OCR Text |
Show Are jou going to Ijnch me without ALASKA. JlQRTH telling me what It la for I screamed!- - j Yovl know well enough what It for asserted Blgo Wltllsma. grimly, SOCIALISM O.NTRlAC AMONG THE ESQU1MEAUX. W found him. Found whom?" As If you did Aot know! .That wont They Ir of Meager Intelligence hat work with ua. Your knife waa In bla Menage tn Illnetrnte the Chief Prinv heart! tline of Proud hoe'e Theory St or of "My knife? What are you talking a Missionary. about? I do not understand what you mean. HE most explicit But there wsa a sick sensation at my end Intelligent acof heart, for a shadowy understanding count of life In farme. the truth began to dawn upon away Alaskg. and of "You were Jieart5uarreling with "The strange habit Him last men who heard nlghtThe Bd characteristics you are here of the natives that -Then the three men 1 had noticed jjas ever found its descending the trail stepped forward. Net so 0TTI a speiT from the pen of the Found, though you klvered him with Rev. Francis Bar-nuroff. him rubbish arter you had dragged MYSTERY OF A CRIME. LI BENDER cam staggering up the trail that led past our cabin. I1 waa the bum, the sot. the W' ji j were bleared, hi while hla band I drunk- en wreck who bad been twice warned to get out of Cable Bar. . HU ekrthee were In tatter, hla eyes noe redand peeled, shook as If with the paUjr. exclaimed Nelson, a be Faugh watched the wblakjr wreck; be make - - teealckf 1 I wonder where he la going?" aaid I. a I dont know, and 1 dont care durn, ao long a be dont stop here." a, a CatHBtlc lle is stationed In the missionary. And he la dead? f 400- miles beyond St. Well, a man cant live very long Yukon district, In Horton Sound, which is w hen be hat a knife through hla heart. Michael's, the trail. But Old Bender dl l atop, lie came up to where we were sitting and amok-ta- g our evening pipes. .You say It was my knife? The tun was down; night waa creepHyar it la! Deny It if you can!" ing up from the gorges. 'Im druv out at last, parda," whined The bloody knife was held up before the old bummer, me, a poor old man me. I could not deny It; It waa mine! I thought of Old Bender. But he had turned out Into the World! They had a rope, and they'd lynched me ef I hadn't gone the other way. ( Still he might have sneaked back got away, when I went Into the cabin to smoke. And served ye right, growled Nelson. Youre a fool' said Williams. You Theyd ougbteedy ached jo long hade time enough to get a good start go." Evrjbody'a ag'ln me!" quavered Doc Nelson waa killed last night. " Last night! Old Bender. ThU U my last chance. ,7 t, I thought of the awesome cry of morKf you won't let me atop hyar ill be a dead roan before another sun- tal agony that had come up to my ears from the darknessMo n the trail. up." I had heard Kelson' death shriek! Go on an die! snarled Nelson, who Will you confess to the killing of hated the bummer in a most unaccountable manner. your pard?" Never! I am innocent!" Hold on," said 1, rising to my feet. "I am going to take Bender In for the Say yer prayera! ! did pray. 1 felt that I was on the night." Nelson leaped up, astonishment and brink of eternity. It would useless to rage corrugating hi features. Some protest my Innocence useless to ask men were passing down the trail aa be for mercy. I would die as bravely as cried; possible, Well, durn me ef that ain't nerve! "Ready! else-wbEf you take that critter In, I stay The noose about my neck grew taut! "" IB on more moment I would awing My blood waa aroused. I saw the men Into eternity. look back, and 1 knew they heard our "Hold on thar! Three men came rushing toward ua, word. Stop where you please!" 1 shot back. swinging their hats. Bender stays here Blge Williams cursed at the delay. TU real murderer has been caught The men went on end disappeared. NeUonaelzed bis hat, giving me a an lynched a'ready! mad look, Hew my heart leaped! The real You will be sorry for this," he de- murderer! Then I was saved! Whats that? demanded Williams, clared, Take in the old bum! I hope he flies yer!" astonished, With that he strode away after the "Old Bender killed Nelson! declared one of the men. When he heard you men. whim- had come after Swift he confessed, and Thankee, pnrd thankee! pered the sot. Youre the find one to the boys lynched him instanter. He he stole Swift's knife. show any heart toward me for a long time. I wont forglt I wont forglt! less than s minute I waa free. The 1 tankee again. men who had been to awing me ' Into eternity such aready 1 don't want your thanks." short time before I cut him short. It waa the first time shook my hand and congratulated mo, 1 had quarreled with Nelson, and 1 did I was dazed. Old Bender had been mot feel very well over It. lynched for the murder. Then he must Still ! gave Old Beuder something to have eneaked back to Cable Bar, eat and saw him well wrapped, In n But, If the aot killed my partner, Blanket somebody was mistaken about tbe time Then I sat In front of the cabin once the murder took place. moro and watched the moon rise. And the death cry I heard come up Aa I tat there a out of the darkness th night before what of that? S o.v'' V'- Tbe more I thought of it the moro puzzled I became. It did not seem possible that Old Bender bad committed th crime. Then why the confession? I had taken him in I had shown him kindness, lie heard the lynchers were after me. In return tor my kindness he gave up hla life to save mine. That la my explanation. In the most fallen and degraded of human beings all that la good and noble may not be blotted out. The mystery of Nelsons murder remains to me a mystery still. But I saw that Old Bender wm de cently burled, and 1 raised a white stone above hie grave. SURRENDER." COMMANDED ON& It was all I could do In return tor alt cry of human agony seemed to come up he bad done tor me. from tha dark shadows away down the - The silt deposited by these river has rendered the sea sq shallow that for miles from the shore there Is not water enough at low tide to float a rowis volcanic; boat Tbe whole-countimmense lava beds and extinct craters are everywhere to be met with. There are Interminable wet plains, called by the Russian niW of tundra The tundras are covered with a rank growth of moss, la which the feet sink ao deep that traveling over them is well-nig- h Impossible, except during tbe winter season. The villages are organized on a very convenient socialistic plan. The mam eJiflce.of every eettleiaent is called tbe casino. Around this the private residences of barraboras are grouped 1th-j- era. ry ejU2Kai4JU?iaJariW Near each the first thing the men do on entering the casino la to disrobe and search for vermin, and moreover tbe majority seldom trouble tbemselTea about resuming their raiqient nntll they are ready to go out. The condensation caused by the sudden change of temperature renders the clothes ao wet that after all It la only natural that the natives should Immediately remove them. A casino can be described as simply a cellar with a root over 1L It Ja a deep, equare excavation, with a pyramidal roof of rough logs, covered thickly with earth. At even a ahort distance it 'can be easily mistaken for a small hillock. The only light and veptlla-tio- n is by a little opening at the top, which ia protected by curtain made of fish ehtn. The internal arrangetnenT varies in different places In reipect to details, but the main features are the same. Around three sides of the interior a bank of earth ls left, which extends like a broad step or divan. On this the natives sit In their customary meat suffice perature a point, which enough In a precious. Tbe ca&lu of the word, method is u is a little s vestibule. floor, and fr or shaft ext nates in the person desir Into the vest hole and ihi until he re.i In the floor lucklesajtri as soon as should he pr discover thj tunnel whicl barrabora is its storehouse, called a eat he or lafkak. The casino or koshga b the great Iwal institution of Alaska. It is common property, and eerves as the exchange, restaurant, workshop, bathhouse, hospital and theater for the resl squatting attitude. club-houo- e, and the fire Crawling tunnel ia n and this bo itself to! keep the tem-i- ie above the freexing considered comfortable tmtry where wood la so as no door in our sense he following Ingenious instead Close by there lure which serves aa a s has a large hole In tho 1 tho bottom of this hole ts a tonne! which termiA it of the casino. f to enter a casino goes Me, jumps down into tbe icrawls along the tunnel rs a corresponding hole (the casino. Woe to the ger who fails to emerge is bole Is reached, for ped any further he would the short section of the emains between this exit t is the sink. iorg in the dark, alsppery a graceful proceeding, mg up from the hole Is re-p- -- v v7 i m vvtuA , ft'h - ter-nlgh- - - ' - 7 - J. - ' . Some casinos have a second and na r - 7 -- ... Tin ' 7777 '74 ejllx TTI7 t - ter-nlg- I:' ht. 1 far-aw- long-draw- .A trail. It turned my blood to Ice, never be repeated. Then I heard Old Bender groaning and Jabbering in the cabin. Two m Incites later be came staggering out, fight -Jag something invisible to me, and shrieking for me to take em away, Old Bender had the Alt night loug I watched the raving toper, sometimes struggling to keep him from destroying himself, even though I felt that It would be a good thing it be would take his own life. With the coming of the morning hla horrible visions left him. 1 gave him something to eat, and told him to get as tar toward Jaspar City aa possible before another night 7 (all Then, w th more food wrapped In a fcajuIXuei.lef, he left me, anil taw him turn up a trail. went inside and smoked, wondering when Nelson would come back. 7 After a time I went to my work, where the little mountain stream came down through the gorge. All the forenoon 1 labored, and still my partner did not appear. It was near noon when a mob of aron-- l and bewblskered men came rubirg toward me. They were from Cable Bar, There he la! shouted the foremost, Dont let him pointing toward me. got awayT I was Immediately covered by a doaen revolvers. Surrender commanded one.Throw Sip your hands Up they weak Then, for the first time, I noticed that one of the men carried a rope. They rushed upon me seized me dragged me toward a tree 'What Is the meaning of this I cried, again and again; but ! received mo answer till I stood beneath the trw, with the rope about my neck. ; - ONE OF ALASKAS CASINOS, FROM DESCRIPTIONS BY REV, BARNTM. the most northerly point reached by dents of the village, and also aa the library. On the fourth aide of the steamers, or rather by steamer, since hotel for any stranger, and, I may add, casino the main divan extends only a but one trip a year ia made to fit the chapel of the missionary. According short distance from the corners, leaving Michaels, this by a boat of the Alaska to Esqulmeau etiquette, the casino la free the middle portion where the enCommercial Company. Describing the country, he says: All the upper region of Alaska extending along the shore of Behring Sea presents the same general features. This vast desolate area ia entirely devoid of trees and la intersected by Innumerable rlv- - reserved solely for men; women and children rarely Invade its precincts At meal times, or rather at all hours, wives bring the food which they have prepared aa far as the inner entrance. This rigid seclusion will appear all the more appropriate when it is remembered that trance Is situated. In the center of the floor is a large, Square pit covered with logs. In this pit, during the time of the bath, a large Are is built. At other times no fire Is used, as the presence of a number of persons in an apart- - CONFESSED SHE DIDNT DO bers are strict teetotalers every day in the year except one. Regularly on tbe first day of September, year after year, all the adult members of the com- WANTED TO BORROW HIM. IT. The Little Utrl Dlutppolntnd th Expectations of Her Uullty Blntc, Something dreadful bad happened at the Queenavllle district school, bus Philadelphia Times. May Greene, the belle of tbe village, had smuggled her Sunday gash out of the bureau, and, had unbeknownst to her .mother, Worn it to school. Her triumph, htw-eve- r, was short-liveShe had htlng the sash most carefully on a hook In the cloakroom while she ran out at recess for a good romp. On her return the was dismayed to find that It had been cut In two pieces. Every scholar sas carefully questioned, but no one, of course, knew1 anything about It. The teacher accordingly announced that when the afternoon session should open she would lay all lessons aside and hold a court of investigation. She herself would be the Judge. May Greene should be the plaintiff and every scholar in turn should come up Jnto a wltncss box, figged up for tbe occasion, and tell exactly what be knew about the also said that If anyone would before the confess hla wrong-doin- g Th Samoa Mnaoot. In time of war It is the tapoa duty opening of court he would be pardoned to lead on to combat the warriors of and all proceedings stopped. Two guilty beaux of the gay her vlflage, and she la often la the boys, discarded were now pale with dismay. thick of the skirmishing; hut should coquette, hS3 told untruths when privately she be wounded or killed, it Is a pure They anJ now feared they questioned accident, as the Samoans have the would not be ahle tothey brave thm out a In horror woman of greatest hurting before the awful court ordeal esany way, and would not even injure since ithaA begun to their enemy' tapo.- - There is a story peciallyaround that they kuw more of told of how. during? the war which matter had at first appeared. than the waa carried on in tpolu for a considertherefore hit upon the following able time Are or aix year ago, two ar- They mies had met and were drawn up bias- expedient; The youngest child In the school, little Annie Cork, was the ing Into each other's lines, when a na- of the county. If ah now could be pet intive woman appeared with a eow she duced to confess to the of tbe cutting wished o place In safety Th entire sash surely she would be pardoned on firing was Immediately suspended on account of her popularity. She both sides till she and her charge had therefore beset by the guilty youncrossed the lines and were completely dint of dife threats and out ef harm a way. TheTreraen could gster, who,, byand by urging confession large bribe, rely so thoroughly on the gallantry of upon her aa a duty, finally secured her their countrymen that they had ao tear bewildered consent to confess." When during the flgbtitig, and would take the afternoon bell rang the scholar food to their husbands and brothers at carue ln promptly, looking askance at any time, and pass through the ranks th awful witness box and at the mutiof the warriors of tbe belligerent army lated finery floating out from the teachwith perfect Impunity; wa long as the er desk. The Judge was about to open daylight lasted, and they could be court, when In came the criminals easily seen, they were quit safe, In triumphantly leading Stevenson' Samoa Marie Fraser. child between them. They informed the judge that Annie Cork had com to -confess, nd, officiously placing her ofi . Th Bnhnnii, the witness stand, they withdrew to reA msn went world move, The seats. The child's helpless attl- their cently to a London police court with a tude was too much for the tenderwife locked him bis that out complaint hearted who took her by the when be returned from work and as he hand andjudge, said Well, dear, gently. sat. tired and hungry, on the door- hav you really come to confess? She him. at Jeered she belongs, steps h 'al!erd elh be said, to a club and goes out alone!,. Wnest 8tU,ne8S ln heppress(1 bt. to it. If there Is not a bot supper waitgaining courage from the Judge kind ing for her on her return, even at S ly manner. Yeth. teacher Ith come to oclock In the morning, she throws confeth I'th come to confeth that I The court could do things at me. do h didnt advise him to take to nothing except the discipline of hla household Into his Aw Annnxl Drank. own bands. 0 he went disconsolately oldest The of temperance aoelcty In the the things home, thinking probably she would throw at him If he attempted world Is the abstaining commune in to follow the counsel of the magistral, i Achl ka. in Siberia, all of whose mem d. mat-terr-8- he -- - I listened for a repetition of the cry, nil even aa 1 listened I thought that If it earn from a human throat It could Jim-Jam- s. l ent 'n -- A mune assemble in tbe parish church and every one takes a solemn vow before the altar to drink no wine, beer or spirits from the morrow" of the following day for the whole year. The clause "from the morrow la introduced In order to give them a reward for their virtue in the shape of a wholo day of drunken carnival. Aa soon as they leave the church they begin to Indulge In a horrible bacchanalian drinking, which continues throughout the day, until neither man nor woman in the village ia sober. This ia naturally followed by considerable physical suffering and then mental remorse, whereupon the penitent parish enters upon of model sobriety, and Its twelve-mont- h all live like the Rechabltes. Some students imagine that this queer proceedprehistoric tribal custom. ing may ba ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. Oar Grant Collrgaa XV era Wot Barb Vast Institution an They Are Now. Dartmouth College consisted of a wooden building 150 feet long, 50 feet wide and 36 feet high. At Dartmouth English grammar-en- d In the sopharithmetic were text-booomore year. Princeton, the greatest Presbyterian college, was a huge stone edifice, its faculty consisting pf a president,, one professor, two master of languages and seventy students. Harvard University had four brick building; the faculty consisted of a president and six professors, and in its balls thronged 130 to 160 students. Yala boasted of one brick building and a chapel with a Bteeple 125 feet The faculty was a president, a high professor of divinity and three tutor. The greatest Episcopal college In the United States was William and Mary's. It was under royal and state patronage, and waa, therefore, more substantially favored than most of our American schools. At this time. It Is said In a curious old state report, the college was like a a building of three stories, had and gentlemen thirty brick kiln, students. -The students lodged In dormitories, ate at the commons and were satisfied with what we would, consider prison diet. Breakfast, a smalt can of eoffee, a biscuit. bout an ounce of butter. Dinner, one pound of meat, two Sup-p- er potatoes and some vegetables. bread and milk. The only unlimited supply furnished was cider, which waa passed In a can trom mouth to mouth. The day were spoken of as boll day, roast day, stew day, etc. lion ShoM Matin from Iapn A German veterinary surgeon has discovered a method by which horse shoe can be successfully manufactured from paper. The paper Is Impregnated with turpentine to make It waterproof. The inventor claims that a horse wearon greasy ing these ahoe cannot slip roads. Air-tig- ht decidedly an abrupt manner of making one's appearanee In society. The departure Is fully aa ludicrous. Tbe soft boots and fur clothing make no rustling and you behold tbe Inmates disappear instantly and silently through tbe floor, after the fashion of Imps In pantomime. Tbe interior of the casino is always gloomy; the sides and roof are blackened with smoke and covered thickly with soot. bnlldlng up, made a circle with the on the floor, and put seven differrope n of Qaenr Rnqant Tiro Women ent species of snakes inside of the rope Fhlladrlphlnn. circle. Every single one crawled over it A genial Philadelphian, who for obas If It wasnt there, and since then my vious reasons does not care to have his friend has lost faith in its protective name printed on this occasion, secured An old campaigner aaya to a powers." a parlor car seat on an express train reporter for the Inter-Ocea- n that this for Reading a few days ago, and as he waa a poor test. A hair lariat must be was about to pass through the gates made purposely for this use, and the was surprised to hear himself accosted e butts of the In fAmlnlne tones with the somewhat sharp projections hair be made prominent. A Nalr lariat mister, Please, startling question: can be. And la, made as smooth as any could I borrow you for a while? other lariat They are strong, but usehe - found two less as a Looking around, protector from Bnakes. I have buxom women, who hastily and hesiueed one in places where anakea were so ridtatingly explained that they were thick that half a dozen could bo run ing on a pass made out in the name of from a gentleman and his wife, and,jis the knew under a single bush, and never one to crawl over or InsIdH of my gentleman waa not present, tHey bed." citizen to wanted the genial-lookin- g place his bought ticket at the disposal of one lady and take the other one Impenehlnc n Wltno, You were Lawyer (for the defense! under his wing, while he personated In the saloon when the shooting octhe absent owner of the pass. - , Which Is my wife?, he inquired curred f Witness (for the state) with an Inward qualm, lest his own abI was. State the location of the Lawyer sent better halt should ever hear the saloon." ) story. Witness No. 411 Chestnut street, You can take your choice, air," said the lady in search of an escort, and he Lexington, Ky." What was the defendant Lawyer promptly did ao by tucking tbe arm of the youngest fair one under hla own doing when you entered the saloon? Witness He "was treating the and leading her into the car. The couple proved to be right Jolly traveling crowd." Lawyer "What did he say? companions, and the citizen's only reWitness "He said: Mister Beauregret in the transaction was due to a fear that the story might leak out and gard, will you and Mister Blublud and get home ahead of him. - But it didnt. Mister Fireater and Mister "Redeye and Mister Cornbred and Mister Jefferson join me In a drink, suhs?7 Th PoMoftice In Hindoos an. Your honor, the defense Lawyer The postoffice ltrTadia not only collects and delivers letters, parcdlg and rests. I Nould respectfully submit to other articles, but acts to a certain ex- this intelligent jury that there are not tent as a banker to the general public, six plain misters In the whole state of sella quinine and salt, pays military Kentucky. I pensions, and collects the revenue accruing to the government from land SCRAPS. and other sources. But to the fertile The household work of the families brain of one o? the oldest officers In In the United States was, in 1880, done ths department ia due the latest development in the work of the postoffice by 1,075,653 domestic servants. has come for The Punjab-postoffl- ee Over one-hathe population of ward as an elementary teacher. It not Rhode Island and nearly one-ha- lf that only collects letters end delivers them, of Connecticut is eraploved In the mills. schools but teaches boys in elementary It Is claimed that Lake Erie produces how to- - wrttethem and address t more fish to the square mile than any Ns covers, other body of waterin the world. Native-bor- n farmers of this country Ilnlr Rope and Snake. form 26 per s cent of Its population; common a "There is superstition farmers of foreign birth number 17. among western cowboys that a rattle- pec cent snake w ill not cross a hair rope, said Of all the handicraftsmen the carSuperintendent Brown, of the Bhilai penter were the most numerous when delphla Zoological Garden, the other the tenth census-wa- a taken, numbering dqyJtThe cowboy dont mind a rattle- 373,143. snake much, anyhow, but when he has It is estimated by engineers who to spend the ulght In the open, he frehave studied the subject that of enclr quently takes the precaution to waste every cling hla camp with a rope of this de- hour over power goes Falla. Niagara a to with then and goes eleep scription, The letters In the varlqjis alphabet quiet mind. I often wondered if there waa any truth In this belief, but never of the world vary from 12 to 202 In happened to have a hair rope and rat- number. The Sandelch Islanders altlesnake handy tb test it, until one day phabet ha 12. the Tartarian 202. when a friend of mine came from the A Philadelphia oculist, who baa been West, and we began talking on the sub- studying the human eye far thirty with him, years, declares that all great men of ject He bad a hair-ro- pe and we decided to try it on the snake the paBt and present had or have blue in the reptile house. We abut the or grayyes, Mart of-th- lf 16,000,-000-hor- - se |