davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27

large product of hay Indications like
wise favor a full. cotton crop. All of
our best crop authorities now consider
agricultural conditions much more en-
couraging than two weeks ago
Monetary conditions are exceptionally
favorable both here and abroad. AS many
stocks are paying 6 per cent at present
prices and bonds 3 per cent, 1t follows
that money is better invested in these
than In time or call loans. The condition
of the local banks is being steadily
strengthened by increasing reserves and
contraction in loans. The monetary
situation abroad is also specially favor
able. as funds are accommodating AID IN
terest rates declining.
president Taft is. closing the second
congressional session of his term with
much greater credit than at one time ex-
peeted. Inadvertently the President some
time ago referred to the new tariff as
the best ever an opinion not shared py
many of his friends. What he no DOUBT
really meant was that tae new tariff was
the best that could be secured at that
time. The temporary and limited loss OF
popularity produced by this misconcep-
ton has already been more than recov-
cred by the Presidents recent legislative
successes. The passage of the tariff DILL
the railroad bill and the postal savings
bill, not to speak of minor measures
can all be traced to Mr.. Tafts abiiity'
tact and perseverance, and have adoeh
Immensely to his political strength.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27
Thin-Lined Blast Furnaces

The latest development in blast fur
mace construction is a furnace with a
thin lining and water Jacket. One of
the furnaces at Ensley is being rebuilt
on this plan. The idea of water-cooed
shells has been in approved use in Ger
many 20 years, and the furnaces of this
country have just begun to adopt them.
The bosh and hearth are not changed
ir the furnaces that are being rebuilt
on the new plan. The shell at Ensley
consists Of riveted boiler plate lined with
nine inches of the best refractory clay
that can be procured On the outside
of the shell are three spraying pipes
which extend around the stack so placed
that they keep a continuous curtain OF
water on the exterior shell of the thin
lining
1t is claimed that the thin-lined fur
| naces do not clog as readily as do the
thick-lined furnaces. and that a saving
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27
THE AERIAL HOTEL

From the Cincinnati Times-Star.
How refreshing on a sultry day in June
when the breezes are like blasts from
Sahara, and the heat waves culver over
the parched land, to sail under white
awning in a sea of air, high up among
the fieecy clouds where 1t is SO cold that
you need an overcoat!
Such is the comforting prospect Of the
future The aerial express is an estab-
lished fact. "The Deutschland" piloted
by Count Zeppelin and carrying 20 passen-
gers, has completed his first trip from
Friedrichshafen to Berlin on schedule
time.
But it is not that the first passenger air
line is a realization that is so important.
The Zeppelin air craft have carried hu-
man freight before and have Travelled dis
tances as long. What is most remark
able and most indicative of progress is the
fact that the balloon is a great floating
hotel.
There are accommodations for eating
and sleeping. There is buffet with
cooling drinks on board, and walters pass
among the guests, carrying trays Of flow
ing stems. Here one may recline free
from all worldly troubles, Quaff the liquid
amber and enjoy the scenery that I'M
folds SO majestically far below.
Thus far the aerial hotel is rather an
expensive luxury, but the time will come
when on a summer afternoon we will take
rides on an airship with the same non
chalance that we now board an excursion
steamer and go up to Coney,
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27

During the seasons of 1777-7S and IT'S 10
1t was performed no fewer than 70 times
and realized nearly $4,000 or over 20 per
cent of the entire capital embarked in
the theatre 1t "damped' every other
piece, though, among many, such favor
ties as 1.-THE Tempest and Congreve' .
"Od Bachelor" were included The next
season, which also revived THE Rivals, .
reaped close on $4,000 by THE s ,hool.'
In 1887. the tenth year of its
life, the representations of it excited as
much applause as on Its first produce
ton.
Throughout Sheridan's lifetime il main
tanned its popularity, and his death was
honored by memorial performance. II
soon crossed the Atlantic and became the
favorite play of George Washington, as
has been recorded by Mrs. Whitelock,
a sister of Mrs. Siddons, and long a
leading tragedienne in America.
In Toronto, the centenary of THE
School for Scandal was celebrated by
a gala performance in the presence of
Sheridans great-grandson, the late Lord
Dufferin. who was the governor general
of Canada.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27
From the Louisville courier-Journal.

From the Louisville courier-Journal.
TINE Chicago Inter Ocean, which re-
! Gently devoted good deal of space
| L to expressing its admiration for the
| appropriate name of Capt. Archibald De
Graffenreid Willngham Butt, the Presi-
dents aide, bursts into praise of the APP
propriateness of the name of Asbury
Spicer of Breathitt county. Says the In
| ter Ocean:
who could have read the dispatch
from Jackson. Breathitt county, Ken
lucky, telling the latest chapter OF the
Hargis- Cockrill feud, in yesterdays news
pa per, without being struck, thrilled and
elated by the name of one of the prin-
cipal Misunderstanding Spicer?
Names are, of course, given to most peo-
pie when they are very young. For that
reason they are not always entirely ap-
propriate But we somehow feel that
Mr.. Asbury Spicers name fits him to a
T; that the quick, peppery, rihe-pop-
ping effect of the last name exactly de-
scribes the man and h-S conversation in
critical and exciting moments. And in
the less energetic Asbury we seem to
a
and leadership in the high life of Bloody
Breathitt.'
Mr. Spicer is not the only citizen of
Breathitt, surviving or lamented, whose
name might please the fancy of one
with a fine sense of the fitness of things,
or tickle the ear of the Chicago Inter
Oceans music critic.
There was sTige" Hargis, a man sud-
den and quick in quarrel, who was over
taken by death in the midst of health,
81 1t were, and quite Unexpectedly.
What melower or more appropriate ap-
pellation could be found for a high sheriff
of Bloody Breathitt, in the halcoyn days
of Hargisism, than Deacon Callahan?
The deacon, through whose anatomy
some pounds of lead have passed, and who
was once so mutilated by knife wounds
that his obituary went the rounds of the
press while he was making obscure re-
covery after famous bloody fight, now
occupies a highland stronghold at Crock
ettsville, puncheon palisades about the
premises protecting him from the pot
shots of enemies squatting about in The
bushes of the surrounding hills. At one
time the circuit court demanded that the
deacon come to Lexington to be tried for
conspiracy to murder, and he replied that
he was busy rafting logs. but would be
pleased to walt upon the court at time
more convenient to him, and, as he sim
cerely hoped, equally convenient to the
court Who but deacon could have man.
ifested such dignity and repose in such
circumstances ?
Tricky Tom Tharp was a promi-
| nent defense witness during murder trials
following the assassination of James b.
Marcum at Jackson. Is it necessary to
explain the significance of the title?
Tricky jim Bach was so called be-
cause of his disdain of certain rules
of personal sanitation which he regarded
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27

From the New York Press
The oldest mummy known was discov-
cred in the Medium Pyramids in 1891 anu
now is in the museum of the foyai vi
lese of Surgeons. It's age is Z'o b. "
and 1t is IL centuries older thah any
mummy yet discovered-that was not
mere rag and a bone and ounch ol nan
put there is every evidence thaa the
u.,nt,ans had been bunging along trying
- Y,arufacture mummes for thousand
or so years before this old chap mad peen
turned out of the mummy mill. An oiu
he goat of a politician, in his day named
in a high jingle Ranefar Ranelar' MIN
~ J-nited States senator of his time Inc
ro.son the old cuss has come down 10 US
- s,,c,s remarkable state of keeping
was not because he kept everything thae
he touched that was not nailed down anu
chained like a grating copt, but because
his nibs had been wrapped up IN Dig
cakes of hot resin. This tree gum mad
boon nodded when soft and hot to NJ
the face and body. so the head ana lace
modelling was first class job Of mummy
face embalming. The eyes and eyebrows
and mustache were all painted on the oio
bucks mask IL powdered malachlte paint
and his wig was painted in the same seyie'
Something ominous and gruesome II Is
that this old prefiguration and representa-
tive of the cunning. man and the erai'er
was the first pronounced beneficiary OF
eor,v struggling science. showing you
can't keep an honest man uoWh'
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27
Birminghnm in the Lend

Business conditions in the south are
good and every southern city with
which l am in touch is prosperous; but
Birmingham at this time seems to be
far ahead of all of them" said Joseph
l.. Lassiter of Chicago, who spent last
week in Texas.
4 was in Birmingham in the early
spring of 1908. 1t was just after the
panic and business was quiet; Shat is to
say. quiet for this city; but there was
relatively more Industrial activity, even
during the early days of depression,
than there was In the Plttsburg district.
And now I find business here exception
ally brisk. In fact, 1t is in better ape
than have ever seen it.
4 first visited Birmingham about Is
years ago. 1t was a small city and its
future was some wha. uncertain. The
steel plant had not been started and
many people thought that pig iron
would be the one mainstay of the dis
trict. Dating from 1906, wnen the
Gates-Schley syndicate began active OPP
erations here. Birmingham has been go.
ing forward at a rapid late. Its popu-
ation will probably be doubled in the
next 10 years"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27
ORIGIN OF FAIRY TALES
All Parts of the World HIVE Furnished
Quota of Legends

Andrew Lang in London Morning Post.
The literary tale of Cinderella falry
godmother, dance at court, glass slipper
and all. was published by Charles Per-
rault at the very end of the seventeenth
century The popular versions in France
in the Gaelic-speaking Highlands, in the
lowlands and among scores of wild re-
mote people, were never taken from Per-
rault's literary version. They are full
of the old savage element, there is no
fairy godmother, but friendly BEAST
sometimes the reincarnation of dead
mother
In the same way Beauty and the
Beast" "Orpheus and Eurydice,' Jason
and Medea," and all the rest Of them are
literary expurgated versions of old tales
found in every quarter of the world; they
did not reach the Samoans, the zulus,
the Maoris. the Red Indians, Huarochiri
of Central America in the sixteenth CEN
tury through published literary versions
of European fairy tales or through Euro
pean poets treating subjects from Greek
mythology.
The natives of New Guinea have tale
in which a heroic boy maltreats the other
boys. who say: You would be better en-
ployed in avenging the murders of your
father and two uncles," a thing which
he has never heard. That incident Is
common in European folktales, but the
people of New Guinea did not borrow 1t
from our printed ballads, any more than
all peoples have borrowed their innQm-
cradle tales of the origin of death from
missionaries. I have never seen any mis-
sionary influence in the tales of Austral-
ian black fellows collected and trans
lated by missionaries such as Mr.. Sievert
and Mr.. Streblow.
On the other hand, there are cases in
which medieval Ministries wrote knightly
romances on subjects found in folktales.
while Ministries of lower grades turned
the romances into ballads like those of
King Arthur. But these ballads did
not reach all the red black and yellow
men, as far as we are aware. The ne
gro version of Orpheus and Eurydice in
the United States is borrowed from the
story of the opera of ''Orfeo," the names
are retained slightly altered. But the Red
Indian version, the most touching of any,
and the Maori version are native in every
detail, and are no more borrowed from
the Greek tale than the Greek tale is
borrowed from them
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27
THE "BOss KNOCKERv

From the Osborne Farmer.
For years a certain man in our COM
munity has always carried his hammer
swung it and all we have ever heard from
him has been knock, knock, knock
Other men about him have occasionally
laid aside their hammer and picked up
the saw. In the evening when the sun
went down they always had a nice little
pile of sawdust. But the other man
never dropped his hammer The more he
knocked the more work he found to do.
He knocked the life clear out of his own
business, but he couldn't see 1t. He put
dents in the banks, in the stores, in the
schools, in the churches and in everything
he came across. When one hammer wore
out he got another one, and it was al
ways a little bigger than the old one. In
the evening the neighbors would sit
around and say: Listen, you can hear
the clatter of Old Man Knockers ham
mer" So the old duck knocked the years
away. People paid no attention to him,
and in the end he was a forgotten deuce
in the discard. He never accomplished a
thing in his life He will leave no mem
DRY of kindly deeds done; he never wiped
away tear from trembling eyelid; he
never dropped flower in his whole path
way of life When he wanders on there
will be no tears and no flowers. For the
first time In years the silence will be I'M
broken by the sounds of his hammer,
and there will be relief.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27
AS TO WHAT'S IN A NAME

as being fit only to govern the conduct
of mollycoddles. He f1ourished a all alibi
witness during Deacon Callahan's ineun-
bency, and would have been alive today.
although perhaps incarcerated, had not :
difficulty developed between him and Mrs.
Bach Tricky jim" undertook to patch.
up the quarrel which had resulted in
Mrs Bach deserving him. She coyly re-
treated from his well-meant, but unwel-
come, advances, picked up shotgun and
fired the contents of both barrels into
the bosom of her repudiated lord and
master. Thus passed Tricky Jim'-unre-
pentant, unshriven, unwept, unhonored,
unsung, unwashed and under indictment
for perjury-from among a humor-loving
people who, having bestowed upon him
a nickname to call attention to one of his
falings, pursued him with no further
criticism.
big Pistol so ca<led because he habit
ually wore two Colt "forty-fives" in such
a manner that the muzzles protruded be-
low his shoulder blades and held his coat
far enough from his back to provide
good ventilation in warm weather, de-
parted from Breathitt some time ago for
reasons that make his return improbable,
or, to say the least, impoltic. His bosom
friend Little Pistol" has either left
Breathitt or become, for some reason, OBJ
scure. wild Dog. who murdered the
neighbors, not because of any personal
feeling against them. but because thin
ming the population at $50 a murder was
more agreeable than thinning corn at 81
day, is now engaged in the vexing task
of serving two life sentences in the
Frankfort penitentiary, and is attending
prayer meeting with devotion that is
doubtless approved by Deacon Callahan.
Bad Tom Smith. the only man who
was ever legally executed in Jackson,
owed his descriptive appellation to a pop
ular, although mild, disapproval of his
methods. 1t was the general sentiment
that he did not play fair. Despairing of
finding an opportunity to assassinate a
neighbor who was gunshy, he coolly MUIR
dered the mans brother, with whom he
was on perfectly friendly terms His
purpose, duly accomplished, was to wait
on a hill near the cemetery and get
the timid brother when he attended the
funeral. II was probably due to a set
tied unfavorabe opinion of his ethics
that the jury agreed to death sentence
when bad Tom some years later, was
tried for numbering a physician who was
in the act of rendering him professional
services. He had feigned illness in order
to draw his intended victim within easy
range of his cannon.
Such names as Asbury Spicer," says
the Inter Ocean, would fit into a Bret
Harte, Mark Twain or o. Henry's story
There are plenty more at home like Them
In the bright tred) annals of Breathitt
many are revealed. Who could fail to rec
ognize as a man especially skilled in the
use af cutlery, Mr.. "Bloodvessel Wilson.
if introduced to him at campmeeting?
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27
IN HOTEL LOBBIES


Il have recently returned from trip
over a large portion of Alabama" said
Leo kayser of Otto Marx G. Co. and
the people everywhere are showing
great interest in Corey. They asked
me hundreds of questions aoout the
property, and 1 promised them l would
send them the desired information when
l got back to Birmingham. ! accepted
the invitation of friend to visit Corey
and l was astonished at what is beng
done there. the progress being made AMI
the great future of the model city.
L was enabled after visiting the
property to write my friends my opin-
ion of Corey and to advise many of
them that l considered it an excellent
Investment. 1t is certainly an under
taking of which Birmingham should be
proud and l predict that in the next
few years Corey will be the snow city
of Alabama. just as Gary is of Iudi-
ana
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27
. pREACH OF PRECEDENCE

From the Cleveland Leader
Calvin ]. Wright. the western pase-
hall veteran, was telling at baseball
BANQUET in Cleveland baseball stories.
"You know how, in the old days.
he said. teams were sometimes turned
into theatrical troupes, and toured the
country all winter with PURE az
SNOW The EVIL That Men Do and
such like melodramas.
well, old Josh Brady had hard luck
with his theatrical baseball team in
1872. He was obliged. by George, TO
travel With it on a stock train.
zone bitter January night the stock
train pulled up at little station and
an inspector turned his lantern on 1t
and yelled:
"'What we got aboard"
"'Hogs and actors the conductor an
swered.
"Old Josh Bailey stuck out his head
at that and roared from among the
hogs:
"'say you; why couldn't you say act
ors first?'"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27

ton our provinces or dependencies, chiefly
won from Spain in war.
Nine states were admitted in the years
1S12-37. including Alabama in 1919. Eight
states were admitted in the years 1S4o-6i.
Fourteen states were added to the union
after the civil war, including Arizona and
New Mexico. Four of the IA were adj
mitted before 1867. Nine years later Colo
RADIO came in. and then after a pause of
IS years seven states were admitted,
capped at last by the admission of Ari-
iona and New Mexico.
In this way political growth has kept
pace with economic development and to-
day the nation stands grown-up or
rather family of As sovereign states. The
territorial form of government will soon
be unknown on the mainland. It is diff
fcult TO say what the true status of
Porto Rico and Guam and Samoa and
the Philippines is. They are neither states
nor territories. They are conquered ee-
Tendencies, and the fathers of the re-
public never intended that anything of the
kind should be tolerated. They believed
that all men were born politically free
rights. The republican party thinks 9th.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27
"sMILING GEORGE,
Traits of One of Worlds Most Daring
Automobile Drivers

From 1.-THE Speed Kings" IN July
Hampton's.
1t happened in the famous back
stretch" of the Merrimac Valley course.
Smiling George" Robertson held the
lead by a slight margin and was push
ing his engine to the limit. Just as the
car rushed into an unfrequented and
very rutty section of the circuit some-
thing happened. To quote Robertson:
I'VE were making 70 miles an hour
when suddenly heard a crack. The
next second I fell through to the floor
of the car. The seat had broken under
me. There lay with my hands on the
wheel and my feet sticking up in the
air. I could not see the road IN
front of me and did not know where the
car was going. Just before Glenn Eth
ridge, my mechanician, grabbed me by
the shoulders and pulled me UP the car
tilted perceptibly. 1t almost tipped over.
tell you, thought we were gcners!
mo, haven't said anything about 1t.
Why should II"
Smiling George" they call him. and
his sunny countenance certainly bears
out the nickname. Robertson Is a big,
solid, good-looking youth who gives the
impression that nothing could move
him. He fairly radiates vitality. In
everyday life he Is an easy-going, NOR
'ry, careless chap. In a race he's an
other man. At times he acts like a
maniac. He has been known to strike
men in the repair pits when they did
not work fast enough to suit him. On
the road he is absolutely fearless. The
other drivers turn out" for MIN. On
more than one occasion Robertson has
scraped the paint off car that was
slow In giving him leeway.
A story Is told OF Robertson's be-
havior during the Briercliff race. 1t was
said that he hurled a monkey wrench at
another driver who deliberately tried to
block him. When Robertson was asked
about this he appeared highly incenssd
Honestly, do you think I'd throw my
wrench at anyone? Why. IFS absurd!
Suppose I should need that wrench dur
ing the race? If threw anything I
threw spare nuts"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-27
FNtY-eigbt Sovereign States

The turning of organized territories on
the mainland into statehood stands COM
plete so far as enactment laws are con-
cerned. Arizona and New Mexico are au-
thorized to adopt constitutions and get
ready for admission. Congress and the
President are to approve the consttu-
tions.
In 1923 years the original 10 states have
been supplemented with 35 additional
states; and the only territories that re-
main are Hawaii and Alaska, not to men,