rt
llOIiKKT GOOD Editor and Prop
VALENTINE - NEBRASKA
The sick man of Europe seema to
have lately taken some nerve building
medicine
We are skeptical about that New Ha
ven girl turning to stone Perhaps sho
merely feels a trifle rocky
A correspondent writes that the Sul
tan is a hard worker and has no fads
It seems that he is a collector of ultU
znatums
The economical man who follows the
custom of laying in his winter supply
of coal in summer is wondering in a be
Wildered way where he is at
The Nashville Banner says Hank
Stubbins left for Johnson City last
night The purpose of Hanks visit was
not stated This certainly looks sus
picious
Russias census total of 129211113
looks like a long load but the United
Suites will pass it in twenty live years
by maintaining the average rate of
growth
A Syracuse contemporary says that
the actual cost of an up-to-date 100
-wheel is 3031 Bah That will not
furnish the courtplaster and arnica for
the first three months
We are convinced that if anyone
ever introduces the great American
fjame of poker into the Orient Colonel
Hamid will not have to walk home
after a social session with the powers
A young Kentucky boy who married
a widow of 52 the other day was given
1000 in cash and told to go away
somewhere alone and enjoy a honey
moon trip Hell probably forgot to re
turn the change
A loaf of bread taken from the tomb
of Rameses has been given to a Bos
ton museum If there were cooking
schools in those days that interment of
Utameses probably represented botu
cause and effect
Colonel Fitzsimmons evidently is
wrong in saying that Colonel Sullivan
can stand only two or three stiff
punches He is standing more than
that right along every day to say noth
ing about cocktails and straight
rwhisky
In New York the other day several
deaf mutes sang several popular se
lections by gracefully utilizing their
fingers The attention of the young
man who thinks that Sweet Rosie
OGrady loves him is respectfully di
rected to this method of expression
It is said that the late Mrs Oliphant
was informed fourteen months ago that
6he was suffering from a fatal malady
-yet she wrote steadily on almost to the
last day of her life Stephen Girard
once remarked If I knew that I
-should die to morrow I would never
theless plant a tree to day
1 i
The Japanese attach their prayers to
the arms of a windmill and believe
that every revolution counts in their fa
vor They have also learned to emboss
them on the tires of their bicycles and
no doubt are happy in the conviction
that he prayeth best who scorcheth
best
The last French survivor of Water
loo was banqueted last month at his
Tiome in France His name is Baillot
and his age is 104 He was 22 at the
time of the battle and though many
of the French troops were younger
than himself he alone is left of Na
poleons host of 61000
The New York Press has a very live
ly imagination indeed It says that
genius like Shakspeares toad may
be out at the elbows and down at the
iheel yet all the while wearing a pre
cious jewel in its head If Shak
Bpeare ever had a toad that was out at
the elbows and down at the heel wa
dont recall it
Lynch law admits no defense View
ed from every standpoint its effects
are bad It may be granted that as a
xule the object of mob violence de
serves the fate which overtakes him
jbut every outbreak of popular fury
brutalizes the community and weak
ens respect for law and order The
tfrue remedy for mob violence is the
-cultivation of confidence in the ability
and certainty of the courts to punish
adequately all forms of crime
The story of Kaiser Williams late
Injury to his eye is exceedingly charac
teristic of that eccentric potentate As
told in a cable dispatch it was due to
5iis insisting upon the performance of
c difficult and dangerous task on board
his yacht in face of the protests of the
fficers under him The work was avow
edly designed to show that nothing
was impossible with him i e when
performed by others and while it was
successfully accomplished with consid
erable injury to the vessel and great
peril to the crew there sems a sort of
-poetical justice in the fact that he
-was the only person actually injured
If he has learned as the result that a
German emperor is as likely to be hurt
by a blow from a ropes end as any or
dinary mortal the lesson may not bo
-without its value
A Jersey City boy 17 years of age is
threatened with death because of ex
cessive cigarette smoking The climax
to a busy life in this respect was reach
fid when he rounded out a special feat
smoking 170 of the things in 170 con
secutive minutes It does not appear
that this remarkable effort was the re
sult of any wager or a trial of smok
ing endurance but just an ordinary
episode in the young mans day only
in this case nature had reached the lim
it and collapse followed It would seem
superfluous to hang any moral on this
episode It would seem that every per
son who can read or has the sense of
hearing must know by this time the
deadly character of cigarettes Yet the
fact that this Jersey City boy has per
mitted himself and has been permitted
by his friends deliberately to kill him
seL indicates that a warning is still
needed Parents must shoulder the
chief responsibility for occurrences of
this kind They are too prone to look
upon cigarette smoking as merely an
obnoxious habit and their boys accord
ingly soon learn to take the same limit
ed view of its nature The fact must
be impressed that the cigarette is a
poison It brings death in its wake
and even if death is resisted for a time
the life given up to this practice is be
reft of most of its pleasure and useful
ness A weakened constitution and
mind are the inevitable immediate con
sequences
The death of H M Higgins at san
Diego Cal removes from the world
of music a man who played a some
what important part in the early musi
cal history of Chicago He was not
the first musical dealer in the city as
has been stated There were two or
three who preceded him but he was
the first one who published music theie
to any extent Prior to his location in
Chicago he had taught music both in
New York and Wisconsin In 1S55 in
ccnrection with his brother A F Hig
gins Le opened a music store on Kan
dolph street which soon become the
musical headquarters The trade was
largely devoted to sheet music and
the firm published many songs and bal
lads of the popular sort Though not
a trained musician in any sense he was
sufficiently up in the business to know
what suited the popular taste and the
firm made some money The business
was closed out about 1S71 and H M
Higgins went to California where he
invested his earnings in a fruit ranen
which he named Bonnie Brai a few
miles south of San Diego He became
quite well known in Southern Califor
nia by a seedless lemon which he rais
ed though for some reason it never
made the success in the market he had
anticipated He was a man of eccen
tric disposition had been for years a
radical spiritualist had domestic trou
bles finallj lost much of his property
and died comparatively poor His
death will cause much sorrow in the
region where he lived as he was wide
ly known and was much esteemed for
his geniality and hospitality notwith
standing his many reverses and disap
pointments
One of the characteristics of yellow
journalism is that it overdoes every
thing One of the exponents of the yel
low in New York City really succeeded
in accomplishing something brilliant
recently In four days from the discov
ery of the dismembered fragments of
a man in the river it had identified
him proved that he had been murdered
and pointed out the supposed guilty
persons Its reporters gave rapid and
brilliant aid to the police and for that
much the paper was entitled to credit
although many persons will believe
that it is not the province of a news
paper to usurp the duties of the detec
tives However no fault might have
been found with that if the yellow
journal had not spoiled its coup with
an anti climax It proceeded the other
day to tell how it did the work Its
methods were plain to any of its read
ers from day to day but it insisted on
telling how Jones called the office on
the telephone and informed the office
boy that another leg had been found in
the river and how the office boy start
ed back in horror and how the city
editor acted with dispatch by assigning
Brown to the morgue Jones to police
headquarters and Robinson to drag
the East River The public was told
how the piece of oilcloth which sur
rounded the fragments of the murder
ed man was photographed in colors
and used as evidence and let into all
the petty details of the investigation
step by step At the finish everyone
knows what the reporters had for
lunch and the seething brain of the
city editor is an open book to the for
tunate readers of the yellow journal
The account reads for all the world
like an installment for one of those
penny dreadfuls which engage the
rapt attention of messenger boys The
whole effect of the newspapers work
is spoiled But that is the way of yel
low journalism
The Retort Courteous
The noted French writer Piron was
wit whose reputation for brilliancj
of speech was nnri vailed He was
famous for his flashing retorts but
even the best of us sometimes have to
bow to superiority though it be only
temporarily
A lady once thoughtlessly asked
Piron in company whether he could tell
her the difference between a woman
and a mirror
It is madam said Piron instantly
that a mirror reflects without speak
ing and a woman speaks without re
flecting
Very well Monsieur Piron she re
plied a little nettled by the remark
but can you tell me the difference be
tween a mirror and a inanV
No answered the poet
Oh was the reply it is this Mon
sieur Tiron A mirror is always pol
ished but a man is not always so
An Amateur
Husband How do you know that
the fellow was not a professional
tramp and fraud
Wife Because he mowed the lawn
and split a lot of kindling to pay for
his dinner Detroit Free Press
DOWN IN A COAL MINE
TRIP THROUGH GLOOMY CAV
ERNS OF THE EARTH
Goins Down a Slope to the Working
Chambers Where Amid Powder
Smoke and Perils the Miner Diss
Coal Discovery of the mineral
About Coal
Pittsburg Pa correspondence
Not many of us think as we sit by com
fortable fires in the zero days of winter
of the difficulties and dangers experienced
in mining 1he coal that contributes so
much to our domestic happiness and onr
national prosperity Yet the mainspring
of our very civilization is the coal the
miner digs in the gloomy caverns of the
earth There ages ago the heat of the
sun absorbed by the plants from which
coal is derived was treasured up and to
day we have that same heat in the form
of coal at our disposal and subject to
our control Without it we would be liv
ing in the past in the days of the stage
coach and the sailboat with out present
conditions of life if dreamed of another
Utopia By it we can travel almost as
comfortably as if seated in our own
homes over thousands of miles of moun
tain and valley and thousands of leagues
of ocean and enjoy conveniences such
as were not within the reach of the
wealthiest and greatest of ancient times
Such is the value of coal to the modern
world and it is an interesting subject
how it is mined
To a visitor to the coal fields one of the
interesting sights is the huge breakers
that are dotted over the region and the
mountains of refuse the dumps that
have been extracted from the mines
These breakers are generally though not
always erected over the mouth of the
shaft or entrances to the mines and it is
in them that the coal after having been
mined is graded by passing through dif
ferent screens and cleaned by having
the impurities picked out by hand those
employed for that purpose being mainly
children The impurities are the con
stituents of the dumps and some of the
latter contain hundreds of millions of
tons
It was my good fortune recently to
spend several hours in the colliery known
as the Little Schuylkill in Mahoning City
Pa While the midday sun was shining
gloriously and all nature seemed joyful
I entered the cage and was rapidly low
ered to the bottom of the shaft where
all was dark as blackest midnight Here
and there appeared flickering lights in the
2s of the miners and when the eyes be
came more accustomed to the darkness I
Baw the outlines of cars on the tracks
some full of coal to be presently lifted
h
THE DISCOArEKY OF COAX
to the breaker above and others empty
to be taken down the slope to the differ
ent levels where the miners were dig
ging the precious mineral Close to the
bottom of the ishaft were the stables
where the long eared patient mules used
in hauling cars in certain portions of the
mine are housed Few of these mules
since their first entry into the mine have
seen daylight and some of them very prob
ably never will On another side of the
shaft was an engine room and a pump
was laboriously at work forcing to the
bright earth above the waters that are
ever collecting in these dark caverns
Several of these pumps are thus
utes so much to our every comfort is
mined
Around were the possibilities of danger
and death A body of gas might be ex
ploded a cae in might occur in a multi
plicity of ways danger might hover near
But the miner with the confidence which
years of experience gives does not allow
his mind to be troubled by these fears
unless indeed some fellow worker be
stricken down Then the dangers for a
while appear in concrete form only grad
ually to be forgotten
In mining coal the miner must natur
ally follow the vein of mineral and this
often runs at an angle of S3 or more de
grees As he progresses timbers are
used to uphold the roof and platforms are
constructed upon which to stand When
a quantity of coal is dislodged by explo
sives it falls to a platform where the
miners assistant breaks it up into man
ageable sizes and loads it into the cars
standing on a track ready to receive it
Each car when loaded is hauled to the
slope up which with others it is drawn
to the foot of the shaft and hoisted to the
breaker
I had no desire to prolong my stay in
the atmosphere of the chambers but
when I saw a man testing tho air to see
if gas was forming and remembered the
numerous disasters that have occurred
in the coal regions through explosions I
was more anxious than ever to reach the
pure air and sunshine
Notwithstanding the dangers attending
coal mining and the poor reward for the
miners work the occupation seems to
lend a strange enchantment Children
first enter the breakers to pick the im
purities from the coal then they become
drivers in the mines next miners assist
ants and finally miners themselves They
are reared in sin atmosphere of coal min
ing seeing little else and having few other
avenues of employment open to them It
is as natural for them to enter the mines
to work as for the farmer to go into his
hayfield or the shopkeeper into the store
and they think no more than these of ac
cidents And yet minor accidents and
fatalities are numerous We are all more
or less familiar with the great disasters
of the coal fields in each of which ten
twenty or more persons have been killed
But outside the coal regions themselves
the news of the minor tragedies seldom
penetrate or if it does it is overlooked or
forgotten But they are always occur
ring
Surely the coal miner is engaged in
perilous work He deserves a better fate
than want and the contingency of starva
tiona fate that is confronting thousands
of miners and their families in the anthra
cite regions of Pennsylvania to day
Considerable of a romance attaches to
the early use of coal in this country Its
EXTERIOR VIEW
OF A
ually engaged on the different levels else
the water would collect in such quanti
ties as to render work impracticable and
ultimately flood the mine
A dreadful accident occurred by the last
car of one of those trains becoming de
tached from its fellows At a point where
the fifth level branches from the slope one
of the vorkers was standing when the
detached car went rushing down the slope
with almost the velocity of a cannon ball
Those who heard the roar of the oncoming
car shouted to the man to move He
either did not hear them or became par
alyzed with fear in any case the car
ground him to pieces against one of the
pillars
Ultimately with my conductor I reach
ed the ninth level of the mine and was
then standing more than 1000 feet be
neath the surface of the earth over which
the warm sunshine was playing It was
warm enough however in the mine al
though the air in the slope was pure
In the Mininjr Chambers
In the chambers where the miners were
blasting the atmosphere was heavy with
the smell of powder and laden with dust
One could see even in the dim light of the
lamp he carried the very air he breathed
or at least the admixture which with the
air he took into his lungs Here then
and in similar chambers in thousands of
collieries the precious coal that contrib-
COAL MINE
discovery in Pennsylvania was made in
1791 by a hunter named Philip Ginther
Ginthers hunting grounds were on the
eastern slope of the mountains drained
by the Lehigh River and one evening
while on the summit of Sharp Mountain
he stumbled over the roots of a fallen
tree and kicked before him a large black
stone Thinking that possibly it
might be coal of which he had heard
something he picked up the lump and
turned it over to a Col Jacob Weiss who
lived near the present site of Mauch
Chunk The Colonel after satisfying
himself that the specimen was anthracite
coal organized the Lehigh Coal Mine
Company one of the members of which
was Robert Morris the celebrated
financier The work f mining was be
gun at the very spot where Ginther stum
bled over the prostrate tree and several
thousand acres of land were purchased
But what to do with the coal that was
mined was a problem There was no
market for it The surrounding timber
and what with the low price of wood and
the abundance of charcoal there seemed
little prospect of marketing the coal for
many a long year to come The work
of mining was consequently soon aban
doned
Col Weiss however determined in
bringing the coal to the attention of the
people He filled his saddle bags with
it from time to time and rode around
among the blacksmiths earnestly
them to try it Many refused to have
anything to do with common stones
and those who tried it met with only par-
tial success Accordingly the coal com-
pany relaxed its efforts to obtain a mar j
ket and were about to dissolve when in
179S the Legislature chartered a com
pany to improve the navigation of the
Lehigh River This work was completed
in 1S02 and the coal company renewed
their efforts to bring their products to
market In 1S03 six boats each contain-
ing 100 tons of coal started from Mauch
Chunk for Philadelphia Four of the
boats came to grief on the way and two
of them reached the city of Brotherly
Love After much delay the coal was
sold to the municipal authorities who
were then working a steam boiler to pump
water into tanks for the use of the city
But all attempts to burn the coal failed
and it was broken up and scattered over
MINERS DIGGING OUT THE PHECI0U3 MINERAL
the foot walks And thus for a period xi
seventeen years ended the operations of
the Lehigh Coal Mine Company
Some years later or in 1810 coal was
found in the vicinity of Pottsville Schuyl
kill County The blacksmiths of th
neighborhood experimented with it and
happily with success and a number o
individuals among them Col George
Shoemaker interested themselves in its
development In 1S17 he loaded ten wag
ons with the mineral and sent them to
Philadelphia On the way some of the
coal was disposed of to blacksmiths and
a considerable quantity was sold to the
Fairmount Nail Works The rest was
disposed of to individuals in Philadelphia
The latter unable to burn the coal al
though assured that it would burn re
garded Shoemaker as a swindler and war
rants were issued for his arrest He suc
ceeded however in eluding the officers
of the law and returned home by a round
about route But while the prospect of
securing a market for coal thus looked
dark an incident occurred that completely
changed the situation At the Fairmount
Nail Works an attempt was made to burn
the coal The men raked it stirred it and
blew upon it but without success At
the noon hour they shut fast the furnace
doors and with many a muttered impreca
tion on the black stones went to their
dinners AVhen they returned the fur
naces were red hot and the fire within was
seething and roaring like a tempest They
had discovered the secret of burning an
thracite coal it only required to be let
alone
This successful burning of the mineral
predisposed many in its favor while the
growing scarcity and dearness of wood
rendered a substitute indispensable And
thus the Lehigh Coal Mine Company ap
peared once more in the field In 1S20
they shipped 365 tons of coal readily find
ing a market and three years later their
shipment amounted to nearly 5000 tons
Both companies then consolidated under
the title of the Lehigh Coal and Naviga
tion Company In the Schuylkill region
the development of the coal industry was
rapid and by 1827 over 20000 tons were
shipped to market
Somethins Like the Gold Craze
Immediately a great boom was launch
ed in the Schuylkill region Valleys and
mountains were explored for the mineral
and lands assumed an extraordinary val
ue Towns were laid out roads eut
through the forests over the mountain
peaks and along their narrow gorges
railways and canals were projected coal
mines opened all was conceived in the
spirit of speculation and executed under
the impulse of its excitement Such was
the demand for houses that in many
instances the lumber was wrought into
shape in Philadelphia and sent by canal
to the coal region ready for the joiner
Whole villages along the road side thus
sprang into existence like mushrooms oi
as if by the power of magic The tav
erns were all crowded and their walls
strewn with colored maps and lithographs
All the adventurers of the large towns
flocked to Pottsville like so many bees
around their queen They had only to gc
there to be transformed into millionaires
Fortune had seated herself upon a throne
of anthracite she held her court levees
among the rolling mountains and to be
crowned with her favor it was only es
sential to appear in person Within six
months from the beginning of the specu
lative boom nearly 5000000 had been
invested in the coal lands of Schuylkill
County Lands that were purchased in
1827 for 500 sold in 1S29 just before the
excitement began to subside for 1G00
Kit It Tandem Fashion
Ah my gallant boy said the father
of the child Rushem had just pulled
from beneath a trolley car That was
a brave rescue But didnt the car
strike your
No replied Rushem whose foot
ball days only closed last November
but I struck it And he blushingly
pointed to the shattered wreck Phila
delphia North American
Trying position The judges
HUMOR OF THE INDIANS
It Runs to Fantastical Jokes and la
Not Always Appreciated
h
Most everybody imagines that the-
North American Indian w a solemn
and dignified individual said the ex
army officer as he leaned gracefully
back in his chair and lazily puffed
away at his afternoon cigar Before
I met a redskin I dont know how many
times I had heard it asserted that as a
race they were destitute of humor as
a patent office report or a gravii
image But when I got acquainted with
the aboriginal in his native wilds I
found that this was a mistake
The Indian is a born humorist
There isnt the slightest doubt of that
The great trouble is however that his-
humor runs chiefly to practical jokes I
remember one time meeting or rather
discovering a few rods distant a big
Indian when I Avas out walking alone
about two miles from camp
Well he discovered me about the
same time a ad the minute he did so
he let out a terrific war wkorp Ivgan
flourishing his tomahawk and started
for inn on it nin T T clioc uT i iit ti
I keeled over from exhaustini
thou instead of scalping me as I
urally expected he would from his pr
vious actions he assisted me to my
feet with a broad grin on his faee and
grunted Injun only veil lor
fun Too bad scare white man Injmij
dont want scalp Want chew
backer
The whole proceeding it seemed was
only his humorous method of strifcwg
a stranger for a chew of tobacco If
I had had something to strike back
with it might not have been quite fun
nyfor him but unfortunately I had
left my weapons in camp
And again I remember the tim a
lot of Indians who had been fooling
around on the warpath were forced to
capitulate and surrender their game
to Gen Miles command at the Pine
Uidge Agency and the last thing the
humorous cusses did before turning ia
their shooting irons was to load every
old mnsket of the lot half way to the
muzzle with slugs and nails and scrap
iron and other of the sor
and then hang around at a safe dis
tance to see the fun when a bonfire
was made of the guns as wthe usual
rule in such cises
But luckily for the soldieks they
discovered the trick in time and the
expected fun failed to pan out srill
we must take the will for the deed
and this little incident goes to show
that as a practical joker the wily abor
iginal is not to be lightly sneezed at
Detroit Free Press
ir
It Tasted Good Still
Some lively college girl no doubt
from the sunny South relates in the
Wellesley Magazine a novel variation
upon the theme long popular with the
funny man of the newspapers es
pecially at Thanksgiving time of thr
little who wants to eat more than
he can Little Sammy ou the porch of
the great house of the neighborhood
Didnt de white folks have ice crennT
fo dinnah Miss KateV
Tliis snmII negro reminder of happy
days had never pleaded
with me in vain for goodies proceeds
the narrator Very soon he had eaten
a full saucer of cream which I had
given him ind with the spoon poised
on a sticky forefinger was looking at
me with eyes that begged for me and
he got it even to the third saucer
I watched him till I fell to dreaming
again and my eyes sought the river
Only the clink of the spoon against
the saucer and a satisfied sigh now and
then broke the stillness of the Southern
summer day Presently all was quiet
and I looked round to find the happy
Sammy with the most disconsolate ex
pression on his face his head turned a
little to one side and his eye fixtd
gloomily on about a quarter of a spoon
ful of cream
What is it Sammy Lsnt it goodr
Yasm in a sad tone
Then why dont you eat it LTave
you got enough V
He looked at me as he straightened
up and unbuttoned the little worn
jacket Yasm he sighed got
nough whar cept my niouf
Children
His Choice
It is said that Charles Wesley was
sometimes easily annoyed and ou one
occasion at a conference iie became
so irritated at the prolix remarks of a
sneaker that he said to his brother
Stop that Juans speaking Let us
attend to business
But the offender was relating hs
religious experience and though it was
at so great a length John Wesley
evidently thought that no one had a
right to interfere with it He was
therefore allowed to continue but th
moment came when Charles could con
tain himself no longer
Unless he stops he whispered to
John Ill leave the conference
By this time John was enjoying tin
mans simple story and he only tnruert
and whispered to some one sittiug
near
Charles his hat
Baltimores Building Census
Baltimore has a novel census of
buildings conducted biennially by the
police By the census just eomperl
the city is hown to have 104000 build
ings S503J of which are dwellings
iJIG business houses 4C0 churches and
COS schools The proportion of unoc
cupied dwellings is larger thaa it was
two years ago and the same is true as
to stores and factories
Dyspepsia
Mr Newwed There is no use talking
I wont eat any more of your cook
ing
Mrs Newwed tearfully And you -you
said you weie willing to die for
rac
fc ut madam there are worse thinr
than death Life
an A
nit-
V
v fiJ
S
V