davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-04-25
LABOR UNIONS INDIGNANT
OVER ROOSEVELT'S LETTER
Meetings to be Held Formally Protest Against His Attitude Toward
Meyer and Haywood" President Has Russian Blood in
His Veins Says Ardent Union Man.

MILWAUKEE,. WIS, April pa
movement. national in scope. to set
aside n Meyer Haywood Pettibonc day
early III May on which day every
union in tho country Is to protest
against the action of President Roose-
velr in denouncing tho Western min
crs before they have been tried, was
started to-day in Milwaukee. The plan
Is to have labor leaders in every city
In the country agree on n day on
which demonstrations shall be arrang-
ed, and not only the President taken
to task for his utterances In his re-
cent letter. but more especially hi.,
communication to Honore Jaxon, OF
Chicago. In which he relterates his
criticism.
Labor Leaders Surprised.
Especial to The mes-Dispatch.1
CLEVELAND, OHIO. April 24.-Labor
leaders here are surprised at the attitude
President Roosevelt has taken In regard
to the labor troubles In Colorado, in which
Meyer and Haywood were concerned. They
declare that President Roosevelt has given
conclusive proof that he is not infallible,
and that In voicng sentiment against the
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-04-25
CONDITIONS YESTERDAY.

Highest temperature yesterday. 80. 10
Lowest temperature yestcrday.... So
Mean temperature yesterdaE..... 81
Normal tempera ture yesterday..... so
Departure from normal telnperature. W
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-21

is record, the most remarkable is that OF Dick
Creedon. Even now, after two years have passed
it seems almost incredible that human being could
have lived to tell the tale.
Richard Creedon is sand hog, private IN
that great army of subterranean and subaqueous
workers which has invaded New York during the
last few years when tunnels have been bored under
skyscrapers and beneath the beds of the North and
East Rivers. On March 20, 1905, he was at work
in the forward compartment of the tunnel which
was being constructed from the Battery to Joral-
emon-st., Brooklyn, an extension OF the Man
haitian subway He had learned when he went down
that the ordinary pressure of seven thousand pounds
of compressed had been increased to ten thousand
pounds, to support the roof the engineers be-
leved that the point which had been reached was
of the weak spots in the river.
He had been busy for about couple of hours,
when he noticed that quite sharp draft of air was
pressing upward. He knew what this must mean.
Somewhere in the roof there must be crack. A
rapid inspection discovered the fssure, opening
not more than quarter of an inch wide. Already,
however, some of the earth on the top of the bore
being forced through the small aperture by the
force of the compressed air.
Creedon shouted warning to his companions,
then ran to pile of bags filled with sawdust and
hay which were kept handy for just such emergen-
cies Grabbing two of these, he up ladder,
and attempted to plaster them against the rapidly
widening hole in the roof
The force of the air that had showed the earth
through the opening not only held the bags in place.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-21

from the mine at Courrieres year SO ago. after
all attempts at rescue had been abandoned for
than two weeks. For twenty days the men had been
entombed in distant gallery, and that they finally
restored to their families due the wonder
acter of one of their number, miner named Nemy.
That any of them retained their senses-and half
of them temporarily insane when rescued-was
due to the courage of this leader who during the
days and nights of anxious waiting bore striking
testimony of the truth of the saying that " French
men are always gay no matter what happens" Find
ing the other twelve in sheltered niche where they
had sought refuge from the gases the indomtable
Nemy organized them into committees of eXplora-
ton, of commissariat, and of entertainment. He
himself was chairman of all three. He it who
suggested that it would be novel experience to
dine in country style" by eating the bark from
the supports of the tunnel he who led the party
that crawed over the bodies of dead comrades seek
ing outlet from the prison; he who discovered
only the dead horse, but the carrots which had
formed part of its provender; he who insisted that
the sleep of despair at least mpolite when he
had budget of new stories and new songs which
he had brought from Paris only year before when
his youngest sister had married a notary; and he
it was who, with eyes sunk deep in his head but
still unquenched of their fire. met the party bent
salvage of property rather than lives, which finally
ventured into the workings
But the doctor who summoned took to
bandage those eyes and the eyes of all of the other
terrible wrecks of manhood before he allowed any
of the thirteen be taken the mouth of the pit.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-21
A Pitifu1 Condition

HERE even in the little commune of Denice
i Il covering only twenty -four hundred acres,
the annual losses in single decade exceeded
million dollars. 1t ptiful. The grape
growers surveyed their vines heavy with ripen-
ing fruit. Around them the labor of
months the hard won profits of year The :.
vines had been shielded from every pest that flew
and crawled in few days the purple punches
woui be gathered. But out of the days heat
would gather black, menacing clouds, and in
period measured by moments the havoc done
fruit and vines ruined.
During the storm mentioned Steiger, who was
also the leading vine grower of Windisch Festrtz,
began experimenting with home made
He took an old locomotive smokestack, set it
oak stump, slipped a mortar under it, loaded
with eighty grams, of powder. plugged it with a
cork wad, and fired it off by fuse During one of
the greater storms he and his fired nearly three
thousand charges. The result remarkable
The burgomaster gathered magnificent harvest of
grapes that year. while his neighbors, who thought
his cannons evidence of lunacy, lost three-quarters
of their vintage Steiger's vineyards, by the way
lay in the very center of the ravaged district. He
began to manufacture scientific artillery and
there thirty shooting stations in that dis
trict of Austria-where it has never hailed since.
The weapons carry eight-inch cartridge of
forged steel, with percussion cap and charge of
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-21

0URELY the strangest known protection for
- crops is parked artillery pointing skyward
~ barrel after barrel projecting from
among the vines of Austria and Hungary, Italy
and Southern France. And there are regular
manufactures for these strangest agricultural
cannon, notably at Villefranche on the French
Riviera In Austria the Government itself sup
plies the necessary ammunition.
The object of these singular weapons is to
disperse hail clouds, either driving them away
altogether by conclusion of the air. resulting
from series of violent explosions all over the
vine clad slopes or else causing them to descend
in gentle rain, instead of destructive ice masses
that may not only ruin the grape harvest of a
year, but also smash and tear the vines, Grip
ping them for many seasons.
And strange as the idea is, it is far from being
new. Over century ago the Chevalier de
Jancourt noted that it never hailed on besieged
towns, over which the air was in a constant
state of conclusion from artillery and small arm
fire. 1t was not until twelve years ago, how
ever that the vertical hail shooting cannon as
seen to-day was invented by Albert Steiger,
burgomaster of Windisch Feistritz in Syria,
Austria. That season a frightful storm passed
over the vine clad hills, and did enormous dam
age in the two hours and twenty minutes of its
duration. Hailstones, some of them two inches
in diameter, fell in a sharply defined tract, five
miles wide and eighty long. Steiger had long
been experimenting with cloud shooting ord
nance, especially since the terrible havoc
wrought in the famous wine district of the
Beaujolais.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-21

eighty grams of powder In short, the hail shooting
guns loaded like the old fashioned shot guns.
The artillery will advise the visitor to watch
for the "whirlwind ring There is a heavy boom
of rock blasting, and up into the threatening
hail clouds goes vaporous circle, screaming and
whisting. This is the intangible projectile which
rends the hail cloud. 1t breaks it up, and either
drives away altogether, else it to fall in
a kind of slushy snow, or big raindrops.
Warning with Nature
CURELY this is War with Nature" in the most
~ literal sense The long rows of vines-the bone
of contention between the angry, rolling clouds and
the believing mouths-seem to realize their
peril and droop big protective leaves their great
blooming, purple punches Suddenly the enemy
above will be seen to waver. The black clouds be-
come pillows of rolling smoke. They appear to give
way and like flash the shines gloriously through
rift. The gunners shout from hill to hill and work
faster than The busy cannons puff their cot
tony smoke and screaming rings of vapor, and few
minutes later the dark browed invader breaks and
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-21
SUNDAY MAGAZINE FOR APRIL FL. 1907

but pinned the faithful tunnel worker to the top.
He SAYS that he cannot remember whether he even
attempted to free himself Suddenly the gap
of his face and Creedon found himself going through
seven or eight feet OF mud and rock Perfectly
scious, his thought to himself from this
rock, and he put his hands and in front of his
face, Just as though was boxing with Teller who
putting it all me" in order to protect him
self.
Then he hit the water which at this point is about
twenty -fve feet deep. He went through this like
bullet shot from a gun, and was hurled another
twenty feet in the air The next instant he found
himself back again in the water, swimming
though he had Owed from the end of pier, and
Yelling like an Indian
His Remarkable Recovery
A TUG in the river saw the geyser with the figure
of at its apex and heard the shouts. When
those board dragged Creedon on deck, he had
only Just reinquished his hold of the bags
of sawdust, and his hat floating nearby Asked
how he felt, he replied that he all right except
that the cold had gone to his marrow. big drink
of whisky was administered, with remarkable
suits Creedon like the majority of sand hogs
whose constant dread that they may contract the
bends, had been teetotaler for years The liquor
caused him to vomt, and the deck of the tug was
strewn with sand and pebbles which he had swal-
lowed without knowing it.
Even the story of Hicks was not so graphic as
that of the French miners who taken alive
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-21

in the reach of the humblest grower Isolated or
unorganized firing is of uncertain There should
be at least cannon to every one hundred
and thirty five acres, and the total cost of main
tanning battery does not exceed thirty-fve cents
an acre-a very low insurance indeed against
utter destruction This is the heaviest initial cost;
while the annual charge for amounts to less
than twelve cents Firing begins, as the
clouds near the zenith, with shot a minute
for each station increased later to three every
minute Naturally the firing slows down when rain
begins to fall for by that time the axis of the hail
storm has passed over the cannon and the peril is
over
But perhaps the queerest use of all to which
this agricultural ordnance has been put is found
in the French possessions of Madagascar and
Algeria. Here their great funnel shaped muzzles
have been turned upon vast menacing swarms of
grasshoppers and locusts in whose coudlike hosts
the famous 'whirlwind ring has cut mighty
swathes, so discouraging that the destructive
insects forthwith resolve to seek pastures new across
the sea-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-21

scurries across the sky to- less protected re-
gions.
One of the latest converts to the hail shooting
is Professor Doleric, director of the viticulture
school at Rudofswerth, Austria. He had long
secuted all possibility of fighting hail by means
of these sky pointing guns, until involuntarily
he assisted at big demonstration which saved
hundreds of acres of costly vintage, while in
unprotected vineyards only a couple of miles
off enormous damage was done.
Scientists like Professor F. Houdaille, agri-
cultural meteorologist of Montpelier, produce
exhaustive theories as to cause and effect. l
have their reports before me; but it is clear
they know little for certain. AS to the vine
growers themselves, and the vast industry
dependent upon them, amounting to scores of
millions of dollars annually, they are thankful
and content about the result and care little for
it's physical causes. They have had pamphlets
distributed to them containing high sounding
sentences about "globules, -" electric tensions"
ascending hot air approximation" gas
eous projectiles,' and the like. They have
tried to understand it ALL but what interests
them most is the actual saving of the vine
harvest.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-21
The Whirlwind Ring

THEY were interested, however, in expert
i ments made to test the force of the 'whirl-
wind ring" which is seen ascending after each
explosion. Their scientific guardians put up
paper targets seven feet in diameter, backed
with wire netting. And at a distance of three
hundred feet the whirlwind ring of vapor went
clear through the tough paper like solid
hoop Another experiment lifted a hang
ing wooden target weighing over three
hundred pounds Vermorel and Gastine hold
that this ring is not made of air elected with
enormous force
AS to experiments in the field, the cost of
cannon and maintenance has been reduced by
the Government subventions until it is with
Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-20

carried wailing baby wrapped in soft embroidered
blanket.
"oh, please" she gasped, looking from Bird to
Regina and then to silent Gus James in the
"Baby's sick again tonight and-and have to go
in this act, tonight. Mr. Lemuel just told he
wanted me to take Kate Carpenters part for the
two nights she's away; I'm little like her, and
don't dare refuse. Are all three of you on in this
act? If not could-coud one of you be an angel and
take baby just till the first curtain? III don't be-
lieve she'll be much trouble she'll get quiet in mo-
ment she's crying now, because haven't been able
to hold her while was making up"
Bird and Gussie looked at each other, and then at
their slippers Neither of them was to go on in
that act but had date down on the floor with
OF the extra men. and the other was in love
with the leading man. Therefore neither was anx-
ious to spend the next twenty minutes in taking
of crying baby. Mrs Norris Strengthened up with
flush that showed through her makeup.
Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-20


turned toward the door quickly. Thank you SO
much, Mrs Cairns she added in a mstter-of-fact
way.
AS she stood for moment in the doorway, Regina
rocking the baby in her arms could not help exclam-
ing, hardly realizing what she said How little, how
awfully little you are!'
The Little Mother-woman's forehead grew slightly
pink
Isn't it sly?" she said; then she added, with
sort of soft shamefacedness Jack calls us his two
babies'
She laughed little and hurried away.
Regina took the now quiet baby and walked to the
head of the stairs, where she could hear what was
going on down on the stage below After few mo-
ments she descended with leisurely STEP still hush
ing the baby in the hollow of her left arm Her right
hand, with that soft, accustomed touch of mother
hood, caressed the little fannel-shrouded form.
On the stairs she met Mis-. Braddon She was lead
ing woman and great friend Of Ereanore Bridge,
Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-20

"I'm sorry" she said with sharp note of resent
ment in her voice. "I shouldn't have asked
Regina turned in casual way from the particular
cracked mirror which she claimed as her
"I'I takeDner" she said, quietly.
The others stared. Regina. the baby y-hater. the
cold the ill-tempered! Moreover, she had her song
to sing in this very scene!
"Regina!" exclaimed Bird Latin. You're crazy!
Don't you remember you have your song?"
'It's sung in the wings returned Regina, i'm
perturbably. "And / never have sung much with
my arms"
The two other girls left the dressingroom in silence
as she took the Little Womans baby into her
her manner of grasping the tiny girl that struck the
Little Mother womans materially acute perceptions.
NYou--you have baby of your own?" she ventured
snyy.
Regina shook her head heEcey. Then she looked
al the other woman with dumb betrayal
1T died." she said harshly
The Mother-W Woman. put out her hand to touch
with an involuntary greedy finger the white dress of
her own living baby then with tact she turned
her eyes from Regna's face.
Im going to borrow one of Miss Leeds long.
black pins she said and her Indifferent way OF say
ing made Regina passionately grateful to her She's
such good sort that I'm sure she won't mind" She
Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-20

the star. Her rouge was badly put on and made
unbecoming high lights upon her hard, sharp cheek
bones
Really she exclaimed "a baby in the theateri
This is too absurd l shall certainly speak to MI
Lemuel. Is it yours?
Regina did not even look at her, but walked on down
the stairs looking, with her grave face tall figure
and pale, clear coloring unlike painted and pow
dered Madonna. The dress she wore her costume for
the third act, was ridiculously bizarre one but
nothing could cheaper the soft, new feeling of her
face and manner. She passed between three or four
young. whispering, gossiping members of the COM
pany, who were improving the dusky moments Of
dark change by fragrant Irritation. and did not even
hear their murmured comments of establishment
When she reached her usual place in the wings
her husband was on the stage He was making love
in his usual outrageous fashion to the soubrette who
played opposite him; for once Regina gazed on the
scene unmoved The nightly torture which she
habtually went through for the lifted and
removed. She casped the baby closer to her and
waited tall and motioness, for her cue.
ing little melody, which was supposed to charm the
wayward heart of the flirting cavalier into musical
dental music had written cheap waltz song, which
Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-20

It was only when it all over, and the silenced
entrance chorus supposed to follow the little song
that Regina realized what she had done.
She heard the stage-manager say sharply,
Great Caesar. Mrs Cairns, what on earth do you
mean?"
But she could not wait for another word. Speech
less she fed through the crowded wings, hiding her
head against the sleeping baby. She felt that she
her newly-awakened self shrank from unsympathetic
contact She turned her hurried steps the stair
the good wg-maker and his wife. the wardrobe mis-
tress. reigned supreme.
She met Mrs Hansel on the steep stairs.
"Act, it Frau Norris's baby list, nicht?" she said
"The pretty Engeleini l haf not you latey.l
Frau Regina it iss all veil NIT your husband NIGHT
wahr?% Yt
MAY | take the baby down to the room" asked
afraid the noise in the dressing-room-"
"Ach, warum ncht? Take her down. surely. yess!
There iss pile Of silk sashes ach gf out to de
girls for next Montag and dey will make gut hubsch
restng-place for the lieber kinda place for schlaf
und ruh' nicht?
us anyone down thers?" asked Regina.
Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-20


Regina had sung each night during the run Win
scornfu heart and frigid ntonation. Tonight ev-
erythng seemed different. She felt suddenly that sne
could not sing that trivial merctricious air. instead
another long and determinedly unsung, If not forgot
ten drifted insistently across her brain she had
not sung it since the first gold-threaded days OIL nef
mother-life, when Sandy was still her lover ana
her baby lay on her breast; Now, when her cue came
and her trained brain responded, she fouhd nerseil
singing the old dear foolish little song which on one
black summer morning she had vowed never to sing
again:
Look where the little stars play
And call to the flying Sun;
Come back, Sun, from your love, the Day
For your work is now all done'
Come and dance in the moon-lit sky,
For the night is sweet and true
Come, old Sun, and dare you try
To dance like us in the pleasant blue
In our ballroom cool and blue!'"
Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-11
"Hearts Courageous" Is Too Long,
Winded to Be Interesting, Lacking
Decided Action-Patrick Henry
the Real Lifelike Character

Barring its interminable talk, Hearts
Courageous. which the Burbank pre-
sents this week, is a good play. But in
the mazes of language, the action of
the drama, which has to do with revo-
lutionary days. is quite lost. One can
conceive how Halle Erminie RiveS book
might have been made strong drama,
with the most of the words excised,
but as they have been retained it loses
interest in the unusual redundancy of
talk, and one forgets what is happen
ing in the conversation included in the
play.
OF the several characters introduced,
most of them incident to revolutionary
days, that of Patrick Henry, depicted
by H. j. CHM, is probably the most life
like. His Liberty or Death" speech is
really the best thing of the drama.
William Desmond is quite impossible
as Louis Armand. Desmond seldom
gets into an atmosphere, and when this
is absolutely requisite Desmond is ut
terly himself, and thus entirely out OF
it. If one could always have plays at
the Burbank where Desmond need be
nothing but Desmond he would be a
tremendous favorite. But, alas! this
cannot always be. And when it is not
the case poor William is still William,
and the characterization suffers.
Much of the same happens with Mary
Van Buren,. Here is an actress who in
comedy roles is absolutely at home, but
in serious parts is utterly absent. This
drama, in which she does Abbie Tillot-
son, requires that she play straight"
part, and she is wholly out of it. This
is too bad; Miss Van Buren, is so good
in her particular style of roles that it
is a pity that she cannot always play
them.
But with the two principal charac-
ters awry, that doesn't mean that
Hearts Courageous" is a failure, not
by any means; there is Patrick Henry
(H. ]. Ginn) to be reckoned with. Mr..
CHM is at home in his part and he
gives a spirited and happy interpreta-
tion of it. His Liberty or Death"
speech, already noted, is especially fine
Robert Homans, as Rolph, a Virginia
planter, is another who wins plaudits
on sheer merit. And Elsie Esmond
captures the honors of the feminine
part of the cast as Betsy Byrd, in which
role she is natural to the last degree.
Carol Marshall as Mrs. Byrd is
also good. The rest of the parts are
well taken, and the interpretations
merit especial praise.
But as a whole, Hearts Courageous"
is not by any means the best thing
that the Burbankers have done, and
one could wish that they had stuck to
comedy and continued their high stand
ard of excellence that they showed in
the Hoyt play which just closed.