The Knox County News (Knox City, Tex.), Vol. 5, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, April 16, 1909 Page: 3 of 12
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A-WAYSIDE INCIDENT IN AFRICA
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In South Africa the rhinoceros is gradually retreating northwards before
the advance of the white man, but in northern Zuluiand he is still a common
object of the countryside and not a particularly pleasant one, unless one hap-
pens to be on hunting bent, for the animal is extremely dangerous and liable
to charge without provocation. In the neighborhood of St. Lucia bay rhinocer-
oses are often encountered by travellers, and such an incident as Is here
shown Is not uncommon.
PRlbEOFBLINDra
Marble Falls, Tex., Built by Sight-
less Old Soldier.
Pioneer, Guided by Hearing and
Touch, Platted Streets and Since
Has Worked Constantly to De-
velop Now Thriving Place.
Dallas, Tex.—Another chapter of the
dream of Gen. Adam R. Johnson, the
blind man who founded the town of
Marble Falls, Tex., and for many years
has been the chief spirit in its up-
• building, is being unfolded. It was
nearly a half century ago that Gen.
Johnson arose from a hospital with
the sight of both eyes forever gone.
. A bullet had brought total darkness
to him. But the pioneer spirit still
was in him, and he went back to
Texas from the war full of a deter-
mination to carry out his life's work
in spite of the misfortune that had be-
fallen him. In those days the terri-
tory west of Austin was the scene of
frequent Indian raids,' and the few
white settlers were in constant danger
of being killed by the redskins.
Gen. Johnson was not deterred by
these dangers from making his way
• up the vajley of the Colorado river In
search of a place where he might set-
tle and make his home.
It was a trip which only the bravest
man, possessed of all his faculties,
would care to undertake alone. How
he ever made his way along the trail
In his blindness is a mystery. He was
possessed of the keenest sense of
touch, however, and the murmur of
the water of the flowing stream was
.an ever-constant guide to him.
He finally reached the present site
of Marble Falls. The sound of the
roaring water came to the ears of
Gen. Johnson and he knew that the
noise was made by falls in the river.
He groped his way about and
thoroughly examined the rock ledges
which formed the natural dam. He
walked and rode over the wide spread-
ing valley and measured in his mind
the probable width and length of the
lake that was formed by the natural
dam.
"Here I will make my home and
build a town," he said.
It was Gen. Johnson's day dream
that the great falls of the Colorado
river at Marble Falls should be har-
nessed and made to serve industrial
enterprises. He has lived to see the
day when this is about to be done.
The natural rock dam is of the
finest marble. It rises to a height of
more than twenty-five feet and forms
one of the most beautiful lakes In
Texas. A superstructure of re-en-
forced concrete now is being built to
this dam and the water power thus
obtained Is to be used to generate
electricity for power and lighting pur-
poses. This electrical energy will be
used to run Industrial plants In Mar-
ble Falls and will be transmitted to
surrounding towns.
The town owes its establishment
and growth to Gen. Johnson. It long
has been known as the "blind man's
town." Although the founder of the
place, which now has a population of
nearly 2,000 people, never has seen
the beautiful site upon which it is lo-
cated, he has it all pictured in his
mind. He laid out the broad streets,
marked the site for the business
blocks and residence sections, and
looked after every detail of the town's
establishment.
Not only does he know almost every
foot of the ground upon which the
town is built, but he Is personally ac-
quainted with all of its inhabitants.
Before the infirmities of old age be-
gan to settle upon him he would walk
the streets briskly and unaided, meet-
ing and greeting people he met. He
not only knows their voices, but their
footsteps disclose to him the identity
of many of the older inhabitants.
Children are the anchors that hold
a mother to life.—Sophocles.
HAS SHOD 60,000 HORSES.
Massachusetts Man, 54 Years a Black
smith, Has Made Great Record and
Is Still at Work.
Gardner, Mas .—A record of having
shod more than 60/000 borsés In his
54 years' career as blacksmith is the
distinction claimed by James F. Cox
of Gardner.
Although now 63 years old, Mr. Cox
is daily at his forge and turns out a9
much and as good work as many a
younger smith.
Mr. Cox was born In Dublin, and
when 14 years old he was "let out" to
learn the blacksmith trade. It re-
quired seven years for him to com-
plete his apprenticeship. lie stili 1ms
in his possession the indenture papers
given him by his employer in Dublin.
After working a while in his native
city, Mr. Cox went to Manchester,
England, and from there came to
America about forty years ago. In
New York he found employment In
various places, finally landing in Gard-
ner, securing employment with the
late Francis P. Leonard, who during
his active years was one of the most
widely known blacksmiths In this part
of the state.
!n speaking of the changes that
have taken place in Gardner since he
came to the town, Mr. Cox said he
used to pick berries in the field where
now Is Cross street, one of the most
traveled thoroughfares of the town.
In 1887 Mr. Cox set up In business
for himself, building a small shop at
the rear of his home in Cross street.
No matter what his earnings might
be, Mr. Cox has always been in the
habit of putting some of It by for the
proverbial "rainy" day," and although
he could retire from active work and
live on his savings he says he Intends
to keep busy for a good many years
to come. During the winter he has
made up several hundred pairs of
horseshoes in anticipation of a brisk
season.
BURIAL "A WASTE OF FOOD."
African Cannibals with Cultivated
Farms Still Cling to Revolt-
ing Customs.
Londoncr-A surprising account of a
trip through Central Africa is given In
a report by Hesketh Bell, governor of
Uganda, Just issued by the colonial
office.
"My trip through the Bagishu coun-
try," he writes, "filled me with amaze-
ment. We traveled for four days
through enchanting scenery and tra-
versed a country the like of which is,
probably, not to be seen In any other
part of Africa. It is no exaggeration to
say that over 80 per cent, of the land
is under cultivation.
"So clearly and neatly marked are
the boundaries of all the plots that
the countryside reminded me of the
vineyards of Switzerland or of south-
ern France.
1'Not only do the Bagishu eschew
clothing of any sort—their district
is called 'Bukedl,' the Land of the
Naked People—but they are addict-
ed to cannibalism, of a particularly
revolting kind. They do not hunt
and kill people for the sake of their
flesh, but they consider that burial
is a wanton waste of food. The pop-
ulation numbers 400,000."
Won Bride on a Pullwan Car
*-
Soldier Comes Back from the Phillip-
pines After Five Years to
Claim Her.
Richmond, Va.—In a dusty parlor
car, whirling across the continent to-
ward the land of perpetual sunshine,
a soldier boy, clad in his khaki uni-
form, was hurrying to the far-away
Philippines.
Among the crowd of sweltering tour-
ists, business men and pleasure seek-
ers was another warrior, a tiny per-
son with a bow and arrow, and—a girl.
For four days, among the grime
and dust and dirt of the stuffy car,
Sergt. Thomas H. Rowland of the
United States army, fought the great-
est battle of his life—and won. The
spoils of victory was a promise that
filled the soldier's heart with gladness
and the girl's heart with sadness. But
to the tiny warrior who had been his
ally, it was simply the old, old story.
It was five years ago that Miss
Willie Raper of Virginia, and an heir-
ess in her own right,'met the soldier
boy, who soon became her sweetheart
in the parlor car. And It was five
days later that a transport was wait-
ing at the dock at San Francisco to
take him away from home.
There were tears at the parting, for,
In spite of the sturdy courage of her
forbears—good old Virginia stock—
she, the girl, did the natural girlish
thing, wept and told him to go and do
his duty for his country; but to please
—oh, please—come back and not let
one of those horrid Filipinos shoot
him.
And he, flushed .with the . victory of
his four days' whirlwind courtship,
and, gladdened by the promise he had
won, boarded the ship with a devil-
may-care air, after vowing more prom-
ises to return.
At last the intrepid sergeant, tanned
to a swarthy brown by his years of
service in the far east, came back and
took the first train south, seeking his
pretty heiress in her mountain home
and there he made her pay the forfeit
of her promise.
STUDY IN GYMNASIUM SUITS
Montclalr, N. J., Normal 8ehoofglrls
Were Caught in the Rain and
Changed Garments.
Montclalr, N. J.—The 123 girl stu-
dents at the Montclalr State Normal
school are wondering whether or not
the next heavy rainstorm will bring
about the same novel conditions which
prevailed at the Institution recently.
When they arrived at the school most
of them were wet and bedraggled. Wet
skirts and shoes were not conducive
to healthful study, so after a whis-
pered conference of the female mem-
bers of the faculty and a delegation of
the students the girls went to the
gymnasium, removed their wet ap-
parel, and donned the neat bloomers
and felt shoes they wear in the gym-
nasium. Looking like so many boys,
the girls filed into the classroom.
The girls presented a novel sight
as they lined up for their studies. The
seven young men who constitute the
male element of the students smiled,
but said the girls looked comfortable.
Money Comes In Handy.
Tou can't run a state and provide it
with all the benevolences demanded
by the spirit of the age and do It on
homilies and wind.—Newark Evening
News.
WILL WATCH HUBBY
MRS. BUNCHEAU SCAD® HAS HER
DOUBTS.
Ahe Relates Some of the Happenings
Incidental to Their "Butting In"
to High-Class 8oelal
Functions.
"Me and Bunch had an Invite to a
bridge party at the Pomeroy Maltlne
Burgundays las' night, and though I
don't care much for them funcshuns,
Bunch was so set ou goin' that we
went—an' mo without tho least idee
what a bridge party might be like;
whether a fishiu' picnic or some new
kind of a straw ride.
"But, say, them Burgundays has sure
got a swell manshun. Must be anyway
all o' 30 rooms, all lit by 'lectrlclty and
het by steam, and furniture an' stat-
utes an' pictures till you can't rest.
"First thing when you go in th'
front door you see a marble statute
ot a young woman, with nothln' par-
tlc'lar on, and one arm broke abovo th'
elbow.
"An' I tole Bunch then and there I
thought It plum disgraceful to have
statutes of young wimmen standing
'round 'thout no raiment, though it
was a sin an' shame that th' hired
girl had been so careless 'bout breakin'
off th' arm.
"Bunch, who's been studyln' all
about art since he's tried to butt into
society, whispered that th' arm hadn't
ben broke by no hired girl, but that
the statute was a replicky—I think he
said—of one made by some famous old
feller, and th' arm was broke—likely
bein' hit by a spade when they dug
her up hundreds o' years ago. Said she
was the Shef Doover of this old stat-
ute-maker. (Bunch's also been readln'
a French dlct-nary, and I spose Shef
Doover means somethin' he didn't
want to say right out, 'cause you
can't never tell what them French'll
do.)
"They was a picture of another lady
entitled 'Return of Spring,' but it
looked t' mo more like midsummer,
for she didn't have a stitch more
on her than th' Shef Dooverin* woman
dtd.
"Positively they ain't a thing to this
high-faiutin' society for me, but I've
just made up my mind that Bunch
don't go to none o' these doln's 'thout
me bein' along.
"He's pretty wise as a money get-
ter, but I noticed las' night a woman
who, for goodness' sake, was old
enough to know better, sort o' goo-
gooin' at him.
"An' you can't never tell; mebby
she might be one o' them Shef Doov-
ers."
IIV DEFENSE OF THE SWAMP.
One Belted Earl.
The Earl of Leicester, who died re-
cently, was known as the "first farmer
of England." On the great estates
which he inherited from his father
were first introduced methods of
scientific farming that have greatly
benefited English agriculture. They
Include the four-course rotation in
crops—turnips, barley, clover, wheat—
and the live stock showB. The earl
was interesting not only as a farmer,
but as an example of longevity In a
long-lived family. No less than 157
years separated the birth of the father
and the death of the son, and the son
married his second wife 100 years
after the father married his first. The
father of th¿'earl, who haB Just died,
headed a deputation from Norfolk to
urge George III to acknowledge the In-
dependence of the American colonies.
He died at the age of 90, the son at
the age of 87.—Youth's Companion.
One-Finger Exercises.
The piano below sounded Insistently
upon one note, being tuned. It had
gone on for an hour or more.
"Doesn't that annoy you?" asked her
visitor.
"Not half bo much," said she, "as the
playing by the flat dweller down there.
She plays one note, too, but it's always
the wrong one."
Negro's Remarkable Memory.
A remarkable man Is the negro who
checks hats at the United States hotel
In Saratoga. The dining room there
seats in the neighborhood of 1,000 per-
sons. Every man who enters the din-
ing room hands his hat to the negro
at the door, but receives no check in
return. During luncheon or dinner
probably 750 hats are handed to him.
Yet when each diner comes out the
negro gets his hat without a moment's
hesitation, and never makes a mis-
take.
An Alluring Prospect.
"So you think you would like tc
Journey in Africa?"
"Yes," answered Mr. Cumrox. "1
fancy It would be a sweet relief to
travel in a country where there are
no overworked railway ticket sellers,
nor Pullman porters, nor hotel clerks,
nor head waiters."
Her Dear Friend.
Nan was sitting for her photograph.
"What is that strange noise I hear?"
the asked.
"I think It's the camera, trying to
sound the 'C. Q. D.' alarm," said Fan.
Southern Writer Sees Little Harm In
Them, But Public Opinion Is
Against Him.
Out of Georgia comes defense and
even praise of tho swamps. Dr. Ro-
land Harper, in a publication of tho
Georgia Forest association, declares
that swamps are not so black nor so
noxious as they are painted, the Wash-
ington Post says. He even predlots
a time when swamps will be reserved
as parks for the preservation of their
scenic beauties, which ore not yet ap-
preciated by nature lovers. An addi-
tional reason for preservation of tho
swamps he finds in the great neod of
forestation for the protection of the
sources of streams, an argument In
which there is considerable merit, al-
though most of tho great swamps are
found not at the sources of streams,
but near the mouths of rivers.
From time immemorial swamps have
been Identified with malaria and other
fevers and diseases. Dr. Harper thinks
they have been much maligned in this
respect, declaring that there can be
no objection to swamps on hygienic
grounds since the discovery that
malaria is spread only by the agency
of mosquitoes. But right here the doc-
tor overlooks the most potent argu-
ment for the draining of the swamps,
for it is only by drainage that tho
gna&t breeding haunts of the mosqui-
toes and other disease-bearing insects
can be rendered innocuous. The exist-
ence of a large swamp near any center
of population is a grave menace to
health and Inevitably reduces tho eco-
nomic, industrial and social efficiency
of the people In the vicinity. As tho
south Is to-day the greatest sufferer
from the blighting effects of malaria
and tho diseases that follow in its
tntfn, it is somewhnt remarkable that
a defense of these pest spots should
com* from tho pen of an intelligent,
observing southerner.
It fs a matter of history that can be
verified by reference to any standard
textbook that malarial diseases have
disappeared from Europe and tho
northern part of the United States In
almost exact proportion to the drain-
ing of the swamps. It is a necessary
step In civilization's battle with dis-
ease. The widespread avorsion to and
dread of swamps that rofuses to recog-
nize their aesthetic values, which Dr.
Harper deplores, la a deep seated,
popular Instinct founded upon cen-
utrles of bitter warfare with swamp,
bred disease.
Good Quality for Statesman.
It Is said of George B. Cortelyou
that ho would Btand on the rear of
President McKlnley's train when the
president was touring the country and
not only recognize the men of th©
town who had during his time come to
Washington, but recall their names as
well.
One time, It Is said, the train
stopped at a small station In the west.
Cortelyou with the other members of
the president's party alighted for a
few minutes to limber up. A man
came up to him and proceeded to In-
troduce himself. Cortelyou interrupt-
ed him.
"I am glad to meet you, Mr. Jones.
That matter about the claim is In the
hands of the treasury department
now, and you may expect to hear from
It almost any time."
The man had not seen Cortelyou In
eight months, and then for exactly flva
minutes.
8llencers Have Found Favor.
Hiram Percy Maxim, Jr., the Inven-
tor, says that the United States gov-
ernment has mado Its first large pur-
chase of tho Maxim gun silencers,
probably for use In the musketry
schools and for testing by federal
sharpshooters, who will suggest pos-
sible Improvements. Spain, Franco
and larger European powers havo
bought silencers through Mr. Maxim's
representative, Hart O. Berg, who Is
also business manager of the Wright
brotherB. King Alfonso of Spain has
had his own Mauser fitted with a si-
lencer since he witnessed a demon*
Btratlon In France recently.
Photograph of the Hand.
A novel method of Identifying crim-
inals with absolute certainty has been
devised by Prof. Tamassia. When com-
paring the veins on the back of both
handá a striking diversity will be ob-
served. Far more important, however,
are tho differences noted in the hands
of different persons. In order to cause
the veins to stand out more distinctly
the wrist should be bandaged for a
short time. Their courses can then bo
photographed.
Owing to the size of the hand it is
far eaBier to discover slight diversities
thsn in minute prints of finger tips.
Nor can any voluntary alteration of
the vein tissues be feared, unless the
hand should be seriously injured.—Sel
entitle American.
Natural.
"She's a very natural girl:"
"So?"
"Yes; whenever sh^'s Invited out to
dine she never thinks ¿if taking the
smallest piece of meat in sight, but
helps herself to as much as she would
•at If she were at home."—Detroit
Free Press.
i
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Atterbury & Fox. The Knox County News (Knox City, Tex.), Vol. 5, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, April 16, 1909, newspaper, April 16, 1909; Knox City, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth178979/m1/3/?q=green+energy: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.