davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-07-18
An Oriental Rulers Cruelties.

When the French finally reduced
Constantine, one of the Algerine cities,
in 1S4S, the palace of Hadj Ahmed cx-
cited general admiration, and the women
of his large harem caused unusual
curiosity and compassion, from the tales
spread of his cruelty to them. He
sprang from wealthy family of the
place. and had been khalifa under the
Bey Brahamcl- Rabbi, but exciting the
jealousy of that ruler, fled to Algiers.
There he won the goodwill of the pasha,
and in 1926 became himself bey of Con-
stantine.
His crueltics were the theme of every
tongue. A summer-house used to be
shown in his garden where he was nc
customed to sit and smoke, while his
harem, all attired in their finest array,
passed one by one before him. They
were required to keep their eyes cast
down, their arms folded across their
breast in modest attitude. One day
one of these women, as she passed
through the garden, plucked an orange.
The Hadi Ahmed ordered her hand to be
nailed up to the tree.
One of his four wives was al italian
girl named Aicha, carried off, when O
child, with her brother. She was n
uueenly young woman, and, after the
French occupation, was instructed, and
in time married French officer. Her
influence had been great with the Hadj
Ahmed, yet when her brother, after ris-
ing to high rank in the army, dis
covered finally that his sister was in the
harem, the Hadj Ahmed put him to
death for daring to ask to see her.
One day some Of the women found a
pipe, and, to divert themselves, dressed
one of their number in turban and
robes, and set her up to smoke while
they waited upon her. Hadj Ahmed
burst in upon this childish scene, tore
his mock representative from her seat Of
honor, had her mouth sewed up NJ a
punishment for daring to place his pipe
within it, and ordered hec to be put to
death.
From time to time, during his rule,
two men would be seen at night, one
bearing to the height overlooking the
valley of the Roumel long box open at
each end, the other a white sack from
which smothered moans escaped. Halt
ing at three stones, the box was placed
on the middle one, the sack slipped in,
one end of the box raised, and the sack
shot out down aprecipice of six hundred
feet. Some hours later men approached
the sack on the rocky bank of the river,
opened it, took out woman's corpse,
and conveyed it to the grave.
This monster lived many years aftel
his overthrow, and died an object OF
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-07-18
AbOut the Fly.

When o Detroit woman answered the
door-ben the other day she found
stranger on the step. He had bundle
in his hand, smile on his face, and he
said:
MADAM, can I sell you some fly.
paper"
"Does the paper fy?" she asked.
"No, ma'am, but it makes the flies
fly"
=" what do I want the flies to fly for 2
she continued.
every fly, madam - he was ex.
planning, when she called out:
81 want you to fly I can get along
with flies better than with agents !"
"But I am not Oh the fly" he softly
protested.
"Our dog is" she grimly replied, and
so he was. He flew around the corner,
the agent flew for the gate, the roll of
fy-paper flew over the curb, and news
boy climbed tree-box to be out Of the
muss and shouted:
"She flew, thou hyest, he flied, and I
believe the dog got a piece of meat with
that coat tail p
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-07-18
The DethrOned Sultan.

Murad, Turkeys dethroned sultan,
lives, gloomy man, i'll a palace on
Seraglio Point. His mother is constantly
by his side. She tastes his food before
it touches his lips, and she allows no
one to approach him until she knows
the object of the visit. His beautiful
daughter, Blanche, the Circassian. whom
he had reared up to an European cdNca-
tion in the family of his private phvs-
cian, is with him also. AS soon as l."
was called to the throne lie hada part of
the harem fitted up for her exclusive
use i'll a style OF the most luxurious
splendor and expense. Her apartment,
whose establishment cost nearly 100, ,00O
francs, WAS Just finished as Murad waa
forced to abdicate.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-07-18
ACROSS THE DANUBE.
How the Russians Effected the PassaEc Of
the River.


the Rivef.
A special dispatch gives the following
account of the passage of the Russian
troops across the Danube at Simnitza:
Under the willows and tamarisks there
were collected, about six o'clock at night,
boats and men. At eleven o'clock they
began to cross. Both during the cross
ing and afterward they suffered seriously
from the fire of two batteries, and from
rifle fire.
One gun standing alone fired with
steadiness and precision and created
some damage, but, although the men
suffered, the boats went and came until
men enough were collected to hold their
own when morning dawned. Still the
Turks made o feeble resistance, for re-
sistance must surely be feeble which can
| not prevent 208 boats from passing to
and fro on O broad river. Dragomirof's
division of the Eighth corps was the first
to cross. The Turks fired the last round
little after one o'clock.
On the Turkish side the bank presents
low cliffs and steep declivities, and be-
hind that more gradual ascents, but al
ways forming perfectly defensive posi-
tions, which were, in fact, only feebly
contested.
On the right of the Russians opposite
Sistova, all day, three battalions of field
artillery, firing slowly, helped to crush the
opposition Of the Turks. To the left Of
the landing place, concealed among will
lows, were more batteries, and further
left still, horse artillery. From that
position whole feet of Turkish crafts
was visible. One Of them was war
vessel. It's inactivity was unaccount-
able.
Between one and two o'clock the next
day the first Russian gun was ferried
over on stage supported by two pom
toons, and by that time the column of
wounded ceased to pass. The character
of the resistance may be estimated by the
fact that 80 far as known there were only
40 wounded, and giving fair proper
tion for the killed, it may be said that
the Russians loss was about 200.
Though the Russians crossed OF Sim
nitza easily, it has not been so higher up
the river near Turnu-MagureG, where
their attempt failed. Wemust therefore
SUPPOSE that Simnitza will become the
chief point of passage for other corps
than those originally destined to cross
there. As matters stand one corps only,
the Eighth, will have gained march on
the Turkish army.
The Russians wisely drew thick veil
around their movement at the last
moment, placing sentries on every road,
and suffering no man to pass. They then
passed higher up the river than was ex-
nected.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-07-18
What Farmers Sons Ought to Know.

To those who prize the freedom pecu-
liar to life in the country, and also the
security Of steady occupation, the pur-
suit of farming in this country offers
great advantages. Every talent that the
most gifted young man possesses may be
exercised in connection with agriculture,
and the more finished his education the
better will be his chances of gaining cul-
ture from his surroundings and acquiring
influence with his neighbors.
Already large portion of the perma-
nent wealth of our nation is in the hands
of farmers. and every facility is offered
by our laws for any one who wishes to
secure farm for himself. The intro
duction of machinery for almost all kinds
of farm work, the multiplication of
means of transportation, and the great
demand in cities and towns for the best
farm produce, makes it necessary for
man to know the cost Of each crop he
raises that he may devote his time and
labor to that which pays the highest per
cent. on capital invested. Hundreds Of
farmers annually dispose of their wheat,
potatoes, apples, corn, cattle or horses
at the market price, without knowing
the actual cost of production of any
crop. AS q natural consequence they
60 on year after year in the same way;
while by knowing exactly the cost of rails
ing bushel of wheat or ton of hay or
pound of wool, they could soon decide
where their profits lay, and discard the
crops which experience proved to bring
them only loss.
Now to know the precise cost of any
farm product, it is as necessary that q
farmer should keep accurate accounts as
for a merchant or manufacturer. To no
class of business men is q practical
knowledge of bookkeeping more valu-
able than to our farmers. Because
many have succeeded without it in the
past does not alter the case. A higher
standard is before the farmer now.
Their produce must be of good quality
to meet with ready sale, and to insure
that success now demands that capital
be invested in good buildings, machinery
and improved kinds of grain, fruit and
live stock.
They need to know the exact returns
yielded by all such investments, which
can be ascertained only from a complete
and accurate system of accounts. Let
us impress upon young farmers, stock
dealers and fruit-growers the vast bene-
fit you would realize from a course of
business training. Better give year of
your time now to this study; you would
be more than repaid for your time and
money in five years. Surely it is time
the leading industry of our State and
country was conducted on the same
principles that control less important
interests.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-07-18
Thoughts for Saturday Night.

Expense of time is the most costly of
all expenses.
As moth gnaws a garment, so doth
envy consume man.
To some purpose is that man wise who
is wise at another mans expense.
The hen of our neighbor appears to us
goose, says the Oriental proverb.
The man who can be nothing but seri-
GUS OF nothing but merry is but half o
man.
People seldom improve when they
have no other model than themselves to
copy after.
Our natures are like oil, compounds
with everything, yet still we try to swim
upon the top.
A hesitating, tardy, or grim yielding
to the wishes of another, always CRATES
upon loving heart.
The woman who is resolved to be re-
spected can make herself to be 80 even
amidst an army of soldiers.
Many men profess to hate another, but
no man OWLS envy as being an enmity for
no cause but goodness or felicity.
We do not know of how much man is
capable, if he has the will, and to what
point he will rise if he feels free.
There is this of good in real evils-they
deliver US while they last from the petty
despotism of all that were imaginary.
The old saying is expressed with depth
and significance: "On the pinnacle OF
fortune man does not long stand firm"
Who shoots at the midday sun, though
he be sure he will never hit his mark, yet
as sure is he that he shall shoot higher
than he who aims at a brush.
We gain nothing by being with such
as ourselves. We encourage one another
in mediocrity. I am always longing to
be with men more excellent than myself.
Lamb.
God has made no one absolute. The
rich depend on the poor, as we'll as the
poor on the rich. The world is but
mere magnificent building; all the stones
are gradually cemented together. There
is no one subsists by himself alone
FeItHdn1.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-07-18
Truths Oueerly Told.

Science is tirst-rate piece of furni-
ture for mans upper chamber, if he
has common sense on the ground floor.
Advice is like doctors pills; how
easily he gives them-how reluctantly
he takes them, when his turn comes.
Some injudicious folks, instead of en-
couraging the highly-charged mind and
heart, in blowing off verse and bombast,
would sit on the safety valve.
Truth gets we'll if she is run over by
a locomotive, while error dies of lock-
jaw if she scratches her finger.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-07-18
Two Mysterious Characters.

In the city of Brooklyn, N. Y, there
is an old man who never fails to be in a
certain place where he can see the clock
on the city hell when it strikes the hour
of noon. For many years he has invari-
ably been present, and his coming is re-
garded by the people there as sure
indication of the near approach of mid
day, so the old Brooklynite has become
the object of much interest and the sub
ject of many a romance.
Baltimore, Nd, 80 far rs known, has
no eccentric resident whose daily task is
to watch the clock at MONDAY, but with
in her limits resides all old fellow scarcely
less peculiar, and whose idiosyncrasy is
not unlike to the crazy Brooklynite.
The name of the Baltimorean is Francis
Farthing. He resides in tenement on
Eastern avenue, between Eden and
Caroline streets. Probably fifty two
years of age, he is bent in form, furrow.
ed in feature, morose in temper, and OF
forbidding appearance generally. he
has few friends or associates. How he
lives is q mystery to his neighbors, as
for six years, during which time he has
lived alone in one place, he has never
done any work, nor has the postman
ever been seen to bring him a letter. He
takes one drink of whisky daily in a
saloon, for which he always pays IN cop
pers, and his frugal meals he buys at
Restaurant near by, paying for them
always in coin of the same denomination.
He goes into his room, it has been OBJ
served, nightly at eight o'clock, and
energies as promptly on the hour OF
half-past ten the next morning. He
always takes tie same path going for his
meals, opens the door, a swinging one,
with his left and closes it with his right
hand in peculiar way.
But all these actions are the least
noticeable of his movements, and had 1t
not been for one proceeding more pro,
ncunced than all the others these might
not have been noticed. Regularly at
one o'clock every day he passes out OF
his low-roofed domicile, walks to tho
corner of Eastern avenue and Caroline
street, faces about and walks to the
corner of Eden street and Eastern ave-
nue.. Then he turns up Eden street to
Bank, crosses Bank and takes stand
within short distance of the pump at
the corner of Spring and Bank streets.
There he stands enumerating aloud each
person who comes to the pump to drink
until the number has reached seventeen.
Then he turns away, and walking by the
same route as before, going to the corner
of Caroline street and Eastern avenue,
he returns to his house. This he has
done for over two years, and perhaps for
longer period, but that is the time his
movements were first noticed by his
neighbors, who have come now to regard
him with but little curiosity. One day
not long ago while he. was counting at
the pump reporter spoke to him. The
old man looked up and resumed his self
imposed task of watching and counting,
but said never a word. So old Farthing
leads his life of mysterious regularity
and enters himself Us the rival of the
man who watches the Brooklyn clock.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-07-18
Ferocious Attack on a Paymaster.

One of the most desperate daylight
attacks on record was made in Scranton,
Pa, few weeks ago, by a pair of mask
ed robbers, upon Paymaster Bessell OF
the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
railroad company, and his assistant,
Captain Carling, while on their way to
pay the employees at the Cayuga and
Brisbin collieries. The murderous Of
fair occurred within q stones throw OF
the Brisbin mine, at q short distance
from the main road, between Hyde Park
and Providence, almost in the midst OF n
thickly populated settlement, and shortly
after one o'clock in the afternoon. Pay
master J. H. Bessell and Captain ". H.
CarGng were driving leisurely along, i'll
buggy in which they had the money
for the men, amountin 6 to twelve thou
sand dollars, and on arriving at a point
of the road which is crossed by the rail-
way, and guarded by a gate on each side
of the track, they halted for the purpose
of Mr.. Carling getting out and opening
the gates that they might pass through.
The captain was just in the act of re-
moving the lap-robe from his knees,
when he and his companion were startled
by the sudden appearance of two masked
robbers, who had been crouching by the
roadside in wait for them, and now
sprang up and pointed pistols ut their
heads. The men were closely masked
with something that completely covered
their faces, so that it was impossible to
get even o glimpse of their features.
They we're quite close to the buggy,
being no more than two yards from the
horses head. and their appearance fairly
unnerved the paymaster and his assist
ant for q moment. They made no de-
mand, and it was evident from their de-
termined demeanor that it was their in
tention to murder and rob the men in
charge of the miners pay. In less time
than it takes to tell it, one of them dis
charged his revolver at Captain CARING s
head, which, fortunately, was inclined
backward, owing to the position he had
taken to get out of the buggy. The bull
let glanced along his left cheek, and
plowed its way through the skin of the
temple, leaving q ghastly mark, but
fortunately going whistling harmlessly
beyond it's intended victim. Such sud-
den shock, thrilling situation and mar
row escape from instant death, fairly
stunned the captain for the moment,
but summoning up his accustomed cool
ness and courage, he was out of the
buggy in m instant and he cried to his
companion "Shoot them-shoot them
down !" The horse, frightened by the
report of the assassin's pistol, plunged
forward, making it e difficult matter for
MIR. Bessell, who was still in the carriage,
to take aim ut the assassins, but before
the words were shoken his revolver was
leyeled at the highwaymen, at whom he
fired. It was close struggle. The
murderers were now no further off than
five feet from the buggy in which the
money lay, but it required more than
the heroism of even q highwayman to
approach it under the determined guard
Of Paymaster Bessell, who held his
ground firmly and kept firing at the
would-be assassins, who now, seeing they
were foiled, turned and fled in the direc-
ton of Church's Corners.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-07-18
Storms.


At night, within my lonely room,
So shelterless and high,
I dread the storm winds when they como
And sweep the earth and sky;
They seem to shake the feeble wall,
AS with giants sE--,.
And oft look to see it fall
In desperate alarm.
But if in Ill the darkened sky
/ see one cleaning star,
smile to hear the rough winds try
My confidence to mar;
Or if the moon, so calmly bright,
Between the clouds appears,
Then, though the storm be at its height,
bid farewell to fears.
Or if by day the storm winds come
And drive the clouds with might,
If for one instant shines the sun,
know that all is right.
still when these are out Of sight
I see the blue Of Heaven,
No terror can my soul alright
OF winds and storm clouds driven.
I know then that the storm I dread
Shall have no power to harm,
And that the darkness overspread
Need give me no alarm.
'Tis so of other storms that come
My spirit to appall,
No evil shall by them be done
While Heaven is seen through all.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-07-18

"Yes, dear Leah, 4 am Margaret. Dear Leah,
YOU know that love you! Oh, my poor dar-
ling, you know that love you!'
The surgeon, who is standing opposite Mar
her ewes to meet his and the shadow Of death
begins already to steal oser the room. Even
the lips are chill and pallid as Margaret touches
them with her own and the feverish grasp Of
the poor, weak hand dies into impotence in her
warm fingers. The dark, tangled hair falls over
the shapely brow and thick, curved eyebrows
just as it used to do and Margaret does not
know, until he is told, that it is yelling the face
of the dead. And there is no need for her to
pitv Leah Ashton any more.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-07-18
Proclamation by the Czar.

The car issued the following procla-
nation to the Bulgarians, on the day on
which the Russian army crossed the
Danube:
"My troops have crossed the Danube.
To-day they enter your territory, where
they have already seven times fought for
the amelioration of the Christian inhabi-
tants of Turkey. Russia still bears the
same love and solicitude toward all
Christians in Turkey as when she secured
the liberation of Servia and Roumania.
I have confded to my army the mission
of securing the sacred rights Of your
nationality, which you have acquired by
centuries OF suffering and the blood of
martyrs which has soaked your soil.
Russia's mission is to build up, not to
destroy. She is called by the DEGREES of
Providence to conciliate and pacify all
races and denominations in those parts
of Bulgaria inhabited by q mixed popu-
lation. Henceforth the Russian arms
will protect every Christian against all
violence. Not vengeance but strict equity
will guide our acts"
The proclamation promises also equal
protection to Mussulmans but impartial
justice upon known participators in afro
cities. 1t urges the Abandonment of in
testine dissensions and announces that
rs fast rs the Russians advance Turkish
rule will be replaced by regular organi-
cations in which the native inhabitants
will be summoned to take part under the
supreme direction of special authorities
and Bulgarian legions will be formed to
serve as the nucleus of local armed
force destined to maintain order and
security. The proclamation concludes:
"Follow faithfully the instructions of
the Russian authorities. Therein lie
your strength and security. With humil-
ity T pray the Lord to grant us victory
over the enemies of Christianity and to
send down His blessing upon our just
oo11sn