Newspaper Page Text
FEVER SCOURGE
HITS NATCHEZ
Hsi h Authorities Report Twen.y
Ca .es in the Mississippi City.
PEO. LE ARE REFUGEEING
Infection Traced Directly to New Or
tear s N w ihsland’.ng Rigid
Quarantine.
Physicians of the Natchez, Mias.,
board of nealth at v.oon Sunday ex¬
amined and pronounced y j«...
v ‘* r - ,vv<> i>ai tents, a while woman and
a negro 11*111. Examining further, live
negro*", convalescent l'rom yellow 1.
ver wen found in the none „.d , n „
of town together with seventeen huh
pi* tone < use, of M( kn* -s, thirteen of
■witich are undoubtedly yellow level
Tile jiifoet|., n iH tracer) to a negro wo
'ua.;i who came from New Orleans on
July 19.
Imlve I’m Tome, I. a re ports live
.,
new oroses, making a to al of fifteen.
Sunday night a: .laid ; un it was re
pet > d to If state board of health by
the local health authorities a t Natchez
Hi. I there were twelve <•;*?,<•; of
bnv fever in that city, all of the vic
! mc 1 el-ng negro t ■ < pt one, a white
woman. Mrs. Einstein, the wife of a
white peddler. It is not stated where
'lie disease came from, but it is be¬
lieved that it was carried over from
i-ouisain by negroes. According to re
»or!s received ti Jackson a good many
people are leaving Natchez.
Sunday’s record in New Orleans
showed the smt.llest number of new
•a.ses since August 6, and the largest
lumber Of deaths, thirteen, on any day
since the fever made its appearance.
I he unusual nunihei of deaths is
attributed in m measure to the change
In the weather, Saturday night being
'"') and pleasant, in great contrast to
he w> m her of the preceding week.
The .principal news from outside the
city was the announcement from
Na,cue/, of the discovery of six eases
< re, and the attempt to blame New
Orleans for them. This is regarded as
1 •Tier strange in view of the fact that
of all the tight quarantines against
New Orleans, Natchez has maintained
I lie tightest, not even allowing its own
people to either if they had boon near
■Jew Orleans.
The official report in Now Orleans
for Sunday was as follows: New cases
31, total t<> date 1,743, deaths Sunday
13, total deaitIts to date 237, remSlu-
1ng under treatment 199.
Quito a controversy has developed
between City Health Officer Kohnke
luid Or. Joseph Holt, at one time the
president of the state board of health.
Dr. Holt, in the course of an address
before a meeting, passed some se¬
vere strictures on the city health ofti
* or, who, when lev read the report
of the address in the morning papers,
wrote him, raking if ho had been cor¬
rectly quoted. Dr. Holt made a rather
warm reply, iu the course of which
ho said:
"You are evidently trying a bltiiT
game, but whether so or not, you can
pop your whip ami wade In, for 1 make
to you neither ecology nor explana¬
tion.”
To this Dr. Kohne made response,
in which ho told his iiolltely Hat n*
should have ascertained the correct
•>'*ss of his Impressions before giving
them public utterance.
YIElOfO TO GUII1Y CONSCIfNCf.
Murderer Gives Himself bp to Authorities
to Satiate Remorse.
Carl Zcrrbol, a farm hand of Camden,
N. J., surrendered himself to Wilson ;
T. Jones, sheriff of Gloucester county,
and asked to be hanged. Zarbel said
he had killed a man in V rginia last
January The Virginia uthorit.ies wore
notified in wire and information was
roeovod that Zarbel’s story was true
and that a reward had been offered for
Ms (rapture.
He appeared to be melancholy and :
finally ho told his employer that ho !
was a murderer. Itis conscience gave
him no rest and he was impelled to
give himself up.
RtPORT Pi Mi0 ID CRT d.
Colored Collector of Charleston Sms lie
Never Asked for Roller l hair.
A Boston uispatrh vay-c Pr. William
D. Crum, the volleeu., of customs at
Charleston. S. C-. a colored man, who
is visit tig in this city, takes occasion
to denj that he had be n refused the
services >f a white wheel char at
ten^iant at .\sbury Park, N. J.. as has
been stated. Crum added that although
he was visiting Asbury Dark with his
invalid wife, he did not try to hire a
wheel chair nor did the proprietor of
the boardwalk chair stands de¬
cline to order any of his white hands
to push a chair for his wife.
| AN0THER RECESS TAKEN -
Peace Envoys Slill Eo'd Together ia
II pe of Reaching Agreement.
H*ng, by Slender Threat’.
A special from Portsmouth says :
| As indicated in previous dispatches
j iTcro was no rupture in the peace
1 negotiations Saturday.
Peace is by no means assured, but
, ,>n important cris s has been tided over
| ferenee and the has fact that the life of the con
been prolonged adds ma
j terially to the (fiances of a favorable
i issue.
According to the Russian version it
was Japan end not Russia which weak
cued Saturday afternoon. Mr. W'.’Uo
publicly announced after the sitting
that it was Biairon Kornura who asked
for an adjournment until Monday, in
order to have time to submit a new'
projiosltion.
Yet, it is known that Mr. Witte has
received instructions sent after the
president’s intercession at Peterhof, 1
through Ambassador Meyer, to agree ;
to the division of Sakhalin and to
permit liberal compensation for the
Russian prisoners or war and the ces- ;
sion of the Chinese Eastern railroad,
but to continue absolutely to retusu
to pay war tribute under any guise,
This was described as Russia’s “ui
timatum,” leaving over the same old
question of money the stumbling block i
to agreement, 1
an
In the regular course of procedure j
after the presentation of the Japan¬
ese compromise proposition on Wed¬
nesday, the diplomatic move passed to
Russia and it was Mr. Witte’s turn nat¬
urally to present the counter (proposi¬
tion of itis government. If lit; succeed¬
ed, as is intimated, in withholding
his card and forcing the Japanese to
play again, he undoubtedly gained a
point in the game.
But no adequate account of the pro¬
ceedings at Saturday’s meeting is
forthcoming. The plenipotentiaries by
agreement excluded the secretaries.
There were no minutes. There is no
record. This in itself is extremely
significant. When men who are fighting
a desperate battle lock themselves m
a room alone, it is the best evidence
that they are terribly in earnest. It
is a hopeful sign.
Emperor Nicholas’ response to Mr.
Meyer and his instructions to Mr.
Witte is regarded as his last word so
far as indemnity is concerned. Com¬
promise by which Japan oan secure a
comparatively moderate sum of money
is si’lll open.
Sunday Conference.
The life of the ipeaee conference
Sunday seemed to hang by a thread.
At 10 o’clock Sunday night, after a
conference lasting three-quarters or an
hour, between Mr. Takahira and Mr.
Witte, in the latter’s room in the ho- j
tel annex, the announcement of a
l*ostponeinent was made. Mr. Witte ex
plained that Mr. Takahira had told
him that to new instructions had
reuched hi.n from Tokio, and fearing
none might be received before the !
meeting scheduled for Monday after
noon. he had suggested the propriety !
of postponing the meeting until Tues
day. To this M,r. Witte said he had
readily assented. Mr. Takahira made
the following statement:
"Inasmuch as this conference was
initiated by the friendly offices of your
president, after consultation we fe'lt
that we should be cautious about ter¬
minating Rs labors.”
Pressed ns to whether he regarded
the situation as hopeless, Mr. Takahira
said: "No, not hopeless, but almost
hopeless.”
There is a persistent rumor that
President Roosevelt has made another
appoal to Japan.
Significant Meeting in Tokio.
A Tokio dispatch of Sunday says: A
specially summoned council of the cab¬
inet and shier statesmen is now in
session discussing the latest final
phase of Ihe peace conference at
Portsmouth.
TO STOP SUPPORT Of SCHOOL.
Movement in Alabama to Cut Out State Aid
to Tusketjee Institute.
Rumors are current in Montgomery
that at the next session of the Ala
bama legislature an effort will be
made to repeal any section of the laws
which tend to recognize the Tuskegee
negro school, presided over bv Book
er T. Washington, by according neither
financial or moral support. This feel¬
ing is due to the recent Washington
Wanamaker incident.
MAY PINBaNP COLORtl) 1R00PS.
A Petition is Being Circulated in Alabama
looking to lheir Abrogation.
\ petitim lias boon circulated in
Selma, Ala., among officers and for¬
mer officers of the state troops, asking
those In authority to muster out the
negro members of the Alabama na
tional fcuard. The petition has been
very generally signed and the move
rneut will be pushed.
RIDICULOUS DAMAGE SUIT
Brought Against Radrcad Company by
a Woman in North Carolina.
The last legislature of North Car¬
olina parse! a lav. that made it un¬
lawful for contingent fee lawyers to
solicit trade in the matter of suing
1 tae company, but that seems to have
j done no good. Tae limit has been
1 reached, however, if we credit a teje
graphic news item sent out and bear
i in S a Charlotte date line of where a
{ woman sues the Southern railway
company Lecause, as a passenger, she
was carried past the Durham station
-'>rnl taken on to Raleigh. It seems
I that she was forced to spend the night
in Raleigh and sets up that she sub
j fered mental anguish; that she could
n °t sleep in that city; that she vvor
ried and her health is impaired for
life, as she believes, and winds up the
hot air spiel by her lawyer by laying
claims to the modest sum of $10,000
damages because of all these things
R is to be sincerely hoped that the
nay will come when judges will throw
- sueh cases but of court,
We ace willing to admit that we
would not like to stop in either Ral
ei « h or Durham over night—but were
vve to h e delayed on a journey and
such was- the only alternative, we
bave a half notion that a sum of
money much smaller than the amount.
sued tor b y the lady who modestly
claims but ten thousand plunks would
b «'al our lacerated feelings. The law
yer does not state in the petition filed
in court how much of this likely
wad he expects to get—and it is to
be hoped, for the good name of the
state, that such a case will never be
allowed to go to trial.
It was only the other day that we
received a letter sent to us from a
neighboring city. The letter contain¬
ed a check for several dollars and
also the change of copy for an ad¬
vertisement that had to go in the
next, issue of the paper. While we dm
not need the money we did need the
copy, because failing to get it de¬
layed our issae, and it was important
that the advertisement be changed be¬
cause we had contracted that it would
appear. The letter was belated, and
had been sent to another postoffice.
The superscription was plain, plain
as print, and no living expert could
have decint’C-cd anything but Greers
borc, N. C., out of it—but just the
same the letter went to Mooresville,
North Carolina, and stopped over ;
night there jp b-.-ame along here tin
next evening.#, ^ntl the pfbstnf^ster
marked on it in big black type—a
type made for the business—“Mis
sent.” In other words, the postof
fice which started it out made a mis¬
take. That, was what it was, a mis¬
take pure and simple. Mooresville
called attention to it by stamping the
letter “Missent.” Now, suppose the
( ' ase for J us t a moment. Suppose we
llEul been a transient and that check
was of a11 importance to us. Sup
P° se tlle delayed letter had caused
us to niiss a train and thus cost more
hote l money waiting for it, and sup
; P° se by missing the train we had lost
a big sale Or lost a job or lost sev¬
eral thousand dollars?
Where would there have been any
redress—no matter what damages we
could have proven? There would
have been “one- The government
runs the mails — makes a mistake
once in a while and the man who
loses out whistles and lets it go at
that. But had such a thing happened
an(1 a railroad had been the cause of
it—why, bless your life a dozen eon
tingent lawyers would have harangu
ed a jury—let off enough heft air to
!nflate a balloon for a Polar expedi
tion and a weeping jury of “our coun
trymen” would have given us a ver¬
dict for twenty thousand dollars. Not
thpt we were entitled to a red cent,
but because it is popular to sue rail¬
roads and telephone and street
car companies — put up the
mental anguish squeal and
show a wrecked and nervous face, all
caused through worry and wonder¬
ment as 10 whether the damages
would come, and that is all-suffi
oient
-p- ne particular case of which we
make mention is farther fetched than
any lately coming under our notice,
unless it was the tramp in Asheville
who was trespassing upon the proper
tv of the company and leaped from a
trestle to save his precious neck and
sued the company for damages sus
mined in alighting—and if a jury is
asked to hear it it will be positively
shameful. The passenger perhaps re
reived as much notification as any
or.e received, because the train boy
and conductor always call the sta¬
tions, and if she failed to have in¬
telligence enough to know what they
were saying, it should not be charged
up to the company. But it is the
way of the world—and the fad to sue
company remains in favor —110
matter about the barratry laws and
no matter about common decency and
justice, Eher\thing (Qreensooro, _ ,
x. c.).
THE PAID COMPANION.
rxscdv&Rtcgss A-Plenty in This Woman’s ‘Cali nr,
TTi Work 5o £cg crly Grasped ct When First Offered is Often Given
O r p in Disappc n ment—Experiences cf Several Cirk—The Woman V/feo
brinks and the Obnoxious Family Servant
iV
^-tOiak
•y q 7T ^
a
_____
dec the eomprehensl title of com par.
t ion. A “compaitioj sounds as if it
J must be somethin delightful. The
young woman starting out in the work
ins world of a large city like New
York without capital, experience or
talents, has often a shrinking from tlie
business world and longs to hide her¬
self in some quiet cultured home,
where she may make herself useful
and agreeable, and also earn sufficient
pay to dress herself suitably, and per¬
chance amass a modest bank account.
What simpler, then, than to be com¬
panion to a delightful wboinU old lady, who is
bat lonely. to pleasure? briglit pres
ence will give hourly and for
whom it, will be equal happiness to
perform the services of a daughter?
Or, perhaps, the young woman is fond
of children and hopes to be mentor and
friend to a growing girl whom she
may assist to form good tastes in lit¬
erature,. art and music.
She sees herself in the future accom¬
panying a sweet young girl to concerts,
to lectures, and later on to “parties”
in the- light of a chaperone. And
doubtless there are such positions in
the world., but they are not as a rule
long vacant in New York, nor are they
iilled through newspaper advertise¬
ments or agencies. Indeed, the exper¬
ience of several young women in this
city lias wot been particularly encour¬
aging io- those desirous of seeking a
living in this calling, although some¬
times the outward appearance of their
situations is entirely satisfactory.
Still, whom so much of the companion’s
comfort depends on the personality of
her-employers,, the success of such a
position, is necessarily difficult to guar¬
antee,
A well known employment agent was
asked what her experience had been in
supplying women for the position of
companion.. She shook her head du¬
biously.
“Not one in lifty turns out satisfac
torily. so that I have given up trying
to supply anything a' hut teachers and
secretaries.. When girl doesn’t *get
o;. at home and can’t do anything else,
she thinks she can easily get from $30
to $30 a month, as companion to a rich
New Yorker. I have had the most
hopeless looking girls apply to me, and
sometimes very attractive ones, but,
unless one of my customers has asked
me to. look, out for some one for her
ttill that post, I do not bother with
them.,
“Sometimes ladies want a trained
nurse, and sometimes they want a
woman who is musical. I have sent
six or eight girls in succession to one
customer, onlj - to have them all re¬
jected after trial. They are too proud
or too laxy or snippy, or some other
thing, and finally the lady gives up in
despair. Then just when she has de¬
cided to take in a poor relation, along
comes to me the very woman, and it
is too late. Anyway, if you can’t get
on with your own flesh and blood, I
don’t see how you can expect strang¬
ers to agree with you, and that’s true
of both employer and employe in this
capacity.”
One young girl who had spent her
life in a small town came to New York
with the idea of seeing something of
the world. She answered an adver¬
tisement in a reliable paper, and soon
was employed as companion to an eld
erly lady, who was about to go abroad.
What delightful visions filled the girl’s
head, of sightseeing, of voyaging, of
little excursions in the wonderful coun¬
tries of Europe! The lady was a
widow, handsome, well dressed and,
although the salary offered was only
$15 a month, the applicant was too
eager for the experience and travel to
hesitate at that. Her duties were to
be light. She was to be more like a
friend and accompany her employer
everywhere. “I will give you some
clothes, my dear,” said the lady,
touching the young woman's simple
tweed gown with politely scornful
fingers, “and. of course, I shall take a
maid.”
DISENCHANTMENT.
In six months they returned from
their travels, having visited France,
Italy, Switzerland and, most briefly,
England. The companion could hard¬
ly wait to land, so eager was she to
leave her position, and she testified
willingly to the drawbacks of such
work. Her “lady" had proved herself
selfish, vain, jealous and ill-tempered,
but. worse than any of these miserable
petty faults, was the failing of drink,
which the innocent young woman liad
at last discovered after many embar
rassing lntppenin;:>.
“But did you not enjoy yourself at
all:” the girl was asked.
“Indeed I did. for a day or two at a
|j me j USt as S001! as j g ot t I10W
heople—and Mrs. B- always im-
I pressed people at first so that we met
1 everybody-we promptly moved on to
; another place. She seemed afraid of
letting me enjoy myself at all. and
seemed to care very little for sightsee
ing or anything but dressing up and
playing cards. Then she gave and lent
me the most hideous gay clothes which
she expected me to wear, and which
were not at all suitable for any one in
my position, and made people misun¬
derstand it entirely, so that I had to
hear many annoyances by having to
explain why I could not join young
parties and leave Mrs. B- behind.
Then she was always taking little
nips, as she called them, and flying
into a violent temper for nothing af¬
terwards, but I never guessed that she
took too much until the ship’s doctor
told me on the voyage home. She
wonldn t stay more than a week in
England because some friends of mine
were going to be there, and she thought
I might have too good a time for a
companion! No more such positions
for me!”
An older girl with, perhaps, less pa¬
tience. took a post as companion and
chaperone to a girl of fourteen (whose
father was much engaged in business
and whose mother bad died when she
was very young). The young woman
found the girl charming and sweet,
the father considerate and polite, the
house was handsome and her quarters
were all that could be desired. But
she was not happy, and could not en¬
dure it for more than a month, owing
to tlie obnoxious presence of a privil¬
eged Irish servant, who had held un¬
divided sway over the household for
ten years, and! was not ready to give
in to the newcomer. Several battles
had taken place between them, which
had reduced the child to tears, finally
dried on Bridget’s- shoulder, while the
companion retired discomfited. Too
spirited to put up with dictation from
such a source, and conscious that Brid¬
get was more' indispensable to the
family happiness than herself, the
young woman gave up $40 a month
and a comfortable home, and tried
again. After a succession of harrow¬
ing trials as companion to nervous and
physical wrecks from drink and va¬
rious diseases she gave up her id!:
and went into one of the
hospital training schools as the easier
life of the two.
Another- young woman became com¬
panion and mother’s help in a large
family of children in a Jersey suburb.
She loved the children, made them
love her, and was very happy with
them, but the lack of freedom and the
isolation told upon her, and at the end
of a year she was gLad to take up her
neglected knowledge of stenography,,
which would give her time and oppor¬
tunity to see her friends, with some
prospect of advance in the future—
which her other position did not pos¬
sess.
“Wlia-t did yon do in that family?
Did you teach the children?” she was
asked.
“No, except one hour in the morn¬
ing. The eldest one went to school,
the baby was absolved from study,
and the middle three had a governess
for seven months. From May to Sep¬
tember I gave them all an hour’s Ger¬
man in the morning, and the rest of
the time I helped their mother to keep
their clothes in order and to do the
housework. They were awfully good
to me, and I loved every one in the
house, and cried heartily to leave
them, but I didn’t feel that I was do¬
ing for thefia that a superior nurse¬
maid or chambermaid could not have
done, and I wanted a change.”
There are other examples of exper¬
ience in this situation that come to
mind. One girl is very happy and
contented as companion to an old lady.
Her chief duties are to drive daily
with her employer, to help her keep
house, to arrange the flowers, to play
chess and backgammon every even¬
ing, to read aloud, and do little odds
and ends of mending that are not
worth sending to a dressmaker. It
sounds dull, bht she does not find it so,
being a domestic little person and read¬
ily made happy by an occasional eve¬
ning at the theatre or by being al-'
lowed to have a friend iu for dinner,
and these favors are by no means rare
in this warm-hearted household.
And, after all. the situation resolves
itself to this: that very few normal
pleasant people have need to hire a
companion, and if such a person is
needed there must always be some
disadvantage to overlook. The ques¬
tion is, has the applicant the courage
and patience to fill the breach cheer¬
fully? If not. she had better try some
oth „ WO rU less exacting and nerve
rackiug.—New York Post.
Bright red spectacles, accompanied
by internal doses of calomel, form a
new German specific agent against sea¬
sickness.
the fields of work
for women there is per
haps none in which coudi
tions are more varying
than that