Evening star., 1896-07-18
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS

ut is remarkable what ingenuity noun
tajneers show In evadiny the revenue
laws" said A. c. Russell Of Raleigh, form
eTly deputy United States marshal. at
the Riggs. 1.-THE most unique scheme I
ever ran across was in Mitchell county, N.
c.. near the town Of Boone. I received in
formation that good deal of Illicit liquor
was being made in that community. and
knowing that it would be useless to take
posce there without definite proofs.
went in guise Of timber buyer. could
find no trace of any stills. In fact, It SEEM
ed to be one of the most religious COM
munities in the country. There was q
church. which I was informed always had
the same kind Of revival it was having
then. People would go in ard out, and
every night there wss q baptizing After
meeting every one got drunk, but could
see no liquor. made up my mind that the
still was In the church. and sent word for
posse to come. This they did, and we
captured the meeting. Under the pulpit
was found the whisky. The stove was not
stove at all. bat a st:n, the smoke Of
which passed through what looked like
stove and came out of a chimney. There
mas not been revival in that church
since.''
I think the name Of my town is one of
the most euphonious ever heard" said A.
l.. Harding Of Vandalia ILL.,, at the Regent
1T was formerly the state capital. and
Abraham Lincoln was, at one time, fre-
quent visitor. 1t has many Of the best fam
HES In Illinois as residents, but II Is
railroad center, and there have been cases
of trouble among the railroad men that
have given 1t rather a hard name. which
reminds one of how 1t came to get a name
at all. The owner of the hand before the
al N,lf
learning. but wanted to appear classical.
Hence. when he concluded to start a town
he went to a friend and asked him to sus-
gcst name of some famous people or
city OF ancient times. The friend was
veg. and replied, Well. the vandals who
helped conquer Rome were a noted people.
Name 1t Vandalia. which means the home
of the vandals.' Hence, Vandalia 1t be-
cs me-
II believe I have the smallest watch in
the world. and one Of the most perfect
timekeepers." said R. p. Holden Of Chi
cago. at the Arlington. He held out his
hand as he spoke, and on the third finger
was what looked at first like a seal ring.
but it was a watch, the tiny hands cores
ponding with those Of the clock In the
office. THAT watch was made for me in
Switzerland" Mr.. Holden continued "It
was my privilege to assist q travelling COM
panion in ascending the Matterhorn, and
he credited me with saving his life. He
was matchmaker in Zurich, and seemed
much troubled. when in reply to his ques-
ton as to whether or not had a watch,
told him had one ! would not part with
AS l left he insisted upon my giving him
my address. and In few months this ring
came. The little watch keeps pefect time
and I never look at my other one, this be-
ing constantly In front OF my eyes,"
1T seems to me that there is less esprit
de corps among farmers than there used
to be- said J.. c. Northrop of Lancaster,
Pa. at the Cochran. Il saw the adver-
tisement Of q county fair in Ohio to be
held In September. and 1t forcibly remind
ed me Of the fact that have not seen such
a fair for several years. Twenty wears ago
scarcely a county could be found that did
rot have fair once year, and every
farmer took pride in raising mammoth
fruits and vegetables and fire stock for
exhibition, while to take premium was an
honor well worth working for. The farm
ers wives made bread Or cake Or did fancy
work for exhibition. and fair week was one
to be looked forward 10 during the other
ffty-one weeks of the year. Now, there
are very few such fairs held, and those that
are have lost much of their old-time glory"
Electricity and bicycles have seriously
crippled my business" said A. H. jackson
of Lexington KY, at the Ebbitt. II have
dealt In horses for good many years.
Twenty years ago the markets Of New
York. Philadelphia and New Orleans could
scarcely be overstocked with work horses
and mules. the street car companies buy
Ing large proportion Of them. Now COM
paratively few horses are used by these
companies. Then there was a heavy de-
mand for small. fine-looking horses and
fast roadsters. young men being the pur-
chasers. These do not sell for much more
than half or what they used to. The young
men have bought bicycles instead. The
only grade of horses that are as salable
as they were ten years ago are fine strong.
well-shaped carriage horses and medium
sized but stout horses for hauling pur-
poses. The last named have taken the
place or the big Normans and Clydesdales
as they live longer and are not so clumsy"
'Out our way we are apt to think that
an eastern man cannot shoot pistol"
said H. T. Jenkinson Of Cheyenne, at the
Metropolitan but had one experience at
Laramie that convinced me this idea il In
correct. finely dressed young man STEP
PED into saloon to get a drink, where a
lot OF cowboys were having a good time.
The sight OF the tenderfoot' was the signal
for some fun. and half-a-dozen pistols were
drawn just to scare the man from the
states. The stranger wore a silk hat and
the cry went up shoot the tile The man
turned with his glass at his lips and with
out tremor drew a pistol from his coat
pocket. By the time the drink was swaI-
lowed, six pistols lay on the floor. he had
shot every one Of them out of their own
er's hands. They crowded around him. and
the tenderfoot was not allowed to paw for
anything that night
THE business of finding fresh water
pearls Is not altogether what it has BEEN
represented in the newspapers" said ]. G.
Adams Of Knoxville. Tenn, a. the Shore
ham. THE existence Of pearls along the
Clinch and Holstcn rivers has always been
Known. but 1t has only been within the
past two or three years that it was SUD-
posed they were Of any value. The first
irtmation that they were marketable
come in an article describing similar pearls
found in the Miami river in Ohio. Then
pearl fishing took a sudden boom, and
everybody seemed to think they would get
rich. For a time pearls were brought into
hfoxVfile IN large quantities. but the prices
we're not so large as wss expected Stil
the business was profitable enough to in
drce tfose without steady employment to
devote their time to 1t. Now, those easiiv
obtained are almost all gone. 1t would not
pay to 60 to much expense getting. 30 the
pearl boom Is rapidly dying OUT
The promised increase in the gold ont.