Newspaper Page Text
Swallows.
Tfce swallows fly high, the swallows fly low,
And summer winds come, and summer day3
go;
,Ihey are building nests ’neath the cottage
'Caves;
Tfwy dream not of autumn or fading leaves.
The soft showers are falling, the west winds
blow,
The swallows fly high, the swallows fly low.
But summer is passing, and golden sheaves
Are whispering of winter and withered
.leaves;
The woodlands are ringing the whole day
long;
Thb swallows are singing their farewell
song;
They sing of a land where they long to be,
Of endless summers far over the sea.
O sunshinel O swallows! Sweet summer
time,
STe sing to my heart of youth’s golden
prime—
And distance and death, and long years be
tween,
Recede with their joys and their sorrows
keen;
And tender eyes lingeringly rest on me—
Xoved eyes, that on earth I shall no more
see.
For spring brings the swall >ws to last year s
nest,
Anri world-weary hearts wander home to
rest.
No home like the old of sunshine and dew;
N° faces so dear and no heart so true!
WJjaaever, wherever my feet may roam,
J4y heart turns with love to my childhood's
home.
—Chambers' Journal.
HUNTING OUTLAWS.
Tor the first three years of my con
nection with a western detective agency
I was known to the employes of the
'agency, when known at all, as “the
wutlaw man.” Not that I had over been
an outlaw myself, but because I was as
signed to the duty of hunting down
outlaws and no one else. It is a line of
work still in existence with several
agencies, but it is one in which few
men care to engage, no matter what the
•alary. It is all right when you are
hunting the outlaw, but vastly different
when he turns and hunts you. Had 1
fully understood what would be required
of me, I would not have engaged in the
work for any salary the agency could,
have named, but, once engaged, pride
and circumstance kept me bound to the
work until imperatively obliged to re
Imguish it.
For two years previous to my start, a
man known as Bill Gibbs had been out
lawed iu Arkansas. He was a robber
and murderer, had a price set upon his
head, and had taken refuge in the Bos
ton Mountains, and from his lair defied
all authority of law. Ho was a terror
to a large district, and the plan to get
rid of him was discussed and arranged
Eke an ordinary business transaction.
“What sum in cash will your agency
take to hunt down and kill Bill Gibbs? 1 ’
Was the query.
“We will do it for - dollars.”
'“All right; go ahead.”
When the preliminaries had been ar
ranged with the committee, I was called
an for orders.
“You will proceed to Huntsville,
Arkansas, and from thence locate Gibbs.
Do not attempt to take him prisoner.
The whole state wants him killed. Take
your time and make your own plans,
twit do not return until you have dis
posed of him.”
(Inside of five days I was in Hunts
ville, but I tramped over the country
between that town and the base of the
Tange for a week before I secured any
definite information regarding Gibbs.
Every farmer knew him and almost ev
ery one paid him tribute, but such was
the fear of his vengeance that only an
occasional person dared admit having
•cen him. The outlaw was entirely
•lone, and he had been left unmolested
mo Jong that the advantage would bo on
any side. He was described to me as a
xnau of 40, very powerful and vindict
ive, and of a natural bloodthirsty dispo
sition. When he came down out of the
mountains he was sure to do some fiend
ish thing, although unprovoked, and
among people ready to befriend him. I
found colored men who liad had an
«ar slashed off by him and half a dozen
white men who had been shot at or oth
erwise intimidated. It was over two
weeks belore I got any information of
direct value.
I then stumbled upon a colored
•quitter to the southeast of Huntsville
mad near the foothills, who panned out
at a lively rate. I encountered him on
m trail in the woods, and had him cov
ered with my rifle before he knew of
tj presence. By threatening and coax
log and bribing I induced him to yield
•p the information I was after. He
•rms then miles from his cabin and on
SCHLEY COTTOTT NEWS.
his way to Huntsville to procure sup
plies for Gibbs. He had a bundle of
coon and fox skins, which he was to ex
change for coffee, crackers, powder
and lead. He had been a compulsory
agent for a year, and such was his fear
of the outlaw that when I brought the
muzzle of my cocked rifle dow r n to
within a foot of his breast and threat
ened to fire he wailed out:
‘‘You kin dun kill me, mar's white
man, but I’zo afraid of Mar’s Gibbs jist
de same!”
Gibbs was to wait at the colored man ’3
cabin until the owner’s return. I
ordered him to go forward and say noth
ing to any living soul about meeting
me, and when he had disappeared I
started for the cabin. I had no idea
that the outlaw would remain in the hut
or close to it. While he probably
trusted the colored man as much as he
trusted any human being, his outlaw
life would render him suspicious of
everybody, and he would take no chances.
I reasoned that he w r ould quit the cabin
as soon as he had obtained a bite to eat,
and that he would go into hiding at
some point from which he could com
mand a view. Therefore, when within
a mile of the spot, I made a circuit to
the right and came out a mile or more
to the south of the little clearing. I
found that a ravine led down from the
mountain in the direction of tfie cabin,
and after an hour’s search up and down
I discovered evidences that some one
had traversed it but recently, Weeds
were broken down, stones displaced, and
at a certain moist spot I found plain
footprints. The outlaw had come down
from his lair by this gloomy trail, and
he would doubtless return by it.
I met the colored man about 9 o’clock
in the morning. He would have time
to do his trading and return by 4 or 5
in the afternoon. Gibbs might go off
on an expedition after receiving his sup
plies, but the chance? were that he
would at once return to his lair, Ifol
lowed the ravine back to a point where
it narrowed to a width of six or eight
feet, and where the path was in semi
darkness even at high noon, and there I
prepared my trap. Had I met him face
to face I could have shot him, but I
could not lie in ambush and do it, out
law though he was. It was too much
like murder. Inside of an hour I had
my rifle set as a spring gun, to be dis
charged as the man’s legs pressed a
small cord running across the path, and
then I retired to a thick clump of pines
about forty rods away, and went into
camp to await results, If my action
seems cold-blooded let the reader con
demn. I had in my pocket a list of five
men whom Gibbs had killed in cold
blood, and the names of a dozen whom
he had slashed and maimed out of pure
malignity.
While I was arranging the gun, two
land-lookers were approaching the cab
in. They were strangers to the neigh
borhood and unarmed. Gibbs was just
leaving the cabin to go into hiding, and
although the men neither displayed
weapons, nor called upon him to halt,
he fired upon them with a revolver,
wounding one in the shoulder and the
other in the side. He then started up
the ravine and I had not been ten min
utes in hiding before I heard the spring
gun discharged. I waited a few min
utes and then carefully approached the
spot, and it was to find Gibbs dead
across the string. He had been instant
ly killed by the bullet. When we came
to get the body out to have it identified
we found the facial expression to be as
savage as that of an enraged tiger, lie
had been living the life of a wild beast
until he resembled one.
My second adventure with an outlaw
lasted much longer. A half breed
Choctaw named John Flint, who was a
resident of Doaksville, Indian Territory,
and who had killed several men in the
year after the close of the war, was run
out of the neighborhood by a vigilance
committee, and he to ok up his lair in
the mountain spur to the south, and
swore that he would never be taken
alive nor make friends with a human
being. He was represented as a quick
shot, a fighter to the death, and a man
of such a vigilance that he could not be
surprised. lie was outlawed and a
price set upon his head, but it was
hoped he might be taken alive and
hanged. Our agency was offered $1,000
more to capture him alive than to fur
nish proofs of his death, but it was at
the same time admitted that over a
dozen men had spent weeks in vain in
trying to either kill or capture him.
Three of the number had been killed
while pursuing the enterprise. The out-
look for me was therefore very dubious,
but I determined to see what could be
done.
As is the case with every outlaw,
Flint had his friends and admirers in
the country aboat him. I reached
Doaksville to learn that he was around
with a Winchester and two revolvers,
and that people for twenty miles around
were intimidated by him. He levied
toll on the farmers with a high hand,
obliging one to furnish meat, another
flour, a third cartridges, and such was
the tewor his presence inspired that no
one dared betray him,though all yearned
to hear of his death or capture. He was
put on his guard against me on my ar
rival, and he sent me word that if I did
not at once leave the country he would
have my life. When I finally got ready
to begin my hunt for him he was hunt
ing me as well. When I had secured
such particulars as I desired, I bundled
up what necessity | demanded and cut
loose from civilization. That is, I
headed for the mountain, determined to
pursue the man day and night until I
had run him down. It was no use to
plan to catch him about any of the farm
houses, as he knew that I was after him,
and he would, as a measure of prudence,
forsake his old haunts for the time be
ing. It seemed to me the best way to
hunt for his lair and have it out with
him on his own ground.
For the first three days I got neither
track nor trace of Flint. It was like
hunting for a needle in a haystack, as
the mountain was thickly covered with
verdure, and split up with many ravines
and gulches. Nobody had ever found
Ins hiding place,' but from some remarks
dropped once when he had liquor in him
it was supposed to be a cave in the
rocks, and to be approached only with
the greatest difficulty. If 1 met him
abroad it would be entirely by accident,
so I carefully avoided crossing any bar
places where he might espy me from his
lookout. About mid-forenoon on the
forth day I came across a snare set for
rabbits by some human hands. An in
vestigation proved that it had been in
use for some time, and had held several
victim*, although empty at this time.
This must be the work of the outlaw,
since his presence on the mountain had
driven all hunters away. Two hours
later and a mile away I discovered a
snare from which a partridge had lately
been taken. I felt then that I was in
the neighborhood of the outlaw’s den,
but I had to move slowly and exercise
the greatest vigilance. I built my fires
in ravines and with the least possible
smoke, and whenever night came down
I crept under the pines and rolled my
self in a blanket. Ou the fifth and
sixth days I did not cover over two
miles of ground, and most of that dis
tance was covered on hands and knees.
On the evening of the sixth day I had
to descend the mountain to renew my
provisions at a farm house, and what
was my chagrin to learn from a colored
man that Flint had visited the place for
the same purpose only the night before.
He gave me the directions taken by the
outlaw, but when I reached the foot of
the mountain I could go no further in
the darkness and had to camp down. I
was astir at daylight and at once made
my way to the crest of the big hill, be
lieving that Flint, having supplied him
self with provisions, would bo quiet for
two or three days. Whether he did or
not I hunted for him another week with
out finding further trace than a third
snare he had set for game. On the thir
teenth day my hunt came to an end in a
singular manner.
I was following up a dry ravine, so
full of bushes and loose rocks that I
had to creep most of ihe time, and I
was resting under some very thick
bushes when I heard a movement on the
bank above. It might have been caused
by a deer or bear, but I felt pretty cer
tain that it was a man. He was on the
bank of the ravine directly over my
head, and after a minute or two I heard
the squeal of a rabbit. It was Flint,
then, and he was taking the game from
a snare. We could not sec each other,
but he had the advantage of being above
me. The bank was too steep to climb,
and I was just turning to creep back to
a spot where I could ascend when there
was a sort of crash above me, a sup
pressed shout of alarm, and next in
stant earth, rocks and bushes were
falling all about me. I sprang
up, and as I did so the spread
eagle form of a man struck the bushes
nt my right and broke through
them with a great crash. I made a leap
to get out of the way, but the body had
scarcely come to a stop before I wa» at
hand, It was the outlaw, as I raw at a
glance. The fall had stunned him.
While he still clutched the rabbit in his
right hand his left arm was broken, i
lost no time in securing and disarming
him, and when h» roused up, five min
utes later, he had no show. He took it
out in cursing, however, and of ail the
blood-curdling oaths I ever heard a man
use he capped the climax. I got him
about noon, and before night I had him
down the mountain and delivered up to
legal authority. He resisted me vigor
ously for the first hour, declaring
that he would die before he would ac
company me, but after I had used a
stout switch on him several times and
given him to understand that he would
be dragged if he refused to walk, he
was more tractable, He was turned
over to the United States authorities,
arraigned on six or seven charges of
murder, but convicted and hung on the
first. I was not present when he was
swung off, but in his speech from the
scaffold he cursed me high and low and
left it as his dying request that liis
friends would not rest until they had
taken my life.
The Roman Circus.
Such curious and beautiful creatures
were brought before our eyes as I had
scarce known even in my reading. And,
as if their natural beauty were not
enough, art had been ealled in to in
crease their attraction. There were
ostriches—’tis a bird, if you will be
lieve me, of full six cubits in height—,
dyed with vermillion; and lions whose
manes had been gilded, and antelopes
and gazelles, which were curiously
adorned with light-colored scarfs and
gold tinsel. I should weary you were j
to enumerate the strange creatures which
I saw. Besides the more common
kinds, there were river-horses (’tis a
clumsy beast, and as little like to a
horse as can be conceived, except,
they say, as to the head when
the upper half is protruded from
the water), and rhinoceroses, and zebras
(beasts curiously striped and not unlike
to a very strong and swift ass); and
above all, elephants. Though I liked
not the artificial adorning of some of
these creatures — which, indeed, I
thought proof of a certain vulgarity in
these Romans—I could not but admire
the skill with which all these animals
had been taught to keep in subjection
their natural tempers and to imitate the
ways of men. This was especially man
ifest in the elephants. One of these
huge beasts, balancing himself most
carefully, walked on a rope tightly
drawn. Other four, on the same most
difficult path, carried between them a
litter in which was a fifth, who repre
sented a sick person. And even more
wonderful than these were the lions and
other beasts of a similar kind, It has
always been a favorite marvel
of the poets, how Bacchus
was drawn in a chariot by
leopards which he had trained to be as
docile as horses. But here I saw Bac
chus outdone. Lions and tigers, pan
thers and bears appeared patiently draw
ing carriage?, lions being yoked to ti
gers and panthers to bears. Wild bulls
permitted boys and girls to dance upon
their backs, and actually, at the word
of command, stood upon their hind
feet. Still more wonderful again than
this was the spectacle bf Hons hunting
hares, catching them and carrying the
prey in their mouths, unhurt, to their
masters. The emperor summoned the
lion tamer who had trained the beasts
in this wonderful fashion and praised
him highly for his skill. The man an
swered with as pretty a compliment as
ever I heard. “It is no skill of mine,
my lord,” says he; “the beasts are gen
tle because they know whom they
serve.”— St. Nicholas.
Florida’s Annual Cornucopia.
Florida annually produces $30,000
worth of honey, $40,000 worth of
strawberries, $50,000 worth of hogs,
$30,000 worth of sheep, $350,000 worth
of beef, $750,000 worth of sponges,
$350,000 of fish and oysters, $3,500,000
worth of oranges, lemons, limes and
pineapples, $05,000 worth of sugar and
molasses, $200,000 worth of rice, $500,
000 worth of cedar, $20,000,000 of
other lumber and $4,00,000 worth of
cotton—a total of nearly $30,000,000.
Contagious.
Old Gentleman: “You aro quite a
genius, my lad.”
Sharp Youth: “Well, I dunno; p’raps
so. My brother was a genius, an’
mabbe it’s kctchin’. I used ter sleep
with him,”— Epoch.
HERB STORES.
Q ne 0 f the Curious Industries Of
the Metropolis.
Selling Vegetable Remedies in
Their Natural State.
Down in quaint old Varick street and
over on East Broadway, on the very first
blocks on Sixth and Third avenues, are
the herb stores of the city. “Botanic
depots” is what the directory says. Few,
indeed, nowadays are the believers in
the old country women’s remedies of
bottling and brewing. The city man or
woman of today rushes off to a doctor
at the first ache or pain. His prescrip
tion, it is quite likely, is some herbal
extract, for doctors do not always give
mineral remedies. But he uses those
herbal extracts prepared by the large
drug firms, and prescribes them under
their long Latin names—so people
won’t know. If questioned very closely
he is likely to acknowledge this, but he
will add: “Not in their raw state. They
are first chemically prepared, refined
and purified.” But the old-fashioned
woman will shake her head, declare
that nature is good enough for her, she’d
rather trust it anyway than the princi
ples on commercial preparation, and
that “there’s an herb for every pain.”
But the doctor sugar coats his pills
nicely, and the herb remedies are often
of very nasty taste. And then a few
drops of an extract will suffice, while of
decoctions and infusions of the herbs
themselves quantities and cupfuls must
be taken.
Still there are enough herb people in
the town to keep four shops running,
and the customers are mostly of the bet
ter class. Poor people are the readiest
to turn doctorward.
The little shop of the herbist looks
for all the world like that of an ordina
ry apothecary, but that the glass bottles
of the windows and shelves are replaced
by tin and wooden boxes and drawers,
and the classical titles of the drugs by
very rural-sounding names. The col
ored window lights are also absent.
“The herbs,” remarke a herbist, “daily
called for are principally these: Hoar
hound, sarsaparilla, catnip, camomile
flowers, yellow dock, burdock, sassafras,
mandrake, cherry bark, stillinga and
wintergreen. All in all, there are about
two hundred and fifty varieties which I
must keep in stock.”
“Do you gather them yourself?”
‘‘No. It doesn’t jiay for the trouble.
The wholesale druggists of the city keep
them in this raw state, and I can buy
them very cheaply in quantities. With
in a few years, however, I have gathered
several varieties on Mauhatten Island
and others at Greenville, down on the
upper bay. A lot of the herbs now in
use are imported. Most of the others
come from the Carolinas.
Herbs are prepared for the dosing in
two ways : by decoction—that is, boiling
—this applying only to roots and herbs,
and by infusion, which consists in the
pouring on of hot water and letting the
stuff stand and steep, Of the latter
class are plants and leaves, There is
also another method—that of soaking
in cold water—such as goose grass, of a
hay-like appearance and smell, a dropsy
remedy, and quassia, the inner bark of
a West Indian tree, chipped into bits so
that it looks for all the world like pine
shavings. This is used as a tonic.
Ihe bugle-weed, a low growing plant,
the whole of which is made use of, is
highly esteemed among herbists as a
consumptive remedy. Taken in an in
fusion it is spoken of as excellent to pre
vent bleeding at the lungs. Red clover
is most effectual for relieving the pain
of cancer, but the wise old country
women, sagely nodding their heads in
the chimney corner, never found any
remedy for (hat disease, any more than
the most expert M. D. Wormwood is
the arnica of the herbalist, Moistened
"with hot water, mixed with salt, and
laid on flannel for a poultice, the her
bists say it will take down swelling
quicker than any arnica can. Lobelia
is the all-powerful emetic, Coltsfoot i3
the well-known cough and cold remedy,
and an infusion of hemlock leaves—the
non-poisonous variety—a remedy for
rheumatism. Catnip, the cat’s natural
remedy, is rather aptly termed the cat’s
“opium, ” so stimulating is its effect.
Sumac berries are used as a gargle for
sore throat and also as a tonic. The
other 240 odd varieties of herbs are used
singly and in combination for the euro
of almost every known disease.— New
Hork dlail and