davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

names of thirteen persons who had died
from skunk bites in the neighboring coun-
ties. In 1873 Professor Riley, the great
entomologist. toured Western Kansas for
the purpose of Investigating this danger.
and later he published a pamphlet in which
he said: 1T is evident that for some rea-
son. over quite a period of years, the
skunks of Western Kansas nave been sore
~ afflicted with hydrophobia. Except when
diseased the bite of these animals is no
more dangerous than the bite of a squir-
rel
Topics had a conversation with Professor
Riley on this subject. and the professor
was greatly amused by a theory ad-
Vanced to him by Joab Garfield, a we'll
known buffalo hunter who traversed all of
Western Kansas. In the early lays many
hunters and trappers engaged in the busi-
ness of killing wolves for their pelts, and
it was the theory of Garfield that the
skunks got hold of the strychnine put out
for the wolves. and that. owing to some
PECULIARLY of their internal organism. they
We're not killed by the poison. but only made
NHN iHS pioieSsOE dNONeu tndC Strycn-
nine would kill a skunk as quick as it would
a wolf. but Garfield chung to his theory
and continued to exploit it whenever he
came to town.
Which reminds US of a method this old
trapper invented in the business of kill
ing wolves. 1t was the usual custom of
hunters to put poison in the carcasses of
the buffalo they had killed, but the trou-
bic with this method was that after eat
Ing of the poisoned flesh the wolves would
go away sometimes for miles before they
died. But Garfield arranged it so that
Mr.. Wolf would die in the harness, SO to
speak, by boring holes in a 2x6 scantling,
into which he poured melted tallow mixed
with poison. The only way the wolf could
get at the tallow was to lick it out of
the holes, and he usually stood there and
licked until he fell dead.
Poor old Garfield. One morning in 1875
his dead body and that of his wife were
found lying by the side of his half-burned
wagon at a point about seven miles north
of Fort Wallace. They had been killed
by the Indians. but a lot of empty cart
ridge shells lying about in the grass in
dictated that there had been a desperate
fight. Canfield's wife, a tall. gaunt Ken
tuckian, always accompanied him on his
hunting trips, and among the hunters it
was current report that she could take
the hide off a dead buffalo as quickly as
any man who ever trod the plains. No
sight more characteristic of the bounding
West could be imagined than that pre-
sented by Garfield and his wife as they
sat by their evening campfire. Their IA
vorite posture placed them squat Or the
ground. each smoking an old black pipe
filled with plug tobacco. For hours they
would gaze into the glowing embers,
neither speaking a word, but each mani
Testing a tranquility that seemed to mark
them as at peace with all the world.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
Public Lighting in England.

From the Cleveland Leader.
When Lord Kelvin. the British scientist.
was in America, a year or so ago, lie told
Of the interesting experiments that were
being made in Shoreditch, one of the par
ishes of London, in the utilization of street
s~weepings and garbage in the operation
of a municipal electric lighting plant.
The result Of the experiment has just
been made known. Up to a year ago the
people Of Shoreditch had paid about $50.
900 a year to have the garbage and street
refuge carted to barges on the Thames.
They had paid also about s20,O 600 a year for
gas to light the streets and public build
ings of the parish. A year ago it was de-
cided to establish an electric lighting plant.
That was done at a cost of sec, coo. or s10.-
600 more than the annual expenditure for
light and the removal of garbage. This
plant has been operated twenty-four hours
a day for six days of each week, furnishing
power for the operation of small factories
during the day and for street lighting pur-
poses at night. The street sweepings have
furnished nearly all the fuel required, the
cost of the coal consumed during the year
being only 1882. The total expenditure for
the first year on account of the operation
of the plant was $1,000, and the interest,
sinking fund. rents and depreciation
amounted to SIC. 46. bringing the total cost
up TO 1880. Inc total receipts for the
sale of light and power, including a credit
equal to the average charge for street
lighting by gas. were s45. 2O5. That left a
profit of $3.50 for the parish treasury.
which will be used, it is said, in enlarg-
ing the plant. Furnaces have been erected
also for the burning of the part of the
garbage than cannot be used as fuel in
the electric lighting plant. and the waste
steam will be used for heating the water
in public baths.
The experiment has been so successful. it
is said. that other parishes in London will
establish similar plants. and it is expected
that the whole of London may eventually
be lighted at practically no cost to the
people.
The people of American cities, it appears,
have much to learn from their European
cousins as to the economizing of municipal
expenditures
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

From the New York Mail and Express.
The man who looks to Kansas for the
commonplace is like the proverbial man
who searches through the haystack for a
lost needle. He may be rewarded by sue
cess, but the odds against him are prac-
tfcally lirnitless. Kansas is her own pace
maker in eccentricity. No other common
wealth is eligible for the job.
TIL expiring Populist legislature, now in
eXtraordinary-very acknowledgements,
yesterday witnessed "a bit of enterprise
that is calculated 10 elicit appreciative
resolutions from the American National
Order of CrankS. The facts bearing on the
case, however, are interesting even to
Americans of human intelligence.
Kansas has a law providing for capital
punishment. But this law is rendered
practically useless by a provision which
makes optional the signing of death war
rants by the governor-and no governor
has. according to report, ever signed such
a warrant. As a result of this refusal to
sign, there are now in the penitentiary
ffty-nine convicts under sentence of death,
each of whom is looking forward to even
tual dissolution from old age.
There is a feeling among the Populists
that the Republican governor-elect. STAN
ley, should on assuming Office sign death
warrants for convicted murdererS whom
Els fOpulSI predecessor mas refused 10
send to the %gallows. Mr.. Stanley objects.
probably assuming that he was elected
governor rather than state executioner.
and being, in addition, unalterably opposed
to capital punishment.
A bill was introduced at Topeka yester-
day to remedy this unfortunate condition
of affairs. 1t does not repeal the capita
punishment law and substitute life i'm
prisonment. That would be too natural a
thing to do under the circumstances. In
the first place, ii is proposed to compel the
governor to sign death warrants-thus hop
ing to force the resignation of Governor
Stanley and comfort the stricken Popu-
lists. In the second place, it is proposed
to get rid of the tifty-nine convicts in Ques-
ton by special provision for the execution
within one year.
AS a bit of special legislation. this
Slaughter bill is unique. 1t may not
pass. But should it pass. Governor Leedy
that a large majority of these murderers
are Porulists and may by some untoward
turn of events. if undisturbed, regain in
good season their power to vote. But
should the bill become a law, the PROPOSE
ton to slaughter this job lot of assassins.
whose sentences have been virtually COM
muted to life Imprisonment by gubernato-
rial act of omission, would raise a question
the discussion Of which would doubtless
be accompanied by scenes suggestive of
the days of old John Browns activity in
Kansas.
Meanwhile. we and the fifty-nine MUIR
derers await the progress of the bill.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
Vest and the Branding Iron.

From the New York Sun.
The Hon. George Graham Vests passion
ate grief for the inhabitants of the Philip
pines. whom he sees surrendered to the
greed OF the commercial and money-making
classes in this country and doomed to
be held without their consent. mere chat
tells. to be disposed of as the sovereign
power of the mother county may choose"
has seemed hard to understand. Mr.. Vest
has not been known to weep at the meth
ods by which Democratic supremacy is
maintained in the South. without the con-
sent of a large part of the governed. Why
does his soul distil bitter drops over the
Filipinos? To be sure. he hates money
making. with the possible exception of an
occasional flyer in Wall street. and his
rhetoricals habitually get the better of his
inteliectuals. but those general reasons
seemed insufficient for this so particular
sorrow.
The reason has been disclosed. 1t is re-
morse.
For the sake of truth. the st. Louis
Globe-Democrat has pried into the past. In
1851 Mr.. Vest was a member of the Missouri
legislature. February 26. of that year, he
introduced a bill to punish with death
ANY one who by writing, speaking. print
ing or engraving, melted a slave to be in
subordinate to his master. Aiding a slave
to escape was to be punished, for the first
offense. by ten years in the penitentiary,
and by being branded in the palm of the
right hand with the figure OF a cross"
The second ofense was to be punished with
death.
To secure an impartial jury, Mr.. Vest pro-
posed that nobody should serve as a juror
in such cases who had any conscientious
scrupies as to slavery or any doubts as to
its legality.
Anxious that the unconsenting governed
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
ONE YEAR AGO.

What stars have faded from cur sky!
What hopes unfolded but to die?
What dreams 50 fondly pondered DER
Forever lost the hue they wore:
How like n death knell. sad and slow.
Rolls through the soul. zone year ago."
Where is the face We loved TO greet,
The form that graced the freside scat
The gentle smile. the winning way,
That blessed our life-path day by day?
Where fed those accents soft and low,
That thrilled our hearts lone year ago."
All. vacant is the Preside chair.
The smile that won no longer there:
From door and hall. from porch and lawn.
The echo OF that voice is gone.
And We who Iinger only know
How much was lost lone year ago."
Beside her grave the marble white
Keeps silent guard by day and night:
Serene she sleeps. nor heeds the tread
OF footsteps near her lowly bed:
Her p~uiseless breast no more may know
The pangs Of life ''one year ago."
But why repine, A few more years,
a few more broken signs and tears,
| And We, enlisted with the dead.
Shall follow where her steps have led.
To that far world rejoicing go
To which she passed ''one year ago"
christopher Christian Co
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
Reflection. of a Bachelor.

Fror, the New York Press.
Virtue laces itself too tightly.
Without women men would be their own
nurses.
Age teaches us that love begins where
passion ends.
When a woman is not sure of a mans
love she cannot be sure of his morals.
When a woman is sorry that she doesn't
love a man as much as she'd like to IL she
could. she couldn't if she'd like to.
It's curious that when a woman pIays
with fire and gets burnt she goes back and
does it again to see If it still burns in rhe
same old way.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

From Pick-Me-Up
GLADYS Etherealisda," said the young
beauty. wrathfully, Il shall never notice
that mink Of a Snithson girl again;
never,'
Why. gracious horrors, whatever has
she done?"
introduced me to that red-haired Moly-
neaux girl chum of hers. before a lot of
people. as one of her very oldest friends,'.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
SeIf-Sacrifcfns Love.

From the Harlem Life.
Parent-"Of course. as my daughter Is Of
age she can suit herself as to marrying
You. but the day she does I will cut her
off without a penny"
Sutton (after a pause)-"Well. under those
circumstances, sir. We will break our en-
Sagement. I could not think of depriyipy
4 young lady of her inheritance"
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

WASHINGTON. Jan. For Oklahoma and Indian
Territory: Fair; ~southerly winds.
For Missouri and Kansas: Pariy cloudy weather;
%southerly winds.
For Nebraska: Light snow: colder in eastern por-
tion: variable winds.
For Colorado: Light rain. followed by snow; prob
ably colder In northern portion: variable winds.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
Easier Than the Old Man.

From Tit-Bits.
She-"Ma says she knows that when we
are married we won't live so like cats and
dogs as she and pa do"
He-"No. indeed! Your ma IS right"
Shelves: she says she is sure you'll be
easier to manage than pa is"
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

Colonel Watterson is frank enough 10
admit what all Democrats know to be true,
but which few of them are willing to con-
cede. to-wit: That the protective system
of the Republican party has proven itself
such a benefit and blessing to the country
that it can no longer be regarded as a live
political issue.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
Small Boys in Luck.

From Puck.
First urchin-"Hev a cigar? I got a box
Of 'em at Christmas"
Second ~urchin-"Yer did,"
First urchin-"Yes; me mudder give 'em
to me fader and he chucked 'em away back
Wv de woodshed."
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

the ground of the atrocity of. the act {
he criminal public opinion was agains
he lenity, and when Governor Bulloc
came into office as Governor Andrews sue
cessor he signed the death warrant an
Green was executed.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
THE LAW OF LOVE.

Make hanne for the stream of love,
Where they may broadly run:
And love has OVERLOOKING streams,
To fll them everyone.
But II at any time We cease
Such channels to provide.
Tn very founts OF love for US
Will soon be parched and dried.
For We must share. II We would keep
That blessing from above:
Casing to give. we cease to have
Such Is the Law Of love.
Richard Chenevix Trench
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
And an Orphan Railroad B,,,.

From the New York Mail and Express.
And now the Kansas Democrats have
decided that there shall be no further flu
sion between themselves and the Popu-
lists. The firm having dissolved. its as
sets are found to consist principally of a
disabled windmill and old Mr.. PETERS
spectacular whiskers.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
In the Girls Gymnaxium.

From Judge.
Ethel-"So you gave Charlie the mitten?
How did you go about it?'
Edith-"Why. I invited him to put the
'nits' on with me for five minutes and
gave it to him in the 'jugular'-and he
tumbled."
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

The willingness of Great Britain to sur
render her rights unde the Clayton-BuI-
wer treaty in the interests of national
friendship is very gratifying. In the same
delectable interests she may some day con-
clude to give us Canada.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
CONTEMPORARIES

.mong the telling millions few dcscry
lin slowly climbing. climbing where the eye
fay hardly follow him diminishing
'bseurely ere he topples from the sky. s,x
WILLIAM GRIFFITH. ANY
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

The notion that Mr.. Bryan is a tickle,
vacillating man Is an unjust one. Mr..
Bryan may alter his views on public ques-
tons with changing conditions. but he is
constant as the fixed stars in his sublime
purpose to be president at the earliest pos
sible moment.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
Her Vest May Yet BE in Style.

From the St. Louis Globe Democrat.
Missouri should not despair of her Sem
ator Vest. He has a record of catching
up with the procession-although it takes
him about thirty years to reach the rear
( file
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

From the Boston Herald.
There is complaint of the governor-elect
of Kansas because he says he will not
sign the death warrant Of a man convicted
of murder in his state. We can furnish a
precedent for his action in that of one of
the most distinguished governors of Mas
sachusetts. Governor Andrew. it will be
remembered, refused to sign the death
warrant of Green. who committed one of
the foulest murders ever known In this
state. Governor Andrew was understood
TO be opposed to capital punishment, and
he refused to have part in it in tl:is in
stance because Green had not had a Jury
trial. Green pleaded guilty of murder. and
was sentenced to death on that plea. The
governor declared he could plead guilty
TO killing, but not of murder. The latter
was to be decided on the degree of the
kiihng-whether it was murder or some
thing eise-and only Il jury, Governor An
drew commended, could settle this point. On
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
History.

From the indianapolis Journal.
Teacher OF the future-"Who can tell mo
who was Hobson?"
One of the countless generation as vet
unborn-"Please, he was the hero of the
merry smack
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

TIL public is in danger of confusing Mr..
Vests predictions of national ruin with
Professor Totten's prophecies of the end of
time.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

Havana will enjoy one advantage over
Kansas City. There will be no trouble in
getting the snow removed from sidewalks
in front OF vacant lots.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
EDITORIAL NOTES,

There ought to be a rood Temporary
market for lime. carbolic acid and insect
powder in Havana just now.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
STEPHENS AND THE sPEAKERsH1p.


The speakership fight that is now on in
Missouri is an interesting test of strength
between the Stephens and an~ti-Stephens
forces, with prospects that the governor,
who is a little man with a big Office, will
win the lay. Stephens has allied himself
with the corporations, as he did in the case
of Judge Marshall when the latter made
the race for the long term supreme judge
ship, and the combination is a pretty
strong one. The governor does not hest
tate to use the chief office of the state for
all it is worth in a political way, nor to
prostitute that Office to much more undig-
nified uses than most of his predecessors
did. A great wrong was imposed on the
state of Missouri, and a huge joke was
perpetrated on the Democratic party, when
Governor Stephens was elected to the first
Office in the gift of the people; but the utter
inability of the Democratic party in Mis-
souri, to cope with any man. however
small, who has a measure of political in
fuence, has never been so forcibly demon
strated as in the case of Stephens. The
governor is heartily disliked by the rank
oiu hO VI lis party, ueCduSe OI his Ell
feminacy and his disregard for party well
fare; yet because he has a position of au-
thority there is not enough backbone in
the organization to make a formidable
fight against him. If Stephens succeeds in
getting his man in for speaker he will
practically organize the legislature. and
he will crow like a little bantam that has
won his fight with steel spurs against an
unarmed game cock. Republicans are not
responsible for the outcome of the squab-
BILE now going on. but every Missourian,
whether Republican or Democrat. should
have enough pride in his state to desire the
defeat of such a functionary as the puerile
governor
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

1t is not at all complimentary to Chi
cago that the friends of Ex-Governor Ar
geld imagine he can be elected mayor of
that city.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
In the Toll. of the Great Red Dr.xo

From the New York Sun.
The octopus has got hold of the Kansas
Populists. A Populist member of the leg
stature has introduced a resolution pro-
viding that Burt Lyttle be given author
ity to maintain a bootblack stand in the
cloakroom. and that all other bootblacks
be prohibited from plying their trade In the
corridor or rotunda of the state house,
What hope remains when monopoly stalks
through Topeka and Populists of the strait
est sect smile on the bootblack trust?
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

The Cubans have not attained independ-
ence. but they will find the mild and
beneficent rule of the United States equally
as good-perhaps better.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03

list that candy is injurious to the teeth, and
throw it into the stove. These be parlous
times.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-03
Lincoln, Too.

From the New York Sun.
Inc ranks of the expansionists swell
steadily. not only through the acquisitions
OF statesmen formerly of another mind.
nut through the discovery of others whose
views upon the great question have not
been brought to public attention with suf-
fcient emphasis. The last to be enrolled
In this category is Abraham Lincoln.
In Morse's Life of Lincoln in the
American Statesmen series. Lincoln's de-
bate with Douglas in 1858 contained this
quotation concerning the acquisition of
new territory:
! am not opposed to honest acquisition
OF territory. and in any given case 1 would
OF would not oppose such acquisition ac-
cording as might think such acquisition
would or would not aggravate the slayer
question among ourselves"
This statement says the book, de
rives its immediate Importance from the
well known purpose of the administration
and a considerable party in the South very
soon to acquire Cuba"
For Abraham Lincoln. as for Thomas
Jefferson. expansion had no terrors.