Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Sioux County journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1888-1899 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1897)
COST THE STATE $270,133.45 THREE OF JUDGE POST'S DE CISIONS. thowlnfHow He and His Republi can Associates are. In a Large De cree, Responsible for the Loss of the Above Amount, (World-Herald Of the $557,000 lost by the state by the state treasurer under the republi can administration the sum of $270, 113.45 belonged to the, permanent school fund. The World-Herald Invites attention to the showing hereinafter made which establishes the fact that three decisions made by Judge A. M. Post and his associates are, in a large degree, responsible for the loss of $270,133.45 of the permanent school fund. THE CASE IX A NUTSHELL. The constitution of the state, adopt ed In 1875, provides, section 9, article I, that educational funds shall not be lovested or loaned except on United States or state securities, or registered county bonds of this state. And the tate is pledged to supply all losses that may accrue in any manner to these school funds. January, 1889 The Nebraska su preme court, composed of these etni- Lnt lawyers: M. B. Reese, Samuel faiwell and Amaaa Cobb, gave an pinion at the January term, 1889, as follows: "State warrants Issued In pursuance 'jf an appropriation and secured by a levy of taxes for their payment, are 'tate securities' within the provisions Of section 9, article 8, of the constitu tion of this state." (See 25th Nebraska report, page 659.) 1891 The legislature of 1891 enacted a law, found in session laws of 191, chapter 48, declaring that when a war rant issued in pursuance of an appro priation made by the legislature and secured by the levy of a tax for Its payment, is presented to the treasurer for payment, and there is not money in the fund upon which the warrant is drawn, the treasurer shall pay the amount due on said warrant from eny funds in the state treasury belonging to the permanent school fund, and shall hold the warrant as an investment of the said permanent school fund. February 20, 1894 Judge Post and hie associates decide that the state treasurer cannot be required to de post the permanent school fund in do poeitory banks. (See 39th Nebraska report, page 353.) May 2, 1894 Judge Post and his as sociates refuse to issue a mandamus against State Treasurer Hartley, asked for by Goernor Crounse, requiring Hartley to invest permanent school fund In state warrants. In this opin ion Judge Post and his associates held that Hartley could not act alone in tills matter, but a resolution to make such investment must first be adopted by the school fund investment com mission. May 10, 1894 Governor Crounse caused a resolution to be adopted by the school fund Investment commission requiring the state treasurer to invest permanent school fund In state war rants. June 2fi, 1894 Judge Post and his associates render an opinion that a tate warrant Is not a state security and that even after a resolution is adopted by the school fund investment commission the state treasurer has no authority to obey such a resolution. (See 41st Nebraska report, page 277 ) January, 1897 As a result of these three decisions by Judge Post and his associates the sura of $270,133.45 of permanent school funds, which was too "sacred" to be deposited for safe keeping in state depository banks and too "sacred" to be Invested In state warrants, "turned up missing." HEUE ARE THE DETAILS. Under the Nebraska constitution adopted In 1875 the state Is required to make good all losses suffered by the permanent school fund , That same constitution provides that this perma nent school fund could be invested in "state securities." If we search for an early interpre tation of "Rtate securities" we find it in the fact that the members of the constitutional convention of 1875 re ceived their pay in state warrant, which were recognized to be "state se curities," and were paid out of the permanent school fund and held as an Investment for that fund. In 1889 the Nebraska supreme court, then composed of Judges M. H. Reese, Samuel Maxwell and Amasa Cobb, gave an opinion that state warrants were "state securities within the meaning of the constitution." Under the republican regime the per manent school fund became a source of revenue to the personal use of re publican officials, and the populist leg islature of 1891 enacted a law requiring that the treasurer Invested the perma nent school fund In state warrants. For a time the republican state treasurer complied with this law, but iiubse quently he declined to make further Investments. CROUNSES GOOD EFFORT. Early In 1894 Governor Crounse made a systematic effort to Induce the investment of the permanent school fund in state warrants. Hut there was also on foot alKiut that time a sys tematic effort to prevent the permanent school fund from being Invested any where or In anything except to the ad vantage of the treasurer. POST'S FIRST DECISION. On February 20, 1S94, Judge Post ud his associates rendered an opinion (n which they held that the permanent school fund could not be placed in tate depositories. In that opinion Judge Tost and his associates held: "The depositing of the moneys be longing to the permanent educational fund of the state In banks undor the provisions of the depository laws Is, In effect, a loan and Investment of the funds so deposited, and Is, therefore, Inhibited by the constitution." (See Stth Nebraska report, page SfS.) la the light of this decision Gover nor Crounse's great concern for the security of the permanent school fundi prompted him to make strenuous ef forts to Induce the treasurer to Invest Out fund In state warrants. POST8 SECOND DECISION. In order to test this question and to force compliance with the law of 1891, Governor Crounse had, on January 17, 1894, presented to Treasurer Hartley a warrant in Crounse' name for $10. Bartley said there was no money in the general fund. Governor Crounse then demanded that the warrant be paid out of the school fund In compliance with the law of 189L Bartley declined to do this, giving as his reason that under that law of 1891 it waa provided that the authority to pay state warrents out of the school fund must come by a resolution regularly adopted by the school fund investment commission, which commission comprised the governor, secretary of state, treas erer, attorney general, and com missioner of public lands and buildings. Bartley held that un der the law of 1891 the treasurer could not act on his own motion and that a resolution by this commission was nec essary. Governor Crounse then applied to the supreme court for a mandamus upon Treasurer Hartley to require him to pay the warrant out of the school fund. Hartley set up the defense above outlined. Judge Post and his associates refused to issue the mandamus asked for by Governor Crounse on the ground that the treasurer could not act alone and the court added: "It is the duty of the board charged with the management and control of the school funds to de termine when and in what sums said funds shall be invested, as well as what securities of the kinds authorized by the fundamental law shall be pur chased and the price that shall be paid for the same. WHEN THE HOARD HAS SO DETERMINED AND OR DERED IT MAY BY RESOLUTION entered upon the record of its pro ceedings authorize and DIRECT THE STATE TREASURER TO PAY OUT THE MONEY THEREFOR." This opinion was rendered May 2, 1894. (bee 40th Nebraska report, page 298.) CROUNSE TOOK COURT'S ADVICE. Governor Crounse acted on the sug gestion of the court and subsequently investment commission the following resolution: Resolved, That the sum of $200,000 of the permanent school fund of the state of Nebraska, or as much there of as may be necessary, Ik, and hereby is, sot apart from which to pay out standing warrants drawn upon the gen eral funds, which warrants are regis tered and bearing numbers from No. 13,292 to 18,000 inclusive; and the state treasurer is instructed to at once notify the several parties in whose names said warrants are registered, of his readiness and purpose to pay said warrants, so that the interest on the same shall cease, as provided In chap ter 93 of the compiled statutes of Ne braska, and when so paid the warrants shall be held by the treasurer us an investment of the permanent school fund and shall be stamped and signed as provided by law. This resolution was adopted May 10, 1894. On May 14, 1894, Stull Bros., a bank ing firm at Lincoln, presented to Treas urer Hartley a state warrant and asked to have the same registered , so it could draw Interest. In compliance with the order of the board Hartley of fered to pay the warrant out of the school fund. Stull Bros, refused to ac cept payment out of the school fund and Insited that the warrant be regis tered. Stul Bros, then aplied to the supreme court for a mandamus to com pel the registration of this warrant. POST'S THIRD DECISION. Judge Post rendered the decision on June 26, 1894, and granted the writ. The court held, in the opinion render ed by Judge Post, that a state warrant was not a "state security" as contem plated by the constitution, and there fore the school fund could not be In vested In state warrants EVEN THOUGH THE HOARD BY RESOLU TION DIRECTED SUCH INVEST MENT. (See 41st Nebraska report, page 277.) Governor Holcomb, in spite of this decision, sought to Induce the republi can state treasurer to Invest the per manent school fund in state warrants. Governor Holcomb Introduced resolu tions to this effect In the school fund Investment commission. He invited opinions on these resolutions from eminent lawyers, and among the re plies was the following from ex-Governor Crounse: A HOT ARRAIGNMENT. I have neither the t'me nor have I access here to the authorities cited to enable me to enter uiwn the discussion you invite. Your resolutions, h jwevor are substantially those adopted on my motion by the board when I was a member of it. YOU KNOW THEIR FATE. Yours, I think, will fare no better. The resolutions, In my judg ment, are as SOUND IN LAW, as WISE IN PURPOSE, but the wisdom and Ingenuity of our modem Daniels seem to run In the direction of SHIELDING 'HIE PLUNDERERS OF THE TREASURY rather than to PRO TECT THE TREASURY ITSELF. The republican attorney general ad vised Governor Holcomb that under the Poet decision the permanent school fund could not lo In veiled In state warrants, and Governor Holcomb asked for ex-Judge Maxwell's opinion. Judge Maxwell replied as follows: I have reread his (the at'o ney gen. eral's) opinion very carefully, and the reasons he assigns fall to show that state warrants are not state securities. Although the opinion of Judge Reese was not rendered In an action actually pending, yet It was given to the legis lature fn pursuance of a request for the view of the court as to the pro priety of passing a law for the invest ment of the permanent school fund in stale warrants. The question was very rarefully corildered by the entire court and the opinion prepared by him and concurred In by all the other mem bers. Judge Reese Is one of the best lawyers In the state and was a member of the constitutional convention of 1$75, and knew the object of the pro vision was to make safe Investment for the school fund. I see a cor respondent In the Fremont Leader calls attention to the fact that mem bers of the constitutional convention of 1871, wbtch was In session about four months were paid In state war rants which the state board Invested the permanent school fun la. Thai Is a fact. I was a member of that con ventlon and also of the constitutional convention of 1876. Chief Justice Ma son of Nebraska City and Judge Lake 9t Omaha, both Judges of the supreme court, were slo members of the con vention of 1171, and their warrants ai well as my own were paid out of that fund and. no one questioned it. COSTLY RESULT OF POST'S DE CISIONS. By reason of these three dfeclsio." of Judge Poet and his associates, deci sions which overruled the opinion of the court when It was composed of such eminent lawyers ae Reese, Maxwell and Cobb, the republican state treas urer was enabled to hold for his own use and benefit the sum of $270,133.45 of the permanent school fund, which sum he has failed to pay over to bis succecssor. TRYING TO DODGE THE ISSUE. Desperate Methods of Republicans to Defeat Sullivan. Fremont, Neb., Oct, 18. Shrewd criminal lawyers are wont, in desper ate criminal cases, to ignor the proof presented against their clienU and de vote their energies to abusing the pios ecution. liy these tactics the main question is often lost sight of and an acquittal secured. These are the tac tics the republicans are employing in this campaign. Hut they must not be permitted to dodge the issue. The question now is not how Judge Sulli van voted on the Omaha charter and other measures when a member of the legislature, eleven years ago; the ques tion now is whether the looters of the treasury shall have their cases tried before a court composed entirely of their own partisans. Still, to show the desperation of the republican managers in trying to be smirch the fusion candidate for su preme judge, we call attention to some recent statements of the Omaha Bee. That organ strenuously Insists that Judge Sullivan's failure to vote for Van Wyck for United States senator was a betrayal of his trust. The fact, however, Is that Judge Sullivan was electel to the legislature as a demo crat and was under no obligation or promise, direct or implied, to votet for Van Wyck or any other republican. It has never been claimed and it i not true, that he was ever petitioned, so licited, or even expeited by anyone from Platte county to vote for General Vay Wyck. The Bee still insists that Judge Sul livan Is, or was until recently, a gold democrat. Almost every voter in the Third congressional district knows this is not true. The editor of the Bee knows it is not true, but he continues to publish It-in the hope it may go where the truth cannot follow it. Recently it was stated in the Bee that Judge Sullivan was elected to the district bench by the railroads, as a reward for votes given on railroad measures. In the sixth judicial dis trict, everybody knows this statement to be false, and the editor of the Bee himself does not believe it to be true. Judge Sullivan's record on railroad legislation Is found in House Journal of 1887 at pages 882, 883, 1097, 1098, 1292 and 1597. Look at It. It appears that he voted for a 20 per cent reduc tion in freight rates, that he voted for the maximum freight rate bill; that.af ter t he bill was killed in the senate, he voted on the day before adjournment for the senate bill. Unrter the opera tion of this same senate bill, freight charges were reduced to 33 1-3 per cent during the following summer. The Bee has much to say about the anti-gamblinsr bill. The record of m measure Is found in H. J. 1887, pages 1338, 1400, 1612, 16137 It shows that every act and vote of Judge Sullivan tended to facilitate the passage of the bill. The complaint of the Bee seems to be that Judge Sullivan, with sixty one others, voted in favor of an open Investigation of charges preferred by Mr. Rosewaler against an unnamed member of the judiciary committee Rut, after all, this Is not the ques tion to be considered now. Judge Sul livan was answerable to the people of Platte county for his legislative record. They find no fault with It. They gave him in 1891, as a candidate for district Judge, 1700 votes, although there were three tickets in the field. Again, in 1895, with three tickets in the field they gave him 1983 votes out of a to tal of 3100. This matter is not In con troversy. SALOON KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION Nebraska Liquor Dealers Banded Together. The retail liquor dealers of Nebraska met in convention Thursday afternoon at Germania hall, Ompn 'or rnr ,,ur pose of forn;ir" a urn. uvuni'' .'ion for ni'isua' ! ,fl' and w'a'. vancement. Jt.hn Tien.e.v was "mad; chairman and William baloney sec retary of the convention. There were about 100 delegates in attendance. Mayor Moores delivered the address of welcome. Judge Bowman followed Mayor Moores in an appropriate address. A committee consisting of Messrs. Charles Benson of Lincoln. Charles Krug of Omaha and Fred Muchow of Hastings was appointed on platform and resolutions and a recess taken. After a recess the constitution and by-laws were adopted and the follow ing1 officers were elooted: John C. Tlerney, Omaha, president; William Young, Harvard, vice president; Wil liam Malonoy, Omaha, secretary, and Fred Muchow, treasurer. The conven tion then elected the following dele gates and alternates to attend the na tional convention of wholesale and re tail liquor dealers, which will be held at Indianapolis on the 19th of this month. Delegates, William Butt, Om aha; Joseph Schramlck, David City; P. Stanton, Tllden. The alternates are Charles Krug, Omaha; Henry Rholff, Omaha, and August Lnurkee, Stanton. The delegates will go uninstructed ex cept to make every effort to secure the next national convention for Om aha In 1898. At the evening session Omaha waa chosen as the state headquarters, place for the next mooting to be desig nated by the president. A legislative committee, two from each congress ional district, was appointed. Mayor Harrison adheres to his former determination to prevent the sale of liquors at the coming Chicago horse show. In a quarrel over a trifling difficulty Miss Lizzie Harding shot and fatally wounded Mlsa Mary Rosen baum at Jef fersoDvllla, Ind. ODD DIVORCE STATISTICS. ENORMOUS DIVORCE BUSINESS IN THE UNITED STATES. Over 500,000 Granted In the Last Thirty Years Those who Have Been Married Four Years Are th Highest in the List. As there is no armor against fate, so thee Is no time guarantee against divorce. Action for divorce has been begun, in several instances, on the very next day after the marriage. On the other hand, couples may Jive to gether happily for twenty-one years and more, and yet thit does not pre clude the final advent of the demon of divorce. It is a matter of record that there are as many divorces grant ed to those who have lived together for ascore of years as to those who have been married only five years. The United States government has collected statistics showing the dura tion of the marriage before divorce, these figures covering a period of twenty years. In the last thirty years 5i0,0u0 divorces have been granted in the United States. The figures for tha last ten years have not yet been pub lished, but for the ninetfen years from 18G7 to 1886 statistics show that the divorcee high-water mark belongs to those who have been married four years. Hegining with the one year married people, the tor.il is, roundly, 15,000. For the four-years married the total mounts up nearly double 27,000. Then it slides off; but until the figures for those who have been married nine years are reached the one-year figure is not touched. It decreases steadily until the twenty-one years are lumped with those who have been married a longer time, and still find it necessary to dissolve the bonds that unite, and the enormous total of 25,000 is reach ed. Evidently compatibility need not increase as the years fly by. In this class, however, a reversal of "endur ance" figures is shown, for the aver age duration of married life for the husbands is 47.47, while for the wives it is only 26.70. While, divorce aside, the average duration of married life is from twenty-two to twenty-six years, the aver age duration of married life to the di vorced is only 9.17 years, being 9.27 lor the wife and 8.79 for the husband. This difference between husband and wite suggests that the weaker sex really is the stronger in bearing the woes of the married. These figures are for the country at large. New York state, owing probably to its rigid law, shows up a little better, men houlding out 9.52 years and Uie women 10.62 pears. Hut, though the wives do endure longer, hearl twice as many women as men get divorces. This proportion, is preserved pretty evenly all through the table, whether the couples have been married two years or twenty. Upward of 25,000 divorces have been granted in New York state in thirty years, and a third of them coming from the New York city courts. The general charge of cruelty gives the widest scope for the play of homur, as well as some other things, in as signing causes for divorce. When the charges are brought by the husband, the case Is apt to be particularly pa thetic. Onem an got a divorce because his wife kept insisting that he was no man at all. A brow-beaten farmer sowed his grass in August, which dis pleased his wife so much that she threw all aof the table dishes out of the window. One man's wife was a member of the Brotherhood of the New Life. The chief of the sect wouldn't give the husband a permit to live with his wife, and set a time three eyars distant When thciy might meet. Another man's wife refused to cook for him' or to sew on his buttons. His neighbors testified at the trial that they bad often seen him with only one button on his waistcoat. This wife wouldn't let her husband go to fires at nigiit, and when he did sneak away she kept him awake till 3 o'clock in the morn ing scolding him. After being married twenty-five years, a wife eni,braced thca pirit rapping doctrine, wfc7i.li so hurt the feelings of her spouse that he got a decree o divorce. Another pair were legally separated because the wife reg ularly threw scalding tea at her hus b.ind. On the first morn.'g aHer a certain marriage the bride bea her hus.ui(i with her shoe heel. He began suit as suon as be got on his feet and won it. In onecase a husband cut off his wife's bangs. Another woman's hus band wouldn't work at all during the week, but every Sunday he put on his old clothes and worked "like a nig ger." Still another husband threw a boot at his wife. It didn't hit her, but it did hit someone else, and this the Judge thought waa sufficiently aggra vating. One husband tried to starve his wife. To be enabled to prove by the gro cery bills that he had bought food he carried It in by the front door, but ho took it out of the back door and threw it in the sewer. If husbands want a day off they should choose some other day than the one following the wedding. One who hadn't learned this lesson got drunk the day after, which so dis gusted the bride that she lost not an hour In beginning suit, papers being filed that very day. One husband complained, not be cause his wife made his shirts, but because she bought him dollars shirts. Another Insisted on smoking tobacco when his wife waa subject to sick head aches. One avaricious fellow kept teasing his wife to deed him her prop erty until he lost both. A husband who wouldn't support his wife an nounced that he "wouldn't work his toenails off for any woman," and she divorced him. A Judge has given a divorce to a woman because her hus band never offered to take her out riding. Husbands who quote to their wives the Bible verse, "Wives, obey your husbands," had better beware. One husband added to this offense the greater one of telling his wife when she was sick, that the Lord command ed her to work, and actually forced her to get up and labor. k THRILLIKG ENCOUNTER. The three of us had been prospecting for gold along the Purus river, 150 miles southwest of Lima, Peru, for three or four weeks before I had the good fortune to get a near sight of a condor. I had seem them at such a distance that they might have been mistaken for crows, but though we had all kept our eyes open and rifles ready no specimen of the big birds had come within cannon shot. When '0t com plained of our bad luck to Jose, the cook, who bad been born and reared in the foothills of the Andes, he said: "There is no other bird living so strong and fierce as the condor, and yet the sight of man frightens him. He seems to know just how far a rifle will carry, and he always keeps be yond it. Last year an Englishman hunted for eight months and never got a shot at one." "How strong is a full grown con dor?" I asked. "No man can tell that," he replied; "but I will tell you what I have seen with my own eyes. One day, a few miles from my own house, while a man who had been hunting sat upon a rock in the open to rest, he was at tacked by a condor which suddenly dropped from the skies. Perhaps the bird did not preceive that it was a man, though they are very keen sighted. As it came down it fastened one claw in his back and the other in bis shoulder, and struck him n. fearful blow with its beak. It could "llot lift the man, for he weighed 150 pounds, but it dragged him along the ground for many rods before it let him go. The blow from the condor's beak had stun ned the man, and the wounds inflicted by its talons were something terrible. The poor felow died from his injuries. In another case, near the same village, I was lying in the bushes one day, when a condor swooped down on a dog, fastened one claw in his back and raised and sailed away without an ef fort. The dog weighed at least twenty pounds, and I am sure the bird could have carried away double that weight." A few weeks subsequent my foot was pierced by a thorn and 1 had to lay up in camp. A hammock was slung un tier a tree, and after dinner I was left alone, except for the presence of a she goat Jose had bought from a native a week before to supply milk for our coffee. My companions went up the stream prospecting, and the cook took the other direction with his fish lines. The goat was fat and full size; she did not weight an ounce less than forty pounds. She was feeding at a distance of about thirty feet, and I was lazily watching the butterfles which hovered over her, when there sud denly came sw-i-s-h like the fall of a small tree, and a condor had his claws fastened into the goat's back. I rose up in the hammock and had a plain view of what took place. The goat was crushed flat to the earth by the force of the collision, Jut arsost in stantly struggled up and made a fight to shake the bird off its back. The wings of the condor were outspread, so that the tips touched the earth on either side and acted as levers, and after a moment it struck the animal a blow with its beak on the head or neck which put an) end to the fight at once. Blood followed the blow, and I saw blood oozing from under the cruel talons as well. As the goat fell down, still kicking with its hind legs, the condor balanced itself with its wings, took a firmer grip with its talons, and after a trial or two rose up and sailed away over the tree tops in the direc tion of a Mountain spur about five miles away. It did not lift its burden much above the tree tops, but the mo tion of its wings proved that it was no geat hinderance. When the men had returned and I had related the incident, Jose said: "That ctfndor flew directly over my head while I was fishing, and though he continued on to the mountain I marked the spot where he alighted and can guide you. to it. It is a female bird, and 1 have no doubt there is a young one in the nest." He added that the nests of the con dors are almost always built among the rocks, in spots almost or quite in accessible, but that he knew of two or three instances where eggs of young birds had been captured by expert climbers. The next day he went off to the spur and after an all day's tramp located the nest, it was amongst a jumble of rosks and the way was so rough and perilous that he did not believe we could reach it. While lying concealed he caught sight of the male condor, and the fe male bird also returned from a forag ing expedition with a large bird in her claws. It was five days before my foot was well enough to undertake the tramp, and Jose and I started alone. We had made a strong grass rope a hundred feet long, and we had our rifles and provisions for two days. When within two miles of the spur we came across a native and his son, the latter about twelve years of age. When Jose told them the object of our expedition the father replied: "Yes, there is a condor's nest up thorn It has been there since my grandfather waa a boy. I was close t5 It once, but it was empty. My son here was near it, too, only a few days ago. For a little money he will show you a path." That was exactly what we wanted and I soon struck a bargain. The lad had not approached the nest from be low, but from above, and had not fotisd the route very difficult. He had gone near enough to see a fledgling in the nest, but being afraid of the old bird's return had retreated after a brief view. He was a fairly intelligent lad and proud to go with us, and he led the way in a manner to give us con fidence. While it was only five miles from our camp to the base of the spur, It was nearly noon before we reached It. With the aid of my glass I could make out the nest, and I also saw that no living man could reach It by direct approach. The height was fully one thousand feet, and there was one smooth perpendicular cliff at least a hundred feet high. The boy, however, struck up the mountain, and though he led us the easiest way, It was a climb to exhaust the strongest man. It waa 3 o'clock In the afternoon before he tald to us: "The nest is not far away now. When we have passed that peak we shall be close upon It." The peak seemed not more thin three hundred feet above us, but an other half hour was spent In reaching It. A dozen times during the ascent of the mountain the boy bad scrambled up the steep faces with the rope, and fastened it so that we might have its aid in climbing When we reached the peak we found a natural path leading downwards, and a few feet away it curved to the right. "Just beyond ihe curve Is the nest," whispered the boy. "If the old bird is there what will you do?" "Shoot her," I replied. "But if both are there?" "Then we will shoot both." He looked serious and doubtful. I did not expect him to go farther, but he started off, having his bow and ar row in hand, and we followed. As we turned the curve we came full upon the nest; the mother bird was there feeding a fledgling. With a scream of rage and surprise the old bird lifted herself about ten feet Into the air; and as I fired at her she fell. The lad had rushed forward to the nest; Jose and I were advancing upon the fluttering and screaming bird which was only badly wounded when the was a whirr of wings and a shrih scream and the male bird dropped from the eky fair upon the boy's back. What happened passed so quickly that we stood in dumb surprise. The condor smiply swooped down, fastened its talons In the boy, and was in full flight with him all In the space of ten seconds. The lad must have weighed at least fiTTy pounds, but the bird lifted him easily and flew in the direction of our camp, sinking a little in his flight down the slope, yet keeping above the trees. As we stood looking the wounded bird fluttered over the edge of the cliff and was lost to us; and in his grief and rage Jose clubbed his rifle and killed the fledgling at a blow. It waa several minutes before we could realize that the boy had been carried off; It had been done so quickly that we had not raised a hand to prevent. It was night when we got down the mountain, and noon the next day be fore we found the father of the boy. I had expected an outburst of indigna tion and sorrow, with a claim of heavy damages, b.ut when he heard the story he simply said: "It was no one's fault, and It Is no use to look for the dead. He waa a good boy, but be it so. Perhaps you w:il give me a few pieces of silver to com fort his mother." Nearly Caught a Live Ghost. If Mrs. Wilson of Halton Holegate, a little Lincolnshire (England) village, had not lost her nerve at the wrong moment, she would have had the proud distinction of having captured a reai live ghost. As it was, it escaped, leav ing nothing save a damp odor and a doubt as to its existence Mrs. Wilson and her husband are quiet people and do not drink, and their strange story is believed by those who have investigated. The first night they moved to the house in question they heard strange noises about midnight, as though a person were knocking at the doors and walls Once it seemed as though some one were hurrldly moving about all the furniture downstairs. Another time the noise was like a heavy picture falling from the wall, but in the morning the inmates found everything as right ai it was the night before. Nevertheless, the servant man left the premises, saying he dare not stop, and the Wilson's had to secure the ser vices of another. About six weeks ago "something" was seen. One night Mrs. Wilson before getting into bed, where her husband had al readv retired, thought aha would aa downstairs to see if the cow was sate. "'w,, She satisfied herself that the animal was alright, and was at the foot of the stairs preparing to go up again when she saw an old man standing above her at the top and gazing directly at her. "He was standing," said Mrs. Wilson, "as though he was very round-shouldered. How I got nast I cannot say, but I darted past him into the bedroom and slammed the door. Even here, however, I felt some one was behind me. I turned round enirply, and there again stood the same old man. He quickly vanished, nut I am quite certain I saw him. 1 have also seta him several times since, though net quite so distinctly." Aftc- recounting Ler strange experience; M.'j Wilsoa conducted the reporter, who investi gated, to the sitting room, whero a grewsome discovery had been made. In one corner the floor, it appeared, was very uneven, and here a day or two ago, Mrs. Wilson took up the bricks with the intention of relaying them. No sooner had she done this, however, than a most disagreeable odor was emitted. Her suspicions were aroused. She called her hus band, with whose assistance a minute examination of the place was com menced. With a stick three or four bonee were soon turned over together with a gold ring and several pieces of old black silk. All these had evidently been buried in quick-lime, the bones and silk being obviously burnt there with. Dr. Gay, to whom the bones were submitted, stated that they were un doubtedly human, but he believed they were nearly one hundred years old. Whether the ghost and the bones were In anyway related Is not known, but the elements of a first-class ro mance were established by this grew some find. Hunt Alligators For a Living. "There are men In the swamps of the South who make their living by hunt ing alligators," said a man who has Just returned from that region. "Their mode of hunting the saurian is very In genious, as well as successful. In the summer, when the Bwamps dry out, the alligators, whirh abound there in large numbers, live In holes ten or more feet deep, and inclined or slanting. The weapon of warfare used upon these creatures la a long pole, at the end of which is a sharp steel prod and hook. This Is run down into the hole and the alligator Is prodded until he be comes mad; then he snaps the hook like a fish, and Is Immediately caught, H Is then drawn up to the mouth of the hole and Is shot through the eye until dead. The teeth are extracted and the hide cut off. Both are sold at some place near by. Some arts of the alligator are eaten, If it be young." John Plncard, aged 21 years, sob of farmer living four miles southeast of Slater, Mo., was stabbed to death hr Us brother-in-law, William Haley. '
