El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-24

bIoodshed and incendiarism unless the
legislature put a stop to Mr.. Parkes's
project by prohibiting monkeys. The
story was sent out by press asso-
citation. 1t attracted the attention of
one of the intelligent leader writers of
the London Telegraph, who wrote an
editorial a column long about the in
fiuence of simian labor on the labor
problem.
Lake of Hair Dye.
Next came the remarkable story of
the lake of hair dye that was publish
ed in the summer of 1888 in the Vir-
ginia City Enterprise. Mulhatton dis
covered that Mono lake contains one
of the greatest natural deposits of hair
dye in the known world. "All who
battle in the waters of that lake be-
come blondes. and if the bathing is
persisted in for any length of time
they get red headed. A man last sea-
son rented the Levening ranch On the
north side of the lake. He had three
strapping daughters. AS soon as the
water became warm enough the girls
daily went bathing in the lake, taking
for their mermaid gambolS a time when
the men folks were out on the ranch
at work. When they began taking their
dips in the lake the girls were brown
haired. but they soon found themselves
becoming blondes. Next the hair of
the girls became fiery. The old man
and his wife tried the baths and now
the whole family are Titan blondes.
Mr.. Mulhatton is credited also with
preparing the dispatch from Chihua-
hua Mexico. dated April %, 1899. that
was published in the St. Louis Globe
Democrat. This was story of tree
that devoured birds. To begin with.
there was a detailed description OF how
the narrator studied botany and used
to make long trips into the mountains
hunting for specimens. Finally the
tree in question was discovered. 1t
was something like the weeping will
low. but the long, dropping, whipl1ke
limbs are of a dark and apparently
Shiny appearance and seem possessed
of a horrible lifelike power of coll
ing and uncoiling." One day the Oh
server saw a bird settle on the top OF
the tree. THE branches Immediately
began to awaken and curl upward.
They twined and twined like snakes
about the bird, which began to scream.
and drew it down into their fearful
embrace until 1 lost sight of it. The
next day the explorer got half dozen
chickens and threw them into the
tree The moment l tossed in the
fowls he says. "a violent agitation
shook its branches. which Swayed TO
and fro with a Sinuous snaky motion
After devouring the fowls these branch
es. fully gorged. dropped to their form
er position and the tree. giving no
sign of animation. l dared approach 1t
and take the limbs in my hand. They
were covered with suckers, resembling
the tentacles of an octopus. The blood
of the fowls had been absorbed by the
suckers leaving crimson stains On the
dark surface"
The dispatch concluded with an ac-
count of how the explorer wrote Of the
discovery to Professor Wordenhaupt of
the university of Heidelberg. VINO re-
piled that the tree was the arbor dia-
boli. only two specimens of which had
been known to science. one growing
on a peak of the Himalayas anu the
other on the island of Sumatra.
Muihatton ID Happy Liar.
Mulhatton always prided himself
upon his tall stories, and was never so
happy as just after perpetrating par
ticularly atrocious hoax upon some
new paper. AS he was constantly go
ing about the country as commerclaf
traveller. it was difficult for the unwary
editors to keep track of him. At one
time the commercial travellers of the
country talked of nominating him for
president. This was just before mis- re-
tirement to the mountains, and the
supposition is that the unexpected hon
or was too much for his modest ma
ture.