(AN OLD CANNON SHOP. FURNACE RICH IN REVOLU TIONARY MEMORIES. h',re Wnshinfftoa's finni Wore C»»t —SaKitv-l Nutt. tM. Original Founder. to Aiurrlra In I HI 4 and Found Alli'li Ilepuilte of Iron Ore. HOM the Philadel phia Times: Much space Is devoted by the newspapers of to-day to the won derful new guns of recent Invention and the mills where they are manufac tured. If only by way of comparison, a description Is apropos and Interesting of the ancient furnace now long since abandoned and almost forgotten, where the cannon was made that fought for us during the revolution, it is a quaint spot, hidden among the peaceful environment of hills and farms, yet replete with mem ories of historic Interest. Close by the ruined forges some of the old guns may still be seen, and they point out a endow where, in 1777, a quantity of tiring pieces were buried to escape seiz ure by the British. Then, too, the furnace is among the first established In Pennsylvania and was the place of manufacture of the Franklin stove, an Invention of the famous scientist and philosopher, so popular In his day and so highly prized by modern antlquarl Historic Warwick Furnace, around which these memories cling, is situated In Chester county, close by the pretty rural village of Coventry. So nearly l as it disappeared that diligent search . I; required to lind the spot. The fur X paces have been cold and silent for u( arly half a century, the hand of prog ress has left them stranded far from the channels of modern commerce anti , few more years will find them little but a memory. And yet they are al most in the dooryard of Philadelphia. An hour's ride in the steam cars to Pottslown, in the Schuylkill valley, :>nd an eight miles’ drive southward ie the only difficulties In the way. But this Jaunt, short as it is, transports one a thousand miles away from the pres ent into a past replete with its own romance and into a region pervaded with nn atmosphere of elegance and aristocracy which in the olden time resembled more the landed gentry of Did England than the universal liberty nd equality of free America. On the northern edge of Chester county a hilly agrieultural district of I'.reat rural beauty Is drained by French C eek—a corruption of Friend's creek— :i stream which flows into the Schuyl kill at Ptioenixvllle. About six miles south of Pottstown, at the old hamlet of Coventry, French !j THE OLD FURNACE VENT. creek divides into two branches. One winds up to the romantic ‘•falls," the other penetrates; a lateral valley to the stnth. About two miles up this valley • ml surrounded by rugged hills are the remains of ancient Warwick Furnace. In spite of the general ruin, enough re mains to give a good idea of what the busy settlem ;:;t must have been when revolutionary cannon was made here. Iron was manufactured in this region s- :k early as 1717. the only forge in Penn sylvania of prior date being that of I l umas Rutter, on the Manatawny. es tablished ill 171«». Samuel Nutt, of Cov entry. Warwickshire, Kngluml, came to America In 1711, and Is believed to have discovered the rich deposits of Iron ore which are found In the neigh boring hills. 4n 1717 he took out his patent fur the first tract of 400 acres it laud and established his forge. Ilur ing the following year* he rapidly in . ic»sed his holdings of real estate unVI at tlu< time of hi* death he owned over 1,000 acres The region, th- uii vi ne* of th* old cuMK) The forge* multiplied •nd grew in importance, the wealth of their we net * >u> teased In magnitude and mi th* year* went hy the Kng |t-h (Nftielsti gnverned their Kngttah workmen, and their miles of posses sions with a power that resembled the feudalism fast dying out in their na tive lend. Fine mansions, with their solidity and size embellished with many elegancies sprang up in the winding valleys with little tenants' or workmen's cottages clustering around them. The ancient church of St. Mary's was built as a place of worship, and here their mother religion solaced them on the Sabbath, baptized and mar ried them and buried them in the little churchyard where their headstones still wear a look of ancient, aristocratic pride. Samuel Nutt, proprietor and first autocrat of the Coventry mines and forges, took William Branson, a Philadelphian, into partnership about 1728, but their relations were not en tirely satisfactory and each established Iron works of his own. Nutt was gath ered to his fathers in 1737, but under the care of his widow Anna and his children, the mills grew and prosper ed greatly. In his will Nutt bequeath ed to his widow and daughter, Rebecca. 120 acres of land upon which to erect a furnace. It was then that Warwick came into existence. This forge must have given birth to a very considerable village for the land about the old mill and in the adjacent valley is thickly strewn with the remains of workmen's dwellings. They were little, onc-and a-half Btory stone buildings, with small windows, tall chimneys and low ‘‘stoops” in front, each with its strip of dooryard and kitchen garden. Some few of these are still in a fair state of repair, many are abandoned and fast falling to decay, and a still larger num ber are utter ruins, with perhaps a pile of bramble-covered stone, a solitary chimney with weather-beaten hearth stone or a gnarled garden shrub to mark their former locations. The fur urc > was in the meadow close to the brook. A mill dam higher up the creek supplier water power through a winding mill race, which still pours its crystal torrent through a crumbling flume. Near by is the massive smelt ing furnaces of stone, shod with iron, its vent hole intact, though clogged with ashes and cinders. The masonry around it has crumbled where exposed to the intense heat from molten metal. The mill building itself has entirely disappeared and upon its site and close to the furnace a modern creamery has been erected. Fifty feet away, on the hanks of the stream, are huge heaps of cinders from the fur nace, hut even these pile* are fast dls mmi _ ««10* » CIUHCO tl. HOI -K A.NU WOHKH lM * iMfTVUK appearing, for the material they con tain is being widely used to repair the public roads of the neighborhood. On the hill behind the furnace is a large stone building in which the char coal was stored. Its walls and floor are still coated with black dust and its lofty interior is damp with the many rains and dimly lighted by the sun shine percolating through the thou sand gaps in the crumbling roof. Down in the meadow, near the road leading from the charcoal house, an ancient blacksmith shop is now used as a shelter for cattle. A stone's throw further to the east the ancient "man sion house," still in a good state of preservation and Inhabited, nestles among the trees like the citadel of the erstwhile village and gives suggestion of the place's former Importance. It Is a great, rambling structure, ele vated upon a high stone terrace. The private lawn shaded by fine old trees, Is removed from the surrounding land by the terrace and iron barriers. Upon it faces a long veranda connecting with the principal rooms of the mansion. On one side is an ancient garden, with the old-time box borders grown waist high in a confused Jungle of neglected foliage. On the opposite end of the main building stretches a long wing, its interior subdivided into kitchens and many small chambers, where the workmen ate and slept. Close by are kitchen gardens, the quaint spring house, with its underground gallery; an ancient log barn—one of the first buildings erected here -and groups of small storehouses and outbuildings. Below the mansion house extends a group of mammoth barns, each with its overhanging projections upheld by rcund stone pillars forming a protect ed porch. These buildings were once the stables and baiting places of scores of horses and mules, for wugons had to be used not only to haul charcoal from the forests and ore from the neighboring mines, but to convey the manufactured iron to distant markets.] The body of one of the ancient wagons is still preserved in the charcoal house. It is a picturesque affair, ribbed on the outside and turned up at the ends like a boat. Shortly after Samuel Nutt’s death, Warwick Furnace witnessed the flist manufacture of the famous Frank lin stoves, Robert Grace, manager of the furnace and one of the Nutt family by marriage, was a friend of Benjamin Franklin’s, and the famous scientist and philosopher thus describes the transection in his autobiography: “In order of time I should have mentioned before that having in 1742 invented an open fireplace for the better warming of rooms and at the same time saving fuel, as the fresh air admitted was warmed in entering, 1 made a present of the model to Robert Grace, one of my early friends, who, having an iron furnace, found the casting of the plates for these stoves a profitable thing, as they were growing in demand." These stoves are now very rare. At first glanca one would suppose them to be shallow open fireplaces, with very broad, rounded hearths. A back plate extends upward and forward toward an overhanging cornice or curtain at tire front and top over the fire. Behind this curtain Is an aperture which car ried the smoke off and furnished a draught from the chimney through a chamber behind the back plate. The presence of this hot air chamber back of the fire increased tlie radiation of heat, making a greater warmth with a less expense of fuel. The furnace property has been held by the 1‘otta family, descendants of Anna Nutt, from 1737 to this day. Thomas Rutter, a name also famous among early Iron manufacturers In Pennsylvania, purchased a half Inter est In the forges from Samuel Potts in 1771. The firm was known for many years as Potts & Rutter, and hougM out the shares of the heirs of William Branson between 1778 and 178.1. During the revolution Warwick fur nace acquired national fame. While the struggle for liberty was In progress the mills were In ronstant operation for the government, and large quan tities of cannon, halls and shell wjre cast there. One of the old shells, re cently found near the furnare. Is vtill preserved at the Mansion House. Vie shell Is exceedingly heavy, about a ffot In diameter, hollow, and with a east Iron sheath an Inch thick. During the year 1776 sixty cannon of twelve and elghtceu-pound calibre were cast at Warwick for the Continental forces. It was the next year, however, that witnessed a threatened Invasion, a seizure of the armament and a sudden termination of this warlike labor. After the battle of the Brandywine, in September of t777, when the Americans were defeated and the British occupied Philadelphia. Washington retired from the neighborhood of Ooshen Friends' Meeting, where an expected battle had lawn prevented by a rainstorm, and came to Warwick, obtaining a fresh supply of ammunition for his army. During the winter that followed, when the massacre of Paoll and the hard ships of the patriots at Valley Forge Ailed the colonists with despair the can non at Warwick were In constant dan ger of bring seized by tile British, quartered within easy inarching dls U nee of Philadelphia. So one day the furnae* hell sounded an alarm, and Its peals across the hills and through the neighboring valleys collected all the loyal citizens of the countryside to bury the guns. They hid them in the stretch of meadow below the mill, and In front of the Mansion House, and Iro/Ullrtn L'tiva fhol uffoe iKo Inliisnnml the fields were plowed up, ho (hat all traces of the excavations were lost. The bell which sounded the tocsin Is still In existence and was exhibited at the Centennial with some of the can non made at Warwick furnace. It was cast at the mill by Pott* & Kuttor in 1757 and was used constantly to call the men to work from that time until May, 1X74, a period of 117 years. There are still a number of cannon buried in the mud along the banks of the stream In the meadow, although these arc more probably guns which did not stand the firing test, than the swivels concealed there to escape the British. The latter would be too valu able to remain buried after dunger was past, and tradition says that the Im perfect guns were deposited along the stream. Be that as It may, the cannon are still visible there, although they are fast being submerged. Their weight Is so great that the washing of water around them and falling away of the soft earth that supports them is causing them to sink deeper and deeper into the ground. Several of them have been removed as relics. About ten years ago, some of the men and boys of the neighborhood who wanted to celebrate the "Glorious Fourth" in true Revolutionary style, exhumed one of the old cannon and dragged it to the summit of a neigh boring hill. There they loaded it with a charge of powder and fired It as a salute. The ancient cannon was burst Into a thousand pieces. NOTES OF THE HORSES. Queen Alix. 2:03%, weighs 920 pounds at present. W. H. McCarty now has Claybourne, 2:11%, in his string. A European horseman recently of fered $2,500 for Vego, 2:10%. Bast Request, 2:11%, by Bourbon Wilkes, will be seen on the turf again this year. Charley Thompson has added Monte Christo, 2:18%, to his string at Fleet wood Park. Klamath. 2:07%. has a half-brother named King Altamont, which will be raced this season. The two fast pacers, Sulphide, 2:09%, and Carbonate, 2:09, will not start in public this season. Trainer Jack Burny says Joe Patch en, 2:03, earned $80,000 In purses and stallion fees in three years. Ornament's full brother was sold by the owners of the Beaumont stud tc J. S. Curtis, for $10,100. The ex-turf queen, Maud S, 2:08% is now said to be In foal to Starklrk a brother to Magnolia, 2:15. AxlnltP. 2:17%, by Axtell, 2:12, actr very nicely this spring. He stepped a third mile In 2:22 recently. Anallne, a promising three-year-old full sister to the pacer, Online, 2:01 has been a half In 1:10 at the trot. 11 1), 2:12%, the famous branded pacer, sold at auction at lloatou last week for $580. He was a close second to Hal Pointer the flrst heat Hal paced below 2 10. Conaiautlne. 2 12%, may race a little this fall. He made his record in 1*92, aud was a competitor of Kremlin In one or two great races, latter the Hard | llussell horse outclassed him M> ! pietely, Monroe Salisbury, who had trouble j in getting his stable sway from Cali fornia, aa the horses were taken pos session of by the (’(editors of tbs re late, Is now on his wav east, and iu> added the fast stallion IV Hid is. I 12% 1 to his string Trolling horsemen base Jot passed I the darkest stage of the panic and few there are who favor large expenditures j fur entrance money, even aa condition* , now aland If opened kir a free - foe j ell trotting class little tntefeat le Ilk* I ly to attack a* that ctnan at present (ache fighting talent The Qpeen reigns oxer site ewntt pent luo peninsulas Me prumontpgtee 1 I mm takee, l.mtg rivers end l#tm is tend* t SOLD IN ABUNDANCE. CUT ALL WHO DIG ARE NOT SURE OF REWARD. Many IUrdilii|H Are to He Surmounte*l anil Fortunes Bint Sure After All— Afore People l.eave for tlie Biorth —Steamship Industry Mourn ing— Klondyke Trade. Conditions Blot Hassling. Mapison, Wit., Aug, <5.—J. C. Wil stead, since 1891 superintendent of the government reindeer farm In Alaska, now here on • vacation, said yester day that while the gold reports were not exaggerated In the least, the hard ihips were terrible and few of those who wore rushing to the new fields had any Idea of the endurance re quired. A person having a good posi tion would be wise to keep It, In pref erence to going fortune hunting In Alaska. Many of them forget that they will be thousands of miles from civilization and entirely upon their own resources, and, even though they successfully weather tho trip, there Is uo certainty that they will return loaded down with gold dust. Of trad ing business Wllstead waxes enthusi astic, and he thinks in this line for tunes rivaling the wealth of the Hud son Hay trading companies will be made. Wasft180ton, Aug. 0. — 3. I). Crois sant of this city, now in Alaska, In a letter written In July, dwelt upon tho great rush for the Klondyke, declared that many of tho stories of fortunes were overdrawn by those interested in the region in various ways and pre dicted intense disappointment and suffering for thousands. Ho said that claims niong the Klondyke had all been taken aud the only hope for new comers would be along other streams which had licou partially prospected with poor success. He said that when lie wrote there were hundred* hound for the gold Held* with neither money nor provision* and proper clothing and he believed scores would die during the coming long winter. STILL MORE BRAVE THE COLD. Skatti.k, Wash . Aug •>.—The steam ship Cleveland sailed for St. Michael's to-dny with S00 passengers and 1,000 tons of freight for the new gold re gions Among the passengers are Captain I’. M. Ray and Lieutenant Richardson, II. H. A., who will inves tigate the military necessities of Alaska, select a site for a fort and make preparations for troops from Fort Russell, Wyo., who will probably be sent to Alaska in the spring. The North American Transporta tion and Trading company hits let a contract for the building of four more river steamers, making eight contracts let by the company lo two weeks. All of the boats are of large capacity. Deck hands for Yukon-bound vessels are in great demand and wages have been Increased from 8*.} to 8*0 a month. Cl’DAHY ON IIIH BIO CLAIMS. Chicago, Aug. fl. — John Cudahy, head of the proposed 8'.’.1,000,010 Alaska mining company, said that the company owned thirty placer claims, each u* rich as the Klondyke, but would say nothing of tho quartz claims Tho Clover I.eaf, south of Fort Cudahy and four miles from nav igable water, Is the only quartz claim that will be worked in the near fu ture. Tho organization of the new com pany was completed at the Auditor ium annex to-day, the title to be the Cudahy-IIealy Yukon and Klondyke Mining company. Tho following are the Incorporators; John C'udahy, Michael Cudahy, C. I.. Hutchinson, E. A. Hamill, Ely E. Weare, I*. B. Weare, C. A. Weare, John J. Healy, C. H. Hamilton and Eli A. Oage. In corporation will be under West Vir ginia statutes. INSURANCE SCHEMES BLOCKED. Indianapolis, Ind., Aug. The determination of the leading life in surance companies to carry no risks on Klondyke explorers has fallen with dampening effect on the co-operative companies which were forming in this city and upon a number of men who were preparing to start for Alaska during the coming winter. One of these companies intended to send ten representatives, each insured for Sid, 000, giving each man 81,000 besides money for contingent expenses, all of them to co-operate in the search for gold, dividing equally with the com pany, ami in ease of death the insur ance money to tie paid to the coui|>aoy. By each death the company stood to win |H,%00, on the oasis that not more than 81,.too would lie spent on each representative. Another company simply designed carrying sjtfieieitt in surance to reimburse it for actual out la.va It is not thought that any of these companies will proceed further with the organisation. A l.ru. mi ike Xukuu Cnn son, Aug (I Uncle Kara soon will have kn experimental farm In the Yukon valley, If (secretary Wilson's pledge to I*. It. Wear* of the North American Traii»|u>rtatlon and Trading eompanv. Is brought to fill till in,-it L The promise was made in < Mongo yes terday at a conference between the two men names! and ti It ITay, re cently appointed surveyor g* tie rat of Alaska by IVesuirMl M> Klniey. Uspau IS sals a lisstssli Ns a A oak, Aug A V siuo-lal to the Herald fro n tt ashtugUm says Ja|xtu xx iU insist that the I sited hi ales as sume a r« aliugvut im|« asihlUly ta the matter of arbitration of leer dif fer* aces with Hawaii «a the saliprti af taimtgraUoa and the lai.ff It Is aad*rabaud that this is one of the r« Se„t*l conditions upon which Jspan will eonsent lo arhitrat.ou and that if Ihta responsibility ia n<*l assumed by the I ailed nisi#* Japaa will farsaa eff aegot si- >«* tswhlag to a«Miration •ad tsseii up her demands ki a nasal dumoastrai.ua ia Hawaiian water* TO CONTROL THE CANAL. This Nicaraguan Polity Will Ha Re nmmended to Congress Washinotox, Aug 0.-—No matter what the attitude of the (treater lie public of Central America may be. it ia the intention of the administration to recommend governmental control of the Nicaragua canal when Congress assembles next December. This was made plain at a conference at the state department, participated in by Secretaries Adee and Crimler, Senator Morgan, former Senator War ner Miller and Mr. Merry, the recent ly appointed minister to Nicaragua, Salvador and Coeta lilea, regarding the complications which have grown out of the refusal of the governments of Nicaragua and Salvador to receive Mr. Merry. It has been practically decided that Mr. Merry shall go to Coeta Kica, and that the hVtvdquarters of the legation shall l»e transferred to that country from Nicaragua. No steps will be taken to mako this trauffer, however, until the governments of Nicaragua and Salvador have again been heard from. KLONDYKE NUGGETS. A Former Kanes* Men Telle Home Wonderful Verne. Hiawatha, Kan , Aug. n. .1. K. Moore, formerly of this neighborhood, but now of Seattle, writes home to Ills parents that the Klondyke gold stories are nearly all true. Ills Sunday school teacher, Professor Dippy, brought hack 8.10,000. A Poverty flulrh neighbor, whose wife “took in washing,” has roturncil with 8112,000 and he emptied a sack of nuggets worth 810 each in a plate for Mr. Mooru to sec. Hu left Ills soli and a companion in charge of his mine and expects them to pick up 8300,000 bo jure me duii season wmn. ne claims to have picked nuggets up by this handful. Prominent men in polities itinl rich men itnil poor men by the thousands are rushing to Alaska from Seattle. Mr. Moore advises Ills friends not to think of venturing there with out they have ut least t,'>,000 to squan der. A SOCIETY SENSATION. Von fig 1’impli (Jusrrsl on Tlislr Waildlug liny unit Another Fallow lists liar. IIirTillIKSOF, Kan,, Aug (1. — I,ust night was to have been the occasion of n wedding, in which a large circle was Interested. Mr. A. 1). Yoder, a populur clerk at Martin’s dry goods store, had a house furnished and ail preparations made fur his mar riage witli Miss Mattie Ilutehlnson lust evening, because his intended hud persisted in taking a buggy ride with Jesse Cook, a handsome young grocer, o-i the evening before, Mr. Yoder deckled yesterday morning that the inurriugo should not take place. Mr. Cook was one of the first to hear the report, and he immediately called upon Miss Hutchinson and asked her for her hand In murriage. He was ac cepted, and the two were married yes terday evening at the same hour that the Yoder-Hutchinson marriage was to have taken place. JAPAN SORE AT AMERICA. Tbe Hawaiian and High Tariff Legisla tion Seriously Affecting Trad*. Nkw York, Aug. 8.— ltecent letters received in this city from Japan state thut a strong anti-American feeling still exists in that country and that Americans are being boycotted on all sides by the Japanese. First the Ha waiian question stirred up the ill feel ing, which was afterwards heightened by the discussion In the United Ntates Congress on the tariff when the propo iltion was advanced to tax severely certain Japanese goods. The Japanese took thhi as a direct affront, and they have not lost an opportunity sinco to belittle Americans and all that per tains to this country. ULTIMATUM SENT PERU Uuilr Ham Wearies of Delay la fayloi the McCord Claim. Washington, Aug. 0.—An ultima tum has been presented to the Peru vian government by the administra tion requiring the immediate payment of the McCord claim of $50,OOt). While no threat of coercion is made in case of refusal, the note makes the statement that any further delay on the part of Peru to close the incident will be considered as injurious to the cordial relations existing between the two government*. The Peruvian minister has cabled the note to Lima, and is now awaiting instructions from that governiueuk A California treasurer a Defaulter. HBDDUia, CeL, Aug il.—John Mad duu, treasurer of Modoc county, dis appeared two weeks ago aud lUstriet Attorney Haker, Itelievlug that he is a defaulter for at least Iyi.oju, ha* asked the board of supervisors to de clare tiie office vacant aud appuiul a new treasurer. Wheat (Iowa Three terns. Chicago, Aug. 8.—•foreigners turned sellers of wheat to-day, aud there wsa a drop of three cent* in Chicago pi it »■*, not any of which was recovered. There was a drop of a penny in Liver* l»«-l prices, despite Ike strong market .n this country .Yesterday. ttfleea MusAfeA India MMI Nua«Uag there the artillery 8 r*.l point blank nt y. est milt hnnde who were marching to turn the »taker*, hilling I,too of lit* ualocs The secretary of state for India. Lord treuegn Hamilton. <*M questioned in the II<-ore of tuienMd July v as to the aeeurney nf the report and Iceiared that only a**en «m hiiied