davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-06
lie lIaIe
tBrookIyn IImesD

A.NA 3D. AA-
SAY aid the old topper. as he met a
friend in front of az eastern district sa-
loon, what are you looking so blue
about2 You seem as If you hadn't had
a drink I'm a year. It's my treat, so come
along"
Well. said his friend. ct can stand a
good joke once in a while. even If it is
on me. but I guess the limit has arrived. 80
'Mother-ip-law come TO live with your
suggested the topper.
No. said the wise one. as they entered
the sacred reservoir. you see. it's this
way: You know I'm pretty well up on
everything. Well. I've found out that
everything don't include botany"
'Chewed marsh grass for mint. 1 sup
no quite that. Ny mother-in-Iaw
brought a nice big palm down 60 the
house about three weeks ago just after
my wife went to the country. Well. 1
thought II was up TO me TO look after the
blamed thing. so 4 put IL in the sunny
part ~ the lining room and gave II ten
der. gentle care. like an experienced gar
cry day. but didn't notice the hole I'm
the bottom Of the iardiniere tin 7 spoiled
a $50 rug Wen ] thought. there's one
consolation. ANYWAY 7 saved that palm
all right This moruinC nv mother-in-
law came down to the house. and when
] gently explained how I sacrificed a $50
rug TO take care Of her plant. she fell
I'm a fit and wanted to know what 7
bv rottinR her s3.9S imported. Par
isian. artificial palm by pouring water on
81. Make IL a big one. waiter. L eXpec
my wife home tomorrow, and Nv got 10
brace up."
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-06

the rose. which had required after op-
Grafton and had been treated unsuccess-
iuly with &-rays, was subjected to a
short exposure to radium. -Four expos
ures' 5~g5rcgattng about an hour. were
gwen at an interval of a few days. In
three weeks the diseased part was healing
well. ana In six weeks, after two further
exposures. the cancer had disappeared
completely-almost ~miracuiOusly. as il
seemed, not leaving any visible scar. A
similar success with an otherwise incur
abe cancer was reported last week from
vienna. from the clinic Of Professor Gus
senbauer. The great problem Of the APP
plicauon Of radiUm for Illuminating pur-
poses belongs 70 the second class-that is,
the application would be perfectly prac-
ticable If the supply Of radium were
somewhat more abundant than il is at
present.
"A small fraction of an ounce of radi
UNI, properly employed. would probably
provide a good light. sufficient for sew
eral rooms, which. at any rate during the
present century. would never need re-
neWaL Rutherford has calculated from
MS oWn experiments and those of Curie.
InaI the energy stored up In one
or raoium is sufficient to raise 500 tons a
mile high An ounce would. therefore.
suffice 10 drive a fifty horsepower motor
car at the rate Of thirty miles an hour
around the world This possibility of our
being able in the future to control the
store Of energy in radium and to liber-
ate IL for use as required. at any desired
rate, IS, OF course, the most interesting
feature OF the radio-activitv at the pres
ent time. But IL must be confessed that
science holds out scantN prospects Of its
fulfillment
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-06

him home, ard tethered him in the
garden with a strap to one leg. The
first night he ate a good meal Of liver,
and after that he took most any
kind of meat thai was given him. I let
him have caTTion whenever it vas
convenient. but at other times he ate
freshly-killed frogs, fresh beef, DOS
sum and even fish. One night soon ar
ter ] had brought him home I went
u TO see how he looked when he
was asleep. II was so dark that his
black plumage was not visible against
the grass; all I could see of him was
a white spot, his head. as il hung
near the ground. I approached very
quietly, and was within five feet when
something happened. Out Of the dark
ness there came a flash of white.
straight toward me, with a speed
which caused me to step quickly back
ward, M at the same instant there
was a startling, rustling sound, &C
companied by a gutteral crowd which
for a moment I did not recognize as
the voice of the young vulture. Alto
gether it was a most startling pheno-
menOn. and although realized in q
moment that the bird was in some
way the cause of it, I do not know
even yet just what happened. This
much 1 know, however, that the bird
rushed at me, growing with all his
might, and that che flash of white was
the white down of the body, uncovered
by the opening of the black wings.
The rushing sound was, 7 think. caused
in some way by the wing feathers or
tail feathers, or both, but whether by
dragging them along the ground or
otherwise, I cannot tell. I trieu on sew
eral occasions to find his out, but ap-
preaching the young vulture when there
was just light enough for me to see
What happened, but he would never
act in just h same way unless it was
quite dark. No doubt that is some pro
vision of nature to protect the bird
when it is young and helpless, and I
can testify that it is a good one. for I
am sure that few n~ight-pTOwling ami
mails would care to pursue their in
designations after being given so start
ling a reception.
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-06

downy fiedglings. which could scarce
~ be called pretty. They were in
every way less attractive than young
hawks of the same age. They expressed
their disapprOval at my presence by
a weak growing sound. 7 could not
visit the spot again for some weeks,
and when ] did. one of them had dis
appeared The other was no longer in
the hollow log, but standing at a lit
tie distance, and ] was interested to
see the change IN his appearance. In
the first place, he had grown tremen-
dOusly. the down which had formerly
covered the whole body was now con-
fined chiefly to the head. neck and un-
departs: the rest of the bird was
clothed with firm black feathers. He
looked fat and Well fed, and a living
proof Of the nourishment there must
be i'm c%arriOn, since young buzzards
are fed by reorganization on the partly
digested contents of the stOmachs Of
their parents. As I approached the
young bird turner, and with lowered
head, walked away rapidly in the di-
rectlOn of some bushes, into which he
crawled out of sight. But decided to.
take him home for further study. so I
stepped up quickly and pulled him
out. Here / received my first personal.
knowledge Of the disgusting habits of
vultures. for scareeLy HAD I seized
him when he ~disgOrged such a GUAM
tity Of offensive matter from his stom-
ach that I was glad to let him go
again. However. the way to do things
is to DO them. so ] reached out my
hand again and caught him by one
wing But here he-had another sur
prise for me. for ne seized my finger
in his hooked bill, and with a turn of
his head twisted off a bit of the flesh
before I had time even to object. At
ter hurriedly cleansing the wound I
again advanced on the enemy, who
was game enough to satisfy any one.
ana came to the attack with open
bill. OF course. he was not dangerous
in the least. for he was very young
and could not even fly, but. for a
hedgling. the grip he could give
with his bill was astonishing.
However, I picked him up and took
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-06
ONE GAMBLERS NERVE

in its effect upon the average man that
throughout his racing career he has
been averse to having the newspapers
publish things concerning his person
ality. and, particularly, the stories Of
his great turf winnings.
" Such Stories he las often told me-
are bound to indame the minds OF
young fellows and get them dafy on
the horses. 1t auses them TO grab dt
and run away with the idea that there
are millions in horse ace gambling
for all hands, and it makes me sore to
think Of how many decent fellows nave
gone to the dogs through reading Of
my luck in the newspaper stories and
endeavOring to string along after the
style of my game
"Pittsburg Pills first great winning
was made on the horse King Cadmus
at Brighton Beach When he went TO
New York from Chicago with some
thing over $1,000 he looked over the
ground with his characteristic eau
ton for some time before he risked u
dollar. He obtained q private line on
all of the horses running at Brighton
Beach. When his King Cadmus race
came along he had his nerve with him
and he was ready He was convinced
that nothing in the race could beat the
King, and he put his entire $1,000 ON
the horse, straight, at 40 TO l. King
Cadmus won in a walk and PittsburE
Phil has had his feet on the high rungs
Of the ladder ever since. There has
been really a comparatively small ele-
ment of luck in connection with the
mans huge success as a turf gambler.
He nearly as fine an y for a
horse and a horses condition as the
incompatible John Madden, for one
thing. and, in the second place, he pays
staggering sums for inside information
not Information as to jobs and that
sort Of thing, u as to the condition
of horses, Owners' intentions respect
ing them, and so on. He only bets on
races in which he sees a winning
chance, and I have seen him sit in the
stand for two weeks at a stretch with
out ever making a wager. He rarely
takes less than . to 1 on a horse, all
though he is by no means a lOng-shOt
player. 1T would be impossible TO eX-
aggerate the GOODNESS of the man. Last
summer I stood beside him on the
lawn just after a race, when the jockey
who's horse finished second went into
the stewards staEd and Gained a foul
against the horse that had finished
first. After about ten minutes discus
sion in the stand n number of the
winning horse was taken down and
that of the foUled second horse put in
its place.
" That makes a difference Of S4O,O 900
TO me- quietly remarked Smith.
His face was absolutely expression
less. and I don't believe the shrewdest
reader of p-hysiognOmies on earth could
have detected from a close scrutiny Of
The mans face whether that difference
of 10000 was a winning or a losing.
forty thousand lOse-oUt? I asked
him
'NO-win.' he said. Il played the
second horse
And the lawn was cluttered with
men who We're throwing their hats up
in the air because of the d~isQualifca-
ton making them winners Of from
SO to $50 DECENTRALIZATION Star.
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-06
ReviveS O1d7Fa fashioned Racing ON the
Mississippi

two mighty chOruses rose above the
blare of bends and horns-then the two
stately racers gathered their speed and
shot away from their mornings.
From now on there was little rest
for the human machinery that was to
guide the boats for 1900 miles up the
river. Each racer had two pilots, Who
took turns at the wheel, and who were
always under mental strain and anN-
iety. Their regulations were at stake.
IF they lost they would not be 1850
a month men" when they returned.
on the boiler deck were the men
upon whom a great part Of the race
depended. They were the black. mus
Cular fellows who fed .the furnaces.
Working only from four to six hours
at a shift. every minute to them was
one of suffering. The head stoker
stood back beside the great pile of
pitch pine slabs, and his voice rose
above the roar Of the flames in stem
torian commands.
A furnace door was thrown open.
~ as the whitening heat poured out
a black man would rush forward with
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-06

(By Ernest Harold Baynes.)
7 n the south there is one bird which
everybody knows whether ne is a
nature student or not; / refer to the
turkey vulture. or turkey buzzard, as
most people cab him. This bird seems
to be an ever present feature of the
southern landscape, for look upward
when you will, o may see him sweep
ing the sky with oUtspread wings.
wheeling in broad circles or soaring in
graceful spirals. with seemingly never
a stroke OF the mighty piniOns for hours
at a time. one day ] saw a vulture
sailing thus, and carefully marked it's
flight until il descended from the white
clouds and disappeared near the edge
of a distant wood. Surprising that it
had come down to feed on some car
on dead horse, perhaps, which had
been dragged just inside the woods and
left made the best of my way to the
spot where I lost sight of the bird. that
/ might be a witness to the feast. 1
arrived at cle wood, but neither bird
nor carcass could I see. Then I be-
thought me that this was the month
of May, n that perhaps the buzzard
had a nest Whereabouts. I hunted un-
der the bushes. along the sides of fall
go 4AAA AA 1tAAAE 1AA 2ANAANNNE WHICH,
were standing near. but not a feather
was to be seen. Presently / spied a log
which lay somewhat apart. in the shad-
dow Of some shrubs. and as I an
preached it, out from somewhere came
a big turkey buzzard, which quickly
disappeared behind the trees. On com
ing up 20 the log, which was a large
one, / found that it was hollow. and
in the cavity there were two eggs,
which doubtless belonged to the vuIture
which had just departed. They were
considerably larger than the eggs of a
domestic hen, and in color they were
dirty white, heavily spotted with choc-
oiate brown I left them that / might
have an opportunity to study the
young.
The next time / visited the hollow
log the parent birds were not in
sight, but in the nest 1 found two
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-06

II improbable that boats that were IA
nous a quarter of a century ago, and
which still ply up and down the river,
viii enter the contest, ven if their
chances of winning are small.
Without these boats and men the
race in itself would be incomplete as a
reproduction of the struggles of old.
Gray-headed veterans who saw the
contest Of 1870 between the Natchez
and the Robert r. Lee. men who help
ed to stuff the roaring furnaces with
pitch-pine slabs and rosin. and others
who, almost sleepless for nearly four
long days and nights. guided n
watched n race from the decks. may
again take their old positions in a sim
liar struggle.
In that great race the Robert z. Lee
set the record, md IL has not been
broken to this day. In three days,
eighteen hours and fourteen minutes
she travelled from New Orleans to St.
Louis, 1918 miles. beating the Natchez
by less than four hours. Only such
men as were young men hen live to
remember the thrilling spectacle of the
General Quitman, which, within an ace
Of blowing herself into eternity. beat
the Atlantic from New Orleans to Don
aldsville by a margin of five minutes.
And only they remember the famous
victory Of the Eclipse over the Shot
well, just half a century ago. a ice
which cost half a million dollars in bets,
and in which at the end of a 1,440-mile
cOurs from New Orleans to Louisville
the ShOtwell was only fifty minutes
behind. It was only a short time after
that that the ShOtwelI went up in a
thousand pieces in a sudden squirt with
p rival to reach a richly laden landing
first.
Rttf fbo N-otobo- oDa Az ,oo
was a climax to ali these. Others fol-
lowed for a number of years, as re-
markable in their way. but they were
not spoken Of In the same breath with
#.
Even the great contest of pilots on
the War Eagle and the Golden Eagle
SIX years later. when the latter nearly
went up in smoke. did not equal il.
though at the end of a 300-mile course
the boats came in a tic.
Even when the Bonanza of Louisville
shot herself into eternity a little more
h twenty years ago in her frantic
EFFORTS 10 beat cut the Scotia it was
said by "old-timers" that the nerve Of
her pilot was only equaled by the idiOcy
Of her engineer, and that neither dis
played the skill which characterized
the great old Mississippi river races.
An Old-time race on the Mississippi
between two swift vessels was a
drawing card" for a score Of miles
back on each side of the river. The
announcement was spread weeks or
even months ahead. 1t spread from
town TO town along the river. Gossip
and rumOr carried it for miles back
into the country. 1t became known TO
the poorest %~squatter" and the richest
planter, was talked of among children.
and heralded by thousands of negroes
as an approaching holiday. The hoUe'
al which the two steamboats, would
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-06

a poker twenty feet long. His head
was bandaged in wet rags, his shout
ders and arms and feet naked. Some
times only a breechcloth protected him.
With a few powerful thrusts he
twisted the lurid mass inside, and it
broke out again into roaring flame. A
shOut-a wild rush-and two at a
time the stOkers leaped forward,
pitched their sticky slabs deep into
III pit and ran back for more. An
other COR would fly open, M an
other, until The terrific heat drove the
men back, their bodies dripping weat
and their eyes blinded by the glare.
From the pilot house would come a
signal Il was responded TO be the en-
gineer, by the hremen, by every part
of the human mechanism on the boiler
deck 1t called for more specific
rival was gaining.
'In with the rosin-in with the pine!'
shouted the chief.
The king" in His House Of Glass.
Up in his glass house stood the king
of the ship, n pilot. Sixty feet be
low his was the waterfall about him
the speaking tubes and bells. Though
several decks lay between him and
the engineer, the two acted as one
man.
Upon the soulders of the pilot rested
ANO 1aAAL LAE AEEH0ANoAnAAAtN vi NALN0AN
or defeat. but perhaps the fate of the
vessel 1t was not a trial OF more
speed, as it would have been in a race
across the Atlantic. It was a battle
of skill, of daring and Of endurance.
This man knew by name every point
Of land, inlet. river bayou and hamlet
between New Orleans and St. Louis.
He could repeat them in order, for
ward and backward. With his hands
firmly grasping the wheel. he stared
steadily ahead. The shore was lined
with thousands of people. Brass bands
blared encouragement He knew that
his name was in every mans mouth
for 1900 miles along the river-yet his
eyes never wandered. Behind thun-
dered the rival-a single error, a mis-
judged movement and the race, and his
reputation might be lost.
A little way ahead the water might
look all h same. Apparently there
was no reason why the boat should
not point straight down the stream TO
a headland a mile away, where the
cottonwood trees dipped toward the
gray horizon. But suddenly the huge
wheel whirled swiftly around. and the
bow Of the boat pointed almost di-
rectly in shore. In an instant il was
close to the bank, where the water
whirled and tore along. where big roots
or trees, like snakes. Crawled out from
the crumbling shore. and destruction
seemed imminent. The captain and
crew looked calmly on.
"ShallOwsl' said the pilot.
Ahead a ripple in the rolling surface
of the river looked innocent enough,
straight in the path of the racing
vessel. But the pilot spied it-again
the wheel whirled about. the swift
speeding steamboat shot a dozen feet
to the side Of st, and the terrific churn-
ing Of her wheels brought to the surface
for q Geeting moment h iagged butt
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-06

pass such and such a point was care
fully figured out, and all prepared 20
WlIness the spectacle.
Those who had not carriages came IN
mule carts and wagons. Others
walked Great quantities OF food were
brought along. so that a forced retreat
might not be compelled by hunger. in
case the racers were delayed.
At the starting point" the great.
EIack-funneied racers were stripped
like runners. Every conceivable en-
cumL-ance that added weight or az
forded a resisting surface TO wind or
water a removed. Every screw and
furnace bolt was examined. For many
before, the pilots and crews had
slept and rested. The stokers had
stuffed the furnaces with pitch pine
and rosin, and the occasional shrieking
of pent-up steam through the safety
valves and the dense clouds of black
smoke rushing out of the tunnels told
of their readiness for the ordeal.
Suddenly there came the deep. long
blast of a whistle. Tan columns Of
steam burst from the 'scape pipes of
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-06
Of a hugs log haf-submerged, like a
Night Falls

OF a hugs log haf-submerged, like a
hidden trap.
When Night Falls.
Slowly the night would fan Pos
sibly there was no moon or star =
light the way. The twisting shores be-
came dull and indistinct. No lights
marked their winding curves, except
an occasional CLEAN from some window
on shore. 1t was then, then the vol
umes OF black smoke from the tunnels
were lost in the darkness, when the
river was a dark. gliding mirror, re-
fleCtiug the blaCkness above, and the
forests of cypress and cottonwood on
the nearest bank, a scarcely percepI-
BILE line. that tine man guiding the river
Onster in her race faced his respOu-
sibility.
Below the torch light hared out far
ahead. and the dangers which were
discerned by sharp eyes during h day
were now picked out by means of this.
But there was no hating of the racers
speed. New hands We're constantly at
work feeding the furnaces. A fresh
engineer took the place of the day man.
Another pilot stood in his house Of
glass.
From the shore the swiftly moving
boats looked as though they were
ablaze from stem to stern. Wherever
there was a chink, a bit Of glass or u
latticed blind. a stream Of radiance
shot forth. as though within there was
a mass Of fire. The boiler deck was
duly iIumined by smoking lanterns,
but when one Of the great furnace
doors vas thrown open and the half
naked black fireman began throwing
in more slabs. there was such q glare
that the boat and machinery-work-
ing In plain view-seemed wrapped in
a v%esuvius Of flame.
Once more the dawn broke. Hard
and quick work was now ear for the
whole crew. Perhaps the fuel on the
bailer deck was nearly gone, and m
how along here a barge loaded with
p|itchpine slabs would be awaiting
racer or the other, and the reserve fire.
men and the crew would be lined on
deck ready for the work. A shout an
nounced that the barge was sighted.
There she is"
The steamboat ran alongside-and
in that instant hale a hundred waiting
men began pitching her load Of fuel on
deck, while the firemen and crew tossed
it further and further back.
The rival boat nay come up and
plunge on ahead, but there was no
worry or this account, for somewhere
she would have to stop for fuel as we'll
But the less time lost. the more time
was gained. In a few minutes the load
was on. and as the huge racer turned
her nose to the channel again her fuC-
naces began to roar afresh, and once
more the race was on
such was one of those magnificent
river struggles of thirty years ago.
spectacle that may again in the near
future be seen on the father of waters,
when a pot of gold lies at the end Of
that long course over which man a
steamboat has made her LIES run 1o-
fame aIOne--DetrOit News Tribune