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The Chambers of the Heart Cardiac Conduction System
FOURTH EDITION
BRENDA M. BEASLEY
MS, RN, EMT-Paramedic
Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River
Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto
Delhi Mexico City São Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo
Publisher: Julie Levin Alexander Managing Editor for Production: Patrick Walsh
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Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission, in this textbook appear on
the appropriate page within text.
Notice: The author and the publisher of this book have taken care to make certain that the information given is correct
and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. Nevertheless, as new information
becomes available, changes in treatment and in the use of equipment and procedures become necessary. The reader is
advised to carefully consult the instruction and information material included in each piece of equipment or device before
administration. Students are warned that the use of any techniques must be authorized by their medical advisor, where
appropriate, in accordance with local laws and regulations. The author and the publisher disclaim any liability, loss,
injury, or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of
this book.
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. This
publication is protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited
reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission(s) to use material from this work, please submit a written
request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458,
or you may fax your request to 201-236-3290.
Many of the designations by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where
those designations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been
printed in initial caps or all caps.
Beasley, Brenda M.
Understanding EKGs : a practical approach / Brenda M. Beasley, MS, RN,
EMT-Paramedic.—Fourth edition.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-314772-8
ISBN-10: 0-13-314772-X
1. Electrocardiography. I. Title.
RC683.5.E5B378 2014
616.1'207547—dc23 2013011016
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
iii
This page intentionally left blank
CHAPTER 1 The Anatomy of the Heart: Structure v
Brief Contents
1 9
The Anatomy of the Heart: Structure 1 Introducing the Junctional Rhythms 86
2 10
Cardiovascular Physiology: Function 13 Introducing the Ventricular Rhythms 98
3 11
Basic Electrophysiology 21 Introducing the Heart Block Rhythms 120
4 12
The Electrical Conduction System 28 Introducing the Pacemaker Rhythms 134
5 13
The Electrocardiogram 34 Assessment and Treatment of the Patient
with Cardiac Emergencies 145
6
Interpretation of an EKG Strip 46 14
More Review Questions 160
7
Introducing the Sinus Rhythms 55 15
Review EKG Strips 171
8
Introducing the Atrial Rhythms 68
v
This page intentionally left blank
Detailed Contents
Foreword xi Primary Cardiac Cell Characteristics 22
Preface xiii Major Electrolytes That Affect Cardiac Function 22
Acknowledgments xv
Movement of Ions 23
About the Author xvii
Cardiac Depolarization 23
Cardiac Repolarization 24
1 Refractory Periods 24
Summary 25
The Anatomy of the Heart: Structure 1 Key Points to Remember 25
Objectives 1 Review Questions 26
Introduction 1
Anatomy of the Heart 1
Location, Size, and Shape of the Heart 2
Layers of the Heart 3
4
Valves of the Heart 4 The Electrical Conduction System 28
Arteries, Veins, and Capillaries 6 Objectives 28
Pulmonary Circulation 9 Introduction 28
Systemic Circulation 10 Sinoatrial Node 28
Summary 10 Internodal Pathways 29
Key Points to Remember 11 Bachmann’s Bundle, Wenckebach’s Bundle,
Review Questions 11 and Thorel’s Pathway 29
Atrioventricular Node 30
Atrioventricular Junction 30
2 Bundle of His 30
Bundle Branches 30
Cardiovascular Physiology: Function 13
Purkinje’s Network 31
Objectives 13
Summary 32
Introduction 13
Key Points to Remember 32
Blood Flow Through the Heart 13 Review Questions 32
Cardiac Cycle 14
Stroke Volume 15
Cardiac Output 15
Autonomic Nervous System 16
Receptors and Neurotransmitters 17
5
The Electrocardiogram 34
Summary 18
Objectives 34
Key Points to Remember 19
Introduction 34
Review Questions 19
The Electrocardiogram 34
Electrical Basis of the EKG 34
3 EKG Leads 35
EKG Graph Paper 37
Basic Electrophysiology 21 EKG Waveforms 39
Objectives 21 Summary 43
Introduction 21 Key Points to Remember 43
Basic Cell Groups 21 Review Questions 44
vii
viii www.bradybooks.com
6
Atrial Flutter Rhythm 74
Atrial Fibrillation Rhythm 75
14
Objectives 120
Introduction 120
First-Degree Atrioventricular Block 120 More Review Questions 160
Second-Degree Heart Blocks 121
Third-Degree Atrioventricular Block (Complete) 126
Clinical Significance of the Heart Block Rhythms 128
Summary 129
Key Points to Remember 129
15
Review EKG Strips 171
Review Questions 129
Introduction 171
Review Strips 130
12 Appendix 1
Answers to Review Questions:
Introducing the Pacemaker Rhythms 134
Objectives 134
Chapters 1–14 205
Introduction 134 Chapter 1 205
Temporary Pacing 134 Chapter 2 205
Permanent Pacing 135 Chapter 3 205
Indications for Pacing 137 Chapter 4 205
Rules for Interpretation of Pacemaker Rhythms 138 Chapter 5 205
Common Problems Associated with Pacemakers 139 Chapter 6 205
Clinical Significance of Pacemaker Rhythms 140 Chapter 7 205
13 Chapter 14 210
Xxxxxx xxxxXxxxxxx
better place. His invaluable advice and wisdom were indispensable to me throughout my
life, both personally and professionally. As a tribute to him, for always being there for me
and for expecting and demanding the very best of me, the Foreword that was written by
him for the original manuscript of this book is included in this edition.
When advanced life-support training for paramedical personnel was still considered ques-
tionable by most of my physician colleagues, I became involved in teaching advanced cardiac
life support (ACLS). It soon became apparent that emergency medical technicians—in those
days very frequently volunteer and/or part-time workers in the field—were frequently the
most enthusiastic and responsive students of ACLS. Their eagerness to learn and to provide
the whole range of prehospital care has proved to be a huge factor in patient survival.
I loved every moment I taught ACLS (as well as BCLS, emergency medical technician
training, and advanced trauma life support)—whether to physicians, nurses, or paramedical
personnel. Indeed, the teachers of these basic and extremely important concepts have
impacted all areas of current medical care. Many of those with whom I taught ACLS became
my close and greatly cherished friends. One of these is Brenda Messer Beasley, MS, RN,
EMT-P, with whom I shared in teaching the first EMT course ever offered in rural Randolph
County, Alabama. From the initial class session, I saw that Ms. Beasley had an extraordinary
ability to render a complicated concept in its most basic form of expression. Though she had
this gift for rendering the complex in simple terms, she never allowed the importance of
what she was teaching to be lost, and she always stressed the awareness of and evaluation of
the patient.
Ms. Beasley brings to this text on EKG interpretation the same ability to simplify the
complex for the health care professional. Real meaning is surely more valuable than the easy
“information overload” encountered when we deal with real patients in a medical
emergency.
After I had taught with Ms. Beasley, she made a career change from nursing to full-time
EMT training, still in our same basic geographical area. It became fun and rewarding as a
practicing small-town family physician to be aware of prehospital care that had been ren-
dered by students of this teacher. Their expertise was (is) impressive, as was their attention
to the care of and the state of the patient. Certainly, any physician’s ability to treat, and any
patient’s ultimate well-being, depends greatly on that initial prehospital care.
An appropriate text on EKG interpretation can only deepen the perception and under-
standing of the health care professional; at the same time, this text seems to teach and reteach
the basic concept from every situation: “First, look at your patient, and continue to look at
your patient.”
I am honored to welcome this book to the plentiful material available on the heart, its
functions, the circulatory system and its signals of dysfunction and illness.
Willis D. Israel, MD
Wedowee, AL
xi
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Preface
This informative and simple approach to EKG analysis continues in this, the fourth edi-
tion of this textbook. Based on the fact that cardiology and basic EKG interpretation are
integral parts of most primary and allied health-related curricula, I originally wrote this
book to assist the novice student in his or her understanding of basic EKG interpretation,
and that purpose remains undaunted. This book is intended for the health care provider at
the initial level(s) of understanding of cardiovascular anatomy, physiology, and rhythm
strip interpretation. The categories of students who will benefit from this text include pre-
hospital care providers, medical students, cardiac care monitor techs, ACLS candidates,
nursing professionals, physician assistants, respiratory therapy students, and cardiac tech-
nology students.
This EKG book consists of 15 chapters designed to provide the user with a basic
practical, yet comprehensive, approach to the skill of EKG interpretation. The strategy of
this manuscript has centered on producing a useful guide to the understanding of abnor-
mal heart rhythms, that is, dysrhythmias, for the health care provider in his or her provi-
sion of optimum patient care. In order to afford the instructor and the student the
opportunity to work in a reasonable order through the technical information, the material
has been presented in such a manner as to achieve understanding of each chapter prior to
proceeding to the next chapter. The content is presented in short, succinct chapters in
order to facilitate comprehension of each concept in a building-block format. Although
the terms dysrhythmia and arrhythmia are synonymous, the term dysrhythmia is used
throughout this book because I consider it to be the more correct and accurate description
of the material presented.
In this revised fourth edition of the book, each chapter still contains a section of multi-
ple-choice items to be used for self-assessment and review. The book includes expanded
graphics, as well as rhythm strip examples with answers based on the five-step approach,
review strips, key points to remember, chapter summary, and end-of-chapter questions to
afford the student a comprehensive mastery of the material. Answers to review questions
and review strips are provided in the appendices at the back of the book. Also included in
this fourth edition of the book is a chapter dedicated to the assessment and management of
the patient with cardiovascular emergencies.
An overview of major updates and additions to this revision may be helpful to you.
These changes are summarized in the “What’s New” list below.
xiii
xiv www.bradybooks.com
INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES
This Web site contains an array of instructor resources in one location. To access the
Instructor Resource Center, visit www.pearsonhighered.com and follow registration/log-in
instructions for Instructors. Your Brady sales representative can offer further assistance.
Once you are logged onto the site, you’ll find the following teaching resources.
◾ PowerPoint Slides-updated and revised
◾ Lesson Plans
◾ Test Bank with more than 280 questions
It is my hope that you will find this book to be beneficial to your knowledge and compre-
hension of basic EKG interpretation. Your suggestions and comments are always welcome.
Brenda M. Beasley, RN, MS, EMT-Paramedic
Department Chair, Allied Health/EMS Program Director (Retired)
Calhoun Community College
E-mail address: bjm18@aol.com
Acknowledgments
Just as the first three editions of this textbook were created from the challenges that I have
experienced and the lessons I have learned throughout the past 35 years as a nurse, para-
medic and an EMS educator, this revision was written to enhance the chapter content and,
where appropriate, replace some of the content.
I have learned that the publication of textbooks involves many key people. I would like
to acknowledge all the individuals who were instrumental, each in their own special way, in
making the textbook revision possible. I also offer my sincere appreciation to the talented
team members at Brady/Pearson Health Science who have led me through the revision pro-
cess with expert advice, encouragement, and support. Thanks especially to Julie Alexander,
Marlene Pratt, Sladjana Repic, Lois Berlowitz, Jonathan Cheung, Patrick Walsh, Patty Guti-
errez, Debbie Ryan, and Brian Hoehl. My first editor at Brady, Judy Streger, has continued
her support and encouragement throughout the years. Her belief in me has never waivered,
and for that I am truly grateful.
My former EMS program faculty, both at Southern Union Community College and at
Calhoun Community College (too many names to mention here, but they know who they
are!), have all been my strength and inspiration to strive for excellence in EMS education.
The reviewers of this book, whose names follow, offered important perspective. Their com-
ments and suggestions have been very valuable.
Mike West has continued to be my champion and has worked closely with me through-
out this revision process. His encouragement and constancy were very critical to me, and I
wish to thank him for the long hours he spent working with me on this revision, as well as
for his valuable assistance in gathering and incorporating the new changes and additions to
the review questions and EKG strips.
The memory of my mother and my father, who taught my sisters and me to believe first
in God, then in our family, and ultimately in ourselves; they always provided me with uncon-
ditional love, acceptance, and a solid foundation upon which to build a life.
It is my belief that every novice author is, at some point, inspired by other authors, and
colleagues who transition to mentors, role models, and precious friends. In my particular
case, there were many. I especially appreciate the support and friendship of the following
EMS colleagues: Walt Stoy, Joe Mistovich, Greg Margolis, Jeff Lindsey, Dwayne Clayden,
Bryan Bledsoe, Baxter Larmon, and Dan Limmer.
And last, but not least, I gratefully acknowledge my family, friends, and colleagues, for
they are the true “contributors” to this product. Their contributions include love, patience,
support, encouragement, and acceptance of my erratic schedule during the text revision.
REVIEWERS
I wish to thank the following reviewers for providing invaluable feedback and suggestions
during the revision of this text:
James “Bud” Adams, AAS, NREMT-P Deborah K. Drummonds, RN, MN, CCRN,
Instructor of Emergency Medicine College of CEN
Southern Nevada Las Vegas, NV Assistant Professor School of Nursing and Health
John L Beckman, AA, BS, FF/EMT-P Sciences Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
EMS Instructor Addison Fire Protection District Tifton, GA
Addison, IL
xv
xvi www.bradybooks.com
I also wish to thank the following professionals who reviewed earlier editions of Under-
standing EKGs: A Practical Approach:
John L. Beckman, AA, BS, FF/EMT-P Instructor Jeff McDonald
Affiliated with Addison Fire Protection District Coordinator, Emergency Medical Services
Fire Science Instructor, Technology Center of Program Tarrant Count College—Northeast
DuPage Addison, IL Campus Hurst, TX
Mark Branon, BS, NREMT-P Mike McEvoy, PhD, EMT-P, RN, CCRN
EMS Program Director Calhoun Community Saratoga County EMS Coordinator Clinical
College Decatur, AL Associate Professor in Critical Care Medicine
Art Breault, RN, EMT-Paramedic Albany Medical College Waterford, NY
Niskayuna Fire District No. 1 Albany Medical Steve McGraw
Center Hospital—Department of Emergency Assistant Professor The George Washington
Medicine Albany, NY University School of Medicine and Health
Benjamin J. Camp, MD, FACEP Sciences Washington, DC
Chief of Staff Tanner Health System Emergency Regina Pearson, EMT-P
Services Carrollton, GA Clinical Coordinator/Instructor, Emergency
Greg Charma, AAS, NREMT-P Medical Technology Jackson State Community
Paramedic/Assistant EMS Training Director College Jackson, TN
Tucson Fire Department Pima Community Jonathan Smith, NREMT-P
College Tucson, AZ Lead Paramedic Instructor Chattahoochee
Marilyn Ermish, NREMT-P Technical College Acworth, GA
American Medical Response Cheyenne, WY Thomas Y. Smith, Sr.
Jason Ferguson, BPA, NREMT-P Fire Science/EMS Program Director West Georgia
EMS Programs Head Central Virginia Community Technical College LaGrange, GA
College Lynchburg, VA Scott R. Snyder, BS, NREMT-P.
Scott Garrett Primary EMT Instructor San Francisco Paramedic
Director of Education Upstate EMS Council Association San Francisco, CA
Greenville, SC Andrew E. Spain
Craig H. Jacobus, D.C.; NREMT-P; EMSI Assistant Manager, Emergency Services
Links 4 Life Metro Community College ALS University of Missouri Health Care EMS
Affiliates Lincoln Medical Education Partnership Education Columbia, MO
(LMEP) Schuyler, NE Carl Voskamp, LP
Scott Jones Coordinator of EMS and Firefighting Programs
Director—Paramedic Academy Victor Valley The Victoria College Victoria, TX
College Victorville, CA Jim Williams, CCEMT-P, NREMT-P
Maryla Kathryn Lee, RN, BSN, MSN Training Officer, Medical Center EMS Bowling
Calhoun Community College Decatur, AL Green, KY
About the Author
Brenda Messer Beasley is a paramedic and a regis-
tered nurse. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s
degree, as well as additional postgraduate studies,
from the University of Alabama and from Lorenz
University, respectively. Following graduation from
nursing school at the University of Alabama, Ms.
Beasley was employed as a nurse in the Emergency
Department of University Hospital in Birmingham.
She remained in emergency nursing for the next 10
years, with a 2-year hiatus when she became certi-
fied as a critical care neurosurgical nurse and worked
in an NICU at Carraway Medical Center.
Ms. Beasley was working as an ER nurse in
1978 when she was asked to teach a basic EMT
course. With a great deal of reticence yet strong
encouragement from the chief of staff at the local
hospital, she concurred. She immediately developed a passion for quality EMS education,
and the rest, as they say, is history. For the next 30 years, she served as an EMS educator in
the state of Alabama, and in 2001 was named Department Chair of Allied Health at Calhoun
Community College in Decatur, Alabama. She held that position until her retirement in 2007.
Ms. Beasley was an affiliate faculty member of the American Heart Association’s Emer-
gency Cardiac Care Program for 25 years. Other professional activities include BTLS affiliate
faculty and board of directors of the National Association of EMS Educators, and she serves on
the medical advisory boards of Action Training Systems and Southern Ambulance Transport.
In 1999, Ms. Beasley published her first book on EKG interpretation and has subse-
quently authored other texts for Brady/Pearson Health Science. She resides in Wedowee,
Alabama, (with her beloved pet, Kitty Boo) where she serves as vice chair of the local hos-
pital board. Ms. Beasley is actively involved in the First United Methodist Church of
Wedowee and currently serves as the Governance Committee Chair for the National Asso-
ciation of EMS Educators.
xvii
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and the American twist he had managed to acquire to his tongue.
However, that is not especially important. Go on, sergeant.”
“I, Pepernik, Louis Minowsky,” read Cato, “and Maurice Matschka.”
“Maurice Matschka!” The officer sprang to his feet. “That is a link
worth looking into,” he muttered. “Come on!” He caught up his hat,
and gave a quick nod of the head toward Cato. “I am going to the
city hall.”
Arriving at the municipal building, and proceeding to police
headquarters, he was directed, on inquiry, to a certain Detective
Krause, as having the case of the murdered Japanese in charge.
“What makes all you people out at the fort so interested in this
affair, anyhow?” the detective asked, with a curious glance at Grail.
“Major Appleby and Lieutenant Hemingway was over here before
supper, and I told them all there was to know. The best I can do for
you, captain, is just to go over the same ground.”
“Of course,” Grail assented, with a smile. “Still you know how it is,
Mr. Krause; every one wants to hear a story at firsthand; and, as I
was, perhaps, better acquainted with poor Sasaku than any of the
other officers at the mess, there is just a possibility that I may be
able to throw some light on the tragedy.”
As a matter of fact, the detective required very little urging. He had
come to such an absolute halt in the investigation that he was only
too willing to repeat the story to any one who offered even the
faintest show of providing a solution.
His recital, though, if somewhat more diffuse, was practically the
same as that which Grail had already read in the newspaper. He
presented nothing new in the way of any material details.
“H’m!” The adjutant thoughtfully stroked his chin at the completion
of the narrative. “There would be no objection, I suppose, to letting
me examine the notebook which you say was found on Sasaku?”
“Certainly not, sir.” He stepped away to get it, adding, as he
returned and handed it over: “You won’t find anything there to help
you, captain. We’ve been over it already with a fine-tooth comb, and
it seems nothing but a list of names and people he’d met; some of
them in the city directory, and some not.”
Grail, however, evidently preferred to decide this point for himself;
for slowly and painstakingly he ran over the pages, scrutinizing each
entry carefully before he passed on to the next.
The detective, fidgeting at what he manifestly regarded as wasted
time, presently excused himself, on the plea of wanting to do some
telephoning, and sauntered off, and, with his going, Grail turned back
a couple of pages to point out significantly to Cato the name of
Dabney, with a little, almost indistinguishable mark set opposite it.
No further discovery was elicited until they reached the last page;
then Grail gave a sudden start, as he read, with the same cabalistic
mark against it, the name of Rezonoff.
“Rezonoff!” he muttered, with a frown of grave foreboding. “That
can only be Count Boris Rezonoff, captain in the imperial engineers!”
Cato, gathering from his tone that something was seriously wrong,
edged up closer.
“Is it bad, sir?” he whispered.
Grail vouchsafed no answer, but stood silent a moment, the look of
apprehension growing on his face; then snapped open his watch and
glanced at the time.
“Too early, by far,” he commented, under his breath. “I shall have
to wait at least two hours yet.”
Meanwhile, Cato, glancing over his shoulder, had been reading
down the page of the notebook, and now he gave a quick
exclamation.
“There’s another name with that same mark against it,” he
breathed excitedly. “Don’t you see it! Down there at the bottom,
underneath your thumb!”
But Grail, as though recalled to himself, sharply closed the book.
“Oh, that one is of no consequence,” he insisted; yet he knew that
it was, for he had already noted the name with the telltale check
opposite.
In Sasaku’s stiff, angular handwriting was set down: “Mrs. Otto
Schilder!”
TO BE CONTINUED.
THE NEGRO AND THE HORSE.
There is a time for everything, and the secret of success in life lies
in doing things at just the right minute.
A veterinary surgeon had occasion to instruct a colored stableman
how to administer medicine to an ailing horse. He was to get a
common tin tube—a bean blower—put a dose of the medicine in it,
insert one end of the tube into the horse’s mouth, and blow
vigorously into the other end, and so force the medicine down the
horse’s throat.
Half an hour afterward, the colored man appeared at the surgeon’s
office, looking very much out of sorts.
“What is the matter?” inquired the doctor, with some concern.
“Why, boss, dat hoss, he—he blew fust!”
THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS.
Story of “Scotty” Hero of Zinc Fields.
Picture a man who has been badly bent at times—aye, even broke
unto the last jitney—one who has tasted the bitter things of life along
with the sweet, one who has seen a fortune swept away in a
twinkling, only to be regained after a long, persistent struggle.
Picture a good loser, who has lost more than most men will ever
earn, and who pins his faith in the mining industry to such an extent
that he laughs at failure and hangs on like a bulldog until he
succeeds, and you have a mind’s-eye view of J. M. Short, the best
known operator in the mining district near Joplin, Mo.—the “Scotty”
of the zinc fields.
Thirty-two years ago Short was working for $1.25 a per day at
Galena, Kan., and a few years later moved to Joplin, landing here
with the price of one ham sandwich. He worked for low wages until
he had saved enough to buy a prospect drill, and decided to look for
ore on his own responsibility.
His first few holes were blanks; the cost of sinking them was
heavy, considering Short’s limited finances. For a time it looked as
though he was destined to go back to wages. However, he hung on
until almost his last penny was gone; then luck smiled on him, and
he made his first strike. He had been watching the drill clippings for
so long and finding only barren pieces of rock that he could hardly
believe the truth when at last the sand bucket brought up a quantity
of yellow-looking dirt, rich in zinc ore.
Short sold this “prospect” for $5,000 cash, and immediately
invested the whole amount in what was known as the Bunker Hill
Mine, which netted him $65,000 in eighteen months, part of which—
$3,000—he reinvested in the Sacagawea Zinc Company, from which
he profited, inside of three months, to the tune of $17,000 more. A
year later Short again became “dead broke” on another mining
venture, and again went to work for wages.
Depriving himself of all luxuries and many necessities, he
continued to work for wages until he had saved up $1,800, when he
determined to again “try his hand.” One day, during an extremely dry
summer, he was driving by a piece of land where the Sitting Bull
Mine was later developed. He noticed a man sinking a hole to get
water at a point where a spring had once been. The land was low
and boggy and the digger was taking out shale and soapstone. The
formation looked good to Short, and he at once procured a forty-acre
lease from the owner. With $1,800, his sole capital, Short drilled the
ground, discovered a rich run of ore, and put down a shaft to the
185-foot level. The owner of the land put up the capital for building a
$15,000 mill. Ninety days later Short had paid for the mill, had
$10,000 in the bank to his credit, and had a vast body of ore blocked
out which netted him more than $100,000 in profits in the next few
months.
Almost immediately he secured another lease and opened up
what is known as the Pocahontas Mine, from which he cleared
another $100,000. Then followed in quick succession the Geronimo
and the Waneta-Pearl. Short is now interested in, if not the entire
owner of, more than a dozen valuable properties, so that, with the
sudden jump in price of zinc concentrates from thirty-five to seventy-
five dollars per ton, this Scotty of the zinc mines has but faint idea of
what he is really worth.
Talk is Cheap.
A retired United States army officer says the European war is “a
horrible slaughter, which should be halted by some neutral power.”
The neutral power that attempted to halt it forcibly would simply
increase the slaughter and add its own blood to the crimson tide.
Failures.
Commercial failures in the United States last year were 8,344.
Death of a Spy.
Death to all spies is the military rule. One of the most dramatic of
the many minor tragedies of the war was seen at Lassigny recently,
when a captive in a black gown, to all appearances a nun, was
suddenly led before a firing squad and shot down at the officer’s
command. The startled onlookers learned that the squad’s victim
was a daring young lieutenant in the German army who had got
inside the French lines by donning a nun’s attire. So good was his
disguise that he had gone for a considerable distance and probably
had obtained much information that would have proved valuable had
he escaped.
Had the spy been a woman, the penalty would have been the
same. Such is the law of war. Many women spies have been caught
and executed.
Taking Precautions.
A rosy-cheeked youngster, dressed in his best clothes, entered the
village post office and carefully laid a huge slice of iced cake on the
counter.
“With my sister’s, the bride’s, compliments, and will you please eat
as much as you can,” he said.
The postmistress smiled delightedly.
“How very kind of the bride to remember me!” she cried. “Did she
know of my weakness for wedding cake?”
“She did,” answered the youngster coldly, “and she thought she’d
send over a bite of it this afternoon just to take the edge off your
appetite before she posted any boxes off to her friends.”