The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-27

little railroad which IS IN process OF |
construction.
a CITY OF TORRID SWAMP.
Beira itself is a combination of sand, |
torrid enervating heat and corrugated
iron shanties For water front there is
a large bay into which flows the Pung- !
wee river; the grand plaza is huge !
swamp where decaying vegetable mat /
ter nourishes deadly miasma. The
country for a long distance inland is
simply reclaimed seashore, and is so I
low and fiat that the tide goes w the
river forty-flve miles, and if you dig
one foot in the sand anywhere. water
bubbles up.
In addition to the iron shanties there
are light weather board houses, ship
ped out in pieces from Norway and
Sweden; and on the Point, where life is
more endurable, the well-to-do citizens
have erected decent little villas. The
life of the town is centered in two ho-
tells. one at either end, and everyone
taks personal interest in the rivalry
between them. The Beach is situated
near the boat-landing on the bay. and
is owned by Roland Creech, ex-sheriff
of Butte, Mont. The other rejoices in
the name of Royal, and has for its pro-
prietor a ferret-faced Frenchman, who
! knows the game of faro.
| AS a stranded American with good in
! tentionS, Mr.. Reeder, who is brother
! in-law of the eX-sheriff, insisted on my
accepting the hospitality of the Beach
| hotel until the next German steamer
arrived, although there was no out
| look For remuneration, and [ was a
! total stranger to him. You're a long
ways from the Bowery,' he said, land
/ know you want to get back. But
look out for these little policemen
Rail- AMI A FIGHT
1 had an opportunity the first night
of Witnessing a little fray that well il
! Illustrated the doings of the police. The
governor held a grand reception in the
| Royal hotel, to which all the prominent
! Portuguese, the French, English and
the German merchants had been invit-
ed. In spite of the mercury drifting
about high in the nineties. everyone
came in Immaculate evening dress, for
the English customs have taken hold
there. and the women wore their most
elaborate toilets.
Half Of Beira, from o'clock until
10, blocked the street, watching the ar
rival of guests, for only al night is it
possible to remain out of doors long on
account of the extreme heat.
The ball was well worth seeing, for
it looked like a pageant in the time of
the beautiful women in very decollette
gowns, sparkling with jewels, and the
stalwart blacks, clad only in a jack
strap, who trundled up the little palan-
euin cars, decorated for the occasion
4 garish bunting.
As each car unloaded it's burden q
captain of police would hurry it off to
make room for another, facilitating the
: movements of the rear guard with the
fiat of his sword
In the crowd there were constant
chickering's and half a dozen knock
downs occurred, but when the police
arrived they could find no one to ar
rest Sneers and jeers at the expense
of the Soldiery were INDUCED in, too,
and by the time all the guests had ar
rived the little fellows were bursting
with rage and laundering to cut loose
on an Englishman. When the oppor-
tunity came they lost no time in MAX
) ing use of it. Twenty police had been
formed in two lines across the side
walk forming a sort of gauntlet,
! through which the guests walked into
the building. This was maintained in
a struggling fashion long after the fes-
tivities had commenced and the crowd
dispersed; still pedestrians were or
dered to walk out in the street.
Scotchman named Muirhead, a
/ plumber in Beira, with two compan-
luis, Gil IG6IIIlS Il IilLIC JOii4, LdDDSueQ
along at this time and walked through
the file, jostling some policemen. In a
/ flash the three We're bounced on, going
/ down under the press of numbers The
/ Scotchman held his own, however, and
! laid about with his fists to good eff
! feet. He was clearing a space about
him when a Portuguese sneaked up be-
hind and stabbed him under the arm
/ AS he turned, half a dozen others
I sprang at him with their swords, cut
ting and stabbing until he fell. When
picked up he had twelve body wounds,
one thumb was entirely severed and
his left cheek had been slit from mouth
to ear.
ENGLISHMEN TO THE RESCUE.
Cries of Murder and Help, Eng
lishmen," brought out men from the
Royal hotel, and a party of English
men from billiard room. At the head
of this party was Captain Foraker, the
heavy dragon. He carried billiard
cue, and looked Respondent in evening
dress.
While others were crying, "All Eng
lishmen lend hand" They're killing
an Englishman," and It's black
against white boys" Foraker chucked
away his cue and grabbed the first
Portuguese he reached, throwing him
bodily about fifteen feet The rapid
chunk" Of his fists was music and he
worked them like machine. He had
almost reached Muirhead when the
blast of a bugle was heard and around
the corner came a platoon of soldiers
from the barracks, half clad and with
fixed bayonets. To remain longer under
the fire of Martini rifles which was
about to follow would have been sure
death; so the relief party retreated to
the billiard room and held an indigna-
ton meeting
This awaited nothing, for Muirhead
spent the night in jail without having
his wounds dressed and was carried
home next day after paying a fine of
G25. The British consul refused to do
anything, though petitioned by the
English and American citizens.
Captain Foraker was in for arming
all the English and straightway as
saulting the Jail, and was disguised be-
cause no one would follow his lead. He
left the billiard room in a very bad
humor, but after poking three or four
blacks in the ribs to hear them Whoop,
he regained his usual jollity.
CAR FOR EVERY RESIDENT.
The streets of Beira are ten feet deep
with sand, so it is impossible for a
horse or OK to navigate there Indeed,
there is not a single horse in the town
and only one carriage. This belongs
to the governor, who has it brought out
of a shed once a month and ostenta-
tiously washed by his black boys
There is street railway, however,
or which the blacks are utilized as mo-
tive power. The gauge on this road is
two and one-half feet, the rails having