davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
ROMANTIC ROCKS HOLD STORY.
Unlontown, With It's Beautiful Country
 Recalls Polly Williams Fate.

From the Pittsburg Gazette-Times.
 Among the many romantic spots in Western Pennsylvania none is better known, perhaps, than White Rocks, near Uniontown. This particular spot was made famous by Philip Rogers wilfully casting Polly Williams. to whom he was engaged, down the face of the rocks into the dark depths below, causing her death, This event, which occurred in August. 1910. has been done up in song and story, but the plain facts have never been re- lated more clearly than by Charles B. Pennington, of Carmichaels, Pa.
 'Polly Williams parents moved from Fayette county, Pennsylv ania. into Ohio. ' said MT. Pennington, leaving Polly in the care of neighbor family, to be mar ried to her betrayer. Philip Rogers The couple stole off together one day, she from where she was staying and he from his work, I believe at an uncle's, and met at an appointed place. She. 1t is supposed, was under the impression that he was go- ing to take her to a preacher to be mar ried. Some time afterward a couple of girls were gathering huckleberries at the White Rocks and noticed a small piece of clothing on a bush near the edge of a rock. They looked over the precipice and saw a dead person lying below. which, on investigation, proved to be Polly Will Hams.
 Rogers owed his freedom from justice to the efforts of his lawyer, but it is said that he lived a very miserable life, and some who knew him said he scarcely ever slept but would lie in bed and chew to bacco all through the night"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
Rivers and Harbors.

A call hmas been issued for another rivers and harbors congress to meet in Washington on December 6, three days after the reassembling of Congress. The coming convention will be the third that has been held by the organ ization. The official head of the con gross is Harvey D. Boulder of Cleve- land, O., but the chief force in it is Congressman Ransdell of Lake Provi- dence, La.
 Alabama is invited to send delegates to the coming congress, and it would perhaps be best to do so. Heretofore the rivers of Alabama have been ig- nored by the rivers and harbors con gresses. The two that have been held were so much absorbed in the improve ment of the Mississippi and of the Great Lakes that they did not see the rivers of the chief river state in the country. A strong delegation gathered from Mobile, Gadsden, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Demopolis and Birming- ham might be able to turn the atten- tion of the congress to the waterway needs of this state. The experiment is worthy of trial at any rate.
 The object of the congress is to se- cure an annual rivers and harbors bill of not less than fifty million dollars. No country, they say, has more or bet ter natural water courses and harbors than this; no progressive government among civilized nations has done less to improve it's rivers and harbors than ours. In an annual fifty-million-dollar bill appropriations could readily be secured that would speedily lead to the opening of our Alabama rivers, and that is a consummation devoutly to be wished.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
About Horse Shows.

"fhis is horse show season." said man last night. 'So popular has the horse show become that every town of any im- portance now has it's horse show, and in New York and Chicago 1t Is the biggest exent in the social calender. But this does not argue that people know so much about horse flesh. To prove this fact, and to show how much even the judges in the great Madison Square events know about horses, a New Yorker re- gently made bet that he could take the blue ribbon with any old horse. So he secretly got a plug from street car barn, put him h the hands of an expert horseman to get in shape and at the proper time exhibited him at the garden The animal was groomed and fixed up iB great style, and hitched to the swellest rig that could be found He got the first prize The fact that the horse is being superseded by the automobile, that he does not now trot down Fifth avenue in the same society that he used to, does not affect the horse show. In fact If the horse were to cease to be altogether society would still have it's horse shows For horse Is about the most unimpor- tant thing in the show. He bears about the same relation to horse show that cndrlty uoeS to a cuarlty Ddll. botn may be present at these particular func- tions but both are negligible quantities.
 "The people are the things, and their clothes It is even 8 matter of doubt that the peoples presence Is imperative. Clothes exhibited on frames stimulating the shape of human figures would pos sloly do just as well. Such is the evolu- ton of the horse show. Now 1t is simply one of the biggest booths in Vanity Fair where the horse is the excuse and not the attraction"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
IN HOTEL LoBBIES
Innovations in Birmingham.


 Tn view of the rapid advances that have been made in the use of improved appliances and modern methods in all lines of business I am proud of the part took in the introduction of advanced ideas in Birmingham, said Dr. J. N. Hughes yesterday.
 T came to Birmingham in 1882 and opened drug store at the present Adams stand at Second avenue and Nineteenth street. A few years later I introduced the use of flint bottles, the first ever used in the drug trade in Birmingham.
 T was the first merchant to use an electric fan in a store in Birmingham and operated the first soda fountain that had improved appliances and catered to the best trade. It was the first fountain of any pretentions in the city.
 T also have the honor of having in- troduced the girl cashier to the Birmng- ham public. She was an innovation at first but soon became popular and female cashiers soon got to be numerous.
 Another innovation for which I claim credit Is the use of cards in political campaign I used them in a race for city alderman. The idea was ridiculed at the time but it was not long until other candidates were not only using cards but were prin ting their pictures on them. Some of the candidates who thus adver- tised themselves are still living in Bir- mingham.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
----- - BACK TO NATURE.
Wealthy Swiss Woman Lived In the
 Woods and Acted Like an Ape.

Geneva Correspondence Chicago Inter
 Ocean.
 Scientists are greatly interested in a woman who has reverted to the habits of the highest apes, who, in seven years of solitary wandering in lonely mountains has forgotten the civilizing influences into which she was born and has re- gained the super acute sense Of hearing and the tree climbing power which pre- historic man possessed.
 She is widow of wealthy merchant of Geneva. Some time before her hus- bands death she deserted their Luxurious home in this city and vanished utterly. Some whispered that she was jealous of certain opera singer. Others gosslped that she gambled and had contracted debts of which she dared not tell her hus- band. Again it was said that for her ec- centricities she had been immured in a neighboring asylum.
 It is known now that the woman, who was delicately reared. went away. She wandered Into the thick forests of Haute- savoy, most sparsely settled country There she has existed for seven years, munching nuts and berries. seeking refuge in lonely grottoes against the winter rigors.
 Growing bolder at last. she penetrated to the outer edge of the forest. Her ap- pearance, almost demoniac, terrified the peasants, who told the police of the wild vision that had presented itself. She eluded the police by darting into the thickets, which they could not penetrate or by swinging herself from one of the tree branches far above the ground.
 Even when they captured her the po- lice could learn nothing from her. She mumbled 1argon. She has been posi- lively identified. Her husband left a for tune to her. but it is not likely she will enjoy it. for she has been incarcerated in an asylum.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
AN ENLARGED oRANG-oUTANG.
New York Herald.

From the New 1ork Herald.
 Losing his temper, evidently by the grimaces made by crowd of women and children in the primate house in the Geological park yesterday afternoon. De- hong. a large orang-outang. pulled two iron bars of his cage from their fasten- ings and sprang through the opening, armed with one of the bars In a mo- ment all was confusion. and in the panic which followed women and children fought each other to get through the narrow entrances to the walk. Nobody was injured in the rush. and Dohong made no effort to assault anybody.
 After he had cleared the building. De- hong continued to branish the iron bar, and remained master of the situation for a half hour Keepers Riley and En- gelhoim were standing outside the build ing when the crowd began to rush out They assisted the women and children, and then closed both doors. A consulta- tion was held, and many plans for the capture of the building were suggested and rejected. Finally Riley opened one of the doors and looked in. Dohong was standing with his legs crossed leaning on the iron bar. He looked peaceful and extended his arm to the keeper. Riley walked in and, locking arms with Dohang, led the orang-outang back to his cage.
 Dohong has been in the park for the last five years. He was quite small when he arrived. but has grown and de- veloped regularly on the horizontal bars in his cage He was the companion of Ota Benga, an African pygmy. and since Otas departure from the park. several weeks ago, has been out of sorts.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01

three thousand, and the number en- trenched in the cold hills of Wyoming probably does not exceed 500.
 The administration is hemming them in by means of two cavalry regiments, and a thousand more soldiers are to be sent to the scene of trouble, and the renegade Utes will doubtless be forced back to their inhospitable res ervation on the Bad Lands of Wyo- ming. This may easily be the last effort of the Indians, who once owned this country, to assert themselves against the white invaders of their native land. It is but another instance, sad though it be in some respects, of the survival of the Attest
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
Uncle Sam's Ute Indians.

An Indian war or a suppression of any sort of the remnant of American
 Indians seems "out of date" but a movement of that sort is certainly at hand amid the ranches of the state of Wyoming, where the Ute Indians are
 showing their teeth, if not their guns. They belong to the widely scattered
 Shoshone tribes, and they were former ly located near Salt Lake in Utah. The
 Utes were never inclined to agricul- ture, and their present reservation Is on the Bad Lands of Wyoming, not far from Yellowstone park. Always war like, they have taken up arms ostensi- tly to prevent deportation to Utah, and really to secure better conditions of living from the government. They do not desire sc much to fight as to dicker.. They desire to get into posi- tion to make an appeal to Washington. Just what they want has not been formulated by their chiefs, and given out for publication. They are restless and warlike, but they are not numer- ouA All told they number less than
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
Mechanical Cotton Picker.

J. S. B. Thompson of Atlanta. general agent of the Southern railway, returned from Monteomery last night enthusiastic over the practical demonstration he had witnessed of the working of a new cot ton picking machine.
 "It was out on MT. Taylor's farm, near Montgomery" said MT. Thompson, that the Lowry cotton picker was at work and l believe 1t means great things for the south. Its caapcty is 2000 pounds day and unlike the negroes it will work every day. It was the first time l ever saw any sort of mechanical cotton picking and 1t looks like success to me. It goes through the field and picks it as clean as anyone could wish. The labor problem Is probably the greatest that confronts us in the south and anything which will aid in solving it should attract the atten- tion of everyone interested in the souths development.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
And yet words are no deeds.
 king Henry VIII.
Overcoming Colbert Shoals.

President Thomas R. Roulhac has summoned the Tennessee River I'm. provement association to meet at Shef- field on November 8. All the people in Alabama are interested in the work of the association because the overcoming of Colbert Shoals and the opening of the Tennessee to navigation would bring undoubted advantages to the Tennessee valley, and that would go to enrich the state.
 The people in the Tennessee valley should be encouraged in every possi' ble way to persist in striving for the removal of all obstacles to navigation at Colbert Shoals. Persistence is all that is needed. The convention at Shef- field on Thursday of next week should be well attended. Let us hope every Alabama town in the noble valley will be well represented.
 When the Ohio river is calling for huge appropriations surely a sum large enough to overcome the Shoals near Florence can be secured, and the com ing convention is called in the hope that combined effort in the big valley will induce Congress to act favorably on the proposition. Sheffield is deeply interested in the prospect, and so is Florence, and so is the entire upper end of this state, for it means an open waterway, and that means lower trans portation rates all around It is a mat ter well worth fighting for, and persist ent fighting will assuredly bring the desired appropriation.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
NEW RAILROAD WONDER
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun
 H' HE latest and biggest project of 9 David M. Moffat' the Colorado
 railroad man, is an air line from Denver to Salt Lake City over the con- tinental divide, midway between the Union Pacific on the north and the Rio Grande on the south.
 Dave Moffat has dug down into his own pocket and built several railroads which nobody else had the courage to tackle He made money every time. But the present proposition is the stiffest one he has encountered yet.
 As soon as the scheme was preached it met with opposition from the roads that would be affected by 1t. When 1t was suggested that Moffat was at last up against job too big for him, and that he could not get route, one who knew him well remarked confidently:
 "A right of way block Dave Moffat? I guess not. If there's no other chance he'll cuss a rght of way through"
 He didn't have to go to such an ex- treme, but he did have to furnish the money for the building. New York cap- italists whom he visited refused to ad- vance any money for the building, so hc said
 Never mind. I'll build 1t myself. We have little money out in Colorado, I and my friends. We can all chip in, and I guess among us we can make up fair sized pot. This road is one of the plums of Colorado, but it'll take a little shaking to bring 1t down."
 It took more than a fair-sized pot as
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01

the preliminary work for the surveys cost $250,000. Hhe Burlington had tried to get over the mountains, and had be- come frightened when s1,OO0,oOO had been put into the work and brought no visible results, and Moffat bought the rights the Burlington had acquired.
 The first fifty miles of the road out of Denver cost $60.0O0 a mile, and the thir- ty-five miles up the foothills to the Main Range Tunnel cost s1OO,OO0 a mile, all this for grading before a single tie was laid.
 In eleven miles there are twenty-nine tunnels through solid granite. and the road has every conceivable sort of curve. rom horseshoe to a tennis racquet. Bridges and fills cost $1.OOO,OO0. Steam Shovel Cut through rock. is 22OO feet long, and average forty feet deep.
 The Main Range Tunnel, nearly three miles in length, is under James Peak at an elevation of s60o feet, and cost $76Oooo. William Crook, whose firm had the contract for building one of the worsr sections of the road, took down 12,OO0 cubic yards of granite with one blast. using 1000 kegs of black powder and fif- teen boxes of dynamite to do 1t.
 The worst part of the road, the way through the mountains. has been con- quered, and what remains to be done is comparatively easy. Throughout the road is of standard gauge. 36O0 heavy Texas pine ties to the mile. instead of the usual 2soo, and eighty-pound rails. and all equipment fitted for heavy through traf- fic
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
The Harry Miles Benefit.

'The action of the Athletic clubs board of governors" said member last night, Tin making this years Society Circus a benefit performance for Harry Miles, is meeting with hearty approval from the members of our club and the public in general.
 Miles has a right to feel proud of his record here during the past fifteen years, as he has been a powerful in- fiuence for good among the young men of the city. It was largely through his untiring efforts, and at a great personal sacrifice, that the Athletic club was held together during the dark days of the nineties, and it's present success achieved during the past few years.
 '"The Athletic club wants to assist Prof in building a home and for this reason is making the Society Circus a performance for his benefit, and the mem bers expect to make it a standing-room only house,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
THE SOUTH'S FIVE C'S.

From the Wall Street Summary.
 To sustain life man must have food, heat and clothing. Corn. coal and cot ton will supply these wants. In all three products America leads the world. Coke is another essential. Without it our pro- duction of pig iron and steel would be greatly diminished. All four staples the south yields in abundance. and in a sin gle state-Alabama-are all four to be found Commenting on this singular cir constance the Birmingham Age Herald says: "A state that produces the four Cs. must necessarily become a rich state. No other state north or south pro- duces the four Cs. Alabama stands alone in that respect. and the time will come when Alabama will be perhaps the richest state in the union, simply because no other state turns out in great abundance coal, corn. cotton and coke" We think fifth c is timely in view of Alabama's S glorious future, for surely within her Dor ders is there room for cheerfulness.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
ANIMALS THAT WEEP.

From Harper's Weekly
 Travellers through the Syrian desert have seen holres weep from thirst, mule has been seen to cry from the pains of an injured foot, and camels. it is said, shed tears in streams. A COW sold by its mistress who had tended 1t from calf hood wept pitifully young soko ape used to cry from vexation If Livingstone didn't nurse 1t in his arms when 1t asked him to. Wounded apes have died crying. and apes have wept over their young ones slain by hunters A chimpanzee trained to carry water jugs broke one. and fell a-cryng. which proved sorrow, though 1t wouldn't mend the jug. Rats, discover ing their young drowned. have been moved to tears of grief. A giraffe which 6 huntsmans rife had injured began to cry when approached. Sea lions often weep over the loss of their young. Cor don Cummings observed tears trickling down the face of dying elephant. And even an orang-outang when deprived of its mango was so vexed that it took to weeping There is little doubt, therefore, that animals do cry from grief or weep from pain or annoyance.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
Fishinu Under Difficulties.

The scarcity of fish and oysters In the gulf states, particularly in Ala bama, Mississippi and Florida. is easily accounted for in the lack of fishermen. Out of fleet of sixty fishing schooners owned and operated out of Pensacola and Mobile there are only nine afloat The other fifty-one, says the Pensa cola Journal, are on the beach, or sunk at various points.
 The gulf fishing fleet cannot be re- inforced by purchases along the At. lantic coast, because fishing Is excep. tionally good this season, and the own CTS of fishing schooners are not will ing to sell them. But in one way or another the fleet will be increased both at Pensacola and Mobile, and be fore the winter is ended the supply of sea food will become normal again.
 The situation brings home the fac; that all food is not land-grown. The sea crop is important, and when it is scarce and high-priced as it is at pres ent we begin to appreciate it's value and scope in the national economy.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
BEN BOLT.

-'N 1SLts By Thomas Dunn English. Don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt
 Sweet Alice whose hair was SO brown. Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile,
 And trembled with fear at your frown? In the old churchyard in the valley. Ren Bolt,
 In corner obscure and alone, They have fitted slab of the granite so gray
 And Alice lies under the stone. Under the hickory tree. Ben Bolt, Which stood at the foot of the hill. Together we've lain in tive monday shade. And listened to Appletons mill. The mill-wheel has fallen to pieces Ben Bolt,
 The rafters have tumbled in. And quiet which crawls round the walls as you gaze
 Has followed the olden din. Do you mind of the cabin of logs, Ben Bolt,
 At the edge of the painless wood, And the button-bah tree. with its motley limbs,
 Which nigh by the doorstep stood? The cabin to ruin has gone, Ben Bolt. The tree you would seek for in vain:, And where cnce the lords of the forest waved
 Are grass and the golden grain. And don't you remember the school Ben Bolt,
 With the master so cruel and grim, And the shaded nook in the running brook Where the children went to swim? Grass grows on the masters grave, Ben Bolt.
 The spring of the brook is dry And of all the boys who were school mates then
 There are only you and I. There is change in the things loved, Ben Bolt,
 They have changed from the old to the new; But feel in the deeps of my spirit the truth,
 There never was change in you. Twelvemonths twenty have past. Bon Bolt.
 Since first we were friends-yet I hail Your presence blessing, your friendship a truth.
 Ben Bolt of the salt-sea gale.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
W caring Diamonds.

When a young man starts his married life by making his wife a present Of a sl00 diamond ring and buys his household furniture on the installment plan, he is laying the foundation of future dis aster," said a batter familas
 'In my young days diamonds were worn only by people who were rich. To see n lady wear diamonds was proof that she Dyed in fine house. that she had servants to wait upon her, that she had horses and carriages to take her driving, that she attended balls and parties and wore silk and satin. that she spent her time in Washington society and paid oc- casional visits to Europe. But now dla- monds are so common that they. carry with them no meaning except extravs- gance. and very often vulgarity."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-01
NO BABlES-NEvER?
AstonIshed Little Girl Offers to Play With Chief Executives Children.

Special to the New York World.
 Trenton.-While Governor Stokes was entering the Mechanics National bank. of which he is president, he noticed a sweet-faced child playing about the steps. He asked her name, to which she re- piled that 1t was Catherine, and that she was years old. The child then queried: What is your name?"
 MT. Stokes" was his reply.
 "Do know your little girls?" was the next question.
 NO; I don't think you do." answered Governor Stokes, with a smile: T have none"
 No babies? Never had any?" came from the little one with rapidity and surprise.
 'Never had any" answered the Cover nor
 Babies are so cute" said Catherine with a smile.
 "You are not much more than baby yourself" replied Governor Stokes Cath arine then informed him that she was old enough to take care of one and that If ever he had any at his house she would come around and play with them.
 Governor Stokes is a bachelor.