Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 January 1883 — Too Late to Mend. [ARTICLE]

Too Late to Mend.

Thb Chemical Review nuys that recent analyses of water from the holy well at Mecca—where it is eagerly drunk by pilgrims—show it to be ten times stronger than average London sewage. Thb heirs of Benjamin S. Botch, of Milton, Mass., who had figured upon receiving 1200,000, have been agreeably surprised by the discovery that the estate inventories over $3,000,000, of which $46,000 is in Chicago real estate. That husband and wife are equal before the law was emphatically demonstrated in a Chicago court recently. One McLeod, now in jail awaiting trial for laroeny, filed an affidavit before Judge Tuley setting forth that he was put in prison at his wife’s instance so that he could not defend a suit for divorce brought by her. Some time ago he sold his property and gave the money to his wife, and he therefore prayed the court to grant an order on Mrs. McLeod to advance him sufficient funds to defend the suit. Judge Tuley appeared to think that there was justice in the request, and granted a rule on the woman to show cause why she should not advance the neoessary money. It is a poor rule that will not work both ways even in divorce suits. -

An Illinois stock-raiser of the name of Pracy Clark gives an amusing account of a recent trip to Cincinnati with a car-load of hogs. He left his home at Albion on Saturday) Dec. 9, by the afternoon freight train, which was run upon a side-track near Princeton, Ind., at about 9 o’clock to let two passenger’ trains pass. The engineer, conductor, fireman and brakeman made themselves so comfortable in the locomotive cab that they all fell sound asleep and did not awake until morning, when an employe of the road, who had been sent out fi*om Princeton to find the missing train, aroused them. Of oourse they had lost their right of way, and the train, which was due at Cincinnati Monday morning, did not arrive until Tuesday night. “Damages, gentlemen, heavy damages,” is now Mr. Clark’s ultimatum. , Gen. Wallace, our Minister to Turkey, has been awarded $15,000 by the American-Mexican Commission as a claim for services rendered in 1865. At the close of our civil war the General aocepted a commission as Major General in the republican army of Mexico, with a view to organizing a legion composed of discharged American soldiers, to aid in driving the Emperor Maximilian and the French out of Mexico. The Legion organization failed, but the General rendered valuable services to the Mexican republican cause, for which he was not able to receive pay, mainly owing to the poverty of the Mexican treasury. ‘ The • General brought his claim before the American Commissioners in 1869, but it was not allowed for want of jurisdiction. But payment has now been secured through the efforts of Minister Foster.

At a recent social gathering in Boston the conversation was upon literature, and somebody chanced to mention the saying about a prophet’s lack of honor in his own country. “Yes,” remarked Mr. J. T. Trowbridge, “I know all about that. The tax collector called upon me last spring, and, in the course of conversation, asked me what I did for a living. I said I wrote, and, after having to explain to him that I was neither a book-keeper nor a copyist, I told him I wrote books. ‘Pshaw, now,’ said he, ‘I want to know! Wa-al, now, it’s kind o’curious I never heard o’ that. Got Any of ’em about yer ? ’ I said I had some of them in the house, but I didn’t keep a very large supply on hand. ‘Well, you can git’em, I s’pose?’ was the next remark. I said I could, and he gave me an order on the spot. ‘ Send me down the handsomest copy you've got,’said he, ‘and I'll pay you for it. If we’ve got a man that kin write, I’ll do my duty by him.’ ” People who look - with jealous eye upon the power of Vanderbilt, says the Chicago Times, might find the events of the last three months a most intert esting study. Within that brief period the railway king has been twice handbagged and robbed upon the financial highway. The tusk was easy enough to men who had the nerve required. The first event was what may be termed the Nickel-Plate job. Vander-

bilt looked on with apparent in differ) enoe while the Lake Shore road was quickly paralleled by men who knew his temperament and understood his interests. But when an effective rival line had been created he made haste to secure it at a price much greater than it has since touohed on the stock exchange. The dazzling success of this operation, which placed millions in the pockets of its projectors, inspired an attack from a new quarter. A Chicago road in whioh he is the heaviest stock* holder was chained down by a lease which forced it to join in any warfare that might be commenced, but left it utterly powerless to retaliate in any way. The holders of .the leased property flung their stock into the market and reaped the highest figure. Then they were free to inaugurate what promised to become a desperate struggle and lead up with securities at panic prioes, leaving Vanderbilt to settle privately and hurriedly with them or to pay sueh rates for stock as they exacted through brokers in Wall street. No lamb was ever more thoroughly sheared. The railway king purchased peace through one or both of these methods, and now holds a road only one-third of which is of any use to him. The belligerent leaders stepped down and out, and a President and directors were installed who represent the family interest exclusively.

Senator Jones, of Nevada, gives an account of De Long’s Arctic expeAtion, which he got from Capt. Neibaum in San Francisco. Neibaum is a Russian, who has for many years been in the service of the Alaska Fur Company. He was the last man from whom De Long received provisions. He says: “De Long left my station at almost the northern part of Alaska, and I furnished him, at the order of the Alaska Fur Company, with sledges, dogs and provisions. He took twenty-seven dogs and one Indian. I account for the loss of the party on the theory that they killed the dogs. I do not believe that De Long knew anything about the undertaking he was grappling with, and was ignorant of the means by which progress oould be made in that regionI see by his diary that there was but one dog left a few days prior to his death. He must have killed the dogs without knowing their great value, and when the dogs are gone there is absolutely no hope left. The dogs could net have died or been lost; they were kill|d. The scent of these animals L remarkable, and they will detect provisions, no matter where they may be. When men in thes*e regions kill polar bears and have more meat than they can keep, they cache the meat, and it sometimes lies in the ice for years, until it is discovered by dogs. The ice is full of these places. If you meet an Indian there and kill his dog he lies down and dies. He also neglected to take the right kind of guns. De Long refused a fowling-piece I offered him, made expressly for the Arctic seas and climate. He said he wanted a gun for bears, not ’birds, and would not listen to me. The weight of the Remington rifles hampered him. They took no fishingtackle, and all their chances for life were thrown away through ignorance, I liked De Long personally, but he was not the man to command an Arctic expedition. ”

A sharp disciplinarian is Gen. Gallifet. While directing the maneuvers of the French army on review at Chalons recently he noticed some error in the movements of a dragoon brigade under the command of Gen. Clermont Tonneire, one of ihe oldest officers in the service. Quickly he directed the latter to repeat the movement. The veteran complied, after consulting with members of his staff, and through the evolutions constantly received suggestions from them. At last, “Retire, gentlemen,” cried Gallifet, “you annoy the general.” “No,” said the other, “they assist me. Ido not understand these maneuvers, and have asked these gentlemen to refresh my memory, so I may not seem ignorant before the troops.” "You do not understand the drill?” cried Gallifet, pale with' emotion. “How can you expect it?” was the response. “I am in garrison, with two small squadrons and a miserable insufficient drill-ground. But I can learn it in eight days.” “In eight Jays,” said Gallifet, ‘it will be too late. I <»» obliged to ask you to resign. Place your command in the hands of the oldest of your colonels.” A oountby preacher was exhorting his unbelievers, and his text was “The Flood. ” As he waxed eloquent he said: “And Noah warned the wicked that they might repent, but they heeded him not; and the floods came and drowned them all, and what do you suppose they thought then ?” Lohofellow’B study remains just ag he left it. Not *'l>ot>k hor a pieoe of furniture has been moVed. , 4