Willmar tribune. [volume], November 08, 1905, Image 7

About Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931

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CHAPTER XIV.
THE GERRYMANDER.
With Judge Marston'a hint partly
to point the way, Kent was no long
time in getting at work on the new
lead.
Having been at the time a practi
tioner in one of the counties affected,
he knew the political deal by which
MacFarlane had been elected. Briefly
described, it was a swapping ot horses
in midstream. In the preliminary
canvass it was discovered that in all
probability Judge MacFarlane'a dis
trict, as constituted, would not re
elect him. But the adjoining district
was strong.enough to spare a county
without loss to the party and that
county added to MacEJarlane's voting
strength would tip the scale in his
favor. The assembly was in session,
and the remedy applied in the shape
of a bill re-adjusting the district lines
to fit the political necessity.
While this bill was still in the lower
house an obstacle presented itself in
the form of a vigorous protest from
Judge Whitcpmb, whose district was
the one to suffer the loss. The county
in question was a prosperous one, and
the court fees—which a compliant clerk
might secretly divide with the judge
appointing him—were large: where
fore Whitcomb threatened political re
prisals if Kiowa county should be tak
en away from him. The outcome was
a compromise. For elective purposes
the two districts were gerrymandered
as the bill proposed but it was ex
pressly provided that the transferred
county should remain judicially in
Whitcomb's district until the expira
tion of Whitcomb's term of office.
Having refreshed his memory as to
the facts, Kent spent a forenoon in the
state library. He stayed on past the
luncheon hour, feeding on a dry diet
of digests and it was not until hun
ger began to sharpen his faculties that
he thought of going back of the statu
tory law to the fountain-head in the
constitution of the state. Here, after
he had read carefully section by section
almost through the entire instrument,
his eye lighted upon a clause which
gradually grew luminous as he read
and re-read it
"That is what Marston meant it
must be what he meant," he mused
and returning the book to its niche
In the alcove he sat down to put
his face in his hands and sum up the
status in logical sequence.
The conclusion must have been con
vincing, since he presently sprang up
and left the room quickly to have
himself shot down the elevator shaft
to the street level. The telegraph of
fice was closed, but there was another
In the Hotel Brunswick, two squares
distant, and thither he went
"Hold the pool in fighting trim at
all hazards. Think I have found
weak link in the chain," was his wir
ing to Loring at Boston and having
sent it, he went around to Cassatti's
and astonished the waiter by order
ing a hearty luncheon at half-past
three o'clock in the. afternoon.
It was late in the evening before he
left the tiny office on the fifth floor of
the Quintard building where one of his
former stenographers had set up busi
ness for herself. Since five o'clock the
young woman had been steadily driv
ing the type-writer to Kent's dictation.
When the final sheet came out with a
whirring rasp of the ratchet, he sud
denly remembered that he had prom
ised Miss Van Brock to dine with her.
It was too late for the dinner, but not
too late to go and apologize, and he
did the thing that he could, stopping
at his rooms on the way to dress while
his cab-driver waited.
He found Portia alone, for which he
was glad but her greeting was dis
tinctively accusative.
"If I should pretend te be deeply of
fended and tell Thomas to show you
the door, what could you say for your
self?" she began, before lie could say
a word in exculpation.
"I should say every sort of excuse
ful thing I could think of, knowing
very well that the most ingenious
lie would fall far short of atoning for
the offense," he replied humbly.
"Possibly it would be better to tell
the truth—had you thought of that?"
she suggested, quite without malice.
"Yes, I had and I shall, if you'll
let me begin back a bit" He drew up
a chair to face her and sat on the
edge of it "You know I told you I
was going to Gaston to sell my six
lots while Major Guilford's little boom
Is on?"
"I'm trying to remember: go on."
"Well, I went yesterday morning
and returned late last night. Do you
know, it's positively marvelous!"
"Which the six lots, the boom,
or the celerity of your movements?"
she asked with a simulation of deepest
interest
"All three, if you please but I
meant the miraculous revival of things
along the Trans-Western. But that is
neither her nor there—"
"I think it is very much here and
there," she Interrupted.
"I see you don't want me to tell the
truth—the whole truth but I am de
termined. The first man I met after
dinner was Hunnicott, and when I
made him my broker in the real es
tate affair we fell to talking about
the railroad steal. Speaking of Mac
Farlane'a continued absence, Hunni
cott said, jokingly, that it was a pity
we couldn't go back to the methods
of a few hundred years ago and hire
the Hot Springs doctor to ('obliterate'
him. The word stuck in my mind,
and 1 broke away and took the train
chiefly to have a chance to think out
the new line. In the smoking-room
of the sleeper I found—whom, do you'
suppose?"
"Oh, I don't know: Judge MacFar
fane, perhaps, coming back to give you
a chance to poison him at short
range?"
"No it was Marston."
"And he talked so long and so fast
that you couldn't get here in time for
dianer this evening? That would be
the most picturesque of fee little ic*
Miss Portia's eyes were flashing.
"Good, good, good!" she said. "Da
vid, I'hVproud of you. That took cour
age—heaps of It."
"I did have to forget pretty hard
that he was the lieutenant-governor
and^nominally one of the gang. But if
he is not with us, neither is he against
us. He took it all quietly, and when I
was through, he said: 'You have told
me some things that I knew, and some
others that I only suspected.'"
"Was that all?" asked Miss Van
Brock, eagerly.
"No I took a good long breath and
asked his advice."
"Did he give it?"
"He did. He said in sober earnest
just what Hunnicott had said in a
joke: 'If I had your case to fight, I
should try to obliterate Judge MacFar-
"GOOD, GOOD! DAVID, I'M PROUD
OP YOU."
lane.' I began to say that MacFar
lane's removal wouldn't help us so long
as Bucks has the appointing of his
successor, and then he turned on me
and hammered it in with a last word
just as we were leaving the train: 'I
didn't say remove I said obliterate.'
I caught on, after so long a time, and
I've been hard at work ever since."
"You are obliterating me." said Miss
Portia. "I haven't the slightest idea
what it is all about"
"It's easy from this on," said Kent,
consolingly. "You know how Mac
Farlane secured his re-election?"
"Everybody knows that"
"Well, to cut a long story short, the
gerrymander deal won't stand the
light. The constitution says—"
"Oh, please don't quote law books
at me. Put it in English—woman
English, if you can."
"I will. The special act of the assem
bly is void therefore there was no le
gal election, and, by consequence, there
is no judge and no receiver."
Miss Van Brock was silent for a re
flective minute. Then she said:
"On second thought, perhaps, you
would better tell me what the consti
tution says, Mr. David. Possibly I
could grasp it"
"It is in the section on elections.
It says: 'AH circuit or district judges,
and all special judges, shall be elected
by the qualified voters of the respec
tive circuits or districts in which they
are to hold their court.' Kiowa coun
ty was cut out of Judge Whitcomb's
circuit and placed in Judge MacFar
lane's for electoral purposes only. In
all other respects it remains a part of
Judge Whitcomb's circuit, and will so
continue until Whitcomb's term ex
pires. Without the vote of Kiowa,
MacFarlane could not have been elect
ed with it he was illegally elected,
or, to put it the other way about, he
was not elected at all. Since he is not
lawfully a judge, his acts are void,
among them this appointment of Major
Guilford as receiver for the Trans
Western."
Kent laughed.
'For the first hour he wouldn't talk that Is what kept" me..from dining
at all just sat there wooden-faced,
smoking vile little cigars that made
me think I was getting hay-fever. But cedure?"
I wouldn't give up and after I had
worn out all the commonplaces I began
on the Trans-Western muddle. At that
he woke up all at once, and before I
knew it he was giving me an expert
legal opinion on the case meaty and
sound and judicial. Miss Van Brock,
a —t nM|«uiu tuts in uirevied Mie
thatymaneis a lawyer, an exceed- jfeeiver. and Is a demand to know by
ingl abl one at thaand
"Of course." she said coolly. "He
was one of the justices of the supreme
court of his own state at 42: that was
before he had come west for his health,
I found that out a long time ago."
"And you never told me!" said Kent,
reproachfully. "Well, no matter I
found out for myself that he is a man
to tie to. After we had canvassed the
purely legal side of the affair, he
wanted to know more, and I went In
for details, telling him all the infer
encea which involve Bucks, Meigs,
Hendricks, MacFarlane and the lot of
them."
She was not as enthusiastic as he
thought she ought to be. In the soil
prepared for it by the political confi
dences of the winter there had grown
up a many-branching tree of inti
macy between these two a frank, sex
less friendship, as Kent would have de
scribed it, in which a man who was
not very much given to free speech
with any one unburdened himself, and
the woman made him believe that her
quick, apprehending sympathy was the
one thing needful—as. women have
done since the world' began.'
"What is the matter with it?" he
demanded, when he had given her five
full minutes for reflection.
"I don't know, David," she said
gravely. "Have I ever thrown cold
water on any of your schemes thus
"No, indeed. You have been the loy
alest partisan a man ever had, I think,
the only one I have to whom I can
talk freely. And I havh told you more
than I have all the others put togeth
er."
"I know you have. And It hurts me
to pull back now when you want me
to push. But I can't help it Do you
believe in a woman's intuition?"
"I suppose I do: all men do, don't
they?"
She was tying little knots In the
fringe of the table scarf, but the
prophetess-eyes, ss Penelope called
them, were not following the deft in
tertwining* of the slender flni^rs.
'Ton mean to set about 'obliterat
ing* Judge MacFarlane forthwith?"
she asked.
"Assuredly have been whipping
ML fy.X'fr- A -r
1 S
the thing Into shape all afternoon:
with you." _. & ., ..,
"It involves some kind ot legal pro*
Yes a rather complicated one."
"Could you explain It so that I could
understand It?"
"I think so. In the first place the
question la raised by means of an in
formation or inquiry called a quo
warranto.
This
is
directeu
He smiled.
"You don't need to be the prophet
ess Penelope says you are to foresee
part of that I always come to you
with my woes."
"Do you?—oftener than you' go to
Miss Brentwood?"
This time his smile was a mere
tightening of Hhe lips.
"You do love to grind me on that
side, don't you?" he said. "I and my
affairs are less than nothing to Miss
Brentwood, and no ore knows it any
better than you da"
"But you want to go to her," she
persisted. "I am oiAy the alterna
tive."
He looked her full in the eyes.
"Miss Van Brock, what is it you
want me to say? What can I say more
than I said a moment ago—that yon
are the truest friend a man ever had?"
The answering look out of the brown
eyes was age-old in Its infinite wis
dom.
"How little you men know when you
think you know the most," she said
half-musingly then she broke off ab
ruptly. "Let us talk about something
else. If Maj. Guilford is wrecking the
railroad, why is he spending so much
money on improvements? Have yon
thought to ask yourself that ques
tion?"
"A good many times," he admitted,
following her promptly back to first
principles.
"And you have not found the an
swer?"
"Not one that fully satisfies
no."
"I've found one."
"Intuitively?" he smiled.
"No it's pure logic, this time. Do
yon remember showing me. a letter
that Mr. Hunnicott wrote you just be
fore the explosion—a letter in which
he repeated a bit of gossip about Mr.
Semple Falkland and his mysterious
visit to Gaston?"
"Yes, I remember it"
"Do you know who Mr. Falkland
is?"
"Who doesn't?" he queried. "He has
half of Wall street in his clientele."
"Yes but particularly he is the ad
visory counsel of the Plantagould sys
tem. Ever since you showed me that
letter I have been trying to account
for his presence in Gaston on the day
before Judge MacFarlane's spring term
of court I should never have found
out but for Mrs.. Brentwood."
"Mrs. Brentwood!"
Miss Van Brock nodded.
"Yes the mother of my—of the
young person for whom I am the al
ternative, is in a peck of trouble I
quote her verbatim. She and her two
daughters hold some 3,000 shares of
Western Pacific stock. It was pur
chased at 57, and it is now down to
21."
"Twenty and a quarter to-day,"
Kent corrected.
"Never mind the fractions. The
mother of the incomparable—Penelope,
has heard that I,am a famous business
woman a worthy understudy of Mrs.
Hetty Green so she came to me for
advice. She had a letter from a New
York broker offering her a fraction
mora than the market price for her
3.00(i shares of Western Pacific."
"Well?" said Kent.
"Meaning what did I do? I did
what you did not do—what you are
not doing even now I put two and
two together in the twinkling of a
bedstaff. Why should a New York
broker be picking up outlying West
ern Pacific at a fraction more than
the market when the stock is sinking
every day? I was curious enough to
pass the 'why' along to a friend of
mine in Wall street."
"Of course he told you all about it,"
said Kent, incredulously.
"He told me what I needed to know.
The broker in question is a Planta
gould man."
"Still I fait to 'connect up,' as the
linemen say."
"Do you?1 Ah, David, David! wiy you
leave it for a woman to point out
what you should have suspected the
moment you read that bit of gossip In
Mr. Hennicott's letter?"
Her hand was on the arm of her
chair. He covered it with his own.
?T11 leave it for you, Portia. You
are my good angel."
She withdrew the hand quickly, but
there\ was no more than playful re
sentment in her retort.
"Shame on you!" she scoffed.
"What would Miss Brentwood say?"
"I wish you would leave her out
of it," he frowned. "You are con
tinually Ignoring the fact that she
has promised to be the wife of an
other man."
"And has thereby freed you from all
obligations of.loyalty? Don't deceive
yourself: women are not made that
way. Doubtless she will go on and
marry the other man in due season
but she will never forgive you if you
smash her ideals. But we were talk
ing' about the things you ought to
have guessed. Fetch me the atlas
from the book-case—lower shelf
right-hand corner that's it."
(To Be Continued.]
Lonar-relt Want.
Customer—Say, what kind of a crazy
novel is this, anyway? It begins witt
the last chapter and ends with tb«
first, I /.-
-,v7"^'
Bookseller—Oh, that edition is in
tended for ladies only.—Chicago Deitj
Kswa, '."V"!3' \i'/" '*J
S'£
GIRLS
to the re-
what authority he holds. Is It deal
thus far?"
"Pellucidly." she said.
"In reply the receiver cites his au
thority, which is the order from Judge
MacFarlane and In our turn we pro
ceed to show that the authority does
not exist—that the judge's election
.was illegal and that therefore his, acts
are void. Do I make it plain?"
"You make it seem aa though it
were Impossible to fail. And yet I
know you will fail."
•'How do you know It?"
"Don't ask me I couldn't begin to
tell you that But in some spiritual
or mental looking-glass I can see you
coming to me with .the story of that
failure—coming to ask'my/help."
CHIgESE
Traffic in Young Women
America! Is Disclosed.
Two of the intended victims' of the
traffic escaped from their captors after
arriving in Shanghai. They told an
officer of the American navy their ex
periences and about the fate of their
former companions. It is possible de
mands for the liberation of the young,
women by the American consul may
make the affair international,
Astounding Facts Disclosed.
Forty-nine American girls have been
sold into life slavery in Chinese
harems. Most of the white slaves'de
livered into the hands of Chinese mas
ters are lost to civilisation and can
hope for no escape ffrin. their bond
age save by suicide. ^They are helpT
mmmsmms
whose Identity is well known to the
government authorities.
The dealer who delivered the girls
Into their slavery resides in Chicago
and has a woman confederate in
Shanghai, China, who is also known
to the government secret service
agents.
These astounding facts were dis
closed by the local Immigration bu
reau, which received complaint of the
sale of Louise Miller, a girl from Mon
treal, Canada, to the agent of a Chi
nese official in Shanghai.
Other evidence obtained indicated
that Eva Campeau, Maggie Drouin and
Victoria Stamour, three -waitresses
who were Induced to come to Chicago
In February, 1901, from Montreal, may
have met the same fate. These girls
were employed In the Hotel de Villa,
Montreal. Two French women stopped
at the hotel as guests. They engaged
the girls to come to Chicago and lured
them to a resort The young women
were rescued from the dive and re
turned to their homes. Later it is re
ported they again disappeared'. The
circumstances of their second disap
pearance from home are supposed to
have been a second visit from the
French women, who pretended to de
sire to make reparation and then sent
the girls to China for taw dual pur
pose of getting a price of $600 apiece
INTO
BONDAGE
BECOME SLAVES OF MERCILESS MANDARINS
Lured to Dens in Chicago on Various Pre
texts and Taktfn to Orient by Ring off De
oeiving Females—Astounding Prac
tice Bared, by Secret Serv
ice Officials.
Chicago.—Recent., astounding dls-i for them and sending dangerous wit
closures have brought to light the fact nesses against themselves out of the
that a traffic in human lives has been
going on for some time in this coun
try and that this city has been the
recruiting point. Young- American
girls have been lured from home and
friends under various pretexts and
cold into living deaths in Chinese
harems.
They are employed as "secretaries'*
and "traveling companions," with
promises of big wages and the pay
ment of all traveling expenses. Once
within China they are delivered *.o
those who have paid in advance for
them, only to be hurried to the in
terior beyond the reach of civilization,
to pass their lives in hopeless despair,
the absolute slaves of merciless mas
ters free from the restraint of all law
and accountable to no one for their
victims' lives.
Local police and federal secret serv
ice officials who uncovered the opera
tions of those engaged in deporting
the girls were surprised at tha
extent and ramifications of the
system they unearthed. Instead
of involving a few women and
the deporting of a few girls, it is now
admitted the investigators are on the
track of half a score of traffickers,
and the number of girls lured from
home may exceed 100 in Chicago
alone, to say nothing of the extent
of the operations of the ring in other
sections of the United States and Can
ada.
country
Chicago Oirls Among Captives.
The names of ten more young wom
en that have disappeared from homes
in Chicago and other American cities
and were shipped to Shanghai are in
the possession of the inspector of the
Chinese immigration bureau. The po
lice of this and other cities are gath
ering evidence against the promoters
of the slavery and their prosecution
will follow. On this point the govern
ment agents say they must rely on
the police and state authorities, since
there is no national law against ex
porting women for such purposes.
American Consul James L. Rodgers.
at Shanghai, has enlisted the coopera
tion of the English and Chinese au
thorities in that city, and evidence of
many sales of American and Canadian
girls to Chinese masters has been pro
cured.
less prisoners in Chineser interior engaged in the traffic varie* from |50O
towns subject to the whims of man- WfsiiOGO, apiece. A young woman of
darlns and wealthy Chinamen who' special beauty and accomplishment
were enabled to purchase them brings a higher price than a plainer
through connivance with a woman and less accomplished one.
The authorities have unquestionable
proof of the incerceration in Chinese,
harems of at least a dozen of the girls
who were shipped from Chicago. Hil
da Olson, aged 20, is said to have com
mitted suicide on arriving at Shan
ghai in order to escape the fate of be
ing a slave to a Chinese master.
Others were shipped to interior towns,
where they were, held by one master
after another, until they were finally
fold to Chinese, who, took them so far
into the interior they could not be
traced.
The horror of the situation of the
girls, all of whom are young and were
selected because of their beauty, can
be imagined, when it is known that
the JDhinese purchasers own them as
chattel slaves,' may sell them to
others, or may keep them as long as
they^please, and in event of their dis
pleasure order their heads cut off, all
without incurring the risk of trial or
punishment.
Prices for Girls Vary.
The fixed price for Chinese girl
slaves at Shanghai is from $250 to
$400, The price paid by the Chinese
raentfor the1 American girls betrayed
mftdK their hands by the two women
mtMOWOMANkMM&MEDMM/tCmO
The "levee" section of the North
side seems to be the headquarters of
the "slave" traders. Detectives^ and
secret service officers have investigated
a number of externally unpretentious
houses and have discovered conditions
they never believed could exist To
step within the portals of these houses
is like"being transported to the orient.
Rich rugs, tapestry, Chinese and Jap
anese bric-a-brac, virgin gold and jade
Ware studded with diamonds and pre
cious stones, greet the eye of the vis
itor.
Lured by Tales of Wealth.
It is into these dens of splendor that
unsuspecting^, girls' have been lured.
Wild tales of"the wealth and pleasures
that will be^iheira in the orient are
poured into the startled ears of tho
girls by women so schooled that the
unsuspecting victims really believe the
glowing promises that are made.
"You will find scores of wealthy
merchants and business men in Chi
nese cities who are far from home,"
say the deceivers.* "They are seeking
wives from their own land."
Another story is that wealthy orien
tals want American companions and
governesses for their children who are
to be trained for college courses in
the big universities of this coaatry.
r&£i*'"
DEFECTIVE PAGE
**a*ta a fiftrprisa. *$$
That Chicago has hat* used as a
*t
fo-~ wt:-'
•**,
'•*«».frfa* A „. t,
arTHKi
5" i' 1
"recruiting station for the resorts of
the treaty ports and the frequently
visited spots of, the orient has long
been known to the^ tender world, whose
worsen have been regaled by stories
of the palaces maintained by those of
their kind' in the celestial kingdom.
Year after year a group of women
formerly identified with Chicago's
dark side have visited the city and
departed with a band of these women,
who have never been heard of after
ward.
Despite all this, the knowledge that
girls are being sold Into actual slav
ery and that the young and inexperi
enced are being lured from home to
supply the demand for white slaves
came as a startling surprise.
More than a year ago an inkling of
the system and its extent reached the
local police, and from time to time
the^ atrocities practiced by the inter
national band of slave traders caused
a ripple. Nothing was done, however,
to investigate the situation and sup
press- the traffic until the federal au
thorities acted in this instance, send
ing the police of Chicago, New York
and San Francisco into action simul
taneously.
It is believed that exposure will of
itself bring the operations' of the slave
traders to an end, save in the case's
of the very ignorant. Punishment be
fitting the enormity of the crimes that
have-been committed is doubtful, both
because of the absence of specific laws
meeting the situation'and' the fact that
most of the offenders have placed the
Pacific ocean between themselves and
prosecution. •.'.,»•
"It is true this sort of thing has
been going on for some time," said
Chief Collins. "I have detectives
working on the case now and expect
to do something before long. The in
formation came to me from Washing
ton first, and I then took the case up
with the government officers here, but
they could do nothing. I don't care
to state what our next move will be."
One Woman Suspected.
One woman against whom positive
evidence has been gathered as a cen
tral figure in this system of kidnap
ing, abduction and sale into slavery
is the wife of a recently deceased
bookmaker. Several^ others are wom
en who formerly'conducted resorts in
Chicago and now make their homes
in Chinese treaty ports.
While 40 cases are charged against
the former, the latter are said to have
recruited hundreds who have entered
upon a living death from which there
is no possibility of escape save by
suicide.
The wife of the bookmaker, when
questioned, indignantly denied the
charges. She lives in a splendid apart
ment and is supposed to be wealthy.
"The charges against me are prepos
terous," she said. "I cannot imagine
how they originated. I have been to
China once. Then I visited a married
lady friend in Hongkong. There is a
delightful colony of Americans in
Hongkong. I found life there charm
ing. Most American women who go
there do. There is much wealtn and
money is spent freely. But white
women no more associate with Chinese
there than they do here. I never
heard of any American women being
married to Chinese there.
"As for my being connected with a
band of 'slave traders, the charge is
absurd. On my only voyage I was
unaccompanied. I have never sent
anyone there.
"I have told stories of the fine cli
mate and of the splendid times/wom
en have-there, but I do not know of
anyone who has been influenced to go
by my yarns.
"Two of my friends have been
dragged into this scandal. One is the
wife of a German banker and the other
the wife of a merchant. Both were
Chicago women. They went to China
as single women' and married there.
Every summer they come back to Chi
cago and stay with me at my flat.
They make this trip to escape the
heated term in the orient, They are
wealthy women, and left only a few
days ago after a month's visit with
me. I have never heard of any women
returning to China with them.
"I know of a large number of Chi
cago women of legal age who have
gone to China during the last few
years and secured wealthy- husbands,*'
she said. "It- is the|r own business
and I don't see why the authorities
should raise any objections to their
going. They are surely better off than
they would be here."
"Do they marry Chinese?" she was
asked. 'i *.
"Oh, so they marry white men.
There are thousands of single white
men in the Chinese cities who want
rives from »Helr ow.*. lands."
i'ffh"!^
„. f. ,«f
The woman in question, it is ssii,
takes periodical trips to China and
receives and entertains women vis
itors from the orient In the .United
States, ostensibly to enjoy vacations
during the heated term in the Chi
nese city. The visitors, it is declared,
are the women who do the actual work
of transporting the girls from Amer
ica to China at so much apiece. They
visit San Francisco, New York, Phila
delphia, Montreal, and every large city
where it is possible for them to pur
sue their nefarious vocations without
too much police interference. The
woman does not deny her oriental ac
quaintances, but she does deny that
girls are obtained by her and sent to
China.
'Hard to Beach Offenders.
Washington officials first notified the
local authorities of the nefarious prac
tice which was going on, as there is
no federal law under which punish
mentscould be meted out to the of
fenders. They can be reached, bow*
ever, under an Illinois law, and if
sufficient evidence can be obtained the
guilty one can be sent to the peni
tentiary on {he charge of abduction.
The difficulty which has prevented
the officials from taking action is
that the victims shipped out of the
country never return to tell the tale.
At Hongkong or some other Chinese
port they are met by agents of the
band and sold into slavery in the in
terior far beyond the pale of Euro-
pean and American civilization that
fringes the seacoast.
A number of persons have been sent
to the penitentiary under the federal
statutes for importing women into
the United States, but the autnorities
have never been able to reach persons
operating in the other direction.
PHANTOM TOSSUM FEAST.
The Evidence Was Convincing, But
the Sensation Was Most
Unsatisfactory.
They were talking about "God's
country" and 'possum hunting, when
Charles Hopkins told this one, says
the Philadelphia Record: "An old
darkey I knew in North Carolina loved
to go 'possum hunting by himself. He
always took along a little frying pan
and a little bag of sweet potatoes.
Whenever he caught a 'possum he
would build a fire right there and cook
his catch with his sweet potatoes.
"One night, when he had caught his
animal and was cooking it he fell
asleep before the fire. Another negro,
a youngster, who. was also hunting,
but who had caught .nothing, scented
the savory dish from afar and followed
his nose until he discovered Uncle
Karey asleep with the 'possum before
him, done to a turn. The young darky
sat down and ate the 'possum, while
Uncle Karey dreamed on, and piled
the bones between the old man's feet
"When the last vestige was gone he
smeared the gravy from the pan oh
the old man's fingers and on his
mouth. Then he deaprted.
"The noise of his going awoke Un
cle Karey and he soliloquized thus?
'Now, I wonders ef I done et dat
'possum? Dat 'possum graby on my
fingers and dat 'possum graby on my
mouf. I sho' is doen et dat 'possum
and nebber knowed it. But, 'fore God,
dat wuz the mos' unftllinest 'pos3um
dis nigger eber et'"
The Automobile Terror.
There is a certain kindly old lady
in an eastern town who scarcely
knows what it is to be addressed as
"Mrs. Tompkins," the appellation
which is hers by right, since for years
she has 'been "grandma," not only to
a flock of grandch'laren, but to the
whole community as well. She lives
in a quiet little hamlet where even the
automobile does not often penetrate.
Recently she visited* a nephew who
lives in Newport, where the motor car
is, to put it mildly, not unknown. Re
turning, a friend said to her: "Well,
grandma, I see you're back from New
port all safe and sound." "Yes, I am.**
returned the* old lady, firmly, "but I
tell you one has to be mightyx carefu'
down there. Why, do you know, I
reached the point where I didn't get
out of bed in the morning without first
looking around the room for auto
mobiles."
Amber in New York City.
Large masses of amber have recent
ly been discovered in cretaceous strata
on 8taten Island, now the borougb ot
Richmond of the city of New York. The
deposits are beingcommercially worked.
It Is thought that some of this amber
may he the product ot sequoia-trees
that grew on the Atlantic coast in cre
taceous time.—Youth's Companion.
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A SELF-CLOSING GATE.
Convenience Which One Ponltry-j
Raiser Has Provided for His
Hen Yard.
I have a gate to my poultry yard
which has proved very convenient,
mm
_mmmm^mm^m_t^im far
FLAN OF GATE. TOP VIEW.
In winter. It fits into cleats and can
be lifted out when I want to go
through with a wheelbarrow. A block
of wood, d, is fastened beneath the top
piece for the gate to' strike against.
A cord, f, is fastened to each end of
the gate and passes through the
pulleys, e, e. To the other end of the
cord is attached a weight
ANGORA GOATS.
Experience of Lumber Firm in Mich
igan in Clearing Brush Land
by Their Aid.
A lumber firm in northern Michigan
having large tracts of cut-over hard
wood lands and wanting to clear part
of It for a farm or ranch were, early,
in 1904, influenced by an article In
one of the" farm journals to utilizing
the Angora goat to keep down the
brush, briars, weeds and undergrowth
until the land could be seeded to tame
grasses and then graze cattle and
horses on it until the hardwood
stumps would rot out, which will be
only a matter of a few years. By
this method Jthejr—expect to sntdnn
the brush land ready for cultivation
without the great expense of clearing
and grubbing by hand and have a
profitable return from the land and
Angoras in the meantime.
In August 1904, they turned 600
Angora goats onto 160 acres of land
from which the timber had been cut
two years previous to that time. This
land was so thickly covered with a
growth of brush, briars, elders, sumac
and weeds that it was almost impos
sible for one to get through it With
in 60 days they were compelled to
turn them onto another 160, as one
would say there was not enough brush
left on the'land for a rabbit to live.
The blackberry bushes, the tender
shoots of the elders, and other brush
were eaten to the ground, and the
Jarger brush, such as maple, beech,
hemlock,! wild cherry, elders and
sumac were peeled four or five feet
from the ground.
They wintered the lot on the rough
est cheapest hay they could find,
using no grain or heavy feed what
ever, except a small amount of culled
'beans fed to the weaker ones ana
to the bucks during the breeding sea
son. For shelter during the winter
they provided ordinary rough board
sheds well ventilated. "With this
treatment .they brought the flock
through the severe winter of 1904 and
1905 In good condition with a loss
of only two or three. As soon as the
snow was gone in places this spring
they turned them on to the brush
again, where they have prospered and
are now fat enough for the "butcher's
block."
This firm has given the Angora goat
business a thorough test says the
Michigan Farmer, and from their ex
perience find that they increase about
the same as sheep, are remarkably
hardy, being practically free from
most of the diseases to which sheep
and other domestic animals are sub
ject, make good mutton, shear a valu
able fleece (present market for mo
hair xbeing 25 cents to two dollars
per pound), tha^they thrive In north
ern Michigan climate and prosper on
feed and under conditions that would
be fatal to most other domestic anii
mals.
Where they are particularly vaHh
able is as brush cleaners for dean*
ing up brush land. It would be dif
ficult to exaggerate this part of their
usefulness, as they will eat any and
all kinds of brush and weeds, seeming
to prefer them to grass, while the
brush that is too large for them to
consume they kill by peeling the
bark from it.
Ridding- Barn of Rata.
For ridding my barn of rats I pot
on a number of pieces of shingles a
teaspoonful of molasses and a small
quantity of concentrated lye. Shiaj
gles were laid freely about the barn]
and the next morning*I found 50 dead)
rats. The live ones all cleared out
after this.
Lettuce for Fowls.
Lettuce is one of the heat
foods for fowls and qultssr huaeh eg
It can he grown on a small spaea^
Make a hotbed with old window sash
and boards and get aa early crop, Tha
fowls relish it and It Is good for
•«?&
8
'":4-**gv35
Iowa
S E S 3 correspondent of
the Farm and!
Home., Posts, h,
6 inches square
and 103& feet
long, are set
3 feet in the
ground.
are boxed with
1-inch boardsi
making the out
side dimensions
8 by 10% inches,,
which a
space inside of the boxed post for
weights to pass up and down. The
top piece is of 3-inch plank, 12 inches
wide and 6% feet long, which prevents
the posts from sagging, and protects
the ropes and pulleys from rain and
snow.
The gates are made of 2 by 4 Inch
scantling and are 6 feet high and two
feet wide. They open inward to the
yard and are hinged to the inner side
of posts. The baseboard is 2-inch
plank 12 Inches high, and is useful
in keeping the gates above the snow.
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