Bismarck tribune. [volume], January 20, 1879, Image 3

About Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, D.T. [N.D.]) 1878-1884

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
1
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4^WM»
Good-night !.
Now the weary rest by right,
And the busy lingers bending
Over work that Eeemgfunendit
Toil no more till morning ligl
Gcod-night!
Go to rest!
Close the eyes with slumber prest
,^~In.:th$ street
'f Wa^fiB bwfagj
!fe* Nignti makes
(g' Got&reat!#
$& 'im
&x&
s^le^ice^gcpwing
Kwateh-jhprn blowing.
0mT~
Baft?
Slumber sweet.
Blessed dreams each dreamer greet.
He. whom
Jn: sweet dr
May W&m
r.
love has kept from sleeping^
renins iiowo'er him cSrieepinff
Slumbersw
Good-night! •,
Slumber till the morning light,
Slumber till the pew to-morrow ,r.»?
From the N. Y. World.
vas
lr
Comes and brings its own new sorrow
We are in the father's sight—
Good-nightT
iv
UPPER ^NDOM OF COLOR.
—1
White Coachiften and Servants, Hous­
es, Lands,Bonds, Casli.
Standing in West Bleecker street on a
Sunday morninSi or airernuun. alter ser­
vice in the churches at the corner of
Bleecker and Tenth streets and in Sulli
vaD street one gets some, notion of the
wealth and taste of a part of
the population of thts city whose negro
blood "has not been an insurmountable
barrier to success in life. Indeed there
are plenty of wealthy colored people in
New York, and many are educated and
cultivated quite up to the standards
usually thought of in connection with
the white races ahd the society ot white
people. There is no one «f the race liv­
ing in this city who has more material
wealth than Edward Hesdra, of No. 102
West Third street. He is a native of Vir­
ginia, and was a cabinet-maker in the
Bowery. He re tiled a few years, ago,
having amassed a handsome iortune,
which he has since greatly increased by
fortunate investments in real estate. The
house in which he lives is owned by him
and he owns ten tenement houses in the
block bounded by Sullivan, Bleecker
Macdougal iand Third Streets. He has
also a large and valuable property in
Nyack, where his summer residence is,
and several houses and apiece of farm­
ing land in Flemington, J., from
which he derives a large income. His
wife is a native of Rockland county, and
both give liberally of their means toward
all schemes tending to improve the con­
dition of their race. They are about
sixty years of age and have no children.
Mr. Hesdra is said to be worth $250,000.
Joseph Teneyck is another wealthy
man oi this blood. He lives on Greene
street, and is a member of St. Philip's
Protestant Episcopal Church, to which a
short time ago he gave $1,000. His wealth
is estimated at about $80,000.
John Van Dyke inherited properly
from his father, Peter Van Dyke, who
died three years ago. Peter had been a
caterer all his life, his place ot business
being in Wooster street, near Spring. He
was a quiet and upright man, and com
manded the respect of all bis neighbors.
John Van Dyke owns real estate on
Fcuiteenth street and on Wooster street,
but the great part of his fortune is in
money and stocks and bonds which pay
good dividends. He is a man of much,
intelligence and business tact, and coula
probably draw a chcek for $100,000.
Philip A. White, the wholesale and re­
tail druggist at the corner of Fraaktort
and Cliff streets, recently purchased the
valuable property in which his store is.
Born in this city, he received a good edu­
cation, and by honest enterprise has
gradually risen, until to-day he is as
much honored by the whites as by his
own people. He is noted for his gener­
osity toward the poor of all races. To
the poor people around him he used to
give medicine and advice free of charge,
arid at the time of the draf: riots his
property was nrotected even by those
persons who led the rioters but who re­
membered his kindness to them. He is
about fifty years of age and lives in
Brooklyn, where he has a good deal of
real estate.
Mrs. Brooks, a daughter of the late
Robert Watson, from whom she inherit
ed considerable property, owns real es­
tate up town, where she lives, and also in
Thompson and Sullivan 9treets. Her
husband is living, but she manages her
estate herself, and with much success.
She surprised down town business men
recently by appearing in person on
'Change and buying in a piece of prop­
erty sold under foreclosure. Another
woman who is wealthier thau Mrs.
Brooks but who gained her wealth in a
quieter aad more plodding way, is Mrs.
J. C. Gloucester, who at one time lived
in this city, but lives now in Brooklyn.
She keeps' a fashionable boarding house
in the building formerly occupied by
the Lone Island Club, at the corner of
Clinton and Rem sen streets, and in the
fine brown stone house adjoining it ob
Remsen street. She is a native of Nor­
folk, Va,, and came of an excellent fam
ily. Her fortune is variously estimated
at from $300,000 to $500,000. The valuable
buildinga in which she carries on her
business are owned by her. She inherit­
ed a little money, which she employed
in hiring and furnishing houses, which
she let. The letting of furnished houses
during the days of inflation and the civil
war was profitable, and Mrs. Gloucester
grew rich. At present she has no less
than fifteen furnished houses which she*
rid: rents,and which yield her a large income,
and she also owns paying personal trop
erty. She has, a large family of sons and
daugbtet^.whio axieJiighlyj educated and
all accomplished. Her huslpan^,, the^Rey.
"UL -I/O. Glou&rter^as a Presbyterian min
ister, but he has no charge now. He once
studied medicine and practices a little
-iart^3" -. ft Ji'rfi w"£
(•BHftet part
i*-4UKH##**»SA:^W J".'H
man of fine edu-x
ir* and a member
if ^iiiiailf Wi^nguilfcied for its pro
fessionai men.
In the vast tobacco establishment of
Aff. Jjorillardaj thei» gno ^man more
trulfed a£|dpimo^ed^ tfifUptt^ venerable
Rap- Pfe service of
t^e^ld^^^lardrhatf^^centuary ago,
ha» outizsed-them andJias still continued
in the employ of their sons. He used to
live in a little building adjoining the -qld
establishment on Wooster street,' but'now
owns and occupies a fine" house in Will
iamsburgh, where he is surrounded in
his old age by a large family of children
and grandchildren. Though more than
seventy years old, be still attends to "'His
duties
superintendent and daily visits
the great building in New Jersey where
the Loriilard business is now carried on.
No one ever served under the Lorillards
who was so expert in the manufacture of
snuff. Mr. Ray is reported to be worth
$100,000. His son, Dr. Peter Ray, has a
large practice in Williamsburgh, and a
daughter is married to Peter Geyon, a
druggist in the same city.
One of the most courtly gentlemen of
the colored race in the city is Professor
Charles L. Reason, who resides on Fifty
third street between Second and Third
avenues, in a brown stone house which he
owns. His rooms are lined with books,
and in the basement he has a large and
well-chosen library. He is a native of
this city, is a remarkably well read man
and speaks several languages. For many
years he was a Professor belles-lettres in a
university in the western part of this
State,and" is now a teacher in the Normal
School and a Grammar School in this city.
He is said to be worth about $60,000.
He has no children. Another highly
educated gentleman is the Rev. Charles
B. Ray, who accumulated his fortune by
his own industry and by fortunate pur
hases in real estate.
In the days of slavery he became con­
spicuous for his missionary labors and
his passionate advocacy of freedom. He
is a shrewd business man. Is said to be
worth from $80,000 to $V1Q0,000 in real
estate bonds. He has three daughters.
One of them, Miss Lottie, graduated with
high honors at the Howard University,
studied law and was admitted to the bar
in Washington She piacticed for awhile,
but gave up.the business and now lives
with her father. Her object was to find
out whether a roloned woman would be
admitted to the bar. She gained her
point and is satisfied.
Among the successful caterers of this
race is George T. Downing, who opened a
restaurant at No. 13 Broad street a few
months ago after many years' absence
from the city. His name is familiar to
all the old business men in the vicinity
of Wall street. For forty-six -jears his
father kept a restaurant on the site of the
Drexel Building and three doors from
where the son has now established him­
self. The elder Downing was a native of
Accomac county, Va., and his family
were hereditary "sextons of the wealthiest
church of the country. In their home,
which adjoined the church, the best
people of the race in that section of the
country used to gather for social enjoy­
ment and the Downing3 became widely
known. Thomas Downing made a little
fortune in New York and lost it in real
estate- speculations. He was famous for
his oysters, large quantities of which he
supplied to England and Russia, and for
a present which he sent to Queen Vic­
toria he received a present in return of a
valuable chronometer, now a heirloom in
the family. Two of his sons are living.
Toe elder George T., as has already
been stated, has opened a resturant at
No. 13 Broad street, and the other, Peter
W., is in the Custom House. Mr. George
T. Downing lived for some years at
Newport, where he owns eight stores.
For twelve years, under the Johnson and
Grant administration, he had charge of
the restaurant in the House of Represen
tives at Washington. He owns land near
New Haven and .on long Island, and is
an extremely well informed man, and
has done much to better the condition of
the colored race.
Of the colored clergyman of this city
none is more widely known than the
venerable pastor of the Shiloh Church,
the Rev. Henry Highland Garnet. He
was born in slavery, but escaped to the
North and identified himself with the
anti-slavery cause. He was graduated
at the Oneida Institute with hon­
ors, and shortly afterwards began to
preach. He has traveled in Europe,
where his advocacy of the cause of the
colored race helped to gain for it many
friends. He is respected and especially
influential in politics among his people
in this city. He lives at No. 102 West
Third street. The Rev. Mr. Dickers an,
pastor of *he Bethel Church, isacompar
atively young colored gentleman, but
energetic, earnest and successful.
After Mrs. Gloucester, already referred
to as reputed to be the wealthiest of her
race in Brooklyn, comes Mr. Samuel E.
Howard. He lives on High street, and is
engaged in the real estate business. He
owns houses on High, Fleet, Pearl, Wash­
ington, Jay and other streets, and also in
Amityville, L. I., asd Elizabeth, N. J.
His fortune is estimated at $100,000. He
was born in slavery, and is about sixty
years old
An heiress of twenty-one—Miss Minnie
Duncan—lives with an aunt in South
Brooklyn. Her fortune i3 some $80,000,
wisely invested and yielding an income
of nearly $10,000 a year. Her wealth was
acquired in a singular way. Her father
was married twice, and insured the lives
of both of his wives and his own. He
survived both, and on his death the money
came into the possession of his daughter.
Mr. Douglas, familiarly known as
"Pop" Douglass, lives at the corner of
High and Pearl streets. He is between
sixty, and 8eventy,yearspld, owns property
6n High, Pearl and Chapel' streets, and is
probably worth about $50,000. fie made
a good deal of his money during the gold
fever of '49. in California. Mrs Samuel
Jackson, who has about $5b,000 of this
world's goods, i8 a widow, on Johnson
street. She owns houses in Jay and
Bridge streets and On Hudson avenuei
Her husband was at one time a dry goods
merchant on Hudson avenue. He /vyas
born a^^slava.
The Rev. Mr. Freeman, pastor of the
Siloan Presbyterian Church in Prince
street, is one of the most popular clergy­
men of color in the denonunation. He
owns a good deal of real estate in Prince
street and near Prospect Park. Mrs.
Broughton^of Gold street, owns the large
brick~house in which she lives, and has
also a house at Saratoga where she ac­
commodates summer boarders tromBer^
mud a, Hay ti and the West Indies. Her
fortune is (estimated at from $30,00^ to
$50,000. Mr. Benjamin Fisher, of No.
112 High street, owns two houses on that
street, and is said to be worth $30,000.
Mr. Fisher was a steward for fifteen
years oa one of the ocean steamers. His
wife accompanied him as stewardess. He
has trayelled all of the world and is a
very pleasant gentleman. The Rev. W.
T. Dixon, pastor of the Concord
Baptist Church in Caton street, owns
the handsome little house in Adelphi
street, in which he lives. Mr. George
Drayton, of Willoughby street, near Law­
rence, owns real estate, two tailoring es­
tablishments—one in Willoughbyand the
other in Court street—and a boariing
house for working girls. His father was
a member of the Masonic body in this
State. Mrs. Susan, MeKinnie, M. D.,
was graduated with the highest honors at
one of the medical colleges In this city.
She lives in her own house in Ryerson
street and is the sister of Mrs. Garnet,
wife of the Rev. Henry Highland Garnet.
She has a lucrative practice. Mrs. Jere­
miah Bowers owns a fashionable dress­
making establishment and three other
houses in Douglas street. During the
summer she and her husband, who is a
caterer, live at Saratoga in a cottage of
their own. Mrs. Saunders, of Vanderbilt
avenue, and Mrs. Ross, of High street, ate
also wealthy.
There are hundreds of others in both
cities who are well-to-do.
Make the Children Happy.
It takes but very little to make a child
happy. A little time, a little pains, a
little money, or a little effort is all that
is requisite. And on the other hand it
takes but little to make a child very un­
happy. A little neglect, a little unkind
word, a little hurt, or a little disappoint­
ment are to the child as great a trial and
as bitter a grief as its heart can bear.
Why do we so often hear children cry­
ing and fretting? Why so often see sad
gloomy looks in place of the bright smile
and laughing eye? Is it that mothers do
not love tbeir children? Are they care­
less or indifferent to their happiness?
Not at all. Crying children often have
londest mothers. No it is partly be­
cause mothers do not realize that chil­
dren are so sensitive, so Easily made hap­
py, or unhappy and partly because they
do not know how to make their children
happy, or rather they do not know how
tc "keep them hapry, to cultivate within
them a habit ot cheerfulness.
We all know how delighted a child is
with anew toy but how soon he tires of
it! Thus a fond parent who has spent a
great deal cf money in buying a va­
riety of toys for his child is surprised to
find that in a very short time the very
toys that at tirsv seemed to afford such
delight, are all thrown aside with disgust,
while the child relapses into listlcssness
or fretfulness, saying by its manner, "I
have nothing to do,'' or in other words, "I
have nothing to interest me,"
The young mother feels discouraged
she feels as if she had no more money to
spend in playthings, and probably feels
as if she had no time to spend from more
necessary employments to devise for it
new amusements. The child grows day by
day more fretful and demands more, time
and attention.
What is to be done? Have you ever
heard of a minister's turning over a bar
rle of ol sermons and beginning to
preach from the other end? The people
think them as good as new. ust so with
playthings. Suppose a child has forty
piciure books and playthings, more or
loss pack them all up in a box and put
them away out of sight, upon some high
shelf in a clcset where the child cannot
see or get at them leaving out the child
only two or three of its newest and favor
ite toys then as soon as you see he be­
gins to grow weary of these, pack them
away, and take from the closet, one
at a time, those long ago hidden awav
and almost forgotten by the child, and
thev will be found just as good as new.
"One plaything at a time is enough.
One is just as good as a dozen to make
a child happy." So said my bright, sun
ny-faced friend, Mrs. Ely, to me, just
before Christmas, and on trying the ex­
periment, I find it true. My little three
year old Charlie was growing tired of his
playthings when Mrs Eley gave him
Noah's ark full of animals, that her chil­
dren had long discarded. True some of
the legs of the animals were broken,
but what cared Charley for that? It was
to his happy little imagination a priceless
treasure worth its weight in gold. For
weeks it was to him an infinate source of
delight.
A child who looks with utter indif­
ference upon a box of blocks fees sud­
denly inspired with anew interest when
he sees his mother piling them up into
a tower. He exclaims, "Let me doit!'
and amuses himself a long-time trying to
imitate mother. The box of dominoes
seem to the little three years old useless
till he sees his father arranging them on
the table: or standing them up in' a row
and giving a push to the last with his
finger, sending the whole line tumbling
over each other. The penny is valueless
till mother spins it upon the table the
=tlr
Pafll
m*
•**. VCA'
little tin tub fe'. aio source of'pl»suW{i||
mother ties a string into one '61 trfe Ban­
dies and draws the little doll or dog to
ride upon it about th& loom then it is a
very different matterwith eager en­
thusiasm the ehild enters into the play
and amuses himself with zest trying
to do what he has seen. mother do, for
several days, perhaps then mother must
take a few minutes to devis6 something
new.—Anna Holvoke, in Household.
He Wouldn't Make His Will.'
"You're petting old and weak, papa
The doctors say you're ill ,"
Thus spoke the duteous son. "I think ..
You'd better make your will."
The father from his easy chair ...
Glanced at his thoughtful Boy',
And o'er his face the look that stole"
Was not of pride or joy.
THE SHERIFF'S MISTAKE.,
"Thar's strangers," said the sheriff
suddenly, setting down his tin cup
untouched and shuffling to the door.
The sheriff was a safe man to believe,
though fhow he made out anything in
the blinding glare of evening gunlight
that flooded the level prairie west of
Buffalo Station no one but a professor of
optics could have told. The old man,had
the eye of an eagle.
"Two on 'em, with a pack pony," he
added and just then a sudden sunset
shadow swept across the lonely waste,
and we saw them too.
They were about a- quarter of a mile
away, heading for the station and its
single combination building of store,
dining-room, tavern and freight-house.
They came on at an easy gait, driving
their pack pony before them. As they
neared us we could note the signs of hard
travel about them. From their dust
sown clothing and their loose seats in
the saddle, as well as the jaded cantei
their ponies, everything in their appear­
ance spoke of along ride, and a weary
one.
They crossed the track and drew up in
the shade of the station, one of them only
replying to the sheriff's cheery hail with
a curt nod. He dismounted stiffly, ad­
dressed a few words to his companion,
who remained in the saddle with one leg
crossed over the bow, and a moment later
bis gaunt, buckskin-and-frieze garbed
figure vanishes in the cool shadow ot the
store.
"A likely boy," said the sheriff, who
had been eyeing his companion intently.
"They mought be Texican drovers—an
then again ihey moughtent."
He added the latter sentence reflective­
ly, never relaxing his scrutiny of the
mounted stranger., That person was a
"likely %oy," indeed. Afoot he might
have stood nearly six feet on hie bare
soles. His swarthy face, handsome as a
gipsy girl's, and delicately shaped and set
as any lady's, was framed with a shock
of tangled, wavy hair, of whose black,
glossy glory any court dame might have
been "proud and his eyes, full, black and
lustrious as those of a race-horse, flashed
proudly under the finely penciled brows.
The hand which rested lazily on his knee
was large, and in perfect keeping with
his well-knit figure, but in shape clean
cut and handsome as a woman's.
I was still scrutinizing this somewhat
•singular, apparition with more than ordi­
nary curiosity, when the sheriff turned
suddenly^ on me.
"Whar's your pony, Tom?" he asked.
''In the shed I"
"Saddled?" ...
"With a loose gj|rtiv—yes."
"The sogers is ijtjfche Hundred Horn
Gulch," he went bespeaking rapidly,
"slide forrerd an' brinfr-'em up. May the
big wolf of the Devil'sfRun devour me if
them ain't two of our njen.''
I knew the sheriff tflo well to hesitate
or question further. As I girthed my
pony in the shed, a shadow floated across
the doorway and was gone. When I rode
out the two" strangers were cantering off
to the southward, pointing for the Re­
publican river, and as I gave my pony
rein and galloped in. the opposite direc­
tion, I saw the" sheriff mounting his big
grey mare, which had been tied to the
corner post of the store.
The sheriff, and a party of soldiers
from Fort Havs, were on the watch for
the train robbers who had stopped the
West bound train at Big Springs '-ight
days before, and who were supposed to
be stricking for the Texan border with
their rich spoil. The soldiers' as the sheriff
had said, were posted in a ravine known
as Hundred Horn Gulch, a fe miles from
the station, and where the main trail from
North Platte crossed the railroad track.
The sun was just dipping when I rode
up to the station ahead of the troopers.
The sheriff, who was studying the writ­
ten description of the maurauders by the
waning light, put himself at our head
without a word, and we trailed off. along
line of breaking, jingling, hoof-beating
clamor through the windy silence and
gloom of the darkening prairie.
The ride was a iong one,for our quarry
had an hour's start of us, and the moon
rose a globe of coppery fire and found
us still clanking on. I had joined the
sheriff and the leader of the soldiers.
We were a silent trio until I ventured:
"Are you certain, sheriff, of our men?"
"Sure as the moon," said the old man,
tersely, drinking in the sweet air of the
sublime night with a sigh which seemed
to say, "Let me alone. I know what I'm
about, and won't be questioned."
Silence again. The brisk breeze was
blowing rifted clouds across the face of
the moon, mottling the dim plain with
fantastic shadows. Suddenly these
clouds swept away. A full, clear burst
of light flooded the prairie, and not a
half, mile away we saw three moving^
figures which, ft the" now rii&rv^bustx*
brilliant lunar illumnation, could be
,B-Pa,
xf
xV
"Not if I know myself* my son
Folks think rne sane," he said,
''And I'll do naught to make them Call
Me crazy when I'm dead."
—New York Sun.
'£9
of two
mounted men and a pack amffiid.
,liie wind was~Tj&. our faces, blowing
the ncAse of bur approach from the fugi­
tives' ears, and though we rode hard, and
with no attempt to steal things, it was
not until we were close upon them that
they suddenly drew in and faced aooutt.
both men. sitting: bolt. upright in their
saddles, with their handsat^their hips.
In gesture and bearing, they meatt fight
and looked 6very inch desperate and'
dangerous men.
We halted, too. For a moment a dead
silence fell upon usr The sheriff's gray
mare neighed£§^and the ch£rm was
broken.
"Who's there ?X1 called one of the fugi­
tives in Spanish, emphasizing the chal­
lenge with the sharp click of his pistol
lock as he brought it to a cock.*
The rattle of a dozen carbines falling
into position drowned the sheriff's reply.
Then the clear voice of the" younger"
fugitive arose: "If we rau&t die, we
might as well die like men," it said.
What followed was almost like the
flaming of a flash of lightning. I heard
the sheriff call out "Throw up your
handSj" and saw him spur s&aight for
the strangers then a rattling fiife of car
biners and revolvers, and a fiefrce oath
from a trooper behind me who tumbled
from his saddle with his thigh smashed.
At the same time, and before I could
kick clear of the stirrups, my poor pony
staggered and fell dead, with a pistol
ball between his eytes, and ia his fall
pinned me to the earth.
The fight was as brief as it ^vas furi
ous, and like all really desperate encoun­
ters I ever witnessed was almost a silent
one, as far as any sound of voice went.
But the sharp reports of revolvers and
the duller discharge of carbines freighted
the night wind, and the ground owls
lumbered into a clumsy flight at the un
wonted noises. Finally, a single flash'
flamed across the light thin vapor from
thjerfiring, a single report was blown to*
leeward, sharp and clear, and then the
discharges ceased. With a desperate
effort I dragged myself clear of my dead
animal, and limped to my feet.
The sheriff and half a dozen soldiers*
were grouped about the body of one ofr"
the fugitives. Another soldier supported'
the figure of the "likely boy." Some
black shapeR on the prairie marked tht"
whereabouts of the tfest *o£ the dozen
troopers, and told at what cost the victory
had been won.
The boy himself, only, held ^half up­
right by the soldier's strong arm, was^
still -aliye. The bright moonlight shin­
ing on his handsome, girlish face lighted"
it to unearthly beauty. In the* struggle
his cOat had been torn off, and .a broad,
dark, slowly-spreading smear was visible
on his coarse gray shirt. His breathing*
was hoarse and quick, the sure index to a
shot in the lungs.
"He's goin',' said the sheriff, mopping'
the blood from a bad cut in the forehead'
with his sleeve. "Great siiaktis! what a
fight he made." hi
"Here's the pony, sheriff."
One of the men led the pack-pony,
which during the entire fight had been
quietly grazing at a little distance off, up
to the group. With a quick jerk'he drag­
ged off the tattered blanket which cover­
ed the pack.
There were a few camp utensils, some
provisions, and a bulging sort of double
bag thrown over the fronts of the pannier..
With an effort he pulled this off, but its
weight tore it from his hands, and it fell
with a metallic crash. As it struck the*
earth its seams burst. The que^r-shaped
sack was simply an old pair of panta­
loons with the legB tied up, and its con­
tents rolled, jingling and sparkling,
over the short grass a cascade of minted
gold.
Before the musical ring of the precious
metal had died away the group about the
dead man and the wounded boy parted''
with an exclamation of startled surprise.
The boy had suddenly struggled to his
feet. He stood swinging dizzily to and
fro for an instant, and snatching a revol­
ver from the belt of the amazed soldier,,
who still stood beside him, fired point
blank at one of his captors directly in
front of him.
The man fell dead, and 'his murderer,
with tLe smok'ng pistol still in his hand,
tottered forward a step and sank in- a
heap the corpse of his companion,
with his face upon his breast and one
arm about its neck.
Strange I Well, however that may be so
far, the strange part is to come yet. Of
coursc, you have suspected all'along thai
the handsome boy was a woman? Well,
he wasn't! and what is more, the pair,
far from being two of the train robbers,
were a worthy Texan drover and his son,
who had sold out their beasts at North
Platte and were on their way home with
the money. They had eleven thousand
dollars in coin with them. The boys had
the laugh on the sheriff for many a long:
day after. For once his vaunted acute
ness had failed him.
What was done to him? Why, Grea
Scott! stranger, what do you' suppose?
Are we not all liable to make mistakes?
In consequence of the increasing num­
ber of grave-yard desecrations, the genius
of the inventor has been incite*! to devise
means ot their defeat. Amongj the most
recent patents is one for a coffin torpedo,
which consists of a canister containing
powder, balls and a firing trigger, so ar­
ranged that, on placing the torpedo within
the coffin, and finally closing the lid,
should any attempt be made to open the
coffin the tcrpedo will be instantly ex­
ploded, a noise like thunder ensue, and
deadly balls will fly in all directions.
Had the remains of the late millionaire,
Mr. Stewart, been protected by means cf
this invention,"the neighborhood in that
part of the city where his body rested
would have been alarmed, while the rob­
bers themselves would doubtless have
suffered su^jden death as the penalty of
,i]^e|r^#&6rilegious attempt.—Scientific
American.