Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-29
GOSSIP OF THE CAPITAL.

| >~A@
| No Wonder the Negotiations With Haiti
Failed-The Rain-Making Experiments
AN Epidemic of Fleas-The Treves
Coat.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2S.-The published
| report of the spirited action of Rear Ad-
miral Gherardi in calling Commodore
Walker to book at Port au Prince for ne
| glecting to properly recognize his authority
leads to q better understanding of why the
| negotiations for Mole st. Nicholas, COM
mftted jointly to the hands of the Rear Ad-
miral and Minister Douglass, failed. Admiral
Gherardi is probably the best surviving
type OF the old-time sailor-strict, conscien-
tious, fearless, taking himself, and holding
everybody else up to q high conception of
| the responsibility of his post. He went to
Port au Prince charged with an important
! diplomatic function, and he set about exc
outing his commission on land with very
| much the same degree of official punctilio
that characteriEes his performances afioat.
| Given, therefore, saior-diplomat like Ad-
miral Gherardi and a politico-diplomat like
Frederick Douglass, and the result inevitably
was q clash and failure.
A misunderstanding seems to have pre-
vailed from the outset. Admiral Gherardi
thought MIR. Douglass manifested too little
interest in the work. while Mr.. Douglass
! thought the Admiral manifested entirely
| too much interest in it-that is to say, that he
| showed disposition to elbow the regularly
| accredited minister to the country out of the
| way and conduct negotiations single handed.
The whole case has not yet been presented,
and may never be, over anybody's official
signature, but current and well accredited
gossip here asserts that the meeting between
Admiral Gherardi and Commodore Walker,
spirited as it is said to have been, was tame
in comparison with one or two conferences
at Port au Prince between the Admiral and
Minister Douglass. Finally, when It was
made apparent that they could not CO.
operate, NEGOTIATIONS were broken Off and
both men came home. Mr.. Douglass to re-
main.
The Raln-Malxing Tests.
No man in America is more interested in
the success of the rain-making experiments
now in progress than Ex-senator Farwell,
of Illinois. He and his brother built the
Texas Capitol and received in payment an
empire of arid lands in that State. The
property under existing conditions posses
ses small value, but If rain can be produced
in quantities sufficient to aid agriculture the
Farwells will shortly be among the richest
men in the world.
an appropriation by the Government to en-
able rain-producing experiments to be made,
and it was largely through his efforts that
the appropriation was finally secured.
He came to be known, indeed, as the "Cold
Water Senator" When he wasn't urging an
outlay to tap the sky he was industriously
engaged in pouring cold water on the second
term aspirations of BENJAMIN Harrison. The
explosives used in deluging the Harrison
boom were of the species known as ''prairie
profanity"
The Coat at Treves.
'I have often heard my mother tell of
her visit to Treves more than 40 years ago
to see the Holy Coat" said Miss Julie Man
gin, a bright little French woman, to q
correspondent.
"She lived in Alsace-Lorraine, where I
was born, and was very devout Catholic,
SO when the priest told our people that the
Holy Coat would be shown to those who
went to Treves, and that perhaps they
might touch it, my mother and many of
her neighbors made the pilgramige.
"Ah, to travel then was not as it is to-day.
There was no railroads to Treves, so every
body who had a horse harnessed 1t, and
those who had only oxen Yoked them to-
gether and placed much to eat and drink in
the carts, for they must travel more than a
week to go and come Many who were sick
were carried to the carts and made the long
journey to touch the coat and be. well
good Catholic and wanted to touch the
coat. Many who went to Treves came back
cured, and think all were stronger and
better.
"Our priest told us we should see the coat
again after many years, but when the time
came the Germans had take the beautiful
province and the Church would not let the
coat be shown. Napoleon had sent a guard
of soldiers to watch the coat and to see that
no harm should come to it, but our priests
did not believe that the German soldiers
who were Protestants, would honestly care
for the coat. So they made us forget it, and
promised we should see it again when all the
trouble was over.
1--WE hoped our beautiful country would be
given back to France again, but the Germans
Kept it, and it is they who scoff at the Holy
Coat, although they must guard it. II you
read in your papers you will see it Is only the |
Germans in Berlin who say it is not the coat
that Jesus wore. 1 am sure it is the real
coat for our priest told US how it came to
the Church. When Jesus was crucified,
Joseph, of Arimathea, a very good and very |
rich man, bought the coat from the soldier
who won it in the casting of lots, and after |
ward gave it to Peter, OF Antioch, who was |
the first Pope of the Catholic Church; So |
you see we have always had it, and there |
cannot be any mistake. Only the Germans |
say it is not So"
An Epidemic of Fleas. |
Washington is suffering from an epidemic |
of fleas. The annoying little insects have |
descended upon the city in swarms, and the |
mosquito is forgotten in the |
heavier affiiction of the "wicked flea." The |
Board of Health is engaged in an investi- |
cation of the plague, and an effort will be !
made to devise q remedy which will drive |
the little pests back to their haunts in stable |
Prof. Leland Howard, of the National |
ascribes the visitation to the wet |
weather of the past two weeks.
1.-TWO years ago." he says, "when we had |
damp season, 1eas were very numerous. |
Last season, when it was hot and dry, there
were very few. I think they breed faster |
during damp season. The dampness is not |
the cause of them, but is favorable
to them. The female flea will lay |
m almost infinite number of eggs. In damp
they hatch out readily in cracks in |
the floor, in the dust and in carpets.
"When houses are closed for the summer
the fleas are undisturbed and are free to
But originally there must have
been at least two fieas in the house to start
with. 1 think good thing to do to get rid |
Of them is to spray the carpets and cracks
with benzine. But you must be careful about
having light In the room, until the vapors
have passed away, as they are explosive
and inf1ammable."
AGED BUT YET ACTIVE.
An Old Lady Who Melted $4,000 From