THE WESTERN NEWS
HAMILTON, MONTANA.
"There are others" Is a jK>or defense,
wren though you cnn prove It.
An exchange suggests that the proper
tength for a short skirt Is a little over
two feet.
After all the ups and downs he has
liad LI Hung Ohang ought to make
pretty good elevator boy.
Young Winston Churchill escaped dis
guised as n woman, and thus made tvs
«tart down the corridors of time as ''Sis
ter Winnie."
The story that the son-in-law of the
Sultan of Turkey has fled with his
wife's jewels is rather Indefinite. Which
Wife's jewels?
The same thing that has prevented
Hhe shuffling off of "the slok man of'Eu
irope'' will probably operate to keep
'"'the sick man of Asia" alive. That
Ithing is the jealousy which the great
glowers of Europe feel for one another.
The remark of General Lawton when
«asked, when ^lown South with the
^Presidential party, to make a Rpeecli:
*T am not a hero, I am only a regular,"
3s well remembered. Lawton was one
*of the kind who do not do all his flght
Jlng with his mouth.
-One State of the Union, having a sur
plus of a million dollars In its treas
ury, for which It bas no pressing use,
proposes to devote it to the Improve
ment of public schools. There may be
Slttle "practical politics" In such a
«ourse, but there is much regard for the
welfare of the people.
Mark Twain can't remember when he
Hold his first lie, but the second is vtv
iJldly impressed on his memory—he told
St when he was nine days old. He prof
Sted by It, according to his own story,
-and the public will draw Its own infer
ences as to bis reason for pursuing to
« ripe age the vocation of fiction.
A Binghamton (N. Y.) man Is reported
«0 have killed his wife and himself In
order to see their pictures in the papers,
smd another citizen of the Empire State
committed suicide a few days ago to
prove whether there U anything in spir
-iltualism or not. It isn't likely that
•telther of them Is now thoroughly satis
u'äed with the results.
Absent-mindedness has seldom been
«a fame or money-making venture to Its
.possessor. Nevertheless, the poem,
"The Absent-Minded Beggar," which
Mr. Kipling contributed to a Londou
•newspaper for sale, brought in a fund
of $ 00.000 for the needy families of the
«oldiers sent to South Africa. The
poem was recited nightly at ten music
balls, and sung (o Sir Arthur Sullivan's
music at half a dozen more.
Scientific meu predict that pathogenic
Ibacteria, or disease-breeding germs, are
destined to be exterminated In civilized
ilaaids, along with uiau-eating beasts
and venomous serpents. And why not?
Already the progress of medical sci
ence has gone far to eliminate or cancel
*ihe poison of typhoid and diphtheria;
lithe bacillus of consumption is being
bunted to its lair; and in cities where
sanitation is duly regarded the scourge
10 f cholera and yellow fever need no
Songer be feared.
Phillips Brooks said, in the last
Thanksgiving sermon lie preached: "I
•defy a man to pul his finger upon any
page of history when it was clearer
than it is to-doy that man has some
thing to do with his brethren and that
they are ids brethren. Yes, It belongs
■to nations, too. No nation dare act in
«ubllme selfishness." Whether the re
training motive be high or low, the
fact of greed, envy, hate, under some
■«control. Is a ground of hope for Indi
viduals ami governments.
It Is but a poor compliment to a sol
•ffier -or, rather, it Is not a compliment
at all—to say of him ttiat he was abso
lutely Ignorant of fear. It is the over
«coming of fear, not the entire absence
of it, which constitutes bravery. In
other words, the man who has never
experienced tlie sensation of fear—if
-*uch a man ever lived—is lacking ln
relative Judgment. He cannot reason
from cause to effect far enough to see
that if he does a certain thing he Is sure
to be killed. And auch a mental com
position, so far from constituting great
ness, Is merely a sign of weak Intellect.
Hence we may b» sure that Gen. Law
ton, despite the assertions of his Inju
dicious friends, knew very well what
fear was, but he did not allow it to In
fluence his conduct or his judgment.
That is the real bravery which marks
the gallant soldier. The other type—
the disposition to rush at any antagon
ist without reasoning or reflection—is
the mere brute instinct of the bulldog
suid it doesn't win battles.
The year nineteen hundred offer* a
considerable range of choice to persons
Interested ln anniversaries pertaining
to literary men whose claim to remem
brance la Indisputable. Scholars have
Abe five hundredth anniversary of the
•death of Ohaacer ln mind, and repair
with fresh delight to that "well of En
glish undefyled." Richard Hooker, the
English divine, has been dead three
centuries. His distinction had the added
felicity of winning leak Walton's pen
no record Its fullness. The centenary of
«Cowper's death is numbered with the
zaetable days In the year. Many to
whom his works may not otherwise ap
peal will be grateful for the spiritual
psfpwhment which they owe to his de
votlonal writing. On the other hand,
the centenary of Macaulay's birth Is
commemorated, at least by special rec
ollection, by the large company who
• re his debtors because, when he wrote
history, the poet's Imagination kept
dullness at a distance. There'ane other
days and names for end-of-the-eenturv
mention which good readers and good
listeners will not forget.
One of the matters now discussed by
the Iowa teachers is the making of the
township the uult of organization. Un
der the present system each independ
ent school district, says the Chicago
Tribune, has a hoard of directors and a
secretary, making more than twenty
five officers In the average township.
Many teachers believe better results
could be hud by abolishing these dis
trict boards and centralizing control of
the schools In township boards. The
experience in other States would bear
out this view. In Philadelphia the
schools are managed in a most wasteful
fashion, there being a board of school
directors for each ward in the city with
great powers. The result is an extrav
gaut management. Whenever there are
many boards, each consisting of many
members, then there are a large num
ber of persons whose personal interests
must be looked after and whose friends
must be provided for. By reducing the
number of directors these Influences
are reduced and economy follows. The
Legislature will do well to reorganize
the school system with the township as
the basis of organization.
The highwayman robs a man— per
haps two men. If he Is lucky—and that
is the end of It so far as the extent of
damage is concerned. But the promo
ters of inflated enterprises based on
slender prospects start In to rob the
public at large. All goes well for a
while, perhaps, as It did with the
Franklyn syndicate. But the time comes
when the bubble bursts or shrinks to a
poor semblance of its former self, and
the damage is widespread. When the
hour of collapse or contraction arrives
we have all the troubles of a financial
panic so far ns these securities are con
cerned. Sometimes when the smash
comes those who are really responsible
have escaped. Sometimes the guilty
go down with the innocent the promo- P
tors with the investors The nunish
merit ..f , , Y. ^ ,
rongdoing falls upon the In
nocent, upon tlie public at large. Even
those who have had no share In the
game, who have not touched or han
dled the perilous thing, are caught in
the pinch with those who have taken
the risk. Ileal values are the only val
ues that count in the long run. Dishon
esty incorporated is just as much dis
honesty as if It were practiced by indi
viduals. And in the end it is about as
sure to suffer the penalty.
The chartering of two steamers to
carry cargoes of corn from Philadel
phia to Reval. In Northern Russia,
taken in connection with the fact that
several cargoes have already been
shipped to the same port from other
Atlantic coast seaports, shows that
Russia begins to realize tlie value of
nennt !' an co *P fls «cheap food for its
ptoplt, especially those living In the
....... ..... ' '
northern and colder sections of that
country. The difficulty heretofore has
been to convince European consumers
that corn could lie utilized as a nutri
tious food for human beings. Large
quantities have heretofore been ship
ped abroad for brewing purposes, but
the prejudice against it as a food prod
uct was extremely hard to eradicate.
Little by little, however, American corn
lias been making headway In Europe, i
and the Russian importations now in 1
progress give promise of an extensive
demand from that country in the near
future Th«, »«.r.ti™« 7 ,
8ec ' Ions of Russia ln
1 corn can grown profitably -
w ill also grow wheat, and the Russian !
farmers are likely to continue to raise
wheat, leaving American corn to be im- ;
ported as a cheap food for those who
cannot afford to pay the prices wheat
will bring ln the European market
WHY HE HAD TO MOVE.
a
Unfortnnate Lived Next Door to a Doc
tor with Night Calls.
"Why, man," said the landlord to a
tenant whom he had recently secured
for a house that had been unoccupied
for several months, "you're not going to
vacate so soon? You've only been thero
a month."
"I know It and a month more would
be tbe end of me. I am going to get a
house wny out in tlie suburbs and In
the centre of a big lot. You'll never
get me into a double house again as long
as I live. I'd rather take the family
and camp out."
"The place Is all I told you It was, sir;
good house, good neighborhood and
everything In good repair. I'll look to
you for the rent until the end of the
term.
"That's all right, aud I'll pay It. I'm
not mean enough to try to sublet It,
either. One thing you didn't tell me,
that the man in the other end of the
house Is a doctor nnd that he seems to
have trained his patints to call on him
at night. I haven't had any sleep worth
speaking of in the whole three weeks.
Coming up on the porch they reach
my door first. They ring the bell as
though It were a fire alarm and then
begin pounding on tbe door. When I'm
forced to go to the door to prevent its
being broken ln and'to give the rest of
the folks a little show to sleep, It's 'Get
into your clothes, doc, and come right
over to the house,' or, 'Jimmie has the
croup,' or, 'Baby's having an awful time
with his teeth,' or, 'Why didn't you call
this evening as you agreed to?' If I put
my head out of the window and try to
explain they get hot, tell me I had bet
ter take ln my sign, better retire from
business, or something worse. I'll
bring you the keys this evening."-*
Detroit Free Press. — -
><>x*x>oesa>x*axx>a>a>oo<x>o<>oc<x>ooc>o<x»xx^^
The Assassination
of President Lincoln ,
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rifev 'r.r
M
liiflll'.l
) N April 14 just thirty-three years <
will have passed since President j
Lincoln was shot down in Ford's
Theater, Washington, by John Wilkes j
Booth. The excitement all over the Unit- ,
P <1 States to-day. caused by the war scare. ;
brings to mind the thrill of horror and ;
excitement that passed over the country
tb j rtv _ t hree years ago, when, just as the
In imls of the people bad become settled j
nfter four years of war, the country was ;
startled by the announcement of Lin '
coin's assassination. * i
Announcements hail been made in
Washington papers that President Liu- j
onin and Gen. Grant, accompanied by j
their wives, would visit Ford's Theater i
(now a pension office) on the evening of j
April 14.
Gen. Grant found it necessary to visit
Burlington. N. J.. on that memorable
14th of April, and he accordingly sent to
President Lincoln a note of regret at his
inability to accompany him to the the
ater that evening, leaving Washington on
tho <5 p. m. train.
To Schuyler Colfax, then Speaker of
the House, the President extended an in
vitation to attend the theater as late as
8:15 p. in., for it was not until then that
the President's party left the White
House. President Lincoln manifested a
cur j OM8 reluctance to going, but stated
,hat the papers had advertised ihnt him
self aud Gen. Grant would both attend,
and, since Gen. Grant bad left Washing
ton. he did not want to have the audience
disappointed, as the people would expect
to see at least one of them.
The theater was crowded. The box
reserved for the presidential party was
tlie double box forming the second tier on
tlie right-hand side of the stage. The
front of the box was decorated with flags
and in the center, on the outside, hung
i an engraving of Washington,
1 As Grants hud declined an invita
tion to att '' m1 ' Mrsl - Linco,n invited, in
their s I tead V I Mis ? Uarr l s ' dau .* ht « r of Se "'
ator Ira Harris, and Maj. Henry B.
ltathboae. the Senator's stepson.
- The play presented was the original
! version of Tom Taylor's "Our American
Cousin," as it was always given before
; the late E. A. Sothern's changes in it,
afterwards made to elaborate his still
remembered character of Lord Dun
dreary.
The assassin, Booth, familiar with the
theater, visited the box about 9 p. m.,
looking in for a last survey of the various
positions of its occupants. It was sup
posed, at the time, that it was due to a
mistake or the exercise of an imperti
nent curiosity. Unknown to the presi
K
JOHN WILKES BOOTH.
dential party. Booth hod, during the day,
bored a hole through the door of the box
for observation or perhaps to fire through.
At 10 p. m. Booth again entered the
box, quietly holding a pistol in one hand
and a knife, or dirk, in tbe other. Maj.
Ratbbone rose and asked this intruder
his business. Booth rushed past the
Major without making a reply and, plac
ing his pistol close to the President's
head, actually in contact with it, fired,
nnd instantly sprang upon the cushioned
baluster of the box, when he made ' a
backward plunge with bis knife, aimed
at the face or breast of Mr. Lincoln.
Maj. Rathbone, springing forward to pro
tect the President, received tbe stab in
his arm.
It was towards the latter part of the
ptav. Perfect stillness reigned through
< out the____
j the dialogue between Florence Trenehard
and May Meredith, when the pistol shot
j rang through the theater. It was appar
, cully fired behind the scenes ou the right
; nf the stage, and it was accepted by the
; audience as au introduction to some new
passage, several of which had been in
terpolated in the early part of the play.
j Booth hail been noted ns a lea per, hav
; j n(? become habituated to sensational
' leaps in his repertoire of characters, lie
i leaped uiue feet down on the stage, but
TBe tradience listened to
his spur caught in the flag decorating tlie
j front of the presidential box and as lé
j reached the stage he fell, recovering him
i self in a wonderful way, though his leg
j was broken. He bounded across the
stage, pushing past Miss Laura Keene,
who stood near the prompter's desk,
INTERIOR OF FORIVR THEATER.
striking her on the hand with his own,
still holding the dagger. As he crossed
the stage Booth cried out, dramatically,
"Sic semper tyrannis!" und "I have done
itl" Once through the side scenes Booth
quickly escaped by the rear door of the
theater, where a horse awaited him, its
bridle held by an employe of the theater
whom Booth rewarded with a kick, his
agony from his broken leg being intense.
Meanwhile the shrieks of Mrs. Lincoln
made clear to the audience the nature of
the horrible crime that had just been per
petrated. Pandemonium reigned. Wom
en cried, men hollowed and children
screamed. Miss Laura Keene advanced
to the footlights and called out: "For
God's sake, have presence of mind I Keep
your places and all will be well!"
Miss Harris called to Miss Keene to
bring some water, which the actress did,
and afterwards accompanied Mrs. Lin
coln to the house opposite, to which the
unconscious President was at once re
moved. It was found that he had been
shot through the head, above the back of
the temporal bone, and that some of the
brain was oozing out and that death was
inevitable.
Within a comparatively short time the
terrible news had spread ail over Wash
ington, and by midnight every member
of the cabinet, except Seward, whose own
life was attempted, had gathered at the
bedside of their dying chief. Mrs. Lin
coln was present, prostrated with grief,
and other members of the family. Sena
tor Sumner, Speaker Colfax, military of
ficials of the War Department, several
generals and physicians, the latter in
cluding Surgeon General Barnes, who
had from the first assisted Dr. Stone,
the President's family physician.
President Lincoln never recovered con
sciousness. As day dawned his pulse
failed and a look of perfect peace over
spread bis features. At 7:22 a. m. he
ceased to breathe. Rev. Dr. Gurley knelt
down and prayed and Secretary Stanton
broke the silence which followed with the
remark: "Now he belongs to the ages."
The South lost, in Lincoln, one who
would have proved to be its best friend,
as is, perhaps, now realised. In a letter
written to Gen. Van Alen on the last day
of his life, Lincoln wrote words that
strike the keynote of his character. In
it he said:
"I thank yon for the assurance yon give
me that I shall be supported by conserva
tive men like yourself in the efforts I
may make to restore the Union so as to
make it, to nse your language, a union
of hearts and hands as well as of States."
Over all the members of that presi
dential theater party a black and awful
fate hung menacingly.
The fate of the assassin, John Wilkes
Booth, is too well known for repetition— I
shot down like a dog, as he was, in a
burning barn. |
Many have not followed the end of oth- !
era indirectly as«oeiated_,with the tragedy.
The stricken widow of the martyred
President passed the'fbalnnce of her days
iu melancholia and madness. Of the
guests who were with her in the box that
night, one slew the other and ended his
own life a maniac.
By a curious coincidence, even Sorgt.
Boston Corbett, who shot Booth in the
barn, became insane and was afterwards
confined in a Kansas asylum.
VALENTINES OUT OF DATE.
Original Verse, Flowers or Candy Ara
Now the Proper Gifts,
Valentines are out of date. That is
the edict of society. When the 14th of
February comes around now the proper
caper is to write to your lady fair a few
choice stanzas of valentine verse, or, in
case of your inability to construct proper
rhyme, send around a few bunches of vio
lets or sweet roses or a nice box of candy
—a heart shaped box preferred, of course
—all tied up with pretty silk ribbons. The
flowers ami the candy may not last as
long ns the poetry, but the flowers will
lie prettier, the candy will taste better and
both will be more appreciated.
Wlieu it is said that valentines are out
of date the statement lias to be made, of
course, witli some reservation. They are
out of date as gifts between fashionable
adults, but among children they are popu
lar still. Every little Ind and InRsie
watches for the postman on the morning
of St. Valentine's day, of course, and is
disappointed if the mail brings no love
message, no little embossed and painted
Cupid. What is meant by the statement
that valentines are out of date is that the
day of the three-story, fussed and fuzzy,
hand-painted, lint and nonsense creation,
over which young ladies used to go into
ecstasies of delight and young men used
to go into bankruptcy, has long been pass
ed. The custom of sending that sort of
remembrance is ns dead as the custom of
New Yeur's calling. It was never a sen
sible custom anyway, for no young man
felt really repaid in putting a week's sal
ary into a gift to a young lady when, be
cause of tlie mystery and secrecy that
I have to lie < bservod in sending valentines,
he eould not accompany it with his card.
It was altogether too discouraging to
j have his hated rivnl get the credit for
sending a sentimental lot of poetry all
done up in fluffy expenslveness for which
he had cheerfully emptied his pockets an!
"gone broke." Valentines of that sort
have had their day and belong now to the
sweetly remembered past.
I.Iihvi'h'« I imltnesi fop Grant.
An .utilising and po-sibly instructive an
ecdotc, in winch Lin. «>'.n mid Grant fig
ure. mul showing the hitter's estimate of
r avait y. is related by Mr. William O.
Stoddard, for some time one of the fur
nier'* private secretaries. The general
hud not long been in command of the
Army of the IVtomae, when one day
Mr. Stoddard u*U<-«l Lincoln's opinion of
! him. "Grout." replied the President, "is
j the tir*t general I've had. lie's the gen
oral!" Remembering the high esteem in
which McClellan, Burnside, Hooker and
Meade hud been held, Mr. Stoddard ask-1
ed Lincoln to explain, and this is what
he said: :
"lou see, when any of the rest set out
on a campaign they d look over matters
and pick out some one thing they were
short of and they knew l couldn't give
'era, and tell me they couldn't hope to
win unless theyriind it; and it was most
generally cavalry. Now, when Grant
took hold, I was waiting to sec what his
pet impossibility would be, and 1 reck
oned it would be cavalry, as a matter of
course, for we hadn't horses enough to
mount even what men we had. There
were 15,000 or thereabouts np near Har
per's Ferry, and no horses to put them
on. Well, the other day, just as 1 ex
nected, Grant sent to me for those very
men; hut what he wgpted to know was
whether he could disband 'em or turn
Ä".Är.S
first general l'ee had ttat didn't."-Pitta..
burg Dispatch.
PRAYER TO ST, VALENTINE.
/
Hearts or dollars? ah, to which
Should my maiden heart luclla»t
To be loved or to be rich?
Tell me, good Bt. Valentine.
Should I scorn the shining gold?
Is a heart a richer mine?
Here I'm waiting to be told—
Tell me, good St. YalestlM,
i
'
j
!
'
Gy
I
.
PHOTOGRAPHY IN LAWSUITS.
Difficulties in Presenting Evidence Mu*
terially Lessened by Camera.
"Photography has reduced the dif
ficulties in lawsuits and trials to a min
imum," remarked a member of the bar.
"In times past it was the universal
custom In murder trials to tako tha
juries to the scenes of the crime, bo
that they could get a better understand
ing of the testimony and the facts In
the case. Besides the time imolved,
there was consldehable expense iu this,
there wns considerable expense in this,
grams, drawings and sketches constant
ly used in important trials. All this la
now done away by the photograph,
which Is always accurate. In making
copies of exhibits in civil causes, notes,
deeds, wills and the like the blue print
has done away entirely with the ser
vices of the draughtsmen who were em
ployed to reproduce the same.
"1 remember well the celebrated trial
of General Daniel Sickles, then a re
presentative from New York, for the
murder of Philip Barton Key, who was
the United States districtattorney. The
pictorial exhibits In tbis trial almost
filled one of the walls of the courthouse.
The clubhouse in the front of which the
Bhooting occurred, now the site of the
Lafayette Square opera-house, wns, of
course, the prlncipul picture. Then
there was a drawing of Lafayette
square, showing how Key signaled over
to Mrs. Sickles, who resided on the op
posite side of that square, and a big
drawing of the house on Fifteenth
street, between K and L streets, where
the meetings between Colonel Key and
Mrs. Sickles took place, us well as the
signals which were displayed on the
house Indicating to Key whether or not
Mrs. Sickles bad arrived there. Be
sides these, there were other pictures
and diagrams which were prepared by
William Forsyth, the city surveyor.
They cost considerable money, but the
whole thing could now be better re
presented at the expense of a couple of
dollars and ten minutes' use of a kodak.
I have known of hundreds of dollars
being expended in the preparation of
facsimiles of exhibits, forgeries, etc.,
nil of which enu now be reproduced in
n half hour by the blue print process
nnd at a very trilling expense compar
atively."—Washington star.
AUTOMOBILE HOSE WAÜON.
IB&
AUTOMOBILE HOSE WAOO.N.
Theeurlous-lookingpiece of apparatus
pictured here lias recently been added
to the equipment of the lire department
of Paris, France. Experiments with it
have been so satisfactory that a num
ber of tlie automobile hose carriages
are to bo Installed at once. The ma
chine carries a crew of from six to
eight men and a full equipment of life
saving apparatus, chemical extinguish
ers aud hose, it is said to lie faster
and more easily controlled than any
horse apparatus.
School Hoys as Haroluetera.
It looked like rain, aud naturally he
had on u pair of light shoes aud curried
no umbrella. The ear stopped on the
far side of Girard avenue uud a young
lady got In. She bowed, and sat down
tlie Sauuterer, who recognised
in her a school teacher friend.
"What do you think of this beastly
weather?" queried he, disgrunecdly.
"is it going to rain, or isu't it?"
..j cttU - t toll you today," answered
lady, smiling an acceptance
* 3 *
of whatever might come. "If it wer»
a school day, aud you were willing to
come to school with me. 1 could tell you
lu a very few minutes with absolut»
certainty. It'll sound funny to you,
but It's true. 1 Lave noticed that you
can always tell what the weather la
going to do by the cbildrcn. They'r»
regular barometers, if there's going
to be a storm they get restless, and I
have tbe hardest kind of work to con
t ro | them. Particularly the boys. Th»
g| rb j aren't so bad, but there seems t»
be 8ome m y 8terioHS q Uality ftbout ap .
proachlng rain «„.« n.
tormer. I aa sot eo now l don't Man»
them, because I don't believe they can
help it. So you see," she concluded, ns
she got out at Chestnut street, "children
have their uses, after all."—Philadel
phia Inquirer.
Words Often Mispronounced.
Carnegie (Andrew), Kar-NEG e (''e**
In second syllable as In ebb).
E-ther and ne-ther are preferred to
!-ther and ni-ther by Webster, Walker,
and Smart
I Room, soot, roof, broom, and soon
have long sound of oo, as In food; many
give Incorrect sound, aB In foot
Decollete da-kol-TA ("o" as in "old"),
not da-KOL-ta.
Bap-tis-ter-l, not bap-tls-trl.
Canton—In China, Kal-TON, ln the
United States, KAK-ton.
Krupp Is pronounced as Kroop (oo
same as in "ooze").
Nlgaragua Is pronounced Ne-ka-RA
gwa.
Irrevocable—Ir-REV-o-ka-ble, not lr*
re-VO-ka-bl.
Patriotism Is pa-tri-ot-ism, not pat-ri
ot-lam.
Figaro Is fe-ga-RO, not FE-ga-ro.
Herculaneum Is properly her-ku-LA
ne-um ("a" In accented syllable same
is In "ask").
Vagary is va-GA-rl, not VA-ga-rl.
Wilhelm is pronounced Vll-helm.—
. Indianapolis Press.
I A circus ostrich once made a meal
of aauer kraut and fat pork, and died
within three days of Indigestion.