Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1891 — SOMEWHAT STRANGE. [ARTICLE]

SOMEWHAT STRANGE.

ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF .EVERY-DAY LIFE. Queer Episodes and Thrilling Adventures Which Show that Truth Is Stranger than Fiction. Thb boldest robbery of grain ever known in Kansas is reported from Kingman county. John My rick, a fanner from the southwestern part of the county, had rented a piece of wheat land close to Norwich. After cutting and stacking his crop safely he went home. . The rented land is a long way from his own place and Myrick is therefore unknown to the neighborhood of Norwich, so that when a stranger presented himself under the name of Myrick there was no one to question his title to the wheat. After being in Norwich a couple of days the supposed Myriek had his plans perfected, A threshing outfit was engaged and teamsters to cart the grain to Norwich, the work to be done at night because of a tendency to sunstroke which prevented his working in the sun alleged by the supposed Myrick. The plans worked to perfection. Before morning the greater part of the wheat had been threshed and delivered to a buyer in Norwich and the money for the grain was • safely in the robber’s pocket. By telling tho threshers to be there the next night to finish up the stranger avoided paying for tho work already done, but when everting came no Myrick appeared, and it was afterward ascertained that the man lmd left Norwich by an early morning east-bound train, taking with him the proceeds, about SII,OCX).

A young medical student in New York had a remarkable experience recontly. He belongs to that sort of young men who are compelled to depend almost entirely upon their own resources to obtain their education, and he spends his evenings in a down-town office. For a long time he was accosted by a professional beggar, a strapping big fellow, with a stiff neck, while passing through City Hall Park. The beggar accosted him night after night in an insolent manner. Frequently it was difficult for the medical student to get rid of the beggar, and they rarely parted without an exchange of epithets. This thing went on for some time, and then the beggar suddenly disappeared. One morning shortly after this the medical student went into the dissecting room to dissect a body. He was surprised to find that the body assigned to him was that of the troublesome beggar. The student had often wondered what was the matter with the fellow’s neck, and now he had an opportunity to find out. He dissected the bod}', and found that a layer of bone had grown down the neck preventing the head from being moved backward or forward. One of the attendants mounted the skeleton for the student, and it now Stands complete in his room at the foot of the bed.

In the Island of Corsica, near the headwaters of the Tavignavo River and about twenty-two miles from the city of Corte, there is a ten-acre field which is simply a subterranean lake covered with soil to a depth of about eighteen inches. On the soil this year there was cultivated a piece of wheat which produced thirtyfive bushels to the acre. A curious person who desires to investigate for himself, and who will take the trouble to dig a hole the depth of a spade handle, will find that he has dug entirely through the thin covering of soil to the surface of a lake which is from 35 to 80 feet in depth. Through the opening thus made fish may be caught which have neither eyes nor scales. The ground is a black marl, and, in all probability, covers what was once an open body of water, but which centuries of accumulating vegetable matter has increased to a thickness sufficient to produce an excellent crop. All work on the soil which covers this subterranean lake must of necessity be done by hand, the soil not being of sufficient strength to bear a horse and machinery. It is called “Corte’s wonder.”

“The ‘legger’ in an English canal tunnel has a hard time of it,” says a traveler. “I went through two canal tunnels this summer. The canals are just the width of one of the small barges used, and but very little higher than the board which runs from the alleged cabin to the tow-line polo. As it is impossible for a horse to tow tho barge the animal is led around or over the hill, and a legger lies on his buck ou the board referred to, and, raising his logs from his hips, pushes the boat along by pressing on the dilapidated roof of the tunnel. As I sat and watched the man in this unnatural position I felt the depth of humun misery nod been discovered at last. The work is arduous, tho light very bad, the atmosphere almost fetid, the labor degrading, and the effect almost equivalent to making a man a cripple. Yet the most the ‘legger’ enu make is seventy-five cents a day, and when traffic is light or there is ice on the canal he makes little or nothing. The old jail treadmill was bad enough, in all conscience, but this is a thousand times worse.”

An extraordinary case has been developed at White Hall, Mich., near Muskegon. Georgo Beard, a young man aged twenty-one, has been confined to his bed for the past three months, during seven weeks of which time he has been in an unconscioqs condition. He seems to have lost every sense save that of feeling. When he is touched on the arm with a slight downward pressure he will raise his arm. When an attempt is made to move his head to the right he will turn it to the left. In order to feed the patient four teeth had to be knocked out, as it was impossible to open his mouth either to insert food or to extract the teeth. Through this opening he receives his liquid nourishment. The attending physician pronounces it a case of carus. S. C.Rees, a Western mining man, has a scheme bf which he proposes to revolutionize mining and acquire considerable wealth. Instead of delving down in the earth for precious metals, he is going mining in a balloon. Along the precipitous sides of the deep canyons in the Rockies are many ledges which are known to be exceedingly rich in ore, but which are inaccessible on account of tho immense height and sheer sides of the cliffs. Mr. Rees intends to reach these ledges in a balloon. He will anchor his large balloon to the bottom of the canyon with long ropes, and ascend to the point of the wall of the canyon where the ledge is. Then a foothold will be worked into the ledge from the balloon; aud the mining begun from that point. A clergyman’s wife now in the Transvaal writes this; “It seems strange to think of what is going on in this bustling city of 40,000 people (Johannesburg), where five years ago were only a few scattered furm-houses. To-night there are fourteen prayer-meetings in various churches, five or six missionary meetings, a Congregational bazaar, u grand temperance rally, Leutefi services in the

High Church and Catholic Cathedral, a skating-rink entertainment, at which one of the novelties will be a race between native boys who never put on skates before, a rendering of Passion music in Music Hall, the Jubilee Singers’ concert and many theatrical performances.”

While on his way home from Washington a few days ago. Pension Examiner Samuel B. Brackett lost his lower set of false teeth in a peculiar manner, says a Biddeford "(Me.) newspaper. Mr. Brackett has an individual tendency to push his teeth out with his tongue when he is asleep. He fell asleep as the train was nearing Bridgewiiter, and, as usual, dropped his teeth. A knavish fellow came along and was seen by the passengers to pick up something, which later on proved to be the missing teeth. He soon got off, and when Mr. Brackett awoke the sad news was broken to him as gently as possible.

A remarkable instance of a dog’s sagacity lias just been reported from Indiana. A large English setter was “making a point” at a fish that was chasing minnows in the shallow water of a lako near a small boat pier. A bystander told the dog to “hie in,” and in ho jumped; his head went down in the water and he threw a large fish high in the air. It fell into tho water, when he caught it again and brought it to shore. It was a bass and tipped the beam at two and a half pounds. A New York jeweler has hit upon a, good plan for preventing robberies in his store. It is an electric arrangement for closing and locking the street door, which is operated- by a push button behind the counter. It will also unlock the door. Now, if well-dressed people who pose as customers seize trays full of valuables and attempt ta dash out of the store, they can be detained. Or if a suspicious person enters the door can be closed until danger is passed. There is on exhibition in a show window in Butte, Montana, a very large moose horn grafted into the base of a tree. It lias been in that position for years, as the tree has grown around it so as to get such a grip on it that cutting the wood away is the only means of separating the two. It is evident that at some remote period the monarch of the woods was caught in a tree, and in trying to extricate himself the horn was broken off. The Yuma (Cal.) Sentinel says that at the mouth of the Colorado River and the upper end of the Gulf of California are to be found sea buss that weigh from 250 to 750 pounds each, clams as large as an ordinary dinner plate, millions of sardines and smelt, oysters small but delicious, millions of soft-shell crabs and other shellfish, myriads of wild geese, brant, ducks, cranes and other sea fowl and birds. A humble member of the Franciscan Order, who had attained the age of 118 years, died the other day at the monastery, in Italy, where he had passed his life as cook to the inmates. The Pope, who had a great affection for Frere Ognon, ns he called him, nover failed to make enquiries after him, nor to send kindly messages during his illness. J. S. Parker, of Lincoln Creek, Wash., killed fourteen bears —eleven full grown and three cubs —in one week’s hunting near his home two weeks ago. He bagged five the first day that he was out. Bears are exceedingly plentiful in that section of the State, and another hunter killed twelve bears there a month or so ago. Mr. Parker holds the record. The marvellous records of this year of phenomenal crops irfay yet have to be revised for surprising additions. Mr. John B. Leahy, of New London, Conn., has an apple tree in his garden which is blossoming for the second time this year. It has borne a large crop, and is now covered with buds, and has some blossoms in full bloom.

Joe Warren, an employee of the cerealjne mills in Columbus, Ohio, had one of his hands caught in the machinery and cut off, some weeks ago. One day recently a Quakertown (Pa.) farmer found a man’s hand in a newly-purchased bag of feed that proved to be part of a consignment just at hand from Michigan. A queer sight to be seen almost any day upon the streets of Danville, Ind., is that of Johnny Craig, the largest man in the world, wheeling along his six months’ old baby in an ordinary baby carriage. Craig now weighs 823 pounds, while young Muster Craig, Jr., is not above the average six months’ old child. The Denver News says that Jonas Carpenter, of that city, is nearly 150 years old. He was born in Virginia, and the family Bible gives the date of his birth as 1752. He is said to be in good health.