Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 May 1892 — 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. “There will be a wreck on the road to-night boys.” This was the expression made by Brakeman Robert Harland, on the steps of the depot at Winfield, Kansas, on a recent Thursday night to a crowd of fellow trainmen who had gathered there during the evening. “1 saw the dead face as I came in." There is a superstition among the railroad men along the road that every wreck on that division is presaged by the appearance of a dead face on the track just ahead of some train as it goes along the rood. This dead face has appeared several times during the past year, and in every instance it has been followed by a wreck, until now it is looked upon by all trainmen as a warniug sent to tell them of coming danger, and when it is seen it is impossible to get those who have seen it to go out on the road until they hear of a wreck. In the instance just mentioned there was not a laugh or smile that f reefed the assertion of a coming wreck, ut each man shook his head ana looked solemn. They were not long in suspense, however, for as they were talking the wires brought news of a wreck of a freight train in which two men were badly injured. An investigation of the story shows that for over a year there has been a belief among the men on the road that they receive warning from some one who has been killed by a train. The apparition takes the appearance of a dead face lying on the track in the full glare of the headlight. » No body can be seen, and when discovered by a new man he has the impression that some one is lying on the track with the body in the shadow. It is always in,the same place and looks toward theapproachipgeagine with eyes wide open. Several times the engineershave stopped their trains just before they reached the place, confident that a dead man was lying on the track, but when they got down to examine it nothing was to be found. The details of-one of the strangest duels ever fought has just been related by a prospector who has been in the mountains southwest of Las Vegas, New Mexico. The country is near the border line between old and New Mexico, and the people there are a mixture of the two races. The young .men, an American and a Mexican, fell out over a young woman they both loved and it was determined to end the enmity with a duel. While in the company of mutual friends the Mexican taunted the American with being a member of a race of cowards and said the Americans had no bravery. The American, of course, disputed this and said be would test the Mexican's bravery if be wished it He would be willing to go into a dark room with the Mexican and there decide the point. But the stipulation was that in the dark room there should also be a lot of tarantulas turned loose. If either came out alive he was to have the girl’. If either showed the white feather and came out before .the death of the other or before all the tarantulas were killed he Should give up all claim to the girl. The Mexican was .disposed to refuse, but the fear of being looked upon as a coward caused him to accept. The room was prepared and the two men went in. There was at least .a dozen tarantulas in the room and also two scorpions. The American walked boldly into the room and took his stand, while the Mexican followed, but was hesitating in bis manner. The doors had been closed but a short time when tho Mexican was heard to scream out that he was bitten and was dying. The doors wexe opened and he staggered out and fell to the floor. The American walked out unhurt, and then it was found that the Mexican had not been bitten at ■all, but had scratched his hand on a protruding mail in the wall and had thought it aspider's bite. *

One .of the most remarkable combats ever witnessed in this country occurred recently on Holmes Rivor?near Vernon, Fla. In the battle a cat and an alligator fought for three hours, with the final result in favor of tabby. Alligators infest the river, and it is considered dangerous for .any person or animal to go near .the bank. The saurians are not large, but appear to make up in activity what they lack in size. A house cat belonging to Mr. Walton was in the. habit of going to the river .and feeding on ■auesels and such fish as it could get, and it was noticed several times that when the .cat moved along the bank a ripple in the water showed that an alligator kept pace with it. The tout, however, was aware of the alligator's presence, but showed no signs of fear. On the day mentioned the cat approached too near the water in its eagerness to get a fish and was suddenly grasped by the hind leg .by an alligator about three feet long. The .cat made a spring and got away, but the leg was bitten badly and bled freely.. The taste of blood seemed to put the alligator in a frenzy, for it came out on the bank and tried to continue the pursuit. The .cat turned on its enemy and a fierce fight began. The cat was a > quick that it was impossible for the alligator to get a bite at it, and tire result was that the saurian was soon endeavoring to beat a retreat to the water. But the cat now began an offensive attack and ctit off the way, nipping the alligator in the throat and tender spots under the arms until the reptile was bleeding and almost exhausted. This fight continued tor several hours, and when at last the alligator gave up it was bleeding from over a hundred wounds. The cat was seemingly unhurt except in the wounded leg, which was injured before the tight began.

TwKi.vs: years ago Bryce R. Blair, jr., son of a prominent citizen of Carbondale, Penn., went to Colorado to seek his fortune His parents heard regularly from him for three years. The last time he wrote them he was in Marysvale, Utah, but was on the point of going to Idaho No tidings have come from him since then. His father has been constantly searching for him for nine years. Not long ago he inserted an advertisement in a Salt Lake newspaper, describing hi> son minutely, among other things saying tbit ho was left-handed, and asking for information concerning the missing young man. A reply to this advertisement was received from a man in Salt Lake City, who said a man named Bryce R. Blair, answering exactly the description of the missing Carbondale man, even to being left-hunded, was living in Lander, Wyoming, and had been there about nine years. Young Blair's parents, while unable to account for the long silence of their son, had no doubt that they had found him at last The clue was followed up, but, although the Bryce Blair in Lander is the exact double of the Carbondale man of the same name, in age, size, weight and peculiarities, he E:d that he was the son of James of Nebraska, and was not even re-

lated in the remotest degree to his missing namesake. 'Frank Pierce of Etna, N. J., is a noted hunter, and when several farmers in his neighborhood complained recently that their poultry yards had been raided by a wild animal, he examine"!! the tracks of the robber, and declared, unhesitatingly, that they had all been made by a ’coon. He started out to prove the truth his assertion by capturing or killing the chicken thief. A little later he returned without any coon, dead or alive, but carrying under his arm a very small dog nearly dead from starvation. The tale he told concerning the finding of the dog was worth several ordinary ’coon stories. He said that he hunted a big ’coon into a wood, where it disappeared behind a pine tree. The lower part of the trunk was hollow, and when he put his ear to an aperture about three feet above the ground he heard something breathing. He cut another hole lower down, and drew out the little dog. The 'coon was not there. The dog, he thinks, chased something into the tree, and could not get out. Evidently it had been there several days. Probably the most remarkable occurrence ever known happened in Dawson last Wednesday says the Savannah News. Martha Roundtree, the well-known negro woman who kept a restaurant at the south end of Main street, now occupies a grave at the cemetery, the result of a sneeze. The physicians of Dawson say that they have never heard or read of a similar case. Wednesday the woman, as well as usual, was at the restaurant attending to her work. She had just left the rear of her eating saloon and walked to the front when she was attacked with an excessive spell of sneezing and coughing. She bad been afflicted with hernia, and the strain was so great as to burst a hole in her stomach. Surgical aid was called in and her stomach sewed up, which gave temporary relief. She lingered until late Saturday afternoon, when she died. The victim of this remarkable occurrence was a large woman, weighing 246 pounds. Some particulars of a remarkable case of revival from apparent death have come to hand from St. Petersburg, Russia. A lady who had been suffering from a violent nervous attack sank into a state of syncope, and after a time ceased, as it seemed, to breathe. The doctor who was attending her certified that death had resulted from paralysis of the heart. For some reason which is not explained another medical man, Dr. Loukhmanow, saw the body, and having been informed that the lady had suffered from attacks of hysteria and catalepsy, thought it worth while to make a thorough examination. After trying various other means he applied the microphone to the region 'of the heart, and was enable by this instrument to hear a faint beating, which proved that life was not extinct. Everything was done to resuscitate the patient, who shortly afterward recovered consciousness. A man in Biddeford, Me., is in a queer predicament regarding a piece of property. He owns fifty acres of land somewhere in the , suburbs of the city, but just where that land is no one seems able to .find out. The property was bequeathed to the perplexed citizen by his grandmother, and the boundary lines have not been run for many years. There is some faint record of the original grant, but nothing clear enough to establish the lines of ,the plot. The city has advertised the land to be sold for taxes, and the owner is in hopes of finding his own. He will let the city go ahead with the sale and bid in the land himself, and then the authorities will be obliged to establish the boundaries, for, as the citizen argues, the city can’t sell anything can't deliver, and can’t deliver anytmng it can’t find. Wonders will never cease. The latest ingenious scheme is in the interest of the farmer, and promises to dispense with plowing, using dynamite to stir up the earth. Holes are drilled in the soil two or three feet deep and five feet apart, making 1,600 to the acre. In each hole is placed a sufficient quantity of the explosive, connected with a wire leading to the battery, and after the holes have been plugged with clay, tho whole is discharged by a spark. In recent experiments, after the explosion the ground appeared to be lifted two feet, some clods being thrown to the height of thirty feet, while the earth vt’as found to be broken to the depth of thirty inches at the point of explosion, and for a considerable distance around the holes.

Mary Haywood has been living in the woods near St. Heding, Texas, like a wild animal for the last six years, and during all that time has never slept under a roof. She wore a dress made of reeds and leaves, and has lived principally on pecan nuts, although she would make nocturnal raids on smokehouses and steal meat, which she devoured raw. She would never permit any one to come near her, and the people of that section tolerated her presence until her thieving operations became so active that they captured her through strategy. She wqs pronounced insane by a jury. A Georgia farmer is raising two .calves that are being brought up to help themselves, and as a consequence, requi « less care. They are kept in the bam, near a .well, from which water is taken by means of a common cistern pump. The .calves have learned to •operate the pump, and whenever they want a drink they pump it. One pumps while tike other puts his mouth under the spout and drinks, and they take turns about. A MOt’KiAiN lion approached a pig-pen at the Tale ranch, near Alamo, Cal., and efleeted an entrance through a belejus large enough to admit his body. He then leisurely gorged himself with two shotes, which sos.welled < hi 6 body that hp could not pass out through the same aperture by which he had entered. Later in the day the owner of the ranch, Dr. French, discovered the intruder, and shot him.