*:
THE INDEPENDENT ^
F ERCY H. VANDYKE,
Publisher and Editor.
NEWPORT, - - ARKANSAS.
JACKSON PILGRIM
WRITES HOME.
Describes Life and Country of
Midnight Sun, and Tells the
Hardships of Climate and
Travel in Alaska.
Nome, Alaska, Aug. 15.
Mrs. J. W. Shuford—Dear
Cousin: I left Seattle on the 3d
of June on the steamer Olympia.
Became seasick before we reach
ed Cape Flattery and was sick
for about five days, but I had
lots of company as there were
many others in the same fix. It
Wis amusing to see the sides of
t le steamer lined up with pas
Singers who looked as though
they were doing their best to get
rid of all they had eaten for a
week. I was about over with my
seasickness when we went
through the Unimac pass into
Behring Sea, where the ship ran
into the ice. The captain tried
to break his way through, but
gave up after knocking two holes
in the bow, and for two days we
drifted with the ice, being unable
to turn a wheel. The ice was so
high and thick it looked like cliffs
of rock. It is a beautiful sight
early in the morning when the
sun is rising and the seals are
playing about on the ice. We
got close enough to throw coal
at them, but did not kill any. We
reached Nome on the eighteenth
of June. It is a small place,
made up almost entirely of small
shacks, ' with very few good
houses.
^ i'U ama n««/\ MAn Dfinmtlrtnil V
x itvi v ui iiuuij
camped on the beach. They had
a big dance a few nights ago.
You would laugh to see some of
their movements.
I went to Solomon and stayed
there for two weeks, but it is a
hard country to do much travel
ing in, for you have to walk over
creeks and mountains with your j
bed on your back. I got all the
walking I wanted in mine when
I walked to Solomon. That is
about thirty-five miles from here,
and you have to cross over the
top of Cape Nome. I went over
to see aft Indian burying place
on the other side of the Cape. I
They are all buried up off the |
ground five or six feet, and all
their personal belongings are
put in the box and buried with
them.
I looked into one of the boxes
and there was the Indian’s gun,!
his pipe, and many other articles j
that belonged to him in life. He
was wrapped in a fine fur robe,
and I think if he hadn’t been
there for too long a time I would
have taken it away from him.
I don’t think he needed it, and
he would have slept just as well
without it. I am going to stay
here until about the last of Sep
tember, but I don’t want to wait
for the last boat, as it gets so
stormy in the fall that it is diffi
cult to get out to the steamers.
The water is too shallow for the
big boats to come in shore.
The winters up here are too
long with nothing to do, and it is
dark most of the time. In June
and July the sun is only out of
sight two hours out of the twenty
four, but at this time of the year
it begins to get dark about 10
p. m.
This has been a very quiet
summer here as the ground was
frozen so deep and there has not
been rain enough to thaw it out.
so the miners could not do much
figging.
I may come up into this coun
ry next year, but it will not be
t this place. I will go into the
ansraugh district, as it is a new
imp, and a great many think it
s going to be all right. Of
course that is hard to tell. It
vill not be so easy to get in
there, as there is a “mush” of
about 300 miles and a great many
will stop and think a long while
before they will s^art on a walk
like that.
1 I think any one Vho gets rnor
iy up in this country well earns
if. I hardly know when Sunday
comes, for every day is about the
same. Well, I will close. Good
bye. Siiuford Grider.
A BIG TREE’S LIFE STORY.
Wonderful Recuperative Power of a
California Foreet Giant—Record
la Its Rings.
A letter by William Russel
Dudley to Senator O. H. Platt, ac
cording to the Detroit Free
Press, says:
A remarkable recuperative
power following an injury was
found after examination of the
Sequoias of the Converse basin.
The effects of certain tremendous
forest fires occurring centuries
•go are registered in the trunks
sf these trees and the record
tompletely concealed by subse
quent healthy growth. Among
• number of similar cases the
■nost instructive record of these
ancient forest fires was observed
Ir a tree of moderate size—about
15 feet in diameter—5 feet from
the ground. It was 270 feet in
height and 2,171 years old.
This tree when felled had an
enormous surface burn on one
side 30 feet in height and occu
pying 18 feet of the circumfer
ence of the tree; this was found
to have ben due to a fire occurring
& A. D. 1797. The tree when
ait, in 1900, had already occupied
itself for 103 years in its efforts
to repair this injury, its method
being the ingrowing of the new
tissue from each margin of the
great black wound. When the
tree was cut the records of three
>ber fires were revealed. The his
tory of the tree was as follows:
271 B. (*. it began its existence.
The first year of the Christian
era it was about four feet in di
ameter above the base.
+0% a. u., at 010 years or age,
occurred a burning on the trunk
three feet wide. One hundred
and fire years were occupied in
covering this wound with new
tissue. For 1,196 years no for
tlier injaries were registered.
1441 A. I)., at 1,712 years of
aye- the tree was burned a see
ohd tin^e in two long grooves one
and two feet wide, respectively.
Each had its own system of re
pair.
One hundred and thirty-nine
years of growth followed, includ
ing the time occupied by covering
the wounds.
1580 A. D., at 1,851 years ol
age, occurred another fire, caus
ing a burn on the trunk two feet
wide, which took 56 years to cov
er with new tissue.
Two hundred and seventeen
years of growth followed this
burn.
1797 A. D., when the tree was
2,068 years old, a tremendous
fire attacked it, burning the great
•car 18 feet wide.
One hundred and three years,
between 1797 and 1900, had en
•bled the tree to reduce the ex
p»wd area of the burn to ab«ot
b* feet in width.
CO-EDS FOREGO MARRIAGE.
Statistic* Show That Chance* of Col
lege Women Becoming Wive* Ar«
Rapidly Decreasing.
Over four-fifths of the women gradu
ates of the University of Chicago are on
the high road to spinsterhood. This is
the startling result of researches con
ducted by Mayo Fesler, who, as general
secretary of the Alumni and Alumnae as
sociations of the institution, has com
piled statistics of the university and its
students in the form of a general register,
covering the first decade of the univer
sity’s history. The figures do not include
the women who have taken higher de
grees, but only those who have completed
the undergraduate courses and who,
therefore, might be expected to be win
some enough to tempt the heart of the
average man.
The register contains the names of
598 women who have received bachelor
degrees from 1893 to 1902 inclusive. The
fate of these coeds is shown by the fol
lowing percentage table:
Percentage women married. IS
Percentage women teachers.St
Percentage women “at home”.31
An examination of the table for each
class shows that the chances of the ex
co-eds for becoming wives are steadily
growing less. The first class that gradu
ated in 1893 contained three women and
all of them married. The next class had
nine feminine members and not one of
them has yet entered the bonds of matri
mony. The class of 1S95 has a higher
percentage and then comes the class ol
1896 with a marriage percentage of 3S
among its women members. From that
time there has been a steady decrease. Of
she 125 women graduated in 19C2 but all
net cert are married
VW?le-$«3j
Wash BLUE
For Sale By
' ' ALL
WISE
GROCER9
DIRECTIONS FOR USE:
Wiggle-Stick around in the water.
TICKET-OP-LEAVE MEN.
■x-Con victa la EnsUai Who Cam A I*
ford to Ride la Carriages to Re
port Their Whereabouts.
A Stratford (England) magistrate
■ays he knows tickei-of-leave men who
drive up to tha police station in car
riages to report themselves, leaving the
offices with smiling faces. The police,
who should know, say they would like
to see them.
“Most of these ex-convicts reporting
their whereabouts to us come to the
station wearing odd boots,” said a city
police officer. “They scarcely have the
money to pay for a drink, much less
a cab, while a carriage Is out of the
question."
While such cases may be uncommon,
however, the fact remains that there are
men who, leaving a penal establish
ment, return to enjoy ill-gotten wealth
and to partake of the pleasures of idle
ness, says the London Mail. Three
years ago a business man who had suf
fered imprisonment for serious charges
of fraud drove up to a police station
fto report himself, leaving in a smart
brougham outside his two well
dressed daughters^ and wearing the tall
hat and frock coat of respectability. He
asked for the superintendent in the
airiest of manners, saying he bad to see
him on “a matter of private business/'
Only the severe and gruff manager of
the station sergeant, who recognized
him, brought him to realize his position.
The man whom the Stratford magis
trate sent to jail for his failure to re
port himself every month said that he
had been turned away from his work
and lodgings on two occasions when it
was discovered that he had to call at
the police station periodically. He
could scarcely have known that with
the home secretary’s permission ex
convicts are allowed to report them
selves by letter.
AN ODD CASE.
Tbti Man Learned to Spell Three
Times and Can't Spell Non
—His Cartons Story.
“Think of a man learning how to spell
three times and then not being able to
spell correctly,” said an observant man
who takes an interest in subjects of this
sort, according to the New Orleans
Times-Democrat, “and you will have my
case summed up exactly. I am not what
you would call a bad speller by any
manner of means. Bftt I stumble now
and than, and stumble badly. Why Is
It? It Is the simplest thing in the world.
I grew bp In the country, attended a
country school, and my first spelling
was under the rules of the old-time
school teacher. I learned how to spell
on my feet It is a curious fact that for
a long time I could not spell the simplest
words unless I stood up. Standing I
could spell anything, and, in fact, was
always the winner In the spelling bee.
No one could ‘turn me down,’ ae we
used to say in the country. Well, after
this I learned how to spell with my pen
cil. All my spelling talent went into the
pencil. My tongue forgot thw art, and
whether standing or sitting, I could not
spell a word unless it belonged to the
simpler kind without using my pencil.
! Now I began to use the typewriter, and
' consequently I had to learn how to spell
again. Ask me how to spell a word now
! and I will have to go to the typewriter
unless the word Is a very simple one.
My tongue won’t spell it and my pen
| cil will refuse to write it So I have
learned to spell three times, and as I
tald before I am not a good speller yet"
Catbirds Defeat Bint kanaka.
A writer In the Scientific American
•ays: “I witnessed a pair of catbirds
making a bold defense against a black
•naka bant on devouring the contanta
of their naat At first the snake was in
clined to disregard the distressed birds
as they fought to drive it away, but tha
blows of their wings and bills became so
annoying that the thief had to seek
refuge in flight On reaching the roots
ot a tree from which the river had
washed the dirt the snake started to
climb, only to be driven beneath them
and then out to an old stump, oader
which the baflled and beaten reptlie
look refuge.”
—
f BREA FA ST ROOMS,.
I .- •?"' *'
Appropriately furnished prove a con
tinual source of pleasure. If your
breakfast is served among cheerful, har- p^^^H
monious surroundings it gives you a
good start for the day.
DINING ROOM SUITES.
We have a nice line of Dining Chairs,
Sideboards, China Closets, Dining
Tables—in fact, anything in the Furni
ture line. Come and see us. We are
are ready to show you what we have.
Newport Builders' S'J Hardware m
- - - — .—'—
I SINGER
SEWING MACHINES
At Bargain Prices.
We Suit Payments
to Your Income
You may test our machines
before purchase and they will
be delivered to your home.
Guaranteed to be a simpler,
stronger and more durable
machine than any other.
The Singer Manufacturing Co.
FRANK W. LYNN, Mgr.
M. A. UMSTED. Ass’t. Mgr.
121 Hazel Street, Newport Ark
-THE
LONG
DISTANCE
TELEPHONE
places you in direct and
instant communica
tion with all important
towns in Texas and
Arkansas and many
other states. Its use
will often save you a
fatiguing Journey.
TRY ROUND TRIP TALK.
The SouthwestemTelegraph
and Telephone Co.
LIVERYMEN
FARMERS
DRAYMEN
And all users of axle grease
that want the best grease on the
market and that recognize a good
i thing when shown its merits, we
■ recommend our Golden and Cas
tor Oil brands of Axle Grease.
It is put up in 1 pound tin boxes
and 3 pound tin buckets. For
sale by all up-to-date merchants.
Ask for it and take no substitute.
It is guaranteed to have no equal
for quality on the market.
WATERS-PIERCE
OIL COMPANY.
OPENING
OF A NEW AND THOROUGHLY EQUIPPED LINE BETWEEN
ST. LOUIS AND CHICAGO.
SUNDAY, JULY 31, 1904.
Thoroughlv equipped trains leave St. Louis and Chicago nightly
(after the arrival of incoming trains), arriving either city the
following morning. > f _
Evuipment entirely new; lavish in design, elaborate in furnish
ings. Ask your ticket agent or address
PASSENGER TRAFFIC DEPT., ST. LOUIS, MO.
J. W. Lindley, Pres. L. T. Slayden, V-Pres. E. V.
BANK OF TUCKERMAN*
CAPITAL STOCK $20,000.00. V
I - _ .
We are open to the public for all business-Wt S
which constitutes safe & reliable banking |H
DIRECTORS: Jl
J. W. LINDLEY, L. T. SLAYDEN, D. cjfcp^T
GEO. L. SMITH, W. E. TALLE*y|?
J. A. GREENHAW, L. D. SMITH.
COLLECTIONS A SPECIALTY.
Your Patronage is Solicited.*“
Tuckerman, JBans
■————■ ■
gvl
Low Rates from Memphis^
ROUND TRIP, $15,00. I
To Amarillo, Quanah, Vernon, Fort Worth, Dllas, ■
San Angelo, San Antonio, Colorado, Galvston, fl
Houston and other Texas points. Also all fl
points in Oklahoma and Indian Territory,sxcept ■
where one fare plus $2.00 makes less. ,/**• - — B
Tickets on sale Aug. 23d, Sept. 13th and'A'th. •
ROUND TRIP, ONE FARE PLUS$2 00. 1
To all points in Texas, Oklahoma and Ind’h Terri- '%
tory. Tickets on sale First and Third Tesday of
each month.
K C A LI F oTnT|
Other Pacific Coast points in proporti'
Tickets on sale at Memphis Sept. 15th to C» 15th, inclusive.:
For full information write
J. N. CORNATAR,
^ General Ageaft,Iemphis,
OUT IN CALFORNlH
i The Triennial Conclave of Kpjits Templar
j held in the early fall. Thoussfc are going.. It«H
| good time. There is no doubtrt that all good An^^B
i icans desire to see the Goldenatesome time. HeiBBS
i an opportunity. Is there e'thing to prevent y^^B
taking advantage of the emotionally low rates 1|||||
nounced for this occasion. J||B
1 TICKETS O^ALE AUG. 15 TO SEPT.^B
P Ral jn your home town on request
| GE°' Ger&. Agt. Dist. Pass.’
I TLE ROOK, ARK.