The age-herald., 1898-10-29
CHATS WITH MEN
 IN HOTEL LOBBIES

musicians who added to the noises of the
 most crowded hotel lobby in the south. ] He said his name was Lawrence Smith, of l Texas, and it was observed that he was | in emotional mood. "At Laredo four
 months ago there were three Mexican 1 musicians whom the world couldn't equal" Where is Laredo, and how do you l know?" asked with an inquiring | turn of mind an a sweety-foul pipe. "Gentlemen, scorn to answer the rude | question. The musicians were grand. | They had not been playing four minutes | before very in the big hotel lobby
 was crying dancing, or doing both. | Never heard or saw anything like it be- l fore. Why, you couldn't sit still and you l couldn't walk about; you wriggled or you 1 hobbled. Fact. I cried, gentlemen; I own | up, gentlemen, I cried. I just couldn't | hold in. I blubbered like baby, and was l never happy before, gentlemen. They | played half hour and went away with a hatful of money, gentlemen-a hat very | full. Couldn't induce them to stay any | longer. Said they were bound to go. They | were an elderly man, young fellow, and | a girl-the prettiest black-eyed girl that | ever kissed her hand to the man in the | moon. Great tarantulas gentlemen there was never any other girl in this world as pretty as that demure little Mexican" Why didn't you follow herr" asked the l man with the pipe
 Tried to. l was spelbound. Had lost | my senses, and didn't find them until the Mexicans had been gone ten minutes and | then started in pursuit; but they had l disappeared, and left no trace behind l them. Nay! They did leave something in | evidence. When I returned to the hotel I went to the chair in which she had sat. l There picked up a little silver bangle | that had fallen from her arm. Here it is | now on my watchchain, as you may see, | gentlemen.
 l And you heard of her no more?" "Yes, heard" he said with sigh. Next morning she was found on the l roadside, three-quarters of mile from the | edge of town. In her heart there was a l stiletto." | The man with the marble and the wist- | full eye passed out into the chilly night. William c. Whitney's other self was at 1 the Morris last night. Tie resemblance to the former secretary of the navy was so striking that it sent cold chills down ones back. The stranger might have been Whitney's spook, you know. But Whitney | is still strong in the flesh, with his tall fig ure, his slightly Roman nose, surmounted by the ever-present eyeglasses, and with that calm aristocratic bearing so marked in that man of so many personal charms of manner. There can be no possible prob able doubt whatever that it was Whtney's
 astral body. When questioned, the attrac- tive figure declared itself to be George Wilkins, of Binghampton, where Jones used to pay the freight. But that was a dodge of Whitneys astral body. That
 body will be in Thibet at cock tomor- row morning.
 Colonel Jefferson M. Falkner is at the Morris. He comes to Birmingham so fre- | quently that he is almost a citizen of the | town, but he is cordially welcomed at all 1 times It may be remarked of Colonel Falkner, somewhat in the spirit of old 1saak Waltons tribute to the strawberry: Doubtless nature could have made better man, but doubtless nature never did. In addition to being the general attorney of the Louisville and Nashville railroad Colonel Falkner is the model farmer of Alabama Four miles out from Montgom- cry he has plantation of sixteen hundred acres of the finest black belt land, and there he farms on scientific principles. He grows everything that can be grown. This year he is sowing fifty bushels of wheat, to mention one fact. He has at the fariA- stead 40-horse power steam engine, which drives a grist mill a ginnery and press, a corn-shredder. certain processes in model dairy, threshng machines, and so on and pumps water for the estate. The shredder is something new and some thing very remarkable. It was invented for utilizing cornstalks as food for stock
 
 corn represent in nutriment sixty per cent of the corn crop. The shredder prevents | the waste of the stalks by so preparing 1 them that cattle and horses consume the product with relish and great benefit. | Colonel Falkner is one of the busiest men | in the state, but he finds spare hours to spend at his beloved farm.
 State Superintendent of Education Tur- ner was in town yesterday. His second will pXnire Thnrsday and then l there will be vacancy for the governor l to fill, the superintendent-elect, Sen l ator J. W. Abercrombie, of Calhoun, does l not intend to assume the duties of the of l flee preferring to take his seat in the sen- l ate. It Is understood that the governor l will appoint the retiring superintendent to | the vacancy and that after the adjourn | ment of the general assembly Turner will l resign, when the governor will appoint l Abercrombie. It is probably the first time 1 on record that a state officer-elect has de- clined to take the oath of his office. It is | understood that Senator Abercrombie l maintains that his duties in the senate | are so pressing that he is in honor bound | to discharge them. He will have charge | in the senate of all bills concerning public education
 "Cory has been sick with cold and fever | and kept to his room several days, but | he is much better and will be on duty | tomorrow, said VlSltor rom the capltal | concerning the governors gifted and wide l ly popular private secretary No govern l or ever had a more faithful or more effi- l cient secretary. Cory goes to the execu- l tive office early and stays late, just as l the governor himself does, and throughout | all the hours of the day he has kind and sympathetic words for all visitors, wheth- | CT it be negro woman come to plead for l the life or liberty of her husband, or l some great man come to seek office for a | friend He is an ideal secretary and very | largely an ideal man.
 Birmingham should have factorles 10 | work up the unsurpassed hard hickory
 wood of this immediate district said MT. l Tom Kendrick, yesterday. '"fhe local de- | mand for pick handles alone is enormous. | And so much grows out of small factories! l Several years ago four young men in Green | yille Ala, put in $500 each and purchased | some secondhand wooden pail manufactur- | ing machinery. They set it up in a little l huildinp in Greenyille, hired steam power