Honest Indians
Many curious instances of the manner in which the honesty of the Indian manifests itself are cited in the north country of the Canadian Northwest. One of the tales is of a native who, desiring food and tobacco and blankets, broke into the store of a remote trading post which had been locked and abandoned for a few weeks while the white men in charge transacted business elsewhere. The Indian supplied his needs and left pelts in payment for what he took and months later he came back to ascertain if he had left enough.
One Indian found a post closed when he went to it to dispose of his skins. Being unwilling to wait, he forcibly entered and left his pack, but nothing with it to indicate his identity. Then he left, fastening the door as best he could, and not until a year later did he return.
When he walked into the post and told his story, the price of the skins was handed over to him without question. The accounts of the white man had been carefully kept, and he was certain that a just claim would be made.
An unusual degree of confidence is reposed in the half-breeds, who are lieutenants of the white traders. In Edmonton I saw a trader give one of his half-breed employees $1,250 (probably equal to $12,500 or more, today) to be taken to a distant post and there distributed as wages to others. The two shook hands and parted, not to meet for a year, and the white man said that he was sure not a cent would fail to reach its rightful destination.
In the town of Edmonton itself, honesty seems to vie with hospitality for the credit of being the most prominent trait of the citizens. Scores of thousands of dollars worth of furs are stored there in warehouses which are seldom or never locked or guarded.
Delphos Herald, Jan. 12, 1907
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Horse Rescued Its Mate
Harry Riley, a  young farmer living near Woodstown, pastures his horses in a field through which runs a muddy creek. The other day one of the horses came up in a gallop to the fence surrounding the house and whinnied loudly. Then it wheeled about and ran toward the creek, but no special attention was then paid to it by the family.
Again the beast appeared, dashing up over the hill, and neighed frantically at the fence. Farmer Riley went to the horse and patted it soothingly on the nose, whereupon the animal sized him by the coat sleeve and pulled him up against the fence, as if to haul him over it. The horse soon released Riley and then ran a few feet toward the creek, wheeled about and again came back, whinnying excitedly.
The strange actions of the horse finally convinced Riley that something was the matter, and when he started to follow it the delight of the beast was manifest. The intelligent animal led Riley to the bank of the stream, at a spot nearly concealed by bushes, and there in the quickmire, with only half its head visible, was the other horse, buried and slowly sinking out of sight.
Riley quickly summoned the help of neighboring farmers with shovels and ropes, and after several hours of hard work, succeeded in extricating the horse from what would certainly have been its grave had it not been for the intelligence and faithfulness of its mate.
Delphos Courant, Oct. 24, 1900
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A Ghost At Lima
For the last week, says the Lima Gazette, at the home of Mr. Benjamin Bauman, 762 East Market Street, a ghost or spirit has made his appearance in the family and causes great trouble and anxiety.
About 2 o’clock, several mornings ago, his daughter Lucy, aged 14 years, was sleeping in the bedroom, awakened by feeling that there was someone in the room. Sitting on the edge of the bed she saw the figure of a man outlined; with a scram she rushed from the room into the room of her sister and related her experience. Her sister laughed at the story and told her to again go to bed and told her to ask the ghost what he wanted. She then went back to bed and in a little while she said to her sister, “here he is again and is throwing the clothes down.” Her sister replied again, “ask him what he wants,” which she did and the ghost said, “say a prayer for me and I will be happy.” She did and he went away apparently contented but has come back several times to the little girl.
The spiritualists of the town intend holding a meeting at the home and claim that she is a medium.
Several of Lima’s prominent people and neighbors have witnessed these manifestations and all say they partake of the unearthly.
Delphos Herald, Nov. 5, 1895
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Another Smart Horse
“Experience has convinced me that there is such a thing as horse sense,” says a veterinary surgeon. “A friend of mine had a beautiful chestnut driving mare that was subject to spells of colic. About a year ago she got very sick and Jones, the owner, brought her over here for treatment. I cared for her, and she seemed as grateful as a human being might, rubbing her nose against my coat sleeve, and showing her affection in her dumb way.
“One day about six months ago up she came to the door of my shop, moaning and evidently suffering acutely. I treated her again and she got better. I found out afterward that there was no one home that day, and that she had worked her halter off and set out to find the doctor.”
“Curious circumstance,” said the man who heard the story.
“But that’s not all,” said the doctor. “Three days ago I came down to my office in the morning. There lay the chestnut mare in front of the door - dead. She had been taken sick, had made her way as before to the shop in the night, and found nobody there, to give her medicines and she died. Now, if this story isn’t proof that a horse can reason, I would like to hear something better to beat it.”
Delphos Herald, Aug. 20, 1900
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A Horseless Sleigh
An adaptation of the Bollee horseless carriage, driven by a gasoline engine, to winter use, has been invented by Dr. Casgrain, of Quebec. In place of the pneumatic-tired wheels of the ordinary Bollee carriage he substitutes steel runners for the forepart of the carriage, and a driving wheel, whose rims is studded with steel points, for the rear part. The steering apparatus acts upon the forward runners. The gasoline tank, containing seven quarts, suffices for a run of fifty miles.
Delphos Herald, Sept. 7, 1900
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Phonograph Can Be  Heard
Ten Miles Away
According to reports printed in English exchanges, a phonograph is now available by which messages can be delivered in such tremendously loud tones as will make them easily understood at a distance of ten miles. The machine has been tested at Brighton, the home of its inventor, Horace Short, and its possibilities seem to be endless. It will render loud selections in the open air that can be listened to by thousands of people, or it will shout news messages that could be heard high above the roar of the traffic and the thousand noises of a big city. You can whisper a sentence into the machine’s small funnel-shaped mouthpiece and it will repeat it in tones that are more deafening than the shrieks of a ship’s steam sire. Yet every word is perfectly articulated, and a shorthand writer ten miles away can take down the message as easily as if you were dictating to him in a small room.
Delphos Herald, Sept. 15, 1900
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In Japan
The wily Japanese is now manufacturing “Waterbury” clocks and “American” bicycles, and shipping them to India — a good imitation of the genuine in looks — much to the chagrin of the real American manufacturer and loss to the poor Indians.
(Check this date) June 18, 1900
Delphos Herald
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Finds “Fountain of Youth”
William R. Hinsdale of Orange, N.J., who has discovered the location of the “old Spanish tunnel” in the Shawanguk mountains, is to lay out a park there.
Tradition said that from the tunnel ran a stream of living water, Prof. Mathel, State geologist of Ohio, who investigated, accepted the theory that the work was done by Spaniards who formed a part of the Ponce de Leon expedition. After failing to find the fountain of youth in Florida, they are thought to have made the journey northward.
When they came to a stream larger than a man’s arm, rushing out of solid rock, with no visible source of supply, they halted and began to tunnel to locate the source. This was in the 1500’s. The tunnel was known till recently only by Indian legend.
Hinsdale, finding a stream that never varied in its flow or temperature, employed a force of men and uncovered much debris. Then he located the mouth of the tunnel. It is perfectly formed and the stream gushes from a fissure at the extreme end.
The tunnel is 500 feet long, six feet high, four feet wide and straight as an arrow, with only a rise of seven feet the entire length.
Hinsdale purchased the entire tract, put in a narrow-gauge railroad, built an electric plant and lighted the tunnel with incandescent lamps.
A company is being organized to bottle the water, which on account of its purity and historical association, is expected to meet with ready sale.
Delphos Herald, Oct. 15, 1908
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Summer Ice Well
Near Coudersport, Potter County, Pennsylvania, is a hole in the mountain from which flows  freezing air.
A man was sinking a well for mineral wealth. At the depth of twenty feet he was compelled to quit or freeze. About May, ice begins to form in it, and continues to freeze until October. There is no ice in the hole in winter. The warmer the day, the more ice there is in the mine. The air becomes more frigid the closer one gets to the cavern. There is no water in the bottom of the shaft, but the water dripping down from its sides freezes. What causes the intense cold and where the air comes from are questions that have not been satisfactorily answered.
Delphos Herald, Oct. 24, 1900
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O’Neil Ancient Family Tree
F.L. O’Brien, of Dublin, in speaking of the antiquity of some of the Irish families, told the following story: “There lives in the north of Ireland,” said Mr. O’Brien, “a family named O’Neil. Their greatest claim to prominence lies in the fact that they are the oldest family in the United Kingdom. When Plantagenet, Tudor or Guelph was not, the O’Neil name was. They ruled as kings before ever William looked with covetous eye across the English channel. This long line of descendants has bred in the family a reverence for their ancestry. They go back in a direct line to the dark ages.
“As may be imagined, their family tree is colossal. It has a length of some eighteen or nineteen feet. To a visitor there some years ago, in due course of time and as a special favor, was shown this marvelous pedigree. The visitor’s eye ran back over that lengthy line of O’Neils, long since turned to dust, and he wondered why they took so insane pride in their descent. Just then he caught sight of a penciled note in the margin, about halfway down the tree. It read: ‘Just in here came Adam.’
Delphos Herald, May 2, 1901
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Sort of Table Builder
The following conversation was overheard between a joiner and his customer.
Joiner — Please, sir, I’ve brought the table you ordered me to make.
Customer — Well, put it down here, my man, and let’s see what sort of job you’ve made of it.
The man set it down and the customer examined it with the air of a critic.
Customer — Why, my man, there is here a crack filled with putty.
Joiner — Yes, sir. Well, sir, I know about that, but it won’t be noticed when it sets hard.
Customer (finding some more putty patches) — Look here this won’t do.
Joiner (scratching his head and trying hard to find some excuse) — Well, sir, that’s no harm, when the putty sets it will be harder than the wood.
Customer — Here, my man, just take this table home and bring me one made of putty altogether. I want a good strong one, and you can fill up the cracks with wood.
Delphos Herald, May 10, 1901
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