Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1894 — SOMEWHAT STRANGE. [ARTICLE]

SOMEWHAT STRANGE.

ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF EVERYDAY LIFE. Queer Facts and Thrilling Adven* j tures which Show that Truth is Stranger Than Fiction. The big storage buildings in New | York are managed in a fashion that J impresses visitors with a belief that j the science of discipline has entered j all fields of activity. When the furni-' ture is taken from the house it is j packed into a huge covered van. The ! van is locked in the presence of the ; owner of the goods, and he takes the ! key. Then he goes to the storage house, the van is driven on a freight j elevator and is lifted to the seventh or eighth story, where the owner has leased a room. The van is backed up i to the door of the room and the goods are taken out and packed skillfully within the room. The owner sits in an arm chair and watches it all. Then the door is locked and the key handed him, the wagon is wheeled on the elevator, the iron doors leading to the corridor are closed and locked, and all hands descend to the first floor. If the owner wishes to go to his storeroom at a stipulated time the attendant unlocks the door and admits him to the elevator. The door is locked behind him. He is taken to the floor in which his room is situated, another door is unlocked, and he passes over to a second attendant, who takes a list of the things the owner wishes to have removed from his room. The owner is again taken out, the door unlocked, and he is passed over to the first attendant, who conveys him to the office. Nobody can obtain access to the rooms without going through this laborious routine, and the result is that petty pilfering and stealing from the rooms is entirely unknown. The cost of it all is less than might be expected. -The rooms are leased at anywhere from $8 to sls a month.

One of the most peculiar wills ever filed for probate in Belgium is that of Mme. Meens, whose first husband bore the name of Verhaegen. Mme. Meens died in Antwerp, where she lived in a handsome palace in the Avenue des Arts, a few months ago. She left her estate to all the relatives up to the twelfth degree of kinship, on both the father’s and mother’s sides of her first husband. The only condition was that they should make good their claims within six months. The news of the contents of the will created great interest in Belgium, where the name Verhaegen is a common one. As the widow was reputed to be worth hundreds of millions, the ambitious relatives hastened to file their claims. As a result, the court is obliged to pass upon the alleged rights of 14,554 heirs. The poor people are doomed to disappointment, as the estate turned out to be worth only about three millions. So many lawyers have been engaged that their fees alone will swallow up this amount. At a recent hearing of the case, one of the advocates grimly remarked upon looking at the great number of his brethren: “It seems as if Mme. Meens had left her property to all the advocates of Belgium.” Among the few seaside places that are not much advertised in these days are the shores of the Dead Sea; they are not “marine resorts” because nobody ever goes to them. It is now stated, however, that the Sultan—who is proprietor of the locality in question— and an American speculator have laid their heads together and devised a plan for its exploitation. Its waters possess plenty of salt, bitumen and sulphur, which will be useful for commercial purposes; and the associations of the neighborhood, it is hoped, will prove attractive to tourists. Two vessels—one large and heavy for local products and a lighter one for passenger traffic—have accordingly been conveyed to Jerusalem, and thence to the Dead Sea, says the Illustrated London News. A pickle manufactory is to be erected on its shores. It is thought that every visitor would like to carry away at least one bottle as a souvenir. It is curious t i however, that not a word is said about preserving the Dead Sea fruit, which has a world-wide reputatation.

Farmer Johnson, of Linn County, Kansas, made up his mind that he would have an artesian well not long ago, so he got the necessary machinery and set to work to dig it. At the depth of ninety feet the auger entered a cave, to which there seemed to be no bottom, and instantly a stream of hot air began to pour out with so much force that the tools were with difficulty prevented from blowing out. The air was so hot that the men at work were soon compelled to leave it, and then the drill was forced out of the well, followed by a rush of air that sounded like the roar of a blast furnace. The strike was made in the middle of December, and the flow continues as strong as at first. Scientists have tried to make out that the flow was natural gas, but experiments with it prove it to be simply atmospheric air. Mr. Johnson proposes to pipe it into his house for warming and cooking purposes. It is so hot that an egg held in the current of air is roasted hard in five minutes. Sadie McAlister, a colored woman, died at her home in Springfield, Ohio. She was, doubtless, the largest woman in the world, and in early womanhood soon/ 1 outgrew” the position of cook. A showman, who had an eye for money-making business, hearing of her avoirdupois, made an engagement with “ Fat Sallie,” and together they traveled from land to land. He dressed her well; in fact did everything for her comfort and enjoyment except to divide profits. At one time Miss Sallie weighed ev&n 750 pounds. She was conveyed from depot to depot while on her tours in an armchair of large dimensions, which was placed in a wagon, and as she vv.as entirely too large to get through the door of any passenger car she was taken through the sliding doors of the baggage car and rode there in her own armchair. She was a kind, amiable and good woman. The coffin in which she was buried could not be got into the body of a big two-horse farm wagon. ( A. T. S. Jenkins, of Alabama, told a St. Louis reporter the other day that in hjs State, at Sloven son, there

ia a colored man who makes a linn j by catching snakes. Said the relator: “He is frequently seen at the depot with a snake wrapped around his neck and a number of others sticking their heads from his pockets. There are no very large snakes in that sect ion, hence his pay is small.but he obtains enough to live on by supplying small shows or curiosity-seekers by selling the reptiles either alive or stuffed. He spends his entire time in the woods and along the streams, except when he comes to town to dry to sell his product. The reptiles are not afraid of him, and he seems to know intuitively where they have their holes. It makes no difference as to what species they belong, this colored man has control over them, and can pull them out of their holes and handle them at will. It is estimated that he has caught 200 rattlesnakes alone, and has never yet been bitten,

While Amos Quick was hunting near Little Equinunk, Pa., he discovered something lying alongside of an old log on the dry leaves which he took to be a wildcat. Only its hind parts were visible, and cautiously approaching he poured one barrel of his gun into what protruded. The object aimed at proved to be an immense catamount, and thus rudely awakened it fairly tore around with rage. Mr. Quick’s hound ran up and tackled the wounded monster, but with one sweep of its powerful forearm and sharp claws it laid the dog prone on the ground badly w T ounded. By this time Amos had gotten within good range, and the contents of the other barrel finished the old fellow. He proved to be the finest specimen of the catamount family seen in this section in years, and was a most for-midable-looking animal, being about double the size of the ordinary wildcat. Frederick Stoya, an engineer in Burlington, N. J., who claims to have served as a surgeon in the FrancoPrussian war, has succeeded in growing chicken nails on the stumps of two of his fingers. Last November Stoya mashed two fingers of his right hand, necessitating amputation at the first joint. About two weeks later, after the fingers had began to heal nicely. Stoya conceived the idea of grafting nails on the stumps and he selected and killed a healthy young chicken. While the body was yet palpitating he removed two of the chicken’s nails. Then, carefully lifting the skin of the wounded fingers, he inserted the chicken nails and awaited developments. The nails have now become thoroughly set and serve to protect the ends of thf wounded fingers. Salvador Pecani, under sentence of death at Tacoma, Wash., for whose hanging a scaffold had twice beer, erected, was pardoned by the Supreme Court. Twice convicted of the murder of his uncle, he averred that the deed was committed by the Mafia, and declared that he would rather be hanged than released because of the murderous brotherhood. At one time, wiien the prisoner’s hanging was imminent, the Sheriff issued a number of elaborate invitations to his execution, on black cards with gilt script lettering, and a picture of Pecani in the upper left-hand corner. Pecani was glad to get out of peril of hanging, despite his fears of the Mafia. A most singular occurrence happened in a recent fox hunt in Grafton County, N. 11. A fox was started, and after a lively chase reynard being closely pressed, ran into a cleft in some rocks. A foxhound was immediately after the fox and entered the fissure at his heels w T ith such velocity that he stuck fast in a narrow space. Seeing the dog could not release himself the fox turned and went out where he came in, squeezing over or under the dog in some w T ay. The dog was wedged so tightly in the narrow space that the hunters were unable to release him for a day or two.

A motherly old hen clucking and fussing about a warehouse and wagon corral in Lordsburg, N. M., defended her chickens against a big, hungry rat so successfully that, after a battle royal, she left , him disabled on the field at the end of the second round. So vindictively had she punished her enemy that a spectator killed him aa an act of mercy. Now she is the most respected and proudest fowl in Lordsburg, and the local paper announces that the boys of the establishment are ready to back her against ny rat in the Territory for “money, marbles, or chalk.” One of the few places in this country where the curfew bell is yet rung is Fayetteville, N. C. The village has been settled more than two centuries, and the practice has never lapsed. Indeed, so quiet and undisturbed by the outside world has this community remained that the curfew has there almost its original significance, and it is considered time for all good folk to be indoors when its summons is heard. The village has also a town crier, but it is not alone among Southern towns in this respect Gurley, in the Point Rock Valley, North Alabama, has a prodigy in the shape of a 9-year-old white child. Her name is Lizzie Beale, and her parents are among theTiest people in Jackson County. She weighs 192 pounds and is possessed of enormous strength. She can with the greatest ease lift and carry off an anvil weighing 225 pounds, and carry off a big man who could scarcely lift her from the ground. Her hair is very long, and she has regular, beautiful features. A fine wedding was spoiled in Ocala, Fla., recently when Schoolmaster McAddin failed to show up and marry Arch Jacobs’ daughter. Mr. Jacobs had cooked for the occasion eight turkeys, five hogs, four chickens and any amount of small trash. Brussels, Belgium, has exhibited in a restaurant in Rue de Laeken a rat with great long tusks, weighing nearly eleven pounds. A veterinary surgeon who lias examined him carefully puts his age at forty-five. Wild animals are very bold in some parts of Southern California this winter. Several instances have lately L?en noted in San Bernardino county of travelers on the highway being attacked by wildcats.