davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03

for soda water, ice cream and other things
in a drug store, with prices going up and
quality going down every hour in the
blessed year.
1t is surprising how rapidly the avordu-
pois of pennies Increases. Ten dollars
weighs seven pounds; thousand dollars.
700 pounds. Consequently if a man
were going to elope with the daughter
of the president of a penny in the slot
machine company he would need several
automobiles or chartered train to carry
off the honeymoon loot.
1t is surprising how much old iron is
smuggled into the penny-in-the-slot ma
chimes in place of money. There are lead
disks, aluminium disks. iron washers and
every conceivable kind of substitute for
the real thing, all at the expense of the
penny-in- -the-slot machine. 1t is esti-
mated that from 1 to 2 per cent of the
receipts in these machines consists OF
metal washers and other forms of bogus
money
Uncle Sam will make his own pennies
in future The Treasury has taken over
the business from the private concerns
which for many years manufactured these
small coins for the Government. and in
tends for all time to come to turn them
out with it's own machinery.
The Treasury has always stamped its
own pennies with the design Of the In
dams head and the wreath on the reverse
enclosing the words lone Cent: but the
coins, lacking only this finishing touch,
have been made for many years in
Waterbury, Conn, whence they were
shipped in the shape of blanks (other-
wise known as ''planchets'D in strong
wooden boxes. They used to cost the
Government, in this form, only twenty
four cents pound, whereas today. owing
to the rise in the price of copper, they
cannot be manufactured. even when
homemade. for less than twenty-nine
cents A pound Of blanks represents 146
pennies.
If a cent a pound be added for the ex-
pense Of stamping them with dies 1t will
be obvious that Uncle Sam Is able to
manufacture 1856 pennies for a dollar-a
very profitable enterprise inasmuch as he
disposes of this number for $4S6
During the last year the Treasury
minted S0719.1 1863 pennies, of which New
York State absorbed about Is. 900. .OOO the
demand from Illinois being next in point
of size while Massachusetts was third
and Pennsylvania fourth. To make this
number of cents required SIS sS pounds
of copper, 1855 pounds of tin and IL 257
pounds of zinc. the two latter metals en-
tering into the composition of these coins
to the extent of per cent and ? per
cent respectively. for as a matter of fact
the so-called copper cent is in reality a
bronze cent. the alloy employed having
the advantage of hardness. durability and
satisfactory retention of polish.
1t thus appears that in the last year the
Government used somewhat more than
262 short tons of copper in the manu-
facture of pennies.
All OF the metal comes from the mines
OF the Lake Superior region and from the
neighborhood of Butte. Mont. 1t is pur-
chased through dealers in the shane of
bricks, or ingots. which are cut into
Slices the latter being rolled to the exact
thickness of cent and then passed be-
meath punches. These punches, working
The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03

more promises which he failed to
fulfill.
The bootblack had little room un-
der the steps where he shined- women's
shoes. The woman was forced 10 have
her shoes blacked in this little room
so often that they got to be nothing
but shine. Every time. she started out
the bootblack looked hard at her shoes.
on account of having gone in for the
landlord for her. Then she had to
have them blacked.
~Still nothing doing in regard to the
stairs. she got the flock of newsboys
about the barroom door Interested
One by one she sent them in for the
landlord, paying them cent each
Sometimes they brought him out. Then
again they came back with the word
that he was busy
Once she sent half a dozen in at
time. The landlord came out. still
smiling, but with rather flushed face
He promised to clean up the stairs.
She waited. The stairs remained the
same.
The bootblack and the newsboys to-
gether were costing her a good deal
by this time and accomplishing moth
ing. She bethought herself OF another
tack
She wrote little letter to the land
lord. She said how beautiful her
rooms were, how happy she could be
in them if only the approach was good.
taking it for granted in the letter that
he cared. beseeching him to clean up
the stairs
Her neighbors laughed again when
they heard of this note.
You are wasting your paper and
time" they told her. I'VE have been
here nine years and all that time the
stairs have been like this. One artist
offered to pay half, but no. The land
lord was obdurate. The artist moved
out in despair
The note had no effect There was
no answer The womans friends wept
over her and her stairs. There were
times when she wept over herself.
Then she placed terra Gotta head
one Of her best, in a niche at the head
The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03

p. The astonishing story coming from
Bombay to the effect that the famous
+ Japanese general. Kuroki. is Sir Hector
Macdonald. who was supposed TO have
committed suicide at Paris. March 25,
1903, seems to. be about as well authenu-
Gated as the claim that Peter. Stuart -Ney
Of North Carolina was none other than
Marshal Ney whom history records as
having been put to death IN the gardens
q the Luxembourg. December 7, 1873
The mere fact that the London Times
should offer reward Of $4,000 TO any one
who had seen NacGonald's dead body IS
suggestive as are al the circumstances
of his death, his military career, and the
fact that Macdonald once mentioned to
Lord Roberts that he had been invited TO
go TO Japan 70 train the Japanese army.
The agreement in point of age and ap
pesrsnce is remarkable The portraits of
Kur0ki and Sir Hector have been COM
pared. and show striking resemblance,
while the admission OF the japanese that
KUrolzi IL Of foreign blood, the fact that
no public honors have been bestowed
upon him by Japan. and that he was de-
ciared by an American journalist TO be
Dutchmaa, ali point to the same con-
clusion
Born Of humble Scotch parentage, in
1888. Hector Macdonald enlisted in 1870 in
the Ninety second Gordon Hlghianderss
ind was gazetted as second lieutenant for
bravery in the. Afghan war Every step
Ia his promotion 10 the generalcy was
won by personal merit and not through
political influence. He gained large ex
pefience in the campaigns Of kabu and
kandahaIs in the Boer war IN 1891, where
he was cs ptured, iR the Nile campaign of
lse3 and al Khartoum ia 1Ss7. He was
promoted major general and K G. b IN
1888. and was also a member of the Dis
.tinguished Service order.
Leaving India early in 1903 on private
business" and startled BY reading in a
newspaper on his arrival in Paris OF grave
charges against him upon which he was
- be conrt- -naartialed n was reported
that he sbot himself and that his BODY
was t8ken away the day following TO
Scotland by Lady Macdonald. where il
WAS secretly buried IN public cemetery
at $50 a. n. the coffin not having been
opened frs m the time II left the Paris
hotel.
Tho. career Of Kurold throughout the
Russo Japanese war IS suggestive OF the
ulind Of q military genius goaded on by
.ndIrsation at the treaehery of his TEL
.o7r-nan o the sting OF a false step dis
covered IIc commanded thc first army.
and until Eo6ama arrived AZ the troops
which landed in Korea durins the month
q Februal.g 1904, He eHcaniped Aprii ~
ou the goulh bari of the YaiC. and On the
29th crossed hat liver. and IN the tnree
days following routed General Sassuhtcns
The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03

forces. June IL he captured Molten Pass.
At Fenghwangcheng, June 80, with 1oO-
900 men Kuroki took the lead in the ad-
vance which culminted around Liaoyang
and NIukden in the most sanguinary series
Of conflicts that the world has known
since our own war between the States.
July q Kuroki's army on the right was
twenty-five miles from Liaoyang. Sep
tenber / he was across the Taitse River
risking his own destruction, leading IN a
wide turning movement to cut off the en-
tire Russian army, his forces for twenty
four hours being almost without drink or
food October 8 to IS his troops were
almost constantly engaged at the Shaho.
TO Kuroki was given the honor Of firing
the first guns renewing the campaign
February IS. 1905. and beginning the bat
tie of Mukden. He defeated General Rem
nenkampff on the 24th, and March
thanked the Russian position at Da Pass;
and finally formed the wedge that pierced
the Russian left March 10, resulting In
capture OF at least 20,00 prisoners.
without attempting to reflect upon the
brilliant achievements OF other Japanese
commanders. all this is indicative not
only. of extensive and thorough military
training but suggests experience in
European methods of warfare. There may
be something too, in the literal meaning
Of the names: Macdonald in the Scotch
vernacular means the son of proud
chieftain; while Kurol1i. in the Japanese
means the black or DETAINED spirit
Aside from the mysteries involved there
are certain resemblances in the lives of
thse two generals. Michael Ney like
Hector Macdonald, was Of humble parent
age HIS mother wac French. but seems
10 have been related to the Scotch
Stuarts. and his father. Nicholas Ney.
was a cooper residing at Saarlous, where
Michael was born January 10, 1852 He
was largely self-educated and worked as
a clerk TO a notary and a mine-boss
till the age of 10, when he joined Hussar
regiment at Metz He was made a lieu
tenant for bravery in the campaign of
1892. and rose rapidly, receiving the rank
Of brigadier general in 1896 for his serves
in storming the citadel of WurZburg and
forcing the passage of me Rednitz. For
capturing Mannheim in 1893. he was made
general OF division; and his career for the
fifteen years following from Hohenlinden
to Waterloo justly earned for him the
title which Napoleon himself bestowed of
"the bravest of the brave"
1t is doubtful whether any one can
carefully read the argument Of Rev. James
4 Weston in HIS book. Historic Doubts
70 prove that Peter Stuart Ney. who died
IN Rowan County. n. 9. November 16,
1916. was Marshal Ney of France without
being convinced that such was the fact.
Boufienne. referring to Ney's execution in
the latest edition Of bis work. says: 1T
was impossible 10 get the public to be-
The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03
MYSTERY ENvaOPS FATE OF TWO GREAT SOLDIERS

lieve that Ney had really been killed in
this manner, and nearly to this day we
have had fresh stories recurring of the
real Ney being discovered in America"
OF the 156 votes cast by the Chamber
of Peers, determining Ney's fate, IL We're
for banishment and l39 for death; but a
majority of the latter "eonjured the Prime
Minister (the Duke de Richeiieu) TO solicit
from the King exile to America for the
condemned instead of the 5cafold." The
King refused, but every one connected
with the execution party was a friend
of the marshaPs; and. according to
Jomini a very large party OF Ney's
friends, both soldiers and civilians, had
secretly sworn-many of them publicly
that he should not die by the hands of
Frenchmen. Wellington was in commond
of the troops in Paris with authority
enough to execute the King if necessary
and at the earnest solicitation of Nine.
Hutchinson, he went to the palace and
requested the King not to execute Ney
Besides, Wellington and Ney both be-
longed 10 the same secrN order.
The official report of his execution de-
scribes it as an elaborate affair, with
many troops drawn up, Il pathetic speech
from the condemned, and that he fell dead
in the breast and three in the head; but
Quentin Dick. a member of the English
Parliament who Witnessed the affair, says
the whole transaction did not occupy
three minutes. Ney was brought in
1acre by an officer and two sergeants, the
picket guards. at the gate of the Luxem-
bourg Gardens were beckoned to the spot
the men loaded their own guns and fired
at the order of the marshal himself, who
fell on his face.
No coup de grace was given and no
examination was made by any surgeon.
The body was replaced n the same fiacre,
and was driven off before the nurses and
constituted the spectators
could realize what had happened The
body was given to Nine Ney and con-
veyed secretly to the cemetery, the burial
occurring at 6 a. IN. She was devoted
wife, but she eyinced no signs of grief,
and no clergyman was at either the exc
cution or burial. His grave was neglected
and no monument erected there.
Mrs. Mary G. Dalton of Iredell County.
N. c., who was a pupil OF L. s. Ney for
several years, says that lie made the fol-
lowing statement to her.
my name is not Peter Stuart Ney. l
am Marshal Ney. History states that |
was executed but | escaped death through
the aid of my friends and others. On the
day appointed for the execution | was
told my life was to be spared. | was in
structed TO give the command TO fire and
TO fall WHILE giving it. so the balls might
pass over me. I carried out my instruc-
tions. In battle ] never knew what fear
was but when ! took my position in
front ol the soldiers and gave the COM
The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03
WOMANS PECULIAR WAY OF TANNING A LANDLORD

Now and again in the course of her
more or less checkered career the wo-
man artist had been proud, but never
so proud as when she tanned the land
lord Partly because many another
Ind attempted the feat and failed and
partly because it was so difficult be-
cause of his inaccessibility.
1t must be explained here that the
house was once fashionable dwelling
in a fashionable street, and that nov
the street was devoted to business and
the house was leased to the inacces-
sible landlord, who had turned the
basement into a barroom. 1t was in
the barroom that he had intrenched
himself behind the bar
AS matter OF fact, the landlord
appeared to be amiable, most amiable.
His rosy German face was continually
wreathed in smiles. and as for promis-
ing, He was the best promiser in the
country Was known to be.
When the woman took the studios on
the top floor with windows giving on
the park she said ito him:
Now. you will clean up the stair
way. won't your
With radiant smile he had an
swered:
why, certainly"
1t was not until she moved in that
the others, her neighbors on the top
floor revealed the truth to her.
When two blue moons come to-
gether,'' said they. "the landlord will
clean up the stairway, and not until
then. We have been here nine years.
We know"
The stairway was impossible The
walls needed papering, the wood needed
paint and the carpet, Another was
needed entirely.
The woman's friends came to see
her one by one. They shook sad heads
you have a lovely place. said they.
after you get to it, but that stair
way. Those halls''
AS if she didn't know.
out in front of the barroom was a
bootblack The woman enlisted his at
te-.in~ She sent him in for the land
lord, who came smilingly out and made
The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03

of the stairs. hoping against hope that
this feeble attempt at decoration might
avail something in the direction OF
cleanliness
1t availed nothing
One day II was missing some one
going up or down had taken il away,
At this she became so. despairina
that. in fit of heiplessness she did q
reckless thing. II was dark The
streets were not filled. She thought
nobody saw. so she rushed boldly into
the barroom and bearded the landlord
in his den.
The men about the tables looked
amazed. The landlord smiled at her
from across the bar and promised TO
clean UP the stairs.
Few things happen in this world
that people do not see. On the next
day after that the woman received a
printed circular which contained this
large and black headline:
Can drunkenness be cured?"
And the visit had had no effect
Meantime her friends had enters
tanned her TO so great an extent that
she felt 1t behooved her to make some
slight return But how? With those
stairs. up which she must ask them
ITO come?
She sat down and wrote another note
" uCl AHdCtccSlDlc ldnulOTQ. SNe
wanted to have a little party. she told
him, but she was ashamed to ask her
friends to climb those terrible stairs in
their white shoes. Would he have.
them freshly carpeted for her and the
walls repapered, and also the wood
work painted? Would he. please?
1t was touching little note with
good deal of heart in it. for the halls
and stairs were beginning to get on
her nerves.
There was no reply. but she was
surprised when on the following Mon
day she heard a brush sweep up and
down her door and upon opening it
found a painter there, painting il
white
Then. 10 and beholdl came the paper
hangers and the tearing up OF the old
carpet. getting ready for the new. then
when at the end of some weeks. for
great bodies move slowly there came
a sound OF tacking all along the line
of hall and stairway. the tacking down
OF the beautiful new carpet her mac
cessible landlord had taken pains to
provide. her neighbors ran out of their
dens and gazed at her in awe.
We've lived here for nine years"
they cried. .and il has been the same
but yout Now, you. How did you
tame him?'
II don't know" answered She "un-
less it was because I treated him a. if
be were tame already.
The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03

money in pennies from the Mint to the
SubTreasury would keep seven thousand
men busy half day-each carrying a
load of seventy pounds.
1t is an old saying. Take care of the
pennies and the pounds will take care of
themselves" One OF the first lessons in
finance, home thrift and future prosperity
taught child is when his father gives
him little tin savings bank to drop PEN
nies in. Everybody is glad to give a
youngster a copper coin. You accumulate
please YOU better than to hand them over
to some boy or girl who will find a me-
dupl for disposing of them at the notion
or candy store around the corner.
Those pennies are really the beginning
of wealth. II the child viii save It's money
it win need a two-horse truck to carry
its savings some day After the little tin
box is put away and the youngster dons
long trousers he starts a fund in the fam
lily savings bank. where pennies count as
much as any other form of money as far
as they go
Four per cent does not seem much to
pay for the use of a dollar a whole year.
The shiftless, unthinkng boy looks with
contempt upon what he calls the whole
SLOW scheme of amassing wealth by
getting only per cent a year on deposits.
But the figures printed annually by the
savings banks tell a wonderful story of
the financial Niagara of accumulated pen
nies that pour unceasing floods from year
to year into their vaults, all to be returned
with interest compounded to those pa
tient, poorly dressed scrimping people
you see lined UP at all hours of the busi-
ness day in the great savings institutions
of the country
The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03

mand to fire 'bedoust that was the
very word lie used-'.I was almost fright
ened to death l was taken up by the
soldiers'-I think he said they belonged
to his old Command and carried TO the
hospital That night I was disguised and
went to Bordeaux From that place
sailed TO the United States. landing in
Charleston the latter part of January,
1916 The next few years i. spent in Sc
cluson, and prepared myself Tor .eaching
by studying the classics and the higher
He made similar confidential statements
to Others He resembled Marshal Ney in
personal appearance, manner and bearing,
and his handwriting and that of the mar
shal submitted to an expert, David n.
Carvalho of New York, were pronounced
the work Of the same individual
He wrote in Mrs Dalton's album:
Though of Che chosen the choicest
To fame gave her loftiest toue.
Though | 'mgng the brave the brayest,
Ny plume and my baton are gone.
In reading the Memoirs of Napoleon, -
he made copious notes on the margin,
and on page 315. where the author says:
Had it not been for the delay of Marshal
Ney he might have secured this position, I"
p s. Ney wrote: Delay! say the EN-
peror took away my reserve"
Marshal Ney was wounded in the foot
knee, thigh land. arm. chest and neck
Scars were found on the body of F. s. Ney
to all of these and one more
on the side of the face, which he once ex-
plained to a friend as having been re-
ceived at Waterloo, where he killed his
English opponent In the delirium of his
last moments Peter Stuart Ney said:
"Besseres is dead and the Old Guard is
now let me die
The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03
PEDESTRIAN FISH.

Axolotl or fish with legs, is the name
given to a queer creature of Mexico and
Texas, which can swim like a fish or run
on smooth wall like a fly; can live and
grow when kept constantly in water like
a true fish, and yet can i've and grow
entirely away from water excepting a
little to drink like a true air-breathing
animal.
All this he can do because nature has
given him two seats of breathing power.
He has gills looking like branches of soft
coral. growing from each side of his thick
neck which enable him to breathe in the
water and he has lungs which. like those
of sheep or a squirrel or man, can
breathe only in the free, clear air Of
heaven. Either set can be used as he
pieases.
Fish are drowned when taken from the
water into the air, and animals when put
even for short tine under water. but
the axoIotl cannot pc drowned anywhere,
Yet he is nowhere safe for the inhabi-
tants of the places where he is found
think that his flesh is very good to eat
and catch great numbers, which tn y
cook in various ways
The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03

often heard Yet the little copper cent
that you give to child without thought
is one of the precious drops making up
the financial wealth of the country.
But for the penny there would be no
Government, no Wall street, no finance
in other words no business; and civiliza-
ton would return to the aboriginal sim
plicity of the Digger Indian.
If on certain agreed day each of the
seventy million inhabitants in America
were to throw away penny it would
be considered nothing-no more than toss
ing pebbles into a brook; yet it would
mean "a loss of nearly three-quarters of a
million TO the country, and to carry the
The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03

prohted by whatever valuable conclusions
they may have arrived at
The story of penny is almost a ro-
nance. Ordinarily speaking the penny
means little or nothing. Whats a penny?
who cares for penny?' are expressions
Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1906-11-24
Editor Goes Wrong.

Mr., w G Zwingle, former editor
of the Voice. has been checked up short
in his accounts with the knights and
Ladies of Honor to the amount Of $500
It seems tnat Mr., Zwingle was clerk Of
the order. and done the collecting
monthly, The members thought their
dues were being sent in monthly to the
grand lodge; but when Mr.. Zwingle
moved to Columbus Miss, the mem
bers began an investigation and found
that this lodge had been suspended since
May. There was van affidavit made ont
against him aud he was brought back
here. He thea made bond for his ap
pesrance in Magistrate W. A. Parks
court the first Monday in December.
The lodge has been suspended. VT
do not know whether it will be reor.
ganized or not This matter should bt
gone after in earnest, for this is seri.
Gus thing, as there was between fort,
and sixty thuusand dolla insurance
all Of which is null aud void Brooks
Vile Voice,
Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1906-11-24
Judge Truly A Heavy Loser.

The fire which caused great damage
and loss to the town of Fayette lastMon-
day night brought out the fact that
Judge Truly prominent candidate for
governor, was very wealthy man, &C
cording to wealth as estimated in Mis-
sissippi. A jackson dispatch says:
The news Of the disa trious fire at Fay
cite, Miss, last night, was received
here with expressions of sympathy and
regret, as it was known that Judge
Truly was the heaviest loser and had
probably lost every piece of property be
owned in the town. Judge Truly owned
all the principal buildings of the town,
including the postoffice and telephone
exchange, besides numerous stores, all
in the heart of the business center
The loss is a most severe one because OF
the fact that insurance rates in Fayette
are almost prohibittiye and insurance
was necessarily light, The property
owned by the Judge was worth about
400, 900 or more. nearly every build
ing destroyed belonging to him. and il
was hardly insured for more than ,
third Of its value.