Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1888 — Page 2

THK BUTTKItFLY OIHU • And to I newr had a heart Save abotteiflj on 4 In my bte**t? A heatt too thalloa to aniwer your own Though clo*e to your own it wa* pressed? Ah ! So do men judge ua. dear. At butterflv-hearh d things; If only to make our live* le t drear We borrow the butterfly wing*. Bare you tver known a jrtt To hide a deep heart-throb'’ ' . HaveSyou ever known an idle Uujjn , To 'smother down a aob? 1 A hearties* speech oft hide* A heart full to the brim; CoquetUh low r>ng of the lids May curtain eyea g own dim. Shallow, ihdiffltrent, colds' you hare Judged me, dear. I'oahle to understand the lore You gave me, Just last year. i But wh« n with an angel's ejes You read these earthly things You’ll tee I had a faithful heart, * If I did wearbuttetfly wings «■ And majbt—my dear, my dear - Cp in the land of light, Wheu God’s fair dawn ha« shaken hand* With eartb'a evanished night. Something may » bine at your feet In the pur* pathway of pearl. And perhaps you may care to find waitinj you there The heart of your butteifly gfrl.

A CURIOUS CASE.

During the first three years of my career as a detective I had some singular jobs given me to work on, and the manuer in which one of them was worked and the developments of the case may interest the reader. About three knifes outside the limitfe of a large city in Pennsylvania stood a large farmhouse. There had been a murder committed there, and whisky had played havoc with an heir, ami the house had stood vacant for three years l>efore I saw it. The farm has passed into the hands of a New Yorker on a mortgage, and he seemed to have forgotten all about it. Naturally the cry of “haunted house” was raised, and presently you could not have hired a **-neighbor to enter the house in the daytime. There were people living within a quarter of a mile of the place, and bv-and-by they began to tell some queer stories. On two occasions parties of three or four went out from the city to stop in the house all night, but in each instance they were driven away by strange noises before midnight. I lived in a town forty miles from the haunted house, and consequently heard nothing of it.

1 had a case against an absconding treasurer, He Md the funds of * large and prosperous lodge m his hands, and got away with $3,000 belonging-to it. He furthermore borrowed about $3,000 of his friends, and got SBOO on a forged draft. This occurred in a town about thirty miles from the haunted house. The defaulter had bought a railroad ticket for Chicago, and left behind him, as if by accident, a parcel addressed to a party in the Garden City. It ought to have been reasoned that this party was he under another name, and that he had gone to Chicago as fast as steam could carry him, but I reasoned just the opposite. He had gone without his trunk or clothing, but when I came to overhaul his things his landlady figured out that two clean shirts, several collars, a stout pair of boots and an old suit of clothes were missing from the house. The boots and old suit had belonged to a boarder who died months before. There were three highways leading

out of the town. I worked two of them without success. On the third I soon found a farmer who had seen a foot traveler resembling my man &pans on the evening he had absconded. Five mile farther on I became positive of his idenitity. He walked ail that night, with only two brief halts before midnight to inquire about roads; but once on his trail I soon picked up plenty of pointers. The absccnder’s name was Kel y, and he was a kqgn, shrewd fellow. He had planned the embezzlement and escape weeks ahead, and he followed out a regular programme. He left town dressed as a laborer, and. carrying a valise. -He had a light felt hat, a black felt hat and a cap. and aboutonce in ten miles he exchanged his headgear. He was a smooth-faced man. but had provided himself with a goatee and side whiskers. I thus heard of him once as a smooth-faced young man wearing a cap and having one arm in a sling: next as a youngish man with a goatee and a black hat; again as a full-w hiskered man with a light hat. I confess that I was badly puzzled and about to despair, when I came to a farmhouse, where he had stopped tor dinner. He was then smooth-faced and wore a cap, and elaimed to be an agent for a windmill company whose rights had been infringed'on and who were taking steps to collect royalty-. ———— 7 When Kelly entered the kitchen for dinner a hired boy of color, who was not permitted 1o eat with the family, was left in the sitting room. His curiosity regarding the contents of the valise was arouaeckandhapicked the lock and over-hauled them. He was careful not to say anything of this to the family, but discovered that he had a secret. The sight of a silver piece loosed his tongue, and he told me of the hats and false whiskers. “After thatl had no trofible in following Kelly, no matter which disguise he assumed. There was a direct highway from the town be left to the city with the haunted house, but he did

not keep it. He would branch off here and there and make a half circle to come back again. One op two nights he slept in bams, and so I lost track of him for a few hours. On one occasion his feet became sore and he lay bv at a tavern for two days, and then 1 actually got ahead of him. While the towns were only thirty mile* apart, Kelly traveled all of 100 miles in making the distance, and was twelve days about it. I followed him mile by mile, and owing to a severe storm was thirteen days. I traced him into the suburbs of the city and there lost him, and though I had the help of three or four local officers, we could get no further trace of him. At length we heard, of a person a hundred miles away who bore Kelly’s description and I was about to stijrt after him when I overheard the following conversation in a restaurant; “So the Ijovs that went to the haunted house got a scare?” “Anawful scare. I guess a new ghost has taken possession." “What did they see or hear?” “Saw doors open and heard grolins and various other noises,” - “Well, it's funny.” “Yes,”

It may seem strange to you -that lat once decided that I had located Kelly again. It was quite probable that lie known of the haunted house for years, as its fame was widespread, and the fact of a new ghost showing up just at this time made me suspicious. That night at ten o’clock, accompanied by a local detective, I visited the place. It was a rambling big farmhouse, situated twenty rods from the highway, and the ground around was grown up to weeds and hushes. All the windows were broken and some of the doors stood open, and a mere gloomy place I never saw. We entered by a rear door and found the floor rotting away and the plastering crumbling off. We pushed on to the sitting room, where the young men had stationed themselves the night before, and here found some blocks of wood to sit down on. There was a doorway leading into the front hall, but the door was gone. There was a doorway to the parlor, and this was partly open. As we looked into the parlor 1 swung the door to and fro, and knew from the movement that the hinges had “been freshly oiled.

When we came to inspect the cellar we found little but cobwebs and dust. Each of us had a lantern and each inspected for himself. At one corner of the cellar I found an old oyster can in a queer position. It seemed to T>e sticking to the floor above, but after a close examination, without,however, touching it with my hands, I made up my mind that it was held there by a cord. I said nothing to my companion about this,nor about another discovery made in the front liall. At one spot, where the plaster was off from base to ceiling, I caught sight of a wire behind the laths. This led up and down and the lower end was -probably attached to some object. We did not go up stairs. The iront stairs had never been finished and the back ones were so dilapidated that we hesitated to test them with our weight. By eleven o’clock we had taken our seats iu the sitting room, eyes and ears alert and ready for any emergency. There was no lock or catch on the door opening into the parlor, but it was shut. The two windows looking out of the room had been boarded up. We placed our lanterns in a corner, and as we watched and waited the room was in a semi-darkness and the house was still as death.

It must have been near midnight when the performance opened. We suddenly heard faint notes of music and the sounds lasted for two or three minutes. I was satisfied the sounds came from a jewsliarp. My companion Whißpered that two female voices were singing,«while a guitar played an accompaniamont. The music had scarcely died away when the parlor door opened as noiselessly as the swing of aeoffin lid. I waa perfectly satisfied that it was the work of human hands, but I was startied. I had not told the detective that I expected to find Kelly in the house. I had simply said that I expected to make an important discovery. When the door swung open the man started up in alarm and whispered: “Great heavens! Let us be gone!" I put my hand on his arm and waited for the next move. In about a quarter of a minute we heard a tunk! tuftk! tunk! on the cellar stairs. I knew that the sound was made by the oyster can being lowered a few inches from the floor and drawn up again by the string, but my companion rose to his feet, wheeled half around and whispered; “Look out for yourself! The cussed thing is eoming up out of the cellar!"

“Keep still—listen?” I repiie<L*fld when the can had “tunketl" one for each step the sound ceased. Then the parlor door slowly and qnietl vkw Ung to. As I have told you, I was dead sure that all these things were caused by human agency, and vet I felt a creeping of my flesh, and my forehead was damp with perspiration. The detective with me qphragtt.g. mot at. ever f/*)k Up a trail, but such was the effect upon him that his face was as white as snow, liis tefth chattered, and he clutched me and exclglmed: a ~ . “If we stay here another minute we are both dead men!” , •' LqaWlown and drew him beside me. and as I did so the Darlor door opened

again, and from the front hall came groans and sighs and dull souqds of a struggle. 1 knew that the wire I had seen Was being worked behind the laths, but mv companion could stand no more. He seized l>oth lanterns afid started out, and I had.to go along or be left in the dark. When clear of the house he made a run for the highway, and I found him on the further side of if when I came up. >' “What’s the matter?” I asked. “Good God, man, but my nerves are all gone!” he gasped. “I wouldn’t stop in that house another five minutes for all the money ih the State!” I was satisfied that all the noises had Ijeen made by human agency. Some one had taken possession of the house, and I had a feeling that it was Kelly. It was just in line with his other sharp tricks. I did not tell my companion what I suspected nor what I intended to df>, but I dwul all my plans laid before morning. The old house was two and a half stories, and whoever was hiding there was likely to be in the garret. It was also likely that this garret was reached from the second story by a ladder. If the person was Kelly or any other sharp fellow, the ladder would be drawn up, or any one showing his head above the scuttle would receive a rap. If I got a squad of men and surrounded the house the occupant might get off by some unknown way, or find a hiding place unknown to us. If we failed to find any one, the whole city would hold us up to ridicule. There was no window in the garret at the back end of the house. It was hardly dayligtit before I approached from that direction, entered the place with great caution, and hid myself away beneath the kitchen stairs. I expected the occupant would come down before noon, but he did not show up. It was a dark and gloomy day in the fall, with frequent rain squalls, and about two o’clock in the afternoon I crept up staits in my stocking feet, entered a room near where the garret scuttle was located,and began playing the ghost for some one else’s benefit. I had brought along a mouth organ, and I sounded and hung on to a few lonesome notes several times over. Pretty soon I heard a slight movement overhead. Then I took a fiddle string, made one end fast to a nail, and when I had hauled taut I picked the string with my thumb nail. I sent forth complaining sounds, and added a few sighs and groans. The sounds above me became plainer, and I knew that some one was listening at the scuttle. I gave him a few more notes, scratched on the floor and wall, and in a few minutes a ladder was thrust down from the scuttle. A few deep drawn groans on my part brought a man down the ladder, and as he reached the foot of it I collared him. It was Kelly. He who had played ghost on others had himself fallen into the trap. He screamed right out at sight of me, and he did not get his nerve back until I had him outdoors. He fully believed for the time that a the sounds. The case was as I had figured. He had planned to come to the house, and he intended to remain there several weeks. He had affixed cords to the top of the parlor door to swing it, and had arranged for all the sounds we heard. If I felt elated he felt very sheepish as an offset, and when sentenced to two years in State Prison for hiscrime he said to me:

“It isn’t thatfj was caught, but that I was outwitted and bamboozled. Why, man, I had tliat whole plan in ngy head for months, and I’d have bet a hundred to one that I’d get safe off. Just think what a fool I was to take up quarters in a haunted house and then let some one play the ghost on me!”

Copperheads.

A. Boyd, of Elizabeth, Pa.-while putting up clover havlast weeJfwff? in the act of raising a fofkiul over his head when he felt something drop over his shoulder. Examination proved that it was a copperhead snake measuring 3 feet 101 inches long by 4 inches around the, body. Mr. Boyd dispatched his snakesliij) without delay. Just then he heard the women calling lustily from the house and hurried home to see what was alarmingthe ladies, when he found them battling with another copperhead, which he proceeded to slay. About bedtime Mr. Boyd was ready to retire, having removed his shoes for that purpose when he thought of an errand to the kitchen. The room was dark and as he entered he felt something strike hint on the lower end of hiifpantaloons, Mr. Boyd, feeling that the vicinity was snaky that day, called for a light,- and when it came, another copperhead was discovered fastened by its fangs in the leg of his pants. It is needless tosaytfaat this snake speedily went the way which all snakes should go.

A Summer Beverage.

First put into a large pan a qoaHer of a pound of fine fresli oatmeal, sixounees of white sugar and half a lemon cut into small pieces .Mix with a little warm water; t hen- pout over it one gallon of boiling water, stirring all together flSdroughly, and use when cold. This makes a most refreshing and strengthening drink. If preferred, raaplierty v i negar; citric acid, or any other flavoring may be used instead of the lemon. More oatmeal may alsa be if -preferred, Second—Six ounces of fine oatmeal, four ounces of cocoa and eight ounces of sugar mixed gradually and smoothly into a gallon of boiling water. Use when cold.

FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

Comparative W»f a. v FIGURES COM PI i-fel) FROM LATESI* RETURN'S MADE BY LONDON BOARD OF TRADE. New Y«-rk Preaa. Eoglaii'l. t nl’el State*. Book tender* JG 00 > 15 00 to*lß 00 Bnihbnl-kem... 000 15 00 to 20 00 Boileimakera 7 75 10 50 Brick maker* .. ».... 3 54 11 86 Hu kSaver* ' R 00 21 00 BUcksmitha 6 00 13 00 8utcher*................... 6 00 12 00 Baker*., 6 25 12 75 B'aat furnace keeper* r 10 00 18 00 Bloat Inruaee filler*.... 7 50 14 00 Boltmakera.... G 50 16 50 Bolt cutters 300 - 10 00 Coal miner 5 88 13 00 Cottoo-mili hands. ... 4 60 6 72 Carpenters ’ • 7 50 15 ou Coopers , - 6 o 0 13 25 Carriagemakers .’ 6 75 13 00 to 25 00 Ontlerv ’... fi 00 12 00 to 20 00 Chemical* I <5 to 600 13 00 to IB 00 Clockmakers 7 00 IS 00 Cabinetmakers 7 00 is 00 Farm hand* 300 650 to *.t 00 Gla-ablower* 6 to ‘.IOO 25 00 to 30 00 Glass (lanlv skilled) 6 to 7 00 12 00 to 15 00, Glass (unskilled) 2to 400 700 to 10 00 Ulovemskt rs (girls)... 200 600 to 900 Glov,makers (men) .. 4 50 10 00 to :a) 00 Hatters 600 12 00 to 24 00 Heaters and rollers ... Iff to 12 00 20 00 to «0 00 Iron ore miners...... .. 5 50 12 00 Iron moulders 7 50 15 00 Ton per ton. fiuisbi <1 2to 300 531 to 871 Instrument makers... 7 00 IS 00 to 20 00 Laboiera 4 10 8 00 I ongsboremen 800 ' 15 00 Linen thread, m<n. .. 5 00 7 50 Linen thread, women 2 35 5 22 Machinist*..;,., ......... 8 50 18 00 Mason*. 809 * .100 Printers, 1,000 ems. .. 20 <0 Printers, week hands 6 15 13 49 Patternmakers 7 fO 18 00 Painters ............. 7 10 15 00 Pitimbus... 8 00 18 ' 0 Plssteiere '• so 21 00 Pott* rs 8 67 18 30 Po'i-uer* “7 00 18 00 Pareunskers • 350 12 00 to V'4 00 Puddlers. per week ... 8 to in 00 18 00 to 20 00 Qnar/vmen 6 00 12 00 to 15 00 Ropffmakers 525 900 to 12 00 Railway eogineeis ... 10 00 21 00 Riilwav firemen 5 00 12 00 fbipbuilding: Boilermakers ...... 7 00 14 00 Maeninist* 7 00 14 15 ' oppersmiths , 6 50 16 60 Platers 8 00 18 00 Drillers 6 00 12 00 Riveters 8 00 17 40 Riegers 5 50 It 00 Patternmakers 8 00 24 00 SaDm-’ker* 000 -7 oc to 10 50 3i'k. men 5 00 10 0" Bilk, women 2 50 * 6 00 .Servant*, month 5 (X) 15 0i Shremakeris...... 6 00 12 0o Stationary engineers 7 50 15 00 to 18 50 Bojpmikers ... 5 00 10 tO

A Cowardly Pa> ty. Wa hinsrton special. The Washington Post fires its last gun before the change in its management, and thus puts the whole crowd of panicstricken Democrats to shame: “Why should any honest Democrat take fright or offense when he is called a free-trader, or when his party is designated the freetrade party? Is not trade practically free when it is taxed for revenue only? Is not that what is meant by free trade all the world over? No party or faction is in favor of abolishing taxes on imports. The Democratic party, by its National declaration of 1876 ’ and 1880; by the President’s message which is its platform in 1888; by the recent speeches of its leaders in the tariff debate in the House of Representatives; by the President’s Fourth of July letter to Tammany—by all these, and byits traditions, its history, its inspirations and its hopes, the Democratic party is committed to the emancipation of trade from protective taxation; committed to a policy that leads directly to the consummation of Democratic desire—a tariff for revenue only. He who is opposed this does not belong to the Cleveland side in this campaign. He who is rather angered or frightened at the free trade cry should cut loose from the party that aims to set trade free from all taxes imposed for any other purpose than the raising of revenues for the lawful and prudent uses of the Government. As we understand and define free trade, the President’s latest tariff utterance is decidedly in that direction. In his Tammany letter he complains that he and those who are with him in his tariff policy are called free traders; but, in the same letter, he vigorously attacks the protection theory. He says of the protectionists, that ‘they’ advocate a system which benefitscertain classes of our citizens at the expense of every householder in the land, a system which breeds discontent because it permits the duplication of wealth without corresponding additional recompense to labor, which prevents the opportunity to work by stifling production and limiting the area of our markets, and which enhances the cost of living beyond the laborer’s hard earned wages.’ ‘A system?’ What does that mean if if it "does not mean protection, a tariff for protection as opposed to the Democratic system of tariff for revenue—which is just what free trade means in the mind of all intelligent citizens. This ‘system that ‘they advocate,’ the President says, is a very bad‘system.’ Why? Because ‘it benefits certain classes at the expense of every householder;’ because ‘it breeds discontent;’ because ‘it permits duplication of wealth without corresponding recompense to labor;’ because it ‘stifles production’ and ‘enhances the cost of living beyond the laborer’s hard earned wages.’ . “When a President, a candidate for re-election on his own revenue reform plank, makes such a plea as that for the emancipation of trade, and in the same breath complains "f being ‘branded’ as a free-trader,’ he ‘resembles ocean into tempest tossed, to waft a feather or to drown a fly.’ Brace up, Mr. President; you have undertaken to lead your party in a tremendous onslaught on. the citadel of the opposition. Don’t waste your energies on such trifles as the name by which the opposition chooses to call you. Doll’ you profess to aim at the emancipation of trade? If so, don't be scared when vou are ‘branded’ as a free trader. The Nfills bill is, to be sure, only a step in the revenue tariff direction, but its the first stop that counts. The principle is there, and that is why the bill is upheld bv Democrats and fought by Republicans It presents the issues just as clearlv as it would if it went three times as far. But we notice that a great many Democratic organs of more or less influence are doing their best to befog the question and to divert public attention from it by numerous devices, all of which is, as we have said, to be regretted. It wouldateo be surprising if the same organs had not shown equal cowardice eight years ago,” ; . .. Protection Appears »o Be All Right. Minneapolis Tribune. What is the matter with theprotective C has made United States bonds worth to-dav 126 cents on the dollar, when in 1860 they sold with difficulty at 85 cents. It enabled all the soldiers in our great

civil war to go out of the service to steady occupation and good wages, besides making it possible for the 4,000,000 liberated slaves to earn more than a decent livelihood. It has enabled American workingmen to live well, own their own homes, maintain accounts in savings banks and enjoy a hundred per cent, more of the comforts aitd luxuries of life than the workingman of any other country on earth, It has enabled the United States to earn more than 55 per cent, of the increase of wealth of the earth during the past twenty-six years. It has made our internal commerce nine times that of the entire commerce of the rest of the world. It lias developed tremendous manufacturing industries which have given employment and good wages to hundreds of thousands, have developed resources before unthought of, and have created markets for farm products w r hich have been sources of income and profit to the farmer. It has besides stimulated the inventive faculty of our people and has offered such rewards and premiums for laborsaving devices that American machinery surpasses that of any other people. What is the matter with the policy that has dbne all this? To us it appears to be all right.

Wage* of Worker*. New York Sun(Dem.) There is only one country in Europe in which the wages of labor are within a half of what they are in this country. That is Great Britain. Wages in Germany, France, Belgium and Switzerland are not one-third of what they are here. Those Of Italy are not one-quarter. Ohe duty of government is to protect the labor of its citizens. Last yeafclieap foreign labor was imported into the United States in the shape of manufactured goods to the value of $692,419,769, This was a great wrong to American labor. In that immense amount of imports, permitted by our insufficient and defective tariff, the labor of women employed in the Manchester, England, cotton mills, whose wages do not average S6O a year, came into competit ion with the higher-priced labor of our Southern and Northern cotton spinners. In that mass of imports was the labor of German factory workmen averaging less than slls, and that of women averagfng leas than SSO a year. Munich is a gallery and center of art. German women with as many as six children saw wood in its streets for 15c a day. May a merciful God sink the United States 10,000 feet under the sea before the hideous spectacle shall become an incident of our civilization!

Nearly $700,000,000 worth of the starvation labor of Europe in the form of manufactured goods imported into this country last year! That which came from Belgium in bales and boxes represented the wages of 22c a day for women and 43c for men; and the high-est-priced labor in loose cargoes of Belgium steel and iron represented wages less than 80c a day. Compared with these the Wages of Carnegie’s .men at Braddock are the incomes of princes. Italian labor in Italian merchandise was imported into this country last year, in competition with American labor, at prices that should fill sensitive souls with horror and alarm the thoughtful for the future of the human race. The pay in the cotton factories of Naples is 20c a day; of the Neapolitan marble and granite cutters from 40c to 50c a day, according to skill; of coachmen, 30c; of women in lace factories, 10c, and girls, 7c; of soldiers in the army, $2 a month. Of all the workmen in the glass works Of Italy, only the skilled blowers receive as high as $1 a day, and laborers on farms, hoeing or making hay, from 15c to 18c a day. working from sun to sun. God save America from such wages! In the Swiss silk goods which came into our half-protected country last year in those $700,000,000 of imports, was the skilled labor of men at 41c a day and of women at 29c, both competing with the silk weaver of Paterson, New York, Philadelphia and Cheney. Glasgow, in Scotland, is the steamship factory of the world, and its-blast furnace owners and iron rollers howl for free trade day and night. Of the families in that manufacturing Sodom, 41,000 out 100,000 live In one room, and half of the men and women in the city are chronically out of work. That one room for a family of father, mother, daughters and sons tell what wages are in Scotland, and how they drag humanity down into bestiality and misery. Brothers, the Mills bill to t reduce the tariff is the first step to that one room for an American family.* Fight it without delay, and fight it to its death; and then make your tariff so protective as to shut out cheap foreign labor in the formof manufactured goods.

Farm -rH and Protect on. Omaha Republican. The farmer’s chief interest in protection is that it saves him the cost of shipping his goods over long lines of railroad, giving a market near his own door. Every farmer understands this fact: The nearer the producer and the “consumer can be brought together the less is paid for transportation and the less opportunity the middleman has to eat up the profits; and it is a fact that all cost of transportation and profits of the handlers of grain and produce come out of the farmer’s pockets. Another fact: By building up manufactures, protection gives employment, and keeps many out of agriculture who w-ould otherwise be compelled to go into it. There are farmers enough to supply the population if they are properly protected, but destroy our manufactures and a good many thousands who are now employed in the trades would become farmers, glutting the markets and reducing profits. There isno class pf the populatior more benefitted by protection of manufactures than the farmer. The Democratic party in 1884, according to Gen. Bragg, of Wisconsin, loved Cleveland “for the enemies lie had made,” meaning Tammany Hall. Since that time .Cleveland has made friends with Tammany Hall because of his outrageons violation of t.lie civil seraceJaKL and has made enemies of the soldiers by vetoing just and fair pension bills, fortunate circumstances. The Democratic party, therefore, still loves Cleveland ‘Tor the enemies he has made.” The Democratic leaders never did have for Union soldiers. The hugest watermelon raised in Georgia this year weighed seventy pounds.

HUN.ING FOR PANTHER.

A Day's Exciting Sport in the Fastnesses of Bald Mountain. Aah ville, N. C- Letter to Baltimore Amerii an; A large party left the hotel for Bald Jffouptain the other afternoon in search of panther. Their path lay through several thick ravines and along several dangerous precipices. Once or twice the hind wheels of the provision wagop slid off the track, and buL for a convenient rock must have gone down into the valley, nearly 1,000 feet below. The steep, up hill traveling prevented us from gaining the top of the peak until nearly five o’clock. Then we had to hustle to get our camp in order before nightfall. As the darkness came bn we built a huge fire directly in front of the camp to keep off unwelcome visitors. Each one took a turn at guard duty, this being thought necessary, as the panthers»at this season are painfully thin, and fire will not always keep them off. Their peculiar screech was heard all night, and to the uninitiated it is something awful, but the hunters were not disturbed. One of the party, a clever young physician, cooked breakfast next morning, which, to put it mildly, was eaten with a rgvenous appetite. All had on buckskin suits, and each carried a Winchester rifle of the newest design. Everything being in readiriess by eight o’clock, the hunt began, the camp and horses being left in the charge of a servant armed with a rifle. It took some little while to strike a trail, which was found to lead to a bank of rocks in the densest part of the mountain. Between two of the largest boulders was seen an opening probably t hree feet in diameter. The earth aboilt the entrance to the cave was fairly covered with panther tracks. *

We waited awhile, hardly knowing what to do, when suddenly a head appeared in the entrance to the cave—a head, which resembled a tiger or leopard’s head. It belonged to a panther. The eyes flashed fire and a low growl made us all tremble. It may be said right here that it’s no fun for a man who has lived all his life in a big city like Baltimore to be placed in such a position. But /is he was in such a position he had to make the most of it. The clever young physician ordered the dogs to attack the enemy, but they, of course, refused. Then he leveled his rifle and fired, but the panther bacxed into his lair just as the trigger was pulled. There was no fun in firing into the cave; means had to be devised to get the beast out. First, a piece oL raw meat was placed in front of the opening; but this failed to fetch him; Next a few stones were thrown inside to aggravate him, or rather her, as it happened to be the mother of three cubs. One of the stones must have struck the cubs, as the old one came bounding out and stood defiantly in the entrance. One of the dog 3, more courageous than the rest, advanced cautiously toward the beast. In an instant the panther had him in her claws. The idea of the hunters was to provoke the beast to a fight, but now that the dog was in danger we were all ordered to fire, and at the sametime cautioned not to hit the dog. This was easy enough as the poor dog lay under the panther, whose body almost covered him. Of the four shots fired only one, that of the doctor, took effect. The bail entered just behind one of the ears, and the beast fell dead. The dog was little the worse from the encounter, and soon became himself again. Whether the mate of the beast just killed was inside the cave was a question wq discussed for a short time. We wanted the cubs, but how to get them was a puzzle. No one would volunteer so crawl into the cave, and the dogs could not be gotten within ten .feet of the rocks.

Finally it was decided to prod the cave with a long pole. A young pine near by was soon leveled and stripped of its foliaige. Just as it w r as gotten ready a rustling of some dead leaves to the right of the ca\ e was heard,and the next instant a head was seen protruding from the thicket. It was the mate. Without orders our rifles were leveled, and bang! bang! resounded through the woods. Such shooting! Not one of us had hit it. He disappeared in the thicket, and in a few moments afterward was seen scampering over the clearing near the top of the mountain. It was useless to give chase, as he could slip us in a hundred different ways. Assured that the cubs were unprotected, one of the party (not the writer) was induced to approach the entrance to the cave and try to prod out the pubs, if there were really any in there. He first used a good sized branch, but finding this not long enough, he tried a young sapling with more success. The pole just reached to the back of the cave, and there the little devils, three in number, were huddled together. One by one tbtfey were gotten out, dragged rather than walked, as they could not •have been ovgr a few weeks old. As ; there were only three cubs and four hunters we drew lots to see who should get them. The young physician, the -best huntCTtßTßeparty,thn man who done the most to get the cubs, lost. » Kronch pfpotriciaw twys hp will woon--be able to produce a thunder-storm whenever demanded and in the district desired. We are obliged now to depend upon the Sunday-school picnic and the circus to produce our thunder-storms* They seldom fail, but too often they are not on hand when wanted.