davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10

Ordell, who is still living in the south.
ern part Of MERGED county:
Until he was rs years of age, Jasper
Blakesley lived and worked on his
fathers farm in New Hampshire. He
was a bright lad, but his education WIS
meager. He was ambitious, but with
out w~ell-deined aim in life. 1t re-
NAMED for love to give direction and
object to his energy and coherency to
his thoughts. The girl was a belle OF
Boston. Her father was a man of
wealth and his only daughter had en-
joyed every advantage of education.
Ruth was beautiful and accomplished.
One summer spent in the society OF
this girl proved the undoing of young
Blakesley. His ardent courtship re-
suited in her promise to be his wife
with conditions. He must make a man
of himself. He must study, work and
save money. Yes, she would wait for
him. Vows were exchanged and they
parted.
During the five years following they
saw little of each other. She was in
Boston, he was studying law. Then
he was admitted to the bar, passing
examination brilliantly, and began the
practice of his profession. Another
five years slipped by. The lawyer was
winning a reputation. During this en-
tire period Jasper Blakesley held
steadfast in his mind the thought that
the girl who had so changed the cur
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10
Fight In Demons Cage.

The prediction that the four men in
carcerated in a specially constructed
cell in the Ohio penitentiary at Column
bus, O., would attempt to kill each
other was partially fulfilled when Otis
Hurley, one of the quartet, nearly
murdered Frank O'Neil, another occu-
pant of the cage, by stabbing him with
a dagger, made out of heavy wire.
O'Neil was asleep on his cot, it is
said, when Hurley attacked him, stab
bling him several times. His screams
brought Underwood, one of the guards,
to the cage, but not until Hurley had
sunk his dagger deep into O'Neil's
shoulder and broken it off. Hurley
was locked in his cell and O'Neil taken
to the hospital, where nine wounds
we're found penetrating the lung aV-
ity, one being near the heart. Hurley
alleges that he stabbed O'Neil in self.
defense. The latter says Hurley was
lncensed because the other demons
refused to participate in his plot to
escape. Hurley was severely punished
in TIE ducking tub and with a paddle.
O'Neil is one of the two convicts who
killed a guard named Lauderbaugh a
year ago in an attempt to escape.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10
TONI KETCEUM.

CLINT of sunshine playing along blue
steel; Tom shot at the deputies. The
deputies lodged behind trees and rocks
and shot wildly. Tom stayed where
he was and made bull-eyes. If Tom
hadn't showed his right arm a little
too high in taking aim he would have
brought down a full mess of deputies.
As it was a slug of lead as big as your
finger tore through Toms shooting
member, and it took a few minutes
to change his Winchester over to his
left arm. In these sholt minutes the
deputies closed in ON Tom and cap
tured him. He was in q bad shape.
His right arm was terribly broken and
torn and he vas already suffering from
loss of blood. But he was game. He
offered to take his left arm and begin
the performance all over again, which
proposition was respectfully declined.
The next day when he was able to be
moved Tom was strapped to his bron-
cho and taken to a train, ultimately
landing in the penitentiary hospital at
Santa Fe. OF BLACK Jacks" gang OF
thieves and cutthroats Tom Ketchum
Was Iu6 ledueI. ne was 90 years Olu,
and in Texas, his native state, he is
known as the new Jesse James. He
stands 5 feet 10 inches In his stocking
feet and is built on the graceful lines
of a tiger. He is as void of conscience
as the Winchester he carried. He
would rather shoot a man than eat;
If the man be an officer of the law it
was more fun to kill him than to go
to a dance. One of his boyhood pas
times was to hire in some convenient
place on the ranch in Texas and shoot
Mexican herdsmen. When a lad he
was summoned as a witness in a law
suit, and not knowing what the sum-
mons meant, and not caring to take
any chances, shot and killed the officer.
After this he found it convenient to
change his residence, so he rode up
into New Mexico and Arizona. Here
he soon became a terror to everybody
in general and railroad and express
companies in particular. He admits
in a roundabout way that since 1886
he and his gang have stolen from post
Offices, trains, stages and wayfarers
5000, 900 and killed 200 men.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10

family the events of the next few
days. He remembered, though indis-
tinctly, standing with smoking derrin-
ger, a few PAGES away from the pros
trate form of a young man, and the
white, scared face of Ruth bending
over his rival, whose head she held
clasped in her arms. And then the ad-
vice of friends that he should hasten
away, out OF the country, for the laws
of Massachusetts did not permit duel
ling. He remembered going on board
a ship and after a while he knew he
was bound for San Francisco. Friends
had paid for his passage, and his wal
let was well filled with money. But
ambition had died with love, and the
New England lawyer made no further
attempt to succeed. He wandered in a
desultory, aimless way about the min
ing camps, adopting the careless
speech and dress of the rough search
ers for gold, but making little if any
effort to acquire gold himself, and fin
ally becoming a hunter on the San
Joaquin river. In Blakesley's cabin
after his disappearance, were found
two daguerrotypes, n the picture of
Blakesley, the other of a woman who
is supposed, with little doubt, to be
Ruth.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10
RECALLS A STORY.
THE LOVE TALE OF A MUIR
DERED HERMIT.
jasper BIakesley, Whose Whitened Bones
Have just Been Discovered, Waited
Ten Years for a Woman Who In the
End Proved False to Him.

The discovery near MERGED, Cal, the
other day, of q human skeleton, has
uncovered a strange story of real life
that has lain buried by the banks of
the San Joaquin river for over a quar-
ter of a century-a story which con
meets the far East with the far West.
1t is a story typical of the old days of
the New West, when men sought the
land of the setting sun for gold-or OBJ
livion. 1t is a story of devoted love
and fierce jealousy, of the frailty of
woman and the ruin of a mans life
through he shattering of an ideal.
The story had it's beginning in a little
farming community in New Hamp-
shire and ended in a hastily made
grave by the San Joaquin river, where
the body of a man was flung one dark
night, after his assassins had sent
three bullets into his brain.
About 1856 a party of vaqueros en-
ployed on the Dominquez ranch, in the
section of the San Joaquin valley in
California, now known as MERGED
county, noticed a newly built, rough
~ iva IL jain il Tic IlNCl. llS
cowboys investigated and found the
owner of the establishment to be a
man whose appearance was in thor
ough harmony with his surroundings.
The man was dirty, unkempt, dressed
in the crudest of clothing, rough and
scant of speech. But he gave the cat
tlemen welcome hat they appreciated
In tho form IF frinI YoaNo Ao~saa1yd
and brandy. In those days men were
not over-curious concerning their
~neighbors' histories.
But after that Jasper Blakesley's
cabin was a stopping place frequently
sought by the herders and travellers
passing through that portion of the
valley. He always had a blanket and
a bite to eat for any wayfarer who
CHANGED to come to his door. He was
a taciturn and gloomy man, appar-
emily caring little for the society of
his kind, spending most of his time
in hunting and fishing, and at rare in
tervals visiting the nearest town for
but when he did drink he drank hard
and long. This life continued for fif-
teen years. In the spring of 1871
Blakesley so far broke from his accus-
toned habits of solitary life as to
make one of a party of four men on
an expedition to Tulare lake. After an
absence of two months three of the
quartet returned to their homes. Jas
per Blakesley was the missing member
of the party. His companions said lit
tie about the trip and less about
Blakesley. Gradually, however, it be-
came known that the old hunter had
disappeared.
Those who knew him best visited the
little cabin by the San Joaquin and
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10

Nhens
The notorious leader vf the infamous
BLACK Jacks" gang of train robbers
and murderers, Tom Ketchum. now
lies in the hospital of the p%enitentiary
at Santa Fe, N. M, seriously wounded,
as the result of an encounter with Off
GERS of the law. Tom held up a train
single-handed and in the sequel to this
was wounded and captured. 1t was
the Colorado Southern express that
Tom held up. The place selected was
near Fulsom, on the northeast corner
of New Mexico. One night as the Tx
press was putting laboriously up grade
the engineer saw a light ahead giving
the signal to stop. When the train
slowed down Tom Ketchum jumped
into the cab and, carelessly swinging
a 40 Colt near the engineers nose, told
him to obey all orders given during the
next few minutes. This, Tom said,
would save heartaches in the engineers
home and the intrusion of an under
taker in the family circle. Then he
jumped off and tried to uncouple the
engine, which was made impossible by
IN oICSp VI idlltllS III tilO, Oll
walked back to the Wells-Fargo eX-
press car and, humping the door with
the butt of his Colt, demanded admit
lance. The messenger opened the O
and poked the muzzle of a Winchester
out into the dark and pulled the trig-
ger. That put an end to the hold-up
that night. Just how badly Tom was
shot is not known, but he was wound
ed in a subsequent battle with United
States Marshal Foraker's posse and he
will not say how much damage the
messenger did. AS he declared the
hold-up off it is probable he was Sc
verely injured. The express pulled on
and Tom jumped his broncho and
sought safety in the mountains. The
attempted robbery was soon known to
the officials and three days later Mar
shall Foraker's men were hunting for
Tom in the uplands. They finally hit
the trail and followed it back into the
very heart of the mountains. Here
they lost it and while discussing the
best move a report of a rifle split the
air and n of the deputies fell out of
his saddle. This was sufficient evil
dence of Toms presence in the vicin-
ity, but not his exact whereabouts, as
Tom used smokeless cartridges. An
other shot was heart and another depu-
ty went to the ground. At this rate
every nan in the posse would be cut
down without a ghost of a chance OF
getting a shot. The deputies, there
fore, separated, and began to scout the
hy,,r1 A rIi-t ~ c,ncl;,o o1o,yinn an
the blue steel barrels of a Winchester
discussed Tom Ketchum's position be-
hind a big bowlder surrounded by
brushwood. Then the days proceed
ings began. The deputies shot at that
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10

horses to bet on was Duke of Milpitas,
owned by Aid. Carey of Chicago. But
he was a rogue, and whenever he took
it into his head to run no one could
beat him, but if he sulked nothing
could bulge him. On this particular
day he was a warm favorite, as the dis
lance was seven-eighths, the going
heavy, and all conditions just to the
liking of the Duke. He went to the post
all right, but he was son out of sorts,
II no amount of lashing could make
him bulge. Finally a 'twitch" was
sent for and the assistant starter soon
had the Duke toetng the mark. The
'twitch' had caught on his nose in some
manner and the stick kept hitting him
on the legs and chest. Despite them
or, perhaps, on account of 1.-THE Duke
ran faster than he ever did before. He
won all the way, with the 'twitch'
hanging to his nose. Aid. Carey won
a small fortune on his horse, and he
has the same old 'twitch' hanging in
his private Office to this day."-Cin-
cinnati Enquirer.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10
THE X-RAYS AND LONGEVITY.


German Doctor Says You Can Find Ont
How Long You viii Live.
The other day a German doctor, NJ.
Richter, sent a communication to the
Imperial college of medicine of Ber-
lin, which has made quite a stir in
Germany. He AYERS that by a thor
ough study of the organs by means of
X-rays n may determine pretty ex-
actly the length of life of a human
being. 1t was known for a long time
that the size of the heart, the lungs,
the digestive organs and the brain
might be considered among the best
conditions of longevity; but NJ. Richter
goes still further. He holds that there
exists a close correlation between the
length of life and the dimensions of
the different organs, and it is upon this
supposed correlation that he bases a
system supported by numerous obser-
vations and statistics. Richter admits
himself that there are individual ex-
ceptiOns.' Without those exceptions
his discovery might he considered one
of the most terrible plaques that ever
threatened humanity. The idea of
changing the entire world into one
immense troop of people condemned to
death, and knowing the precise hour
when they would quit this world could
only originate in the brain of a Ger
man Notwithstanding this, NJ. Rich
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10
A Great Russian Dairy show.

! J. H. Monrad, writing in the New
York Produce Review, says: The Dan
ish dairy counselor, Mr.. Boggild, who
was invited as Judge to the dairy show
in st. Petersburg, Russia, last month,
gives an interesting account Of it in
"Maelkeritidende," from which I Gull
the following facts: The show was in
a large building 600 feet long and la
feet wide, there were about 800 entries
of butter, of which 216 were for export
and were judged by foreign judges,
while the balance we're judged by Rus
slams. Two enormous ice refrigerators
held the butter and cheese, but of the
latter there were only a few entries.
There are about 37h million cattle
in Russia, which is only 20 mead (of
which II are cows, for every 100 in
habitants. Compared with other coun-
tries we find in Denmark rs head (45
cows; in Finland, Sc head (40 cows;
in Sweden, 81 head (35 cows; in Swift
zerland 43 head (22 cows); in Holland
~ head Us cows; in Fran IS head
(17 cows, for every 100 inhabitants,
n in the United States, taking CEN
sus of 1890, we find so head, of which
26 are milch COWS. Most of the cows
in Russia are very poor indeed, the
average yearly milk yield is placed at
about 1850 pounds, or for every inhab-
liant only 1875 pounds, while in Den
mark it is about 1870 pounds. The
total value of Russia's butter export is
placed at a little over 81, 800, 900.
AS to the quality it varied greatly.
There was a good deal really fine but
ter, but also much poor stuff, which
showed that the Russian taste was diff
ferent from that Of western Europe.
The export butter was packed in fir
kin Of beech, ash, elm and other kinds
of wood, but parchment paper was
used in all. About 70 per cent of this
butter was extra" or nearly so, while
30 per cent was ~"tallowy," oily" or
rancid" but nearly all had a good
body" The butter for home market
was shown in large or small boxes,
firkins and even in hollow logs Cd
twelve to fourteen inches long n ten
to twelve inches in diameter with or
without iron hoops. Yet parchment
paper was used in all.
About $50 entries were what must be
called sweet cream butter, the cream
evidently having been heated to a high
temperature and not ripened after
ward, and it was partly without salt,
partly very lightly sailed. This was
chiefly intended for st. Petersburg and
Moscow. A cooked flavor seemed to be
deemed a virtue.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10

Seine. The friendly waters drifted the
globes down until they reached the
French lines below. After a while the
Germans learned of this eXpedient, ard
placed nets in the river above tbs
nets of the Frenchmen and captured
the globes. A little while ago a fisher
mar near Villeneuve found one of
these globes, and with a sharp knife
opened it and extracted the letters.
The old letters still legible, were sent
to the ~postoffice, and such of the ad-
dresses as can be found will receive
the missives twenty-eight years over
due.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10

beautiful woman. THE loveliest
woman | ever saw was at one time
a Mrs. Hodges, while at another time
the widow of a musician named
Schroeder 50 fascinated him that he
kept her letters for many years, and
declared that if it were not for the
existence OF Anna Maria he would have
married her. Certainly Mrs. Schroe-
ter's letters were pleasant enough.
Every moment Of your company" she
wrote from Buckingham Gate, in 1892,
'is more and more precious TO me now
that your departure is so near. | feel
for you the fOndest and tenderest af-
lection the human heart is capable of.
| ever am, with the most inviolable
attachment, my dearest and most be-
loved Haydn, most faithfully and most
~affectionately yours" What would the
absent Frau Doctorin Haydn have said
had she known of it? The composer
also got mixed up in a little affair with
the beautiful Mrs. Ellington. Sir
Joshua Reynolds was painting her
portrait for him and had represented
her as st. Cecilia listening to celestial
music. What do you think of the
charming Billington's picture?" said
the artist to Haydn when the work
was finished. 1T is indeed a beautiful
picture replied Haydn. 1T is just
like her, but there is a strange mis-
take. Iou have painted her listening
to the angels, when you ought to have
painted the angels listening to her"
If Haydn paid compliments like this
all round, we can easily understand
how he attained such fame as a Lon
don society man.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10

rents of his life should be his greatest
reward for the years passed in daily
labor and nightly study. Her letters
to him were full of sympathy, encour-
agement and tenderness. And then
came the awakening from this dream
of a decade. Following closely on a
letter from Ruth, full of %endearing ex-
pressions and protestations of fidelity
was a card from the girls aunt. The
pasteboard announced in the formal
phraseology of the time that the writ
er's niece would be married ten days
later. The name of the groom meant
nothing to Blakesley. He did not re-
veal it in his talk with Ordell. But
this much was evident: His Ruth, the
girl he had been toiling for, waiting
for all these years. was false.
The blow for a time unseated his
reason. He could afterward recall only
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10
TIE LAUNCHING or A WARSHIP,

stable of the Tower called himself
Constable of the Tower of London
in the case of most such buildings in
England the name castle has survived
longest, in the case of the principal
fortresses at the capitals of Normandy
and of Norman England the tower was
the chief part of the Notifications
Thus the castle at Rouen, like the
castle at London, always has been
called the Tour de Rouen." Ths
White Tower was so called because its
builder, Henry Ill, whitewashed it.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10
IN THE ARMS OF OLD OCEAN.


Lord Salisbury is one of the least
pretentious of orators. Bent in figure
and with eyes half closed, he is a list
less speaker, who disdains to cultivate
the art Of elocurion. He has a clear,
penetrating voice of high carrying
power, however, so that he is always
heard distinctly in the largest public
hsll. His best speeches are made on
such occasions as the Guildhall ban
quets, when he is conscious that for
eign governments are weighing every
word he utters. He rises like a man in
a dream, and without revealing any
earnestness of manner, takes the audi
ence into his confidence, and shows
with what dignity and Clearness a
statesman can think aloud.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10
It's An Impressive Scene When the Bio
Vessel Glides Into the Ocean.

"she starts; she moves; she seems to
The thrill of life along her keel.
y =
And then, with one exultant bound,
She leaps into the oceans arms"
And though she be a sailing yes
sci of the good, old-fashioned kind, or
a modern battleship, the process is no
different, and old ocean receives her as
he always has, with the same spark
ling hospitality.
The launching of a ship is one of the
most impressive of sights, and par
tlcularly is this true if the vessel be
a grim war-dog for the navy. When
the Wisconsin was launched, Nov. 26,
1898, at San Francisco, thousands of
people thronged the shipyard and the
territory adjoining for a glimpse of the
spectacle. 1t was a gala day in the
history of the city, and the whole COM
munity was out en- fete to participate
IN the festal occasion. High above the
pigmy crowd the vessel lowered, al
HiOSb 40 Dblihtl mn monument lOMCIS
above the buildings which surround it.
Near her bow stood the reviewing
stand, with its load of notables. among
them, the observed of all observers, she
with the bottle of champagne with
which the vessel was to be christened.
Far down beneath the keeIson of the
vessel stout hammers began to knock
and beams gave out the sound which
slgnif1ed their capitulation before the
fierce onslaught of the enemy. Stead
lily rained the blows, till all at once,
with a creak and a lurch, which settled
into a gliding motion. the great vessel
started down the way, her cutwater
glistening with champagne from the
broken bottle.
Il christen thee Wisconsin," said a
sweet voice, as the vessel swept away
from its birthplace, and found rest on
the bosom of old ocean amid a throng
Of fussy, inquisitive little tugboats
which thrust their impertinent noses
up against the sides of the new sea
monarch'as proudly and ~haughtily as
you please.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10

searched the surrounding country dill
gently for some trace of the missing
man, but with no result. 1t was sup
posed that he had heen waylaid and
murdered by bandits, or, as some be-
lieved, he had left the country sudden
ly in as eccentric a ann as that OF
his arrival. But the majority stuck to
the murder theory. Among those who
were most frequent visitors at the
shanty Of old Blakesley was a man
from New Hampshire named John Or
dell. When the lonely hunter became
aware of Ordell's origin he became
more communicative than was his hab-
it, and said he also was from New
Hampshire. This made a bond of SYM
pathy between the men, and by de-
grees they became mutual c~onfidants.
One night, as Blakesley and Ordell
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10
Letters from Besieged Parisians.

From the Seine, near Villeneuve, not
far from Paris, has been taken a curl
Gus reminder of the days of the Paris
siege. 1t is a zinc ball, which con-
tanned over 300 letters, written in De-
cember, 1870, when the German coil
was tightening about the French cap
ital. At that time, besides the balloons
and carrier pigeons as means of COM
munication with the outside world, the
people of Paris inclosed letters in small
zinc globes, sealed the receptacles her
metically and dropped them into the
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10
why Tower, and Not Castle.

London's most famous historical
building was named the Tower" and
not the Castle" of London. Most
sOrtresses of Norman construction in
England keep the name of castle; Lon
don's Norman fortress alone bears an
other title. The reason is to be found
in the methods of Norman military
architecture. A Norman fortress was
constructed of a tower or keep, with an
attendant castle, each having the same
relative Importance. The first Con-
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-10
Out for BustnesS.

From the Chicago News: Mack
O'Rell-0ld chap, | always considered
myself a pretty masher. but the other
day | met my match. Luke Warp,e-
How was that? Mack O'Rell-Why, I
noticed a beautiful young woman gaz-
ing in a shop window. | went up and
coughed slightly to attract her atten-
ton. Guess what happened? Luke
Warme-Can't imagine. Mack O'Rell
Why, she tried to sell me ONE cough
drops.