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SUCCESSOR TO
CHERRY COUNTY INDEPENDENT
ROBERT B GOOD - Editor Prop
VALENTINE
NEBRASKA
ti i x- ii - t 41
II IS UUlUUliiy U 1UUB UJ3 11 lJtt lijr
Ing squadron had simply flew tho
coop
The spirit of Wendell Phillips is not
stalking about Boston to any extent
these times when three leading hotels
refuse to entertain a Bishop because
of his color
Thousands of scientific men are ex
perimenting with the X ray in Europe
and America and as the subject grows
on acquaintance it is likely to hold a
place among the leading topics of 1S9G
Emperor William says that to the
best of his knowledge and belief the
relations between Germany and Eng
land are absolutely harmonious He
keeps his left hand on his sword mere
ly from force of habit
The French are said to have invest
ed 300000000 in the South African
gold mines and a much larger amount
In Russian stocks and Spanish bonds
The payment of the German war in
demnity and the Panama Canal losses
appear to have made very little im
pression on French wealth
Russia has expressed a willingness
to annex and govern Armenia with
the permission of the other powers
It is a task no weak nation could ac
complish As a matter of geography
and race Armenia should have gone
to Russia long ago England has bar
red the way though unable to point
out any other solution
A proposal to exclude from the army
the legislature and municipal office
all persons whose fathers and grand
fathers were not citizens is before the
French Chamber of Deputies The
rule would have kept out Napoleon
Bonaparte and Gambetta A law ad
mitting only the children of French
citizens to the civil service is also
under consideration
Within recent years Africa has been
parceled out among the powers of
Europe England having seized a broad
helt of the continent reaching from
Cape Colony to the mouth of the Nile
What is to protect South America
Central America Cuba and Mexico
from a similar fate Nothing if the
historic policy of the United States
is to be turned down by Lord Salis
bury
One of the best ways for the highei
courts to lessen the lynching tendency
is to refuse to set aside verdicts against
criminals for any reason that does
not touch the question of guilt or in
nocence The people prefer to have
justice administered by the duly ap
pointed agencies but when those agen
cies allow justice to be defeated on
technical and frivolous grounds other
means of enforcing the laws have tc
be invoked
A Philadelphia writer contends that
everything in nature goes in threes
and that after discovering the lumi
nant and the actinic power of light
science should have known that there
is another attribute which has been
found and is called the X ray If
the third ray says this theorist has
information to give us of the sun moon
and stars as vital and important as
that conveyed by the luminant ray
through the spectroscope we are in
deed on the eve of an inconceivably
vast extension of the field of human
knowledge This view of the matter
may be pronounced interesting but
uncertain
In 1S93 according to the report of
the Commissioner of Education which
has been brought down to that year
the number of school houses in the
United States was 235420 valued at
39S435039 wth an annual revenue
of 105000000 teachers numbering
383010 and an aggregate of 150S3630
pupils The illiteracy in the United
States has been reduced to 133 per
cent this including 50S per cent
among negroes and 131 per cent
among white immigrants But little
over half of the negro population is
now illiterate While education in this
country is extending at a rapid rate
there is still much to be done before
reaching the standard of Germany
-with only 1 per cent of illiterates
On the strength of experiments with
the Roentgen ray a scientist has come
forward with a pamphlet to claim that
the sun is not an inconceivably hot body
hut a habitable globe with an ideal
climate It sends to the earth vast cur
rents of electricity which in passing
through our atmosphere are converted
into light and heat According to this
theory the earth is a magnet solarized
in space and between all heavenly
lodies exists an interaction of electro
magnetic currents These currents from
the sun are fully returned to it because
the reaction of the other heavenly bod
ies equals the sum total of the suns
electric discharges In regard to the
creation of the earth the author has no
explanation to offer but he says the
sun is not going to cool off man will
not disappear nor will the earth ever
become a frozen ball on account of the
suns loss of heat
The University of Pennsylvania has
established a series of scholarships and
fellowships for post graduate study for
two years aud for three yerfrs after tak
ing the degree of Ph D The scholar
ships make provision for three classes
The men who have the nbility which
justifies their taking a year more than
jibe college course those who are fittiDg
7
c Ph
7- affl7 - ftafcnselvesfortiieaeBre
i WawUUUe KgVWUii J as to ieach or carry ou nj
f 1 - III V liVUJ
ine excdmupjim
seven years or speciar Tsrauy i
so
and
or
not
wasted The new step taken by the
university is one of the highest import
ance as it bears upon the promotion
of liberal study for the development of
knowledge and the training of men fit
ted to do the best work in teaching or
in any other calling which requires a
general training of a specific character
No sooner have the X rays given sur
geons an interior view of the human
body than new surgical operations hive
been projected more wonderful than
the X rays themselves There ij a
man in Chicago who having un ler
gone a resection of the femur Lad
three inches of a calfs bone inserttd
to preserve the length of the limb bu
even this feat is to be eclipsed Dr
Miller of Fertile Minn is experiment
ing to test the practicability of trans
ferring the kidneys of one animal to
the body of another He has already
attempted the operation and overcome
the most serious obstacles and is con
fident he will soon be able to replace tlm
diseased kidneys of a man with those
of a dog The prospect which these
experiments open up is rather confus
ing Evidently the time is approach
ing when Brights disease will lose its
terrors for if this malady attacks a
man he will simply get a new set of
kidneys and go about his business But
the danger is that the knowledge that
this can be done will only encourage
self indulgence and result in a general
breaking down of the system On the
other hand there is a prospect that
new livers hearts and lungs may be
provided in the same way so we are
all at sea again One thing to be con
sidered before one submits to such op
erations is the effect of these organic
repairs on character If as material
ists assert every mans character is the
inevitable product of his physical na
ture it follows that no serious change
can be made in the organs of his body
without a corresponding change in his
mental traits Probably no one doubts
that if a mans brains were taken out
aud replaced with calfs brains it would
make a change in his way of thinking
But it is just as obvious that if he had
a calfs liver it wrould make a propor
tionate change in his character and so
on with the other organs Then the
question arises whether these changes
would injure human character or im
prove it and this of course depends on
the man Some cynic has said the
more he saw of men the better he
thought of clogs and probably he would
consider that the more dog there could
be transfered to a mans body the bet
ter man he would be Certain it is that
there are men here and everywhere
who with some traits of the dog the
hog and even the hyena introduced
into their character would be better
citizens But one thing leads to an
other and we are next brought face to
face with an awkward problem con
cerning personal identiy If one part
after another of a pocketknif e is chang
ed it gradually ceases to be the same
knife Much more if a mans vital or
gans give way to those of the sheep
the calf and the dog he must become
a different moral being Is he a man
at all Has he a soul Is he account
able and immortal After all it is dif
ficult to tell whether Dr Miller should
be encouraged or not in his daring ex
periments
A Miraculous Cross in the Sky
A miraculous cross upon the heavens
was seen by Hungus King of Picts
It was at a time when Achaius King
of the Scots and Hungus were routed
by Athelstan King of Northumberland
They had been defeated at every turn
and in their disordered flight had come
to East Lothian The first night in
the country last mentioned was one of
terrible forebodings to the fugitive
kings and during his troubled sleep
Hungus dreamed he claimed it to be
a vision that he saAV the cross of Saint
Andrew the X held out upon the sky
and that it waved back and forth as a
signal for him to press on to victory
Early the next day the fugitives be
gan to retrace their steps and during
the day so tradition says Hungus and
all his army saw a verification of the
previous nights vision or dream in the
shape of a titanic Saint Andrews cross
clearly pictured on the heavens All
of King Hungus soldiers being now
satisfied that the sign was a token of
victory were only too anxious to meet
the Northumberland invaders from
whom they had ben flying in such wild
disorder the day before and if history
is to be believed they did meet Athels
tan whom they killed after they had
utterly annihilated his army
The Community of Letters
Writers have liked to speak of the Re
public of Letters as if to mark their
freedom and equality but there is a
better phrase namely the Community
of Letters for that means intercourse
and comradeship and a life in common
Some take up their abode in it as if
they had made no search for a place to
dwell in but had come into the freedom
of it by blood and birthright Others
buy the freedom with a great price
and seek out all the sights aud privil
eges of the place with an eager thor
oughness and curiosity Still others
win their way into it with a certain
grace and aptitude next best to the
ease and dignityQf being born to the
right But for all it is a bonny place to
be Its comradeships are a liberal edu
cation Some indeed even there live
apart but most run always in the mar
ket place to know what all the rest
have said Some keep special company
while others keep none at all But all
feel the atmosphere and life of the
place in their several degrees Cen
tury
The game is up remarked the hun
gry customer as he noted the advance
in price of birds on the bill of fare
Philadelphia Record
MUNITIONS 0E WAR
MADE
AT THE ROCK
ARSENAL-
ISLAND
Gigantic Shops for the Manufacture
of Wars Enginery Picturesque Sur
roundings of the Depository of Mu
nitions
Equipment for an -Army
If ever again it is decided by the
United States Government to unleash
the dogs of Avar Rock Island will at
once become a pivotal point of per
haps greater international importance
than any other spot of land of equal
size in this country Not the city of
that name but the island itself the
CAVALRY SOLDIER EQUIPMENT
site of the largest arsenal belonging to
this government Rock Island is in the
Mississippi River about 800 miles
above St Louis and ten miles below
Galena It is nearly three miles in
length and varies in width from one
fourth to three fourths of a mile and
contains above low water mark 570
acres Lengthwise the island lies near
ly east and west such being the course
of the river at this point The civil
war early shoAved the need of a great
armory and arsenal in the Mississippi
Valley where the legions of the West
ern States could be rapidly armed and
equipped for AAar
Rising Avell out of the bosom of the
broad father of AAaters among the high
surrounding hills on which the cities
of Davenport Moline and Rock Island
are built Avith an immense water poAver
right at hand situated so far inland
as to be secure from an enemys at
tack affording that seclusion so nec
essary for the prosecution of Avork of
a Avarlike character and possessing fine
rail and AAater communication the
island of Rock Island would seem
marked out by nature as the ideal spot
for the greatest United States armory
and arsenal
The United States acquired its title
to the island through a treaty which
Avas made Avith William Henry Harri
son Governor and superintendent of
Indian affairs for the Indian secretary
and district of Louisiana with certain
chiefs of the Sac and Fox tribes of
INFANTRY SOLDIER EQUIPMENT
brigadier general and chief of ord
nance General Rodman died at his
quarters at the arsenal June 7 1871
Great Military Plant
This great military plant consists
of ten Immense fireproof stone shops of
U shape Avith a system of dams giving
over 3000 horse power and the neces
sary storehouses magazines labora
tories barracks and quarters situated
near the center of the island Five of
these great shops placed in a toav
each of Avhich cost nearly 500000 are
intended as an armory for the manu
facture of small arms such as rifles and
carbines and cartridges and the re
maining five shops in another i oav on
the opposite side of the handsome tree
embowered avenue facing the first
row are intended as an arsenal for
the construction of ordnance and ord
nance stores When in full operation
during time of war and provided and
equipped Avith all the necessary ma
chinery the arsenal shops would em
ploy some 20000 workmen with twenty
line officers and 200 ordnance soldiers
as guard Under these circumstances
the capacity of the arsenal and the
armory would be the full armament
and equipment for a regiment of caA
alry or of infantry some 1200 strong
each Avorking day
The departments fully equipped and
running at present comprise the ma
chine carpenter leather paint gun
carriage and forge shops the foundry
and roiling mill employing about 40G
men AA ith a monthly pay roll of nearly
30000 The administration of th
government shops at all the arsenals is
excellent and the relations between
employer and employed Avould form
an excellent model for many of the
large manufacturing establishments oi
the present day It is steady work
Avith short but busy hours every day
good wages and certain pay just treat
ment clean and roomy shops
The Present Output
The arsenal to day is engaged in th
manufacture and supply of ordnance
stores for the regular army the na
tional guard the military colleges and
partly for the marine corps United
States navy and the naA al reserve
a total force of over 150000 men The
main part of the work consists in the
construction of siege gun carriages
siege howitzer carriages fixed gun car
riages Avith limbers caissons and bat
tery Avagons complete the complete
accouterments for infantry and cav
airy soldiers horse equipments and
harness for light artillery No rifles
swords or revolvers are manufactured
here in time of peace but large quanti
ties of these small arms are sent frorc
the national armory at Springfield
Mass to be distributed to the army
forts national guard and military col
leges of the Mississippi valley and the
Western States All iron Ayood cloth
and paper targets are also made here
besides the regular elliptical targets
iron frames to be covered AAith cotton
cloth and representing soldiers in the
act of firing kneeling and lying doAvn
on the skirmish line and cavalry sol
diers on horseback Small arm car
tridges of all kinds are received in car
lots from the government cartridge fac
tory at Philadelphia to be distributed
also as above In the several labor
atories all kinds of cartridges for fixed
guns are made up The fixed guns and
their projectiles are made at Water
vliet arsenal West Troy N Y Con
tracts for material used in construc
tion at arsenals are made yearly
In the gun yard of the Rock Island
arsenal may be seen grim trophies of
several Avars One gun speaks of revo
lutionary struggles and patriotism and
bears this inscription Surrendered
by the convention of Saratoga Oct 17
1777 This trophy of the surrender of
Burgoyne has for many years been an
honored guest at the arsenal
Old Man Was Eligible
James Payn the London Avriter tells
a seasonable story He says a young
man was paying his attentions to a
JX I L
ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL
Indians at St Louis in November ISOi
Black HaAvk the famous Indian hero
of the Black HaAvk AAar AA as the prin
cipal chief of the Sacs and did not sign
the treaty but ahvays held that it Avas
not binding Congress in 1SG2 made
the first appropriation for the construc
tion of the arsenal Avhich has been fol
loAved since by some 812000000 for
government improvements besides an
nual appropriations for running ex
penses The noted artillery engineer
and ordnance scientist General Thom
as A Rodman ordnance department
U S A AA as assigned to the duty of
commencing the construction of the or
senal which after long and brilliant
work AA as carried to successful comple
tion by Colonel D W Flagler now
beloved object contrary to the wish
es of her father a man of theAvs and
sineAvs and one day the latter kicked
the lover violently into the street In
a day or tAvo after recovery the re
jected suitor apparently not one Avhit
discouraged called at the house once
more What again exclaimed pater
familias putting on his well soled boots
for action
No sir cried the young man I
have given up all hope of Avinning your
daughter but in consequence of that
astounding kick you gave me the other
day I have been requested on the
strength of my earnest recommenda
tion to the committee to ask you to
join our football club
Doctors Starving in France
In the British Medical Journal a Par
is correspondent says at least 2500
phj sieians in France are battling Avith
starvation and he adds that physicians
themselves are largely responsible for
this state of affairs They have taught
lady patronesses of different societies
to diagnose diseases to dress and band
age Avounds to Aaccinate their OAA n
children and those of their neighbors
Medical science is Aulgarized in every
AA ay Doctors write in important daily
papers explaining hOAV bronchitis and
cramps of the stomach are to be cured
and in fashion journals they teach Iioav
to cure pimples and avert headaches
FiAe hundred thousand gratuitous con
sultations are giA en yearly in Paris dis
pensaries and in this way a large
amount of fees is diverted from the
medical profession
What She Said
Liz said Miss Kiljordans youngest
brother do you say woods is o
AAoods are
Woods are of course she an
swered Why
Cause Mr Woods are down in the
parlor waitin to see you Exchange
Spratts Miss Elder is much older
than I thought Hunker Impossi
ble Spratts Well I asked her if
she had read Esops Fables and she
said she read tueni Avhen they first
came out Home Journal
Should a man think more or less of
a man who gives him a poor cigar
RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD
The Duke of Westminster Is Award
ed that Distinction
His grace the Duke of Westminster
honest man sleeps easily Though his
children number some seven living and
he has grandchildren too many to be
reckoned readily yet he has no fear for
the morrow The duke is probably the
richest man in the AAorld Li Hung
Chang has been rated higher and
Americans in their pride claim greater
wealth for Mr Rockefeller but eA
erything considered the Duke of West-
DUKE OF WESTMINSTER
ministers holdings AA ill doubtless top
those of the Chinaman and the Ameri
can He is certainly the heaviest own
er of real estate in the world There
is considerable uncertainty as to the
title of property in China It is the
subjects to day it may be the em
perors or it may be parceled out among
EATON IIALL IIOME
other citizens to morroAA Mr Rocke
fellers is largely in stocks and se
curities The dukes is principally real
estate Its value and earnings are lit
tle affected by outside causes For a
century indeed the only Aariation has
been an increase of A alue and rentals
The duke is interested in many com
mercial enterprises and raihAay and
other corporations but as was said
the bulk of his belongings is in the
nature of real estate business blocks
market places houses and farms His
Income ranges from 4000000 to 5
D00000 annually It is not so great as
that of several Americans whose ag
gregate Avealth is much less than that
of Westminster but if their returns are
larger their risk is greater The dukes
belongings real and personal amount
to about 175000000
The dukes popularity is as great as
his wealth If his position were elec
tive and he Avere to resign he would be
returned again at the next election
He is a truly democratic peer making
the true distinction betAveen democracy
and the Aulgarity and Aiciousness of
Aylesford Queensberry and other no
torious aristocrats dead and aliA e He
is beloved of his tenantry and admired
by people of all classes whether they
are his dependants or otherAAise His
popularity AA as not gained in politics
or in diplomacy but from association
His hospitality is boundless and his
many ancestral seats are ahvays filled
with guests The fire is alight the
year round It is in the hunting field
that his grace finds greatest joy He is
a true sportsman and is careless
whether farmers or princes accompany
him in the chase It is the game he
seeks not society He is the best judge
of a horse in the United Kingdom and
is not wholly theoretical in his informa
tion He can fit a racing plate to a
horses foot with the skill of a master
smith His horses are the pride of his
life His stud farm is the estate on
AAhich his principal country seat Eaton
Hall is situated This is in Chester
near Hawarden the home of Glad
stone The lords of the stud are the
great Ben dOr and Ormonde
The duke AA ho describes himself as
being in the prime of life AA as born
October IS 1S25 and is noAV in his
j ear He has been mar
ried twice the first time in 1S52 His
wife AA as Lady Constance Gertrude
Leweson GoAver daughter of George
Granville duke of Sutherland They
had eleven children of AAhom six are
now living The first duchess died in
1SS0 and in 1883 the duke married
Katherine Caroline Cavendish daugh
ter of Lord Chesham They have three
children
In discussing the democratic ways
of the duke Englishmen relate the
story of a stranger who desired to see
the art treasures of Eaton Hall He
met an elderly man walking about thei
grounds and from his dress which t
a semihunting costume and not too
neAV thought the man to be a retainer
of the duke The stranger asked the
man to shOAV him about the place
Avhich the person did pointing out ex
plaining and listening to the visitors
comments on the duke and the family
Avith interest and receiA ed Avith thanks
a half sovereign to requite him for his
trouble The following day the visitor
rode out to the hunt and in the master
of the hounds Avho was also lord lieu
tenant of the county and Duke of West
minster he recognized his guide of the
day before It is explained by the en
thusiastic felloAV countrymen of the
duke that the reason the great man did
not decline the tip given him by the
visitor AA as his fear of disconcerting
the stranger It would have been so
utterly out of character for an English
servant to decline money that the pper
would have been obliged to disclose his
identity to explain his refusal
A Ghost Story Exploded
It is a relief even to those who scorn
to believe in the supernatural when a
supposed ghost is clearly proved to be
of earthly origin One of the most fa
mous murder cases in Australia Avas
discovered by the ghost of the murder
ed man sitting on a rail of a nam Aus
tralian for horsepond into Avhich hi
body had been throAvn Numberless
people saAV it and the crime Avas duly
brought home Even the skeptical aH
mitted that this ghost seemed to be an
auuieuuu uue jui suiut en nnxnT
a dying man making his confession said
that he invented the ghost He Avit
nessed the crime but AA as threatened
with death if he divulged it as he
OF THE DUKE OF
WESTMINSTER
ed to and the only way he saAV out of
the impasse AA as to affect to see the
ghost where the body Avas found As
soon as he started the story such is the
power of nervousness that numerous
other people began to see it until its
fame reached such dimensions that a
search AA as made and the body found
and the murderers brought to justice
The Tourah Prison
The chief prison in Egypt for raaic
hard labor convicts is at Tourah about
eight miles south of Cairo where the
adjacent quarries Ahich once furnish-
1
eel limestone to the builders of the
great Pyramids supply unlimited scope
for labor six days a week There are
nine hundred and fifty convicts and
though one hundred of them are
lifers there are others AAiiose term
is only for six months Strict discip
line is maintained by sixty five
Arho are unarmed and do not carry
even a stick or Avhip but by night there
are nine sentries and by day there are
four who patrol the roof and the out
side of the prison and aa1io knoAV Iioav
to use their loaded rifles Avith deadly
aim These sentries are blacks from
the equatorial proA inces and have
more than one attempted es
cape Nearly all the comicts are na
tives of Egypt the blacks only supply
ing fiAe per thousand and the Nubians
averaging only tAAO per thousand Any
extra bad characters among the con
victs such as the ringleaders of at
tempted rcA olt or escape are locked up
at night in solitary cells to lessen their
chances of contaminating their fel
Ioavs -
As a whole the convicts are by nc
means of a ruffianly type and their
physiognomies are very like those of
the ordinary peasant In this country
where crime is at such a minimum and
where even the lunatics are as quiet as
sheep it is not too much to hop thit
education and improved environment
may one day do much to improve
the lot of the toAA nfolk from whom
the convicts are mostly draAA n The
ticket-of-leave sysipm has not yet
been introduced into Egypt and Avould
certainly be AA orth a trial for at pres
ent there is very little incentive to well
conducted conA icts to lead a peaceful
hard AAorking life Avithin the prison
bonds Every A isitor cannot fail to be
struck with the Aery healthy well fed
appearance of the prisoners and on in
quiry I was told that there Avere only
fourteen on the sick list
Not His Fault
Old Lady Did t I tell you never to
come here again
Up-to-Date Tramp I hope you wiiT
pardon me madam but it is the fault
of my secretary he has neglected ta
strike your name from my calling list
Tid Bits
PROPOSED BRIDGE ACROSS THE POTOMAC AT WASHINGTON
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