Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-06-03
really headed, and then he "tails in
after It, He has made ii pay.

really headed, and then he "tails in y
after it. He has made ii pay.
WILLIAM r.. TBAvERs.
The famous William II. Travers pur.
sued much the same policy. After the
famous Trent affair in the late war when
Confederate Commissioners Mason and
Slidell we're taken from an English
steamer by a Union commander, MIR.
Travers, who suffered, said:
"B-b-boys, sell EN- s-s-short."
War with England seemed inevitable
the danger kept the stock market agitated
/ for months There was then no At
lsntic cable, and the only communica-
ton with Europe was therefore by steam
ers. which arrived about once week.
They always brought the London Times.
which breathed ont slaughter like
a green-eyed dragon of fairy
tale, beiching fire from mouth
and nostrils, and frightening the
stock spectators as the scaly-coated
monster OF the wonder-book does the
little dumping faced frequenters OF the
nursery. OF course it now seems ridlcu-
lous and cowardly bluster, but the North
in the agonies OF Titanic struggle could
not attend 10 John Bull at that moment,
and was glad enough that stout little
lady who was friendly 70 the United
States happened to be on the British
throne TO keep British statesmen with
hungry eyes on America in check. And
among the number, by the way, was
Gladstone.
Every time steamer arrived Iravers
had some one on hand to secure the Eng
lish newspapers, and he often paid large
fees to pursers for copies in advance OF
any ons else. Then he would rush around
to the stock exchange and either put no
fresh lines of short sales or else "coyer. ."
as circumstances seemed to require. But
he sold short every time the market
rallied until the Trent affair was settled.
He acted on the theory that when there
is a cloud on the market it is good policy
to sell short and continue to do so until
the cloud is entirely dispelled.
ROOMS OF MILL0NAIRRs.
"Speaking of the fact that William K.
Vanderbilt" said well-known club man
the other evening, "has room IN his
house which cost S175, 900 to furnish, re-
calls something not generally known
that you can give an order to an agent
in New York and secure some rare old
furnishings from the palaces OF the no.
bility of Europe. In many OF the
houses OF New York millionaires
there are rooms with furnishing
once owned by European nobility
the same antique furniture, the same
tapestried ceilings and walls, the
same wooden ceilings and panelling and
richly-carved mahogany woinscoating
seven feet high, and canvas ceilings
adorned with beautiful oil paintings
Sometimes a room is en- exact fac-simile
OF one that New York man has hap
pened to see in some palace Of Europe
and the cost is often enormous. The
peerage are not averse to selling. A few
years ago the Dnke of Marlborough
sold million dollars worth Of valuable
furnishings.
The gold Of American millionaires
seems a more positive farce than line OF
hundred belted earls or the bluest OF
Norman blood.
AN AUTHORS SUPERSTITION.
Howard Seely, the Texan writer. who
has been attracting attention for several
years past by his clever sketches and
stories of frontier life, and whose recent
novel, ga Nymph of the West" re-
ceivIng favorable comment, has some Gu
rious superstitions about literary com
position, and is unique IN his methods OF
work.
The most unique feature OF his study
is human skull and .temora surmount-
ing bookcase. The thigh bones are
/ those of a man, but the skull is a wO-
mans. said to have formerly appeftAined
to Mexican senorita OF great beauty.
There Is some mystery about this relic,
for the author is retcent about talking
of it. The brain cavity is lined with
! black velvet, and the top Of the skull
opens with hinge for this CHASTITY
| box is q receptacle for pens and the
names of his heroines inscribed
upon bits of ivory. 1t is his Gus
tom when the name of heroine has been
selected, and her character and physical
htlTacllOub dTe III piOCtsS vi NpNtlOPihOAs,
to-put this title in the head Of the skull
and let it remain there until the story is
finished. The eyes of the skull are pro-
vided with silver fonts to contain ink
the left red and the right black. When
in the throes OF composition this skull is
used, and his fiction may, therefore, be
said to emanate from the left eye, and
consequently from the right hemisphere
of the skull of the Mexican senorita.
Readers OF Poe's "Gold Bug" may
smile at this singular analogy between
the finding Of material and mental
treasures by this sepulchral process, but
in Mr.. Seely's case, oddly enough. the
result ia neither morbid nor grewsome.
His fiction is eminently wholesome,
natural, and even of humorous turn.
Cynthia Dallas, the heroine OF "a
Nymph of the West" is said to have
been drawn after prominent beauty in
New York society. In this respect Mr.
Seely follows the tradition of Sir Walter
Scott in "Ivanhoe," for Rebecca is cur
rently believed to have been the por-
trait OF Jewish lady of Philadelphia.