KlSlf STITE NEW3 CONDENSED
COSTLY LAW SUIT.
Hsintln Asks fortlSt snd How Unit Uj
tl.OOO Com.
A remarkable case wu concluded at
Hi-aver the other day before JudKH
"Wilson. David Simpson of Rochester
was the executor of the estate of the
late rapt. J. C. Irwin of the same
town, and claimed 1125, for which he
alleges he at one time held C'apt. Ir
win's note, but In a Are, which con
mimed, the household (roods, the note
was destroyed. The defendants denied
that the note was ever Riven. Tha
rase had already been tried twice. The
first Jury disagreed; next the Jury gave
plaintiff verdict for 172 76. The de
fendants appealed to the superior
Murt, and that body remanded It back
for new trial. This trial has been on
all this week ,and the Jury brought In
verdict for the defendants to the ef
fect that they owed Simpson nothing.
The costs will now run conaldeiable
over $1,000.
The following Pennsylvania pensions
have been granted: Benjamin (). King,
Vest Middlesex; John P. Shannon,
Pittsburg; Joseph L. Caldwell, Bradens
vllle; John Gardner, Franklin; Jno. A.
Woodcock (deceased), Bellefonte; Joint
Teurht, Sheshquln; James H. Connor,
Latrobe; Jno. Fnrnsworth, Purchase
Line; Samuel T. Hoover, Wlnslow; Ben
jamin N. Akerly, Waderford; William
WrlRle, Jennerstown; John A. dinger,
Klttannlng; Marvin Champlln, Corls
vllle; Margaret Shannon, Pittsburg,
Kmeline McBride, Sayre; John Hicks,
Dunranfvllle; Simeon Brings," Covert;
David O. Shirley, Unity station: Chas.
-A. Glenn, Bellefonte; Mary K. Sumner,
Wllklnsburg; Kate Hoover, Center Hall;
William D. Kendall, father, Fayette
'lty: Margaretha Tlshart. Allegheny;
Benton Kirk, Clinton; Steven C.Johns
ton, Tionesta; Thomas Keely, Butler;
Kdward O. Greenfield, Beaver Center;
Jonathan Tucker, Washington; Judson
K. Wheeler, Corry; Jacob Sanders. In
dian Head; William T. Kennedy, Had
ley. Harry Clabaugh, a clerk In the Sec
ond National bank of Altoona when It
was looted by Cashier Gardner three
years ago, and who was arrested at the
time for having changed figures In hla
books at the cashier's dictation, com
mitted suicide a few days ago by shoot
ing himself. He had been partially de
mented most of the time since his un
fortunate connection with the bank
scandal. Of late he has been employ
ed as a clerk In the Pennsylvania rail
road storehouse at the Juniata shops.
This Is the second suicide aa a result
of the failure of this bank. Bank Ex
aminer William Miller shot himself
while trying to untangle the defaulting
. cashier's accounts.
Henry Grove died the other day at
Cnlontown from a fall. He was help
ing to thresh in the barn of Jefferson
Breaklron and fell through a trapdoor,
breaking hla shoulder blade and crush
ing his skull. He never regained con
sciousness. His son, David Grove, Is
unconscious from a wound on the head
received while he was dashing away on
a horse to summon a physician for his
fntiier. He is supposed to have been
thrown from his horse en route.
The assignee's report of the suspend
d banking house of Gardner, Morrow
& Co. of Hollldaysburg was filled In
the Blair county court recently. The
assets for distribution are $14,065. This
showing Indicates that the 600 depos
itors will receive 3 per cent, of the
amount of their claims. When the
Vank failed one year ago a notice post
ed on its front door Informed the cred
itors that they would be paid dollar for
dollar.
President and Mrs. McKlnley and
party arrived at Somerset from Canton
In a special car last Tuesday and paas
d the week at the summer residence
of the President's brother, Abner Mc
Klnley. A reception committee of 20
prominent citizens in carriages met the
distinguished visitors at the station
and escorted them over the principal
streets of the town to the McKlnley
, home. ,,
Chauncey Ames of Crawford county
was arrested by Venango county au
thorities for selling liquor without a
license at a recent harvest home picnic
held In the county. It Is claimed Ames
sold whisky put up in half pint bottles
tand labeled "liniment." Several shots
i were exchanged between Ames and the
authorities before the man was cap-
. lurea.
John Lancaster arrived at Irwin the
other night from North Missouri. He
and his family made the entire dis
tance of over 1,600 miles In a prairie
schooner. Mr. Lancaster started with
two teams, but sold one while en route.
He also swapped horses several times,
but got here all right and will locate
In town.
Encouraged by the good prices of the
year for wheat, the farmers of Frank
lin county are preparing to largely In
crease their wheat acreage. No less
than a dozen farmers brought wheat
to be exchanged for fertilisers. Local
buyers paid 4 cents a few days ago,
the highest price has been 97 cents.
Lewis Salvatorl was smothered In a
ewer trench at Scranton a few days
ago. Salvatorl was a laborer and was
engaged in digging at the bottom of
the lt-foot ditch, when the sides caved
In, burying him. It required over an
hour to reach him, and then Salvatorl
was dead.
While on their way to school a few
days ago a number of children were
truck by a Pennsylvania railroad
frulght train on the Everson crossing
and Gertie Graff, 10 years old, wan in
stantly killed and several others were
seriously injured.
Llxzle Fleehman, of Oil City, was
drowned at Hoc k wood on the Alle
gheny, three miles up the river a few
days ago. She swam across the river
and was about half way back on the
return trip, when she sank in eight
feet of water. Her body was recovered.
A most distressing accident has been
reported from Conemaugh. A 11-year-old
son of Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Fisher
fell into a vault and was drowned a
few days ago. It was half an hour be
fore the body could be recovered.
Cyrus Carnahan, of Bandy Lake, has
discovered a non-explosive compound
by which a gas light can be produced
by attaching a gas burner to any ordi
nary lamp and filling the lamp with
the compound.
Marie, aged E, daughter of H. J.
Steele, New Castle, ran a nail In her
foot, had lockjaw and died after terri
ble suffering.
f During a playful duel with wooden
words between Willie Davis and
Charles Mayburry at Biiaron tho. other
day, 14-year-boys, the latter received
a thrust which destroyed the sight of
one of his eyeB.
Gov. Hastings has granted a respite
for 60 days to Theodore Elsenhower of
Pottsvllle, who was to have been hang
ed October 7. Application has been
made for a commutation of sentence.
.A 7-year-old son of John Weppler of
Latrobe is slowly bleeding to death
from slight cut In the foot. Weppler
has lost three children by bleeding to
death, physicians' skill Is being baffled.
Tbe hotel Marion, Jeannette, will be
Mil ty to sheriff.
i mm sen n.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS
FOR SEPTEMBER 19.
Lesson Textt "Pant's Address to the
Eplteslan Elder," Arts -3S
Golden Textt Aets l an Commen
tary on the t,eion by Rev D, M, Stearns
M. "And now, behold, 1 go bound In tha
spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the
tilings that shall befall me there." Aftet
the uproar at Rphesns Fanl went to Mace
donla and Greece, then returned through
Macedonia to Asia, and, aiming, lfpossibln,
to be at Jerusalem by Pentecost, he tarried
a little at Miletus and sent to Ephesus for
the elders of tbe church to come and see
him. Our lesson Is part of his address to
these elders. He reminded them that, serv
ing the Lord with all humility and In many
trials, he had both publMy and privately
taught both Jews and Greeks repentance
toward God and faith toward our Lord
Jesus Christ.
23. "Have that the Holy Ghost wttnessoth
In every elty, saying that bonds and afflic
tions abide me." The Lord had said to An
anias, "I will show him how great things
he must suffer for My nnmo's snke" (Arts
lx 111), and He snld to the apostles, "In the
world ye shall have tribulation" (John xvi,,
83).
24. "Tlut none of these things move me."
He thought of nothing but of magnifying
('hrlst ( Thtl. I., 20), ready to be bound and
Imprisoned and to die for the name of the
Lord Jesus, If thus God would be more
glorified (Acts xxl., 13). He wis Intrusted
with the gospel of the grace of God, and he
fearlessly lived It and spoke it day by day
under all elreumstannes, not as pleasing
men, but God who trleth our hearts (I
These. II., 4).
28. "And now, behold, t know that ye all,
among whom I have gone preaching the
kingdom of God, shall see my face no
more." The last we hear of Paul in this
book he is In Rome a prisoner, but ho is
fireaehlng the kingdom of God, and teach
ng those things which concern the Lord
Jesus Christ (Ants xxvlil., 81). Thus he was
one with Him who had chosen him, for in
acts t,,8, we find that our Lord Jesus dur
ing the forty days between His resurrection
and ascension spoke of the things pertain
ing to the kingdom of God.
26. "Wherefore I take you to record this
day that I am pure from the blood of all
men." He said In II Cor. Til., 2, "We have
wronged no man,. we have corrupted no
man, we have defrauded no man." Hehnd
ought to live as an embassador tor Christ,
In Christ's stead, beseeching men to be
reconciled to God (II Cor. v., 20), and he
tiad been, by tbe grace of God, such a faith
ful witness that the blood of none to whom
be ever testified could be required at bis
aand (Esek. xxxlll., 7-9).
27. "For I have not shunned to declare
into you all the counsel of God." All that
Paul has on hand to pass on to others is of
Sod. He preaches the gospel of the grace
if God, and the kingdom of God, and the
counsel of God, to gather out and to build
up the church of God, and in It all he alms
jnly to please God. He spoke tbe word
faithfully and diminished not a word (J or.
(xvl., 2).
28. "Feed tho olmrch of God which He
lath purchased with Hlsown blocd." There
a no redemption but by the blood of Christ,
oy which alone we renelve the forgiveness
f sins (F.ph. I., 6, 7; Rev. 1., 6; v., B; Heb.
Ix., 22), and each one who truly receives
she Lord Jesus, trusting only In His finished
srork, becomes a part of the church of God,
whether he ever becomes part of nny church
n earth or not. Now, being saved, It is
:he privilege of every saved one to unite
with some company of God's people called
l church, but they ought to be sure that It
is a church where their souls will be fed
with the word of God, for nothing else will
irnly nourish the soul (I Pet, 11., 2; v., 2;
fob xxiii., 12; Jer.xv., 16).
29. 80. "For I know this, that after my
lopartlng shall grievous wolves enter la
tmong you, not sparing the flock." Hlnce
she serpent slandered God in Eden there
lave always been those who follow ulm,
leeklng the destruction of souls; some
;imes they seem bent simply upon the ruin
f people, and sometimes It Is to get follow
ers for a person or a doctrine or a sect.'
81. "Therefore watch and remember,
that by the space of three years I ceased
tot to warn every one night and day with
'.ears." Paul had no fear for the loss of
iny soul that had truly received tbe Lord
lesus; his words concerning them are al
most as strong as our Lord's own words
.'Phil. 1.. 6: 1 Cor. 7. 8: John x.. 27-20). but
tie did tear lest they might have a knowl
edge of Him without truly receiving II tin
(Heb. vl.,4-6; x., 26), and also lest, having
truly received Him, they might lose their
works and wages (I Cor. ill., 14, 15; Ix., 27);
hence bis earnest admonition to "take
heed" and "watch."
82. "And now, brethren, I oommend you
to God and the word of His grace, which is
tble to build you up," When our Lord wai
about to leave His dlsolples, he prayed th
Father (as He said to Mary, "My Fathei
and your Father, My God and your God"
John xx., 17), that He would keep from
evil those whom He had given Htm, and
that He would sanctify them through th
truth, His word (John xvll., 11,15,17).
And when He said, "I have given them Tlij
word, tbe words which Thou gavest M
(John xvll., 8, 14), bo must have believed
that these words were tne very nest tnraa
that He eould give them. In nnothei
place He said, "The words that I sneak
unto you they are spirit, and they are life"
(John vl., 63).
88. "I have coveted no man's sliver oi
gold or apparel." The people testified ol
Samuel, "Thou hast not defrauded us not
oppressed us; neither hast thou taken
aught of any man's band" (I Bam. xli., 8),
To the Thessalonians Paul wrote, remind
ing them of his labor night and day that
be might not be a burden to any one (I
These. H 0, 9).
84. "Yen, ye yourselves know that these
hands have ministered unto my necessities
and to them that were with me." He was
very grateful for all gifts from the Lord's
people Kt& speaks of such as "an odor of
a sweet smell, a saorinue aooeptanie, well
Pleasing to God."
85. "Remember the words of the Lord
Jesus, bow He said. It is more blessed to
ffive than to reeelve," DerhaDS referring to
sueb teaoblng of our Lord as is found in
IjUkevl., 80; xlv.. is. 14, or posslDly refer
ring to some unrecorded sayings of oar
liord, uoa so loveu tnat lie gave ms
only begotten Hon; tne Hon or Uod so lovea
that He gave Himself. The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ was manifest In His be
coming poor for us that we through His
poverty might be rloh. The love that He
manifested In laying down His life tor us
should make us ready to lav down out
lives for others (II Cor. vlli., ;I John III.,
16). But most of us are more ready to re
eelvethan to-give, and so John ill., 16, is
much more familiar than I John 111., 16,
and I Tim. 1., 15, than Titus ill., D.-Lewoa
U el par,
Time Purges Away the Alloy.
11T . I " attu. m nAJu,n ..lia.
"an old coin, a silver denarius, all coated
and crusted with green and purple rust. I
called it rust, but I was told that it was
oooner: the alloy thrown out from the silver
until there was none left within, the silver
was all pure. It takes ages to do it, but it
does get done. Houls are like that. Home
thing moves in them slowly, till tbe debase
ment is an thrown out. some aay pernaiM
the very turuUh shall be taken on"." Well,
there is thin ullov. this tarnish, in all of us.
and the education of life is to purge it all
away by sorrows, by disappointments, by
failures, dv luaameuis.
"By llresfar Uercer than are blown to prove.
Alia purge me silver ore auuiieraie.
Canon Jfarrar.
The harbor of Rio Janeiro has 60
miles of anchorage, and Is the finest in
the world.
MINING OUR
BLACK
I have just spent a few day at the
United States geological survey In
Washington, writes Frank O. Carpen
ter, looking tip facts about coal min
ing. The geologists know more abottt
coal than any one else. They can tell
yon juit how the world looked when
ooal was made, and they describe how
there were ages of luxuriant growth
consisting of pine trees, fir trees and
all kinds of mosses and plants, which,
dying down year after year, became a
great matted bed of vegetation. They
tell yon how this bed was bottled up
by being covered up with rocks and
how it finally turned into coal. They
can tell yon junt how this happened
and how long it came to pass before
Noah was n baby or Cain killed little
Abel outside the Garden of Eden.
Men lived for thousands of yenra
npon the earth before they knew that
eoal was good to burn. Alt the iron
made before the days of the middle
ages was with charcoal, and a fairy
tale is told in Belgium of how a poor
blacksmith discovered the first black
diamonds. He found that he could
not get along, for it took so much time
to make his charcoal for his furnace.
He was just about to commit suicide
when a white-bearded old man ap
peared at his shop and told him to go
to the mountains near by and dig out
the black earth and burn it. He did
so, and was able to make a horseshoe
at one forging. This is the Belgian
story of the discovery of conl. The
first coal found lu America was near
Ottawa, Illinois. It is mentioned by
Father Hennepin, a French explorer,
who visited there in 1079. The first
mines worked were about Richmond,
Va. This eoal was discovered by a
boy while out flailing.
He was hunting for crabs for bait in
a small creek, and thus stumbled upon
the outcroppings of the James River
ooal bed. Our anthracite conl fields
have perhaps paid better than any
other coal fields of the world. They
were discovered by a hunter named
Nicho Allen, when George Washing
ton was President. Allen encamped
one night in the Schuylkill regions,
kindling his tire npon some black
stones. He awoke to And himself al
most roasted. The Btones were on fire,
and anthracite was burning for the
first time. Shortly after this a com
pany was organized to sell anthracite
coal. It was taken around to the black
smiths, but they did not know how to
use it, and it was very unpopular.
Borne of it was shipped to Philadelphia
by a Colonel Hhoemaker and sold
there. It was not at all satisfactory,
and a writ was gotten out from the
city authorities, denouncing the
colonel as a knave and scouudrel for
trying to imposed rocks upon them as
eoal. Still Philadelphia has largely
been built up by anthracite conl, and
SO, 000,000 tons of this coal were taken
out of the Pennsylvania fields in 181)0.
since then some of these coal lands
have been sold as high as $1200 an
acre, and the Philadelphia and Read
ing Company in 1871 paid $10,000,000
for 100,000 acres of ooal land in this
region. As a sample of the amount of
business done in anthracite ooal, the
Delaware and Hudson Canal Company
paid $5,000,000 in one year for mining,
and their eoal sales that year amounted
to more than $10,000,000.
It is hard to estimate the enormous
amount of money the United States
makes out of its ooal. We get more
than three times as much out of our
ooal mines as out of our gold mines,
and the silver metal is not in it with
the black diamonds. There is a little
region in eastern Pennsylvania, about
a hundred and twenty-five miles from
Philadelphia and not more than two
hundred miles from New York, which
produces every year eoal to a greater
value than all the gold mines of the
Rookies, Canada and Alaska. It is
our anthracite ooal fields which turn
out betweon 50,000,000 and 60,000,000
tons of anthracite every year. We
have in addition to this a hundred and
thirty odd million tons of bituminous
ooal annually. We have, in short, the
biggest and best ooal measures on the
globe. It is estimated that our ooal
east of the Rooky Mountains covers
192,000 square miles, and within tbe
past few years oonl has been found in
many parts of the Far West. Colorado
will eventually be a great manufactur
ing State on account of its ooal.
Utah has large ooal fields, and so
have the States of Montana, Washing
ton and Wyoming. We are now get
ting something like 20,000,000 tons of
ooal a year out of Indiana, Kentucky
aud Illinois, and the great Appalach
ian field prodnoes more than four
times this amount. There is more
good burnable earth in tbe Appal ach-
ian Mountain, than anywhere else in
the world. Tbe ooal is easy to get at,
the veins are thick, and in some mines
they are almost on tbe top of the
1 ground. They are better than any
other ooal fields in this reepeot, with
one single exception. This Is the new
IN AN ENQLIBH MINE,
DIAMONDS.
ooal field of Alaska, which, one of the
geological survey man tells me, comes
right out over the water, so that the
coal can be dug down and almost fall
into the ships below. This Alaskan
coal will probably be nsetl to supply
the Pacific trade, and its importance
will be appreciated when it is remem
bered that the largest fleet that sails
the Pari Ho is the ooal fleet. - Most of
the coal from that region comes from
Australiaand Japan. Much Australian
coal is brought to Han Francisco. Dur
ing my travels in Japan I visited one
oonl mine which had fifty miles of tun
nels under the sea, and I learned that
the Japanese were making a great deal
of money out of their oonl.
They were shipping it to China, not
withstanding the fact that the geolo
gists say that China has some of the
largest oonl fields of the world. I
doubt the extent of the Chinese fields.
The people are thrifty, and it is curi
ous that they do not use the eoal if
they have it. They are among the
most economical of people, and in the
different Chinese cities ooal is so valu
able that it is ground to dust and then
mixed with dirt, being sold in balls
about the size of a biscuit. It is in
teresting to know the coal fields of
tho world, as estimated by the geolo
gists. Here they are:
China, 200,000 square miles; United
Stntes east of the Rockies, 192,000
square miles; Canada, 00,000 square
miles; India, 85,600 square miles;
New South Wales, 24,000 square
miles; Russia, 20,000 square miles;
United Kingdom, 11,500 square miles;
Spain, 5000 square miles; Japan, 5000
square miles, France, 20HII square
miles; Austria-Hungary, 1790 square
miles; Germany, 1770 square miles;
Belgium, 510 square miles.
From the above table it will be seen
that the English coal area is small
Still England has for years been the
centre of the ooal production of the
world, and for years it mined more
than half the total amount used by the
world. The United States is now
probably ahead of it, and we are in
creasing our product every year. The
English coal veins are thin. The
miners have to lie on their sides to
work many of tbera. They have dug
out tne surface ooal ana they are now
working at great depths. One English
vein, fourteen and a hull inches wide,
is already down over twelve hundred
feet. Such a vein would not be woi ked
to any great depth in America. The
Newcastle ooal field, which is the rioh
est in England, has veins from three
to six feet thick, while the Wales ooal
veins are less than three feet in thick
ness. Some of our Pennsylvania an
thracite veins run from thirty feet to
sixty feet feet in thickness, while the
Pittsburg bituminous ooal veins are
from eight to sixteen feet think. At
the present rate of mining it is esti
mated that all the English ooal will be
exhausted in 212 'years if it is worked
down to 4000 feet, and this will be 113
feet deeper than any of the English
mines now worked. Notwithstanding
the enormous amounts of oonl which
we have taken out of our anthracite
region it is eutimated that we oould go
on at the present rate for 610 years.
As England goes further down her
ooal mining will becomo more expen
sive, and her days as a manufacturing
Nation are, consequently, numbered.
Already we surpass her a great deal in
manufacturing, and there is no doubt
that we, with our vast supplies of ooal
and iron, are to be the chief manu
facturing Nation of the future.
Our Appalachian ooal fields alone
oould supply the world with fuel for
centuries. They are the largest and
richest known, and they are so situated
that the coal can be shipped from them
long distances by water. From Pitta
burg ooal can be carried for eight-
een thousand miles on navigable
streams, and the, grate fires of the
South blaze with the rays from tbe
blaok diamonds from Pennsylvania.
The Ohio River is the great ooal obnte
for the Mississippi valley. The ooal
U carried down it iu weak barge
BELGIAN MINERS.
pushed by little steamers, and so fast
ened together that a single steamer
ill push acres of ooal. Loads of
twenty thousand tons are taken. , A
vast amount of ooal is carried on the
canals and the great lakes form one of
tbe chief highways of the eoal trafflo.
The amount of coal carried on the
railroads is almost beyond conception.
The Philadelphia and Reading has
more than fifty thousand ooal cars,
which are dragged by nine hundred
AN EXPLOSION.
coal locomotives. These cars are kept
busy in carrying anthracite coal. The
Pennsylvania Railroad employs more
than seventy thousand cars for the
movement of its oonl and coke trade,
and te Central Railroad of New Jer
sey carries about five million tone ot
anthracite ooal every year. More ooal
Is bandied at New lork than at any
other place in the world except Lon
don, more than fifteen million tons be
ing used or transshipped at that point
annually.
Ona would tnink that there would
be a lot of money in coal for tbe miners.
There is not, and it is a question
whether the present strike will materi
ally better matters. As far as strikes
have gone in the pant, they have been
against the working men. Some years
ago Carroll D. Wright, tbe United
States Commissioner of Labor, figured
up tbe profit and loss of ten years of
striking in all branches of labor. He
estimated that the employes during
this time lost fifty-nine million dol
lars, an average of forty dollars to each
striker involved, while the employers
lost a little more than half the amount,
or thirty million dollars.
Tbe coal miners live as poorly as
any other class of workmen in the
country. For the most part they are
in dirty villages, with narrow streets,
their houses blackened by ooal smoke.
In many mining districts the houses
belong to the company owning the
miues, and the miners pay rent for
them, so that when a strike ooours and
they are out ot money they are given
orders to kave. Many of the houses
have nothing more than two rooms
and a kitchen, and in some places tbe
only stores at which tbe miners can
trade are the company's stores. With
all this the American miners are far
better off than the miners of other
countries. The ooal miners of Japan
reoeive only a few cents a day. Both
women and men work in the mines,
and the foreign ships, which get coal
at Japan are always loaded by women,
who pass tbe ooal up the sides of the
ship in baskets.
Women are still nsed in the eoal
mines of Belgium. They dress itr
trousers, just like the men, and they
do mnoh the same work. They help
load the coal, and in some of tbe mines
they drag the oars from the tunnels to
the bottom of tne shaft, lu. Bimonin,
a Frenchman, from whose book on, un
derground life the illustrations of this
letter are taken, describes the horror
of their life in the mines. For a long
times women were used in this way
in England and Scotland, and it was
not until twenty-five years ago that
parliament passed an aot keepingtbem
out.
Children are employed in the Bel'
glum mines to-day. The English and
Scotch used them for years. They
were taken into tne mines at seven,
eight and nine years of age, and were
kept there until they grew up. The
English ooal veins are very thin and
the tunnels are not more than a yard
high. These children were used as
beasts of burden. They were har
nessed to little carts filled with eoal,
and had to crawl along on all fours
with belts about their waists and
ohains between their legs dragging
the ooal carts to the surface. Women
became deformed by this work. They
were dressed in trousers and shirts
like men. They learned to fight And
swear like the men and became bad
characters. At the age of fifty they
were usually worn out. In Scotland
young women were employed to carry
the ooal on their backs out of the
mines. They dragged the coal to the
foot of the ladders and then loaded it
on their backs, holding it there by a
strap around the forehead while they
climbed up tbe ladders to get it to the
surface. They worked from twelve to
fourteen hours a day, and would do
work, it is said, which the men would
not do, tramping through tbe water
with their loads of ooal. Aooording to
law women cannot be employed in our
mineB.
Boys, however, have been largely
used. They drive the mules, and iu
the anthracite regions they pick over
the ooal, taking the slate aud refuse
out ot it. They get from fifty to sixty
cent a day for bending over the dusty
ooal, roasting in the summer and al
most freezing in the winter. They
are frequently hurt, though it is by uo
means as bad witn our omiaren ai
with those of Europe a few years ago,
when in one investigation it was
stated: "That they seldom slept with
whole skin, and that their backs
were out with knooking against the
roof and sides of the tunnels, and that
the walking in th water covered their
I feet with f ering torts."
Have yon ever been down in a eoat
miner If so, you can appreciate soma
of the dangers of mining. A ooal mine
is like a great catacomb. It is city
underground, the walls of whioh in
many cases ate npheld by timbers.
Now and then yon come to rooms out
of which the ooal has been ont. The
coal is taken down with blasting pow
der, and there is danger of the wall
falling and of the minora being
ornshed.
There is also danger from fire damp.
or the union of the gases of the mine
brought together by the light from,
a lamp or candle. This causes a great
explosion. It comes like a stroke of
lightning, and with a clap of thunder.
As the explosion oconrs a roaring
whirlwind of flame goes through t he
tunnels, pulling down the timbers and
caving in the walls. It burns every
thing within reach. Miners are
blinded, scorched and sometime
burned to cinders. Hundreds have
often been killed at a time by such
explosions, and by the flood of ear
bouio sold gas which follows them.
The statistics show that even in tho
United States one miner is killed for
every hundred thousand tons of ooal
mined, and those who are injured
number many times this proportion.
TWO FOWLS WITH SEVEN LEGS.
A New Terfcer Has a Three-Legged Roos
ter and Uuadrnped Ben.
Two freak fowls are owned by C.
Stern, of the Third Street Market,
East . River, New York City, whioh
are believed to be unique in their
way.
They were bought by their owner in
Washington Market. The rooster.
which is a year old, has three legs.
FREAK FOWLS.
the extra "scratoher" (which, by tha
way, is useless for that purpose or any
other) sticking out behind, between)
the other two.
The hen, whioh is about a year and
a half old, can boast of four legs,, two
which she walks on, being in their
natural places, tha extra two growing
out of her left side.
The strange feathered creatures
have been seen by hundreds of
ohioken fanoiers.
America's Oddest Bock.
Near West Superior, Wis., on ft
steep, rocky bluff stands one of tho
most freakish objects to be found in
the world. It consists of a ledge of
solid granite, whioh bears most gro
tesque resemblance to a human head.
Its cavernous mouth is partly open
and its features are distorted with a
hideous grin. This monstrosity is
DBVIIS RBAD.
known as "Devil's Head." Frospeo
tors rub a spot above the eyes, whioh
is said to bring them luck. The In
diaus have a legend concerning the
"skull rock" to the effect that it ia
nothing more or less than the petrified
head of a great warrior who came front .
their "happy hunting ground" to pro
tect the tribes of the Northwest against
extermination by the whites.
Tbe largest mass of pure rook salt in
the world lies under the province of
Oalioia, Hungary, It is known to bo
550 miles long, twenty broad nd 2G0
feet la tulokuess.