THE INDIAN
CHIEFTAIN
r
ii
CHIEFTAIN PUBLISHING CO.
VINITA, INDIAN TERRITORY, THURSDAY, MARCH 19,
1896.
VOL. XIV. NO. 29
n-
u LYNCH JURY'S QUEER VERDICT.
Gave McCaU Bread and Cheeae and Bad
film Elde far Uli Life.
-It was in 1676 that 'Wild Bill' (Wil
liam .Hickok) was murdered in Dead
wood by Jack MeCall. Nearly every
one has head the story of 'Wild Bill
hut 1 am of the opinion that the story of
the trial of MeCall by a lynch court,
and his marvelous escape, has never ap
peared in print,"
So said Judge Shannon, of Canton, the
other day. It was early in the 70s
when the judge came, to Dakota under
appointment of Gen. Grant as territor
ial chief justice, and probably no man is
so familiar with the thrilling incidents
connected with the early settlement by
the whites.
"MeCall was afterward tried before
me," he continued, "found guilty of
murder in the first degree and sen-,
tenced to the gallons, and subsequently
X .hanged at Yankton. During his trial
all theincidents of the murder and his
escape were broughtTSUt. 'Wild'BilT
was plajiBg cards, when MeCall walked
up behind him and shot him dead. The
assassin was instantly seized by those
present, and a mob soon assembled that
cried for blood. It was finally decided,
to organize a court and give him a trial
for his life. A judge was selected, a
jury of twelve men were impaneled
and counsel was appointed for both the
prosecution and the defense.
"The prosecution made out a strong
case of cold-blooded, deliberate murder.
"VYhen it came the defense, MeCall,
who was a mail of some education and
ability, addressed the juiy himself. He
struck the only cord that was likely to
Ibrate to his interest when he said he
had known 'Wild Bill' down in Texas;
tliat they were friends, and that he had
introduced him to his family. 'Wild
Bill, he stated, had abused his friend
ship and Betrayed his sister. For thai
crime he had -visited vengeance upon
him. That began to put a new phase
on matters. While they condemned
him for (.hooting a man without giving
him a chance for his life, they regarded
' the killing as justifiable. But just then
the attorney for the prosecution came
in. He isked lor proof of McCalTa
story, and alleged that McCall's evi
dence should have no -weight. MeCall
said lie had been hunting for 'Wild Bill
ever since the occurrence, and that he
had no proof of his statements beyond
his own words, and that no sane man
-would walk up in a crowd and shoot
another down unless he had cause for so
doing.
"The jury took the case and deliber
ated upon it for some time, and finally
returned with one of the queerest ver
dicts that have erer been heard by any
one. They were not sure of his guilt,
so they decided to give him a chance for
his life. They put him on a fast horse,
filled his pockets with bread and cheese,
and gave him one 'minute start, after
which they would kill him if they could.
They were all armed with Winchester
rifles and revolvers, and were horsemen
9 and excellent shots.
"When the word was given MeCall
started for his life. Before the minute
was tip he began throwing himself raps-
Hly from one side to t he. other.t divert
-Jyithe aim 'of his "pursuers. At'theenfl
of the fateful minute the word
was given and the pursuit and
fusillade began. It seems almost
incredible, but he escaped. He ran into
Wyoming, and after about three weeks
he turned up in Cheyenne, where he
was arrested by a United States marshal
and turned over to a marshal in Dakota.
On trial it was shown that the story of
the seduction of his sister was u false
hood, cunningly devised to sae his
neck. lie murdered 'Wild Bill for the
notoriety of having killed the famous
scout, and thoroughly deserved the ex
ecution that followed his conviction.
But the verdict of the lynch jury was
unique and original in criminal trials."
Minneapolis Journal.
SHE THOUGHT OF SOMETHING.
A Mountain GliTa lirlcht Idea That Saved
tlie Lives of Passenger.
"Speaking of experiences on the rail
road,"' said a Xew York traveling man,
"I had a slight scrape one time on a
mountain road in Teunessee that mar
be worth hearing.
"We were coming down a long grade
of ten miles in a mixed train. That is,
we had a gondola loaded with ties as
the end cir, with our two passenger
coaches and baggage car, and I should
say we were making about 20 miles an
hour on a track that would be treating
ns very kindly if it didn't sling us into
eternity if we dared to odd five miles tn
hour to our speed, when I happened 10
look out of the rear door and saw a
wild train of loaded coal cars swinging
down after ns. They had evidently
started at a tipple which we had passed
only a few minutes before, and when I
... saw them they were going so fast that
? they distanced the men on the ground,
who made a run to get on and stop then
further flight. I made a wild rush for
the conductor, but before I reached him
h. had ordered theengincertoletouthis
engine for all she was worth, and in this
way keep ahead of our chasers. For
tunately we had no women aboard, and
(he men could be kept in better control,
though it was all we could do to keep
them from jumping off.
"It was only a short time until we
began to see that our salvation lay in
the pursuing train fiying'the track, be
cause we had reached our limit, and our
train was swaying and tossing so that
everybody was scared out of his wits.
I know I was, and I just sat In my seat
and held on, waiting and listening to
OGf the thunder of the train behind us,
w hich was not SOOyards away and gain
ing every second. It was far heavier
than ours, and I knew that if anybody
went 'off the track it wasn't going to
be the coal train. I said a moment ago
w c had no women aboard. I meant we
had none to speak of.
"There as one, but she was a homely
mountain girl, who didn't seem to know
anything, and because she sat quiet in
thecorneranddidn't scream we thought
she didn't amount to enough to count.
I was locking at her in a dazed kind of
a way, when all of a sudden Khe lit out
of her seat as if she had been shot out
of It, and, knocking everybody out of
the way, she dashed out of the rear door
before anybody could touch her, and
we thought she had jumped off, but she
hadn't. She jumped for the open car,
hanging on like a cat, until she got to
the far end of it, and in a second she was
tumbling those tics off at the rate of a
dozen a second.
"They would hit the track and bounce
every which way, but she kept piling
them off, the coal train getting closer
every second, and at last a couple of
them stuck up in a cattle guard, and
the next thing we knew there was a ter
rific crash, rails and ties and tracks and
coal flew, and the coal train rolled over
Itself and went down the hill in a heap.
By George, as that girl stood there in
her plain calico dress and her old sun
bonnet and watched that train pile up
af her feet, I thought that Joan of Arc,
Cleopatra, Queen Elizabeth, Grace Dar
ling and the lot of them weren't a patch
ing to her, and, as far as we were con
cerned, they weren't.
"She had saved our train and our lives,
and we took her on with us in triumph.
Then we made up a purse for her big
enough to buy a farm with, and I'll bet
she's got more good clothes, and jewel
ry, and books, and trinkets and things
.than any girl in the mountains, for we
never forget her. She doesn't quite ap
preciate some of the fine things she
has, but what do we care for that? We
appreciate her just the same." Wash
ington Star.
PRECEDENTS FOR WHIPPING.
It "Was a Punlshment'fo.- Uflnes Among
I the Ancients.
I The precedents for the whipping post,
which has recently been agitated for
the district on account of the
grand jury's recommendation, are
many, although one has to go aHc
many years to find them, sas
; an exchange. Whipping, as far b-u-k
as patriarchal times, was re&orted to
for the punishment of offenders. In
ancient Kome, in Thebes, Spart.i,
Egypt and Assyria flagellation is re
corded by history. The bastinado in
the east, the knout in Russia and .ne
cat-o-nine-tails of late centuries acv all
evolutions of the primitive bunch of
switches with which it has liecii pre
sumed our ancestors were driven rut
of the fair garden of Eden. All tlirou;:i
the region of the whipping kjsj tiio
pillory and stocks played an almost
equal part in the administration of
justice.
Some of the first applications of the
whip and the stocks recorded were in
England during the reign of Henry
VUL, whenromps and beggars had a
hard time, often being chained to a
cart's tail and whipped out of town. It
was about 1350 that London's masses
were most lawless, and the whipping
posts were in almost continuous ojier
ation. The miserables v. ho had the
poor taste to sell short weight or bad
produce, who gambled professionally,
suborned false testimony of pilfered, as
well as those who committed thegracr
crimes of forgery or counterfeiting,
were severely lashed.
. The history of the whipping post in
America is none the lcssseere than it
was in the old countries. Toward the
close of the 18th century the pris
oners in various sections were full of
unruly demoralized throngs,vice ran i iot
and drunken brawls and murderous
conflicts took place without number.
The pillory, shears, stocks, branding
iron and lash were nearly idle.
There were many miscarriages of
justice, for instance in the case of a
man recorded in the old chronicle, who
ra -w p?&sssrs
in church. A man who got on even a
respectable "jag" ran the risk of public
castigation. An individual lost his
-vote in the Connecticut commonwealth
if he had been publicly whipped. The
whlpplng-post was gradually done
away with, although Delaware still
holds to It, and occasionally in Alex
andria the old post is used. Chicago
News.
JAPANESE PICKPOCKET.
Fraternity Which Is Well Organized and
Under Discipline.
The Japanese pickpocket is an artful
and talented knave. The public is noti
fied to beware of him at all points. Tho
plckpockethcre is cultivated and trained
for his profession. In Tokio he is to
some extent the slave of a master, who
trains him, looks after him when he is
in jail or ill, markets the stolen goods
and who shares in the proceeds. Tho
police of the capital have the names and
addresses of about a thousand profes
sional pickpockets known as Suri that
Is, people given to nil forms of outdoor
theft. Of this number only about 50 are
women. So well is the fraternity
known that about 50 per cent, pass
through tho hands of the police yearly.
The organization of these thieves is
said to be perfect, benevolence and help
fulness being distinguishing character
istics. There are about 70 "masters" in
Tokio men who apparently carry on
legitimate business, but who are in fact
teachers of pickpockets and employers
of the same. In what is known as tho
Shiba district a man known as Seji is
the boss, and thieves belonging to any
other parts of the city are not permitted
to poach upon his,. preserves. He is sup
posed to have about 40 deft-fingered fel
lows working for him on sharing terms.
He takes good care of these rascals, and
the plunder turned in is usually sent
off at once to another city to be turned
into money.
According to a journalist who has
mode something of a study of these
pickpockets there is a high sense of
honor in the fraternity. Smartness in
"working a crowd" is looked upon with
great favor, and a man who uses rough
or improper methods is tabooed. Not
long ngo a Tokio pickpocket chloro
formed a man in a railway car and stolo
his watch. He lost caste at once. Xo .
respectable thief will associate with
him, and he will probably be driven
eventually to pilfering clotheslines.
Of course, where the police have such
intimate knowledge of the pickpockets
it is not difficult to recover stolen pr-jp-frty.
When promptly notified thoy
will recover the stolen article four times
out of five X. Y. Herald.
Delleloas Innocence.
At Darlington recently a minister's
little daughter was attending her first
church scricc She had neier heeu her
father in the pulpit before, and on his
entrance there her presence of mind
forsook her and she piped out In a oiee
cxprcsshe of recognition: "Why,
there's my papa up there in that box!"
Aienging propriety swept down upon
the little maiden, and for a season there
was a great calm. But the service was
grievously long to such a wee worship
er, and she became very restless, walk
ing up and down the pew and sighing
audibly. "It won't be long, dear."
mamma whispered. Whereujwn en
sued another brief period of quiet, but
it was not to last. Tired baby nature
had reached its utmost limit of endur
ance, and by and by over the quiet lis
teners arose a little voice, clear and
piausime ana coaxing:: "lsn t you
nearly done, papa?" London Telegraph.
FOREIGN GOSSIP.
According to the statistics fur
nished by onr consular service, tho
fanners of this country are better
clothed, lietter housed, better fed, give
their children a better education, and
have more money in bank than the
rural population of any country in the
world.
At Malton, in England, the Justices
of the peace have granted a special
license to sell liquor to a hotel keeper
"for the occasion of the annual tem
perance demonstration in Castle How
ard park," because "the public had
been ranch inconvenienced in the past"
by the absence of such a license.
Candarolle says that the "mummy
wheat," that is wheat taken from
mummy cases has never been known
to sprout. Instances to the contrary
are believed to be the result of fraud
on the part of Arabs, who frequently
introduce modern grain into the sar
cophagi in order to impose on the
credulity of travelers.
From eight in the morning to
eight in the evening ten thousand per
sons are traveling every hour between
the Marble Arch at Hyde park and
the Mansion house in London. The
cm-rent moving toward the city
reaches its highest point, eleven thou
sand, at two o'clock, that moving west
an hour earlier. A curious fact is that
there is not, as was supposed, a great
current into town in the morning and
a return current in the evening, but
that the motion is nearly the same in
both directions. The persons who
travel on foot are twice as many as
those who ride.
The Paris-Lyons Mediterranean
company has now in operation some of
the new types of prow locomotives,
which liave.V attracted a good deal of
interest in railway and engineering
i.rcles. It will be remembered that
these engines are constructed with a
hetd shaped like a ship's prow. The
trials of these locomotives each of
which, with tender attached, weighs
from sixty-three to sixty-eight tons
are reported to have given a speed of
one hundred and five kilometers (over
sixty-five miles) per hour. All the fast
trains are to be furnished with these
engines.
Snuff boxes brought high prices in
London recently; S5.000 was given for
a Louis XVI. gold box, with pictures
of nymphs at their toilet; 54,000 fcr an
other, inlaid with colored mother of
pearl, with pictures of peasants merry
making; an octagonal Louis XVI. gold
box, delicately chased under translu
cent enamel, inlaid with mythical sub
jects in grisaille, brought S2,450; a
large box of brown rock crystal, carved
with eight medallion heads and a writ
ing figure on the lid, S1.030; a blood
stone box. carved with scrolls and
shells, S750; a tortoise-shell box, lined
with gold, with an enameled portrait
of Mile, do Fontangc3, S525.
Japan is bound to be up to date.
It is already troubled by the question
of the nude in art. The Kioto art gal
lery, in the section given to artists who
huvo studied in Europe, exhibited a
painting of a nearly naked woman.
such pictures lower the tone of art and
disturb public morality. But Mr.
Kuki, the chief commissioner, refused
to remove the picture, saying that no
objection is made to the importation
or use in decoration of houses of nude
statues; that Buddhist images and
pictures of a far more questionable
kind are publicly sold, and that if
Japan is ever to have a world's fair an
interdiction of such pictures might
make it impossible to procure an ex
hibition of foreign art.
GEMS OF THE CCEAN.
Kare
lieautr of the Islands In the San
.laan Archlpelc;o.
The nnml.er of people who visit the
islands of the San Juan Archipelago
for sports and out-of-door recreation
is annually increasing. In time these
islands will be famed as summer re
sorts, and will rival in this respect
any other quarter of the globe. The
long stretch of delightful weather, ex
tending as it generally does from
May to October and Xovember, affords
opportunities for endless numbers of
outing parties.
The beaches furnish crabs and clams
galore, while the hills and woods are
the home of the deer, quail and grouse
in abundance. Every silvery brook
that wanders from its retreat in tho
fastness of mountain and forest to
seek repose in the placid bosom of the
sound teems with speckled trout,seem
ingly impatient to Hop into the skilful
angler's basket. True, they seem to
have a preference for certain baskets
over others, their choice depending
somewhat upon the character of fly or
bait employed and in the seductive
powers of the fisherman.
One must also need be light of foot,
keen of vision and skilled in the use of
firearms if he succeeds in capturing
deer or birds in these island forests,
for although they arc plenty they are
likewise wary. The deer must be
sought nniong the hills in high alti
tudes. They frequent rocky glens and
nut easily accessible places. Xo mat
ter how difiicnlt the hunter may find
it to scale a cliff b. clinging to bushes,
vines or slight projections of rock,
when he at las gains a spot where he
can stand cr t he will find "deer
signs" in the earth or rock, such is the
skill of these four-footed mountain
climbers.
But one can find a great enjoyment
on the islands, even though destitute
of all skill as hunter or fisherman. Any
one can capture a crab or "surround" a
clam, provided he or she is able to lift
n crab net or wield a spade. Then,
again, anyone can hold on to the safe
end of a trolling line, while a salmon
is investigating the business end, and
the "other fellow" is pulling the oars.
The wild berries yield their delicious
sweetness to both the skilled and un
skilled picker, and nature bounteously
displays her charms to the just and the
unjust.
A visit to the summit of Mt. Consti
tution, on Orcas island, on a clear day
in summer is worth ten times what the
trip costs in money and exertion. Tho
grand natural cyclorama, viewed from
this height of two thousand four hun
dred and twenty feet, outrivals Alpine
scenery, and baffles description. Only
the faintost conception of the view
thus obtained can be imparted by
brush or pen. At one sweep the
wiblcred vision takes in over ten thou
sand square miles of land and water.
Far to the northwest the cold, gray
peaks of the Selkirks part the clouds.
The towering Rockies define the
lir ;on farther south. Mr. Baker's
vVlened cone comes next, arresting
the eye in Its southern sweep, and
I
causing the onlooker to hold his breath
in awe and amazivue ni. I arther away,
and to the southeast, the Cnscadesllmit
the vision. On the north, the great
gulf of Georgia is mistaken for the
open sea, so boundless aro its propor
tions. The western horizon includes
Vancouver Island, a rim of the Pacific
and the straits of San Juan de Fuca.
Tho beautiful Olympic range lies to
the southwest, appearing much as it
does when viewed from Seattle, albeit
the mountains seem very much taller
when seen from ML Constitution.
While there are many points of in
terest in view to the south, they arc
all forgotten or overlooked in con
templation of majestic, solitary, awe
inspiring ML Ranier, monarch of
western Washington and the Pacific
slope. Ranier's proportions seem al
most doubled when seen from the
summit of ML Constitution, although
the distance to the mountains is doubla
what it is from Seattle. All around
are spread the bluish green waters of
tho sound, everywhere jeweled with
beautiful islands, a cruise among
which lends a spell of enchantment
unknown elsewhere outside of the
Thousand islands of the SL Lawrence.
Seattle Post Intelligencer.
WHAT BERKSHIRE HAS DONE.
It Has Done More Than Its Share to
Shape the Life of the Country.
It is a little land, but one which has
contributed more than its share to the
forces which have shaped and are
shaping the life of our country and our
time. Before the Philadelphia con
gress of 1770, or the famous Mecklen
burg convention of 1775, a congress of
deputies from the several towns in
Berkshire met at Stockbridge, John
Ashley being president, Theodore Sedg
wick secretary, and some sixty dele
gates being in attendance. A cove
nant was agreed upon, to be signed by
the people of the country, engaging
"not to import, purchase, or consume,
or suffer any person for. by, or under
them to import, purchase, or consume
in any manner whatever, any goods,
wares or manufactures which should
arrive in America from Great Britain,
from and after the first day of October
next, or such other time as should be
agreed upon by the American congress;
nor any goods which should be ordered
from thence from and after that day
nntil onr charter and constitutional
rights should be restored."
Before the battles of Concord and
Bunker Hill a regiment of minute-men
had been formed, and tho Berkshire
men were on the march for Cambridge
and Bunker Hill the day after the news
of the battle of Lexington was re
ceived. In the trying times and crit
ical periods which followed the revo
lution the hardest blow which was
struck at Shays rebellion was at Shef
field. It was Mumbet, the ex-slave and
, faithful slave in the Sedgwick family,
1 whose case drew forth the judicial de
' cision that the so'l of Massachusetts
could not hold a slave. Under the hay
stack at Williamitown began the move
ment which has girdled the world with
a chain of Amcricin miss'ons, while
in -Stockbridge was born and now
lies buried the mjn over whose
grave "are carved the simple and
significant words: "Cyrus West Field,
to whose courage, energy, and perse
verance the world owes the Atlantic
cable." In a little study.hardly larger
than a closet, looking out upon Bear
Mountain, was done much of the work
of the codifying of procedure and of
laws which the civilized world associ
ates with the name of David Dudley
Field.
Yale university boasts that three of
the nine judges who sit upon the su
preme bench of the United States arc
her graduates; one-third of those nino
judges went to school in the single
village of Stockbridge. The esthetic
movement which finds expression in
numberless village-improvement so
sietics all over the land began in Berk
shire; the Laurel Hill Society of
Stockbridge is the oldest of them all.
Arthur Law rence, in Century.
DON'T DODGE A BICYCLE.
It Only Confuses the Kliler anil Mar Canse
nn Accident.
Before bicycling will ever become a
success a meeting must be called for
the purpose of allowing the wheelmen
nd the pedestrian to arrive at some
understanding. 1 am in favor of a
:onveution or some thing of that sort,
laid a prominent wheelman recently.
As it is now, a rider comes down the
itrcet and sees ahead of him at a
:rossing a man who is supposed to be
endowed with reasonable intelligence.
This person is in tho act of crossing
the streeL He looks up, sees tho rider
coming and stands right in the middle
of the streeL Of course, ho is men
tally calculating his chances of getting
across safely. One can sec the work
ings of his mind in the muscular con
tortions of his face. .
In the meantime the rider is getting
closer and closer and is In a study
equally as profound as to what the
person is going to da The pedestrian
takes a step forward, takes another
glance up the streeL stops, starts back,
makes an effort to reach the pavement,
stops again, starts forward, stops
Of course, by this time the cyclist is
almost at a standstill and is also zig
zagging from one side to the other
waiting and muttering. What he says
depends upon whether he is a man or
a woman. The pedestrian seems to
give up all possibility of escape, faces
the rider, both arms extended, jumps
from one foot to the other and the two
collide. The cyclist is thrown to the
ground, his wheel twisted and he gets
the blame.
And how easily all this can be avoid
ed. Let the pedestriun instead of per
forming all these trying evolutions
merely walk along as though there
was nothing behind him, keep his
course and the cyclist will know what
to da lie will turn his wheel
to one side and slide past with perfect
ease and safety. On the crossings let
a man walk along ns though there were
not a bicycle in the state, and the
wheelman will Judg his course ac
cordingly. He has control of his wheel,
and is as anxious not to collide as tho
other fellow. That's all we wanL We
merely ask that people walk along
about their business and we shall not
molest them.
In the case of a horse which is not
readily managed the rider or driver
may be ou the alert and skillful, and
there may be n collision; but with a
bicycle the rider has control, and if the
pedestrian will only ro along and not
get rattled there will be no collisions.
This is what I want the peoplo to
knov, and the only way it seems for
them to learn this is to hold a conven
tion or something. Indiai polls Sea-tlneL
A TRIP TO THE TROPICS.
Letter From a Friend Novr In the
Antilles.
Ki.vcstox, Jamaica, Feb. 30.
Friend Chieftain: Agreeable
with my promise I give you an ac
count of my wanderings since we
parted at Tampa Bay Hotel a
month ago. As you know, I left
Port Tampa on that queen of the
southern waters, the Mascolt, ol
the Plant Line, Jan. IS.
We had only a fair trip of pas
sengers, so light that I heard Mr
Plant, when we were cutting loose
at the dock, say, to Captain Fitz
gerald, supeiintendent ot the line,
that he had only a nica little
yatching party One thing that 1
am sure of is that the quality
made up for the quantity. Prom
inent among them were H. B.
Pjant, ot New York, president ol
thp Plant systeni;Iiev.Dr Smythe,
of New York; AI. B. Waters,
general passenger agent of the
People's Line ot Steamers, New
York, and Mr. J. Gousey, a prom
inent newspaper man ol Pittsburg,
at present with the Pittsburg
Press, and others.
All day the next day we saw
nothing but a calm sea, and ever
now and then a school of Hying
fishee, and on the morning of tin
20th we rounded Cape Antonia
and entered the Carribean Sea.
When about eight miles Ironi the
western point of Cuba wo met u
Spanish man of-war, the Nineta
She lay to anil took a peep at us
as we pasted between her and
land, but she did not hail us. A
little later we passed a three-mast
ed schooner, the Condi, going in
the same direction, and the bal
ance of the day we saw any quan
tity of sailing vessels and manag
ed to get a good view ol all of them.
I arranged with the first officer
to have me called a't the proper
time of night lo see the Southern
Cross, as it was the fiist opportun
ity o! my life and after I leave tin
tropics it ma be my last. He
called me at 3 a. m. on the 21ai,
just as it was clear above the hor
izon, it risps like the hand of a
clock and when it is perpendicu
lar it turns down toward the west.
I watched until it turned down,
which it did in about fifteen min
utes. The moon shines much
brighter here than in North Amer
ica, and there are thousands mun
stars visable here than at home,
and they are much brighter.
We met one of the royal mail
steamers bound for New York at
12 noon on the 21st, and sighted
land at 2 d. in. We were met b
a pilot twelve miles at sea in a
little dugout made from a cotton
wood tree;not the same cottonwoon
us in America, but a much harder
wflod. Wo dropped anchor in tin
harbor of Montego bay at 6 p. m.
after one of the most pleasant voy
ages that any party of excursion
ists ever enjoyed. We were serv
ed at meals with the best the mar
kets of tho United States could
produce, including thi best meatr
that Armour & Co. ever shipped
from Chicago, and on special invi
tation of President Plant we all re
mained on board until after break
fast tho next morning, and then
went ashore and took a look at the
beautiful little city of Montego
Bay.
ilontego Bay is" really without a
bay, as it is ou the seashore, with
a slight inundation in the land.
We boarded the train at 10:30 a.
m. for Kingston via the Jaaiaica
railway, a distance of 110 miles
Leaving the town, we ran up thi
valley of the Great river for seven
or eight miles, overlooking tin
sea with its shore lined with cu
coanuts and bananas and a few
small keys out from the shore.
Looking back over the town and
harbor, it made a grand picture.
Here we began to ascend the Nas
sau mountains, and for a distance
of fifty miles we passed through a
mountainous country that was not
inhabited until the railroad was
built, which was only ten months
ago. All through this country is
the most picturesque scenery ever
known to man, with hilltops 5U0 or
GOO teet above the train on one
side and a valley on the other 300 oi
400 feet deep, tho hills so steep
that the chimney swallow is said
to he the only bird that can lly up
or down them. Fifteen miles from
Montego Bay we come into the
cockpit country at an elevation ol
1,100 feet above the sea. These
cockpits are innumerable. The
are large, funnel-shaped holes in
the mountains several hundred
feet deep and about the sizo of a
barrel at the bottom. You can
drop a fctonc in one and in five sec
onds you can hear it splash in the
water below. It falls into a lake
or river, as there are a number
of underground rivers in Jamaica
that only show themselves in
places.
The railroad curves around Pome
of these cockpits equal to the
horseshoe bend on tho Pennsylva
nia railroad. The strangest part
of it is that the land ou those
mountain sides is very fertile, be
ing equal to the soil ou the Missis
sippi or Red river in Louisiana.
The lands abound with logwood,
tustick, annato and lance wood.
All those are very valuable woods,
and Intermingled all through them
the ground is covered with cocoa
nuts, bread fruit and bananas.
The bananas are small upon the
mountains, but very large in the
valley.
There are stations every five or
six miles along tho railroad, and
new settlers that are cleaning out
the underbrush and putting up
wire fences. The grass covers the
ground as soon as such improve
ment is made, and the' now have
large herds of fine fat cattle on
them, and where they get a few
acrca of tillable or level land they
are planting out coffee, which is
the most profitable article of com
merce here. The highest point
we passed over was 1,750 feet
above the sea level, and fifty
miles from Kingston we entered a
fine sugar country. The planters
are just now cutting their crop, and
1 learn that the most of the sugar
planters that are on high land tire
planting out coffee in place of
sugar, us it is more profitable.
The Jamaica railroad here has
the best roadbed I ever saw and
the heaviest and finest bridges.
It is ftandard guage, and where a
road crosses at guage they have
gates and a watchman. The road
is fenced in.
We arrived at Kingston at 5 p.
m. Here occurred the final break
ing up of the yatching party.
Those whose pockets would admit
uf it went to the Myrtle Bank Ho
tel. That was one time in my
life that 1 found it very inconven
ient to be poor. After eating din
ner and securing a room I took a
ramble through Victoria park and
-uch a ramble it was as c?n only
be enjoyed" in the tropics where
ever kind of fruit and thaila tree
urows, and such a profusion of fra
grant tlowers that you imagine
youisolf in a cologne factory.
When 1 relumed to my hotel to
my surprise 1 lound the Salvation
Armyon the corner.
The next morning 1 took a stroll
through the markets, which are
very interesting to a northern man
As soon as 1 got breakfast I betook
myself to the botanical garden five
and a hall miles out of the city, ou
i most beautiful road, for which
Jamaica, by the way, is famous,
passing a continuous town of fine
villas on both sides. The gov--rnment
t-pends sixty thousand
pounds a year building and main
ainitig their country roads.
On Friday, the 24lh, we took in
the Jamaica institute and museum,
and rode out to the race track. Al
ter sunset I noticed great Humbert
. f country people coming into the
city, and asked my landlord the
meaning of it. He said that to
morrow was market day, and mar
Ket day in Kingston is a 6ight worth
leeing. I then asked how so many
poor people could find lodgings for
'he night, and he explained that
those that did not have friends or
relatives to give them shelter, went
to the night rest, a place es
ablished aud run by the govern
ment, by which all thoso people
o in and pay the gatekeeper one'
penny. For those having their
load on a donkey there wits no ex
ra chaigo for the donkey. There
.vere two large sheds with hard
ivood floors, one for the men and
me for the votnn, all lighted b
electric lights. I betook mysell
itraightway to the night rest to see
the people coming in like bees to
i he hiveV
Ninely-eight per cent, of them
were women. The most of them
carried their fruit and vegetables
on their heads, and had to come in
at night to he on hand for Satur
day's market. 1 found some that
nad carried their loads eight oi
line English miles, and I talked
o one who had walked and drove
ner donkey fifteen miles and an
other twenty-six miles. I was told
i hat there were some who had come
thirty miles.
I was booked for Port Royal the
icxt morning to see what was leli
il the old town after the earthquake
of two hundred years ago. The
-arthqhake occurred at 11 a. m. ol
June 7th, 11592. It swallowed up
entire blocks of houses and out o
3,000 houses there were only 200
left, and some of them still remain
Tho town of Kingston was then
itarted and Port Royal only main
tained as a fort to guard the bar
bor. There are five English wai
vessels anchored there now. it is
one hour's run by the steam launch
to Port Royal, and. as I mentioned
above, it was market day, and 1
nad to take a turn through the Ju
bill Market, and as it was quite
early I made it all right.
I then went to the Victoria mar
ket. By that tinio the city folks
were out in full force, and the
crowd was so dense that when 1
got into that one 1 just had to
move with the crowd. As 98 or 9'J
per cent, of them wero ladies, and
a modest man like mysell couiu
not run over them, in consequence
I missed my boat and had to take
the 9 o'clock boat. The only po
sition held by men in the market
are market masters and beef hutch
ers. Tlie best beef sells at 12 cent?
nd mutton at 24 cents. Water
melons, muskmelnus and canta
loupes have just commenced to
come into market, and are very
high at present, selling at G to 12
cents, but three weeks later the
price will be down to almost
nothing.
I will not make any attempt to
write up the fruits that are in the
market, as it would take two pages
of your paper. One I must men
tion and that is the jack fruit. It
is on the order of a pineapple. It
rests in the forks of the tree and
grows to the size of a forty pound
watermelon.
This country has enough cows
to furnish butter for the island aud
supply all England, but like Tex
as, the cows run on the pastures in
herds and arc not milked. I shall
feel like boycotting tho bread
bakers when I get homo, as I see
our A'merican llour selling hero at
SG.50 per barrel, and you get as
much bread for 3 cents as you get
in the states for 5 cents.
1 am forced to acknowledge that
the criminal laws here and tfce
way that they arc enforced aro far
superior to ours, but we could
teach the people here something
about health and sanitary regulations.
Two more trees that 1 have no
ticed here I will mention. The
first is the banyan tree. It is a
native of bast India and only a
few are in this country. I have
rested several times under them.
One tree here was planted in Vic
toria park, which is the central
park of the city, only sixteen years
ago. It is three or four feet thick
at the trunk and about eighty-five
feet high, with limbs reaching out
on all sides for eighty-five feet in
length. About every twelve or
fourteen feet those limbs drop
down -and take root in the ground
aud hold the limb up. Some of
those roots are now as large as an
electric light pole from the ground
to the limb, and if let alone one
tree in a few years will reach over
a half mile ol ground. Five thous
and soldiers have sheltered under
one tree in East India. Tho next
is the travelers palm. It is found by
the roadside and at any time in the
year you have only to cut a small
hole with your penknife and get a
good drink of water. Oh, but this
would be a paradise for the Ameri
can tiamp.
On Sunday our party went to 7
o'clock mass at the Cathedral, a
very fine building, the finest in the
city, with a seating capacity of
2,000, and heard part of a very elo
quent sermon by Father Mulrey,
of New York.
Returning at 9 o'clock mass we
heard another eloquent sermon by
his lordship, Charles Gordon,
Bishop of Tarara and Bishop Apos
tolic of Jamaica. There was a full
house each time of very intelligent
looking people. I went from there
to 11 o'clock service at the Parish
church, the church of England. It
is second in grandeur, with a seat
ing capacity of 1,600. They had
fine singing and a good sermon by
the rector. .Rev. George Downer,
but there wero only about two
hundred in the congregation.
Tlie climate and health here
are good. The mercury never
reaches below 60 or above
90 degrees in Kingston, and
this is the hottest city on the is
land. You have only to go about
six miles out on the mountain side
to find it as cool as you wish.
The population of the island
now is between 6S0.000 and 700.000
There arc 30,000 more females than
males, caused by the exodus of
ablebodied men from here to the
Isthmus of Panama to work on the
canal during the decade from 1SS1
to 1891.
On January 28th we took the
tram for Spanishtown. It is a
quaint old city of 6,000 people. It
was the old capital. We arrived
there at S:35 a. m., after passing
hrough a very fine country, in
which were largo pastures with
hundreds of acres of guango trees
These trees are loaded with beans
that are very fattening for cattle,
ind as they tall off the cattle eat
ihein. In these pastures the gui
nea grass is from three inches to
two ieei uigu, owing to tne amount
of cattle on them.
Other sections of the island were
visited and many to me new sights
witnessed, and on the whole 1 re
gard this "Trip to the Tropics"
ne of the most delightful of my
life, and as you are aware I have
traveled not a little.
Cecil St. Elton.
Madam rumor has it that they
nave a real live ghost at what is
known as the Harless place ou the
Illinois rivor. Said haunt has been
a frequenter at this place for two
years, but manifestations have
ever been made public until re
cently. He or she walks about
the house formerly occupied by
Dick Harless who was murdered
six or seven yean ago on the
premises. Said ghost makes itself
known in diuereni ways, such as
groans, shaking the bedstead, pull
ing the bedclothes oil the inmates
at night when asleep and disturb
ing them generally.
A large gathering of farmers,
stockmen and hay dealers assem
oled at C. A. Billingsley's office in
the Wassom brick Saturday last
and organized a Haymen's associ
ation with W. T. Morgan presi
dent, J. M. Barber, secretary, and
M. L. Coker treasurer. The ob
ject of this organization is for the
purpose of regulating the handling
of hay, grain, etc., that those who
arc engaged in these important and
extensive enterprises, and whose
interests are mutual, may work in
harmony together and for one an
other's benefit. Wagoner Sayings.
The fifty-third annual statement
of the Mutual Life insurance com
pany shows that this company
paid to the holders of its policies
on account of claims by death $12,
269,164.34, and for endowments,
annuities, dividends and other pay
ments to living members S10.SS7,
564.11. It increased its reserve
fund, to guarantee the future pay
ment of all claims fiom $1S2,109.
4n6 14 to S194,347,157.5S, an ad
dition for the year of S12.237,
701.44. Dun's Mercantile Agency, in its
"Review of Business," says:
"Eighty-five per cent, of all the
concerns that have failed in the
United Stales during the ten years
under review are houses that .it.
tempted to do business without!
advertising.
Charles Bluejacket, chief of the
Shawnee Indians of the Indian Ter
ritory, who claims to know ail
about the history of that tribe,say
that the prophet of the tribe, who
was a brother ol Tecumseh, a fa
mous chief in Ohio, lies buried in
Wyandotte county. K. C. Star.
A "LAST CHANCE" YEAR.
It mil Be a Long Time Before Women
Can Propose Again. i
The leap year which now begins U,
however, to a certain extent peculiar,
since another will not occur for eight
years. Such an interval has occurred
twice before in the history of Scotland,
and only once in the history of England,
and two centuries will elapse before It
occurs again. The lastyear of the pres
ent century, 1900, will not be a leapyear,
but 2000, the last year of the succeeding
century, will. The year 2100 will again
be a common year, so that the next
period of seven consecutive common
years will be between 2096 and 2104.
The rule by which this seemingly ar
bitrary interference with an established
order of things s regulated is compara
tively simple, but its history is mmany
respects both curious and interesting.
As everyone knows, the earth revolveB
round its axis, and also travels round
the sun, the one revolution causing the
alternation of day and night, the other
that of the seasons. From the earliest
times men have made use of both these
series of changes as a means of reckon
ing time, and had there been a simple
numerical relation between them, there
need never have been any trouble with
leap years and such devices.
Unfortunately, however, this is not
at present the case. The number of rev
olutions which the earth makes when it
goes once round the sun, instead of be
ing a whole number is a number and a
fraction; or, in other words, the earth
gees round the sun in 3G5 days S hours
and 43 minutes 40 seconds, or 3G5.2422
da, s. Tliis was not, however, discov
ered in a day. Various guesses were
made at the proper length of the year,
and calendars were drawn up in ac
cordance with them. But in the course
of time the error accnmnlated, with the
result that the seasons changed place?,
and the vernal equinox, instead of re
maining at a fixed place in the calendar,
moved backward or forward, according
as the approximation was in excess or
defect, and extra daj s had to b inter
calated or omitted to set things right.
By the time of Julius Caesar the no
man year, which consisted of 351 days,
had worked loose by three months, fo
that the winter months had been car
ried back into autumn. In order to pre
veE such confusion in future, with the
aid of Sosigenes, he fixed the length of
the year at 363 days, or three years of
365 days, followed by one'of 366. At the
same time, to bring back the equinox to
its proper place, he inercalated 90 days
into the current year of 355 days, mak
ing it 445 days probably the longest
year on record. This was the Julian
calendar, and to it we owe to "this day
the leap year which comes every fourtli
year.
But the approximation on which the
calendar was based, though much more
accurate and convenient than any that
bad preceded it, gave too longayearby
the difference between 365.23 and
B65.2422, the error amounting to a day
in 12S years. In the course of the cen
turies, the equinox gradually receded
toward the beginning of tlu year.
Caesar had fixed it-on March 25; by the
time of the council of Xice, and by 1382
it had receded to March U. In order fo
lestore the equinox to thr position it o
cupied in 325, when the council office
had drawn np regulations for the fixing
of Easter, Tope Gregory, in 1382, di
rected ten days to be suppressed, and ns
the error was found to amount to three
days in 400 years, he laid down that In
future the last year of every century
shrould be an ordinary year, unless It if
divisible by 400, in which case it was to
be a leap year. Thus 1900 will be an
ordinary jear, but 2000 will be a leap
year.
Pope Gregory's correction gives an
average year of 565.2425 days, or 26 sec
onds longer than the true year. These
rdd seconds will amount to a whole year
In 3,323 years, aud it has been proposed
to allow for this error by providiig that
the year 4000, and all its multiples,"shall
be common years. But this would be a
pedantic foresight, and it isunneccssary
to discuss the question whether the
year 4000 ought or ought not o be a
leap year. In ages yet to come, when
the friction of the tides has so retarded
the rotation of the earth that 365 days
make a year, leapycars will be unneces
sary. But that is a still remoter con
tingency, and in the meantime Tope
Gregory's calendar is likely to remain
in its present form. Edinburg Scots
man. A good baby story is o a neighbor
meetin; a I ttle r-r.e on the street, and
raying: ' Hood morning, my little
dear. I never can tell yon and your
sister apart. Which of the twins are
you?' And tlie little dear made an
swer: "I'm the one what's out walk
ingThe Transcript.
SLEEP&REST
For Skin Tortured
BABIES
And Tired
MOTHERS
In One
Application ol
(uticura
A warm bath with CUTICURA
SOAP, and a single application of
CUTICURA, the great Skin Cure,
will afford instant relief, permit rest
and sleep, and point to a speedy,
economical, and permanent cure of
the most distressing of itching, burn
ing, b!eeding,scaly,and crusted skin
and scalp diseases, after physicians,
hospitals, and all other methods fail.
CuncuRA Works Wonders, and
its cures of torturing, disfiguring,
humiliating humors are the most
wonderful ever recorded.
Ccyicnu RmzDtxs are told throughout tie
world. roTTKR l)Rl-o ASD CUta. CoCT-Solo
Proprietor, Boston, V.B.A.
"Allabcntthe Blood, Skin, Scarp, and Hair" free.
PIH
TLBS, blacUieada. red and oUr akin pre-
,Micu ion curea dj icticuba ooir.
LWilST RELIEF
in a slnsle
A VBflV
KUPfclPllP
ftftin&Mr
o