The Washington critic., 1889-05-11
MATTER WORTH READING

| I'NtllN lbuSt VII Dldlt SlIttl WIS IODDtu
of $4,000 worth of iewelry Aside
| fiom this there was package of Gov.
| eminent bonds amounting to over
$1,000 which had been deposited in
the safe for security. The robbery
was committed by professional cracks
men, who left their tools behind, but
no clue. | was at this time ut Bowling
Green, Kentucky, after countcrfeiter,
and j read an account of the robbery In
q Louisville paper. II wasn't my job,
and ! didn't give IL any particular
thought. ] had traced notorious
counterfeiter down into Kentucky and
located him at Bowling Green. AT
least, ! traced him to that town, but
there lost the trail for few days.
got false clue, which led me down to
Franklin, and, when | started TO return,
j took an accommodation train. 1t was
at night, and there was but one coach
on the train, and that contained only
five passengers besides myself Three
of these were natives, sure enough,
while the other two talked about coal
mine in Tennessee and seemed TO own
land in that State. gave them little
attention, being three seats In the rear,
and was talking with the conductor
on general matters, when the
two men suddenly became inter.
ested in something one of them
held in his hand. Their heads were
together, and they were evidently deeply
interested, when the report of pistol
was heard, followed by n cry of agony
and yell of alarm. The object of their
curiosity was derringer, and IL had
accidentally been discharged, the bullet
entering the leg of one of the men Just
above the knee. In his pain and fright
sihe wounded man sprang up and turned
tiercely on the other with the exclama-
tion:
Curse you, but you did that on
purposel You wanted all the swag' to
yourself"
The conductor and were beside them
in minute. The wounded man fell
back on the seat, and he evidently re-
GREETED the break he had made q few
seconds before for he said as we came
up:
"Tom, old fellow, had my own
finger on the trigger, and pulled 1t Off.
You are not a bit to blame"
But what about the 'swag?' de.
manded, as / stood over them.
He meant our coal mine, replied
the one called Tom.
"1es,we are partners in q coal mine"
added the wounded man.
"Ohl that's it? Well, let's see what
can be done for YOU.
IL was u bad wound---so bad that /
knew his leg would have to come off, as
the big bullet had shattered the bone,
and | suggested to the conductor that
he make as fast time as he dared to
Bowling Green. where medical attend
ance could be had. To my surprise the
men asked TO be put off at some high
way crossing, near farm house, saying
that country doctor could manage the
case well enough, and that the quiet
ness of the country would be best for
the patient. This satisfied me that they
were suspicious characters, and / as
sumed the authority to remove the one
and handcutf him TO seat at the rear
of the coach, and to search both. The
one had a revolver and the other the
derringer, and before / was through
searching l brought to light all the
stolen bonds and jewelry. II was sheer
luck again. -Four of our men were out
on their trail, but on false scents They
were supposed to have gone East, while
piShSu tiicui up III tiC DOulu. uc
fellow who was shot not only lost his
leg, but his life. The other was re
turned TO Chicago, and he received
long sentence for his crime. There was
q great deal of newspaper talk about my
shrewdness, but | didn't deserve word
of praise.
One-Hundred Years Ago.
Envelopes for letters were then un.
known and those bearing postage
stamp and ready gummed did not come
into use until 1910. Postage was cal.
culated, not by the weight of the letter,
but by the number of pieces of paper of
which it was composed, and If the
envelope had been known its use would
have been made practically impossible,
because IL would have doubled the rate
of postage, which was high. An en-.
velope would have made the postage on
half-ounce letter between Chicago
and New York. for instance, half
dollar. Sheets of writing paper were
then of four pages, each being 81 by II
inches, which were doubled so as to be
sent without an envelope and sealed
with wafer by the common people
and with sealingwax by the fashion
ables. II is related of government
officer that once having received let
ter sealed with wafer he declined TO
open it, because the sender had "sealed
II with his spittle," the wafer commonly
being softened In his mouth. There
have been more than three hundred
patents issued on envelopes and en-.
velope machinery in the United States.
The daily consumption Of envelopes
for letters alone in this country is now
estimated at 100000, or 1855, ,000,.
600 annually, to say nothing of those
used for seed, samples, packets, and
other purposes
How They Write,
The PhOn0graphic World continues
its study Of the manner in which nota.
BILE writers do their work and aptly pre-.
cedes its articles with an extract from
500 letters come to the White House
every day, outside the President $ family
mail. To answer them force of men
work until nearly midnight. The more |
important letters Lige Halford replies to
by debating TO Miss Sanger, who type
writes what he says. But as to how |
great people write. John Habberton |
often has his manuscript copied by type
writer; so does Thomas Wentworth Hig- |
ginson. j. T. Trowbridge writes with a
pen. Luke Sharp writes that a noted |
English author once told him he could |
not dictate love scenes TO type writer,
because che felt he was making fool of |
himself, " Sharp feels the same way,
he says. Mrs. Il. ID. Il. N. Suuthworth
regards the pen rs an old, tried friend, |
and stuck TO il until three years ago,