The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-06-11
TIMELY TOPICS.

A Chinese paper gives an account OF
the cruel treatment to which the coolies
are subjected, who are employed in the
Dutch islands in the Straits to clear land
and plant tobacco. Every man, on his
arrival, is tattooed on the cheek, and
once arrived they are never released. No
letters are allowed to be transmitted; If
one is sick no medical attendance is fur
nished; they are dressed in cocoanut
bark, and have for food one pound Of
rice in the husk daily and a little salt
fish. On account of the unhealthiness of
the climate nearly half die the first year,
and the total number of deaths since the
trade began is more than 10000. Such a
rigorous watch is kept upon them that
no one has ever been known to escape.
The grave can have no terrors for an
eccentric individual out in Illinois. He
SCOTS at the comforts of patent spring
mattress, with the accompanying pill
lows, holsters, sheets and snowy cover
lids, and even deems the Indian luxury
of q blanket and fire effeminate and
unworthy of man. In his back yard
there is q shallow trench, in which he
lays himself each night at bedtime, and
a faithful man servant shovels earth over
him till nothing but his head is left un-
covered. He has no fear of fire or bur-
| glars, but sleeps serene and happy in his
couch of earth. If he should wake up
and find himself dead some morning, he
would be both dead and buried. 1t is
hardly necessary to say that he is not a
married man.
The recent marriages of several
wealthy girls to coachmen and others
"out Of their set," leads the Philadel-
phia Times to remark that New York
fathers with good-looking daughters are
instituting reform in the matter OF
employing and using coachmen. Infor.
nation from the intelligence offices is to
the effect that deeply-colored, ugly and
aged drivers are in great demand, and
their services command better price
than those of young and better appearing
men. When the employment of the lat
ter kind has been found unavoidable,
the most thorough inquiries are made
into their social habits and possible Ia
tent qualities. The absolute determina-
tion of so many young women to marry
somebody, little regarding whom, has
set matrimony forth in new shapes and
made the position of a father hard one
to bear, as general thing"
1t has been stated that desperadoes in
the West have been known to kill
men in order to test the quality of a new
weapon! This became known through
confessions made at the gallows. Reck-
lessness in the use of all fiji earns is the
characteristic of most outlaws, who
nevertheless understand theirweapon per-
fectly. A sheriff of one of the counties
in New Mexico was killed not long ago.
The desperate who did the killing owned
a beautiful revolver. He was mortally
wounded, but was standing on his knees
facing the sheriff. The latter bade him
turn the weapon around and hand the
breach to him. The wounded ruffian
did so, holding on to the tip of the barrel.
As the sheriff bent over to receive the
pistol, the wounded man, with the ra-
pidity OF lightning. threw it back, seized
the handle and pulled the trigger on the
sheriff, whose heart was pierced by the
ball.
Thomas Moran, an English laborer,
was arrested for not contributing Sl.25
a week toward the support Of his six
children in the workhouse. His wife is
in an insane asylum. He said that about
n fortnight after the children entered the
workhouse he was laid up ten weeks
through an accident. When he got bet
ter the frost set in, and he could obtain
no work for thirteen weeks. Through
his long illness he got into debt; but he
had paid the guardians rs much as he
could. An entry in the police ook
showed that Moran was carried to the
infirmary on stretcher in September.
Notwithstanding this, the magistrate
sentenced the defendant to a months
hard labor. The defendant burst out
crying, exclaiming, For Gods sake,
gentlemen; give me chance! | was
never in prison; if you send me, I'll lose
my work; if you give me time III pay
ALL" He was, however, removed below,
still appealing bitterly for mercy. The
London Times has sensibility enough to
call this " a harI case."
A plan by which young persons resid
ing in, the neighborhood of great cities.
or anywhere else, for that matter, where
the mulberry tree will grow, can, with
easy, clean and pleasant work, make
from ten to twenty-five dollars during
the summer, ought to meet with large
acceptance. There is q market for the
cocoons at about seventy-five cents per
pound, and the eggs of the worms can
be procured without trouble. Placed
near to stove, the worms appear from
the eggs in few days, and soon begin
to feed. The worms are hardy, but need
pure air, and must be kept dry and
warm. Cocoons raised near German
town were shipped to Italy, whence it
was reported that they were excellent
in quality, and reeled off splendidly."
The children can do most Of the work,
which lasts about six weeks in May and
June. The care and trimming Of the
trees should be attended to by man,
but the little ones can carry in the
leaves and feed the worms. The null
berry tree grows rapidly, and is ready
Immediately the leaves appear.
Ifany one should be required to express
in brief terms the immediate motive of
Peru in causing the three-sided war be-
tween Chill on the one hand and Peru
| ttllu DULY VII OUlSl, ~ LtiSiV w
done very fairly in this way: the imme
diate cause of the war is the effort of
Peru to get up corner in fertilizers,
guano and nitrate Of soda. Behind this,
as contributory cause, was the great
earthquake wave year or SO ago, which
swept destruction along the coast Of
Peru, crippling her fertilizer works and
shipping depots. Further back is Peru's
heavy public debt, mostly due to Eng
land, which debt and interest is secured
on her guano and other trade in fer
tilizers, which trade and her ability to
pay her obligations on her bonds were
embarrassed by her losses and by compe-
tition springing up among Chilians domi-
ciled on Bolivian territory, and by Chilli
ans on their own territory, in which
nitrate and guano beds are now being
worked. And beyond all this are the
treaties and other relics of an old dispute
between Chill and Bolivia about piece
of sea-coaA territory lying between the
two countries.
Occasionally the newspapers contain
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