davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
HIS LAST GAME OF PlocHLE.
An Old East Side Champion to Be Buried By the Men He Defeated.

From the New York Press.
 As knights of old wished to die, clad in armor; as the plainsman hopes to pass out of life with his boots on," af- most so died Abraham Mendel, the great est pinochle player of the East side, early Tuesday morning. Sated with victory at a card table In his favorlte cafe near Third street and First avenue, he walked to the street, fell unconscious and gasped out his last breath.
 Mendel was 75 years old, and for sev- eral years his main support had come from the lovers of plnochle, men who never could hope to excel him at play, but who were willing to help him on ae- count of his personality and his knowl- edge of the great Swiss card game. For l forty years he had held first place among the players of New York His record was forty eight hours against 6 string of experts, to none of whom did he lose a single game. No pretentious pinochle party among the Austrlans or Germans in the East side was complete without Mendel either as a player or as judge of disputed points.
 Mende was known in all the cafes in the Teuton districts and his fame had been carried over the United States and to Germany and Austria by hls friends. | Until his sale of tickets for the German and French lotteries was stopped his purse always was full and always ready to satisfy the needs of a friend.
 On Sunday evening "der alte Mendel." i" as he was called, went to the cafe. He sat down by an open window. For a couple of hours. Then he sat ln." At 3 o'clock Tuesday morning he was the vic tor in a hard fought game. He rose from his chair buttoned his coat and told the proprietor he would return for a game.
 ''You had better keep your promise" said the proprietor, for I expect a couple of players from Brooklyn who say they will teach you the game"
 Mendel chuckled. He looked at the men sitting around the tabel They laugh ed, too, and so did the proprietor. Good night all,' said Mendel and he walked out of the door.
 | Five minutes later a policeman saw him fall to the sidewalk at First avenue and Third street.
 No one knew just where the little old man lived, none knew his means of live | lihood and his past was something of which he never talked, even to his most intimate friends
 Poor though he was they said his grave should not be In the Potters field, | and those men whom he had beaten as often as he had played with them, took from their pockets money for his burial,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
SPARKS STARTED FIGHT.
Coroner's Inquest at Steelville Show
 Some New Developments.

Steelville Mo, July 6.-The street fight in Steelville Saturday, which resulted in the death of Robert Starks and the ser ious wounding of Sheriff Taff and others. has been followed by the death of Her. schel Starks, son of Robert Starks, who was shot through the abdomen by one of the sheriff's posse In attempting to arrest the young man.
 At the eoroner's inquest over the body of the second victim of the tragedy it transpired in the evidence that young Starks was the originator of the diff culty. The young man, who was not over 20 years old. attacked the sheriff and two deputies as well as two city marshals and succeed in wounding three persons. and he was himself shot. Herschel urged his younger brother before he died to ayenge his death
 Sheriff Taff is still in a critical condi- tion from his wounds.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
Psychology as Divorce Remedy.

Chicago correspondence New York World The faculty of Ruskin university at Glen Ellyn, H., has started an anti-di- vorce movement which encourages the study of psychology as the panacea for the evil. The theories of the faculty are set forth thus:
 To discourage divorce, girls should be taught psychology.
 Should learn to know the men they are to marry.
 Should take course in housewifery. Should study: l. Domestic bookkeep- ing. 2. Cookery. B. English grammar and literature 1. Art in nature.
 Should not study: l. Stenography. 2. Mathematics. 8. Foreign and dead lan- guages.
 To insure domestic happiness wives must learn to understand their husbands. Must be domestic.
 Must study motherhood.
 Must study to hold their spouse's af- fectfons.
 Must not be business women, but home women.
 Must devote themselves to the scientific study of home-making.
 Must cater to their husbands wants. Must sympathize with their husbands moods.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
BIRD ORCHESTRA NOW
 SINGS ON THE POTOMAC

to come and make his home in the city if there are sheltered grounds and or chards to be had. His notes are few, but sweet and he seems never to tire of prae- ticing them over and over agin. Aspira- ton is the quality that distinguishes his song He seems trying to attain some ideal unrealized by us.
 The best singers among them are mas ters of the trill and variation. These warbled notes which they interpolate have a singular power of taking captive the ear and clutching the heart as well Heard in a midsummer noon from the dense shade of some tall beech, that song of the wood thrush seems a condensation of all that is eerie and lonesome in the woods Heard at evening, as the bird sits high on some dead limb, those tireless re- peated notes suggest touching vesper service at the close of the day.
 An Early Morning serenade.
 Perhaps, however, the song of the wood thrush Is best heard at dawn, when the nearer is still drowsy, and the music makes it way through the curtains of his open window. The wood thrush may not be fifty yards away, but the song appears to be sung afar off. laden with the dewy freshness of the morningq and the utter loneliness of the heart of the forest. That matchless music scarcely disturbs the sleep of the nearer, and sinks into his dreams bringing visions of the dim fields and the gray east furrowed into splendor by the rising sun.
 Birds in City Parks.
 Some of these feathered singers are as fond of the parks in the heart of Wash ington as of the more retired places in the depths of the woods. Others, how ever, are we'll nigh as timid as a young and untried tenor on his first night. Such birds rarely sing outside of their native woodland. The veerS, bird to be found in the suburbs of New York, Is almost as shy as his counsin from the north, the hermit thrush. It is almost impossible to come up with veery. You may hear two or three of them answering one another, and then vainly endeavor to follow up the singers As you approach the tantalz- ing spiral of song recedes, while another pipes up behind Turn that way and the invisible singer is calling from dead tree quarter of mile distant.
 These musicians seem mere bodiless songs. As to the song itself, though brief, 1t is wildly sweet and fresh. It seems utterly out of keeping with the brick and heated asphalt of the big city, and the scrap of suburban woodland from which the song ascends seems to have taken on the spirit of the wilderness. It is impossible that the city with its teem- ing thousands, should be just over the shoulder of that hill; rather we are in the midsts of mile on mile of untrodden for est haunted by deer and other animals of the wilds.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
POPE'S VITALITY
 IS ASTONISHING
HIS MIND IS TRANQUIL AND HE SPEAKS OF DEATH WITH BEAU TlFUL sERENlTY-o R LA SPEAKS OF coNcLAVE.

Vienna, July GA Rome dispatch to the Neue Freie Presse quotes a private letter written to a friend by Dr. Mazzoni, who says
 'erhe pope posses astounding vitality. His mind is as tranquil and still as calm night. He speaks about life and death with the same beautiful serenity. Today he said to Cardinal Mathieu, Great France, she has caused me much pain, but has also given me much consolation and joy"
 The same correspondent reports that speaking with Cardinal oreglia yesterday his holiness expressed the hope that the conclave would not forget the wrong done to the holy see in 1870 and would elect a man who would defend the rights of the church. its liberty and independence. He also strongly advised the Cardinal to se- cure the succession of the conclave from outside influences
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
Corey a Baseball Crank.

From the New York Press.
 William Ellis Corey, the man who is to supplant sohwab, is jolly-looking, sauare-faced young man of 37, who wears spectacles and smiles behind the pebbles. The lower part of his face Is broader than his head. His moustache Is trained up at the ends, like Kaiser Williams, re- vealing a wide mouth and thick under lip He wears a folded collar and a but fly tie. His fancy runs to baseball, foot ball and horses when he is out for recre- ation. In baseball he is an ardent enthus- fast He has a son IA years old. Corey had more advantages than Schwab The lat ter drove stage coach at F years. Corey went to school till he was 16. schwag started in the steel business as a stakedriver: Corey started as a helper in the laboratory.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
GADSDEN.
Young Boy Attempts Suicide Because
 of Love Affair.

Gadsden, July 8.-(Special. )-Oliver Clarke, the young son of George Clarke who lives at Carlisle, a small station on the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis road twelve miles above Gadsden at tempted to commit suicide yesterday by the morphine route The exact cause of the boys rash act Is not known but 1t is thought that the girl he was In love with had tilted him and he became de- spondent and sought to end all in death. At last accounts he was on the road to recovery.
 Bob Evans, a, diminutlve negro who has a penchant for stealing everything that he can carry off. Is now in jail on the charge of robbing the First Nantional Bank The negro was found peddling stamps on the streets and the police ar rested him and found out that he was in the habit of helping his father clean up the bank each morning and while there he purloined the stamps.
 Leath & Nixon have been granted a license by the probate judge to retail whisky In Short Creek beat, which Is in the country and between Carlisle and Mountain boro. It Is also rumored that Mountainboro. It istaso rumored that whisky in Warrior beat. There seems to be a preconcerted move on the part of some to get saloons scattered over the county.
 The large coal mines of the Underwood Coal company at Altoona, this county, have been forced to close down on ac- count of the failure of the miners and operators to agree on a wage scale. The miners at these mines are under the same Jurisdiction as the miners of the Birmingham district. So far the Gadsden mines have not been effected.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
TOYS ARE TURNED OUT
 NOW BY THE WHOLESALE

but the odd pieces must be fixed by hand.
 5ome Special Finishing.
 There are machines for forming pecu- liar shaped tn toys in other parts of the factory. One is for the handles of the tin shovels. Cylindrical tubes of tin have to be made for the wooden handle to fit in. and this is accomplished by an expert workman, who manipulates sheets of tin before table so that a groove and plunger carrying die force the strip into the proper tube form. One not ex- perienced with this machine could get no satisfaction whatever out of 1t. There Is an art in operating 1t that requires skill.
 When the sheets of tin are painted by machinery there are always needed fin- ishing touches by hand, which must be done later. When the toys are riveted together and ready for final finishing the girls paints them. These painters know exactly where the different colors are to be applied, and they work with great rapidty This painting part of the es- tablishment is one of the most pictur- esque in the shop. Everywhere the sight and odor of paint are apparent. Even the girls are smeared with the colors which they so briskly apply to the tn toys. Hands, clothes and sometimes face and hair show the signs of their paint.
 A toy Is picked up by a pair of dex- trous hands and with a soft brush the paint Is slapped on so quickly that 1t seems a wonder that anything like effec- tive results could be obtained. In some parts of the factory one girl paints in a single color. and another In some other color. tin toy comes to No. i, who slaps on a streak of red here and there; then 1t is passed on to the second girl, who deals only in blue. She supplies the missing blue of the sky and the water and pushes the toy forward to the third girl Green or yellow follows and com p1etes the picture. It is rarely that more than three colors are put on, and in most instances two, or even one must suffice.
 How Prices Range. ' Most of the summer toys are cheap tin affairs and they retail at the sea- shore for sums ranging from 5 to 25 cents apiece There is some demand for more expensive tin toys and the factories are gradually increasing their output. The summer mechanical tin boat, which will sail and those which are propelled by springs, steam and friction, are in pretty fair demand at the seashore. These boats require some mechanical skill to con- struct, and highly paid worlSmen have to be employed in the factories to put them together. They range in price from 50 cents up to several dollars. The different parts are all made by machinery and painted the same as the cheapest toys, but in the assembling of the various parts mechanics alone are able to do the work satisfactorily It is this high priced labor which makes their cost so much greater than the ordinary tin toys which boys and girls can make with the simple machines in the factory. Magnet ic toys, swimming animals and various kinds of complicated tin toys of this na- ture complete the general output of the factory. When the summer season is over the factory turns Its attention to the Christmas market and prepares for that.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
LEEDS.
Watchmen on Seaboard Line Make a
 Remarkable Find.


 Leeds, July 6.--(special. )-While work ing on the tunnel of the Seaboard Air Line in Roper Gap, Qear here, the work men struck a curiosity which has been taken out in sections and is now on ex- hlbition in the commsasry of the McAfee Construction company at this point The curiosity Is believed to be a pertrifed sea serpent It was taken out from a point about l6o feet In the tunnel and efforts will be made to bring some expert to the place for the purpose of examining the find and in all probabilities 1t will be sent to the Smithsonian Institute at Washing ton. Much interest is manifested in the serpent.
 It Is reported that as number of coal mines will be opened hereabouts just as soon as the Seaboard Air Line gets through this section. Some prospecting creeks, a portion of the Cahaba coal fields which have never yet been developed
 The survey of the branch line from the Homer Cut Gap to Trussville to the fur mace and coke ovens of the Lacey Buck company has been completed and the line will be constructed. Trussville will have three railway lines when the Sea board reaches there and 1t Is understood that some development will be done in that neighborhood also.
 The oat and wheat crop in Cahaba val ley Is heavy. The corn crop will be ex- traordinarily heavy this year If the rains will hold out. Cotton Is late and small in this section
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
RAILROAD WORLD.

Today there are in the world more than one-half million miles of railroad-to be exact 507515 miles. Almost one-half of the total or 226,5oS miles are in North America
 There are now more than 1000 locomo- lives in use in the United States.
 North America has 5000 more miles of railroad lines than Europe and. Asia. This does not include double tracks and hdings.
 Most people will be surprised to learn hat we use more than one and three quarters millions of cars in handling our Internal business.
 Alabama is second df not firsD in the mileage constructed during the first six months of the year 1903
 8. H. Hardwick general passenger agent
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
Scene of DesoIatiOn in Once Happy Valley at JeannGtts
STEPS TAKEN FOR RELIEF
Crowds of People Search Among the Debris for Missing Bodies, and Dis aster Casts a Gloom Over
 Many Wrecked Homes.

Jeannette, Pa, July 6.-As a result of the breaking of the Oakford Park dam yesterday twenty persons are known to be dead and sixteen are missing. The property loss in the valley will reach $1,- 1000 and the distress Is so great that out side relief will have to be asked for. From happy, prosperous. contented valley the region In single day has been transformed Into a great household of mourning. Homes have been wrecked and great workships forced into idleness. All during last night and today volunteers searched along the path of the torrent. While many men searched among the debris for the dead, others called the cit izens of Jeannette together to provide means of relief for the suffering residents of the valley. In few minutes s1200 was raised. It was found, however. that this sum would not be sufficient. Jeannette wanted to care for it's own needs and could have done so, had not the merchants and business men been heavy losers It was found that s50O0o was needed from outside sources.
 There was a great crowd assembled all day at the pile of wreckage heaped against the railroad embankment east of town and scattered over the bottom land. It was here that the greatest number of unreeovered bodies was supposed to be buried but by evening the men said no more bodies remained in the debris The following are the Identified dead and missing thus far reported:
 LIST OF DEAD. Lucy Crum,
 Gertrude Keefer,
 Catherine Donnelly,
 Joseph Brown,
 Sissy Bird,
 Ava Wigglns,
 Joseph oberIe of Indianapolis, John McCann,
 Marc Gillespie,
 Annie Gillespie,
 Al Brown,
 John Fleming,
 James Westwood,
 Joseph Wrlphtman,
 Mrs. Wllllahn Neear
 Three eh.'1fen of Mrs. Neaar, s Henry Fink,
 Mrs. Sehraeder.
 MISSING.
 Mary Griffin,
 Kate Cougar,
 Jacob Anderson,
 Two sons of Jacob Anderson,
 Henry Davis,
 Daniel Brant,
 Mrs. Catherine Fink,
 Martin Presslsr,
 John McGulrk,
 George Williams,
 Alexander Victor,
 c. Moore,
 g., vosle, .-,<z. Slpe.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
A Good counomen.

From Judge.
 Little wiifred was five years old. On the Fourth of July his mamma had per- mitted him to go out in the yard and ex- plode the torpedoes which his good papa had brought home for him the night be- fore.
 But the little fellows strength was not enough to send the missiles against the pavement with sufficient force to cause them to explode. So, after a number of unsatisfactory attempts, the youngster walked Into the house disappointedly. saying
 Mamma, these are not torpedoes; they are torpedoesn'ts."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
SITUATION IS REGRETTED.
Nov. Durbin Says Rlotlng at Evans.
 vlle Will Be Stopped.

Indianapolis, Ind, July Ex-Governor Durbin said tonight the situation was very much to be regretted and he would do everything to prevent an outbreak. He said he had authorized the sheriff at Evansville to swear in 1000 deputies If necessary and if that was found not to be sufficient he would give him additional troops
 Adjutant General Ward said tonight.
 Any attempt to parade by either race will be stopped by the militia"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
Mllltia company on Way.

The vncennes company of militia is on its way and Colonel Mccoy fears another outbreak when 1t arrives. All is now quiet around the jail, the soldiers still standing under arms. Outposts are sta- tioned to avoid guerrilla shooting from the streets with rifles. Governor Durbin has summoned a numbsr of prominent cit- izens to confer with him at once over the telephone to decide what action will be taken. Should an outbreak follow the ar rival of the Vincennes company, the Terre Haute company will be rushed here by Enpcial train.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
Railroad Claims Settled.

The administrator of Postal Clerk c. J. West. who was fatally injured in the wreck of No. on the Louisville and Nashville at Selma several weeks ago, has settled with the Louisville and Nash vile Railroad company for s75OO. The rail- road company has paid out on other claims resulting from this accident over sl0,O00 for personal injuries.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
RulaarIans Ordered Out.

Berlin, July c. A, Sofia dispatch to the Lokal Anzeiger says the Bulgarian war office has called out 10000 reserves, os- tensibly for three weeks maneuvers, and two battalions of pioneers have been ordered to the Turkish frontier.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
shortston Phxle Released.

Milwaukee, July Civilian Phyle, cap- tain and shortstop of the Milwaukee American association, has been relased to the Memphis club in the Southern league. He claimed the weather did not agree with him,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
Indignation Increased.

Decatur, Ind, July 6-Fuel was added to the flames of public indignation here against the negro when 1t became known that VIII Foreman, leader of the mob in the race riot here Friday night, was fined but s1 for assault and battery. No other arrests were made.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
commutatlon Rafuaed,

Frankfort Ky, July Ex-Governor Beck ham has refused finally to grant commu- tation to life imprisonment In the case of Earl Whitney and Claude O'Brien, Lexington murderers, under death sen tence. They will be hanged Friday July 24.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
NEGRO SEVERELY STABBED.
Man and Woman Arrested by Police
 on Charge of Assault.

Mille Johnson and Ransom Woodward were arrested last night charged with murderous assault on Marshall Johnson. Johnson received severe cut in the abdo- men. and was stabbed several times in the back
 There is another negro who has not yet been arrested who is accused of being a participant in the assault.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
Tactless.
From Life.

From IlIe.
 What's the matter with Mcbride? Hasn't he any tact?'
 Hardly He came over on the steamer with two Englishmen and insisted up- on their celebrating the Fourth of July with him.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
Evening Up.
From Life.

Briggs-How can SticlSney cut up so. with his wife in a sanitarium?
 Griggs-He considers himself and wife as one, and he is having just as much fun as possible, to make up for her lack of it.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
RIOT AND MURDER STALK
 ABROAD IN EVANSVILLE, IND.
Continued from First Pase)

pitals and to physicians calling for aid and the response was quick Doctors from all over Evansville drove rapidly at the call,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
Accident at Decatur.

Gus Petty, colored laborer at the cin- der pit at the New Decatur shops. was run over by an engine and probably fat ally injured at II o'clock this morning.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07
A Guaranteed Cure for Piles.

Itching. Blind Bleeding or Protruding Piles. Your druggist will refund your money if PAzO OINTMENT fails to cure you. 50 cents. 1o-2t-fy-tu
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07

Corrected estimates from railroad en- gineers of the physical damage done by the recent floods are said to show that more than 40OOo miles of traekage in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Indi- an territory. Oklahoma. Arkansas, and the westerly iowlands of Illinois and Mississippi were more or less seriously impaired
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07

of the Southern railway. ". H. Taloe. assistant general passenger agent, with headquarters at Atlanta, and c. A Bens- coter, assistant general passenger agent of the western division, with headquar- ters at Chattanooga, were all in the city yesterday.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07

The Railway Age says 1t has been a poor year. thus far. for steam railway receivers, and the business of selling rall- ways under foreclosure has also been re- markably dull. No steam railway com pany in the United States operating so much as thirty miles of road has become insolvent, and the five little lines of from four to twenty-eight miles which failed to meet their interest obligations during the last six months never had demon strated their right or ability to exist.
 W. M. Fox has been appointed solicit
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-07

ing agent of the Macon and Birmingham with headquarters at Nashville, Tenn.