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((RAY AN D BENT But Gallant and Valiant Still in Heart and Spirit GRND OLD VETERANS GATHER. Loyal and Loving They Meet to:Re new Old Friendship' and to De Honor to Their De parted Brothers. The old Confederate veterans had a big time in Nashville. Tenn., last week. The veterans and their friends constituted a host of thirty thousand people. The tirst meeting was held on Tuesday, 14th instant in the tab ernacle and every bit of space was taken long before the veterans were called to order by Gen. W. Gordon of Memphis, commander of the Tennes see division. It was the irst conven tion in the history of the organiza tion that the Sons of Veterans sat with their fathers, and the cheers from the throats of the younger gene ration at almost every expression by those who took part in the strife 40 years ago made it plain that the spirit of '61 would be perpetuated in gene rations to come. California was represented on the floor; from far off Montana a delega tion was sent, and Ohio was on hand with four delegates. It was the four teenth annnal meeting and the tirst at which the distirguished John B. Gor Ion did not preside. A few steps to tae rear of Gen. Stephen D. Lee, who occupied the chair, sat Gen. Gor don's widow and two daughters, Mrs. Burton Smith of Atlanta and Mrs. Orton Bishop 1lown of Maine. To the right and to the lef t of them were seated many of the chief rigures of the Confederacy and a chaiming array of beautifully gowred division and de partment sponsors. There was a no ticeable curtailment of the sponsor feature of the reunion and it was an nounced from the stage early that only the sponsors accredited to de partments and divisions would be given seats on the stage. On the stage were: Gen. Stephen D. Lee, the acting c:mmander in chief; Gen. Wm. D. Jones, of Rich mond; Gen. C. H. Tebault, New Or leans, chic f surgeon C. S. A., and Miss Corrine Tebault, sponsor-in-chief: Gen. W. E. Mickle of New Orleans, adjutant general: Gen. W. S. Cabell, commanding the trans-Mississippi; Gen. A. J. West of Atlanta, com manding the North Georgia brigade: Gen. C. Irvine Walker, commanding tle department of Virginia, and Gen. Clement A. Evans, Atlanta, who sue cceeded Gen. Stephen D. Lee as com mander of the department of Tennes see. The convention hall was well filled by 11 o'clock. The long wait of an hour and a half before the gathering was called to order was enlivened by the appearance of the Kentucky dele gaticn and their band and later by the arrival of the only surviving drum corps of the Confederate hcsts, a band of three or four men from Nt rth Caro lina. As they marched down the long aisle to the tune of "Dixie," escorting the North Carolina camp, the enthu siasm of the til veterans was un bounded. A fe.w moments later the Seventh United States cavalry band, stationed at Chaittancoga, came into the hal] playing a spirited march. They marched down to the stage and were t scorted up to the gallery, where they - took a position in the extreme end over the platform, their uniforms forming the only variation to the pre dominating gray of those assembled. WELCOMED BY GOV. FRAZIER. After Gen. Gordon had called the veterans to order Chaplain Jcncs de livered the invocation. Gov. J. B. Frazier welcorred the delegates tc Tennessee in a splendid addr ess. Twice he started to his seat only to be re called and urged in behalf of the vet erans. Among other things Goy. Frazier 'stid: "When that grand man, that pa trilot, that noble Christian, Gen. Robt. E. Lee, surnendered at Appomattox he spoke with a heart too full for de ceit-, in that no southern mother swore her son to bitterness. She swore him to love and honor. All accepted the inequitable -finality. When you saw furled for the last tirme the Stars and Bais you had followed f r four-years when you had made your last final march back toyour homes, had a final farewell to your comrades and found the sainted mother's grave sleeping in the family cemcetery, the beautiful borme in ruin and ashes, when you piessed upcn your wife's lip a loving .kiso, you sealed a solemn pledge that from that day on you would know but one country and but one flag. "You came back to take up your old work, to build a new civilization, to red'.em a land that had almost mali ciously been given to the negro. In less than 35 years, unaided by any thing except a fertile land and eunergy, you have attained commercial free dom for the south. The south has already snatched from New England the hitherto unchal'enged record of cotton manufacturing. The south is destined to become the garden spot in this fair land. (Applatse.) "We welcome you to the warm hos pitality and sunshine of the south and if that is not warm enougn, we'wel come you to some of our good homes." (Applause and cheers.) GREETED WlTB ENTH USIAS3M. After Col. A. S. Williams, mayor of Nashville, had extended the city's welcome, Gen- Gordon brought for ward Sen. Stephen D. Lee as the per manent presiding ofticer and comman der4n-chief. Gen. Le.:'s appearance was the signal for a remnarkable out burst of enthusiasm. Cheer after cheer greeted him. Hats, canes, handkerchiefs and coats went into the air in all parts of the auditorium and the gallery added its vociferous voice to the demonstration. The band took up the spirit of the occasion and . Gen. Lee was kept bowing from side to side for several minutes. Hon- Thomas M. O wen of Montgom ery, Ala., commander of the Alabama division, Sons of Veterans, spoke in response to the welcoming for the Sons. He was heartily applauded. Sen. Lee then introduced Dr. Pan dolph H. McKim of Washington, D. C., as the orator for the occasion. Dr. McKim was in excellent voice and his oration was a notable etfort. Al though the veterans had listened to two hours and more of oratory in a temperature approximately 90, they gave Dr. McKim their undivided at tention and frequently interrupted with cheers. Among the telegrams received by Adj. Sen. Mickle was one from E ward Owen, commander of the New York City camp, and read ing: "The Confederate veterans of New York sedaamest greetings to their brother veteraus.- ken. Lee wired his regrets from Rehoond thus: "Love to the old 1:s. I am very sorry that I cannut be pres ent to mteet and greet them. The report of Adj. Gen. Miekle which was adopted, shows that since the last reunion charters have been issued to 40 new caWps making the tutal 1.563. The Women's Monument association was instructed by the veterans to turn over all funds to the Sons of Veterans. .vho will complete the work of erect ing a monument to the women of the s:>uth. The most intercsting part of the committee on resolutions report is as follows: First, that the res lution request ing congress to take appropriate ac tion looking to the care and preserva tion of the graves of the Confederate dead now in the various cemeteries in the northern States be adopted. "Second, the committee reports to the association that more than one appliciation has been made to this association to fix a permanent place for our annual reunions, but your committee is of the opinion that for the present it would be wise, for many reasons, to hold our annual reunions as heretofore at such time and places as the association shall fix from year to year. Adopted. "Resolved, That ;all Confederate veterans regularly enrolled in this as sociation and none other shall be eli gible to election or appointment in this association." Adopted. TRIBUTE TO GORDON. At the noon hour the regular busi ness of the convention was set aside for the memorial services at which Judge Thomas G. Jones of Montgom ery was the orator. All the departed heroes of the Confederacy were refer red to by several speakers, but Gen. John B. Gordon, the last great figure to pass over into the invisible beyond, was made the occasion of special tribute. Tte Association of Medical officers of the Army and Navy of the Confed eracy Wednesday elected these ollicers: President, Dr. John S. Cain of Nashville. First vice president, Dr. J. D. Plunkett of Nashville. Second vice president. Dr. D. H. Key of Monroe, La. Third vice president, Dr. Wm. Mar tin of Kingston, Ky. Fourth vice president, Dr. Peter B. Bacot of Florence, S. C. The survivors of the Confederate navy chose Capt. H. B. Little Page of Washington, D. C., as commander in succession to Commander Dabney H. Scales of Memphis and elected Capt. W. F. Clayton of Florence, S. C., sec retary. The Southern Confederate Memori al association met, heard numerous welcoming addresses and responses and adjourned until Thursday. THE OFFICERS ELECTED. The veterans elected the following officers: Commander-in-chief, Lieut. Gen. Stephen D. Lee, of Columbus, Miss. Commander of the department of northern, Virginia, Gen. C. Irvine Walker, of Greenville, S. C. Commander of the departtrent of Tennessee, Geni. Clement A. Evans of Atlanta. Ga. Commander of the trans-Mississippi department, Gen. W. L. Cabell of Dallas, Texas. Gen. Clement A. Evans of Georgia read the report of the historical comn mittee, which said the South was now assured of fair treatment in his tory and that the youth of the coun try would not grow up under a false impression. The report was adopted. A resolution favoring the erection at Richmond, Va., of a home for needy Confederate women was adopt ed. A sweet voiced young woman of Norfolk, Va., Miss Mary E. Ewell, maid of honcr for the south, by her singing of "My Old Kentucky Home" Wednesday won for Louisville the re union next year of the United Con feierate Veterans. It was after the old veterans had chosen Lieut. Stephen D. Lee as their commander in chief and had listened to a stirring speech by Col. Bennett H. Young of Kentucky, extolling the beauties, capabilities and hospitally of his home city and people and their de sire to entertain the followers of the Stars and Bars, that Miss Ewell was escorted to the front of the stage. Her voice thrilled the great crowd that filled the tabernacle and the last note of the song had barely left her lips when the convention went wild with shouts of "Louisville," "Loins ville." Seconding speeches were un necessary, although Gen. Lee graci ously permitted one from a Virginia delegate and another from Kentucky before recording the choice of the veterans as unanimous. The date will be determined later. STATUE OF HAXPTON. Puckstall is Selected by Monumental Committee to Model It. The Columbia State says Mr. F. H. Ruckstall, a noted sculptor of Paris, now residing in New York, has been selected by the Hampton monument commission to submit the plans for the equestrian statue to be erected on the eastern side of the capitol grounds as soon as possible. If his plans are satisfactory he will be selected as the artist. The commission met Wednesday, those present being Senators McCall and Marshall and Representatives Moses and Morgan. After a careful study of many of the names submitted it was decided that the name of Mr. Ruckstall should be selected. He will submit models, and if the designs are satisfactory the commission will select the one most satisfactory. The total amount of money con tributed by popular subscription amounts to 87,895,22. or a little over 82,000 short of that which it was ex pected should be raised to put with the State appropriation of 820,000. This appropriation is now available, and the commission will begin the work. The work of raising funds will not be suspended, for $30,000 is the minimum and the commission would like to have even more. Mr. Ruckstall gave the committee the following sketch of himself: "As you perhaps know very little about me, I am forced, in a measure, to give you a-few facts about myself. I was Iborn in Alsace, France, in 1853 of old French stock-my name having been corrupted to its present German form. When a child my parents went to St. Louis, Mo. There 1 was raised among the Southern element, by accident of course. This accounts for my having so many southern friends and also for my sympathy for the south. At 32 I went to Paris to complete my studies of art and sculpture. He t~h n gave a sketch of considerable work he has dine. SIX H UNDRED DIE. cit icontinued from page 1 ] water. tbi By this time the shrieking whistle br of the Slocum had attractei the at- Br tention of river craft for a consider able distance around and tugs and other small boats were rushing to the' ro assistance of the burning steamer. These small boats rescued all those er in the water whom they could reach, t but many persons struggled and sank th before any help could reach them. In the wake of the Slocum as she hurried up stream was a line of little black or spots, marking the heads and bodies pa of those who had sought to escape the Al roaring furnace on the ship by throw ing themselves overboard. Few of those saved by the small boats had on life preservers. At no time during the progress of the fire was there opportunity to either lower life boats or get the life preservers out from under the seats. This perhaps gives an idea of the rapidity with which the fames swept the decks. ta it was an experience harrowing and all terrible and that any escaped alive fa seems wonderful. bl REMAINED AT THEIR POST. of Through all the wild panic, during GE all that inferno, with fire and smoke fo surrounding them the officers and men pa of the doomed boat remained at their UP posts, but they were powerless to gr avert the catastrophe. ch The Slocum got within 50 feet of of the northwest point of North Brother sP island and there stopped in the shal- . low water. in It was just before she beached that ne the hurricane deck, the supports of an I which had burned away. fell with its of loads of women and children, adding cli to the panic and horror of those on th the deck below. Very soon after parts as of the second and third decks also vi caved in. But before this happened in the tug Walter Tracey had come along- ne side the burning steamer and been lashed to it. Many of the passengers pa were taken off by the crew of the Tra- te cey, which remained alongside the ed steamer until the tug's pilot house wi took fire. The point where the Slocum beached th was just off the scarlet fever ward on de North Brother island. The patients who had been out on the porches and hi lawns watching the approach of the ra burning steamers were indoors and be the physicians on the island hastened Ju to the assistance of those who were wo being brought ashore through the To shallow water. Many of those who lif leaped from the Slocum were carried da away by the current, even after she af was beached, and were drowned. a A PITIFUL SCENE. hi The scene on Nrth Brother island hi as described by the rescurers was a pitiful one. Body after body was w washed ashore or brought in by boats h( and added to the long row on the P( beach. Fifty-three persons died t: there while the doctors were attend- m ing them. bi As the bodies of the living and the dead were taken out of the water, o those alive were taken to the hos- T pitals on the island or sent across the ot river to hospitals in Manhattan. Here re ambulances from almost all the hospit- b( als in Greater New York and every C other sort of conveyance which could la be found were put into service. w The bodies of the burned and drown- ec ed drifted ashore on the island be tween 1:31st and 138th streets in Man hattan. Some came ashore still di alive. Many of these died while oth- se ers will recover. The scenes on the beach of North p Brother island were pitiable in the ex- ol treme. as the living and the dead were St brought in. The row of bodies t stretched along the beach and hysteri- pt cal women and frantic men went t, along looking at one after another C: searching for children and friends. b( Women with disfigured faces, their bc clothes partially stripped from them, al were carried to the improvised emer gency hospital, crying for children bi who had been torn from them in the ai mad rush when the boat took fire. T Meanwhile the Slocum burned to pi he water's edge. At 12 25 o'clock, E two hours and 25 minutes after the a fire was first discovered, she sank. It E is estimated that there were then gj nearly 100 charred bodies on her decks. Just after the steamer sank the water ai nearby was black with bodies. The in tug Fidelity succeeded in picking up 88 charred corpses in Hunts Cove off L Rakers island and carried them into of the sound. None of these bodies, it is thought, can ever be identified. DOEs NOT KNOW CAUSE. Charles E. Hill, a diretor of the A Knickerbocker Steamboat company, visited the Lebanon hospital late Wednesday to see Capt. Van Schaick, the commander of the Gen. Slocum, who had been taken there earlier in Ci the day under arrest. After a talk ce with him Mr. Hill said that the cap- cc tan did not know the cause of the fire.ci "The cause of the fire is not known," be said he. "I say that, because no In- in vestigation has begun. The govern- b3 ment will undoubtedly begin an in- st vestigation. The captain is under arrest and it would be inadvisable for In him to make any statement at pres- ag ent, but he told me that he and the p1 first and second pilots, Edward Van Wart and E. M. Weaver, were in the sc pilot house until the Slocum was a beached. Then they jumped direct ly from the pilot house into the water. sp The captain hurt his leg and may re- I quire an operation. The two pilots di were practically uninjured and assist- gi ed in saving life. They were all in the cc wheel house until the last." w. "Was the boat under steam all the M time?" Mr. Hill was asked. ca "It has been said that the pilot house was deserted, and the boat hc drifted with the tide until she ran ge aground. w: "The steam was on until the boat struck. The engineer, Frank Ccnlin, m told me that he was in the engine th room until the boat struck. The cur rent was on the flood, and could not have carried the boat earlier, for there m is no shallow water nearer than North ha Brother island. if the boat had been run alongside the piers or pushed on th the rocks on the mainland she might mi, have sunk, as the water is deep along there and more lives would have been en lost. The captain said that the first he knew of the fire was when he was - told of it through tube by some one below. The Slocum was then off the Se sunken meadow. He took the boat to cu the nearest place where she could be wi beached." ed "Was anything done towards fight- th ing the tire?" be "The mate had charge of the fire th fighting and we don't know where he sti is. The pumps were going and there c-a was fire tighting." of "Ws there a panic among the ed crw?" v I have heard of no panic. There th were in the neighborhood of :.,00t life preerer on board." c pesers viUxTw(. Wednesday a surging crowd is held wI ack by poice line foreabhut the Ilit Y mrgue at the root of east 26t eet. The crowd began to gather soon as It became rumored about city that the dead would be ,ught to Manhattan from North >ther island and other places. When tinally the morgue autbori s allowed the crowd to enter the rgue a scene ensued which was har ving in the extreme. In some cases ,t identifications were found to be -oneous, men laying claim to bodies y afterwards discovered were not >se of their relatives. At the entrance to the Charities r at the foot of east 26th street the )wd Wednesday night tried to push t the police and a riot resulted. , the height of the trouble a man o had learned that his wife was Long the charred dead tried to stab nself. Lnside the pier the bodies are ranged three rows, the entire length of the r, about 150 feet. ST. MARK'S CHURCH. St. Mark's Lutheram church con n-:d in its membership practically those Germans of the Protastant th within a radius of ten square cks. The excursion was the event the year for scores of well-to-do roan familLs and had been looked ward to for many months. Fam-ly rties of ten or more had been. made , including in many ca-es the o'd indmothers, the mothers and the idren of all ages with a sprinkling tLo.-e men of the families who could ire a day from their work. A bureau of inf .rmation was opened the church shortly after the first ws of the catastrophe was received, d ever since there has been a stream agonized men, women and children mbing the steps to ask for news of eir rnlatives or friends. As soon news is received, as to survivors or stims, it is pasted outside and the Lormation soon spread thoughout the ighborho:d. Rev. J. G. Schultz, the assistant stor of the church, called at the mporary morgue and identifi the body of Mis. Anna Haas, the fe of the pastor of the church. The coroner gave -permission for e body to be romoved to the resi nce of Dr. Haas. Dr. Haas is among the rescured. He, wife and daagh-er got outside the i of the Slocum before the steamer ached. He cannot say whether they ped or fell or were pushed into the Lter. He sank and when he rose he nd scores about him fighting for e. He failed to find -his wife and ,ughter. With great effort he kept oat and was about to give up when man on one of the tugs picked m up. Of the scores he saw about m when be rose, one by one sank. Assistant District Attorney Garvin is at the scene of the wreck forsome urs. He said that he would sub ena the entire crew and as many of e survivors as possible and would ake every effort to fix the responsi lity for the catastrophe. So far as known only one of the ew of the Gen. Slocum lost his life. ls was Michael McGrath, steward the steamer, whose body has been covered. When he jumped over rard e had with him, according to ~pt. Van Schtaick, $300 or $400 dol rs. The money could not be found den his money clothing was search WORK OF THE CREW. Regarding the work of the crew Iring the disaster, John Holthusen, iton of St. Mark's said: "The crew appeared to be undisci ied and unfamiliar with working the life rafts and life boats. I was anding besides the pastor nearly all e time. He did everything in his wer to save people. I placed my 'o daughters, Nina, aged 12, and ara, aged 10, no top of the paddle ix and kept them there until a tug sat by the name of Sumner picked i of us up. The members of the crew of the irned steamer who are under arrest e being held simply as witnesses. dey are Capt. W. H. Van Schaick, lot Edward Van Wart, Second Pilot iward N. Weaver, W. W. Tremby, deck hand, Henry Canfield, a cook, win Robinson, a cook, and James oods, a cook. All of these men had been overboard d were suffering from exposure and some cases from burns. Coroner Berr) had them all sent to banon hospital with the exception Pilot Van Wart, who was paroled. THE WAGES OF SIN. Dawer Committed suicide Be cause of Unlucky Speculation. At Jacksonviile, Fla., Charles S. Mc >y, a prominent attorney, with offi s in the Atwood building, Chicago, mmitted suicide Friday morning by .tting his throat with a razor in a .th tub at a hotel. McCoy, it is said, the last few days had lost $10,000 speculating in stock~s on Wall reet, through a local firm. Mr. McCoy was in Jacksonville look g after a suit of John L. Davis ainst the Seminole Hard Rock Phos iate company. To Judge C. H. Al'en, who was as ciated with him in the case, he left Letter saying: "During these months the demon of eculation has had me in its grip and am as powerless to resist it as any unkard his dram or gambler his ,me. The course I am taking is, all sidered, the wise one. Please do at is needful. Communicate with rs. McCoy, 9116 Longwood, Chi On the dresser in the room at the tel were found several letters, to ther with the following that he had 1tten: "Clock just struck 5 a. m. In a few nutes more I'll be ready if I have e courage. "7.45-I am a coward after all. "10.05-Still resist ing-,God have arcy; the way of the transgressor is rd and the wage of sin is death!" The bed was undisturbed, showing at the man had not slept during the M~cCoy was said to be a man of ex iplary habits. A Bungling Jot). At Columbus, Ohio., Michael haeld, a wife murderer, was electro ted at 10:22 Friday marning. He twice pronunced dead, but reviv ,and the current was turned on ree times before his heart ceased ating. The first time he was ought to b3 dead, and witnesses .rted to leave the room but were led back as his heirt showed signsI ife. The current was again turn on and seventeen hundred and fifty Lts were shot through him. Again a part y fr..m the annex were about leave the prison when they were .led back. Once more, for the ird time it was turned on and he .s olicially declared dead. He was erall oa-td A LITTLE RED ANT d d s rhat Is Worth More to the South r Than all Rockefellers Millsons, t ET DESTROYS THE BOLL WEEVIL t q rhat Has Been Eating the Cotton C Crop of Texas, and Menaced I the Cotton Crop ot the t South. A little red ant that lives in Guate- f mala, South America, turns out to be nature's own antidote to the boll wee- t vil. This ant lives on the cotton plant, but does it no harm. and it is its par ticullar delight to kill the boll weevil wherever it finds it. Professor 0. H. Cook, of the United States Bureau of Entomology, is now in Guatemala studying the habits of the red ant and arranging to breed him by the million In our Southern cotton < fields.. The ant has already been in troduced in Texas to find unt how he would behave away from home, and he 4 has promptly cleaned out the weevil I from a 600 acre cotton field. It has taken John D. Rockefeller,the richest man in the world, fifty years to sive his $1,000,000,000. In view of the rapidly widening zone of des!ruc tion of the weevil pest, it is figured I that the little Guatemalan ant will 1 save the cotton growers of the South I more than a thousand million dollars' I worth of cotton in ten years. The followering article about this little red ant will be read. with inter est. Just why a certain small red ant, native of Guatemala, S.>uth America, specially delights in killing the cot ton-boll weevil is not yet quite clear to the experts of the Bureau of Entomo logy of the United States Department of Agriculture. This will be studied 1 out later on. Whatever other matters this ant have on hand it will lay them aside I long enough to destroy every weevil that comes within its reach. The ant rushes at the weevil, seizes it by the throat with its "feeleis" and holding it with a firm graqp the ant crushes in the weevil's skull with its saw-toothed tusks. For some reason not yet under stood the ant then takes the trouble to climb down the cotton plant with the corpse of the weevil and carry it away. It does not eat it. When it comes to a tackle, the boll weevil his small chances against the ferocious ant. The latter has a great advantage in seize, and is provided with a strong mouth and sharp teeth or tusks for biting, The weevil is ac tive, but has only a thick sucking snout, and cannot possibly get away from the ant, which is able both to run fast and jump a considerable dis tance, if necessary. Not only the beetle-shaped, full grown weevil, but also the immature larvae or grub of the weevil are de stroyed by the ants. These worms, feeding inside the cotton bolls, are hunted by the ants, which crawl in through the holes previou~sly bored by the adult weevils, when they went in to lay the eggs. The ants tear the larvae to pieces, apparently with a fury of anger. These facts have already been re ported to the Bureau of Entomology by Prof. Cook, who Is still investigat ing the ants among the cotton fields of the Indians in Guatemala. Further evidence of the successful work of thie ant comes from Berar County, Texas, where a colony of the ants were turn ed loose on trial this Summter. The Sdcretary of Agriculture has received a dispatch from San Antonio, Texas, stating that tw~o nields of cotton, cov ering about six hundred acres, have been entirely cleared of the boll-wee vil by millions of ants, now swarming on the plains. The roads near the field are said to be filled with ants carrying- off the dead bol1-weevils. Secatary Wilson has directed expert entomoldgist con nected with his Departmaent, who are now in Texas, to reinain in the ootton fiels and study the ant and his hab its and customs and best methods of breeding them in enormous quantities. The tremendous importance attach ed to the discovery of natures enemy of the weevil may be easily realized when it is understood that this weevil has borne promise of becoming the most destructive enemy ever encount ered by man. La't year it cdetroyed 49,279,986.61 worth of cott' n in Texas, to whiph State it is as yet con fined. But it is marching steadily onward at the rate of fifty miles per annum, and unless something can be done to check its progress, it will soon have spread all over the cotton belt of' the South. When thakt is accomplish ed It may cause annul loss of $250,000, Such, up to now, has been the appall ing prospect. But the outlcok is sud denly changed by the discovery of tids ant, which Is the long-sought foe of the weevil. Its favorite o::eupation is the killing of bugs of this species, and, when it arrives on a cotton plant, there is no further chance for the pes tiferous insects. It murders them, every one. The discovery of the ant was not merely a lucky accident. For the last ten years the Government Bureau1 of Etomology has been trying to find1 an enemy of the cotton-boll weevil, with a view to introducing It in the infested belt. Expert bug hunters have travelled all over Mexico, Cuba1 and Central America in rursuit of the possib'e weevil destroyer, which, it was thought, must exist somewhere. It was in vain, however, up to a fewi weeks ago, when Professor 0. H. Cook was led to pay a visit to the pro vince of Alta Vera Paz, in Guatemala. He learned that the Indians of that region were raising cotton successful ly, and without suffering to any ex-1 tent from the depredations of the boll< weevil, though the insect was present, 1 and the natural inference was that 1 some natural cause was keeping the bug in check. The cause, upon inves- 1 tigaton, proved to be the ant afore- 1 Now, when Professor Cook came to t examine the cotton fields of Alta Verai Paz, he found the ants scattered all I over them. On every plant there t were four or five, busily engaged in killing boll-weevils. The adroit andC business-like way in which they went t about t seemed to prove beyond ques tion that they were specially equippedc by nature for the destru~ction of thisc particular pest. Though they were,c perhaps, unable to exterminate thet weevils altogether, they evidently t kept down their numbers to such a e point that the amount of damage done I y them was not appreciable.v On receiving Professor Cook's re port on the subject, Secretary of S Agriculture Wilson at once wired him C to call upon the department for what- E ever assistance he might require in oj th way of money or men. n exnen- . d iture of cash or trouble would be re eemed too great in a case of this si, >rt. If the ant can do what is claimed ti )r it, the value or a few dozen speci- bi ens would be enormous, supposing p, bat a greater number cuuld not be w ,cu red. But, as a matter of fact, he i usects are obtainable in unlimited uan ities, and Professor Cook has iready forwarded to Washington a A ansignmentof them, alive and healthy, a a perforated tin box, together with , few pieces of sugar cane to supply hem with food. When they arrive they will be care ully inspected by Professor L. 0. g loward and his assistant entomolo- 0 ,sts, who will duly clasify and name % he species, and proper measures will p e taken to propagate them in large r iumbers. To do this should not b e difficult, inasmuch as they are re- tJ orted to have none of the vicious n iting habits which distinguish many ji ropical ants, and sugar being their avorite fcol it ought to be practica- s )le to rear them easily enough. t It does not appear that the ant e eeds upon the boll-weevil. On the 9 ntrary, it is attracted to the cotton - Alant by the sweet juice which the a nectaries" or honey-containing gland s )f the latter afford. But it is at t east conceivable that the ant, which h elongs to the most intelligent of all P nsect tribes, recognizes the character i f the bug that destroys the source of l ts food supply, and so finds it judic- f oup to kill the weevil. On the other 1 and, it dots not do the least injury o the cotton or to any other plant, s> 9 ar as has been ascertained, and, by 9 -eason of its peaceable disposition to- v ard man, it can be handled with im unity. "These ants," says Professor Cook, 'probably came originally, like the r [ndians of Alta Vera Pdz, from the Iry, open interior plateau region, t Nhere the center of the aboriginal a )ot-ton industry of Guatemala is still 0 ocated." This, if correct, is very d mportant, because it would signify i hat the insects are natives of a mod- S rately cool climate-a fact which y ould have a bearing upon the pros t pect of introducing them successfully n Texas and in other parts of our v >wn cotton belt. If they were dis- a Ainctively tropical, they- might not be I Lble tc survive in our Southern States. Professor Cook goes on to say that I Zhese ants are able to protect them- ' elves pretty well against frost, owing a o their habit of burrowing deep into g the ground, where they excavate their s aests three feet or more below the ;urface of the soil. They are also u ardy in other respects, as is shown by the fact that several of them, shut up in a box, survive for twelve days , without any food whatever. Liter on bhey thrived on a diet of cane, juice. It is believed that there will be no difflulty in fetching indefinite num- 1 bers of the worker ants to this coun ry, but to secure queens and establish olonies may require cors'derable time nd a thorough study of all the habits f tha spe'cies. "Although the cotton seems to be pecially adapted to attract the ant, owing to its numerous honey glands, the ant," ays Professor Cookc, "is notr restricted to a single plant or to a single kind 'of prey. It attacks and destroys insects of every order, in cluding squash bugs and sow bugs, a~nd even kills centipedes. It is a much more etlicient destroyer of noxi-5 ous insects than the spider or the toad. In short, it is not unlikely to become a valued assistant in the agriculture of sub tropical countries, if not in temperate regions. The farmer has anew and practicin eason to 'consider the ant.'" One thing to be coijsidered about] these particular ants is that sociallya spealing, they are much more highly o:ganized than human beings. Like human beings, they combine for pur p.ses of industry and for the making of war; but, unlike ourselves, every thing they do is for the general wel fare and benefit of the community, and never for sake of the individual. Forsafety as well as convenience, they build their cities nnderground, TPheiri food they store in subterranean room~s, while other apartmeuts are devoted to the rearing of their young, The gateway of the subterranean town is a round hole, beneath which is a vestibule, with a passage leadingi downward at a slant to the rooms ( beneath. The walls and floors of the rooms are neatly and smoothly finish-J ed with plaster, for which suitable earth is brought from above and rgCle adhesive with tihe saliva of the insects. There is ursually one grand storeroom,1 with a dome-shaped ceiling, and many1 smaller rooms for storage purposes,;I which, as a rule, are sealed tightly 4 when they are full, and not opened 4 until it is necessary toglraw upon their contents. All of the labor, of - whatever de scription, is performed by the work~er ants, which are undeveloped females. The males do nothing, the sole pur pose of there existence being to perpe. tuate the species. The developed females, or queens, are destined to"9 become the mothers of future colonies. The workers constitute the bulk of the population, being devided into two classes-workers major and workers minor, the former being dis binguished from the latter chiefly by the fact that they have bigger heads. When the time comes for the an aal "marriage flight," the winged ( Dales and females-the workers have io wings--issue from the subter anean town in great numbers. Af ter ating the males die, but each fe nale sets out immediately to begin he accomplishment of her one im iortant duty in life--namely, to be ome the mother of a new colony. Jhoosing a suitable place, sbe starts n to excavate a hole from 2 to 6 aches deep, in which she rears and rovides for the first brood of workers. 1l of the labor must be performed by , ierself, unassisted. So great are the perils and difficul ,les to be encountered by a young iueen in trying to start a fresh colony 1hat she is more-than apt to perish in ~ ,he attempt. In fact, the enterpriseC ills in a great maj rity of instances,~ )ut it succeeds often enough to secure ,he perpetuation of the species. It vill be understood that the queen iSs he mother of the entire colony, lay ng all of the eggs from which its nembers are hatched. When the 1 irst batch of workers has had time to e row up they attend to the business t if taking care of subsequent genera ions.a Now and then regular wars are pre- a ipitated by the intrusion of the 0c- 0 upats of one town into the premisesg f another. The majcr workers with he big heads appear to constitutes he warrior caste, and the fighting is 0 onducted with the utmost ferocity, t~ he ground after a battle being strewn tI rith decapitated bodies, heads and 0 angled limbs of the slain. The in. f~ ects fight t wo-and-two, in the fashion ' f the duello, and often a pair of coin. 11 atants wiil be found locked in each "' ther's arms, both cold and stiff in c: ah. All the evidenes are apna- It A DISAPPEARING HOST. .at Us Honor the Old Confederate Heroes While We May. Conceal the fact as we may under he guise of hearty welcomes, joyful ,reetings, speech-makings, receptions, )arades and music, the prevailing 'eeling of every reunion of our Veter ins, whether It be at-the State con rentions, or at the larger reunions vhere the survivors from every part f the South meet together yearly, is ne of sadness, says the News and ;ourier. Ebch year familiar- faces Lre missing, and well known voices !all to answer the roll-call; and al 5hough the thinning ranks clse up, Lnd those who *remrain march bravely, with gray heads as erect and shoul lers as square as in the brave old lays of iong ago, yet we cannot help aeelng how the host is disappearing be 'ore the assaults of Time, that most relentless of all foes. Nor is it al ways the oldest Confederate soldiers who fall out of the ranks and rest under the shade of the .trees; for many of those still in line must have reached maturity before the war, and bave bravely borne their partin many 3, battle; and yet they have lived to ee their sons, and other men, who were but striplings in those times, alled away before them. Nut having a pension roll, like that of the Union army, from which to gather statistic, we cannot accurate ly compute the yearly d. crease of num-. bers. We saw recently some figures from a trustworthy source with re gard to the Northern army3 In which it was stated that in 1895 one-half of the men *ho had been in the Federal army were still living; and that it was probable when 1915, the semi-ceA, tennial of the close of the wat ar rived, there would still,be ore hun dred thousand veterans to celebrate the occasion; and this 4otwithstand ing the fact that tte piercentage or deaths steadily Inereased with each year. The writer did. not allude to the strong inducement the Northern veterans have to go on living, and to transmit the gift'of longevity to their families; hut he did not hesitate to compare the feeling with which they are regarded by their neighbors with the sentiment of the South as to its old soldiers. He said: "It is probably trae that the place which the Southern vet, erans hold in the affections of the Southern people is a more exalted position than that which I& held by the Northern veterans inaihe affeation of the people in tlia section of the country, and this tecause of reasons which we will briefly try to explain. We believe there was more patriotism, shown in the defence of the-Uaion than in the efforts to dissolve It; and that the enthusiasm with which oLr men rushed to the defence of.tb country in the early period of-the war was all that the most devoted patriot. could desire. Liter on, it is true, we had our system of drafti and bounties2 but these were paralleled in the South by the most rigorous form of enforced enlistment, whici was 'said to- 'spare neither the cradle nor the grave.'" "At the close of the war the vet erans of the Confederacy represented not only a losZ cause, but they and theids ?milles were finadcially ruined. Those who during the .war had suffer ed physical impairment,jand the fat lies of those who had-lost thE1r lives couild look hardly .anywhere for~ sup port except to those whq weid almost as destitute as themselves. As they. could not count upon a'Td, thereiwas encouraged -irn them~that. adeiirable spirit of self dependency and~ self sufficiency which, tenided to draw to wards them the sympa'rtby of. their friends and neighbors, and to inspire in these latter a high regirdand rever ence for them. The contrast between these sentiments and those entertain ed by so many of our-Northern so! diers Is what has led to the difference in popa~ar es I nation; espeially among the great mass of our citizens who have come to man's estate since the close of the Civlwar. Irom the very first a large number of the North ern veterans have made arrogant de mands for special consideration, and these demands have tended to in crease as time has gone on. They have swelled our enormous pension list, so that last year It was nearly one hundred and fifty million dollars; they have corrupted our civil service by having It decreed that a veteran,1 even when unfit for public work, must' be- preferred to a thoroughly quali fied citizen who has not served in the war. This has chilled the feel ings of sympathy and reverence which would otherwise have been engenger ed." So true is all that which is said in the above quotation that.the whole. country was stirred to admiration bj' a report in a Northern paper lately of the finding of a needy veteran who had steadfastly refused to accept a pension, though one had frequently been offered to him. It will probably result in the erection of a monument to him when he finally passes to the other side of the river. Be It well un derstood, however, that In spite of the Immense size of the pension list there were many brave soldiers of the Northern army who were just as.sia cere and disinterested in their sir vice to their counitry as were our own brave men, and who hold a very high place in the estimation not only of their neighbors, Dut of all -Southern soldiers who have met them since the war. Only these are sha sort of men on both sides who never come before the public with demands that their services In the past be rewarded by remunerative positiossuesent. It is rather remarkable that, while many old veterans continue te attend the reunions, nearly all the distin guished officers of the~Southern armies have passed away, although quite a number of them were but young men at the beginning of the war. To the generation now growing up the his tory of the Civil war seems almost as. remote as that of the Revolution. R~. E, Lee, "Stienewall" Jackson, "Jeb' Stuart and many another of those men who made Vilrginia~the scene of so many brilliant exploits have taken - their place along with Washington and his generals in their youthful imaginations, it hardly seems pos ible to them that any of those who shared in their battles and triumphs yr defeats can still be alive to tell the tory of those days. As the News mud Courier said in welcoming the reterans to Charleston: "We have aometimes thought that the services )f these men were not properly appre :iated by the younger generations who iontrol the life and purpose and des siny of South Carolina today. It is veil that there should be annual re mnions of the survivors of the War or Southern Independence, in order hbat the people of the present day may ce of what metal the men of the nost glorious period in the history of ihe State were made. -They will only >e here for allittle while longer. Their nt of the action of malignant pas ans-hate, anger, cruelty, destrue veness. The bodies of friends are I iried, but those of the enemy are illed to pieces and permitted to rot here they lie. A GHOST STORY. White Robed Fiigure Brings Warn ing of Danger to a Man. A dispatch to The State says there one family in Aiken that is really 4 ad that timze does fly and the 15th 1 June has p:s.ed. Tuis excellent Lily is composed of enlightened peo le and there Is not a particle of Igno mnt superatition in their make up, ut one night last week a "some ing" occurred that is calculated to ake the most sturdy of us uneasy, ist a little bit. On the night (or rather in the wee, nall hours of the morning) in ques ion, Mr. H. F. Warneke was awaken d by a noise in his back yard. He aited a while and as he again heard )mething he went in the yard to look round. Not seeing anything he tarted back to the house. He says hat while he was going to the house e felt an almost irresistible force ulling him back. Nothing touched im and be saw nothirg. He entercd is back door and closed it. The door ew open. He slammed it shut and again flew open. And then Mr. Varneke went to see what the matter ras, and there "It" stood, a tall figure rith a sheet wrapped around it and rith a very white face. "What do you want, and who or rhat are you?" asked Mr. Warneke. "Come out here and I'll tell you," eplied His Cbalkiness. "Gi away, I don't want anything D do with you," said Mr. Warneke, nd tried to close 'the door, but the gure pushed its foot between the oor and the door frame and shoving s white face up to Mr. Warneke's ad, "Come out here and 11 show ou something that is going to happen o one of your children on June 15th." Mr. Warneke asked which child and rhat was to happen to it. The figure lways replied, "Come out here and 'll show ycu." Finally, the figure finding that Mr. Varneke would not come outside said, 'Remember, I tried to warn you," nd vanished. Mr. Warneke did not et at all frightened until he got up tairs and got to thinking over the 3atter, and it seemed so curious and nexplainable that it has worried the rhole family a little. But the fatal 5th has passed and they are all as ealthy as ever. Whether the whole thing was a iractlc3l joke or n2l Mr. Warneke annot of course say. He does not be eve in ghosts and is just a little bit aystitied at the affair. However, if was a joke, as it must have been, he joker, it found out, will oertainly ie induced to stop such antics. Dixie Quieted Them. At Amerious, Ga., a catastrophe hat might have been terrible in its esults was narrowly averted late Fri lay night. The Americus theatre vas packed beyond its capacity. Lwelve hundred pepple, principally dies and children, filled the building ren an alarm of fire was given from vithout. Hundreds rushed for the ingle entrance which is PA feet above ,e pavement and reached by a single ooden Stairgay. lifforts of police md teachers upon the stage were on tvailipg until th~e -orchestra, with wonderful inspiration,' struck up 'Dixie," Ta served to restore quiet. the stampede on the outer stair ay, several women fainted. Jumped from Train. A dispatch to 'Toe State from Ireenville says: Deputy Sheriff Ball tnger returned Saturday night ,.from alisbury, bringin~g -with him Robt, ir~d, wanted at Fountain Xnn for the P'owgr murder, The trip was with iut inoident until after Blacksburg was passed, wheni the negro- jumped row a window while the train was naking 30 miles an hour. Ballenger uhed to the platform and leaped. Che negro was found on an embank ient badly crippled. Ballenger's only nury was a sprained ankle. The leputy held his priioner until the train >acked to the point where the negro umped and toog themn oa board. Killed the Engineer. A dispatch fr om Butte, Mon., says she North Ciast Limited, the finest ,rain on the Niorthern Pacific,- east ound, was Thursday night held up >n mile east of Bearinouth, the scene f last year's holdup of the same train, when E-:gineer Q'Neill was killed. hree explqsions of dynamite on the xpress car completely demolished she car as far as reports are obtain 1,ble. The engineer was killed in the ight with robbers. Tne plunder of be robbers is believed to be large. re bandits, two in number, have tscaped in the large timber of the nountains. A Parting. Good-bye, then"-and he turned away, No other word between them spoken; f ou hardly would have gussed that day How cI se a bond was broken. he quick short tremor of the hand. That clasped her own in that brief parting )nly her heart could underseand, Who saw the teardrop starting. ho felt a sudden surge of doubt Comerushing back unbidden o'er her, us, at the words, her life without His presence loomed before her. he others saw, the others heard A calm, cool man, a gracious woman, quiet, brief farwell unstirred By aught at all uncommon. ee knew a fatal die was cast; She knew that two paths hence must sever; bat one familiar steps had passed Out of her life forever. o all the rest it merely meant A trivial parting, lightly spoken; he read the bitter, mute intent, She knew a heart was broken. on will never ride at the head of the ld Confederate legions again. Gor on has gone over to the other side: onner departed long since. Mc o .an is no more, Longstreet, Ker aw, Hagood, Gary and Elliot have 11 gone on Into the Valley of the badow, and officers and men are fall ig in the inexorable strife of life very day. The order has come to aose who survive that they shall close p and aorch on. What a glorious rwy it has been! What a glorious emy it still is!' But how much do r younig pe )ple know of the strug .e through which this glorious army a5 passed? Session after session in hool they are drilled in the history the. United States as a whole until uey know the battles of the Revolu on by heart and can rep~at the list sea duels which form d the main sture of the War of 1812; but how 1 OCh can they tell of the battles of e War for Southern Independence here infinitely more important prln-1 ples were Involved and greater num-1 ur ere engaed on each side?