IN A MIRAGE CITY. THE WONDERFUL SIOHT WIT NESSED IN ALASKA. tlie Silent City In til* Clouds Slippeird to lift** mn Original Home* here on Till* Hplier* -Lately Hern l>y » SeetUe Man. □ NCK again "The Silent City of Alas ka" has been brought before the public with Ita myaterlouH towers, Its deserted streets, Its quaint roof tops and Its quaint beauty. The man who describes It this lime Is C. W, i uornton, i well known citizen of Se attle and t member of the Young Men’s Christian Association of tha* '•Ity, He was one of the party that made up the expedition of Prince Lui gi of Savoy to the top of Ml. St. KIIhh. Five other men were with Mr. Thorn ion when the beautiful mirage was seen The mirage city has formerly been reported as having been seen from the Muir glacier. Mr. Thornton snd Ills companions saw It from the MaUsplim glacier. They had left the expedition to return to the coast for provisions The mirage was noticed at about 4 o’clock In the morning and lasted for thirty-five minute*. Then It vanished. The Aral, that was over heard of a mirage city in Alsskn was In IHHtt. In • hat year fttchard (5. Willoughby, a prospector of Juneau, Alaska, came down from the Muir glacier with the ■issertlon that he had beheld a wonder ful city Iri the clouds. It was standing out In the sky. In full view. There .wre masses of tall brick bouses Vvilli sloping roofs, elm trees In the fore ground and a river with shipping in the distance. From the midst of the buildings arose two great towers r.ur rounded with scaffolding. Mr. Wil loughby minutely described the mirage and claimed'to have seen It several ilmes. change* had taken place In the towers as If progress hud been made in the construction of the bond ing. The people beard the miner’s »iory with wonder, but as no one but himself had seen It no great Import ance was attached to lli<- tale, until In • Itine of the year named be succeeded In photographing the mirage and fix ing the picture upon a plate. These pictures had a large sale, and In lXNfl several of them found their way to Chicago. A citizen of this city who saw a copy of the photograph declared that. It was a view ot Bristol, Ktiglaml. others who were familiar with Bristol verified the identification and more ately Prof. William II. Hudson of Stanford University, California, ree ognlzed the view of Bristol front the noted Brandon hill. In the June (1KW7) number of the k Popular Science Monthly Professor Da dd Starr Jordan.president of the Stag ford University, published an article lu which he charged that the Willoughby photograph was a fraud, and said It had been made from an old plate taken twenty years ago. Professor Hudson n membered that the famous cathedral of Ike town was at that time undergo •ig repairs. An Investigation Into the methods of photography used by Mr. Willoughby which was made by an ithcer of the Albatross was not satls 'uotory. The old prospector Hatty re fused to disclose what sort of chemicals he had used or how he had developed Ids plates. Professor Jordau took , . high scientific ground lu Ills criticism ,r the photographs, and did not lied • ats to say that so far as mirages lu Masks were concerned, the Willough by picture* were a rather poor ami an ibatanUsI guide. Professor Jordan * argument would e strong or even coniluciug fioni the .nndpolnt of circumstantial evidence were It not counterbalanced by testl iigninl cvtdeuce. the validity of which hgre id a Ice no reasonable doubt Kv *n i| Mr Willoughby's photograph* were ■tut gwaulue. the r bance* that be really -aw a mirage city are very gtast A man named lit me. well known la Alas ka. lest lies that be saw the etty tv v ♦ rtged by Mr Willoughby M II yrygil also says be was fortunate 'AoUgh to aae It. There Is aw Indian ‘•gem! about His* ter Hat ta which the .dry of th* phantom city la preserved Htdvrrt Phrtaite and «!••*•• g«- t*niiet**a •■I ItsitMi Hsy aver that they too Mn «ms It, And now • ••*« Mr i homiun a man «t paiius in gen* Me. •» J •*# HVi|blf« hi 1 l.silgt I t i party, who agree perfectly not only In I their statement of having seen the city but also In the detailed description of It. All who have seen or claim to have seen the mirage agree In several Im portant details of the appearance. The streets In the mirage are always de serted. The observers all Hay that the architecture Is not at all like the ar chitecture of an American town. The houses are quaint, solid and old-fash ioned. Then there seems to lie unan imity In the presence of towers and a dome, as If of some monster build ing and of at least one thin church spire In the distance. The accompanying llluatratlon tlon Is a copy of one of Mr. Willough by'* photographs taken In 1888. In the foreground are seen several houses, un questionably of English architecture. There are the elm trees with leafless branches, The main feature of the picture Is the lofty structure in the middle, said to be the famous Episco pal cathedral of Bristol as It appeared twenty year* ago, when the building was undergoing repairs. The shipping and the river are not vlslblo. The strongest points made by Professor Jordan In his article are found In his Indications of the nearness of the bouse In the foreground and the leaf less elm tree* tin midsummer). These two things are certainly telling points against the genuineness of the Wil loughby photographs. Even tile small tiles on the chimney pots are visible. But judging by the tules told by Mr. Thornton, apparent proximity and clearness of detail In the foreground are not Impossibilities in mirages. Are there two silent cities In Hu skies of Alaska? If the Willoughby photographs are genuine there must be for the description given by Mr. Thorn ton of what he saw In July does not coincide with the photographs taken nine yeurs ago from the Muir glacier. The vision, said Mr. Thornton, was ;< ars ago. Ills beard Is the patriarch's beard, but Ills figure Is us met us It wss in the days of Ills "Argonuutu of forty-nine,” Ills mind Is us clear und vigorous as It was In the days when In treated law und a constitution out of ' linos 111 California nearly fifty yearn ago. As a pastime he writes a book of pi i honal memoirs, or masters Hi a few evenings an Oriental language. The lawyers who have been wanting id' place on the bench will doubtless huvi to possess their souls In patience for years to cm Gladstone’s record for activity has been equalled by Jus tice Field. The friends of the Justice predict lliut he will exe'ed If by a de cide. , d' iitl. has a more remark able history than JustiC' Stephen J. Field, and It In the purpose of this urtlcle to detail some of the Interest ing Incidents of his career. He whh the son of David Dudley Field, a Congrega tional minister of New Eng land. and Submit Dickinson Field. His grandfather on his father's sldo was Tim othy Field, who was a cap tain In the Revolution. His grandfather on his mother's side was Noah Dickinson, who served In the French anil Indian war under Israel Putnam, and also through the Revolution. Ho It will be seen thut Stephen j. Field came of fighting stock. Among his brothers were Cyrus W. Field, the father of the submarine cable; David Dudley Field, mi eminent lawyer; .Mathew W. Fluid, a noted engineer; Henry Martyn Field, a distinguished clergyman and author; Jonathan Field, who was president of the Massachusetts state senate, and Timothy Field, a lieutenant In the I'ntted Mates navy. One of the sisters of Justice Field married the Rev. Jonathan Itrewer, and a New Knglulid missionary society that was interested in edui allng young Orieian girls, sent Mr. IJtewei and his wife to Smyrna Oreece had ins; [thrown off the Turkish yoke, and Hen ry Clay's specN'IifM In behalf of Hist •nfferlug country, the massaeie at Solo and the bravery ot Menu ttosserle had flret! (be American h-art With kits •Unary Itrewer and hi* wife went young Hteplien J. Field- They rentaiu* ed abroad three years, tmrtng that lime be Wsbl through the gholera epi demic and also the plague During these epidemics he helped his brother in Is* nurse tbs etch. ‘Tens of thou I sands of persons died from the two dts eases, hut young Field and his tela Dies escaped gtepheb J. Field relumed lb 1*13 gad went to William* college, gtadu suns in ml Then he entered tb* (gw »Mr* of Dettd I loti* * Fie |.I In this city, mid became a partner in the law firm. Young Field decided to ' go tc California in 1849. The discovery ; of gold there had given rise to a pop- I ular excitement far greater than the | Klondike sensation of to-day. His out- ! tit was bought for him by his brother j Cyrus, who added $10 worth of cha- j mois skins, whirh, he said, would be I useful to make bugs for bolding gold dust. He also bad sixty-four copies of New York newspapers. He landed with , $1 in Ills pcc'.tet. He sold his chamois j skins for $180 worth of gold dust, and an acquaintance Bold his sixty-four New York papers for $1 each, and gave him half the prcceeds. Mr. Field remained but a short time in San Francisco, and then went fur ther Inland, stopping at the "town" of Yubavllle. Yubavllle was undergoing a transformation. The land was In control of two French capitalists, who were pleased with young Field's ability to speak French. Three days after his arrival Yubavllle ceased to exist, Marysville was organised, and he was elected mayor. He was also made a Justice of the peace, and the mainte nance of law and order was In his bauds. Lynch law was unknown In Marys ville so long as Mr. Field was mayor. He dispensed Justice speedily and fear lessly, and several times ordered of fenders to he publicly flogged. He was finally succeeded by an officer under the state government, and by that time had amassed a large sum of money, and had made a number of enemies. One of these enemies was W. R. Turner, who had been appointed Judge of the district. Judge Turner decided to drive Mr. Field from the country. He forbade him to practice In Ills court, threatening to shoot him If he entered the court room, and bud him drugged from court by a sheriff and posse. Thus prevented from practicing law, Mr. Field embarked in legislation. He was elected to tile legislature, anil there drafted n plan of u new Judicial system, which got rid of Judge Tur ner, an<* sent him to the wilderness. Things moved quickly In California in those duys. Mr. Field arrived In California In December, 1819. He was elected to the legislature III IM&I. In two years Mr. Field had been an un known emigrant, mayor of a town, Jus tice of the peace and member of the legislature, in two years he had been penniless, rich and penniless again. Mr. Field returned to the practice of law, urid In those days the law was a hazardous calling. One day Judge Field, wlio was defending a placer Claim which haowie knives, and, second, to fighting Iu n room. A meeting was arranged In the woods, and Judge Barbour hacked out. He was lampooned In the newspapers, and one morning when Judge Field was getting kindling wood in front of his office Judge Harbour ran up behind him, clapped a pistol to Ills head and said: "Draw and defend yourself!" "You cowardly assassin!" exclaimed the kneeling man. without moving. "You do not dare to shoot. I defy you." Judge Harbour walked away, while the crowd hooted. Dozens of times Judge Field looked down the muzzles of cocked revolvers. He wus never known to flinch. A less courageous man would have been kill ed early In the game. He absolutely did not know what fear was, and the stories of his honesty and bravery that spread over the state elected him Judge of the supreme court. In IU57 by twenty thouand majority. Judge Field was a Democrat. When the war broke out he, with others, de cided to keep California In the Union. The secessionists were sure of Cali fornia. General Albert Sidney John ston was In command of the United States troops lu California, hikI his disloyalty was suspected. The Union ists felt that he was In collusion with the secessionists, who would seize the fortress of Alcatraz, which would place San Franclrco ut their mercy. Sev enty-five thousand muskets were stored ut Benicia, nnd If these fell Into the hands of the secessionists California would he lost. The Unionists organized u secret Union league. Judge Fluid wus the fifth member to be enrolled. Arms were bought und companies were or ganized. Meetings on behalf Of the Union were held In the theaters, and J the fires of patriotism burned brightly at the Golden Gate. Couriers overland [ carried ih” news to Uresldent l.lncoln, and lie wus finally advisod to super sede General Johnston. This he did by sending General Sumner secretly to relieve him of the commund. General Sumner look command. The arms at Benicia were sufe, and California re mained u loyal state. For Judge Field’s service to the Un* i Ion he was made a United Htutes an* ! preme court Justice by President Un v Kejidenct* i«> **"1 ** * ,rvtf or^• - ~ •« Sh ! coin in 186.!. *«**! An attempt was made to usHnssinatc Judge Field by means of an infernal machine in IjtlS. A torpedo was sent yj j ini'ough the mail to him in a !' miniature case. The Judge ' I partly opened It and then, hla suspicious being aroused, he i|, placed It in u pall of water j.lj, and had it examined at the Washington arsenal. It con * tallied enough explosive to kill a dozen men, and hud cv |!L idently been seut to him by ™ certain squatters who had been dispossessed in the Pu i i ldo cases In which the judge rendered the decision. The last of many times this remarkable,lion-hearted man faced death without flinching w,*s In 1889, when nu at tempt was made on hts life by Judge David 8. Terry and hts wire. Judge Terry was counsel for 8arah Althea Mill, who claimed to lie the wife of Senator Sharon, aud sought to establish a claim to hts mlllious by means of u divorce. Field and Ter ry had kuown each other In the Weal. During the divorce proceed tugs the Mill wuiuati hud married Judge Terry. The caae was carried up. and dually came before Justice Field, lie deliv ered a decision adverse to Sira. Mill, ami Judge Terry arose In eourt and de nounced the Judge Me attempted to assault him. as did also his Wife, hut they were overpowered and disarmed, the judge had a dirk and hts wife a revolver. Me sentenced Terry lo throe months In jail and Mr*. Mill to on« month. When h* cam* nut of jail Judge ter r> again Ihrealsaed to tahe the life of Justice Field When Justice Field i tatted tall tor ala Iteputy Marshal Na gle was ordered to travel with the judge and protect Mm. At the watting station at !<*throp Judge Terry so •suited Jueilge Field, ssg Nagle shot him dead Terry • wife the* rushed In with a pistol and had tw he dta* armed Heave men ought not to he rwet down hf aJv 0*111 Mtltua Italicwa