davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-12-08
Brother Gardner on Great Men.

..De odder night began the Presi-
dent, as the club came to order, 9 del
ole man Birch cum ober to my cabin
an cried bekase he had not BEGUN a
great an famous man. Dat sot me to-
tinkin'
..Cicero was great man, but can
any mo- comfort dan Samuel Shin does.
Samuel has huff to eat an drink an
war, an of an ebenin' hescan itdown
in snug co ner an eat snow apples
an read de paper. He am harmless to
de community as he am. Make a great
man of him an he might invent new
sort O. religun, or originate a new theo-
~ in pollytics, or do sunthin' or other to
upset de minds of half de people.
"Demosthenes was a great man, but
I can't find dat coal-dealer's collector
could put his hand on him when want
ed, as he kin on Giveadam Jones. You
can't find dat his wife was good cook,
or dat he had bathroom in his house,
or cupalo on his BAN, or DAT he rel
ished his dinner and better dan Brudder
Jones does, while he had de same chill
blains an headaches an nightmares
As Giveadam now Ibis an circulates
children kin play with him, wood-piles
in his nayborhood am safe, an mo- dan
one poo family am indebted to him fur
a shillin' in money or a basket of ta-
ters. Make him a great philosopher.
an who can tell how many rows an
riots an broken heads could be laid to
his door
''Plato was great man, but / can't
Gx,I II 10 Sd t.l-l C
beef or mutton, or dat his tailor gin
him an extra fit, or dat he got a dis
count when he bought ten pounds of
sugar all to once. When Waydown
Bebee gifts sot down in front Of his
cook-stove. checker-board on his lap
an a painful of popcorn at his right
| hand, wild five pickaninnies rollin' ober
each udder on de foo, he am takin' a.
heap mo- comfort dan Plato cher
| dreamed of. He has no sorin', ambish-
| I'm. de neither wants to save the
world nor spite it. He makes no PEE
| dickshuns fur people to worry ober, an
| his theories nebber jar de dishes off de
shelf Make him grea man an his
comfort an happiness fly away, an he
sots himself up to teach an command
an BEGAN eberybody's antagonist
de man who signs to trade far
wages, a warm house an peaceful
b arthstun fur de glory of Bonaparte
am dolt.
de man who sacrifices his clean,
humble cabin--his easy ole coat, his
co'n-cob pipe an his pitcher o slider
FUR de CAB of an orator or de delushuns
OF philosopher trades his 'taters fur
Wlnd-fall apples. Let us purceed to
bizness. ''--DetroI Free Press.
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-12-08
HUMOROUS.

-.tThose picture-cardsI brought back
from Boston," remarked Mrs. Parting
ton, in pensive mood. ssThey are mo-
mentums of the art loan imposition
Life.
"a blind and armless beggar" in
New York was found at his home the
other day reading newspaper and
carving a roast with both hands.-M.
y. Sun.
An exchange says: Science is pro-
nouncing against covering the walls Of
houses with paper. Ornamental tiles
are suggested as substitutes" All
right. If science will put up the cash,
we will have our house tiled Immediate
I ly.-M. Y. Mail.
"A sky light: The sun-The wom-
ans cause: BecauseA tough time:
Roughs on spree dose of salts:
Several sailors sleepingThe bird of
freedom: An escaped jail-bird--Gen-
orally on the mending hand: The thin
ble.-Boston Courier.
Afraid in the Dark
A beautiful maid in Bismarck,
When the lamp was turned down for spark,
Struggled up to her Fred,
And tremblingly said
81 always feel skeered in the darkH
Waiter: .'Be careful, sab, you
are spelling your lunch.' Guest: ssIn
what wayp'' Waiter: "Why, sab,
you just took your napkin and rubbed
the quail on toast off your plate. !"
Guest: $50 / did. How stupid of
me! ] thought it was a fy-speck." -
Chicago Herald.
Bismarck Tribune.
"A gentleman who sent a poem to
an editor said in note: Il hope you
will do me the kindness of excusing
the errors in my manuscript. = The
editor replied: II have excused all
the errors. In fact, have excused the
entire poem. "-Arka7ssaU Irauelter.
"A novel writer tells how the
words crashed through her teeth A
CLEAN of revenge may have also '.thun.
dered from her eyes !" and smile of
scorn .4paralyzed her lips, . but when
we reached the place where the words
crashed through her teeth we read no
further. NoraIstoUn Herald.
"A traveller who had stopped at q
third-class inn said in an angry tone to
the n-keeper: g 1t is abominable! /
was devoured all night long by the
bed-bugs. = THAT'S very astonishing"
replied the inn-keeper, innocently.
g Yesterday my waiter and I killed
more than hundred and fifty of them
in your chamber. atlanta Coaassital-
ton. II
-. Look heah, sab, Indignantly
exclaimed a colored gentleman, . does
yer mean ter call me a thief?' Dat
Whut [ means. can why, sab?
'splain yerse'f, ur take de rough conse-
quence.'' =. Case seed yer when yer
stole a coat. Y wall, dat's all right,
but eff yer hadn't seen me I d er whipped
yer, sho'. Better be pertic' lar how yer
fools wild me, man. ease [ comes from
proud fam ly. ''-AfkamsaU Traveller.
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-12-08
FIERCE FLAMES.
Destruction by Fire of the Saxonville GIassJ
Blanket Observation-Disclosures Nearly Halt
a Million Dollars.

nIanket Manufactures Nearly Half
q Eillion Dollars.
FRAM1NGHAM, MASS, Nov. 70.
Fire broke out at 1880 this morning in
the immense buildings known as the Sax
onville blanket factories, at Saxonville,
and at three o'clock five of the nine large
factories were a mass of smoking ruins,
and the only industry Of the town wiped
|out for the time being. The town is shame
fully negligent in the matter of fire de-
partment, having only three hand engines,
two of them being located three miles from
the factories. When these arrived the
flames were beyond control, and all the
tiremen could do was to save the buildings
mot already in flames. Assistance was
called from Natick, Ashland and Cochit-
uate. and steamers were sent from those
Towns, but were of little avail
Three of the burned buildings were OF
brick, five and six stories, and two OF
wood, two stories each. No. B, the last one
ito 60, was new building containing no
machinery, but filled with goods. a portion
of which were savetr by great efforts OF the
siremen first on the ground. The two store
houses, containing thousands OF finished
BLANKETS, were saved, also the boller-house,
Hocated at some distance from the mills; also
considerably damaged. The aremen were
exposed to great danger from constantly
exploding naphtha and other chemicals,
that created intense heat, and also from
the falling walls. At ore time the company
were obliged to drop the pipes and run for
their lives to escape burial beneath falling
bricks. The excitement in the village was
intense. A general confiagrasion was ex-
Ipected, owing to the showers OF falling
sparks, which fell upon the roofs Of the ems
.ployes' houses, constantly igniting them
land requiring constant work with pals
MANY people removed their goods from
their houses, thinking the entire village
would be swept away.
The mills were owned by NJ. II. Simpson
t& Co., of Boston. No accurate estimate of
the loss can be made tonight, as 1t is un-
known how much finished goods were de-
tstroyed and how much the machinery was
worth. The loss on buildings alone is esti.
mated at S135, 900, and the total loss is esti-
|nrated at from $500, 900 to 500, 900, and may
exceed that figure. Four hundred en-
tployes are thrown out of work. The mills
Supplied thousands Of tons OF blankets to
the army and navy during the war, and as
the business is very profitable they will,
doubtless, be rebuilt The same firm con-
ttrols the Roxbury Carpet Company, one OF
THE largest concerns in the State.
St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-12-08

-Callicoon Depot, Sullivan County.
y. T., has had guessing match as to
tn number OF seeds in a big suniower.
The seed when counted were found to
number 4 ,150. James r. Calkins was
the closest guesser, taking the prize ON
q guess of 1920. Troy Times.
Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-20

Yesterday morning two horse thieves
were arrested and third one killed by the
omcers while resisting them, at camp six
miles southeast Of HONEYWELL. The partic-
MARS as We got them are as follows:.
Some time ago j. II. Herring living in
Clay county, Texas, missed some horse
Stock, and getting clue as to the direction
1t had gone, followed. On Sunday last he
arrived In this city. and finding Deputy U.
.. Marshal Holster, stated his case to him.
Ascertaining the location of the thieves
about six miles southeast of HONEYWELL
Messes. Hollistcr, Brown and Wheeler left
here on Tuesday evening at IL o'clock to
capture them. AT HONEYWELL they were
joined by Deputy Sheriff Thralls and an
other officer form Wellington, who had been
telegraphed for, and five men from Hon
newell. They arrived at the camp inst
at Daylight, and OH demanding u surren.
der, the thieves pulled their Winchesters
and opened fire. Some hot work followed.
terminating in the death of one of the
thieves, and the severe wounding of another
and the surrender of the whole party, con-
slstlng OF old man Ross, his wife and two
sons. The elder of the two sons had a
wife and two children, and was the one kill
ed. The officers were uninjured.
After the surrender, the wounded man
made full. confession, and implicated two
others who were not present. but who will
be "taken In" in due tine. The dead man
was taken to HONEYWELL for burial.
The recovered stock consists of thirty
neau OF horses, few mules and fine stall.
iion' 1or The recovery of which $500 had
been offered.
Much credit is due Messrs. Hollister and
Herring for the manner in which they fol-
lowed the trail of the CALDWELL
Post.
Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-20
MEDICINE LODGE. BARBOUR CO. KANSAS APRu

Some things are being done now in the
live stock trade which few years ago
would have been regarded as more than
passing strange. Circumstances and con-
ditions are changing, and developments Of
strange nature are occurring. A circum-
stance Of this kind is the shipment of n
considerable qnantility of stock cattle from
Iowa and few from Illinois to the plains
OF Colorado and WyomiBg. Stock are
so very high out there that their pur-
chase for western shipment seems to
be safe line of investment. However, it
looks as though one of two things must be
rue-either that stockers are not bringing
their full value in the states, or that they
are abnormally and unreasonably high on
the frontier. The reversal of the usual or
der Of things is unnatural, and is not only
explainable OH the ground Of general scare
ity, and the disposition of ranchnen to 90
to the fullest extreme that their business
will allow, If hot in some instances 10 ex-
ceed 1t. However, the general opinion of
those most interested is that the traffic Is a
safe one and is being conducted on sound
business principles.-Pittsburg Stockman.
Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-20


A son OF Mr.. Reaman, who resides west
of Maple City, saddled his pony lust Wed
nesday morning and started ont in the Ill
rection of Chauauqlia county to look up
some stray stock, and when about fifteen
miles from home-out upon the open prai-
richie discovered prairie fire about a
quarter of mile of. The wind was blow
ing perfect gale, and before he had time
to decide what course to pursue the fire
was almost upon him, and his only chance
fer escape was to beat hasty retreat, so he
headed his pony for little creek some five
or six miles distant, and applied the whip
and spur. lie said for the first mile he
gained OH the fire, but finally his pony
commenced to lag, and he saw he was to be
overtaken, and when within about a mile
and a half of the creek his pony stumbled
and fell, bit luckily just at tile edge of Il
buffalo lick where the grass was short, and
he laid down with his face to the ground
and covered himself with his slicker, and
let the fire pass over him. One of his
hands was quite badly burned, but other
wise he was unhurt, while. his pony was
burned to death. He said it was very hot
cllase.-Arkansas City Traveller.
Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-20
A Monster Land Sale.

1t will be remembered that about one
year ago, the legislature of the state of
Texas ceded a portion of the state, known
as the Panhandle, comprising three million
acres, to Chicago syndicate composed of
[. B. Farwell, j. Ii. Farwell, Abner lay
lor and A. G. Babcock, in consideration
that the latter would erect a capitol build.
ing in Austin. at cost of one and a half
million dollars, thus fixing the value of the
land ut tifty cents an acre. A London syn
dicate has just been given the refusal of the
entire tract until April 18th, and the sale is
extraordinarily concluded, the price to
be ten million dollars. The tract-fiye
thousand square miles-comprises the
northern arm of the state and is declared
to be rich in arabic and growing land. wa
tered and timbered to such degree as to
attract three English syndicates, who sent
agents across the water for its purchase.
The last agent made two propositions: to
rent for the privilege of grazing stock, or to
buy the land outright. The sale was closed
on the latter proposition Oh condition that
the first payment be placed to the credit of
the Chicago owners, in the Bank of Eng
land, on the date mentioned.
Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-20
The Fort Gibson Shooting.

The particulars of the affair, as near as
we can get at them. are as follows: Parties
for some time past have buen stealing Tom
French's cattle on Fourteen Mile creek.
and Tom told Malcolm Moore, about two
weeks ago, that he had good reason to be.
lieve that 1t was him and he wanted it stop
ped. This led to the trouble. Friday last
Moore came in town accompanied by Char
lie Cochran and Bill Raper, and all drank
heavily, and were trying to run the town
generally. Ten French was standing In
the door of Scott's store when Malcolm
came to the corner Of the store and. reach
ing around with bis left band, fired a shot
at him, but In doing 50 he exposed his left
side and the fire was returned with a a.bul,.
dog" pistol, hitting Moore q little TO Che
left Of the left nipple He fingered until
8 O'Clock Monday before he died, and about
half an hour before his death he remarked
that there was not bullet made that could
kill him, and il seemed 30. for he had been
literally shot to pieces two years ago and
recovered, and about three weeks ago Hen
ry Sixkilier fired three shots at him here
He was buried Tuesday. Tom French /,
now in the Chichasaw Nation gathering
cattle. 1t seems to be matter Of seif<le
fense, from all the accounts we can get o.
the affair, and we predict thar, IL arrested
Tom will come out all -Muscoge.
Journal.
Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-20
Weighing the Girls.

Twas the girl who 'took the cake" lit
orally and metaphorically speaking, at the
South Main street church last night. The
OCCASION was a "weight social" and the
scheme one by which the gallant young
man had to pay for the privilege Of taking
his girl to supper by her ravoirlupois worth.
The evenings entertainment was opened
by short musical selection by w. Fl.
I.onghead, which was followed by a short
dialogue by some youhg men, entitled
''The. Smoke Fiend." A Fairhnk scales
with capacity Of five hundred pounds was
then wheeled out and general order given
for each young lady to be weighed. The
programme was that each lady should be
weighed and receive card with her num-
Der and weight. A duplicate card was then
dropped into box, and when the weigh
ing was concluded each gentleman drew
one out. He was then required to take the
lady holding the number he drew to sup
per, and pay one-fourth of cent per pound
per weight for this privilege: S6hsesof the
girls seemed rather s'coltish' about being
weighed. They approached the scales tim
idly. A reporter, who sat unnoticed, not
ed here some important peculiarities of the
feminine mind. There were about one
hundred weighed in all. OF these, twenty
four laughed and said something about
breaking the .'masheen" If they got on it.
Seventeen said, after seeing some one else
go through the operation, sWhere do you
get on the things 'Eleven others came Zip
bashfully, and after looking at the arm
protecting the lever, asked, with a giggle,
If that ''was the place to take hold Of it. ''
The fun, however, increased when the gen.
tlemen CAME TO find out who they had to
take to supper, and to 'size them up" as
it were. The plan was s. .ccess financial
ly, and the receipts of the evening mus,
haye been pleasing to the young men who
planned and carried ont the programme SC
successfully.-Almira Advertiser.
Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-20
A Lawful Excuse.

"Why didn't you attend my wife's funer-
all" said an angry man, approaching an ac-
quaintance. "When your wife was buried
was there, and now, sir, as yoa did not
return the favor, I am going to whale you
until yon can't stand up. People have been
sighting me long enough, and I'm blamed
il I'm going to stand it any longer"
"Hold OH, my friend; know that you
attended my wife's funeral, and know
that it was my duty to exchange courtesies,
but there was good reason why was no,
present"
-Make satisfactory explanation, or I'll
jolt you with an unpleasant hand"
'sThe truth is that owe that undertaken
and l knew that If he saw ma he would
bore me for the money"
sYour excuse Is accepted I owe ths
fellow, myself, and am keeping out OF In.
way. There Is new saloon around here
Let's go and stand-off the bar-tcnder.--
Trayelcr.
Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-20
Cattle prospects.

"What do you think of the coming sea-
sons prospects for cattle?" was yesterday
asked of Mr. Andy J. 'snider, the well
known stock buyer and raiser.
"Well. believe prices will be eyery bit
as high this year as they were last, if not
higher. There are fully 35 per cent less
grass beeves this year than there was last.
and | shouldn't be at all surprised to see a
real beef famine before August"
"Why, what's the matter with the prod,,.
GERS. Aren't there any cattle in the coun.
try"
"Yes, but believe the day of cheap cat
tie Is over. l don't think this country will
ever see beef down to 2 and 2 cent again.
People talk about the large ranches of the
country producing an over supply, when
they lose sight of the fact that AS long as
babies are born and the population contin-
ues to increase there is demand for more
beef, which grows greater every day. And
when all this western country is being set
tied up. and the arabic land is being taken
by the farmers. so that the cattle ranges
are growing smaller. and smaller all the
time, and even now we are using almo {
all our cattle for home consumption"
"What do You hear regarding the cen-
dition of cattle this springg'
'Their condition is generally poor. On
my ranch in Kansas have lost about half
OF one per cent, and the winter has gener.
ally been very severe on cattle. In Texas
this is especially true, and outside; of the
Cherokee Strip delieve the loss has been
unusually heavy all through the west, and
cattle are generally in poor condition. On
this account there is great scarcity of
what they call 'dressers cattle averaging
1,2OO pounds, and strange it may appear,
there's bigger demand for dressers than
for exporters, 1900 pound cattle. There Is
little being done in the way Of exporting
now, however, and shippers are buying off
contracts made year ago. By the way,
was mp in Chicago last week, and I found
the commission merchants there becom
ing very much afraid of Kansas City
Though the Chicago people feel very kind
ly disposed towards Kansas City, they ad-
init that we have Chicago's ghost. The
dressed beef problem is rrvolutionizing the
whole cattle trade and Kansas City is bound
to become the great shipping centre. I've
seen meat in Florida that had been dressed
in Chicago, and there is no reason why the
supply Of the east need not be shipped from
Kansas City by refrigerator cars. Texas
cattle properly fed make the finest beef in
the world, and believe the time is not far
off when this will be the great shipping
point of the country. 1t may be few
years before the proper establishments are
constructed here. but 1t has always been
my theory that Kansas City is to be the
great cattle shipping centre, and as I said
before, Chicago is very fearful that such
will be the case"
Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-20


A San Francisco millionaire, hoping to
encourage his promising son in ways Of
thrift, promised to give him two per cent.
a month interest upon any money that l,s
might save out of his spending allowances
and deposit in the paternal treasury. Tie
young man was getting twenty dollars
week for pocket money, and promised to
show his appreciation of his affectionate
oficr. He began to make deposits without
delay, and kept the practice up with re-
markable regularity. The old gentleman
noticed presently that the deposits exceed
Ell the Whole Of tile boys allowance, but
accounted for this BY supposing that he had
saved money previously. Besides this, lie
received money frequently from his moth
or. So the fond parent rejoiced the saving
disposition that his son was displaying.
This continued until the boys deposits as
samed siIch dimensions as to demand an
explanation. II then turned Otst tliat most
Of the money that he had becn dcposising
had been borrowed. Inasmuch as DC was
drawing interest ON his deposits at two per
cent. month, and was paying only ten per
cent. a year for them. Inc had found the
business decidedly attractive aud prohtlble.
Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-20

The Kansas City Journnl learns from a
leading stocknian who has Just returned
from the ranges in the Indian Territory,
that the loss Of cattle this season will be
much larger than anticipated earlier i'm the
season. This loss is not attributed to the
severity Of the winter, but tho fact that
there has been, and is yet, a great lack Of
food. The grass on the ranges was very
short aud poor when the winter set in, and
the damp weather Of the winter caused II
to rot. Feed has, rs a consequences, been
excessively short, so thar cattle could
scarcely exc out a living upon il Thous-
ands have actually starved to death. The
new grass has started, but the cold, damp
weather OF the past two weeks has not been
favorable to its growth. A week Of warm
sunshine would bring it forward rapidly,
and that Is what c.lItlcmcn arr praying for.
Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-20

The Augusta Gazette says these words
from the Dodge City Times are particular
ly true Of Augusta: "A live newspaper
does hundred times more to build up
town than any one citizen or business man,
and it matters not how energetic and en-
terterprising he may be. Yet there are
found in every town some business men
who never patronize paper by advertising
in 1t. They either find more than they
can find hands to do, or they complain that
times are too dali aud advertising won't do
any good. When such men erect q new
building or make an improvement I'm their
business establishment they are very keen
for newspaper ''puff" given gratuitously,
in order that the outer world may read oi
the fiOurishing condition OF the town, but
when you ask for an advertisement OF their
business for which they will have to pay
few cents, they squeal, and DO not conside,
advertising worth anything, and probably
the very newspaper in which they refuse
to advertise has done more to build up the
town and enhance the value Of their prop.
erty than all other means put together
could have done" What queer peopls
they must have al Augusta,