Wise County Messenger. (Decatur, Tex.), Vol. 17, No. 790, Ed. 1 Friday, May 29, 1896 Page: 6 of 10
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dvMOTHER.
X
MA
after dusk and whisperings were heard
seen lips in the air.
As years passed
THE WORD "JINGO -'
Early in the ’80s Henry
*
DAUGHTER IN FRANCE.
THE HAUNTED LAKE.
He
ers begin to grow."
thousands
b
Boers in cover shooting for hours
>
I
M
that brought down 450
have at Krugersdorp
of
on
When we sink in death’s last sleep.
Other eyes the watch must keep:
O'er her children’s dreamless bed.
Other eyes the tears must shed.
Oft when worn with grief and pain
Could we feel her touch again;
It would calm the aching brow;
But no sigh she heedeth now.
Calm and still, no wild alarm
Stirs the heart whose sweetest charm
Lies beneath the churchyard sod.
She hath known the widow's God.
Weary grew her eyes and dim,
Mourning day by day for him.
While she watched and waited long
For the angel’s greeting song.
But we would not call her back
More to tread life’s dusty track.
She hath done her life work well.
Let the lily petals tell.
7
two days at 600 Englishmen in the open
and killing very few.—Saturday Re-
view.
1
SHIFTLESS MISSISSIPPI FELLOW
WENT TO AFRICA.
the experience of the soldiery was un-
dergone by other camping parties, some
strangers who knew not, and others
<
o
e
V
w
V
•)
from beneath the water and from un
Eugene V. Debs, the labor agitator,
in a recent address to Chicago work-
ingmen, declared: "The present indus-
trial system is responsible for nine-
tenths of the criminals of the country.
When a man hunts for work and can-
not find it, he is forced to go out into
the world. He is not gone long until
his last penny is gone, and then he be-
comes a tramp.”
were one in belief thereafter. It is als , telligencer.
who had heard and believed not. AD He character, says the Seattle Post-In-
er "e
2"*2 -
a nuisance. The cook complains that
she can't throw a piece of toast out of
the back window but four or five quails
fight to see which one shall get on Ik”
—Texas Sifter.
The Lion did his best to give him
some excuse
To crawl back to his den again—all
efforts were no use;
- whose experiences
in South Africa are of a rather roman-
0
the ashes of expired camp fires, marked
the spot, and that was all. Deep down
in the still, cool water lay the bright
silver, and on the surface a swirl here
and there told of the alligators fighting
over their hideous feast.
Exactly one year later to the very
day another party camped at the lake.
They were troopers returning to easy
service in Mexico, after a season of
loneliness, hardship and danger on the
IFE is over. Death
is sweet.
Rich in Game.
“Any quail about this neighbor-
hood?” inquired a tourist who was
about to register at a Western Texas
hotel.
“Quail!" said the proprietor, with an
indulgent smile; “they have got to be
He Eclipsed Stanley and Livingstone —
Seaweed Picked Up Where Pharaoh’s
Army Got Wet Proves the Truth of
t he Tale.
&[
QEa
■ K -U
hungered for his victim, he's
pleased when blood is shed.
But let us hope his sins may all recoil
on his own head.
Chorus:
We don't want to fight but. by jingo, if
we do.
We've got the men, we've got the
ships, we've got the money too.
We've fought the Bear before and while
we're Britons true
The Russians shall not have Constan-
tinople.
Keep the hens scratching if yu
would keep them laying.
said that certain persons who were
known to have camped there at night
were never seen or heard of again. So
evil became the name of the place that
the road was finally turned away from
the lake shore, and "Espantoso" became
a name to be spoken with dread and a
place to be avoided. It so remains down
to this very day.
In southwest Texas there is a lake
that bears the reputation of being the I
most desolate and uncanny pool in the
mandant realized that the fight would
soon go against him, so, exhorting his
men to stand to the last, he gathered
the teamsters about him and togther
they took the sacks of silver from the
wagons and threw them over into the
bottomless depths of the lake.
There was barely time, for all re-
sistance was soon overcome, the sur-
vivors begging for mercy and the hu-
man wolves in complete possession.
But the silver was beyond them, out of
their reach, and all their trouble and
pains profitless. Mad at the thought of
being balked, the outlaws took the sur-
vivors. the commandant, the teamsters,
the soldiers, bound them hand and foot,
tied heavy stones to them and tossed
them, living, one by one, over into the
dark water. Of all who had laid down
to rest in the evening, not one was
alive in the morning. Pools of blood,
trampled grass, half burned wagons.
the solemn night wore on. There was
a nearly full moon, that at midnight
rested just north of the zenith, il-
luminating with its mild light the sur-
face of the open lake, and emphasizing
the black shadows under the trees. The
sentry whose beat lay nearest the shore
chanced to glance carelessly out over
the water as he walked slowly along
and he saw something there that
changed him from a half somnambulist
to an intensely awakened man.
The water lay still and quiet as death,
and from its waveless surface the sen-
tinel saw what first seemed to be
wreaths and strands of gray mist, ris-
ing and twirling. In a moment, even
as he looked, the shadowy vapors re-
solved themselves into the forms of
men—horrible shapes, with agonizing
faces, and arranged themselves in
ghastly procession, and, swaying as in
a gentle wind, moved swiftly forward
toward the camp of the sleeping sol-
frontier. The memory of the tragedy
enacted there had either been forgot-
ten or given slight consideration, for
in those days lawlessness was but too
common to cause especial remark.
The troopers picketed their horses
among the trees, camp fires were light-
ed, supper was eaten; there was a rest-
ful hour or two given up to smoking,
story-telling, laughter, singing, the
playing upon guitar and mandolin, and
then each man, tired and drowsy,
wrapped himself in his blanket, soon to
be soundly sleeping. All but the senti-
nels, who kept their steady rounds as
A WONDERFUL STORY being sent to San Francisco the bank
” on which the check was drawn replied:
men. Here we
How He Was Identified.
On one occasion the prince of Wales
wanted to give Frederick Febvre, the
noted French actor, soma testimonial of
appreciation and consulted his compan-
ion in the box. "I can't buy him some-
thing; that would be banal. Do you
think he would like to have my cane?”
It was decided that the cane would do.
So stepping to the green room, the
prince paid the actor a few compliments
on the English part, he was playing and
begged him to accept the cane, saying
it had seldom left him for ten years.
He added that he hoped to see the care
000 and gave a check for that amount
on a San Francisco bank. The land
doalr laughed at it, but on a telegram
confusion indescribable. The com-
ley and a savage rush. The startled
escorts sprang up, grasping their old-
fashioned escopetas, and made what re-
War Is Growing Safer.
It is usual to compare the battles of
the last century with the battles of to-
day and dilate upon the greater deadli-
ness of the modern weapons and the
modern results. But the facts are all
the other way. At Fontenoy, for in-
stance, one volley of the Coldstreams
struck down 450 Frenchmen of the
Regiment du Roi. Again at the same
battle the Gardes du Corps had not
much short of 500 saddles emptied by a
single volley, while the French guards
were scattered by a point-blank volley
from a British regiment at twenty paces
.--------- a sailing ship and the ship drifted him
' French Mother. Relation. Different from to the eastern coast Of Africa.
.. the American Here he found there was gold to be
Mme. Mane Therese Blanc, better had without the digging. When the
known under the pseudonym of "Th. ship got to Liverpool he spent all his
Benson. the French novelist and wages in trinkets and worked his way
critic,, writes on the subject of back to Africa on another ship. His
amiy. Lite in America: "The exploits from the time he landed the
part of a mother of a family is second time throw those of Livingstone
perhaps a more delicate one in America and Stanley entirely in the shade, for
than in France just because there they went armed with a retinue of fol-
the power of the mother is not lowers, with baggage wagons and tents,
that of an autocrat, because she does commissary department and cooks. All
not direct and rule everything herself, alone. with as big a pack as he could
because there are many things in her carry, he started from the east coast in
daughter's life which she does not a direct line for the west.
think herself authorized to prevent It was something over a year before
and which she has to bear, while exer- he was again seen by one of his race or
cising a discreet vigilan e. She ad- heard his native tongue. He got back
vises without constraining and under to the coast, but was not carrying his
! the gravest circumstances she has to pack. He had a string of camels and
have had a bigger piece of land than
the whole state of Mississippi and its
live stock thrown in for that rifle, but
he could only bargain for things that he
could carry away- with him. Some
time after that, however, he did receive
a donation of land about seventy miles
square from one of these African kings
in the interior, and sold a half-interest
in it to an English syndicate for nearly
$1,000,000.
Moore got back to Corinth in 1887
and has been going and coming be-
tween Africa and this country ever
"Moore good for $250,000."
Moore has $500,000 in government
bonds and large accounts with several
banks. He is not married and his fam-
ily connections are all poor people—
that is, they were poor before he re-
turned. He has sent his brother's two
daughters to a fashionable boarding-
school and given each a bank account
of $50,000. He has also taken his
brother's boy and sent him to school.
To the rest of his family and intimate
friends he has also been liberal.
“I have in my possession,” said Mr.
Walker, "a piece of seaweed that Moore
brought from the Red sea, picked up
near the spot where Pharoah's army
tried to cross."
This proves the wonderful account to
be perfectly true.
F1 Gently fold her
wasted hands,
Smooth the hair in silver bands
O’er the brow where lines of care
Time hath wrought so gently fair.
with Febvre on the stage. The inci-
dent was reported and Febvre spent
the following day dismissing a queue
of Englishmen who invaded his lodg-
ings trying to buy the cane. After-
ward, when giving private entertain-
ments in London, he repeatedly heard
himself identified by the remark made
in the audience: “He's the one that got
the cane.”—Argonaut.
time with donkeys and camels and serv-
ants. He passed through Mashona-
land and to the northward. He car-
ried many bundles of matches, and
when he deftly and swiftly swung his
right hand upward past his thigh and
fire was the result, the natives were
ready to worship the firemaker. He
also took a few firearms. When he
came to a large village on the morning
of a festival he had the ruler informed
that he could kill a man and nobody
would know “what had struck him.”
The king was curious about this, and
ordered out one of his young chiefs to
be experimented upon. Moore said his
machine would work just as well on a
cow, and an animal intended for
slaughter was placed 300 yards away,
which dropped dead when struck by
Moore’s bullet. Moore says he could
The song became most popular an
was heard on every street corner, from
every organ grinder and was whistled
by every bootblack. Shortly after this
the election campaign began in which
Gladstone, the head of the liberals, at-
tacked the tory party, then led by the
earl of Beaconsfield, who was in pow-
er. The tory foreign policy’ was ridi-
eluded and they were stigmatized by
the liberals as “the party of blood-
shed. glory and jingo.”
From the time of this election cam-
paign. which resulted in the defeat of
the tories and the accession of the
“peace party,” Gladstone’s 1880 admin-
istration, the word “jingo” has been
used to denote an individual or section
of a party ready to rush, without ma-
ture deliberation, into all the horrors
of war.
Moore lived near Corinth, Miss., and
was a shiftless sort of fellow. He
gathered courage enough to shift from
there, however, and, climbing on the
end of a railroad train, managed to ride
blind baggage to Denver. He spent
some time in Colorado, then drifted to
the Arizona gold fields, lounged in the
everlasting sunshine of Mexico for
awhile and one day found himself at
Galveston. There he drifted on board
ip
a §8
■ I >jha-t ?
’ S-mg ■
limit herself to an appeal to her donkeys to carry it and it had grown to
daughters reason without ever count- a goodly size. There were ivory tusks
ing on passive obedience. It is cer- in it and gold nuggets and precious
tainly simpler to mold, like soft wax, a stones and curious things never seen
will that will give itself up without re- before. All by himself he had gone
sistance. It is just this feeling of un- nearly 1,000 miles into the interior and
limited authority over her daughter, “bin doin’ a right smart o’ tradin’ with
over the good and the wrong she may the coons,” he modestly said.
do her, of her righteous duty to thia “Meet any savages?” he was asked,
utter helplessness, which binds the “Mostly all savages,” was the quiet
French mother to her second self— reply.
whom she has formed without any other "And cannibals?”
influences, admitting even girl com- “Yes, they is most all cannibals, but
panions unwillingly, and on her guard, nary a one ov ’em ever eat me, an’ I’m
beforehand, against the future husband here to prove it.”
who would take her treasure from her. This is what he said when he got back
These relations are being modified to Corinth, some time later. What he
since the introduction of a certain cos- did when he got his goods to the coast
mopolitanism into our customs but was to get them and himself into a ship,
what exists everywhere with us could and at Liverpool he disposed of them,
not be found in America, where the With a small part of the money he in-
young bird, of either sex, escapes from vested in a still larger pack and again
the maternal wing as soon as its feath- went into the wilds of Africa, but this
: flush of morning began to mingi > with
the wan light of the dying moon. Again
arose that vague wailing cry. Again
the shades marshaled themselves in
regular order and moved down silently
to the edge of the lake and out upca
the water, there to sink out of sight.
When the demoralized troop had been
gathered together again and was well
on its way the men spoke of the oc-
currence with bated breath and called
the place "Espantoso.” As the story be-
came known the lake came to be re-
garded as accursed, and travelers
passed swiftly by, not daring to rest,
however weary. Belated wayfarers,
chance hunters and fishermen added re-
luctant tales to the sum total of ex-
periences. Strange forms were seen
since. When Chattanooga had a land
boom he went there and asked the price
of a large tract. The price was $75,-
000. “But how much cash?” asked
Moore. He bargained it down to $70,-
I L L I A M E.
Walker, a gentle-
man who moved
from the Mississip-
pi valley last fall to
settle in Seattle
and has offices in
the Bailey building,
told a story re-
cently of an ac-
quaintance of his
world The place is a veritable city of
gh - - it is a body of water three-
quarters of a mile wide and a dozen
miles long. lying in the shadows of an
almost impenetrable forest in the bot-
toms of the Nueces river, in Dimmitt
county. The lake is very deep; so deep
that in many places no procurable line
has ever reached the bottom. Hence,
the rumor says there is no bottom at all.
Its shores are absolutely uninhabited,
and the boldest wayfarer hesitates to
tarry near its ill-omened waters even
in the broad light of day.
It swarms with fish, and immense al-
ligators dwell there.. Fierce, wild ani-
mals slink unmolested through the tan-
gled growth along the bank. At night
the owl’s hoot and the long-drawn,
high, plaintive wail of the hungry pan-
ther form a fit accompaniment to the
ghostly revels of unquiet spirits.
That some inexplicable happening
takes place on these lonely waters on
certain nights is beyond question. The
evil repute has existed for more than a
century—suc sights have been seen
and sounds heard by those bold enough
to attempt investigation, that efforts in
that line have entirely ceased; the lake
is shunned, and further inquiry must
be made by strangers, for no one know-
ing the place can be bribed or forced
to stay there after nightfall.
The lake was the scene of a tragedy
over 100 years ago, and from that day
to the present it has borne an unhal-
lowed reputation. In those days there
was a road that skirted its lower end.
The road was the single highway con-
necting Mexico with the mission set-
tlements and the Spanish outposts
along the San Antonio river, and fur-
ther east, in what is now Texas.
The lake was a well-known and fa-
vored camping place. There was good
water there, good grass and abundant
shade; a welcome rest spot for those
coming from the south over the hot
sandy cactus-covered uplands. Near
the close of a September day long ago, a
large wagon train stopped to camp for
the night. Within the wagons were
sacks of silver coin for the payment of
troops in the frontier garrisons. To
guard this was an armed mounted es-
cort. numerous enough to put at rest all
fear of danger. The whole lay down
to rest and slept that night, unsupi-
clous, careless and negligent. But a
deadly peril was lurking near at hand,
eager-eyed, blood-thirsty and ever-
watchful of an opportunity.
All the way from the Rio Grande the
trail of the crawling wagons had been
followed by bandits—thieves, renegades
an 1 murderers they were, cruel as
tigers, brave as grizzlies. Every move
had been noted, every camping place
watched, every sign of careless confi-
dence eagerly scrutinized by keen eyes
s / that shone with the ill-repressed light
ti of anticipated plunder.
fiv On this September night, when the
, whole camp was resting, the sentinels
nodding, even as they stood in the dark
shadows of the trees, the robbers made
their attack; a fierce yell, a rattling vol-
N J uL——^^ay they rest upon
a58 re-4 her bier.
- - She who walked
gL among them
6 AN. here.
3688328222 5 ~ . -
5-Mfe-M2 E
THE GHASTLY PROCESSION,
diers. A weird low cry, the shadow
of a wail, rose up and chilled the hear-
er’s utmost soul with deadly terror.
More from fright than boldness the
sentinel fired his carbine at the ad-
vancing shades and then ran shrieking
into the woods. The sleepers, roused
up as one man. saw. heard, and they
too fled. panic-stricken, into the thick-
ets. The horses plunged and broke the
picket ropes. The noise of maddening
beasts crashing through the under-
growth and the cries of terror-stricken
men grew fainter and fainter as all
hurried from the horror.
Later on in the night a few of the
boldest met together, and, with cour-
age somewhat restored, determined to
go back and have a second look at the
things that had affrighted them. Cau-
tiously they returned within view of the
camp. They saw forms moving aoout
here and there, strangeiy dimmed in
the flickering radiance of the camp-
fires and strangely illumined when in
the shadows. Dropping behind bushes
and trees they watched breathlessly,
not daring to advance. The camp was,
indeed, occupied. but by no mortal oc-
cupants. The unearthly visitors moved
swiftly about as though busying them-
selves with camp duties, and, as the
scared watchers yet looked on, the first
Its Origin in a Music Hall Song in Eng-
land.
The origin of the word “jingo” is in-
teresting at this time, when one is con-
fronted with it so often, says the Pitts-
burg Dispatch. At the time of the
close of the Russo-Turkish war, which,
as all readers of history know, termi-
nated so disastrously for the Turks and
caused a feeling of apprehension in
England that the Russians were bent A
on taking Constantinople and the ulti- $
mate dismemberment of the Turkish
empire, a change which could not be
tolerated, public feeling found expres-
sion in England upon the stage in
pantomimes and in the music halls by
numerous patriotic songs. One of
these was as follows:
The dogs of war are loose and the
rugged Russian bear,
Full bent on blood and robbery, has
crawled out of his lair.
It seems a thrashing now and then
will never help to tame
That brute, and so he’s out upon the
same old game.
, , , sistance they could. There was close
Lay the lilies at her desperate fighting all around, and
feet.
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Halcomb, N. W. Wise County Messenger. (Decatur, Tex.), Vol. 17, No. 790, Ed. 1 Friday, May 29, 1896, newspaper, May 29, 1896; Decatur, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1581183/m1/6/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .