American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-03-04

And the captain of the station, VIII
has been standing quietly in corne
with his watch in his hand, comes tt
ward us, who are dumbfounded, an
smilingly says to US: &C Exactly thrice
seconds, gentlemen!" What on cart
does he mean? Simply that, in orde
to show us what his men can do, h
gave false alarm, and that little NOR
than quarter of a minute after Maste
Electricity had sounded the gong, ever
man was at his place, horses were har
messed, and all things were ready for
fight with the flames.
Whenever the knob in the little house
on the telegraph-poles is pulled, tn
same things occur in at least four en-
gine-houses. The moment the hamme
of the gong falls, which it does whel
touched by that marvellous fellow Elec
tricity, it disengages the horses from
their halters by connecting iron rod
and they, trained to their duties, spring
to their places with as much eagerHess
as the men. The same signal tells ex
actly where the fire is, and within ter
minutes four engines are on the spot
sucking water from the mains and
throwing it eighty or ninety feet high
If the knob is pulled a second time,
four more engines are called; and il
again, four more; and by repeating the
call, all the engines in the city may be
brought to the ground.
Doesn't all this recall the story OF
Jack the Giant-killer to your mind
Electricity is Jack, who, although such
a bit of fellow, has the power to COM
mand this great giant of the Fire De-
partment.-Wm. IT, Rtdeimg, in St.
Nicholas for March.
Frozen to Death in the Noun
tains.
On Saturday of last week, says the
Lassen (Cal) AdUocate of February u,
Thomas F. Watson, young man of %
years, who had been in this valley on a
visit, attempted to return to his home
in Round Valley, some six miles north
of this place. A lad named Minor Wal
lace, some IA years age, nephew of
]. P. Wallace, of Round Valley, having
been there several months at school, and
wishing to see his uncle and family, with
whom he had been living for years, con-
cluded to go with Watson, and the twain
started on snow shoes. The particulars
of this unfortunate trip, as given by the
boy, which, no doubt, are substantially
correct, are as follows: They assembled
the mountain north of the town without
especial difficulty, but, after turning the
summit, one of Watson's snow shoes
got away from him, which left him no
other alternative but to wade in four
or five feet of snow. This he did
quite a distance softly down the hill,
until the boy lost ole ct his
shoes, when Watson took the remain
ing two shoes and attempted to pack
the boy, which he did for a few steps
only, when he found it impossible to
proceed in that manner. Night was
now coming on, and Watson, being
exhausted, appeared to
give up, and, although they were but
little more than a mile from Wallace's
place, the boy could not induce him to
make another effort to go there. Sink
ing down in the snow, he commenced
to beat himself, deplore his situation,
and implore the boy to lie down beside
him that they might die together. The
boy, refusing to lie down, told him that
he would go to Wallace's and procure
He accordingly started off
ior that purpose, but, after proceeding
l short distance with much difficulty,
ne found a place where the uplifting of
he roots of tree had formed shed,
1nder which there was little or no
snow. He then concluded to try and
get Watson in there before leaving |
lim. He accordingly returned to his
companion, tramping down the snow
o enable him the better to get
trough; but he could not induce
lin to move, and, after an unsuccess-
ul attempt to drag him, lie watched
With him until he died, and, day break
NO, he started for home. About 9
o'clock Saturday morning he had sue
eeded in reaching the fence near the
louse, when he halloed, and Wallace
anne to his assistance. His hands and
eet were found to be frozen, but DR..
now, who was called to attend him,
Informs us that he will not lose any of
is limbs. One can hardly conceive of
he horrors of that night to this boy
Tho was keeping his lonely vigil by the
ide of his dying companion, with but
tile hope that his own fate might not
e sealed in the same manner. Jesse
lllnut, with whom this boy was stop
ing while in town, and who is partic-
larly attached to him, protested
gainst his making the trip, and only
onsented after promise from them
nat they would go by way of Alexan-
er's place, which, had they needed,
-ould probably have saved the life of
ne and much suffering by the other.
influence of Different POtatiOns.
A police officer relates the following
5 his experience: Whenever an officer
ears woman on the street creating a
and in drunken condition,
e knows at once that she has been !,
rinkinU whisky A drunken woman