HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. . NIL DESPERANDUM. L Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. VI. RIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, JULY 13, 1876. yo- 21-
A Turned lnwn Page.
There's a turned down page, as ome writer
says,
In every btrnaa life
A hidden story of happier days
Of pesoe amid the strifa )
A f JJel leaf that the world kn"w not
A lor dream rndoly crushed t
The hjM- 'fa foe that in not fori ot,
Altho' the voice be huslied.
The far distant sonnde of a harp's soft strings,
An echo on the air ;
The hidden page may be fnll of anch things,
Of things that once were fair.
There is a bidden page In each life, and mine
A story might unfold t
Bat the end was sad of the dream divine
It better rests untold.
THE MIDNIGHT ESCAPE.
AN INCIDENT OF THE EEVOLUTION.
The 6trip of ground from Broadway
to Centre street, along Chambers, New
York, seventy years ago, was a burial
place. The part nearest Broadway was
devoted to the colored people for the
last resting spot of their dead, and the
moiety extending to Centre street was a
kind of Potter's field, and during the
Revolution the spot where most of the
private soldiers of the British army, who
died in the city, were interred. Gallows
hill, the spot where the Manhattan res
ervoir is now placed, was decorated with
a gallows, where all deserters and pris
oners suffered death who came under
the control of the infamous provost
marshal, Cunningham.
It was customary to execute most of
the deserters who were native born at
night. Ther3 was a policy in this.
Puolio executions of the Americans by
the royalists would have been noised
abroad and the injury created thereby,
through the manner ill which the Conti
nentals them -elves would have ma le use
of it, must have resulted in the irjury
of the king's crane. These executions
ouerully took place after miiluight.
Tho pri-oueis condemned to death were
always confined in the old jail, within a
musket shot of the place of execution,
and a sergeant's guard of eight men, ao
eorapnnicd by the provost marshal and
his deputy, generally conducted the
prisoners to the gallows.
it was near twelve o'clock of a night
iu October, in the year 1780, that a
young man was reclining among the re
cent graves that raised their mounds iu
the vicinity of the gibbet on Gallows
hill. The hour and the pi ice were sin
gular for a lone individual, like the man
in question, to be reposing. I say lone,
yet he whs not exietly so, if human
bodies, divested of their mortality, can
bo considered companions ; for nearly
above his head, swaying to and fro in
the night breeze, hung the remains of
two soldiers of the Fifth regiment, who
had been executod that morning for de
sertion. The sky was obs urod with dark,
murky clouds, and the moaning of the
wind, as it swept around the gallows and
through the trees that here and there
r ared their branches amid the darkness
of the night, gave a desolate and dis
agreeable sound well befitting the place
itself. The man scarcely moved, with
the exception, now and then, of raising
his head and peering cautiously above!
the mound of earth, behind which he
lay, toward the jail, dimly visible, with
its high, massy walls, in the field be
yond. At length a light glimmered, the tread
of men was faintly heard, and the young
man, raising himself from the spot
where he lay, glided along the rude
fence, which skirted the burial ground,
until he stood within a few feet of the
execution place. Here he paused and
looked in the direction of the approach
ing light. Faintly through the haze
appeared two or three files of soldiers,
preceded Ly a colored man who carried
a lantern the only light which seemed
to be in the party. Then walked a pris
oner, with his arms tightly bound be
hind him, and directly' after, Cunning
ham, the provost marshal, and five or
six soldiers with muskets on their shoul
ders. "One, two, three," repeated the
young man to himself, as if counting the
number of the men approaching ;
'twelve in all. 'Tis a desperate under
taking, but my comrade shall not die if
I can save him. Now for skill and cour
age. Be cool, Dick Martin I You have
been on still more perilous occasions, if
your commanding officers rpeak the
truth."
lie glided back again to his old rest
ing place, wheu he stumbled in a grave
that he had noticed before, just iu rear
of the gallows. His first impulse was
to leap ont, for the depth of tho grave
did not exceed three feet : but a second
thought altered his determination, and
lie mnrmured :
" This is the best place for me ; they
certaiuly will not think of looking for a
liviu'g man in the grave !" Aud he
stretched himself at full length iu the
" narrow houre " that he knew one day
or another he should fill. They entered
the burial ground, aud proceeded di
r. ctly to the gallows, under which they
halted. Forming a circle, the colored
man, with the lantern, Cunningham,
and the prisoner in the center, prepara
tions were made to go through with the
awful ceremony that of depriving a
fellow being of lifo.
The colored man looked up at the gal
lows from which the bodies were haug
iug, and then proceeded very deliberate
ly to cut them down, observing :
" These chap3 have hang long enough,
I guess."
The prisoner looked on with a glance
of no common interest, for he felt that
his soul was fluttering on the confines of
eternity.
The colored man bad passed a rope
through the beam where, but a few
moments before, hung the inanimate
clods that now encumbered, as it were,
the ground beneath the gallows. This
done, be said:
" There, Mr. Cunningham, is a rope
that will bold the prisoner long enough,
I reckon."
As be fluished this speech, he very
deliberately kicked the body of one of
the dead soldiers aside, and rolled the
other very coolly into the grave where
lay the mnn; and the d ad rested upon
the living I A shudder ran through tho
frame of the youth, as be felt pressing
above him the solid form of one who,
but a day before, had been as fnll of
life as he now was; but not a sound es
caped him, for be know that sileuoe was
his only preservation.
" Well, rascal, you see what yon are
coming to for deserting from bis majes
ty's service. A halter, I suppose, is
more agreeable than good treatment and
a soldier's pay."
Thus spoke Cunningham to tho pris
oner. " I entered into the refugee corps for
my own reasons. They have proved
satisfactory," the prisoner said, look
ing at Cunningham with a bold counte
nance. " Yes, infernally satisfactory, you re
bel I A spy, I s'pose 1 DeLancey's ref
ugees would be a pretty set if they were
all like you, rogue. No, no ; I had my
eye on you when you 'listed, a month
ago, and I told Colonel DeLancey what
I believed you was. Not a royal refu
gee, but' a rebel soonndrel. I was right,
rogue, eh ?"
"Yes, yon were right as to my enlist
ing. As to being a rebel scoundrel, why,
there is au offset you are a royal knave
and a bloodthirsty villain. All the in
formation I wanted to send to tho great
Washington he has got before this so
hang away I But I should like five min
utes' communion with my God first, if
you have the manliness to grant it."
Astonished as Cunningham was by
the boldnesR of the man's speech, he
knew full well that ho himself was de
tested by the English soldiery for his
tyranny, and that a refusal of such ro
quest, to a man on the point of execu
tion, would only make him still more
odious among them. With an il grace,
he said :
" Pray, rascal, pray I I don't wonder
that a knave like you fears death. A
man who betrays his king betrays his
God, and it is full time that yon try to
make youl peace with Him Three min
utes three minutes I That's all the
time you have from me. Go on your
knot s at once, then. Sambo, have the
halter ready. Three minutes only."
The negro had placed the lantern on
the ground, directly under the gallows.
Its faint light gleamed upwarc, showing
a dim outline of the gallows frame, and
partially lighting the faces and forms of
the soldiers grouped, with their muskets
to au order, in a semicircle around the
scene of execution.
The prisoner bent down, resting his
knee upon the earth thrown up arouvid
the new dug grave. He hid no bopo of
escape; and as he looked upward toward
the heavens, although all was black with
night, yet his eye pierced through the
gloom, and he saw in the future redemp
tion for the past I The quivering of bin
lipn nhoweu his sincerity ; he was
Erepared to die. Of a 6udden he bent
is head. Ah 1 his prayer was beard
rescue was at hand. His life oh !
glorious thought was not to set in
blood through the hands of men 1
" Harry 1" said a voice, in a whisper,
proceeding from the grave where the
prisoner had seen a dead body tossed
but a few moments before, " make no
alarm. 'Tis I, your comrade, Dick
Martin, of Washington's life guard, come
to save yon. Make somo excuse to turn
your back toward tho hole where I have
hidden myself, and I will cut the rope
by which your hands are tied. When
this is done aud yon hear mo groau,
kick over the lantern, aud make for the
eat corner of tho graveyard 1 I will
follow. Things are ready for our es
cape. Remember, make no alarm !"'
The prisoner felt ns if he had won
empires upon empires. His life was
then safe I
" Come, rogue, your three minutes
are up. Sambo, tho rope thore."
The prhcuor, without risiug from his
knees, turned round so that he faced the
lantern, his back towards the grave.
The negro advanced with tho halter, to
place it aound his neck. The scene
was striking. In the foreground stood
the soldiers gazing with no very pleasant
emotions, by the dim light, upon the
poor prisoner. Cunningham was in the
center, his brutal aud harsh features
lighting up with a devilish expression.
Just as ?'auibo got within arm's length
of tho prisoner, the latter 'elt the thongs
cut which bound bis arms. He was
free t
But why starts tho colorod man, Lis
eyes protruding from their sockets, as
if death was before Lim f The halter
drops from his hands; he is paralyzed
with fear. Slowly from the grave rises
the dead bod; of tho soldier he had
hirust If rolled into it !
Cauninghum beheld the sight, and so
did the soldiers. The vision was awful
so apparently contrary to human rea
son tbat with one accord all fled, ex
cepting Sambo and tho prisoner. The
former rolled on tho r round in terror.
Iu tho meantime, the prisoner and his
comrade, who bad so opportunely res
cued him from an ignominious death,
hurried from tho graveyard and inado
for Lipenord's woods, which then skirt
ed the North river near about where
Curat street ends.
There they found a boat, in which
Dick Martin" had crossed alone from tho
Je rsey shore, six hours before, to Fave
his comrade. 11 -aching tho Jersey side,
just below Bull's Ferry, in an hour, they
struck into the woods, and reached the
camp of Washington, near West Point,
ubout liight the next day. The morning
after, in general orders, two now lieuten
ants were commissioned in Washington's
life guard, aud the reader can imagine
who they were.
A brief examination, perhaps, is ne
cessary. It always surprised the Eng
lish commanders how Washington knew
so well the movements made in their
lines. Washington, in many cases, made
desertion a duty. He knew who among
his private soldiers to ask this from,
aud never, iu a single instance, was his
confidence betrayed. Death upon the
gallows followed the poor private often,
but be never compromised bis com
mander. Last News. Medium "The spirit
of the late Mr. Jones is present."
Jones's widow (with emotion) " I hope
you are happy, Jones." Jones (raps
out)" Far happier than I ever was on
earth." Jones's widow "Ob, Jones,
then you must be in heaven." Jones
"On the contrary."
OUR CENTENNIAL LETTER.
The Live mock Display Revolatloaary
Krllra CeaTeatloaa to bo litis In Ptalln.
drlpbla.
The great interest taken in the breed
of live stock, and the value of this dis
play, justifies me in enlarging upon its
principal features iu the Exhibition,
that will do a great deal to stimulate
stock raising in our oonutiy. The
grounds for the stock aro betwoen Bel
mont aveunn and Forty-first street; ex
tent thirty-five sores; a ring one third of
a mile in circumference is provided, and
740 stalls. These stalls aro 14x14. After
the horse show from Sept. 1 to 14, they
will be divided into stalls 7x14 for cattle
shown from Sept. 11 to Oct. 4. They
can bo again divided 7x7 for sheep, swine
and goats, which will bo exhibited from
Oct. 10 to 18. The commission will
furnish coops and attendance npon pay
ment of $1 on eaoh bird of the gallira
ooous division. The poultry will be ex
hibited from Oct. 27 to Nov. 6. The
cattle yards wore formerly drove yards,
and hence have ample water supply, and
facilities for removing manure. Offices
for attendants and grain and hay bar
racks will bo furnishod. Tne Centen
nial commission of Canada have mado
requisition for space for 150 head of cat
tlo, seventy-five sheep, sovonty-five
swine, 300 coops of poultry.
The secretary of the treasury has
amended tho late order, interdicting the
importation of cattle, issued to prevent
tho introduction of contagious diseases,
providing that tht animals must be ex
amined by a competent veterinary snr
geou and certified to be free of disoase.
This certificate must have the iudorse
uietit of the United States consul at the
port of shipment, and the animals must
be intended for exhibition or breeding.
The prizes are valuable, and rate first,
second and third prizes, and they will bo
awarded to the best of every recognized
breed in each of the competing lists ;
sweepstake prizes alone excepted. Cat
tle, as I have stated in a previous letter,
will compete in herds. This constitutes
a class. There are nine recognised
breeds of cattle short horns.
For bulla alone thero aro three classes,
viz. ; bulls three years and over, over
twn years and under three, over one
year and under two. As each of tho
three classes has nine breeds and three
prizes for each breed wo have (three
times uiuo timeB three) eighty-one prizes
for bulls. Of cows thero are four
classes, according to age, and, there
fore, 108 prizes. There aro also sweep
stake prizes, both for bulls and cows.
Fat and draught cattle have five
classes, viz. : Tho best fatted steer and
tho bct fatted cow, tho most powerful
yoke of oxen and the most rapidly
walking yoke of oxen; tho most thor
oughly Indued yoke and the most thor-
ouuhly Vifvimvl teum o f.Vll-en or ttuw.
yokes of oxen. Breeding horses have
hixteeu classes; speed borses.four classes;
walkinghorses,one class; matched teams,
five classes; asses for breeding, four
classes; sheep, thirteen classes, and goats
the same; swine, twelve classes; dogs, ten
classes, and poultry, two classes.
Tho latter are to bo exhibited iu pairs
of one year and over as one class, and
under one year as one class. They in
cludo chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese,
swans, pigeons. Guineas, and ornamental
birds. In this division it is easy to see
that tho number of prizes will be im
mense, as awards will bo made for
superiority to every recognized breed.
If thero are Afty breeds of chickens and
two classes (over one year and under one
year) and three prizes, we would have
fifty (breeds) multiplied by two (classes),
multiplied by three (prizes firrt, second
and third), or three hundred prizes for
chickens alono.
The buildings are full of revolutionary
relics, personal and general. Of indi
vidual articles there is an immense col
lection of portraits, domestic utensils,
garments and valuable ornaments. In
general, there aro public documents,
unci trophies i f the past, that are looked
upon, by those whose bumps of rever
euco are prominently developed, with
feelings, not of interest solely, but ven
eration. "That was Washington's
sword, or that Lafayette's watch." I
tried on Daniel Webster's hat in the
room of the historical society it fitted,
and was told that but few men could
wear Webster's chapeau. Felt my bead
swelling with conscious pride. I can
write daily on a table used by Washing
ton. Everybody is bunting relics, and
the streets are filled with relic mongers
of cane from this old structure; medals
of this or that hero. Philadelphia to
day is tho Mecca, and tho shadows of
the past, sure to attract the votaries of
by-gone times to their shrines, who in
homage pay their offerings to valor,
patiiotism, honesty and virtue. How
ever, let us not forget the present, an
instructive teacher for the future, "and
w.1 may bo happy yet."
The following conventions will be held
during September and October :
International Medical congress, Sep
tember 4. International convention of
archaeologists, September 4. National
Pomological society, September 11.
Grand Council Improved Order Red
Men of United States, September 12.
National convention American Forres
ters, September 18. American Forrester
association, September 13. Grand
Lodge of United States Independent
Order Odd Fellows, September 19.
Grand Lodge of United States Improved
Order of Red Men, September 19. Con
vention of aparians (honey men), Sep
tember 23. Welsh National Eistedfodd,
third week iu September. National
Carriago Builders' association, third
week iu September. Dedication of hall
of Patriotic Order Sons of America in
the first week of October. State Coun
cil Order United American Mechanics,
October 17. American Dairymen's as
sociation, October 17.
The declaration of awards will not be
announced until after the close of the
Exhibition, but the personal work of
the judges will terminate early in July.
Then the reports will be written. J. B.
A New Pest. Owners of many grape
vineyards complain of the depredations
of small bright colored motbs which in
fest the vines both above and below
ground. It is suggested that poisoned
molasses placed in various parts of the
vineyard will attract and destroy the in
sects, while the larvae deposited on the
vines may be destroyed by thorough
syringing.
THE CHINESE QUESTION.
Number of rhlnese la tbe Taltva Mates-
Why tber are Opposed a Ia.aOs;raBis-.A
Mrrloaa Qasstloa.
The question of Mongolian immigra
tion into the United States is one so seri
ous that both oi the great parties have
in their platforms called the attention
of Congress to it. In 1870 the census
sh wed that there were in the Unitjd
States 63,251 Chinese. Of these
62,721 were in the Paciflo States, 220 in
the Southern and 310 in all the other
States.
Since 1870 there has been a rnpid in
crease of this class of alien immigrants.
The statement of the number of Chinese
arriving from 1850 to 1875, as taken
from the reports of the bureau of
statistics, shows that from 1851 to 1875
the total immigration was 189,966. In
1871 the number to arrive was 6,030; in
1872 it was 10.642; in 1373 it was 18, 154;
in 1874 it was 16,651, and in 1875 the
largest immigration took place, the
number being 19,033. The six
companies in San Francisco, under
whose auspices these people oame, re
port that they have imported 187,600.
In the last five years of the Chinese
arriving 2,837 were women, and there
are not now in tho country over 3,600
Chinese women. At the present time
there are 130,000 Chineso in California,
and that Stato feels the effect more seri
ously, of course, than any other. The
complaint mado is that the Chinese are
not an assimilative people and do not
come as other aliens, to make homes iu
our midst, or make this the land of their
adoption, and that the presence of the
Chinese in large numbers is n cause of
serious discontent to the greater portion
of our permanent population.
The Chinese population expels all
others. That to rent dwellings to
them is to insure that such build
ings will never be rooccupied by others.
That they are filthy in their habits and
surroundings beyond description ; that
they herd together in suoh squalor and
indulge iu such habits as make their
presence in any city a sanitary offense,
if not a positive danger to the balance
of the community.
Their habits of living and capacity for
organization are such that they can de
stroy all competition, and thus the; not
only drive out the high priced and
bomeogeueous labor of our own race
and people, but they gradually monopo
lize the manufacture of all light trades,
as shoe and cigar making, etc., com
pelling the smaller capitalists and em
ployers to surrender participation there
in. Their presence, in fact, is the first
veritable presentation tons of a genuine
proletariat population.
being in debt for his passage to one
of the companies which imports him,
bis family is held in Chia as security
lor repayment.' Hence ho docs not como
to stay, and brings with him neither
home life or family associations. This
condition of affairs Las produced another
and more terrible traffic that of
Chinese females for the purposes of
prostitution. Tho result of this traffic
is simply horrible. It degrades the
youth of our Paciflo towns, sows the
vilest diseases broadcast. All attempts
to break it up have been thwarted by
the organized perjury and intimidation
which, it is charged, is so marked a fea
ture of the lower Chinese life. Gam
bling is also an organized business, and
tho better class of this people acknowl
edge themselves as helpless as the au
thorities at San Francisco are to break
r.p the frightful business.
Tho question is one that will continue
to attract attention until it is settled.
The Chances of War.
We haltod and formed square in tho
middle of tho plain. As wo were per
forming this movement a bugler of the
Fifty-first who bad been out with skir
mishers aud had mistaken our square
for his own, exclaimed: "Hero I am
again, safe enough." The words were
scarcely out of his mouth when a round
shot took off his bead aud spattered the
whole battalion with his brains, the col
ors and the ensigns in charge of them
coming in for an extra share. One of
them, Charles Fraser, a fine gentleman
in speech and manner, raised a laugh by
drawling out: " How extremely dis
gusting!" A second shot carried off
six of tho men's bayonets, a third broke
tho breastbone of a lance sergeant (Rob
inson), whose piteous cries were any
thing but encouraging to hii youthful
comrades. The soldier's belief that "ev
ery bullet has its billet" was strength
ened by another shot strikiug Eu-ign
Cooper, the shortest man in the regi
ment, and in the very center of the
square. These casualties were the affair
of a second. Wo were now ordered to
lie down. Our tquare, hardly large
enough to hold us when standing up
right, was too small for us in a recum
bent position. Our men lay packed to
gether like herrings in a barrel. Not
finding a vacant spot I seated myself on
a drum. Behind me was the colonel's
charger, which, wilb bis head pressed
against miue, was mumbling my epau
lette, while I patted bis cheek. Sudden
ly my drum oapsized and I was thrown
p ostrate, with the feeling of a blow on
the right cheek. I put my hand to my
head, thinking half my face was shot
away, but the skin was not even abrad
ed. A piece of shell had struck the horse
on the nose exactly between my hand
and my head, and killed him instantly.
Tho blow I received was from the em
bossed crown on the horse's bit.
A Billiard Story.
John Seereiter used to do some fancy
playing at his billiard ball. A rathei
verdant looking chap came in one day
and as no one else was there Seereiter
obligingly offered to play a game with
him. Barkis was williu', and so coats
were hung up and John strung for the
lead, won it and run the game out, while
bis opponent looked on in a helpless
sort of a way till John got through
punching the balls. When the punch
ing and the game were concluded the
stranger put on bis coat and deliberate
ly started for the door.
"Hold on! Squire," said the genial
John. " Guess you've forgotten some
thing whose to pay for those bil
liards?" " Hain't played no billiards," was the
response, and when John come to think
it over be hadn't.
Slaving In the Streets.
Officer Meehan, of New York city,
charged Elizabeth Worth with abandon
ing her infant son on the steps of the
Roman Catholio orphan asylum. He
charged John Ryan, a school teacher
from Buffalo, with aiding Mrs. Worth
in getting rid of her child. The officer
said that he arrested Mrs. Worth just as
she had left the child on the steps of the
asylum, and that Ryan was around the
corner watching for the polico. Mrs.
Worth admitted having plaot d the child
where the officer bad stated, for the pur
pose of having him taken care of by the
Sisters of Charity, but in connection
with this admission she told such a har
rowing tale of destitution and misery
that it won for the woman the sympathy
of the court.
She said she was a native of Newark,
N. J., and was the mother of two chil
dren, besides the infant in her arms.
She had been employed as wet nurse,
but through ill health had lost her breast
milk and consequently her situation.
Her other two children were in tho caro
of her sister, and, of ooutse, it would not
be right for her also to become a burden
npon her. Friends provided for her for
several days, but she had not eaten any
thing for two days past, and her weak
and exhausted condition was sufficient
evidence of her truthfulness. In fact
she was barely able to remain on her
feet before the judge while sho told her
pitiful tale. She said she did not want
her infant, who was as dear to her as her
life, to perish in her arms for want of
food, aud she asked the superintendent
of the outdoor poor to send them both
to a hospital.
He said that if she wanted to go to a
hospital she should part with her infant,
who would be sent to Randall's island,
and she bad heard such frightful stories
of the cruelty to the children of that
place by their nurses that she refused
their offer. She then applied to the
borne of the friendless for aid, but she
refused to leave her child there either,
because they would not promise to re
turn the little one to her when sho might
call for him. She had hoard so much
of the kindness of the Sisters of Chari
ty, being herself a Protestant, that sho
determined iu her extremity to appeal to
them, and for the purpose went to the
Roman Catholio orphan asylum above
mentioned. One of the Sinters told her
that they could not receive tho child un
der the circumstances, but she understood
her to say that if loft on the doorstep be
would be taken in and cared for in the
home. She took this as a hint, and
walked from West Third street, where
she slept on Wednesday night, all the
way up town to leave the child at the
door of tho asylum. At Fifty-ninth street
she became exhausted and sat down on
tho sidewalk to rest. She then thought
of tho ier and how cney it would be
for her to close her troubled life and put
an end to her sn (Tarings under its dark
waters. The prisoner Ryan (who was
on bis way to work, and recognizing a
fellow creature in misfortune) kindly of
fered bis services in helping her to reach
the asylum. She had no previous ac
quaintance with him. The court there
upon discharged Ryan, and Officer
Gemer, of the society for the prevention
of cruelty to children, took the child to
the New York infant asylum. Tho moth
er was sent to a hospital by the court,
and when she is well the child wll be
restored to her. Herald.
A Singular Avalanche.
One of the bins of the elevator at St.
Paul bursted. The bin was 20x30 feet
in width, about seventy feet deep, and
was filled with wheat from the bottom to
the top, the amount being estimated at
24,000 bushels. About noon the discovery
was made that the wheat was pushing
out the side of the elevator at a distance
of thirty or forty feet from the top,
and that several iron stay rods which
crossed the bin had snapped asunder.
Efforts were promptly made to reduce
the pressure by a removal of the wheat,
but it was too late, for at about one
o'clock the crash came, the wooden tim
bers were burst asunder, the iron sheath
ing was ripped off and scattered to the
winds, and out rushed the wheat in a
gigantic- stream twenty feet in diameter,
pouring over the side of the bluff, piling
upon the flat and carrying before it and
crushing into fragments a shanty, situ
ated on tho bottom, about fifty feet from
the elevator. The inmates of the shan
ty had been apprised of the danger and
escaped, though they had no time to get
out any of their household effects.
The torrent of wheat, as it came run
ning down, is said to have presented an
imposing sight, and the power of the
deluge was apparently irresistible. The
whole amount thus discharged from the
ragged bole in the elevator was various
ly estimated at from seven to ten thou
sand bushels, and it took but a few min
utes to deposit this upon the ground at
the foot of the elevator, forming a pile
of about seventy-five feet square, the
depth of wheat being ten or fifteen feet
at the point where it struck the earth,
and then tapering down to a foot or
two in depth near the outer edge doposit.
A Nice Legal Point,
A case involving a very nice point for
the consideration of the court is at pres
ent receiving the attention of the surro
gate of Kings county, N. Y., being no
less than the decision of the question of
tho inheritance of property left by
Henry R. Rogers, formerly of Brooklyn,
and his wife, who were burned on board
the steamer City of Waco on the night
of November 8, 1875, while on the pas
sage from New York to Galveston,
Texas. The steamer was overtaken by a
severe storm, struck by lightning and
burned, every toul on board perishing in
the flames. The question involved is
which died first, the husband or the
wife? The friends of both claim $5,000
which Mrs. Rogers bad deposited in a
Brooklyn savings bank, those of the bus
band contending that the wife must have
died first, because her husband, being
the strongest of the two, would be likely
to survive the longest under the circum
stances, and that, therefore, they claim
tne money tnrougn tne husband, who in
herited it from bis wife. Further hear
ing of the case was postponed.
Even a banana skin will turn when
trodden npon.
A Large Poultry Yard.
The following account of the largest
poultry yard in New York State is given :
It is at Greene, Chenango county, and is
kept by Mr. A. B. Robeson. He has
six thousand ducks, four thousand tar
keys and twelve hundred hens. They
consume daily sixty bushels of corn,
two barrels of meal, two barrels of pota
toes, and a quantity of charcoal. The
meal, potatoes and charcoal are boiled
together aud form a pudding, which is
fed warm. Heemplorstwomeu tocookthe
feed and feed them. He has twelve
buildings for bis fowls, from ono hun
dred to two hundred feet long, fourteen
feet wide aud seven feet under the eaves,
with a door in each end of them. Mr.
Robeson bought most of bis ducks in
the West, and had them shipped in
crates three dozen in a orate. He also
has an egg house, thirty-five by fifty
feet, and four stories high. The outside
is eighteen inches thick, and built of
cut stone, laid in mortar, boarded up on
the inside and filled in between the out
side and inside wall with sawdust, it
taking three thousand bushels. Mr.
Robeson claims tbat be can keep eggs
any length of time in this building. He
also keeps the poultry that he ia now
dressing until next May or Jnne, which
be sells for eighteen to twenty-five
cents per pound, and it cannot be told
from fresh dressed poultry. He gets
ten cents per pound for turkey's feathers,
twelve for hen's and sixty-five for duck's.
He says there is money in poultry, and
he thinks he can make out of his six
thousand ducks enongb to pay for bis
egg house, which cost $7,000. He iu
tends to keep a great many more next
season, and has agents out all over tho
country buying up poultry and eggs.
Useful Notes.
A new cement for uniting metallic to
non-metallic substances is composed of
thin made glue mixed to the consistence
of thick varnish with wood ashes. The
ashes should be added generally to the
glue during ebullition, with constant
stirring, and the cement should bo used
hot.
A strong mucilage capable of fasten
ing wood or porcelain and glass together
is made of eight and one-third ounces
strong gum arabic solution, to which a
solution of thirty grains sulphate of
aluminum dissolved in two third ounces
water is added.
Oarbolio acid paper, now largely used
for packing fresh meats, in order to pro
serve them, is prepared by melting five
parts Btearino at a gentle beat and then
stirring in two parts carbolic acid, aud
afterward five parts melted parafiine.
The mass is well stirred until cool, and
is then applied wilb a brush to. tho
paper.
Care should be exercised in handling
carbolic acid, as in certain cases it is an
active poison. A saturated solution of
carbolic acid in alcohol, with an equal
quantity of water, rubbed into a scratch
on a cat's noso, has killed the animal
almost as promptly as prussio acid would
have done.
A method recommended for removing
moths from carpets is to pour strong
alum water on the floor to a distance of
half a yard around the edges before
tacking down. Then occasionally
spread dry salt over the carpet before
sweeping.
The best method of producing crys
talline surfaces on tinned iron and other
metals is to immerse the plates for not
longer than ten seconds in a mixture of
three parts hydrocblorio and one part
nitric acid dilutod with au equal bulk of
water. Wash the plates iu water after
their immersion.
Colorado and the Grasshoppers.
Tho grasshoppers that pretty nearly
cleaned out Colorado last year have ap
peared again this spring in great swarms.
A late letter thence says : The farmers
are fighting them by all the means in
their power. They sluice them down
the ditches with water, gather them up
in heaps and burn them for the water
will only collect, and not drown, these
very vital pests. They set cans of oil
dripping slowly at the heads of their
ditches, and the slightest touch of the
oily Aim, floating down with the running
water, destroys the young grasshopper.
They drag the ground with huge har
rows, covered with blazing brush, and
the flame scorches its tiny millions to
death. They draw papers or platforms
smeared with tar along tho fields, and
the iusects, trying to hopover, fall on
the tar and stiok there. With all these
devices they only thin out tho unwel
come visitors. All Colorado is watching
tne result oi these efforts with entomo
logical interest. Will the farmers or the
grasshoppers come out first I Will the
latter fly away a soon as they develop
wings; and if so, will other broods be
brought in by strong prairie winds? If
the crops tail again, look lor uiuo times
in Deuver, which has no interests except
supplying mining districts and fleecing
summer visitors.
War Is Threatened.
Latest advices afford little hope that
war will be averted between Servia and
Turkey. Princo Milan left Belgrade for
the army, amid cheers from the people
and salutes from the batteries. The
church appears to share in the popular
enthusiasm, all tho bishops having gone
to the frontier to bless the troops. The
Russian general, Tehernaieff, who is an
officer in the Servian army, recently de
clared that Prince Milan Las at bis com
mand 125,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry,
and 200 field guns. He predicts that
the Servians will be victorious, and
hopes bis countrymen will approve bis
efforts to rescue the Christians of the
Balkan from the degrading aud intoler
able rule of the Turks. These senti
ments explain, in part, the intense anxi
ety of the Servians to be led against
their ancient enemy.
In Algeria there is a river of genuine
ink. It is formed by the union of two
streams, one coming from a region of
ferruginous soil, and the other draining a
peat swamp. The water of the former
is strongly impregnated with iron, that
of the other with gallio acid. When the
two waters mingle the acid of tbe one
unites with tbe iron of the other, form
ing a true ink.
BLIND TOM AT HIS MEALS.
How the Musical Idiot Tears and Devours
His Food.
A reporter at Virginia City expressed
a desire to see Tom at bis meals, and
was accordingly taken to bis room.
"Sit dowa here," said the agent,
"and keep perfectly still. Tom detects
the slightest sound, and often puts peo
ple out of bis room under the impres
sion that they mean to injure him."
The reporter seated himself in one
corner of the room, and in a few mo
ments a waiter brought in Tom's meal
and placed it npon a stand. Shortly
afterward Tom was led in from an ad
joining room and seated alongside the
stand. The agent then withdrew, lcav
ingTom and the reporter alone.
When the blind mnsician took bis
seat bis features could be studied at
leisure. His head seemed to be a liter- (J
al copy from the pictures of idiots ono
sees in the phrenological works. There
was scarcely any forehead, his nose was
large and flat, tho month and jaws
simply brutal. His yellow, sightless
eyes rolled continually in their sockets,
and the whole aspect of bis face was
ferooious and animal. Immediately on
seating himself ho began to drum with
his hands upon the table, as if fingering
the keys of a piano, at the same time
humming an qir in a low tone. Next he
ran the tips of bis fingers over tho
stand, and touched in succession a beef
steak, a dish of asparagus, a cup of tea
and some bread aud potatoes. Satisfy
ing himself that a grace was warrantable,
ho calmly spread his hands over it and
repeated a short grace in a reverential
tone and very slowly. The instant the
grace was said be clutched the beefsteak
in both hands, and, lifting it to his
mouth, tore it iu fragments between his
teeth, seeming to swallow tho pieces
without mastication. As soon as tho
steak was disposed of ho began sweeten
ing his tea with little cubes of sugar.
He evidently bkes bis tea sweet, for be
put s xteon ordinary cubes of sugar into
his cup, and then, stirring tho mixture,
drank it down with a smack of satisfac
tion. When this was done he uttered a
cry of delight, and, turning from the
table, rubbed hi hands together in a
sort of childish glee, and danced about
the room. Going up to tho mantelpiece
ho went through the motions of playing,
taking no notice whatever of the articles
which ho knocked off. Suddenly ho
rushed back to the table and made a raid
on the dish of asparagus, eating the
stems entire, the white stringy part as
well as the tender extremity.
He next clutched a large potato in bis
band and placed it between bis teeth,
but suddenly changed his mind, and
casting it down, lifted his eyes toward
tho ceiling, and again plaood bis hands
in a position to play. He held his head
motionless for some minutes, as if en
deavoring to catch some stray musical
fancy which was drifting through his
mind. Occasionally he made a move
ment with his hands as if be were about
to strike u chord, but checked himself
and bit Lih lijs as if impatient. Then
his face would lose its brutal expression,
and, us hi t-yos turned upwrrd, seemed
inspired. Finally he began beating time
with his foot, a smile broke over his
features, and be went through the move
ment of playing a passage in a slow
movement. Suddenly he begun to sing,
evidently oomposing as he went along,
and the melody was full of strange
pathos; then starting up from the tablo
ho rushed up to the door of the adjoin
ing room and tried to open it. It bad
been locked by the agent, for tho reason
that a piano was in the next room, and
when Tom takes his meals ho frequently
refuses to eat unless the piano is beyond
his reach. Finding it locked, be threw
himself against it and tried to force it
open; but it resisted all hiB efforts.
Finding that be could not force tho door,
be leaned against it in a sorrowful atti
tude, while bis eyes moistened with
tears.
At this juncture the reporter made a
slight movement, and Tom's attention
was attracted immediately. He jerked
bis bead quickly and listened. The re
porter made another slight noise so
slight as to be almost imperceptible
and Tom's face assumed a horrible
scowl, and he advanced toward the sound,
rubbing bis bands together and making
motions such as prize fighters go through
with when a mau's head is in chancery.
Not relishing the idea of a personal en
counter with a man of Tom's maRsive
build, tho reporter resorted to a little
ruse. Throwing the stub of a lead pen
oil in the air, it fell in a remote corner
of the room, and Tom rushed toward
the sound, but was somewhat disap
pointed when be grappled a trunk. The
fun now begun. The reporter, by roll
ing up wads of paper and casting them
about the room, had no trouble in
causing the musical yjrodigy to skip
about in any direction. He never came
near the reporter, who sat quietly in bis
chair directing the prodigy's movements.
The Chinese Cues.
The history of Chinese cues is told by
the Rev. Julius Doolittle, a missionary
iu China, as follows: The first emperor
of the present dynasty, who begun to
reign in 1614, having usurped the
throne, determined to make tbe tonsure
of Manchuria, bis native country, the
token of the submission of the Chinese
to bis authority. He ordered them to
shave all the head excepting the crown,
and allowing the hair on that part to
grow long aud to dress it according to
the custom of Manchuria. The Chinese
bad been accustomed, under native em-
Eerors, to wear long bair over the whole
ead, and to arrange it in a tuft or coil.
Tbe change was gradual, but finally
prevailed through the empire. At first
those who shaved their beads and con
formed to the laws, received, it is said,
a present of a tael of silver, after a while
only half a tael, and then only a tenth
of a tael, and afterward only an egg
finally even an egg was not allowed.
Tbe law requiring the people to shave
their bead and braid tne one was not
often rigidly enforced by tbe penalty of
immediate death, but it became very
manifest that those who did not conform
to the wishes of the dominant dynasty
would never become successful in a law
suit against those wbo did conform, nor
would they succeed at tbe literary examinations.