davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1906-08-15
Horrible Crime of a Texas
Farmer.

Sherman, Tex Aug. 12.-J.
W Q. Wilder, a farmer, residing
half a mile from JON Bean, a
small town. six miles from Sher-
man, beat his wife's brains out
with flat iron, this afternoon,
and shot himself with a shotgun.
The charge entered the left side,
disembowling Wilder. He will
die Three small children wit.
messed the crime of their faith
er.
The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1906-08-15
Leader of Lynchers Gets Fif-
teen Years.

Salisbury special in Charlotte
Observer: George Hall, the ex-
convict who led the lynchers
Monday night, was tried before
Judge b F. Long in the Rowan
county court house here today
for conspiracy, found guilty and
sentenced to fifteen years in the
peoi entiary, the jury being out
but a few minutes.
The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1906-08-15
JackSonham Club to Meet.

All who expect 10 vote in the
approaching primary at Jackson
ham precinct are requested to
meet Jacksonham school house
next Saturday afternoon, August
18th, at 2 O'Clock, for the purpose
of completing the Democratic
club roll.
9. w. Williams, Pres.
The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1906-08-15

Mrs. n. G. Moore left yesterday
for Atlanta, to visit her daughter,
Mrs. +. O. London. She was ac.
companied by her granddaughter,
Miss Blanche Moore, who will
spend about ten days in Atlanta.
Mrs. NJ. j. Cook is visiting
relatives at Lancaster .-Kersha aw
Era.
The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1906-08-15
The Monument Fund--Ladies
Continue to Contribute Ore
Dollar, Each.

nv, .
"o ,o"'' '''ii IS sun 'n'fs Is
ins' anu we "oPe '"Se' 'he name
- ''ei' ,'Ny /" N'noa'ter coun
~ Oh l'' ~ :" o""h III hl'tor|
Inc treasurer Is Just waiting for
lie" names 20 aou I" he list
The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1906-08-15

Col. l.. G. Hongh, o. Kersl,aw,
spent Monday night and yeste.-
day in Lancaster.
The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01

This is machinery. both steam and cleo
trical. that was badly damage by the
flames. but not sufficiently injured TO
put II in the class with junk that is
sold by the ton. There are dealers who
make speciality of this sort of dam
aged machinery. They are employed
by big concerns that buy many million
dollars worth of machines that are
sold out of fire-swept buildings These
concerns have forges where they make
over these engines and boilers and
motors, selling them again for practi
cally what they cost when new.
OF course there are a great many
machinery manufacturers with ware
rooms In San Francisco who recover
their own machinery and send it back
to the forges and workshops TO be re-
paired. Then there is much of this ma
chinery that can be repaired in forges
near at hand. Gangs of mechanics have
been brought on to San Francisco TO
doythis work. Hundreds of pumps that
passed through the fire have been re-
Hundreds and even thousands Of cleo
trical motors are being repaired in
shops all over the city and in Oakland.
In the case of armatureS and field
coils that were burned out they are
being rewound and used again in the
lighting of temporary buildings. Down
in the machinery district neighboring
about Howard and Main streets the
estimate is given that about S4.000.000
worth of machinery of various sorts
either has been or will be rescued from
the ruins. Some of the motors in the
The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01

arrival in the city. These European
dealers rarely do business with the
owners of the lots, but make some sort
of bid 10 the big local junk dealers,
who can handle the scrap and store 1t
until ship is found to carry ii abroad
There are dozens of dealers who
make specialties of particular lines of
junk There is one concern in San
Francisco that has bought up about all
the window sash weights on the four
square miles of the burned area So
far 500 tons of sash weights have been
taken from the ruins. When new these
sash weights are worth S21 a ton. They
were bought as junk for $40 a ton, but
as they are for all material purposes as
good as new they will be sold again at
the usual market price.
In order to make a profit of so per
cent on these window sash weights it
has only been necessary for the pur-
chaser to get them out of the debris
and sort them into various sizes. They
have lost no weight and the temper
OF the metal is of no moment, nor does
1t matter that they have been scorched
and blackened in the fire They will
never be seen after they are once
dropped into the window sash. 1t is
estimated that there are 5000 tons of
sash weights still buried under the
debris, or $4,000 worth
of Winchester repeating arms as junk
paying Sab a ton for 1t. These weapons
were destroyed in burning of the Win
chester Company's warerooms on First
street. near Mission. They include all
sorts of repeating arms, from small
rifles to repeating shotguns. Many Of
the rifles and guns were worth $75 and
$50 each before the flames burned off
their stocks. ruined the locks and drew
the temper from the barrels
The loss on these arms is great for
they were worth between $1,000 and
$4,000 ton and now only bring $40 as
junk. The profit that will be made
from this junk. however. will be
greater probably than from any other
scrap metal, as 1t will be sold In small
lots to dealers souvenirs. The
twisted and melted barrels will be sold
oall over the United States to souvenir
hunters for anything the dealers cah
get for them. On the little stands and
booths about San Francisco they have
been selling for 81 and 81 each to in
coming tourists and when shipped East
they are sold for as high as SIS each.
This meaps enormous profit for both
the purchaser in the first instance, who
bought the whole lot by the ton. and
the souvenir dealer, who bought by
the hundred. Between FIVE and ten
tons of these fire ruined weapons have
been shipped out of San Francisco UP
to date and the demand for them is in
creasing.
There is one kind of scrap metal in
the ruins, especially in the residence
lots, that there is no market for
These are bed springs, and there are a
great many tons of them. Not only
will the junk dealers not buy them, but
you can't give them away. They will
not even allow their drivers to throw
them in with other junk, as they are
bulky and tangly. They are included
in the same category Of worthless
metals with wire and iron nails. They
are made of cheap wire and cannot be
melted UP with any other sort of scrap.
Having accounted for $4,000. 900
worth of junk we come to the scrap
metal that is really not scrap metal.
The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01

melt il into bars again and sell it at
its market value or turn it over to a
smelter. The smelters purchase it by
the ton and pay 6 cents a pound. Fully
a score of dealers in scrap copper and
brass came to San Francisco from the
East Immediately after the fire. few
are still here waiting for the insurance
cleared of junk, but the majority re-
turned East. disgusted At the delay
caused by the methods of the insurance
companies.
The greater part of The copper junk
consists of electric wires and electrical
appliances and fixtures. In some of
the big buildings that were gutted by
the flames there are five and ten miles
of copper wire, most of 1t OF small size.
AS the insulation was burned off of this
wire and much of ii was melted or 9TH
erwise injured, 1t can only be sold for
It's weight in copper at the junk rate of
IA cents a pound 1t will. il used again
for wire. have to be melted down and
redrawn.
The same is true of other kinds of
copper fixtures, used in plumbing or for
ornamental purposes. Brass Is about
half as valuable as copper, the yellow
brass selling for cents pound and
the red for 10.cents. There are a good
many hundred tons of this brass in
plumbing material. gas fixtures, gas
pipes, door knobs and some varieties
of electrical fixtures.
Little of it has been recovered from
the ruins except on the few lots in the
business district that have been
cleared. Scores of temporary buildings
have been erected. over uhcleared lots
and will remain. there for year at
least. Therefore the junk dealers will
be purchasing scrap copper and brass
f<a~
purchasing this junk in advance. how
ever, making prices on the uncleared
lots. They estimate the tonnage of
this sort of material in the ruins by
getting data from plumbers and other
fixture contractors the amount of
brass and copper that was put into the
buildings.
Often there is good deal of specu-
lation of the value of the junk In lot,
but the junk dealer is the one who
makes on the speculation. In fact very
little junk is being bought by the ton
except from the owners of big build
ings that were destroyed by the fire
They find it more profitable to clear
the lots themselves and then sell the
metal by the ton to the junk man
When estimate is given on the
scraps in a lot the purchaser has to
figure on the cost of clearing away the
debris and dispOSing of the brick
These dealers have had years of ex-
perience in purchasing this sort of
material. They or their representa-
tives are on hand at almost every fire.
and are even more expert than fire in
surance adjusters in reaching an estf-
mate on the value of the junk in the
destroyed or fire. gutted structure
Whenever there is a big conhagra-
ton they race to the stricken city to
get in their bids. Many of them are
representatives of great iron and steel
manufacturers, who buy millions of
dollars worth of scrap metal every
year. There are junk dealers in San
Francisco now who have come from
different countries in Europe; several
from Japan and China. One London
junk man got an option of 100000
worth of scrap iron two days after his
The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01

civil war ever known, with the emanci-
patton of four millions of slaves.
Charlestown is situated on the main
road, the grand highway running from
Harpers Ferry down the valley of the
Shenandoah to Winchester and other
points in that glorious valley. more
beautiful part of the country is not to
be found. The soil is extraordinarily
fertile, the climate like that of Italy,
the landscapes as rolling and wooded
as the finest parts of England, while
lovely blue mountains stretch away on
either side of the valley.
The people are most hospitabie, and
1t is here, In a region of enchantment
almost, that the old Washington man
sions were erected. and for years were
the scenes of festivities and peaceful,
happy life Here the best families of
Europe, and even members of royalty.
came on their visits to the Colonies be-
fore the revolution.
So when old John Brown OF Ossawa-
tonne selected that particular spot for
beginning his so-called revolution in
behalf of the slaves he succeeded bet
ter than his most sanguine followers
could have imagined possible. w>-S
The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01

power plants that were burned down
have been very little damaged and are
worth about $50. O.000 each The copper
alone in some of these big electric
engines is worth a fortune.
Adding the tonnage OF the copper and
brass junk taking into consideration
the vast amount of cast iron and steel
in the electrical machinery to the ton
mage of the cast iron and steel already
figured in as junk a conservative esti-
mate of the scrap metal contained in
the devastated area of the city is
100000 tons.
If this StupendoUs weight of IseSal
were all to be shipped to HOngkOng. the
great junk market OF the world. 1t
would require a feet of between zoe
and 200 great steamships. If trans
ciscos junk would load a fleet of 1000
fine sailers and weigh them down until
their gunwales were awash- II all this
wealth of junk were sent East by rail.
allowing an average of 10000 pounds
of 10000 cars. and a train OF 10000
cars would stretch along the rails for
about 500 miles.
Six hundred thousand tons are I,344.-
100000 pounds. Estimating that the
average man can lift 100 pounds il
would take 13,440.OOO men to lift the
junk of San Francisco. One horse
power is $50 pounds per second, so that
it would take more than 1000. 900
horses to move this mountain of junk
for one second, though 500, 900 horses
could readily haul il.
The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01
As a Circus Man Sees Us

DO you know that the red skinned.
wild and untutored Indian beats the
city circus goer all to pieces for loyalty
canvasman. He will put up with all
kinds OF hardships to get the price. and
travel or walk for days TO reach the
place.
Every circus man knows that the
negro would sell the roof over his head
to get money TO see the elephant, but
the Indian will barter his papoose, his
squaw, or even his most cherished pos
session-his horse-to get a ticket.
After the negro comes the China
man. The showy things about the cir
Gus hit the yellow skinned laundryman
up all his relatives. line them up in a
single file and then march out to the
show lots as happy as a kid on Christ
mas morning.
THE Mexican. too, is a warm baby
when he hears the toot OF the calliope
der who never paid a bet in his life
will show up circus day with so
cents in his hand. though nobody knows
where he got IL. But the Indian is
the greatest fiend of them all.
I'm some places. like Mlssoula. Mon.
fully one-half of the circus audience is
made up of Indians. They come from
as far as 200 miles on horseback. and
even on foot. starting an their long
journey days before the circus date
and arriving promptly on the morning
of the day of exhibition.
ION circus days it is a case IF every
man for himself with the Indians. The
lord of the tepee brings enough trim
kets to peddle around town. and in this
way he gets enough money for his own
admission ticket
The squaw brings little baskets and
has TO hustle for her own ticket They
generally come in couples astride
pony, and II the market is overcrowded
with Indian relics, they Will sell the
nag.
After the show is over the chiefs
proceed to fill their skins with the
white mans fire water. and the squaws
with the papooses wait on the lumber
piles or sand heaps until the gray
streaks begin to spread over the hills,
and then the unsteady stream winds
out of town over the trail homeward
The Indians buy the best seats. too
You will find most of them on the re-
served side, and they buy these extra
priced places even for the youngsters.
Along the Pacific Coast the China
The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01

Brown" the old revolutionist. with a
fervor amounting to what he consid-
cred religion, resolved to begin work
In practical way for freeing the
slaves.
He went about his task deliberately
and with quiet preparation. To the
negroes he was known as Captain
Brown" He began his campaign by
settling in Charlestown, Va, now In
West Virginia, and not far from Har-
psrs Ferry. He opened a shop, over
which hung the sign, ~. Brown,
Matchmaker" Here he ostensibly pur-
sued his calling like other business men
of the place, only he spent his spare
time in visiting the various negro quar-
ters of the town and neighborhood,
urging them to organize and strike for
freedom 1t seemed q hopeless task,
not only absurd, but 1t was against the
laws of the country.
From Browns standpoint, however,
both he and his friends considered the
movement a complete success, for 1t
reused the country. brought on con-
troversy, followed by the election of
Abraham Lincoln, the seeding Of the
Southern States and finally the greatest
The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01

The same advice is given in a still
better form by the Armenian, who OBJ
serves. If you send a messenger on an
errsnd go with him" And the astute.
unbelieviDg Chinaman, who, like his
proverbial image ma ker. puts no faith
either in the gods or the messengers
OF the gods, FOR he knows what they
are made Of, sums up the situation in
a way that is perhaps as correct as it
is sweeping: If you want a thing
done he says. go yourself; II not,
send"
There is probably no better proverb
in the English language than still
waters run deep" No other nation
goes one better" than this. though
many come near It. The Turk says.
'Distrust the. water that does not war
bic and the bird that does not chirp"
This lacks the element of paradox
which occurs in our English rendering
The African parallel has more of that
element Beware OF the silent man."
II runs; he has a brass band in his
mouth; and more southern tribe
puts the idea equally well in the shape
OF silence hath a mighty noise"
On the subject OF woman ii goes
without saying that all the nations Of
the earth formed the same opinion of
the fair sex long, long ago. and up to
the present none OF them has seen any
reason to alter that opinion. but
whether the opinion in which they all
concur is concealed or revealed in pro-
vergs. it would be an insult to the
readers reason and common sense to
state. As for the proverbs which can
readily be distinguished at sight as
true or false by the clever student of
feminine human nature, they yield a
good harvest Of parallels.
"A woman, dog and a walnut tree
the more you beat them the better
they be-, is a remark upon which no
two sane persons can hold different
opinions, and the same may be claimed
for the Central African saying, "A man
is not obeyed by his wife in his own
house. nor does she consider him her
husband, unless he beats her-thwacl,i
or for the Corsican assertion that "Just
as a good horse and a bad horse both
need the spur, go a good woman and q
bad woman both need the stick
The Spaniard says: Were a woman
as little as she is good, a pease cod
would make her a gown and a hood"
The italian leaves of killing his kings
TO whisper, IF man loses a woman
and farthing he will miss the far
thing; the Frenchman pauses be-
tween his absinthes to remark "a
woman OF gold is worth a man Of
straw" The negro medicine man
swears TO his tribe that Women are
words. deeds are mon" The Persian
asserts that Women and dragons are
best out Of the world" The German
contends that Wherever there IS mis-
chief brewing a woman and a priest
are at the bottom of it'' and that
There are only two good women in the
world-one is dead. and the other is
missing"
The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01

ruins of all the cities of the world that
have suffered from great conhagra-
tions In giving an estimate of s20.-
0O0. 600 1 am simply stating the value
of the junk as II lies on the lot. The
junk dealers who purchase this mar
ketabIe debris will make a profit OF
about 20 per cent. or $4,000 so max
ing another estimate with this profit
considered. the ruins Of the city. ex-
elusive Of land value, are worth about
s240Oo.OOO
In gathering my facts on junk con
suited with architects, engineers. con-
tractors. scrap metal dealers. electrical
manufa cturers. secondhand material
dealers and others. whose combined
knowledge on the subject enabled me
to reach final and comprehensive esti-
mates. I began with an estimate Of
the value OF all the acres of brick in
the burned area.
II required some tall figuring. Before
getting down to these figures 1 think
it pertinent TO call the attention Of the
people Of this city to the fact that
there were more bricks in he walls of
San Francisco than in any other city OF
its size in the world
The reason for this was that ii has
long been a custom here to construct
brick buildings with individual side
walls. I mean by this that party walls
were rarely used though it has been a
custom TO build with them in all of the
large cities OF the country foi many
decades. A party wall saves about
twenty inches front footage to every
building. so that many thozsgnd feet
Of valuable land has been wasted in
San Francisco by the use of Individual
walls. Where land is worth $4,000 to
$4,000 a front foot such a waste of
space means small fortune in every
building OF any size 1t is being point
ed out now that party walls would not
only have been just as serviceable but
advantag geous to the owners structur-
ally, as well as in saving area: for
when an individual wall is standing
and another building is erected to ad-
join il botch work generally results.
As the standing wall viii hide what is
slapped alongside of it, any old sort of
brick and mortar will serve the pur-.
pose. At least that is the principle that
has evidently been followed, Judging
from an inspection of the ruined walls
In San Francisco a five-story brick
building with a frontage of about forty
feet and a depth of ninety feet CON.
tains about $4,000 bricks. OF course,
The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01
KEY TO JOHN BROWNS PRISON

Curious things are coming to light
every day. Among many interesting
relics of the civil war is a huge iron
key more than a foot long, which
turned in the lock and made old John
Brown a prisoner in Charlestown iaiI
at the time of his great raid in Vir-
ginia and call for the negroes to rise
and fight for freedom
This key is now in the hands of DIR.
Alfred b. Tucker of New York. ana n
played vital part in the history of
events leading up to the great war.
When General Mcclellan marched
through Charlestown after the battle
of Antietam his troops burned the his
toric old jail, whence John Brown went
to the gallows. Later, when the ashes
cooled and boys began pokinE among
the ruins. the quaint key was forsnd
almost unharmed. the ffre having oniv
twisted the handle little. which was
easily restored to its proper shape.
In this connection IL may be inter
esting to state a few facts about John
Brown that are not generally known
After his career in Kansas, where he
received the name "Ossawatomie
The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01

men make the circus coming an event
They turn out of their holes decked
in their best bib and tucker and Quit
business as IL it had no interest for
them In this city fully $4,000 China
mensaw one circus last season. I'll
wager that half many passed the
door of the big top in Portland. Ore.
They are not mean. but buy pop
corn or lemonade as well as the best
seats. Some OF them came in coaches
dram by handsome horses. Chinese
merchants gave matinee parties, the
men wearing richly embroidered gowns.
the women clad in costly silks. At
one matinee given in California town
there were 5000 Cinnamon and 1000
Japs.
When circus tours the Southern
States the cotton fields are deserted
Every negro within a radius of 100
miles has to see the performance IL he
sells his shirt to do IL. White folks
usually go at night time and the
negroes in the daytime
In some towns in Louisiana. Missis-
sippi and Alabama the big tent looks as
though 1t were in cOurning. Here and
there a white face looms up.
The clowns are their favOrites.
Strange TO say. too. in view OF the bad
name abe negro has for forgetting the
ownership OF things he likes. he never
tries TO ring in any of his family on
are a day over II he pays without
murmur. and 1t is often no small drain
on his finances. for he sometimes heads
a procession OF youngsters the length
of city lot.
The Mormons are great circus goers.
Entire families will travel for 100 and
200 miles to see the circus in their
country. They come in wagons over
mountain and valley. and camp out
until the show comes. Sometimes they
are a day or even three days ahead.
The hill cabins are empty, so are the
mining boarding houses
When a show goes through the
Quebec Province the factories close
down. They might as well. The Eng
lish side OF the audience loiters about
the menagerie until the last call and
shows the most satisfaction when the
dancing features OF the spectacles OF
the vaudeville part of the programme
are on.
'Prim New England takes to the cir
Gus like a duck to a millpond The
Harvard boys like the girl bareback
get along we'll with the clowns, too,
provided the clown has good average
sense and falls in with them without
delaying the show. OF course. the sHar-
ward crimson is worn by the girls with
out too much display.
In Middle Pennsylvania, where
money looks like gold and Is kept as
long as life. the circus does really good
work. 1t gets these pious, close listed
people away from the hard line OF daily
routine. and sends their blood racing
to parts OF their systems that had
been numb for moons"