davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
CHICAGO,
M!LMAyKEE
AND SI:PAyL:

1t owns and operates over 1000 miles Of road in
Northern Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa an
lions reach xll the great business centres Of the
Northwest and Far West, it n aturally answers the
description Of Short Lin E, and Best Route between
Chicago. mflW oukee, st. Paul and
Minneapolis.
Chicago, Mi!Waukee, Portage, La
Aberdeen and Ellendale.
Chicago, M1lwaukoe. Eau Claire and
Chics.e: milwaukee,, wau.au and
Chicago, Mllwaukee, Beaver Dam,
Fond du Lac and O1hkOShs
OcOnOmONHOc.
Chicago. nItlyyaukee, Madison an
Prairie du Chem
Chicago, Milwaukee. Owatonna,
MankalO and Earibault.
Chicago. Reloit, JanesvilIe and Min.
chics.o, Eisin, Rockford and Du,
Chicago, Clinton, Rock Island, Cedar
Rapids and T1mas
chicaee. Oes Moines. Council bluffs
Chfcaxo, Canton, sioux City, Sioux
Fails and YanktOn.
Southern Minnesoia Points. '
MiscSeli ana ChanSeriasn. 80
MlnneapOlis. q.
Davenport, CalmaT, st. Paul and
Mtnnc1D0lts.
ana Rock Island.
Mitchen, Wolsey, Ashton and Aber.
0im River Valley Line)
Psslls.ses s.eepers and the Es.sess
DtsstssO Cars IN the oCortd sre run on the
KEE & sI. PAUL R1iLW1Y, and nd
every attention y paid 70 passengers BY courteous
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
Shouting Oil-Wells in Russia.

From the Popular Science Monthly
The principal oil-weils of the Baku
district lie at Balaxame or Balakhani,
about six miles to the northeast of the
town; this is an oil-field about 81 miles
in length by II in breadth. To the
south lies q smaller field called Bebeabat.
One fountain at Balakhani, ninety feet
in depth, is noted as having been flow
ing steadily for upward of two years,
and. still continuing to yield eight
hundred barrels day. Another we'll
not far of, 400 feet deep, commenced
ite career by throwing mp jet thirty
feet in the air, and then flooding the
land with oil for considerable distance
all around, overdowing ether wells and
several small refneries, SO as efectually
to stop their work. The roar Of the
rushing oil and gas could be heard q
mile from the spot.
Various Aowing-wells are said to yield
six thousand barrels q day, and some
far more; but, from the fact that these
quantities are generally stated in the
Russian measure of pools, it is not very
easy to realize what it meant. One
pood, we learn, is equal to thirtJ
pounds English. Hence one thousand
pools represent somewhere about six:
teen tons. Accounts have just reached
England Of an oil fountain which was
struck last December, and flows at the
rate Of from City Thousand to SIXTY
thousand pools daily. gushing forth
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
A DESPERATE ROBBERY.
A New York Thief Throws .Peppel
Into q jewelers. Eyes to Secure
His Diamonds

A tall, slim Englishman, giving the
name of James Smith, is prisoner at
the Tombs, New York, charged with q
brutal and daring attempt at robbery.
At noon, on the 10Th, Smith entered
the jewelry establishment of Ferdinand
Graft, 427 Grand Street, and asked to
see some expensive rings. He said he
wanted to buy seven rings as gifts to
relatives of q young lady he was to mar
ry on Sunday. Mr.. Graft displayed a
tray containing seventy rings valued at
$1,000, but Smith wanted something
better and asked to look at big dia-
mond cluster. As the ieweler held the
cluster up to the light to see the
price mark, Smith dashed q
handful of red pepper into
his eyes and grabbed the tray and bolted
for the door. Mr.. Gratis door was easy
to enter, but hard to get out of, and the
thief was caught. Graft began to howl
with pain and terror and jumping over
the show. case, grabbed the thief. A
desperate struggle then began, and
Smith was on the point of numbering
the blinded jeweler when help arrived
and he was secured. Two detectives
caught Smith and he showed fight.
The detectives pulled their clubs and
began systematically to pound the rob-
ber's head to a jelly and would have
succeeded had not citizens interfered.
The jeweler was led into the Tombs by
officers as the pepper had for time
destroyed his eyesight. Smith made q
desperate attempt at escape from the
prisoners dock, but anothes sound club
bing rendered his legs useless. He was
remanded.
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
RIDDLED WITH BULLETS.

An Insane Prisoner Shot to Death by
q Mob Whom He Had Threatened.
William Fleitas, man supposed to be
insane, was shot to death in the jail of
Fort Tammany parish, La, by party of
unknown men. Fleitas, on the Goth.
entered q store in Madisonville and
called for certain goods. He threw
down q 5000 Confederate bill in pay
ment, took the goods under his arm and
left the store. When the boy in charge
at the time demonstrated with him,
Fleitas threatened him with O pitchfork.
A warrant for the arrest of the man was
issued and posse started in pursuit.
When found at his house, Fleitas made
use of q pitchfork with effect on the
posse. The door was finally battered
down and Fleitas was overpowered. On
his way to the Jail he threatened to kill
every man engaged in the arrest. The
following night fifteen or twenty armed
men surrounded the Jail and began to
fire into the cell in which Fleitas was
confined. This was kept up until he
was riddled with bullets and killed.
The killing is regarded as the direct
consequence of the threats against the
lives of the posse.
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31

with such force as to break in pieces
three-inch cast-iron plate which had
been fastened over the well in order to
divert the flow in particular direction.
In the same district huge heap of sand
marks the spot where an offspring, on
being tapped, straightway threw up
column of petroleum to twice the height
and size of the great geyser in Iceland,
forming huge black fountain two
hundred feet in height-a fountain,
however, due solely to the removal of
the pressure on the confined gas, for
there is no trace of volcanic heat. The
fountain was visible for many miles
round, and on the first day it poured
forth about two million gallons, equal
to fifty thousand barrels.
An enterprising photographer who
was on the spot secured photograph
which places this matter beyond cavil.
The fountain continued to play for five
months, gradually decreasing week by
week, till it fnall = ceased to play, leav-
ing it's unfortunate owners ian Armenian
company well-nigh ruined by the
claims brought against them by neigh
bors whose lands were destroyed by the
flood of oil.
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
A BIG CRASH,

The New Exposition Hotel. New Or.
leanss Takes a Tumble.
Three hundred feet of iron frame
work of the large hotel erected west of
the main Exposition building, fell with
q terrible crash on the 21st. Frank
Green (colored), of Nashville, was in
stantly killed, Albert Freese, of Michi-
gan, was mortally injured, and James
Carroll, of Chicago, severely injured in
ternally. Ritter & Connolly, of Pitts.
burg, were the contractors. The FORE
man in charge of the building, Mr..
Miller, said it was the narrowest escape
from death he had ever witnessed on
the part of forty and odd workmen, who
were in the building. Most of the men
We're at work inside the building.
Those on top were Frank Green, the
dead man, James Carroll, Albert
Freese, Louis B. Curtis and N. Slem-
merwitz. They all fell into vegetable
garden on Walnut Street. The dis
tance these men fell was 60 and Is feet.
Freese was at the greatest height, and
Green, who was killed, was just next to
him. The cause of the accident is sup
posed to have been the weakening of
the foundations by water.
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
BLAZING OIL.

Almost Total Destruction OF Pratt,
Astral Oil Works, Brooklyn.
An explosion in Pratt's Astral Oil
Works in the eastern part of Brooklyn,
on the 21st, called out the whole fire
department. of that city. The first e1-
plosion commingled the flames of one
oil tank with the gases of second tank
and second explosion followed al
most Immediately. These two explo-
sions made free one thousand barrels of
oil and all this became flaming mass,
which "catching on" to the river of
melted snow, was carried into every
nook and Granny of the works. The
result was that all the buildings and
tanks at the works.. excepting the large
brick building in which the canning is
done, were destroyed, besides the long
docks on the creek. The loss will
reach between $5OO,00O and 5000, 900.
No loss of life is reported.
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
A CHRISTMAS DRUNK.
A False IAlarm OF Fire I'm q Museuu
Causes a Panic-A Large number.
of People ln1uHods

A False ALARM OF Fire I'm q Museum
Causes a Panic-A Large number.
Of People Injured IS
A panic occurred in Bunnell's mu-
scum, New Haven, Conn, on the night
of the 25th. The house was crowded.
A drunken man near the main entrance
made disturbance, and an officer un-.
dertook to arrest him. Some person
then cried Sire, and for ten minutes
pandemonium reigned. Men shouted,
women tainted and children cried. A
boy jumped from the gallery to the
lower floor, but was only slightly in.
jured. The manager and Mrs. Holly
wood, from the stage, managed to make
themselves heard, and assured the au-
dience that there was no fire and no
cause for alarm. Then the audience.
began to quiet down. The clothes of
many were torn and damaged. Al.
though many were slightly injured,
none were seriously hurt. - Il
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31

: y J = s. n E &. h.
The Greek grammarians we're the first
to recognize the limbs of a sentence. "A
clause, they called q comma, q member
of sentence a colon and q complete
sentence q period. Little attention,
however, was paid to these divisions
for long time. Aelius Donatus, who
aourished in the fifth century and wrote
a grammar which served all Europe
until after the invention Of printing,
was the first to distinguish these
divisions by placing dot at the bottom
of line, where our full-point now is, to
designate the comma; in the middle of
colon, and at the top Of the line, where
our apostrophe is, for the full point. It
was not until we'll into the sixteenth
century that printers began definitely
adopting an acknowledged system Of
graduated points.
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
The Art Of Seeing.
from the Scientific American.


In everyday life it is much more i'm.
portant to be an accurate observer than
3 mere book learner. I have frequently
seen the latter made to blush for her
deficiencies by the most unlearned, says
q correspondent in an English contem-
porary, for in . contest between eyes
and no eyes, eyes have generally got
the best of it. Nature has given us
such an inexhaustible store of interest
that those who 60 through life without
Seeing" lose much of the zest of it..
The savage who necessarily depends on
his keen eye and his quick ear, culti-
Yates those faculties in an extraordinary
degree; for does he not see indications
and hear sounds which to an unprac-
ticed observer would be utterly unintelli-
gible? So also with all persons who
live near the heart of nature. The
English shepherd, while perhaps igno-
rant of the very formation of the al
phabet, stores up fund of interesting
knowledge derived entirely from OBJ.
selvation. He can give you simple, in
teresting astronomical facts which
might astonish scientist, as well as
trustworthy information on natural his
tory and even botany. One may pos
sess everything in the way of scholar
ship, but if she or he have that alone,
those who are unlearned but observing
will often make them feel very small. I
would, therefore, urge my readers to
cultivate the art Of seeing or observing
there is nothing like seeing things for
ourselves. Our ideas become fresher,
more natural and more in unison with
latter-day tastes when they are formed
from observation. Natures book is the
one wherein we find the richest, the
most varied and the most inexhaustible
subjects for thought.
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
AN OCEAN HORROR.
The Terrible Fate OF q Shipwreclke,
sS CHeW-Only One out Of seven

~ & - , s. s
g a dispatch from Halifax, N. S., of the
18th says: "The Dominion government
stesmer Lansdowne returned from
.Salve Island, tonight. She was out in
the great gales Of Friday and Saturday
and Capt. Guildford says he never saw
worse weather during the half centurys
experience on the coast. He brings
Intelligence of the wreck Of the brig
Ash, of st. Malo, France, Capt. Te-
marchand, owned by Omergers & Co.,
of st. Pierre, and bound from that
place to Boston with fish. The vessel
left st. Pierre December 10Th. The
gales Of the 18th, 18th, and 10Th drove
their ship near Salve Island. The west
lighthouse of the island was sighted at
a o'clock in the afternoon of
Friday, the 18th. A heavy
snowstorm prevailed. and the
wind was blowing q hurricane. A
few minutes after land was made out,
the vessel was driven on sand bar with
great violence, and Immediately began
to break up. She had crew of seven
men. The thermometer indicated IL
degrees below zero, and the sufferings
Of the men were terrible. They were
hostbitten, cut; bruised and thoroughly
disheartened, and death was welcome
release. Three of the crew were washed
overheard when the ship struck, and
although there were plenty of floating
debris they made no efforts to save
themselves and were drowned. The
steward, preferring death to any further
misery, ran to his berth, grabbed
lazor, cut terrible cash in his throat
leaching from ear to ear, jumped into
the surf and disappeared. His body
was found in the sand next day by the
coast guardsmen. The chief officer,
the only survivor, was Wrought in by
the IIansdOWna"
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
The Evolution Of Punctuation.
from the Printers Circulars ]

-. From the Ptt0tetB CIfcuL1f.J = )
. Caxton. the first English printer, had
three punctuation points the comma,
the colon and the period-but, says Mr..
Blades, an excellent authority in relation
to Caxton and every thing concerning
him, il is doutful if he had any idea of
the principles Of punctuation. The
earliest known manuscripts are without
any points, nor is there any division
between the words. The confusion
resulting let to the separating of words
by q single dot. The space between
the words superseded the dot, which
was made to peform another service.
Mn, to show tho divisions Of sentence
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31

A PROJECT to establish school for
manual instruction has been placed be-
fore the authorities by a committee Of
the National Education Society. It is
shown that the present system does not
giepare children for handicrafts which
must be their main reliance for support,
and that the needed preparation cannot
be had in shops, owing to the division
of trades into specialties and the I'M
willingness Of employers ITO train work
men IN the rudiments which are COM
mon to most Of them,
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
Outrageous.

On election day gentleman at Lare-
do, on the Rio Grande, observed large
number of Mexicans in the town.
*Where do all these Mexicans come
from ?" asked the stranger.
"From the other side of the river"
replied candidate.
4What are they going to do over
here?"
: "Oh. they are going to be voted"
@What for?"
sFor dollar apiece"
sWhy, that's outrageous"
"Yes, it is too high; but what can
we do about it? Our opponents, the
reformers, have run up the prices on
us. Before the reform party was Or
ganized we could get all the Mexican
votes we needed, delivered at the polls,
for fifty cents head, but now the low
est price is dollar head, spot cash.
7 tell you it takes money to be elected
TO Office on the Rio Grande."
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
A Queer New England Case.

The case of Nils Nilsson VS.. Eley M
Chase, DR.. Welcome o. Brown, and
Huldah Bede, which bas caused much.
comment here from time to time when
ever brought to public attention, has
finally been settled, says Providence,
r. l., telegram to the Boston Journal.
The plaintiff, Nils Nilsson is q Swede; !;
was employed on the farm of Mrs. Eley
M. Chase in the Tenth Ward, and an
intimacy sprang up between him and
Mrs. Chase's daughter, Eley Ann Chase
On the Goth of October, 1880, they
were married and determined to keep
their union q secret for some tirne.
Eley, however, acquainted her mother
with the fact of her marriage, and three
days later the young woman left the
house, and her husband searched in
vain for her for several weeks. he found
her at last at the residence of friends of
the Chase family, and secured writ of
habeas corpus, on which his wife was
br 'ught before the supreme court.
She announced her intention Of never
living with her husband, and the court
took no action in the matter. Eley re-
turned to her home, and on the 28th of
January, 1881, she died, having taken
arsenic. Nilsson went to the house to
attend the funeral of his wife. but was
driven away. Alter that he contested
the probating of his wife's will, which
bequeathed all her property to her
mother, but the supreme court sus-
tanned the validity of the instrument.
He then brought the action which had
just been settled against the defend
ants above mentioned, on the ground
that that they had estranged his wife's
affections, secreted her from him and
deprived him of her society and aid,
laying the damage at $4,000. The
trial of the case at the last March term
of the supreme court occupied two
days, the defense claiming that they
had not deprived Nilsson of his wife's
company and that she left him because
she was afraid of him, and that she
married him only through fear. The
trial resulted in a disagreement and
the case went over to the present Octo-
Der term, when it was settled, it is un-
derstood the defendants paying Nilsson
about ST. 900 and all costs.
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31

"A ST. PAUL correspondent Of the
Evening Post advertised for an Office
boy at So week. Two hum
dred and fifty answers were re-
ceived, among them the following
Mister F., Pioneer Press: I want the
Job my folces is not rich & I hev got to
russell. They are ded. It betes bel
how hard times is j am IA & kin do
chores I look good with new clothes on
iwold like to get q good plase in yore
ofiis I kin lern fast. " The boy was
given the place. 3. s.zH5 :
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31

THE term ademarried" is becoming
very popular as . much pleasantsr word
than divorced. )"
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
RAILWAY.

The use Of tho term
"Short Line" In connec.
ton with the corporate
name Of . great road, con-
veys an idea Of just what is
required by the travelling
pub.ic-a Short Line, Quick
Time and the bsst Of &C
modahons-all Of which
,at Railway in America.
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
A Notable Character.
From the Ph1ladelphia Timee.l

Gen. William Preston, of Ken
lucky, is a character. He was our min
lister to Spain when the war began and
afterward chief of staff to Albert Sid
ney Johnston. He was with that dis
tinguished confederate officer when he
was wounded at Shiloh, and held the
chieftain when he breathed his last.
The old general naturally has fund of
"Reminiscences and experience, and de-
MES Gen. Beauregard's claim that he,
instead of Johnston, planned the battle
of Shiloh. Preston says "that he took
the plan of battle direct from his chiefs
hands and telegraphed it to Mr.. Davis
before Gen. Beauregard arrived" This
whole dispute about Shiloh, which is a
very interesting and important one, is to
receive very heroic treatment within a
short time. Gen. Grant, Gen. Beaure.
gard and William Preston Johnston are
each to prepare elaborate papers upon
the incidents and accidents of that
great battle. Gen. Preston, speaking of
that engagement, said: 'There we're
three battles of the late war, all of them
greater than the battle of Waterloo,
Shiloh, Stone River and Chickamauga.
Each of them we're most stubbornly
contested, and the losses on each side
considerably greater than at Waterloo.
Shiloh I regard in many respects the
greatest battle of the world. It was
practically the crowning glory of Amer
lean valor. Here were two great ar
mics of raw troops who met in the shock
of battle and never finched. It was
the most stubbornly contested battle
of modern times. Once, when Sir Gar
net Wolseley, the present commander
of the English army, asked me at a din
erparty at Montreal if the South could
not have held out longer, I replied !:
AS q mere matter of physical endurance,
yes; but do you know, cir, that in the
four years Of war through which we
passed, the South alone with its few
millions of people, lost more men in bat.
tie than England did in all it's wars
from William the Conqueror to Queen
victoria?' Ispoke with some feeling
and it ended in q discussion as to the
reason why the South did not continue
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31
RusINEss CARDS.

DIR. p. B. PECK
Has opened an ONCE in Mrs. Wr1ghes house, nrst
north OF the Davidson, House, on east side OF
street, where he Is prepared to do all kinds Of
work In dentistry, and solicits share Of public
patronage.
Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-31

F11EN II. 'A1RBANKs. MD.
Office and residence. corner West Main and
Maple Streets, opposite Public School Building,
Austin, Minn. AT home until 9 4. II. and from
IL TORN.
The Lincoln County leader. [volume] (White Oaks, Lincoln County, N.M.) 1882-189?, 1884-02-16
NOTICE OF PREPARATION PROOF.

United States Land Office, Las Cruces, N.
M, January 18th 1884,
Notice is hereby given that the following
named settlers have filed notice of their inten.
ton to make final proof upon their respective
claims, before the Probate Clerk of Lincoln
county. N. NJ, ut Lincoln, N. NJ, on March o,
1884, viz: y
JAMES II. POWELL, on pre-em ption declara-
tory statement, No. rs, for the NJ. a N. W.
IA and W q N. Il. 4. Sec. "a, Tow'p 9 s., r.. rs
Il. Witnesses W. NJ. Atkinson, A. S. Frick.
county, N. NJ.
ALBERT $. FRICK, or presumption declara-
tory statement, No. 1l83 for the +. 4 N. r.. Il
5. II. IA n. Il. - and N. Il. IA s.. T.. IA. Sec, 22.
Tow'p 8 s., r. % e. wits W. NJ. Atkinson, G. D.
Bonney, J. f. Powell and }. n. George, all OF
Lincoln county N. NJ.
JOSEPH N. GEoRGE, on presumption declara-
tory statement, NO. 1874, for the y. 4 N. IA
n e. Il $: e. IA Sec. q, and s.. W. IA n. W.
Il, Sec. "a, Tow'p IS, h. 2s r.. Witnesses:
@. i. Davis. A S. Prick, j. +. Powell and w.
NJ. Atkinson, all of Lincoln county, n. M.
WILLIAM M. ATKINSON, on pre-cmptlon de-
claratory statement. NO. 1l35 for the Lot 3,
and \. \ n. W. IA inc N, W. IA S. W. l 4 Sec.
3 Tow'p 10 8 K rs f. witnesses j. L
Powell, A. 5. Frick, j. n, George and W. II
Guyse, all of Lincoln county, N. NJ.
GEO. d. BOWMAN, Register.