SULLIVAN REPUBLICAN.
W, M. CHENEY, Publisher.
VOL. VIII.
ECHO SONG,
I.
Who can s»y where Echo dwells?
In some mountain cave methinks.
Where the white owl sits and blinks;
Or in deep sequestered dells,
Where the fox-glove hangs its bells,
Echo dwells.
, Echo!
- Echo!
11.
Phantom of the crystal air!
Daughter of sweet mystery!
Here is one has need of thee;
Lead him to thy secret lair,
Myrtle brings he for thy hair:
Hear his prayer.
Echo!
Echo!
HI.
Echo, lift thv drowsy head.
And repeat ca'.'h charmed word
Thou must needs have overheard
Yestere'en ere, rosy-red.
Daphne down the valley fled,
Words unsaid,
Echo'
Echo!
IV.
Breathe the vows she since denies!
She hath broken every vow;
What she would she would not now;
Thou did'st hear her perjuries.
Whisper, whilst I shut aiy eyes,
Those sweet lies,
Echo;
Echo!
—Thomas Aldrieh, in Atlantic Monthly.
IN THE EXPRESS CAR.
A MESSENGER'S ADVENTURES.
Even iu these days of peace, with
every money handler armed for defence,
and surrounded by every safeguard,
'wnks are "touched," stages held up,
•sroress cars robbed, and the highway
robber and the horse thief have no com
plaints of lack of business. This being
the case now, you can imagine the state
of affairs during the war, even though
you were not a living witness. Along
about 1803 the bad men of the times
reaped a constant harvest. Money was
abundant, every day full of excitement,
and embezzlers and absconders outnum
bered honest men. And, too, banks,
express companies, and other big money
handlers were green to many of the tricks
and schemes, and the idea of buying a
revolver for an express messeugcr out of
company funds would have been voted
down instanter. He must arm himself,
and if he pulled through he was a good
fellow. If he didn't, it was looked upou
as "an act of Providence."
For two years I had a run on the ex
press between Cincinnati and St. Louis,
and between St. Louis and Chicago, and
during those years I carried enough
money to pay the national debt. On either
run it was considered an ,; off" time
when I dill not have $20,000, and many
and many a time I checked up from
SIOO,OOO to $150,000 without being ex
cited over the temporary possession of so
much cash. I carried the old-fashioned
portable safe, good enough to keep out
the rain, hut no defence against a ham
mer and cold chisel, and I had one of the
best Colt's revolvers that money could
buy. I was only a year or two over age
when I made my first run, stout and ac
tive. and I think I had a fair share of
nerve and pluck.
My first Hdventurc occurred while
making the run between Cincinnati and
St. Louis. I had beeu ou the road about
six weeks, and the business was so heavy
that we had to have an extra man. While
I took charge, of the money he looked
after the parcels and boxes, and we had
a •whole car to ourselves. My assistant
was named John Goodhue, and he had
been one of the check clerks in the
freight department of the Cincinnati
office. He was an easy going, good
natured man of forty, much given to
taking things easy, but as he was the only
man the company could or would spare I
had to take him as I found him and make
the best of it. "Whenever we pulled out
of cither city we were very busy for the
first half hour. I saw that everything
was properly checked off and accounted
for in the line of money and valuables,
and then assisted him if he was not al
ready through. It thus sometimes hap
pened that I was busy at my safe in the
corner for the first twenty miles out, and
that little or no conversation was ex
changed between us.
On this particular evening Goodhue
was ten minutes late at the train, but he
took hold with unusual spirit, and when
the stuff was all in we had the car pretty
well filled. I was at my safe when the
train pulled out, and I heard Goodhue
moving about and going through the
usual routine. We had nothing to put
off until we reached a farm thirty miles
away, aud then it was something in the
tine of freight. 1 therefore took things
MBJ, and wad smoking as I did my work.
I had on that night, in addition to my
own safe and $62,000, a paymaster's safe
which contained nearly a quarter of a
million. I was sitting on this and bend
ing over my own when I received a blow
on the head from behind. It fell upon
the left side of my head and glanced to
the shoulder, but it knocked mc over
sideways in a heap on the floor. I was
not stunned, but it came to me in a
second to "play 'possum." Even while
falling I realized that it was a plan to
rob the car, und I wondered who Good
hue had behind him. I rolled over ou
my back, groaned two or three times,
and then straightened out, and after a
minute I heard a voice say. "Come out,
Jim—he's settled!"
It was the voice of the man who had
struck me, but not the voice of Goodhue.
I heard a second man come forward, and
then the plot was exposed. Neither was
Goodhue, and both were strangers.
"Guess you've done for him, Tom,"
said the last comer as he stood over me.
"Couldn't help it, Jim—he'd have
given us a fight if I hadn't. Now, then,
we've got things coopered. In five
minutes wo shall be at Blankville.
There's nothing togo off, but I'll open
the door. Sit here ou the safe."
The whistle blew, the train pulled up,
and pretty soon we were at a standstill. !
The robber opened the sliding door and
stood as cool as you please for two or
three minutes, and I heard him reply to
the agent that there was nothing togo
off. As soon as the train pulled out he
shut the door and came over and said:
"Open the other door. Five miles
from here is the stretch of woods, and we
must be ready to dump the safes at the
word."
My revolver was under ine, in its
holster, and I was helpless. The first
move I made would have brought them
upon me, and they would have been cer
tain to make sure work of it this time. I
had to let them carry out their plan,
but I was forming another. The stretch
of woods was two miles long, and be
tween Blankville and the next stop was a
distance of eighteen miles. The two
small stations betweeu were not on our
time card. The train sped along at a
rate of forty miles an hour, and pretty
soon out went the safes. Then the men
ran out at the end of the car, set the
brake, and pulled the bell cord. That
was what they did, but I did not wait to
see or hear it. They were no sooner
clear of the car than I rose up
and took a flying leap straight
out into the darkness after the
money. There was a long pile of
gravel on that side, and I struck into
this, turned, over and over half a
dozen times, and finally brought up in a
potato patch on the railroad strip, badly
shaken up, but not a bone broken. The
engine was whistling for brakes a mile
away, and as soon as I could free my
mouth and eyes of dirt I started down the
track. I found the first safe on the edge
of the ditch, and the second a hundred
feet away beside a stump. I dragged
mine down to the paymaster's, then got
out my revolver and hid behind a stump,
and pretty soon I heard the fellows com
ing down the track. They had brought
the train almost to a standstill, and then
signaled it togo ahead and jumped.
They were hunting along the ditch as
t'.iey came, and I waited until they were
within five rods before I opened lire and
jumped up and shouted: "Here they
are, boys; shoot them down!"
They didn't stand for a second, but
went oil as fast as they could heel it, fol
lowed by my bullets, and half an hour
later I had the safes aboard of a freight
train. An investigation proved that
Goodhue was blind drunk on that night.
He had accepted an offer to drink with
a stranger, and had been plied with liquor
until he fell down on the street. The
robbers must have known him well, and
have also been familiar with our way of
working. Who they were we never
knew.
In November, 1864, when I began the
run between St. Louis and Chicago there
was scarcely a week that something did
not occur to arouse my suspicions. The
heft of the money went South, but there
was always enough on either run to
tempt a robber to take desperate chances.
I hud u middle-aged steady going man as
assistant, and it would have had to be a
sharp maa who could get the better of
him. Now and then, when we were
carrying big money for some army con
tractor,he was alowed to send a man along
to act as a special guard. These men
were generally Chicago detectives or po
lice, aud they rode on au order prepared
by the Chicago superintendent. One
afternoon, about two hours before train
LAPORTE, PA., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1890.
time, and while I was at the. office, a
military-looking man, who claimed to bo
a paymaster, entered and arranged to
express his safe to St. Louis. Its con
tents were said to be upward of $200,000,
and he applied for permission to send
two trusty soldiers alongiin the car. IJ
heard this much without having
any special interest in the* case. When wei
came to receive our stuff from the wagons
there was a paymaster's safe, and a little
later on a man dressed in the uniform of
a Sergeant of infantry, and'accompanied
by a private soldier, presented an order
permitting them to ride in our car as
a guard.
While everything was regular, I did not
like the looks of the men. They seemed
to me to be tough characters, and when
I got a chance to speak to Graham, my
assistant, I found that he entertained th<;
same opinion and had become suspicious.
I therefore gave them the other end of
the car and whispered to Graham that
we must keep our eyes open. The first
thing we did after the train pulled out
was to place our revolvers where we
could grab them 011 the instant, and as
we worked over our way bills we kept a
weather eye open for signs. For a time
it looked as if we had done the men an
injustice. One took a seat on the safe
and the other in a cliair. Each lighted a
cigar, and their conversation, as we over
heard a word now and then, related to
military matters and was honest and
straight. When Graham and I had fin
ished our work we sat down at the
other end of the car and the quartet of
us rode in this fashion, with only a break
now and then, as we stopped at a station
and put off something billed there.
Our longest run was between midnight
and one o'clock. We'then passed two or
three small stations without stopping,
making the run about nineteen miles. If
the men were not what they ' represented
they would show their hands'during this
run. They appeared to be , sound asleep
when we entered upon it, and Graham,
who sat near me, was nodding in his
chair. They had the end of the car next
to the engine, and all of a sudden, while
I was looking at them from under the
vizor of my cap, both arose, stretched
themselves, and as the Sergeant started
for my end of the car, the other unlocked
the door and admitted twomen. Things
moved like lightning. Both of us saw
what was up, and as we sprang to our
feet every man in that car began shoot
ing. I can't say whether the light lasted
one minute or five, but when it ended I
had a flesh wouud in the left arm, a rake
across the cheek and, a bullet hole in my
cap. Graham had an ear split by a
bullet and another embedded in his
shoulder, and the car was in darknes9. I
struck a match, lighted a candle and
found we were alone. Not exactly
alone, but safe from further attack. The
Sergeant lay dead 011 his back, shot
through the head, and beyond him was
one of the men who had been admitted,
so near dead that he gasped his last as
we raised him up. The door was open,
and the other two had leaped from the
platform. One of them at least was
badly wounded, as a trail of bleod
proved.
The train had made its run by the
time we had sized up the situation, and
a doctor was put aboard to dress our
hurts as we continued the journey. Both
corpses were carried into St. Louis for
inquest and identification, but they could
not be identified. As you have surmised,
the paymaster's safe -was a dummy. It
did not contain one dollar. The whole
job was put up to get hold of express
money, and the fellows didn't propose to
give us any chance to save our lives by
giving it up. I think that one of the
robbers who jumped also came to his
death, as a man was next day found at
that spot who had been cut in fragments
under the wheels. Some parts of this
adventure reached the press, but the ex
press company hushed matters up in
every way possible, and in this effort they
were aided by the Government. It was
afterward said that every member ef the
gang was a Chicago crook, .and that the
man who personated the paymaster at
the office was the Sergeant aboard my
car.— New York Sun.
A Bird of Freedom's Fury.
An eagle attacked a peacock on the
farm of -Henry Iluber, near Baraboo,
Wis. A boy who tried to drive the bird
away was attacked in turn and was badly
hurt. Two men, who finally came to the
bojr's assistance, captured the eagle,
which measured nine feet from wing tip
to wing tip.
A martial strain is that which is put on
the drum-major's spine.
"GREASERS."
MEXICANS WHO LIVE ON OUR
SOUTHWEST BOIIDKU.
They arc Not All Had, and JJIVC a
Happy, Contented Life—Their
Primitive Husbandry
—A Dance.
Along a zone of our southwest border,
from the Gulf of California to Corpus
Christi, on the Texas coast, is found a
type of being that is almost an anomaly,
even among our own cosmopolitan classes.
The border Mexican, or "greaser,"' has
no nation, yet he is distinctly local. He
is the evolution of that arid and sun
kissed belt characterized by flora and
fauna as acrimonious and as shaggy as
himself and best exemplified by the
cactus, the coyote, and the burro. You
cannot accuse nature of making a mis
take in his creation, for he is an adapta
tion that rises superior to adversity. You
will find him picturesque and, when
better known, not at all bad. This
Mexican is far below the nation's repre
sentative, yet he is not the degraded peon
or serf of the land. He is rather what the
peon lias become in ths two generations
he has enjoyed the freedom of our Govern
ment, if not wiser, at least less servile,
lie is generally admitted to be the result
of a fusion for some centuries of the
Spaniard with that mild type of semi
civilized Indian of the Cortez conquests,
but is nearer the Spaniard, whose beauti
ful language, further softened into a dia
lect, he still retains. This may be due
to laziness, but is more probably from
the liquid movement of Indian speech
peculiar to some of the southern tribes,
as shown by the present language of the
Pinias and Maricopas of southern Ari
zona.
There are two classes of Mexican peas
ants, the Labradoes and the Kauchcros.
The former are the milder, simpler
people, found sprinkled along the small
canyons and valleys ou little plots of
bottom laud adjacent and irrigated by
simple or community ditches called
acequiaa, which lead from the streams,
winding along the bank in a gradual
way till the stream's lower level will per
mit. them finally to wander over the bot
tom. They bridge 110 arrovas, build 110
dams, arches or culverts, and use only
nature's level, water, to give the grade
required for their canals. In engineer
ing ability they are as far behind the
Aztecs, who ouce inhabited this valley,
as are the present Egyptians behind their
ancestors uuderM<* rs.
A plot of a 1 :res supports an en
tire family of dozen, exclusive of
dogs—as many jore. First, a crop of
melons and cebada (melons and barley);
later a crop of frejoles and calabazas
(Mexican beans and pumpkins). A little
pepper and onions and their commissary
is complete. The Rancheros have more
or less cattle, ,ponies, sheep or goats, are
less local in their tastes, and
are more < hardy, so that it is
among them that is -ometimes found
that outlaw element that has made
"Greaser" the syaonym for bandit and
has stamped the race as thieving and
treacherous. This character is partly the
result of a traditional sentiment—a spirit
of adventurous resistance to tyranny. On
the Mexican side a mau who evades their
outrageous taxes and customs is a hero;
one killed in an attempt to do so, a
martyr. The Goverment only is the
robber. The men are fine horsemen, of
the firm yet easy border seat, always
using that instrument of torture, the
bocada, or Spanish bit, in the control of
their ponies. Many are experts in tossing
the riata and some handle a revolver well.
A Pueblo scene is very characteristic.
Adobe buildings, thatched roofs, arbors
beneath which the stone jars left unglazed
for cooling water, and the stone hand
mill for grinding the corn for corn cakes,
called "tortillas." The conservatism of
this people would compare with that of
India. The agricultural methods are
those described in the Bible. Hay is
cut with a hoc, sometimes a hand knife
or a sickle; a bough whose forks em
brace the proper angle is their plow, and
their oxen are yoked by lashing a pole to
the base of their horns.
A fiesta is usually celebrated by a
"baile" or dance. If it be fall and the
night air be cool you will find this hop
inside a "jacal." Everything has been
removed from the house but a row of
"sillas" (chairs and boxes), placed
around the sides of the room, which is
lighted by a few beds of glowing coals
placed at intervals on the freshly-swept,
hard-packed earth floor, by a few can
dles cemented to brackets or projecting
adobe bricLs by their own wax, and by
Terms—sl.2s in Advance; $1.50 after Three Months.
the sta»-beams that ,■ sift through tha
roof and. ceiling. The coals
serve also%«s a stove'and free light lor
cigarettes. WThe music >will be given from
an orchestral composed of, a couple of
guitars, avid Kin, an accordion and one or
more harps. | There i are no • hop cards,
but the habitue can i tell you tin advance
what the will 'be—waltzes
alternating twitii theiMexican. redowa or
three-step la Jgalopa, a pplka and maybe
a square tdance or -two. At 12 o'clock
supper'is served'under amarbonof cot
tonwoodis, which shades the running
acequia. This (midnight lunch (consists
usually of? chicken, good coffoe, some
bad pastry ancß such strictly i Mexican
dishes as rchilis^con corno (translate lit
erally it—pepper seasoned
with meat), toinales, portillas< and encil
ladoes, familiar to all our first class
northern restaurants. After supper'danc
ing is rcsumedjtill day, .when all seek a
siesta.
I was surprised that' among a people
so tenacious.to custom in domestic mat
ters education should have made any
progress; yet most of"the children read
Spanish—especially the (girls.—PhiUulel
phia Times.
The Coreaii. Legation at Washinqten.
The members of the Chinese, Japanese
and Corcau,Legations Imve a great liking
for society. The three members of the
Corean, YeVWan Youg, Ye Cha Yan and
Kaug Sing, arc • especially fond of going
out. When they came here last winter,
says the Washington correspondent of
New York Tribune , they called every day
in the week and went to every luncheon,
tea and reception. Unwilling this year
to wait until the' formal beginning of
the season, they have already begun their
rounds. Only the Secretary, Ye Cha
Yan, can talk English, but they are all
pleasantly received by every ono except
the servants. They seem to have an
antipathy to these three Mongolians,in
their wide trousers, blue tunics and
steeple hats, which thoy never remove.
Their head-dresses denote their rank,
and it is the greatest iudignityito refer
to them. They have been aH over
•Washington, and it was only this week
they were disturbed. They»called in a
body at the house of a Snpremt Court
Justice on Monday. When they entered,
the butler, who chanced to lie uew, eyed
their cards with disfavor. As they were
about to enter the drawing-room door,
he planted himself squarely before them
and said:
"No genimen' are flowed in de parlor
with dey hats on."
The hostess rescued the' poor foreign
ers and their treasured hats from the in
censed butler.
Great visitors as the Corean men are
their wives are even greater. When they
are not calling they sit at the windows
of the legation and watch every street
incident with the greatest interest. One
of them was taken ill with a cold a short
time ago, and when a neighbor asked for
her her husband gravely replied:
"My wife she ' H at window to watch
procession gr. -TT» She catch the cold.
It is woman-like to sit at window," he
added, chuckling.
The good-heartod neighbor was inter
ested in the little Corean woman, and a
few days after she met a Corean who she
thought was the husband, and said:
"I hope your wife is better to-day."
"Yes, she better," he replied; "she
dead. Me a widow."
She had mistaken the widower of the
corps for the husband, as the Corenns to
American eyes are as alike as two
peas.
"The Devil's Coach-House."
The great daylight cavo iu New South
Wales, Australia, is the "Devil's Coach
house," an immense cavern, lighted from
the roof as well as the sides. At a height
of 200 feet in the roof there is a large
orifice fringed with trees, which gives it a
fine effect.
The floor is strewn with blocks of black
and gray marble, and the walls are partly
composed of black marble with white
veins.* The roof is fringed with stalac
tites, as are also the sides of the entrance,
and in several places there are stalagmites
covered with projections like pretified
sponge.
Pellucid drops at the ends of the stalac
tites illustrate the process of formation.
Some of them arc said to be twelve or
fifteen feet long, and they are in many
beautiful hues—shades of blue, salmon
color, delicate fawn, gray and white.
As the rocks are decorated with many
toned patches of moss, the whole arrange
ment of color in this cavern is wonder-
fully beautiful—combining a series ol
nature's lessons in the art of decorativr
design
NOUS.
FUN.
The best site for the World's Fair is
undoubtedly the mirror.
Some women like a whispered tale of
love, but a belle prefers a declaration
made in ringing tones.— Baltimore Ameri
can.
The old railroad contractor should bo
in a good physical condition, for he is
training nil his life.— Kearney Enter
prise.
The Indians are the largest land owners
in the country, but they have raised more
hair than potatoes, thus far.— Minneapolis
Journal.
A Morsel for the Dog.—Tramp—"l'm
nothin' but a bundle o' bones." Hired
Girl—"Here, Tige, go bury him."--Mun
sey's Weekly.
"I think your wife wants change."
"Change? Doctor, you don't know that
woman. Change will never do for her.
She needs a fortune."
Lioness—"l've been chasing a mis
sionary for about e'teen miles! Did you
see where he went, me lord?" Leo—
"Yes, my dear; he just stepped inside."
Puck.
• "What does a man know about a
woman's dress, anyway?" scornfully
asked Mrs. 15. "He knows where the
pocket isn't," was Mr. B.'s reply.—
IjOuistUle Journal.
Stern Parent—"Look here, I have just
been told that you received a thrashing
in school last week. I didn't know it at
the time." .Timmy—"l did, pa."—
Lawrence American.
She—"Sir, what do you mean by put
ting your arm around my waist?" He—
"Do you object?" She—"Mr. Arthur
Gordon, I'll give you just five hours to
remove your arm."— Boston Beacon.
Goose Grease for Membranous Croup.
Old-fashioned remedies are still the
hobby with many Connecticut people,
and they often cure where modern
therapeutics fail. Last week, in Bridge
port, a two-year old child was stricken
with membranous croup. A physician
was hastily summoned, an prescribed.
The child grew rapidly worse, and the
attending physician called in two of his
brethren to consult with him. The three
decided that death would soon result
unless the operation of tracheotomy was
resorted to. This the parents positively
refused to allow, and the physicians de
parted, saying the child would die before
morning. After they had retired several
women called, and, with the usual
feminine desire to do all they could to
help the afflicted parents, asked permis
sion to try their remedies. It was
granted, as the parents thought it would
do no harm, as the child would die in a
few hours anyway. The patient was
thoroughly wrapped up in flannels, and
his head and throat were rubbed with
goose grease. A dose of the stuff, mixed
with vinegar, was with difficulty forced
down the child's throat. In a short time
he vomited up a large portion of mucu
and broke up the clogging matter in the
throat. Being placed in bed he soon
went to sleep, and the next day he was
playing about the house, and appeared
to be far from dying.— New York Hun.
The Ice Harvest.
Ice making by machinery has not yet
come to such perfection as to drive out
of the South the old fashioned ice that is
gathered for that market in Maine.
While chatting with E. S. English, of
Portland, in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, he
said to nie: "Ice gathering is one of our
great winter industries in Maine. The
rivers and bays are lined with great ice
houses. The market for the ice extends
all down the Atlantic coast below New
York. Baltimore is a leading market.
The ice is sold there to the oyster houses.
Of late years many of the large oyster
concerns have put up ice houses in Maine
for themselves, and gather their own ice.
We supply the winter resorts of the
South with large quantities of ice, but
this season has been so poor with them
that the trade has been light with us. I
do not look for an abundant ice harvest
this winter, but there will be quantities
left over from previous years. The labor
of gathering ice has been reduced to a
mere nominal sum with us by the use of
machinery, the power for which is sup
plied by water. I know of one company
whose figures show that it puts ice on
board ship at a total expense of about
six cents a ton. But that is extremely
low."— New York Press.
Estimates on the cotton crop of
1889—90 have been made by 150 cottoii
firms at Memphis, Tcnu., and they aver
aire 7,178.174 bales.