Newspaper Page Text
PLAYING the detective.
Attempt of An Amateur
to Save a Man’s Neck.
ter y of a Fallen Woman’s Murder,
hic h Was Never Cleared TTp-The
1 crimi na l Escaped Justice by
gjfcide and a Rowdy Lover Was
Handed on Circumstantial Evidence,
professional Vidocqs Cannot Toler
gte the Efforts or Suggestions of
Amateur Sleuths.
From the Chicago Times.
In bis ordinary, everyday walk of life
ost every man is a detective, even
5* he fails to realize it. When a cel
. rated case comes up ninety-nine men
* j women out of every 100 theorize, de-
T 1 an ,j conclude and are detectives in
■rrvthing but practice. lam not, there
fore indifferent from the general run of
in being somewhat interested in de
® tive work. The only difference is that
i frankly admit it while most others deny
it indeed, I will admit that lam an un
raid and unprofessional detective, seldom
coming in contact with the police, but
ring my own salary, working under
Ly own orders, and following such clews
'[ think best without reference to "the
professionals.
One morning, not so many years ago,
while I was riding down town on a Ber
dan avenue car I had a seat opftosite a
young man about 34 years of age. I hold
that facial expression is an index of char
acter but the voice is the real test.
Where both together satisfy me that a
man is bad, a thousand men might argue
to the contrary without changing my
opinion. In two minutes I had sized this
young man up as follows: He was a
stranger in the city, though he bad no
bagcage; he had just arrived that morn
iDc; he had a place in good society,
though he was dissipated and reck
less; he was nervous about some
thing, for he kept his lingers go
ing: at first sight his face had a
frank expression, but, after a bit,
,-ou caught a furtive movement of
the eyes which spokeof shyness: a woman
would have called his mouth handsome,
but to me it was an index of hypocrisy,
sensuality, and selfishness. But for a
trifling incident he would have been for
gotten as soon as I left the car. As I
watched him, without appearing to do so,
he slyiy took from his pocket a card on
which 'something was written in pencil,
ami then immediately looked out to catch
the name of the street we were passing.
Inference: He wanted to get off at a par
ticular street, the name of which was
written on the card, and did not want to
ask any questions. He was looking ahead
of the car when we reached Beech street,
and as he rose up to get off I saw him
slyly glance around as if to note whether
anyone was particularly observing him.
SOUGHT AX UNSAVORY SECTION.
Beech street, as I must tell you, bore a
most unsavory reputation, though
here and there was a re
spectable domicile, shop or fac
tory. On an off-hand decision I should
have said that my man was a gambler on
his way to one of the numerous dens in
the street, but I was not satisfied,, with
that. I left the car half a minute after
he did and hurried back to find bim
standing an the corner and slyly glancing
at the card again. As Beech street crosses
Berdan avenue it is called Beech street
East or West. If he had a number on
the card it did not give East or West, and
he was therefore puzzled a bit. In pass
ing I ran against him and turned half
around, and three seconds later I was
saying:
"I beg your pardon, sir, but I came
near falling. Hope I didn’t hurt you?”
■‘That’s all right he replied, though the
frown on his face disproved his words.”
■ It was very awkward in me. but ac
cidents will sometimes happen. Can Ibe
of any service to you?”
‘•No!’’ was his curt reply as he turned
away. •
I had accomplished what I set out to
do—to catch his tones. His voice and
face harmonized so to speak. Both were
against him. I don’t say that I made him
out to be an outlaw or assassin, or even a
hardeued criminal. I simply grouped
him under the heading, “Sly and Bad—
Don't Trust Him.” He had replied that
I could be of no service, and yet he
crossed the avenue and made inquiry of
the old woman at the apple stand and
disappeared down Beech street west.
Why hadn’t he asked me? Why hadn’t
he asked the conductor before leaving the
car? Why did he ask the apple woman
when there was a policeman within ten
feet? Why did he look back twice to see
if he was followed?
At 9 o’clock that same night, while I
was on Berdan avenue, two blocks below
Beach street, it began to rain. I had no
umbrella, and as usual something was
wrong with the electric system and the
cars were all stalled. I walked rapidly
to within four doors of Beech street and
then dodged into a doorway. A minute
later a man and woman turned in from
Beech street and sheltered themselves
only,five feet away. As they came around
the corner the gas-lamp gave me a glimpse
of their faces. She was a Woman of. the
town and he a tough. They were talking
in exciting tones as they turned in, but
the first sentence I caught was spokew
by the tough.
i tell yer. Sue, I’ve got to hev money
hr I'll cut up awful ugly.”
“What’s the use to tnreaten, Bill?” she
protested.
I'll do sunthin’ besides threaten If yer
don't come to time. I want money, and I
want it to-night.” t
‘ I haven’t got a dollar, and you know
Then git a dollar—git 20 of ’em. I’ll
come around at ’leven o’clock, and if you
don’t put S2O in my hand I’ll lay ye up fur
a hull month. Mind what I tells yer. I’m
?onT now, but you look fur me at ’leven
o'clock.”
A PRELUDE TO MURDER.
She stood there for five minutes after he
went away, and I was certain that she
was weeping. By and by she turned the
corner into Beech street, and as the rain
slackened a bit I took my way up the ave
nue. Next morning I heard of a murder
on Beech street. A woman of the town,
known as Sue White, had been murdered
in her rooms. It was supposed that she
had been killed at about 11 o'clock at
nieht. but the deed was not discovered
until 7 o'clock in the morning. At 8
0 clock, when I left my house, I met the
coroner on his way to the house and ac
companied him. A professional detective
was in charge, and though he did his
best to prevent me from securing in
formation I nevertheless, as a friend of
the coroner, was granted certain privi
leges. There were but two rooms—a sit
ting room and a bedroom. The body lay
on the floor of the sitting room. The
woman had been choked to death, hut
there was no evidence that her clothing
or her rooms had been searched for plun
der. Not a chair had been upset or an
article pulled down to prove that there
baa been a struggle. The murderer had
bsed only his right hand. There were
tue prints of his ringers as plain as day,
but there were only four of them. The
second finger on that hand was missing.
The rooms of the dead woman had been
reached by a public stairway. The build
ing w as entirely given over to women of
her class and no attention was paid to
an.v one coming or going. No one had
heard her cry out, but it so happened that
tnc woman across the hall had noticed a
'eugh character named Bill Wheeler in
the upper hail about 11 o’clock that uight.
This man proved Jo he the Bill and the
dead woman proved to be the Sue I had
heard conversing in the doorway at 9
o’clock. When arrested he did not deny
having -called at 11 o'clock, but declared
tb*t he found Yk woman" lying dead on'
the floor, ana hvihriedL Away for fear-of
arrest,, jhe flhst .think T.looted for when-
Bill was wrested w*js r the limrrt-s of his 1
right hapd.. None w'efe missing. I had
heard him threaten the'girl, but was sat
fied that he was not her murderer. The
doctors said she bad been strangled, but
no one appeared to see whether
there were five finger marks or only four.
The fact that no struggle had taken place
was a great point with me, but the others
made no note of it. A professional detec
tive should understand human nature.
Bill Wheeler was a tough, but not a
criminal. He could have no motive in
killing the woman. He might beat and
abuse her as I had heard him threaten
to do, but he would not plan her death.
The murderer had not given his victim
the slightestwarning. As soon as heenter
de the room he siezed her by the throat and
bore her down. When he knew that she
was dead he quietly left the place, and it
so happened that he was seen.
BILI, WHEELER, THE BULLY WAS TRIED.
You, no doubt, read of the trial of Bill
Wheeler for the muraer of Susan White,
though such trials are so common that no
one outside the police is interested. Judg
ing the man from my standard, he was a
"bluffer,” with no more courage than a
woman. I went among his acquaintances
and ascertained that he was all bluff and
brag, and had never been known to strike
a man. Such a cur would probably strike
a woman, but he wouldn't grip her throat
and hang there while she died by inches,
as it were. At the first sendoff only one
person claimed to have seen Wheeler
about the house that night, and all the
inmates were certain that no screaming,
cursing, or lOther row had taken place!
It wasn’t a week before four different
persons claimed to have seen Bill, and
three others remembered of hearing the
woman cry out and run around her room
as if to escape someone. Indeed a woman
came forward and testified that she saw
Bill when he left the room and that as he
went downstairs he muttered: "I’ve fin
ished her and am glad of it!”
There is no doubt that Wheeler was
seen and recognized by one person. All
the rest of them coolly and calmly prej
ured themselves. If you are surprised
at my declaration let me add that one of
the greatest obstructions in the path of
the professional detective is the too wil
ling witness. A certain class of men and
women want a certain notoriety. They
want it said that they furnish a clew and
they glory in being called as witnesses.
At least half the failures of the police to
capture criminals may be set down to the
false, information furnished by those who
want to be mixed up in the case. I may
safely go farther. Let ten houses be
robbed, and the inmates of at least eight
of them will declare their loss
to be double what it really
is. Asa matter of fact
the robbers may have been seen at only
one house, and yet the inmates of five or
six of them will give personal descrip
tions of at least two midnight visitors.
When I saw the web being woven around
Wheeler I set out to find the guilty party,
believing the young man who came down
on the car with me that morning I have
spoken of to be the man. You will say
I had an advantage over the professionals.
It would have been an advantage had I
not gone to the superintendent and re
lating every incident.
WHERE THE PRIVATE DETECTIVE WON.
“My dear sir,” he replied as I reached
the end of my story, “the theoretical
detective is as numerous as the leaves on
a tree and about as worthless. Bill
Wheeler and no one else murdered that
woman and we shall convict and hang
him. Please don’t trouble yourself about
the matter.”
I expected just what I got, but I went
to work just the same. The Berdan
avenue car line passed the O. and O. rail
road depot. The Boston express came in
at 7:30 am. It was 8 o’clock when I en
tered the street car and saw the young
man. I remembered that he yawned
occasionally, like one who was still
sleepy. I put in two days of hard work,
and secured the following pointers: He
had come in on the Boston express; he had
occupied upper 10 in a sleeper; he was
without any baggage; he had taken a
light breakfast at the depot. Where he
had passed the day in the city
I could not ascertain, but, as it
was summer. I believed he spent
most of the time in one of ‘ the public
parks. He had come from Boston—tha,
is, ho had taken the night train there
but might live anywhere in New Eng
land. I went to Boston with a clew to
work on. I had sized him up as more or
less as a society young man. His dissi
pated look and good clothes went to show
that he was a high roller. He had a
solid watch chain, a fine diamond pin,
costly sleeve buttons, and silk hosiery.
That signified plenty of money. It was
no task at all to strike the trail qf my
young man. I got track of him in a hotel
billiard room, and before 11 o’clock at
night I fonnd him lunching with two
other young men at a swell cafe. Within
twojninutes after I set eyes on him I had
satisfied myself that the second finger of
his right hand was missiug.
ANV JUSTICE WAS pnBATED.
To satisfy myself as to the young nian's
Identity'i‘bfd.t,9J<sn a,sca.t at a nearby
table. It did not oicur'to me that hd;
might remember my features as yrall,
and if I made any mistake in the case It
was right there. It was perhaps ten min
utes before he i looked over at me. He
was drinking heavily and in a reckless
mood. I saw him give a start and turn
pale, and then I knew he had recognized
me. He doubtless believed that I was a
professional detective and there to arrest
him. His first idea, as I saw by his de
meanor, was flight, but he Instantly aban
doned tiiat as useless. His face took on a
haughty, defiant look as he gazed at me,
and all of a sudden out came a small re
volver, the muzzle was pressed to his
teniple, and before a hand could be raised
he had pressed the trigger and sent a bul
let into his brain. Who was he? The
son of a broker, as you may remember.
The newpapers said he had been disap
pointed in love and was temporarily in
sane. Why did he murder Susan White?
Because he was a libertine and she was
one of bis victims. He had hired her to
go away, not caring where she drifted,
but she loved him and was jealous of him
and was threatening his peace of mind.
He had killed her to be rid of her.
I had all these facts, just as I had stated
them, and yet Bill Wheeler went to the
gallows. My facts were facts, but not
proofs. Trie professional detectives
iaughed at me when I stated them, and I
could not go upon the stand and prove a
single point. Wheeler was as innocent
of that crime as the Judge who sentenced
him, but the police still boast of the un
broken and indisputable chain of evi
dence which theV forged and fettered him
with, and 1 have heard them even com
plain because he did not confess and thus
make a clean case of it!
A Big Nugget of Silver.
From the Eureka iNev. > Sentinel.!
Superintendent Read sent down from
the Diamond Company’s mine last Mon
da v a nugget of ore weighing 2,280
pounds, which was shipped on Wednesday
to the midwinter fair in San Francisco,
and which is to represent Eureka county.
The nugget is3 feet ten inches long, 18
inches wide and 18 incites thick. It as
says 82 per cent, in silver per ton and 18
per cent, in lead. The nugget when
quarried out in the mine was about
double its present size, but was too large
to haul up the shaft, aud had to be
broken
Heeler— McKinley seems to be having a big
bee in his bonnet.
Stump—A species of humbug, rather,—
Puck.
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, JANUARY 14. 1894.
SIX DAYS UNDER WATER.
“Bill” Spins a Yarn- That Is a
“Bloomin’ Buster."
Hii Ride on a Sen Hog—Snake Island,
s- Down the Whirlpool—The Subter
ranean River of Phosphorus—Riding
a Waterspout.
(Copyright. 1894.)
New York, Jan. 13.—" Why talk about
speed,” said old sailor Bill. ‘‘l mind the
time when there warn't nothing on earth
or water that could get away from the
sailing frigate Guerriere or catch her,
either. I mind once, when ‘Fighting
Tom’was her skipper, we was running
before a gale that bent all the stanchions;
all at once one of the afterguards bawled
out there was a frigate followin’ along
close astern. We looked, an’sure enough
there was the hull of a bloody old frigate
just the same exactly as the Guerriere,
clipping along astern only ’bout six cables
away r . ‘Twarn't nateral for a frigate to
be there, an’ we looked an’ looked an
wot d’you think we found it was ?”
"The Flying Dutchman,” I hazarded..
“Naw. ’twarn’t the Dutchman,” he re
plied, contemptuously. "I’ll tell you wot
it was: Y' see we was clipping through
the water at such a rate that the speed
scraped tha paint clear off our hull as
clean as a whistle, and there it was com
ing along astern all in shape, as it had
been whipped off, just like another Guer
riere !”
"Wonderful!” I cried.
“Oh, no: not so werry wonderful! Sor
ter nateral, when you think how fast we
was goin’.” he answered. "I can tell you
something wouderfuller than that,”'he
continued, dropping his voice to a im
pressive whisper, "’bout me and when I
went down to the bottom of the sea an’
staid there for ritgh onto six days."
"impossible!” I said, with a startled
voice, "you really don’t mean that, do
you. Bill?”
"When I says a thing, 1 means it,” said
Bill, firmly. "I went down to the bottom
of the bibody sea an’ I staid there for six
days.”
“That is very remarkable,” I said. “I
never heard of such a thing.”
“Well, I reckon there’s plenty of things
you never heard on that have happened.
Just because you write things you needn’t
think you know everything, and that a
sailorman couldn’t spend six days at the
bottom of the bloody sea if he had a mind
to," he added in an aggrieved tone.
"Oh, yes, of course," I stammered, "but
it is so out of the usual happening of
things that I was surprised. I wish you
would tell me all about it.”
"Well,” said Bill, slowly, as he whittled
off a few shavings from his plug of navy,
“I ain’t much of a yarn spinner, bein’as
how I sorter hate to talk about myself,
but if you wait till I get my bloody old
pipe filled, I’ll tell it to you the best I
know how.”
The little cutty pipe being now filled
and drawing well, Bill rubbed his hands
together and began:
" ‘Way back in ’49, when I was a-gay
slip of a lad an’ ready for anything, I
shipped on the yankee clipper ship Comet,
which plied between New York and
’Frisco. The hawse-holes on board the
Comet was as big as a gunport, and when
I had nothing to do and was tired of my
self I uster hang out of the hawse-hole
and watch the Comet's stern a-cutting
through the water like a 6-inch shell
ricketing over the swells. Many’s a
time I hung out the hawse-hole an’
watched the bloody sea hogs scratching
their bloomin’ backs ’gainst the Comet’s
stern—you’ve seen 'em, mayhap, yourself,
sir?’ he inquired.
"If you mean the porpoises racing
alongside and Just about the ship, I have,”
I replied.
“Yes, them’s wot I mean.” he contin
ued, “sea hogs, sailormen call them. Well,
as I said, the bloomin' beggars uster come
up every night an’ raoe along with us,
their backs well out o’ water so as to get
a good scratchin’ from the ship as she
tumbled along arter ’em. One night, as
I was feelin’ particular desperate, an’
hung out watehiu’ ’em, I took notice o’
one monstrous bigsea hog which cavorted
along as if he was old Davy Jones him
self. Says Ito myself, as I watched his
big bloomin’ back keep along so steady
below me, says I to myself, I say ‘old fel
ler, I'd Just like to drop on your back an’
take a ride on you,’ says I, an' bein’ as I
say a young spark without much sense, no
sooner had I says that to myself that I
says again to myself, ‘Blow me I don't do
it.’”
“No?” I cried.
“Yes,” answered Bill, “an’ I’m blowed
if no sooner nor I’d said it, if I hadn’t
squeezed out through the hawse-hole onto
the jib-stays to the dolphin-striker, an’
the next minute I’d dropped down all
astride onto that bloody old sea hog!
Well, sir, you’d have laughed to see that
old sea hog jump. Jump? Why, the
bloomin’ beggar almost jumped out of his
bloody skin, an’ it I hadn’t a-dug my heels
under his fins, an’ my hands in his gills
he’d have thrown me afore you could say
‘Jack Robinson!’ Then off he started on
a long port tack, so fast that the water
•burned my legs, until the lights of the
Comet was doused entirely. You may
‘ well look surprised, sir; 1 was myself. To
think that a few minutes afore I had
been safe an’ comfortable enough in the
Comet’s brig, and now here I was a-slt
tin’ astride a bloody old sea hog with my
head an’ shoulders just above water, a
kitin’ along the lonesome, dark waters
with nary a log to get my knots
and nary a bacon light to tell where my
harbor was. On tore that bloomin' hog
with the spray all a-dashin’ in my face
until I thought my eyes wore pickled.
Once we dashed into a big school of sea
hogs, but when they saw their mate with
me on top they gave a sort a’ groanin’
grunt, and with a flap o’ their flappers
started away at a most tremenjous pace,
an’ from the look o’ fear on their faces I
have no doubt but that they be runnin’
yet. But all things have an end, as the
monkey says when the crocodile bit off
his tail, an’ when the daylight came, I
see a little island standin’ close off my
port bow; captain sea hog makes his ob
servations at the same time, an’ off he
starts on a starboard tack, but 1 being
sort of ’fraid about intrudin’ my presence
on him any longer, slips off his' hack an'
makes by swimmin’ for the Island, which
I reached in mayhap an hour. I finds my
self pretty shipshape when I get
onto the island, barrin’ a stiff
ness in m,v leg. and my feet bein’
blistered by the tremen|ous speed
I went through the water, but no sooner
had I looked around an’ taken my bearin’s
than I said to my self,‘Clap oil all sail,
you twisted marlin spike, an’ put off, for
as sure as duff is duff, the bloomin’ snakes
will make a bloody fine meal off you for
salt horse,’ For, sir, I give you my word
as a truthful sailortnan. that island was
jest crammed full o’ snakes, big snakes,
little snakes, and jest snakes, snakes all
bnnehed an' squirming about as if they
didn't know whose tails belonged to
which. They was so busy among them
selves they didn’t notice me, but I knew
as soon as they got untangled, there
wouldn't be enough of Bloody Bill to put
in a scuttle butt. Nateral-like, I didn’t
want that, so I casts my weather eye
about until I claps it on a bamboo clump
a-growing near the water. With my
knife T cuts enough bamboo to make a
fair-sized raft, but arter I did that I
found I had no tackle to lash the logs
together with. Like the lady in the book
you give me last week I liked to
weep with despair, when suddint-like I
thought of the snakes, an’ runnin’ to
where they all squirmed an’ twisted. I
graobed five long ones by their ■ tails;
pullin' away hard I get ’em from the rest
o' the tangle an’ runnin' back to my logs
I got me logs in shape, and lashed 'em
firm like together with the snakes. You
may believe the snakes were surprised
an'angry at bein' used like this, an’ I
had to look sharp so. as not to get^snapped
by 'em. but as I got each one la'sHed, 1
stuck his tail in front the other fefler. an’
each bein’ mad enotlgh to ftght ’ theyM
snap an - catch the tdiTs atsre ’ethtbeidia'
on like death, so keepin’ yon.see.oty raft
held as tight as a-trivet! . You ip4y_sniilc.
sir: I can’t help doin’ it myself, as! think
of all o' them ridikerlous snakes holdin’
each other so fast by the tails!
“Well. I launched my craft, the water
only makin’ the snakes curl tighter, and
riggin’ lip my shirt as a sail, steered due
east, takin’ bearin’s by the sun. My only
grub was a little hardtack I had in my
peacoat. and my only water a little grog
in my flask. I sailed, an’ 1 sailed, an’ I
sailed, until I begun' to think I’d wear the
bottom off my raft, but nary a sail did 1
speak. One day 1 had the misfortune to
lose my sail, for a bloody old bos’n's bird,
sailin' so high above me, saw my shirt, and
prob'bly thinkin’ it was anew sort o'
fish swooped down and carried the
bloomin' sail way up again with him.
He dropped it arter ward, when he
found out his mistake, but too far away
for me to get it. I pretty near give up
then, \vith nary a rag to keep my steer
age way, but as I looked despairing-like
(that’s a pretty word the lady used r 1
kinder like it) I saw that the bloody old
raft was goin’ along as well without a
sail as she’d done with one! Here was a
rum go, thought I, wot's givin' me all this
bloomin' way? An’ I’ll give you my divy,
if while 1 looked the bloody ratt'didn’t
keep a-goin’ faster an’ faster, theremark
ablest part of it bein’ as all the drift an'
seaweed was goin’ the same pace. ‘l’m in
a current,’ says I, ‘but not current,’ says
I; ‘no bloomin' current chases "along at a
ten-knot Knit;’ for that’s wot I was a-goin’
at, an’ goin’ faster all the time. I looked
up from the water, an’, blow me, if all the
wreckage of the Pacific didn't seem to be
drawin' in from the horizon: there were
trees an’ mnsts an' riggin' an’ hulks an'
all manner o’ dunnage all floatin’ toward
one spot like, an’ as if someun was a-pul
lin' o’ them.
“Then I knew where I was at, why I
was goin’so fast an’ why all that drift
was cornin’ from all directions! I had
been caught by the current of a tremen
jous whirlpool, an' even then I could see
in the distance the great cloud q’ spray it
caused an’ hear its terrible roar. I came
nearer to bein’ scared than in any time in
my life, but seein’ as how there was
nothin’ to do I took my pipe—this worry
identical pipe—from m.v cap, an’ lightin'
it, sat peacefully down an’ listened to
that bloody old whirlpool roar louder an’
louder.
“Talk about your maelstrom! Why.it
couldn’t hold a candle to this old feller,
who swallowed everything like he was a
’prentice boy on duff days.
“The raft was goin’ at awfurl speed
now, the smoke was cornin’ out from un
der her an’every one o’ the snakes had
their skins tore off, but still they held on,
each with the other feller's tail in its
mouth. I didn’t have much more time to
think, when I was all at onot-in the thick
o’the spray. Meahin' to have one more
chance for ray life 1 stood up an’ looked
at the whirlpool. Well, sir, just afore
me was a tremenjous black hole, big
enough for a squadron to sail down an'
never scrape yards, all flanked round bv
a great swirlin’ wall o’ tvyistin,’ biliu’
water.
“Seem’ myself so close, an’ almost
goin’ out o’ iny head with ’njazement, I
give one powerful screech an’ jumped
plumb amidships into that bloody hole in
the bloomin'sea. Fall? Well, .you may
better believe it! I fell, an’l fell until
I thought I’d fallen through to Inja, but
never a drop o’ water touched me, though
I could see the bloomin' walls of it all
around me all filled with a twistin’,
twirlin’ mass o’ wreckage. Arter I had
fallen for nigh on to twenty-five minutes
I landed squash on a big pile of sea-weed,
an' by the force o’ mV fall was driven
into its softness pfurty nfcar five cable
lengths. Holdin’my breaih with one hand
I forced a passage with the other until I
came out on top. Would you believe it,
sir, but a crag o’ rock Jbttin’ out through
the round wall o’ the whirlpool had ac
cumylated a great load of seawoed, which
had broken my fall an’ saved me from
the small end of the whirlpool's funnel,
which must have come together some
place beneath it!”
"But Bill,” I feebly remonstrated, “I
am told that whirlpools, like waterspouts,
break tneir force if an obstruction
pierces one of them.”
“Who was in this here whirlpool—you
or mo?” he demanded. “I tell you this
whirlpool warn’t likeord’nary ones; this
was-was—was a buster!” he added,
triumphantly.
“Oh, I see,” I answered humbly, “pray
go oh with your narrative.”
“As I said,” continued Bill severely,
“this here whirlpool* this busier, had
this bloody crag cornin’ out through, an’
thinkin’ I might find a better restin’
place than on that bloomin’ wet seaweed,
which of the dampness was already
givin’ me symptonians of a cold. I bur
rowed down through it close to the rock,
and was more’n surprised to find, half
choked by the weed, the openin’ of a dark
passage way. I wriggled in it, and as 1
went along, it come to be broqder an’
higher, till at last I could walk up
straight on my legs. As I walked, the
whirlpool’s bloody old blowing got
st-illerian’ ; ssill(ir,j bear
nothing- but-my'own;,,fcgrgtt“ps. T It was
very lonesome-like, walkin'#loag iu that
dark passage so many mi|es under the
sea, an’ I was almost goin’ again for to
give way to deespair, when 1 see afore
me a little glint o’ light. I begin to run
then, an’ as I run, the light became big
ger until I tumbled out into the middle
of it.
".As an honest sailor man, I can only
say that never before, or never arter,
have I seen such a sight as met my bloom
in’eyeajwhen I got enough used to the
light to often them. There, reaching
afore me, as far as I could see, was a tre
mendous cavern, all a-glowin’ an’ a-gleam
in’ as if its walls was made o’ fire. I
stood on a sorter ledge in the wall fo’ the
cavern, an’ beneath me was a great river
o’ golden fire, which flowed swiftly and
silently along as if it was greased. I
touched the bloody blazin’ wall at fpy
side, but didn't feel no fire at all, but (ill
my hand seemed to be covered with the
same fire which didn't leave no more feel
iu’ than so much slush. Well, sir. that
bloomin' stuff was nothin' but the phos
phorus you see in the ocean at your wake;
just plain phosphorus, an’ that big cake,
every square inch of it, was cov
ered with that bloomin' blaziu’ phos
phorus. Even the river was the
same stuff, an’ I thought to m.vself as I
looked, ‘here’s a rum go, for young Bloody
Bill to be standin’ in the place where all
the phosphorus comes from, a-fceling’ an’
a-seein’ of it, with the old comet clipping
along perhaps a hundred miles above his
head!’ An’ you should have seed what
was floatin' down that bloomin' river!
Shells, sir! Tremenjus shells, sir! Shells
as big as the after-hatch was there, with
now an’ then Portugeese men-o'-war—
nautiluses, mayhap you call ’em—as big
as the dingy, with all their feelers and
sails out, Just as .you see ’em float by at
sea, only as I tell you, as big as the dingy.
Bein’ as how I was tired o’ walkin’ an’
crawlin’, I determined to make a voyage in
one o’ the bloody things; so carefully pick
my way down the precipice. 1 got to the
river, an’ layin’ hold o’ one of ’em. climed
in an' was sailin' down that bloomin'
river as happy as you please, for there
were plenty o' mussels an' oysters clinging
to the shall which served me well enough
for grub. I slept often, an’ each time I'd
wake. I'd find m.vself in a crazier .• place
than the one before. You’d hardly be
lieve me, sir, if I was to tell you the
strange sights I see. sailin’ along in the
bloomin’ Portugeese man-o-war, on that
bloody river o’ tire under the roarin’
ocean. I can hardly believe it myself, as
I sit here an’ think it all over. When I
think of the turrible serpents, nigh onto
seveu hundred an’ fifty feet long,
which swum along side o' me with
their scales all s-dripping with the Arc;
the mermaids which would be a-sittid' on
some rock a-combin’ their bloomin' v Hair,
an’ then scuttle ajva,v.as I wo KM call *to
them : the bloody old devil fishes, sjl in’ a
bloomin’ tangle with thoniselves; the tre
menjwus star fishes as hig as a mafiisail
dingin' to the walls. Of), it was a woir
derful sight, sir, an’ onp 1 shall never for
get! Well. sir. I was that dazed that 1
never thought where I was. a-comin' to,
when one day, (mayhap it was night
though, for it was all the same to me), I
hoard a lot o’quick, sharp reports, just
like our little gattling gun aft there when
she's speakin' in a hurry, an’ the water
began to jump an’ spout in places as
though someone was sittin' on the bot
tom an’ shootin' a squirt gun up at the
surface. The reports got thicker an’
louder, an - the jets o’ water higher an’
stronger. ‘Billy, my boy,' says I. ‘there’s
trouble goin’ on below, an’ if you don't
look sharp you'll be in it.’
‘‘.Them's the'identical words 1 says, an’
no sooner had I said ’em, than sure enough
there was a bucket o' trouble. First came
one bang an’ spout which capsized my
craft an’ spilled me in the water. No
sooner had it stopped spouting the bloom
in’ fire, than there was one most outrage
ous noise. All the cavern seemed to fall
outward. The sea came runnin’ and
jumpin' in. the roof blew off and a great,
bloody, bloomin' blazin’ spout o’ water
burst right under me, and shot up, up.
up, with me on top, it’s bloomin’ forco
cuttin’ through the bloody ocean like a
knifo through cheese. I don't know
how long I kept goin' up; pretty near'an
hour, I guess, an' a mighty uncomfortable
hour it was, with me holdin’ my breath
ali the time.
“All at onct, just before I was again
about to give myself up to despair, the
bloomin’ thing hurst through the bloody
ocean's top, an’with me on top, like a
ball on top of one o’ those juggler feller's
feet, that bloody water spout tried to
reach the bloomin' sun I You can im
agine, sir, as how l felt very queer lyin’
so comfortaole like on top o’ that water
spout, with all the bloomin' ocean at the
other end, but just as I was gettln' nerv
ous like that ma.vhap that bloody old
waterspout would reach the sun, I heard
a gun tired, and looked just in time to sec
a clipper ship standin’ off from the spout.
I hadn’t more nor time to wonder
wfiat ship she was, when a shot
struck the spout, an’ the next
minute it had dropped, busted to
smithereens an’ left me swimmin' in the
ocean. Raisin’ high in the water, I hailed
the clipper, but she was out o’ hearin’. I
didn't know wot to do then, bein' as how
I was too tired to swim, when all at once
dead fish began to come to the surface
thousands of ’em, millions of ’em- all
killed, 1 ’spose by the bloomin’ explosion
which sent me up from below, but bein’
as I ain’t no scientist I can't positively say
as to how they died ; but there they 'was,
so-thick for a mile that all I had to do was
to climb up on them, an’ run from fish to
fish as easy as if I was runnin’ along this
werry deck. As I run I waved my hands,
an' the clipper seein’ me, put off a boat to
where the fish ended, and waited for me
to come up.
“Imagine my surprise and delight, sir.
when 1 found that ship to be the identical
one I had left eight days before! Yes,
sir. it was the old Comet, and you may
believe my mates were glad enough to see
me, boin’ as how they thought I'd fallen
through the hawsehoie an’ been snapped
up by sharks. Only eight days'away,
but, I tell you, sir, it seemed like a year,
for six days spent at the bottom of the sea
seems a long time In a man's life, sir.”
Stevens Vail.
CLOSE TO SUBTERRANEAN EIRE.
Are the Feet of Those Who Walk on
the Burning Sand of Death Valley.
From the San Francisco Call.
Mr. Frederick Momrion’s lecture on
Death Valley, which was delivered at
Metropolitan temple on Friday, added
something tQ.pur knowledge of one of tho
most curious spots in the state. It was a
year or two after the discovery of gold
that its existence was made known by the
frightful destruction of an immigrant
party by thirst within its limits'.
The immigrants were coming in through
Nye county, Nev.; they crossed a pass in
the Paramint mountains and struck into
the valley, where their skeletons l(e to this
day. Some ten years afterward tho
United Stales boundary commission sur
veyed the valley and pronounted it to be
the bed of a former lake, which had been
drained in one of the last volcanic convul
sions on this side of tho mountains.
Since then it has been visited by occa
sional explorers and gatherers of borax;
but as it contains no water, as tho air is
impregnated with mephitic gases, ntid as
the thermometer sometimes registers as
much as 140“ in tho shade in summer,
visitors have been few and far between.
Yet it is an interesting spot. It Is part
of the belated world, to which the Great
Salt Lake, the subterranean river of Mo
jave. and the Colorado desert belong, and
to which the geysers of Sonoma are an
offshoot. As Greenland is a relic of the
last glacial age. so this distressed region
is a surviving relic of the latest igneous
age; an era when nothing was finally set
tled, aud fire and water were contending
for supremacy dvfcr the soil. Sirfiilar re
gions exist in . Southern. .Cqliffljria and ih
the vlcinit&bDf the UepcbSAM iqjljialej. jjao ;1
the volcanjc force has so farlost ils prlmi
tivc energy that? earthquakes are light,
and there are no eruptions; but tho vol
canic gasses continue to escape in such
quantity that travel is attended with
danger to life, and the water springs are
polluted with salt, sulphur, and poisonous
ingredients. In the California Solfstara
excessive heat is added to the other hor
rors of the place. The center of the valley
is hotter than Sennaar, and the only
animal life is a few specimens of tropical
reptile?,
Mr. Momson is reported to have said
that the bottom of the valley: thelowest
depression on the earth’s sur'ice. This
is not strictly correct. The lowest levels
obtained in Death Valley are about 430
feet below the sea, whereas the surface
of the Dead sea in Palestine is 1,800 feet
below. But the hole which goes by the
name of Death valley is pretty deep. Tho
crust of the earth throughout the valleys
of Han Bernardino and Invo counties
must be very thin. The traveller’s feet
are separated from the internal body of
everlasting fire by a slim sheet of earth
and rock, which would offer but a slight
resistance to seismic force. A few miles
distant from Death valley there is a
region which may be surveyed by the
eye, and which contains a thousand
active volcanoes, so to B|>eak, but still
actively engaged In throwing up mud
aud water. And not rtiany miles away
is the range of granite mountains, among
which Mount Whitney rears its head
through the clouds; solid masses of
primeval rock which must have worn the
shape in which we see them now when
the plain at their feet was a seething,
raging caldron in which fire and water
contended for the mastery.
To see such marvels of nature people
cross oceans, spend fortunes, and carry
their lives In their hands. Neither Mauna
Loa nor Hecla offer such wonders to the
beholder as Death Valley and the Colo
rado Desert. In January and February
the heat in the valley is bearable—not
qver 90“ in the shade. Excursion parties
might be fitted out with supplies of food
and water, and, in a few days, the visi
tors might see enough to realize what the
world was like in the Plutonic age. The
contrast between the pleasant valleys of
the rivers, with their fruit trees bursting
Into blossom, and these dreadful deserts,
with their awful chasms and their hid
eous inhabitants, would be a thing not
easily forgotten.
Pn p Pimples, Blotches
■ —Li—Li and Old Sores
and potassium ' Catarrh, Malaria
Maltes ami Kidney Troubles
Marvelous Cures *r:, u r™rr^'
in Blood Poison .
Mrsskm Liftman Bros., Savannah,
m . • Qa. : DkakHirr - I bought a bottle of
Rhailmat em your P P V. at Hot springs. Ark.,and
D 11C 1111 lullulll It has donome more good than throe
i months' treatment at the Hot Bprlags.
' beail three bottle* C. O. D.
and Scrofula
Aberdeen, Brown County, O.
P. P. P. purifies the blood, btllldsup \ Cpt. J. D. Johnston.
hspplnesf here* &“ p l forof’
feelings and tass.-nde hrst pre*va.le<f
For primary,secondary snd tertiary vASiKtn P l VwuaSE
syphilis, for blood poisoning, merou- 2ml am nowentlrely oared'
rial poison, malaria, dyspepsia, and “’Jlu.ned hvl * JOHNSTON
In all blood and skin diseases, like LSlgned by) J. D. JOHNS ion.
blotches, pimples, old chronic ulcers. J*' savaunan.ua.
tetter, scald head, bolls, erysipelas, Skin Cancer Cured,
ecsema we may say, without fear of
contradiction,that P. P. P. Is thehest Testimony fromthe Mayor of Sequin, Tex. '
blood purifier In the world,and makes . ..
positive, speedy and permanent cures Sequin, Tax., January 14, 1893.
in all cases. Messrs. Lippman Bros., Savannah, -
- Qa.: (lrnllemen~- 1 have tried your P.
ladles whose systems are poisoned ’ P. “"“.Ml?
and whose blood la In an Impure oondl- known as skin cancer,of thirty years ,
tlon. due to menstrual Irregularities, standing, and found great relief. It
•re peculiarly benefited by the won- purifies tmiblood and removes all tr
der/ul toulo anti blood cleansing: prop- nUUon from the seat of the disease •
nrtfpa nf P P P - Pricklv Aah Puke nd prevents nny spreading of tha
sGot and Potaaalnm 7 ’ norea. I have taken flveor six bottle*
Kouf ami i > t,i. siuin _ and feel confident that another course ,
will effect a cure. It has also relieved
—fcaiiaDeakJn the ’blgifeM* termiPof a “ d
your medicine from my own personal trouoiea. joura truly,
knowledge. I was affected with heart rn.rmtnt lur
disease, pleurisy and rheumatism for Attorney at Law.
35 years, was treated by the very beat ,
farsu'rlelf tvn-ry*knt^w n vlth- BOOK 01 BIOOH DISeOSUS *3llßll Flßt -
one DotU* ALL DRUGGISTS SELL IT.
cheerfully any it has done mo more ■ ■ nnaa mor m a
rood than anything I have ever taken. LIPPMAN BROS.
I can recommend your medicine to *ll
sufferers of the above dtseasea. PROPRIETORS,
MR9. M. M. YE ARY. ~ u
Springfield. Green County, Mo. IdppmiMi’a fllook.Snisnnal),€>a
TRAMPS IN CALIFORNIA.
They Travel In Companies Under a
Sort of Military Discipline.
From the San Francisco Chronicle.
The tramp evil has become so serious
that the Southern Pacific is about to take
strong measures to check it. A message
was received yesterday that *2ll tramps
had taken possession of a train at Ash
land, Ore., yesterday, with the intention
of coming to San Francisco.
Tho tramps have used the freight trains
as if they ownod them. They have trav
eled in organized companies from Port
land to El Paco and back again. Each
company has a captain, and the number
in each band is so great that a sort of mili
tary discipline, that is as against the rail
road, is enforced. Trainmen aro jiower
less to put tho tramps off, and when the
company has succeednd In doing so, it
has mot with loss caused by the malicious
acts of the evicted men. The wreck near
Lordsburg, N. M., and that which oc
curred near the line of San Mateo county
recently are believed to bo the spite work
of tramps.
Not content with transportation once
accorded, the tramps trawel up and down
the railroad. A gang which left the Han
Joaquin Valley for El Paso no sooner
reached the Texan line than its members
began to boat their way back to Califor
nia. . f
Just now Han Francisco is the objec
tive point for the tramps, both north and
south. The hegira from Oregon is. per
haps, the larger of the two streams of
tramp immigrants, and every encourage
ment seems to be given the tramps by the
Oregon people to leave the state. They
are told of the fine climate here, so much
milder than tho Oregon weather and are
assured that they will find Culifornians a
hospitable people.
The Portland Oregonian, ip a recent
issue, recites the fact that a party of un
employed, sixtv-eight in number, had left
on the Kouthern Pacific train for tho
warmer climate of California, and that
they had been promised a free ride In tho
box cars to the California stato lino.
Arthur McArthur organized the tramp
party. He and the captain nnd several
other members of the party saw the chief
of police of Portland and obtained passage
across the Williamette to Albina where
they took the car.
Capt. Beary, of the tramp party, made
the following statement:
“We intend to go where we can got
work. In our party are thirty otic log
gers, fifteen miners, a railway ticket
agent, two cooks, a waiter and seven
brakemen. Most of them came here Xrom
tho Sound. We are honest men, and
want work. We can’t get work here,
and we do not want to impose on'the good,
nature of the city board ofchiiritk'S
ficials and manager Some of a fir jjirrjtyl
may be bad inen, but X will promise that
no one will violate the law. Most of our
men are well educated, and I inysetf am
a graduate of a college. I came here six
years ago with some money, which I lost
in specula! ing, and have since been work
ing in logging camps. The chief has
treated us very well, and if everybody
uses us the same we will be fortunate.”
“Yes,” said McArthur, “alive and
happy when we got to ’Frisco. Jeminy!
I don't know what makes mp so Jubilant.
I feel as though I fell off a Christmas
tree.”
“Why didn’t you men Join the army?”
asked the chief.
“I and Forbes intended to do that to
day,” said Beary. “but we gave it up
when the party was formed.”
POVERTY TO AFFLUENCE.
Romantic Story of a Pennsylvania
Girl’s Mixed Luck.
From (he Philadelphia Time*.
Williamsport, .(an, 4.—Miss Caroline
C. Sankey, formerly a pauper, living in
Lycoming county, but now a pretty and
accomplished belle, who lives at 1120
Twenty-first street, San Francisco, in the
family of Charles S. Coggins, has Just
been finally declared heiress to a fortune
of over $1(X),000. She is only 34 years old.
Samuel Sankey was a pioneer or 1849, and
a man who was known from one end of
Caiitornia to another. He went up and
down the coast buying hides, and out of
this business he accumulated a comfort
able fortune. His wife, by whom he had
one child, a boy, was also of a freakish,
unbalanced mind. In 1878 the boy was
drowned while swimming in Mission
creek.
The father and mother mourned him
long, and their minds became more and
more unbalanced. Sankey posted off to
Pennsylvania. Here, in the home of some
of his relatives in Lycoming county, he
saw a little orphan niece, and his heart
warmed to her. He offered to adopt her
and take her to his lonely home. The
relatives with whom the girl was staying
bitterly opposed this because of Sankey’s
peculiarities. Bribing the nurse he kid
naped the child. In the dead of winter he
hid her in cellars, garrets and out-build
ings. moving from place to place to avoid
detection. At last he drove over the bor
MEDICAL
dor of the stato out of the jurisdiction of
the Pennsylvania courts, and into Illi
nois When he returned to Pennsyl
vania he was arrested and charged
with kidnaping. While the case was
pendiug in the court in this city he com
promised R, and formally adopted the
girl.
DISINHERITED.
Six months later he took the child from
Freeport, 111., to California and installed
her In his house at Nineteenth and Jessie
streets, Han Francisco. Then she be
came. alternately the pet and household
drudge of Sankey and his wife. In lwfl
Mrs. Sankey died, and the neighbors be
lieve her husband poisoned her. After
his wife’s death Sankey became insane
and maltreated his adopted daughter.
On July 2*l, IRH6, Judge Coffey gave the
girl into the hands of tho Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The
very next day the old man tore up the
will he lmd made in favor of the girt and
made another will disinheriting her en
tirely. Tills was a holographic will, hut
he had two witnesses to it. Both, how
ever, did not sign at the same time.
In September, IHHtI, Sankey eame east,
and on Oct. 26 of that year he died, at the
home of his brother, John Sankey, at
Mifllinburg, Union county. Ho left in
California thirteen lots in Berkeley, lots
onUhannel street and the house at Nine
teenth and Jessie streets, San Francisco.
This is worth $60,000 now. In Chicago he
hod thirteen lots also and $12,000 in
money. Just what the lots are worth is
not known definitely, but SIO,OOO has been
offered for them. At Miffiinsburg he
owned a tannery and property said to be
worth $50,000, and somo notes and Judg
mentt ngainst his litigious relative for
over $9,000.
CAROLINE WINS.
Before his death Caroline had found %
friend in Charles S. Coggins, of Han Fran
cisco. Mrs. Coggins gave her a home, and
upin Suiikey’s doath Mr. Coggins was ap
liolntcd her guardian and applied to Judge
Coffey for letters of administration on her
adopted father's estate. This application
was combatted by John Kankey on behalf
of the Pennsylvania relatives, whooffered
the disinheriting will for probate.
Thus began the long legal struggle
which has Just ended The relatives who
had ignored the girl when she was In
want suddenly became overweening in
their fondness for her. They tried to get
lmr to come to them. John Sankey made
two trips to California, set detectives to
wfitch the girl and tried to abduct her.
He followed her to Chicago, where Mr,
Coggins had sent her, and there pistols
were drawn in the dispute over her pos
session. Judge Coffey decided Sankey’s
will invalid because of the old fellow’s in
sanity. He gave all the estate to the girl
and allowed her $75 per month pending
WtiL3ition. The relatives gave up the
rflgnt In. California and transferred it to
the -courts of this state, where they at
tacked the validity of the girl’s adoption.
Through all the courts the case went and
the girl won.
Then they tried the Illinois courts for
the Chicago property. The lower court
decided in the girl's favor and now the
news has como that the court of last re
sort in Illinois has sustained the lower
court and pretty Carrie Sankey still has
a fortune of over SIOO,OOO all in her own
right.
Tho “Growing Hand” for Plants.
From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
“It seems incredible,” said George
Marsh to the corridor man at the Laclede,
“that there should be such a thing as ‘a
growing hand’ in the planting of flowers
and other plants, but it is recognized even
by florists, and it has grown to have a
regular name. Some iieople will read di
rections for preparing the soil and plant
ing the seed or slips, and follow them
faithfully, and yet nothing will grow, or
if it grows at all it will be stunted and al
most worthless, while another, without
half the care and trouble, will have every
thing live and thrive. I saw a little girl
bring back what appeared to be worthless
sticks of some plants which she had found
in the woods. Her mother wauted them
to live, and, selecting the best, sha
planted and tended them with the great
est care. The little girl took the ones
that had been discarded and started a lit
tle ‘garden,’ as she called it, of her own.
The ones that received the attention died,
those which the little girl stuck into the
ground lived and subsequently bloomed.
It would appear that plants had an affin
ity for some people and not for others.”
The Perils That Environ the Dentist.
From the Chicago Herald.
An error, grave and deplorable, has
been committed. A wife with a trouble
some tooth, sought a Chicago dentist. The
man of pincers, following a practice well
founded in medical dentistry, killed the
nerve under the tooth, not, however,
without severe pain to the wife, who re
ported the matter to her husband. The
ehivalric nature of thehusband was fired,
and straightway he sought out the den
tist and administered to him a sound
thrashing. The error lies in tbe dentist
not killing the husband's nerve.
13