UNTANGLING THE WEB.
“Watch Jarge!” cried Klein to one of the detectives, as he sprang
through the window, followed by the chief of police.
Tanner fell upon the porch, scrambled madly to his feet, gazed
bewilderedly about him, then dashed away over the narrow footbridge that
led to Eagle’s Nest. Klein and the chief were a few paces behind.
At the summerhouse Tanner hesitated, vainly searching for an avenue of
escape, seeming to realize, for the first time, that he was trapped.
Suddenly, with a despairing cry, followed by a mocking, hysterical
laugh, the actor-crook deliberately hurled himself against the frail
railing, and as Klein darted forward with a cry of horror on his lips,
Tanner disappeared over the edge of the cliff.
“Good Lord!” exclaimed the chief, reaching Klein’s side. “The man must
have been mad!”
The two men peered over the cliff’s edge. The white surf dashed at the
rock base, thundering its eternal song, and the curling foam glistened
in the moonlight like lace. That was all.
The men retraced their steps. As they reached the porch the chief said:
“There’s a strong undertow along here, but I’ll have my men look for the
body.”
When the news was given to those inside the house, Jarge’s cloak of
indifference dropped. Tanner’s death broke his nerve. He huddled back in
his chair, as if fear had come to him for the first time.
“I--I guess there’s little use--in playing the game--to win, now,” he
murmured, his voice all but a whisper. “Let me congratulate you, Mr.
Klein. You’ve whipped me at my own game. Tanner and I overheard you that
night in Delmar’s room. We were both pretty well down and out. We
decided to get the engagement in Hudson, and----” He stopped, and was
silent for a moment. “Well, you see how it has all turned out. Tanner
hit Delmar, but he didn’t intend to kill him. All he wanted was the
suit; his own was in rags. I saved you--later in the evening--because I
thought if you were caught your story would set the police on a new
trail. As long as you were suspected, and kept out of sight, suspicion
would not be turned our way. I did the same trick on the boat. I stole
Miss Lydecker’s jewels and returned them to Mr. Lydecker, passing myself
off as a ship detective. I did this so that I might win his friendship.
Tanner and I had long planned to rob this house.”
“Bless my soul!” was all that Mr. Lydecker could say.
“And what about this suit?” questioned Klein.
“I pawned it in Fall River.”
“And it was you, a week ago, whom Miss Lydecker saw?”
“Yes.” Jarge put a hand into his waistcoat pocket, and brought out the
brooch. “I haven’t much use for this, now,” he said. “I have carried it
about with me because I didn’t care to trust it to any one else, and I
believed detection was next to impossible.”
The chief of police took it, and handed it to Mr. Lydecker.
“I guess that is all,” Jarge said, his hands falling limply into his
lap. “And I’m glad it is over.”
Metcalfe, the juvenile man, who had been a silent witness to the whole
affair, suddenly stepped forward.
“Perhaps you’ve wondered why I was so upset the night you put Delmar’s
photograph in that ‘prop’ frame. Well, I suppose it was foolish of me at
the time. But it happened that on the very day Delmar was assaulted, and
probably just before you came, Klein, I visited Delmar in his room, and
we had an unpleasant argument. Delmar was for throwing me out. We talked
rather loud in the hall, and I noticed that a number of the roomers were
taking some interest. Then, when I read the next morning that Delmar had
been found unconscious, I--I instantly recalled our words, and fancied
suspicion would fall upon me. That explains my actions.”
“I was puzzled at first,” Klein told him, “when both you and Tanner
acted so suspiciously. And it was not until I had the case well
unearthed that I realized you could have had no vital concern in the
matter. Now, of course, your explanation clears everything.”
Mr. Lydecker offered the use of his automobile to the chief, and it was
readily accepted. The two detectives, with Jarge between them, left the
room. As the chief followed he turned to Klein.
“You’ll be the important witness in this case, Mr. Klein. I suppose Mr.
Lydecker will vouch for your appearance?”
“Willingly, sir,” answered Lydecker.
“Just a minute,” broke in Tod. “Will you take me to the city? I’ve got
to send my story in to the _News_.”
“Plenty of room,” the chief answered, smiling at the colt reporter’s
eagerness.
“Can you imagine Reed’s surprise when he gets this?” Tod whispered aside
to Klein. “Great Scott! This is one of the scoops you read about! See
you later.” And he hurried out to the waiting automobile.
* * * * *
After the publication of Irving Tod’s sensational scoop, Mr. Reed, the
editor of the _News_, came to the conclusion that, after all, a
son-in-law like Tod was not the worst thing that could be wished upon
him. As for Claire Reed, she admitted, in time, that the possession of a
devoted husband was more to be desired than a life sacrificed to the
stage.
Hobart Klein is still a member of the Hudson Stock Company, but his name
goes on the billing as “Owner and Stage Director.” As actor-manager he
has been called upon to assume many rôles, but his most successful one,
from a personal viewpoint, has been that of a husband; and he is upheld
by a very able critic, Mrs. Helen Lydecker Klein.
THE END.
HIS EXACT SIZE.
There is a kind of selfish smartness which makes a man think well of
himself, but which renders him a laughingstock, nevertheless. One rainy
day, when a shoe shop was full of customers, a man entered hurriedly,
and speaking to an assistant, who was fitting a lady, said:
“Can you show me some of those you advertise? I am in great haste.”
Excusing himself to the lady, the assistant proceeded to wait upon the
newcomer. Pair after pair of boots were tried on, and finally a perfect
fit was secured.
“Now, what make are these boots?” inquired the man. “They fit me like a
glove. Just write down the make, with the exact width and length.”
The salesman did as required, and the man drew on his old shoes and
started for the door.
“Don’t you want the boots, sir?” inquired the surprised assistant.
“Oh, no,” responded the man. “I just wanted to get my size. I have a
friend in the wholesale business who can get them for me at a good deal
less than your price,” and he went off, followed by the unspoken opinion
of the salesman and the laughter of several customers who had witnessed
the affair.
A HINT TO TEACHERS.
Two teachers of languages were discussing matters and things relating to
their profession.
“Do your pupils pay up regularly at the end of each quarter?” asked one
of them.
“No, they do not,” was the reply. “I often have to wait for weeks and
weeks before I get my pay, and sometimes I don’t get it at all. You
can’t well dun the parents for the money.”
“Why don’t you do as I do? I always get my money regularly.”
“How do you manage it?”
“It’s very simple. For instance, I am teaching a boy French, and on the
first day of the quarter his folks don’t send the money for the lessons.
In that event I give him the following sentences to translate and write
out at home: ‘I have no money. The quarter is up. Hast thou got any
money? I need money very much. Why hast thou not brought the money this
morning? Did thy father not give thee any money?’ That fetches them.”
WHERE’S THE JOKE?
Daniel Webster liked to make remarks of a character intended to puzzle
simple minds. Stopping to dinner one day at a country inn on his way to
Marshfield, he was asked by the hostess if he usually had a good
appetite.
“Madam,” answered Webster, “I sometimes eat more than I do at other
times; but never less.”
The inhabitants of the village where this profound Hibernicism was
uttered, have probably been at work ever since trying to comprehend its
exact purport.
* * * * *
THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS.
Eat More Corn Bread.
The suggestion that the American people get better acquainted with corn
as a breadstuff, made in Mr. Boyce’s talks recently, has brought many
commendatory letters. Mr. Boyce called attention to the fact that corn
is a universal crop in the United States. Demand from Europe has made
wheat prices high, but Europe has not yet learned to eat our corn.
“Your advice should be heeded by everybody, in the cities and in the
smaller places and country,” says one letter, from an Iowa town. “Corn
has been selling at from seventy-two to seventy-seven cents a bushel.
Bulk cornmeal of good quality can be bought for three to five cents a
pound. As you say, there is no better food in the wintertime. People
have been eating too much wheat.”
Another says: “We should eat more corn, instead of so much wheat, and
also more graham flour and oatmeal. They all furnish the best kind of
nutriment.”
Eating of potatoes, rye bread, rice, oatmeal, and similar foods is also
advocated. More attention should be paid to vegetables as a partial
substitute for bread.
Corn is as healthful as it is economical. Those who make a practice of
eating corn bread rarely suffer from indigestion, constipation, or
kindred complaints.
Eighty-three, But He’s a Speeder.
Though Alfred S. Hensley, of Stanhope, N. J., is eighty-three years of
age, he would not be “dared” by some of his cronies, who wagered that he
would not ride a motor cycle. Hensley was telling them how some years
ago he was a “speed maniac” with a motor cycle. They laughed, and the
old man jumped on the seat of a motor cycle and was off down the
Stanhope-Newton Road like a shot. He went about half a mile and then
turned back, covering the last quarter of a mile in sixteen seconds, and
as he set the machine against the curb, he pocketed a wager with the
remark:
“Well, I guess I’m still one of the young uns.”
All Five Shots Hit Villain of a Play.
Lewis Benton, who has lived near Shingletown, Cal., fifty miles from a
railroad or town, all his life, came to Sacramento the other day to
settle up a timber claim at the United States land office.
Benton, who had read a great deal about the white-slave traffic and had
heard something about moving pictures, looked up a newspaper reporter
who had spent the summer with him, and together they attended a picture
show.
Real trouble was reeled off at the theater. The films showed a stirring
play, in which a deep-eyed villain with a silk hat and a cane did his
worst for three reels. During the most thrilling portion of the play,
when the villain tried to hurl one of his fair victims from the sixth
story of a building, Benton could contain himself no longer.
He whipped out his forty-four-caliber revolver and began shooting at the
screen. After the police had seized and hustled Benton away, the screen
was examined, and it was found each of the five shots hit the curtain
within the space of a silver dollar. When the pictures were run again,
it was found that the villain was struck between the eyes by every
bullet.
The newspaper man had a hard time explaining Benton’s action to Police
Judge Waldo Thompson. The judge finally consented to let Benton return
to Shingletown minus his “shooting iron.” The revolver was sent to him
by parcel post.
Finds Money in a Chimney.
When he moved into a recently purchased house, Floyd Wilkins, of
Georgetown, Del., was overjoyed to find a sum of money hidden behind a
loose brick in the chimney. The money is supposed to have been placed
there by the former owner of the house, who died several years ago.
Wilkins has not disclosed the amount.
Pathetic Romance of Aged “Lonesome Bill.”
While hunting for coon in the mountains north of Big Laurel, Va., the
hunters came upon the cabin of old “Lonesome Bill,” and seeing no light
in the house, investigated and found the old man dead. Whether the aged
hermit froze to death or died from illness no one knows, but it is
thought that he had been in poor health for some time, and it is likely
he succumbed to old age.
His exact age is not known, as all his family have long been dead or
moved away, but it is supposed that he was near one hundred years old,
probably older. The old man was seldom seen away from his mountain home,
and how he lived is still a mystery. It is said that at the age of
eighteen or twenty he came to the mountains from the eastern part of the
State, with his father, mother, and three sisters. They were all nice
people, and Bill was well educated, having graduated from some Eastern
university. He fell in love with one of the mountain girls near where
his father had bought a large farm, and was about to marry her when his
father, Mark Alexander, interfered.
There was some trouble between father and son, but the son finally
succeeded in securing his father’s consent to the marriage, but before
the day came for the wedding the girl was taken sick and died after a
few days’ illness.
From the day of her death, Bill Alexander was a changed man. He went
into the forest, high upon the mountainside, and built himself a rude
cabin, where he lived until he died. At first he would see no visitors,
and came near killing several persons, including his father.
Not many months later his father died and two sisters married, leaving
his younger sister and mother alone. He received them in his cabin, and
they remained with him for two days, when they sold out the farm, with
the exception of his house and one acre, and left the country. The two
sisters who married had already gone away with their husbands.
So Bill Alexander, the dashing young college man of eighty years ago,
came to be simply “Lonesome Bill” to the mountain people, and he was
left to brood over his lost love alone. All traces of his people having
been lost, he was buried by the side of the cabin he called home. The
cabin contained nothing of importance, further than an old tintype of a
young and pretty girl dressed after the fashion of the mountaineers a
century ago.
Suit Over Nail in the Bread.
A nail and a tooth of a woman’s comb or a piece of a toothpick found in
loaves of bread that had not been touched by a human hand in the
preparation or baking or delivery are the causes of a suit for damages
brought by C. A. J. Qeek-Berner against the Ward Bread Company before
Judge Aspinall and a jury in the Kings County Court, New York.
Mr. Qeek-Berner claims he found the nail and the other foreign
substances with his teeth, and in so doing inflicted damage to said
teeth and mental anguish to himself to the value of $50,000. The
plaintiff testified he found a wire nail an inch and one-half long in
one loaf of bread, and in trying to masticate it, he ruined five teeth.
Later, in another loaf, he found a tooth from a woman’s comb. Counsel
for the defendant insisted that it was but a common toothpick.
Thirty-mile Race to Save $25,000.
With a package containing $25,000 in cash perilously near falling out of
the open door of an empty express car, a Union Pacific fast-mail train
speeded westward, from Omaha, Neb., pursued by a special train carrying
the messenger who had missed his car.
The race continued for nearly thirty miles before the mail was
overtaken. The package of money was found just a few inches inside the
open doorway.
The money package was delivered just before the train started. It was
placed just within the open door, and while the messenger was
registering, the train of exclusive express cars pulled out of the
station. The chase immediately was begun.
Flood Kills Caged Beasts.
Flood and storm conditions approaching those which swept southern and
central Arizona with disastrous results a month ago were repeated
several days ago. Two cities--Globe and Miami--were isolated. In the
Salt River Valley damage amounting to more than $100,000 has been done.
In Phoenix the streets were rivers, and animals valued at $30,000 were
drowned in a menagerie.
Ranchers in the lowlands were caught unprepared and scores were rescued
from trees and housetops by boats after their homes had been swept away.
Many productive areas between here and Bisbee are still covered by the
flood, which in places reached the highest stage recorded in twenty
years.
$25,000 to Girl Who Kept Nice and Quiet.
Just how golden constant and well-regulated silence can be made was
evidenced when Miss Bertha Gretsch of New York, learned that Jacob Hyman
had bequeathed her half of a $50,000 estate because she didn’t laugh and
talk when he took her fishing.
Hyman, who was seventy-three years old when he died lived with Miss
Gretsch’s parents for many years, and since her early childhood she was
his constant companion. Being of a silent and contemplative nature, the
aged man enjoined her to always sit still and not be giddy when she was
about with him, particularly when he went angling. She was, however,
permitted to utter monosyllables in monotone when he made an unusually
good catch.
Regarding a loud laugh as one of the disturbers of philosophic calm, Mr.
Hyman was opposed sternly to visible and risible mirth. And because Miss
Gretsch could fish without giggling or otherwise impeding the sound of
absolute silence, she is now an heiress. She is twenty-two years old and
is a graduate of Erasmus Hall High School. Mr. Hyman was noted during
the latter years of his life for his benefactions to Jewish
institutions. He was in business for some time at 5 Beekman Street.
Another Man Restores Stealings.
W. H. Chapin, convicted of larceny by bailee in Portland, Ore., for
appropriating to his use $3,500 belonging to Mrs. Marion Annie Grace,
was given a full pardon by Governor Oswald West, who executed the
instrument upon receiving a bond signed by Chapin’s friends guaranteeing
that he would make restitution.
Mrs. Grace and her husband, an aged couple, alleged that they had placed
their savings in Chapin’s hands for investment, and that he had
converted the money to his own use.
Governor West notified Chapin that if he would guarantee full
restitution, a pardon would be forthcoming.
“It seems more important,” wrote the governor, “that these old people
should be provided for than that Chapin should go to the penitentiary.”
Government Plan to Aid Unemployed.
The Federal department of labor has completed the preliminary work in
connection with the Federal employment bureau, and necessary blanks are
being sent employers throughout the country and to post offices for
distribution to persons seeking employment.
It is the purpose of Secretary Wilson and his department to act as a
clearing house for those who seek employment and those who have
employment to offer. Both union and nonunion workers and proprietors of
open or closed shops throughout the country are interested in these
operations of the department.
It is Secretary Wilson’s intention, it is further stated, to try to
induce municipalities which contemplate building projects and public
improvements to begin their work as soon as possible. Mr. Wilson
believes the greater part of this work should be done in times of
industrial depression and less should be done during periods of great
industrial activity.
Finally, the secretary of labor believes it will be necessary ultimately
for the Federal government to actually put the unemployed on the land.
He favors a plan much like the one provided for Ireland by the Gladstone
bill. The government bought the land, cut it up into small farms, built
houses and other improvements, placed a family on each farm, and
received payment in amounts little larger than taxes.
War Costs Germans Trade in Chemicals.
The German exports of chemical products, in the manufacture of which
that country undoubtedly led the world, have been virtually entirely cut
off since the outbreak of hostilities. Last year they attained the
enormous figure of about $250,000,000.
German experts in this trade, however, express no fear as to the future.
They are of opinion that the competition which has started in other
countries will, after the cessation of the war, only tend to sharpen the
edge of the inventiveness of German chemists, who will, they say, be
able to make further chemical discoveries which will place them in a
position at least equal to that which they have hitherto held.
Quitting Booze and Smokes.
Under the conditions that he neither smokes nor uses intoxicants until
he is thirty years of age, Charles Gordon Emery II., of Watertown, N.
Y., is left the sum of $50,000 in trust by the will of his grandfather.
Charles G. Emery, the tobacco millionaire, filed for probate here
to-day. The estate amounts to between four and five million dollars.
Bear Curfew in Jersey.
Women and children of Vernon, N. J., are staying indoors nowadays from
fear of bears. Two or three have stolen sheep and beehives lately,
carrying their loot into the woods and swamps on the outskirts of the
town. Hunters are organizing to put a stop to the bear raids.
Thanks Good Samaritan of ’61.
A resolution was adopted by the legislature of Vermont commending Mrs.
Bettie van Metre, of Berryville, Va., for her care of Lieutenant Bedell,
of Westfield, Vt., after he was injured during the Civil War.
Lieutenant Bedell’s leg was broken by a shell in a battle at Opequon,
Va., and he was left behind by his regiment. He was picked up
unconscious and carried to the house, where he was left in an attic room
for three days without proper care, until Mrs. van Metre, then a girl of
twenty years, heard of his condition, and insisted on acting as nurse.
She watched over him, regardless of criticisms, until he was able to be
moved back to his Vermont home. She then accompanied him on a troop
train, and afterward returned to Virginia.
Indians’ Football Dates.
The athletic officials at the Carlisle Indian School have announced the
1915 football schedule, which contains one game less than last season.
Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, Notre Dame, and Syracuse have been
dropped, and Harvard, Bucknell, and Fordham take their places.
It has not yet been decided as to who will coach Carlisle on the
gridiron during the coming season, although there are a number of
applicants, among whom are former Indian football stars, as well as
graduates of leading universities.
The schedule follows:
September 18, Albright College vs. Carlisle Indians, at Carlisle;
September 25, Lebanon Valley vs. Carlisle Indians, at Carlisle; October
2, Lehigh University vs. Carlisle Indians, at South Bethlehem; October
9, Harvard University vs. Carlisle Indians, at Cambridge, Mass.; October
16, University of Pittsburgh vs. Carlisle Indians, at Pittsburgh;
October 23, Bucknell vs. Carlisle Indians, at Carlisle; October 30, West
Virginia Wesleyan vs. Carlisle Indians, at Wheeling, W. Va.; November
6, Holy Cross College vs. Carlisle Indians, at Worcester, Mass.;
November 13, Dickinson College vs. Carlisle Indians, at Carlisle;
November 20, Fordham University vs. Carlisle, at New York City; November
25, Brown University vs. Carlisle Indians, at Providence.
Has a Five-footed Pig.
R. S. Givens, living between Georgetown and Laurel, Del., has a hog
which has five perfectly formed feet. The freak is attracting much
attention from the residents in the western part of the country, and
hundreds have been to see it within the past few weeks.
Worked Fourteen Years, Never Asked Pay.
Here is a man who worked for about fourteen years as a clerk without
compensation. He is Edward A. Noonan, of New York, who went into the
employ of John Fox & Co., manufacturers of iron pipes, on August 23,
1900, but he never received anything for his work except a promise of
twenty-five dollars a week.
The remarkable fortitude of Noonan in waiting fourteen years for a pay
day that never came around, figures in the accounting of the estate of
John Fox, late representative and president of the National Democratic
Club, which was filed in the surrogates’ court yesterday. Mr. Fox was
senior member of the firm that employed Noonan, and the latter has made
a belated claim for $19,500 back salary.
Even while the affairs of the estate were being straightened out in the
office of former Surrogate Charles H. Beckett, attorney for the
executors, Noonan did some clerical work in connection with the estate.
But he never mentioned anything about his claim. The estate also
advertised for claims, but Noonan paid no attention.
Not until the accounting was to be filed did he assert his desire to be
paid his salary. However, there will be no pay day for the unpaid clerk
in the near future, as the estate is not inclined to recognize the
claim, and it will be made the subject of a jury trial in the
surrogates’ court under the new law.
The accounting shows that John Fox, son of the former politician,
received only $1,121 as his first year’s income from the estate, while
Eleanor B. Fox, granddaughter, received $1,000, and Mrs. Catherine
O’Brien, a niece, a similar amount.
1,827,000 Persons Get Aid in France.
Official statistics give the number of applications for government aid
as 2,116,000, of which 261,600 were refused. At present daily allowances
are paid to 1,857,000 persons, the average a family being two francs 10
centimes--forty-two cents. The daily outlay is 3,900,000
francs--$780,000.
Much Despised Weed Has Medicinal Value.
Thymol is an important antiseptic. For years it has been manufactured
almost exclusively in Germany, from a plant cultivated in India. At the
beginning of the European war the price of this medicinal chemical rose
from two dollars to seventeen dollars a pound.
“Yet during all these years,” says Professor E. Kremers, of the
University of Wisconsin, “while we have been importing about ten
thousand pounds of thymol annually, a weed growing on the sandy areas
along the lower course of the Wisconsin River has probably been
producing enough thymol to have supplied the entire United States in the
present crisis.”
Although attention has been directed again and again to this medicinal
agent, this weed has been allowed to go to waste. Because of its thymol,
it is not even touched by grazing cattle or sheep. Yet after the thymol
has been removed, the exhausted plant is eaten by animals, and may thus
be converted into a useful agricultural product.
Now that the supply from Europe is cut off, requests for seed and plants
have been received at the Wisconsin pharmaceutical experiment station.
Once Rich, Now Beggar.
Unshaven and shabbily clad, “Colonel” William Wayne Beldin, who says he
was at one time independently wealthy, was found guilty of mendicancy by
Magistrate Deuel, in the Tombs police court, New York, and sentenced to
the workhouse for ten days.
Beldin, who retains traces of his former gentility, says he was at one
time vice president of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. Unfortunate
speculation in Wall Street, he says, dissipated his fortune, and for a
time he was supported through allowances paid to him by relatives and
former friends.
Five years ago these funds ceased to be forthcoming, and he obtained a
position as a waiter in a small restaurant. Finally he lost even this
humble position.
According to Patrolman Gavan, of the Old Slip Precinct, Beldin was
begging Saturday night from passers-by opposite the Stock Exchange.
After he was placed under arrest, he told the police he had relatives in
the South who would be glad to care for him if he could find them.
One Day of Rest Upheld.
The constitutionality of the law securing to employees in factories and
mercantile establishments twenty-four consecutive hours of rest every
week, as applied in New York State, was upheld by a unanimous decision
of the court of appeals in that State.
The decision was given in an appeal from judgments of the city court of
Buffalo convicting the Klinck Packing Company, of that city, of
violating the law. The statute is known as “the one day of rest in
seven” law. The employers will carry the case to the United States
Supreme Court.
Death Valley Now an Eden.
Death Valley, recently placed on the social map by a dance to which
girls were invited and provided with transportation by the bachelors of
the mining camps, is about to be transformed from an Eveless Eden into
an Eden densely populated with femininity.
Following Death Valley’s great ball and the importation of music from
Los Angeles, a deluge of letters from Adamless Eves has descended on the
mining camps.
The dance was arranged by young college men, mining engineers, and
employees in Death Valley. They invited girls from Goldfield, Ludlow,
and Los Angeles, providing each with railroad fare. An orchestra went
from Los Angeles. It was a gala affair. Robert M. Pease, who arranged
it, is being deluged with letters from women who want to move to Death
Valley. Pease writes:
“Behold, I am being deluged with a hopeless mass of communications from
all ‘Adamless Eves’ in Christendom. I am receiving pounds of pressed
roses and violets; I am receiving offers to mend my socks, to sew my
buttons, to cook for me; requests for programs, requests for
photographs, and, yea, even requests for transportation.”
Facts You May Not Know.
The earliest record in journeying around the world was held by Magellan
at something less than three years--the latest stands at thirty-five
days and twenty-one hours. It has taken us nearly four centuries to
lower it to this extent. To reduce it in the next four hundred years in
the same proportion, we should have to make the circuit, in A. D. 2314,
in about a day.
The California-Mexican border covers 152 miles. Arizona has 300 miles of
border on Mexico. New Mexico neighbors with the Mexicans for 410 miles,
and Texas lies along the Mexican boundary for more than 900 miles.
A pipe organ has been installed in a Massachusetts church which produces
a tone so low that it can be felt rather than heard.
The life of the domestic horse is about twenty-eight years, while that
of the wild one is thirty-eight years.
A National Forest is Lost.
Lost: A national forest. Last seen somewhere in Michigan. Three thousand
dollars reward. Finder please hold until called for.
During the debate on the agricultural appropriation bill in the House,
at Washington, D. C., the reading clerk was interrupted by
Representative Fordney, of Michigan, when he read the item appropriating
$3,000 for the care of the Michigan national forest.
“Mr. Chairman,” said Mr. Fordney, “I’d just like to inquire of the
chairman of the committee where that forest is located.”
Chairman Lever confessed his ignorance, and no one else could enlighten
the Michigan man.
The item was left in the bill, however, for fear the forest might be
discovered and left without provision.
Figure Seven His Lucky Number.
Calvin Ross, real-estate dealer, of Shelbyville, Ind., has just
celebrated his seventy-seventh birthday. Referring to his anniversary,
Ross said: “I was born at seven p. m. on the seventh day of the week and
the twenty-seventh day of the month in 1837. I was the seventh son and
the seventh and last child of my family.”
He is convinced that he will live to be eighty-seven years old. He says
he has never been sick a day in his life.
Poor Man Proves Right to Patent.
After having been scoffed at for years while he struggled to achieve his
ambition and never once lost hope, Albert S. Janin has been declared
inventor of the hydroaëroplane, or flying boat.
The decision was given against Glenn H. Curtiss, the famous aëroplane
builder, who had heretofore been credited with the creation of the
hydroaëroplane, by the examiners in chief of the patent office in
Washington, the appeal board in all questions of patents.
Janin, a poor carpenter, living in a suburb of New York City, has for
years skimped his wife and seven children in the necessities of their
daily life, for the sake of carrying out his idea. He lost friends on
account of it; they pointed to their heads as he passed and said
“wheels.” The neighbors and the capitalists whom he tried to persuade to
finance his dream repeatedly told him he was going crazy.
“It all came from the flying fishes and the sea gulls,” said Janin. “I
was what is called a cadet representing the government on a mail ship in
1899. I was detailed to a steamer running down South and used to stand
on the bridge and watch the flying fish rise in an arc from the surface
of the sea. I used to say: ‘If a fish can do that, I can make a machine
do the same stunt.’ That’s why I got the idea of the water machine
first, while the others worked on the land-machine idea.
“The notion about warping the wings I got from the sea gulls that were
always sailing around us. So I began to make drawings of flying boats.
Right away my friends said: ‘Crazy.’”
The difficulties through which Janin has made his way are hinted at in
the decision of the examiners in chief. Here, for example, is an excerpt
from their report:
“Following the date of his conception--of the invention--Janin made
drawings, and in 1909 attempted to build a full-sized device himself.
He, however, was a poor man, evidently struggling to meet his current
living expenses.
“From what his witnesses testify it is apparent that he was continually
striving to raise funds to develop his ideas, which were regarded by
many as illusionary.”
Without the help of any one, and with no encouragement except the
sympathy of his wife, Janin persisted in completing his invention. The
value of the aid given him by Mrs. Janin can only be guessed from the
few words he said of her.
“Everybody laughed at me except the family. They were game. My wife was
a sticker, even when there was sickness in the family, and a lot of
troubles that I won’t tell about. She believed in me all the way.”
Finally, in January, 1911, Janin made application for a patent on his
design for the flying boat. August 22d of the same year Glenn H. Curtiss
applied for a patent on the same “counts.” The examiner in the patent
office gave the patent to Curtiss. Now that Janin has won on his appeal
to the examiners in chief, he will get a royalty on the flying boats
which will make him rich.
Warns of Boiler Danger.
There are over 500 boiler explosions in North America every year. The
records show that many of them are accompanied by fatalities. A little
invention which promises to do much toward preventing such accidents has
just been completed and patented by two Canadian engineers, John J.
Oglivie and Fred F. Dier, of Ottawa. It is called an “electric-signal
water column.”
As the name implies, the invention is a column to be attached to the
boiler, answering the purpose of a water glass. By an ingenious electric
apparatus, the height of the water is recorded by means of small glow
lamps. As the water rises or falls, so the lamps at a corresponding
position are lighted or extinguished. Should the water fall below the
safety level, the next lamp below is a red one, and as soon as the water
reaches the level of this, the red globe shines forth and an electrical
alarm rings. The tube in which the water rises and falls is cast iron,
three inches in diameter, which eliminates any possibility of it
becoming clogged and thus registering a false level of water, which has
happened in ordinary gauges.
A useful attachment to the water gauge on the boiler is an indication
board, a duplicate of the one on the boiler, which may be installed in
any part of the building where a steam boiler is run. Thus a
superintendent is constantly aware of the state of a boiler, as the same
lamps, globes, and alarm are used. The water column is made for use on
locomotives, ships, water tanks, or any mechanism where water levels
have to be registered.
“The device is a fuel and labor saver as well as a life saver. It has
met with the approval of many of our boiler inspectors,” writes Oglivie,
who is chief engineer of the department of mines at Ottawa.
Catches Chickens With Net.
Lewis Johnson, a young man who lives on his uncle’s farm near Troutdale,
Ore., has invented a novel contrivance wherewith to catch timid chickens
without the customary breakneck chase. Lewis was commissioned to catch
the fowls for several large dinners, and it required a deal of chasing.
He now has a neatly woven net, a fishnet in resemblance, round in shape,
borders lined with auto drive chain, and a long rope attached to the
middle of the net.
The net is compact and looks small enough, but when released by
throwing, much as a lasso is thrown, it spreads out uniformly to a
nine-foot circle. The spreading is automatic and the fall swift, so
there is little chance for the fowl to escape.
Spoon in Two Parts.
The germless spoon is to be added to the individual drinking cups, pie
plates, napkins, and other “use-once” devices. In a lunch place where
people are fed by hundreds, a spoon is thrust into a large number of
mouths during the course of its career, and should it be indifferently
cleaned, it would afford a playground for millions of germs, according
to the experts who study such things. The “germless spoon” has a new
bowl for every use. Only the handle is used more than once. The bowl is
of paper or compressed fiber. Means is provided for locking the two
parts together for use, after which the bowl is destroyed and the handle
goes to the kitchen for a bath.
HOW HE QUIT TOBACCO
[Illustration]
This veteran, S. B. Lamphere, was addicted to the excessive use of
tobacco for many years. He wanted to quit but needed something to help
him.
He learned of a free book that tells about tobacco habit and how to
conquer it quickly, easily and safely. In a recent letter he writes: “I
have no desire for tobacco any more. I feel like a new man.”
Anyone desiring a copy of this book on tobacco habit, smoking and
chewing, can get it free, postpaid, by writing to Edward J. Woods, 230
H, Station E, New York City. You will be surprised and pleased. Look for
quieter nerves, stronger heart, better digestion, improved eyesight,
increased vigor, longer life and other advantages if you quit poisoning
yourself.
* * * * *
“THE MAGAZINE WITH A PUNCH”
TIPTOP SEMI-MONTHLY
IT STANDS ALONE
If you like rattling good stories about sport, adventure, and about
almost everything in this interesting world, read TIPTOP SEMI-MONTHLY.
It is a magazine with a definite purpose. That purpose is to publish a
semi-monthly magazine that will be read by every youth, and will be
welcomed by fathers and mothers, and by sisters, too.
CLEAN--BRACING--GRIPPING
Buy TIPTOP SEMI-MONTHLY, and you will vow that you never got so much for
ten cents. Why? Because it is written, edited, and published for _you_,
exacting reader. And each issue will be better than the one that went
before.
Price Ten Cents
Issued on the tenth and twenty-fifth of each month
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.
704--Written in Red.
707--Rogues of the Air.
709--The Bolt from the Blue.
710--The Stockbridge Affair.
711--A Secret from the Past.
712--Playing the Last Hand.
713--A Slick Article.
714--The Taxicab Riddle.
715--The Knife Thrower.
717--The Master Rogue’s Alibi.
719--The Dead Letter.
720--The Allerton Millions.
728--The Mummy’s Head.
729--The Statue Clue.
730--The Torn Card.
731--Under Desperation’s Spur.
732--The Connecting Link.
733--The Abduction Syndicate.
736--The Toils of a Siren.
737--The Mark of a Circle.
738--A Plot Within a Plot.
739--The Dead Accomplice.
741--The Green Scarab.
743--A Shot in the Dark.
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.
778--A Six-word Puzzle.
782--A Woman’s Stratagem.
783--The Cliff Castle Affair.
784--A Prisoner of the Tomb.
785--A Resourceful Foe.
786--The Heir of Dr. Quartz.
787--Dr. Quartz, the Second.
789--The Great Hotel Tragedies.
790--Zanoni, the Witch.
791--A Vengeful Sorceress.
794--Doctor Quartz’s Last Play.
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.
806--Nick Carter and the Broken Dagger.
807--Nick Carter’s Advertisement.
808--The Kregoff Necklace.
809--The Footprints on the Rug.
810--The Copper Cylinder.
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.
817--In the Canadian Wilds.
818--The Niagara Smugglers.
819--The Man Hunt.
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.
106--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. Dated February 27th, 1915.
129--The Jewels of Wat Chang. Dated March 6th, 1913.
130--The Crime in the Tower. Dated March 13th, 1915.
131--The Fatal Message. Dated March 20th, 1915.
132--Broken Bars.
=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