Part 15

At this moment Farmer Conlin discovered that he had fired his last cartridge. Brooks, the negro, then stated that had he known this a moment before he would never have been taken, as it was the fear of the big rifle alone that had caused them to surrender.

The two robbers were driven rapidly back to Albert City, at which place Marshal Snyder had arrived. He searched the men, and, not satisfied with a superficial examination revealing more guns and ammunition, ordered the men to strip. This they did with evident reluctance. Around the negro's neck was tied a razor and a bag containing a quantity of some liquid. As Snyder removed the latter the negro remarked:--

"Be careful of that; it's dangerous!"

Needless to say this liquid was nitroglycerine, and as there was enough of it to have blown off at least twelve safe-doors it is not difficult to understand the ferocious nerve of the man who carried it when exposed to bullets and the eccentricities of bucking horses.

The examination over, the negro hastily snatched up his under-garments and began donning them hurriedly. This aroused Snyder's suspicion further, and realizing the calibre of the men with whom he was dealing he searched the garments. Sewn in the seams of the shirt he found two fine saws nearly twelve inches in length, with which he cut an iron stove-poker as easily as a dull knife cuts cheese. This discovery was a serious one for the negro, and his spirits fell noticeably thereafter.

The men were now turned over to the sheriff and deputies who had arrived from Storm Lake, and by them taken to that city and lodged in the county jail.

John Sundblad died on Sunday afternoon from the effects of the wound received in the fight, and Marshal Lodine, after battling bravely for eight days, also succumbed to his injuries. The robber shot by Farmer Conlin lingered until Sunday noon, and before dying confessed that it was he and his companions who had robbed the Greenville Bank. He stated that his name was Dolan, although he was apparently of Italian descent.

The two surviving men, giving the names of Albert Phillips and Louis Brooks, were tried for murder, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged.

Upon appeal to the Supreme Court errors were found, and a new trial granted the accused. They were found guilty of manslaughter at this trial and sentenced to life imprisonment at hard work. At the present time they are in the Iowa State Penitentiary at Anamosa.

The money stolen from the bank was subsequently recovered, being found concealed in the field where the desperate men made their last stand.

THE WIDE WORLD: In Other Magazines.

PHOTOGRAPHED IN A FOOT.

This merry little five-year-old nigger-boy is comfortably stowed inside an elephant's foot, and, judging from the size of his smile, seems delighted at being photographed in such a strange position. The elephant was shot by us some months ago, and the foot is large enough to hide the boy completely.--+MR. F. K. ROWE+ (Uganda), +IN "THE STRAND MAGAZINE."+

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BEAR-HUNTING IN SWEDEN.

Twice in my chase of Bruin I have made use of a bear-spear as my weapon of attack, and, as some newspaper writers in their search after copy have rioted furiously over my methods, I may take this opportunity to maintain that the use of a spear entails no greater cruelty than any other mode of attack and that every hunter should be armed with one in reserve, since these powerful beasts have a vitality that triumphs over a stray bullet or more unless lodged in a vital region, and when wounded their retaliation is redoubtable and easily fatal. In Karelen the bear is yet regarded as a noxious horror. The great black-haired "Slagbjörn," or killing bear, is still rampant there, and a couple of winters back I was able to wreak justifiable vengeance on some beasts that had killed over a score of cows and nine horses.--+COUNT ERIC VON ROSEN, IN "COUNTRY LIFE."+

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WASHINGTON'S CHARM.

Society in Washington is very attractive. Everybody in society there is in politics or is an official. It is the one city of consequence in the United States that has no commercial interests. In Washington they think and talk politics, literature, and art. Men come to Washington from all parts of the country and all corners of the earth. There is a large section of naval and military, literary, and scientific men. Society is cosmopolitan rather than local. It is not narrow in any way, and over all there hangs the charm of the White House and its inmates.--+"WOMAN'S LIFE."+

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A JOKE WHICH DIDN'T WORK.

Commander Peary, the famous Arctic explorer, never starts on one of his exploring expeditions without receiving all sorts of packages from cranks--cowhide underwear, tea tablets, medicated boots, and what not. A few days before the start of his last trip a club acquaintance wired him to expect an important package by express. The package came. It was labelled: "To be opened at the farthest point north." Peary opened it at once, however. It was a small keg, inscribed: "Axle grease for the pole."--+"TIT-BITS."+

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THE CHAUFFEUR ABROAD.

When going foreign in a motor-car, it is by no means necessary to take a man--in fact, I prefer not; and though I drive a 25 Talbot which gives 48 horse-power on the brake, and can touch fifty miles an hour, we are getting on nicely without the extra weight and expense of a man who, however good his intentions are, cannot work harder than we amateurs do when there is anything to be done. You see, if you take an honest English one, he, as a rule, is as a child, and cannot borrow a split pin without your linguistical assistance. In England you can say "Put the car up somewhere, get a bed, and have her round at ten to-morrow," and go to your dinner happy in the knowledge that all will be well. But on the Continent you have to mother him even to the extent of arranging his dinner for him, get his rooms, and translate every desire and necessary till one comes to the conclusion that the game is hardly worth the candle.--+"C. B. FRY'S MAGAZINE."+

A Curious Shrine--A Human Catharine-Wheel--A Deaf-and-Dumb Band, etc.

Near Ploumanach, in Brittany, there is one of the most curious shrines in Europe. This is the chapel of St. Guirec, a tiny, picturesque building of the twelfth century. It stands on a rock in the bay, and at high tide is surrounded by the waves. Inside is a wooden statue of St. Guirec in a deplorable state, for it is simply riddled with tiny holes. The reason for this sad state of things is that the fishermen's daughters have a strong superstition that if they come to pray at the shrine and stick a pin into poor St. Guirec they are certain to get married within the year. If the hapless saint gives himself a shake during the night and the pin drops out, it is an infallible sign that everything will go well.

The extraordinary photograph on the next page shows what may well be called a "human Catharine-wheel." This is to be seen at the annual feast of the Totonaco Indians at Papantla, in the State of Vera Cruz, Mexico. Wearing huge, highly-coloured erections--made from the bark of a tree--on their heads, four men take their positions on the arms of the mill and proceed to make it rotate, gradually working up to a speed of forty or fifty revolutions a minute, while the crowd cheer excitedly. This ranks as "fun," but must be decidedly warm work for the performers, who, to guard against the results of giddiness, are strapped by the legs. The two Indians seen in the foreground are wearing grotesque masks.

From Sialkot, India, a member of the 12th Lancers sends us the quaint little photograph here shown. He writes: "My dog had been burrowing in loose sand, and, as he turned to come out, the sides of the excavation fell in and imprisoned him. Had I not been there he would undoubtedly have died; so, after freeing his head, I made a sort of tombstone round him and photographed him as a memento."

The only brass band in the world whose members are deaf and dumb is depicted in the photograph reproduced below. This remarkable band belongs to the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. To teach a person who is afflicted in this way to play an instrument and get him to understand something of musical notation would appear at first an impossible task, and it was only accomplished after many months of patience. First of all the players were taught how to blow the fife, the simplest of all wind instruments. The next step was more intricate. By the use of certain fingers the players were made to produce given notes, and in this way various tones were taught and committed to memory. Being of necessity taught with the utmost exactness, the pupils developed a confidence of execution not found in the average musical student. Certain rules were laid down, which the deaf-mute had to follow explicitly, and the result was absolute correctness in playing.

It is difficult for those who have not had ocular demonstration to credit the extraordinary capacity of snakes for absorbing large animals. The striking photograph we next reproduce was taken in the Zoo at Perth, Western Australia, and shows a python which endeavoured to dine not wisely but too well. He killed a goat, and commenced to swallow it bodily, as is the pleasing habit of these great snakes. Poor "Billy," however, had his revenge, for he stuck in the reptile's throat, capacious though it was, and all the python's efforts to dislodge him failed. The result, of course, was distinctly unfortunate for the snake. When the curator went his rounds the following day he discovered the monster quite dead, with the goat's hind legs sticking out of his mouth, as shown in the snapshot.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.

Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.

Enclosed italics markup in _underscores_.

Enclosed small caps markup in +plus signs+.