Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-01-26

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Looks rather moist, doesn't it?" re-
marked Director George W. Hancock, OF
the State Agricultural Society, to a re-
porter yesterday, as the two boarded the
same J-street car.
"Yes, indeed" was the reply.
And what's more" continued Mr..
Hancock, "we're going to see higher water
here than we've seen for lorg time. The
American is on the jump, and so is the
Sacramento. But, with all, don't antici-
pate any trouble. 1 think we will get
through this year all right. 1t ought to be
lesson to the people of this city, though,
but 1 don't suppose it will. They never
think of touching the leyees until the
flood cry is raised, and then they cannot
accomplish anything. They remind me
forcibly of the Arkansaw man. He didn't
thatch his roof in the summer because he
didn't need it then; and in the winter he
couldn't do it. That's our people to a
dot
well, don't your consider the levees
good ?"
YES, they're good, but what's the mat
ter with their being perfect II would in
sure better feeling of safety among the
people, would encourage business men to
invest their money here in permanent in
dustries, and would greatly enhance prop
erty values. As it is now, though, some
maintain that the levees are strong, while
other claim that they are not. The stranger
hears this and thinks he will not take
chances, so he looks for another locality
Now let me tell you something that great
many are forgetting at this time. We
all know that the north le7ee, which
keeps the American from tumbling in
on US, needs watching more than any
other We all know too, that this is, and
should be, the strongest and most perfect of
our levees. But what l want to call your
attention to is the fact that at the point
where Burns Slough is nearest the Ameri-
can, the levee is built upon bed of quick
sand. That same sand was The cause of
trouble before. The weight of the water
becomes so great, that while the earthworks
are strong enough to Withstand ii, the
foundation will not support the earth
works, and the whole business slides off in
lump as fer as this quicksand extends.
Now, in my estimation, there is only one
proper way 10 fix that levee, and that will
fix it forever. When the river gets down
to low-water mark again, say next summer,
the levee should be opened from the top
and a concrete wall sunk below the quick
sand level. This wall could be 'puddled'
on each side, so as to keep it in position.
1t should be extended in the levee as far as
that quicfsand bottom extends, and then
we would have levee worth talking about.
u &c
think what it might save Mark my word,
now, if we ever have trouble on the north
levee it will be at this very point l speak
Of"
There were three of them. They were
punched together near the fare-box in
blue car, and were engaged in an earnest
Capitalization.
From what the reporter overheard he
concluded that two of the gentlemen had
wager between them as to who could tell
the toughest story, while the third gentle
man was acting as referee. They had had
one clash, but the referee was unable to
decide and ordered another round.
well, Tll tell snake story this time"
said the large apoplectic gentleman, land
I'm willin' 10 double the stakes that it will
paralyze you"
I'll go you" said his adversary, who
was short, dried-up little man, with Y olo
mud on his boots.
They shook hands over the raising of the
stakes and the large man cleared his throat
tor The fray.
81 was railroadin' down in Arizona about
four years ago" he began, "and one day
while we were waiting on siding for
passenger to go by, l happened TO notice
commotion in the dry grass shott distance
from the caboose. l walked over TO inves-
tigate and found that it was fight between
horned toad and side-wiper rattlesnake.
After arranging the preliminariss with due
priza-ring formality, and courteously
shaking hands, the snake opened the bates
by seizing the toad's hind legs and imme-
diately beginning the swallowing process.
This, however, was abruptly abbreviated
when the horns of the sWslloWee were
reached, for the reason that the horns of a
north bound toad invariably incline
toward the south. The sw2llower, there
fore, found it necessary 10 change ends.
This he accomplished in the second round,
and the toad glided gracefully down his
esophagus. There was moment of happy
tranquility, wherein thesnake was seen 10
smile, but, ali, that bright smile was his
last. Great internal connection was soon
evident, followed by signs of agony and
the toad appeared through the captor's
side; q moment more and the swsllowee,
entire, hoped from the orifice, while the
snake lay at his feet bleeding corpse!"
The large man turned to his competitor
with sort of let-me -see-you-beat- look,
and announced that he had finished.
The little Yolo man looked troubled,
but moment later his countenance
lighted up, and he said That's sumner,
I'll admit, but l think | can win your
money. My story is not about snakes bat
is one of the old stand-by's-a fish story.
1t happened many years ago, when | went
before the mast on deep sea trader. We
had anchored in Acapulco bay, and there
were a great many sharks around. Well,
the boys had finished up all their work,
and as we were not allowed to go ashore,
we set about to catch shark for amuse-
ment. The Captain was in his bunk
asleep at the time. We baited big
hook with hunk of salt pork and soon had
a whopper on the end Of the rope. we
hauled him aboard, and one of the boys
suggested that We cut him open and see
what he had been eating. This struck us
as capital idea, ana we set about to do it.
We first took out all of his insides or en-
trails and laid them on the deck. and then
opened his stomach. There were tin cans,
stoYepipe hats, false teeth, hoop skirts and
various other articles there, and we were
enjoying ourselves immensely, when sud-
denly the Captain put in an appearance.
Seeing the mess we had made he got into
a terrible stew. Throw that dinged carcass
overheard = he yelled, and we obeyed
quickly. l looked over into the water after
they had thrown the sharks body in, and
to my establishment he began to swim
about as good as ever. The others were all
too. The shark kept near the
vessel and looked up to us piteously.
He wants his insides, suggested
the bos'n, and with that he
began to throw over the stuff. And that
was just what he did want. No sooner did
his entrsils strike the water than that shark
made grab for them. A shark, you know,
has to turn over on his back in order to get
anything into his mouth. Well, this tel
low swallowed his insides in this manner,
but as soon as he turned over to his natural
position again, they all fell out again
through the slit we had cut in him. The
expression OIL the sharks eountenance was
a study. He couldn't understand it. He
made another grab for them, but the same
thing happened again. We all roared with
laughter, and watched his antics until We
lost sight of him."
1t was now the Yole mans turn to look