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About The Sioux County journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1888-1899 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 1897)
GREAT EDITOR 50 YEARS A60 CHARLES A. DANA IN THE DAYS OF LONG AGO. Hla Ideas on "Corporations," "Re formers," "Industrial War," "Mon ey Feudalism," "Commercial Rob bery," "Right to a Living," Etc. The very recent death of Charles A. Dana, the great editor of the great New York Sun, naturally recalls some of his opinions, utterances, sayings and epigrams during a long and many aided career as a socialist, war corre spondent, lecturer, thinker and editor. The following extracts, taken from Mr. Dana's editorials in "The Har binger," a small paper published about 1846, are of peculiar interest to the readers of the reform press. Here is what the great editor wrote fifty years ago, when he was young and in touch with humanity. He said: ON CORPORATIONS. A corporation has no heart, no hu man sympathies; it has a rule to be rig idly followed, a treasury to fill, it recog nizes no brotherhood; acts of friend ship are forbidden to it; it is not a part of humanity; it Is a machine for mak ing money, The operative, crushed by the sense of weakness, yields to despair, or, what is worse, falls into brutality. Go through the great manufacturing cities of France, for example, or those of England and Belgium, where the system is much nearer its final perfec tion than in this country, and tell us if such is not the wretched lot of the pro tetortes, that Is, the hired laborers. And to this state American laborers are ap proaching! ON REFORMERS. The true reformer ought never to de spair. Let him remember that error alone can fall, and that the truth he serves can only be obscured for a sea on. Does the world scorn him and mock at him as one by one his cherished hopes are frustrated, and the labor of years seems fruitless? Heed it not, no ble heart! Thy exceeding love for them that thus despise thee Is not wasted; not vain thy yearning to bless them that answer th6 with sneers! It Is not for the day thou workest, but for the ages; fear not that the ages shall lose the harvest of thy deeds. Commit thyself to the Providence that guides all things; faint not though thy bare and weary feet are torn with brambles; over the path that with thy life thou beatest out humanity shall come hereafter In triumph and joy! ON INDUSTRIAL WAR. We shudder at the horrors of a bat tlefield, where a day, an hour, has hur ried thousands, amid groans and shrieks and the rage of hellish fury, Into one bloody ruin; but afterward, over that field have sprung up the flow ers and waving grass and grain, as the peaceful hand of nature has effaced all marks of the terrible havoc. But in the unnatural warfare of civ ilized Industry a struggle in which no high principle Is engaged, but the mere force of capital waging destruction, which, under a falne system it cannot avoid, against helpless masses of God's children, whose only resource is to yield themselves, body and soul, to their fate, there Is no respite, no amelioration; and as new generations throng up into this breathing world there await them only a more hopeless misery, a more certain wretchedness. Each Increase In their number and each Improvement In the machinery that aids their toil, is not a blessing, as It should be, but a curse, and but arms with a new weapon the power that tramples them beneath its feet. The Sutlej. red with the blood of the slain, will flow again tomorrow in its crystal c tear n ens, but at some Leeds, or Man chester or Spltalflclds (to mention no American names), to-morrow's sun will rise on even a sadder scene than it has looked upon today, and so we know it will be for year after year. ON THE MONEYED FEUDALISM. It has come to this, that the moneyed feudalism, which In the world grinds out the very life of men, stupefies their souls, and ruins their bodies, so that their families become extinct in three generations, is laying its unrelaxlng hand upon our own brothers. Talk of free trade and of protection! Each haj its advantages, each is, in its time, an element of human progress, but what shall we say of competition In labor, of the universal hostility of the interests, en which this accursed system is baaed? Shall it last forever, shall It have possession of our country also, and of the whole world? Shall every worklngman become a mere dependent. a hireling retainer, with such pittance onlr for the hardest toll as will barely save him and his from death by starva tion? ON COMMERCIAL ROBBERY. Our commercial relations are In a sim ilar condition; the same anarchical des notlsm nrevails in them. We are as little nrotected against Individual cu pldlty as Is the Turkish peasant. The difference is that he Is robbed outright and by main strength, while we are operated upon by a more delicate and leaa tangible mechanism. The general good Is as little respected In one case as In the other. We can only wonder at the blindness of the public, which haa allowed Itself to be plundered by Irresponsible commerce without seri ously Inauirlng it It couia oe neipcu. We say blindness, but It must be ac knowledged ttiat a more iorcinie ex presalon would be more exact. But It Is not to be wondered at. In AneA. one soon learns that in civillza tlon no absurdity is astonishing. The fault lies not so much with the public aa with economists, who, with a few magical words, such as "balance of trade" and "lalssez aller." have fairly humbugged the world and endowed the most hideous of monsters with a sort of captivating beauty. ON THE RIGHT TO A LIVING Every person born Into the world has aa Indisputable rlgnt to a suDHisience, but this does not Imply a right to either a large or small portion of the soil. It nn imnlv the right to labor and the . rlht to the fruit thereof. A man of mechanical genius, for Instance, may have neither the desire nor the ability to cultivate the soli. Society is not then ound to fu-nlsh htm with land, but only to supply him with such work as la adaDted to nis tastes ana capacities and to see that he receives the Just value of what ha produces. But to each man the community owes abso lutely nrotection or nis ngni 10 iaDor, it la hound to furnish such as desire to engage In agriculture the means of do ing so. In order that It may do this It nmi hold fie land Itself. Otherwise, what shall prevent monopoly and the destruction or the ngni to laoorr Of what benefit to me that I am guar uliwl the use of a little piece of land K civilised commerce yearly fleeces me out of three-quarters of Its product? What good d" I derive from my farm If I am left exposed to tne Knaveries ana frauds, like hungry cubs flocking 'round tfcr infernal motner. ot rree compeii Host If I am not guaranteed the fruit sf my labor my land might almost as well be located In Nova Zambia. These strong antl-munopoly senti ments can be easily accounted for by reading what Mr. Dana said in a lec ture delivered at the University of Michigan on the 21st of last January: They (Mr. Ripley and friends) organ ized a society called the Brook Farm In stitute of Agriculture and Education, and began work. This organization vas conceived in transcendentalism and de signed to carry on social life In accord ance with democratic and Christian Ideas. There had been all the time a notable agitation respecting the unsan itary habits of college students, of peo ple who pursued literature and learn ing. They used to sit in their studies and get no regular exercise, and had no life In nature; they did not go out in the free air and gain their livelihood by the sweat of their brows. The argument was that while any one was pursuing literature and philosophy, and philology, and mathematics, he ought to work on the land, to cultivate the earth, and the man who didn't work on the land could not have lirst rate health. You may like to know something of the mode of life there. In reorganizing society the teaching of Fourier, which we adopted, was that all industries should be carried on in groups and series. For instance, there should be a series of gardeners. One group of them cultivated trees, another small fruits, another vegetables, and there were half a dozen of these different but con nected groups. So it was all through the establishment. There was a series that managed the domestic labor or housework. There was a group called the- group of the dormitory that made the beds, and too care of the bedrooms generally; one called the consistory, that had charge of the parlors and public rooms, and one called the refectory, which includ ed the cooks, the waiters and the dish washers. They were organized and worked together, I know that, because I was head waiter. And It was great fun, I can tell you. There were seventy people or more, and at dinner they all came In and Ave served them. So every department of the establishment was carried on In that way. Each person chose what he wished to ' do. what groups he would work In, and none of the boys and girls tried to shirk. There was more enter tainment in doing the duty than in try ing to get away from it. In the Phalanx the young people, the middle-aged and the old. should be all ready to do a duty which may be incon venient, as well as that which it is con venient for him to do. For Instance, Mr, Ripley, the head of the Phalanx, was chief of the cow-milking group. I be longed to the same group. That was a universal Quality and characteristic of the society. Just as a sculptor, who is carving an Apollo, an Image of divine beauty, goes to his work with Joy nd pasBion, so among us every duty and every kind of labor ought to be per formed with the same enthusiasm, the same zeal and the same sense of artls tic pride. THE FLY-AWAYS. Another New Rollfrion of the Col ored Folks. The "fly away" preacher was at the police barracks last night for the pur pose or paying the line of one of hla "fly away" sisters, who was fined Fri day because she wouldn't submit to vaccination. The woman, as was stated In the Constitution, refused to be vac cinated because she believed she would never get sick or die, and that vaccina tion, like any other preventative, was sacrilegious. She was fined $5, and not having the money, she was sent to the stockade for eleven days. Last night Rev. John Smith, the ne gro preacher who teaches the "fly away" doctrine, called at the polloe barracks and said he wanted to pay the good sister's fine. While he was mak ing the arrangements to pay the fine re was questioned by a reporter of the Constitution. "We have never lost our faith," said Smith, "In the divine promise that we shall not taste death. When we thought we would all be translated on the 15th of last March we relied upon a calcula tion which a white preacher had made. Now we will pay no attention hereafter to any dates. We will seek for no signs, but await the coming of the Lord. We know if we have the right faith we shall never die. but shall live until Christ comes again." "How many members of your church are there now?" he was asked. 'We have over 100," was the reply, "and they are all. I believe, strong in the faith. They have sold all they have and are living with no thought for the morrow." "Have any of your members ever died?" "Oh, yes, a few." "Well, how came it, then, they died?" "They were not strong In the faith. If any more of us die then we know just as soon as they are dead that they were not ot tne raithfui." "Suppose you all eventually die?' "Then that will be proof that none of us were Btrong In the faith. That is a simple proposition, isn't it? But we don't like to be called the 'fly aways," for that Is not our name. We bellve that we shall not taste death and we have nothlnr in our doctrine about fly ing awav. Smith said his congregation now holds meetings at the corner of Magnolia and Foundry streets every Thursday night. Smith preaches, himself, at all the meetings and selects such passage" as he holds supports the peculiar tenets of his religion. He is a good Bible scholar and can tell you anything about the book you wish to know. In both the Old and the New Testaments. Atlanta Constitution. CHILDREN'S CUTE SAYINOS. Teacher Fritz, tell me the name of the animal who furnishes us with bams. "The butcher." i "Willie, do you know where the bad boys who don't attend church Sunday go?" "You bet; they go a-flnhln" 1 Teacher Tommy, what do you know of the Sphinx? Tommy The Sphinx la a woman with a great head. Sh hasn't talked for 3,000 years. Chicago Tribune. Teacher (to boy In his class) John, correct the following sentence: "It it very cold." John (as he wipes the per spiration from his forehead) It are thundering hot. "I saw your mother going to the neighbors' when I crossed the street. When will she be at home?" "She said she'd be back as soon as you left," an- I swered truthful Jlmmle. ' Tommy Baby came from heaven, didn't he? Nurse Yes, Tommy. Tom myThen I guess It's because he flndi It Isn't so nice down here as It Is up there that he does so much crying and kicking. "What Is an average?" asked the teacher. The class seemed to be posed, but a little girl held out her hand ea gerly: "Please, It's what a hen lay her eggs on." Bewilderment followed, but the mite was Justified by the lesion book. In which was written: "The hen lays 200 eggs a year on an average." i I saw a merry little maiden recently standing In front fo the doll counter In one of our big stores. She had Just acquired one of them and was examln Ing It with evident pleasure. "Little roved and the new structure cotnplet girl." said I, "that's a very pretty doll." J d, South Omaha will have the Baest "Yes, lndedy," she responded. "I'vt ' ve stock exchange In the world. The got ten. I save up all the time to buy addition In course of construction at ft00 them." rm a regular dlvll on dolle,"-1 c70 feet, with aa all 111x100 feet WWS ITS STOCK YMDS CASE I KANSAS SCORES ANOTHER VIC TORY FOR ITS LAWS. The Big Stock Yards Corp&ratlon Which la Defying tho Law Again Loses In the Courts Appeals to the U. S. Supreme Court. Topeka. Kas.. Nov. 2. Judge Thayer's opinion from the United States circuit court of appeals sustains in every par ticular the opinion heretofore rendered by Judge Foster In the United States circuit court, declaring that the legis lature had a perfect right to fix the rates of charges at the Kansas City stock yards. The decision U a big victory for the state of Kansas, and the live stock shippers, both of which par ties have claimed the charges to be ex orbitant and illegal. When Judge Foster had concluded reading Judge Thayer's opinion in the federal court room this morning Albert H. Horton, attorney for the stock yards company, gave notice of appeal to tne supreme court of the United States. Judge David Martin, with a vast smile beaming on his face, gave notice of ob jection to the decision or rather to cer tain points in It. Of course, Judge Mar tin was Immensely pleased over the de cision, but a lawyer Is bound to raise objections in order to be prepared for the future review of the Cate in the higher court. After Judge Martin was through with his objections, at which everybody, in cluding the objector, smiled, Judge Fos ter Insisted that It was his duty to make some order by means of which the patrons of the stock yards, in the event of the decision being sustained by the supreme court, could get a re bate of overcharges without being com pelled to go to any extra trouble or law suits to do so. He therefore ordered that each shipper or his agent be given a slip of paper, designating the charges In items, which slip shall be a self-evident claim against the company in case the decision of Judge Thayer is sus tained, said claim to be presented at the office of the clerk of the federal court and paid out of the amount pro vided In the bond of the company. Judge Foster displayed extreme caution In making secure the rights of the ship pers. Attorney General Boyle was not pres ent, being in Southern Kanbas laying the foundation for another fight against the coal mining corporations. Judge Horton will, as a last resort, ap peal the case to the supreme court of the United States, and it Is unnecessary to say that the Stock Yards company will hold It up in that court as long as possible. Mr. Boyle, on the contrary, will make every effort to have his vic tory complete before his term of office expires. Omaha, Neb., Nov. 2. -The series of victories which the Kansas state offi cials are winning will naturally give hope to the people of Nebraska that they, too, will eventually win their stock yards case. The Kansas stick yard case and the Nebraska case are practically the same. The same points are Involved. It has down to a mere ruling ot the courts aa to whether or not the state has any rights which the corporations are bound to respect. Attorney General Smythe Is pushing the Nebraska cose with all the energy possible. "... Ex-Congressman Indited. Westchester, Pa., Nov. 3. True bills have been found by the grand Jury against ex-Congressman Smedley Dar lington and J. Mitchell Baker, the pres ident and director respectively of the Insolvent Chester County Guaranty and Safe Deposit company. The former is charged with perjury In connection with certain statements made by him rela-, tlve to the condition of the bank and Director Baker is charged with embez zlement. The prosecutor is a depositor in the concern. Both assert they can readily establish their Innocence. Queen Victoria to Cleveland. New York, Nov. 3. Ex-President Cleveland, in his Princeton home, re ceived the following message from Queen Victoria: Windsor Castle To Hon. Grover Cleveland, ex-president of the United States, Trenton, N. J.: Felicitations on this day, the day of your happiness, and may your heir bring you Joy. "VICTORIA." SHORT BITS. Three of the men entombed in a mine at Scranton, Pa., perished. While laying water pipes at Augusta, Ga., five men were buried in a cave-in and fatally crushed. The Polyglot of St. Louis Is a pro posed magazine of twelve languages for the enlightenment of foreigners. The French chamber of deputies has appointed a committee to investigate with a view of stopping gambling In grain and articles of food generally. Frits Slgrln fired five shots into the body of Miss May Small at Chicago and then put a bullet hole in his right tem ple. Both Slgrln and his victim are ex pected to die. The crime was prompted by Jealousy. Slgrln Is 50 years of age. Mrs. L. Malcomson of San Francisco, Cal., while traveling east over the Union Pacific railroad to visit friends at York, Pa., became demented. The high altitude of the Rocky mountains affected her, and her condition gradually became worse as she Journeyed east. During the trip through Colorado she became unmanageable and gave the passengers and trainmen such annoy ance that on reaching Nebraska It was found necessary to take her from the train and place her in Jail at Omaha. Her friends were Informed by telegraph. The woman has a through ticket from San Francisco to York and considerable baggage. On her person was found a gold watch and berth ticket, but no money. She says she left her money at home, as well aa her earrings. She gave her address as 112 South First itreet, San Francisco, but her mind Is In such an unbalanced state that It Is Impossible to gather any Information from her. The rapidity with which the Armour Packing company has pushed forward the work on Its packing plant at South Omaha has been surprising, but the stock yards company, though operating on a somewhat smaller scale, seems disposed to take no back seat in the matter of energetic building. Last Mon day ground was broken for the addi tion to the exchange building, and be fore Saturday night the brick walls In tome places were well advanced on the first story. Kxcavating was nrst corn- menced where the walls were to stand and bricklayers began laying brick. while a large force of men and teams are still at work removing tho earth from thi basement The plana givs promise of a model office building and ........11- W . 1JI tm OUT OF THE ORDINARY. A man by the name of T7;i!lston Pal mer is in the Georgia penitentiary un der sentences aggregating 200 years. Tom Paugh of Backbone Mountain, the distinguished snake hun'er of Har rison county, West Virginia, has done 122 rattlers to death In the past sum mer. Mrs. William J. Olmstesd, wife of a motorman on the Troy, N. Y.( city rail road, recently gave birth to four chil dren, two boys and two girls. An American eagle was in the act of flying oft with the son of Michael Moore in Ohio the other day, when a hunier by the name of Ingle came to the rescue and killed the bird, which measured al most ten feet from tip to tip of its wings. An Inmate of the Soldiers' Home at Augusta, Me., has been smuggling in bottles of whisky in a hole he carved in his wooden leg. The lost time he dis appeared they searched for him until they found him lying dead drunk in a graveyard, with his wooden leg un strapped and the empty flask in the hole in the leg. Howard Reed of Mllford, Pa., started out hunting for partridge and woodcock and was followed by the house cat. All efforts on the part of the young hunter to drive the cat back home were futile; it was bound to go with him, and it il lustrated its ability as a hunter bv its "pointing" a woodcock, which youns Reed shot. Then It "flushed" a part ridge, which was also bagged by the hunter. Reed says he would not part with the cat for the best bird dog in the country. Anybody who doubts the genuineness of an article of food that he has pur chased from a Parisian tradesman may take it to the municipal laboratory for analysis. It will cost him nothing to have It ana 'y zed and the fact shown whether adulterated, and If the latter the law deals with the offender without further action on the part of the pur chaser. The shopkeeper is liable to be heavily fined and imprisoned and has to display conspicuously In his shop win dow or on his door for a year a large placard bearing the words: "Convicted of Adulteration." The young lady compositors of the Cloverport, Ky., News are vindicating the freedom of speech. Some tims ago a notice was placed under the office clock, which read: "Am I determined on time?" The young ladies did not like it, but they made no organized pro test. A few days ago another notice appeared. This one read: "A still tongue makes a full stick." Forthwith the young ladies walked to the business office, demanded that the notices be re moved, and, on refusal, struck. The peculiar case of Miss Mary Mea han of 183 Kimberly avenue. New Ha ven, Conn., whose brain was penetrated a month ago to the depth of two Inches by a falling Iron bar and who is now rapidly recovering, is attracting much attention from local physicians. Tho bar fell from a fifth-story window and the end broke through the skull, enur ing the motor area of the brain. A p rt of the brain tissue had to be removed. After the operation the girl's mind was clear and active. Her left side was par alyzed at fl-st, but the paralysis Is fast disappearing and the patient is now able to sit up every day. A graduate of two European universi ties and a master of eight languages is shoveling dirt for the Panhandle Rail road company at Logansport, Ind., for $1.25 per day. The man's accomplish ments were disclosed when he drew .ils pay. The paymaster was struck by his intelligence and questioned him clos y, His name is W. S. McClelland, and he came to America in the hope of finding employment for which his accomplish' ments fitted him. He holds diploi as from the College de France, Paris, and from the University of Madrid. CONNUBIALITIES. In the supreme court at Broklyn the other day Justice Gaynor granted six divorces within fifty-one minutes. A 78-year-old lover at Coventry, Eng land, finding, as the wedding day drew near, that he had not money enough to pay the expenses, drowned himself in a pond. A widow of 70 years, who married a lad of 20 In Chillicothe, O., one brief week ago, has driven him from her home because he refused to give up his association with the Salvation army. A Buffalo paper says concerning the father who commanded his four daugh ters to marry: "Even an unmarried daughter may be less of a burden than a son-in-law." This sagacious remark opens up a new branch of the subject. An Indiana woman has been awarded $54,333.33 for a broken heart. It must have been of large size, with frills on it. At least that Is the only way one can account for the $4,333.33 that she re ceived over and above the market price. Social circles in Galesburg. 111., are all astir over the divorce suit filed by Undertaker I. C. Norton and the appli cation made by his wife for a writ of habeas corpus to procure her daughter, now In Norton's possession. Mr. Nor ton alleges that his wife has made life unbearable for him by her abuse, pro fanity and stinginess. He alleges that she would not hire a girl and that he had to do housework. That the silly custom of showering rice on newly-married people may be attended with serious results is shown in the case of a young woman who was married a few days ago in Bridgeport, Conn. Well-meaning but foolish friends threw great Quantities ot rice at the bride and groom and soon after the train was on Its way the bride com plained of a pain in one of her ears. It rapidly grew worse and by the time the couple reached New York the woman wa salmost frantic. A physician was called and soon found a kernel of rico In her ear. When It was removed the pain ceased. Bible Condensed to One Inch. An eccentric Londoner, Richard nAkk ho. nnmnltitAfl a triafHfne for mlcroscoplo writing. He asserts that with it he can write the entire con tents of the Bible four times In a space one Inch square. He has succeeded in writing the Lord's prayer on glass in a space one hundredth of an Inch wide by one-fiftieth of an Inch long, or about the size of the "period" at the end of this sentence. Ten years ago Mr. Webb set to work to break all records for minute pen manship. He soon found that mechan ical aid was necessary and devised a contrivance which diminished the scope without altering the character of the movements of the pen. The result Is a marvel of mechanical skill. The machine Is operated by a handle resembling a pen, which Is held In the hand and used as any ordinary pen. The motion given to this handle Is transmitted through numerous wheels and levers until It operates the writing point, which is a diamond so small as to be Invisible to the naked eye. Mr. William A. Eddy of Bayonne, N. I., the kite-man. or. to spsak more Bcientlflcally, the "expert on aero- planes," has Invented a way of looking wait . ti m . i Over a nm. oy mwwna ui uirw bkihv kites, he raises a camera obscura In the air. Tho I mags la projected oa a semi transparent screen Just beneath. The observer lying on his back la able by means of a field glass to see the land scape projected on the screen In the air as readily as It ha war at the elevaUea the kite reaches. THE ANGEL OF THE PRISON. This is the story of the wickedest wo man in the Nutmeg state. It presents t most remarkable example of the effect f environment in making over the es ential qualities of the human charac ter. It is worthy of the careful consid eration of all students of huraa devel opment. She who was the wickedest woman in all Connecticut is named Lorena Alex ander. She Is a native of the city of New York, and was born Pilkey. If you were to see her at divine service today, listening devoutly to the words of the chaplain, or on a week day sit ting placidly at her sewing machine amone the women inmates of the Weth- ersfield state prison, you would wonder what such a kindly looking, motherly old creature as she could have don to merit punishment at the hands of a sovereign state. If you were to speak to her, she would answer in a soft an-i carefully modulated voice that would Increase your wonder. And yet, speaking from the view point of the criminologist, she richly deserved punishment when she was sent to Wethersfield. She was "put away" almost nineteen years ago for helping to do to death one Frank Wein becker, known criefly at Bridgeport, where he came to his end, as "Stutter ing Jack." This was possibly the only murder she ever committed; at all events .-he was proved guilty of no other. But about the prison, where she is often termed "The Queen of the Poisoners," there is a storv that "Stuttering Jack" was only one of a fatal crew, some fourteen or fifteen in number, whose lives she took that shi, might sell their bodies to a medical school for a few dollars. Whether there is anything in that story or not will probably never be known; but poor, stammering Frank Weinbecker's taking off was one of tl e most strangely hideous deeds In all Connecticut's calendar of crime. It was cold blooded In conception and bru tal beyond description in commission. No one not wholly and hopelessly bad could have taken part in it, and the utterly depraved and heartless natuie of Lorena Alexander at the time the crime was discovered wa3 quite truly shown in the manner of its disclosure as In its performance. There wap a foundation of truth in the worst stories about the woman. "Stuttering Jack" was killed for no other reason than that his murderers believed Dr. Sanford, uf the Yale Med ical school, at New Haven, would pay her $25 for the body. In 1878, when the murder was done, Mrs. Alexander was living in Bridge port -with a young man named Frank Bassett in an old carriage factory, long since torn di-wn, that stood at the cor ner of East Washington avenue and William street. There had been no mar riage between them, though she had thrice been a wedded wife. She was then forty-four, and no one who looked at her and noted her hard face and cruel eyes wondered that her first two husbands had died and the last had de serted her. Bassett was only twenty- four, good-looking, even delicate in ap pearance. How he ever came to take up with Mrs. Alexander was a mystery to every one who knew them both. Bas sett pretended to be in the junk busi ness, and tne barn-iike structure in which the pair lived was littered up with all sorts of old material, from rusted link; of anchor chains to dis carded coffin plates. But he paid less attention to business than to drinking and carousing; his profits were small, and Mrs. lexander took boarders whenever ary one could be found who was willing to live with them in the rickety old shop. When the Joint re ceipts from the junk business and the boarders were not enough to buy food and drink for the couple they planned various crooked ways for the getting of money among them murder. Some times they stole, and it was a theft by young Bassett and its immediate re sults that led the woman to tell the j story of "Stuttering Jack's" killing, which, of course, she declared was done wholly by Bassett, and not by herself. Bassett's theft was a pocketbook con taining $50. He was found out by the police, and rather than go to prison he promised to make good. To do this he sold Mr. Alexander's sewing ma chine and paid part with the proceeds. Then the pair put all their goods aboard a sloop and sailed away along the sound and up the Kiver Thames to iviorwicn, hoping to eFape both further payment and all purishment. But at Norwich they were met by George Arnold, then a policeman, now a detective on the Bridgeport frrce. Arnold promtly ai rested ther" both for theft and Raid they must go back to Bridgeport. "Bassett was pretty blue when he saw how the la-d lay," said Detective Ar nold to a New York World reporter the other day: "but Mrs. Alexander was furious. She was mad clear through, not at me or the law, but at Bassett. She said she had nothing to do with the pocketbook that had been stolen, she hadn't even had any of the money. What was vorse, she had lost her sew ing machine and had been obliged to break up her home in Bridgeport and run away on account of it. She said a good many things about Bassett on the way back, and finally, Just before we got to Bridgeport, she declared she had something to tell me that would make me famous as a policeman. I had no Idea what she was driving at, but I humored her, and after a while ?he said: " 'See here, George Arnold, you let up on me and I'll give Frank Bassett dead away. I know enough about him to put a rope around his neck, and I'll tell It, too, if you'll promise not to lock me up.' "When we got to Bridgeport I told Chief Marsh about It, and he decided not to Jail the woman that night. But we kept a pretty close watch on her, for she was a bad lot the worst we ever had to deal with and we knew It, and It was certain that Bassett had not i killed any one without she had a hand In the business to." "Do you know where Frank Wein becker 'Stuttering Jack' Is?" she asked. "Have you seen him lately? No? Of course you haven't. Why? Be cause Frank Bassett killed him. Killel him on the 10th of May. I saw him do It, but I cou'dn't help it. I was afraid Bassett wor'd kill me. too. If I Inter fered. I ke-t still ever since, I have been so sea. id of Bassett, but he's in Jail now and can't get at me. Besides, he has trea' id me bad, and I'm going to tell the t uth and shame the devil. What did h kill the man for? Oh, he wanted some money, that's all, and h made me t-y to sell the body up to New Haven. We couldn't sell it, (hough, and so we hid It, but I can find the Dlace. and you'll see I've been tell ing no lies. I guess when Bassett comes to swing he ii wisn ne u treated me cu ferent." By this time the woman had become so excited mat ner words were nca herent. but little by little the remain' der of the story came out, and when she had nnisnea Bassett was uues- , tloned. In the meantime men were sent to look for "Stuttering Jack." He was well known about the Bridgeport harbor as a harmless creature who earned most of what little he had helping to load and unload vessels, though sometimes he made short voyages on such "hookers" as sail along the Connecticut coast. It was learnet that many persons had teen him later than May 10, though not later than some time In July, lis waa however, believed (u be afloat, and mm one had thus far suspected foul play in his rase. This threw some discredit r Mrs. Alexander's story, but the result of Bassett's examination seemed to con firm the tale. He admitted that "Stut tering Jack" had been murdered, but put the date later, and said it was Mrs Alexander who did the deed; he was the onlooker. On comparing the two stories the offt-y-cers decided that Bassett and Mrs. Al exander were both equally guilty, an later the court so found. Bassett un doubtedly inveigled their victim Inte the old shop, promising him a good sup per and something to drink afterwards. When the meal was eaten and "Stutter ing Jack" had been sufficiently filled up with beer, he was urged to He dowiv and have a good nap. "He went to sleep quick." Mrs. Alex ander said, "and he snored awful. Baa sett said he must be put out of the wiy in a hurry." Then, according to Bas sett's story, Mrs. Alexander soaked m. sponge with chloroform and put It over the sleeper's face. Bassett. the police decided, must have held on to the vic tim meanwhile, lest he should be awak ened by the strange and awful thingr that was being done to him before ther anaesthetlc took effect. Anyway, as Mrs. Alexander's story ran, " 'Stuttering Jack' didn't snore lone after he began to breathe the chloro form," and as soon as he seemed thor oughly done for the precious pair be gan the work of disposing of their vic tim's helpless form. They had a flour barrel all ready for this, but before they stowed the body therein they searched the pockets, from which they got 75 cents. They doubled their vic tim up like a Jack-knife, so that the knees were brought close to the chest, and then they jammed the body Into the barrel. "It stuck at first," said Mrs. Alex ander, "and we had to take It out again and cut the coat off. Then it went lis all right, and we headed the barrel up tight." "It was a bad drive." said Mrs. Alex ander. " 'Stuttering Jack's" body did queer things all the way to New Haven. Every little ways we would hear en awful gurgling noise in the barrel Sometimes I thought the man wasn't dead yet, and that he had partly come to. The gurgling scared Bassett av whole lot." Undoubtedly Mrs. Alexander wis right In thinking their victim was Jtill alive during that gruesome ride, but hla partial revival was of no benefit to htm. In due time the awful load was gotten to New Ha"en and driven to the med ical department of Yale. Bassett waa, too much of a coward to take a hand In the proceedings there, but Mrs. Alex ander went boldly Into the office of Dr J. L. Sanford, the medical director, and told him she had a good subject for dissection in a wagon outside, which she would sell for $25. The doctor was startled. He asked whose the body was, and If the woman had authority to sell it. She had fio authority, and she didn't know who the dead man had been. "There was a fight in front of our house in Bridgeport last night," she said, "and this man was knocked down and killed. His body was thrown lnto our yard. We were afraid folks would think we did him up. and so we took: his body into the house. Now we want to get some money for our trouble.'' "Well," said the doctor, "I don't want that body at any price, and I'm extreme ly busy just now. Good morning." After she had gone the doctor re membered that the same woman called on him once before to sell her body be fore death, assuring him that she want ed to "find a resurrectionist that she could trust." adding, cheerfully, that she knew where she could "reap a har vest" If she could enly find "the right, man." From the doctor's office the now bad ly frightened man and woman were then ; obliged to drive back to Briagepon.. . as Mrs. Alexander told the po lice. But they didn't purpose to take- that ghastly barrel all the way with them, and so they went home oy uacic roads. I can't tell you how to go to the place where we left it." said Mrs. Alexander to the officers, "but we got rid of that barrel somewhere on the way home. We rolled it down into a ravine, and I cam show you the way if you will go an look for it. So Chief Marsh and Officer Arnold! went to New Haven, taking Mrs. Alex ander along, and drove back to Bridge port over the retired roads she Indi cated. Several times she thought She had lost the way, but at last she remem bered, and a little later she told then they had reached the spot. "The barrel is there." pointing at trembling finger down a little gully thickly grown with underbrush. Thlst gully, which Is in the township of iSast Huntington, on the Oronoque road, iss still awesomely pointed out by folk liv ing near by as the place "where 'Stut tering Jack' was found." "I went down there." said Detective Arnold, "not half expecting to find any thing, but there the barrel was. Thft chief and I were alone with the woman,, and I couldn't get the barrel out of the gully alone, so we had to trust her to hold the horse while we got it out an, on to the wagon together. But there was really no danger of her running:' away: she was too nervous. Besides she was thinking only of her revenge or Bassett and she never dreamed she would have to answer for part In the crime. When the barrel and all that was left, of "Stuttering Jack" were loaded upora the wagon the officers and the guilty woman continued their drive back to Bridgeport. The next morning the news papers had columns about the murder and the excellent work of the police. For weeks the dispatches from Bridgeport told little else than the lat est developments In the "Stuttering? Jack" murder case. Mrs. Alexander and Frank Bassett were suspected or having killed almost every person who had "mysteriously disappeared" from Bridgeport In years. The date of Weln. becker's death was finally fixed as July 4. Mrs. Alexander had first said it wa on May 10, and It was thought for at long time that she had another and1 previous murder in mind when she gave the earlier date. The yard of tho old' shop and Its cellar bottom were due over repeatedly in search of bodies, but nothing was found to confirm the sus picions raised, save some old coffltv plates, and these turned out to be mere ly pieces of Junk that had come lnto Bassett's possession In the regular way Mrs. Alexander's trial caused much excitement and was reported fully. She was convicted of murder In the second? degree on November 8, 1878, and sent to Wethersfield for life. Bassett re ceived a similar sentence In the follow Ing March. Her health In prison has been uni formly good, and her conduct satisfac tory. She Is now sixty-three years otdi and bids fair to live many years more. Bassett is a wreck. He Is only forty three, but he went crazy In 119$ and Ms still In tho state asyium ior criminals. All fungi, aays Professor Jelllffo, are botanical beasts of prey. The in that live upon the human body art tb-y germs that produce cholera, typfevUi fever, consumption, ete. Toast Uvs upon ths flour and sugar In the prioi of bread making, molds upon fmltav preserves, tto. Toadstools and mask rooms, the higher fungi, live upoa caysd vegetable and animal matter.
