Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1892 — Page 3

BY HOMER P. BRANCH

' [copyrighted bt the author, 1890.] CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. I believe that X am not what could Actually be called superstitious, yet since-my earliest recollection I have had opinions that differ from the accepted religious doctrines: and such opinions (or beliefs) are often looked upon* as superstitious, if not wholly ridiculous and not to be considered. But no one deliberately manufactures his own belief —that is something over which ho ordinarily has little more control thaji he has over the original form of his bc»ly or the co’or of his complexion, for, like these, it is a part of his corporate self He can distort his body ,or paint his face, but left alone, they will resume their normal shape and color—the same with his belief. However, one’s sett’ed opinions are sometimes completely changed by some impressive accident, circumstance or teaching; but this change, you will see, is not wrought by his own will, but by influences that are brought to bear upon him The influences by whi hwe are surrounded in the main form our opinions and our character and religion are mapped out in our intellects as by the hand of an unseen, incomprehensible destiny, ai d we have little thought but to follow the directions or promptings thereof. As the poet says: «’Tis education forms the common mind; Just as Iho twig Is bent the tree’s Inclined.”

In other words, the impressions of childhood bear upon one’s whole life. I know that with me —Hal Mala —the impressions of childhood have hung, like a prevailing vapor over the whole period of my existence; and in every tragody, comedy or romance, in which 1 have beeii fortunate or unfortunate enough to participate, I have been referred back to the dawning of my personal history. Orphaned in infancy, and left homeless, my childhood was spent among strange faces, and amid perpetually shifting scenes. As there was no pne to worry over my whereabouts, I went forth when I listed and came back when 1 willed, I much frequented wild and out oftho way places, and was often infatuated by gloomy objects that would have been far from fascinating to other children. The roar of the cataract as it tumbled and plunged through jagged gorges and the howling of tho wind as it swept among the cliffs and crags, were my music. I loved to wander amid the hush and tho loneliness of woodland scenes. The sighing of the trees, the rippling of the , brooks, the quaint sounds articulated by the small wild animals, by the beasts of the field and the birds of the air, were to me well known and welcome sounds. The wilderness was my kindergarten, and the object-lessons it presented were earnestly studied. I had no steady place of habitation, but was taken in. and taken care of, after a manner, by this person and by that, for awhile -for I was continually estray, and no one took tho pains to hunt me up. Thus my infancy and childhood passed into youth, when childhood’s dreamy life ended, and then my living came by an arduous strife with adversity. What information I possess was picked up of my own accord, regardless of schools or the pedagogue’s art. I had an early liking for letters, and explored enterprisingly the realm of knowledge, although nothing like system or order ever accompanied my efforts.

I was drilled to no particular trade, so my occupation was necessarily various, and, aside from the fact that it maintained me reasonably well, was of a sort that bore as its fruit more experience than wealth. The course of my career finally settled in the channel of itinerant journalism, and later into that of literature, as best becoming a person of haphazard accomplishments and roving disposition. All these circumstances, being of an exceedingly miscellaneous and uncommon character, may have combined to divert my thoughts out of any of the approved groves of religious theory, and to cause the opinions now dominant within my mind to fasten themselves upon me; but 1 credit my belief to other causes. When I was a little child I held communion with shadowy forms that told me by myriad signs that they were relatives of mine; souls of my people who had shaken off the toils of material life and assumed immortal existence in the spiritual world. Long before I knew that they were ghosts I followed them about in the gloom of night and felt perfectly at homo in their company. I often followed these specters to the graveyards to witness hosts of dim forms march and stalk about among the white tombs; this, too, at times when other children were coddled up in their trundle beds at home, dreaming things not half so wild as I was looking at with open eyes and the full possession of my waking senses. t'esides the aforesaid, often in my later life has it been fully proven to mo that there is but the vail of a breath between the material and the spiritual life, that some of us are granted the privilege of communing with the people of the phantasmal world. J. mention these few details of my past lire, not for the purpose of expounding a theory, nor of proselyting for a new faith, but because I wish to introduce myself, my views and the circumstances by which I have been surrounded, in such a manner as to prepare you to understand the full meaning and purport of the story I am about to relate. This story is the veritable history of a certain experience in my life—no dream, no hallucination.

CHAPTER 11. ON THE BAYOU. It was in the somber dead of night, End the red moon, wrapped in filmy mantles of light, fleeting cloud, floated low down behind the tall cottonwoods on the right, ever and anon casting a few slight beams across the black deck of -a small steamboat that was headed up one of those numerous murky bayous which flooded the southern portion of the State of Louisiana. The boat which was a sort of “cotton , lugger," contained but two passengers—my companion and myself—who were looked upon by the officers and deck hands of the craft as mysterious personages. We had come on board after dark, and were well bundled up In great coats,

ZEYNAEL ZEGAL

Sir ‘

so undoubtedly looked quite austere and grim in the dim lights of the smoky lanterns hung about Besides, we were going to the haunted villa on the old Spanish plantation up the country, which, as rumor had it, had for years been inhabited by none but ghostly apparitions, and which was supposed to be resting under the ban of a torrible and inexorable curse. Cur journey by boat was some twenty miles, and on our way up we had stood on the top deck, leaning against the pilot house, absorbed in thought and speaking but seldom. Once the captain came a’ong and touched my arm and that of my companion, and by the aid of his lantern looked earnestly into our faces. Upon being asked why he did this, he replied: “Beg ycur pa don, misters, but some o’ tho men doubt as how ye are flesh an’ blood, ye look so g.um and ghostly like. They hearn whar ye’re goin’, an’ are jest a little skeery. No live man has dared to tackle that ’ar habitation at midnight afore fur up ards o’ ten year. Don't mean to offond ye, misters, but es ’twas me I’d wait till sumup afore I tuk partikeler pains t’ git acquainted wi’ th ■ folks at the haunted house. ” This said, he walked on. Flesh and blood! Did I know thon whether it was flesh and blood 1 had for a companion that night, or tho shade of one long dead? Was I flesh and blood that night, or that month, or was I the ghost of myself accompanying a weird fancy along the bayous and over the fields of Southern Louisiana? When 1 was a little child, untutored in letters or the ways of the world, 1 saw and held mystic communion with tho spirits of the dead. Was I a,ain, at the beginning of manhood, as at the beginning of life, to commune with zephyry companions?

And Burton Aro’d! Why had I taken him as a boon companion—a man who was as the dead come to life, so unnatural wore his ways and so supernatural were his thoughts and words? It came about in this way: I had been in tho swamps of Florida on a hunt for curious insects for a Northern entomologist; and had contracted the “break-bone fever,” a terrible combination of typhoid fever and inflammatory rheu catism —a disease that is very common in the swampy regions of the South. During the delirium which followed I was taken to Mobiie and taken care of in a hospital. I was delirious for some weeks, and when I “came to” I was surprised at my surroundings. I inquired of the first person I saw as to where I was and why I was there. This person was Burton Arold, and he told me how it all came about. How he came to find out I do not know, for nono of the hospital people had ever seen him until ho was found at my bedside, and none had troubled themselves to learn his name or to give him any information concerning me. He seemed to take a great interest in me, and attended me during my whole illness with the constancy and tenderness of a firm and devoted friend.

His solicitous care had the effect upon my recovering faculties of winning my unconditional gratitude, for I found out that the hospital attendants were like a set of machinery, moving here and there in nice order, managed by master heads, but having little more sympathy for a sick person than one would commonly have for a plaster manikin, so accustomed were they to scenes of sickbed and deathbed sufferings. His conversation also charmed me, so ineffably eccentric, buoyant, and beautiful it was. When we were alone in tho dark, weary watches of the night, hour after hour, never seeming sleepy, never tired, did he hold me in trances of delight by the ecstasy of his discourse; and the wild flights of fancy, tho weird imaginings with which he would occasionally burst forth when in conversation with me, wrought an agreeable accompaniment to the drowsy fervor and dreamy ideality that settled down upon me after the delirium of the fever. I was naturally disposed to be abstruse and speculative, and the daydreams, the over changing phantasmagoria of imaginative objects that floated through my m.nd continually during my convalescence, without system or order, were from day to day made brighter, tho more delightful, the more pleasantly infatuating by his fervid, passionate but almost divine genius of eloquence and poetical fancy. I began to love him as a brother and to feel a considerable admiration for him, and he seemed to reciprocate the attachment When I became well again* he proposed that I should accompany him into Louisiana on’a visit to the house that had been the home of his sweetheart, who had died some years before. It was a haunted house, ho said, but from what ho had heard me say when I was ill he guessed that I was not afraid of having a friendly visit with spirits that were kindly disposed. I asked no questions, but promised to go; and thus 1 eventually found myself on board the small steamboat with Burton Arold at my elbow, both of us listening to the sounds that came out of the darkness, and waiting for the boat to carry us to tho landing opposite the haunted villa; and as we came around a bend in the bayou and tho moon went down below the horizon, leaving all in sulion darkness, the boat swung against the bank. The pilot did not dare to b’ow the whistle or ring the bell. The reason: It was midnight and the dreadful haunted house was just over the brow of a small hill. We stepped on shore and parted from the boat’s wondering crew. That gloomy craft swung out into the bayou and plied its way onward We turned up the hill and walked briskly toward our destination, he leading the way. > Low b it unearthly sweet music came in soft, feeling strains, from the direction of the villa, which, upon gaining the summit of the hill, I was surprised to see brilliantly illuminated. “The dance is on,” exclaimed Burton, in answer to my exclamation of inquiry. “See, we are expected,” and the double front doors opened and a kind-looking elderly matron of the Spanish type came forward to greet us.

CHAPTER lit. THE SPIRITUAL REVELRY. The haunted house was deluged in a flood of golden light Melodious music swelled and sank and echoed among its halls and chambers as if all harmonious and pleasing sounds were assembled there, wresting in ecstasies of unrestrained delight In the dining hall a princely banquet was laid ready for the night’s refreshment Fair maids and i gallant cavaliers, gentle matrons and noble elder gallants, lent the charm of their bright smiles and delightful presence to every nook, and in the great’ north room sylphlike figures and fairy forms glided through the dreamy movements of quaint old Spanish reels, or galloped with pretty grace and happy attitude through the lively changes of more gay and modern, fandango; indeed it was a night of revelry and joy. The motherly lady who had met us on the threshold ushered us into a small reception-room and left ns in the presence es the host, an aged gentleman with

•livery locks and a stately military bearing, who was sitting in a large oak armchair, SDeaking in bland, pleasant manner, to a group of friends gathered round. Upon our entering ho arose and welcomed us warmly. Burton, after shaking hands with several present, passed into another apartment and left me alone with the strangers, whereupon the host turned to me and suavely said: “Isenor, after your night’s ride you must feel, to a certain extent, the inroads of hunger. The cloth is laid and ready for the feast." Then stepping to the door of the north room he beckoned to some one within and was immediately joined by a queenly young lady of prepossessing beauty and charming manner Whom he presented to me as as his daughter, the Senorita Montinni, who was doing the honors of the house as hostess. He gave me the pleasant information that as 1 was the only stranger among the guests, the honor of leading the senorita in to supper tell to me. Noticing that the provailing tendency of the guests, by this time was toward the dining hall, and feeling tke fair senorita’s hand already on my arm, I gave her ray attention and fell in line on the general march toward the table, which, when arrived at, presented a most gratifying abundance. The viands and delicacies of the meal had a remarkable significance. None oi the edibles were of the kind or quality common to earth. A mild fragrance wellod from every disb, and tho palatable proport es of every sample wore the result of a culinary art different from any thal I was acquainted with or had over heard or read of. Flowers of unknown varieties and unprecedented loveliness poured out their dainty perfume upop tho air, decorated tho room, tho table, adorned the ladies’ corsages and bloomed upon the lapels of the gentlemen’s coats. Laughter, gay conversation and genteel enthusiasm went round the board and the whole company was in gay spirits. The feast, the feasting, and tho feasters were a dream of alimont, radiance and pleasure.

Supper over, the company again repaired to the north room and the daucing and the music were resumed. It fell to me to lead out in the aftor supper reel with the fair Montinni, but we had only got well to dancing when I discovered that I was honored with another partner altogether. Thissonorita was. just as beautiful as the Montinni.. Sho noticed my surprise and said: “fcenor must dance with us all, so his partners must change often.” She introduced herself, as a daughter of Senoi El Muza, who had been a partner with Montinni. She was a fascinating conversationalist, but of a mysterious strain, mostly, and alluded several times in a vague way to a mission in connection with the viDa and its mystic pooplo which she said Fate had appointed me to work out. A dozen times within the noxt hour and a half were my partners relieved by new ones. Each was as beautiful as the rest, and as charming and as pleasant. They all bade me welcome to the house, and alluded to the samo mysterious mission spoken of by the b’enorita El Muza. The mystery of the mission perplexed me not a little, but the infatuating revelry of the dance, and the wild, sweet music that accompanied it, did not suffer me to think seriously on the matter; so on we whirled benoath the radiant lights, guided by the wild notes of tho ,harp, the guitar and the violoncello—tho company fading and reappearing like people in a dream as they glided through the quaint figures of fandangos, wait es and reels.

Two hours after supper my last partner said to me: “The dance is done; I must bid you good-night. ” lied her to the door of the ladles' room, where I left her, and upon turning around met our gray-haired host, who greeted mo and said: “You will see no more of us till to-morrow night; make yourself perfectly easy and at home. ” With thede words ho glided out, and •upon his disappearance the music stopped, the revelry ceased, the lights went out, the company faded from view, and, speechless with amazement, I found myself alofie in the haunted house, in tho chill air and gray dawn of morning, wondering if I was asleep or awake, in my right senses or stark mad. [to be continued, l

Spare the Spider.

Is it not enough that every bird that flies ruthlessly robs her nursery, devours her babies, and even snatches her own soft body from the very sanctum of home; that gauzy flies steal their greedy young into her nursery to fatten upon her infants; that to monkeys, squirrels and lizards her plump body is a sweet morsel- they never resist; that frogs and toads snap her up without ceremony; that centipedes seize her in relentless grasp; that wasps paralyze and bury her alive? writes Oliver Thorne Miller in Popular Science Monthly. Are not these enough, without man joining the host of exterminators? Man, too, in whose service she lives! Consider for a moment her usefulness. Count, if you can the thousands of flies and mosquitoes eaten by one common house or garden spider in a summer, then remember her harmlessness. Other servants we must pay. Birds eat our cut-worms, our caterpillars, and our potato-beetles, but we have to pay a tax—small, it is true, In fruits, in berries, ip green peas, in corn; owls and hawks, while they destroy moles and mice, indulge, now and then in chickens. But the daughter of Arachne asks no reward, neither fruit nor vegetable suffers from her touch, no humming or buzzing attends her movements. Steadily, faithfully she goes on her way, doing her appointed work; and we, so wise, so far above her in the scale of being, we—murder her!

Biggest Game Ever Killed with Rifles.

John R. Davis, whose reputation for truth and veracity has hitherto been beyond question, writes the following from Shelton: “I awoke this morning about 5 o’clock, and, looking out on the Big Skookum Bay, I saw five large whales swimming up the bay toward Shelton. I ran into the bouse and got my rifle, which is a 45-Winchester. I fired on tho head whale. I saw the water splash, ana knew I had missed him. Then I ran to a stump near the beach. I fired again, and this time the leviathan splashed the water with his tail, and I knew I had hit him. *Then the whole school dived. I then ran down to the beach and jumped intumy boat and started after them. I think they were badly frightened and lost their course, for they ran ashcre on the beach opposite Shelton. When they ran ashore I fired again. They all got off the beach but one This, I think, is the one I first shot at, Mr. Munson came out, and we shot him several times with our big guns and killed him. He is fiity feet long and eight feet high. Mr Johnson says he is a finback.”—Seattle Post-Intelligence.

A paste which is very fine for softening or whitening the skin is made as follows: White almonds, 3 ounces; strained honey, 2 ounces; orange flower water, 5 ounces; cold cream, 4 ounces. Pound the almonds to a paste in a mortar and mix them with the other ingted teats. —Delineator.

THESE ACTUAL FACTS

ALL FOUND WITHIN THE BORDERS OF INDIANA. An Intarmtlng Summary of the More Important Doing* or Our Neighbor* Crimea, Caeuattlm. Deaths. Eta, Minor State Items. Over one hundred deaths in Grant County during January. James Mound, editor Pike County Democrat, died of consumption, Petersburg. Joshua Norton, Kokomo, while playing dominoes with his wife suddenly fell dead. Esquire Fitterixgton of Alquina, Fayotte County, aged 80, was found dead in bed. Robert Faugiiner was shot accidentally, by his brother, while hunting near Cannelton. Ei.wood is certainly a boom town, with tin plates, plate glass factories and natural gas supply. Noah Shafer, a miner, was killed at Knightsville by falllug slate. Ho was married and had a family. The pakforsof all the churches in New Albany will meet to consider best ways of instituting needed reforms in that citv. Near ..Wilkinson, Hancock County, David Sullivan’s child fatally scalded Itself by upsetting a kottlo of boiling water. George Parki£6, young farmor near Munclo, Is heir to the gold left by Mr. and Mrs. Braifijojii, 'misers who died last week. - ' - George Bush and Charles Sloan, two luckless Jeffersonville citizens, have been Indicted for stealing a hog from Merritt Allowav. Charges Morgan, who was acquitted on tho charge of murdering Marsh of Seymour, has been arrested on a ehargo of blackmail.

They have parties at Covington where the ugliest man present receives a handsome prize. Tho prizes aro nice but it’s tough on the follow. Charles Sciirier and George Johnson, Columbus, quarreled and former slashed the latter badly with a knife. Schrler was arrested. Casterline & Co., of Lima, have rented ground from Wa'tor Monro, two miles east of Montpelier, and will start a nitro-glycerino factory. John Ray, aged 70, a retired farmor of Green Township, Morgan County, died of la grippe. Ho moved from Shelby County several years ago. Mrs. Saraii Heaton. Ivnightstown widow, brought suit Tnursday against John W. White, wealthy farmor. Breach of promise. Wants SIO,OOO damages. William BlAke, serving a five-years’ sentence in tho Jeffersonville Penitentiary. was taken back to Bloomfield fora new trial He was sent up for horseBteniing. Near Waynetown, the pin jumped out of the connectlng.rod of a Big Fonr engine and tho rod smashed In the cab, Injuring tho fireman and punching a hole In the boiler. At Lyons Station, in Fayotte County, a caboose was telescoped by an engine on tho C., 11. & D., and a man named Murphy, from Crawfordsville, sustained a broken shoulder. A Muncie physician advocates tho theory that Mrs. Oliver Williams, who died In that city a week aftor having her throat cut by her husband, came to her death from luhg trouble. Michael McCain, a minor near Grant, was killed by falling slate. He was horribly mutilated. He was a young man and green at the work. It Is thought his relatives live In Cincinnati. William Keller, Valparaiso, deserted his wife five years ago and wont South. Married again, inado a large fortune and died leaving all to second wife. Valparaiso wife will try to secure tho estate.

Will Lehman, a 15-ycar-old boy, whllo stealing a rldo on the Evansvlllo and Terre Haute railroad, fell from thd car and was literally cut to pieces. A younger sister fell from the train a yoar ago and lost both legs. Simon Singerfoose, a well-known Elkhart citizen, committed suicide by hanging himself in his barn. Ho leaves a wife and four children, and was 40 years old. A prolonged spree was the cause of bis Self-destruction.

At Porter Station tho drillers of a gas well have encountered an almost resistless flow of mineral water. The water rises In a huge volume above the mouth of the well and flows in a solid stream Into the Calumet River. The water Is said to be equal in medicinal qualities to the famous Waukesha wells, and Is being extensively bottled. Word comes from Greene County of the capture of wild animal In the Bechunter and Buck Creek marshes, which is unknown in that section. William Lynn, John Young, and Will Sheftler, while out coon hunting, discovered It on a limb of a willow tree and opened fire upon it Five loads were fired, when it jumped for tho dogs below and would have killed them all had not Shoffler dispatched it with a blow from an ax. The Rnirnal Is about three feet in length and weighed eighty-five pounds. It closely resembles tho ocelot, or Texas wild-cat.

Miss Mertie Summers, who was tho picture pf health, apparently, living with her mother and step-father, Enos Hornaday and wife, fn North Manchester, has been unable to articulate above the faintest whisper for the last ten weeks. Her voice left her so suddcnlv that she was unable to finish a sentence sho was speaking at the time. At no time since has she had any indication of its returning. Aside from a slight cold there is no sign of disease. The hope her anxious mother clings to so fervently is tho fact that once before, when only a child, the girl was similarly affected for a short time. On that occasion sho recovered as suddenly as she was attacked, and that, too, without perceptible Injury. Evangelist Dixon Williams of Anderson, is holding meetings in the" Armory at Jeffersonville, which are attended by 1, 500-daily. A Big Four freight train was wrecked near Waynetown and ten cars were ditched. The wreck was caused by the breaking of a flange on a wheel. James Davitt, neat Gonnersville, has brought suit for $3,000 damages against Jesse Murphy, a wealthy widower, who paid for Mrs. Davitt’s divorce and then married her. She had spurned the rich man’s offer for the hand of Davitt, her poor lover, in the first,place, but love in a cottage she soon tired of. While handling a bunch of bananas, Joseph Marsieano, a wholesale fruit merchant of Evansville, was bitten twice by a tarantula that was concealed in the fruit. Prompt application of ammonia partially neutralized the poison and medical assistance was sought as soon as •possible. The arm is badly swollen and very sore. The tarantula was killed. At Otterbein, a few miles west of Lafayette, it was decided to open a saloon, and the would-be keeper began the erection of a bnilding. The framework was up, but the other night a crowd of indignant anti-salocn people visited the building, tore down what had been erected, and distributed the lumber arouud, no two pieces in the same place.

Peru Is thinking hard about ’lectrlo cars. Joseph Whitkccp, Corydon, hanged himself. Geo. VV. Pknio, old journalist, died at Hanover. Paralysis. Methodist church, St Paul, burned. Loss $1,000; no insurance. Hannah Medley died from oxcossive use of opium, Brooklyn. John Brant, Franklin, colored, gets two years for stealing a quarter. fHfoRKTOWN will soon have a nail-mill and a new novelty-works concern, Littte child of David Sullivan, Mar} klevllle, fatally scalded by boiling wator. Train ran of! the track near Switi City. Passengers shaken up. None sorlously hurt Stephen A. Johnson, an alleged “green goods" dealer, was jailed at Washington. ' 4 George STettkiuiousk of Motion', committed suicide by shooting himself through the head. Freight wreck on Big Four Tat Thornton caused by iron bar falling in front 9! wheels. No ono hurt Large window-glass company incorporated at Eaton. Work on the bulldiug will begin at once. A dozen boardors wore poisoned, but not seriously, at Mrs. Elisha Lincoln’s boarding-house, in Richmond. Harry Lawrence’s lirst wifo is suing wife No. 2, Madison, for $3,000. Lawrence skipped, leaving thorn to hght it out Two-years-old daughter of Mrs. Christopher Williams, Riahmond, put a lump of lyo in her mouth, badly burning her tongue. Matthew Clegg, ex-prosecuting attorney of Clark County, and his wife are both reported dead at llenryvllle, near Jeffersonville. Daniel Schhantz, a Pittsburgh, Ft Wayne and Chicago switchman at Fort Wayno, was caught between the ears and crushed to death.

Robert Meeks of Farmland, Is In possession of a Chinoso Idol made from bamboo root which Is supposed to be over throe kundrod years old. Mrs. Oliver Williams, who was stabbed in tho neck a week ago by her drunkon husband from tho Marlon Soldiers’ Home, has dlod. Tho husband is in jail. William Jones, for complicity In the Bonecuttor-Hobbs murder at Kempton, got two years In tho Penitontiary. He handed the revolver to Bonecuttor to do tho shooting. Bernie Ciiiusman of Richmond, who was out on ball for shooting his brother, stole tho money-box out of a street car and was sentenced to eighteen months in tho Penitentiary. Philip Boullion has been two years In the Goshen jail for a debt to Stiles Carter, whom ho owes $248.4f1. The latter pays tho obstroperous debtor’s board each weok. William Wendle of Columous, wont to Madison and was so much elated at tho first sight 6f a steamboat that he returned homo to tako his wife and children to see the sight. Thomas Worland, a prominont farmer living near Waldron, Shelby County, was cutting timber when a tree fell on him, crushing bis skull and back. He died almost Instantly. The woman who followed tho forger, Frank Critzer, to jail at Columbus, claiming to bo his wife, turns out to bo Mrs. Dora Freoman of Greonsburg, who desortod her husband In December.

In tho Muscatltuck River, Thursday, near Seymour, a young man named Busch, from near Salem, was drowned together with his team, whilo trying to cross the swollen stream. Tho body was not recovered. ’Tib said that after a shower near Clifton recently, numerous little brown worms appeared on the ground, supposed tohavefallon during tho rain. They were about an inch long and coiorod with soft brown hair. E. T. Bouchard, of Napoleon, committed suicide by shooting himself In the hoad. HU wifo, who is 70 years old, Is on her death bod, and tho old man said he didn’t want her to die and leave him alone. Secretary Alexander Johnson, of the State Board of Charities, has consulted an architectural photographer with reference to having tho photographs taken of all tho charitable and correctional institutions In tho Stato for the World's Fair. Aunt Susan Oren of Goodvlow, dlod, aged about eighty. She was one of the pioneers of Johnson County, and had many great-great-grandchildren. She was the wife of Rev. Absalom Oren, ex-minister of the Christian Church and well known over tho State. A movement is on foot to organize a mutual live stock insurance company, whoso field of operations will bo confined to Rush County. It is thought that tho rate charged on this kind of insurance is much too high, and the enterprise is being pushed by influential stock-rals ers.

Tjie citizen" of Richmond are reported to be worrying lest tho Big Four, when it gets a line Into that city, will play into the hands of the Pennsylvania Company and in reality will givo them no new competition. An official of tho Big Four suggests that the citizens and press ofRichmond borrow no trouolo on that score before they see Big Four locomotives running in there. A gang of counterfeiters and “shovers of the queer” arrlvod in South Bend, and began operations by passing spurious dollars and quarters among the business houses. They got rid of only a small amount of the bad mouey beforo being detected by p clerk in a meat market. Tho officers were at once informed of the affair, and began a search for the men, but without avail, and It is thought thoy left tho city. They aro supposed to be members of a gang which has been working Ohio, and which entered Indiana only recently. The dollar is dated 1887, and is a fairly good counterfeit.

John Reed of Blue Lick, has given notice that he 1 will apply for a license to run a saloon at Charlestown, and the temperanco people there, who recently drove tbo only saloon-keeper out of town, are gathering and drilling their forces. Fob some thee past Mrs. Alice Smullen of Muneie has been quite sick with consumption. The other morning her daughter gave her a silver half dollar, which she placed in her month and swallowed. Shosoon expired from the effects. The coin lodged in her neck in such a manner as to choke her to death. Why she should have swallowed the coin is a mystery to her friends. Ella Ray of Wabash, who secured a verdict for 34,000 in a breach of promise suit against Edward Kisuer, after she had married another man, is now suing her lawer for part of his fee, he having retained half of the amount of damages awarded.

Geobge H. Thomas Post, G. A. R., of Indianapolis, has passed a resolution requesting the department encampment to petition the Indiana Legislature to construct and maintain a State’s Soldiers’ Home, to which the wives ot soldiers may accompany their husbands as inmates. •Jblo, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin have snch homes, and it is believed that Indiana should provide for the comfort of her veterans in like manner.

AMONG SAVAGE PAPUANS.

Adventures of a German Explorer Who Spent Three Years In Now Guinea. Ik Linnemann, an engineer representing the agricultural department of the German government, arrived at San Francisco recently after three years’ explorations among the cannibals of New Guinep. Germany owns, or rather has a protectorate over, about half pf these islands, while England and other countries control the others. Mr. Linnemann, as representative of the home government, adjudicated claims and visited tho interior of both New Guinea, so-called, and New Britain, which are governed by the English, on exploring expeditions and roughly surveyed the wilderness of Npw Guinea back from the sea coast, lie had many thrilling experiences among the savages and had to be on his guard very warily on many occasions because of the danger that surrounded him. “No European had ever before invaded those forests," said Mr. Linnemann to an Examiner reporter. “My feet pressed the earth remote from the explorations of the Caucasian

A CANNIBAL OF NEW GUINEA.

race. It was the native homo of tho Bavages. Many of them had never been near the coast and had scarcely any knowledge of it except by hearsay, consequently their knowledge was very vague. “I was interested beyond measure in their strunge customs. They were naked. Not a thread of any kind do these natives wear. Men and women alike appear as on the day of their birth. They are large, stalwart savages, strongly built and with crispy black hair and eyes. Their skin is scarcely so dark as that of the Samoans or Hawaiians. For, Indeed, they are of another race. The Samoans and Hawaiians are Polynesians, but these arc Papuans. Mauy of them are 0 feet high, but most of them are about 5 feet 8 or 5 feet 10 inches. “The women arc also of good size, well developed und often handsome. Tho women, however, have no influence over the men. A white man can buy a woman for enough of the native money to make, say, from two to five pounds. A very pretty Woman can be got for that, and often for less. One who is not very pretty can be got for half that and an ugly ono for a good deal less. “When a man has bought a woman she is his absolutely, and if she violates her faith with him she is killed und oaten. They ware very strict about that. They will not kill and eat her at or near our trading posts, l’or years ago we began inflicting severe punishment on them for cannibalism, but they will lure her away to the woods and then cut off her head and cook her up. We never hear of such wopien again. “It is only for such things that a tribe will so dispose of one of its members, but tribe preys upon tribe, steals men and women away from each other and eats them. The German Government and the New Guinea Company do all possible to prevenf this, but they cannot stop it. The savage accomplishes it in the woods remote from tho posts, and all we know is that the natives are disappearing. No member of tho tribe will come down to the coast and tell of it."

Sensible Cows.

Tho other morning, a very sultry one, two cows came to our gate, evidently on the lookout for something, and after being at first somewhat puzzled by their pleading looks, l bethought myself that they might be in want of water. No sooner had this idea occurred to me than I had some water brought in a large vessel, which they took with groat eagerness. The pair then sauntered contentedly away to a field near at hand. In about half an hour or so we were surprised and not a little amused by seeing our two friends marching up to the gate accompanied by three other cows. The water-tap was again called into requisition and the newcomers were in like manner helped Hberally. Then with gratified and repeated “boo-oos”—a unanimous vote of thanks —our visitors slowly marched off to their pasturage. 'lt was quite clear to us that the first two callers, pleased with their friendly reception, had strolled down to their sister gossips and dairy companions and hffd informed them—how I cannot say, can you?—of their liberal entertainment, and then had taken the pardonable liberty of inviting them up to our cottage.—PaU Mall Gazette.

An Old Veteran.

Frederick Baily entered the British Royal Artillery in 1809. He was wounded at New Orleans fighting against General Jackson a few years later, and then entered the Prussian arm, fighting in all the great battles of 1815, and making himself more or less conspicuous tu a minor way. Then he retired, a lieutenant, and his name was never heard agalu beyond his own village for seventy-six years, until he is reported as a centenarian.

Lowly New York.

The highest altitude in New York is only 175 feet above tide water in East River. The highest point on Long Island is Harbor Hill, where an altitude of 384 feet is reached.

How We Do Grow.

The population of the earth doubles Itself in 260 years.

Don't Handle Them.

A gold coin loses 5 per cent of its value in sixteen years of constant usa

AWFUL DEEDS IN CHINA

HUNDREDS ARE BURNED ALIVE BY REBELS. Almost Incredible Massacre of Men, Women and Children, followed by Wholesale Executions or the Barbarians, Whose Heads Were Mowed Off by Scores. In a Heathen Land. A Shanghai correspondent gives details of a terrible atrocity committed by Chinese rebels on the border of Man-., churia, and of equally terrible punishment inflicted by government troops upon tho captured rebels. These rebels were led by several Buddhist priests, and they were especially savage against native Christians. At one place they burned sixty children and butchered nine Chinese nuns. At another they cremated sixty men whom they imprisoned in a barn. Thoir expeditions were solely for plunder and without political purpose. Viceroy Li sent a largo army against thorn, and their strength was broken. Hundreds of prisoners were taken. The punishment meted out to the rebels by thoir conquerors was most revolting and the executions were conducted on a wholesale scale. Men were beheaded by hundreds, and entire trunks of trees were utilized as blocks along which prisoners were ranged In lines and '.heir executioners simply mowed off thoir heads when the signal was given. Generally in China tho condemned are rangod in small knots kneeling before the executioner, hut here tho wretched miscreants were too numorous for the usual rules to be observod and they wore seized by their queues by soldiers from the other sklo of (he lately Improvised blocks and their heads lopped off. Thoy were not evon tied and the headless trunks fell against tho block or tumbled backward or to one side when (he fatal sword severed the neck. Tho heads were hung in long rows on polos ns a warning to others, and in a short time Intense cold froze the bodies stiff, but not before oamp followers und ghouls had stripped them of every atom of olotlilng.

Tho rebels, It appears, were mostly bandits, who roam the country just outside tho walls of China. Last spring they joined forces and entered upon a regular plau of campaign of plunder. The most horrible atrocities were perpetrated by those wnndorlng desperadoes. Eyo witnesses state that almost tho entire population of villages was craolly maltreated and murdered. The burning of children alive, the brutal treatment and murder of women, tho carrying off of everything lrorn the homes of the wretched people, was the general line of couduct of those inhuman fiends, A ease In point is tho occurrence at a village called Kutulan, in tho Jeliol prefecture, Manchuria. A band of 300 marauders swooped down upon this place In tho dead of night, captured ull whom thoy did not kill outright, and finally carried away with thorn all the women. Beforo going, thoy put sixty men in a largo barn, socuroly fastened rdl places of egress, and sot fire to tho place. Tho shrieks of those being burnod alive roached the ears of a few norsoiiß who had escaped to the hills. The scene was frightful In tho extreme. This, however, is only one of a dozen such incidents. The rebels raided and destroyed Christian and heathen vllluges uliko, but to captives of tho former places they acted In a particularly ferocious manner. At Talljow, which has boen Christian for two centuries, thoy massacred nine Chinese sisters, nuns, and burned tho orphanage, wldoh contulnod sixty little Inmates. The piercing of the bodies of captives with heated bayonets and spears, tho gouging out of eyes, the disemboweling or burying alive of victims, were among tho atrocities praoticod by tho rebels. Ono band is said to havo been led by a huge amazon, who rode astride her horse like a man. It was reported among liet followers that sho drank the blood of victims •in order to maintain hor courage. Tiio suppression of the revolt is not entirely duo to tho efforts of the Chinese Government. It wds really the extreme cold that had the most to do with it. The robbers oould not stand the campaigning In the winter weather, and they retired to their strongholds in the hills.

STATE EXHIBITS.

Blval Exhibitor* at the World'* Fair Stunt Make a Special Application. Tho Eastern headquarters of the Chicago World’s fair, which has been established in New York for nine months, issues the information that no oompetitlvo exhibits will bei allowed in the State buildings; that all applications for space for such exhibits must go to the Director General, and that applications for special commissions and privileges should Also bo sent to him, to be passed upon by tho Ways and Means Committee. Proper blanks and all information about the fair can bo secured by thoso who intend‘to mako exhibits, and by the consuls or . other representatives °of foreign governments. Lithographs *of tho grounds and buildings may be obtained by business houses of standing on application in porson or by lettefr l^

Spurgeon.

In the death of Spurgeon tHtP Wtrrld loses one of its greatest New York World. \ »°o»VI His was'a life spent in doing his rocord will be his mosths<Msjjjing monument.—Buffalo Enquired the oriThe death of the Spurgeon, is a loss to tk«**ldbitetian world. —Memphis In the death of Mr. SpurgKonnttts of the great thoologieal has gone out, and Londo|r®4«SW®[bas lost a friend.-St. Paul Bioto<y lTtht Less brilliant, aceorfl^o'^lßfflS ll " Judgment, we believe, tbaan,Beecher, his influence and popularity more widely extended.—Buffalo News. He possessed those "elements which are loosely grouped undJCliWß»m»of “ “popular preacher." These cohetet in frank, direct statement, rich imagery and eloquent delivery.—Boston Journal. His pulpit, however, will scarcely be filled. Like Beecher's pulpit, that will remain forever silent. Spurgeon will live in the institutions which he has built. —Detroit News. During his forty-odd years of service in the pulpit he was the earnest advocate for every work for the advancement of mankind apd the amelioration of tho masses.—Pittsburg Dispatch. His gospel, though it may not have been as liberal as many of our modern theologians would have had it, was popular because his force, his moral character and his evident good purpose made it so.—Columbus Post. The place of such a man is not easily to be filled. Some man will stand in his pulpit, but he will have no successor. The poor of England may well mourn his loss. Manning and then Spurgeon! These two will be missed.—Kansas City Times. He was the pillar In the “orthodox 1 * church and the commanding figure among the great army of English dissenters. His life was one of varied usefulness, and his death will be deplored in all Christian lands. Seminal.