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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (May 25, 1905)
t<p crier' “7 Of? riHEfflTO® j&ra 1HLUB BV CHARLES MORRIS BUTLER. j9i///to/' of “77/e Gerenpe of /VtvY't” ‘JS/ 7f/te/ncrt/ 77izp "life. Copyright, 1905, by CHAPTER |. Jim Denver, the Detective, and His Great Scheme. “I believe this is Louis Lang?” “It is.” “Well, how are you to-day?” “Oh, fairly well,” replied the young man addressed as Lang. He was sit ting before a small table in one of the secluded corners of a high-class saloon on Clark street, Chicago. When first accosted, the youth looked up quite surprised at being spoken to, and saw a very gentlemanly-looking personage standing before him. “You certainly have the advantage of me,” he replied, cautiously, eyeing his in terrogator enquiringly. “Whom have I the honor of addressing?” The gentleman smiled, and drew up a chair beside the youth. “I am Jim Denver, lately from New York,” he replied somewhat harshly, then in an undertone he added abruptly, “who once arrested you on suspicion of hav ing committed a murder!” It was a cruel stab, and Lang was flustered for a moment, an angry flush spreading over his face. A shud der seemed to pass through his frame, that passing, he- composed himself almost immediately. “Well, what’s your ‘lay’ now?" he inquired. “Still have hard feelings against me, I see,” said the detective, as if surprised at the bitter tone of the youth. “I have no love for you, certainly— and as far as that goes, no grudge against you, either,” answered Lang. “The arrest was made in the line of your duty—but I was innocent! You can bet that you will have no further cause to ‘take’ me!” The subject was very painful to Lang. He fidgeted around in his chair as if sitting on a red-hot gridiron. “Keep on in the way you are go Morris C. Butler. case ended. Becoming interested in the windy city, and realizing the pos sibilities there for more rapid ad vancement than he had enjoyed in his home city under municipal employ ment; attached himself to the staff of one of the leading private detect ive agencies, and settled down to pri vate business. Five years before, when in New' York, he had arrested Lang on suspicion of having committed murder. He had been attracted to the young man since meeting him in Chi cago, and imagined that he could use him to good advantage, the stain upon the youth’s name being more of a desirable quality than hindrance in the case he had in view'. Louis Lang is about twenty-five years of age. A broad-chested, me dium 'uuilt German-American; fair of face and features, save where the marks of dissipation had begun to show upon him. A few years before, while in a saloon carousing with a number of his associates, he became involved in a drunken brawl. In the melee one of the participants was killed, and Lang had been arrested for the crime. At the trial, Lang admit ted the possibility of his having killed the man; if he had. it was in self defense. It was proven that the mur dered man had first drawn a knife upon Lang. Lang in his defense claimed to only have wrested the knife away from his antagonist. He might have accidentally wounded the man, but was sure he had not struck a blow' which would have caused death. Lang’s early association with the rougher and tougher element of New York society, made it extremely hard for him to prove the correctness of his assertion; but after a year of in carceration in the Tombs, with the lib eral spending of his brother’s and his father’s fortunes, he was liberated by I “I have a scheme to rob a colony of th ieves of over a million dollars in gold." ing,” insinuated the detective, “and you will end in a different manner than you expect.” “Oh! I don’t care what becomes of j . me!” said the young man, moodily toying with the empty beer glass on the table before him. “Life, then, has no attraction for you?” “Not much!” answered Lang. “What would make life of interest to you?” asked the detective, as if in terested in the answer. “To be able to lift up my head; to become respectable—wealthy,” said the young man, fiercely. “Pardon me, I>ang,” said the de tective, quite earnestly, “if I seem to be reading you a lecture. But do you imagine that you are going ahead in the right direction—to attain all these —when you begin by throwing away what little respect and manhood you may have had left? You, and every one else, owe the world your best efforts. You are really a criminal, as much to be despised as a thief, when you sink to a low level!” “Fate!” sadly replied the youth, taking the rebuke in good part, vainly striving to frame an excuse. “The best years of my life were taken away from me. I have no ambition to be gin over again. 1 have struggled to combat fate, but I am no better off now than I have ever been.” “Fate, indeed,” echoed Denver, con temptuously. “One would think, V> hear you talk that you were an old man looking back upon a life of fleet ing opportunities! Instead of striving and overcoming opposition, you make y<fir condition worse. Your dreams of wealth and honor, are they dead now?” “No! If I didn’t dream, all hope would indeed be gone! I would put | an end to my existence now if I did j not hope.” “How do you expect to realize this hope—to become rich, if you don’t toil; respectable, if you do not re- | spect yourself?” “I don’t. I have toiled, striven hard to please—but to no avail. Who wrants me in their employ? What kind of so ciety is open to me? Answer me that. It is for this that I am dis couraged.” “A hopeless case,” said the detect ive shaking his head. “You brood over a mere fancy—yet you say you still hope! How many more days of dissipation do you think you can put j in on the money you now have?” “This is my last night,” sadly re- I plied the young man, as he gaze<J at a tv few stray coins brought to light from - his trousers’ pocket. “Then what are you going to do?” “Haven’t the least idea in the world.” “Are you open to a business profio sltion?" “I most certainly am.” The detective arose. “Now that we have a foundation to work on, I think that I can interest you. Let us retire to a private room where we will not be disturbed.” “Very well.” Jim Denver was a noted New York detective. Recently, while engaged in hunting down a noted forger, he had been brought to Chicago W»“»re the _ a jury, who brought in the old Scotch verdict of “Discharged for lack of evi dence to convict.” This was not a vindication, and the stain on his repu tation remained. Being unable to face the ordeal of taunts and sneers which met him on every hand, the only thing left him to do was to leave the scenes of his early youth, and amid strange surroundings, attempt to live down his ignoble past. By a strange course of circumstances very recently he had been enabled to prove his entire inno cence, by discovering the true mur derer. “Your vindication was a pretty shrewd piece of detective work,” said Denver, as he took his seat before a table in the little private room allot ted to their use. “I think you are the right kind of a man to make a good detective of.” “If there is anything that I can do to aid you, you can depend on me,” earn estly replied Ixmis. “You would have no fear, then of losing your life?” “Not if the object to be gained was worth the risk. I think I would be willing to attempt almost any desper ate scheme to prove my worth to the world. But, of course, you do not expect me to promise to do something blindly—to run into danger without fully realizing of what the danger con sists?” By way of answer, Denver replied: “Suppose a million dollars was the re ward—what would you do for a mil lion?” “Anything!” exclaimed the young man. “Anything save to kill a man in cold blood! I draw the li»ie there! No amount of money could t#mpt me to have the blood of an innocent man on my hands!” “You would have no conscientious scruples against retaining any valu able plunder recovered from a thief, providing you did not know the owner? ” “Not at all. But why all these queries?” the young man rather im patiently asked. “If you are not sure of me, why do you approach me on a subject of such vital importance?” “I am getting at it,” the detective replied calmly. He arose from his seat, making sure that no one was listening at the door, then he leaned over the table and looked his com panion in the eye: “I have a scheme to rob a colony of thieves of over a million dollars in gold!” he Anally said. CHAPTER II. The Theory of the Convict Country. “A colony of thieves?” questioned Lang. "Yes! A colony of thieves!” said the detective. “No doubt ypu have often wondered where all of our rich defaulters and criminals go to in order to keep from falling into the hands of the law?” * “It is commonly supposed that they take up their residence in Canada or other foreign countries.” “I have every reason to believe that there exists a colony composed of ‘escaped’ or ‘wanted’ criminals—not in Cannfa, but right here in this free aagiliglffhtened republic! More than one have ninied at the possibility of the existence of such a place, uid it seems to me more than reasonable. How else can we account for the many complete disappearances of such men as Snell’s murderer (with $50,000 on his head) and the mutilator of Amelia Olsen? I would not be sur prised if it could be proven that they there rest secure from the law they have outraged. Bombthrowers, mur derers, thieves—these are the col onists.” “A select gathering,” said Lang. “And you imagine, because these gentry cannot be traced to Canada or Mexico, that they have formed a col ony in some secluded part of the United States. Bearding the lions of the lawr in their dens, as it were.” “That’s my idea exactly. And the thing which is most to my liking,” ex claimed Denver, “is the fact that these colonists must have a world of gold money in their possession!” “Where did you get your idea?” “From a dying criminal, who con fessed to having a knowledge of such a place, though he could not tell me where it was located. It w'as de scribed as a barricaded town. For a certain sum of money prisoners or ac cused persons are assisted to escape from custody, and taken to this place to live. The sum demanded as an admission fee is so large that none but criminals of renown and wealth become ‘colonists,’ and as they can hardly have use for money in a place undoubtedly supported by co-operative effort, I estimate that they must have accumulated about this sum of money. Even if this is not so, a vast fortune could be made by capturing or killing ten or twenty of those rascals for whom extra large rewards are offered, Tascott, for instance, and the ab ductor of young Cudahy, there’s a hundred thousand dollars right there for some brave man to pick up. I want you to help me discover this place.” “These ‘colonists’ must have a pow erful clique on the outside—agents in every city of importance in the Unit ed States,” said Lang, “to recruit the colony in the way described by you.” (To be continued.) SOME IDEAS ABOUT WOMEN. By One Who Imagines He Knows the Softer Sex. The woman who knows Greek will still spend an hour and a half in dressing her hair for a party. I calcu late that if women wore their hair short a million unemployed hours would be thrown daily upon the world. The young couple with the grains of rice still upon them start blithely across the marriage links. Much de pends on the way they negotiate their first disillusion—or bunker! Passion wins maids and persever ance widows. The rejected lover should never lose hope. In addressing the lady his tone should be soft, mellifluous—a south wind rustling over orange trees. Orange trees—not cypresses! The man who sums women up in a sentence is the man whom women can fool with a phrase. It is a woman's most delightful quality that she is not interested in politics.—From '•Mollentrave,” popular London play. A Precocious Sportsman. "The Americans are great Sports men,” said Sir Thomas Dewar, in re counting his impressions of America. "From their earliest years they take a consuming interest in all sorts of contests and races. "I remember one cold afternoon in New York seeing a poor little, ragged lad, with his nose glued against the window- of a toy shop. I stopped be side him and looked down. But he paid no heed to me. His clear young eyes were intent on the window's bright and inviting contents. "Without a word I slipped a penny into his cold little hand. He looked at the penny, and then he looked at me. “ ‘Well, if this ain’t luck,’ he said. ‘I’ve been wishin’ for a cent, and here's one dropped right in me fist.’ “ ‘What did you want the cent for, my lad?’ said I. "The urchin answered: “ ‘I wanted to get a night extry to see wot’s won. I’ve got a dollar on Swallow in the third race.’ ’ Ralph Waldo Emerson's Stove. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a man of rare integrity, and very particular about small things. One day a new cooking stove had been provided for his house, and, although the stove came very highly recommended,, it proved thoroughly unsatisfactory and most provoking, as it did everything but what it was expected to do. After a while the family were in despair, and some one suggested sending it to auction. "What!” exclaimed Emerson, “trans fer our own perplexity to another pair of shoulders? No, never! Unless the stove is labeled ‘imperfect.’ ” And so, “imperfect” it was labeled, and sold at a great discount. Familiar With the Disease. Dr. William Osier of Johns Hop kins and Oxford, tells this story: An old darky quack, well known in a certain section of the south, was pass ing the house of a planter, whose wife was reported to be dangerously ill. Stopping at the gate he called to one of the hands: “I say, Rastus, how’s the missus?” "Well,” replied Rastus, “the doctah done say dis mawnin’ dat she conva lescent.” “Humph! Dat ain’t nothin’, chile,” said the old quack, with an air of superior wisdom. “Why, I’ve done cured convalescence in twenty-foah hours!” Uncertainty of Life. “Young man,” said the clerical look ing passenger, addressing the beard less individual across the aisle, “do you ever consider when you lie down at night that you may never see the sun rise again.” “No,” replied the party at whom the query had been fired, “I can’t say that I do; but every morning when I wake up I realize that I may not live to see another sunset.” “You do?” queried the surprised c. 1. p. “I do,” answered the young man. “You see. I’m a baseball umpire.”— Cincinnati Enquirer. National League News. Homer Hillebrand, though left handed, bats from the right. Manager McGraw has turned over Neal, his utility man, to Baltimore. Joe Kelley declares that the Cin cinnati pitchers outclass those of the Pittsburg Club. Del Howard is authority for the charge that Heinie Peitz coaches him self while running bases. The Brooklyn Club has released pitcher Eddie Poole and catcher Jack litsch. Both have signed with Provi dence. Harry Arndt may not go back to Louisville. The Boston Nationals are said to hanker a little bit after the third sacker. According to Pittsburg critics, first baseman Clancy is the quickest base ball thinker in the business, a very high compliment. Manager Joe Kelley is unable to gain any definite information as to when he may get into the game again. His injury is mending but slowly. Pitcher Willis has jumped the Al toona club and gone back to the Bos ton Nationals, President Soden, of Boston, having come to the pitcher’s terms. Pitcher Willis last week made him self an outlaw by joining the Altoona club. He says his salary will be far more than $3,000 and that he has it guaranteed. Brooklyn fans are enthusiastic over the work of their new infielders, Batch, Owens, Lewis and McGamwell. Batch and Lewis are particularly praised for their fast work. Fred M. Knowles, secretary-treasur er of the New York Giants, is empow ered to bet $1,000 to $10,000 that the champions repeat their performance of 1904 and that the National League pennant again floats over the Polo Grounds. American League Notes. Dick Cooley will play right for De troit. Jesse Stovall has joined the Minne apolis team. Ban Johnson says the Washingtons are all right. Three-I League Tips. Seitz, the young pitcher who was given a trial by Decatur, has been signed by Dubuque. Pitcher Jesse Ruby, formerly cap tain of Purdue, has joined Rock Island. He will pitch and do utility stunts. After a lively scrimmage with Man ager Connors, of Bloomington, Mana ger Nicol, of Peoria, has secured the services of first baseman Elton, from Minneapolis. Manager Belden Hill, of Cedar Rap ids, signed a new infielder, C. R. Cave, last week. He has been playing in Kansas and is said to be fast. He will be given a trial on third. Rock Island has signed another in fielder. Shirley Reeves, of Knights town, Ind. He was in the Copper State League last year and was given a trial by Minneapolis this spring. President Holland is anxious that his staff of umpires present a good ap pearance on the diamond and has or dered each man to provide himself with a uniform of dark blue to consist of trousers, blouse and cap. Central League Chatter. The Fort Wayne club claims pitcher Farrell, released by Cincinnati to Grand Rapids. Summerlot, who was tried out for the initial sack by South Bend, has been released. Coggswell, the red-headed right fielder of last year’s South Bend team, has been sold to Evansville. Manager Grant, of South Bend, has released first baseman Summerlot and outfielders McKee and Tiqry. Manager Watkins, of Indianapolis, has loaned Wagner, a former Amer ican Association twirler, to Dayton for the season. Dayton has brought Tommy Haw kins to time and the well-known catcher has accepted the terms offered by the Vets. The Cincinnati club has turned pitcher Bert J. Farrell back to Grand Rapids, and pitcher James Feeney to Terre Haute. “Billy” McCoombs, Wheeling's for mer pet for second base, has been W7ZZZ4/T Z> ZZ4&SZ&4ZZ Catcher of the New York National League Club. Young Knight is doing some fine hitting for the Athletics. Boston will probably turn Pitcher Perry Sessions back to St. Paul. The Athletic club has released Pitcher Pete Noonan to St. Paul. Mullin, the Detroit pitcher, lost his first opening game in three years. “Jimmy” Williams is going it some. He stole four bases in Washington. Ford and Thomas, the new twirl ers with Detroit, are hard workers in practice. Clarke Griffith wants to trade Fultz, Puttmann and Kleinow for Patten and Kittredge. It is said that Manager Griffith will have first pick of the Indianapolis players next fall. Outfielder Jackson, with Cleveland, looks like a find. He has a neat posi tion at bat and swings hard. “Herman Long,” says Jim McGuire, "was the greatest of them all on making plays with one hand.” Pat Flaherty has the nerve of a burglar—a sterling quality good ball players require in their business. Southern Sayings. The Nashville Club has received pitcher Harry Nickens back from the Indianapolis club. The Memphis club has released third baseman Jeffries, formerly of the K.-I.-T. League. Grantland Rice figures that fifteen big league teams spent over $80,000 in the land of cotton this spring. Dale Gear says first division honors will not satisfy either him or Little Rock patrons, the pennant being his goal. Shortstop Williams is back with Charlie Frank, whom he jumped to become a Cardinal. The ex-Aemphian is New Orleans’ manager. Third baseman Edward Beecher is again a full-fledged member of the Memphis club, having placed his sig nature to a Memphis contract last week, immediately after Brooklyn turned him back. Following are the nicknames of the teams: Birmingham—Steel Magnates and Barons. Atlanta—Crackers, Fire Crackers and Colonels. Little Rock Travelers. Nashville — Fishermen. New Orleans—Pelicans. Montgomery —Legislators. Memphis—Champions.. Shreveport—Plra*' signed for 1905 and “Stogiedom” is greatly rejoicing. Iowa League Items. Manager George Cole, of the Water loo club, died in the Presbyterian Hos pital of Waterloo, on the 15th from the effects of an operation for appen dicitis. Five men have been released by Manager Owens, of the Burlington team. The deported are: Outfielders Fleming and Bowman, shortstop Carl Bond, Pitcher Friedlein and catcher Killian. A new man has joined the squad for trial, Murphy, of Keokuk’s 1904 team. Agitation in Oskaloosa against the playing of Sunday base ball has put new life into the reports that the Quaker city would be dropped from the Iowa League circuit and Clinton substituted. It may be said upon the most reliable authority that there is nothing but fiction in the story, that neither Oskaloosa nor Sunday base ball will be abolished. American Association Affairs. Pitcher Tate Cromley has at last signed an Indianapolis contract. Loitoville carries but two back stops—Captain Dexter and Popper Bill Schriver. The Kansas City club has turned pitcher Ralph Gibson over to St. Jo seph for this season. The Toledo infield will be made up of Doyle, Demont, Clingman and Mo riarity, not a weak bunch, by any means. * Nobody in Toledo is able to tell whether Wyatt Lee’s arm will be good enough to allow him to try pitching again. Larry Quinlan has been elected to cover short for the Colonels, and Or ville Woodruff will elbow Roy Mont gomery off third base. K.-l.-T. League News. Cy Swain of Dennison, O., has signed to pitch for Princeton. The Henderson club has released Mike Donovan and Henry Freeman. The work of Clyde Goodwin, who played on Vincennes last season and who is now in Indianapolis, is being closely watched by Vincennes fans, and there is not one who believes he will not make good. The Parting Volley. TVifh arms reversed the ranks pass on. The muffled drum makes faltered tread, A muster roll reads simply. "Gone,” One more is numbered with the dead— A crash! The parting volley rolls A requiem among earth's souls. The flags hang drooping from the mast, Faint echoes come and go and die; Tears fiU the eyes, welled from the past. Of those who see a comrade lie Where memory must be a name. And tablets praise a hero's fame. What then? A soldier gives his life For love of country, valorous deeds. And lies as one whom carnal strife Marked for its own among its seeds. I Ah, yes! ere yet a flashing blade Was drawn or sheathed his grave was made. Who calls the names of those to fall? Ask of the God of Battles, who? But they are known, and some of all Who go to war to dare and do Know that the piercing shot will bring To him his altar's offering. Some meet the shock within the fray. Some fail within the nurse's tent. Maimed, weak and gaunt they waste away. Yet to its end each way is bent; The end? Deserved promotion calls To higher life each one that falls. —Clifford Kane Stout. OLD SPIRIT STILL STRONG. Veteran in Desperate Straits Adopted Reckless Suggestion. “Two or three years ago,” said the doctor, “I was living in New York, and was engaged in a profitable busi ness. One evening 1 was seated at a table in a restaurant when a well dressed, elderly man came in from the street, walked straight toward me and said in a low voice: “I am in great distress. I am at the end of my string. I have no money, no place to sleep, and I am hungry. What would you advise me to do?’ “Of course, I was annoyed, and I showed my annoyance. There was no reason why the man should have singled out me for such a speech, ex cept, possibly, that I wore the Grand Army button. How-ever, that did not occur to me at the time, and I said jocularly, ‘I know what I would do un der like circumstances. I would go outside, look for a good-sized stone, clutch it firmly in my right hand, find a large plate glass window, and hurl the stone through it. After that I would be sure of board and lodging for some weeks at the expense of the city. “The stranger said with jaunty po liteness: ‘You are very kind. Thank, you, sir. I will act on your sugges tion.’ Thereupon he walked straight to the door and went out, and I or dered my supper. In less than five minutes there was a crash in front, a tinkle of broken glass and a clamor of voices. I went with others to the street and saw that my acquaintance| of five minutes before had taken my advice with a vengeance. He had thrown a stone throuya the window of a jewelry store and was awaiting ar lest. There were all sorts of theories on the lips of men who were awaiting the second move in what they regard ed as a daring scheme of robbery. Meantime several policemen were closing in cautiously on the man who had thrown the stone. They evidently regarded him as a dangerous charac ter, or insane. Divining this, the stone-thrower said, ‘Oh, I will go with you. No trouble on that score. In fact, I broke the glass that I might be arrested.’ As a policeman grabbed him, I said, ‘Wait a minute. I am afraid I am to blame for this. I said to this man when he asked for assist ance that I would throw a stone through a plate glass window, and in that way secure board and lodging from the city. That was a joke, but he seems to have acted on my advice, and I feel in a measure responsible.’ “The upshot of the affair was that I agreed to pay for the broken glass and to take charge of the man who had broken it. I paid for the supper of the stone-thrower, secured lodgings for him, and told him I would listen to his story the next day. I never expected to see him again, but he kept his ap pointment the next morning and told his story. He had been in the employ of the house for twenty years, and when it failed thought he would have no difficulty In securing other employ ment. But he found no other place and finally found himself with no re sources and no chance of employment. “The sensation of being turned out of doors, of being without friends, and of being hungry, affected him strange ly, and, noticing my Grand Army but ton as I went into the restaurant, he decided to lay his case before me. In his desperate mood my suggestion struck him as being much better than suicide. I secured him employment the next day on trial, and he did so wrell that he was regularly engaged the next we6k. In six months he came to my office looking so much better that I did not recognize him. He said the jeweler of the broken window had told him that I paid a bill of $70 for replacing the glass, and he had come to repay the money. “He said he had a good position and was abundantly able to pay the bill; that he was indebted to me for the position and for the general brac ing up he received in following my advice, and that he wanted to be a com rade in good standing. Then it came out that he had seen service in the same brigade as myself, and he re called an exploit In which he and some of my own regiment had been engaged—to their credit. I understood then the reckless, devil-may-care spirit of the fellow who threw a stone through a window on my advice.”— Chicago Inter Ocean. First Badge of the G. A. R. The history of the Grand Army is an old story and one that scarcely needs retelling at this late day. But there is one thing connected with the organiza tion ‘hat will bear telling about, and that Is the familiar bronze star that every comrade wears and which only service in the army or navy of the United States during the rebellion en titles him to wear. As everybody knows, the Grand Army originated in Illlfttis in 1S66, and almost coincident with its orgasization was the adoption et a badge which should serve to | identify its members, but it was not j the bronze star which is so familiar ' tc-day. It was a silver shield which was fastened directly to the breast of the coat by a pin clasp. This state ment will undoubtedly be a surprise to 99 out of every 100 comrades in the order to-day. and probably not one in 10.000 ever saw one of these shields. In a six months’ searching after one of them the writer has askc«l scores of comrades if they knew where one of “original" badges of the Grand Army could be obtained. “Oh, yes,” was fre quently the reply; "I have one my self.” and the comrade would proudly exhibit one of the bronze stars that were issued along in the 70s. “But that is not what 1 mean.” the writer would say: “I want one of the badges in the shape of a shield.” “Why, I never heard of any such badge of the Grand Army,” would be the surprised rejoinder, and many of those comrades had been in the order for thirty-five years or more, and some of them had occupied high official posi tions in it. But Past Commander-in-Chief Rob ert B. Beath, in his “History of the Grand Army of the Republic,” pub lished in 1888 under the auspices of the national encampment, gave a brief description of the badge in question and also cuts showing what it looked like. It appears that the badge “wa? adopted in 1866 on the recommends tion of a committee consisting of Adjt. Gen. Webber, A. O. Behm of Lafayette, Ind., and Maj. O. M. Wil son, Indianapolis. Badge of Colorado and Wyoming. The badge adopted by the depart ment of Colorado and Wyoming is of bronze and consists of a heavy disk having upon it, side by side, the of ficial seals of the two states. The eagle and star of the G. A. R. badge appear at the top and bottom of the disk. On the reverse is a wreath of laurel encircling the “little bronze but ton.” The pin, from which depends the disk by a cherry ribbon, is also of bronze, bearing the names of the two states constituting the depart ment. Next General Encampment. General Orders No. 5, from the Headquarters of the Grand Army of the Republic, says: “At a meeting of the Executive Com mittee of the National Council of Ad ministration. held in Denver, the date for the assembling of the Thirty-ninth National Encampment was fixed for the week beginning Monday. Septem ber 4. The annual parade, in connec tion with the National Encampment will be on Wednesday, September 6, and will be composed exclusively of Grand Army organizations and the usual military bands. It will be over asphalted streets and will not be more than two miles in length. The Depart ment of Illinois, by right of seniority, will have the right of the line; other departments will follow in order ol seniority of date of charters. The en tertaining department will take post tion on the left of the line. The busi ness session of the Thirty-ninth Na tional Encampment will be held on Thursday and Friday, September 1 and 8.” Full information in relation to trans portation to the encampment cannot be given at this time, but all of the passenger associations have acted on the question of rates and the com rades can depend upon one cent per mile for the round trip from any point in the United States to Denver. Colored Man Post Commander. For the first time in its history the Department of Massachusetts. Grand Army of the Republic, at its last an nual encampment, held at Boston in February, elected a colored comrade as department commander—Joseph H. Wolff of Brighton. The election was practically unanimous. Commander Wolff Is a well known attorney. The number of deaths among the members of the G. A. R. in the Department of Massachusetts during the past year aggregated 683, but notwithstanding this loss and the losses by honorable discharge, transfer, suspension and surrendered charters, which show a grand total of 1,121, the department actually gained in membership thirty nine comrades. Ruling on Widows of Veterans. According to a recent decision or ruling of the Pension Department a widow pensioner under the general law who has been dropped from the rolls because of her remarriage may have her pension restored by applica tion, subject to the following condi tions: That she was the wife of a soldier during his military service; that pension had been allowed her un der the provisions of the general law, and that she is dependent within the meaning of the act of June 27, 1890. Centenary of Abraham Lincoln. A movement is on foot to hold In Washington a magnificent celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, which will occur Feb. 12, 1909, four years hence. Noth ing can be on too grand a scale for this occasion. Every State in the Union ought to. and probably will take part.