Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1869-12-10
KILLING FISH WITH GIANT POWDER.

kuiing h-h Win giant piastinS Po"
der has lately been introduced at Carson
and other places in Nevada, and this i
the way it is practiced They take cart
ridge of giant powder, weighing about @
quarter of pound, insert into it piece
of fuse, properly capped, about six inch
es in length, then Lighting the fuse, the
cartridge is thrown into any deep hole
supposed to contain trout or other fish
After the cartridge has been thrown into
the water, smoke and bubbles Of gas are
seen to rise TO the surface, then in few
seconds comes the explosion-a dull,
heavy report. The surface of the water
is seen to bulge up, and the ground can
be felt to shake for fifteen or twenty feet
back from the water. Immediately after
the explosion all the fish that happen to
be within circle of twenty-five or thirty
feet of the spot where the cartridge fell
came to the surface, either killed outright
or so badly stunned that it is some min
utes before they recover. With two cart
ridges over fifty pounds of fish were kill
ed, counting trout, whitefish and chubs.
In places after blast the whole surface
of the water would be covered with min
nows from an inch to three or four inch.
es in length. At Elko they are practic-
ing the same style of fishing, only that
out there they tie the cartridge to the
end Of long pole and thrust it into the
water, holding it till the explosion occurs.
This is the most destructive mode of fish
ing ever heard oft is Wholesale slaugh-
ter of great and small, good and bad.
Should the practice gain ground, it will
be necessary for the Legislature to put
stop to it by an act making it criminal
offence 70 fish with giant powder. Par
ties have already been trying this blast
ing process in Lake Tahoe, where by U.S.
ing large cartridge they expect to bring
up hundreds of trout at single shot.
ANTE-MoRTEM OBITUARIES. - The
practice of journalists in preparing elab-
crate obituary notices of prominent per-
sonages before the remorseless reaper,
Death, has gathered them ''to their faith
ers," and while yet they are hale and Wig
orous and popular, furnishes theme for
many grave anecdotes. Not only are
these obituaries compiled and written,
but, in the case Of some individuals
whose hold on life is deemed precarious
by reason of age or disease, it not I'M
frequently happens that the record is
placed in type. But it seems that in this
peculiar sphere of newspaper enterprise
our English cousins can claim pre-emi-
nence. They carry the business SO far
that the fate of British obituarist may
include the necessity of preparing his
own record before those of notabilities
whom he has long since provided with a
"first-rate notice" are published. This
is said to have been the case with BIZ
ographer of Loro Brougham, who wrote
an article chronicling the death of that
nobleman yesterday" almost eighteen
years before the event, and twelve years
before his own. When, six years after
his own death, that of Lord Brougham,
occurred, another hand took down the
yellowed manuscript from its dusty pig
and completed it. In the office
of London daily which at one time
a vigorous existence biog-
raphy of Lord Derby had been in type
for sixteen or seventeen months. The
paper died fourteen days before the
Earl.
A New York reporter wrote in 1861
long and elaborate sketch of Rev. DIR.
Mott, President of Union College, for
which he was paid hundred dollars
down, and promised another hundred
when the subject of the ante-mortem ar
ticle should depart this life. DIR. Mott
did not die until January 80, 1866 Dur
ing this interval of five years between
the writingof his eulogistic obituary and
the Doctors death the writer, like most
reporters, became quite "hard up and
was wont to remark that "Old Mott chung
to life with fearful tenacity. He told
me when he gave me the facts contained
in my sketch of his life and character
that he would not live year, which is
the only lie ! ever knew him 10 tell but
such is my luck, you know
A specimen of the wonderful plant.
" the flower of the Holy Ghost" has been
successfully raised in Norwich, CT. The
flower is a creamy white cup, nearly as
large as half an egg, and extremely beau
tiful, and its wonder as natural floral
growth is the fact that in this flower is