THE ENEMY’S MOVE.
Although the _Bulletin_ was not a profusely illustrated newspaper, it
maintained a photo-engraving plant of its own. Carroll had installed
this department when he first acquired possession of the paper, and had
brought a man named Neilson from New York to take charge of it.
It had been Carroll’s original intention to go in extensively for
half-tone illustrations, but his failure to make a financial success of
the publication had necessitated a cutting down of expenses wherever
possible, and now pictures were seldom used in the pages of the
_Bulletin_.
When Carroll informed Neilson that he would have to dispense with his
services, candidly telling him the reason, the engraver proposed that he
be permitted to take in outside job work in lieu of salary.
This arrangement had turned out satisfactorily for both parties
concerned. Neilson had managed to get enough outside work to make it
worth his while to stay, and Carroll was glad to have him on the job,
because, although he had practically given up illustrations, he
occasionally found it necessary to use a cut in the pages of the
_Bulletin_. These occasions were so rare, however, that great was
Neilson’s surprise when, on the day following Hawley’s night crusade
against the Oldham police, Carroll appeared in the photo-engraving
department with a half dozen negatives in his hand.
“Here, Ole,” the proprietor of the _Bulletin_ said, with a smile, “I
want these enlarged, and a two-column cut made from each. Make just as
good a job of them as you can, and remember that they’re for to-morrow
morning’s issue.”
“All for to-morrow morning’s issue?” exclaimed the engraver
incredulously.
“Sure thing! And all for the front page, too.” Carroll chuckled. “It’s
going to be the bulliest front page the _Bulletin_ has ever had, Ole.
Just take a close look at those negatives, old man, and I guess you’ll
understand why.”
Neilson stared hard at the small oblongs of film. “They ban look like
policemens,” he said.
“They are policemen!” declared Carroll, with another chuckle.
“What you ban going to do,” the engraver inquired, “get out a special
cop’s edition?”
“A sort of special cop’s edition,” replied Carroll, with a grin. “But,
say, Ole,” he added anxiously, “what do you think of these negatives
from a photographic standpoint? Will they make pretty good cuts, do you
think?”
Neilson inspected each one critically. “I can’t tell very well, of
course, Mr. Carroll, until I see the prints,” he replied, at length.
“They ban flash lights, I see; but they look like pretty clear negatives
yoost the same. Who took them?”
“A friend of mine from New York.”
“Did he develop them, too?” the photo-engraver inquired. “They ban a
pretty good job for an amateur.”
“Yes, he developed them himself,” Carroll answered. “We were so anxious
to see what results we had that we came back here at three o’clock this
morning, and Hawley--my friend from New York, I mean--used your dark
room. But, say, Ole,” he exclaimed anxiously, pointing to one of the
negatives, “how about this one? It isn’t quite as clear as the others.
Do you think you’ll be able to get a fairly good cut out of it?”
Neilson once more inspected the negative designated. It was a snapshot
of a group of men playing a game of cards. One of the men wore a police
uniform.
“I guess I ban able make it all right,” he said. “It isn’t very strong,
but I guess I ban able to touch up the print a bit, and get a good
result yoost the same.”
Neilson held up another of the negatives. “This ban best one of the
lot,” he announced. “I make extra-good cut of him.”
The picture in question was the snapshot of a man in a police captain’s
uniform. A scowl came to Carroll’s face as he gazed upon it.
“I’m glad to hear that, Ole,” he said grimly. “I want an extra-good cut
of him. And, by the way, make that one three columns wide instead of
two. I’m going to use it in the center of the page.”
Then Carroll went into the editorial rooms, and, seating himself at his
desk, began to write rapidly. For two hours he was occupied with his
task, and what he wrote seemed to afford him much satisfaction, for at
frequent intervals the other occupants of the room heard him chuckle
immoderately.
At length the long editorial was finished, and as he gathered the
closely written pages together, he exhaled a deep breath.
“Hawley said that the pictures would be the main feature of the
_Bulletin’s_ exposé,” he muttered; “and, of course, he was right. No
doubt about that. But at the same time I rather think this editorial of
mine is going to make quite a hit, too.”
Hawley heartily indorsed this opinion when, a few minutes later, he
dropped into the _Bulletin’s_ office, and Carroll showed him what he had
written.
“It’s great stuff!” the Camera Chap exclaimed enthusiastically. “Simply
immense! I never had any idea that you could sling English as well as
that, Fred.”
Carroll flushed with pleasure at his warm praise. “I guess it’s because
I feel so strongly on the subject,” he said simply. “A fellow can write
so much better, you know, if he really feels what he writes.”
“People who buy the _Bulletin_ to-morrow morning are certainly going to
get their money’s worth,” Hawley chuckled. “That editorial alone will be
well worth the price of the paper. Your readers ought to paste it in
their scrapbooks as a model of satire.”
“Cut out the joshing, old man,” protested Carroll. “If the readers of
the _Bulletin_ paste anything in their scrapbooks, it will be those
wonderful snapshots of yours. They’re going to create a big sensation,
Frank.”
The Camera Chap grinned. “Yes, the snapshots and your editorial combined
certainly ought to stir things up. Don’t forget that I’ve bet you a new
hat that your circulation figures will be more than doubled to-morrow,
Fred.”
“I’ll be quite satisfied to lose the hat,” Carroll chuckled. “And just
to show you that I don’t expect to win the bet, let me tell you that
I’ve already given orders to my pressroom to print twice the usual
number of papers to-morrow.”
“I guess you’re quite safe in doing so,” said the Camera Chap earnestly.
“I don’t think you’ll have many copies left on your hands. But how are
the pictures getting along, Fred? Have they been made into cuts yet?”
“Neilson is working on them now,” Carroll answered. “Come on up, and
we’ll see how he’s progressing.”
Neilson was working on an outside job--a half-tone cut for the
letterhead of a local tailor--when they entered his laboratory.
Observing this, Carroll was somewhat annoyed. He had asked Neilson to
rush the cuts through, and, while he realized that it was the outside
work which paid the expenses of the plant, he felt aggrieved that the
tailor’s half tone should be given first attention.
“How about that work I gave you?” he inquired sharply. “Started on it
yet, Ole?”
The engraver looked at him in astonishment. “How can I start on it until
you give me back them negatives?” he exclaimed. “I ban yoost coming down
to ask you for them.”
“Give you back the negatives!” the proprietor of the _Bulletin_
repeated, with a puzzled frown. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“I ban talking about those policemen’s negatives you want made into cuts
for to-morrow’s paper, of course,” replied Neilson, a trifle nettled.
“How can I make the cuts until I get the pictures?”
“But you have the pictures,” Carroll protested. “Didn’t I give them to
you?”
“Sure you gave them to me once. But you ban take them back again, didn’t
you?” replied the man indignantly.
“I took them back?”
“Sure! At least, you sent the boy for them--which is yoost the same, of
course.”
“The boy?” Carroll was beginning to grow uneasy. “What boy?”
“That boy Miggsy, of course,” Neilson replied, now thoroughly out of
temper. “What kind of a yoke you ban try to play with me, Mr. Carroll? I
ban serious feller, and don’t like foolin’. Didn’t you send that Miggsy
up here half an hour ago to say would I please let you have them
negatives back right away?”
Carroll’s face suddenly turned pale. “I certainly did not!” he exclaimed
excitedly. “I sent no such message. Do you mean to say that Miggsy told
you that I sent him?”
“He sure did. He said you needed the pictures to show to somebody, and
must have them right away. I ban yust starting to work on them when he
came up, but I gave them to him.”
With an exclamation of alarm, Carroll hurried downstairs to the
editorial rooms to interview the office boy. The youngster was not in
sight.
“Seen anything of Miggsy?” he inquired anxiously of one of the
reporters, whose desk was near the door.
“Not lately. The last time I saw him, Mr. Carroll, was half an hour ago,
when he went out to do that errand for you.”
“An errand for me?”
“Yes, that’s what he said. He was going out just as I came in, and he
seemed to be in a great hurry. I stopped him on the stairway, and
jokingly asked him what all the rush was about. He begged me not to
delay him, as you had just sent him out on an errand of great importance
which had to be attended to immediately.”
Carroll turned to Hawley, who had followed him downstairs. They
exchanged glances of consternation.
“What do you make of it?” the proprietor of the _Bulletin_ said
hoarsely.
The Camera Chap smiled grimly. “It looks very much as if our young
friend Miggsy had gone over to the enemy,” he said.
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” growled Carroll. “I can’t imagine any other reason
for his actions. The little ingrate! I’ve been pretty good to that kid.
I never thought that he’d do me a trick of this sort.”
He paced the floor nervously, his big fists clenched. “Great grief!” he
muttered. “Can it really be possible that all our trouble has been for
nothing--that we’re not going to publish those wonderful snapshots,
after all?”
Hawley patted his shoulder soothingly. It was in forlorn situations of
this sort that the Camera Chap’s sunny disposition showed up to the best
advantage.
“Cheer up, old scout!” he said to Carroll. “After all, there’s that
corking editorial of yours. Even without the pictures, it’ll make quite
a hit in to-morrow’s front page.”
“No, it won’t,” groaned Carroll. “That editorial won’t go on to-morrow’s
front page. I might as well tear it up. Don’t you see that I wouldn’t
dare publish it without the pictures? Those fellows would sue me for
libel. They’d swear that my statements were false, and, without the
photographic evidence, I couldn’t prove that they weren’t.”
“I guess you’re right there,” said the Camera Chap thoughtfully. “It’s
too bad that that fine piece of writing should go to waste. Well, better
luck next time, I---- Where are you going, Fred?” For Carroll, muttering
something under his breath, had stepped hastily toward the door.
“I’m going down to the pressroom to cancel that order for extra papers,”
the proprietor of the _Bulletin_ explained gloomily.
TO BE CONTINUED.
* * * * *
WORSE AND WORSE.
There was a notice in the barber’s shop window reading “Boots Blacked
Inside.” A pedestrian halted and read and reread the notice, and then
opened the door and said:
“That ought to be shoes. Not one man in fifty wears boots in the
summer.”
The barber didn’t say anything, but, after due reflection, concluded
that the man was right, and so changed the notice to read: “Shoes
Blacked Inside.” He had scarcely put it up when the same man came along
again and opened the door to say:
“No one wants the inside of his shoes blacked. We pay to have the shine
on the outside.”
The barber puzzled over it for a while, and realized that the man was
right again, and next day the notice was replaced by one reading:
“The outside of shoes blacked inside.”
“That’s perfectly correct,” said the fault finder, as he came along in
the afternoon. “Never give yourself away on the English language.”
* * * * *
THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS.
Dies Preaching on Death.
“Prepare to live and you will be prepared to die,” said the Reverend R.
G. Collison, addressing a large congregation in the tabernacle of the
Oregon Christian Church Convention, at Turner, Ore. As he spoke he sank
to the floor of the pulpit and died within a few seconds. Death was
caused by apoplexy.
Dyestuff Makers Cheerful.
Aniline dye manufacturers in this country are making a tremendous, and,
they believe, an encouraging effort to supply the want of dyes, so
greatly needed since the cessation of German exportation of that
product.
Some idea of the way in which the domestic industry has been called upon
to meet the demand of the textile mills was given by one of the largest
American concerns in the dye business, who said that his company has
daily to reject orders for some thirty to eighty thousand pounds of dyes
because of their inability to manufacture them fast enough.
As an evidence of the satisfactory manner in which the American
manufacturers have rallied to meet the situation, he asserted that his
company was manufacturing four times as much dyestuffs this year as in
any year previous.
Although it has been less than a year since the dyestuff and chemical
industries were thrown into confusion by the war, a readjustment has
been partly accomplished, which has enabled mill operators to go ahead
with the manufacture of textiles.
From the way the American output has increased it would be safe to say
that inside of the next eighteen months manufacturers here will be able
to supply some $10,000,000 worth annually of dyestuffs to a home market
which could use $30,000,000 worth. Now that the American output is
expanding, our manufacturers feel confident that the trade lost by
Germany will not be regained.
This Aged Hen is a Real Coop Marvel.
“Eusapia Palladino,” the oldest hen in the town of Killingly, Conn., and
perhaps in the entire world, is to have a birthday party on the occasion
of her twenty-seventh birthday, which will come in a few days. All the
old hens in Killingly are looking forward to the event, and it is
probable that a few young chickens will be asked, just to give the party
a metropolitan flavor.
Eusapia, though of Spanish origin, lays her eggs in English and began
the work when but five months old. Her first egg, which her owner, Mr.
James Blanchard still has, was laid in November, 1888, and since then
she has laid an average of 144 a year. She has just laid another egg as
this story is being written, and only the greatest haste can prevent her
laying another before it is completed. She just lays around all day, as
might be expected at her great age. Unlike the Madagascar Bingle Hen,
which lays square eggs with a monogram, Eusapia lays but one egg at a
time.
Eusapia, it will be readily reckoned, was hatched from a black Spanish
egg ten years before the Spanish-American War, when shells burst less
frequently. She has seen a very active life, and greatly deplores the
dissipation, irregular hours, and loss of sleep incident to the poultry
shows which have become popular of late years. She does not smoke, has
never on any occasion partaken of alcoholic liquors, and can now read
without glasses if she cared to.
Mr. Blanchard has had several disputes lately with persons who, having
dined at the Killingly Commercial Inn, questioned that Eusapia was the
oldest chicken in the world.
Of late years Eusapia has been given to fits of depression, and the
admittance of eggs as parcel-post mail left her on the verge of a
nervous breakdown for days.
A thousand chicks have been hatched by Eusapia in her long and useful
life. She has always shown a great interest in them, has personally
supervised their early education, and has invariably responded, even in
late years, to their slightest cluck.
Laborers Kill Two-hundred-pound Shark.
A shark, measuring seven and a half feet long and weighing about two
hundred pounds, was killed in Weir Creek, an inlet of Long Island Sound,
by David McGowan, a sewer inspector; A. L. Hartman and several Italian
laborers, all armed with crowbars. The fight lasted more than a half an
hour.
Child Plays With Rattler.
Having a monster rattlesnake as a temporary playmate without being
struck by the deadly fangs of the reptile and killed was the unusual
experience of the little child of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Hunt, of Scenic, S.
D., Mr. Hunt being the depot agent of the Milwaukee Railway Company.
The mother discovered the little girl playing with the rattlesnake in
the yard around the Hunt home. The snake appeared to like the
companionship of the little girl and made no effort to coil and strike.
The mother managed to drag the child from within reach of the snake
without arousing the anger of the reptile. The little girl strongly
objected to being separated from her strange playmate. After the girl
had been removed to a place of safety, the reptile was killed.
A Municipal Bat Roost.
The only municipal bat roost in the world was recently erected at San
Antonio, Texas, and is expected to have an important part in the city
fight against malaria and other diseases. The bat has been discovered by
Doctor C. A. Campbell, of San Antonio, to be one of the greatest enemies
of the mosquito, which is largely responsible for the spread of malarial
and similar germs. For this reason San Antonio is not only protecting
the bat by law, but has entered into the proposition of its cultivation.
Doctor Campbell has demonstrated that one bat will consume as many as
250 mosquitoes in one night. He has estimated that the amount of guano
that could be collected from a single bat roost, capable of
accommodating 250,000 bats, in a season of nine months, would equal
about forty tons--and guano, the highest of all fertilizers, is worth
forty dollars a ton. It is Doctor Campbell’s idea that the bat roost is
a natural hygienic measure, which should be adopted by governments,
municipalities, or corporations controlling large bodies of land, and
who are financially able to erect enough of the roosts to protect their
tenants. The roosts, however, must be constructed from a scientific
standpoint, so that they will not only attract bats, but cause them to
remain there permanently.
Knife Melted by Lightning.
Francis Wagoner, a farmer of Upper Mount Bethel, near Bangor, Pa.,
struck by a bolt of lightning during a terrific storm that passed over
that section lives to tell his story, but he will be marked for life.
Wagoner was sitting in the kitchen reading a paper when the bolt of
lightning struck a section of metal spouting, entered the bathroom
window, and went into the kitchen by way of the stovepipe.
From the stove the lightning hit Wagoner on the right leg, then crossed
diagonally to his left shoulder. On the way it came in contact with a
knife in his pocket, which was partly melted by the bolt. The lightning
left reddish streaks over his body, and he was badly stunned.
Girl Poses as Boy Five Years.
After five years of roaming about this country and Europe posing as a
boy, Edna Puffer, eighteen years old, arrested in the New Haven, Conn.,
railroad yards just as she was about to hop on a freight train for New
York, was thrust back into petticoats as soon as they could be procured.
She said she had traveled to Europe on board a cattle ship.
Convinced that Franklin Shaw, the sailor who was arrested in her
company, was unaware of his companion’s sex, although he had been with
her for nearly three months, Judge Booth, in the city court, continued
both cases.
Government’s Movie Shows.
The department of agriculture keeps up a special motion-picture factory
at which it makes the films it uses in promoting scientific farming. The
department heads use the films to illustrate lectures, and the field
force shows them at country schoolhouses and churches, where they have
invariably attracted large and interested audiences. Even before the
factory was set up, various bureaus of the department made use of films
in educating the public. Thus, the bureau of animal industry has a
special film to show Southern farmers how to make and use the dipping
vats that would free their herds of ticks. It also showed films that
illustrated the correct ways of handling meat, breeding cattle, and
raising poultry.
The good-roads division and the forest service have made a similar
effective use of motion pictures.
Rains Alligators in Iowa.
Is there really something to the belief that reptiles are sometimes
rained down from heaven or has somebody lost two perfectly good
alligators in the vicinity of West Liberty, Iowa? That is a question
West Liberty would like to have solved.
Two perfectly sane, entirely responsible, utterly truthful and eminently
respectable families report the finding of alligators in their front
yards, said front yards being separated only by the width of the passing
road.
On the farm of David Nauman an alligator was found prowling about the
garden and was destroyed by an excited member of the Nauman family.
On the place of Charles Carter, across the road, Mr. Carter in person
made the discovery, captured the alligator, and now has it on
exhibition.
West Liberty people say it has rained hard enough of late to account for
’most anything, but, beyond accrediting the advent of the alligators to
the sky, are at a loss to advance an acceptable theory.
Interesting New Inventions.
A doorknob connected with an electric lamp that may be switched on by
pressing a button has been patented by a New York inventor. The
invention is expected to help materially in the sometimes difficult
process of finding the keyhole after dark. The doorknob is illuminated.
The same principle is applied to the doors and dials of safes.
A cattle guard invented by an Arkansas man, a section foreman, has been
approved by railroads. It is made in three sections, so that it can be
removed for track surfacing. The guard consists of rollers, which are
made in a frame resting on top of the ties.
A Philadelphia University professor has invented a dust-proof,
fire-resisting glass case for museum specimens.
Wireless apparatus that weighs but eight pounds, yet will transmit
messages twenty-one miles and has received signals more than three
hundred miles, has been invented by a New Jersey man.
A sand box for automobiles, like the familiar device on locomotives, to
distribute sand under their tires to prevent skidding, has been patented
by a Massachusetts inventor.
What is believed to be the largest conveyer belt in the world, 893 feet
long by thirty-six inches wide, has been made for an Ohio stone quarry.
To keep the base lines of ball grounds dry when it rains, a
Pennsylvanian has patented a canvas cover, easily rolled for removal.
Sue for Wages Earned Back in Slavery Days.
After more than a half century has passed since the freeing of the
slaves, a suit was filed a few days ago in the supreme court of the
District of Columbia to gain compensation for work performed by them
during the years 1859 to 1868.
The suit was filed by H. N. Johnson, of Louisiana; Rebecca Bowers, of
Texas; C. B. Williams, of Mississippi, and Mamie Thompson, of Tennessee,
against William M. McAdoo in his official capacity as secretary of the
treasury.
The plaintiffs claim to be descendants of slaves who worked in cotton
fields of the Southern States, and they hold that they are entitled to
money their ancestors earned and which is now in the treasury, listed
under the title of “internal revenue tax on raw cotton.”
This money, the complaint says, amounts to $68,072,388.99, acquired
from the seizure of cotton gathered by plaintiffs’ ancestors. The
plaintiffs contend it should be paid to the descendants of those by
whose labor the cotton-yielding revenue was produced.
The bill asks that the court appoint an examiner to collect evidence;
that Secretary McAdoo be ordered to disclose the amount and source of
money now in the treasury under the listing of “Internal revenue tax on
raw cotton,” and that he be ordered to state any reasons he may believe
the plaintiffs are not entitled to the money.
The petition was filed by a Washington attorney representing Cornelius
J. Jones, of Muskogee, Okla. Jones, who is said to have prepared the
bill of complaint, is a negro lawyer.
Dies Close to Time He Set.
Peter White, an aged negro residing near Washington, N. C., died at
twelve-thirty p. m., just thirty minutes later than the hour he had
appointed. In April, White told friends that he would “give up the
ghost” at the stroke of twelve.
About this time Jerry Langley, colored, was giving the police of
Washington trouble. Langley had set the hour for his demise. He
postponed it several times, each time disappointing a great crowd of
blacks gathered for the dramatic exit of Langley. Finally, when he said
the thing was final, the crowd blocked the street and the police would
not wait for Jerry to die. They hustled him off to the county home. He
is still living.
White, the authorities say, may have been prompted by Langley’s example.
He had visions of himself being trolleyed aloft in a golden chariot. Old
age claimed him, doctors say.
Year’s Pickles in the United States.
If all the pickles manufactured in the United States were equally
divided among the inhabitants, every man, woman, and child would receive
about twenty-four, according to the statement of Frank A. Brown,
secretary and treasurer of the National Pickle Packers’ Association,
which held a business meeting at the Palmer House, Chicago.
“There are three million bushels of pickles raised in this country every
year,” he said, “and as there are about eight hundred pickles to a
bushel, every person in the United States would get about twenty-four.
“People often ask: ‘What good are pickles?’ They are one of the most
beneficial foods in the world, because there is just enough acid in them
to properly care for the teeth, and indirectly this improves the health
of the whole body.”
New Electric Fly Swatter.
Herschell Colyar, of Visalia, Cal., is the inventor of a new fly killer
that is guaranteed to get the best of them. The “killer” is a small
apparatus composed of a number of wires. It can be hung any place and
connected with the “juice,” and when Mr. Fly touches any of said wires,
he quickly falls dead.
A barber shop is fitted up with one of them, and it seems to be doing
remarkable work.
It is said that some of the largest companies in the country have been
working on such an apparatus for years, and finally had declared that
such an outfit could not be made. Colyar has been working on his
invention for about three years.
Head Clerk’s Ear Is His Own Cash Register.
Women carry their loose change in their stockings, children put their
money in their mouths, but Norris Bethel, head clerk for Florin Brother,
of Fall River Mills, Cal., makes a cash register of his ears.
When he is selling goods and is in a hurry for a nickel or a dime to
make change, he reaches to one ear or the other and finds the needed
coin.
Or, if he received a small coin, and is at some distance from the cash
register, he puts it into one of his ears until he has use for it or
until he is close to the cash register and can relieve himself.
The system is considered unique, and it is Bethel’s exclusively.
Apple-sizing Machine Invented in Oregon.
Asa B. and Frank W. Cutler, brothers, who operate one of the largest
fruit ranches in Oregon, have invented and are completing the
construction of an apple-sizing machine that works by means of weighing
mechanisms. The two young men, graduates in the mechanical-engineering
department of the University of Illinois, have been experimenting for
several years with grading and sizing machines, and during the past two
years have put to practical test graders that made the choice of apples
according to the dimensions of the fruit.
“However,” says Frank W. Cutler, “this method proved inaccurate, on
account of the different shapes of the fruit. The new method will insure
a standard pack, something that has been long sought by fruit
districts.”
The new grader is so accurate that it will grade into different bins
apples, the weights of which differ only a tenth of an ounce. The local
inventors have improved on the receiving bins that are placed at the
side of the graders. Their new bin tips itself toward the packer as it
fills automatically, the end resting nearest the packer resting on
springs.
How to Fireproof Clothes.
At the safety exposition held in New York recently, Doctor Charles
Frederick Pabst demonstrated how to make fireproof clothing. He poured
from one pound to a gallon of cold water in a solution of ammonium
phosphate. Then he took an eight-inch strip of ordinary cotton gauze and
dipped it in the ammonium-phosphate solution. He dried it with an
electric fan and held it in a flame for thirty seconds, but it did not
burn. He took another strip of gauze that had not been treated with the
solution, and, on igniting it, it burned in four seconds. He advised
that the whole family washing should be made fireproof. The expense of
an average-size family would be about fifteen cents a week.
His Machine Ties Bundles.
About eight years ago a father and his son began to work upon an idea
that had occurred to the elder man during his working hours in the
mailing division of the Chicago post office. A short time ago the result
of their joint effort was put in operation. It is a package-tying
machine that does the work of many men. So convenient is the little
contrivance that it has been introduced into the New York post office,
too, and the government now is negotiating with the inventors for more
of their machines.
The inventors are Romanzo N. Bunn and his son, Benjamin H. Bunn. For
years the men have been tying up bundles of outgoing letters for
transportation to the trains. Fast as the men worked, it always seemed
Bunn thought it should be done faster. His son worked on the mechanical
side of the problem. Together father and son toiled in a homemade shop
at their home. The little portable “tyer” was what came out of the
basement workshop.
The machine is about three feet high and about a foot square. It begins
operation after the mail has been distributed in the racks by hand ready
for tying to go to the trains. Then the machine is rolled along the line
of pigeonholes and fed, by hand, by its retainer. Packs of letters, four
inches thick, are placed into position, the machine is set in motion,
and then--click, click, clop! That’s the way it sounds. The first two
clicks indicate the tying of the packet of letters, sidewise and then
lengthwise, and the “clop” the dropping of the bundle into a waiting
basket.
Where the best men used to tie five or six packets in a minute, the
machine now ties thirty--and it has not tried for a record yet!
Flesh From Body Saves Eye.
The sight of Doctor E. Lerendinger, a professor of Hood College,
Frederick, Md., has been restored as the result of an unusual surgical
operation. Flesh was removed from the professor’s abdomen and placed in
a cavity above one of his eyes, which had been caused by an accident.
The operation was performed several weeks ago, but was not made public
until success was assured.
Tallest Couple are Wedded.
The tallest couple in Pennsylvania were united in marriage a few days
ago in Lewistown. The bridegroom, George Schaffer, who stands six feet
seven inches in his stockings, achieved quite a reputation when he was a
member of the Allentown police as the tallest cop. The bride is Mrs.
Angie Kern, six feet two inches tall. Both parties are about forty years
of age.
Mrs. Schaffer is a prospective heiress if she can break the will of the
late Charles Losch, who left about $150,000 to be divided among
relatives. She produced a letter purporting to have been signed by
Losch, saying that if she would take care of him in his declining years
he would leave her his homestead in Allentown, valued at $12,000.
Schaffer says he often heard Losch say he would leave Mrs. Kern the
homestead.
The newlyweds have purchased a farm, and whatever the outcome of the
will contest, it will not affect their happiness. The bride says she
fell in love with her new husband because she detested walking around
with a man shorter than herself.
This Modest Inventor Would Stop World War.
“I can make the United States the strongest nation in the world. I can
end the European struggle in a short time. I can make the smallest
nation most powerful.”
This is the assertion of John Vogelzangs, of Menominee, Mich., an
inventor, who claims to have a method of extracting electricity from the
air so that air craft might be manned with powerful guns and not be
forced to land until they want to.
“I can sweep the seas clear of vessels. I can kill armies and level
cities,” claimed the inventor, who in the same breath asserted he
favored universal peace, but that the world was not ready for it.
He says Secretary Daniels’ plan for an advisory board is good.
He refused to give out much information about his new device. He said he
lacked money to carry on the work, and displayed a letter from Mr.
Daniels, written before the war broke out, saying this nation was not
ready to take up his ideas.
Vogelzangs has a reputation for being an inventor of ability. He made a
street cleaner, which he refused to sell for $10,000. He also claims he
will revolutionize the berry business with a new picker.
Walks on 113th Birthday.
Mrs. Edna G. Goldman, of Glamorgan, Va., celebrated her 113th birthday
by walking ten miles to the home of her son, Henry Goldman, at Pound,
Va.
Mrs. Goldman was born in Appomattox County, Va., in 1802. Despite her
age, she cultivates a small patch of land in corn and beans each year.
This year she is “farming” about two acres.
Flivver is Not Amphibious.
Edward Kirby, of Newton, N. J., erred in believing a flivver amphibious.
It is alleged that he stole the automobile at the Grand Hotel, Golden
Springs, and, when closely pursued by other automobiles, he ran the
flivver into the Delaware River, seeking to reach Pike County shore.
The flivver floated several minutes and made quite a little progress in
the current, but when the body filled, she went down at the bow and soon
plunged to the bottom.
Kirby swam out and made his way across the river. He disappeared into
the woods there, and a posse under Sheriff Applegate is seeking him.
Song Tells of Old Man Who Had a Wooden Leg.
John Strain, of Greenwich, Conn., who lost his leg three years ago and
his temper recently, has announced that he intends to obtain a rubber
artificial limb. His statement was made to-day through a window of the
county jail, from which he will watch the dying sun precede each of the
next thirty twilights.
The reason Mr. Strain intends to obtain the new artificial limb
described it that his wife, a muscular woman, who has been getting
plenty of exercise since John ceased to work eight years ago, has been
and is in the habit of bounding his artificial limb off his forehead
when a domestic storm brews. The present limb is of wood, and, for
various reasons, is unsatisfactory to Mr. Strain and his brow.
Over the condition of the weather a quarrel started in the Strain home.
Mr. Strain declared he felt that a gale was coming from the northeast,
inasmuch as his left leg--not the wooden one--pained slightly. Mrs.
Strain, with that rare spirit of raillery which characterizes a woman
who supports four children, told John the weather could scarcely affect
a man who sat in the house smoking all the time. It was then that John,
according to the testimony of his wife in police court, threw eight
volumes of Dumas, apparently bound in zinc. His aim was true.
Mrs. Strain then took John’s artificial limb and hung it just west of
where he parts his hair. Her judgment of distance was perfect--it
generally is. She then cried for help.
When help arrived, John had hopped on one foot over the State border,
into New York. A sheriff with a rich baritone voice explained to him
that hopping about New York State with no hat and only an undershirt
over his shoulders would mean but little in his life. John thought
deeply, hopped over into Connecticut again, and was sentenced to thirty
days in jail by Judge James R. Meade.
Machine That Remembers.
A machine which will remember the date and hour of an appointment made
several weeks previous is one of the latest efficiency devices to be
placed on the market. A roll of paper strip passes over a flat surface
where the appointment is indicated, and a punch mark made in the margin.
When that time occurs, a gong is sounded and a reference to the strip
will give the information as to what appointment is to be kept.
Fifty Dollars Gone, Flivver May Survive.
Probably the maddest man in and about Montgomery County, New York State,
just at present is Reuben Hyney, who keeps a shoe store on the main
street of Fonda, and who, as a side line, rents his automobile to any
one who can fit in it. Mr. Hyney has no more temper than any other
normal man who lives in Montgomery County, but the shoe business has run
over at the heel a bit recently, and the other afternoon something
happened which increased Mr. Hyney’s height four inches.
Hyney was adjusting a spring-heeled shoe to a broad foot at about a
moment after two o’clock, when the telephone rang sharply. He dropped
his client’s foot onto his own and limped to the booth. A man with an
educated voice, as Mr. Hyney describes it, was asking if he might hire
an automobile for the afternoon. He said he was a school inspector and
was as busy as a one-eyed mouse in a cheese factory. He would come
running if the buzz wagon was not busy. It was not.
Hardly had the satisfied customer walked from the store when a bearded
stranger, wearing a slouch hat, stopped at the door, looked up and down
the street craftily, and entered.
“Wait there,” said the shoe merchant, pointing to the central design on
a piece of linoleum. “I will oil the machine and call my daughter.”
The stranger, laughing up his sleeve, through his vest and along his
hatband, reached into the cash register and took fifty dollars. Then he
sat down and waited until Miss Hyney came to watch the store. By this
time it was hardly worth it.
An hour later the mysterious stranger told the owner of the machine to
stop in front of a building in Fort Plain. He went upstairs.
Three hours later Hyney decided the stranger had given him the
metropolitan fare-thee-well. He entered the building and found nothing
but the janitor and a flock of rent signs.
Two hours later he was back in Fonda, telling his daughter about the
“cuss” who tore the soul out of a dandy four-hundred-dollar touring car
and didn’t pay for it. Then his daughter asked him if he had taken fifty
dollars from the cash register.
Mr. Hyney is in bed. But what’s the use?--he can’t sleep.
Capture Odd Pair of Mice.
A most remarkable freak of nature is a white mouse and a black one
captured in a bureau drawer by John Elias, who lives in Atchison, Kan.
The white mouse hasn’t a black spot on it and has black eyes. The black
mouse has fur as black as the ace of spades, and its eyes are brown.
Local zoölogists are unable to account for the strange markings of the
mice. They are very vicious and never miss a chance to attempt to bite
members of the Elias family while being fed.
Billy Goat is Boss of Town.
A billy goat tied up traffic in Kokomo, Ind., as effectively as the
street-car strike did in Chicago. The goat broke away from a colored man
who was leading it at the transfer corner.
The conductors of two cars standing there were on the sidewalk at the
time. They started for their cars and the goat started for them. The men
“beat it” for a candy store and won.
The goat then turned his attention to several pedestrians and soon made
a scatterment. About this time Patrolmen Elkins and Webb came along.
Webb lived on a farm and knew the habits of the goat. He kept in the
rear. Elkins bravely went forward to capture the goat. He managed to
seize the animal by the head and tried to go with him to the station.
Every time he pulled, the goat started to butt him. He held on for
several minutes, afraid to let go, until the owner of the goat relieved
him.
Aged Couple Joined at Last.
George W. Hayden, a retired farmer of Big Laurel, Va., and Larestia
Fulton, of Lipps, were married at the home of the bride’s son, Henry
Fulton, a few days ago. The bridegroom was some few days past ninety
years of age when the knot was tied and the bride was lacking a few days
of being eighty-seven.
About seventy years ago Hayden and Miss Helt--the bride’s maiden
name--were engaged, but quarreled, and both married other parties and
reared large families. Hayden’s wife died eighteen years ago and Mrs.
Fulton was left a widow three years ago.
“Well Broken to Hard Work.”
Although many bones in his body have been broken as a result of various
accidents during his life, W. M. Morgan, who lives near Lancaster, Kan.,
finds little cause for complaint for the treatment he has had at the
hands of “cruel fate.”
At various times he has had both shoulders fractured, a number of ribs
cracked, a thumb broken, both legs broken, and his right foot has almost
every bone in it broken. Despite all these handicaps, he works every
day at hard labor and has little use for the fellow who thinks hard luck
has given him a jolt.
Snake Swallows China Egg.
Blacksnakes down Gales Ferry way cannot tell china nest eggs for hen’s
eggs, according to a story related by Mr. and Mrs. R. B. de Bussy, of
Mount Vernon, N. Y. The De Bussys were recent guests of Miss Caroline
Freeman at the Bouwerie, Gales Ferry. Miss Freeman’s guests at that time
included Professor Heuser, instructor in German at Columbia University,
and his family.
Professor Heuser’s daughter, six years old, returning from the poultry
house at Bouwerie, reported no eggs, but said a big snake was in a hen’s
nest. A manservant, using an ax, killed the five-foot snake.
Miss Freeman then discovered that the china nest egg was missing from
the nest. The search led to the interior of the snake, where the missing
china nest egg was recovered.
Lightning’s Queer Freak.
Lightning apparently photographed a perfect likeness of a tree,
branches, twigs, and leaves, in minutest detail, on the breast of Edwin
Liesman, who was instantly killed in the Magnolia clubhouse on Mount
Penn, near Reading, Pa., in a violent electrical storm.
Liesman’s mother, Mrs. Bernard Liesman, and a friend, Harry Opperman,
were badly shocked, but will recover.
Liesman was sitting at a window next to a telephone. The bolt followed
the telephone wire. The tree outside the window was almost exactly
reproduced on Liesman’s body. The tragedy occurred during four brilliant
flashes in swift succession, putting out all the lights in the cottage.
Medical men and photographers were puzzled by the strange features
wrought on the dead man.
Sounds Like a Fish Story.
A flock of geese were swimming in White River, near Augusta, Ark., and a
splash attracted the attention of several men and boys who were near by.
A large blue channel catfish came up and grabbed a goose, taking the
fowl under with him.
People watched for some time, but the goose never came up. This may
sound like a fish story, but nevertheless it is true.
Ghostly Figure That is an Awful Shrieker.
A ghost, or some other creature with a voice like an armload of siren
whistles, has frightened the residents of Somerville, N. J., to the
point where it is no longer a joke, and they want to get to sleep. The
disorder, frightful beyond words, ghastly, ghostly, and hair elevating,
has been going on for a week, and the whole town is determined that
something is to be done about it.
Thomas Hagen, night roundhouse watchman, was the first one to hear the
shrieks. He was going round and round the roundhouse when the most
frightful bellow imaginable rent the air. Mr. Hagen, who comes of a
warm-blooded race, was so startled that his blood ran cold. It could
barely run, even.
Right across the railroad tracks from the roundhouse is the cemetery,
and Mr. Hagen, after recalling this, took a little jaunt up the road
that restored his circulation to normal. He notified the police force,
who were sitting up late, reading, and he became indignant when the
department took a cigar out of its mouth and laughed at him.
Every night since then the terrible noise has been repeated, and persons
who have passed the roundhouse have seen a strange figure flitting about
among the bushes and trees which border the railroad tracks at that
point. Some of them even describe the flitter, which is going some,
considering the speed with which they invariably leave the neighborhood.
For the last two nights every one in the village has been shuddering in
unison, and the vibration can be felt as far as Philadelphia. Every now
and then the shriek ceases and is replaced by a wail--and the wail is a
whale of a wail. It is a relief when the shriek starts again.
Mr. Hagen, who originally heard the alleged ghost and who has become
more bored with the noise than any of the comparative beginners,
yesterday resigned his position as watchman in the roundhouse. He
declared that if everything was on the square he would work forever and
willingly walk around and around and around all night, but that under
present conditions no self-respecting roundhouse watchman could stand
around watching.
Chief of Police Bellis will watch with seven railroad detectives. They
will stay right at the roundhouse until the ghost appears. Beyond that
they have made no arrangements.
Hoodoo Pursues Two Miners.
Two mining partners, Gus Erickson and Bert Pinney, of Hailey, Idaho, are
certainly pursued by some hoodoo. While working on a stage ten feet
below the surface, the stage broke away from its fastenings, dropping
Pinney down the shaft twenty feet, where, after he had turned head down,
his buckskin shoe laces caught on a nail and held him until help
arrived. Three hundred feet of water would have received him had his
laces broke.
The next afternoon Erickson came to town on his motor cycle to get the
mail. Returning, the motor cycle skidded in a rut, throwing its rider
over the handlebars into the road, the machine piling on top of him.
With his skull fractured in three places, he lay in the road an hour
before he was found. Both men will recover.
Former Water Boy’s Story.
A prominent business man of Castleton, Ill., told the following story
the other night to three or four citizens assembled in A. A. Webber’s
real-estate office:
“When I was a boy,” he said, “I used to carry water for the men to drink
when they were working in the field some distance from the house. One
real warm day I carried water to my father, who was running a mower and
cutting timothy for hay. As I was about to return home, I noticed a
prairie chicken fly up from the freshly mown swath. Thinking there might
be a nest of eggs--which, by the way, are fine eating--I investigated,
and what do you think I found? A prairie chicken with its head cut off,
the mowing bar being just the right height to perform the operation. I
also found the feet and legs that belonged to the one that flew away. It
probably stood up ready to fly as the mowing bar came along, while the
other remained sitting and lost its head. Needless to say, we had
prairie chicken for dinner.”
* * * * *
The Nick Carter Stories
ISSUED EVERY SATURDAY BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS
When it comes to detective stories worth while, the =Nick Carter Stories=
contain the only ones that should be considered. They are not overdrawn
tales of bloodshed. They rather show the working of one of the finest
minds ever conceived by a writer. The name of Nick Carter is familiar
all over the world, for the stories of his adventures may be read in
twenty languages. No other stories have withstood the severe test of
time so well as those contained in the =Nick Carter Stories=. It proves
conclusively that they are the best. We give herewith a list of some of
the back numbers in print. You can have your news dealer order them, or
they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt
of the price in money or postage stamps.
730--The Torn Card.
731--Under Desperation’s Spur.
732--The Connecting Link.
733--The Abduction Syndicate.
738--A Plot Within a Plot.
739--The Dead Accomplice.
746--The Secret Entrance.
747--The Cavern Mystery.
748--The Disappearing Fortune.
749--A Voice from the Past.
752--The Spider’s Web.
753--The Man With a Crutch.
754--The Rajah’s Regalia.
755--Saved from Death.
756--The Man Inside.
757--Out for Vengeance.
758--The Poisons of Exili.
759--The Antique Vial.
760--The House of Slumber.
761--A Double Identity.
762--“The Mocker’s” Stratagem.
763--The Man that Came Back.
764--The Tracks in the Snow.
765--The Babbington Case.
766--The Masters of Millions.
767--The Blue Stain.
768--The Lost Clew.
770--The Turn of a Card.
771--A Message in the Dust.
772--A Royal Flush.
774--The Great Buddha Beryl.
775--The Vanishing Heiress.
776--The Unfinished Letter.
777--A Difficult Trail.
782--A Woman’s Stratagem.
783--The Cliff Castle Affair.
784--A Prisoner of the Tomb.
785--A Resourceful Foe.
789--The Great Hotel Tragedies.
795--Zanoni, the Transfigured.
796--The Lure of Gold.
797--The Man With a Chest.
798--A Shadowed Life.
799--The Secret Agent.
800--A Plot for a Crown.
801--The Red Button.
802--Up Against It.
803--The Gold Certificate.
804--Jack Wise’s Hurry Call.
805--Nick Carter’s Ocean Chase.
807--Nick Carter’s Advertisement.
808--The Kregoff Necklace.
811--Nick Carter and the Nihilists.
812--Nick Carter and the Convict Gang.
813--Nick Carter and the Guilty Governor.
814--The Triangled Coin.
815--Ninety-nine--and One.
816--Coin Number 77.
NEW SERIES
NICK CARTER STORIES
1--The Man from Nowhere.
2--The Face at the Window.
3--A Fight for a Million.
4--Nick Carter’s Land Office.
5--Nick Carter and the Professor.
6--Nick Carter as a Mill Hand.
7--A Single Clew.
8--The Emerald Snake.
9--The Currie Outfit.
10--Nick Carter and the Kidnapped Heiress.
11--Nick Carter Strikes Oil.
12--Nick Carter’s Hunt for a Treasure.
13--A Mystery of the Highway.
14--The Silent Passenger.
15--Jack Dreen’s Secret.
16--Nick Carter’s Pipe Line Case.
17--Nick Carter and the Gold Thieves.
18--Nick Carter’s Auto Chase.
19--The Corrigan Inheritance.
20--The Keen Eye of Denton.
21--The Spider’s Parlor.
22--Nick Carter’s Quick Guess.
23--Nick Carter and the Murderess.
24--Nick Carter and the Pay Car.
25--The Stolen Antique.
26--The Crook League.
27--An English Cracksman.
28--Nick Carter’s Still Hunt.
29--Nick Carter’s Electric Shock.
30--Nick Carter and the Stolen Duchess.
31--The Purple Spot.
32--The Stolen Groom.
33--The Inverted Cross.
34--Nick Carter and Keno McCall.
35--Nick Carter’s Death Trap.
36--Nick Carter’s Siamese Puzzle.
37--The Man Outside.
38--The Death Chamber.
39--The Wind and the Wire.
40--Nick Carter’s Three Cornered Chase.
41--Dazaar, the Arch-Fiend.
42--The Queen of the Seven.
43--Crossed Wires.
44--A Crimson Clew.
45--The Third Man.
46--The Sign of the Dagger.
47--The Devil Worshipers.
48--The Cross of Daggers.
49--At Risk of Life.
50--The Deeper Game.
51--The Code Message.
52--The Last of the Seven.
53--Ten-Ichi, the Wonderful.
54--The Secret Order of Associated
Crooks.
55--The Golden Hair Clew.
56--Back From the Dead.
57--Through Dark Ways.
58--When Aces Were Trumps.
59--The Gambler’s Last Hand.
60--The Murder at Linden Fells.
61--A Game for Millions.
62--Under Cover.
63--The Last Call.
64--Mercedes Danton’s Double.
65--The Millionaire’s Nemesis.
66--A Princess of the Underworld.
67--The Crook’s Blind.
68--The Fatal Hour.
69--Blood Money.
70--A Queen of Her Kind.
71--Isabel Benton’s Trump Card.
72--A Princess of Hades.
73--A Prince of Plotters.
74--The Crook’s Double.
75--For Life and Honor.
76--A Compact With Dazaar.
77--In the Shadow of Dazaar.
78--The Crime of a Money King.
79--Birds of Prey.
80--The Unknown Dead.
81--The Severed Hand.
82--The Terrible Game of Millions.
83--A Dead Man’s Power.
84--The Secrets of an Old House.
85--The Wolf Within.
86--The Yellow Coupon.
87--In the Toils.
88--The Stolen Radium.
89--A Crime in Paradise.
90--Behind Prison Bars.
91--The Blind Man’s Daughter.
92--On the Brink of Ruin.
93--Letter of Fire.
94--The $100,000 Kiss.
95--Outlaws of the Militia.
96--The Opium-Runners.
97--In Record Time.
98--The Wag-Nuk Clew.
99--The Middle Link.
100--The Crystal Maze.
101--A New Serpent in Eden.
102--The Auburn Sensation.
103--A Dying Chance.
104--The Gargoni Girdle.
105--Twice in Jeopardy.
196--The Ghost Launch.
107--Up in the Air.
108--The Girl Prisoner.
109--The Red Plague.
110--The Arson Trust.
111--The King of the Firebugs.
112--“Lifter’s” of the Lofts.
113--French Jimmie and His Forty
Thieves.
114--The Death Plot.
115--The Evil Formula.
116--The Blue Button.
117--The Deadly Parallel.
118--The Vivisectionists.
119--The Stolen Brain.
120--An Uncanny Revenge.
121--The Call of Death.
122--The Suicide.
123--Half a Million Ransom.
124--The Girl Kidnapper.
125--The Pirate Yacht.
126--The Crime of the White Hand.
127--Found in the Jungle.
128--Six Men in a Loop.
129--The Jewels of Wat Chang.
130--The Crime in the Tower.
131--The Fatal Message.
132--Broken Bars.
133--Won by Magic.
134--The Secret of Shangore.
135--Straight to the Goal.
136--The Man They Held Back.
137--The Seal of Gijon.
138--The Traitors of the Tropics.
139--The Pressing Peril.
140--The Melting-Pot.
141--The Duplicate Night.
142--The Edge of a Crime.
143--The Sultan’s Pearls.
144--The Clew of the White Collar.
145--An Unsolved Mystery.
146--Paying the Price.
147--On Death’s Trail.
148--The Mark of Cain.
Dated July 17th, 1915.
149--A Network of Crime.
Dated July 24th, 1915.
150--The House of Fear.
Dated July 31st, 1915.
151--The Mystery of the Crossed Needles.
Dated August 7th, 1915.
152--The Forced Crime.
Dated August 14th, 1915.
153--The Doom of Sang Tu.
Dated August 21st, 1915.
154--The Mask of Death.
Dated August 28th, 1915.
155--The Gordon Elopement.
Dated Sept. 4th, 1915.
156--Blood Will Tell.
PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY. If you want any back numbers of our
weeklies and cannot procure them from your news dealer, they can be
obtained direct from this office. Postage stamps taken the same as
money.
STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Ave., NEW YORK CITY