davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Willmar tribune., 1898-09-14

IT is estimated that between 5,000,.
600 and 6,ooo,oo rabbits will be ex.
ported from New Zealand this season.
One exporter is at present receiving
from Is, 900 to 1000 rabbits per day,
and is paying in wages to trappers be.
tween So, 900 and $1,000 week. He
has "a traps out, giving mployment to
500 men. Last season he exported
about 700, 900 rabbits.
Willmar tribune., 1898-09-14
Promoted.

Washington Sept. .s.-The president
has made the following prom otions for
distinguished services atsSantiago: To
be major generals of volunteers, Brig.
Gen. William Ludlow and Brig. Gen. S.
s. Summer. To be brigadier generals:
Col. Richard F. Comba, Fifth infantry,
and Lieut.. Col. Joseph T. Haskell,
Seventeenth infantry s.2> ,ss.> E. .,.ia
Willmar tribune., 1898-09-14

Killed by Lixhtninr.

Lawrence, Kal, 4, Sept. ohm Jen-
aings and Ellet Bates, each aged about
s12 1 years, we're struck By ligh thing and
killed near here. During storm they.
sought htshelterunderast as tree
Willmar tribune., 1898-09-14

LORD CHARLES BEREsEoRD, the noted
sailor, charges . half crown for each
of his autographs. He does not pocket
the money thus made, although in q
year it amounts to a very considerable
sum, but devotes it all to the various
naval charities in which he takes So
lively an interest ,.., -
Willmar tribune., 1898-09-14
Soldiers Drowned..

Camp Wikoff, Montauk Point. u. Is.
spet. st honnas 81. Wheeler, son of
Gen. Joseph Wheeler, and Second Lient.. S
Nc Newton SO. .Kirkpa trick, First cavalry.
We're drowned while bathing here
Wednesday afternoon. So
Willmar tribune., 1898-09-14
Frost In Nebraaka,

Gordon 2Neb., Sept. here was an
exceedingly heavy frost here Monday.
night, with Ice thick on standing
zWa ter. Corn will be soft tened, while
melons, garden u trucA and wild 8 fruit
Sripening SIS cut Sc 81 ort
Willmar tribune., 1898-09-14
VIII Visit on, : r.:

.- Oma aha, Neb.. Sept. !. - special from
washington wash says pecifically y that Pres
sident Mckinley has consented to visit
Omaha re- october l2e, during the week Of
the peace jubilee ct the q Trans Adissis-
ssippi exposit ton.
Willmar tribune., 1898-09-14
on for Cuba. !.

z5s New York, Sept. s. Rear-Admiral
sampson, Maj. Gen. James I. d Wade,
Maj. Gen. Mat thew Duncan and
Lieut.. Col. John W, Clous, members 81
the Cuban comm issi on, left yesterday
Tor Cuba on the Res olute.ss SssSs...ss
Willmar tribune., 1898-09-14
! Swept by 8 Tornailo::

81 St. Joseph, Mo-, Sept. s. "a tornado
swept over this city and residences
were unroofed, !, barns torn down and
many buildings utterly demolished.
The loss is placed at $15O, ,0OO.s
Willmar tribune., 1898-09-14
Los. Of Life by a storm,

Towanda Pa, Sept. 8.-A terrific
cyclone swept over Spring gfeld town
ship, il the northern part of this coun-
sty, late tuesday night, killing three
men, six horses, "a cows and destroy
ing . number Of barns and outbuild--
ings. Ri; s.s
Willmar tribune., 1898-09-14
N or CAMP WkOFF, MONTAUk POINT, LONG ISLAND
known as the dog watch, at Music hall
Monday night was attended bv over

known as the dog watch, at Music hall
Monday night was attended by over
5000 people. Congressman Jacob H.
Bromwell presided, and in addition to
Weber's military band and chorus of
several hundred voices, there was mu-
sic by the Cambro- American Choral So
ciety and noted soloists. The biograph
was used during intermissions for the
display of war pictures, which gave
vivid views of scenes in which many of
the comrades had participated. The
principal address of the evening was by
Gen. j. P. S. Goblin, commander in chief
of the G. A. R., who was profuse in his
praise of the arrangements made in
Cincinnati for the encampment. He
spoke of the heroic conduct of Amer
lean soldiers in the Spanish war as we'll
as in the civil war.
-: Naval Veterans Parade.
Cincinnati, Sept. 7.-The thirty-sec-
ond annual encampment of the G. A.
r. is success so far as attendance is
concerned. The features of yesterday
were the regimental, brigade and
other reunions and the naval parade,
which required an hour or more to pass
a given point, and was everywhere
watchedby crowds of deeply interest
ed spectators. ...H
-. ~ The Great Parade.
Cincinnati, Sept. s.--The great an
nual pageant of the grand army was
the event yesterday. The veterans in
limo nnm rod Ok nnn tho limo IF rooroh
was nearly three miles, and there were
marked demonstrations all along the
route by the thousands of spectators.
Willmar tribune., 1898-09-14
VISITS TROOPS IN CAMP NJ
President Nc cKinley Spend ds;several
Hours Among the Soldiers at
Montauk Point. =...
:J0YFuLlY GREETED BY THE HEROES.
The Hospitals, Are Closely Inspected
-"Never Saw q Handsomer Camp
Address to the Boys In Blue Full
Of Glowing Praise-IntrOGucedb by
Gen. Wheeler. ,..- -

Camp Wikoff, Montauk Point. Sept.
5.-President Mckinley spent five hours
in the camp Saturday. bareheaded most
of the time, visiting the sick in the hos
pitfalls and inspecting the well in their
cantonments. He made speech to the
assembled infantryman, reviewed the
cavalrynen, expressed his opinion of
the camp to the reporters, and issued
an order directing the regulars to re-
turn to their stations east of the Mis-
sissippi.
Gen. Wheeler arranged for the in
spection party to go through the de-
tention camp, past Gen. Skaters tent,
where the president could greet the
commander of the Santiago forces.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20

all ships lave to anchor far out in Panama
bay. and goods and passengers are brought
in by lighters. I am told that when this
new harbor is dredged out reduced rates
for through freight will be charged on the
made to get ships to land here instead OF
sailing about Cape Horn or through the
Straits Of Magellan.
One-third of the Canal Finished.
The French chief of construction who
showed me over tho Culebra cutting to-day
told me he considered h canal more than
half done. This is probably q rosy view OF
the work. and I am told by others that one-
third would be nearer the proper figure;
The old company worked eignn nj s sSarspa an OF
10000 men in their employ. They spent q
quarter Of q billion dollars and
about sixty-five million cubic yards OF earth
and rock. Then the bubble burst. and TINS
new company was formed: .z They En- Soo ave ave
have made q big cut In the work Tor the
money. At Culebra the cutting 81. the deep
est point is now about 225 feet, ana seventy
five feet of this was done. by this company.
stand in the cut than a twenty-story New
York fiat, and the ravine shows the I'M
menSity Of the work. The new company -
now very nearly out Of money. 1t Is pre-
pairing for a canal commission from Paris.
which will probably be here before o. ,s this
painted up for the occasion, as the future OF
the canal largely depends upon. the report
of the commissioners. II It should be favor.
able it is said by, the French here that
the work. but II not it will probably be
given up or sold. The estimates of amount
required to complete the work range all
the way from sI5.O0O.00 upward. and it Is
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20

some idea of the condition of affairs to-day.
There is no doubt but that the work now
being done is honest, economical and effect
i've. and also that If the present p
had enough money they could complete the
canal. AS to just how much they need I
have not been able to ascertain. I asked
the chief of construction to-day what
amount he thought was necessary. He
shrugged his shoulders and raised his
hands and his eyebrows as he replied: "A
great sum! A great sum-"
The Canal Route.
But before I further describe the work
that is being done now, let me give you
the story of the canal in a nutshell. The
isthmus of Panama is much like the neck
of an hourglass, of which North America
and South America are the two globes. It
is a wonderfully slender and al exceedingly
the distance between Washington city and
Boston via New York. and ranges in width
from lis miles to about thirty miles. Low
mountains run irregularly through 1t. 1t
has plateaus and plains, and near the coast
swamps and moraSSes. Where the canal is
other as the crow flies is probably not more
than forty miles, but the railroad line is
forty-seven miles long, and the route laid
out for the Panama canal is still shorter.
Some of the mountains of the isthmus are
over 1900 feet high. Along the line of the
canal the highest elevation is the Culebra
ridge, the point that l visited to-day.
The canal eginS at the port of Colon. or,
as you may call it, ASpinWaN, though Colon
is the name used here. Colon is not far
the little island of ManZanillo. and at the
terminus of the Panama railroad. Starting
here, the line of the canal runs through the
valley of the Chagres, cutting the stream
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20
probable that s15o. 10000 is somewhere near
the proper figure. T

probable that $50. 00o.0o is somewhere nea
the roper figure.
Could Uncle Sam Buy Out, France1
From what 1 gather hero from q variety
Of inside sources I i believe that the French
are tired and sick of the job. and that
within a short time they will either drop It
or, what is more nrobabie. take in some
France to help them. The director In
charge, 1 am told, recently said that If the
/. Msh, chose to g Tn,c it u up he he had parties assds
to put up the money to complete It: France
has no faith whatever in the Nicaragua
canal scheme as q nationai unde sha ing
lieves it is all a matter of political bum
combe, and If u present commission
s shou1d , pfially v DC I hnysh,ng a tSer eo MT ss
a change at once at Panama.
Views of an American Engineer.
One of the most sensible takers as to
canal matters among the men I have met
here is Mr. r. G.. Ward. the civil engineer
and roadmaster of the Panama railroad.
He said to me last night: 1.-The canal pre-
sents no problems. financial or mechanical.
that the machinery they ave here is old
and defective according to modern meth
DDS. 1t will. do the work. but in the most
new Inventions since the canal was begun
and tens of millions of dollars we're spent
for these machines!sT The Chicago engineers
said it was only aeqIestion Of good ma
chimes and good work, and II I had to finish
the canal myself / should first find a big
hole and bury all the machinery they, are
now using in 1t and start anew. believe
it would be cheaper in the end. We now
have dredges that will scoop up rocks such
as those quarried for BUILDING houses like
dirt, and with the right tools work can be
done at q low cost"
How much will, it cost to finish the
canal?'
s15e. 0O0. 600 would make a sea level canal
here, and I think q sea level canal would
be far better than anv lock system. If the
French would give up the Panama canal
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20

1 should like to see Americans buy it and
run it. 1t Is certainly the shortest ano l
fre a canal and here You can tell Just
about what it would cost, The French have
paid the expenses of the experiments: they
oaSs ia eane / b safas 's there viii be 81 a canal
here"
Millions Of Dollars ROtting Away.
Mr.. Wards remark about the Anticipated
machinery of the canal is founded on some
very bitter facts. Machinery which cost
millions Upon millions is now lying along
the line Of the canal. rotting and rustlng.
There are expensive dredses which cost
fortunes, now utterly worthless. Enough
car wheels to equip a trunk line of rail-
road are scattered from one end Of the
isthmus to the other, and the rotten trucks.
II their pieces could be put together, Wouid
make q train half way across the isthmus.
The variety Of wasted machinery ana rot
ting property is indescribable. l rumble
up wooden car beds with my fingers.
ed machinery near the Atlantic mouth Of
the canal. I saw sheds filled with costly
but now comparatively useless engines. and
as I looked at the evidences OF waste ano
extravaganza all about me l could not help
thinking of the thrifty peasants. or the
Wooden Stockings Of France. as De LES
seps used to call them. from where the
most of this vast sum came. The French
officials poured out money here for years.
They bought everything by wholesale.
| When the old company stopped work they
had on hand, among other things, 150 float
ing derricks. $50 towboats and launches,
5000 iron dumping wagons. 1870 miles OF
railroad track for the canal work. and over
| 0.0O0 cars. This. you must remember, was
scattered along a distance not much great
err than that between New York and Balti-
more. They had built beautiful cottages
on every hill and slightly place from the
Atlantic to the Pacific. There were 5000
buildings along the line Of the canal, and
some of these are occupied by negroes to-
day.
When Money Flowed Like Water.
Those were the days when money was
the cheapest of all things here. Loads of
it were carried across the isthmus on the
cars, and men made fortunes in a month.
Eifel. the man who built the big tower.
had one contract which netted him s.. 900. 900,
New York parties. including Henry B.
Slavin and tho American Constructing and
Dredging Company, had contracts amount
ing to so. O00. 90. The Americans did hon
est work. too. and made fortunes. Common
engineers took contracts and got rich. ]
heard to-day of one man who was down on
contractor, discharged him as worthless.
When the contractor returned to Colon he
found this fellow going about with q black
valet holding an umbrella over him and
apparently very prosperous. Being asked
how he had gotten along, the man replied:
Il am q rich mar now. You see, l took q
contract to I'LL q hole along the line OF the
canal. and was to get 5000 for the job.
] Another man had . contract to cut down Q
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20

in many places. until at about fourteen
miles or more the ground rises ~irregularly
until it reaches the top at Culebra. There
is all told about twelve miles of deep cut
ting to be done, and thence to the sea the
excavation is comparatively easy. There
is much worse rock on any of our railroad
lines than that of the Culebra. One diff
Guilty is in taking care of the waters of the
Chagres river. This is now about 800 feet
wide and two feet deep. 1t looked little
more than a creek when I passed along it
yesterday, but in the wet season 1t some
times rises thirty feet In a night and bears
along. everything in its floods. This river
and the big excavation are the engineering
problems of the canal. De Lesseps' idea
was to hold back the Chagres by a big dam
s sinee les VI wh 0p' m gadeua thy Chicago hhe Shi d q n ees
canal, and who are now in Nicaragua. said,
while here the other day. that the Chagres
looking over the entire route Of the canal.
ventured the statement that the building of
BE eeA 's'e- '''A a''A Ae'' was LEASH
What the French Have Done.
Everyone has heard Of the Panama cana
scandals. The truth is worse tina any
thing that has been published. I will. fur
ther on, give some stories which I have
heard here of the e-xtravagances and frauds
Of the first companies. when champagne
flowed like water, and gold was almost as
plenty as copper is IN some parts Of Mon
spent more than S265, 00. 900, and millions Of
this were almost openly stolen by the con-
tractors. At the same time the work that
was done remains, and if the canal Is sold
it will not nave to be done again. About
twenty miles Of the canal is practically
completed. The fourteen miles at the ea0t-
ern end have been somewhat filled up BY
the Chagres river. but a slight dredging
would make this part of the work clear.
l visited it last week and saw that nothing
had been done for years. Then there is
about six or eight miles finished at the
Pacific end of the canal, and the dredges
| Dor. This is new work and is of news inter-
! est. The present company has just COM
| pleted a wharf 1000 feet long at this point.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20

4lAC Wv
Arthur Route
controls Steam
ship Lines with
regular Sailings
from Port Arthur
to Liverpool. Lon
don. Rotterdam,
Antwerp. Bremen
and Hamburg;
also, Tampico,
Vera Cruz and
Progresso. Mex
1co.. Accommo-
dations for cabin
passengers will
soon be a feature
of these steamer
lines, thus at
fording the only
passenger service
from the Gulf
ports to Europe
and Mexico.
AT the Southern
terminus of the
road is building
a great city.
Every pound of
merchandise that
has ever been ex-
ported or i'm
ported through Sa-
bine Pass Harbor
has been handled
over the docks at
PORT ARTHUR.
Through this COM
mercial gateway
is being exported
the products and
manufactured
articles of our
Western States
and Cities.
The policy of
this road is pro-
gressive. 1t runs
the only dining
car south of
n City, and
all trains are
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20

scene was a busy one. Long trains of iron
cars loaded with rock and clay moved over
the canal tracks. carrying the excavated
materials and dumping them on the banks.
Immense steel dredges, each as tall as a
two story house and ten times as big as
the largest thrashing machine, gouged out
rocks and gravel, in big iron buckets fas-
tened to two endless chains. carried them
high into the air and poured them out into
cars. Here thirty Jamaica negroes were
drilling holes in the rock for immense
charges of dynamite, and from away over
there at tho right came the boom. boom.
boom of the explosions of another gang a
mile away. AT the station of Empera-
dor. a few miles further on, seven
dredges were scoopinS up rock and raising
1t in buckets each of which would hold
more than a big barrel. Connected with
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20
HAS COST A QUARTER OF A BILLION
DOLLARS AND IS NOT HALF DONE.
TWO OF THE GREAT CANALS.
$500 LABORERS AT WORK AND
WHAT THEY ARE DOING.
aris Canal COmmfssfon-wfII France
Complete the Job or VIII She
Sell Out to Uncle SAINT
: Millions Wasted on
Old Machinery.

Panama, March For the past three
years 5000 men have been steadily working
here on the Panama canal. There are $500
negroes at work here to-day. and a remark
able amount of cutting, dredging and
building up of earth works has been ac-
complished. 1 have gone over the route
of the canal and have taken a number of
photographs of the work as it is in March,
1898. This morning I went on the cars out
to the Culebra cut and watched 500 men
working there. and was told that there
were 200 employed within three miles of
where i stood. The Culebra is, you know,
the highest point on the canal route. The
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20
French newspapers. The majority in the

French newspapers. The majority in the
chamber of deputies was bought with S..
0O0, OOO, and a member Of the cabinet got
$50. 600 for services rendered This all came
out when the bubble burst and 1.-THE wooden
stockings" the French peasantry and mid
die classes, awoke to find their savings
gone and their canal stock worth nothing.
They were tho same people who had come
to the front and paid at the demands OF
Germany 81. 900. 900 900 in settlement Of the
Franco-PruSsian war. and now when they
had again grown well-to-do many found
that they were penniless 1t Is from these
same hard listed, economical, patriotic cit
izens that France will have to get the
great part of the money to finish the
FRANK q. CARPENTER.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20

each dredge were trolley lines, upon which
the loaded buckets were carried in the air
off to the points where the rock was need
ed. There were other trains of iron cars
here drawn rapidly along by screeching To-
comotives, and a thousand negroes were
digging down rock, loading cars and drill
ing for the blasting. l had letters from the
chief officials of the canal here at Panam
directing that everything was to be shown
me. and I was able through these to get
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20
CROSS SECTION OF THE ROUTE.

and it is stated by them that within a
comparatively short time ships will be able
to sail up to this wharf and transfer their
freight direct to the Panam railroad cars.
This new wharf is really a very fine
structure. It is made of steel, with a steel
roof. which is supported by steel posts.
Travelling craneS run by engines move along
a track on the edge of the wharf. and the
heaviest of articles can be lifted by them
out of the steamers and swung down to
the doors OF the cars behind. At present
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20
II can't guess" said I.

1T cost just 5000. 900. Oh. those were
flush times. Everybody made money
month and the profits were enormous. We
had Sarah Bernhardt and other actresses
from Paris to play for us. and one time I
remember Sarah got $1,000 francs for ten
performances. Panama was then almost
as wicked as Paris"
The Stockings of France.
Yes. they were flush times. Flush times
among the rich contractors in Paris as
we'll as with the associate contractors here.
Shiploads Of costly machinery were found
useless. but more of the same kinds were
sent On. Paris shared in the profits. Near
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20
hill for s15O, 900. and I charged him $50. 900 to
nut his hill In nv hole II gave me S1lQ 900

hill for $15O, 900. and I charged him $50. 900 to
put his hill in my hole. 1t gave me 500. 900
without spending a cent" Another man
measured up a part Of the Chagres river
IN q section of his excavation contract and
by a collision with the French accountants
made a fortune. Houses which you could
put up at home for s., 900 were charged for
here at $4,000 and $4,000. / drove out this
afternoon to the Pacific mouth of the canal
past a big frame cottage not as good as
many a 5000 house in the suburbs of Bos-
ton, which I was told cost it's owner $780,
900. and as we passed by it a resident
banker of Panama, who has long lone bus
mess here and whose guest I was for the
time. said: 1.-THE same man who built that
house constructed this three miles Of road
on which we are riding. n What do you
think it cost?"
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-11-10

tenn of sewerage. That the cabinet
has given every thought and care to
the subject is undoubted. 1t is a spe-
cial pet scheme of the President of
the Board of Health and he devoted
much time and pains to explaining its
features to member of the Legisla-
ture when the vote upon the appro-
priation for the purpose came up.
Elaborate plans were shown and eX-
amined by the Senators and Members
so that they might thoroughly under
stand the system recommended.
The whole matter now hinges on
the loan, There is ample money to
take up the whole loan, and it rests
with the community itself whether
this most necessary improvement be
carried out or not. One cannot make
bricks without straw, and the cabinet
cannot initiate the sewerage system
without money.