!
The C h au ffeu r
and the Je w e ls .
C o r r r tr t t.
b y J. & Lirpu tcorr C o u p a n t .
AU righ t« r a w n d
*
I
14
o
By
L ilith M organ W ille tt
[THE WEEKLY I
j
C H A PTE R X III.
“ Two weeks," she said, without the
“ You «hull hear from me early in the faintest hint of coquetry or hesitation.
morning," the mock Prince del Pino had “ It was just two weeks ago to-night that
told Mrs. Waring when he left her at her we met on board the Majestic.”
house; and then, turning his motor iu
“ N o !" Sarto shook his head. “ 'You
the direction of his hotel, he gave himself have known me longer than that. Look
up to the business of the moment, making at me
♦he most of the brief time left to him.
He drew nearer, with sudden deter
It was half-past ten wheu he stood out mination. “ Where have you seen me be
side of a house in S street and consulted fore? Th ink! Remember!”
his watch.
But the girl only gazed at him with as
Half-past ten. Very late for a visit, tonished, half-frightened eyes.
and yet— they were awake in the house !
"Before?” she faltered ; “ I — don’t un
Through the bowed shutters and open derstand."
windows came the sound of one o f Chop
Sarto moved impatiently.
The sus
in's ^raltses, played by a girl's slightly pense was becoming unbearable.
amateur fingers on a piano that was not
"T h in k !" he urged relentlessly. “ O f
of the beat. Rut on that night of witch whom did you say I reminded you? Have
ery. in the silent lighted streets, the air you forgotten Sarto, the chauffeur?"
floated out with a certain graceful state-
“ You Sarto?”
Annette half whisper
“ I will be waiting,” said Annette very
tin
ed the word. “ Sarto—and the Prince del
softly.
t'urbing his impatience. Sarto waited P in o !”
For a long Instant their eyes met. Hera
until the last note of the phrase was
Her irrepressible imagination was at
were full of tears, but into the man's
played, regardless of the flight of time, work again.
there came a far-off. ineffable look as of
and then, mouuting the steps, rang the
With a half groan Sarto turned away.
one who sees visions and dreams dreams.
hell____ I " ________________ ____ ________
“ Xo more fairy tales, child!” he said
"Some day the pilgrim will come back
There was a little hesitation before a roughly. “ The book is closed now ! The
light tread came along the hall and the man you have known is not the Prince to you,” he said.
And, with love burning triumphantly
door opened.
del Pino." His voice vibrated. “ Only
at the candles of his shrine, Sarto went
" I had almost given up Your High an impostor— a miserable impostor. Lis
out into the night.
ness," said Annette Bancroft.
ten ! "
He hesitated, standing with bis
At 10 o’clock the next morning, while
Her visitor stood, hat in hand, look back to the window, a silhouette of a
Mrs. Waring was sitting up in bed and
man, looking at the girl between her two
ing up at her.
“ I am all apologies for the lateness of candles as a lost soul might look at an sipping her chocolate, her maid brought
her a flat, square, be wrapped parcel. Just
the hour,” he began in a low voice. “ But angel in heaven.
arrived
by a messenger boy.
I have been dining at Chevy Chase and
Then he told his story, from the mo
Giving a glance at the address, written
was detained longer than I thought. I ment that he looked into Mra. Waring's
in a delicate, foreign-looking hand, Gus-
shall only stay a moment."
trunk to the present.
sue
tore open the wrappings with excited
The girl led the way. without speaking,
Perhaps never in the course of his
into the drawing room, where two candles checkered career had the chauffeur, past- fingers, pulled out the orthodox cotton
were burning, revealing the open piano master as he was in the science of the wool so suggestive of a jeweler, and re
heaped with music. Behind it the win tongue, acquitted himself so ill. By a vealed a chamois glove-case!
Pinned to it was a card on which waa
dow stood open, letting in the light from skillful suppression of a fact here, the
• the street.
strengthening of an episode
there— in engraved, “ II Principe Roderigo del Pino,”
“ Roses!" ejaculated the mock prince. fact, a little judicious light and shade— and underneath, in pencil. “ Better known
He daintily sniffed at a bowlful standing the tale might have made a very credit as Ludovic 8arto, Mrs. Waring’a ex
on the center table. “ Papa Gontier,” he able autobiography, in which Ludovic chauffeur, begs to send her the enclosed
murmured, lifting the heavy heads. “ He Sarto, the hero, would have shone forth jewels, as a slight return for the many
has good taste in flowers— the English in an adventurous, seductive— possibly an kind favors wh'ch have rendered his mem
orable Washington sojourn so agreeably
man."
heroic— light.
diverting."
Annette made a faint acquiescence. She
To a lover all things are possible, per
About a week after Mrs. Waring’a very
had seated herself on the piano stool, a missible. But for the time being Sarto
sudden
departure for England, Town Tit-
ghost-like little figure in the half light.
was not a lover.
Bits had the following paragraph;
Turning away from the table, Sarto
He stood as It were In his confessional,
“ Prince Roderigo del Pino— so the pa
moved towards the piano.
speaking to a hidden ear, dissecting his
“ Ah, I had forgotten that I” he said, conduct with the scrupulous exactness pers have it— only arrived in New York
speaking sotto-voce. “ M. Buist remains of the penitent. And the pale girl sit yesterday on the Scotia, and is to give,
after I am gone. He has the best of It !” ting between the two candles waa to him Newport’s summer colony a glimpse of hia
“ A fter you have gone!” echoed An a distant vision in a dim church, silent, titles and millions to-morrow.
“ Can it be possible that there are two
nette.
inspiring, uplifting! Only at the last,
She stood motionless, staring with part the man looked out through the sinner’s Roderigo del Pinos? I f not, may we ask
ed lips and widened eyes into the face of eyes, with a faint satisfaction in his own the identity of the mysterious Italian no
the man who bent over the piano, his sin, an irresistible pride in his own per bleman, who disported himself in Wash
ington two weeks ago in the train of that
dark, mobile features so near hers.
formance.
noted society leader, Mrs. R—-— d W — ng,
“ Yes," he said, speaking in very quiet
“ I must say I played the part w ell!” whose rumored engagement to the Earl
tones, to which his curiously expressive
Sarto
boasted. “ My acting was success of L ------y, we understand, is an undoubt
voice lent a certain pathos. “ It is to say
good-by I am come to-night.
Before ful as far as it went. I dare say there ed fact?”
(T h e End.)
mo ruing I will have left Washington. I are a score here who would say a good
word for me------"
shall never see you again.”
A wail crept into his voice. “ Ah, the
The last words rang with an irrepres
sible melancholy that sent a shiver irony of fa te! While they are applaud
through his listener. Turning, forgetful ing the Prince del Pino out there in the
| WOMAN LAWYER’S CHANCE, j
of the all-revealing lights in the street audience, the poor mountebank must
below, she looked up into his face, her crawl off to hide himself and his broken
But I forgot"— with a jarring
own white with the shock of his words— heart.
her eyes wide with the secret of her heart. laugh— “ chauffeurs— people of a certain
I f there Is any hint o f a moral at
class- are not permitted to have hearts!“
“ Annette!” cried Ludovic 8arto.
He stood, poor Sarto, very human and tached to the New York Sun story be
Love Is a great mystery! • • • It
moves through the winding passages of very much in love, his face working, his low it is that to establish clearly their
our cold, dark hearts so silently that we heart rebelling at the bitterness of his legal and Judicial equality women law
never suspect its presence until suddenly cup, the Injustice that deprived him of yers must learn to regard untidiness
one day we see it for the first time mir the fruits of his own triumphs— the en as philosophically as do men lawyers.
joyment of his own happiness.
rored in the light of another's eyes.
And there was silence in the little Th is is the story, ns one o f the hun
At some time— when the chauffeur
room, while from the street outside came dred women lawyers in New York City
could not tell— some Midas touch had
tells it :
turned the gratitude, the friendship he the smooth roll of wheels and a man's
In the early days o f my legal stu
tenor in the distance singing the air from
felt for this girl into the gold of his
l ’ngliacci, bird-like atoms of sound thread dentship I was In a Wisconsin town
heart.
ing the roar of the city.
spending my vacation, and Judge X ,
And in this instant of miracles the
A t last Annette spoke. “ What have the great man o f the place, an old
man's whole being, his double nature,
you done with the diamonds?” she asked
even the dark side which had achieved its
friend o f my father’s, gave me the
very quietly.
sinister triumph one short hour ago, seem
.
The man before her caught his breath. privilege o f his library.
ed touched by that same Divine alchemy
Like many other private law libra
“
Ah,
the
diamonds!
1
had
forgotten
.—the base metal in him transformed and
ries In small places I have visited, this
about them.”
purified.
was unsurpassed In number o f volunu
For
an
instant
he
stared
at
the
girl
There are certain moments in this dull
life of ours when the froth is on the wine blankly. A ll this time Ludovic Sarto had and value by any I have ever known
•—moments of dazzling, diamond-like bril been thinking of himself as the ehauffeur. about In New York, where space Is so
liance— moments as sweet as the first Surely that was low enough! But now, precious that n lawyer must perforce
with a heavy, irretrievable sense of doom, depend on outside help for his refer
taste of a nectarine and as evanescent.
Even as Ludovic Sarto and Annette be saw in her eyes whence he had fallen ences.
From the pedestal pn
Bancroft gazed into each other’s eyes, the and how fa r !
In a smaller town yon must own the
which she bad placed the Prince del Pino,
moment passed by, never to return.
books
yourself or go without.
The
The next a terrible realization came down to the thief— the robber of Mrs.
Judge owned his, and I browsed with
Waring’s
diamonds.
What
g
descent!
Into the man's heart. “ Wait a moment P*
he said hoarsely. “ I — I have something And in the fall— love, that brittle, deli- wonder and delight about among the
'cate thing, lay shattered, broken into shelves, which filled three good-sized
to tell you P*
rooms, and I realized for the first time
Turning sharply away, he took a few fragments.
Sarto was suddenly face to face with what the law really meant, and how
turns up and down the room, grappling
with the ordeal that was suddenly upon a judge, young, austere, implacable, in tremendous an undertaking it was fo r
whose clear tones there sounded an echo
him.
of some distant Puritan ancestor; in a young woman like myself to seek U>
For the girl must be told the truth
whose glance he saw himself condemned. make any headway In it.
» o w ! It was inevitable! A las! the dis
These, however, were only refleo
“ The diamonds,” he repeated with an
covery of her secret demanded the reveal
My Inslsteat
effort, “ go to Mrs. Waring to-morrow, tlons, by the way.
ing of his.
with a note of— of explanation. I shall thought was one o f horror at the dirt
It was a strange psychic fact that to
see to it— the first thing In the morning.” and disorder that reigned supremo.
Sarto nett, in spite of his slippery, di
He spoke with the submissive imper
I set to work, and finally, after fin
verse nature, no other course occurred. sonal air of a servant, his eyes on the
ishing up the outer rooms, I Invnded
The man who loved Annette Bancroft—
ground, and for a moment Annette list
the sanctum, where the old Judge had
and was loved In return— could no longer ened silently.,
mask behind the Prince del Pino.
gone
on day a fter day without taking
“ What are you doing here then?” she
Ludovic must come forth and near his asked suddenly. “ Don’t you know that if the slightest notice o f me and iny dust
responsibilities. The law of self-preserva Count Souravieff is after you, be may ing. When he did become aware that
tion. which he had only acknowledged so be here at any moment?” Her voice rose
something so unprecedented wns taking
far, had given way to another, diviner. sharply. “ You will be caught, impris
place, he nearly had a stroke.
For the first time in his-life the mer- oned
T o think that I, an Insignificant fly
curfsl chauffeur bent bis head to the law
But the chauffeur only smiled, with a on the dictionary o f wisdom, had dared
of self-sacrifice.
sparkle in his keen eyes which had not
Turning suddenly, be looked at the girl been there before. Slight as it was, that to disturb the accumulation o f sacred
at the piano.
note of anxiety had not escaped him. dust! Even his old-time courtesy was
Annette was leaning forward, facing Though in fragments, still there was love fo r a while sadly shaken.
him. a faint nervous smile on her lips, for him in the girl's heart.
Fin ally he gas|x-d out a question as
her eyes full o f a dawning, shy expect
“ Oh, I am safe enough indeed!” he an to whether I did not respect the su
ancy.
swered confidently. “ My motor. In which perstitions o f the profesalon
I was
Watching her, bis wonderfully keen— I led them a chase, is standing in front studying to enter, one o f which was the
almost feminine— perceptions dissecting o f a pharmacie in F street at this mo hide-bound rule that no volume should
the girl's soul, Sarto saw, with shudder ment. For myself, I left my hotel an
have its place changed or its face
ing. sickening horror and self-disgust, all hohr ago and took my valise with ita con
altered,
though the dust might b*
tents
to”
—
he
hesitated—
“
well,
never
that the girl in her innocent romantic
soul was imagining. A fairy tala no less mind where. When -one leads a double Inches deep.
I shook my bead, and in answer
— foolish enough !— with a prince for its life, Mias Bancroft, one finds it conven
ient sometimes to live in two places. And proudly displayed the completed cata
hero and for ita heroine------
The man who loved her knew, with aa then I came on here. Yea, it is quite logue, where code volumes and common
inward recoil, that it fell to him to shat sa fe; but it is well that you remind me law had their respective position*.
ter this pretty little castle in the air— that I must go.”
Finally the hnmor o f the situation
“ What will become o f you?” asked the
with its occupants.
came to his relief, and he said;
Standing before her, be spoke formally. girl, almost In a whisper.
“ Well, I have often wanted to know
She still sat, her face turned away,
“ Miss Bancroft, tell me, how long have
what women were going to do when
staring fixedly at the opposite wall.
we known each other— you and 17”
they entered the legal field, and now I
Sarto moved toward the door.
Annette raised her eyes to his, and a
“ What will become o f me?” ha echoed. know. They w ill dust the book »”
vivid color tinged her pale cheeks.
r
I
I with his old fatalistic shrug of the ahoul-
ders. “ Who kuows?”
Ills voice drop
ped. “ I have sinned, and I must do pen-
nance, make expiation. There Is much
ahead of me ” -
He t>iM>ned the door abruptly and stood
hesitating. “ W ill you not look at me
before I go, and pity, forgive, forget?"
For the first time Annette met his
glance. She had been listening to • the
leather-coated chauffeur, shrinking from
the th ief; now, raising her head, she saw,
standing in the doorway, a curiously at
tractive figure, looking at her with wist
ful eyes. The man, after all, whom she
loved.
H alf unconsciously, she leaned toward
him with a desolate little cry.
"Pity, forgive, yes!"
she repeated.
“ Yes. But forget? Oh. I cannot! 1 will
not give you u p!”
Rising to her feet, she stood, her hands
clasped tightly, her lips parted, gazing at
him with the soul Itself shining in h*r
eyes. But Sarto did not move. lie stood
looking at her standing between her can
dles, the sculpted image of a saint carved
in stone, and a very wistful look catne
into his face.
“ There is a lighted shrine in my heart,”
he said, speaking as if to himself, “ and
the flame can never go out. The candle
will be burning there always through the
long, lonely pilgrimage— and at the end
____ t*
’
v
S tack
C o v e s.
Th e accompanying illustration shows
a cheap device fo r covering a stack
of clover hay, where there la no slough
grass at hand to put on top.
In making this cover common boards
may he used from 12 to 10 feet long,
n foot or more wide, puttlug one on
top o f the stack first, then slipping one
on each side tinder the top one, about
two inches and fastening by driving a
common fence staple over a smooth
w ire Just at the edge o f the upper
board, so as to make a sharp bend In
the w ire over* the edge, and so on
down as fa r as wanted. 8lx or eight
boards on each a id » w ill generally be
sufficient; then fasten a post, stone or
STA C K COVES.
weight o f some kind at the end o f the
wires and the thing Is done. Th is a r
rangement also saves the trouble o f
putting on hangers as it answers the
same purpose. T w o wires to each length
o f boards, about tw o feet from the
ends, and as many sections as may be
needed fo r the length o f stack, putting
the middle section on laBt with
the
ends lapping over the next one, is all
the material that is needed. In using
the hay a section o f this cqver may be
taken off by draw ing qut the staples
and the stack cut down so as to leave
the cover on tbo remainder. The same
boards can be used over and over again
“or a number o f years.
G e l A f t e r th e F i r .
Files are one o f the most aggravat
ing pests w e’ have on the farm.
If
we give them a breathing spell the
poor cows, calves and horses have to
suffer and the supply o f milk w ill tun
sh ort I t is either “ fight or lose.” It
Is not sufficient to Just spray the ani
mals with a fly-repelling mixture in
the morning and then turn them out to
oasture. ♦
A few hours later, when I go to look
a fter them in the pasture, they are
often covered with blood sucking files
again, so I take a hand-sprayer loaded
with a liquid o f which kerosene forms
a large portion along and spray this
right upon the files on each anfmfil.
Th e cows soon learn that spraying
means re lief and they w ill hold still
w hile you spray. The flies quickly let
go o f their hold and fa ll to the ground
when the kerosene touches them. Vis
iting the animals once or tw ice a day
In this manner is a great help to them
during the fly season.— L. R. Johnson,
Illinois.
O a lS a
fo v D r a g
Saw s.
A very simple method by which one
man can manipulate a drag saw to
cut down trees has been devised by n
Western
timber
man.
In using
these saws
two
men have hereto
fore been neces
sary, one at each
end o f the saw.
Th e arrangement
o f the drag-saw
guide is shown in
the
illustration,
uuiucs t b s s a w .
Resting
against
the tree is a rod, from which Is sus
pended a cord.
A t the end o f the
cord is an adjustable clamp, to which
one end o f the saw is secured. A t the
other end o f the saw is a handle. In
operating the saw to cut the tree, the
end opposite the handle Is supported
by the cord in the same position as i f
operated by band. W ith the employ
ment o f this guide the necessity o f an
extra man to manage one end o f the
saw is eliminated.
RIAN
a. r* «*
«“A
D M t r o r lz g W e e d s . *
In destroying anuual
weeds one
method la to disk the stubble fields,
causing the weed seed to germinate,
a fter which they can be killed by sub
sequent cultivation or by fro s t Anoth
er method is to turn live stock, espe
cially sheep Into these stubble fields to
eat up fhe weeds and weed seeds. The
value o f cultivated crops, rotations and
summer fallow s Is also discussed.
The eradication o f perennials is morp
difficult than in the case o f annuals.
For these they tried smother crops,
bare fallow, chemicals and tar paper.
For small areas o f quack grass, cover-
lug with tar paper wus found effective,
but was too costly fo r Held applica
tion. As quack grass Is sim ilar to Ber 1248— Construction o f the Cathedral of
Cologne begun.
muda grass In its habit o f spreading,
and It equally persistent this method 1461— Louie X I. of France crowned at
Rheims.
may he o f Interest to those who wish
1840— Peace concluded between Sweden
to kill small areas o f Bermuda.
and Denmark.
A H e lp la F r a il P l c k l a « .
1670—John Dryden created Poet Lau
In commercial orcharding It Is gen-l
reate o f England.
erally most economical to have pick
1741— Behring, the navigator, discovered
ing and packing work going on concur
East Cape.
rently. This saves- putting the apples
1786— Fort Oswego captured by the
on the ground And having to handle
French under Montcalm.
them again. A portable sorting table
1708— Pontiac’s war for the extermina
upon which pickers can empty their
tion o f the English in America came
bags is placed on low truck whgels and
to an end.
a single horse can move It to any de 1778— Liberty Tree in Boston conse
sired point as the work proceeds. It
crated.
should be made large enough to hold
1776— Constitution o f Maryland adopted.
not less than two barrels o f fruit.
1780— Americana defeated British and
Th e rear bolster is higher than that
.Tories at battle of M nag rove Mills.
at the open end, so that the culls can
1802— Bonaparte invested with power to
be rolled out. A long, heavy plank is
nominate his successor aa ruler of
placed on the ground on each side o f
France.
this table on which the barrels are set
1804— Work began on the first public
for Oiling. Th e culls are allowed to
road between Georgia and Tennes
roll into a pile from the lower end o f
see.
the grading table.
1807— British army invested Copenhagen.
1830— British Parliament passed the Die
T h e H o r a e 's T eeth a t W ip e Y e a n .
venters’ Marriage Act.
1838— The Brat United States exploring
expedition sailed under Commander
Wilkes.
1846— Gen. Kearney took peaceable pos
session of Santa Fe, Mexico.
I860— The Prince of Wales (now King
Edward V I I .) arrived.-at Quebec.
1868— Cabul recovered by Sbere All.
1884— Mme. Patti sued for divorce from
Marquis de Caux.
A t nine years the mark in the cornet
1888— More than 100 lives lost in col
teeth o f the upper Jaw is clearly de
lision of the German steamers Thing-
fined; the mark is still visible In the
valla and Geiaer off Sable Island.
middle teeth, but has almost disap 1881— Between 300 and 400 Uvea lost in
pea red from the nippers.
earthquake in Martinique.
1803— The Behring
Sea
arbitration
award waa delivered.
1804— Rnasian and Japanese warships en
gaged in battle off Vladivostok.
A side view o f upper Jaw at nine
years. Th e point D is the Indentation
usually seen In corner tooth.
F r r a o r v t « * th e M e r x a a H o rae.
Colonel Battell o f Mlddlebury, V t,
is entitled to the honor o f preserving
the M orgaif horse from extinction. He
has enlisted the United States Depart
ment o f Agriculture In the work o f re
storing to Its old-time standard this
beautiful horse, and for that purpose
has deeded to the government 500 acres
o f pasture and" woodland. The horses
now on the farm are headed by a stal
lion that cost 14,000.
H o t*«
A l. o o I
th e
F o rm .
Th e hens ought to have a little grain
every day all during the summer.
Feeding heavily on whole cqrn has
a tendency to Induce hens to become
broody.
T r y to arrange to give each horse on
the farm a three weeks’ vacation on
grass.
Keep the stables and the yards dean,
so that flies and Insects have‘ no breed
ing pla ce»
Beets or mangel wurxels make fine
food fo r poultry. They
should be
chopped fine.
See that all the hogs have plenty o f
fresh, clean w ater to drink, especially
during hot, dry d a y »
Do not put away the whitewash
brush in the summer time. Keep it
going summer and winter.
Do not fail to provide a shelter un
der which the young chicks can scurry
in case o f sudden storms.
Boiled eggs should never be fed to
very young chicks and should never
Successful farm ing on arid land with be fed more than twice a week.
out
artificial
w atering
has
been
Th e poor cow seems to be continual
brought to the notice o f the Agricultur ly with u k
Get rid o f her and thus
al Society o f Germany, w ith an expla reduce the cost o f production.
nation o f the method. In Syria and
A rid ity in milk Is incipient decom
Palestine, with practically
no
rain position.1 and It is the most delicate
from A p ril to Ootober, the fields in flavored oils which suffer first o f all
July have a flourishing abundance -of
among the fats o f which butter is com
watermelons, cucumbers, tomatoes and posed.
other products, and plants continue
‘ Evehy successful. breeder has some
green and thriving until autumn. The
hobby,
some originality that leads him
secret lies in so plowing that the win
ter rains are absorbed and retained In to Improve' some particular character
the subsoil. Th e plowing is shallow, istic o f bis cows and Improve them In
averaging only 4 to 6 Inches In depth, some one particular point
Nearer dose a healthy horse. A ll he
and after the full harvest It follows
each heavy rain as soon as the ground needs Is good care and good feed. The
begins to dry. the purpose being to keep good care Includes, o f course, regular
» loose and friable surface to take up exercise. I t is Just as bad fo r a horse
the w ater from the subsoil.
In the to be all the time taking medicine as it
spring the land is plowed to a depth o f Is fo r a man. Do not do i t
about 6 Inches. The seed is dropped
I f the horse flags, and his legs be
by the plow upon the moist subsoil and come unsteady, unhitch at once, put
It Is covered by the closing up o f the cold water on his head and on the back
loose soil. Protected by the loose cov o f his neck and rub with coarse d o t h »
ering. tbs subsoil furnishes sufficient I f near a drug store Inject forty or
moisture for plant growth during the more grains o f q u ln ln » Sponge his
if
oa
satire dry ««eena
A rid
Land.
mouth with cold wates
A trial week of dispatching trains by
telephone from the stations of the Isick-
awanna system has resulted in the adop
tion of the phone»
The line of the Wisconsin Central road
from I-adyamith to Superior has been
completed as far as the Northern Pacific
crossing within the Superior city limits.
Several hundred thousand freight cars
may be standing idle, as the railroad
managers fearfully protest, but some Kan
sas grain dealers complain that they are
unable to get box cars enough.
In the Circuit Court at Chicago Judge
Kohlsaat enjoined the issuance of trans
portation hy the Chicago, Indianapolis
and Louisville railway to the publishers
of Munsey's Magazine in exchange for
advertising. He held that the contract
under which this transportation was is
sued is in violation of the Hepburn rate
law. The railroad company gave notice
of an appeal to the United States Su
preme Court.
A t Helena, Mont., legal representatives
of the government began suit against tbs
Northern Pacific Railway Company, the
Roriiy Fork Coal Company and the
Northwestern Improvement Company to
recover title to valuable coal lands which
h Is charged were procured through mis
representation.
The lands in question
contain coal mines from which the rail
way obtains great quantities of coal
through Ita control of the subsidiary com
panies.
Presumably due to the Industrial de
pression of the past year, the death rate
from accidents by rail appears to be on
the decrease. The Accident Bulletin o f
the Interstate Commerce Commission for
the first quarter of 1008 shows a 'total
of 125 passengers and employes killed,
as compared with 220 such deaths in the
preceding quarter, and with 346 In tbs
one before that. The latest record is the
smallest since these statistics we?e first
collected In 1001. During tbe first quar
ter of this year the number of deaths of
passengers and employes from all causes
was 728, against 1002 In the preceding
quarter. In the same period the number
of casualties was 15,f41, tbe least within
three years.
•
The right of shippers to combine email
quantities of freight of various ownephlp,
either by arrangement, among themselves
or, by a forwarding agency, was confirmed
by the Interstate Commerce Commission
n a decision recently rendered.
The Interstate Commerce Commission
has published the final figures o f the In?
come of the railroads for the last fiscal
year. The total net earnings amounted
to $840,588,844, which la an Increase o f
$54,080,300. The total number of em
ployee on Ihe pay roll on June 80 was
1.672474, against 1,021,866 a year a « »