"SOMEWHAT STRANGE.
SEASONABLE HINTS AND MAT"
TERS OF MOMENT.
cases in which perfect memory has
been regained after being impaired
almost to the verge of extinction by
paralytic shocks are rare. This, how-
ever, has happened to William Me.
Queer Facts and Thrilling Adventures |
Which Show that Truth is Stranger |
Than Fiction.
A 1Aw passed in the time of King
Edward 111, and still upon the Eng- |
lish statute books prohibits the serv.
ing of a dinner of more than two
courses to any one, except on holi-
days.
AFTER a great deal of patient per-
severence, Ambrose Bumm, of
Warrahoo, Wyoming, has tamed and |
trained a dozen potato bugs. They |
perform a variety of simple tricks,
such as button, button, who's got
the button, ring around a rosy, pris-
oner’s base, bunkadee, and so forth.
Loxpox, Canada, has a curious
human freak. He Is Henry
ware, aged forty. By some peculiar
muscular contraction he can cause
his left eye to pop out in most un- |
pleasant manner. The organ looks
as though it were about to arrom on
the end of his nose.
Dess-
A Boy in an Illinois town stood be-
fore a rural Justice charged with |
cruelty to animals in tying a string
to the leg of a turtle. His lawyer
contended that the turtle was not an
animal, “but a reptile of the snake
species.”’ The Court agreed with the
lawyer, and the defendant was dis-
charged.
THE latest development in the milk
business in London to drive the
cows around the route and have them
milked in the presence of the
tomers. The customer is thus
to judge for himself of the healthy
appearance of the animal, and is sure
of the freshness of the milk. The
practice is a common and ancient
one in Egypt.
is
cus-
able
A ScorrtisH correspondent writes:
“A housewife at Langholm has been
victimized by a thief who had no fear
of the law. She had washed
children's collars and hung them out
to bleach on a hedge surrounding her
garden. The wash suddenly disap-
peared and could not’ be found. A
few days ago the collars were discov-
ered; they formed part of the found-
ations of the nest of a thrush situated
in the cleft of an ash tree close to tl
ie
garden.
some
Tuts snake story comes from Floyd
Springs, Ga. A large chicken snake
captured a small ¢ there
month ago, and had swallowed |
right foot and leg when discovered by
8 OWher.
iol
HICKen
a
ity
the chicken The snake was
killed, but not before it had bitten off
the chicken’s leg. The owner believ-
ing it to be an unusually fine «
made a small wocden leg and fasten.
ed it on with a strap. The chicken
walked off very proudly, and pawed
up the earth with
hickory limb. Now it is almost fry-
ing size and is still in good shape,
and will be exhibited at the Atlanta
Cotton States and International Ex-
position next year.
HICK en.
og
¥:
recklessly its
James Hare, aged 21 years, was
found dead the other night on the
public road two miles west of Mor-
gantown, Pa. The death of young
Hare is the culmination of one of the
most famous surgical operations ever
performed in Pennsylvania.
years ago, while hunting with a rifle,
the gun dropped from his hands and
the hammer struck on a rock, dis-
charging it and sending the bullet
through his right eye and out of the
top of his head. For the past seven
years he has kept his head bandaged,
and although at the time of the acci-
dent he lost considerable of his
brains, he has been intelligent and
one of the brightest students in the
university. An inquest was not
deemed necessary by the Coroner, as
his death was evidently the natural
result of the wound.
Seven
A CORRESPONDENT of thy Vossische
Zeitung writes from Tunis that the
last executions of criminals by hang-
ing were so slowly and clumsily ac-
complished us to afford terrible spee-
tacles, and the Government of the
Bey applied to England for a model
of the apparatus there used. A |
Tunis joiner, a European, was in-|
structed with the making and carry- |
ing out of a practical gallows. He
succeeded in the attempt, but a new |
difficulty presented itself, for no
Arab would consent to use the Euro- |
pean machine, and its maker was re- |
quested to find a Enropean who would |
hang eriminals for 60 francs a head. |
A man was found, but publie opinion |
was absolutely contrary to his under- |
taking the job. Since the Arabs de- |
clined to be hanged by foreigners the |
new-fangled gallows has never been |
put to use,
Narune quotes a curious observa- |
tion of Professor Havelock Charles, |
from the Journal of Anatomy and |
Physiology, dealing with certain!
characteristic markings upon the leg |
and feet bones of the Punjabis, whics |
are never found in Europeans. In
the Punjabi the markings are defined
trom childhood, and are racially
transmitted. They are due to the
habit of squatting, commonly found
among orientals, and the interesting
point is that the same markings are
found upon the remains of neolithic
or cave-dwelling man, who probably,
therefore, ndopted the same posture,
The disappearance of the markings
in the later descendants of the cave.
dwellers in Europe is an instance of |
the modification of hereditary traits
due to prolonged disuse of the par-
ticular function or action which in-
duced them.
AvTHENTIC Instances of old people
who have recovered lost sight, hear-
ing or speech, or who have grown a
set of teeth or a snoplementary
erop of hair, are not vnrommon. But
Twenty-eighth
During the re-
residing on North
street, Philadelphia,
was laid up with a severe cold.
the Emerald Isle,
tell a story which the old song re-
called, and, to the amazement of his
family, he went on to recite incidents
and events not only of long ago, but
recent dates, of which be-
the last term of the Wake county (N.
C.) Superior Court at Raleigh, a case
in which it was shown
that a little half-grown bull was on a
railway track. He answered
train with a bellow of defiance
and a toss of gravel over his shoulder,
who ppt {
behind him stepped off the track and
waited to the The engine
struck the little bull fairly, doubled
him up like ball and sent him twenty-
five feet through the air as if shot
from a catapu bull
ha be close
1d
in
Heo
i
It. The made a
line shot and knocked the tramp into
When
the engineer backed thetrain totake
stock of the damage done, the tramp
was crawling out of his involuntary
bath on hands and knees. Und
advice of counsel, learned in the
an brought
railway corporation for the personal
injuries and indignity inflicted. On
trial, to the surprise a
the plaintiff, the verdict went
against him. To a sympathizing by-
stander he remarked tha had
‘bowled over into a go
by a little doity piney woods bull
d that a
kicked him out of the court
action was against
nd disgust
the
of
an dozen JacCKasses
During the panic of
almost Money was
I'reasury for redemptic
hiding away and
they | Of late n go
fractional
Only the
no
(} 4 8
saving
vod
Oi currency hs
ceived. other day a
it arrived which has been found
1
ig down a dwellin
Though
the pied
workmen in teari
Beaver Falls,
partly rotted.
ut Penn.
enough of
were pn
mitier
ut toget
with
yak
secrete big wa
and then die.
money is
Fansver Jawes M. Cosxxers, whe
hus all his life voted and paid ts
finds himself,
AXES 3
accora-
Delaware, now
ine to
iNg Xs
ew boundary survey, a
Pe nnsyl
His
sessed last autumn
and the
“LI TRO
Cours
the n
resident of
Law Journal
ivania, says the
prope
by tl
fe
rity
Delaware
taxes are no
Conners will no
i eilaware i
Was ns.
‘
authorities Ww
due, but of
pay taxes in
situated in
wn property
Pennsylvania. He
in Pennsylvania because he
10t been assessed by the author
He will be
years
He cannot vote
he does not
will
101 pay
that State. dis
or three
oundary.
Delaware because
i he will not be able to vote
nia on local
he must have paid
and county taxes for two Years
The change
§
3
i
by
s of ©
live
IHSTION, bes
cause HO
State
before he can thus vote. g
of boundary has wrought havoe wit
Conners insurance in a mutual in-
surance company, to which has
long contributed for by its charter it
cannot take risks outside the bound-
aries of Delaware.
he
A New York special to the Phila-
delphia Public Ledger says: In the
interests of medical science an un-
the city morgue has been made by a
member of the anatomical committee
of Bellevue Hospital. The experi-
ments have not been concluded. For
the purpose of determining, in the
interests of medical science, the
in the brain when
by firearms of different
caliber, as well as to demonstrate
the result of shots fired into the
brain at the different distances, to-
gether with the outward appearance
of wounds produced under such eir-
cumstances, Dr. Charles Phelps has
been making these experiments. Dr.
Phelps is an authority on gunshot
wounds, and also one of the city's
police surgeons. He bezame partie-
produced
appearance of such wounds after the
mysterious shooting of Miss Fuller, a
typewriter in a lawyer's office in
street, on the evening of
He hoped to be able to
charged with suicidal intent, and also
murder or accidental shooting by an-
other person had been committed.
Tuey were talking about queer
checks, drafts, ete., In one of the
San Francisco banks, and a gentle~
man not long from Kansas City, Mo.,
finally told the following: ‘I was
once employed,’’ he said, ‘to collect
a balance of $470 which was due to a
well-known building firm of Kansas
City, from an eccentric old million.
aire. How he made his money I
don’t know, for it is said that he
could neither rend nor write, but he
had it all the same. Well I found the
old boy down in his cellar, and was
gratified to hear him say that he
would pay the bill at once. ‘I haven't
that much money with me,’ he said,
‘but just wait a minute.” He felt
around as if looking for a plece of
paver. and 1 was just about to offer
[ him some when his eyes lit upon a
| piece of board about eighteen inches
i square, ‘Just the thing,” he said, and
| with that he picked it up and made
a lot of queer-looking marks on it.
| “Thero,’ he said, ‘take that to my
{ bankers and it will be all right.’ |
| protested, but he insisted, and finally
I did as he said. I handed the piece
of plank, dubiously enough I can
tell you, to the paying teller, but
what was my relief when he merely
smiled, studied the hieroglyphics a
moment, and handed me $470. Then
he laid the borrd upon the shelf, and
that was all there was to it. It
transpired that the old man had a
system of signs all his own, which
i his bankers had agreed to respect.
All the same, that plank check
seemed curious, even to them, and it
is hanging up in the office of their
establishment now.”
AN exciting scene was witnessed
in a rye field near Cochocton, N. Y.,
on a recent Monday, when a big
Isaac Layman was raking rye and as
he put his hand under the grain for
the purpose of binding it it
contact with a cold,
which moved a
pulle
was horrified
c
t hi
quickly aside and
MOnsier copper
colored
the bite of v
spring at h
with fright,
with
1
kin i vy 53
Ring tie 81
¢
snnke « thie nilot species,
ready to
the head
raxe.
and in his j
capable of
hung it across tl
i It
part
After
some distance
turned to
1 ROTO
his wor
wonderful
piace, raking
% &
the snake
disappeared
secured the
1
A DIAMOND RING.
Rich Prize Found in a Seine in Lake
Erie.
John Peterson
Lake Erie tugbos
1 fi) it ine O t
win t
i %
HAVE
i 3 3
he has laid by a snug something for
may ¢
night a
awoke,
midnight,
her
scream her
and he saw a man
window of the
room. The captain jumped out of
bed and got to the window in time to
grab and recover his wife's $300 seal-
skin coat, which the burglar
his arm. But the thief got away.
‘Next morning the captain dis-
covered that his gold wateh and chain
were gone,
all the rainy ne
long as he lives.
days that
{ine
os" a f a
ns wife some.
and
She
ago the capial
long about
SOe
where a
heard
gereamed
}
ii
one in Foom
a hat awoke
isband wide oj
r
hurrying toward
pe 1
he
on the lake that morning feeling blue
enough,
“The business that called him out
on the lake that morning was to haul
in a number of seines which had been
from where they had been set. He
felt so bad over the loss of his watch
that he tried to get some other tug-
boat master to take the job off his
hands, but everybody was busy, and
' the captain had to go himself,
“When the last seine had been
{ hauled in he saw something sparkle
in the sun on the edge of the net.
! He looked to see what it was, and
was astonished to find a ring en.
tangled in the cords, It was black
with mud all but in one spot, and
that sparkled like an electric light.
When the captain came ashore he
took his singular find to a jeweler and
asked him what it was worth. When
the jeweler told him that the sparkle
came from a diamond, and the ring
was good for the best $500-bill that
was ever turned out, Captain Peter-
son forgot all about his being blue
over the loss of his watch.
“The 'jowelor said the ring had
undoubtedly been many years at the
bottom of the lake. It might have
belonged to some one who went down
with one of the numerous wrecks that
occur every fow years on Lake Erie.
Captain Peterson has had several
offers of more than twice the market
value of the ring for it, but he has
refused them all.—{Cincinnati Com-
mercial-Gazette.
a 5 AAR AAA SAAS
A Peculiar Tree.
A peculiar treo wth is noticed
at De Ruyter, N. Y. Two beeches,
joined together, stand about twenty
feet apart, each is over a foot in di-
ameter, and It Is impossible to tell
which tree originally sent out the
joining limb.
The appropriate name of Ferret Is
borne by one of
the detectives of the
TO INCREASE TRADE.
THE INTERCONTINENTAL HAIL.
WAY COMMISSION REPORT.
the Wonders of the World,
tercontinental Railway Commission,
ernment surveys through
continent, will be certain to create a
profound impression on the country.
Advance sheets indicate that
be a marvelously interesting work
from every standpoint. It will give
important information concerning
railway posgibilities never before of-
fored to the world, and vill trace a
continuous railroad route extending
from Mexico clear down to Argen-
tina, a distance of 4 500 linear miles.
It will fairly bristle with newly as-
certained facts and practical statis.
gotith of us: it will be {luminated
and scenery along the whole route,
d will be still further enriched by
+ }
traversed,
ne the attractions of
of travel and
rOIOns
region
adventure
with no grades as high as 4 per cent,
From the head of the Cauca Valley
the matter of grade cenges to be n
ruling consideration, and the con-
struction of a road could he effected
at a moderate cost, This Columbian
region abounds in natural resources
and the Cauca Valley is destined to
become one of the richest mineral
and agricultural portions of all South
America.
Corps No. 8, under Civil Engineer
William D. Kelley, of Philadelphia
likewise started Quito, but
Keuador
Peru to the confines of Bolivia
In certain stretches the
nt
f
tion would be inexpensive. In some
to Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay,
In addition, besides the link connect
ing Medellin in Colombia with Car-
our trade is us yet comparatively un-
developed and awaiting our enter.
| prising overtures, another iink is pro.
jected eastward from Medellin to
Venezuelan. Thus the only South
American Btates not directly em-
braced in the grand project are
Guiana and Uruguay, and of these
Uruguay is a contributor to the ene
terprise, and Guiana ig connected by
rail with Venezula,
Ade rT
more level, a railroad
alone,
YOr
Summing up, Corps No. 1 surve
a streteh of BOO miles, Corps Ne
south, and Corps No. 8 extended
to Cuzco, the ancient
a {
sections
capital of
1,734 miles—t
4 204
1 extra branch
umbia to Carta
INKS
distance OF he
together
miles not counting
in (
remaining
measuring
eng, the
or
little
Ihe successive steps
i |
rPRUTE SF |
PRR] PL SED |
INTERCNTINEN TA
——
A
nn Ap
| RAI av AY
a technical report
the report will
tire feasibility
above all,
demonstrate the
of constructing an
2
Yerconti l
ut
en-
in-
nental railway, and will show
conclusively that no insurmountable
the
gineering difficulties stand in
Oa :
way of such a moment
This elaborate report i% NOW in
at the head-
ing
trocess of completion
he
quarters of th
ington, and will doubtless be pro-
in the course of a few
Its publication will mark
ing
= Office
months,
way surveys, outrivaling in novelty,
magnitude and interest, if not in im
portance, the great Pacific Railway
jzed for the work and sent into the
field in April, 1891, and that the last
corps returned in July of last year,
since when the engineers have been
engaged uninterruptedly in the re-
preparation of drawings and other
details of their reports. The whole
survey was divided into three sec-
tions, the upper section reaching
from the Mexican-Guatemalan bound-
ary down into Costa Rica; the second
from Costo Rica down to Quito,
Ecuador, and the third from Quito
down to the lower terminus in Peru.
As the Mexican system of railroads is
being extended to the northern
boundary of Guatemala, and is now
in operation as far as Oajaca, 400
miles south of the City of Mexico,
the Commission was not under the
necessity of making any surveys in
the Republic of Mexico.
Accordingly, the work of Corps No.
1, under Lieut. M. M. Macomb, U.
8S. A., was begun at Ayutia, on the
a continuous line of survey was run
from that point southesst to the Rio
Savegre. Two years were devoted to
the surveys and explorations in this
part of the route, and in addition,
astronomical, geodetic and meteoro-
logical observations were taken and
a large amount of data collected
bearing on the resources of the coun-
tries traversed.
Corps No, 2, under Civil Engineer
William F, Shunk, of Harrisburg,
Pa., went to Quito, Ecuador, and
trom there surveyed northward to the
Rio Savegre in Costa Rica, thus con-
necting with the work of Corps No, 1.
The section between Quito and Popy-
un, ponsing as it does through the
very heart of the Andes, is pro-
nounced expensive to construet, but
at the same time the surveys prove
the route
this prelimi
related in a few
5 was recom:
$laine’s Pan-American Conf
IS88, in the belief thata
connecting all or a majority o
i reprasented in tl onf
would greatly aid in
and commercial development o
concerned, and at the instance of a
sUrTey
The
Mr
nary
won
nended
nations 36 { oe
a the
tions the Intercontinental Rallway
Commission was created to blaze the
way for that work,
The commission
in Washington,
first met and or-
under the
on December 4, 18850, and remained
in session until April 22, 1801. The
scope of the work was carefully map-
ped out, and the surveying parties
sent into the field as above recited,
with instructions to shape their sur-
cable the already existing railway
systems of Mexico, Pern, Chili, Bra-
zil and Argenting, and to connect
with the larger cities in the vicinity
of the route in the general project
of establishing a complete chain of
railroad from our Northern bounda-
ries down to Argentina. Funds were
contributed by the several Govern.
ments interested, the United States,
as the strong elder brother of the
Southern Republius, furnishing
the larger share. Up
United States has contributed, in
three installments, $195.000; Brazil
Guatemala, $8,600: Chili, $3,028;
625, in all.
ing with the trunk lines in the Uni.
St. Louis, Chicago and
through New York, Philadelphia,
Atlanta and New Orleans, would be
availed of to supply connection be-
tween the northern terminus of the
proposed route, while from Lake
Titicacs, the southern end, connec-
tion ean be had with a Peruvian rail-
road and by a new link southeast
ward to La Paz, where it would join a
railroad already running south to
this point there is now a railroad
running west and southwest, through
Chili to Antulagasta, on the Pacific,
and by additional surveys three
more lines, branching from Huan.
chaca, are sontemiiated= tg first
one *o run south to Jujuy, in Argen-
tina: the second to run east across
to run
GEST HOTEL IX TILA, THE
BTARTING POINT IN MALA.
From the lower border of Mexico on
down through ti snow-clad ranges
of the | ina. the survey
extend
15 O00 GOO
Z to be br rit
cial relations with «
EMMY
The prod
fepubiics
sirable Ir
ucts and resources of all
£1 %
LlLiese
are valuable and ex
O00) (i
the
nd now
5%) a year
vith her area of 505,000
enormous
he retofore,
labor.
means
has been un-
Colombia
Bua miles POSSeR8es
natural res but
through lack of intelligent
transportation facilities and
irees
of communication, she
able to them properly.
Among her products are gold and
silver, emeralds, opals and other pre-
cious stones, marbles, mineral salts,
coffee, hides, ivory nuts, cocoa and
cinchona bark. She imports all kinds
of manufactured goods and her trade
with the United States amounts to
about £12 000,000 annually.
As to Ecuador, owing to the fer-
tility and diversity of her soil and the
variety of her climate, all sorts of
plant life flourish within her bound-
aries—-rice, pepper and semi-tropical
fruits, cotton, corn, sugar, wheat
and barley, Her exports, mainly
shipped to England, include cotton,
cocoa, rubber, ivory, nuts, cinchona,
straw goods and precious metals. In
Peru, besides her wonderful treas-
ures of gold and silver and coal and
iron, largely undeveloped as yet, a
wide range of agricultural erops is
produced. Sugar to the amount of
100,000 tons, cotton to the wane of
3,000,000, wine to the value of $4,
000,000, and also enormous yields of
| rice, cinchona, rubber, fruits and
vegetables. Corn is also extensively
grown and constitutes the staple food
The export of wool
| brings $5,000,000 a year, and other
develop
{of all classes,
| exports are guano, cubie niter, sugar,
cotton and sulphur, at present sent
rineipally to England and Germany.
jut the construction of a section of
| railway through Peru, Ecuador and
| Colombia to Cartagena on the Carrie
{bean Sea would put them in casy
communication with the southern
ports of the United States and very
materially increase our trade, even
should there be a delay in cons
struction of the entire system northe
ward. —{N, Y. Recorder,
Hl SSS NN SOAR
A Needle in Mis Nose.
——————
Rory Rayne, of Guthries Cross
Roads, Pike County, Penn.
enced a severe pain in the end
nose one day recently. A
needle gradually worked itself out,
and he experienced great relief % but,
stange ly e gh, his nose,
been a ecko