Pike County Democrat, Volume 28, Number 47, Petersburg, Pike County, 1 April 1898 — Page 7

fclugifet County Ilmofra! IL HaC. itooM Ultor U4 Proprietor. PETERSBURG, a INDIANA. I ADRIFT IN MIDOCEAN. IT WAS not li bad night at sea, but it was not a g<jw»d one, either. The sea was smooth and the wind was light, 3but the sky was overcast, and there ■was a low-lying haze which narrowed the horizon do|vn. to a circle half a mile in diameter. Tfhe water over the ship’s aide looked hijack and oily, and here and there, wht n a lazy crest reflected the beams of one of the vessel’s lights, the glitter of It was lurid and baleful. 'On deck all was silent, save for the oc•casior.nl ill-tenjjipered comments of the first mate, who was on watch, and had a sailor's disposition toward thick "weather. jj “What in 4frica is that slatting •about so on the main topsail yard! Here, you, tumble up, and see what’s .adrift.’* j

llis words were, addressed to a tan. muscular boy against the rai ]y into t$e sea. vfho had been leaning and staring thoughtful* Ferris James had been in a dark revel lie. He was not a happy boy. for everything seemed to him to have gone wripg. His father, once a man of means, had died bankrupt, leaving him absolutely penniless. Ferris to secure a berth as an h aboard the ship Glenbound for Bombay. It meditating on his Stances that he received the mate and respondjtinctive “Aye, aye. sir.” g and active, with the alert sinews ojfilT years, danced up the ratlines like s{ lifhe cat and was soon out upon the y ijrd. which had the swing of a gigantic s t-saw. Ferris examined one half foot l v? foot till he found himself on the e? tire me end of the yardA monu nt later—he never knew was then glad ordinary seam dower, outwa was while he changed cireu the curt order cd with the The boy, st hoyv it happei eid—the yard seemed to slip from under him and he shot downward with a svdden plunge into the Sen. He hgrely had cry before the When he ea something ro near him. II that it was a thrown from |!ie ship, self was fast treble glbom Would be lowt time to utter a startled Waters closed over him. ije to the surface he saw ihd and white floating grasped it. and found ife-huoy which had been The vesse l her- : ispIJinc ' to the i»rp< nelle knew that a boat Ht‘d. but he doubted that it would dud him on such a thick night. S After a time Intervals the . **Aho-o-o-y!” -out of the p he began to emit at 1 sailor’s far-reaching There was no resjHm.se tphlike blackness, aud when three-quarters of an hour had with n strange feeling of 4pjied shouting, •Resistible lassitude stole Imd a weird numbress iis limbs, lie felt as if lie were overapwercd by sl^ep, and, twisting his a ais in the life line of the it* had managed to get >jd down tinder his arms, head to fall on one side, passed Ferris, Indifference, » A feeling of i over tlie boy crept through buoy. which over his head : he allowed liis and he lost consciousness. He made no resistance. for he felt that such a life as his was liotj worth struggling for. He remembered dimly afterwards that his last thought was: “I wonder where I’ll wake up?" Very much tjo his own surprise, he awoke in the imr place - adrift in the Xorth Atlantic •cork and cam great circle of yvith only a circle of a<s between him and the •iternitv. Fora few moments he re tied languidly, scarcely mewing even of hope fired hands. Then a spark w ith a desirg to scan •the sea. He rilsed his head and slmvlv aswept a ga/e jton. He snul airound his narrow hori*<fl at his 6wn lack of enthusiasm whi St he apathetically dis*eovercd a haik not more than a mile away. The hark spars were all full of slack ratio course, altogether, she moral)/-at ion. looked miserable. Her ry and her rigging was lilies. She steered an eriRnder scant canvas, and wed evidence of utterde

“There mu •drew aboard f be a sick or mutinous mere.” muttered Ferris. **I wonder wl i|r*h?” The though : that a vessel might pass near him in Ills desperate plight gave him a sudden not to perish dfesire to live, or. at least, sjo miserably. He began ‘to think how I he could make some s»gxml that might be seen aboard the when -Ihe erratically changed bark. her course dlijeetlv towards him, and 4*euiubrously across the i^ce a great wounded bird, he vessel was not more than .W» yaitjs away, and the boy raised his vci<te in a far cry: “Bark -came sp'aahi •dun gray sea Present 1\ -aho-o-o-y!" Out of the ward was1 a tangle of wreckage forjraised face. which even ait that distajnice looked pale and hagjfard. Its ow vjpr peered a moment over ;1 then waved his hand. "the waters The next instant two or three other forms appen | •castle, and si Tis saw that E*d on the bark’s foreshifted her halm. Peril her boats, sa\e a small dingy at thelport quarter davits, were itove in. an|i presently he saw four tseamen slow|y and laboriously lowering away tl alongside thjj? ie dingy. As they eairie boy they gazed at him With a dull Curiosity in their lack-lus-<er eyes, and oue of them said: >u doin’ there?” “Don’t you think you’d better save «ne first, am! ask me questions afterwards?” asMjdtheboy. T s’pose so/* said the, man in. a dull way. Then he helped the boy to climb into the boat, agd pulled the Glendower’s life-buoy in after him; after which the sued boy told the story of his plight. They w ere now alongside of the bark. -and Ferris tel was received clambered aboard, where in a sort of dated at

It nee. The crew hoisted the light dingy slowly end feebly, when the boy gazed around the melancholy deck. Store boats, tangled rigging, pieces of shattered spars, splintered hen-coops and broken skylights combined to make a scene of destruction such as the boy had never beheld before. Presently the crew got the dingy to her davits, and then one of the men who had pulled her beckoned Ferris to go aft. “Now,” he thought, “I $hall be taken to the captain, and shall learn what’s wrong here.” As he approached the kndC^o^-inen on the poop deck, he saw that they were all ordinary seamen. “It’s a mutinous crew,” he thought. “They’ve got the captain in irons below, and they wish me to join them— or join him.” “What’s your name?” asked one of the men, who seemed to be their leader, “Ferris James.” “What’s your rating?” “Ordinary seaman,” he answered. A groan of dissatisfaction emanated from the little knot of men. “Just our luck," said the spokesman. “What could we expect in this here bark? Why, she’s a regular Jonah!” “Put I’m willing to work,” said Ferris. “I’m a good seaman, and I’m ready to turn to aqd do my share or even a little more, for you men look as if you were used up.” “Used up!” said Tom Hulkins, the spokesman of the crew. “Well, 1 should | say so! Look at the bark." “Yes, I’ve noticed her state,” said Ferris. “Xo, you haven’t,” answered Hulkins, "because it ain’t all to be noticed. I'll tell you all about it.” Then the seaman described how some j days previous they had encountered a j terrific gale, during which the captain, | both mates and four sailors were j washed overboard and,dr owned. Some sails and all their boats were lost. They | were all worn out and had lost courage, ! he added, as there was no one on board who could navigate the ship. ! When the man ceased talking a dry j sob shook his frame, while some of his | shipmates turned and scanned the ; ht rizon with pallid faces and clenched teeth. The whole speechless horror of j the crew’s experience rose before Feri ris’ mind in a picture of misery. The ! next moment he was transformed from I an indifferent boy to a hopeful man.

HE APATH ETIOAT.L.Y DISCOVERED A BARK. Here was work for him to do, and in j living- for others he would find it worth while to live for himself. “Your compass is a good one, isn't it?" he asked. "Yes, it's good enough,” answered Hulk ins. “Is then-a chronometer aboard?** "Certainly." "Is it running?” “Yes; I kept it wound up; I don’t know what for." "Charts and sextant all right?” "Yes; but what do you mean? Can you—" . ! “Yes, I can!” exclaimed Ferris. "I can navigate.” I The glow of crimson that sprang into the pallid faces was like the first sunlight after an Arctic winter. Foran instant all were silent. Then the men fell to laughing, crying and embracing one another like a lot of hysterical girls. "Will you take command of this bark, sir?” asked IIulkins, as soon as hecould. master his emotion. Ik "I’m no 'sir.' ” said Ferris: "I*m an ordinary seaman, but I'll navigate ■you to the nearest port,". Ferris went into the captain’s cabin, and found the chronometer running. As a measure of precaution he wound it hinwlf, and then got out the sextant and chart. Presently he went on dwk t > take n morning observation for longitude. At noon Ferris got his latitude, and found that the course for Fayal. one of the Azores, was east by north. The wind held fair, and under such canvas as the little crew was able to set the bark made a comfortable five knots

an hour directly on her course. It was just after sunrise on the morning of the j third day that one of the men cried: "Land ho!” Four hours later the bark was riding at anchor in Fayal roads, and Ferris I felt as if his occupation was gone. But I | no officer could be obtained at that port, and it became Ferris* duty, after (the necessary repairs had been made, to ship five seamen and continue the voyage to Liverpool, for which port the vessel was bound. On the arrival Of the bark a< its destination great was the joy of the owners. who had given her up for lost. They rewarded Ferris with a snug sum of money, and made him second mate of the vessel. Ferris invested his cash is the bark’s next voyage, which brought him a substantial profit. Five years later he was « shipowner himself, and in a fair war to become rich. He often looked back to that gloomy morning when he floated on a life buoy in the heart of the North Atlantic and wished to die. “It was,” he said, “my dearest horn*, and It came literally and figuratively iuat before the dawn.”—Boston Pilot

SPIRIT OF FAIRNESS, Rer. Dr. Talmage Discourses on Criticism of Human Conduct. CircanutmncM We Should Take Into Consideration in Estimating the Shortcomings of Others—Measure for Measure. Rev, T. DeWitt Talmage, in the following sermon, talks upon the prevailing disposition to measure others by one’s own yardstick. The test is: With what measure ye mete, it shall ha measured to you again.—Matthew vii, S. In the greatest sermon ever preached —a sermon about 15 minutes long, according to the ordinary rate of speech —a sermon on the Mount of Olives, the Preachejr, sitting while He spoke, according to the ancient mode of oratory, the people were given to understand that the same yardstick that they employed upon others would be employed upon themselves. Measure others by a a harsh rule, and you will be measured by a harsh rule. Measure others by a charitable rule, and you will be measured by a eharitable rule. Give no mercy to others, and no mercy will be given to you. “With what measures ye mete, it shall be measured to you

There is a great deal of unfairness in criticism in human conduct. It was to smite that unfairness that Christ uttered the words of the text, and my sermon will be a re-echo of the Divine sentiment. In estimating the misbehavior of others, we must take into consideration the pressure of circumstances. It is never right to do wrong, but there are degrees of culpability. When men misbehave or commit some atrocious wickednessxwe are disposed indiscriminately to tumble them all over the bank of condemnation. Suf* fer they ought and suffer they must, but in a difference of degree. In the first place, in estimating the misdoings of others, we must take into calculation the hereditary tendency. There is such a thing as good blood, and there is such thing as bad blood. There are families that have a moral twist in them for a hundred years back. They have not been careful to keep the family record in that regard. There hare been escapades, and maraudings, and seoundrelism, and moral deficits all the way back, whether you call* it kleptomania, or pyromania. or dipsomania, or whether it be in a milder form, and amount to uo mania at all. The strong probability is that the present criminal started life with nerve, musele and bone contaminated. As some start life with a natural tendency to nobility and generosity and kindness and truthfulness, there are others who start life with just the opposite tendency, aud they are born liars, or born malcontents, or born outlaws, or born swindlers. There is in England a school that is called the Princess Mary school. All the children in that school are the children of convicts. The school is under high patronage. I had the pleasure of being present at one of their anniversaries, presided over by the earl of Kintore. By a wise law in England, after parents have committed a certain number of crimes, and thereby shown themselves incompetent rightly to bring up their children, the little ones are taken from under pernicious influences and put in reformatory schools, where all gracious and kindly influences shall be brought upon them. Of course, the experiment is young, and it has got to be demonstrated how large a percentage of the children of convicts 1 ay be brought up to respectability and usefulness. But we all know that it is more difficult for ehil

dreu of bad parentage to do right than for children of good parentage. In this country we are taught by the Declaration of American Independence that all people are born equal. There never was a greater misrepresentation (put in one sentence than in that sentence which implies that we are all born equal. You may as well say that flowers are born equal, or trees are born equal, or animals are born equal. Why does on’e horse cost 3100 and another horse cost 83.000? Why does one sheep cost 310 and another sheep cost g.VX)? Difference in blood. We are wise enough to recognize it in horses, in cattle, in sheep, but we *re not wise enough to make allowance for the difference in the human blood. Now i demand by the law of eternal fairness that you be more lenient in your criticism of those who were born wrong,in whose ancestral line there was a hangman's knot, or who came, from a tree the friiit of which for centurieshas byen gnarled and worm-eaten. Dr. Harris, a reformer, gave some marvelous statistics in his story of a woman he called "Margaret, the Mother of Criminals.” Ninety years ago she Jived in a village in upper New York state. She was not only poor, but she was vicious. She was not well provided for. There were no almshouses there. The public, however, somewhat looked after her, but chiefly scoffed at her and derided her, and pushed her farther down in her crime. That was 90 years ago. There have been <123 persons in that ancestral line, 200 of them criminals. In one branch of that family there were 20, and nine of them have been in state prison, and nearly adl of the others have turned out badly. It is estimated that that family cost the osunty and state 3100,000, to say nothing of the property they destroyed. Are you not willing, as sensible, fa.r people, to acknowledge that it is a fearful disaster to be bora in such an ancestral line? Does it not make a great difference whether one descends from Margaret, the mother of criminals, or from some mother in Israel? whether you are the son of Ahab or the son of Joshua? It is a very different thing to swim with the current, from what it is to swim against the current, as some of you have, no doubt, found in your summer recreation. If a man finds himself in an ancestral current, where there is

good blood flowing’ smoothly from generation to generation, it is not a very great credit to him if he turns out good, and honest, and pure, and noble. He could hardly help it. But suppose he is born in an ancestral line, in an hereditary line, where the influences have been bad, and there has been a coming down over a moral declevjjty, if the man surrender to the influences he will go down under the overmastering gravitation unless some supernatural aid be afforded him. Now, such a person deserves not your excoriation, but your pity. Do not sit witty the lip curled in scorn, aud with an assumed air of angelic innocence looking down upon such moral precipitation. You' had better get down on your knees and first pray Almighty God for their rescue, and next thank the Lord that you have not been thrown under the

wheels of that juggernaut. In Great Britain and in the United States, in every generation, there are tens of thousands of persons who are fully developed criminals and incarcerated. I say m every generation. Then I suppose there are tens of thousands of persons not found out in their criminality. In addition to these there are tens of thousands of persons who, not positively becoming criminals, nevertheless have a criminal tendency. Any one of all those thousands by the grace of God may become Christian, and resist the ancestral influence, and open a new chapter of behavior; but the vast majority of them will not, and it becomes all men, professional, unprofessional, ministers of religion. judges of courts, philanthropists. and Christian workers, to recognize the fact that there are these Atlantic aud Pacific surges of hereditary evil rolling on through the centuries. I say. of course, a man can resist this tendency, just as in the ancestral line mentioned in the first chapter of Matthew. You see in the same line in which there was a wicked Rehoboam and a desperate Manases, there afterward came a pious Josiah and a glorious Christ. But. my friends, you must recognize the fact that these influences go on from generation to generation. I am glad to know, however, that a river which has produced nothing but miasma for 100 miles, may, after awhile, turn the wheels of factories and help support industrious and virtuous populations; and there are family liues which were poisoned that are a benediction now. At the last day it will be found out that there are men who have gone clear over into all forms of iniquity and plunged into utter abandonment, who, before they yielded to the first temptation, resisted more evil than many a man who has been moral and upright all his life. But, supposing now, that in this age, when there are so many good people, that I come dowu into this audience ■ pnd select the very,best man in it. I do not mean the man who would style himself the best, for probably he is a hypocrite; but I mean the man who before God is really the best. I will take you out from all your Christian surroundings. I will take you back to boyhood. I will put you in a depraved home. I will put you in a cradle of iniquity. Who is bending over that cradle? An intoxicated mother. Who is that swearing in the next room? Your father. The neighbors come in and talk, and their jokes jire unclean. There is not in the house a Bible or a moral treatise, but only a few scraps of an old pictorial. After awhile you are old enough to get out of the cradle, and you are struck across the head for naughtiness, but never in any kindly manner reprimanded. After awhile you * are old enough to go abroad, and you are sent out with a basket to steal. If you come home without any spoil you are whipped until the blood comes. At 15 years of age you go out to fight your own battles in t,his world, which seems to care no more for you than the dog ’ that has died of a fit under the fence. You are kicked and cuffed and buffeted. Some day, rallying your courage, you resent some wrong. A man says: “Who are vou^ I know who you are. Your father had free lodgings at Sing Sing. Your mother, she was up for drunkenness at the criminal court. Get out of my way. you low-lived wretch!*’ My brother, suppose that had been the history of your advent, and the history of your earlier surroundings, would you. have been the Christian man you are to-day, seated in this Christian assembly? I tell you nay. You would have been a vagabond, an outlaw, a murderer on the scaffold atoning for your crime. All these considerations ought to make us merciful in our dealings with the wandering and the lost.

A gram, 1 have to remark, that m our estimation of the misdoing' of people who have fallen from high respectability and usefulness we must take into consideration the conjunction of circumstances. In nine cases out of ten a man who goes astray does not intend any positive wrong. He has trust funds. He risks a part of these funds in investment. He says: “Now. if I should lose that investment I have of my own property five times as much, and if this investment should go wrong, 1 could easily^ make it up; I could live times make it up." With that wrong reasoning he goes on and makes the investment, and it does not turn out quite as well as he expected, and he makes another .investment, and. strange to say, at the same time all his other affairs get entangled, and all his other resourcess fail, and his hands are tied. Now he wants to extricate himself. He goes a little further on in the wrong investment. He takes a plunge further ahead, for he wants to saTe his wife and children; he wants to save his home; he wants to save his membership in the church. He takes one more plunge, and aU is lost Some morning at 10 o'clock the bank 1 door is not op&ed. and there is a card on the door signed by an officer of the bank, indicating there is trouble, and the name of the defaulter or the defrauder heads the newspaper column, and hundreds of men *av: “Good lor

him;** hundreds of other men say: 'Tm glad he's found out at last,” hundreds of other men say: “We couldn't possibly have been tempted to do thatr—no conjunction of circumstances could ever have overthrown me;’’ and there is a superabundance of indignation, but no pity. The heavens full of lightning, but not one drop of dew. If God treated us as society treats that man we would all have been in hell long ago.

Wait for the alleviating circumstances. Perhaps he may have been the dupe of others. '^Before you let all the hounds out from their kennel to maul and tear that man, find out if he has not been brought up in a commercial establishment where there was a wfcong system of ethics taught; find out whether that man has not an extravagant wife who is not satisfied with his honest earnings, and in the temptation to please her he has gone into that ruin into which enough men have fallen, and by the same temptation, to make a procession of many miles. Perhaps some sudden sickness may have touched his brain, and his judgment may be unbalanced. He is wrong, he is awfully wrong, and he must be condemned, but there may be mitigating circumstances. Perhaps under the same temptation you might have fallen. The reason some men do not steal $200,000 is because they do not get a chance! ‘Have righteous indignation you must about that man's conduct, but temper it with merej\ But, you say: , “I am sorry that the innocent should .suffer.” Yes, 1 am, too —sorry for the widows and orphans who lost their all by that defalcation, I am sorry also for the business men, the honest business men, who have had their affairs all crippled by that defalcation. I am sorry for the venerable bank president to whom the credit of the bank was a matter of pride. Yes, I am sorry also for that man who brought all the distress; sorry that he sacrificed body, mind, soul, reputation. Heaven, and went into the blackness of darkness forever. You defiantly say; “I could not be tempted in that way,” Perhaps you may be tested after awhile. God has a very good memory, and He sometimes seeing to say: “This man feels' so strong in his innate power and good,ness he shall be tested; he is so full of bitter invective against that unfortunate, it shall be shown now whether he has the power to stand.” Fifteen years go by. The wheel of fortune turns several times, and you are in a crisis that you never could have anticipated. Now, all the powers of darkness come around, and they chuckle and they chatter an 1 they say: “Aha! here is the old fellow who was so proud of his integrity, and who bragged he couldn't be overthrown by temptation, and was so uproarious in his demonstrations of indignation at the defalealion 15 years ago. Let us see!” God lets the man go. God. who hac kept that man under His protecting care. lets the man go, and try for himself the majesty of his integrity. God lettiug the man go, the powers of darkness pounce upon him. I see you some day in your office in great excitement. One of two things you can do. Be hon est, and be pauperized, afad have your children brought home from school,

your family dethroned in social influence. The other thing is. you can step a little aside from that which is right, you can only just go half an inch out of the proper path, you can only take a little risk, and then you have all your finances fair and right. 'You will have a large property. You can leave a fortune for your children, and endow a college, build a public library in your native town. You halt and wait, and halt and wait until your lips get white. You decide to risk it. Only a few strokes of the pen now. But, oh, how your hand trembles! The die is cast. By the strangest and most awful conjunction of Circumstances anyone could have imagined, you are prostrated. Bankruptcy, commercial annihilation, exposure, crime. Good men mourn and devils hold carnival, and you see your own name at the head of the newspaper column in a whole congress of exclamation points; and while you are reading the anathema in the reportorial and editorial paragraph, it occurs to you how much this story is like that of the defalcation fifteen years agoi and a clap of thunder shakes the window sill, saying: "With what measure, ye mete, it shall be measured to yov again. *’ You look in another direction. There is nothing like ebulitions of temper to put a man to disadvantage. You, a j man with calm pulses and a fine diges- j tion and perfect health, can not under- i stand how anybody should be capsized | in temper by an infinitesimal annoy- I ance. You say: "I couldn't be unbala need in that way.” Perhaps yo u smile j at a provocation that makes another | man swear. You pride yourself on your imperturbability. You say with your manner, though you have too much good taste to say it with your words: "I have a great deal more sense than that man has: I have a great deal more equi poise of temper than that man has; I never could make such a puerile exhibition of myself as that man has made.” I see the $cribes of Heaven looking up into the face of such a man, saying: “What! you plead for mercy, you, who in all your life never had any mercy on your fellows? Don't you remember how hard you were in your opinions of those who*were astray? Don't you remember when you ought to have given a helping hand you employed a hard heel? Mercy! Yon must mis-speak yourself when yon plead for mercy here. Mercy for others but no mercy for you. “Look,” say the scribes of Heaven, “look at that inscription over the throne of God's judgment.” See it coming out letter by letter, word by word, sentence by sentence, until your startled vision reads it and your remorseful spirit appropriates it: “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. Depart, ye cursed!” Mrs. R. C. Wilaon, of Montrose, Mo., died on a train when, near El Paso, *

RICH STRIKE IN KLONDIKE; The BlgSMt Stampede Yet Recorded la tba 'Gold Regions of the Far North—Hundred* of Waiting Men In Line. Skaguay, Alaska. March 34, via Seattle, Wash., March 23.—One of the biggest stampedes yet recorded in the Klondike region was occasioned on February 12 by a very rich strike on the divide between the Big and Little Skookum. The strike was made in bench diggings on a high hogback 300 or 400 feet above the level of the gulches. Fay dirt running from $1 to $35 to the pan was found. Following the announcement of the strike occurred a stampede from Dawson of immense proportions, and the entire ridge was staked out in a short time. This news was brought to this city this week by Mr. A. Piche, Official courier and dispatch bearer for the Canadian government. Mr. Piche says there was immense excitement at Dawson when he left over the Skookum strike, and that over 200 men were standing in line at the recorder's office to record claims. Mr. Piche also brings the news of a new strike on Lewis river, which is oi great importance, if it develops as is promised.

On March. 6 a man named Connelly, while prospecting a small “pup” leading off the leads, about 75 miles below Lake Lebarge, found pay dirt, which is promising. Piche personally visited the claim and took from $2 to S3 from a single pan. The discovery is about 30 miles up the stream from the leads. The latest reports from the Salmon river country are brought out by Charles Fitzpatrick, who arrived hero froip that district yesterday. Fitzpatrick Isays the find on Walsh creek is all that has been claimed for it; that he took from his own claim $2.50 to the pan. He says there are already about* 1,000 people at Walsh creek, which is 500 more than can secure claims on that particular stream. The creek is not 50 miles in length, as first reported; it will not measure over 25 miles in length. He says, however, that the whole country in that locality is mineral bearing and that, in his judgment, the next three months will s«*e some further remarkable strikes. He says: “For instance, 1 thinlc the south fork of Big Salmon will turn out a paying investment. It is about 125 miles from Lewis river. Then there is the4x>to creek, \yhich has already shown up favorably, running about 75 cents to the pan, and 1 could mention four or five other creeks in the vicinity equally good.” -• What is regarded by many as important, a rich gold strike has been made in the immediate vicinity of Skaguay. For some time past systematic prospecting has been carried on in the hills surrounding the Skaguay trail and at last it has been rewarded. Thomas H. Phipps and Ralph H. Smith claim to have unearthed a lot of rich quartz-bearing, free-milling gold. The loeatioh is kept a secret, but is described by them as being “within an hour's walk of the port office. ” The value of the find cannot be determined until returns from the assay office at Juneau are made. : The prospect bears every evidence ot being more than a surface cropping. Samples picked at random were beaten up with a hammer, and particles of yeilow metal washed from the dirt excited much interest. The locators claim to have abundant capital to develop the mine, and say a bucket tramway will readily solve the problem of getting out the quartz. Charles McCarthy, a well-known ward politician of San Francisco, was shot through the legs in this city yesterday morning by Charles Ritter, a waiter in the Horseshoe restaurant. The row grew out of a drunken brawl. McCarthy’s wound is serious, though not dangerous. About the same hour another shooting affray occurred on McKinney street, in which several shots were fired. No visible results were left save a bullet hole through a sigu of a newspaper office.

CAN’T GAMBLE ON WEATHER. A. Chicago Man's Scheme for Running a .Lottery Nipped in the Bud by a Legal Opinion. Chicago. March 23.;—The government, tvill not allow any one to gamble on the weather man's predictions or to operate a lottery on the predictions. A Chicago man conceived the idea of forming a pool on the state of the weather on April 20 next. He pro* posed to Sell tickets at one dollar each, and to award prizes running from to 810,000. He wrote to the post office department to find out if the mails would be, closed against his scheme. Attorney Barrett, for the department at Washington, wrote the opinion, which has reached Chicago. It is the first legal statement of the status of the weather bureau as exempt from the competition from the guesser. The opinion says: “Although the weather bureau, with improved appliances, forecasts with a certain degree of accuracy conditions of the weather for 24 hours, in advance, yet for persons throughout the country to make such forecasts so far. ahead as April 20, next, would seem to be en* tirely a matter of chance. If operated through the mails this scheme would be held by this office to be a violation of the lottery law.” * An Italian Vlaw—Garibaldi’s Sympathy foe Cuba. Beaux, March 33.—The Rome correipondent of the Ber in r Tageblatt tel“The Marquis Viscouii Venosta, the Italian foreign minister, says the Cuban situation has grown worse, but that outside of Austria, which moraUy supports Spain for dynastic reasons, no European power is inclined to show practical sympathy for Spain. “Riccotti Garibaldi says that if the United States will defray their expenses, he will engage to send 40,000 Uaribaldians to Cuba.”