Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 May 1894 — SOMEWHAT STRANGE. [ARTICLE]

SOMEWHAT STRANGE.

ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF EVERYDAY LIFE. Qu»»r Facts and Thrilling Adventures Which Show that Truth is Stranger than Fiction. A big wolf which has terrorised the people of the Bumpas Cave region, in North Carolina, for the last two or three years, recently entered the cabin of a mountaineer named Brown during the temporary absence of the housewife, and, seizing the only occupant, an infant six months old, by the clothing in the region of the chest, lifted it from the rude cradle and bore it away into the mountains. When the mother returned to the house and missed the baby she rushed io the door in time to see the wolf and its precious burden disappear into the neighboring woods. The distracted woman began to scream. This brought the husband, who was chopping wood not far away, to the scene in a high state of excitement. The story from the lips of the hysterical mother almost drove the brave fellow daft, but he seized his axe, called his dog, and started in hot pursuit. There was about two inches of snow on the ground, and it providentially enabled the desperate father of the kidnapped infant to strike the trail of the wolf immediately after leaving his door-yard. Once upon the track of the beast he rushed to the mountains with a speed born of distraction. About two miles from his cabin the tracks of the wolf led the pursuer under a long shelf of rock, protruding from the side of a mountain. There was no snow here and the father lost the trail, but he now urged his dog, which up to this time he had compelled to remain with him. The dog took the lead and the man followed, fully expecting to find the entrance to the wolf’s den, from which he could hardly hope to get the baby alive. But his fears were groundless; he soon came upon his faithful dog wagging his tail and looking down at a little white bundle at his feet. It was the baby, sound asleep and almost frozen, apparently unhurt otherwise. Brown took off his coat, and, wrapping the infant snugly in it, started hastily for home. He soon met his wife and two or three of the neighbors to whom she had given the alarm. It was a most remarkable rescue. The mountaineers say that it was only a freak of the “mad” wolf, but the little one no doubt owes its life to a drenching of petroleum given it for some cutaneous affection by its mother just before it was carried away. The odor of the oil was too much for his wolfship. He probably sniffed about the child after laying it down under the rocks and preparing to make a meal, and then left in disgust.

A singular illustration of the degree of credulity that is so characteristic of the Mohammedans has been bought to the notice of the London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. A native of Afghanistan, son of a noble, being reduced to penury, prayed to the prophet to relieve his distress. His prayer, he says, was answered by Mohammed appearing to him in the moon and pointing out a spot, close to where the devotee was praying, where wealth could be obtained. The Afghan proceeded to the place and found a curious-looking stone, which he picked up with full faith that he had a treasure to dispose of. London was, in his opinion, the city where he could best effect a sale, and to this city he has journed, undergoing many hardships, and working his passage from Bombay as a ship’s steward. A few days since he presented himself at the British Museum with his treasure, which, alas! on close examination by the experts, turns out to be only a worthless piece of quartz pebble. Wheather this poor fellow was convinced of the truth or not my informant was not able to say, but there is no doubt that he is in destitute circumstances. He is an excellent linguist, speaking no fewer than seven languages. A remarkable case of precocity and unnatural development in a child is reported near Warren, Tenn. Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Brandon are the parents of a four-year-old boy, who, of course, has never attended school, and the parents have never attempted to impart the knowledge of learning to the youngster. One day recently the mother was reading aloud from the family Bible while the child was busy playing about the room. Suddenly the child exclaimed: “Oh. mamma, I can read like you.” The mother paid no attention, but the child continued talking, repeating the assertion several times. Finally, to please the young one, the mother took him in her lap and opened the book before him. Without the least hesitation, and to the utter surprise and amazement of the parents, the child began to read, and read passage after passage without difficulty, pro* nouncing the most difficult of biblical names with apparent ease. Up to that time the child was not considered a very bright youngster and had not shopped his baby talk. The amazed parents did not know what to make of the suddenly developed talent and called in a physician, who was as much puzzled as they. “Idiots are sometimes wonderful in their genius,” said Professor 0. L. Milliken, of Chicago. “Of course the case of ‘Blind Tom,’ the remarkable musical prodigy, is well-known, but the person of whom I was thinking never became so famous, although well-known in the region about where he lived, in Eastern Ohio. When I was a boy I lived.in Harrison County, Ohio, and in an adjoining county, Tuscarawas. I think, there was an idiot boy about twelve years old. He could neither read nor write and was incapable of learning, but could instinctively give the true answer to any problem involving figures only. He could not penetrate the mysteries of algebra, geometry or calculus, but no combination of figures could confuse him. He had no rules and could not explain his methods, but his answers were given at once, and always correctly. He was exhibited throughout that section of the • country, and I remember that the theory advanced by physicians was that every other faculty of his brain had been ab-

sorbed by this one and his mind was really a great mathematical machine. A most remarkable case of somnambulism is reported from Missouri City. H. C.Calvert is a farmer of that vicinity. He and other members of his family were aroused the other night at 12 o’clock by a crashing noise. An inspection of the room showed that a window pane was broken out. It was also found that his 11-year-old son was missing. The boy had retired to his bed-room as usual. Mr. Calver found tracks in the snow under the window. He felt sure that they were those of his son, but the little fellow’s clothes were in the room. The farmer followed the footprints acoss a field. A quarter of a mile away he met the boy starting back to the house and nearly frozen. He said that he had dreamed that eight Indians appeared before him and said they were going to kill him. He dashed away from them over rocks and ice, and they closely pursued him. Finally he awoke and found himself out in the field. He could not remember anything about jumping through the window, and only bore a few scratches from coming In contact with the glass.

There is on the lands of F. N. Sword, of Chandler, Va., a seedling apple tree, whose circumference, five feet from the ground, is about six and one-third feet, whose height is about thirty-seven feet and whose branches begin seven and one-half feet from the ground and form a very compact top forty-two feet wide. In 1898 the estimated crop borne by this tree was over forty bushels. The apples. begin ripening and falling off in August and so continue until time to gather winter apples, when there is yet on the tree a good crop of winter apples, which keep well; indeed, they keep a good while after being frozen. They are medium sized yellow apples of good flavor and free from rot. The tree begins to bloom early and continues to bloom late, so that young apples and bloom are seen at the same time; indeed, some bloom was found on the tree in August, 1898. The idea of a summer, autumn and winter apple orchard all in one tree is certainly novel. On the banks of the Castleman River, in Pennsylvania, is a sight which is well worth going to see. A short distance from the river, at the foot of the mountain, six poplars are growing, the place inclosed being in the shape of a coffin. For about six feet from the ground the six trees have a common trunk, or rather root, as it seems as if the six trees in the inclosed space had all united solidly, and had grown out of the ground, carrying the earth above' them up along to the height named. Climbing on top of this common trunk, it is found that these poplars must have been planted around a child’s grave. The inclosed space is about four feet long and the green grass is growing in the earth there. On one end is a gravestone with an inscription on it, which, however, is worn by time. It is unknown by whom the grave was made. The advance of surgery can furnish few more singular illustrations than is supplied by an operation in one of the London hospitals whereby the breast of a blackbird was fastened to a woman’s face as a substitute for her nose, which had been so damaged that it had to be removed. The woman, who had been a housemaid in a hotel, had been struck in the face by a descending lift, which caused the injury that led to the operation. The operation has proved perfectly successful, with every appearance of the woman being provided with a useful nasal appendage, though how it will perform its functions when the cure is complete remains to be seen.

Faribault, Minn., has a freak of nature in the shape of a young giant. A young couple living in North Faribagjt, named Shook, have a child nine months old that tips the scale at nearly eighty pounds and is over three feet in height. The child has always been healthy and is well developed. His head is well shaped and of fair size, but his limbs and body are exceedingly large for a child of his age. He is handsome, and his features are clear cut and regular. He has six developed toes on each of his feet. Mr. and Mrs. Shook are of medium size. August Boemer and John Pfaff got into a dispute at Columbus, Ohio, the other day as to which had the biggest mouth. They made a bet about it, and Boemer managed to crowd a big orange into his mouth, while Pfaff forced a billiard ball into his. Boemer managed to get his orange oyt again, but the billiard ball was not so yielding, and declined to be removed. Pfaff was nearly choked to death, when a physician managed to extract the ivory sphere from his mouth, but he had to cut it larger to do it. -Worses have often been insured and so, too, have prize cattle and dogs, but the boxing kangaroo at the Westminster Aquarium, in London, is probably the first of its kind in whose name a policy has been taken out. While the directors of that institution offered no objection to the payment of the premium for the kangaroo, they absolutely declined, as a superfluous expense, to defray the cost of insurance upon the lives of the divers who constitute some of the side features of the show.

A twelve-year-old boy fell from the seventh story of the Railroad building, Denver, Col., a few weeks ago. He struck on a number of telegraph wires, bounded into the air, and finally landed on the back of a horse. The animal was killed by the shock, but the boy was only stunned, and soon recovered consciousness. In three minutes he was receiving congratulations on his luck. The Emperor of Austria has gone through the annual performance of washing the feet of twelve old men. The observance is a religious one connected with Maundy-Thursday. Water was poured from a golden ewer upon the feet and then His Majesty dried them with a towel. He grimaced over the unpleasant work. A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD BOn of A. M. Lassiter, who is well known in Gum County, N. C., has the word “Ameri-

ca” plainly visible in each eye, near the pupil. This is his birthmark. Jesse Spright, a prominent citizen of Green county, says that he has seen and carefully examined the phenomenon.