davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
THE ooLoRED BRorHER.
From the Nav Lippincott.

[From the May Lippincott.l
The typical negro tenant arrives at
a new home in a mule wagon or OK
cart with bundle of rags, a frying
pan and covey of children, and he
stays with a landlord who may have
saved him destitution by advancing
provisions and dry goods only so long
as the caprice of the hour dictates.
Land owners who have sunk into finan-
cial ruin by mOrtgagin their property
have nearly always been dragged into
the slough by the effort to help their
negroes out of it. The crop made by
the average negro farmer is subject to
many contingencies beside those of the
weather. He does not hesitate to leave
his field at the most critical season if
pleasure calls him; big meetings he
never can resist, and these take place
during the important agricultural
months of July and August, first at
one church and then al another. After
the mules have been working hard all
the week in this busy season, they are
often driven from ten to fifteen miles
on Sundays, carrying wagon loads of
men, women and children, long bright
ribbons flying out from the heads of the
female members of the family, whose
hair has been tightly plated and bound
with cords during the week in order to
produce a holiday sensation in an am
pie Psyche knot at the back and a
bushel-like rOundness at the front; they
appear in fancy waists and big sleeves,
and regaIe themselves and their friends
with a dinner of fried chicken, cake
and watermelOns after the meeting,
rags being good enough to wear, hoe
cake and bacon good enough to eat,
during the week. Like his African an
cestors. the American negro is miser-
able without Publications and feast
ings: if he can have them he will do
a hard job of work betweentimes.
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
OSCAR WILDE'S FUTURE.
Is to Have Position on a Paris Liter
ary Paper.

Chicago, May 13.-Oscar Wilde is
about to be released from prison and
Will go Immediately to Paris, where he
IS to have a position on the literary
starr of daily paper. It is denied that
MS two years imprisonment has i'm
paired his mental faculties Though
he Is greatly changed in appearance
and seems to have aged many years
he IS in excellent health, it is said, and
rather benefited than injured by the
Life and hard work of the prison.
An American manager had rather a
clever scheme for utilizing the genius
and brilliance of this disgraced man.
which, had it not for some reason been
abandoned, might have proved great
speculation 1t was supposed that
Wilde, on regaining his liberty would
be at the necessity of hiding himself in
obscurity away from the walks of those
he had known in triumphaI days.
Therefore, the manager was to secure
Wilde an asylum in some agreea Bile
part of Europe, supply him literally
with money for all his needs and en-
ter into contract with him for all his
literary and dramatic work for the next
ten years. The plan was that Wilde
should cOnfine himself chiefly to the
writing of plays, and these plays were
to be produced and exploited as the
works of a literary find" but the real
authorship was to be concealed until
the fortunes of the peculiar firm were
eSta abliShed
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
BLIND TOM


(From the Chicago Record.)
Blind Tom, the weak witted, sight
less negro whose phenomenal gift as a
pianist and whose unna tural powers of
memory and mimicry were the wonder
of the world some years ago, is now a
gray haired, infirm old man living IN
retirement in a little cottage on the
highlands of NaVeSink, on the New
Jersey shore of New York bay, in the
charge of Mrs. Eliza Lerche, who was
appointed his guardian several years
ago.
After the death of her first husband.
John G. Bethune, who was Tom 5 man
ager nearly the entire time he was be-
fore the public, there was long legal
struggle between her and her father-ln-
law, James n. Bethune, who owned
Tom and Toms mother as slaves, ana
still claimed the sole proprietorshlp OF
the musician.
Tom had been a valuab BILE piece of
property, and had brought him a large
income for many years. It is said that
he earned several hundred thousand
dollars, and Col. Bethune naturally
objected to losing so lucrative an in
Vestnlent
Justice Andrews of the supreme court
of New York to whom the case finally
came by appeal, decided that Tom was
a free man and permitted him to choose
his own guardian, for, although over
so years old, he was incapable of car
ing for him, and Charity Wiggans, his
mother, who still lived in Georgia on
the old plantation where Tom was born,
declined to accept the responsibility In
fact Tom did not know his mother
He met her at the trial for the nrSt
time since his childhood, nearly 40 years
before, when his musical genius was
discovered, and he was taken out for
exhibition by his owner.
Nor did he have sufficient Intelligence
to appreciate the relationship, and she,
an illiterate negress over 20, was fright
ened by his OutlandiSh gibberish and
peculiar habits, for when he IS away
from the piano, Blind Tom is a most re-
pulsiVe animal
He has an abnormal appetite, his pas
siOns are strongly developed and he has
no respect for persons or places He
is simply an idiot, and his mother be-
With the instincts of a child, however,
when Tom was made to understand
that he must select the person who
should care for him. he naturally clUng
to the lady who had cared for him the
most of his life, and the court TecOg-
nized Mrs. Bethune as the natural and
proper guardian.
Shortly after she married Mr.. Lerche
who had been her attorney in the liti-
cation, and her circumstances are such
turn to the stage. She prefers to sup
port him in idleneSs. and has him COM
bly, placed in a cottage under the
charge of a negro attendant, who sell
dom allows him out of his sight.
1t is not probable that Tom will ever
appear in public again. Although his
peculiar faculties are retained, his
health is feeble and his mind has weak
ened with age. He spends much of his
time a the piano playing his old pieces
and practicing new ones, which he
picks up as rea dily he did years ago.
He can repeat with remarka bic accura-
cy any simple composition that is play
ed for him.
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
METHODS or TAXATION.

sey and other millionaires to various
the past about the contest between la
Dor and capital. but there appears to be
springing up in various parts of the
country a contest between the state
and the possessors of wealth which will
be far more important in its results.
Defeated in the effort to tax incomes
through the machinery of the national
government, the Peep of various states
have taken up the matter through their
legislatures in one form or another. The
lower house Of the Michigan legislature
has just passed a bill levying a grad
uated income tax ON the railroads of the
state 1t provides for a tax on the earn
ings of the roads. This class of laws
is being sustained by the state courts.
too. Illinois has an inheritance tax law
which has been fought through the
courts for two years. but the supreme
court has finally rendered an. opinion
sustaining its validity.
The laws for taxing the rich in Ohio
are so stringent that il is said that
Bryce. the Rockefellers and others
maintain a residence in other places to
avoid them The tax laws of New York
have driven the Goulds into New Jer-
sey and other mfI1ionaires to various
places and there is now an inheritance
Black, which it is alleged will drive all
the rich men from the state to avoid
the chance OF dying there If this sort
of thing continues it looks as though the
time may come when the millionaire VIII
not know where to lay his head and
feel that he is safe from the tax col
lector.
It has been suggested by somebody
that if the possessors of great wealth
had shown a disposition to bear their
just proportion of the public burdens
8 in accordance with their possessions,
much of their present trouble might
have been avoided.
Nation after nation has abandoned
the idea of trying to collect revenue by
a direct tax on property and the only
civilized countries in the world which
still adhere to the system are Switzer-
land and the United States and part of
Australia.
q New York seems to find some justif-
cation for her proposed inheritance tax
when it is learned that last year only
$14S, Alb, 154 of personal property in the
entire state paid taxes. The Gould es-
tate. which at the time of Jay Gould's
death, figured up $50 600 was as
sessed at about $1,000 GOO James A
Roberts, recently comptroller of the
state of New York, has compiled a list
Of 107 decedents, the total of whose
personal estates was appraised at S215.-
1886, and vet the year before their
death they altogether paid taxes on
but So, S19.412. It is not surprising then
that sentiment should grow up in ia
vor of collecting after death what was
due and unpaid during life.
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
SAVED FROM THE WRECK.
At the Auction Sentiment Spared the Lit
tie Rocking Horse

tie Rocking Horse.
Everything had been swept away in the
crash-stock Of goods, business house,
home, even the household furniture-and
now the ruined man and his wife stood
with drawn and blanched faces as the auc-
tioneer sold to the crowd of grasping and
curious strangers their household goods
and treasured heirlooms. Presently he
held up a>rocking horse, battered, scratch
ed and paintless-the favorite plaything of
their little golden haired boy, now, alas,
without even a roof to shelter him.
The woman turned pale, and the man
started forward and cried hoarsely:
'NOt thatl Oh not thatn'
A sudden silence fell upon the gay and
frivolous crowd of buyers, and the auction
eer, with a suspicion of moisture in his
eyes, turned and handed him the toy.
There were fathers and mothers among
that worldly and chatteIing assemblage,
forced from the parents heart softened
every soul present.
The man seized the faded rocking horse
and hurried, with the pale woman cling
ing to his arm, from the room.
They went to another part OF the house,
and he set the horse lovingly and tenderly
upon the floor.
'How could you forget it?'' asked the
woman reproachfully.
II intended to hide it again. - said the
man, "but I had no opportunity
He took out his knife, cut a slit in the
horses neck and drew ont II 81, 900 bills
neatly folded.
''Some day. said the woman, eyou1
carelessness is going to ruin you. New
York Sunday Journal.
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
JOHN BROWN.

[COl T. W. HigginsOn in May Atlantic ]
I met him in his room at the Ameri-
can House (NO. 126) in March, 1858. and
saw before me man whose mere ap-
pearance and bearing refuted in ad-
vance some of the strange perversiOns
which have found their way into many
books. and which often wholly missed
the type to which he belonged. In his
thin, worn. resOlute face there were
the signs of a fire which might wear
him out, and practically did so, but
nothing of pettiness or baseness; and
his talk was calm, persuasive and CO.
herent. He was simply a high-minded,
unselhsh, belated COvenanter; a man
whom Sir Walter Scott might have
drawn, but whom such writer's as NicO-
lay and Hay, for instance. have utter
ly failed to delneate. To describe him
in their words as "clean but coarse"
is curiously wide of the mark He had
no more cOarseness than was to be
found in Habakkuk MuckleWrath or in
George ElOt's Adam Bede; he had. on
the contrary, that religious elevation
which is itself kind of refinement;
the thing one may see expressed in
many q venera Bile Quaker face at year
ly meetinS. Coarseness absolutely re
PEELED him; he was so strict as to the
demeanOr of his men that his band
was always kept small. while that of
Lane was large; he had little humOr.
and none of the humoriSt's tempta ton
towards questionable conversation.
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
TOPEKA TOUGHS THERE.
olathe is Doing a Good Job Sending
Topeka Criminals to Prison.

There is quite a Topeka colony un-
der the care of Sheriff Glover of John
son county in the Olathe Jail. There
are at least three men whose names
have often appeared on the police
court records here and who call To-
peka their home.
EX-Jailer J. B. Jones, who visited the
Olathe Jail yesterday, says that he was
astOnished a the number of Topeka
men in the jail. He had no more than
been admitted to the corridor when a
heavy-set, red-haired inmate caught
sight of his face and lodged into cell
He was induced to come out and was
found to be Red or Pat Murphy, who
narrowly escaped going to the peniten-
ing a horse. He held man up in
johnson county and robbed him, but
escaped going to the penitentiary
through the adroitness of his attorney
He was given a Jail sentence for petit
larceny. Murphy formerly worked in
a butcher shop in Topeka
Frank Wheeler a member of the
Fourth street gang, will serve a term in
the penitentiary for burglary, having
pleaded guilty. He will soon be SEN
fenced and will probably be given three
years. Joe Inman, who says he lives
on Jefferson street, was implicated
with Wheeler in the Pleasant Hill
burglary and Will accompany him to
Lansing.
Another Topeka man who is in jail
whose face was familiar to eX-Jailer
Jones refused to give his name. He
will also so to the penitentiary.
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
NAMING THE AUDITORIUM.
Auditorium is Accused of Being "Such
q ChestnuttY Name"

The question of what the new audito-
RUM is to be named is one that is trou-
bling the minds of the members Of the
Auditorium association.
One of the prominent members of the
association suggests that the building
be named for some enterprising and
public spirited citizen, G. G. Gage, Ed
ward Wilder, John r. MulVane or
others who might be named. Gage au-
ditorium' would sound very well, as
would the names of any of those sug-
gested.
My plan would be- said the gentle
man. Ito have the name voted for at
a stipulated sum per vote, say or 10
cents. 1t might then be found who is
the most popular citizen in Topeka By
that means an appropriate name cOuid
be selected and it would also help to-
ward the fund for the building.
There is no use of talking of erect
ing such building without an appro-
pirate name. My plan may not be the
best one, but it is worthy of consider
alton.
It was suggested some time ago that
some wealthy citizen might show his
public spirit by making a large con-
tribution to the fund and out of cour-
tesy the committee would name the
building for him. But no tenders have
been made up to date and there is no
immediate prospect that any will be
made.
F. L. Vandegrift, the we'll known
newspaper correspondent, has some
ideas on the name to be selected for the
new building. He said: Don't call
it auditorium. That is entirely too COM
mon Every little old town that has
been able to build a building 20 feet
square for meeting purposes has named
it The Auditorium. Let it be some
thing out of the ordinary. How would
it do to call it Town Hall?' That is so
old that it is new and it would at least
be different from the thousands of
others"
Another man says that it would be
good plan to select a name Which means
a large hall Coliseum has been pretty
we'll worn out as name, but "Odeon,
which means the same thing, would be
a good one The "OdeOn," pronounced
with the accent on the de, Wouid
sound as grandiose as auditorium and
be newer.
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
GALLINGER'S AMENDMENT.
He Would Prohibit Importation of
Goods Made by Convict Labor.

Washington. May Ex-senator Gal
linger of New Hampshire has intro
poses to offer to the tariff bill against
goods which are the product of convict
labor. The amendment is as follows:
That whenever complaint is made to
the secretary of the treasury that any
goods imported into this country are
the product of prison or convict labor
it shall be the duty of the secretary of
the treasury to formulate the neces-
sary rules and regulations to prohibit
the further importa ton of such goods,
except upon sworn statement of the
foreign manufacturer or his agent,
made before consul of the United
States, that said goods are not being
produced by the labor Of prisoners OF
cOnVictS"
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
EDDY BREAKS ARECORD.
He Gets Twenty Four Mid Air Photo
graphs of Grants Tomb in
Five Hours.

New York. May 13--William A. Eddy,
the scientific kite flyer broke a record
yesterday, when in five hours he took
"a mid-air photographs. He also Sc
cured the first midair photographs of
Grants tomb.
The kites were sent up from the Law
son building at One Hundred and Four
teenth street and the Boulevard. There
were three of them. The first, which
carried the camera, was seven feet long,
constructed on sticks an inch in dame
ter and coverad with red cloth. The
second was pink and six feet long, the
third five feet long and dark red The
line which carried the big kites resem-
bled an ordinary clothes line, made of
flax.
The kites We're sent up first at 1890
o'clock yesterday afternoon. When the
first kite had reached an altitude of 100
feet it was found utterly impossible for
Eddy and his two assistants to hold
them and the work of holding was left
entirely to the windlass reel.
The pictures were all taken at an alti-
tude of between 1900 and 1,40O feet.
After "a pictures had been taken Mr..
Eddy said it was six more than had
ever been taken in the same length of
time, or, indeed, in any one day.
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
lettering AsPHALr.
[From the Philadelphia Record

lfTOm the Z Enlldueiphla RecOfd-I
Paris is not altogether satisfied with
her fine wood pavements. realizing that
though superior for driving or walk
ing they are objectionable on hygienic
grounds. Asphalt has been tried in
stead and it is objected to on the
ground of extreme sHpperiness. Now.
a new combination called granite-as-
phalt is proposed. This is simply a
concrete composed of crushed granite
and melted asphalt laid over a founda-
tiOn of betOn or coarse concrete. The
first layer upon the beton is a thin
coating of asphalt alone. followed by a
thicker layer of crushed granite fol-
lowed by a grouting of liquid asphalt
mingled with finer crushed granite,
rolled as usual. Such a pavement has
been used in the cavalry barracks of
Germany for some time past and the
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
WHEN TRINGs co WRoNc.
LILLIAN Whiting in New Orleans
Times Democrat

LILLIAN Whiting in New Orleans
Times-D Democrat
Not unknown to all of us is a period
of sudden disastrous experiences. when
in common parlance, everything goes
wrong. Such seasons fall upon one
now and then like a thunderbolt out of
clear sky Every conceivable reIa-
tiOn of life seems to be entangled and
1nharmOniOus- Instead of events and
circumstances falling into rhythmic
harmonious sequence, as they do when
all is right, it would seem as if the IA
bled FurieS had swept down upon one
and his most innocent action, or best
intended, but unlucky, speech, falls in
to line as circumstantiaI evidence of
innate depraVity. The traditional as
SerUOn that ''miSfOrtuneS never come
s1ngly' is one substantiated by facts
Misfortunes apparently attract each
other and have a tendency to cOncen-
trate in an aggregation. Still, how
ever hard and however unjust the eX-
perience may seen-and there is usu-
ally some infusion of injustice in such
a seasOn-One who sits calmly down to
scruunize the antecedent causes may
find reason to say with Carlyle, The
fmpediment is in thyself" Just here
is very curious and interesting little
psychological study, for not unfreQuent-
ly one may trace his little spontaneous
WhiTlWind to some cause not related
to the specific effect. He has done
Wrong-nOt to put too fine a point on
tin some way. That is to say. he
mas put poison into his moral life
(Which is his real life). and it is work.
ing outward in the realm of spiritual
life. as a poison, physically, would
work outward in the physical body.
This moral poison plays all sorts of
freaks. It's effect are disprOpOrtion-
ate to its cause. The transgression
may have been slight. The retribution
may be very serious and severe. One
may have done a certain wrong thing
and he may be accused of having done
not the thing, perhaps a slight one,
that he really did. but something quite
different, quite fagrant,a distorted and
exaggerated translation of an absolute
fact. But his punishment comes in
this He is conscious of just Suf-
ficient wrong doing to make it impOs-
sible for him to assert entire innocence.
He cannot but see now all the disaster
that confronts and Overwhelms him is
the OutgrOWth. even if indirect and eX-
aggerated, from his own lapse from
ideal living And so he must say
my punishment is just.
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
AN INSURANCE FEATURE
Is to be Added to the American Pro
tective Association

Washington, May 13.-The reading OF
the annual address of President John
w EchOls and the report Of Secretary
Palmer We're the principal matter
the A. p A. at its meetings yesterday.
Ine former was referred to committee
which viii divide it according to the
subjects treated and each of these sub
DIVISIONS viii be referred to the COM
mlttee having charge of that particular
matter. The secretary's report was also
referred to the aDprOpriate committee
for consideration
A1r- EchoIs' address was felicitous
and spoke in hopeful terms of the pros
poets OF the order and its unprecedent-
ed growth during the past year. He
referred to his visits to the various
subordinate councils during the year
ana 10 the hOurishing condition in
Whlch ne found them a recommended
ton was made for an insurance feature
TO be under the auspices and supervis-
ion or the general order
MT FalnerS report is said to have
been an agreeable surprise, showing,
Notwithstanding the hard times prevail
ing during the past year, the order to
pc IN a satisfactory condition numer-
1cally and financially. Three hundred
ana torty-hVe charters were issued
curing the past year When it first
met the council heard the report of the
coIIlHllltee on credentials showing over
d hundred and fifty accredited dele
gates without discussion the report
was adopted. Other routine business of
an important character followed Com
mlttees were appointed on education,
poHtIcal agitation, ritual and para
phernalia and resolutions The after
noon session was taken up by the ad-
dress OF the president and the report of
the secretary. A large number of res
olutIoiS on dlfterent topics were pre-
sented and referred to- the appropriate
committees.
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13

Atchison man finds that he has no
money saved up. but that he has a
house fun of rocking chairs, fancy
dishes, cut glass, a little tinware, sew
eral bedroom sets and four palms.
i
There must be surplus of girls on
the market: it takes very little worth
and ability to make man a good
catch, but girl has TO possess every
grace, have money in the bank, and
have had no previous heart affair.
An Atchison man has a theory that
it demoralize a western girl to send
her to the sea coast. He says that she
gets so used to bathing cost tunes while
there, that she doesn't Shrek with
modesty like her western sisters when
she comes home.
The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
FIGHT FOR SWISS MISSION,
Is Between a Kentucy Clay and a
Carnegie Man.

Washington, May 13.-The contest for
the Swiss mission according to the pre-
vailing White House gossip, is said to
lie between Mr.. Leishman of Pittsburg,
former president of the Carnegie Steel
company and Brutus Clay of Kentucky.
The friends of the latter assert most
positively that if Mr. Leishman does not
press his claims Clay will be nomina-
ted.
1t is understood that DR.. Hunter OF
Kentucky who made the protracted
fight for United States senator as the
Republican caucus nominee but who
ultimately was compelled to give way
in the interest of harmony has been in
formed by the president that he would
be glad to bestow upon him some fitting
position DR.. Hunter, however, has not
yet decided whether he desires a posi-
ton The Chilian mission which his
friends asked in his behalf has been
promised.