davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06
A TRIBE Suicide,

A triple suicide lately took place at
Vienna under sad circumstances. Three
ladies, the eldest appearing to be the
mother of the two, took bedroom at
the Hummer Hotel. The next morn
ing they went out for short time, and,
on their return, after having taken
light repast, retired to their chamber.
Shortly afterward several detonations
were heard in that apartment, and on
the door being broken open the three
women were found lying dead on the
floor, each with pistol in her hand,
and their skulls fractured by the bullets.
Subsequently they were recognized as
Nine. Gyorgy, the wife of a tradesman
of Tordy, in Hungary, completely ruin
ed by the late financial crisis, and her
two daughters. No rings or iewelry
were found on them, and the only prop
erty they possessed besides their clothes
was the sum of forty-seven kreutzers
(three and half centimes each) in the
mothers purse,
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06
Didn't Want the Ticket.

A conductor ON the Pennsylvania
Railroad tells the following At an
eastern station he received on board
fne-looking specimen of an old country
gentleman. When he passed through
the cars, the old gentleman handed up
his ticket, which was duly punched and
returned to him. After passing the
next call station, the conductor again
called for the old gentleman's ticket.
He looked up in surprise, and very
honestly informed the puncher of tickets
that he had thrown 1t out of the win
dow. "Why did you do that ?" asked
the conductor. The old man replied,
"Why, thought if you didn't want it.
didn't" The face of the old man
was 30 honest, and his knowledge of
railroad travelling evidently SO limited,
that the conductor accepted his word,
and carried him to his destination.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06
Dogs.

How much of what is said among
people is understood by dogs? On one
of the hottest days the unfortunate
dogs confined in city pond appeared
to suffer intensely from the suffocating
air. A gentleman, desirous of pur-
chasing a Watchdog, went there. and
after some examination decided to buy q
young black dog, for which he paid the
regulation price of three dollars. When
the pound master went to tie a rope
about the dogs neck in order that the
gentleman might lead him away, it re-
ally seemed as if he knew he had been re-
deemed. He jumped up as the master
approached him, aud leaped and fawn.
ed on him, and put out his head as ii
desirous of being tied. When his new
master led him out, all the other dogs
seemed to go frantic, and broke out
into series of howls and yells that
were painful to hear, not only because
they were almost deafening, but be-
cause it seemed as if they knew they
were being reserved for worse fate.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06
Are Detectives Useful Z

Over q year ago, says the New York
Sun, the discovery was made that near
the small town of Cherryvale, in Kan
sas, series of atrocious murders had
been committed. In a rough building
situated out on the prairie family
named Bender lived and thrived, the
unwary travellers who, from stress of
weather or other adverse circumstances,
were compelled to go to their hut in
order to protect themselves from the
storms. We have no account of the
manner in which this singular hotel was
conducted, as it was a peculiarly OF
travellers who stayed there never to go
further, in consequence of which they
never had an opportunity of relating
their experience. From the local Jour-
nals, however, whose remarks upon this
subject we have watched with interest,
it seems that one at least of the family,
an elderly lady called Kate, who had a
gift of fortune-telling, grew gaunt and
lean, while her brothers, her father,
and especially her mother, wasted away,
as it were, in person, although they
suddenly became plethoric in pocket
How long this kind of thing might have
gone on in Kansas, the Bender family
getting leaner and their pockets get
ing fatter every day, nobody would
have known if it had not been for re-
markable discovery. The brother of a
Kansas Senator happened to partake of
the hospitalities of the Bender family
one night, and was never afterwards
heard of until his brother, with some
officers OF justice, plowed up the Ben
der farm and found not only the re-
mains of the particular missing man
they were in search of, but also the
skeleton of large number of individu.
ais of no marked characteristics, who
had disappeared from society without
causing ripple upon its surface. This
created great astonishment among the
neighbors, who soon began to whisper
that the Bender family was no better
than it should be. The result was that
the Bender family fled, and though
nearly every day the telegraph brings
news of the arrest of one of the family,
no one of the murderers has yet really
been seized. Neither has the murderer
of Nathan ever been brought to Justice,
while even now the police of Philadel-
phia are pretending to hunt out the
mystery attendant upon the kidnapping
of small child. These and many other
mysterious things lead to the conclu-
sion that the detective police service of
the different cities in the United States
is woefully at fault. Large rewards
have been offered for the apprehension
of the interesting Bender family, the
members of which even now. may be
enjoying the facilities for pleasure
afforded by our first class hotels.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06
NO. 23.
Items Of Interest.

The Delaware peach crop is expected
to fill 800, 900 baskets.
In Turkey, when a man tells notorious
lies, they blacken the front of his
house.
A Pennsylvania man dislocated his
jaw in laughing at joke in borrowed
newspaper. The moral is obvious.
Blueberries, whortleberries and wild
raspberrries are not only exceedingly
plentiful this year but also of remark
able size.
It is cackle-ated that the poultry in
dustry of the United States amounts to
$31, 1000, 600 annually, besides the home
consumption.
California has II Baptist churches,
Oregon SO, Washington Territory 5, and
Nevada l, making total of 1876 on the
Pacific coast.
The strongest propensity in woman's
nature, says surly editor, is a desire
to know what is going on, and the next
to manage the job.
An Iowa paper predicts that in five
years every pound of Western flour will
be sent East, in barrels of paper made
from the straw the wheat grew on.
A Western woman shot her husbands
horse rather than have it sold. She
took care of it after it was shot, and
held its head in her lap nearly all day.
The Superior Court of Cincinnati has
just decided that man who is surety
for another on legal bond or obliga-
tion is responsible for defalcations
which may exist before he was on the
bond.
Statisticians have decided, we believe,
that sentence to the penitentiary for
life substantially means, under the easy
conditions attaching to pardons in most
of the States, an average Imprisonment
of from four to six years.
1t is now proposed to food the Desert
of Sahara and turn it into great inland
sea, $50 miles in length and As miles in
width. The Scheme, which originated
in France, is pronounced quite practi-
cable by competent engineers.
If you have been picking or handling
acid fruit and have stained your hands,
wash them in clear water, wipe them
lightly, and while they are yet moist
strike a match and shut your hands
around it SO as to catch the smoke, and
the stain will disappear.
A lady who had been teaching her
little four-year-older the elements of
arithmetic, was astounded by his run
ming in and propounding the following
problem Mamma, if you had three
| butterflies and each butterfly had bug
in his ear, how many butterflies would
you have?" The mother is still at
work on the problem.
| The Missouri State Lottery was ORR
ginally planned forty years ago to build
plank or macadamized road from the
town of New Franklyn to the Missouri
river, distance of three or four miles.
Millions of dollars have been placed in
this lottery, and still the New Franklin
road is not built, though the grant will
probably continue for years.
There is required to be built in
Louisiana, before the country is
safe, 1,500 miles of levee or fifty mil
lions of cubic yards. The necessary
repairs at crevasses will alone take 49,
100000, which, if paid for, the govern.
ment will have to assume two-thirds of
it. 1t is not likely to do this, and
hence the repairs will be left un-
finished.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06
BrignOli in Bliss.

A writer in the Chicago Times says {:
saw one day in the dining-room of
a watering place hotel, bevy of young
ladies futtering around Brignoli like
moths about candle. They were not
loaruenueS, not ill-breed, not under
ordinary circumstances particularly
shallow. On the contrary, they were
of the social elect; they were naturally
refined, graceful, elegant. among the
best specimens that the metropolis can
boast. But when l had observed them
zealously competing for his awkward
attention, blushing when he spoke to
them, smiling up at him, making pre-
text to get near HIM and touch his
coarse figure, they were suddenly trans
formed. They appeared ugly, con-
temptible, disgusting. l Redeemed for
my country and her daughters. While
the foolish nymhs were purring over
him, he appeared more ungainly and
forbidding than ever. Too lymphatic
to be moved by the situation, too dull
to appreciate the animated picture, he
labored to smile, very much as q
shoulder-hitter does when he comes up
on the thirteenth round, with his face
battered into jelly. At last I saw two
or three of the prettiest girls putting
bon-bons in his mouth, and caressing
his chin with their taper-fngers. That
was beyond my endurance. I walked
hurriedly away, and am conscious that,
then and there, some of my ideals were
rudely pulled down."
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06
DevOured by q Lion.

Some years before the French army
conquered Algiers, two highway rob-
bers, brothers, and men noted for their
strength and daring, were caught, tried
and condemned to death. The day be-
fore the one fixed for their execution,
they contrived to make their escape out
of prison. They were chained together
by the leg, and thus in forced company
crept through the woods and thickets,
in the hope of gaining safe refuge.
Toward the middle of the first night
they met, straight before them in the
path, q large lion. They were un-
armed. Knowing the character of the
animal they shouted boldly and threw
stones at him; he very likely seeing
through their mock courage, lay down
before them and would not stir. Losing
heart at last, the robbers changed their
tone, and began to implore the lion, in
piteous language, for mercy. In an in
slant he was upon them. The larger of
the two he seized, killed and began to
eat, while the other pretended to be
dead. In the cause of the meal the
lion came to the iron chain which bound
the robbers legs; after examining it
for moment he bit the mans leg off
above the knee. Just then he felt
thirsty, and walked to a stream to
drink. The surviving robber crawled
off for his life, dragging his brothers
leg with him, and contrivea to squeeze
himself into a hole in the ground
When the lion returned he missed him.
Roaring loudly, he ran backward and
forward several times over the ground,
passing close by the hole, but strangely
missing it. Soon after day dawned, land
the lion went off. Out of the hole came
the robber, more dead than alive, and
was about to cut his brothers leg from
the chain, when party of the Bey's
horsemen rode up and seized him. He
was taken before the Bey, to whom he
told his story. His brothers leg was
still in the chain to confirm it, and the
Bey, in consideration of his wonderful
escape, awarded him an unconditiona
pardon.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06
At the MOrgue.

There are many romances of real life
that find their denouement in the Paris
morgue; but the strangest yet hap
pened quite recently. The body of a
girl exposed on one of the dreadful
slabs was of such surprising beauty
that the morgue was thronged all day
with sight-seers, and one poor lunatic
actually drowned himself in order, as
he took care to explain in a letter found
in his lodgings, that he might rest for
time next to the only creature he had
ever admired, and whom he had seen
too late. No less t6an 700 bodies are
annually exposed at the morgue, and
the establishment is conducted with the
greatest order by five officials, some of
whom are always at their post day and
night. Of these the chief man, the
gre6ier, enjoys the magnificent stipend
of 2,400 francs year-$48O-by no
means teo exhorbitant sum for SC
horrible an occupation.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06
An Innocent on the Cars.

The other day in Michigan Central
train coming East, was an old lady who
had never travelled great deal. She
wasn't used to the ways Of the book
agents, the peanut boys, and the prize
package nuisances who pass through
the train every few minutes. When
the peanut boy came along and dropped
q big African peanut into her lap, she
shucked it, opened her mouth and
dropped the kernel down, instead of
regarding it with silent contempt or
pitching it out of the window. The
book agent came along and dropped a
book in her lap. She said she was
"much obleeged," snd she carefully
locked it up in her valise.
The prize-package boy came along
and dropped sample, and she wonder
ed how the road could afford to give
away so much. When he returned she
had opened it, and was wearing the
breast-pin and eating the gum-drops.
The book agent came back and wanted
his book, and, before she would give it
up she called the conductor to see if it
was right. The card boy wanted pay,
ard she appealed to the passengers.
When she understood that he was right
she handed over twenty cents, with this
remark: "Well, ef I haint ALFRED
turned rosnd wish I'd stayed tn
hum
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06
The Landlady's Daughter,

Three students one day crossed over the
Rhine;
With a )andlady there they stopped to dine.
"Darne hostess, hast thou good ale and wine !?
And where is that beautiful daughter of
thine ~
my ale and wine are fresh and clear.
My daughter, she lies on her funeral bier I"
And when they entered the chamber there,
IN shrine SO black lay the maiden fair
The first from her face the veil did throw,
And upon her he gazed with look of woe
&c vert thou yet living thou maiden fine,
From this time forth should thy love be
a's mine !"
The second, he covered her face once more.
And turn'd him away and wept full sore:
ALAS! that thou dead art lying here
For thee have loved this many year"
The third from her face lifts again the veil,
And softly he kisses her mouth 30 pale:
"I have loved thee always I love thee to-day
And love tLee I shall forever and aye"
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06
A Big WOOd-Driye,

OF Mr.. Jones, the we'll known wood
dealer of Empire City, says the Nevada
Enterprise, we have the following par
ticulars in regard to the big wood-drive
now in Carson river At point above
Markleyville large boom was stretched
across the river, and above this was
about 100, 200 cords of wood, filling the
channel of the stream for distance of
eight or ten miles. At night the boom
broke, allowing the wood to rush into
theriver below. The wood went "boom-
ing" down the stream at terrific rate.
1t is said that in places single stick
would lodge against rock in the center
of the river, and moment after there
would be accumulated sort of winrow
of wood extending up the river forty or
fifty yards. This would suddenly
swing round against the shore, when
in few minutes the channel would be
gorged from bank to bank. Some of
these gorges held SO long as to dam up
the river for great distance and inun-
date the land on each side. When they
finally broke there was a tremendous
commotion and rush till another gorge
was formed.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06
How they Get a Horse Up.

When horse falls down, says an ex-
change, fourteen men put their hands
in their pockets and ask each other why
they don't do something. Fifteen other
men advise the driver until he is half
mad, and two small boys stand by, with
their hands clasped and an expression
of determination written on every linea-
ment. Then several men ask why
somebody don't hold his head, until
one old gentleman volunteers to hold
it. He steps forward calmly, bends
over the PROSTATE animal and puts one
hand gently on his ear. The horse,
getting tired, raises his head suddenly,
the crowd laugh, and the old gentleman
seems to take no further interest in the
proceedings. Then the horse, having
had all the fun he can have, rises
like a tidal wave, and the crowd dis
perses.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06

L1aHTNNa.-The inordinate number
of people killed by lightning within few
weeks revives discussion as to safety
during thunder storms. 1t is conceded
that there is no place of absolute safety
in a shower, for the electric fluid is err
ratio and goes where it pleases. 1t is a
wise precaution, however, to avoid cur
rents of air and to sit in the central por-
tion of room, away from parts on which
the Lightning may descend.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06

IT Is so.-The Waverly IN. Y. Enter
prise says ;" When man discontinues
his local paper because he feels ag-
grieved at something in it, he merely
transfers his name from the subscrip-
ton list to that other list quite as large
those who borrow the paper every
week /; he never stops reading it,"
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-08-06

DISCHARGE OF CoMPosIToRs.-The
Cincinnati Gazette Company dismissed
all their compositors, and supplied
their places with full force of men not
members of the Typographical Union.
Three or four old printers left the
Union and were taken back by the Ga
Sette.
The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-12-17
HOW INDIANS CATCH WILD
FOWL.

A number of persons from thi y
and Gold Hill are at present in tho Inun'
tains hunting and angling. W'' uuck
are found in some localities abun.
dance, and the trout in the ST. us take
the hook readily. Wild fl, nave not
yet made their appearance 10 he market
in any quantity, as most q. those shot
are kept by the spOrtsn or their own
use. As the season a ices the Indians
will take the field al capture them in
great numbers. They make large swing.
ing nets out of strong cords, which they
manufacture from the roots Of tibTops
plants. The bark is stripped off and
manipulated and twisted by the squaws
into twine, which is wound into balls
ready for use. 1t is then woven into
nets, some Of which are forty feet in
length, the intersti1es being about two
inches square. These nets are swung
between two trees, in some convenient
position on the shore of lake or pond
Early on cold frosty morning, some Of
the Indians secret themselves In a neigh
boring thicket, while others get into
boats, and, forming a semi-circle, ad-
vance slowly toward a flock OF ducks
driving them toward the mouth Of the
bayou. They swim slowly off, hesita
ting to take flight, being, perhaps, par
italy benumbed by cold. The circle
narrows, and when the wild fowl are in
front OF the nets, the Indians in the boats
raise great outcry, and throwing sticks
and stones scare the flock, which arising
from the water flies in an opposite direc.
tion directly in the net, In the meshes OF
which they become entangled by then
heads and feet The Indians on shore
spring from their hiding.places, tear
down the net, envelope the ducks In 1t.
They are Joined by their companions
from the water, and the work of slaugh
ter commences. The necks Of the birds
are broken as soon as seized, and they
are thrown together in piles. In this
manner several hundred ducks are some
times taken at a single haul, and the
Indians have enough for their own use,
and an ample supply for the market.-
Virginia Net Chronicle.
The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-12-17
ABOUT sUNFLoWERs.

Sunaowers are rich in honey, aud
are consequently good neighbOrs for
bees Oil, hardly to be distinguished
from olive oil by any one but an ex
pert, may be extracted from the seed,
in the proportion of one gallon to
one bushel. One acre will produce
something like fifty bushels OF seeds.
The seeds, too, make food not un.
paIatable for human beings and verv
good for animals and poultry The
Portuguese and American Indians
make a kind Of bread from them, and
roasted they may be ground and used
as O substitute for coffee. The stalks
may be used as bean poles while grow
ing. Dry, they make passable roofs
for sheds and the like, and burn rapid
ly on the hearth. The ashes are very
rich in potash. Altogether it is a
very useful plant, and, to crown all
it has a reputation which the scien-
lists have never disproved, for absorb
ing malaria, and acting as an eilectual
screen against that scourge Of low.
lying districts-feveT and ague.
The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-12-17
THE WHITE WILLOW.

The white willow is almost uni
versally well spoken of through the
West, as q rapid grower, and a useful
tree, both for shelter and for hedges,
A great many persons are planting it.
and we have seen trees from cuttings,
planted three years, which were three
inches thick. and fifteen feet high.
Those trees may be cut that year, or
next, for fence-poles There are also
many willow hedges planted, and ii
they are not all that may be desired,
vet they grow quickly, and make a
rood wind-break; when three or tour
inches thick they may be Topped oil
Mt four feet from the ground, to
furnish poles for rails. The cuttings
houll be thicker and larger than
usually plDn ed. An inch in diameter
at least and four feet long, is O good
size, They should be set foot apart,
and eighteen inches deep.
The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-12-17
LAWN GRASS.

A writer in the Rural New-Yorker
says it will do to sow orchard grass
and other coase grasses on low, rich
grounds, provided the owner will
keep it constantly cut short; once a
week or oftener; but on dry or sandy
soil, he should contne himself to red
top, blue grass and white clover,
especially il he does not cut it so
often. The truth is, every thing de-
pends on cutting frequently; nothing
thickens the green mat so perfectly
and makes it So fine and soft; and
hence the Importance of having 3
lawn moving machine, which, if of
the right sort, will cut by hand several
times faster than q scythe, and in
comparably neater, 1t is impossible
to have a good lawn If you depend
on the scythe.
The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-12-17
THE GARDENERS LESSON.

Two gardeners had their crops Of
peas killed by the frost. One Of them
was very impatient under the loss,
and iretted about it very much. The
other went patiently to work at once
to plant o new crop. After a while
the impatient, fretting man went to
his neighbor. To his surprise he
found another crop of peas growing
finely. He asked how this could be.
"These are what l sowed while
you were fretting," said his neigh.
Dor.
"But don't you ever fret?" he
asked. ..t..,
have repaired the mischief that has
been DONE"
"Why, then you have no need to
fret at all" 81. ~. ..t..EEr~\
"True," said his friend, "and
ats the reason l put it Off" DID,,