The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-04-13
One of Sprinkle'S Dollars
Comes to This City.
Ingenious Trick Employed to
Evade Lobster Law.
Mrs. Smith Buries a Dog at the Foot
OF Her Husbands Grave.

A Providence man who has been on
visit to Peoria, H.. returned day OF
two ago and among other things he
brought back was Sprinkle dollar
which he had secured as n curio at Poorln.
The history Of the Sprinkle dollar Is
known 60 but few at this late day, but
there was time when the dollar and lts
maker were read about In pretty lnuoh
every part of the country. Josban
Sprinkle lived in one OF the fouSnesV
sections of Lewis county, kontucky'
Washington, the county seat OF Mason,
WAS then a thriving town. one day
Sprinkle, then an old man, appeared IN
Washington with "A buckskln pouch iuli
of silver dollars of his own make. In
every respect they appeared the equai
~ the national coin The weight was
more than at present, ana the quaii1y
and ring was all that could bc asked Tor.
He spent them freely, and everybody ac.
oeptcd them upon the assurance oI
Sprinkle that they were all rlghl exccpg
that they were not made by the united
states mint Upon being asked where he
srot the silver he replied: "Oh ~ don Z
matter. There is plenty of it left. The
Inscriptions on the coins were ruuely
outlined. and in no wise was an attempt
made at initiating the national coin.
On one side of the coin was an Owl ana
on the other six-pointed star. The
edges were smooth The coins were con-
sidorably larger and thicker than the
United States coin. Whenever sprinkle
came TO town he spent the dollars OF his
own make.
At one time he volunteered the infor-
nation that he had silver mine IN the
west but he steadfastly refused To tell any
one where il was located. Finally the
government agents heard of the matter
and came on To investigate. Sprinkle was
arrested and brought into court, but the
dollars were proven TO be pure silver with
out alloy--worth In fact a triile more than
81 each After an exciting trial he was
acquitted When tine verdict was an
nolinccd Sprinkle reached down in his
rockets and drew out u bag of fifty OF the
coins and paid his attorney in the pres
cnce of the astonished officials. Sprinkle
was never afterward bothered ana con-
tinued to make the dollars until the time
OF his death. He died suddenly and car
ricd the secret of his silver mine with
him This was in tho early Dos and 10
has been twenty years since IA Sprinkle
dollar has been found, until three of them
turned up at Peoria recently, one OF which
the Providence man secured
The season Is near at hand when the
lobster Is supposed To bc at it's best and
the fishermen along the bay are preparing
for a good scason's haul. In this state IL
is illegal To take from the water and offer
for sale any lobster less than ten inches in
length For any violation of this pro-
vision n pretty stiff penalty is imposed
and the result l. / at short Holsters Grs sci
oom round IN the fish markets though it
is limited 10y the knowing ones that plenty
of them are disposed Of by fishermen
direct 70 the consumer during the year.
Down in Maine one fisherman at least
attempted 10 evadc the law which there
4 m, ,fipp IN "a ls labstap
less than ten and half inches long by
resort 10 lengthcning process which was
quite ingenious, although lt did not prove
altogether successful. schooner named
tho Morning Light commanded by Cap
tain Mcdonald, while on lobster cruise
stopped at the little fishing hamlet OF
south Addison. Me, the captain wishing
to SEQ If any Of the inhabitants had any
Holsters TO dispose of. He found man
named Crowley who had several hundred
for sale, ard u trade was Immediately
agreed upon. Captain Mcdonald laid his
schooner alongside of Crowloy's lobster
cars, and the transfer of Holsters began
The purchaser Tioticed that the Holsters
were not any too large, so he thought IL
might be "a good pian TO measure one.
At one end Of Holsters body Is IA
pointed projection which the fishermen
call a iibboom " In measuring "A lobster
the distance is taken from the end or the
''iibboom" TO the tip of his tail. II IL
IL j0la Inches or over the lobster is o. Is.
If IL is even "A sixteenth of an inch less
than this the lobster is all wrong-in the
State OF Maine-and IL Is apt to prove
very expensive for any man Icing found
with many Of them i'm his possession.
Captain Mcdonald picked up one of the
wriggling crustaceans and applied his
measuring stick, when. greatly To his
surprise, the Holsters "jibboomn began
To disappear inside OF his snell. ON
making closer examination Captain
Mcdonald found this particular lobster :
jibbcon was made OF metal On pulling
IL from the shell he discovered that IL
consisted of a piece of rusty iron nail
filed down 10 q point, and as the Holsters
were green the deception would only lc
discovered by u close scrutiny. Oh course
the object of the trick was at once APP
parent being simply 20 make the lobster
l0iz inches long. On examining 10 of
the Holsters which had been placed on
board the schooner, Captain Mcdonald
found 10 Of them with Iron constitu-
tions' SO 10 speak, and he. promptly threw
them overheard.
60 many conflicting statements have
been made about the effect of the y ray
upon The hair that some data published
by DR. r. = kollc arc of value DR.
kollc says tho danger Of using Rocntgen
rays or the head has been greatly cxag-
Gcratcd He demonstrates by n particular
cnse that the nerves uf the follicies end
the minute blood vessels supplying the
hair are not destroyed by the rays as has
been supposed. and therein che action oi
the rays differs from thc dcpilatory action
of the direct cle.tIic current, where the
entire follclc is destroyed. DIR. kollc
mentions that although he has made
over - radiograms Of the human head,
m n