Loup City Northwestern
J. W. BURLEIGH, Publisher.
LOUP CITY, . . • NEBRASKA,
Kisses in Kansas.
Very romantic news is this that per
folates in from the fields of Kansas,
where the wheat crop is so great that
it has made the ground sink down twe
feet to sustain it. Hiram Skipworth.
father of three beautiful daughters, is
reported to have secured all the har
vest hauds he needed by the simple
expedient of paying them two dollars
a day and permitting each man to kiss
each of his daughters once daily
Those who did not want the kisses
could have three dollars a day, but it
is pleasant to add that nobody drew
more than two dollars per diem. How
ever, says the Detroit Free Press, old
Lafe Plummer, who lives about five
miles down the big road from Skip
worth, got all the harvest hands he
needed, also. Lafe has but one daugh
ter; she is 40 years old, angular
freckled and has an uncertainty in one
eye, besides that her nose is hesitant
and her chin is shy. Lafe took the
overflow from Skipworth’s farm, and
after luring the sturdy harvesters to
his field he would introduce his daugh
ter and tell the affrighted laborers
that unless they pitched in and worked
their best he would let her kiss them
Mr. Plummer's fields were harvested
in half the time that was required for
Skipworth’s.
Great Night for the Onion.
The onion has served as the basis
for many quips and flings at the hands
of the humorous paragraphers. And
yet it is an extremely wholesome plant
and one of high rank with the ancients,
particularly the early Egyptians. For
these reasons it is pleasant to note
that the tabooed edible met with de
served recognition at what was termed
an onion reception and banquet in an
interior New York town called Union,
which in this case might plausibly
seem a corruption of onion. It was ar
ranged, says the Cleveland Plain Deal
er, in honor of the sixteenth anni
versary of the special guests of the
evening and the onion was the center
and scenter of attraction. The house
was decorated with onion blossoms,
an onion center piece graced the table
and the bill of fare included onions
and onions only—top onions, sliced
onions, stewed onions, onion salad and
fried onions. Needless to say, the
guests, who departed at a late hour,
went away breathing many encom
iums of the fragrant bulb of honor.
Far Too Speedy for Speech.
The tremendous speed made in the
Jnternational automobile race over the
Ardennes circuit in Belgium is almost
Jeyond conception. To maintain an
iverage of nearly 70 miles an hour
•hrcugh a run of 371 miles, which was
he record of the winner, must have
ueant a speed neighboring on 100
niles an hour for much of the dis
ance. Only in this way could time
ost on curves be made up. The race
saakes very pat the story of a Boston
niilionaire who recently visited one
>f the young Vanderbilts at Newport,'
jays the Springfield (Mass.) Repub
fcan. The visitor was taken for a run
n a big racing automobile. He stood
he experience until the speed rose to
ipward of 80 miles an hour, when, in
"error, he tried to call to the driver
Reside him to slow up. But instead of
*>eing able to call he found, so runs
he story, that once he had opened his
ncutli he could not shut it, so vio
ent was the blast. Fortunately the
stretch permitting such speed was
short.
A Task for American Women.
The editor of Harper’s Bazar, writ
ing of the choice which women of
fashion are compelled to make as
whether they will be wives or moth
ers, says that the absorption of Amer
ican men in business interests tends
to reduce the dignity of American fa
herhood to a level with the paternity
of the savage. “The supreme mission
of the American wife is, therefore, to
provide for the higher education of
the American father. To win a man
from exclusive attention to the sordid
concerns of business, the dissipations
of pleasure-seeking, and apply him to
the infinitely profitable, infinitely en
joyable work of participating in the
care, the physical, mental, moral de
velopment of his children, that is a
cure which American women are
everywhere, under all circumstances,
able to apply to the root of the evil of
race suicide said to be seriously men
acing our nation. Let them be about
it!”
England has in its midst another
agitation aimed at revolutionizing the
style of men's dress suits. The
movement will run along for a time
and die out, just as others have done.
Such crusades seem to be accompani
ments of the silly season.
F. W. Martin, or Beloit, Wis., has
just paid 53,000 for Lord Bacon, the
highest price ever given for an Amer
ican-bred hog. It is a pity that Mr.
Donnelly is not here to enjoy this tri
umph.
A practicable-telephone-in a rail
way engine cab would be highly use
ful, no doubt, unless the engineer had
been on duty so many hours that he
£ad fallen asleep.
A sea cow 18 feet long and which
cost $2,000 has been added to the
New York aquarium. We suppose it
is to furnish milk for the sea urchins
there.
A Paris banquet is not considered
% complete success unless It gives
rise to a few duels.
The Age of Machinery.
We live in the age of machinery.
The thinking, directing mind becomes
dally of more account, while mere
brawn falls correspondingly in value
r from day to day. That eccentric phil
osopher, Elbert Hubbard, says in one
of his essays, “where a machine will
do better work than the human hand,
we prefer to let the machine do the
work.”
It has been but; a few years since
the cotton gin, the “spinning Jenny”
and the power Icom displaced the
hand picker, the spinning wheel and
the hand loom; since the reaper and
binder, the rake and tedder, the mow
ing machine took the place of the old
cradle, scythe, pitchfork and hand
rake; since the friction match su
perseded the flint, and tinder; since
the modern paint factory replaced the
slab and muller, the paint pot and
paddle.
In every case where machinery has
been introduced to replace hand labor,
the laborers have resisted the change;
and as the weavers, the sempstresses
and the farm laborers protested
against new-fangled looms, sewing ma
chines and agricultural implements,
so in recent times compositors have
protested against type-setting ma
chines, glass blowers against bottle
blowing machines, and painters
against ready mixed paints. And as
!n the case of these short-sighted
classes of an earlier day, so with their
imitators of to-day, the protest will
be in vain. It is a protest against civ
ilization, against the common weal,
against their own welfare.
The history of all mechanical im
provements shows that workmen are
the first to be benefited by them.
The invention of ihe sewing machine,
instead of throwing thousands of wom
en out of employment, increased the
demand to such an extent that thou
sands of women have been employed,
at better wages, for shorter hours and
easier work where hundreds before
worked in laborious misery to eke
out a pitiable existence, it was so
with spinning and weaving machin
ery, with agricultural implements—in
fact, it is so with every notable im
provement. The multiplication of
books in the last decade is a direct
result of the invention of linotype
machinery and fast presses.
The mixed paint industry, in which
carefully designed paints for house
painting are prepared on a large scale
by special machinery, is another im
provement of the same type. The
cheapness and general excellence of
these products has so stimulated the
consumption of paint that the de
mand for the services of painters has
correspondingly multiplied. Before
the advent of these goods a well-paint
ed house was noticeable from its
rarity, whereas to-day an ill-painted
house is conspicuous.
Nevertheless, the painters, as a
rule, following the example set by
the weavers, the sempstresses and the
farm laborers of old, almost to a man,
oppose the improvement. It is a real
improvement, however, and simply be
cause of that fact the sale of such
products has increased until during
the present year it will fall not far
short of 90,000,000 or 100,000,000 gal
lons.
Hindsight is always better than
foresight, and most of us who deplore
the short-sightedness of our ancestors
would do well to see that we do not
in turn furnish “terrible examples” to
our posterity. P. G.
FINDS VIRTUE IN OLD CLOTHES.
Men’s Garments Shaped to the Figure
by Age Catch Artist’s Eye.
To the eye of the artist the gar
ments of the modern man are only
tolerable -when age has adapted them
somewhat to the lines of the figure;
to the average artist a new suit of
clothes is an abomination.
“It is not only that new clothes are
more ugly than old,” said a knight of
the palette who discussed the ques
tion; “to my mind no one can be prop
csrly easy or graceful in them.
“I never feel that I properly know a
man until I have met him wearing an
old suit. Certainly no man can possi
bly be his natural self in evening
dress.
“I have noticed again and again
how different the same people are
when wearing different clothes. I
went, for instance, to a large family
gathering some time ago, and for
some reason everybody had donned
full evening dress. What a differ
ence it made! We were all on terms
of intimate friendship, but somehow
the clothes brought in an element of
coldness and formality. We all felt
It—even the women, although, of
course, the fair sex are not easily per
suaded of the merits of well-worn gar
ments. But no man who has discov
ered the ease and comfort of them
will readily give them up. As for the
artistic side of modern clothes, it only
comes when they have mellowed by
use!”______
WELL PEOPLE TOO
Wise Doctor Gives Postum to Con
valescents.
A wise doctor tries to give nature
its best chance by saving the little
strength of the already exhausted pa
tient, and building up wasted energy
with simple but powerful nourish
ment. t
“Five years ago,” writes a doctor,
“I commenced to use Postum in my
own family instead of coffee. I was
so well pleased with the results that
I had two groce:*s place it in stock,
guaranteeing its sale.
“I then commenced to recommend
it to my patients in place of coffee,
as a nutritious beverdge. The conse
quence is, every store in town is now
selling it, as it has become a house
hold necessity in many homes.
“I'm sure I prescribe Postum as
often as any one remedy in the Ma
teria Medica—in almost every case of
Indigestion and nervousness I treat,
and with the best results.
“When I once introduce it into a
family, it is quite sure to remain. I
shall continue to use it and prescribe
it in families where I practice.
“In convalescence from pneumonia,
typhoid fever and other cases, I give
it as a liquid, easily absorbed diet.
You may use my letter as a reference
any way you see fit.” Name given by
Postum Co., Battle Creek, Mich. Read
“the Road to Wellville” in pkgs.
"There’s a reason.”
Ww.M^
OlNOERlV
Philadelphia.—Wildcat speculation
followed or preceded either by defal
cation or betrayal of trust, has been
responsible for a startling number of
suicides in Philadelphia among men
of affairs and prominence in the so
cial world.
Beginning with the sensational fail
ure of the Keystone National bank,
in 1891, which ruined men whose rep
utations were as untarnished as that
of the president of the Real Estate
Trust company, and which resulted in
jail for two of them, Philadelphia has
had an amazing series of financial
scandals and bank wrecks. Bank de
positors have lost millions, but the
largest inroads of the wildcat finan
ciers were made in asphalt and in
Consolidated Lake Superior. In these
two companies the public, largely in
Philadelphia, dropped upward of $100,
000,000.
In nearly every suicide caused by
wildcat finance, attempts have been
made to suppress the facts, as
in the case of the president of the
Real Estate Trust company, whose
6uicide was known to the members of
his family, the coroner and the coron
er's physician for 6ix days, and was
even suppressed by Philadelphia pa
pers. So determined were these two
officials to prevent the news from be
coming public that the physician filed
a false certificate of the actual cause
of death, ascribing it to cerebral hem
orhage, but omitting to state that the
hemorrhage was due to a bullet fired
into the brain with suicidal intent.
FRANK K. HIPPLE AND
JOHN S. HOPKINS.
The circumstances surrounding the
self-destruction of Frank K. Hippie
and of John S. Hopkins, cashier of the
People’s bank, who killed himself in
March, 1898, are strikingly similar.
Both men occupied positions of trust,
were prominent in church work, had
a rigid code of morals for the govern
ment of their employes, and were
strict observers of the Biblical injunc
tion to remember the Sabbath day to
keep it holy. Neither would ride in a
public conveyance on Sunday unless
the exigency were imperative. Nei
ther would countenance the use of
liquor or tobacco in any form.* Hop
kins maintained this attitude to the
day he destroyed himself, although he
was associated with the most corrupt
cabal of politicians in Pennsylvania.
The People’s bank was Mat Quay’s
bank. It was while he was in control
that he wrote the famous letter to a
henchman that he would "shake the
plum tree.”
The difference between Hippie and
Hopkins was in the amount of their
stealings. The cashier of the Quay
DOG RESCUED FROM A WOLF
Desperate Fight on Prairie in Which
Canine Was Beaten.
To havti his dog attacked in broad
daylight in an open field by a wolf
and to witness one of the hardest
fights he ever saw was the experience
of the 19-year-old son of William Ben
nett, who lives east of Elsmore. The
dog was nearly killed and the wolf
was beaten away only after repeated
assaults with a club in the hands of
the sturdy farmer boy, says the Iola
Register.
The story as told to Sheriff Richard
son while he was in Elsmore-by Mr.
Bennett. The boy was plowing yester
day and the dog, which is a shepherd
of fair size, as playing about the field.
Suddenly the boy’s attention was at
tracted from behind by the barking of
the dog, and he turned to see the ani
mal fighting full tilt with a large gray
wolf. The fight was fast and furious
and the animals went round and
round, finally working their way (dear
up under the plow handles. The wolf
was so interested in its combat with
the dog that it evidently did not take
account of the fact the dog had a
faithful ally in the person of its mas
ter.
The Bennett boy saw that the wolf
was getting the better of the bargain,
and seizing a club hammered the ani
mal with all his strength. The wolf
hung on with great tenacity, however,
and it was only after a severe beating
that it let go. After the experience
which the animal had when it came in
contact with the club it was consider
ably cowed, and made off to the woods
as fast as its legs would carry it. It
made no attempt whatever to attack
young Bennett. The dog was thorough
ly exhausted and covered with blood,
but it was not cowed, and a little later
in the afternoon raised a great rumpus
around a pile of rocks in the field near
where the fight had taken place.
An investigation disclosed a wolf’s
lair in the rock pile and eleven young
wolves. The game fight which the
wolf put up was then explained. The
dog had discovered the woifs den.
routed out the wolf and the animal,
for the purpose of protecting its young,
had made the hard and determined
fight which wild animals know how to
make under such circumstances.
Gold Surgical Instruments.
A steel hypodermic needle is never
inserted without leaving a permanent
blue speck in the skin of the patient,
probably because of the, perhaps, very
small quantity of impurity—rust or
otherwise—which it contains. The
gold needle invariably leaves no mark
whatever, says Leslie’s Weekly. Ap
preciating these faots, efforts in which
surgeons particularly have been inter
ested, have been made for years to
contrive a process for hardening gold
so that It could be used for the blades
of the instruments of surgery of all
kinds.
This is just what Dr. Vaughn has ac
complished after 18 years of experi
menting and research. His method
consists of the employment of heat
and chemicals; but the tempering
process does not jnakean alloy of the
precious metal. Pure gold tempered
by this process remains pure; but the
surgical instruments which Dr. Vaughn
is now manufacturing, and which are
beginning to be used extensively in
hospitals and by practicing physicians
and surgeons, are of 14 karat fineness,
these being as efficient, but not as
costly as instruments of the purest
grade of the metal.
Aside from its use in surgery, which
is the feature of this new invention
which appeals first, the perfection of
Dr. Vaughn’s process is of world-wide
importance in many branches.
Carrying Out the Comparison.
“Do you take me for an ostrich?”
cried the fussy husband who has just
found a cherry stone in the pie.
“No,” replied the fearless young
wife. “An ostrich can hide his head.
You can’t hide yours because your
ears are too long.”
Men and Money.
"Some of us,” says a Georgia phil
osopher, "are just rich enough to be
miserable, and others just poor enough
to be resigned!”—Atlanta Constitu
tion.
FADED TO A SHADOW.
Worn Down by Five Years of Suffer
ing from Kidney Complaint.
Mrs. Remethe Myers, of 180 Sout'.
Tenth St., Ironton, O., says: -'I have
worked hard in mi
time and have been
exposed again and
again to changes of
weather. It is no
wonder my kidneys
gave out and I went
ail to pieces at last.
For five years I was
fading away and finally so weak tha;
'or six months I could not get outi
of the house. X was nervous, restless
and sleepless at night, and lame and
sore in the morning. Sometimes
everything would whirl and blur be
fore me. I bloated so badly I could
not wear tight clothing, and had t >
put on shoes two sizes larger than
usual. The urine was disordered and
passages were dreadfully frequent
got help from the first box of Doan's
Kidney Pills, however, and by the
time 1 had taken four boxes the pain
and bloating was gone. I have beer
in good health ever since.”
Sold by all dealers. 50 cents a box
Foster-Milburn Co., Buffalo, N. Y
How Rhodes and Beit Met.
Mr. Rhodes once told a circle oi
friends after dinner the story of his
first meeting with Beit. "1 called at
Porges’ late one evening, ’ he said,
“and there was Beit working away as
usual. 'Do you never take a rest 1
asked. 'Xot often,' he replied. Well
what's your game?’ said I. I arc g>
ing to control the whole diamond ot;
put before I am much older,' he a;,
swered, as he got off his stool. That
funny,’ I said. 'I have made up m>
mind to do the same; we had better
join hands,’ ” Join hands they did.
Unlike Alfred Beit, Cecil Rhodes had
small patience with arithmetical de
tails. Once this characteristic in
volved him in a difficulty. Pitching a
balance sheet into the pile of papers
before Beit, he exclaimed desperately.
Here, you understand things; for
heaven's sake tell me how I stand. '
Natural Color of Pure Water.
It was long ago discovered that the
natural color of pure water is blue,
and not white, as most of 11s usually
supposed. Opinions have not agreed
on the cause of the green and yellow
tints; these, it has been discovereu
by W. Spring, are due to extraneous
substances. Dissolved calcium salts,
though apparently giving a green tint,
due to a fine ■ invisible suspension,
have no effect on the color of the
water when adequate precautions
are taken. The brown or yellow color
due to iron salts is not seen when cal
cium is present. The gre:n tint is
often due to a condition of equilibrium
between the color effect of the iron
salts and the precipitating action of
the calcium salts.—Scientific Ameri
can.
Habits of Wild Bees.
There are about five thousand spe
cies of the wild bees, all with interest
ing ways of their own. Among them
is a species whose females are verit
able amazons, and carry more and
better weapons than the males. Tin re
ar.e the “cukoo” bees, who deposit
their eggs in the nests of others, the
progeny of both living peaceably to
gether until maturity, when they sep
arate. Then there is the tailoring bee.
which cuts leaves with her scissors
like jaws, and fits a snug lining of the
leaf material into her cave-shaped
nest.
In a Pinch, Use ALLEN’S FOOT-EASE.
A powder. It cures painful, smart
ing, neivous feet and ingrowing nails
It's the greatest comfort discovery of
the age. Makes new shoes easy. A
certain cure for sweating feet. 30,000
testimonials of cures. Sold bv all
druggists. 25c. Trial package, FREE.
Address A. S. Olmsted, Le Roy, N\ Y.
Occasionally a man spends a lot of
time at his club because there's no
place like home.
WOMEN’S NEGLECT
SUFFERINGTHESUREPENALTY
Health Thus Lost Is Restored by Lydia
E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound.
Plow many women do you know who
are perfectly well and* strong ? We
hear everyday the same story over and
over again. ‘‘1 do not feel well; lam
so tired all the time ! ”
More than likely you speak the same
words yourself, and no doubt you feel
far from well. Thecuuse maybeeasily
traced to some derangement of the fe
male organs which manifests itself in
depression of spirits, reluctance to go
anywhere or do anything, backache,
bearing-down pains, flatulency, nerv
ousness, sleeplessness, or other fe
male weakness.
These symptoms are but warnings
that there is danger ahead, and unless
heeded a life of suffering or a serious
operation is the inevitable result.
The never-failing remedy for all these
symptoms is Lydia E. Pinkham's Veg
etable Compound.
Miss Kate McDonald of Woodbridge,
N. J., writes:
Dear Mrs. Pinkham:
“ Restored health has meant so much to me
that I cannot help from telling at>out it for
the sake of other suffering women.
“ For a long time I suffered untold agony
with a female trouble and irregularities,
which made me a physical wreck, and no one
thought I would recover, but Lydia E. Pink
ham's Vegetable Compound has entirely
cured me, and made me well and strong, and
I feel it my duty to tell other suffering women
what a splendid medicine it is.”
For twenty-five years Mrs. Pinkham,
daughter-in-law of Lydia E. Pinkham,
has under her direction, and since her
decease, been advising sick women free
of charge. Her advice is free and
always helpful. Address, Lynn, Mass,
nibADEkPniA
Suicides wn©
HAVE TALLIN IN
THE MAELSTROM
Or MONEY MAKING.
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bank got away with only $700,000,
which he lent on worthless collateral
to a concern called the Guarantors
company. He foisted the securities off
on the directors as of value and when
exposure threatened, he prepared
himself for death and eased his con
science by writing a voluminous let
ter of contrite explanation to James
McManes, president of the institution.
Then he went into the bathroom of his
house, on West Spruce street, and put
a bullet into his brain.
Hippie always sought, in the employ
ment of clerks, to bring in young men
who were members and regular com
municants in some church. He did not
differentiate as to denomination. In
addition to refusing to have as clerks
any users of tobacco or liquor he was
opposed to any of his employes reading
Sunday newspapers or visiting race
tracks. As there are no race tracks
in Philadelphia, New York was the
nearest place for those who sought
that form of amusement.
President Hippie learned about a
year after the Heal Estate company
was organized that one of his young
men had visited Sheepshead bay and
had won a five-dollar bet. The presi
dent took him into his private office
and prayed with him. He gave him a
marked Bible, and then dismissed him
from the company's service, so that
danger of contamination would be
avoided.
FRANKLIN B. GOWEN,
RAILROAD PRESIDENT.
Unfortunate speculation without the
defalcation feature brought about the
self-inflicted death of Franklin B.
Gowen, president of the Philadelphia
& Reading railroad, and one of the
most brilliant and successful lawyers
in the Keystone state. He shot him
self in December, 1889, but as the
deed was committed in Washington
and not in Philadelphia, the circum
stances became knowm within 24
hours. The belief was general that
he had been murdered by agents of
the Mollie Maguires, in revenge for
the active part he took in suppressing
that band of thugs.
The fact that Gowen had taken his
own life was established the next day,
and then began an investigation as to
the possible cause. The moral charac
ter of the great lawyer was above re
proach. His life had been singularly
clean, and his reputation never had
been tarnished by even as much as the
breath of scandal. He died without
having made a will and when an ap
praisal of his estate was made it was
found that he had left but $450,000 in
personal and real property of an estate
which in his lifetime was estimated to
be worth between $2,000,000 and $3,
000,000. He had been induced to in
vest in southern lands, where it is be
lieved he suffered great losses. The
full particulars never were revealed,
but there was no other reason to as
cribe than despondent desperation
brought on by investments which im
paired a considerable fortune.
WILLIAM M. SINGERLY,
NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER.
William M. Singerly, proprietor of
the Philadelphia Record, president of
the Chestnut Street National bank
and the Chestnut Street Trust com
pany, died under circumstances which
pointed unmistakably to a death self
inflicted. Cyanide of potassium is be
lieved to have been the agent, but so
far as the records of the coroner’s of
fice go, that cause is not ascribed.
Notwithstanding this official veiling
no one in Philadelphia familiarwith the
wild and reckless peculation in which
Singerly was involved, and which re
sulted in the failure of the banks in
which he was interested, believes that
he died a natural death.
Singerly was a peculiar combination.
He was born in Philadelphia in 1832.
His father was a pioneer in street
car transportation and made a fortune.
In his young manhood Williaip M.
Singerly developed a liking for conviv
iality, which resulted in his income
being cut off, and he was put to work
as a car conductor at a small salary.
This enforced employment brought
about a reformation after he had pass
ed his thirty-fifth year. He then dis
played qualities of shrewd business '
sense which it was not believed he
possessed.
Without any previous knowledge of j
newspaper making he succeeded in, j
gaining control of a small newspaper
called the Public Record. He changed
its make-up and its general method of
treatment of the topics or the day, and
astonished the town by reducing the
price to one cent.
He became Democratic candidate
for governor and made a canvass of
the state in a special train. He had
then gone into the breeding of blood
ed horses and had one Futurity vic
tory to his credit—the capture of
$100,000 in stake and bets by Mor
rello in the season of 1892.
Spreading out still further, Singer
ly went into banking and organized
two institutions. Reckless loans drove
him to the wall, and in 1897 both
banks failed.
On February 27, 1898, Mr. Singerly
died suddenly in his home. The story
was given out that heart disease had
carried him off, aggravated by his
financial troubles. After his death
the community was startled to learn
that he was in debt to the defunct
Chestnut Street bank to the extent of
$800,000, which he had borrowed on
collateral security of $75,000.
JOSEPH G. DITMAN,
BANKER, DROWNED.
Joseph G. Ditman, president of the
Quaker City National bank, disap
peared mysteriously and for two days |
it w'as believed he had been robbed
and murdered. After a drive through
Fairmount park his empty carriage
and the horse were found. Search for
the banker continued for a month.
Detectives went to all parts of the
United States and large rewards were
offered. Forty days after his disap
pearance the decomposed body of the
banker was found floating in the
Schuylkill river.
Ditman was brought up in the paper
manufacturing business, and abandon
ed it to go into banking. He discount
ed paper for his old-time associates on
the flimsiest sort of collateral. He
sunk thousands of dollars in a silver
mine in South Carolina. He went into
the printing business to recoup his
losses, and lost more, and in less than
two years, through his wildcat specula
tion, and lack of care, he was stripped
of every dollar he possessed. His
mind became affected and the suicide
theory was generally accepted, not
withstanding the judgment of the cor
oner's jury that he was drowned by
accident.
BENJAMIN H. GASKILL,
BROKER, THIEF, FORGER.
Benjamin H. Gaskill was one of the
most noted exemplars of fraudulent
finance, who cheated his friends and
then killed himself to avoid facing
them. He was a thief and a forger,
but this discovery was not made until
after his death. In his lifetime Gaskill
enjoyed the respect and esteem of
his business associates. His reputa
tion for probity was of the best, and
his credit was gilt-edged. After his
suicide a diary was found among his
effects in which he spoke of himself
as a Jekyll and Hyde. He wrote that
he could not make himseir understood
to sordid minds and that his aspira
tions were too high for the ordinary
mortal to grasp.
CONGRESSMAN ADAMS,
HIMSELF ONLY VICTIM.
Robert Adams, Jr., familiarly known
as “Bertie” Adams, former minister to
Brazil, prominent as one of the orig
inal explorers of the Yellowstone re
gion and member of congress from the
Second district of Pennsylvania, com
mitted suicide by shooting in his
apartments in the Metropolitan club,
Washington, on the 1st day of last
June. Wildcat speculation was di
rectly responsible. He died absolute
ly penniless, having dissipated a for
tune of $300,000. He left a note ad
dressed to Speaker Cannon, in which
he said that as his personal obliga
tions exceeded his resources he was
obliged to abandon the responsible
position he held in the house of rep
resentatives. The congressman lost
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money at cards, but the greater part
of his wealth went in land invest
ments and in loans on worthless se
curities. He sent good money after
bad in the hope of recovery.
JOSIAH R. ADAMS, VICTIM
OF POLITICAL ATTACK.
Josiah R. Adams, a prominent club
man and a lawyer and a noted figure
in the most exclusive set of Philadel
phia's fashionable world, killed him
self in a hotel in .Philadelphia, six
years ago. Adams was a man of rare
culture. He took a liking for the ex
citement of political life, and affiliated
himself with the Quay machine. He
was nominated for judge of the supe
rior court. A bitter attack was made
upon him by a local newspaper. He
was accused of having conspired with
another man to defraud the public by
a get-rich-quick scheme, in which it
was alleged that hundreds of persons
w'ere induced to invest to their sor
row.
Adams made a weak denial to the
charge, and withdrew from the ticket.
He never recovered from the blow.
On the day he shot himself he kissed
his wife affectionately, left her, and in
five minutes was dying from a bullet
wound in the head.
JOHN FIELD, MERCHANT,
LOST MIND WITH MONEY.
John Field, once postmaster of Phil
adelphia, a member of the old whole
sale dry goods house of Young, Smyth,
Field & Co., shot and killed himself in
Fairmount park while insane. He
came from Ireland when he was 14
years old and began as errand boy in
the house which he subsequently con
trolled. The firm did an immense busi
ness and in addition to branches in
Baltimore, Cincinnati, Indianapolis
and San Francisco, carried on a bank
ing business in Saxony.
It never was definite known how
Mr. Field impaired his fortune, but the
general belief was that it was due to
speculation in realty, which he knew
nothing about. This so affected his
mind that he developed a suicidal
mania.
JAMES V. P. TURNER,
RUINED BY BUYING LAND.
James V. P. Turner, registrar of
vital statistics of Philadelphia and a
lawyer of note, shot himself in the
stomach in Fairmount park in April,
1902. He was a member of the So
ciety of the War of 1812 and of the
Sons of the Revolution. Mr. Turner
had been induced to invest in lands
in the west, which he believed to be
mineral-bearing, but which turned out
to be worthless. He became despond
ent and chose to kill himself rather
than begin life over again at 47.
