Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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MISSISSIPPI'S GREAT WALL An Interesting Prehistoric Work the Origin of Which Is a Mystery. One of the scientific puzzles o: the state of Mississippi is the "3randYriue stone wall." It has long been a problem that is yet unsolved. Some time ago Mr. Thomas Watson of Ha zieurst sent Gov ernor Lonuiuo a peucil drawing of an immense lle of st ne in the southeast em purtion of Citborne county. suggest ing that the stone might be utilized in buildiug the new capitol. In a letter which acconpauled the drawing Ir. Watson stated that these stones, piled high on each other. cover an area four miles square. Each stone is 6 feet long. 3 feet wide and 2 feet thick, and they are joined together with an ex cellent quality of cement. No man knows how they came there. '4ey may have been there for thousands of years. The builders, the Jackson News thinks, were some prehistoric race-it could not be otherwise. This structure is supposed to be a continuation of the great Chinese wall, which seems to begin below Ray mond, in the southern part of Hinds county, and which is traceable through Copiah. It is broad enough to accommo date two or three wagons abreast and is one of the wonders of the world. "Mention of this remarkable exhibit," says the Hazlehurst Courier. "has elicited no little comment-in fact, has brought a letter to Mr. Watson f:::i the warden of the United States penitentiary at Leaven worth, Kan., and also a letter to Dr. T. B. Birdsong from another distinguished source, it being known that the latter some years ago investigated the matter. dIr. Watson. however." says The Cou rier. "has given the subject more patient thought and gone over the ground more thoroughly than any one else, and to. him The Courier is indebted for the fol lowing facts: "He calls it the 'Brandywine stone wal' and says this wonderful and mass ive structure or parts of structure of masonry done in stone, which have with gtood the ravages of time for perhaps many thousands of years, still stand an enduring relic of a prehistoric civiliza tion and a knowledge of the art of build ing not inferior in many respects to the present day. These stone buildings lie for the most part buried in the earth in the sontheastern portion of Claiborne county and lying against the Copiah county line on the slopes overlooking the valley of the Brandywine creek from the west side. "These walls run from northeast to southwest. They are built of white ,r grayish white stone of immense size, weighing from two to three tons, measur lug from 6 to S feet in length and 3 feet wide by 2 feet thick. These blocks or slabs are laid in a very fine quality of cement and as perfectly as brickwork. The joints are perfect and very close. "At one place the wall is exposed by the earth being washed away to a width of 0 feet and a length of 90 feet. This exposure has the appearance of a brick hearth. "At another ph ce the stone has been quarried for do:mestic use to a depth of three layers of slabs, which is G feet. a width of 24 feet. or eight blocks, and a length of 25 blocks, or 150 feet. The length of this wall as indicated by the croppings is about 1,000 feet. "At another place about 500 yards away from the place just mentioned is a wall jutting from under a slope for a distance of nearly 2,000 feet. This stone work is exposed in a great many places over an area of four miles. "The sides and angles of the blocks of stones are so perfect that they resemble pressed brick. The tops of these walls are perfectly horizontal and without re gard to the unevenness of the earth's surface. The seamis between the tiers are perfectly straight, and each block of stone is perfectly hor'izontal in position, and these bloc:-s are smoothly dressed on the edges and ends. whiie the broad sur faces are rough, showing a broken sur face brought down to a level plane, but not dressed. They are held so firmly together by the cement that it is with great difficulty that they are broken up. "A personal inspection of these great structures as they lie partly buried 'n the earth would relieve the minds of the most skeptical of all doubt of their not being the work of the hands of man. "In all that is above mentioned im connection with numerous cavings in of the earth's crust, which represent the existence of .underground caverns, abun dant evidence is found to bear out the theory of the existence of a great buried city in that locality. "The information above given is vouch ed for by other parties who have visited the scene in recent years and bears out the theory advanced by Mr. Watson. Truly there is work for the scientist here."-New Orleans Picayune. 'Odd Cent Prices. Analysts of human nature vainly seek an adequate explanation of the species of mesmerism that odd cent prices exercise on buyers. Department stores have long used them to whet the proverbial femi nine appetite for bargains, but the cus tom is now so widespread among clothiers. haberdashers and hatters as to merit consideration. What are the cari caturists at "nny a liners, who have poked no c: fun at the gentle sex fot yielding to subtle fascination of S cents and $1 .-.. to do when men's suits are offered fr: 89).99, hats for $1.GT and ties for 23 cents? Alas for the manu facturers or humor, cruelly deprived of one of their chief sources of revenue! Seriously, however, the spread of the odd cent idea is to be deprecated. It has a catchpenny savor that is antagonistic to dignified trading and suggests the street hawker. Fixed p:-ices in round numbers accord best with straightforward meth ods of sealing goods.-Clothier and Haber dashers' Weekly. Tihe Sovereigns of Europe. Physically manny or the sovereigns of Europe would comi "der t'e general classification of "squ:a.." Tis new king of Italy is 5 feet 3 inenes tail, but still he is not the shortest mvero~gn. The czar of all the Rtussias ir r~ttly 5 feet 2 inches. The Prince of Wales is 5 feet 4 inches. Pictures of him give the impression that he is a much taller mian. but that is be cause his royal highness knows how to pose before a camera. in at group he se lects a position in the rear line, where he can stand on a box, or else he steps to one end of the front line and a little in advance of the othe'rs. Perspective does the rest. He weighs 2.37 pounds in spita of all precautions awil ":ures" he can take. He wear's tn IS': collar. has a chest measuremaent of -. i"ches. a 34 inch length of nru. a as lo 3 or 44 inches and a trousns 'e:of inches. The fat kinig's orKtn' i lan.,'- the agn of Portugal. who iso!e-3 ;c inches tall and weighs 3i.s phouad-- rgouau:. DISMANT'1LED. London, Jan. 6.-The Br itis~h bark Beechbank, Capt. Buchanan. from San Francisco Aug. 16. bound to Queens town, was spoken on Jan. 3 in latitude Sti north, longitude 38 west, with loss of foretop mast and main top gallant BOOKS TO BE THROWN AWAY The British Museum Likely to Set a Bad Example. The British museum, which possesses the largest ",oleetions of books in the world, usually estitu red at ,0JOUU0 vol umes, and owns lerid's 5.L0U volumes of manuscripts. fi:is itsel cramped for room or threateurd v:ith such a condi tion. and a bill h:as pa;issed a second read ing in the house of iordis authorizing the trustees of the mnuseit to distribute the bound vo lurie- of u- spapers and to de stroy such books and pamphlets as they shall doem useless. I: is needless to say that the proposi tion to sequestrate or destroy any por tion of the British museum meets with strong and immediate opposition. It is urged that the example and precedent set would be very bad ones, since every great and growing museum, including a library, may reach the present condi tion of the British museunt. The library of congress, for instance, which receives copyrighted books, as does the library of the British museum, may some time reach what somebody may believe the necessity of an enlargement of its premises or the reduction of its stores. For this reason the British museum cannot afford to set the precedent of destruction. While it is not proposed to destroy the bound files of newspapers in the British museum, but to distribute them to vari ous localities, it is claimed that to take anything out of London is, in the British islands, equivalent to hiding it, and a thing hidden is a thing lost. If it is de sirable to preserve these newspapers for the public use forever, London. which is the center and capital of the British em pire in a greater and wider sense than Washington is the capital of the United States, should be the place of their pres ervation and keeping. It is urged that there exists no suffi cient reason for the destruction or dis tribution of any portion of its collections; that the museum has not yet occupied all of the 13 acres on which it stands; that a separate building or buildings might be erected for the reception of the art col lections, for instance, but in any event the library should be kept intact forever. However the question may be decided in the case of the British museum, the resent is the time to say that no collec tion of newspapers, once made for the public use, ought to be destroyed or made unavailable. The State Historical society of Kan sas has made a great collection of the newspapers of the state. The news papers mailed to the society by the pub lishers are carefully preserved and bound in volumes and kept in what are hoped to be fireproof receptacles, where they are open to the inspection and reference of all. The point is sought to be made that the newspaper volumes constitute to the state a well nigh priceless possession, which should on no account be lost, frit tered away, scattered or destroyed. Singular as it may seem, the preserva tion of a file of new papers is a work re quiring such care, patience and attention that it is seldom attempted except by those whose special business it is. Of many leading newspapers no files exist except those kept in the ofice of publica tion. Of the hundreds of thousands of people who subscribe, pay for and regu larly read newspapers not one in many thousands attempts their preservation. When, therefore, any public library un dertakes the daily and weekly preserva tion and arrangement of any newspaper and the binding of the same at suitable intervals into volumes, it has undertaken a most useful work, the result of which should be kept forever. Such a bound volume is a book; in fact, it is a book of books. It is such a history and picture of its own time and locality, of manners and men, in its own place and corner of this world, as is not and cannot be found elsewhere, it embodies not the labors of one historian, but of hundreds of chroniclers, story tellers and artists who work every day to note down what they see and hear and discover and ap prehend. It is a perpetuaily proceeding narrative which enlarges, explains, ampli fies and corrects itself as it goes along. The difference between a newspaper and the historical or other narrative in the shape of a b. k is the difference between an oil painting, made perchance from the scene by the imagination or the broken memory of the artist, and a kodak snap shot or other picture drawn in an instant by the sun and on the spot. What would be given now for daily newspaper pictures of the building of .the pyramids, drawn as the progress of Con vention hall is recorded now? A con sideration of the value of the bound news paper volume shows that all the rest of the museum could be more easily spared. --Kansas City Star. ' Galusha A. Grow. It has been suggested that some appro priate honor be paid to Congressman Ga lusha A. Grow of Pennsylvania at the coming celebration at St. Louis of the Louisiana purchase. He is the author of the homestead law, enacted in 1854, which did so much to develop the west by making home getting easy. "It is difficult," says the Washington Times, "for the present generation of Americans, surrounded by the modern conditions, with a fierce competition in the struggle for existence, to realize that there is in congress today a man who is a link between the infancy of the nation and its present giant proportions-be tween the crude industrial conditions of the dawn of the century, now in its twilight, and the highly organized ma chinery of the country's commercial forces. In his personality and record the Hon. Galusha A. Grow is that link, If he lives until 1903-and his remarkable vitality and enthusiasm indicate that he will-he will occupy a unique and con spicuous position in the celebration of the great event at St. Louis in that year." Won by the 3Ionkeyu. Monkeys are very amusing creatures, but one hardly thinks of them as useful in educationali work. Ihowever, their aid has lately been sought by the London school officers, with admirable results. It seems that in one of the school districts there were not as many children reported by the parents as being of school age as the officers knew there ought to be, so to ascertain the real number they called in the monkeys to help them in this way: Two monkeys were gayly dressed, put in a wagon and, accompanied by a brass band, were carried through the streets of the district. At once crowds of children made their appearance. The procession was stopp~ed in a park, and the school officers began their work. Distributing sweets to youngsters, they took their names and addresses. They found out that 60 parents kept their children from school. This ingenious method brought to school about 200 boys and giris.-In dian Witness. THE IOQUA ABANDONED. San Francisco, Jan. 6.-The steamer oqua. which went ashore on Duxbury reef Friday night and which was bandoned by her crew yesterday, was ulled off the rocks by tugs today. She mutual lfe INSURANCE COMPANY -OF New York Leads all Other Companies in North and South Carolina in Old and New Bus iness. Life Is a Chance Life Insurance -IS A Certainty WHEN YOU INSURE IN THE MUTUAL! BEFORE TA1hING OUT LIFE INSURANCE I\NVESTIGATE. THE MUTUAL'S NEW 5 0o GOLD BOND POLICY The Mutual's Policies Conitain all Attract ive Features Large Cash Surrenders Paid=Up Insurance Loan Values Extended Insurance RELIABLE AGENTS WHO CAN PRODUCE GOOD BUSINESS, CAN SECURE FIRST CLASS CONTRACTS BY WRIT ING TO F. H. HYATT fiENERAL AENT For North and South Carolina. COLUMBIA. - SOUTH CAROLINA. Fill out Coupon and flail to F. Hi. HYATT, ieneral Agent, Columbia, S. C. When Information as to Polices will be sent you. If More C Nearest Agent. WRITE DISTINCTL3 I was born on the.. day of.. and year I8.. My full name is ...............---. My address is ................ I will consider $...... F[RJILIZ[ Rt! We Represent: High Grade Ammon The Virginia-Carolina iated Goods: Chemical Co. Acids, Kainits, Wilcox & Gibbs Co. Tankage, Nitrates, Ashepoo Co. Potash and Armour Co. Cotton Seed Meal. LARGE CONTRACTS, FAVORABLE ARRANGEMENTS AND FINE FACILITIES For Delivering to any Part of the Country, And will save you money. Get our Prices. V e have special formulas to suit different crops. SED S! The largest and most complete stock of Field and Garden Seeds in the State, in packages or bulk. Write us for packages. LORICI & LOWRANCE, COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA. . Wholesale Druggists A4 n.i L..... Man ufactur We are Headquarters Pharmaceutical Goods, Patent Medicine Drug Paints, Oils, Varnish, AGENTS FOR RAILWAY All orders have our prompt a1 we solicit your business an ThEMURRRlY DI Columbia.,- - The State Company, COLUMBIA, S. C., is prepared to do all kinds of Printing AND Binding. Mafl orders receive prompt attention. Competent workmen, up-to date machinery, artistic work. Write us for samples and prices. S n i We can print anything from7 aaltte ton arebond eaettalagbokcabind anything from a pamplet it unries EU6 60. South Carolina.