Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 29 November 1895 — Page 6
•#EEiGi¥ JOURNAL
ESTABLISHED IN 1848.
•fJSuooetwor to The. Record. the first paper In 2rawfordsviUo, established it) 3 831, and to 37it VcupU's
PICKS,
established 1844.
TRUSTED EVERY FRIDAY MORNING.
THE JOURNAL COMPANYT. B. McCAIN, President. J. A. GRRENK, SoorotaryH
A. A. McCAIN,Tioae
Bntered at the PostofBoe at OawfordBvllle, Indiana, as socond-olass matter.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1895.
CHEAP goods cheaper men.
mean cheaper labor,
THAT preacher who said that he would rather have high tax and high morality than low tax and low morality bit the nail on the head. Crooked streets and straight men are to be preferred to straight streets and crooked men.
FRANCIS SCIILATTEK, "the Denver healer," who mysteriously disappeared in the night ten days ago, has at last been positively located. He is resting in seclusion on Joseph Wolf's fruit farm, near Boulder, Colo., and it is presumed he is fasting.
THE various mints of the United !?Lr.tes coined during thejj fiscal year ending with last June, S53,715,549, of which 843,933,475 were full legal tender gold and 83,956.011 full legal tender silver. These are the figures of the Director of the Mint, and will be generally accepted as correct.
ACCORDING to the census the United States increased in wealth from §16,000,000,000 in I860 to 804,000,000,000 in 1890. In other words the country increased three times as much in wealth during thirty years of high protection and under Republican rule as it did during eighty-four years of moderate protection and under Democratic rule.
THE official returns of the recent election in Kansas show that the Republicans elected District Judges in all the districts where elections were held, the Populists onot evensecuring one. They were also successful in all the Legislative districts where vacancies were to be filled. The only State officer voted for was that of Chief Justice David Martin, Republican, had a majority of 81,411 over Charles K. Holliday, Independent-Populist-Democrat. Three-fourths of the county officers elected in the State were-Republicans, leaving one-fourth to be divided between the Populists and Democrats. It,will thus be seen that a big corn rop and Populism do not mix well in Kansas.
"THE markets of the world," about which so much was said in the last political campaign, seems to be very well supplied without reference to what we have to sell, and the manipulations of the party in power have not Veen such as to give much encouragement to those who believe all the peo pie on the footstool are compelled to patronize us whether or not their dis' position lies in that direction. Our farmers have millions of bushels of wheat and billions of bushels of corn to sell. If we have prosperity at home the surplus will be inconsiderable. If our own people cannot afford to eat it, hen we must sell it at any price offer ed or store it up and take chances on the future.
THE Amenia'n question is invested with peculiar interest on account of the fact pointed out by a correspond ent, that-the names of so many of the places mentioned in the reports are ••familiar everywhere. There has been bloodshed near Mecca, the birthplace of Mohammed and the center of his religion, and in Palestine not far dis tant from the locality where Christ was born. On the eastern boundary of Armenia stands Mount Ararat, where the ark rested after jjthe Hood and the Armenians cherish a tradition that the Garden of Eden was in their country. "Should there be a war be tween the Powers and the Sultan, adds this correspondent, "it would be a contention for Christian belief and freedom amid the scenes where the
Apostles first preached the Gospel."
Or several new stories of Lincoln told in the second installment of the new "Life of Lincoln," in McClure's Magazine for December, one of the most interesting is that, when Lincoln removed with his family from Indiana to Illinois, he made thrifty use of the opportunities of the journey to peddle out, at a good profit, a stock of small wares which he had bought for the purpose. The whole installment is rich in picturesque details, and in Lincoln as be undertook life on his own account, first as a fiatboatmad, and then as a grocery clerk at New Salem, exhibits a young genius and hero, doing wonderful feats of strength, risking his life to save comrades from drowning, and magically winning his way into anew community by his rare integrity, his superior intelligence, and his^ gift of entertaining speech. Along with the paper are twenty-five pictures/including a facsimile of Lincoln's first vote, portraits of him in 1S5G, 1857, 1858, and 18(50, portraits of his early associates, and pictures of all the important scenes of this period of
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his life.
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AUIKOR OF*TM£ MIPNIOHT SUN"E»C. Copy right, 1805, by American Press Awtocia tion. 1 took possioiy live steps in tms guarded manner, when I laughed silently. No person was there.
I shouldn't feel nervous," I muttered, "for there's nothing in this business to compare with the risks I have run many a time."
Nevertheless I remained standing for several minutes, peering into tlie gloom and listening. No suspicious sound reaohed me, nor could I make out the shadowy figure that had given me such a start. Common sense told me I was mistaken, but an odd feeling whispered that I had never more need of being on my guard than at that moment
Walking softly back to the entrance of tne avenue, I again paused, with my senses on the alert. Once more the faint whistle of a passing engine nearly a mile away fell upon my ear, but that was all. From the trees surrounding the hoase at the end of the lano shone a dull light, the whole being so similar to that which greeted me the night before that it was hard to believe I was not standing on the same ground that I had then stood on.
One of the worst failings a man of my profession can have is impatience. It has brought many a well laid scheme to naught.
So profound was the stillness that I heard the door of the house open and olose. "Now, if some one comes otit with a cigar and walks up and down the porch, the resemblance will be complete."
I had turned into the lane and began walking toward the dwelling. My steps were noiseless, the soft earth making Buch precaution easy. There was no reason seemingly for this extreme care, but I was unmistakably nervous.
I looked behind me as often as to the front and never took a dozen steps without stopping to listen. The deep stillness was unbroken. If any one was shadowing me, he could be as noisoless as myself.
I had passed about half the distanco from the highway to the house when I received my second shock. There was no mistake this time. A man was in front of me, standing as motionless as
The poplars at the sides of the avenue threw him into sucli deep shadow that I could not make out the figure until within a rod of it. There it was in the middle of the road like a statue carved out of the night itself.
A creepy feeling came over me, and 1 slid my hand to my hip. My weapon was at instant command.
We must have seen each other at the name instant, so that the halt was simultaneous. He was as suspicious as
But why this mutual distrust? We were in a civilized country and simply meeting in the lane of a country farmhouse. We ought to pass with a friendly greeting perhaps, but at least without molesting each other.
Itwill.be understood that with my attention absorbed by the sight of the figure before me I forgot that shadowy form which I fancied had appeared in the other direction.
It was idle to stand thus, and 1 took a step forward, meaning to make a bold front of it
At that moment the faintest perceptible rustling behind caused me to turn my head. As 1 did so the figure of a man leaped out of the gloom and bore ine resistlessly to the ground. It was •in Asiatic who had leaped upon me with the stealthy fury of a jungle tiger.
CHAPTER XIIL
I have been in more than one desperate encounter, but never was 1 caught tnore hopelessly than on that autumn night when the forgotten inan leaped upon my back with the deadly stealth of a beast of the jungle.
His momentum threw me forward on my face, and at the moment of falling be flung bis sinewy arms about my own and pinned them to my side, so that, although my right hand was on my revolver, I could neither draw it nor turn the muzzle toward him. 1 f/as as helpless as an infant in his grasp.
As we west down he uttered several excited sentences in a foreign tongue. I knew like a flash that he and his companion were Asiatics. The second man bounded forward and leaned over me while 1 struggled fieroely to bring my weapon into play. He added his voice to that of the other. One sentence, no word of which I could understand, was repeated again and again with increasing anger.
The rising inflection at the end showed that he was asking a question or making a demand of me. They had mistaken me for Darius Howard and meant to make me answer them. I comprehended the error, and knowing my life hung on the passing seconds 1 replied: "I am an American. I am not Mr. Howard."
Without loosening hi$,grasp the man on my shoulders wrenched me partly round and peered into my face. His countenance was so close that, despite the gloom, he must have noted my features plainly enougn to Know tliat my words were truo. The second man stooped, and his countenance almost touched mine.
Not fully satisfied, lie drew a match from his pocket and struck it on the solo of his shoo. As the little flame flickered and came near being blown out in the slight air stirring I felt the warmth against my nose. My bat had fallen off, so that the view ho obtained was perfect.
By the tiny twist of flame I saw their faces, black, swarthy visbges that shone in the gloom tenfold moro hideous than under the glare of tho sunlight "A thousand pardons," said the man in my front. "We make great mistake. WP lnnk fnr another man. A thousand
I felt the warmth against my nose. pardons I" His aocont was broken and had peculiar (hissing
aspiration. The one who
had been holding my arms pinioned leaped backward with tho dexterity of an acrobat, and I was free, without a hair of my head injured. I picked up my hat, replaced it and roso to my feet.
Tragedy and comedy are twin brothers, and pathos and humor go hand in hand. A moment before I was struggling helplessly for my life. Now the grim humor of the thing struck me, though I felt liko emptying my revolver into both of them.
Tho East Indian who had addressed me in English repeated his apology over and over until it became monotonous. "I accept your explanation," I said when ho paused fcr breath, "but after this I suggest that, you ask a gentleman lor his card hei'oro attacking him. I hope you and your friend are enjoying good health."
With no appreciation of my humor, they both made a salaam as if saluting ono of their own potentates at homo and walked off toward the main road. "It would serve vou richt." I muttered as the ligures dissolved in the gloom, "to test my markmanship upon you."
But why do that? They had apologized for their mistake and made all the reparation possible. Then, too, they must be armed, and their return shots might prove uncomfortable for me.
The explanation of tho incident was clear. Tho two were prowling around the house in quest of Darius Howard. Nothing could be moro natural than tho error they had made. Doubtless they had come all tho way from India to settle some deadly dispute with the man who had brought with him tho ruby of Nana Sahib. It may have been to compel him to restore it to them, from whom not unlikely he had stolen it
If this were the truth, the alertness of Howard and his wife was not that they feared shadowing and pursuit by any of our officers, but the enmity of their own countrymen. It may be said that the path was open for me, though it was by no means a path of roses.
It might be added that 1 had met with enough adventure for the evening, but no real progress had been made. The real problem still confronted me.
Relieved of all fear from them, I resumed my approach to the building, from which still glowed the light that was my guide from the first. "Dogs are not the only animals to be dreaded," I reflected, "butsince I have encountered botli the way ought now to be clear."
The resemblance to the dwelling of the night before struck me when 1 paused at the head of the lana There was no man, however, pacing up and down with his lighted cigar and humming the air of an opera, nor during the quarter of an hour that I waited did any one appear.
At the end of that time I made a guarded circuit of the house, but could not gain a glimpse of the interior. It was as if the dwelling was hermetically sealed against all interlopers. .'
But that which interested mo was tho light burning in an upper room There the shade was partly raised, and it svould seem interesting developments were awaiting me.
But they would never appear so long as I remained on the ground. Trees were thick all around me, and my course was obvious.
The climbing of one of these trees was an easy tagK, ana I was speedily among the limlw at a height of 15 or 20 feet from the earth. Then I turned and looked at the window.
It was a night of disappointment. While in the act of climbing the trunk some one within the room lowered the, shade, shutting off my view as effectually as if the light bad been extinguish ed. It was exasperating, for but for that interruption in the lane and my own lagging the coveted sight would bave been gained.
The faint hope that some whim would lead to the raising of the curtain again kept me among the limbs until my body was cramped. I must have staid there for fully an hour when, presto! all became blank darkness. The light had either been taken from the room or put out No use of waiting longer. 1 drew my foot from under me, mean ing to descend the tree, when the faintest possible whistle sounded somewhere near me. Supporting myself with great care, I leaned downward and peered into tho gloom. Although little vegetation was left on the branches, the shadow was so dense that the keenest vision was of little help, but while staring at what seemed to be the dim outlines of a trunk it moved slightly to one side. Another misty object advanced to meet it, and then the two became stationary. "My .friends from tho old world are holding a council of war, was my con elusion, for there was no doubt that thoy were the two whom I had encoun-1 tered in tho lano. "They are not likely to acquaint me with their decision.
I had been in the tree so long that I was quite sure thoy were unaware of .my prepuce. Their action could not be explained on any theory of my own.
They must have, known what they wanted. Why, then, not enter the houso
THE BIG STORE
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when we first used the expression "The Big Store" to designate this hive of busy people and correct merchandising, was disputed because our floor space was not as large as other stores. However, we felt we were right and in accordance with our usual way we went right on using it, knowing we would reap our reward when we had the people's attention.
In addition to the floor you all know so well we have abasement half as large and a good sized stock room up stairs, The three together we think, gives us more floor space than any store in this city, but we don't say "The Big Store" because of floor space. Its the size of the stock we carry that makes the name descriptive.
Here are a Few Figures
that will give you some idea of the immensity of our stock. These figures apply to a few items we have in our basement and which is never seen by our customers. There is no item or piece of goods from our retail stock included in these*amounts:
Calico.
100,050 ft. or 33,350 yds. If this was stretched along the public highway as a telephone wire it would reach almost 21 miles, or to Thorntown or Jamestown. It would also reach from Ladoga to Linden if laid along the Monon railway from Waynetown to New Ross on the Big Four or on a straight line almost the entire width of Montgomery county.
Canton Flannel. •."«• .v.: v--.-.v.-"-,"--• Our reslrve stock of Canton would reach 10 miles or 17,600 yds. or 52,800 ft. On a straight line this would reach from Crawfordsville to Linden, Ladoga, New Ross or Waynetown.
Muslins.
Our bleached Muslins would reach over 13 miles, or 23,925 yards, or 71,775 feet. This is more than enough to reach Alamo, New Richmond or Darlington. Our unbleached Muslins would reach over 15 miles, or 27,000 yards, or 81,000 feet. This, if placed on the Vandalia track, would reach to Waveland. Our half-bleached Muslin and fine Cambrics would reach 3-4 miles. These four items together would reach a distance of 32 miles.
Other Items.
Our stock of Shirtings would reach more than 5 miles Ginghams, over 5 miles wide sheetings, almost 3 miles. The items- above enumerated would/ reach, if sewed together and laid out in a straight line, about 75 miles, or from Crawfordsville to Anderson, Ind.
We are aware that some people will doubt these sta'emerfcs, but wfe stand willing to prove to anyone's satisfaction the truth of anj statement we make, and would be pleased to have anyone visit our basement and fee this, stock of staple Dry Goods.
By These Items
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some idea may be had of what the stock was when we first advertised our Clearing Sale. These goods were all bought for cash at the lowest prices ever prevailing for Cotton Goods, in anticipation of the rise of the past two months and are worth fully 20 per cent, more to-day. However, on account of room,we are compelled to reduce the stock and are selling the goods regardless of value. No matter what you nr. ay want in the Dry Goods or Notion line The Big^Store will save you money on it. Our Clearing Sale is still in progress and we offer excellent values in every departments
127-129 Ea^'Saln StreetLOUIS BI5CH0F
P. S. .Modes and Fabrics for November are now ready. If'you are not a subscriber we would be pleased to have your name. It will cost you nothing. ,.
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