davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-26
VANDERBILT KEEPS
SOCIETY GUESSING
Attitude Toward Mrs. Law,
Pretty London Widow, and
Mrs. McKim PuzzIing.
Special Disnatch to Tho Star.

Special Dispatch to Tho Star.
NEW YORK, February 25.-Friends
who have been expecting an announce
ment OF the engagement of Alfred G..
Vanderbilt, waiting with interest for
the cable reports that will announce the
attitude OF Mrs. George Law the beauti-
full society widow. who is due TO arrive
In London tomorrow.
Since the abrupt departure of Mrs.
Law for England Wednesday. following
the published reports Wednesday morning
of the settlement of the alienation suits
brought by DIR. Mckim over the divorce
of his pretty wife, Mrs. Margaret Elmer
son McI<im, society has been in the dark.
Mrs. Mckim is now on her way to New
York from the winter home of her ia
Their. Capt. Isaac Emerson, at George
town. S. {. She has not made any
statement about her plans
London cables stated that Abraham
Hirschtield a New York lawyer, was
authority for an announcement that Mrs.
Mcl<im would leave at once for London
to wed Mr.. Vanderbilt. Tonight Mr..
Hirsclield said:
Hirschfield Denies Statement.
Il am astonished at this cable | am
out of the Mckim affair, have been, in
fact, since the day of the settlement of
DR.. McI<im's suits. l never represented
Mrs Mckim, hut. OH the contrary, did
represent her husband, the doctor. How
could | say what her marital plans, II
she has any, may be? Ridiculous. !
never even thought of it. And refuse to
think any more about il.
Close friends of Mr.. Emersons daush-
ter say she Is not expected to stop in
this city. They say she Will seek Sc
cusion with friends nearby for several
days, at least. Until more definite cable
news from London is received or until
Mr.. Vanderbilt makes statement that
will clear the atmosphere she is not eX-
pected to tell her plans.
The action of Mrs. Law in leaving SO
hurriedly without notice to her friends
caused comment among the associates OF
Mrs. Mckim They recalled that Mr..
Vanderbilt had spent much time in the
company of the attractive Mrs. Law just
before the news of the threatened suit
by DR.. Mckim came out.
When the young muti-millionaire also
made a quick dash to Europe unaccom-
panied even by his valet and upon an
unknown steamer they We're amazed. Mrs.
Mckim was then in New York city, but
she left almost Immediately for the home
of her father and has remained there
secluded from interviewers.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-26

Contracts will be let at an early date
for a building for Zion Methodist Epis-
copal Church at Cambridge, Nd, to re-
place the structure destroyed in the fire
last July. The new structure will be
the largest of the kind in Cambridge.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-26
Uneasiness Among Britons.

The menacing shadow of German pow
err stretching across the narrow seas
fills the minds of the BritonS with an
undisguised uneasiness. The British, who
for the last 200 years have often in
tervened and dispatched armies to the
continent. are slowly waking UP to real
ize the fact that they can no longer play
even an important. much less de-
cisive role in the battlefelds of Europe
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-26
Conviction of Bandits
Is Almost Impossible.

accused of a crime. Most of the police
are either members of the order or in
sympathy with it, The few who are not
are afraid to assert themselves. The
Judges of the court are also under the
influences of the society. Three years
ago a trial in Naples failed when the
evidence seemed almost overwhelming.
1t turned out that the son of one of the
Judges was a Camorrista, and the rules
of the order spare neither father nor
mother If vengeance is to be wreaked.
For this reason the coming trial Of
Camorra chiefs for the murder of Cuo-
colo and his wife is to be held. not in
Naples, where the crime was committed.
but at Viterbo. an old church village
about forty miles from Rome. This
place has been strongly garrisoned with
national troops while provisions are be-
ing made for the trial. The town is so
small that there seemed no place for
large court trial. but the long discussed
monastery has been fitted with iron bars
and now serves as Jail. while an old
church will be used as courtroom. An
especially constructed iron cage near the
old altar will hold the prisoners during
the hours of trial. and the faithful car
bineers will be OH the alert to protect
them from the pQpulace, who are indig
nant against them as we'll as to prevent
the prisoners themselves from holding
any communication with their friends
f,uocOlo was former Camorrista who
had been Judged a traitor to the cause,
so his death was decreed by the high
council of Camorra. numbering thirty
seven chiefs. A few days later his body
was found bearing forty-seven gashes
made by the peculiar knife of the Canon
rista. This happened nearly four years
ago, and after perfunctory investiga-
ton on the part OF the Neapolitan police
the matter was dropped. Then leader
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-26
PROBLEM Of EUROPE
Germany's Advance to Posi-
ton of Dominant Power.
IN LEAD OF ALL THE WORLD
Whole of National Energy Directed
to Industrial Development for
Past Forty Years.
BY William T. Stead.

Special Cablegram to The Star.
LONDON, February 25-There is no
use trying to exercise it, the German
specter will not down. and the publica :
ton OF It's census figures. giving the en-
pire a population of 64,S9S,S S1, an in
crease of more than four millions in five
years. has given a new "raw-head' to
the Specter.
The great problem which troubles the
old world today is the rise of Germany
TO a position of domination on the con-
tinent, greater than that which has ever
been enjoyed by any power since the days
of the great Napoleon. She has enjoyed
uninterrupted peace since 1871, and,
while maintaining her ornaments, has
been free to devote the whole of the ma
tional energy to the task of industrial
commercial development
German Cradle Never Empty.
While France has practically stopped
producing any surplus population, the
German cradle has never been empty BY
sheer dint of the multiplication of their
species Germany has acquired such a
redundant population that she can afford
to reject from her army all weaklinss
while France, on the other hand, from
sheer lack of human material, mas often
to pass as recruits weedy boys who are
not fit to stand the strain of actual
battle
a population of 100000. Now, by sci
entific applications, she is able to provide
for more than sixty millions.
Thirty years ago 100000 Germans cleft
the fatherland every year to seek new
homes and means of livelihood in Amer
lea and elsewhere. Now she actually i'm
ports smigrants from other countries to
meet the demands of her ever-increasing
industry.
Advance in Wealth.
Prosperity has led to such an increase
in German wealth that Germany will be-
fore long dethrone France as completely
in the realm of finance as she has de-
throned her on the sea and on land
Russia, crippled by her japanese war,
and still suffering from the aftermath of
her revolution, has ceased to threaten
GermanyS eastern flank. France is not
regarded as a serious antagonist in a
sngle-handed war with Germany. The
Germans confidently calculate that if war
broke out they would be in Paris in six
weeks.
The British empire alone remains as
an Independent unit, whose counsels are
not dominated by the shadow of the Ger
man sword. But England. despite her
entente with France and Russia, is pow
erless from military point of view. Her
domination is more and more limited to
sovereignty of the seas. and that SOW
ereignty Germany has been diligently I'M
dermining for the last ten years.
Uneasiness Among Britons.
The menacing shadow of German pow
err stretching across the narrow seas
fills the minds OF the Britons with an
undisguised uneasiness. The British, who
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
An AAOmnibus

The working of the rudder at the back of the flying machine, says Hachet- Souplet in the January Strand, is always rather dangerous. It may risk loss of balance. or bring about some breakage of the delicate apparatus For this req son Dr. Amans, who has made profound study of the geometry of the organs of flight asked himself whether 1t was not possible to employ in the forward part of the machine, an appendage re- sembling a birds wing which might con- trol the angles of the flying plane.
 There is now actually being construct ed, from the plans of Dr. Amans. an Aero Express in the form of an elon- gated, egg-shaped body. carrying small wings, and of which the principal power of support will be given by the form of the ovoid itself. This aeroplane will be able to carry several passengers, and will be. in fact, a sort of air omni- bus. In principle it will resemble cer- tain insects like the stag-beetle. which is also capable of carrying weight greater than it's own. Captured stag-beetles have been trained to fly from one point to another bearing small balloon-cars As they are very fond of honey, they lend themselves easily to this form of train ing.
 Insects of this kind, with their rigid wing-cases in the shape of a rounded cover. keep themselves In the air with out wing-beats. the covers providing sustaining planes resembling those of an aeroplane, while the back wings drive the insect forward after the manner of the screw Tn the apparatus of Dr. Amans the place of the latter will be taken by beating the wings like those of birds In this consists the originality of the idea.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
Literary ForEerics

From the Washington CD. co Post
 The question has been often raised as to how far 1t is allowable for a writer to lead the reader to believe that his work is a translation or true edition or a modernized version of more ancient document. Some Of these pretenses, of course. deceive no one, as, for example, the Greek manuscripts which Rider Haggnrd has 5prefixed ta his weird tale of she the ancient Spanish document which he uses in King Solomon's Mines" or the crosses, squares and cabalistic signs which those authors who deal with the search for treasure hidden by bold buccaneers so lavishly employ.
 Sometimes. however, where deceit is practiced, not as Il literary device, but as a means of gain. the ethical prin- ciple is touched, and in such cases, as a rule, the forger--as distinct from the inventor-has met with severe treat ment. So it fared with Ireland in his Si7akespearean forgeries, and so with poor Chatterton in the case of the Rowlcy poems. There is no doubt that Ireland deceived his father and many others, and Horace Walpole was com pletely taken in at nrst by the trans cript which Chatterton sent him.
 Five years earlier Walpole himself in his Castle of Otrsnto," which was a forerunner of the romantic movement and set up literary school of terror in England. had also had recourse to a mild form of deception, for his work on its first appearance was professedly a translation from the manuscript of an Italian cleric. In a second edition lie avowed his own original authorship, and so escaped any stigma on this score.
 Macpherson's "Ossian"<has remained a puzzle down to our own day, though why he should take pains to deny the originality of a work that was so novel and caught on so nightly 1t is difficult to decide. He encouraged no obloquy, for he was buried in Westminster Ab- bey, near Poets Corner, and a marble obelisk to his memory meets the eye of the tourist who chances to wander into the vicinity of Macpherson's birth place at Kingussie. fts The leader of all the gay deccivers in things literary is, however, Godfrey of Monmouth. The genial Geoffrcy. who was in. turn archdeacon of Mon- mouth and bishop of St. Asaph, flung a metaphorical bombshell into the camp of the staid and sober chroniclers when, In 113s, he published his ''Historia Re- gum Britanniae." This highly imagina- tive performance he said he got from very ancient book in the British language, which Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, brought out of Britanny and gave him, and in which he found all the acts of the British kings set forth in their order, from Brut, the great : grandson of Aeneas of Troy, down to Cadwalader, who nourished about the year 539 of the Ch-istian era, The aforesaid chroniciers waxed ex.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22


 about sport. and he supplied me with scme interesting information. After this we went our ways. I shook his hand, his left hand, mind you. and passed on. Sauntering back to my of- flee, when my little errand was done, had just got to the same part of P street again when I suddenly stood still. My whole body shook as I tried to reason out an idea which had just come to me. The man without hand, with whom I had been speaking only a few moments before, was dead. He had died four years ago. Could it be possible that be had been buried alive? But if so, what had I to do with it?'' As far as evidence could be gathered on this strange case. which was either one of mistaken identity or of moment ary illusion, or of what can only be set down as the wholly inexplicable, the man without a hand had certainly been buried as one dead some time prior to this encounter in P- street. The particularity of the description of his personal appearance, added to the fact that ones hook-handed friends are neces- sarily few in number, goes to disprove the suggestion of a mere mistake in identity
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

to Southampton for shipment. His chief acted on the suggestion. Here was an opportunity to test the powers of the tele- graph-lightning against steam, and steam with 4s hours the start. Very soon the telegraph asked man in Southampton. Has the ship Mercator sailed?"
 The answer came back. Just weighing anchor"
 Stop her in the Queens name,' flashed hack the telegraph "She is stopped" was returned
 Have on deck certain boxes trnarks giyen,) weigh them carefully, and let me know the result telegraphed the chief.
 This order was obeyed, and one box was found to be somewhere about one pound and ten ounces heavier than its mates just the weight of the missing sovereigns. "All right. Let the ship go.' was the next order.
 The West India house was debited with the one hundred pounds, and the Bank of England was at peace again.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

New York, January 21.--While talking harmony and urging the necessity of burying the factional hatchet in the re- publican camp, old guard leaders of the organization have begun canvass to assure the election, to succeed Ezra P. Prentice, of new state chairman who will be a strong advocate of President Iaft's policies.
 Friends of the President have realized for some time that Colonel Roosevelt's s control of the state machinery would mil itate strongly against Mir. Tafts renoml- nation. To aid in their plans they recent ly induced Mir. Taft to name William Loeb. Jr.. as the dispenser of patronage in this state after the collector had trans- ferred his allegiance from Oyster Bay to Washington. When the state committee meets at state headquarters next Satur- day noon to name, successor to MT. Prentice, who resigned Saturday. the old guard men will endeavor to elect a man who can be depended on to air them in blocking MT. Roosevelt's ambition to be the party's candidate once more.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
Aparition as premonition

Do apertions of the living foretell their coming death? A lady in the Mid lands vouches for this queer story:
 One evening she lay on her dining room sofa, dozing quietly, the while her husband and a friend who had called sat chatting beside the fire. Suddenly she started, and, opening her eyes, saw stand ing behind the visitors chair the hor- rlble figure of a corpse. The eyes were closed, the head dropping. the gray hair fell straight and lank down the fore head the nose was prominent, the mouth fallen in, and the face drawn. The lady stared, fascina ted by the ghastly spec tacle. When at last she was able to turn her eyes for a moment and look again the spectre had vanished. Five weeks later her husband told her that their friend, De Gernon, had never re- turned home after a days hunting, and a day or so after his body was found in the river. De Gernon had been drowned in crossing a swollen ford. Then only did the lady recognize the figure she had seen as a perfect portrait of De Gernon in the embrace of death.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

King Edwards reign. for during that of Queen Victoria the American presen- Cations were few and far between. Among the American women who since the last coronation have married peers, and who consequently will be present at the coronation. is the Duchess of Roxburghe, who was Miss May Goelet. and 1t is thought likely she will be one of the four duchesses chosen to hold the canopy over Queen Mary at the coronation. The duchess Is persona grata at court. and since her marriage has constantly entertained members of the royal family It Is thought that the choice of the Duchess of Roxburghe to
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
IOst-1CO Pounds
From Harper's Weekly.

From Harpers Weekly.
 Years ago when the electric telegraph was a new idea and a mystery to the masses, there, came trouble one Saturday night in the Bank of England. The busi- ness of the day had closed, and the bal ance was not right There was a deficit of just one hundred pounds. It was not the money. but the error, that must be found For the officials and clerks there could be no sleep until the mystery had been cleared up. All that night, and all Sunday, a force of men were busy. The money was surely gone from the vaults, but no one could discover whence.
 On the following morning a clerk sug- gested that the mistake might have oc- cured in packing, for the West Indies, some boxes of specie that had been sent
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
Mining for Coffin PIanks . IT, ~xa.>se q yXyaaIr1xr

From HarpeTs WeekIy.
 One of the most curious industries in the world is the business of mining for coffin blanks which is carried on in Upper Tonquin, portion of the French posses sions in southeastern Asia. In a certain district in this province there exists q great underground deposits of logs which were probably the trunks Of trees engulf- ed by an earthquake or some other con vulsion of nature at comparatively re- cent period
 The trees are species of pine known to the natives, and also to some extent to European commerce, as ''nam-hou." The wood Is almost imperishable. and has ths
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

London, January 2l.-It is expected that that there will be considerable num- Der of American debutantes at the courts held this year. In the majority of cases the presentations will be made by Mrs. Whitelaw Reid, who will re- turn from the United States in time to be present at the first court. There are one or two brides>who were Amer icaps to be presented on their mar riage. but as. Of course, they take their husbands nationality. they cannot be included among the American presen- tations. The number of Americans who go to court largely increased during
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
Multiplied GalIantry From the Philadelphia Times.

George Kochersperger chief t.- common council. is man of considerable belt measure Recently he sat in a crewded elevate r car when number Of women tifed from shopping entered. Mir. Kochersperger. with his customary gall lantry, arose. grabbed a strap and watched two women squeeze into the seat he had given up. t-s
 There" he said. turning to friend. "I can do something you can't do. can give my seat to two women"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

the result of It's sojourn underground, of resisting decay from damp This quality makes it particularly valuable for the manufacture of coffins, and for the pur- pose it is largely exported to Europe.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

take such an important share in the coronation would be taken by Amer jeans as graceful English courtesy to their country. Mary teas" and Mary dances look like becoming one of the most popular forms of enter tainment not in the upper ranks of societly only but even in the humblest of English homes The idea originated with the Marchioness of Butte, who suggested that every woman and girl named Mary in the United Kingdom should contribute anything at all. from one penny upward, toward a coronation gift to Queen Mary and the proposal has caught on like wild1re.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
SOME GHOSTS THAT
 HAVE BEEN SEEN Gases Investigated by Psychic Research Society SPIRIT LAND STORIES Is It Possible That These People Were Not Dreaming and Really
 Saw As They
 Believe

From the London Great Home Weekly.
 Was it a ghost? The credulous have no doubt of it as they listen to some hair raising tale of the supernatural, appro- priately told by the ffickering freight of winters night. The incredulous scoff, regarding all ghosts as merely figments of an excited imagination or products of a disordered stomach.
 Before you give a too-ready belief to all the yarns of family phantoms that have place among the favorite stories of In the spirit-world that hangs betwixt earth and heaven, weigh well some of the following true stories of strange happen ings You must bear in mind that the narrators are men and women of accred- ited responsibility and good sense. who tell of the remarkable incidents which have befallen them, not in spirit of sen but merely and solely for the sake of calm scientific investigation.
 Each story is set forth in the narrator's own words, initials only being substituted for personal names
 The Unsuccessful Lover
 The narrat tive of Mrs. C., Newcas- tie on Tyne lady: MT. A., who was an actor, had always been very much at tached to me, and would have married me could Ilhave loved him in that way But l preferred another, solicitor by profession, whom I married. Mr. A, in my husbands presence, wished me every happiness, while regretting for himself that he had not been able to win me Except for one visit, two years afterward, when, at my hus- bands invitation. he came to supper with us and stayed the night, Mir. A. was lost to sight, But three months after my baby was born, and when she was only a week old. it happened that I was feeding her one day when I felt cold wait of air and a feeling as though someone had touched my shoul- der. I shuddered and, lifting my eyes, saw MT. A, clad in shirt and trousers and looking at me as he passed through the door. l told my husband of the ap- partition next day, and mentioned that A. S attire reminded me of his appear anee in the play of The Corsican Brothers Some weeks later l heard Of MT. As death through an overdose Of chloral He was found lying on his bed with shirt and trous CTS on, just as 1 had seen him.
 Was this an apparition after death, or a premonition to highly sensitive woman of dear friends approaching death? Whatever you choose to think Of It. there are the facts plainly re- corded in Volume V, page 4oe. of the Proceedings of the Society for Psy chical Research
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
Had Enough

Clergyman-"And how would you like to be a minister when you grow up?"
 Boy-'No. thank you; I'm tired of wearing things that button up the back"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
JAS. H. FINDERS

Toric eyeglasses are in a class by hemselyes-ahead of everything in the glass line. The most dressy and com fortable glasses made. Jas. H. Finder, scientific optician, 306 N Nineteenth street.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

The trees are often yard in diameter. They are buried in sandy earth, at depth of from two to eight yards, and are dug up by native labor as demand is made for them.