The Forrest City times. [volume], January 03, 1896, Image 1

About The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919

Image provided by: Arkansas State Archives

                
ESTABLISHED 1871.
VOL. xxv.
KOKKKSTCITV, AKK.. FRIDAY AFTERNOON, JANUARY IS, 189<».
By LANDVCIGT & VADAKIN.
NO. 13.
professional cards.
o. a WHITE,
fHYfM ASD SURGEON,
tiffin ovrr ffinllirop’n DIJ drag Store.
W. II. ALLEY,
PHYSICIAN and SURGEON
Fcrrest CltTt Ark.
J. R. CASON, M. D.
PHYSICIAN and SURGEON
Forrest CIt jr, Ark.
Iuciai-he*:—Diseases of the Et*. Ear, Hem
aud Throat.
DfTiC>1OTer L.. Rollwuge & Co.'s Store.
I w. HORTON. 1. M. PREWITt
NORTON & PREWETT,
Attorneys at Law,
EIU practice In the First and Second JudV
sUl Circuits and In the Federal and
Supreme Courts.
tn\n a kuvim icil::k3, rcxaian cm. m
Dooley & Massie,
DENTISTS! |
.
FORREST CITY, ARK.
DENTISTRY in all It* brunches executed
by the must improved scientific method*.
Prompt attention arid all work guaranteed.
Charges as low as is consistent with good
work.
I Write for Illustrated Catalogue
FREE,
i H, Knlford, Jeweler, Memphis, T*an ’
A SCHEDULE
ONE HOUR 0D1CKER
hi
between LITTLE ROCK and MEM
PHIS than Competitors
O HAS Q
-TUB
Little Rock & Memphis R. R,
SHORT LINE
Make close and direct connections at
Memphis without bus transfer.
Through sleepers for all Eastern points
Only 1# Hours to Birmingham,Ala.
Illy 22 Hours to Atlanta, Ou
nly 41 Hours to Washington.D.C.
nly 41 Hours to New York City,
nly 22 Hours to Louisville, Ky.
illy 27 Hours to Cincinnati, Ohio,
Elegant WoodruiT and Pullman Buffet
Sleepers.
Eor further Information, tickets and re
servation, call ou or address.
J. 11. BAUD. Agent.
Forrest City, Ark.
H. W. MORRISON, G. P. A T. A.
Little Rock, Ark.
1
Iron Mountain Route
-THE
Vhere Cor.nettiou* are Made for All Polo.*
north, east; west.
THROUGH PULLMAN BUFFETT
sleeping cars between
Memphis and St. Louis.
3-DAILY TRAINSJ-3
-—BETWEEN
ST. LOUIS aM ttie SOUTHWEST
H. C. TOWNSEND,
® Phm. and Ticket Agt.,
ax. LOUIS 140
A LOVE SONG TO MAHf
No rose without its thorn, Mary.
Hut still by love we're led;
Ar.d so, I hoe the corn, Mary,
And you—you bake the bread.
And sweeter bread in all this land
There could not ever be
Than that that's dimpled by the hand
That gave your heart to me.
No rose without its thorn, Mary,
tut love's a blessed lot;
And so, I hoe the corn, Mary,
And you—you keep the cot.
And sweeter cot in all this land
There could not ever be
Than that where Mary's willing hand
Has trained the vines for me.
No lose without Its thorn, Mary,
But love's a rnerry morn!
And you shall w'ear the rose, Mary,
And love will hide the thorn.
And sweeter love in all this land
There could not ever be
Than my heart’s love for Mary,
And Mary’s love forme!
—trank L. Stanton, in Atlanta Constitu
tion.
THE THIEF ON THE SHIP.
"Mrs. Melliurst’s compliments, sir,
find would you please come down to her
stateroom immediately ?”
1 had just shut myself into my little
office on deck, having run through the
ship's accounts before turning in that
night. It is quite a mistake, by the
way, to think that we pursers have no
more onerous duties to perform when
at sea than to watch over the passen
gers' comfort, read papers on Sunday
and keep a store of nautical informa
tion at our finger ends for the benefit of
every curious voyager. Nowadays the
purser of a crack American liner—mak
ing, perhaps, a record passage of six
days or so—has his w ork pretty well ml
out for him during the entire voyage.
On the present occasion I had scarce
ly got my accounts fairly in hand when
1 was interrupted by a slight tap at the
door. 1 arose at once and opened it,
and there stood Mrs. Melhurst's Cana
dian maid, with flushed face and nerv
ous, agitated manner.
“is there anything wrong?” I asked,
with some surprise, when she had deliv
ered her message.
” 1 here is, sir, she replied, hastily.
“All 1 know—”
She was about to make some other
statement, but pulled herself up sud
denly and tripped along the deck with
out another word.
1 switched oil theelectriclight,locked
the door and hurried away after aer.
When 1 got to Mrs. Melliurst’s state
room 1 saw at once that something had
occurred to cause her serious anxiety.
The berths, the couch and even -he
floors were littered with the contents
of cabin trunks and hand-bags. In the
midst of the confusion stood the lady
herself, looking decidedly perplexed
and annoyed.
"This is very singular, Mr. Morse,"
she said, pointing to an empty jewel
case w hieh lay open on the upper lierth.
“My diamond ornaments are missing."
"You don’t say sol” 1 exclaimed, in
sheer astonishment.
“I do say so!" she replied, sharply.
“You can see for yourself that they are
gone.”
"How did it happen?”
“1 cannot possibly tell you. At din
ner this evening 1 happened to mention
to Mrs. Latimer that 1 had picked up a
certain crescent-shaped brooch on the
continent. She expressed a wish to see
it. When the tables were cleared 1
came in here, took out the brooch and
left the jewel case lying on the berth,
but when I got back the curse was
empty.”
“How long were you absent?”
“Mot more than half an hour.”
“You are sure you had the key in your
possession all the time?”
“Positive. I never let it out of my
hand while I was in the saloon.”
I was totally staggered. I examined
the lock carefully, but there was ab
solutely nothing to show that it had
been tampered with. 1 could hit upon
no better suggestion than that Mrs.
Melliurst might possibly have mislaid
the jewels somewhere. This had the
sole effect of exasperating the lady to
such a degree—for it seems that she had
already searched every nook and corner
in the cabin—that 1 was glad to beat a
retreat in order to lay the matter be
fore the captain.
I had just got to the head of the sa
loou stairs when I heard some one
bounding up after me, three or four
steps at a time. 1 turned and saw Mr.
Carter—who, by the way, had made sev
eral voyages with us on previous occa
sions.
"I say, Mr. Morse,” he said, taking me
confidentially by the arm, ‘you’ve got
some queer customers on board this
trip.”
“How so?”
“Why. wme one’s gone and walked
otT with n-v silver cigarette case, a
couple o; rin^s and a pair of gold—”
“The deuce:*'
“Well, it looks uncommonly like us
if the individual you refer to had n
hand in the business, for 1 don’t see
how any ordinary mortal could pet into
one’s cabin, with the door bolted on
the inside, unless he managed to
squeeze through the porthole,”
“Tell me exactly how it happened.”
“My dear fellow, how can I? It's
enough^ to puzzle a Philadelphia l;«w
\< i . \ ou see, I went to my stateroom
after dinner—I can swear to that—and
1 remember slinging my cigarette case,
lings and a pair of gold sleeve links on
liie upj>er berth. Then I put on 1113’
dressing gown, stretched myself upon
the couch and had a downright good
snooze. \\ hen I got up, ubout five min
utes ago, 1 found my trinkets had van
ished."
1 on my word, thing’s were beginning
to look serious and no mistake! I lost
no time in hunting up the captain and
lundt* him acquainted with the state of
affairs. He was just as much puzzled
as I was myself. The first thing next
morning he sent a message to Mrs. Mel
hurst, requesting a private interview in
his cabin on deck. He also signified nis
wish that I should be present. We both
questioned the lady closely, but her re
plies did not tend to throw any light
upon the singular occurrence.
.Nevertheless, we determined to keep
a close watch upon the stateroom in fu
ture. It was pretty evident we had a
“black sheep” on board—probably an
old hand at the business. For the next
few days we had no further complaints.
The thief was evidently “lying low,”
waiting until tranquillity was restored
before making a fresh attempt. Mean
while I kept my eyes open. I observed
the little peculiarities of the different
passengers and took particular note of
the manner in which they occupied
their time.
On board ship when you find a man
who shows a marked preference 101 his
ow n society above that of the loungers
on deck or habitues of the smoke
room one is inclined to jump at the
conclusion that he has some solid rea
sons for his exclusiveness. If, in addi
tion to this, he happens to be of an ‘in
communicative disposition, with black
hair and swarthy complexion, given to
wearing a slouch hat and long coat—
rightly or wrongly, you put him down
as a decidedly suspicious character.
Now , we happened to have a passen
ger on board—a Brazilian named De
Castro—who tallied in every way with
this description. But for the fact that
1 had conclusive evidence to show he
could not have been directly concerned
in the robberies—for inquiries proved
he had remained on deck the whole
evening—he certainly would have been
treated to a private interview' in the
captain’s cabin. As it was, I was forced
to conclude that black hair, swarthy
complexion, slouch hat and cloak were
quite compatible with a man’s inno
cence.
Nothing further occurred to excite
suspicion until the last day or two of
the voyage. Then, one evening after
dinner, word was brought to me that
three other staterooms had been rifled
in the same mysterious manner.
Watches, jewelry and even money had
disappeared, though in all three cases
the passengers stoutly declared they
had left their doors locked.
When the alarm reached me I hap
pened to be standing in my deck office.
I had in my hand 2<> sovereigns, which
l had just taken in exchange for Ameri
can money to accommodate one of our
passengers. I didn’t wait to lock up
the gold; 1 simply placed it on my desk,
switched off the light and hurried
away. I had no fear for the safety of
the sovereigns, my door ha\ing a par
ticularly intricate lock, in which I took
good care to turn the key before leav
ing.
I remained below for an hour or so,
investigating these fresh complaints,
but, ns in the other eases, 1 was utterly
unable to make head or tail of them.
Vexed and bewildered, I went back to
my office, unlocked the door, turned on
the light, and mechanically stretched
out my hand to take the sovereigns
from the desk. My hand closed upon
nothing more solid than thin air—my
little pile of gold had vanished!
For a moment or two 1 stood there
gazing blankly before me, so utterly
confused and dismayed that I could
scarcely bring my wits to bear uj>on
the mysterious affair. Then 1 managed
to pull myself together, and took a look
around my little cabin. In the course
of my observations my eye happened
to rest upon the port hole, which stood
wide open, the weather being oppres
sively hot.
1 regarded the innocent looking j»ort
liole with the air of a veritable Sher
lock Holmes. I went outside and thrust
my arm in through the opening, but
my hand did not reach within fully two
yards of the desk. Still, it struck me as
Ix'ii)"- the only way by which the thief
could have got :st the money, and 1 de- '
termined to put my theory to a practi
cal test.
1 hurried down into the saloon, where
most of the passengers were congre
gated. As yet few of them were aware
of the robberies, for we had kept the
matter as secret as possible. 1 went
straight up to a young American gen
tleman who I knew had a great many
trinkets in his stateroom and was
rut her careless too in the way he toft
them lying about.
“Don’t show any surprise,” I v.his
pered, glancing around at the oth-r oc
cupants of the saloon, “but might task
whether your stateroom is locked?”
“It is.”
“And the porthole open ?”
“1 should say so! I don’t want to And
the place us stuffy as the engine-room
when 1 go to turn in.”
“Well, just pass me your key; I want
to try a little experiment. Wait till
I'm gone and then stroll up on deck.
Let yourself be seen—on the lower deck
particularly—but don’t pay too close
attention to anyone you may notice
loitering there.”
He fell in readily with my scheme.
I went and shut myself in t he state
room. crouching down so that I could
just keep an eye on the porthole over
the top of the lower berth. I remained
in that cramped position until my limbs
fairly ached, and J was half inclined to
give it up as a bad job.
But suddenly, as I glanced up at the
porthole, my blood rail cold, and in all
my life 1 never had such difficulty to
keep down a yell. In the dim light 1
saw a long, thin hairy arm thrust in
through the opening. The next mo-,
ment a small black hand had fastened"
upon a leather case lying close to the
window and withdrew it as quick as
thought almost.
1 sprang to my feet and bolted out
side into the passage. I dashed up the
saloon stairs and made for the lower
deck. There, just about the spot where
I judged the stateroom to be situated,
I ctyne face to face with the Brazilian,
De Castro. In spite of the heat he was
wearing his long cloak with the deep
cape, and had his eternal cigarette be
tween his teeth. He looked at me with
an air of frank surprise, and I looked at
him with an air of profound suspicion.
Suddenly a happy thought Hashed
through my mind. I turned round and
sprang down the saloon stairs, running
full tilt against the chief stewart, who
was standing at the bottom.
“Bet in- a handful of nuts—quick!"
I cried.
When he brought them J hurried
back on deck. The Brazilian had moved
away a little toward the stern. I went
close uj), stood right in front of him,
and then began deliberately to crack
the nuts.
He regarded me with a pitying sort of
look but 1 {>aid little attention to him.
Presently 1 saw a corner of the cajie
drawn aside and behind a pair of small,
gleaming eyes fixed greedily upon me.
It was enough. My suspicions were
confirmed. 1 flung the rest of the nuts
in the sea, and walking straight up to
D+Castro, said:
“1 must ask you to accompany me to
the captain’s cabin.”
*'\ ot you mean?" he asked, drawing
back.
1 was determined to stand no non
sense, and straightway took him by
the shoulders. The moment 1 laid my
hands upon him I heard a vicious snarl
under his cape; it w as pulled suddenly
aside and out flew a monkey.
The little brute went at me tooth and
nail. I saw the gleam of a knife, too,
in the Brazilian’s hand, but 1 let him
have my fist straight between the eyes
before he could use it, and he measured
his length upon the deck.
The quartermaster came running up
and the rascal was dragged off to the
captain’s cabin. When searched there
Mrs. Melhurst’s diamonds, Mr. Carter’s
cigarette case and rings and a miscel
laneous collection of other valuables
were found upon him. In his stateroom
we discovered a perforated box. appar
ently intended for the use of the mon
key, w ho w as evidently quite as accom
plished as his master.—Cassell’s Jour
nal.
Protective Measure*.
“Is they any way I ki.i git a receipt
for this here letter?” asked the thin
haired man with the crocheted tie.
“You can get it registered fur eight
cent*; extra,” answered the delivery
clerk. “If the letter is one of impor
tance, and its delivery is of particular
consequence, registration is advisable.”
"Oh, the ietter ain’t of no particular
importance—at least not eight cents’
worth, I don’t think. 1 merely allowed
mebb* 1 could git some kind of a receipt
to show I had mailed it to give the old
woman. 1 guess I’ll save the eight
I»enec an* put up with bein’ called an ole
iiar. as usual.”—Indianapolis Journal.
A WAR-TIME FEAST,
Three 1'ltirul l.ittle .SstinnKra on » Rleh
moml Dinner Table.
“It was n brisk winter’s day, and oui
walk out Franklin street added to tht
insistence of youthful appetites. Jin>
mine declared that if old Esther dldn’j
hurry up the dinner when w>
got back, he should have t<
read the eookcryhook to stay hii
hunger. Hut, secretly, we were dwell
ing in imaginution upon the rich treat
that was soon to come; and. on reach,
ing home, both of us abandoned cere
mony to rush pell-mell down the base
ment stairs. Jimmie opened the dooi
v. i.li a sos’t of mild Indian v.ap-v.'hooj
of delight. I res|K>nded in the sunn
fashion, and then—there, on the win
now-sin, wan indeed our plate of mit>
candy an we had left it; hut. sitting i[
the middle of it., her little red tongu*
industriously traveling over every pop
lion within her reach, was also As
chenquittel! Two eats, friends of hers
on their hind legs upon a barrel in th«
iard, their heads upon a level with th<
plate, were engaged in licking what tin
selfish hostess had left accessible t-c
their attack!”
“ 1 liat mean little Aschenputtell*
cried Claude, indignantly.
“Poor little I’uele Jimmie, and pool
little disappointed mother!” com
mented Hal, giving his mother’s waisl
a loving squeeze.
“Mamma, what did you do?” asket
Kathleen.
“Pin afraid I cried—just a little bit
Jimmie, very red in the face, drove
away the eats, ami. taking up the plute,
was just preparing to throw the whoh
thing into the yard, when a couple of
small darky children came running
down the street, looking so longingly
at the dish that he changed his mind,
‘Look here, you youngsters ’ he said,
’the cats have been licking this; but il
jou choose to take it and pump on it
you’re welcome to t he lot.’ With grim
nnd bobs, the little negroes took jilatc
and all, and scampered away. A mo
ment later, my dear father came it
from his office. As lie shook hands with
Jimmie and kissed me, we saw by hi?
shining eyes that he hail good news it
store. First we thought it was a vic
tory of our army; but it turned out tc
l>e a little pot of strawberry jam which
a clerk for whom he had done a kind
ness had sent as a present to ‘his little
girl.’ ”
"1 am so glad,” said Claude, with
emphasis.
ho were we, answered his mother
“I laid the cloth,nnd when presently old
Esther brought in the dinner, whal
should she do but set before her ‘Mars*
Jimmie, u dish containing three hot
sausages! Where they came from, w<
c ould not induce her to reveal. It hat
always been my idea that out of the old
creature’s little store of corns laid bj
for a “rainy day,’ she purchased thi
dainties to regale her pet. And so
that day at least, we feasted iike kings;
every morsel put upon the table wm
eaten with hearty relish, and to this
hour 1 love the memory of our pool
little pinched ‘refugee’ banquet, wher*
so much affection and gratitude and
self-sacrifice went to furnish the mea
ger board. One thing, especially, 1 re
member of it. My father, pausing
with a morsel of sausage upon his fork,
sighed deeply and seemed to l>c looking
at something we could not see. Jimmie
and I knew he was thinking about hii
other children; the two boy* who, upon
hardtack and raw bacon, were then
wearing out the end of a bitter and
hard-fought struggle—the sons whom
i.ever again lie was to welcome undet
his roof,"—Constance Cary Earrison
in St. Nicholas.
Who Annie Lnurle W an.
Most people suppose Annie Laurie U
be a creation of the aongwriter’Hfancy
or perhaps some Scotch peasant girl
like Highland Mary and most of th<
heroines of Uoliert Burns. In eithei
case thej are mistaken. Annie Lauri*
was “born in the purple,” so as to speak
at Maxwelton house, in the beautiful
L'len of the Cairn — Gleneairn. Ilei
home was in the heart of the. most
pastorally lovely of Scottish shires—
that of Dumfries. Her birth is thm
vet down by her father, in what is called
the Barjorg MS.: “At the pleasure oi
the Almighty God, my daughter, Annie
Laurie, was tK>rne upon the Kith day ol
IVcember, 1(5S” years, about six o’clock
in the morning, and was baptized bj
Mr. George-, minister of (ilencairn."
Her father was Sir Kobert Laurie
| lirts baronet, and her mother was Jear
' Itiddel). Maxwelton house was origi
nally t he castle of the carls of (ilencairn.
It was bought in Kill by Stephen
l-aurie, the founder of the Laurie fam
ily. Stephen was a Dumfries merchant.
! The castle was a turreted building, lr
it Annie Laurie was burn.—McClure*!
Magazine.