Evening Star Newspaper, August 20, 1898, Page 15

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, AUGUST ADMIRAL CERVERA AND HIS CAPTAINS. From Photograph Taken at Annapolis. DONS OF THE NAVY A Chat With the Distinguished Span- ish Prisoners. ADMIRAL CERVERA AND HIS CAPTAINS A Feeling of Relief That the War | is Over. THE YOUNG — OFFICERS said Miss Janet Richards in reply to an inquiry from The Star concerning a recent audience with Admiral Cervera, “I Gid not seek an interview with the ad- miral with any idea of writing it up or} even talking of it for publication. It was entirely informal and arranged for me by al friends at Annapolis at whose home met the Spanish officers, thus avoiding » troublesome red tape necessary for an ial interview, my object being merely to prepare ‘character sketches’ of.the dis- tinguished prisoners. With this under- standing I met Admiral Cervera and sev- eral of his officers, so that I naturally feel @ certain hesitancy in talking of them or, at least, in stating what they said.” ich of the officers she met and would give some of her impressions of them, Miss Richards said: ke my impressions were all most agree- le and as the war is now over, perhaps harm can come of stating some of them. who ¢ upon us were the ad- and his son, Lieut. Ange! Cervera. Captain Moreu of the pectively, and sev- ‘utenan' ineluding the ad- Lieut. Paredes, and Lieuts. a of the Colon. and his son, accompanied Kautz, rector of St. Mary's whom, by the way, we were indebted for the s er uo 2 remained for more than hour—the longest call, our friends told with which the admiral had honored y one yet. Admiral Cervera Talk: We chatted together on many subjects orm: in French, which, perhaps, ac- d for the length of his stay, as the admiral speaks English with difficult: though he 4ggle with an unfamiliar tongue. » the admiral used a large palm- erously and complained of the char- van heat, which he declared * trying than that of either » because of the ‘oppressive Was as gracious and cordial in man- as unassuming as we haye fieve by th. unts of his In figure eing fully six feet easily two hundred. Hi framed by gray hair ated by the kindest of tion of the cers had re- langua ° adm never be; nguage. ‘In every msonant, with ways by th age everything e ! objects to ‘English 1 nothing but kind 1 Americans. In re- ain and Ame ch other better ral declared that ain were friendly ember," he said, ‘the two elemen ry co is much differenc Nusion to the rumor so well, he might . he replied with ‘But why should I y wife, my wife's relation: is, my pi in Spain? a to dispe om—in a word, se quite effectu: umerous alleged inter- | admiral said: ‘Of d one word that du tout, du tou 2 aeccompant ecided shrug and emphatic A Lesson in § he lef: panish. the admiral became so in- 3 ire to pronounce Spanish rrectly that he gave me quite a = little ish 1 on. the printed lst of the Sp: z names of sh prisone one hand, and | pointing them off with my rea, white and pencil held in the other, he had me mame after name, noting the and making me repeat rendered cor: y. His own need ‘al times, ervera and ‘the Spant s d to us but a few sho: co, when our entire seaboard @ lest they steal upon us unaware ack Our great ci y the strange vicissitudes of ed beneath : caribbean sea, while the nt leader of a forlorn hope, with the captured officers of his command, the awful conflict through which they had so lately passed; of the fire and carnage and terrific destruction which encompassed them—a veritable sea of blood and flame, from which those who escaped with their lives bless heaven as for a miracle—a iiv- ing tragedy, from the memory of which some of them will never escape! “To see and talk with the chief actors in this lurid melodrama; to hear them tell of being so drenched with their comrades’ blood t th knew not whether they themselves were wounded and bleeding; of the awful time spent in the water swim- ming for their lives; of the flames of their a sels, and the heartrending cries ef their dying comrade: d groans 1 this from those who were a part cf it, was to come in touch with the horror of it d not been possi- 1 it seemed to be the one which all wanted to talk, all dmital. But Lieut. Angel Cer- up for his father’s reticence, a graphic description of how he ilor had saved ihe admiral from drowning by supporting him on either and keeping his head above water till re lors. the ‘Thus wa similar di son, when with his o hands h> helped tke young licutenant into his small boa!, after ordering a cessation of the terrific firing through which Hobson and his men had miraculously passed. In reply to the only political question I sked the admiral he said, courteously: ‘Of that T will talk to you after the war, and when I have render2d my official report to Spain.’ Since then he is reported to have spoken quite freely on the same subject, namely, w1 Blanco had to do with his leaving Santiago. admiral rewarded for a of mercy to our own hero Hob- Capt. Moreu of the Colon. “Upen this point, as well as many others, the captain of the Colen, with whom we had an hour's conversation next day, was much less reserved, expressing himself in rapid though rather broken English, accom- panizd by many expressive gestures and Spanish shrug: ‘I have sent my written report to es- in,” he said by way of explanation; ‘be- jes, I am membre parliament, so I’ aix- yself to you here. Why not?” nee that w2 would i that he safd made entertaining captain more outspoken. Were I at liberty to repeat his account of the capture of his ship (th> Colon)—‘which,’ he added Proudly, ‘almost go away would throw considerable light upon a heated controversy. But I am warned by his own account of an attempted interviev ‘A reporter has asked to me: ‘ou pre discuss th And I have sa fon to aixpress on t on and Schley? “I have no opeen- subject, and if I , it is not for you H= did add, however, with evident relish: ‘As for me, it is my ship who has put mos! of the holes in the Brooklyn, while I am hit only fife times! Ah, I almost go away. But since I cannot escape I know how to sink my ship. You think not I am so stu- pid that I know not how to sink my shi From his further remarks it seemed po: ble that he may take a hand in the contr versy after his return to Spain. ‘When the romes they hear from me in the e ish parliament, of which I am mem- he added, impressively. He also ex- 2d himself on the character of Ameri- can newspapers, most of which, he com- plained. were ‘too sensash'nal,’ though he mentioned two or three exceptions, one of which, the way, was The Washington ar, which he said h> often bought mu iked very ‘However,’ he with a a shrug, ‘I om proprea a newsp in M > I know one Icoks not ¢ sin the 1 Lair for the truth—ah, ha; no, not alwa in the papair The Proud Eutate. ng cortrast of the ¢ anchol “In benh proud to the viv ain of the ¢ lon is who re fused to sign the parole on the ground t lis word was as good as that of the ad- nd certainly he who talks with ate is soon convinced th vord as good as hb The t auste idea of Spanis 1 tilian hau- teur is typified unconquered don. ptured, but vanquished,’ i: hought t y recurs while bond. onor’ th in not ing to the n of the ruined V cava. H » drifted at once to the ou h disaster, and in pure and fluent ated to me the story of his mis- fertune 1 ve saved nothing,’ he said; ‘abso- nothing but my at sword, my ring and my religious medais, which you sce here,’ drawing up t y little chain om around his a my scapular, aked with my blood! one of those wh with his *, having b shoul- S with a piec and also receiy- & a severe wound ij ck of his head, frcm which he is now almost recov=red. e fact that lis wife and children liv n Juan de Porto em to caus the captain special ress and apprehen- sien, from which I tried to dissuade him. But he could repeat, inconsolably: ‘Ah, mademoisselie, I have lest everything —m ship, my fortune, my home, my prop- -in a word, my career! “It was impossible not to feel sympathy | for this unfortunate captain, to whom th future seems so dark, and whose only con- solation seems to be his religion, for no one ts reput:d among bis fellow officers to be so trul pious or to spend so much time his de otions as this same proud and unbending Eulate—of whom one js always | i:elined to think, by a slight paraphrase akespeare, as ‘the melancholy Don.’ the way, it may be of interest to state his name is pronounced ‘A-oo-la in four syllables, every vowel be: inded. The Younger Offi Several you s. heutenants also called on a. of whom were anxious to learn En- h and with our language in the heroic hope of adding a few more words to their vocabulary. the aid of numer- ous gestures and an occasional French phrase we managed to get along very well. They all wanted to talk of the great fight and their experiences thersin. One young officer of the Colon was sure we could not raise that vessel. ‘You will get her up nevair!’ pe explained. ‘We have sunk her too well!” Evidently the wish was father to the thought. “One litue thirg that rather surprised me as the interest they took in our comic cartoons of the war. One picture that they all gathered around and laughed gaily over represented the Phillppines in the guise of a half-savege native girl, running frantical- after the Empire Express, on the rear form of which stood three maidens, la- led, respectivel, ‘Cuba,’ ‘Porto Rico” and ‘Ladrones.’ ? I miss this train I'm a goner,’ waa the legend below. In hot t ‘of: “Little Filipino’ was a heres Spanish soldier, knife ip hand. To find amusement In this satirical and sweeping representation of Spanish losses seemed to Iked the gr: grown streets of Annapolis, ike Othello, their occupa gone, the prisoners of the people they me to destroy. What They Passed Through. “There was something pathetic, indeed almost tragic, in the thought these men represented to my imagination. I was constantly reminded when with them of indicate how mercurial was the tempera- ment of these young officers—or was it be- cause, In their heart of hearts, they re- joiced that the war was almost over and they still lived? “Certainly it seem2d asif they all shared a@ certain sense of relief in their present situation of security, comfort and peace. This, however, was only iay impression, for certainly no one thus exp! himself to mo, though all were most cordial in their raise of the manner in which they have received and treated as prisoners, and all whom we met expressed a desire to visit ‘Washington before returning to Spain. “Another thing that especially interested me was the affection which all expressed for Admiral Cervera—as if speaking of @ dear father, ‘tas for me,’ exclaimed Captain Eulate, with enthusiasm, ‘Je l'atme au fond du act (1 love him from the depths of my eart!) “Phere was much more of interest that might be mentioned concerning my visit to Annapolis, but IT am constrat to say ne mere until all our Spanish prisoners have left the country, when the rest may be told.”’ es NO LET- IN ARSENAL WORK. SUll Golng Full Speed to Turn Ont Rifle Cartridges. From the Philadelphia Record. Notwithstanding the cessation of hostil- ities, work at the Frankford arsenal is go- ing on as energetically as ever. The daily output of ammunition is 150,000 rounds of 80-callber cartridges for the Krag-Jorgen- sen rifles, and 200 shrapnel, with some fuse attachments for the artillery. The work of renovating the old rolling mill and putting it in shape for the manufacture of cart- ridges is also progressing rapidly, a small army of mechanies and laborers being con- stantly kept busy. When completed the arsenal will have a daily capacity of 800,000 rounds of smali-arm ammunition. About thirty of the extra night watchmen who were employed to guard the powder house and magazine were laid off yester- day, and it is very probable that more will be laid off in a few d: This reduction in force is not, howev those working in the shops, as no orders have been received to reduce the output of cartridges, but, on the contrary, orders have recently been received to increase the number. ‘This will probably be kept up in order to provide an ample reserve stock to be drawn on in case of emer The present supply was heavily drawn on a few days ago, when 2,000,000 30-caliber_cart- ridges were shipped to the front. +o+ A BLESSING I DISGUISE. The New Zealand Rabbit in a Role. From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. A new phase has been given to the rab- bit scourge in New Zealand by the succ:ss which has attended the experiment of freezing the rabbits and exporting them. It would appear that out of what has hith- erto been an apparently irr2mediable curse an important industry may be developed. One exporter is said to be in the receipt of between 15,000 and 20,000 rabbits per day, and is paying to trappers and in wag2s be- tween $4,000 and $5,000 per week. He has 24,000 traps out, giving employment to about 500 trappers. His export of rabbits last year was about 700,000, and this year he will increase it to 1,500,000. The scale on which this enterprising 2xporter is lay- ing out his plans is further seen in the fact that he works up into boxes, in which the frozen rabbits are shipped, about eight truckloads of timber a week, and he pay over $2,000 a month for freight. It is es mated that this season’s exportation rabbits will run 6,000,000. Thi New of to between 5,000,000 and at the low price of six cents j Per rabbit, will bring in more than $300,000 to the trappers, and the total amount re- ceived in the colony, as the proceeds of the rabbit >xport industry for this season, will be, at a moderate calculation, $700,000, —— A DOUBTFUL STORY. Too Good to Re True, Though a Sober Man Tells It. From the Detroit Free Press. “Never had such a sheck in my dife. questioned for a few minutes whether I in my right mind. I was sick, and good and sick at that. I called up central, and was informed in one of the most pleasant voic I ever heard that they were busy on the line of my regular physician. Just as I going to cut loose on a string of profan: she said: ‘You're sick, sir. I ean tell from your voice. I'li call physicians till I get one. Meantime you'd better lie down.’ “Say, nothing but a dead faint would have removed me from that telephone. I liste ed as I heard her ring for one doctor aft another, alw quick and pointed in her inquire ut patiznt and not a lost note in that flute-like voice. I forgot that I was sick, and I was sorry when she finally found a physician whom she told to hurry to me. “A little later she called up to know if I Jed a nurse. Of ccurse I di ie- se I wanted the plea of hanging © to that receiver while she routed up one number after another until the desired arti- cle w red. It was great. Wh came to ing drugs she was only on moved {1 nagician. £ ordered dain that I nev just to hear her call for retended a degree of w for I eakness ould not permit of my standing too at the ‘phone. The whole thing was a artling reveiation to me. When I'm well going to lose that girl or hat a good many mammas the com must desirabl> eligibles m telephone and askel ne had three clocks and 4 on duty. Then one of th> the tewn we: the time, though chronometer, ill —— Cuban Women, From the Weman's Home Companton, The belles of the island often bedeck themselves with fireflies, In lieu of but paler jewel lights. These ins nearly four times as large as the “lightning bu: in the Uniled States and emit a beautiful glow from their breasts and wings. The young nen dearly love to imprison them in the gauzy folds of their summerland costumes, and enmesh them in the hair in mock coron Sometimes senorita will wear a brilliant firefly or tw: soned in a tiny cage of gold or silver a bangle to her brace- ing sight to seen a ern beauty shimmering s if cl a thou adornment th flies. The poor 1 way for light- aS aste , hanging It is an let. light-bedecked sou in the soft night a gems, but having no othe of f otic ul one 1 mo this economi use them in ing their hous ng them under wire and they prove quite successful in this office of utility. At one time the laws of Spain forbade the poor in Cuba using any other means for house lighting than fireflies, and the practice is still a common one long after this strange law has been abolished. The life of the women of the upper classes is a very narrow one, and the average girl has little else than marriage to look for- ward to. It behooves her to make an early marriage, too, while the charms of youth abide, for she will likely begin to fade at thirty. Handsome matrons are infrequent, as in all tropic lands. Her mother teache: her very little else than in the way of per sonal accomplishments, and the natural re- sult is that the average girl knows a great deal more regarding complexion powder than she does of baking powder, and her lack of other useful knowledge is in much the same proportion ———$+e+—____ Second Sight Best. Frem Truth. Singleton—“They say Meekton fell in love with his wife at first sight.” Benedick—“Well, I'll bet he wishes he had been gifted with second sight now.” (Copyright, 1898, Life Pablisting Company.) “Tis sweet to hear the watchdog’s hon- est bark,”—Byron, ‘Don Juan.” 20, 1898-24 PAGES, " CUMBERLAND BAY. A RICH. ISLAND Juan Fernandez to Be Colonized by Chile. —EEE—E ALEXANDER SELKIRK'S HOME The Great Value of the Guano Islands. A BIG AMERICAN CLAIM (Copyrighted, 1808, by Frank G. Carpenter.) VALPARAISO, Chile, July 38. UAN FERNANDEZ Island is to be col- onized. The govern- ment of Chile has} just adopted resolu- tions to that effect and by the time this letter shall have been | published an inspec- | tor will have been | appointed and in all probability a number | & of new inhabitants | ty will have been car- | ried to the island. Within the past few weeks the president of Chile has visited this island on a tour of in- spection, and both iimself and his ofneials report that it can we made of great value to the country. It bas been decited to give ch settler a he 2in amount ef land, and the i e a large fishing colony tt Thejcodf'sh which are caught off the shores of Juan Fernandez are especially fine.““They swarm about its shores, and, in connection with loosters and t orm the basis of a are also many seais, and other inarine animals in the waters near Ly, and the! mainiand has in its woods many will goats, wild sheep end wild mules. There, are parts of the island which are very fertile and it is thought that they can reatty pe'made a valuable property. The Real Robinson Crusoe. The Island of Juan Fernandez lies just about 400 miles west of Valparaiso, in the South Paciti an. It can only be reach- ed by special steamers, which make excur- sions there oncé or twice a year, and it will not be possible for me to visit it at this time. I have, however, met members of the president’s party who have just return- ed, and have also had the assistance of Mr. neer of Santiago, an American og- rapher, who a companied the expe on, and from whose photographs this article is illustrated. Before [ describe the as it is in this year of our Lord 189 H me tell story ¢ dred years of ninety ton, was sailing ocean. of its history. ‘The 4, almost two hun- time an English ship the Cinque Ports, the Pacifi the first real Robin- a hman, named | He was the satling | but for som reason or the captain, and on omething back to £ At that known through Upon her wa: e. He was nder Selkirk. ter of the s other fell out with ste that he headed a mutiny and w glven the choice of being hanged at th yardarm or of being piaced on this desert island of Juan Fernandez. He accepted ternative, and, with a Hl} ns, he was landed In what i s | | with fer | ant that it is north of th> island. Of late, however, I am teld that this business has almost entirely disappeared, the cattle are allowed to go wild and there are now on the island wild sheep, wild goats and wild mules. I give this statement on th authority of Photog- rapher Spencer. The Riches of Juan Fernandez. There is no doubt but that Juan Fernan- dez is a rich island as far as the soil of the northern part of it is concerned, and with this new colonizing scheme it may support quite a large number of people. The hills are covered now with wild oats, and there is good grass in every open spot. The fruit trees planted more than a hundred years ago by Selkirk and others hav2 reproduced themsel and there are many wild fruit There are peaches, pears and quinces grow ing wild, and also wild vegetables. A pecu- liar plant is the panga, which has leaves forming a cup as big as an umbrella. Th fills with water when it rains and stays fu long as it is cloudy. When the sun comes out it begins to wilt and the water flows out. Selkirk’s Cave. There are a number of caves on Juan Fernandez and several are pointed out in which it is said that Alexander Selkirk lived. One of these, which lies in a ridge of voleanic rock, is as large as the average parlor with a roof from ten to fifteen fe above tne floor. The door to this cave is It rear at least thirty feet. shows signs having been lived in. The e little holes or pockets scooped out of the walls, and here and there on the w: rails which were onc: have lived here in the ; the cave was the re: who once ravaged the coasts and s this part of the world. The nails may have been driven into the walls by them, and from the same source probably comes a one oven which has been built in the rear of the cave. Other caves are covered and the vegetaticn is so luxuri- y to imagine that Selkir t out hedges about his caves. which would soon have become walls of trees and have hidden them from view. A Chilean Penal Sett At one time Chile had a penal settlement on Juan Fernandez. More than a thousand nirals of a governor and guards. might have si te lement. You can still see the ruins of the fortifications of that time. One of the sights of the island are the damp and fern-covered dungeons which were dug out of the bluff facing the har bor. These dungeons were among the m: horrible e constructed by ish cruel- ty for th rture of men. 2 > en- tered by vaulted p: age: hich led from one damp chambe nother. They were to ON THE GUANO ISLANDS. in September, 1704. Ie lived there for four years and four months, when the English privateer Duke was attracted by his watch fire and came to anchor at the island and carried him home to England. During his stay Selkirk had many of the adventures described in De Foe's book, although De Foé having a better knowl- edge of the islandgy,north of Brazil in the Caribbean sea has qyade much of his story correspond to thesg,in §js descriptions. of scenery, products and ¢ligates. Tn the first place, the terrors which assaulted Selkirk when he found himself gil alone on this wild spot were the game gs those of Crusoe. He wished for a time that ne had chosen to be hanged rather thanjhave come ashore, Well, when Selkink wes found, accord- ing to the narratlye of;Captain Rodgers, who took him to England, “he was clad in goat skins andawas gunning about as though crazy, bho» th How the Island Leoks in 1898. The island is only, twelve miles long by about seven miles wide, but parts of it are the picture of desolati It is a great mass of rocks, whieh: rises upward from the waters for more thafia thousand feet. It is made up of pills and mountains, of little ravines and jeys. The northern half of the island is Covered with a dense vegetation, as Mr, Spencer’s photographs show, but the southern half is as bleak and bare as the western slopes of the Andes in the rear of the Peruvian desert. The most of the’ shores are inaccesible. The best landing place is at Cumberland bay, at which point there is now. a fishing settlement which includes about all the pecple of the island. ‘There are, it ts said, only fifteen people now living th2re. Bac of the settlement on the bay there are cot- tages, or straw huts, which once formed the homes of quite a number of settlers who lived here. These huts are made of cane wattled with straw. There are gar- dens about some of them, and at one time there was an agricultural colony here. One man attempted to start a stock-raising plantation, and he had, it is said, as many as 30,000 head of cattle and an equal num- ber of sheep grazing in the valleys om the without ventilation and were as dark as Egypt at the time of the plague. Some of the cells were far underground and were so small that their occupants could not stand upright within them, ‘The prisoners at one time murdered the guards and 300 of them escaped and landed on the shores of Chile. Here they were captured and were taken to Valparaiso and shot. The other prisoners who had been left upon the island escaped, and by different ships found their way to other countries. Alexander Selkirk’s Monument. There is a monument to Selkirk on the ort of the buccaneers | t here under the charge j there years ago, when the place was used as a penal colony for Ecuador. A Billten Dollars From a Dunghiil. Other interesting islands are found in the great archipelago which lies between here and Cape Horn. These I shall travel among on my way around the southern end of South America. The most interesting of all the Pacific islands, however, are the Guano Islands. They are, in proportion to their size, the richest Islands of the world, for they have already added more than one billion dollars to the world’s wealth: Think of pulling a Dillion dollars out of a dung- hill. guano islands. Her creditors are getting something out of them today, although nothing Kke the enormou ms realized in the past. These guano islands are scat- tered all along the coast of Peru. I first saw them north of Lima, near the sho! of Salavary, and at F mayo a guano ship from the Lob Islands came in for mail and provisions. Off the Bay of Pisco, Peru, I saw the famous Chmeha Islan which have produced more than twelv m on tons of this bird manure, and have brought into the Peruvian treasury millions upon millions of dollars. The shipping of guano fs going on from these islands today, although the deposits are to a large ex- tent exhausted. I am told that the ship- ments of the current year will not probably exceed 30,000 tons. On the Guano Islands. ‘The Guano Islands are merely masses of volcanic rocks which have risen up out of the ocean. They have not a blade of grass nor any green thing on them, and are merely rocky islands covered with a rag- Bed white deposit. It never rains upon them, and for thousands of years the manure upon them lay and grew in quanti- ty from age to age. For some reason or other, the pelicans, sea gulls and other birds ‘Which feed by ‘the millions in the wa- ters of these parts of the world have chosen these islands as their nightly roost- ing places. They pick out certain of them jand age after age, year after year, and night ofter night, they fly to them by the thousands and there rest. There are often other nds near which to all appear- | ance are quite e, but which are \ untouched. Ev. > disturbance caused | by the removing of the guano does not | seem to prevent the birds returning to their | roost. On the Chincha Islands, which were | supposed to be entirely exhausted, fresh | deposits of guano have recently been made, and in 1894 30,000 tons of new guano was actually shipped. Where the Guano Comes From. Nearly every one knows that guano is the excrement of birds. A sea gull, which |is one of the smallest of the guano-pro- | ducing birds, will drop from four to six | and in the ounces of excrement a day breeding season of ten weeks about twenty- eight pounds. Other birds produce more, and the many little depe s throughout the ages have made these vast quantities. Guano ha: however, other things mix with it. The material taken from the be is made up also of dead seals, who crawl upon the guano rocks to die. There are thousands of sealsk mixed with the bird ‘manure, and not long ago 5 tons of such skins were excavated from one guano de- posit. The birds which make the guano are of many kinds. One of the chief species ave seen these ungainly, in such fiocks that they the face of the ocean as over it. They feed upon the wherever you see a fiock of pelicans you may be sure there is a school of fish near The bills of the pelicans crest bags of yellow skin under them hese as nets to scoop up the the gluttons of the sea and themselves to such an t rise from the t of heir arc 3 waters are black with them, ar the you se sands seated on the clable tu ud they hu They are but little afraid of you 1 the isiands thes move without you go fr Amon; The guano of the Lobos pockets covered with 1 often var: ; feet T uano is t ‘Kness fr shovel 12 men gen faces to their m is a goo 1 like fine penetra The guano trucks and carried on a tramway shore, where it is transferred to the to be taken to Europe or America. told that a shipload of guano does not smell at all bad after a few. da: The am- monia of the upper crust passes off and you cannot not the fit of the cargo without going down into the hold. A Claim for Hundreds of Millions. When Humboldt visited South in 1804, he called attention to the value of the guano beds on the Chincha Islands. They were then sixty feet deep, and he said there was enough manure on them to enrich the worn out lan of the old world. The deposits, however, were not thought to be of velue by the Peruvians until nearly hatf a century later, en a Frenchman named Cochet called ‘atiention to them and claimed one-third of all the product by right of discovery. Ho tray- eled from place to place and picked out islands frem which it is said t more than $1,200,000,000 worth of guano was scld. He was declared by the Pernvian cengrexs as the true discoverer of the beds end uses cf guano, and in 1849 a grant of 5,000 tons of guano was voted him. He never got it, however, and, although his ciaim by right of discov cording to their Peruvian law, discoverer one-third, aggregated over $40 900,000, he died in a poor house in Paris, Isiand of Juan Fernandez. It is a marble tablet set in the rocks at the “Lookout.” It was placed there by some English naval officers about thirty years ago. The in- scription reads as follows: In Memory of Alexander Selkirk, Mariner, A native of Largo, in the County of Fife, Scotland, who lived on this Island, in complete Solitude, Four years and four months. He was landed from the Cinque Ports gal- ley, 96 tons, 18 guns, A. D. 1704, and ‘was taken off in the Duke, privateer, 12th February, 1709. He died Lieutenant of H. M. S. Weymouth, A. D. 1723, aged 47 years. This Tablet is erected near Selkirk’s lookout By Commgdore Powell and the Officers of H. M. 8. Topaze, A. D. 1868, The uninhabited Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador have more recently had an Alexander Selkirk. This man was deserted by his companions, and when found years afterward he was quite naked and was carrying a pig on his back. He had lived upon fruits and roots, and had caught wild cattle in traps and had killed them with a spear made of a pocket knife tied to a stick. His hut was made of the hides of such cattle, of which there were @ number on the island, having been left Monument to Selkirk. Another discoverer of some of the guano fslands was treated in the same way by the Peruvian government. This was « nat- vralized American citizen named Lan- dreau. He discovered guano deposits which were worth about ,000,000, and, accord- ing te the Peruvian law, should have had $138,000,000 from them. Jt was, it ts sa! through his discoveries that Peru was able to get a loan of Europe of two hundred million dollars, but when it came to the question of paying Landreau he was cut off without @ cent. Just before the war That is what Peru has dug out of her | between Chile and Pera Americans bad formed w the Peruvian Company. 1 up the rights of t Landreau and w the Peruvian gove thing of the enc them as heirs It is from the p Which was given United States by Co! former Secretary of above stateme: tus was not in ewspapers, a I think, advocates br mous su Cochet | English sync consideration of tts ¢ foreign debt. P. a |rupt country, bu made it was’ rich, | pected to g % half billion doilars Were entitled ur rs ago ming the is practically when 1 th a lar » which they sai the law. 5 The Guano eds of Today. Guano fs not worth so much tod it was years ago. The product is now com- paratively nothing. Ocher fertiliz, have taken its place, and {ts price is less than half what it once was. There have been times when this bird manure was sold for $100 @ ton. Today it can be bow t, J am told, for $30 or $40 a ton. The first ship- ment to Europe was made more than fifty years ago. At that time twenty barrels of guano were taken to Liverpool and tried on @ farm near that ity. The result was such that orders were sent back for more, and soon hundreds of ships were employed in carrying guano to Europe. Often 200 ships would be at the different islancs t time. Chinese coolies were imported to get out the guano. They re horribly treated and today it is not uncommon to find dead Chinamen mixed with the new deposits. bor a long time the Guano Islands av Peru the greater part of its reve ing about $15,000,000 for an mber of years. Now they are practically ext ed, and Peru has fallen from great rich to poverty. RANK G. CARPENTER, -_ IN PAWN ice Barker for Two Hair and a Shave, From the Cincinnati Enquirer. When Terry Barker came home from ‘ork the other night all the children arcund Water and Race streets were m- ning up and down in front of his shanty ‘Phwat the divil is goin’ on here?” was the first thing Terry asked. “Oh, Mr. Barker, your Mary was kid- naped ‘his morning, and they haven't found her yet,” said Mrs. Dwyer's daugh- ter Maggie. Parker went back in the yard, where his wife was siting at the kitchen door, crying. There was a crowd of women around h and all were talking at the same time “Phwat's this I hear about Mary?’ “Oh, Terren I simt her to the corner this mawrnin’ for bread, an’ divil’s the halg bave I seen uf her since.” “Did yez surch fur her N over the ward.” “Did yez look in the coal yard?” ‘We did.” stoneyard?” “Maybe she’s in the cellar of warehouse. Where'c me cane? down and look.” “The children wur all over and oonder the orn old zo it ‘She wuz a pur ng, with he: Iden curls, and maybe scom rich m stole her,” said Mrs. Riley, who lived next door to the Barkers. “Oh, I furgot to tell yez,” said Mrs. Burke, “but I seen a tramp in frunt of the house this mawrnin’, and maybe he carried her away “Phwat koind of lookin’ fellow wuz he?” asked Terry, “He had a face on "im loike “Thin of'll find him,” said T took his blackthorn and w street toward the riy the saloons and t down Race ©. He dropped in sked every one If they seen “his dau lary, the wan the golden curls.” one had seer It was about 9 o'clock when he ing along Water street, near Plur the barber was just closing up, stuck his head in the door to mak when he let out a yell and bour shop. *Kratch, phwat in the name of K 1 Barker nquiry, ed in the yez keepin’ me Mary here frum ma till noight, an’ have me and her crazy?” “Git out, Ba ker. That girl’s waitin’ fur her father to come back. ‘Taint me da r? “Yes, he ts,” said a Mttle girl sitting in the corner. “And where's your curls?” “Mr. Kratch cut them off.” “Barker, you're crazy. That aint your daughter. Her father was here this morn- ing and he got a hair cut and shay T he told me to cut off his daughter and he would be back in a few m * he wanted to get drink, and b ae came back. “And me daughter is in hock for t cuts and a sh is she Then he and Barber Kratch mix went to the floor. The girls crowd gathered d it wus soor over the ward that Mary Grace been heid in pawn for two hair cuts and a shave. Mary was taken how nd the next day the truth was lk 1 Kelch, the bully of the eighth war drunk and out of fu’ Taking lit:h down to Kratch’s ie got a hai shave. Then he ordered “his ¢ hair cut w 2 he went out to get He never came back. When Terry heard who had done it he simply “If Oi didn’t know his muther ¢ me stick on his good-for-nothing he: havin’ me Mary's golden curls cut off tee 1 fur The Prince of Wales in Private Life. Joseph Hatton in Chicago Evening Post The prince is not what commercial men would call wealthy, but he has his establishment is managed on s careful principles. It has been that members of the royal family free of expense. The truth ts quite opposite. One of the Prince of Wa heaviest items of expenditure ts the cost of traveling. prince and princess are “tips.” The idea prevails here and there t the prince has special privileges in re; to his visits to the theater. The only pri flege he has is that of being a royal patr though there is hardly eny privilege m: agers would not grant to s0 constant, kind- ly and sympathetic a supporter of the stage. When the prince desires to go to a theater a box is booked for him throt an agent in the ordinary way. If w usually understood to be the royal box already booked then the previous pur- chaser is politely asked to waive his right, that is all. Wherever this is done the waiver is always specially thanked In @ letter from the prince’s secretary. Years ago, wher. the prince was known to have booked a box, if he did not arrive in time the curtam was kept down, and his ap- pearance was made known by the band playing the national anthem. When came to the knowledge of the pr’ Was very much annoyed, and that both he and the princess should treated exactly the same as any other playgoers. Their royal hignesses ably arrive in good time, Separate exit is provided 'alw; until the fall of the curtain. a theaters without a private entrance these houses the prince leaves a few min- utes before the fall of the curtain simr that his carriage may not disturb the or nary arrangements at the principal trance. teous and considerate than the prince princess on these and all other occa It ought, of course, to be unnece: say this, and it is so as regards m my readers; but once in a way, the time being apropos, it is worth while to punctu- ate a few ordinary facts in regard to the life of royelty. — A Last Request. From the Chicago News, He—“And am I to understand that your refusal is final?” She—“It is.” He—“Then life no longer has a éharm me; I shall hang myself.” She—“Wili you grant me a favor?” He—“Certainly. Neme it.” She—“Discontinue your existence else where; papa objects te your hanging around here.” travel Wherever they go both the in very lavish en- Nobody, in fact, can be more cour- and lions.