Ligonier Banner., Volume 33, Number 26, Ligonier, Noble County, 29 September 1898 — Page 3

o fi%aa%?%%?%%%& 7\ THE CARUTHERS \/ o~ AFFAR ;. U R L o flO\ . -By \Ofl NT e WHE - J flO\ Copyright, 1898, by xRy &Q{ N. Kellogg Newspaper Co. HARBEN 9\ 'fl Qoflfl,flfipp.flppfly SO SO OO o - SYNOPSIS. o Minard Hendricks, great detective, just returned from Boston, finds awaiting him an unsigned typewritten letter directing +him to apartments in Palace hotel, where he will find remain of Mr.- Weldon Caruthers—currently reported for past two weeks to be out of town. Detective seems to connect letter with attempt made on his own life some time previous. Gees with friend, Dr. Lampkin, to investigate. . . i CHNPTER I oo “You say you know Caruthers?” -he asked. : _ “Nery slightly.” : “See if you recognize him in the bail‘rooms.”- L . Lampkin studied the throng for several minutes, then he went nearer, and standing-behind a crowd of men and a bunch of palms he studiously surveyed the ballroom. He went back to the detective. : = “See anything of him?” questioned Hendricks, taking his fixed gaze from the rug at-his feet, = “No.” : 30 . <

- “Then‘x.ve must ask for him at the desk.” - g

They approached one of the active clerks behind the counter. Hendricks drew -out a visiting card and fingered it, his name downward. 2 “I'd like to see Mr. Weldon Caruthers” he said. °

The clerk glanced at the key-rack behind ¥im and shook his head. ; “He hasn’t returned yet,” he answered. "“He is still out of town.” “Where is he?” asked Hendricks.'

“I cannot tell you, sir,” and the clerk turned to answer a question put by a man in__e,vening dress on his right. _

I- “F gm very anxious to see Mr. ‘Caruthers to night,” resumed Hendricks, when he could get the clerk’s attention again. “It is a very important matter.” : - -

The man in evening dress had overheard; he paused, interested. . , - “Are you looking for Carpthers?” he asked. _ L - : “] am,” replied Hendricks. /. .

“That’s odd,” smiled the man. “I've seen a dozen: people to-night asking about him. We were just discussing his queer conduct and wondering what was jhe matter with him. HE has broken several important engagements without a word of explanation. His valet told my man this afternoon that his master had been called by a night telegram to Pliiladelphia and had written him that -he would-be detained there for a couple of weeks. I presume it was some urgent business.” = ; The speaker lighted a eigar and moved away to a group of men in the smoking-room. ' Hendricks drew the clerk aside.” 7= |

“I am a detective,” he said, in a low voice. °‘‘Hendricks is my name.”

~“Minard Hendricks?” exclaimed the clerk, in a*stonis}lment, his tone and manner sudderly apologetic. “I hadno idea—=r o e

- “It is most important that T should have a look-into Caruthers’ apartment,” broke in the detective. “Dcn’t say a word to anyone, but get a pass kéy, and show- my friend and myself up there right away.” -

- The clerk’ nodded, -a flurried-expres-rion on his faee. Getting a key, he came from =behind -the .counter and started towards the elevator.

“Not that way,” objected Hendricks, detaining: him. “Can’t we go up the rear stairs 2. .

~ “‘Sure,”.said the clerk. “It's oniy one flicht.” And he piloted them to the stairs behind the- cloakroom. “You'll find the apartments just as Mr. Caruthers. left them. His valet said that his master had written him that the room must not be disturbed by anyone.” Hendricks paused on the stair. “Did Mr. Caruthers not inform his man that he was going away®’ he asked. 1

“No; you see Mr. Caruthers’ man is married and lives on the west side. He happened to have a day off and did not know what had become of his master: till he got the letter.” “I see,” remarked Hendricks, and he started on again. ; ;

Reaching the door opening into Caruthers’ apartments, the clerk unlocked it and led them in: The first . chamber was a private sitting-room, the dainty pieces of French furniture, draperies and rugs being in perfecti order. o - | “The gas is burning,” observed Hendricks, looking up at the’ cut-glass globes. : : : ‘ “As I said, no one has been:.in the rooms since Mr. Caruthers went away.” | “Not even .his valét?” asked the de- i tective. ; - \ “It looks so, or surely he would have ‘ extinguished the gas. Itiseems to be burning in the next room too.” i - This chamber was a large luxuriouns ‘ bedroom, and as they entered it Lampkin’s imagination prepared itself fora horrible spectacle. To his great Te-. lief, however, everything here was also in perfect order. The whike lace coverlet lay as smoothly as newly fallen snow, and the sheets and pillows looked as if they had never been used. The clerk now with 2 look of growing curiosity, if net of incipient horror, stooped down and looked under the ‘bed.:. | : _ “Nothing there,” he said. Then His attitude grew more serious, as he went .to the large closets one by one and opened the doors. “There is the bathroom yet,” he remarked, with a shudder, his mind perhaps busy with a bit of French history or some recent. American horror. “It’s getting mighty common nowadays to commit bloody erimes in bathrooms. Do you suspect foul play, sir?” : e " “You are going entirely too fast,” said Hendricks, in a curt tone. “Every matter I choose to investigate need not neeessarily be a bloody one.” He - smiled and added to Lampkin: “My reputation among the people is asred - as cranberry sauce.” L ~ The clerk bore the reproof with becoming humility. He made no reply - and hung back till the detective had opened the door leading to the bath~room. Here the gas was burning also, _end the small chamber, with jts polished tiled floor and glistening poree-. %fimfl%fiihi

lain walls, revealed no hint ot blgedshed. ' i

The face of the clerk fell; his appetite for sensation was not to be fed on this occasion. e . i

*“What time did Mr. Caruthers leq}v:; the hotel the nitLt he left?” Hendricks asked him. .

“I really don’t know, sir,” said the clerk. “I am pretty sure he did not mention it at the office, and that is customary among our guests. Thatis why I thought there might have been some underhand—" : RowL

“Leave your pass key with me,” interrupted the ‘detective, coldly. My friend and I want te have a little private talk. When yom go down, don’t mention our being here.” : The clerk reluctantly laid the key on a table. ;

“T’ll not give it away, sir.” He moved slowly towards the door. “If you want anything, ring. I'll be on the lookout, and will run up myselt.” - - © “Good,” said Hendricks, “you are very kind.” : . The detective followed him to the outer door and closed it after him. Then he came back into the bedroom.

. T hope this is only a hoax, after all,” observed the doctor. “What are you going to'do next?” b Hendricks shrugged his broad sboulders; it amounted to-a shudder.

- “We are going to look through those trunks—for a trunk and the rest.”

“Is it really so bad as that?” |, ; “My blasted premonition—which fae--ulty in my make-up has always been a mystery to me—has hold of me with its four claws,” said Henpdricks. *“I can’f explain it, doctor, but the minute I entered that door and saw the gas burning so brightly I felt mjurder in the air. Sométimes on a day like this—at a crisis like this—l imagine that the spirit of the murdered man lingers round the spot where he lost his life to try to give me a clew.” G Lampkin shuddered as the detective| laid hold of the nearest steamer-trunk and began to un‘strz{p it. It was 'emptyf save ‘for some clothing in the bottom. The next trunk was a large square one, and its lock for several minutes resisted the efforts of the detective to unfasten it. Finally, however, aided by a key of his ‘own, and no little experience in such matters, Hendricks released the brass hasp and it fell down with a sharp click. -

This trunk, also, contained nothing of a suspicious nature, and the sdme re-

- - e SR ' D \ \,;‘)'?fi ) & R L)\ ! N ; '\m :\k - b S — wiNE - L&Y RS .‘ ~ £ Pl ) ; 21§ : : —| el (e J E;— g ..!' ‘ ‘ - = ' {; U - ] e (e \/ e [T 4 S B=g : il |‘ \{"’\ s e HE SAW HIM PICK UP SOMETHING. sults were produced by a careful examination of two other trunks stored in the bathroom and a dress-suit case of heavy leather which was.found in one of the closets. “Ah, I certainly feel better,” cried Lampkin, a triumphant ring in his voice. ‘ . “I don’t,” ejaculated Hendricks, with one of his massive frowns, which always made his great brow resemble a miniature jutting crag. P “And why?”

“Because my anonymous correspondent says I shall find the remwhins of Weldon Caruthers in these apartments, and I believe on my soul he meant what he said.” .

“But that man downstairs “said .Caruthers’ valet has received a communication from his master in Fhiladelphia.” “I’'M bet my life it was forged.” Lampkin started, and then he gazed into the detective’s eyes steadily. | “I' can’t follow you, and I won't try. Your mind darts out after things I never would dream of. Do you think you may find a trace of the missing man here?’ Ll “If my thinker would operate smoothly.” This with a forced grin. “My trip to Boston has fagged me out. I am not normal. Butit will not surprise me to find out that the same man wrote to the valet that wrote to me.” ' | - “If so you have a deep villain to deal with.” e e ; “As deep as the crucible of hell can turn out.” e The detective sat down in a chair near the bed and, taking from his pocket the anonymous letter, he studied it in silenee. After a minute he said, reflectively: = el “You will observe he does not say I shall find the body of Caruthers here, but the remains, and he has under scored the word heavily. TFurthermore, he boasts of the skill with which the crime has been accomplished; that, ‘old man, means something.” : “But it seems to me that you have looked into every possible nook and cranny,” said the doctor. As if “under a sudden inspiration Hendricks sprang up, and going to the bed he pushed aside the silken curtains of the canopy, turned down the sheets and doubled up the mattress. Then he drew himself up and began to examine the bric-a-brac about the room. He thumped with his knuckles a marble statue of Venus de Milo in a corner, and then stood stiM in the center of -the room and stared at the articles of ornament on the mantel-piece. He walked slowly backward to the doctor and laid a hand on his shoulder, and pointed to a large covered Japanese vase, shaped like an ancient urn. e ‘ “Doctor,” he said, “the man who selected all the bric-a-brac in 'fps' room did not select that vase.” b “It does seem a little out of harmony,” admitted Lampkin. “Rather cheaper than the rest,don’t you think ?” - “Itis a disgrace to such a collection,” ‘returned the detective, “besides it has been crowded in between those beauti-

ful bronze pieces, Oid man, I nave an idea.” - : ; . Lampkin said nothing as he watched his friend place a chair near the man-tel-piece and mountit. The chair raised the detective so high that the cover ot the vase was on a level with his chin. Hendricks removed the cover aqd looked into the vessel. il

' Lampkin saw him pick up something inside the vase, éxamine it and lay it ;back. For a moment the detective stood, his back to the doctor, a hand on either side of the vessel. Then he lifted it, cautiously stepped down to the floor, and placed it on {he table. | “Prepare to be horrified, old marn,” he said, grimly. “Itis here.” e | Lampkinstarted. “Youdon’t mean—" ' “You needn’t lotk unless you want to,” frowned the detective. “But our arch fiend has actually cremated the 'body of Caruthers, leaving only the (jeweled hand of his victim to prevent there being any doubt as to the identity jof the ashes. It was cremation; I know . bone ashes when I see them.”. : Lampkin got up and peered into the | jar, turning the ghastly object over on | the bed of ashes beneath. : “There is no odor,” he said, trying to speak in a ‘matter-of-fact tone. “That is strange.” . 4 . ¥Embalmed,” said Hendricks. | *1 saw indications of it in the punctures of the flesh.” = “You are right,” agreed the doctor. | “Let me see a moment,” with these words the detective sprang to the vase, and, picking up the:grewsome object, examined it minutely. = ‘ “I have only one isolated clew,” he said, putting the severed hand back on the ashes. - “YWhat is that?” “In his_effort to cut and wrench this hand fronr the joint®at the wrist, the murderer allowed his sharp nails to sink into the flesh. The marks did not show at the time, but the process of decomposition has brought them out distinetly. Doctor, the fellow who did the job manicures his finger-nails to sharp points, as is the vogue among society men of a certain class.”

Lampkin made an examination. ' " “You aré certainly right,” he said, returning the hand to the vase. “Shrewd and cautious as the perpetrator evidently was that did not occur to him 2 L R

“God has never yet made # possible for a human mind to be full of a hellish deed and at the same time master details that will completely overcome detection,” was Hendricks’ reply. “Youdo not think that the body could have been reduced to ashes ®n these apartments,”said Lampkin, tentatively. Hendricks shook his head, and pointed to the open fireplace where lay the ashes of a wood fire.

“No, this is the only fireplace and it has not been wsed for a fortnight.” " “Are you sure?” incredulously..

“Quite sure. This chimney seems to come straight down from the roof, and raindrops have fallen and left their imprints here. It rained two weeks ago and has been clear ever since.”

“I would never have thought of that.” “It is my busipess to think of everything.” . Lampkin’s face betrayed the birth of an important idea. . ’

“Surely,” he said, “the body could not easily have been removed for the purpose of cremation elsewhere without being dismémbered. Perhaps if yQu made a careful examination you might find traces of its having been cut up.” ’ )

~“Thanks for the suggestion,” said Hendricks. Lampkin watched him as ke went into the bathroom and closely examined the porcelain tub and white#iled floor. y :

“No,” he saigd, coming back. “I think he managed to remove the body in its entirety.? ;.| -

“You think that?” remarked the doctor, not convinced. - “Yes; it would be an easy thing to do. As Caruthers was supposed to be leaving, it would be natural for him to take a trunk, and his luggage going out would not attract much attention.” “Good heavens!” exclaimed the doctor. {“ln his own trunk!”

- At this juncture the door leading into’ the corridor swung open and the clerk who had shown-them upstairs entered suddenly, his eyes alighting on the severed hand which lay across -the somewhat narrow mouth of the vase.

“My Lord!” he exclaimed, his eyes bulging from their sockets, “has—has he been murdered, Mr. Hendricks ?” An expression of deep arinoyance settled on the face of the detective. “Yes,” he paid. “But leave us alone for a few minutes, and please don’t say anything about this down-in the office just yet. We would be interrupted by sight:seers.” The clerk thrust his white, borrified face forward and peered into the vase. - “Surely not—not cremated, Mr. Hendricks!” he gasped. - “That’s about the size of it,” retorted the detective. He went to the door and held it open. The clérk took the hint and backed out of the room. “Don’t lay it to me if this gets out sooner than yow wish,” he said. “A member of the detective force was down there in citizen’s clothes and recognized yqu. when you first ¢ame in. He had heard of the remarks going round about Mr. Caruthers’ absence, and seeing you on hand made him more curious. He has Mr. Caruthers’ man down there now, asking him questions., It seems nothing has been seen of Mr. Caruthers since he had the row with Mr. Arthur Gielow at the club:” ~ Hendricks leaned against the doorfacing. “They had a row, eh?” ; “That’s the general report, sir.” - - “Did you hear what it was about?" “Some dispute over a woman, I think.” - : “Who was the woman?” “Miss Dorothy Huntington was the name I heard mentioned.” ' : “Ah,” broke in Lampkin, coming for ward. “I remember—" , But Hendricks was bowing to the clerk and smiling, as if to denote that the conversation were at an end, . - [TO BE CONTINUED.] Another Puarist at Large. ~ “What is your objection to women’s clubs, professor? Haven’t they as good a right to organize themselves into clubs for good fellowship, mu‘unal entertainment or instructior as men have?" , L ““Oh, yes, madam. [ don’t question their right to do anything they please. My objection to women's elubs, if I have any, is that nearly all the club women I happen to be acquainted with pronounce it proge’m.”—Chicago Tribuxe,

EXPLODED ARGUMENTS. RBepublicans Are Again Emploiins Old Methods iz This Year’s ; Campaign. ‘ The republicans seem to have come to the conclusion that they cannot avoid taking notice of the fact that the democratic party stands squarely on the financial issue. So their mills have started up again for the purpose of putting out a goodly quantity of material of a character warranted to kill off silver sentiment at sight. But as this warrant is of the same kind that has been sofrequently found defective, the takers of this latest grist will not be sure of its effects. The grist being ground by the mills is not new material, but is the same that was thoroughly ground two yearsago. We cannot blame them for this; as the original material was very expensive, (they paid at the rate of $2,000 a night for some, of it) and we cannot expect them to purchase any new opinions in an off year. |- One of the mills in Indiana has started to grind out “open letters to Senator Turpie.” These letters are not expected to reach Senator Turpie, ‘but this is merely an artistic setting for the 'opinions to be set forth, it being hoped that the coupling of a great name with the literary venture will cause the pseudo-epistles to be read. The writer in this case is R. S. Taylor. He rushes into print with some brandnew (?) ideas—they were new about 20 years ago.

One of the first fine thoughts of the .gentleman is expressed ‘in - these words: “Inasmuch as we have had unlimited coinage of gold for 100 years and as no one is proposing any change in the law in that respect, this demand for the free and unlimited coinage of -gold seems to be unnecessary.” How delighted the gold standard men would be and how delighted the currency contractionists would be if the democrats would eliminate from their platform that clause. The gold standard man would then be able to assert that the silver men were waging war on gold as a money metal, and the currency contractionist would be able to hope that the silver men, once in the saddle, would assist in demonetizing gold, as was attempted in KEurope about 1857. The contractionist does not care ‘which metal is thrown out. The loss of either will secure the ‘end he desires. But the democratic party is determined to make its position plain, and to demonstrate to the people that it is not fighting a money metal, but is fighting the base principle of contracting the currency.of this growing nation. The man that ‘would demonetize gold receives notice that if he attempts to carry out his scheme he need expect nothing but war from the party that is of and for “the people. v Mr. Taylor reasserts the old sophistry that silver would at once drive goid “out” Out where, Mr. Taylor? Not out of the country surely, for that could be done only if the balance of trade were against us, and when the balance of trade is against us, the gold will go anyway. Not out of circulation, for somé one must own the gold, and the holders of $650,000,000 of money cannot afford to have their property not earn them interest. The idea of momney going out of circulation is a fairy tale. Gold did not go out of circulation even during the war, but was mightily active, paying customs duties and performing other duties that were legislated to specie. It was not found much then in the hands of the common people for the reason that there was too great a demand for it in fulfilling the special functions delegated to it by congress. It was not everywhere in evidence because it had been “detailed to special duty.” Dut the congress that remonetizes silver will not “detail gold to any special duty” and will not confer extraordinary privileges upon it. Hence it will be found in the hands of all the people as usual. There is no “out” that it can go to and pay interest fo its owners. | H. F. THURSTON. STICK TO THE PLATFORM. Democrats \Must Hold Fast to the Declarations of the Chicago Convention. . If we could conquer the whole world, and with our military garrisons hold in subjection every other country on ‘earth, the “expansion” would still be to our infinite loss at the expense of the principles of liberty, justice and higher civilization expressed. in the Chicago platform. In that platform we have asserted the sovereignty of the American ‘people against the leagued plutocracy of London and Wall street. We have declared our right of local self-government against the imperialism represented by the Rothschild syndicate in their attempt to perpetuate their control of our national debt as a means of controlling our gurrency. We have declared against the imperialism which sent the United States army into Illinois at ihe call of George M. Pullman, and in defiance both of the state government and the federal constitution. We have | declared against another manifestation of the same plutocratic imperialism which, while it seeks to supplant our constitutional system of equal states with a centralized despotism, seeks also to deprive the.individual citizen of his liberties and to imprison ohim by injunction wthout trial by jury. We have declared against the plutocracy which, while it forces bond issues on the people, hoards gold in the treasury and refuses to pay income taxes for war, or any other purposes. And we have declared for the sixtecen to one coinage of gold and silver as a means of liberating our.country from slavery to the national banks, the sugar trust, the steel-tryst, the Standard Oil trust, the corrupt and mercitess plutocracy represented by such vosses as Hanna and Kerens. There is one hope for democracy in America and only one! It is to stand by the Chicago platform, and to attack its; enemies, fearlessly and uncompromisIy

~—-Tt is reasonable to assume that the blusterous Hanna has experienced a change of purpose about making the war an issue in the coming congresgional campaign. It {8 now probable that Hanna will return to the place of concealment in which he reposed during the war period or else make an effort to réduce the issues to the good old 1896 plane of barter and sale~ Washington Times. g ‘

THE COINAGE RATIO. - Bimetallists Favor the Coinage of '~ More Money to Help Trade . and Industry. ke Bimerallists want more 100-cen dollars, and goldites fewer 100-cen dollars—the fewer the betier fo them. Bimetallists do not fix an un alterable ~atio for the coinage of the metals; but'demand that there be free coinagre of both metals, and favor the existing ratio of 'sixteen to one, because it has never been demonstrated that free coinage of both metais cannot be maintained -at that ratio; but on ‘the contrary it has been demonstrated by a record-of 80 years in this country and in Europe that this rajtio is an equitable one. | It would be finaneial folly /to advocate any other ratio under existing conditions; and the goldites know this. Hence they do not advocate any other ratio; but howl—to scare the people, and to prevent them from having all the money they ought to have—"so- - dollars!” A veritable contradiction in terms, and they know it, Bimetallists are ready to concede that ratios have been changed and may be again; but in order to ascertain what the ratio ought to be conditions must be suclf as to prevent discrimination between the metals; and these conditions the United States is powerful enough and rich enough to establish unaided.by and independent of any European government. Before silver was demonetized in 1873, silver dollars were at a premium of from two to three cents above gold. That ys_"}as under free coinage. Would it not be folly tp change the ratio without some evidence that it is not equitable? Bimetallists favor free coinage of silver and gold by the United States at the ratio of sixteen to one — tge present ratio—a ratio that differs btlt little from the coinage ratios of the governments of Europe and other portions of the world. They favor this because the business of the world would be benefitéd by the infusionof more money into the channels |of trade. Bimetallists do not want an inequitable ratio. If it is found that sixteen to one is an inequitable ratio after it hasf been tested, then it can be changed by increasing or diminishing it as' may be necessary. But in all probability no change will be necessary. ' P

Does the copntry need more dollars? Then coin them out of silver and gold. The more the merrier. We don’t want dollars based on bonds, but dollars that have the genuine metallic ring to them, and that the tax payers do not have to pay double interest on —interest not only to the banks but to the bondholders. — Tllinois State Register. : ) | DEMOCRACY UNITED. |

The Party Still Stnnds by the beclarations Made in the Struggle of 1896. 4

The democratic party was never more a unit in purpose and work than itis at the present time. Itwasunited on the question of freedom for Cuba; it was united on demanding that retribution be administered to her for the sinking of the Maine and the murder of 266 American seamen. It stood united in favor of the most vigorous policy in the prosecution of the war and to the extent that the national administration has carried ovt the will of the people, has been and is as united in its support as is the republican party. The democratic party is united upon the principles of the Chicago platform. The issues upon which the party bdttled for victory but which met with temporary defeat in 1896, are still alive and are the issues of 1898-99 and 1900. ‘

No scheme of government and no principle which fails to recognize the interests of the toiling masses can be enduring in this country. The democratic party still stands by the principle that would abolish;government by injunction. The democratic party still believes that our system of curren¢y and the unequal coinage of gold and silver at our mints are crying wrongs for which there 'must be redress before this country will see lasting and substantial prosperity. The demoeratic party is united on the tariff question. The Dingley bill is a revenue destroyer, a labor paralyzer, destruective to American industry .and is honeycombed with glaring favoritism to trusts and monopolies as against the fiten who toil and sweat in work¢hops, in factory and upon the farm. ’l‘hedemdcraticparty’willgooxfighting as in the past for human right, for justice and equality and neither the fever of war nor the temporary vaporings of those who discourse - with vagueness “our new responsibilities” or of “the duties providentially laid upon us” will detract from the main issue. The greatest reforms of the future will be accomplished in dealing with our domestic affairs and in handling them properly and we need not lose sight either of maintaining our rclatiéns with the rest of the world. g ; |

or PRESS COMMENTS. —Republican néwspapers are figuring what the republican ajority will be in the next senate. Wait until the incubator'finishes the job before you begin to count.—Kansas City Times. v o | ~——Mr. Hanna predicted that there would be no war, but he can console himself that it has afforded him an opportunity to run a competitive train against Bushnell’s for hauling Ohio soldicrs back home from camp hospitals for electioneering purposes.— St. Louis Republic. : ——President MéKinley had reason to know all about Alger when he made him secretary of war. He certainly knows all about him now. Why does he retain him in office? Does he think the people will be satisfied with a mere investigation of what has ha%pened, w&ile the archblunderer, misfit'and incompetent continues to mismanage the war department?—-Albani‘Argus. ——The Houston (Tex.) Post says that “Boss Hanna is disposing of the national scandal to his own satisfaction in his usual off-hand way of expressing contempt for the press and people.” Our old friend, Marcns Alonzo, seems still to be getting himself into disfavor. We fear that his party finds him heavier and heavier as the days.go on. And he is not one of those loads that are not easily got rid of.— Dinghamton (N. Y.) Leader. | i

o = = - S .3% "\u il‘" Y C“i(,g‘ O : e, 3!5’}"3 \&'r;? YL a 7 " / T 1’ S :r/, -“4\‘, LT T e@ 6 WA TS B Ly = P P IA A AP NI I P At~ PSS NUMBER ONE. o : , : Always think of Number One, I have heard my grandpa say. If at home, or if abroad, . Number One has right of way. In your work, or in your fun, - Do your best for Number One! " But there comes into my head : Something else my grandpa said: . Number One is first, but you Should be always Number Two, Number Three or Number Four,’ X Or perhaps a number more. ’ While, if you prize duty done, . Some one else is Number One, —Zitella Cocke, in. Youth’s Companion. AMUSING EXPERIMENT. How Boye and Girls Can Have Lots __of Fun with Four Needles . and a Cork. . Hereisa v'ery interesting and amusing experiment. Procure a large cork and cut off from the top a circular piece about a quarter of an inch in thickmness. Now cut the remaining ' v 3 Ll 1 ] ‘ R 1. : Rl - = . AR . | |' . \ ) . V FUN FOR WINTER EVENINGS. piece of cork up into four squares or oblongs of the same thickness and size. Next obtain four large needles and stick these four pieces of cork on to them, and in their turn stick them all on to the circular piece of cork, as shown in the illustration. = Now glue or gum to one side of each of the four pieces of cork a small piece of camphor—each piece must be of the same weight. - Place them in position -on the cork, as shown. If this is now placed on a bowl of water it will begin to spin round and round for:several hours, without stopping. - If small figures—a lady and gentleman dancing, for instance—be cut out of stiff, but light weight paper, and fixed on to the center piece of cork, some very lifelike movements can be produced, which will last sometimes for a day or more continuously.— Golden Days.

BITES OF ANIMALS.

‘Why Their Severity Is Out of All Pro- . portion to the Weapons Whiech Inflict Them.

Apart from all concomitant canger of blood poisoning, the severity of the bites of flesh-eating animals is out of all proportion to the weapons by which they are inflicted, - The teeth, even of the largest carnivora, are merely the ‘‘spearheads;” but the force which “works” these instru‘ments is prodigious, It seems as iffor the moment the anilnal threw all its bodily energy into the combination of muscular action which we call a “bite.” In most cases the mere shock of impact as the animal hurls itsel? on its enemy is entirely demoralizing or inflicts physical injury. A muzzled mastiff will hurl a man to the ground in the effort to fasten its teeth in his throat or shoulder. Then the driving and crushing force of the jaw muscles is astonishing.” The snapping power of an alligator’s jaws is more or less intelligible. They are long and furnished with _a row of pointed: teeth from end to end. DBut the jaws of a lion, leopard, tiger, otter, ferret or baboon are short, and the long and pointed teeth are few. Yet cach of their species has a biting power which in proportion to its size is almost incredible. .-

- Sir Samuel Baker, who had a long and varied acquaintance with the bites of the carmivora, noticed that the tiger-usually seized an Indian native by the shoulder, and with one jaw on;one side and the other on the other bit clean through chest and back. “The fatal wound was the bite, which, through back and chest, penetrated to the lungs.” Europeans are’ killed by the tiger’s bite as well as lacerated by the claws. In nearly all cases the bite penetrates to the lungs. This kind of wound is characteristic of the attacks of many of the felidae. Scarcely any bird recovers from a cat’s bite for the same reason. The canine teeth are almost instantly driven through the lung, under the wing. The cheetah, which hasa very small mouth, always bites through the black buck’s throat. The leopard, when seizing smaller animals, such as dogs, crushes the head; when attacking men it aims at biting throuvgh the lungs.—Golden Days. , JF

He Got Plenty .of Change.‘ A sporting looking man undertook to have some fun with the train boy, and offered to buy a one-cent newspa-per-if the boy could change a $2O bill. The boy was about to reject the offer, when another passenger handed him a large and heavy canvas bag. “Take your change out of that,” he whispered. The boy opened the bag and found it full of pennies. He counted out 1,999 coins to the facetious passenger, who was man enough to keep to his bargain. It wasafterward learned that the accommodating . passenger was connected with a penny-in-the-slot company, and had been making a eollecting tour. 0 e

They Wrote Just Alike. ,’ A fly had fallen into the inkwell of a certain author who: writes a very bad and a very inky hand. The writer's little boy rescued the unhappy insect and dropped him on a .piece of paper. After watching him intently for awhile he called to his mother: “Here’s a fly, mamma, that writes just iilike papa.”—Current Literature. -

UNCLE SAM’S BIG GUNS. . How the Huge Forgings Are Asseme bled in the Government Gun © Foundry at Washington. - In St. Nicholas there is an illustrated article on “The Gun Foundry at Washington.” The author says: The gunas are made of what is called forged steel. . This steel is made by private firms, principally at the famous Beth= lehem works in Pennsylvania, and is sent to the gun foundry in the shape of large tubes, and in other shapes called jackets and hoops. These steel pieces, after being finished, are put together and mad into guns. The jacket of a gun is about half the length of the tube, and itself is really a large tube. The inner tube, when it arrives, is put into a lathe, and has the hole bored out to mearly the size it will be when fin~ ished; then it is turned down inside for about half its length from the rear or breech end.to its prfoper size. “Turned down’ means that the metal is cut off with a steel cutter. The jacket also is bored out smoothly and the bole carefully measured. The diameter of this hole, or bore, in the jacket is a little smaller (some hundredths of an inch) than the outside of the tube after being turned down. ) Overhead in-the shop are big cranes, which travel back and forth on tracks, and which can easily lift and carry heavy weights. “The largest crane is called the 110-ton crane, but it will lift a weight even greater. Near the center of the gun shop is a large pit in which there are furnaces. After the tube has been bored out and turned down outside, it is carried by a crane and lowered into the pit near the furnaces, so that it stands on its muzzle end, the breech end being upin the air, The jacket is-also lifted and lowered into a furnace and heated. This furnace has a top, or cover, which lifts off, and which is put on after the jacket has been lowered into it. Hot air is forced into this furnace, which heats the jacket till it expands so that the size of its bore becpmes gredter in diameter than the size of the tube it is to inclose. ‘When all is ready, the ‘cover is lifted from the furnace, the crane hooks on to the.jacket, lifts it out of the furnace, and swings it over the tube. The jacket is then quickly measured, and carefully lowered over the ‘tube, which is standing on its end. A stream of cold water is then admitted into the lower end of the tube. This water rises nearly to the top ot the tube, and helps to cool both tube and jacket, now fitted together. As the jacket coolsit shrinks to its proper size, and so squeezes and holds the tube tight within. :

When both are cold, the partly made gun is lifted out of the pit, put intoanother lathe, and turned down outsidé so as to be ready to have the hoops put on. These hoops, which have heer bored out to the proper size, are heated and shrunk on over the gun just asthe jacket wds shrunk on over the tube.. The whble gun is made, or built up, in this nnér. After all the hoops are on, the gun is bored out again to final size, put- into a rifling machine, and rifled; that is, it has grooves cut inside of the bore throughout its length. ‘These grooves commence at the muzzle, and gradually curve till they reach ‘the end of the bore. They are cut by what is called a rifling bar, whichisa

5 AN | i z : 7y . ‘ ,fl ‘ '. i%_A .\ N - é‘/ % £ e = 7 1 R Y, B e/;/‘ // o » W 5 ‘\ =T . & J'fff‘lj : - @ :Q[ ._--' = NN SERN S ~ /—\ PUTTING A JACKET ON THE TUBE OF A BIG GUN. long shaft with cutters at one end. - The gun remains steady, while the bar. enters into the gun at the muzzle, and . turns at the same time, thus cutting what ~are called spiral groowves throughout the length of the bore of the gun.* This rifling is done so as to _ give the shot or shell, when the gun is ‘fired, a twirling or rotary motion, which prevents it from tumbling end over end, and causes it to keep pointed in "the right direction. The shot or shell (projectile) islong, and has a cop--per band fitted on its rear end. When the gun'is fired, this copper band, being softer than the steel of the gun, enters into the grooves, is turned by them, and gives the projectile aspinning mo--tion during .its flight. e " Laughing Plant of Arabia. : The laughing plant grows in Arabia and derives its name from the effect produced by eating its seeds. The plant is moderate in size, with bright yellow flowers and soft velvety seed. pods, which contain two or three seeds resembling small black beans. The natives of the district dry these seeds and reduce them to powder. A small dose of this powder produces an effect similar to that arising from the inhalation of laughing gas. It causes the soberest person to act like a madman, shouting, laughing and dancing for nearly one hour. Then exhaustion’ sets in, the excited person falls asleep and awakes later with no recollection of his antics. : ; . Knew a “Hollerday.” A little boy spent a holiday in the country at his grandmother’s. Suchs gend time as he had, running and rae- . ing and shouting for all he was worths At last night came, and tired and sleepy the little boy sought repose.“Oh, grandma!” he cried, as he kisse® her good night, “now I know what s hollerday really and truly is, for I'vi hollered all day long!”—Detroit Chrig- _ The elephant has 40,000 muscles in his trunk alone, while & man has only 577 in hisentirebody. = et it S g e e B S