Centre Democrat. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, April 17, 1879, Image 2
If. ir *k lea ware bitter, And fag* were fewer, And fewer the storm* on lend and sea ; W ore shiny summers Porpetnal comers- Whet a Utopia thin would be ! If life were longer, Aud faith wore stronger, If pleasure would bide —if care would fleoi If each were brother To all the other — What an Arcadia this woold be ' Were greed abolished, And gain demolished. Wore slavery oha imd, and fruccui free If all earth's trouble* Collapsed like bubbled— What au Elysium this would be 1 CONDEMNED BY A CLOCK. BY WILKIK COLLINS. On a Biimmcr evening, years ago, a man was found murdered in a field near a certain town, in the west of England. The name of the field was " Tardou's Piece." The man was a small carpenter and builder in the town who bore an in different character. On the evening in question a distant relative of hia, em ployed as farm bailiff by a gentleman in the"neighbor hood, happened to be pass ing a stile which led from the field into the road, and saw a gentleman leaving theflteld byway of this stile rather in a hurry. He recognized the gentleinau (whom be knew by sight only) as a Mr. Dubourg. They passed each other An tho road in opposite directions. After a certain lapse of time—estimated as lieing a half honr—the farm bailiff bnd occasion to pass back along the same road. Ou reaching the stile he heard an alarm .raised and entered the field to see what was the matter. He fonnd several per sons running from the further side of Pardon's Pico© toward a boy whp wns standing at the back of a cattle Rhed, in a remote part of the enclosure, scream ing with terror. At the boy's feet lay, face downward, tho dead body of a mnu with his lieud horribly beaten in. His watch wns under him hanging out of his pocket by the chain. It had stopped— evidently in consequence of the concus sion of its owner's fail on it—at 8:30. Tho body was still warm. All the other valuables, like the watch, was left on it. The farm bailiff instantly recognized the man as tho carpenter aud builder mentioned above. At the preliminary inquiry, tho stop page of the watch at 830 was taken as offering good circumstantial evidence that the blow which had killed tho man 1 bail been struck at that time. The next question was, if r.ny one had been near the body at 830 ? The farm bailiff declared that he hail met Mr. Dnbourg hastily leaving the field by the stile at that very time. Asked if he bad looked at his watch, ho owned that be had not done ao. Certain pre vious circumstances, which ho men tioned as having impressed themselves on his memory, enabled him to feel sure of the truth of this assertion without having consulted bis watch. He wan pressed on this important pobit, but he held to his declaration. At 9.30 he had seen Mr. Dubourg hurriedly leave the field. At 8.30 the watch of tho mur dered men had stopped. Had any other person been observed in or nfar the field at that time t No#itness had been discovered who bad seen anybody el.e near the place. Hod tho weapon turned up with which the blow had beeu struck ? It hail not been found. Was any one known (rob bery having plainly not been ibe mo tive of the crime) to have entertained a grudge against the murdered man ? It was no secret thst he sssocisted with doubtfnl charti ters, mole and female; but suspicion failed to point to any one of them in particular. In this state of things there was uo alternative hut to request Mr. Dnbonrg —well known in aud out of the town as a young gentleman of independent for tune, bearing an excellent character— to give some account of himself. He immediately admitted that he had passed through the field. Iltit, in con tradiction to the form bailiff, ho declared that he bad looked at his watoh at the moment before he crossed the stile, and that the time by it was exactly 8.15. Five minutes later, that is to say, ten minutes before the murder had been oommitted, on the evidenoc of the dead man's wstch—he had paid a visit to s lady living near Pardon's Picoe, and had remained with her nntil his watch, con sulted once more on leaving the lady's bouse, informed him thst it was 8.45. Here was what the defence called an "alibi." It entirely satisfied Mr. Du bourg's friends. To satisfy justioe also it was necessary to coll the lady as s witness. In the meantime another purely formal qnestion was put to Mr. Du bourg. Did be know anything of tho murdered man I With some appearance of oonfaaion, Mr. Dnbourg admitted that lie hod l>cen induced by a friend to employ the mau on some work. Farther interrogation extracted from him the following state ment of foots : That the work bad been very badly dooe ; that an exorbitant price had been charged for it; that the man, on being rrmoortrated with, bad behaved in a grossly impertinent manner; that an al ternation had taken place between them; that M/. Dubourg bad seisod the man by the collar of his coat, sud bad turned bim oat of tha house; that he bad aalled the mas an infarnal scoundrel (being in a passion at the time) and threatened to " thrash him within an inch of his life " (or words to that effect), if ha ever pre sumed to come near the house again ; that he bed sincerely regretted his own violence the moment be reoovered his srif pasMssion ; and lastly, that, on his aath (the alternation having oeonrred six weeks ago), be bod never spoken to the man, or sat eyes on tho man since. As the matter there stool, these cir cumstances were oonaiderod as being nJortanole circumstances for Mr. Dn bowg nothing more. He hod his M abbi "to appeal to, and hie character to appeal to; and nobody doubted the Tho laily nppearod an witness. Confronted with Mr. Dubourg on tho Question of time, ami forced to answer, Hlie absolutely contradicted him, on the testimony of tho ol<>ok on hor own man telpiece. In aubstaiifle, hor evidence wan simply this: Hhe looked at her clock when Dubourg entered tho room, thinking it rather a Into honr for a visitor to call on her. Tho clock (regn lutod hy the maker only the day before) pointed to twenty, five minute h to nine. Wootieal experiment showed, that tho time required to walk the distance, at rapid pace, from the stile to the lady's house, was just five minntcs. Hore, then, was tho farm bailiff (himself a respectable witness) corroborated by another witness of excellent position and character, Tho (Slock on being ex amined next, was found to l>e right. Tho evidenoc of tho clock-maker pi oved bliot ho kept the key, and that there a>l been no necessity to set the clock And wind it np again, since he had per formed both those acts on the day pre ceding Mr. Dubourg'h visit. Tho accuracy of tho clock thus vouched for, thct conclusion on tho evidence was irre sistible. Mr. Dubourg stood convicted of having been in tho field at the time when tho murder was committed; of having, by his own admission, had a quarrel with the murdered man not long before, terminating in un assault aud a throat on his aide, and, lastly, of hav ing attempted to set up nil alibi by a false statement of tho question of time. There wan no alternative but to commit him to take his trial at tho nssir.es, charged with tho murder of the builder in Pardon's Piece. Tho trial occupied two days. No new facts of importHuce were dis covered in the interval. Tho evidence followed the course which it bed taken at the preliminary examinations— witi> this difference only, that it was mere carefully sifted. Mr. Dubourg lad tho double advantage of securing tho ser vices of tho leading barrister of the cir cuit, and of moving tho irrepressible sympathies of the jury, shocked at his position, and eager for proof of his iu i OJouce. IJy trio end ot tho first day tho evidence had told against him with such irrisistible force that his own coun sel despaired of the result. Wliph the prisoner took his place in the dock on the second day there was bnt one con viction in the minds of the people in eonrt; every body said, " The clock will hang him." It was nearly two in the afternoon, and tho proceedings were on the point of being adjourned for half an honr, when tho attorney for the people win, seen to hand a paper to the counsel for the defence. Tho counsel rose, showing signs of agitation which roused the curiosity of the audience. Ho demanded the im mediate hearing of the new witness, whose evidence in the prisoner's fsvor he declared to he too important to he de layed for a single moment. After s short colloquy between the judge and barris ters ou either side, the court decided to ooutintio the sitting. The witmse, appearing in thq box, proved to be a young woman in delicate health. On tin evening when the pris oner had paid his visit to tho lady she was in (hat lady's service as housemaid. The day after she had been permitted (by previous arrangement with her mis tress) to take a week's holiday, and to go on a visit to her parents in the west of Cornwall. While there she had fallen 11, and had not been strong enough since to return toheremploym- ut. Hav ing given this preliminary account of herself, the housemaid than narrated the following extraordinary particulars in relation to her mistress' clock : Ou the morning of the day when Mr, Dnbonrg bad called at the house she had been cleaning the mantelpiece. Hhe had rubbed the part of it which was under the clock with her duster, had accidentally sttnek tho pcndnlnm, and had stopped it. Having otice be fore dono this, she bad been severely reproved; Fearing that a repetition of tho offence, only the day after the clock had l>eon regulated by the maker, might lead perhaps to the withdrawal of her leave of absence, she hid deter mined to put matters right again, if possible by herself. After poking under the clock in the dark, and failing to set the pendulum going again properly in that way, she next attempted to lift the clock and give it n shake. It was set in a marble case, with a bronze figure ou tho top. and it was so heavy that she was obliged to hunt for something which she could me as a lever. The thing proved to be not easy to find on tho spur of the moment. Having at last laid hor hand oil what she wanted, she contrived so to lift the clock a few inches and drop it again on the mantelpiece as to set it going onoe more. I The next necessity was, o( course, to more the bands on. Hero again ahe wm mot by an obatiole. There u a diflßcnity in opening the glaM case wliioh protected the dial. After naelesa -1 y searching for aomo instrument to help her, she got frp tlm footman (without telling him what she wanted it for) a small ohiael. With tbia ahe opened the easo afler accidently scratching the bra** frame of it—and net the handa of the clock by gnoea. She waa flurried at the time, fearing that her mistress would discover hrr. Later in tho day ahe fonnd that ahe had overestimated the interval of time that had paused while ahe waa attempting to put the clock right. Hhe hnd, in fact, aet it exactly a quarter of an hour too fast. No aafe opportunity of secretly pet ting the clock right again, had o en rr.l until the laat thing at night. Hhe had moved the handa back to the right time. At the honr of tho evening when Mr. Dnbonrg had called on her mistress ahe positively awore that Che clock wan a qnarter of an honr too faat. It bad pointed, aa her miatreaa had declared, to twaaty-flve minntee to nine—the right time then being, aa Mr. Dnbonrg bad nerarteJ, twenty 16 inn tea put eight. Questioned M to why ahe had refrain ed from giving tbia extraordinary evi • dence at the inqtilry before the uagis trate, ahe declared that in the distant Oorniah village to which ahe had gone next day, and in which her illnees bad detained her from that Ume, nobody bad heard of the inqniry or the trial. Hhe would not have been tben present to elate the vitally Important etronm atancca to which ahe had jnat sworn if the prieoner'a twin brother had not found Lor out on tho previous day, had ut questioned bor if alio knew any thing about tho clock, and bad not (hearing what sbo had to toll) insisted on her taking tho journey with him to tho court the next morning. Tho evidence virtually decided the trial. Thoro was a great burst of relief iu tho orowdod aafombly when tho wo man's statement had come to an eud. She was closely cross-examine 1 as a matter of course. Her character was inquired iuto ; corroborative ovidenoo (relutive to tho chisel and the scratches ou tho frame) was sought for, and WHS obtained. The end of it was that, at n lute hour on the second evening, the jury acquitted tho prisoner without leaving their box. It was too much to ray that his life had been wived by his brother. His brother alone had per sisted from first to last, in obstinately (Unbelieving the clock— for no bettor rea son than that tho clock was tho witness which asserted tho prisoner's guilt ! He had worried t vorybedy with bin in cessant inquiries ; lie hod discovered the abienoe of the house-maid after the trial had begun and he hud started off to iuti rrogute the girl, knowing nothing and suspecting nothing—sun ply d< tor rained to persist in tho one everlasting question with which ho persecuted every body : "Tho clock ia going to hang my brother; can you tell me any thing about the clock ?" Four months Inter tho mystery of the crime was chared up. Ouo of the dis rej ntablo companions of the murdered man confessed on his deathbed that ho had done the deed. There was nothing interesting or remarkable in the circum stances. Chance, which had put inno cence in peril, hnd offered impunity to guilt. Au infamous woman, a jealous quarrel and an absence at the moment ui witnesses on the spot—these wero really the commonplace materials which hnd composed the tragedy. Polwoned by Chloride of Soilitim. ■ Early this morning a tr'rootidons com motion won created in a lodging-hotue on II street by an inveterate wag who ought to bo care of at once. The man wm in tho house, mui about eight o'clock came down from hi* room ! and told the landlady that her little l>oy i hod found o box of chloride of sodium on bis wi.shfttand and had taken some. " II you ran get a stomach-pump into I him inside of no boor, he'll lire. Now, ' don't get excited. Keep cool. Put a I mustard-plaster on his stomach at < nee, ! and send for all the doctors in reach. ! You'll be sure to find one at home," Ity thi* time the frantic mother had ! the tx>y stretcl.e 1 out on the bod, and ' was getting a square yard of mustard plaster ready. At the name time she dispatched three boys and a little girl i for medical aid. " Here," raid the wag, coolly. " I'll i b-ave you the name of tho chemical on a ; piece of paper —chloride of sr*.'inm. Make no mistak*; any doctor will know ] what to do the mitinte he see* the name. It's nil right; now don't cry. It won't j hare the slightest effect tinder an • hour. Keep coul; don't frighten the j child. 11l go down and send up *< me doctor* myself." And hero the young : man startiil at a brick pa<x' down town, I and aoon bad aevoral doctors routed out I of their office*. Meanwhile the hoy, who was atxiut niuc yrar* old, was bawling at the top of hi* mice, and some of the ladies from ! neighboring house* came in to help hold him on tho Ircd while tho mnstard-plas- I tor was spread on hi* stomach. Every woman trhocaran iu w* shown the name j -f the jK.ison written on the paper, and I they t jscnlated, " Merry on n* 1" ! "Gracious mo I" "Oh, my I" and " Morcifnl heaven !" in concert. Presently the doctor* began to arrive. Dr. Hurri* came tearing up the alley with a stomach pump, followed by ! Webber, Anderson, Conn, PriteharJ, Grant, Heath, Bcrgntein, and, indeed, almost the entire medical faculty of the city, with me-licine-caaes, instrument* and stomach pnmp*. At the night of no formidable an array the patient (on whom the plaster was drawing like a ten mule team) net np a howl of de spair. " What has he taken, madam t" asked Dr. Harris. " Hero's the paper I" cried the mother, a .bbing. "'J hat's the stnfT ho took." The doctor read the inachption, panned it to the next man, with s 'nugh, ami it went aronnd the group. Presently some jw>ne remarked • "Salt, by gracious 1" They explained to the weeping mother that alio liad been made the victim, aa well as themselves, of a cruel hoax. There was a big laugh; but when that wag gets home to his lodgings to-night, salt won't save him.— I'irpinsa (iVtv.) Chronicle. Word* of Wisdom, Absence in the re*tost of evils when it iin'ttho of remrdiw. No one in more profoundly sad than he who ia obliged to laugh. When fortnno caresses n roan too mnch ah" ia apt to make a fool of him. , I<et smnsement All up the chink* of your existence, but not the great rpa<*• thereof. The moat convenient habit yon can icqnlre ia that of letting yonr bnbita ait looao npon yon. People who fish for compliment* do not need long linen. They will get their boat bitca in shallow water. Were there but one virtuous man in the world, he wonld bold np hia bead with eonftilenoe and honor; be wonld shame the world, bnt the world wonld not shame him. How few realise that the strata* of love and hate lie no close together that it take* bnt little to bring the latter up permost, when 'under the pressure of unkindneaa or injnstioe. In tinman life there Is a constant < h#pe of fortnne; and it ia unreason able to expect an exemption from the common fate. Life itaelf decay*, and all things are daily changing. Things aro great or small according to th end of the microscope through which yon look. Some people manage to look at their troubles the upper end, and so incontinently magnify them, and at their good forhine through the lower end, and so minimise them. The man who dreamt he dwelt ia marble hatla wok* up to And that tba bedclothes had tumbled off. FOIt TIIK YOU.IU FOI.KH. A Crlaa Pete A little more than half way across tho dreary Tartar atepiies, that extend nn brokoii for eight hundred miles, from the Russian frontier town of Orsk to the great inland lake marked on Asiatic maps an tho rea of Arnl, the endless level is broken by a deep rocky gully several hundred yards in length, on the 'brink of which stands a long low build ing of sun-dried clay, surrounded by u thick wall of the same material. The whole affair lias such u primitive look that it might easily p: ss for a lmg< cattle-pen, hut for the tw. guns which peer watchfully over its irregular sides, and the glittering hajwmet of a white frooked Cossack, who is standing sentry ou on angle of the wall. This little nest is " Fort Karabnti'k," one of Russia's Central-Asian outposts—a spot so remote and d solute that one might well suppose its garrison to have been sent hither as a punishment for some unheard-of crime. At this delectable place do 1 halt about four o'clock ono glorious June morning. Lhammer lustily at the door of a little mud-plastered log hut, which has nothing but the black and white stripes on its door-posts to show that i ia a post-house. My Tartar servant, meauwLile, assist ed my efforts bv yelling at the top of h.s voice, "Ot ! (horses). At length, just aa we uro beginning to loHe potienco altogether—for in the Asiatic deserts every minute of the cool morning hours is worth its weight in gold—a long yawn from within, follow ed by a drowsy •'xri-ft ha**" (directly), announce a that the master of the house ia beginning to bestir himself. Just at this moment, my attention is attracted to a "swinging cradle" of genuine Lantern fashion, suspended from the projecting eaves, in which lie a brace of sturdy little children, brown as hazel-mils, and round as plnros. Both are fast arlcep, in those extra ordinary positions which uonc but chil dren can contrive to assume. lam atill admiring the picfuresqnenoM of the group, when I suddenly perceive that 1 have overlooked ono of its most import ant features. Hnngly cnrle<l tip between the two sleeping children, in the warrneat (dace | i'l all, lie* a round yellowish mans, topped with a pair of pointed cars. At first sight, its size and color might make ono take it for a larpe cat; but a oat it certainly ia not. Nor, a* I look again, doen it*se m like a dog. The ontatrt tchcd fore paws on which ; it rests, indeed, are sufficiently canine, aud when I begin to care** it, it re spond* by licking my hand in genuine dog fashion; hnt that narrow head, that sharp muzzle, that slanting greenish yellow eye, surely never in long, d to nnv dog since the "world began, it i* thi* peculiarity of the eye which, recalling my wintrr experience* in European R r ia, at length let* mi into the rtrr<-t. The bedfellow of the postmaster'* children is a young wolf. Just a* I have made this discovery* the door of the but opens, and out come, * big irowxy, shock-beaded follow, with a huge red beard, who laugh* loudly at my look of amazement. " Aha, harm / ' (master) "you liaven't seen many children like that I fancy j' l " Where <>n eartl; did you pick it tip ?" ask I, Ice.king wonderingly at the two children, who are nwake at last, and In ginning to pull their four-foot-d play •nate in the moat unoerrmoniona fash ion. " Well, yon ace, last wintrr, a wolf came prowling ronnd here, and I had to give h m a taste of my hatchet. Ho, when I'ds-ttled him, i I'-thought rnysel, that the she wolf niight'r t be far c-fT, and I followed the tiail through the snow t:ll it brought me to the hole, and there was the ol 1 lady, sure enough, and an other tap of the axe quoted her, too. "But when I saw this pc-t.r little hr.it whimpeiiug over the body, I felt aorry tor it, somehow, and I concluded not to kill it but to take it home for the chil dren to play with, and now it gets a share of their bread and milk in the ruorniug and of their blanket at night, just like one of themselves." " Hut yon surely don't mean to keep it ?" "No, I'm afraid that won't do," said the giant, with a regretful shrug of hi* lingo *bonlder*.. " When it gets bigger, aud begins to find it* teetb, then '' — a significant flourish of the great brown hard completes tho nhfluisbed phrase. When I return from Hamarcand, three month* later, I And the sentence already executed,— Dax-id Kcr. *is kr siss. No matter whether the steps be "one hundred sud eighty," or leas, or more, the asfe rule for s lioy to sttain emin ence in the world is alwsys tho same. Haid a father to his young soo, who was complaining that he bad nothing to be i gin with, aud shrinking from the " low" |K>ition of errand-boy in s store: "Wire yon with me last summer, when we visited Baltimore and went np to the top of Washington's monument ? "Yes, father; yon recollect we all went np, and little Fred was so tired he oonhl hardly gain the top." " Do yon recollect how we ascended t Were wo lifter! from the street by an elevator t" " No, father. Don't yon remember that a man let na in bv the door, and we went up by the winding steps ? We had no light only that of a smoky lan tern, and it was a long time before we reached the top." " And wo got np at laat," said hi* father, "after patiently stepping one hnndred and eighty times, one after the other; and were we not repaid at the top with the magnificent view which we enjoyed t" "It wi* perfectly grand I" said Thomas. " Now, Thomas, as yon ascended that monument, so yon must rise In busi ness. Ton are now steading on tbe lower steps—yon are on tbe steps—and there ia nothing to binder yon, if your health is good, from standing on tbe top." The origin of electing members by ballot oame from tbe Grecians. When a member was to he elected, each mem ber threw a small crumb of bread into a basket, carried by a servant on hia head, and whoever differed, flattened the pellet at one aide. Restoring Drowned I'erini by Ileal. First—Know that a person recently drowned in not dead, and will not Ire for a long time. If not lively he is yet lifefuL lie not, then, alarmed nor un duly eicitod, but let "faith, hope and charity" inspire confidence and i cool judgment to aid with delilrerato i haute in taking the drowned out of the S water and in restoring him. i Secondly—When ho ia taken out of j the water turn hia face down for a mo- I meat only, to allow any water in hia note or throat to run out; then place ] him, out of currents of air, npon his i back, Willi bia head very slightly raked. ! Do not roll him upon a barrel, nor do anything < lse to "get the water ont of l hia iunga," eince there ia none in them; nor out of hia stomach, rir.ee what he ha'< swallowed will not do any barm. Hiir ly- Quickly determine whether he must be carried to whoic heat ia, or if i it can better be brought to or produced near him. 11 the former, take him gently, quickly and un near tin portable in the above raid poature. Fourthly—lf there must be delay in applying heat, and dry prospective* can be liral, take off hia wet olothon and wrap the dry orticlca about him to pre vent loss of heat, covering the head particularly. The warm uuderclothing jof hjataudera can be contributed. Bev i eral tbtekn< ai.ee of aliuont anythii.g at tainable ia better than one. Fifthly— AH soon aa heat ia at Land apply it oa ingenuity and circumstances suggest to be most likely to quickly and thoroughly warm the body. When that ia aooompliahe i theory and faet agree in HKHiiring UH that, if life yet persists, the hcait will legin to heat, happily 1 soon followed by breathing, both feebly and unfreqnently at brut, but more atrongly and faster until they become natural, when oonscionsn* wi will r turn, if the heart given one l>eot, or the laiiga one gasp, no more need to be done; keep the per-on warm and he will aon bo " all right," Sixthly—Suffocation in any other manner ahonld bo treated in the came way, except that in choking and in Htrarigling the sulistsncea cauaing th<se conditions should l>e first removed, and in case of breathing poisonous g, or smoke, artificial respiration should first be tried until the gas or smoke has be* n changed for good air in the lung*.—l>*. T. S. I/amhtrt. Smoking Out n Tiger. The otuer cave was quite open in front, and aevi-D feet high at the outside. From the cave the hill doped sharply down, covered with tree* and hushes. tjome of the Bheel* advanced to the month of the inner cave, and, looking in, mv one eye of the creature, like a ball of fire, at tbe far end of the den. We endeavored to get a shot, hut owing, I suppose, to some projecting piece i>l rock, we never 0011 Id re- both eyes at once, and two shots which I lin >1 were without effect. Meanwhile the I'.hc-l* had collected a Urge bundle of graft* and sticks, which wc rolled up to the entrance of the inner cave; and having set fire to it, we ail withdrew to the month of the outer to n-atch tho result. There was a most thorough draught into the cave, hut the !w-**t m*le no sign, and at length the fire died down. We then haii another large bundle of dry gross made np; but this time we mixed with it green leaven. On this Vicing fired, a dense, black smoke arose, and was carried into the rave. It was such tlist we thought no b< not could live l in it. Hut agaiu the fire died out; aud, though the inner cave was filled with smoke, it* tenant made no attempt to come ont. We had just marie up our mind* that he h*d die! in the hole, whn from the inner cave came a sudden rush of smoke, a* if driven ont by something advancing rapidly. We stood ready, and tho next instant, U rough the ember* of the fire, oroe -not a hyena—l-ut a large tiger, charging blindly with savage growl*. n*yward carried a short rifle, with a ball of some three ounces in weight, and I ha<l s double rifle of fourteen Txire. In the instant that elapsed between j the tiger's emerging from Uie smoke sud his reselling the entrauoe of the outer csve, he was struck by the three ball*. Two hail taken him through the shoulder, ami one through his loins, .lissbling his hind-quarters. As be fell we could hsve placed our gnus, on his head—too near, in fact, to l>e pleasant. Our followers behsved with grest steadiness, snd at onoe handed ns onr sicond guns. The tiger, thongh disabled, was very savage, and had plenty of life in him, an I crunched the underwood savagely. I After some time we gave him hia | qnietns, snd carried him homo to tbs camp.—.S)xw< in India. The (sure ot a Mine Explssiau. Home peculiar features of mining casualties were developed at s coroner'* inquest on the bodies of William Crone sßd Thomas Ticrnay. who died from in juries received by an explosion of fire damp, at the Lower Riusch Creek col liery, near Pottsville, Pa. Theae men were working with safety-lamps on the bottom level of the mine, 1,900 feet below the enrfacc. The vein in which tbey worked made no g*s, but another lieneath it, with about nine feet of slate Ixrtween. gsvo forth gas iu qnantities so great a* to force np the solid slate-oov ering in tho centre of the breaat, the pressure of the strata above, of course, be] ping. The movement caused a rumbling snd cracking, which the men thought came from the roof, and they, together with tbs fire boss, James O'Neill, and a miner named Jacob Imaoh welter, were watching that part, when the noise became so violent that tbey ran into the heading, fearing that the roof would fall. The rotff, however, remained nndistnrbed. The men had scarcely left the breast when the floor heaved up, opened, and a volume of gae poured forth, whioh at once filled the whole place. O'Neill and Imarh weller. fortunately for them, darted into the passage leading inward from the bresat; but Crone aud Tiernay en - tercd tbe "intake 1 * passage. Crone, knowing that a string current of air would force the flame Uirongfa the meshes of hia tamp and set fire to the Keh'elded hie lamp aa be ran. but ■nay neglected this precaution. The gas ignited from hia lamp, and a terrible explosion followed. Crone soil Tierney were so bedly burned that tbey died in a fow hour*, while the other*, 'being behind the explosion, which always takea an outward course, were only slightly injured by being ilulii-d against the coal. The wood work of the mine WBS shattered for a distance of 100 yanla, and a lx,y named Grady received fatal injuries from a door which fell on him. The mine waa then being in speeded for the third time that day (the explosion ooenrred at noon;, and ifs,fi7o cubic feet of air per minute waa then paaaing through that portion of it. The jury returned a verdict that "the de oeaied came to their death* from the ' fTect* of an exploaion caused liy run uing through the gnwith their safety lamp* against, instead of with, the air current." The War in Soulh Africa. The character of the country in JS'iln | land in tbua described by the Loudon j Nru>: Mountain-*ide> are furrowed by dark fdeuH and gloomy " kloof*" or fissures. Those merge downward into deep ra vine*!, forming a' their banc ometime* ♦ho bed# of Hmall streams, sometimes t those of roaring torrent*. These are generally overhung by luxuriant vege tution iu tropical profusion. The wood* ♦ hrough which these river* run are formed frequently of tall and noble trees, among which are met apes and baboon*. Here and there may be observed the bare and leafle** branche* of the eu pborbiA, the cactu*, the aloe and the mimosa. On reaching the. mountain side, we are stili surrounded by im penetrable bush, though of a different kiud from that j tut described. Here the thicket ie chi'fly composed cf the mimosa and portnlaoca tril>e*, high and thorny. Till* kind of bush i* even more impenetrable than the ordinary jungle of India, and cannot be fired, owing to the number of succulent plant* 1 and parasites which it ooutain*. Huch ! i* the Caffre's never-falling place of refuge in time of peace or war. "In hi* naked hardihood " (we again quote froia Colonel Napier's excellent book;, "ho either, snake-like, twine* throngb and creeps beneath it* deneat mane*, ! or, shielded with the kaross, *ecurely defies their most thorny and abrading i opposition. I'nder cover of the bn*h in war, he, panther like, steals upon his foe; in peace, upon the farmer'* flock. .Secure IN lx>th ,L,*UU<V from puisuit, he can, iu the bush,set Knropeau pow er, European skill and European disci pline at naught; and hitherto rain ha* been every effort to destroy this,hi* im pregnable atrongLold." Happily for us, the OafTre cannot permanently ooenpy the bn*b. He can only betake himself there occasionally and for a abort space of time. The bush supplies no means of support for a single man, much leea for" a nnml*r of men; and the Caffre is com ! elled to spend most of his time on thc-se vast jdain* wSich support the staple element r f his wealth—Lis cattle. A* to the military performances of the Zulu*, this i* said: The Zulu* form in the impenetrable bush a kind of semi-circle, with tLe flank* pushed forward, arcum! the strag gling column; and if the unwary col umn advance* sufficiently far into this fatal circle it* doom is sealed. It is at t-iiclnd at onoe in front and on both flank*, and the men from the rear are "hot as they gradually come up, witbont any hope of resistance. While in the bush, or forming an am - bu'rsle, tl.e Csflx* an-! Zulus are fed and supplied with all necessaries f r wsr by their women, who perform all the dm 'gery of the most harsh and cruel s-. ivitude. Three women, when possible, hover about the enemy, aud have frequently gained most important information for their masters—cue can bsrdly say husbands. To such an ex tent was this system carried iu the last Csfire wer that Colonel Na l ier r>roix.sod to enptnre all women founa lurking a'ont the line of march and remove them into the interior of the country where they could be apprenticed as do ' roestic servants to the farmers and other j inhabitants until the end of the war. To avoid falling into the ambnacades laid by these savsges, there i* one, and i one only way—the constant and careful use of outposts, vedette* and spies. It 1 is mere madness to engage a naked env age on his own chosen ground,the bush, through which English soldiers,clothed, and with kDsyaackin cannot clamlser. He muat be enticed by whatever means, or driven though hunger (by the cap-, tnre of his women ) to take to the open, and then his defeat is inevitable. • Catching Cold. "Onld*" are among the unsolved medical problem* Tbey used to be thought doe to ibe suppression of the excretions of the skin ; bat this takes place whenever the surface is expoeed to cold, and often without harm; and I oolds are sometimes taken when only a few rqnaro inches of snrfaee are "ex jxised. It is a fact, too, that men and I animals may be varnished without pro ducing the symptoms of a cold. Still, the ordinary medical view is that the passing off of eflete matter from the skin being checked, the blood la al tered in character. The oorroi ted blood then in its ttim affects the neat regu lating apparatus. A cold is a slight fever. It begins with s chilly sensation, followed by heat The feTer rnua its course in a day or two. Like other fevers, how* ever, it msy have various complications. Hence, rhenmatic pains, headache, nasal catarrh, aore throat, catarrh of the in testines, herpr lain aH> (eruptions aronnd the month). Sweating, whether by medicine* ad ministered internally or otherwise, is the main reliance for hastening sen re. Bat the pores should be kept somewhat open by warm elothing, or the beat of a warm room for several days, daring which there should be no exposure. Youth's OomftanUm. The American AgricxMvrU 1, in to in < creating article on ibe TCIM cattle drive, MJ: "The oattlr go to the river, for water nt noon, with the exception of a few, which remain behind to take cere of the oalvee. One cow may often be aeen watching twelve or fifteen oalvee, w': ile their motbera have gone with the remainder of (he herd to drink. After the return of the herd the • watcher*' Uke their tarn. This interesting fact ie ronched foi by aererai old ranchmen."