Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1883-01-17
Blown up on a Steamboat.

hCIlj uOu huOW WEtlueI III WIS
an accident or not" he replied, "but |
was once blown up on a steamboat ,
"Ak ~ calculated the scribe, as he
whipped out his pencil and note book
Tel US about it."
Lighting fresh cigar the pious
faced chap began
at was in the summer of IA, and !
had just com lleted a big contract up
in Albany, and secured passage for
myself d wife on one of the steam
boats for New York. Being very
tired We went directly to our state
room Just as | began to doze, my
better-half exclaimed: John, where
are the checks for our baggage ?"
Don't know" l growled.
But didn't you have the trunks sent
aboard ?"
Guess not, " says |
"W ell YOU are nice one you are,
she shrieked, Don't you know, you il
lustrious, half-baked idiot, that all my
best clothes are in those trunks? don't
you know you miserable william, that
every valuable l have is in that bag
gage? Oh, you confouDded fool!'
"She kept running fire of abuse
nearly all night long | could hear it
in my sleep, aud when l told her as
soon as she became exhausted, that
the baggage had been sent by rail, she
started off again with the fury of a
mad bull
Here he stopped and relit his cigar.
you must have had hard time of
it," said his companion, "but how
about the accident ?"
"Why have just been telling you"
he replied
"Well, there's nothing brilliant in
that"
"There isn't, eh ? If you've never
been blown up on steamboat by
mad woman, then you don't know
anything about explosions, that's all. :"
He flung the stump of his cigar
over the rail, and went below to seek
the seclusion that the cabin grants.
Why De Long Perished.
"Senator Jones, who is in Carson,
New, gives an account of De Longs
Arctic expedition, which be got from
Captain Nerbaum iu San Francisco.
Nerbaum is Russian who has been
for many years in the service of the
Alaska Fur Company. He was the
last man from whom the De Long ar y
received provisions. He says: De
Long left my station, at almost the
northern part of Alaska, and | furnish
ed him, at the order of the Alaska Fur
Company, with sledges, dogs and pro-
visions. He took 27 dogs and one In
dian / account for the loss cf
the party on the theory that
they killed the dogs. l do not believe
that De Long knew anything about the
undertaking he was graphing with
and was ignorant Of the means by
which ne could move in that region.
see by his diary that there was but
one dog left few days prior TO his
death. He must have killed the dogs
without knowing their great value,
and when the dogs are gone there is
absolutely no hope left. The dogs
could not have died or been lost They
were killed. The scent Of these ami
mails is remarkable, and they will de-
tect provisions no matter where they
may be. When men in these regions
kill Polar bears and have more meat
than they can eat, they cache the
meat, and it sometimes lies in the ice
for years until discovered by dogs.
The ice is full of those places, If you
meet an Indian in thai region and kill
his dog he lies down and dies, consid-
ering that the better part of him is
gone, Another great oversight was
the neglect to take the right sort of
guns. offered De Long a fowling
piece made expressly for use in the
Arctic seas and calculate ed to stand the
climate He refused it because he
wanted q gun to kill bears. explain
ed that he needed guns for birds and
not bears. He would not listen TO me,
and took Remington rifles, the weight
of which hampered him and were OF no
use. He must have seen seafowl fly
ing over his head all the time, but
could not kill them. The diary says
the Indian, after drawing the sledge
all day, would go out at night aud
get birds and kept the party alive two
weeks Anywhere you cut a hole
through the ice fish will swarm, but
the party had no fishing tackle. All
their chances are thrown away through
ignorance. | am not saying a word
against De Long l liked him person
ally, but he was not the man to COM
mand the Arctic expedition. The
north pole. in my estimation can be
reached only by following up the
warm current which flows to the pole,
and beyond is an open sea. Put men
in such an expedition who have been
raised in the northern part of Alaska
and who know all about the region
and there is a strong chance of sue
cess.n
1t is better that onions should re-
main frozen through the winter, pro-
vided they can thaw gradually, than
to put them in the cellar or other
warm place where vegetive power
will be aroused If put in large heaps
onions will be sure to spoil, but If
spread in thin layers and covered
with hay or straw, so if frozen the
thawing will be gradual, they will
keep well all winter.
Fanny, the mare belonging to Lieu
tenant Colonel John Hodges, Jr., died
at Salem, Mass, recently, aged about
thirty years. She accompanied her
late master (the major) with the Fif-
tieth Mas sachusetts regiment to Port
Hudson to their nine-months' cam
paigne, and afterward with the Fifty
ninth into Virginia. Fanny carried
her master through the Battle of the
" ilderness, and swan North Anna
river with him on her back. She wa
rever wounded, and afte' Colone