Evening Star Newspaper, November 2, 1896, Page 15

. t THE EVENING STAR, MONDAY,;. NOVEMBER 2, 1896—-SIXTEEN PAGES. ——— ‘A HOUSEHOLD PEST : About the Roach Which Annoys the Careful Housekeeper. METHODS DEVISED TO DESTROY THEM the Different Varieties and Their Habits Described. —_-—_ INTELLIGENCE DISPLAYED Roaches, writes C. L. Marlatt, fn a bul- tetin issued by the Agricultural Depart- ment, are among the commonest and most Offensive of the insects which frequent hu- man habitaticns. They were well known to the ancients, who called them lucifuga, from their habit of always shunning the light. The common English name for them, or, more properly, for the common demestic English species, is “black beetle.” In America this name has not been adopted to any extent for this insect, which was early introduced here, and the term “roach,” or “cockroach,” is the cemmon appellation of all the domestic species. The little German roach, however, is very gen- erally known as the Croton bug, from its early association with the Croton water- works system in New York city. The pop- ular designations of this insect in Ger- many illustrate in an amusing way both and racial prejudices. gectionai In north The American roach (Periplaneta Americana): A, -w from above: B, from beneath—both enlarged one-third (original). ermany these roaches are krown as “Sehwaben,” a name which applies to the inhabitants of south Germany, and the latter section “even up” by calling them “Preus: after the north Germans. In east rmany they are called ‘‘Russen,” and in west Germany “Franzosen,” the two latter appellations indicating a cer- tain national antipathy to rival countries as well as a fanciful idea as to origin. Still other names are “Spanier,” dating from the time of Charles V, and “Dane,” from Denmark. ‘The roaches belong to a very extensive family, the Blattidae, comparatively few of which, fortunately, have become do- Mesticated. In temperate countries some four or five species are very common hous. hold pests, and a few occur wild in woods: but they ‘are essentially inhabitants of warm countries, and in the tropics the house species are very numerous, and the wild species occur in great number and many of them being striking in coloration, and size, one species vanding more than six inches. ie inability of the domestic roaches to and unusual cold was illustrated by fast that the severe weather in the ter of 1894 in Florida, which was so Tuctive to the citrus groves, on the authority of Mr. H. G. Hubbard, destroy. €d all the roaches, even those in hous except a few unusually well protected. Under suitable conditions in the northern latitude the domestic often multiply prodigiously, and the far north a species occurs in tn of the Laplanders, and sometimes entirely devours the stores cf dried fish put away for winter consumption. Of Ancient Family. ‘The roach Is ene of the most primitive find ancient insects, in the sense of its early appearance on the globe, fossil re- mains of roaches occurring in abundance in the early coal formations, ages before the more common forms of insect life of the present day had begun to appear. The species now existing ure few in number in comparison with the abundance of forms in the carboniferous age, which might with Propriety be called the age of cockroaches, the moisture and warmth of that distant Period being alike favorable io plant @rowth and the multiplication of this fam- diy of insects. ‘The house roaches of today were un- @oubtedly very early associated with man in his primitive dwellings, and through he egency of commerc> have foiiowed im wherever navigation has extended. In aot, on shipboari they are always especial- y numerous and troupicsome, the moisture &nd heat of the vessels being particularly favorable to their development. Although among the oldest insects geo- logically, roaches have not departed not- @bly from the early types, and form eae Qf the moat persistent groups among in- fects. The house species are rather uni- cormiy dark brown or dark colored, a col- ration which corresponds with their habit $f concealment during caylight. They are Smooth and slippery insects, and in shape rcad and flattened. The head is inflexed Inder the body, so that the meuth parts fre directed backward and the eyes di- fected downward, conforming with their Broveling habits. The antennae are very pug and slender, often having upward of One hundred joints. The males usually ave two pairs of wings, the outer ones jomewhat coriaceous and the inner ones More membranous and once folded longi- tudinally. In some species as, for instance, the black beetle, the females are nearly Wingless. The legs are long and powerful And armed with numerous strong bristles dr spines. The mouth parts are well de- Yeloped and with strong biting jaws, en- bling them to eat all sorts of substances. Habits and Life History. In houses roaches are particularly abun- dant in pantries and kitchens, especially in the neighborhood of fireplaces, on ac- count of the heat. For the same reason they are often abundant in the oven rooms of bakeries or wherever the temperature fs maintained above the normal. They Conceal themselves during the day behind baseboards, furniture, or wherever security and partial protection from the light are fforded. Thetr very fiat, thin bodies en- ble them to squeeze themselves into small éracks or spaces where their presence ‘fould not be suspected and where they are Out of the reach of enemies. Unless rout- €d out by the moving of furniture or dis- turbed in thelr hiding places, they are Yarely seen, and if so uncovered, make off With wonderful celerity, with a scurrying, fiervous gait, and usually are able to elude all efforts at their capture or destruction. It may often happen that their presence, @t least in the abundance in which they a is hardly realized by the housekeep- i . unless they are surprised in their mid- ight feasts. Coming into a kitchen or Beniry suddenly, a sound of the rustling ff numerous objects will come to the ear, nd if a lght be introduced, often the floor Or shelves will be seen covered with scur- ying roaches hastening to plaees of con- eaiment. In districts where the large American roach occurs they sometimes Swarm in this way at night in such num- hers that upon entering a small room in Which they are congregated one will be eS struck and scratched on the ‘ace and hands by the insects in their fran- tic flight to gain concealment. The black roach is less active and wary than the others, and particularly the Ger- as roach, which is especially agile and Bhy. What They Eat. ‘The domestic roaches are practically om- ivorous, feeding on almost any dead ani- thal matter, cereal products, and food ma- terials of all sorts. They are also said to eat their own cast skins and egg cases, d it is supposed that they will attack Sther species of roaches, or are, perhaps, Qecasionally cannibalistic. They will also €at or gnaw woolens, leather (as of shoes a furniture), and frequently are the cause extensive damage to the cloth and leather bindings of books in libraries and ublishing houses. The sizing or paste used on the cloth covers and in the binding of bobks seems to be very attracfive. The surface of the covers of cloth-bound beoks is often much scfaped and disfigured, particularly by the German cockroach (Ec- tobia germantca), and the gold lettering is sometimes eaten off to get at the albu- men paste. On shipl the damage is often very extensive, on account of the vast numbers of cockroaches which fre- quently occur there, and we have reliable accounts of entire supplies of ship biscuits having been eaten up or ruined by roaches. The damage they do ts not only in the products actually consumed, but in the soiling and rendering nauseous of every- thing with which they come in contact. They leave, wherever they occur in any numbers, a fetid, nauseous odor, well krown as the “roachy” odor, which is persistent and can not be removed from shelves and dishes without washing with soap and boiling water. Food supplies so tainted are beyond redemption. This odor comes partly from their excrement, but chiefly from a dark-cclored fluid exuded from the mouth of the insect, with which it stains its runways, and also in part, doubtless, from the scent glands, whica occur on the bodies of both sexes between certain segments of the abdomen, and which secrete an ofly Hquid possessing a very characteristic and disagreeable odor. It frequently happens that shelves on which dishes are placed become impreg- nated with this roachy odor, and this !s imparted to and retained by dishes to such an extent that everything served in them, particularly liquids, as coffee or tea, will be noticed to have a peculiar, dis- gusting, foreign taste and odor, the source ef which may be a puzzle and will natu- rally be supposed to come from the food rather than from the dish. Usefulgan Scavengers. ‘The roaches are normally scavengers in habit and may at times be of actual serv- ice In this direction by eating up and re- moving any dead animal material. One other redeeming trait has been re- corded of them, namely, that they will prey upon that other grievous pes: ot houses which are not subjected to careful supervision, the bedbug. Their habits in this direction have been recorded severai times. One writer, in a narrative of a voyage, makes the following statement in this connection: Cockroaches, those nuivances to ships, are tiful at St. Helena, and yet, bad as they are, they are more endurable than bugs. Previous to our arrival here in the Chanticleer, we had suffered great incon- venience from the latter, but the cock- roaches no sooner made their appearance than the bugs entirely disappeared. The fact Is that the cockroach preys upon them’ and leaves no sign or vestige of where they have been. So that it is a most valuable insect. ‘The cockroach ts, however, far too niich of a nuisance itself to warrant its being recommended as a means of eradicating even the much more disagreeable insect referred ta Eat Children’s Eyelashes. The following interesting letter from Mr. Herbert H. Smith, the collector and nat- uralist, gives a vivid picture of the roach nuisance in the tropics: “Cockroaches are so commen in Brazil- -an country houses that nobody pays any attention to them. They have an unpleas- ant way of getting into provision boxe: and they deface books, shoes, and som: times clothing. Where wall paper is used they soon eat it off in unsightly patches, doubt seeking the paste bereath. But at rumba, on the upper Paraguay, I came across the cockroach in a new role. In the house where we were ing there were nearly a dozen children, and every one of them had their eyelashes more or less eaten off by cockroaches—a large brown species, one of the commonest kind throughout Brazil. The eyelashes were bitten off irregulariy, in some piuces quite close to the lid. Like most Brazilians, these children had very long, black eye- lashes, and their apperance thus defaced was odd enough. The trouble was confined to children, I suppose because they are heavy sleepers and do not disturb the In- sects at work. My wife and I someiimes brushed cockroaches from our faces at night, but thought nothing more of the matter. The roaches also bite off bits of the toe nails. Brazilians. very properly encourage the large ho’ spiders, because they tend to rid the house of other insect pesis.”” The local spread of roaches from hous to house is undoubtedly often effected by their being introduced with supplies, furni- ture, goods, etc. That the Croton bug, or German roach, and probably the other spe- cles also, may develop a migratory instinct has been witnessed by Dr. Howard and the writer in WasRington. This very interesting instance of what seems to have been a true migration, in which an army of thousands of roaches by ore common impulse abandoned thetr old quarters and started on a search for a more favorable location, fllustrates, as pointed out by Dr. Howard, what 1s prob ably of frequent occurrence under the cover of darkness, and accounts for the way in which new houses frequently be- come suddenly overrun with these vermi: Like the crows among birds, the roach among insects are apparently unusually well endowed with the ability to guara themselves against enemies, displaying great intelligence in keeping out of the way of the irate housekeeper and fn avoiding food or other substances which have been doctored with poisons for their benefit. Their keenness in this direction is unques- tlonably the inheritance of many centuries during which the hand of man has ever been raised against them. The means against these insects, includ- ing always vigilance and cleanliness as Important preventives, are three, namely, destruction by poisons, by fumigation with poisonous gases, and by trapping. As just noted, roaches often seem to dis- play a knowledge of the presence of po! sons in food, and, notwithstanding their practically omnivorous habits, a very little arsenic in baits seems to be readily detect- ed by them. In attempting to eradicate roaches from the department store rooms where cloth-bound books are kept various paste mixtures containing arsenic were tried, but the roaches invariably refused to feed on them in the least. This applies particularly to the German roach, or Cro- ton bug, and may not hold so strongly with the less wary and perhaps less intelligent larger roaches. Powders and Other Devices. A common remedy suggested for roaches consists in the liberal use of pyrethrum powder or buhach, and when this is per- sisted in considerable relief will be gained. It is not a perfect remedy, however, and is at best but a temporary expedient, while it has the additional disadvantage of soil- ing the shelves or other objects over which it is dusted. When used it should be fresh and liberally applied. Roaches are often paralyzed by it when not killed outright, and the morning after an application the infested premises should be gone over and all the dead or partially paralyzed roaches Swept up and burned. There are many proprietary substances which claim to be fairly effective roach poisons. The usefulness of most of these is, however, very problematical, and dis- appointment will ordinarily follow their ap- plicatien. The only one of these that has given very satisfactory results is a phos- phorous paste, also sold in the form of pills. It probably consists of sweetened four paste containing phosphorous, and is spread on bits of paper or cardboard and placed in the runways of the roaches. It has been used very successfully in the de- partment to free desks from Croton bugs, numbers of the dead insects being found in the drawers every day during the time the poison was kept about. Wherever roaches infest small rooms or apartments which may be sealed up near- ly air tight, and also on shipboard, the roach nuisance can be greatly abated by the proper use of poisonous gases, notably bisulphide of carbon. The smoke of burn- ing gunpowder is also very obnoxious and deadly to roaches, particularly the black Engilsh roach. On the authority of Mr. Theo. Pergande, gunpowder is commonly used in Germany to drive these roaches out of their haunts about fireplaces. The method consists in molding cones of the moistened powder and placing them in the enipty fireplace and lghting them. The smoke coming from the burning powder causes the roaches to come out of the crev- ices about the chimney and fire bricks in great numbers, and rapidly paralyzes or kills them, so that they may be afterward swept up and destroyed. This remedy will only apply to cld houses with large fire- Places, and has no especial significance for the modern house. It fs presented, how- ever, as a means applicable wherever con- ditions similar to those described occur. Some of the Traps. ‘Various forms of traps have been very successfully employed in England and on the continent of Europe as a means of collecting and destroying roaches. These devices are all so constructed that the roaches may easily get into them and can- not afterward escape. The destruction of the roaches is effected efther by the liquid into which they fat! or by dousing them with hot water. A few of the common forms of traps and the methods of using them are here described. 3 A French trap conststs of a box contain: ing an attractive bait, the cover of which | is repiaced by four glass plates inclined THINGS HEARD. AND SEEN There is a1sqciaf worry that prevails in Washington, #nd eéncerning which I heard toward the center. The roaches fali from | 2 young maffon #fieving a few days ago, the covering glasses into the box and are | and with regsan., too. “Why is it,” she unable to escape. A simflar trap used in England is deseribed by Westwood. It con- sists of a small wooden box in which a circular hole ts cut in the top and fitted with a glass ring, so that it is impossible for the roaches to escape. This trap is baited nightly, and the catch thrown each morning into boiling water. A simpler form of trap, which I am in- formed by Mr. F. C. Pratt is very suc- said, “that @eme speople who are such charming hoéts" or hostesses always ap- pear bored té*deatt at other people's func- tions? If I gg to ‘their houses I find them smiling, charining,, hospitable; but when they come to;ming tn sptte of my best ef- forts, nothing even entertains them, let alone giving theni pleasure. Don’t say cessfully used in London, Eng., consists of | maybe I try tbo hard,” she continued, “for any deep vessel or jar, against which a number of sticks are placed, and bent over it fs not that at all. It fs just because of the habit people have got into of desiring so that they project tato the interior of | only elaborate entertainments, and society the. vessel for & few inches. ‘The vessel is | doesn't seem to be influences half as much partially filled with stale beer or ale, a| by the wish to be happy in the intercourse liquid for which roaches seem to have a | with one’s friends as tt ts by the effort to special fondness. In the morning these ves- sels are found charged with great quanti- tles of dead and dying roaches, which have climbed up the inclined sticks and slipped off into the vessel. We have had fair suc- cess with this last method against the ori- ental roach in Washington, but against the more wary and active Croton bug it seems less effective. outshine the humbler sparkle of its ac- quaintances.” “Of course, a8 you suggest,” sighed the plaintiff, “I might leave them out of my affairs altogether, but I don’t want to do that, for I like them very much, and they do give lovely parties; but I wish I knew how to give them a hint that it is good Manners to appear amused and gay at Traps of the sort described, placed in | other people’s homes as well as their own, Pantries or bakeries. will unquestionably destroy gr2at quantities of roaches, and keep them, perhaps, more effectively in check than the use of the troublesome in- sect powders or the distribution of poison- ed bait, especially as the latter are so often ineffective. A correspondent informs us also that the common tree frog will clear rooms of roaches over night very effectually. ARRANGED FOR BURIAL, Living People Who Have Provided for Their Funerals. From the San Francisco Call. There are at least two hundred people walking the streets of San Francisco, in good health and likely to live many years, who have already arranged the details of their funerals. They have selected the coffins in which they will be buried, and paid cash for the same, as well as for the burial plot, hearse, etc. Nearly every un- dertaker in the city has several contracts of this kind, all of them made by people who are supposed to be in rational frames] knew this change was coming, of mind. Age seems to cut no figure, for some of the contracts are signed by men in the prime of life, who are noted tor their cheer- fulness and good dispositions. They have simply provided for their funerals to a: sure themselves that they will have d cent interment. The undertakers think it nothing out of the way, but look upon it as sensible forethought, and, according to stories told, it has proved so in many cases. Men without families have dropped dead on the street, and had it not been for their arrangements with the undertaker they would have been buried in the pot- ter’s field. Some people have made arrange- ments for the minutest details of their fu- even to the advertisements in the spapers. There are a few people who have not been content with selecting their but have had them sent to their Such cases are rare, however. I have a good many contracts of that kind,” said Undertaker Metzler, wtien'} them back’ to speaking of the matter, “and in a great many cases they have proved to be good things. It is a sensible thing for anybody to do who has not a family to look after him when he Is gone. “I have coffins in those cases there,” s he, pointing, “that were contracted for at least six years ago, and paid for at the time. It may be before they are wanted, but when the own- ers need them they will be ready, and I will fulfill every part cf the contract.” ——+ e+ r's Election Returns, The Star will display the election returns Tuesday night on two mammoth screens, so that every one who desires can get the news as quickly as the telegraph brings it to the elty. The Star will receive and dis- play the bulletins of the Associated Press, the Western Union and the Postal Tele- graph companice, besides the spectal bulte- tins of its own corps of correspondents and The Stz the election news to be gathered and dis- tributed over the country by the Long Dis- tance Telephone Company. All are invii to enjoy the benefit of The Star's complete service. ges PET SQUIRRELS, How They Can Be Tamed and Made Into Playful Little Pets. From Harper's Round Table. To teach a squirrel to become aceus- tomed to handling, however, requires some patience. Every time he is fed it is well to make a little clucking sound, or some thing he will recognize as a friendly call even tf they are not having so good a time, just to deceive the public.” x eK OK Such a revolution as has taken place in women’s shoes never was seen, for the “needle-pointed” abominations were not wholly unexpected when they took the world by storm, and they had at least the advantage of making madame’s feet look slender and assume a virtue if they had it not. But just ag every feminine foot has evolved a fine cereal crop on each pedal extremity and public taste has reached a point of endurance, if not delight in pinched toes, there is a revulsion of feeling, and the shops show only broad “pear-shaped” monstrosities. Lured, rather than warned, by the amaz- ing cheapness of narrow-toed footge: several bargain-seekers have laid in a stock of such lovely slippers and shoes, only to find that they are hopelessly behind the times, and that all the women who are any- body at all have adopted the widespread vamp and projecting sole. “It's just a dodge of the shoe men,” ex- claimed one of the unfortunates. ‘They and then, with their are, with hands, in- Just for spite, they tempted us ‘slaughter sales,” and here we all these back numbers on our stead of theirs.” ek Ke KX Ante-election economies are being prac- ticed te un amazing extent, and no less a person than Chief Justice Fuller has joined the retrenching party. Talking a few days ago to ane of the northern Senators, he gave his judicial opinion “that there is a great deal of unnecessary waste in the matter of visiting cards indulged in by the women of our families. I know,” he con- tinued, “that when we moved into our new house there was a bushel basket of cards from the women of your household, and I am sure that If you took the trouble to look them up you would find an equal amount from mine. Now, I propose that we collect these bits of pasteboard and send thelr ‘respective starting points, and I am sure we shall be in pocket to'@ considerable extent. . ak kk George Fred. Wiliams of Massachusetts and Shermap. ,Hear were very close friends in the Fifty-second Congress. But that friendship has been severed. George x years or sixteen years | Fred fs a candidate of the silver democracy for governor, and Sherman Hoar is a gold democrat. This would not have blighted the friendship if Mr. Hoar had not made a temark abotit George Fred—a remark which shows that he belongs to the family capa- Y aying’ good things. Williams is of German descent, a fact that has been al- luded to in a vious campaigns when he wanted the Germat vote. As soon as he came out for the white metal and became an aspirant for Sovernor, Sherman Hoar referred to him as “my friend, George Fred Wiltams, the: German silver candidate. This was more thar friendship could stan¢ and George Pred tonsidered it the most cruel stab of an exciting campaign, ROR OK KK “E have a dog that is a confirmed tobacco chewer,” said L. A. Collier of Nashville, Tenn., at the Riggs. “TI first taught him to chew tobacco as a joke,in order to show him off to my friends. It affected him as it does a boy, he was sick and dizay, and I had no idea he.would touch tt again, but he did, and in a few menths the habit hecame fixed so that he could not do without it. He is a valuable péinter, and I did all in my power ta..break him, but to no avail. He would not hunt unless he had a chew of tobacco in his mouth. He holds it under bis tongue and has now advanced to a point where he uses a 10-cent plug in two days. I Kept tobacco from him for several weeks at a time, hoping he would recover his energy without it, but he becomes thin, whines and refuses to cat enough food when the tobacco meaning feedirg time. After having tamed |'!$ withheld, and rather than lose the dog I him so he will eat while you are Watcht ing him, which he will do sometimes in, one or two days, get him accustomed to having your hand around the cage. Then lasso or noose him around the body with a small cord, ard take him out of the cage without lifting him by the cord. Take care, for he will bite and sink his little teeth almost through the bone of your finger if he has a chance. Now take a glove that has been stuffed full of cotton, and stroke him gently with it. If he attempts to bite, which he is al- most certain to do, give him a little tweak. Repeat this as often as he tries to bite, and he will soon learn that if he sits still he is all right. Now feed him from the thick glove. In a surprisingly short time he will give up all idea of biting and you can stroke him or pick him up with your hand and carry him about in your pocket. He will grow wonderfully attached to you, and when once tamed thoroughly he will never run away; although he may pay short visits to his mates, he will return to you. But pray remember this, that his deadly enemy is the cat. pains: << A Romance About the Czar. From the London Pelican. Whenever a royal or specially distin- guished personage visits these shores some | Were speaking of my dog.’ ingenious soul invariably ferrets out a quaint or remarkable story concerning his or her past. This being the custom, it was haye given up all efforts to reform. him, and now keep him supplied with tobacco.” eK KX “While coming into Washington I eard a conversation on the train that amused me,” said C. R. Bullock of New York at the Riggs. “Immediately in front of me was a lady holding a dog. Across the aisle from her was another lady with a child about two years of age. The infant at- tracted the attention of every one by her artless prattle and playful ways, and the lady with the dog looked at her. The mother said, ‘Isn't she playful? ‘Yes, in- deed,’ was the reply. ‘She acts as though she was spoiled,’ continued the mother. ‘She irn’t a bit,’ replied the lady with the dog, which answer won the mother’s heart. ‘No, I don’t thigk so. Isn't she pretty ‘Just the prettiest I ever saw, and so play- ful.’ ‘Yes, she will play all day and never give any one a bit of trouble. She was always that way. I don’t think a more perfect creature ever lived,’ went on the fond mother, thinking she had found a Kindred spirit. ‘Why, what are you talk- ing about?’ asked the lady with the dog. ‘My baby, of course.’ ‘Oh, I don’t know anything about your baby; I thought you And they spoke no more.” xk kk OK “Down on the Ouchita river in Arkansas, too much to suppose that the czar should | M€&r Camden, they have gnats known as escape. I am, therefore, not in the least surprised to read that the imperial coming | Rock at the Ebbitt. buffaloes,” said H. P. Thorndike of Little “No one ever calls should bring to mind a strange story which | them gnats, and no place in New Jersey found its way into the press forty-two|can b years ago. It was then alleged that the Emperor Nicholas, on his mother’s side, was a Macgregor. A gentleman of the e found where the mosquitoes are more. numerous than the buffaloes along the Ouchita. I was stopping with a farmer name, residing at Brig o' Turk, publicly an- | and after supper he read the county paper nounced that the Emperor of Russia was | aloud in a drawlin, @ member of that clan. He averred that when the Czar Nicholas’ father (Paul) was in London he fell in love with his (Macgregor’s) aunt, whom he happened to see riding her Shetland pony in Hyde Park. The monarch got introduced | to her parents and herself, privately mar- ried her and took her to Russia, where she became the mother of Nicholas. The young lady in question, who was noted for her beauty, certainly did go to Russia. A curious point about this story is that when the Grand Duke Constantine (brother of Nicholas) was on his way from Callan- der to the Menteith country he passed the Brig o’ Turk and was very anxious to know as much as possible about the place. All of which, I would add, is very mys- terlous, and makes one, Oliver Twist-like, hunger for more information. eS An Elk Horn Fenge. From the Kansas City (Mo.) Star. At Mammoth Hot Springs, in Yellowstone Park, there is a fence made of elk horns. tone that nearly put me to sleep, When Suddenly he slapped the paper and juttiped''up, ‘Jerusalem, wife,’ he exclaimed}>“thts paper says the buf- faloes are all-gone,from the west and the government fallers gon’t know where there are any more, It says they are worth $50 apiece. Tell the Boys in the morning not to go out with thé’team, but we will all start in and ‘catch: enough of the pesky buffaloes to make jus rich. The idea that buffaloes thatycover our horses and cows here are worth big money up north.’ I did nét have the,;heart, to undeceive him, he was so genuinely happy over his discovery, and so far ag, know he caught the buf- faloes.” ak OR Kk “They tell aogood;many stories about the lack of humoniamong English people,” said A. C. Castlemipn of' Atlanta at the Shore- ham, but the Only thstance that ever came under my observation was at a leading hotel in Atlanta. An Englishraan stopped there for a few days who was im form al- It incloses the greater part of the grounds j ™0st an exact counterpart of an Atlanta of Photographer F. Jay Haynes’ studio. man who boarded at the same hotel. A The fence is composed of over 300 selected | friend of the Atlanta man came up the elk horns. All of them have twelve points and a great many have the royal fourteen points. They were shed in March, 1896, and were gathered in June of the same year | sir,’ by Mr. Haynes and three of his men within | an a yadius of ten miles of Mammoth Hot | just like yours.’ Springs and within four days’ time. There | glishman, stairs just behind the Englishman and gave him a resounding thump on the hack, which caused him to turn quickly upon his assailant. ‘I certainly beg your pardon, said the Georgian; ‘I mistook you for Atlanta friend of mine whose form is “Well, sir,’ said the En- ‘I suppose you are excusable; it are about 2,500 elk in the park now. Each |is evidently the custom of the blawsted pair of horns would bring $7.50 at the rail- road at Cinnabar, least $10 a pair in the east or south. ro If you want today’s news you know you can get it only in The Star, and if you want the election news tomorrow you will find that in The Star and nowhere else, country, but I wonder how your Atlanta about eight miles, or at | friend can fawncy that sort of thing, don’t you know.’” > The Armenians of Chicago and neighbor- ‘ing towns at a mass meeting yesterday adopted resolutions calling attention to the Armenian troubles in Turkey, and urging all cittens of Greek, Syrian and Nastorian origin to vote for McKinley. (Te Between the two —soap and poor washing powaers— the women who don’t use Pearline havea troublesome time. If they want to make sure of perfect safety, they have to take the hard work; if they try to make the work easier, then they have to take the risk of harm. Now, how much better it is to get rid of the hard work and the risk, both together, by the use of Pearline! Every question as to the safety, the effect- iveness, or the economy of Pearline has been settled by millions of women. Sen Peddlers and some unscrupulous will tell you “this is as good as” or “‘the same as Pearline.” IT’S daar ed is ee i i sends something in place g it Back poled back, 1 oe JAMES PYLE, New York, GENUINE ‘DURHAM Blackwell’s Genuine BULL DURHAM ‘You wil! find one coupon Inside each 2 ounce bag and two coupons inside each 4 ounce bag. Buy a bag, read the coupon and see how to get your share of §250,000 In presents. SHOOTING A MAN. How One Man Shot Another and Felt No Conscientious Scraples. Four or five clerks of the War Depart- ment were talking about shooting people as War Department clerks might be e pected from their business to talk, when one of them almost threw the others into a panic by announcing that he had killed a man on one occasion. “How? By accident?” came @ chorus of inquiries. “No,” replied the clerk, tone of voice, “by design.” “In self-defense “No; plain se of shooting a man who had never harmed me in his life. One or two sensitive employes got up and moved away from the kille “It wasn’t my fault, though,” the clerk hastened to explain, seeing that he was likely to become persona non grata to his fellow-clerks if it was understood that he was a murderer, as naturally it might. you see, I was a member of a marks- men company in my town in Ohio, and one day we were out practicing shooting witn rifles at five hundred yards, and had as a target marker a man that never was any good, and had’ lately been acting crazy. Our target had a movable center that threw up a flag when the bull's eye was hit, and we shot five times, each man, and counted the score. Three or four had shot their five, and the marker had been acting all right, but nobody had hit the bull's eye. My turn came, and at the third shot I banged the bull's eye and the flag went up. We waited for the marker to pull it down, but he didn’t. Then we yelled, and still he didn’t pull or show himself, and the captain went forward to see what the matter was. “There, over to one side, he found the marker, with the whole head shot off of him, and the evidence plain enough that he had fixed a string to the bull’s eye which would pull the trigger of a shotgun he had rigged in his little safety shed, and the undertaker would do the rest as far as the marker was concerned. It happened hat my shot was the fatal one, and that it in a machete was not by accident that I had hit the bath ee, and still I was exonerated on the s§ot, and, as far as I have been able to determine, I don’t think I have permitted the freak of a crazy man to keep me awake of nights or make my conscience hold any grudge against itself,” to all of which the clerk’s fellow-clerks willingly subscribed. —_+—__. The Star's Election News. The Evening Star's election news will completely cover every point of interest in the country. In addition to the facilities afforded by the wide-reaching arrange- ments of the Associated Press, The Star has posted staff and special correspondents at all the important news centers, and the readers of The Star will enjoy the benefit of a service unrivaled for accuracy, full- ness and completeness. Those who want to get the quickest and best news should arrange to get Tuesday’s editions of The Star. —_.__. Ball Room Bicycling. From the London Mail. The all-conquering bicycle has had many triumphs, but its latest conquest is greatest. It has invaded the ball room, and when Lord and Lady Brassey gave their ball of the season at Government house. Mel- bourne, some weeks ago, a musical ride on bicycles was an important item in the pro- gram. It was an adaptation of the musical ride of the Household Brigade. The ladies wore cycling costumes of pale blouses, with dark blue ties and dark skirts. The dress of the men was a re to knee breeches and stockings, and in color harmonized with the dresses of the ladies, Some days before the ball a rehearsal was held in a large suburban drill room with peculiarly appropriate environments, for a ball had been held the night tefore. The floor was so highly polished that French chalk had to be used to minimize that dread of all cyclists, side-slipping. Both the figures and the commands indi- cated a blend of the cavalry ride and the quadrille. Although one lady in particular came down several times, she did it so deftly that there was barely an interrup- tion to the movement. Another lady in a Holland costume, turning sharply too near the wall, was unseated, but remounted so quickly that only an expert cyclist could detect that the movement was not part of the rehearsal. We have not yet heard how the real ride went off, the mail not having brought the account to hand, ————cee. Falls on Its Head and Unhart. From tke Charleston (8.C.) News and Courier, In the yard of a residence in Meeting street near Queen something after the na- ture of a miracle occurred Thursday. On the piazza of the house, nearly twenty feet from the ground, a colored baby, a year and a half old, was playing, the child of one of the servants. In some manner it crawled through the railings and dived over into the yard. There are told many stories about thick heads, but this baby had a reg- ular cobblestone cranium. The child struck on its head and lay there, apparently dead. The screams of the mother brought the family to the yard. The baby was picked up and its head washed. There was appar- ently only a small flesh wound, and in fif- teen minutes it was eating a chunk of po- tato pone as if nothing had happened. The head of the house vouches for this story. HUPEFUL OF THE BOLTERS. But They Were Not the Kind a Cur- fous Traveler Supposed. *Twas on a railroad in western Maryland. I had seated myself as far from everybody else as possible. I didn’t want to get into a political discussion, or hear gold and sil- ver mentioned. Just before the train start- ed two men came and took the s2at 1mme- diately behind me. “Well, they may come back next year, and you should not be too hard on ‘em. The wings must come together some t one of the men as soon as they w ued. I shuddered, and yet I could not res my curiosity. I wanted to know whe:her it was the silver wing of the republicans or the gold wing of the democrats which had gone astray. “We've argued with them,” responded the sccond man, “and done everything we could; but they have made up their minds they are right, and we believe we are right, and so they have left. We hope to cet them back, but they are very determined.” I longed to know what percentage had left, and who they had left, and who they had gone to. I was about to break inte the conversation with that question xnd find out how general had been th> defection. There might be the basis of the political situation in Maryland in it. “You must not be hard on erring »roth- crs,” said the first speaker. “I think they will return next year.” But, I said to myself, that will not affect the result this year, and this fs the import- ant year in politics. Then asked the sec- ond man: “What form of Be prayer do you use now?” e ‘The same,” answered the first speaker, We determined not to change, no matter wkat the so-called reformers wanted. I do not. care so much myself; I think that a reasonable belief in the articles and a strict acherence to the catechism is sufficient for salvation.” i turned and looked at the men. They Were not politicians after all, but two min- isters, talking about divisions and creeds of churches. I never learned their denomina- tion. Inever cared. They were not talking politics, and that was sufficient, —— ‘This Year's Sun Spots. T'rom the Lopdon Chronicle. The small group of sun Spots which first became visible on September 9 on the western limb gradually increased until they came completely fnto view about September 12, when they were seen to extend in a long straight stream, the spots in parts being s9 close tovether as Sapa es form a sirgle rift in the solar surface. As seen on September 16 the group extended over some 180,000 miles, with a breadth of about 35,000 miles, and it took two com- plete days for the long procession to pass by. The principal exis of the group was inclined at an angle of about fifteen degrees to the sun's equator; in the afterpart of the group a decided tendency to segregation Was noticeable, and by the 19th a deen, dark nuclear spot had formed at the head of the group, and a second large Spot with dark double nucleus about one-third of the way down the group. Although this is one of the longest continuous streams of sun spots which have been observed, the phe- nomenon was not attended with great magnetic disturbances; but just before the t spots crossed the meridian there w 2 distinct disturbance, and aurora borealis lays were noted in some parts of the untry. +e - American Ideas—Via London, From the Chronicle. Sympsychography is a portentous word, and fo it would be to sum up worthily the phenomena with which it is concerned. The world knows something already of the remarkable photographic experiences of Mr. Inglis Rogers, the American spiritual- ist, who professes to have obtained pic- torial images of certain mental processes. Mr. Rogers alleged that after contem- plating fixedly for a time so simple a work of art as a British postage Stamp, he then placed himself before the lens of a camera in a dark rocm, and was rewarded by find- ing that the sensitized plate reproduced a shadowy portrait of our gracious sover- eign, with the words “One penn: on the rim. Mr. D. S. Jordan, however, a gen- tleman holding a distinguished university position on the other side of the Atlantic, has now ccntrived to go one better than his predecessor in this branch of occult science. He gets together six persons of suitable capacity, and bids them concentrate their minds upon the harmless, necessary cat— in the abstract, of course, without refer- ence to any particular individual of the species. Each then projects this mental image into a separate lens, all the invisible rays beirg fccused upon a single plate, and the result is a representation of the ideal cat. Mr. Jordan hopes very soon to be able to reverse-this process, and to ex- tract from the feline brain a true picture of the ideal man. But here a difficulty comes in. The cats may refuse to take the matter seriously, and may laugh at the philosopher. GAIL : EAGLE Brands CONDENSED MILK.. Has No Equal § 15 THE EVENING STAR has a Larger Circulation in the Homes of Washington than all the Other Papers of the City Added Together, because it Stands Up Always for the Interests of ALL THE PEOPLE uf WASHINGTON; does not Strive to Divide the Community into Classes, and Array one class Against the others; Contains the Latest and Fullest Local and General News; and Surpasses all the Other Papers in the City in the Variety and Excellence of its Literary Features. It Literally Goes Everywhere, and is Read by Everybody. It is, therefore, as an Advertising ‘Medium without a Peer, Whether Cost or Measure of Publicity be Considered.