Newspaper Page Text
prinij parr Jimpleftifc.
J. C. HEARTSELL, Ed. and Pub.
VOL XIII.
The Morning llain.
W. J. LAMVTOX,
If tneie's anything delightful
Id this fleeting vale if tears j
If there’s anything that's equal
To dispelling doubts and fears;
If there’s anything eestatie.
Anything to soothe our pains.
It Is dozing, gentle dozing,
In the morning win* it rains.
All the sky is gray above us,
Ami the daylight on the town
Kises heavy with its burden
As tho rain comes pouring down.
Not awake, and still not sleeping,
We can hear the beating rain,
Iu a far off dreamy murmur,
Thropping on the window pane.
Thoughts of day and all its doings,
With a hazy halo, orown
Thoughts of night and all its dreaming
Of the gray clouds hangingdowu.
Consciousness is faintly breaking
Through the drowsy silken chains,
And we catch a glimpse of Heaven
In the morning when it rains.
—[Detroit Free Press.
Miss Haines's Brother.
Although the bank at Valley City
was called “The Valley City Bank”
and was supposed to bo a private insti¬
tution, it was really one of the seveu
branch bauks belonging to a San
Francisco syndicate of bankers. I was
simply in charge of it on a moderate
salary and under heavy bonds, and I
had the credit of being a capitalist
where no credit was due. The syndi¬
cate erected a one-story building for
the bank. Tho front of this was railed
off in the usual way, and the rear was
divided into two rooms. One was
used as a private room in which
business appertaining to the bank
was transacted and the other was
my bedroom. I was a young man and
single, and I had not only to act as
president, cashier and teller during
the day, but as watchman at night.
The only help I had was a book
Imenar. a nd he was only with me
three half days per week. The re¬
mainder of his time was put in with a
shipping firm iu the same town.
You will say this was a curious way
©f running a bank, but 1 can find
you a dozen of them in the territorial
towns of to-day conducted on the
same primitive principles. I was do¬
ing" business with one six weeks ago
where the family kitchen was directly
in the rear of the cashier’s window,
and a woman who was cooking dinner
left the meat frying on the stove to
come in and cash a check for me. Along¬
side tho burglar-proof safe was a trun¬
dle Tied, and on top of the safe itself
was a smoked ham and a sack of flour.
It was banking and housekeeping
combined.
It was figured that I had only one
danger to guard against. -A tough
man might drop in some day and rest
the muzzles of his guns on the ledge
of the window and order me to pass
out the money in sight. The safe was
always kept locked, and it was seldom
that I ever had more than $200 out¬
side. To prevent any experiments,
however, I gave out that I had ar¬
ranged a shotgun battery just where it
would do the most good, and that by
pressing a lever I could blow the body
of any bad, bad man through the front
window and clear across the street,
and that he would be dead at the end
of his voyage. Everybody believed
this fiction to be a fact, and some peo¬
ple were so timid that I had to do
business with them away from the win¬
dow. It was ex[>ressly stipulated in
my contract with the syndicate that if
I received anything for safe deposit it
must be at the risk of the depositors,
and they must be so warned in ad¬
vance. I had scarcely opened for
business before a dozen people in
town wanted the use of our safe. As
we were to do more or less business
with them, I could not refuse to take
temporary charge of valuable papers
and various sums of money,
The bank had been running about
three months, when my brother Tom,
who had been telegraph operator at
Big Head, 250 miles away, was trans¬
ferred down to Grand Crossing, only
ten miles away, and he seized the first
favorable opportunity to come down
and see me. I may tell you that Tom
was a mechanical and electrical genius,
and is now living on the royalties paid
him for half a dozen good things.
When he had visited for a couple of
hours, and he had looked things over,
said;
SPRING PLACE, MURRAY COUNTY. GA. SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 9, 1893.
“You sleep here, and you are loaded
for bear, but it wouldn’t be t. .y trick
at all for a sharp man to clean yon out.
It won’t be another three months be¬
fore somebody will try it on.”
“How!”
“Well, you’ll get a caller in the
evening probably, and the first thing
you know you’ll get a rap on the head,
and before you come to he’ll have
opened the safe and skipped with yonr
cash. It’s a combination, I see, but
if that can’t be hit it can be drilled or
blown open. I think I’ll make
things a little safer for you.”
The hank had no cellar, but as stone
was plenty and cost only the labor of
quarrying, the walls were built two
feet thick. To get below the frost
line they had to be sunk nearly five
feet. The space enclosed by the walls
was flinty soil, so hard that a pick
could scarcely disturb it. The floor
of tlio bank was a little more than
four feet above the earth. Tom was
about a week, working at odd times,
to get things in shape. He cut out a
trap door in front of the safe, brought
down wires and a battery, and when we
had finished we had a contrivance
which he alone had power over from
Grand Crossing. By means of a switch
up there he could spring the bolt of
the trap door, and the door worked on
a spring to close the opening again. A
staple in the door and another in tho
frame permitted the use of a peg, so
there might be no fear of accident dur¬
ing business hours. The understand¬
ing we had was that Tom should drop
that door every hour between 8 o’clock
at night and 7 the next morning and
the scheme worked as easy as rolling
off a log. For the first few nights the
click of the bolt woke me up as the
door fell, but after a time it failed to
penetrate my drowsy senses.
I had to run my bank to suit the
convenience of the public, and it was
never closed before 6 o’clock in the
evening, and was often * - open until 7.
As a rule, all persons who wished to
use the safo over night came in be¬
tween f> and 7. I gave each one a re¬
ceipt for whatever ho deposited, but
made no charge whatever. Many and
many a night that safe held $25,000
outside of bank money, and on such
occasions I felt a bit proud at the con¬
fidence reposed in me.
Tom’s trap had been working for a
month or more when I received a
strange caller one evening at 6.30. A
woman was by no means a rare sight
in town, though they were none too
numerous, but this visitor of mine was
a young woman, stylishly dressed, and
as pretty as a peach. I’ll admit right
here that I had a jumping of the heart
at sight of her, and that when she
smiled on me I was as badly flustered
as a boy caught stealing eggs. She
was from St. Louis, she explained, and
had come out in search of a brother
who was interested in a silver mine,
but had mysteriously disappeared. She
would be at the hotel for a week or
two and wished me to safe deposit
$600 in greenbacks. She gave me the
name of Miss Nellie Haines to insert in
the receipt, and you will of course
smile in contempt when I admit that I
had to count that money three differ¬
ent times to make it come out straight.
I of course offered my assistance in
the search for information, and of
course she sweetly thanked me and
said she’d come in again. She did
come, and when I saw her by day¬
light I was clean gone. Regular case
of love at first sight on my part, and I
have no more excuses to offer. I wrote
several letters for her, and the search
for the missing brother was well be¬
gun.
For a week Miss Haines dropped
into the bank daily in search of news,
and one evening during*! he interval I
paid her a call at the hotel. Saturday
afernoon she sent me a note saying
she had news of her brother, and that
he would he down from the mountains
about 8 o’clock in the evening. He
should be very anxious to go East by
the 10 o’clock train, and would I mind
if the two came to the bank at 8.15.
While she had to draw out her money
it was more than likely that he would
have a large deposit to make. If she
hadn’t mentioned this latter circum¬
stance I should have taken her money
to the hotel, and perhaps declared my
love. Saturday evening was always a
big evening with the bank, as a score
or more of outsiders wanted the use of
the safe over Sunday. This Saturday
ovening I had fully $30,000 to take
“TELL THE TRUTH.”
care of. I got rid of the last customer
by 8 o’clock, locked the safo door just
two minutes before Tom sprang the
trap-door, and then sat down to wait
for Miss Haines and her brother.
Promptly on the quarter hour there
was a knock at the door, and I opened
it and the pair walked in. Miss Haines
began saying how greatly obliged they
were as I turned to shut the door, and
she was still talking when her “dear
brother” fetched me a clip over the
head with a sandbag, and I knew no
more for fifteen minutes. When I
opened my eyes again I had been
dragged around to the safe, was
tied hand and foot and “Mr. Haines ”
and I were alone in tho bank. Ho sat
on a chair smoking away as cool as you
please and evidently waiting for me to
come back to earth. He was a man
about thirty years old, rather good
looking, but had a wicked look in his
eyes. Even before ho spoke I had fig¬
ured it all out and realized how I had
been played for a chump. It was just
8.30 by the clock when my visitor said:
“Come to, have you?” Well, that’s
what I was waiting for. I want you
to open this safe.”
“I’ll see you in Halifax first.”
“Going to get mad about it, are you?
I’ve got your keys, you see, but, of
course, I don’t know tho combination.
You’ll save me a heap of trouble by
working tho machinery. I’ll loosen
your hands, but don’t uttempt any
foolishness. I’ve come for tho boodle
in the safe, and I’m going to have it at
any cost.
“But you’ll get it without any help
from me. ”
Ho looked at me a moment with an
evil eye and then took from his pocket
a gag made of a pine stick with a
string tied to each end. He rose up
as if he meant to apply it, but changed
his mind and sat down and said:
“Sister Nell said you were a soft
one, but I hope you are not a fool.
What’s the use of forcing mo to ex¬
tremes? Nqt a dollar of this money
belongs to you. If you open the safe
we’ll make an even divide of tho
boodle, and I can leave you bound
ahd arrange things so as to make if,
look straight to outsiders.”
“And I won’t.”
“Then I’ll compel you by torture!
After I have held a lighted candle to
the soles of your feet for Ato minutes
I think you’ll listen to reason. It is
now 8.45. I’ll experiment on the com¬
bination for fifteen minutes. If I hit
it, all right; if not, I’ll find a way to
make you open the door!”
He knelt down in front of tho safe
door, and, of course, it was my object
to keep him there until the hands of
the clock pointed to 9 and Tom shot
the bolt. Neither one of us uttered a
word for five minutes. Then I noticed
he was getting impatient and said:
*‘No doubt you’ll hit the combina¬
tion in time, and that will be bad for
me!”
“How bad for you?” he queried.
“Why, even if you leave me bound
and gagged people will be suspicious
that it was a put-up job. If you bad
been obliged to use powder and drills
it would have been different.”
“Soyouthink I’ll strike it, do you?”
“I hope not, but you go at it like a
man who has been there before.
Where is Miss Haines?”
“Miss Haines? Ha! ha! ha! Miss
Haines left her kindest regards and
said she might call again! Good-look¬
ing girl, eh?”
“I’ll admit that, even though she
worked this job on me.”
“Y-e-s, good looking girl and sharp¬
er than a steel trap. She thinks a
heap of that missing brother, Miss
Haines does! There! I think I’ve”—
He thought he’d hit it, and he was
not far out of the way, but it wasn’t
the hit he was looking for. Brother
Tom was just a minute ahead <Jf time
in shooting the bolt. The robber ut¬
tered a shout and clutched at the air
as he went down, and his heels had
scarcely disappeared when the door
swung back and I was making tremen¬
dous efforts to get my hands free.
They were tied at the wrists, and be¬
fore I had loosened them I had rolled
over and over on the floor to reach the
staples and the peg and. make the door
fast. Three minutes later I had a free
hand to cut the ropes binding my an¬
kles. It wasn’t much of a fall through
the trap, but the robber struck on his
head and was stunned for a minute.
When he came to he began cursing in
a way to make my hair stand up, but I
paid no attention.
He had brought two revolvers and a
knife into the bank, but he had taken
them off and laid them on a chair. I
picked up these and left the place to
give the alarm, and I have still another
confession to make to you. I knew
that it was a put up job all the way
through, and that “Miss Nellie Haines”
was a “pal” of the man under the
bank floor. She was consequently a
wicked woman and deserved no mercy.
Call mo a fool if you will, but I said
not a word to anybody when I got
Outside and made a bee line for the
hotel. She was in the sitting-room
ready dressed to ride down to the de¬
pot when it was time. She was alone,
aud when I entered the room she ut¬
tered a little shriek and almost fainted.
“W—where is—is my brother?” she
finally asked as I stood before her.
“Safely trapped in the bank,” I an¬
swered.
“And you have come to arrest me?”
“No. I havo come to warn you
that you may save yourself, Have
you any money?”
“Not more than three or four dol
lars.”
“You have $000 in the safe. I had
forgotten about that. I will bring it
to you.”
“And my—my brother?”
“He will keep until you are gone,
and then we’ll take him out and send
him to jail. ”
I returned to the bank and got her
money. I saw her take the hotel bus
to the depot. I waited until the train
b"d come and gone, and then I gave
the alarm, and got the robber out and
jugged him. Later on he was sent to
prison for eight years, and the woman
I have never heard of since. Why did
I let her escape? Well, she was a
handsome woman. That’s the only
excuse lever had.—[Chicago Times.
Polar Hears Keep Cool.
. f‘7 1 will surprise most, people,” said
Superintendent A. E. Brown, of the
Philadelphia zoological garden, to a
Record man,'“ to learn that the polar
bear stands the hot weather of the dog
days in this locality better than the
African lion. On hot days the lion
will get*off his feed; the polar bear
will not. The tropical animals in the
garden, ” continued the superintendent,
“ are the ones mostly affected by the
extreme heat of midsummer, strange
as it may appear. I suppose the
reason of it is that the heat here is
more moist than thatjof the tropics, and,
as it were, of a different character.
Whatever mortality occurs among our
animals during a heated term is mostly
among the tropical animals, especially
the African. In hot weather I have
watched the polar bear go into his
tank, and then, instead of lying in
the shade, extend himself in the direct
rays of the sun, where the water on
his skin would evaporate. He found
out for himself, I suppose, that evapo¬
ration causes a lower temperature.
Again, it is somewhat astonishing, at
first, that our polar bear should suffer
sometimes as he does from the severe
cold of winter. I have seen him
shivering on one of those bitterly cold
days, when the sky was overladen and
the air full of moisture. The moisture
was evidently what affected him. In
the Arctic regions it is so cold that the
moisture is frozen out of the air.
Birds do not like the heat. It makes
them porch with drooped wings. Heat
affects not only the animals in the
garden but the finances of the garden
itself. A difference of ten degrees in
the thermometer, say if it is ninety
five instead of eighty-five, means a loss
of several hundreds of dollars in our
gate receipts for the day.”
How To Treat Burns.
A free application of soft soap to a
burn almost instantly removes the fire
from the flesh. If the injury is very
severe, follow this application with
one of linseed oil and dust over with
dry flour. When this dries repeat the
oil and flour until a good coating has
been formed. Let this remain until it
cracks and falls off in a day or two.
A new skin will have formed where the
old was burned off. For a slight burn
make a poultice of Indian meal cov¬
ered with young Hyson tea, and moist¬
en with hot water.
The dining-room of the Campania,
tlua new Cunard steamer, is 100 feet by
(14 feet, and seats 430 persons.
$1.00 a Year in Advance.
NO. 27.
To our Murray friends we
wish to say, that we are bet¬
ter prepared to sell Furniture
at low prices than ever, aud
we will make it to their in¬
terest when they want Fur¬
niture, Carpets, Matting,
Lace Curtains, Window
Shades and Picture Mould¬
ings, to call and see ifs.
CHEROKEE FURNITURE CO.
*». ft. WOttDRUFP. W. E. QIBSINSl
ESTABLISHED 1865.
W. W. WOODRUFF & GO.
176 & 178 Gay 8treet, KNOXVILLE, TENN.
HARDWARE*
* MuVe S&oes 6 !! N & l8 ’ Loc * C8 * Hinges, Tools, Horse and
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.
Genuine Oliver Chilled Plows, Syracuse Hillside Plows,
Brown s Double Shovel Plows, Cider Mills, Straw Cut
• ters. Cradle Lawn Mowers, Snaths, Corn Shellers, Hay Forks, Scythes,
and Barbed Wire, &o., &o.
CONTRACTORS’ 8UPPLIES.
Mattocks, Dynamite, Scrapers, Blasting Powder, Sledge Steel, Iron,Shovels, Picks,
smith Tools, Wheelbarrows, and &c. Drill Hammers, Black¬
AMMUNITION, SPORTING COOD8.
Parker’s Shot Guns, Remington, Baker and English
Shot Guns, Winchester and Colt’s Rifles, Loaded
Shells, Fishing Rifle Rods, Powder, &c. Shot, Lead, Fish Hooks and LlnSs,
SPECIALTIES.
Sash, Circular Doors Saws, and Blinds, Rubber and Leather Belting,
Window Glass, Fire-proof Safes, Wire
Screen Doors and Window Frames, Paper Bags, &o.
EVERYTHING ON WHEELS.
Send tal n for kat Catalogue M ftclfe 1P Fa rn-Pwagoma?? prices. wo^'he^i I ’ca rtsl
and
Special attention given to orders by mall. We respeot
fuliy solicit your patronage.
Wa W, WOODRUFF &, CO.
t76 & 178 Cdy Street, KNOXVILLE. TENN.
—-------——:-------------- ^ ”1 W
’“‘° AS3 ' J.H.KX58.
“““OOUT'llOril a SlOU6 , & MOllUlUOXit&i CO.j
mawpactcrehs OF
Marble and Granite
Statuary, Monuments, Headstones, Grosses and
XJUliUmg "Rnilriincr StAna SJIUUB.
Coping, Iron Fencing, Lawn Furniture, Etc.
MARKET ST f : : : CHATTANOOGA TENS.
P. R. Baiqs G<uieraL-4g&uL fivnu, Geftigia.
y >z > Manly WEHAVF SAWMILLS ENGINES BOILERS to
’o 3 WRITE o
•I? Ail V
*52 m m
•2 FOR < n
Machine Styles C >
#jn ( ( * • > U ^ H * CATALOGUE. Lowest a ».5 ccr- o Highest and Guaranteed o 3. g r S’
c O U Capacity.
2 a Co Prices. CO 2 ct oj Sizes. Steel. -a r-t- o 3 P <OJ-« cq 3, trj,
> CD o < c r.
-
FANCY AND PLAIN l.l I ft'
i 1 B i 1 JOB PRINTING