A FARMHOUSE MYSTERY fATHER IMPRISONED SON FROM BABYHOOD UNTIL MANHOOD. Taught Nothing, Ignorant of Right ami Wrong— Discovered During Funeral of Father, Who Sought to Abandon Mother—Spcukg Only a Few Words. "The astonishing case or a mail ab solutely without moral sense, without any conception of right or wrong, ■without any knowledge of the appear ance of man or the animals of the sky, lias been engaging the attention of sci entists, educators and philanthropists at St. Joseph, M 0.," says a St. Joseph correspondent. "A young man twenty-three years old, presumably the sou of Jacob Die trich, was found immured In a stone i cell, where he had been kept ever since he was born. "Both in mind and body lie was found to be far less developed than any common domestic animal. He had no idea that It was wrong to hurt or kill any human being or animal. He had no idea that it was wrong to steal or to take anything that pleased ' him. In short, he had no moral sense. "Even his physical senses were large ly undeveloped. When a lighted candle was shown him he uttered a childish cry of pleasure, and seized the iiaiue with his hand. It was some' time be fore he realized that it pained him. "He could hardly walk, and he could r.ot run at all. When lie attempted to <lo the latter ho fell down. He had an unconquerable aversion to sitting in a chair. He insisted in sprawling on the floor. "Tlie appearance, probably the very existence of animals was unknown to him. When a pretty little kitten was held up to him he jumped back in fright. When the kitten lifted up a paw playfully the man ran away and fell down. "He could speak only one phrase -distinctly, and that was 'Oil, John! Oh, John!' He is always repeating this. It is supposed that he over heard ids father using these words. He eouhl repeat some of the sounds used by the farmers in calling home their cattle, these having been loud enough to reach him in his cell. He could also Imitate some of the noises made by animals, hut he had no knowl edge of the animals themselves. "He was very much pleased with a ■child's rattle, a drum and some other things, that were given him to play with. Those that made a noise pleased him most. "Several clever men and women are now trying to educate him. He makes remarkable progress in some tilings, and remarkably little in others. It is not likely that he will ever he a normal man. "The striking similarity of this ense to the historic one of Kaspar Hansel' has impressed many people. Kaspar .' Hauser, it may be recalled, was found I at Nuremburg, Bavaria, in 1828. He had no speech, no knowledge of tlie outside world, no recollection of his previous life. Investigation showed pretty clearly that he was the sou of the Grand Duke Karl of Baden, who had been kidnapped by his uncle, the Margrave Ludwig, and kept in 1111 un derground cell all his life. The kidnap per secured the throne. "Tlie exact reason why the Missouri unfortunate was immured is not yet known. It seems that ids father, Ja cob Dietrich, came from Germany and married at St. Joseph. After a time his first wife followed him from Ger many and her child was born in ids house. She died, and out of resent ment nguinst the mother, it is said, he abut the poor creature up. "On the high hills that overlook the Missouri River in a district known as 'Cracker's Neck,' stands the old farm house in which Dietrich lived for more than forty years. It is in an isolated r place and there Is no public road near It. The heavy growth of trees was never cut from the hills surrounding the Dietrich liomo and for months at u time nobody went near the old farm house. During hia lifetime Dietrich had no close friends, and few asso ciates. The old man died a few weeks ago, and neighbors want to his house to at tend tlie funeral. A dozen men and a few women went there for the purpose of rendering any assistance possible" in giving their eccentric neighbor a de tent burial. It was then that tlie discovery was made that Dietrich had a prisoner in tlie stoue room that ad joined the old farm house on tlie rear. "The prisoner was take out. He was a man twenty-three or twenty four years old. llis appearance was more like that of a wild animal than a ■man. The abject terror that seized tills l/ pcor creature when ho beheld (lie faces * of the men who found him was a spec inele that simple farmers will never forget. "The creature found in the stoue room back of Dietrich's house had long matted hair on ills head, and a heard that covered the lower part of his face. He was dressed in east off clothing, all in rags. Tlie limbs and body were unnatural in their growth. At first lie crouched in a corner and whined like a frightened animal, but in time lie stood face to faee with the first of ids kind that lie had ever seen. "There is no doubt that lie had been a prisoner since early childhood, and, perhaps, since birth. Nobody in tlie neighborhood bad ever seen tlie young man before, and older people did not know that there was ever a child at Dietrich's bouse since tlie one born twenty-three years ago, of which they had heard. They leved the child A long since dend and buried, or sent to some of Dietrich's relations in Germany. "The stoue room stands on sloping -aground at the rear of the house, but T the floor of the prison is on a level wltli that part of tile bouse In which Dietrich lived and is connected with It by a passage leading from his room. Through a slit in the heavy oaken door Dietrich' evidently passed food and water to the prisoner. The cell is seven by nine feet. "The prison room contained no ar ticle of furniture. A liea'p of straw and rags iu the corner served as a bed. The key of the lock on the only door leading into the room was found in Dietrich's room. "The finding of the-prisoner was ac cidental and had it not been that two of the men at the funeral went into Dietrich's room tlie man in the stone prison might have been left to starve to death. These two men heard a sound like the whining of a dog that appeared to be very close to tliein. The body of Dietrich lay iu the front part of the house and tlie small proces sion was almost ready to start to the graveyard with it. Seeing a key hang ing on the wall and noticing the heavy door leading into the stoue room one of the men unlocked it and swung the door open. "Before them stood the poor fellow, apparently in a starving condition. The prisoner had not been fed for many days, during tlie lust Illness and after the death of Dietrich. "A brother of Dietrich, in Texas, had been notified of bis death, and arrived a few days after tlie funeral. He be lieves that the young man will learn to talk, and that lie may yet acquire a good education. He has a subject for physical and psychological study such as lias seldom been known ill the world before, and has expressed his determination to right tlie wrongs committed by his brother so far as may lie iu his power." bile Made Her Wants Known. A well-known citizen of Milwaukee who resides just beyond the confines of the city, where lie is able to combine the ' utilities of urban life with his suburban surroundings, recently en gaged a French maiden of uncertain years and more uncertain antecedents as a domestic in his family. And then lie strutted before bis friends iu the proud consciousness of having a French cook at ills couniry villa. Tills well known citizen also lias a son, a boy of eighteen; one of those rollicking, good-natured fellows, full of fun and laughter. Recently his strapping boy arose at C a. in. to do the chores, curry the horse and fodder the cows, when he was met upon the threshhold of the kitchen by the French cook, who, with a tin kettle iu one hand, and a tablespoon in the other, began to rattle the tinware and ex claim : "Coif aI" "Colfa!" "What's tlie matter with you?" ex claimed the boy in astonishment. But the answer came back in meas ured tones, with tinkling tinware as an accompaniment: "Coffa!" "Coital" When the boy had about concluded that tlie woman had lost her reason and become a lunatic of tlie most danger ous class, and was making tracks to get out of tlie way, she squatted down In the corner, jumped up and danced about the room with the accompani ment: "Clack-clack-clack I Clack-n-dnck! Clack-clack-clack! Clnek-n-dnck!" Then he grasped the situation in all its fullness of detail. The French cook wanted nn egg to settle tlie coffee. And she got it.— Milwaukee Sentinel. Gypsy Knowledge of the Future. "It seems but little sliort of the mi raculous," says tlie writer of a most in teresting article on Gypsies, in Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly, "to have the hidden history of one's life read so per fectly by litter staugers, but tlie means by which they make it appear tlint they do so is not entirely palmistry, which, regarded as a science, has little part iu Gypsy fortune telling. Romanys gather every possible bit of informa tion about the inhabitants of the neigh borhood where they happen to he so journing, by judicious questioning of servants and neighbors, and hoard the treasure in their marvelous memories. Add to this the fact that their naturally keen powers for observation hnve been trained for centuries to read character and life-history from the face, that certain generalities always obtain with certain types of hands and faces, that general facts may apply to any one's past history, anil that only 'what comes to pass' is remembered out of the mass of information given one, and you have the key to their apparent un canny knowledge of past and present." T?ie Americanizing of Scotland. "The climax of all the Americanism we saw in Europe came 011 tlie last morning of our stay iu Edinburgh, when we went to tlie Castle at the proper hour to see the famous Black Watch drill," writes "The Dominie" in the Ladles' Home Journal. "When the soldiers lined up on the east side of the Plaza where there were just 300 Scots, while on the west side stood full 000 American tourists to watch them. Instead of dirks and halbreds, which we went to see, we noticed titles made in Springfield. We watched tlicm drill with tactics adopted from West Point, and when we looked for bag pipes, and listened to be assured that •The Campbells are Coming.' a brass band wearing uniforms cut in New York, and playing 011 instruments bought in Chicago, struck up one of Sousa's latest marches." A Remarkable Heard. Montlucon baa an old gentleman of seventy-six with a bean] ten feet ten and one-half laches long, anil a mus tache stretching over more than a yard and a half. I The rotation of the earth determines the length of the day, and may be regarded as one of tlie most Impor tant elements in astronomical science. It serves as a universal measure of time, and forms the standard of com parison for the revolutions of the ce lestial bodies, for all ages past and to come. It is proposed to project a tliirteen- Inch stream of light from the sea to the sky, which will he visible forty miles away. The electric lights on the lightship now on Diamond shoal can only be seen thirteen miles. The searchlight apparatus will bi> arranged between two mast-heads, and the roll ing of the ship will produce a distinc tive wavering light to be reflected from the sky. Remarkable results linve been at tained in the explorations at Abydos during the past year. The consecu tive order of seventeen kings has been established and the foundations of Egyptian history settled on a firm basis. The historic character of King Mena has been demonstrated and a long line of a cozen kings after liini has been fixed. The explorers have seen and handled the gold, crystal and ivory with his name and engraving and even the kings preceding him are now better known than half the Saxon kings of England. The United States Geological Survey has discovered that abundant waters flow beneath tho vast lava-plains of southern Idaho. Streams pouring down from the mountains disappear on reaching the previous surface of tlie plains, hut far down the walls of can yons. Some of the springs, according to Professor Israel C. Russell, "are literally large enough to float a steam boat." The Geological Survey is locating these bidden strenms in order to determine where deep wells may best be driven to fertilize the new drought stricken plains that cover tho region of lost waters. Somewhat sim ilar conditions exist in parts of Colo rado, Wyoming and the Dakotas. Professor Scott, of Princeton, calls the attention to tlie fact that whereas dif ferent kinds of birds sing the songs peculiar to their respective species, certain individuals develop varieties of their own,so that the close listener can recognize their personal song. In il lustration, Professor Scott tells the life story of two Baltimore orioles, taken by him from tho nest of their birth when they were about five days old and brought up in captivity. They developed a novel method of song, and four other young orioles, afterward "isolated from wild representatives ot their own kind and associated with these two who had invented the new song, learned It from them and never sang lu any other way." The United States Coast and Geo detic Survey has recently carried out a series of experiments to determine the difference of longitude between the lightship on Nantucket Slionls and the shore, forty-eight miles distant. It was possible to secure chronograpliic records of the chronometer beats and the signals from the ship and to elimi nate the lag of the Instruments by causing the chronometer break to ex cite the coherer and obtain new chrono grapliic records. Time observations were made and the first determination of longitude by wireless telegraphy were obtained. (Tho first determina tion of longitude by land telegraphs was made between Washington and Baltimore in 1844, and the method is today specifically named "American"). For work among islands like those of the Alaskan archipelago the new wire less methods are likely to be of great value. Erratic Squan Domestics. Carson, the capital of Nevada, Is probably the only city In the country where the "hired girl" is a squaw. These squaws are all designated by the handy cognomen "Sally." "Sally" opens the kitchen door without tho for mality of a knock, and says "Mahayie (woman), you want work done?" Or, simply, "Me heap hogadi," which signi fies that she i 9 very hungry and de sires to work for a meal. If you are an Eastern woman this is apt to frighten you into fits the first time. But after a bit you welcome Sally gladly, and set lier to scrubbing tlie floor or washing the dishes or clothes. Sometimes there is a Sally who will come regularly for a weekly wash day; but generally tliey will work only when they are driven by hunger. The squaws never stay in Carson over nigiit, and no Eastern woman fails to look from her window at sun set and watch them slowly making thoir way along the trail in Indian file to their homes in the forest.— Washington Star. Odoriferous Plants. Out of the 4200 species of plants gathered and used for commercial pur poses In Enrope, 420 have a perfume that is pleasing and enter largely Into tho manufacture of scents, soaps and satchets. Tlierearemorespeclesof white flowers gathered than of any other color—ll24. Of these 187 have an agreeable scent, an extraordinary large proportion. Next In order come yellow blossom, with 051, seventy-seven of them being perfumed. Red flowers number 823, of which eighty-four are scented. The blue flowers are of 504 varieties, thirty-four of which are per fumed, and the violet blossoms number BOS, thirteen of wlifoh are pleasantly Bdorif eroua.—London Family Doctor. THE WAY TO ADVERTISE. Some Points Well Worth Keeping Is Mind. Advertising is not a minor detail of business, says the Waterbury (Conn.) Republican, nor may it he attended to perfunctorily at odd moments. On the contrary, it is of the utmost impor tance, and ingenuity and attention are necessary in the composition and plac ing of every business announcement. The "ad." is the merchant's address to the public, and as such it should he prepared. Advertisements must not be slurred In the process of preparation. As a prominent writer says: "Advertise ments are statements of fact made attractive." Consequently, the matter in them must be striking to the eye, convincing to the reason and always fresh m appearance. The shrewd advertiser's foremost desire is to attract notice by an atten tion-compelling arrangement of ideas and type. Next, what he has td say must be said with eloquence and con vincing logic. The matter of the merchants' ad dress must be changed frequently, else it becomes tiresome by reiteration and turns aside the attention which it it Its province to attract. Freshness iv nn advertisement is as necessary 11s ill the goods offered for sale. Above all, advertising must he con tinuous. The great secret of success In business lies not in advertising when everybody wants to buy, but in induc ing the public to purchase when they arc less willing. The tactless business man quits ad vertising at the close of an unusually brisk business period, such as the Christmas holidays, hut the exper ienced merchant does not Interrupt the continuity of his address to the pub lic, knowing that with the close of tho active purchasing season the attrac tion of customers becomes more dlffl cult. He advertises then with as much vigor as during the holiday rush, and he gets the patronage the lack of which the non-advertiser mourns. The merchant who achieves success advertises extensively, continuously and with discrimination. Hlh System Failed. Doctor Saxton was a very learned man, with tliin skin that reddened on :he slightest provocation, and very light —not to say while—eyelashes. In the hard days immediately after the Civil War, in the absence of other employ ment, the good doctor took charge of the village school, and was soon nearly beside himself with what seemed tile Impossible task of getting little Willie Baxter to learn his ahe's. Finally Dr. Saxton resorted to a system of mnem onics original with himself, and began with what he thought were the easiest letters. "Now, Willie," he said, "when you come to this long, straight letter, just think of your eye. ' Remember, now, that is 'l.' " ' But when Willie came back to the doctor's knee an hour later he had for gotten. "What is that, my son?" inquired the doctor. "I do' know." "Oh, yes, you do. What is it?" encouragingly. "I do' know," with mournful convic tion'. "What do you see here?" asked the doctor, pointing his forefinger close to his own eye and involuntarily shutting and squinting that organ as he did so. Willie looked earnestly and much longer than seemed necessary. "I don't see nothin'," lie at last whispered out, "hut six little white hairs."—Woman's Home Companion. Spain's Friendliness to the United States. "No. On the contrary, I find the American people more hospitable than ever since the war Willi my country." This was the reply Mr. P. N. Gon zalez, of Jerez, Spain, made to the in quiry as to whether or not lie found a sentiment against Spain, her goods and her people since IS'JS. "I find tlie people or the United States not only courteous to a marked degree," continued Mr. Gonzalez, "hut anxious, it seems, to hear of Spain, for you know we have the most inter esting of all countries. As to the war, It is all over with us. We Spaniards are hot-headed and light quickly, hut it is forgotten in a day. To-morrow we make up and are friends again. It was, of course, unfortunate that we iind to have a war with Uncle Sam; we had always got along so well with him; hut now that it is over I believe we are glad at the way it terminated. We only held on to Cuba so long he cause of more sentiment; it was like pulling eye teeth to let the last of our Western possessions go, when at one time we had owned nearly all of the Western Hemisphere."—Louisville Courier-Journal. Law Forbids Golf rinyincr. Scotland, as everybody knows, Is the land where golf originated and the land whore it most flourishes. But If tlie law were strictly enforced nortli of the Tweed it would go hard with the players of the royal game in "Bon die Scotland." Golf players there may not know it, but tliey are liable to a sentence of death for their indulgence In their favorite sport. Technically this is literally a fact. In ancient times, when Seotlnnd always had work for her soldiers to do, all young men were required to perfect themselves In archery. They preferred to play golf, and so serious a rival did the game become that it was for a time suppressed and made a capital of fense. That curious law never lias been repealed, and may still lie found 0:1 tlie statute hook. There seems to he no record, however, of the law ever having been enforced. Temperance Topics. Men Who Think Point Out the Valuo of Tota.l Abstinence. A White Night In Sleepy Hollow. The old Dutch church that Irving loved Shows all its windows thick with froat. Deep are the snows upon its roof. Its ancient groves In drifts are lost; The Icy pond and ruined mill The bridge beyond the willows, where The headless horseman rode by night. Is built of carved marble now, The winding road is smoothly white. The bushes sheeted specters pale In Sleepy Hollow's huunted vale. But in the woodland's snowy heart A little brook I cannot see Among the stifily frozen reeds Still keeps its merry spirit free, And with a steadfast faith sublime Sings of the joys of summertime. —Minna Irving, in the Era. Liquor In Various Countries. Very much has been written on the use of alcohol in England, Francs, Ger many and the United States, but for the most part by persons more or less biased in their opinions. Very often such papers have been inaccurately written by persons entirely inexperi enced in dealing with statistical mat ters, and hence they have very little value to those interested in the real facts. In the Fortnightly Review for January, 1902, a professional statisti cian with more than twenty years' ex perience, gives a short paper on this subject, with a graphic representation of the condition of the drink question in these countries. He finds that there has been a steady increase in drink consumption per head of population during each five-yearly period from 1886 lip to the present date. Compar ing the period 1896-1900 and the period from 1886 to IS9O he finds that the per centage of increase has been smaller in Great Britain than in any of the other three countries, while Germany and Prance have had the largest relative increase. In the United States, how ever, the increase of 20 per cent in the consumption of alcoholic liquors per head of population Is largely due to an increase in beer drinking, while the consumption per head of wine and spirits has declined. The current criminal statistics for England record a material increase In prosecutions for drunkenness during recent years, somewhat proportional to the Increase in consumption of liquor, xiie French drink more spirits, more wine and have a larger total consump tion per head than any of the other three countries. Schooling notes as a most striking fact that tne consump tion of liquors in the United States Is very much lower than in any of the other countries. The American total per head is less than one-half of the total consumption per heaa in any of the other three countries. The superior sobriety of the Amerl- ( can workman, as compared with Eng lishmen has often been noticed, and observation in social grades higher than that of the artisan tends to show that American superiority in this re spect is a general superiority not con fined to workmen only. Schooling be lieves that the developed alertness and prompt energy of the American may, It is quite likely, be due in some part to this relative abstinence from alcoholic drink. Drink for Old Age. Here is a saying o£ one wise man of the Talmud: "Until forty years of age, eating is best; after forty years drinking is best." A man in Maine has celebrated his one hundred and fifth birthday. He announces that he is a moderate whisky drinker. A great many immoderate whisky drinkers will probably hold up this very old person as proof that there is no harm in their whisky habit. A man looking for an excuse for drinking can always find one. There is not much use in arguing with him. It is hard enough to appeal success fully to a man who actually wants to stop drinking. Wo shall do no arguing, but point out: First, there Is wisdom in the 'ial mudic saying, at least to this extent: in mature years, and especially in very old age, stimulants taken very mod erately are usually beneficial; some times they are absolutely necessary. But stimulants are useful in old age only when their use follows upon a temperate youth. In other words, the young man who leaves whisky alone and leaves alone all other strong drinks is saving up for his old age a remedy that will be useful, that will help him over many years. It is quite certain that the man in Maine who was a moderate whisky drinker at the age of 105 took little or nothing to drink in his early youth. Such good effect as stimulants can have upon the heart when it becomes weak through old age cannot be se cured by the man who has discounted the future by early indulgence. Let this be held in memory. The Action of Alcohol on Muaclo. At a recent meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences F. S. Leo and W. Salant presented a paper de tailing the results of some recent in vestigations they had been carrying on jointly to ascertain the effects of al cohol on muscles. It appears, accord ing to the paper, that they used pure ethyl alcohol and the isolated muscles of the frog in their experiments, and found that the muscles which had ab sorbed a moderate quantity of alcohol would contract more quickly, relax more slowly, perform a greater num ber of contractions in a given time and become fatigued less rapidly than mus cles without alcohol, the effect being most pronounced in from one to three quarters of an hour alter the liquid hart been absorbed. As to whether the alcohol exerted this influence upon the muscle substance itself or on the nerves within the muscle they were unable to determine, nor could they make out whether it acted as a food or in some other manner. In large quantities, however, they found it to be detrimental, diminishing the whole number of contractions, inducing early fatigue and even abolishing the con tractile power altogether. As yet they have not studied the after-effects. Exponfllve Temperanoo Work. It is a most expensive temperance work that the London county council is at present carrying out, but it is not designated as such, nor is the general public well aware of the fact. Yet within the last three years the Lon don county council has devoted more than $1,250,000 to the practical work of temperance. It is one of the consequences of the extensive improvements being made in London at present. When acquiring property for the necessary widening of different streets, many public houses, with licenses and good will, come into the possession of the council. These properties are very valuable, but the council, instead of renewing them, for premises in the neighborhood, is do liberately giving them up, seeing, at the same time, that nc new licenses for these localities are issued In this way the number of public houses in London has been diminished by 103, which were valued at $1,372,- 750. Lou.on. for Ilurroom.. "The first thing the man behind the bar teaches the church is democracy," said the Rev. Mr. MeNutt, addressing the Woman's Christian Temperance union in Boston. He told of seeing subway laborers in this city being driven off the steps of a fashionable church on which they sat to eat their midday meal, while, on the other hand, he had seen barkeepers treat them politely, and a sign in front of a saloon invited all to enter and get "a free hot lunch." The vieux marcheur will smile at this somewhat artless laudation of the "barkeep," but there's no denying the fact that many fastidious church folk forget St. Paul's admonition that high est education, unstinted almsgiving and faith sufficient to move mountains profit nothing without that benevolent kindliness of disposition which is am biguously translated into our language as "charity."—New York Herald. Some Reasons for Temperance. What does a young man lose by not drinking spirits? In the first place it is necessary to cultivate the t6te in the beginning Why cultivate it at all? In the second place, admitting all the usual sophistry about moderate drink ing, whisky means the loss of time, loss of money, loss of clear mental thought. There is boasting, lying, vacillation, procrastination, self-delusion in every glass of spirits. How many millions of men —on their dying bed —have wished fervently and mournfully that they had never tasted spirits. Did any dying man ever regret a temperate life? Alcohol and Insanity. In speaking of the increase in the number of cases admitted during the year 19C0 to the Royal Edinburgh asy lum, the physician superintendent, Dr. Clouston, in his annual report was un able to avoid the conclusion that this was due to a large extent to the ex cessive use of alcoholic stimulants dur ing times of prosperity, attended with brisk trade and high wages. Dr. Clous tou makes an earnest plea for legis lative or state means for tne diminu tion of alcoholism. He rigntly con tends that it is an irrational applica tion of the doctrine of liberty to grant to every man the inalienable right to render himself a burden to others and a source of degradation and danger to the community.—Ram's Horn. Strong Drink si Mockor. Remember, above all, that the truest thing ever said of strong drink is that it is a "mocker." Every sensation that comes from whisky is a mockery. Every promise based on whisky is mockery. The strength of whisky is mock strength. The friendships of whisky are mock friendships. How often have you seen such hideous mockeries of friendships —drunken men with arms around each other protesting friendship eternal? Whisky mocks hideously all the sacred feelings in life and it destroys them all. Would Eliminate Private Gain Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, British Secretary of State for the Colonies, proposed government control of the liquor traffic as the safest way of minimizing its evils. Ho suggests the total elimination of any idea of pri vate gain in the retail sale of liquor. Mr. Bright, Mr. Forster, Mr. Glad stone and many other leading English statesmen have advocated the same idea. It is substantially the Gothen burg system applied to English con ditions. Library of Women'. Work*. A library of 18,000 volumes, all writ ten by women, was left by Madame Kaissavow, who died recently ia St. Petersburg.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers