THE PITTSBURG DISPATCH. SECOND PART, PAGES 9 TO 16. DRILLING FOR G Some of the Features About the Work of Producing Pitts burg's Great Fuel. FAME OF MURRAYSVILLE Has Spread to the Uttermost Ends of the Continent SCENE OF THE HAYMAKER EIOT. Country Eoads That Would Sen as Hor rible Examples. TISHIKG WITH A TEKI HEiTI LINE nmiTTEX roB ras bispatch. j O doubt the busy world has nearly iorgotten the killing of Haymaker in a riot over a gas veil at Murraysville. It was several years ago, and Milton "Weston, who was arrested on the charge of murder, and convicted of manslaughter, walked out of the Western Peni tentiary a free man, more than two years ago. But that riot was one of the early chapters in the history of the use of na tural gas in Pittsburg. Before that not, Murraysville was a quiet little village, as it is now, away out somewhere in "Westmore land connty, and unknown to the great life beyond it. Things have changed since then. Murraysville has been heard of all around the globe, even in Chicago, where they have just learned that Columbus, discovered America, and are preparing to celebrate the event. In fact Murraysville has become famous in these brief years. Not so much because there was a not there ana an esti mable gentleman killed, for it has been re marked that the world has nearly forgotten that event. But it is because the well, about the ownership of which the riotous dispute occurred, was the pioneer in one of the greatest natural gas fields ever discov ered. THE OLD HATMAKEB "WELL is not roaring now. It has seen its day, produced its gas, filled up with saltwater and enjoys the distinction of being "shut in." It has not been shut in long, though, having been a healthy producer until a few months ago. Just how many million feet of gas it produced before the water flooded it, will never be known, bnt the score is a good one and greatly to the old well's credit. Some of its neighbors have stopped produc ing, too, after making good records, while the drill is dancing merrily to the north ward with the end not yet in sight. Hence Murraysville is likely to enjoy the prestige of being a place of distinction" for some time yet. Our picture this morning shows the old well with the battle ground of the riders in the foreground. The well stands just off the bank of Turtle creek, and it was between it and the stream that the fight took place. If the road between Murraysville and the railroad were as bad then as now, the pioneers in that field must have had the courage of their convictions fully developed. These roads are fine specimens of the road- !&!&.- tfc? Pi A Murraysville Producer, master's study of the subject how not to do it. There are places where the advocates of etone road beds would be rudely jostled in their faith unless they cling closely to the belief that stoue should be broken every where in the roads. The stones in these high ways are not broken. They are allowed to jut out in their primitive ledges until some wheel, creaking in fear, grinds oft a piece and allows it to roll down toward tbe mud hole, where it is never used. Very little is done in the way ol drainage, except it be to nouow out tne middle or the roadway so tbe torrent courses down and wears a rut where it irill be most used by the wheels of passing vehicles. NATURAL GAS ITS PBIDE. Natural eas is the pride of the place, however. When a stranger begins talking about roads the residents answer only in gaseous terms. They would have it under stood that whatever the means of ingress and egress may be the product of the place is not to be sneezed at This is significantly true when it is remembered that natural gas transports itseli. And Murraysville has just reason to be proud of this development of one oi the most wonderlul resources of this century at her doors. Since tbe time of the Haymaker riot nearly everybody in and about Pittsburg has become lamiliar with tbe use ol natural gas, the perfect tuel. Its fierce glow in the furnace and genial heat in the fireplace are of tbe commonest observation. But much less is known of its production. We are so accustomed to burning gas that in the minds of us it is hardly separable from the idea of heat. It is different with the gas driller. He is wont to lace it blowing blasts as cold as the North wind driving a blizzard over Dakota plains. He eels it fanning his trouser's leg into a furious flapping with a breath chilly enough and strong enough to hang rows of icicles on. The driller knows his natural gas roaring in the fire box of his boiler, or booming in his fiiebrick lorge where he beats his drilling bus. But be also knows it as a howling tempest, rushing through the drill hole from the mysterious depths of mother earth and diffusing itself about his tall der rick with a noise like the hissing of steam from a thousand heated locomotives. He knows it as a force that hurls pebbles and jagged pieces of stone from the rocky deeps with force enough to split boards and lacer ate hands hardened by toil. He has even known it to lilt his three-tons weight of drilling tools and cable clear out of the hole and up into the derrick. THE AWFUL PEESSUBE. In fact, the pressure of a big gas well is something awtnl. Could it be conveyed into the steam cylinders of half a dozen rail -P-, -V C7 lfefsM J i M vj nm Wf JI l r?Mm 'l" -, V road locomotives it would be sufficient to drive their engines while pulling long trains of loaded freight cars or 12-coach excursions. The direct pressure has been used in various places to drive machinery, most notably in the ML Morris oil field, where the gas from one well has been used to run a dozen pump ing wells and half a dozen donkev pumps. Among the odd things to be seen is one of these steam engines with frost on the cylin der on a hot summer day and a donkey r'ajJpMniv, MpS Slowing Off a Well. pump belching fire at every stroke when the thermometer is below zero. For, be it un derstood, the exhaust of these pumps is dis charged about the pipelines, through which they force water to the hill tops, and, being fired, heats the water and prevents the line freezing up. The machinery used in drilling gas wells is just the same as that used iu drilling for oil. The tools, too, are the same. Tbe process is the same down to the producing sand, and there tbe difference bgins. In both cases the boiler is moved farther awav from the well to avoid the danger of explosion and fire. The blacksmith's forge, at which the SCENE OP THE tools are dressed, is also moved out of the derrick for the same reason. The oil well driller, however, expects nothing worse, as he stands turning the cable or feeding it out by the temper screw, than a thorough wetting with the golden grease as he drills through the productive rock. JThe gas well driller expects a storm of missiles hurled at him from below. The first tap into the pay streak brings something like a gentle breeze at bis feet. Every strike after that increases the flow of gas until it blows a perfect gale up against the derrick roof, and not infrequent ly literally "raises the roof" itself. fishing with a bio hook. Thev have an ugly "fijhing job" now on the eight-inch hole out in the Orapeville field. There are two strings of tools in the hole. That is. a set of drilling tools, con sisting of a rope socket, a "pair of jars" or slips, an auger stem 45 feet long by 4 inches diameter and a bitt On top of this string another somewhat lighter set of tools, with a socket instead of a bit. Not unlike any other fishers, the drillers dangle their line in the hole waiting for a bite. Their hook is a string of tools, with one of the many kinds of sockets on the end, the common varieties being the horn socket, slip socket and combination socket, the jar socket being used only when the jars have been broken. The men stand on the derrick floor, care fully feeling every movement of their line, which is a two-inch cable, "letting out" or "taking up screw," as occasion may require in the endeavor to get the socket over the top of the lost tools. Shonld it go on and take hold they begin the process of "jarring up" to get the lost tools from the bottom. Tbe Grapeville well was in the sand When the tools were stuck, and the gas blows out furiously upon the men all the time they work. Fishing looks to the uninitiated just like drilling. The tools are run in the holes, the walking beam tipped up level and the pitment adjusted on the crank pin. The clamps at the end of the temper screw are fastened aboutthe rope and tbe beam set in motion, wagging slowly up and down. When they get hold of tbe tools tbe appear ance is the same. Only tbe practical eye will detect the difference. In drilling, when the tools strike the bottom the slips of the jars run together on the downward motion of the beam, and on the up stroke the upper link is brought against the lower with a sharp blow. It is this motion, but with a longer stroke, that is called jarring up when fishing. A frequent cause of fishing jobs in the sand is the locking of the jar links together by pebbles, blown up from the bottom, lodging between them. CHANCE OP SEBIOUS ACCIDENTS. When gas is expected the drillers are al ways prepared for it. But sometimes it is struck unexpectedly in some formation above the regular sand, it comes with a rush, communicates with the fires or lights about tbe derrick and there is an explosion. The fire leaps to the derrick top and in every direction as far as the gas has accu mulated or spread in sufficient quantity with tbe speed of lightning. The workmen have no time to escape, and are lucky if tbey are only painfully instead of danger ously burned. Enongh gas to cause an ex plosion can easily escape from the drill hole without being detected. The driller has his chance though. The jars are always clanging together noisily, though at any great depth the sound does not ascend audibly to the top of the hole. When gas is struck, however, the sound comes np like the tinkling of a distant bell, and the attentive driller is warned to be on the lookout All old drillers know this and the fact is of service to them in several ways. The driller is full of practical wis dom and becomes a careful observer of facts though he is not often an inquirer who delves deeply to ascertain the causes contributing to the effects he observes. Blowing off the water from a gai well is one of the interesting sights of tbe produc ing fields. The water is blown out in fine sprav by tie great pressure, of the gas as cending in a gradually expinding column until it ends in a curved iantail. The ap pearance is not unlike that of a blue comet, if that image can be allowed. It is nearly the same scene as a flowing oil well when not confined, though oil wells rarely have such great pressure. A. K. Cbtjm. Lies' popular gallery, 10 and 12 Sixth street Cabinet photos $1 per dozen. Prompt delivery, . ttsu l3fe - TEE ITALIAN QTJAHHTES. Description ot Work lit Places Where Romani Tolled 1,300 Tears Ago. Mew Yort Tribune. ' At last we arrived at Carrara, and began the ascent of the ravine of Parachino. I was told that 15,000,000 persons were en gaged in the marble working, 6,000 of whom are miners. Wages are good, an ordinary workman getting from GO cents to $1 per day, and the more skilled earning up to $4. The working time is from C iu tbe morning till 12, with an hour's intermission for breaklast Many of the more enterprising work for themselves during the afternoon. They are allowed to trim the smaller blocks, and to sell them on their own account, thereby more than doubling their earnings. We were, at a given moment, obliged to turn out of the road for a team loaded with a block of marble. There were ten yoke of oxen harnessed to it The block wbich they were drawing measured 13 feet long, 8 feet broad, and 5 feet high. I saw several larger blocks ready for loading. The wagon was held back by dragging a' block one-third as large as the load, which did not improve the road. We met young girls carrying cans of water on their heads for the teamsters and cattle. They are paid 30 cents per day by the community. They have the usual beauty and dirt, and the same appealing eyes. Above us the great naked crags of marble stand up on either side of tbe gorge. We hear a cry of warning from a shelf 50 feet above us, and we run for the shelter of some protecting crag. Now I hear the mighty explosion, its pulsations reverberating through the mountain gorges. Then comes the moment of danger. We hear a rushing sound as though waters were let loose above, and then come the stones a thousand fe.et away, estimated to weigh 20 tons. Here is a quarry which was worked 1,500 years ago by the Romans. They had no ex plosives, and were obliged to drill off the HATMAKEB BIOT. surface of rocks with great labor. Now they are hurled down with powder, and squared below. I saw a man opening a new quarry. He was bung down by ropes, and was drilling into the perpendicular .aco ol the cliff, with 1,000 feet of sheer precipice below him. , A HAUDS0ME GIEl'S HAHDS0ME FAIT. Covered With Photographs of Poets, Paint ers and Musicians. An extremely pretty girl, who is a faith ful attendant at the Philharmonics in winter and rarely misses a summer concert of any merit, has of late earned a fan that attracts a good deal of attention, says the Illustrated American.. It is one of those Japanese affairs, with a few slender bamboo sticks, and the paper a rough greenish gray, decorated in black characters. On each panel the owner has transferred a cabinet-sized photograph 'ol one of the great . composers. First remov ing the picture from the card on which it was originally mounted, she has neatly pasted on it 'the fan. Engravings have served on it when photos were unobtainable, and, using both sides of tbe fan, she has found space for 14 portraits. Some deft pen and ink work has answered to frame the heads, and below each one is a bar of music from the author's greatest work, and exe cuted with so much finish that a genuine little treasure is the result The same young woman is almost as much of an enthusiast regarding painters, poets and actors as where the art of music is concerned. She tells of three other fans in her possession treated in like manner. One has photographs ol Tennyson, Brown ing, Longfellow and Bryant, with etchings of Byron, Shakespeare, Herrick, Sir John Suckling, De Mussett, Dante and Swin burnea thorough mixture of nationalities and generations. Below is the single coup let for each one that she considered, after mnch thought, to be the most perfect of their compositions. This collection has been a source of interest to its owner, has not cost one cent's outlay in money, out several years of pains-taking effort from time to time, that renders each fan of dis tinct value. A MODEST GEEAT HAK. John I Snlllvnn Acknowledged BIi Imper fections as an Actor. Hew York Evening San. John Lawrence Sullivan stood np mod estly before his audience at Bridgeport last nightj on the occasion of his first appear ance in the new play written for him by Mr. Duncan B. Harrison, and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, I ain't an Edwin Booth nor a Henry Irving, but I'm doing the best I can." No braver, manlier words were ever spoken. At present Mr. Sullivan has not the dramatic experience and skill either of Mr. Booth or Mr. Irving, but if he does his best upon tbe boards as nobly as he has iu the ring, who shall say he but pot rise as high as they in tbe new profession of his choice? He has no stage fright to begin with, for as he remarked simply: "I don't see anything to be frightened of. Why, this is just a picnic. If you can keep cool in a big fight, then you've got nerve; then you can do anything." a MSSIHG TKNKK , MtyKk. How a Census Enumerator Had Ten Tears or Fun to Himself, Hew Jfork Evening Bun. 1 There is a census enumerator in Wiscon sin who has had ten years of fun all to him self. He enumerated in 1880 and returned 3,052 names from the thriving town oi Menekaunee and received his pay therefor, and, as we must now believe, retired to the woods to chuckle. . Ten years of unintermitted chuckling has been the lot ot that'ingenious man. For the enumerator of 1890 finds nary an in habitant at Menekaunee, nor any Mene kaunee for him to inhabit; and the Farther West points the .linger of scorn at Wiscon sin, and offers to supply her with enumer ators who will discover the lost Menekaunee and populate it with not less than 4,718 souls, showing the gratifying Western in crease of tHi per cent, PITTSBURG-, SUNDAY, THE SWALLOW-TAILS HaTe Caused Any Amount of Worry Among American Diplomats. ST0EIES BY FOUE EX-MINISTERS. Governor Cnrtin's, Experience at a Jtforn inff Diplomatic Funeral. HOW MB. WAED FOOLED THE CHINAMEN rCOBBXSFOXDEXCS OF THE DISPATCH. Saratoga, September 6. A remarkable meeting occurred in the lobby of the Grand Union Hotel here this morning. Four noted Americans who have represented tbe United States at four of the world's great est courts casually came together, ana for an hour chatted of their diplomatic ex perience. There at the right was Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania, who, six feet tall and gray haired, has to-day as bright a blue eye and as vigorous' a frame as when he hobnobbed with Gortcbokoff and counseled with the Czar, at the Court of Bussia, over a decade ago. Opposite him in black clothes and a derby hat, as straight as a string and with blood full of iron, Btood John E. Ward, who was the first Minister to China this country ever had, and represented us at Peking in the days of President Buchanan. Next to Ward was that youngest of our American ex-diplomats, Mr. Osc3r Straus, of New York, who made a famous reputa tion as our last Minister to Constantinople, and last but not least, there was General Alexander B. Lawton, of Georgia, whom Cleveland sent to Vienna after the trouble with Keiley, and whose arrival acted like oil on tbe troubled waters of American and Austrian diplomacy. cubtin's funebal expebience. The regulation fixed by the State De partment is that all our ministers shall ap pear at the foreign courts in the black swal lowtail coats, low cut vests and black trous ers, known here as "evening dress, " and which Congress has specified as "the simple dress of an American citizen." "That regulation," said Governor Curtin, "is a piece oi demagogery of Buncombism, and snobbery. It ought never to have been adopted. It clothes the American Ambas sador in the dress ol a head servant or a waiter,,and it submits him to perpetual an noyance and humiliation. I remember that shortly after I arrived at St Petersburg one of the ministers of the foreign legations died, and I was invited with the rest of the diplomatic corps to the funeral. "It was in the morning and it was bitter cold. The ceremonies were in a cold church, and the body for some reason was not put in a coffin but was laid upon a board. When I arived there that morning, in the even ing dress I had to wear, I found the rest of the diplomats in their uniforms of state. A man came around with candles. He offered me one, but I saw no use for candles, and I did not take it I saw, however, that the rest of the diplomats took the candles, and the Belgium Minister who was near me asked me why I had not taken one. I told him I knew nothing of the custom, and had refused. HELPED OUT BT A BELGIAN. " 'I fear they will be offended at you, and you should have one lighted when we march around the corpse.' ' "'But what am I to do?' said I. 'It is now too late, and the candle man has gone.' " 'I will give you mine,' was the minis ter's reply. 'They will not notice me from the fact I am like the other ministers and have a uniform. You are conspicuous by your evening dress and would surely be no ticed.' And with, that he gave me his cau dle and stepped behind me. "Travelers oucbt to respect the customs of .the countries they travel .jn," Governor uurtin, went on. It is the veriest snob bery to attempt to force our ideas and man ners upon other nations, and no one but a fool would think of trying to do so. I re member a codfish aristocrat who called upon me while I was Minister. He had letters to me and I endeavored to treat him well. I soon found that he had more money than brains, and I was anxious to get rid ot him. His own foolishness helped me out It is, you know, the custom in Bussia for all men to take off their hats when the Emperor passes them on the street, and the Russian women often bow themselves to the pave ment in salutation. This is imperative, and it is universally observed. PEBMITTED TO LEAVE. "The day after this man arrived we were walking along tbe street together, and I saw from the commotion that the Emperor was coming. I told the man to take off his hat and as His Majesty passed, in company with the rest, I uncovered my head. I knew the Emperor and caught his eye. I saw he was displeased at something, and turning to my American friend was surprised to see that he, of all that crowd, had his hat on. I was angry and said, 'What do you mean, and why did you not take off your hat?' " 'Ob,' replied he, 'I am an American citizen, and I take off my hat to no man or king!' " 'You don't, don't you? said I, 'well, you do a very unmannerly thing in not doing so. Would not you take off your hat to the President of the United States if he bowed to you?' " 'I don't know,' said the fool, 'it would depend on whether I knew him and who he was.' '"Well, I would,' said I, 'whoever he was. If I saw him coming out of a poor house or a hencoop, I would uncover my head as he passed. And I would inform vou, young man, that you have to-day com mitted an act of discourtesy, which is a dis grace to your American citizenship, and you may be very thankful if this is the last you hear of it It was not.however, the last we heard of it. I received a note from the Czar's foreign office the next morning a very polite note in French which read: 'Your friend with the hat (mentioning the name of the man) will be permitted to leave St Petersburg and Bussia within 24 hours.' Such a permission from the King was equivalent to a command, and the man had to go." EPISODE AT VIENNA. General Lawton was tbe next talker. Said he: "Speaking of the dress of our diplomats, I am comparatively a poor man, but I as sure you, gentlemen, I have seen the time when I would have given 51,000 for the right to wear my General's uniform at the Viennese Court I had once a most remark able interview with the great Archduke Al bert, the con ot tbe famous Archduke Charles. He was a magnificent looking man, and when I was presented to him he drew himself up to the fnll height of his six feet, clicked his heels together, and made the courtly military salute of tbe Austrian General, and said he was glad to meet me, that he had followed the fortunes of onr great Civil War, and that there was no man he admired so much as General Grant I had then to explain that I had fought on the other 'side of the lata unpleasantness, and that I was a General of (he South and not of the North. "Like a flash he saw his mistake, and again his heels went together, and with an other magnificent bow he said: 'Indeed. You made a rare fight, and the military world of Europe has learned muoh from the masterly maneuvers of Lee and Jackson.' I then said: 'Bnt, Your Excellency, that is all over now. We have no North arid no Booth. We are one country, and we know nothing of the past!' This was a new point of view, but the Archduke sprang to meet it. He made another bow and compli mented me on belonging to a country and a people so great as to be able to forget, and, in short, he put me perfectly at my ease." STRAUS EXPEBIENCE. . -"As for me'-jaid ex-Minlster Straus, "I SEPTEMBER 7, 1890. had little 'trouble as to my clothes, for you snow we have in tbe Orient gorgeously dressed draymen called kavasses, to go with us everywhere and clear "theway. These men are as gay as Solomon in his glory. They have silver-headed staffs, great swords, and they are pompous as an English beadle. They ride beside the'eoachmau of the Minis ter when he goes out to drive, and they ac company him everywhere." "The Minister's evening dress suit." said Judge Ward, "was fully as much of a trouble to our diplomats o'f the past genera tion as ot the present one. It had troubled our Ministers long before the war, and I got around it in a very niceway. I had never been in the army, bdt the Chatham Artil lery of Chatham, Georgia, had elected me captain of their company, and, as such, I had a very dressy captain's uniform. Be fore leaving for China, I had the military lace taken off of tbe coat, and the finest of diplomatic gold lace put on. This trans formed the uniform into a diplomatic uni form, and the buttons of the uniform were especially fine. They were labelled 'C A,' standing for Chatham Artillery, and I re member when I sailed up the Peiho river on my way to Peking, a retinue of manda rins accompanied me. "America and Americans were then newer to the'Ghinese than they are now, and these mandarins were much interested iu my dress. They especially admired the buttons, and asked me what the characters on them meant. They were the more de lighted when I replied: ABTISTIC rBEVABICATION. " 'Those characters are the two American letters C and A. They stand for our two nations, China and America, and our people have so great an admiration lor their friends of the Celestial Land that they have put China first' Tbe idea that afar off in America we had planned such a delicate compliment to China delighted the mandarins, and this story paved my way into their favor. It came all the more pat from the fact that we had had a discussion as to which of the flags should have the place of honor on the boat, the American or Chinese. This had been arranged according to my suggestion that the Chinese flag, inasmuch as it was that of the Mighty Son of Heaven, the Chinese Em peror, should be first on the prow of the boat, and that the American Stars and Stripes should go behind it on the topmast Of course, this put our flag as the flag of the boat, but the Chinese did not know it, and they accepted my solution ot the problem with glee. r 'General Wallace was partially indebted to his general uniform for his friendship with the Sultan," said Mr. Straus. "He is, you know, a fine looking man, and the Sultan first saw him when he was attending Salemlik. He asked who be was, and his figure made such an impression upon him that he shortly after gave him a private audience, and the two from that time on were friends." DEATH OP BUBLINQAME. Governor Curtin saw Bnrlingame die. He was, you kuow, tbe Ambassador of China, and Bussia debated a lone time be fore she would receive him. The Chinese Emperor would not receive tbe Bussian Minister in person, and the Czar refused for a time to receive his representative in Bnr lingame. "At last," said the old Governor in tell ing the story, "I got a letter from Gortcha hoff telling me that Burlingame would be received, and he came. He had a grand retinue of hundreds of Chinamen, and I don't suppose any Minister ever 'traveled in greater style or spent more money. He was received royally, aud there was a grand re ception gien at the palace one night in his honor. "In going home from this he wore a mag nificent fur cloak, and he was warned by his friends to wrap this around about him. He did not do this, and one of the deadly blasts of the Russian winter smote his breast. He was taken sick upon his arrival at his hotel, and a few days later he died by a simultaneous paralysis of the heart and liverT"'He knew his danger and appre hended his decease. He had just bade goodby to his Chinese friends, and said fare well in kindest manner to his secretaries, when death struck him as he sat in the chair and his soul passed away. "I have never seen a woman act nobler than Mrs. Burlingame did at that time. She was heartbroken, but she bore np, and she had the sympathy of all the Bussians. The Czar did an unheard of thing in calling upon her, and she was honored in this and in other ways. Some months later her hus band's body was carried back to America. , Feank G. Cabpenteb. FUKEBAIS F0S BOGS. Novel Notion of no Old Lady Who Does Lit tle bat Clip Coupons. NewTork World. A mild-mannered old lady, who has noth ing else in life to do except clip coupons, is seeking for a philanthropist who will help organize the '"National Dog Burial Com pany." This lover of the canine race is Mrs. Isa bella Dean Brack, who is temporarily stay ing with friends in Brooklyn. She has been exploiting her pet hobby for years in her native city of Philadelphia, and meeting but discouragement there, has determined to enlist sympathy in the metropolis. "Why shouldn't we burv our pets de cently and mark their graves?" she asked a World reporter yesterday. "I have neyer had any children, and all the affection in my nature goes out to the lower animals dogs especially. How I love the dear little things! Why, m little Andrew is enter than any baby that ever lived. He is a pug, and he knows every word I say. You can see the tears gather in his big brown eyes when he is scolded. Now, haven't I tne right to put a tombstone over that little darling when he dies? Of course I have, and there are thousands who believe just as I do. "I want to know a hundred ladies who are willing to assist me in forming a com pany for the purpose of having a plot of our own for our dead doggies. We could crys talize no, not crystalize capitalize it, couldn't we? I don't know exactly how tbat is done, but I suppose it means to raise capital. Oughtn't the city contribute some thing?" Mrs. Brack says she will visit some lead ing bankers very soon if she doesn't receive any voluntary aid. APPLEJACK IS SHOET. The Territory Depended on for the Supply Has an Applo Famine. Sew Tork Times. The principal applejack-prodncing region of the cbuntry extends in a belt across Southern New York and Northern New Jersey between tbe Hudson and Delaware rivers. "Taken by counties, Orange county prodnces the largest quantity, with Warren and Sussex counties as second and third. In tbe entire region there are about 60 distil leries devoted to tbe manufacture of the fiery spirit technically known as apple brandy. The distilleries usually start np for the season about September 1 and run for three months. The manufactured product of the region in a prolific apple season will be about 300,000 gallons, whioh is subject to internal revenue taxes aggregating $270,000. The apple crop of the region was short last year, and the output of spirit fell off 60 per cent After an off year farmers look for a big crop the following season, but this year the apple crop is a dead lailure. Few of the distilleries will start their fires at all, and the quantity of spirits produced will shrink to something like a tenth of a good season's yield. In view of the prospective scanty ontput the distillers have advanced the price about 50 cents a gallon at tbeir stills. Probably this will be tbe limit of the advance. Pure applejack will of course be almost unob tainable, but tbe market will be flooded with cheap and fraudulent imitations that will pass muster with most buyers. THE BIRDSARE GOING. Many Songsters of Early Pittsburg Will Hot be Heard Again, ' E0BIKS AEE THE MOST FAITHFUL. Bluebirds Still Come and Catbirds Are 'Host Numerous of AIL WINGED CBEATUEES THAT AEE EAEE rWBXTTXIT TOB THE rjISPATCH.J HEBE is a charm in the song of birds, no matter how harsh the note, that is indescrib able. With what de light one wakes in the morning of an early spring" day to hear the first carol of a robin re turned again after a sea son spent in the snnny nvra nP 1a Qtritl. f ft- V1 ''L lit r even earlier still, when the snow has not as yet entirely disappeared from the glens, the plaintive notes of tha first harbinger of spring tbe Bluebird ! In most cities the people have but a faint conception of the real melody in bird music. Caged birds have they, and good songsters, too, but not one can sing with half the power and sweetness of the free bird of the field The Songittr of Spring. and forest Here in Pittsburg the oppor tunities of hearing the feathered choir in all its glory are as good, if not better than in any other city of the classi in the country. No city of anything like its population has woods and withal such woods as they are in close proximity. AN ENGLISHMAN CONCEDES IT. On this point a very intelligent and traveled Englishman, at present residing in this city, has been frequently overheard re marking the apparent indifference of Pitts- burgers to tbe local advantages which, in his opinion, have no counterpart in any country he has visited, at least so far as con venience of access is concerned. Be this as it may, it is certain that year by year the woods are disappearing, and with them the songsters.'whose notes were wont to fill them with sweet music Already some of the more shy, alarmed by the approach of human habitations, have flown far away. And yet why is it that in England, where the population is much more dense than here, and the song-birds, such as the lark and gold-finch, arc trapped mnch more ex tensively'than any here, the birds are much more abundant and domesticated than in this country? The reason may be the small boy with his "bean-shooter" and the still larger boy with his gun. Day after day, and particularly on Sundays, the suburbs Bwarm with men and boys armed, with flobert rifles, revolvers and "bean-shooters" engaged in destroying anything and every thing in sight. A SLATTOHTEB OF WABBLBB3. Several weeks since in walking through a small stretch of woodland to the south of the city I observed at least a dozen freshly Trick LMU Catbird. slaughtered birds, among them the wood pewee, chewink and song sparrow, sweet singers that make the woods melodious. Scarcely a dozen years ago hundreds of dif ferent kinds of birds could have been found on the hillside fronting on the river between the Smitbfield street bridge and Sawmill rnn, while to-day it would be difficult to locate a score nesting there. Where one could have placed his hands on any number of catbirds' nests on tbat hillside within a space of a conple of hundred yrds, now there is hardly one. They have not alto gether forsaken this locality, butthey are to bejfound in no such numbers as formerly. Of all the birds that have been numerous in tbe past tbe old familiar robin seems to be the most steadfast During the last dec ade his number has not materially de creased. And what a noble vocalist he is too I His note comes at a time of general silence and desolation. It is said that one Tin Bedbird. must hear the nightingale at night and the English lark at dawn, bnt the robin is at his best in early spring time, when the snn is setting. SINGS A3 THE SNOW GOES. Then it sings steadily for 10 or 15 minutes in the top of some high tree as near your house as it is safe to go. Perhaps the tree is without a leaf as yet and patches of snow linger here and there, but it is all the same to him. 'Tis but a simple song at most but oh! bow it cheers at a time when all the rest of nature seems dead. However, the 'robin although by far the sweetest is not the first bird of spring. To the bluebird belongs the honor of being the earliest visitor, Winter is not jet done mm SR iSLjw jSkmR. vfw & ii when this little fellow makes his appearance to warn shivering mortals that the end is at hand. Bnt few of these birds are to be seen hereabout now, only occasionally one drops in to say that he is sttll in existence even if he is not residing near Pittsburg. Naturalists who have made birds a specialty, usually agree that of all native birds the cat bird is the most plentiful, but one can be almost absolutely certain that wherever the robin is to be found the other will be absent at least for the time being as the noisy and rowdyish "Northern mocking bird" stands in mortal fear-of "he of the red breast" THE CAT BIED'S PATXLTS. The cat bird does not stand in very good repute, not only on account of the pro pensity he has to destroy certain fruits, bnt because his cat-like notes are not yery agreeable on occasions; nevertheless he can be pleasing when he wants to, and can imi tate as effectively as the famous mocking bird, but his songs cannot be depended upon. Jnst about the time the listener is becoming interested in the glittering melody he breaks off and takes to imitating tbe squeal of a young pigor the mew of a cat iu a manner anything but pleasant About a week ago I noticed in the vicin ity of Saw Mill Bun, about two miles from its outlet, a couple of yellow-colored birds or "wild canaries," as they are best known, notwithstanding the fact tbat tbev resemble the canary but little except in color and in that not very exactly. The two that I have reference to are the first I have seen in a long while so close to the city, although they were very plentiful at one time. It is an extremely handsome little creature of a mellow gamboge tint with orange-chestnut streaks on the breast It delights to disport itself among the common field thistles, where it can be found at any honr of the day. It has a song which, though brief, is very clear and pretty. s A FAMOUS BTJILDEE. The melancholy notes of the wood-pewee are still to be heard in tbe neighboring woods. It seems as if this little fellow had determined on remaining near as long as a tree was left him wherein to build a nest It is pot generally known that this bird, which in boyhood was familiar to all as "the crazy pewee," is one ot the finest nest builders in the business. It selects the oddest of materials, such as bits ot bark, moss and lichens, roots, paper and even egg shells. The thrnsb, the purest of all warblers, and the bright-mnged flickers, are also among tbe rarities nowadays. Either one could be found in fair numbers a few years ago. The redbird, never very numerous in this section, has almost if not quite disap peared. It is nearly two years since I ob served one to the northward of the city, and it was the first in a long while at that The beautiful blue jay, a few of which were oc casionally to be seen in this vicinity, has, to tbe best of my knowledge, entirely left us. Song and vesper sparrows, house wrens, chewinks, wood-peckers, several varieties of the thrush family, chats, yellow-throats and everybody's friend, the little "chippy," are yet comparatively numerons. SOME BABE SIGHTS. Crows keep a tew miles between them and the city. Their first cousins, the blackbirds, are not quite so shy, but the warfare has The TetloiD-Brtcutea ChUtr been so vigorous aeainst them that tbeir number has fallen off greatly. I remember seeine but a few years aco flocks of at least a hundred on the hilltops within plain view of the city. Now a dozen together wonld be an uncommon sight Bitterns and blue herons frequented the swamps below Char tiers at one time, but there are precious' few to be found there now. Once in a great while a loon made its ap pearance in the same locality, and sharp eyed observers have seen them sneaking past the city by the river, but not of late. A sight of this bird is one of the uncom mon features of the study of ornithology, as it is one of the shyest of birds, being rarely seen except at a great distance. As it is one ot tbe most romantic of birds it deserves more than a passing mention here. Nuttall, the great authority, in al luding to its peculiar melancholy scream says: THE LOON A3 A PEOPHET. "Far out at sea in winter, and in the great Northern lakes, I have often heard on a fine, calm morning tbe sad and wolfish call of the solitary loon, which, like a dismal echo, seems to slowly invade the ear, and, rising as it proceeds, dies away on the air. This boding sound to the mariner, supposed to be indicative of a storm, may be heard some times for two or three miles when the bird itself is invisible or reduced almost to a speck in the distance. Tbe aborigines, al most as superstitious as sailors, dislike to hear the cry of the loon, considering the bird, from its shy and extraordinary habits, as a sort of supernatural being. By the Nor wegians it is, with more appearance of rea son, supposed to portend rain." Only tbe commonplace names known to the casual observer have been used in this article for the reason that it is only intend ed lor those who do not make the study of birds a specialty. Those who do.know where to seek such information when they want it W. G. Kaupjiann. PLEADIHQ FOB HIS DEATH. Efforts of a Morphine Taker lo Keep From Golnjr to Sleep. "For God's sake, don't let me go to sleep," pleaded a strange man who accosted Night Station Master Galbraith at the Grand Trnnk Bailway Station, London, Ont, Tuesday night Then the visitor ex plained that he had taken two great mor phine pills, in mistake for stomach pills, and that Dr. Woodruff had told him the only chance for his life was to keep awake. "I had a terrible time keeping him awake, though," said Mr. Galbraith. "The man would go to sleep in spite of me, and I had to nearly shake bis head off his shoul ders to keep him around at all. I locked arms with him and walked him aronnd the streets, the station platform and all over, and had to nearly carry him sometimes. He begged piteously of me to let him have a few minutes' sleep. 'Only a few min utes.' But I wouldn't even let him sit down. "Toward 4 o'clock in the morning he be gan to recover.and Dr. Mitchell happened to come in on one of the trains,and I explained the case to him. He told the man that he had a narrow escape; that if he had gone to sleep he wonld most assnredly slept forever, bnt that then he was sufficiently over the effects of the drag to go home and sleep." THE EICHEST TOWN. One Oat of Every Twenty Persons In It Is Worth Twelve Thousand. Biverside, the banner orange-growing town in Sonthern California, is perhaps the richest town in the country, if the average wealth be accurately estimated. Of 5,000 persons, 26S are assessed for more than $4,000 each, which represents $12,000 of value. So one out of every 20 persons in Biverside has more than $13,000 in property. This is due to tbe fact tbat three-quarters of the people in the town own their places; and even if they have only five acres in oranges, this small crove will support a family well, as the average yield will be worth $400 per sera every -year. TEICKSOFTHEYOICE. Ventriloquist Kennedy Tells the Se cret of His Popular Art. D0CT0ES MARVEL AT HIS THE0AT. Bow He Once Hade Sailors Believe Their Tessel Was Daunted.- A TBAHP WAS HIS P1EST PAETBEB rwBimir ion Tins dispatch. "Ventriloquism is the art of so modulat ing the human voice that it seems to coma from some other direction than the right one." That is what Harry Kennedy, the famons ventriloqnist and song writer, said to me the other day. While we were talking on the stage, where I had called to see him, ha excused himself and went to the door and immediately darted back apparently fright ened by the hoarse barking of a ferocious dog. "Dangerous dog that," he remarked as he shnt the door. "Why don't you have it taken away," I suggested, nervously. "I will." Thereupon he went again to tha door, and, calling a man, told him to chain the dog up. In a minute the dog's bark changed to howls and ended in a pitiful wbine down in the pit of the theater near the stage. "I guess its all right now, "continued Mr, Kennedy. "Ventriloquism," he said, "is simply s vocal delusion. Sometimes, adventitious circumstances make this delusion seem al most a reality and the listeners would take oath that their senses bad not deceived them. For instance with a party of tourists I once visited a famous cave in Deibyshire. While we were at the mouth of the cavern a mourn ful wail seemed to come from the darkness and was echoed a score of times to the intense horror and fright of my compan ions. 'The cave was haunted.' It is hardly necessary to say that I was the uneasy ghost, but the circumstances that sur rounded the trick made its startlings real istic. INSPIBED BT A BOO. "In telling you how I became a ventrilo quist, you will see how difficult it is to ac quire the art One of the first works of fic tion that I ever read was Valentine Vox. That book made me a ventriloquist as it has undoubtedly started many another boy on the same course for at least a month or more. I used to wake my brother up at night trying to throw my voice into the farther side of the room or out of the win dow. I have no doubt tbat during that time I was tbe most disagreeable boy to sleep with in all England. "In those days we had penny readings in a public ball and among the entertainers who were engaged for the season was a pro fessor of .ventriloquism. After the reading I sidled up to the professor and begged him to give me a private exhibition of his art After some coaxing he consented. I plied bim with questions, which he was not dis posed to answerto mj satisfaction. Fmallr he said, 'Now young man I've told you all I intend to. If you can learn the trick come to me in six months and tell me so.' Six months later I called on him and repeated his trick, not so well as he did it, but well , enough to merit his praise. S "Before I was 14 1 left home with a little money in my pocket to go to sea. I wanted taspe the world and I didn't want to see it as most persons do. I presume if I had been an American bov, I would have gone out West to fight Indians. I was full of romantic ideas ideas which have been knocked out of me so long that I can hardly realize that I ever had them. A TBAMP TOE A PAETNEK. "I started to walk to Birmingham. On my way I met a professional tramp. A courteous, educated Irish gentleman whose fondness for liquor had sent him adrift in the world. We became companions. As we were passing a bit of woods I so modulated my voice that a man seemed to be calling to ns from the copse. A short search failed to find him. I repeated tbe trick again further on with the same success and then em boldened by snecess I repeated it over too often and was detected. "When the tramp discovered tbe fraud his face was a study. The beatific ex pression that spread over his phiz was as though it beheld a vision. He looked as Mulberry Sellers looked when he discovered a plan 'with millions in it' Oar fortune was made, so be said, and a few minutes later he proved it, to his satisfaction at least. We came to a roadside inn, and as it was early in the evening, we went in. The tap room was filled and the guests were enjoying themselves with ale and gossip, pipes and songs. It was the very nick of time. The tramp introduced me with melt ing eloquence and I gave my performance. After it was over he passed around the hat and collected 4 shillings 6 pence, which he handed to me to keep. He was my first partner. I followed tbe sea tor several years before the mast and on the quarter deck, and during those years I saw almost all of the world worth seeing. Meanwhile I kept up my ventriloquism as a pastime and many a tries: l played on my mates. PLATING THE GHOST. Once when we were 27 days going from Boston to Montreal with a Ireigbtof railroad iron, I made tbe crew believe there ru a ghost in the hold, and we had to hire other help to unload the cargo. It finally leaked out that I was the ghost and the story cams to the ears of Signor Bosco, a magician and mesmerist He persu.ided me to leave the sja and travel with him. In thne months' time I could do all oi bis allusions and then started out in business for myself. In 1871 I joined tbe Eosario combination with J. S. Brown, tbe famons mind reader, who was just beginning his career, and came to New York. Since then my professional life is well known to the theater-going public. The most difficult feat that Mr. Kennedy does is to recite a poem entitled: "Listen to the Water Mill." Owing to the many repetitions of the letter "M," wbich is tbe hardest of all letters to pronounce without closing the lips, one of the stanzas of the poem is regarded as tbe supreme test of ventriloquism. Mr. Kennedy makes the sound "M" by what might be likened to a grunt which is made from the abdomen. If you thinK this is easily done, practice it once or twice. HINTS FOB THE BOT3. "Now," said Mr. Kennedy, "I will giva yon all I can that will felp anyone who wants to learn bow to become a ventrilo qnist The first thing necessary to learn the trick is to become a good mimic. Alter a boy has learned to do this he can begin with, real ventriloquism. Try and sound all the letters without moving the lips. This re quires much practice and patience. "Here is the one secret in learning the art It is tbe one thing tbat most boys never tbinkof and consequently fail in their tuition. Always imitate sounds as they fall upon your ears. If you hear a mm halloo in tbe distance reproduce that sound so that when it comes from yonr lips it is exactly like tbe distant sound that struck yonr ears. 'I have been in the business so many years that my throat has changed its orig inal form. My 'Adam' Apple' is round instead of pointed, and my vocal chords are greatly enlarged. Dr. Titus, the noted throat physician, wanted to make a photo graph ot tbe interior of my throat for scien tific purpose- He says there is only-one throat ol that sort in the country and that I hare got it" BnvAJtnr Nobxhsop. ' , -- 4- i ' t'ltri.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers