Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1894 — SOMEWHAT STRANGE. [ARTICLE]

SOMEWHAT STRANGE.

ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF EVERYDAY LIFE. Queer Facts end Thrilling Adventures Which Show that Truth is Stranger Than Fiction. Electricity played an odd prank in Margate, England, a few days ago when a telephone wire crossed a fire alarm circuit and brought out the engines. The firemen were greatly mystified on reaching the bos from which the alarm was supposed to have come to find the glass door unbroken, and it was some time before tbe mystery was cleared up. The Marquis of Bute, who is well known for his antiquarian tastes, is about to defray the cost of reproducing a sac-simile of the beautiful illuminated manuscript known as the Gospel Book of St. Margaret of Scotland, the Queen of Malcolm Canmore. The manuscript, whose early history is alluded to by Turgot and by Simeon of Durham, dates from before 1098. The biggest book in the world will be the catalogue of the British Museum. It has been in preparation for thirteen years, but now the gigantic task of compilation is nearing completion. Some idea of its size can be guessed from the fact that 1,400,000 distinct titles and entries have been printed in all sorts of languages, and presenting no end of difficulties, even to the . savants and linguists employed on the work.

London Quiver is responsible for this unlikely story: Not long since a shark and a sailor in the Mediterranean Sea re-enacted the part of Jonah and the whale to perfection. The man fell overboard, and instantly disappeared in the mouth of a monster shark. The captain fired a gun at the beast from the deck, and as the shot ploughed through its back, it cast the man out again and he was rescued, perfectly unhurt, but so badly frightened that he was sick for several days.

One of the greatest natural curiosities of Central America is the volcan de Aqua, or water volcano, which is Bituated in Guatemala, about twenty-five miles southwest of the capital. Its apex is 14,450 feet above the level of the sea, and cultivated fields and forest trees extend almost to its summit. It occasionally vents forth torrents of pure, cold water. In 1869 an “eruption” of this kind inundated the northern valley and destroyed a whole village situated on the side of the peak. James Whiteley, of Marine City, Mich., has long enjoyed the not very enviable reputation on the great lakes of being a hoodoo. Many of the vessels on which he has served have met with disaster, and of late it was a difficult thing to get any of the sailors that knew him to sail in a vessel with him. His body was one of two found tied to the rigging of the schooner Cummings by the Milwaukee life-saving crew, when that vessel was driven ashore there a wreck the other day. It is said that the captain of the schooner was warned of Whiteley’s reputation,and when he engaged the sailor at Buffalo not long ago, he was told that he was tempting fate. The lake sailors shake their heads wisely and say that if the captain had listened to reason and not hired Whiteley, his vessel might easily have weathered the storm.

The following is related as illustrative of the hold that the duello has upon the military men in Europe. At Funfkirchen, Hungary, two young officers were good-humoredly boxing in the barrack yard, when two officers of higher rank, who were looking on, asserted that one of them had slapped the other’s face, and that no soldier could honorably endure such an insult. Billitz and Szarvas, the lads, assured the officers that nothing of the kind had taken place, but the officers reported to the colonel, who sent for Szarvas and ordered him to challenge Billitz or otherwise he would never be allowed to pass examination for an officer. The young man called out his comrade to a duel with sabres. In the first round Billitz received a slight wound in the arm and then a serious cut in the neck. Szarvas had two ribs hewn asunder, beside being wounded in the lung. He is now in a precarious condition in the hospital and is doubtful of his life, but his honor has been preserved from the stain that threatened it.

A Buda-Pest manufacturer has informed the police that he possesses a powder with which thieves can be caught. Having for the last few days made the unpleasant discovery that his cash box was plundered day after day, and failing in all his attempts to catch the thief, he applied in his dilemma to Mr. Telek, professor of chemistry at the Franzstadt Commercial Schools, and the latter gave him a powder which he sprinkled over his cash every night before leaving the office. This powder has the peculiar effect of dyeing the skin blue, the color being intensified by washing, while it resists the application of soap. On the very first day the manufacturer noticed ■ a deficiency of eight crowns in the silver cash box. He at once called his employes together and ordered them one by one to steep their hands into a basin full of water, got ready for the purpose. One of the men was very loth to follow the example of his comrades. At last he consented, when, no sooner had he dipped his hands in the bowl, than they turned dark blue I His employer stepped up to him and said: “You are the thief!” and the man at once confessed. When the little fruit ship Delta was lying at anchor about two miles off Cape Gracias, Yucatan, those on board saw a curious object paddling madly toward the vessel. The sailors tied a bucket to a long line and stood by to capture the navigator as soon as he was near enough. When he was landed on deck he was as much a mystery as ever, for nothing could be made of him but a round miserably bedraggled ball of hair which emitted piglike squeals. At last, 1 however, he unrolled- and stuck out a nose of the most incredible length. He waddled along deck showing a broad white stripe along his back, and finally he

wm adjudged by a council of all the mariners on board to be an ant eater. He seemed well contented on board, and in lieu of ants managed to do very well with milk and bread and the insects which are plentiful on shipboard. He became a great pet, and when the ship arrived at New York he was passed through Quarantine as the most important personage aboard. He is 24 feet long and has a tongue which the veracious mariners declare is twice as long as his body.

“What trivial matters will sometimes changea man’s whole career!” remarked Thomas J. Sanders, of C hats worth, N.Y., to a St. Louis GlobeDemocrat man. “I owe my good fortune in life to a banana peeling. Twelve years ago I was in Chicago, about stranded, out of employment, and well-nigh desperate. An old gentleman a step in advance of me slipped on a banana peeling and fell heavily, I rushed to his assistance and partially broke his fall, but he sustained a sprained ankle and was rendered unconscious by his head striking the pavement. I got him some water and a stimulant and when he revived I ordered a carriage and drove with him to his hotel, where I assisted him to his room. He was very grateful and invited me to call next day. I did so, and, to make a long story short, I was taken into his employ* as private secretary. Well, in course of time I became of such use to him that I became a member of his firm. To complete the story'you will expect, me to say that I married his daughter. Well, I did not. He had none. But I married his niece, and I have often blessed the to me fortunate accident of his fall in the streets of Chicago.

Near the Smoky Hill River, in Gove County, Kansas, far out on the western plains of Kansas, stands Castle Rock, which marks a place where General Fremont rested on his memorable journey to the Rockies. During all these years this silent sentinel of nature’s sculpture has been occasionally visited by the geologist, but until Professor W. F. Howard, of the Dighton public schools commenced digging into the earth near this peculiar formation no one realized what was in store for the searcher after nature’s hidden wonders. Professor Howard did not commence his search until recently, and was then induced to pursue it because he had nothing else to do. He discovered in the deep cavernous ravines in the vicinity of Castle Rock many sharks’ jaws and other petrifications. Then a new prospector, in the person of H. M. Sternberg, of Lawrence, put in an appearance, and uncovered the entire form of a petrified elephant, together with numerous parts of lions, camels and other beasts. This discovery has excited a great deal of comment and people for many miles around have visited the spot to look at the wonderful find, which was covered with about three feet of earth. The discovery of tusks of animals led to the investigation by Howard and Sternberg, but now that they have discovered the petrified remains of a full-grown elephant they can do nothing with them. There is no way in which they can remove them except in sections, hence they will probably remain wh*re they are.