Evening Star Newspaper, December 14, 1893, Page 15

EXPENSIVE WRECKS. How Injuriesand Deaths Are Settled for With Cash Out of Court. CLAIM ADJUSTERS’ SHREWDNESS. Very Few of the Accident Cases Ever Reach a Suit. EATING UP PROFITS. Three persons out of four, efter reading in the newspepers an account of a railroad accident, in which passengers were killed and injured, will immediately begin sur- mising what the damage list will amount to in dollars and cents. In a majority of the states legislation has placed a stand- ard value on a uuman being’s life at $5,000, with no limit for temporary or permanent injuries. Tnis is, of course, outside railroad employes as a class. The companies’ bene- ficial associations provide for them, un- less in a case of gross carelessness or neg- ligence on the part of the corporations they are killed or injured, when the courts are called upon to act as arvitraiors. In the latter cases there is then also a limit on death damages, but not on injuries. One of the most prominent lega! lights ef the country has gone on record’ as say- lug (aac ue conserved a raufoad uamage suit the most easy to win of all cases taken to court. Appeals are always taken to tne higher courts in cases where large damages bave been allowed, but it rarely happens that the lower courts’ decisions are re- versed. The lawyer referred to says this state of things is directly traceable to the jury system and an almost unconscivus desire on the part of the American public @s 4 class to muict the wealthy and there- by benetit the needy. ‘The Uinim Agent. In connection with damage suits the most interesting character is the claim agent. it is generally acknowledged among busi- bess wien that about the shrewdest class of human beings of the male gender that trod this earth is the fire insurance ad- justors. Many improbable stories are told a@t their expense, of how they not only can wight and feel a fraud, but that the sense of smell is frequently brought into use. Be that as ‘¢ may, the railroad claim adjustor Stands second on tne list, when shrewd- figures. Everybody remembers how unpopular the New York elevated railroads were directly after they were thrown open to travel. People were burt by the score and the claim adjustors were continually on the go. No matter how trifling were the injuries, com- promise could not be thought of, but off to the courts they would go; a jury would hear the case and nine times out of ten the companies would be assessed for heavy damages. Years ago railroad officials gen- erally attended to these claim cases, but the elevated roads in New York are be- Leved to be the originators of the claim agent as a class. The many and horribly fatal accidents of the past year, particularly the last six months, have caused considerable discus- sion as to the length of the damage list. In many cases, it is believed, the world’s fair | agp will be wiped out, but this surmise wrong so far as the eastern roads are concerned. Tne western roads were the victims to an appalling extent and their claim agents were never busier. If the true history of the adjustment of acci- dent claims of 1898 is ever told it will un- doubtedly be found that the shrewdness of claim adjustors had saved more than one road from going into the hands of re- celvers. The Year's Damage List. An agent of one of the western roads, on his way to,an eastern city to ply his well known suasive abilities upon « victim of a recent catastrophe in Michigan, was ac- costed by an Evening Star reporter, at one of the local depots, last week. In the course of quite a lengthy talk the question of the year's railroad damage list and claims in sencral came under discussion. He said: “Notwithstanding the immense world’s fair traffic on the western roads, the year isuS will show an immense list of losses. History is full of instances of great disasters of an identical nature following each other in an almost unbroken series. One year fires blaze from ocean to ocean, and hundreds of millions of dollars go up in smoke, and the insurance companies stand aghast and feel the foundation of their financial stability shaking. Then ey- clones follow each other, until the inhabi- tants of all prairie towns live in momentary terror of the end. Floods have their sea- sens, and disastrous sea-coast storms theirs, and then for months at a time the entire country is shocked with a series of railroad ©ecidents, all involving loss of life and olesale injury to limb. “I repeat that the profits of the entire world’s fair business of the year have been actually eaten up by the losses through wrecks. The loss to rolling stock is always total, as railroads carry no insurance. Be- fore passing to the adjustment of losses Permit me to say that the sad and expen- sive experience of the past six months in the west argues that the railroads are not yet equipped to handle the enormous pas- ‘ager trafiic that nominal rates to a cen- tral point like Chicago creates. People point to the railroads of England, and say they have no accidents there. These ple “to not knew that the eauipment of an Enelish road will average $200,000 a mile, while the western roads average from 329.000 to 350.000. Accidents will cease, and combination trains may be run, so to speak, when ev railroad in America is equipped with four tracks, two for passengers and two for freights. That is out of the ques- tion now. but it will come in the far away future, with the building up of the country. Tt bas already been achieved In some Dor- tions of the east, notably the Pennsylvania, XK Yor Central and Reltimore and Ohio, the Intter road from Relay St - the int y Station to Bal Fear a Jury Tria “But as to claims, understand that’ the railroad corporations never go to court un- less they are forced to. The reason is ob- vious—we fear a jury trial. If you see a railroad damage suit in court put it down that the railroad company believes the | claka either excessive or without merit. Every railroad has a claim department. It is 4 bur really, of the general man- and tne legal depart- Rent Siauus toward 1 only in an advisory capacity. ‘Inere are a great many peupie €i:pioyed in the claim department, both in Mast Ofice au scatlered aiong over tne “it Is mot true, as has been fancifully Sugsested, that as soon as the victim of a Faicvad accident recovers consciousness one of our claim agents is at his bedside with a compromise offér and quit claim of furtner demands for es, ready for signatures, here are all sorts of jokes about our claim agents being surgeons, who compro- h the vie while setting a broken limb and the purchase of indemnity Waivers from passengers at the depot be- ¢ the train pulls out. These are. how- American pleasantries, that nave no Weight with any but the unsophisticated, Seriously, however, this item of personal damage is one of the heaviest expenses that a railroad company has to meet. One ba? wreck to eat up a season's | Profits, not to mention the loss of prestige| con patronage that temporarily foliow a disaster to a road. | en a railroad is so unfortunate as to! have a wreck in which passengers are hurt, the first care is to get all the injured as} soon as possible to a place where they can | cal and medical aid. No 4. Next we endeavor to iS possible to their destina- all those who are not injured so badly nt their traveling. uit our liability in these cases, of a2 soon possible our agents, ‘ou know I am one, call on those scratched, and prepare a mutually satisfactory basis. 2 out of ten peovle are anxious to get © and be bothere] no more. Any rea- jemand based upon a foss of time urk fs promptly met. In many cases a come to us with a proposition. ple never dream of making a ir thankfulness over the fact that they escaped with their lives, no doubt, ac- counts for this. More corisus cases take longer to dispose of. We generally wait until complete recovery to make settle- ments. We sometimes negotiate for months THE EVENING STAR, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 18983-SIXTEEN PAGES. ts safe to say that in ninety- of a hundred we settle with- out recourse to the courts, and in the re- maining five, three of them will never go to trial. Form of Agreement. “Quite an interesting paper to those who have not seen it is the printed form we make claimants sign after paying them compromise damages. Its make-up may in- terest your readers. It reads as follows: “ ‘Whereas, on the 14th day of April, A. D. 1897, 1, George Henry Brown, a pas- senger on the Kilimequick Ruiiroad Com- pany, and as such passenger was traveling on the alicurve division, in the Haytown district of said railroad; and “Whereas, I, George Henry Brown, re- ceived certain injuries, to wit: A broken arm, and bai. I, the said George Henry Brown, believe that my said injuries are the direct resuit of the negitgence ef said raii- road company, its oilicers, agents and em- ployes; and ““Whereas, the said railroad company denies any and ail negiigence on the part of itself, its officers, agents and empioyes, and denies any and all Mabuity for damages for the injuries so as aforesaid by me sustained; but, by reason of an oer of Compromise made by me, the said George Henry irown, for the purpose of avoiding receive and accept the sum of Slut, accord and satisfaction for <i! cia damages which | may or might hav at commoa jaw or by virwe of ac lative enactment of the state of M for the injuries aforesaid, has paid t the sald sum of $100. “ ‘Now, therefore, in consideration premises, and of the payment to ine aforesaid sum of $100, the receipt whereof | de hereby acknowledge, I hereby remiss, release, quit claim and forever dl: the said The Kilimequick Ratiro: pany, its leased and operates from all actions, suits, and demands for, on accor from the injuries so, as afo: . and any, every and all rvsults flowing therefrom. “Witness my hand day of April, A. D. i “ “GEOR l seal, TRY this 1ith ¢ “ ‘Signed, sealed and deilvered in tae pres ence of Brussel Skage, George Ghoul.” Minor Claims. “As to minor claims, such as killing ¢ or a locomotive setting { they are also very interesting and freyient- ly humerous, but they do not involve quite so much money. Consequently a minor grade of ambitious adjusters handle them, and their work therein ts tal:en as a crite- rion for future promotion. “If one of our engines runs over a cow, one of our claim agents goes at once to the owner and ascert.ins that we are to biame. Our fences are down. Our man ¢ the farmer the price of the cow ani a little more. In an activa at law he is entitled t twice the value. should it deve.p, now- ever, that the cow in this case is a pioneer of the royal blood, and a queen in her own right, who has been living incognito in America, and whose death zione has forcet her confidential friends to reveal the fact that she has a pedigree larger than the new tariff bill, and that instead of being the humble muley cow she Was supposed by the neighbors to be and worth about 30, she is really worth $1,000 or $2,600, only then we go to court. As a matter of fact, we no longer run over as much ‘blooded stock’ as formerly, Time was when the most valuable boars in the world were al- lowed to forage in the swamps of lower fichigan, but I think that our road killed all the $1,500 hogs, and they are now rais- ing the plain razor-back, rarely worth more than $20 each. “There is a better feeling between the farmer and the railroad nowadays. One of the attorneys of the Wabash road told me only the other day that in three years they had been called upon to defend but three live-stock cases. In one of these, for the death of an 3800-horse, the railroad left the amount of damages to a neighbor of the piaintiff, and he declared for $125. “The railroad passenger business of the country is growing rapidly and, as you know, this year will stand for a long time as a record breaker. Last year there were 560,958,211 passengers transported, and of these one in each 1,491,910 was killed and one in each 173,833 was injured. This is a comparatively smal] number and we re- joiced at the end of the year when we counted up our record. Then we started out very well on 1803. We knew the fair traffic would be something tremendous, but the first few months threw us somewhat off our guard, as the travel was very light. several of our seasoned employes were laid off immediately, drifted east and went to work with other roads. Then came the great rush; not gradual, but in a week's time it developed to almost its fullest limit. Our old hands could not be found and un- seasoned men were employed. This was one great mistake of the year upon the part of the western railroad managers. I am talking away from home now and can af- ford to be frank. There are thousands of competent, hard-working men emmloyed upon our western roads who are conscien- tiously trying to do their duty, but the green hands handicap them tremendously. It is a pity that the efforts these good men are making to elevate their calling and win the confidence of the public should be de- feated by the parsimony of some of the companies and by the lack of system with which many of the western roads are run. But then why should I kick? I get my nice salary every month and a claim adjuster’s conn aay to prevent trouble, not create it. —____ TESTING A TALKER. Every Man is Not Ready to Back His Own Opinion. From the Detroit Free Press, Well down toward the front end of the smoking car sat four or five men, and one of them was a man of gab. Not only that, but he was a positive man—an iggressive man—a decided man. He was free with his opinions and beliefs and one listening to him got the idea that he was the sort of a man who believed he was dead right and was willing to put up his cash in de- fense of Eis opinion. Opposite me sat a drummer for a Cincinrati house, and as I saw him leoking over the top of his paper and apparently trying to size the man up, I observed: “Don’t you like to meet with a positive man?” “Positive rhe blurted out. “I can make him take water in five minutes!” “Well, I don’t know about that!” “Thea I'll show you. Lend me your hana- kerchief, please. Now, if you will trust me, let me take what small bills you hav He took his handkerchief and mine and made a “wad.” Around it he wrapped about $40 in greenbacks, making a roll of boodle whch he could herdly put into his pocket. Then he nodded to me and we went forward, and after a minute he said to the man of gab: “I have a little wager with my fried here How many times did Abraham Lincoln serve as President?” “Two, of course,” was the reply. “Are you positive?” “Certainly I am." ‘Didn't he serve three?” ‘0, What's the matter with you?” “The matter is, I think he served three terms, and am willing to bet on it. Come, now, how much have you got that says he only served two terms?” “How much? Why, man, I'll bet you a hundred to one!” “Put ‘er right up!” said the drummer, as he pulied out his roll. I don't want no such odds as that, just say two or three to one.” “I doa't want to rob you,” replied the man of sab, with his hand in his pocket. “Put ‘er up! Here's a thousand ¢ thousand that says you're dead wron, M—I'll take you even for $500.” “Put ‘er up! Money talks!” howled the drummer. “I say three terms, and here's the long green!”" “Why, man, we all know that—.” “We don’t, either! You say two terms, and I say three.’ I offered you evem money, but Tl do better. Here's a thcusand to five hundred. Select your own stakeholder.” “It doesn’t seem as if I could be mis- taken,”” mused the positive man. “Put up, I say!" shouted the drummer, as he waved his boodle in the air. “I'll go you . thousand to two fifty that he served three erms!"* “Well, it may be possible, of course, but T'm so sure of it that—” “Then put up! Here's a thousand to two hundred!" “TI guess I won't bet. be mistaken, you know, three term: The drummer and I walked back sat down and lighted fresh cigars, pore he returned me my property he said: “You s2e, you don’t want to size a man up too quickly. There are positive men and there are men of gab. There ire aggressive men and there are men of brag. When you can't tell the difference try my way. When you shake a big roll at a man one or two things will happen. If he’s a positive man down comes his cash. If he’s only a wind- mill on legs he'll crawfish. I could have bluffed that chap over a stone wall with a ten-dollar bill” We are all liable to and perhaps it was j pie of the POWER OF SIMPLE ELOQUENCE. ! How It Once Saved the Neck of a Texan on Trial for Murder. A prominent lawyer of the lone star state, who recently visited New Orleans, related to a Picayune reporter the following story of a murder trial in his Texas home: The | prisoner was on trial for his life. The evi- dence had all been heard. The state's at- torney had just taken his seat after a most | incisive statement of the evidence wherein he had demonstrated the utter failure of | the prisoner's theory of self-defense. The prisoner was a stranger in the county. The® counsel for the prisoner was 2 stranger, too, known only by zeputation to the judge | and the bar, and that reputaticn was one of great ability, perfect integrity and a marvelous knack of “snatching verdicts” each time by some new turn. This guunt, yet gruceful gray-headed man arose, scem- | ingly without lcokirg at the jury, though | each man feit that he was unde the power of that wide-open gray eye. After bowing to the judge and saying a few cimost in-| audible words of courtesy to his honor, he turned to the prisoner and sald: | You must die, Jchn-die by hanging. It} will be for no fault of yours, by ao fault of the judge o: of his jury, or of the good peo- | neither will it be any | The law ef Texas is at theugh you dle innocent. The law, y sometimes e aty fault of the low. right, though {ts machinery pose perjury, can't always prevent the fal | swears of wit Judges and juries | have not the power, (hough they sometimes exercise the authority of Almighty God. ‘They couldn't look down into the souls e Messes and see the malic Purpose that colcred an ots. We can’t help it now. ve lived, hike a { ty tell you that. tne i he | im | e | a} e . John. You | are so Ike other jehn that I see the visions of happy boyhood while gazing into the same true eyes tused with these is the pride 1 have taxea in my friend's boy. While we te. of a trial in . “In that gi. witness is als not the i which the fathe mtict, the quick rush, the soul. sfying embrace of bot! , “not guilty.” hen, ta hands of the p-tsoner, he looke his face for a moment stead! ing forward, with mother-l; kissed him twice on the forehead, say in a whisper audible to all, “We can for that? So, good bye. John, my boy.’ | Bowing respectfully again to the judge he | tock his s still holding one of the pris- oner’s hands. The dist-ict attorne: through all this sat with his ba turned to the speaker and to the jury, vously and excitedly chowing his toothpick and crossing and recrossing his legs, bezan a reply which quick!y ended after a look at the jurors’ faces in a stammerit request to them to do their duty. ‘The! Judge's charge was scattering. He seemed to scarcely know what he said. The jury did not hear him. Not the slightest inci- dent occurred to break the spell. They went cut, returned, and in a very few moments the verdict of “not guilty” was recorded. What was the force that “worked” this result? —+e<—_____ A TOOTHLESS NATION. Alarming Statement With Reference to Sound Dentition Among Children. There is reason to apprehend that unless some cataclysm occurs to arrest the pro- gress of civilization our descendants will be as toothless as Europiolemus, King of Cyprus, described by the historian Pliny as reduced to masticate his food with a structure of solid bone in leu of teeth. This, at any rate, is the inference deducted by the New York Tribune from the sta- | tistics recently published by order of the British parliament demonstrating the alarm- ingly smail number of cases in any way sound dentition among the English people. Of 4,000 children attending the London | public schools there were only 707 who had | sound teeth; while during a period of three months 506 recruits were rejected by the medical department of the army for purely dental reasons. Of course part of this state of affairs is due to neglect of the digestion and of the teeth themselves, a fact demon- strated by the statement that of all the girls who entered domestic service from the London public schools last year five- sixths had never heard of such a thing as a tooth brush—an assertion that has led the educational authorities to institute in many of the metropolitan schools what is now known as “tooth brush drill.” Decay of teeth has always attended the advance of civilization and each barbaric invasion has been followed by a recovery of sound teeth in the old world. Under the circum- stances {t might be worth while to con- sider whether the repeal of the Geary law and the opening of the United States to a pacific invasion on the part of the Chinese might not go far to improve the American jaw, which, according to medical experts, is in an immeasurably worse condition than that of the English—a fact probably due to our superior civilization. — 20s Auriferous Irish Moss. From the Daily Oregon Statesman. A story from Astoria says that James Anderson, keeper of the Fort Canby light- house, came to town. He brought with him, carefully wrapped, a small piece of dirty stick and an insignificant branch of seaweed, but both the stick and seaweed were thickly powdered with pure gold. The weed, or “Irish moss blanc mange,” as all the old settlers of Clatsop know it, grows between the kelp and the rocks in the vicinity of Fort Canby, and is a com- mon article of food. After being bleached and mixed with boiling water it makes a blanc mange indistinguishable from the real corn starch. Mr. Anderson picked a quantity of it last spring, and bleached it throughout the summe: in shallow wood- en boxes. The other day when cutting the boxes up for kindling wood, he noticed that they contained a large number of scattered grains of gold, and on some of the pieces of seaweed he also found traces of the pre- cious metal. Tracing the cause of this strange discove-y to its source, it appears that in the spring, when the swell around the lighthouse is not very strong, the black sand that abounds in that locality had been washed over the kelp continuously, leaving these gold deposits behind on the seaweed. Mr. Anderson says that he has found a gold mine, but under present conditions it is absolutely impossible to abstract the gold from the black sand, as no reducing apparatus has yet been discovered that will do it. It has been known that there is gold in ell the sand on the lower Colum- | bia, but up to the present, though trials have been repeatedly made, no known pro- cess is keen enough to sever the metal. ——— +e Fauntieroy’s First Appenrance. It has always been rather interesting to me to remember that he first presented himself in an impenetrable disguise, writes | Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett in the first | of a series of papers entitled “How Fauntle- roy Really Occurred” in the December La. dies’ Home Journal. It was a disguise suf- ficiently artful to have disarmed the most wary. I, who am not at all a far-sighted person, was completely taken in by him. | I saw nothing to warrant in the slightest | degree any suspicion that he had descended | to earth with practical intentions; that he | furtively cherished plans of making himself | into the small hero of a book, the pictur- | esque subject of illustrations. ‘the inspira- | tion of a fashion in costume, the very jeune premier in a play over which people in two continents would laugh and cry. Perhaps in periods before he introduced himself to his family that morning of April | 5, 1876, in a certain house in Paris, he may have known all this and laid out his ine | plans with adroitness and deliberation, but | when I first examined him carefully as he | lay on my arm ‘ooking extremely harmless and extremely fast asleep in his extremely | long night gown, he did not bear at all the aspect cf a crafty and designing person; he only looked warm and comfortable and quite resigned to his situation. He had been clever enough to disguise himself as a baby—a new baby in violet powder and a bald head and a floral com- plexion. |brougnt t INJURY FROM CYCLING. The Doubled-Up Position Can Do Much Harm—An Unhealthy Sport if Over- done. From the Westminster Gazette. A visit to Sir Benjamin Richardson's house, in Manchester square, at once shows the interest taken in cycling by its owner. Just inside the hall stands a well-used tricycle, with the traces of a recent ride still on it! and inside the waiting room a “home trainer,” or stationary machine for the practice of cycling, occupies a corner. On the subject raised by the speaker Sir Benjamin was quite willing to speak. “I quite agree with the speaker,” he said. “But, unfortunately, I have said so much on this subject that people think [| am prejudiced against cycling, though, as a matter of fact, I am myself very fond of it as an exercise. There is no doubt that a &reat deal of harm is at present being done by injudicious cycling. The attitude that nearly ali cyclists adopt, to a greater or jess degree—bending themselves forward over tne handies of their machines—is un- doubted!y most unhealthy. And, though I canlive explain the reason for taking up % an attitude, 1 know that I have to 2 careiul watch over myself to main- an erect position, fhe douvied-up position dues more harm 1 Povint sMagine. Of course, everyoody Anows taat it is ugly. The spinal curves tne invst perfect in nature, both for irength and beauty; and these are de- iroyed. The top of the anterior curve is “ward--and i am uot sure that the p 4“ curve as well is not affected— until tie spine becomes aimost an are. The chest bufe is then affected by the unnatural ressure piucel upon it. The circulation is mpa.red, anc, no doubt, the lungs are in- tered with, too. In faci, there is hardly y puss:bie evil effect which it does not are n be done to improve matters, un?’ “Something may be done, ut I cannot say what. Riders ed high machines were pect than the riders of sat they generally sat much more I thinu the ‘safety’ bicycie, with its reach, has something to answer for.” Would altering the position of the handles aigher up and further back 2 1° “It might. But it would be unpopular. Any change in the construc- tlon of machines which either necessitates an alter: in the manufacturers’ ‘plan’ or impairs the speed of the machine will meet with a great deal of opposition. I think a desire for increased speed is mainly responsiole for the introduction of this at- tit Men find that by bending them- selves hey both offer less resistance to the vy get more power over their work, 4 will not bother about the Long-distance rit- eat deal of harm. In ¢ clists of the present <eneration are feeling the effects of their riding much more than earlier riders did, and even they suffered severely enough. There were Cor- and Keith-Faleoner, two magnificent who both died of heart disease. I t-class speed cyclists years » they felt no ill effects, but all dead now, and not at so Who told hey are neari need ages. ‘Then do you consider cycling as a sport unheal “Not mor so, when indulgel rately, than other sport. Of course, ing affects the breath, walking and pe- trianism affects the nerves, the use of b bells and other stationary exercises t the muscles. And, in the same way, cycling affects the circulation. I have known a man's pulse to go up to 223 dur- i d you can imagine from that rt must be called upon to. And, besides, there is the sudden run- ed up to this pitch. It might be compared to releasing the spring of a watch and let- ting it run down suddenly when it is fully wound. The effect on the system is most injurious. Hill climbing, too, is a very se- vere strain. Several inventions have been tried for storing up energy while going down hill which could be used to assist the rider at the next ascent, and I think it would be a very great benefit if soma such idea could be worked out and made to an- ++ —. FORTUNES IN A TEA CUP. Your Fate Foretold by the Clustering or Scattering Leaves. From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. If you haye two spoons in your cup it is a sign that you will figure prominently at a wedding before the year is out. If cream or milk is put in your cup before the sugar it will cross your love. A tea stalk floating on top of the tea is called a stranger. When this happens to unmarried women they should stir the tea briskly and then place the spoon in the cen- ter of the cup, holding it quite still. If the stranger in its gyrations is attract- ed to the spoon he will come that evening; | should it, however, cling to the sides he will not come at all. We may observe that it really depends on the state of the atmosphere ag to whether the staik goes to the middie or not. it is a sign of fair weather if the clusters of air bubbles, which usually rise after the sugar has been put in, collect themselves and remain in the center of the cup. If, on the contrary, they straggie to the sides it is a sign that it will certainly rain in a few hours. This cluster of bubbles is also called a kiss, and portends that the owner will be thus saluted during the course of the day. A cluster of tea leaves with a few strag- glers at the front at the bottom of cup sig- nifies a hearse or a funeral, while the couple of leaves at the bottom, if close together, signify a wedding. If the tea grounds take the form of a woman on the side of the cup, it signifies a rival in love; if it looks like a bird, it means news from a distant friend; if it looks like @ book, it refers to a well-known acquaint- ance who is at college; if it looks like a tree, it means soon taking a journey into the country; if two stalks come together, it means you are to meet a man; if it looks like a snake, it means an enemy. If it is a dog, you will meet o> hear from a friend; if it looks like a house or a shed, it me&ns that when married you will keep house for yourself and not board: if it looks like a spire, it means that you will cross the ocean; if it looks like a bridge, it is an un- questioned sign that your marriage will be happy and your life long and strong. If it looks like a man fishing with a rod, it points to a preacher who may either offi- clate at your marriage or become your hus- band; if it looks like a man with many spots lying before him, it means that your husband will be rich, and may be a banker; if a broken bridge turns up on the side of the cup, it means that your marriage will be unhappy. If there are undulations on the side of the cup, some faint and some heavier, it means a checkered life or career of struggle, some- times light and sometimes severe. —_———_+e+—_____ CONTRACT WITH A SERVANT. An Agreement Which is Equally Binding on Either Party Thereto. A contract is an agreement between two or more persons by which something is promised on one side in return for some- thing promised by the other side. A con- tract is just as binding upon one party as upon the other, says Harper’s Bazar. It is not something to be kept on one side, while it lets the other go free of responsibility. If responsibility be shirked by one party, then the other is at liberty to consider the con tract broken and decline to keep his part of it. For instance, a carpenter agrees to build a house for ‘a certain sum of money. if he fails to build tne house the man for whom he agreed to build it does not feel bound to pay him anyth.ng for promising to build it. If a caterer agrees to furnish refreshments for an evening entertainment and fails to send them the person who had given the order would certainly not feel obliged to pay the bill if presented. In the case we are considering the contract is be- tween two persons. It is an agreement by which a certain amount of service of a specified kind is promised for a stipulated sum of money and a home. Every maid who | goes into a home says that she will do cer- tain things, and that she will do them weil. She claims that she knows how to do and will do her work in the best manner. On this understanding she is employed, and is promised a certain sum of money in addi- tion to her bed and board. Often a few days prove that there has been a mistake. In the first place she does not know how to do work in a first-class manner, and in the second place she does not try to do it well. Her employer talks with her about it, and tries to show her better ways, begs her not to be careless, all to no purpose. After a fair trial she is told that she will not answer the requirements of the place. Does it ever occur to her to take less than the stipulated wares? By no means. She has not at all come up to the promises of her agreement. or. in other words, she has broken her contract. This would ‘certainly justify the party on the other side in break- ing hers to the extent of paying only for the kind of work that has heen elven, in- stead of paving for the first-class work that was promised. Rut ladies do not like to be called mean, and thev pay out their money. knowing that they have not received the value of It. Suicide of a Young West Point Officer by His Mistake. He had come out to us a second Heuten- ant—a young and beardless graduate from West Point—and the ragged old troopers who had been fighting Indians for three years smiled with contempt. Pity was mingled with contempt, however. It was unjust to the boy to put him up against the savage Apaches for his first trial. Even some of the veteran officers of the war had made a bad failure of it when they came out to the plains, said a veteran to an Al- bany Argus reporter. The youngster, as the men called him, had been with us a fortnight when the colonel ordered him out on a scout. We were to go down the valiey four miles, turn to the west and ride down the bank of Walnut creek three miles and then come back over the hills. One sergeant, one corporal—twen- ty-five troopers in all. At that time the chances were against sighting an Indian, but the movement would tell their spies that we were alert and watchful. In due time we reached the creek and turned in. 1t was lined with trees and bush- es and offered cover to an enemy. The youngster gave no orders, however, and ap- peared greatly surprised when he looked back and observed the attitude of the men. They held their carbines ready for what might come and obliqued off against the hillside. 1 think the officer was about to hurl some indignant protest at us, when we got @ volley from the bushes. Every man in that troop realized on the Instant that we had only ten or a dozen redskins to deal with—every man but the officer. Had we Wheeled nto line, tired a volley and charged, we should have driven them from cover and had a good show to exterminate the band. ‘The youngster was rattled by the sudden- ness of the attack, and because two or three horses went down he lost his head and ordered us to push forward at a gallop, leaving two men, who had been dismounted, but were unhurt, to be deliberately shot down as they sought for cover. We had dashed forward about half a mile, when every trooper suddenly pulled up and wheeled about. No one gave the order, but all acted in concert. We were too late to save our comrades, but the sight of their mutilated bodies brought shouts of revenge as we charged the thicket. We got a feeble volley, and another horse went down, but in ten minutes we had wiped out the last war- rior. Nine of them had put the twenty-five of us to flight. The youngster was brought back to us by the sound of the firing. His face wore a look of astonishment and dismay as he raw the dead. When he was informed that we had made a cowardly retreat before such a small force, and when a trooper held up the scalp lock of our dead comrades and grow!ed out that they had been abandoned to their fate when a cool head would have saved them, the face of the young man was white as death, and he made no reply. ‘A trooper Was sent to the fort for an ambulance to carry in the dead, and, after beating up the bushes again, we sat down to await his re- turn. The ifeutenant dismounted and sat by himself. For a long time he sat with his face in his hands, gazing at the earth, and there wasn’t one of us who didn’t feel sorry for him. By and by he called the sergeant over to him and asked: “Sergeant, did you realize that we were being fired on by so sma!l a force?” “I judged them to number nine to twelve, sir,” was the reply. “And had you been in command what ac- tion would you have taken?” “Fours right, wheel, and a volley ana charge. That would have been my way if they had numbered a hundred, for a cash a have driven them from cover and let us in." “And the order I gave was to push for- ward, which was the same as retreat?” ‘So we understood, sir. “And you returned and attacked without ‘hout orders, sir.” “That will do, sergeant. should be here soon. You see about the bodies. Try and tell a plain, straight story about the fight when you report to the captain.” ‘With that he got up and moved up the hill, as if surveying the country, and 1o one happened to be looking at him when he put his revolver to his head and sent a bullet into his brains. He was dead before we reached him. Poor youngs*: A court martial would have dismissed him from the service. Even had no charges been pre- ferred, he could not have held his head up among men—fighting men. “Say,” exclaimed the sergeant, as we stood looking at the body, “he made a mis- take, but paid for it with his life, and no man shall speak ill of him. He was a youngster, and had never seen an Injun, and that’s all that ailed him.” The ambulance REMARKABLE SOMNAMBULIST. A Theological Student Whe Wrete Sermons While Asleep. From the London News. One of the most remarkable and puzzling stories of sonambulism has recently come to light. The subject was a young ecclesi- astic at a seminary. The bishop of the dio- cese was so deeply interested that he went nightly to the young man’s chamber. He saw him get out of bed, secure paper, com- pose and write sermons. On finishing a page he read it aloud. When a word displeased him he wrote a correction with great exact- ness. The bishop had seen a beginning of some of these somnambulistic sermons, and thought them well composed and correctly written. Curious to ascertain whether the young man made use of his eyes, the bishop put a card under his chin in such a man- ner as to prevent him seeing the paper on the table before him, but he still continued to write. Not yet satisfied whether or not he could distinguish different objects placed before him, the bishop took away the piece of paper on which he wrote and substituted several other kinds at different times. He always perceived the change, because the pieces of paper were of different sizes. When a piece exactly like his own was substituted, he used it, and wrote his cor- rections on the places corresponding to those of his own paper. It was by this means that portions of his nocturnal compositions were obtained. His most astonishing pro- duction was a piece of music written with great exactitude. He used a cane for a ruler. The clefs, the flats and the were all in their right places. The notes were all made as circles, and those requir- ing it were afterward blackened with ink. ‘The words were all written below, but once they were in such very large characters that they did not come directly below their proper notes, and perceiving this, he erased them all and wrote them over again. —___ -+e-+ -_____ The Cactus, From the New York Evangelist. To the average person the cactus is sim- ply a cactus, an uninteresting, ugly plant, bristling with thorns. To the members of the Baltimore Cactus Society, which is holding in Raines’ Hall what is said to be the first cactus exhibition in America, it is a very different thing. To them the plant is full of interest. They will tell the inquirer that it has about 3,000 varieties, and they will rattle off huge botanical names, as unwieldy as the plants them- selves, in an amazing manner. About 5,000 cactus plants and 700 varieties are shown in the exhibition, and members of the so- clety are on duty day and night ready to explain the pecuilarities and differences of them all. There are big cacti and little cacti, fat cacti and thin cacti, edible cacti and poisonous cacti, and cacti in all im- aginable shapes and sizes. In the upper end of the hall is a specimen of the king cactus from Arizona. It looks like the stump of a telegraph pole painted green. It is supposed to be about 100 years old. In this time it has reached the height of seven feet and weighs 380 pounds. Near it ts a tall, thin plant in four big points Its botanical name is cereus jamarcaru glauca and it comes from Peru. It is eight feet high and has a way of growing a foot or two in a year and then stopping for eight or ten years. Another variety shown is round and fat and is about the size of a watermelon. It comes from Mexico and labors under the name of echino cactus visnago burro. Burro is Mexican for donkey and it is supposed burro was tacked on the plant’s name because it was so hard to handle. The plant’s main duty is to keep the Mexicans supplied with toothpicks, it being covered with slender thorns about three inches long, which are generally used for the purpose. On the other side of the room is a plant similar in shi to the echino, ete., with a name equally long. This provides Mexicans with fishhooks. The thorns are curved at the end and are extensively used by the natives as fish- hooks. Still another curious specimen is from Africa and has a name which means “oleander-leaved. It is tree-shaped and has rough, knotty, thorny branches, from whose ends sprout thin leaves. The plant is poisonous and contains enough poison, it is ——————— if properly ap- plied. UNITED STATES ACADEMY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. ‘807, 800, $11 14th st. n.w. SE ond Ghowvatien Oot, Ment I om, eS SS SBN URUE Dees pm ees a8 ais ba caasteo AND ST. LOUIS EXPRESS. 4 Permeneat Institution for the Scientific Treat- ‘Fallman Baffet Parlor Car to Seep ment and Care of 7 Seciinatl and omteago, sacgeee Special Diseases. | Sevint Gy wos, tus ant steeping snd Dining 10:40 P.M. PACIFIC EXPRESS. Pullman fleep- ing Car to Pittsburg and Buttet Sleeping Car Har Diseases ‘7:30 AM. for Kane, Canandaigua, Rochester an@ Norvouws All ‘Niagara Palis datty, except Sunday. % lof a Special | "cis See Susy. For Willamapen nig, ted Y | ch, p.m, for Erie, Canandaigue, Rochester and Blood the L test Saturdas, with Biceping Car x, -j atest | or ru YORK aND THE Diseases. eae ic CURES GUARANTEED *,2 UNDERTAKEN. NO Cases and correspondence strictly confidential. Free consulta- tion. (Write or call.) Personal interview prefer- red. Office boars, 9 to 3, 6 to 8, Sundays, 10 to 2 412,14,16,19,21,28. 15 P.M. daily. a For Baltimore, 6:25, 7 @: 9:00, 9:40, 11 aod Sito a ee eae, pot fens nw” Dr Carleton. 807 12TH ST. N.W. 4:35 P. Over twenty-five years’ experience. re a : Practice limited to the treatment of gentlemen 8:37, exclusively. day THIRD YEAR AT PRESENT ADDRESS. 6:15, Have you a d'sease of @ Special Nature? 5:05, Intlammat: Nervous Debility, PM. ——— Bladder, 2:08, ed Confused Ideas. Did you, eee tbe, wind? Ay the whirh 2 Are you to lose your grip? Do you realize tha you are to feel old before your time? Is life losing its charms for you? Do you feel enfit for business or society? aaeean age fa ‘and oe io positivety the ouly phyeicish in’ Wastisetes, whe limits ne ientific, ery SU - Seas guaranteed. ob your guard aga! umbuge, | tibul and don’t furget that you cannot buy silk for the | @.m. price of cotton. For Hours, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m Por a ae : daily; Sieeping Cars through. Por Loras, 3:30 p.m. daily. For Baltimore, week days, x3:85, 5:00, 6:33, 99 X7:15 (8:00, 45 minutes), x8:05, 8:30, 29:80 (20:00, “Glad News” |2:52 332 36:20, 6: 6 11.35 8:30, 6 wi To The 5. RUPTURED. “hernia” ‘in any form will that ap institute for its cure has been F'sT. N.W. Office hours. 10:30 to 5 p.m. 2¢-s,tu,th. 3m 98C. ‘That's the price of all HEALTH WAISTS that have been $1.25, $1.50 and $1.75. The opportunity to buy such excellent qualities at such a price won't last long. Better make the most of it. 1107 G st. Gf. C. Whelan, late of F st., mgr.) di2 The Genuine 10:57 AM. DAILY—For Old Point Comfort ané Norfolk. i Tine. Orly rai 00 Pe "DAILY—Express for Gortonsvilie, Charlottesville, Waynesboro’, Stannton and princi- pal Virginia points; daily, except Sunday, for Rich- Te what one | should in Pullman locations and tickets at company's of- lose their tn- feet it shores tmtiacioun We" handle fees, S15 and 1421 Pennayivanie avemee. | prices are very Moderate. All Kinds ot Land __General Passenger Agent pm gh og RICHMOND AND DANVILLE RAILROAD. Japanese Genta 3 se a: aces TEL SPENCER. F. W. HUIDEKOPER AND ——— — —. ~* + ’ Ne fect November a. “LITTLE JAPAN,” AN traine ertive ‘and Veeve at Penoeyivania Pas ITO, MOTO, AKAZUKI & CO., naeor 606 13th St. a13_} etiate stations, | | Daity to Danville and tor Don’t pay money for Water | Pints ‘Sout Riimon! and ‘Trenitie "epaem, | cluding Anniston and Birmingham, also Opeliics, || Columbus, Montgomers, Mobile and New Orleans, A Solid Extract of Beef is. more Econom- Pullman ‘Sleeper New York ond Wos'ineton to feal than sliquid, for the reason that it is Atlanta, uniting at Denville, Vo, with Pelimes fet for Charteston, &. eu! at Greco concentrated, and housekeepers will fd 0 en ce coe he ae smeh cheaper to 4:45 (p.m.Daily “for Charlottesville so inter: mediat® station» BUY 10:42 p.m. Dail; WASHINGTON AND SOUTH. Wrens VESTIEULED LIMIT™D, 7 tirely of Pullman Riecpers aud THnlme Care. 304 Liebig COMPANY'S Extract of Beef, cone: n trated extract, free from reiative or any foreign substance, seolve it (bemselves. Tops to Atlant Moutgowery with Pullman Buffet Sleeper and Washinetow 10 New Oriem end New York to Augusta. Asheville and Hot Springs, &e Washington to Mempiis vis Birmingham. Ng hes. “TRAINS WASHINGTON AND OHIO DIVER TON leave Washington at 9:10 a.an., 4:85 p.m. daily a a Petras = fat and di for Round Ill, and 6:25 p.m.. except Sunda: Herndon and tations. a ing = Pw from SELLING OUT Bene By tad is, except Fe trains from the sooth arrive Washington a8 he, aE pe ond O00 pms Meneaee De. aim aliy, trou Charlottesville pbuh asd “Fictete’ Sleeping Car reservations apf information furnished at offices, 511 and 1200 Pennsylvania ave. ant ot Passencer Station, Penasyivenia Raa road, Washington. D.C * . Gen. Man. W. i. GREFS, Gea Man ee L. 8. Brown, General Agent Passenger Dept e—e—aoa_CIQKIKKS.S.S.S.S.]S]SS== === sa POTOMAC RIVER BOATS. Below Cost m rinediate landings. THCRsD and SUNDAYS. THURSDAYS (See schedule.) T. _V. Arrowsmith op MONDAYS an@ aso S21 11th ot. WEDNESDAYS ‘it 2:00 pt, for Alexapdria, Color ich and all lower river Inndings; returning see Kiacle TUBSDAYS af HUNDANS. for landings, arriving at We NEXDAY and FRIDAY MORNINGS. SaTUR- Brighten Home bavi FUR RUGS AND TUR- . Se BRS, toon te ouer | Kean trace grate ett Rial a SS Se Re paces traits | grees, Sminetn CMa gor ae pa = §eiael eas Ee Sool Nemo ‘eare specially success! jecntng : STEAMER HARRY RANDALL —— ladies’ Evening Gowns, Gloves, Slippers, &c. c4 ge Be Teh etrest. Sonus, Anton Fischer, FINEST PROCESS DYEING AND SQOURING, 9006 G ST. XN. AND 3144 PA. AVE SE 413 Soft & Downy on Both Sides The “Reversible” Mattress. BK your dealer to show you THE “REVERSIBLE” MAT- cotton on both sides and at the | ends—has just twice the service in it ‘that oo mattress has, } TF Accept no substitute—insist on bav- ing the “Reversible,” for it costs no Tuesday and Thoreday at 7 a.m. at wharves ae far do nas Maddox creek. Teturning on nest day. on sole Tickers et 518, 619, 1351 and 1421 Pens. aylvania ave. and 615 15th st. nw, ‘Ask for tickets via the pew line. Tel spnene TNO. CALLAMAN, aplétt Gen. Sugt. To Be Had of the Trade Throughout the City. aii-tt