davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
A Fearful Ride Down a Coal Shaft.

Nelson Whitmarsh and Patrick Con- gan are employed in the shaft of the Union Coal Company, of La Sale. A few mornings since having stepped upon the cage to descend, after having the signal all right, the drum around which the cable runs, and which at the time was somehow disconnected from the other machinery, began to reyolve rapidly, and they knew that they were riding to perhaps a horrible death. They struck the bottom, distance of 253 feet, and breaking through the three-inch planking, were plunged into the stump, which contained about ten feet of water. Wonderful to relate, neither of them was killed, but coming to the surface they clambered up on the boards. The car which was ascending at the same time they were going down reached the surface with awful momen- tum, and tore through the upper forks and wrecked nearly everything in the immediate vicinity. Assistance was sent below, and the injured men brought to the surface, where vast crowd of people had assembled. They were car ried home, and medical aid summoned. Whitmarsh sustained fearful concus- sion on the hip, and is bruised in sev- eral other places. Congan was not so severely injured. No bones were broken, and hopes are entertained that with proper care they may recover.
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
A Gorgeous Household.

The former Duchess of Sutherland she who was on such nice terms with Mrs. Beecher Stowe-was a woman who loved splendor, and kept an army of servants, who were draped in the most gorgeous livery. Before she died, as we are informed by the London corres- pondent of the Tribune, a great part of her retainers were dismissed and pensioned off. But the pensions were given on condition that the holders of them should return to their old posts on great occasions, and this they do. Without them the household would be counted numerous with them it pre- sents such an array as few private man sions in the world, or none, can equal, and as they are perfectly drilled and know the ways of the house, there is no confusion, nor any indication that this double retinue is not the ordinary equip ment of the house. The effect is prince ly, and Stafford House is princely res- idence, with it's broad halls, it's great staircase, it's noble rooms, it's priceless treasures of art, and all the rest.
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
Selling Tainted Meat,

M. Louis Lagare, of the Courier Mat- raicpal, Paris, has just published an essay showing how persons who sold tainted meat used to be punished. He writes that in June, 1851, Jaques Tour nebru, nicknamed the Shearer, seized some suspected meat on the stall of Pierre Bardel. A report was instantly drawn up and transmitted to the syndic of the butchers, Michel Saint You. An inquiry was ordered, and it was found that the accused was an old offender. A second report was addressed to the Provost of Paris, comparing the culprit to poisoner, aud demanding in the name of corporation outraged by the infamy of one of its members the deg radiation and then the death of Pierre Bardel. The first magistrate of the po- lice approved the conclusions of the re- port, and the delinquent was condemn ed to pass three hours in the pillory, and then to perish by the hands of the public executioner. On the day of the execution one hundred and twenty-seven butchers in the city of Paris repaired to the market and drew themselves up round the pillory. At the end of three hours the tipstaff an nounced to the people that the prisoner was about to be executed. All the butch CTS, with hats off, bowed their heads, and justice was done.
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
Stammering.

One whoswas stammerer for years, writes "No stammering person ever found any difficulty in singing. The reason of this is that by observing the measure of the music, by keeping time, the organs of speech are kept in such position that enunciation is easy. Apply the same rule to reading or speech, and the same result will follow. Let the stammerer take sentence-say this one, Leander swam the Hellespont. Pro- nounce it by syllables. Scan it, keep ing time with the finger, if necessary, letting each syllable occupy the same time, thus Le-an-der swan the Hell les-pont, and he will not stammer. Let him pronounce slowly at first, then faster, but still keeping time, keep ing time with words instead of sylla- bles, and he will be surprised to find that, by very little practice, that he will read without stammering, and nearly as rapidly as persons ordinarily talk or read. Then practice this read
 ing and conversation until the habit is broken up. Perseverance is all that is necessary to perform perfect cure."
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
A Good Record.

A Pennsylvania paper furnishes an account of "model conductor" on the Pennsylvania Railroad, but does not give him any name. The account, if fact, is almost too good to be true. As published, the man has been engaged with scarcely an intermission for over fifteen years in his responsible business. During that time he has travelled over 100000 miles, has carried many millions of passengers-the number last year was about 280, ,000-has turned over to his employers the sum of $5,000, ,000, has never lost @ package, and-what may seem incredible during all that period has never killed 8 man! The same paper comments upon this record thus: "The best rules mechanically obeyed are no security against disaster. A large discretionary power must always be given the men who are placed in charge of train, and when this is ex- ercised intelligently and conscientious ly the acme of safety is reached. When once questioned by his employers as to his manner of running train, he re- piled that he did it as if it belonged to him. He is never able to forget that hundreds of lives are placed in his hands, and carelessness or forgetfulness on his part are simply other names for man. slaughter or murder
 The late Capt. Mcbride, of the De- troit and Milwaukee line, was an officer whose story might be told in the same connection. As captain of steamer, Capt. McB. crossed Lake Michigan some twenty-six hundred times, and although crossing the track of thousands of yes sels never had collision, disaster, or lost @ life. He was denominated 8 "lucky" old sea dog, but those who knew him, knew that it was not "luck" but care that gave him the record. He felt every moment that he was re- sponsible for the lives of those under him, and acted accordingly. On his death bed he had right to feel that his record had been good one.
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
Diamonds.

The Steele gives the following strange intelligence: "Among the diamonds brought by the Shah are said to be some of a kind totally unknown in Europe. They have all the properties of other sorts, the same transparency, brilliancy and hardness, but they are reported to possess the property of emitting a perfume in an atmosphere at an elevated temperature, in an apart ment where many persons are assembled; or, better still, in that of ballroom in the midstof the animation of the dance. These gems are found in a remote part of Persia, the soil of which is composed of ferruginous and carboniferous strata. The scent they exhale resembles that of amber, little incense and special odor peculiar to the forests of that dis trict."
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
A Paris Horror.

A large draper's shop has been burn ed, and reveals from the death of three shop assistants how the latter are board- ed. All modern shops in Paris have the rolling iron shutter, which once let down, is locked the proprietor keeping the key. In the case in question, t5e assistants, after their supper, made their beds as usual in such establish ments, on the shop floor, the proprietor locking them up as safely as the goods' When the fire broke out.there was no ex- it but by the shuttered door, The three young men cried for relief, the proprie- tor could not be found the police cut at the iron with hatchets the voices within grew weaker, then ceased. The inside of the shop was a furnace, and three shrivelled-save where length, ened by muscular agony-carbonlz.ed masses were all that remained ot the poor lads.
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
Old Uncle Pete.
The Centennrian of the New Haven Rail-
 rOad--Ninety-nine Years Old.

road--Ninety-nineY Years Old.
 Passengers on train from New Haven saw an old colored man get aboard at Mamaroneck. He was bent and grizzled, and his clothes were worn and ragged. He walked with crutch and cane, and his body described the segment of circle. He did not enter the car, but rode on the jolting, sway hand rail to keep from falling off. Some of the passengers trembled for the old mans safety, and spoke to the conduc- tor about it.
 "Oh, he's all right" was the reply !; Pete-that's his name, Pete Gross-is a and when he's out anywhere along the road and wants to go home he just gets on he first train. He never has any money, and we don't like to put him of. So the worst we can do is not to give him seat"
 Old Pete's wife Rose was with him this time, and they had been to a pie nic on the old camp ground at Rye Neck but the old man was going home disappointed, for he had somehow mis- taken the nature of the affair. Old Pete's dialect is as purely African as his skin, and his man ner is an exagger- ation of the most outre presentations on the minstrel stage.
 ''I clar to goodness" he said, when asked the cause of his disappointment, "ef I ain't clean gone discouraged. Dey sed dar was goin' to be meetin' up on de ole groun', and took dat ag- gravatin' Rose wid me, an went up fer goo ole time. But, boss, when got dar, wid de scum of praises an song already on my lips, dar want no camp meetin' dar. It want nothin' but 8 picnic. De gals an fellers was a cavortin' tew a fiddle, and dar wa'n't no camp meetin' 'tall.'
 A liberal donation of pennies from the passengers soon raised old Pete's spirits, and he talked away at his high est pitch, for the noise of the train almost drowned his voice.
 "Ise ninety-nine years old," he said, in answer to query, ''an' I clar to goodness. honey, dat I'se ibbed long enuff. Dis lef' side of my old head is clean dead already. Can't feel no more wid it den I kin wid dis year hobbling stick"
 Old Pete could remember all the stereotyped things commonly recounted by centenarians who have any respect for themselves. He had seen Wash ington, and had spoken to Jackson. He told story about being kidnapped from New York by slave hunters, and another about terrible whipping that old Col. Albert Gray had once given him.
 "De only lie dat eber told," he said, {" was in the war of 1872. I hbbed in Maryland den, an de Brit'shers was af'er my ole massr's house. I tole 'em dat Tory lib dar, an dey go long widout burning it. clar to goodness, dat Rose Il be de death ob me-" She was pulling him off the steps, the train having stopped at Mount Vernon. "I bought dat woman i'm Car'ina-paid de cash for Ter, more'n sixty years ago an now she won't mind me more'n as if I didn't own Ter. Goo mornin', boss ?"
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
A Strange EntOmbment.

A correspondent of 8 Puebla (Mexi- co ) paper writing from Fort Garland, tells the following story:
 "Last Monday two Mexican boys, Jesus Maria and Juan de Ia Cruz Linn bustero, were taking herd of seven hundred sheep across the sand-hills of the 'Lomas del Arreno,' about twenty four miles northerly from Fort Garland. These sand-hills extend out into the San Luis valley about fifteen miles, op- posite the Mosco Pass.
 "The herders undertook to make a short cut across the hills, instead of going around, as directed by their fa- ther. At first everything moved gaily ; the boys and sheep and dogs only sank few inches in the light, white sand, and they thought how foolish it was of old fogies to go around twenty miles when it was only four across !; but be- fore they got half across one of those sudden storms arose; up came gentle breeze; the breeze became a wind, and the wind an awful hurricane; the sand moved about in blinding clouds, hills changed to holes and every hole was a seething cauldron.
 ''The poor boys struggled hard to avert their doom, and Jesus Maria managed, by drawing his serap@ over his head, and keeping his feet, and climbing as the sand piled up around him, to survive the tornado; but his younger brother, Juan de la Cruz, suc- cumbed to the suffocating blast, and as a ship goes down at sea, so sank the brave boy, surrounded by his bleating sheep and whining dogs and when the storm ceased, as suddenlyas it com menced, little Jesus found himself all alone, with quiet mounds of glistening sand all around him, and not trace of the cruel storm nor of the disaster could be seen. ,.. :. :.,.
 "He hurried home, where he arrived the next day, and told his tale of terror. The whole plaza turned to search for the lost boy and to dig out the missing sheep. Up to the succeeding afternoon they had not recovered over four hun dred sheep, most of them being found about six feet below the surface, and the natives from neighboring plaza had focked to the scene, and were busily digging out sheep, saving the wool and feasting on mutton. The old gentle mans loss was their gain, and they could say as they smacked their lips OCT fine mutton chop. All is not lost that's out of sight.
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
PieS.

There is probably great deal of truth in the following extract from Dr. Halls Journal of HeaIth:: "The uni versal error as to the unhealthiness of pies, buildings, and pastries, taking it for granted that they arewel made and properly cooked, has arisen from the simple fact that after we have made 8 full meal of other things the stomach is oppressed by them, and if the process is repeated becomes eventually dyspep- tic; that is, has not the power to work up the food because it had been worked to death already. It would be quite as philosophical if man has become very tired by blowing all day and afterward by chopping wood has worked himself out, to conclude that it was very nn- healthy to chop."
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
That Mysterious Safe.
The Secrets of the Chinese InquisitiOn ---HOvv the Work is DSne---A Victim.

The Secrets of the Chinese Inquisition
 ---How the Work is Dsne---A Victim.
 The examination of the charges of conspiracy against the members of the mysterious Chinese tribunal has been deferred, says @ San Francisco paper, and in the meantime the police are making every effort to secure evidence for their conviction. The safe taken from the council room still remains at the police headquarters. The Celestials refuse to open it for an inspection of it's contents. The curiosity to know what 1t contains is intense, many be- ieving that the tales of the Spanish in- quisition would pale before the start ling revelations which an inspection of the records of this society Supposed to be in the safe) would bring to light. On the other hand, there are those who re- gard the Chinese as too cunning to place on record any of the more serious judgments of this council.
 Their mode of procedure with a doomed offender is dark and secret. A hired assassin is chosen among their lower classes, the victim is pointed out, and the assassin is offered certain sum of money, generally supposed to be $1, ,000, to put him out of the way. The man who is thus condemned is not ap- prised of his sentence, but the hired assassin dogs his steps and watches his opportunity. At time when he least suspects it the quick daggerpierces him from behind. or the favorite weapon of the Chinese, the murderous hatchet cleaves his brain, and he falls victim to this fearful power" His body is either cut up into pieces and burned, or secretly buried, or placed in sack and anchored ill the bay. His bones do not return to the Flowery Kingdom. How they account to the home Government for this noncompliance with one of their strictest rules is unknown, but Chinese ingenuity is equal to that small requirement in the line of falsehood.
 Two or three years since Chinaman was found drowned in the river near Sacramento, few days after he left this city. It was well known that he was under the ban with this society-in fact, that he had defed their power. The evidence that he had been foully dealt with was conclusive. He had a brother residing in this city who spoke English well. He did not make move toward discovering his brothers assas- sin, but meekly bowed to the supreme power of this terrible society.
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
A Curious Legend.

In certain localities of the Nord there exists an old belief that when two mar riages take place at the same time, the bride who leaves the church before the other will have boy for her first child. Two weddings were celebrated simulta- neously few days back at Archies, in that department. The ceremony over, the two couples with their friends has tened to reach the door, and arrived there just at the same time. The situ- ation became embarrassing, for the two parties had stopped and exchanged looks of defiance. Fortunately, the mayor was man of resources, for he stepped forward, and, giving an arm to each of the young wives, took them out togeth- CT, to the great relief of the friends on both sides,
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29

LOOK BEFORE You LEAP.-My young friends, do not make haste to wed. Un- happy marriage is the quintessence of unhappy bondage. It wounds daily our fondest and sweetest impulses, it trifes with and buries our holiest and dearest affection, and writes over the tomb thereof, "No hope" It embitters the victim with the thought that lost for ever to his or her life glory of great love; closed forever to him or her, the portals of happy home-that fountain of freshness and delight, at which the soul must needs drink to gather strength for the heat and burden of the outside battle.
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
An Excited Fire Company.

Some years ago new fire company was organized at Reading, Penn., and the members one evening thought they would have little innocent fun at the expense of Hopkins, their Captain. They decided to rush around to Hop kins' house just after dark, to throw up their ladders, pull out their hose, climb on his roof, and scare him with the be- lief that his dwelling was on fire. But that very day Hopkins moved out of the house. and clergyman moved in, with
 out the company being aware of the change. So about eight o'clock they dashed out and went through all the movements, getting on the roof and splashing water around and creating terrific disturbance generally. A rival company, noticing what was going on, also hurried to the scene, and without understanding the joke, attached their hose to a plug, smashed in the front windows, and began to empty two inch stream on the family of that Pres byterian clergyman. They squirted dow shutters with an axe, broke down tore off the shingles, and bawled GurOuSu GruIupeIS uuIl1 Iu0 u1Ieu SlE1 had convulsions on the kitchen stairs. The fire company tried to explain, but the new corners thought an effort was
 being made to get them out of the way, and fight ensued, and presently fire men were sliding off the roof, and pelt- ing down the chimneys, and bleeding over the entry carpet, and having bois- terous encounters with spanners and brass horns on the stairs. And the next morning that divine and his family moved out. They said the place seemed to be too animated and sensational for aquiet domestic circle. They wanted a house where there was calmness and peace where they could have more security for their privacy and pianos, and for their front doors and shingles, and peace of mind and window sashes.
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29

to form his own conclusions, and ac- count for his 'scurious case, if he can j; only remarking, by the way, that it was afterwards ascertained to have been filled with some tins of dangerously infammable oil for burning in the ward-room lamps.
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
The Rejected Lover.

I heard that in this land were many poor, Therefore sought them out from door to door. Methought had gift would comfort give, And make them wish on earth to longer live. My gift I offered freely everywhere To those who some deep want did seem to bear But all in vain; for only ampler store Of gold they wished whereby to heap up more My gift was love-which they must needs pass
 by,
 Since it exacts the largest usury.
Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
ADVERTISING RATES:

Schedule of prices for Advertising furnished on application at this office.
The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-12-01
From Chambers Journal.
A Celebrated Hoax.

One of the most annoying hoaxes ever re-
corded was that which, about sixty years ago,
was known in London as the 3erners street
hoax. 1t drew the attention of the news
papers at the time; then of the magazines
ard the Annual Register; many years after
ward lin connection with biographical no.
tice of the hoaxer), of the Quarterly Review !:
and more recently, if we remember rightly,
Of the "Ingodsby Legends" Berners street
is a quiet street of hotels and shops with
private-looking windows; in 1910 it was still
more quiet. inhabited by well-to-do familts
living in genteel way. One morning, soon
after breakfast, wagon-load OF Goals drew
up be ore the door of a widow lady in that
street, and soon atterward a van-load of fur
nlture; then came hearse with coffin, and
train OF mourning coaches. Presently ar
rived two fashionable physicians, dentist,
aud an accoucheur, driving up as near as
they could to the door, and wondering why
so many numbering vehicles were so near 1T
haud. Six men brought great cham
5er-organ; coach maker, a clock max
er, a ca.pet manufacturer, and wine.
merchant sent specimens of their goods;
a brewer brought several barrels OF ale; curl-
Osty-dealers brought sundry knick-knac~s.
A piano forte, linen, jewelry, wigs and head
dresses a cart load OF potatoes, books, prints,
conjuring tricks, feathers, ices, jelies, wee
among the thing brought to Tor at least uear)
the house; while mantua makers came with
baskets of millinery and iancv articles, and
opticians with telescopes. Then. aftel a time
trooped in from all quarters grocers. coach
men, footmen, cooks, house MAIDS. nursery
maids, and other servants, come in quest of
situations. To crown all, persons of distinc-
ton came in their carriages-the commander
in. chief. the archbishop of Canterbury, a cabi-
net minister. the lord chief justice, The COVER
nor of the bank OF England, the chairman and
directors of the East India company, an emf.
nent parliamentary philanthropist, and the
lord mayor, The last named iunctionary-
one among those who speedily saw that all had
been victimized by gigantic hoax-droye TO
Marlborough street police-office, and tod the
sitting magistrate that he had received le ter
f.Om lady in Berners street, to the effect
that she had been summoned to atter d at tbe
Mansion house, that she was extremely i'll,
that she wished to make deposition upoI
oath, and that she would deem it great favor
If his loIdship would call upon her. All the
other persons of eminence had bad their COM
miseration appealed to 10 similar way. 70
lice officers There were no policemen in those
days) were sent to keep order in Berners street