North Carolina Newspapers

VOLUME XI. LENOIR, 1ST. C; WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1885. NUMBER S.' Wallace Bros STATESVILLE, N. C. Tholes alE Dealers General lierchandise. -tot- Largest Warehouse and best facili- ties for han dling Dried Fruit, Ber ries, etc.. in the State. RESPECTFULLY v Wallace August 27th, 1884- Oj 3 LiOI it i. ? wJ,.51clne, combining Iron with pur I'Jii. tnl quickly and completely T?r Iji?j &alria,CfaiJa ud 1, tr It to an uniiip remedy for Diseases of ttar JXIHncrs b 4 lirer. It to inyaluable for Diseases peculiar to VVomen, and all "who lead sedentary lires. It does not Injure the teeth, cause headache,or produce constipation other Iron medicine do. It enriches and purifies the blood, stimulates . the appetiia, aids the assimilation of food, re- -lieves Heartburn and fcelcuisj, end strengths cos the muscles and nerves. - v For Intermittent I 'even. Lassitude, lack of Energy, it has no equal. r 4 . Thernuine has above trade nark and crossed red lines on wrapper. Take no other. U Ml, j BROWS OtlSIClL CO, BiLTIXOSX, Uw ; CLII7T0IJ A. CILLEY, f ' ...... . .. . O ' mO Ti- 1 ! . X m. I. I 1 CJ l it II ll l bin ? ii i i lb. BOONE. BY A. M. D. PABTII. No golden fields, no Sabbath bells, The hills echoed with stYsge yells ; J The redman owned the vast domain ' From mountain crag to fertile plain. ' " . He thought his title was in fee, and O, how happy, wild and free. But stop, O, Savage, stop and think, You're standing on destruction's brink! v lt all your hopes be turned to fears ' " And deep doe pair instead of cheers. -; The die ia cast, your fate ia sealed, . What dreadful roe la that, concealed -In yonder copse? With flashing .eyes, . And heart that knows no compromise ; . With such a bold, determined look That death he could undaunted brook, An iron purpose that fairly mocks .. A thousand savage tomahawks.' ' Oh 1 Savage, now thy woe tx wail, Daniel Boeae is on thy trail ! , A hero, grand, Immortal, brave. Whose fame grows brighter from the grave. - A hardy yeoman, warrior bold, Enduring heat, defying cold, Bel ore whose awe-inspiring tread The savage farther westward fled Toward the sunset's russet glow ... . To bend again his deadly bow. A woodsman, artful, cunning, keen, A foe could see. himself unseen, , And win a battle in retreat, 1 , And bring out vicfry from defeat Nor Roman arm was e'er so strong. Nor Spartan valor set in song - . . That could eclipse our hero, grand, Who gavd us this, ear Switzerland. A mighty messenger was he. ' : To blase the war for liberty. - . This John, the Baptist, sought a place ; For the great Anglo-Saxon raoe, . V ? And soon the land was occupied By civilisation's rushing tide. What mead of praise could be too great Our hero's name to celebrate 1 , What honors could our race confer -Too great for such a Pioneer? ' What village would not boasting claim To wear the mighty heroe's name ? And such is ours, 'mid bubbling rills i Among Watauga's fertile hilia ; Where crags and stars' communloatb The highest village ia the 8tate. . What sacred memrles hover round ' This solitary spot of ground, . Where Daniel Boone did pitch his tent, And weeks in rendesvoning spent ? .Long since bad ceased his weary tramp, Stood the rude chimney of his camp. - A precious temple of his skill 1 Who oould construct, as well as kill The time did come most opportune, When with these etones, all rough, unhewn, Was laid the corner-stone of Boone. LiXO PRIMES CALIFOHM. Sacramekto, Gal., Sept. 7. To the Editor of the Xenoir Topic I find that it is necessary for me to make some additions to my letter to you on the 5th. While Senator Stanford is one of the. largest . indi vidual land owners in the State of California, the very - largest holders of real estate here are companies. There is one firm, Miller & Lux, of San Francisco, that own about one thousand square miles of territory in this State, besides large ranches in Nevada and elsewhere. They are the largest cattle men on the PacificJ coast, iney qo an immense , Busi ness in slaughtering in San Francis co. I have traveled through, and by, many of their ranches between this city (Sacramento) and Stock ton., They, do not confine themselves alone to cattle, but " they own im mense sheep herdsT-the ' animals bred for mutton as well as for wool. These men pay tax, I am told, on over six hundred thousand of land in California alone, besides what they are supposed to occupy other wise. 'I have just recently , examined the official records of, two counties in this State for the purpose of as certaining the financial standing of an individual who is on tbo official bond of a postmaster. He has in these two counties real estate- farms and stock lands assessed for .taxa tion at over three hundred thousand dollars. He is ia sheep man his flocks and ranches put at a million of dollars. A very good bondsman he, on any man's paper! But the fellow came here a poor jrian .from Germany. He struck California when land was cheap7 and lucky op erations enabled him to spread and appropriate. f The history of real estate in Cali f ornia is full of thrilling interest. For many years it was supposed the whole country here was worthless for any purpose in the world except for sheep and stock raising. The reason was based in the fact that it never rains here jmt the season when grow ing crops were supposed to require rain. ' Less than ten years ago it was found out that there were thousands of square miles here which, before that time were given up wholly ' to sheep ranches, that could be made produce the finest of wheat without irrigation 'Land which had gone begging at five dollars per acre sud denly jumped up to from thirty-five 'to one hundred dollars per - acre. There is a saying here in eome lo calities that "you must cover the ground with gold dollars" before you. can huy it. I have been shown Sac ramento bottcni hnd3 thr.t cell read ily tt Ctd hundred dcllirs ?zr izzoi Th:j trir jcrtry ycr.r f:ur crci cl J from ten to fifteen tons, each acre, of Alfalfa Jbay, and as this grass (something like what we call "Con federate Clover" in N. 0.) never re quires any re-setting or manuring, you readily see what a source of in come a little farm of such land be comes with Alfalfa at five dollars a ton in the owner's pocket, v ' I gave you some figures about the valuation of land in the Livermore Valley. I forgot to give you some supplemented facts supporting the reliability or the reason of such ex treme prices. In 4his valley there is no such thing known as failure of crop. You know we read in the eastern papers that one ' hundred bushels of wheat is produced here on single acres of ground. You may think it impossible,, but a reliable and intelligent farmer, with whom J rode on train in Livermore Valley, assured me that in 1880 his crop a large oneaveraged him seventy bushels of wheat to the acre, and one hundred bustiels of barley to the acre. After the wheat and barley are harvested, if ; done early after ripening, if you harrow the stubble or drag a heavy brush - over .the ground, the soil sends up a growth of wild oate and wheat (or barley as the case may be) and gives you an excellent crop of late hay. This, however, only in strong lands. I was in error in saying that oats are never sown here. If you culti vate the soil closely for seven or eight years, you entirely exterminate the seed, and after this you must sow the grain if you ever expect to reap it again. . , Some maryelous stories . are , told about the wild oats here in old times. I was informed today by the : post master here, while talking on this subject, that when he came here early in the 'fifties, he would ride through the fields and tie the bun dles before him," the head of the grain being on a level with his head while in the saddle, and that he would bend the bundle down- over his saddle and turn under the tie in that position. The men who fol lowed on behind would cut the bun dle down after it was tied 1 But the "good old days of California? are all-over, so they all tell you. The mines are exhausted, and the wild oats will now make you only,; two tons of hay to the acre, and this on best land, while on the poorer, the cut gets down as low as a single ton. 1 send you some items clippings from State papers from which" you may cull such statistics as you wish.' You see that harvesting here "costs from 50 cents to $1 per acre -steam or horse power. A" heavy v expense is in putting in a crop. The ground gets very hard in the long summers ., I have seen twelve horses, or mnles, in one plow three spans of 'four abreast the driver riding behind, a whip in his hand and a pipe in . his mouth. The ground gets so ; hard in places that you can't break it with a pick. But travel over this ground, in the high way, all summer, with the big heavy wagons - and - stages ; and you will find such clouds of dust that you can't see the heads of even your nearest horses as you sit on the , driver's seat of a stage coach going at six or ten miles an hour as it gets into your, eyes, into 'jour ears, into your nose, into your mouth, under your shirt, into your boots, sticking to your duster : and over haulsyon look all over like a well peppered Mongolian , and you can't help saying, or thinking, at least Jewhillikins I What shall I do? Nevertheless, if you are a govern ment officer on duty over that road, you have to grin and bear itor re sign and quit even if somebody should think you are having a "good time" ridjng round the circle ! I am now ready and willing to testify that no man's lines have fallen in easy or pleasant places if he has to face the California dust m the plains, and be spilled out of a-stage at the dead hour of night by a runaway team going down the Sierras at the rate of ten miles an hour the driver thrown but of his seat and whirled down a precipice fifteen feet in front! But such experience has been minej and am thankful it wasino, worse than the worst fright I ever "experi enced in all my life battles includ ed. - - ; '' m; v. m. : This is the time of the year , when more weeds go to seed than any other tine. Hc3 malic into ::h a hrjcr pro perties cf"T7ht they czt Vzzn any . w . v. - A S,. . CAF.;.!ED ACROSS KIASiHl. A Dare-Dsvil Artist's Rids cn tSa Back cf Rc?s-Yaiksr Elcndin. Harry Colcord, artist, ; now of Chicago, ran away from home and went to sea." -Before he got through with his adventures he' rode across Niagara Falls three times on the back of Blondin on a tight rope. He says he would not do it again," but that he did not suffer from. fear. One can readily believe him. In his deep gray eye there is a : suggestion of self-control, and in his - slight, lithe figure of strength and reserve physical ; force which . his gentle voice and his easy, courteous man ner fails to "entirely conceal. He is an artist as artists go, atid paints tolerable pictures. To a representa tive of the Chicago News ho said: . "In the year 1858 I joined Blon din in Boston. He was of the Fra cona troupe, including . Martenetti an4 the famous. Ravels. I was their scenic i artist and painted scenes with a whitewash brush. We disbanded in Cincinnati, and it there occurred to Bloudin to cross Niagara on a tight rope, and I went to the falls with him. We had ; no end of trouble getting the neccessary permits to extend the ropes. Blon din only spoke a little English: that was one difficulty, but finally we succeeded cin getting - them from JPorter, who owned the American; side,' and the rest was easy. Blon din wanted to carry the, rope from Terrapin Tower aud across to Da vis's hotel, which would have lead over Horseshoe Falls, through , the mist and spray of the great cataracts They objected, becau se Blond in wa$ sure to fall,they said. The spray would keep the rope damp, and I, Who had engaged to go on his back, was very glad of it. Finally we stretched the rope from White's pleasure ground across to the Clifton House. Not far away' from the place there is now a suspension bridge. There was 2,000 feet : of the rope. It was of Manilla, three inches in diameter, made in a New York ropewalk, in two 'pieces. Blondin joined theru with a long splice which, when the rope was extended, was in the centre of the span.' Ii took us nearly five months to stretch the rope and to get : the guy lines in place. 7 ; "It was 250 feet above water at its lowest point; which" was fifty feet below the highest in other words, there was a , grade of fifty feet in each 1,000 feet. There was 75,000 feet of guy line altogether. Each of them was weighted with ' a ten-pound sand-bug to d rop them out of the way of his balance pole and in putting them up Blondin crossed a score of times. At last we were ready to make the first ascension; that was what we called it. Before I went over he made several public ascensions. It . was 1 advertised through the papers that I was to ride on his back and I was the sub ject of all kinds of attacks and crit icisms. I was ready to back': but, but Blondin began to taunt me, and. I got into that corner of pride ; and vaingloriousness which nothing could 'escape from. Meantime Blondin had coached me as to what I Bhould h do. I was - to put my. weight on his shoulders by my arms and clasp his body about with my legs. But I could not put my weight on his legs; that would en cumber his movements. I had to keep all the weight on his shoul ders. In July, 1800, we went across. I took my place on Blondin's back, and he began the descent from the Canadian side " on the rope.; By reason of the faot that I had to bear my weight on his, shoulders and had to use my arms, and with main strength, to support myself, frequent rests were neccessary. I told Blondin when I wanted to rest, and then I dropped down on the rope on one foot and waited till my arms were relieved, then I - would, spring up again; using only my : arms to lift .and hold myself . in . place. There was a great crowd there. ' I did not see them at'first. I do not remember what I thought. From my place on Blondin's back I could look out to the other shore and see below me the stunted pines i thrust ing their sharp points up from; : the edge of the foaming w&ter ready to split us if we fell. I remember, too, that I was anxious to get over, and I rceall, too, that "the great rcpa be fer3 i:3 rr.zls Tir:3 frcra . to ill?. T7e citz?v;zZi krev tzo rc" 3 swung forty feet at the centre, , and I felt the neccessity of preserving my self-possession and I did it. - - "There was a' forty foot : length between the guy on one side and those of the other, that it was im possible to make steady, ; It was the middle span., i Below us. 250 feet roared the river, and over it we swung from side to side. .Still mov ing on steadily,1 however, v Blondin never trembled. 1 When he had gone about ten feet on this middle span somebody, on the American side pulled the outer guy line. We af terwards found! out it was done in tentionally and the rope was stop ped in its swing. Blondin stopped , and his pole went from side to side in the vain effort to enable him to secure his balance. At one time it was up and down on the right side, at another up and down on the left, arid I recall now with wonder that J was only curious to know .whether he would succeed in getting control of himself or not. I didn't feel any fear Failing in getting his bal ance, he started to run across the horrible span," arid we safely reached, the point where the guy rope came from the American shore. - Then to steady himself iBlondin put his foot, bri the guy rope arid tried to stop,; but the guy line broke and with a dash of speed he ran "swiftly twenty-: five feet further to the rope.: There' he recovered his balance 'and whis pered loud: v 'Descendezvous.' The perspiration stood out on his neck and shoulders in great beads and we balanced ourselves ; on the swaying rope. Presently he said 'Allons, and I raised myself to his shoulders and we went on in. safety and with- out accident towards the shore. 1 "It was not until we landed that I appreciated what had been done.. Then it occurred to me that the man who pulled the! guy . line was one of those who bet that the feat could never beaccomplished, . and my in dignation mastered any reactionary, feeling "of fear. You see, many thousand dollars were bet upon the ability of Blondin to carry a man over," and human cupidity stops at nofiarificej Then there were the congratulations and the praises of pluck and the rest of it, so that in my foolish boyish elation I forgot everything else. . I do remember, as we approached the shore, the won derful tableau of the 100,000'pepple who stood grzing at us. . Thousands of them turned their faces away, or, half turning, cast glances over their shoulders at us." I remember their white faces, their strained positions of anxiety women , who stared, white and motionless,-and men who wept, and, as we drew near the bank the crowd surged . toward us and Blondin stopped, fearing they would push each other over the precipice. Then the crowd was still again and with a quick run we came to the shore and sprang to the ground. I remember, one man seizing me in his arms and lifting me high in the air, saying, 'Thank God, this thing is over f From the other side was a cheer arid then we were thrown into a carriage and drawn to the Inter national Hotel by the people.! - f- "I crossed again, twice, the last time under, the patronage of ; the Prince of Wales. He congratulated , us personally, and gate us each a purse i of $100. a N. P. Willis ') was , ' present, and wrote? a ; wonderful sketch of the affair. , Tom Hyer, the prize-fighter,' was there also, arid he grabbed me up and shook me, and looked at me through the tears that fell so rapidly as to almost blind him, and said, 'Oh, you little cuss !' 'Cuss was not the-word to tuse, howeyer," - "What was your weight then, Mr. Colcord?" "One hundred and thirty pounds." -' "And Blondin's .?" , : "One hundred and thirty-five." ; . "Would you do it again ?" "Not for all the wealth in the world." - , - - " Asheville Citizen. . " . We are glad to see that our friends of The Leitoib Topic ; are stirring ,up the people of the town of Lenoir to the wisdom of erecting tobacco factories. A considerable number of shares have been subscribe!, but the enterprise seems to lag. Wo in fer that there i3 no better point in the country for cuch a projeet, and we r.re very surs the vheb commu nity' 7ill profit by it. : V vrr T" - KE STCCX LAV. We print what our friend, "D. W.", of Patterson, has to say. about the stock law, of course, because The Topic is the people's organ and reflects the sentiments of all classes of the community in its letters. We do desire, however, . to ; call bur friend's attention to the fact that he has taken the wrong tack. This measure is not tho pet of the "rich" men, as he chooses to style certain respectable members of our commu-; nity. As we have said over and over again the majority, of the people who talk to us earnestly on the sub ject arc' decidedly not rich men. They are men who own farms, it -is true, but small farmsT upon which the timber is being exhausted. They will soon have to buy rails and then the "rich" farmer, who has hundreds of acres of ou tlands covered with virgin forest growth,; will - have a market for his tiinber and can ; sell rail3 to his poorer: neighbors ; at a price varying anywhere from $1.50 to $2.50 per hundred.. It is hard ; enough for the ordinary farmer to make both ends meet as it is, ; ; but when the cost of keeping up his farm is increased it makes it so much harder. Do you not see the injustice' of the case ? ; He has this extra and increasing cost piled upon him in order to protect himself against the ravages of his . neighbors' vagrant stock. (We make " these remarks apply not to any section where there ..is any well recognized and legitimate 1 ''range" but to' those parts of the county; where the range.is exhausted and where wandering stock pick up a precarious arid scanty living from fence corners Snd by- breaking over "lawful" fences and destroying crops that it has taken : time, labor " and money to cultivate,) ''Laziness," forsooth, friend D. W. ! Is A. to be branded with laziness because he has , little stomach for extra work which in no wise benefits him but is solely undertaken to protect himself against the wandering stock-of persons who are put to no labor, pains nor: ex pense to look after them ?. Who is lazy in that instance ? Is it A; who builds a great string of fence around his corn field and-has no stock in the range ? Or is it B. and C. who turn their stock out in the range and haVib no fence to keep up, because, perchance, they own no land ? B. ' and C. are poor men, we will say, and own no land, but they havet hopes to be landowners and land is cheap in - this county and can be bought by energetic and industrious men who want it. . The very best of land is 'for sale cheap. :The time was when no land in this country was considered worth buying that was not level arid lying in the ''bot tom" of some creek " valley; ; That time has passed and the tobacco and wheat lands of the hills are coming to be estimated ' at their true value. , These lands can be bought . at reasonable ! prices. But. there is : little inducement ; for poor, men to buy these lands if they go in with the expectation of being, forever burdened with the cost of building twice' as much j fenoe for the lands they purchase as is necces sary and with the rails to buy. - So don't you see the burden -of keeping 'out stock is on the poor man? The "rich" man has no rails to make any way. . His tenants are bound to split' their, "complement" of rails every year and; the rich man's farm ia fenced by; his "laziness" under the" present I system. But, not " to prolong an argument which is not rieccessary, w4 have only to refer the opponents of "the j stock law to those persons of our county who have gone to other sections where it . is in force. - f They leave here bitter opponents of the measure and return 1 warrnly supporting it and in a hurry for it to come! to a vote in Caldwell. We can name men of our own . ao- , . v - , .... quaintance, poor . men and renters, ; who have gone through this process'; of reasoning, i It is an actual fact, that the big fariners, those who own large farms,: along Lower Creek es pecially, are perfectly indifferent on the subject arid that it is the1 small farmers who 'are. more interested than any others. So it is a mistake to suppose that it is an is3ue between "rich" and "poor" men.- , But itTis a question for the people to decide them::lvc3 at; the ballot box and the Legislature' ha3 nothing to do with it.. -. -.. ;.-; ' : , 17. r'l CCO,C0O ' r illc: .3 of clii mall y, cl:!:fly from Sak- Fbakcisco, Cal., Sept. 5. . To the Editor of The Lenoir Topic: I should like to have it understood by those who read what I have t say about California and other wca-; tern countries, in- my letters that are published in The Topic and other State papers, that I am not here on a sight-seeing and junketing expedition, r The fact is, I am o severe and thankless duties that r 3 quire close daily application. ; Th;a duties are not only disagreeable ta others, but they are of ten very disa greeable to me. It so happens that . I often visit a town or city, and oa duties that require- only an hour'i time. ' .After this work isdone, th authorities, whom I am trying : t serve in all fidelity, have kindly al lowed me to' ernploy the remainder of the day just as I please, until tho next train or the next stage comes along:' Then I must pull out and look after Crookedness, iniquity cr what not,' else where. So far, I havo managed to put in most of my spare time in beholding and studying th wonders and boundless resources cf this magnificent country. And L? in the meantime I see a fitting op portunity to enjoy - myself in old ; time boyish sports of rabbit hunting or monntain climbing, to keep away i the" dread oppression of homesick ness," lei us ail charitably suppose it is nobody's business. , M. V, M. Land of the DL - . j The Best 5c Cigar in toxn Sold only by E. S. Eeinliardt Cz 'Coi :; Try a pair of our And you will wear no ottcxJ ? JUST RECEIVED, -A- LOT OF- Ladies Hand Sewed French Kid Sbc:i rThe-Einest in Tovm'; -EVERY PAIE- V A R R A II TDD! . 1 SLIPPERS and .... ; 1 , LOW CUT SHOES : t -. -" - ' j 25 per cent. Discount, to'cloe atj' i Highest Prices paid for - ? Dried Fruit, Blackberrir-, j Wheat & All Other Pro in - ?i -:: - . " ' .- - : - . "". -t ft. S. Reinhardt G:. Lenoir, N. C, Aug. ,15 18:. ;" f. A Large and Compjeta Ct: :!: - . u 4liM,:' LU.. . , - Ooods'Just rfceiv?4lby B. L. Hoiouw, t' " " " HUle, N. o., who will rel) cheaper tliaii l-f . At Hock Bottom Trie; 1 ForcaMh or good couatry pro . YOXTB FK1EJJD. F. LEE C LIN:' ATTORREY - AT-1 Bjfs j- s - -m - i n swarfs. W-, . - a t r - - '; r .. ... i " . n .-.