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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 1904)
Loup City Northwestern J. W. BURLEIGH, Publisher. LOUP CITY, - - NEBRASKA. Secretary Hay is a grandfather and it'a a boy. Bring on the little breeches. Evidently the great need of the day is some man that can stand before Prof. Jim Jeffries. When a Japanese wrestler loses the championship he can always qualify as a fat man at a dime museum. The sultan of Turkey, like one or two illustrious Americans, hates to give up money and never takes a va cation. Why cannot Uruguay and Paraguay unite, thus consolidating the revolu tion business and saving costs of pro duction? More than $2,000,000 in Uncle Sam’s gold Is to sail on a transport for Ma nila. What a chance for a good enter prising pirate! A Louisville judge has decided that a man may beat his wife. He doesn’t say, however, whether with a club or at bridge or poker. Another elopement in high society is proof that Love is still laughing at everybody and everything that seeks to thwart his plans. Canada is moving for the protection pf its musk oxen. North Africa should fall in line and prevent the further de struction of its civet cats. Get out of the way, you ordinary Carnegie heroes. You never played third and, after breaking your leg, put out a runner and won the game! As to the story that Patti will tour this country in an automobile, it should be said that the lady is much too humane to seek revenge in that way. Really, it isn’t necessary for you to save your bands. A well known band master estimates that there are at least 20,000 of them in the United States. If the Standard Oil monopoly is ne gotiating for the purchase of a bank in London, as the Times says, why does it not offer to buy the Bank of England? Munroe’s share of the gate receipts at that prize fight amounted to over $6,000. This may account partially for the vigor with which Prof. Jeffries thumped him. A woman has just died in Indiana who knew Aaron Burr when she was a child, which is another reminder what a youngster the United States j is in the family of nations. A dispatch from Newport mentions that one of the prominent society lead ers there expects to sue for divorce in the fall. The number of invitations she intends to issue is not given. When one of the visiting milliners speaks of a “stunning creation’’ she alludes to the effect of the hat on the public—not to the effect of the bill on the husband, as might be inferred. It is Interesting to observe that the people who are willing to inform you that they don’t consider this country fit to live in are not rushing to take advantage of the reduced rates to Europe. The secret service men who drown ed a goose believing they were soak ing danger out of a bomb must have felt a brotherly sympathy when they discovered the Identity of the object of their effort. Here’s hoping that the clergyman who both in 1895 and in 1904 has cap tured the biggest cod caught in those years off Provincetown, is equally successful in his working season a3 a fisher of-men. I The young woman who objects to paying G7 cents for the privilege of saying two swear words hardly has the masculine appreciation of ex pletive. And 67 cents looks like a bar gain price at that. From London now comes the news of the successful initial trip of a fly ing machine, the invention of Sir Hiram Maxim. Flying machines are so numerous now in various parts of the world that it is not easy to keep track of them. And still we cannot fly. A business man, who is on the verge of nervous prostration, has been or dered by his physician to go into the country for a month and do absolute ly nothing with his mind. As a part of the regime the doctor has pre scribed the reading of a dozen popu lar novels. Just as we expected! The report that a Norwegian whaler had found north of Spitzbergen a bottle contain ing a letter from Prof. Andree, dated in 1898, proves to be a hoax. Now aren’t you glad that you didn’t get ex cited? The beginning of active work on the Panama canal is signalized by large requisitions for dynamite and powder from the isthmus. How much better is it to have these explosives used in this great work of peace than in the atrocities of war. A Philadelphia man saved a woman who weighed 250 pounds from drown ing at one of the eastern watering places the other day. The report says that he held her up with one arm and swam ashore with the other. Atlas had an easy job compared with what the Philadelphia man had to do. Not long ago a disappointed suitor slashed the face of the diffident sweet heart, and she promptly married him. Now another suitor has • given his heart’s love twe slashes. It seems to be up to her to marry him twice. ^ I I_I At Tea With Polly. When Polly puts the kettle on. And lights the lamp, and spreads the cover. Politeness tells me to be gone; But shamelessly I, lingering, hover. In hopes that she will bid me stay. For naught on earth is half so jolly. As that half hour of twilight gray, In paradise, at tea with Polly. When I am tired, and worn, and sad, I love to hear her china tinkle. Its music makes my spirit glad, And smoothes away each worrying wrinkle, All else on earth may fall to drive Away the shade of melancholy. But not a trouble can survive The Joy of taking tea with Polly. To see her as she cuts the bread. And spreads it daintily with butter. To watch her shake her charming head. At compliments I’m fain to utter. An anchorite ’twou'd surely move, Make him forget that life is folly. And tempt him straightway into love. If he could come to tea with Polly. And wAen she pours the amber stream, I long—but long in vain—to hug her. She asks so sweetly, ‘‘More of cream. Or. "Just another lump of sugar? To live at peace I always try. But willingly I’d face a volley Of sh-'t and shell, provided 1 After the war. took tea with Pollj. —Brooklyn Eagle. NEWS OF THE LABOR WORLD. Items of Interest Gathered from Many Sources. The milling industry in the United States is the third largest in the coun try. At Canonsburg, Pa., the Standard Tinplate company, employing 3j000 men, has resumed operations. Building operations, which had been tied tip for fifteen weeks by a lock out of the carpenters at Sharon, Pa., have been resumed. The 800 miners at the Barnum col liery of the Pennsylvania Coal com pany at Pittston, who have been out on strike for two weeks, returned to work. •The big building strike at Hartford, Conn., which started in a disagree j ment over 70 cents, has been ended by a complete surrender by xaf* con tractors. The grand lodge of the International association of machinists has levied an assessment of $1 on journeymen and 50 cents on apprentices for the Santa i Fe strikers. •' Engineers and switchmen operating the dummy engines at the Illinois Steel Company's plant at Joliet, III., struck because the management cut off the spell hands. The Cleveland Civic Federation at tempted to settle the cloakmakers’ strike by arbitration, but the manu facturers declined to hold a confer ence on the ground that so far as they 1 were concerned there was nothing to ' arbitrate. The executive board of the United Mine Workers of America voted $500 to the support of the packing house strikers. Secretary Treasurer Wilson said: “We shall not make further contributions at present, as thousands of our own men are on strike.” At the meeting of the National Gar ment Workers’ association President Larger said that in the last year the organization had had the most stub bornly contested strikes since i895. These contests have only served to emphasize the strength of the union, he declared. After a long conference between Vice President Bryan of the Interbor ough Rapid Transit company and a committee of the New York elevated railroad employes it was announced that an agreement satisfactory to both Bides had been reached and that there will be no strike. Notices were posted in the Home stead plant of the Carnegie Steel Com pany at Pittsburg announcing that the 33-inch, 119-lnch and converting mills would go on double turn. This leaves only the 84-inch mill idle in the entire plant. The resumption gives 650 addi tional men employment. The Charleroi plant of the Macbeth Evans Glass Company, which recently severed connections with the Amer ican Flint Glassworkers’ association, partially resumed operations on a non-union basis. About sixteen old skilled employes reported for duty. The plant employs 300 hands. By a referendum vote the miners of the Crooksville district have rejected the proposition of the operators and the strike will continue. The men have been out over five months. Over 2,000 miners are involved. Officials of the Miners’ union were disappointed when the result was announced. More than 100,000 wage earners are idle as the result of strikes and lock I outs affecting four prominent indus tries. Probably as many more have been thrown out of employment dur ing the last month by the wave of in dustrial discord and depression which seems to be sweeping across the coun try. \ Clairton furnace No. 2 of the United States Steel corporation has been or dered in blast and notices to resume in mills Nos. 8 and 9 have been posted at the W. Dewees-Wood plant of the American Sheet Steel and Tin Plate company at McKeesport. The re sumptions will give employment to over 1,200 men. the same union, and John B. Farrell a member of the same organization The purpose is to conduct a banking business for all labor organizations in the city. The management and direc toratejsf the institution are to remain in the control of active trade union istc. The Pennsylvania Railroad Com pany made the most sweeping reduc tion in the time of the men employed that has taken place since the panie of 1893. The employes of the machins shops were notified that they would be divided into shifts, each shift tc work every other day, eight hours tc constitute a day’s work. On* shift will work Mondays and Wednesdays and the other Tuesday and Thursday. The remainder of the week tile shops will be closed down entirely. It is not known how long the order will continue in effect. A few sheds erected in 1862 at Ja malabore for repairs to rolling stock of the East India Railway have ex panded into a plant covering 100 acres at the present time, and with an out put valued at more than 5,000,000 rupees a year. There are 90,000 labor ers employed, and in magnitude the shops are said to be exceeded only by those of the London & Northwestern Railway Company at Crewe. The Railway World says that at Jamala pore the railway locomotive is liter ally manufactured from the raw ma terial—old iron, ingots of copper, zinc and tin—'nto the finished machine ready for service. Alfred Kolb, councilor of state of | Germany, has just issued a book on the labor question in this country. He worked as a laborer here while mak ing his observations. In his book he says: “I went to America with the intention of gathering material for a book in which I had hoped to prove the injustice of the demands of the working classes, but my practical ex perience entirely changed my views of the labor question. I found prob lems of whose existence I had no idea and I cannot deny that my sympathies are no longer with the employers, and must admit that most of the demands made by the unions are just and fair.” The firemen's union international convention at Washington elected the following officers: Timothy Healy, New York city, president; James P. Conroy, St. Louis, Joseph O'Donnell, Whiting, Ind., H. W. Bausch, Toledo, O., Thomas Kane, Danbury, Conn., R.. E. McLean, Newark, Chas. R. Moran, Holyoke, and Frank Huldane, Rum ford Falls, Me., vice presidents; C. L. Shamp, Omaha, Neb., secretary-treas urer; delegates to the A. F. of L. con vention, Joseph W. Morton, Chicago; C. L. Shamp, Omaha; Timothy Healy, New York. Amendments to the con stitution w'ere adopted fixing the terms of officers at two years and providing for biennial meetings in stead of annual. In a recefft address Justice Brewer of the United States Supreme Court said that workingmen have a legal right to strike when not bound by con tract to the contrary. Employes may quit work, singly or in a body, but in case they quit work, there is an equal right on the part of the employers to seek other employes and there is the same right of these employes to ac cept such employment. “These prop ositions are too plain for argument,” declared the judge. While he, of course, took a strong position against violence in times of strikes, Judge Brewer said that criminals always seek the multitude. Let a strike be announced and a mob is there at once, with active criminals scattered through it to do their work. Melbourne, the capital city of Vic toria, has a population of about 500, 000, and it is the chief manufacturing city of Australia. At the recent par liamentary election the labor candi date was Dr. William Maloney. The retiring member was a candidate for re-election. He was Sir Malcolm Mc Eacharn, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, a ship owner and a merchant of excel lent standing in the capitalist ranks. The returns of the election gave Sir Malcolm a majority of seventy-seven. The labor party alleged fraud and pe titioned for an investigation, with the result that the returns were thrown out and a new election ordered. The result of the new poll was 8,667 votes for Maloney and 7,808 for Sir Malcolm, a majority of 859 for the labor candi date. The labor party is very jubilant over its victory. One of New York’s daily newspapers said editorially the other day: “In the industrial readjustment now tak ing place the ties which bind men to their unions are weakening.” What is meant by “the industrial readjustment now taking place” is not clear unless ; the combinations that are being made of employers is meant. It is true that these combinations are being made to fight the unions, but so far they have had the opposite effect. No adjust ment made by capitalism that implies war on unionism will weaken the ties that bind union men. Labor organi zations can be seriously injured only by their own acts. The union move ment has now reached a pomt where only internal strife can destroy It. In- < spired by faith in the purity c- its mo tives, cemented by mutual respect and confidence, and guided by wisdom the American labor movement will not die while there is need of it. A sensation was sprung at Pittsburg when members of the Window Glass Workers’ union went into court and asked for an accounting of the organ ization’s finances, the appointment o'f a receiver, the dissolution of the as sembly and a distribution of the funds in its treasury. The bill in equity was filed by Schoyer & Hunter, at torneys for Arthur Witterbort, Jules Hugg, James K. Tarr, David G. John son and Leo Walker, members of local assembly No. 300. It is charged that discrimination in favor of the Ameri can Window Glass Company was shown by the officers when they al lowed that concern to operate Its fac tories and employ cutters and flatten era on and alter Aug., 28, 1903, when an order had been issued that mem bers should not aqpept employment before Nov. 10, 1903. Secret rebates to certain manufacturers are also al leged. Two strikes, affecting 2,000 men, were declared by the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers against the plants of the Re publican Iron and Steel Company at Pittsburg and the Monongahela Steel and Iron Company near McKeesport. The trouble is not over wages, but over recognition of the union. Super intendent Pendleton said the company would pay the scale, but would not sign it Indignation In labor circles Is gen erally and emphatically expressed at a certain action of the Brotherhood of the Union at its state convention in Columbia, Pa. There it was decided that the name should be changed by the national circle so the brotherhood should not be confused with trade unions. Union men claim that the term "Union of States” should, for like reason, be dropped to suit the opponents of trade unions. Organized labor of Chicago soon is to have a banking institution of its own. A permit for the First Union Labor Bank of Chicago, capitalized for $200,000, has been issued in Spring Held. The incorporators are Charles F. Strubbe, financial secretary of Dis trict Lodge No. 8 of the Machinists' Untoi; John IS. Senne, treasurer of Cleansing Public Reservoirs. The department of agriculture is ex perimenting with a process of treating public water supply with a solution of copper sulphates—one part in 1, 000,000 parts. The purpose of this is to destroy certain forms of agla or plant growths, which so frequently render water foul appearing and ill smelling, although the sanitary quality of the water is not affected. These growths flourish best in the purest waters, pressed through sand filters, and for this reason large storage of filtered water is not advisable unless the reservoirs are covered. As to the effect upon the consumers, a person drinking three pints of water per day, with 1 part to 1,000,000 parts, would in a year consume but seven to eight grains of sul phate. As a mater of fact, how ever, the treatment would not be con tinuous. Two or three applications a year would probably suffice, and be sides this the sulphate would enter into combination with the organic life and would then be precipitated. Cer tain of the algae are killed by solu tions of only 1 part in 3,000,000, but it is possible that others will require much stronger solutions. In this case, which remains to be determined by test, the reservoir may be shut off from us during treatment, or there may be a supplementary process to precipitate any copper sulphate re maining in solution. Improved Chiffonier. There has just been patented a chif fonier, or dresser, of decidedly useful construction, and the honor belongs to an Indiana citizen. The accompanying cut shows the chiffonier, with its new feature, which is nothing more nor less than a washstand extension. It can be seen that the washstand slides into the end of the chiffonier and closes the end shelves or compart ments when the stand is not in use. The whole arrangement is particularly The New Chiffonier. ingenious and forms a compact and useful article of furniture for milady’s room. Porcelain Water Conduits. Bizarre though it may seem, there is agitation on the continent regarding the replacing of the ordinary water pipes by porcelain conduits. In fact, :he manufacture of the latter has al ready begun in Saxony. The porce lain tubes are to be extremely slender, and placed in the interior of lead conduits in which they form a lining. Between the metal and the porce lain will be a layer of cement. It is well to remember that porcelain is, so to speak eternal; further, that the water in this way is not exposed to contamination with iron, and that rust cannot reach the metal walls and per forate them with holes, as is often the case in present day conduits. At present rates the transportation of water through porcelain in pipes of the usual diameter costs 2,000 marks the kilometer. Electric Switching Engines. The great weight of storage bat teries, which is so serious an objec tion to their use on passenger cars and smaller carriages, is an advan tage on switching locomotives, as it gives necessary adhesion. Such a lo comotive is being tested in the yards of the Prussian state railways. Among its special merits it claims that of being always ready and that of cost ing less than steam for irregular ser vice. The battery of 200 cells is charged once a day from a source of constant current at 110 volts. The total weight of the locomotive is 59, 000 pounds, of which 22,000 pounds is the weight of the battery and 9,500 pounds that of the other electric ap paratus. What Lightning Is. It has generally been supposed that the luminous material forming the electric spark is made up of minute particles torn from the poles of the discharge and heated to a white heat by it. But a Russian experimenter, Semenoff, reports to the Paris Acad emy of Sciences the results of experi ments which show that the poles suf fer no such dismemberment, and that the heated material comes solely from the air or gas through which, the spark passes. In a lightning flash the air is simply heated momentarily to incandescence along the path of the discharge. . To Measure Fall of Dew. Accurate measurement of dew has always been impossible. A new Ger man drosometer, reported to give ex cellent results, is a sheet of specially prepared paper soaked in a chemical solution, and the amount of dew fall ing in a night can be closely estimated from the degree of discoloration of this paper. Experiment has given a scale of discoloration. Paper of 3 de grees of sensitiveness is provided, and it is advised that two kinds be ex posed together, in order that when the amount of dew is too great for one it may be indicated by the other* > I:*''-* / I . .. TO MAKE OVER BARN. Plan Will Ensure a Commodious and Comfortable Structure. A. C. Mcl.—I wish to remodel a barn, 48 by 84 feet, the floor of which runs through the center from end to end. The barn stands north and south and the dwelling house stands about 150 feet south of the south end. I wish to run the floor across the barn and to arrange a cow stable to hold forty-five cows, convenient for feeding and clearing out. We do not know how far the bents are apart in your barn, nor how many there are, so that some of them may come directly over the mangers or gutters behind the cattle. If you adopt the plan shown and the bents come over any of the gutters or mangers, so that the posts would interfere with your stable, two posts opposite each Ground Floor Plan of Remodeled Stock Barn. A, cow stalls; B, passages behind cattle; C. feed rooms; D. box stall: E, gran ary; F, drive floor; G, windows. other can be placed on each side of the sill, and a 10 by 10 or 12 by 12 inch timber placed on top of posts to carry the sill. The plan shown provides for bents of the following lengths, commencing at the south end: 14, 14, 20, 12 and 24 feet, making in all 84 feet. There is an over-shoot of six feet on the south side of the driveway to feed the first row of cattle from. The windows on the west side are close to the doors and come directly over the gutters in order to let in light. In cleaning out the cow stable the doors can be made wide enough to drive in from the east side through the stable, and out of the west side. The stalls are single stalls for swinging racks fqr mangers, but if swinging racks are not used the stalls can be converted into double ones if desired. There are thirty-nine cows stalls and one box stall; if the box stall is not required, three single stalls can be made of it Growing Rhubarb. P. M.—At what season of the year is it best to plant rhubarb roots? Is it advisable to protect the roots in win ter. There are two ways to start a rhu barc! bed: First, by using roots which may be secured from an established plantation. If these are used, they may be planted in spring or any time ' from the first of September until the middle of October. I prefer the early autumn. The second method is from seeds. If rhubarb seed is sown in well pulverized soil in early spring, the seedlings will be large enough to trans plant in the autumn. Or they may be allowed to stand over until the follow ing spring. When the roots or seed lings have been set out in the autumn, it is altogether advisable to mulch them heavily the first winter. Rhubarb j does well on a variety of soils, but one i which is deep, tairly heavy and moist is preferable. If you want early rhu barb, select a warm site. Roomy and Up-to-Date Stable. A. McT.—Please publish a plan for the basement of a barn 76 feet by 40 feet, to have 6 or 8 stalls for horses, Ground Floor Plan of Handy Stable. A, horse stable; B, feed rooms: C, cat tle stables: D. passage behind cattle; E, box stalls; F, room for cattle to run loose. 4 or 5 box stalls, stalls for 18 or 20 head of cattle tied, and a place for 8 or 10 head to run loose. The above plan provides for six horse stalls, ten double cattle stalls, four box stalls and a room for young cattle to run loose in. The box stalls have doors in from outside, so that they may be cleaned from these. The passage behind the cattle is nine feet wide, allowing room for a wagon or cart to be backed in to draw out the manure. Cost of Four-Room Cottage. J. E.—I intend to build a four-room cottage, with bath room and pantry. It would have an 8 foot basement and colonial roof. It would be finished in yellow pine. What would such a build ing cost, with lumber worth $35 tc $40 per thousand feet? The house would be 24 by 30 feet. It would have three bay windows and front porch. Your basement walls and floor would cost, if built of concrete, about $135 provided the walls are one foot thick and the concrete is composed of one part of Portland cement to seven ol clean gravel. It is difficult to give a close estimate of the cost, and amount of material* in the frame work of your house un less one has a detail of the class of work required in finishing. Roughlj estimating, the plastering would amount to sixty-six dollars; lumber and other materials would amount tc about five hundred dollars not includ ing work. Clovers for Silage. F. W.—What kinds of grass or legumes may be used for making en silage? Any of the common clovers, such as alsike, red, or lucerne, may be used for making ensilage. Hollow stemmed plants, such as grasses, cannot be used successfully for this purpose. Rape has beei^tried, but without satis factory results owing to the high per centage of loss by decay. Taking a Straw Vote. Canvasser—Who is Mr. Henpeck go ing to support. Mr8. Henpeck—Me. DUELS ON LAND AND WATER Strange Weapons That Have Been Chosen to : Decide Deadly Quarrels, and Conditions That Have Caused the Challengers to With draw. From time immemorial duels have been fought in every land under the sun. Premeditated combats have tak en place between two persons for the purpose of deciding some private dif ference or quarrel and have been fought with deadly weapons and with a purpose to take life. The challenger has generally been one who was confident that he could worst his adversary with pistol or sword, but there have been many in stances where men, goaded to des peration by persecution or slander, have challenged the ones who made life unbearable even when they felt that the chances were against them, but like the man who meditates sui cide, they felt it was the easiest way to end their troubles. However, in most cases, duelists are either selfish or wantonly thoughtless, for “the duel ist values his honor above the life of his antagonist, his own life, and the happiness of his family.” In France and Germany dueling en I Joys a certain amount of popularity, j although the laws forbid it, and, until I a half century ago, a fight with swords or pistols between prominent men in this country, who wished to settle a contention, was by no means uncom mon, and a description of several of these incidents occupies many pages of American history. They invariably resulted fatally for one and sometimes for both of the combatants, so that dueling became exceedingly unpopular i with Americans. Duels have been fought not only with all kinds of weapons, but in vari ous otter ways, some of them under the most dramatic circumstances and I with the most'tragic results. The I methods employed have been most original; some have been fiendish, I with the outcome utterly hopeless for either duelist. Davy Crockett, frontiersman, Indian fighter and congressman, was once challenged to mortal combat by a famous duelist in Washington. Crock ett's bravery was unquestionable, but the odds were against him with sword or pistol, for the skill of the challenger with either weapon was world re nowned. However, Crockett accepted, and, being the challenged party, had the right to name his choice of weap ons. He had gone into the wilderness on numerous occasions and with his brawn and a sharp axe had cleared I hundreds of acres of timber land. His prowess with the broadaxe was fa miliar to everybody, and when he .chose broadaxes as dueling weapons ; his challenger hastily apologized to him. Then what might have been a i famous duel was averted. Crockett ! regarded his would-be antagbnist as a coward, and he proved it. The hero of the broadaxe, a few years later, fought to the death with a little band of brave men in the i Alamo, of whom it was written; "Mar athon had her messenger of defeat; I the Alamo had none.” The moral of I this incident is obvious. A few years ago two Swedes went out upon a railroad track in a cut in the mountains of Pennsylvania and fought until an express train killed them. Both saw the approaching train, and taunted each other to con tinue fighting where they were. They battled to the death. Daniel O’Connell’s son was chal lenged by an English student to fight. He went to his father, the great emancipator, and asked what he should do. The father advised him to accept, to choose pistols, the condi tions of the fight to be that, facing each other and toeing a mark, they should place the muzzles of the pis tols in each other’s mouth, and, upon tho word from a referee, they should fire simultaneously. When young O’Connell’s conditions were made known the bullying Briton declined to fight Two expert swimmers, whose repu tations are international, engaged in a hot argument one night several years ago at a beach near Boston, and a novel duel was the result They agreed to swrim at midnight, straight out to sea, in the rays of the moon light, no boats to follow, until one or the other became exhausted. They swam several miles, and the Boston swimmer towed his adversary back to the beach and restored him to con sciousness. Dess than ten years ago two locomo tive engineers in Texas, who had sev eral petty differences which they wished to settle, decided upon a most original duel. Taking two engines, they went out upon a plain on the same track, and when half a mile lay between them they whistled for the beginning of hostilities, opened the throttles wide and hurled their loco motives at each other with tremen dous speed. In a few seconds there was a frightful crash, the boilers ex ploded and the explosion was heard V\^N/Wvrv^x w ^ — -- --— — Happily Located. Rastus—Am yo’ lot cast in pleasant places ermongst yo’ new neighbors, deacon. Deacon Snowball—’Deed, yes, sah', Brudder Rastus. The fambly naixt me on de lef’ hab got a watermillion patch and de fambly on de right done got to' hundred chickens. Mah neighbor on de right am deaf, and de brudder on mah lef’ goes to chu’ch six nights out ob de week an’ lose so much sleep he sleep like er log de seventh night. Yes, sah, yo’ mout’ say mah neigh borly surroundin’s was mos’ obse quious, sah, mos’ obsequious, foh a fact!—San Fran disco Bulletin. The Soul of Wit. A caller stopped at the house of a certain man and asked if he was at home. ••’Deed, an’ he’s not,” replied the woman who answered his ring. "Can yon tell me where he is?” •*I cxrokl not.” "When did you see him last?” "At his funeral.” - "And who may you be?” /*Tm his remains,” said the widow, and she closed the door. for miles, attracting a large crowd te the scene. It was found that the two engines had collided and that the two engineers had been killed. The ab sence of firemen In the locomotives brought out the fact that a duel had taken place. Capt. Castentenus, Barnum's origi nal tattooed man, who died a few years ago, engaged In a peculiar duel many years ago. Castentenus was a Greek and in early life belonged to a crew of pi rates which operated in the A< .. an sea. When pirating proved hazard. on account of cruising war vc.- •• he had himself tattooed from head foot, came over to America and be came a very popular freak. During his career as a buccaneei he became enamored of a very pretty girl, daughter of the mate of the blackflag craft which he command* >L but he had a rival. Under oaths which bound them together they could not fight, and so they appealed to the* girl's father to decide their respective claims upon his daughter's hand. The father knew Castentenus and his rival as desperate men, and so he r«-s<>!v<-tl upon a desperate method to test their love for his daughter. He outlined his proposition to them and both accept ed. One night he went into the small forecastle and set a barrel cf sulphur ablaze, and then ordered both men to go down into the stifling gases and to remain there l»r ten minutes. They did as he directed, and upon the ex piration of that time he signaled the lovers to come forth. Castentenus, who was a man of re markable physical powers, groped and staggered up the companionway to the ueek, bearing on his shoulders the limp and unconscious form of his ri val. Castentenus was bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose. When he got into the fresh air he swooned. He revived an hour later, but his rival passed into the great beyond. He had lived but a few moments after being carried out by the tattooed man. The woman for whom the great sac rifice was made never married, for she was taken sick and died in a few weeks. There have been electrical duels, duels with poieon wherein two rivals have dared each other to quaff a deadly draught at a specified time, and early last month two Boston long shoremen engaged in a conflict that was decidedly novel, to say the least. The story of the battle in which they engaged has only just come to light. Bad blood had existed between these two sons of toil and they con cluded to settle their differences. Both were fine specimens of that type of hardy manhood which is employed in loading and unloading the great ocean liners—men who usualy settle their troubles at fisticuffs, which fact makes this incident all the more startling and interesting. One night they went down upon the New York & New England docks at South Boston, and, removing their clothing, they plunged into the wa ters at South bay and proceeded to drown each other. They battled for at least twenty minutes, during which time the results were about even, when suddenly one seized the other by the neck and began to strangle him. At the same time both sank beneath the surface. How many feet they went down is not to be recorded, but the strangler, becoming exhausted, rose to the surface. A moment later the apparently lifeless body of his adver sary made its appearance. In the dim lights cast upon the wa ters by the distant electric lamps the victor realized that his deadly work was accomplished, the strife at an end. Thoughts of arrest for murder, the electric chair, crowded upon hia mind and his almost benumbed senses were quickened. He grasped his vic tim and shouted lustily for assistance. A party returning in a catboax after a pleasant day’s outing in the harbor heard his cries and reached both men just in the nick of time. They were taken into the boat and after artifi cial respiration had been applied for a time they were restored to conscious ness. After a bracer or two of brandy they were put ashore at the public landing on Long wharf and arm in arm started for their homes. A small paragraph appeared in the morning papers which stated that two men were rescued by a yachting party and cared for until they were able to go home. But there had been a duel In the dark waters of Boston harbor “the night before the Fourth." He who would have been a murderer became a life saver; hig magnanimity has been recognized by the man who might have left him to his fate had he been as successful in that terrible conflict as the other, and now both vow eternal friendship. What’s in a Namef Nelson, a thriving little English town to which Andrew Carnegie pro poses now to give a library, is a liv ing instance of the value of a name. Not long after the battle of Trafalgar, some tinker, tailor or other person established a tiny wayside inn, and called it after the naval hero. There was nobody on the spot from whom to expect custom, but the road led to and from populous districts. Travel ers stopped at the place and presently a cottage or two began to rise, then more of them, and the name of the public house answered for the whole. That was the nucleus of the present town. Now 40,000 people livb around the site which the old innkeeper chose and called after the name of his hero. Telephone Wire in America. In 1903 there were 4,350,483 miles of single telephone wire in the United States and 2,315,297 telephone Instru ments. In 1902, 5,070,000,000 mes sages were spoken over the wires in cluding 12,000,000 long distance calls. The gross revenue was $86.800,Ou* the expense nearly $62,000,000, and the I income more than $22,000,000.
