Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, September 17, 1895, Page 11

ALL SIGNS FAIL IN THIS AGE Weather Proverbs of the Goose Bone Varioty | Riddled by Science. A WET MOON NOT EVEN LEFT | out the Weather 1 on the 1 by Modern nl dy—Sign Shattered, Common Kno Me Nellefs A cora System erblal lore about the | feonoclastic | read to the at its receut a the president, R. number of Superstitious and pro weather were cruelly r address on “Weather Royal Meteorological socie nual meeting In London by and printed In the last Journal of the soclety, In when the weather had to be €tudied from cloud, sky and sea, and from the behavior of animals and plants, men were pardonable for dolng what is still often a cause of error, foretelling what they most wished for and putting down as a universal taw what was only a coincidence of Inde pendent events. One class of prophecies con- nects the weather with asons of the year, particularly days in week, or the days of certaln salnts, which was a con venlent way of fixing a date, and even with particular times of the day. We often hear such sayings as “Fine on Friday, fine on Sunday,” or “Iriday s the best and the worst day of the weck,” and proverbs like “Rain at even, fine at eleven.”” When thes sayings come true they are faithfully re membered, when they fall they are for gotten, There s no kind of foundation for such rules, which Mr. Inwards calls “self- exploding,” or for the beliof that if it rains on St. Swithin's day, July 15, it will rain for forty days after. That date ie very near a well known bad period fn wet years, as the terms “St. Margaret’s flood,” Jul and “Lammas flood,” August 1, shows; the fact that some heavy rains began on July 15 was enough to establish the “law,” which every one kiows Is constantly broken. Equally unfounded are the scientific super- stitions, presented under the shield of as- tronomy, which base infallible rules for the weather on the relative position of the moon, sun and planets. These appeal to analog 1o reason and to common sense. The known action of the sun and moon on ocean tides is generally the starting point of such theories, and It is clear to common sense that when the earth is ncarer to the sun or the mo to the earth, or both sun and moon are pull- ing together, there ought to be a tide of atmosphcre similar to the tide of ocean which these Influences undoubtedly produce. Dut the facts do not bear the theory out; the atmospheric tides do not ebb and flow, except in an infinitesimal degree. Again, the sun and moon move in planes that are at an angle to each other, so that at times their attraction acts In widely diverging lines, at others almost in the same plane. Here is a clear case: When the angle is greatest, when the moon is ‘“on her back,” there must b atmospheric disturbances. Unfortunately the storms do not come, and wa must find s other cause for our weather. Hardly a year goes by without a_new moon theory to ac count for it. M. Flarguergues, as the result of twenty years of observations, has found that when the moon was furthest from the earth the barometer averaged 755 milli- meters, and when nearest, 754 millimeters, a difference of only one millimeter. Some prophets have built ther faith on cycles, prediciing that weather changes would Tepeat themselves when sun and moon got back Into the same relative position, which they do In nineteen years, with an errcr of only an hour and a half. Others advocate a cyele of fifty-four years, but all the cycle sys tems have broken down when tested, and as far as we know, there Is no period within which weather changes repeat themselves. There are plenty of other fallacies about the moon, sucle as that the full moon clears away clouds; that you should sow beans or eul trees on the wane of the moon; that it is a bad sign if the moon changes on Saturday or Sunday; that two full moons in a month will bring a flood; that to see the old moen in the arms of the new brings on rain. M. Flam- marion says that “the moon’s influence on the weather is negligible. The heat coming from it would affect our temperature by twelve millionths of a degree, and the atmosphoric tides caused by it would only affect the barometric pressure a few hundredths of an inch, far less than the changes always tak'ng place from other causes.” The moon and the we May change together; But change of the moon Joes not change the weather. Byen the halo round the moon is discred- ited; it hias been found by observers that It is followed by fine weather as often as by ran About the sun there are many fallacies, and ever since the discovery that the spots on its surface appear with greater cr less frequency, theorlsts in shoals have tried to prove that they rule our weather. It has been proved that the frequency of sun spots and the varia- tions of the magnetic needle are intimately connected, and that the aurora appears and disappears in some sort of sympathy with the sun spot variations, but this s as far as we can get for the present, as these changes seem to have no definite relation to our weather. Mr. Scott has proved that there are no equi- noctial gales. Coming down to earth, we find a long list of statements of the behavior of animals and plants having a supposed connection with the weather, E. J. Lowe has carefully examined a number of well known signs, and all seem to break down completely. He took the signs of bats flylng about in the evening, many toads appearing at sunset, great quantities of snalls, fish rising to the surface, bees busy, crowds of locusts, restless cattle, landralls clamorous, flies'and gnats troublesome, many insects, crows flocking and nolsy, spider webs thick.on the grass, spiders hanging from their webs in the evening, and ducks and geese making more noise than usual. Caling a day fine when no rain was measured in the rain gauge he found in 361 observations of such signs that they were followed 213 times by fino weather and only 148 by rain. Even swallows flying low cannot be depended up~v, as especislly in summer and autumn they - most invariably skim along the ground. Ai- mals probably feel the danmpness or darkness preceding wet weather, and this makes them uneasy, but not more than it affects man him- self. As to cows scratching thelr ears and goats uttering cries, they are no more true as signs of rain than the adage which credits pigs with seeing the wind. The leech is be- lieved to be a weather prephet and two books have besn written about its behavior. The author of one devised an instrument by which leeches could give audible storm warnings. 1t consisted of twelve 'bottles of water, each containing a leech and a metal tube too small for it to enter easily, but Into which it woull try to squeeze when a thunder storm came on, according to its nature. In the tube was a plece of whalebone, attached to a chain from which hung a boll, which reang when the whalebone was touched. Twelve leeches were used so as to make sure that at least one would do his duty. Plants are also used as weather indicators, and as they act in sympathy with the damp- ness, gloom and chilliness of the air, and these are conditions that generally precede rain, their indications cannot be called aito- gether fallaclous. The pimpernel and the marigold close their petals before rain, be- cause the air Is getting damper, and for the same reason the poplar and the maple show the under surface of their leaves. An artl- ficial leaf of paper will @o the sama It hard, thin paper is used for the upper eide and thicker unsized paper for the lower, the leat will curl up in sympathy with the con- dition of the air. So will a slip of ordinary photographicspaper. And the slackness that molsture produces in plants applies to in- sects, some of which can fly only in the sunshine. In 1892 attention was directed to a plant, the Abrus precatorius, a beautiful shrub of the mimosa kind, which has the property of belng sensitive in a high degree, so that its pinnate leaflets go through many curlous movements, and it was claimed that thess form & guide of unerring certainty to fore show the coming weather. Even earthquakes were said to be predicted by this wonderful plant. If it closed its leaflets upward, attor the manner of a butterfly about to settle, fair weather was shown; when the leaflets remained flat, changesble and gloomy weather in th la Inward the Quarterly early times, certain the ther | and holly | a severs ‘(hl‘.l was indicated; while thunder at various dis- tances was to be foretold by the curling of the leaflets, and the nearer the thunder the Ereater the curl, untll when the points of the lerfats crossed, the thunder storm was in- dioated as being overhead. Changes of wind, hurticanes, and other phenomena ware to be shown by the varfous curlous and beautitul movements of the leaflets and stalks. Those movements undoubtedly took place, but the botanists at Kew were unabla to find any connection between them and the weather, and found the most of them were due to the agency of light molsturo. At the meteorological office v [ ra found to have nothing to do with elther eyclones or earthquakes. Yot this sensitive plant had beon made t of an Eng h patent In the ¢ the subje untry ties Is winter is provides of hips, hawvs be a sign that and that nature winter food for the birds. But it Is not 0. Nelther is it true a green Christmas 1iakes a fat churchyard, as Mr. Dine's statlstics have shown. It is often stated that the nolse of cannon will proe duce rain, and i Austrian Tyrol the church bells aro rung to avert thunder; but on fx a fallacy. 'Tho experiments made in America to test whether rain could bs produced by exploding a large quantity ot gunpowder in the air resulted in nothing but sinoke and ol atalogue ahout the Mr. Inwards remark cluslon, who believe that the salnts' d rule the weather, that the sun puts out fire, and that warm water freezes sooner than cold A MIL a large crop held t here fullacies weather. has been made that have There are 1 in co! own up still people, 10N FOR GLORY, i Defense of the Amer- de Costs that Sum. millionaires may Indulge In the ex- pensive sport of defending the homel, shaped silver trophy won by the schooner yacht America in ace around the Isle of Wight, on Aug 22, 1851, The cup, | trinsically, is probably worth less than §: siys the New York Sun. When it was won by the America it was called $500 cup. Since the memorable day that Quesn Victoria according to tradition, found ‘out that there was “no second” in the original race for the precious emblem, Yankee sportsmen have ex pended, the experts c more than $1,000,000 to retain it that owned the America wasn't then known as a syndicate, but an assoclation of gentlemen; but they were just as much of a syndicate as the trlo of millionaires, W. K Vanderbilt, ex-Commodore E. D. Morgan and C. Oliver Iselin, who are investing their thou sands for glory alone In the Defender. It will be impossiblmto determine accurately the st of the latest Herreshoff model until after the international races; but it is prebable that 0,000 will have been cxpended on fthe Defender before the Valkyrie I1L, victorio or vanquished, returns to Scotland. It is safe to say that a twin-screw steamship of the second class, or a fleet of six or eight four- masted coasting schooners might be built with the money that will be spent on the De tender. In some respects the gallant ship that won the treasured cup resembled the sleek sloop that i3 now getting in trim to protect it The Arherica was a keel yacht. In bullding a sloop without a ceaterboard, Herreshoft merely reverted to or'gfial Yankee principle The centerboard is, in fact, a British inven- tion, and was first used successfully in a British boat. When ouf estees contem- poraries across the sea charge us with imita- tion, they fly in the face of history o yacht ing architecture. It will be greater glory for Yankeeland to beat John Bull with his own kind of a boat—originally the American styl ~than to beat him with a centerboard. What will be the limit of expense in build ing future cup defenders or challengers? Will the time come when $1,000,000 boats will compete oft the Hook, or in the Eng chanrel, for the yachting supremacy of the world? A comparison of the costs of cup defenders in the last decade may suggest answers to these questions. The Boston syn- dicate that built the Puritan expended, it Is estimated, about $25,000 on her. The irg sioop Priscilla, especially constructed to bat- tle with the Puritan for the honor of meet- ing the challenging cuttor Genesta, cost prob ably $20,000. The sail areas of Puritan and Priscillawere less by nearly 5,000 squar: feet than the sail area of the Defender. The building of the Mayflower in 1886 volved an expenditure of not less than $3 000 by the Boston syndicate headed by Gen- eral Paine. She meét the Puritan and Pris- cilla and the new “rule-'o-thumb” model Phil Elsworth's Atlantie, in the trial races The Atlantic cost little less than the May flower, and much money was used up In getting the Priscilla and Puritan into shap: for the trials. It is likely that nearly $100,- 000 was spent in 1886 by Yankee yacht own- ers before the Mayflower was selected to try conclusions with Lieutenant Henn's Galatea of which General Paine w the chief member; paid about $45,000 to build and put in racing shape the steal sloop Vol- unteer, the last of Designer Edward Bur- gess's creations. Only the Mayflower com- peted with the Volunteer for the distinction of defending the “mug” against Mr. Bell's cutter, the Thistle. The cost of maintaining the Volunteer for the season was not less than $10,000; so the expense of protecting the cup in 1887 was $35,000. The quartet of aspirants for cup-defending glory in 1893 cost, it is estimated, close upon There was expended o the Vigi- lant alone about $125,000. The cost of bulld- ing and maintaining the Colonia, Jubilee and Pilgrim, ranged, for each yacht, from $25,000 50,000, Nobody except members of the Defender syndicate ever may know definitely what an expensive plaything the big sloop has been and will be, until the cup is saved or lost Taking into consideration th: money spent in equipping the Vigilant to make a pace for the Defender, the total cost of this year's mternational races to American yachtsmen will be nearly $250,000. This Is the way an expert figures out the expense of constructing the Defender and preparing her for the fray Chartering and fitting out t a tiining ship for the Defendor's crew Building the Defend, Four suf ails, Bxp Thin rix Only somewhat The syndi in $10,000 §5.000 inciudi 235,000 5,000 2000 o saflo month 125 duys four months at $7 20,000 Maintaining tender for at 30 a By oskeastess £.0.000 Bohuses for cre winning and mated .. 5,000 Total . +.$180,250 CHIVALRY WAN The Plaint of a Virginian Who Was Pin in Court. Virginla has undergone many changes since the-war, although some of the charac- teristics_of the ante-bellum days still re- main. It Is unfortunate, if true, that the chivalrous Virginia gentleman, the typical “F. F. V." Is growing scarcer, says the Loulsville Post. Some Virginians profess to believe, however, that no one can be born on Virginia soll ‘and not be chivalrous and courteous. In Kentucky an unfortunate merchant saw -bankruptey confronting him, and, to save a portion of his property, he invoked the name of his wife and the as- sistance of his friend. The creditors insti- tuted proceedings to recover certain prop- erty, and in the course of the proceedings his friend, a native of Virginia, was put on the stand. All went well until the witness was subjected to a rigid cross-examination by a lawyer, himself a native of Virginla. The witness went blundering along at such a rate that his lawyer felt it necessary to interfere and tell him that he was not re quired to answer questions which would criminate himself. ~After the close of the case, which resulted disastrously to our accommodating friead from. Virginia, he ex. pressed great {ndignation for the humiliation to which he had been subjected. “I was never in my life treated with so little cour- tesy,” he said. “The opposing counsel did not ‘act at all like a gentleman, sir. I ex- pected entirely different treatment, espe- cially as I learned he was from Virginia, and he knew I was from that state. No, sir, in the old days no Virginia gentleman, sir, would cause another Virginia gentleman the slightest embarrassment because of so paltry a matter, nor would he seek by set interrogatories to mike him contradict him- salt. No, sir, it Is unpardonable, sir, and all for the purpose of Increasing the dividends of a few Yankee clients. whom he never saw. I am convinced sir, that your lawyer never came from Virginia at all sir; he must have gome from West Virglnia ——— Bucklen's Arnlea Salve, The best salve in the world for cuts bruises, sores, ulcers, salt rheum, fever sores, tetter, chapped bands, chilblains, corns, and all skin eruptions, and positively cures piles, or mo pay required. It {s guaranteed to give perfect satisfaction or morsy refunded. l"r‘l;;.u ceats per box. ¥or sale by Kuhn |I|vi of | A Railroader's Wise Decision in a Buffalo | Hunt Dispute, NATIVISM IN A PICTURESQUE ATTITUDE A Shot that Killed, Clatmed the Prize n the Retreating baceo. the Indian nd Mu ed Invaders! “When T was ticket agent at Wallace, Kan., for the Kan Pacifi twenty-five | years ago,” sald Electriclan Lucius T, |ley to a reprezentative of Sun, “my dutles were not o muc of tickets, for there wasn't | mand, as to the whether the were clear of buffaloes in that vicinity, and whether Indians were fnelined or to let the railroads remain | ttact. Buftaloes were still roaming the Kan- sas prairies in vast herds, and on their pe- rlodical migrations they necessarily crossed the railroad. As they moved herds of many thousands 't took them several hours to pa )nsequently it was quite necessary to take them into consideration as a factor influencing traflic on the railroad, for it would not be well for a train to come unexpectedly upon 400 or 500 acres of buffaices. A few buffaloes might be killed, but that would not compensate for a wrecked train, and perhaps a good many dead or injured passengers. “Then the Indians hadn’'t yet got over their aversion to railroads coming into and through that country and interfering with | their hunting grounds, and had a cheerful way now and then of removing sections of | track, which did not conduce to the interests of travel on the Kansas Pacific railroad. So the duties of a ticket agent at t time on that pioneer railroad were not particularly confined to tickets and their sale. had_been there a month, I think, with- out any buffalo or Indians having made nec- sssary a call on my duties regarding them, nd I was getting impatient. I wasn't par- ticularly anxions to meet and have to do with Indians, as the telegraph operator at Wallace and a track watchman had filled me up with storles about the red man in that vicinity that were not caleulated to make a tenderfoot yearn for their presence, but 1 did want to see and kill a buffalo. One day the telegraph operator came in my part of the station and said: “‘The track watchman tells me there'e more than a million buffaloes feeding on the prairie not more than three miles from here, and only a quarter of a mile or so from the track. Let’s go down and shoo 'em away, and bag a few while they are going.’ “This was news that I had been longing for, and in less than ten minutes after the oper- ator came In with it he and I and a track man had mounted a hand car and were spin- ning along toward the spot where the buffalo were reported to bo feeding. The report hadn't been exaggerated much, except that the herd was a mile or more from the rail- réad. This the first herd of buffalo I had ever seen. I saw many a big one after- ward, but never one that could compare in vastness with this mighty collection of bi- sons, The prairie in that direction seemed literally filled with the big animals. They formed one black, unbroken, undulating mass, that seemed bounded only by the horizon, and stretched eastward and westward beyond the line of vision. The great herd was on the north side of the railroad, and was feeding toward it. Derailing our hand car and tak- ing our guns we proceeded cautiously across the prairie, half creeping, half crawling, until we had succeeded in approaching to within a quarter of a mile of the advance guard of the host. We then lay flat in the long grass and spent some minutes in curious observa- tion of the throng. “We noticed, 8o far as the movements of the herd could be definitely seen, that it was divided into detachments, each one of which was composed of a bunch of cows and half-grown calves, around which was a formidable-locking cordon of sleek young spike bulls, which had evidently won' their places in the royal body guard by more than one hard fought battie with contending rivals. In advance of these guarded detachments ranged an endless line of old bulls, immense specimens of their kind, but sullen and tattered depored monarchs, serving where they had once ruled, and plainly showing that they felt their degradation. By the In- evitable and inexorablé® laws of bison gov- ernment these old bulls had been forced to abandon all participation in the direction of affairs, and were now simply doing duty as outposts to the usurping young bulls, watch- ing out for signs of danger, and keeping at | a distance the packs of coyotes that hung about the herd on the outlook for a chance to run oft with some stray calf or exhausted cow. “The gpirit of rebellion seemed still strong in many of these deposed bulls, and fre- quently one would turn and charge savagely on the guard of young bulls, and make a frantie effort to regain a place among them, only to be driven quickly and ignominously back by the vigorous young leaders. The supplanted old bulls were a mangy and dis- reputable-looking lot. Their coats were ragged and their foretops matted and weedy. Their horns were broken or splintered, and, together with bleeding wounds in their shoul- ders and sides, were vivid evidences of how flercely the shaggy monsters had fought to maintain their ascendancy. “As we lay ‘hidden in the prairie grass watching the systematic arrangement and conduct of the herd, in its divisions and sub- Qivisicns and line of outposts, our atten- tion was attracted by and by to the pecullar actions of various members of one of the bunches of buffaloes which were feeding nearest to us. A buffalo would given a sud- den jump, run several steps, stop and look back, and then, giving its body a hearty shaking, resume its feeding again, only to repeat its strange maneuvers a few seconds later. Another and another buffalo wou'd be affected in the same way, and one after an- other they would finally totter and fall to the ground, where they lay stretched at full length. ‘It seems to me,’ I whispered, ‘that rattle- spakes must be getting In their lively work on these buftaloes.’ “‘No,’ replied the trackman, who seemed to know something about buffaloes, ‘the prairie rattlesnake can’t kill a buffalo. At railroad, York | the sell ng | much de- | company notified the M which keep tracks not | wonder his plug and rpqcmz It toward the savage. He took all th#a ®f the plugs, bit off a generous chew frof’ one of them, and put them all away som#here in his breecheloth Then, with a Wiek&i leer, he waved one hand toward thd ‘Faliroad. ' We interpreted this to mean thMt-ho was ordering us to quit the prairle, and we did not hesitate, but_went at once “The mystery of {he buffalo bunch was now explained. TheIndians had been hiding on the edge of fia herd, und were picking off the choicest ‘of'the buffalos with their nolseless and deadly arrows. We never looked back until we had placed our hand car on the track @dd were ready to start for home. Then we $aw the Indians squatted in an excited group on the ground “ “They bling for our sald the t “I hav ongratulated myself then that I didn't lose my scalp as well as my buffalo that day, and will never cease to why that villain of a redskin per- mitted me to go away with it, for my shot stampeded that herd of buffales and spoiled for the Indians a big and profitable hunt.” - Subject to Attacks of Cholera Morbus, While staying in the Delta (Mississippl Bottoms) last sumne senting Ludlow, Saylor Wire Co suffered from malaria and to attacks of cholera morbus. stance when attacked by magie, by using Cholera and Diarrhoea “I regard it is the clnes.” tobacco,* of 8t became subject In every in- Remedy. H ‘ne plus ulcra’ of medi- ——a A BISMARCK NEW ORY. ¢ Part of n Pretty ixin Long Ago. In Gothenburg, Sweden, lives an old woman who, when young and comely, passed much of her time with titled relatives in Rome and Vienna. Fifty-six years ago this fall she visited Rome. In November the re- turned to Gothenburg by way of Berlin, which, although a tiny capital in those days, passed as one of the lions of central Eu- rope. She knew nobody in Berlin, but the relatives she had been with in Rome and a cousin in the university, who was informea by letter that the young woman was coming and he must meet her and show her the sights. “I arrived with my chaperon and malds,” wrote tho old woman to a Gothenburg naws- paper three weeks ago, “and was welcomed by my German cousin, as 1 had come to call him. He was very hearty in his maner. He was a tall, muscular young fellow, with a big moustache and peculiar, penetrating eyes. He seemed almost uncanny to me, yet was a delightful companion. ‘For three days the young man was my constant companion. To be sure he could speak no Swedish, but his French was per- fect. 1 never had such a devoted cavaller I was proud enough of my German cousin Only too soon came the day when I must say y to him in Berlin. cousin,’ he said hand in parting, ‘I haye you. It is merely—well, your cousin at ail. My real cousin you sought, was so busy, prepar- ing for his examination that he begged me to act In his stead during your visit. My name fs Otto von Bismarck.’ “I looked at him in dumb astonishment as the carriage was driven away. My adventure was oie Nearly forty years How as he shook my a word to say to cousin, I am not friend, who is the y passed.” The obscure Bismarck had become a prince and had laid his hands on the crowns and nations of Europe. I came to Berlin again and sent my card with a few written words to the prince. An hour later I received an invitation and went to the chancellor's palace. The prince remembered me perfectly, and we soon were decp .n c;-versation ““I have you to thank,’ he said, ‘for my only views of Berlin's. art galleries and mu- seums. Since we parted I have never found time to viit them again.’ " . FOR BRAIN WORKERS d Phosphate. Dr, W. W. Williams, Wichita, Kan., says: “Have used it in cases of mental exhaustion and nervousness, with good results.” Horaford's DEAD. Connolation for the Person Turns Over in the Grave. A Californian who believes that hundreds of people are annually buried alive or killed while in a cataleptic state by the nece: mutilation of the embalming proce invented what he calls the “grave signal.” Every graveyard has its story of bodies that have turned over in their coffins. Men and women have lain In caskets for two days or three days, and everybody that said: “How calm,” “How placid,” natural.” And then they put him under six feet of earth, or tuey put him away in part of the six feet, the rules of some cemeteries allowing three bodies to be buried, one on top of the other, in a single plot, six by three, Thus there is a more or less strong belief that often people are buried alive. It was the constant occurrence of incidents llke this that set a Californian, Hubert Deveau by name, twelve years ago, to work on a series of experiments, He tried many plans. Once he figured on an electric signal that would be set ringing by the slightest movement of the interred, and he got out a patent on it. There were to be straps affixed to the legs and over the forehead of the man in the coffin. His slightest movement would start the bell a-going, and the sexton would come running, spade in hand, and within an hour the dear departed would walk into the bosom of his family with the greeting, “Fooled you, didn't 1? Mr. Deveau, however, thought long and hard about this. Then it occurred to him that if a robust, healthy man were placed in a coffin with the lid screwed down and then placed in a grave with six feet of earth piled in he would be unable to.breathe, and the electric appliances, so ready at hand, would be useless. Mr. Deveau then retired to his ancestral estate near Fresno, Cal., and evolved what he calls the “‘grave signal.” The grave signal consists of a rod that runs down through a tube into the coffin and rests upon the forehead of the interred. A series of rubber valves prevents the egress of vapor from the grave. At the slightest movement of the body In the coffin the rod flies up, all the valyes are opened, air flows into the prison and the unfortunate who thus wakes up in darkness and on the under side of the earth waits patiently until some one strolling through the cemetery notices that the little red ball signal on the top of the grave is displayed, and thereupon sounds least, not as quick as these fellows are tumbling. 1 never saw anything like that before, and can’t understand it.’ “To solve the mystery we concluded to fire into that particular bunch, which would stampede it, and in turn stampede others, until the whole great herd would be speed- ing away over the plain. I had the privilege of the first shot. I crawled up to within 300 yards of the bunch. A magnificent spike buck stood within easy range, broadside to me. I almed at him and fired. He fell where he had stood. His immediate com- panions fled. The alarm spread along ‘the herd, and soon the body was thundering away to the northward, shaking the prairie by their mighty tread. “Followel by my companions I rushed for- ward to my trophy. 1 put my foot on his massive neck, and felt all a conqueror's pride as I looked back at my companions. They were standing stock still, ten feet behind me, their eyes wide and bulging, staring at something beyond me, and thelr jaws drop- ping. I turned to see what had thus stopped them and put them under such a spell. In- stantly my eyes flew open as wide as theirs and my jJaw fell just as far. I never knew where he could have come from, but there, at the other side of the buffalo I had shot, stood an Indian. He was at least six fect and a half tall, and naked, except for a strip of buckskin around his loins. He carried a quiver of arrows at his back and had a tre- mendous bow in his hand. His eyes flashed wickedly he drew himself to his full height, placed his foot on the buffalo, and, smiting himself on the bare breast, excla!med in a haughty and imperative tone: Mzah boofalo-o-o! “Before the Indian had flnishel making his positive claim to my trophy I became pain- fully aware that he was not alone, for not less than six other Indians, as big and ugly as the first one, had appeared on the scene as quietly and mysteriously as he had. I had no intention whatever of disputing the red thief's claim, and I knew that neither of my companions had. I removed my foot at once from the dead bull, which was all the Indian I knew for resigning my right to the prize. The Indian folded his arms and looked coutemptuously at us, and at last exclalmed: * “Tabac? “Weo Interpreted this rightly to mean that the Indian wanted a chew of tobacco. Simul- taneously each one of our party produced the alarm. _ R s DANGERS OF SLANG. Experience in Brooklyn Shows Peril in the Word Rnts.! A new illustration of the dangerous con- tusion that often 1s created by the prev- alence of slang Is furnished, says the Brooklyn Times, by the following incident: A professional rat catcher went to a fash- fonable club on Twesday evening and at mid- night he had bagged fifty rats. With the fifty living rats in-a bag—for this professional scorns to kill any: rats on the premises—he left the fashionable club and started home. Then appeared an unknown policeman, who said: “Where are you golng?”’ “None of your business,” cher, 'So that's your swag,” said the policeman, sarcastically tapping the bag with his club. Nary swag,” sald the rat catcher. What have you f' the bag, then?" Here we come to the first crisis of the story, for the reply was “‘Rats.” The police- man then punched the professional for what he, perhaps reasonably, regarded as his Im- pertinence. Moreover, he grabbed the bag and thrust in his inquiring official hand. Here comes the second crisis of the story, for at least seven rats grabbed his hand. The policeman yelled and shook off the rats and the other forty-three leaping from the bag the street was soon full of rats. The poor policeman, with rats to the right of him and rats to the left of him and rats in an indefinite vista before and behind him, fled into the night. This js not the first time that slang has indirectly created confusion in the world. The rat catcher had no suspicion that the policeman would take his explanation am This s the trouble. The slang that creates Qisastor is generally uted unwittingly. May the present plcturesque warning be heeded. il el Troubled with Perlodical Dysentery. Henry P. Sllvera of Lucea, Jamaica, West India island, says: ‘“Since my recovery from an attack of dysentery some ten years ago, it answered the rat We \ Om HA : ”‘\ddql‘lont\(‘s'\nlc‘m R VISIT we are the only UP-TO-DATE _ HOUSE FURNISHERS Our styles are five years in advance of all competitors, Our Carpet Department The largest and best west of Chicago. Every novelty known to the trade is shown here. We have many PRIVATE PATTERNS in all grades which cost no more than the old stock designs you saw several generations ago. In Our Drapery Department show the latest H nnYuU FURNITURES CRR NOTHING Denathbed Scene of o liad No Regreis. John Mullins, illicit distiller, who died fn outlawry near Junction City, Union county, Ark., the other day, was a type of his kind, on which account he may be worthy of spe- cial mention. The average moonshiner in this section, says a correspondent of the New York Sun, is a clever fellow—suspicious, of course, bécause of his_calling, but hospitable and kind hearted. It fs bred In him taat it s his right to transform grain into spirits without paying a tax to the government. He is by natur s honest and law-abiding as the average citizen. What evil deeds are his outside of unlawful distilling are but epl-odes of his career, which he really dislikes to commit and for which his conscience pricks him to the last. But Mullins was different. He committed only one murder, but his end- ing justifies the bellef that he wis bora with a well developed moral taint He scemed to take pleasure in doing wrong and had no thought of principle in connection with the liquor question, taking to the il- legal traffic simply because it came easiest to hand. His parents were honest farming people. Coming into the world with a de- formed foot, it was often remarked that he sought to blame all mankind for this ac- cident of his birth, as he would brook no al lusion to it, however delicate. He had little or no education, but was & genlus In his profession. He 'was never arrested. De- tectives got after him, but he eluded them and fled the country. Proof against him was meager and he waa allowed to return. It wad an open secret that he kept up his old vocation, but he made a show of other busi- ness. Being a contractor in a small way, he hired a man named Jones to build a house for him in Magnolia, Ark. Mullins engaged cheap negro laborers to assist Jones, and Jones discharged them. The two men had a fight over the matter, and Mullins was worsted. They met next day in a store and while Jones and Mullins' brother were at fisticuffs, Mullins shot Jones with a plstol, killing him. The murderer made his escape with little difficulty to his home in the country, a densely ‘wooded region. Here he lived for two years unmoiested, al- though the law was supposed to be in quest of him. His habitation was a_cave In a dense thicket which he had floored and ceil and in which he made white corn whisky which he sold to the farmers. It has a brick chimney and fireplace; On the wall there still hangs & much worn pair of the tenant's trousers. Within, in a corner, i a pair of his old shoes. On the inside there are also a_gun rack and a coffee pot support. In the chimney two bricks have been left so they could be speedily removed, making a hole through which he could thfust his rifle and fire at all assailants. He vacated the place several months since and appeared near Junction City, Union county, a town on & new rallway, which town also embraces a part of Union parish, Louisiana, Mullins here openly defied the officers. They seemed loath to catch him, He was a small man, of low stature, spare bulld, with swarthy complexion and light brown eyes, and walked with a slouching gait Such’a personal appearance, whil Tot prepossessing, need not Inspire féar in a determined officer, but the outlaw was known as a dangerous man, quick and ready with his pistol, which he always carried in a little gripsack in his hand. So he went his way and made wildcat whisky until a messenger came to town one afternoon for a doctor. The doctor, following the gulde, went to a cabin far from the roadside, down a hog path that led through a forest. Here he found a man lying on a dirty bed. The patient's eyes were glassy and his breath came hard and at long intervals, “Too late,” the physiclan said, and in the same moment the man was dead—of pneu- monia, consequent of long exposure and neglect. “I had seen him a few times before," sald the doctor, afterward, “but might not have recognized him, so changed was he in death, But I knew his foot—there is not another like it hereabout. Besides, he left this, clinched in his right hand.” What the doc- tor showed was this note T've got nothin’ to take back. T aln't sorry for nothin’ I ever done. So don't tell a lie and say I died beggin’ any man's pardon. JOHN MULLINS. —— Careless People. “It is surprising,” said a merchant, “how careless people are with shopping money. They come into my store for goods and after paying the bill with large money calmly walk off without their change. Others will take all their money out to count it, and €0 out of the store leaving a $10 bill on the counter which cannot possibly be returned to its owner again. Not long ago a man came in here and after paying a little bill left. the store with his roll uf $60 lying right on this counter here where anybody ecould have picked it up and made away with It. He came back later as white as a sheet and when I gave him every cent of the money he was glad enough to give it all back as a reward. Most of the careless ones are women; they talk a good deal to the men about being careful of money, and of the nesd of carrying a pocketbook tight fn the TO TAKE BAC Moonshiner Who comes on suddenly at times and makes me very weak. A teaspoonful of Chamberlain's Colle, Cholera and Diarrhoea Remedy taken in a little water gives me rellef. I could get a dozen testimonials from people here who have been cured by this remedy.” flst; then they come down town with $30 or $40 on hand, and after spending $10 of it drop $15 more in the different stores and then complain to the police that they have been robbed. Another queer thing about it is that most of the carcless people are those who can't afford to lose anything. JEWEL} NFandesof RMONEY Ba This week will convince you that US Stylish, Substantial and Well Finished Furniture at Popular Prices. in Nottinghams, Fish Nets, Tambour Muslin, Irish Point Derby, Chenille and Ottoman Curtains, We give you the Latest Styles at Popu- lar Prices in every department. P E ~QVER-~ . - LLTON i~ The money you paid last year for fuel that was wasted would go a good way toward buying Jewel Stoves and Ranges —the kind that don’t waste. Fuel isn't the only thing they save —they spare your time and patience. Our trade mark is on every genuine Jewel. Ask your dealer for them. WM. LVLE DICKEY & CO., Omaha, A. C. RAYMER, South Omah: GRIEF OF A MILLIONAIRE. A Widower Spends His Days Near the Casket of His Dead. In a vault in the beautiful Greenwood cometery, Long Island, there sits dally by the side of the casket containing the re- mains of his beloved wife and surrounded by a strange collection of articles assoclated with her dally life, an aged man who has be- come known to numerous visitors to the cemetery as the “Man who lives in a tomb."” Since the body of his wife was deposited in the vault, two weeks ago, he has spent all his days beside her coffin, and has declared e will continue to do so untii he is sum- moned to Jjoin her. So h excitement among the visitors tc the graveyard has been caused by the bereaved husband’s mani- festations of grief that the authorities of the cemetery have been forced to remonstrate with him. Still he persists in exercising what he considers his right to pass his time in_the tomb. The interior of the tomb affords ample evi- dence of its occupancy by the living. At the farthen end of the passage stands a quaint, old-fashioned dressing table and mirror, cov- ered with varlous small articies of feminine use, and in front of this a chair, on which the watcher sits beside the casket. Opposite is a shelf littered with an extraordinary col- lection of objects, including articles of clothing, china vases, withered bunches of flowers, balls of yarn and pieces of unfinished kpitting. On a shelf are piled a woman's reticule, an old card rack, several workbas- kets, some knives and spoons and more pleces of unfinished knitting work. In a corner is a broom and several feather dusters, The lonely watcher by the dead is Mr. Reed, a wealthy, retired merchant of Brook- lyn. "His wife died two years ago, and her body was placed in the vault of her father in the cemetery. Mr. Reed was not on good terms with his father-in-law, who objected to his frequent visits to the vault. The father-in-law dled recently, and Mr. Reed then had a tomb built on his own plans at a cost of $3,000 and had the body removed to it two weeks ago. He then filled the vault with mementos of his wife. Since the com- pletion of the tomb Mr. Reed has visited it regularly every morning, remaining until the closing of the cemetery gates at 7 o'clock. He sits by the little dressing table at the head of the body, and the cemetery authori- ties have been unable to dislodge him. R e While it Rained. It was near midnight of the fifth day out and all was peaceful aboard the ark, relates the Chicago Tribune. Wearled by his labors in feeding the animals and navigating the vessel Noah was wrapped in a profound sleep and his deep, regular snoring seemed to im- part a rhythmical cadence to the sound of the rain that beat Incessantly upon the deck planks just above his head. Suddenly there was a commotion among the animals. One of the tigers had succeeded in thrusting his paw through the galvanized iron wire partition that separated him from the hyena and had dug his claws into that interesting creature's hide. There arose a fierce outcry In which all the beasts of prey in that part of the ark jolned something to throw and raise the window. The neighbors' cats are in the back yard again!" ‘Japhet,” he sald, stirriog uneastly, “‘get and the noise roused Noah into partial con- sclousness, ou canncl go !’0 the operoy URPLE-AZALEA THE FASHIONABLE PERFUME. Flowery, refreshin delicale and lastin For sale by drug IMPERIAL C| el ROWN PERFUMERY co, SAINT LOUIS. h MEYER BROTHER® DRUG CO.,AGENTS ALSO TRY IMPERIAL CROWN (wEDDlNG BEL! Two new PEACHBLOW, | odors. 21 50D POISON A SPECIALTY cuittines Uary Bypiiis permanent! 36 days. - You can be tre cured in 16 to ted at home o the sare price under same guATBOLy you prefer to come here we wil coritrach 10 pay railroad fare chargo, 1o tall ury, Jodid Py Moo lmplu,"l'}hn Any part of the. Duts 1t o this & aate onses eare bafi ela; ‘the siki 0 "a50( yphilitic BLOI we guarantee to cure. We solicit the mor d chalienge the worl 000 capital behi: o L i e a ion 3 i nd hotel bills.und no. to cure. 1f you have taken mer= tash, and still have aches and at 1 mouth, Sore Throaty er Colored Spots, Ulcers o dy, Hair or Kyebrows fallin 1) POISON thi obatls for & ‘shis disease has alway eminent phy our uncondie on cure. of the me We send_tho marvelous French Twomedy CALTHOS frae, aul o lognl guarantoo that aLrios il OF Dischos A Emlsalons, CURE rmat en. Vnricecc] wad 'ORE Lost Vigor. Use it and pay if satisfied. Address, VON MOHL. CO. Sole American Ageats, Cmeinuatl, Gilo,