Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 23, 1887, Page 4

HE DAILY BEE. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TERMS OF 8UBSCRIPTION, Datty Morning Edition) including Tiek, One Yenr . . Yor 8ix Months. . For Three Months The Omiulia Sunday e Aress, One Yenr o 31 rigis 0 00 4 AND 616 FARK AM STRERT. 01K OFFPICE, BOOM 66, Trinvse Buitp: 156, WASHINGTON OFPFICE, No. 03 Foun TEENTH BIREET. CORRESPONDENCE, All communications r@hhlfl news and editorial matter should be addressed to the Ettow o The BEE, BUSINESS LETTRRS: A} husiness letters and remittances should be adaressed to Tity, BEk PUBLIBIING COMPANY, OxanA, Drafts, checks and postoffice orders to Le iade payablé to the order of the company. e Beg Publishing Compeny, Proprictrs E. ROSEWATER, Enirog. THE DAILY BEE., Sworn Statement of Circulation. !la(rn: N?'h{’nlul. County of Douglas. Geo, BT i secretary of The Bee Pub- a8 zechuck, smpuny, does soleminly swear that the netual eircufation of the Dally fiee for the week ending Dec, 16, 57, was as follows* Suturday Ded. 10, Dee. 11 17th dwy of December, A. D, 147, . P. FEIL, (REAL) Notary Public Bute of Nebranca, 14y, County of Donglas, (% Taschuck, being first duly aworn, de- ponen and says that hels secretary of The Tieo blishing company, that the_actual average d circulation ~ of “the Dafly Bee for the month of December, 186, 1827 coples; for Junmary, KT, 18,268 coples; for Feb- Tunry. 19, 1108 coples for March, 165, 16400 coples: for Apeil, 16T, 14,910 copig: for M TH7, 14227 cople: June, 1T, /T cop Tor July, 187, 14,008 coples; for August, 18, 14, 16 cople; for September, 1667, 144 coplens for October, 185, 1455; " tor ‘November, 187, 15,23 coples. 2 GFO. B. TZRCHUCK, Sworn to and subscribed in_ my presence this 04 day of December, A. D. 17, " a1, Notary Public. 's Washington Bureau. The ‘‘Bee's” news bureau at the national capital {8 now ecomplete. Arrangements have been perfected by which our readers will sccure the carliest, the fullest and most reltable information of public matters at Washington hot from the wires and gath- ered exclusively for patrons of this paper. There will be no.double leading of press re- ports marked ‘‘spectal” to deceive the pub- lie by a show of sham enterprise, or pad- ding of well-worn sensations forwarded by mail. The “Bee" has made its reputation as a newsgatherer by paying liberally for news wherever procurable, and i pro- poses to matntain its record. Putrons of the “Bee” and Nebraskans generally, to- gether with all its friends west or eust, are cordially nvited to visit its Washington headquarters, 513 Fourteenth street North, where files of the paper are to be found and a warm welcome will be extended. TEXAS wauts more people. A con- vention for devising means to encourage immigration is now in session at Dallas. MER. VANDERBILT and the sultan hob- nobbed together the other day. They presumably spent a pleasant hour overa glass of sublime port. TuE Rochester explosions are sugges- tive. Too much precaution cannot be taken in the storage and distribu- tion of illuminating oils and gases. ‘THERE is one problem with which the city council is not obliged to wrestle. They are not troubled with the question how to dispose of the surplus in the city tronsury. IT only takes five days now to make the trip from New York to San Francis- ©o, but it took three days this week to transfer the Chicago and New York mails from Pacific Junction to Nebraska City. | SUNSET CoX occasionally risesto such altitude above his party that he goes almost out of sight. He said recently that the question of revenue reduction should be considered without thought of its political bearings. E—— OMAHA has in the past had excep- tional good luck in the matter of des- tructive fires, but there is no telling what may happen in the future. Our fire department should keep pace with the enlarged area of the city aud be equipped for any emergoncy. EIGHTY-SEVEN out of ninety-two re- publican erployes in the Chicago cus- tom house huve disappeared by dismissal or resignation since the present demo- cratic collector has been at the head of the service. This is civil service reform as domocracy ‘understands that term. E— COMMISSIONER of agriculture, Nor- man J. Colman, asserts that thio people of the United States use more silk thun any other nation, and five years hence will use more than all the rest of the world combined. If Mr. Colman is cor- rect the Jeftersonian simplicity of our people is lined with silk as it were. Sm———— LUGENE HIGGINS attracts a good deal of this nation’s attention, Senator Gor- man, of Maryland, is reported to he in- censed at the treatment Higgins re- ceived at Cleveland’s bands during the past fortnight and threatens to show the country the true relations which existed between those two groat men, Higgins svoms to be fitting himscif for a dime museum caroer. TiE statement that the reports of tho Pacifie railrond commissioners have been in the hands of a New York stock broker for a week, and that ho has made use of them in the speculations of himself and friends, should move con- gress to make & thorough inves! tion, If there is anything in the rumor it ought not to be very dificult to discover how the reports, supposed to have been in the sole keoping of the president, got to the broker. ——— SENATOR CHANDLER'S proposition to appoint federal inspectors of election in scveral of the southern states where the vepublican voto has been notoriously suppressed, isin itsell very commend- able, With the appointing power in the hauds of the democrats M, Chund- ler's bill creating federal inspectors and presoribing their duties, would be a dead letier. It would be very much like appointing Jay Gould to protect tho Wall street lnmibs, The Holiday Recess. The eountry will be nearly vnanimous in approval of the position taken by Senator Plumb on Wednesdny relative to the congressional holiday recess. The custom of taking two weeks out of the first month of the session on the pretense of enabling congressmen to spend the holiday season attheir homes, has nothing to justify it except age. As Senator Plumb said, as a matter of fact the majority of congressmen re- main in Washington throughout the re- cess, and rome of those who go away do not go to their homes. Butif this were not so, and every one of them passed the recess at home, it is a privilege they give themselves that is not just to the people. It is due to the country that its legislators when in session should lose us little time as possible, and a8 & matter of example to all the ather servants of the people should devote themselves to the work they have to do with the utmost care, industry aud zesl. They are paid for this service, and they are faithless to duty when, having entered upon it, they vote themselves n long period of idleness, thoreby frequently putting off urgent legislation and unnecessarily prolonging the first session of cvery new congress. All that can be said in disapproval of this custom on gencral principles be comes intensified by the exist- ing circumstances. There is ur- gent necessity for legislation rela- tive to the surplus, so that the secretary of the treasury may be en- abled to give prompt and effective as- sistance to the money market whenever a demand shall come for such assistance. It should be well undcrstood by con- gressmen that the president and secre- tary do not regard the treasury as justi- fied, while congress is in session, in tak- ing any action under existing laws for disposing of any part of the surplus. The president stated very plainly in his message that he did not think anything further could be done by the secretary of the treasury to lessen the hoard in the treasury vaults, which is steadily growing at the rate of ten millions & month, and this should have prompted congress to take some action on the subject before it allowed itself the privilege of o long season of idleness. It is no answer to its failure to do this to say that there is no present réuson for alarm. The fact is that the enterprise and pros- perity of the country are suffering by reason of the accumulating hoard in the treasury. Every business man who must borrow money is compelled to pay more for it than he would if a sufficient amount of this government surplus were released to ease the money market, and close and high money is of necessity a drawback to every form of enterprise. It it can not be said there is anything alarming in this situation, it certainly is truc that it oporates to check business and is an injury to the whole people. The failure of the representativesof the people to promptly remedy such a state of affuirs is con- soquently a very grave dereliction, for which there can be no satisfactory excuse, The constitution provides that con- gress shall meet on the first Monday in December, but authorizes that body to appoint a different day. An effort was made to do this in the last congress and it is understood will be renewed at the present session. It is very probable that so long as congress continues to meet in December the holiday recess custom will be observed, for the average congressman is never likely to have such an awakening of conscience as will enable him to see that throwing away two weeks of the time for which the pco- ple pay him is a wrong, quito as unwarrantable in his case as it would be in that of any other servant of the peo- ple, and under such eircumstances as now exist a good deal more harmful, On the senate recess resolution nineteen senators voted against it, and itis grati- fying to note that tho two Nebraska senators were among them. —_— ‘Western Farmm Mortgages. A great deal has been published dur- ing the past two or three months in eastern journals depreciatory of west- ern favm mortgages. Very much of this has been bald misrepresentation, the motive for which it is not easy to under- stand. It is not questionable that money has been lost by eastern lenders on west- ern farm mortgages, but that such losses have been at all general, as these de- preciatory writers would have it appear, or that the returns on such loans have not very greatly oxceeded the losses, no reasonablo and candid man will contend. A citizen of Pawnce county, Ne- braska, where he has lived for more than a guarter of u century. writes in the Awmerican Bunker of his experience and kuowlédge re- gareding farm mortgages in that county, icl there is overy reason to believe is not exceptional in Nebraska. The farmers of Pawneo county started poor, and this writer states that he does not know of a dozen owuers of furms who are now unable to meet all debts, and still have wmple means left to keep themselves, e states that he knows of **a seore or more farmers who could easily clenr up twenty thousand dollars; a few who are estimated at thirty to fifty thousand dollars, and hnndreds who are worth from six to twelve thousand dollars; and few, indeed, not worth from two thou- sand to five thousand dollars. Those who are in the best circumstances are those who have made their money herve; who eamo here with small means, and have made their money by farming and raising stock., The force of these state- ments can be apprehended when it is added thut few, indeed, are the farmers in this county who are not thriving, making money from yeur to year,” He suys further that for the last ten years he doubts whether there have been us many s a dozen mortgage forclosures, and during that period not three fore- ssuves for borrowed moncy, Taking Pawnee county nsfe fair sample of Ne wskia counties, und Nebraska as a fa ample of the agricultural and stock- valsing west, it is evident that there is 0 just ground for the sweeping depros ciation of western farm mortgugcs which Las been made by. the ill-ins THE OMAHA DAILY BEE: FRIDAY, DECEMBER formed and reckless writers in the oastern press. It is claimed for Kansaa farmers that they have not been less careful than those of Nebraska in maintaining their credit by the prompt payment of their obligations, and the records of default in interest on mortgages and foreclos- ures in Kansas for the post ten years appear to justify this claim. In view of such facts, en accessible to all deserving this informa- tion, the effort to alarm eastern lenders on western farm mortgages is to the last degree reprehensible, since if suc- cessful its effect would be to render future borrowing difficult and create a distrust of existing contracts that might cause many honest farmers a good denl of trouble. It isof a piece with those equally false statements published in the eastern pross which characterize all western booms a8 having no substan- tial foundation, and as certain sooner or later to collapse aud bring ruin to thousands. So far as Nebraska is concerned there are no safer invest- ments than her farm mortgages, and well-informed eastern capitalists know this. — The Question of Parks. The season for public improvents has practically closed. Another year has passed and Omaba. finds herself as far from possessing n system of parks and boulevards as she did when it began. As o matter of fact sheis farther re- moved. Property which a ago could readily have been secured by gift, condemnation and purchase for such a public purpose, had the charter given our people the power, is now covered over with dwellings and grid- ironed with streets and alleys. The oil room wreckers of the last legislature who lobbied through the defeat of the best charter ever of- fered by Omaha are solely responsible for the misfortune which is now gener- ally admitted. No general park and houlevard system can be formulated un- til ample powers are conferred upon the eity government to acquire the needed land. For this another sion of the logislature must be awaited. Meantime our people necd to be thor- oughly arroused to the urgency of re- taining intact the few breathing places Omaha already has, as against every scheme for their absorbtion for public buildings or otherwise and such overwhelming sentimunt ought to be created by a united press in favor of a metropolitan park system that no legis- lature, however besieged by private interests, will dave to override it. It is safe to say that a chain of parks con- nected by boulevards encircling this city would add $10,000,000 to the value of its real estate outside of any pre- sumed or pretended damage to property by their construction or extonsion. — THE controller of the currency is still receiving suggestions of plans for con- tinuing the national bank system, but there is very little in any of them that is ossentially new, and all are subject to some of the objections which he pre- sented in his annual report to those plans submitted up to that time. It is evident that it is going to be no simple task to devise a just and popular plan for perpetuating the national banks, and if it were not for the fact that there is still ample time 1n which to do this, bonds for securing circulation being available for twenty years yet, there would be reason for apprehension re- garding the fate of the national system. The matter is one of such large and im- portant concern, however, that congress may very properly give it attention at the present session, at least to the ex- tent of discussing the several plans that have been suggested, and of indicating what the sentiment is regarding the continuance of the system. It will not be surprising if it shall be found that thereisa v onsiderable feeling un- favorable to its perpetuation. BY its new rule sending private bills to the clerk, who will refer them to the appropriate committees, the house of representatives will free itsclf of what has been a source of very considerable annoyance and waste of time. The formal introduction of this class of bills consumed many hours during a session, and the process was as well an exceed- ingly tedious one. Under the new rule private bills can be handed to the clerk at any time, and the house will know nothing of them until they are brought before it by the committees having them in charge. It is a sensibie rule that will undoubtedly be appreciated by all, ex- cept, perhaps, the clerk of the house. KANsAs Crry has reaped great bene- fit from her manufacturers’ bureau dur- ing the past year and active efforts ave being made by her leading property owners and business men to extend the influence of the bureau during the com- ing year. The work of this bureau has been to disseminate information about the resources of Kansas C to find out what capital 15 looking for new locali- 0 sites and land ties of transportation and promote in- dustrial enterprise. Such a bureau in Omaha could not fail to prove of incal- culable advantag Iris tobe hoped Congrossman Me- Shane will find time enough during the holiday recess to thoroughly investigate the condition of postal affairs in Omaha, and go back to Washington equipped with facts and figures to couvince the department that the wretched mail ser- vice in this city demands increased fa- cilities for handling and distribution, and addition railway postal elerks on the trunk railroad line: I is not likely that the Congressional Record will be abandoned so long as there is a majority of congressmen whose constituents would never hear of them except through its pages. Itisa most convenient receptacle for the wis- dom of those members who cag never get a quorum ef their colleagues to Listen to them, and to whom “leave to print” is all that suves them from com- plete obscurity, —_— It may be rather late in the season to proffer adviee about choosing Christ- mas gifts, - We venture, however, to re- eall the story of the young lady. in the hospital during the war, who presented to the poor soldicr, who had lost both legs, a tract on the sin of danecing. Givers of Christmas presents put too little thought into their gifts, Tre unsightiy ahd dangerous forost of pole lines in our principsl thorough- fares has become n public nuisance which should be speedily abated. Tele- geaph, telephone and electrio light wires are being placed under ground in nearly all the large eastern cities, . STATE AND TERRITORY. State Jottings. The clergy of Fremont are planning a spiritual boom for the carly days of the new year—the season of swear-offs and high resolves. The family of Mr. Dennom, of Min- den, was doubled up Saturday by cramps produced by poisoned pressed beef. The doctors straightened them out in a fow hour: The Greeley county seat war has broken outagain, and from now till election day, January 17, the praises of competing towns will carve the prairvie air and ear. E. R. Fisgarber, a moderate lunatic from Haigler, isin jail in Denver. He was supposed to have $4,000 in his pos- session, together with some diamonds. The stones were found but no money. The pewter bowels of the Lincoln Democrat have been stirred to the low- est depths by the fear that some daring Omaha man will raid the capital to-day and vote against the Red Oak railroad bouds. The fears are groundless. Lincoln is welcome to an Towa connec- tion and Red Oak is just about her size. The festive conl oil can spread a lurid mantle over Mary Klipke, a Grand Island domestic, Wednesday morning. The girl was expediting the morning fire with the fluid and succeeded in fill- ing the kitchen with flaming oil. She was severely, perhaps fatally, burnt. The house was saved from destruction by hard work. Judge Field had scarcely warmed his seat on the bench of the Second district before he settled a case in favor of his old railroad clients, The Plattsmouth Journal thus spenks of it: “The indig- nation of the people at the course of Judge Field In taking both questions of law and fact from a juryand compelling o jury, against its conviction, to sign a verdict, will not down, and there is a growing sentiment among the solid and substantial, the intelligent and influen- tial citizens that it wouldn’t take much invitiuit to work into violence. The public is willing to grant that a_judge may take questions of law into his own hands aud decide them—that is within his jurisdiction—but when it comes to questions of fact, including the amount ([.f the judgment. it'is going u little too ar.” lowa Items. 5 The Milford mine at Boonsboro is on ive. il Electric motors #re to be used on the street railways of Des Moines. Savannah offers'a’bonus of $25,000 for the removal of the Milwaukee railroad shops from Dubugqtid. The supervisors of Woodbury county are likely to issu rmits for the brew- eries of Sioux City Yo continue business and dispose of their products as stand- ard medicines. Thénews will thrill the arid throats of the residents who have suffered for lo these many da ota, Illisnmrck‘s water system {sin running order. Iron Hill stock is down to 80 cents in Deadwood. Deadwood is talking of raising the liquor license to $1,000 a year. The coal famine at Aberdeen was raised in time for the lato blizzard. Mrs Kate Nocl, the handsomest woman in Fargo, has been divorced from her husband. ‘Whitewood, the new railroad town between Rapid City and Deadwood, will have a bank next month. The United States grand jury at Fargo has indicted Superintendent Graham, of the Northern Pacific, under the inte late law, for refusing to fur- nish cars to Hawk, of Buffalo. Oolorado. There are forty flowing artesian wells in Denver. Denver is anxious to secure the ex- tension of the Rock Island road, and discussing ways and means. Desperado Vorces' pictures are going the vounds of the state press. ~ Tho artists significantly dvaw the line of grace and beauty at the neck. The wonderful climate of versatility of wind and howling healthfulness kept the natives in their holes hugging hot stoves the last three days. 1t was quito cool out the nd Manitoba's frigid blasts dwindle into a chinook in com- parison. The mercury ranged from <10 to 51 degrees bolow zero. The big tunnel at Badger station on the Denver & Rio Grande road has been completed. It is 550 foot long, cut through red granite to a height and width sufficient for broad gauge cars. The tunnel will straighten the track and do away with the sharp curve where a fatal accident occurred some time ago by a slecper going off the rails and killing an actres: —_— Monmouth College Alumni. There was a large representation of tho Omaha Alumniof Monmouth collgge at the Millard last evening to meet Rev. G. W, Hamilton, the college representative, and to discuss the merry college d. Those pres- ent were Dr. . K. Spaulding, Rev. E, B. Graham, Rev. J. N. Boyd and wife, Rev.J, A. Henderson and wife, Judge McCulloch and wife, W. T. Graham and wife, Bruce Me- Culloch, G. G. Wallace, R. B. Wallace, E. E. Clippenger, Charles Westerticld, Misses Belle and Mame McCulloch. An interesting address was made by Mr. Hamilton, setting forth the present pros ous con on of the college and the work being done. Following this ‘were toasts and responses. The first was “Co-educations itis not good for man to be alone, nor girls eith Bruce McCulloch mado the response in his humorous aud unimitable style. Judgze McCulloch made a brief response to “The Faculty—the Lion Not 80 Fierce as Painted." An effort is being made by the alumniof the college to raise a fund of §25,000 to endow @ chair. This effort called for the following toust, “To the dollars, of the dads add tho dollars of the lads.” Response by G. G. Wallace. *The Omaha association—the wmore the merrie n Rev. N. Boyd, aft i came the social meet- g and the pledging of some money to the endowwent fund. Borrowed or Stolen, Phil King, an expressman, was arrested yesterday on the charge of stealing a wagon from W. S. Palmquist. Kiug was brought before Judge Berka, where he asserted that he had merely borrowed the wagon, and P d 5 Bs bor- slow in returning the rowed property. ‘The cass was given a con- tinuance until December 27 at 2 p. m. Military Leave Salt Lake. Company E, Sixth infantry, which has been stationed at Salt Lake City for about two years, has been ordered to returnto Fort Douglas. - This company was stationed at Salt Lake during the fears of 8 Mormon up- risiug. ? THERE'LL BE COAL FAMINE. Plenty of the sky Diamonds in Stock and En Route. Some of the Omaha coal merchants say that the stories afloat to the éffect that the city is on the verge of a coal famine are orroncous, and have their origin in the fact that two weeks ago there was such a small stock on hand that a famine was foared. At that time there was a scarcity of soft and nard conl, owing to the shiftleasness of the railroads, The coal merchants, anticipating the approach of the late cold snap and an over prossure of orders, presented a bold front and compelled the roads to exercise a little more activity in forwarding the stuft along, with the result that when the blizzard struck the on Sunday coal bins and cel- were well supplied and the yards suf- stocked to meet a month's demands. eporter was informed at the coal of- fice of Jeff Bedford yesterday afternoon that there were no fears to be anticivated from a conl famine, as the dusky diamonds were being received daily in large quantitios, Tho cold snap had its effect on solivitations for fuel and food from the county commis- sioners by the poor of the city. While the demand was not as great as at thisghimo lust year, it wus, however, sufiiciently’ large to mpress the commi of poverty prevalent, of pro- caution 'is exercised in establishing the worthiness of applicants, and but few im- positions are practiced upon Commis sioner O'Keefe and his co-workers. During the last few days the good connected with the Women's Ch association have not been idle, and have done a great deal in relieving the wants of the poor people, AMUSEMENTS, ‘The Bostonians Delight Another Fine Audience at Boyd's. A more delighted audience never assem- bled in an Omaha auditorium than the one which gathered at Boyd's last ovening to listen to Offenbach's airy opera comique, “The Poachers.” It was o signal succoss from the very rise of the curtain. “The Poachers” has never been given in Omula before, nor in America, for that matter, by any company save the Bostonians. 1t is ro- dundant with those merry melodies which characterize all of the gifted composer's pro- ductions, and the libretto fairly scintillates with felicitous and jocund persifiage. The plotis simply a_concatenation of the most amusing misunderstandings, without being so intricate _as to require any grcat mental strain to keep track and trace of their un- In short the opera is as bright and 'y 48 & sunny summer morning, and will stand frequent repetition. The cast last night embraced the piquant Marie Stone, as Bibletto-Bibletta, whose dual role as an insup- pressible poacher and & winsome lnss was the nucleus of the whole entrancing story. Her singing was inimitably sweet and h at once captivated the audience, Marcasson, & mule driver, was_the character in which the old H. C. Barnabee, won now admirers His vexatious mis- adventures after his marriage to Genetta, Miss Juliette Corden, kept the audience in convulsive laughter. J. A. Montgomory as Count de Compistrons, F. W. iller, as Theodore, his son; George Frothingham as Bibes, Bibletoo's "guardian angol,” and Mise Mina ' Cleary as Barades, all deserve un- stinted praise. _ Each ono scemed to have a peculiar fitness for the very best representa- tion of the characters assigned them. It would be remiss not to say more than a word of Miss Corden. She is a most engaging little actress aud possesses a voice, & mezzo- soprano, of really extraordinary range and feasibility, and is destined to take place with the older favorities. The chorus was splen- dia and the work of the orchestra under Director Shidiey's able handling was first- cluss. e — ASSAULTED BY TOUGHS. Officer White Pluckily Prevents the Rescue of a Prisoner. ‘The sandbag secems to be coming into favor again among the thugs, Last evening Thomas Hunt was arrested by Officer White for disturbing the servioes of the Salvation army. While White was on his way to the police station wjth his prisoner he was stopped by a of toughs who demanded the release of Hunt. The officer refused, whereupon they jumped upon him, com: menced to beat him, and one of them, named John Smith, knocked the officer down with a sandbag. Inthe scrimmage Hunt escaped, but the plucky officer jumped to his Teet, grasped Smith and his brother Jim, and tol them 1If they dared to show any resistance he would bore them full of bullets. At this the gang quieted and the officer took the Smiths to the lock-up. Still later Hunt was re-ar- rested by officers Cormack and Haze, ————— Knights of Pythias on Farnam. The Knights of Pythias have at length de- cided to erect their new and beautiful castle hall, costing nearly $200,000, on the south- west corner of Farnam and Nineteenth street. The structure will positively be one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. ‘The plans have already been made and we- cented and comprise a building of stone, five storics in_height, and containing stores on the first fioor, office rooms on the second with drill and lodge rooms on_the_third and h storics respectively. The design has mado by Architects Mendelssohn & Lowrie and have already been warmly com- mended by ull who have seen them. The new building has been hailed with pride by residents in the western part of the city as well as by the members u} the order throughout the city. When the proposed mamimoth hotel is added to it upper Farnam street, including the B office, the New York Lifc Insurance company’s building, the Paxton building, the Merchants hotel and the Burker building, including the new city hall and the court house, the fact will be in- itestably proved that that part of the city s more than realizing the expectations of its most ardent admirers, Pete Kinney Locked Up. Pote Kinnoy went home last night in an uproarious condition, stimulated by an over- indulgence in the flowing bowl, and proceeded to make it very exciting for his wifo and fame ily. Hoinsomo manner became possessed with the hallucination that the house was only large enough _for himself to dwell in, and he thereford vigorously invited his family to spend tho night on the highway, To this they objected in tones suficiently loud to at- tract the attention of Ofcer John Brady, and he silenced Pete by putting him behind the bars at Central sttiou. Scholastic Recreation, Dr. Harsha, of Bellevue college, was in town yesterday, and says that the institution closed for the holidays Wednesday and will not reopen till the 4th of next wmonth. The attendadee was fifty students, a greater num- ber of whom were in more advanced studies than was ever Had by the college before, Creighton college classes commenced to enjoy the Christinas vacation Wednesday afternoon. They will resume th studies on the 4d of January. ‘The public schools close to-day and will reopen Junuary 3. -~ 5 Fell From a Building. Yesterday afternoon while T. Peterson was working on the new Barker building, corner of Fifteenth and Farnam, he fell through the cellar, striking his head against abrick. He was picked up scnseless and car- ried to Dr. Rebert's office, where his wounds were dresse His head sustained an ugly cut three inches long, but it was discovered thaut the skull was not fractured. He was also otherwise bruised and hurt, but not futally. Licensed to Wed. Tho following licenses to marry were issued yesterday by Judge McCullough: Nume and residen { Herbert B, Ellingwood, South Omah: { Jennie Blakeley, Glenwood, La. ... \ Walter HBell, Omaha . ..... .. 1 Jessie Davis, Omaba 3 Johu M. Brooks, Owikia 1 Addie Miller, Omala . § Charles A. Moyers, Ouwiahi 1 Olive Little, Omaha. ...... Return the Cap. Chief Galligan, of the fire department, wishes that the man who finds the brass cap lost_by the big extension ladder in going to the Bobemiay hall lire will retura it L him imwediately - CASES WHERE NERVE FAILS. When Mon Who Know Not Fear Are Frightened. SEVERAL INSTANCES IN POINT. The Hunter Thrown Into the Water ith Crocodiles—A Man With a Snake on His Breast—Other Trying Situations, New York Sun: You often hear it said of a mun that he doesn’t scom to know what fear is. He may not, so far as standing up before other men. or fac- ing ordinary dangers, but there are two dangers which no living man can face and hold his nerve very long. 1 assert this, because it has been my fortune to meet some of the most courageous men of this generation, and 1 have had op- portunitics to see their nerve under fire. There i8 probably no place in the world where the man-eating shark grows to larger proportions and fiercer disposition than in the Gulf of Bengal. Aud in the bays and harbors along the coast the crocodile attains his full si and his temper fully vipeng. While 1 was in the employ of the KEnglish mail service in India one of the ideas worked out was specdier transportation. New rowtes were sel- ected to save distance, and whevever it was possible the rivers were made use of. On one occasion 1 was descending the Little Rangoon river with threc natives and the mail bags, when we were hailed from shore by an English hunter, who had becn camping out among the fierce wild animals and poisonous serpents for seveuty days, Ho was entirely alone, and he had killed five loopards, three tigers, six or eight large serpents, and much other game. He had several fresh scars to prove a hand-to-hand confiict with a wounded i and the bare fact of his heing n that country, exposed to almost vy danger one could dream of, ~was proof that he wus o brave man. He had a raft at the bunk and was about to cross the stream. After n visit of u quarter of an hour we took him in tow and dropped down about a mile. We had just headed for the other bank when I saw a large crocodile rise to the surface jus’ behind the hunter’svaft, The man had not entered the boat with us, but was sitting on his traps on the raft.’ I called to him to shoot the reptile, and he rose and made as pretty a shot as one ever saw, striking the saurian in the eye and killing him at once. We wore applaud- ing the shot when a dozen of the mon- sters broke water all about the raft. We had o tow rope about forty feet long, and were its full length ahead of the raft. None of the reptiles paid the lenst attention to the boat, but all seemed dotermined to make a closer acquaintance with the raft. he hunter had a repeating rifle, and he stoodon his feet and banged away right and left as coolly us you please. I ordered the men to cease rowing and got out my rifle, but before I had fired ashot a monster crocodile climbed upon the side of the light bamboo raft and upset it. We backed water mpidl‘y;énud it was not_over thirty seconds fore boat and raft had Dbumped. At that same instant the hunter rose be- side the boat, and one of tho natives ulled him in. While he layon the bottom of the boat we rowed about and picked up such of his traps as were afloat. It was very little we saved, I his fire arms had gone to the bottom and his skins ond pelts had been swiftly devoured by the crocodiles. When & came to offer the man some spirits his looks had changed, so that I could scarcely believe he was the same man. No one standing on the gallows trap could have been more broken up. He had- scarcely swallowed the whisky when he began to cry, and he insisted that we cover him up in the bottom of the boat. It wasa whole fort- night before the man recovered his composure, while his nerve was gone forever. He who had stood with drawn knife awaiting the rush of u tiger, and who carried marks to prove his bravery and his victory, had been totally broken up by an experience of less than two minutes in the water with adozen croco- diles. It was the feeling that he w: helpless which took his courago away. In the case of the tiger he felt that he had some little show. When he was flung into the water he realized that he none. Ihave seen several men hung who “died game,” and who got the credit of being brave fellows. It is all nonsense to talk about bravery in the face of the hangman, “Dying game™ is either the courage which comes from stimulants furnished by the jailor, or it is false enthusiasm duc to the labors of the clergymen for many days past. On one of my trips up this same river, and a I\umlm«f miles from the coast, I camped one night with a party of Brit- ish “officers who were out on a hunt. The leader of the party, and the best shot and the bravest man in it, was Major Curtiss, a man about forty years old. He had killed more wild animals than any white man in the province, d only with a revolver, he had entered & bungalow in which a mur- aerer was concealed and taken him away from a crowd of his friends and delivered him over to justice. On a bet of £25 he had swam the river amid the alligators, and he would stand for the rush of a tiger or the spring of a pan- ther with a laugh on his lips. They said of the major that he did not know what fear was, He, perhaps, thought 80 himself. The camp was on the bank of the river, and only a temporary onc, and no tents or covers werve erected. We sat around the fires until a late hour, smok- ing and yarning, and when we rolled ourselves up for sleep the major and I were only about four feet apurt, with nothing between us. ‘The camp grew silent at once, and everybody was 500n sound asleop. I was just dozing off when I thought 1 detected thecrawlof asnake near me, but, after listening closely f a minute, I concluded that it wasa lizard or insect. The air, the earth, the forests and the waters of India ‘are full of animal life by day and by night. A eamp no sooner grows quiet than wild rats and mice, lizards, great beetles, and three or four sorts of squirrels begin to prospect around, while night birds cirele about and the wolf, fox, juckal, hyena, and other animals druw nens, Snakes are always to be feared, but if one started up at every sus- icious sound he would never getan hour'’s sleep. Daylight was just coming when I opened my eyes. 1 was on my left side, turned toward the majc nd I noticed that he was on his back. Close besido me was a revolver, which I had slipped out of its holster the night before that [ might have it handy in case of nced. | Not another al " in camp was yet aroused, 8o far as I knew, and I lay listening to noises in the surround- ing forest while daylight continued to | grow stronger, [ wis about to arise, when L suddenly sww the hoad of a nt lifv ll-uh wbove the major's breust and wave to and fro. 1 shut my eyes for o few seconds and then ope them to see the same sight in. 1 evon tried it again and again, fearful it 1 was dozing, d not wishing w0 believe what L plainly saw. It cer- tainly was the head of & venemous sorpent, a specios closely resombling the Ameriean blncksnake, and as deadly as any sorpant in Indin, 1t waved its head and darted its tongue for s mo- ment, and then settle a back into its coil. As soon as the head went down 1 felt for my revolver and threw back the ham- mer. The click! click! alarmed the snake, ns [ knew it would, but by the time he had ele d his head again 1 had my arm outstretched and the muz- zle of my revolver within two feet of him. it was n snap shot and had 1o be made on the instant, and it was by pure fmnl luck that I sent a bullet through his ugly head. He was writhing and flopping_about as [ sprang up, and was dead us I bent over the Major. The snake had erept out of the bushes and upon the Major's broast early in the night. It was not more than midnight when the latter awoke and found the serpent coiled up, and he knew that any movement on his part would result in certain death. For three hours and half he had rested on the broad of his back, never moving a muscle, with his eyes wide open, and that serpent’s hoand purt of the time waving toand fro within six inches of his face. When 1 bent over him he was helpless, When we got him off the ground he sank down again and began to weep, and it was fully two hours before he would talk to us. The result of his experience was that he beeame o perfoct physical coward, startled at the slightest noise, and was ready to run from even o house dog. Rangoon Bay is infested with the largest man-ecating sharks on tho coast. One season I was out for two weeks in a small schooner with a party of en- gineers, hunters and fishers. * We had with us a Captain Scott, an ex-officer of the army, and o man whose reputation for bravery extended over a large dis- On one occasion he followed u who had committed murder forty miles into the interior, and took him out of a village of excited peaple without aman to back him. He had thivty-four tiger skins of his own killing, and onco when a band of five natives, each armed with a creese, attacked him, he drow his cavalry sabre and killed three, and drove the other two off with wounds to nurse. Onoe day as we lay on the west side of the bay, swinging atour cable and being within a hundred foet of shore, I counted the snouts of four alligators be- tween us and the bank., We were hav- ing un_after-dinner smoke undor tho awning, and I called the attention of the crowd to the saurians. Captain Scott got up with a laugh, threw away his cigar, and, before any of us sus- pected what he had in his mind, ho sprang upon the rail and went over- bourd and swam ashore. We ran for our vifles, hoping to frighten the monsters off, but he reached the bank in safety, rested for a rou})lc of minutes, und then swam back. There wuasn't another man of us who would have taken that swim for ull the jowels of the nabobs. Three or four days later, a8 wo were beating acvoss the bay, the schooner was capsize@ by a sudden squall. Two white men and three natives were drowned, and the rest of us managed to get on the schooner’s bottom and hang 10 the keel. The squall soon pussed, but a breeze from the north droveus down the bay and brought a lumpy sea. Pretty soon the sharks gathered. If there wus one there were five hundred, and they had no fear of us. They took off a white man and another native, and some of the lurgest sprang out of water until they rested half their length on the bottom of the craft. rangely enough, Captain Scott was the first to oxhibit terror and to break down. ‘Within half an hour after the accident happened o us we were compelled to seize hold of him to keep him with us,a d such was his fear that he almost lost his mind. We were rescued in about an hour, but the captain was done for. was almost a wreck. A boy, ten age, armed with u s d have put him to flight, and if a honey bee or wasp alighted near him he would scream like achild. The first man was brave be- cause he huad always fought with a weapon. and realized that he had the advantage. The second man lost hie nerve when taken at a disadvantage. The third was a coward as soon us dis- armed. I was present several years ago at an exocution in Havana. A Cuban patriot —they called 'em guerrillas—had been captured in the mountains after & long hunt. He had killed with his own hand overthirty men, He had fired dozens f plantation buildings, helped torturo my planters, and he Killed negroes so often that he did not cut anoteh for their death. e had the charac istics of a tiger. He would kill where other men would spare. He had had many hand-to-hand fights with the regular troops. and no ten of them would have darcd attempt his eapture, On one oceasion he had put o squad of thirteen Spanish soldiers to flight, and on another he eaptured a squad of five who had been loft to guard a puth and cut the throat of eve T visited himan jail incompany the British consul. Although he wus loaded down with chains and kept be- hind burs which an elephant could not have wrenched rybody afraid of him. loss and de- flant to the last, and delighted to ¢ out the names of his victims and relato how he had disposed of cach one. 1 got permission to be present when the guerrilla was shot. o ok tatto from the prison in the gray of the morning by a large hody soldiery and conducted to the militar target shoot, over a mile away. He was roaring detinnce w the open air, and he t it up until the slace of execution was reached. Then he suddenl, w calm, and had no sooner «d in front of his coftin than he down and begged and to touch th p He offeved to betray his comrs 1z on earth, to preserve his life, wus groveling in the dirt when the bullets of the firing squad put an end to his life. At Fort Donelson. Detroit Free Press: 1t wa federate soldier at Sheflicld +who wis giving some of his experiences ut the battle of Fort Donaslson, He was an officer and had n young colored man for his cook. When the confederates, or the great bulk of them,decided, after ahot fight, to withdraw from the fort, the captain looked around for his ser ant, but the hegro was nowhere to bo seen. The officer mounted alog and called out in loud tones for his servant, and pretty soon was answered, but in such faint toues that he could not for awhilo locate the cook. Civsar finally le it plain that he was in the log ¢ the officer’s feet, und wus ordered 2 out. ‘an’t do it!" he shouted in reply. jut you must, The fight is all ¢ “ut T ean’t =dur’s fu” white men in broke pleaded in a wi n ex-con= found that such wus the fucl crawlished out, one after another having an and the darky apnearcd. Neer wig about to open on him, wsar pro- testod: “Doan’ say one word. Dis ar’ de fust time I eber got nhead of & white man, an'it’s gwine to be de werry last. Do nex’ fout we hev, 1'ze gwine to lct d white man hey de hull log to hisself, an' look fur a hole in de groundl™