Bloomington Courier, Bloomington, Monroe County, 14 June 1895 — Page 3

THE OLDEST YETEKAN.

'UNCLE TOMMY" SMITH OF PARIS, ILLINOIS. He Is Now Ninety-five Tours Old and Went Into the Service When Sixty Be Carries Three Confederate Ballets In His Body. T IS DOUBTLESS a matter of conjecture as to who is the oldest livins veteran of the late war, writes a St. Louis Post-Dispatch correspondent from Paris, 111., but it is the opinion of many who have made the matter a subject of study that the claims of Thomas Smith of this cityare at least entitled to respectful consideration. If not the oldest veteran "Uncle Tommy" feels that, in point of experience, at least, his experience will discourage the aspirations of ambitious rivals. He carries in his body three confederate bullets; one just under the skin of the right knee cap, another, which entered just over the right collar bone, lodging somewhere in the fleshy part of the back, and a third in the right hip. Aside from these little reminders of southern hospitality, he has two badly deformed arms, one broken with a blow from a musket and the other the result of being ridden over in a cavalry charge at Nashville. On this 'atter occasion his breastbone and sevei3l ribs were crushed, but he set aside the sentence of death pronounced by the attending physician and lived to render two more years of active service for the old flag. Notwithstanding his many infirmities and the weight of nearly 95 years, most of which were passed in arduous toil, Uncle Tommy keeps within his withered, parchmentlike skin a young hea 't and relishes a joke as keenly as the average man of 25. When approached by the Post-Dispatch correspondent and asked to tell something concerning his life, he manifested the deepest interest, and though he experienced considerable difficulty" in remembering names and dates, he was finally able to recall nearly all of the essential particulars. He was born Sept. 18, 1800, at Powell's valley, Campbell county, Tenn., and resided in that locality up to the beginning of the war. Under the administration of Gov. Cannon, though a mere 'boy, he enlisted in a state mi?rtary organization and assisted in thS removal of a large body of Indians froHr the Georgia and Tennessee purchase, which they had refused to vacate, to a point in Arkansas, near the present site of Little Rock. When the war with Mexico opened he was one of the first to volunteer and tinder the command of Col. James Swan followed the victorious campaign of Gens. Scott and Taylor clear through to the City of Mexico, participating in most of the notable engagements of the war and coming through with a single scratch, a very slight bullet wound in the cheek, the scar of which is still visible. Returning to the pursuits of civil life, he followed various callings until the late war, when at the age of 81 years, he was quick to volunteer. To quote his own words, at this time he hadn't a gray hair, could jump as far as he wanted to and could almost outrun a rabbit. He served first in the regiment of Col. James Bromlow, who was connected with "Pap" Thomas' division. For three years he followed the fortunes of this command, participating in many engagements and receiving most of his injuries mentioned. His left wrist was broken- at Crab Orchard, Ky.; his right arm broken, breastbone and ribs crushed at Nashville, Tenn.; the wound in his knee was received at Franklin, Va.; that in his shoulder at Decatur, Ala.; that in the hip at Louden, below Knoxville, Tenn where he also received a slight bullet wound in the left leg. At the expiration of his three years service he removed his family from the border, laid waste by the contending armies, to Shelby county, Ind., and then going to Indianapolis he enlisted in the One Hundred and TwentyFirst Regiment, Ninth Indiana Cavalry, with which he served until the close of the war. Shortly after the downfall of the confederacy he came with his family to this (Edgar) county, and has been a resident of Paris for the last twenty-five years. In politics Mr. Smith is a republican, and though totally blind and very infirm he never neglects an opportunity to vote his sentiments. A very singular and noteworthy fact about Mr. Smith is that a few years since he began culling a third set of teeth, and four or five small though perfect molars have since made their appearance. Within the last year he has grown very feeble, but he retains his mental faculties well, and is able, with the assistance of his son-in-law, to walk down town at least once every day when the weather will permit. Bis Life Aim Was to Look Like Dickens. A familiar figure has vanished from the streets of Philadelphia. What has become of him nobody knows, but ho is seen in his old haunts no longer. His name and his family history are unknown to the great number of his fellow-citizens who knew his quaint face and figure so well. He was one of ths army of; imitators that flourished long ago, who made it their life study to ape the mannerisms and the style of dress of the eminent novelist Dickens. Many years ago, when Dickens came to this country, there were any number of men who were told by their friends that they greatly resembled the illustrious Englishman. The old gentlemaa who is the

' subject of this sketch was evidently one

of these. He wore his hair brushed forward about his ears and neck; the beard, shaven on the cheek, remained always a handful on the chin, joining the mustache at the corners of the mouth. He wore the stock and tie that Dickens affected, and he even made it ! a point to assume the keen look which ! characterized the great novelist. Now he has passed away, and he was the last I of Dickens' imitators. FIRST NIGHT IN A SLEEPER The Adventures of a Rural Couple Bound for Niagara Falls. During last August when cheap excursion trains were being run to Niagara Falls from nearly every section of the country, as is the custom every year, I was given charge of a ten-car train of Pullman sleepers delivered to the Erie by a connecting line running into ' Darkest Indiana," says a writer in Chicago Inter Ocean. The passengers on this train were of the raw blue jeans type, many of whom were crossing the borders of their state for the first time, and a big majority of them were getting their first taste of Pullman luxuries. As the shades of night began to fall the thoughts of the passengers naturally turned to sleep. In the rear of the Pullman was an elderly farmer and his wife hailing from one of the interior counties of the state. They were the first people in the car to ask the porter to fix their bed, so they could "turn in." Their tickets called for one of the upper berths, which the porter immediately made up for them. After the porter had brought them the ladder his attention was called to the other end of the car, when to the amazement of the other passengers in the car the old lady quickly mounted the ladder with the alertness of a gymnast, climbed over the curtain pole, and dropped into the berth. When the porter came along the old gentleman was in the act of going through the same performance. The porter intercepted him before he had completed his giant swing and gracefully parting the curtains showed the mystified tiller of the soil that there was an easier way of getting into an upper berth than by way of the roof, at which the old man smiled and said he wondered why Maria had not thought of splitting the curtains. The train, which was running special and making few stops, had not run very far after this incident when I felt the train give a slight lurch as if the airbrake had been suddenly applied. I gave little attention to this, but had hardly dismissed it from my mind when the train lurched again. I was then convinced that somebody was meddling with the airbrake cord which runs along the roof of the car. Two officials of the passenger department of the road who were in the rear sleeper felt the jerking of the train, and climbing stepladders at either end of the car began to look for the trouble. The official at the further end of the car quickly discovered the leak. The old couple who had scaled the curtain pole to get into their berth had mistaken the airbrake cord for a clothes line and had hung all of their wearing apparel, including boots and shoes, on it. The weight of the clothes had stretched the cord so as to set the air brakes. Just as the plot had been discovered the old lady threw her "shape" over the line. This broke the camel's back. The air hissed, the brakes were set like a vise, and the train brought to a dead standstill. After the cord was unloaded the old couple were told of their mistake, and the train piloted through the dark night without any further accidents. FASHION. Very new blouse fronts to wear inside open jackets are of tucked batiste, trimmed with yellow Valenciennes lace. A yellow chiffon parasol had ruffles put on in festoons with narrow black lace both as a heading and finish to the ruffles. Parasols this spring may be said to he strictly in keeping with the other finery extremely fussy, rich in materials and frequently picturesque in effect. Sleeves for evening gowns, although smaller than formerly, are stiffly lined, and either match the skirt, or form a striking contrast to it in velvet, chiffon or plaited gauze. The latest novelties in colored crepons are the blush-greens and greenish-blues, watercress greens, vieux-rose, chinablues, etc., all of which are new and eminently artistic tints. One of the newest adjuncts to the swagger outing suit Is the English derby of silky felt or beaver, with its smartly rolling brim and bell erown and its broad band of black ribbon. Unquestionably that woman whose hair is short but thick has the best possibilities for a varying coiffure and if nature has kindly endowed her with curly locks she has achieved a blissful cendition of independence in regard to "doing her hair." PROVERBS. True love never harmed anybody. Folly never objects to working overtime. Too many people db their coaxing with a club. Love on only one side means misery on both sides. The coming woman talks too much as she comes. It will be noticed that the ideal husband never marries. Homely women are necessarily the most sensible ones. The devil manages to get a good deal of work out of lazy people. One mission of sorrow in this life is to show us our need of God. Few men profit by the mistakes of others; fewer still by their own. The unexpected happens so often that some people never expect anything else. The prayer that opens a window in heaven can only be offered when God is worshiped. If the truth were spoken at all times friendship would soon become the rarest thing on earth. A man would escape a good many unpleasant experiences if he had to pay for them in advance. Every woman with a worthless husband thinks she is fully qualified to pick out a husband for any other woman.

TWO CLEVER WOMEN.

TALENTED DAUGHTERS JULIA WARD HOWE. OF Author of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as She Is To-day Her Daughters Are Ardent Laborers hi the Cause of Woman Suffrage. (Boston Correspondence.) N a rather small, old-fashioned home on Beacon street, half way between the Public Gardens and the Back Bay, lives a woman who has seen the civilization of America form itself and has added potent ingredients to it. In the parlor of this little house have sat and talked the greatest men of America and the best of America's visitors. They seem to have left in the atmosphere some indefinable flavor, like a lingering perfume, which tells even the casual visitor that here has been high thinking and noble speech. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was born, in 1819, into a fashionable New York family of that day. Her brother, the well known Sam Ward, belongs to the New York of his generation. Her sister married Mr. Crawford, the artist, whose son is the clever and successful novelist, Marion Crawford. As a girl Julia Ward was sent to the most conservative of fashionable boarding schools, where back boards and all the appliances for forming prim young ladyhood were in vogue. Her own individuality was so great that she came out of this to be the apostle of the equal rights of men and women. As early as her wedding journey she began to make the impressions which have hardened into facts of American life. Dr. Howe, her husband, was an enthusiastic democrat, a republican of republicans, whose creed was the love of humanity. He found in her an ardent sympathizer. Coming back to Boston, the Howes were welcomed as the friends of th men and women who gave that city its reputation as a center of culture. Mrs. Howe was a woman of brilliant and quick perceptions, and an impression seemed to fix itself upon her mind until it bore fruit of some sort. The famous "TBattle Hymn of the Republic" was such a fruit. Dr. and Mrs. Howe were visiting Washington in 1861, making their way there through a line of guarding pickets. One day they drove out some distance from the city with Mr. and Mrs. James Freeman Clarke to attend a review of the troops. The enemy interrupted the proceedings, and the Boston party was hastily escorted back to the city. On the way the soldiers sang "John Brown's Body." Mr. Clarke, seeing Mrs. Howe's Intense face as she listened to the sad martial music, said to her: "You ought to write some new words to that tune." "I will," she replied. In the gray of the next dawn she awoke to find the lines arranging themselves in her brain. She lay quite still until the last word said itself, when she arose and in the half darkness wrote them down. The song was first sung in Libby prison, and then the words were caught up, and from prison to battlefield "He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat. He Is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat," echoed until victory was sounded. Mrs. Howe's daughters have been followers of her theories concerning freedom. They have seen her preside over suffrage societies all their lives, and as they grew older they added their share. The eldest daughter married Mr. Anagnos, a Greek gentleman, who took up Mr. Howe's work for the blind in Boston, and who founded the first kindergarten for the blind in the world. She died several years ago, but not be-

fore leaving a strong influence upon Boston charities. Mrs. Laura Richards, the second daughter, is the wife of a New England business man, with a houseful of children of her own: but this does not prevent her from being an author. Her best stories are those written for her own children, and some of them are classics of their kind. "Captain January" is her best known bonk. Maud Hown Elliott, Mrs. Howe's most beautiful .laughter, is the wife of John Elliott, the artist. She lives fcr

MAUD HOWE ELLIOTT, half the year in Rome and for the other half in America, generally spending her summers at her mother's modest Newport home. Her first novel, "A Newport Aquarelle," is a bright picture of their summer life there. The Howes are closely identified with the Town and Country club in Newport, whicn is semi-literary. But Mrs. Elliott's great success has been as a lecturer. She became much interested in General Booth's work in London, and last winter lectured in Boston upon "The Submerged Tenth," both in public halls and in drawing rooms. Florence Howe Hall, another of Mrs. Howe's daughters, has confined herself chiefly to social topics in her writings; LAURA E. RICHARDS. but. through them all runs the leaven of her mother's spirit, the love of liberty, and goodness, and truth. A Horror of Capital I'uiiltiliiueut. The Duke of the Duchy of SaxeMeiningen, father-in-law of the Princess Charlotte of Prussia, and the granddaughter of the queen, has su-di a horror of capital punishment that during the twenty-eight years of his reign not a single execution has taken place in his realm. The duke, by the way, has been married three timesfirst to Princess Charlotte of Prussia, daughter of Prince Albert; secondly, to Princess Fedora of La risen burp, and thirdly, to the Baroness von Heldberg (nee Franz) this last is a morganatic marriage.

BEETLES INVADE A TOWN.

Vast ;;;uk!s of the Inserts Settle Down Vpon Lancaster, la. Great clouds of strange beetles settled down upon Lancaster recently and under every one of the hundreds of electric street lamps in the morning were found bushels of the dead visitors. Half the domestics in town were out with brooms soon after sunrise to 1 sweep the stark corpses into the street, i says Philadelphia Record. They were bugs a good deal bigger than the biggest locust ever seen in this locality. They swooped down upon Lancaster by the million during the night, and immense flying columns of them pervaded the humid atmosphere. The electric lights were the main points of attack, and the glitter proved touchstones that brought death to the nocturnal visitors. The bugs would fly in great columns up against the big arc lamps, and down they would fall, dead. The Interior of the globes were in many instances choked full of dead bugs, while under the gas lamps they were found in somewhat smaller quantities dead or dyng. A local entomologist describes these midnight marauders as members of the family of hydrophilade. or water beetle. They come from tha ponds and marshy places, and about this time of the year they are on the move, though the present visitation Is phenomenal. They do not fly by day, but when at the ponds they hide in tho deep mud. TAKEN TO MEXICO. Two of (iarza's Lieutenants Arrested at Detroit for Alleged Murder. Two of Garza's most prominent lieutenants in the late Mexican rebellion were Cscilio Salinas and Carmen ! Ybanez, Texans, and they are accused j of having led an armed band across the Texas border during the revolt. Their band raided the town of Los Tortillas and killed six persons. Later a detachment of Mexican cavalry drove tl.em across the border. In the federal court of San Antonio they were complained of as having violated the neutrality laws. A little later an agent of the Mexican government asked their extradition on the charge of murder, the explicit occasion being the killing of six persons in Los Tortillas. In order to escape arrest on this case both, in company with Juan Florez, pleaded guilty and were sentenced to the Detroit house of correction for a short term. Their sentence expired last week and Salinas and Ybamv stepped from the doors of the prison into the arms of United States Marshl R. C. Ware and Deputy J. D. Milton or San Antonio. They were arrested for murder, and they started back to San Antonio. Marshal Ware said as he left Detroit with the prisoners: "If the Dia-J government ever gets these two it will be short work. They will not live rive hours before they are taken out and shot. Both of them are voters in Texas, but they led a small band across the border when Garza made his attempt to throw down the government of President Diaz. Thus far we have not been able to send a single man over the border on extradition papers, but one man voluntarily gave himself up, and it is only a question of time when he will be shot." Salinas looks like a prosperous western ranchman, while Ybanes has the appearance of a halfbreed. A New Substitute for Gold. A French technical paper, the Journal de l'Horlogerie, declares that a new amalsam has been discovered, which is a wonderful substitute for gold. It consists of ninety-four .?.vlr. of copper to six parts of antimony. The copper is melted and the antimony Is then added. Once tho two metals arc sufficiently fused together a litllo magnesium and carbonate of lirr.e are added to increase the density of f... material. The product can be dii-.-v.i. wrougut, and soldered, just like gold, which it almost exactly resembles on being polished. Even when exposed t.i ti e action of nmmomacal raits of nitrous vapors it preserves it;-., color. The cost of making it is about a sliilJirjg a pui-nd avoirdupois.

COSTLY MATERIAL FOR A NEST.

A Bird Stole a Ten-Dollar BUI and Used It as a Lining. A $10 bill, which had mysteriously disappeared, was recovered by Assistant Coin Teller Phil Turpin of the subtreasury in a peculiar manner, says the Cincinnati Enquirer. He has a beautiful farm out on Cliff creek, near the Little Miami river. In that section birds fairly abound. One evening about the middle of May Mr. Turpin was getting ready to attend a soiree at his next neighbor's in Newtown, about two miles distant. The weather, it will be remembered, at that time was unusually warm, and he left the windows of his room open. Mr. Turpin had taken his money, among which was a $10 bill, and laid it on a center table, intending to put it in a pocket of his other trousers. The room is at the corner of the house, and has windows on both sides. He stationed himself at one of the windows and commenced to shave. The birds were singing outside and flying about the house and through the open windows, joyful, no doubt, at the advent of spring, while others were busy in trees building nests. It was luxury to shave amid such surroundings, and when Mr. Turpin finished he looked sleeker than ever. After washing he prepared to don his Sunday-gd-to-meeting clothes. After he arranged his necktie to give the best effect he went to the center table and began picking up his money, but was not a little surprised to find a $10 bill missing. He thought that the wind might have blown it on the floor and he begati looking there for it. After a long time spent in vain, he gave up the search there. He went out into the yard and began hunting in among the flowers and grass for it, thinking that it might have been blown through the op'en window, but he had to go to that soiree minus a $10 note. Day before yesterday the severe wind storm blew a robin's nest out of a tree near the front porch. Mr. Turpin picked the nest up and was aT)out to cast it away when he noticed what appeared to be a piece of paper of peculiar color. He examined it and found it to be currency of some denomination, but it was not until he had carefully torn the nest apart that he discovered it to be a $10 bill. It was apparently the one he had lost a couple of weeks ago, a bird having flown into the room and snatched up the money. The bill was in pretty bad cond iton and he redeemed it at the treasury yesterday. WILLIAM PENN'S STATUE. . A Flan to Have It Revolve, and Thus Face All Direction. The dissatisfaction of the public in general over the position of the big statue of Wiliam Penn, which surmounts the tower of the City Hall in Philadelphia, may be overcome by the Councils adopting a unique plan proposed by J. Chester Wilson, the wellknown engineer, to make the tremendous bronze figure revolve, says a Philadelphia paper. As the statue now stands it faces the old Penn Treaty Park, the point at which Penn landed, and the right arm is also extended in that direction. From the entire southern section of the city only the back of the statue is visible, while from the extreme east and west only a profile view of Penn's features can be obtained. When the statue was placed in position, there was a great deal of dissatisfaction expressed that it should face the northeastern part of the city, but after it was once placed on the tower the Councils and the Building Commission Ignored all propositions to change it. Finally Mr. Wilson conceived the novel idea that the way to please everybody would be to make the statue revolve, and at a recent meeting of the Engineers' Club he explained his plan in detail. So impressed were the members of the club j that they indorsed the plan, and a res olution win be introduced m the Common Council at the next meeting by Henry W. Lambirth asking the city to put the idea into execution. . Mr. Wilson's plan is to remove the statue from its fastenings on a permanent plane and bolt it to a revolving plane so that it will turn completely around once in every twenty-four hours. This could be done, he claims, by a system of cog-wheels and clockwork, the power being supplied by a central shaft driven by electrical machinery. The movement of the statue would not be perceptible, as it would revolve with extreme slowness. As an additional convenience it is proposed to place permanent marks on the base of the north, east, south, and west points, and also on the revolving base, to indicate the time of day. The suggestion is made that these marks represent 12 o'clock midnight. 9 a. m., 3 and 6 p. m. For the further convenience of the public, it is contemplated to illuminate the statue at night by a system of electricity, so that the time of day may be discerned at all times. Children of Famous Women. Among famous women who were childless or the mothers of few children were Mmc. George Sand, who had two children, a son end daughter; Mme. de Stael, who had three children during her early married life one after her second marriage; Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who had only one son; Mrs. Somerville, the astronomer, who had three children, though twice married; George Eliot was childless and so was Mrs. Craik (Miss Muloch) and Mrs. Barbauld. ' Married at Last. Thirty years ago, August M. Merrlke of Laporte, Ind., asked a lady of 20 to be his bride. She refused him. He continued his attentions to her, and the other day he won her consent. She la now 60, and he is 91.