The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 12, 1895, Page 24

24 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MAY 12, 1895. ELecrricrry ON THE W ATER. INGENIOUS METHODS NEW YORK, May 6, 1895.—“One of the most important and at the same time least noticed departments of electric science is that which has to do with aquatics.” | This statement is made by Thomas Com- merford Martin, author of Boats and Navieation.” Mr. Martin has considered the subject from all its stand- points. Hence he is competent to speak. | Thus beginning a conversation with the present reporter recently, Mr. Martin con- | tinued: “1 think it can be said that we are in the middle of a swift evolution of electric- boat building. Thus far the greatest advance in the electric-boat building has been made, I suppose, in the line of the Jaunch. Its greatest exemplification was witnessed at the Chicago Exposition, where electric launches were the most pop- ular boats on the lagoon. Some of these boats have since been shipped to Venice, and there are now regular electric passen- ger boats plying the Grand canal. John Jacob Astor has several electric boats, notably the cruising launch Progresso and the smaller Cocyr: The Progresso is the largest electric boat in America. She is 46 feet long, and can develop a speed of twelve mil an hour. It is understood that Mr. Astor contemplates building a still larger electric boat. ‘“Aside from pleasure boats, the greatest use to which electric launches can be put is as small boats for our men-of-war. The lines of Mr. Astor’'s Cocyra Were so suc- cessful that they were adopted by the e e A A e A et et ‘*Electrical | OF PROPELLING BOATS. 1 electric-boat. Strictly speaking it is a pro- | jectile, worked by an electric current and | controlled in most cases from a ship or from the shore. Torpedoes are too well known to the general public to admit of much discussion. The Sims-Edison, Lay- Haight and Nordenfelt are all types. A remarkable one is the Victoria, which, in- stead of being launched from the shore is attached to a buoy. The buoy may be lo- cated two or more miles off shore, but the torpedo when released starts off and is worked from that point. The buoy in its turn is worked by cable from the shore, so that arespectabie number of miles may lie hetween the operator and the ship he is trying to wreck. ‘One of the best uses to which the airigable or shore-controlled torpedo has been put is as a life-saving device. The Hibbard life-saving torpedo is prac- tically an_electric float, capable of be- ing propelled and steered from shore. It carries a powerful electric-lamp on top and can be sent out past boiling -urf | to a distr vessel, ¢arrying light and succor to the shipwrecked. Something of a similar nature is the electrically lighted life-buoy invented by Captain Melter of the German navy. Itis notal- ways possible to follow the ery of ‘man overboard’ with the instant cutting away of a buoy. Hence the man in the water is often unable to perceive at night thata buoy has been thrown; or, supposing he does, and_ reaches it, the rescuing-boat is often unable to find him when he is too weak to ery out as it approaches, The electric- buoy will obviate most of the difficulty by being an illuminated target for both man and boat. “What would you say to mooring a boat i lamps. has another advantage—the illumination lof the towpath; quite an important ele- | menfi in’ furthering the operation of the | canal. I notice that the Baltic canal is to be equipped with 25,000 incandescent E‘ge Manchester canal is illumi- nated, and so will be the proposed ship canal which will extend from Mobile to the Gulf of Mexico.” THEODORE WATERS. Copyright, 1895. WHITEMAN ARRIVES, Detective Whittaker Brings the Alleged Forger From New York. Ross Whittaker, the detective, returned from New York yesterday morning, hav- ing in his charge A.J. Whiteman, who is accused of having forged checks which were passed on the Nevada Bank. Whit- taker and his prisoner reached this city at 10 A. M., but before going to the police sta- tion Whiteman was allowed to take a bath and prepare himself for a stay in j It was late_in the afterncon when Whittaker appeared at the Chief of Police’s office with Whiteman. . The alleged forger took his arrest philo- sophically and said that he had enjoyed the trip, as Detective Whittaker had been most courteous and considerate. White- man declared that he was innocent and that he stood ready to meet the prosecu- tion of his case. e said he had money to properly defend himself and that he hoped to be released on bail on Monday, when he claimed his preliminary examination would be held. FTION G000 0 BEAD It Educates the People Upto a Better Standard of Lit- erature. by electricity? That is one of the things THE PROFOSED ELECTRIC MOTOR FOR DRAWING CANAL-BOATS, A n and Russian naval authorities. While the Grand Duke (now Czar) Alexan- der of Russia was at Rhinebeck-on-the- Hudson he was much struck with an elec- tric launch which the United States Gov- ernment had just completed for the cruiser New Yo he Navy Department, out of compl t to the Grand me uke, presented the launch to him_and_constructed a du- | w York. It is now a feature of the Russian navy. The British sovernment owns an electric boat whic! uses as a transport to convey troops along Medway, between Sherness and Chat- plicate for the 1l these boats get their power from teries, which are concealed the seats. under their power with them. The electricity is veved to a_motor, which, in its turn, <a propeller. :nt which is & rudder, propeller and otor combined. The motor is situated on top of the rudder. The propeller, con- nected by an endless chain to the motor, is located in a large slot cut through the rudder itself. It will fit any boat. It is only necessary to drop it into.the ordinary pin-sockets, and it is ready to take a| supply of current. '-fi is barely possible that we may yet go down to the sea in ships that are pro- elled by electricity—electricity which gets its being from the ocean itself. The gen- erating quality of sea-water led M. Trouve . to suegest that ships might be worked by primary batteries whose elements will be dipped in the salt water—the water to act as an electrolyte. It would be curious if the ocean-waier was made to supply the very energy that would propel vessels over its surface. Trouve designed a raft-battery consisting of copper and zinc couples, grouped so as to obtain the requisite power. He estimafed that from a raft 100 meters long and sixteen meters wide he would obtain over 5000 horse-power. “Perhaps we have learned more of the real character of the ocean bottom since t) They therefore_carry | The French inventor | uve has made an ingenious arrange- | | which will be done by means of the cur- rent. Have you ever been on a ferry-boat and_ experienced the agony of waiting | while the boatman tried to see how long he | could be winding the windlass? Every- | body has. Now, by taking advantage of | the principles of magnetism, we may do away with all this. It has been suggested that a series of powerful electro-magnets | be arranged on a ferry-slip, so that a boat | having large pieces of iron affixed to the bow will be strongly attracted. Or the | wharf itself could have the iron coping | placed upon it, and the magnets on the | | boats receive their energy from the dyna- ! mos in the regular lighting equipment. It is feasible. “Speaking of ferry-boatsreminds me that these craft will now be worked by elec- tricity. The single machine on board will be a motor connected to the propeller. The electric current will be generated on shore and transmitted to the motor on the boat through a cable dangling along under water after the boat. The cable will just reach across the river and is wound and unwound by means of a spindle as the boat goes backward and forward. There are ferries worked by electricity obtained from a cable stretched through the air un- | der a bridge. The boat might be called a trolley-boat, as its action is identical, elec- | trically, with that of a trolley-car. Sucha | device naturally brings us to that more recent but much more important branch of electrical aquatics. I referto the electric | canal-boat. No other department has had | more discussion. | “The vast influence of the canal from the H,ommcrci_nl view point makes a general { introduction of electricity on it an impor- | tant qguestion. There are from 12,000 to 115,000 miles of canals in Europe. There \h ve been 4468 miles of canals in the United States. More than 2000 miles are | | still in use. One canal-boat will carry as | imuch as ten to twenty freightcars, and | even allowing for the difference in time | consumed, the cost is very much less by canal than by railroad. These figures are LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF AN ELECTRIC LAUNCH, SHOWING STORAGE BATTERIES, MOTOR, PROPELLER, ETC. the introduction of submarine boats than ever before. The modern diving-bell boat is only possible with electricity. The in- troduction of the current has opened up a new field, and both in the line of scientific investigation and in the art of war we have | much to expect. The diving-boat Hov- | gaard, invented by Lieutenant Hovgaard | of the Royal Danish navy, is an instance of what has been suggested. This boat is fish-shaped and is propelled when on the surface by steam power and by storage- battery current when submerged. Her submergeable quality is obtained from a propeller placed in a vertical well going right through the center of the vessel. She is a torpedo-boat, of course, and warfare is her excuse for being. The Waddington, the Peral, the Gymnote and the Goubet are all types of the electric torpedo-boat, with which the pubic is tolerably well familiar. “The Baker submarine electric boat, the invention of a Chicagoan, is another of this class, interesting because it is Ameri- can and because the Navy Department has made tests of its capabilities. The French Government ordered a submarine boat to be built expressly for the purpose of de- stroying submarine mines. She is re- markable in that_she is driven by a motor taking current from a primary battery. I have heard nothing regarding her per- formance, but it is hard to obtain infor- mation of this character, anyway. Gov- ernments do not always care to make public the results of tests. Other Govern- ments would be apt to take advantage. But, perhaps, the most interesting sub- marine boat, from a popular standpoint, is the Audace, launched at Foce, Italy, by a Roman company, for the recovery of treas- ury from the ocean bottom. It is said she can descend 600 feet, a remarkable dis- tance for a submarine boat. How she does it is a mystery which her owner proposes shall remain undisclosed. Five men may descend in her, and she has a door fitted to one of her compartments, through which divers may pass without admitting & quat city of water. Itis alsosaid that ner owners will ‘go into the business of repairing_ hulls, fishing for pearls and ntl::r pursuits of a like nature, as well as recovering treasure. oI suppise you might call a torpedo an important, inasmuch as they represent facts already laid down. The url?' canal- boats were pulled by slaves. Mule-power | was after substituted, and has continued until the present time, when it is proposed to introduce electricity. “‘Most people will remember the official trials of the Frank W. Hawley on the Erie canal. The Hawley was a trolley- boat. But while the trolley-boat has some excellent features, it has some draw- backs. Various methods have been de- vised. One is the use of a false stern, containing a motor and propeller, which can be placed on any canal-boat. The current 1s supplied by a cable along the side of the canal. This cable has a trolley wheel truck running on it. A flex- ible wire connects it to the canal-boat mo- tor. If currentis to be obtained in this manner, however, it is generally conceded that a regular system of tug-propellers should be used, each tug carrying along with it a string of boats. Another electric device sucks water through the huli of The LI‘)rary Assoclation of Central California Reaches a De- cislon. Books of fiction have been declared as necessary in libraries by the Library Asso- ciation of Central California. Several papers were read by members of the asso- ciation at its last meeting, and the unani- mons opinion was that fiction of good quality was generally beneficial. The first paper read was by E. H. Wood- ruff, librarian at the Stanford University. He saw good in all kinds of good fiction. He divides fiction into three classes—the classics, novels by good writers and novels which he said belong to the school of decadence, such as ‘“Heavenly Twins,” “Ships That Pass in the Night'’ and erotic and French novels. Those of the first two classes he believed should be in all libra- ries, but those of the third class he be- lieved sbould not be given a place any- where in a library. He gave statistics showing that the average percentage of books of fiction read, according to library regorts, was 68 per cent. he second paper read was by Miss Emily Wade of the San Francisco Public Library. Miss Wade took the ground that one of the functions of a public library was to supply rational entertainment, and fiction was one of the means of so doing. She said that those who acquire a reading habit through books of fiction generally read up to a better class. The third paper was by Andrew J. Cleary of the Odd Fellows’ Library. He said that there were good grounds to have plenty of decent fiction in libraries. Many seople would not come to a library if they {md to start in on histories and essays, but when they once became readers through fiction they generally went to a higher class of writing. : J. W. Harbourne of the Alameda Public Library, A. M. Jellison of the Mechanics’ Institute, and H. R. Coleman of the Mer- cantile Library, followed with papers to the-same end. A discussion took place, and again the same result was obtained. The partici- ants in the discussion were Miss C. G. ancock of the Sacramento Public Library, C. C. Terrill of the 8an Francisco Public Library, H. F. Peterson of the Oakland Pub- lic Library, and Rev. Mr. Dupuy. The latter gentleman stated that in Paris the reading of fiction had become so great that the majority of the people were now craving for stories of crime and worse, and he feared that as there wcre so many foreign- ers in San Francisco works of fiction should be closely scanned before being placed before the public. e LIKE AN OPIATE. A Strange Peculiarity About the Air of the Smoky City. “Pittsburg makes me more tired than any other city in the world,”” said a theat- rical man yesterday, who has been all over the globe. “Idon’t mean in the sense of the popular slang phrase, ‘vou make me tired,” but state it as a physical fact. There is something in the atmosphere of Pitts- burg that induces sleep, good and long. Traveling men and theatrical folk, gen- erally when questioned on the subject, will tell you they lose more time in sleeping in Pittsburg than in any other city they visit. Now, in my case for instance, I can go about the country and find myself re- freshed in body and mind after five or six hours’ sleep. But in Pittsburg eight or nine hours’ rest does not seem to suffice, for you get up feeling drowsy. 1t is a gen- eral experience, and you can verify my theory ]{ talking to traveling men. “In all my wanderings I never found a city where a person can do with so little sleep as in Paris, France. Three or four hours’ rest there is all that any able-bodied man requires. There is some pe:uliar con- dition of the atmosphere that causes this. Another strange fact regarding Paris is that in treating nearly aildiseases the time required for bringing them under subjec- tion is a little more than half that required across the channel in England or in Amer- ica. It is peculiarly adapted for good re- sults in therapeutics. +‘Perhaps the great amount of sulphur in the atmosphere here accounts for the strange effect upon people. Doctors ad- mit that the presence of sulphur in the at- mosphere makes people afflicted with throat or lung trouble drowsy. But the strange influence of Pittsburg’s climate making people sleepy is ‘zeneml and not confined to any one class.”—Pittsburg Dis- patch. ——— Chess as a Dissipation. Mr. Blackburne, the English chess cham- pion, regards the game as a dangerous in- tellectual vice which is spreading to rather an alarming extent. Discussing the mat- the boat and projects it out at the stern with such force that the boat is propelled forward. In France thereis a system which %rovides for a cable lying in the canal. he boat has electric machinery which grips the machinery tightly and by means of drums Yu"! itseif along. A movable cable traveling on lnrie drums or pulleys along the canal bank has been nmf. The canal boatman attaches a hawser to the cable, and the boat, consequently, is pulled along as the cable moves. It has been sug- Eesud also that we pull the boats in series y 1neans of locomotives running along the canal banks. ““The most inggnious method of all, per- haps, is that which calls for the erection ofa &oup\e rail along the canal bank. The rail carries a current of electricity and at the same time serves as a track on which runs a small motor. Itis merely neces- sary to run a line from the boat to the motor. The motor runs along of itself and drags the boat after it. This method, or others analogous to it, may be strongly commended, because there is no Dl'opefier to cause the water to wash away the canal ll;:nkl—the great objection to steam canal- ats. “The introduction of electricity on canals ter, after a game with Mr. Bardeleben recently, he said: “I know a lot of peo- ple who hold the view that chess is an ex- cellent means of training the mind in logic and shrewd calculation, prevision and caution. But I don’t find these qualities reflected in the lives of chess players. They are just as failible and foolish as other folks who don’t know a rock from a pawn. Buteven if it were a form of men- tal displine, which I doubt, I should still object to it on the ground of its fatal fas- cination, Chess is kind of mental alcohol. It inebriates the man who plays it con- ftantly. He lives in a chess atmosphere, and his dreams are of gambits and the en of games. I have known many an able man ruined by chess. The game has charmed him, ‘and, asaconsequence, he has given up everything to the charmer. No, unless a man has aurreme self-control, it is better that he should not learn to play chess. 1 have never allowed my children ‘to learn it, for I have seen too much of its evil results. Draughts is a better game if you must have a game.”—Pittsburg Times. ‘Wordsworth’s mother had a character as peculiar as that of her gifted son. The NaTioNAL The proposition to connect San Fran- cisco and San Jose by a great boulevard, and the probability that when this is ac- complished a second bonlevard from the Garden City to Oakland will be con- structed, bring to mind the first great at- tempt in this country to construct a mighty thoroughfare for travel and traffic. | This was the great National boulevard which in the early days of the century united the East with the sparsely settled plains and valleys west of the Alleghanies. This road, 130 miles in length, com- menced at Cumberland in Maryland, the head of navigation on the Potomac River, passed through the Laurel hills, a spur of the Alleghanies, through the Panhandle of Virginia, and joined the Ohio River at Wheeling. It was on the line of the old military road laid out by George Washing- ton in 1752 and passed near the site of Fort Necessity, the scene of his first and only defeat. . It was one of the best and most substan- tial turnpike roads ever built in this coun- try, and cost the Government of the United States nearly $1,750,000. It was to be expected that the openin of such an excellent road, easy, direct ani free to the use of any and all, without cost or charge, would attract to it an immense amount of travel; but all the expectations which could have been previously enter- tained of the vast amount of travel and traffic which would pass over the National ' throughout its entire length, it then to ! | 50 and thus secure a revenue from theroad | | to keep it in preservation. TURNPIKE. A AR AARAS AR AN | and serviceable for at least a quarter of a century, but the result proved the fallacy of this belief. In five years from the time of its opening the ceaseless beating of hoofs and the never-ending roll and crush of heavy wheels had worn its solid bed so that in places it was almost impassable. | Ar:ipropriations were made by Congress and extensive repairs were made, but it was of short duration. It became evident that the road would be a perpetual and ever-increasing expense to the Government, without producms any income to pay for repairs. It ha heen built for the purpose of satisfying Ohio and the West generally, and thus preventing that section from fostering pro- jects of secession from the Union. But that danger was past and the road had be- come a heavy burden upon the Govern- ment. In 1829 General Jackson was inaugurated President of the United States and the principles of the Demoeratic party became the rule of public policy. The States’ rights doctrine of that party demanded the trans- fer of the National road from the General Government to the Statesthrough which it Ims:!edv which were Pennsylvania, Mary- and and Virginia. States could not erect tollgates and collect tolls, the States would have the power todo Assemblies of these States in 1831-32 and in July, 1832, a decision by the Goveinment caused the road to be effectually repaired While the United ! Acts passed the | performing horse, and every one laughed at the funny position in which the animal rested. A man, who acted as though he | knew something about horses, came along | and took & good look at the old gray, who remained seated. 5 “RHello, Dick!” said the horseman, for such he proved to be. The oYd gray picked up his ears and looked around. 5 “Yes, that's Upright Dick, sure enough,” said the horseman, as he laughed at the seated horse. g “When I first met ‘Upright Dick,’”” said the horseman, ‘‘he was brought to my stable about a year ago by a man from the | West. This fellow was a horse-trader, and | he came every day to feed and care for the animal, not permitting arw of my em- loyes to look after him, hen he first E ht Dick to board the horse appeared roug’ - Ll ! to have partial paralysis in his hindquar- ters. When out exercising I noticed he had a very bad habit, for a horse, of sittin, down in his traces. After resting his hms legs for a few minutes he would get up and trot.as nice as you please. Dick’s owner, I noticed, was i;eding the horse on carrots and lots of soft stuff to puff him up and | make him sleek looking. smelled a game, and requested the man from the West to find a new place to board his horse. = «I'lligive yon a hundred out of it, said the owner of Dick, who frankly confessed | he was about to work a swindle on some un- | suspecting horse-buyer. > 4 [ncoul 't see things that way, and Dick, looking in fine form, was moved down the street to another stable. I kept my eye on him, though, every day. One morning Dick was brought out on show for a gentle- man whom I recognized as a well-known merchant. Dick acted just like a two- | year-old that morning, but I didn’t see the owner of the animal about. After the horse was shown to excellent advantage the prospective buyer went off, accom- panied by one of the stablemen, who, 1 found, was in the employ of Dick’s owner. The following day T learned just how the new swindle was worked. It beats any- SCENE ON THE OLD NATiONAL ROAD. road were trebly verified by the result. 1t was the main thoroughfare over which passed a panorama of passengers, freight, produce and livestock almost beyond the ability 'of one’s imagination to conceive. There were the stage coaches carrying the mails and passengers, loaded to their ut- most_capacity’ from the first, and con- stantly increasing in number from that time until the opening of the railroads banished them forever. Bi; these convey- ances all the prominent public men of the West and many of those from the South; Presidents-elect from Tennessee, Ohio an Louisiana, on their way to inauguration; Presidents in office, passing to and fro between the city of {Washington and their Southwestern homes; Senators, members of Congress, and numberless officials of lesser degree, all making the National road their highway to and from the National capital. ~Then there were the long lines of Conestoga wagons (prairie schooners),laden on their eastward trips with flour, whisky, bacon and other produce, and returnin west with loads of iron, salt and every kins of merchandise, their numbers being swelled on the return tothe West by the addition of equally numerous trains of the same kind of wagons, freighted with the families and household effects of emi- grants from the East bound in quest of new homes beyond the Ohio. esides these the road was crowded with various descriptions and kinds of wagons, laden and unladen, with horsemen and private carriages innumerable. But the passengers on foot outnumbered and outate them all. The long line of hogs, cattle, sheep and horses working their way on the hoof by the month to an Eastern market was almost endless and countless. They were gathered in from the Wabash, the Scioto, the Muskingum and the Ohio valleys, and the men,all tired and dry and hungry, had to be cared forata great cost, for it was like feeding an army every day and night. To furnish food and other accommodation for all this vast throng of travelers, brute and human, a great number of public houses were needed and these sprang up immediately alon the road. Tfie num ber of public houses of all kinds which the National road brought into existence was fully equal to one for each two miles of its entire length, from Cumberland to the Ohio. The keepers of these houses, as well as the wagoners and drivers of stages, and, in fact, the greater art of the population along the route, ooked upon tge Cumberland road s one of the chief of earthly blessings, and would have regarded with “affrignt the idea of its ever being abandoned or superseded by other avenues or modes of travel. % 1t may be of interest to note the width, Emde and manner of construction as shown Y the specifications of the work required from the contractors, among which was included the following, viz.: The natural surface of the ground to be cleared of trees and other wooden growth, and also of logs and brush, the wgole width of sixty-six feet, the bed of the road to be made even 32 feet in width, the trees and stumps to be gmbbed out, the graduation not to exceed ive degrees in elevation and depression, and to be straight from Koint to point, as laid off and directed by the superintendent of the work. Twenty feet in width of the graduated part to be covered with stone, eighteen inches in depth at the center, ugpring to twelve inches at the edges, which are to be supported by good and solid shoulders of earth or curbstone, the upper six inches of stone to be broken so as to pass through a ring of three inches in diameter, and the lower stratum to be broken o0 as to pass thmnil: a seven-inch ring. The stone to be well covered with gravel and rolied with an iron-| roller four feet in length and made to bear three tons in weight. The acclivity and declivity of the banks at the side of the road not to exceed thirty degrees. It was a general belief that the substan- tially built” road with its firm founda- tion of packed stone would remain smooth | silenced along the rock-laid be be ceded to the three States. All repairs were completed and the States assumed possession in 1835. Toll gates were erected and the collec- tion of tolls commenced. This had the effect to clear the roada of the immense droves of livestock which had passed over it and also brought upon the road very heavily built wagons with wheels nine inches broad, drawn by six and eight horses. A former resident on the line says: *I have frequently seen from forty to fifty great Conestoga six-horse teams carrying from five to six tons each, pick- eted around over night (at one of the road- side taverns)in the yards and around the commons ard all the other taverns equally full at the same time.” Scarcely a day passed that did not see the main streets of the principal towns on the road crowded from end to end with these immense wagons, each of which had about one-half the capacity of the modern railway-car. On the road between these towns they passed in continuous procession. In 1835 an ‘‘Adams Express” was run- ning over the line. It was started in that year by Alyin Adams. Malttoy & Holt started what was known as the ‘‘Oyster Line.” Three years later a light mail- pouch carrying drafts, paper money and short printed slips was sent through by a messenger on horseback. It was the fastest overland mail in America. After these mounted messengers were withdrawn a number of light mail carriages to carry through mail and making very few stops were put on. These formed what was known as the “Monkey Box Line.” The passenger traffic over the route was im- mense and constantly on the increase until the business of the road received the death blow by the opening of the railroads across the Alleghanies, and from Decem- ber, 1852, the business of the old roaa sud- denly and rnpi%y declined. Travelers to and from the West were diverted to the new routes and easier modes of convey- ance, the Western mails were sent by other routes, and the stages were with- drawn from this, the number of broad- wheeled freight wagons was gradunlly , and by rapid degrees the National highway lost | its importance, and instead of being the only easy mode of travel became, as it is to-day, merely an avenue of local use. In contrast to this old road is that one which is interesting every Californian who wishes for the advancement of our State. It will be built through a section of coun- try of special beauty, lined on either side with beautiful homes, and vision of fruits and flowers almost pe- yond the conception of an Eastern visitor. At other points one can discern the foot- hills and the Sierras, thus gaining the. views of both mountain and plain. One will be also impressed with the richness and variety of the panorama which will be spread before the eyes of all who travel along this, one of the greatest achieve- ments of our modern time. AvustiN N. HUNGERFORD, THE HORSE WAS A MINT, How a Swindler Profited by Repeated Sales. Fifty or more idle promenaders formed a crowd in the vicinity of Twenty-eighth street and Broadway, and poked a lot of fun at the driver of an old gray horse that came from the direction of Bixth avenue, one afternoon last week, and all of a sud- den seated himself in front of a downtown cable-car. The steed looked as though he needed a rest badly and had made up his mind to take it at all costs. The angry jehu h}]d out all sorts of inducements to the animal to get on his feet again, but no, there he sat on his haunches, resting grace- fully on his raised forefeet, The actors, who are as thick as bees about a honey- box at this corner, cracked jokes on the J)roductive orchards | }_hing I ever heard of before in the horse ine. “The owner of Dick had advertised in the newspapers that a gentleman who had pulmonary trouble and had been ordered to California by his physicians would sell a very-fine carriage horse at a great sac- rifice. ~The person who called at the stable in answer to the advertisement found a ver{; lively and handsome horse, that acted like an excellent roadster when exercised for his benefit. The stableman said that the owner of the animal was stopping at a hotel near by. He would send one of his men to the hotel with the intended purchaser. Arrived at the hotel the man from the West was found in a dying condition, with a hacking cough and agnmng hlood. Common decency would, of course, prevent any haggling over the price of a horse with an apparently dying man. Dick generally brought from to $600, but I knew of one case where $750 was realized for him. The dying owner of Dick would between cougim tell of the animal’s many good points. “‘I wouldn’t sell that horse for $1000 cash, sir, if I thought I had long to live,” the man from the West would say as he | spat up blood. | “A price was quickly named and agreed | on ang the money paig over. Dick’s new | owner would then return to the stable to take away his purchase. Everything ran smoothly enough for four or five blocks. but all of a sudden Dick would develop a weakness in his hind legs. It ended in his sitting down in the street, amid the laughs of a crowd that quickly gathered. Dick’s forefeet remained in an upright position | and he presented a comical enough ap- pearance. After about five minutes’ rest ick would get up and trot off again, going several more blocks. Dick’s buyer would, of course, return to the stable and the hotel to make the usual objections. As he couldn’t get Dick back to the stable he would leave some one to guard him, “The man from the West had gone West when the victim reached the hotel, and the stableman merely pleaded ignorance. He had taken the horse to board, and didn’t know the owner at all. So the disgusted horse-owner returned to find Dick still seated in the middle of the street sur. rounded by a laughing crowd. A coun- trified looking fellow, an agent of the man from the West, of course would appear on the scene at this Eoim and ask how much the horse could be bought for. Generally the victim would be glad to part with the animal at any price, but in most cases about §25 made Dick once more the prop- erty of the swindler. Dick was given the name of ‘Upright Dick’ after the horse- men learned of his habit of sitting-on his baunches. To my Xerwnnl knowledge U%right Dick was sold six times from tfie differeut stables in the vicinity of where I his hotel each time, would be bought back by the dummy from the angry purchaser. who couldn’t get the horse to continue his journey under any circumstances. The man from the West would inject a stimulant into the horse the morning of the exhibition to the in- tended purchaser. Then he would return to his hotel and go to bed to await the ar- rival of the victim.” —— Makes a Yearly Visit. A land turtle that without fail for twenty- six years has regularly come to the home of Michael Mackey, at Parker Ford, Ches- ter County, came to time a_few days ago. Mr. Mackey asserts that there can be no mistaking his turtle, as the initials of his name are emblazoned on its crest. He says that its training has been so well devel- oped at his home that at the sound of the dinner bell it comes into the dming—mom to receive its allotment of food. It stays around the Mackey premises until Sep- tember, and then s oft to its winter- quarters.—Philadelphia Times. of course,and Dick SIEDCE - 2 Morasses IN THE [ SR 3 s 4l FEeEomxe or Srock.— ' Owing to recent changes in legislation in regard to beet- root sugar in Europe the question of how to dispose of the residuum molasses to the best advantage has assumed paramount importance. It is proposed to turn the molasses into feed for cattle. Already on several European marketsa product 1s sold for stock feed containing 60 per cent mo- lasses, 40 per cent cocoa-oil cake, which costs a fraction more than 1 cent per pound. Another fodder is composed of 20 per cent cotton-seed fiour, 40 per cent palm nuts and 40 per cent molasses. Some fac- tories undertake their own mixing, and the substance produced contains 14 per cent protein, 3 per cent fatty matter -..udpso per cent non-nitrogenous matter. The re- sults of feeding cattle on these rations have been most satisfactory. Sheep have also been fattened on a molasses diet. One of tha best ways of giving molasses to cattle is to mix it with their drinking water, and astonishing success has been obtained by adding to the water given to cattle about two pounds of molasses per diem per head. WaAT Is AN ORrcHID?—A horticultural journal seeks to remedy the popular inabil- ity to define what an orchidis. Peoy may know an orchid when they sce on they may even be cognizant of the habits and with the habitats of some of the more hardy varieties; but to give a definiti sight would certainly be imposs many. A plant which is not pec any zone, which is found in the fr equally with the tornd, which has a 10,000 varieties already known to . of which some grow from roots, some from bulb (or from a pseudo-bulb), some grow- ing in trees, some creeping T some of the plants compiet huge logs and trunks, others the size and with the prof daisy; such a plant, such a plants must needs have something in mon to enable the perpiexed botan classify and to catalogue his Every orchid flower consists of thre: and three sepals. Under the m every difference apparent to the na disappears, and one sees that wher other plants the organs of reproduc are separate, in the orchid they are, each case, fused together. Orchids b the style and stamens in common w other plants; but they bear the stigma underneath, while at the tip are the polien grains. How WiLL THE BrcycLe BE IMPROVED?— | An expert on cycling matters who was asked, “How will the bicycle be improved in future years?”’ says there is some ground for believing that the chainless safety will be the coming bicycle. O coming the friction is the greatest culty in the manufacture of this cl wheel, and many of the experiments have been made to this end have gi couraging results. There will be improve- ment all around in the construction of ihe bicycle—in the tires, the saddles and the pedals. Already a saddle has been brought out in France which is pronounced a comn- fort and a delight. 1t aid to enable a wheelman not only to ride further with less discomfort and wear and tear. but to add_distinctly to his speed. The present saddle is barbarous and unsci tic, and ] before long the public will realize the fact and demand improvement. The bicycle- makers are loath to adopt a new idea, no matter how good it is, and it is entirely the pressure of popular dissatisfaction that will drive them to the manufacture of a better form of saddle. THE MICROBE IN A NEW Ror.—Microbes as a class have been so roundly abused that the discovery of the fact that we c not altogether get along without ther duces & certain sense of satisfactio; Russian professor has been taking trouble to determine the value oi g assisting the body to perform its functions. He fed anim f had been carefully steril them to breathe germl Tle experi- ments proved that the presence of microbes is necessary to digestion. The animals sooR showed the effect of the defirn\unun. First they began to droop, then lost their appetite, and finally weakened and died. 1t was found that the food simply would not assimilate when the microbes were ab- sent. This series of experiments has been extended to the vegetable world. It isnow roved that certain plantscan only assimi- ate the nitrogen which is necessary to their growth through the action of the microbes that live at their roots. The Penalty of Greatness. ‘‘Pa,” said the small boy, ‘“what are the penalties of greatness?” > am located. The swindler would change | is no doubt but that you do feel far from well N ¥ most of the \ time. '8 There is & cause, And — There is a remedy forall that is cov- éred by those words so constantly spoken women. | Lydia E. Pinkham discovered the | source of nearly all the suffering endured by the sex. «Women's Complaints,” —these two words are full of more misery to women than any two words that can be found in the language of the world. Sudden fainting, depression of spirits, reluctance to g. anywhere or to do any- “bearing down,” and i dom imagined by your family phy- sician, and re- luctantly men- of all your misery also worked out the remedy. Al have it. Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegeta¥le Com- pound is the greatest blessing that ever ‘came into e lives of suffering women. “Well,” replied the eminent office- holder, with a sigh, “‘one of them is hay- ing tne income-tax collector know, off- hand, just how much money yau get a yea ‘Washington Star. | HOW MANY WOMEN DO YOU ENOW Who Can Say They Are Thoroughlw Well? How They Can Be Strong. [SPECTAL TO OUR LADY READERS.) I don’t feel very well; I am so tired all | the time; I don't know what is the mat- | ter with me. | You hear these words every day. As often as you meet your friends, just so often are the words re- peated. More than likely you speak the samn‘ pregnant words yourself, and there » tioned by you. ’ The remedy is = | found; the same noble woman who discovered the causé .