1906 by Dally Story Pub
He was staying at my hotel In Buf-
falo A man of marked individuality
of appearance I could not help no-
ticing him Of alenrler build tall and
erect with Iron-grey moustache white
hair and a fresh pink complexion I
fudged him to’ be about sixty years
old
Over our after-dinner cigars we
got Into conversation In the office in
the hotel one day I found "e talked
equally well on matters of present In-
terest and of ancient and modern his-
tory On local national political
religious and socio-economic ques-
tions he had views that were both
novel and suggestive His short sen-
tences were pregnant with Informa-
tion and scintillated with kindly wit
and genuine humor
After half an hour’s conversation
- we exchanged cards His read:
"M Barron Monk Howson”
I knew that I had never met the
gentleman before but the name
seemed strangely familiar I couldn't
get over the idea that ! had beard It
in some connection
The next day Mr Howson proposed
a walk and I readily assented We
walked up Main street for some dis-
tance without speaking The silence
was broken bv Mr Howson who said:
“I never have come to Buffalo with-
out thinking of a must remarkable
adventure that befell ine In this city
when I was a young man hate one
evening I was down by the water
front alone 1 was watching the ma-
jestic flow of Niagara as It swept si-
lently along when suddenly I was
- seized from behind by two tall pow-
erful men gagged bound and bundled
into a rowboat In which my captors
took me over to the Canadian side —
to Fort Erie
‘‘Arrived there t was informed that
I bad been arrested on charge of bank
robbery in Iondon England where
It was alleged I had been employed
as assistant cashier I was further
Informed that my name was Thomas
Dawkins Imagine any man having
such a name as Dawkins! The thing
was Impossible on the face of it
“But it was in vain that I declared
my identity and protested my inno
cence The men knew me perfectly
well they averred They could not
be mistaken In me
“From Fort Erie despite all my pro-
tests entreaties and threats I was
hurried off to Toronto From thete
though f begged for an opportunity of
laying my rase before the American
tJonsul I was taken to Montreal and
‘‘I was then set at liberty and to
my threats of vengeance for abduc-
tion the detectives retorted that It
would be best for me to get out of
the country us quickly as possible or
they assured me if I wasn't a crim-
inal they would very soon make me
one”
“A most remarkable nnd distress-
ing experience'' 1 observed ‘But
did you not appeal to the American
Embassy In London for redress?”
“No sir” Mr Howson replied “I
was young and inexperienced and I
did not It was on my return voy-
age” he continued after a pause
- "Well I don't know exactly: but
I thought yours might be an Angli-
cized form of an old German name”
"Oh I see! I had Intended to tell
you that Howson la not really my
family name I merely adopted it on
attaining my majority
“It cunie about In thla way: When
I waa a boy other boys after listen-
ing to my conversation for a while
would say: ‘Oh yea you remind me
of Barron Monk Howson!' 4 could
never find out who thla Howson waa
whom I so strongly resembled but I
concluded that he must have been a
great man and as I did not like my
own name I determined to adopt hla”
-You were quite right In doing bo”
I remarked "Y’ou remind me also
of the gentleman whose name you
adopted but in the German they spell
it—
‘“Baron Munchausen’”
“Well who was Baron Munchausen
anway?" was the naive query
"In his own line" 1 answered “he
was the greatest man that ever
lived" and I politely declined for the
time being to satisfy the gentleman
further in regard to his Illustrious
namesake
That night I learned from the ho-
tel clerk who had seen me with How
son and took an upportunity of ask
Ing me if "tho old matt had been
'throwing It into me’ that he and
Mr llowson came from the same
small city In Pennsylvania where the
latter was employed as floorwalker
in the one dry goods store In the
place He had been with the firm
ever since he left school when a boy
I didn’t want to he hard on the old
niun but I thought a broad hint
might possibly be of service to him
So as 1 was leaving the hotel that
night on my way to the railroad sta
tion I handed to the clerk a note for
"Mr Howson” which read as fol-
lows: "Dear Sir — In reply to your Inquiry
concerning the German celebrity Bar-
on Munchausen I beg to Inform you
that his reputation stands supreme
over that of any man In everyday life
or in the world of fiction as that of
one possessing an Incomparable fac-
culty for inspiring his hearers with
Incredulity — Y’ours” etc
ETHER USED TO FORCE CROPS
marked Individuality of
appearance
hurried aboard a boat bound for Liv-
erpool “When I came up for my prelimi-
nary examination at Bow Street po-
lice court It was to be -greeted by a
scream of laughter from the witnesses
for the prosecution— laughter directed
at the detectives for the prosecution
immediately perceived that I was not
the ‘Thomas Dawkins' whom they
wanted
"Well sir that laugh was the only
compensation I ever got for the In-
dignity and Inconvenience to which I
had been subjected
was Baron Munchausen
anyway?”
"that t Imbibed that passion for tho
sea which led me to adopt the navy
as a profession
'On my arrival in New Y'ork I suc-
ceeded in attaching myself to a man-of-war
and before many years I
found myself in a position of responsi-
bility and honor
"But one day off the French coast
an Incident occurred which was the
cause of my abandoning a sea faring
life and saying farewell forever to
all the dreams of fame which had
been so dear to me
“Ten miles out from Havre we
espied a small rowboat in which was
a woman making signals of distress
"We hove to low-ered a boat and
took the waif of the ocean aboard
"In a nervous and almost hysterical
condition she begged a passage tc
New York and thither we took her
"She was the most beautiful young
lady I had ever seen She was given
into the rare of the stewardess who
did all In her power to make the
stranger comfortable
"Next morning our fair guest
sought me out and told me her story
A Polish lady of royal blood whose
family had lived In Paris for many
years her name was Caritza Iudov-
inski Driven to desperation by the
Importunities of her parents who In-
sulted her upon her marrying a
wealthy but profligate nobleman of
Bohemia for the purpose of rehabili-
tating their shattered fortunes Car-
ll’a fled from Pails and reaching the
coast cast herself upon the mercy of
Providence putting out to sea alone
In the small boat from which It was
my good fortune to rescue her
"It Is a long story: but I need only
say that Caritza reciprocated the af-
fection with which she Inspired me
and on our arrival In New York we
were married In the quietest possible
manner I at once gavo up the sea
to settle down to the joys of a home
life ashore
"But alas! my happlnes was short-
lived Within two months of our
marriage Caritza sickened and died
leaving me a lonely heart-broken
man"
By this time we had reached Niag-
ara street by various cuts and turn-
ings which were new to me While
listening to my companion's strange
stories I bad been thinking about his
name and I asked him In a casual
sort of way:
"Pardon tne Miv Howson but you
are not of German descent?"
“No sir" he replied "Why do you
ask?"
Earlier Maturity and Greater Weight
Secured in Plants Thus Treated
It Is now ten years since the Danish
investigator Johannsen discovered
that plants could bo etherized and
that while In this condition could be
artificially rested as effectively as by
lying naturally dorn-nnt through the
winter
Experimental work along this lino
recently conducted at the Vermont
experiment station appears to Indi-
cate that this method may be used
commercially for tho forcing of early
spring crops Just as It has been used
to a limited extent in the control of
the blooming of Easter lilies
Some rhubarb roots which were dug
in the fall and allowed to freeze were
put in a cool cellar about the middle
of December and allowed to thaw out
gradually Half of the roots were sub-
sequently etherized for forty-eight
hours in an alr-tlght box using ether
at the rate of ten cubic centimeters to
a cubic foot of space Treatments
were conducted on different lots at
intervals of two to four weeks
Such plants were then grown In
conjunction with untreated plants
and It was found that the ether-treated
plants uniformly gave larger yields
In some instances as high as 90 per
rent Increase being obtained where
the treatment was given early during
the plants' dormant period — that Is
before they had completed their nat-
ural rest
In early yields thp relative results
are astonishing the average of all the
ether-treated plants being (12 per cent
for the first picking 86 per cent for
second and more than 25 per rent foi
later pickings
The quickening of the vital process
cs resulting from tho ether-treating of
the dormant plants produced a decid-
ed increase In the weight of the prod-
uet as well as Inducing early maturity
A More Attractive Subject
On a bleak snowy day Eugene
Cowles praised tho winters of Egypt
"You suit In icy weather" he said
"and in a few days the Azores are
reached and from off these Islands
of bananas and cocoanuts and dates
the mild airs of May float to you
"Then you enter tho Mediterranean
and' It grows warmer and warmer
The sea and sky grow bluer the
sun more splendid the air sweeter
and purer
“Finally you reach Cairo with Its
picturesque coloring nnd Its luxuri-
ous hotels — Its hotels where every
one In the world who can afford It
goes for at least one winter
"The odd characters that one meets
In Cairo!
"In the cafe at Bhepenrd' hotel I
once saw two London costermongers
"They swaggered In all buttons
and perfumery and sat down near
me at a table beside a banana palm
"’Who wut Phnrunh BUI?’” whis-
pered the first hoarsely
" 'Never mind’ the other answered
'Here's the hill o’ fare’”
The West hotel at Minneapolis
which was partly destroyed by lire
Jan 10 was built twenty years ago
by the late Col John T West and
was considered to be the leading hos-
telry in the city in It have been
held scores of conventions and other
large gatherings and it is asserted
that because of the accommodations
the house afforded the Republican
national convention of 1892 was held
In Minneapolis The vast lobbies of
the West hotel are said to be un-
equuled In size In the United States
It has ranked as one of tho show
places of the city and usually waa
visited by strangers In the evening
It was the rendezvous for business
and professional men Its location at
Fifth street and Hennepin avenuo
rendering it an available meeting
place At the time of Its construction
the West hotel was supposed to have
been made as nearly fireproof as possible
LANDSMEN IN THE NAVY
Middle West Largely Represented on Uncle
Sam’s Battleships
Not more
men of the
than 5 per cent of the
United States navy are
aliens We have 30804 man-of-wars
men and of these 21913 are native-
born Americans Naturalized Amerl-
ans number 3415 nnd 1337 have de-
clared their Intention of becoming
citizens
Of these nearly 31000 men It Is
Interesting to learn that no fewer
than 28319 are whites The remain-
ing 2500 men of color Include 1325
negroes 513 Japanese 384 Chinese
217 Filipinos 87 Samoans 28 Porto
Ricans 26 Hawaiinns and 5 North
American Indians This surely Is va-
riety We see no Filipinos Samoans or
Hawaiian on the continent becattse
the Filipinos are used among their
native islands the Samoans police
the Island of Tutulla and the Ha-
waiinns are kept at the naval station
at Honolulu
Of the men of the navy who ate
not citizens of the United States an
extraordinary variety of former resi-
dence Is discovered From the Cape
Verde Islands In the Atlantic the
Caroline islands In the Pacific the
British East Indies Armenia Rou-
mania Turkey and Samoa these
sailor lads have come to serve under
he stars nnd strlpps
The subject of desertions from the
American navy Is one whlrh excites
notch discussion nnd In some quar-
ters apprehension is expressed that
exertions are an extremely bad sign
of something Hut during the yenr
only 3227 tnen deserted which Is
less than 11 per cent of the total en-
listed strength and this Is said by
competent authorities not to be
alarmingly large
The chief of the bureau of navi-
gation the philosophical Rear Ad-
miral Converse ‘says that the navy
enn stnnd comparison In respect of
desertions with sny other calling He
asks how ninny young men after
rvlng one trade will abandon It for
another? And he points out the
peculiar temptations on shore to
which the men of the navy are sub-
jected and the number of apparent
desertions which are only delays In
reporting for duty
Admiral Dewey said recently that
nost of the bright young enlisted
men of the nsvy come from Chicago
and the middle west The navy de-
partment has prepared figures which
show that one-flfth of the enlisted
personnel are supplied by the states
of Illinois Michigan Minnesota
Wisconsin Iowa Missouri and Ne-
braska Those figures have their sig-
nificance as regards groups of states
lint the fnct Is that New York leads
with 6548 of her sons In the navy
and Massachusetts follows with
t971 As a matter of percentage of
population Massachusetts sends a
greater ratio Ilian New Y'ork
Pennsylvania Is third California Is
founh Ohio Is fiflh and Illinois
sixth In the number of representa-
tives who enlist in the nayy It Is
an interesting fact that there Is not
a slate In the Union which has not
Its representative among the en- ‘
listed naval force of the United
States Indian Territory nnd Ari-
zona Now Mexico nnd Oklahoma
also are represented
For obvious reasons fishermen
were once the best sailors nnd they
make good sailors to-day It Is told
how Commodore Hull In tho Constitu-
tion fought tho British frigate Oner-
rlere In the war of 1812 and won a
giorlotis victory with a green crew
that he had Just picked up from
among the fishermen of New England
Now however sailors are not need-
ed to operate the giant machines of
the modern man-of-war and so from
the Interior recruits are coming wh
are as good naval men ua any In tb
world
With the commission of new men-of-war
more men will be needed for
tne navy and the department has ask-
ed rongress for 3000 additional At
least five battleships and a number of
other craft will have to be commis-
sioned In the year 1906
There Is no doubt that the navy
will be able to get as many men as
it wants nnd can have with the per-
mission of congress Throughout the
country during the last year a total
of 41239 men presented themselves
for enlistment but the requirements
observed caused the rejection of 28-
097 applicants
More than 13000 applicants were
accepted These figures are gig
nlflcant when It is remembered that'
the total number of desertions were
only 3227
One Problem of the Day
The displacement of really skilled
workmen by the almost automatic op-
erations under the "piece work" sys-
tem the dependence of the operative
upon the machine the segregation or
workers -In tnddslrlul centers the
constantly growing tendency to work
machines and men at ttiefp topmost
speed— all these things taken togeth-
er have one Inevitable result The
worker Is drained of his vitality and
after a day's work not only has no
energy left for living the remainder of
the twenty-four hours anything like
the Intellectual alld nodal lire that
should be pnsslblo to him but after
few yeara becomes a worn out relio
of this modern Industrial aystein a
burden to serlety and lo hlmseir
There Is here a tremendous problem
the satisfactory solution of whleh Is
Important not only to the worker but
lo the captain of Industry as well—
Engineering Mngnzl"
if
Tr'
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