davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06
Special to the Sunday Call.

Special to the Sunday Call.
I'm a garnet situated in the poorer
quarter of the city of Detroit,
Mich, was found on Tuesday. No
vember i, the dead body Of mid
dle-aged woman. On a table by
her side was letter in which the lady,
after declaring her intention of COM
hitting suicide. divulged many inter-
esting and pitiful particulars of her
birth and life.
She had been most reserved in her
conduct toward her neighbors while an
occupant of the house, but some
thought she was Of better birth than
her very ordinary situation would lead
one to believe. This opinion was accen-
tuated by her majestic appearance and
especially by the refinement and ele-
gance of her manners Nothing more
concerning her was known than that
her name was Amelia Sonnabend and
that she was a native Of Germany.
The suspicious, however, of the
neighbors were verified by the contents
of the suicides last testament.
According to this document the de-
ceased was a daughter of an eminent
German Princess and the niece Of
Prince Clodwig Hohenlohe, the I'M
perial Chancellor. The following par
ticulars of her birth and parentage are
furnished by a gentleman of this city,
who received them from the lips of the
suicides mother:
The Princess Amelie Elizabeth was q
younger sister of Clodwig, Prince Of
Hohenlohe- Schillingsfurst, Duke of
Ratibor and Convey. AS a. young girl
she was very beautiful. and the charms
of her face and figure, combined with
the sunniest of characters. won her d
reputation which was not confined only
to the royal German courts.
AS is the custom among the European
nobility the Princess was betrothed by
her parents, while yet very young, to
a certain Prince of Layn- Wittgenstein,
The sequel proves that the parents in
this case reckoned without regard of
the young lady's heart, AS she grew
to the estate of young womanhood she
began to receive that education which
Is considered essential to success In
fashionable society.
Among her instructors was a certain
Richard Lauchert. a professor of art.
He was man of most prepossessing
appearance, of unusual elaQuence. COM
bined with suavity that one usually
attributes to the old cavaliers. Some
thing In him touched the girlish heart
OF the young Princess. So eloquent
was her love that the professor could
not help but see that he had made
captive the heart of his fair and noble
pupil. g
Not intimidated by the chasm that
is said to exist between blue and. pie
beian blood Lauchert gave himself full
liberty to show that he, too. had been
smitten. - = - 49,. sf
Despite the tremendous oppQsitiQn
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06

tn DWARD A. FITZGERALD, the
most famous mountain climber.
says that a mountain climber
faces all the peril5 Of an
Arctic explorer, and one other.
In addition to the terrors of
intense cold, ice fields, snow bliz-
yards, torrents and treacherous
crevasses which the Arctic traveller
must meet, mountain climber is also
compelled to resist the fearful effects
of reduced air pressure. No man is
better fitted to tell of these difficulties
and perils than Mr.. Fit2Gerald. A num-
Der of wears ago ne travelled the "Afps
from end to end with Sir Martin Con-
way, in 1S94-95 he explored the New
Zealand lips and gave his name to a
famous pass, hitherto undiscovered,
afterward writing a book on his adyen-
lures. Less than two years ago he VEN
tured on a still more difficult feat, and
his party succeeded In reaching the
summit of Aeoncagua, the highest
mountain in the western world, and
riYaling the peaks of the Himalayas.
Aeoneagua, with its giant sister, Tu-
pungato, rises from the backbone Of
the South American continent, midway
between Argentina and Chile. Its sum-
init is nearly $4,000 feet above the level
of the sea, a height greater even than
aeronauts have commonly dared to
venture in balloons. 1t is not only in
accessible in altitude, but it is far from
the base Of supplies in a wild, sparsely
settled country. Indeed, it took Mr.
FitzGerald no less than two weeks of
diligent research and exploration to
discover where Aconcagua really was
and the best way of making the ascent
The mountain had been attempted be-
fore, but no explorer had been able to
get within thousands of feet of the
summit. In making his inquiries Mr.
FITZGERALD met with many peculiar and
amusing difficulties, owing to the dense
ignorance of the natives or their I'M
willingness to tell what they knew of
the great mountain. They assured him
that this peak was Aconcagua, that
that peak was Aconcagua, and they
finally declared that Aconcagua
reached so high above the clouds that
no man might see the summit.
AS might be expected, Mr.. FITZGERALD
is a man of astonishing vigor of body
and determination of will. He is an
American BY birth, although his father
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06

! and a continual source of pain to his
gray haired mother.
In course of time Amelia was wooed
and won by young actor, Ernest Son
nabend. The marriage occurred at
H1ldburghausen, In Thuringia, q most
historic spot. Sonnabend was attached
to the theater of the Duke George Of
Sake einingen, and was a young man
or most promising talent. Unfortu-
nately, previous to his marriage he had
led the usual actors life and had run
rather deeply into debt. After his mar
r1age, finding himself unable to satisfy
his creditors, he resolved to escape
them by leaving the country. His wife,
Amelia, left her parents and her native
land with him, never again to see It's
beloved shores, The young pair came
to New York. where they believed a
newer and happier life was IN store for
them.
After battling with the language Son
nabend sought position on the boards
at all the theaters of the metropolis,
but his efforts proved unavailing. FL
nally he relinquished his fayorite call
ing and sought to earn bread for him
self and wife by some other means.
He became a solicitor for German
books and periodicals and thereby
managed to exist. In 1894 he died of
consumption at a public hospital, leav-
ing Amelia, his wife, and his three
daughters with hardly any means to
battle for themselves in strange land
and among strange people. The unfor-
tunate. lady succeeded in living from
hand to mouth up to the present year,
but misfortune upon misfortune over
whelmed her, and she determined to
end her life.
And so 1T is the body of niece of one
of Germany's millionaires, the daughter
of Princess of the bluest blood Of the
empire, will be buried in the pOtter's
mil ha b.
fragile depository of her sad life his
tory.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06

Last March, says La Nature. we no.
ticed a memoir by Waltemath of Ham
burg, in which he announced the ex-
istence OF a second moon revolving
about the earth, and perhaps about the
first moon. This moon has been seen.
1t was said. at Wiesbaden on Febru-
AIRY and seen in China by three Ger.
man officers. but names and dates were
not given, perhaps for good reason. 1t
was to pass again over the suns. disk
on July 80 or about that time. we do
not expect to hear of a serious obser-
walton of this new celestial BODY. Bur
this is not all.
The English Mechanic, for July 90.
tells us that a third moon. larger than
the second. should pass over the sun
also about July 80. We have to do. de-
cidedly. with whole crowd of luna
tics. We should not be surprised to
learn soon that, with telescope of fee
bic power and a powerful imagination,
certain persons have seen the second
and third moons. Being in such a fair
way of discovery they may be able to
endow the earth with five satellites like
Jupiter, or with eight like Saturn Let
us Be Acircumspect in such matterA
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06

bug which destroys the cottony cush-
ion scale. Ten years ago the citrus in
dustry of California was seriously
threatened. 1t seemed for a time that
ali the oranges and lemons would be
annihilated by a small white scale
which Slapped the tree and killed the
fruit. Eventually, too, the trees them
selves died.
Scientists from Washington were ex-
perimenting to find something-any-
thing to stop the ravages of this scale.
The trees were washed with solutions
sure to destroy the yellow-Whitish
coarse dust under which the tiny fly
like scale lived.
The scale only laughed, If 1t had any
humor, and went on multiplying in the
orchards.
"Give me three years time and my
expenses and will destroy the scale, -
said Professor Koerbele, on offering his
services.
you cannot do what we have not
DONE" said those in authority at Wash
ington.
But the fruit raisers said I'VE want
something to kill the scale"
The result was compromise, and
with little expense besides actual
railroad fares, Professor Koerbele
started for Australia.
II had been in Africa and South
America and Mexico, but I had never
planned. II had never been in Austria
liza In it's own country knew this
scale had parasite to destroy it, be-
cause in all nature there never was and
never will be any insect which destroys
other insects or the vegetation to any
appreciable extent but will have it's
corresponding deadly enemy. For every
destructive scale that grows a para
site to destroy it grows right along be-
side it. Look at these different scales. -
The professor brought out box, to the
top of which were pinned bits of wood
or leaves, on which were specimens of
scale.
do you see the very small holes in
the scale? These are the holes the
parasite made, for under every scale
the parasite to destroy 1t lays its eggs
These hatch and before they fly away
eat most of the scale insects"
Knowing this fact, Professor Koer-
belle set to work On his problem to de-
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06

Look at the heads OF the beetles.
Every one has a shovel, you see. This
big one got in Egypt and the smaller
ones in Mexico"
The big one was nearly as large as
hens egg and black and hard. The
others were half the size and smaller.
These beetles kill the cut worm and
the horned fly" he went on to explain.
I'm Hawaii the cattle are driven mad
and to their death by small pestifer-
GUS fly. A gentleman who has range
Of 72.0o0 acres and well stocked sent
for me.
Cant you get rid Of this hy7' he
asked
IT studied the fly and watched its
habits. I found that its eggs were al
ways laid in fresh manure.
out in Egypt I spent hours watch
ing this big beetle. He would discover
some manure. Then he would some
how call his friends, for they would
come running. Then each would set
to work and roll up a ball bigger than
himself. He would push 1t along back
ward till he came to his hole, push it
in and then hurry back for more till
the last bit had been carried away and
buried. Thus they prepare the places
to lay their eggs and they breed all the
year.
Now you see. this exactly was what
I wanted. I went to Egypt and got my
all the horned flies are cleaned out OF
Hawaii now because they have nothing
to lay their eggs in
"And the cut wormS?" asked
1.-THE cutworms have been so bad In
the islands that the people could raise
very few vegetables.
IT brought some toads from Mexico
and frogs from Egypt" The professor
laughed and 1 was sure there was
something funny connected with the
toads or frogs.
You know the Hawaiians are very
simple and they had never been ac-
customed to toads. They were terribly
afraid OF them. The frogs, though, they
liked, because they sing so sweetly.
They are very fond of hearing the frogs
sing. They proved more useful for
their music though than to eat cut
worms. I tried the beetles and they
were much better. All beetles, though,
are not alike. There is the Japanese
beetle" He went to his pile Of boxes
and took out one.
Here Is the Japanese beetle from his
eggs up. The beetles are eating all
the roses. the beetles have eaten all the
flowers, the beetles are killing the
young trees, the beetles are attacking
the sugar cane. Why don't You Kill the
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06

TN a modest little house IN Oakland
lives Professor. Albert Koerbele. He
is as retiring as his house. which
stands away from the street as far
as it can, and is surrounded by
vines and shrubs, some one Of
which has the exact perfume Of plum
blossoms, the first plum blossoms that
come in the East before all the snow
is gone.
Professor Koerbele has just come
home from Mexico. He has been there
on a commission for the Hawaiian Gov
eminent He knows as much about
scale as any man in the United States
and has one Of the finest collections of
butterflies, scales, parasites and beetles
in the world
81 did not do a great deal in Mexico
this time he said. "Out there we
have only one species of banana. I
remembered that in Mexico was a very
fine red banana about a foot long. The
Hawaiians raise bananas to send to the
United States, SO the Government
wanted me to get some better kinds.
81 have been four months in Mexico
selecting many plants to grow in the
islands. Some of commercial value and
some ornamental.
There were dozens of pill boxes on
the table which, when opened, proved
to be filled with specimens-bugs. One
crawled out of the open box and the
professor put it back as tenderly as a
cat puts a venturesome kitten back into
its nest.
"They are my friends" He looked
around at the cases of dried insects.
'Since I was little boy they have been
my pleasure. / had to work days, but
at night I would go out into the grass
and the woods and hunt for them. Sun
days L always spend in the woods; it
is my church"
AS he spoke, the professor opened
boxes containing the most gorgeous
butterflies and beetles, glittering like
jewels.
In Ceylon the men, as we'll as wo-
men, wear the gorgeous beetles mount
ed in gold.
It was Professor Koerbele who, ten
years ago, found the vedalia, a lady
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06

I bottle Of port wine mixed with egg, a
| bottle of red wine. brandy, coffee and
kola biscuits. besides our instruments
and extra helmets, gloves and sweat
ers-apout seventeen pounds to the
| man. We found the port wine and egg
the most suitable for our use, although
we could not always keep even that on
| our stomachs. We tried to heat cof-
| fee over a Russian furnace, in which
| spirits of wine were burned, but we
| nearly always found it difficult to get
| the water. to boil, and once the whole
| furnace blew up with a terrific report,
| sprinkling us with boiling spirits of
wine, and nearly binding us. Several
nights we went to bed sick, owing to
the impossibility of getting warm food
| Few people can appreciate the terrible
| dependency which follows such an ex-
perience.
During the entire trip in the higher
altitude | suffered most acutely from
nausea, and from the inability TO catch
my breath. my throat being so dry from
continued breathing through the
| mouth that ! was obliged very often
to cough. This would, stop my breath
Ing and end in an unpleasant fit of
| choking. Even our most seasoned
guides were overcome frequently One
night one of our Swiss porters, a pow-
erful mountafneer named Eoehmatter,
fell Ill with terrible nausea and faint
ness. and we had to let him suffer,
there being no way of relief.
But eating was only one OF our
troubles Sleeping was even a greater
difficulty. Our tent had a peaked
roof three and a half feet from the
ground, and the floor was securely
sewn to the sides, SO as to prevent the
wind from getting under 1t. When all
of us were in 1t we were compelled to
lie CLOSE together, and when one Of us
turned every man in the party was
awakened. The tent was air tight, and
before morning the air often grew SO
stuffy and foul that we could scarcely
breathe, and yet we dared not open the
flap for fear of the intense cold. An
other really serious difficulty was the
roar Of snoring which went up from the
sleepers. A man could not get enough
oxygen by breathing through the nose,
and when he was asleep he naturally
allowed his mouth to drop open. The
result was one prolonged and dread
full snore, which kept us all awake by
turns. During several nights I do not
think / slept more than an hour or two,
and that toward morning, when we
should have been on the road upward.
Often when we cFawled out in the
morning the cold seemed absolutely I'M
endurable. I have seen our men sit.
down and cry like children. SO discour,
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06

beetles7 Every one in Hawaii COM
planned TO me.
Now in Japan this beetle breeds only
twice a year, but in Hawaii it breeds
every six weeks. They were increasing
in Hawaii and destroying everything
bugs, insects and vegetation. They
were very ravenous and destructive.
81 watched those hungry beetles.
said to myself, What can do? Nothing
eats them and they eat everything.
thought of 1t daytimes and dreamed
about beetles at night.
Then I went to Japan. The beetles
come out at night. I. too, was out at
night. I was getting discouraged,
when one morning I carried dead
beetle home. He had tiny red specks
on him. Next day in his joints came
a kind Of cotton. and next day this cot
ton was green. I put beetle in with
the dead one and 1 found he got the
red spots and was dead. I was too
glad to think, but / put in handful
of beetles. They all got the tiny red
spots and died. I can show you one
Under a microscope could detect
tiny red spots.
ut is a fungus" continued the pro-
lessor in explanation. 1--WE have never
heard of it before. Nothing has ever
been written Of it and we cannot re-
produce it except in the one way. There
is a spore or seed and 1t always kills
the beetles"
Sort Of a microbef''
''That Is Just what 1t Is. It produces
a disease which Is always fatal to the
beetles.
"Of course I took the dead beetles
back to Hawaii and inoculated live
ones, which / set free over the islands.
Soon dead beetles were everywhere
Now the Japanese beetle is of little
consequence in Hawaii.
How about the San Jose scale7"
"It can be destroyed. They have
parasites to kill it, but not enough.
They ought to breed the parasites
faster.
Five years ago there were so many
that not much grew on the islands ex-
cept sugar cane. have not left one
enemy of vegetation in Hawaii now"
HELEN GRAY.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06

Yes, you are poor fellow"
mo this like Jesus Christman.
He pointed excitedly to Professor
KS hat, a green-Iined tile.
Yes"
mo good you" and he pointed con-
temptuously to the dead bugs.
You known" cueried Professor
Koerbele.
You bet, heap you beti Oh, boss
eat. No good then"
Can you show me boss eatr :.
Poor fellow me, poor fellow me.
whined the native, eying the scientists
hat longingiy.
"Will some tobacco dor" Professor
Koerbele had no other hat and was
good way from town. The black fellow
grinned to his ears.
Good fellow you, good fellow you.
You follow me. show you"
For nearly twenty miles he followed
the man. The bushman did not seem
to take any bearings or even watch
the sun. He knew what he was after.
however, and at the end of the trip he
pointed out tree to the professor.
The boss eat had made the scale
very scarce, but 1t was there, and so
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06

feigning insanity and lying rigid to
simulate catalepsy are tricks familiar
to prison officials.
Even doctors may sometimes be de-
ceived by impostors, who display so
much ingenuity in the art of deception.
Those who gorge shellfish for the
sake of getting nettlerash, who put stuff
in their eyes TO inflame them and even
thrust a needle down to the lids Of the
eye to get a cataract furnish a few of
the forms Of imposition resorted to at
times, either to evade punishment or to
escape military service. Such decep-
lions are known to have been kept up
through fearful ordeals of torture with
ter cause.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06
Strange Way i'm Which CALIFORNIA;
Tiny Fruit Pests are Destroyed by Science.
fly the Jopupese beetle and other pests Of formers

'0fiJ S0SDfOI SS6iSs eisc ssSi - s'Ss
was the little red Iadybug which was
the ancestor Of those who came to Call
fornia to settle.
It is an insignificant little bug tc
look at, quite like the clean little thing
ing to It to Fly away home, youl
house is on Ere. your children VIII
burn"
At last the professor came home
with the ladybug and all her family
packed in wet moss. He got the
steward to put the box In the great
icehouse Of the ship along with the
green vegetables and other eatapies
1t was two years from the time tnal
Professor Koerbele had said he could
kill the scale in three years.
At Washington he prepared nation
cry and bred new ladybugs TO get
them acclimated before ahey were
turned loose In California orchards.
His boast was not vain one. for cot
tony cushion scale has very nearly dis
appeared IN California.
Now I have been working for nve
years for the Hawaiian Government.
The coffee plant scale took me TO Ha-
wall. The plant grew well, but micro
scopic scale came on the stems and
sucked the sap so the berries fell OF.
THE Government sent for me to come
10 dl1o OhCIS Liz a 6CN0
salary while was hunting for q para
site to destroy this scale. / knew the
scale and had brought some specimens
of it back with other things from New
Caledonia. had been out there and
got acquainted with man, convict,
who went about with a ball chained to
his foot and his right arm chained to
his waist I did not like to see him
in that condition. He was a man who
was well educated and great natural
tst, He could have done splendid work.
for he was an observing man. To save
time I wrote to the convict in New
Caledonia and described the scale. He
had worked some with me. He found
the parasite and sent it to me in the
larvae state on ice.
at bred a great many, and now the
raising of coffee is next to sugar In the
islands in Importance. Last year they
exported s22. 900 worth, where five years
ago there was scarcely enough for
home use and that was very poor.
Now about my beetles. l think they
are the most interesting part OF my
collection. They are not pretty to look
at, no?"
The scientists eyes frightened at his
boxes Of black beetles. He looks very
Young man when he is talking. Any
one who lives with nature keeps the
dew of his youth"
SOME OF THE BUGS THAI
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06

which was exerted by her relatives the
Princess finally resolved to wed the
plebeian. Thereby she sacrificed all
rights to name and title, to wealth and
lifelong friends for the humble position
of wife of a poverty-harassed pro-
fesser. On the last day of April of 1857
she becar1e Mrs. Lauchert.
Years o. poverty and distress fol-
lowed her action. Her brother, Prince
Clodwig, who is one of the richest men
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06

in the whole of Germany. was appealed
to in vain
Children came to the pair, and among
these was a daughter, Amelia, who was
born in 1858. 1t is she who died by her
own hand on these foreign shores.
1t was a most unusual and interest
ing sight to the passers-by to see the
high-bern mother wheeling her little
child about on the streets of the city of
Gotha, where the professor had taken
up his abode. Apparently there was
no difference between her and the COM
mon folks that jostled her.
In time the young Amelia grew up a
perfect image of her mother. She had
two brothers, one a lieutenant of the
Nineteenth Field Artillery, who is still
stationed at Erfurt, near Gotha, and
who now supports his widowed mother
on his meager pay; the other is for
;esten a man Addicted To- many XioeR
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06

There's something decidedly original
about that Miss LIE Claire, the new star,
SIS that so? hadn't noticed it,
'Then you are not very observing. She
doesn't claim that she belongs to an old
and aristocratic Southern family
Not long ago Frenchman died, and
clause in his will sets forth his desire to
be conveyed to his last resting place in
a motor car arranged as a hearse.