Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1885 — A MOST FIENDISH PLOT. [ARTICLE]

A MOST FIENDISH PLOT.

The relatives of Farmer Dickson, oi Georgia, who left an estate of SIOO,000 to bis mulatto children, have failed 'to break the wilL The only proof that the deceased was of unsound mind was the singular request that he be buried with a gold toothpick in his right hand -and a penknife in his vest pocket.

A tradition prevails among the Indians of Alaska that on Summer Island, one of a group about 4,000 feet high, with almost perpendicular sides, an extensive lake exists with shores and bottom of “glass rock,” probably crystallized quartz. The Indians say that a kind of fog overhangs the mountain about half way up, which, when reached, takes a luckless hunter in its embrace and carries him away, never to be seen again. Hence they carefully avoid even landing on the island for fear of being spirited away.

A Chicago special says: Dr. James M. Hutchinson, ono of the surgeons at the Cook County Hospital, performed a peculiar surgical operation. He says: “A young man of thirty-five years was taken to his mother’s home, on Laflin street, on Nov. 4, sick. On Nov. G I was called to see him. He had led the rapid life of a bachelor who seldom goes home, and he had a fat, pouchy stomach on him. I made an incision and drew ofl three quarts of a milkywhite fluid. I could not account for it. 1 could find no light in medical literature. I kept tapjiing him, and in twen-ty-seven days drew off eighteen gallons strange fluid. He was dropsical, but why the fluid was milky white I could not tell. I decided upon an investigation, and on Tuesday made an incision in the abdomen. I dra ned him out and made an opening six inches in length, laying the intestines bare. They looked natural, but I reached in after his liver and found a mahgnant •sore—cancerous, I should say. Then I went for his spleen, and found it adhering to the abdominal wall. But, this did not account for the milky color of the secretions, and I traced up the lacteal duct, which empt es into the left sub-clavical vein, and found a rupture. The fluid, instead of going to nourish the body, had been going to -color the matter in the abdominal cav.ty. I was satisfied. I closed up the ■opening in the duct, washed the man out, carbonized him, stitched up the -opening; but I left a vent tube, and the man will get well.”

Wm. H. Vanderbilt’s social position was not considered very high. Like Mr. Gould, lie was almost ignored by many of what are termed the best families. Ho is said to have been practically ignored by such families, for example, as the Astors, Livingstons, and Rhinelanders, the Van Rensselaers. Beekmans, and Roosevelts. They still thought there was a little too much of the nouveau riche about him; too much of the horse-jockev, and too little of the cultivation usually supposed to be associated with families whose wealth dates back further than yesterday. Still, whenever Mr. Vanderbilt .gave a ball or an entertainment of any sort his stately parlors were crowded. The Astors, it may be added, went there on such occasions, even if they afterward made “party calls;” and as to the rest, more persons were glad to respond to his invitations whenever he •sent them. His children, and especially Lis grandchildren, will have a much better social position, just as the Astors, •descendants of John Jacob Aptor, now stand well in th§ most exclusive society, though their famous ancestor en_oyed little or no social distinction.

He bad, it is said, expressed some regret that he built his house where he did on Fifth avenue; it was too noisy and crowded; there was a ceaseless roll of equipages over the Be'ginn pavement, and the street, as the tide of population moved up-town, attracted such throngs, especially Sundays, that there was little sense of seclusion.

The heir, the crown prince of the "Vanderbilt dynasty, is Cornelius. The future railroad monarch is now about thirty-live years old, says a New York correspondent. His personal appearance is decidedly prepossessing. He is very tall and has an erect, slender, and graceful figure. His hair and eyes are very dark, and his face, which is clean-shaved with the exception of small, closely cut side whiskers, shows strength and decision in every line. He began his commercial education as ■& clerk in a broker’s office, in Broad

street, rnd, after being thoroughly grounded in the principles of business, was transferred to one of the clerical departments of the New York Central Railroad in the Grand Central Depot. There his position was by no means a sinecure, and he was obliged to perform exactly the same duties as his fellow clerks whose futures were less brilliant. By steady application and natural business ability, without one particle of favor being shown him, he gradually rose step by step, passing by degrees from one department to another and mastering successfully every detail of railroad management, until he had thoroughly fitted himself for the exalted position he now holds. It is probable that no one in this country is more thoroughly conversant with railroad methods than he is. Although most of his time is devoted to the care of the vast interests in his charge, Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt yet finds leisure to indulge liis taste for art, of which he is an enthusiastic lover. His gallery of paintings in his splendid home on Fifth avenue and Fifty-seventh street is one of the finest in the city, and is constantly receiving additions.

The launch of the Eureka at one of the Brooklyn yards, the other day, is one step in a notable experiment for doing away with steam in naval propulsion. The main idea in the new system is to drive the vessel forward or backward by the expulsion of gas from the submerged bow and stern against the water. The idea is not a new one among scientists, but it is claimed that in the Eureka it has been made practical for the first time. The vessel itself is of about seventy-five tons, being 10J feet by twelve, with a depth of seven feet. On each side, about eight feet forward of the stern-post, are two lidcovered ports, connected with chambers. There are also two forward ports of the same kind, and through these the discharges are made from a central point, those from the stern for dri ing the vessel forward, and vice versa, while a simultaneous discharge from a forward por; and aft starboard chamber, and vice versa, will turn her sharply ro.md in either direction. The engine only takes up six feet ,of room, and only enough power is required to com; ress air into a steel globe two feet in diameter, into which vaporized petroleum has been forced. The exjdo,sivc material to be used has been kept a secret, but the New York Sun intimates it is a gas generated from oil and ignited [by electricity. Should the experiment prove successful its application will be watched with great interest. It seems a daring move to try to dethrone King Steam, but invention grows bold in these days, and he would be rash who should say that people will not soon be exploded across the Atlantic.

Drs. Douglass and Shra ly.wlio used cocaine a great deal during General Grant’s illness to relieve the pain, have been talking with a New York correspondent about its effects on their patient. Dr. Douglass said: -“I never used it hypodermically or internally, and only in weak solutions. The effect on General Grant was most effcac'ous. I used it on him first on Dec. 16, 18 vj. He came to my oflice and said he had not been able to swallow" for several days, and a few moments after the application he was able to take a small drink of water. We did not feel justified in using it constantly, and for at least three months no applications were made. Later on we began again, and as the paitent grew weaker and the pain became moro intense we had to apply it frequently. The General was never allowed to treat himself, and a physician always watched him when it was administered. We never dared to administer more than a four per cent, solution of it, for the case was too grave to experiment with. I have General Grant’s own opinion of cocaine as an anaesthetic, and some day I may publish it. It is not the use, but the abuse, of cocaine that the papers should decry.” Dr. Slirady said that he thought the discovery a great blessing, but thought it would be confined to narrower fields of operation than people supposed. He said: “Dr. Leonard Corning has recently invented a process whereby by the constriction of that part of the body to be amestheticized the power of the drug can be concentrated to the field of operation, and a much weaker solution of the cocaine can be used. This prevents the drug coming in contact with the greater part of the blood, and there can be no deleterious effect. If this proves to be what is claimed for it, all will be well. Cocaine is going to provi a valuable aid in therapeutics, but, like all drugs, it can not be trifled witlx."

Discovery of a Scheme in San Francisco to Kill Off Many Leading Hen. • Judges, Congressmen, Capitalists, and Public Officials to Be Dynamited to Death. San Francisco dispatch. One of the most sensational and startling plots for wholesale assassination of the most prominent men in this city oame to light here to-night. Some time ago the police obtained information of the existence of an organization called “The Socialistic Revolutionary Association,” which, it was asserted, was comprised of ultrasocialistic members. A close watch was kept on their movements, and the police finally succeeded in obtaining the minutes of one of their meetings, held Nov. 23. From these facts it was discovered that it was the intention of the association to put out of the way about twenty men, including W. T. Coleman, Congressman W. W. Morrow, Gen. W. H. L. Barnes, Mayor Bartlett, United States Judge Lorenzo Sawyer, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, Gov. Stoneman, the principal police officials, and several others. These names were placed on the “prospective list” and placed m the hands of the Executive Committee to carry out the orders of the association. The committee were to devise the best mode of accomplishing the ends of the base plot, and were thus engaged when their work was brought to a sudden termination to-night by the discovery of the association’s headquarters at No. 900 Montgomery avenue, by the police, and the arrest of four men found therein, named Julius C. Koosher, Henry Weiseman, Charles Mittelstadt, and Oscar Eggers. In the room were also found complete laboratory for the manufacture of infernal machines. The men were taken to the city prison, when they boldly asserted they were dynamiters, and proposed to get rid of the citizens named, and then raze Chinatown. The pi-isoners also belong to the German branch of the Anti-Cooly League. No charge has yet been entered against the prisoners. Further developments are expected.