The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 5, 1896, Page 24

24 UTSIDE THE BEATEN PATH: £ tie. g THe MAR WHO ALWAY'S CARRIES A LaNTERY THE MAN WHO GARRIES A BIG LANTERN NEVER GOES WITHOUT IT May Be Looking for the Honest Men—He Says the Liantern Once Saved the Gour\trg There is nothing particularly unusual about the appearance of Frank Lawrence the first time one sees him. He is only an old man who hobbles slowly along the streets, with a cane in one band and a lantern in the other. But from the fact that old “Frank” has carried that lantern constantly for at least twenty years, he at once becomes an unusual character. Just when Frank struck San Erancisco is something past finding out. He has forgotten and most likely nobody else ever knew, or cared for ibat matter. All that is known about the old man is that he is one of the landmarks of the vicinity of Clay and Kearny streets, He has made that part of town his headquarters for years and years, although he eats and sleeps in all manner of places. Sometimes he has a room in one of the alleys of Chinatown, but more often he walks the streets during the hours that the greater portion of the saloons sare closed. But no matter where Frank may be he always carries his lantern with bim, day and night, winter and summer. It isone of the big old-fashioned railroad lanterns that belongs to the era of hand-brakes and uncomfortable traveling. The apparatus is still in good order, although the glass globe is cracked badly. It has been that way for years, Frank says, and he never expects to get another one for it. The cracks don’t make much difference, though, because the lantern is never lighted. Where did Frank get the lantern, and why does he carry it? are questions a per- eson will natarally ask, but they are not easy to answer. Infact, Frank is the only person in the world who can answer them, and herefused to do so except in a general way. Sometimes the loafers about the park will chaff the old man about the lantern. He takes it good-naturedly, unuil some- body makes a break to take it away from him and then there is tronble. He fairly boile with rage and is ready to fight. “Don’t touch that lantern,” he says. “It saved the Union once and I will guard it with the last drop of my blood.” But how, when or where the lantern saved the Union he refuses todivulge. HE EATS ONLY FROGS AND OVSTERS HE LIVES ON A SWAMP No One Else in the World Knows What Is Good to Eat Joshua Lutton lives on ihe edge of the marsh on the bay shore almost due east from Redwood City. His home isnota pleasant one to lock at, nor even to get near for that matter. It is only a small shanty, built of all sorts of odds and ends of such stuff as he has managed to pick up along the shore. But it is picturesque in the extreme, and old Joshua is one of tha queerest men in the State. Joshua says he is 85 years old, but he doesn’t look it, for he is as hale and hearty a man as can be seen in a day's journey. He is as straight as a ship’s mast and his complexion is ruddy with the glow of health. He wears very httle clothes, but such as they are are not un- usual in any way. What is peculiar about Joshua, though, is the food he eats, which consists entirely of frogs and a few oysters. The place that Joshua calis his home is in about as unhealthy a spot as can be found. The malarial exbalations of the | marsh fill the air for miles around, and everything about his home is soaked with the damp, clammy vapor. And yet he is happy and healthy, and says he would not live anywhere else if he could. He says anybody can live where he does if they | will live on the right kind of food. He is { perfectly willing to talk about his diet, but it is impossible to get him to say a word about anything else. He won't even tell | where he was born. “The reason people are sick in this world,” said Joshua, “'is because they don’t eat the right kind of food. Bome eat meat and some try to live on vegetables. But they ain’t either one right. It ain’t right to eat meat, because you hurt the animal when you kill it. If you try to live on vegetables you will mighty soon starve to death. Now I have solved the problem by eating frogs and oysters. They ain't either one of them got any feeling and they are as nourishing as the fattest beef that was ever killed. I catch all the frogs Iwant right at my door, and by taking my boat I can get a load of oysters in an hour. 8o youa see I have all I want to eat and drink, and a comfortable place to sleep, and I don’t have to worry myself to death. Try it yourself a week or two and I am sure you will never live as folks gen- erally do again,” And He Has a Pet Theory That| THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JULY 5, 1896. 5\ ) By SPARKS. DAIRYMAN. WILDERY ARTIFICAL. SUNRISE THI§ MAN LVES on FRoGS &np QISTERS. I i A COUNTRY Towny STREET §N THE HEART oF San FRrancisto = ~ A cLirr THAT Lok LIKE- A WALLED CITY - , AR LSTABLSRFENT TOR DRyING FisHING NETS- ORIGINAL SGHEME OF JOHN PAGANINI | HIS GENIUS IN FINANCE | | | 0dd Net - Drying Establis}\mer\!1 That Enables an Ex-Fisher- man to Live With- out Work This story is about John Paganini, but the individual is no relative of the famous violinist. Still he isa genius—a genius of finance—and were his talents devoted to the real money battles of the world there is little doubt but that would make the reputation of a * poleon.” He really has the talent, be- cause he is now a monopolist. At present John has the only net-drying institution in the State, if not in the whole country. John’s place of business is on the southern bay shore, where there are no smooth spots of dry land to stretch lish nets where the sun will strike them. In fact, itis pretty hard to find a square foot of dry land without crawling through several miles of black, slimy marsh grass. Many years ago John was a fisherman himself, and in those days he used to take his nets all the way to Baden Point to dry them. To overcome this he hit on the bright idea of driving a few polesin the mud of the marsh in front of his house and stretching his nets between them. The scheme worked perfectlv, and soon the other fishermen came around to borrow John’s poles. John loaned them a few times and then concluded to rent them by the Lour. This scheme worked also, and in less than a month John bad a dozen poles in position and was drawing such a large income from each that he quit doing any fishing. It seems strange that the other fisher- men should not put in poles of their own and save the money they now pay to John. But possibly tney have never thought of it. Another and a better explanation, | however, is that John has a little barin | connection with his net-drying business, where the thirsty fishermen can find liquid comfort while their nets are drying. | They can also find a neat little game of monte and a few other things dear to the heart of the natives of the shores of the Mediterranean. Hd As has been stated John is a genius, and is perfectly willing to give his customers anything they want —— e Two-thirds of all the letters which pass through the postoffices of world are writ- ten by and sent to people who speak i English, LOOKS | LIKE THE WALLS | OF A GITY E A DEATH VALLEY CLIFF The Deceptive Appearance of al Range of Red Sandstone on the Amargosa Greek There are many: strange sights to be seen in the desolate alkali pit between the Telescope and Kingston mountain ranges. Death Valley is here and so are the un- canny “Resting Springs.” But more sur- prising than these is a cliff of dark red sandstone that stretches from north ‘o south from a spur of the foothilis that lie along the shore of Amargosa Creek. To pass the western side of this ridge one would not be attracted by its appear- ance, and even the eastern side of it does not look particularly unusual in the morn- ing hours. But approach it from the east in the afternocon and you will rab your eyes to be sure you are seeing things straight. Or possibly you will think ita mirage. ‘When the sun has sunk behind the cliff and the sky is a blaze of light that throws the lanascape into deep purple shadows there is not a man living who, on seeing the cliff for the first time, but would think he was coming to a8 walled city built by some of the old Aztecs. There is no denying the resemblance. There are the square buildings with the towers and chimneys. Almostin the center of the town is a large dome, so perfect in outline that it batdly seems possible it was not | the work of human hands. The illusion is produced by the peculiar rock formation, which is really common in the locality, only 1t don’t often happen to be combined in the way to producea walled city. The forces that caused the rocks to take their present forms were earthquake and the action of runming water—very much the same as created the marvelous Canyon of the Colorado. The extent of this “city” is about half a mile long and three or four hundred feet wide. There really is nothing about the rocks to make a city, but the shapes and sizes of them are such as to produce the right combination of lines to make them Jook like a city. Although it 1s only 300 feet across the top of the cliff, the different sizes of rocks and the way they are placed makes it look to be at least a mile. When the light from the evening sky just touches the top of the cliff, each projecting ridge looks like a building, and the whole seems. to be a town of several thousand inhabit- ants, BRUSTIG | LANE IN THE HEART| OF TOWN i | | LINED BY PEPPER TREES Downtown GCottages and Fror\tj Yards That Seem to Be- long to an Earlier Period How many, even old residents of San Francisco, would believe that there was a country town street in the hear* of the | City? It would be a surprise to most ot them, and a still greater surprise when they were told that it was within 500 feet of the Palace Hotel. The accompanying picture is a faithful drawing from a photograph of Anthony street, which runs north from Mission, and is the first street east of Second. It isone of the oldest streets in Ban Francisco and the present buildings were once considered the finest houses in the City. The one nearest Mission was put up for a boarding- house, but it was so far out of town then that it was hard to get people tolive there. As the City grew bevond them they in- creased in value, and as the same lady who started in still kept them she had all the boarders she wanted ana at the best prices. But those days have passed away and the lady who started the boarding-house has been dead many years. Still the houses have been changed very little ex- cept to grow moidy and dilapidated. The pepper trees that were planted in the| front yards are still there and have grown to giants of their kind. To look down thisold street from Mis- | sion it is hard to believe that it is a part of San Francisco in the year 1896. The houses themselves are - old-fashioned enough, but the front yards surely belong to another age. The dilapidated picket- fences look as if they belonged to some of the old towns that the miners left years agoand have been trying to keep in ex- istence ever since. Inside the yards are | some old plank walks to keep people’s feet dry in rainy weather. The old green shutters are s:ill there, though having a hard time of it to hang in place. Few people ever walk through this street, although it is well paved. In fact that is the only thing about it that looks like a modern street. One end of it opens on Mission street and the other is closed by a stable. One strange thing about this street is that all of the houses are still used for the same purposes as when they were first put up. One is used for a resi- dence and all of the others are used for boarding-houses. WILDER MAKES ARTIFIGIAL SUNRISE MILKS BEFORE DAYLIGHT The Mean Trick of a Santa Gruz Dairyman, Who Fools the Stock by an Elec- tric Plant Dairyman Wilder, whose milk-produc- | ing establishment is about ten miles north of Santa Cruz, is one of the most ingenious men in all California and has done what no otherdairyman ever attempted. Every- body that has ever tried to milk a cow before daylight knows what a job it is. Bossy is generally of the opinion that there is a time for all things, and firmly objects to being awakened and milked when she thinks that she should be asleep. Many cows will refuse to be milked to the extent of kicking and lying down. _ All of these troubles have been Dairy- man Wilder’s, and not long ago he de- termined to overcome them. In fact, it was necessary that he should, as he was often late in getting milk to his customers in Santa Cruz. Itcostconsiderable money, but he has more than made up for the out~ lay. At present he has one of the finest individual electric light plants in the State and his cows are as easy to milk as | in broad daylight. When the electric plant was in position and ready for work there were three big arc lights over the center of the yard where the cows slept at night and dozens of others fixed all over the different build- ings, the entire lot capable of producing about 10,000 candlepower — enough to make the yard as bright as day. The plant was of the best quality and every- thing was tried in the daytime before the surprise was sprung on the cows. It worked like a charm. The bright rays of the light had no sooner been tarned on than the cowscommenced to | get up. Most of them looked surprised to see the day break so soon, but when the | milkman arrived with his pail they seefied to think it was all right and stood perfectly still while .being milked. The light also affected the poultry, for. the cocks commenced to crow and the hens went around hunting for nests. Ducks, geese, dogs and cats were all affected the same way and the whole barnyard was awake at 2 o'clock in the morning. 1t bas not proved a case of the animals getting used to it, for they behave the same way now after the artificial sunrise has been in operation for several months. Poor beasts, they are in blissful ignorance of Mr, Wilder’s shabby trick. | IT'S THE SMALLEST SALOON ON EARTH THE DRINKS ARE LARGE [ | |A Gurious Mission Resort That Ghanges Hands Frequently and Gan Be Used as a Bathroom ! Aswell as having some of the largest things in the world California can boast | of some of the smallest. Truly, we live in | a State of vast resources. Down on the shores of Mission Bay, not far below Butchertown, is a tiny saloon. | It is a real saloon, though, and when it \is | ready for business all the beverages usu- | ally sold in such places can be obtained, but the proprietor makes a specialty of steam beer and five-cent whisky., While the building can safely lay claim to being the smallest saloon in the world there is nothing small about the size of the drinks served. In fact, they are unusually large, for if they were not the place would not do much business. People who live down that way when they pay for beer want beer and lots of it. This tihy saloon for some strange rea- son is constantly changing owners. At present it is kept by a man named ‘‘Jake.” O1 course, he very likely has another name also, but that has nothing to do | with the story. Jake very often does a good business, particularly on Sundays and when there is any excitement down that way. When business is not good enough Jake simply shuts up shop. Ot course, he takes his stock in trade away, and while he is not using his place of busi- ness as a saloon is glad enough to rent it to some of the workmen in the shipyards | to use for a bathroom. They provide their | own tubs and heat the water on Jake’s | stove. Jake charges 5 cents for the use of his place. | The saloon building has been in existe ence for many years—so long. in fact, thag the people living in the vicinity have forgotten who built it. It is only a square box 6x6 feet, with a peaked roof. Thedoor | is not more than five feet high, and were it not for the peaked roof it would be im. possible to stand up on the inside. A sort of bench across one end serves as a bar, and a shelf behind it is used to display the | bottles. Itis not an inviting place, and most men would not be ina hurry to go insiae for a drink. But Jake doesn’t de- pend on that sort of men for customers. All of his customers are very thirsty, and thirsty at all times. The men who go into Jake's for a drink are very likely {0 drain their zlasses.