Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1894 — POTATOES HIS ONLY WEAPONS. [ARTICLE]

POTATOES HIS ONLY WEAPONS.

“Wheresoever the body is,thither will the eagles be gathered together.” The Viking ship has been “dry flocked” at the Field Columbian Museum and will remain there as a permanent attpactmh" collected from various sources of internal revenue the sum of $161,000,000, the bulk of this vast aggregate being from liquor and tobacco. Great Britain gets an annual average of tb0ut5135,000,066 frqm taxing liquor fcnd tobacco. The beet sugar crop of Europe for 1894 is estimated at over 5,000, - )00 tons, against 4,000,000 tons last fear, but it can not be imported freely under the present tariff. S-reat Britain and the Continent will >nly consume about 2,300,000 tons. Hence there is a large surplus, which speculators will endeavor to control.

Chicago has been inaptly called the “Garden City,” but could with more propriety be designated as the “Switching City.” As a “way sta lion” it stands at the head of tin. fist. No less than 6,000 cars are daily transferred from one line of railway to another in the city limits. Ninety thousand miles of railroad center in Chicago and 1,350 trains '.cave and arrive every twenty-four hours.

Hong Kong, generally classed as a Chinese city, is located upon Hong Kong island, one-half mile off the coast of China. It is eighty miles Irom Canton arid is a British crown colony, entirely independent of the Chinese empire, and in no way involved in the present war between that country and Japan. The island of Hong Kong contains 221,441 inhabitants, only about 4 per cent, being white. The name “Sample Room” for an establishment where intoxicating beverages are dispensed was for a time thought to be very “fetching.” Later on the words “casino” and “case” did duty with the old time cognomen, “saloon,” when it became necessary to designate such a place of business. The latest verbal evolution in this line is “Thirst Parlor,” and a Pittsburg sa’Toonatic” claims the honor of being the pioneer in the use of the innovation,

Prof. Wiggins, the Canadian weather-prophet, has evolved a new theory of the “creation.” He is now convinced that man originally came from Mars on a comet. He also thinks the “serpent” that bamboozled Mother Eve was a comet. TtT lacTj" the professor appeari tcT Jiave comets bad. He also stated in the same interview, in which his pomet theories were made public, telegraph wires are the causepf the great droughts of our latter davs.

■ The steamer Bieler, from New {fork, passed through the Manchester ship canal, Oct. 10, with a general cargo for that new English port. This ship will load from Manchester with a cargo adapted to the South American trade and will shortly sail for that continent, thence proceed again to New York. The time will doubtless come when it will be a common thing for sea-going vessels to load at Chicago and unload at Manchester and other interior English ports. Progress in transportation in the future is more likely to take the form of improved waterways and canals than of fl.yi ng machines.

Government report for October indicates a yield of 13.1 bushels of wheat per acre in the United States for 1894. The total yield will reach 435,000,000 bushels. India’s average is now estimated at 8 per cent, less than in 1893. Chili and Argentine wheat prospects are good. France claims the largest crop in twenty years. Germany’s crop of wheat and rye is about average. Austria’s prop is excellent. The Roumanian jvheat crop is only 77 per cent, of j-hat of last year. authorities ptate that because of the amount of jvheat that is being fed to stock, the will be rapidly depleted, and predict better prices. Time, and a little money should secure the conservative investor a |>andsome gain. ' A Brooklyn dead beat struck a »ew scheme the other day and real. ped handsomely. He worked the fity with his new “racket,” which {onsisted in issuing bogus orders for leats at various theaters. He gave the name of Emerson and claimed to

■)e a theatrical manager. He obtained consignments of various kinds of merchandise on the strength of his claims, which he made good by presenting any doubting dealer with “complimentaries” for himself and family. Hundreds of the bogus tickets have been presented to the doorkeepers of the Park, Bijou and Star theaters in Brooklyn, and the “returns” are not yet believed to be all in. . Mr. Emerson is still at large and is doubtless enjoying the illgotten spoils, and also the very practical joke that he worked on so many good people. S:?. T ». »

A credulous public have been asked to believe a variety of ghost stories in times past, but few,of the yarns have drawn on the superstition of the human race, as strongly as that sent out from Bgrtholemew county r eently. Near Grammer,five years ago, a man hung himself in a -barn, and the story goes that his apparition has been carrying on in a way regardless of the feelings of the mules that are stabled under the roof from which we departed to the unknown. —Alleged mystic letters have been found upon the bodies of the unfortunate hybrids, the hair presumably having been removed by the unseen visitor, leaving a mark like a brand from a red hot iron. No reasonable explanation has been offered. It's a mighty low down ghost that will pull hair from a mule.

“Most” who has attained Uotoriety in this country outside of politics endeavors to profit by it bv going on the stage. Johan “Most,” the boss anarchist, of New York, is determined ta realize on his questionable fame in this way. His debut at the Thalia theater, New Yo! k, was a financial success, but the same can not be said of his dramatic abilities. Engineer James Root, of Hinckley fame, has also entered on a theatrical career, and will illustrate »his celebrated run in a a meloedrama entitled “A Ride for Life,” which will be placed on the boardi with all tie acce s iries of a locomotive and stage-fire necessary to make it a seeming reality. Madeline Pollard appears to have failed in her ambition to realize a substantial reward for her very unenviable notoriety, as it was announced some time since that she had about aba - doned the project because of the very vigorous opposition exhibited- by owners of opera houses, no less|than by influential members of the theatrical profession.

How a Humorous Kentucky Dominie Brought the Code Into Ridicule. Lexington (Ky.) Transcript. One way of combating an evil practice is to make it ridiculous, It was by this means that dueling was stopped in a certain district in Kentucky some forty years ago. At that time a traveling —preacher named Bowman, a strong, muscular man, was conducting a series of religious meetings in Kentucky. At one of them a well known desperate character created a disturbance, and. being publicly rebuked by Bowman, sent him a challenge to sigh t.

The preacher’s first thought was to treat the matter with silent contempt. Then he reflected that dueling was all too common in that region, and he decided to accept the challenge. As the challenged party, Bowman had the choice of weapons. He selected a half bushel of large Irish potatoes, and stipulated that his opponent must stand fifteen paces distant, and that only one potato at a time should be taken from the measure. The desperado was furious, but Bowman insisted upon his rights cs the challenged party, and threatened to denounce the fellow as a coward if he made further objections. Seeing no way out of the scrape, the desperado at last consented. The contest took place on the outskirts of the town, and almostliverybody in the place turned out to see the fun. The seconds arranged the two men in position, bv the side of each being a half bushel measure filled with good-sized potatoes. Bowman threw the first one. It struck his opponent in a central spot and fell in pieces. A shout of delight vent up from the crowd, which flurried the desperado, and nis potato flew wide of the mark. Bowman watched his chance and every time his opponeut stooped for a potato another one hit him in the side, leaving a wet spot on his clothes and then scattering on all sides. The fellow was hit in this way five times; and then the.sixth potato struck hirp in the short ribs, and he, lav on the grass doubled up with pain and groaning * Enough ” The bystanders went wild with delight, but Mr. Bowman looked very sober. The desperado was taken home and put to bed,and there he stayed for more than a week. And when he appeared again he was greeted with so many jokes that life, was almost a burden to him. That •was the end of dueling in that region. - \