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
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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.