Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 20 July 1894 — Page 6

By CHAKLES B. LEWIS (M. QUAD).

[Oopjright, 1892, by American Press Assoclation.]

CHAPTER XVIII.

"So you've got gold In the wagon?" The next three days were full of strange events. The party which set out from the wagon train to hunt for the canyon were certain that the one near which the renegades had encamped •was the place they were looking for.

Taylor and one of the renegades prospected down the valley and found a canyon which Taylor was sure contained the cave and its treasure.

Both parties were working in the dark, but the wagonmen had the advantage. They knew the renegades for what they were, and also discovered that Taylor had joined them. Some of the men were for attacking them and wiping out the whole five to revenge the murder of the emigrant and his wife, but this the captain would not approve. He would lose & man or two at least, even if he won a great victory, and he did not forget that the Indians might make their presence known at any moment.

At the second visit paid the canyon above the renegades the wagonmen penetrated far enough to be certain that this was the one described by Saunders. They would have investigated still closer but for the approach of a storm, which njftde thera anxious to reach the shelter of camp.

Strangely enough, the other party was just as firmly convinced that the other canyon was the right one, and on the forenoon of the third day it was decided that they should move. Bob had told a big story to get the other party off up the valley, and as they had not moved the renegades did not know what to make of it. He could not see why they should question his veracity, but Taylor made the situation plain when he said: "Harkins has no doubt told them of the cave, and they are making a still hunt for it. Depend upon it, he has given the secret away, and they'll divide up the stuff if they find it."

It was decided to hitch up and move down the valley at once. It would not do for Taylor to be seen, and he was to hide away in the wagon. Bob cooked »P what he thought a very plausible

yarn, and about noon Joe, who happened to be looking up the valley, saw the wagon a mile away. The rescued girl was at once hidden from sight and the seven men in the camp quietly made ready to meet an attack.

The wagon came on, three of the renegades riding their horses and the fourth driving, while the horses of the latter and the one belonging to Taylor followed the wagon. The vehicle could have passed the camp by fifty yards, but it drove up and halted within ten, and Bob called out: "Hello! to all of ye again. I reckoned ye'd be up at the diggings by this time, but ye don't seem to keer for gold. I come out to guide these bovs, who hev made their pile and are now headed for Brule. Didn't see anj'thing of the lost gal yet?"

The captain being absent with a party, Joe took it upon himself to answer. "We shall probably move this afternoon. The wagons had to be overhauled and fixed. So you've got gold in the wagon?" "Gold 'miff to buy half of Dakota, my friend. Sorry we can't let ye see it,' but it's kivered up fur the journey. Meet any luck yet?" "Only so so. Where did you get that "bay horse?" "I was jist goin to ask ye if ye had ever seen him afore. We met a chap named Taylor a couple of days ago, who was headed for the mines. He allowed he didn't need his lioss any longer, and I bought the beast for fifty dollars." "Yes, that is Taylor's horse, and 1 was wondering how you came by liim. Was Taylor all rigM?" "Seemed to be as pert as a cat. So ye are going away today?" "That's what we expect." "Waal, I'm goin on with the boys fur about twenty mile and I may see you as I cum back. Good luck and goodby."

The little party moved off down the valley, every renegade chuckling with satisfaction, and they were soon out of sight. Half an hour later the captain and his party returned and dinner was quickly dispatched and the teams harnessed for a move. By three o'clock a new camp had been formed in the mputli of the canyon. The wagons were run in out of sight, a wall of rock was piled up as a screen and a defense, and in a little cave were found water and grass for the horses for the time being.

It was well that they had moved with promptness and made things secure. Before sunset the rain descended in such torrents that the main valley was almost a river. A good sized stream swept down the bed of the canyon and out into the valley, and within an hour the footprints of the horses and the tracks of the wagonB had been obliterated. The storm lasted half the night, causing great discomfort in the camp, but the next day was not three hours old when everybody was made to realize that the

storm was bis salvation. Some of the men were still eating their breakfast when Joe, who had been down to the mouth of the canyon for a look around, returned and said: "Injuns till you can't rest!" "Where? Where?" called half a dozen men. "In the valley A band of at least fifty has just gone tearing by."

The fire was burning clear and making no smoke, although it had been built agaiust the wall of the canyon, in a place where the smoke would go filtering up among the trees. Every man was ordered down to the wall, and they reached it in time to see the last of tho Indian band disappear up the valley. "What's your opinion?" asked the captain of Joe as they stood together. "They are hunting for us. They've got word that we are in this valley and they are trying to locate us. They probably expected to find us at the other camp." "Well, I hope they'll keep right on as they are going." "But they won't, captain. They know that we left that camp about noon yesterday. They picked up a dozen proofs of it. They believe we went straight up the valley. They'll figure that we couldn't have gone over ten or twelve miles when the storm broke. Five miles above this they will be looking for our trail. If they don't find it they will ride on five miles farther. Then they will discover that we did not go that way at all." ... "And then what?" "They will come back looking into all the hiding places, and we shall have a fight with odds of five to one." "I'm afraid so," said the captain, "and this time we cannot look for a rescue by the soldiers. The party which passed down yesterday has no doubt been butchered." "I think the reds struck into the valley by a pass farther up," answered Joe. "There would have been fighting, and we should have heard the reports oi rifles. We must get ready."

The mouth of the canyon was about one hundred feet wide. Seventy-five feet up it narrowed to fifty feet and made a bend. The wagons were in this bend and a wall had already been thrown across a portion of the fifty feet. Every man now went to work to extend this wall to a distance of thirty-five feet and to make it look like a landslide from the bank. Dirt was thrown in among the rocks, and bushes pulled up and set among them, and two or three of the men brought armfuls of vines and creepers and trailed them over the wall.

It would not do to close up the entire width of the canyon, as the Indians probably knew of its existence. The wall made a strong barricade, and as the men surveyed it from the ether side they pronounced the deception perfect.

The test was at hand. They were yet at work when the advance of the Indian party was seen returning down the valley. They knew that if the wagon had come up the valley they had dodged in somewhere. "Every man to cover and lie low until I give the word," ordered the captain, and in a moment the gloomy mouth of the canyon was as quiet as a graveyard.

CHAPTER XIX.

"Great heavens, but what is that?" The Indians were in truth looking for the wagons. Both parties had a narrow escape. Their presence in the valley had been detected by scout or stroller and information carried to some point from which a war party of seventy had been dispatched to surprise and annihilate them. This party had come in by one of the narrow valleys and found the camp abandoned. The severe storm had obliterated all traces, and the Indians had gone up the valley to pick up the trail. As they returned they were riding at a slower pace, and were spread out the width of the valley.

Would they look into the month of the canyon? The query was answ'ered five minutes later. Three warriors turned their ponies to the right and rode in to within ten feet of the stone wall. They rode its entire length and halted in the gap and looked up the canyon.

The men were lying fiat down on the earth, each clutching his rifie, and horses and wagons were just around the bend.

Could it escape the Indians that the •wall was artificial? Must not their sharp eyes detect the figures hugging the earth? It did not seem that the gold hunters had one show in a thousand to escape detection, and yet they were not detected. After a halt of not more than a minute, though it seemed a quarter of an hour to each man, the trio of redskins passed on and the moment of peril was passed.

A bit of natural philosophy stood between the gold hunters and discovery. The Indians had turned into the gloom and shadow from the bright sunshine, and their vision was shortsighted and uncertain. Had they waited a little longer they must have seen something or other to arouse their suspicions, but they seemed impatient to get on. "Thank God!" whispered more than one man as the horses were heard moving away.

In half an hour the gold hunters dared exnlt and plan. Two men were left at the wall as lookouts, three or four others were held as a reserve at the camp, and the captain, Harkins and Joe set out up the canyon to search for the c&ve of cold. When the darkness became so in­

tense as to interfere with their progress they lighted torches and a thorough inspection was made of both walls.

The canyon extended into the mountain for a full mile, winding and turning, and long enough before it ended the pine trees met above it and prevented a single ray of light from descending. Nothing answering the description of the dying hunter could be found. He had said, as Harkins understood, "five miles to the right of the peak." Here was the spot. He had described the mouth of the canyon and everything here bore out the description. He said that Bridger went up the canyon about a mile and then turned into a smaller one running to the left.

There was no such canyon. The left bank was solid rock and earth from the wagons to the spot where the great rift stopped short at a flinty wall a thousand feet high. The mighty wrath had split the mountain thus far, but it could go no farther.

Three times the men traveled from the camp to the end of the canyon, and then all were certain that Harkins had been mistaken. They sat down on a bowlder in the bed of the canyon to rest and discuss the matter, while the single torch, secured in a cleft, hardly allowed the-m to see each other's faces. "Well, we have no right to complain, as we have lost nothing," said the captain. "Indeed, if we had not slipped in here not a man of us would now le wearing his scalp." "Wasn't the old man flighty in 'his last hour?" asked Joe of liarkins, who seemed much cast down. "He gave no evidence of it on the contrary, his mind seemed wonderfully clear to the last." .. "Perhaps he said to the left instead of the right of Custer's peak," suggested the captain. "No, I am sure lie said to the right, but he may have meant the left." "It's no use crying over spilt milk," laughed the captain. "If we have lost the cave we have saved our scalps. I'm 'inclined to. think the old man misspoke himself. believe those renegades gave this place a thorough looking over and are now in the canyon below, if there is a canyon there. If the cave is there they have got the gold ere this, and that ends it."

Harkins sat with bowed head. He had felt so sure that old Saunders told the truth that he hated to give up the search. There was deep silence for a moment, broken by a whisper from Joe, "Great heavens, but what is that!" They were near the wall which formed the end of the canyon. All raised their heads and looked into the darkness and saw' a faint light Bhining out like a star. At the same moment their ears caught the sound of many voices chanting in low tones, and a strange, weird music filled the heavy air. "Hush—sit still!" whispered the captain as Harkins seemed about to spring up.

Then from the face of the solid rock issued forth a strange procession of strange shadows—shadows which moved in double file right past the trio down into the blackness of the canyon toward the wagons. The one who led the procession carried what looked like a banner. Beliiud him was one who seemed

to carry an urn. Then came four shadows which bore a bier, and those who came after had their faces upturned and were wailing and chanting.

The men saw and heard and realized, but were chilled and powerless to move. Can the dead come back to earth? Do the ghosts of those who have gone before gather in the shadows and the darkness and hold reunions?

Chant! Chant! Chant!

Out from the solid wall—a wall in which the sharp eyes of the gold hunters had failed to detect a crevice larire enough to conceal a squirrel—poured the strange, queer specters, and down into the darkness marched the procession

March! March! March! Their feet kept time to the wild, weird chant, but not the sound of a footfall came to the ears of the living. Each ghostly figure stood out separate and distinct, but not a face could be seen. "We are doomed men!" groaned Harkins, as he covered his face with his hands to shut out the sight. "Aye! We shall never leave this spot alive!" added Joe. "Hush, men!" whispered the captain as he raised his hand. "They are dead, true enough, but they are the dead of a thousand years ago—of the cave dwellers and the Aztecs. I have seen them twice before, and they brought no bad luck. Here they come on the other side!"

The three were seated on a rock in the center of the rift. The head of the spectral procession had gone down the canyon several hundred feet and then turned to come back on their left, passing them again within a few feet.

March! March! March! Chant! Chant! Chant! Soft and low and sweet came the notes—like the murmur of the August breeze in a forest pine. The feeling of awe was crowded out of the hearts of the living, and a feeling of sadness and reverence crept in.

It was the dead burying its dead! ft March! March! March! Never the echo of a footfall, never the touch of skeleton foot to the flinty rock. The ear caught no sound but that of the ghostly voices chanting in unison.

And of a sudden he who headed the spectral procession swerved to the left and disappeared into the solid wall and was followed by the long lines until the last had been swallowed up and lost sight of. And then, as silence and darkness reigned again, the captain said: "Men, we have a treasure here. Examine that wall and you will find an opening to a cave behind it."

CHAPTER XX.

"Were we awake or asleep?" asked Joe, as he rubbed his eyes. "Very wide awake," answered the captain. "And was it a procession, and did we hear music?" asked Harkins. "Yes. I saw and heard the same thine once in the Rockv mountains, and

once" again in an old ruin in Arizona. I have met several men who have also seen and heard." "There is no opening in the cliff," said Joe as he held the torch aloft "not a crevice where they came out—not a hole where they went in. We have been fooled by the darkness." "You and Harkins return to the wagon for crowbars, and while you are gone 1 will collect wood and build a fire to work by," answered the captain.

His seeming confidence inspired them, and without waiting for a closer inspection of the cliff they headed down the canyon for the tools. Upon reaching the wagons all was quiet, and the queries of the men regarding the use the crowbars were to be put to were made light of, as it was deemed best not to raise hopes which might be disappointed.

The captain had a bright fire blazing against the cliff es the men returned, and in response to their looks of inquiry he put his hands on the rocks and said: "See this line running here, and up this way, and to the right, and down and back? A great stone has been set in here and cemented in its place. The work was done so long ago that the cement is as hard as the rock and almost the color of it. One of you begin at that side, while 1 take a hand here."

Ten jiinutes' work proved what he had asserted—that a large stone had been fitted to an opening—but the work of drilling out tho cement was like drilling into the stone itself. When noon came they had made a considerble impression, but fully realized that they had undertaken a laborious task.

The forenoon had passed with those at camp without alarm. The sentinels thought they heard the reports of rifles down the valley, but were not certain. Not an Indian had shown himself, and it was hoped that they had been thrown off the scent and would leave the valley.

From the first the two girls had been drawn to each other, and Lizzie found a deep sympathizer in Bess. When brought into camp by Harkins the poor girl was in a truly forlorn condition, as may be imagined. While she still labored with the grief which choked her every time Bhe thought of the sad fate of her parents, she had been made very presentable in appearance, and more than one of the wagonmen felt his heart beat faster at sight of her sweet, sad face.

As the trio returned to camp from their labors up the canyon, Bess beckoned her father aside and said: "Our friend is worrying and wants to talk with you." "Yes, 1 want to ask you about my mother," added Lizzie. "I am sure I saw father lying on the ground, and have no doubt the renegades killed him as the first part of their plau. Mother and I both got away, and she was not overtaken. What would be her fate?" "It is hard to say," replied Harkins after reflecting on the matter. "If she got through the night all right she may have found the trail of the w.agons in the morning and overtaken the party. We must hope that she did. It may also be that your father was only stunned by the blow, and is ere this all right again and with his friends." "Do you think there is even the faintest hope?" she tearfully asked. "1 do." "Thank God for thatl 1 shall almost cease worrying under that hope. And now what of myself?" "You are to remain with us, of course.'' "But for how long?" "We cannot even guess. We may head back for civilization in a week— perhaps not for three months. It depends on our luck as gold hunters, it is more than likely that some of the party to which you belonged will be encountered soon, and who knows what good news we may receive. You are thrice welcome to all it may be in our power to do for you."

Meanwhile Bess had whisperingly inquired of Joe what chances the mother liad of escape. "God help her—none!" he answered. "She was wild with fear when she ran from the wagon, and she would grow wilder. Before morning came she was a maniac, but 1 doubt if she lived to see another day." "Indians?" gasped Bess. "No—wolves. At that distance from the mountains a man loaded down with firearms could hardly have kept them off all uiglit. Encourage the girl all you can, but don't hope in your own heart that there is one chance in. a million that she will ever see her mother again."

As the pair stood together apart Harkins observed them with a start and whispered to himself: "Well, well, but 1 do really believe that my Bess has taken a liking to that chap! How queer!"

He might more truthfully have said, "How,natural," and he might have used the word "love" for "liking." And when the man looked upon the sweet face of the orphan he had so gallantly rescued at the peril of his life, and felt his heart beating faster, he might have discovered another queer thing—that somebody else had "taken a liking."

The captain had given the men to understand that he was prospecting up the canyon for gold, but had said nothing of the discoveries made. When dinner was finished and the trio were ready to return he renewed his caution about keeping a steady lookout for danger, and ordered that no one was to leave camp on any pretext till his return. Then the three set out for the scene of their labors and began work immediately upon their arrival. They had no fear of their fire being seen or their blows overheard, and men who work to solve a mystery do not tire.

After three hours of hard work the crowbars secured such a grip on the stone that it moved. One united effort would heave it out of the opening. It was then that the captain stepped back and sat down and said: "Let us take a breathing spell now, and let us prepare ourselves to be disappointed."

"What do you think is behind the stone?" asked Joe. "A cave of some sort." "And what shall we find in the cave?" asked Harkins. "The shriveled bodies of dead Aztecs. That lost race always buried their dead in caves, and when the place would hold no more it was walled up, I have helped to open three or four." "But why go to all this trouble to open a cave of bone aud dust?" petulantly queried Harkins. "As the Indian of today places the property of the dead warrior beside him that he may have an outfit in the happy land beyond, so the Aztecs placed the wealth of their dead beside them in these caves. 1 have seen many ornaments of gold and silver which came from such caves." "Then let us to work!" exclaimed Joe as he seized a bar. "We shall find a cave of dead if not a cave of gold," added Harkins.

The bars were inserted on the left hand side of the stone, each man drew a long breath and at the word each threw his weight on his lever. The stone trembled, moved forward, hung a moment and then fell to the earth with a heavy thud, and an opening appeared into which a horse could almost have walked.

CHAPTER XXI,

And how fared the renegades? The girl Lizzie had been cut loose from the tree to which she was bound within thirty feet of them so carefully that Harkins had her a quarter of a mile away before she was missed. A rush and a search was made, and no one questioned that she had got off alone. They consoled themselves with the thought that the wild beasts would have her life before morning, and when Bob strolled down the valley it was with the expectation of finding some evidence of her death.

Well it was for the girl and the wagonmen that Taylor had been kept in ignoronce of her rescue and arrival. Had the renegades known she was in camp they would have shed blood to recapture her. Having no suspicion that she had been seen or heard of, they had no particular animosity against the gold hunters. When Taylor, burning for revenge, wanted to head a raid to steal the horses or attack the camp, Bob met him with the reply: "They drove you out, and I reckon they did right, but we don't propose to burn our fingers to help you git back at 'em. We cum yere fur that gold, and the fust hard work we do will be to look for it. If we don't trouble that gang they won't trouble us."

Taylor had to be satisfied with that. His standing among them was not pleasant. His excuses and explanations did not go down. He was looked upon as a traitor who had received his just deserts, and he very soon realized thsft he was being endured for the sake of what ho might know about the cave of gold. This knowledge imbittered him, and the hour he rode by the camp hidden in tho wagon he gritted his teeth and whispered to himself: "These outlaws want me to help find the gold, but what will happen then? They won't stickle to shoot me down like a dog. They have no notion of dividing with me. They own the team and will have all to say."

And then he took an oath that if he saw the first sign of treachery in his new found friends every man of them should die bv his hand. It was no idle oath. He had a terrible weapon in store for an emergency.

The outlaw party reached the canyon below the peak without incident and the wagon was pulled well out of sight of any one passing up and down the valley, and the camp was pitched with a view to defense. They were men who knew the perils of the Indian country and were both brave aud cautious. On the morning after their arrival Bob and Taylor set off up the canyon on an exploring expedition, and within an hour they had discovered the cave. Indeed, Taylor scarcely hesitated in walking directly to the ledge and pulling himself up.

The opening to the cave was large enough to admit the bodyof an ox. To the left of it rested a large stone which had been cut to tit the opening, but which had never been placed in position.

Saunders had said to the right of Custer's peak. He had been mistaken. Here was the cave to the left.

The men hesitated to enter the opening, although provided with torches to dispel something of the inky darkness. In spite of their wicked hearts, a feeling of awe and reverence held them spellbound for a time. By and by Bob shook it off sufficiently to say: "This is the place. Thar can't be no doubt of it, for it's the location we both got from different men. I'm now a-won-dering what's inside."

Taylor thought this a fitting opportunity to decide a matter which had worried him not a little, and he said: "In case the gold is here do we five share and share alike?" "Sartinly," was Bob's prompt reply. "You go first and let's see if we hev cum on a wild goose chase."

Taylor knocked his torch against the rocks to make it burn up more brightly, and holding it ahead of him passed into the opening, slowly followed by Bob. They found themselves in a rock lined room about twelve by sixteen feet in width aud length, while the incline was from six to eight feet in height. Nature had made the cave, but man had enlarged and improved it.

For a moment the men looked about them in wonder, and fearful that a grizzly or puma might be there to receive them. The place was untenanted, and Taylor moved to the right, thrust his torch into the darkness and hoarsely exclaimed: "We've hit it—we've hit itl Here is the gold!"

Yes..the_c:QlcLwas there, and silver as well. It was in crude lumps and pigs, each a heavy weight for a man. And there were crosses and spearheads and anklets and bracelets, all rudely fashioned from the precious metals. Bob did not trust himself to sav a word until

he had lifted half a" dozen of the pigs and cut away at some of the smaller articles with his knife. Then he said: "Thar's no room fur doubtl It's treasure!" "And it is share and share alike, remember!" cautioned Taylor. "Of—of course," stammered Bob.

Avarice, doubt, selfishness, thoughts of murder were creeping in before the discovery was ten minutes old. "The fool—to expect us to divide with him I" growled Bob to himself. "Let 'em lookout!

1

may take all!''

hissed Taylor as he held up a lump of gold. Who had placed that treasure there? Men of the race who peopled the west before Columbus landedl The ores had been reduced and metal turned out in crude form, but the wealth was there. When assayed at the Denver mint later on its purity was a source of wonder. Why should the treasure have been left? may be asked. Who can tell when and why the Atzecs went? The ruins of their cities are found all over the west, but the race disappeared off the face of the earth before the Pilgrim fathers touched these shores. "Bring along a chunk to show to the boys," said Bob, and each selected a specimen and made haste down the canyon.

The discovery was hailed with delight by the three outlaws left on guard, and plans were immediately made and discussed for loading up the stuff and getting out of the valley. In the making of these plans Taylor seemed to bo entirely ignored, aud when he put in his boast of finding the cave Bob took occ ision to remark: "We didn't need yer help in the least, '"cause we had the bearings all O. K., but it was white in you to offer yer services, an we hain't the men to forget it." "But I'm to have my fifth of course!" hotly exclaimed Taylor.

The men looked at each other without, replying, but presently he was ordered to stand guard at the wagon while tlicy went up together to bring down tho first load of treasure. "They think t-hey have caught a fool!" hissed Taylor as he looked after tli.-ni, "but they are mistaken. They are playing with a tiger!"

[TO BK CONTINUED.]

Church Corner Stone Laid.

PEKU, Ind., July IS.—The corner stone of the new S50.000 First Baptist church here was laid Tuesdaj' evening by Rev. Dr. 15. F. Gavins in the presence of a crowd numbering 5,000. Rev. Mr. Rankin, of the Presbyterian church Rev. Mr. Xeal, of the' Methodist church, and Rev. Mr. Fillmore, of the Christian church, assisted. The church will be completed this year and will seat 1.500 persons. 'I he Murk, family, of this city, has agreed to pay half the cost of the structure.

SUCM! for Damages.

AXIIKIISOX, Ind.. July IS.—August Hover brought a $10,000 suit Tuesday for damages agaiust the Big Four. The suit was raised upon the grounds that the company furnished inferior coal oil for lanterns and that the light given by his lantern at the time he lost hi* hand in coupling ears was too dim. Joseph 11. lirooker also filed a SI0.000 suit'for damages against tho llig Four for injuries received by being caught between ear bumpers.'

Tramps llitrn a ltarn.

EI.KHAHT, Ind.. July 18.—Tuesday two tramps applied at the home of Farmer Albert Caris, north of this city, for food and upon being refused walked out to the barn and del:berately set fire to it and looked on while it burned. They prevented others from extinguishing the fire until the tlames were well under way, when they escaped. The building was destroyed and the grain aud farming implements damaged.

Were Tearing Up the Kail**. VAI.I'AKAISO, Ind., July IS.—An attempt was made by unknown persons to wreck the fast express on the I'anliandle at lvouts, this county. The engineer was looking out of the cab window at the time aud saw the men in the act of tearing up the rails. The engineer increased the speed and the wreckers, seeing the train, made their escape.

Alleged Thieves Sue for Damages. VIXCE.VNES, Ind., July IS.—Tom Taylor aud Lyman Odell, two of the men who were arrested for complicity in the car robberies, have sued the Baltimore fc Southwestern road for damages. Taylor wants §10,000. He has been acquitted. Odell demands §5,000. He has not been tried.

Kesume Work.

EAST CHICAGO. Ind., July IS.—The works of the East Chicago Iron & Steel company will resume operations today after an idleness of over two weeks. The concern employs over 50(i men.

Overcome by Ilcat.

MUNCIE, Ind., July 18.—Rev. B. F. Grouse, pastor of the English Lutheran church, was the victim of a sunstroke on Walnut street Tuesday evening and his condition is serious.

Three Girls Drowned.

NANANIMO, B. C., July 18.—News has been received from Albernio of the drowning of three girls in Sproat lake, 5 miles from that place. They were Emma Faber, aged 20 Mary Faber, aged 18, and Dorothy Faber, aged 4. The girls were bathing. Dorothy got out of her depth when the other two went to her rescue, and all were drowned within a lew feet of the shore and in sight of their home.

All Strikers Discharged.

CHAMPAIGN, 111., July 18.—The Big Four and Illinois Central management are discharging all their men who took part in the strike. Nineteen Big Four firemen, eight brakemen and several boilermakers who make Urbana their headquarters have been informed that the company no longer needs their services. The Illinois Central is using the same method with those who went out.