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SPRING PLACE JIMPLECUTE.
J. C. HEARTSELL- Ed. and Pub.
VOL XIII.
Ohio, Illinois and Missouri have
constitutional provisions prohibiting
state banks of issue.
Another speaker at Chautauqua pro¬
claims that fifty per cent, of the food
that goes into American kitchens is
wasted.
Of the 206,000,000 natives of India
i but * AOOO.OOO i , can speak , English, the
language of the rulers. The native
courts are conducted in Hindustani,
and intercourse with the English is
earned on by a sort of jargon.
It has been suggested that if the
peopie of this country would deprive
themselves of luxuries of all kinds for
a year, times would become good
again. At first sight, remarks the
New York Tribune, this seems plauai
ble ; but how would it affect the hun
Jreds of thousands of men, most of
them working men, who arc mannfac
taring or producing these luxuries?
While the steamship Campania is .*
marvel of marine craft of the present
day, its performances indicate, observes
the New York News, that the perfect
steamship is a thing of the distant fu¬
ture. The great Cunarder was expect
edto quickly break all records and
distance all rivals. This was a reason
able expectation, resulting from the
enormous power of the engines. Bnt
now it is more than hinted that, the en¬
gines are too powerful for the frame¬
work, and that another mistake has
been made in the dedicate adjustment
of strain and resistance.
Probably a large majority of intelli¬
gent people cling to the belief that
hypnotism is a humbug, pure and sim¬
ple. That is to say, there is no wide
spread popular belief in so-called hyp
notisrn as an occult power. The re
port of the British Medical Association
on this subject, which has just been
rendered, will therefore surprise many
people. It is the more forcible be¬
cause it follows a similar report, made
a few months ago, by a commission of
eminent Italian scientists. The Brit¬
ish report unqualifiedly affirms the gen¬
uineness of hypnotism. Furthermore
it takes decided ground against the
practice of the .mysterious power ex¬
cept by physicians. Even this high
authority will not satisfy the average
mind that the ghost of Mesmer has
materialized after more than a centu¬
ry. Mesmer died a convicted hum¬
bug, according to the records of his
yet his “manifestations” were pre
eiaeiy such as modern hypnotism do
velops.
•There ts no doubt,” admits the
New York Telegram, “that the orig¬
inal raw material of human nature is
pretty rough and pretty tough. It
seems a little odd thongh that the low
est and basest creatures on the planet
are uot to be found in Dahomey or
along the banks of the Upper Congo,
but among the undeveloped specimens
of the highest civilization. For ex
ample and by way of illustration we
may advance the following incident,
It relates to two brutal Englishmen,
bnt it is possible to match it in every
other country. In the Surrey Canal a
boy was drowning. He cried out for
help, and a couple of men were seat
ed on a canal boat not ten feet away
quietly smoking their pipes. They
saw the boy fall from the bank, saw
tain struggle with his fate and heard
his cries. With a six foot oar, which
lay at their feet, they could have
reached him and saved him, but
they preferred to smoke their
pipes rather than take the trou
bie. All this is bad enough, and even
a graven image would start, into life in
order to curse them for their heart
lessness. But on looki n g further you
find they have a motive, that they
were looking upon the affair from a
purely business standpoint. If a man
is rescued from drowning, the law of
fers them no reward, but if a man
drowns and they recover his body, |
they get a reward of five shillings
(81.25.) It was therefore just five
shillings in their pockets if they
smoked their pipes while this boy went
down once, twice and then the last
time, and when he was dead, fished his ,
body out of the canal It doesn’t
seem possible that human nature can
be so despicable, bnt the truth is the
doctrine of total depravity hasn’t time
enough to reach the muddy bottom of
gome men’s souls.”
SPRING PLACE, MURRAY COUNTY, GA. SATURDAY. OCTOBER U. 189:).
Beautiful Thoughts.
A poet prayed for a beautiful thought.
Which he might make the theme
Of a song, fin sweet to the ear it «augh>
As wood-bird's musie. nature-taught,
Or the laugh from a baby's dream.
To pray is good.- to do. is best!
| Make, though thy voice be dumb.
A pure heart home within thy breast.
Where they, as sacred things, may rest,
And beautiful thoughts will come,
. vice R. ingersoU. in Youth's Companion,
I ------—_
CONVICT NO. 18,.600.
04Jcn P fttion » few
' lia,i ot a ae ' vs l >B P er re P orter - 1 work
| **" a large p “ rt of my tlme la “ peui '
tentiar Y> where, more than 1600 pcis-
1 utt * rs ' Ti * rH t!online( k *^ y newspaper
of me thr «-« “feature” arti
des a week, the subject to be taken
from the lives and crimes of the men
and women so imprisoned.
One morning, on entering the peni¬
tentiary, and proceeding to the book
which contained the routine items for
the press, I found this slip:
“No. i», 600. Edward Washburn,
life prisoner, sentence commuted to
twenty-eight years, six months. ”
Here was something to be investi
f' , *1 “TV I found
that Edward , W ashburn had , been re
eeived on a life sentence in 1H70, and
that now, after a lapse of over twenty
years, the Board of Pardons — the
eternal source of hop.} for all prisoners
in that, State—-had acted upon his
case, with the above result. Even in
prison good behavior pays.
Each convict has a certain number
of days deducted from every month of
his term, according to the length of
his sentence, if he demeans himself
properly. Thus it lies in the power
of a “long-time” man to gain years
of freedom. Allowing W ashburn the
deduction each month for good eon
duct during the entire twenty-eight
years’ sentence, it caused his time to
expire on the foliowring Sunday.
The next thing to do was to see
Edward Washburn himself. The sen¬
sations of a man who has been a con¬
vict for twenty years, who has been as
completely isolated from the outside
world as if he were dead and buried,
and who is then resurrected, called
back to life and liberty, cannot be de¬
void of interest to the most indifferent.
I found my man wheeling ashes and
refuse from the cook house. In this
t eciipation he had been engaged for
seventeen years.
The long years of prison life had hud
their effect. The prisoner was an old
man, broken in body and mind, ai
though he told me his age was 42. I
ex P lume,i I had permission to
talk with him, and would like to hear
a ^ ,ont ^is history. He smiled the
wea ^ smile of enfeebled intelligence,
* at Jown on dia 'wkeebarrow and be
i ^ tta ^ith pitiful obedience, which
P iaiIli j’ bespoke the prison discipline,
“How did I feel when I heard I was
pardoned? Weil, it was so sudden
like I jus’ had to sit down. I had give
np all hopes of ever gettin’ out long
ago, but Mandy was true grit, she wus,
ahe never give up. ”
His next words were unusual. “I
don’t blame nobody but myself for
bein’ here,” he went on. Who ever
heard of a convict before, who attrib.
uted to himself the blame for being in
the penitentiary? Most convicts are
the innocent victims of villainous con¬
spiraeies. They never even dreamed
of committing the crime for which
they are serving sentence. "Such a
virtuous, upright and deeply wronged
set of men can be found nowhere else
as in prison.
“It was all along of my bullheaded
aese, but I guess I’d better go back to
the beginnin’ of my story if you want
to hear it all. When I was about 19
years old, Jason Scott and me took the
job of clearin’ 80 acres of land close to
where Pauldin’ is now. In them days
the town was only a clearin’ with a few
log shanties. Jase was a couple of years
younger than me. His father an’ mine
had come west from Columbianner
county and settled in Pauldin’. We
was the only boys in them parts then
—the only young folks exceptin’ Man
dy Pilcher.
“Wefiggeredon clearin’ our land
winters, as our fathers agreed to give
us the time after com huskin’ was
done, providin’ we helped them good
summers. Jase and me built a eabin
aud there we intended livin’ while we
was doiar 1 mx ehpppia'' and clearin'.
“TELL THE TRUTH.”
There was lots of snow that winter and
it come early. Oh, how I hate the
winter! The snow lyin’ out the a
in the prison yard brings the hi il
thing back to me, anyhow happy Ja e
and me was, workin’ and talldn, afco it
what we was goin’ to do. I can me 4
see the cabin now, with the doer op« a
and the snow all around as it looked
that winter mornin’.
“•lase and me was goin’ out huntin'
that mornin’. I took my gun and
started out, leavin’* .lase to follow. I
walked out a little ways and then
looked around to see if Jase was com
in’. He warn't. and I waited and hol
iered until I got all out of sorts with
Wni- A crazy idea struck me, and I
jus'thought I'd shoot toward the cafe
j u for fun and mebbe that would fetch
him . God knows I didn’t want to do any
barm I wus jus' a great big foolish
boy and I got. tired of waitin’ and I
thought I’d shoot for fun, and mebbe
that would fetch him.”
I looked at the man and he was as
one in agouv. His face was drawn,
and a pallor was there which added to
the prison tan and made it ghastly.
His voice, puerile from the disuse of
twenty years, had sunk into a hoarse
whisper. He was staring at the great
stone wall in front of him with dull',
vacant eyes. He seemed oblivious to
everything and kept repeating, “I
didn't mean any harm. I only thought
I’d shoot for fun, and mebbe than
would fetch him. ”
I have looked into murderers’ faces
on the verge of eternity while the
death warrant was being read, in or¬
der that I might tell the public next
morning whether the lip quivered or
the eye grew dim, but as I gazed upon
this picture of weakness and misery
on the wheelbarrow in front of me it
made me sick. The victim of an act
done in “fun”—and this was fun!
The man presently came to himself
ami went on:
“As I shot, Jose came into the door,
and, when the smoke cleared away, I
saw him lyin’ just outside in the snow,
face: downward. I ’member piekito
him up and earryin’ him inside, and
then startin’ out to Pauldin’ for help.
After that I don’t remember nothin’
until I found I was lyin’ on the ground
and a crowd of men standin’ round
me. I heard one of ’em say: ‘Ha
must have tripped up on that grape¬
vine and hit his head on the root of
the tree. It ’pears as if Washburn
and Scott must have had a racket—
over that girl most likely—and Wash¬
burn killed Scott ’ I found out after¬
ward that a huntin’ party had stopped
at the cabin and found .Tase lyin’ on
the fioor dead, with my bullet through
his heart. They looked for me and
finally saw my tracks in the snow and
followed them. They found me a
couple of miles away in the woods,
lyin’ at the foot of a tree where I fell.
“Some believed my story and some
didn’t. Them as didn’t b’lieve it said
’twarn’t likely if what I said was true
that I would ’a’ tried to run away.
All I know is I meant to set out for
Pauldin', but it ’pears as if I’d gone
wrong some way.
‘ The Jedge, as he said, wanted to
’low me a fightin’ chance and give me
the privilege of enterin’ a plea of
manslaughter. I said it was ail along
of my bullheadedness that I am here
now, and so it was. My lawyer want¬
ed me to plead guilty of the charge
the J edge offered me. I asked him
what it meant. He said it meant that
I killed Juse in a racket, and then give
me a long lingo about malice afore¬
thought, or something like that, bnt
I didn’t understand it. I only knew
they wanted me to say I murdered
•lase.in a racket. I warn’t goin’ to
say I done a thing when I didn’t. I
flared up and wouldn’t listen to no¬
body.
“I couldn’t see things right. Well,
the trial didn’t take long. Everything
went crossways for me. I told my
story and pleaded guilty to nothin’
except that I didn’t mean anything.
I just shot to scare him. I didn’t care
much what they done with me for
that. The other side showed how -Tase
had been found dead in the cabin,
how I was found lying in the snow
miles from Pauldin’, as if I hadn’t
been going for help. Then they got
witnesses who swore as how Jase
and me were jealous ’bout Mandy.
how I’d asked her to go to a gathering
with me, and she’d gone with Jase.
“It warn’t so, I knowed it, but it
wouldn’t do no good for me to say it
warn’L Miiady and me understood
one another, though there warn’t
much betwixt us then. I s’pose she
might hove told me what she
about it on the stand, but I wasn't
going to have her mixed np in the
thing. I 'lowed they couldn’t convict
me because what I said was true.
‘ ‘The jury fetched in a verdict of
murder in the second degree* and ac
cordin’ to law that, meant for life.
“They carried Mainly out of the
court room, Seems as though she
thought it was her fault
■»«*, ^>.
tne out ever since. She said if it
hadn't been for her t-W couldn't •«'
" '
sliowu i no motive ami . couldn t .
a sent
me for life. I don’t sec what good that
’a’ done when they was all agin me.”
I made a note of Mandy. She was
good material from a reportonal staml
point. When I went out I asked the
"»« r»>Ve
been talkin with. Washburn, have
von?” said he. “Well, Mandy is his
girl, lhey say she has been coming
down here from Paulding once every
j-*«* poss— »'<to
place before the Board of Pardons.
Yesterday Washburn's sentence was
commuted, which, by the way, you
will find by looking on the press hook. ”
A picture of a faded little woman who
had asked me the year before in the
capital if I would pleat* Veil her what
time the Pardm Board met, rose in my
mind. I agid to myself, “That was
Mandy.”
As a rule the world does not, throw
open its arms to released convicts. It
sees that, ail, the windows in the house
are well secured at night, and that all
the doors have extra fastenings on the
day the papers announce a new list of
releases. The people have not time
to go down to the prison and watch
the men pass out through the big gate.
They pay a small sum each year to
liave that otHee performed by big bur¬
ly policemen. The policemen aecom
puny the convicts down to the union
t and see them off on their trains.
(r**|Nfc;;h a pity to have (foam
go alone.
m The morning of the day Washburn
went out there was onlv one other pres
.nt ta.de, O. pos™«» „d
ers. It was the worn little woman who
ha<i asked me a year ago in the eapi
tol if I would please tell her what
time the Pardon Board met.—[Kate
Field’s Washington.
Human Life in the Glacial Epoch.
The period at which the glacial epoch
existed in this country has long been
an interesting problem. With few ex
eeptions geologists have united inpiac
ing the date within comparatively re
cent times, and evidences are multiply
ing that the great ice age in North
America actually occurred during the
present era of human life. These evi
dences consist in the finding of stone
implements of ancient man in undis¬
turbed glacial gravel.
Among the discoverers of these rel¬
ics is Doctor C. C. Abbott, a distin¬
guished archaeologist of this city. The
specimens were all found by him in the
Trenton gravels at Trenton, at record
ed depths and in undisputably undis¬
turbed glacial deposits. Professor
Putnam also found specimens in the
same locality, and other scientists have
come upon implements of stone in
similar deposits in various parts of the
country. The most convincing, how¬
ever, is a find made some time ago by
W, C. Mills at Newcomerstown, Ohio,
In a glacial gravel terrace in that town, j
at the mouth of the Buckhorn creek,
he came upon a stone implement 15 !
feet below the surface, and which is j
now in the Western Reserve Historical !
Society of Cleveland. The gravel in :
which this relic was found was covered
by six inches of sand, several feet of
supplementary gravel and from three ;
to five feet of earth.—[Philadelphia
Public Ledger.
A Wide Choice.
Guard (at the World’s Pair)—“I
advise you to go to your State build¬
ing and make that a sort of headquar¬
ters for receiving mail, writing letters,
resting, etc. What State are you
from?”
Drummer—“Well—er— which State
building is the most comfortable?”— J
[New York Weekly.
The first mention of money ia the
Scriptures was Abraham’s purchase of
a sepulcher for 400 shekels of silver,
b. c. m
i
81.00 a Year in Advance,
GTE our dubbing rates, TWO papers
for the price of one. All clubbing sub¬
scriptions should be sent through this
office and not to the Constitution.
i HOW ABOUT
j
IlnllU TIMES? 1 1 1*1 k w ■
'
| cial Are you a supporter of the present 9nan
i I system which congests the currency of
country periodieallv at the monev centres
MimSiSi'MM CYC MlSlXJVl ,< TII
Wliich th. d„b,„, it <i„ ju.
ties to the creditor?
If you feel this way, you should not be
rights.
Tie Atlaati Veeklj “
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