Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation.
About Schley County news. (Ellaville, Ga.) 1889-1939 | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1894)
The virulence of anti-foreigu feeling lu Japan is apparently increasing. Four state prisons, those of Con necticut, Michigan, Montana and Washington, uhij deprivation of relig ious privileges as a punishment. The “foreign trade of Canada was $245,694,000 in 1893, us compared with $241,369,000 in 1892. The ex ports amounted to $118,619,000, by far the greatest in the history of the Dominion.” According to the 1892 report on the mineral resources of the United Stuto! by the geological survey, just to hand, the total output of salt in Louisunn for that year is estimated at 290,000 barrels, valued at $100,000. The United States, Denmark, Switz erland and Holland spend the most on public education per child, ranking in the order given, notes the New York Ledger. Austria, Italy and Sax ony spend the least. France spends the most on military per inhabitant, and Switzerland and the United States the least. From all this it would seem t hat this country ami Switzerland adjust benefits and burdens most equit ably. _ The United States Postoffice De partment has made a stand against some unfortunate tendencies of geog raphical nomenclature in this country by refusing to accept certain outland ish names for postal purposes. The result, states the Chicago Herald, is that many towns of triple-jointed name are known by some other title on the rolls of. the postoffice department, to the confusion and inconvenience not only of their inhabitants but of all persons doing business with them. Along with the announcement that the army roll is full, and that recruit ing has been suspended, comes what the New York News terms the humili utiug report that a considerable per centuge of our national soldiery can not read nor write. It is officially stated that of 353 prisoners sent last year to the Leavenworth military prison, sixteen were tinable to read and twenty-one unable to write. It seems surprising that our miniature army cannot keep its muster roll full without enlisting men so illiterate that they are unable to write their names. A bill lias been introduced in Congress, however, intended to dis qualify illiterate applicants for enlist ment in future, and there is hardly a doubt of its passage. A tea-toning tablet is the latest in vention or discovery of amateur chem istry, says the New York Times. In shape they are like lozengers, are of light purple color and are called “tan occas. One of these clapped into a pot of tea—two if the pot is a large one—effectually, it is alleged, destroys the tannic acid and other harmful properties and removes the grim spec ter of unwholesomeness which has latterly begun to haunt seriously this most comforting beverage. For the present “tanoccas” are out of the reach of the New York public, as their con coction is a secret closely guarded by three ladies, residents of an English province, but such a boon to the race cannot long he withheld when its ex istence becomes widely known. “NewYork,” says the Medical Re jord, “has always been something oi a suicidigenous centre. The only city that has ever exceeded it in suicidal rates is San Francisco, where seven out of every 20,000 kill themselves annually. Life seems pleasant to the Quakers, for in Philadelphia their suicides were only 8.03 per 100,000. Even the Puritan of Boston prefers to take his east wind rather than poison, Chicago people find it easier to move nway than to kill themselves. No ex tensive study of American sui cidal statistics has been published quite recently, but so far as New York city is concerned, it looks as though Morselli’s law was finding its illustra tion here. In the aggregate of the civi lized States of Europe and America, tlie frequency of suicide shows agrow iug and uniform increase, so that gen erally voluntary death since the begin ing oi the century has increased, and goes on increasing more rapidly than the geometrical augmentation of ths population and of the general mortal ity. A Heidelberg professor declares that this is an ago of nervousness. Pennsylvania has a greater railroad trackage to the square mile than either Germany, France or Holland. The farther north, assents the Wash ington Star, the more injurious to tlm human system iN the use of coffee. Greenlanders have found it necessary to prohibit its use by the young. lli 1850 there were 0,737 persons in the prisons of America, or 292 per one million of the population; now there are 59.258, or 1,180 per million, a remarkable sign of the times, thinks the Yankee Blade. The marriage laws in Australia are becoming quite strict. A marriage there has been declared void because the bride had deceived the husband by stating that she was fifteen years younger than her age. Russia possesses so-called railway schools in which pupils “receive the oretical and practical instructions m all branches of railway work.” There are twenty-eight such schools, ‘ ‘twenty five of whom are direct state institu tions.” M. Dybowski, in a recent journey in the interior of Africa, encountered a tribe who have reduced cannibalism to fl S y S t em that they have only olie 0 bj ec t 0 f purchase—slaves to be eaten . They refuse to sell food or auy ot p er products of their country for anything else, and the surrounding tribes capture and export canoe loads of slaves for this pur nose. Judge Kelley of Kilrush, in Ireland, has delivered himself of this weighty decision, which the New York Sun feels will probably have the ellect of making his honor very popular with the gentler sex the world over: “Women,” said the learned judge, “are the ruin of the country, Noth j n g pleases women nowadays but these extraordinary fashions, com prising parasols, corsets, petticoats, feathers, and all this ludicrous head gear which brings ruin on parents and husbands.” « New York is being stirred up ovei the physical deterioration of its in habitants, and proposes to take steps far their better physical development. A number of prominent physicians are moving in the matter, and they propose to build a gymnasium largo enough to accommodate 5000 people at once. The plan is to purchase two whole blocks, and put up an im mense building for the purpose. The State and city will be asked to help in its erection, but it is expected to be maintained by private subscriptions, while its benefits are extended free to all scholars in the public and high j schools, and to students at colleges, Sandow, the strong man, has been asked whether he would accept a place as head instructor in the proposed gymnasium, and has promised to take the matter under consideration. He is said to have refused similar offers in Berlin and Vienna. It is thought that an institution of this sort would have a very beneficial effect on the j general development of New Yorkers, The strained relations between Nor way and Sweden were rather unhap pily illustrated the other day at a re ceptiou for Jonas Lie, the famous | Scandinavian writer. He was to rc i turn to Christiania after many years’ absence, and the people of the capi tal, irrespective of party affiliations, decided to honor him. When it came to the decoration of the hall, however, the first difficulty presented itself, ; Flags were naturally considered necessary parts of the decora tious, but when the hated sign of the Union in the Swedish Norwegian flag was observed by the Liberals among the entertain ers, they declined to take part in the reception. The Conservatives insisted upon the presence of the flag. The dispute became so bitter that the re ceptiou was about to be abandoned, when a cool-headed man proposed that all flags, the National Norwegian ensign among them, be taken from the walls. This was decided upon, and the reception took place. Lie himself is a Liberal in politics, as are most of the Norwegian writers. He Avas deeply hurt, however, by the quarrel Avliich the proposal to honor him had caused. SCHLEY COUNTY NEWS., “Signal Lights.” The great gray sea and the headland bold, The tall gaunt tower of the lighthouse old, The rhythmic beat of the waves below, Gloaming white us the wintry snow. Tho sunset flames and smoulders away, Firing the sails in tho lower bay, Andtho beacon swings its burning light To misty sea and coming night. And answering lights are kindled afar, From rocky shoro and from sandy bar, That flash responsive—and greeting send, Like tho loving voice of an absent friend. burn on, burn on, O signal light! Fling out thy message to tho night; In darkness dense and danger’s hour Thou art a mighty saving power. Like loyal hearts that Ioa'o and cling Through all the ills that fate can bring; That shine forth with a beauty rare Through storm and shipwreck and despair. —[Boston Transcript. MY STRANGE PATIENT. a sr ro eon’s story. About tAvo years ago there came to me a tall, handsome fellow, who gaA*e the name of George Griffiths. He had a fearless eye, a cheerful, even genial expression, an exceptionally Avell moulded aquiline nose, and a splendid moustache, trimmed and tended, evi dently, with scrupulous care. There Avas no obvious reason, certainly, Avhy he should require my services; there was no possibility of making him bet ter looking. “I hear that you are a specialist in dermatology,” he began, after I had greeted him with the usual formality. I admitted the soft impeachment. “Well,” he Avent on, “I Avant you to perform a surgical feat on me. I want my nose altered. I expressed surprise, and assured him that, in my humble opinion, his nose was best let alone, But he dis puted this proposition, and insisted that he had reasons for being weary of the aqualine, and for craving a pro boscis as unlike as possible to that with Avhich nature had endowed him. See ing my curiosity, and possibly not Avishing to be deemed a madman, be proceeded to explain them to me. “After several years roughing it in Texas,” he said, “I have come back rich, and there is nothing to prevent my enjoying myself but the pestering attention of relatives Avhom I had hoped to have done with forever when I Avent abroad. But I cannot escape them or their importunities, and so, hoAveA'er eccentric you may think me, I must enlist yonr services. I jmesume there is no danger in the operation?'’ “No danger,” I replied, accepting his explanation as that of an eccentric man, Avhose affairs, after all, Avere no business of mine, “and very little pain—practically none, in fact. But you must keep indoors for a feAv days after it is over. W r hen and Avhere shall I call upon you?” “Could you not operate here, and now?” he asked. “Impossible. Your journey home would not be without great risk.” “But could I not stay here? Could you not accommodate me for the short time necessary? Doctor, I could and would pay you liberally for the ser A’ice. Consider, if I go home, my identity would be again revealed to those from whom I desire to conceal it.” This speech, one Avould have thought, would have aroused my suspicion, but it did not. The man’s frank and open expression disarmed me entirely', and I could but look upon him as I had done previously, simply as an eccen tric individual. It so happened I had a spare room. I could not regard the question of remuneration Avitli indif ference, and so, to cut a long .story short, I consented. For the pur]jose of more convenient ly operating, I suggested someAvhat timidly, the sacrifice of his beautiful mustache. To my surprise, he as sented eagerly, and Avas for the appli cation of scissors and razor fortlrwith. You would scarcely credit the differ ence the removal of this artistic hir sute appendage—“the crop of many yearp,” as he jokingly deseribsd it— made to my patient. It displayed what had been concealed before, his mouth, and the sinister expression of this Avas such as to effectually nullify the honest geniality of his upper face. In fact the removal of his mustache constituted, as I promptly told him, a sufficient guise to baffle any number of inquisitive relatives. But he in sisted on the nasal operation never- theless. His motto was evidently “thorough.” Well* I informed it, and when, six days later, Mr. George Griffiths left my house, with nothing but a rapidly healing and almost invisible scar to blemish the straight nose which now adorned his face, I would have wagered my case of instruments to a twopenny penknife that the most observant of his previous accquaintauees would never have recognized him. About a week after my eccentric patient’s departure, the particulars, so far as they were known of a remark able brutal murder were made public. The body of a lady named Bates, evi dently stabbed to death, had been dis covered in a house in a London sub urb, where she had resided with her husband, Avho had now’ disappeared, and whose portrait and description were now freely circulated by the police. A brief amount of attention to these published details was sufficient to convince me that my patient, Mr. George Griffiths Avas the criminal. I lost no time in communicating Avhat I knew to the authorities, by whom, it must be said, my story Avas received with some incredulity. You see, my special branch of surgery is but little known to the public, and it Avas the opinion of the police that the murder er had left the country some time be fore Mr. Griffiths had left my house. But. a few months ago, happening to be on a visit to Dresden, Avhither I had gone on a brief summer holiday— and having in a Avay largely succeeded in dismissing from my mind the events abo\ r e related—I was startled to see, seated at table in the Gawer behaus in that city, enjoying the strains of the talented orchestra, my no longer mysterious but now dread ful acquaintance, Mr.George Griffiths! My duty, I decided after a mom ment’s reflection, was plain—to de nounce and deli\’er him to the au thorities. Quickly, therefore, lest he should lea\ r e before I could have him arrested, I explained myself as well as I Avas able to the nearest official. He looked and was unbelie\’ing. So, too, were the others whom he summoned to % hear my story. That part of it which referred to the operation Avas received with a smile, and the upshot of it was that so far from effecting my ex-pa tient’s capture, I Avas myself lightly ridiculed as a mad Englishman. But I could not allow myself to be to be baffled in what I considered my clear duty, viz., to deliver a foul mur derer up to justice. I determiued, therefore, to.renew my acquaintance Avith him there and then, to give him no inkling of my knowledge of the truth, and to communicate once more Avith tho English police, while contin uing to keep him under my own sur veillance in the Saxon ca}>ital. When, Avith a polite bow, I ap proached and spoke to him, he recog nized me at once ; I co uld see that, though at first he pretended not to know me. We spoke of many matters of general interest; I flattering my self that nothing in my conversation or bearing gave him the slightest ground to suspect me. That same night I Avrote a long let ter to the London police, again stat ing my certain knowledge than this man, changed though he Avas, was the murderer of Mrs. Bates, and suggest ing that they should forthwith send over to Dresden an official armed Avith information as to other distinguish ing marks o:i Mr. Bates’ person be sides his aquiline nose and heavy mustache. During the next feAv days j became very intimate with my ex-patient, and in pursuance of a scheme I had formed in\’ited him more than once to bathe with me from one of the floating baths. This he cheerfully did, being an ad mirable swimmer. On the fifth day from my writing to London an ansAver arrived in the person of a stalwart de tective from Scotland Yard, Avho in formed me that the real Mr. Bates had, as I suspected, the distinguishing marks which could be verified ; among them an anchor tatooed on the left forearm, which I had myself, of course, noticed whilst A\-e were bathing to gether. To satisfy himself, before acting on the warrant he had brought with him, the detective, Mr. Hanway, it Avas agreed, should join our bathing party on the morroAv —a simple and not disagreeable preliminary to the contemplated arrest. But alas! for the schemes of mica andmeu! We called together at Mr. Griffith’s—alias Bates’ rooms—in the morning, and found him busy with some correspondence, “If you’ll wait for mo half an hour or so on tho Terrace,” he said, “which your friend will find very pleasant, I’ll join you for our swim in about half an hour.” Suspecting nothing we took our leave —and waited for him as he had dir ected. But we waited in vain. Whether the features of my friend, Mr. Han wav, were known to him, or whether there had, in spite of my care, been anything in my manner to excite his suspicion, I cannot say. Suffice is, that we remained a full hour ou the Terrace, and then returned to find him—gone. Whither, we could never trace, and I have never seen him since. From that day to thifc he has baffled tho skill of the police of two countries, and it is my belief that if he he still alive he has again persuaded some guileless surgeon to operate on him, and once more alter the outline of hi features beyond recognition.— [The Million. The Day of Virginia City. “The first time that I Avas in Vir ginia City',” said a tnn'eller, “its pop ulation Avas greater than that of the entire state uow. Everything ran Avide open. There were magnificent hotels and opera halls, palatial resi dences, stores that would have done credit to Ncav York, and millionaires who spent money freely, maintaining a society' that for brilliancy and gay ety could not be equalled in the United States. I Avas there a short time ago. The hotels and opera-house3 are closed, the residences empty, the stores removed to other and more prosperous places. Dwellings that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars are given oA'er to the hats, and tho broken panes of glass, the shutters hanging upon a single hinge and flap ping in the Avind, give a gruesome sense of loneliness. In years to come it will afford magnificent spectacles of ruins, and eA'en now in some sections of the town there is a sense to the. be holder of being in a city of the past. Millions AA-ere made and lost, and the history' of Virginia City would be one of the most thrilling stories eA'er Avrit ten. ”—[St. Louis Globe-Democrat. A Dead-Letter Office Story. Among the curiosities in the museum is a baby Jumbo Avith one of his sides gorgeously embroidered in the Stars and and the other flaunting the Union Jack, the tAvo united by a golden chain. It had drifted thither, and had been for several years es conced in its glass case, Avhen a postal exhibit Avas begged from the depart ment for a church fair, and for the first time Jumbo Avent out for an air ing. It so happened that a lady from NeAv Hampshire was visiting Washing ton at the time and Avent to the fair. To the surprise of her friends, she greeted Jumbo as a long lost friend. Ten y r ears before she had made him and sent him to her daughter in Eng land, who had married a man named Link—hence the design of the two flags linked together. But she did not claim her possession, and so he has never made his journey across the ocean.—[St. Nicholas. The Bicycle as a War Horse. So great has been the extension of the use of the bicycle in the Belgian army as in the other military organi zations of the Continent, that the minister of Avar at Brussels has elabo rated a scheme for the prompt mobili zation of the different cyclist corps. With this object special rail way Avagons have been constructed for the carriage of the machines. Each wagon has a carrying capacity for thirty bicycles and as many riders, half the machines being hung from the roof and half being placed in wooden groves ou the floorings. They are so arranged that they remain perfectly steady and are not liable to injure on the journey.—[London NeAvs. A Diplomat. The Wife—I’ve quit asking people if my bonnet is on straight. The Husband—Why, my dear? The Wife—I love you too much, John, to disgrace you by calling a body’s attention to an old thing like this.—[Truth.
