The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

vf 1 ^ v; ; ̂ ^ >p * J, %7W\ ! "SM » 4> ' "»"-'J f ," Ss\ " " ' t t / > ^Trf, ' OMO rfpVn>w WW I * ^ DQJLQJ^TTCSMrD®^ 3 iW>WA7/rr,/w,sr/fmmr, xw/?AMa?.**»Af?r 8YNOPSI8. The story opens with a scream frofn Dorothy March In the opera box of Mr*. Missioner, a wealthy widow. It Is oc­ casioned when Mrs. Missioner's necklace breaks, scattering the diamonds all over the floor. Curtis Griswold and Bruxton Sands, society men in love with Mrs. Mis- Bioner, gather up the gems. Griswold steps on what is supposed to be the cele­ brated Maharanee and crushes it. A Hin­ doo declares it was not the genuine. An expert later pronounces all the stones substitutes for the original. One of the missing diamonds is found in the room of Elinor Holcomb, confidential compan­ ion of Mrs. Missioner. She is arrested, notwithstanding Mrs. Missioner's belief in her innocence. Meantime, in an up­ town mansion, two Hindoos, who are in America to recover the Maharanee, dis­ cuss the arrest. Detective Brltz takas up the case. He asks the co-operation of Dr. Fitch, Elinor's fiance, in running down the real criminal. Brltz learns that duplicates of Mrs. Missioner's diamonds were made in Paris on the order of Elinor Holcomb. While walking Britz is seized, bound and gagged by Hindoos. He is imprisoned in a deserted house, but makes his escape. Brltz discovers an in­ sane diamond expert whom he believes was employed by either Sands of Gris­ wold to make counterfeits of the Mission­ er gems. Griswold intimates that Sands is on the verge of failure. Two Hindoos burglarize the home of Sands and are captured by Britz. On one of them he finds a note signed by "Millicent" and ad­ dressed to "Curtis." Britz locates a wo­ man named Millicent Delaroche, to whom Griswold has been paying marked atten­ tions. The Swami attends a ball at Mrs. Missioner's home, but learns nothing fur­ ther about the diamonds. Brltz disguised as a thief, visits the apartment of Milli­ cent. He finds a box that once con­ tained the missing diamonds, but it Is •mpty. CHAPTER XXII.--(Continued.) "To head off the Hindoos," cried Britz. "Let's get a cab." But the last taxlcab on the Renaissance stand had been chartered an hour before by a swarthy man who seemed to be in great haste. That much Britz learned from the Inspector in charge of the stand. Britz and Fitch round­ ed the corner of the hotel. Close to the curb Btood a private coupe. The coachman doubtless on a long wait, Was nodding sleepily. Britz jerked open a door of the carriage. "Jump in, quick!" he cried, and Fitch, who long ago had learned to carry out Britz' suggestions without stopping to ask questions, sprang into the cab. Britz slammed the door with a violence that awoke the coachman. Before the driver could utter a word of protest the athletic detective reached the box beside him in a single leap, pushed him off with a shove that landed the amazed jehu on his hands and knees on the sidewalk, seized the reins, snatched the whip, and put the horse to a gallop. As be sped away, he hastily changed the whip to the hand that held the rib­ bons, and, whipping from his pocket a card that read, "Detective-Lieuten­ ant Britz, Police Headquarters," he flung it at the prostrate coachman -with the words: "Call there tomor­ row for your rig." Then, with the horse straining at the traces In indignant surprise, Brltz drove at breakneck speed down the avenue, turning sharply at the first convenient corner and heading east toward the mysterious brown-stone dwelling wherein he had held his in­ teresting Interview in regard to the ways of the Orient with the Eastern sage. The galloping horse and the sway­ ing carriage shook the echoes of the silent streets, and at several avenue crossings traffic policemen started to halt the Central Office man. But in each instance the detective shouted: "I'm Britz, of Headquarters!" . and that averted interruption as he dashed on toward the Swami's house at top speed Arriving there, he hastily handed the ribbons to a patrolman who chanced to be at that end of the beat, and, followed closely by Fitch, he ran up the steps and pushed the button of the elecric bell. Inside the house, the burr-rr of the little gong sounded piercingly. Brltz and Fitch listened impatiently at the outer door of the vestibule for responsive steps, but none came. Then the detective recalled the thickness of the rugs and carpets in the house, and did not at once conclude no one was within. Until he had rung the bell several times in vain he did not accept the fact that the house either was unten­ anted, or was occupied by persons who did not see fit to answer. A word to the bluecoat on the sidewalk, ac­ companied by a flash of a shield on the detective's waistcoat, had told-; him the visit was a matter of police business. Then Brltz ran down the steps and tried the basement door. The detective was equally unsuccess­ ful In his demands to obtain a re­ sponse to his ring of the lower bell, He ran up the steps again and once more pushed the button of the elec­ tric call. No -answer come. Britz turned the handle of the door. To his astonishment, it turned' freely, and at a gentle push the door swung in­ ward. The inner door of the vestibule was ajar. Britz and Fitch entered cautiously. Their feet fell silently On the heavy Oriental rug. They found themselves in complete darkness. The glimmer from the street lamp did . not penetrate more than a foot or two beyond the Inner door. Britz whisked out his electric torch and turned its miniature headlight on the passage and on the area leading to the upper part of the house. "Hello!" he called. "Is anybody in?" Silence as heavy and oppressive as the darkness beyond the radiance of his little pocket lamp answered him again. The two men, the detective slightly In advance, walked quickly i^ong the hall to the door at the rear, where Britz parted the portieres and looked into the big room in which be had interviewed the Eastern schola^. Its appearance was much the same as it had been on his preceding visit, save that as his practiced eye dwelt more persistently upon it, he notfed the disappearance of many small arti­ cles, particularly a porphyry Buddha that had sat within a little shrine upon the wall. The apartment had the seeming of having been subjected to a surface stripping by persons about to leave it in a hurry. Few of the sol­ emn book# that had been scattered about the room remained. Among the Oriental objects still in the room was the narghileh from which the sage was fond of drawing a smoker's con­ solation. "Gone, eh?" said Fitch, In an un­ dertone. Britz nodded. "Think we had better look up­ stairs?" asked the doctor. With another swift nod the detec­ tive turned on his heel and led the way from floor to floor until they reached the top of the house. They glanced into every room and explored the larger apartments thoroughly. All were empty. Here and there they found evidences of hasty packing In various rooms were queer jumbles of the East and West--linen collars with single hairline stripes of delicate tints lay beside Oriental scraps of mani­ fest fineness. On one rack hung a Derby hat, on another a turban like that worn by the Swami, and like the kerchief Brltz had found on the fire escape of the Hotel Renaissance. One of the most interesting finds was a scimitar with a jeweled hilt and a blade of wonderful keenness. Britz drew it from its scabbard and was about to feel the edge when Fitch stopped him with a swift gesture. "Don't touch it, lieutenant," said the doctor. "One never knows what criminal tricks these beggars play with their weapons." As the detective looked at him in­ quiringly, he added: "A sword or dagger is as likely to be poisoned as not. In fact, they pre­ fer poisons to straight fighting." . Convinced there was no one in the upper part of the house, the two men descended to the main floor and re­ entered the reception room at the rear. "This was their den," said Britz ex­ planatory, as he began a closer search of the room. "We may find a trace of them in some of their papers. It's worth a few minutes to make a hunt. Get busy, doc!" And the detective rummaged through drawer after draw­ er, Fitch following his example. They found many unusual articles, but nothing that gave an inkling of the di­ rection of the Hindoos' flight--for it was certain the Orientals had depart­ ed hastily, having gained their object in getting possession of the Missioner necklaoe. Britz had no smallest doubt the Easterners had anticipated him In the burglary of Mrs. Delaroche's apartments. He did not believe any of the low-ca6te Hindoos would have been skilful enough to get into the woman's rooms, so near the top of the building. In his opinion, the gems had been filched from Millicent's pillow by either the Swami or the Prince It was typical of the clever cunning of the high-caste Orientals to take only the Jewels and leave the casket under the pillow, so that Mrs. Dela­ roche should not miss the Btones un­ til the last moment possible. They must have picked the lock. Brltz had ended his exploration of the last table drawer, and was turning to a lacquered desk, when Fitch, with a cry of unmistakable alarm, gripped his wrist and dragged him toward the divan, and with, a bound stood upon its yielding surface. "Jump up, quick!" said the doctor, plucking at the detective's arm as he spoke. Britz had experienced too many emergencies in his career to waste time in qunestlons. When anyone of whose friendliness he felt sure told him to jump, run, or duck, obedience to the command was his first instinct --time enough for explanation after­ ward. He leaped to the springy sofa beside the physician, and turned to find the doctor's arm stretched tense­ ly, ending in a quivering forefinger that pointed at something moving across the space between the divan and door. Even as the two looked at It, the motion of the creature ceased, and two beady eyes were turned in their direction. Fitch dragged' the detective to the other end of the sofa and began climbing to the top of a tall chiffonier that stood against the wall. Britz needed no further word from his friend. The physician's haste was sufficient indication that they were in grave peril, and though the tall chest of drawers made slip­ pery climbing, he was beside the doc­ tor with marvelous quickness. When both were safely on the top of the chiffonier. Fitch lowered a foot and with a powerful shove sent the divan a yard or more away. Then he drew his feet to the top of their perch, and bade Brltz do the same. That done. Fitch mopped his brow with a hand- dc "Hurt Much?" Asked the Detective Coolly. kerchief, which, crisp one Instant, was limp the next. "Pretty close call," he said, when speech was restored to him. "What is it?" asked Brltz. "What Is it?" exclaimed the doctor. "Well, only the most dangerous thing Infinite wisdom has seen fit to place in that wonderland of the East." "Snake?" asked the detective. "Snake!" cried Fitch. "That's not the word, jnan. it is the most poison­ ous serpent known to scientists--the terrible cobra dl capello, of Hlndo- stan. A single touch of Its fangs is the beginning of the end--the way to a swift finish." "Hurt much?" asked the detective, coolly. * "It Is said to be the most frightful torture man can experience--death by a cobra's poison. Science has not yet found an antidote. If a rattler bites you, you may save your life with whisky if you get it soon enough. When a cobra sets his teeth in you, you don't have time to drink the whis­ ky, even if the glass is at your Hps, and nobody knows whether it would do any good if you had time to drink it." A long low whistle was the detec­ tive's only expression of his apprecia­ tion of their predicament. His study of Oriental lore did not acquaint him with the characteristics of the cobra. But the doctor was a scientist, and Brltz was willing to take the informa­ tion on trust. It was a situation in which he felt he could afford to dis­ pense with experimental knowledge. The thick, beautifully rounded snake, ashen in color and sinuous of move­ ment, apparently was not alarmed by the scramble of the doctor and the de­ tective to the top of the chiffonier, nor even by the swing of the divan under the vigorous push of Fitch's foot. It lowered the head It had lifted a few Inches from the floor, and continued its passage across the room; but a short, dry laugh from the sleuth evi­ dently angered it more than any louder noises. It stopped midway of the room, turning its head once more to­ ward the men on their narrow perch. An involuntary shiver ran through Fitch, and even Britz felt a little un­ comfortable under the serpent's glit­ tering gaze. The creature coiled itself in the center at the floor. Its head lift­ ed, and those beady eyes twinkling furiously. Then began a motion of the head like that of a waterspout to a point at least knee-high of a tall man. The head bent forward Rightly, and the neck on both sides distended slow­ ly until the loose flesh formed a sort of hood behind and slightly above both sides of the narrow, wicked forehead of the serpent. "Look!" cried Fitch. "That Is the unmistakable sign of a cobra, the dead­ ly hooded snake of India. It is like no other member of the serpent family. When you see that hood commence to come out--don't wait to see the rest." "About how long do you think It will stay there, doctor?" asked the detec­ tive. "Until It either gets us or forgets us," answered the physician. "The dis­ tension of the skin about the neck in that way means that the beast is an­ gry. Once it is thoroughly aroused, it never gives up until it strikes its vic­ tim, or is kllled-i-unless something more startling happens to distract its attention." "Rather looks as if we were trap­ ped," Britz said. "Somewhat," rejoined Fitch. "We're here to stay unless that reptile goes." "Can we kill It, do you think?" asked the detective. "We might If we had a machine gun --have you got a pistol?" "I brought one Into the room," an­ swered Brltz, feeling in his pockets, "but I laid it on that table when I was going through those drawers. Pretty careless, eh?" Fitch nodded. He was racking his wits for some means of escape which meant, bo far as he could see, a meth­ od of killing the snake. It seemed use­ less to expect help from outside the house. The door between the hall and the room in which they were w*s closed, and before it hung portieres heavy enough to muffle their loudest shouts. Their only probable chance of relief lay in the hope that the blue- coat would become sufficiently anxious at their failure to return and would enter the house In quest of them. Even in that rather remote contin­ gency, however, it was far from cer­ tain they could warn him before the cobra could glide across the room and strike him to death. No, they were thrown utterly upon their own re­ sources. Britz agreed with the doctor on that point, as la low tones, so that they might not further inflame the ser­ pent, they discussed their situation. "Guess there's nothing accidental about this little sunshine being in the room," said Britz musingly. "Those Oriental strong-armers probably fig­ ured It out that one or both of us would come here, and so they arranged this pleasing little surprise party. I think it is worthy a place In the society columns as one of the successes of the season." He made light of the danger because that was his way when he was In a particularly tight place; but he rea­ lized the peril by this time as fully as did the doctor. There was nothing hu­ morous In the fact that all the time they were held prisoners atop the chlf fonler by the gray death before them, the Hindoos were doubtless making the most of the time thus gained for es cape. True, he had asked that all the ordinary avenues of escape from the city be watched, and although he took it for granted Chief Manning would carry out the request conscientiously, he was not at all confident the men sent from the Central Office and from the varlouB precinct headquarters would be proof against the adroitness of Indian noblemen, adepts, and thugs. Moreover, It was as good as certain that the Swami, the Prince, and their followers would not seek to flee the city by any ordinary route. Britz him­ self, had he been free to continue the pursuit, would have looked first to the most extraordinary modes of flight compatible with practical conditions. From what he knew of the men by this time it would not amaze him greatly to find they had left the city by airship or submarine, slightly im­ probable as ^itner means of transit might have been ~ ' ' ---- fore. "Bottled up, gloomily. "That's what it looks like," assented Fitch. "Unless," Britz continued, "we can et that gun--" 'And use It effectively," put In Fitch. "I'm something of a shot," the detec- Ive ventured, meditatively. "Maybe could hit it, and maybe I could get hat gun." 1 His eyes, ranging the room in the mmediate neighborhood of the chlf- onler, had alighted upon the water ilpe. The long, flexible rubber stem f the narghileh was stretched across he table and the mouthpiece hung ver the back of a chair within a few eet of the top of the chiffonier. "I'll try It," said the detective decls- treiy. "Give a hand here, doc!" Fitch hooked one arm about the or- lamental knob at the back of the chlf- onier, and with his free hand gripped he detective's left wrist. Britz, his eft hand clutching the doctor's sleeve, he toe of his left boot thrust between he chiffonier and the wall, leaned far >ut In an attempt to reach the tube if the water pipe. He withdrew his rm quickly, however, and gave a little nervous cough as the drab death that ay colled in the middle of the floor straightened its sinister length and glided swiftly across the room, then coiled itself once more directly under the spot where the detective's stretch­ ing fingers had been. Once more the head arose with that strange, sinuous, swaying motion, and It befan to move slowly back and forth, while the glis­ tening eyes seemed to shoot sparks to­ ward the man who hung at such fear­ ful hazard above it. "Gee!" said Britz. 'This is getting a little too close for comfort. How far can that thing stretch, doctor?" "No higher than that," answered Fitch, "at least, I think not. I under­ stand the cobra can strike only straight forward." "Sure it can't make an upper cut?" inquired the sleuth. "I'm not going to say positively. I'm not sure of anything with that kind of a brute," Fitch answered. "The best way is to take no chances. Let me have a try for the gun." A bifurcated scarlet thread, the slender forked togue of the reptile, darted in and out of its imping jaws in a frenzied way. It was apparent to anyone--he he scientist or layman-- that the serpent was in a white heat of fury. Woe betide the human flesh that came within reach of that eager, death- dealing venom. Brltz, though he was known the length and breadth of the department as the coolest proposition under Man­ ning's command, frankly shuddered as he watched the undulating menace of the serpent's body, and the staccato play of the tongue that seemed to mock him with the deadly humor of a fiend. He was willing to risk his life," 1f need be, to prevent the escape of the dark, subtle enemies whose de- VA J -S r> .. -.V. * !>!•«• --»u caugub aiUi few years be- doc!" he exclaimed such a trap, for trapped he seemed to be beyond the possibility of escape. That they had matched their cunning against his cold, hard, Occidental skill and common sense, only made him the more determined to outwit, 'outplay, outfight them. "No, doc," said the detective firmly. "It was my fool carelesness that left that gun on that table, and it's up to me to get it. You hold me fast and sit tight, and if anybody gets stung, it'll be me." Once again Britz, warily watching the snake, stretched forth his arm, stretched his fingers until he could al­ most feel them crack and strained his muscles almost beyond endurance, the while his nerve was subjected to the severest test of all his experience. At last hi nipped the smooth amber of the pipestem's mouthpiece between the tips of his first and second fin­ gers. It was the slightest of grasps; but so steady were the nerves of the Headquarters man that although the cobra In Its swaying seemed to ap­ proach ever nearer the arm and naked wrist that shrank involuntarily from the fancied death-thrust of those gleaming fangs, still he did not flinch. He clung to the pipestem, his fingers steadily drawing it toward him until he had a firm clutch on the rubber tube. Then with a powerful upward and backward heave, he regained his position on the chiffonier, the twisting hose gripped in his hand. The other end of the pipestem still was attached to the bowl of the narghileh. As the tube festooned between the table ana the chiffonier, it went close to thrf I head of the cobra. Lightning like, the I head dashed toward it, fangs bristling, i and only a quick twitch of the detec- j tive's fingers snatched the stem be- ' yond the reach of those poison-freight­ ed ivory needles. That jerk freed the other end of the tube from the pipe bowl, and Britz quickly looped it in his hands. Holding both ends of the long stem, he knotted a single loop In the mid­ dle and flung it like a double lariat upon the table beside the pistol. Slow­ ly dragging the pipestem back, ha pulled it, after several trials, about the chamber of the weapon. Then, handing one end of the tube to the doctor, Britz took hold of the other, explaining his purpose to Fitch in a few words. The detective stretched his arm away from the chiffonier at one end; the physician did the same at the other, and they stood pulling in opposite directions, thus tightening the loop about the pistol. When the grip of the tube on the weapon was firm enough, it was comparatively easy to swing the revolver from the table to the chiffonier. Britz gripped the gun with an intake of breath that betokened satisfaction. "Now, then, doc," he said briskly. "Let's see if we can't put the reverse English on that Garden of Eden epi­ sode. Here's where the seed of the woman bruises the serpent with hit heel." "I would advise you to do your bruising at long distance," said Fitch, "and unless you have more cartridges about you, I wouldn't waste a shot. You won't find It easy to hit him." Britz in a moment or two realized the doctor spoke true. The swaying, neutral-tinted body was no easy mark for the most practiced marksman. His first shot went wide. The bullet imbedded itself in a leg of the table with a rasping sound that only infuri­ ated the cobra the more. Britz his nerve slightly shaken by«the miss, fired again quickly, Bhivered the bowl of the narghileh, and caused the snake to oscillate more and more vio­ lently. It became apparent he would gain nothing by aiming at Its head. "I'll have a try at him 'midships," he said. Only three loaded cartridges re­ mained in the revolver, and as Brits found no extra ones In any of his pockets, he knew he must make the most of those he had. A third time the pistol cracked. The bullet grazed the serpent's flesh. It did not injure the spine. Quickly the upraised part of the body sank upon the coll, but it reared itself again in an instant, and the furious darting of the tongue re­ vealed that the reptile was more en­ raged than ever. "Want to take a crack at It, doc?" asked the detective, handing the weapon to the physician. Fitch had no poor Idea of himself as a fancy shot, but he found his muscular control too sadly shaken by his narrow escape from the cobra to shoot straight. His shot--the fourth-- was a wider miss than any of the de­ tective's had been. He handed the pistol back to the Headquarter's man and shook his head. "You're the man to stay on the fir­ ing line," he said. - Brltz eyed the revolver grimly. In its blue-steel chamber were four empty cartridges and only one that held the potentiality of release from their dangerously uncertain refuge on the chiffonier. Crooking his left arm, he used the angle made by his 6lbow as a rest and leveled the long blue barrel of the big-calibered weapon steadily. Pausing until the swaying of the serpent diminished as much as it apparently was going to do, be fired. A writhing, twisting snarl was the result. The cobra colled and uncoiled with electric rapidity, traveling In cir­ cles all over the space between the chiffonier and the table whence Brits had lassoed the pistol. Plainly the reptile was'hit--mortally wounded, he thought, but as he started to descend Impatiently, Fitch seized him and lit­ erally flung him back on the chiffon­ ier's smooth top. "Not yet," said the doctor, nervous­ ly. "Let's wait a minute." It was profitable patience. For after probably a minute of terrible struggle, the cobra returned to Its coll and once more reared its head. The gray body throbbed fiercely, but closer scrutiny showed the man the snake had not been hit with fatal result. Suddenly the physician seized Brit*" arm in a nervous grasp. "By Jupiter!" he exclaimed. "You've shot out its tongue!" (TO BE CONTINUED.) "Prince John" Van Buren. John Van Buren, son of Martin Van Buren. at one time generally known as "Prince John," having undertaken the representation as a lawyer of a certain cause before the courts, very much to the disgust of one of his friends, the latter expostulated with him in vain, and losing his temper, exclaimed: "Van Buren, is there no case so low, so vile, so filthy, that you would decline to represent it?" "I do not know," Van Buren re­ plied, hesitatingly, and quickly ap­ proaching his ear close to the lips of the inquirer he whispered: "What have you been doing?"--Hilton: "Fun­ ny Side of Politics." Matter of Breathing. Teachers will be interested In the exi*eriments of Dr. Noble, connected with the New York schools. He finds that many boys are vicious looking and bad because they do not breathe properly. One boy who scowled at his teacher and frequently played truant, after a course In breathing lessons became a bright, upright-look­ ing boy and fond of school. Tit for Tat. "Why was Muggles so angry with his wife?" "Because she took the money to pay for her new harem skirt that he In­ tended to use for his Turkish ciga­ rettes." Bible Has Been Standard Immense Literary Influence Which the King James' Version Has Had on People. The celebrations of the tercentenary of the authorized version of the Bible naturally lead to a consideration of the immense literary Influence of that version, says a New York Sun corre­ spondent Swift's dictum stands pre- eminent In this direction: "If it were not for the Bible and Book of Common Prayer in the vulgar tongue we should hardly be able to un­ derstand anything that was written among us a hundred years ago. Those books being perpetually read in churches have proved a kind of stand­ ard for language, especially to the com­ mon people." Add to this the testimony of Has- tuu who also pointed to the sudden In­ undation of England by great litera­ ture In 1611. After referring to the greatness and simplicity of such sto- rice as those o( Joseph, Rachel and Laban, Ruth and Boaz, the captivity and deliverance of Israel, he says: "There Is in all these parts of the scripture, and numberle^* more of the same kind, an originality, a vastness of conception, a depth and tender­ ness of feeling and a touching sim­ plicity in the mode of narration which he who does not feel need be made of no 'penetrable stuff."* Elsewhere he says: "There are de­ scriptions in the Book of Job more prodigal of Imagery, more Intense In passion, than anything in Homer, as that of the state erf his prosperity and of the vision that .came upon him by night." Connecticut Farmers Against Rabbit. Most assuredly the proposed protec­ tion of rabibts by lmpdsing a limit upon catches and by lessening the opening season will not be approved by farmers and fruit growers. Under present limitations rabblt8 have mul­ tiplied until they have become almoat a plague. Their principal offense is the gird- lftig ot fruit trees, to which they are strongly addicted even when the ground Is not snow-covered. So far as known they serve no useful pur­ pose except as food; their pelts are next to valueless, bringing only a cent each and "slow sale" even at that price. Farmers bring the addi­ tional charge that rabbit hunters tear dowa and do not reconstruct their fences, and this complaint is founded upon facta.--Bridgeport Farmer. Evident Misunderstanding. "How is the flora ot your neighbor hood"' asked the city man. "Fine!" replied the suburbanite. 1 don't think she waa ever better In bet whole life!" , "What are you talking, about, any> way? I saij the flora of your neighb­ orhood " "Sure. 1 heard you. Flora--shel my wlfel~--Yonkara Statesmen NEWS NUGGETS FROM ILLINOIS Edwardsville.--The Illinois Stat* Firemen's association ended a three day convention here by selecting Ot­ tawa as the next meeting place. Of­ ficers were elected as follows: President--H. J. Lohman, Aurora. Secretary--Walter E. Price, Cham* paign. Treasurer--M. T. Quirk, Areola. The officers of the National Fire- men's association decided to hold the next convention at Springfield. Den­ ver and Buffalo had also asked fQl the national convention. Danville.--Justice of the Pesos H. J, Hall has decided that ft bulldog is a deadly weapon. Mrs. Cleo Wilson went to the home of Mm. Mary Hensley. According to the tes'i- niony, Mrs. Hensley sallied forth, re- enforced by a son carying a club and a powerful bulldog. Mrs. Wilson and other witnesses testified that Mrs. Hfensley seized her by the hair, the bulldog dragged her by the leg and the boy struck her with a club. Mrs. Wilson swore cut a warrant charging Mis. Hensley with assault with a deadly weapon, to-wit, a bulldog, and Justice Hall held the defendant tp the grand jury. Chicago.--The mystery surround­ ing the brutal murder of six- year-old Alfreda Doverlska, found dead in a shed In the rear of 1457 Tell place on April 16, 1910, after hav­ ing been attacked and strangled, may be cleared through a man now under arrest at the Irving Park police sta­ tion. The prisoner gave the name of William Maina. He was questioned concerning the attack on the Doverl­ ska child. Although he denied this charge he admitted attacking two other young girls and confessed to having been Implicated in a holdup. Peoria.--Following the election of officers the Brotherhood of Illi­ nois Threshermen's convention was adjourned to meet again the week of the national Implement and vehicle show, which is to be held here next fall. L. L. Milton of Pontoosio was elected president of the brother­ hood, Clem Kreiger was made vice- president and John A. White of Wash­ burn was elected secretary and* treas­ urer. Chicago. -- Five passengers, one a woman, were injured on a Fifty- ninth street car when it was derailed and partly wrecked at South Halsted street by a Halsted street car. F. Roy, motorman of the Halsted street car, told the police the accident was partly due to a misunderstanding be­ tween him and the other motorman and to the slippery condition of tit* rails, the brakes falling to check tho speed of the car Alton.--For the first time U many years the Mississippi river here was jammed with Ice, the 1 floes piling high in the air as they pushed toward the draw span of tho bridge. The gorge cuts off all teo floes from the Mississippi and Illinois livers and only Ice from the Missouri is passing St. Louis. Springfield.--Samuel Lewis, tho oldest rurfcl mall carrier in tho United States, died at his home in Au­ burn, Sangamon county. This county was the first to get the rural service in the country and Lewis, who was seventy-years old at his death, was the first carrier. Rockford.--Fifty west-end dents In a temperature ten below sero built a 20-foot bridge, laid side­ walks and declared open a street which the city council had vacated to a manufacturing company. Springfield. -- Thomas Alrd of Thayer, aged forty-nine years, is dead at St. John's hospital here as the result of a wound received while hunting near his home. John Alrd, the victim'8 sixteen-year-old son, shot at a rabbit and the full charge of shot took effect in his father's t^ody. Jacksonville.--John Matlock and . Robert Pruitt pleaded guilty to the murder of Frank Cashln. a cigar maker, here. Matlock was sentenced o life Imprisonment and Pruitt to Z§ vears. Toulon--Dr. J. W. Edwards was round dead in his office here. It is believed that death was due to heart trouble. He was a Civil war veteran and was a pioneer of Stark county. Springfield.--The recent decistaft of the supreme court sustaining the law directing that all fees of the grain inspector's office in Chicago be turned into the state treasury and that an appropriation be made to pay salaries of employes in the office, re­ sulted In a decision by the civil serv­ ice commission to reduee by two the force of men in the Chicago office. Springfield.--Plans to consolidate the natural history exhibit of the state fair with the state museum, under direction of Dr. A. R. Crook, curator of the state collection, were made at the closing session of the annual meeting of the state board of 1 agriculture. Since the organization of the State Fair association the large collection acquired by it has been ac­ cessible to the public only during tlie state fair. Under the contemplated plan, the state museum will add th» fair association collection to its Oina during the state fair. . Kankakee.--The eriifi fairy of the January term ot Kankakee circuit court completed its work with the returning of Indictments against E. W. Wagner ft Co., and James E. Bennett ft Co., both members of the Chicago board of trade, who , operate branch offices in this city, charging operation of a bucket shop. The Indictments are the result of a recent suit brought in the local courtf m by the Wagner company agatast • physician seeking to recover tuosiy >d margin? in grain deal#