The Sunday Oregonian., February 21, 1904, PART FOUR, Page 33, Image 33

35
LOCOMOTIVE "WALKS" LIKE ELEPflANT
Liverpool Man Invents aPedrail That Gets Over
Obstructions and Climbs Stairs.
THE .SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLA2TD, PEBEUAKY 21, 1904.
FOR some years past Liverpool has
been to the forefront in scientific
study and practical experiments of
means of road haulage of freights. Con
tests of motor wagons are held here
yearly under the auspices of the Self
Propelled Traffic Association, of which the
Earl of Derby is the president. The
amount of heavy haulage In Liverpool
from the ships and docks to local ware
houses and railway stations Is probably
greater than in any other city in the
world, and is a serious item in the cost
of goods. Then railroad freight charges
In England are enormous from two to six
times as much as in trie United States.
Consequently, there is always great in
terest In this dty in any Invention or
system which promises to reduce the cost
of haulage.
Professor Hele-Shaw, of the engineering
department of the Liverpool University,
Is admittedly one of the greatest living
authorities on mechanical' locomotion;
therefore his unequivocal and' enthusias
tic indorsement of a new Invention called
the "pedrall" has attracted wide and re
spectful attention in England, not only
among the general public, but among
scientific engineers. Professor Hele-Shaw
recently gave an address before the Liver
pool Seif-Propelled Traffic Association on
the pedrall. illustrated by models, draw
ings, and clnematrograph pictures. Had
the door spaces In the university lecture
hall been wide enough and .the floors
strong enough, the professor would have
had a pedrall for actual demonstration
He asserts that it was quite possible for
it to have climbed up the steps and walked
into the hall.
Ignores Obstructions.
The pedrall is variously described as
a "walking locomotive," a "half traction
'engine and half walking machine," a
"combination 6T"an endless Tallway and
a trotting machine," and a "rail moving
on wheels." The Automotor Journal, of
London, describes it as "a traction engine
which actually and literally walks up
stairs with the stride and sure-faotedness
of an elephant and hauls loads behind it
under circumstances which would nonplus
" aa ordinary traction engine. Ruts, curb
stones and bowlders It makes nothing of,
and even nine-inch balks of timber are
stubble before it." The inventor Is Mr.
Bramah Joseph Diplock, of London. Pro
fessor Hele-Shaw says that he bad some
years since conceived the Idea of a loco
motive with rails moving on wheels. He
encountered difficulties which to h.lm
seemed Insuperable, but these difficulties,
he asserts, Mr. Diplock has surmounted.
The professor declares that the pedrall
is "a revolution In mechanical locomo
tion." The pedrall. It Is claimed, can be
used with advantage not only for ordi
nary freight haulage on common roads,
but Is thoroughly practicable as a trac
tion engine over bad roads, and even in
districts where there are no roads at all
and where progress by the ordinary trac
tion engine would he absolutely Impos
sible. It would, for Instance, as claimed,
be suitable for hauling minerals from
newly developed mines and heavy lumber
from partly cleared forests, and would
successfully meet the rough emergencies
of military operations.
Wheel Has Reached Its Limit.
"While Professor Hele-Shaw Is convinced,
after an intimate and close study of road
locomotion and the properties of the wheel
for many years, that no contrivance can
take the place of the wheel and the pneu
matic tire in circumstances where the
road service is good and the conditions
suitable, he Is also convinced that the
wheel Itself has reached its utmost limits
of carrying power, both In regard to
weight and speed upon the ordianry roads,
however well the roads may be con
structed or however perfectly the wheel
may be made.
Professor Hele-Shaw argues thatanany
great Inventions are imitations of the
working of nature Itself. He instances
the screw propeller as being an exact re
production of the action of the fish in J
swimming; but because the motive power
of the propeller has to be of a rotary
nature the continuous- revolution of the
screw Is substituted for the Intermittent
action of the Ash's tail. Screw propulsion.
A BILL FKOM TIFFAiNLTS
ISS SADIE MEEKER was a young
woman who was Interested In the
market value of things; particularly
In the market value of herself. As a
money-changer at the desk In Major & '
Falrbank's her market value was just J4 a
week; but a woman's real market value,
as Sadie well knew. Is never what she can
honestly earn, but what the best man who
wishes to marry her can earn, whether
honestly or not. Later she came to think
seven times out of ten of her husband and
the remaining three of her children; but
for the moment she was conscious mainly
that Margie Payne had married a saloonkeeper,-
and Kittle Barwln, a part owner
in a dance hall; and saloonkeepers and
part owners In dance halls as lords and
landed gentry In the Under World.
Margie and Kittle had been Sadie's next
friends, and for some time after their
marriage she, too, would have been con
tented to wed a saloonkeeper or a part
owner In a dance hall; but after some hes
itation sho concluded to become engaged
to marry Charley Minick. Also his mus
tache curled beautifully.
Charley MInlck. In his 2Sth year, had
achieved a knowledge how the world Is
made. Ho had Joined the "force" with a
resolution to be an "honest copper"; and
his high aspirations still clung to him,
though they had become modified. He
would not be so honest as to be unpleas
ant; ho would be just a little oh! the
veriest trifle better than his neighbors.
"I don't set up for no saint," said the
magnanimous MInlck, "but there are
places where I draws the line."
A Pitt or a Lincoln could have said no
more.
Margie's gifts from her lover had been
damonds of price; Klttie's gifts from her
lover had been diamonds of even greater
price; and Sadie was perfectly aware of
every woman's inalienable right to possess
better jewels than any women of her ac
quaintance, if sho can Induce a man to
give them to her. She explained her views
to Minlck with vigor and point; she re
vealed to him the double jurisdiction un
der which he had agreed to live; he must
stand his trial in the judgment of4her
peers.
"You wouldn't have me ashamed before
Kit and Marge, would you?"
"The Pear of Pie Alley couldn't stand
ashamed before Kit and Margie; she
hasn't got the shape! But I forgot; It's a
man that's proud of a womnn'6 shape; the
woman's only proud of what she's cot on
it!"
"Even now they say I'm a fool to tie up
with you. They say there's no scale in
your Job the way there Is In Jim's and
Bob's; they call you a hundred-a-month
man; they say you don't take In nothing
on the side. Kit and Marge said last
night I was marrying you for your Inuss
tache. "
"Kit and Marge!" said the alert detec
tive, with theatric scorn. "Kit and Marge
are a couple of clapper-tongued pot-wrestlers.
You'll make your cars long as a
Gover-ment mule's a-llscn to 'cm. Jim
married Kit for her musstache.' you
know he did; and what she says o' mine
is pure envy!"
"Yes, I suppose. But I ain't talking ot
1'EDRAIX. ENGIXE TUKXTNG A
the professor adds, may be said to have
solved tiie great problem of ocean naviga
tion. Professor Hele-Shaw submits this ques
tion: Is there in use a means of locomo
tion on land imitating successfully the
marvelous natural process of animal loco
motion, but modified to suit the mechan
ical requirements of the case7 The wheel,
he says, falls hopelessly short of the
mechanical action of an animal's foot. The
animal docs not turn upon Its foot; the
turning takes place upon the ankle, which,
being flexible and having a ball-and-socket
Joint perfectly lubricated, affords the very
minimum of resistance. The foot is placed
upon the ground and kept there, thus In
suring the minimum of rubbing action
with the surface; whereas the wheel Is
only adapted to turn on the surface- of
the ground itself. Second, while the
wheel when it strikes an obstacle meets
with toodlly resistance, the foot can be
brought down upon an obstacle and the
body elevated over It gradually with the
least possible amount of shock. These
considerations have naturally suggested
the invention of walking machines. Thej
have all been failures, and principally so
because they have not combined satis
factorily the adapting of the movement of
an animal which Is intermittent with the
continuous movement afforded by the
properties of the wheel. In the belief of
Professor Hele-Shaw the solutltn of the
problem Is the pedrall, which Is described
by him as follows:
The Pedrall Described.
"The Pedrall Indicates by its name
that it is a rail carried upon feet, and
the principle of Its action may bo ex
plained in a few words. It Is simply
this: Instead of having a permanent
rail carried for the whole of Its length
on permanent feet, viz., sleepers, and
wheels running upon this rail, the
process Is inverted. The feet are (as
In the case of the railway) placed upon
'musstaches'; I'm serious! It means a lot
to me. You've got tojget me whafcl want;
that's what you marry me for! and you've
got to go to the right place to get it I tell
you those; I want to show Kit and Marge
the box."
"All right," laughed MInlck, "I'll get you
the box!"
Three days after this conversation there
was a great social "event" at the town
house of Edward Sandys of Sandys & Mer
ton, who served God and mankind to the
amount of some millions per annum. They
performed their 'service largely by accept
ing a controlling Interest In undertakings
to which the name of Sandys & Merton
lent a commercial value. The great social
''event," with Its great display of plate
and Jewels, was followed by a great
cracksman's "event." Before the awak
ening of the Sandys household after the
festival a judiciously selected portion of
the Jewels had disappeared.
The reward offered was so large that the
Front Office was touched In Its tenderest
sensibilities: there seemed something, al
most wicked In declining to supply a man,
anxious to part with a sum like that, with
a chance to hand it over. The Instruc
tions to the Chief were a model of manly
eloquence:
"Somebody's got to get that dough; San
dys '11 throw a fit If he can't cough up,
and you coppers got to help him. I ain't
goln to have the Eye people snake In all
the loose coin; I give It to you straight.
They more'n did us on that Hogan deal;
an the papers roasted me. They called
me a 'Jaundiced tutelary dodo; I don't
know what the blamed thing means, but I
won't stand for it. You fellows spread
yourselves on this case, you take my tip.
Get your mouthpieces on the run, bribe
'cm, pinch em, do what you damnxplease,
but get that dough. An' get the gun, too.
Some o' the country papers have been
shoutln' 'bout this force heln' crooked;
they say that we're only out for tbe dough
In Jobs like this, an let the gun make a
get-away. I'm sick o' this hoilerin. an If
It don't quit I'll make every man jack of
you sick of It too!"
That afternoon an ornate reporters col
umn In one of th-publlc prints consisted
of an interview with the "subtle and com
petent Detective MInlck" Charley was
alleged to be "working" on the Sandys
case.
One morning, while matters were at this
pass, the Chief handed Minlck a telegram
which was dated Akron, O. It signified
that one Bud Denmer, aged 3S, height S
feet llU. complexion dark, eyes blue hazel,
hair prematurely gray and black, beard
solid black, teeth good, nose large and
pugnacious, weight IS pounds, was "want
ed," and was supposed to be In New York.
The reward was J300, and the particulars
would lollow by letter.
.
Richard Cober was fast becoming the
head of a profession of which he was
proud, hut which he disliked to hear called
by its right nairie. He was only from time
to time actively engaged In it, and It took
him or the most part out of town into
the beyond. He was understood by his
children and nominally by his wife to be a
"traveling" man. His absences would last
for a few days or a few weeks, and out of
the beyond he would commonly bring back
a great deal of money or a very bad tem
CORNKB.OVER AX OBSTACLE.
the ground, but instead of the rails
being- carried upon the feet, these fe'et
support wheels, and the wheels- thus
SIDE VIEW OF PEDItAEC MOUNTING ST EPS '
per. Once his absence lasted nearly three
years, 'and he brought back only a new
suit of clothes, a pallid face and a most'
unpleasant trick of the eyes.
"When Richard Cober was In luck he
was lavish with his "kids." and at all
times liked nothing better than to have
them tumbling over him; and whether or
not he was In luck, there was nothing
their mamma could want that he did not
find a way to provide. For the most part
he looked uncommonly sharp and hard;
but In his daintily upholstered fiat In
Clinton Place he was at least adored. He
sang songs and cut a double-shuffle for
the kids and played at blind man's buff;
and Mrs. Cober possessed Jewels that
would have made Sadie Meeker's frosty
eyes burn with deslra
One afternoon while Bessie was dangling
a doll half as big as herself and Richard
and Bobble were doing a Cakewalk with
an energy and freedom of grimace and
gesture that made her scream, with
laughter, the door opened and a gentle
man who had held a little solloquy with
the maid In the hall entered unan
nounced. The gentleman was Detective
MInlck.
"Eighteen -carat place you got here.
Buck, old spout; plo-anno, French clock,
Turkey rugs, nice kids; things been goln'
your way."
"Don't look as If you'd been up against
bard luck yourself. " Skip, kids. Mr. Mln
nick and mo will be wanting to bill and
coo In private."
"Sometuln" doing?" he asked, with la
conic elegance.
"A little matter o mr own. I want
you to .put me next."
"What the blazes do yon come to me
about 'next' for? I ain't next to nothln
in this town "except you dead ones at the
front office."
"Read- the papers lately?"
"One o' you fly cops croaked an you
want to touch me for a bouquet for the
stiff?"
"Seen tho details o that Sandy Job?"
"Oh. It's that. Is It? You can search
me. You"l have to guess again if you
want to pick a winner. I ain't mixed up
In that. I haven't done any work in this
town for Ave years; I live here, an you
know well enough that where I live
there's nothln doln'. I've got too much
at ttake."
"Don't suppose Pd be slttln' here rub
berin at your wallpaper if you done It.
do ycu? But I want you to get mixed
up in it. There's Ave thousand semoleons
reward, an I need 'em in my business."
"Who told you 't I was interested In
your business? I got troubles p my own.
It won't do, Charley; I give It to you
straight, I didn't do the job myself an'
don't know who. did; but If I did know
I wouldn't tell you. I ain't got nothln'
against you personally; you always treat
ed me square, an' I'd go as far for you
as another man; but I never yet beefed
on a pal an Pm not goln to begin. I'm
a bad lot. If you like, but I wouldn't turn
mouthpiece for the jrhole five thousand."
"Better wait till I offer 'em," said Mln
nlck." intently; "what'll you do for this?"
Minlck passed him with one hand a tele
gram from Akron. O.. and with tho other
fingered a revolver In his coat pocket.
Minick's. acquaintances whom he met in
the way of business were sometimes spas
modic In their movements. Also Richard
supported act as bearers for a short
length of rail attached to the moving
carriage.
"The fundamental idea. itself is not
a new one. You may 'see in many
timber yards that thoogs are moved
about by being pushed over supports
'which carry wheels, and by shifting
these supports from place to place the
heaviest logs of timber can. he rolled
upon the 'wheels to any required part
or the yard. The pedrall Invention,
however, does moro than., this. The
feet and wheels which they support
are attached to the movlpg carriage
Itself, so that by an automatic process1
the feet are carried round after the
rail is moved over them and placed
Cober was "age 36, height 5 feet 114.
complexion darkt eyes blue hazel, hair
prematurely gray and black, beard that
Is to say, close-cut mustache solid black,
teeth good, nose large and pugnacious",
weight 165 pounds."
"Swell place you got here. Buck; pie
anna, French clock, Turkey rugs, nice
kids; I should think you'd hate to shift."
MInlck was tobe congratulated on the
completeness, with which he had thought
out his case.
"I don't want to be hard on you. Buck;
Til give you time all right to turn the
thing, over In your mind; but understand
me, I want those semoleons. If you
should happen to discover a way of helpln'
me get them, well It's been six years
since I seen Bud Denmer In Joliet; I
might be so stuck on myself I couldn't
recognize him In the street If I passed
him a dozen times a day; an' I'm the only
man on the force that's on to his mug.
If you shouldn't happen to discover a way
of helpln me, that telegram reads cuffs
In Clinton place, jail In Akron, stir In
Columbus, free rides between pints, an
tree grub an' lodgln' everywhere."
"Dick, you've said time after time that
If It ever came to pass again where you
had to choose between me and the kid?
and a gun you'd let the gun go; and you're
up against that choice now," urged Mrs.
Richard Cober when MInlck had said
"so-long" and taken his leave. "You've
got enough money saved up to quit the
business, anyhow. I've often told you
that, with what we have In the bank, we
could go over to London, bring up the
kids respectably and live decently our
selves." "A man like me's no business with kids,
Nell, old girl; nor with a woman, either,"
said Cober, wearily, not for the first time
In his life "up against" the eternal differ
ence between a woman's world and a
man's.
That evening, after his pacific interview
with MInlck. Cober loitered listlessly
about' the better sorT of haunts of the
Powers That Prey. Richard would have
been too shrewd, which Is to say he loved
his own skin too Intelligently to put di
rect questions about the Sandys job; nor
would there have been the least reason
why ho should ask questions.
He had fully mastered his Ideas In this
connection when he entered "The Green
Dragon" and tbe presiding Belial stepped
forward and handed him a note. It con
sisted ot but two lines and a signature
he bad received the precise duplicate of
It Just as. he was leaving Clinton place.
"I want to see you in a hurry. Buck.
Pull the ringer at the number given In
the other note. L. C." Half an hour
afterward he was sitting at tho lebside of
LubJ.n Cavanaugh In & house on Six
teenth street. When In obedience to
a weak-voiced summons to "come In".
Richard first entered the room, he per-
celved an emaciated bead fallen back in
an ccstacy of exhaustion among the pil
lows; when the emaciated head had
Identified its visitor as "BucV Cober, it
hailed him with "Hello, old Sport!" and
the man to whom It belonged sat upright,
threw back the bedclothes and resumed
an interrupted labor, which was the labor
of "setting,' or possibly, as Richard
judged, of resetting jewels.
"Thought you might be the doctor with
some more dope. He an' I are doln' a
little song and dance together while I
again in front of the machine, thus af
fording a Continuous track of wheels
upon -which the supporting rails ban
be carried In any direction in which
the -vehicle Is steered. . . .
"Briefly, the invention might be de
scrlbe'd as replacing the wheels of an
ordinary traction engine by revolving
frames carrying- sliding spokes, each
spoke having at its end a circular foot,
and on the spoke Itself, at a little dls-
rtance above the foot; a small wheel or
roller. .In connection with each series
of revolving spokes a fixed frame 13
attached to the side of the traction en
gine. This fixed frame somewhat re
sembles In form an. Inverted heart.
"When the axles revolve the spokes, are
1 ...
SIDE VIEW OF FED KATE,
By Josiah Flint and Franeis Walton
fix up this pennyweight job. I'm playln'
the pennyweight game alone, an he
might want to cut in. He'd speculate on
these sparklers in his bill. If he kne-g I
had 'em beutes. ain't they?"
The time had been when a ."sparkler"
had the same fascination for Richard
Cober that It had for Libln Cavanaugh,
but he was In no mood that evening to,
admire another man's plunder. A wonder
ns to the previous ownership of the Jew
els he could not repress even In the
"Stir" men make guesses as to the origin
of an unscheduled piece of bread but
the etiquette of the Under World forbids
Inquiry In' regard to such matters.
"What you so blue about, Buck? Dig
Into that booze there, an get a brace on.
You an Nell ain't been havln a row,
have you?"
"No. It's Jus' a general case o crouch.
I get hipped ev'ry now an' then Jus' as I
used to. What can I do for you, Lubln?
I got to shift in a few minutes."
The two" looked .t each other for an
instant In that quick but piercing way
which all guns, let alone pals. have.
"I'd a let you Into the Job, Buck, but
It wa3 Jus the kind o' game to attract an
jold single-handed stiff, like myself, an' I
played It alone. What I want Is a 'dopp
Just like this one without the break,"
and he handed Cober a little Instrument
newly broken. "I've got to have a new one
by 11 o'clock tomorrow morning, an ril
be dead, obliged to you If you'll get It for
me. I'd get It myself, but I got these
symptoms, you know, an the push thinks
Pm. out at that crib in Mexico, roliln the
wheel. Understand, don't cher? Bay Buck,
If It's dough you need, reach under my
pillow here an you'll find a rolL I been
there myself, you know."
"That's all right. Lube. 'Taln't as bad
as that."
"Well, take care o yourself, old man,
an If you sec any o' the push, tell 'em
I'm baskln In the sun down among the
Mexles. So long. Buck."
"Well," said Mrs. Cober expectantly
when Richard paused at the close of his
account of the evening's interview with
Cavanaugh.
"Well! It's cuffs In Clinton Place. Jail
In Akron, free rides between pints, free
grub an lodgin everywhere. I can't bear
on a pal like Cavanaugh, "Nell. A man's
got to stick byjils friends."
"It ain't a case o' beefin" on a pal, Dick;
it's a oase o' doln' dirt by me an the
kids. There ain't one o your friends has
stood by you like me an' the kids; If you
got to stick by your friends, you got to
stick by us."
"'It won't do, Nell; a gun's seen his luck
when he turns mouthpiece. Be square with
the push an' the push'U be square with
you, an. It'll be the better for you in the
end. I don't even know for sure that Cav
anaugh made the- touch; hut whether he
did or not, he'd know I had split on him,
an he'd follow me till he croaked."
"A woman- Is perfectly helpless when
she's JJed to a man that means to play
the fool," shesaid bitterly. "You have to
be" square to the push or the push, will get
even with, you, you can do as you like
by the woman an .the- kids. No matter
what you do, they've got to stand for it."
This statement being self-evident. Rich
ard Cober made no reply t6 it; he went to
bed. Half an hour later Mrs. Cober put
carried round and in turn place the
feet upon the ground. At the same
time the wheels, which run round In
contact with the heart-shaped frame,
when brought underneath It that Is,
under what may be described as the
broader portion of the heart act in
turn as supports for the heart-shaped
frame to glide over. Hence the engine
Is Itself supported In turn through the
wheels by the spokes which happen at
the time to be resting with their feet
upon the ground. '
"The pedrall consists of two main
parts one of which is a-railway which
Is fastened to the. axle. box. and does
not reyoive, and -the. other part is a
kind of 'circular box carrying sliding
SHOWING RAILWAY
on her hat and shawl and softly left the
house; that perhaps was a part of her'
Idea.
'
The raid was one of those ordinary man
hunts with the game at bay. the details of
which even the newspapers have long
since wearied of reporting. The "flatties"
in uniforms surrounded the place, and
MInlck with three fellow huntsmen went
Into the building to face an animal rather
more dangerous than one of the larger
carnlvora. The animal, however, was In
telligent. Cavanaugh had not the slight
est chance of escape, and knew It the
minute his door was forced open and the
detectives drew their "revolvers. "They're
good," he remarked In the gambler's Jar
gon, and allowed himself to be handcuffed.
His only comment on tbe capture lay In
the words: "Another case of beef."
The Sandys jewels were all found In
Cavanaugh's possession, a number of
them very skillfully reset and two of the
larger very skillfully disfigured. The pub
lic prints rang the next day with the
praise of the celebrated MInlck, and re
peated their version of the unrecognized
Intellectual profession, which taxes tha
swiftest and subtlest powers of the mind
and to which society owes Its Immunity
from crime.
Saule Meeker drew the attention of both
Margie and Kittle to the most highly or
nate paragraphs In praise of the cele
brated MInlck and enjoyed the proud de
light of fame. She had been In some doubt
until the newspapers took him up whether
she cared for him "really," but the re
porters' eloquence decided her. When- the
ring was brought a great flush of triumph
came Into her face the diamond was
bigger than Klttie's and prettier.
"Oh, Charley, there Is scale In your
job," she exclaimed, "and I will marry
you for your mustache!"
The "box" was as satisfactory-as the(
stone, and a receipted bill from Tiffany's'
was even more satisfactory than the box;
but there were a number of items of
which Tiffany took no account.
The week that the marriage of Detec
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spokes, rollers, and feet in such a man
ner that the rollers and feet are placed
In succession on the ground, and tha
ralL'run.s over them.
"It ha3 attached to ' it a four-ton
crane, so that it can lift anL carry
heavy goods, minerals or agricultural
produce, ". . . v v
1 Strenuous Trials.
"This engine I have nsyself tested aS
Stoke-on-Trent under the rrnst trying
conditions. I took It up the steepest
hill practically a mountain which I
Could find in the neighborhood, threw
down large stones In its path, over
which the feet simply set themselves
at an angle and did not crush them,
though the wheels of a heavy traction
engine Immediately crushed and dis
torted the road surface. I made this
machine .walk over three-Inch, then
six-inch, and finally a nine-Inch balk
of timber thrown down In Its path,
and I could scarcely believe that the
whole structure was not permanently
distorted and damaged, whereas It was
well within the -limits of play allowed
by the mechanism.
"Finally, It walked up the lane to
the works in the softest ground, where
there were ruts of eight and ten Inches
deep, with the greatest ease.
"On another occasion, in a trial at
Lincoln, owing to the unskillful hand
ling of the man at the wheel, the en
gine got into a position In- which I
thought it must Infallibly overturn in
the soft bank into which it had fallen,
and while I was discussing how It
should best be got out, the application
of steam by the driver caused it to
walk out of its difficulties In a way
which I can only describe as like that
of a cat. . .
"The action cf the pedals on tha
road is very remarkable. "Whereas tha
ordinary traction engines destroy
roads to such an extent that they have
been forbidden In many parts of this
country and also In various parts o
the -world, and heavy motor -wagona
and traction engines have been se
verely taxed by local authorities and
made to contribute to the repair of the
roads, the pedrall positively Improves the
road over which It walks. This has been
proved by actual experiment, and It Is
more than probable, from the remarks of
an eminent municipal engineer, that the
pedrall is destined to entirely replace tha
road-roller for repairing roads, as the
action of stamping and ramming is much,
better than rolling for this purpose"
Not a New Idea.
The numerous -articles now current in
tje English pres3 descriptive of Mr. Dip
lock's pedrall assume that the mechanical
principles of the engine are entirely new.
But while It probably must be conceded
to Mr. Diplock that the Idea, was orig
inal with him, and that he is to be cred
ited with the honor of this remarkable In
vention, yet it appears to be the fact that
(as so often happens) he had a forerun
ner. A correspondent of the Liverpool
Courier on December's says that the ped
rall reminds him of "Boydell's traction
engine," which between 1E55 and 1S57 waa
exhibited at a meeting of tho Royal Ag
ricultural Society of Eneland. The cor.
respondent thus describes Boydell's en
gine: This machine had flat feet attached with
a loose Joint to the periphery of each of tha
four road wheels and was a veritable walk
ing monster, and could travel steadily over
hedges and ditches, or surmount blocks oi
Umber or other obstacles in its way. It
was severely tested at "Woolwich and waa
quite successful, but the strong- prejudice of
the day against traction engines and tha
existing laws against the use of road loco
motives prevented Us being adopted. Oa
the death of-JIr. Boydell the following yea
It seems to have been consigned to the Umbo,
of, forgotten inventions.
It Is claimed that the pedrall can. by
certain modifications, be attached to any;
ordinary traction engine.
JAMES BOYLE, Consul.
The Bishop's Expedient.
Not being able to secure a berth on
a sleeper because of the "Jim, Crow"
car laws of Southern states, the colored
Bishop Arnett hired a whole Pullman
car some days ago In which he traveled
from Cincinnati to Mobile. It cost him
JS1.50, It is said.
tive MInlck was announced, an incident
occurred in one of the side streets of tho
City of Mexico. At the dty hospital, whero.
the Injured man was taken, certain pa
pers and checks found in his pockety
showed that he conducted his financial
affairs at least over the name of Oliver
Hewes, but the police were much puzzled
to find tattooed la blue Ink on the left
forearm the name "Buck Cober." Ha
never regained consciousness, and it waa
imppsslble to obtain any statement from
him. The wound In his head seemed to In
dicate that he had been hit with an un
commonly heavy billy. A woman cam a
forward from nowhere In particular to
claim the body, but she showed no dispo
sition to supply biographical details; sho:
dedicated her energy to hysterics.
It has, perhaps, no connection with this
Incident that two weeks previously tha
following paragraph appeared In various
newspapers in the United States: "Lubla
Cavanaugh, alias New York Lube, es
caped from prison last night. Ho
was a notorious professional burglar and
has a record against him which takes up
several pages of the j prison's blot
ter. A reward of JSOO Is offered for hla
capture and imprisonment until the prison
authorities can be communicated with."
There are those who rate themselves
"wise," however, who believe that the two
trivial Incidents are connected, and that
a belated Item should' be added to tho Bill
from Tiffany's.
(Copyright, 1004. by McCIure, Phillips A Co.),
50 Years Difference In Ages.
Brooklyn Eagle.
The octogenarian Earl of Leicesterwhd
Is on his deathbed", has been the father of
18 children, of whom 14 survive. He num
bers among his sons-in-law four Earls, a
Viscount and a Baron. There Is nearly1
half a century difference In the ages oC
his oldest daughter and his youngest son.
And ho Is at once a great-grandfather and
the father of a boy of 10. His marriage to
Miss Georgia Cavendish took place ex
actly 100 years after the marriage of hla
father.
And many other painful and serious
ailments from which most mothers
suffer, can he avoided hy the use of
MOtBers Frleilr This great remedy
is a God-send to women, carrying
them through their most critical
ordeal with safety and no pain.
mm gm.mmm
BiPiPftlfil