The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 3, 1897, Page 17

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 1897. 17 | i 13 [he Oct Which h@ l_ioaded qoa‘c ) S5 AR OPUS 1IC fB | Heigh W h ' Saw = % J of bernal reights | e the Astorians da T E 4 P e s a weird, strange story of ®| *‘Hanible’’ was being led up the hill by ““l“‘v [, EOFLE are still talking about the | phists,” quotes a fragment of the poet led goat, which has been care- | Billy Maroney, when he spied a bunch of = 0 3 N octopus which drifted ashore atTilla- | Machon on the subject. 3 led from Bernal Heights, at | thistlesand glued himself to them, chew- > A ,i mook. Themost absurd and prepos-| They say Philoxenus, the ancient poet of night, by a sad-fuced mau. As|ingatthe spiky leaves with evident relish. S N o 3 terous stories are currentabout its appear- | of dithyrambics, was so wonderfully at- :s a goat” has been =\'nonvmo\ul Billy could not pull him and so kicked = PR\\Y ance, and as no one cared to saveit, it | tached to fish that once at Syracuse he being *loaded,” when applied to | bibulous persons from Kamschatka to| Key West. Bat this goat is not full, but loaded. Within the circumference of its ribs is a load sufficient totear down houses and send goat meat flying all over San ‘rancisco’s sandy peninsula ana away to San Mateo County. At least 1e story goes. It may be true and 1t not be true, but the rumor is grisly | -estopping; an ir on to | Lilarity and a micnight bogy Jobn Hanifin has kept his goat in his| yard weekdays and on Sunday lets it/ nibble the sweet grass that grows adjacent | to the top of Bernat Heights. There 1s not a gossoon or a colleen in all San cisco County who does not know Hanifin’s goat. Its genile whinny bespe: the | softness and mildness of its altogether | charming di and “as kind as| own to be a proverb | among the lads ssies where Bernal | towers tpward the skies. When finally it has run its allotted course and has be-| come ble principally for its capacity | t leather, tears will Hanifin's goat”’ b to be turned into be shed a will feel sad. v that Hanifin’s goat | From 1ts evrie it hts of the Twin Peaks ity, which, s unfolded ng over the placidly at t in one direction and at the like a great below. wind-swept hei on the top hug the a header and rolling with brea down toward the Cogswell School. Hanifin’s goat liked Hanifin's heart beat looked upward and pilaster. The Be mated iman comes not So all the goats in and they bleat apunity and are undred Some- clashing of horns when ie together to fur- seven on that the neig P \ six days through about bave in a iuttle shindy | 2o a new family moved | One of their be- was the bigrest “billy”” goat the ave ever seen. -He nas the long- harpest horns, the most mis- chievous disposition, the greatest amount vital and the fun- e ever has bestowed goat with whiskers. He had not its more than & week— aay—when he demonstrated Breaking from his tether he with every billygoat on the e exception of Hanifin’s mild- ) goat looked up | opping with a pathetic | The stranger alked a From i e cossoons and colleens 1 the one omadhoun on the hill inderstood Hani- it had fighting blood 's Hs t took on no airs. Never did it look more peaceful than on y s dreadful fame, far as “‘Scotch Hill,” and even has found its way to the goat fanciers and “‘all-around sports’\of tender s on Telegraph Hill. It happened s way. » Hanifin got prouder of the goat than and walked about with a chip on his er—which the new family, who Cidevert; wherenet Hanifri vt The gogtwas sureTe qo — scented trouble, did not care to knock off. | Tie new family are named Connor or| O*Connor; h is correct does not much | matter for the purposes of this story, | which is one to point to a moral mainly. | Billy Maroney and Jack Conarty, big | boys, made upa match after school and arranged to abduct Hanifin’s goat and the | . new goat, who had already got the name of “Hanible.” The bovs took tops, whistles, nickels and everything else for the price of admission to the match, so they soon had all the movable prop- erty they could stagger under and were re- garded as topnotch monopolists and busi- ness men by the gossoons, and were ad- mired by the colleens accordingly. Pend- ing the match they fairly lived on candy and cakes, which they got by swapping off their admission pledges. They wers as happy as boys acquiring indigestion by this pleasing process could possibly be, Hanifin knew nothing about the match but his big boy Mike did, and the *tould | man” saw a queer, guilty look in Mike’s eyes one night at supper, and the boy quaked, seeing that hisdad was ‘“on 1o him”; but it was only a blind lead, and Hanifin did not more than scent mischief withount beigg able to locate it. The match came off. _ When the goats were led up to engage in fray for the Bernal Heights champion- ship they seemed in no hurry to begin. | goat had him. The uext second **Hanible’ had turned like a flash, had knocked Billy Maroney on his back after several in- y bandsprings and was executing a can-can upon his recumbent person and using his horns in a lighly scientific and vigorous fashion. When Billy Maroney finally got up, with the help of the small boys who fougnt “Hanible” cff, there was a big red swelling on his right cheek where he had been gored, his nose was bleeding and he was breathing very hard, but was still game, and took ‘‘Hanible's” rope once more and led the beast to the battle-ground. Hanifin’s goat going to battle made no trouble. He walked along peaceably enough, with head down andan air of meekness about him that made all the gossoons laugh. “Aw, he's no good. Hanible will use him for a choppin’ block.” That seemed to be the case. The Hani- fin goat could not be coaxed to rear up on his hind legs or to butt. Mike Hamfin was in despsir. *“Whist he said. wants—milkweed.” Mike was off like a shot and after a le was seen toiling up the hiil once more. In bisarms he carried a five-gallon oilcan bristling full of weeds. The Hani- fin goat smelled them afar and his eyes twinkled with glee, while he emitted the most pathetic and coaxing whinny of which he was capable. ‘Good boy,” said Mike, admiringly. Wait a little, boys, until he gets a nip and then he’ll be ready for you.” The oilcan was just larze enough for the goat to get his nose in. He began to make crunching noise as the edible weeds were crushed between his teeth. “Hanible'” smelled the weeds, too, and made for the oilcan. The Hanifin goat heard him coming and looked up. There was danger of losing bis feed, and the Hanifin goat, with one eye on Hanible, hastily tried to resume his feed. In some w he got his horns inside the can. When he raised his head he was wearing a tin helmet, of which he vainly tried to free himself. Then it was that the real fighting blood of Hanifin's goat asserted itself. Blinded as it was, it made a rush for Hanible, thinking that this was a trick put up on y his rival. ! bang! The tin helmet struck cornerwise squarely in the mid- its forehead, and that animal tail and ran, frightened by this “I know what he turned strange thing on four goat legs. Hoor: M ‘‘he’s off.” Mike's triumph was short-lived. The goat went in his direction and hit him in the wind, and he doubled up like a jackknife and went down bellow- ing. Then Billy Maroney was bucked off his feet, and halt a dozen other boys were rolled over, and therz Was a panic among them which speedily became a rout. They ran down the slopes like a party of charg- Apaches, and the Hanifin goat, like Jiil in the nursery ballad, “came after.” Yes, the Hanifin goat came aiter with a mHha‘ ifin had a half day off and he reached home just as the goat charged down hill. There is no doubt that he was astonished, as he had the right to be. He did the best thing he could to divert the goat’s attention, which was to drop his dinner pail, which he had in his hand and run. The goat chased Haniiin, who ran so that all Bernal Heights was d:lighted. whang! came the goat up against Hanifin’s front fence jusi as Han- ifin tumblea over it into his wife’s flower bed, breaking down all her *Lady Wash- ington’ geraniums and kicking into smithereens a small greenhouse which it had ta a day to bul Hanifin bad hardly got on his feet before the zoat with the tin heimet on its head was chasing him around the vard, following him by the sound of his footsteps and the curses which he audily emitied. When this part of the entertainment was over the Hanifin zoat backed out and got Tom Hannegan in chancery and was likely to punch the breath out of him for shouted ike Hanifin; 200d, but Tom got hold of the oilcan and Maroney pulled at the goat's tail and something hed to give. The tail was on stronger than the can, and so thé can came off first. Daylight bursting on the oat it at once made a bee line for Hani- ’s overturned dinner pail, and before Hanifin appeared on the scene with a club, with wrath in his eye and fragments of rosebush in ail other parts of his anat- omy, the goat had eaten up all the dinner pail’s contents. “Jumpin’ beeswax!” saia Hanifin, “All you fellers run for your lives. Thatdom goat has gone and filled hisself with dyna- | mite and he may go off any minute.” At first the spectators only laughed, but when they were solemnly assured that the really swallowed half a dozen dynamite cartridges which Hanifin had expected to use ina little private blasting work the situation wasfound to be serious. ‘the wild-eyed goat htd enough dynamite in him to destroy the new City Hall. Hanifin dropped his club and his knees knocked together with fear. “Whoa, Billy; so, Billy,” he said. n Mrs. Hanifin’s brother half | A Jovltin, - e N Poitn o X " sl » et hE S : \\ 37 £ 2l male ARTHYR SKETCHES CONTRIBUTED FOR THE BENEFIT OF EMIL NARJOT. The Hanifin goatleaped 1n theair, recol- lecting his recent experience, and made for Hanifin like a runaway railway train, and carrying his load of dynamite w.th him. “Wkoo-pee!” yelled Hanifin. “Geel” yelled all the boys in chorus. The goat ran awhile alter every one in sight. Tnen he stood on his hind legs and performed a little “fancy drill,”’ dancing and caracoling and prancing, watched by fascinated and terrified spectators who expected to see a great explosion any time. Probably the layers of ham sandwich | which the goat found in the pail were between the dynamite missiles and pre- vented concussion, but if ever any animal has tempted fute since Noah’s menagerie came ashore, it was Hanifin’s goat. He butted fences. He courted conflicts with other goats. Some strange and perverse influence caused him to lie down and roll. In every way he tried to touch off the dynamite and to commit suicide, going out to the unknown with a boom. Men’s hairs turned gray that day. Women forgot to get dinners and their customary tasks went undone. Tha girls were frightened. The boys—well, the boys had, after some time had elapsed and no explosion occurred, a desire to “let ’er go.”” This grew in intensity and they reveled in imagination of grim and ghastly things and happenings—Bernal Heights rolling down in one grand land- slide; Hanifin flying skyward at a2:11 gait; then the horrorat the police station ! How *‘de cops’” would come! And Hani- fin’s goat? Well, he would be out of sight. But the goat did not go off. He disap- peared that night. Some bad boy ab- ducted him to have a celebration of his own., He may yet have it. Some fond mother may hear of him when he has achieved fame, as surely as the ‘“youth who fired the Ephesian dome.” But the present whereabouts of the Hanifin goat is unknown. Srrv Tim. When the New Year Begins. It may be of interest to know that at 20 minutes to 7 on the morning of December 31 the year 1897 will_have com- menced in fact. The day begins away out in the Pacific Ocean on the 180th me- ridian. At the hour named above it wiil be exactly midnight at this spot. Of course there is not a pause. On rushes the New Year over the seas ana through Asia. conquering the earth at the rate of one-twenty-fourth every hour. By the time the sun isin the zenith over Pitts- burgh it will be evening of the iast day of the year in Eongland. At 20 minutes to 7 that evening in Pittsburg it will be New Year'sday in England. Tt isan in- teresting morsel for thought, and to the strong imagination it is not impossible to p cture the new day of the new year as some living thing floating around the earth on tireless wing at the rate of a thousand miles every time. the minute hand of the clock completes a revolution. 725\ ” Peni / e Bilfe, efideavers foc&e]\'mé(f.’ ; | | | i i | their stricken fellow-worker. Art Gomes to the Blind Narjot Thirty sketches hang on the wails of the Hopkins Institute at present that have been contributed by the artists of San Francisco for the benefit of Emil Nar- jot. -Truly they form a ereditable ana representative collection of the work of the contributors. There is not a single example of what would be called an ambi- tious picture in the lot, but all of them are of the best he painters were capable of executing. Nearly all of them are stu- dies direct from nature, and several of them aregems in their way. Beveral of the sketches are guite valua- ble, and all of them are interesting. They comprise a wide range oi subjects and are varied in treatment. In fact, the artists gave the best they had for the benefit of There are no titles to these sketches, and indeed they do not need them, for all of them explain themselves. Following are the names of thore who have contributed sketches: William Keith sends a fair-sized land- scape in pastiles. Itisin his bescstyle, good in color and nandléd loosely, so that it is most suggestive of nature in one of ber pleasantest moods. Arthur Mathews is represented by a bay scene. This work is simple in composi- tion, but very true to natare. Itis good in color and full of action and life. Amadee Joullin sends the only full- length figure in the lot. It is one of his best works and shows a figure in Oriental costume. There is, of course, a great deal of bright color, but on the whole, the ef- fect is pleasing and harmonious. R. D. Yelland is represented by one of his characteristic evening scenes. This is in pastel, and is a pleasing and creditable piece of work, good in color and drawing. E. Pissis sends a picture that is likea glimpse of sunny France. The colors are somewhat cool, but the effect is good. J. A. Stanton’s picture shows a char- acteristic view of some old buildings in Brittany. They are wonderfully true to nature and highly interesting. The color- ing of the old walls is particularly good. H. R. Bloomer sends a landscape that is highly suggestive of England. It is a pleasing subject and well painted. Thomas Hill’s coniribution is one of his late works. It is characteristic of his style and strongly depicts a scene in the mountains of California—most likely the Shasta region. ‘In quality this picture is quife a departure from the work that Mr. Hill gained his reputation on. Hugo Fisher sends a little tropical lazoon—one of the pictures painted by him while on his recent trip to the Ha- waiiag Islands. It is rich in color and characteristic of the country it represents. 8. M. Strauss sends a study from nature that was made at Camp Goodall. L. P. Latimer’s contribution is one of the wooa interiors he paints so well. ‘There are several good points about it. Edwin Deakin sends a good-sized can- vas in oil” depicting a scene on the Seine. Itis carefully worked and the color is rich and briliiant. ; €. D. Robinson contributes a moorlight marine view. This is somewhat cold in color, but the general effect is not bad. C. F. Jesseff, a late arrival here from Australia, sends 8 sketch made at Hono- lulu that is bright in color and pleasing in effect. ; J. M. Jambles sends a pastel sketch from nature, representing a bit of the Alameda marsh. A. J. Bruer contributes one of his small palette knife pictures that are so pleasing and suggest so much of nature, There is a particularly good still life study from the brush of Oscar Kunath. It is very snbdued in tone, but the values are carefully studied and the general effect is strong. A group of buildings by J. Sodert is-a good piece of work, well drawn and good in color. G id Chris Jorgensen sends a woodland road that has some work in it. C. J. Hittel sends a small landscape. R. C. Curtis contributes a small water color representing ‘one of the many wharves to be found around San Francisco. Chapel Judson is represented by one of his characteristic landscapes of good size. There is some good study in it. W. Hubacek and A. J. Briggs are repre- sented by creaitable sketches of out-of- door studies. Miss Withrow, Miss Chittenden and Miss Bender are represented by flower studies that are highly creditable pieces of work. There are a few contributors of very good sketches who failed to sign their Work, so their names cannot be given. itis the intention of the art association to dispose of these pictures some night during the coming week. They will be distributed by iot to subscribers 1o the re- lief fund of Emil Narjot. Several hun- ared dollars have already been subscribed and every cent obtained will be given to the sick artist. Since Emil Narjot lost the use of his eyes Hoated to sea on the next tide after 1t was stranded and they cannot now be dis- proved. well-d eveloped specimen of the cepha lopod mollusk, known in Northern Eu- rope as the kraken, to Hercules as the Lernean Hydra, to Victor Hugo as the pieuvre or devil-fish and to people in gen- eral as the Octopus vulgaris. It has often beeun caught on the coast of Vancouver Island. It had a small body about as largeasa good-sized football and eight arme, four on each side. These are said by ignorant observers to have been furnished with jaws and teeth; in fact, they were toothless, but each arm had a row of suckers, near a hundred in number, sup- ple as leather, tough as steel, cold as night, which could fasten themselves so tenaciously to an object that the arm might be torn off before they detached their hold. Several hundred such mol- lusks have been caught in the waters of this coast, but no case has ever been re- ported in which they attacked a swimmer or even a corpse. In Victor Hugo's story, *“The Totlers of the Sea,” Gilliott thrust his arm intoa crevice in the rocks and suddenly felt himself seized. Something slender, rough, adbesive, chilling and living was twisting itself in the gloom round his naked arm. After a desperate struggle he succeeded in cutting himself free with his knife and killing the animal. In describing the modus operandi of the devil-fish in de- vouring a man M. Hugo says: *“Youen- ter into the beast; the hydra incorporates with the man; the man is amalgamated with the hydra. You become one. The tiger can only devour you; the devil-fish inhales you. He draws you into him; bound and helpless you find yourself slowly emptied into the frightful sac, which is a monster. To be eaten alive is more than terrible; to be drunk alive is inexpressible.” In this thrilling description M. Hugo gives the rein to his imagiuation, as is his wont. The devil-fish does not imbibe its victims by suction, but tears them in pieces with its powerful beak and deyours them bit by bit. Itcould no more swal- low a man than the whale swallowed Jonah, for its whole body 1s half the size of a man’s head. But there is no guestion of the power of the octopus to drown a man by holding him under water with its tentacles. John K. Ward, in his book on British Colum- | bia, speaks of one whose arms were five feet long and as thick as a man’s wrist. 1t was almost impossible to detach his hold from a rock. But the octopus does not feed on human flesh. Its favorite food is crabs. When it gets a crab in a corner, it en- circles him with its arms and holds him fast; then it drives its powerful beak throu, h the creature’s shell and picks out the meat. Inthe Mediterranean the skulls and bones of drowned men have been found in tbe vicinity of rocks which are known to be inhabited by devil-fish, and hence they have been supposed to be man- eaters. But the corpses had probably been eaten by crabs, which had fallen victims to the man-eaters after they had fattened on human flesh. As with some other crustacwea the Jimbs er arns of the octopus reproduce them- selves when they are severed from the body. Among the ancients it was believed that when driven to desperation by hun- ger the octopus will eat its own arms, but There is no doubt thatitwasa | | in Alameda. bought a polypus two cubits long, then cleaned it and then ate it up himseif, all but the head, and afterward fell ~ick, seized with a sharp attack of indigestion. Then some doctor came to see him, who saw that be was greatly out of order. “If,” said the doctor, “you have any busi- ness not well arranged ao not delay to settle it, for you will die before six hours are over.” Philoxenus replied: “All my affairs, O doctor, are well ended and arranged long, long ago, but now since deadly fate calls me away who can not be disobeyed, that I may go below with all my goods, bring me the relics of that volypus.” That there exist in the sea gigantic specimens of the ociopus, which have been named indifferently squids, cuttle- fishes and calamarys, is not to be denied. People have been in the habit of langning at De Montfora’s account of one of these which threw its arms over a three-masted vessel, snapped off its masts, tore down the yards and would have dragged it to the bottom if the crew had not succeeded in cutting oft its immense limbs with cut- lasses and hatchets; also of six Freach men-of-war which were crippled by simi- lar monsters, and thus became prize to the English; but there is no doubt the French market-boat Alecton in 1861 ran across, near Ma- deira, a specimen which measured sixteer to eighteen feet in length, without the arms; nor can the reports of the dis- covery of two gigantic cuttle-fishes on the coast of Newfoundland in 1873 and 1874 be regarded as fables. Portions of one.of these creatures were | examined by Professor Verrill of Yale College, and he found that the body was 10 feet long, the diameter being 2 feet5 inches, and the arms being 32 feet long. The other octopus was 7 feet long, the long arms 24 feet, and the shorter arms 6 feet long; the largest of the latter being 10 inches in circumference at the base. 1t need hardly be added that cieatures of such dimensions could upset a boat, carry off its crew to the submarine depths, and devour them at leisure. Nor is to be rashly asserted that cuttle-fishes of this size do not exist in the waters which wash the Pacific Coast. The Liast Flight of the Garrier Pigeon. A little carrier pigeon met death in a curious way the other morning while at- tempting to cross the bey from this city to his home 1n the loft of George H. Croley Mr. Croley keeps a poultry supply store in this city, and being an ardent fancier of the gentle homers fre- quently brings some of his feathered pets to this side to give them a fly home ior practice. Amonga recent lotof homers raised in the Croley loft was a yellow checker designated as E 1108 which was thought from his short early flights to be an unusually promising bird. Desiring to see how quickly he could make the tlight home Mr. Croley brought him over as he came to business and liberated him at 8:30 in the morning. When he returnea home that night he was surprised to find that the checker had not turned up, and conciuded that he must have become the prey of a hawk. A day or two later T. C. Leydecker, another Alameda fancier, brought Mr. Croley the as a result of doing the decoration of the Stanford tomb at Palo Alto he has slowly grown worse, so that now he is absolutely destitute. For a time he seemed to be on the road to recovery from his eye trouble, but in some way paralysis set in and his case became hopeless. His faithful wife has done what she could for the last four years, but at last has been taken Ssick her- self, Friends have helped the family in different ways, but more money is needed, and is sure to come in a few days. Emil Narjot is one of the best-known artists in California. He came bere in the early days, and the fature will have to de- pend on his work for pictures of life dur- g the exciting times of the goid fever. His work is of a high order, particnlarly when it is considered that he had very lit- tle of an art education. Makart Made Them Famous. In many of the famous Hans Makart’s greatest paintings occur again and again two exquisite examples of beautiful womanhood. In his *“'Dian: nd Charles V Entering Antwerp” they are the most co nspicuous figures, and immediately at- tra ct the observer’s attention. The models of these figures were the two daughters of Herr Klinkosch, a leading gold and silver smith of Vienna. Makart made the girls famous, and the y became the rage of the Viennese court, and until recent years— and may yet, for all we know—moved in the very best society. there seems to be no truth in the theory. When an octopus swims, its arms drag behind the body like a tail so that the animal resembles & cat o’ eight tails; creatures which feed on it like the whale and the conger eel, failing to overtake it, scontent themselves with biting off one or more of the tails, which the mollusk bears with philosophy, knowing that the loss can be readily repaired. One of the most curious revelations ,of prehistoric animal life is the discovery of parts of the arms of the octopus in the caprolytes of the ichthyosaurus, In the aquarium at Havre, in France, when business is dull, the curator advertises a duel between an octopus, and a party of conger eels. The octopus at first endeavors to escape by ejecting the dark fluid, which for a time renders 1t invisible. As the waler gradually clears an eel dashes upon the foe and seizes the flesn of a limb; then, backing away, it whirls round with rapidity yntil the limb is wrenched from the body. This performance is repeated till every limb is torn off in turn and nothiog is left of the creature but the round ball which contains its eyes, mouth and internal organs, and it dies from inability to huat its prey. The octopus is eaten on the shores of the Mediterranean, and fishermen make a living by spearing it for market. Among the old Greeks it was esteemed a choice luxury. Athen@us, in his “Deipnoso- body of poor little E 1108 and told the story of his death. The young bird, after soaring high enough above the buildings of the City to get his bearings, startea faithfully for home, but fell a victim to misplaced con- fidence., While crossing the water he spied the ferry-boat steamer Bay City, and being, perhaps, a little tired concluded to take a rest on her. Either because of the fact that ths steamer was moving, or because Lis tired Mttle wings would not guide him aright, he missed the pilot-house, and, striking the whistle-cord, fell to the deck with a broken neck. The master of the vessel brought the re- mains to this side, and turned it over to Mr. Leydecker, whom he knew to be a fancier, and thus the battered body found its way tc its owner. NEW TO-DAY. CONSUMPTION To THE EDITOR : I have anabsolute Cure for CONSUMPTION and all Bronchial, Throat and Lung Troubles, and all conditions of Wasting Away. By itstimely use thousands of apparent- iy hopeless cases have been permanently cured, So proof-positive am I of its power to cure, [ will send ~REE to anyoneafllicted, THREE BOTTLES of my Newly Discovered kemedies, upon receipt of Expressand Postoffice address. ‘Always sincerely yours, T.A. SDOCU{(. M.C., 183 Pearl St., New York. ‘When writing the Doctor, pl mention this paper.