of Animal Industry has just returned to St. Louis from a three months’ trip through the cattle districts of the West, the object of his trip having been to as certain the condition of farm and range stock, and especially to learn what im provements have been made in the grade of stock on the ranges. He says that on the whole the result of his examination is satisfactory, and that in most of the cattle-raising parts of the West the grade of the cattle is improving. He calls particular attention to the changes which are taking place in the Southwest. The Texas long-horn, a sinewy animal, is being rapidly replaced by a cross between the Durham and Devon, and the average weight of the catlic in that section is greater by more than 100 pounds than it has ever been before. When one thinks of the enormous number of cattle raised every year in the Southwest, especially in Texas, the fact of an average increase of 100 pounds in weight to each animal presents itsell in its true light, aud gives an idea ol the increasing wealth of the country. — San Francciso Chronide. SALT MOUNTAINS. Strange Story of Captain Mellon of the River Colorado. Relics of the Prehistoric Man Discovered in the Salt Beds. Captain J. A. Mellon, one of the old est white settlers of Fort Yuma, A. T., who lived in Yuma two years without seeing a white woman, and who com manded the first steamer, the Gila, that ever went up the Colorado River to the mouth of the Virgin, is at the L ck, having arrived lately, says the San Francisco Examiner. Few pioneers in any land have had the strange experiences of Captain Mel lon. “It is over 25 years, now,” he said, “since I went to Fort Yuma, and the changes I see in San Francisco sur prise me. “Have I been running on the Colora do River all this time? Yes, and let me say that there are stretches of hun dreds of miles on that river that are less known than the heart of Central Africa. We go up there to get salt. There are great mountains of salt up on the Vir gin, which is a tributary of the Colora do, each of which is larger and higher than goat Island. The salt is pure and white. It is clearer than glass. You may take a piece of it seven or eight inches thick and read a common news paper through it. The salt mountains cover a stretch of about 25 miles on both sides of the Virgin, seven miles up from the Colorado. A single blast of giant powder will blow up tons upon tons of it. “This salt does not dazzle your eyes, as you might expect, while riding along on the river steamer or clambering over them. It has a layer of sandstone from two to eight feet thick over it. When this is torn away the salt lies in full sight, like a great snow-drift. How deep it is, nobody knows. This salt is destined to be the source of great wealth. Hamilton Disston, the big saw manufacturer, and Baldwin, of the Bald win Locomotive Works, arc the only men who have secured any of these salt mountains. When the Utah Southern Railroad is pushed on from Frisco, Utah, it will tap the gigantic salt moun tains, and then an enormous revenue will be realized for them. “I brought down with me for the Academy of Sciences here some queer things from the salt mines. Under the cap rock was found charred wood and charcoal, besides some mat ting made of cedar bark. The salt had preserved it. It might have lain there thousands of years. Evidently there had been a slide that covered up the 5 1 ‘\ ,n 'p n H Sweet Peas. The history of the pea family is an in teresting one. The pea originated in the East, where it has boen known and loved from immemorial times. Young Daniel, when he fed upon pulse, may have included this sweet product of the garden in his abstemious fare. Be that as it may, the people of the East were familiar with it long before it became known to the Greeks and Romans. The pea was introduced into Europe during the Middle ages, and was not cultivated in England until the time of Henry VIII. The pea-flower is papilionaceous, or having a winged corolla resembling the butterfly. The fruit is contained in a legume or pod. The pea has spread from India to the Arctic regions. At least. 50 kinds arc grown. Indeed, the Pulse family, to which the pea belongs, is so numerous as to include 6590 plants agreeing at least in the one feature of pod-bearing. Peas arc not only pleas ant to the taste, but they are nutritious, as they contain much cassein. The variety of pea grown in the flower garden and known ns Sweet Pea, is a native of Sicily. It is worth while to watch the bee make a visit to the pea- blossom. The stamen and pistels ar e hidden in the lower projection of the flower. The bee lights upon this part and its weight forces the petals down, while the stigma, conveying pollen from the surrounding anthers on its hairy style, protrudes and striking the bee, dusts it well with pollen. As in the case of the scarlet geranium, the bee seems to know by instinct just what part of the flower to alight upon. The pea is such a cheerful looking flower, that it really appears to enjoy pommel ing the busy bee. Aside from the pretty flower, every part of the pea is beautiful, for the vine is graceful, the foliage fresh aud clean- looking, the pods curious and the ten drils of interest as transformed organs. KILLED FOR A SLAP. Dead at the Age of 130. A remarkable old Turk has just gout to his rest. Hadji Soliman Saba was 13C years of age and counted his descend ants by scores—all of whom, however, are grandchildren aud great grandchildren, as he leaves no son: or daughters living. He had seven wives, all of whom, like his sous and daugh ters, died before him. Hard work and simple living seem to have been the se cret iu enabling Saba to nearly doubW the allotted span. Except on occasion? of high festival barley bread, beans anal water made up his diet.; He labored in the fields as a farmer, living much in I the open air and wearing scarcely any clothes. A mattress ai^d a straw mat men. Strange to say, a similar dis covery has been made in the salt mines of Louisiana. The rocks up toward the salt mountains are painted and cut into hieroglyphics which none of the Mojave, Yuma, Piute or other Indians know the meaning of. “There arc valleys a’oag the great but as yet unknown Colorado, singly, as much as 120 miles long aud twenty wide. That will be country of the globe, as the va'.ley of the will redeem them. brought on them as sure as destiny. constituted his bed. until three days before his death. He was never Inknown Dead. :ain, number- Wealth Left by the The banks of Great ing 380, have deposited with them $4,500,000,000 belonging to their cus tomers, and it is calculated that a con siderable portion (perl aps a fifth) of this vast amount will Numbers of persons without any intimation their friends and then the scene. A large re from notes burned, lost wise destroyed. ijever be claimed, deposit money of the fact tc disappear frort trenue is derived at sea or other- A Soldier’s Routine. The United States soldier's first duty begins at half past five in the morning, at which hour revillc is sou nded by the buglers of all the batteries. At this signal the men all leave their quarters and form in single file on the parade ground. The roll is then called by the sergeant, who also presents his morning report to the captain. This report shows the number of men on duty, the sick and the absent. Ap plica! ion for leaves of absence are handed in with the report, and after the commander s approval the men are all dismissed, ex cept those who are to do guard duty. The guard detail is made out the even- in?; before it is read out, and the men who are appointed serve for 24 hours, with a relief every two hours. At oue o’clock retreat is sounded, and the men are inspected and dismissed until evening assembly, just before sun down. The full regimental band is on duty at sundown, and also all the buglers. Dress parade occurs at that time, and the sight is a beautiful one. The soldiers and officers arc all in full dress uniform, and the manuel of arms and field movements arc executed before the regiment is dismissed for the day. Tattoo is sounded at nine o’clock, which is a signal for the men to “turn d,” and at fifteen minutes past nine taps sounds, at which time all lights must be extinguished, unless a special order has been issued by the officer of the day. Besides military duty tho ^oldier is subject to extra service. In connection with the barracks there is a good sized farm, and the soldiers are frequently required to throw aside their guns for hoes and other agricultural implements. They also do all sorts of outdoor work, frequently imposed as a punishment for some offense. A soldier’s wardrobe consists of two suits of undress clothing, one dress uni form and helmet, collars and cuffs, shoes, stockings, underwear, and all other necessary articles of apparel, fur nished by the government, to the amount of $220 for five years. —Atlanta Constitution. The Wonders of Alaska. The prevailing forest trea of Alaska, says Mr. George Davidson of the United States Coa^t Survey, is the Sitka spruce, growing to great size, covering every part of the ground, and climbing the steepest mountain sides to the height of 2000 or 2500 feet above the sea. We measured felled spruce trees that were 180 feet long and four feet at the butt, while adjacent standing trees measured over six feet in diameter, were branchless for over fifty feet and estimated to be 250 feet high. Hemlock, alders and willows are found; but the most remarkable wood of the country is the yellow cedar, with fine, even texture, fragrant smell, good size and greater strength than ■ the spruce. It is a valuable addition to, the cabinet woods, and is superior as a ship prehistoric n’Tihnu It can be obtained of ample size for frames and knees of ordinary-sized'ves-. sols. We measured one 18 feet in cir cumference, and estimated it to be over 125 feet in height. On Kadiack island the forests cease toward the south. The yellow cedar docs not grow on the northeast part of the island, but the average size of the spruce is less than two feet in diameter. Hemlock is found in abundance and has its value for tanning purposes. When the forests of Washington Ter ritory and Oregon are exhausted, Alaska will be the great and our almost inex haustible resource in the future. the real orange They are as rich Nile. Irrigation Water will be »» Judge Terry Shot After lusult- ing Justice Field. Tragic Sequence to a Famous California Divorce Case* A Railroad in the Holy Land. The preliminary surveys of a railroad to run from Jaffa on the sea coast iu Palestine to Jerusalem, and thence to Bethlehem, have just been completed, and a party of engineers have started from London for the Holy Land to lay out the route. A company has al ready been formed to build the road, in which a number of English aud French bankers are interested. From all ac counts it is a purely business enterprise without a trace of sentiment of religious fervor. The travel in the Holy Land of late years has been increasing steadily, and it is believed if first class railway accom modations were furnished the number of tourists who annually visit Jerusalem from all parts o the earth would soon be trebled. Invention of Omnibuses. The invention of omnibuses is due to the philosopher Pascal, who, in Febru ary, 1667, obtaiued a “privilege"— what we should call a patent—for pub lic carriages to travel through certain streets of Paris. They held eight pas sengers, who paid six sous each, and were very successful, although an act of the parliament of Paris forbade them being used by lackeys, soldiers and other humble folks. Pascal died in 1667, and his useful invention did not long survive him. The omnibus reap peared in London about the beginning of this century, and was adopted in sevr eral French provincial towns before Paris accepted it again. Charles XU. and the Bomb. As Charles XII of Sweden was dicta ting a letter to his secretary during tho siege of Stralsund, a bomb fell through the roof into the next room in the house where they were sitting. The terrified secrc ary let the pen drop fromhishand. ‘ -What is the matter?’’ quoth the king. A dispatch from San Francisco, Cal., says: One of the most sensational tragedies that ever startled the people of the Pacific coast 1 occurred during the morning at Lathrop, a small town on the Southern Pacific Railroad, a few miles from Stockton,; in San Joaquin County. David S. Terry, ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California, slayer in a duel of United States Senator David C. Broderick, assaulted United States Supreme Court Justice! Stephen J. Field is a public dining room at the railroad station, and was shot dead by- United States Deputy Marshal David Nagle, who was traveling as Mr. Field’s body guard. The shooting occurred in the presence of about sixty or seventy people, and created a scene of the wildest excitement. The cause of the shooting was the well known quarrel existing between Judges Terry and Field,, which grew out of thelatter rendering a de cision adverse to Sarah Althea Hill, plaintilT in the famous Sharon divorce case, who dur ing the litigation became the wife of Terry., Dispatches from Lathrop, Cal., state that- upon the arrival of the Southern overland; mail at 7:20 a. x. Justice Field and Marshal. Nagle walked into the dining-room for break fast and sat down side by side. Judge David S. Terry and wife, who fig ured in the Sharon divorce case, came in also. They were going to another table when Mrs. Terry recognized Justice Field, and im mediately retired to the train. As soon as she had left the dining-room and before she had reached the train. Judge Terry walked over to where Justice Field sat, and, stooping over him, slapped his face. Deputy Marshal Nagle thereupon arose from his seat end shot Judge Terry through the heart. While he was falling Nagle shot again, but missed Terry, the bullet going through the floor. Both shots were fired within a few seconds and before any one could interfere. Whether Judge Terry’s intention was to provoke Justice Field and draw a weapon be fore the latter could turn is, of course, not known, as Deputy Nagle, who sat opposite Field, prevented this by firing, his first shot resulting in the death of Terry. After the shooting Deputy United States Marshal Nagle backed up against the wall of the dining room and warned every one not to arrest him, saving he was a United States officer in the discharge of his duty. There was no semblance of an attempt to molest him at time. Constable Walker took Deputy ;le from the train at Tracy and \ him to Stockton, where he any Nagl with jail. District Attorney White ordered the arrest of Justice Field upon his arrival at San Fran cisco, and telegraphed the order to the Sher iff of San Francisco. Justice Field mantained his quiet demean or, and replied to a press representative^ when asked to narrate the particulars of fhe shooting, as follows: “I can tell you the story in a few w,'rda. For the last few months all manner of re ports, both public and personal, have reached me that Judge Terry had threatened to sub ject me to some form of indignity, if be should happen to meet me. This fact caused the United States Marshal to decide to pro vide such protection as he could during my stay in this State. When I started for Los Angeles to hold court. Deputy Nagle accom- pamed me. He seemed to be a quiet gentle manly official, though I only met him twice while away from Los Angeles. He asked me in that city when I intended to return, and accompanied me, taking a seat in the sleep ing car opposite to me. We heard this morning that Judge Terry and his wife were on the train,but paid no attention to the fact. When we arrived at Lathrop, we entered the eating station to get breakfast. I took a seat at the end of the table, while Nagle sat on one side of me. Terry and his wife came into the room soon after. As soon as she saw me she went out of the room, as I afterward learned, returning to the car for her satchel. Judge Terry rose and I supposed that he intended accompanying her. Instead h» ■iWWl till! • struck me a heavy slap in the face. I was completely astonished, and, seeing be was making _ ready to strike again, Nagle cried out ‘Stop, stop,’ but Terry did not desist, and as he was raising his* arm a second time, Nagle shot at him, the bullet entering his heart. He fell to the floor, Nagle shooting a second time, but the second snot did not strike him. That is the complete story so far as I am aware of the facts,” said the Justice in conclu sion. Protection was accorded to Justice Field, it is claimed, by authority of Attorney- General Miller, who telegraphed from Wash ington to the Marshal of the district to see that the person of the Justice was protected at any hazard. VETERANS IN_A WRECK. Rails Spread Under a Pennsylvania Train With Fatal Effect. An excursion train on the Butler branch of the West Pennsylvania Railroad, loaded with veterans returning from the reunion of the 102d Regiment at Butler, was wrecked at Sarvers, seven miles east of Freeport, Penn., two passengers being instantly killed, three or four others fatally injured and twenty- five more or less seriously hurt. The dead are: Mrs. Puff, an old lady, resi dence unknown; Farrell, child, Butler; W.* Powers, Laurenceviile, Penn. Tho wreck was caused by the rails spread ing on the end of a small bridge that spans Bnffalo Creek, the timbers on which the rails were laid being so rotten that the spikes had been forced out the side by the weight of tho train passing over them. The rails plowed through the second car and the escapes were miraculous. One lady had her dress cut from the wrist to shoulder, another lost a small piece of her cheek, a third had her chin cut and many others in the second car narrowly escaped. The train consisted of a smoker, day coach and combination coach. The engine stood about 100 yards from the wreck still unin jured on the track. The smoker was smashed in splinters and fell fifteen feet down the em bankment. The front truck of the coach was also thrown over the embankment, the hind truck remaining on the track. The combi nation also remained on the track. Of t ha twenty passengers in the smoker one was killed and nineteen injured, it being a marvel that all were not killed. > At the wreck the sight was truly heartrend ing. On either side of the track, for a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile, in jured veterans were laying on cush ions and, in some instances, on the bare ground. Women and children, wounded and bespattered with blood, sat and lay around pieces of the wreckage. The doctors and others on the relief train at once set to work to care for the injured. bomb, sire!” cried the sccre- “Ah! never mind the bomb; it will go off presently.” And it did.—Harpers “Drawer*” A TERRIFIC EXPLOSION. Three Men Killed by an Accident to* a Threshing Machine. A terrible accident occurred about noon at the farm of Charles Dinsmore, eighteen miles southwest of Aberdeen, Dakota. Three men were killed and several others seriously in jured by the explosion of a threshing-ma chine engine boiler. The engineer, Frank Arnswoldt, aged twenty-nine years, was blown seventeen rods and instantly killed. William Sheeler, aged twenty-three, was blown twelve rods, and was dead when picked up. The fireman, whose name is unknown, recently from Jackson, Mich., aged about twenty-five, had his head blown off. J. Kritel had a leg broken and was badly scalded on the other leg and body. Two others were injured, but not dangerously. A team of horoes attached to a water wagon was blown into tbe air and carried several rods. The wreck of the engine was scattered all over the prairie. J. Shinsky, the owner of the engine, was absent at the time of the accident. It is sup posed to have occurred from a defective boil er which had been used five years and was cracked and rusty. The threshing crew was composed mostly of Russians and infor mation is difficult to obtain. Spring chickens are sEKbpefTby