VOLUME II. E ee A Whi vZ \ hy, \ Al BOR BELOIT, KANSAS, AUGUST, 1901. NUMBER 8. ALL DUE TO TRIFLES. gineer of a stately steamship, some years since, led to a loss of the vessel, Tragedies That Have Been Caused by | With 400 passengers and a costly cargo. Insignificant Happenings. In a Lancashire coal mine, a few years ago, a callous youth viciously pricked a pony with his penknife. The wounded animai kicked him fur- iously, overturning and breaking sev- eral safety lamps. The naked flames fed the foul gases in the air and cre- ated an appalling explosion, which wrought the death of over a hundred miners. Sun rays. shining through a decan- ter of water on the cartridge of a loaded rifle, slew a sleeping man on a lounge nearby. The innocent owner of the rifle was arraigned for the sup- posed crime and was sentenced to death, when the testimony of a shrewd de- tective solved the mystery and secured his reprieve. A spark from a truant fire balloon, in the neighborhood of New York, one celebration day, drifted through the open door of a gunpowder factory and created in a moment a miniature earth quake, slaying six men and woefully ‘wounding several others. An Italian Countess, entering her chamber one evening with a_ stout stiletto bonnet pin in her hand, stum- bled over a pet dog and fell prostrate upon the floor, the perilous pin pierc- ing her heart and causing instant death. The heart-broken Count, sus- pecting a jealous noble of the supposed murder, shot him dead on the street the next day. The following night the brother of the murdered man fa- tally stabbed the Count. After this triple tragedy the true cause of the trouble was revealed. A young bachelor in London, san- guine of participating in the wealth of a certain country uncle, invited his rich relative to spend a week with him in town. During dinner one evening the nephew— quite unaware of the per- ilous character of the combination— passed Charteuse wine and bananas to his uncle, who partook of both, thus producing a peculiarly potent poison, which caused his death. The nephew’s deep concern turned to dismay when learned later that the absence of any will shattered his hopes of a fortune, and his chagrin prompted him to pre- maturly. end his existence. A German family, seven in number, lost their lives by a somewhat unique accident. They slept in one large apartment, lighted by: gas. Before re- tiring, the father hung his overcoat above the gas burner. During the night this garment slipped and fell on the tap, turning the gas full on and so suffocating the slumbering inmates. A defect in an axle, so small as to escape the scrutiny of the vigilant platelayers, led to the most melan- choly disaster ever known in the United States The fated train first caught fire, then left the rails and des- cended a deep declivity. In this ap- palling accident more than two hun- dred lives were lost. A trifling but irreparable misunder- standing between the captain and en- The ship was steering through peril- ous seas, when the electric bell sound- ed ‘‘stop’’ to the engine room. From some unexplained cause the signal was taken for ‘‘full speed ahead,’’ and was so interpreted and obeyed, with the result that the huge vessel struck a rock and foundered. A faulty link in a huge hoisting chain caused one of the direst disas- ters of its kind that ever occurred in the north of England. The chain was attached to a colossal crane, and when a friend challenged her to pass the night alone in an alleged haunted chamber. She accepted the challenge. During the night she called for aid, and an attendant found her ina _ state of pitiful fright, through certain un- canny sounds she had heard. Finally she developed a nervous disorder, which culminated in insanity. The ghostly visitants were rats. —Tit-Bits. Fraternity. In spreading over our broad land, every city, town, village and ham- let in every porticn of our vast domain has one or more fraternal orders in its BONITA PIERCE, OUR LITTLE ROYAL NEIGHBOR, snapped at a critical moment, allow- ing some enormous iron girders to fall upon a score of workmen beneath, twelve of whom lost their lives there- by. A popular Polish tenor singer, of operatic celebrity some years since, lost his life by eating a milk scone, in which a careless cook had unintention- ally dropped a brass nail. The nail caused cancer, from which death ensued. A once-renowned French actress lost her reason through a trifling occur- ence. She was visiting at an ancient chateau, .in the vicinity of Mentone, Permission ..... New England Woodman. midst. The so-called secret society has no fears for any one any longer. The term secret was & misnomor, applied to mystify the suspicious and now these things are well understood, the good honest name that of fraternal or benefiical has become popular. About the only secrecy to any of the orders now is the signs and grips, initiatory work and pass words and these are necessarily secret to protect the mem- bership from outside imposters and to recognize each other in moments of danger. So, after all, what muy ap- peal to some asa terrible trespass on American rights is indeed a protection to our American liberties and a de- fender of our American homes. There is not a fraternal order today but what recognizes God as the su- preme ruler of the universe, and in our land of the free and home of the brave the constitution and the laws of the land are the foundation principles of every order. We are taught to respect the rights of our fellows, to wrong no man, to ‘‘render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,’’ and to do unto all men as we would that they would do unto us. Fraternities teach us to respect each other, to guard the good name of a member’s family and loved ones, to care for the sick, bury the dead and educate the orphan. Can any one ask more. — Exchange. Items of Interest. Every dollar paid out must first be paid in by the members. The members pay all bills. If an ap- plicant is not a good risk,and you vote to admit him, you are providing more bills which you must furnish the cash to pay. The Woodmen Circle, the woman’s branch of Woodmen of the World, has raised its assessment rates. Every- thing connected with the Woodmen of the World seems to be going up. In ‘| this instance the move is in the proper direction, although the members are making very vigorcus protest. They | seem to forget that the raise is made necessary, simply because the members are dying and losses are being paid. The Bankers Union and Woodmen Circle are engaging ina little unfra- ternal strife. The fraternal orders are essentially the creation of the last twenty- five or thirty years, and that the people appreciate their value is shown by the immense number of such organ- izations now doing business in the country. The same rale must apply to them as to everything else, there will be a survival of the fittest. Undoubtedly many will fall by the way, but those who have real merit will continue their growth, and in time those which are weak will be crowded out of existence, and only the strong and well organized societies remain. As someone has well said, ‘‘The new century will not only see the survival of the fittest, but it will also witness the unprecedented triumph of the best.’’—The Compton Hill. Fraternal beneficiary associations have made it possible for a poor man to be as independent as regards his de- pendents as his rich neighbors. The young man, without a bank account, but with a young wife and helpless little ones dependent on his health, strength and success in life (and _ben- eficiary certificates in case of death), occupies relatively the same position as the gray-haired retired business man who has devoted his long life to money-making, as far as providing for his dependents are concerned.—Court of Honor.