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Linked Data
Evolving the Web into a
Global Data Space

Tom Heath
Christian Bizer

SYNTHESIS LECTURES ON
THE SEMANTIC WEB: THEORY AND TECHNOLOGY
James Hendler, Series Editor
Linked Data
Evolving the Web into a Global Data Space
 Synthesis Lectures on the
Semantic Web: Theory and
Technology
Editors
James Hendler, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Frank van Harmelen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Whether you call it the Semantic Web, Linked Data, or Web 3.0, a new generation of Web
technologies is offering major advances in the evolution of the World Wide Web. As the first
generation of this technology transitions out of the laboratory, new research is exploring how the
growing Web of Data will change our world. While topics such as ontology-building and logics remain
vital, new areas such as the use of semantics in Web search, the linking and use of open data on the
Web, and future applications that will be supported by these technologies are becoming important
research areas in their own right. Whether they be scientists, engineers or practitioners, Web users
increasingly need to understand not just the new technologies of the Semantic Web, but to understand
the principles by which those technologies work, and the best practices for assembling systems that
integrate the different languages, resources, and functionalities that will be important in keeping the
Web the rapidly expanding, and constantly changing, information space that has changed our lives.
Topics to be covered:
• Semantic Web Principles from linked-data to ontology design
• Key Semantic Web technologies and algorithms
• Semantic Search and language technologies
• The Emerging “Web of Data” and its use in industry, government and university applications
• Trust, Social networking and collaboration technologies for the Semantic Web
• The economics of Semantic Web application adoption and use
• Publishing and Science on the Semantic Web
• Semantic Web in health care and life sciences

Linked Data: Evolving the Web into a Global Data Space

Tom Heath and Christian Bizer
2011
Copyright © 2011 by Morgan & Claypool

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in
printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Linked Data: Evolving the Web into a Global Data Space

Tom Heath and Christian Bizer
www.morganclaypool.com

ISBN: 9781608454303 paperback

ISBN: 9781608454310 ebook

DOI 10.2200/S00334ED1V01Y201102WBE001

A Publication in the Morgan & Claypool Publishers series

SYNTHESIS LECTURES ON THE SEMANTIC WEB: THEORY AND TECHNOLOGY

Lecture #1
Series Editors: James Hendler, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Frank van Harmelen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
First Edition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Series ISSN
Synthesis Lectures on the Semantic Web: Theory and Technology
ISSN pending.

Photo credits:

Figure 2.1 © Till Krech, http://www.flickr.com/photos/extranoise/155085339/, reused under Creative

Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) License.
Photo of Dr. Tom Heath on page 121 © Gregory Todd Williams, reused under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
Generic (CC BY 2.0) License.
Linked Data
Evolving the Web into a Global Data Space

Tom Heath
Talis

Christian Bizer
Freie Universität Berlin

SYNTHESIS LECTURES ON THE SEMANTIC WEB: THEORY AND

TECHNOLOGY #1

M
&C Morgan & cLaypool publishers
ABSTRACT
The World Wide Web has enabled the creation of a global information space comprising linked
documents. As the Web becomes ever more enmeshed with our daily lives, there is a growing desire
for direct access to raw data not currently available on the Web or bound up in hypertext documents.
Linked Data provides a publishing paradigm in which not only documents, but also data, can be a
first class citizen of the Web, thereby enabling the extension of the Web with a global data space
based on open standards - the Web of Data. In this Synthesis lecture we provide readers with
a detailed technical introduction to Linked Data. We begin by outlining the basic principles of
Linked Data, including coverage of relevant aspects of Web architecture. The remainder of the text
is based around two main themes - the publication and consumption of Linked Data. Drawing on a
practical Linked Data scenario, we provide guidance and best practices on: architectural approaches
to publishing Linked Data; choosing URIs and vocabularies to identify and describe resources;
deciding what data to return in a description of a resource on the Web; methods and frameworks for
automated linking of data sets; and testing and debugging approaches for Linked Data deployments.
We give an overview of existing Linked Data applications and then examine the architectures that
are used to consume Linked Data from the Web, alongside existing tools and frameworks that enable
these. Readers can expect to gain a rich technical understanding of Linked Data fundamentals, as
the basis for application development, research or further study.

KEYWORDS
web technology, databases, linked data, web of data, semantic web, world wide web,
dataspaces, data integration, data management, web engineering, resource description
framework
 vii

Contents
List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 The Data Deluge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 The Rationale for Linked Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.1 Structure Enables Sophisticated Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.2 Hyperlinks Connect Distributed Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 From Data Islands to a Global Data Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Introducing Big Lynx Productions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2 Principles of Linked Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.1 The Principles in a Nutshell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Naming Things with URIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 Making URIs Defererenceable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3.1 303 URIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3.2 Hash URIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.3 Hash versus 303 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4 Providing Useful RDF Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.4.1 The RDF Data Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.4.2 RDF Serialization Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.5 Including Links to other Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.5.1 Relationship Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.5.2 Identity Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.5.3 Vocabulary Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3 The Web of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

3.1 Bootstrapping the Web of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.2 Topology of the Web of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.2.1 Cross-Domain Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
viii
3.2.2 Geographic Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2.3 Media Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2.4 Government Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.2.5 Libraries and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.2.6 Life Sciences Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.2.7 Retail and Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.2.8 User Generated Content and Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.3 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

4 Linked Data Design Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

4.1 Using URIs as Names for Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.1.1 Minting HTTP URIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.1.2 Guidelines for Creating Cool URIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.1.3 Example URIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.2 Describing Things with RDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.2.1 Literal Triples and Outgoing Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.2.2 Incoming Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.2.3 Triples that Describe Related Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.2.4 Triples that Describe the Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.3 Publishing Data about Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.3.1 Describing a Data Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.3.2 Provenance Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.3.3 Licenses, Waivers and Norms for Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.4 Choosing and Using Vocabularies to Describe Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.4.1 SKOS, RDFS and OWL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.4.2 RDFS Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.4.3 A Little OWL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.4.4 Reusing Existing Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.4.5 Selecting Vocabularies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.4.6 Defining Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.5 Making Links with RDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.5.1 Making Links within a Data Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.5.2 Making Links with External Data Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.5.3 Setting RDF Links Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.5.4 Auto-generating RDF Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
 ix

5 Recipes for Publishing Linked Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

5.1 Linked Data Publishing Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.1.1 Patterns in a Nutshell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.1.2 Additional Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.2 The Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.2.1 Serving Linked Data as Static RDF/XML Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.2.2 Serving Linked Data as RDF Embedded in HTML Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5.2.3 Serving RDF and HTML with Custom Server-Side Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.2.4 Serving Linked Data from Relational Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.2.5 Serving Linked Data from RDF Triple Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5.2.6 Serving Linked Data by Wrapping Existing Application or Web APIs . . 79
5.3 Additional Approaches to Publishing Linked Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.4 Testing and Debugging Linked Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.5 Linked Data Publishing Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

6 Consuming Linked Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

6.1 Deployed Linked Data Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6.1.1 Generic Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
6.1.2 Domain-specific Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.2 Developing a Linked Data Mashup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6.2.1 Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
6.2.2 Accessing Linked Data URIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
6.2.3 Representing Data Locally using Named Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
6.2.4 Querying Local Data with SPARQL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
6.3 Architecture of Linked Data Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
6.3.1 Accessing the Web of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
6.3.2 Vocabulary Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
6.3.3 Identity Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
6.3.4 Provenance Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.3.5 Data Quality Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.3.6 Caching Web Data Locally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6.3.7 Using Web Data in the Application Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6.4 Effort Distribution between Publishers, Consumers and Third Parties . . . . . . . . 105
x

7 Summary and Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Authors’ Biographies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

 xi

List of Figures
2.1 URIs are used to identify people and the relationships between them. . . . . . . . . . . 9

3.1 Growth in the number of data sets published on the Web as Linked Data. . . . . . 31
3.2 Linking Open Data cloud as of November 2010. The colors classify data sets
by topical domain.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

5.1 Linked Data Publishing Options and Workflows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

5.2 Architecture Diagram of D2R Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

6.1 The Marbles Linked Data browser displaying data about Tim Berners-Lee.
The colored dots indicate the data sources from which data was merged. . . . . . . . 87
6.2 Sig.ma Linked Data search engine displaying data about Richard Cyganiak. . . . . 88
6.3 Google search results containing structured data in the form of Rich Snippets. . . 89
6.4 Google result answering a query about the birth date of Catherine Zeta-Jones. . 90
6.5 US Global Foreign Aid Mashup combining and visualizing data from
different branches of the US government. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6.6 The HTML view of a Talis Aspire List generated from the underlying RDF
representation of the data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
6.7 Architecture of a Linked Data application that implements the crawling pattern. 99
 Preface
This book provides a conceptual and technical introduction to the field of Linked Data. It
is intended for anyone who cares about data – using it, managing it, sharing it, interacting with it
– and is passionate about the Web. We think this will include data geeks, managers and owners
of data sets, system implementors and Web developers. We hope that students and teachers of
information management and computer science will find the book a suitable reference point for
courses that explore topics in Web development and data management. Established practitioners of
Linked Data will find in this book a distillation of much of their knowledge and experience, and a
reference work that can bring this to all those who follow in their footsteps.
Chapter 2 introduces the basic principles and terminology of Linked Data. Chapter 3 provides
a 30,000 ft view of the Web of Data that has arisen from the publication of large volumes of Linked
Data on the Web. Chapter 4 discusses the primary design considerations that must be taken into
account when preparing to publish Linked Data, covering topics such as choosing and using URIs,
describing things using RDF, data licensing and waivers, and linking data to external data sets.
Chapter 5 introduces a number of recipes that highlight the wide variety of approaches that can be
adopted to publish Linked Data, while Chapter 6 describes deployed Linked Data applications and
examines their architecture. The book concludes in Chapter 7 with a summary and discussion of the
outlook for Linked Data.
We would like to thank the series editors Jim Hendler and Frank van Harmelen for giving us
the opportunity and the impetus to write this book. Summarizing the state of the art in Linked Data
was a job that needed doing – we are glad they asked us. It has been a long process, throughout which
Mike Morgan of Morgan & Claypool has shown the patience of a saint, for which we are extremely
grateful. Richard Cyganiak wrote a significant portion of the 2007 tutorial “How to Publish Linked
Data on the Web” which inspired a number of sections of this book – thank you Richard. Mike
Bergman, Dan Brickley, Fabio Ciravegna, Ian Dickinson, John Goodwin, Harry Halpin, Frank van
Harmelen, Olaf Hartig, Andreas Harth, Michael Hausenblas, Jim Hendler, Bernadette Hyland,
Toby Inkster, Anja Jentzsch, Libby Miller, Yves Raimond, Matthew Rowe, Daniel Schwabe, Denny
Vrandecic, and David Wood reviewed drafts of the book and provided valuable feedback when we
needed fresh pairs of eyes – they deserve our gratitude. We also thank the European Commission
for supporting the creation of this book by funding the LATC – LOD Around The Clock project
(Ref. No. 256975). Lastly, we would like to thank the developers of LaTeX and Subversion, without
which this exercise in remote, collaborative authoring would not have been possible.

Tom Heath and Christian Bizer

February 2011
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
having been so long in the service; secondly, because I don’t like the idea of
causing trouble to the young lady."
"The young lady!" Owen couldn’t help breaking in.
"Yes. As I say, I’ve decided that I’d better tell the truth," said Pop
Andrews. "I do know something about that letter. There was a pink
envelope in the box when I went to collect the mail. I gave it to the young
lady who was standing at the box waiting for me. At first I didn’t want to
give it to her, knowing it was against the rules, but she begged so hard, and
finally, when she began to cry, telling me that it meant all the world to her
to get that letter back, I decided that I’d take a chance, and I handed her the
pink envelope."
"She told you that it was hers, of course, Pop?" said Owen.
"Yes; she said that she’d dropped it in the box only five minutes before,
and that it was a letter that would cause a lot of trouble if it was sent, so she
wanted it back. I believed her, and I let her have it, not dreaming that it
wasn’t hers—that she was working a game on me."
"And I suppose you have no idea who this young woman was, have you,
Pop?"
Once more the gray-haired carrier looked pityingly at the young
inspector. "Yes, Mr. Sheridan, I have. I hate to tell you, knowing what she is
to you, but it was the young lady who works in Mr. Sammis’ office, Miss
Dallas Worthington."
Walking so quickly that his pace was almost a run, Owen Sheridan
hurried around to Walter K. Sammis’ real-estate office. It was past ten
o’clock, and Dallas was usually at her typewriter by nine; but there was no
sign of her now. Her employer stood in the outer office, and looked at Owen
questioningly.
"Hasn’t Miss Worthington got down yet, Mr. Sammis?" the young man
asked.
"No, she hasn’t, and I can’t understand what’s keeping her."
Without stopping to say another word, Owen hurried around to Dallas’
boarding house. It was ridiculous, of course, to suspect that she could have
stolen that letter; but the mystery must be cleared up immediately.
"Where’s Miss Worthington?" he inquired of the landlady, who came to
the door in response to his ring.
 "I couldn’t tell you, Mr. Sheridan," the woman answered; "she left here
last night."
"Left last night!" repeated Owen blankly.
"Yes; she came in here just before supper time, rushed up to her room,
packed her suit case, and hurried out of the house as if a thousand demons
were after her."
 CHAPTER XVI.

THE PINK ENVELOPE.

For a moment Post-office Inspector Owen Sheridan stood staring

stupidly at Dallas Worthington’s landlady, appalled by the significance of
what the woman had just told him.
"Gone!" he exclaimed dazedly, at last, "and with her suit case. But didn’t
she say where she was going, Mrs. O’Brien? Didn’t she tell you when she’d
be back?"
"No, sir; not a word. She rushed out of the house like a creature
possessed. In all the while I’ve known her I’ve never seen her in such a
state. She’s usually such a calm, dignified young woman, as well you know,
Mr. Sheridan. If it wasn’t that she left her trunk behind her, and that she
don’t impress me as bein’ at all that kind of person, I’d be inclined to think
that she’d skipped to beat her board bill; she owes me three weeks’ board.
I’ve been gettin’ nothing but excuses and promises from her lately."
This was another staggerer for Owen. Dallas in need of money! He knew
that the girl’s position as stenographer in Mr. Sammis’ real-estate office did
not command a very big salary; but she had never once hinted to Owen that
she was not earning enough to pay her expenses.
"Poor little girl," he mused tenderly. "She’s evidently been having a hard
struggle to get along, and I never guessed it. But, thank goodness, she won’t
have to struggle any longer. There’s nothing to prevent us from getting
married now, and she can throw up that job as soon as she’s ready."
He was smiling to himself at the pleasant picture his mind drew of a
cozy little flat, with Dallas, trim and dainty, pouring coffee at a breakfast
table laid for two, when the strident voice of the boarding-house woman
brought him sharply to his senses:
"Why a young woman that’s earning twelve dollars a week—which I
understand is her salary, Mr. Sheridan—shouldn’t be able to keep out of
debt when her board bill’s only eight, is something that I fail to understand.
It isn’t as if she was a fancy dresser. She’s always neat, of course, but she
never wears expensive clothes, and I can’t see why she should have to get
three weeks behind in her board, when——”
 Owen hastily took out his wallet, and withdrew twenty-four dollars.
"When Miss Worthington comes back, you can tell her that her board bill
has been paid, without telling her who paid it, Mrs. O’Brien," he said,
handing her the money. "And please don’t mention anything to anybody
about her having been in arrears."
"I won’t, sir," the landlady assured him. "It ain’t no disgrace, of course,
to be hard up; but, at the same time, I know it ain’t a subject that people like
to have talked about. I’ll be very careful not to mention it, Mr. Sheridan."
"I sincerely hope that she’ll keep that promise," said Owen to himself, as
he left the house. "Until this pink-envelope mystery is cleared up, it would
be very awkward to have it become known that Dallas was so financially
embarrassed that she couldn’t pay her board bill."
Then he smiled grimly, as it occurred to him that the only person from
whom, in Dallas’ behalf, such knowledge should have been kept was
himself. Of what use to request the landlady not to mention the matter to
anybody, when he, the inspector in charge of the case, was already in
possession of the incriminating information? He was the man who must
find out what had become of the missing pink envelope. He was the man
who must name the guilty person, and eventually make an arrest in the case.
And, now that he knew that Dallas Worthington had suddenly vanished, a
few minutes after she got possession of the only pink envelope which the
letter box contained, what was he going to do about it?
He asked himself this question uneasily as he walked away from the
boarding place. He told himself indignantly that it was preposterous to
suppose for a minute that Dallas could be guilty of stealing the missing
letter; that she could deliberately have deceived Carrier Andrews in order to
get possession of the hundred-dollar bill which the pink envelope contained.
He was angry with himself for even considering the possibility of
Dallas’ guilt. "A nice way to treat the girl I love—the girl I am going to
make my wife!" he muttered. "It would serve me right if she threw me over
entirely when she learns that I dared to doubt her. How foolish to suppose
that her disappearance can have anything to do with the loss of that letter!"
Yet he knew very well that it was not foolish, from the standpoint of an
impartial post-office inspector. He knew very well that, considering all the
facts in the case, if it had been any other girl than Dallas Worthington, he
would have decided with positiveness that the person to be charged with the
crime was the young woman who had accosted Pop Andrews at the street
letter box, and pleaded with the old mail collector until he handed her the
letter.
He realized that he must do one of two things: He must scoff at Pop
Andrews’ story, accuse him of having invented that yarn about handing the
pink envelope to Dallas, charge the veteran carrier with being the thief, and
place him under arrest; or else, accepting the carrier’s story as the truth, he
must report to his chief that the missing letter had been stolen by a young
woman named Dallas Worthington, who had not yet been placed under
arrest because she had fled to escape the consequences of her act.
"It’s a ticklish proposition," reflected Owen. "I can’t very well accuse
Dallas, yet I know very well that Pop Andrews is honest, and it would break
the old fellow’s heart to accuse him of being a thief."
 CHAPTER XVII.

UNWELCOME DUTIES.

As Sheridan entered the post office, and stepped moodily into the private
rooms of the superintendent, Henderson looked at him with an expectant
smile. "Well, Mr. Inspector, have you solved the mystery yet?"
"Not quite, Henderson. Is Pop Andrews in? I’d like to have another talk
with him."
"Yes; he’s upstairs in the swing room, I believe. I’ll send for him."
"Now, Pop," said Owen, as the grizzled carrier came into the office, "are
you absolutely sure that it was Miss Worthington to whom you handed that
pink envelope last night?"
"Yes, sir; I am quite sure."
"You don’t think there’s any possibility that you could have been
mistaken—that it might have been some other young woman who
resembled Miss Worthington?" asked Owen.
"No; I’m positive, Mr. Sheridan. I know her well. You know I had that
delivery route for six weeks last summer, while Smithers was sick, and I
saw her, of course, every day when I called at the real-estate office with the
mail, so I couldn’t be mistaken."
Owen nodded gloomily. "That’s right, Pop; I recall, now, that you had
that route while Smithers was laid up. As you say, you ought to know her.
Now, I want you to tell me, Pop, exactly what passed between you when
she asked for that letter. Give me every word of the conversation as near as
you can remember it."
"Very good, sir," said the old man. "Well, to begin at the very beginning,
the young lady was pacing up and down in front of the letter box in a very
nervous manner, as I came along. When I went to open the box, she touched
my arm, and said: ‘I just dropped a letter in here, which I’d like to get back.
I’ve changed my mind about sending it.’ ‘Excuse me, miss,’ I said, ‘but
before you go any further let me tell you that us carriers are not allowed to
hand back anything that has been mailed. Its strictly against the rules,’ I
says. ‘The only way you can get your letter is by going around to the post
office and seeing the superintendent. He can let you have it if he wants to;
the rules give him that right; but I can’t.’"
"And what did she say to that?" inquired Owen eagerly.
"She said that she didn’t care to go around to see the superintendent; that
she didn’t think he’d do her the favor, and she began to plead and beg,
saying that if I knew how very much it meant to her to get that letter back,
she was sure that I wouldn’t refuse her."
"Didn’t she tell you what was in the letter?" asked Owen. "Surely she
must have mentioned something as to the nature of its contents, Pop?"
"No, sir; she didn’t. She merely said it was a very important letter, and
that it would do a terrible lot of harm if it went through the mail. And she
said, also, that she could pick the letter out without giving me any trouble,
because it was in a pink envelope, and square-shaped."
"Square-shaped!" repeated Owen, turning eagerly to Superintendent
Henderson, who sat listening to this conversation. "Then that goes to prove
that——”
"I believe I forgot to mention, Mr. Inspector, that according to Mr.
Sammis and his clergyman friend, the letter which they dropped into the
box, and which is now missing, was also in a square envelope," interrupted
the superintendent.
The look of joyous relief which had come to Owen’s face immediately
disappeared. "Well, go on, Pop," he said, in a discouraged tone.
"Well, sir, the young lady pleaded so hard that finally, like a weak old
fool, I consented to do her the favor. It wasn’t until she began to cry that I
gave in; I can’t bear to see a woman in tears, and I didn’t dream for a
minute, of course, that there was goin’ to be all this trouble about that letter
afterward; so I told her I’d take a chance and let her have it."
"And when you handed her the pink envelope, you noticed, of course,
the address which was on it," said Owen, clutching at straws. "Are you
quite sure, Pop, that it was addressed to a person in Pennsylvania—the
same person to whom the clergyman’s missing letter was addressed?"
He asked the question fearfully, realizing that Dallas’ fate depended
upon what answer the old carrier made. If Pop Andrews answered in the
affirmative, then there could be no doubt, of course, that the letter which
Dallas had asked for and received was the letter which contained the
clergyman’s hundred-dollar bill.
But the veteran shook his head. "No, I couldn’t swear to that, Owen; I
couldn’t tell you whether it was addressed to the same party or not, because
I didn’t see the address side at all."
"You didn’t see it?" exclaimed Owen incredulously. "You mean to say
that you handed her the letter without even looking at it, Pop?"
An exclamation of astonishment came from Superintendent Henderson.
He, too, looked at the old man incredulously.
Pop Andrews’ air was sheepish. "I must admit that I’m all kinds of a
careless fool," he said; "but, you see, didn’t give me a chance to look at the
address. As soon as I opened the box and took out its contents she reached
for the pink envelope, which was lying on top of the heap, and she said:
‘Here it is; thank you very much.’ And she grabbed it before I had a chance
to object. I was about to tell her that she couldn’t have the letter until she
had convinced me that it was the right one, but before I could say a word
she was hurrying up the street with the pink envelope in her hand bag."
"And you didn’t follow her and insist upon her giving it up or letting you
examine it?" exclaimed Owen.
"No, sir; I didn’t bother. You see, I supposed everything was all right. I
thought the young lady acted like that merely because she was excited and
nervous. You know how jerky a woman’ll act when she’s got something on
her mind. I put it down to that, and went ahead with my collections, not
thinking any more about the matter until I got back here, and was asked to
produce the pink envelope containing a hundred-dollar bill, which the
parson had dropped into that same letter box."
As the old man finished, he turned anxiously to Owen. "I hope you
believe what I’ve told you? You’re not going to place me under arrest, are
you, Mr. Sheridan?"
Owen hesitated, but only for a moment. His glance traveled from the
veteran’s grizzled hair to the gold stars on his coat sleeves—emblems of
forty years’ faithful service in the department. Then a look of determination
came to the young inspector’s face.
"No, Pop. I’m not going to arrest you," he said. "Hard as it is to believe,
I feel that you’ve told me the truth, and I can’t be so unjust as to make you
the scapegoat."
 Superintendent Henderson looked at Owen in astonishment. "Excuse me
for butting in, Mr. Sheridan," he said, "but being that you’re new at this
work I take the liberty of reminding you that it’s usual in cases of this sort
to arrest the carrier. I don’t want to make things unpleasant for Pop, of
course, but, at the same time, it seems to me that you can’t very well let him
go free. You see, Mr. Sheridan, he admits that he handed the missing letter
to the young woman, and, therefore, innocent though his intentions may
have been, in the eyes of the law he’s a party to the crime."
"I guess that’s right," assented Owen, his face flushing at thus having
displayed his greenness. He turned apologetically to Carrier Andrews.
"What the superintendent says is undoubtedly so, Pop. I’m sorry to say that
I’ll have to place you under arrest, after all."

TO BE CONTINUED.

ONE WAY TO DIE RICH.

A few years ago, a British ship having on board a large consignment of
Spanish specie for a house in Rio Janeiro, was wrecked on the Brazilian
coast. The captain ordered some of the casks containing the gold to be
brought on deck, but it was soon found necessary to take to the boats
without any of the treasure.
As the last boat was about to leave, one of the officers went back to
make a last tour of the ship. Sitting beside one of the casks with a hatchet in
his hand, he found one of the sailors.
"Hurry up!" cried the officer. "We came within an ace of going off
without you."
"I’m not going," replied the sailor, giving the cask a hearty whack with
the hatchet, bursting it open, and laughing with delight as the coin poured
out around him; "I’ve always wanted to die rich. I’ve been poor all my life,
and this is my first and last chance. Go ahead! I’ll stay here with my
fortune."
 Argue as he might, the officer could not persuade the fellow to leave the
gold, with which he played as a child with marbles, and he finally had to
leave him to his fate.

THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS.

Robber Spares Nervy Man.
Isaac Pressman, tailor at 5505 Woodland Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, was
awakened at four a. m. by the gleam of a flash light on his face.
When he sat up in bed he found the flash light had been switched so as
to shine on his trousers hung over the back of a chair. In the shaft of light he
saw a hand searching the pockets.
Pressman leaped from bed and grappled with the burglar. In the struggle
the burglar seized Pressman’s revolver from the bureau and ordered hands
up.
"You’ve got nerve," the intruder said, "so I won’t shoot you. But you
should have got the gun before you jumped me."
Then he disappeared with the gun and a pocketbook containing fourteen
dollars.

Hen Cares for Little Pigs.

Because a hen, the property of Earl Peck, of Sandersbury, Pa., is not
allowed to set on eggs, she has undertaken to mother two little pigs the
farmer brought home a few days ago. It’s a cute sight to see the hen
strutting around with her adopted ones.

The "Sneeze Wood" Tree.

In South Africa there is the "sneeze-wood" tree, which is so called
because one cannot cut it with a saw without sneezing, as the fine dust has
exactly the effect of snuff. No insect or worm will touch it; it is very bitter
to the taste, and, when placed in water, it sinks.

Interesting New Inventions.

A typewriter that can be operated by the feet has been invented by a
German. It is for the benefit of those who have lost one or both arms in the
war.
For testing X-ray apparatus, skeleton hands, made of paper and being
about as opaque as real hands, have been invented.
Because some London streets are too narrow for motor omnibuses to be
turned around, vehicles are being tried with controlling apparatus at each
end.
A recently invented pneumatic boxing glove is intended to protect both
user and opponent from harm.

His Case Puzzles Doctors.

W. H. Hilton, living near Crane, Mo., lost his voice two years ago from
the effects of a severe case of whooping cough. The singular feature of Mr.
Hilton’s affliction is that he can speak audibly to dumb animals on his farm
in as clear a voice as he ever could, but can only whisper when he attempts
to speak to persons. Mr. Hilton’s health is excellent, and his strange
affliction has puzzled physicians from many parts of the State. He is sixty-
five years old.

Electrically Groomed Horses.

Vacuum cleaners, which have the usefulness of curry-combs, with the
additional advantage of suction to draw into a receptacle the dust, scale, and
dandruff removed from the animal’s coat, have been adopted for grooming
the horses of New York City’s park department. The cleaner is driven by an
electric motor, and is so light as to be easily carried from place to place. For
greater convenience, however, they are mounted on hand trucks.
It has been found that besides doing the work in a much more thorough
and sanitary manner than is possible with the ordinary currycomb, the
cleaners are far more rapid. The men, using the vacuum cleaner, can care
for several times the number of horses they formerly could curry in the old
way.

Michigan Farmer is Rival of Burbank.

Hen Stratton, the Luther Burbank of Benzie County, Mich., is
conducting a series of interesting experiments with his chewing-gum tree.
Last fall lightning struck three trees in Hen’s woods, and when he looked
over the damage he had an idea. One of his young maples was split in two,
the big spruce next to it was splintered, and the slippery elm, a few feet
away, was hewed from top to bottom. Hen pulled the three trees together,
bound them tight for twenty feet, and let them grow that way.
He thinks the sap of the sugar maple will flow through the spruce gum
and turn out the finest kind of maple-flavored gum. He added the slippery
elm to make it softer chewing.

"Safety-first" Candle.
Candles can easily be fitted with attachments to put out the light at a set
time. Mark a candle of the size used and time how long a certain length of it
will burn. Then suspend a small metal dome or cap, to which a string is
attached directly over the flame, and run the opposite end of the string over
nails or through screw eyes, so that it can be tied around the candle such a
distance from the flame end that the part between the flame and the string
will be consumed in the time desired for the light to burn. When this point
is reached, the string slips off the candle and the cap drops on the flame.

Mule Stops Runaway Auto.

It took a Missouri mule to stop a runaway automobile belonging to
Professor W. G. Wesley, of Collinsville, Tenn., which started up
mysteriously and ran two blocks to where a mule was hitched to a hind
wheel of a country wagon. Seeing the car making for it, the mule turned and
kicked the car squarely in the hood, which resulted in damaging the engine
so badly that it stopped.
The mule belonged to Jim Sparks, and came from Kansas City.
 "The Campbells Are Coming."
For the first time in history, Scottish bagpipe factories are working night
and day, according to word from Glasgow.
It is not only the Scottish regiments that march to the battlefields behind
the pipes. English, Irish, and even the Indian regiments have caught the
"pipe craze," until now it is estimated that ten thousand pipes are playing
"Johnny Cope" every morning in Britain, at sea, or in France, and the
demand for the instrument exceeds the supply. The instruments cost from
thirty-five dollars to forty-five dollars.

Woman Dwarf 106 Years Old.

The one-hundred-and-sixth birthday anniversary of Mrs. Jeannette
Schwartz, a dwarf three feet high, weighing only twenty pounds, was
recently celebrated in the Brooklyn Hebrew Home for the Aged.
Mrs. Schwartz received her guests in bed, where she has been since
coming to the home a year ago. Her advanced age and diminutive size have
made her the wonder of the home.
She replied with intelligence in German to the many questions put to her,
but her memory could not recall anything that happened beyond ten years
ago.

Bees Sting Horse to Death.

While grazing in a pasture, a valuable horse belonging to J. W. Sweeney,
of Lancaster, Ky., was attacked by a swarm of bees and so badly stung that
he died.

Chase Kills Dog and Rabbit.

Two greyhounds chased a jack rabbit until it toppled over dead, but the
dogs were so exhausted they did not pick it up. A few moments later the
dogs also died from overexertion. Ivan Marshall, of Lebanon, Kan., owner
of the dogs, buried the three bodies in the same grave.
 Fifty Years a Postman.
Louis Manz, of Milwaukee, Wis., who quit the post-office department a
few days ago, was the oldest mail carrier in point of service in the United
States, having served fifty years. Mr. Manz, who is eighty years old, may
become the center of a movement for pensions for superannuated mail
carriers.
Upon the occasion of his retirement, a banquet was given in his honor by
his friends. It was attended by many of those to whom he had carried mail.

Tooter Would Lead Five Bands.

To be the leader of five brass bands is the strenuous and unusual task of
Charles Brown, a Junction City, Kan., bandmaster. Evidently he believes
with the poet, that music has its power to soothe the savage breast.

Pink Kitten is a Beauty.

A kitten owned by Miss Mary Swartz, of Point Pleasant, Pa., is one of
the oddest freaks of nature ever seen in that section. The kitten is a bright
pink in color, and it is a beauty.

Moon is Powerless to Influence Crops.

"Scientists are now convinced that the moon has no more influence on
crops than it has upon the temperature, or the amount of rain, or the winds,
or any other weather element," say experts of the Federal Department of
Agriculture.
"The growth of plants depends upon the amount of food in the soil and
the air that is available for them, and upon temperature, light, and moisture.
The moon obviously does not affect the character of the soil in any way;
neither does it affect the composition of the atmosphere. The only
remaining way in which it could influence plant growth, therefore, is by its
light.
"Recent experiments, however, show that full daylight is about six
hundred thousand times brighter than full moonlight; yet, when a plant gets
one-one-hundredth part of normal daylight, it thrives little better than in
absolute darkness. If one-one-hundredth part of normal daylight is thus too
little to stimulate a plant, it seems quite certain that a six-hundred-
thousandth part cannot have any effect at all. It is, therefore, a mere waste
of time to think about the moon in connection with the planting of crops.
"The moon has nothing more to do with this than it has to do with the
building of fences, the time for killing hogs or any other of the innumerable
things over which it was supposed to exert a strong influence."

Cat Mothers Young Rabbit.

A young rabbit found by Arthur Keen, who lives east of Gentry, Mo., a
few days ago, was taken home and placed in a nest of young kittens of
nearly the same size and age as the rabbit. The mother cat quietly adopted
the little stranger, seeming to think as much of it as she did of her own
offspring. The little rabbit seems perfectly satisfied with its new mother,
and is as lively and playful as the kittens.

Magnet Picks Up Nails.

This device has been invented to take the place of the hardware man’s
scoop. It is only necessary to thrust the hand magnet into a mass of nails
and touch a button, which turns on the electric current. The nails cling to
the magnet and may be lifted to the scales or wherever desired. After a little
practice in manipulating the magnet, the operator can gauge closely as to
the number of pounds of nails he desires to lift. As can be seen, this is
easier than trying to pick up a handful or scoopful of eightpenny nails.

Work for Thirty-five Thousand in Kansas.

A call for thirty-five thousand harvest hands has been sent out by the
Kansas free-employment bureau. Last year forty-two thousand harvesters
found work in Kansas. The acreage is slightly less than a year ago, but the
prospects for an enormous crop are unusually good.

Find New Name for "Nuts."

 "The strenuous life of business men," says an eminent physician, "is
causing New Yorkitis. For one insane man in our asylums there are ten
outside. New Yorkitis," he says, "is a mild form of insanity. It is caused by
irregular working hours, nonhygienic surroundings, and too much rush.
Unregulated work isn’t the only thing that’s the matter with New Yorkers,"
says the doctor.
"They eat too much. As for exercise, they take practically none. Up to
forty, we have decreased the death rate. But what is happening after forty?
The death rate is increasing by leaps and bounds. Organic diseases, those
affecting the kidneys and the heart, the blood vessels and the nerves, are
enormously on the increase."

New Typewriter Appliance.

The day of the unhandy hand method of pulling or pushing back the
typewriter carriage and spacing the paper on the roll at the end of each line
is to be ended for some people, for A. W. Wing, a court reporter, of
Chicago, Ill., has just secured a patent for a machine which accomplishes
both movements with a slight movement of the foot.
Wing believes his apparatus will add almost as much again efficiency to
a typewriter as at present, as the machine will save both time and strength.
He has several models working.

Resolved to Die in Deserted City.

Living only in the memory of a distant past, isolated from the rest of the
world, yet living in a city of a thousand homes, sitting idly hour by hour at
the front of a small saloon where twenty years ago prosperity and
excitement were on every hand, Sam Bolger, former Topeka bartender, later
an adventurer, gambler, and Colorado saloon owner, is residing in the
deserted mining town of Gillette, Col.
The life of Sam Bolger reads like a romance, tinged with all the
vicissitudes of life, livened by the carefree days when gold was more
plentiful in Cripple Creek than to-day, shadowed by more sorrows than falls
to the lot of the average man.
 Several Topeka pioneers may remember him in the days of yore when he
served drinks over the bar of a saloon on lower Kansas Avenue, before the
amendment was put into effect which placed Kansas in the fore rank of dry
States.
A newspaper man and party visited Gillette. They found the town
deserted, except by one man, Sam Bolger. He occupied a dilapidated
saloon, but had no customers.
An inquisitive nomad put the following question to the old relic:
"Where are the rest of the voters?"
The faded old man did not answer at first, but then he replied: "They are
everywhere but here."
He then relapsed into silence, but another Kansan—or, rather, he was a
Kansas Cityan—spied a table and a few suspicious-looking bottles within
the place. He called the ancient gentleman and together they entered the
poorly kept saloon. (Film here deleted by censor.) When the old man came
out, some ten minutes later, he was in a more talkative mood.
"I hear that you fellows are from Kansas," he said, "but you don’t know
Kansas as I knew it. The men who were young then are now in their dotage.
When I lived in Topeka, it was a wide-open town, and it was my business to
furnish beer and whiskies to its progressive citizens."
The man—he said his name was Sam Bolger—again fell into a moody
silence. Then he resumed his talk.
"I was a fool for ever leaving Topeka. It was in 1880, not long after the
prohibition amendment went into effect. I had lost my job. I had no money.
So I just naturally drifted West, and for the next ten years I roamed around
California, New Mexico, Arizona, and old Mexico. But it was in eighteen-
ninety that I came to Cripple Creek. The first real strike had been made.
With thousands of others I fell a victim to my ambition to be rich. Out of all
those who went to Cripple Creek in those years, only a few remain to-day
who have wealth.
"I just naturally had no luck. I sweated my life away in the mines. I
gambled and drank away my wages in Cripple Creek. There never was a
city yet that could equal it. Money flowed like water. I believe it was the
wickedest spot on the map.
 "I was in the great Cripple Creek fire of eighteen-ninety-six. By that
time I was part owner of a small saloon. The fire destroyed my place, and I
was broke again.
"Then I heard rumors of Gillette. The town became a city in a night. The
rush of men here at that time was heavy. Being one of the first on the
ground, I started a saloon in a shack and a boarding house in a tent. Then I
leased the upstairs of a building and owned the first dance hall here. For
several months Gillette was fast becoming the center of the Cripple Creek
region. Then the gold gave out. It was shallow. People left here in a single
night. Many did not take even the precaution of shutting their doors.
Gillette started like a whirlwind, and in a like manner it became deserted.
"Only a few of us remained, firm in the belief that the country was
plentiful in gold. My saloon business was ruined, yet I kept it up, and still
have it to-day. Gradually my friends left Gillette, but I remained, and have
lived in solitary grandeur since nineteen hundred and eight, when the last of
my family moved away.
"Why don’t I leave, you ask? Why should I? I have nothing especially to
live for. I have formed an attachment to Gillette. I will die here. I am
emperor of the place. My word is law, having no one to dispute it."
The visitors soon after this resumed their journey to Cripple Creek,
seven miles away. An air of depression filled each and every one of them.
They began to realize what Carthage looked like after the carnage of the
Romans. As they turned off the main "drag" into a side street and thence to
the main road, the newspaper man looked back. Sam Bolger, a pathetic
figure to say the least, was still sitting where he had been left.

The Strange Rites of the "Voodoo Queen."

While voodooism—into the realm of which hideous and grotesque cult
one cannot go far without encountering the snake dancer, medicine faker,
charm vender, witchcraft queen, and the like—is becoming a matter of
"ancient history" in the South, still, one is bound to stumble onto signs of it
occasionally, and if one only follows the right trail, he may come upon a
scene that will readily convince him that the old-time practices of some
superstitious blacks are not dead or soundly slumbering.
 The annual outbreaks—and then some—of aged Marie Lavoe, known in
Louisiana as the "Voodoo Queen," who was born in the Kongo and was
brought to that State in the slavery days, only go to prove that her followers
—and these are not all confined to the blacks—are just as eager to take part
in her mysterious séances and wilder orgies as they were when she, as a
young girl and stately specimen of the African queen, first introduced her
startling exhibitions of conjuring and sorcery.
Even now, with the annual return of St. John’s Day, this voodoo queen is
said to fall from her throne of Christian grace and to plunge again into all
the strange practices that in past years won for her a following that has
never been outnumbered by any of her rivals, male or female, throughout
the South, the only section of the country where such practices are known,
although in the large cities of the North charm sellers and voodoo doctors
can always be found, if the right negro can be secured to act as guide
through the "black belt."
If one would witness some wild dances and still wilder orgies, then one
should hie away to Lake St. John, on St. John’s Day, and quietly trail the
small bands of happy, smiling black folks to the charming oval clearing
where the "festivities" are to take place. Here the spectator will see a
terpsichorean divertisement that might well be called "the dance of wild
abandon," inasmuch as the dancers appear to have abandoned about all of
their covering that the law will allow.
One has but to watch the contortions to discern the origin of many of the
movements of fashionable dances as adopted by the society circles of
"white folks" to-day. As to the music, one hears the same syncopated
measures that lure our white brothers and sisters into the gilded tango
palaces of the metropolis.
The scene is startling, if not inspiring. On a mat of "latanier"—scrub
palm—sits the voodoo queen. In front of her is a charcoal brazier, a bowl
containing milk, a small cage in which are white mice, and in a round
basket rests the coiled, live snake that next to the sorceress is the most
important property item of the weird scenes that are about to be enacted.
While the aged queen is supposed to be a sorceress, judging from her
equipment, she is a "caplata" to her worshipers and supporters.
Soon is heard the syncopated strum of the banjos, then the low minor
chant of those seated about the charmed circle. One by one the male
dancers divest themselves of their superfluous clothing, females the while
making the same preparations. The queen liberates the half-starved snake
and holds a tiny, frightened mouse before its glistening eyes. The snake
darts forth its head and swallows the mouse with a single gulp. This is
repeated until the snake has been fed three mice. As the snake bolts each
morsel of living food, the queen throws some red-flash powder on the
brazier, and for a moment the whole circle is lost in a sweetly perfumed
cloud of vapor, which gradually rises and floats away.
When the dancing begins, the faces of the participants all wear a serious
look, very much like that seen on faces of a bunch of college athletes about
to engage in a hundred or four-hundred-yard sprint. The wild frenzy of the
thing is to come later. It will be noticed that the dancers’ near-nude bodies
are decorated with neck circlets of animal teeth—a custom probably
adopted from the North American Indians—gayly colored chicken feathers,
rabbits’ feet, curious medallions gathered from all parts of the world, but of
small intrinsic value, perhaps, although some of the huge ear and nose rings
worn by both sexes undoubtedly have been handed down the family line by
native Africans.
Gradually the dancers work themselves into the real spirit of the
grotesque celebration. They circle about their queen in pairs and singly, and
their body contortions soon begin to equal those of the Indians of the Far
West when engaged in a similar pastime. The music becomes wilder, the
shouts of the nonparticipants become louder, and the dancers begin to puff
and blow and grunt strange sounds and exclamations, much like so many
blacks playing at craps. Their queen, the while, is not idle. She continues to
cast the varicolored flash powders into the fire, and many times the dancers
are lost in the misty clouds that the brazier throws off. The dance continues
until the participants are completely exhausted and fall with fixed eyes and
frothing mouths to the ground, where they gradually recover and then make
way for a new "set."
Following the custom established when the thrifty Marie first established
her reptilian fandango, each dancer must pay to her three pieces of silver of
different denominations. In the early days of her reign this meant a three-
cent piece, a dime, and a quarter, but if her patron hasn’t a three-cent piece,
which is now generally the case, he must pay a dime, a quarter, and a half—
eighty-five cents in the total. In return for this presentation, the patron may
receive a prettily mounted rabbit’s foot, guaranteed to have been killed in a
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