Evening Star Newspaper, July 26, 1890, Page 8

i ll THE EVENING STAR: ————, WASHINGTON, D. C.. SATURDAY, ne JULY 26, 1890-SIXTEEN PAGES. UNCLE SAWS BONES. The Wonderful Collection of Skele- tons He is Making in Washington. A CELLAR FULL OF BONES. All the Beasts and Birds ot the World Hepresented—How the Skeletons are Precured and Prepared—Restorations ef Ante-Deluge Monsters. ee a N HISTORIC camel's skeleton was added this week to the National Museum's collection of queer bones, When Jefferson Davia was . Secretary of War thirty camels were brought to this country from Arabia for use in the Great American Desert. It was supposed that they could be profitably employed for purposes of transportation where horses were unavailable, but they did not serve stall. They were established on # ranch in New Mexico and encouraged to propagate their species, Italian settlers, with an eye to busi- Bees, went into the enterprise and raised camels for the market. It is said that many descendants of these original assisted hump-backed immi- @rante are row being exhibited in circuses. Biggest of the imported lot was an old fellow pamed Nebuchadnezzar, whose carcass has been at the Smithsonian for some time past awaiting esteological attention. Now his skeleton has been mounted and set up in the museum. HE GATHERS THEM IN. One branch of the National Museum is ex- @lusively devoted to the manufacture of skele- tons. Nothing could well be more interesting than this very extraordinary industry. There are in various parts of the world great estab- lishments engaged altogether in the business of collecting what are called “natural history Specimens.” “Largest of all these cofcerns is one at Rochester, N.Y.. the proprietor of which has several immense ware houses filled with dead and preserved animals of every imagina- blesort. His occupation in life is to gather for sale the carcasses of beasts and birds from every part of the earth, and he spends most of bis time traveling all over the world in search of his stock in trade. The object of his jour- Bey is not to procure the dead creatures bim- self but to hire others to obtain them. He will contract with an Australian hunter, for instance, to supply s0 many samples of the duck-bilied ornithohynchus; or he will make a similar arrangement in South Africa for the de- livery of a given number of dried ostriches ata stated price. In the same way he will make an arrangement for a batch of crocodiles from the Ganges or for an assortment of pythons and from South America, He has cor- A PORPOISE. pe pres all over the surface of the globe, ind through them or from other big firms like own in London, Par: Berlin and other cities of Europe be buys whatever he wants in this way. The stock he keeps on hand i enormous and includes such things as skele- tons of extinct and even antediluvian creatures very rare and worth up in the thousands of Yollare. He publishes regular annual cata- logues of what he has to sell, and one has only to send to him an order for anything of the kind that may be desired. HOW THE MUSEUM PROCURES SKELETONS. It is through this concern and others like it abroad that an institution like the National Museum secures its skeletons, Such of them as are not got in this way are ured by ex- change with other museums, all of them having among themselves a regular system of barter. The original producer of the raw material, if he may so be called, is the hunter or other m who captures the game. He cuts off m the bones as much of the flesh as can be conveniently removed and permits the re- mainder of the carcass to dry in the open air— not in the sun, for that would drive the grease into the bones, but in shade. When the femains have become entirely dessicated they are packed up and sent off to the skeleton factory, wherever it may be, the skull and leg bones being placed =, inside the rib cavity for + the sake of —— in, king space. In this condition. they are shipped in filling orders by the commercial houses, or they are pre- pared and mounted to suit the customer, This is really a great indus- try. It is very interest- ing even to read one of the catalogues pub- lished by a firm of this sort. From it you learn that a human skeleton. adult, mounted with a suspension ring 1s worth q‘rom @30 to $50. The ame article on a black walnut pedestal, with bronzed standard and with a cambric tunic, is valued at €60. It is ) worth mentioning that the tunic is a black dress for the skeleton, calculated to show off its itened bones to advantage. Skeletons have fashions like live persons, and black is their proper wear. If yon wish to spend a trifle more for the lux- ury you can have your family skeleton in a “handsome ash case with @ bracket and lock and key.” You will readily see that, according to these figures, very many People are worth more dead than they are alive. A man living, however, is supposed to be a much more valuable creature than a i Strange to say the reverse is the case when both sre dead, the mounted being worth six times 2300. A cat, worth nothing at all when alive, sells for $12 when its bones are strung together im proper shape with brass wire. In its case ‘the raw material has no value, the labor of the artisan creating it. With the gorille it is just the opposite, the raw material being the thing that is difficult to obtain. The skeleton of an sells for $200, a lion's for $75, a i, & dog's for @30,a whale’s for 9150, « horse's for $70. an Indus river croco- dile's for $80, a shar! for $50, an elephant’s for @400, a python’s for $75 and a Gila mon- star's for $15. A CELLAR FULL OF BonEs, ‘The entire cellar of a building close by the Bmithsonian is given up to the stérage of skeletons in the rough. Hundreds of big drawers in huge cabinets are filled with the Reng pert el Seis and eek memencin. jong tables and shelves are eovered with jars of alcohol, in which are the bodies of birds and little animals, most con- fe tly kept in that way. It isa gruesome r. When the National Museum experts are ready to prepare a skeleton for mounting, supposing that it is that of « small creature, they simply Jet it soak in water for a while and then scrape a, rans gine webeoqnentiy boschod in The first thing necessary is to put the skeleton of the giraffe in a vat of water and permit it to stay there for days until what remains of the flesh is entirely rotted. It is then taken out and, after being steeped for a while in hot washing soda, is scrubbed with brushes. Next it is put into a weak solution of chloride of lime, which bleaches and deodor- izes the bones. After this they are spread out in the sun to whiten and this final operation makes them ready for putting together with the wires. To do this properiy requires great mechanical ekill and more particularly a kuowl- edge of osteological science. The expert in this branch of learning will have no difficulty in poking among a barrelful of bones, inclu ing the osseous remains of one hundred ani- mals, and reconstructing every one of them without a single hesitation. THE MEGATHERICM. Such is the way in which the Nationa] Mu- seum prepares its skeletons, and its collection of them is one of the finest in the world. Of what are, perhaps, the two most remarkable mammals known to have existed before the de- luge 1t has no originals; but they are represented by such perfect representa- tions in plaster that you wonld never know the difference. One of these ia that mighty monst@& the megatherium—an_ enor- mous creature resembling the modern sloth in structure and indeed of the same family, which was seventeen feet long and lived upon the foliage of trees, It got its food by digging up the roots of the trees with its tremendous fore claws and pulling them over, One skuil of this beast has been found under conditions which show that it must have met its death by pulling down a particularly big tree, which fractured its cranium, It had short legs and a long tail, and was presumably harm- Jess, though its bones were very much heavier than those of any elephant or even than those of the giant elephants of ancient times, the mammoth and the mastodon. The original skele- ton was found in South America and is now in the British Museum. Casts were made of all its bones in London and a fac simile was given to the museum here, TRE DINOCEROS. Of the other very remarkable antediluvian monster referred to the original skeleton was dug up in Wyoming territory a few years ago and is now at Yale College. Itis the dinoceros, a gigantic beast resembling something between the rhinoceros and the hippopotamus. Much taller than the hippopotamus, it had no Jess than five enormous curved horns. Yale Col- lege gave a reproduction of the skeleton in plaster to the National Museum. Another won- derful skeleton in the museum is that of the hadrosaurus, which was “restored” some years ago from a few parts that had been found. Some imagination had to be exercised in build- ing it up, owing to lack of material, and some of the missing portions since procured have proved that the restoration was largely incor- rect, Every one knows that the hadroaaurus was a lizard as big as the megatherium. It had no teeth suitable for flesh, and 80, when it could not get bread, it fed exclusively upon herbage. Another interesting restoration, cor- reetiv made, is that of a turtle nine fect in length, A REAL ROO's EGG. One of the most in- teresting things in the National Museum is the cast ofa real roc’s egg. Strange as it may appear, there is a’ foundation for the storied existence of the supposed-to-be-fab- ulous bird. It was the Sigantic epiornis of REAL SIZE. Madagascar, which stood 12 feet high and laid an egg as big as 148 good-sized hen's eggs and holding two gallons. Arab traders, stich as Sinbad the Sailor is said to have been, made their way to Madagascar centuries ago, when this mighty fowl was still in existence, and brought back the yarns which subsequently developed into the fabled roc. A bigger bird than this, however, taking weight asa criterion, existed in New Zealand as late as the time of pay a Coo! It stood 9 feet high, though it was so bulky th: ta full-grown one would have tipped the scale at something like 1,000 pounds. ‘The egg it laid was a trifle smaller than that of the roc. This was the giant moa. It was so clumsy that it could not escape from sailors, who landed on the island and killed it for food. The extinction of the species is supposed to have been caused bya ae in the New Zealand climate, for it ig known that the enormous fowls gathered in great numbers at the last about certain hot springs and there perished. Quantities of their bones have been found in these springs. SEA ELEPHANTS. Among the interesting skeletons alroady cleaned and soon to be mounted in the museum are those of the very last sea elephants, sup- posed to have survived the slaughter by hunters who pursued them off the coast of southern California for the oil they yielded. These creatures look like huge seals and grew to be 20 feet in length. The maies had pro- bosces resembling an elephant. The museum bas also, as yet unmounted, the only bones known ‘to exist of the ¢famous extinct pallas cormorant, which formerly inhabited the Commander Isinnds off the coast of Kamschatka. Also it possesses more bones of the extinct great auk than are owned by all the other museums in the world. ‘These are so valuable that a single skeleton of this bird was sold the other day for 2600, The great auk used to breed in immense numbers on Funk Island, northeast of Newfoundland but the cod fishermen killed them off for foo and for their feathers, to sell for making feather beds. They could not fly and so were unable to get away. SKELETONS FROM PAnIs, Tho world is pretty much supplied with hn- man skeletons from Paris, whore they are pro- duced for market in gteat numbers. One great establishment there is largely devoted to turn- ing them out, though it also has a department for the manufacture of skeletons of beasts and birds, and even of frogs, lizards and other rep- tiles.’ In the French metropolis there is never any difficulty in securing human bodies for such purposes from the hospitals and the morgue. They are quoted as a regular com- mercial article. Human skeletons are ob- tained and mounted like any others. An in- genious process worth mentioning is employed for separating the bones of the skulls of chil- dren, which are too fragile to admit of disartic- ulation by hand. They are filled with dried peas, which aro then permitted to soak, and their swelling effects the disjunction with the most perfect nicety. —-se—______ New Ways of Furnishing. From the London Vauity Fair. Acomplete metamorphosia has come over the furnishing of houses of late years, and the ingenuity of many is taxed to the utmost to discover something new and again something new. The invention of that capital and most useful enamel called aspinall—one which bears witness to its importance in that ithas pre- sented a new verb, “to aspinall,” to our vocab- ulary—ushered in # rage for prettiness as op- posed to solidity, Had the craze confined itself to the bed room, nursery and boudoir all would have beon well, for in those quarters it was, and always will be, most acceptable. But, unfortunately, with the short-sightednoss be- gotten of sudden access to popularity, it did not discriminate, knew not where to stop and spread into the drawing room. The first few white rooms were pretty, the rest a weariness and vexation. How tired one gotof them! Then in came the aid of clever designers, who rang the changes on odds and ends of quaint- ness and beauty, until bewldering numbers of patterns tal and brackets and easels, were brought into market, t! only drawback that they were made in perishable woods, and that by reason of their evanescence they wore not suitable to tho adornment of a dignified reception room, Now, however, a reaction is setting in; we are rejecting puerile prettiness, but retaining clever and cunning designs, and are educating ourselves to admire rosewood and satyawood, mehogany and walnut; woods that declined in favor aforetimes, simply because they were made to take such hideous and clumsy forms, The daintiest little writing table I ever saw was shown to me a few since, and very much I admired it; particularly when I heard cht, in which place it would be perfectly keeping, and would serve no fewer than five p h was made of enameled wood, shaped in the form of a screen on castors, 0 that it could be osed-up shelf, which, when dropped, f riting table, with holes for letters igenw age F og Sta beckot tea aeeae j H } f Sg Eg Ha HE 5 g zi ANTE paige prelie ia eal IN FERTILE COLORADO. Interesting Reminiscences of a Wash- ington Tenderfoot. THE MUCH-ABUSED BRONCHO. see cleeatee Good Trout Fi: gs in the Saguache River—The Prolific San Louts Valley— InuamerableDogs inDenver—Chasing Jack Rabits—Old Washingtonians, ALLE Special Correspondence of Tax Evaxtxe Stan Denver, Cor., July 21. HEN I was in Washington heiping the government to keep the country from zoing to the demnition bow-wows by xeting in the capacity of @ mentor in the reporters’ galleries, I was wont to while away the time reading fugitive articles relative to the great west and the wonderful things it contained. 1 was also delighted when some of my prevaricating brethren from be- yond the Missouri would begin to tune up their mouths and strum out symphonies about the fleeting jack rabbitt, the somnolent black bear, the scornful rattlesnake, the pensive burro, and the bucking broncho. The latter to me was the most interesting portion of the men- agerie, I had never seen one in all the majesty of his native domain or any where else. Ihad never seen Mr. Cody's aggregation of squaw-men, bucks,and broncos, with which he 1s now educating the millions who now grovel beneath the iron heels of alleged Euro- wean despots. My nearest approach to a real Becache was when I viewed Mr. Barnum’s show and saw several equines who looked like animated bundles of percalo, and who were as quiet as an indignation mevting in Philadel- phia. Now, however, I am bappy, and happily disappointed. My soul-searching desire to view the animal in question has been graffied. I have even placed myself astride an enormous saddle which was securely cinched down upon his vertebre, and live to tell the tale, THE ANIMAL HE RODE. The broncho in question was a mild-looking creature, and the sun had shot its rays through his whiskers until be was of the indescribable hue of the hair of a woman who has had it bleached and is suffering the agony incident upon allowing the hirsute to resume its natural color, Everyone knows what that looks like. Llooked him over carefully, for he was to carry, convey or tote, as you wish to have, 165 pounds of flesh and blood which is very dear to me, and discovering that he hada picturesque and hairy wart on the end of his nose, I remembered the Latin orator through whom I had waded with genuine disgust in my chrysal- istic days, and dubbed him Cicero instead of Bucephalus. The man who owned him called him Straight, and he told me in confidence that he gave him that name because the fellow who had formerly owned him ONLY HELD THREE KINGS. I suppose he was indulging in the slang pe- culiar tothe west, but I did not display my ignorance, for I’m aware that I’m a tenderfoot and J don’t want anyone else out here to know it. That ia the way we tenderfeet always do and not one of the innocent mountaineers can tell that we have not lived here all our lives, Well, I mounted Cicero with the secret feeling that he would cause meas much physical mis- ery as the old Roman had caused me mental, IT remembered every story relating to the cata- pultic powers that were possessed by the genus which Cicero represented, und I prepared to sail upward and leave the blue ether and make muscular grabs at space, as I had heard of other people doing. As soon as I got aboard of the craft and saw ithead up stream after the gangplank had been removed I would have given all I pos- sessed to have been on terra firma once more, andI would have gotten there, too, but ten pairs of critical eyes were fixed upon me. They glared stonily, and their owners awaited the same developments that I did. Our calvacade started off and Cicero single-footed along as natural as you please. A couple of miles were covered and I began to realize that I had read as wellas heard and also likewise written a good many falsehoods which were direct asper- sions upon the blear-eyed but benignant broncho. Cicero went along as demurely as you please. He loped better than he single- footed, he galloped better than he loped, and he ran better than all three, and he carried me over mgood portion of southern Colorado as safely as astreet car would carry one to the Capito!, Henceforth I will consistently refute any allegations against the gentle and much abused Broncho. My friends tell me that Cicero is an anomaly. I cay only say that an anomaly to me is as pleasant to ride asa hobby is to some people I know. A GOOD FARMING COUNTRY. When IJ first came out here I believed, like a great many other people in the east, that Col- orado was great in ite mineral resources only; that it was anempire of mountains with in- numerable holes dug into them from which the precious metals were brought forth to enrich their finders and, eventually, the world. I knew there was some agriculture, but imagined that it could be found only with the aid of a microscope, such as the immortal Sam Weller described in the case of Bardell vs, Pickwick. I was at fault in this, I have just returned from a hasty trip down into the San Louis valley, and while Leal Baer, my investiga- tion was necessarily limited, and for the simple reason that investigation was not what I went for, I was more than amazed at the prolific fertility of tho soil and the enormous crops that stretched on every side. Our party was in the county of Saguache -all the time. Saguache is to county what Taliaferro is to human nomenclature. It is pronounced Saw- watch—and I meta Mr, Tolliver of unbleached complexion as soon asI got intoit, There's nice consistency for you. On either side of the Saguache river, which runs through the county, is as fine farming and grazing land as I ever saw in “the garden spot of America,” that begins at Sugar Loaf mountain and strotches. up into Pennsylvania, We were after trout aud trout we got, but I could not help thinking what a paradiye the Saguache valiey would be for those in the east who barely make both ends meet by continual till- ing land that was worked out three decades ago. When I left Denver (July 6) there was a general complaint from farmers in all the middle and northern portions of the state that crops were burning up, but the farmers in the San Luis valley had no such complaints to make. I know nothing of irrigation, but was informed that the valley in which we were had as perfect a system as could be developed, I can readily believe it for the crops of hay and alfalfa were wonderful to behold. All the residents seemed prosperous, and one man, Garcelon by name, and a relative, I be- lieve, of Maine's former governor, told me that seven years ago when he took up land under the homestead and pre-emption laws that he barely had money enough to buy rtd da team. He now owns a fine herd of cattle, several blooded horses and brood mares and last year he sent 2,100 pounds of wool to market. He further said that there was any quantity of land equally as good as his await- ing the coming of energetic farmers and it would eost them nothing save the fees necessary to securing it from the government and re- munerating the land attorney whom they might employ. FRUIT IN ABUNDANCE. ‘We met a party of railroad surveyors during our jaunt and from that I infer that the rail- roads are at last beginning to realize the im- | ¥' portance of the agricultural interests of the state which they have hitherto overlooked in their anxiety to get up to the mines. I almost forgot mentioning the fruit with which we were regaled everywhere we stopped. Straw- berries and raspberries I never saw of such quality nor in such profusion, and the h trees were bending under their loads of emerald hue, Apricots were just Boeing and the pear and apple trees were rich in promise, One of our party, a Mississippian, remarked: “Derned if I don't belicve cotton’n cane ‘ud grow here if they'd give ‘em teil” GOOD TROUT FISHING, bh We enjoyed magnificent scenery, too, and such fishing—pardon me, I came near forget- ting the rule relative to fish stories that exists ly regulated ne’ office it. Ican’t help saying, though, that the true sportsman, one who would make seining for game fish a capital crime and to whom the flash into the sunlight of the strug- Le Fie, 2 2 artist, Ht lece geome to.Colorado and whip the Saguache. You will catch splendid and now and then our heart will nearly break your ribs as you Lreaty places three-pounder in your creel. Eleven regretful men left the Saguache when duty them homie. They regretted that they had to leave so many trout to die patural deaths in the waters of the Baguache. While of sport it may be appropriate to mention one of its branches less i} of course, than Soting » trent, bus ai fzeitemen stranger America so far as their census is concerned. There are dogs of all ages. izes, all breeds and curs of all degrees, The streets are full of them and when you see a front yard, and nearly e Teusiahen in Denver possesses one, itis a sure thing that a ‘‘dawg” is init, and the odds are equally as great that there will be a mate in the back yard. Were the dog laws here carried out as strictly as they are in east- ern cities the dog tax would almost equal the revenues from real estate, for the statutes ro- quire dog owners to pay $2 a year for each male pup and 85 for each femate, but the law isvirtually a dead letter. Unlike the scav- engers of the capital of Turkey, however, the quadrupeds of Denver are notable for the vast number of aristocrats among them, Fine set- ters and spanicis that make a sportsman feel wickedly covetous meet one on every street, andI venture to scy there are more grey- hounds in Arapahoe county than in any other county inthe world. Lithe, slender, sharp- muzzled creatures, keen-eyed, graceful and fleet ag the antelope, trot unconcernedly alon; us sou pause and admire their beauty ani realize that beneath the sleck coat there is moreendurance and power and unfaltering determination than there is in all the rest of canine aristocracy put together. ‘There is & reason for their existence in such numbers and that reason has four legs, a pair of ears that are predominant, au apology for a caudal ex- tremity, and a vast amount of sprinting power concealed about its person, COURSING THE JACK RABBIT. Coursing is a quiet pastime in Colorado, and to see a jack rabbit scudding over the prairie with four or five enger greyhounds in his rear is a sight to be remembered. I remember once of reading a description of the speed shown Dy @ Texas jack rabbit who had been accu tomed to having fun with common curs an’ who one day found himself in front of an ener- getic grevhound, When the jack rabbit fully realized that a miserable dog was at Inst catch- ing up with him he hitched himself together and began to run in earnest and he went so fast that he gave the spectators the optical delusion of a streak of jack rabbit a mile anda half long, The writer may have exaggerated a little, but on Sunday jast I went down toa ranche about twelve miles cast of town and saw three magnificent hounds chase a black-tailed jnck, It would have dislocated the internal mechanism of a Jorgensen stop-watch to have caught the time that quartet made, and, of course. my Waterbury was not initat all. The jack succeeded in escapieg his pursucrs and it was laughable to see the mouse-colored trio when they returned. They seemed utterly crestfallen and looked at each other as much as to say: “It's your fault, you knock-kneed, bow- legged, bone-spavined lump of senility. You couldn't catch a hearse much less a jack rabbit. You want to go to the pound and enter into the composition of fertilizer-” There is no doubt they thought something like that, for there's a oo deal of the human in a dog's nature after WASHINGTONIANS IN THE QUEEN CITY. Coming up 16th street yesterday I met young Sam Foot, who is out here with the irrigation end of Maj. Powell's survey. He is located at Colorado Springs for the summer. The world is a mighty small place nowadays if we measure it by the people we meet. Of course Denver is made up of people from ull over America, and the Washington contingent here is large and rapidly increasing. In my Ingt I mentioned some of them, and every day Irun up against more. They are in the local government as well as in private enterprises, Billy Kiskaddeu, who was a clerk in Galt's jew- elry store several years ago, has a very pieas- ant ition. He is chief clerk of the city clerk's office and holds down his place with grace and dignity. Just across the corridor from him in the city hall is Alvin H. Pickens, who was once a captain of the pages in the House of Representatives and whom all news- paper men and old Congressmen will remomber for his obliging courtesy. Mr. Pickens is pri- vate secretary to his honor Mayor Londouer. Henry Himber, formerly one of the most prominent contractors under the board of pub- lic works, is the inspector of sewers and has amassed more than a competency since he be- gan his career in Denver. Joe Grady, who was with Saks & Company for 80 long, is also here, He is manager of the May Shoe and Clothing Emporium, where aman can get anything from a collar toa seal skin overcoat, and is greatly pleased with the city, Camile Solari reached here with his tamily last week and will probably open a resort simi- lar to that which bore his name in Washington, He iy suffering from a severe attack of gout, Another old Washingtonian who will be re- membered by the gourmets of the capital is also in Denver. Broche, the Frenchman, who once presided over the kitchen at the White House and afterward was in business for him- self on E street, below the National Theater, is the chef of the Denver Club and tickles the palates of the millionaires who compose it with many wonderful creatio: He finds it more congenial where he is than it was when he was serving Mrs. Langtry with the delicacies of the season in New York, George and Martin Downs, who were “Island” boys, ure in business on 16th street, and Hugh Mohan, the cosmopolite, stump speaker and general all round hustler, whom nearly every man in public life knows, dropped into the city several days ago and will remain. Mrs, B.A. Owons, with her daughters Mary and Nannie, and her two young sons, Robbie and Herbert, have made Denver their per- manent home. In fact Denver is tting to be a suburb of Washington, its only drawback being that it is too confounded far away, As Sam Foot said to me in strict confidence: “If it came to a steady thing I'd sooner be a wood shed in Washington than brown-stone front anywhere else. Cc. eee —_____ ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, Pertinent Suggestions to Young Men Who Are Looking That Way. From the Electrical World, The inducements offered by the profession of electrical engineering are drawing each year an increasing number of young men into tech- nical study of the subject. A word to such may not be out of place, You must remember that the great electrical industries in which you hope to see active service are the growth of hardly more than a single decade; yet, while this gives high promise for the future, it is clear that the pioneering period is for the most part gone. While each year will see an exten- sion and strengthening of electrical interests, they are steadily settling inte more conserva- tive and business-like shape. Do not, there- fore, look for the sudden and brilliant success that came to reward some of the early warkers in the electrical field, but rather for the steady labor and well-earned prizes that pertain to serious and faithful professional wor Electrical industry has two widely different phases—business and technical, In the former an electrical education may or may not be of arked service—one of the most active and essful electrical business men we know until quite recently, the manager of a ry—in the latter itisno longer a con- ce but a necessity. Fifteen yoars ago so was known of the practical applications of electricity that a quick inventive mind with nomore technical training than might be gained he experience of a telegraph office could strike out in new lines of progress with every prcepect of success. Today, while the field is very, very far from being fully ex- plored, good work cannot be done without studying and profiting by the results of that fifteen years of marvelous development, He who starts today with the training that would have meant success then will probably meet dismal failure now. Therefore, in takin; up the study of electrical engincering remem- ber the more careful and thorough work ‘ou do the better the chance in the future, And do not be deluded into the idea that you should hurry through your training and “learn practical electricity in the work shop.” You can learn more that will be of service to you by @ year’s careful work in a good laboratory than in five in an electrical manufactory. Do not expect to leave the a with an intimate knowledge of any electrical system— you will not have it, but you will have acquired what is of vastly greater value, that firm grasp of the general principles that will enable you to seize the details of any system with » rapid- ity that will ‘ise you. % , then, broad iples involved 16 theoretical basis A TUTOR OF THIEVES, An Old Rascal Who Played the Part of a Fagin. TEACHING YOUNG BOYS TO ROB HOUSES AND OR- GANIZING THIRVING EXPEDITIONS—A scHooL OF BURGLARY—OPERATIONS IN WHICH THE PRO- FESSOR TOOK PART, PEAKING of criminals,” said Detective Carter, in response to a suggestion made by a Star reporter, “there is one lof the light-fingered gentry who has figured in more than one criminal case in this city. He has spent almost a lifetime in the business of teaching boys from eleven to fifteen years.old how to operate as burglars. His mode of operations is nothing new, al- though he is generally pretty successful in making good hauls. Most of his criminal ope- rations are conducted during the winter months when thieves generally either find it better to work or are compelled to do it as a matter of Necessity. This man is now nearing fitty years old, but he looks much older. BOYS FOR ENTERING TRANSOMS. racket is to teach the boys at first to rob the hallways and parlors. They seldom venture farther into a dwelling house. For this work small boys aro needed because the transom is used in case the front door is found locked, and if the boy is too largo he can't Manage to squeeze through the transom. “The old criminal seldom goes nearer to the house than across tho street, for if anybody gets caught it must be one of the boys, for it won't go so hard with him. Of course the trainer selects the house to be robbed and ex- Plains to the boys how to operate and occa~ jonally if it is absolutely necessary he wil! go as far as the door to lend a helping hand. The boys are also told what to do if they should Set caught, and above all things they are in- structed not to converse with the officer or tell him how he came to fall from grace, or who his companions are. He always remains at asafe distance, so that should a copper ar- rive he can walk'away and escape detection. WHEN HE FIRST APPEARED. “The first appearance of this criminal in the courts,” continued the detective, ‘was about the year 1870, when he appeared before Judge Olin on eight charges of burgiary. The old jail in the City Hall lot was then used as the Place of confinement of prisoners, and he oc~ cupied « cell in that prison, He was ar- raigned, tried and convicted. Then he was sent back to jail to await the imposition of sentence, A SCENE IN court. “One morning his case was called for sen- tence, and in charge of a jail guard he was walked across the square and required to face the judge. The usual questions were asked the prisoner and he was commanded to stand up and receive the sentence of the court. “Judge Olin delivered to the convicted burglar & severe lecture as to the enormity of his crime and gave him the usual good advice as to what life he had better lead in the future. Then in due form of law the judge passed sentence, which waseleven years at hard labor in the penitentiary, The prisoner gave a laugh al- most as long as the sentence imposed and then eaid, ‘You old ——,Ican stand on my head that long.’ At the same time he made a mo- tion as though to draw a weapon of some sort to inflict bodily injury upon the court, but no one imagined for a moment that he had a weapon about him. In that, however, they were mistaken, for when searched a large part of a brick was found concealed about him and it was evident that he intended striking tne judge with it. Where he got the brick from could not be ascertained, but it was thought he picked it up while walking across the lot. RETURNING TO HIS OLD WAYS. “His long sentence did not have the effect of reforming him and he returned probably a more hardened criminal than when he was sent away. Instead of leading a different life he fell back in the old track and begun opera~ tions anew. How many places he has really robbed will probably never be known. The next burglary in which he figured was done with the assistance of boys and he escaped the penitentiary in a remarkable manner. This was, so far as known, his beginning in the line of training boys. He selected as the place to rob a file factory in the first ward. He got together his little mob of boys and succeeded in having them carry out the plans which he laid for them, About #40 worth of the files were stolen and I arrested him soon afterward. “He took the stolen files to a saloon and in the rear room there was a hole in the wall. In this hole he placed the files and covered them with an ordinary piece of wall paper. During the day he weut out and sold the files and waa so engaged when Larrested him, The case was brought to trialand his connection with the pareiary was not disputed, but as he had remained so far away from the scene of the robbery he got off and was again set at liberty. AGAIN IN THE TOILS. “Tt was only a question of time before he would again get caught,” continued the detect- fvee “Sure cnough he again fell into our hands. No one ever knew him to do the work himself, because he always found boys to do it There was one thing about him that ways sure to give him away. Just prior to his engagement with his young pupils he in- variably came around police headquarters and would spend hours either about the corner or onone of the settees in the park opposite to throw off oe ne but it had the opposite effect, for when he appeared the aan watched him more closely than at other'times, ROBBING A SHOW CASE. “Well, he came around and by and by there was another robbery, the circumstances of which indicated that the burglar and his boys had again been at work, Investigation of the case proved that they had, but it was another set of boys. It was the robbery of a show case. ‘The case was in front of a store and it was car- tied by his boys to an alley, where pistols, knives and other articles were taken from it The case was there abandoned and the plunder was cartied to the Smithsonian ground, where the ‘old bird’ got his share of it. His next ap~ pearance with the boys was at a hardware store in South Washington. There the plans were again made by the tutor and carried into effect by those under his instructions. The door was fastened witia heavy padlock and the young burglars were not strong enough to break the hasp from over the staple and their teacher found it necessary to run across thestreet from where he was stationed to assist them. The hasp being once broken he returned to his po- sition to watch for the appearance of any one who might disturb their work. The boys, five in number, entered and while in there two po- licemen stopped in front of the door. They did not remain long, however, and soon moved 0 that the work of securing what plunder they could was not long delayed. Acting under instructions the boys gathered together ail the case goods, suchas penkzives, razors and pis- tols. They went across the street and put up the plunder in five bundles, each one taking a bundle to carry away. In all there was nearly $500 worth of goods taken. HOW THEY WERE CAPTURED. “The half dozen daring burglars separated, and later in the night they met at a colored cook shop not far from the pon ee Lodgings were secured for the party and the next morn- Zod wy of them started out to dispose of the Py ir. “By the merest accident my partner, the late Detective Cox, and myseif learned of the Pao ence of the crowd at the cook shop and there we went. The proprietor told us where the under was and we had not been there long fore in walked the principal in the burglary, the one who was old in crime. sure of our game we telephoned for officers in citi: ¥ clothes to surround — house and a afew minutes four of the boys appeared. 'y sow recognized one of us and made a bold at- and tempt to but we succeeded in capturing four of them, One who escaj was too young in the business to know how to remain where be could not get caught. eh JOHNNY REB JOKES. Stortes From the Other Side of the Late Ensanguined Chasm. From the Chattanooga Times. Once Gen. Hardee came across a straggler and asked him “why he did not travel faster and keep up with his command.” The soldier wished to know “what in the deuce he had to do it.” “Only that I am Gen, Hardee, the commander of this department,” was the reply, “Oh, you wrote a book on tactics, did you?” “1 did,” said the general. “Well,” said the private, “I have been taught according to your rules how to double column at half distance, Now I wish you would tell me how to doutye distance on half rations.” Gen. Hardee stuck spurs to his horse and traveled on. Early in the war one of the men ina South Carolina brigade was on picket duty (#0 called) near Manassas. There was not a Yankee within twenty miles of usat that time. The next day there was to be xn inspection, and our hero had taken his gun all to pieces and was rubbing itup so asto make ashiue the next day when inspected. While so doing Gen. Barham, who was unknown to the soldier (who was a new fe- ), rode up. “What are you doing there?” said Gen. B. ~Oh, I am a kind of a sentinel; who are you, anyhow?” “Oh, Tam only a ‘kind’ of a brigadier gon- eral,” was the answer. “Hold on; wait until I get this darned old gun toge and J will gre you akind of a present,” said the sentinel, But Gen. Barham did not wait, He went off and reported the luckless soldier, who, in a short time, found himself “a kind” of a pris- oner in “a kind” of aguard house and had to do a number of extra hours of duty as “‘a kind’ of sentinel, On one occasiona man from Georgia had been very persistent in personal application to Gen, Lee fora furlough. One morning the general asked his tormentor if he understood the position of a soldier. The latter said he did He was ordered to assume it. Gen. Lee then gave th . “right about face; forward Ashe never gave the command to the Georgian kept on marching until he get tired; but this little hint cured him, and is next application was through the usual nels, en Gen. Mahone was wounded at second sas some one, to comfort Mrs. Mahone, “Oh, don't be uneasy; it's only a flesh 4." Mrs, Mahone, through her tears, cried out: “Oh, I know that is impossible. There is not flesh enough on him for that.” Idon’t know whether this isa joke on the general or the private. A day or so after the old first reached Manassas junction, in August, 1861, one of the men, who did not clearly com- prehend his position, had the impudence to ask Gen. Beauregard “where certain big guns that had just arrived from Richmond would be laced.” The general replied: “Young man, if the coat on my back knew the secrets of my heart I would cut it in pieces.” On the Peninsula the gallant and jolly Gen. Bankhead Magruder had ordered a meal for himself and staff. A hungry reb—and who ever saw one who was not hungry—came up to the farm house, espied the nicely filled table, and. without leave or license, sat down and be- gan to annihilate things. Just then the gen- eral and friends walked in, escorted by the host. Ail were surprised. “Halt!” said fiery Magruder in terms more explicit than polite, “do you know whose table that Is you are eating at?” “No, sir,” said John Reb, with his mouth full “Whose is it?” “Gen, Mi der's, sir, the commander of this department “All right, general,” with another big mouth- ful. “These war times I ain’t particular where Ieat or wholeat with; sit down and make Yourself at home. The foraging private was unceremoniously fired out, but not before he had nearly gotten outside of a pretty square meal, ooo CAN DOGS BE MAGNETIZED? Strange Stories of the Power of Will Force Over Canines, From the London Dally News, Even Mr. Jingle and Mr. Jesse never thonght of applying animal magnetism to sporting dogs. But this is part of “The Scientific Education of Dogs” as practiced and taught by “H. H.,” whose book is published by Messrs. Sampson & Low. “Ihave heida lot of dogs by the mag- netic power of will from doing wrong hundreds of yards away from me,” says “H. H..” and he adds that if he unbent his mind by making a remark toa friend the spell was broken, It cannot be the power of the human eye, he thinks, that acts thus, for how can the eye act ata quarter of a mile’s distance? He might nt his eyes and try if the magnetic power still lasts. “To be a first-rate dog-breaker a man must have lots of animal magnetism,” which, according to this philosopher, is devel- Oped by force of will. But what is will, or ie it 8 form of “magnetism?” Even in dog-breaking we reach at once the debatable land of metaphysics and are em- barked on Schopenhauer’s speculations before we know it. Of animal magnetism exercised by the rider on the horse little need be said. The man may influence the beast by contact unconsciously, not by “will force.” It is diffe ent when “H.H.” turns a distant dog from particular corner of afield by simply “wish- ing” with all his force. The whip and the will had better be kept separate, as much as may be, and some dogs answer to the will which erely sulk under the whip. The cleverest of H.'s” dogs wasa retriever. He was fishing in her company, caught his fly ona stump on the opposite bank, sent the retriever across the water for it and she brought it safely. Whena friend’s fly caught in a bough of a willow, some feet above the water, the dog swam across, climbed into the top of the bush, jumped, fast- ened on the bough as she fell, bit it through and restored the tackle. The dog was sent for @ wounded mallard, which was swimming below the ice. She ran i is down stream, broke « hole in the nd waited like a cat at a mouse hole. ‘There she caught the mallard as he came up to breathe, If this was not reasoning what is reason? But some other powor must have been exercised in the following case: ““H.H.” left his dog at the front door of a house, with a friend to watch its proceedings. He himself left the house by aid of a ladder set against a high window in the back and walked awa; The we 8 began to be uneasy as soon as the master had thus seer yes and was with him in five minutes. Could he have been guided by smell or was he attracted by animal magnet- ism? If the human mind can really influence that of the dog from a distance, the force which we call mind must be common to man and beast. and “in that equal sky” retrievers may keep “H.H. company. The attention of Mr. Romaines and of the Psychical Society, an well as the study of sportsmen, should be given to ““H.H.’s” book. His anecdote of how the dog insulted the cockney is excellent, but a little inthe manner of Dean Swift. We are only beginning to study the psychology of ani- mais, and yet it may be proper starting point of those investigations, Not a “Kicker.” From the Chicago Tribune “Beastly weather, isn't it?” observed s man who was hanging to s strap in a crowded North Side car the other day. “Weather suits me well enough,” replied the man spoken to, who was clinging to another 7. “You're not particular about your weather I suppose,” rejoined the other, slightly nettled. “Not atall One kind is as es another tome.” “Easily suited generally. Just as lief stand i a car an to gh down, L reckon?” pen to come Tapedan i at “Ain't worrying a! “Heves't made any fuss your town, either, of ‘hind don't intend to, bey?” " Y “That's or en ed intend to.- Don't oarJast s0—just so!” mused the discontented . “Many other men im your town “Hundreds of *om.” “Do you mind telling me where you live?” ‘Just as 2000 tell you as not I'm from Han- “are foes -cay other mem trom Hannibal aboard this 3 A NEW FASHION IN DINNERS, Small Separate Tables Instead of the Large One. The Paris correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph referred recently to an inno- vation just introduced by a fashionable lady in the practice of dinner giving, which, should it become prevalent, is calculated, the Tele graph thinks, “to arouse general consternation among those who really understand the #:@ art of gastronomy. The reforming—or, per- haps, it should with greater strictness be said, the revolutionary—dame of Lutetia accom- modated her guests at a number of small sepre rate tables, instead of gathering them together st the family board. It is understood that such a movement has been for some time past in con- templation, and it is asserted that the chang® is likely to become popular with enterprising mothers who wish to give the younger guests an opportunity of foregathering for the pur- pose of firtation. and, furthermore, that it Will serve to promote “causeric,” or that light, sparkling conversation in which the Gaul is supposed to excel, “All connoisseurs in good living will remem- ber Voltaire's couplet.written nearly a hundred and fifty years ago, which ects forth how. whem the dinner is done, the company digest, argue, tell stories, laugh and calummiate their neigh bors; but the Sage of Ferney certainly said nothing about the story telling and the back- biting taking place during the repast, or that the dinner table itself should be disintegrated into 80 many isolated and independent centers of badinage and chaff. The advocates of the new system claim that under the old system of dining at one large table the conversation wad frequently monopolized by some ‘lion,’ or by some influental personage commonly called @ ‘refrigerator,’ who was bound to be listened to and whose time-honored jokes and anecdoted had to be apparently relished. “But to this the answer is obvious that at a large dinner party, say, of five-and-twenty guests, the influential personage, who is, of course, placed on the right hand of the hostess, is only able, if his jokes are stale and his anece dotes pomtiess, to bore his hostess and at the most two or three other people opposite to him and one or two by his side. ‘The indies and gentlemen who are fortunate enough to sit far away from the influential personage do not care one halfpenny about him and continue to eat and drink and prattle and say good things— if they have any to say—in cheerful indifiere ence of what the exalted being in the distance may be talking about, smail party, say, of eight or ten, nteur, or even one cheerfi@l and somewhat impudent buffoon, is a pearl of gr Price to the hostess, There are many the sands of estimable but perfectly dull ple who go out every year to diuner in London or Paris; but their foregatherings would be abso- lutely intolerable to their Amphitryon and te themselves if there were not at least one good story teller or 0! 00d jester at the board, Even ‘Tom Fool,’ if fie be voluble and good- natured, is a most valuable adjunct to a stupid dinner party. If we donot laugh with him, we can laugh at him: and laughter is a price- less addendum to a bill of fare, If we canonly laugh, we will forgive the coldness of the soup and the warmth of the champagne, the thick- ness of the melted butter and the thinness of the claret. The advocates of the small table scheme have the hardibood to maintam that if the guests are gathered in groups instead of being assembled at a single board, the tongues ofadozen voluble Frenchmen and French- women may be let loose at the same time and thus everybody would have a chance of a hear= ing. “It does not,on the other hand, seem to strike the advocates of innovation tt at if fours d-twenty guests were scattered about, at the rate of four guest: to a table, it would be scarcely possible to reckon on the supply of » brilliant lady and gentieman to each table; thus to every two amusing people there would be two bores, whereas if four-and-twenty peo- ple were gathered together at ngle table, not twelve, but six really clever guests would suffice to enliven the entire gathering. As to the contention that the segregation of the com- pany would encourage flirtation, it must be pointed out first that in well-reguinted ely people go out to dinner to cat and drink and talk their best, and not to flirt, flirtation being & process which is interesting only to the two parties concerned, while to the bystanders it appears to trench narrowly on the idiotic. “A judicious hostess might, perhaps. think that she had surmounted a palpable difficulty by placing two loving couples at one table; but four-handed flirtation is a very dangerous game, and before the rubber was finished it might be discovered that fierce war had broken out between the parties and that the tricks had got hopelessly mixed. There would be some- thing else of a verdant nature besides Chart- reuse served with the sweets—the groen-eyod monster jealousy, to wit. Furthermore, gour- mets who regarded a set dinner as realiy seri- ous function would not fail to remind the in- Rovators that very young people, either ladieg or gentlemen, are only admitted on sufferance to the dinner table. Their proper places are at lunch, at ball or at a reception. “Balzac said long ago that young girls as@ rule did not know how to dine; and it is very certain that there isa vast multitude of do- lightful young dameels of the existing period who, if they had their choice, would begin their dinner with the pastry and the coatec: tionery aud conclude it with fruit. A young lady just ‘out’ still feels the shackles of the scboolroom on her wrist; she may be thinking vast deal, but she rarely knows how to say it, ally she is @ water drinker, and in the ma- jority of cases she cares very little about scientifically prepared dishes, for the simple reason that her palate has not been educated to understand and appreciate the mysterics of ‘la haute cuisine.’ by all means let this ami- able and interesting young person have the amplest scope for flirtation, but there are vor¥ many places and occasions where and on which she can flirt without feeling uncomfortable herself and making other people feel uncom- forteble at dinner. Where gastronomy is ree — from a serious point of view, the young ly who eats little and drinks less, and who, for the rest, can only blush, simper and ask her neighbor what he thinks of the ‘Meister- singer,’ i more objectionable than a ‘refriger- ator.’ She isa positive ‘detrimental,’ “If the separate table heresy were allowed to spread the host and hostess would get no din- ner at all, since, during the whole course of the repast, if they were really worthy of the name of entertainers,they would beconstrained to flit from table to table to look after the wei- fare of their guests. Whatare the real duties of the host and hostess? They must welcome their guests with effusion so that they may fecl weed at home before sitting down to dinner, ‘hey must try, if ible, to introduce all the guests to each other before the banquet be- Amphitryon must always have his eyes on the plates and glasses of his guests, to make ‘A host,’ pursues the enthusiastic baron, ‘whose t has had to ask for anything would be jonored man.’ Now, what we ask, Would be the result if the separate table system were ted? It would be impossible to expect the hostess to trot about fon —- — the company if they needed; but the ope ep would be degraded to the level of a waiter or groom of the cham- bers. “Mme de Sevigno, ined I said to him: “My good dinner; it is 1 ‘Ylock some. He was in uniform and wore a red tar- bush or tes hat, which, by the way, is the dis-