Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-26


years since and at the time he was compare
lively unknown, but within few months
he had achieved a national reputation. And
well he deserved it. His style was abso-
lutely unique and extremely entertaining.
Every sentence fairly glowed. Pictures
and places, before as prosaic as homeliness
could make them, in Hearn's hands turned
into miracles of beauty, suffused with the
glamour and perfume of an Eastern fairy
land
Hearn's career has in some respects been
remarkable. He was born Al years ago on
one of the Ionian Islands, his mother
native Greek; his father surgeon in the
British army. Literally educated, he came
to this country after his father had died in
India, and his own prospects ruined by a
disastrous failure and at once learned the
printers trade in Cincinnati, holding q
number of positions until he at last engaged
as a reporter and correspondent with sew
eral newspapers in that city. After trans
lating and publishing a volume of stories
from the French of Theophile Gautier he
went to New Orleans. There he published
"Stray Leaves From Strange Literature"
collection of stories and legends from the
East These are considered veritable poems
in prose. They were followed by "Chinese
Ghosts" volume in the same vein de-
voted to Legendary lore of the Chinese. He
then travelled in southern latitudes and had
been lost sight of until now, when the state
ment is made that he has followed in the foot
ture, by settling in Japan.
A Half Century of Indian History.
One Indian in IllinoisI So says the GEN.
sus, and what pathos is contained in that
little sentence. Two hundred years ago
the same district svarmed with red men.
Then they were known as the Illinois In
dians. Let US look up their history. There
is not great deal of it. but that little is in
teresting They belonged to what was
known as the Algonquin family, and COM
prised several Clans the Peorias, Tamaroas,
Cahokias, Kaskaskias and Moingwenas.
Long ago they drove the Quapaws out of
Dakota and into the country of the South
ern Mississippi. In 1910 they fought and
almost exterminated the Winnebagoes, and
then for number of years waged a bloody
war with their neighbors, the Iroquois and
Sioux. About this time the Jesuit mis-
sionaries arrived in the vicinity, and their
records confirm the statement that the coun-
try was very thickly settled by the savages,
one town visited containing 5000 persons.
In 1879 the Iroquois gave them dreadful
beating, and they in turn assisted the
French in their campaigns and were con-
verted to Christianity.
1t may seem odd, but their downfall seems
really to commence at this point, although
the deterioration was not marked until the
latter part of the last century. At the
siege of Detroit by the powerful Foxes
they again went to the assistance of their
friends, the French. Even the vicinity of
Pittsburg retains recollections of them. as
they were well represented at Fort Du-
quesne, although they refused to join in
Pontiac's conspiracy. In the Revolution
they favored the British. By provision of
treaties they eeded their lands and went
West. In 1872 the whole Illinois Nation
had dwindled to 40 souls. Now on the old
hunting ground but one of the race remains.
1t is difficult to realize that it is but SO
years ago since the famous Black Hawk
War was fough in what was then the wilder
ness of Illinois.
Religion for the Workers.
Ben Tillett is an English socialistic labor
leader, who first became famous during the