Newspaper Page Text
The Morgan Monit s
VOL. II. NO. 46.
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A
as T was growing
dark when Miss
M&rtie, with her
basket on her
arm, came into
the coiner mar¬
ket to buy her
V'i Thanksgiving
dinner. The
basket was ab¬
surdly small, but
Miss Mattie was
.■j little herself,
Mi and when she
ifcli high set and stood it on counter blink¬ the
light,, ing in the bright
the calf’s head at her elbow
seemed to be grinning at them both.
“Well, Miss Mattie,” called out the
market man, in his hearty fashion,
“I see your mind is not set on a tur¬
key this time, but just wait till I start
this basket off for Cap’n Lawson’s and
I’ll show you the right thing—a
plump little duck I -clapped into the
safe this morning, thinking to myself
that’s the very moral of a treat for
Miss Mattie.”
Miss Mattie looked embarrassed
and rubbed her forefinger uneasily
over a small coin that lay in the palm
of her hand under her glove. It
a silver five-cent piece, and she had
taken it with much hesitation from a
little store of pieces, most of them
given her when sho was a child. For
herself sho could have got along very
well with bread and tea, but somehow
THE JOYS OK THANKSGIVING.
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it seemed a dishonor to all her happy
past not to have something special on
Thanksgiving; and so she had a feel¬
ing of real pity for it, lying there
warm and snug in her palm, and so
soon to go tumbling into the heap of
clashing, jingling coins tossed about
by the butcher’s greasy fingers, or
perhaps into the pocket of that hor¬
rible apron with blood-stains on it.
Miss Mattie shuddered, but quickly
recovered herself to say, cheerfully:
don’t “Oh, thank you., Mr. Simmons;*but
you think ducks are a sight of
trouble, what with the stuffing and the
roasting and needing to be looked
after and basted regular? I made up
my mind to something simple, and I
don’t know anything that’s easier got
or more relishing than lamb chops.
Two lamb chops is about what I
thought of, Mr. Simmons. Yon know
there’s only me.”
Mr. Simmons had not seen the five-
cent piece, but ho understood just as
well as if he had, and he began to out
the chops at once, talking all the time
to relievo his own embarrassment and
assuring Miss Mattie that “if folks
only knew it, there was nothing like
lamb chops to encourage your appe¬
tite and strengthen you up all over. ”
“But you’ll have to take three
chops,” looking curiously atthe money
Miss Mattie laid in his big hand, “or
I’ll have to make change, and change
is scarcer than hen’s teeth to-night.
You might have company unexpected,
you know, and an extry chop would
come in handy.”
Miss Mattie laughed so genially
that the market man ventured to slip
a sweetbread and a bunch of yellow
celery into the basket on the sly. He
would have loved to put in the duck,
but that would have looked as if he
suspected her reason for not buying
it, and, bless you, he knew better
than that. Some people have feel¬
ings, though their faces are red and
their hands coarse and greasy.
Miss Mattie went very happily down
the street. She had lighted her lamp
before she went out, and a cheerful
little ray smiled encouragingly at her
as sho came to the gate. All the
other windows in tho weather-beaten
old house were black and empty and
looked to the lonesome little woman
as if all sorts of hobgoblins might be
peeping ont at her from the gloom be¬
hind them, for Miss Mattie’s neigh¬
bors had gone away on a Thanksgiv-
ing visit and taken the whole family.
At least they said “the whole family,”
but at the very moment Miss Mattie
came to the gate a member of the fam¬
ily was huddled up in a corner of the
doorway, cold, hungry and much per¬
plexed to understand what had becomo
of all his friends and why, in spite of
his pitiful plea, no one came to open
the door for him. He heard Miss
Mattie and ran hopefully to meet her,
limping as he came, for Ije had a stiff
leg.
“Why, Tommy Barnes,” said Miss
Mattie, stooping to pat his rough yel¬
low head, “you don’t mean to say
your folks have gone off to Thanks¬
giving and left you beeind. Well, if
I over! How dreadful—thoughtless—
and you a cripple besides!”
Tommy kept on crying, but ho had
his eye on the door while Miss Mattie
was fitting her key, and the minute it
opened he darted in.
“That’s right, Tommy,” said Miss
Mattie; “just make yourself at home.
You and I'll have our Thanksgiving
together. That extra chop will bo
wanted after all, and I’m going to
makeriz biscuits.”
She put away her bounet and shawl
and hung the basket on a nail in the
back-room without even looking at the
contents, though Tommy Barnes
watched her keenly with a shrewd sus¬
picion of something good, and a faint
hope which nothing in his past expe¬
rience justified that he might come in
for a share of it. Miss Mattie was ac¬
customed to being alone, and she
searoely thought of Tommy, as sho
trotted about, setting the snonge for
her biscuits in a pint bowl, putting a
little cup of broth on the stove to
warm for her supper, making her tea,
toasting her bread, and at last sitting
down by tho table in the little green
chair with a patchwork cushion. Up
to this point Tommy had sat quietly
by the fire, having learned by many
severe lessons that little folks should
be seen and not heard, but when Miss
Mattie poured ont the savory broth
the delicious odor was too much for
his fortitude, and with one bound he
sprung into her lap.
“Bless me,” said Miss Mattie, “if I
hadn’t clean forgot you, and you half-
starved, I dare say. There, get down.
I never could abide cats around my
victuals.”
She put Tommy gently on the floor,
crumbled some bread into the bowl of
broth, cooled it carefully and set it
down for him to eat.
“It’s pretty rich for me anyway,”
she said, as she made out her supper
with toast and tea.
It was perhaps well for Tommy that
he took an early promenade next
morning around the back yards of the
neighborhood, and secured several
This Face ail So Glum.
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Cut it and sanco it and give us all some,
From lean skinny Joe to Tom Fat;
For ’tis Thanksgiving Day and this face all
Was so glum,
nover out out for one lmt.
—Thomas Bherwood.
POPULATION ANTD DRAINAOE.
Morgan, ga.. Friday, November sg, ism.
valuable tid-bits, for Miss Mattie bad
very little to offer him. Sbe baked
her delightful little puffs of biscuits,
and enjoyed them immensely* finding
them lighter And iridre digestible with-
out butter. She read a Thanksgiving
psalm and went about trying to sing
in basket 8paiTOWt a and *8re«8? flushed ™:s
over the unexpect-
ed treasuretrove, but took it kindly as
a bit of neighborly goodwill. The
sweetbread, white and pittm*) arid all
ready for booking, reminded her of old
Mrs. Morrison* just beginning to sit
up and watch the people go by the
window, What a toothsome dainty
this would be for her, and what a de¬
light that she should be able to take
it to her as she went to church, yes,
and some of the celery, too, for a rel*
ish. The chops were transferred to a
plate on the shelf, the sweetbread
wrapped in a fine old napkin and laid
back in the basket with the best half
of the celery, and the biscuits Miss
Mattie had saved for dinner.
“The cold bread will go just as well
with chops,” she reflected, and pre¬
pared for dhurch With a glow of hap¬
piness such as she had not known in a
long time.
It helped to a real feeling of thank¬
fulness, especially when she thought
of old Mrs. Morrison, and how pleased
She had been with the unexpected
gift. She laughed a little to herself
as she returned to her own door after
service, Morrison remembering how when Sally
hod commiserated her oil be¬
ing alone Thanksgiving Day, she had
assured her she had company invited
—Tommy Barnes, from the nest door,
who was spending a couple of days
with her, the rest of the family being
away,
she “I said, hope smiling ’tjwa’n't a Tommy, sinful untruth, ”
at who lay
peacefully “but if old sleeping Miss on the braided rug,
Mol'rison had set in
to have me stay to dinner, I shouldn’t
a* known how to get away, and slie is
such a talker.”
With a long, clean apron over her
best frock, Miss Mattie began cheer¬
fully to make her small .preparations
for meditated the Thanksgiving feast. Sho had
leaving one chop for break¬
fast, but her walk and happiness had
made her hungry and she decided to
cook them all.
But where did she put these chops
—she was getting so forgetful—she
could have sworn she put them on tho
shelf—could she have left them in the
basket after all? Her perplexed eyes
fell from the shelf to the floor, and
there, just peeping from the wood-box
was the plate, and two small, very
small, bitsof bone, gnawed quite clean
and white.
Ungrateful Tommy Barnes, lying
there in peaceful slumber, with those
preci,ous chops rounding out your yel¬
low sides, if justice had befallen you
then and there you might not have
lived to steal again, But into the
midst of Miss Mattie righteous wrath
came the reflection that Tommy must
have been hungry, and the fault after
all was partly her own for putting
temptation in his way, “though how
anything could have been further out
of his way than that shelf, I don’t
really see,” she added, dolefully.
At that minute Tommy Barnes
waked from his nap, transformed him¬
self into a camel, yawned in a fright¬
fully tigerish fashion, and proceeded to
sharpen his claws on the rug, the
sacred rug into which had been
braided some precious old garments
dear to Miss Mattie’s heart. It was a
straw too much to have insult added
to injury, and springing from her
chair, sho cuffed Tommy in such
vigorous fashion that three or four
hearty blows found their mark before
the astonished sinner could withdraw
his claws and bound out at tho back
door, left ajar in the search for the
chops. At that instant a resounding
knock on tho front door sent Miss
Mattie’s heart to her throat with a
sudden leap, as if justice were already
coining to take her in hand for unrea¬
sonable cruelty.
AVhen Miss Mattie was peacefully
pattering about, unconscious of the
cruel trick fate and Tommy Barnes
had played her, Mrs. Deacon Giles
turbed was surveying her husband with a dis¬
and tearful face.
“You don’t mean to toll me,” slie
repeated, “that the minister’s folks
ain’t cornin’ at all, and you and me
has got to eat this big dinner alone?
Here, I stayed homo from church to
tend to it. Oh, you needn’t to look
as if you thought it was a judgment,
. fosiah I wouldn’t bo such a hipper-
crit as to pretend to be thinkin’ of
.spiritooal things when I was wonder-
id* if Srtrali Ellen would remember to
baste tbe turkey; Seems to me they
might let us know sooner.’*
“Brit I told ye* mother* it was a
teiegraM 6omd just before like church*
You can’t regerlate telegrams the
Weekly newspaper, or stop folks from
».« M
and get somebody else? Mercy sakesl
’Twon’t seem like Thanksgiving at
all--
“Didn't seom to be anybody to ash
but old Mis* Morrison and Marthy
Ellison, I drovo round by the Mom-
sons, but the old lady was just having
fMi
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“silk WAS Sucked IN the yellow
. SLEIGH.”
something relishing Miss Mattie hat)
fetched iil. They said they invited
her to dinner, but she had comp'ny;
one of them Barneses next door,”
“Fiddlesticks l” said the deacon's
wife, in a very disrespectful tone, “You
just drive straight back and bring
Marthy Ellison up here to dinner.
Tell her I don’t take any excuse, and,
if she can’t come other ways, she can
bring her comp’ny along, though the
Way them shif’less Harnesses impose
on her is a mortal shame.”
Good Deacon Giles had learned
docility in many years of experience,
and the double knock at Miss Mattie's
door followed as quickly as could he
reasonably expected. Miss Mattie at¬
tempted neither excuse nor hesitation,
but accepted her good providence with
radiant delight, fetch
“Mother said to your eomp'ny
along,” doubtfully said the deacon, glancing
about the small room. “We
heard you had one of the Barneses, I
kinder hope ’tain't the cross-eyed one
that “Oh,” stole my pears,”
said MisS Mattie, laughing
into the iittle mirror, as she tied her
bonnet, “he's had his dinner and he’s
gone out.”
She didn’t say that ho had eaten
hers also, but at Mrs. Giles’s hos¬
pitable of table, under the genial influ¬
old-time ence generous reminiscences, fare and pleasailt
she told the
story of Tommy Barnes and the lamb
chops in a way that made tho deacon
lose his breath with laughter. And
when she was tucked into the yellow
sleigh for the ride homo, Mrs, Giles
stopped at the door to say;
“I put some bits of bones and things
in a basket under the seat for Tommy,
Takes a sight of stuff to reely fill up a
cat fur ’nottgh to give his moral princi¬
ples a fair showin’. ”
welcome Tommy was on the step waiting to
Miss Mattie, which shows
his forgiving disposition, and, though
he got as much as was good for him
out of the basket Under the seat, Mias
Mattie very wisely concluded that the
mince pie, roast chicken and cran-
berry sauce could delight, hardly have been
meant for his so she locked
them in the cupboard, saying de¬
cidedly:
“This time, Tommy Barnes, I’ll
give your moral principles a fair show¬
ing. ” Emily Huntington Miller.
0 HEART, GIVE THANKS.
0 heart, glvo thanks for strength, to-day,
To walk, to run, to work, to play)
For feasts of eye; melodious sound;
Thy Ton pulses’ easy, rhythmic bound;
servants that thy will obey;
A mlml clear as the sun’s own ray;
A life which has not passed its May;
That all thy being thus is crowned,
0 heart, give thanks!
Feet helpless lio that onco wore gay;
Eyes know but night’s eternal sway;
Souls dwell in silence, dread, profound;
Minds In faeo live of thoso, with clouds thy blessings encircling round;
0 heart, give thanks! weigh!
—Emma C. Dowd.
On Degert Air.
Wintlirop—“If Freddie is going to
spend Thanksgiving with his grand¬
mother, perhaps you’d better buy him
that tin horn.”
Mrs. Wintlirop—“I spoko to him
about it, my dear, but ho said it would
do no good to him', as grandmother is
deaf.”
Tho Kid’s Harvest,
Now he is as pleased ns pleased can ho,
And 1ms no cause to sigh.
With all his heart he says: “To mo
Thanksgiving time is pie.”
Tlio Turkey on the W r all.
PIE opening ol the chest¬
nut burs,
Vi The leaves, yellow and
Told sere,
vftnture beyond a perad-
That Thanksgiving Day
was near.
Mi But, fancy, to my childish
WV The surest sign of all,
Of the nearness of
r- 1 Was Thanksgiving, tho turkoy
v on
t tho wall.
m It plainly told tho story
That wo had not long
to wait,
For tho path from wall
to table
Was very short and straight.
It hung all plump and golden
In the pantry near tho door
For a day or two before the fonst,
And then was seen ne more.
,1
i
PHILOSOPHER Oft A LECTURING
j twr a sm «**•“«•
l LIVELY RIDE ON ft CIRCUS TRAIN.
| 1 After Many Hardship*
i Undergoing tt« Ii
Landed Among fils Friends and
Is Royally Welcomed.
• “Hard, hard, indeed, is the contest
for ’freedom and the strngglo for lib¬
erty.” “There is no rest for the
wicked.” This World is all a fleeting
show and Jordan is a hard road to
travel, I believe! There are other
ejaculations I might utter, for of late
tliero has been trouble ou the old
; man’s mind. You see, I was invited
over here to talk to t1" eSb people in a
humorous and philor ’’hit- way, and
my wife said as the 1. getting
, ! low and the girls niL.ed some more
winter clothes, andt the tax man was
bobbing would around and The grandchildren
be expecting something for
Christmas, she thought I had better
go. So she packed my valise with
my best clothes, and Tortified me with
a little drug store of camphorated oil
and flannel and liver medicine and
paregoric and cough drops and quinine
and headache powders, and so forth
and so on. We kissed goodby all round
and I departed feeling like I was being
driven off from home by sad necessity.
I took the Seaboard Air Line at At¬
lanta bound for Charlotte, via Monroe,
out our engine broke down at Greens¬
boro about dark and this delayed us
three long, dreary hours, and when we
reached Monroe it was way after mid¬
night and the Charlotte train had
gone, Thcl'e were three nice ladies
aboard and several gentlemen, who
were greatly disappointed, but the
conductor was kind and sympathetic
and said there was a circus train near
by that was going to Charlotte right
away and if wo didn’t mind riding
thirty miles in a cab he would get US
the privilege. The ladies, said yes,
ami we did, too, and climed in. It
w as as dark as Erebus. Wo felt our
way to find seats, but there was noth¬
ing but some long tool boxes whose
lids were hard and cold. There was no
fire and tile wind blew through a broken
glars on the back of my head, Tho
ladies chatted away merrily, for they
were going home, but I wasn't and I
couldn’t chat to save my life, for I was
very tired and thought of that good
soft bed at home. By find by the
conductor came in with a lantern and
took up our tickets and left us in the
dark again. About that time the ani¬
mals got restless and the lion gave an
unearthly howl. You see this was a
menagerie train.
“The animals Went In two by two,
The elephant ami the kangaroo,’’
and every time the cars careened about
or swung round a curve we could hear
some devilish noise ahead of us. “Oh,
mercy,” said the youngest girl, “sup¬
pose they break outl” “They will eat
the tenderest and sweetest first,” said
i. “Lions always do.” I pulled my
clonk up over the back of my head
and ruminated. For two long hours
we jogged along, for the train was
running slow to suit the wild beasts
and we were of no consequence.
It was near 3 o’clock when We got
to the suburbs of Charlotte and
stopped. nobody rushed Nobody forward was looking for us—
to meet us, no
porter nor linekman—no omnibus or
street cars, not even a wagon or an ox
cart or a darky. Tile moon had hid
herself to keep from seeing oltr mis¬
ery, blit we seized our grips and wraps
and satchels and made a march for the
electric lights. My companions soon
separated from me and I marched in
single file with my big valiso full of
clothes and the drug store, and strug¬
gled for three quarters of a milo up tho
long and hard sidewalk. I am not
used to arc lights, and the flickering
shadow of every tree and telegraph
pole looked like a man In ambush who
was fixing to hold me up. I had for¬
gotten where the hotels were, and un¬
consciously passed them, for the doors
were all shut, and there was no sign.
By and by I met a policeman and he
conducted me back to the hotel, and
I was as thankful as I was tired and
humble. My pitiful tone of voice se¬
cured me kind attention and a bed.
When a man is far away from home,
his warmest welcome is an inn. But
I did not rest well.
A 10 o’clock supper, on fried sausage
and scrambled eggs and stale oysters,
disturbed my corporosity and I dream¬
ed that the tiger got loose and came
prowling and howling around the car
and somehow I got a hatchet out of
the tool box and lifted the young lady
through the port hole upon the roof,
and volunteered to defend her with
my life and my sacred honor. The tiger
made desperate leaps to get up there,
but every time lie got a paw on the
eave, I cut it off and let him fall back
again. I don’t know what became of
the other ladies, but think that other
wild beasts got in and eat them up.
The men had all fled prematurely, but
I saved the pretty girl, tho sweetest
and tenderest, before I woke up.
Who wouldn’t, in a dream? What
curious things are dreams, anyhow 1
next trouble on the old man’s
mind came over him at Salisbury,
where I was billed to lecture that night.
On my arrival I found that august
body, the Presbyterian synod in ses¬
sion. Preachers and elders innumer¬
able were scattered among the
good people all over town. They
were holding night sessions, and
wouldn’t have adjourned for Mc¬
Kinley or Grover Cleveland or
the yellow fever or a fire. But this
to lecture ou the Holy Land, I where he
had been recently, and knew that I
would fall between and get smothered.
Mr. Marsh seemed to feel very bad,
and apologized by saying that when
he liookvd me he did not know of
those meeting's. “Well,” said I, “the
saints will all go to these meetings,
but you have sinners in this town.”
He admitted that there were some.
And so I went ahead and lectured, and
was surprised to see before me a se-
lect and cultured audience, select,
and I hope elect according to Presby-
terian theology.
So all is well that ends well. The
next evening found me at the nice lit¬
tle town of Marion, in western North
Carolina, away up in the land of the
sky. They are good people there, I
know, for they filled the court house
that, night and gave me an ovation,
I he old soldiers are thick in that
region, and they came out to
hear me, and some Of U8
got together and talked of old
Bob Lee and Joe Johnston and Gen
erals Early and Bonder and Whiting
and Hoke and Hansom and Pettigrew
and Clingman and others. Their
eyes watered and their hearts burned
within them, and they got closer and
closer together. What a people these
tar-heels are—these descendants of
the Scotch! About every other name
is Scotch, a McLflro or McFalL or
McLaurin or McArthur or McSome-
thingelse, and then there are Aloxan-
ders everywhere and Caldwells and
Carlyles. After the lecture we had a
musieale at the hotel by tbe gifted
Gruber family, who keep the hotel,
.Mr. Gruber and Mrs. Gruber and their
seven children. I have heard much
music during my long life, but I never
heard any better anywhere. How the
old man’s fingers did dance upon the
strings; how sweetly did tho still
handsome matron sing the ‘ 'Last Rose
of Summer” and other old time songs
of Scotland! What delightful chords
came from the piano under the touoh
of the young ladies and the sweet little
black-eyed girl of only ten summers!
And when they played “Home, Sweet
Home,” with variations, I could hard¬
ly restrain my teal's. I felt like we all
ought to hold a seance if we could
with John Howard Payne and tell him
how the world loved him for his song.
I had sweet dreams that night. I am
still on the grand rounds talking to
the unpretending people of this grand
old state. It seems to have got out,
however, that I had joined John Rob¬
inson’s circus and gone off with it.
Some of those mischievous drummers
told that. Tours on the wing.— Bill
Arp in Atlanta Constitution.
ROAI) IN GOOD SHAPE.
The Northeast,era Hail way Company Re-
Fleeted Board of Directors*.
The annual meeting of the stock¬
holders of the Northeastern Railway
Company was hold at, Charleston, H.
C., Friday. The board of directors,
consisting of B. F. Newcomer, H. B.
Plant, IT. Walters, C. O. Witte,
Michael Jenkins and W. G. Elliott,
was re-elected.
C. 8. Gadsden was again chosen
president and all minor officials were
retained in their respective offices.
Tho annual report was most satisfac¬
tory. The gross receipts of the year
were $532,528.39, and the operating
expenses $ 343,765.08.
PARK COMMISSIONER REPORTS,
Chairman Boynton Shows That Satlsfao-
tory l’rogre** Huh Boon Made.
General Horn y V. Boynton, as chair¬
man of tho Chicnmauga and Chatta¬
nooga National park commission, has
submitted to the secretary of war tho
annual report of the commission,
showing that satisfactory progress has
been made in the establishment of the
park in accordance with existing laws
and tho plan heretofore adopted by
the war department.
No change seems to the park com¬
mission to he required or to bo advis¬
able. No new legislation is suggested
and no increase of the appropriation
of that made for tho current fiscal year
is needed.
BOYCOTT IS ILLEGAL
/Wccorilinij; to n Becluion In a Mittftouri
Court of Appeal*.
An opinion handed down in ’tho
United States circuit court of appeals
at St. Louis holds that the boycott is
not a legal weapon. The decision is
of interest to labor organizations all
over tho country, inasmuch as it up¬
holds the rights of corporations to in¬
troduce their saving devices.
The case in question was that of tho
Oxley Stave Company of Kansas City
vs. H. C. Hoskins and twelve others.
The defendants, who are all members
of Coopers’ Union No. 1 of Kansas
City, objected to use of machinery in
the establishment named and institu¬
ted a boycott.
MONUMENT TO VANCE.
Grand Lodge of Masons of North Carolina
Will Lay the Corner Stone.
A special from Asheville, N. C.,
saps that Grand Master Moore, at the
request of Masons of North Carolina,
will call a special communication ol
the grand lodge to assist in laying the
corner stone of tho monument to the
late United States Senator Vance at
Asheville.
Tho ceremonies will occur early in
December.
MACHINERY FOR COAL MINING
Will Probably Cause a Strike Amonfc
Tennessee Digger*.
A dispatch from Chattanooga says:
The operators at the Cross Mountain
coal mines in the Jellico region are
preparing to put in electrical apparatus
for mining coal, and have notified the
men that they will then only be paid
one-half the present price for loading.
A general strike, tho men say, will
follow immediately after the introduc¬
tion of the
$1 PER YEAR.
QUEEN REGENT OF SPAIN PARDONS
TIIE FOUR UNFORTUNATES.
| ftflg ONCE CONDEMNED TO DIE.
I
DeLome Has a Conference With Assistant
Secretary Day In Regard to Weyler’s
Tobacco Decree.
Minister Woodford at Madrid has
telegraphed the state department that
the Spanish eabiuot has notified him
that the queen has pardoned the Corn-
petitor prisoners.
j The state department now announces
that the Competitor prisoners were
turned over to General Leo last Mon-
day and will be sent by him direct
to New York.
It is not doubted in Washington
that the prisoners are liberated on
some such conditions as were imposed
in the case of former prisoners, that
, is that they will not return to Cuba,
| Cuban After jails, their bitter experience in the
| it is not believed the
men will be disposed to violate any
understanding of this kind to which
they may he parties. It is singular
that the men should have been for
four 'lays in the custody of Consul
General Lee without the fact having
become generally known, but it is
supposed that secrecy was observed
j in order without to secure exciting departure trouble from Ha-
vana from
the extreme conservative Spanish fac-
tion.
There were four prisoners, namely,
Alfred O. Laborde, the captain of tho
Competitor, a native of New Orleans;
William Gildea, the mate, a natural¬
ized citizen; Onu Melton, who claims
Kansas as liis native state, and who
went on tho Competitor in the capacity
of a newspaper correspondent; Charles
Barnett, of British birth, but who
claimed the protection of the United
Htatos by virtue of his sailing on an
American vessel.
The conditions under which the
Competitor was captured April 25,
1896, off the Cuban coast while en¬
gaged in landing arms for tho insur¬
gents have been often described. The
defense of the men was that they were
forced into the exposition against
their will by the insurgent party
aboard the boat. They were tried by
a naval courtmartial before which they
could make only a poor showing, prin¬
cipally because of their ignorance of
the Spanish lunguage in which the
proceedings were conducted, so that
their conviction and the imposition of
the death sentence was not a matter of
surprise.
At that point, however, the case as¬
sumed diplomatic importance.
May Revoke Weyler’s Decree.
Honor Dupny do Lome, the Spanish
minister, had a long conference with
Assistant Secretary Day Thursday
morning and it is believed that tho
Spanish government is voluntarily
about to remove another troublesome
factor from tho field of negotiations in
revoking the decree made by Weyler
prohibiting the exportation of tobacco
from Cuba.
The reason set up by General Wey¬
ler for tho order was the necessity of
keeping in Havana the supply of to¬
bacco necessary to run tho domestic
cigor factories and thus,by giving em¬
ployment to workmen,keep them from
drifting into the insurgent ranks. It
was a matter of common report, how¬
ever, that another potout reason was u
desire to cripple the Cuban cigar mak¬
ers in the United States, from whom
the iusnrgents drew funds.
SUICIDE’S CONFESSION READ.
pensation Sprung at Trial of Arroyo’s
Lynchers In City of Mexico.
A profound p°«»ation was made in
the course of the trial of tho police
officials of the City of Mexico, who
are chargod with tho murder of Ar¬
royo, sion of by the production- of the confes¬
tho late inspector general of
police, Velasquez, who suicided. It
is a most remarkable attempt at self-
justification, and falsely states that a
mob of tho common people lynched
Arroyo.
The prosecuting attorney in a strong
argument pleaded for the execution of
a death sentence on all the prisoners
except ex-Assistant Chief of Detectives
Cabrera and one other minor prisoner.
THE WILL NOT SIGNED.
Bores ford’s Wife Was Not Disinherited
After All.
An interesting piece of news has
come to light on information furnish¬
ed by Dr. Miller, a member of the city
council of Fitzgerald, Ga.
Dr. Miller says that the father-in-
law of Lord Beresford alias Sydney
Lascelles, did not disinherit his daugh¬
ter as has been reported.
The will was drawn up and the
lawyer who had been employed for the
purpose was called away and during
his absence tho much-abused father
suddenly died, Consequently the
document was never signed and is
harmless.
EMPLOYEES MUST “COME ACROSS.”
Secretary of the Treasurer, Gage, I**ue* a
Circular to Clerk*.
A Washington dispatch says: The
secretary of the treasury has issued a
circular to employees to the effect that
clerks receiving a stated salary who
neglect to pay their debts contracted
for tha necessary support of them-
eelves and their families without pre¬
senting satisfactory reasons therefor,
will not be retained in office.