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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 1899)
OMAHA SUNDAY BEE PAGES 11 TO 20. ESTABLISHED JUNE 19 , 1871. OMAHA , SUNDAY MORNING- , AUGUST KJ , 1899. SINGLE COIT IflVE CENTS. SHORT STORIES OF THE DAY How Bear Admiral Miller Missed tbo Op portunity that Gams to Dawey , WAITER'S ' JOKE ON GENERALT , H. STANTON Rrmnrknlilc Wnti-li Mr. Conncll TnlUn Aliont AiKoniolillcN Ilr. M'Ollll- cmltlr Tell * of IlcHcrtnl WolvcN In Onmliii. "Last year -while I was In San Francisco I had the pleasure of making the acquaint ance of near Admiral Miller , who went upon the retired list lost September , " said a well known Omaha man who recently re turned from the Pacific coant after an ex tended absence In that part of the country. To show you that man Is largely the vic tim of circumstances , I'll toll you Bomcthlng about Dcwoy and myself,1 Bald Rear Ad miral Miller to mo ono day. 'Had It not been for me Dowcy would not today have been the lioro of Manila. I had the cholco of stations. I could have gone to tha Asiatic station or to the Pacific station , with headquarters at San Francisco. This was long before any war was over dreamed of. I naturally , and somewhat selfishly , chose the Pacific station so that I could llvo In San Franctaco and enjoy llfo much moro than In the Asiatic station. That Is how Dewey came to bo In the Asiatic station at the tlmo the war win Spain hroko out. That Is how ho got the opportunity to make a name and page In history that will llvo for ever. I am not saying this In any spirit of envy. Dcwoy proved himself on.ua ! to the occasion. Hut I might have done the same thing. Dcwcy had the fighting machinery and the gunners and It was a sure thing that ho would wipe the Spanish fleet off the water. Dowcy has niado no mistaken. I might have made some mistakes , but with an experience of over iforty years In the navy I feel confident that I would have suc ceeded at Manila to the name extent that Dewey has. Now take the battle of San tiago do Cuba. Sampson by toeing away a tow miles lost the great opportunity of his life. Schley secured the page In history that Sampson should have- had , and would have had If ho had been on the sccno of ac tion In time. It was a foregone conclusion , r after the ibattlo of 'Manila ' , that the fleet of Corvcra would 'bo ' annihilated. Schley him eelf has admitted this. As to myself , I have but llttlo regret , If any , that I chose the Pa- clflc station and caused Dewey to foe sent to the Asiatic station , even If I did lose that glorious page In history , hut as to myself , I cannot help thinking of what might have Ibeon. ' " General Stanton tolls this story , giving to The Boo the exclusive right of publication. It needs no explanatory diagram : "Ono morning I got around to the Army and Navy club In Washington and found none of the distinguished members thcro. I felt a llttlo lonely and touching a bell I summoned a waiter. 'Havo any of the. old drunkards been hero this morning ? ' 1 asked. 'No , sah ; you'so dei fust one , ' he replied. 'A guest at the Mlllard hotel tbo other day accidentally dropped his watch on the floor. The crjstiil , the works an'd the case flow In different directions. That the watch would over keep time again was of course doubted by everyone who witnessed the accident. * bo owncr.jOt .the.jwatch.Jiorcover. did not , jB < tem'ttialoasl' disconcerted. He.'didn't oven Bwear. Coolly picking up the several parts of the shattered watch ho put them together with as much skill as a veteran watchmaker. Then looking at the hott-'i clock he sot the reconstructed timepiece and giving It a vig orous shako ho held It up to his ear and found It had resumed operations. "What tlmo Is It ? " asked a. 'bystander. " 7:15 : , " was the reply. "Well , that Is a remarkable watch , " said another. "Yes , It Is , and It has a rather Interesting history , " said the owner. "I have carried It three years. It Is a stemwlnder , built on the Wnterbury plan , and It cost me $2.50. It has mot wtlh three other accidents just like the one you just saw , and In each In stance I have put It together with the same result. I have never paid a cent for re pairs or cleaning. The nearest I came to U was In Denver three months ago. The watch for some reason ( stopped and all the ehaklng and knocking that I could give It ' -would not start It up again. I carried It 'X * ° a watchmaker , who took It apart to find out what the trublo was. Ho said he would 11 x It for $1.25. I thought that was too much and I concluded that the best thing to do was to buy a now watch. I told the watchmaker t at probably -would come In later and make a purchase. 'Meantime ho put the works together again , with the ex ception of a llttlo wheel , which bo seemed unable to place , or didn't want to for some reason or other. Ho handed me tbo little wheel In a piece of tissue paper , and I departed - parted with my watch. I had cone about two blocks when I mechanically took out my watch to see what tlmo it was. You see tbo second hand Is gone. It was lost In ono of the accidents. Well , I didn't see that watch going , hut I heard it. Sure enough it was running , nnd that , too , with a part of its Intestines the llttlo wheel gone. That watch has been keeping accurate time from that day up to the last accident a few minutes ago. After each accident It seems to Improve as a timekeeper. I never wear a watch chain and that explains why the watch has so often dropped from my pocket. A watch costing J150 would have been ruined at the flrst drop out of my pocket. That's the reason that I don't carry an expensive timepiece. Besides If I should Ito held up I wouldn't loco much , and the probability Is that the thief wouldn't steal this watch , any way. " City Attorney Connell , who has Just re turned from a vacation spent In various eastern cities , says that ono of the most _ . striking things to bo seen in the larger Mb cities of the country Is the remarkable advance - vance Into general uao the automobiles have made. "J'cople Jn the west , " said 'Mr. ' Connell , "do not realize that the automobile has passed the experimental stage , There Is not the least doubt that they are the v i- hides of the future and that they will simply revolutionize certain departments of city llfo. In New York the automobiles ro not only used In preference to the cabs and 'busru for the quick transportation of jiasienRcru , hut they are used by the largo retail stores for the delivery of their goods. It Is only a question of a. llttlo time when , the homo will bo almost entirely superseded as a motive power , "Tho advantages of the now vehicles over the horses are so great that they will be bought In preference to them wherever pos sible. It la simply wonderful to see with what case the automobile goes about in crowded streets , among the electric and cable caw , heavy wagons nnd men , women and children , They are under Absolute control nnd dodge about with Infinitely more facility than a horse could be guided. They run along beside the rapidly moving cable cars and when thu driver wants to get to tbo other side of the street he ruuu around In front of the car with the greatest of east ) . The automobile * 'have ' largo tires , which stem to go up and over all obstruc tions without any apparent Jarring or vibra tion and without any of the danger that thcro Is with the usual narrow carriage tires. Street car tracks do not bother them at all. It seems to mo that , taken altogether , there Is much Icee danger from the automobiles than from the ordinary horse. The automobile stays where It Is put. When It Is loft nlono the driver simply pulls out n llttlo connecting plug , which he carried with htm , and It Is 1m- posMble to start tbo thing. If any ono meddles with the starting lover no harm IB done. "And it is easy to learn to manage them. H docs not take a skilled mechanic. I have eccn many of them guided by women , and it takes no moro Intelligence or nerve to foam to run ono with ease than It does to learn to rldo a wheel. Just a llttlo practice to get used to the action of the lever and the brake. It Is all done with the hand and a foot. "On my way to Block Island I passed through Newport and stopped there two days. There in Newport , whcro the beauty and elaborateness of the turnouts of all kinds surpasses anything of the kind In the world , I found that the leaders of fashion were tak ing up the automobile and were disposing of some of their blooded horses to make room in tholr stables for the horseless carriage , of which they keep several of different dealgns. The automobiles they make now are not llko the flrst few that came out , which wor cumbersome In appearance and slow to turn , Rtart and stop. They are made to have Just as much beauty and grnco as any othot carriages , and the fashionable set are Just now taking to them Instead of carriages. "For a long while the automobiles were barred out of Central park by the New York park commissioners , but within the last week an experiment has been undertaken with a view to alfowlng the unrestricted us& of all kinds of horseless carriages In tht park. Permission has been given to a num ber of experienced operators to run the automobiles in the park , and If they are found to bo unobjectionable the restriction will bo removed. It has > bcon feared that they would frighten horses too much for the safety and pleasure of the chief patrons of the parks , but I am perfectly sure that they will not bo found to do so. Thcro IB no more about the automobiles to scare a horse than there Is nboupt bicycles or trolley cars. These frightened horses for a llttlo while , but the horses got used to them. The horses In the bublnoss streets of the city are getting ufrol tu ihu uuluiuoblfcs Just the same way. "Tho automobiles are going to work a revolution In the character of city streets , as well as country roads. Pavementa will have to bo kept In better repair and all road's In more passable shape. But on the other hand there will be far less necessity for sweeping the streets and their condition will neces sarily be better from a sanitary point of vlow. And , besides , tbcre will be tno absence of noise. The automobile docs not mnko any nolsn. " Mr. Connell has suggested Informally to several of the Omaha councllmen that the i au'omohlle question would soon bo an Im portant cne in municipal affairs and that when it came up the difficult problem of paving : ' .pairs would more than over demand eoluucn The west has many towno deserted wholly or In part by tholr once prosperous citizens. The famous boom times that sw < ; it over the whole country , and that are still vivid In the memory of even the younger generation , loft them like shipwrecks , high and dry en tip prairies , many of thorn with their hand- seine < lhotels nua substantial ofllco 'blocks far from any railroad to connect thorn with the world. Their description Is an oft-told tale to men who have traveled to any extent in the -western and Pacific states , and to few U it more familiar than 'to Dr. McGlIllcuddy , who knows more western localities by heart than almost any other man who could be mentioned. "There Is an old saying , " he said the other day , "that man proposes and God dis poses , but in the matter of making cities It almost seems as though the railroads had the disposing In their hands. It was the railroad that unmade Gray's Harbor , which Is only ono of the deserted towns oa the Washington coast. There are a number ol prosperous towns on the body of watel called Gray's Harbor , but the ono at tha entrance to It , and called by Its name , missed a connection with the railroad which touches the others. Itwas planned as the great outlet to the lumber region about the bay , and If It bad had the railroad and tha lumber movement had becn'started to it , it would have made a fine town. It was well built up and eastern capital came In In abundance. Now it la entirely deserted. "Virginia City , Nev. , is an example of another kind of deserted city. It la one of the many wining towns which have had to be abandoned when the mines failed. It Is the alto of the famous Comstock prop erties and the Consolidated Comstock com pany "took millions of dollars worth of tnotal out of the mines. There was whcro Mackay made his money and whore the famous Sutro tunnel Is. At the helcht of Its prosperity Virginia City had a , .popula tion of 40,000. Then the mines failed and the water came In to them , drowning out the work on the lower levels. They finally had to 'bo ' abandoned. Now the city has a population of 3,500 , mostly the families of mlncrfl who have moved to Butte and othar mining places and Bond home .money. . They leave their families behind 'because they own homes thcro and possibly hope to see the day when Virginia City will como to the front again. I do not think It over will. They are doing oome pumping now In the mines , hut It Is probably some stock- Jobbing scheme. There Is so much of that going on now that the people- down there haven't any confldcn e in the work , "I was there last September and stayed In the fine six-story hotel that was built when the city was prosperous. Only tbo two lower floors are occupied now , and I was the only arrival In two days. "Pierre , the capital of South Dakota , was a deserted town at ono tlmo. H was built without any regard for the necessities of a large city. People seem to have forgotten at that time that a city must have some thing to support U. At Plcrro there was no farming and no mining. All the land about was used for grazing , and It takes but a very few people to fill up a grazing country and large cities do not thrive in It , Long before the capital was located at Pierre the town was laid out on a largo scale. There Is a beautiful site for a town there ; old Fort Plorro on one side of the river and the town on the other. There Is a flat ground and a high table land adjoining. Nearly all the fine residences are built on the high ground , Large buildings were erected that wore not occupied for years , until tbo capital was located. Then there was a boom and money came In again. People beemed to think that the capital nlono would build up a great city , but it did not , Then portions of the town were abandoned again and are yet. The occupied portion of the city U solid and prosperous enough now , considering that there Is only the capital and a few ranchmen to support It. " There is another deserted town In North Dakota which was laid out and all built up In advance of the coming of a railroad. Brick business blocks were erected , side walks laid and telephone , poles put up and wires strung before there was any town at all. Suddenly the railroad changed Ita plans ' . and Us route , and the town , complete but for people , still stands as It was left. There are some of these towns In Ne braska , too. A part of northern Nebraska was settled on the assumption that It was farming land , which Is not at all the caso. The soil is rich and productive and under Irrigation easily yields fifty bushels of wheat to the ncrc , but there Is no water to irri gate with. There are places where miles of abandoned farms can be seen from a car window , left by their former owners and tenants for the holders of the mortgages to take , because there was nothing that could bo raised without water. Those farms will bo made grazing land again. An article on the presence of wolves in this portion of the state , published recently , In which the statement was made that the animals sometimes approached within twelve miles of Omaha and annoyed the farmers by destroying and carrying off property , was rather amusing to some Omaha people , who nro acquainted with the fact that there are a couolo of wolves living in the heart of the city and carrying-on their depredations wtthln a few squares of the city hall. The statement may sound prcnostcrous , but It is a true one. A little moro than three months ago two baby wolves were sent to a boy in Omaha to bo kept as pets. They do not seem to have liked the llfo that had been planned | for them , for after they bad been In the city a few weeks they suddenly disappeared from the sight of their owner. Ho supposed they had taken to the woods and expected never to see them again. But It was not city llfo they objected to , only the restric tions of a cage and regular meals provided In nn honest way , for they took up their abode under n barn at 2018 St. Mary's ave nue , belonging to Dr. Nason. Here they have tholr retreat , from which they Issue forth at hours when no one Is likely to see them , stealing whatever they can find good to cat. They have effectually ridded the neighborhood of a fine lot of chickens which it formerly boasted , and have carried off nn assortment or doormats and other things suit able to feather a nest with. They show themselves only Just before daylight or Just after and have eluded sev eral attempts to trap them. They .show so much cunning In detecting the schemes of men and boys that -probabilities are that they will never be taken alive. Mrs. Moore , wlfo of Lieutenant Mooore of the Twenty-third Infantry , now serving In the Philippines , describes In letters to rela tives In Omaha many amusing and InterestIng - Ing Incidents of the life among the Filipinos. She Is living at Cobu , a town practically sur rounded by the lines of the Insurgents. No active hostilities are In progress about Cebu , but several times the natives have become so threatening that non-combatants have been sent on board the cruiser Charleston or ono of the British ships there , for safety. Lieutenant Moore Is with the forces hunting the brigands up In the hills. There Is a Filipino hand In Cebu which plays entirely by ear. One of the Americans in the town whistled "Tho Star Spangled Banner , " "Yankee Doodle" and "Hot Time" for the band , and after one day's practice It played the tunes In public very satisfactorily. A few days later Mrs. Moore saw the band leading a funeral procession up the street , gravely Dlaylng "Hot Time. " The tune had pleased the natives so well that when they had a prominent Filipino to bury they had the band play It. "Tickets ! " shouted Conductor Weeks , as ho entered the forward chair car of the Burlington's fast flyer going east Friday morning. ; , . ' ' Th'ere was th'e usual'fumbling in pockets and divers out-of-the-way places for the little pasteboards entitling the holders to passage , when suddenly the startling re mark , apparently directed to the conductor , came from the rear end of the car : "Tickets go 'long you. lackey cad and groom the horse ! " This was too much for good-natured Con ductor Weeks. A moro Insulting expression had never been aimed at him during all his years of railroading experience. His brow knit ; passengers moved uneasily in their eeats and glanced furtively to the rear to eeo the ono who had dared to question ' the prerogratlvc of the conductor. Thcro was ginger In the air , but it soon turned into a merry laugh when the 'source of the trouble was discovered. An English gentle man , traveling from Australia to London , had as his traveling companion a pot parrot , which was suspended from the rear of the' chair car In a cage , and the bird was the cause of all the commotion. Intelligence of the ISlepImnt. Detroit Journal : "The elephant , " observed tbo mahout , "knows moro than some people. " The acrobat doubted It. "For Instance , " continued the mahout , looking Innocent , "an elephant would know better than try < o beat a hotel bill by nail ing his trunk to the floor to make It seem heavy. " Here the acrobat got red In the face and walked away , while the clown and the equestrienne laughed quietly. Pot and kettles ere easily cleaned with a Pennsylvania woman's patent utensil , .which has several cup-shaped dlsko united to a common base , with downwardly projecting flanges having crimped rims to form scrap , leg surfaces. BLAZED THE PATHS OF TRADE Uniqua -Uneqaalod Hecord of a Noted Builder of Railroads. LAID TRACKS IN THIRTEEN STATES Xcnrlr a SIllc for Uverr Working liny In Hln Cnrcor Itcinnrknlilc Fea ture * of Hln Active , KH- crtrctlc Jilfc. When David C. Shcpard of St. Paul retired from active llfo a half dozen years ngo at the ago of 66 ho had the satisfaction of knowlne that ho had built more miles of railroad than any other man , living or dead ; that ho had made the world's record for rapid track laying and that no other man had Increased the railroad mileage of so many states In this union as he. Mr. Shcp ardbegan railroad construction In 1853 and kept at It until the end of 1S93. Air. Shcpard's energies as a contractor have been exerted Jn thirteen states and in the queen's American dominions. On the basis that railroad building can be prosecuted not moro than 200 days each year , as a rule , because of the weather , Mr. Shcpard built railroads at an average rate of nearly a mlle a day throughout the whole of his forty nearly nil Ms adult lite has been lived In the west. But , llko many nnolher promi nent figure like nearly every ono of the west's great railroad creators ho Is a na tive of ono of the thirteen original states , Bast Ocneseo , N , Y. , being his birthplace. It was hardly ils flrst Intention to build railroads , or , in fact , to go into business " * for himself t all. Ho was educated at Mount Morris and Biockport , graduating from the col- loglato Institute at the latter place fifty- two years ago. His family was an Import ant ono In state politics and ho immediately got a Job as surveyor on the long since abandoned Qencsoo Va-llov canal. Ho b gan work In Wisconsin In 1856 , transferring his energies to Minnesota In 1857. The northwest wns then a vast wider- ness , virgin , trackless nnd peopled by savage redskins only In the main. Today It Is a great empire , ovcrsprlnklcd with cities nnd towns , supporting a diversified population of millions , nnd better supplied with trans portation facilities than any existing terri tory of similar extent and character outsde the United Slates of America. To the transformation of the northwest from n wilderness to n. civilized land his contribu tions have been extensive , aside from his railroad building. He was the flrst to point out the agricultural possibilities of the re gion and Minnesota's state records Include a report from his pen dealing with soil , climate , and the like , .written . soon after he settled In St. Paul , which now reads llko a prophecy. For years his occupations were active years. Had the rails ho put down been along a continuous line of single track road it would reach as far as from London to Calcutta In an air line and from there to Pekln. Within the last few years railroad systems approximating In mileage the total of Mr. Shepord's construction have 'been ' created by consolidation , but there Is no line In the world , either completed or In prospect , the terminals of which are separated by any such distance. Russia's great trans-Asian line , now being built . .betweenMoscow and Vladlvostock , comes , nearest , . but. Jflll > jo about 1,000 miles less enough to build ia single track line from New York to Chicago cage even should the longer , more northerly line .be . chosen. Shcpard's railroad construc tion has 'been sufficient to complete the entire - tire trans-Asian line , the longest In the world , all sidings and spurs Included , na matter what 'route may 'bo ' chosen , with track enough to spare for a double track line between Boston and New York. Here is a table showing the total number of mllea ho laid down and the states he and Frounces operated In : Miles. Ohio -10 Indiana Illinois 217 Iowa SG9 Missouri 61 Nebraska 43 Wisconsin 230 Minnesota 1,45 : ! South Dakota. 950 North Dakota 3S1 , Montana SOS j ! Idaho SO Washington 725 Canada ( Northwest territory and Mani toba ) U25 Total 7,028 It should bo understood clearly In con sidering this record that the total refers only to miles of road actually built by Mr. Shepard as contractor , and docs not In clude the stretches of road with which ho was connected as ourveyor or engineer erIn In any other capacity. Were the figures representing his work as an engineer added the total would bo well over 8,000 miles. But the total as It stands Is quite impressive enough. With tbo era of extensive steam railroad building practically closed there Is little probablllty-ihardly a possibility that his record will ever be approximated even. DeKltiiiliiB of the Iteoonl. Mr. Shepard la genoraUly considered a typical westerner , and properly so , for his energies have been mainly expended and diversified. He laid out eomo railroads and "built others. Ho engaged In mercantile pursuits. He was the main spirit of the early operation of the 'Minnesota ' Central , now a part of the Chicago , ( Milwaukee & St. Paul system , and the brief and simple time tables under which Its few trains were run In the early ' 60s are still carefully pre served In the Shepard archives. It was not till 1887 that ho forsook everything for rail road construction , renouncing therefor the , prospective presidency of a highly Important j j line connecting Chicago and St. Paul. .Building railroads was- his chief pccupa- ' .tfo'ri from 1870 till 1800 , however 'and from that time till hjs retirement , twenty-four years later , ho laid down on an average of almost a mlle and a half a working day. I I He made a record of 675 miles In the fifteen I months following May 1 , 1882 , but was destined to do much better later. ( iettliiif Down , to llnitliiesn. It was James J. Hill who Induced Shepard to make railroad buli'dlng his sole occupation for the remainder of his days. Hill had al ready done a good deal toward expanding his St. Paul & Pacific line Into the present Great Northern system , and was ready to push operations with greater vigor than ever. 'Hitherto ' his construction work had been In the hands of a number of con tractors , Shepard and his firm being among them. From that time on Hill wanted all his railroad building to be done by one firm. He wanted to build railroads faster than they had ever been built before , yet he wanted them built economically and thoroughly. Ho know that his requirements coufd be met only by a railroad builder who had unusual executive ability and courage , who was progressive enough to make use of all the latest railroad 'building ' devices and had sufficient Ingenuity to Invent still newer devices should occasion demand thorn. Hill selected Shcpard as the man he wanted , and after eome hesitation , Shepard's firm took the Job. From April 2 , 1887 , to January 6 , 1893 , when the last spike of the Great North ern line was driven at a point deep down In the Skyomlsh valley , thirteen miles west of the Stevens Pass summit , In the state of Washington , Shepard's firm built an the Great Northern extensions. No other similar period of railroad build ing has equaled In achievement that brief stretch of lees than six years. In the winter of 1886-7 the system , then known as the St. Paul , Minneapolis & Manitoba railroad , bad practically reached Mlnot , 530 miles from St. Paul , At the beginning of 1S93 the cystcm was completed to Puget Sound , a total distance of 1,663 miles , or moro than three mites a day as an average. Had Shcpard's entire period of railroad building been done at that rate , ho woufd have built between 22,000 and 23,000 miles In all , or nearly enough to girdle the globe. Through It all Mr. Shcpard's was the guiding spirit. Llko ft military Invader , bo planned each year's campaign In advance and kept himself In clcso touch with hla forces. They were almost ns numerous na nn Invading army would be. It would make this article read too much llko an extract from a statistical work to go into complete details , but some Idea of the magnitude of Shepard's operations may bo briefly glvon by the statement that on the average In 1887 , 8,000 men and 3,300 toomt (6.COO ( horsce ) were employed on the grad ing , .while . 650 men and 225 teams were cm- ployed laylog track , surfacing ( ballasting ) , piling and doing the timber work , The total average force directly employed upon the work then was 8,650 men and 7,450 horses , but the entire number of persons de riving support from the work was much larger. All hands had to bo fed and careJ for and this occupied the energies of a largo number ; besides thcro was a .big con tingent of "camp followers , " ns there al ways Is when such an enterprise Is being pushed forward. Star Aclilrvriuciifii. In some respects 1887 was Shepard's star year. The work went on from April 2 to weekly Sunday reels , nnd In that time 6 < 3 miles of track were built , laid and finished , the average progress "being three and ouo- fourth miles a day. The biggest day's work at tracklaylng wns August S , when eight miles and 60 feet were laid. July 1C was tbo next biggest day's work , the dis tance being seven miles and 1,040 foot. The work on both days waa done by the regular tracklayers between ilnyllght and dark. No extra men were put on , because there was no room for thorn nnd nil the rails were fed to the men who actually laid them "from ono end. " Bearing this In mind , ( Mr. Shepard's forces must bo ac corded the world's record for a single day's tracklaylug , as ho must bo ac corded the record for railroad 'building. ' The day's record has been claimed for the forces of tbo Union Pacific , working years before , but not quite fairly , since on the day of their greatest traekluylng the rails were hauled ahwad of the rallmcn nnd dumped alongside the track. They had only to put the rails In place and splko them , down , whereas Shopard's men were not so helped , having facilities for the rapid hand ling of the Iron that were not Invented In the days of the Union Pacific' * * construction. In that season's work the employes of Shep ard's firm handled 9,700,000 cubic yards of earth , 15,000 cubic yards of loose rock and 17.DOO yards of solid rock , while tl.000,000 feet of timber , board measure , and 390,000 lineal feet of piling were hauled ahead of the tracklaylng. In a. certain seven months later than 1887 about 900 miles of track were laid , but the force of men was then larger by moro than 1,000 , while 5,000 teams were em ployed. The feeding of these largo forces of men and anlmni's was no insignificant task , and any number of figures relative to this feature of the work that would Interest the statis tician might be dug oUt. The statement that the horses employed the flrst year of the work consumed 690,000 bushels of oats Is a sufficient sample. To accommodate the men with lodging and food Shepard had a lot of two and three-stpry " .boarding cars' ' built. They were ' _ odd-looklng ' ? , . ' hlsii and so'narrow that they had to bo fitted with guy ropes to prevent being upset when ever the wind blew hard , and the life within and about them , tinged as It was with the flavor of the frontier and Influenced by the frequent presence of tbo northwestern In dians , would undoubtedly have furnished a Kipling or a Harte with abundant materials for literature of the raciest , most charac teristic sort. The reminiscences of Shepard himself , could they bo col feet ed In the snappy , epigrammatic form ho tells them , would bo a contribution to the world's stock of good stories. " ( , HKLIGIOUS XOTI3S. There are 1,298 moro scholars on the rolls of the Sunday schools of Ireland than last year. Bishop Torreglannl , head of the Roman Catholic diocese of Arrnldale , Australia , weighs 365 pounds. Rev. Dr. Cuyler maintains that "the ser mon that no sceptic can answer Is the ser mon of a clear , vigorous , happy and fruit " ful life. Mr. Richard Bagot , an Engflsh Roman Catholic , elates publicly that Roman Ca tholicism Is losing ground In that country and that it will never be converted to papacy. The total Issues of the American Blblo Society for the last year at homo nnd abroad amounted to 1,380,892. The whole number Issued during eighty-three years amounted to 65,962,605. In October of this year a Presbyterian historical monument will bo unvelfed In Monmouth county , Now Jersey. It will bo In commemoration of the first recorded ordination by a Presbytery in the United States. This was on December 29 , 1706. Rev. James Calvert recently enld that when ho flrst arrived at the FIJI group of Islands , his first duty was to bury the hands , feet , arms and heads of eighty victims who bad been roasted alive at a cannibal feast. Ho gald he lived to see those very cannlhain gathered about the Lord's table at a com munion service. The Bible conference which Dwlght L. Moody conducts at NorthfieFd , Mass. , is hav ing a very1 successful season. Mr. Moody continues to be the soul of the exercises at which he Is present and ho speaks with more Impresslvcnrss and effect perhaps than at any time in his career. Prof. Lapponl , medical attendant of the pope , Bays that he cannot remember the time when his august patient was so well. On learning of the death of Cardinal ilcrtel , dean by age of the sacred college , the rcpo exclaimed : "Shall I only remain tlic rust survivor of the cardinals created by ' 'Jus IX ? " In fact , only tbreo besides I eo XIII are now left. The American Bible Society has pub lished Us eighty-third annual report , from which It appears that In its last year , piul- Ing Juno 30 , thcro were 1,380,892 copies of the Christian scriptures Issued , 780,943 from the "bible house In New York City and the rest In other countries ; but of the Btblu house Issues 119,673 copies were sent abroad. Chaplains In the navy wore given 1,250 and 71,360 were given to the army commission of the Young Men's Christian association for the soldiers and sailors in tbo war with Spain. Christian Scientists have made a notabFe convert in the person of Dr. A. L. Hunt of Kansas City , Mo. , who , after practicing his profession for fourteen years and winning unusual success , has abandoned drugs to become a healer through moro spiritual means. Dr. Hunt has been a particularly dili gent student of medicine , having taken five post-graduate courses , In addition to the prescribed curriculum of the University Medical College of Kansas City. Ho says bis conversion was brought about by wit nessing the cure by Christian Science hcnl- ors of patlonts whom ho had treated In vain , Regarding the withdrawal of Father Aloyslus A. Lambert of Chicago from the Society of Jesus , It Is explained that he was not a "professed" Jesuit , never buvlng taken the final vows of the order. Though con. nocted with it for forty years , he had never passed beyond the degree of a helper and it did not require the order tit the pope to re lease him from his obligation. He could be , and was , releabed by the general of the ( society. He continues a priest as before , but is uo longer a Jesuit , SEARCHING A LAKE BOTTOM How a Diver Delves Among Woods and Mud for a Body. SOME REMARKABLE WORK AT CUTOFF LAKE Crounil ThnrottKhly Oottc Orpr Ac- to n SjMcm mill It ? M of Tolriilionto Direction * Iruni the Hunt. The rccoverr of the body of young Hal- brook from tho'wortly bottom of Cut Oft Uko by Caatoln Louis Sorcho the other day was the flrst tlmo any practical diving iwork by n diver In ( nil dress and equipment had bcou done In Omaha , and urobably In Nebraska. Few DcoBlo are acquainted with the actual methods used by a dlvor under wiitor anil few realize how methodical the work must bo to obtain any results. The 'body wns found nt Girt Oft lake In fourteen minutes. Success was due partly to tbo care with which plans were laid be fore going to tbo surface , but mostly to the ( act that n telephone Is a part of hla equipment. By means of the tclephoua assistants In the boat above were able to direct the searcher , his location bclne bo- traved to them bv the bubbles of waste air from the escape valve of his helmet. The captain had visited the spot whore tha body was supposed to have gone down and had prodded about for It with a polo. Ha was certain ho touched the body several times , but as thcro wns no way to get It up ho said nothing at the time , but loft his polo sticking close to whcro ho had touched th body. This was In fourteen feet of water. The next day ho returned iwlth his diving suit , air-pump , telephone and other equip ment. Generally ho uses a short ladder In going over the side of the boat In shallow water , ono which docs not rest on the bottom tom , In this case the end of the ladder touched the captain nt the chest when ho stood on the bottom , making him qulto a lift when ho wanted to ascend. Starting with the polo ns the center of a circular area of about twenty-five feet In diameter , Captain Sorcho began going over this ground by walking from the center to a point on the circumference , returning to the center and going out again on a radius of the circle not far away. In this way a diver covers every foot of the territory ho has laid out and cannot nilss anything of any size. Cap tain Soroho had a hard Job of It hero on account of the thick tangled weeds on the bottom that Impeded his progress. Thera was the greatest danger that ho would bc- como tangled up in them nnd that the men unable to .pull him out. This task would have been a much greater undertaking had It not been for the telephone , by which ho was guided from above and prevented from going ostray or covering the same ground twice. The captain says that without tho. telephone a diver's work Is practically grop-f Ing about In the dark. IMekinR lip the IJodj- . When about half otf the circular territory ! within a radius of twenty-flvo feet of the ] pole had been covered , Captain Sorcho dis covered the .body ho was looking for , rest ing on the bottom of the lake. The thick weeds end the soml-darkncss prevented him , from seeing It until he came directly upon It. Having found It , he stopped and de bated what lo..pjjouldjilo get it to the surface. Ho thought of telephoning for a rope , but decided that ho could take the body , up better In hla arms. So he sig nalled to 'be ' hauled up to ithe lowest round of ( the ladder. But even with the assistance of the line he ( had the greatest difficulty In getting on the ladder with the body In. his arms. Ho could use .but ouo hand In hauling himself up. Finally bo got hla knes CQ It , and then his feet. The men above saw that he had the body when ho was still atraut three feet from the surface , and through the telephone ho ( heard their shout. Both ho and the body were covered with a mass of weeds , which , as soon as they were out of the water became a heavy weight. The captain was very much pleased with the success with which hla calculations bad worked out. The 'body ' was found within , forty-five feet of the 'boat. Ho had poor Information upon which to begin the work , as different men disagreed widely as to where the body had gone down. The muddy bottom made It a disagreeable Job , but It wan not the mud that ho minded so much as the for more dangerous weeds. SOMK LAT1S INViflNTiONS. Vegetables can bo rapidly sliced or mashed by a newly designed cutter , having a hopper resting over a sot of knives carried by a base , with a lover mounted on ono 'Mo of the base to depress a plunger In the hopper and force the vegetables between the cuttors. In a newly patented system of gearing for chalnlcsH bicycles the crank shaft carried a plain gear wheel , which drives a smalTer ( wheel , carried by a shaft below the crank hanger , a pair of short cranks being mounted on the second shaft to drlvo rods connecting with cranks on the rear bub. For use in cold weather when the hands get numb a now driving mitten has a metal bar pivoted In the palm , with a slotted guide covering the loose end of the bar to draw the fingers , causing It to grip the rein with a cam , action nnd allow the fingers to relax their hold. An Improved movable stairway has been patented , which allows people to descend as well as ascend on the same flight , an end less chain of strips being placed on guides running up an Inclined plane , with a loop nt either end around which the strips pass In t > vertical position , falling horizontally as they reach the plane. ApliiirlNiiiH. Conduct Is three-fourths of life. Matthew Arnold. The truest wisdom Is a resolute determina tion. NapoFeon. The cheerful llvo longest. In years and afterward In our regards. Hovco. Things don't turn up in this world until somebody turns them up. Garflold. Life It ) not so short but that there Is al ways time enough for courtosy. Emerson , Fine soiiEo and exalted sense are not half so useful as common ncnso , Horace Qreoley. Whilst wo are considering when wo are to begin , It Is often too late to act. Qulntlllan. Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep In the aun- llgbt. Franklin , There la no policy llko polltenoss , Hlnco a good manner often succeeds where the best tongue has failed. Magoon , God never gives but onu moment nt a time , and docs not give a second until ha withdrawn the first. Fenclon. It.is the vain endeavor to muko ourselves what wo are not Unit has strawn history with eo many broken purposes and lived left In the rough. Lowell. I never listen to calumnies , because 1C they are untrue I run tbo risk of being de ceived , and If they are true , of bating people not worth thinking about. Montesquieu. htilulilo itt n lliinlc Teller. MIDDLI5TOWN , Conn. , Aug. 12. Leonidas Darlington , teller of the Citizens' National bank , waa found dead beside his drsk In tbo ( bank this mornlnc , A revolver was lying on the floor. There was no. evidence of an attempt at robbery , and It was plain that ho had committed suicide. Darlington's ac counts with the bank are straight. Despond ency over poor health , It iu presumed , ltd to the suicide.
