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THE GREAT BLIZZARD OF 73.
BY HAMLIN GARLAND.
« (Copyright.) ' ■
Tn the accounts of the storms last win
ter frequent mention was made of the
“great blizzard of '73,” and some short
descriptions given in the papers carried
me back into the very heart of that
frightful tempest and caused me to re-
Kjive. in the most vivid manner, the whole
of the three days’ experience. I have
been in many similar storms of snow but
never in any which had the same sus
tained, Inexorable fury.
As a matter of fact, a blizzard on the
prairie corresponds to a tempest on the
sea, which never effects the sailor twice
exactly alike. Each norther seems to
have a character of its own; one may be
short, sharp, high-keyed and spiteful;
another slow, steady, relentless, wearing
out the prisoned people by day and after
day of storm seige, while another would be
simply appalling with the suddenness and
infinite weight of its snow and the inten
sity of its cold.
_ Then again each storm has its special
mode of attack. One threatening, mutter
ing and lowering for days, while another,
like “The Great Blizzard,” leaps like a
stalking tiger on the traveler. It is this
storm ■ which is so destructive to life.
Coming almost instantly out of a clear
sky, it finds the traveler far from home,
the children at school and the husband
man unprepared for the assault. Such
was the character of the blizzard in B eb
ruary, 1873.
All day on that memorable date the
neighbors in their sleighs streamed by the
flchool-house where we youngsters sat lis
tening “wistfully to the music of the
bells.” Everyone was tempted out by the
brilliant sunshine and the. warm south
wind. Farmers went by with wood-racks,
bound for the timber which grew along the
river several miles below. Others jingled
past in light sleighs, with their wives
seated beside them, on the way to the
stores in the neighboring town.
All day. until half-past three, the sun
shone warm and the eaves dripped merri
ly. The windows to the south were open
afid the children played without mittens.
But about a quarter to four the scholars
on the north side of the room looking out
saw a wide, seamless, gigantic dome of
slaty-blue cloud rising, swift, ominous
and noiseless, sweeping on to the south
like the shadow of night. At its upper
edges there was a beautiful fringe of sil
ver-white vapor which was in motion,
wavering to and shimmering like
frost. But the mass of the cloud had a
dense sinister look.
At 4 o'clock the sun was still shining,
but the edge of the cloud h ad crept or
• more properly, shot across the sun s disc
and its lights was growing pale and_cold.
In a few minutes more the wind from the
Esouth ceased—there was a moment of
breathless pause-and then borne fl. pow
erful north wind, the streaming clouds
swept upon us. Barge flakes of snow,
damp and wide-winged, drove In a level
line Into the face of the traveler "ticking
to the clothing and cheek and melting r p
Idly. It was not yet cold enough tofreez ,
but the thermometer must have been rap
idly rising. We dashed home merry with
the beautiful snow.
By the time we had reached home, a
hnlf mile Hwsty. th** wind was a tne
snow a vast blinding cloud through
the air with a peculiar faim whWering
murmur, eddying and scurrying th fan
tastic and beautiful lines as the wind
sported with it. Darkne** al-
most Instantly and the wind constantly
increased in power. We now felt its se
riousness and hurried to finish the chores.
When the returned about <> o ciock»
the familiar facet, of the horse* were lost
|n their thick coating of ice and snow.
Icicles of frozen foam hung from their
lins their manes and tails were a clumsy
mass of half-melted snow. The load of
wood was a mountain of stainless snow
pillars, and father in his great coal looked
like a polar bear. We thought it could
not last, coming from that quarter.
As we were rubbing the ice from the fet
locks of the tired horses, the men pre
dictd that we were in for an all-nigh
storm. The hired man said he never seen
it snow so fast but once before. We
youngsters enjoyed the "Langeness of it
all the impenetrableness of the cloud ot
snow, the dancing light of the lanterns
the whirl of the flakes it) the red light
which streamed from the barn door, and
the brisk, excited talk of the men.
Teams went by with the wood, the
zhoutlng drivers sitting on the leeward
side of their load, leaving the horses to
find the road. Just as we were about
starting for the house a team drove into
tha yard containing three persons.
“IB this John Bartie s?” called a voice
through the darkness.
“No; it’s Robert Graham s. but you re
just as welcome. You’re Anson Bond, I
take it?" _
“Yes; what do you think of this? Can
we ever cross Wind Prairie?”
“1 should say not. You just get out
and stay all night. They ain't a man liv
ing can find his way across that stretch
o' prairie such a night as this. Drive
your sleigh to the door and put your wo
man in the house and then come back
and put up your team.”
They were neighboia who had settled
further on to the north, and across a
stretch of prlarie to cross which in such
a storm would be almost certain death.
They wisely took father's advice and
soon we closed the barn and went to the
house to eat a hot supper, over which the
men told stories of storms (the word
"blizzard” was not common then) to
which we boys listened with consuming in
terest. During the remainder of the eve
ning we joked and sang and played
games, our merriment Intensified by the
commotion outside.
But when we went to bed at 10 o’clock,
1 for one trembled with awe. I had a pre
monition that this was to be something
unparalleled. It appeared to the as one
of those frightful disturbances in the or
derliness of nature which make man
to feel himself the insect he really is.
It did not shape itself into these words,
but an awed alienee camo upon me. The
cold began to make itself felt, and the
wind's voice begun to send a thrill of
terror to the listener’s heart. Striking
as it did through our little house, freez
ing our food within a few feet of the
stove.
1 thought the wind at that hour had
attained its utmost fury, but when I
awoke in the feeble light the next morn
ing I realized how mistaken I had been. I
No words of mine can describe the steady,
solemn, implacable roai of that storm.
Imagine all the roarings of the lions of
Africa, the hissing of a wilderness of
serpents, the lashings of great trees and
sgthe wails of a hundred women, all com
mingled i> on« ceaseless, unfaltering,
rushing, diffusive, ail-surrounding roar
.iad you may raise half way to the real
ity of that voice. It benumbed the brain;
st appalled the heart us no other force
I had ever met tould have done. The
►ia ttaelf tn its mightiest moments
could not be more absolutely horrifying.
The hfuiise. shook and snapped; the
snow beat in muffled rhythmic pulsations
THE WEEKLY NEWS (TWO-TIMES-A-WEEK): THURSDAY. JANUARY 10. 1895.
against the w-alls, or swirled and lashed
upon the roof, like the snarl of the ocean
on a gravelly beach, while the hurling
streams of snow gave rise to a strange
multitudinous, anomalous sounds, now
dim and far, now near and all-surround
ing, producing an effect of mystery and
infinite reach as though the house were
a helpless ship tossing on a limitless
angry sea.
Looking out there was nothing to be
seen save the lashing of the wind and
snow. When we attempted to face it and
go to the rescue of the poor cattle, we
found that the character of the storm
had completely changed. It was no longer
snowing but the air was filled with an
impenetrable cloud of flying snow, fine
as powder and mixed with the dirt caught
up from the plowed fields by the re
lentless blast which had now attained the
inconceivable velocity of ninety miles an
hour. It was impossible to see twenty feet
save at long intervals—indeed one could
not see at all facing the storm; the eyes
would have been destroyed. As we stepped
out into the wind the face was coated
with ice and dirt as if by a dash of mud,
a mask which blinded the eyes and froze
the cheek in a few seconds.
Such was -the force of the wind that a
strong man could not breathe with his
mouth unprotected. .The. mouth being
once open the breath seemed swept away
and the power of the lungs to inhale lost.
That day we mainly spent in keeping
warm and feeding the stock in the barn,
which we reached by desperate dashes
during some momentary relenting in the
tempest. We attempted to watef the horses
and cows, but the wind blew the water
from the pail and froze it instantly on
everything it touched. In the house it be
came more and more difficult to put a
cheerful construction upon the outlook,
notwithstanding we had fuel in abundance.
Oh, that terrible day! Hour after hour
we listened to that prodigious appalling,
ferocious wind. All day we moved restless
ly to and fro asking each other “will it
ever end?” We had the same sensations
Which the sailor has when the roused
ocean seems too vast and too ungovern
able to ever again be spoken into quiet
even by the creator himself. It did not
seem to me that God could control that
storm, for my imagination could not con
ceive of a power greater than this war of
wind and snow.
On the third day we arose with weariness
and looked into each others faces with a
sort of horrified surprise. Not the in
vincible heart of father nor the cheery
good nature of our guests could keep a
gloomy silence from settling down upon
us. Conversation was scanty, and I do
not remember that any one laughed dur
ing the whole of the day, as we listened
anxiously to the wind tearing at the shin
gles, beating at the door and shrieking
around the eaves.
The frost upon the windows thickened
and the room was dusk at mid-day. It
grew dark at three o’clock and the lamps
were lighted. The women sat with awed
faces and wide open musing eyes, full of
unshed tears, their sympathy going out
to the poor travellers on the wild prarie
or floundering in the deep drifts of the
gullies.
That night, so disturbed had we be
come, we lay awake until nearly mid
night listening, praying that the storm
might cease, waiting for some sign to
tell that the wind had reached its height.
Shortly aft«r midnight I noticed that
the roar was no longer so relentless,
steady and high-keyed. There were mo
ments of lull, a distinct easing away, and
though it returned to its attack almost im
mediately, its fury wan plainly becoming
spasmodic. I heard an exultant voice
from below cry out. “The storm is over!”
and then everybody sang into deep sleep
from sheer relief.
It is imposible to express the joy with
witch we melted the ice from the win
dows the next morning and looked out
on the familiar landscape, peaceful, daz
zling under the briliant. sun and sky.
We greeted it with a sort of frenzy as if we
had given It up for lost. The wide plain
ridged with drifts and the far blue live
of timber looked familiar but desolate.
•The neighboring cottages sen|i up a
cheerful column of smoke as if to tell
us the people were alive, that the sounds
of the wind seemed with us still, so long
and so continued had It howled in our
ears that even in a perfect calm the im
agination was constrained to-supply its
loss with fainter fancied roaring.
As long as I live I shall never forget
those days, and the sound of that wind
will never leave me. What It must have
been on the open plain was awful to think
of. Those prartes so bright and beau
tiful in the summer that you seem adrift
on a flowery sea, under skies of perpetual
blue—those wide wastes when the North
er was abroad in his wrath, were as
pitiless and destructive as the Northern
ocean. Nothing lived there unhoused
all was at the mercy of the north wind,
whom only the great Lord Sun could
tame.
RmiESWESAjfSCORPIOSS.
A Good Place to Find Both Was in the
Beaver River Region in Utah.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
“Many years ago, while stationed at a
post on the Beaver river In Utah,’ said an
army officer the other day, "I had an ex
perience with rattlesnakes and scorpions,
two things dreaded so mpch by man, that
was zo thrilling that It will be difficult to
make people accept it as true. Yet It is
true, and as I look back upon the incl- 1
dents of those few weeks in camp I can
not understand how either my men or my
self had the courage to remain In the
place. Within two miles of the post was a
mountain over which it was neccessary
to have a road built. In order to facilitate
travel between our own post and a town
some miles distant. When such work was
required I was always given charge of it.
"So, I received orders to command a de
tachment of sixty men who were detailed 1
to build this road along the mountain 1
side. We had heard many wild stories i
about the deadly scorpions and rattle- I
snakes that Infested the region in which i
we were to work, but had put them down
as exaggerated 'snake stories.' But when
we arrived on the scene we found that the
tallest snake story was out-done by the
facts. We found that the entire mountain
side seemed to be one large rattlesnake
nest, and for variety thousands of scor
pions were thrown in. We selected the
position for our camp in the most de- !
sirable situation and hoped that the pres- ;
ence of so many men and horses would 1
soon drive the deadly things into the wilds I
of the mountains. But they did not seem '
to be disturbed by our presence, and made 1
nightly visits to us. Were we afraid? ■
Well, there was some fear amc ’ the
men, especially after three of thv tes
had died from the effect-- of bites
‘Bui after this Incident was erasej from
their memories they took things as a mat
ter bf course, went about their work kill
ing any scorpion or rattlesnake that j
might make its appearance, but otherwise *
not being much put out by their presence. ;
I experienced the greatest fear at night.
My sleep was interrupted at regular in
tervals by strange sounds, the cause of
which I readily discovered. The canvas
of my tent seemed to amplify sound, so
that the scorpions crawling upon the walls
of my tent made a noise which, if not
loud, was startling enough to wake me.
I always slept with a lighted candle and
an army fork on the table by the side of
my bunk. You will agree with me that
the only scorpion in my tent not to be
feared was a dead scorpion. I found that
the easiest way to kill them was to jab
them with a fork, then toast them over
the candle flame. The least number of
times I was awakened during my detail
there by crawling scorpions was four or
five times during the night, I became an
expert at killing scorpions, and as I al
ways fastened the victim to the wall of
my tent with a pin, I soon had it very
uniquely decorated.
“Rattlesnakes were just as plentiful
as scorpions. To find two or three sport
ing about your tent at night was no amuse
ment, as you may judge. I had one man
in my company by the name of Cassidy.
He was a devil-may-care sort of a fel
low, feared nothing, and was never happy
out of adventure. He amused himself
about camp by catching rattlesnakes in
a elever manner back of the head, then
extracting their fangs and letting them
go.
“A professor of an eastern college vis
ited the camp, and hearing of rattlesnakes
being so numerous, he asked me if I
could not get one of my men to get him
two or three young ones, as he wanted to
use them for some scientific purpose.
I knew of no one better fitted for the
work than Cassidy, and, as he seemed to
take a delight in it, I told him to find three
young snakes for the professor, who was
stopping at the post. I thought nothing
more qf the matter. Several nights after
this I was lying in my bunk sleeping
when I was suddenly aroused from my
dreams by an unearthly rattle and some
thing heavy being thrown upon me. I
opened my eyes to find three rattlesnakes
making all sorts of evolutions over my
blanket and saw the flaps fall as a voice
said: ‘Here, captain, are your snakes.’
I didn’t wait to take an extra snooze,
but, jumping out of bedd, made after the
fallow, who was Cassidy, and if I had
caught him I am sure he would have
nursed some broken bones or bruises. But
he escaped, and, after thinking over the
incident,' my anger left me. I knew Cas
sidy thought no more of a rattlesnake
than I did of an angleworm. He had
taken the fangs from those he had thrown
upon my bunk when he captured them,
and, without thinking of the fright he
would cause, had pitched them into me,
in what was to him a perfectly natural
manner. He came around in the morning
to explain and apologize, but it was
weeks before' my nerves regained their
repose.”
IT WAS A GREEN MOON.
Indianians See Strange Things and Pro
ceed to Investigate.
From the New York Times.
Greensburg, Ind., Dec. 26.—For some
time past a large green moon has been
visible to the citizens of Greensburg. It
can be. seen between the hours of 10 and
12 at night, and is the cause of no little
excitement. It brings back to the mem
ory of the citizens a huge green moon
several years ago similar in appearance,
which could be seen about midnight bing
ing, apparently, over the Johnson saw
mill in the south part of the city. The
strange phenomenon kept dangling back
and forth high in the sky, and seemed to
be anchored to the mill shed by a large
illuminated rope. It was a horror to all
who saw it, and none dared to go near it.
Finally two boys, John Thompson and
Willie Turner, who were known for their
daring, decided to investigate the matter.
They went together, climbed upon the
shed and at the same time they both laid
hold of the rope. They fell directly, as if
paralyzed., and were found on the roof un
conscious the next morning. When they
gained consciousness it was discovered
that the hair on the right side of Tur
ner's head, which was naturally black,
had turned green, and that on the left side
of Thompson’s head had turned fiery red,
was hot, and sparks would fly from it when
touched. Every twelve hours the color of
the hair would change, being vice versa—
first Turner’s red, Thompson's green, then
Thompson’s red and Turner’s green. The
boys became a wonder to everybody.
Scientists from Indianapolis, Cincinnati,
and several other largs cities came here
and examined the boys and pronounced
the strange occurrence as phenomenal and
something which had never occurred be
fore.
But one night an angel of light ap
peared unto the boys and bade them to
again go to the mill shed and touch the
rope. They both arose from their beds,
and at the same time, in their sleep, went
to the mill, climbed the shed together,
and at exactly the same time they both
took hold of the rope. They instantly
awoke and felt very curious and foolish
at finding where they were. Upon touch
ing the rope their hair immediately
changed to its natural color and they
went home sound in both mind and body.
THE COINING OF WORDS.
Lexicons Owe a Debt to the Mistakes of
Children.
From the Spectator.
Children often use long words without
understanding their meaning, and some
times coin words of their own. The
small son of a friend of mine, a London
boy, was recently staying at the seaside,
and was taken by his father for a country
walk. He was soon busy picking flowers,
and ran to the father with one, exclaim
ing: “How passionately smellful It Is!”
“Passionately” was a misapplication,
and was used without a proper sense of
I its meaning, but "smellful” was an excel
! lent hit. worthy of being recorded. I
have never met with it before, and I
cannot find it in any dictionary. It is,
however, quite as good a word as “help
ful,” “painful,” “hurtful,” and other an
alogous compounds, and it expresses
tersely a. quality that can only be ex
plained in ordinary language by using at
least three words, “full of smell.’’
The Negro and Life Insurance.
From the New York Times.
I One of <he odd street incidents of >
I Christmas day was a healthy-looking ne
gro complaining to a crowd from the '
steps of the new criminal court building
that he could not get his life insured in |
this city. No one seemed to understand
exactly what he was talking about, but it
was assumed that he had a grievance, and !
he found lots of sympathy. He attributed
his rejection to race prejudice. Without
knowing anything about the circum
stances in this case, a prominent officer
in an insurance company said that it was
probably nothing of the kind. Almost all
' life insurance companies have rules de
i barring negroes and Chinamen. The lat
| ter are never accepted, because nine-
I tenths of them smoke opium. Negroes
| are usually rejected because they cannot
j answer necessary questions about their
I parents. A healthy negro who can satis
i factorlly answer ail the questions in his
application papers, stands just as good a |
' chance of insurance as a healthy white >
man.
Col. Strong, mayor-elect of New Y'ork,
! amused the Brooklynites the other even
ing by telling them that he had gone over
to sleep in Brooklyn once, about forty
five years ago, but the chickens made so
much noise he couldn't gel his much cov
eted rest.
THE GOSSIP OF COTHAM.
One Possible Origin of Mrs. Astor’s
Fatal Illness.
— r —
Lord Bandy’s Big Jag—Why One Mem
ber of the Union Olub Spanked An
other—The Eulalie Will Visit Us
Again.
(Copyright.)
It has been conjectured that Mr. Will
iam Waldorf Astor would return to New
York and make that city his permanent
residence hereafter in view of the fact
of “his wife’s death. This is, however, an
erroneous impression, because Mr. As
tor’s interests render it out of the ques
tion for him to abandon London. Mrs.
Astor herself was long anxious to make
a foreign tour that should include pretty
much the entire world, and were it not
that her illness assumed so sudden a
change for the worse, this trip would
have been begun. Mr. Astor’s three liv
ing children are now at school. The old
est is at Eton. The next boy Is not very
strong and is being educated under the
supervision of private tutors, while the
little girl was on the point of entering a
girls’ school in Paris when her mother
died.
Mrs. Astor, during her residence in New
York, was noted among society women
by her passion for skating. She and her
husband or a brother would be out in
Central Park every day that the ice
was in proper condition for the gelid pas
time. Once she fell on the ice and severe
ly injured her arm and chest. This ended
her skating for that winter, and the sup
position is ventured here and there that
the fall of that day may have been the
beginning of the illness that eventually
terminated fatally. Personally the de
ceased lady was quite popular and fre
quently gave dinners to her husband’s
employes.
It has reached the ears of the navy
department at Washington that the al
leged armor plate frauds which seem
ed to so many to implicate the good faith
of Andrew Carnegie, have long since been
explained, but that explanation has been
suppressed in the interest of a prominent
official connected with the Treasury de
partment. It appears that when the whole
matter was laid before the President he
imposed a small fine for appearance’s
sake and when the papers went to the
Navy department they were suppressed
in spite of the protest of the Carnegie
concern, which desired that its side of
the story should be go to the people. The
Carnegies are thus in the position of a
concern which has been judged in advance
of the presentation of its own side of the
case. «. .<?
In the emergency Mr. Carnegie him
self was consulted by Mr. Frick when he
reached this country. He, it seems, was
for printing the suppressed information,
but that the concern could hardly do with
propriety, because it would have been a
violation of official ethics. Instead of
that, however, the Carnegia concern made
the offer which has recently been surpris
ing the navy department. This offer is
nothing less than that the concern shall
Itself stand the expense of ballistic tests
to prove its plates sat'.sfactory. Mr. Car
negie will even accept any terms. Mr.
Carnegie has very literally thrown a bomb
shell Into the camp of his enemies and it
is very likely that one high government
official will soon be utterly compromised.
A great deal of comment has been
aroused in New York by the assertion
that Lord Randolph Churchill’s present
physical collapse was hastened, if not
directly caused, by xperierices in the
metropolis of America. Lord Randolph
had, of course, an entree to all the clubs
here and fell in with a gay coterie of
young fellows to whom he confided that
he wished to indulge in his drug propen
sities in a quiet and gentlemanly way. It
is an open secret that at least a third of
the young men in New York society are
slaves to seductive drugs of one kind and
another from opium to absinthe, and of
course Lord Randolph had no difficulty
in getting what he wished. It appears
that he visited a famous opium resort in
the Tenderloin no less than six times and
at last came near losing his life as a re
sult of being carried unconscious to his
carriage on a cold and rainy night. The
airtstocrat feftl <N|ewi York a hopeloss
wreck, and yet no one in the inner circles
of the four hundred suspected his ail
ment, with the exception of those who
aided in aggravating It. Lord Randolph
carries with him on his journeys a unique
flower receptacle constructed out of a.
skull and cross bones. The flowers that
bloom from the summit are in singular
contrast to the make up of the object of
which they are contained, and at the
Knickerbocker Club it was said recently
that the contrivance is almost an emblem
of the life of the noble lord himself.
Jolly James L. Ford's head hasn’t been
turned in the least by the success of his
book. “The Literary Shop.” It is a good,
solid, well-shaped head and rests on a
stout neck which is, again, articulated
with a robust and well-knit body—which
physical outfit is precisely what one would
suppose while reading the book. “The Lit
erary Shop” is a merciless revelation of
the hidden machinery of the book and
magazine trade, and chides the charla
tanry of the profession with healthy sa
tire and pungent wit. I suppose Mr.
Ford’s chapters upon Robert Bonner, Un
derwood Johnson and Mr. Edward J. Bok
are the funniest, but there Is a world of
wisdom in his advice to young writers to
avoid the dangerous society of good wo
men. It is by quip and paradox that Ford
punctures pretense and by sunny humor
that he unveils cant. Os course, such a
book sets all the bookmakers chuckling—
except a few of those who are lashed by
Its satire and are too stupid or sensitive
to take a joke—and I find that the non
professional reader appreciates It as
keenly.
The n.-p. reader doesn’t often have such
a chance to get behind the scenes and see
the broomstick sea-waves and sheet-iron :
thunder of the trade of letters.
Although intimations that the Princess I
Eulalie will return to this country have
been made almost from the time when
she took so charming a farewell of us, it
has not been thought likely that she
would be able to come back for a year or
two at least. Now, however, we have in
formation that the princess will be here
in the summer unless she is prevented by
the condition of her husband’s health,
which has always been delicate. The prin
cess has written to the Spanish minister
here to see if arrangements cannot be
made for a visit by herself on a somewhat ;
less ostentatious scale than her recent I
triumphal march through our country.
The Spanish minister himself is not at i
, liberty to reveal all he knows on the sub- '
ject of Eulalle's visit. The princess pro- j
| poses to come incognita and her husband
1 will of course accompany her. Her idea
is to improve her rather scants' know
ledge of America and that she will be able
to do this, provided she is left alone, there
can be no doubt. As she comes incog, it I
i will be impossible for any one to take :
■ official notice of her. That she returns at
' all is a compliment to our attractiveness.
; When she went away she took charge of
I two children, it will be recalled, whose
relatives appealed to her. On the voyage j
the princess spent many hours with the
children and drew a picture for one of
them showing the cow jumping over the
moon.
Quite a feud has arisen in the Union
club between two rival coteries of mem
bers of that exclusive organization over
the possession of a series of pictures of
the beautiful women of New York
which once adorned the walls of that
princely’ structure int which it is
housed. According to one side of
the story a rather foolish young
clubman secured a photograph of
a certain fair dame and engaged a painter
to reproduce it in color on canvas. He
then hung th,e painting in his room,
where it was seen by a number of his
fellow chappies. The fellow chappies
were informed that the object was a gift
from the fair original. In due time the
husband heard of al! this, and knowing
the claim of the chappie to be an unmiti
gated lie, visited him. It happened that
he was at that very moment holding up
the picture to the admiring contempla
tion of a number of his friends. The hus
band proceeded to thrash the clubman
nay, it is asserted that the husband ac
tually spanked him—and ripped up the
picture with a knife. There has resulted
quite a commotion, among the Union
clubmen who are aware of the incident.
Both men belong to the club.
The little daughter just born to Mrs.
Beerbohm Tree, is the second she has
presented her husband with. Her first
is named Viola, a dainty little maiden of
ten years, and who has already made her
debut on the stage. The occasion, how
ever, was a special one, ,as it was at Bal
moral Castle last September, when Mr.
and Mrs. Beerbohm Tree were “com
manded” to Balmoral to play before the
Queen. Little Viola, who appeared as the
page in "The Ballad Monger” was pre
sented to her Majesty, who was much in
terested in the graceful little debutante
and took a great deal of notice of her.
Miss Viola will, when her time comes,
make her social debut under exceptional
ly favorable .auspices as her godmother is
the Marchioness of Granby, and will one
day be the Duchess of Rutland. She is
Mrs. Tree’s most intimate friend and will
therefore be a social as well as a spir
itual guide to her godchild.
David Wechsler.
SANTA CLAUS ARRESTED.
How Inspector Shea Caught the Old
Man Early Christmas Morning.
From the Chicago Times.
Inspector John D. Shea, chief of detec
tives, is probably the only man in the
world who ever arrested Santa Claus.
He was then a young detective, with a
reputation to make. It was Christmas
eve, or, to be more exact, it was 2 o’clock
Christmas morning. The young detective
bad been on duty until 1 o’clock, and was
on his way home. As he turned the cor
ner of the street on which his residence
was located his attention was attracted
to an old man with a long, gray beard,
trudging along on the other side. On his
back was a bag commonly known as a
gunny sack. The detective walked rap
idly, crossed to the other side and over
took the aged man. Then he saw what
seemed to be a genuine Santa Claus. On
his head was a little fur cap, his long coat
was trimmed with fur and was buttoned
up close under his chin. His features
were completely hidden by his big, white
bearfi.
As Detective Shea came up with him,
the old man said:
“Merry Christmas!”
"Ain’t you out pretty late?” asked the
detective, in anything but a friendly
voice.
“.Well, yes,” replied the old man. Then
he drew’ a card from his pocket and hand
ed it to his questioner. Detective Shea
glanced at it and saw that it contained
the name of a prominent citizen whom
he knew' very well by reputation, but had
never seen.
“Well, where are you going W’ith that
bag at this time of night?”
“I am going dowrn to play Santa Claus
for my little nephew's and nieces. I didn’t
suppose any one would be around the
streets in this neighborhood to see me in
these ridiculous clothes.”
Then he opened the sack and showed a
number of children’s toys and little deco
rations for a Christmas tree. Detective
Shea, who had been suspicious at first,
began to weaken. Here W'as a wealthy
citizen indulging in a little Christmas fun,
and here was a young detective asking
him all sorts of questions and thinking
seriously of placing him under arrest on
suspicion. He thought he had better be
a little careful. Then the Santa Claus
said:
“And now, sir, who are you?”
“I am a police officer,” said the detec
tive, showing his star.
"I thought as much; that is why I an
swered your questions,” said Santa Claus.
“Well, sir, I will bld you good night,
and again wish you a mefry Christmas.”
He stooped over 4 to pick up his sack,
which he had deposited in the snow. The
bending position caused one side of his
long, false beard to fall from his face.
The detective seized him, for in the sec
ond that the beard was lowered he saw a
long scar across the cheek of Santa Claus.
He knew that scar. He had given it to
the man himself, while the later was mak
ing a desperate effort to escape.
The next morning the real w’ealthy citi
zen called at detective headquarters to
report that his house had been robbed \
and several thousands of dollars’ worth I
of valuable jewelry. as well az all the
Christmas presents, had been stolen. He i
was overjoyed to find everything at the
station. He had been playing Santa Claus
for the children on Christmas eve and ■
had left his disguise lying by the Christ
mas tree. The burglar, a daring fellow,
thought the best way to escape with the
valuable presents was to put them in a
sack and pretend to be a Santa Claus. If
he had made his false beard secure he
might have escaped detection.
TOLD BY AS APPARATION.
He Walked Through the Snow Half Clad
and Found His Aunt Dying.
From the New York Times.
Derby, Conn., Dec. 27.—John Connors,
a wealthy citizen, left home at 11 o’clock
last night clad only in his underclothes.
, and walked seven miles through a foot of
I snow in a blinding storm to the home of
his uncle, Michael McEnerney, in Orange ■
where he was found to-day by a search
ing party. He is in a critical condition.
Connors said an apparition appeared as
he was retirng, and told him his aunt,
Mrs .McEnerney, was ill. and he left for
her house immediately. One hour before
he left his home Mrs. MeEnerney had a
severe stroke of paralysis and is fatally
ill. Connors is subject to temporary ab
eration of the mind.
i Laughed at an Inopportune Time.
From the Philadelphia Record.
A remarkable incident occurred at Fif-
I teenth and Chestnut streets Sunday, in
I which two young men narrowly escaped
Injury because they were so nearly con
vulsed with laughter as to be unable to
help themselves. They were driving down
Fifteenth street behind a aather spirited
I horse, but were carelessly jogging along,
I when a Chestnut street trolley car shot
I into sight. The startled driver made a des
perate effort to pull in his horse, but so
sudden was his effort that his feet went
clear through the leather dasher, and he
■ could scarcely pull a pound on the bit.
| Fortunately, the motorman on the car was
able tc whirl the brake around in time to
let the carriage pass, for the other man
was laughing so heartily at his compan
ion’s predicament that he had not the
strength to .
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