Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 March 1894 — SOMEWHAT STRANGE. [ARTICLE]

SOMEWHAT STRANGE.

ACCIDENTSAND INCIDENTS OF EVERYDAY LIFE. Quaer Facts and Thrilling Adventures which Show that Truth is Stranger Than Fiction. One of those abdominal operations which have made American surgeons the wonder of the scientific world was recently performed upon a man now lying in the Presbyterian Hospital in New York city. It was one of the most dangerous, delicate and skillful operations known to«cience. Joseph Samak is a truck driver, 25 years old. He strained himself four years ago, lifting a 800 pound box of tobacco on a wager. About two months ago his rupture became so bad that he had to give up work. He was taken to the hospital, and it was seen that he must be operated upon immediately. He was placed on a table and the surgeon made a longitudinal incision about six inches long through the wall of the abdomen and the intestine was drawn out and fourteen Inches cut away. The two ends of intestines were sewed together with the finest of silk sutures, three rows or layers of suture being put in. The first row was put in through the under coat of the mucous membrane of the Intestines. The second row passes through all the layers of the intestine, drawing the two ends closely together, and the third row of satures passes through the outer membrane of the intestine and a little distance back of the end. In all no fewer than sixty stitches were taken. When the severed intestine had been joined it was pushed back into the abdominal cavity, where it fell naturally into place. The incision in the abdominal wall was then sewed up. The operation lasted exactly an hour. When Samak recovered from the shock he began to improve. No complications followed. He eats all they will give him and his strength is fast returning. One of the most remarkable rides on horseback ever performed is undoubtedly that of the well-kn >wn Danish archaeologist and linguist, Dr. Ostrup, who has just completed a journey on horseback between Damascus and Denmark, a distance, it is computed, of some 5,000 miles. The ride was performed on one horse, a pure Arab, chosen and purchased by the savant himself, which he personally tended and groomed throughout the entire journey. On reaching Copenhagen the animal had. not “turned a hair.” The journey occupied some eighteen months, and lay through Syria, Asia Minor, Turkey, Bulgaria, Servia, Hungary and Germany, Dr. Ostrup’s chief object being the study of eastern dialects in their transition from one country to another, and local archaeology, for ■which reason he chose this novel mode of traveling. Dr. Ostrup had some hairbreadth escapes in Syria and Asia Minor, in spite of being armed with special credentials from the authorities in Constantinople. Sallie McAllister, a colored woman, died recently at her home in Springfield, Ohio. She was, doubtless, the largest woman in the world, and in early womanhood soon “outgrew” the position of cook. A showman, who had an eye for money-mak-ing 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 Sallie weighed 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 was 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.

In the Rochester Democrat a judge of the Supreme tlourt thus explained why in England vehicles turn to the left in passing each other: “The foot traveller passed to the right that the shield on the left arm might be interposed to ward off a treacherous blow, and the right, or sword arm, free to strike. Horsemen, however, usually had mail to protect them, and there was more safety in being near the antagonist than in having to strike across the horse, as would have been necessary had they turned to the right. When vehicles came into use later the drivers instinctively followed the old horseback ' custom and turned to the left. In this country horses were scarce for several generations after the first settlers, and the rule of the foot passenger, ‘Keep to the right, ’ was the only one that obtained. When conveyances became common they still followed the more familiar custom of the pedestrian, instead of the forgotten tradition of the mother country.” There is a peculiar case of infatuation between a rooster and two cats, to be witnessed at Alton, 111. They £ belong to the keeper of a livery ible, and for some time the rooster, which is a large fowl of the Shanghai breed, was afraid of the cats. But a friendly feeling grew to exist between them, and this finally ripened into a case of love. They are inseparable; the rooster will conduct himself just as he would if escorting two hens about. He will find a worm or grain of corn, call the cats, and then eat it himself as naturally as though he had never associated with anything but cats. The felines, upon the other hand, will follow him around, roll over and play with him, and in every possible way demonstrate that his affection is reciprocated. The rooster sleeps on the edge of a feed box and the cats rest together in the box. The strange friendship has existed for some time past and exhibits no signs of abatement.

London high society has been exasperated by a series of articles in the St. James Gazette, detailing the experiences of an American young woman who advertised for a chaperon who could introduce her into court and other exclusive circles. Elizabeth L. Banks, who recently started a controversy by her investigation of

the domestic servant problem, assumed the role of the American heiress. The mass of replies which were received from more or less impecunious persons of title, although printed without the names of the writers, has made a genuine sensation. Two chapters have been devoted to tentative offers of marriage from scions of British nobility. An extraordinary story comes from Caboolture, Australia, where the facts are said to be vouched for by a minister of religion. The statement is that a girl of eleven years old has for some months past been regularly pulling out a large number of splinters of wood from her body. The number thus extracted so far is said to be 1,000, times as many as sixty splinters a day being pulled out, ranging up to two inches in length. Their extraction causes the girl no pain, and no theory as to their origin has yet been originated. A. K. Klam, of Reading, Penn., has had his nose cut off, but not to spite his face, rather to benefit it. He is said to be a handsome young man, but unhappily was afflicted with a nose so big that it quite spoiled his otherwise fine appearance, and caused continual remarks, both from his friends and enemies. He went at last to a surgeon to have the redundancy of nose removed. The operation was successfully performed, and to-day Mr. Klam is happy in the possession of a nose which is straight, comely and of moderate proportions. A curious fatality seems to have attached itself to the family of Captain Wilson, the African fighter. All the members of it that have died have been the victims of accident or violence, except his mother, who a few weeks ago succumbed to an attack of paralysis. The husbands of two of Captain Wilson’s sisters were drowned, as were two brothers in South Africa. There remains now the eldest son, Dr. George Wilson, a pioneer of sanitary science and a lover of fox-hunting.

A beggar at Pesth, Hungary, who was arrested for throwing himself into the river with intentions of committing suicide, was discharged after telling his remarkable story. He was an aged and shriveled specimen of humanity, with long, patriarchal beard, and acknowledged that he was past ninety-four years of age. His excuse for attempting to take his own life was that he was no longer able to take care of his father and mother, who were aged 125 and 120 years respectively. There lives one mile south of Dunnsville, Va., a colored woman eighty-three years old, whose name is Levina Bayler. Years ago she lost her teeth, but is now cutting another set. Some months ago her gums became very sore, and now two teeth have made their appearance, and several more are nearly in sight, The old woman is much pleased with her new teeth, and expressed much delight to your correspondent at so soon being able to “chaw hard ag’in.”

Captain Pierce Thompson, of Southport, Me., made his first voyage when ten years old, commanded his vessel at eighteen, and is still following the sea at seventy-four. His son sails with him as mate. Captain Thompson is a devout Methodist and has prayers on shipboard every day, and full religious services on Sunday. He was never wrecked, never lost a man and laughs at the idea of turning landlubber and retiring from seafaring life.

Rev. John A. Burk, of Baltimore, recently received a barrel of oysters from Reedville, Northampton County, Va. Upon opening one of the shells, the two parts of which were joined as if they held an oyster, a live fish two and one-half inches long fell from the shell and began to wriggle. The fish was put in water and is still alive. There was no oyster in the shell, the fish being the sole occupant. At the great Italian Penitentiary of Porto Allegro, in Sardinia, there has just died an old convict named Guiseppe Ramas, who was sentenced to penal servitude for life more than thirty years ago for selling sausages made of human flesh. During the course of his trial the grewsome fact was brought to light that he had assassinated no less than sixteen persons for this object. Farmer George Lee died at Madison, Ind., recently, from the effects of a peculiar accident. He was stooping to milk his cow, his head resting against her flank, when she gave a sudden lurch which thrust his head downward, bending him almost double, dislocating his spine and paralyzing his body from his hips down. He leaves a wife and three children.

H. Talbot, who is only a young fellow, had one of his heels cut off at the Victor mine in Missouri by a walking beam of the pumps; a leg broken in the crusher at Rising Sun; same leg rebroken at the ice plant; an eye put out at the Spencer & McConey mine by the explosion of a cap, and got general bruises by dropping into a 80-foot shaft. The luck of the Rev. Mr. Scarrow, of Russell, Kan., runs to funerals. Within one week he held services for a man whose body was totally consumed by fire, for a man who» died in the penitentiary, for a murdered man whose remains had been rotting in the ground since last July, and finally over the bodies of three murderers lynched by a mob. A novel toboggan slide has been built across the frozen River Neva at St. Petersburg, partly for pleasure and mainly for convenience in crossing the river. High towers have been erected on either bank, and from these a steeply sloping scaffolding carries a track to the opposite bank.