The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-08-27

One feature of the census work, that
relating to mortgages and the cause of
Indebtedness, has developed some in
! teresting information. The questions
were designed to ascertain why the
debts were contracted, but the answers
take wider range. One man justifies
his going into debt by explaining that
the money raised by the mortgage,
amounting to SllO, was Ito make
home pleasant hy purchasing an Or
gan to keep my boy at home, which
proved q success, for which l am
proud" One Of the correspondents
tersely explains that his mortgage Of
$40 was incurred in the attempt to
pay for two sets Of false teeth. One
man states that his friend shot ne.
gro, and the mortgage was incurred in
raising the money to bail him out Of
Jail and for lawyers fees. Another
one writes: Borrowed money for
general uses on account of failure in
crops, and I reckon" he adds with
Southern naiveuess, "you'll find that
I am a bad manager; but there'll be
plenty more in the same fix. Misery
loves company" A very large and
ample explanation seems to be that Of
fered by the man who wrote that he
had a mortgage of $4OO put on his
house to pay debts contracted in rails
ing family of ten children.
Lotteries are mark of low civiliza-
ton. There is but one in the United
States, and not long ago I read an in
teresling letter from Brazil and it stat
ed that almost everything in that coun-
try was run by lotteries. If the gov
ernment got cramped for money, it set
up lottery. Roads and canals and
churches and theaters and public char
/ tiles were all kept up by lotteries. The
peopIe were nation of gamblers.
For many years the French govern
ment derived large income from the
government lotteries, but they have
been abolished and the very first year
after their suppression the receipts, in
the savings banks were increased a
million of dollars.-Bil 5d7p.
State Treasurer Nolan, of Missouri,
EXPLAINS his defalcations by saying he
was made drunk and in that condi-
ton signed checks he knew nothing
about. C. r. Bayton's friends ex-
plain the shortage of S30, QUO IN his ac-
count as Postmaster of Providence
few wears ago in about the same way.
The Civil Service Reform would do
we'll to include in their lists Of ques-
tons to applicants for office. Is he
honest, is he capable, is he sober ?
Ihe 1oice.
If there had been no saloon in Wal
nut Grove, Ariz., more than hundred
people who were drowned there receI:t-
iy might have beec saved. The super
intendent saw that the dam would
break, and sent a messenger to warn
the people in the track of the stream.
But he went into saloon, got drunk,
and forgot his message. Those, VINO
never 60 into the saloon may be IN
greater peril from it than those who
patronize it. They should Danish 1t III
self-protectlon.
What s. said to be genuine case of
leprosy was discovered here to-day.
The victim is q scion of noble family
in Spain, who has beeu attending the
academy ut Chester, Pa. For a week
he has been stopping at Spanish
American boarding house in East 2Sth
street. Inspector Dillingham;, who is
familiar with the subject of leprosy,
decided 1t to be Il case of leprosy with
out question.
COLORADO, SPRINGS, Col, August
ia tremendous cloudburst broke
over this city yesterday, deluding the
town, beating in roofs and undermin-
ing walls. Two people were swept
away and drowned. Twelve miles of
railroad track were washed away >;
damage at least $26O,OOo,