Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-04-11
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS

~ jail All WHICH convicted murQererS are
confined" said Ed. L. Craighead Of Ard
more at the Metropolitan. When 1 first
went to the Indian territory I settled in
the Choctaw nation. and hearing that a
certain Indian was an excellent hand on
the ranch, hunted him up and asked him
If he would work for me. will work
Until the Goth Of next month"; he said.
be hanged the 21st' was his reply. in an
inquiry learned that what he said was
true. But one man has ever failed to re-
turn for hanging after he has been SEN
fenced, and my Indian did not prove an
exception to the rule On the day before
the execution was to take place. he left as
calmly as though going on visit, and the
hanging took place at the time appointed.
Notwithstanding his approaching doom the
Indian made one of the best ranchers
ever saw, and regretted to lose him.
II have gone out of the real estate bust
ness, never to enter it again." said Z. L.
Winthrop of Louisville at the st. James.
II was greatly interested in a descriptive
pamphlet sent me, concerning a new town
that friend of mine had started. The
booklet was elegantly printed and placed
in a box. had lady friend to whom I
spoke of the place and also the booklet.
She was much interested, and having a lit
tie money she wanted to invest, asked me
to show her the advertising matter The
following evening l took the box from my
valise and called upon the lady. She greet
ed me cordially, and expressed qualification
that I was SO prompt in bringing the
pamphlet. 1 gave her the box, and as she
pulled out the contents 1 was Mortified.
sented her with liver pad. 1 did not sell
her any of the property"
"Some men are gifted with remarkable
memories said 8. B. Bostwick, a New
York travelling man, at the National. Il
have customer named Lyons at Marble
Falls, Texas. who has naturally the most
wonderful retentive faculties in the world.
believe. Lyons is wholly upeducated and
has never learned to even read or write.
Originally, of course, this was because he
lacked opportunities. but since he has been
grown he has rather prided himself upon
not needing book knowledge. He can count,
SO far as addition is concerned, always be-
ing able to tell just how much certain fig
ures in a business transaction aggregate.
In, fact, am told that he was never known
to make a mistake. He owns large gen.
eral store. stone quarry and farm. in
all, employing about one hundred men,
each of whom runs an account at lis store.
AL of his transactions he retains in his
memory, and can tell at any time the exact
amount he owes or that is owing to him.
In buying he remembers just what he
bought and at what price. Several at
tempts have been made to chea. him on
account of his inability to keep books
and his refusal to employ a bookkeeper, as
he says such an employe would rob him,
but they have always failed. There is rot
figure or detail in the whole range of
his extensive business transactions that
he does not remember. He is very proud of
the faculty, and having become rich, is
not in favor of education, saying that he
would have been poor If he had used up
his early years studying. No one can con-
a lfra,
There is a novel rainmakar in Arizona"
said b. 7. Bartlett Of Nogales at the Arl-
ington. He owns a piece of lowlaad about
a mile from the ella river. It seldom rains
IN that country. and notwithstanding the
proximity of the land to water, 1t must
be irrigated In order to raise any crops
10 irrigate costs a good deal of money,
more than the owner of this particular
tract or land possessed, so he hit upon a
scheme. He constructed half a dozen large
sheet-iron contrivances exactly like the
spout of sprinkling pot, except a good
many times as large. These he placed at
angles of about forty-five degrees in Diff
ferent parts of his land. All of these were
connected with drain pipes to another larg-
er pipe that went to the river A shut-off
In the main pipe completed the irrigatne
outht. He can turn on the water and have
JUST as much or as little rain on his ground
as ne pleases- The water, falling in a spray
llke shower of natural rain, is very much
better for his ground and growing plants
than any other system Of irrigation could
possibly be, and he has the benefit of the
river at a trifling cost"
There is rich man in Chicago, who is
crank on microscopical science" said E.
S. Langford of that city at the Normandie.
His name is Barker. and he resides on
Warren avenue, on the west side, in rather
an unpretentious house. Some years ago
he was in the grocery business, at which
he made fortune, then retired to expend
1t in scientific researches. He has never
been successful in discovering anything
new, SO far as 1 ever heard, but his posses-
SONS are sufficiently curious to make him
famous. The most remarkable of these ia
an aquarium. AS visitor enters his labo-
ratory he Is attracted by what appears to
be brass pot. Upon approaching and
leaning over it he is Mortified by seeing that
1t Is large aquarium with thousands of
forms of animal life, some Of them hideous-
ly repulsive. The continuance Is simply one
of the largest and most powerful micro
scopes ever manufactured, and the old man
Keeps little water in it, just enough to
form an aquarium. 1t is exceedingly real
ist1c, and visitor to the old scientists
laboratory will recoil from water for weeks
after looking at the aquarium
"The strangest thing 1 have ever known
In legislation" said T. c. Walker Of San
Jose, Cal, at the Riggs, sis the defeat of
Santa Monica and San Pedro harbors, or
rather the defeat of the first and cutting
down the appropriation for the last named
from 100000 to $4,000. These harbors are
within few miles of each other and Santa
Monica Is nearer Los Angeles than San
Pedro is. Both were provided for in the bill
about to be reported by the rivers and har-
bors committee, Santa Monica with s., 500
600 and San Pedro for 100000. The advo-
Gates Of San Pedro made fight against
Santa Monica, saying that they would
rather neither got dollar than to have
Santa Monica made the deep harbor, al
though both were free. The trouble was
that G. p. Huntington's railroad owned the
only line to Santa Monica, and the fight
shows how unpopular Huntington is with
the people of southern California. Hence
rather than have him succeed, the represen-
tative citizens of Los Angeles preferred not
to have over $3,OOO,0OO expended in their
vicinity. The case is without a parallel in
Congress-
Il was very much interested in a case
that shows fish can reason" said A. P.
Buchannon of Nashville at the Cochran
Il have fish pond, stocked with trout. No
one has ever caught any of the fish, as 1
have been trying to increase their number,