The Saint Paul globe., December 03, 1899, Page 22, Image 22

About The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
22
"SHfINGHfIIED" fIBOfIRD fl WHfILER.
Story ot J. Morgan Smith. Who Spent $300,000 In
Less Than Two Years.
I have known what it is to expend
$300,000 iri less than tw> years. I have
nJso known what It is to be shanghaied
on ;i Pacific whaler, probably the worst
fate that can happen to a man In the
civilized world today, writes J. Morgan
Smith in the New York World.
While I was running through my for
tune 1 Indulged In every luxury and ex
travagance familiar to tin- gilded youth
of today. 1 traveled all around the world.
1 iri< ii unsuccessfully to break the bank
Ri Mot,to Carlo. 1 went to the English
Derby itnd the French Grand I'iix. 1 bet
on every big fight or race that was go-
Ing.
I dined ever>" night at the finest res
tauranis of Paris- at the Cafe Anglais,
Bignon's, Voisin's and the rest. The most
beautiful young women In tne French
cj pitai' helped me to get through the last
o! my money.
c night I gave a great feast to a
fabulously wealthy Hindoo prince, and
all our guests, who were mostly ladies,
wtre dressed in Oriental costumes.
When 1 had lost all of my fortune a
friend whom 1 had entertained lavishly
was generous enough to lend me enough
tc come home to New York In the sec
ond cabin. 1 did not oare to stay there
among my rich friend:, and relatives
v>iio were disgusted with me and so I
wandered on to San Francisco, where I
thought it would be easier to pick up a
living and hide my poverty.
due evening in a,.: waterside saloon I
i et a man of the sea whose conversation
attracted me. As I was penniless I cheer
fully accepted the drinks which he paid
for. They must have contained some
thing stronger than alcohol, for Ihe next
thing 1 knew I found myself lying with
n splitting headache on the deck of a
ship far away from help out in the bay
of San Francisco.
1 had been shanghaied.
The last thing- I remembered my Inter
esting acquaintance speak of was the
charm of life on board a whaler. He
paid that chasing whales was such fun
that sailors simply-fought with one an
other for the privilege of getting on
board. Well, now 1 found 1 was on a
v . a er.
The ship, called the Fearless, was the
last 1 should have taken for a whaler.
She was a small, dirty, black, bark
jigged steamship, with a stumpy funnel
arui a half-painted box for a pilot house.
Once aboard her my dreams of holy
stoned decks, bright brasswork and
Bnowy sails vanished. On the main deck
lounged a crowd of wretched men and
boys, who stared at me with besotted
e>ts. 1 did not like the looks of things,
but 1 thought 1 would be a good fellow
with my companions. I shifted my shore
clothes for a suit of dungarees. My bunk
lii the steerage was with the boat steerers
and the firemen, eight In all. The place
A\a^ about as large as two ordinary cab
ins on an Atlantic liner.
We started with Capt. James McKenna,
First Mate William Megg, three other
mates, a steward, a cook, :i cabin boy, a
steerage boy, four boat steerers, two en
gineers, three firemen and eighteen in the
forecastle.
1 had not turned in five minutes that
night when 1 found thai 1 had thousands
of bed fellows. I complained and was
told that "that was nothing." To make
the best of it 1 slept on the floor.
After talking with the men the next
day 1 soon began to find out the real
truth about life on the romantic whalers.
That life is so hard that ordinary sailors
■will not accept it willingly, and the crews
are largely made up of criminals, out
casts and hoboes. Even these have to
be drugged or clubbed into insensibility—
in other words shanghaied— ln order to
pet then* on board. A whaling cruise
mean? starvation, torture, disease, possi
ble madness during the three years' stay
in the dreary Arctic regions. Men will
face alrr.ost certain death in an effort
to escape it. As the lights of the Golden
Gate faded away 1 could almost have
jumped overboard.
AW were first to run into Nanaimo, B.
<".. for coal. With a fair wind we sped
(]iiickly up the coast. The third day out
the coal bunker plate was raised as I
happened on deck, and out struggled two
forms, covered with dirt and perspira
tion, that almost made tne sick. ] have
been below on Atlantic liners and know
that their life is a hard one, but I can
truthfully say that it is one continuous
round of frivolous pleasure compared
to that on a whaler. The next day I
was to realize this fully, for they made
me take a turn in the bunkers.
The first chance I had to get out I
went to the captain and told him that I
would die sooner than do a stroke of
work in the bunkers. lie seemed to
recognize that I was different from some
of the other wretches and I was never
cent there a^ain.
My next job was a very peculiar one.
It consisted in looking after one of the
mates, who was suffering from delirium
tremens, or "the jimmies." as they called
them. He was a very powerful and vio
lent man and liable to kill at any mo
ment, in which case no one would have
troubled further about the matter. How
ever, I had the satisfaction of hearing
him say when he came to at Nanaimo
that he was sorry he had shipped "on the
packet."
While we were coaling at Nanaimo
two men jumped the ship under the very
nose of the first boat steerer. an old
shellback, who was on watch. I then
learned for the first time what "jumping"
a ship meant. Tt simply consists in
jumping overboard and taking the risk
of being shot while you are swimming
away or beinsr kicked to death if yon are
caught and brought back. They swore
thnt they would murder the next man
who attempted it. T determined that I
would be the next man. but that I would
■wnit for an opportunity when they were
a little less on guard.
Then T .-ailed away from Nanaimo.
When we were a few days from Vancou
ver island, while T was trying to take in
a flyins jib. 1 was nearly drowned,
through the carelessness or spite of the
man at the wheel. We beat our way.
with heaw htnd winds, in twenty-eight
days to Dutch Harbor. Again we had
the miserable work of coaling there.
We left Dutch Harbor May 1C to look
for whales. We struck the ice, and then
commenced our real hardships. Near St.
Lawrence island we lowered once for a
whale, but it was not caught. Our prin
cipal business was trading in illicit
liquor with the Indians along the Si
borian coast. Liquor means simply raw
elcohol of the worst kind. The Indians
know nothing else. The whaters make
enough out of thiri awful business to pay
the expenses of the ship, and whatever
catch they make Is, clear profit. The
Indians invariably begin to commit mur
der among themselves when they are un
der the influence of this liquor.
We lay around the Diomede islands
most of the month of June, and there
met the rest of the whaling fleet. From
them I learned that ours was considered
"r.n easy ship." What I heard made me
feel that the whole fleet ought to be
sunk.
The officers enforced their orders, when
ever a man was slow or stupid, with a
kick or a blow across the head with a
belaying pin that would leave the victim
ryir.g insensible on the deck. But it was
DR. LaPAUL,
RHEUMATISM
CURED.
-4;2Q Nicollet /\v., Minneapolis, Minn.
ni< re the degraded character of the crew
th;Mi the brutality of the officers that
made me want to get away.
On July 4 we found ourselves among the
Ice in the Arctic .m.in. and. aftof failing
to get to Point Hope, we made our way
to Port Clarence and then to Si. Mich
ael's. At Cape Prince of Wales we pick
ed up four miners who hud come down
from the ECotzebue country and were
nearly staived. Although they were
lagged and starved they seemed to me
gentlemen, and it was like a ray of sun
shine to meet them.
St. Michaels appeared to me like Con
stantinople, after the dreary Arctic re
gions we had come from. Extra watches
were set during the two weeks that we
remained there. Three wretches were
brought back for their attempted escape,
and the mitery they underwent while In
irons was sickening. Still 1" persisted in
my intention to escape, although 1 was
nearly frightened to death. 1 gave the
o-.ly thing of value I possessed—a pair
of field glasses— to two men from St.
Michael's who promised to help me to
get away. 1 was to get out on the bob
slay and they were to row out for me.
i^^N^^^^fc
J. MORGAN SMITH. ESQ.—MAN OF JIM SMITH-ABLE SEAMAN
LEISURE.
While everybody else was busy I crawled
over the forecastle head and stood on
the bobstay waiting to drop.
] did not see any sign of the promised
help from the two men. mid i had al
most made up mj mind to drop into the
water and run the risk of being frozen
to death, when at last 1 saw them put
ting out from the shore in a beat, it
seemed ages before they reached me, but
at last they came under the bobstay and
I dropped into the boat and was rowed
ashore without being observed.
The Fearless shortly afterward weighed
anchor, and though she stood outside
for two hours, she m\er came back.
There 1 was and "up against it," and
knowing nothing better, I shipped aboard
the good steamer Hera for my passage
back. Though working ten time* harder
aboard the Hera than aboard the whater,
I never was happier in my life, for I
was with men. We were aboard her for
three months, and, finally, after many
exasperating circumstances, managed to
get away from Cape Nome with 1100 pas
sengers on Sept. 26. We were confronted
with actual starvation for a time, and
saw many disagreeable sides of seafaring
life; but to be among mcii again was such
a relief 1 was blissful all the time. We
got into Seattle after nniy anxious mo
ments outside Cape Flattery, and there I
gave thanks that 1 had escaped from the
sea for good.
INDIAN MAGIC.
Wonderful Feat Performed Before
the laic Lord I.ytton.
Longman's Magazine.
The following story of Indian magic
was told me by the person to whom it
was told by the late ],ord I.ytton. I give
it in my own words for the excellent
though humiliating reason that I have
mislaid the MRS. When in India Lord
Lytton often sought out conjectures, but
never saw any but the vsual feists, such
as the mango tree trick and the basket
trick. The method in each case is known,
or, at all events, plausible explanations
have been given by Mr. M.tskelyne and
ether experts. On one occasion Lord
Lytton liked something in the looks of
the conjurer who was performing In the
open space before his house. After the
ordinary exhibition his lordship asked
the magician if he cou'.d not do something
more out of the common way. The man
paid he would try, and asked for a ring,
which Lord Lytton gave him. He then
requested an omeer to take in either hand
a handful of seeds—one sort was sesame.
The name of the other sort my informant
did not know. Holding these seeds, and
having the ring between his finger and
thumb, the officer was to go to a v.ell in
the corn-r of the compound. He was to
dispose of the seeds in a certain way—l
think on the low wall around the well,
into the depths cf which he was to throw
the ring. All this was done, and then
the mage asked Lord Lytton when; he
would like the ring to reappear. He
answered "in hir dispatch box," of which
the key was attached to his watch chain,
or at all events he had it with him on
the spot." The cispatch box v.as brought
out. Lord Lytton opened it and there
was the ring. This trick would be easy
If the British officer was a confederate
of the juggler's, and if he possessed a
duplicate key to the dispatch box. In
that case he would not throw the ring
into the well, but would take it into the
house, open the box and insert the ring.
Put this explanation involves enormous
improbabilities, while it is unlikely, again,
that the conjurer managed to insert a
duplicate ring ."nto the oispatch box be
forehand. Lord Lytton then asked the
Juggler if he could repeat the trick. He
answered in the affirmative, and a lady
lent another ring. Another officer took
it, with the seeds;, as before, and dropped
the ring into the well. The countenance
of the juggler altored in the parse which
followed. Something, he said, had gona
wrong, and he seemed agitated. Turning
to the second officer he asked: "Did you
arrange the seeds as I bade you?" "No,"
said the officer, "I thought that was all
uor.&cnse, and I threw them away." Th 3
juggler seemed horrified. 'Do yon think
I do this by myself?" he said, and, pack-
Ing up, he departed.
The well was carefully dragged, and at
last the lady's ring was brought to the
suifaee. That ring, at least, had cer~
tainly been in the water. But had the
first ring been as faithfully cons;gned to
the depths? Experts will be of various
opinions as to that—yet the hypothesis of
confederacy and of a duplicate key to the
dispatch box is difficult.
Photographs made by Haynes do not
deteriorate. The beet materials, only, are
used.
THE ST. PAUL, OL,OBE, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1899.
HEARD IN HISTORY
GRBAT NAMBi OF THE fEVTIHY
I.\S( HlllttD IN VICTORIA'S
Al TOUKAI'H AUII II
SIGNATURES OF SOVEREIGNS
Poor It'ilcrs of (it'i-iii:; uy iiikl Knur
Czarx Have Rrrn the (•im-sln »>i
101| UT ill imS's Queen During I ln>
Time Bate Ha* Been I |ion ths-
Throne—Memories of >laii> Trajfe
clle-!* Recalled by the Volume.
Among the most valued treasures of a
personal character belonging to Queen
Victoria is an autograph book, on tho
pages of which are signed the names of
all those distinguished personages who
have been her guests at Balmoral, Os
borne, Eiuckingham palace, and more par
ticularly at Windsor, during tho sixty
ihree years that she has occup.'ed the
throne of Great Britain. To thoi-e who
are aware of the existence of this vol
ume of autographs, the visit paid by Em
peror William to his venerable grand
mother, appeals perhaps the more strong
ly, because they know that he as well as
Fiis escort will not have been permitted S.o
leave the historic castle on the banks of
the Thames without having once more in
scribed their names and in? date of their
sojourn in thai book, which, more per
haps than any other thing comprised In
su small a compass, shows the march of
time and the progress of history. For a
perusal of this vo'ume serves to demon
strate above everything else the extent to
vvh'ch England's sovereign has outlived
her contemporaries. It calls forth memo
] tea 01 dynasties that have been over
thrown and of kingdoms that have disap
peared, and seems to evoke the specters
of a great throng of rulers and of cele
brated statesmen, all now in thei ■•■ graves,
not a few of whom have met with terrible
deaths at the bands of assassins.
The visits paid by foreign rulers and by
foreign statesmen to her maje.-ty pos
sess, thanks to her absolute and supreme
control of England's foreign policy, far
more in.portanes than one might be dis
posed to accord to them at first eight.
For the slay at Windsor of nearly every
continental monarch has been followed by
political consequences The course of his
tory, indeed, may be said to have be?n
largely influenced by these vlsit3 which
the queen receives from her brother and
sister sovereigns. And it Is this that ren
ders her book of autographs, in which, by
the way, are comprised a number of
American signatures, so exceptionally in-
U resting. I
MILESTONES OF HISTORY.
The autographs may be regarded as
bearing a -jertain analogy to miles to os,
since they mark so many different epochs.
What more remarkable, for instance,
than the changes which have fallen to the
chare of the reigning house of Prussia
durirg the near sixty years intervening
between the visit of King Frederick Wiil
iam IV. to attend the baptism of the
Prince of Wales, ana the stay of Emperor
William at Windsor during the week that
has just come to a close? At the time
when this king was a guest of Queen
Victoria, Prussia was in every sense of
the word a second rate power. Frederick
William, in fact, was almost abject in
his subserviency to the German empaior
at Vienna, and to his brother-in-law,
Czar Nicholas I. As far as the imperial
he use of Hapsburg was concerned, he
seemed to be unable to forget that his
ancestors had, until within a little mere
than a hundred years, held the position
of cupl.carer to the emperors at Vienna,
end been compelled to stand at state
br.nquets behind the imperial chair, do
ing duty, if not as a menial, at any rate
as a mere vassal. As foi his attitude
toward Russia, he permitted himself to be
bullied and browbeaten to such an ex
tent by the czar that he did not venture
to take any step, even in his own do
minions, without ihe sanction of his im
peticus brother-in-law. So great was the
contempt In which Prussia was held that
3.t the time of ihe congress of great pow
ers held in Paris at the conclusion of
the Crimean war, King Frederick "Will
iam's plenipotentiaries were not >dmitled
to the meeting, en the ground that Prus
sia was not i power of sufficient Im
portance to warrant her receiving any
such privilege.
King Frederick William was at the out
ret of his reign when he visited Queen
Victoria at Windsor, in 1542. Six years
later he was a prisoner in the hands of
the people of his capital and forced to
pay homage to the dead bodies of the
men, women and children who had ben
shot down by his troops. And during
that time his brother, William, who
eventually succeeded him on the throne
was obliged to tlee for his life to Eng
land, where he In his turn enjoyed for a
time the hospitality of Queen Victoria
and wrote his name In her autograph
book. The closing years of the reign of
King Frederick William IV. were dark
ened by insanity of the most violent de
scription. William became first king of
Prussia, and then, after 1870, German
emperor, appropriating at Versailles a
dignity which had been for centuries the
most highly prized possession of the house
of Hapburg.
"UNSER FRITZ."
Emperor William's successor was that
"l Tnscr Fritz' who was of all Queen Vic
toria's sons-in-law the one she loved
best, and many were the visits which he
paid to her at Balmoral and at Windsor
one sojourn at the latter place bein"'
however, suddenly interrupted by a vio
lent tiff between his wife, the now wid
owed Empress Frederick, and her au
ffust mother, on the subject of the lat
ter's crochety, cranky and terribly sur.-y
Highland gillie, John Brown
Emperor William 11. la therefore the
fourth ruler of Prussia whom she wel
comes beneath her roof tree, and she
greets h'.m no longer as the sovereign
of a second or even third-rate state, bu
as the head of the greatest military pow
er on the race of the globe, whose friend
ship England Is only too glad to secure
at the present juncture, and who holds
to a great extent at the present moment
the balance of power in the old world,
Ills understanding with Great Britain re
sulting hi a combination so mighty as to
put an end to all the,, projects which had
been entertained of a continental union
against England. Truly, Prussia hits un
dergone many and amazing vicissitudes
during i!io period that nas intervened
between King Frederick William's visit
to Windsor in UjJB and the stay there last
week by his grand* n<-pU«-w.
NAPOLEON'ijf VISIT.
A very important state visit and cer
tainly one pregnant with great political
consequences waa thru of Emperor Na
polton in. and "Empress Eugenic to
Quren Victoria, at.Winxlsor castle, at the
time of the Crimean war. ft may be paid
to have constituted the first actual recog
nition of the empertr and, above al), of
the emprfse, by any of^the reigning fam
ilies of Europe. Napoleon had until that
time been regarded as a mare successful
conspirator, who prior to his seizure of
the French throne had been a disrep
utable chevalier IdfnAistrie; while the
empress was looked tipon as an ad
venturers, concerning whose antecedents
the most scandalous stcries were current.
li'.eed, the wars jf 1855 and of I*C>9,
which resulted h> disastrously to both
Russia and Austria, were largely brought
about by the contemptuous manner in
which the courts of St: Petersburg and of
Vienna rejected all advances made to
them by Napoleon and Empress Eugenl ?.
Queen Victoria was then as now, re
nowned for her strictness on the score of
the character of all the women whom she
consented to admit to hfr presence, and
her action therefore In Inviting not mere
ly Napoleon, but likewise his consort, to
Windsor, where sl;e treated them with
the utmost distinction and regard, went
so far to improve the status and prestige
of the imperial couple both in the con
tinental eoiirfes and even In Franc*1, that
neither of them ever forgot the kindness
of Victoria in the mutter. Indeed, as
long as he remained on the throne, the
wnperor continued The warm and loyal
friend of the English people.
Napoleon was not the only French m.n
areh whom the qmen had the opportunity
of v.clo ming at "Windsor. Tn her visitor's
books is likewise to be- found the name, of
King T.ouLs Philippe, who slayec wilh her
once while still ro-ler of France, and then
several times after he had been dethroned
and was In exile.
POPE AND FOUR CZARS.
The names of the present pope, while
still papal nuncio to the Brussels court,
as well as of no less than four czars of
Russia, are to tx> found in Victoria's
autograph book. The first is that of Em
peror Nicholas 1., who suddenly arrived
without warning in England to visit the
queer, in 1844. To this day the object of
his-- trip remains more or less of a state
secret. But it ',$ generally belUved that
he came for the purpose ot discovering
how the ground lay in connection w>th hi.;
designs upon Constantinople, «;nd ihat ha
quitted Windsor more or less disappoint
ed by ihe failure of his mission. The Im
pression that he eteated upon the queen
does net seem to have been altogether
agreeable. At any rate, her published
t.iary leads to that inference. His son
and successor cm ma to WindscT thirty
years later, shortly after the marriage of
his only daughter to Qvten Victoiias
second son. Alexander 111. was a fre
quent visitor to Windsor and likewise to
Osborne before he ascenided the throve,
while the present autocrat of Russia, a
grandson by m&rrlage of the queen, has
visited he: once at Balmoral sines h. be
came emperor, but spent whole months
at Windsor while he wss courting ihe
lovely princess, now My wife. It is to the
affectionate relations then established Le
tween young Nicholas and the venerable
queen that is laigely due the maintenance
of peace between Russia and Great Rrlt
ain—two countries which find themselves
in rivalry ami opposition in nearly every
quarter of the globe.
MEMORIES OF TRAGEDIES.
One. of the most dramatic things about
this baok of the queen's is the fact that
so many of the personages who have
signed their names therein have met their
deaths through violence. Indeed, many
are the grim tragedies that are called to
mind when one peruses its pages. Tak
ing them at haphazard, there is that, to
the queen, least welcome of all the guests
whom she ever entertained at Windsor,
namely, Nasr-Eddeen-Shah, the ruler of
Persia, who was shot down only a few
years ago by a religious fanatic. Then
there was the late sultan, Abdul Aziz,
who stayed at the castle in 1867, and who
was done to death nine years later in his
palace at Constantinople with a pair of
long, sharp, cdncave-bladed Oriental scis
sors. Czar Alexander 11. had the entire
lower portion of his body blown to pieces
by Nihilist bombs in 1881, while Empress
Elizabeth of Austria was stabbed to the
heart at Geneva but a little more than a
year ago. She had often visited the queen,
and In spite of everything asserted to the
contrary, was on terms of warm friend
ship and continuous correspondence with
her. The young Prince Imperial of
France was killed by the Zulus in South
Afilca while wearing the queen's livery
as one of the trtlcer B of her army. He was
one of her special favorites and might
have become her son-in-law had he lived.
King Pedro of Portugal succumbed to
poison so shortly after returning to Lis
bon from a visit to Windsor castle that a
doubt always remained as to whether the
poison was not actually administered to
him while still in England by some Portu
guese conspirators. King Louis of Bava
ria, whose death by drowning has never
been satisfactorily explained to this day,
figures in the book, and so does his cousin,
the ill-fated Crown Prince Rudolph of
Austria, who blew out his brains at May
erling on discovering that Baroness Marie
Vetsera had poisoned herself. He had
visited Windsor only two years previ
ously, at the time of the queen's jubilee.
Hla uncle, Archduke Maximilian, who
suffered death by shooting at Queretaro,
atfer reigning as emperor of Mexico, spent
a week in Windsor in 1857, and in her
diary the queen speaks most highly of
him, saying: "We have become great
friends." His consort, who is the queen's
flrsc cousin, has for thirty years been
under restraint as a lunatic. The Duchess
of Alencon, of whom the queen was
particularly fond, and who, when staying
at Bush Park, loaned to her father-in
law, the Duke of Nemours, by her maj
esty, used often to go over to Windsor,
wis burnt to death in the terrible Charity
Bazaar conflagration at Paris. Prince
Baldwin of Belgium, another near kins
man of her majesty and a signer of the
book, lost his life by a revolver bullet
in an adventure of a questionab'e char
acter in a mansion of the Avenue Louise
at Brussels, while at least two of the
queen's former guests at Windsor, name
ly. Archduke John of Austria and the late
Landgrave of Hesse, have vanished at
sea without leaving any clue as to their
fate.
Many more names could be cited that
call forth equally tragic memories, but
these will suffice to explain why the
queen's grandchildren should have nick
named this so unique volume as "Grand
mamma's Cemetery."
m
JOHN CHINAMAN, CHEF.
Raklnic In the Miekels in Somno
lent Philadelphia.
The Chinaman' is now entering the field
as a chef and meeting with success, in
Philadelphia bo demoralizing has been
the ruj-h to Chinese bating houses that
American restaurateurs have been re
duced to the n«ceslty> of garnishing their
menus with Chinese* dishes in order to
win back the patronage of their flighty
customers. <
It has long been 3J matter of wonder
how the Chinaman always managed to
serve fresh vegetables and produce that
are native only to hfs own country. He
could not import them from his native
country, and he? coultj not purchase them
from farmers ifi Arerriea. However, it
was lately discovered that there is a
farm, not far from Philadelphia, super
intended by Chinese gardeners, where all
the native vegetables, herbs and fruits
of the "Flowery Kingdom" are grown.
This farm, though only four acres In ex
tent, yields annually over $5,000 profits
to its owners.
BOSTON by the Soo Line $19.00.
JOHN SMITH'S TOWN
IT IS IN SOITH CAROLINA, AND HE
RI'KS IT TO SIIT HIM
SELF
ITS RULES ARE IRONCLAD
No Municipal Government. Mayor,
Pol!<»e, l.mi vein or NevrttpaperM —
N*>ven 'I hoii«n ii«l People I iidcr
Swnj- or a Pront-SharliiK Cotton
Company — China the Principal
Market for Output of the Place.
PHzer, S. C. is a town which is run by
John Smith. It Is a manufacturing lown
Of 7,0K) inhabitants and moves along in
harmony without a mayor, municipal
government, police, newspapers, or law
yers.
Every man does as he pleases, on one
condition only, ho must derive his autn r
lty from John Smith, whose edict ruled
the city as absolutely as the famous "by
erder of the czar" rules the Russians,
and the moral persuasion he exercises
c\er his population can be compared only
to the deference! shown to Oom Paul In
the troubled Transvaal.
This kingdom city is within from one
to three hours' railway journey of At
lanta, Greenville, Charleston, and a num
ber of other prominent Southern cities in
volved in large business relations with It;
it has an export trade in special cotton"
stuffs to "China; it is'constantly purchas
ing iaw material, everywhere. Yet If you
ask a man who thfnks he understands ;h ■
South pretty well, who lives here, and
wiio imagines he knows all that is going
on here, wßire l'elzer is, he will not Le
able to tell you. Pelzer is managed by a
corporation of which John Smitn Is the
head. It is a sort of Bellfimyized town
and has been in existence twelve years.
Profits are shared and there is an ef
fort among the people to make eohditl n?
and inhabitants ideal. The iO\vn has four
large cotton mills that employ t.bout 3,1.0
operatives and consume 1.0, OjC ba.es of
cotton each year. In one of these great
mills there are 60.000 spindles at work in
one room, all run by electricity. In tha
working equipment :ill that is old is dis
carded; all that it; new and progressive
ei-gtrly welcomed, no matter what the
e> pense.
DISCOVERED BY CHANCE.
Hundreds of children who work in th< se
mills earn from twenty-live to sixty i e.iU
a day, and certain portions of the ma
chinery is shut tJcwn at staled interval.,
each working day to allow them to atte -d
school.
Tradition has it that Peizer remained
undiscovered until it was already "grow
ed up," like Topsy, and then a lyceum
lecturer happened upon it when making
a tour of the South. His advance agent
sent him the names of several towns
where h© was to speak, and Pelzer was
on the list.
"Where is Peizer, anyhow?" said the
lecturer to a hotel clerk in Atlanta.
"Never heard of it," said the man who
generally knows it all.
The lecturer consulted a map. Baffled
again. Finally he took a train for Green
ville, S. C, where the station agent told
him Pelzer was about twenty miles dis
tant.
"Never been there myself," he remark
ed, "but I've been told it's quite a place.
Queer foiks, but they're all right."
The lecturer settled back in his seat
and could find nothing about Pelzer
among other suburban news in his news
paper. He had received pretty good "no
tices" wherever he had spoken, and the
omission in this particular paper annoyed
him. He believed he was in for a dismal
talk to forty or fifty persons; a dingy
hall with a smoky lamp and rickety
chairs; badly paved streets and no cab
at the depot to take him to a wretched
hotel. He made up his mind that he
would have something unpleasant to say
to that advance agent when he saw him
again. When he reached Peh-er he
thought he had made a mistake. There
was a roomy, well lighted railroad sta
tion, and a gentleman who introduced
himself as the Democratic postmaster of
the city was there to meet him.
"How does it look for an audience?'
inquired the lecturer, with an anxious
eye to business.
"Oh, very good. I think you will have
at least 600 persons out to hear you."
"Wh-wh-a-t? How large is your
town?"
"M-m. About 7.000. More, perhaps."
What the lecturer did say to his ad
vance agent when he caught up with him
was that it was one of the most charm
ing stopping places on his route, and that
he wanted to go there again.
NO REPORTERS.
There were no reporters at the lecture
to take the synopses that the speaker had
prepared for them, and there was no
nevspaper account of it next morning,
because Ruler Smith will not have a
newspaper published in the town. Editors
and reporters are forbidden to live there.
There was once a reporter who stopped
here a day or two in the guise of a life
insurance agent, who wrote something
about Ruler Smith.
It is impossible to remain in this place
more than two or three hours without
meeting Capt. Smith. You would know
him by the deference that is shown to
him on the street, even if he did not
speak to you and introduce hmself. He
is affability personified, and when he sees
a stranger in town likes to find out what
he is there for* He is a big man. a
Southerner, ard wears a broad-brimmed
hat, a long coat, buttoned up tght, and
carries » cane. His face is a little stern,
but his heart Is big and his voice joviafc
He will not tolerate d'sobedience. His
father was a Presbyterian minister, and
Capt Smith believes in foreordinatiop
and election. He believes in his right to
run the town of Pelzer. and he runs it.
He has a firm hold on the affections of
his people. They believe in him thor
oughly, and that he works always for
the common good. When he pro-ntiljratea
an order they do not question it They
a bid.- by it.
"We have no mayor," said a close as
sociate of Capt. Smith, in response to a
question. "No necessity for one. We have
no aldermen, no courts, no municipal
councils,' no police. The resdents keep
the peace and get along comfortably with
out any buncombe of that sort Capt.
Smith is all that is necessary. We have
no drunkenness because ye don't permit
liquor within the city limits, and drunk
enness furnishes more than half the busi
ness of a police force."
No man can become a citiz n of rVlsfer
until his record has been Investlga! d
His antecedent- mus-t be gore! or he <a>
not come to v • here. Hs cm due raur
he pood or he annot s ay. Nobody owna
any real estare. It is leased to them by
the company for a limited period. The
stores, residences, everytr.in.<. la owned
and leased by the company.
BARGAIN DAY? UNKNOWN.
"What is your objection to news
papers?" a citizen was asked.
"Nothing personal, only the residents
seem to think we get along bettor without
them. Local paii>rs publish a lot <.f local
gotsip. and gossip is always Hkty to di
mcic mischief than pooil."
"But your citizens must read what is
going on In the world?"
"Surely. We i.re r.ot dullards. They
buy newspapers fiom everywhere, North
and South. But they get them b> mall at
their homes and see Hen; in t!i< public
library. It isn't exactly the thing ;o ie.ui
newspapers in the cars here."
"What dvi your merchants say to th:t?
You have large stores here apparently
well stocked."
"True, the lack of opportunity to ad
vcitife is v gieat drawback. But we tc-i k
ADVANCE HOLIDAY SALE
Of the Handsomest
Comb, Brush and Mirror Sets
We have ever shown. The best quadruple silver
plate, heavily embossed ; beveled edge French plate
mirror; fine quality English bristle Brush; heavily
trimmed Comb; all in a handsome lined case. Specia]
price,
including large engraved Monogram. Make your
holiday selection now. Goods laid aside for future
deli very
Retail Department.
aH SIJVI^W Wholesale
Seventh and Jackscyi Sts., St. Paul.
Our Large Illustrated Catalogue Sent to Out-of-Town Patrons
Upon Request.
The advertisement canvasser for a St. Louis daily paper says of
test my pedestrian abilities-winch is supposed to be a succor S
manner of displacing constipation-I was very often compiled to
forego my pursuit of 'business.' Constipation with me Sd o
be hereditary rather than due to accidental causes, thereto^much
harder to relieve. In my extremity 1 often resorted to most drastic
measures, but found no cure to be permanent. In i 8o 2 while con
1^ T CCi and J "sed them Wttl! marked success. Nowaday! 1
SSS I" Cf / r°m f Ch SeVerC CaSCS Of constiP^ion, and the vio >lent
headaches I formerly experienced never worry me in the least. Some
It al>. into eons'.tleration and came to tlu:
conclusion that we could not afford to
risk a newspaper simply to give mer
chants a chance to advertise. After
awhile customers know preity well whcr. ;
they want to go."
'Is there no competition? No bar
gains?"
The Pelzerian shook his head. "Noth
ing of that kind here."
"What about lawyers?"
"Well, we have no business for th<m
That is it in a nutshell. A lawyer would
starve to death here if he depended on
an Income from his business. If we al
lowed one lawyer to come hero
another one would want to mov ■
In to fight him. That would b?
the camel's nose under the tent.
We have no objection to lawyers living
here, provided they don't oo business
here. But lawyers generally like to live
where there pro c< vi-ts, don't they? The
same thing applies tc editor? and report
ers. They may live in the city if they
will promise not to write about it—a
thing most of them won't do. They w I' -
about it. anyhow, as we ate b.pinn'ng t>
find out "
"flow about doctors?"
"We must have doctors, of course.
We have two of them and one dentist.
We have four preachers, all picked men,
and one photographer."
PRODUCTS SOLD IN CHINA.
One of the tirst things to strike a vis
itor from the North who comes here is
the abtt-nce of p.egi oes. Not one of them
is allowed to live within the ciiy limits.
A few of them live just over the line
and are .siveii housework to do by some
residents of Pelzer. But Capt. Smiih,
while not absolutely forbidding this, is
doing ins utmost to discourage it. He
says frankly !"hat he does not want his
people to mix with the negroes or to de
pend on them. it is his policy to do
away with all household servants as
much ;'.^ possible ar.d make everybody
depend on thcinsoives.
The mills are operated by electricity
generated at h waterfall two miles from
the city, <>n the Saluda river. There is m
coal and no steam. The employes go
from one floor to another in express ele
vators. The superintendent of one of
them spoke of the children employed
there -'is "my" children. Some of them
are not more than ten years old, but
tluir work is easy and healthful. Their
hours are short. They have light, airy
rooms t<. cat their luncheon in.
At definite periods these children are
Jg AT LAST YOUR TASTE IS SUITED WITH
/ *^i^^^^^iP Pee/r*cc/ grocers everywhere.
1 yQ) I If voijw does not- kee.p it wH^e/
\ \v-^irr</ / BAKER & CP*7 Importers and"'
required to leave the mills and go to
a school belonging to the company.
Education is compulsory. In one of the
schools there are COO pupils, from primary
to the average high school grades. I'u
pils who show unusual ability are setect
t-d for a higher course of education.
But while a young man or a young vw.m
an is getting this education they .-.re also
becoming proficient in a trade. In no
event that can possibly be foreseen arc
thr-y likely to become a burden en the
st;it?.
The superintendent of one of the mills
said that the best customer .f (he *<'in
pr.ny is China. This is largely true «•:
all Southern mills. That nation ustd to
buy all its goods from England by weight
and not by the yard. In the course of
time they discovered that foxy British
manufacturers put white clay with in*
starch to makf the cloth weigh heavy.
The Southern manufacturers claim they
do not resort to such trickery. Nearly
all the capital invested in these mills
comes from the South. Tt is a .••"it < i
home monopoly.
. __ — o
SAVE THEIR RAILROAD FARE.
Expedients by Which l)i*l;unr«f
Travelers Heat Their Way,
Kansas City Times.
There was a man in town yesterday
who told of a new scheme he has just
wcrked to beat a railroad. "A friend and
myself wanted to come from Omaha to
Knr.sas City. He said to mo. 'You buj a
ticket only to the first station and 1 will
show you a good trick.' I bought the
ticket as requested \vh4]e my friend
bought a ticket for the full distance at
the regular fare. We took a scat togi lh<»r
in the train. The conductor cam.' around,
took up the tickets and put a punched
train check in my friend's hat. Indicating
that he was ticketed through to i>
City When the conductor got oul <>f
sirht my friend took his knife and si lit
the card. lie put half into my hat and
the other into his own. Both "spUrs"
looked like a regular check and I came
light on through without paying any
more fare. We divided the saving, which
was more thaii $2 each."
Two Fant Trains to New Mm
Via the Minneapolis & St. Louis road,
leave St. Paul at 9:3 Ca. m. and 5:00 p. m.
except Sundays. Running time only
three hours and ten minutes. No change
of cars or delays on this lino.
Depot. Broadway, foot of Fourth.