Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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1 . ; / • • ' mm hENRV T. THOMPSON. ] WADDY THOMPSON, Thursday, Jan. 19, 1893. THE STATE DEBT. The State Administration lias succeeded in floating a large portion of the 41 per cent bonds, which were provided for by the Legislature to refund that part ol the debt which matures in July next, and it is stated that the remainder of the bonds will be placed shortly. We are giad that such is the case, but we believe that the debt could have been more satisfactorily redeemed had the conditions been different. The conditions are unfortunate and the Tillman party is to be blamed therefor. Its war on capital drove invest ors from the State; otherwise we could have refunded the debt on better terms. The original bill for refund ing this portion of the debt pro vided for the issuance of new bonds at 4 per cent on the “faith and credit” of the State. All remember how Tillman failed last fall to refund the debt on these terms; yet we honestly believe he should have been able to do so. Georgia had refunded her debt just a short while pre viously at 31 per cent and Ala bama refunded hers several years ago at 4 per cent. Why could not South Carolina have done as well? Because the at tacks of the Tillman party upon capital had impaired the credit of the State. After his failure Tillman set I to work on a new t-cheme. He pledged the State’s interests in the phosphate beds ascollateral, >et even with this “gilt edge” security the rate of interest was i ised to 41 per cent. The phos phate beds are a more valuable security than any ever given by a Southern State, yet South ('arolina has to pay larger in terest on her debt than her sister States. This is a sad commentary on the credit of South Carolina. With such ‘ gilt edge” security asthephos phate beds, the debt should have been refunded at at least 4 per cent. The value of the phos- y hate beds is incalculable, the supply of phosphates being, as far as man knows, inexhaust ible, and the revenue therefrom having been in times past near lv poo,000 annually. The Ad ministration, despite this, found it necessary to give 41 per cent interest. So much for Tilln.au- ism. The debt to be refunded amounts in round numbers to |3,000,000. The annual interest on that at 4 per cent is $240,000, and at 41 per cent, $270,000; or a difference of about $30,000 annually between w^at the State shall have to pay on her debt and what she should have to pay under better circumstan ces. In twenty years, the short est time in which these bonds nay be called in, this difference will amount to $(300,000, which is what Tillmanism will cost the State in this respect alone. We are glad, we repeat, that tae State debt will be refunded, but regrst that, owing to the unfortunate conditions existing here, it cannot be refunded on better terms. well as other classes of citizens and the greatest of these is that * their property shall be protect ed from unlawful injury. If the law is constitutional, they must submit; if not, they have the right to claim and receive the protection of the Courts. This is the whole matter in a nut shell and the buncombe about over-riding the Courts, besieging the towns, etc., does no good, but a great deal of harm. Let us all quietly await the action of the Courts in the matter, as the liquor men will certainly carry the question there. If the law is declared legal the liquor men will sub mit without the State having to declare martial law ; if it is de clared illegal the liquor men cannot be prevented from sell ing liquor. We believe the prohibition law is a poor makeshift, but, if it stands the test of the Courts, we shall advocate its enforce ment so long as it remains the law, just as we should any oth er law on the statute book. THE PAYSTHEAK. •■BEAST” BUTLER. Gen. B. F. Butler, alias “Beast” Butler, alias “Spoons” Butler, died in Washington on Wednesday of last week. Gen. Butler made himself particular ly obnoxious to Southern people by his diabolical proclamation regarding the ladies of New Orleans, which he issued while commanding the Federal troops in that city. For this offence, the one for which the South has never forgiven him, the sobri quest,“Beast,” has been attach ed to his name. The dissappear ance of the silver belonging to the citizens of New Orleans, during his occupancy of that citv, has also given him the name of “Spoons.” Gen. Butler was fora number of years prominent in poliii s. He was often a member of Con gress and was once Governor of Massachusetts. He has been a Democrat and a Republican and was in 1884 the candidate of the Anti Monopolist party for Presi dent of the United States, re ceiving 138,82.3 v tas out of a total of about 11,000,000. The New York S'm a during that campaign, advocated his election to the Presidency. A FORTUNATE FIND. 1 he Misting Deed toValuable Chicago Property Found. [Indianapolis News] I. N. Locke of Wayne County was formerly an active trader. In May, 1862, he was in Chica go, and bought a lot for a small sum. He put the deed in an en velope and placed it in his pock et with other papers. A few days afterwards, while getting into his buggy, he lost the en ▼ dope and all its contents. He advertised for it. but really car ed only for the notes, thinking the lot of little value. John Ritchey, a victim of softening of the brain, was wandering aimlessly on the street the day Locke lost his papers. He found them and laid them awav, and even after his death no notice was taken of the supposed worth Itjss papers. About ten days ago John Ritchey found the package and gave it to Mr. Locks, and through his attor neys his claim has been estab lished. Had the deed remained concealed a few days longer the twenty years would have expir ed and no claim would have been allowable It is a lot on the boulevard addition, and the parties occupying it have given Mr. Locke $20,000 for a quit claim. THE LIQUOR QUESTION. The liquor question is the all absorbing topic and it will so continue until it is finally set tled. As we have already men tioned a great deal of wild and foolish talk is going the rounds oi the press, the Governor him solf taking no small part in it. Of course when we protest against this foolish talk about enforcing the prohibition law despite any action the Courts nay take, we do not mean b\ that to advocate the violation ot the law should the Courts de- n .re it legal. We are onh sneaking for justice. W T e do i ot believe in prohibition la ws. but, if the present law is declar ed constitutional, it should be enforced and we shall advocate its enforcement simply because it is the law, believing as we do, that all laws should be enforc ed. But it is contended that the law is unconstitutional. This is a question for the Courts to decide. To the decision of the Courts we must submit If the Courts declare that the law is unconstitutional it cannot be enforced, all the blowing and blustering of the Governor and l.is followers to the contrary notwithstanding. The liquor Paul Scruggs and len murdered Rube his housekeeper and daughter at Brinkly, cently On Tuesday Henry Al- Atkinson, his little Ark., re night of 1 ist week the murderers were taken from the jail and lynch ed. Tennyaon's Interview with the Queen. It was in the latter part of 1862, th< year after the death of the prince consort that 1 was conversing with Mrs. Tenny son on the sudden death of a much val ued common friend and the loneliness of his widow, when Tennyson, who had been stalking np and down the end of the bow windowed drawing room with his nsual long strides, suddenly broke in with, “1 saw another widow three days ago." ••Indeed,” 1 replied, “and who was that?” “The queen,” he replied in his deepest tones. “She sent for me to Osborne." I said that I supposed hei majesty wished to thank him for his noble tribute to the memory of the prince consort, and with perhaps par donable curiosity went on to ask what the queen had said to him. “I can't re member,” he answered; “I lost my head. I only remember what I said to the jueen—big fool that I was!” “What was that?” “Why, what an ncellent king Prince Albert would have made. As soon as it was ont of my inou;h I felt what a blunder I had made. Bnt happily it proved to be the very right thing to have said. The queen re plied that that had been the constant sorrow of her life—that she was called to govern, while ha who was so worthy of the first place was obliged to take a secondary poeition.” Tennyson had lit tle more to say of his reception except that, notwithstanding the perfect calm- Rodolfo was kneeling beside the door of a little jacal on the western slope of the 3aa Ysidio mountains pounding soap That may seem a curious occupation, but here in New Mexico nine-tenths of the people have to poand their soap—the fat root of the palmUla (a sort of aloe), whose fibrous snoetaroe they crush to pnlp for use in tub or basin. This curious nat ural soap is called amole, and an excel lent article it U. The poor little jacal —a roofed palisade of pinon trunks, chinked and cjvered with adobe mud- looked as if it were like to contain very- little worthy o washing, bnt the amole and a huge c >pper caldron simmering over a tire of cl ips indicated plainly that there was souit thing to be scrubbed Jnst then a 1 rown. thin faced woman stood in the lo v doorway holding in her arms a cuno is. brilliant robe like a blanket Stra igely enough, the most beautiful and the most durable blankets in the world ire made, not in civilized looms, but by 1 alf savage Indians with no better appliames than a rude combina tion of sticks md cords suspended from the branch of a tree. This one was of the best Navajo nuke—a blanket of crimson bolletta. with blue and white lightnings playing across it; a blanket which it re quired a solid twelvemonth to weave and m which one conid carry water as in a bag of rubber. “Is the amole ready?” asked Maria •Ay de mil My heart is heavy for the serape that Don Francisco gave to thy father That inly we have saved when all was lost, and now it, too. has to be sold Last year the governor in Hants Fe offered 150 pesoe (dollars) for it, and now when it is washed tbon shalt take it thither to see if he still wifi buy Lastuna! It is the last we have of thy father, and—ay? ine tienee?’' For Rodolfo bad jumped to bis feet with a loud cry “Mira, canal” (look mother) he said, laying something in her palm It was a wee, yellow scale, not so broad ap Rodolfo’s little finger nail, nor quite so thick. But how heavy it was! And what a color—that exquisite waxy luster of the gold of the New Placers. “Oro grander (coarse gold) cried Mana. her big, tired eyes lighting up ‘Where didst thou find it?" “Poondiug this last big piece of amole. nana. i found it in an elbow of the root. Sperate. till 1 pan the dirt—perbape there is more.” In a moment he was ont of the boose again with a big wooden bowl; carefully scooping np the few handfuls of sandy earth fallen from the pile of roote, bp put it in the bowl and poured on water from an olla (earthen jar) till the bowl was nearly full. Grasping it by the edges be gave it a slow, tilting, rotary motion. Directly the water began to ran around and aronnd in a miniature whirlpool, and the sand began to follow its current slowly Now and then Rodolfo stopped to ran his hands through the sand and inueen it up; and again set it to revolving—for he had learned to pan ont gold as well as any one when he and his father nsed to work side by side in the placers at Dolores Now the poor old man—nevir fully recovered from that last awful wound received in a tight with the Apaches—was dead, and they were ve.y poor. There was no more money to be made in the placers, for it was too expensive to haul water for washing that washed >nt gravel, and the beautifnl serape must be sold or their poor litt le home would be taken from them. When the land was thoroughly wet up Rodolfo bogan to give the bowl A stronger motii u sideways, till it seemed as though he would spill the whole con tents A lot o ' water and sand splashed out from side o side, till presently there was left but a handful in the bottom of the bowl. A- he kept rotating it more slowly and gently this drew out in a thin semicirc e at the bottom of the bowl, as far from the center aa it could get—a sandy procession in which the usual parade order of the dignitaries was quite reversed. For ahead of all was the worthless, unstable, reddish sand; at its heels the black iron dust which always is found iu very rich com pany, and lagging at the rear of all came a few wee, yellow flecks do bigger than a pinhead. "Perot” cried Rodolfo to his mother, who was kneeling beside him, “it is very rich! There will be cnatro reales (fifty cents) from so little dirtl” Now be was bolding the bowl so tilted that the water bad all ran ont; and the "procession,” trying to follow it, was beaded down to the very edge, where some of the foremost sand fell off. Dip ping his hand in the olla, Rodolfo dropped a very little water upon the sand, to accelerate its exit Then he tipped the bowl back te a level, and poured in a fresh dipper of water. A little more gentle rotating and the pro cession was formed again, smaller than before, but in the same order Again be ran off the foremost sand, and so. over and over, working more daintily all the time, till not a bit of sand was left, and bnt little of the iron dust. Only a short black patch of the latter remained, guarding the precious yellow at its back—from the impalpable golden "Hoar’ mat waa nearest, and even mingled with it, back to fat little flakes. His mother had brought ont a small bottle; and pushing ont all the black dust he could with a ueft forefinger, he tipped the edge of the bowl to the bottle’s month, and. with a tiny stream from his fingers, coaxed the gold slowly into its new home. “Que ricol” cried Rodolfo, holding the bottle away from him with a critical closing of one eye. “It is a better pros pect than I have seen in the New Placers. Huch dirt onght to pay five pence the day —or more, if one can find the paystreak. And 1 know just where I dug the biggest palmilla, for 1 noticed it had so fat a root, and there 1 am going this very now. Perchance thou wilt not have to sell the serape, nanita—only wait me, till 1 see if we do not find much gold!" For six days the old jacal saw very little of Rodolfo. Exactly where he had pried out the root of the big palmilla was now a square bole nearly four feet across and eightee- '“«t deep. It was on the bank of the ti tle dry stream bed at the bottom of the big arroyo. At each side of the shaft a stout yonng pinon trank, with a fork at the top, was driven firmly into the grot nd, and across these two forks lay his primitive windlass—an other pinon ti nnk with a stoat oblique branch left at one end for a crank. A strong rope w;is on the windlass, and at its lower end dangled a stout rang to be passed throng i the handles of the curi- oua bucket gr.psack of rawhids. Thus far he had worked alone, and very tire some work it was, loosening with hie pick that jnmble of gravel and rocks which the swift turbulence of summer torrents had packed and repacked in the narrow gorge, and lifting it out by the bucketful. As the hole grew deeper be had to swing down by his rope, fill the rawhide sack with gravel, climb the rope again hand over hand, and laboriously wind lass the heavy load to the surface and empty It open the dump. And now the bottom of the shaft was at bedrock— the smoothisli, sloping blanket of por- bave inalienable ri| ights as nes^nd self restraint of the queen, and the sweet consideration she manifested for him, the interview was a peculiarly | phyry, coated with a peculiar gray trying one, and he was glad when it ment which underliee all that great was over.—Canon Venables in London plateau. Boon he would know if all that Times. _ j digging and hoisting had bean in vain. As ha i I for home that evening his tattered coat pulled Heavy on blistered bands—for In it he wae carrying a load of the very last gravel, which he had carefully brushed up from the bedrock. There was no water la the arroyo, and to pan his dirt be moat carry It home or bring water two miles to the shaft “Ya aa sea bo!” (now it’s done) he cried gayly to his mother, dropping the heavy load from his aching shoulders “And tomorrow 1 begin to drift for the paystreak. But now 1 will pan this dirt before the tun goes and see if it be good." Five times be panned ont the bowl half full of that shabby looking gravel, and each time the tiny patch of wet gotd- dust which he pushed out upon a smooth ■tone was swelled a little. And in the last pan was a small, waterworn lamp, which came very near escaping with the first coarse pebbles—a nugget of fully two dollars, at which the tired mother wept for joy, while Rodolfo daubed about her, crying: “Ay, nana! Already there is like four pesos! Very soon we will be rich ones!’' The sun was not nearly np the farther side of the Oroqne peaks on the morrow when Rodolfo and his mother were trudging away toward the arroyo, driv ing ahead a patient burro borrowed from Cousin Pablo. Poor Flojo had a very uncomfortable load; for two big kega of water were balanced in opposite ends of a woolsack across the queer little pack saddle, and bumped his either side. Ro dolfo carried on his beqja rude “rocker,” hastily made from a box, and in his hands a heavy, double pointed steel bar His mother brought the wooden bowl, and on her bead a large olla full o' water waa confidently poised. The time bad come when both must work, and little Chona would have to care for the young babies at home through the day. In the earth near hi^shaft Rodolfo had dug a basin five feet long and three feet wide and lined it with tight packed clay, so that the precions water might not be wasted. At the npper end was laid a big flat slab of sandstone from the ledge in the side of the arroyo, and on this “foun dation” he set his rocker. It was merely a stout box with one end knocked out, two rude wooden rockers like those of an old fashioned cradle under it, a strong handle nailed to one side, and fitting into its top a small square box with a bottom of coarse wire screen. Under this screen was a canvas apron nailed to a frame and sloping backward. The rocker itself pitched forward, and across its sloping bottom were nailed cleats a few inches apart Flojo was soon relieved and turned out to graze, his forefoot hobbled with little rawhide handcuffs, that he might not stray too far. The rocker was set up ready for work and beside it a keg of water with a gourd dipper. Dropping bis heavy bar down the shaft—for the pick would be of no nae in the close quarters in which he was now to work—and tossing after it a fcu basin, which would be handler than a ■hovel, Rodolfo grasped the rope and slid lightly down. Taking the steel bar in both hands he began to jab it against the cloee packed gravel on the up stream side of the shaft Prying out first the bigger stones to a height of two feet above bedrock, and then the coarse gravel, be soon had started a tiny tunnel some two feet in diameter. As fast as he filled the raw- hide backet he dragged it out to the cen ter of the shaft and passed tbs cross stick on the rope through the rawhide handles, and his mother, innred to the hard work of the frontier, windlassed it to tbs surface. The rock sbs threw away out, in the streambed, but the gravel was carefully emptied upon • clean hard spot beside the rocker, where it grew apace. v When it was noon by the overhead sun Rodolfo came np on the rope and they ate their scant dinner of tortillas (cakes of unleavened dongb cooked on a hot, flat stone) and water. There was half a yard of gravel beside the rocker (aurifer ous gravel averages about a ton to ths cubic yard and “a yard of gravel" is a good days’s work for one person). Truly, they had worked very well. But were they on the paystreak? That was what Rodolfo was very anxious to know—for the gold that comes swirling down the stream from the mother veins in the mountains acts precisely as it acted in Rodolfo's wooden bowl. It is not dis tributed at random throughout that vast volume of accompanying rocks and sand, bnt trails along in relnctant file in the line of the strongest current, and being heavier according to its bulk than any of its companions, it keeps sinking down and down till the great sheet of bedrock will let it sink no deeper. And when the rains are over and the raging torrent becomes but a dry wash of sand and bowlders—for there are very few perennial streams in the gold regions of the southwest—the cunning yellow fugi tives lie still there, never to change places until some great freshet shall scour the bedrock bare, or some prying hand finds their hiding place. 8o, even if the miner drop his shaft squarely upon the paystreak, he does not know which way to follow it, but must be panning out sample gravel every little while and running his drift to one side or the other according to what the pun tells him. Rodolfo could scarcely wait to swid- low the last of his tough tortilla. Wash ing it down with a hasty pull from the keg, he shoveled the screen box full of gravel, and taking the npright handle with both hands began to sway the heavy rocker from side to side while his mother poured on water from the gourd. The fine sand rapidly melted down through the screen and went jolting down the canvas apron to the back end of the rock er, where it fell to the wooden bottom, tamed and liegan to wander forward to the open front end. When the screen was washed clear of sand Maria lifted it out, clawed over the glistening pebbles to make sure that there was no coarse nuggets among them, and flung them ont, filling the screen with fresh gravel and wetting it down as before, while Ro dolfo kept on rocking. Time and again the screen was emptied and refilled, and all the while the rocking and ths ponring I on of water continned. The sloping bot- tom of tbs rocker was full of sand—at' the lower end an inch deep—and this sheet of sand, shaken bv the motion and coaxed on by the water, kept creeping over the laat riffle cleat and falling intoj the clay lined reservoir, from which Me-1 ria waa now dipping back ths water in- : stead of from the nearly empty keg. i The afternoon shadows were deep in the round hollows of the mighty Sandiaa when Rodolfo rose from beside the I rocker, emptied the screen and straight ened his stiff legs. “Now for a clean up, nana!” he said. She poured in a gentle stream upon the apron while he rocked; and, aa there waa now no new sand rolling down, that on ths apron and in ths bottom of ths rocker began to work rapidly forward, and in a few minutes there remained only a little sand t aught in the angle behind each riffle. Rodolfo whittled ont a smooth, thin stick with a square end, and careful: y scooped the wet sand into his bcvl, scraping out erery grain from ths cracks, and proceeded to pan it out Bnt now, instead of a few handfuls of random dirt, the bowl held the concentrate') richness of half a ton of gravol from bedrock. That was the beauty of the rocker—it would have taken four times as long to “work” that pile of gravel with the pan; the rocker did the beew work in short order, sod left only the finishing touches for ths pan. And now, when Rodolfo had got rid of most of the sand and began to “draw" what was left at the bottom of the bawl, there was s sight for four dark, glisten ing eyes. As the unstable sand drifted forward and forward it uncovered mors and more of a rich, deliberate bank of yellow, tU! Rodolfo's trembling fingers scarce conid hold np that precious pan from spilling, and excited tears ran down Maria’s thin cheeks. When at last he had guided the gold safely into the bottle he laid his face to hers and said in a votes which was tremulous, but strangely sweet: “It is well, nanal The governor'can not have the serape that was my father's. And now let ns go home." The dajrt went on, and the yellow dost in the bottle had grown half way to the top. Here and there in it were little rounded nuggets and waxy flakes, which Rodolfo loved to shake up There waa a whole sack of flour now in the jacal and a bushel of frijoles (Mexican beans). Every day Flojo—who had been bought with one fat nugget—"packed” his load of water to the arroyu; and every day Rodolfo and his mother worked on the gravel he sent up. His drift now ran thirty feet ont from ths bottom of the shaft—a narrow, dark, crooked burrow, at whose farther end bs lay upon his side, and pecked away with his bar by a candle’s stingy light Some days be lost the paystreak, and the panning ont at evening was very light; but soon he found it again, and all waa well. And every day the bottle grew heavier and brighter, till it was like a bar of lead to lift One morning as Rodolfo was working in his drift there cams a sadden dull, low rumble, and loosened pebbles fell upon him. Filled with a nameless dread, he crawled ont toward ths shaft, but no faint ray of daylight cams to meet him at the corner. The great bowlder under which he had dug, five feet from the en trance of the drift, had fallen ini He had undermined it more than one should in following the paystreak under it And now it had crushed out its gravel supports and had fallen and closed his burrow. He was buried alive! With trembling fingers he felt across its cold, smooth surface. Another bowlder had followed it from above and filled its place so that he could not dig out above it, and to try would cause a cavern that would crush him. Thought chased thought in strange procession throngb his brain. Buried alive under eighteen feet of earth and stone—his mother so near as that, but never to see him again—his poor mother! And just as they were Setting the dear gold that would make them all so happy! But in ths veins of this slender, dark faced boy ran blood of that old bine of Spain that conquered and opened this new world to the old. He would not die like a coward—he would try. He crawled back and got his bar and candle and brought them to the bowlder door of his prison and began to try the surrounding earth with cautions punch- ings. Bnt the fall of the great rock had so loosened all the soil that it was sure to cave as soon ss he should attempt to dig through it In his desperation he even tried if be could not pry the great rock forward and in time slear ont into the shaft, but a dozen men could scarce have budged that ton of porphyry. Still he thrust his steel lever into the earth at either side and shoved on the bowlder, and suddenly the bar “gave’ downward, ae if be had driven it a foot into the solid bedroekl Startled and mystified, he began to probe the yielding spot, and in a moment gave a great cry of newborn hope. How strange the chance npon which a life may hang! In all the thirty feet of bedrock he had cleaned np, there was not a hollow; bnt right here, its edge an inuk from where he had dug, was a "pocket” of unknown size. Some bowlder, caught in the eddies of forgotten centuries, had rolled around and around in this one spot til) it ground for itself a basin in the stub born bedrock. The grinding rock was there now—he could feel with his barite rounded side amid the fine sand with which the hole had filled before the stream built that torrent pile above and lifted its own bed by nearly twenty feet. The pothole lay partly under one end of the fallen bowlder, so that he could dig in it without danger of a serious cavein. If it waa deep enough and wide enough! He dv>ve the bar fiercely Into the bard gravel, he pried away the stones and scooped ont the sand with fingers that bled to their ungentle touch. In a mo ment he had cleared a place large enough to let him at the buried pothole. Laying aside the heavy bar, he began to claw out the sand with frantic bands and throw it back between his legs like a rabbit burrowing. Now and then a loosened stone from the roof gave him a cruel pelt on thd head or back, but he hardly noticed it The candle wae burning very faintly now, and hie breath grew short and thick. The scant air of his prison was fast becoming a a deadly poison. Even if the pothole were big enough, could be keep breath to burrow through? He waa down in the pothole now, right nnder the fallen bowlder. The round stone which had worn that blessed pit waa too heavy to be lifted out, but he had half a yard be tween it and the bowlder above, and that was room enough. At laat his hand, burrowing forward, came to a polished concave surface, it waa the farther side of the pothole! He ■cooped away the sand with vigorous energy until he conid feel all along that strange, bowl-like wall, and in an agony of doubt lifted his hands to see what waa above. They touched something hard and smooth and convex, and he shrieked aloud. It waa the gnat bowlder—it covered the farther aide of the great pothole, and he would never get out! But not It la a (mailer rock —and there la another wedged beside it. and another! The pothole opens oat beyond the prison bowlder! He crawled back for hit bar, bnt it waa too Jong to be turned np in that passage under the groat rock. His strength was almost got* His head swam and a strange whirr waa in his ears. To die after all, with dear life so neart Hs caught np a smooth stone that had fallen in the drift, and lying upon his back in the pothole began to hammer desperately overhead, cracking off rocky splinters that filled his eyes, crushing hit fingers blindly, working stupidly, as one half asleep. And then a round stone as Mg aa his bead Ml and barely missed his face, and that let loose another and there came a •bower of sand and that sweetest thing in all the world, the fresh air of heaven —and Rodolfo knew do more. “Perot What keeps Rodolfo so longf muttered Maria anxiously, “for I waa at home much time, and not yet hm he filled the bucket to send up. Rodolfo! Little soar And she leaned over the ■haft, caning shrilly again and agate. “May ths holiest mother help me,” she murmured, catching the rope and •hivering, “for it Is very deep. Bnt I must see what has come to my boy.” And sliding down the harsh rope, with burned and failing fingers, sbs Ml in a heap to the bottom. When Rodolfo opened his eye* the lit tle bole above bis face had grown larger, and slender, bleeding fingers were tear ing at ito rough sides. Faintly at fint, but jrith grqwingytrengtk, he hammered wire aa stone'from within, until at last he squeezed through the narrow opening and crawled with Ms Mating mother to daylight at the bottom of the shaft. It waa late at night when the boy wee strong enough to climb tbs rope and windlass his mother np, and for many days both lay helpless and fevered in the little jacal, eared for by kindly vecinoa from Dolores. Bnt both got well at last, and Rodolfo went back to work in his placer claim, which quite filled the bottle and many others like U in course of time. But that blessed pothole which had saved his life was what really made him I rich man for that poor country It had l»sn a lively miser in its day, and when he cleaned it out, well knowing that such a pit in the very path of the pay streak waa the beet of all traps to catch the vagrant gold, he washed ont in one day from the gravel in Its bowllike bottom so many hundreds of dollars' worth of yellow dnst and fat nnggets that he never dared tell how much there waa, and 1 doubt if any oue knows to this day.—U. F. Lummis in Detroit New* Prom aa Old tlaok. In one of the older manuals of the common council of New York there ap pears aa interesting directory of this city for the year 1665. Then there were exactly twenty streets and a pop ulation of *51. Broadway at that time was De Heere ftraat (the principal street). The Battery was Aen de Strandt van de N. Re*eir. Wall street was De Waal. Pearl street was De Perel straat, Whitehall street was De Winckel straat, William street was In de Smits valley (In the smith's valley), and Broadway above Wall street was Buyten de Lant Poor! (outside the land gate,. All of the residents were of Dutch extraction, with the exception of one whose name appears in the list as Jacob, ths French man. There were Roosevelts, Beektnans, De Peystcrr, De Pnys, Van Oortlandts and Verplancks In those day* Clams, oys ters and fish formed the principal food of the settlers at that period. Occasion ally in the spring New York waa vis'ted by “such amazing flights of wild pigeons that the sun was hid by their flocks from shining on the earth for a considerable time; then it xws that the natives laid in a great store of them against a day of nsed.”—New York Times. A Clever Reply from e Crseker. A big passenger train full of northern people was temporarily halted in a dreary sand plain where the only object in sight was a woebegone looking cracker sitting on a sand dune busily en gaged in doing nothing. In the train was a “smart Aleck," who thought that he would have some fun with the cracker. So he put his head out of the window and called ont, “My friend, this appears to be a pretty fine country you have here.” “I reckon,” replied the native without looking up. “How much of a population have you in this town?” continned the smart Aleck as he winked at his friends in the car. “Waal,” replied the cracker, “ 'bout 10,000, I reckon, aad nary a fool among them. We did send for one last week ae a specimen, bnt denied ef we thought he’d come so soon.”—New York Tribune. ft M Bft The Love of Domeetlo Anlmela. The man who has not music in his soul is justly exposed to the disparage ment of the poet, but what shall be said of him who cannot find one dumb ani mal at least on which to^-bestew care and kindness? Sailors and soldiers have their pets; the feathered, the feline, and the canine creation are universal favor ites. Carriers and draymen are rarely in different to the companionship of the four footed friends, and the navvy's dog. while his master is at work in the cut ting or on the embankment, sits on his peajacket and guards the bundle con taining that midday meal of which, when the toiler returns, the good and faithful servant will have his share. It would be a very dreary and perhaps a wickeder world than it is if we had not animal pets, domestic as well as regimental.—London Telegraph. Trus Marrlag*. A happy wedlock ia a long falling in love. I know young persons think love belongs only to the brown hair and plump, round, crimson cheek. So it does for its beginning, just as Mount Wash ing ton 1 logins at Boston bay, Bnt the golden marriage is a part of love which the bridal day knows nothing of. Yonth is the tassel and silken flower of lore; age is the fall corn, ripe and solid in the ear. Bextotifnl is the morning of love, with its prophetic crimson, violet, saf fron, purple and gold, with its hopes of days that are to come. Beautiful also is the evening of love, with its glad re membrance and its rainbow side turned toward heaven as well as earth.—Theo dore Parker. fa the Ctar's Country. On the way back from Ixora the czar wanted a cup of tea, but owing to a sud den jerk of the railway carriage the tea waa upeet. The next morning (as goes the etory) the whole line between St. Petersburg and Ixora was carefully searched by numbers of men ordered to find out what had jerked the czar's tea- rap! Every timd the czar goes up and town to Peterhof the steamers have to is decorated, traffic is suspended on the •iver, and occasionally even the loading jt steamers is stopped. —London News. JfCard. O WING to the pressure of private business, I have transferred all law practtoi iu wtucti i a,., interested to m former partner. Mr. E. O. Wood , and to Mr. T. H. B( ain. and have ret ired from the practice of law. I heartily commend the firm of Woods A Spain to the patronage of the pub ic as well ae to all my friends and clients. J. J WARD. Darlington, 8. C., Jan 13, 1893. We, the undersigned, have htdav. formed a copartnership, nnder the firm name of Woods ft Spain, for the practice of law and will practise in the State and Federal Courts. E. O WOODS, T. H. SPAIN. Darlington, S. C., Jan. 13, 18.3. BOMB PLAIN FACTS t. o. WOODS. T. H. SPAIN. WOODS fit SPAIN, (Successors to Ward ft Woods.) Attorneys & Counsellors at Law. Offices formerly occupied by Ward & Woods, over Bank of Darlington. Practise in State and Federal Courts. Prompt personal atten tion to all business. School notice. A MEETING of the eitizens of the School Dlstriet of the Town of Darlington is hereby called for Fri day, January *7, at 1* o’clock, in the Court House, for the purpose of decid ing what tax shall he levied for the support of the schools for the ensuing year. By order of the Board of Trustees this 3rd day of January, ISiW. O. B. EDWARDS, Jaa Ifi—fit Secy, and Tn as. W ith the short crop and low prises how are the people to supply t uir many wants? Our answer is, Bn ? where your dollar will bring you the most. Friendship and small favors in the past wire all very well, but this year every dol lar MUST IK) DOUBLE DUTY IF POSSIBLE. Wc claim to be the place to buy, and ask your considera tion of the following— WE BUY STRICTLY FOR CASH and discount every bill, thus buying fifteen to twen'y per cent, cheaper than our competitor who buys on four months time. We are willing to give our emdomera this difference. We ha ve just returned from New York with the most com plete stock of — Dry Socis, loti®, ta, Sato ail Ming - - - that we have ever shown here. No Seconds, Misfits, Off Colors, or Job Lots from auction, but all elegant and reliable goods. Remember, don’i buy a dollar’s worth until you see our stock All we ask is a fair and square comparison of our goods. Ti anking } r ou for your past liberal patronage, we invite you to call and see us. Yours respectfully, A. J. BROOM. Willcox’s Old Drug Store. S. CLHUS at (P* * HARTSVILLE! * B g money saved by buying your Christ mas goods from NUNLEY & CO’S. We have a large and well selected assortment of toys of all kinds, china ware, vases, toilet sets, dolls, and everything that goes to make Christmas a big success. We have just received 1,500 pounds of assorted wdilLlICss. candies, at prices to suit all. See us before buying. Fruit and Nuts of All Kinds. Apples, figs, dates, bananas, Florida oranges, cocoanuts, wal nuts, almonds and many good things too numerous to mention, all of which we are selling at popular prices. We still keep up our regular stock, and we now offer some real bargains in shoes cheaper and better than ever. Shoes from 35c up to $4 75. Big bargains in clothing, hats and notions. Suits from $1 40 up. (““I y—_-j ’ We have just reeeived a carload of flour and wLrfWi ido. still keep up our stock of other lines that we are selling at prices that defy competition. See us before buying. Remember our motto, “We will not be undersold.” Call and see us. Yours for a large trade and a pleasant Christmas, J. F. E1LET & CO, Sept 8— 6m. Hartsville, S. f SHNTH Until after Christm is his headquarters will be at the Darlington Book Store. Call on him and see his magnificent array of presents, such as Bnls, Toys, ud IdM Sets! CONFECTIONS & FRUITS. Buggies, Surreys, Phaetons'. ROAD CARTS, WAGONS, HARNESS SADDLES, BRIDLES, COLLARS, HALTERS, CURRY COMBS, BRUSHES, LEATHER, WHIPS, ■ LAP ROBES, HARNESS OIL, COFFINS, CASKETS, BURIAL ROBES, ETC., ETC. N. L. Harrell, Darlington, S. C. The Darlington Building and Loan Association. rVfiHE Regular Monthly Meeting of ■ this Association will be held at the office ol E. Keith Dargun, Fan., Wednesday, 35th inst., at 8.30 o'clock p. in. Dues received by undersigned at his office until 8 o’clock p. in., and at the meeting, CHAIA K. ROGERS. Secy, and Tress. For Rent. OrricB County Commission] F Darlington, January 18,1W OR rent lor the year endinf cember Slat 1898, the farm buildings near Darlington, kno 1 thtt “Darlington Rxpt-rimental tlon ” Bids will be received uni M.. January 38th. 1898 HENRY E.P tANDE , t tori Jan. 19-fit.