Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 November 1887 — SOMEWHAT STRANGE. [ARTICLE]

SOMEWHAT STRANGE.

“Yovnw Robert Garrett, the little railroad “magnate’' has gone to Mexico to spend the winter. His,last words on boarding the train were: “Don’t allow Jay Gould to capture Maryland while I’m away.” This was a very sinister cut from little Robert. But what would .Jay Gould want with Maryland? He captured the best part of it when he gobbled the B. A 0., railroad, and Jay only handles preferred collateral. So far as this country is concerned it eould, possibly get along without either Mr. Garrett, Mr. Gould, or the State of Maryland. By the way, some of Mr. Garrett’s biographers are trying to make it appear that that gentleman has become a monomaniac on. telegraphy,if not entirely irresponsible and “loony” on other subjects. It is expected that before long a practical test of one of the numerous harnesses for the control of Niagara’s Dower, brought into existence under the stimulus of a SIOO,OOO prise, will receive a practical test which will demonstrate its use or prove it a failure, and give something further on to base arguments that Niagara contains no great shakes of available power. An endless ehain, with feathering buckets, was an invention of a Buffalo man. The rights for Erie and Niagara counties he sold for $65,000. He says tie has a contract for that amount. A stock company with $1,000,OtO capital is to be formed if the coming test proves successful. George W. Smith has obtained backing to the amount of SIO,OOO, which is the amount a 1,000horse power machine will cost, and received the necessary permission of the Secretary of War to place the machinery in the river. Mechanical drawings are now being made and it is expected that the machine will be tested this fall.

A Belmont County (Ohio) farmer rejoices in a heterogeneous collection of freaks, consisting of a pig whose feet are split so as to give it the appearance of having toes. another wkhi three ears, a cat with one ear growing wrong side out And a boy with three thumbs. Mrs. Charlotte Tubbs, of Caroline county, Md., recently gave birth to four babies, all of whom are alive. The addition to her family makes her the mother of nine children, all of whom were born within five years. Among the older children are two pairs of twins. A gentleman hunting for land in Dakota came across a boarded up claim shanty, with half a dozen boards across the door, upon which were the following touching inscriptions: “Four miles from a nayber. Sixty miles from a postoffis. Twenty-five miles from a raleroad. A hundred and atety from timber. 250 feet from water. God bless our home. We have gone east to spend the win’er with my wife’s folks.” Some wicked young Boston men met in their club-house the other evening to play poker, and one of their number suggested that the winnings be given to a man who recently had been arrested in the North End, for stealing cabbages for his starving family. This was agreed to, nd at the close of the game the winne ook a carriage, liunted up the cabbage thief’s home and made his family happy with a very respectable sum of money. A funny fellow who owns a didaonm has been creating amusement for himself And wrath in the breasts of his victims by cutting various legends into the plate glass fronts of stores at Battle • Creek. Among his favorite inscriptions are: “Saloon,” in bold characters, for drug stores; “Undertaker two doors west,” for doctor’s offices; “Poker room upstairs.’’for saloon windows; “We are all liars,” for clothing stores, and “Come early and avoid the rush,’’ for banks. An observant Pittsburger savs: “If you want to tell a woman’s temper- , watch her eyelids. You can read -a man the same way, but not so readily. A woman with a fiery temper will move her eyelids with a snap, and that snap betrays her. Another who is easygoing and hard to arouse moves her eyelids languidly. One with a quick brain and temperjurious when aroused, just winks steadily, but neither quickly nor slowly un'il engaged ia interesting conversati-m.” A “bearded pebble,” as he calls it, is in possession of a Norwich (Conn.) man. It came fromOrab Ledge, m-ar Nan tucket, is about as large as a hen’s egg, and on Its smooth surface is a mass of filaments that resemble nothing so much as hair. The stone has been out of water for nearly two years, and yet the hairs, hich are over an inch long, look Vigo-ous and life like. It is Bud that a M vvuchusetts collector has one of these stones that has been out of the waUr ter <orty ye .rs, in which time - the hairs have doubled in lengh: J _ y- ar ir two ago there-wr-re s-arted two or papers in English, in India to«.p Christianity, an.! tfc.-y ifav< cease are -dv, Wh - n - pita uluccs— —-rrtf — e luc lion is tinrahed, and net' a mornrrt tioner.