davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
A Convict Conspiracy,

A New York Herdld correspondent at St. Johns, Newfoundland, sends the de- tails of conspiracy which has just been discovered among the convlcts at the French naval station and penal settle ment on the island of St. Pierre, situ- ated at the entrance to Fortune Bay. The object of the conspirators was of course to escape from their imprison- ment. According to the story the plot which has been so opportunely laid bare must be taken out of the vulgar cate- gory of the ordinary attempts at jail breaking and given place of it's own in criminal history. The whole thing reads like dime novel in single chap ter. The governor of the island, or the judge who is just now performing the executive and judicial functions there, was to have been assassinated, and all the other officials of note were to have shared the same fate. This little under taking accomplished, the murder of the guards, the firing of the town, the plumber of its inhabitants, the seizure of the arsenal were all to follow in due order, winding up with the grand climax of sailing away to some distant and un- known land where jails and gendarmes are unknown. Owing to the indiscre- tion of two of the conspirators and the fidelity of a poor invalid soldier the au- thorities, it is alleged, became informed of the whole murderous scheme, and the conspirators are now where they can do no harm. The whole story is char acteristically French.
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
The Fortune Hunter.

The genuine fortune hunter is veri- table scamp - mercenary, cruel and greedy. When some rich women marry some poor men, they little imagine the misery they are creating for themselves. A man who woos 8 woman with mer- cenary motives is rather apt to hate her for be'ng worthy of better fate, as she undoubtedly is, else her generous heart would not so run away with her judg- ment. The man who marries woman for her money had better kill her out right, and take it. Indeed, that is what a creature who makes a match with such motive would really like to do. He wants the hard gold, not the soft woman who owns it, and he hates her becanse he has to take her also. Poor little heiresses, with delightful fortunes; poor little widows, with snug little sum settled on you by husband that had your comfort at heart, how better that you should be penniless women sewing for your living! Then some strong, loving hand might gather you up to loving heart, and you might be very sure it was all for yourself-all, every bit of it. But now, nothing is left to you but 8 loveless existence-a broken life. An it's dangerous experiment. to endow some men with your earthly goods, in place of being endowed by them and you pay the penalty of thus reversing the natural order of things.
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
Jenny Cramer Forty Years Ago.

The Jenny Cramer mystery is in some points 8 repetition of the Mary Rogers case, which is one of the mem- orable tragedies of New York. Forty years have elapsed since it occurred, and yet it holds its place among the mysteries of crime. Mary Rogers, like Jenny Cramer, was pretty cigar girl. She tended store for John Ander- son, who kept the finest establishment of the kind on Brodway. Mary was generally attractive, but it was not known that she had any special suitor. She lived with her mother, who was @ poor widow, dependent upon her daugh. ter's earnings. One Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1840, she left her home and never returned. Some per- sons who knew her said they saw her in company with 8 man dressed in naval uniform. This was the last seen of her alive. Her disappearance was reported to the police, but no immediate clue could be obtained. Four days after ward, however, nude corpse was found floating in the waters of the Hudson near the Jersey shore, and this was identified as the missing cigar girl. It was evident that she had been foully dealt with, but this was all that could be ascertained. A yawl boat, which was also found floating idly in the bay, was no doubt connected with the tragic affair, but on this point there was no certainty. The police made every pos sible search, but it was of no avail. The old mother died broken-hearted, and years have passed away, throwing no light upon the mystery, whose solu- tion has now passed beyond hope; and hence the sad tale of Mary Rogers holds prominent place among the bloody secrets of New York.
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
In the Volcano Line.

In my "reminiscences of Iceland, says newspaper correspondent, was almost forgetting about Skapta Jokul. It may be sad to occupy the southwestern portion of Iceland. She is no ordinary hill, for she has -empted space bigger than Rhode Island for herself. It isn't that she is so big as that she requires so much room for what she don't want. Skapta's greatest effort was performed in 1783, seventeen years after Hecla had done the best she knew how. The read ing of the account of Skapta's work will invigorate the imagination, for she gets away with anything the penny-dreadful author ever thought of. About the be- ginning of June, of the year named, the usual. preliminary noise began in the neighborhood of the mountains, and on the 8th of the month great volcano of smoke and ashes spread over the whole district of Sida, gong in that direction against the wind. Onthe 10th the River Skapta overfowed with fetid water and then suddenly disappeared. Fire broke out on the mountains, and two days later stream of lava came oozing down the dried bed of the river. Notwithstanding that the channel was 600 feet deep and 200 wide, the lava overfowed the banks and inundated the Meddalland country, lifting the grass as it went as water would float film of oil. The stream finally flowed into the Meddalland Lake, filled it up, and then divided into two course of the river and finally leaping, maddened and hot, into the sea, over the great cataract of Stapafoss, whose brink is 300 feet above the sea level
 The other stream, after traversing wide section of low-land country, found aline of least resistance in the Hverfsfiot River bed. This last stream of lava, as far as it has been surveyed-there is much of it, how much no one knows, in country over which no man has ever been-is forty miles in length and seven in width. That which went over the cataract is fifty miles long and fifteen broad. The lava ceased to flow in Au- gust and the convulsion ended with a grand earthquake. For whole year it continued to rain cinders and dust, and thousands of acres of grass land were buried and withered under the hot showers. It is estimated that 190,O0O sheep, 28,000 horses, Il, 1000 cattle and 5000 men died as 8 result of the erup- tion. Since then there has been nothing worth mentioning in the volcano line.
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
American Sardines.

The transformation of the menhaden into American sardines, which at one time was carried on on the shores of New York Bay, does not seem to have proved commercial success. But MT. H. O. Hovey describes in the Scientific American some sardine factories on the coast of Maine, where the young of the herring is likely to meet with more popular favor than fell to the common moss bunker. The process of manufac. turing these American sardines is as fol- lows
 The small herring are caught in weirs built among the small islands and in estuaries and it is of the first import. ance to get the fish to the factories in the quickest time possible. For this reas.n and also because of the large number of boats employed, steam tugs are used for towing the dories Tn. On arriving at the works, the boats are un- loaded, the fish are thoroughly washed in pure spring water, and carefully sorted. All that are bruised or injured in any way are thrown out, the larger herring are packed in barrels for other purposes, while the smallest only are placed on long tables, where their heads and tails are cut off and they are prop erly cleaned. All the refuse is ground up as pomace and used for fertilizing; hence nothing goes to waste.
 From the cutting sheds the herring are passed into the flake room, where they are salted and laid singly on wooden flakes, and after dripping they are passed into the drying room, where they are dried on racks, along which the flakes are arranged, machinery being used admitting hot and cold air. These flakes covered with the dry fish next go to the frying room, where they are placed in large shallow pans of boiling oil. Again they are assorted, and only such as are properly cooked are kept and carefully laid in cans, nine fish in each can. Hot oil is then poured in, the cans are sealed, small orl1ce is made to let out superfuous steam, and then, thus prepared, they go into the bath room, where a large tank filled with boiling water receives them. On being removed, the orifce is soldered, and each can IS critically examined for leaks, thessrejected cans being returned for proper treatment, while the perfect ones are sent to the cleaning room, where upon large box-like tables cov- cred with sawdust, or, in some fac tories, in revolving cylinders filled with sawdust, the cans are cleansed and pol ished. Having undergone final in- spection, they ara sent to the packing room, where they are packed, 100 boxes in each case, and thence shipped to market.
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
The Iceland Geysers.

A correspondent, travelling in Iceland, says The geysers are dying out, like thousands of others whose remains are scattered around the field on which they now are active. To-day there are but two geysers, unless you dignity the dozen of little bubbling streams that struggle up through the brick colored mud in the neighborhood. The region about the geysers is like an immense poultice, and viewed comprehensively looks like a bad case of smallpox. Eruptions, great and small, pit and scar the whole surface In some places the ground is baked hard, and in close vii cinity to the great springs is covered with vitreous coating like earthen- ware. In other places it is boggy and soft enough to sink waist deep in. I have said that the old stories about the geysers may have been true when writ ten, for the guides and natives inform me that within their recollection the spoutings have grown less frequent year by year, aud have not heard of any one who has witnessed the great geyser active this season. At all events did not see it. From the pit or basin of the great geyser clouds of vapor are forever rising, and you can see them miles away as they float off in great banks driven by the wind. The crater of the great gey- ser is shaped exactly like saucer, and in the center is the orifce out of which, when the thing is active, the water spouts up as high as eighty feet they say. You can look down into it and see the water simmering, seeming to be every moment ready to leap into the air as it pulses up and down in the fue. By wise provision of nature things are so regulated here that those who go to see the great geyser are not entirely disappointed. The smaller geyser, called by the natives "strokr" (the churn), can be made to vomit at pleas ure. All that is necessary is to gather few Jumps of mud and turf from the grass that luxuriates around the outer rim of the basins and throw them down into the strokr's fue. As soon as they are down he begins to grumble and give signs of uneasiness, and he grunts and groans in dire discomfort. He seems to make an effort to digest the stuff and then finally gives it up in disgust, throwing sods and turf up into the air, expending great volume of steam and water in the effort. When the dose is particularly nauseating he throws up 8 column thirty feet high, and after see- ing this all you have to do is give Pe- gasus rein and you can say you have seen the great geyser. A few feet, more or less, in the matter of height does not in the least impair the story of any traveller, and hence it happens that so many people have seen the great gey- ser
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
Thoughts for Every Day.


 / The following are quotations from the address of Governor Jarvis, of North Carolina, recently delivered before the alumni of Randolph Mason College, Virginia:
 "All honest labor is honorable, and should have the favor of all good peo- pie. He who is not fitted for the pro- fessions, will find it in the eyes of prop CT thinking people just as honorable to serve on the farms, in the workshops or at the trades. The successful farmer, merchant or mechanic is the equal of the successful lawyer, doctor or politi- clan, and incomparably greater than the professional failure.
 "The more fashionable and the less thoughtful of them sometimes frown upon the man who works with his hands for an honest living, while they smile upon the dainty darlings of fashion. Let me at lesst hope they do not know the evil they do. Such sentiments drive young men to idleness, idleness to want, want to crime, and crime to disgrace. !"
 "What right has he to use the public service to promote his own or another's ends? None. And the man who trades and traffics in a public trust commits 0 crime against the public. And yet men in these days of debauched politics, are daily violating this principle"
 "There is no service in which you can engage, save that of the Creator, more sacred than that of your country. No man who does his duty can withdraw entirely from such service.
 1T pray God that this great centen- nial year will be the end of all strife in this land of ours. As this year one hun dred years ago was the end of the strug- gle for freedom, may this year be the end of our struggle for reconciliation 1; and, as from the bloody plains of York town in 1791 the sun of liberty rose to shed his benefcent rays for all time to come upon free America, so, in 1881, from these fields may the sun of an ab- solute and everlasting reconciled broth erhood rise, never again to be dimmed while time shall last. Yes, my friends, as the people gather from the North and from the South, from the East and from the West, and meet upon that sacred soil, may the spirit of an hun dred years ago fall upon them and bind them together in bonds of love and con- fidence that can never be rent asunder. And when they leave that hallowed ground may that spirit go with them, and abide with them and all the people forevermore. trr
 ssIt is hard to have no friends to cher ish it is worse to have no country to serve but it is death to have no God to love or religion to comfort. Man with out @ friend is misanthrope, and he knows nothing of the sweets of life. Without a country he is an exile and a wanderer-an aimless Arab in the desert. Without religion he is in 8 wilderness of uncertainty without Q guide-in the dark without light-in the world without hope"
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
The Feasts of the VOudOu.

The great feats of Voudou" in the Island of Hayti are at Chris tmas, at Whitsuntide and at Easter. The drum is beaten at midnight and the people assemble. The ceremony commences with the most terrible oaths of secrecy. Then dancing begins, and the excite ment is kept up by copious ibations of rum till one or more of the performers fall down in fit, when the spirit of the "Voudou" is supposed to have entered into them. These orgies last generally three nights and sometimes longer. On the first night cock is offered up at the altar, and it's blood is drunk warm. On tho second night goat is treated in the same way. But on the third night children are brought in their throats are cut by the priests; their blood is handed round and drunk warm, and their bodies are then cut up and eaten.
 Before the sacrifice takes place the priest orders as many children as he re- quires. They must be of pure African descent and not over ten years or age These children are invariably forth coming, either by being voluntarily given up or obtained by being stolen by women who make profession of it. They are expert at the trade. Enter ing house at night, naked and oiled, they steal the child, and by administer ing 0 narcotic poison render it insens- ible. It is then conveyed to a secret place till required for the sacrifice, when an antidote brings it to then it's throat is cut. Children are often voluntarily given up by their mothers for the sacri- fee.
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
HOMEMADE BREAD"

Don't offer me cake full of sugar and spices, And citron and raisins; but, oh, how l yearn For bread that is homemade, in generous
 slices,
 With sweet golden butter just out of the
 churn. -... That bread of my childhood, of mothers own
 making,
 Is still in my memory, never forgot; How often I've waited for Saturdays baking To get the crust slice and toeat it while hot :! The taste of that crispy brown crust ever
 fingers
 That gvlden-hued butter yet melts on my
 tongue; ,asaETx.z-s .s.s. ..s.s-as still feel the crumbs stick fast to my fingers
 As out in the garden feasted and swung. And then at the table, with sister and brother Each armed with slice a foot long at the least
 That seemed so much sweeter when buttered
 by mother
 No king ever knew the delights of that feast. Oh, bread that is homemade, delicious, nutri-
 tious;
 Vile stuff from the bakers has taken your place, We'll whitened with alum, putfedsup and sus'
 picious? I eat it. and hate and share it's disgra >e.
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
That Headache.

Uncle Nose went into an Austin ave- nue drug store, says Texas paper, and asked " What has yer dat's good for 8 headache?" The druggist took down a large bottle of salts of ammonia, or some such stuff, and told Uncle Nose to smell. As it was free thing, he drew in healthy inspiration that took away his breath. It was ten minutes before he could talk, and when he did say something it was that he would "bust " the druggists head wide open If he came at him with that bottle again. "Bht how abou the headache ?" asked the druggist. "How de deuce can I tell ontil goes home and asks de ole 'ooman. She is de cullud pusson what's got de misery in her head"
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
About Our Cigars.
HOW THEY ARE MADE IN THE TENEMENT
 HOUSES OF OUR CITIES.

A New York City correspondent, tell ing how cigars are made in the tenement houses, says: We turned up Avenue 5, and another tenement of the worser kind showed the shrinking little black tin sign. Continuing along Second street toward Avenue 0, great row of these sardine-box houses rose blazing red upon the morning sunshine, all stirring with animal life-fve close stories where sleep had not yet ceased though manufacturing had begun.
 "They work fourteen hours 8 day." exclaimed Maryantha, "And make in that time 700 cigars. Consequently they must begin at in the morning and work till 9 or ten at night. But to make 700 cigars and earn $4 takes the labor of four persons: the children to strip the tobacco from the stems, the wife to make the Lunches or filters, and the man of the family to roll and trim the cigars. When they have finished the days work they are too tired to go out; so they drink beer where they have been sitting and breathing all day till they become dull enough to sleep. But before going to bed they must wet down and spread upon the floor to dry all the tobacco for next days manufacture. As they possess no other room to do it in, they use the same room they have in- habited all day, which is at once kitch- en, dining-room and work-room, and in the night or next morning the women and the children walk on the tobacco soiled, it is rolled while yet damp into 700 more cigars. And so life goes on for 365 days, and so five-eighths of all the cigars in New York are prepared"
 He adds of house he visited: As we went up the stairs grisly heads pro- truded from doors, children in grime and nakedness ran up and down, and stench arose like nothing I could recol- lect except the foul air in slave pen, many years ago, where woolly Africans had slept, awaiting shipment as com modity. Barren, barren were the spotted halls, crooked the stairs and walls, torturous the jagged fire-escapes like long gridirons to broil men upon, hooking their reptile claws into the greasy windows. A fine young girl of fourteen with warm black eyes went by us with blackened feet and tangled splendor of hair, which we saw her di- rectly combing down upon the spread tobacco her mother, with fingers alter nately in the frying pan and in the to- bacco leaf, was taking piecemeal from the floor aud folding into filters. At the window side of the room sat the man, half naked, before long wooden sill or bench, rolling and trimming the cigars. The girl aforesaid and little brother had already begun to pull to- bacco from the stemmy dry weed, and it's dust settled upon the cooking and made us strangers cough. From room to room, from floor to floor, the close air of recent sleep and the sights of tobacco-making mingled, like disease and simeon wrestling together.
 ssI thought I knew New York City, but this is new sight, even to me-"
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
A New Pest for the Farmer.

The Middletown, N. r., Press says: In several locations in the town of Goshen the farmers have discovered 8 new pest, which is doing their meadows a serious damage. It is grub which burrows in the ground just beneath the surface and eats off the roots of the grass, killing it. Where these pests are at work spots of brown are seen in the green sward. Taking hold of it with the hands, it can be lifted up like an old sheepskin, and then the grubs will be seen. It will be we'll, doubtless, for farmers to take B look at them, as the grubs are easily killed when the dead sod is lifted up. The pest is said also to prevail in other sections. Ten were found on square foot of soil on farm near Six and Half Station, and on 8 neighboring farm the sod, our informant said, was talive with them" Whole fields have been gone over in some in- stances and the grass cut as clean as with scythe. They resemble the or dinary corn grub, but are said to be of a different species. In some localities they have commenced eating the pota- toes in the ground.
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
CEN k1AuR
 Iiiniiment.

e The most Powerful,
 Penetrating and Pain-relieving remedy ever devised by man. It soothes Pain, 1t allays inflammation. 1t heals Wounds, and 1t cures
 n3 RHEUMATISM.
 Scfatica, LumbagO, Scalds. Burns, Stiff Joints, Cuts, Swell ingS, Frost bites, Quinsey, Salt Rheum, Itch, Sprains, Calls, and Lameness from any cause. Sui. ferers from
 PAIN IN THE BACK. Fever Sores, EruptiOns, Broken Breasts, contracted Cords, Neu- ralgia, Palsy or dfslocated limbs, and owners of horses, planters, me- chanics, merchants and professional men-eyerywhere, unite in saying, that
 CENTAUR LINIMENT brings relief when all other Lini- ments. Oils, Extracts and Embroca. tons have failed.
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
AsH=IoNIC

A Perfected Purifier of the System
 ToSTc.-'' Increasing the strength, O6riating the sTsctsof debility, aud restoring keditty nctions.s -WEBsTER.
 For Ird'ssestion, and Dyspepsia, the many forms of Liver Com plaint, Impure and Impoverished Blood, and Functional Derange- mentsi attendant upon Debility, and for Building up the weak, Ash- Tonic Is doubtless the most prompt and certain remedy yet devised. Iii 1-2 lb. bottles, 75 cents; Six bottles $4.' Accredited Physicians and Clergymen, who may desire to test the Tonic, will be supplied with not exceeding six bottles, at One-haf the iretail price, money to accom- pany, the order. Sold by Druggists, and by D. B. Dewey & Co, 46 Dey St., IN. Y.a..i
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07

Two mothers by the sad sea waves. "What ? do you let your children make slings to play with? They are very dangerous don't you know how hard they can throw stones with them 2" "Yes, but the little dears don't throw them at themselves 1" ,r..-.'
Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07

WANTED. the extraordinary increase of revenue from cigarettes, the Washington Republic properly infers that the number of youths who should be taken across their mothers knees and soundly spanked has increased dur ng the fiscal year at least quarter of a million