The weekly messenger. [volume], August 03, 1889, Image 2

About The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948

Image provided by: Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge, LA

                
Ie Wttuing *tesawnpr.
Published Weekly
St Martinsvillo, L a.
-aT
UASTIN A UIERNVNU.
New Yore-k :ael Ore', Ic eve wheeled ito
fine ase Aihllos Ii Nc:lte',.
The militia of th!e nited Sttles. is re
ported to he in ac lhomi-thing cendlitiou.
'The nationa ef E'-l.ee are taxing th,'
people into llperty Ite Itemildl war vessel
and pay armie.s aul navies.
Brazil is a countvr where American
fugitives would Iw aa.s sc.ture from arrest
sasthey have hithelnrto, Icen in Canada.
Never, in the history of the United
States, has there been such a scramble
for farms a. was witnessed at Oklahoma.
The Boston Iler,eld humorously remarks
that the defeat of Prohibition in Con
mse.ticut looks like :a case of Pro. and
Conn.
It is es' tti'ted tiat Americans will
spend $40,1o1i0ll)ll itl Europe. this s'eason,
of which pronb:hI t.et-,1000.00eI will go for
tilts.
Boulan~ger i, in daucu.rr of Ibeing forced
to 'omtc to the I'nited States. The
English Gov\ernmuuant hIes warned him not
to tw pe'rnic.icoa-Il :u ti'c' in I.eondnc or he
may be .expel!hd.
Population i- ..e, cattered in New South
Wale' thtt in oe, es.:t-c in a ree.cclt elkec
tion where the.r '" a- alln oelmi-jeion to ojpnl
polls at a given h,'cliity. the electors had
to travel two hundlred luic.- or lose their
Votels.
Senator Dixon. of Rhode Island. is one
of the young men of the United States
4enate. Hle and lFalkner.Kenna.Daniel,
Spooner, Hligian and Wolcott have
numbered not :ucrh more than forty years
apiece.
Fifty counterferit $10 bills were pre
sented and stopped at the banks at St.
Louis during one recent day. The
counte'rfeit i.s a eiangeerous one of the
scries of 1S55. it is ..h~IPipse tthatat least
50')0 of these' bilik are ncr. in eirc':lation.
The delightful condition of the British
soldier is seen from the' fact that a private
who, uwon being :esked by the orderly
officer if he haci any complaintts oI, make
about his food, relipd that he had none
except that the lstatoes were not loiled
enough, was thereupon sentencedl to pass
eighty-four hours in a solitary cell for in
subordination.
Intelligence just received from the
Solomon group of islands shows that a
shocking state of affairs was prevalent in
some of the islamis. tmassscres being fre
quent, owing to internecine wars. Can
nibalism was r:unpant, and it was said
that in one ease 'a least where a number
of prisoners we're captured the people.
after keing slain, were roasted, their
bodies being afterward cut up, paecked in
leacvs, and exported to other islands for
distribution.
One of the maddest men in the United
States, declares the Chicaugo Herald, is
C'yrus Henderson. of Fund du Lar, IVY!s. i
A while ago he selected a claim in Oklai
homa, andl returning to the Iborder went
to training a horsn so as to ble able to
re:a'h his land becfore a:nyiedy else when i
the Territery shetuld Ie leg.lly olpened.
At the word "ge," he was soon far :hc:d
of eve.rvbclv. ,Iecl the dii.tancee, fifteen
miles, was c,,veredl in forty-five minutes.
Reining ulp hi paInti nnag at the edge
of his qua:rter st'etio'n he was literally
kneceked out t -e'e' an old farmer quietly
plowing it up for his spring crops.
Broken in spirit anil disgusted with
Oklahoma rea.l ecstate, Cyrus Henderson
ret~urnced ead! hmnec.
'Thx-ce' vw c- ,icc' -,ee nlis bac'k :,nd urime
of twno we:'k' -'tan.linx behind ixs earn,
and 's he stoclod n :: corner ree-,ntlv. he
was heard to r'mnark that he was fromnt
Lansing.
"lWhat is the fare from Lan.cing to De
troit ?" queried a dudish looking by
stander, looking waggis-hly at an ac
quaintance.
eeI dunno," Was the reply.
"'Don't know!" echoed his questioner,
incredulously.
"Young man," returned the tramp,
impressively. "when I want to go to a
place by rail I get quietly on the train,
sad when it gets there. I step off again,
without ever asking any bloomia' foo
,;estions."-Datroit fre Pris.
A CHILD-MAN.
Extraordinary Discovery by a
Doctor in Kansas.
One of the Most Remarkable of
Human Monstrosities.
There has just Ibsen .li,·-oyered in the
south part of thlis l)ickin-on) county,
writ's a K:In-as (orrespIonlent of the
Gti.e-:,lcrimrct, one of the mIo-t remark
able monstro-ities of the human family
ever known to eci-t in this section. It
is a child-man, or rather a child's body
with a man's headI. A few days ago a
prominent physician was making a call
on the family in which the monstrosity
lives, and while talking with his patient
he noticed an object in a cradle at the
opposite end of the room. It was care
fully covered up, but he thought he
perceived a beard showing from be
neath the covering. ie could get no
opportunity for a more careful examnina
tion at the time, but in order to investi
gate further, informed his patient that
other calls would be necessary. Upon
a subsequent visit he managed to he left
alone in the room with the cradlle and
its mysterious occupant. Hia-tily pull
ing off the covering there was diLs
covered a sight which made his
heart cease for the moment to beat. It
was nothing less than a man's head
joined to an infant's body. The large
eyes blinked at him, and the lips,
bearded and mustached, made inarticu
late sounds, but no gleam of rec:gni
tion or intelligence was observable in
the being's face. Ditermined to in ve.
tigate the matter m:ore fully, the physi
cian callcI the man and woman of the
house, and demanded an expla:at ion of
the sight which hadI met his gaze. At
first they were angry that he had pried
into the secret that they had guarded so
well, but at last, seeing 'that further
concealment was impossible, they made
a clean breast of the aft.ir and told the
following story:
Nearly thirty ye:ars ago a man named
Reed moved into Kitnsas from Illinois.
His family consisted of himself, wife
and one daughter. The latter was about
seventeen years old, and rather go-d.
looking. They csttled near the june
tion of the Republican an:l Smoky Hill
Rivers, in the- vic inity of what is now
Junction (ity., aa the d:aughter mar
riei a trapper. Hir first childl was a
boy. and she did1 in giving it birth. An
ohldler s:ster ha.d comne on from the East
by this time, and she took the mother
ks-s little one into) her family. Its
fathl;r was kiiled diring the border
troubles. and she practically adopted the
orphan. The child grew and thrivel
normally until it was about four years
and six months o!d. when it seemed to
cease developing,. Son it was noticed
that development had not been arrested
in all parts -f the body. The head kept
on growing as if it belonged to the
sturdiest child in the 8:ate.
Year after ye'ar this strange
growth went on, and still there
was no change in tlhe infantile body or
limbs, though the head continued its
growth. The sister and her husband
moved into Dickinson County,- where
they have since resided, and took the
child with them. The grandparents are
dead and the n.onstrosity has reached
the age of twenty-nine years. Its 'eand
is as large as that of an average-sized
man, and is crowned aith a h'avy
growth of coarse h:,,wn hair. heavy
beard and mnusta.h, are on its feac a:1l
lines of mat:lrity lshow :lupon th,, cheeks
and forehead. The lady remains, fromn
the neck down. th:at of a four-year-old
child. Thle chihl, or man. cannot sit
up as the monstrous hea.l is too heavy
for the nl.cies of the trunk to lift. It
lies in the cradle helpless, and watches
with a brute-like gaze the doings of
those a.roun I.
The mind is soniewhat in vlsvance of
th.: of an Infant, but is still practically
in:active. N, spac' i or g':;er:'l inteili
gence. has been involved from the strange
being. It must be fed from an at tend
sant's hIand, ani though its teeth are well
developed, its stomach can digest noth
ing but the simplest foods. The tiny
hands and limlbs are as soft-fleshed as
the veriest babe's, while the face and
head have the harsher feeling of maturi
ty. There seems no reason in the mind
of the physician who made the strange
discovery why the monstrosity should
not live to the age of three-score years
and ten, though it would seem to be a
blessing to tIle world to take its life
fromit. The imagination can easilyj
picture what it will be when
gray hair has ,ett!oe on tae head and
he.ar.i r.hil tfe ti ldy ro,: rds that of a
bab'. 'Th f.mi!y, a-la:,n'd of the po.
sc,.i~ a of 1.' ! aI im!,n-r-itx, has re
liinalyv hidlden thi, -koiltou in their
0,oet from the w rtild,andl few know of
itsreistaence. It is only by :acildent
that it wa: this t1;e di-'-covered. The
dictor'- "tory hlas led Sever:a prominent
citii/ens to take a trip to the farm house
to see the rcma:rkabhle freak, and all
unite in callinag it the mnost wonderful
being they ever witne~.sl. None, how
ever, wi-h to ilmakei- a sectonud trip, as one
look at the .sr:ance creature is enough to
satdden their hearts and give them some
thing to dreamm about for months.
Hereford Cattle.
That the llerefords are a distinctly
pure race of English cattle, and of great
antiquity,is undoubtedly true,but it is as
probably true that they arc allied to the
Devons. The origin of both these
breeds is difficult to trace,and they have
valuable qualities in common. Both are
wonderfully prepotent when crossed on
other cattle. If the cross is by a Here
ford bull, the red body and white face
are apt to follow; and if the cross be on
a pure Hereford cow, the color usually
follows the damn. The Ilerefords are
hardy and prolific, mature early, and
are considered the best grazing cattle in
England. They have no superiors in
the-United States, and of late years the
bulls have been extea.-ively used as sires
on the great cattle ranches of the W'est.
They do not come in the category of
milking, ;attle, though many of them
are good milking cows. In England
the you:ng cattle are largely bought by
farmers at the fairs for feedin,., and no
b:eel has risen fa.ter into public favor,
as beef-makers, in this country. In
England liereforI-., at the Smithfield
shows, at 22 months old have weighetd
14S0 pounds; at 2..1 months, second
prize steers have weighed 1568 pounds;
under three years (2 years, 71 months),
1804 pounds; at three years and four
months, weights came to 2074 pounds.
A cow 11 years and four months of age
weighed 2324 pounds.- Pri,ie 1 iru,aer.
A Hot-Bed of Crime.
Torture by starvation see:as to be
legal in .Minsk jail in Rtssia. Eight
peasants are Iying there accusel of the
nmurder of the chief forester on Prince
Ra, lziarll's estate of Dabidgraski. who
three months ago was found hanging in
a solitary lpart of the forest. It was evi
dent that he hid been lynched for his
unceasing tyranny over the peasants.
Eight men were arrested on suspicion,
and it has just come to light that during
their detention they have been deprived
of food, sometimes for three days to.
gether. In spite of these atrocious
measures not one of the prisoners has
confessed. Minsk, by the way (ancient
province of Lithuania), seems to be a
hot-bed of crime in Central Europe. To
mention all the cases of brigandage,
arson, murder, mysterious disappearances
and public lynchings which are reported
each week would take a whole news
paper. Swindles andl forgeries are too
common to be even noticed by the au.
thorities, and nine-tenths of the Jew
population are either convicted or sus
Inected fences. Domestic servants are
being almost entirely dispensed with,
as in very nmany rec-nt casts they have
ewen found to be in league with the
brigands. These facts are strenuously
supprewsc,, by the press-censure office.
Thk Smallest ~Srews Made.
It is asserted that the smallest screws
in the world are those used in the -pro.
duction of watch.,s. Thus the fourth
jewel w!:e:-i screw is the next thing to
being inviuiiile, and to the naked eye it
looks like dust. With a glass, however,
it is seen: to baw a :small screw, with 260
threads to the inch, and with a very
tine gaas the :thr:c·as iny be seen quite
cieariy. Tlhes, miniute screws are 4-1000
of an inch in diai:aeter atnd the heads are
d. lhe. It i al,- ct-im:ated that an or
dlin:ry lady'ss tiumbl!e would hl,!d 109,.
000 of these screws.
How to Pat It Out.
Zinc. pl);ce i upon the fire in a stove
or grate, is ':i I to operate as an effective
extunguishcr of chimney fires. Accord
ing to this representation, when a fir
sktart:s inside a chimney, from whatever
cause, a piece of thin zinc, about four
inches sqatre, is to be put into the stove
or grate connecting with the chimney.
The zine fuses and liberates aciduous
fumes, which, passing up the flue, are
said to almost instantly put out what.
ever fire there may be.
INDIAN BEAR DANCE.
How the Utes Celebrate Their
Greatest Festival
Barbaric Costumes, Queer Mu
sic, Grotesque Movements.
The almy p,st at Fort Du C(hetne,
Utah, says the New York JWord, is sup
,:iele with six cmnpanies of troops,
whose chief care is to ke.p a watchful
eye on the Ute Indians and regulate
things on the reservation. According
to an old Ute tradition, the bears at
this season of the year hold high car
nival all by themselves up in some se
eluded place in the mountains, where
there is no snow. For many generations
the famous "Bear Dance" has been _a
eredly olwerved by the Utes, following
as nearly as possible what the bears are
supposed to do.
They find a good level piece of
ground, which is prepared by the bucks
a few days before this chief festival of
the year takes place, andl unite in clear
ing nearly an acre. They build a high
brush fence aro,.ndl it, forming a sort of
pen--only leaving one opening, which
is fatkhfully gu;ar.led by two braves, and
:t takes a gool deal of influence for
outsiders to be allowed to enter this en
,.losure. Then a flagstaff is erected, on
which is a white flag with two huge
hears painted black, typical of the
danse.
Wh,.n the lda- comes on which the
'lance i, to commence, the Indians come
.,m a:! over the reservation--old and
,ll'. some on ponies, some are the
roud pos essors of wagons and a great
:,many walk. There are hundreds par
::;,p:ptiug in the dance, while on the
, utside of this pen are to be seen many
Indians on ponies watching the perform
race. This dance lasts a week always
including one Sunday, which is dedi
cated to She-Nob (Ood). The squaws
a:e many of them arrayed in buckskin
!resses, the wasts and sleeves being
::ost elaborately headed in different
,ored beads. The bottoms of these
Iresses are finished off with a buckskin
ringe. The skirts are long on the sides
a:d shrt in the back, so that their
:i ^'lsomnely be:ule l anklets and mocca
-ins are ifteu displayed. With these
-imits are worn beaded girdles or wide
leather is,tt, ornamnenteli with. brass
:.eaded tacks, anl suspended from the
belts are worn IaHslelC bags or cases, and
;st the back, fastenac to the skirt, are
silk or cotton bandanna handkerchiefs
to prevent soiling the dress when the
wearer is sestel on the ground. All
aluaws are not fortunate in possessing
buckskin suits, so they wear the bright
colored calicoes. Their hair is worn
loose and hanging over their shoulders.
The men are gay with bright-colored
calico shirts and some wear buckskin
leggins. All wear something on their
necks, such as wampum, or a beaded
necklace, or the chest is covered with
a breastplate of wampum. They all
wear feathers of every description in the
hair, and many have their braids wrapped
with pieces of fur, bright-colored rib
boa, beaded ornaments and all sorts of
things. One old fellow sported on his
head a Chinese red feather-duster. The
Ipndlans all paint their faces. One had
a dark blue nose and chin, with yellow
cheeks and red stripes. Another had
his face painted black, with one yellow
eye and a red one. No two, in fact,
were painted alike.
The second chief of the Utes wa.
mnade Master of Ceremonies, but there
were two or three Floor M3anagers, as it
:-ere, whose duty it was to. go around
i efore each dance and point with a stick
:o the squaws whose turn it was to dance.
The squaws were seated on one side,
;,rminga semi-circle, and the bucks
were on the ot. er side. The musicians,
ten or twelve mn number, formed.the or
chestra, making a cire.e around a large
wooden box or an old tin pan turned
uljide down. Each one had a stick
moout two a.d a haf feet long, with
::otchles cut in it on one side resembling
a saw; one end of these sticks rested on
the box or tin pan; with the right hanin
they rubbed the= notchedl sticks with a
round piece of wood forcibly and rapid
ly, producing a very singular noise, and
when accompanied by the voices of the
musicians singing a sort of a savage
chant, one can easily imagine the whole
utterly devoid of musical sounds.
When themusic, so called, begins,the
squaws whose turn it is to dance, three
abreast and hand in hand take their
places on the ground, after having in
vited the bucks by a motion of hand or
a tap on the shoul,'r.the bucksres
:ng with alacrity. They form two
the sluaws on one si-le and hucks
site, and! at a given signal take
sts iforwar, l and three steps
.,.:,, i:g(inning :lowly ""a d g
icreaiin: in slie-l 4ntdl the
cea:-e .anil they :aughingly go to i
places. :iiometime. a man or a s -
Iwcomes exhauItea and falls
a great deal of merriment amoag
other dancers. The medicine man quit
ly runs to the fallen (lancer and ppe
a music stick over his or herbody
through some ceremony. When I s
finished the prostrate dancer q"
arises and is supposed to be cured. 1
last two days of the dance--& t.,
and Sunday-the excitement is rle
and the dancing continues all nlgi.
urday, winding up at sundows
day. On that day they have a
which is provided principally b"
traders, employes and the India
the officers of this post giving.l
sugar and flour. It was a weirds
see them dancing at night by the
of the moon and large bonfires.
Growth of the Beet-Sugar Isalt
The simple andl inexpensive
adopted in the German factories
made the beet-sugar manufacture
of the most profitable of industries,
the work goes on day and night, -
prime cost fQr conversion of two d
per ton of beet;. or one cent per
of sugar, not estimating the cost at,
beet-root, but including labor mss
materials used, like coal, coke,
charcoal, wear and tear, and interem
the invested capital. The monthly
bursements of such an establishmea
ceed sixty thousand dollars, and
employment to thousands of wage
in direct and collateral industries.
sugar corporation in France reportld
a net profit from the manufacture
beet-sugar a few years ago of two
lions of dollars, and the season did
extend beyond one hundred and
days. Under these new conditioan
production of beet-sugar in conti
Europe has doubled in the list
and, after the home populations ae
plied, the surplus is exported to
Britain and the United States, r
the price of sugar in the markets of
world more than fifty per cent
The suger-refineries of this co
use the beet-and-cane-sugar idiseri"
ately in the manufacture of the
sugar of com-merce, and the family
cer sells the imported refined beet
at a price from twenty-five to ftyp
cent. above the price of cane-sugaq
Before our late war, Louisiana
duced more sugar than Germany;
although the beet-sugar lndi try i
latter country was greatly atimulated
the high prices of sugar prevalliag,
cident to the entire de truction of
cane-sugar industry of the United
yet as late as 1875 the empire p
only twenty-five hundred tons, whibe
the year 1888 a production of one
three hundred thousand tons of
and saccharine resultants is recoed.
P',pular &Secnes lfonthly.
The Canals of Marn
As to the nature of the astnals,
still more difficult to suggest any
factory explanation. Several hy
have been presented, none of wi
pears entirely to meet the case. I
already remarked that there has not
lacking the suggestionthat these
streaks represent the line, of acted
tificial water-courses on Mars.
straight and undeviating course
they pursue might be regarded as
ing some degree of probability to
a view, but the enormous sca.e on
they exist see~ms to compel the .
of the hypothesih. It is true
we consider only the inunence of
force of gravity on Mars, giants
dwell up:n that plane:t whose
achievements might vastly surpa
greatest performances of our ea
for a body weighing a ton on the
wou!d weigh only seven huadrdt
sixty pounds on Mars, and, on the
hand, a man on Mars possessing
ly the same activity as one of -
be 'fteen feet tall and strong fn
tion. But, even granting the
of such a race of Goliahs on or
bor world, it is not conceivable tr
could have constructel a system
mendous canals over half the
their planet, or that they wmdi'
done it if they could. The -
MIars are enormously dmsproport
magnitude to the most gigantice
ants that a due regard for the
gravitation would suffer us to i'
PopurB. 8eean M.,slA.