Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 May 1893 — A Queer Industry. [ARTICLE]

A Queer Industry.

Two live du»es and a blazing rajah ‘litre excited auglo-maniacs and worshippers of rank in N«w York to a Aiph degree of exhilaration. Chicago continues' to furnish the tnest sensational instances of criminal enterprise to be found in the United States, if not in the world. The furniture of a six-room flat was surreptitiously carted off the other day in that city and no trace was left behind. A Duluth* judge has a novelty at his bar in the person of his own wife, recently ad mi tied to practice. He Is the only man in the*United States who can get the last word with his wife in a dispute, and her “contempt” would lead to disastrous re •ults if exhibited in the court room. Steam power at Buffalo, Rochester and other towns in the vicinity of Niagara Falls costs from 135 to 140 per horse-power per year of ten hour days, while it is estimated that the new electric, plant at the Falls will furnish the power for about sls per horse-power per year ot twentyfour hour days. —— A Boston boy who has been arrested for numberless incendiary fires, some of which resulted in loss of life, confessed and declared that he was impelled thereto by an “irresistible impulse.” If the law does aot evince an irresistible impulse to throttle the young villain then justice will fail.

New York aldermen receive a salary cl $2,000 a year and are clamoring for a raise to $3,000. It is aleged that the city would be the gainer bj- granting the advance and cutting off all “perquisites" now received by these officials. “Perquisites,” in New York, like charity, “covers a multitude of sins.” An enterprising actress who rerently devised an extra leg to add to the effectiveness of her stage makeup has been outdone by a dansuese who appears in a unique dance with four apparently perfectly developed limbs which she agitates with astonishing dexterity. Actress No. 1 has brought suit for infringement of her rights, having patented the original idea of an extra pedal extremity for stage purposes. If your uncle has an aunt who has a nephew whose wife has a cousin that is married to an old friend of your wife’s sister, whose grandfather used to live in the same town with an old schoolmate of yours, whose son-in-law is now living in Chicago, you should at once renew the acquaintance with a view of saving hotel bills while attending the World’s Fair. This scheme can be worked successfully in many instances.. - ------ -™

The work of preparing for war in "the time of peace goes bravely on at Birdsboro, Pa. The Brown segmental, wire-wound gun was tested April 15, in the presence of government experts, representatives of foreign powers and a number of invited guests from New York, Philadelphia and other cities. The test broke all records, and shows Uncle Sam to be at the head of the procession in gun making. The new piece stood a pressure that would have blown any other gun to atoms.

England and Italy have been supposed to be the only countries in the world able to boast of statesmen who liave passed the scriptural limit of human activity and yet remain prominent factors in the affairs of government. Pope Leo XIII and Gladstone have served as examples of “Grand Old Men,” to such an extent that it has been forgotten that the United States can also furnish an example in the person of Senator Morrill, who is past eighty-three, and in full possession of his mental and bodily vigor. London dudes and their feeble imitators on this side of the water, are sadly agitated over the question: Ought a man to wear “sprats." 4 'Sprats” are overgaiters. Some well-dressed mep persist in wearing them, though objection is made that they have descended in the social •cale. Another problem which is worrying the imbecile brains of these effeminate creatures is whether frock coats should be worn buttoned or unbuttoned. London talent has decided that they may be worn unbuttoned and our anglo-maniacs will doubtless fall into line ere long. Red ties are popular in Piccadilly, are coming into favor rapidly <en Fifth avenue. In the meantime ■our readers will find more useful o -

cttpfttkm in getting in a Mg area of corn and m keeping posted on the price of hogs. A tender conscience is a moral attribute that is generally considered creditable to the possessor who puts his inner promptings into actual practice in the transactions of life, but an acute sensibility in that direction, such as is said to be the rule with a citizen of Wilmington, Del., would be very inconvenient in —Chicago for instance. This excessively honest mortal, after pondering the matter for many years, laid a note containing $5 on the doorstep of a- prosperous citizen, explaining that his mother had owed the the recipient’s grandfather, who died in 1839, $5 for the rent of a house, and that he felt in honor -bound" to pay the same, which he accordingly inclosed. . A distinguished French scientist has startled the medical world with an assertion, the truth of which, if established, will give rise to many uncomfortable situations and awkward dilemmas. The alleged statement has been made by this authority that the electric shock, which is the legal mode of executioijj# New York, does not kill, but that in all cases the death sentence has been carried out by the knives of the surgeons at the autopsy. He insists that the electric current simply brings about apparent death, and that the subject may be revived by artificial means. He dares the surgeons to experiment at resuscitating the criminal. The statement has created an extraordinary sensation, and is given credence by many medical authorities.

People who are capable of sincere sympathy for the hardships that are endured by impecunious sprigs of nobility who happen to have been born after their older brothers, will be glad to know that Queen Victoria has given practical evidence of having a mind with similar proclivities by appointing young Lord Granville as one of her lords in waiting—whatever that may be —with a salary of $4,000 a year, the duties of the position being so light as to occupy but four weeks’ residence at court. It is stated that the only money that this fortunate young man received from his father’s estate as a permanent inheritance was a half-crown piece, which he inadvertantly swallowed while performing some amateur sleight-of-hand tricks while a boy of fifteen, and which has remained within his noble interior in spite of the efforts of eminent specialists to rescue this coin ot the realm for the legal heir that has succeeded to the earldom by the law of entail.

President Cleveland is still said to express his disapproval of nepotism on the part of officials of all ranks, and it is believed that were he to fully carry out his own ideas, he would order from the public crib every son, nephew, or other relative of any degree of consanguinity, who has thereby secured position through the favor of prominent heads of departments or bureaus. When the sons and relatives of the various secretaries began to flock to Washington, Mr. Cleveland, to a certain extent, stopped the movement by giving the country his views on the matter in an emphatic manner, taking the occasion to say that the administration was opposed to anything of the kind, and that his own relatives were barred by the same principle which he sought to impress upon his subordinates. Secretary Carlisle, however, has placed his son in office and there have been other transgressions of the unwritten law that has been laid down. What course the President may take to give effect to his conscientious views on the subject remains to be £een.

St. Louis Globe-Democrat. “There are all kinds of people in this world and it takes all to make life bearable,” is the meaning of a good old proverb, said John F. Teuton, who is at the Laclede. “If there are all kinds of people there are all kinds of ways of making a living, and some of them are a little out of the commonplace. Your own State of Missouri furnishes one of the striking examples of a queer profitable industry, namely, that of a bogus money manufactory licensed by the Government. This printing establishment and stamping concern is located in Van Buren, Mo., and is doing an excellent business. The bogus money turned out is Confederate money that now stands for nothing and so does no harm. That enough of such stuff could be sold to make the printing Df it profitable seems wonderful, and yet such is the case. Lynn, Mass., has a bargain goods factory, which turns out cheap goods of excellent appearance for the bargain counters. The American bargain-seeker has called for such things, and now if shams are made to deceive him he must not grumble. There are sixteen of such bargain goods manufactories and the bargain goods era is just now at its zenith.”