Newspaper Page Text
12 WE ill IIS FOREIGX EXCHANGE A SOURCE OF MUCH ANXOYANCE TO FOREIGNERS TEN KINDS OF DOLLARS Trade Involves Discount* Both Ways -Fciv ltiitlrniMl Rontet* In tlie Country—Time Doe* \ut Connt. Shanghai Cor. New York Times. He-forms in currency and in transporta tion arc hardly less important to foreign Bts wi China than is the upsetting ol the present otliei-holding class. Sci entific treatment of both subjects has made accessible an understanding of their shortcomings, perhaps without leaving concrete impressions of what may befall one doing business or having occasion to travel in China, One simply cannot use Ins own money without pay • .ivy toll (..n it going and coming. While the native system gets the blame for this condition, the fact is thai the system is one of the lirst principles, aivl cable vi easy adjustment, for it is 1.. .1 directly on the value of bullion. Dollars make the muddle, and they are of foreign introduction and growth. fore, it will be desirable to remove during the process of extracting bi ams. Ten kinds of dollars f'nd currency. Th< I Lblished avowedly lor the i: foreign trade would probably like it well enough it the number were doubled, for wh< n merchants from loeali mploying a different mintage meet. trade always involves discounts both v.ays, and bank lull is never light. U one wishes to trade where be resides, the number of dollars that will enable him to complete the- transaction at the time may be insufficient if he waits to think it over; or if he closes at once, he I Qnd the next day that by waiting over night a less number of dollars would nave represented the same value ws as ,i matter of course to the exactibns-of that puzzle known as ex change. 1 -lit when it subjects him to a Discount of G or 7 per cent on perfectly good money, he concludes that v is time to increase profits or to buy bank stock. That, is what happens with letters of credit and bills of exchange. They must be turned into taels, with a commission off, and as tael accounts are not gencra! lj k. i-t, another commission must be lain for computing them in dollars. A foreign bank in China is so keen for cemmisions that it has no hesitancy In discrediting itself to get them. One ex perience will illustrate this point. An Fnglish visitor came to Shanghai last May and deposited a draft for £750, equivalent to something less than $7,500 Mexican. It suffered from the usual va garies of the abacus, and when in June he wished tef transfer it to a branch ct the same bank at Tien-tsin, it had dwindled about 7 per cent, through no expenditure of his own, the bank having enjoyed its use for 8 per cent loans mean while. He informed the Tien-tsin branch that he would probably draw very light ly against it for several months, thug virtually advising the bank that it was a safe account to let out. He withdrew $1,500 and did not touch the account again until November, when he'decided to return to Shanghai. He had a bal ance of $5,500 at Tien-tsin, and in order to have that account transferred back to the bank's branch here, he had to pay the Tien-tsin branch 4 per cent, or $220. The privilege of keeping on continuous deposit for six months £GOO in two blanches of the same bank cost him ii\~>. or S7r>o Mexican. Had the depositor left his money in Shanghai, he could not have disposed of drafts on the account without a large discount, and as he did not know but that he might eventually have use in the North for all of the deposit, he saw no other way to keep money near him. Even if he had obtained Mexican dollars here for his deposit, he would have needed a small packing case and a cart to carry the- load. Mexican dollars were accepted fit Tien-tsin in the summer only at a discount, although usually that is the one coin which passes at all the treaty ports. When he made hi 3 Tien-tsin deposit he could draw out only dollars used in the North, which suffer from 5 to 10 per cent discount if presented for payment anywhere else. No computation is possible of profits re sulting from exchanges in different branches of the same banks. The case cited is perhaps exceptional, for the de positor was uncertain as to his plans and had to take such punishment as the bank to which he fell victim chose to inflict; but business houses which have branches •well scattered must put up with high charges for all sorts of accommodation. Considering the impetus to foreign trade which settled conditions will furnish, it is not likely that the banks will assent to the establishment of a uniform cur rency and to such other fiscal reform as will make their own methods less pro vocative of general complaint. Mean while their dividend and surplus accounts may be safely relied on to show that they euffer no hardship from doing buisness in a land several centuries behind the times. It need not be thought that the foreign business houses would do with out the banks in spite of the extortions. They serve commercial convenience in many ways. Strides that trade has made lr. the last twenty years are largely due to the facilities the banks have been able to extend. NATIVES BEAR THE BURDENS, The frailty that minimizes benefits and magnifies mishaps no doubt accounts for the phrase commonly heard here among the foreigners that they are "done in the eye" in everything relating to money. It would never be supposed from the style of life in the foreign settlements that the process worked discomfort. Some one has said that life here is much like that in London, only more comfortable, and blue Bky most of the year, a remark not de void of point or truth. What the busi ness house loses to the bank it makes Up from its customers, the native mer chants, who in addition to paying that bill must give their own bankers, who arrange their credits or stand behind them otherwise, at the yearly rate at from 20 to 40 per cent for that service. If the native merchants are to continue in business they must make profits out of their customers, and that is where the eye doing at last falls. Burdens can be so widely distributed among the millions who work for copper cash that they probably do not realize what bills they are footing. Natives who work in the settlements, indeed, besides paying extravagantly for foreign merchandise, submit to a process with their money which amounts to a demonstration that all the parts do not equal to the whole. Ten 10-cent pieces do THIN PEOPLE | I Ekafcji WmfSn i §1 Have n laudable aspisailon to baoome S a pinmp. Until now thsr» lias been no E | wuiafactory remedy. ' Xo aeoocxulUU I I x this, use Dr. Shulta' H ALFALFARINE | Fattening Fosd I j • .'; Don't remain thin whaa this nlnip!* I •S food will briiis yon bee»Biy and sraoe- ' I < fnJness.'. - . - • E - Beiit pr«r>aid for $1.(» n«r bottle. It not " 3 I obtniiiiiblri from your aracsi^t. « » JJescriptivo>circular and- testimonials S 3 mailed froe. ■ .. I & The Alfalfa Company, - i I * WICHITA.^KANSAS. I not make a dollar. Five will pass easily enough for half a dollar, but when more firt; tendered the buyer is likely to be reminded tnai i2S£u Jn«ney. js at a dis count. A dollar handeel to "d""" nailv? money changer will - produce ■ eleven . 10 --cent pieces, and from 16 to 24 . cash, . equal to 2 or 3 cents. The money dealer gets his living by trading cash for the small silver that the. natives gather in the set tlements. They wish cash because they can supply their needs with it better than any other way. If the dollar were quot ed at 1,000 cash, the dealer would give SOO cash for it, or its component parts, and make 20 per cent by the exchange; and the average native can accomplish more with SOO pieces of ■' copper than with a single silver piece stamped as one dollar. The lender wishes 1 all the dollars he can get, because, he has means of buying^-in a large way at very close to quotation rates.' Small silver will not enable him. to make such purchases except at a dis count of 15 per cent, and then only in limited amounts. So he will gladly give $1.13 in small silver for a cart-wheel dollar and profit by the operation. That premium of 13 cents furnishes a visitor to China with his one small comfort in money affairs. . ""_.<-" '- 's *;,' ' FEW RATI.ROAD ROUTES. Chinese have always traveled by water, and that way is good enough for a people with whom time does not count Railroad lines In the north, connecting Pekin with roast points at Tongku and Shanha kwan, with an extension to Niu-Chwang, whose operation was indefinitely deferred by last year's outbreak, and a" line from here to Woo-sung, fourteen miles away, constitute the only Chinese equipment. The Chinese Eastern railway, reaching down the I,iao-tung peninsula to Port Arthur, is a Russian property, and so far has been devoted to military use. Should it become a commercial line it will be as a branch of the Siberian system. The distance traversed by routes strictly Gfii nese does not exceed 400 miles. Germans are laying rails in Shan-tuner province, near Kiao-chou, but the pros pect points to military use for some time. This enterprise may become a considera ble one, because Germany looks upon Shang-tung as its special field in China. Should England cater to that sentiment and cement good relations by turning over Wei-hai-wei to the Germans, the road would no doubt be extended to Wei hai-wei, and possibly to Chee-foo, be coming 200 miles long or more. The j road from Pekin to Hankow is further advanced than any other railroad en- I terprise that may still be classed as a scheme, having been surveyed. Rail 3 were laid for a short distance out of Pekin. and some embankment work be came fairly advanced at the other end when the trouble began. The Belgian engineers fixed thn gauge at five feet, which is Russian thus indicating-at least a view to some relation with the Siberian line. There is nothing yet except paper to show progress with the American enter prise for a road from Canton to Han kow. Various other plans calculated to shorten time of travel by construction from here to Ningpo and Hangchow, on the south, and Soo-chow on the south and Chin-kiang and Nanking on the west and north are in the same condition except for a little digging which unearthed on the outskirts of the settlement a sandal wood coffin that had been buried for 400 years, and came out in good order It lies now in an open lot near the French camp, where relic chippers and the wet season threaten to put Its quality of en durance to supreme tests. NATIVES POOR TRAVELERS. Of course the purpose of railways is to facilitate foregn trade. They would nev er be bulit on Chinese initiative. The native is not by instinct a traveler. Few Chinese go outside of their provinces or have the slightest wish to do so Rail roads strike them as so much of a nuis ance that in the official concessions, or in nearly all of them, a clause provides that the track shall not be laid within two miles of a town. Hence the station at Pckin is three miles outside the South Gate, and along the route usually trav eled between Tien-tsin and Pek'in the railway embankment is out of sight half the time. Since travel is provincial and time never has value, the natives are content to go about in their boats at two or three miles an hour. Even the steam tows that carry water trains do not exceed six miles an hour. Although the Yang-tse is the main waterway, it is doubtful if it carries more traffic than the Grand canal which is simply a great thoroughfare from which radiate countless waterways, com pletely traversing the country. H T Wade, who knows this and the adjoining provinces better doubtless than any one else, having traveled over them for for ty years, and having prepared the only detailed map of them, says that between Kashmg and Soo-chow, sixty miles Or less apart, and both on the Grand canal, there are at least fifty different routes .Nearly all of the land is flat in the district bounded by Shanghai, Hangchow *l Soo-chow. Since there can be no thought of abandoning the waterways bridges over them must be built high enough to permit boats to pass under There are too many boats in motion to make drawbridges feasible. The water train trip to Hangchow, 150 miles, takes thirty-six hours, and that to Soo-chow, eighty miles, may be made between late tW afternoon and the next morning. When a native wishes to go from Shang hai to Soo-chow he can get a berth in some part of the train for 30 cents or the equivalent of about 15 cents in Ameri can money. There is always ample ac commodation at this rate. How a rail road is to be built over such a country other than on stilts, or how it is to Be come a paying investment, has not been yet ngured out for the information of the public. UP THE YANG-TSE VALLEY. A road projected to Shoo-chow direct and th-?n on to Nanking, following the Yang-tse, presents physical difficulties not unlike those mentioned, but at Nan king it might meet extensions of crosa and latitudinal roads, which are neces sary to bring within reasonable commer cial reach the vast mineral and other wealth of the interior. There would be no use in making Nanking a terminus, tor only river steamers can go there and exports would need to be transhipped at Woo-sung. Both the Belgian and American schemes apply to territory that is well watered, but which also abounds in highlands, some or it being moun tainous. Goods for export from those sections take weeks to reach this port trom the starting point. Railroads would bring them here in as many days. By the fastest means now available tho trip to Hankow, 700 miles, lasts seven days. Then goods or passengers must wait a stearrer to Ichang, from which they are transferred to houseboats for the further westward passage. At this stage the rapids and gorges are met. bometimes they cannot be passed. Under the most favorable conditions the tfi*J from here to Chunking, 1,500 miles, lusts about six weeks. There is a tremendous ly fine territory in Szechuan awaiting de velopment. An English company which" has concessions there reports it exceed ingly rich in oil, coal and iron. A French railroad is projected Jnto tho southern part of Szechuan, and a road may come up from Mandalay, but neither' of them proposes an outlet eastward or goes anywhere near Chunking. interests in this part of China will not be thoroughly served until the Yang-tse valley is to it's westward end. The far interior can be come satisfactorily accessible to trade only by railroad lines. Since neither heip nor encouragement may be expected from native agency, the transportation prob lem will fuse into the political settlement find it can be worked out only under official protection extended in gocd faith When the Chinese see what it does for them they will become its rtrdent sup porters, as they are of some of the other foreign commercial innovations. Until then It must be Impressed upon them as a reform irom which they cannot hope to escape. MO-KSTEE FOE THE PACIFIC. Largest Vessels Ever Unlit In Amer ica Nearly Completed. NEWPORT NEWS, Va., March 23.-The new steamship Korea, the largest vessel ever built on this hemisphere, will be launched next Saturday morning at H o'clock at the yard of the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock company, and it is expected that between 20,0*50 and 30, --000 people will be gathered around the ways to see the monster hull take its in itial plunge into the waters of the James river. The Korea and her sister ship, the Si beria, are building for the Pacific Mail Steamship company, and will ply be tween San Francisco and Hongkong, with Honolulu, Yokohama and Nagasaki as ports of call. The vessels are exactly alike, and the contract price for the two is $100,000, making them the costliest as well as the largest merchant vessels built on this hemisphefe. Uncle Sam is build ing costlier warships, but not even the large monster defenders contracted for by the government will approach the dimensions of the Pacific Mall liners. The Korea and the Siberia will each have a THE ST. PAUJC etOBE, SUNDAY, MARCH 24, 1901. THE WB(XN,G ADJECTIVE. "Wife—Why don't you smoke those cigars I gave you at Christmas time? I'm sure they're delightful. v Husband—My dear, delightful is not the word. : liiS 13!8i41J n -^ • . - - ■ ■.-... rH *t ■ ... ... „, i Percy—l think de president of de United States otter gjt more salary. Horatio—Oh! I dunno. I'd be willing ter take de Job fer "half de amount. Percy—l wouldn't consider it fer less den a hundred 'thousand, no matter how much dey coaxed me. ROMANCE AND REALITY. w^^^^^^^v fr , .——r— —>——>-^^-..v _ im 4r ■_ . '~~~- —'- — a#^^^^^^ Mr. Rant (the leading man)—Ah ha! my lady fair, come into the banquet hall and I will drink your health in my choicest wineg. I Mr. Rant—By jove, Mag, this goes to the right spot. : I was so dry I could hardly speak my lines. REBELLED FOR ONCE. Mrs. Henpeck—l hope you will often think of me while you are away. Henpeck—Not on your life. This is going to be a pleasure trip. displacement 3,000 tons greater than the battleships of the Virginia class. With a speed of something like twenty knots, the Korea will be the fastest ship on the Pa cific until the arrival of her sister ship, and then the Pacific Mail will have two vessels, equipped both for heavy passen ger, and freight traffic, which will be the finest vessels traveling out of San Fran cisco or entering Hongkong. The Siberia will follow the Korea in about a month, j and after the engines are installed and the vessels are completed and ready for delivery they will probably start together for the Pacific. The Korea, will be required to make eighteen knots an hour, but the proba bility is tfcat she will be a twenty-knot ship easily. Her dimensions follow: Length over all, 572 feet 4 inches; beam, •G3 feet; depth, 40 feet; draught, 27 feet; displacement, 18,600 tons. The only American-built ships which approach the Korea in size are the St. L*>uis and the St. Paul, of the American line's New York-T-ondon service. Thoir dimensions are: Length, 03ti.5 feet; beam, 63 feet; depth, 26.8 feet. Their displacement in not nearly so great as that of the Pacific Mail ships. Tn the construction of the Korea ac commodations will be provided for 200 BY THE WAYSIDE. first-class passengers, 30 white steerage passengers, and 1,20 ft Chinese. Quarters for the Chinese are arranged so that the space may tje utilizerl for other pur poses if unoccupied The hull is con structed of the best steel throughout, and a double bdttoiri extends from stem to stern. There are four decks, extend ing the whole length of the vessel, known as tho Jgpwer, main, upper and promenade decwK • In addition to those rre the orlop and beat decks. The main engines are two fp^fr-cylinder quadruple expansion engines at the vertical invert ed direct-acting'"tvtfe, placed abreast of each other in separate watertight apart ments. The engines are designed to developed 18,000;, indicated horsepower, when running at tfye rate of eighty-six revolutions a njinu'i.e. Fashionable fcofbr Conil>inn4ions. A lovely shaae of deep yellow eithor in silk or velvet Is used to make veets, full fronts, sleeve puffs, etc., for deep prolclf-n brown waists or costumes, og pecially when brown velvet is uaed for trimming facings. Other fashionable combinations are riel blue with black, brilliant scarlet WTth equally brilliant , green, water or sea green with mahogany brown, and mauve with I'ule pink. fill Mil INCIBENTS OP EARLY TIMES IN THE CALIFOitNIA GOLD FIELDS KILLING OF ONE PUGILIST A. Thrilling: Experience With * Scotohmun Named McPber •on—TliTce Lives iv . ■„. , Jeopardy. The most famous gambler In the late BO's, In my time, says Gen. William Humphreys, of San Francisco, in his "Reminiscences of the California Gold Fields," was "Judge" Jones. It was known of him only that ho mysteriously dropped In from Texas as a forty-niner with 'the title of "Judge." He was a Blender little fellow, wth nerves tempered like Bessemer steel; when sober, of Ches terfleldian manners, but ready to pick a quarrel with any man when three sheets in the wind. Judge Jones waa the best dressed man in San Francisco; all his clothes came from London, but nobody had tho 'temc-rity to tempt the judge's wrath by the slightest allusion to his passion for dress. Bad blood ran in Jones' veins toward Belcher Key, an English pugilist, who was then the local John L. Sullivan, of 'Frisco. Ills "bunch of fives'"' TTftd earned for the prize fighter a respect to which his bad manners did not entitle !4:m. Key was quarrelsome, and so was the Texan judge. Both met in the Eldorado, near Billy Owen's saloon and gambling place, when Key, who was reasonably full of liquor, proceeded directly to where Judge Jones was standing and slapped him in the face. Jones was game, and, though much inferior in size, put up a fiat and let drive at the burly prize tight er with his right, drawing first.blood freely. This was more 4ha.n Fighter Key expected. He let fly his left—he was left handed—and floored the little gambler, who, from the marble. floor, where ho lay, pulled his revolver and shot Belcher Key through the heart. The coroner had no time to waste as the result of Judge Jones' fatal facility with his pistol. He was not even arrested, and that night he received an ovation which might have gratified the last of the Caesars. HEAVY BETTING. It was not unusual in Billy Owens' back room to see a man walk in and lay down a certificate of deposit for $10,000 on the ace, having first asked the banker to cover the bet, and, with out a change of muscle, banker and player woufd quietly abide the coming out of the card, and if the bank won tha banker quietly raked in his $10,000 cer tificate of deposit, laid it in his left-hand drawer, and the man in front of the table went out a wiser and a poorer man to begin prospecting again at Pov erty flat. I once saw a rich horseman come in, and, tiring T,f piking along with $500 bets on a single card, he nonchalant ly tapped on the high card with his pencil and said: "Mr. Dealer, I'll just go you on the high card my three-story brick house near the Palace hotel against your $20,000," and, drawing out of his pocket his deed, the bettor laid it on the ace spot. "Done," said the dealer, who was likely to have a $10,000 bank roll In his pocket and a reserve fund of $100,000 in a smail Fafe in the corner of the gambling fcell. Quietly the outside betting went on, and nearly all the cards were out, the ace being the "soda" card and threu acres still in the box. The deed still lay on the ace. At last, when king, queen, jack and three aces were the only cards in/the box the bettor said: "Hold on, Mr. Dealer, I'm tired of that ace. It's going to split. I want to put my brick house on the king. Are you agreed?" "Cert!" respbrfd.ed the dealer. He pulled. Out came the king for the winning card. . The bank lost. The man with the brick house won $20, --000. "How will you have your money?" taid Mr. Dealer. "Check," laconically answered the lucky gambler. The dealer's side part ner filled out a check for the winner while the game went on. WON BY HIS FRIEND. Billy Owens and Judge Jones were as close as Damon and Pythias; the bond that bound them was a friendship that only ended with the life of Judge Jones. v.rho died with his boots on in his own faro bank, killed by a cowboy who got the drop on him In a fight over a dis puted bet. One night, when thie game was running light, as gamblers say, and the Judge's bank was taking in what money there was, Billy Owens, flushed with Old Otard, came around to the faro outlay. Walk-ing up to his chum, he said: ."Judge Jones, this is a mighty mean game, with these hundred dollar pikers around the board. How much have you got in that big safe over yonder?" "Just $32,000 in thar, old man," replied the judge, and that's just $32,000 more'n you've got the sand in your craw to try and win!" "Ah! that's your little game, is It, old Texas-«never-tire," exclaimed Billy Owens, just enough for a flyer. "I'll just go you my check on the California bank for $32,000 cold plunker3." "Put up or shut up, Biily," sententious ly answered the Texas judge, as his steel-gray eyes, expanding wide, shone like two white diamonds in a jeweler's tray. Billy Owens, as blithe and debonair as a wild white mountain goat skipping over ttie Sierra Nevada ranges, walked over to the gambler's desk (and a well regulated gambling place is never without a table called a "secretary," where pen and lnK are ready and bank checks, without any particular bank's name, can always be found), filled up a check on the .Bank of California for $32,000, signed it and walk ed back to Judge Jones. Up to this moment Jones thought Billy was fooling. He was mistaken. "I'll bet this in the pot, the jack to win, against your safe and contents," said Owens. "It is well," said Jones without a smile, pulling out a big safe key from his side pocket and slapping it down hard on top of Billy's check in the pot. "That repre sents my wealth." All the other players stopped playing to watch the game. The tHirQ turn, as the key lay hugging the check, out came the card. "Jack wins!" the dealer called, white about the gills. "Busted, by the everlasting Jumping jingo!" yelled the Texas judge; "but damn my eyes, Filly, you are the very man I want to win if I must lose." SCOTCHMAN'S MISTAKE. A brawny Scotchman. Dugald McPher son, came to the mining country in Cali fornia and struck it rich the first year. He was a gold operator, peaceful when sober, and a devil Incarnate when vexed or under the influence. Forty miles from San Francisco the old bachelor McPherson had a ranch where the boys loved to sojourn over Sunday. Presiding over the old man's home and mistress of the ranch was a Spanish se norita, fat and over forty years old, and a miraculous cook. I certainly had no eyes for the senorlta, but after 1 had gone back to 'Frisco, leaving my friends behind, some of the wags in the party told the old Scot that I had been using "the whispered speech that lovers use" in conversation on a May night on the piazza of the adobe mansion wfth his dusky senorita. The green-eyed passion seized mine host. He sent word to me that he meant to put a bullet hole in me on sight. I got two single-barreled pistols with hair triggers. I didn't mean to be killed by the bloody-minded McPherson wlth- GROWS HAIR ON BALD HEADS Free Package of a Remarkable Remedy That Will Give Any Man, Woman or Child a Beautiful Head of Hair, Prevents Hair Falling Out, Thickens Tbln Hair, Cures Dandruff, Scurf or Scalp Pimples and Makes Any Hair Heavy, Long and Silky. Prematurely Gray Hair Restored to Its Natural Color Without Dye-It Has Never Failed to Grow Hair on Bald Heads, Eyebrows or Lashes —Send Name and Address for Frae Package, -"■•"■?-'•■ "■ • ■•■ '■-.'■ .' V v" "".?_ ■ *>'-"-.-:iv--t. '■• '':■■- - . *-. vi • »*. -;. NO LONGER ANY EXCUSE FOR BALDNESS. Any man, woman or child can easily secure the means for restoring a natural, fine, silky, glossy growth of hair to their head, or prevent their hair from falling out or getting thin by sending for one free package of a most remarkable pure ly vegetable remedy, discovered and prepared by Altenheim Medical Dispens ary. The remedy is destined to prove a boon to the entire human race, as with its use there will be no such thing as bald heads or heads with thin, scraggly" hair. Men whose hair or beards are straggling or all gone, women whose tresses have been thinned by fever or hair failing out, requiring the use of switches; little children, boys and girls, whose hair is coarse and unruly, all find in this great remedy just the relief that they want. It grows hair on bald heads, thickens eyebrows and lengthens eye lashes, restores to its natural color pre maturely gray hair, prevents thin hair, stops itching, cures dandruff, sctfrf or scalp pimples and makes the hair of any man, woman or child long, heavy, silky and beautifully glossy.' "After being bald for thirty years," says Prof. Turner. President of Fair mount College, Sulphur. Ky. "I began using the remedy in 1895. and In a few weeks thereafter my entire scalp was covered with a thick, downy growth of new hair. The whole of my hair was gone except a fringe around the hat-line. In six weeks the bald spot was entirely covered, notwithstanding that when" I commenced using the remedy I had a diseased scalp. I had been bald for thir ty years, and when hair can be made to grow on such a head as mine 'no bald headed person need fear the results. It is five years since I used this remedy out a chance for my white alley. With my hair-trigger pistols, one. in each trouser pocket, I sauntered down town and into one of the most gorgeous sa locns in 'Frisco. As I got close to one of the faro tables both hands were in their respective pockets ready for immediate action. I was much Inter ested in the play of a squatty, French- Mexican gambler, who was plugging wildly with his gold dust all over the thirteen cards on the faro layout. When I was within six Inches of the half-breed I looked up. There, ten paces away, on the other side of the table, towering like another Saul, among the gambling Israelites. Bix feet in his boots, stood my mortal enemy, Dugald McPherson. He advanced. I stood still, both-hands grasping my 'trusty single barrels in poche. FIRED FROM HIS POCKET. Suddenly there was an explosion. A hundred revolvers were Instantly drawn in the gambling room and the click in cocking the shooting irons drowned the click of the ivories and the buzz of the roulette wheel. "Sac-r-r-dam!" cried the little half treed, scattering his handful of g'C-ld dust around the room, and making a "wild jump, he mounted the faro table at a bound. The dealer drew his pistol, and the half-breed was close to the gates ajar as he cavorted strangely among the chips, scared out of his wits. With my left I drew my remaining pistol and pointed it at the burly Scot. McPherson. All my life was crowded in that one moment, when the sense of danger was calculated to stretch an hour into eter nity or eternity into a moment. Mc- Pherson threw up both hands and shout ed, my pistol still holding a cold bead on him. "Don't! I'm a damned fool! I found out the boys were lying to me!" Down went my pistol into my left pockat, while I began to clap my right hand on my right pocket, which was afire, with my weather eye still on the Mexican-Frenchman, who was ready and eager to fight mo. The bullet had creased the gambler's skin and cut open his trousers, covered the broadest part of his person. I hurriedly begged his pardon, dragged him out of the gambling room, glad to get out alive, and with difficulty explained the situa tion. When he began to comprehend he laughed until the tears ran down his face, more particularly after I had told him in the best Mexican I could master that if he would meet me at my hotel tho next day at noon I would order for him at my tailor's the best suit of clothes money could buy. The suit cost me $200, and I gave him, besides, $100 in gold, and the jingling of the guinea helped the hurt his honor felt a pos teriori. This man proved to be a roucjh diamond and became my fast friend. The old Scotchman spent a week with me, but he never again recognized any of the crowd whose pleasantry came near costing three people their lives. Dugald McPherson died the next year, full of years and ducats, and left me $li) 0,000 in gold by way of apology for his mistßke. Summer Hatpins. A new fad which the summer girl will exploit is hatpins made of artificial roses. At one of the fashionable Southern resorts a pretty belle was seen wearing a hnt of fine white muslin for the crown, put on in soft folds, the brim being of Fayal straw, hatpins were the only trimming. They were deep-red roses fastened on long pins. One was worn or. the outside, the other on the inside ot her hat, nestling against her wavy brown tresses, just where the brim turned up. The flowers are changed to harmonize with the color of the trimming of the frock. The Knobs Were There. Philadelphia Press. "I've got to get myself a pair of shoes," said Misa Bunyon, "and I'm determined to have a real nobby pair." "Why, my dear," sweetly replied her best friend. "I'm sure any pair of shoes you should wear would have to be knob by." and my hair is all due to the remarkabla remedy I used." Mrs. J. C. Anderson, Missoula, Mont, writes: "For years my hair had been falling out, but since using Foso Reme dies I have had a new growth of hair that is now to natural length " Theresa Fennell.' Moscow, Idaho says: -My head was bald and glossy, buj since using the Foso Treatment piy hah* is now four inches in length and quite curly." J. J. Auld, Cedar Falls, lowa, writes: *Was very bald, but now have fine crop of new hair which will soon be ready to trim. It also cured dandruff." Mrs. W. H. Provost, Greenwich. Conn., writes: "Remedies have stopped all itching and accumulations of dandruff " She was also bald, but her hair has been, now completely restored. D. B. Chernlss, Farmersville, Texas, says the top of his head was entirely bald, but the Remedies have grown a fine new crop of hair and every one In town is surprised to see it. Miss Lucy Paschall, Watertown. Mass., says her hair was thin and gray, but has been restored to the natural color Is now long and thick and glad to recom mend the Foso Treatment to all. In the thousands of cases where ft has been used it has never failed, yet the proprietors are ever ready to grant any person in 14 c world a test package of the wonderful properties of the remedy absolutely free; all that you have to do Is to send your name and address to Al tenheim Medical Dispensary, 3253 Butter field Bldg.. Cincinati, Ohio, enclosing 2« cent stamp to cover postage, and by re turn mall you will receive a free trial package that will convince you of th« truth of this article. AUTIST ABBEY HONORED. American Comniigsioned by King to Paint Coronation Scene. LONDON, March 23.—The much-sought commission to paint the coronation scene in Westminster abbey next year has been given by King Edward to Edwin A. Ab bey, the American artist. The Royal academy elected him not long ago an as sociate member of its body. Few men EDWIN AUSTIN ABBEY. American Artist Who Has Been Hon-i ored in England. have more Vlchly deserved the honor. Mr. Abbey was born In Philadelphia in 1&.52, and is a pupil of the Pennsylvania Acad emy of Fine Arts. At nineteen he becamo a draughtsman in the house of the Har pers, and later he became a member of the American Water Color society. He removed to London in IS7B, where he has been engaged chiefly in illustrating books and periodicals. He is a member of the London Institute of Water Color. Mr. Abbey has executed quite a number of water color portraits. Among them are those of Andrew Carnegie, J. W. Harper and R. G. Dun. Among his genre subjects owned In this country are "Lady in a Garden," "Rose in October," "Read ing the Bible," "The Stage Office," "The March Past," "Visitors" and "An Atten tion." He received a second-class medal at Munich in ISSS and a first-class medal at the Universal exposition In Paris in 1889. O<M Facts About Our Coins. The use of the "E Pluribus Unum" on coin was never authorized by law. Its first known use was on a New Jersey cent struck off In 1776. The word dollar came from the German thaler; Dutch, daalder, Danish daler, and Italian tailors. The word dime is from the French dixl eme (a tenth), expressing the tenth part of the standard dollar, and first appeared on sample coins made for congress and spelled "disme." When our coinage took the place of Spanish coinage the dimes supplanted the real, known aa a shilling in New York, in Virginia as a levy and in Louisiana as a bit. The word cent comes from the French centime (hun dredth), derived from the Latin centum; one hundred. For over fifty years Mrs. Wlnslcw'a Soothing Syrup has been used by moth ers for their children while tucthing. Are you disturbed at night and broken, of your rest by a sick child suffering and crying with pain of Cutting Teeth? If to, send at once and get a bottle of "Mrs. \Vin?low's Soothing Syrup" for Children Teething. Its value is incalculable. It will relieve the poor little sufferei^ Im mediately. Depend upon it, mothers, there is no mistake about it It curaa diarrhoea, regulates the Stomach and Bowels, cures Wind Colic, softens tho Gums, reduces Inflammation, and gives tone and energy to the whole *y&tem. "Mr? Winslow's Soothing Syrup" for children teething is pleasant to the tasta ami is the prescript on of < lie of the oldest and best femalo" physicians and nurses in the United Slates, and is for «ale by all druggists throughout th« world. Price, twenty-five cents a bottle. Be sure and »sk for "Mrs WlnsloV* Soothing Syrup."