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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (April 17, 1902)
&mz& . 46- 8 Conservative * his spear , which stuck in the ground and broke in his hand. Colter in stantly snatched up the pointed part , with which ho pinned him to the earth , and then continued his flight. The foremost of the Indians , on arriving at the place , stopped till others came up to join them , when they set up a hideous yell. Every moment of this time was improved by Colter , who , although fainting and exhausted , succeeded in gaining the skirting of the cottonwood trees on the borders of the fork , through which ho ran and plunged into the river. Fortunately for him , a little below this place there was an island , against the upper point of which a raft of drift timber'had lodged. He dived under the raft , and after sev eral efforts , got his head above water amongst the trunks of trees , covered over with smaller wood to the depth of several feet. Scarcely had ho secured - cured himself when the Indians ar rived on the river , screeching and yelling , as Colter expressed it , 'like so many devils. ' They were fre quently on the raft during the day , and were seen through the chinks by Colter , who was congratulating himself - self on his escape , until the idea arose that they might set the raft on fire. fire."In "In horrible suspense he remained until night , when hearing no more of the Indians , ho dived from under the raft , and swam silently down the river to a considerable distance , when ho lauded and traveled all night. Although happy in having escaped from the Indians , his situa tion was still dreadful ; he was com pletely naked , under a burning sun ; the soles of his feet were entirely filled with the thorns of the prickly pear ; ho was hungry , and had no means of killing game , although lie saw abundance around Him , and was at least seven days' journey from Lisa's fort , ou the Bighorn branch of the Roche Jaune River. These were circumstances under which almost any man but an American hunter would have despaired , Ho arrived at the fort in seven days , having subsisted on a root much esteemed by the Indians of the Missouri , now known by naturalists as psoralea osouleuta. ' ' Ho had a narrow escape from yet another return to the wilderness ; for on his. way down he met Wilson Price Hunt , starting for Astoria , who desired his services as much as Lisa had done. The circumstances of this temptation are thus related by Irving : "Such is a sample of the rugged oxperiouce which Colter had to re late of savage life ; yet , with all these perils and terrors fresh in his recollection , ho could not see the present baud on their way to those regions of danger and adventure , without fooling a vehement impulse to join thorn. A western trapper is like a sailor ; past hazards only stimulate him to further risks. The vast prairie is to the one what the ocean is to the other , a boundless field of enterprise and exploit. How ever he may have suffered in his last cruise , he is always ready to join anew now expedition and the more adven turous its nature , the more attractive is it to his vagrant spirit. "Nothing seems to have kept Colter from continuing with the party to the shores of the Pacific but the circumstance of his having recently married. All the morning ho kept with them , balancing in his mind the charms of his bride against those of the Rocky Mountains ; the former , however , prevailed , and after a march of several miles , he took a reluctant leave of the travelers , and turned his face homeward. ' ' Colter , after all his wanderings , thus reached civilization safe at last ; and it seems likely that he died in 1813 in St. Louis. A. T. R. SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS. Considerable interest is felt as to the effect which the removal of the tea import duties will have upon the consumption of that article in the United States. The import figures covering the period since the imposi tion of an import duty upon tea ( Juno 18 , 1898) ) do not justify the assertion frequently made some years since that a small tax would increase the consumption of tea by insuring bettor qualities. The average annual importation of tea since the enact ment of the law which placed a duty upon tea has been but about 83 mil lion pounds , while the average dur ing the preceding three years was about 98 million pounds per annum. The total importation of tea in the three fiscal years following June 30 , 1898 , was 248,741,459 pounds ; and in the three fiscal years immediately preceding that date was 278,803,262 pounds. Deducting the amount re- exported , the net imports stand : for the three years following June 80 , 1898 , 244,640,547 pounds ; for the three years immediately preceding June 30 , 1898 , 278,945,091 pounds. This gives an average importation for con sumption during those two periods of every pounds per capita per an num in the three-year period prior to Juno 80 , 1898 , and but a little over 1 pound per capita per annum in the threo-yoar period following that date. This reduction in the importation of tea since the imposition of the customs duty upon that article has been accompanied by a corresponding increase' rjn [ the importation of coffee. In the three years following Juno 80 , 1898 , the total importation of coffee was 2,474,690,284 pounds , against 2,188,758,040 pounds in the throe years immediately preceding that date ; and the per capita imports for consumption for the latter three years averaged 10.4 pounds per an num , compared with 9.9 pounds for the three years prior to Juno 80 , 1898. It is proper to add , however , that during [ the three years since 1898 prices of coffee have been much lower than those of the immediately preceding period , the average import price per pound , as shown by the figures of the Treasury Bureau of statistics since the fiscal year 1898 having averaged 6.7 cents per pound , against an average of 11 cents for the three years immediately preced ing 1898 ; while in the case of tea the import price per pound , exclusive of course of duties , shows but slight fluctuations. The following table shows the total importation of tea and coffee in each fiscal year from 1890 to 1901 , and for the eight mouths ending with Febru ary 1902 : Fiscal Tea Imports Coffee Imn'ts Year Pounds 1890 88,886,829 1891 88,453,889 1892 90,079,039 1898 89Q61,287 1894 93,518,717 1895 97,258,458 1896 98,998,372 1897 118,847,175 1898 70,957,715 1899 74,089.899 1900 84,845,107 1901 89,806,453 1902(8 ( mos)64,116,811 ) Pounds 499,159,120 519,528,482 640,210,788 568,469,068 550,934,887 652,208,975 680,597,915 787,645,670 870,514,455 881,827,068 787,991,911 854,871,810 768,550,026 A CRUEL GIVE-AWAY. A Berlin newspaper declares that the Chicago people wore paste jewels on the occasion of Prince Henry's visit to that city. Germany appears to have it in for Chicago ou account of the meat question. Washington Post. | A CURE FOR THE TOBACCO HABIT. Mrs. M. Hall , 8194 Eleventh street , DCS Moines , la. . , has discovered a harmless remedy for the Tobacco Habit. Her husband was cured in ten days after using tobacco for over thirty years. All desire for its use gone. Can bo filled by any druggist. Mrs. Hall will gladly send pre scription free to anyone enclosing a stamped envelope. This signature is on every box of the genuine Laxative Brome = Quinine Tablets tbt remedy that cures a cold in one day
