davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29

The strong-arm man laughed. Say. Boss" he said. T really think you be- lieve me and me partner stole your stuff. We didn't That's straight. But we know who did and we want to steal the stuff away from the thieves. That's where we want your help"
 That he went on to explain. The furs had been stolen by professional thieves, he said The information had come to him through underworld channels. The goods were stored in fence" in Phila- deIphia. He was very suspicious of the police. He thought if any information was given out as to the hiding place of the stolen property the furs would be moved and never recos cred F1e end his partner had a plan for getting into the fence and obtaining posssssion ol the furs. He had little doubt of sue cess. There was just one remote chance of being caught. In the event that this happened, he wanted MT. Marbuson to be on hand to explain the situation to the police and save him and his partner from being held as burglars
 MT. Harbuson, eager to recover his prop erty. asreed tu assist him 50 tar a. p-s- sible. The strong-arm man and his part ner departed that day for Philadelphia. Within 2 hours the furrier received a telegram to come at once to Philadelphia. He responded promptly and went 'e tNa Hotel Bingham, as had been arranged with the strong-arm man. Witn4A al
 cf h.s arrival in Philadelphia he was called to the telephone. The strong arm man was on the wire. He said every thing was right for the job to be pulled of that night. The strong-arm man ex- plained his plain in detail He had rented a store directly back of the fence. It would take nearly an hour he believed, to get into the 'fence,' get the trunks out and transport them through the yards and over the fence to the empty store. He had arranged to have them taken from the store to the railway station shortly after daylight. This would give several hours leeway, for the owner of the fence did not open his establishment
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29

in SD ector, who goes about and exAus Ines the schools and the teachers. Some of the high schools are support. ed entirely by the national treasury, but these have normal training de- partments to supply teachers for the graded schools The normal schools are for both men and women and they have many government scholarships. As 1t Is now the national government buys all the text books for the normal schools but except in the case of the poor the children have to buy their own books.
 In addition to the native schools there Is large number of the wealthy Costa Rfcans who send their children abroad to be educated. The most of this class speak several Languages, including the English. More of tho young men go to the United States for their education than to Europe and many of the young women are sent to the colleges and oonvents of France
 Books and Newspapers
 One can see something of the lirer- ary tastes of the Costa Rican by look at the book stores of San Jose. There are a number of excellent ones, and in some you will find good supply of English, French and German iitera- ture, including our best magazines and the New Orleans and New York daily papers As to tho native press, there are a half dozen dailies published. but they are mainly folios, and look ike postage stamps in comparison with the blanket sheets of our Sunday journals.
 The country has also weeklies, monthlies and annuals In Limon papers are published in both English ana Spanish, and here at the capital there is one Journal which Is printed for the most part In red type. The advertising rates of the dailies are something like s2 an inch a month, or 12 cents per inch for each insertion. The paper used is poor and the illustrations are atro- cious.
 Posts and Telegraphs
 Costa Rica has a good postal system. There are about 200 postoffices and the postal matter received in dispatch amounts to about 100000 packets year. It has numerous telegraph or fees, and there is wireless which works between Limon and Bocas del Toro. As to the rates for telegrams and cables, these are exceedingly cost ly. Everything Is taxed and you pay a fixed rate for your telegram and tax for each 10 words in addition. l sent a cable to Washington yesterday, and it cost me over 60 cents word' and to this had to add about l7 cents for each 10 words or less as the Costa Rican tax and 50 cents more as tre Nicaraguan tax, because my cable mes sage passed through Nicaragua on It's way to our capital. Indeed, the way things are taxed here Is sin. Every thing pays a license, and the govern ment itself makes all the alcohol. But of these things I may write more III the future. FRANK G. CARPENTER.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29
The Oldest City in the World

From the Christian Herald.
 The great archaeological authority, Sir William Ramsay, considers the oldest city in the world to be the city of Iconium. or Konia, as it Is called today. The mod- ern Iconium has very much to interest the traveller, and know of no place in all Asia Minor which has left . moro abiding impression upon my mind thAA this city. Our visit, to be sure, was m midwinter. The snow was still piled high in soma of the streets; the wind blew shrill and gustily through the narrow al- leys: but day or two of warm sunshine contended with the north wind for tEe mastery. and changed the whole aspect of things even in this forbidding season.
 The city derived it's name from the elkones or images of mud, which, ac- cording to the ancient legend of tho place. were made by Pfometheus and Athena at the command. of Jupiter, who, after the great flood, caused the winds to blow upon the ellSones and they became living men and women. Thus. according to this tradition, Iconium was the first place settled after the flood. But the tra- ditions of the place go back even beyond the flood. to the time of King Nannakos. who was told by the oracle that when he died there should come mighty deuge in which all men should perish. There upon he called all the people together to great temple and cried so bitterly. and with such food of tears. in which his Phrygian subjects joined, that "the weep ing in the time of Nannakos' became a proverb even among the Greeks of later days.
 The Golden Age of Iconium. however. both commercially and politically. was not in the time of Nannakos, or even of St. Paul, but many hundreds of years later. when the Selukian Turks. the most virile as well as the most artistic of all the Moslems. in the 12th, 18th and 14th centuries, made Konia the capital of the powerful empire of Roum. "The city was then made so splendid" 1t is said with beautiful buildings. palaces, mosques and mausolea, that the proverb arose and lasted long among the Turks, Seq all the world; see Konia.'"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29
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lar effort to bring him to terms because he was such large employer that if he granted their demands it would lead to many other furriers following his ex- ample. The strike dragged on for weeks. MT. Harbuson was obdurate. He was los ing a lot of money, but he was deter mined not to back down Gradually the strikers weakened. One day two of the old hands stopped MT Harbuson on the street and asked to be taken back. He told them their places were open to them if they would leave the union, not other wise The next day they reported for work. Then others began to desert the ranks of the strikers. When half of his old force had returned it was evident the backbone of the strike had been broken. MT. Harbuson was jubilant.
 His joy was short-lived, however. He arrived at his manufactory on a Monday morning to find his office force in a great state of excitement. Between the hour of closing on Saturday and the hour of opening on Monday some one who knew furs and some one who knew the Harbu- son establishment from end to end had gathered up the finest assortment of rare skins that Harbuson had in stock, piled them in five of the big trunks in which furriers pack their goods and made off with them. The furs that were stolen had a market valte of s2O00O.
 Coldly and calmly the furrier made an examination. He questioned every man in the place, but il was of little avail. His old employees were confident that some of the strikebreakers had stolen the stuff. The strkebreakers were fierce in their denunciation of their accusers and loud in the declaration that the thieves would be found among the strikers who had returned or those who Were still out. Unable to make any headway through his own exertions, MT. Harbuson notified the police headquarters. Two cen tral office men responded heard his story. questioned the office force and the factory force, ventured the opinion that 1t was an inside job, and then departed.
 They gave MT. Harbuson reason to be- lieve their great ability would lead to the early apprehension of the thieves. and that the one error he had made was in not calling on them the minute he the next day, went over the establish ment impressively, made every one. from MT. Harbuson down to the office boy. feel he was under suspicion and that he had better confess his crime, and then they went out saying they had strong clue. Each day MT. Harbuson had a call from the central office men. Occasionally they visited him at night at his home. They were very careful as to what they said. They always gave him to understand they were close to a solution of the mystery. But day followed day without any de-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29
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do if he had s10,O00000 in his treasury. As quick as 8 flash he replied:
 q would build roads. That is the crying need of this land. We have prac- tically no highways of commerce except the line of railway which crosses the country from one side to the other. The only roads to the interior are trails, and here and there a wagon road, which dur ing part of the year Is a river of mud. What Costa Rica needs most Is cheap transportation, but I fear 1t Is long be- fore we shall have what we should in that line"
 Pulling the Teeth of the Tropics
 During our talk President Jimenez referred to the great work that has been done at Panama in what some one has called .fpulling the teeth of the tropics" mean the sanitation methods which have turned our canal zone from being the pest hole of the world to one Of the healthiest spots upon earth. The pres ident says that our work Is being studied by many of the Latin American republics, and that new health methods are being introduced everywhere. He referred to our fight with the hookworm and the dis coveries made in Porto Rico, saying that
 Costa Rica was fighting this parasite in the same way.
 The country has a medical board, which gives hookworm medicine free Of charge to all who apply, and 1t is sending phy- sicians out to study the disease and to treat the people. So far but little lm- pression has been made upon the health of the country, but the work is a. its be-
 ginning and in time 1t will do great good. Costa Rica Is noted for it's live interest in sanitary matters. It Is now improving the waterworks at San Jose, and IS bring ing in mountain water through a pipe something like IS miles long. A lew sys- tenn of sewers Is being introduced and there are New York parties here who are putting down blocks of new streets with a view to making contracts for repaving
 the capital.
 An Up-to-Date Nation
 Indeed I find this little republic in- habited by what might be called the most up- tod date and progressive people of all the nations of Central America. It Is still overloaded with the debts due to the mistakes of the past, but nevertheless 1t is struggling along the
 road of modern civilization. It has good school system Education is com pulsory and 1t Is said that there are
 more teachers in the republic than soldiers. There are 32.000 children in the primary and secondary schools and there are colleges of one kind or an other in most of the cities. The gov ernment Is spending almost dollar
 head per annum on it's educational is estimated at SIP per year. At the
 something like sso,oo0,0oo per annum on our public schools. The government has a secretary Of public instruction and the whole coun- try Is divided up into circuits and school districts Each district has It's school board and every circuit has it's
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29
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Copyright. 1912) by Frank G. Car
 penter)
 SAN JOSE, Costa Rica. I HAVE just had talk with Costa
 Rica's democratic President. His he was elected two years ago by majority vote of the people. This was so in spite of the opposition of the administration and the Catholic church. However, the voters told tho priests that they were electing president and not a bishop, and they preferred Don Ricardo. The new President is dem ucratic in his his administration, and am told he has even subleased a part of the presidential mansion to private parties to increase the government revenues. It was in the audience room of this house that he received me. The President is a man of good education and fine address. A lawyer by profess sion, he speaks several languages and 1t was in good American English that our conversation was carried on.
 The Government of Costa Rica
 But first let me give you some idea of the government of this little re- public. Costa Rica is the quetest and best ruled of all Central America, and its Presidents are the choice of the people and not the result of revolu- tions, as in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras. The country got its inde- pendence about 73 years ago, and it was In 1S47 that it formally adopted the title of the republic of Costa Rica. It now has a President and congress, each elected for term of four years, and that only. The President cannot have a second consecutive term. The manner of the election Is by an cleo teral college, just as is our custom at home. I asked President Jimenez what he thought of this method. He said it was a mistake and that the best way would be to choose the executive by the direct vote of the people.
 The President of Costa Rica has a little different form of administration than President Taft. He has a cab inet it is true, but he also has gov ernment council. which consists of ths cabinet and such other citizens as he
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29
Y NJ R $

burglary What if the two strong-arm
 men should be shot by the police, or, In desperation, should shoot the policeY What a horrible position he would be
 placed inl He would be the centre of a gruesome scandal The more he thought
 of such a happening the more he was tortured by its possibility. He was wish ing fervently he never had entered into this engagement with the strong-arm
 man when suddenly the telephone rang He took down the receiver with trepida-
 ton. After the person at the other end
 of the wire had made sure the connec- tion was all right, Harbuson was over loved to learn that his fears had been groundless.
 'Everything is all right" said the strong-arm man. I'll was as easy as rolling a baby out of a crib. We'll have
 the goods in your place in New York this afternoon or tomorrow morning" Harbuson's congra tulationsswere hearty
 Then he rang off. disrobed. climbed into | bed and tried to sleep. He did not suc- ceed getting to sleep until long after day. light. At 10 o'clock he was up, had a bath and was ready for breakfast. By noon he was on his way to New York
 He went to his office. but remained there | only an hour of two The five trunks
 with the stolen furs had not arrived and
 nothing had been heard Of the two strong
 arm men,. There was nothing particu- 1 lary suspicious in this, for the men
 needed some rest from their labors of | the night, and it takes some hours to
 get stuff from Philadelphia to New York, whether the goods are shipped by freight | of by express.
 | Bright and early the next day the two strong-arm men entered MT. Harbusons S l office. They were smiling and happy, as
 men should be in the accomplishment of good work.
 as spokesman, the stuff Is here. The
 express people are delivering it down stairs"
 That's fine" said Harbuson You're
 earned your 5000 and congratulate you" They went out from the office to the store room and saw the trunks as they
 were brought in. When the five big cases had ben hauled up in the ele- yator and wheeled out on the floor two of the worlSmen got busy unstrapping them to see that the contents were all right. It did not take many minutes to get the straps off and the tops raised
 Then the furs were lifted out and placed on the display counters. MT. Harbuson picked up one of the rich furs and then
 another. He went over those skins as
 only an expert can. Not one escaped his
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29

IN OR plain. ordiaary business man Mir. James Harbuson thinks alto 4 together too much action has been months He used to pride himself on his self-control. Now he is nervous, fear ful, suspicious. The entrance of a stranger into his business establishment makes his heart beat faster. It would not surprise him any day if he received an invitation to call at police headquar- ters.
 There are thousand furriers in New York. Few of them stand higher than James Harbuson. His business is large his bankers have every confidence in him. and his general reputation is ex- cellent. But MT. Harbuson has the ever present fear that he will be arrested some day as a burglar. Queer things happen in the commercial world and men do odd things that bring about queer complications. Everything that is set down here Is in accordance with the facts, but for obvious reasons the real name of the chief character is not given.
 There was a general strike in the fur IltIS tiduc HOt lOuS dSo- III COHlIlcn with the others, Mir. Harbuson's employees walked out Strikes are troublesome. Harbuson and the other manufacturers feared that if they acceded to the strik- CTS desires they would have no peace. They believed success to the strikers would lead to other and utterly unrea- sonable demands for increased pay and shorter hours. They saw safety only in defeating the men. The employers com bined, entered into negotiations with la bor agencies, and managed to get fair number of strike breakers. The new men knew little about the furrier trade, but that did not matter. The mere fact that they were under engagement, that they arrived at specified hour each morning and departed at a regular time each evening had its moral effect. The strikers saw the new men arrive and de- part At first they were contemptuous Then they got ugly. On one or two occasions the new men were attacked. There were a few broken boards and some bloody noses. That led to the hiring of strong arm men to protect the strike breakers Most of these strong-arm men came from private detective agencies.
 MT. Harbuson is a man of peace. He hates strife and contention. He always pioyes. But the strikers made particu-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29

the President is just about one-ninth that of President Taft He gets little over sS000 q year, or, in the money of this country, 1S,O00 colones.
 Costa Rica and the Canal
 During our talk the Panama caanl was referred to, and l asked his excellency what effect thls would have upon Costa Rica. He replied that it would benefit it. Said he:
 ''It will open up some excellent lands, which we have not far from the coast on the western side of the mountains. There are large tracts there which would raise the best of coffee, and by the canal we shall be able to have a cheap outlet for that crop to the markets of Europe. In the past we have been much hampered by having only one railroad. l mean that from here to Port Limon on the Atlantic coast That road has been controlled by the United Fruit compalny, whose chief interest is in the shipment of bananas, and it has let the coffee wait, knowing that 1t had the monopoly and that there was no other way for it to get to the coast We have bettered that condition by building a government railway to the Pacific and we have now no trouble. When the canal is finished there will be demand for our Pacific coast lands and that part of Costa Rica will grow.
 We expect also an increase in our traffic on the Caribbean side of the moun- tains. competition has arisen as to the trade in bananas, and with two corl- panies operating the business should greatly increase. The banana is, as you know, our chief money crop. 1t amounts to something like 11,000,00O punches a year and sells for s4,00O,000 and upward. Our exports of coffee are often In the neigh borhood of SS,o0o,000 per annum. Coffee and bananas arc our principal sources of income"
 The Investments in Coffee Lands
 ''Is there much undeveloped land in Costa Rica, your excellency? asked I.
 There is a great deal, but 1t needs cap- ital to bring 1t under cultivation If we had that and the right shipping facilities we could produce nine or 10 times as many bananas as now and could material ly increase our coffee plantations. What may choose to appoint. The salary of we need Is more money and I should be
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29

the President is just about one-ninth that of President Taft He gets little over sS000 q year, or, in the money of this country, 1S000 colones.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29

velopment to ease the mind of Mir. Harbu- son, and gradually he came to the belief that the central office men were hardly up to the standard of Sherlock Holmes or the late lamented M. Lecoq
 Once he got to this conclusion he rapidly lost faith. He could not un- derstand why, with all the great facili- ties of tho police department and all the training of the detective force, the stolen furs could not be recovered Losing con- fidence in the regular police. he went to the private detective agency that fur nished the strong-arm men to protect strike breakers. Two private detectives were put on the case. They were going to clear 1t up in no time. They went through the same motions as the central office men-and made about the same progress.
 MT. Harbuson had about concluded that he never would get his furs, that the central office men and the private office men were of litle account, when suddenly an altogether new complexion was put upon the whole affair One of the strong arm men called on him, made sure no body was within hearing distance, and then leaned over the desk and whispered: : Boss, I think I can get my hands on your stuff. But it is a tickish job and has a lot of risk. Whatll you come across with If I recover the furs?'
 Mir. I1arbuson loked into the eyes of his visitor Harbuson is a prety good reader of character. The suspicion flashed over his mind that the strong-arm man was one of those who had stolen his goods. For a secoRd Or two he studied whether it would be wise to inform police headquarters and the private detective agency or negotiate with the strong-arm man. He decided the latter would be the better course. Deliver the furs to me there is s5oo0 in this for you and no ques- tions asked"
 You're on." said the strong-arm man.
 The strong-arm man went out and MT. Harbuson did not hear anything more from him for two days. So careful was the strong-arm man that he would not visit the office, but met the furrier on the way down town. T have located the furs, just as I expected" said he. "Me and me partner can get em. but it's a ticlxlish job, just as I told you. I want you to help me. so I won't get into trouble. Let me tell you all about it."
 'I told you said the Harbuson, se- verely. "Id give you s5ooo and there would be no questions asked" l.
 Sure, you did" said the strong-a man. "But I don't want to run the risk of being pinched and I want you to protect me"
 "Deliver the furs and youi be all safe," said the furrier.