Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1878 — INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS. [ARTICLE]

INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS.

—The tipping over of a car-load of hot cinders into a snow-bank at the Pine Iron Works in Montgomery County, Pa., recently, resulted in a fearful explosion, the shock of which is said to nave shaken houses 100 yards away, and persons standing near by were severely burned and cut by t|je flying cinders. A printer in Wellsville, N. Y., who has been deaf for many years, was placed in a highly-beated room last week, to help him out of a case of the chills. He was seized with sharp pains in the head, and fell down insensible. The whistle of a locomotive woke him next morning, and ho has since been able to hear well, and speech, which had also about left him, has returned. —For some weeks Mr. Pierce, who lives in an old brick house near the canal in Georgetown, has heard a peculiar noise at night, and discovered the gradual loss of chickens. He came to the conclusion that it must be made by rat*. Friday night fie and his wife were awakened by a sharp cry of distress from the crib adjoining their bed, in which their two year ol<l infant was sleeping. Mr. Pierce immediately sprang out and discovered a weasel at his child’s throat, (’etching the animal with his hand he threw it to the floor, killing it at once. A few moments later the little one would certainly have been killed, as a deep gash was already made in its throat. The animal was about eighteen inches long, very slender, with short legs.— Washington (D. C.) Star. —One of the most miraculous escapes from instant death that we have ever heard recorded is related as having occurred last Saturday morning. A man by the name of W. D. Soy had been to consult a physician in regard to his case, as he had been partially deaf for a number of years. Having finished his business, he started for home on foot, taking the railroad track, and had proceeded but a short distance when he saw a train of carj approaching him, and as the cars came near he stepped upon the eastward-bound track, not looking for or hearing that which was approaching from that direction, but had hardly- stepped on the track when he turned to see the engine apparently upon him. He grasped hold of the pilot or head of the engine, heard an unearthly shriek, and awoke to find that he had been dreaming and had his hands in his wife’s hair, and had partlytorn a handful out by the roots. — Elmira (N F.) Gazette. —Ten years ago Michael O’Donnell was a well-to-do market-gardener in a Massachusetts village. One night he heard some one in his garden, and, supposing it to be a thief, fired his revolver at random in the dark for the purpose of frightening away the depredator, and went back to bed. The next morning the body of a girl fifteen years old was found in the garden. O'Donnell was tried, convicted and sentenced to the Penitentiary for life. The other day he was brought before the Governor’s Council as a candidate for pardon. His hair was perfectly white and soft, and there was a fixed expression of terror on his face. He walked like an automaton, and to every question seemed only capable of answering y-es or no. Even when told that, he would be pardoned and allowed to go free again, his expression did not change, and he only repeated the word “yes” in his usual mechanical tone.