North Carolina Newspapers

, , , ! OAROEENX' MOUNTAINEERS VOL. 4. MOJRG-A.NTON, . ST. 'CSATtTItpJL-Y, JLJPHJJOl, 1883. jxro.38. i I if DAVIS DEALERS IN General Merchandise, are receiving now by nearly every train their Spring Stock of Goods which includes a greater variety than is kept in almost any town in western Noth Carolina, from the most trivial want up to the moat useful and practi cal necessity. Remember they have had nearly twenty years experience in buying and studying the wants of this country, which, evidently, has a great er meaning than is commonly under stood. Who of you when real sick do not want the very best and experienced medical treatment? So U is in the mercantile business, both alike, dost you money, and money is the jroduct of your hard laborj hence, SAVE MONEY by going to DAVIS BROS, to buy what you want. VVa are still ruu i)ing several specialties. The famoii3 TEN LESSEE WAGONS ere always on hand, and are the best and cheapest of any wagon we know of. Reiijtmber, too, the nev er failing "PATROiS COOK I TOVE -liundreds of good people can testi ly to it? good qualitit-6 Price with in the reaeh of all. We again call attention to the famous McSIIERY WHEAT DRILL, perhaps the best of all others. Coim and put in your orders in time. Sample drill always on hand. We sold. quite a hirjjn number last year, all t which are highly spok n of ly our home to!k-. Oar entire stock will -soon be complete. AU kind? of HARDWARE, Miners' T o's, M sorts cf IRON. Tobacco Hots, Il!trciv Teeth, Meroney Plows, buih one and two hurec, Beautiful &IIY GOODS, well assorted Notions. Miles and Z"iler's Shos, and all kinds t-f Eastern Shoe; -Men's and- Boys? in great variety. Pants, Oils Hol low Warp, in short, ever thing kep itithis country.. We buy all kiuds of and pay good prices. Come on and trade wi:h us as usoal. THE MOUNTAINEER. "W. C. E It V IN, Eft it o r. SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1883. SAVED BY ELECTRICITY. I was telegraph operator and sta tion agent on one of thewestern lines of railway-when this ' adventure of which I am going to tell you happen ed to ma It was a wild, stormy night, and as the depot was nearly half a mile out of town, the set of loafers which usuallv collected about the stove in the waiting-room bad evidently con cluded to seek some place nearer home to spend the evening in, and, for a wonder, I was alone. The express from the west was due at 9:50. After that I should be at liberty, and I began to wish the eve ning was over long before the train came along, or else that I had some one to talk to, for the depot was in one of the lonliest spots that could have been been selected, and the wind kept up a dismal moaning in the woods every now and then seemed to be positively howling in the wires of the telegraph. I began to feel nervous and fidgety. At last the train came. I was also express agent, and the expressman on the train handed me a heavily sealed envelope, remarking as he did so, "Be careful of that, there's a big bonanza in that package, if it was yours or mine." "Money?" I asked, noticing that there were but two passengers getting off two men in shaggy .overcoats and slouchy looking hats, whom I concluded, without thinking much about them or paying out little atten tion to them,to be hunters just retur ned from some upper country trip. "Yes; a trifle of twenty thousand, I believe." answered Phillips. "Old Bowers is sending it down to his son, who's putting up a mill somewhere hear here, isn't he?" "Yes; on the other side of the river," I replied. "It's lucky to have a rich father, Phillips." "You are right there," answered Phillips. And then the train started off, and I turned and walked toward the office. As I neared the door with the package in my hand, one of the men. who had been watching m?, made a spring toward me. I don't know why I happened to be on the lookout for him, but I must have been, for I jumped back almost the same instant he made his move, and before either one of them comprehended what I wras about, Iliad made a dive between them and succeeded in getting into the office, and had the door bolted al most before I knew what I was doing. I heard a volley of curses hurled after me, and then I knew by the sounds and the cracking of the door that both of the men were trying to break it in. But 1 had no fears of their doing that. It was of hard wood, well seasoned and would resist all their efforts in that direction. I' put the package in the safe and locked it securely, before I stopped to think what was to be done I then sat down to think while I could hear the men talking outside; I knew that they were holding a council over the means to be used to effect an entrance and obtain possession of the money I had just received. It was anything but a pleasant sit uation to be in. Here I was alone, half a mile aw,ay from any assistance, at ten o'clock at night and a stormy uight at that and the probability was that everybody was abed. If they were not, no one would think of coming to the depot at that hour of the night. Outside were two desper ate men, who kne.w that I had a large sum of money in my possession, and they knew that if they could effect an entrance I would amount to but little in preventing the accomplishment of their villainous purpose. Suddenly a thought occurred to me. The clerk at the hotel where I boar ded had taken a fancy to telegraphy,. and we had put up a wire between the hotel and depot. Why couldn't I advise hirn of my danger and have him send me "help? I heard a new sound at the door just then, which sent the blood in great, frightened waves all over me. The men had begun to cut their" way in- with pocket knives. I rushed to the instrument and "called" George, What if he had gone to bed, or should be out? I turned pale at the thought. But pretty soon the response came. He was there. "Go ahead." I began and .wrote: 'I am in danger. Two men are trying to gain admittance for the pur pose of robbing the express safe. Send help immediately, for God's sake. Not a minute to lose." "Slower,'' telegraphed George, who had not been practicing long enough to be able to read very well. I went over the message again, but I suppose my excitement made my writing blurred, for he again sent word: -- ' - ' "Slower and more distinct. Can't make it out," Good God! Before I succeeded in making him understand me they would be through the door, I thought, with a cold sweat breaking out all over me. But-I wrent over the mes sage again, and this time he caught it and sent back a hurried "All right! Hold out for ten minutest' The men were digging away like beavers. I could see the points of their knives once in a while, as they splintered away the fragments of thepannels. But I knew that it would take somo time to cut away enough for them to make an entrance trough. How I wished I had a re volver. I waited in feverish impatience. Suddenly there was a crash, and one panel teas stove in by the foot of one of the men. "Aha!" he grinned, with his leer ing tace at the apeture. "1 ou see we mean business, don't you? What are von going to do, eh?" I didn't know. Die, I suppose, if they took an idea into their heads to put an end to me. "Why didn't George and the help he promised me? It seemed to me that they had had time enough to make a ten mile trip. "We've get the second panel almost leady to stava in," said the man, chuckling horribly over the cheerful information. "Then I guess Tom can crawl through. You might as well be opening that box of yours'and he -getting out that bundle we are af ter. It will save all of us considera ble time and trouble." Crash came his toot against the panel, and it burst'-ifttolplihters; and my heavt fairly stopped beating when I saw one of them thrust his head and shoulders through the opening. I seized the poker and struck him over the head with all- the strength I could muster. He rolled out a terri ble volley of curses, but I was master of the situation at that particular limn. Suddenly there was a sound of voices, and the man outside cried out that they were "nabbed," and tried to mike his eseape But I knew by tho sound that he was caught, and was struggling with his captors. There weie several shots fired, and eajrer cries, during which the poor wretch in the door made no efiort to escape, but lay there limp and mo tionless. I began to fear I had kil led him. I drew back the bolts and got the door open just in season to see the other one overpowered, a prisoner in the hands of half a dozen men from town. Theo .Ave got the man out of the door. He was not dead, only insensible: my blow; with the poker had been too much for him.-'; - I bought me a revolver the first thing the next morning, and was on the lookout for robbers and adven turers after that, but that was the only adventure of any account that ever happened to me while I stayed there If it had not been for that telegraph which George and I had put in ope ration, I rather think I should have finished up all my earthly adventures that night. How He Saved the Train. The usual crowd of autumn liars were gathered together in the store, occu pying all the grocery seats the only gross receipts that the proprietor took no pride iur when a little, bleareyed, weazen-faced individual sneaked in by the back door and slunk into a dark corner. ' 'That's him," said the ungrammat ical bummer with a green patch over his left eye. "Who is it?" asked several at once. "Why, the chap who "saved a train from being wrecked," was tho reply. "Come, tell us about it," they de manded, as the small man crouched into the darkness, as if unwilling that his heroic deed should be brought out under the glare of the blazing kero sene lamp. After much persusion, reinforced by a "stiff horn of applejack, he began: "It was just such a night as this bright and clear and I was going home down the track, when, right before me, across the rails, lay a sreat beam. There it was. Pale and ghastly as a lifeless body, and, light as it appeared, I had not the power . i 1 to move it. A sudden rumble ana roar told me that the night express was thundering down, and soon would reach the fatal spot. Nearer and nearer it approached, till, just as the cowcatcher was about lifting me, I sprang aside, placed myself between the obstruction and the track, and the train flew on unharmed." The silence was so dense for a mo ment that one might have heard a dew drop. Presently somebody eaid: "What did you do with the. beam?" "I didn't t6uct0t,n he" replied'but it touched me." "Well." persisted the qnstioner, "if vou tould't lift it and didn't touch it, how in thunder did the train get over it?" "Why, don't you see?" said the sad faced man, as he arose from his seat and sidled toward the door. "The obstruction was a moonbeam, and I jumped so that the shadow of my body took its place, and " Bang! flew a ham against the door; and if it had struck the body of the retreating hero, there would have been a much bigger grease spot frescoed on the panel of the. door. He Knocked off Fouk. In rid ing to Lost Mountain from Marietta, I came across a young man who wTas diinor post-bVes for a barbed-wire fence, and when I told him what I wanted, he replied: "I'll go with you. I was in that fight myself, and can point out every position." When we reached the ground he bean telling where this and that regimeut was stationed, and finally he halted beside a huge boulder and said: . . "Right here, stranger, was where I squatted for four long', hour.. I res ted my gmrright thar' on that ledge, and I reckon I killed exactly twenty eight Yanks thai day." "No!" "Solemn fact, and I .know a - dozen men who will gwear to it." "Let's see. The battle was fought in 1861?" " "K'rrect you are." "That's about eightren year3 ago?" "Jist about." - "And you ara about twenty-five years old?" "I was twenty-five this spring." Then Hooked at him for a long time, but he never winced. When we were going home, and after along, period of silence, he suddenly remar ked: ' -' . "Stranger, don't you believe I was thai-'?" - , ; "Perhaps you were, but you see you were not quite seven years old on the day of that fight." ; 7' 'That's what I've been figuring on," he continued, in a very serious voice, "and I'll tell you what I am willing to do." "Woll." "I'll call it twetity-four instead ' o twenty- eight dead Yanks in front of my position. That's fair, sn't it?" - I told him that not hing ' could be more liberal; and cordial relations were at once re established. c ' : iBITS OF FUN. There are two sides to a question Often a tramp is- on one side and a man with a pocketful of money on the other. A little New Hartford three-year-old boy, in admiiing his baby broth er, "He's got a boiled head like papa." An old sea captain says that when he's aboad ship he is never governed by his mate, but when he is at home he always is. A writer in Harper's comme -s a poem with the ine, "Some daj T shall be dead." It is, indeed, a beau tiful thought. s Baiload man to disappointed office holder: "Don'$ fret about that office and I'll try and get a horse-car named after you." "What does the sign 'inward bag gage' mean?" asked Snodkins of his friend as they walked - through the depot; "refreshments?" A miner fell in love with a girl at first sight, she was equally smitten with him, and the entire courtship was: "My pet?" "You bet." v Sunday sacred concerts are not al lowed in Boston, bnt the saloons have moved the sacred entrances from the back to the front door. A cynic oachelor, learning of a slight difficulty which had arisen be tween a newly married couple spoke, of it as the "war of the Union." Mrs. Lillie Devereaux Blake asks, "Is it a crime to be a women?" It certainly is when there is a great ne cessity for dressing in a hurry. Pies date back to the time of the Romans, and came originally from Picardy. Some of the original pies are still on sale at railroad restau rants. " , - ' Said a doctor to a lady patient 'You must take exercise for your health, my dear." "All right," she said, "I'll jump at the first offer," and she did. Pat says that if: men could only hear their own funeral sermons, and read their own headstones, there would be no living in the world with them. . " i' ; - The title of Oscar Wilde's book on America has just been " made public. It is "What I know about Bancosteer ing or,a Quick Trip back to England." And now it is learned that army officers are overworked and - discour aged. Each officer has to boss an average of eight men, and it is a kil ling task. . The Chicago critics, who praissd the astounding agility displayed by a ballet-dancer, didn't know that she had accidentally dressed a hornet in her clothes. '1 A Boston woman has just comple ted a $20,000 mansion entirely on the proceeds from the sale of doughnuts. What it cost to bury her-customers is not given. ' : ' '.'' ' " One of the first lessons that ought to be taught at the many fashiona bl cooking schools is? "Never stir the hash with , one hand and smooth" the hair with the other." .; " : ' "Never borrow trouble,"' said a hus band to-his wife. "Oh, let her bor row it if she Gan," exclaimed the next door neighbor; '-sha never 1 returns anything, you know' r. ; - This is not Mother Shipton's year, but some strange things are happe ning. The Princess Louise and hus band have been traveling together for almost two mouths. , Brown doesn't like his new. colored domestic so well as he anticipated. She is never at home evenings; always goi ng out somewhere. She if, in fact; a' regular Dinah out. t- 1 It is the easiest thing in the world to distinguish between an(Englisb lord and his American copy, common ly called a snob.'" The Englishman always speaks well of his' own coun try. .... LAND AGENCY! 1 r,. r. . r, f V The undersign ed;propose& to i goge in the b rawness of buying at i SA..JJN A.NDS, Co'ilccting rents for absent own ers, and such other business, of this nature as may be entrusted to hia a 'geinent, i Hje will alsoact as agent to plaoo small LOANS of money upon such secuarityasi may be approved of by the lender. -0- He will endeavor to form such business connectionsln this State and in the North as will insure proper advertisement of the prop- ertyiof which he has the manage men t," ahd therebyindaco purcfias ers to examine the same. He will be thankful for , the countenance and support of the community. . ( E. W. WARD. Town lots for Sale. By order of the Probate Court for Burke county, I will sell at the Court House In iUbrganton on Monday the 7th day of May next the property known as the "Walton House," and adjoining lofs. The property is divided into 12 lots' which will -first be sold separately., then it will be offered as a whole the sale producing the larger sum to be confirmed. This sale is for partition Terms. Twenty per cent cash., balance in 12 months with 6 per cent interest note , audappioved security ti tie retained till purchase money and interest is all paid. Sam'I McP Tate, Com'r. S. C. W. TATE, ATTORNEY AT LAW; Morganion, 7. I. T. AVERY, ATTORNEY AT LAW BLorganton' N. C. Having qualified as Executor of Louis A.' Lowman deceased, notice ii hereby given to. all . persons " indebted to said Estate tt come forward and make payment ' at once. And J&H persons having claims against - said Estate to present them before fheSOth day of March 1884, or this notice wilj be plead in bar of their recovery., March 29th 1883. ' T" ' " j - Fed Stilwell";- i ; Executor mt' Louis A Lowman SEALED PROPOSALS. Will be received up to 'Saturday; April 14 th, for the delivery of a bill of lumber at the Asylum. Bills -and' specifications can be seen oa applica tion, bond with approved security re quired- The right to reject all bids is retained. " 1 1.2tF James W dker, M. B TTP1?TC1. RK AL J 8 JLSAXJLAJU, TATE A Ghatel Mortgages for sale office. All kinds of blanl on s'iort notice. - - At 1:J ft 5 ::1 -1. - ... 4 -