Newspaper Page Text
^ THE MOWER.
went with the sunlight leaping
Over the hillside's rim,
ind his curls were like meadow lilie*
Under his wide straw brim;
His eyes like the chicory blossoms,
Blue, with their skyey look,
His glad cheeks redder than clover
And brown as a sunny brook
All day in the upland meadow
He swings my heart with his scythe.
Ah, slow sweet wind from the hilltop,
Hurry thy heavy wing!
Bring scent of his ferns and daisies, i
And his whetstone’s silver ring.
And lift the curls on his forehead ’*•*>»*.
With thy fingers coy and free, ‘*3 1
And whisper so low he hears not,^
Whisper one though of me!
All day in the upland meadow
He swings my heart with his scythe.
Does the meadow lark cease her crooning
To trouble and watch him pass?
Dees he startle the bobolincoln
From her nest in the dewy grass?
»Tis only so, with his coming >’ v.
He flutters my heart in her nest.
Ah, gentle and cruel, he stays not,
And fain would he not molest!
All day in the upland meadow
He swings my heart with his scythe.
The lilies bow down before him.
The long grass shudders and starts. A
The daisies faint with their fortunes
And secrets around their hearts.
With his stroke so swerveiess and steady,
His forehead tranquil and sweet,
little what blossoms 1
How he cares . IS »
Are sinking under his feet! .
AH day in the upland meadow
He swings my heart with his scythe.
1 —The Independent
A HAD MAN.
• BY R. L. KETCHU.W.
^-IF he’s in that part
■ VOl °f the State, or in
any oart of it, for
that matter (mind
you, I don’t believe
*1 he’s fool enough to
T linger in this coun¬
f j try, when he’s had
plenty of chance to
' get to Canada
or
)jr ^Mexico), meat. I’ve lie’s got our
a
deputy down there
who’s onto his job,
■Ir and if your friend
Mr. dc Vries is in
that neck of the woods, Stiles can pro¬
duce him in twenty-four hours.”
(> That is what the United States mar¬
shal said to the special agent of the Trea¬
sury Department, who had come West in
seacli of Mr. Hamilton do Vries, ab¬
sconding bank president. The latter,
■unwittingly, had got himself into trouble
with Uncle Sam, as well as with the au¬
thorities of his State, aud was, there¬
fore, in n surer way to get into the hands
of justice than if he had been careful not
|to tamper with the patience of the long
suffering uncle aforesaid,
f The marshal was so certain of his
Vries deputy's ability to lay hands of Mr. de
—if, as the special agent believed,
tic ex-bank president was sojourning in
said deputy’s neighborhood—that the
agent, woo was only human, and, be¬
sides, had no perscnal interest iu the
matter, left the affairs, for the present,
in the marshal’s hands aud proceeded tc
:take life as easily as possible w T hile he
might—it was much better than going,
(partly by stage or horseback, intoawild
and woolly region after a man who
might not be there, after all.
While the special agent, who had been
up late the night previous, yawned and
stretched, preparatory to leaving to re¬
turn to his hotel, the marshal wrote a
telegram to he sent to the deputy who
Hooked after the three “tough” counties
in the southeast corner of the State.
! “Here, Bull take this to the office, will
you?” And to Uncle Sam’s emissary he
remarked: “Now, then, that’s settled.
jStiles’ll have him by Saturday, if he’s
> there.”
l When the marshal appointed Bob
Stiles a deputy, and assigned to him the
|duty of attending to the three south
least counties, he knew what he was
about. He had always been a firm be¬
liever in the truth of the old saying that
:“ifc takes a thief to catch a thief.” On
jthe same principle, he held that it re¬
quired a bad man to handle bad men;
and in making his appointment for
Jones, Elkhorn and Antelope Counties,
flie had no hesitancy in selecting Mr.
[Stiles, indorsed whose application for the position
iwas by many leading citizens—
not because they were keen to see Bob
get the.place, but because he asked them
to indorse him, and a refusal to do so
involved possible, indeed, probable, un¬
pleasant consequences.
Yes, Bob Stiles was, undeniably a bad
man. Not that he had ever made him
[self amendable to the law—at least, not
[that anybody knew of—but he had a
‘blood-stained obituary list of persons
[who 'beautiful bad disregard disagreed for with the him, and a
consequences
of anything he chose to do; and he
•chose to do some very peculiar things,
especially when he had over-indulged in
ihis favorite intoxicant, which was quite
frequently. When Air. Stiles was not
(engaged in his official duties, his avoca¬
tion was that of gambler, and be was not
&u over-scrupulous one, either; in fact, I
am obliged to confess, albeit with much
reluctance, that Mr. Stiles enjoyed
“skinning a sucker” as well as did any
.member of the fraternity.
It happened, however, that, one sad
night—the very night before the day the
marshal sent him the telegram concern¬
ing the missing bank: president—Mr.
gtiles and a confrere had sat in a game
with a supposed “sucker” from the
mines, who turned out to be very much
of a player himself, and that Mr, Stile.3
and his friend rose from the game
“busted,” and each owing the house for
several stacks of chips, and Mr. Stiles
stood on a corner, this bright afternoon,
looking very down-hearted and sadly out
of his usual spirits, when the boy came
along with hi3 telegram.
“Hm! ‘Tall man—black whiskers—
dark complected — gray eyes.’ Urn!
C’rect. I’ll look after ye t’morruh,
Mister d’Vries!”
He had been walking as he read, and
had reached the postoffi.ee by this time.
In response to his inquiry, the clerk
handed him an official-looking envelope.
He retired to a corner to read it, and the
contents made his eyes dance. “Sta
buenol Hyar's luck fer ye, Bobby, ol’
boy l Five hundred dollars r'ward!
Thanks, Bobby, we don’t, care ef we do;
oh, no, not any!” And as Mr. Robert
Stiles walked up the street to bis usual
“hang-out,” he felt quite cheerful, and
whistled as though the five hundred dol¬
lars were alieadyinhis possession, for
he knew right where he could find a cer¬
tain Thomas Rudey, ex-moonshiner,
urgently wanted for the murder, several
months previously, of a revenue officer
who had raided Mr. Rudey’s still, in a
neighboring State.
Next morning, bright and early, the
deputy-marshal rode gayly forth. He
had made a small “borrow,” and won a
hundred or so, the night before; he
would make five hundred dollars and
some fees to-day; and these facts, to¬
gether with the brightness of the morn¬
ing, the beauties of nature and the ex¬
cellent breakfast he had just eaten, con¬
spired to make him, if anything, more
cheerful than usual, and that was very
cheerful, indeed. There was only one
thing that troubled him, and that was
the fact that no reward was offered for
the arrest of de Vries, whose history he
had read in the papers.
“Th’ idee!” the deputy-marshal said
to himself. “Hyar’s this high toned cuss
fr’m Ohio—busts a bank, rob3 ’is fr’en’s,
an’ takes th’ bread away fr’m orph’ns an’
widders, an’ gits away; no r’ward f’r
him! Hyar’s a poor moonshiner, got
nothin’ but a still t’ keep ’is family on,
an thinks he’s got jest’s much right t’
make whisky as anybody else; shoots
a revenoo offuser th’t rcos’ likely shot at
him first, an’ Uncle Sam offers five hun’
dred fer ’im! It’s tough, no use talkin’.”
And Mr, Stiles chirped to his horse,
which was nibbling at the branches of
the trees by the roadside.
Four hours later Bob Stiles, deputy
marshal, rode into a little valley into
which the by-road had led him from the
main trail. He looked to his revolvers
carefully, to see that they were all right
for the emergency which was quite prob¬
able, and decided on a plan of action.
He dismounted, and proceeded on foot
toward the shabby, tumble-down log
cabin that stood in a little clearing on
the hillside above him.
As he reached the edge of the clearing,
he halted, and took note of the cabin
and its surroundings, observing, with
some surprise, the neat appearance of the
garden and yard and the unavailing re¬
pairs that had been attempted on the old
cabin. “Kind o’ decent, ’pears like,”
thought the deputy-marshal, as he
sneaked around to advance on the house
from the rear. “Wonder where all th’
folks istf”
As he emerged from the thicket at the
rear of the house and started toward it,
two or three scrawny curs rushed at him,
barking fiercely, but no one appeared to
silence them. He spoke to them quietly,
and presently they drew off, somewhat
mollified, but still growling suspiciously.
Then the deputy-marshal tip-toed quietly
up to the open window and looked in.
On a tumbled, forlorn-looking bed, at
the other end of the long room, lay,
propped up with the bed-clothing, a
young woman, evidently in the last stages
of consumption. She was bieathing in
short, quick, gasps—fightiug bravely for
a few minutes' respite from the end that,
Bob could see, was so near. Her wasted
hands rested on the heads of two little
children who were crying softly, in their
uncomprehending way, in sympathy with
the broad-shouldered man who, with his
arms about the dying one, as if to hold
her back from the awful shadows, wa3
sobbing his heart out.
“Oh, Sue, I caiu’t let ye go! Don’t
go an’leave me—don’t! An’ Tom an’
Moll—they—they—”
“Don’t, Tom,” came in a weak voice
from the form on the bed. “It’s dretful
hard t.’ go an’ leave you all, but it had t’
be. I’m glad ye think I’ve b'en a good
wifo to ye—an’—Torn—promise me
ye’ll alius be good t’ our children—
wou’t ye, Tom, dear?”
The man only sobbed and nodded his
head. The slight form his arms elapsed
was shaken by a fit of coughing tnat was
awful to hear, and the deputy-marshal,
whose cheeks were wet with unwonted
tears, murmured: “Poor thing; oh, poor
thing I”
Then the weak voice continued:
“I know ye will, Tom. I’m only
afeared o’ one thing; what’ll th’ babies
do ef—ef they sh’d ketch ye an’ put ye
in jail? Be keerful, Tom, ob, be keer
ful, f’r their sakes, won’t ye? My pore
babies—my pore babies!”
There came another fit of coughing,
more terrible than the other, during
which Bob Stiles wiped his eyes ca his
sleeve, with nervous fingers pulled the
money had won the night before frora
his pocket, rolled it up and threw it on
the floor of the cabin. Then he turned,
without another look at the man he h id
come to arrest, and hurried to the spot
where he had left his horse, sobbing ad
the way—for Bob Stile3, ga bier, stiff
had a heart, though he had thought it
buried in the grave of the wife whose
young li f e had gone from her just as this
woman’s was going. when the
It was late in the afternoon
deputy-marshal rode up to the house
where Hamilton de Vries, ex-banker,
was staying. Air. de Vries was seated
on the lront-steps, smoking a cigar, and
looked cool and comfortable, aDd a*
much at peace with himself and the
world as if he were the honest, upright,
Christian gentleman bis friends and ac¬
quaintances, up to three weex9 ago, had
believed him. He was, as the officer
rode up, trying to arrange with himself
for a trip to Mexico by the shortest pos¬
sible route. Unavoidable cir mmstances,
unnecessary to state, had brought him
here, and unavoidable circumstances
made it desirable for him to get away as
soon as possible. He was tanking how
easily he could have got to Canada, if he
had not been obliged to come here first,
when a voice addressed him:
“Ah, Mr. d’ Vries, I see ye've cut off
y’r whiskers.”
Air. de Vries sprang to his feet, pale
as death, and faced the smiling horse¬
man, who sac looking at him from a
point near the corner of the house,
around which he had quietly come. Air.
de Vries would have drawn his revolver,
but it was not so convenient to his hand
as were the weapons of his visitor, so he
tried other tactics.
“I guess you’re mistaken, my friend.
My name i8 White—James White.”
“Oh, no, it ain’t,” said the deputy
marshal, easily, “I’ve got good reasons
for callin’ ye d ’ Vries, an’ I reckon yo
hadn’t better kick none. I’ll have t’ ask
ye, moreover, t’ pack up an’ ride over t’
Columbus with me.”
Bat Air. de Vries did not want to go.
He called on Jem Whatcom, proprietor
of the house—which was a sort of board¬
ing-house used by sportsmen during the
fishing and hunting seasons—to witness
that he was what he claimed to be; but
Jem knew the deputy-marshal, and im¬
mediately told the bare truth, which was
that his guest was a stranger; had come
two weeks before, and had, a day or two
after his arrival, held a secret conference
with two other strangers, who came one
evening and stayed only until the next
morning. Vries’s he
So, despite Air. de protests,
was disarmed and put in charge of the
landlord, while Stiles searched his room.
A little later, he was riding toward Col¬
umbus beside the deputy-marshal; while
ahead of them, with Mr. de Vries’s pos¬
sessions, drove Jem, in the buck
board.
It was not a pleasant- ride for Air. de
Vrie3. He shifted in his saddle and
eyed the officer nervously, hoping the
latter would give hi n aa opportunity to
break away—but none was presented.
Then Mr. de Vries bethought himself
of a scheme. He tapped his companion
on the shoulder.
“Say, marshal, I’ve got something be¬
sides what’s in the grip” (aud he pointed
to the satchel in the buckboard, which,
Bob had found, contained a goodly por¬
tion of Air. de Vries’s final haul).
Ths officer did not respond.
Air. de Vries cleared his throat and
tried again.
“Suppose,” he suggested, “that I
should get away, and you should find a
couple of thousand in your coat-pocket?”
No answer from his captor. They
came to the top of a hill, and, onlva few
mile3 away, could see the little town,
their destination, its windows reflecting
the glow of the red sunset. De Vries
was desperate. He looked down the
road; Jem was far ahead of them.
“Say, for God’s sake, man, will you
take three thousand?” he cried.
No answer.
“Four thousand, then.”
The officer began whistling softly, and
his prisoner took this as a favorable sign.
He halted.
“Alarshal, look here. I’ve got six
thousand dollars, and no more, in my
pockets. I need a thousand to get out
of the country with—you understand
that—but if you’ll let me go, I’ll give
you the rest. Isn’t that fair?”
The officer spoke:
“Jest ride up a leetle ahead o’ me,
will ye?” he said. “I never like t’hava
a mau laggin’; I want t’ keep an eye on
’im.”
Later, after he had seen his prisoner
safely lodged in the county jail for the
night, the deputy-marshal, with some
difficulty, managed to borrow a twenty
to go and “sit in” a game with.—Saa
Francisco Argonaut.
A Potato Imitating Lemons.
Air. AT. J. Pogue brought into Visalia
this morning a remarkable freak of
nature in the shape of a potato vine uo
on which were growing potatoes in all
stages of development from the size of a
marble to one as large as au average early
rose, says the Visalia (Cal.) Times. Tne
vine was discovered in Air. Pogus’s
lemon grove recently. When the vine
was pulled up a few small potatoes were
found at the root, but on tne vine there
must have been a hundred. The only
explanation Mr. Pogue can offer is that
the potato must have thought it to be its
duty to produce lemons, as it was sur¬
rounded by that fruit, and that it made
an honest effort in that direction.
FIERCE WOMEN WARRIORS.
DAHOMEY’S AEMT OF 2033 WA3
DIKE AMAZONS.
Th.cv Evince the Most Desperate
Courage in Battle—Their Unilorm
aiul Weapons—Human Sacrifices.
•y'N ordinary .times the armv of Da
$ homey is composed of 2000 Am
l azons and 4000 to 5000 men war
riors. This is the well drilled
standing army, which, in peace, is kept
at or near the capital, ready to march
anywhere at a moment 3 notice. When
an important war is on hand the King
calls out the reserve, which increases the
stren gth of his army to 12,000 or 15,000.
The most unique features of Dahomey
are its lame force of women warriors
and its terrible system of religious sacri¬
fices, in which hundreds of human vic¬
tims are butchered at the capital every
vear, Dahomey is the only country in
the world which makes women a part
of its military system. In the year 1729
the King, hard pressed by enemies,
placed a large number of women upon
his fortifications to deceive the besieging
army with regard to his military
strength. These women acted with such
unex pected gallantry aud eugaged with
such abandon and lerocity in the battle
which brought victory to Dahomey that
they were organized into a permanent
regiment, and women have ever since
been among the bravest soldiers of the
land. The flower of the fair sex is likely
to get into the army as well as nearly all
the strong minded women, the viragos.
Now and then the King takes a consort
from his women regiments, but no other
man can marry them.
The women are taught that they are
not weak, but strong. Every womanly
sentiment is suppressed, and they become
unsexed and unnaturally ferocious. But
after all, the system of women soldiers
is a source of weakness as well as of
strength to the country. Dahomey is
rich in soil and in resources, but its pop¬
ulation is not large and is decreasing.
Id has leas than 500,000 people, The
country cannot afford to keep a large
number of celibate women in its gar¬
risons. In the natural order of things
these women would be the mothers of
thousands of children; but not only are
the additions they make to the popula¬
tion most insignificant, but also most of
tne women captured in war become mere
]y the camp followers and servants of the
Amazons, and are under the same re¬
strictions as to celibacy.
Two Englishmen, Alessrs. Skertchly
and Burton, made a very careful study
of the Amazons. Burton said they
showed the most desperate courage and
reckless daring, and are very formidable
enemies. Skertchly said that Amazons
delight in nothing more than polishing
their gun barrels, which gleam like sil¬
ver in the sun. The French gained a
vivid idea of their ferocity in battle dur¬
ing the late war, when, under deadly
fire from the French fortifications, they
made charge after charge up to the
works. Wiieu at last put to flight and
pursued, dying women on the ground
caught some of the French troops by the
legs and trie! to throw them down and
stab them with their swords. All
Dahomeyan soldiers, men and women,
have a ration of intoxicating liquor
before they go into battle. The French
say that iu the war of 1889-90 the per¬
fect recklessness of the Amazons wa3
doubtless increased by liberal potations
of gin. The women had just enough
liquor to make them devilish without
interfering with their powers of locomo¬
tion.
Their sleeveless tunics of blue aud
white native cloth, their skirts falling to
the knee, and their short trousers make
it easy to distinguish them from the male
warriors. On parade in the capital they
wear a head ornament of horn tips which,
however, is not worn to battle. Neither
do they, when advancing toward the
enemy wear the bells which are always
hung around their necks in time of
peace. The well-known tinkle of the
Amazon bell makes proclamation to all
the male creation that it is high time to
scurry down the byways or get out of
sight somewhere to avoid meeting the
King’s soldiers; for the man who dares
to keep the road when aa Amazon ap¬
proaches pays for his te nerity with his
life. On all the highways these women
are more isolated from the other sex
than any nun. Skertchly said it made
his blood boil to be compelled to slink
out of view like a thief whenever he
heard that odious bell.
Their weapons are blunderbuses, flint¬
locks, and bows and arrows. Their plan
of warfare is always to take the enemy
by surprise. They usually march to the
attack in the gray of the morning and
before the enemy is awake they are upon
him with their impetuous war cry and
fierce onslaught. Air. Chaudouin says
he saw 400'J Amazons in 1839 grouped
around the Kiag, perfectly motionless as
they stcod in line but ready to bound at
a signal from their master. Old or young,
homely or handsome, they were a re¬
markable spectacle. They appeared
every whit as muscular a3 the maie
warriors aud their bearing was military.
The crowd of people approached walked too
near and a half dozen Amazons
along the line flourishing their guns and
crying with imperious gesture, “Back,
back,” whereupon the crowd made haste
to retire to a safe distance.
After the late war King Behanzin
caused a number of Amazons to be be¬
headed on the charge of cowardice. He
,
endeavors in every way to make them
Mr. Borghero 4escr* '; ."»'•
k® witnessed at th* a
maw'" 1 Mel
cactus bushes
eet long, °^ truc ,
seven feet high.' twentv.fi t,® Ve 661 ^ «t
tion rose the thh,
ana the same, high, length the and slon^ 1 ?? f a ‘
ered two
with a bed 0 f th« 1Ur
footed the heap women of three? scat?? - T
thorns, ?
eet and l before h S'
their faces egs covered S *
umph. wreathed ®
Three astounding thousand
partin this w 05|
religious Human customs. sacrifices are V*** /1? .
toe i u ?
annual sacrifices, 500
ims are put to death to '
and carry the? anno
tors in the messages to ^
other world. ■ Tuesc
are hand very elaborate. The vict
and foot, are fastened i
and carried to the a |
twenty to P of s
feet from the ground
Ivmg. under his umbreTa of
parts to take the to messages the other he desire, J
tnen raised aloft world
ground and
where, a crowd of J
common fury people rush with
upon the poor wretches
tneir heads, and often divide
ies into pieces. i
while many Gov ero
in Abomey in 1890 w
tor of this He say’s aj
scene. tha
an Amazon about nineteen tear
upon one of the victims.' g
new recruit, and had not vet fc
body, and it was desired * to pi
the test. With her sharp-edd
held in both hands, she strucl
chopped tim three off blows on the of] J
the last pieces
still which held she the head to the her] tri
carefully wiped
retired to the ranks. AIM
and other animals are also jl
zin carry makes messages the French to their kin], nJ j
campaign! too
during the coming tal
possibly send hun himselt
his ancestors.
The victims are invariably
captives of war collected tad
tive holiday. When Eiar* ns
to the Kings of Daliome; id
terrible sacrifices, they arid
only does this slaughter ginl
taction to the gods, but aisol
only way to maice a great crini ja
If they did not kill their
say, it would take too maaj i
suppress evil doers. Andje
is not a people of savages. 1
nary circumstances the po]
gentle and easy to influence,
them obey implicitly all the
regulations of their King,
fairly industrious and have j
sort of semi-civilization. The
one of the finest types of the
are above medium stature, h|
intelligent faces and powerful
and it is only in war or in tl
of their remarkable religious ferocity customs and tnaj J
play aided ia his (j
The King is composed of hil
by a council mi
chiefs; but in spite of his
his own nearly absoluteautaJ
still submissive to the occul
fetich. The people to-day ivl
masse against their King <1M
to suppress their fetich
abolish the time-honoreisiwl
curious religious law impose*
King by the fetich pTiestsfor| This law!
look upon the sea.
less made to prevent tie ■
coming too much underthB
the white the meu customs who miji'.j
to forget fetichism.—
overthrow
Lightning (Jueerfl
“Lightning plays someqn
said William Catheart, «
“I was traveling through t
Illinois, some years ago,'
shelter from a thunder stor
house. Thn farmer underW
a fire in the kitchen s
damp garments. H e
knees blowing the coals „
there a terrific clap of»
was — oe ,
a bolt of blue fire shot
into his face. He Ml
wet newspaper. °
off vvith (
bis clothing
one boot and trousers 8 *
streak down througn
his breast and down one
made by a red-hot po“
dead as a 1 ^
he was
picked up a large c *
^
«rs*»s{ me that erway alor " ’ 1
Louis Glob^Democrauj
Valuable Miner* 111
It is said that hom
resident of Western
covered on bla his P 0 r f‘; °- D \[ s
posit of c \ n taetf
mineral of much - * fj)B
valuable. The P 1^ , t ]
averaging about e gat
and covering an ar- ..
g * L
.searches mad*
square “'TbthV* mlle ’ bouttwal
is Hr
terial excellent
proven an
leans P;p‘* r - :Tlg - '
