Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 29, Number 9, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 27 August 1898 — Page 6

6

SOOTHED BY THE SEA

OUR 8ICK SOLDIERS CONVALESCING AT MONTAUK POINT.

Cool and Isolated ma Midoceaa—Almost Wild When Inhabited by the Indians Nearly Two C«ntnrles Ago—Striking Contract to Fever Infected Cuba.

[Special Correspondence.]

MONTAUK POINT, N. Y., Aug. 22.— Until a few weeks ago MOD tank Point was practically unknown even to the people of New York unless to the few who went there periodically to enjoy the dnck shooting and fishing, for which the locality is famous. But since the war authorities selected the place as the location for a large military camp it has assumed great importance in the estimation of the public throughout the country. No better selection could be made for the purposes intended than Hontauk Point. Though not much more than a hundred miles from New York city, the general summer temperature is lower by 20 degrees than that of the city. Cool breezes blow over its exfrom all directions, and mosquiaod other insect pests are almost unknown.

Montauk Point is about 12 miles in length and from one to three in breadth. Until a few years ago there were but three private dwelling houses in all this territory, and even now the number of its permanent inhabitants foes not exceed 100. It is a region of undulating grass land, treeleej save for the beautiful Hither wood, but luxuriant in low vegetation of wild flowers and shrubbery. The neighborhood is rich in Indian legends, and Arthur W. Benson of Brooklyn, the present owner of much of the land, still pays a certain sum yearly to the survivors of the line of Montauk chiefs who ruled here in days long gone by.

The magical changes which have taken place here within the past three weeks are perfectly surprising. The sandy dunes are now covered almost to the margin of the sea by an undulating expanse of tents, roads have been constructed, wells sunk, and houses, like Jonah's gourd, have sprung up in a day. Though much of the hurry and confusion that prevailed previous to the arrival of the troops from Santiago has subsided. there is still an enormous amount of work to do, as the number of soldiers that have alroady arrived is small compared to those that are to come.

More than two miles of sidings have been built by the railroad company, and rough sheds to protect the enormous quantity of supplies required for the camp were rushed up with the greatest possible dispatch. The storehouses for quartermasters' and commissary supplies were ereoted in a few days, and substantial buildings, complete to the smallest detail, took but little more time to construct than the huts of the aborigines that made this their canning ground less than two centuriee ago.

General a M. B. Young, who was fn^^ tKe^ wmiMud, has been unwearied in his efforts to make the camp ready for the first arrival of troops. He made preparations for every possible contingency, BO that when the siok and the war wearied soldiers reaohed the camp they were at onoe consigned to their respootive quarters. As the general was unoertain whether the troopships would oome direct to Fort Pond bay here or go through the quarantine in New York harbor, he established a camp of detention for Santiago fever patients, where they could be subjeoted to inspection for a few days before being permitted to mingle with others in the main camp.

Yesterday I visited the hospital established here for the sick of Shafter's army. It has aooommodation for about 800 patients, and some of the cots are not yet occupied. The men, many of whom are emaciated and very weak, seem to be suffering more from privation and the effects of living under unwholesome and unaccustomed condi-

rcrrriKG vr

T*KTS AT MONTAUK POINT.

tions than from any specifio disease. They are, it is needless to say, delighted with the change, and a marked im­

provement

and were

was noticeable in their state

of health after being here a few days. The convalescents on reaching here wete assigned to ordinary army tents

treated both as to rations and

other requisites in manner suited to their conditions. Yesterday afternoon I took a stroll over the main street leading through this city of tents. Some of the men wore lounging about aimlessly, others were playing cards, some were sleeping, numbers

wading.newspapers

and many

had gone to the beach to enjoy their daily bath. The few to whom I spoke were glad beyond measure at the change from fever stricken Santiago to Moo* tank Point. Delighted, however, as they were with the place* they said thtsj would not be sorry to it «*d "go to the folks at borne.*'

KWX. MACDONAXXX

DISAPPOINTED ARGONAUTS.

More Feople In the Klondike -Than the Conn try Can Support. V* [8pecial Correspondence.]

DAWSON CITY, July 23.—Dawson is full of disappointed argonauts. There are hundreds hare who are out of work and practically broke,'' and there will be much suffering the coming winter. One argonaut was oomplaining bitterly of the outlook. "But if you have your own outfit it won't cost you so much to live," I venre "Won't? Well, things cost what they are worth usually. If meals ain't worth but $2, why do the boys pay $2.50? And when moose meat and beef are worth $2 a pound right over at that store you won't see the price come down. I can do better back in the States." he said.

Others say they are going down to the American side. "I want to go where I can own something," said one. "Why, Canada wants the earth. There's $10 for a license, $15 to record,

ARRIVAL OF A STEAMER AT DAWSON. $10 to chop wood, and 10 per cent of the dust you take out. Uncle Sam's good enough for me."

Occasionally a man is found who blames the newspapers for getting him here, which shows how little he has read them. But it is safe to say that at least three-quarters of the incomers are disappointed men. They have no reason to be, however. The hardships of the trail have been magnified rather than minimized there is quite as much gold here as an average of the reports have indicated, and it was reported as early as last fall that all the ground for miles around Dawson had been staked.

The fact is this is a wonderfully rich mining country, but it cannot take care of the surplus population of the whole earth. There are too many men here—too many of the right kind as well as of the wrong kind, for the individual with even a year's outfit stands little chance of making a "stake." If he would prospeot, he must go far back from the Yukon and the other easily accessible creeks, where the cost of paoking provisions is heavy and the labor of getting even one prospect hole through the solidly frozen earth to bedrock can hardly be imagined, especially where wood is scarce. x*?

The native races of the entire country of Alaska are fast disappearing. In another century there will not be a single one left They were created for the country as it was, not as civilization would have it Change the order of their life, and they disappear as do the indigenous herbs and game before the domestication of soil and climate. The missionaries have succeeded in cleansing their bodies to a certain extent and probably their souls as well, but they do not wax strong and multiply under religious teaching. A good deal has been said about the way they are duped by the trading companies, but observation convinces toe that the great American tourist and the returning miner take advantage of the Indian in every way possible, even to the extent of passing bright new pennies upon him for goldpieces, but the aborigine himself is no tyro in "ways that are dark and tricks that are vain," and, oontrary to trtidition, he learned to lie and cheat long before he ever saw white men. An old miner tells me he once came across a village far up the Porcupine river, where none had ever before beheld a white man. As he was half starved he traded a nice "sweater" for what he supposed was a fine hind quarter of a moose, but when he had got the purchase to the fire and thawed the ice off he found he had nothing but some refuse meat and skin frozen and wrapped around a well cleaned bone.

The state of affairs in Sunrise City, about 150 miles from the Klondike, is perhaps worse even than in Dawson City. In proportion to the population of the place there area greater number of disappointed gold seekers. Here in the Klondike numbers have been suooessful in their search for treasure, while at Sunrise City it is difficult to meet one who has made his expenses. Of the thousand or more people that were there when I visited the place nearly all despaired of success and would have left at onoe had they the means of doing so. They were waiting, like Wilkins Micawber, for something to turn up, probably in the form of a remittance or some charitable person that would defray their expenses to their homes.

There Me three or four mines in Sunrise City that yield moderate profits, but a party of Connecticut men who worked hard for two months told me that it took half a pound of quicksilver to extract 6 cents' worth of gold. They were thoroughly disgusted with the whole business, and intended, they stated, to leave the place forthwith.

Unless relief comes before next winter the hundreds of unfortunate people at Sunrise City will be in danger of starvation-—in fact, some are starving now. DAVID STARK JOXB&

Met HU Match.

"That comet player has moved out of the lower fiat" "What was the trouble?*" "He complained of our baby."—Chicago Record.

TEBRE HAUTE SATURDAY EVENING- HAIL, AUGUST 28, 1898.

A THRILLING MOMENT

THE DARINC ACT OF HEROISM OF AN OIL WELL SHOOTER.

He Flayed Baek Stop In the Game Between tAt*, and Death, With Nature In the Box and Twenty Quarts of Nitroglycerin

Doing Service as the Ball.

One of the most thrilling experiences recorded in the annals of shooters' careers was that in which Dick Singleton, an old time Bradford shooter, played the role of hero. He played it well too. That the sensational drama did not turn out to be a tragedy in which six lives were taken in the last act is due to the hero's cool bead, quick derision and superb nerve in the face of almost certain death. "3-rV'lv-/

Singleton'was one of the best known shooters in the Bradford field. He had all the qualities which enter into the make up of a successful juggler with death's agencies. He had shot hundreds of wells and transported glycerin all over roads which at oertain seasons had no counterpart for all round villainy anywhere, but his reckless caution had always averted a catastrophe.

One day Singleton started out to shoot a well located near Bradford. The well had been "drilled in" two or three days before, hnf. ftha ghnntor had been too busy to put in a shot

Arrived at the well Singleton proceeded to fill the shells with glycerin from his cans. That is a proceeding of some delicacy, as glycerin allows no liberties to be taken with it Care must be exercised in pouring the stuff from the cans into the sheila

The well was about 1,800 feet deep, and during the interval since drilling had stopped about 1,000 feet of fluid had accumulated in the hole.

There was nothing unusual' about that, but something unusual did happen speedily and most inopportunely something calculated to turn one's hair gray and make such an impression on the memories of the men present as time could not efface.

The glycerin shell had been lowered several hundred feet, and Singleton was slowly playing out the cord, when he felt the line slacken. Immediately he heard an ominous roar. It was a sound to appall the stoutest heart „J"'J,

The well had started to flow! Singleton knew the meaning of that sound. He knew that a column of oil 1,000 feet high, obeying the impetus of the mighty forces of nature, then in convulsion 2,000 feet underground, was forcing to the surface with a velocity of a cannon ball a shell containing 20 quarts of glycerin.

He realized that the propulsivo energy of that column of oil would projeot the shell against the timbers of the derrick with tremendous force. No need to speculate on what would follow the impact.

All this was flashed upon Singleton's consciousness as he stood leaning over the hole. The thought flash and the signal of peril were coincident in point of time.

It was an awful moment—such a moment as no man had ever experienced and lived to describe.

Singleton's companions understood the import of that terrifying sound. Aoting upon a natural impulse, they turned to flee, seeking in flight the safety which they knew it was futile to hope for. Almost before terror could impart motion to their limbs the catastrophe would befall.-

If Singleton had lost his head or hesitated for only a fractional part of a second, six men would have been blown into eternity, and another horror would have been added to the long list charged to the account of nitroglycerin.

But he did not lose his head. He knew that flight was useless. No time for that Whether he should run or stay, death seeemd to be inevitable.

If he should stay, there was one ohance—only one. It came to Singleton like an inspiration. The one chance decided him. Desperate as it was—a million to one that it would fail—he resolved to take it

Who can say what passed through the man's mind during the inappreciable fraction of time that he waited to put his plan into execution?

Perhaps Singleton himself could not describe what his mental vision beheld in that brief interval between the warning and the appearance of the messenger of eternity.

He was conscious of nothing but the peril which was rushing upon him and his companions and of the stern resolve to stand at his post and do all that heroic manhood could do to avert the impending doom.

Men think quickly at such time.* Singleton's mind acted with the celerity of lightning. His muscles obeyed the mandate of the will with electric promptitude.

He made his title clear to heroism on that eventful day. He braced himself, and as the shell shot from the hole he threw his arms around it not knowing but the sudden arrest of motion would explode the charge and not knowing that he oould hold the shell at alL

Desperation gave him strength. There he stood, victor over death, surprised to find himself alive and smothered in the thick, greasy fluid which flowed from the well and fell in torrente upon him. But he held fast to the prise which his alert mind, quick eye and prompt action had won in the band to hand grapple with the forpes of destruction.

Singleton is still living somewhere in the lower oil country, and he occasionally tries his hand at a shot, but if be should live until the final day off judgment he could never forget the day when he played hack stop in the game between life and death, with nature in the box and 20 quarts of nitroglycerin doing service as a balL-^-St Louis Republic.

The bandagf&g of the feet of Chinese giirh is begun in many cases at the age

Of 'iS^u,

Urns

Water at Tart.

In McClure's Magazine there is an interesting account of Dr. Sven Hedin, a young Swedish traveler, who has been doing some remarkable work in Asia, in an attempt to cross the hitherto unexplored Takla-Makan desert His party entered the deso& April 10, 1895. The water gave out the camels died, and one by one all the servants succumbed. "I went on alone," says Dr. Hedin. "The forest was very dense and the night black. I had eaten almost nothing for tea days I had drunk nothing for five. I crossed the forest crawling on all fours, tottering from tree to tree. I carried the haft of the spade aB a crutch. At last I came to an open space. The forest ended like a devastated plain. This was a river bed. It was quite dry. There was not a drop of water. "I went on. I meant to live. I would find water. I was very weak, but I crawled on all fours and at last I crossed the river bed. It was three kilometers wide. Then, as I reached the right bank of the river, I heard the sound of a duck lifting and the noise of splashing water. I crawled in that direction and found a large pool of clear, fresh water. "I thanked God first, and then I felt my pulse I wanted to see the effect that drinking would have on it It was at 48. "Then I drank. I drank fearfully. I drank and drank and drank. It was a lovely feeling. I felt my blood liquefying. It began to run in my veins my pores openod. My pulse went up at onoe to 58. I felt quite fresh and living."

Undaunted by his first terrible experience, Dr. Hedin crossed the desert again from south to north, and was rewarded by the discovery of a "very old town."

An Effective Pill Box.

.Hare is a good story of the author of "The Deserted Village:" Hearing of Dr. Goldsmith's great humanity, a poor woman, who believed him to be a physician, once wrote to him begging him to prescribe for her husband, who had lost his appetite and was altogether in a very sad state. The kind hearted poet immediately went to see her, and after some talk* with the man found him almost overwhelmed with sickness and poverty. "You shall hear from me in eu hour," said the doctor on leaving, "and I shall send you some pills which I am sure will do you good."

Before the time was up Goldsmith's servant brought the poor woman a small box, which, on being opened, was found to contain 10 guineas, with the following directions: "To be used as necessities require. Be patient and of good a a W

Teaching the Parrot.

Owners of these interesting birds must remember that if they wish them to talk well the best time to teach them is in the evening, with the cage oovered over and placed in a dark room and the teaoher enunciating the words slowly and distinctly and persistently. The natives of India consider that a slight operation upon the bird's tongue is necessary before it will speak easily.

Here's a Useful Test*

"I'm afraid I'm a dreadful talker." "What gives you that idea?" "When I come home from anywhere, I never can recall anything that was said except remarks I made myself."— Chicago Record.

The United Kingdom consumes 600, 000 pounds, or about 4,000,000 gallons, of tea every day, which is as much as is used by the rest of Europe, North and South America, Africa and Australia combined.

The best thing with which mother can crown hex daughter is a common sense knowledge of the distinctly feminine physiology. Every woman should thoroughly understand her own nature.

A woman who suffers in this way is unfitted for wifehood and motherhood. Maternity is a menace of death. Thousands of women suffer in this way because their innate modesty will not permit them to submit to the disgusting examinations and local treatment insisted upon by the avenge

These ordeals are unnecessary.

R. V. Pierce, an eminent and skillful for thirty years chief consul ician to the Invalids' Hotel and cal Institute, at Buffalo, N. Y.( has covered a wonderful remedy with which women may treat and speedily cure themselves in the privacy of their own homes. This medicine is known as Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription. It acts directly on the delicate and Important organs concerned. It makes them well and strong. It allays Inflammation, heals ulceration, soothes pain and rests the tortured nerves. Taken during the critical period, it banishes the usual discomforts and makes baby's advent easy and almost painless. Thousands of women who were once weak, sickly, nervous fretful invalids, are now happy, healthy wives, because of this medicine. It is sold by au good medicine dealers and no honest dealer will advise a substitute.

When commenced using Dr. Pierce's medIdnessome three yearn ago," write* Xn.8DaJ. Fox, care of W. Pox. of Eldorado, Saline Co.. Ills. I wu the picture of death. I had no heart to take anything: Weight was xaj. Myhusfaand had been to see five dSerent doctors about my trouble (female weakness). I commenced taking Or. Pierce's medicines, also wrote to him for advice. I took four bottles of Dr. Pierce's Plvorite Prescription, and one vial of his 'Pleasant Pel. lets,'and am now a well woman."

1

f.

Boad Reiitrictions In Baden.

Not a single mechanical vehicle can run on the roads of the Grand Duchy of Baden until the driver makes a declaration to the central authorities, who will give to him, after along investigation, authority to run upon a certain road decided upon in advance. After the authority is reoeived the driver is bound by an almost endless number of restric tions.

Mam

Up! Up! Up-to-date

mm

Every woman should understand the supreme importance of keeping herself well ana strong in a womanly way. Nearly all of the

pains and aches, nearly all the weakness and sickness and suffering of women is due to disorders or disease of the organs distinctly feminine.

1 2 0 0

Columbus discovered America.—but I have discovered BATTLE AX!

There is a satisfied—glad I Ve got it—expression on the faces of all who discover the rich quality of

RatileASfc

PLUG

County

Vigo

W

It Is an admirable chew fit for an Admiral. In no other way can you get as large apiece of as good tobacco for JO cents*

Demember the name

when you buy again.

B. G. HUDNUT, President. WILLARD KIDDER, Vice-President. G. A. CONZMAN. Cashier.

Capital Surplus

National Bank

Printing

HAUTE

Al

"When You Order Your

"7' I-'

Get the very best, and that is the product of the

TERRE HAUTE BREWING CO.

JLOOK HERE!

If you are going to build, what is the use of going to Me three or foot different kinds of contractors? Why not go aad see PROMMB, V'

General Contractor

416 wiiiXiO-w* s*raa:m:H3T,

As he employs thsbestof mechanics in Brick Work, Plastering, Carpentering, Painting, etc., and will furnish you plans and specifications if wanted.

S. Xj. FENNEB,' BUILDERS' HARWARE, FURNACES Sid?-.-

A.TTST

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FIRST-CLASS TINWORK

8TBB33BO?-