Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 March 1894 — Tale of the Dismal Swamp. [ARTICLE]

Tale of the Dismal Swamp.

“And the Lord plagued the people because they made the calf, which Aaron made.” Round headed or shepherd’s crook walking sticks are alleged to be dangerous to those who use them habitually. Constant pressure in the palm of the hand from this source has been known in numerous cases to have produced a paralysis of the hand and arm. It is important th at sensible people who carry canes from necessity, or even vanity, should be warned of this lurking enemy of their future usefulness. The M. D.’s have testified to the facts, and common sense should teach that in this case they are right, even if they have failed to demonstrate the success of the new morphiae antidote by numerous experiments on cats and dogs.

We have beei looking for this and are in a manner prepared. When inexperienced persons play with gunpowder and fire a catastrophe is likely to result. The Brazilian war has been a harmless pastime for insurgents and nationalists, but the rebels have at last oome to grief through an accidental explosion of a magazine on one of their own vessels. The. child’s play reported as having been going on, that by courtesy has been called war-, has not resulted in so many fatalities as this accidental explosion on the Venus. The ship went to the bottom and the captain and crew perished, notone escaping to tell how it happened. This is sad, but those who “ta&a-the sword, must perish by the sword.” or 'get biowed up, to bf the scripture. It would never do to have a war and nobody getjiurt. A GObp Chicago lady, pious and a regular church goer, has been expelled from her church for drinking a glass ol sbeerrin a S&toon.' aTO pocjd H .All iimocence, *)eV up‘ A she drank the beer when she went to the saloon to collect the rent because the proprietor, on hospitality, bent, WtQpi Tlie 'saloonr - fIMWJ vUMgoodSlieCiaid,' and she did not like to offend him by refusing. The defense (tailed noth-' ing and the pious landlady was cast out into the cold world. The matter did not stop there, for the good woman proceeded to unearth a numtion who owned property that was rented for. business of an immpralThe reyelations caused a sensation and several pieces of city property changed owners —at least as records" - show. The city papers state that if all ahureh members .equallyguilty were Served in the same vigorous Jashion the membership would suffer a ser■sus numerical and financial loss.

Our readers do not perhaps use reet tears a great deal,’still it is &■ resting Io know what a nickel when they do. For instance, it has recently been held by a Chicago legal luminapy, and the position hasnot as yet been overruled* that a person entering a??street car and paying fare becomes a party to a a>pd is boupd to . wait till the car goes—no-matter how long. It is held .that he cannot recover his fare, off and walks, ho thereby relinquishes his legal rights' land the. pohtrict ‘becomes void —the street cat Company retaining possession of the nimble nickel. It makes no difference to the company rtf,the,map chooses to walk. True, he might have ■walked Without paying his nickel, but this legal light holds he had Do right to do so after having paid for his ride. The position taken by the corporation’s attorney may be summed up: As long as you stay on the car you may not have a ride but you’ll have a contract; if you get off and walk you are breaking faith with the company and ought to be held to account for it.

The Sunday Inter-Ocean,**March 4, gave an extensive write-up of gambling in Chicago. It estimates that there are from 1,500 to 2,000 professional sports in that city who prey upon the wage-earners and reap a luxurious living without toil. The dens are almost innumerable, and the traps that are laid to catch the unwary are ingenious and varied. Many of the places are magnificent in their appointments and luxurious in all their surroundings, but the less attractive resorts are quite .39 successful and are more largely patranked, The authorities are practically powerless to reflate the evil or purposely neglect tq attempt fry!

enforce the laws, and the J tiger” has an almost undisputed sway. Snide games and barefaced robberies are matters of daily occurrence, and although an occasional arrest and fine follows the discovery of an especially aggravated case, it causes but little comment, and is regarded as a matter of course. People who suspect themselves of any tendency to “greenness” would do well to take a guardian along when visiting the World's Fair city. Probably the most amusing feature of the long-drawn out discussion of the silver question is the petition now alleged to be in circulation in Colorado mining camps, looking to a secession of the silver producing States from the Union. It is proposed that these disgruntled citizens shall attach themselves and their silver mines to the Republic of Mexico. It seems incredible that sensible men would waste their time in an agitation so utterly foolish, or seriously contemplate an enterprise so absolutely visionary and hopeless. Yet the information that such a movement in contemplated is apparently trustworthy, and there may be a possibility that Uncle Sam may yet have to send a Gatling gun and a squad of artillery out West to suppress this latest venture of unbalanced minds. Seriously, while such a secession movement could never hope to succeed, there is no doubt that a few thousand desperate and determined men, .fully Acquainted with the mountain fastnesses of Colorado, could give the government at Washington a vast amount of trouble before they could be conquered.

The entire civilized world Will in the near future be joined together in a network of cables, and intelligence from the most remote quarters of the globe will reach us by their sympathetic nerves before our jeorrespondent at Possum Trot has gathered and mailed to us his Weekly budget. The .latest enterprise of this character is a cable..,line across the South China Sea from Borneo to Hong Kong? The route has already been surveyed, and the work cable’ laying will soon begin. British-oap’ ital will Control the company ahd the, cable will be of English manufacture. Naturally its workings will bfe manipulated to the advantage of [ British , commerce. British capiljalists a vast system’ bf Asiatic ocean cables, and English l have taken the lead in all parts of the world in the cable-laying busiAmericans, to whose ive genius the world owes the; stub.marine telegraphic cable, have (fallen behind in the competition for'their • cofiStrhetiqn began fifty cables are good as those manufactured inlEtag-* land;' but we' can not;- "it ig claimedjcompete in price with those of ifln,glish manufacture! The tru.e vexplanation, however, of this unsatisfactory state of affairs is our lack of capital to make investments bring-' ing a small percentage of return and extending over a long term of years.

N. Y. Sun. Three and a half miles west of Aldie, jLoudoun cpupty, Va. ? is tb.o Jocallyjfhhibus “bllqjv’s.yfijmp,” and.a strange story has been- current thereabouts for the ..better .part, of, this century. Jesse McVeigh livedlong,ago in on old stone house on the edge of the swamp, and there yame Ao him once astranger- asking shelter. The stranger was taken in. and he lived there for five. •He never went beyond the swamps for'* exercise, and he took elaborate precautions at” night to guard ag&inst’ surprise. l When he died a ‘Stranger from a neighboring village caineland : claimed the body, professing tip .recognize the dead man as an acquaintance. The,stranger who claltned th.o foody,was .the dead man’s l cson, and he afterward became Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The father, a wealthy and well-educated Marylander, but a man of ungovernable temper, had slain a guest at his own table by breaking his skull with a decanter. The homicide’s place of hiding was hardly more than fifty miles front the scene of his crime.