University of South Carolina Libraries
•w —V * TK [E DARLINGTON HE! IKLD. , ‘ ; VOL. I. \ DARLINGTON, S. 0., WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1890. NO. 3. There are more social clubs in Denyer, Col., asserts the Kew York WorU, than in any other city of the country, not- withstanding the fact that Philadelphia has been called thre city «rf homes. After a rapid decline in numbers the first half of this century, the Quakers are slightly increasing in Great Britain and gaining quite fast in this country, largely by accessions from other religious bodies. An international beauty show was opened at Rome, Italy, lately, with im posing ceremonies, but, the beauty not being up to the standard, the ladies were savagely hissed, and the exhibition had to be abandoned. The National Horn Breeder thinks peo ple who are talking about the coming of the two-minute trotter will be interested in learning that to trot a mile ih the time named a horse must get OYer the ground at the rate of forty 1 four feet in a second, which is a trifie fast for a trotting gut. Ihe business tact of women has again been demonstrated,” says the Hew York Sun, “in the matter of taking the cen sus. Women who were appointed as enumerators are said to hare done their work, better and more carefully than the malts. When another census comes to be taken the women will hare a better chance.” The general demand tnat medical pre scriptions be written in English will ba barren of results, predicts the Detroit Free Prett. Latin is one of the safe guards of the doctor and the druggist, wnd further than that there are many drags that wouldn’t cure worth a cent in the English language. Latin adds fifty per cent, to golden seal as a tonic. The Hartford (Conn,) Timei remarks: Horses don’t last long in New York city. The pavements are very trying to their feet. Borne give out in six months, while others last as many years. The average life of a street-car horse is about ^two years. Many partially disabled ani- n TSJ® ^eir way into the country, and gujjj* recover and become of good service Stanley relate* that ona day while convening witt. a friendly African tribe, during his recent travels, ona of the chiefs present inquired how many wlvaa he possessed. Upon Mr. Stanley in nocently replying that he had none at all those present stood up like one man, and unanimously exlaimed: * 'What a splendid liar I” They intensely admired the ap parent calmness with which he had, as they thought, tried to pass off on them a wondrous traveler’s taie. As an instance of the speed at which the world is advancing the Electrical World calls attention to a prophecy which a writer in Harper't Magazine hazarded in the year 1858, This infatu ated dreamer predicted that in the year 8000 men would be able to attach an era tube to a wire and hear conversation* two miles away. In the course of a dozen centuries, he dared to believe, news would be printed by electrical agency on rolls of paper for prompt and convenient distribution, and that fto- timile transmission by wire would be come an accomplished fact. “It is not easy to realise,” says the Electrical World, “that since the Harper't ingenious con tributor thus gave rein to hi* imagina tion there hare elapsed not the twelve centuries he expected, but merely e mat ter of less than two score year*. The Philadelphia Press says: “Hie wife market is in * very unsatisfactory condition, as shown by the transaction* made public during the week. Quota tions have varied in an extraordinary manner. One gentleman paid $20 and a pair of boots for a helpmate in Kentucky. In New York, it wot shown that a China man paid $600 for a girl whom ha looked op in a garret and cruelly Ill-treated. It Isa pity that Amerioan law doee met pro vide any punishment in this ease other than that which is mated out to tha or dinary criminal who is guilty of brutality to a woman. Then her* is tha oaso mad* public in Meriden, Conn., of a young Russian who stole $3500 to buy a wife, but was cheated out of harby her father sfter he had accepted the purchara money. These figures would show the* the market value of a wife is greater ia China and Russia than in Kentucky.” The Philadelphia Press enumerates these instances to prove that modern commerce has curious effects on price and on the lives of snimsis: Camphor has gone up in this country from sixty to ninety cents s pound because it if wanted in Europe for smokeless pow ders. Rubber has advanced from fifty- five to ninety cent* a pound because se much of it is wanted in electrical opera tions. Copper, besides being wanted in telegraph, telephone and electrio light wires, has advanced because sulphate of copper ha* been found to be the only sure cure for phyloxers. Young "»«is elephant* are being hunted out in Afriaa because their tusks make billiard iwlt^ and this, faster than any other d— is likely to extinguish the elephant. Ths fancy for alligator leather is making alii. gators extinct; the muskrats multiply and honeycomb the levees, and hanoa a great Mississippi flood. NEWS SUMMARY* PROM ALL OVER THE 80HTHLA9B, Accidents Calamities Pleasant Hem and Notes ef Industry. VIRGINIA. Major Thomas W. Daswell, the oldest turfman'’in the United States died at Richmond on July 17. His stock farm atBullfield near the Virginia capital was one of the most noted in the county. Superviser Young has added Up the census returns Of Richmond and they foot up between 80,800 and 80,500. Thomas Trux'on, the thirteen-year- nf.thft likfA .Jfcwtaii United Stitea navy, by his second marriage, waa drowned Wednesday afternoon while bathing St Port Monroe with two young colh| anions, who both made gallattt attempt to save Truxton, Burwvll nearly losing bis own life in doing so. Payne had Truxton’* head out of wat-r, but a dog, which was on the fort, jumped into the water and forcing Payne’s head Under compelled him to lose bis hold on truxton, who sank and Was seen no more. In the Chesterfield county court, the grand jury indicted four white men named Gould, Archer, Bennett and Smith and a nogio named Jemsa Baugh, for throwing rotten eggs at Mr. Walter Lundy, his mother, Mrs. Ann Lundy, and hia aistcr, Miss Lundy, about two weeks ago, while they were passing alotg the road on their wSy to church. The indictment is, perhaps, the firat one ever found in Virginia for the offense. The population of Petersburg is 23,- 050. Col. John L. Preston, for forty-three years professor of ianguagea and rhetoric in the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, died there Tuesday night in the 80 th year of hia age. The Natural Bridge property has been sold to a Massachusetts and Virginia syndicate for $200,000. It waa pur chased from Oolonel H. A. Parson and Hon.James G. Blain, who have owned it ior a number of years. During a thunder storm, Ben Brook ing, a negro, who was sitting in ihe front door of his house, in James county, was struck by lightning and instantly killed. Several other people were in the house at the time, but none of them were hurt at all. NORTH CAROLINA The Ninth District Judicial Conven tion, at Elkin, nominated W. W. Bar ber for Solicitor, on the eleventh bal lot. The Seventh District Convention at LaUrinburg nominated Capt. James D. Mclrer, of Moore county, for Judge, and Frank McNeill for Solcitor. The Republican Congressional Con- veniinn fnr wilt behold on August 20th, at Waynesvllle. The Lynchburg and Durham Rail road baa been completed to Durham. Asixteen-year-old son of Sid Ferrell, was drowned while bathing in a pound near Durham Tuesday. A syndicate of Philadelphia capital ist* has purchased the D. F. Kirkpat rick lands just north of the city limits of Greensboro. The price will reach something in the neighborhood of $40, 000. The following losses, no insurance, resulted from a fire at Mt. Gilead last week: McRae & Leach, $2,800; Ingram & Haywood, $2,800; postoffice building, $000; cash and stamps in postoffice, $80; total, $5,080. Another terrible tragedy has been enacted in Mitchell, that one lawless county of the old North State. Stokes Burlison was fatally stabbedt on July 10th by Mitchell Green. The wounded man lived but a short while. The kill- ing occurred five miles from Bakersville A number of men were quairelling about some hogs. Green was fighting with another man when Burlison attempted to pull him off and the former turned and stabbed him in the heart. Green is in jail. A meeting Of the Bee Keepers As sociation was held in the room of the Chamberjof Commerce, Charlotte y Thurs day. The honey industry of Mecklen burg la growing into one of considerable importance. SOUTH CAROLINA A shooting bee was one of the pleas- ent diversions at Gieenville last Wed nesday. Major Dixie Williams, a lawyer and Rudolph Liggon, a saloon keeper, got into an altercation and drew their guns. F jur shots were fired but no one waa hurt. A commissi' n was issued at Columbia for the organization of the Morgan Iron Works, of Spartanburg, with a capital stock of $25,000 in shares of $100 each. The company will manufacture products of iron and wood,make brick and supply builders’ material. A charter was granted to the Cham pion Canning Company, of Darlington. Fifty per cent, of the capital stock has been paid in. A resident of Lesington County, who came to Columbia for a coffin, reports that during a thunder storm a white farmer named James Coogler, while ploughing in hia field in Lexington County, a few miles from Columbia, waa with the mule attached to his plough instantly killed by lightning. A boy and horse who were alongside of him escaped uninjured. Greenville city council has ’accepted the bid of the American Pipe Manufac turing Company for building a water works BTstem in that city. One hun dred hydrants are to be suphed at $40 each; over one hundred at $80 each. The work is to be commenced in sixty days, and the system is to be completed in one year. The State Teachers’ Association met at Greenville, one hundred and fifty to two hundred tebchcrs being present. Addresses of welcome were made by citizens and responded to by Dr. W. M. Grier, of Due West. Charleston will have a new census after all. Mr. Porter has tent Juo. D. Leland, special agent of the census office to conduct B the new enumera tion. The Y. M. 0. A. of Charleston has organized n school of shorthand. GEORGIA The county court house, and other buildings on the property in the public iquare, of La Grange, are offered for sue, One hundred and fifty men are now actively at work in the burned diatrict of Brunswick preparing the ground for new buildings. Nearly nil of the in surance has been adjusted. A nbgro named Willis Grant was found dead in a gully near Jefferson, As soon as he waa found Ceroner , Worsham was sent for and he empaneled a jury. Their Verdict das that he had fallen in the gully while out getting wood, and the fall broke his neck. At the public library at Macon is a barometer made simply of a thin strip of cedar and a thin atrip of white pine, placed together and stuck perpendicularly in a base rest of wood. When it is going to rain the strips bend down with dampness, and when it is dry weather they stand rigidly stiff and straight It is said to indicate coming storms unfailingly. The device was made by C. C. Miller, master me chanic of the Central shops in Savannah, in ISfiO, »nJ waa praaeaUd to the library by Dan M. Gugel. After t*o day! of imprisonment in the Augusta jail on suspicion of having murdered Lucinda' Sims, bis sister-in- law, Oscar Johnson, colored, confessed the crime. He exonerated the white man who had been living with Lucijida, and on whom he tried to cast suspicion. Hh admitted that he first assaulted Lu cinda and then cut her throat with his grandfather's iszor, which he threw away to hide hia crime. He says he did no f deposit the body in the river until the night after, and said that on the fol lowing morning he went to the fatal spot and swam out in the river to the dead girl, tore off her dress and got hia room key, which she had in her pocket. Johnson’s alleged motive for putting Lucinda out of the *ay was because he believed hia Wife, her sister, who had left him, Would return to him, as he thought Lucinda’s stories caused his wife to leave him. TENNESSEE The County Board of Equihzstion of Memphis, Tenn., haa finished its annual work and reports an increase of $12,- 000,000 in the taxable valuation of Memphis property over last year. The total valuation this year is $30,000,- 000. The Rev. David C. Kelly, D. D., who was recently nominated for Gover nor by the State Convention of the Prohibition party, has decided to with draw from the canvass. The Memphis Home Insurance has declared a divided of 5 per cent; the Phoenix Fire Sc Marine Insurance Co., a dividend of 4 per cent., the Bluff City Insurance Co., a dividend of 4 per cent. A special frbm tlyershurg, says: Joseph Griffin, a farmer, shot and killed one Leggett oh his farm. Leggett ar rived two days ago, and was to work for Griffin. Griffin in the summer months, had been in the habit of leaving all the doors and windows of his house open. Leggett, whose room was next to that of Griffin’s daughter, misconstrued this as an invitation from her and entered her room, making an indecent proposal. The ,daughter informed her father the next day and he at once ordered Leggett to leave. Not complying with the re quest, Griffin emptied both barrels of a shotgun into Leggett, killing him in stantly. Griffin gave himself up. East Tennessee is promised another new industrial town, which according to one of the promoters, means the investment of a couple of million or more of foreign capital. The report states T. M. Allen, of Johnson CRy, find associates have secured large tracts of inn, manganese, timber and town- site land at Hampton, on the East Ten nessee & Western North Carolina Rail road, 14 miles from Johnson City, and propose developing and building one or mote coke iron furnaces; also charcoal furnaces. The town-site is to be laid off at once, and the name of the town will probably be changed to Allentown. The scheme is said to be backed by leading capitalists. OTHER STATER Two hlocka of houses were destroyed by fire at Hot Springs, j Ark., Wednes day night. The population of Anniston, Ala, is 11,808. Ten years ago, when the last count was made, the new city had 942 people, showings gain of 1,100 per cent. Oxford and Oxanna are suburbs of Anniston, and all should be con nected as one place, and are for all practical purposes, as they from a con tinuous settlement Taking all together there ia a population of 20,000 souls. Reliable persona who arrived from Bastrop, La., say that seven negroes were killed and aix wounded in the S iy with a white poase near Merronge. re were thirty-six negroes in the party, all of whom came there a short time ago from North Carolina. The aurvivors returned home with the whites. In other respects, previous ac counts of the conflict are correct Mer rouge is twelve miles above Baatrop.— Atlanta Constitution. The Jackson, Missisippi, Ledger de^ nounces the census just taken in that city as being grossly inaccurate, and calls upon the city authorities to have a city census taken. 1,000,000 GONE; A LAEGE N. Y. CITY OONILAGBATION Several Live* Miraculously Saved From the Burning Western Union Telegraph Building on Lower Broadway. To Meet in Charleston. The local committee on arrangements for the reception and entertainment of the American Public Health Asaociation, which will hold ita eighteenth annual meeting in December next in Charleston, B. C., met at the City Hall with Mayoi Bryan in the chair. It will be interesting to know in ad vance something about the Assrciation. It was founded in 1872 In New York by a body of men who were interested in hygiene ana other sanitary questions, with a view of carrying out the princi ples of their organization, which are the lengthening of human life and the limit ing of the spread of disease. The society has grown from a few men to one of from five to six hundred membera. In its ranks are men distinguished in scien tific circles and who are laboring in the cause of hygiene and modern sanita tion. The meeting* of the Association are held each year and at these original pa per* are read, and th«y discuss the re suits of their discovr the proceed ings each year being published in a fine large v '’me. The coming meeting in this city will probably be one of the very largest ever held. On the receipt of the invitation from Mayor Bryan, although several citie* w<re competing for the honor, the Association determined to go to Charleston. Black ice cream is a new Philadelphia dainty. It is colored by the addition of •harooal and the juice of Turkish prunua Two youths of Napoleon, Mich., won a wager by each eating flv* pound* of hone; at one atting. WASHINGTON NEWS The Westem Union Telegraph build ing in New York city caught fire at 7 o’clock Friday morning. The dis tributing room on the fifth fl ior, the operating room on the floor above and the restaurant on the seventh floor were completely destroyed and seven lives miraculously saved. A le# thiuulea before seven o’fclock, V“T’ “‘'“‘.'i fl 11 ' the Opera tots began to arrive to go to *4*, work. About fifty men and young women had reached the operating room when a messenger boy of the name of Matthews saw & puff of some under a table in the distributing room, on the floor below the operating room. The fire spread with lightning rapidity and he rushed up stairs and panic was the result of the messenger’s information, and the young women screamed, while the men rushed pell mell down stairs to escape the flames, which in less than two minutes had sprtad almost over the en tire distributing room, burning up wires, instruments and tables as if they Were so much tindir. The entire room, when the panic stricken crowd passed through it, was filled with a dense, stifling smoke. They fell over each other in their efforts to reach a place of safety. By the time the flames bad reached the ceiling of the distributing room, and were eating their way through to the operating room, where the instru ments that connect with the wires that distribute news throughout the country were located, in less time than it takes to tell it, this entire floor was ablaz^ and the flames were eating their way to the floor above, where the Westem Union Company's restaurant was lo cated. It now flashed upon the minds of the frightened persons who had escaped that there were seven others, four men and three women, on the restaurant floor. Exit had by this time been cut off where by these persons could escape, and they were not warned of their danger until the smoke rushed up the stairway lead ing to the operating room, in volumes. Seeing escape cut off from every quar ter, there was an awful panic. The women rushed around the restanrant, screaming and bringing their hands. A trap door overhead waa pushed open ana the prisoners climbed to the roof. The streats surrounding the building were a perfect sea of faces of persons on their way to work. Flames were shoot ing out of the front windows, and vol umes of smoke puffed heavenward. Umtekthe eaves ot the building ifie flames were shooting, and the building seemed to be crowned with fire. When the great crowds on the streets saw the men and women rush out on the roof, a cry of honor went up, for it did not seem possible that they could be rt a cued. The women on the roof screamed and wrung their hands, and the men yelled “For God’s sake, do something to save us.” The first engine had arrived before the terrifying scene was presented on the roof, and a volume of water was pouring into the burning building, which cracked and hissed spluttered. The second alarm was sent out, followed immediately by a third. In a few minutes there were fourteen engines and hook and ladder companies and water throwers on the ground. Water poured in through the Aiming windows and beat down upon the roof, but the flames were stubborn in spite of the tons of water poured upon them, flowing back from the roof to the sidewalk like a cataract, from all sides. A long ladder was eventually raised upon the roof from Dey street and placed against the burning building. It did not reach within fifty feet of the roof. Undaunted, however, two fire men scaled the ladder. Leaving it at the top, they threw a rope to the roof. It was caught and tied by one of the hi ave girls, who seemed not to lose her nerve. The firemen pulled themselves up, hand over hand until they reached the top, and amid cheers from the thous ands of throats below, they let the seven down to places of safety. It was accomplished just in time, for the flames burst up through the coinice, and soon enveloped the roof. The building was entirely gutted with fire. Adioinmg structures sustained but little damage. The building of the Western Union Telegraph Company had been for a score or more of years one of the great and imposing landmarks of lower Broadway. Facing East, on the ground floor were the receiving offices of the company, together with the American District Messenger Company, with en trances on Broadway and bey streets. Eight lofty storiea were surmounted by a cupola. Running up from the cupola is a staff, on which hangs the time ball which drop* and tells the standard time. The building waa filled with offices on the five lower floors, which were occu pied by some of the greatest railroads and railroad magnates in the world. The vest system of the Pacific railroad was operated through instructions given from the Weatern Union building, and the private office* of Jay Gould, Sidney Dilion, Dr. Norris Green and others, who are famous through the length and breadth of the land were there. The Associated Preaa loses its inatru - ments, type-writers, furniture and all of ita hooka, papers, and records, dat ing from 1845, and a valube reference library. This lose is irreparable. All of the material for the history of the growth of the press in America, con tained in letter books aad files, is de stroyed, and can never be replaced. The money value is estimated at $15,000. There is no in:urance. Investigation ahowe that the loss will be far greater than earlier estimates. It is now stated that the loss will ex ceed $1,000 000. The great switch board in the operating room waa alone worth $z50,000. 044 Soarentn. Many capricious New Yorker* are hav ing souvenirs, such as ladies’ alippera and look! of heir, covered with a thin de- K t of eilver and displayed in their >ee as mementoes. The substances el the article* thus treated ar* not injuriously affected, and they attract oonsicUraote at tention wherever shown.—Argonaut. PLACES WAITING FOB ELIGIBLE* FROM THE SOUTHERN STATES. Washington, D. O,—The sivil service commission Friday issued the following circular: The number of eligibles on the regis ters of the civil service commission fot Jnost of the southern states is not suffi cient to meet the demands of the appor tiooment for appointments in the depart- jniental service at Washington. There ia IhIso a lack of eligible* for the railway mail service from moat of these states. To supply the deficiencies the commis sion baa arranged to hold extra examina tions ar the places named below, on the Lexington, Ky., July 23d; Charlotte, July 24th; Louisville, Ky., July 24th; Nashville, Tefin.,. July 25th; Columbia, R. C., Memphis, Tenn., St. Louis, Mo., July 26lh; Little Rock, Ark., and Ma con, Ga., July 28th; Montgomery, Ala., and Shreveport, La., July 30th; Binning ham, Ala., and Dallas, Texas, July 31st; Atlanta, Ga., August 1st; Chattanooga, Tenn., and Houston, Texas, August 3d; Knoxville, Tenn., and New Orleans, La., August 4lh; Jackson, Miss.. August 6th; Oxford, Miss., August 7th. Examinations for the railway mail service only will be held at Richmond, Va, July 28d, and Lynchburg, Va. August 6th. In view of the large number of appoint ments soon to be made, those who pass a creditable examination will very likely receive early appointments. Applies tion blanks may be obtained from the civil service commission at Washington, D. C , and may be piesented to the ex aminer, duly executed, at the time of examination. No special examination will he given at the above named places, except for special pension examiner and and medical examiner for the pension bureau. Stanlcj’s Wooing. The story of Stanley's wooing is grad ually being disclosed. He first met Miss Tennant when last in England, and for swhile was received with the same cool- Bess which usually characterized the lady's reception of attentions from gen tlemens But the indomitable courage, energy and wonderful powers of descrip tion possessed by the explorer gradually won the heart of one who possessed sim ilar traits in ao marked a degree, and when Stanley managed to pluck up suf ficient courage to propose she fainted with mingled delight and excitement. She promised to wait until he returned from his next African trip, and insisted that their engagement should be kept secret. The letters which have passed between “Stanley Africanus” and Miss Tennant, if they ev«r see the light of publication —love-letters of eminent persons are now included in the printer'a prey—will be truly eurioua storiea, for no doubt the explorer told more to his lady love than be will ever confess elsewhere of the awful tribulations of bis march through tha African swamps and forests. His brother explorers were aware of their commander’s love story, and many a tree in the strange lands visited has “Dolly” deeply cut into the bark. The natives Used to think it the sign of the white chief’s fetish and often prostrated theifl- wives before it. In one of his letter* Stanley wrote such a harrowing account it the sufferings Of his band and gave lUch a vivid picture of the death of a gi gantic negro slowly swallowed by a huge Ktpent that Mis* Tennant swooned after rbading it.—Sbmmercial Adver'Ucr, ALLIANCE NEWS. INTERESTING NOTES PEBTAHttNG Tb ALLIANCE MATTERS. The Pathfinder No More. Gen. John C. Fremont, who died in New York Sunday, had an eventful ca reer. The son of a French immigrant, he waa born in Savannah, Ga., in 1818, and received a collegiate education. Ap pointed to a lieutenancy in the United States crops of engineers, be penetrated the Rocky Mountains at two points, and won the title of “the pathfinder.” He also defined much of the geography be tween the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast, and bore a conspicuous part in the conquest of Upper California. He represented California in the United States Senate from 1849 to 1851. The first candidate of the Republican party, he was defeated 1 for President in 1856 by Jsmes Buchanan. General Fremont served as a major general in the Union army during the late civil war and at the pretent session of Congress was placed on the retired list, with the rack of major-general. A bill has been introduced in the House by Mr. Vandever, of California, granting a pension of $3,000 a year to the widow of General John C. Fre mont. Eaot* Abrai the Melos Trnsi? The Georgia Melon Exchange, which waa organized to handle this season's crop in the interest of producers of Georgia and adjoining territory, suspend ed July 8th and called in all its agents. The president of the Exchange claims that it was fought by outsider* who tried to create the impression that it was a trust and got the growers to believe they were all right in loading cars with any sort of melons. The result is that agents in the North and West, to which these have been consigned, have refused to pay the Exchange drafts on the ground that stuck did not come up to the requirements. The stockholders and the Exchange will lose, but the growers have undoubtedly been btnefit- ted by its existence, for while the crop has )>een three times as heavy as the same last year, prices have been 50 per cent, better. A Grateful Japanese Priest. I know an American who commissioned an agent to go to Japan in order to buy the quaintly carved panels which adorned one of the best and last of the very ancient temples of Japan. The old priest in the temple disliked to part with hia treasure and, indeed, he persistently de clined to do ao while one bid after an other, of increasing sums of money, was made to him. Not at all despairing of tha capture of this bric-a-brac, ray American friend wont to a Fifth avenue cabinet-maker and procured a handsome rosewood set of bedroom furniture. This he shipped to ths priest. This gift ao delured the old Jap that he stripped his temple not only of the panels but of many other things priceless to a con noasieur and sent them over to America. -(Hatter, NORTH CAROLINA FARMERS’ INSTITUTE. Commissioner of Agriculture Robin son has announced the following places and dates for the holding of the farmers’ institutes: Greensboro, Guilford county, July 23rd and 24th. Mount Holly, Gaston county, July 29th to August 1st. Troy, Montgomery county, August 4th and ML. Graham, Alamance county, August 6th and 7th. Lenoir, Caldwell county, August 8th and 9tb. Lexington, Davidson County, August 12th and 13th. Morganton, Burke county, August 15th and 16th. Marion, McDowell codnty, Auguat 18th and 19th. Waynesvllle, Haywood county, Au gust 22ud and 23rd. Franklin, Macon county, August 26th and 27th. Murphy. Cherokee county, August 29th and 30th. President Holladay and Prof. Massey, of the Agricultural College, will attend all these meetings. * * # * COL. POLK AT ASHEViLLE. He advocited the sub-treasury bill, and said that those members of the present Congress who oppose it will stand a slim chance for re-ele-ction. Members of the present Congress, he said, maintain that the bill is unconsti tutional, and yet our government already has a law on the same plan as tha’ of the sub-treasury bill, i by which the government advances money on liquors made under the internal revenue laws. Mr. Polk brought down the house when he said that the farmers could now get the benefits of what is proposed in the sub-treasury bill if they will have all their produce made into whiskey. They could draw money on it then un der present laws.—Asheville Journal. * * * ♦ The Alliance rally at Greensboro, N. C., Wednesday was a big success. There weie 5,000 farmers there. The Farmers’ Alliance m*n claim that they will have everything theif own waj in the politics of Georgia and Alabama, and will elect only their own candidates to all the offices, from governor down. Of the present representatives in Con gress they propose to leave eight out of ten at home in Georgia, and will not elect to office any man who lives in a city.—National Tribune. At Minneapolio, Minn., the Farmers Alliance convention nominated its presi dent, Robert J. Hall, for Governor. The Russian official report on the harvest expresses doubt as to whether the yield will be of average abundance. A short wheat crop in Russia means an advance in American prices. The South Carolina Farmers’ Alliance will meet at Greenville, to elect a presi dent and transact other business of im- porlance. Col. L. L. Polk, president of the National Alliance, wiH be present. The Watauga, N. C., buckwheat crop is said to be the largest in acreage ic the history of that county. A correspondent writes from Bates- burg, S. C: The cotton and corn crops in this section are all that our farmers could wish. In this immediate section they have not suffered a day for rain. Other sections, from what I can learn, are in just as good condition. Governor Ross, of Texas, lias accepted the presidency of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of that State, and will assume charge as soon as his term as Governor expires. His efficient aerveice as Governor pointed him out as ths proper person to conduct the affairs of the Agricultural College. * * * * We earnestly commend to members of the Farmers’ Alliance, North, East, West, and South, a consideration of some agricultural wisdom from so authoritative a source at the bead of one of Kentucky’s brightest jewels, the Woodburn farm. It was first published in our esteemed contemporary, the Stock Farm Mr. Brodhead says; “We have used thoroughbreds in the plough, the carriage, and under saddle, and invariably they were gamer than animals used for the same purposes that had not the thoroughbred cross. A mule whose dam is highly bred will outwear several whose dams are not. They are better in every particular. The draught horse, whose dam was thoroughbred, is gamer than the pure bred. The trotter* that we have had with thoroughbred blood were gamer than those without it.” It may not furnish quite ao much fun, but for lifting mortgages off the barn andjhouse a little thorough blood ‘ will beat politics way out of sight.—New York Sun. A Lucky Shot. A few days ago as James Knight, of Shelter Point, near Nanaimo, British Columbia, waa working in the woods close to his own house and barn,he heard a series of iqueals from a litter of tittle & which were running about the gar- Going in the direction of the sounds ha discovered a panther of very large proportions carrying off one of the pork ers. Running to the house with all pos sible speed, he secured his gun, his dog in the meantime chasing the marauder, which took to the trees. Taking aim at tho beast, whose glistening eyes shone through the foliage and whose growls made it impossible to mistake his where abouts,he brought the animal down, pre venting him making a dying charge by a well-directed shot into his brain. This brute, and several others of hia kind, with the assistance of the bears in tho neighborhood, have latterly made consid erable havoc among the smaller domesti cated animals,and it is proposed ere long to organize a shooting party with the ob ject of exterminating them.— Victoria (£. 0.) Colonut. London la overrun with what it is pleased to call “piano recitalert,” and the musical agents have declined for the present to make any new engagement* with celebrities. NEWB OF THE DAY CONDENSED Items ot Interest Put In 8ha , vj For Public Beading. The official count of the population of New York City, shows that the popu lation is 1,513,501, which is an increase of 25.46 per cent, over the census re turns of 1880, which gave the popu lation of 1880 as 1,206, 299, an in crease of 28 per cent, during the decade. In 1870 the population was 649.658 The percentage of increase from 1860 to 1870 waa 17 per cent. On Monday New York City turned the water in her new aqueduct. The great structure ia thirty-three miles long. The great Croton aqueduct was opened nearly half a century ago—in 1842—and at that time was regarded as one of the greatest Works of modern engineering in the World. Its capacity, however, was only 115,000,000 gallons daily, while the present work is more than double that, the calculation being that it will carry 250,000,000 gallons diiiy. The cost of the work is less than double that of the first aqueduct, being twenty- three millions of dollars against twelve and a half millions. Esquire John P. Hunter and Mr. J. R. Wallace of Charlotte, N. C., have taken the contract to supply an Eng lish syndicate with a large quantity of ash timber. The contract calls for ash lumber, 2x12 and 22 feet long, clear of knots. The contractors get $36 per thousand feet and the lumber is shipped direct to New York, thence by steamer to Europe. It is to be used there for the finest class of house and car building. The wood is being cut in Mecklenburg and Caburrus counties and it is conceded to be the fiaest that grows in the world. WONDERS OF FIREWORKS JAPANESE LEAD THE WORLD IN MAKING PYROTECHNICS. HELIGOLAND. The Little Island Which Kurland Ha* Ceded to Germany A Berlin dispatch states that Admiral Reiuhold Werner declares that the possession of Heligoland is more valuable than terri tory in Africa, because it renders a blockade of the German North Sea almost impossible, and spares Germany the keeping of a fleet there. Bueakiug of the little island which Great Bri tain has just ceded to Germany, receiv ing in return extensive territory in Africa, a Writer in Harper 9 * Weekly says: “The relative value of national possessions is curiously illustrated by the fact that Eng land, With her 9,000,000 square miles of the earth’s surface, receives for this little island, which is not as large as Central Park, an in demnity representing about half a million square miles of Africa soil. Even this may The oldest known pottery is the Egypt* ian, which date* from 2900 B. 0. HELIGOLAND. prove less than profitable, for Heligoland yields an annual revenue of $10,000, while he would be a bold prophet to assert that any European rower wifi make both ends meet in the administration of the Black Continent. But though a* a mercantile exchange the British have received a questionable property from Germany, still it is a matter of con gratulation for the civilized world that the two greatest Protestant nations of Europe, both belonging to the same Germanic race, and both rivals in the same industrial field, should have removed from between them the cause of what might at any time pro voke a war. “Heligoland became English after the de feat of Napoleon and his exile to Elba. At that time no one but Gneisenau dreamed of such a thing as a mighty German Empire, stretching from the ocean to the Russian frontier, and England had little difficulty to bolding it by treaty." “It lies adjacent to Germany's greatest sea port, and commands the approach to the second in importance as well. If a foreign power should claim possession of Block Isl and or Fisher’s Island, we could realize how Germans regard Heligoland in British hands. Or if we could imagine an island off the mouth of the Mississippi, or between Sandy Hook and Fire Island, the cases would be somewhat analogous, provided the British flag floated over them. Fortunately Heligo land has long since ceased to be considered valuable to England, while to Germany it has risen in importance with every increase in the German navy, every addition to Ger many’s merchant marine, and, above all, every indication of having to reckon wilb Russian or French cruisers." Worshiping Flowers. A recent traveler In India gives the following description of flower worship as practised by the Peraian, who, in flowing robe of blue, and on his head a sheepskin hat—black, glossy, curly, the fleece of Kar-Kal—would saunter in and stand meditatively over every flower he saw, and always as if half in vision. And when the vision was fulfilled and the ideal flower he waa seeking found, he would spread his mat and sit before it until the setting of the sun, and then fold up hia mat again and go home. And the next night, and night after nignt until that particular flowei faded away, he would return to it ana bring his friends in ever-increasing troops to it and sit and play the guitar or lute before it, and they would all to gether pray there, and after prayer still sit before it, sipping sherbet and talking the most hilarious and shocking scandal late into the moonlight, and so on every evening until the flower died. Sometimes, by way of a grand finale, the whole company would suddenly arise before the flower and serenade it together with an ode from Hafiz and de part.—New York Jvurntl. Families That Have Done Nothing Else for a Hundred Years—Bal loons of Many Kinds. The use of fireworks of all kinds be comes more universal every year in this country. Exhibitions are common at the winter resorts in the South, while in the North fireworks are used at toboggan and snowshoe carnivals and by summer excursionists. All the firecrackers used in this country come from China. They are shipped in sailing vessels that land at New York. Although we surprise the Oriental races in our knowledge of chemistry and mechanics we have never been able to compete with them in practical pyro technics. In this field they have de veloped skill that is well nigh mir aculous, and are as much our masters to day as they were at the time of fhe in vention or introduction of gunpowder in Europe. Long before that event the Chinese were enjoying firecrackers, from those no larger than a match to the mon strous ones which weigh live prunds apiece—bombs, Roman candles and Bengal lights. At the same time the Japanese were developing their wonder ful system of day fireworks into a fine art. Of the two races the Chinese were by long odds the first in point of time. Their annals show that the familiar fire cracker was known to the people of the Flowery Kingdom at least 1150 B. @. On the other hand there is no direct proof that the Jnpaucse were able to manu facture fireworks of any sort prior to 1040 A. D., some twenty-one centuries afterward. But the Chinese seemed satisfied with what tittle progress they made ia the early age, and have never gone beyond what they then accomplished. The Jap anese, on the contrary, have kept up ex periment and research to the present moment. In discussing the remarkable success of his countrymen in this industrial aet a member of the Japanese Embassy at Washington said recently. “The se cret of our prosperity is not as simple as might bo supposed. In tho first place we have a trade system something like the guilds of Europe A good fireworks maker brings up one or more of hie sons to follow him in his profession, and teaches them every little trick or discov ery he has made or that has been handed down to him by his ancestors. Thera are many families at home that have been firework makers for more than a cen tury.” The baloons are always of moderate Size, the great majority being about six and but few exceeding ten icit in length. They ars made of a strong nuU v durable tissue paper, are printed in colors, anti usually retouched with the brush by the artisans of the East before they are al lowed to leave the workshop. So far as shapes are concerned there is almost, end less variety. The commonest kinds are those which imitate the domestic animals. Next to these in popularity are the shapes of birds, fish, fruits, reptiles and dragons. Beyond these and much less economical, if not less popular, are human figures. These are of all sorts, ranging from a daimio to a grotesque head. It is difficult to estimate tha number of shapes turned out by Japanese pyrotech nists. One concern in Yeddo keeps over twelve hundred different kinds on hand, while another house ia Yokohama has a stock of two thousand varieties. These balloons are so weighted as to always keep a natural position. In some cases they are specially weighted with fine pieces of metal held hy a slow burning fuse. As the latter is consumed it re leases from time to time a weight. As this is liberated the balloon will spring Upward as if alive. With two leaded luses tho movements of a fish are beauti fully imitated. Corresponding to these five trails are what may be called smoke trails. The trail is charged with some inflammable substance like pitch, which is so treated as to give out great volumes of heavy flense black smoke, which fall slowly away from the balloon and leave a long, wavy line in the air to indicate the vary ing currents and eddies in the atmos phere. Some very expensive balloons have trails so arranged as to give lines of smoke in two, three, and even four colors. —New York Press. Growth of the Turnip Seed. The seed of a globe turnip is exceed ingly minute, not larger, perhaps, than the twentieth part of an inch in diameter, and yet, in the course of a few months, this seed will be elaborated by the soil and tho atmosphere into twenty-seven millions of times its original bulk, and this in addition to a considerable bunch of leaves. Dr. Desaguliers lias made some experiments proving that, in an av erage condition, a turnip seed may in crease its own weight fifteen times in a minute. By an actual experiment, made on peat ground, turnips have been found to increase by growth 15,990 times the weight of their seeds each day they stood upon it—New York Telegram. The population of Chili on the first of January was 3,165,289. This includes 50,000 Indiana. A Frone Oi rnsmOn. A prominent dealer in leather, from London, says that never before was there such a craze in London for queer leather as at the present time. He says also: “All kinds of skins, from the tough,, thick hide of an elephant to the thinner, tenderer frogs, are pressed into service to meet the demands of the fashionable. Some of our shops are stocked with a supply of fancy articles that are made from the skins of all sorts of beasts, rep tiles and fishes. These singular objects are exhibited in tho windows, whore their appearance proves a great attraction to the crowds. Made up into various ar ticles are yellow pelican skins, lion and panther skins, buffalo skins fish skins, monkey skins, and the coverings of al most every living tiring known. They are tanned and sometimes dyed with dif-’ ferent colors. I think it looks hideous to see a pretty girl walking along the streets swinging a portc-monuaio made of the scaly skin of n boa-constrictor. But it’s fashion, you know, and reminds one of the old story of beauty and the beast." — Commercial Advertiser. Adjusted the Gift to Her Mouth. Ahmed Effendi, the former Turkish Embassador in Berlin, when entertaining company, was in the habit of distributing sweets among the ladies present. Oa one occasion he gave a certain lady two or three times as much as the rest. She, vain of her triumph, got an interpreter to inquire the reason of his preference. “Because her mouth is twice as large at that of the other ladies,” was the reply, —Argonaut. ,.>'xv., i The steamer Yang Tse, which arrived , at Marseilles, France, the other day , re ports passing through, in tire Red Sea, a veritable bank of locusts covering an csti. mated area of .’)25 miles. It took th« ship twenty-four hours to pass through the immense cloud of insect*. • J l