Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1894 — SOMEWHAT STRANGE. [ARTICLE]

SOMEWHAT STRANGE.

ACCIDENTSAND INCIDENTS OF EVERYDAY LIFE. Queer Facts and Thrilllnq Adventures Which Show that Truth is Stranger Than Fiction. “One of the best pieces of detective work I ever saw,” said James 0. Sutter, of San Francisco, “ was done by a private detective of little or no reputation at the time in our city. A swell restaurant was completely demoralized by a series of petty thefts. Its plated ware, which had to be of a high quality, was stolen free’y, and it frequently happened that the pockets of overcoats on the racks were pilfered. The proprietor, recognizing that his living was at stake, offered an excessively large reward for the detection of the thief, and the detective I refer to undertook the job. He planned out a series of mirrors, reversing the dodge of the dime museum man, who makes a portion of a figure invisible, and so planning the glasses that he could overlook the entire room while seated at a little table in the far corner. His planning involved some little expense and seemed so far-fetched that he had some difficulty in persuading the proprietor to adopt the idea. He had his own way at last, and then, when everything was ready, he arranged to have a little more silverware than usual scattered around and made his observations. He caught three men on the first day, but rightly supposing the work was being done by a gang, who were doubtless operating other houses, he had the three shadowed and continued his observations the following day. He finally captured seven, and traced their operations to nearly every hotel and restaurant in the city. He has never made public the exact secret of his angles in the looking-glasses, but has popularized himself so much among the hotel fraternity that he has never lacked for work, and has got in the way of refusing jobs in other lines.

A letter from Marseilles, France, relates the dramatic suicide of M. Semama, a rich foreigner who settled in that town many years ago. He was an extremely eccentric gentleman, who had converted the villa he owned in the Prado into a paradise, where, In immense conservatories, he cultivated fruits and flowers in all seasons of the year. He would have all the fruits on the trees within reach of his hand, and every branch which grew too high was cut off. About two years ago he decided upon the manner of his death, and by his orders and under his superintendence a lofty and spacious vault was constructed in the corner of his garden. This vault, which could be hermetically sealed, was furnished with a reclining chair, two large candelabra and two immense pans, which were kept constantly filled with charcoal ready for lighting. On several occasions M. Semama entered the vault after having had the candelabra lighted by his servants; but until yesterday he had done nothing but meditate there. Yesterday, however, he waited until his servant had withdrawn and then set fire to the charcoal. He stretched himself on the reclining chair, in which position he was found dead soon afterward.

In France there exists an order of merit founded by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, of which the members are dogs who have distinguished themselves by deeds of bravery. A tastefully designed “collar of honor’’ is awarded to the nominees of the order. Among the animals already decorated in this way one of the most decorated is Bacchus, a large bulldog, whose specialty it is to stop runaway horses by jumping up and seizing them by the bridle. Bacchus’s master resides in the Rue Biscornet. It is calculated that the intelligent beast has already saved the lives of eight persons, if not more, in this way. Pataud, another bulldog, received a collar in 1887 for saving his mistress from the attack of a footpad; and Turk, a splendid Newfoundland, has had a similar honor for saving three young children from drowning on different occasions. One of the Princes of Baden had a curious experience in Rome a few weeks ago. He was invited to a garden party by King Humbert, and, thinking to get to the palace sooner, dismissed his carriage and walked to the palace door. The concierge of the palace did not know him, however, and declined to admit him when he insisted upon the right to pass by her. To make matters worse, he did not speak Italian, and the concierge finallycalled two guards to arrest him. As they were in the act of conducting the Prince to the guardhouse, King Humbert happened to see the trio from the window and hastily sent one of his adjutants to free the Prince. Of course abject apologies were made; but the Prince enjoyed the adventure and laughed heartily in recounting it to his friends that afternoon. The concierge and the two guards he declined to allow to be punished, as the King had proposed. A recent issue of the Medical Bulletin printed the following remarkable offer, “Physicians desiring to obtain a subject on which to observe the process of digestion or other workings of the vital organs, or on whom to try the effects of poisons and their antidotes, may probably do so by communicating with the editor of the Bulletin. Subject is unmarried and not prevented by any ties or responsibilities from acting in this matter as he chooses, and does not object to a probable fatal termination of the affair.”

Nearly every month in the year is represented among the surnames of New York, and some are represented in several languages. Two or three of the months whose names least suggest those of human beings are largely represented. There are many Novembers, three or four Julys, an April in English and one in French, plenty of Junes, and a name that would be the French for February but for the substitution of “ b” for “ v.” September, October and December are unrepresented. N. F. Hill, of Park City, Ky., is bragging of a novel feat in chlckenndsing. He got some eggs of blooded

fowls from Massachusetts and one of them was broken. He pasted a bit of paper over the cracked shell and put the, egg under his setting hen. A chicken came in due time. He says he has saved the shell with the paper patch intact to prove the statement. How he got the chicken out is not explained. Eddie Harmer, aged six years, is the infant prodigy of the Pacific slope. He lives in Oakland, Cal. He can repeat the preamble and Constitution of the United States to the fifth section, has read all of Shelley’s works and is now engaged in studying Ossian. The child has an abnormally large head, but his body is well nourished and his extraordinary precocity does not appear to have affected his health.

A French engineer, named Lerozal, has recently discovered in the district of Gurrero, State of the same name, an immense cave, which, with four Indian companions, he explored for a distance estimated at fifteen miles. He claims to have found in one chamber the bodies of over eight hundred petrified Indians with many articles of pottery in a good state of preservation, and a number of images, supposed to be idols. The Shah of Persia is superstitious. He always carries with him when he travels a circle of amber, which is said to have fallen from heaven in Mohammed’s time, and which renders the wearer invulnerable ; a casket of gold, which makes him invisible at will, and a star which is potent to make conspirators instantly confess their crime. What is said to be the largest shad ever caught in the Delaware was recently brought in at Salem, N. J., near the head of the bay. It weighed eleven pounds, was twenty-seven inches long, eight Inches wide and eighteen inches in girth. Another shad weighing nine pounds two ounces was brought in a few days before by a fisherman from Salem.

There are many “show” houses in New York, being the homes of the rich, where casual strangers call to see the furniture and decoration. The servant that answers the bell accepts a tip, and for such consideration shows the house to the caller. The tips of the curious are a source of considerable revenue to the servants of the rich. A strange and fatal disease has for a year raged in the vicinity of Lawrenceville, Ind. It does not appear elsewhere, and is known to the doctors only as the “black tongue.” The patient suffers terribly. The body becomes spotted, and the tongue, becoming black, swells to an enormous size, producing suffocation.

A prisoner in the Manchester jail amused himself by writing verses in microscopic characters on small pieces of paper, which he pasted on the backs of the roaches that infested his cell. The poetry eventually killed all the insects that carried it, not because it was bad, but because the paste fermented. John Biglin’s wife attempted to keep him at home, near Indianapolis, by hiding his clothes and shoes. He wrapped himself in a red blanket, put on rubbers and marched forth only to be gored by a vicious bull. Biglin has brought suit for damages. The defense alleges contributory negligence. A recent number of La Illustrar cion de Cuba states that on the 27th of February last Madam Buenviaje Carillo, wife of District Attorney Don Luciano Jimenez, of Remedies, gave birth to four robust children. All doing well at last accounts; the little ones soon to be baptized. A condor was killed in Soquel Canon, Southern California, the other day. The bird measured nine feet four inches across the wings, and was the first of its kind ever seen in the neighborhood.