Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, October 14, 1894, Page 19

ONCLE SAM'S CREAT STAFF A Mighty OGorps of Reporters Seattered | Throughout the World. EXTENT AND VALUE OF THEIR WORK | Outline of the Datles of Consular Agents, | Marine Hospital Correspondents and | Crop and Weather Reporters—A Mammoth Pablishing House. (Copyrighted, WASHINGTON, Oct. 11.—Unele Sam s the | Breatest news-gatherer we know. All of the mgencies of the newspapers of this country put together are hardly as great as the corps of men he retains to intormation ot current events. Some of this information he publishes in the shape of public docu ments which few people ever read. Some of it he preserves in the files of his de- partments at Washington for the use of his executive officers, The big government news machine oorrespondents who are reporters; it editors in the different departments, and Grover Cleveland 1s their editor-in-chief; and it has sub-editors who read copy and use the Blue pencil on it. The & very wide range—much of the average newspaper | government does not follow the record of deaths and marriages the chronicle of Jocal orime, it has often a far more accurate and rapid service on some great foreign wa like the Chinese-Japanese conflict or the r cent Brazilian trouble, than any of the great mewspapers can obtain, no matter how great their expenditure of money, In matters of this kind the government service should be far ahead of the newspaper service, for treaty obligations require the transmission of government messages by cable when com- mercial messages can be declined. But it Is pretty hard for the government, even with All the apparent advantages on its side, to get ahead of the enterprising American news- paper, CONSULAR COMMERCIAL REPORTS. The transmission of news by cable during some such emergency as now exists in Asla fa not the only news duty of the American consuls and commerclal agents or the min- tsters or ambassadors of the United States at forelgn capitals. The bureau of statistics of the State department issues at monthly in- tervals small volumes of reports sent in by our diplomatic representatives; some of th volunteered and some sent in response to in quiries of the department. This news fe of the consular service has beeome of gr commercial importance to the United State Much trade was being lost by American porters, particularly in South and Central America, through the negligence of shippers in packing goods. Goods which were to be carried long distances on mules or horses were packed in boxes when they should have been put in sacks. The matter was brought to the attention of the chief of the bureaun of statistios and straightway he sent a circu- lar to the American consuls all over the world asking how goods should be packed for shipment to the countries in which they were stationed. Today you can obtain from the State department a complete manual on this subject, and there is no good reason why & dollar's worth of trade should be lost ta American exporters because of bad pack- ing. At another time some ome called the attention of the bureau to the fact that the export business in American flour was fall- fng off. Out went another circular and bac eame an elaborate set of reports from north, east, west and south, telling just what kind of flour was eaten by the people of every part of the world, whether they eat Ameri- can flour, and If not, why not. The American miller could not send a drummer around the world with any expectation of obtaining one Balf of this valuable information. And so it goes. Is there trouble with the introduc- tlon of American kerosene into China? Our eonsul at one of the chief Chinese ports | writes fo tell the State department and through the department the American manu- facturer and exporter that the local preju- dice against American goods s partly re- sponsible, and that in part the responsibility lies with the Chinese officers who are in- terestod in other ofls or who have not been sufficiontly “insulted.”” .The American people are disterbed by local labor troubles. Ameri- can ministers and consuls send to the State department for publication Information about the way forelgn nations legislate to settle questions arising between employer and em- ployed. The American public 1s wrought up over the trolley question. Along .comes the eonsul general at Frankfort with the informa tion that a German inventor has possibly solved the question of an independent motor for street cars, and that a model is bullding o England to be sent ta this country in Oc- tober next. There Is not a fopic which could possibly Interest the people of the United States relating to any mercantile, manufac- taring or social question with which the American consul is not prepared to grapple. He jumps from “‘Coal Mining in Saxony” to “Onion Cultivation in Egypt,” and from a description of the Brussels public pawn office to an essay on the samsage easing industry of Russia. Of course, in handling these re- ports there Is a judicious exercise of the edi- tor's pencil. Not all of the consular repre- sentatives of the United States are tratned writers, and not all of them are so well wersed in diplomacy that they can be trusted 0 _express an opinion without making them- selves offensive to the people among whom they are sojourning. The newspaper reader will remember the unpleasant case of Nicholas Smith, who provoked the people of a Canadian town to stone his dwelling by making criticisms in his reports of the sanitary condition of the place. Mr. Smith is now serving his country in another fleld. The Smith report wae published in the bulletins of the Maritime Respital service, and that statement opens wp a view of another branch of Uncle Sam's mews industry. PUBLIC HEALTH IN FOREIGN LANDS. The consuls of the United States are re- quired to send in at regular intervals re- ports of the condition of public health in the towns or cities where they are stationed. These reports and the reports sent by certain medical correspondents who reprosent the hospital service abroad are published by the surgeon general in a weekly bulletin. This bulletin is one of the most valuable news publications of the government. Not all of the information published in it comes by mail. Where the United States is threat- ened with cholera or any other contagious Qisease the surgeon receives reports by wire, wsually through tho State department and its mepresentatives. THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT, Next to the news service of the State de- partment the Agricultural department has | the most elaborate and complete system of mews gathering and distribution. For the erop report alone the services of nearly 6,000 | gorrespondents are called into requisition directly or indirectly, Thore are about 2,500 correspondents who report te the department direct. There 18 almost an equal number reporting to the state agents of the department who make up state estimates and forward them fo the statistician for comparison. These | worrespondents are just surely new gmtherers as are the correspondents of city Papers in the rural districts. They recelve Mo comp:-nsation. Thelr only reward is a ®©opy ‘of each of the department bulletins. | : a rule thege correspondents are farmers, me of them, though, are country doetors. | AL of the reports of these correspondents | are “edited” by the statisticlan bofore they are made public. They are compared for | possible error or false statement; and the | erop estimate made public every wmonth s | the exprossion of the individual Judgment of tho statisticlan, based cn all of the reports | recelved from 5000 sourcw. The work of | these correspondents is so valuable that two es of the Agricultural department | ne e ago established a bureau in Chi- | €ago for the collsction and Gtasewination of tho same information which the department @istributes, and this hursau has succeaded | lug the government crop report | tely Another important eWs 4 eeing and news distributing bruneh of | : Agriculiural department is Lie wealber 1 1504.) send him has has news service covers | wider than that For though the or butean. At 150 stations in different parts of the United States observers and assistadt observers are employed nat only to take scientific observations and keep statistics, but to send to the chief of the bureau at Washington by telegraph the news of the condition of the weather all over the country, The chiet editor to handle thess reports is the forecaster, who takes all of the d patches, and marking “highs” and ‘'lo and other liko indications of ethereal condi- tions on a map, figures out for the entire country Just the kind of weather to which each section Is antitled. Sometimes a sec- tion does not get its deserts, but that s an act of providence for which the forecaster Is not responsible. This forecast work has been of Immense value to farmers, and It has often warned seamen of impending disaster. The weather report is one of the most valuable and interesting of the news publications of the government In addition to the crop report correspond- ents and th weather observers, the Agri- cultural department has special agents at many points sending in news of the condi- tion of cattle and other information per- taining to subjects which are within the jurisdiction of Secretary Morton. And editors In the different bureaus which handle these reports are not the only “blue pen- cllers" in the department. The secretary of agriculture has a regular editor, known efficially by that title, whose duty it is to examine and pass on publications to be is- sued by the department. Mr. Rusk es- tablished this responsible office and ap- pointed George W, Hills to fill it, and Mr. Hills remains the official editor of the Agri- cultural department today, NAVY DEPARTMENT'S NEWS BUREAU One of the most important of the news bureaus of the government is attached to the Navy department. It Is of compara- tively recent establishment. It is known as the Naval Intelligence Bureau Its duty is to gather together from all parts of the world information about foreign mavies and foreign coast defences When Japan and China began hostilities Secretary Herbert could have sent to the naval intelligence bureau, and on a few minutes' notice could have had a full description of the navies of both the belligerents and an admirable description of the sca coast along which the fight Is belng waged. There Is not a war vessel in the world which the naval Intelligence bureau can not describe. This information comes from the news corre- spondents of the Navy department, who are in part the officers of our own war vessels and in part our representatives in naval matters at the great capitals of the world We have naval secretaries attached to all of our principal legations. Besides, the Navy department sometimes sends naval ofi- cers abroad on_a special mission to, gather information. Sometimes this information is published, like the admirable book on Euro- pean dock yards, written by Naval Con- structor Hichborn, and sometimes it is kept for the exclusive use of the burcau of in- telligence The Treasury department, of course, is constantly at work through its customs offi- cers and other agents gathering statistics of commerce. Th are published from time to time by the bureau of statistics. The Indian office of the Interior department re- ceives from its agents not only current news of the condition of the Indians, but storles of the origin of their tribal customs and other matters which makes a page of the indian commissioner's report most interest- ing reading. The bureau of ethnology Is busily engaged in collecting news of the primitive American. The geological survey tells the country from time to time all about its production of gold and precious stones; about the development of Irrigation and dozens of other things which would be considered ‘‘good news" in many newspaper offices, We gend representatives abroad to report on the Panama canal, the Nicaragua canal, the international geographical con- gress, the international monetary conference, the international marine conference. In fact, the field of news gathering covered by the agents of our governmeat is so wide that no nowspaper, however enterprising could hope to Il it. ——— TOLD OUT OF COURT. When the court on an extremely western circunit was convened and the business was about to begin it was discovered that there were neither pens, ink nor paper for .he use of the bench or the bar, relates the Detroit Free Press. “How is judge. ““There Is no meney allowed for it by the county, sir, and we can’t get the articles without money.” The judge made several remaks not at all complimentary to the county. “I've beem in a good many courts,” put in a pompous and pedantic lawyer from the cast temporarily to try a case, “but this is the worst I ever saw.” The judge Jumped him on the spot. “You are fined $10 for contempt, sir,” he thundered. “Hand the fine to the clerk, sir. Mr. Lawyer kicked, but he had to hand over the money or go to jail, and the judge wouldn't_have it any other way “Mr. Clerk,” said the judge, when the fine had been handed him, “go out and get all the pens, Ink and paper necessary for the use of this court and give the gentleman back his change,” and the clerk did as he was ordered and the visiting attorney maintained a dis- creet silence. this, Mr. Clerk?" inquired the A certain justice of the peace having ar- rived, previous to a trial, at a conclusion upon a question of law highly satisfactory to himself, refused to entertain an argument by the opposing counsel “If your honor pleases,” the counsel re- plied, “I should like to cite a few authorities upon the point.” Here e was sharply justice, who stated “The court knows the law, and is thor- oughly advised in the premises, and has given its opinion, and that settles it.” “It was not,”" continued the counsel, “‘with an idea of eonvincing your honor that you are wrong, but I should like to show you what a fool Blackstone was.' interrupted by the They sat on the plazza discussing the reve- lations in a certain law case and rolling out with great relish the unpleasant things each side had said of the other. The young law- yer who was explaining things to them was for the time being a hero. “Well, is Mr. Blank in jail?" inquired one of the girls. “Oh, no!' answered the lawyer, *‘this Is a civil sult, you know." “Civil!" exclaimed the girl scornfully. *I may be very stupid, Mr. Kent, but I'm not so silly as to believe that a case where people talic about one amother as they do in this is civil! Mighty uneivil, I call it.” hastily; Justice Denman, who died recently in London, had ou one oeeasion to review a great mass of evidence in a damage suit. Follow- ing this came long-winded addresses by the opposing lawyers. Justice Denman summed up by turning to the jury and saying: ‘‘How much?” In less than a minute came the re- ply: “Five pounds,” and the case was ever. First Lawyer—What are you geing to do now that your client has confessed? Second Lawyer—Put in a plea of Insanity. A man who will make a confession when he has me to defend him must surely be insane. Widow—Well, Mr. Brief, have you read tho will? Brief—Yes, but I eant make any- thing out of it. Heirs—Let us have it pat- emted. A will that a lawyer can't make anything out of is a blessing. ————— A Red Sea Phenomenon. A singular phenomenon occurs on the bor- ders of the Red sea at a place called Nakous, | where the intermittent underground sounds have been heard for an unknown number of centuries. It ig situated at about half a mile’s distance from the other shore, whence a long reach of sand ascends rapidly to a height of almost 300 feet. This reach is elghty feet wide and resembles an amphi- theater, being ralled in by low rocks. The sounds coming .up from. the ground at this place recur at intervals of about an hour, They at first resemble a low murmar, but before loug there is heard a loud kaecking, somewhat Ilke the strokes of a bell, and whick, at the end of five minujes, hecomes s0 stioug as to agitate the sand. The ex- planation of “this. éw phenomenon by the Arabs Is that there 15 a convent under (he ground, and these are. fhy sounds of the Dbell which the mouks :Lk So they call it Nakous, wh! The Arabs affirm that the noise s frightens their camels when they bear it as to render them furious. Scientists attribute the sounds to suppressed volcanic action—proba- bly to the bubbling of gas or vapors uader- ground. THE OMATA DAILY BEE: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1894. THE FASHIONABLE GIRL Brooklyn Life, Diamonds, emeralds, pearls, Silken things, satin and lcae; Jove, how my cranium whirls! It is queer I'm forgetting her face, This morning T met her in pink, This evening her ball dress was green; In the afternoon, pray Jet me think, O, her dress had a silvery sheen, And [t's also the same with her gloves, And her hats, and her shoes, and knows, One's a dif It may Lord nt chap when one loves be the same with her hos 80, no wonder my cranium whirls, And I groan at my singular plight! I have to make love to ten girls All in one. from each morning till night, THE LOST ENGINE, By W. L. Alden. “I was speaking the other day,” sald the Jericho station-master, “of ruilroad ghosts— trains and engines and such—and you didn't seem to believe that there are any such things. Now just to show you that I was telling the truth T'll tell you about the ghost of an engino that I saw myself, and that lots of other men on this road have seen. Just wait until that train starts along, and we have this yer station to ourseives as usual.” A way train had stopped at the station, and as the station-master spoke there sud- denly fell out of the door of the baggage ar ‘a man curiously complicated with a bicycle. The man, who was the baggage mas- ter of the train, had managed to put his foot through the spokes of one of the wheels of the bicyele, and man and machine were writhing on the platform, the one cursing loudly and the other giving forth the crack- ling sound of snapping steel rods. “There,” sald tho station master. “That's what happens twice out of every three tim that a man tries to handle one of those m: chines. Seems to me that they were in- vented just to meke things miserable for the trainmen. I tried to wheel one along the platform one day, and before I knew what was the matter the blamed thing had thrown me and was trylng to break my legs and gouge my eyes out. They're just like a coyote. You take a coyote by the back of the neck and hold him out at arm's length, and he'll manage to bito a piece out of the calf of your leg, or somo other place that's mebbe ten feet away from his mouth. 1 never yet saw a bag- gage master that could smash a bicycle without hurting himself worse than the ma- chine. It ought to be made illegal to send bieycles by rail, and that's a fact.” The baggage master finally extricated him- selt from the bicycle, and withdrew into his car to repair damages. The train whistled and went on its way and the station master, 1t 4hat Isn't what Is the matter with her, she has been stol ‘ 'How's a man going to steal a locomo- tive? says I ‘Do you cal'late that some chicken stealer got into the engine house at night and carried the Fanny off under hi: » “‘No, T don't’ says Gridley, ‘but mebbe | some of those chaps of the Montana Southern | road has got tired of hearing us brag abou the Fanny and has come up here and carried her off.’ “Carried her off in a bag or a wheel- barrow?' says 1, for I thought Gridley was talking nonsense. “‘Didn’t you ever hear how Tom Sharpe— him that was suprintendent of the Con- federate raflroad duping the war—came to Harper's ry one' night with about 400 oke of oxen and drggged a dozen locom tyes belonging to! the Baltimore & Ol road across the cdunfry till he struck a Virginia railrond? What's been done once can_be done again.' | “There was no use talking with Gridley | about the thing andl & I let him have his own fdeas. As faf a¥ I was concerned I | didn't have any ldeas whatever on the subject. 1 didn't Beliove that the engine was a ghost, for 1 ad made too many trips on her not to be siirk that she was good honest steel and brask. And I didn't be- | lieve that she had boen hauled across the | countey by ox teams, for -in that case her tracks would have beer{ left on the road, and there weren't no track ¢isible anywhere, The thing just seemell to me to be a big mystery, and when a thing's a mystery the less you think abouf it the better. However, | T couldn't ~help thinking about this thing, for the whole road talked of nothing else | for the mext week. It even got into the Chicago newspapers, where, of course, every- | body thought it was only a reporter's lie The superintendent spoke to me about it himself, for I happened to meet him down | at Tiberlus Center when he was on the search for the Fanny, and 1 could see that it was his bellef that she had been stolen; I told him fair and square that it was a mystery, and that he would have to wait till he got to a better world before he would | find out the truth about it. “Gridley wouldn't take another engine. He sald that unless he found the Fanny he would never touch a lever again, and as he had nothing particular to do he started in to make up lost time in drinking whisky. 1 didnit see him for pretty nearly two months, {and they told me that he was gone on a | hunt for the Fanny and probably wouldn't ever return. But one day who should come to my boarding house here in Jericho but | Gridley, looking thin and ragged and dirty. | However, he was sober enough, though he | was more excited than T had ever known him to be, engineers being men that very seldom ever allow anything to excite them. ve found the Fanny,’ says he in a sort whisper. ““Well! I want to know!' was mightily astonished. It was the Montana Southern that stole says I, for I THE ENGINE WAS GONE. seating himself by my side, proceeded with his story: “About ten years ago we had an engine on this road that you would just have ad- mired to see. She was the ‘Fanny Ellsler’ —that was her name, being named after one of the queens of France, or some other place. Nowadays we don't think that sixty miles | an hour is any very great speed, but in those days the Fanny, as we called her for short, was the only engine in this part of the country that could do her mile In sixty scconds. Naturally the road was proud of her, and the men bragged of her continually, especially when they met any of the men that worked on the Montana Southern road that was considered by some to be a sort of rival of our road, though it was a poor, half_bankrupt concern. “The engineer of the Fanny was an old fellow by the name of Gridley. He was allowed to be the best engincer on the road at that time. He used to be able to do anything with that engine, and he was the only man who could manage her. There was always something queer about the Fanny. She had a trick of getting tired, or of letting on that she was tired, and refusing to work. She'd be going along at her usual gait, and all of a sudden she would slow down and pretty near quit mak- ing steam. No engineer except Gridley could manage her when she got these fits on. Other men that tried to run her found that the only thing they could do was to wait until she got good and ready to move on. But Gridley, he would fust polish up her brasses a bit, whistling some cheerful tune Wwnd now and then saying something pleasant to her, and all of a sudden she would hump herselt and travel along as if there had never been anything the matter. After the superintendent got to know the Fanny pretty well he would never allow anybody except Gridley to take her out of the yard. He used to run her the length of the road twice a day, except Sundays, and when he was taking a holiday. You see he was a very pecullar man, was this hyer Gridley. He never drank a drop while he was at work, and as a general thing he would keep perfectly sober for six or eight months. Then his mother, or his wife or his sister would die and he would ask for three days' leave to go to the funeral and settle up the estate. The superintendent knew as well as Gridley did what was the matter, but he would always give him his threo days, and Gridley would go away and get drunk enough to satisfy him for the next six months. He and I were great friends, and many's the ride I've taken with him on his engine, just to keep him company, when I had a couplo of spare hours, and 1 had a good many of them at that time, owing to not having any permanent berth on the road, and just keeping myself ready to ill in whenever there might bappen to be a vacancy. One morning Gridley comes to me look- ing about as seared as ever I saw a man look. ‘What's the matter? says I, begin- ning to fear that some serious accident had happened on the road. ‘“The Fanny is lost,” says he, ‘What do you mean? says I 'Has your mother been dying again? ~If that's the case I'm sorry, for she died last time only six weeks ago.’ ‘I went into the engine house at Bpar- tansville this morning,’ says he, speaking slow and dazed like, ‘and the Fanny wasn't there. You know she goes into the engine house every night at 7:30, and last night 1 put her in ag usual, and ‘stopped while the fireman banked the fired. When we left there was nobody in the place, and, as you know, nobody ever goes near it during the night. This morning at 5:15 I went down to bring her out and she wasn't there, The fireman had been about five minutes ahead of me and he was as much astonished as 1 was. Well, we easy enough found that she n't anywhere in Spariausville and then we inquired after her by telegraph. There wasn't a blessed station on fhe road that had seen hide or hair of her. The superin- temdent has started on & ial from Athens- ville and s going the whole length of the road to see if there is any signs of her having been taken out and ditched, but he'll never find her.' ' ‘What on earth do yow eallate has be- come of her? said L “ “There wae always something queer about that engine,’ says Gridley. ‘You know what queer ways she had, such as you never knew any other engine (o have. It's my belief that either she wasn't a genuine engine at all, but just the ghost of one, and that she's #one back to where she came from, or else, her, sald he. ‘Sh¢'s .down at West Sara- gossa, not ten milek fgom here. I saw her there yesterday myseff. They've lacquered her brass work black, and they've given her a new smokestack, and they've changed her name to the ‘‘Pocaboutas,”” and her own builder wouldn't know her. But I knew her just as soon as I heard her puff. She's haul- ing the express on the Southern road, and she lays up at West Saragossa at night, and I want you to come down with me tonight and we'll steal her.’ “‘Why don’t you. tell the superintendent, and let him put in a claim for her? I asked. * ‘Because he couldn't never prove that she is the Fanny. The Southern road owns the judge before whom the case would be tried, and they'd have a hundred witnesses to swear that she wasn't the Fanny. No, sir, she has g0t to be stole, and I know now just how to et her on to our track.’ “ ‘How's that?' says L “‘Don't you remember,” says Gridley, “that down the road about seventy miles from here the Seuthern track runs parallel to ours for a spell, and cnly about twenty yards away? When the Fanny was stole she was taken to this hyer place, and the rails were unsoiked and led across to the Southern track. It's easy enough to do, and we'll do the same. 1 want you to come along, because you know a fireman’s duties middling well, and I won't trust any of our firemen on a job of this kind.' Well, 1 said T would go, and we took a horse and buggy and drove over to West Saragossa that afternoon good and early, so as to see how the land lay. When night eame on we went out of town a bit and stayed in the woods till about 1 o'clock, and then we crept down to the engine nouse and shoved the Fanny out by putting our backs to her, and when we had got her on the main track we climbed aboard and let her run down the grade, which is middling steep just out of the village, while I worked al the fires and got them to going good and bright. ““We had about sixty-five miles to run, and Gridley said that according to the time table there was no train that would be In our way unless it might be a wild cat. That's just what I cal'lated there would be, and the idea of running full speed along a strange track in the dead of night didn’t suit me as well as some things might. 'We got the Fanny up to about forty-five miles an hour, which was pretty good considering that 1 wasn't by any means a first-class fireman. Long before we got to a station Gridley would turn on the whistle and keep it screeching loud enough to wake the dead. I shut my eyes every time we came near a station, for I expected that something would be In the way, or that a switch would be turned wrong, or that some- thing would happen to smash Gridley and me for good and all. But everybody at the sta- tons thought that we were a special and had ALONG. everything made clagg for us heard the whistle. oz ,q “We had been runping about half an hour Il of a sudden Gridley sings out quicker'n Mghgning and reverse the We came 4o a balt, and Gridley says to me: ‘Thers was a tramp lying leep with bis head jon the track. We've him into a thowsand pieces.’ The man s00n as they | tellow! | and a dispatch done can’t be helped.' So in a fow minute more we were booming along again, old Grid- ley leaning out, straining his eyes ahead, and keeping his hand on the lever. Presentiy he | sings out ‘brakes’ again, and brings the en- gine up with a jump. ‘Anmother tramp,’ says he. “What in all creation do they mean by sleeping on the t k in this way.! Then I saw that Gridiey had the horrors, and I was mighty sorry I had ever agreed to come with him. “The same thing ays Gridley od with ahead of us now.' get into a sudden whistle, and s them fellow to hinder us, happened five minutes ‘the whole blessed track tramps. 1 can sce seven With that he scemed to ! rage, and turns on his ¥a to me, ‘I'll stop no more for | iey are doing It on purpose that we can get caught.' Then he pulled her wide o and we swung along, the fires roaring, and the whistle doing its level best | Gridley kept looking out ahead and mut- | tering. “There's more of "em,’ sald he, with- | out turning to look at m here's more | than I ean count Women, too. They'r Iying every one straight across the track. There! T felt her jump when she struck that Come here, Harry! and take this lever for a minute while I take a drink This hyer slaughter is more than 1 can stand.’ I told Gridley to take his drink and make sure that it was a big one, for 1 saw that he had got the triangles pretty bad, and hoped that whisky might pull him through till we should get quit of the Southern road. It didn’t do him any good, however, unless it was to make him more reckless than he was before. He insisted on my shoveling all the coal into the furnace that she would burn and before long we were going a good sixty miles or more. “Now, just before we got to the place where the two roads run parallel there was a siding that had been built to reach a gravel pit. The siding began at a little station called Pekin, and was, as 1 should judge, about two miles long. The Moutana South. ern folks had taken the alarm by this time, had gone to every station on the road warning them that a runaway locomotive was coming, and telling them to stop her the best way they could. The s tion master at Pekin ot his order just be- fore we hove In sight, and he thought of the old siding. He got to work and turned the rusty old switch that had been spiked down, and when we came along we shot on to the side track, and away we went for the gravel pit. ““The track was mighty rough and T begged Gridley to slow her down, for I thought every minute that we should be off the track. But he would not listen to me. That there massacre of the tramps that he thought he had made excited him more and more, and now he had taken to singing and shouting at the top of his lungs. The Fanny was & swaying from side to side, and jumping al- most clear of the rails when she struck a particularly rough place, and 1 don't mind saying that I just went 1o saying my prayers With every inch of pressure I could put on em. “It had been a cloudy night, but as T was praying for all I was worth the moon came out, and 1 saw that just ahead of us the track camo 10 an end, and there was a deep hol- low of some sort. 1 made up my mind that I had_had enough of that kind of railroad- ing. Yelling to Gridley to jump, I put the brake hard on and went off into a ditch on the left hand side of the road. It was mid- dling full of briars, but the bottom was of the softest Kind of mud, and T didn’t sustain no mortal injury worth’ speaking of. Before 1 could pick myself up and get on my legs the engine was gone. 1 got down fo the edge of the gravel pit as soon as I could, but there wasn't the least sign either of the Fanny or of Gridley. The bottom of the gravel t was covered with water, but what was worse, as 1 afterwards found out, there was a big quicksand there which had been the reason why the gravel pit was abandoned. The Fanny Ellsler went down into that quick- sand, and for aught I know she had kept sinking ever since, with Gridley’s skeleton standing in the cab with his hand on the lever. “Well, T came home and told the whole story to the superintendent, and he, knowing about the quicksand, knew there was no use in searching for the engine. So he told me to keep quiet about the thinz, so as not to glve the Montana Southern people any satis- faction, which aceordingly I did, but after a while the thing ot to be known somehow or other, as things always will, no matter what you may do.” “Much obliged to you for the story,” said 1, “but you promised me a ghost story, and I don’t exactly see where the ghost comes in." “I haven't got to that yet,” replied the station master. ““A year afterwards I was dawn in the neighborhood of Pekin, and as I was driving along in a buggy pretty late at night 1 saw an engine come flying down the old siding and plump into the gravel pit. Leastways I saw It disappear just as it reached the Jumping-off place. If that wasn't the ghost of the Fanny 1'd like to know what It was. Moreover the boys along the South- ern road told me that time and time again they had seen that same engine come hust- ling along at sixty miles an hour and disap- vear into the quicksand. Now, If that wasn't a ghost, what was it™" “1 won't undertake to say,” said I, “only it there hadn't been another line paralel to the old siding, and if that line hadn't been in regular use by ordinary healthy trains and engines, I might feel a little more sure than I do now that you was a ghost, and not a special engine on the Montana Southern road."” —— DRAMATIC NOTES, It is stated that the famous Irish Count of Monte Cristo, James O'Neill, has made about $250,000 out of Dumas’ melodrama in ten years. Charles H. Hoyt has commenced work upon a new play, to be caMed A Summer Girl,"” in ch his handsome wife, Caroline Miskel, is to star next season. Alexander Salvini has himselM adapted a romantic Italian drama which he calls “The Student of Salamanca.” The piece is in four acts, and Its scenes are laid in Spain. Sal- vini will produce it early in his tour this season. ‘It was on September 26, 1827, at the Wal- nut Street theater, Philadelphia,”” says Mrs. John Drew, “as the little duke of York, in Shakespeare’'s play of ‘Richard 1II,’ and with Junius Brutus Booth, the great ‘elder Booth,' father of the late Edwin Booth, as the erook-back tyrant, that I began my stage career, and as that was sixty-seven years ago, and as 1 have been continuously before the footlights ever since, 1 may Justly say that T have had a longer stage career than any of my contemporaries. Though so many years have passed, I remember my first per- formance as well as though #t had taken place last night. The performance of the elder Booth as Richard made a most powerful impression upon me. His dramatic force and magnetism were like a glant whirlwind, sweeping all before it. I have mever seen any ome else in that part whe seemed to completely realize it as he aid. It almost Sh:l.‘"n!(l as though it had been written for m.! et SEE HAS WHEELS, A Woman Deserts Her Husbaud for Her Bleycle, This letter appeared in a divorce case In Philadelphia recently: “My Dear Mat: You must not think too hard of your Helen for seeking other pastures and flelds that are more inviting. I am a bieyclomaniac. At one time you said that you had bieychlorosls, It must have been contagious. I am Infatuated, heart, soul, mind and body, with my wheel; nore so, i the sad truth must be told, than I over wi with you. I get more comfort and satisfac- tion from my wiheel than I could derive from being tied down by your side. My wheel is | young and frisky and we ar + congenial | companions than you amd I could be. Do as you plcase In the mattar of divorce, but you can never divorce me from my wheel. Fy well forever. HELE Acting on this letter from his wife, Muthias L. La Frena of 3304 Paschal avenue filed a bill for divorce in common pleas court No. 1, The La Prenes were married in Yonkers nearly five years ago and moved to Pliladel- phia to Mive. Both went bieycle mad and {00k many exoursion, together, La Frene | fell 111, and his doctor said he had “bieycio- rosis” ‘and forbade him to ride any wore. | His wife could not resist, however, and she went on many Mitle wheeling trips, and at last, over @ year 4go, teok 0ae Lo Altooma, from which she never returned, Iustead, she sent the Jettor in which shy teld how much more she loved her wheel then her husband, Cook’s Imperial, fair “highest award, excellent champagne; good efferves bouguet, l | a strang: OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, OMAHA, Oct. 12.—To the Editor of The Beo: Bome years ago I found mybelf, upon the clase of an autumn day, walking along the rustic streets of Pittsfield, in the old Bay State, the only knowledge of which 1 had was of its holding somewhere within | its boundaries the summer home of “The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, nd it was really a desire to obtain a glimpse of the poet's home lifa which led me to the 1 felt that I should be made wel- for years I had been a great ad- and was familiar, having seen him many sculling up and down the shallow and winding course of the Charles near Cam- | bridgeport | Every New England tourist, upon visiting | this strugeling, grass-grown Berkshire town, | Instinctively feels they are not strangers in | land, but remember the author of | Ironsides’” as their especial, patriotic wh, come, as r of . with mir his his writings looks, times ola friend Foremost among the objects pointed out to me was the handsome public library, bullt of granite, a gift to the town from Dr. Holmos, and well stored with literary treas- ures, selected under the personal care of the donor of the building. This library is the loving pride of every resident of Pittsfield Among the people of this favored Massa- chusetts village—which would be considered a fair sized city in the west and admiration for the was always consulted upon political or tic question amongst his “townsfolks,” to call his neighbors. It was with extreme regret that I learned of the poet’s return to Boston a few days be- fore my arrival in Pittsfield. The week I epent in this stately old vil- lage enabled me to pass many pleasant hours in the Holmes library. It scemed appropos to re-read the Autocrat papers amid such harmonious surroundings—"within walls bullded by his hands.” From the people of this typical New Eng- land town, nestled as it is along the less rugged western slope of the Berkshire hills, the biographer of Dr. Holmes may obtain much information of the generous heart which beat in touch with the poor, of acts which will ever gild his memory among the people ho loved in the old hills of western Massa- chusetts, B B. 50 great is the doctor that he important which every dome arose as he was pleased The Last Lenf. Oliver Wendell Holmes. I saw him once bofore, As he passed by the door: And again The pavement stones resound As he tottors oer the ground With his canc. They sy that in his prime, Ere the pruning knife of time Cut him down, Not a better man was found By the crier on his round Through the town But now he walks the streets, And he looks at all he meets Sad and win And he shakes his feeble head, That it secins as (€ he said, “They are gone. le mossy marble r On the lips that he b, In their bloom; And the names he loves to hear, Have been carved for many a year On the tomb. pressed mamma has sald— ! she Is dead Long a That he had a Roman nose, And his check was like o rose In the snow But now his nose Is thin, And it rests upon his chin, Like a staff; And a crook 19 in And a melancholy In his laugh. his back, erack I know It 13 a sin For me (o sit and grin At him here; But the old three-corn And the bre Are 80 qu And 1t T should live to be The last feaf upon the tree In the spring, Let them smile, as 1 do now, At the old, forsaken bough Where 1 'cl T OMAHA, Oct. Bee: 10.—To the Editor of The Kindly, publish the poem, ““One Hoss Shay,” by Oliver Wendell Holmes,* and oblige. N. THE WONDERFUL ONE-HOSS SHAY. Have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay, That was built in such a logical way It ran a hundred years 1o a da And then, of @ sudden, It—ah, but stay, T tell you what happened without detay; ing the parson into fits, biening people out of thelr wits— Have you ever heard of that, I say? venteen hundred and Gfty-five Georgius Secundus was then alive— uffy old drone from the German hive, That was the year when Lisbon i W the sarth open wnd gulp her down, And Braddock's army waa done so brown, Left without a scalp 1o 118 crown. It was on the terrible carthquake day That the deacon finished the one-hoss shay. Now, in bullding of chaises, I tell you what, There is always, somewhere, a weakest spot— In hub, tre, felloe, in spring or thill, In panél or ‘crossbar, or floor, or sill, In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace—iurking still; Find it somewhere you must and will, Above or below. or within or without, And that's on, beyond a doubt, A chaise breaks down, but doesn't wedr out. But the deacon swore (as deacons do, With an “I dew vum'* or an "I tell yeou.") He would build one shay to beat the N' the keounty 'n all the kentry raou It should be 80 bullt that it couldn’ 'break daown Pur,” sald the deicon, ‘“t's mighty plain Thut the weakes' place mus' stan’ the st 'N' the way ' fix It, uz I maintain, is only To make that place’ uz strong uz the rest. the dencon inquired of the village folk Where he could find the strongest oak, That couldn’t be split, nor bent, nor That was for sp and floor, and sidls; He sent for lancewood to make the thills; rossbars were ash, from the straightest nels of white wood, that cuts like cheese, t like fron for things like these s from logs from the “'settier's ellum," Its Umber, ey couldn't well *em; r chip And the wedges flew from betwcen their lips, eir blunt ends frizzled lke celory tips; ep and_prop-iron, Spring, tire, axle bolt and screw, nd linchpin, too, , bright and blue; roughbrace bison-skin, thick and wide; Boot, tep, dasher, from tough old hide, Fourid in'the pit ‘where the tanner died. That was the way he put her through.'" “There!" wald the deacon, “naow she'll dew! Dol 1 tell you, I rather guess She was a wonder and nothing les Colts grew horses, beards (urned gray, Deacon and deaconess dropped away, 3 Children and grandchildrea—where were they? But there stood the stout old one-horse shay, As fresh as on Lisbon's earthquake day! Bighteen hundred—it came, and found The deacon's masterpiece strong and sound. Eighteen bundred, Increased by ten— “Hahnsum Kerridge'” they called it then, Bighteen hundred and twenty came— Running as usual, much the same. Tharly and forty at last arriy And then came fifty and fifty-five, Little of all we value here Wakes on the morn of iis hundredth year Without both fecling and looking queer. In fact, there's nothing that Kecps s youth, Ho far ‘as I know, but @ tree and trut (This is & moral that runs at laige; Take it, you're welcome. No extra charge) First of November—the earthquake day— There wre traces of age I the one-lioes shay, A general of mild deeay, But nothing local, s one may say. There couldu’t be—for the deacon's art Had wade it so very like In every part That there wasn't a chance for oue to start, For the the thills, And the floor was just as strong as the sills, And tho panels just as strong as the floor, And the whipple-tree neither less nor mor And the back crossbar as stfong as the fo And spring. and axle, and hub- encore And yer, a8 a whole, it {8 past a doubt, In anothier hour it Will b& worn out! Flest of Nevember, ‘Afty.dve! Tiis mormiee the pa) on takes a drive Mow, small bays, gAU out of the way! Hore comes the ‘wonderful ons-hoss shay, Drawn by a rat-tatied, ewe-necked bay. “Huddup™ sald the parson. O went they, Tha parson was working his Sunday text— Had got o f(ihly, snd stopped perplexed At what (he-Moags was coying next. All_ab gnce the horse stood st Abe my "-hawse on the hill, m :’l‘lr‘l". 'l hew o Uil 2’ l‘lill ll“. - plify iy s vock, At bt past the ‘Sheet!a' houss ciosk-- Just the hour the sarthqueke shock! wi dy ol think parson feund, Thoe T b N5 and e arsed h A" e el T il et Wheels were fust ak strong a: g»u oo, of course, It you're not a dunos, low It went (o pleoss all 8t once— All &t once, and nothing Afst, Just as bubbles do when they bart. End of the wonderful one-hoss shay, Loglo 1s logie. That's Dr. Holmes' Last Poem. Dr. Holmes' last poem, read on the ocoms slon of the Authors’ breakfast, February 28 1893, 1s as follow Teacher of teachers, yours the tasi, Noblest that noble minds can nukl. High up lonla’s marmorous mount, To watch, to guard the sacred fount teedn the storm below: urrying flood ‘that fifle Fppling Hils, flow from the flelds o kindly yields, enrich the soll; pEhis and wearied tofl, the flowers, the fruits, At the roots, plain, bount fairer growths Flowed doop by th In learning'a broad And whero the leave: Without your wat To fill each branching Welcoy Your vol Of you thi wuth, firmest friends, surest God's deed, lendes, growing mind demands attent care the guiding hands ugh all mists of morn. You knowing well the future's need, Your prescient wisdom sows the sced, To fire tho years unborn - TIONAL the What is known as the Female Senfor Evens ing School of New York city was opened of Monday with an attendance of over 1,008 women, Dr. Charles E. Slocum, a promigent Methos odist of Deflance, O., has given $50,000 to the Ohlo Wesleyan university for a new lbrary building. s dispatch from Watertown, N, Y. that the estate of Thomas 8. Clarkson of Potsdam, who was an ownor of sandstona qu; fes, gives $150,000 with which te establish and maintain a technical school for civil and electrical engineers, mechanical drewing, ete,, at Potsdam The students of Princeton have, by unanie mous vote, abolished the practice of hazing, which has becoma so common as to have lost the humor which once afforded some kind an excuse for hazing of a harmless kind. Princeton thereby takes a distinguish lace among American colleges, for hazing a_custom more honored in the brea than in tho observance.” In his annual address to the students of Cornell on September 27, the first day of the college year, President Schurman sald th the number of students registered showe no falling off from last yoar's figures, note withstanding the financial troubles and the increased entrance requirements in the tecl nical courses. In 1892 the number was 1.220, in 1893 It was about 1,00, and im 1894 it was 1303, In 1892 and 1893 about 250 undergraduate students registered aft (he "president's opening . address, Thees figures are for undergradual alone, am graduates and spocials did not register Uil ater, The degrees of bachelor of medicine and of master in surgery have this year, for the first time in the history of the Scottish un! versities, been conferred on women. One of these young women, who ranked third in & class of sixty-one members, stood first in her class of zoology, practical chemistry, anatomy, history, physiology, surgery, medly cine, pathology and midwifery, Her clinical work was done in the Royal Hospital fof Sick Children, and in the Royal infirmary. The other young woman who received & degree, and” who has done excellent worl during her seven ycars' college course, wil act as medical assistant- to her father, who is a Glasgow physician. The will of Mrs. Charles Lux of Sam Franctsco, which has just been admitted to probate, sets aside nearly $3,000,000 for & manual training school. ~One-third of her ate is given outright for “the promotion of schools for manual training, industrial training and for teaching trades to young peoplo of both sexes in the state of Caifs fornia, and particularly in the city and county of San Francisco—it being my desire to assist in furnishing facilities for the edus cation of young children from the time they leave the kindergarten schools and while they are still quite young in what is known as ‘manual training,’ and In all kinds of training looking to the acquisition of uses ful trades by and through which habits of industry will be acquired and practical knowle edge of those things which are useful in carning a living may be acquired, and I hereby give to my said truste:s the fullest discretion In the expenditure of said net ine come, £0 that the greatest good may be age complished, and to that end they may, if they think best, use such portion of said ine como from time to time as they deem oxe pedient in connection with the public schools in aid of the ends aforementioned."” e BY THE FIRESIDE, Frank L. Stanton in Atlanta Constitution. Pile on the logs! the bright flames start the roaring chimr b teful should we be, sweetheart, For just this little fireplace! I sald today that T was poor— And poor in some things I may be; But here's a shelter; who needs more? And your bright eyes to beam for mel No sculptured busts, no paintings rare Adorn the mantel and the shelf; A sweet face framed in golden halr Is all—a picture of yourself! We have no idle dreams of fame, And all our worldly wants are few; What care 1 for a liureled name, When T've the sweetest name in you? Lean, golden head, upon my breast In wealth of wondrous beauty which Hath crowned my life and made me blest And kiss me, dear, and make me rich! NATURAL AS NATURE And sometimes o great deal prettler. You have the color of hair you most admire. If own is gray, or spolled by Llcaching and use furious dyes, IMPERIAL HAIR RECENERATOR: Tt 18 halr tonlc and coloring of perfect clean| ness, which comes in several shades. One ap cation will last for months. 1t Is absolutely’ sible to detect ts use. Baths will not aff Send for fr INPERIAL CHEMICAL MFG, Dooklet. ©o. 292 Fifth Avenue, N. Y, SOLD BY SHERMAN & MC OONNELL, 1513 Dodge Street, Omaha, Nebraske IMPORTANT —T0— Clothing Buyers The death of MR. STRAUSS dissolves our firm on December 1st, therefore our STOCK OF GOODS HAS TO BE DISPOSED OF AT ONCE ular styles in all grades, MADE UP FOR THIS SEASON. A Tt will be offered at figures which will at= ract . Close¢ Buyers and Effect Quick Sale: Terms aud discounts STRAUSS, YONDORF & ROSE, Market and Quincy St., Chicago, T Rl AR