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About The Knoxville journal. (Knoxville, Ga.) 1888-18?? | View Entire Issue (June 14, 1889)
Mill JOURNAL KNOXVILLE. GEORGIA. ^emigration r shows falling off for* a the first quarter of this year. Twenty-two states are endeavoring to purify their election laws "by introducing the Australian system of voting. r Syndicates rapidly buying all the are up Southern timber lands that they can get their hands on. The school banking system was intro¬ duced in the public schools of Long Island City, N. Y., about three years ago, and already the pupils in the nine schools have $10,791.95 to their credit. The Boers, of South Africa, have whipped England five different times, and one of their prophets is now pre¬ dicting a coming war in which a Boei will be raised to the British throne. f The English, Germans and French are all assiduously counting Mexico as a promising field of commercial enterprise and English capitalists are hopeful of wresting control of it from this country. I Even Californians tire of their per¬ petual sunshine. The Visalia Delta re¬ marks: “Dwellers in the San Joaquin valley would like to swap off a few square leagues of Italian sky for a little Oregon mist.” The English courts hold that when a man writes asking another to “favor him with a check” for a bill the intent is that the check is to be sent by post, and the creditor is liable if the check is lost in the mails. : According to a statistician the liens of Connecticut would reach twice across the State if placed in a straight line, head to tail. Any one who has tried to induce a hen to remain in any straight line for a second will appreciate that “if.” Says the Detroit Free Press: “Cali¬ fornia imported the dandelion and is sorry; the United States imported the English sparrow and is sorry; Brazil, like the United States, is importing paupers, and, like the United States, will be sorry for it.” Statistician Mulhall calculates that the next census will show in the United States a population of 66,000,000, an energy of 100,000,000,000 of foot-tons per day, and $70,000,000,000 of accumu¬ lated wealth. No people in all history have ever made a like showing. , • | The newspapers of Porto Principe and Sancti Spiritus, the principal cattle breeding sections of Cuba, urge the cattle men to devise some plan by which the surplus of their herds may be exported, especially to the United States, where, it is said, they would find remunerative markets. The police are exerting extraordinary vigilance to prevent emigration from Hungary, and women and children who seek to escape from the country to join husbands and fathers already in America have to submit to great hardships, and often are unable to get away at all. The authorities profess to fear a dearth of farm laborers. American cotton oil is becoming a val uable and acceptable substitute for dearer products in the markets of the world. Prejudice against it, states the Chicago Sun, is being steadily overcome. The factories under way are being hurried along. Demand is increasing. Stocks are small. As a substitute for lard it promises to become a valuable article of commerce. The late Aaron White, by whose will each county in Connecticut receives $1000 for law library purposes, was known widely for his copper coin mania, which was first revealed when two men were sent to prison for stealing $100 from his hoard, but there was great astonishment after his death when his administrator shipped from the village station five tons of copper coins. Stanley is, of course, well understood to be the agent of England in Africa, and certainly England, the New York Com mercial Advertiser believes, could not have a more capable and energetic man to look after its affairs in a quarter of the globe toward the partition of which among themselves various European powers are now straining every energy, each in its own way. The Rev. T. DeWitt Talmadge has a simple and easy plan for converting the iworld to Christianity. It is for each Christian to secure one convert and each jane, of the converted to do the same. He calculates that if this is done every year for a decade the 1,400,000,000 people of the darth could be brought into the Christian fold and that the close of this century-will witness the dawn of th« millennium. WASHINGTON. •4 t stag of one who lives, and is not dead, Whose name and fame can never, never die; calm of solemn The grave, man, voice and ♦ Of martial head, soul, great heart, firm hand, clear Who Beneath through the frowning gates of sky! hell his legions led a Oppressed thoughts by hate of those and envy he cherished in the North, By in the South, courageable With heart he still went forth, To Through be the savior—father—of famine and through drouth, the land, In the hollow of God's hand! f I see him in the rich Virginia fields. Amid the clover and the asphodel, — While round him boom the bees, ’neath birmished shields, And over him the wood-bards’ clear notes A swell, happy with Through boy, long butterflies day. at play, a summer And then I see the young surveyor tramp Where the wild rod man and deer had gone And, before; Beneath when the the day is dead, I see him camp stars, where swollen rivers I him roar, see with his sweetheart lead the dance; I catch the words he pours into her ears: I see him spinning a (love) song, perchance, And all his disappointed sighs I hear. T see him through the French and Indian In training wars, for the work that’s to sure When come, King laws George’s long endured, tyrannic Will be appealed from, to the music of the drum! I see him when the shot at Lexington Goes whirling through the balmy, generous South— And X see that strong, indomitable mouth Of Virginia’s most indomitable son, As he buckled on his swqrd—his charger And strides, northward rides! I see him swing through streets in Boston I hear town; through nights, him, his almost sleepless Speak Heights, words of cheer, out on Dorchester When his ragged Continentals groan and frown. I see him .cross the icy Delaware, Beneath December's icy, starless skies; And Trenton, Princeton, rise before my And then, eyes, again, No food—no clothes—no grim, awful, blank despair! fire; blankets—hardly No shot—no powder—nothing to inspire Their weary souls—but our great Hero there! With bleeding hearts and feet, they watch the day Go sadly down the West; Upon the white and frozen earth they rest, In that bleak, wind-swept gorge, While their great commander knelt him down to pray, - - To Upon the frozen sod, the Almighty God, At Valley Forge! “Dear God, who sees each little grassblade that grows; Dear God, who gives the forest minstrels tx., Who song; commandest every wind that ever To whom blows; all belong; stars, all hearts, all minds, Who sees, with an all-seeing Eye, the souls Of puny men—make our hearts, our souls, To fight strong the good fight in our holy cause, And guide us from the cruel deeps to shoals. Thou givest wandering birds in storms a Thou tree; lamb; temperest the wind to the shorn Thou hast made the dead to rise, the blind to Lo, see; I bare my soul to Thee for what I am— A poor, weak mortal, with a love for Thee, And with a love for country And for peace, And Liberty. Vouchsafe to lead us on to victory, And from bondage and from tyranny release Thy children and their land. Turn our night to day, And still hold us in the hollow of Thy hand. Lord, here we pray!” And the Lord He heard him pray there in the snow, A grand century ago, Or the stars and stripes would not be yon¬ der flying 1 Now, I see him nurse the sick and watch the dying— Hear his deep and soothing voice Bid the weary ones rejoice; See him bow his martial head O’er the freezing—dying—dead, While the tears rain down his deeply fur Through rowed cheeks, those days, and nights, and weeks, until the spring comes, once again— With it, courage to his men— Food and raiment, one by one; And, To when everything was done warm each Continental son, With Why, he marched into the fray a heart so light and gay, That care and all its satellites went shr far away— And the warming that the British got ere Monmouth town was won! Fought he he north, south, east and west, and And Yorktown fought his very best! at straightway met made Cornwallis, his guest, whom he With his seven thousand men! You know the rest: How he laid away tho sivord—took up his Bade pen— his Generals good-by, In Fraunce’s Tavern, with a sigh, And a big tear in each eye, To become the ‘'Cineinnatus of the West.” How they offered him “a crown!” How he dashed the bauble down When they would have made him 1 ‘king!” Ring Sing! ring! sing! ring! sing! His virtues and his praises, while ths skies are up the above you! While earth’s beneath our feet, noble Till the Washington, liberty we’ll love youl thing you gave us is a poor of the past. You shall be the first within our hearts and last! —John E. McCann, in Once a Week. THE BAM ROBBERY. It was the invariable custom of the night watchman of the Merchants’ Mechanics’ Bank at Clio to throw’ the front doors and raise the curtains 7£ o’clock each morning. By that all the stores were open and the full of people. From 7-J- o’clock to 8 swept and dusted, and the bells scarcely struck the latter hour when bank. officials began to arrrive. the watchman went home, the doors closed, and at nine o’clock the bank was ready for business. One September morning the cashier, teller, and two of the clerks arrived find the heavy front doors still closed. Peter, the watchman, had been in nine years, and this was the first time had overslept his hour. The grocer one side and the shoo man on the had pounded on the bank doors at quarter to eight, and not receiving response, were certain that something of the way had occurred. There nine of us who entered the bank as cashier unlocked the doors. The had not yet been raised when we knew that robbery and murder had taken place. When we got the full light we saw Peter lying on his back on the floor outside of the railing. He was fully dressed, and had been struck on the back of the head; and the blow had crushed in the skull. The body was cold, showing that death had occurred some hours before. Further investigation proved that the door of the vault had been drilled and blown open, and that the bank had been robbed of every dollar of its cash on hand. Taking the loss of bonds, stocks and cash, the aggregate was about $80,000, about half of which fell upon the bank. Burglar tools, fuse, a flask of powder and other artices were lying about, and on a desk we found the loaded club which had dealt Peter his death blow. When we came to investigate as to how the robbers had effected an entrance everybody was at sea. They could only have come and gone by the front door. None of the windows had been raised, the back door was heavily barred, and the doOr leading to the cellar had not been tampered with. Peter had no key to the lock of the front door. He could open it from the inside, but not from the other. The cashier and bookkeeper, both old and trusted men and stockholders, alone had keys. He.must, we concluded, have ad¬ mitted the robbers to the bank, but the fact of his having been murdered was proof of his integrity. Had he put up a job with them, they would not have fin¬ ished him off. He was a sharp, shrewd fellow, and what excuse they could have urged to gain admission was beyond our figuring. Detectives were put to work on the case, but not the slightest clue could they get for weeks. It seemed as if the robbers had taken wings as they left the bank. Three months later two men, who were suspected of being “good fellows,” were arrested at a point 200 miles away, and in another State, for stealing a horse and buggy. In following up this case to a conviction it was proved that they had arranged to do a bank in a country town, and that the rig had been stolen as a part of the programme. One of the men was recognized as a person seen in our town about the time of our robbery, and the bank people became satisfied that both of them had a hand in it. They had no proofs, and the matter would have been permitted to drop but for me. The loss of cash was only about $11, 000. About $35,000 in securities be¬ longed to depositors, and the balance was the loss of the bank. None of the securities had been negotiated thus far, and it was my theory that the robbers had them securely hidden away some¬ where. "While I could not be positive that either of the men arrested for steal¬ ing the horse and buggy was the party wanted for our job, two of our citizens were so positive in identifying one of them that I was ready to chance it. The bank had offered a big reward for the arrest of the robbers and murderers, and after due deliberation with myself and several consultations with friends, I de¬ termined on a plan. The men had been sent to prison for three years apiece. When arrested they made a fight, and burglars’ tools were also found in their possession. I visited the prison and learned that one had been assigned to the boot and shoe department, while the other had gone to the chair works. I walked through this department and saw him en¬ gaged in chair painting. The two were so widely separated that there was no possibility of a meeting except in the chapel on a Sunday. The one in the chair department was the younger by sev¬ eral years. One day, when I had my plans all laid, I entered a jewelry store in the city from which the men had been sentenced and asked to look at some watches. A tray of them was set, and I grabbed one valued at $40 and ran out. I could have got clear off as well as not, but my object was to be arrested. On my ex¬ amination I pleaded guilty and was bound over. When the case came to the higher court a lawyer was assigned me, and had I worked with him the jury would have cleared me. I refused to answer* any questions, admitted my guilt, and was regarded by some as light in the head. The jeweler did not desire my conviction, and but for my impudence I should have failed in my purpose. A verdict of guilty was finally reached and his Honor gave me a year in prison, though I believe he was ready to suspend sentence in case I broke clown and promised reform. When I arrived at the prison I gave my occupation as a chair finisher, and, to my gjjpat satisfaction, I was assigned to that work, and soon found myself alongside the man I was after. Ho was recorded on the prison books as Jordon Hatch, No. 2180. I was down as Charles Merritt, No. 2185. We were at least thirty feet apart for the first three weeks, and I had been there a full month before we passed a word. Then, as we were carrying some work to the stock room, I got a chance to growl to him: “I thought the horse thieves were put into the slop department.” He gave me a fierce look and gritted his teeth, and next time we passed he whispered: “And I thought the cheap-watch grab¬ bers were used as kitchen mops!” “He knew, then, as I suspected, what I had been sent for. No convict is in prison a week before his offence is pretty generally known. As we passed again I whispered: “It’s a good thing sometimes to be laid by.” His reply to this was: 1 ‘Then don’t size me up for a horse thief.” During the next two weeks, owing to the illness of one of the finishers, and the fact that another was pardoned, I nearer to Hatch, but while I seemed to utterly indifferent to him, I several caught him looking me over as if inter¬ ested. He was very handy, and tasty with brush and stencils, and as was equally, so it finally came about, ter I had been in prison about months, that we worked side by side the same platform. There was one seer for fifteen of us, and we had only to exercise communicate prudence and in whispers. discretien to I be able to car ried out the idea that I grabbed the watch on purpose to be laid by until the hue and cry over a big job had died out, and by abstaining from asking him any question about his past I gave him no reason to distrust me. I had been in prison for seven months when I was called to the office one day to see a friend, one of the few who were in the plot. He had called to ask what progress I had made. Upon my return to the shop Hatch was curious to know what had passed, and I informed him that I had got word that a pard of mine who had been in the big job with me,but who had escaped arrest, had converted our hidden swag to his own use and gone to Europe. “I’d kill him!” he replied. * “My pard hadn’t better try that on me I” “But he may.” “Not this pull. Isn’t he here with me?” It was a month before I made another move. I then feigned sickness and got four days in the hospital, and when I re¬ turned to work I had some news foi Hatch. It was to the effect that another horse thief, whose name I could not re¬ member, but who was in the shoe depart¬ ment, had been receiving the visits of a lawyer, who was doubtless seeking to get him a pardon or a new trial. “The deuce he is!” hissed Hatch, jumping to the conclusion I hoped he would. I purposely prevented any other con¬ versation for several days, but it was plain enough that my shot had told and that my man was greatly worried. I pretended to have no interest in the matter, and one day when opportunity offered he ob¬ served. “I’d give 'a thousand dollars to get a letter out of here to a certain party.” “Better not try it,” I briefly replied, and I let him worry again for a week. It so happened then that I was detailed to the yard for a couple of days to assist in repiling some lumber, and when I re¬ turned I had some gossip for Hatch. It was to the effect that the Governor was being shoe worked for a pardon for one of the men, and it was reported that the lawyer who had the case in hand was to get $10,000 if he was successful. I could not give his name not having heard it, but ventured the opinion that the man must have rich relatives at work for him. “No,” he replied. “He’s selling some one out on the quiet!” It was a week before anything further was said. I had saved my good time and was almost ready to go. Four days before I was granted my liberty Hatch handed me a piece of paper on which he had written about a dozen figures and as many letters of the alphabet, and said: “It is to my mother. She will under¬ stand it. If you can get this out with you and mail it to the address on the back, enclosing your own address, you will receive at least $1000 within a week. That shoe man is my pard. If he is working the Governor it is to beat me. I’ll take the chances of trusting you. We were in a big diamond robbery in Lon¬ don last year, and the swag is secured in New York. If this gets to the old woman “But the address is Chicago*” I said, as I got a look at it. “That’s all right; she’ll understand,” he said. I had a sore finger, and I carried the note out hidden in the rag wrapped around the digit. I went straight to Clio, put the paper in the hands of the bank officers and detectives, and after working over the cipher for three days we were no wiser than at first. The address was; “Mrs. Ann Walsh, Chicago, Ill.,” and on the second day after our arrival in Chicago a woman dressed in mourning called at the ladies’ window and inquired for the name. We followed her to a sa¬ loon and restaurant on State street discovered that she kept house up stairs, while her son, a young man of about twenty-five, ran the business below. The place was looked upon by the Chicago police as suspicious, and with their aid a search warrant was procured and a search made. In a tin box in an old trunk in the garret we found the securities stolen from the bank at Clio. Jordan Hatch’s right name was Billy Walsh, and woman was his mother and the young man his brother. Both claimed ignorance of the securities, proving that Billy had the run of the house when home and that he had every oppurtunity to bring home and conceal stuff. It not until after their acquittal that found the key to the cipher. The then read: “Put the swag info a safe place at once. Don’t reply to this.” Hatch had promised me a thousand dollars, but he did not mean I should it. Mother and son both knew he in prison, but were afraid to visit him fear of being suspected of having the curities. Upon leaving the prison the men tried for murder and robbery. They mitted the robbery, but denied the der. They explained that they on the bank doors, and told Peter his wife was dying. In his confusion opened the door and both pushed in, as he staggered back he fell and hit head on the tile floor. It had been long since the murder and their made such a plausible theory that were acquitted of murder though less guilty, and sent for fifteen apiece on the other charge.— New Sdh. Secret of Health in China. The Chinese live in houses where supply of air is so limited that no pean could endure the vitiated sphere; yet they are a very healthy tion. This is due probably to the that their food is invariably simple clean and thoroughly well cooked. potatoes and rice are all boiled When cooked the mixture is put small bowls, and as it is eaten with chopsticks, it is impossible to try mouth or stomach by scalding them a quantity of very hot food. thev rarely drink water if they can tea, either hot or cold. WORDS OF WISDOM. ft j s on ]y tho unlucky who think fer¬ une bii n <j. children are the coupons on tha bonds ,f marriage, White lies are the gentlemen ushers of he black ones. A paradox is often a truth serving it3 ipprenticeship. Rarely do we contradict those wo love ir those we despise, Scra tch a pessimist, and, more often jjan no t, you will find an optimist turned ' lour. Many a man forgets his evil deeds so swiftly that he is honestly surprised when my one else recalls them. Man has a firmer grip on the truths he ihinks he has found out for himself, than )n those he has been taught. Many a many would blush for his wisest lecisions if only he should reflect on the reasons which moved him to them. To see a clever man making a fool of Wmself is a sorry sight; and it is pitiful !o discover that he can always give most {xcellent reasons for his folly. Some people keep a friend as children have a toy bank into which they drop Sttle coins now and again; and some day they draw out the whole of their savings it once. —Century Magazine. The Seal Fisheries. The recent heavy capture of seals o3 Newfoundland will not, despite reports to the contrary, make sealskin sacks any the less expensive next season. It is indeed difficult to disassociate the seal from the sack constructed from his outer covering, but only seals from certain localities may be used for this purpose, and seals caught off Newfoundland are not of that kind, [t is the Alaskan seal and the Japanese seal whose fur is available for a feminine wrap. Yet the catch is one of moment. For there are most important uses to which these seals are to be put. Though the Arctic seal, as these are called, is covered with hair, long and coarse, and thick and bristly, yet scraping this off the skin it¬ self becomes valuable for tanning purposes. For that it goes principally to Great Britain. Here it is used for the most part in the manufacture of pocket books and tennis shoes. Just below the skin lies a layer of fat known as the pelt. This might almost be called the seal itself, for all that lies be¬ neath this is a thin membrane and then the animal’s bone and framework and di¬ gestive apparatus. These form but a small part of him. An excellent quality of what is known as seal oil is extracted from the pelt, and- the tallow-like sub¬ stance that remains has a value com¬ mercially. These Arctic seals whelp in the north in the latter part of February and drift down on the ice in the early spring. As the ice melts in more temperate regions the young seals drop off into the water, and are then sufficiently grown to take care of themselves. It is the object of the sealers to capture the little animals known as “white coats” while still on the floating ice. This is on their first trip. Later on the larger animals, up to the 450 pounds male, known as the hooded seal, are hunted. The “white coats,” not over four feet long and of forty to fifty pounds weight, make little resistance, and are easily killed by a blow over the head. The seal fishery will be most profitable this year. One of the vessels just re¬ turned to port has a cargo of 27,000 seals. The market value of these is something aver$2 apiece. Allowing for the running expenses of the vessel, the proportional ihare of the catch to the vessel’s officers md crew, yet the profit to the owners .vill be an exceedingly neat one.— New Tori: Mail and Express. Onr Memorable Naval Disasters. The disaster in Apia harbor is the severest, so far as the destruction of ves¬ sels is concerned, that the American Navy has yet experienced by storm at sea. There have been instances, however, where larger numbers of lives were lost. The most notable of these naval disas¬ ters was the sinking of the Albany off the West Indies in 1853. Neither the vessel nor the 200 persons on board her were ever heard of. In 1858 the United States sloop-of-.7ar and La Vante, went down in the Pacific, was never heard from. Not one of her officers and crew of 200 was ever found. In 1863 the brig Bainbridge went down off Cape Hatteras, and only one colored man was saved. The Monongahela was washed ashore it Santa Cruz by a tidal wave in 1867, and landed on the top of some houses. She was finally launched and repaired, md is now in use by the navy. The Wateree and the Fredonia were capsized by a tidal wave, caused by an earthquake, off the coast of Peru. The Wateree was carried inland for a consid¬ erable distance, and, strange to say, none of the crew was drowned or killed. The worst disaster to a United States vessel during late years, was the sinking of the Huron in a storm off Curratuck Beach, near Cape Hatteras, in 1876. En¬ sign, now Lieutenant Lucien Young, was the only man on board of ber who was saved from the wreck. The Ferocity of a Blue Crane. Monroe Adams, of the Cotton restaurant, saw a large bird sailing about one hundred yards above him, Town Creek, and shot it, breaking of its wings. It fell to the ground Monroe made a grab for the bird, and it mad f «■ thrust at him with a bill fully or six inches long, striking him on shoulder. He clubbed his gun and at they went, sometimes the bird getting a ll ck and sometimes Monroe. The so much higher and longer and pie that it could come in on any side, Monroe caught its long, snakc-likc neck, ?ave a hasty lick with his gun and had won the battle. It proved to be blue crane. It measured seven feet tip of wing to tip of wipg, and stood high on its feet from point to beak. Mon roe sold it to Captain P. Williams, *te some of it. He says turkey won’t compare with it.— Ar m-m is Recorder. * THE WEDDING DAY. Sweetheart, name the day for mo , When we two shall wedded bo. Hake it ere another moon. While, the meadows are in tuno And the trees are blossoming, And tho robbins mate and sing. Whisper, love, and name a day In this merry month of May. No, no, no, You shall not escape me so. Love will not forever wait; , Roses fade when gathered lato. Fie, for shame, Sir Malcontent! How time be better spent <* can Than in wooihg? I would wed When the clover blossoms red, When the air is full of bliss, And the sunshine like a kiss. If your’re good I grant a boon; You shall have me, sir, in June. Nay, nay, nay, Girls for once should have their way! If you love me wait till June; Rosebuds wither picked too soon. ~E. G. Stcdman PITH AND POINT. Intense—A circus. Jimmy is the pried of the burglars. Always try to suit everybody—Tailors. Presumably a fault-finding fish—The carp. Not murderous—Young men “dressed to kill.” “Representative men”—Members of Congress. Merely a matter of opinion—The Judge’s decision. There are timid tourists who will not go up the Nile, fearing a cataract in the eye. In all probability the brightest of vegetables is the onion. It at any rate has the most scents.— Time. There are eleven thousand remedies for disease known to medical science,and a man generally has most of them sug¬ gested to him whenever he has a boil. Mrs. Jason—“You think you know it all, don’t you?” Mr. Jason—“I married, know a heap more than I did before I was I am sorry to say Terre Haute Gazette. In summer hours her hand he sought tennis; The When winter they to together the maiden played brought at A richer beau, whom soon she caught, And now the first one’s name is Dennis. “I beg your pardon, madam, but you are sitting on my silk hat,” exlaimed a gentleman. “Oh, pray excuse me; I thought it was my husband’s.” — Cham¬ bers^ Journal. “Fond of beasts?” asked Mr. Turmp tops of Miss Belinda, “Dear me,” re plied the lady. “If that’s intended for a declaration, you must really speak to my mamma.” —Boston Gazette. Teacher—“What was there remarkable about the battle of Lookout?” Little Dick (at the foot of the class)—‘ ‘It caused bangs on the brow of a mountain.” ■—Binghamton Republican. “I have an account of a big landslide,” said the new reporter; “what bead shall I put it under!” “Put it under tho ‘Beal Estate Transfers,’ ” replied the snake editor. —Pittsburg Telegraph. The hot water cure is highly spoken of. A young man of our acquaintance was completely cured of an attachment for a young lady by one kettleful, which the old man let him have.— New Tori Neics Bella—“Don’t I look a perfect fright in my new sacque, though?” Clara (ab¬ sent mindedly)—“Yes.” Bella—“You mean thing! I’ll never speak to you again as long as Hive.” —Burlington Free Press. “My husband is dreadfully out of sorts,” one lady said to another the other evening. “I noticed that he looked dreadfully yellow,” the other replied, “Yes,” was the mournful reply, “when ever he is blue he is sure to be yellow. ” Boastful Dude—“I am glad you ad mire my scarf pin. The stone has a his tory. It was intimately associated with ah ancient Hindoo family.” Cynical Friend (examining the stone critically)— “One of the windows of its palace, I sup pose?”— Jewelers' ’Weekly. Husband—“What docs the newspaper say about the big fire of last night?” Wife (reading the morning paper)—“It says the boiler burst, and then the scene that followed baffled description.” H.— “Is that all?” W.—“No; two columns of description follow that.” — Blade. Manager—“My dear Miss Flashlight, it will never do at all for you to wear that diamond necklace in tho role of a beggar girl.” Miss Flashlight (the star) —“Well, if that’s the ease tho piece will have to be changed. Why didn’t you tell me of this before I had gone to the trouble of studying the part?”— Terre Haute Express. Preventing Oysters from Suicide. I Oysters sent here from the East in are! a j “fresh” state for local emsumption I generally dead when they get to this city and are most assuredly anything but alive i by the time the consumer gets hold otf' them. Many contrivances have been in¬ vented for keeping tho bivalves alive while being shipped across the country, but the only really successful plan is said to be that recently patented by A. A. Freeman, of Philadelphia. By this plan an oyster may be taken from the Atlantic and shipped to this coast and have at least twenty days of life yet remaining after his arrival here. His method is simply to bind the oyster with a single strand of wire, and on this plain con¬ trivance Uncle Sam has granted him two j letters patent. The invention merely keeps the oyster from committing suicide by opening its mouth and letting in too great a volume of air. It is said that a syndicate is about to buy up the Pacific coast for “wired oysters,” as they are called, and that depots are to be estab¬ lished all over the country for the dis¬ tribution of live bivalves,it being claimed that they will be in as fresh a condition is when first taken from the salt sea.-» . San Francisco Chronicle.
