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About Harrison press-journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1899-1905 | View Entire Issue (March 22, 1900)
r Site, f - v, 4) :- BOER TRUST AND FAITH. INDIANS' GHOST DANCE. WHERE POPULISTS WILL MEET. Nothing has been more extraordi nary In connection with the Houth Af rican war than the lack of news that has come from the Boer Bide. Especial ly Is thin true about the men who are leading the armies of the republic. Of President Kruger and General Joubert-who, by the way, Is of the eame age its Lord Roberts, 6K of the Transvaal, .and of President Steyn of the Orange Free State, much haB been printed, but there end descriptions of Die personality of the leader The Post -Dispatch a fe wdays ago contained an Interview with Philip Ixiuter Weasels of Bloemfonteln, who comes to the United States by the ad vice of hi government to do what he can for the republics. His brother Is Ihe chairman of the war council of the Drang Free State. Another brother Is in the Volksraad. Still another has been in command of the Boer forces '.hat besieged Kimberley. Naturally It would be supposed that Mr. Weasels would know all about the generaJs commanding the troops. He was asked about them. "I don't know any of the Eoer gen erals except my brother," said Mr. Wes eels, simply. "I know little of his qualifications as a soldier. I have seen Cronjp, but that Is all. I do not know lYlnzloo, who is the commandant of my own district, except to bow to him. It Is not my business My brother, C. 11. Wessela, would know all about them. It i purt of his duty. The men are selected to command because they have filners for It We have confidence "FYP7CAL BOER SOLDIER In the men wh select them. Therefore we do nut bother our heads about them. In the Orange Free State we have had no war sIsmto I was a little fellow. "We aerer hear stories of personal daring old. When our people go to fight trvty are expected to be victori ous, anil victory means many personal sacrifices a4 gallant deeds. "No retorts are made commending the dee sf leaders In action. Why f-houid there be? Eurh man will do the best be can, and why should one be praised becaom his opportunity Is greater than another's? "When a soldier In our army shows capacity lie Is rapidly promoted. There are loaders who are not known beyond the little circle in which they live. If one commandant shows that he Is not equal to his task there are always others to take his place. "When war was declared In the Or ange Free State I hastened to get my W rounds of cartridges, place a good horse In my stable and secure the 40 days' rations the law requires. I have never been In a war. I do not know anything about actual warfare, but 1 was sure that the men over me would know. I have hunted game, big and little, all my life. I have tilled the soil and herded cattle. You isec my hands re big from hard work. Now I am a merchant In Bloemfonteln, where I sell American agricultural machinery; but I am stlU a farmer, and hud It been thought I could best serve my people w, I should have become a soldier." Nothing could be more simple than the talk and manner of Mr. Wesscls. He Is about 40 years old and was edu cated In Cape Town. He speaks Eng lish with hardly a suggestion of an ac cent. Ho Is particularly well dressed, HI father was one of the largest land owners In the Free State. He himself baa large Interests In land and In mines. When Mr. Weasels was asked If there were many foreigners In the Boer army snd If they were tho strategists who nai won so many victories, he smiled, raying: "There are few foreigners In the Boer army, especially among the ottlcors. We want our own people to lead us. Many of us come from an old fighting stock. We are not so Ignorsnt as England would have the world believe. It is the business of our military men to know, to study. But the real reason for our successes can, I think, above all things, be attributed to our hard common sense. That is th one thing thut dis tinguishes us, I think our good, com mon sense." "Whence did Cronje and Joubert gain their military genlus?"Mr. Weasels was asked. "From the soil," he replied. But that 13 not wholly true. Ancestry has something to do with it. These men are descended, from those who fought In the army of William the Silent, that real man who loved liberty, that won derful general who In all his years of fighting won but one real victory on the field, yet In the end compelled Louis XIV to sue for peace, although the armies of the grand monarch d-efeated those of William the Silent on every battlefield. From the Huguenots they gained, too, a lofty devotion to principle and mili tary Belli un hb Well, for ill the long struggle In France the Huguenots were wondrous fighters and they won In the end. Of General Botha, the one who sur vives and the abler one, almost nothing has been published. It is set forth that General Lucas Meyer is a famous war rior In campaigns against the natives, that General Schalk-Burger Is a self taught man distinguished for his calm logic and his skill as an orator. In fact, It is significant that all the Boor In formation about their leaders has to da 8 Willi MATHER WFLKfl. with their civic positions and distinc tion. Notwithstanding the reports that have come from Houth Afrlra about the disaffection of the Free Slaters It does not appear that they have ever lost hope. These reports are, of cours, from British sources and are admitted ly gleaned from Boer refugees and some from prisoners. It Is only by pure accident that an insight Is gained Into the real i ha meter of these Boer leaders. Among the pris oners taken nt Belmont were Com mander Serfontein, an Orunge Free Slate burgher, who was captured be cause he refused to leave his 17-year-old son, who was dangerously wounded. When he was questioned about th out come of the war he was silent for a while and then he said: t "Whether you are right or we are right I do not know. You are strong, but to be strong Is of no matter. Only God rules. He will decide It." It Is this firm, sweet, simple faith of an honest man that has made the I'.oerj great tJONSKNT 15Y Wlltl Jefferson vl lie, Iml. Ernest Mills works In a powder mill at King's Mills, O. lie wanted to Marry Hertio Drake, but her father objected on the ground that ho might be blown up. So they elopod to this city. The bridegroom Is amply old enough to assume tho re sponsibilities of married life, but he could find no ono to make affidavit that his fiancee was of legal age. The telegraph wire was put into use and Mills asked Mr. Drake for Ills daugh ter's hand by that method, A reply came back, giving the desired consent, and begging the two to hurry home for forgiveness. Tho bride's father Is a wealthy busi ness man, and when the girl told her mother she was going to elope with Mills, Mrs. Drake reported that she would tell her father, and hurried to the store for that purpose. Drake was busy with a customer and the lovers managed to catch a train before he was Informed. The solo objection to Mills was that he was working In the pow der mill and might leave his wife s widow at any time. Wichita, Kan. (Special.) The Dela ware Indians, 500 in number, are danc ing the ghost dance on their reserva tion near Chelsea, I. T. They are led in this once famous dance by Wa-sa-she, an old medicine man, who was a right-hand man to Wovoka, the famous Piute Indian prophet and founder of the ghost-dance religion. The Dclawares are firm believers in the ghost-dance doctrine and that is their reason for the present dance. Ke :ently their chief, Rinhard Adams, went to Washington to see about getting a bill through congress allowing the Del iwarcs to sell out their land In Indian Territory and leave for some country where the white man could not con trol them. Before leaving he told the Indians that It might be well for them to Indulge in a ghost dance, as It might help his cause along. The Dclawares, being very superstitious people, at once assembled for the dance and prayed the great spirit to help their chief on his mission. The great spirit must have been with the Indians to some ex tent, because on Tuesday last a bill allowing the Indians to disuse of their land was introduced in the lower house and it will undoubtedly pass. When the Indians heard this news they danced harder than ever. A pri vate letter, dated Chelsea, I. T., tells the story of this dance. It says: "All of the white people In the vicinity of the Indian dancing grounds have been forced to park up and leave, not on account of the danger1, but tho noise made by the dancers is worse than a dozen bands of warriors. The air is filled with mournful songs of the (lan cers from early morning till after mid night. The dancers refuse to talk to any one, but the squaws say that the dancers are expecting help from the great spirit soon. The burden of their prayers Is to be delivered from the con trol of the white man. These Delaware MAN WHO HAS Fort Dodge. la., March 20. The larg est flock of domestic ducks in the world is at present eating 100 bushels of corn daily on the Loomls duck farm near this city. There are 13,000 of them. A. R. Loom is, whose extensive operations have earned for him the sobriquet of "the poultry king," has recently made a successful experiment that promises to revolutionize one branch of the poul try business. Large dealers whose en ergies are devoted to supplying experi enced great difficulty in preserving the plumpness of fowls when removed Into new surroundings. The refusal of the birds to eat results not only In shrink age, affecting an immediate money loss. but makes them less marketable. After twenty years' experience in feeding fowls in large numbers for market, Mr, Loo mis has discovered that the ducks are the only ones that can he fed In large numbers with success. "I have tried fattening every kind of poultry," said Mr. Loomls, "and I have never had any success with anything but ducks. Just before the holidays I tried to fatten 5,000 chickens. They were bought from farmers In all parts of the country. We put them into a large Inclosure and tempted them with feed by the barrel. It did not require long to see that they were shrinking every day. I soon found that they would not eat food that was greedily devoured while on the farm. Most of their time was spent on the roosts. The hens would not come down and the roosters were engaged In a constant fight. Tho result was I lost a nice bunch of money on them. Then I tried turkeys. One big gobbler that weighed l pounds when placed In the yards GUARDS FOR The monarch of Europe are not guarded from harm by the showy sol diers in shiny tin cuirasses who disport themselves about palace anlcrooms.The actual seamy work In done by the plainly clad, unostentatious secret po lice. The degree to which police pro tection Is Indispensable may be gained from the fact that President Carnot's assassination occurred Immediately after Trlme Minister Dupuy had dis banded the Brigade d'Elysee, or Pres idential Police. Scarcely a week passes during Quern Victoria's sojorns at Windsor or Os borne I hat some crazy person does not endeavor to obtain an Interview either by calling at the palace or by attempt In gto waylay the sovereign when she is out driving. Those of the rnnle sex usually declare that they are in love with the queen or profess that they arc secretly married to her, while the fe males allege that they aro either the daughters or sisters of her majesty, or else married to the Prince of Wales. Every lime that Queen Victoria plans to leave her residence at Windsor, Os borne, Balmoral or Buckingham palace for her afternoon drive the Intention Is communicated to the chief Inspector tome hours beforehand by the equerry on duty, who announces tho route that her majesty proposes to take. At cer tain points along the way policemen In plain clothes are stationed. An Inspector of the Ixmdon police Is n charge of the men appointed to guard the Prince of Wales. King Humbert of Italy Is guarded by Vie policeman Tills official is a scr een nt-major of the canblnlcrl, compos Indians are connected with the Chero kees In land rights' and were once quite a rich eople, but a greater part of their wealth has been swindled away. Their agent says no trouble need be feared from this dance, as the Indians are only fulfilling a duty. The Delaware dancing grounds, where the Indians are now assembled, is in the midst of a deep wood, and for many years past has been the scene of revelry for these same red.skins. Ten years ago, when Wovoka, the Piute prophet, startled the Indian world by announcing he had been up in the sky visiting the great spirit, and came back with the ghost-dance doctrine, he was received 'with great gusto upon these same grounds by the Delawares. Here they learned the dance and its teach ings. The doctrine taught the Indians was thut our present world was old and worn out and the great spirit was tired of it, especially the white men. So hf was going to send a flood of mud and destroy all the whites. Then all thf dead Indians and dead buffalo would be recalled to earth and the Indians could live as of old. This was to be brought about by darning. The ghost dance Itself differed little from any other Indian dance, except that after six days of dancing the par ticipants were to batbe in running water. They also wore specially de signed shirts while in the dance. When a dancer falls from exhaustion no one can go near him, as he is then supposed to be in the spirit land. The squaws are allowed to dance the sam" as bucks, tills seldom being allowed in other Indian dances. Wa-sha-she, the leader of the dam e now going on, told the Indian agent they did not expect the end of the world to come, as was expected before. But they do expect the great white father to buy them another reservation far froia the white man's domain. 12,000 DUCKS. fell away to ,12 pounds after being fed three days. With several thousands of pounds of live turkeys at 7 cents per pound and shrinking one pound each day, It does not require much figuring to show the financial futility of feeding them in large numbers for the market. All my experiments with ducks have proved different. They don't roost and seem to adjust themselves to new con ditions very readily. We started with a flock of 5,000, which, proving a success was gradually increased to its present dimensions of 13,000, that are now ai most ready for the market. As Mr. Loomls does not breed fowls, only feeding them for the market, he does not require very extensive quar ters for his duck farm. A two-acre tract of ground surrounded by sheds and houses in the form of a hollow square constitutes the field of his op erations. In this Inclosure 13,000 ducks quack, eat corn and grow fat for din ner tables in Philadelphia, Boston and New York. Troughs of shelled corn and water are placed at frequent inter vals in the yard and two men are kept constantly engaged In supplying the wants of the noisy fowls. One hundred bushels of shelled corn are required each day for their feeding. The large flock proves a good weather prophet and on any evening previous to a change in the temperature the quack of the ducks is deafening and can be heard a mile away. When the ducks have accumulated sufficient fat to make them marketable sixty men are em ployed In slaughtering and dressing them for market. Some of the men be come very expert In this work, one man holding a record of 182 fowls in ten hours, or one every four minutes. ROYALTY. ed of picked soldiers and ex-non-commissioned officers of the army. He is a man of herculean proportions and of tried resources. Moreover, as he is a native of Piedmont, he Is blindly de voted to his king. He never leaves bis side by day, and at night sleeps across the threshold of the room occupied by his master. Napoleon III. had a bodyguard each of whom was a Oorslcan, their chief, UrlHcelll by name, having saved the emperor's life several times. When Count Camerate, a cousin of Napoleon, was assassinated In the Tuilcries, Gliscelll disguised himself and followed tho supposed murderer, Kani bo, to London, where Kainbo was stab bed. The same fate overtook Sllvanl (II Perugglo, who had organized a plan for wrecking the Imperial train near Biarritz. He fell a victim to the Cor slcan's dagger at Bordeax, whither Grlacclll had trarked him. Two Mas zlnlst conspirators, Rasslnl and Gulli, were likewise slabbed by Griscelll. One evening when NajKileon was cull ing at the Coutess de Castlglione's sub urban residence a man crept into tho room, knife in hand, and threw him self upon the emperor. General Fleu ry, Napoleon's aide-de-camp, pinioned his arms until Griscelll rushed Into tho boudoir and cut short the existence of the conspirator. Documents of fi compromising character were found and tho result was tho temporary exile o( the countess. The man who does not know Is al ways readiest to tell. SIOUX FALLS' AUDITORIUM. Sioux Falls, S. D., March 20. The iioux Falls auditorium has a seating capacity of about 5,000. Had it not been for this building, which is the largest of the kind In South Dakota, Sioux Falls would not have been able to cap ture the national convention of the populist party, which, will be held May ). On May 23 the republicans of South Dakota will also hold their state con vention In Sioux Falls for the purpose SIGNALING BY Hcliography, a system of signaling by means of the sun's rays, which has obtained largely in military operations In South Africa, is by no means a new invention of the military expert, al though It is only within recent years that the system has been perfected. There was as early as the eleventh century a system of helography in vogue in Algiers, where there was "an old tower on the summit of which was an apparatus of mirrors for communi cating rapidly with all the towns In the then empire." There are several patents out, but the two favored by the British, army are the Begble field hcllostat and the Mance heliograph, which only differ In details. In India, on the. Himalayas, a five inch mirror has carried a distance of sixty miles, while in California where the atmosphere is perhaps purer and clearer than It is in any other part of the world, a perfect instrument has flashed messages at a distance of 190 miles. Mamie's instrument was perfected in 1875, and was experimentally employed by the government of India in 1877-78, and by the British government in the Afghan and Zulu campaigns of 1879 and 1880. Among the few engineer officers who had time to study the heliograph and Its workings In the short period preced ing the outbreak of hostilities with the Zulus, was Colonel Haynes, who saved an important situation by means of the new or perfected system of sun sig naling. The story is interesting in view of the present working of the heliograph on territory not far removed from that now occupied by the present opposing armies In South Africa Colonel Pearson entered Etshowe at the end of January, 1840: he fortified the place, and could not get out again on account of being surrounded by the enemy, who was present without in great numbers. Two months had gone by; still he was not relieved. Young Mr. Haynes suggested that they might signal to the beleaguered force from where they were, namely, Fort Pearson, some forty miles away, a suggestion, although novel to the commanders, which was readily agreed to. Unfor tunately there was no heliograph in strument, so the young officer borrowed a common bedroom mirror belonging to Private Grundy of the Scots Guard. With thin cracked glass Lieutenant Haynes flashed across the forty miles of rough, broken country reassuring messages to the imprisoned Pearson, one of whose officers luckily was able to decipher the signals. But It was a dreadful struggle at first, for no rec ognition was made for days by (he be lenguered garrison, a fact which droop ed the spirits of the young officer, and which confirmed the military pessimists WHERE CRONJE WIIKJU'J CltONJR WAS BES IliCF.DAND SUIlItENDErtED. (The dots indlcnte the extent of the Boers' position when first attacked. Th British forces occupied the surrounding kopjes, from which their artillery could command the Boers' laager. The Modder river flows through t center of Cronje's, camp.) of nominating a congressional and stat ticket and selecting delegates to the re publican national convention at Phlta delphia. The auditorium, is a ne building. Not until after a delegation of Sioux Falls rustlers, in the fall of 1898, succeeded In capturing tho eoBi vention of the National Creamery Bot termakers' association was the struction. of the building djeclded upon. The structure is well arranged and is complete in all its details. SUN'S RAYS. in their opinion that heliography war a failure. Captain Wynne, R. K., on Colonel . Pearson's staff, was the officer who first perceived the flashes, for he made th . following record: "Heliograph signals observed in the direction of the Tugela .... . at al)out 3 p. m. No message made, out." ; One can understand the excitement among the troops when, on the foilowr ing day they again saw the sun flash-, ing its rays across the open country, , and in stich a form aa to- confirm tha general opinion that it -was the helio graph at work; but the signs were In distinct. Haynes had nothing pettet than a broken bedroom mirror. Cap tain Wynne made the next entry: "Signaling from the Tugela again ob served, and some worda decipherable, of which the import seemed to be that a relieving force was being sent from. Fort Pearson, and that on its opproo.cn Colonel Pearson was to make a eoV.!t It was clear now to everybody that the base was signaling to them. Host were they to reply? There was no he liograph there. Captaia Wynne ea deayored to effect cooununlcation fcj means of a large glass1 'raised abdre the ground revolving on horiaqntal ply-r ota, W hich, being brought alternately toPT a horizontal and vertical position hi front of the place to be signaled to, should produce dashes and dots oa tbo system of the heliograph. But bo scot er was the ingenious contrivance fin ished than a spell of bad wcaither set In, most adverse to heltographlo signaling. After the lapse of a few fays we find Captain Wynne recording in fcla ofBciat Journal: "We signaled two or three messages to Tugela, and signaling was kept up for two or three hours'," but with what success of failure fc not stated. At any rate the little force at Kts howe was relieved In the early dajrw f April, the gallant Wynne being killed in the sortie. The mirror used by Un tenant Haynes for advising Etshowe et the approach of the relieving force, snay be seen at the Royal United Perries Institution in London. Khaki fabrics are among the populai materials for spring wear, and it wHl be found necessary In every instanM . to relieve this ugly sand color with white or colored silk; or satin. Tits form of trimming designated as stash ing has already proved effective law giving needed color relief to khaki tumes. Philadelphia Press: McJlgger Too bad that the Ladysmith garrison should have been relieved at such an Inoppor tune time. Thingumbob Inopportoae? What are you talking about? McJlgger Well, Just think. They've got a tons. March before them, haven't they? SURRENDERED. i - 4 X Iff. -I -w
