Evening Star Newspaper, December 8, 1894, Page 13

5 THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY DECEMBER 8, 1894-TWENTY PAGES. 13 JAPANESE PRISONS! The Great Penitentiary at Tokyo and Its 2,300 Convicts. ——— THE POLICE AND DETECTIVE SYSTEM How the Convicts Are Fed and an Experience With Horse Meat. —- s THE PRISON DISCIPLINE every word I said was taken down in Japanese as soon as my interpreter had translated my questions. He probably took down the answers of the superintendent, and, as I shall send this letter to the pen- itentiary, they will probably be able to tell whether my statements are correct. Ia the Prisons. This penitentiary contains 2,300 prison- ers, who are engaged in all sorts of labor, and who form a complete exhibition of in- dustrial Japan. The buildings are long, one-story structures, more like stables and factories than prisons. They cover many acres, and they are made of wood, with roofs of Japanese tiles. They have no windows, but the upper part of the walls are made of heavy lattice or wooden bars, and there is no lack of ventilation. From the ground to your shoulder the walls are A Japanese Sawmill. boarded, and above these are latticed openings about four feet wide, and higher still are more boards between the lattice and the rocf. Some of the buildings are shops and others are dormitories, bath rooms, kitchens, and a few contained cells for punishment’ The work shops are about two hundred feet loug by one hundred feet wide. Many of them are floored, but in some the workmen stand upon the ground. A Look at the Kitche (Copyrighted, 1894, by Frank G. Carpenter.) HE BIGGEST PRIS- I on in Japan, and one of the biggest in the world, is the great Tokyo penitentiary. It is situated in the | heart of the city, in the middle of the Sumida river, on an island of about 20 acres. It is within a store’s throw al- most of the busiest part of the great Japanese capital. Near by ts Asakusa, with its gorgeous temples, its hundreds cf peep shows, and its ever-vary:ng panorama of Japanese pleasures. Not far off is the famed Yoshi- wara, with its thirty-five hundred frail but fair Japanese maideus, and just below it is Skuji, where the missionaries and the foreigners live. This prison is separated from all this hum of life only by the wide waters of the deep Sumida river, and the only human voices that these prisoners hear are those of their ofticials. They dare not use their own, and year in and year out they stand, Tantalus like, in the very midst of all that the Japanese loves, with the waves of pleasure almost lapping their lps, but unable to drink of the waters. It is not an easy thing for a visitor to get access to a Japanese prison. As for the criminai, he finds the way just as open in Japan as in America, but the visitor must have the best credentials and only the fewest of travelers have ever gone We first entered the kitchen, where the cooks were dishing out the food for the prisoners. It consisted of rice and barley, mixed together and forming a sort of dry mush. There were also little dishes of pickled turnips and a stew of horse meat and potatoes. The food was served out in wooden measures, each prisoner getting about a pint of mush, a tablespoonful of pickles ond a measur2 of soup or stew. I tried everything, while the superintendent and the prisoners looked on and watched me. The mush wag not bad, and I ate a mouthful without trouble. The pickles I nibbled at successfuily, and then tried a section of the horse meat stew. With the indiscretion of ignorance, I picked up with my chop-sticks a piece of horse meat as big as your thumb and put It into my mouth. The moment it touched my tongue I knew | had made a mistake. It was not at all appetizing, and it was as tough as sole leather. It must have come from a very old horse and a very lean horse. I tried to bite through it. I could make no impression. The eyes of all the officials were on me, and I had to go on chewing as though I liked it. After much work I got off a bit and forced it down with a How They Drive Piles in Japan. through this great penitentiary. I had*let- ters, however, from the secret service bu- Teau of the Treasury Department to the chief of police of Tokyo, and these, with the assistance of the American minister, opened everything connected with the police and prisons of the Japanese empire to me. The Inspector Byrnes of Japan. Dr. Whitney, the interpreter of our lega- tion, went with me, and we called upon the Inspector Byrnes of Japan. His name is , and he has charge of the five thousand policemen of the Japan- ese capital, and a close connection with the detective service of the empire. The Emperor of Japan knows almost as well as the czar where every one of his sub- jects sleeps of a night, and all suspected persons are carefully watched. Both for- elgners and natives are required to have passports, and during the present trouble with China I venture a record is kept of every foreigner who comes to Japan end all of his doings. The passport which I kad for my journey mentioned every place where I stopped, and I was told that all of my doings were known and recorded. I was taken into some of the rooms of the police stations, and s'sown cards, upon which were the names of the foreigners then in Japan, and it was almost impos- sible for a native to escape the Argus eyes of the police. ‘Tokyo has its rogues’ gal- lery, and I looked for some time over the murderers’ book and took away a souvenir Tokyo Chief of Police. ef a half dozen specimens. I would say, however, that crime is by no means more common in Japan than it is in America, and that the police would only give me the photographs of prisoners who had been executed. The police organization 1s excellent, and it is modeled somewhat after that of France. The officers all dress in European clothes, and they tle their pris- oners with ropes and drive or drag them to ja v the chief of police telephoned to the prison, and made an appointment for us for the next day. We rode in jinriki- shas to the waarves opposite the island, and we were carried over this prisoners’ Styx in one of the prison boats by a red- ow gowned Japanese in a yellow straw hat, Which fitted down over his face like a cor- mucopia, and were landed on the green shores of a beautiful island. As we got t of the boats a soldier dressed in white @uck met us, and passed us on to the re- gulp. I felt my stomach turn bodily over, and was glad at this moment to see the chief's back turned. With a sleight of hand which would have done credit to Herrmann I got the remainder of the meat out of my mouth, and held it tight up in my hand until w: left the kitchen, when I slyly threw it away. Young horse may be good, but this was not good to me, and I was told that this meat is given to the prisoners because it is cheaper than any other, and they can thus be given more of it. The prisoners are said to like it. How the Prisoners Are Fed. The prisoners have ‘three meals a day, and there is a difference in the food ac- cording to their behavior. Those who do best have their mush made of half barley and half rice. Those who are not so good have two-thirds barley, and only the sick are given pure rice. There fs no bread in Japan, and this mush takes its place. The Japanese are not as great eaters as we are, and the whole Japanese people could live fairly well on what America wastes. The prisoners rise a little after 4 o'clock, and they have their breakfast before 5. At 12 they eat their dinner, and at 5:30 they have supper. They work ten hours and a half, and go to bed at 9 o'clock. I watched the mon at their dinner, ‘They were fed in the workshops, ‘and each had his own table, in the shape cf a board about two feet long and a foot wide. This they rested on low work tables or placed on the floor, and squatted on their heels or on their knees behind it and ate. None of the prisoners had knives, Japanese Carpenter. and their only table instruments were wooden chopsticks. I was especially struck with the cleanliness of both prisons and prisoners. There was not a bad smell any- where except that of the dinner, and this I found very appetizing until after my en- counter with the horse meat. The faces and the bodies of the men were as clean as those of freshly washed babies, and the prisoners take hot baths about three times a week. The baths are big vats in which twenty or thirty can soak at a time, and in which they go in white and come out as red as boiled lobsters. They dress in terra cotta gowns made of cotton, and they 0 barefoot or wear sandals of straw. Red is the prison garb all over Japan, and everything connected with the penitentiary is of this detested brick-dust hue. Their bedclothes are dyed with it, and the wad- ded comforters on which they He are of the same color. Wonderfal Prison Workmen. I was surprised at the work done by the prisoners. You find here in a nutshell all kinds of Japanese industries, and some of these prisoners make the finest of cloi- sonne vases. They paint fans and china, and do the mest exquisite wood-carving. ‘They are examined on entrance as to their fitness for certain kinds of work, and many of them learn trades during their sentences. 1 to 15 cents a day. They are paid a por- tion of their wages, which is credited io them and given out when they leave. I was told that some saved as much as $0 @uring their term, and upon my replying pos that was not much, the superintendent sa! “No, it is not a great deal, but it will keep a Japanese man for a year.” In one shop I saw men making straw sandals, which sell for 1 cent a pair, and which are used by the poorer classes all over Japan. In another place 200 boys were making paper lanterns. The bamboo frames were split by hand with what look- ed very much like kitchen knives, and If you will look at a Japanese lantern you will see that its frames are made of bam- boo wires no thicker than a darning needle, and that these are wound about the lan- tern with practically no support other than the paper. The whole workmanship is by hand, and it is the same with many other things. The Japanese use their feet as well as their hands in their work, and the coopers hold the tubs between their toes while they hoop them. Japan's New Penitentiary. This is the old Japanese penitentiary. Tokyo is now building one of the finest prisons in the world. It is about five miles outside of the capital. It is a great byck structure, covering many acres, and fitted out with all the latest prison appliances. ‘The work is being done by the Japanese prisoners, and the architect is a Japanese. I saw the men at their work. They had built a scaffold from the ground up to the top of the walls, and this, strange to say, was of poles tied together with ropes, and the men carried the bricks up on poles over their shoulders. In one place I saw them driving piles, and they had made a great scaffolding of poles which ran fifty feet above the ground, and in the center of this an immense beam was put in a perpendicu- lar position. To the bottom of this beam ropes were tied, and a score of men stood on a platform near the top of the scaffold- ing, and by these ropes raised the heavy beam high in the air, and then let it fall dewn on the pile which was being driven into the earth. They sang as they worked, and at the end of each line the beam was dropped. The prisoners have built a large part of this new penitentiary, and, though the penitentiary does not pay for itself, it 1s run very cheaply. The superintendent told me that it cost 20 cents a day in silver per prisoner to keep up the establishment, or 10 cents a day in gold, and that the actual expense of keeping and boarding a prisoner was less than 5 cents per day per head. How the Prisoners Are Punished. Japan in the past had crucifixion and all soits of horrible punishments, but these have long since passed away. The super- intendent told me there was no such thing as corporal punishment used, and that the only punishments were the cutting down of the food @nd solitary confinement. There An Arrest in Japan. only one dark cell, however, for these two thousand convicts, and the most of the solitary ceils were not dark, and they look- ed more like granaries than anything else. Indeed, many things connected with this great prison reminded me of a stable. The hospital made me think cf a horse stable, each patient having a box stall. The pris- oners have bits of wood for pillows, but these are common all over Japan, and the men lie on comforts or foutons, and are, cn the whole, exceedingly comfortable. Henors for Our Correspondent. The discipline in these prisons is, per- haps, the best in the world. I saw no surly looks, and the faces of the prisoners seem- ed good-natured and kindly. They were thoroughly obedient to the officers, and in every shop that we entered we were sa- luted by the prisoners in a most curious way. AS 8.on as we came in the officer in charge, who was dressed in European clothes, would present arms and jerk out “he,” which I suppose means “‘at- At this every man in the shop would drop to his knees and bump his clipped head against the dirt floor. He would keep it there until the officer again screamed out his vociferous “he,” when In one place I saw one sawing logs ito boards. They did it all by hand, and it was the same with many things that we make by machinery. They manufacture peper by taking old scraps, tearing them into pleces and pounding the pulp with a mallet. After it is well mashed, the pulp is thrown into a vat and etirred into a thin mush, which is spread out on a frame- work of bamboo of the size of a sheet of rewspaper. It sticks together, and when dried it makes yery good paper. In another shop I saw two or three hundred men mak- ing rope, fish nets, and in another there were two hundred Japanese making bricks by hand—or rather, by hand and foot. ‘The clay was mixed by the prisoners, who stamped up and down upon tt with their bare feet, goirg over it so carefully that every atom was pressed and ground up by them. They afterward put the clay into molds and smoothed each brick after it came out with a paddle until it had a gloss like porcelain. They were making brick for the great new penitentiary, of which I will speak further on, and I asked as to the cost. The superintendent told me that they could make and sell them for $5 a thousand, or 50 cents a hundred. Two hundred men can make 800,000 brick per month, or an average of fifty brick a day to each man. I don’t know what such brick would cost here, but I am sure that a better article cannot be bought. ae house of the prison. The chief of he penitentiary took us in hand, and his Private secretary, @ man with a face like @ withered apple and eyes like @ snake, went with us. This man had a roll of paper and a pencil in his hand, and he usually stood just behind me, Once or @wice I turned quickly, and I noted that Japanese Cheap Labor, ‘The work done in this prison is perhaps the cheapest in the world. The prison is on the contract lubor system, and the pris- oners are let out to the contractors at from he would rise and go back to his work. In some shops there would be two hundred men working, and they would drop down on their knees and bow before us as though we were little tin gods. In the rice mill there were fifty men naked, with the ex- ception of a six-inch strip of cloth, which went around their waists, and they all went down on the floor. In the barber shop fifty prisoners, some covered with lather and some half clipped, Jumped from their chairs to the earth, and during the day over two thousand men got down on all fours to me and four thousand knees were bent in my honor. It seemed su- premely ridiculous, but the customs of the Japan of the past have been such that there was no humiliation felt in the minds of the men as they performed this the old Japanese salutation. Should the Ameer of Afghanistan Dic They Would All Be Shot. From the London Truth. ‘There 1s a certain village in the Midlands where the illness of the Ameer of Afghan- istan has been followed with painful vanxiety. ‘Che reason is to be found in the following curious, but, I believe, perfectly authentic story: Some years ago an enter- prising young tailor left the village in question, and went abroad to seek his for- tune. He eventually found his way to Cabul. Here great luck awaited him. He obtained the patronage of royalty, and be- came the Poole of Afghanistan. He had left a sweetheart behind in England, and, as soon as he found himself on the road to fortune, he sent for the damsel to join him. She came, but here fortune deserted the tailor. His intended bride in her turn ob- tained the patronage of royalty, with the result that she eventually became one of the Joo wives of Abdurrahman. This, however, is only the first act of the tragedy. It is understood that, by the laws of Afghanistan, when the ameer dics, the whole of his 300 wives must be shot. ‘The laws of the Afghans are as immutable as those of their ancient neighbors, the Medes and Persians, and the whole of the little Midland village, where the amecr’s English wife was born, and where her parents are still living, has been during the past week or two in a high state of excite- ment over the possible fate of the young lady. Fortunately, the ameer seems better now, and it 1s to be hoped, if only for the sake of his wives, whatever their nation- ality, that the improvement may continue. In the meantime, cannot diplomacy do any- thing for the young woman? At his time of life, and with a gouty habit to boot, I should have thought Abdurrahman might have been induced to get along with 209 of them. 1f, however, he must have a round number in the family circle, perhaps an exchange might be negotiated. +o+ Study of the Dead Languages. From Foreign Correspondence of Indianapolis News. ‘The new tendency to substitute some other studies for the dead languages does not meet with favor in the great untiver- sities of Europe. I am told that they are sticking steadfastly to their Latin and Greek, their Hebrew and Sanscrit, and, in- stead of curtailing, they are enlarging th Mgt of the dead and difficult languages. Thoy reject the modern proposition that the physical sciences afford equivalent mental culture to the science of philology and the latter, instead of decreasing, 1s increasing in fayor, pet ig also inoreasing in fa- yor, In this fleld our American Johns Hopkins University is held in high estcem in Europe, OLD-TIME PENSIONS a Aged Men Who Are Survivors of the War of 1812, DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION One Man Who Drew a Pension for Eighty Years. GROWTH OF THE SYSTEM Written for The Evening Star. HERE ARE FORTY- five pensioners of the war of 1812 on the roll of the pension office, and fifteen of them are a hundred years old. The “glor- fous climate of Cal- ifornia” is responsi- ble for the longevity of the most striking specimen, apparent- ly, though the dif- r ferent sections cf z the country divide the honors of the century pension plants. The oldest pensioner was a Kentuckian, but he lives now-at Redland, Cal., and his name is David McCoy. David is recorded on the books of the commissioner of pen- sions as 104 years old, Hosea Brown, who enlisted from New York, but who lives now at Grant's Pass, Oregon, is 102 years old. Zephania Bacon is a settled old man. He enlisted from New York state, and he still lives in New York state; 101 years old, and a pensioner of 1812. His home is at West Fort Ann. Amon 8. Root, now living at Whitewater, W! enlisted from Connecti- cut. He is 101 years old. Of the same age is Andrew Franklin of Burlington, Kan., who enlisted from Ohio. Then, among those who are just a century old, or pos- sibly within a few days of it, are Isreel Sowle of Massachusetts, now living at Westport, Mass.; Geo, R. Allen of New York, now living at Norwood, N.Y.; Elias E. Covenhoven of New York, now living at Petrie’s Corners, N.Y.; Davis Parks of New York, now living at DeWitt, Mich.; Fred. C. Markle of New York, now living at Hurley, Henry Phillips, who did not enlist from anywhere In particular, and vho is now a resident of Lawton Station, N.Y.; John Cypher of New York, now liv- ing at Farmer's Creek, Mich.; Saul C. Hig- gins of Massachusetts, now living at West Gorham, Me.; Frederick Lints of New York, now living at Alder Creek, N.Y., and Chas. Miller of New York, now living at Boonville, N.Y. An entertaining fact about these old pen- sioners which the records show {s that out of thirty-three whose place of enlist- ment is given, seventeen are now living in the state in which they resided in 1812. And it is interesting to note that most of them have spent their lives in rurai com- munities, away from the hurry and bustle and the nervous strain of the crowded city. There are in the Ist a few dwellers in cities. Washington owns one—Geo. WW. Jones, a youth of ninety-one. James Hoop- er, who is of the Bame*age, lives in Balti- more. John Lumgersom, eighty-eight years old, also lives in QBaltunore. Oren Follet, ninety-seve! in*Sandusky. Elijah Glenn, ninet » livés in Newark, N. J. Widows i ado a te It is just possib® that some of these old fellows have died|by this time; but so far as the official records show they are still alive. Even more interesting than these pensioners are the twelve women who are ‘on the pension roll as widows or daughters of soldiers of the reyolutionary war. It seems odd to think that the war of the revolution is so néar in history that repre- sentatives of the generation which fought rty are still drawing bounty from the public treasury. Nane of these wido' though, saw anyshing of the revoutionar: war. They all married the pensioners long after the war wis over. In fact not one of them was borm when the war occurred. The cldest of them is not ninety-five yet. Probably some of them married with a view to inheriting a pension, It seems al- most absurd that the government, in mem- ory of the war of the revolution, should be supporting people who were not born at the time the war occurred. In the list of 069,544 @pensioners now drawing money from the government, however, and in the total of $140,000,000 paid them, the list of widows and the amount of their scanty pensions 1s not worth considering seriously, The pension system which has grown to such enormous proportions of late years had its origin at the time of the revolu- tionary war. The First Congress of the United States passed a pension law for the benefit of those who suffered by the war of the revolution, and M 1792 the amount paid in pensions was less than $110,000, Fourteen different pension laws were pass- ed in the first five Congresses. One, which became a law May 8, 1782, was probably the most liberal pension law ever enacted. It provided that “if any person, whether officer or soldier, belonging to the militia ef any state and called into the service of the United States be wounded or disabled when tn actual service, he shall be taken care of and provided for at the public ex- pense.” Thus was inaugurated the most remarkable pension system in the history of the world. The fathers who provided in the general terms given above for the care of the veterans of the war of the revolu- tion never dreamed of the possibility of a system which in thirty-three years would involve the outlay of $1,717,000,000. A Pensioner for Eighty Years. The way the revolutionary widows have enjoyed the fruits of another’s service was well illustrated in the case of Anna Marla Young, who died a year or two ago. She married in 1816 a pensioner of the revolu- tion, who lived to enjoy his married life only six months, For this six months’ ser- vice to the veteran the widow drew pension for seventy-seven years from the govern- ment. Her husband was especially short- lived, though. The actual survivors of tho revolutionary war were not wiped out until 1867, when Samuel Downing died. Downing had drawn for more than eighty years a pension from the government. His is considered by the pension office the long- distance record in pension drawing. Down- ing was a native of Massachusetts, and he was born in 1761, He was more than one hundred and five years old when he died, so his case was unique in many ways. His application was the last granted for a rev- olutionary pension, and the amount he re- ceived was $180 a year. Congress has always been liberal in the matter of pensions. The first action by the Continental Congress_on this subject was taken August 20, 1776, when resolutions were passed providing that every officer, commissioned and non-commissioned, as well as every private soldier who recelved such disability as wowld render him inca- pable of earning’ his Wread should receive from the public funds a sum equal to one- half his active pay im the army. In case of partial disabiltty the legislature of the state where he lived was to determine the amount of pension to which he was en- titled. In 1778 a resolution was passed granting half-pay to the survivors of the war for seven years. There were also cer- tain special pensions ‘voted to those who had assisted the country to become free. Congress gave to the family of Lafayette a sum equal to his pay as major general for five years—the term during which he was confined ‘n an Austrian prison. In 1824 the sum of $200,000 und a township of land was voted to the distinguished Frenchman. The Congress also voted $4,000 each and $400 a ear each to the four daughters of the fount de Grasse. This pension lasted five years, Growth of the System. Under the early laws of Congress grant- ing pensions to revolutionary soldiers the district judges of the United States con- sidered applications for pensions and passed on them. The pension bureau was not thought of until the present century was one-third gone, and it was then created a part of the War Department. Later, when the Interior Department was established, the sion bureau was trans- ferred to that department, but there has been much discussion in recent years of a proposition to make it an independent bu- reau of the war office. After the war of 1812 demic of pension-grabbing, there was an epi- Everyone 1 wanted a pension, and the matter became so conspicuous after a few years that in 1820 Secretary Calhoun of the War De- partment was instructed by Congress to prepare a statement showing the number of pensioners on the roll. His statement, now in the files of Congress, showed that there were 16,163 pensioners at that time and that the total amount of pensions paid was more than $3,000,000 a year—to be ex- act, $3,208,376. From that time until the civil war of thirty years ago, the average pension appropriation was $2,000,000 a year. In 1360 the appropriation Had fallen to $1,100,802, Then came the civil war and Congress, when it made laws for the crea- tion of the military and naval force which put down the rebellion, made pension laws for the protection of the disabled and of the widows and orphans of those who were killed. Under these laws the pension ap- propriation in 1865 was $16,347,621. Today it takes half a million dollars a year to pay the clerks who distribute the pen- sions to the survivors of the different wars and their widows and children. Daughters of the Revolution. Of the relics of the revolutionary war carried on the pension rolls three are daughters of revolutionary soldiers, who were pensioned by special acts of Con- gress. They are Susannah Chadwick, daughter of Elihu Chadwick of New York, who now lives at Emporium, Pa.; Ann M. Slaughter of Virginia, daughter of Philip Slaughter, now living at Mitchell's sta- tion, Va.; and Sarah C, Hurlsburt, daugh- ter of Elijah Weeks of Massachusetts, now living at Chatham Valley, Pa. The two former are aged seventy-nine and eighty- four, respectively. The two former are aged seventy-nine’ and _ eighty - four, respectively. | Mrs, Hurlsburt is seventy- six. The other revolutionary penston- ers are: Mrs. Mary Brown, aged eighty- nine, living at Knoxville,Tenn.; Mrs. Nancy Cloud, aged eighty-one, living at Chum, Vv 's. Esther 8. Damon, aged eighty, living at Plymouth Union, Vt.; Mrs. Nancy Jones, aged eighty, Mving at Jonesboro’, Tenn.; Mrs, Rebecca Muyo, aged eighty- one, living at Newbern, Va.; Mrs. Patty Richardson, aged ninety-three, ving at East Bethel, V Mrs. Mary Snead, aged seventy-eight, living Parksley, Va.; Mrs. Asenath Turner, aged eighty-nine, living at Manchester, N. Y.; Mrs. Nancy Weath- erman, aged eighty-four, living at Line- back, Tenn. There are, of course, a great many wid- ows of soldiers of the war of 1812 on the pension roll. There were 4,437 when the last annual report of the pension commis- sicner was made up and all but fifteen of these were pensioned at the rate of $12 a month. The others drew from §8 to $30. Of the 45 survivors of the war of 1812, whose names are given above, 41 draw only $5 a month. Of the others, one draws $20, one draws $25, one $40 and one $0. There are people on the invalid pen- sion list drawing as little as $1 a month for service in the war of the rebellion. +> DANNY'S THANKSGIVING DINNER. Chimmie Fadden’s Mistress Enter- tains Some of His Friends. From the New York Sun. “Sure, I had me T’anksgivin’ feed, an’ it was great. It was down t’ de mission, an’ me an’ all de kids what lives ‘roun’ dere was ast in t’ de feed, what was free an’ what was turkey. Dere was more dan turkey, ‘cause dere was stuffin’ an’ dere was pol. Say, dere was apple pol what was great, an’ dere was punkin pol what was right, but, say, dere was mince poi what was a peach. Dat's right; it was a dead peach, an’ I hid me fill, ‘cause dere was a loidy dere what worked de graft for me finer dan any t'ing yuse ever secd. “Say, she was a peach, too—a dead game, sporty peach—an’ she done de parson for me. Dat’s right; she never done nottin’ t’ him but do him dead. Say, she killed him, sure. Wait till I tell yuse: “Before wese kids was let t’ feed our teet’ wese had t’ listen to a song an’ dance what de parson gives us "bout how t'ankful wese otter be t' de Lord for blowin’ us off t de turk; de free turk wid stuffin’, See? Say, I copped him off fer not knowin’ his pizness, ‘cause it wasn’t no Lord what set up dat grub, but it was de loidy I was tellin’ you "bout, what we knows as Miss Fannie. Don't I know de felley what's her hired man now? His name is Chimmie Fadden, an’ I know a big kid what knowed — when he was a kid in de fort’ ward. ‘Well, it was Miss Fannie what blowed us off t' de turk an’ de pol, an’ 1 was dead 80°23 on de parson what was keepin’ us from feedin’ our teet’ while he was string- in’ us wid a game as long as de Bow'ry cable ‘bout de Lord bein’ de provider. See? I wasn’t kickin’ so hard "bout him givin’ us de flim-flam, as ‘bout not lettin’ us tackle de grub, for wese was dead hungry, an’ dere was de turk wid the stuffin’ right under our noses, an’ it was smellin’ dat good dat I'd let into it for all de parson, only I knowed it would queer Miss Fannie, an’ if I'd done dat Chimmie Fadden would a punched me face. “Well, say, it took dat parson longer t’ tell us how tankful we should be dan t’ welk acrost de Brooklyn bridge, an’ he only stopped when he didn’t have no more wind, ‘Den didn’t we wade in! Say, de turkey was outter sight so quick de parson look- ed par'lyzed like he'd been run into by a foot ball team. “Den came de pol. Foist, dere was apple ol, nex’ dere was punkin’ poi, an’ it was iss Fannie what fetched dem bote t’ me, a jollyin’ all de kids all de time, an’ a doin’ more waitin’ on de kids dan any two of de odder swell mugs dat was dere. Den I seed a kid what had copped a piece of mince poi, an’, say, I wanted a plece worsen ‘ell. “I was kinder lookin’ roun’ t’ see could I pinch a piece when de parson mug cop- ped me, an’ he says, ‘Young man,’ he say: ‘young man, beware de sin of covet'ness, says he, ‘and likewise de sin of gluttony,’ says he. ‘Say, I didn’t know what t’ ‘ell he was givin’ me, but knowd he wasn't gwin’ me pol, right enough. “Miss Fannie, she'd seed the whole game an’ heard dose tings de parson was sayin’. She kinder slid up t' me like she was makin’ de front dat she was 'fraid of de person, an’ she whispers t' me, says she, ‘Danny,’ she says, ‘would yuse like a plece of de mince poi?’ says she. ‘Den I says ‘sure, Miss Fannie,’ says I, ure. It would do me righ’ Den she , givin’ me de jolly of havin’ secrets wid me, ‘well, Danny,’ says she, ‘we'll see if we can't sneak a piece for yuse. “Say, dat’s what she done. She sneaked a piece an’ gives it to’ me, makin’ de front dat she didn’t want de parson t’ cop de game, but dat wus only a jolly. “Well, cay, dat mince poi was better dan honey puffs an’ stick candy togedder. It done me right, an’ I was tickled t’ deat’ at de way Miss Fannie done de parson. “Say, she didn’t do nottin’ t him but kill him.” + Keeping Up the Supply. From Treth. ° Occasionally it 1s possible to satisfy the souvenir seeker without doing any damage in particular. ‘This 1s the case at the tomb of George Washington, in Mount Vernon. A lady had just picked up a pebble from the walk in front of the venerated spot, to carry home with her, when a workman came up with a wheelbarrow load of gravel, which he dumped on the spot. “Have you—have you fixed up the place that way recently?” the lady asked, in a slightly apprehensive tone. “Bless you, miss,” was the reply, “w has to do this about every two weeks, so’s the tourists can have something to carry away for momentums.” ——_+e+-__ Soctal Circles. From Life. LEG CRUSHED LENGTHWISE, Weeks of Suffering at the Altoona Hospital. Amputation of the Leg—Suffering and Disease Turned to Health and Hap- Pines. " — the Altoona, Pa., Mirror.) Up to July 24 last Eli A. Bodser of S14 Second avenue had charge of the wheel foundry of the Pennsylvania railroad, On that date he was the unfortunate victim of an accident. He was run over i ear, the flange of the car wheel en- tered tween the toes, crushing the left leg lJeugthwise up to the knee, and rendering amputa- tion necessary to within Gight inches of the hip. After nine long mouths at the Altoona Hospital, and a still longer siege at his home, he found himself in a deplorable condition. ‘At this time," said Mr. Booser to a Mirror re- porter, “I broke out on my arms, back and hips; my right leg was‘a terrible sight. The caif below the knee haa two bolls on. I could not sleep, no appetite, and was unable to use my crutches for six weeks, My physicians seemed to do could for me, but I was thon; T could ‘not di diiticulsy. | So at ad tN I feel go well now that I will soon be able to return to work. I bave no trouble with my digestion, any thé annoying weakness that affficted me so long has catirely disappeared.”” Favorite Remedy {s an un- diseases ax rheumatisy:, rspepsia, kidney and liw disease, diabetes, urine ness peculiar to women it ise failed. . David Kennedy's Favorite Remedy can be purchased of druggists at $1 a bottle. comy trou! ht BUILDING A SKY SCRAPER. A Constant Menace Which Threatened Neighboring Structures, From the New York Sun. One of the tallest, if not the largest building in this city, is that of the Amer- ican Tract Society, now being erected at No. 150 Naseau street, and the details of its foundation and the difficulties encoun- tered by the contractor are interesting. The building is to be twenty-three stories tall, and will be 325 feet high from the top of the foundations to the tip of the short tower. It will weigh 22,000 tons. The Im- possibility of getting to rock or anything e.se solid necessitated either the abandon- ment ot the scheme or building upon piles, and the top of the piles would have to be driven below the water level. To compli- cate the situation there was a new founda- tion to put under one side of the Morse building at the back of the lot, and, more important, there 1s a thirty-inch water main running through Nassau street only a few feet from where the dirt had to be removed. Had the street at this point been allowed to settle the least bit there was danger that this main would break. If it had broken and the flood that would have poured forth had been allowed to continue for a short time, there would have been danger of the Times building, the Potter building, the Tribune building and the Morse building all slumping into the American Tract Society's hole in the ground together. To guard against this men from the water department were on duty day and night to watch the ground and others were stationed at the nearest water gates, with telephones at their ears, waiting for the word to shut dow! Sheet piling, heavily braced, supporced the streets, and supporting walls were built as quickly as possible and braced as fast as they were built. The wall that supports Nassau street has a seven-foot base, and that which supports Spruce street an eight-foot base. Spruce street settled a little and cracked an old sewer in it, but Nassau street and the water main held. Seventeen hundred and eighty- three piles were driven for the founda- tions. These were put in groups, where each main pillar is to stand, along the wall line and in the interior. It was a ticklish job to get down to cut off the tops below the water line and to fill in between the pile heads with the foot of concrete the law requires. Each group was treated separately. While the hole was dug around it the sides were lined with sheet piling, and special braces were put all around to prevent the moving in of either of the street walls. When the final depth was reached a shovelful of concrete was kept ready to dump in in place of each shovelful of dirt removed. In this building cantilever trusses will be used to support the walls adjacent to those of the two buildings on the sides of the lot. They will be scalene triangles of open work, with the apex resting upon the fulcrum blocks. The base of these girders will be forty feet long and the short arm of the lever they form about five feet long. They will be twelve feet deep, arranged in pairs, and fastened to three lines of colum! back of those supporting the upper walls. The walls will be self-supporting up to the thirteenth floor. From there to the top they will be carried on girders resting cn the steel work. This building will cost about $1,000,000. The foundation cost about $110,000, +04 _____ TREE-PLANTING IN FRANCE. Useless Sand Dunes Converted Into Valuable Land With Pines. Frem the London Times. The French thoroughly appreciate the advantages to be derived from systematic tree planting. Tracts of sand have been covered with pine forests, and the word lande, borrowed, as it is thought, from the German, is losing its meaning of “waste.” Till a century ago a large portion of the forest of Fontainebleau consisted of bare sandhills, but the planting of pines was begun, a variety capable of standing the severest winters was eventually found, and millions of trees now diffuse healthy and agreeable odors, besides furnishing timber and fuel. The decomposed fir needle: moreover, gradually form a crust of veg- etable mold, permitting the growth of trees and shrubs less able than the pine to liva on air. The department of the Landes, once a barren region, with sand so loose that people had to walk on stilts, is covered with pines, and the problem of draining the subsoil has been solved, as lescribed in Edmond About’s story of Maitre Pierre.” The losses by fire and anxiety to produce something more remu- nerative than pine are now, however, in- ducing schemes of artificial fertilization. In many French @atering places dunes have been transfofmed into woods, thus holding out to seaside visitors the attrac- tion of agreeable shade and a change from a monotonous beach. Shifting sands have been prevented from extending inland. In some cases dunes have been acquired by companies, which, after planting them, have cut them up into building lots, and have seen them dotted with villas. Else- where municipalities have taken up the matter, and in large operations the district or the department has provided the funds. soe A New Dog Language. From the London Dispatch, It is no doubt a startling conclusion, but Dr. Louis Robinson, who has been investi- gating the mysteries of canine language, has practically set up the theory that a dog speaks with his tail tip. In the case of all hunting dogs which pack together the tail is carried aloft and is very free in movement. There is no doubt that fox- hounds habitually watch the tails of those in front of them when drawing a covert. If a faint drag is detected, suggestive of the presence of a fox, but not sufficient to be sworn to vocally, the tail of the finder is set in motion, and the warmer the scent the quicker does it wag. Others seeing the signal instantly join the first, and there is an assemblage of waving tails before even the least whisper is heard. Should the drag prove a doubtful one the hounds separate again and the waving ceases, but if it grows stronger when followed up the wagging becomes more emphatic, until one after another the hounds begin to whine and give tongue and stream off in Indian file along the line of scent. When the pack is at full cry upon a strong scent the tails cease to wave, but are carried aloft in full view. soe Encouraging. From Life. Consumptive (in Colorado)—“Is this room well situated for an invalid? Landlady—“It couldn’t be better. I've had three consumptives here the past year, and they liked it so well that not one left until he died. oe One Thing. ‘Did you see anything while in New York that reminded you of Philadel- phia?” Sargent—"Yes; a Sth avenue stage.” VOOSSOSSHO SOHO LOOOS sHome-llade sFruit Cake 330C. Ib. Guaranteed to Keep a Yr. ‘These Cakes are OUR OWN MAKE— Detter than those usually sold at @ OOS: much (higher price. We have them from 2 Ibs. up to 10 Ibs. each. Or- ders for Christmas should be left NOW delivered when desired. Can be shipped by express to ANYWHERE, Seasonable Sweets. BEST PEANUT TAFFY, I +15e. SALTED JORDON ALMONDS, 1b. -75c. SALTED TEXAN PECANS, Ib... .7bc. SHELLS, filled with cream, per doz. $1 and $1.50 IRSCH "101 EAM-—original With us—a delightful dessert. Try it. SHELLED NUT MEATS, several va- venteen flavors of ICE CREAM Ser and ICES every day in the year, from one quart to hundreds of gallons, Telephone. FUSSELL’S, 1427 N. Y. Ave. di-eolm PPOSOSOOO DSO SOOHLOLOOD | FAT Folks Get Thin. Dr. Edison’s Famous Obesity Pilis‘and Bands and Obesity Fruit Salt re- duce your potas ga witbout dieting; cure the cause of obesity, pH En Dr, Loring & Co.: 2 Pills" and "Ralt os. Thetough Wisk "gor Sree ty FHOSSSS OHS CHOOSE OOOOD sixty-four ‘of surplus fat, and now have no kidney or rheumatic trouble. No fleshy can afford to go without your Pills and Sait. t have not known for five years what it was to be able to walk half mile: now I walk miles every, pleasant day. Respectful ou ra, Bi WINTHROP. Penn. avenue, Gent ‘veg to say that four bottles of entlemen: fo, tles your Obesity Fraft Balt cot a ym} #3 — om oating yt a gS | wore an Obesity rting Band for fort, and found that it further reduced my weight seven- teen — in three weeks and produced « more shapely rform and sfforded great comfort. I have had to have ‘cll my. dresses altered. j yours, Miss CATHERINE LE RO’ rlvania ave. Our, good be obtained from ©. G. ©. SIM! Gor. "New York ave, and. 14th et, Ms a MERTZ’S MO! ‘Cor. Keep a full line Obesity and Pratt Bake ‘in ‘stocks “Ladice ‘will tnd’ a saleslady bere to ezplain the treatment to them. nt by mail on receipt of price, The Bands cost $2.50 up; the Fruit Sait, $1 per hottie, and Pills, $1.80 per bottle, or 8 bottles for % ress LORING & CO., 42 West 224 st., Department No, JA, New York, of 22 Hamilton piace, Departineat ton. eT. A $3.50 Sale. For a few days $3.50 will pur ebase a pair of either of the follow- ing priced shoes, viz: Men's $6.00 French Patent Calf Shoes. Men's $6.00 Cordovan Congress Bhoes. Men's $5.00 Calf Shoes, several styles. Men‘s $5.00 Sample Shoes, numer. ous styles. Ladies’ $5.00 Button and Lace Bhoes. ‘These goods are all band-sewed and the finest qualities. THE WARREN SHOE HOUSE, Geo. W. Rich, 919 F St. sooo Will You Come Too Late To buy that genuine Violet Florenting Orris, which we are Paricn 25c. 4%-lb. Package. —— _Thisisa fal price especial ——— fine ‘quality of ovis. Oniy 25e. paid —— package—but only bere. 1211 Ogram’s, ¥«. Ave. Christmas Gifts} AT THE = = Christmas Hdkfs. 800 dozen Ladies’, Gents’ and Caildren's Handkerchiefs, of every design and quality, 8c. up. bs 11,000 PIECES Holiday Ribbons, For Fancy Work. Dest assortment, finest quality and lowest prices, All-silk, Nos, 2 and 8 at 8c. ‘0. & at Se.; No, 7 at Te; No. 0 at Se. Holiday Umbrellas. English Gloria Umbrellas from 75c. up. Bilk Umbrellas from $1.68 up. Trimmed Hats. and fine assortment, from $1.50 up. ntrimmed Hats. Best quality Fur and English Felts, fron ‘Dolls. Dolls. Dolls, A large and fine assortment of Dolls, the cheapest in the city, at 10c., 25c., 48c. and Aa STERLING SILVER NOVELTIES. Ssarinas, Hat Marks, Satchel Tags, Coat Hangers, Belt Buckles, Match Safes, Book Marks, Tie Clasps, Button Hooks, Paper Cutters, Garter Buckles, Bracelets, | Glove Buttoners, Stamp Boxes, | Paper Cutters, Hair Pins. | A Solid Silver Thimble, guaranteed, 10c. P.Schuster, 717 Market Space. ‘Goods reserved for the holidays. nol-8m Cee Do You Own a Coat, —rest, trousers, dress, suit, skirt, or any article of apparel that needs dyeing? Send them to us, Your friends will never know the garment bap been dyed after we handle it—it wil look new, Drop postal. Late of Anton Fischer, 12TH ST., OND DOOR ABOVE ¥ &L