SULLIVAN REPUBLICAN.
W, M. CHENEY, Publisher.
VOL. "VIII.
WE WANDER BACK TO HOME.
The world's wide path, a shining way
May open as we go.
With picture, scene, and colors gay,
From fickle fancy's flow;
But as from way, once grand and cheer,
There fades each brilliant chrome.
The eye, afar through filmy tear.
Will wander back to home.
When friendships wean—once leal and true—
And coldly glimmer where
The skies have lost their deepest blue
To bring chill shadows there;
One glinting gleam of sunshine, then,
Athwart the sullen gloam,
Will flash bright rays from childhood when
Heart* wander back to home.
Tho' all the world should kindly greet
Each footstep as we stray,
And strew, with garlands 'neath our feet,
The path 'long life's highway:
Yet will the moments brighter seem,
Where'er we, rambling, roam,
When lost in mem'ry's happy dream
We wander back to home.
—lnter-Ocean.
Besieged Bv Mutineers.
I was at Sultanpoor, in the presidency
of Bengal, when the terrible Indian mu
tiny delivered its first blow. There were
uprisings and mutinies at various other
places before any one at Sultanpcor be- I
came seriously alarmed. The faith which :
the British had in the native soldiery
would have been sublime had it not been
blind. The English were in India as in
vaders nnd despots. They had given the
people cause to hate them and hunger j
for their lives. The natives were a hun- |
nred to one. Princes had been dei
throned, social customs overturned, and |
every Englishman was regardad as stand- ,
iug between the natives and their heaven, j
The English knew all this, and yet they j
had that blind faith which entails dei
struction. Because no rebellion had |
taken place, because the natives were
servile and cringing, all argued that, the |
outbreaks were caused by a few inalcon- |
tents and would amount to naught.
There were three Americans of us at i
Sultanpoor. We had been hunting in j
the Oude territory, and had been in Sul- |
tan poor for about three weeks to rest and j
plan another trip. We occupied a bunga- j
low together and had several native ser- j
vants. Some of these were related to j
some of the native police and to members |
of the Thirteenth Bengal Cavalry, whe
garrisoned the place. There were not
over fifty white persons altogether at the
station, and three-fourths of these were
women and children. On Sunday, the
7th of June of that memorable year, I
was lying in my hammock in the shade
of the bungalow. My head was toward
and within two feet of a thick hedge
running along the west side of the house.
I had been resting for an hour, when
three or four native.-, crept up on the
»ther side of the hedge and entered into !
a conversation, every word of which I '
caught. It was announced that the rank j
and file were to mutiny within a day or !
two, and the programme was so carefully
laid that certain men had been detailed to
shoot certain officers, and certain plunder
was togo to certain individuals.
The talk continued for a full hour, and
when the conspirators withdrew no sane
man could doubt what was to follow.
The tax collector of the district was a
civil officer named Strogau, and he occu
pied a bungalow not over twenty yards
away. After waiting for a couple of
hours I strolled over there, and when op
portunity presented itself I told him what
I had heard. He had a wife and tw°
children, and he was as pale as death
when I had finished my story. He went
at once to see Colonel Fisher who was in
command of the post, that individual not
only treated his communication with con
tempt. but sent an insulting message to
inc. It was to the effect that he wanted |
no interference in military affairs by any I
Yankees. He intimated to Strogan that ;
I was probably half drunk, and declared
that he was ready to stake his life on the
loyalty of his men. This did not quiet
the collector, however. When he re
turned he began packing up his valu
ables, and that night he made au excuse
to get his family nearer the barracks.
On Sunday evening our native servants
were as servile as dogs. On Monday
morning their bearing was full of impu
dence. All noticed it and all were satis
fied that the mutiny was close at hand.
We had canvassed the matter over to see
what we should do. If the garrison re
belled the odds were fifty to one in their
favor. If they elected to slaughter every
white person nothing could prevent
them. While they knew us to be Amer
icans, we were •'ferringhees," and that
was enough. They would kill us even j
for the sake of plunder. We decided
that we stood no show at thestatiou, and |
that we must take care of ourselves.
Had we started off on the highway for
Ayoda or Bela we should have been am
bushed or followed. It was Anally
concluded that we should retreat
to an old ruin about five miles away—
a spot we had visited the week before—
and there wait for the cloud to blow over
or the worst to come. Karly Monday
morning, on pretence that we were
going to make surveys and excavations
for the benefit of history, we secured n
cart, loaded it with provisions, arms and
ammunition, and started off, each of us
mounted on horseback. "We closed up
the bungalow and took our servants with
us. They seemed very willing togo,
but we soon discovered the cause. On
Monday night all deserted, taking our
three horses along. TJjey wanted us out
of the way wheu the mutiny opened,
that the garrison might be weakened
just so much. When through with
those at the station, they would come
j and finish us. We had not unpacked the
cart before they left, and they were,
therefore, in iguorance of its contents.
Our first move on Tuesday morning
was to select a place for defence. The
ruins were those of a large temple and
outbuildings, covering about four acres
of ground. About the centre of this
space was a thicket, with a fine spring
of water. From this thicket was open
ground in every direction for b?lfi
musket shot. Most of the blocks of
stone were of a uniform size, and the
three of us could handle them. By noon
we had enclosed a circular space thirty
feet across and five feet high, and had
placed all our stuff within it. The after
noon we spent in filling the interstices in
the wall to make it bullet proof, and in
covering in a portion of it. Before night
we hud a fort which we believed we
could defend against a hundred natives.
There was no doorway to it, and we
should have only the top of the wall to
guard.
Once or twice during the afternoon we
heard the reports of carbines on the high
way, half a mile to our left, and had no
doubt that the mutiny had occurred as
planued. We did not, however, deem it
prudent to leave our work to investigate,
and it was well we did not. The out
break occurred early in the forenoon, just
as planned, and the Colonel was the first
victim. He was shot down by some of
the native officers of the cavalry, and he
had no sooner fallen than they turned
upon their English Captain. Strogan was
the third man killed. He was shot in
front of his own bungalow, as was also
another civil officer who was with him.
The anxiety of the mutineers to secure
plunder permitted the women and chil
dren to llnd a place of safety, and all
eventually escaped to Bela, and from
thence to Cawnpoor. It was toward even
ing of Tuesday before a squad set out in
search of us. Our servants were anxious
to see us murdered, for the sake of the
"loot" to be divided. About dark, while
we were wondering if one of us had not
better go out after information, we heard
a voice calling us, and recognized it as
that of my syce or groom. We climbed
out of our fort and went to the edge of
the thicket aud answered him, and he
soon appeared. Matters had changed.
The slave had exchanged places with the
master. The fellow was as cool and im
pudent as you pleased. When we asked
what had become of the horses, he
promptly acknowledged to having stolen
mine, aud further informed me that I
ought to be very thankful that he had not
taken my life as well. He informed us of
all that had occurred at the barracks, and
stated that a party had come out to make
terms with us. Being that we were
Americans, and had had nothing to do
with their oppression, they did not thirst
for our blood. If we would surrender
everything we had we could go where we
pleased. If not they would kill us and
take what they wanted.
We very soon sent the fellow away
with an answer. If we escaped from
this gang it would be to fall into the
hands of another. We should be de
fenceless and penniless, and what could
we do? We told him we had decided to
light it out, and as soon as he disap
peared we returned to the fort. Tlx;
two other members of the party were
Henry Wilds and George Fisher. We
had then been in ludia together for a
year, and had stood back to back in
many tight places. Wilds was a typical
Yankee, good-natured but courageous,
and his long arms had the strength of a
horse's leg. The thicket was so dense
that our fort could not be seen unless one
penetrated it a few yards. The natives
simply supposed that we were lying close
in the centre of the jm-gle, and half an
hour after the groom left u» about thirty
LAPORTE, PA.., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1890.
muskets began blazing uway/ at our posi
tion. Some of the balls whistled over
us, others enteredithe earth,and now and
then one struck the heavy blocks of
stone with a dull ring. We took turns
as sentinel, while the other two slept,
and soon after midnight all was quiet.
It was 10 o'clock next morning- before
wc were troubled again. Then the
members of the old gang seemed to have
been added to, and-fifty or moreimuskets
kept up a pretty steady fire until 3
o'clock in the afternoon. By this time
we ought to have been all shot'to pieces,
as the bullets had cot through-every foot
of the jungle. Tho natives believed it
was time to advancoand sec. We could
locate them by their-loud talk and con
stant dissensions, and wheu we found
that all had' gathered on the eastern
edge of the thicket and ■ were about
to advance, we climded out, crept
forward, and lay down behind a big
block of stone to receive them. They
entered the thicket as a mob • would have
done, and the first three men sighted
were dropped in their 'tracks. This
caused a panic, tand they wdthdrew, and
aside from a fewistray shots fired to let
us know that we were still «besieged, we
were not annoyed until next morning.
Then we heard a great hurrah, and after
a little were given the information that
they had brought down the two pieces of
; .rtillery from the stat ion to shell us out.
They were very slowtin getting to work, |
aud when they began firing it was plain
enough that they - knew nothing about
artillery. On the first four shells fired,
all went too high and burst far beyond
us. The fifth one burst«short and threw
the dirt over our walls. Then we de
cided to cool their ardor a bit. We
climbed over the walls, got out of the
line of fire, and crept to the ed|?e of the
thicket. There we saw a mob of over a
hundred natives with the two guns
planted within pistol shot. One of
them had become £i"*bled by ramming
the ball down before the cartridge, aud
the other was about to be fired. We se
lected three of the gunners, fired togeth
er, and they fell dead on the grass. Be
fore the gang could get out of range we
killed two more and wounded
a third. Then Wilds ran forward
under cover of our rifles and
spiked both pieces by driving
some nails, which he happened to have
in his pocket, into the vents. Seeing a
move to flank us wc returned to our
shelter, and all the rest of that day and
all night were left in peace. On the
third day there were but twenty natives
in the besieging force, and they fired
into the thicket only nt long intervals.
On the fourth day this force was re
duced to ten. At noon Wilds made a
scout and found them eating dinner, and
we crept up and killed one and wounded
two, and consequently raised the siege.
We could have gone away now had we
had any place togo to, but we had de
cided to remain.
On the fifth day, about 9 o'clock in
the morning, a rabble of about 600 na
tives, most of them soldiers, who were
on their way to Cawnpoor, were turned
aside to attack us. Each one had a pun
and plenty of ammunition, and for three
hoiiTs they kept up a creditable fire.
They could see nothing to shoot at, but
fired into the thicket, and at least five
hundred bullets hit the walls of our
fortress. We did not lire in reply, as it
would only have betrayed our position.
At noon, when their fire began to
slacken, we made ready for a charge.
There were two spare guns, and all
well loaded. Then, while waiting,
Wilds piled up a couple of hundred
stones about the size of his fist from
the plentiful supply once used in the
rubble work of the buildings. The
thicket was surrounded two lines deep,
and at a signal a general advance was
made. Had we l>een without cover we
should have been killed or captured.
When they saw our fort the orders were
to storm it. The walls were so low that
one could "boost"' another up. and be
fore we opened fire there was a living
fringe all around us. In one minute only
the dead were in sight. Wilds fired
once and then resorted to the rocks, and
I honestly believe he disabled a dozen
men. Four of the killed fell into the en
closure, and the bodies of two more were
pushed outside.
This ended the fighting. The rabble
went off, and for the next ten days not a
native came near us. At the end of that
time we got word that the British had
the upper hand again at Sultanpoor, and
we left our fort and returned there. Not
one or us was the worse off, and yet we
had done considerable toward reducing
tb» number of mutineers. One of the
natives wounded in the last fight told me
that the "General" who ordered the
charge against the fort told his men that
it was no use to longer bother us, as all
Americans were in league with Satan,
and that his Majesty would prevent their
bullets or swords from harming us.—
JVeic York Sun.
Revival of Opossum Hunting.
Opossum hunting, which was so popu
lar throughout the South before the war,
iB being revived in Southern Alabama,
and nightly at the present season of the
year, whenever the moon is right, the
woods are scoured by parties in search ot
this peculiar specimen of the marsupial
quadruped, which abounds in this section
of the country. There is no sport which
is undertaken with a greater relish or is
more thoroughly enjoyed by those ex
perienced in it than opossum hunting.
The custom is to start out at night time
in parties of five or six. Colored men
are employed to handle the dogs, blow
the horns, climb the trees and "tote"
the game. On reaching the woods the
horns are blown and the dogs let loose.
The treeing of an opossum is signaled by
the barking of the dogs. The opossum
iDvariably takes refuge in a small tree,
and suspends itself by the tail from a
limb. An expert hand climbs the tree,
grasps the quadruped by the tail, whirls
it around his head two or three times
and flings it to the ground. The mo
ment tho wily animal strikes the earth it
lies as though dead, and permits itself to
j be nosed and tossed by the dogs without
exhibiting the slightest signs of life.
This is called sulling or making believe
dead. A six or seven foot sapling is cut
and split part way down the center, the
■ end of the opossum's tail is drawn into
i the cleft, and each time an animal is
I caught it is served in the same way, and
j the stick is carried over the shoulder,
with the opossums dangling by the tails
from the cleft. After au all night's
sport the parties meet the next day and
form a great barbecue. Opossum, when
properly cooked, is a most delicious
! meat, and has the flavor somewhat of
roast pig. Barbecues of this kind are
becoming quite a fad in Southern Ala
bama, and are generally followed by
! dancing and other amusements. An
i opossum farm has been started in this
j country, which promises to be a grand
success. Wnthington Star.
Prefer Their Own Ideas.
Very few artists care to paint pictures
to order and conform their canvases to
the tastes and ideas of a prospective pur
chaser. They prefer to follow their own
j inspirations entirely and sell the picture
I after it is finished. The experience of
j artists with patrons who want pictures,
I and who are willing to pay for them in
! advance, is that the patron in many cases
| wants to dictate the picture and use the
I artist simply as au amanuensis. The
| well-known landscape painter, Thomas
| Moran, once undertook to paint a picture
' and listen to the ideas of the man who
j was to own the picture after it was
j painted. He agreed that the customer
should furnish the idea, and he was to
do the mechanical part of the work at so
much an hour, and ho made what seemed
to him a very profitable bargain. The
painting was in progress for u whole
year, and at the end of that time the bill
for services was a magnificent affair, run
i ing up to over SIOOO. The picture
was not nearly so magnificent as the bill.
The customer was fain to confess that Mr.
Moran had carried out all his sugges
tions, and when he dwelt on this fact he
was rather inclined to accept the result
and grow enthusiastic over it. But he
was thoroughly dissatisfied when he
asked the artist to put his name to the
picture and the artist refused. After
that experience he decided to let the art
ist whom he dealt with furnish not only
the brush and the skillful handling of it,
but the ideas which prompted the brush's
movements.— New York Mail and Exprew.
An Extraordinary Man.
Usobirs Slaton, who died recently in
Payette County, Ga., was a remarkable
man in many respects. He was eighty
one years old, and had lived in the same
house for sixty-one years. By his first
wife he had seventeen children and by his
second fifteen. Around his bedside when
he died were seventeen of his nineteen
living children. He had grandchildren
too numerous to mention. He had given
nearly every one some of the land which
he owned, and his children always lived
close about him. He was six feet in
height and had been sick only a few hours
before death.
Many of the new apartment houses
that have been built in London are fif
teen stories high.
Terms—sl.2s in Advance; $1.50 after Three Months.
POPULAR SCIENCE.
The scintillometer, the invention of a
Belgian scientist, which is used for meas
uring the scintillation of the stars, is
now utilized by meteorologists as an aid
to the prediction of the weather.
Soap bubbles blown with newly gen
erated hydrogen gas have been found to
act as electrical condensers, the liquid of
which, when broken, exhibited a nega
tive charge. It is suggested that this fact
explains the so-called fireballs sometimes
seen during thunderstorms.
The statistics gathered by the United
States Sanitary Commission, concerning
the height and other proportions of nearly
a quarter of million of soldiers, appear to
indicate that young men are not, on the
average, physically adult until they attain
the age of twenty-eight years.
A Scottish mechanic has invented a new
lamp for ships, being a cross between a
candle and a paraffine lamp, but posses
sing all the advantages and none of the
defects of either, there being no liability
of explosion or of flooding the place with
oil, in case of breakage, and there is no
waste.
As a general rule, it is said to be a very
difficult matter to gage the speed of
fishes. The fast fishes are trim and
pointed in shape, with their fins close to
their bodies. The dolphin and bouito are
thought to be the fastest, and, although
their speed is not known, they are fully
capable ot twenty miles an hour.
The use of luminous paint is rapidlv
growing in this country. England has
heretofore had the monopoly of a lumi
nous paint, which it has sold at $3 per
pound. Other countries, however, have
entered into the competition, and Austria
is now producing a paint which is placed
on the market at fifty cents per pound.
It is said to be made from roasted oyster
shells and sulphur.
Late researches have shown that tho
duration of a lightning flash is not in
finitesimal, as has been generally sup
posed, but that the flash la*t> i measure
able time. For instance: if a camera is
set in rapid vibration and the plate in it
is exposed so as to receive the impression
of the flash, it is found that the impres
sions appear widened out on the negative,
showing that the negative has moved
during the time the flash was in exist
ence.
A simple stove for warming rooms by
means of solar heat has been contrived
by Professor Morse. It consists of a
shallow box, having a bottom of corru
gated iron and a glass top. When
this device is placed outside a building,
where the sun can shine directly into it,
the rays pass through the glass and are
absorbed by the metal, raising it to a high
temperature and warming the air of the
box. The air thus heated is conveyed
into the room.
In the biological department of the
University of Pennsylvania experiments
are being conduted in regard to the pro
cesses of the mind. Three of the prin
cipal kinds of experiments now being
made are those to measure the memory oi
sensations of sight, sound and feeling;
those to measure the time taken to express
a sensation, and those to measure the time
taken to receive an impression through
the eye, etc. The means used to make
these investigations are weighted wheels,
gibbet-shaped machines, pieces of iron
arranged to fall upon touching a lever,
pivoted hammers, etc.
Stoned by an Eagle.
Messrs. White and Elder, of Gridley,
Mont., went hunting for an eagle's nest
in the Buttes. They found it on top of
the highest peak, aud three little eaglets
were comfortably domiciled therein.
The mother bird was absent. Elder took
one of tho little birds and began the de
scent of the mountain. Ere they had
traversed 200 yards the old bird returned
and assailed them. White carried both
of the eaglets while Elder tried to keep
off the mother by throwing rocks at her.
The scheme worked very well for a while,
until the latter, instead qf swooping down
at them, began picking up rocks weigh
ing from five to fifteen pounds and letting
them drop on them from au elevation of
fifty to seventy-live feet, when the daring
sportsmen concluded 'twere better to
quit, and dropped the eaglets and fled
from the scene.
There arc over 800 ordained ministers
in Madagascar, aud nearly 4400 native
preachers; 61.723 church members; 230,
418adhcreuts, and 1043 schools with al
inostloo,oooscholars. The local contribu
tion! amount to nearly (15,000.
NO. IT.
FUN.
It fs a wise foot who knows enough to
keep it to himself.
Jf riches have wings, we wish they
would occasionally fly our way.— Epoch.
Even the most poverty-stricken hotel
proprietor is inn-dependent.— Laurence
American.
The rooster is one of the most tidy ol
all the members of the animal kingdom.
He always carries a comb with him!—
Merchant Traveler.
A fireproof pocketbook is one of the
latest inventions. It is probably intended
to prevent money from burning holes in
the pockets of the owners.
He—"Why should you be so angry
at me for stealing just one little kiss?"
She—"Any self-respecting woman would
be angry at a man who kissed her just
oncc.— Dramatic, Critic.
Don't kick too hard against book
agents. They huve their uses. Perhaps
but for them your front door wouldn't
be open once a month, nor your best
pailor get a breath of fresh air once a
quarter.— Danvtille Breeze.
"Before I go,"he said, in broken
tones, "I have one last request to make
of you." "Yes, Mr. Sampson?" said
she. "When you return n\y presents
please prepay the express charges. I can
not afford to pay any more on your ac
count."—Harper's Bazar.
Washington Reporters.
"Ah, the times have changed and the
newspaper business in Washington isn't
what it once was," sighed the Old Cam
paigner as he gazed at the half-finished
dish of Frankfurt and potato salad be
i fore him and watched the waiter uncork
; another bottle of beer. "Now, when T
j was a correspondent here just after the
war," he continued, "there was a differ
ent regime among the news-gatherers
from that of the present day.
"The correspondents were older men,
among them such names as old 'Father'
Gobright, J. McCulloch, Whitelaw Rcid,
Donn Piatt and Ben: Perley Poore. They
did not have to 'hustle' for news. The
matter they sent was more in the nature
of editorial comment, and a correspond
ent had to be up with the times. There
was little telegraphing done, but the cor
respondents wrote their matter as they
felt like it and mailed it when they were
ready.
"Now, how different, it is! Here are
three or four score bright, energetic
young men in the field, smart fellows
and active. They are on a keen jump
all the time after news. As they get au
item they scurry off to the telegraph office
and put it on the wire. They venture
few opinions, but they wiH rush facts for
all they are worth! Some of the papers
control s]>ecial wires, and send off 6000
and 8000 words a night. The average
citizen has no idea what a beehive of
news-gatherers there is in this city, who
toil by night and enlighten the people of
the country through the daily press of
the daily affairs of the nation down to the
smallest detail. lam glad of the change.
I like the style of the day. It is enter
prise, and the j>eople at large appreciat
it."— Philadelphia Preu.
Trying to Cook Snow.
A little California girl, finding snow
in the piazza corners one morning, and,
supposing it to be a new sort of flour,
made up several "patty cakes," and
gravely took them into the kitchen to
cook them. She put them on top of the
range at the back, and went out at once
for more "dough." When she returned,
her mother's Chinese cook stood by the
range with a broad grin on his usually
stolid face.
"O Sam, did you go and eat my
cookies?" cried Lily.
"File eatee Lily's cooky," answered
the smiling Sam.
After the little girl's mother had been
called, and had explained tL -nystery,
Sam told how he also had oncc «. 'n de
rived as to the nature of snow.
Sam had been a laundryman in San
■francisco when he first came to America,
and it was quite natural that he should
apply the unknowu substance to the uses
of his trade.
"Me no findee snow a'China, all samee
here," he said. "Me findee heap snow
down San F'an'sco one day. Me catchee
pan full, all samee starch! Hot water?
Starch all gone, all samee Lily's cooky."
—Neic York Nctcs.
A Montreal jwlice sergeant .«tvs that
there are inauy hundreds of men, wo
meu and children in that city in such ab
ject poverty that they are almost desti
tute of both fire and food.