Amunutn'innil
EXCLUSIVE AGENCY
SHOE FOR WOMEN
Valdez Mercantile Co., Inc.
TRUE VALUES
On the basis of Security and Service
we solicit nour account.
•v ■ • f :: i '■
WE DO A BANKING BUSINESS EXCLUSIVELY.
VALDEZ BANK & TRUST CO.
Job Printing
At The Prospector Office
CRAZED WITH WEALTH.
Wild Time* In Melbourne When the
Gold Fever Raged. -
Melbourne in the height of the
gold, fever in the old days has been
described by one who knew it well
as “a fevered, drunken, delirious
pandemonium.”
Gold at that time threatened to
become as common as silver in the
days of Solomon. In one year £12,
600,000, in eight years £95,000,000,
were won. Some men at Golden
Point made as much as £400 each
a day. Another exceptionally lucky
party unearthed thirty-four pounds
of gold in one day. No wonder that
such “pockets” were termed “jew
elers’ shops!” Occasionally a nug
get worth £10,000 was unearthed.
The result of this sudden influx of
wealth, almost without labor and
with risks which are infinitesimal
as compared with the Klondike, was
the temporary demoralization of the
population.
The lucky ones—and there were
thousands of them — squandered
their riches in the most reckless
fashion. Some of their fantastic
tricks would scarcely be credited
were they not attested by witnesses
still living.
The game of ninepins, we are
told, was played with bottles of
champagne, for which he who broke
the least had. to pay. Dozens of
the same costly wine were emptied
into tubs and drunk from tin panni
kins, spirits and beer being added
to give “body” to the beverage. One
man, in imitation of Caligula, shod
his horse with gold. Sandwiches
made of bank notes were devoured.
Silver wrapped up in bank notes
was thrown to popular actresses in
stead of flowers.
In fact, money was so plentiful
that the reckless diggers could not
“knock it down” fast enough. They
thought they had only to dig a few
feet in the earth to get plenty more,
and for a time it almost seemed as
if this were so. Such were some of
the characteristics of Victoria’s hot
youth.—Pall Mall Gazette.
I
Portrait and Slipper.
.A touching anecdote, associated j
with a picture in the National gal
lery at Edinburgh, is told by an
English lady in her book, “Pot
pourri From a Surrey Garden.” She
writes: Several pictures stand out;
with peculiar interest, especially the
life sized Gainsborough of the young
Mrs. Grahame. She sat for the pic
ture as a bride, but before it came
home she.wns dead and her husband
had gone to the wars. When he
came back he never had the courage
to open the case which contained his
young wife’s portrait. On his death,
many long years after it was paint
ed, it was opened by his heirs, and
inside the case was the little white
slipper she had left with the painter
to help him to finish his picture.
The portrait was given to the Edin
burgh gallery, and the slipper was
kept by the family.
Spelling For the Bride.
Bride and groom they were, un
mistakably, and the guests writing
“Wish you were here” greetings in
that Atlantic City hotel were much
interested in them. Each sat at a
desk and got busy with pen and ink,
the silence being broken only when
the bride asked how to spell a hard
word. These queries annoyed an
old gentleman writing near by, and
he was plainly relieved when the
bridegroom left the room. The lit
tle bride did not know that she had
been deserted, and 6he again got
stuck on a word.
“How do you spell Cincinnati,
honey?” she asked.
“C-i-n-c-i-n-n-a-t-i-h-o-n-e-y,” re
sponded Mr. Grouch.—Lippincott’s.
Human Pumps In Africa.
In the desert of Kalahari, in Af
rica, is. seen the human pump.
Though there is no water found on
the surface in this arid region there
are places where veins are struck
several feet underground. A bam
boo tube is run down to the water
supply and when any one comes for
water the well tender, who is usually
a iWoman, puts her mouth over the
bamboo and by a vigorous intake of
breath sucks up a quantity of water.
This she then dexterously squirts
from her mouth into the shell of
an ostrich egg. These shells when
furnished with corks of pith make
very good water bottles, and they
will stand considerable rough han
dling.
Hard to Please. <
In discussing courteous and gen
tle manners in public places a lady
in “The Professional Aunt” observ
ed that she - hated to be pushed,
whereupon the Professional Aunt
gave her this instance of uncon
scious discourtesy:
I told her of a woman next me
in a bus one day, who said, “You’re
a-sittin’ on me!” and who, when I
rose and politelv begged her pardon,
said, “Now you’re a-standin’ on
met” And we agreed that there was
no pleasing some people.
CART TAIL FLOGGING.
A Curious Punishment That 8urvivid
In England Until 1836.
Although flogging at the cart’s
tail is generally supposed to have
ceased after 1827, various instances
are on record up to 183G when a
man convicted of robbery from the
person was slowly paraded through
the principal street of Saltash “with
bare back and flogged at the cart’s
tail, to which one of his hands was
lashed at either side. Two men,
armed with cat-o’-ninc-tails, laid
on heavily and were scolded by the
beadle or crier in uniform for not
hitting harder.” The punishment
was sometimes reduced to a farce
when the administering hand had
been well “oiled” or belonged to a
soft hearted otlicer of justice, as in
a case mentioned by the poet Cow
per, where the thief was the onlj*
one concerned who suffered nothing.
A youth had stolen some iron
work at Olncy. “Being convicted,”
says Cowper, “he was ordered to be
whipped, which operation he under
went at The cart’s tail, from the
stone house to the high arch and
back again. He seemed to show
great fortitude, but it was all an
imposition upon the public. The
beadle who performed it had filled
his left hand with red ocher, through
which after every stroke he drew
the lash of his whip, leaving the ap
pearance of a wound upon the skin,
but in reality not hurting him at all.
This being perceived by Constable
Hinschcomb, who followed the bea
dle, he applied his cane without any
such management or precaution to
the shoulders of the too merciful
executioner.
“The scene immediately became
more interesting. The beadle could
by no means be prevailed upon to
strike hard, which provoked the con
stable to strike harder, and this
double flogging continued till a lass
of Silver End, pitying the pitiful
beadle, thus suffering under the
hands of the pitiless constable, join
ed the procession and, placing her
self immediately behind the latter,
seized! him by his capillory club and,
pulling him backward by the same,
slapped his face with a most ama
zonian fury.”—St. James’ Gazette.
A Cause For Thanks.
Charles O’Conor once began an
after dinner speech in Philadelphia
in this way:
“I must confess that I dread to
make after dinner speeches. At the
most sumptuous dinners, even at
such a dinner as this one, if I know
that at the end I must make a
speech I am nervous, I have no ap
petite, I find little to admire in the
best efforts of the chef. In truth,
gentlemen, I can readily imagine
Daniel, if he was at all of my mind,
heaving a sigh of relief as the lions
drew near to devour him—heaving
a sigh of relief and murmuring:
“ ‘Well, if there’s any after dinner
speaking to be done on this occa
sion, at least it won’t be done by
me.’ ”
The Solemn Scotchman.
A Scottish parson was attending
a funeral in his own churchyard.
The service over and dust given to
dust, the green sod smoothed down
over the narrow bed, the company
departed. But a worthy man re
mained behind and approached the
parson with a solemn face, as though
for serious talk.
“Din ye ken what 1 aye think at
a funeral?” Many serious reflec
tions have come to one there, and
the clergyman expected some befit
ting thought.
“No. What is it you always
think ?”
The answer was, “I aye think I’m
desperate gledd it’s no me.”
Naturally Puzzled..
Among the interested visitors of
the marine barracks at Washington
on one occasion there was a party
of young girls from a Maryland
town, friends of One of the officers
of the barracks.’ They proved much
interested in everything pertaining
to the life and discipline of the post.
“What do you mean by ‘taps?’”
asked one young woman.
“Taps are played every night on
the bugle,” answered the officer. “It
means ‘lights out.’ They play it
over the bodies of dead Boldiers.”
A puzzled look came to the face
of the questioner. Then she asked:
“What dp you do if you haven’t a
dead soldier?”
Hints to Housewives.
Don’t try to become accustomed
to a smoky furnace. It can’t be
done. '
Spots on the parlor walls may be
treated effectively by hanging pic
tures over thpm. \
The only sure way to get a good
line fence between your property
and your neighbor’s is to build it
yourself.
One advantage in living in a
house with a narrow frontage is
that you have less walk to clean.—
Chicago Tribune.
A. M. Dieringer
Valdez Transfer
Company
General Trucking and Freight
ing to all interior points
LIVERY ar d FEED STABLE
STORAGE
Teaming of all kinds1
Positively no coal delivered
unless paid tor in advance
PROFESSIONAL
Dr. H. COCKERILLE
Creduateof National Unirer.it;
L Washington,'. D. C."
DENTIST
Phone 92je - F.un.—I....,
Office in,Whaling building ~ VAI HF7"
Next to cable office
DR. GERMAN
Phone ,g THE DENTIST
a a°"Ce.rors ove- Uwl DrUK Store. Office hours
9 a. m.. to 8 n. m . , d, n„toj p, m. Sundays
b} appointment All work Kuaranteed
E. E. RITCHIE
LAWYER
phone 136 Valdez, Alaska
C. E. BUNNELL
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW
Offices Wall Street
Phone 3i VALDEZ
MINING ENGINEER
F. butterworth;
Civil Engineer and
U. S. Deputy Land and
Mineral Surveyor
®lue Printing Res Phone. 199
L. W. STORM, E. M.
Valdez, Alaska
Reports oh Mines
Patent Surveys
General Mining Engineering
Phone No. ios
Geo. f. white
The Assayer
•Assaying and Ore Testing
CORRECT RESULTS
No More, No Less
VALDEZ, ALASKA
Valdes Lodge
No 168.
Free and Accepted Masons
Regular Communications first Wednesday in
each month in McKinley Hall Visitors always
welcome.
James H Patterson,,W. M
C. C. Reynolds. Sec
F O E
VALDEZ AERIE N<J. 1971
Meet every Friday. 8 p. m. Earle Hal
CAMP VALDEZ No. 10
A.B
Meet every Tuesday evening at 8 o'clock la
Eagle1 Hall. All members ore requested to
ttend- 1 S. McNJECE. Arctlo Chief
PIONEERS OF ALASKA
IGLOO NO. 7.
Meets every first and third Mon
day of each month. All visit
ing Brothers welcome.
E. G. AMES, Secretary.
VALDEZ LODGE NO. 6,1.0. 0. F.
Meets every Monday at 8 p. m- in
ODD FELLOWS HALL
Visiting Brothers especially invited
Wm> Thomas, n. o. P. S. Hcht, p. g„ Sro