davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-01-06
Kansas Crude Oil
Breaks the Record
tBN AssoeInted Pressl

INDEPENDENCE, Kas., Jan. e.
Crude oil with an advance of ten cents
posted here today by the Prairie Oil
and Gas company, went five cents
above what operators said was the pre-.
! Gus highest price ever paid in this
field. With today's advance the price
Is S1.60 q barrel
The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-01-06
MASKED MEN GET
GLASS Co. PAYROLL
Express Messenger Held Up
ON the Streets of Tar
entum.
CIsy Associated Pressn

TARENTuM. Pa. Jan. 6.-Four men
masked held up an express messenger
rs he was on his way from the railroaH
station here to the Flaccus Glass COM
pany's plant and stole the entire. pay.
roll amounting TIC $4,000.
The money was in comparatively
small bills and had been packed in a
Pittsburgh bank and sent here by rail.
Express company detectives and pc.
lice have taken up the chase for tho
highwaymen.
The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-01-06
Act Today On The
Paw Paw Petition

Permission to hold special election
TO authorize $33O.OOO in road bonds in
Paw Paw district will be granted by
the county court this afternoon. The
petition asks that February be set
as the date for me election and this
date will be the date fixed by the
court.
The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-01-06
MORSE STEAMER SUNK.

LoNE.oN, Jan. e. The Norwegian
steamer Sauna is believed to have been
sunk Lloyds' shipping agency says.
The Norwegian steamer Erica errone-
ously reported sunk has arrived in port
says another announcement
The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-01-06
The Weather

West Virginia
Fair tonight and
Sunday.
Local Readings.
E. P. Hall, OBJ.
Temperature n.
s u. m. today, ~.
Yes, or lays wealth.
err, cloudy; temper.
AZURE, maximum
Sc; minimum, 80
precipitation. 81.
The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-01-06

BERLIN. Jan. 6.-Bavarian ard Aus
trc-HungarIan troops yesterday storm
ed Russian defenses on an extended
front south of the Trotus valley near
the Moldavian frontier the war office
says.
In addition to Braila the capture OF
which was announced yesterday, five
more towns in Rumania have been tax.
en- by Teutonic troops which have
reached the Sereth river at two points
New operations have been inaugural
ed in Dobrudja following the eXpul.
sion of the last of the Russians and
Rumalians.
The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-01-06

PARIS, Jan. 6. = There we're no
events of Importance during the night"
says todays oilicial announcement.
ION Thursday night French aerial
squad:ors discharged projcctiles on
the aviation field at Grisolles anu on
the railroad station at Guiscard where
it was observed that four incendiary
fires and several explosions occurred
"On Friday night enemy encamp-
ments south of Spincourt munitions
depots at Longcau farms and railway
stations at Mesnil St Niciaze also were
bombarded.
The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-01-06

BERLIN, Jan. 6.--In an attack north
of the Ancre last night, British troops
penetrated the German trenches, the
war office says. There were vigorous
artillery duels in the Ypres bend along
the Somme in the Champagne and on
the Nerdun front.
The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-01-06
GERMANS LOSE
TRENCHES BOTH
EAST AND WEST
But They Have Taken Brai.
la and Five Other
Towns.
lRy Assoelnted Pressl

BERLIN, Jan. G. - The Russians
brought UP reinforcements and renew
ed their attack yesterday on the north
ern end of the Russo-Galician front
mead the Gulf of Riga, it is said Off.
cially. They entered the German posi-.
ton east of the river Asa but else.
where were repulsed. In counter at.
tacks the Germans took 800 prisoners
and several machine guns.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Mark Twain's prophetic Wish.

Astronomy was one Of Mark Twain's
favorite subjects. Neither of us had
any real knowledge of the matter.
which made it's great facts all the
more thrilling. The thought that the
nearest fixed star was 25,0O0OOO,OO
600 miles away One-fourth million
times the distance to our own remote
sun-gave him a sort of splendid thrill.
He would figure out those great meas
urements of space, covering sheets of
paper with his sums, but he was not
good mathematician, and the answers
were generally wrong. Comets in par
ticular interested him, and one day he
said:
Il came in with Halleys comet in
1885. 1t is coming again next year,
and expect to go out with it. 1t will
be the greatest disappointment of my
life if l don't go out with Halley's
comet"
He looked so strong and full of color
and vitality one could not believe that
his words held a prophecy.-"The Boys
Life of Mark Twain" by Albert Bige-
low Paine, in st. Nicholas.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Wonderful WRITING.

In competition for prize offered by
a newspaper for the best example Of
microscopic writing reader sent in
a fairly readable and exhaustive ac-
count of the first voyage of Christie
pher Columbus and the discovery of
America written on hens egg.
Another competitors series of efforts
included the Lords Prayer written on
a grain Of wheat split lengthwise and
the first chapter Of Genesis inscribed
within a circle no bigger than shil-
ling.
A French Canadian sent in Francois
Coppee's novel Of "Henriette," contain
ing over 10000 words, written on the
back Of a cabinet photograph.
On the inside of silver watch case
a girl Of sixteen had engraved 2,1O7
words, using tiny platinum needle
dipped in a powerful acid.
A committee Of six examined the va
rious efforts through powerful micro
scopes, and eventually the prize was
awarded to a man who sent in the first
two sheets of great newspaper writ
ten on q postcard.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Penalties For Meat Eating.

A most remarkable regulation affect
ing the food supply was one which at
tanned it's full vigor during Shake
speare's youth and which, in view OF
his early familiarity with the slaugh-
ter house-there are seventeen refer
ences to the butchers trade in the his
torical plays-must have been brought
particularly to his notice. This was
the law, first enacted in 1919 and ex-
tended in 1868, enforcing abstinence
from flesh for political and economic
reasons. not only in Lent and on EN-
Der days, Vigils and Fridays, but also
on. Saturdays and even on Wednes-
days. The object aimed at in this leg
islatiOn was the strengthening of the
British navy through the encourage
ment of the fisheries, the North sea
fisheries being regarded as gold mine
which the Dutch were exploiting. In
1868 four women who had a meal of
meat in a London tavern during Lent
were set in the stocks all night, and
the woman who supplied them was set
in the pillory.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Deadly Raindrop..

The fiercest bombardment conceiva-
BILE would not be nearly so destructive
to human life as an ordinary shower
If 1t were not for the protective cover
ing of our atmosphere. We live, move
and have our being at the bottom of an
air room forty miles or more deep.
Therefore we are safe not only from
falling raindrOps, but from meteorites
and other wandering bodies from out
er space. But, suppOsing that it were
possible for human beings to exist in
an atmosphere that rose only to few
feet above their heads and that storm
clouds could form in the region out
side such a low grade atmosphere, then
every raindrOp would prove as fatal to
earthly creatures as if it were a steel
bullet fired from dynamite gun. AS
it is, however, the resistance of our at
mosphere so materially reduces the
rate at which the raindrops fall that
they are harmless, though We're it not
for the hindrance they encounter from
the air each drop would fall with We.
locity great enough to penetrate the
full length of grown mans BODY.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
PAGE SIX
Our Early Presidents.

The roads leading to the homes OF
our early Virginia presidents were fill
ed with admirers. who arrived, accord
ing to the custom of the south, by
coach and chariot. bringing their horses
and their servants and staying some
times for days to cumber the stables
and empty the larder. Washington.
one of the richest Americans of his
generation, escaped bankruptcy, hav-
1ng the fortune to die within three
years of laying down the presidency.
The others all suffered. Jefferson paid
the penalty of fame by being literally
eaten out Of house and home, and his
biographer's idyllic statement that mo
hard work was done at Monticello"
scarcely tallies with the assertion of
his daughter that she and her house
hold servants were sometimes called
upon to provide beds for fifty people.
Monroe said of his visitors that ''some
were bounties and some were taxes"
On the whole he thought that there
were enough of the former to offset the
latter. but, in his opinion, pensions for
former presidents were necessity.
since under our republican plan they
could not shut their doors and refuse
hospitality to this sentimental horde
without discredit to the countrywide
Ell NicOlay in Century Magazine.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Antiquity of the Doc.

1t is impossible to say when dogs
were first domesticated. but some of
the earliest traces are found on Egyp-
tan monuments. with figures of dogs,
somewhat of the greyhound type,
which date back to at least $500 3. G.
Even in those remote days the dog was
highly esteemed Coming down little
later, we read that Ulysses 5000 years
ago was recognized by his dog Argus
after his swineherd had failed to do so.
Plutarch speaks of Alcibades. who
cut off the tail of his dog, and Myron,
the sculptor. immortaized the animal
by chiseling his image in marble. The
Romans valued their dogs and kept
them for the chase and also as pets.
Alexander the Great owned veteran
fit to tackle lion.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1917


Though the Italians share our own
belief that twelve men can properly
and justly decide the fate of anybody
accused Of crime, while the verdict Of
eleven is worthless, they have exer-
cised enough of intelligence and fore
sight to provide for the always posi-
BILE emergency that arises from the in
capacity Of one or more jurors to con-
tinue in a case.
They do it by selecting not twelve
jurors, but twenty-four, to hear and
judge the testimony. After the TWEEN
ty-four have been chosen, however.
they are separated into two classes Of
twelve each. The duty of one of these
dozens is to serve exactly as our
jurors do. The others simply sit in
court, listening to all that goes on
and ready to fill the places of any in
the first twelve who may die, fall
sick or otherwise become incapacitat-
ed for service. The extra or super
numerary jurors have no voice or vote
unless transferred to the other class
New York Times.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Sardinia's Great Festival.

Each ''peaSe' or village of Sardinia
has its annual festival to celebrate the
birthday of its own particular saint or
some other church feast. The most
renowned of these is the fiesta" of
St. Efisio, the national feast of the
island. The ceremony is in the form
of procession from Cagliari. the chief
city. to Pula. village nine miles away.
with the return to Cagliari. The saint
was an official in the army of Diocle-
tian and for his conversion TO Chris
tianity was beheaded at Pula.
At midday of May l the procession
leaves and returns on the evening of
May f. 1t is composed of a cavalcade
of horsemen all in the costume of the
ancient Sandman militia, escorting the
image of the saint. which is preceded
by musicians playing the launeddas,
an instrument made of three or four
reeds Of different lengths and resem-
bling the pipe of ancient times.-Na-
tional Geographic Magazine.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
More Than Gratuitous.

ApropoS of the custom of some host
esses to invite professional artists to
their homes in the expectation that they
will amuse their guests free of charge,
a story is told of Mime. Berthe Badly,
the famous Partisan artist. who was
invited to social gathering and asked
by the hostess to recite. She consent
ed. and then. in order that there might
be no mistake about the matter, the
hostess said:
How kind it is Of you to work fol
us i'm this friendly Manner
The emphasis on the word friendly"
was so marked as to show clearly
enough that the service was to be gra
tuitiouS. After the recitation was over
Nine. Bady took Il silver card tray from
a footman. and. initiating the must
clans in the cafes chatltantS. she made
a tour of the drawing room and col
Iected whatever contributions were of
fered. and they were substantial ones
Then she handed them to her hostess
and left the house.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Romance of a Shadow.

1t is hard to believe that shadow
is probably the origin of all astronom-
ical, geometrical and geographical SCI
ence. The first man who fixed his
staff perpendicularly in the ground and
measured its shadow was the earliest
computer of time, and the Arab Of to-
day who plants his spear in the sand
and marks where the shadow falls is
his direct descendant. 1t is from the
shadow of a. gnomon that the early
Egyptians told the length of the year.
1t is from the shadow of gnomon
that the inhabitants of upper Egypt
still measure the hours of work for a
water wheel. In this case the gnOmOn
is a lhurra stalk supported on forked
uprights and points north and south.
East and west are pegs in the ground
evenly marking the space of earth be-
tween sunrise and sunset In land
of constant sunshine a shadow was
the primitive thermometer. 1t was also
the primitive footrule.-LOndon Mail.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Why Spiders Fight.

When two spiders fight there is gen
orally good reason for the attack
and the vigorous defense that follows.
1t is not generally known that after a
certain time spiders become incapable
of spinning a web from lack of mate
rial. The glutinous excretion from
which the slender threads are spun is
limited therefore spiders cannot keep
ON constructing new snares when the
old ones are destroyed. But they can
avail themselves of the web producing
powers of their younger neiGhbors. and
this they do without scruple. AS soon
as spiders web constructing mate
rial has become eXhauStel and its last
web destroyed it sets out in search of
another home. and unless it should
chance to find one that is tenantless a
battle usually ensues, which ends only
with the retreat or death of the in
vader or defender.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Floor of the Ocean.

1T is believed that to an enormous
extent the bed of the ocean is covered
with lava and pumice stone. Still
more remarkable is it to find the floor
of the ocean covered in many parts
with the dust of meteorites. These
bodies whirl about in the heavens like
miniature comets and are for the most
part broken into innumerable frag-
ments We are all familiar with these
heavenly viSitants as shooting stars
but it has been only lately discovered
that this cosmic dust forms layers at
the bottom of the deepest seas Be-
tween Honolulu and Tahiti, at a depth
of $3.50 fathoms-Over two miles and
a half-a vast layer of this material
exists. Falling upon land, this impal
pable dust is indistinguishable: but
accommodating for centuries in the sea
depths, it forms a wondrous story of
the continuous bombardment of this
planet by cOmetary bodies.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
An Artists Joke.

Holman Hunt. who began life as
clerk to an auctioneer and estate
agent, was constantly drawing por-
traits when he should have been draw
ing up leases, and in his chosen pro-
fession he was never slow to seize the
flying moment. The windows in his
room were made of ground glass, and
as he had little to do he spent much
of his time in drawing flies upon it's
rOughened surface. A blot of ink suf-
feed for the body and some delicate
pencil strokes for the wings. and at a
distance the deception was perfect.
Day by day the number increased. and
one morning his employer came i'll.
stopped before the window and eX-
claimed: Il can't make out how it is.
Every day that l come into this room
there seem to be more and more flies
And, taking out his handkerchief. he
attempted to brush them away.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Crossing the Legs.

If we sit for some time with our legs
crossed our foot "goes to Sleep" We
are really pressing On the sciatic nerve
which supplies nearly all Of the nerves
of the leg and foot. The nerve is elas-
tic and is fiattened by pressure just
like a rubber hose The fibers which
make up the nerve are sensory-that
is to say, they carry sensations to the
brain. Motor nerves carry sensations
from the brain to the body. The only
way to stop a nerve carrying sensa-
lions is by cutting it or by pressure.
which pushes apart the soft nerve mat
ter, which is covered with sheath
Just as the water is pushed apart if
you press hose. When the pressure
is on the nerve messages cannot pass
backward and forward. If the pres
sure is released the nerve matter re-
turns to it's place and does it's work.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
New ZeaIand's Glaciers.

The great size of the glaciers around
Mount Cook, in New Zealand. has been
often remarked. The Tasman is eight
cen miles long. the Murchison ten
miles, the Cooley eight miles. the Muel-
Ter eight miles and the Hooker seven
miles. Most of these glaciers have
moraines of exceeding rougnness. but
the approaches to them are not steep.
as is usually the case with European
glaciers. The southern Alpine snow
line is only a little over 1000 feet.
Glacially polished rocks are rare. and
in many ways the mountains are sim
gularly different from those of central
Europe.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Extinction of the Buffalo.

Speaking of the extinction of the
buffalo, the director of the New York
geological park said:
1T is by no means true that the eX-
termination of the buffalo is due most
lv to the encrOachment of human be-
ings on their feeding grounds rather
than to their wholesale slaughter. The
great bison herds of the plains. from
Saskatchewan to Texas, were all OF
them eXterminated by systematic robe
hunting, hide hunting in summer. kill
ing for tongues and slaughter for all
other excuses imaginable. This &C.
Cured long before any of their ranges
were wanted by man either for cattle
grazing or for agriculture. The legiti-
mate industries of man played no part
whatever in the determination of the
bison, either west or east. The slaugh-
ter was systematic and deliberate and
far in advance Of the agriculturist and
the stock grower'-New York Times.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Wild Cotton,

A common plant which grows in a
score Of shapes and sizes is the milk
weed. 1t is called milkweed from the
milky juice contained in the stems.
Some bear white blossoms, others pur-
pie, while the stems and leaves have a
variety Of sizes and shapes. After the
blossoms disappear the plants bear
seed pods, which are the "hangars" for
the air scouts.
Each seed has set of wings of airy
lint. AS the pods ripen and break
open the wind lifts the light seeds and
scatters them broadcast.
Nature came very near making a
substitute for cotton when she pro-
duced milkweed. In fact, the plant is
known sometimes as wild cotton"
But the lint in the seed pods has not
the twist of cotton fiber and therefore
cannot be used for spinning. Never
theless it provides satisfactory down
for stuffing pillows, a use to which fire.
quently it is applied.-Boston Journal.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Novel Methods of Warfare.

In ancient history there are two we'll
authenticated instances of wild ami
mails being used by attacking armies.
The first is related by Appian when
describing the siege of Themiseyra, in
Pontus, by Lucullus In his war against
Mithridates. Turreta were brought up,
mounds were built, and huge mines
were made by the Eomans. The peo-
pie of Themiseyra dug open these
mines from above and through these
holes cast down upon the wOrkmen
bears and other wild animals, together
with swarms of bees The second in
stance occurred in England when the
Danes and Norwegiaus were attack
ing Chester, held by the Saxons and
some Gallo auXiliaries. After adopt
ing stoning and boiling water defenses
in vain against the besiegers the Sax
ons threw down all tho beehives in the
town upon the attackers. who were
soon routed.-EXchange
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Trees and Wind.

The effect of wind upon trees is pow
erful. Even the presence or absence
of forests may be determined by the
character of the prevailing wind or
the conditions that modify it. The
wind acts as a drying agent, giving q
special aspect to many plants. When
it is almost always from the same
quarter the plants show greater devel-
opment upon one side. Trees are small
err on the windward edges of forests,
and trunks and branches are bent to
leeward. The determinations are most
marked near the sea or in fiat regions.
The cherry, plum, walnut. black pop
lar, ash and certain pines are very
sensitive to the wind, but mountain
pines and certain frs offer great pow
ers of resistance, and these are rec
commended for reforesting wind swept
lands.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
Animal Thieves.

Stealing is by no means rare among
the furred and feathered creation, and
many animals apparently band togeth-
err for no other reason than criminal
purposes.
Balloons always steal in bands.
When they wish to rob an orchard
they do it in a very systematic man
ner. A sentinel is posted to warn of
danger. The other balloons then line
up like a bucket brigade, one or two of
the members scale the trees, and the
fruit is passed along from one to the
other until the last one gets it. when
he puts it in safe place.
Bees, while noted as workers, some
times have lazy spells when they in
dulge in thieving. There are Instances
where whole colonies have attacked a
hive, assaulted the sentinels and in
mates and sacked the establishment.
Bees that do this repeatedly usually
end by becoming habitual criminals
New York American.
The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1917-01-04
How 70 Make Use of Vermin.

In Paris, says IA writer in the New
York Sun, rats are made to serve
useful commercial purpose. When the
animals are caught they are put into a
deep walled pit and fed regularly
Once month there is a general eX
ecution. accomplished in scientific
manner by means of gas. BY that
time the rats are sleek and plump, and
their hides are in excellent condition.
The hides are removed ana treated
and eventually are made into kid
gloves. 1t has also been found thar
the skins can be used for bookbinding
and in the manufacture of photograph
frames.