Evening Star Newspaper, September 26, 1896, Page 15

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 26, 1896—TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. —, 15 =a Cre TE GAN il eee Hye) 3 Ve (Spite eo EW tap Wane THE OLD SMITHFIELD CHURCH. IN THE EARLY DAYS A Visit to Jamestown, the First Capital of Virginia. RUINS NOW MAINLY MARK THE SPOT Sossts= Picturesque Smithfield and the Old- est Protestant Church Edifice. Its RESTORATION ——+—_— CHARACTE of the Jam river country seem to be an inheritan from Its first settle- ment. Among the original colonists, an even hundred, there “* were mentioned by \- i name fifty-four “gen- i tlemen,” one chirur- on, one drummer, en artisans of va. sjve@rious trades and e laborers. The balance, whose names and callings are not mentioned, are lumped together as “divers others." The proportion of gentlemen more than holds good, though perhaps few would wish to be specifically classed as such, or who affect the old exclusiveness. The conditions of life are easy. If there is not much wealth there is every indica- tion of comfort. The sandy soil is easily worked, free from weeds and exactly adapted to trucking, sweet potatoes and especially “goobers,” which are a profitable crop. | A desire to soften the asperities of life is a@ marked characteristic of this whole region. Nobody is in a hurry. Even in Newport News and Norfolk, with their large busin interests, there is no rush. Strangers meet No one is with unfailing courtesy. too busy to give you all the in- m you want—and some to spare. In farm house, store or office it is the same. If by some rare chance the occupant is u able to give you bis instant and undivided | attention, he apologizes with evident sin- | cerity and invites you to sit down until the | Originally, it vas a peninsula of about two thousand acres, much of it marsh, or under water at high tide. The current has cut away the upper part with the neck from which the weary traveler may quench his thirst. At the top of the hill beyond, in the midst of a grove of large native trees, oaks, button-wood and walnut, ven- erable with thrice the supposititious years of “the many wintered crow,” stands the oldest Protestant church building in America. It was built in 1632, only ten years after the Indian massacre. Oldest Protestant Church. At that time the entire populatiom was Ep’‘scopalian, but fina!ly conditions changed, cld families moved away, other denomina- tions sprang up and the service in the old church could no longer be kept up. The years went by, and it was abandoned and left to desolation. The rcoftree fell in, the windows rotted away ard it stood forlorn, a thing of dread to children and a sad memento to the old of the vicissitude of things. By chance a lady who lived in the neighborhood when a child was revisiting it. She told the writer that children in her day dared not go near it. Those who ven- tured heard unaccountable noises, whispers and the rustle of silks among the moldered aisles. Curiously enough, her imagination seem- ed to call up the old feeling. “I reckon there are none of those spooks here now,” she said, with an interrogative air. More than fifty years ago Bishop Meade, as he relates, was passing the church, when he noticed at the top of the wall a young cedar. He expressed a desire for it, with no idea that it could be obtained, when his companion, a young man, climbed up and secured it. Ihe good bishop took it home and planted it, and it was 2 fine, thriving tree at the time he wrote. The gcod bishop's “bones are dust;’’ bit MONEY IN MINES But There is Also, Opportunity for Extensive Swindling. HOW TENDERFEEY: ARE TAKEN IN When Such Property is a Gamble and When It is Not. ADVICE TO INVESTORS = < (Copyrighted, 1896,.by Frank G. Carpenter.) SALT LAKE CITY, September 1896. [ EADVILLE IS SEV- enteen years old and it has produced more than $200,000,000, worth of precious E metals. Cripple Creek has within five years produced more than $13,000,000 worth of gold, and which joined it to the mainland until it has become, in fact, an island. Some three hundred acres have been swept away, in- cluding most of the town site. Nothing is left for the curious spade of the explorer some millenniums hence. The remains of an old wharf may be seen, and a cypress with its curious, buttressed roots far out in the water which marks the old shore line. Con- gress, a year or two since, appropriated ten thousand dollars to prevent the further de- struction of the tsland, and an embankment with ripraps has-been built along the northern end, but the work is badly done, and already the bark is beginning to be un- dermined. Twenty-two acres, including all that is left of the old town site, have been pur- chased by a society of ladies, and a high fence of wire netting run around the old church and burying ground. This, and a desolation of bricks, scattered thick: through the corn fields adjo‘ning, is all that is left of the first capital of Virginia. Of the church there is left only the tower, overgrown with poison ivy. From the front it is in a pretty gcod state of preservation, and the arched door, with a window above, is clearly indicated. From the church yard, Icoking to the river, it is in a ruinous con- dition. Near the top are some narrow slits which were meant as loopholes for mus- ketry. Only the Charch Tower Left. ‘The tower, as may be plainly seen, was never joined to any other masonry. This has given rise to a recent theory that there never was a brick church in its rear. The conclusion 1s not warranted. The same reasoning would prove that the brick church at Williamsburg, which has stood for a hundred and eighty years, is wood, or that it never existed at all. its tower not being joined to the other brickwork. More- over, the evidence from records is conclu- sive that it was brick, and fifty years ago its dimensions could easily be made out. A brick wall, now itself a ruin, was, a hun- dred years ago, made from its brick around @ part of the old churchyard. What remains in doubt is whether this tower is part of the brick church built to succeed the first wooden one. or was a part of the one built after the destruction of the town in the Bacon rebellion. In any case, standing watch over its broken tombs, a single stone only being fairly legible, recalling the romance and the dark tragedies of the beginning of our history, it is the most interesting and im- pressive relic of this continent. Very closely connected with the history of Jamestown is Smithfield. That most en- tertaining liar, Capt. John Smith, in* his history of Virginia tells us that in the fall of the first year of the colony he went with six or seven men to Kecoughtan, now Hampton, to trade with the natives, and on his return “discovered the Towne and Country of Warraskoyack,” which is Smithfield. The Indians were friendly, and THE OLD COURT HOUS little matter of business is disposed of. That they are sudden an] choleric when one intentionally treads on their toe may well be, but nowhere will you find a more genuine hospitality, more painstaking effort to oblige. They Were Born Polite, Politeness is not an acquisition, but a gift. They are born with it. It is noticeable even in their warnings against offenses. “Walk your horses over this bridge or pay $%,” offers a gracious option to one whose con- vivial spirit should urge him to a higher rate of speed. Farmers who do not want to have shooting on their land do not put up the offensive notices “keep out, no tres- passing under penalty of the law,” and the like. They tack up a bit of a board with the single word “posted.” Occasionally there is added “no gentleman will pre- sume.” What would be done to the person who was “no gentleman” is a matter for | gloomy conjecture. | A pilgrimage to this region which should leave Jamestown unvisited would be em- phatically Hamlet without the Dane. Many people, nevertheless, will be disposed to On Pagan Creek. think this part of the play not worth the candle. The difficulty of getting there is ccnsiderable, and that of getting away may be worse. If you go by rail, the nearest | station is Williamsburg, eight mies away, | and the road none of the best. If by steam- { er, you will be left on the island twenty- four hours. and as-there are now but two white families there the facilities for en- tertainment sre limited. Doubtless the ever-ready instinct of hospitality would teake some provision for the stranger. We did not tax it so far. We had planned our exit by land, but we found ourselves re- duced to the choice between a clumsy, two- wheeled cart drawn by a spavined horse and walking. First Capital of Virgin: Now, the associations and sentiment which gather about Jamestown are a chief irducement to a visit. Fancy, then, the mixed nature of your sentiment when, at the moment you step off the boat a young man comes up to you to demand twenty-five cents wharfage. And what- ever the associations you may cherish be- fere a visit, gnats and mosquitoes will have @ prominent place in your after-thoughts. E AT SMITHFIELD. he several times stopped there on his ex- ploring trips It was one of the first places settled by the English, and one of the few that seem to have escaped without much loss from the great massacre of 1622, which so nearly wiped out the entire colony. At Smithfield. The rresent village was incorporated in 2. It finished its growth a long time ago, when it had acquired a population of about one thousand. It fs not a dilapidated town, however, but seems fairly prosper- ous, with a good class of dwellings and a very few handsome ones. All in all, it is very attractive, with fine, old-fashioned! colonial-looking Houses on large, pleasant grounds, with abundant and large shade trees. It is at the head of the creek. also known as Warraskoyack. under many spellings, five or six miles off the James. Just before reaching the village the creek doubles on itself, running back at the foot of a high ridge to form a long peninsula. Among the residents this is now known as Pagan creek, or river, whether in remem- brance of its ancient or modern inhabitants does not appear. When they want an ap- propriation it is Pagan river, as, in its beneficence, Congress draws the line at creeks. ‘To most readers Smithfield is only asso- ciated with a brand of ham. There is, in fact, a ham factory, whose product is held in high repute. Where they procure the Taw material is not evident. The “Isle of Hogges,” where the first colonists sent their swine to live as best they might on what they should find or turn up, is a few miles above, in the James. In driving about we saw only a few razor-backs that Icoked as though they might have been an escape from the original drove. The qual- ity of the hams, eaten as it were on their native heath, is undeniably good. What our grocer sells you under: this label, “well, that is. another stor: Sweet po- tatoes, and especially peanuts, are a large article of export. Some Old Buildings. Nearly all the houses have been built long enough to have a somewhat old-time air about them. Many date from about the beginning of the century, and a half dozen from the incorporation of the town. As interesting as any is the old court house, built about an even hundred years ago. It has long been transformed into a dwelling, the county seat having’ been re- mcved to Isle of: Wight. In this house the i wife of the late Generai Mahone was born and raised. The front has been modern- ized by the addition of porches, but the back part remains unaltered. There was the judge’s bench, the bar and jury box, the court room extending forward toward the street. The small brick building on the corner was the clerk's office, and re- mains unchanged: But the object of chief interest, that which brought the writer to Smithfield, is not there, but five miles out on the Suf- folk road. We cross a rickety draw-bridge over a branch of the creek, which eats its way indefinitely up into the land. There is a long stretch of salt marsh, with its cerduroy a foot under water at high tide, . leading to it. Beyond, the road. winds pleasantly among fields.of peanuts and sweet potatoes. We come:finally to a wood- ed ravine, through which flows # clear, swift-running brook, a veritable phenome- non in this part of the country. At the. foot of a rock: is a spring, considerably walled up, with a nice new oyster shell t the wail new stands much as it did when first erected. So wide an interest attached Arch in Jamestown Church. te the building that an effort was made to restore it. Contributions were obtained froia various parts of the country, and two years ago the chufch was rededicated ard services are again held. Within it ts, of course, entirely new. Without, a few dozen brick only were needed. Ancient Tombstones, The interior is handsomely finished. The “pictured panes” are the gift of individual denors and societies. Behind the altar is a kandsome and, for.the size of the butld- Ing, large memorial window. In the floor of the chancel are set two tombstones, brought fiom the old Bridger estate, a few miles away. The inscription of the one, in cap- ital letters, the dash showing the division en the stone, is as follows: “Sacred—To ye Memory of—The Honble Joseph Bridger— Esq., Councelr of State in Virginia—to King Charles ye 2d—Dying April ye 15, 1686— Aged 59 Yeares—Mournfully Left His Wife, 2 Sons & 4 Daughters.” Below is a long eulogy in verse, written without division Into lines on the stone. I quote four out of tke twelve: “Here les ye late great _min- ister of State. That Royal virtues had and Royal fate To Charles his Councels did such hon’rs bring. His own express fetch- ed him t’ attend ye King.” This man was the paymaster general of the British troops in Americr. during the Pacon rebellion, ex- actly a hundred years vefore the revolution- ary war. His father was the man who built the church. In a country where we have no great antiquities, cr none left by our race, so new upon this continent, such a memorial, covering almost the entire period of our histery, should have an extraordinary in- terest, which must deezen as the genera- tions go by. — AIR MOTOR CAR NOW READY. Trial Trips at Worcester Reported to He Successfal. From the Worcester (Mass. ‘The compressed air motors designed for rurning street cars by the Metropolitan Traction Company of New York.city, and upon which experts have been at work at the plant of the American Wheelock En- gine Company at South Worcester for sev- eral months, have passed the experimenial stages and are now working most satisfac- torily. Nene of the ten cars shipped from New York has yet been returned with the new motors attached, but two of the cars have been equipped with the motors. Trials have been made with them, and one is ready to be loaded upon the cars whenever the officials are ready to send it on. The car already equipped with the motor is complete, and could begin running in New York this morning should the projectors so desire- Within the high board fence inclosing the works a short track of regulation gauge was constructed upon which to test the power of the motors to propel the cars. Upon this track the first car equipped with the Hoadley motor had its trial trips. Officials from New York and other cities were present, but the motor did not work exactly as anticipated, and several changes were thought expedient by the engineers in charge. These have now been made in the improved motor. The track is now built in the form of a circle, the circumference of which is about an eighth of a mile. It has a rather steep incline upon one portion, which, with the curve, that is much sharper than usually amet in railway transportation, affords a crucial test for the hauling power of the motor. The car went about five miles with a single charge of the compressed air. The car runs with scarcely any noise, and resembles the ordinary electric car, the only apparent difference to the casual ob- server being that there is no trolley or oth- er apparatus upon the roof. The motors are barely noticeable as the car speeds by. The ordinary hand-brake, working directly upon the wheels by means of an fron chain, is used. The motors are charged with the compressed air at a pressure of about 2,000 peunds. - ‘The workmen in the shop are engaged in constructing other motors after the im- proved drawings, and it is the intention of the engineers to equip all ten of the cars now at the works with the motors. At present but a single car has the new motor arrangement, the old motor that was at- tached to the first car not having been re- placed as yet. coo Attempt at Suicide. Napoleon’ From the Century. Since 1908 he had worn about his neck as a kind of amulet a little bag said to con- tain a deady poison, one of the salts of prussic acid. That night, when the ter- rors of a shaken reason overpowered him, it si believed that he swallowed the drug. Instead of oblivion came agony, and his valet, rushing to his master’s bedside at the sound of a bitter cry, claimed to catch the words: “Marmont has struck me the final blow! Unhappy man, I loved him! Ber- thier’s desertion has broken my heart! My old friends, my comrades in arms!” Ivan, the emperor's body physician, was summoned, and administered an antidote; the spasm was allayed, and after a short sleep reason resumed her seat. It is re- lated in the memoirs of Caulaincourt, and probably with a sort of Homeric truth, that when the reputed writer was admitted in the early morning, Napoleon's “wan. and sunken eyes seemed struggling to recall the objects round about; a universe of tor- ture was revealed in the vaguely desolate look." Napoleon is reported as saying: “Tt is not the loss of the throne that makes existence unendurable; my military career suffices for the giory of a single man. Do you know what is more difficult to bear than the reverses of fortune? It is the y baseness, the horrible ingratitude of man. ‘| Before such acts of cowardice, before the ‘| shamefuiness of their egotism, I have turn- ‘ed away my head in disgust and taken my | life in horror..* * * What I have suffer- ed for twenty days no one can under. stand.” there are a_ half- dozen other camps in Colorado which have turned out millions. Utah’s vast wealth of gold and silver is just beginning to be knewn. In all of the Rocky mountain states new mines are being opened, and within the next few years hundreds of for- tunes will be made. At the same time hun- dreds will lose the money that they put in- to mines and mining, and the old saying that it takes $2 in work and losses to get $1 out of the earth will hold good. There is no business in which men will risk so much as in mining, and none into which they will go so blindly. Managed legiti- mately and on business principles I believe the getting out of gold and s‘lver is more certain of profit than four-fifths of the other businesses of the United States. How few of our professional men make for- tunes! The statistics show that 90 per cent of the merchants fail. I am told here that more than 75 per cent of those who use the same business judgment, care and time, as are needed for other businesses, in working and dealing in mines, succeed. It will seem strange to many people to think that you can tell just what a mine is worth. Nevertheless this, to a large ex- tent, can be estimated by experts. Mines are often sold for the amount of ore in sight. By going down a certain distarice on a vein and by testing the rock at the different™levels you can tell almost how much ore you are sure of getting out, and you can buy the mine for this sum with a big chance of getting more gold further down. Good mines cannot be bought for nothing, but properly purchased, many show little chances of Juss, with big pros pects of fortune making in their develop- ment. We now have a large class of men who may be called mining Investors. They do not buy heles in the ground without those holes have already produced gold or silver in paying quantities. They have ex- erts look at the mines and carefully in- estigate the titles to them before they purchase. Many of them do not invest until they have been here for six months or a year, and they use the same care as to mining that they would were they investing in business property or putting their money into a manufacturing plant. Some Paying Investments. There is a great fascination in mining speculation. A good mine pays so well and so fast that the temptation {fs great, ard a mine which has produced gomething and has a good prospect for the future is rot hard to sell. Col. Dick Kerens, the railroad millionaire and republican politician of St. Louis, from his summer home in West Virginia to Washington. During the trip he told me ef an investment which James G. Blaine, Stephen B. Elkins and himself made in @ silver mine at Leadville. “It was,” said he, “called the ‘Small Hopes,’ and It cost us just about $400,000 to buy it and develop it. You cannot imagine how fast the money came back to us. We got $10,000 a Gey, 01 the average, out of the mine for a period of more than four years, and we have already taken more chan $4,250,000 worth of silver out of it.” Jay Cooke, after his failvre in business New York, we west to Utab and invested in a mine there. He brought into the deal the same careful judgment and business brains that he used in selling h's government bonds, and w he returned he organized a company to de- velop his property, taking as his share one- fourth of the stock. That fourth, I am told, paid hlim more than a million dollars and made him again rich. Senator Hearst's millions were made in mines, and he kept up his buying until the day of his death. He dealt in silver, gold and copper, and made money in all. The Rothschilds have, it is said, recently bought his interests in the great copper mine at Anaconda, Moat., paying $7,000,000 for them. There are a large number of men here in Colorado who buy mines to develop them, and I believe that men with capital can find plenty of good investments in the west today. The Opportunities are by no means confined to the Cripple Creek region, nor to Colorado. There ts good mining territory in Montana. Nevada, Arizona, Utah and California, and the right man with a little money or much money can do more business here just 1ow than in almost any other part of the United States. Money in Mines. By this I do not mean that money {8 to be made by careless speculation. Wherever dollars are offered for cents, and big divi dends are guaranteed for a small sum in- vested, it is*pretty safe to believe that the matter is a gamble. There is plenty of money out here in Colorado and Utah, and things of that kind are not going to waste. Many prospects, hcwever, are offered for sale on the ground of their being a gamble. Two men may have what they think u gcod thing, but may lack the money to de- velop it. They will form a company, re- serving 4 certain part of the stock for themselves, and selling the rest for devel- orment. If tney are honest men they will tell you that the matter is a speculation. ard yon can find whether they are using your money in developing the property. If they do so you may be sure that their en- terprise is a legitimate one, and if it suc- ceeds you will get your share. “But how,” you ask, “shall I find out whether my n.en are honest or not?” Well, in the first place, any man who in- vests much in mines ought to come out here and stay long enough to know how to judge a mine. He ought to look well before he buys, and he should have the report of a good mining engineer or expert on the property in which he inveats. There are a number of such men here, and you can easily find whether they e reliable. If one wishes to invest in mines and cannot come to the west he,ought to inquire as to { the reliability of the party with whom he deals through his banker.e Any bank in the country can find out through the banks of the Rocky mountains as to the char- acter of any of the who are dealing in mines, and both the banks and the news- Papers are ready and anxious to expose gambling speculations. The editors of the Cripple Creek and Salt Lake newspapers have requested me to invite examination of men and property through them, and I do not believe there is a newspaper editor in Colorado or Utah who would not give an honest reply in such a case, and who would not aid in exposing fraud. In buy- ing mines the prospectusgs of the proper- ties sheuld give the gim owned by the comy ey Bhould state @#st what has been done as to the develop- ment of the mine, and what is to be’ done with the receipts. Itemized figures and data should be given and the names and addresses of all the officers. By means of such statements properly made a little cor- ‘ respondence will give any one such an in- | sight into the company as will show him whether it ts a legitimate one or not. The chief judgment of a mine should be based first on the reputation of a pees who own it, ard secondly whether the money received is actually being put into the ground. of all the mines Swindling in Mines. In all mining camps some swindling goes on. Men will try to eheat in mining quite as much as they do in other businesses, and there are instafices where worthless holes have been stocked for millions, and the shares sold for’® few cents apiece, the fencorporators putting the money into their I rode not long ago with | pockets. When Cripple Creek was first opened there was quite a lot of such schemes, and it was hard to tell the legit!- mate from the illegitimate. The fact that @ prospect was stocked at a million at < face valve of a dollar a share, and that the stock was sold for 1 cent a share, was ro sign that the property was not a good one. It only showed that the mine was estimated by its owners at $10,000, and that they Noped it would bring a million. Many of the best mines today have been sold for 1 or 2 cents and upward a share. The An- choria Leland, now one of the most valua- ble properties of Cripple Creek, was hawked about at 4, 5 and 6 cents a share. During the past year ore has been taken out of i€ worth more than $7,000 to the ton, and a man who leased it has made a for- tune. All Cripple Creek mines are capital- ized very high, higher, I think, than the mines of the Mercur district. No one stocks any kind of a hole in Cripple Creek for a face value of much less than a million, but purchasers look at the market value and not at the face value of the shares. I have before me a table of the incorpora' ‘in- ing companies of the Cripple Creek ‘ion. There are more than a thousand of them, and the capitalization of the new mining companies incorporated last year aggre- gated $600,000,000. The fee which Colorado gets for each incorporation @& a million is $100, and the state received more than $60, (0 last year for incorporations alone. It is estimated that capital stock of a face value of $500,000,000 has been floated on the Crip pie Creck mines within the past year, and it is probable that the other new mining companies of the state, added to it, would pave a face value equal to the national debt. Stock Buying in Colorado. Stocks in many of these mines are bought and sold on the exchange. There are stock exchanges in all of the mining cities. Den- ver has two, Cripple Creek two, and the people of Colorado Springs speculate so gefierally in mining stock that it is said when you hire a servant girl there you have to give her an hour off in the middle of the day to attend to her stock specula- tions. With stock selling at one cent a share, such a girl could buy 100 shares for a dollar, or, if she had received her monthly wages, she could, perhaps, buy a thousand shares of these one-cent stocks for $10. The mines are captalized in this way, largely es a result of the hard time A great deal of the mining done now its by a combination of small investors, and in case a one-cent mine turns out well the investors realize largely. Of course, most of such investments are gambling, and a large proportion of those who invest in them take the stock as a “‘flyer,”” many not even knowing anything about the mine which they are buying. One of the shrewd- est mining capitalists in Colorado said to me the other day: “Many of the tenderfeet who come out here seem to vant to be humbugged. They don’t investigate the properties in which they buy stock, and they don’t seem to want legitimate mines. Their sole care seems to be whether the stock is cheap or not, payiag little regard as to whether it is good. Some of them want to buy gold lands by the acre, and, in fact, a large part of the speculation in Colorado mines this year has been fostered by real estate agents. You see, Denver has been very dull during the hard times, and the real estate men were almost starving when the Cripple Creek gold fever broke out. At this time they left Denver and went to Cripple Creek, and bought land by the acre near the mining camps and capitalized It. At the same time real estate fakirs from different parts of the country came in. They went through the ceremony of digging holescailed them mines and stocked them. They took their stock books home with them and filled them out ad libitum. They sold their stock at a few cents a share, and in many cases the buyers are still waiting to hear further from them. The truth is, the man who be- lieves in a guarantee of $1 out of a one- cent investment is a fool. There is a | chance: for such an occurrence, it is true, and I know that there have been many in- stances of this kind in Cripple Creek. I know, for example, one man who bought Portland stock when it was 3% cents a share. He invested $40 in it, and when he sold the other day he cleared $0,000, I know of other fellows who have put $400 into other stocks, and whose stocks are not now worth more than e on which they are printed. Buying cheap and unlisted stock is like gambling in Monte Carlo. The chances are almost altogether against you.” The Mount Pisgah Swindle. And still you can never tell where gold is until you find it. Some of those one-cent holes may turn out to be worth fortunes, ard it may pay you to invest in some of them if you will take the preliminary steps which I have advised at the beginning of this letter to find out as to whether they are offered by reliable parties. The best part of the Cripple Creek region was once sold for $7,500, and only about six ago there were thousands of miners wan- dering over these gold fields which are now producing a miliion dollars a month and cursing the authors of the famous Mount Pisgah swindle. Mount Pisgah is only a few miles from Cripple Creek. You can see it from aimost any one of the famou. mines of the region. It was at that tim the center of a gold excitement brought about by two swindling prospectors. These prospectors dug a hole on Mount Pisgah ard salted the mine, as it is termed, by bringing rich gold ore from other parts of the state and burying it in their shaft. They then took specimens of this ore and carried them to Leadville, stating that they had struck it rich on Mount Pisgah. There Was i great excitement at once. Leadville capitalists went back with them, and Lought the mine of the swindlers for $2,000, For some reason, however, the money was not paid on the "spot, and in the meantime the story of the gold being found ¥ heard in Denver and Colorado Springs. There was at once a rush for Mount Pisgah. Mr. George Ady, the general agent of the Union Pa- cific company of Denver, told me that he could not get enough cars to carry the pas- sengers. Said he: “We put on extra trains, and within less than a week there were thousands of men marching over what is now Cripple Creek to get to Mount Pisgah. Among trem were good miners, and within a cou- ple of days these men saw that the mine was a fraud. ‘They saw that it had been salted. The news soon got out, and the thousands of men came back, leaving un- touched the gold fields between them and the railroad. ‘The fraud was discovered be- fore the money was paid, and the salters had to keep out of the way for fear of be- ing lynched. Sulting Mines, There is little salting mines done today. There are 100 many honest experts, and it is seldom that a worthless property brings an immense forture. Still, the man who wishes to buy mines wants to keep his eyes open, ind the expert who would judge a mine correctly ought to go through it al- most alone. If he does not and picks his samples fiom the places suggested he will be apt to strike only the richest parts of the vein, and he may get ore that is salted. An average mine mey be salted with rich pieces of rock here and there, and the re- sult of the assay will make it look far richer than it is. A good expert takes his samples from a number of places. He uses good-sized chunks, as well as small bits, and he takes them from all parts of the hele. Salting is often done by means of scattering gold dust on the rock of the vein or on the loose dirt of a placer, and there have been cases in which chloride of gold has been used. Any expert, however, can tell that the existence of chloride of gold is a fraud, as such gold does not occur free in nature, and you never find it in a mine in this shape. Sometimes samples are salted after they are taken from the mines, and the man who is judging a mine has to keep his eyes open from the time he gets the rock to the time he has made his assay. Some Curious Swindles, You hear of all kinds of curious swindles here. A pipe full of ashes containing gold dvst may be dropped into a sample of pow- dered tock ready for ‘assaying, and the as- sayer may be in conjunction with the miner to sell the mine. Such an instance may be eusily prevenied,however, by a government assay. In placer mining gold dust may be Gropped into the gravel almost under the eyes of the capitalists and they will not see it. Sometimes enormous amounts of dust are used. Arthur Lakes of the State School of Mines in his book which was published last year entitled “Prospecting for Gold and Silver” cites an instance where some mining sharks spent $0,000 for gold dust, ard with it salted a placer mine. They pui up a hydraulic plant, and prepared to work the mines by. means of quicksilver. They brought the capitalists to the spot just at the time when they put the dirt containing the $90,000 worth of gold dust into the mill, ard the result was that they sold their mine for $250,000 in cash. As soon-as they got the money they left the country, and it was some weeks before the capitalists found that they were fooled. FRANK G. CARPENTER. EARLY DAYS OF BURNS. Retired Printer of Edinburgh Given His Father's Recollections of Him. From the Pittsburg Dispatch. Mr. Samuel Kinnear, a retired octoge- narian printer, Edinburgh, is the possessor of a contemporary’s opinion of Burns re- ceived from his father. who was born in Ayr in 1760, and was thus only a year the junior of Burns. “When the poet came first to Edinburgh,” states Mr. Kinnear, “my father was working as a comp in Smellie’s office, and saw Burns arrive from Ayrshire with his ‘copy’ in his pocket for the Edinburgh edition. My parent had ex- pressed himself in regard to Burns ‘that he was a man you might expect a good deal from; he had a very smart, lively look about him.’"" While his poems were pass- ing through the press Burns was an al- most daily visitor at Smeilie’s, and was in the habit, Mr. Kinnear tells, of whisking his whip about in dangerous proximity to the pressmen’s noses, and seemed desirous to have it believed that he was a verdant country yokel. This was the opinion of Alexander Smel- lie, who was a lad about seventeen, when the poet thrashed his right leg with his whip as he strode through the case room, the press room being a portion of it, the Dresses being at the end farthest from the door—a poor looking place. Burns, it is said, saw a compositor setting up a Latin word, on which he asked the man how many languages he knew The answer came, “I wush I kent my ain weel eneuch.” Burns, like many others, thought the comp must be able to read and understand the languages he composes. Over half a century ago Mr. Kinnear was himself engaged for a short time in Smel- lie's printing cffice, which stood on a por- tion of the site now covered by the Scots- man buildings. It was much the same, he mentions, as when Burns first saw it. “There was the dingy room in which Smel- lie received the elite of Edinburgh's liter- ary men; in it was still standing the three- legged stool on which Burns used to drink ale, read his proofs and chaff the printer. At this occupation both Smellie and Burns were adepts, though the former was a somewhat rude and rough combatant. I believe, if I had thought of it, I might have set up a page of the poems from the same old type in which they were printed, for the office was still as dingy, dark and fusty as in the olden time, and the material did not seem to have changed much. But, then (Mr. Kinnear plaintively concludes), Burns in the early forties was not by any means thought so much of as Burns in 189 so the project did not at the time sug- gest itseif to my mind.” Ss Chang at Grants Tomb. From the Chicago Record. Were Li Hung Chang less great he would be considered impudent by New Yorkers. The questions he now asks would cease to be characteristics of genius or looked upon as charmingly eccentric. Viewing Grant's temb he asked ‘How much did this cost?” and “When will it be completed?” if It is nct surprising that a stranger should put such questions; 70,000,000 persons, some of whom knew the late warrior and all of whem love his memory, have put the same interrogations many times and are still putting them. As a student of Chinese classics Li knows that things pertaining to eternity are not for finite minds to discuss. But as a for- A NEW DYSPEPSIA CURE OVER 6,000 PEOPLE IN STATE OF MICHIGAN CURED IN 1894 BY THIS NEW PREPARATION. Stuart's ‘Tablets, the new discovery for stomech troubles, ts claimed to tave cured over 6,000 ie in the state of Michigan alone in 1894. These tchicts have become so papular with pay: siclans and people who have any form of indi tion that- they have the Indorsement of much phy- siclans ‘as Dr. Harlandson and Dr. Jennison as being the safest, most reliable remedy fer sour stomach, chronic dyspepsia, gas, bloating, palplta- tion, headache, constipation and in all cases where the appetite is poor or the focd imperfectly ai- Pare It is safe to say that Stuart's Dyspepsia Tablets will cure any kind of stomach trouble except cancer of the stomach. ‘They are not a secret patent ncdich but composed of vegetable and fruit =s- sences, pure pepsin Golden Seal, ginger and the digestive acids. ‘They are pleasant to teke, can be carried in the pocket, they cure because they digest the food prompt before it has tim: to ferment and poison the blood. Druggists everywhere sell Stuart's Dyspepsia Tublets, full sized packages, at 50 cents. A book on Stomach diseases and thousands of testimonials sent free by addressing The Stuart Co,, Markhal!, Mic’ ee25,26-2t Yusen Kaisha Company, has been in San Diego since last night gathering informa- tion. He is noncommittal as to his plans, reiterating what he said when in San Fran- cisco, to the effect that he is simply here gathering information to submit to his beard of directors. In reply to the direct question whether he intended to put on steamers to this port, he said the, matter rested with the directors. He admitted that the company desired a southern route, and in discussing the subject of Japanese colonization schemes in Mexico he added that In his opinion these colonization schemes would be carried out on a grand scale, and that the result would be a large steamer business with Japan. Iwanaga and his secretary were taken on a trip on the bay this morning and through the Chula Vista lemon groves this after- noon. Hundreds of questions were asked by the Japanese and many notes taken, so that they will leave tomorrow morning well posted on this section. In an interview, Iwanaga said his company could have a steamship service within three weeks if it saw fit. He interviewed Gen. W. E. Webb, owner of the Tepustete iron mines in Lower California, and secured from him informa on as to the quality, quantity and loca tion of the ore and how it could be shipped. He said that another steamer would follow the Miike Maru from Yokohama for Seattle on September {, and that ail steamers for Seattle would call at Honolulu. Discussing the Toyo Kisen Kaisha, the rival line, Iwanaga said he had no doubt it would come to San Diego, and added that his infcrmation was gained in Chicago. He said that Asano, president of the Toyo Kisen Company, was a very wealthy man, and besides owning large cement works in Japan, was a heavy dealer in oil. One of the objects of his visit to England was to purchase tank steamers to ship oil from Russia to Japan. Iwanaga will leave to- morrow morning for San Francisco, laying over a day at Los Angeles, and arriving at San Francisco Monday noon. -. A Gentlem: Fron, the New York Times. Tramp. eigner he is not supposed to know that A man stopped at a book cart in Ann Grant’s tomb in New York is a part of | street Saturday to look over the cheap eternity. Like force and matter, it never | paper editions that : had a beginning and never will have an | PAPer sacag Fah; see oe ending. It was first thought of by archae- PR ey or eee Sears AS olegisis prior to the rule of the shepherd king». Afterward Ptolemy suggested that New York erect it, and, acting upon the gestion, the New Yorkers asked the people of the country to subscribe money to ps for it. Not until the Babylonian captivity did the matter come up again in the minds of New Yorkers, and then only to spur them to renewed appeals for sub scriptions. In this work the New Yorkers set the pace for generosity by paying for the printed blank subscription lists. Since the death of Cleopatra the to. has made no progress; so Li Hung Chang’ last question was perfectly natural. As he is a distinguished foreigner it 1s almost possible that his interest will stir New Yorkers to circulate another batch of sub- scription blanks. 20+ —-—__ A Poem on a Silver Plate. For it was Mr. Field's habit to write per- «id so a tramp touched him on the shoulder and said: “I beg your pardon, sir, but will you pur- chase that for me?” A gruff “No” was the reply, but the tramp was not to be easily got rid of. “I enjoy reading, sir,” he said, “and have much leisure time. The newspapers do not satisfy me. Their stories are not writ- ten by masters. They are superficial; the are not from the heart; they have no pai ticular object in view. Hugo had no equal and so no superiors.” The tramp spoke hurriedly, as though un- willing to let his forced hearer escape his plea. He wanted the book, and to inuicate that he was not of the lowest tramp, said: “To paraphrase Cacsar, Gall is divided into three parts—the ness of the world, of the flesh and of the i I have experienced the first, am ex- sonal verse about his children, says Martha | periencirng the second and hope for some- Nelson Yenowine, in August ’St. Nicholas. | thing betier than the third. lam a tramp, There are a number of scrap books filled | 48 outcast—you can see that—tut 1 have , : : : a en a gentleman—as the world uses the with these little poems and quaint rhymes | "074 “0 times I can momentarily for- which have never been seen outside of the | gat that I belong to the Brotherhood of home circle. When Roswell Francis Field, But even these moments are usually called “Posey,” was born, he re- rarer and yet more rare. But why ceived many beautiful presents from the you with thi y ney cs *urchase for me this cheap friends of Mr. and Mrs. Field—porringers, | .p.. Miserables’ Jean Valjean spoons, cups and other gifts serving a ba-| of the brotherhood, Fantine was another; by’s joys and needs, The one thing lacking, | the pock contains many others, and 1 wish F er thought, was a silver plate.whicn | to read it aguin. I have read it four times he hased for Posey. For this plate Mr. | gnd have p: J it on. I will do so again, Field composed the” following beautiful verse, which was afterward engraved fac simile upon the plate: “Inscription for My Little Son's Silver Plate. “Unto Roswell Francis Fi Eugene Field, giveth this counsel with this plate. September 2, 1803. “When thou shalt eat from off this plate, I charge thee: Be thou temperate; Unto thine elders at the board Do thou sweet reverence accord; Though unto dignity inclined, Unto the serving folk be kin Be ever mindful of the poor, Nor turn them hungry from the door; And unto God, for health and food, nd all that in thy life is good, e thou thy heart in gratitude. ——_— soo Sweaters and Jersey Fiom the Boston Transcript. The shop windows have suddenly blos- somed full of what may be called “girl sweaters,” unlike and yet strangely like the old jersey which had its rise and fall in fashion about a dozen years ago. The fem- inine jersey of that early era had no ath- letic suggestions; it was not far removed from the “tie-back” skirts, and its mission was first and feremost a revelation cf grace; indeed, it taught the old tight-gown sleeves their pretty, clinging ways. Girls “who know” have been more and more in- terested in sweaters for two or three years and have worn them in boats or on moun- tain sides. But there seems to be indicated a sudden demand or an expectation of a de- mand which sociologists will pause and consider. If you see an earnest Bostonian standing before a window display of these coquettish yet useful variations of the all- pervasive “sweattr,” it Is safe to guess that you behold a_ sociologist pondering upon the future. The weather so far in Avgust has not been conducive to the pop- ularity of sweaters for feminine wear, but as the cool days come, there is no telling how many of these bright-colored and en- terprising-looking articles may flash across the New England landscape on whcels. ——__—_-e-— A Criticinm of the Period. From the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, “Have yon seen the new doilar bill?” asked the man who is always appreciative. 'Um—yes,” replied the bicycle fiend. “What strikes you most forcibly about ater “The young man to the left.” “Isn't that a fine idea? There he is, an American youth, being taught all about the Wash rgton monument and the Con- stitution and the Potomac flats.” “Yes, but—” You seem to disapprove of him.” ‘Not exactly. But, I must say, h wouldn’t look very well in golf stockings. eee eee in id his father, Drawing to fill —Life. much that tor it ¢ en out nta contrast makes and, although an extent it s life seem cas you may doubt me, while embitters us, it in the end elevates us, only a slight degree, it is true, but it has a beneficial effect, and that, no matter how slight, is something.” cd, wishing to terminate les: The'man adar: the appeal, and being pressed by ‘the tramp's words picked the volumes from the cart, paid for them, handed them to the (ramp and walk- ed away. "The fellow of the Brotherhood of Adver- sity said: “I am much obliged to you, sir. Humph! cannot even wait to be thanked tor a kindly act because the beneficiary is atramp. Curious thing is human nature.” : — Boy Shed His Skin, From the Florida Citizen. The case ot John Allen, an eigh boy of this place, is puzzling the phy cians. Six wecks ago an orange thorn penetrated the boy's hip, inflammation fol- lewed, and the boy was soon horribly swollen from head to foot. Finally the swelling subsided, but the boy immediately began to shed his skin. That on the face came off separately, but from the neck down the cuticle remained intact and moved off by way of the hands and feet without breaking. The cuticle was five days in passing off, and during that time the bey remained on the bed wriggling like a snake at molting time. The child seemed to be in no pain, but complained of a tick- ling sensation and of a crawling of the flesh. When the cuticle had been shed the boy immediately recovered and is now as well as ever. The skin which is shed is on exhibition at a physician's office. It is a perfect cast of the human form from the neck down, and is about the consistency of hard glue, which it much resembles. a Poisonous Golden Rod. From the Philadelphia Ledger. The state veterinarian of Wisconsin says the golden rod is the cause of the disease resembling consumption that has destroyed thousands of horses in his state an@ Michi- gan. The horses eat the plant, go into a decline and waste away, both blood and tissue being destroyed. The only remedy is to destroy the plant. é Every year there comes new evidence that the golden rod so many are trying to push into place as the national flower, is not fitted for it, and instead that every man's hand should be against it and every man’s heel should be turned to bruise its head end crush it out. aerator The Silver Age. From the Philadelphia Times. For every silver wave that now Breaks into fragments on the lea, ray that nights et moon earthward sent— wer dollar when Bill Bryan 4s our President. ‘When that arrives we'll build up rows OF airy castles In the sk; And have a gay Or plainly kre Lie back and wait for mo >— What Clothes Can From Pick Me Up. He—“Did you ever observe what a alffer- ence clothes make on one’s mind? Now, when I am in my riding togs, I'm all horse; when I have on my business suit my mind's full of business; when I get into my even- ing dress, my mind takes a purely social Do. "And I suppose that when you tak¢ a bath your mind's an utter blank.”