Evening Star Newspaper, November 26, 1892, Page 8

se — ae ‘TEP & 8 . THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON. D. C.. SATURDAY. NOWEMB: ER 26. 1892—SIXTEEN PAGES. Jobn W. Hobart, at one time one of the WALLSTREET WRECKS Men Once Worth Their Millions Who Are Now Penniless. EX-KINGS OF FINAN Some Have Been Reduced to Actual Beg- ‘Life Stories Which Read Like Im- Probable Novels—Rise and Fall in Finaa- fal Circles. Correspondence of The Evening Star. jor. 22, 1892. HE SHORES OP WALL and broad streets are covered, after every great financial storm, with greater or lesser wrecks that have been cast up there by the waves. Every panic adds tothe number of those who flit about the streets,mere shadows of their former greatness. Even after everything €redit, position and friends —these old financiers hang about the ticker in Delmonico’s, and now ‘and then, when in funds, go into some bucket shop and bet five, ten or twenty-five dollars on the raise and fall of the market. It seems strange to an outsider that so few of these men | should have saved even a modest country ome or afew thousand dollars out of their va fortunes, but it is a fact that there are dozens of men to be found within a bundred feet of ‘the stock exeBange who have been millionaires within the past quarter of a century and who Bre now almost objects of charity. Of course, the most famous of ail these wrecks is Ferdivand Ward, who not long ago emerged from Sing Sing. to which he had been sentenced fora ten years’ term. But, unlike others of his class, Ward is not to be found near bis old haunts. At present, I believe, he Ss living in a little Connecticut village with bis FERDINAND WARD. Drother-in-law and son; but the chances are that he will coon re-enter business life, either fn Philadelphia or Chicago. I think that the Dustle of Chicago would suit his active taste, but if he were to turn up in Philadelphia the Quakers would take in their signs and close their doors until he could be induced to leave the city. The history of F still too recital here. He began life as a printer's devil the little town of Geneseo, N. ¥., and by the he was thirty he was signing hi hundreds of thousands, going into vast deals that required’ millions of cap leading _ by single bair ‘President of the United States, who was also ‘the most famous warriors of his day. He seerpree the v him; for more than one man il and settled down to a suc- = lis ia New York Ea. Stokes, proprietor loffman House, is one of William C. Gilman, the forger, is an- james D. Fish, although too old’a man incommercial hfe again, has been jaietly and almost unnoticed here ever his relsase from the penitentiary. Stroll. the park see him nearly every pleasant morning walking there in company with his lit- iter, whose mother was Sallie Reber, opera singer. wreck, and a famous one, too, is ‘h, whose first speculations were in and turkeys, and who now, although his former wealth, looks’ about as hasas hearty a laughas in the old old gentleman lives in Spuyten vil, but, like many another of his clase, comes down to Wall strectevery day, takes 3 gocktail at Delmonico’s and looks over the ticker. Rafus Hatch was born in Maine, and early in the fifties turned up in Chicago, where he put his slight knowledge of railroad matters to before out of eit 3 ath Practical account. It was at this time tnat the ! ‘Whole west went wild on the subject of railroad construction, and Hatch joined a corpsof en- Gineers at 21.25 a day. But the practical side Of railroading did not suit his speculative mind, and in * Crimean war, he 10. with two or three asort of grain market on a Yery small scale. Of course it was not long be- fore Hatch found the grain business too small for him and. with the money he bad made, he @rifted to New York and plunged into the mael- strom of apeculat He made his reputation asa financier by his transactions with such men mmuel J. Tilden, Daniel Drew, Jim Fisk, Jay Gould and Commodore Vanderbilt and was €oncerned in some of the largest pools and deals ever known in the history of the street. Although he has lost bis moner now he has this friends, and there is hardiy any one to be found within gunshot of the exchange who hasa hard word to say about Old Uncle Rofua ‘The quaintest of all modern financial wrecks bas lately drifted to New York, not to make his fortune, but after he bad lost it. He must be nearly seventy vears of age; is tall, gaunt, ungainly and shabbily dressed. ‘In the summer he wears an old brown straw hat, Which he exchanges, as soon as the snow begins to fy. for a big rusty sombrero, ‘beg vote Maan, is worth several million dollars President of the C1 Pisrigent of the Cicago fog oung man, and, in a certain sense, has | or. | fre" has been lost—money, | | | | | | rdinand Ward is| new road, the Atlantic and fresh_in the popular mind to call for | time he was living in sp! checks | Art Institute also. | his it the father. the old man of whom Iam writ-| clever enough to make the ‘wealthiest and most successful brokers in Wall street, who closed his life of sixty years in the Essex’ county, N. J., insane asy ‘Hobart rw York, and when still y position as’ office boy in a Wi street office. Ho was successful, and fi went into the s in which he accumulated an enormous for- tune. He built a magnificent house in Orange, N. J., and in the days of his ity used to drive a f hand to jalley Church, of whose 8: school be was the superintendent. But Black THE “WRECK” 48 HE Is NOW. Friday brought his career toa close and trans- formed him froma wealthy man toa pauper. However, he recovered suficiently to begin life again as a coal dealer, and for afew years was highly successful. But his mind began to fire way, and about a year ago he failed, leav- g liabilities greatly in excess of his assets. At the close of a severe illness he was taken to the insane asylum a mental wreck, and re- mained in seclusion there until his deatha abort time ago. FROM SEWING MACHINES TO WALL STREET. Alden B. Stockweil, one of the most celebrated of the Wall strect wrecks, was born in Paines- ville, Obio, and in early life was purser on one of the Lake Erie steamshive. It happened that on one of the trips of his boat he made the ac- quaintance of Elias Howe, the inventor of the sewing machine needle, who was taking a pleas- ure trip in company with his daughters. The young purser was very attentive to them, and when they made the return trip on his boat be succeeded in establishing himself in their good graces to such an extent that he was looked Upon asa family fricnd aud afterward married one of the daughters. On the death of his father-in-law Stockwell obtained full con- trol of the sewing machine company, which was then making enormous profits, enough in- deed to have satisfied any man of moderate ambition. But the profits were not large enough for Alden B. Stockwell. who by this time had become interested in one or two Wall street ventures, and the year 1870 saw bim in- stalled as one ‘of the most prominent men on the board. It was about this time that he began buying Pacific Mail at 30, and never left off till he held 2 controlling interest and the stock was worth 105. He then turned his attention to the Panama Railroad Compan; and after that was made president of the ther Ly At this ndid style on Madi son avenue, and often handling from fifty to a bundred thousand shares of stock in a single day on the exchange. His de- cline and fall began about 1873, when a politi eal scandal in regard to the Pacific mail subsidy developed aud compelled his retirement from the varions companies in which he was inter- ested. He left New York aud went to Europe, and when he returned but a email part of his former fortune was left him. He still owned, however. a seat on the stock exchange and,with the fatal persistence of a born gambler, he be- gau to doa trading business there. Some years ago he was compelled to seil his seat and buy one in the consolidated, and, a year or two ago, he failed on the latter exchange for less than $200,an amount which he might have given in his prosperous days without notic- ing it. ONCE VANDERBILT'S CONFIDENTIAL AGENT. Another broken-down Wall street magnate, who was once worth 22,000,000, slouches around the bueket shops of lower Broadway dressed in & particularly secdy coat and attracting very attention from any rave the few who know the story of his career. And yet this STRIKES A FORMER CLERK FOR A LOAN. same seedy old gentleman, now perhaps seven- Fears of age, made a cool million of dol- lars out of Commodore Vanderbilt's great Ha which he is lem corner in 1863. John W. Tobin was for- to use as a night cap. ‘He leeps on | merly a gate in his office, and his son, still a young | during Comm beeper on the Staten Island ferry jore Vanderbilt's control. He ‘and is attracted the attention of the old financier, “ago board of trade, and | w ho gave him opportunities for advancing position in life, and his protege was most of it. now, does not care for art and keepss|Tobin first came prominently before the pablie im connection with the great Har- corner already alluded to, and which was brought about through a contest between Com modore Vanderbilt and the common conneil of was to be ron in connection with the Harlem allroad the stock of that company, largely held by the Van its, began to go up, advancing in short time” from ‘nine Io 4 i i I came so he went near EP: intoa L Shore regained the financial position which he But early in the eighties Ieee Sool, foc ehdoh young Willie K. Vanderbilt got from his father 50,000 shares of stock at a very favorable price, but somehow the stock failed to rise, and then the Marine Bank failure knocked all the bull pools to pieces, and Smith was involved in the general ruin. Young Vanderbilt lost on this eceasion about $4,000,000, which his father paid, and threatened to deduct from his Anticipated share of the Vanderbilt estate. Smith, although in a bad way financially, formed a combination with Baron Woerishoffer to bear the market, and would bave been suc- cessful in this oj on that si ide of the fence too long. tion if he had not stayed The co uence was that in 1886 he found himself a ed man, and has since then been entirely out of market. One of the liveliest of the financial cor in Wall street is Henry 8. Ives, who was a ry in the employ of Harper Brothers lees than ten Fears ago, failed for seventeen millions four or five years ago, was for along while a resident of Ludlo fortune “ yw street ut of a shoe string,” as the Jail and has just made another saying and bids fair to become once more a power in the realms of finance. connection with the famous dry Journ & Burnham of Brooklyn, His latest exploit was in honse of which for over aquarter of a century has carried on an enormously profitable business by the most pe- euliar methods. It has always been old fash- foned and conservative, not caring for cash customers, but preferring to carry the accounts of wealthy and fnshionable people. It had no HENRY &. IVES. ‘bargain sales” or “drives in muslin,”* “slangh- ters in eocks,” John" or any of the othe r “Cheap devices for attracting trade that are com- mon with other houses in the bu On the contrary it had no signs in its windows or over its doors, and for a great many years the two another. dollars, A few years ago one of the partners died, leaving a fortune of several millions of nd the surviving member of the firm, impressed with the success which had attended the financing of one or two business houses into Joint stock de companies, jetermined te eapitalize the firm's wealth, good will anf nat invest its money therein, and invite the It was at public to this stage of the proceedings that Henry 8. Ives, who had been intimate during his prosperous days with the family of the dead partner, appeared on the scene, and so influenced that partner's widow that she permitted him to control her interest in the house. With the confiderce of the widow and the consent of the survivin, rtner, Mr. Ives, who had recently eme rom an enforced retirement in Ludlow street Jail, undertcok the work of financing the con- cern and placing its securities on the market. He knew enough not to make himself promi- nent in the venture and before the in- vestors realized with whom they had been dealing the firm had been turned into a joint stock company, and Mr. Ives found himself $500,000 to the good. With this sum of money in his safe and with a bitter experience behind him Ives re-enters the money arena, confident that another decade will see him in ‘a position similar to that occupied by Mr. Jay the present day. ose who know Gould at him best declare that he has the ability to accomplish great things and had he secured control_o! the Baltimore and Ohio railroad when he at- tempted it some years ago he would have been looked upon as Goald’s legitimate suc- cessor, and then all things might have been possible for him. Meantime this dapper young man with the peculiar narrow face of cold steel 1 and the frequently seen in Wall street, in the up-town cates and in various places of ated wit! Men of hi amusement. h his old partner, Geo. is stamp usually He is no longer associ- . Stayner. refer to work alone. crus R. Witsox. coe Eccentric Chinese Ideas of Justice. From London Daily News. In China, according to Mr. Jesso Herbert, Inte legal adviser to the government of south | duced three degrees it lee H 55 lor the stock, in- volving a loss to the common council and their friends of several millions of dollars, Tobin was the commodore's ee and as- sociate in this scheme, and it him a mil- It is recorded in the history of Wall street that e year later a second attempt was made to down ‘the founder of the great Vanderbilt family, and this time by the ‘state legislature, who defeated by a vote of 150 te 90 the commo- dore’s bill authorizing the consolidation of the Harlem and Hodson River roads. Repeating the tactics of the common councilmen, the state politicians sold the stock short. but Van- derbilt, aided by Leonard Jerome, Tobin and ane ot wo others, bought up every share in the China and professor of law in the University of Canton, officials are heid responsible for the conduct of the community. If «son hae mur- dered his father not only is the murderer cut in pieces, but the house is pulled down and the ground dag up toadepth of about six fect. All the neighbors, moreover, are punished, the boy's headmaster is beheaded, the magistrate loses his place and the higher officials are re- in rank. There are two officials for each post in order that «e might spy upon the other, the rale be- ing that done, but onl; yystem of unblushing robbery, called ‘sqi The salary of a viceroy in some casos is £60 a year; he Kirra 4 £8,000. The salary ing.” no official shall repor to the lowest all: draws not t what he has what the other has done. From practice a jneez- jess than a judge is £40 a year; he regularly draws at least £2,000. There are 1,200 police in Canton, not one of ceives wages, and yet the office is much sought re- ‘The fact is, we are assured, that the police are on fraternit moni sixteen cannot be pt do is to pop him excellent terms with the of thieves, and they together. to or work har- prison and keep him there until he {s sixteen. If Mr. Herbert wore asked to summarize the government of China he would say the their own administration js democratic and administrators are liars, thieves and ex- tortioners. whos From Life. Lize—“"What yo’ got to be thankful fo’, nigga?” Uncle Mose—“Dat chickuns can't seo after dak” From Lite. faire, ruled by Practical. A Distinguished Family. are communists, man- a despot |there on Cole's Hill’ partners were not on speaking terms with ove | DAY OF THANKSGIVING The Origin of the American Feast Day Among the Pilgrims. JOY INSTEAD OF PENANCE. ‘The Sundayof Our National Year—The Sig- nificance of tho Festival—When It Was ‘Movable Feast Day—In Later Years. —-___ Written for The Evening Star. HIS YEAR HATH been a sorry time,” said ahoary-headed pilgrim. ‘The hand of Provi- dence hath been heavy upon us and methinks it were indeed well to institute a day of fast- ing in expiation of the evil that hath caused this visitation of the y Lord.” It was Plymouth on one dark and rainy night in the month of October, 1621, when this remark was made to representatives of the sur- viving pilgrims gathered at the house of one of their number for the express purpose of con- sidering the appointment of a day of penance | for the remission of the sins which had been productive of their hard fate. “Aye, a sorry time in truth,” echoed anothi his white bequeued head rising above ths little audience as the others disappeared in it. “for of the more than five score of us who disem- barked from the Mayflower last December do not half now sleep yonder on Cole's Hill, and ‘once more on the verge of what we know by dire experience to be the bitter new world win- ter, our crops are scant. our-———” jay! Nay! ." quickly interjected a white-baired, black-robed woman, the linos of whose pure old face only seemed to give it an additional beauty like chasing on silver— ‘but mayhap it is not seemly that I speak it," she quickly added with lowered tone, for bath St. Paul not said” —— “Say on, mistress, say on,” encouraged male voice, “this is’ not the house of God, neither a Sunday meeting, only gathering of neighbors where ali who mind may «peak.” “Then I would add,” she continued; thus em- boldoned, ‘what I believe to be the gospel truth—that the Lord, instead of chastening, hath greatly prospered us.” Her voice trem: bled a little at these words, a vision of the three new graves stretching wet and cold under the lowering ekies of that autumn night rising in- voluntarily into her mind. Her hearers, too, looked at her in pitying wonder, but afters little pause sho repeated, “‘hath greatly pros pered us. For are we not now permitted to worship Him in spirit and in trath, such as hath not been our privilege for many a day before? Hare we not homes? though the | harvest be scant, yet have vo not faith that the Lord will maintain his promiee and provide for Hiv own, even as He hath already done in guiding us hither? So, in view of these many graces, a day of thankegiving seems to me more meet than a day of penance.” Sho sat dow ‘or several minutes utter silence reigned in that quaint Puritan living room. Thea Gov. Bradford rose, his silver knee | buckles glistening in the candle light, and tip- toed across the space separating him from the | brethren who first spoke, when a whispered | consultation went on for several minutes more. Presently their conference ended, he walked to the fireplace in the far end of the room, and, | turning, faced his people. “This faithful sister hath shamed ue," quo! he, “and taught usalesson of bravery, Wi her good man gone, a stalwart son laid low a as likely a lass as ever opened a pair of blue eyes under England's blue skies lying, too, out ‘a sob came from a flaxen-haired youth in the back of the room— | “she yet sees reasons for thankfulnoss rather than cause for repining. We must not be out- | done by her, and instead of sitting in sackcloth | and ashes we will praise God for His manifold | mercies to usand feast rather than fast. The | forests abound in game, though our crops be | poor, and thither shall our young men go and | ind materials for the repast. Courage is better | than fear.” he concluded, a sentiment which | was greeted with a hearty chorus of “Aye, | ayes.” | ‘Thus was Thanksgiving day inaugurated, a triumph of womanhood and a triumph of optimism, not only indeed a triumph of optimism, but a proof that optimism ws itself a | triumph, for if the day of mourning had been established how long would it have been ob- served, since every added year seeing the steady increase of good in this land there | would be less and less reason for waiting and | more aud more arguments in favor of a day of thanks, Two hundred and thirty-eight years after the | landing of the pilgrims the largest granite statue of the world was erected to their mem- ory. It stands ona high hill overlooking | Plymouth. In the center is a colossal figure o! Faith with a Bible in her upstretched hand, | while around her are clusterod a group fepre- senting Morality, Law,Education and Freedom, in looking at which one instinctively endows the beautiful faith with the epirit of that se- | rene old woman who even in adversity looked with prophetic eyes to the timo when in very | truth freedom, morality, education and law | should result from her sublime belief. A DAY OF FAITH. With the Fourth of July, Memorial day and | Washington's birthday Thanksgiving day is one | of the four distinctively American festivals, but | though distinctively American the sentiments | that inspire them—Thaukegiving day, faith: Washington's natal day, hero worship; Memorial day, love. and the Fourth of Juiy, patriotism — arecommon to all peoples of the earth, and only for excellent reasons of our own have we selected the times when we ourselves shall gele- brate these universal feelings. The Thanksgiving day sentiment is indeed a far descended one, it being an inheritance from the first races of mankind of the elation they felt over nature's yearly largess—the American Indians and other barbaric tribes having to this day ceremonies of their own in celebration of autumn’s bounty. Aw a spirit of religion devel- oped this fecling grew intow worship of dei- ties that were supposed to preside over the crops, like the beautiful goddesses Demeter of the Greeks, and Ceres of the Romans; and still later when mythology had been cast’ off, rem- nants of the same idea remained in the “har- vest homes,” and similar though differently named festivals of all nations when the grain garnered and the fruit heaped up, merry mak- ings and dances went on beneath the rays of the harvest moon. But it remained for that Little band of Plymouth pilgrims to give spir- {tual significance to theve gaia times—to pro- vide a fitting soul for so fair a body, an act em- inently in conformity with this religious peo- plo; while the American nation st large, many jecades later, widened this feeling into one of national import, so that this instead of fifty-five people observing it, as was the case in Plymouth 271 years ago, 65,000,000 are partici- pants in its good cheer. A MOVABLE FEAST. Nor has this result been brought about with- out break and intermission and with complete unity of purpose, for though the other colonies followed the example of Plymouth in appoint- ing a day of Thanksgiving, it by no tera Oo. ourred ase matter of course that the day set by them was identical with that of Gov. Bradford's people, or that thanks were offered up for the same thing. In fact. Thankagiving es late as 1690, nearly sixty years ite idea was first suggested, was eminently a mov- able feast, liable to ocour atany time frora January to December and in any throughout the colonies, wherever the various inhabitents folt gratitude to be a becoming emotion. THANKS IN DETArL. Instead, too, of a general expression of thanks, as is now the custom, they rendered up thanks in detail—on one occasion it would be in return for much-needed rain, then for tri- umph over the Indians and again for the safe landing of the English supply ships. One time, Jn July.1621, when rin came after y ind ry drought and ry tppeinieds Reisticiving if ono whek'in Gere. PI n. Were i wi if | The Man Won, but Only Aftera Battle That the patter of the rain for which they bad so fervently ‘and with green corn as the piece de or that Thanksgiving in June, 1687, after victory over the Pequods, when maybe strawberries garnished with roves formed menu. ‘On these occasions, though. the colonists had evidently quite lost sight of the part that the autumn harvest plays in the obeerrance—tho Prehistoric significance of tho festival, the season being with them purely and simply a many-voiced thankoffering in acknowledgment of the of their condition. After it became an annual affair it supplanted in @ measure the English Christmas, whose celebra- tion was too riotous to meet ‘their strict re- ligious notions—this the itanic Tkanke- giving, 6 plying the unalloyed devoutness which ‘was the one thing they would willingly have retained in the Christmas of their fore- fathers. ASSUMING A NATIONAL CHARACTER. Asbas been seen Thanksgiving day for the first sixty years of ite existence was a hit-and- miss affair as to time and place, and even after ithad rettled down into an annual autumn festival if the people did not feel particularly ‘pncouraged the observance of it was liable to be omitted, and it did not assume its national character till during the revolution, when Con- grees recommended the yearly appointing of sucha day. In spite of this, though, in the years intervening between 1784 and 1789 there were no Thanksgiving days. In 1789 Washing- ton issued a Thanksgiving proclamation in view of the adoption of the Constitution and after that to the time of Lincoln, the example of the first President was intermittently followed by his successors. But only since 1858 can Thanksgiving be eaid to have been a fixed and universal American custom, and in that year the governors of the different southern ‘states united with their eastern brother officials in issuing Thanksgiving proclama ions, and the example sct by Lincoln in 1863 of issuing a Thanksgiving proclamation suggesting the last Thursday in November as an ‘appropriate day has been followed since with- oat break by every occupant of the presidential chair, Though long incoming to its fulfillment, ike some fair oak tree that requires many years of storm and sun to bring it to its full beauty, Thanksgiving, the Sunday of our natieral year, is now an imperishable monument of the faith, the benevolence and the softer graces so often averred to have no existence in this practical worle «Jay American world. FUNNY CHILD TALK. Odd Remarks From a Five-Year-Old About ‘Things of This Life. HERE IS A LITTLE GIRL ON P street, five years of age, who is very naughty once in while. The other day rhe got angry at tho cook and slapped her. Her mother told her that che must apologize, but she refused point blank, “I won't doit,” she declared, stamping her foot. “Very well, Tiny," reptied manta, mildls, “but, if you do not, I will not buy for you the new dolly that you want.” ‘This was too much for the child, who had set her heart on the doll. So she went down stairs to the kitchen and said to the coo “Rosa, I bit you this morni ‘i “Yes, you did, Miss assuming an aggrieved expres ‘The Little girl looked at her for a moment and then added: “Do you think you will die?” “L don't kno d Rosa, “Well,” said ‘Tiny, “if you die don't tel! God I did it.” | On another day Tiny was taken to visita | lady. ‘The latter mentioned the name of some- | body she knew, whereupon the chi “I didn’t know that you is one of my mothers.” “Goodness me!” exclaimed the lady. how many mothers have you got: “Three,” responded ¥, promp “Mamma, my grandmother and my godinothe en't You got as many?” jobody had suggested euch a notion to her, | came out of her own wise little head. On | the occasion of the same Visit she sat ga thoughtfully for a long time ata bowl whic contained a single goldfish. Finally she looked | up and suid: | “I should think that fieh would get awfully | tired swimming around ali the time. I should | think it would go up and lie down to sleep on that green stuff at the top of the water.” ‘This came little giri entertains some very queer metaphysical ideas, iler mother found out recently that the child had formed the | queerest conceivable notion out of her own | imagination respecting the world by which ehe was surrounded. She thought that perhaps nothing was real or had actual existence except in her own immediate vicmity. For example, her notion was that while she was going along ina street car the blocks of houses coming successively into view sprang spontaneously into existence, presumably van- | ishing again into nothingness aa soon as she | had pase@ out of sight of them; in short, be- cause it was necessary that ehe should bave an | environment of a physical nature, things about | hor were brought into being wherever she went | for her special and exclusive benefit. As for | the people whom she saw around her, they might or might not be real. At all events it Was unquestionable that they were accustomed to eat certain vegetables at the table only for the purpose of pqrsuading her to do likewise inasmuch as it wie impossible that they could like them. er HIS STRUGGLE WITH OPIUM. Severely Tried Hum. From the London Spectator. ‘One day I realized, writes a former victim of the opium habit, that my word was no longer a | symbol of truth, and the moral nature that I had not quite drowned leaped up im the dark and cailed me “liar!” to my face. Then I awoke, and for the first time for many a day I prayed, Then also came the resolve, the de- termined resolve,come what may, to be done with this damnable tyranny. At6 o'clock that | evening I took a hearty meal of meat (princi pally) and a little (very little) red wine. It June 10, 1868, I had determined to walk into the summer night, walk till I died, if necessary, but walk till I won my battle, if I lived through the ordeal. I left my watch at home that I might not pawn it for opium; I took no money with me; even as I left home and struck across the downs I felt the craving coming on (the hour for my pen- ultimate day dose was at hand), and I knew my temptation was with me, and realized how long nd bitter the struggle was tobe. The craving emed to me a palpable ehape thatiwaiked be- side me, a presence that outran mo and lost me, and came back to me like a faithful dog that would not lose or leave me, that { could not | leave or lose! Sometimes I sang, sometimes I raved and swore, sometimes I praved aud wept, but never once, thank God, did my reeolution falter. Much of that night I cannot remember. Dim things come back to mo at times, such asa fall Thad once, hurting my knee. I thing I fright- @ned some one who asked me some question, and I believe I can recollect that I myself grew at one time fall of fear—fear of hurting myself, not others; and then I suffered thirst—such thiret—such awful thirst—but I must have slaked it somewhere, for in the morning my clothes and necktie were all wet, and so was my hair. At7in the morning of the next day I found myself leaning on a gate and looking out on the landscape before me with asort of curious wonder as to how I came there, my head drop) on my hands. Islept for, I think, only a few minutes and awoke quite well. Since that day Ihave never touched itand have never been tempted to touch it. Of course, I am well ‘aware that the doses to which I had become ac- customed wore not very large, but I am also ture that thoy were on the ineroae; end baving told my experience lately to a distinguish English physician he begged me, for the sake of others, to put on record these ‘and simple facts. This I now do, and if I do so snonymously it is only because I believe no further could follow the knowledge of my identity or name. “College Sports.” lieved f | above and at night falling asleep about 12:30 | road. knew the difficaltie | sibility of the position will keep the operator IN SIGNAL TOWERS. Telegraphers Who Hold the Safety of Thousands in Their Hands. SLEEPING ON pa a Eee A Branch of the Railroad the Traveling Pub- lic is Interested In—Many Lives Depending Upon the Faithfal Performance of Duty— How Accidents Have and May Occur. DUTY. ees Oo 8 oS" TIS SAFE TO SAY that one of the hardest problems that the larze railroad corporations will have to solve within the next six | months will be the safe | and speedy handling of | the immense throng | that will visit the | world’s fair in Chicago | next year. Block sig- | nals and interlocking switches, with the addi- tion of antomatic electric signals, are being adopted by ail the big trunk lines and “almost” everything done to insure safety with great speed. These great appliances will supply about 65 per cent of safety, the “almost,” if adopted, of which this article deals, about 30 per cent, which will | make 90 per cent of safety in travel, a truly re- markable showing. At the present time tho | ratio is about 75 per cent. ‘The “almost” represents the working hours of the railway telegraphers. No matter what = ao. safegaards aro adopted, if the one in charge of the sane proves nogligent they will go for naught. This assertion is eubstantinted by the recent terrible wrecks on roads that were be- / lieved to have in operation appliances that | would make impossible a head-owr or rear-end | collision. | LONG HOURS OF LABOR. | What does the government employe, who | works from six to eight hours a day, think man working twelve hours, and those hours from 7 p.iw, till 7 am. ‘These are the ho: all the railway telegraph operators ot principal stations. In addition it houid be Temembered that he is not directly under com- mand of an overseer tosee that his work correctly and promptly done or companions | tokeep him company. On the contrary, his signal tower will be found located in the most | lonely localities, and even when eituated at or near @ country town or village little life or company can be expected from it after 8 o'clock. An Evexino Stan reporter bad an instrne- tive talk one evening recently with an old-time railway telegrapher, who told him of the many ways in which ar operator can noglect his du and imperil the lives of hundreds of peopl This old timer is a staunch advocate of the hour svrtem. Ho sai If the railroads will adopt an eight-hour | system with ite telegraphers over th system Vil in the perce in watch box and tower for know whereof I speak. ways in wh years and andred and her can be weane i performance of hi rate a few that I now personal observa- Tn the first place an operator at an out-of | | the-way station will. be eighteen and twenty ys appens nine times e he is full of a responsibilities he period of the year is « terribly bi 1 clos Breakfast a exercise wall over by 10. He then retires toa ted room, made so as to excl tside noise, and tries to sleep. A sound sleep for perhaps an hour follows and then tossing about on the bed commences. After another hour of this will b restlessness he thinks he ha in bed for | several hours, but upon looking at his watch he | ascertains the true situation. More toss about follows and then in di dons bis clothes and lounges around tho re- mainder of the day. Ihave gone through this for weeks and have tried to putin twelve hours’ | reliable work at night, but found it impossible. SLEPT FouR Bovas, “I remember passing one day much like the o'clock and sleeping for nearly four hours. | During this time seven henvily laden freight trains passed south and five north right under | my window, but never n sound disturbed my | slumber. Only those thet have experienced | similar lapses of consciousness ean appreciate the almost death grip such a sleep holds one in. When I awoke the telegraph sounder was tap- | ping off my office call, and without looking up | at the clock I answered, ‘I,’ “I.” | “**Go ahead Nos. 60 and’ 59 came from the | main office. ‘Those were the trains that passed my office at about Jam. It was thon nearly 4 | o'clock. answered back, * meaning | they bud not yet passed. “Without « word the operator at the main ofiice called up a station about thirty miles north of me and told him to report No. 59. I stantly came back the reply: ‘First No. 59 at 3:10; second 59 at 3:20.” “To say that I was dumfounded but faintly | expresses it. Iglauced up at the clock and could hardly believe my eyes; it was nearly 4 o'clock and daylight was breaking. “Concluding that my usefulness with that road was gone forever I dvew up a rough draft of a resignation, explaining m¥ negligence as favorably as possible, and awaited the request for it from the superintendent. This request was never made. ‘The operator at the main oftice was an old timer, bad worked out on the that surrounded tho 1 and had not reported me. Meking the working hours from 8 until 4, | from 4 till 12 and 12 till 8 will reduce the chances of neglect toa minimum. The respon- awake one-half of the eight hours and his work the other half.” “But the eight-hour system calls for an addi- tional man,” suggested ihe eporter THE EIGHT-HOUR sySTEM. ‘That is it exactly and where the shoe inches, It is the additional expense that clogs the general adoption of the system, but it is | false economy to ignore it. Our English cous- | ins are more shrewd than we in this particular, The telegraph system of alt the railroads of | England are under the eight-hour system. The | English are rather slow to adopt innovations, | but quigkly see the good parte of an idea, and where life is at stako takonochances. The fact that operators in England receive only $3 a) | | week bas no bearing on the case, as very few of | the frequen’ them are sound operators, the’ old system of reading from a paper tape being in general use. This system was in use here many years ago. but found too slow for American progress and enterprise. “I have in mind a division of a large railroad | that employes about 250 operators. About| twenty offices are worked on the twelve-hour | plan, Put anadditional man in each oneof there Offices at $40 a month (that is the average pay) would increase the monthly pay roll #800, for the year, £9,000. This is not « formidable sum lor @ large corporation to contemplate. Against this sum place the frightful cost in money of a wreck caused by the negligence of a telegraph | operator. No wrecks are more disastrous than | those thus caused, as the trainmen are entirely off their guard ‘and the locomotives being | pushed to their full eapecity to make siding | ime. can only recall at this moment two wrecks | occurring for which operators were | chiefly responsible, but the loss in life and property was large’ en to pay the salaries Of the additional’ men have spoken ‘of for twenty years. One of them occurred on the Reading road near Philadelphia and the other on the Pennsylvania road near Harrisb While neither man was at the time it was developed at the coroner's inquest that the long hours of work the men so that the rational way was almost both instances the INSTRUCTING STUDENTS, “Another loophole through which the erator can escape work and the danger to the train service is On several roads they erators soasto be in readiness ‘a fl gs a “| = H I £ E Sf Hi ; : | was in sitting there liste featuros, but, happily, no fatal results, wherein sleeping on dnay ia the chet subject. good game on tl eld. He had been transferred from a small town toa city of con- siderable dimensions and placed on the night trick from 7 p.m. to 7a.m. His fame as a ball | player had preceded him and no sooner had be | arrived in the city than several members of the different clubs put in an appearance at the of- fice. He was persuaded to join one of the clube and a big match game was arranged. Being @ new man the novelty of the position kept him out of bed altogether on the day of the game, but as he did well and was on the winning side this fact was forgotten in the excitement of the moment. “He relieved the day man at 7 o'clock and for some time the hours passed pleasantly in discussing with a dozen companions the excit- ing features of the day's game. One by one | these sought their homes and by midnight the operator was left alone. “The track was clear of passenger trains and the freights north were twenty miles out and an order bad just come in for the freights coming up from the south. These orders were to the effect that the first section was to ran to asiding about ten miles north of his station and the second rection be held by him until the south-bound trains had passed. The station was at the end of the double track, the road north being a single track one, the operator working the switch as well as the key. “Thinking to secure a short nay lowered the red signal and tor: ch, the sw knowing the north-bound trainmen would wake | him up for the orders already received. This they did ten minutes later, but the short sleep seems to have dazed him. After giving out the orders aud turning the ewitch the operator re~ entered the little watch box and almost im- mediately began nodding. After the train had passed he again lowered the red signal to hold the second section and then fell into a sound sleep. SHRILL SHRIEK OF THE LocoMoTIVE. “He was awakened by the shrill shriek of the locomotive whistle of the second section, which Was standing just south of the office, The sud- den awakening dumfounded him. Thinking it was the first section to whom he had given orders, but had forgotten to turn the switch, he /Pulled’ up the red signal and left them in’ on the single track. “Tho train had but passed around the curve north of the office when the main ofice inquired if the second section was in sight. He replied pot yet, but had hardly finished ticking off the telegraphic characters of that reply when the operator at the office a milo north said the sec- ond section was in sight of his tower, but « good distance down the track, and wanted to Know if he sbould hold the south-bound trains. “Then the wires hummed with orders and the yard men were sent scurrying up the track to stop the south-bound freight. This was finally ac- complished, but it was a close shave, as the train was & hen fast time, can imagine the state of mind that o ig to the inquiries from the main office and the sigh of relief that escaped him when the muddle he had created was at last straightened out with- ‘ks later t the eame six w another operator fell asleep at abc hour, mixed the trains np and bes: hing 10 bad run on the road for thirty the operator | 1.—You don the patent eyclist’s suit—the India. rubber kind; It's blown up through a rubber tube the! stens on bebind. ie ne; 2.—Then tip the boy the proper thing. But don't forget the safety valve—be suse you hold the string You | rator 3—You mount your make the pedi Your joy will be th “At pres of the Railway I ‘ong de- reveral of ful in aving their demands acceded to, and now the | eastern roads a! m over the subject. This advar ed, will no dc tof poor opers be overcome b il mov is horrible bu but the one that paper and, afier repeating back to the main office and receir nafers it to the order b 3 equally as deadly Ord be copied with a styl s provided for that purpose and re- ‘om that. Some operators to avoid *breaking’ will copy it first on soft paper an then transfer it, and in the transfer comes the deadly error. CAUSED A $50,000 wreck. “An operator of this class caused a $50,000 wreck on tine Northern Central roadacouple years back and seriously injareda half dozen trainmen. It occurred on the upper section of that road where it is still single tracked and where an error is almost always disastrous. He received an order for a train to take a siding abont Ave miles south of his tower, but in transferring it to the order book made it read for a siding about seven miles further south. The trai runuer, thinking everything was all right — dered the north-bound train to meet the south- bound one at the first named siding. “In the vernacular of the railroad the wreck that followed waaa bute. The trains came to- gether on a small bridge and ata high rate of speed. The trainmen jumped for their lives and came off with bad sprains and bruises. The engines were stripped of their running gear and the cars ground into splinters, “At the investigation held at the superin- tendent's office the operator, on being interro- gated as to why he had transferred the order Which resulted in the mistake being made, re- plied that he didn’t like to ‘break.’ ” THE AGE OF THE EARTH. Geology Shows Its Age Varies From 73,000,- 000 to 680,000,000 Years, Geologists have ascertained that the rate at which erosion takes place can be measured. By applying their scale to the sedimentary rocks they have formed an hypothesis as tothe time which has elapsed since erosion began. The stratified rocks attain an average thick- ‘ness of 100,000 feet. The material of which they consist was all washed down from high planes, deposited and left to stratify. By the inspec- tion of river banks it is found that in places the surface of the land which has been carried down as sediment in rivers has been reduced at the rate of « foot in 790 years, while in other aap where the land was more stubborn or jess flexible, it had taken 6,800 years to lower the surface one foot. The deposit must be equal to the denudation. ‘We find that while some of the sedimentary rocks have grown a foot in 730 years others have taken 6,800 years to rise that height. Thus the period of time that was required to build ‘up 100.000 feet of sedimentary rock has varied according to locality from 73,000,000 years to 630,000,000 years. It follows that the active work of creation lasted for a cycle intermediate between these two figures. The cycle varied with endless succession of periods of disturb- ance by voleanic force and glacial action and submersion of dry land, alternat- ing with the ing of continents out of the sexs. These may have retarded the growth of sedimentary rocks, but they cannot have ac- celerated it. Acstudy of fossils teaches the steady uni- formity with which the work of creation pro- ceeded. Since man began to observe there has been no iggy ed bw ny ee and vegetable life. Ww species have “Setens aes pecs eben ae nk only do we find the fauna and flora of ancient ypt as on monuments which are probably 8, or 10.000 years old identical With those which are found in that country to- day, but shells which inhabited our seas before the ‘ice age and grew in an ocean whose bed overlay the Rocky mountains are precisely the same epecies that are found in the bay of Mon, terey and the waters of the Chesapeake. It is evident that there has been no essential cha: conditions of life since these vegetables were first created, yet the shortest period which we can the gap that divides us from that re- farms with the village store, the proprietor of which officiates as telegraph operator, express 4—Bat always keep « sharp lookout; of tal | church spires beware, Or you may leave your wheel bebind and ‘sail up in the motto vou may si You inight have gone to heaven if he badw's pulled the string! if. 6.—You feel the gus escaping as you gracefully come down; ; You know that in @ minute you'll be safe within the town. 7.—Then when your ride is ended, mare it ir o'er, Pitchte. night You'll probal wake Orie Ay qrake up to find you'se ———-or—___ 4 LA the Confased. Prom Life. Half back. °92 (as be is dragged from benesth oo amy: Westee wore et 4