Evening Star Newspaper, March 6, 1897, Page 15

“THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, MARCH 6, '%69 card ete i—24 PAGES. GUARDING BANKS ———— Modern Precautions for Keeping Out Burglars. -_-— ELECTRIC WIRES EVERYWHERE Private Houses Protected During the Summer Months. ¥ GUARDED > WATCHME. EVEN + The Evening Star. During a recent experiment made in Cin- cinnati, Ohio, it was proved conclusively that any person capable of safely handling two ordinary live electric wires can burn a large hole in a steel safe in less than ten minutes. The feat was accomplished ringing together two ends of a street uit and making an arc. : The are was lowed to play against the steel door cf a large “burglar-proof” safe, and It fused its way through, as one spectator remark- ed, “at the rate of a cubic inch per min- ute.” Any burglar could thus take ad- vantage of the lighting facilities of a bank iding and burn his way into the vault. But the expert bank robber does not need this information to help him in his calling, for he can carry enough tools in an cr- dinary handbag to enable him to break into amy safe or vault after two hours of un- interrupted work. In spite of these facts, which merely prove that no safe or vault is burglar-proof, the days of big bank rob- beries ha Tn large cities at least a wholesale bank rovbery ‘This statement is made without The banks themseives could be broken easily enough, but the united system of protection which sur- rounds them is not only practically per- fect. but the mechanical features of its make-up render it absolutely incorruptible. It may be also said incidentally that were e United prisons w State th rnment to invest me system of pro- gov the tection -h a thing as a jail delivery would be unheard of. Banks Surrounded by Electric Cur- rents. Although the same thing exists in nearly every large city in the United States, the banks composing the New York Clearing House Association comprise the best ex- ample of what a protection syndicate Is like. Seventy-five banks, most of which belong to the asseciation, are represented a central station, in which electrical truments keep silent though efficlent on all that may occur within those nty-five wails. d in the bank an be lifted. aised wi Watchmen are not buildings, yet not a ot a bolt drawn ner out the fact being at ‘orded in the central station. Dell- salvanometer needles are constantly ing out what is going on in the banks these needies never fail of their of- t is of no use to the burglar to un- the system. The more he un- is it the more will he become con- of the futility of his calling. It for him to try to circumvent 3 The least disarrangement is pointed out by the needles and an alarm is at once sounded literal truth to say that the bank re surrounded by a continuot is known as The difference pen circuit” must be exp i. An open circuit alarm sys- tem is one in which the opening of a door, or window. the sliding of a bolt, or, in the operation of any movable con- turns on an electric circuit and sends in an alarm. In closed circuit work the current Is kept flowing all the time. It passes through wires connected to every bolt, bar, window, etc., and is so delicately adjusted in its path that the disarrange- ment of any movable part of the building will cut off the current and thus send in an alarm. The very walls and partitions of the bank buildings are lined with wires and strips of tin foil, through which the electricity is kept constantly flowing. Therefore, if the burglar merely bores a small hole through the banking house wall he disarranges the circuit and sends in an alarm. Impossible to Rob a Modern Ban! Zven this is not all of the system. It is merely the principle on which it is founded. ‘The expert electriclan (and many burglars are experts in this line) might claim to be able to pass through a door or window which was part of a closed circuit, with- out disarranging the latter, but here is where the system takes on the bond of perfectness. If the alarm was merely the ringing of a bell, the claim might be made good, but the amount of current passing through the wires euts a very important figure. While it might be possible to break into a bank without entirely break- ing the circult, by, for instance, stretching certain wires so as to enable a man to pass between them, it could not be done without changing the rate of flow of the current, and this would be pointed out at once by the galvanometer needle. The op- erators in the central station can, by using istance wires, change the amount of t flowing through the line every so that the burglar can never. by ious observation know the amount should flow at a given time. Thus, n an intimate knowledge of electricity is no use to him. By means of instru- the watchman in the ral station ean tell whether any disar- rangement of wires has occurred inside or outside of the bank. This often saves trouble and much unnecessary alarm, as the wires in the conduits under the streets ere often apt to become disarranged. Bank Vaults Guarded. if the bank buildings are guarded trically, what shall we say of the vaults themselves? The strong vault of of the seventy-five banks men- ve is surrounded by an electrical t. This cabinet is made of wood and of ments of precision, But ele every tio: contains in the space between it and the walls of the vault a perfect network of wires and apparatus. Not a panel of this wooden cabinet can be moved without dis- arranging the apparatus within and caus- ing the telltale needle in the central sta- tion to point out the fact. Even if the vault was left unlocked the cabinet would jon Showing Tools ed by rs im Cracking a Safe. be protection enough. This, however, is only a supposititious case, because the of- ficlals of the bank would not be allowed to leave the building if any belt or bar was out of place. As a matter of fact, the sys- tem is, from the point of view of the cen- tral station, in perfect working order only when every bolt and bar is in its proper place, At closing time every day a private signal is transmitted to the central station. ‘The current is turned on, but if any window or door be open or bolt drawn a bell rings and the galvanometer needle points to the fact. Word is signaled back that something igs wrong, and whatever it is must be recti- fied. When everything ts finally in its place the bell stope ringing, the needle comes to @ rest, and the circuit Is complete. Thus many a forgotten skylight or transom is closed when it would otherwise have been left open all night. Quite a difference from the old-time systems wherein the cutting of nunciators. at the central station. arrest follows. only authorized members of it capable of @ Wire would prevent any signal or alarm being sent in. In this case the ‘cutting of the wire sends in the alarm. Even the Watchmen Guarded. _ As though the banks were not well enough protected with all this, nearly every one of them employs a watehmaw. In the midst of fancied security these men are not allowed to doze off, as in days of yore. They are kept almost constantly on the move. In various parts of the building are placed push buttons. The watchman on guard must push these buttons in regular order. The time that each button fs pushed is recorded on a titne recorder in the cen- tral office. If the buttons are pushed out of their regular turn, or if the watchman is before or behind time in pushing them, a special policeman is at once dispatched to inquire the cause. When the policeman arrives at the bank the watchman has to sign a printed blank, stating when, how and why the dereliction of duty occurred. This cacd-signing system often leads to curious results. The protection syndicate system also takes charge of leading jewelry stores, silk warehouses and dealers in other goods coveted by thieves. These firms, when opening their places of business in the morning, fnvariably. transmit to the central station a private signal. If this signal, however satisfactorily it may be transmit- ted, is sent in an hour, or even half an hour. before the prescribed time, a special policeman is sent at once to see if every- thing is all right. The signature of the person or persons who should open the store is kept on record in the central office. This is carried along by the special police- man, who asks the person at the store to sign his name. If it does not correspond with the recorded signature, the person found on the premises is immediately taken into custody. Many thieves have been cap- tured in this manner, but so also have a few innocent persons—employes who have been overzealous in morning punctuality. They have, in several cases, stormed and pronounced their arrest an outrage; but, as they were merely detained at the central office until identified, the logic of the sys- tem finally forced itself upon them. Private Houses. Private houses are protected by the hun- ON A CABLE CAR The Bell Panch Man’s Comments on Inauguration Crowds. APPEARANCES ARE DECEPTIVE Consideration Shown Ladies by Washington Gentlemen. UNREASONABLE PASSENGERS er HE FOURTEENTH street cable car con- ductor who graduat- ed from Harvard, was delivering him- self of post-inaugurel reflections yesterday to a Star reporter. From force of colleg- jate habit he discuss- ed his “‘casea” like a surgical instructor at a hospital clinic. “I happened upon my most remark- able experience of the week on Wed- nesday, the day before the inaugura- tion,” he said. “About noon, on the up trip, a fine-looking old lady, with lit- tle snow-white curls sticking from under her bluck bonnet, and a complexion rosier’n a girl’s, got on at 9th street. She was so nice and motherly looking that I put in all VIEW OF CENTRAL OFFICE—RECEIVING AND ANSWERING SIGNALS. dreds during the summer months, most of the residents giving the keys to the central office and giving their winter homes di- rectly in charge of the watchmen at the an- If keepers are left in-charge of the houses, their signatures are kept on file If anything goes policemen are dis- wrong at the hou patched to them with a copy of the signa- ture. If the one asked for corresponds to the one on record all is well, but if not, an If the family is out of town proving their identity by means of recorded signatures are allowed to enter a house while it is in charge of the watchmen. Com- plications sometimes occur, but the owrer of a house himself would not be ailowed to enter his own house if he could not prove his signature. Members of families have appeared and with a show of bluster de- manded t they be allowed to enter the residence of their father, or brother, or uncle, as the case may be, but they tid not go in without the necessary sanction. Very often the controlling members of a family have given orders not to admit certain of their relations to their city homes. Of course the watchmen get out of the dilem- ma in as diplomatic a manner as possible under the circumstances. In one case a Woman gave her house in charge of the protective association, with the express ui derstanding that her husband be not admit- ted. There was a scene some time after- ward, but he did not go in. For Fire and Water. Eoth fire and water are guarded against by the annunciators. The fire will fuse the wires in the walls and thus send in an alarm, and the water will short cir- cuit the current ard cause the annuncia- tor needle to perform sundry acrobatic feets. Thousands of dollars of loss were recently saved to a silk merchant in whose store water had begun to leak down from the upper floors of the next building. In fact, if the annunciators had not told the tale when they did all of his stock would have been ruined. This system does away with any intri- cate locking methods for bank vaults. It is a good thing to so complicate the com- bination of a safe that no irregularity can occur concerning it. Some New York banks, however, use such systems. In the clearing house the vault is opened on three combinations, each one in the hands of three sets of bank officials. Cryptogra- matic combinations, in which a change- able key would be needed to work them out, have also been tried. It has also been suggested that the combinations of all the banks in the clearing house assoctation be operated by electricity capable of being worked only from the central protective station. This would be combination turn- ing at long range indeed. An instrument for carrying out such a scheme has actu- ally been invented. It was on exhibition in New York. The operating machine had the appearance of a piano keyboard. Con- necting wires led from this to the safe door. On pressing certain keys electro- Magnets were operated, causing the bolts ard bars to move back and forward at the proper moment. ‘The System Not Used in Prisons. But the great moral of this method of bank protection lies outside of the depart- ment in which it is already used. The in- ference to be drawn is this: If it will keep burglars outside of banks it will keep them inside of prisons. The question of jail de- liveries is not inconsfderable, if the moral structure of the community is to be consid- ered, and here at last is a system that will absolutely prevent any prisoner escaping from jail. A unique scheme was suggested @ few years ago. It was to construct the cell walls and doors of iron tubes instead of iron bars. These tubes were to be filled with compressed air or else a vacuum was to be made in them. The theory was that an escaping prisoner, in attempting to file through his cell walls, would spring a leak in the tubes, and thus sound an alarm. But the defect of this system was that the tubes were sure to leak. Under the bank protection system, however, the prisoner could not move a bar without having it show on the needles. Each cell, every door, window, scuttle or other modes of exit would be constantly under vurveil- lance. To bribe a keeper would not avail. One prison official would be unable to aid in an bets os without the fact being known at once. It should be adopted in every prison, and it was offered in New York state, but the official who heard the plea of the inventor listened patiently while the latter explained the system, then he de- livered himself thus: “Your invention, sir, is all right from a mechanical and an elec- trical standpoint. I think it would effectu- ally stop the escape of prisoners,” but it has one ‘osurmountable difficulty—it cannot my spare time just unobtrusively gazing at her from the rear platform. She reminded me of a lady I used to know when I was twenty-four inches high. The car was pretty well filled on the whole trip. Things were sliding along all right until we came to N street. Then the pretty old lady beck- oned to me with a finger. “What strcet {fs this?’ she asked me. 'N street, madam,’ said I. “That is beyond K street, is it not?’ she inquired. “‘A matter of about madam,’ I answered. “You will perhaps recall,’ she said, bit- ing off every word sharper’n a riveting machine, ‘that I distinctly requested you on entering this car to let me off at K street?’ Now this iovely old lady had not opened her lips when I took her on. nfortunately, I don’t recall that you said anything whatever to me at that time, lady,’ I answered. “Well, do you know that that lovely, peaceable-looking old lady, whose mild se- renity I had been admiring for more than a mile, pitched into me then and there, and gave me a roasting and a lambasting too hot for arnica and cotton-seed oil? I never got half so much clawed up in a practice foot ball game between scrub elevens. I never saw or heard such a past mistress of the whole vocabulary of vituperation and scorn. The other passengers just looked on with open mouths. I didn’t say a word. She jolted and countered and upper-cut me fully sixty times a minute, until we got to the end of the line, and all the other pas- sengers had departed. She kept her seat when we switched to the down track for the next trip, but, probably for lack of breath, she had become mcmentarily quiet. When we'd gone about a square on the down trip I went up to her and asked her for her fare. In two seconds I wished that I hadn’t. It started her off again, and, despite the entry of a dozen or so of pas- sengers, she walloped me all the way to K street. I retreated to the rear platform. She scrambled to a seat next the rear door, joggled the door open and kept right at me. Sold? I was never so thoroughly gold- bricked in my life. When I attempted to help her off at K street she slammed me up against the rear platform guard rail. That made me feel even more like what Steve Brodie calls ‘T’irty cents.’ Did she pay her fare? Well, I guess not! Had to pay it myself.” Seats for Ladies. “I noticed,” went on this conductor, whose A. M. that he got from Harvard is yellowing in his trunk, “after the inaugu- ration crowd began to appear early in the week, some decided points of difference in the strect car manners of the visitors and the people who live in Washington. I was of cburse able to pick out the strangers on account of the number of questions they asked me. Well, it seems that in other cities men have abandoned the practice of giving up their seats to women. That cus- tom, I think, will always endure in Wash- ington. You'll hardly ever see women, young or old, plain or handsome, rich or poor, hanging to street car straps in Wash- ington while men remain comfortably seated. But, from what I have seen this week, I can't think they have much con- sideration for women in other cities. On Tuesday last, when the afternoon train from Chizago’came in at the Baltimore and Ohio depot, I got a whole trailer load of fine-looking, well-groomed men from the big town on Lake Michigan. They were apparently traveling as a party, and were all bound for a hotel not far from Lafay- ette Square. They just filled the car, with not a seat to spare. Between the depot and 15th street about a dozen ladies got on. I could easily see that they were all Washington women. Well, not a man in the car offered to give up his seat to one of these ladies, although among them were exceedingly pretty and stylish girls, hang- ing on at curves, side by side with a few aged and decrepit ladies. The Chicago men paid no attention to ‘em whatever, but went right on with their joking and laugh- ing. The exhibition made me rather tired, but, of course, it was none of my business. Later in the week I fell into conversation with a gentleman from a western city,who was standing on the rear platform for the air. I remarked that I had noticed that men from his section did not appear to be & the habit of giving up their seats to la- jes. five squares, A Western Man’s Views. “No, he replied, ‘and right they are. There's a whole lot too much gush and mawkish sentimentality about the deli- cacy of women in this part of the country. In the particular of having discovered out west that the average woman Is about five |: hundred times more offensively inconsid- erate than the average man, we're about two centuries ahead of the east, In Kan- Rg sas'City, wiiere>I come from, the’ theater hat has totally wiped out the extemston of public courtesy to womem by men, and the wonder is not great, either. Whenever I get a seat in q crowded. caple car, and @ lady enters to whom naturally feel in- clined to résigh my sedt, f rflect that per- haps the very night before that same lady has committed the igexpressibly brutal, shocking outrage of wearing a three-by- three plumed hat to the theater, com- pletely extinguishing the vieW of any num- ber of people behind hér, ahd I shift to a more comfortable posigion it¥ my seat and hold it down.’ I mightihaverreminded this Kansas City man that Washington. men invariably give up thejr street car seats to ladies, despite the fact that the colossal theater hat is not unkfféwn }h the national capital, but I didn’t. He ha@ too strong a command of old English, and I didn’t care to get burnt up. S Women's Ways. “I have noticed thatsfhe Star, as well as other Washington papers, occastonally Prints jokes clipped fram exchanges in other cities regarding the infrequency with which women are said to thank the men who give them their street car seats. These jokes may hit the thing off all right in other cities, but they certainly have little, if any, humorous application here. I've got @ fairly keen eye for things that happen during my runs, and I declare that I never yet saw a man resign his seat to a lady in one of my cars that he didn’t get thanked. for it. Of course, there are different ways of thanking a man for this kind of a cour- tesy, a few of them so ungracious and stift as to be almost worse than no thanks at all, but this doesn’t alter the statement ot fact. Some womer have got the knack ot so thanking a fellow wher he has done the proper thing in this way that he feels gooa all over, and begins to think that he is all right, and im the game after all, and his hand instinctively travels to his cravat to find out whether it’s twisted, and for a lit- tle while his chest expansion increases by at least two inches. But there are other women who squeeze out a frozen ‘Thank you’ that makes a man feel that somehow or another he has made a bad break, al- though he can’t quite make out what he has done to bring such a polarization upon himself. In the matter of courtesy, there is a kink in Washington street car etiquette that I don’t think 1s followed elsewhere. When a man gets on a car with a lady in Washington, and some fellow in the car gives up his seat to her and grabs a strap, it is the proper thing here for the lady's male escort to quite effusively thank the man who has sacrificed his comfort, the short exchange of proper talk between the two men being followed by their lifting their chapeaux to each other, which closes the matter. This is rather a neat little cus tom, just a trifle foreignish, but none the worse for that. “The fact that the cable cars in Washing- ton always make their stops on the hither side of street crossings, and not on the farthe: side as is the custom in most other cities, has caused a vast amount of wrath in the bosoms of visitors here this week. Nine-tenths of these visitors have cal. waited on the farther side of the crossing for the car, and, even when they've seen the cable trains come to a full stop on the other side, they have remained rooted to their positions, apparently expecting a double stop to be made at the same cross- ing. Then, when we'd whizz by them at full speed, they’d gaze after us with black, murderous looks, and, if they were men, they'd shake their fists at us in tmpotent rage. A Good Sprinter. “On a down trip, on Tuesday last, a young lady, who somehow didn’t have the look of a Washington girl, stood in the middle of the block between Rhode, Island avenue and P street, and held; upter right fore- finger as we approabhed Ner under full headway. I was on the gi#p car, and as the train whirled past her, I pointed to the next corner, to indicate where she'd have to take up her station to get on the next train along. Did she,shriyal up, and feel mean, and humbly r afgn herself to a wait for the next car, do yqu think? Not much, she didn’t. She gathered up her skirts in her left hand, and did a hit of sprinting that just made me lonesome. I'd be will- ing to back her for 1 rqs in ten and a half seconds any time, She had a lot of those chatelaine things hanging to her coat, and, as she sped along, they clanked and jangled like the orgaments on a swell team’s fine harness. \She caught up with the rear car without.any .trouble,at_all, and she wasn’t ,even flushed or out, of breath when she swung. on te the rear plat- form with one hand, ith all the easy con- fidence of a railroad freight brakeman. I was aching to ask her {f she hadn’t done her course at Vassar or Wellesley, but, of course, I couldn't. “On Wedresday night an old gentleman, who looked as if he owned a few pretty cozy farms somewhere, got on my train at 6th street and the avenue, telling me when he got on that he wanted to be dropped when I street was reached. The car be- came jammed with passengers, and I for- got all about the old gentleman until the car, having sifted out nearly all of its pas- sengers, I suddenly noticed him at T street. I hastened over to him, told him I had ac- cidentally run him beyond his getting-off point, expressed regret for my careless- ness, and told him I'd pass him over to the next down car we met, with instructions to the conductor to drop him at I street. No, ye wunt, either,’ he said. -‘By jing, 'm not a-goin’ to hop around these here kyars all night. Ye've got to jest start this kyar back to I street an’ let me off, an’ then ye kin go on abaout your business.’ It took me all the rest of the way to the power house to explain to him the theory of cable cars, and to prove to his satisfac- tion that the cars could only go in one di- rection. I took so much pains at the ex- planatory job that his good nature was re- stored by the time he was started down town on another train,” DEATH ON A PALE HORSE. How Gen. Houston Ordered Out the Texan Army to Capture a Ghost. From the St. Louis Glove-Demorrat. One night in January, in the year 1836, two or three young men, while at a farm house not far from Old Washington, Texas, manufactured and turned loose upon the unsuspecting citizens of the town a ghost that cost one negro the loss of a leg, and caused the president of the republic to order out the army, creating the greatest consternation a ghost ever caused on earth. These young men, one of whom fs yet liv- ing, were spending the night with an old doctor of the name of Ryan, who resided on his plantation, about two miles from the capital. They had been hunting during the day, and after supper, while smoking in the doctor's office, which was a small, iso- lated building, located in a corner of the front yard, they noticed a skeleton in an open closet. It was the skeleton of a very large man and perfectly articulated. The night was a little cold, and one of them remarked, as he lit a cigar and seated him- self before the fire: “Now, if we had a jug of Bourbon, we would be fixed.” “Well, suppose we send after. a bottle?” said another. ‘To the ebjection that they had no one to send, George Wilson said: “Send the stiff,” nodding, his head toward the skeleton. E “Just the thing,” r¥pliied the first speak- er. “My old white harge kgows the road to town, and, if started fe go straight to Jack Campbell's saldén arf stop.” ‘They all laughed as‘# pictre of the ghost on the white horse came iito their minds, and one of them insigged that the idea was too good to pass without being carried out. “Go and get the horse,” he said, “and I will write the note."/S" "7 The daredevil, never thitking as to the censequences, wrote: .skert note to his friend and placed it in ay cu velene: The letter was sealed and addressed to Mr. Campbell, and then tied to the bony skele- ton’s fingers. They then securely fastened the skeleton to the well ginched Spanish saddle. The old hors¢.did pot much like the locks of his rider, and wh¢h he was turned loose he started towd#ad th’ town of Wash- ington in a gallop. +* {3 Washington was at‘ tHat‘time the capital of the republic of Texas, and a great crowd had assembled in the town to witness con- gressional debates and’ discuss the latest news from Mexico. The young men, after watching the horse and his horrible-looking rider for a moment, turned and went back into the office, not without some misgivings as to the result of such a harum-scarum piece of deviltry. They had hardly seated themselves in the doctor’s comfortable office before the fire when the réport of a pistol reached their ears, followed by a most unearthly yell.-They did not learn until the next day just what pepper = Homes An old planter by- the ‘name was riding slowly along on his ‘way back from.town to his home, when ‘he suddenly himself, he-said, face to face with He did .sgor” ward said that he was scared out of his senses. The old white horse was trotting slowly along, and there sat the grim mon- ster bolt upright in the saddle. He could see its grinning teeth, hear its bones rattle, and he imagined that its eyes were two balls of fire. He shouted something, but it kept coming and seemed to be riding right at him. He did manage to draw his pistol with a shaking hand and fire. The flash and the report frightened the old white horse, and he sprang forward in a gallop, and then the old bones rattled as if the devil himself were shaking them. The farmer's horse needed no urging. As much frightened as his master, he wheeled in his tracks and started back to town with the speed of the wind. Mr. Homes looked back and saw the white horse close to him, and it looked as if the terrible monster was reaching out its long, bony fingers, eager to clutch him and tear him to pieces. His own horse happened to be a- good one, and under the double stimulant of fright and his master’s spurs he managed to keep in the lead. As soon as the farmer reached town he began to fire the remaining shots from his pepper-box and shout for help. It was early, and the stores were stiil open. People rushed out on the sidewalks, and when they saw a man riding at the top of his horse’s speed and some terrible grin- ning white object on a white horse riding after him, they did not know what to make of it. The negroes shouted “Ghost!” and then one man fired a shot at the thing. That was the signal for a general uproar, and a scene of excitement and consterna- tion such as General Houston said as never equaled outside of the infernal regions.” Mr. Homes would have stopped in front of the hotel, but his frightened Norse entertained different ideas on the subject, and ran on around the plaza. It never occurred to a single individual that the thing they saw was a human skeleton. Congress was in session at the time, and the members rushed into the street, sup- posing that nothing less than the vanguard of Santa Ana’s army had surprised the capital. In those unhappy times every one carried arms, and as Farmer Homes came around the second time with his white hair streaming in the wind and death or the devil on his white horse in hot pursuit, the ‘Texans opened fire. Pistols, muskets and shotguns were emptied into the pack of benes, and they could be heard rattling and cracking above the stentorian yells of the flying farmer. Strangely enough, not one shot of the first volley struck the white horse. Hounds, of which there were forty packs fir the town, joined in the pursit, while the engineers of the two steamboats lying at the wharf turned all the steam in the boats’ boilers into their whistles. “What the devil is it?” said Gen. Houston to the secretary of war. “Order out the Rifles and capture the thmmg. They are not afraid of the devil himself.” Women and children were screaming and the negroes were praying. At a corner of the street the farmer's horse collided with an old negro and fell, throwing Mr. Homes sprawling in the sand. The negro crawled away with a broken leg, and Mr. Homes shouted, “He has got me now, by thunder!” The old white horse, having nothing to fol- jow, trotted around to Mr. Campbell's sa- loon. where he stopped and interested him- self in kicking at the hounds. The crowd, including several congressmen and men who had distinguished themselves in a dozen battles with Mexicans and Indians, ran in- side and fired at the thing through the win- dows. Not a man was game enough to face his satanic majesty and ask him what he wanted. These men were not afraid on the battlefield or the field of honor, but the devil on his pale horse possessed terrors that crushed all human fortitude. The strings with which the bones had been tied to the saddle had doubtless become weak- ened by the great strain to which they had been subjected, and when three or four monster bloodhounds seized the skeleton they easily tore it loose, and it fell with a clatter upon the sidewalk, The whole pack fell upon it, snarling and yelping, and drag- ged it about the street. Some of the bolder ones peeped from the saloon and saw the saddle empty and the hounds tearing a white object to pieces, and one, into whose mind a ray of the truth had crept, said, “Let us go and help the dogs to kill the devil.” Gen. Houston, when told the true story, threatened to have the three worthies exiled or shot. Mr. Wilson, who is yet living, says that he had to hide from Farmer Homes for a long time, and that he never did for- give him untli they met on the battlefield of San Jacinto in the following April. It is said that Santa Ana never laughed but once while he was a prisoner in the Texas camp, and that was over this story, as told to him by an American officer. ‘I think,” he said, “that I should have run away as the old farmer did, for we are all very much afraid of the devil.” Se HIS FIRST CASE. It Was Only a Little Pet Dog, but It Young Mistress Did Not Forget Him. From the Detroit Free Presa, “I am often amused when I think of my first patient,” said a prominent doctor. “For days I had waited for some one to call upon me—and he or she didn’t call. I would go out every morning with my medi- cine case, as if in a prodigious hurry, to convey the impression that my services were very much in demand. But I thought that people smiled when they saw me, as though they divined my little artifice. One day, when I had about given up hope, there came a ring at the door. ‘A patient at last,’ I thought, and arranged my table as though I had been very busy among my books and papers. Then I went to the front door. * “ “Be you the doctor?’ said a small voice; and, looking down, I beheld the owner, a golden-haired child with bright blue eyes. “I am,’ I said in answer to her question, “Then come quick!’ she urged, breath- lessly. “Is it so important?’ “Indeed it is; he may die.” Vhat’s the trouble, my child? “‘He’s got somefing in his froat, and it’s choking him.’ “I will follow you, my dear. We will soon see about it.’ “I followed the child to a handsome house, and she led me in the side door. “This way,’ she said; ‘he’s up in my play room.’ “I thought this strange, but made no ob- servation. She threw open the door of her play room, and there, among dolls and other toys, was a French poodle dog, chok- ing and gasping. “Can you keep my Fido from dying, Mr. Doctor?’ implored the little one. “I was highly indignant, but accepted situation with the best possible grace. ‘I will try,’ I answered; and, putting a hand down the blessed poodle’s throat, ex- tracted a good-sized bone. Fido at once be- came easier. “Will he need any medicine?’ she asked. “I think not.” “As I was leaving I met her stately mother, who stared at me in surprise. The child told her why I had been called, and the lady apologized to me for the child’s presumption, as she called it. I answered’ with as good grace as possible and then departed. But one’s fortune may hang upon a slender thread. The child was taken’ sick some weeks afterward, and insisted upon my being sent for. They resisted her; she became worse; she wouldn't speak to the other doctor; I had cured her dog, and she wanted me. So finally they sent for me—ostensibly to consult with the other physician. The family doctor was very agreeable; the girl got better, and told every one how I had cured her, when really she had cured herself. At any rate, such was the beginning of a practice which I may say with a certain pride is probably second to that enjoyed by few doctors in the state. My little miss is now a hand- some matron, with a good-sized family. I am their family phpsician, and if a call comes from them you may believe I do not delay answering it ——_—_-e-______ A FREE PASSAGE BACK. The Bum Explains and Wants to Do the Fair Thing to His Victim, From the Chicago Record. He was standing in front of a scalper’s ticket office in Clark street and it was one of the bitterly cold days of last week. To him appeared a citizen. The citizen would have passed the soiled bum, but the latter was too quick for him. Annexing himself to the arm of the man, who appeared to be more a favorite of fortune than himself, he told the tale of sorrow and got a hurried dime. ‘Twenty minutes later, the bum having ap- Pealed to twelve other men in the mean- time, the first donor appeared again, com- ing from the same direction as before. The mendicant hurried out to greet him once more. : “Here,” said the citizen, “how's this? Didn’t I give you a dime a little while ame n-no,” said the other, dubiously. “No.” ‘alee se “Yes, I did. I was right here, and frot aetiigis sacystoe mealies tatanvetgenr life with by buying the first meal you have bad for twelve days.” “I dor’t understand it. I don’t under- stand it at aH. That's probably what I said, but I don't see how it is that I touehed you again. Right here, you say, and twenty minutes ago?” “Yes. I was going to the Great Northern, just as I am now.” “Oh, ah—yes; I think I see. Coming back you walked around the block, didn’t you” “Yes. Came back in Dearborn. But what of that “That explains it. You see, I aim to treat people white, and so as t» be sure that I don’t touch the same man twice 1 only speak to those going one way. You were going south, you see. Had you come back north en this street I should have seen you and would have known that you were on the bad side of me, but that, hav- ing yielded up once you were entitled to free passage the next time. But as you went arcund the block, I didn't see you, and still thinking you were south of me, I made my break at you this second time on your second trip down. I'm very sorr: It's on me. Come in and have something. I don’t remember ever having made this mistake before, but I see ow that T must guard agairst it. Come in. Whatll you take to drink But the citizen was too busy to drink with the man who had had nothing to eat in twelve days. “Well, don’t say I didn’t offer to do the square thing,” the man of deprivatioa said as the other hurried away. : a COUNSEL'S ADVICE. HE TOOK HIS It Was Good, Too, Considering the Lawyer's Youth and Inexperience. From the Chicago Times-Herald. It is told of an Indiana judge that shortly after his admission to the bar many years ago he was loitering about a country court house when a presiding judge suddenly summoned him to appear in court, and ap- pointed him counsel for a prisoner about to be tried for stealing a horse. “But, your honor,” he demurred, “this is a charge which may result in sending the prisoner to the penitentiary if the case goes against him, and I do not like to under- take the responsibility of his defense.” “Nonsense,” exclaimed the court, “the case is not at all complicated, and’ I am sure you will handle it in a manner which will conserve all your client's interests.” “I have had no chance, your honor, to ac- quaint myself with the facts in this case, and if the trial must proceed at once I must beg to decline to represent the de- fendant,” insisted the young attorne “Your duty in the premises is clear, tinued the court. “I will allow you sufti- cient time to consult with your client and map out your line of defense. You may re- tire with the prisoner into my private room for consultation. Thirty minutes will give you ample time. Go into that room; have the prisoner state his case fully to you: imagine yourself in his place, and advise him to do just what you yourself would do under such circumsiances.” “And if I dg this will the court h blameless for whatever may result? the attorney. “Certainly, sir,” replied the juaze. The lawyer and his client retired for con- sultation. At the end of thiriy minutes the former came out of the privaie room ard said: our honor, we are now ready to proceed.” “Where is your client?” inquired the court. “I do not know, may the court please,” replied the counsel. A bailiff ran into the consultation room. A window twelve feet from the ground was open, and there were two heel marks in the soft earth outside. eo ___ THE WORLD'S CENTENARIANS. America Far in the Lend and Wo! Ahead Everywhere. From the Courrier Des Btats-Unis, It ufficient to take a look at the sta- tistics of the centenarians to be struck with the extraordinary superiority that is en- joyed by the female sex. The census of the population of the United States in 1800 shows that out of 3,981 persons who wer> more than 100 years old, 3 were women and 1,398 men. In truth, these figures can- not be accepted without reserve. If we take into account the number of centenar- fans, tolerably authentic, that exist in France and in England, it is difficult to ad- mit that in the United States longevity should assume such a marvelous develop- ment. If the men, and especially the womcn, who approach the fiftieth year, or have passed it, take a few years off the date of their birth, a sort of patriarchal vanity in- duces the octogenarians of both sexes to make themselves older, in order to win the glory of having passed an entire century. It should be remembered that birth regis- tration does not exist in the United States, and that the assertions of the illiterate whites and of the negroes in regard to their age are far from meriting unlimited confi- dence. The old slaves that were made free after the war of secession did not know, as a matter of fact, what year they came into the world, and, moreover, they often ex- hibited a fondness for astonishing the cen- sus takers by giving astounding ages. It wilt probably be necessary, therefore, to re- duce the legions of centenarians of all colors which the official statistics of the government of the United States proudly display. The figures proved by French documents inspire less suspicion, because they are far more modest. In 1895 there were in France only 66 men and 147 women who passed the age of 100 years. This makes a total of 213 persons, a very modest number, no doubt, when it is compared with the 3 centenarians of the United States. By tak- ing into account the difference that exists between the population of the two coun- tries, the number of old people whose birth goes back to more than a century is a tenth of what it is in America. The dif- ference is altogether too great for proba- bility. The official documents of the British gov- ernment give no less plausible guarantees of authenticity than the results of the cen- sus in France, and they furnish us with testimony worthy of belief in regard to the number of centenarians that exist in cer- tain portiors of the united kingdom. In London, for exani there were in 1591 twenty-one persuns who were more than a century old. By a curious coincidence, the number of centenarians whose deaths were published in 1894 for the whole territory of Scolland was also twenty-one, but as the population of the ancient kingdom of the Stuar!s is sersibly inferior to that of the metropolis, and, as the centenarians who are still alive are not counted in the total in which the deaths are given, it is presum- able from this comparison that the pure air of the mountains is much more favorable for human longevity than the foggy at- mosphere of the Thames. Nevertheless, the most interesting fact in these English documents is that in London, as well as in Scotland, the same proportion exists in the quotas furnished by the two sexes to the favored society of the centenarians. Out of twenty-one persons of British na tionality who reached the age of 100, six- teen are women and five men. In spite of the difference in the climaie, and of the mode of living, this proportion is maintain- ed with rigorous exactitude in the fogs of the metropolis of the united kingdom, and in the pure, cold, but salubrious air of the Grampian Hills. In France, out of ten centenarians there were seven women and three men. The sex that it is no longer proper to call fair when it reaches that degree of longevity more than doubles the other in centenarians, al- though, unlike those of the other side of the channel, it does not reach the aston- ishing majority of more than two-thirds. According to the calculations of a learned Englishman in regard to the number of countries where it is possible for statisti- cians to procure the evidence worthy of ab- solute belief, the proportion is forty-three to twenty-three, that is nearly twice as many. This shows that the quota of the contin- gent which both sexes furnish to the privi- leged corporation of centenarians cannot, for want of indisputable documents, be fixed with rigorous precision, but one point is beyond a doubt, and that is that a wo- man has two or three times as many chances as a man to pass the 100-year mark. — ee — A Relapse. From the Philadelphia Press. Calloway—“You made a terrible mistake when you sent Jagway that comic valentine with a lot of animals on it.” Miss Twilling—“Why?” Calloway—“He thought they were alive and it sent him into convulsions.” ———__+o+-_____ What She Said. From Twinkles. 3 “Did you tell her I was out, Bridget?” “I did, mum.” /“What did she say?” “Thank th’ Lord, mum.” Tale of Two Sisters. From the Gomumercial, Bangor, Me - About three yeays ago, Mrs. Stephen Lownlor, @ highly reapected resident of Vanceboro’, Maine, began to lose her ¥trength “Wha appetite without Ay apparent cause, apd medion! skill eeemedd jrows erless to aid ber, The least attempt at exertion ‘Was followed by palplation of the rt of so violent a character ae te.almest stop ber breaths ing. For nearly one year Mrs. Lounder was treated for beart disease, WHT “crew worse instead of better, and the medical man warned ter that she had better put ber affine in onter, as #he was liable to die AT any minute.” ‘The tady had & strong desire to ser an tweNntWPxteter who lived in Fretericton, N. B., before she died, and had herself taken the-e as Mrs. Lounder was much surprisfd on reaching her sise ter's house to see the lady, whom abe ted to see fra! and ill, come rushing out to the carriaze and lift ber out and curry ber bodily into ber dwelling, as easily as if xhe were a baby. Kae pianations were tn order, and Mrs. Loundor's sls ter said that she had regained her health shrough Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills, her condition betng Worse than that of Mrs. Lounder w their use. she begat Mrs, Lounder shortly after this began the use of the Pink Pilis witt surprising results, for after she had taken eight Lexes she was ab pense with a servant, aml do ber own housowork, Not only this, but Mrs> Lounder can walk any moderate distance without fatigue, and ts to nll inten ad purposes a healthy woman, Dr. Williams’ Pink Dilis for Pale Poonle are considered an unfailing specitic for such diseases as locomstor ataxia, gartial paralysis, St. Vitus’ dance, selatica, Theumtt ery oan herdach afte te of ta gripe, ywipita- tion of the heart sallow congdexton tired feeling resulting fr es pron N; all diseases resulting from vithated num in the Blood, such as scrofula ctilongpntimirte © troubles peculiar iS suppressions, Irmgularities, and all forms of weakness, In men they eifert @ pal ca in all cases arising trom mental worry, ork, oF excesses of whateve ure, Willtany’ Pink Pills are wld. by all dvalore tee an be sent post paid on receipt of price, 50 conte & box or six boxes for $2.50 «iti ver wil tn tthe or by the Tm vering Die. Willan? y _Sehn x ry = cRN WARPFARE. Campaig: Single but Dee! From the Pall Mali Gage MIM Give Place to isive Encounters. Summing up the whole question, as bh tween any two European armies of the peac present day, the ext percentage of loss to be anticipated lov Le. on particular brigades and divis will not exceed one in three (of which ene is killed to four wounded), whereas for whole armies of a quarter 6f a miilion and over one in ten Is the ve: ment we may rea: y outside nably expect. punish- Compared to the slanghter 6f the seven years’ war and the best contested fields of the Napoleonic period. this is very little, indeed. Ai Zorndorf the Russians left 21,- 000 out of 52,000 on the ground and, this is undoubtedly the bloodiest battle recorded since the introduction ot portable firearms. Eylau, Friedland, Wagram and Brodino all d the figures for any d bat- mice the b 1 in the Moreover, the thing Is not to be me percentages only, but by in which the killed and wounded lie, and the fate of the latter afterward. In a mode battle 20,000 men would fall ol an 5 of about twenty square miles; at Zorndorf the 21,000 Russians and 1 ssians lay on a single squar of the wounded not one in thre wher- as, in 1870 nine out of ten rec i, and the Prussian medical staff antici, deven better results next time. But death on the batilefield is by least of the two evils the soldic face. ‘There is death on the line and in hospitals along the road. formerly, particularly under N would die by the way for one who fell in action. In the last Franco-German war only one man died of disease for two killed in action. Indeed, the health of men in the full prime of life was actually slightly better in the field than in quarters. It may, however, be argued that, even granted that battles and marches may be less destructive, there will be more of hem, because every able-bodied man being ained by war, the resistance will be more prolonged than formerly, but pro- hereas, poleon, ten is longed endurance is only conceivable under the supposition that the leaders on both sides are hopelessly incompetent, and both fear to stake all on a single, collision—a supposition that nothing tends to justify. On the contrary, every leader brought up in :he modern school is taught to under stead the vulnerability of all modern mili- ta:y organizations, and is penetrated with the conviction that one downright “knock- out” blow effects mgre (han weeks of pur- poseless sparring, and where both start determined to bring matters to a climax the decision cannot be long delayed. Judg- ing from what we know of the relative efi- clency of continental armies, we believe that the first rocnd of the great encounter will also be the last, for the momentum of the blow which decides will simply par- alyze every nerve of the opponent's bod and, adding up ali sources of casualties that can occur in a short campaign of thi description, we conclude that at the very worst the actual cost in human life to the engaged will not amount to more per cent of their several pepula- tee Going Slow. From the Philadelphia Press. “Jakey, got the goo: “Yes, fadder.” How many? “One.” “Dot's right.” His Unfortunate Selectt From Truth. “He said that when he left college he would hitch his chariot to a star.” “He did so; but unfortunately he selected a fixed orb for the purpose. Manyawo. man sees the reflection of death in her mir- ror without reall, realizing it, an with not even @ \ guess at the cause. Beauty wanes — eyes grow dim and black encircled —radi- ance Sees = skin—a leathery look supplants the soft peachy appearance—age comes before life has fairly begun. These are but outward signs of the death that lurks within. “These are only danger sig- nals. Careless or too busy doctors make @ hundred di: and prescribe for nerv- for insomnia, for indigestion—fora different diseases. They are wrong mistaken nine times in ten. of Buffalo, N. Y. iy write to#him and should in an: to take-Dr. Pierce’s