smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1873

was subdivided into mist before reach
ing the point upon which it was direct
ed. Water quenches fire by physical
contact with the burning body, cover
ing it, and thereby excluding the con.
tact of atmospheric oxygen also it
instantly reduces the temperature OF
ignited substances by vaporism. BY
the sudden change from liquid to
vapor it robs the substance OF the heat
necessary to keep up combustion, which
is thus extinguished..


The burning of our warehouses, at
the time Of the great fire, filled with
chemical products, was in one sense an
interesting exhibition. We cannot say
that it was calculated to awaken much
enthusiasm 80 far as we were personally
concerned, as the spectacle was little
too costly for that. 1t was paying too
high for the pyrotechny, no matter how
grand the display. The nature OF the
substances burned was peculiar, afford
ing intense heat and flames OF divers
gorgeous colors. Numerous packages
Of the salts OF strontium, calcium, mag
nesium, potassium, copper, barium,
etc., were consumed, which produced o
variety of brilliant illuminations, and
these, with alcoholic preparations,
carbolic ecid, nitrate of ammonia, and
hundreds of other highly combustible
bodies, gave to the flames ferceness
and coloring not observable elsewhere.
Boston Journal of Chemistry.
Year: 1873

A Spanish gentleman. having in duel
killed young Moorish noble OF Goan-
ada, Immediately fled from justice. He
was eagerly pursued, hut profting by a
turn in the road, he jumped, without
being seen, to the rear wall OF garden
in which he entered.


The owner, who was also Moor, hap
pened to be at that time walking in the
garden, and the Spaniard falling on his
knees before him, related all that had
happened, and asked permission to con-
ceal himself.


The Moor listened with much pity and
generously promised his protection. He
then concealed him in an arbor, and he
left assuring him that at the hour of
midnight he would provide the means
for his escape.


Some hours afterward they brought
the Moor the dead bodX.pf his son, and
by the description they gave of the muir
derer, he knew it was no other than the
Spaniard then concealed in the garden.
He disguised the horror that he felt, and
retired to his room, where he remained
until midnight. At that hour he pro-
ceeded secretly to the garden, he opened
the door of the arbor, and spoke to the
Spanish gentleman in the following
terms:


Christian, the young man You killed
in duel was my only son, my only love,
my only hope. should take revenge
on thee, but I have solemnly promised
nv word of honor to save thee"
Year: 1873

Ossian Z. Dodge, the vocalist and
Secretary OF the Chamber of Commerce
of the city of st. Paul, Mimi, has OBJ
tanned divorce from Mrs. Dodge. In
a lawsuit about the custody of the chill
dren he makes this solemn statement
ON oath: "Ever since she was married
she has carried six-barreled loaded
revolver in her possession, with which
she has great many times threatened
to blow my brains out and toshoot me. "
He further deposed that Mrs. Fanny
was in the habit of beating the son.
whose custody she now desires, over the
head "with q bathing-brush 20 inches
long, and SO severely as to break the
handle of the brush" When this wea-
pom was not at hand, the affectionate
mother used the tongs. Ossian has
been the victim of grief before. When
he first set out rs vocalist he urged n
friend who edited Boston paper to
give him Gift" in the way Of notorie-
ty. The editor complied with the re-
quest by sending q despatch over the
country III effect that Dodge, often hav-
ing been tcnderly cared for in the FAM
lily of our acquaintance, had repaid the
kindness by eloping with the wife OF
that acquaintance and after working her
ruin had cruelty deserted her. The
story was told in terms so pathetic that
it created quite a sensation and gave
the vocalist more notoriety than he
bargained for. 1t took him many days
to undo the work of his editorial friend
and caused him to lose his temper more
thop once
Year: 1873

A German, troubled how to dispose
of his money, bequeathed it to o man
whom he detested, upon the condition
that he always wore thin, white linen
clothes without any undertaking.


A Mr.. Sergeant, of Leicester, Eng
land, sought to improve the habits Of
his bed-loving nephews by putting the
following clause in his will: Gas my
nephews are fond of indulging them
selves in bed in the morning, and as l
wish them to prove to the satisfaction
of my executors, that they have got out
of bed in the morning, and either en-
ploved themselves in business or taking
exercise in the open air from five to
eight o'clock every morning from the
second of April to the tenth of October
being three hours each day-and
from the tenth of October to the fifth
of April, beirg two hours every morn
ing.


"This is to be done for seven years,
to the satisfaction of my executors, who
may excuse them in case of illness but
the test must be made up when they
are we'll, and if they will not do this,
they shall not receive any share OF my
property 1t was very hard on the
poor nephews, but MS the amount at
stake was quite large they had to do it.
Year: 1873

ATMOSPHERIC INFLUENCES on LUNAcY.
A very interesting paper on the me-
neurological facts of insanity appears in
connection with the recent annual re-
port of the Brighton (Epg) Lunatic
Asylum. According to this report there
is very little difference to be discovered
in patients fits between the average
number of those on which the moons
changes occur; and for the days COM
posing the rest of the month, and what
little difference there is is in favor OF
the days on which no such change oc-
ours. An examination, however, OF
more than 200 accessions of fits showed
that, with five exceptions, they were
preceded or accompanied by considera-
BILE alteration in atmospheric pressure
or solar radiation, or both. The legit-
innate inference, therefore, after all, is,
that it is not the moon which directly
affects the epileptic patients, but the
change of weather; and that it is the
coincidence, which not unfrequently
occurs of change OF weather with q
change of moon, which has led the
popular mind into the notion of the
moon affecting both the weather and
epileptics.
Year: 1873

The LOCAL PAPER.-The local news
paper is taken by the best people in
every locality. It is the only advertis-
ino medium that is bought and paid for
by the persons whose attention the ad-
vertiser is desirous of attracting. The
attention of the subscribers to regu-
lar newspaper is invited to an announce
ment in It without any officious solici-
tation, almost without his knowing it.
Every man is conscious that he thinks
much more Of the paper for which he
PAYS than of any occasional copy OF q
eratuitous sheet or circular. which is
thrust in OF the door.
Year: 1873

Out in q certain Western
fort some time ago, the Major
conceived that artillery might
be effectively used IN fighting
with the Indians by dispensing g
with gun carriages and fasten-
ing them on the backs OF m rules.


So he explained his views to
the commandant, and it was
determined 10 try the expert
ment. A howitzer was select.
ed, and strapped upon an am
bulance mule, with the mnzzIe
pointed toward the tail. When
they had secured the gun, and
loaded it with ball-cariridge,
they led the calm and stead
fast mule on the bluff, and set
up a target in the middle oil
the river to practice at. The
rear of the mule was turned to-
ward the target, and he was
backed gently toward the edge
of the bluff. The officers stood
around in a semi-circle, while
the Major went up and insert
ed a time fuse in the touch
hole of the howilzer. When
the fuse was ready, the Major
lit and retired. In a few sec
onds the hitherto unruffled
mule heard the flzzing back
there on his back, which made
him uneasy. He reached his
head around to ascertain what
was going on, and as he did so
his body turned, and the how
itzer began to sweep around d
the horizon.


The mule at last became ex-
cited, and his curiosity became
more intense; in a second or
two he was standing with his
four legs in. a bunch, making
six revolutions per minute, and
the howitzer threa tening sud-
den death to every man within
half mile. The commandant
was observed to climb suddenly
up a tree; the lieutenants were
seen sliding over the bluff into
the river, as if they didn't care
at all for the high price OF uni.
forms; the adjutant made good
time towards the fort; the SER
geant began to throw up
breastworks with his bayonet;
the major rolle1 over the
ground and groaned. In two
or three minutes there was a
puff of smoke and thud, and
the mule-oh, where was heI A
S olitary brute might have been
seen turning successful back
somersaults over the bluff, only
to rest at anchor finally with
his hOwitzer at the bottom Of
the river; while the ball went
towards the fort, hit the Chin
ney of the Majors quarters,
rattling the adobe bricks down
into the parlor, and fright ening
The Majors wife into convul
s;ons.
Year: 1873

BoYs will be boys. The
Mayor of Detroit explains that
he pulled down the smallpox
flag from a tenement owned by
him, because the boys would
persist in gathering together
there, and "daring" each other
to scale the fence and approach
the house on which the flag
was displayed.
Year: 1873

DAN CALLEN is again in his
seat in the Ohio Legislature
Dan may be SAID to have "gone
up like a rocket, and come
down like stick" The troubl e
is, he went to Columbus too
soon, and stayed loo long. One
term in the House is apt to
spoil a vain young fellow; but
three terms are sure to ruin


him. Tommy Corcoran, OF
Cincinnati, Dams sworn broth
er, (his Pythias, so to speak, J is
about as badly played out as
Dan himself. These young
gentlemen are smart, alter a
fashion, but they made fools of
themselves when forgetting
their catechisms, they began
to tamper with what of good
name they may have had. 1t
is one thing to be gifted with
good sense, and quite another


to make good use of it,-as
many q wrecked creature sad
ly knows.-Marietta Register.
Year: 1873

A ToLERABLY difficult conun-
drum is proposed by the Bos-
ton Globe: "If the Postoffice
Department can afford to
transport the posta! cards, even
furnishing the card itself for
a cent, why can not it trans.
port a letter weighing the same
and without the expense of
furnishing any material at allG
Year: 1873

Cincinnati il the point from which, going
West. the distances favor the Southern
route. This little table may do a world Of
good for the bread and meat eaters uf the
North 1t says to the great consolidating
and manipulating railroad lines which gov
ern our tables, " Reduce your freights or
you lose trade


Here certainly, are the principal condI-
tions, nov first realized BY the South for
the building up Of new city on their own
delightful coast. 1t needs only enterprise
and perseverance to succeed and all
should hail the project as very important
part of the grand work Of Southern recon
structiou, in which the south can hardly
fail to receive the cordial cooperation Of
Northern capital and Northern skilled
labor. .- Ny,r YOrk Triluns.
Year: 1873

L. II. p. sAyS-''The chief defect Of
moving scythes is that they are too light
at the heel. More than half the scythes I
have used have, after few weeks or
months, broken in two at the junction Of
the blade with the heel This part Of the
scythe should be made wider and stronger,
as nearly the whole strain comes at this
particular point
Year: 1873

man, and come veal OF woe, We shall be
all the better proved for it. Unity will
then indeed be strength and when we
have to throw off the shackles of mortal
ity, we shall leave the good old Union
better than We found IT,
Year: 1873

The Executive Order relating to Federal
officers holding State positions, published to-
day, has been anticipated In New-0rleans,
where the most mischief has been wrought
by mixing Federal and local politics, re-
movals and designations have been quiz
etly and discreetly made with ex-
press reference TO what was about
to happen. But the official promulgation
of such an order will have an excellent effect
on the morale of the Office ce-holding corps gen.
erally. Men in Federal Office have too often
made their official hOnors and position serve
as q means of leverage for other and ulterior
purposes. The Presidents order notifies to
them that they cannot accept State, county.
or municipal Office and still keep that which
the National Government has conferred there
can be no shuffling here; an acceptance OF
one place vacates the other, with few un-
important specified exceptions.


But perhaps the best effect Of The rigid en-"
forcement of this new rule will be to separate
to some extent national and local politics. If.
as the President says, the discharge of Fed
eral aud State official duties is Incompatible
with the spirit of our institutions, the use or
power and influence of Federal patronage and
office in local politics is also pernicious and
unfair. We do not look for any order to re-
strain officials in this abuse of their position.
but their withdrawal ifrom competition for
subordinate places in municipal governments,
State Legislatures and local boards of control
will have its influence on the men who have
been willing to "run" all the offices and all
the politics Of the country. When the Post
master at Podunk learns that he cannot go to the
State Legislature and leave his clerk IN charge
of the mails for the Winter he will find that
he does not care half so much as he did about
controlling the Podunk primaries. Certainly
we shall be spared the scandal of seeing
Deputy-Suryeyors, tide-waiters, and Gus
tom-hOuse officers generally sitting in the
Legislature, as they have in Louisiana,
making laws for the State and choosing
United States Senators. Nobody wants to de-
prive men who hold Office under the National
Government of their legitimate share in tho
duties and obligations which rest upon every
citizen of the Republic; but decency and
Just regard for the rights of their fellow
citizens ought to restrain them from throwing
their share of the national influence into the
scale of domestic politics. The Executive
Order will have its significance with the mon
who have packed conventions and primaries
with their official Tetainers; and we thank Che
President right heartily for his timely inter-
ference,
Year: 1873

this ia abundant, it keeps down the rates.
Notwithstanding all Juggling with figures to
the contrary. our rates are low, and have fallen
one-third within three years Competition
compes also the adoption of economical inven-
tions-which constitute the history of the
business, and of most Of the science of tele-
graphy Three million dollars a year are ex-
pended in telegraph improvements and con-
struction. Does anybody imagine that our
Government would 20 and do likewisef 1t
would expend that amount, doubtless. But
howf Perhaps on the $4,000 additional " Post
masters" that the postal telegraph would re-
quire. Not that any addition to their number
would make it safe to send messages by them.
If the mails are not safe-and every business
man knows that to his cost-what would the
wires be' If telegraph company makes a
mistake, we can mulct it in damages; If the
Post-Ofice could be made similarly responsible
about letters, its annual deficit would be
doubled, aud we would still hire an express
company, as we do now to take our packages
when we want security.


To sum up. 1t cannot be wise TO buy for a
vast sum that which we don't want. 1t is bad
investment certain to cost more every year.
We don't desire paternal government to do for
us what we are doing very well for ourselves.
We don't want a new army of postmasters.
We object to espionage, and to a measure
which proposes in so many words "that the
" Originals of all messages shall be trans
"mitted to Washington" We believe that no
man with the interest of his country at heart
will favor a measure that may become an en-
CINE of political oppression that may turn a
national election into the plebiscitum OF an
emDjre
Year: 1873

An article on another page brings before ua
the startling fact that the TOmbs prison
at this moment contains thirteen homl-
cides. Three are under sentence of death, one
is awaiting q new trial from the disagreement
of jury, and the remaining nine have
not been tried. They are of every
class and type Of society, from tho
jeunesSe doree of the metropolis to the
most stupid offspring of poverty and
vice. There is the politician, the stock broker,
the pander, the burglar, and the rough. The
murders they have committed were from
causes as various as the actors Avarice,
jealousy, revenge, whisky, and pure brutality
had each their part in the matter. There was
but one point of sympathy which unites them
all, and that is contempt for human life
which caused them to Kill their neghbor and
leopard their own necks, rather than to give
up some darling passion Of their own. Selfish
ness which is the final cause of all crimes, is
in its lowest and most bestial form, the moving
spring of all murders. There is always this
sordid faint about them, whether committed
with the rapier on a dueling ground for a
point Of honor or with a slung-shOt in a dark
alley for pocket-book. A murder is essen
italy dishonest act


What is to be done with our thirteen mur-
derers2 is question which cOmmends itself
to all thoughtful people. Every one of these
unfortunate men has strong hopes of yet
cheating the law and going free. II they
were all found guilty and all condemned, the
successive shocks of their execution would
impress the city and the country painfully and
iDjurOusly. Such thing would embolden the
nervous and the sentimental to clamOr against
hanging which perhaps would do little toward
an end we sincerely desire, the aboli-
ton of the death penalty, but would be
much more likely to weaken the hands of
justice and give q new run of impunity to
crime. 1t is not in the interest of the muir
derers that we condemn the gallows. 1t is not
because we believe in hanging that we demand
the punctual and rigid fulfllment of the law.
But in some way, the certainty must be
established that murder shall be punished
promptly and severely 1t is the surest way to
encourage crime to allow laws to remain I'M
executed on the statute book. A tact revolt
against the gallows has resulted for some years
past in letting red-handed murderers go back
to society. This is unworthy of any civil
lied people. If we retain the gibbet.
it should be the solemn symbol of an
inexorable justice, and not harmless scare
crow. IL, after due delibeation and inquiry,
it is found to have lost Its supposed virtue,
then let it be abolished and some more
effective means of punishment be devised.
But whatever the law may be, it should be re-
lgiously executed as long as it remains un-
reDealeC.
Year: 1873




Mr.. Sherman stands at the head of the FL
nance Committee in the United States Senate.
His position in that body, and his relations to
the President, give special significance to his
bill for the resumption of specie payments
and to his forcible and interesting speech in
presenting it, which we printed on yesterday.
The bib undoubtedly represents the views of
the Finance Committee and probably of the
Administration and the speech will be ac-
cepted as the compact expression Of the views
of both. In one word, then, the fixed purpose Of
the President, and of the Finance Committee
of the Senate, is seriously to undertake
placing the finances of this country on par
with those of the other great nations OF
Cbristendom. The Presidents well-known
tenacity in pursuing a line of policy once
resolved upon should therefore be a timely
warning to every business man, hay
ing large outstanding engagements,
to pursue conservative policy. Those houses
and those enterprises must surely be carried
down by the shock of resumption that have
large outstanding liabilities to be met here
after on a gold basis. Wise business men, in view
of this pronunciamento of the Finance Commit
tee and of the Administration, will set their
houses in order, will avoid overtrading, and will
shun debt. To pursue this policy is to avert per-
sonal disaster, and to aid the Government in
lessenng the financial shock which must pre-
cede any actual resumption of specie pay
ments


1t is quite true that the fluctuations in the
premium on gold are now to a great extent
independent of the quantity of paper money
in circulation. Gold has become an article of
merchandise, and its money value is regulated
by the same influences which control the
prices of commodities Though it cannot now
be maintained, except in broad and general
sense, that the gold premium measures the
depreciation of our paper money, it still re-
mains fact that the cause of the deprecia-
tion below the gold standard is the excessive
amount of currency in circulation. Money,
whether of gold or paper, is like every other
article In this respect: the circumstances re-
manning the same if you increase its quantity.
the quantities of other things for which it will
exchange will be less. 1t is the same as with
grain or cotton. II the crop is heavy prices
fall II the foregoing propositions are true,
and they are almost universally accepted ns
fundamental principles of political economy,
it follows that there are but three ways
Year: 1873

From the account given by our London
correspondent Of the strike among the colliers
of South Wales, it seems that if more con-
ciliatory spirit had been manifested by the
workmen they would have placed their case
in better light. The employers, under
the pretext of fall in the price
of iron, gave notice of a deduction
of ten per cent in the wages They plauslbly
claimed that, as the mems wages had been
increased when prices went up, it was no
more than right that the wages should be
diminished when prices went down. TO prove
the fall in prices they offered to submit their
books for inspection. Instead of accepting this
proposition, the wOrkmen demanded that the
whole question should be submitted to arbi-
tration, and, upon the rejection of this de-
mand, they struck work. By this course sixty
thousand laborers have been thrown out of
employment, and misery may be entailed on
population of several hundred thousand.
The conduct of the men must be regarded as
precipitate if not reckless; they have before
them the prospect of strike as long drawn
out as the famous movement ut Newcastle,
and are without such favorable prospects of
success.
Year: 1873

There will be general murmur of approval
of the decision of the House Committee on
Post-Oflices to reduce the rate of letter post
age to two cents per half ounce. The expe-
diency of the measure is another question en-
tirely; but our traditions all favor the cheap
est possible rate of postage; and when the
reduction is once made, even tentatively, IL
will be impossible to put the rate up again.
The Committees figures relating to the circu-
lation of printed matter through the mails
are striking; and the argument against the
passage of any such matter free, whether
under franks or within the county where
printed, is irresistible.