Evening Star Newspaper, July 27, 1895, Page 14

14 THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1895-TWENTY PAGES. ROBBING UNCLE SAM Stories of Adventures With Illicit “Whisky Distillers SOME EXCITING ENCOUNTERS One Result of the Increase of the Tax. MILLIONS IN MOONSHINE (Copyrighted, 1895, ty Frank G. Carpenter.) oo ee T HIS IS-THE FIRST aa? of a series of letters iy which I propose to write showing some of the curious ways in which Uncle Sam is robbed. He does one of the biggest businesses in the world. His ordinary expenditures have for years been be- tween three and four hundred million dol- Jars annually. He has on hand here today !m Washington, in the shape of bonds, bank notes and bullion, more than $800,000,000, and the gold and silver coin stacked up in the treasury cel- lars weighs 5,000 tons. The sums in which he deals are big enough to tempt the wild- est dreams of criminal avarice, and thou- sands of mn are plotting how they can in some way break in and carry away a part of the pile. This money is surrounded, however, both by day and by night by trusty watchmen, -whose revolvers are al- ways ready. The strongest of wrought iron and of w2lded steel inclose his bags of gold and silver, and the heavy doors which form the entrances to his vaults have tine locks. which defy the most expert of burglars. ‘The ordinary thief has little chance here. The checks on the treasury are legion, and the chief money stolen from the gov- ernment is slipped out in other ways. And yet there is no doubt but that vast sums e stolen. Uncle Sam's receipts amount to almost a million dollars a day, and he un- doubtedly loses millions of dollars in one way or another every year. Millions in Moon: e- ‘Take the matter of the whisky tax. Since its increase to $1.10 a gallon moonshine stilis have been springing up like weeds in ali parts of the country. They have flour- ished for years in the mountzins of the south, but they are now beginning to sprout up in the big cities of the north. Within the past few weeks a number of Iilicit stills have been discovered in New York and Philadelphia. The business is being car- Col. W. W. Colquit. Yiel on in attics and cellars. They are making whisky from black strap molasses, for which they pay in bulk about 4 conts per gallon. It probably costs them less than 25 cents to make a gallon of whis- ky, and their profits are from 400 to 500 per cent. This business is entirely different from that of the moonshiners. Col. W. W. Col- quitt, the chief of the special agents of the Treasury Department, has given me the details, and I have before me the drawing of one of these northern whisky stills, which has just been received by the Treas- ury Department. The still was captured only a few days ago in one of the big cities of the east. It is of the sort used in Rus- sla, and it consists of two galvanized iron boxes or barrels with fire boxes beneath them. The molasses is mixed with water end is fermented into a kind of sugar beer. It is then put into these boilers and cooked into a vapor. This ts conducted through pipes into a seccnd still and cold water from the city water works acts as the con- denser. The sugar beer after two distilla- tions comes out in the shape of whisky, and as such it is ready for the market. Such a still costs but a few dollars. It makes practically no smell, and it can be put up in any room where there are water works. The only ways that the treasury detectives can know of its existence are through the selling of the whisky and the purchasing of the molasses and yeast. A large amount of yeast “has to be used to ferment the beer, and the yeast factories of all the big eastern cities are now being watched by treasury detectives. Every one who buys much yeast has to give an account of himself, and all suspicious pur- chascrs are carefully shadowed. 2,000 Whisky Stills. The increase of illicit distilling in the southern mountains during the past year is enormous. The stills are scattered through the mountair: districts of every southern state, and the revenue department’ has never had its hands so full as now. The commissioner of internal revenue tells ine that the agents have never been so well or- ganized, and they have never done so good work as they are now doing. Col. Colquitt, the chief of this branch, was for years in the field as a special agent. He has the moonshine districts mapped out, and there is a black list at the Preasury Department containing the names of the suspected characters. Congress has set uside $50,000 a year for the pay of spies and hired in- formers, and Uncle Sam is now spending, all told, about $500,000 annually to put down the business. Still there are more stills now than ever before. One thousand were destroyed last year. The outlook is that there will be nearly 2,000 wiped out during the coming year, and the number destroyed last month was 164. It is hard to estimate the loss which Uncle Sam sus- tains from these moonshine stills. A few days 4go a wagon load of whisky, contain- ing 100 gallons of liquor, was captured near Greenville, S. C. The tax on this alone would have been $110. Suppose the 2, stills which will be captured this year to continue in operation. It is a small still which will not produce five gallons of. whisky daily. These 2,000 stills would pro- duce 10,000 galions a day, on which the tax would be $11,000, Eleven thousand dollars a day is more than $4,000,000 per year. This will be the saving in revenue by the break- ing up of these stills. There are, however, in all probability, hundreds which are Eever discovered, and the loss is incaleu- lable. The Notorious Redmond. “Who is the most notorious moonshiner you have on the records of the Treasury Department, Col. Colquitt?’ I asked. “I don’t know,” replied the chief of the revenue agents. “One man who has had a great deal of newspaper notoriety was a fellow named Redmond, who operated in the South Carolina mountains. He had been making moonshine whisky and had had quite a career when a newspaper re- porter spent a week with him at one of his stills in the mountains. Redmond had killed two men, and he claimed to have done a great deal more. He gave this man and this was pub! in ston newspapers. This seemed to set Redmond crazy. He committed the most daring acts after that to get his name in the newspapers. He was finally caught and sent to prison. I do not know whether he is alive today or not. ‘The ge moonshiner,” continued Col. Colquitt, “does not think his business is wrong. He argues that every man has the right to sell what he makes as long as he does not steal or trampie upon the rights of others. He has the sympathy of the mountaineers, and today our greatest trouble fs to get the courts of the south id deal out justice to-this class of crim- The Great Simms Tragedy. “Who was the most.curious moonshiner you ever had to deal with, Col. Colquitt?” said I. " “One of the queerest,” replied the chief, “was old Bob Simms, who lived near Bladon Springs, not far from Mobile. Simms was a religious fanatic, and he had a large number of followers. His people fookea uvon him as a kind of a suvior ard a phophet. They had gathered about him, and he had established a colony of Bis beilevers. He had a peculiar religion, one of the tenets of which was that all men had equal rights, and that no one could equitably prevent another from doing what he pleased. He said that the law of the land was the ‘devii's law,’ and that no Teepect ought to be paid to it. It was this devil's law that taxed whisky. The law of God, which he (Simms) laid down, provided that a man could make and sell what he pleased, snd Simms said he had a perfect right to make whisky out of his corn, and that God would protect him. He defied the Russign Steel. gcvernment; he built his still out in plain tight in front cf his cabin, and had a wide road running up to it. When we sent a warrant for his arrest he took it from the hands of the deputy who served it, tore it up and spat in the deputy’s face. There were a number of men with Simms at this time, and the deputy did not dare to arrest him. We then sent a posse after him. Simms saw that our force was greater than his, and he was taken. He refused to walk to jail, however. He said we might carry him, but he would not go of his own accord. Upon this he was picked up, put into a cart,.and taken to Bladon Springs. This is a sort of summer resort, much fre- quented by the citizens of Alabama. It las no good jail facilities, and Simms was put into an outhouse, and guarded during the day, preparatory to carrying him else- where. He was handcuffed. He showed fo dispcsition to be ugly, however, and when dinner time came our revenue agents went into the dining room of the hotel, leaving Simms in the charge of only one officer. It was dark, the people were eat- ing, when three men rushed to the cottagg, shot the officer in charge, killed a doctor who had called in at the time to see Simms, end allowed Simms to escape. The men who did the shooting were Simms’ two brothers and his son, Bailly Simms. One of the brothers was shot as he ran awa: snd the son of the old man killed.” ae From Prophet to Demon. “Bob Simms, however, got away,” Col. Colquitt continued. “He took to the woods ‘land lived there for some time. But he soon began to commit such outrages that the People rose up against him, and he was lynched. Before his arrest by the govern- ment he had modeled his life on the Bible, and he tried to follow out some of its teachings, especially so in one place, where it says: ‘If a man strike you on the right cheek you must turn the other to him and let him smite you on that.’ His arrest and the death of his son changed his na- ture. He went in for revenge and ven- Seance against all who were against him. Everything that was.angelic.in his nature turned to gall. He became a very demon, and there was nothing too mean and: ervel for him to do. The _act which capped the climax was the killing of a merchant who in times past had» been a friend of. his. After his escape -Simms’ house, with his gcods in it, was comparatively unprotected. This merchant had a bill against him, and, without process of jaw;che went to Simms’ house and took a wagon Joad of his fur- niture and ca it off to"satisfy this bill. He was told at the time that he was doing a dangerous thing, but he laughed and suggested Simms*religious nature would not permit him to retaliate. He was much mistaken. As soon as the matter was re- ported to Simms he became enraged. He took a’band of his followers, and one dark night surrounded the merchant’s house. He then set fire to it, and as the merchant's wife and children ran out to escape the flames he fired upon them and killed them. This created a great sensation. “A lynching party was organized. They surrounded Simms and his followers, and he, finally seeing that he was bound to be overpowered, told them that if they would cheose twenty-five men and allow him to chcose twenty-five men who would assure him that he would have a’fair trial and be a guard for him, he id give himself up. This was agreed to, and Simms threw down his arms and came out. The fifty men surrounded him, but they onJy pre- tended to lee him. In reality they gave him up tO the mob, and within an hour afterward he, with four of his followers, were hanged. “Simms’ defense of himself,” Col. Colquitt went on, “was very brave:.-He had" his party fn his house, and near thig,was a Making Moonshine. Yittle shed, which prevented the lynchers from surrounding him. If this could be burned it would enable them to close in upon him and capture the house. One of the lynchrrs slipped up and set fire to it. Simms came out with a water bucket, and, without regard for the bullets which were flying about him, and protected to some extent by his friends in the house, who were firing to keep back the lynchers, he put out the fire.” How One Still Was Captared. During my talk with Col. Colquitt one of the most famous of the special revenue agents came in from the field. This was Col. Chapman, who has been connected with the detective service of the depart- ment for twenty years, and who Is now operating in the mountains of Georgia and Alabama, His whole life has been one of fighting. He was a lieutenant colonel under Mesby during the late civil war and had five horses killed under him at that time. He has been battered up a number of limes by the moonshiners, but has never been dargerously wounded. At one time he was shot through the wrist, and he showed me today the scar which marked the spots io WANS Y ye Bob Sims and His Son. where the ball went through. “We were capturing a still,” said he, “in the Alabama mountains. Our posse had surrounded the men when one of ther fired at me, and the ball struck me in the left wrist. My hand as hanging at my side, and I thought at first that I had knocked my crazy bone against a tree. A moment later it felt as though a red hot iron was being run through my wrist, and I knew that I had been shot. The man, after shooting me, ran. I aimed at him with my pistol and sent a ball flying after him. I am a good shot, but in some way or other I missed h im. “The circumstances of capturing that still were rather curious,” Col. Chapman went on. “I had three men with me, and we were riding along the rcad, when we met @ wagon loaded with barrels of whisky. ‘We came upon the man at a turn of the corner, and seized the whisky in the name of the government. We chopped up the barrels and let it run out on the ground. The men who owned it were very angry. We concluded to follow the trail of the wagon and see !f we could not find the still. We did so, and about a mile or so away we surprised the men at work. Three of them started to run, and one got behind a tree and blazed away at me. The men In charge of the wagon also ran. I did not dare to get on my horse and go after them, for I was not sure of one of the men who was with me, and our guide had de- serted us on the capturing of the wagon. The result was we destroyed this still and then went on to others.”. - FRANK G. CARPENTER. —————_2-—____ THE COPPER’S LITTLE JOKE. Less Fun at His Wife's Expense Than He Had Counted On. From the Courier-Journal. A great deal of amusement was caused on an east-bound electric car the other afternoon by a waggish policeman, who |. selected his wife for his victim. The po- liceman had done duty at the ball park, and his wife had been to see the xgamie. While the crowd was leaving the woman stood about the front of the park and wait- ed for her husband to ride up town with him. He finally arrived, and the pair boarded a crowded ear. Both were young and only recently married, and they en- Joyed themselves hugely on the way. The woman wore a hanésome little gold watch, evidently a present from her hus- band. While half the people in the car were looking, and while his wife was speaking to a woman acquaintance out- side the car, the policeman deftly took the watch from his wife's pocket and trans- ferred it to his pistol pocket. When the car reached 18th street the policeman re- marked that,it was a few minutes past 6 o'clock, and everybody in the car looked at the policeman’s wife. Of course, she did whut every one in the car expected she would. She felt for her watch. It seemed as if a sudden violent pain had attacked the woman’s heart. Her face became very rale and her eyes dilated. Her husband seemed greatly alarmed, and asked her what the matter was. She look- ed over the crowd in the car like a frigbt- ened fawn. It was a full minuze before she could speak. Then she whispered in her husband's ear loud enough for the in- } tensely interested spectators to hear: “I have been touched; some one has stolen my watch.” Her eyes began to grow dim, ani before the policeman could answer a big tear rolled down her cheek and fell into her lap. “Here is the watch; I was only joking with you,” and the policeman felt back for his pocket. . Then a look of dismay overspread his face. The watch had disappeared. He felt in first one pocket and then another, and finally turned all his pockets wrong side out. He worked rapidly toward the last and perspired @ good deal. His wife look- ed on in open-mouthed astonishment. So @id the other peopie in the car. All had smiled and looked out the windows of the car when the woman first discovered that her watch was gone, but when her hus- band falled to produce it, after having told her that he had taken it, the people sat upright and watched the hunt tor the miss- ing timepiece with great interest. Finally a quiet-appearing young man who sat in the rear of the car arose and Ser the wae to the policeman’s wife. “I just wanted to teach your husband, lesson," he said. Paha And the crowd of passengers gave vent. to a prolonged hearty laugh, and the po- liceman and his wife finally joined in the merriment, though they were a little slow to’ appreciate the joke. Never Saw the Show. From the Chicago Record. It is as old as the proverbs that the eob-.|. bier’s children urc always poorly shod. The restaurant man goes home for dfii-’f’ ner, and the bartender is a total abstainer,-y The druggist may patronize the faith cure, and the railway man knows of no greater luxury than a ride in a buggy. The street car conductor is glad to get a day off, so he can take a long walk. A more remarkable case than any of these Is that of the head usher at the thea- ter, and one theater in particular. Prob- ably every playgoer in Chicago knows him. The title of “head usher” does him an in- justice. He is more like a host or the chief of a reception committee. There are head ushers who pounce upon you, grab the coupons, thrust them back into your fumbled hands and shout, “First aisle to the right!” . There are other head ushers who tell you to hurry up or step lively. They give loud warning that all coupons must be ready. They shout “Hey, there!” and are con- stantly distracted because of the immense responsibility which they imagine is resting upon them, As soon as a snippy young man gets re | @ box office or is engaged as an usher, he begins to imagine that he owns the house, the company and a good part of the front- age in the block. But the exceptional head usher is calm, | Polite, attentive and solicitous. No matter how rapidly the crowd may pour in, it seems that every one who comes Tecelves some courtesy at his hands. He doesn’t shout or grab, and the small children are not afraid of him. The most remarkable thing about this model master of ceremonies, however, is that he knows very little about actors or plays. The other evening, when the house was crowded and the performance was being re- ceived with noisy approval, a man who came into the foyer between acts remarked to him: “Well, it’s a funny show.” “I dare say,” he replied; seems to like it. “Didn’t vou see it?” ‘No. I was out here all the time.” “Is that so? Don’t you step inside to see the performances?” “Oh, no; my duties keep me here. In the fifteen years that I have been in this posi- tion I have never seen a performance. At first the man wouldn’t believe it, but it was a fact just the same. ——_+o- — The Pink Wild Rose. From Vick’s Magazine. A An olf log house in the pasture stands, Shattered, forsaken brow Its windows gone, its broken And Its doorstep tumbled down; But a spirit lingers near the spot With a sweet, old-time repose, For in tangled masses round about Blossoms the pink wild rose. ‘the house I gather a bunch of the fragrant flowers, And a picture seems to rise; I stand in the past a hundred years And see "neath the sunset skies ‘The housewife stand by her spinning-wheel, Tolling at twilight's close: An old brown jar on the window sill Is filled with the pink wild rose. husband sits on the doorstep there, ith the children playing near— And then time marches with silent tread Till it passes year by year, And the old log house deserted is, A prey to the rains and snows, While the only yolce of the days’ gone by Is the voice of the pink wild rose. soe Chuck Full of Soup. From the Boston Budget. A Senator from the far west, new alike to congressional honors and the ways of society, was invited to a very swell dinner given by a wcalthy man who wanted “in- fiuence.” Here is a part of the letter the Senator wrote home the day after: “It was the finest house you ever see and the finest folks. * * * The table was set out in bang-up style. Lace on the table cloth and sech flowers as I never see! But not a thing to eat on it, but some candy, some little nuts all shelled, and sech things. But by and by one of the men standing round brought me some of the finest soup you ever e’t. And as I didn't see nothing else to eat I had some more and some more. And then—what do you think? Hang me, if those men didn’t bring on the finest din- ner ever you see, and there I sot, ilke a darned fool, chuck full of soup!” a At Hyannis. From the New York World. Estelle—“While Daisy was asleep in her hammock this morning she says that Mr. Sonnett wrote a beautiful poem on her graceful figure.” Alice (blushing indignantly)—“Shocking! I'd soon show him if he ever dared to write any on mine. The Wi = ——+0+——____ Unlooked-For Bargain. From the Detrott Tribure. She—“If you kiss me, I scream.” He—“Certainly. What flavor?” ‘| son-uwhe govsiaway for the summer knows “in respect of this. * AT SNIGKER’S GAP Where the Mountains Met the Sky, Se as to Speak. - = NEW VERSHON OF OLD LEGENDS One,of the Suburbs of Washington and Some of Its Attractions. FISHING AND HUNTING Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. HERE THE DICK- W a: is Snicker’s Gap?” That's the kind of a query a Washing- ton person hurled at me the other day when F told him I was going to Snick- er’s Gap for a brief season of re‘axation without excitement, fresh vegetables, fresh air, and a few things on the side. Then I had to tell him, Right intelligent man he was, too, considering. Of course, he should have known without asking, for it is merely a suburb of the capital. But I couldn't tell him very clearly, for I had never been there, and my information was second hand, but, like the jab in the dia- phragm which poor Mercutio received, it served. As soon as this person discovered that I was talking throygh somebody else's in- formation he furnished me a free look of scorn, and went away, sniffing at me. Now, I am talking right from the shoul- der, and know whereof I speak. I've been there. | The geography class will please stand up. Snicker’s Gap is situated in the state of Virginia, in the counties of Loudoun and Clarke, and about fourteen jumps of a fox from the point where West Virginia runs up to the old state. It is, say, sixty miles from Washington, and the traveler gets there over the W. and ©. branch of the Southern ratlway; which ends at Round Hill, thence four miles over a fine mountain road, a thousand feet up into the cerulean canopy of the heavens, and there he fs. For years Loudoun county has been a Washington summer boarding house, but the boarders have not taken to the hill so to speak, sesming to prefer the lower al titudes, though why I am not able to ex- plain, seeing that they live at sea level, and that the very best thing they could do when they go away from it is to go to a higher point, so that their lungs may expand, their respiration increase, their hearts beat fas- ter, their blood course more rapidly through their veins, and a geoeray benefit to the en- tire system logieally accrue. That's the amatemy, physiology and hy- giene of it, but itvis evident not every per- vhat he goes away for. Tf am ‘now furnishing free. 1 > The: gratisnéés of it is a recommendation to some, even though the information be of no especial mérit.19 Snicker’s {s anewf many gaps in this sec- tion of the Bite Ridge ‘mountains, and its elevation ‘gives ‘it a “far-reaching view. of doth the Loudounsand the Shenandoah val- leys, and alsovprecedence ofits fellow-gaps. that information, ‘How it received dts: name is velled in more 7 Tess'ffiystery. + STR d tk “One story is 20 the effect that at one t'me Col. Billy Snigger @wned the country round about or livedan’ the gap, or had something to do with ‘it;-an@: it was called’ -Snigger’s Gap, which; by the erosten of time and the softening of lingwage "by exposure to the mountain air, grew into the more melliflu- ous form of Saicker’s Gap. The colonel Is w dead. another legend, and one more pleasing, Is to the effect, that on one occasion in the early history of the state Captain John Smith and Mr. John Rolfe, who afterward hecame the son-in-law of the mighty chief Powhatan, while taking Mrand Mre. Pow- hatan and their charming and accomplished-} dauchter, Miss Pocahontas Powhatan, over to Berryville and Winchester to visit their English relatives In those parts, stopped at this point over night. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and Mr. Rolfe and Miss Pocahontas were calculating on having a lovely time, but the old. folks, with that suspicion Which ever characterizes’ the crafty Indians In their relations to, the whites, refiised to give the tender young hearts. a. chance at eachother. Captain Smith got the old man to go take a walk with him, but the old lady remained on guard, and there wasn't a minute, when she didn’t have something to say to them ehout the lovely scenery and a dozen other things young people in their state of mind haven't the least interest in. and they were faving hard lines indeed. When Smith and Powhatan rejoined the group, the foxy captain saw that there wasn’t anything to do but sit the old folks out, so he tipped the wink to Rolfe. and Rolfe passed it on to Pocahontas, and they became very quiet. In about nineteen minutes the old folks be- gan to gape and yawn, and finally they nodded and were fast asleep. Then Rolfe and Pocahontas snickered, Smith discreetly turned his back, and Softly in the moonlight Of the rosy month of June, John Rolfe and Pocahontas Had a half an hour's spoon. And the gape of the old folks and the snickers of the young gave the name to this romantic spot. I have my doubts about this story, but I give it as it came to me. Another, evidently off of the same plece of cloth of veracity and: pun, has itself thus: The gorges of the mountain yawned Beneath the peak’s ice cap, While jecund sunshine smiled below, And snickered o'er the gay. It is a great delight to one who is built that way to delve into these rich mines of legendary lore, and the bits of poetry and song he may find hidden away in the moun- tain fastnesses will haunt his memory ever after. At least, that's what a young woman cvearing specs and an intellectual cast of countenance informed me. How long this gap has been used as a passage way to the west is not a matter of definite record, but it is said that General Braddock in the spring of 1755, which was one hundred and forty years ago, went through here on his way to the headwaters of the Ohio, where he met the French and Indians. ‘And he never cathe back. By the wayj!doed the gentle reader know anything abott Gen. Braddock? History says he was @ “rdunder” of the most ap- proved type. That‘is to say he could “put a night In with the boys” seven times a week, and had béen doing it for nearly fifty years of* his: service in the British army. He would Have no doubt been at it yet, if he hadn't been so sure that he could mop the-earth up with those aborig- inal Americar, and@ had remained in Alex- andria, instead of-going west to. grow up with the country. Compare Alexandria as it Is today with the wild and woolly west as it is today, and judge for yourselves if this statement is not, in the main, correct. Braddock was the.son of a major general in the British army, as well as a son of a gun, and he was a martinet of the strictest sort. So strict was he that the common punishment of one of his soldiers when he got drunk was a thousand lashes, served in doses of a hundred a day for ten days, and yet, he carried a jag with him nearly all the time. He commanded by precept and not by example, which is much the pleasanter way. He was a heartless wretch in addition, and when his beautiful sister, Fanny, hanged herself with a silken scarf because she had gambled away her fortune and been deserted by her sweetheart,whom she had “staked,” her brother, Edward (the general), remarked between a smile and a sigh: “Poor Fanny, I knew she would keep on at her play until she would be forced to tuck herself away.” No wonder the savages wanted to shoot him full of holes, and finally carried out their wishes in the matter. ‘Whatever else he was, he was no coward, had fought two duels, and had worked him- self up from an ensigncy to a major gen- eralship on his military merit. And when the Duke of Cumberland wanted a man to come over to this part of the country and set up his pegs of possession, he selected Gen. Braddock. When he set out on his fatal expedition, he left Alexandria in a carriage and four, but he hadn’t gone more than seventeen miles over those Virginia dirt roads until he got out, and contemplat- ing the situation for a few moments, ex- claimed heartily, “Well, I'll be d—d.” This is a matter of record, partially to show that among his other vices he was also given to profanity. In fact, he cussed everybody about him, except G. Washing- ton, who accompanied him as his aid-de- camp and guest, without pay, and under the circumstances wouldn't stand any monkey business of that sort. After his historic remark to “the four-in-hand, he shunted it Into a barn by the road side and Went ahead on horseback. “Braddock’s road” is yet a part of Snicker’s Gap, though the present road does not follow the Hnes of the path he blazed to the west. Immediately below the Gap, snugly en- sconced beneath the brow of the mountain, is the little hamlet of Snickersville, con- taining a church, a post office, some stores and residences and a vast deal of unused Peaceful serenity, of which the summer boarder is allowed to partake at his pleas- ure during the season. The hamlet is also known by the more euphonious title of Punkintown, or as a Boston lady once call- it, “Pumpkintown,” and she barely es- caped with her life. This name was derived from the fact that ene of the early settlers one day was driy- irg up the hill out of town, when the tail board of his Conestoga parted its moor- ings, and such a Johnstown flood of pump- kins poured through the hamlet, that the inhabitants ran shrieking down into the valley beyond, and it was several days be- fore the serenity of the place was restored. The driver of the wagon got away in the excitement and was never heard of again. Like the gent who burned the Temple of Diana at Ephesus his rame ts lost to his- tory, though the name he gave to the town will remain as long as the town does. The Blue Ridge extends north and south from the Gap, rising gradually from the thousand-foot level of the Gap to the com- manding height of twenty-two hundred feet, and affording views of the valleys on either side of surpassing beauty. I have seen nearly all the mountain views and vistas east of the Mississippi, and I do not hesitate to say that none of them is equal in the varied beauty of wood and stream, and hill and valley, and fertile field, hedged in along the distant horizon by lofty peaks and ranges, as the magnificent spread from Bears’ Den. I might go into raptures over it and write poetry and splutter around like a composer of circus posters, but it would not add any to the view, so Tabstain. It is one of the things that must be seen to be appreciated, and I shall not try to paint the rainbow, nor present a picture of all this loveliness merely for the benefit of the individual who will buy a pa- per for a few cents, and see it all without paying anything for traveling expenses. One of the most delightful features of this mountain neighborhood js the entire absence of boomers. There isn’t one any- where in sight. In fact, there are only four city people on the range. Mr. C. G. Smith, Prof. Kaspar, leader of the George- town Orchestra; Mr. J. A. Truesdell of The Star, and Misa Brouse; have farms,of vary- ing size, which they are developing into charming summer homes, and land is as cheap as dirt up there, for all who want to buy it. One man offered me 130 acres for $1,200, and he offered as an inducement a fine view of the Washington monument from the farm. I could not see the monu- ment any day during my visit, but the air was misty blue and shut off the far- ther points. I am told, however, that the mcnument can be readily seen on clear days from any number of points, which will give the reader some idea of the breadth of the view, as the distance in an air line is at least fifty miles, and the monument is from a thousand to fifteen hundred feet or more below the view puints on_the ridge. From the various lookouts, taking in the entire horizon, there are in sight the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers, the Mas- sanutten and Blue Ridge ranges, the Ka- toctins, Bolivar Helghts at Harper’s Ferry, the Short Hills and Sugar Loaf, rising like a sentinel on the Monocacy, and the towns of Winchester, Berryville and Charlestown in the Shenandoah, and Round Hill, Snick- ersville, Purcellville, and other small places in the Loudoun valley, with the Washing- ton monument as the great white land- mark toward the rising sun. If that isn’t a panorama worth going miles to see, then I am not a judge of pan- cramas. | Neither is it far to go to see. Three hours and a half from Washington and the sweltering inhabitant is in the midst of it all, with a cooling breeze to fan his brow and his lungs full of ozone that exhila- rates like champagne, with no enlargement of the head afterward. Why this spot has been so long neglected is one of the things I have not been able to explain to those who asked the cause. And children—great Scott! They fairly whocping it up frevel in mountain air, through the woods, chasing the festive huckleberry and sleeping like logs from sunset till breakfast time. This entire paradise, too, actually within sight of Washington! They told me there was fine bass fishing in the Shenandoah. I'm rot much of a fisherman, but Arthur Dodge of the Mil- waukee Sentinel, my accomplice in this trip, was, so we took his tackle and went after the finny denizens of the deep. The Shenandoah at this point (Castleman's Ferry) is a beautiful stream, and we found all the fishing we could possibly ask for. Indeed, we wallowed in it, but no fish re- sponded. Dodge said it was because the water was “too riley,” but I think it was because he forgot the bottle of bait. I know I didn’t forget the corkscrew. - All this country was fought cver during the “late war,” and all kinds of relics from a musket ball to a skull are picked up in the fields. From the hotel piazza one may look off to the west toward Winchester, where, as Buchanan Read tells it: “Up from the south at break of day, Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay, The aftrighted air with a shudder. bore The terrible grumble and rumble and roar, Telling the battle was on once more, And Sheridan twenty miles away!" And looking toward the east he may see the spires of Hamilton, where, as Madison Cawein has it for the other side: “Full in the sun, At Hamilton; ‘We met the south’s invaders.” From the beginning to the end of the struggle shis was fighting ground, and there’s many a tumbling wall and totter- ing chimrey biding today as monuments of these disastrous years. Speaking: of this hotel piazza, I may say for it that it has one peculiarity common to no other piazza of my acquaintance. It happens that the hotel is built on the line dividing the counties of Clarke and Loudoun, and that Clarke is a wide open county, while Loudoun is as dry as a chip. A man couldn't get a drink there if a snake a mile and a half long were to bite him in ninety-seven vital spots at once: whereas in Clarke he can get enough to make him see snakes two miles long. Weill, this plazza_ has one end of itself in Clarke and the other in Loudoun, so that it may come to pass that those who come early and get seets in the west end of the plazza may revel in mint juleps and other nectars fit for the gods, while those who come late must take seats in the east end and try to be merry over buttermilk and pink lemon- ade. Such fs the law In that vicinity, and many there be who come early. Having said this much about Snicker’s Gap and the “contagious” country, may I inquire if the gentle reader, when he has read it, will ask: “Where the dickens is Snicker’s Gap?” = For information about fish, but not about bait, go to Mr. Arthur J. Dodge, at the Washington office of the Milwaukee Sen- tue Don’t anybody come to me. I don't know fish bait when I taste it. W. J. LAMPTON. P. 8.—Several persons have called to re- quest that I be sure to get into these ob- servations the well-known remark, ‘Well, I should snicker,” but I have been deaf to their overtures. W. JL. a Keeps Right at It. Gorman Dizer—‘What do you do for a living when your summer boarders leave you?” Berkshire Farmer—Waal, abaout same as ae been doin’—keep on fattening hogs.” VALUE OF A VACUUM Some of the Interesting Devices Adopted in Bread Making. A Large Variety of Food Articles Pre- served for Usc—Millions of Dollars Invested in Patents, Written for The Evening Star. _ Making money out of nothing! The notion is attractive. Many millions of dollars in this country are invested in Patents depending upon a vacuum, which is less than what most people call noth- ing. These inventions cover a great va- riety of industries—such as preserving foods, tanning, fermenting, bleaching, hardening stone and making woods imperishable. Some of them actually relate to the keeping of corpses and the manufacture of mortu- ary memorials. The history of the vacuum in the United States patent office is an in- teresting one, dating back to 1833, in which year George H. Rickards took out exclu- sive rights in a process for preparing leather in a chamber exhausted of air. Many valuable extracts are got from various substances by evaporation in vacuo at a temperature below 212 degrees, the ob- ject being to avoid injuring the product by too great heat. This method is applied in obtaining flavors for sirups dispensed at soda water fountains. It also serves in making extracts from malt and hops and from coffee. The fact is well known that firms engaged in the business of roasting coffee for market commonly deprive the beans of their volatile flavoring essence and sell the latter separately. An honest coffee-roaster returns this essence to the s. Much of it passes off during the ordinary cooking process, and thus it hap- pens that at times the streets in the neigh- borhood of a grocery store are fragrant with the odor of coffee. It is agreeable to the nostrils, but very wasteful. A proper- ly-constructed roasting machine saves and condenses the precious vapor. ‘There was once a firm of bakers in Lon- don that hit upon a very novel expedient. The process of bread-making depends upon a_ fermentation which develops alcohol. This alconol passes off in vapor from the overs under ordinary circumstances. The concern in question devised a method by which it could be saved, the vapor being passed into a condenser. Unfortunately, rival bakers took a notion to advertise as widely as possible that thelr bread was sold “with all the gin in it.” As a result, the enterprising establishment lost its trade and was ruined. In Baking Bread. To assist the process of fermentation, methods have been contrived for partly baking bread in vacuo. Bakers, by the way, use great quantities of egg meats dried in vacuum pans. The eggs are broken into the pans, the whites and yolks being separated. They are then evaporated to absolute dryness, after which they are scraped from the pans and granulated by grinding. The product looks very much like sawdust; it is comparatively cheap and will keep good for many months, taking the place of fresh eggs when the latter are Scarce and dear. It is prepared on a con- siderable scale in St. Louis. A similar process ployed in the manufacture of 80-called'““égg dlbumen,”which is said to be composed largely of the whites of the eggs of wild fowl. It looks like a fine quality cf give and costs 55 cents a pound, being util- ized by bakers and for glazing prints. Several processes heve been patented for preserving egzs in their shells by means of the vacuum. One method is to place them in a chamber, which is then exhausted of alr. The air, containing the germs of de- vompésition, fs thus drawn out of the eggs, and carbonic acid gas is forced into the re- celver to take the place of it. The eggs are ‘taken out and covered with a varnish, to Prevent the air from getting into them again. A variation on this idea is to intro- duce into the receiver melted paraffine, which fills the pores of the shells. By far the most useful application of the vacuum has been for the preservation of Wood. Scores of patents in this line have been granted. At Wilmington, N. C., piles and railway timbers for the entire south are impregnated with preservative sub- stances. Railway tles are commonly treat- €d in this manner, while metallic and other Solutions are employed to defend bridges against the depredations of the devouring ship-worm or teredo. Wood is artificially colored by using the Yacuum to withdraw its fluid juices, the place of which is filled with solutions con- taining pigments. In this manner ordinary Pine may be beautifully stained and made to serve as a substitute for rare and costly Woods. Lumber is seasoned off-hand by exhausting the air from it, and then fore- ing dry air through the pores, to carry off the mesture. Wood is hardened for all sorts of purposes, from bridge making to wagon making, by a process called “vul- canizing.” Care of Dend Bodies. The records of the patent office would seem to show that people in these days are almost as much interested in preserving corpses as were the ancient Egyptians. In- ventions in this line are multitudinous. One of them describes a coffin of glass, which is to be exhausted of air, a gas that is de- structive of all animal life being substitut- ed. For this purpose sulphur dioxide or carbonic acid gas will serve. A method of embalming consists in withdrawing the fluid contents of the body by means of an | air pump, as a preliminary to forcing anti- septics into the arteries and cavities. There are numerous patents for preserv- ing foods with the aid of the vacuum. One idea is to extract the air contained in meat, fish and fruit, which are to be im- pregnated thereupon with a solution of gelatine. This being accomplished, the meat or what not is to be taken out and dipped into a solution of gelatine, sugar and gum, so as to give it a coating on the outside, Thus it will keep for an indefinite period. —_——___ “AM Quiet on the Picket Line.” The following poem was read by Dr. Cal- ver on the occasion of the reunion of the Confederate Veterans’ Asscciation and the Union Veteran Legion at Marshall Hall last Monday and was heartily recetved: ‘The sunshine dances with the waves On mid Potomae’s merry tide, fully its glory laves cefal shoals on either side; elet's kiss alone is heard Where on the bank the pebbles shine, And nodding rushes pass the word— “All quiet on the picket line.” By ‘Those rushes—how they beat the time When waves and rays together dance To musie of the rippling chime That marks the midstream’s swift advance; But as the wavelets near the shore The velvet batons wave the sign, And giddy waters laugh no more— “All quiet on the picket line.” On elther shore, in bygone days, How often has the picket trod, Viti ready plece and watchful gaze, ‘The tracks that scarred the flowery sod. But now these shores in beauty smile, ‘The trees wave beutsons benign, The green leaves. whispering. the while— “All quiet on the picket line,” How often in the days of yore Has that report a charm possessed; It ea to warriors worn and sore respite And kindly greetings then were “All quiet on the picket line." How sweet the moments in the woods, When blue and gray there met by stealth— ‘The interchange of soldiers’ goods— ‘The haversack’s and knapsack's wealth; How dear the memory of the seene— ‘The brook, the overhanging vine, ‘The mossy carpet, soft and gr = “All qulet on the picket line. The soldier true, who knows no fear, No petty spi a ever feel But glad is he to meet his ‘The foeman worthy of hls steel; When it is war, he strikes to pour Fall dranghts of giory’s ruby wine; When it is peace, he strikes no more— “All quiet on the picket Hine."” ‘The war fs over, long ago, And gladly meet the blue and gray; No_truer Jove can mortals ktow "Than Yheirs for foemen of the fray: For each has leained the other's worth, 1d. bot proud that fadeless shine Glory’s"” stars in all the ear ‘All quiet on the picket line.” % THOMAS CALVER. ——? EPITAPHS ON ROSEBERY. What Two Unionist. Journals S: the Ex-Premier and How They Said Ii Defeated politicians are not treated with much more consideration in England than is generally shown in this country. The downfall of the Rosebery administration resulted in a great quantity of satirical Publication as to the ex-premier. La- bouchere’s Truth says: ‘A little Rosebery goes a long way. In assuming the premiership he went alto- gether too far! Of the dead, however, let there be nothing said but good. He would have made an admirable master of the horse.” Archib: 10 Phi Hie: rehiba! lip Primrose, Fifth Earl of "Rosebery, Once = minister Engiand. He lost twenty-seven scats And ‘Won two derbies. bone ee Reser was also in epi- aphian mood, for it gave in esome headstone style the following: sa The dead ministry. In memory of A separatist ministry. Born August 18, 1892. Died June 23, 18u5. Age, two years ten months There was no institution In church or state That they did not assuil, And none That was not stronger : For their assauits, In their desire for votes There was no section of the electorate, However insignificant, That they did not attempt to bribe, And none That received ern aes of its support ey Promised much And Did nothing. ———-_-_—— He Had. From the Chicago Tribune. “It seems to me,” observed one of the neighbors happening along during the afternoon of the glorious Fourth, “you might have put a flag or two on the front of your house.” “We did,” answered the wild-looking man on the veranda, “but we had to take them down and use them for bandages.” ———ro+__ Cepid’s Triumph. From the Rockland Tribuae. “I wonder why so short a man as Bimley shculd marry such a tall girl as Miss Tup- per?” . “Probably the same reason that induced as a to marty a Httle fellow like ley. = ERCURIAL - = POISON is the Fesnlt of the me 1 treat tment of blood dis- 1 system fa: with Mercury Potash remedies—irore to be aa than the far disease—and in condition than bet RHEUMATISM for which 8. S. 8. is the most reliable cure. A f bottles will afford relief where all else has failed, I suffered from a severe attack of Mercurial Rheumatism, my arms and legs being swollen 70 twice thelr aafural sive, ‘causiog the Most excruct, ating pains. 1 spent hundreds of dollars without relief, but after a few ttles of “7 I improved rapidly and am bow well, man, can heartily recom- mend it to any one suffering from this infal disease. v. F. DALEY, Brookiyn Elevated R.R. Our Tr atise on Blood and Skin Diseases mailed free to any address. SWIFT SPECIFIC CO., Atlanta, Ga. WORLD'S FAIR HIGHEST AWARD. MPERDAL GRANUM 18 UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED he STANDAR and the BEST Prepared FOOD For INVALIDS and Convalescents, for Dys- peptic, Delicate, Infirm and Aged Persons. PURE, delicious, nour- ishing FOOD for nurs- ing mothers, infants and CHILDREN. soa ty DRUGGISTS ererw Shipping Depot, JOHN CARLE & SONS, X my18-s,tu&th,1y York. 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