The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-05-02
Facts and Figures.

One-seventh of Arkansas has been sold
for taxes.
A twenty acre chicken farm has been
started near Wyandotte, Kansas.
Glycerine and lime juice is said to be
better for the hair than oils or. pomade.
A Terre Haute woman administered a
sound thrashing to two insolent men the
other day. r.srr
A Pottsville, Penn, two-year-old en-
joys his after dinner cigar. The wretch
ed little Pottsvillian.
A man in. Hartland, Wis, the othei
day, threw club at COW and hit his
little boy and killed him.
Audubon County, Iowa, claims to have
the loveliest woman in America Lam
guage is inadequate to her case.
A Southern paper tests our credulity
with this: "a Florida negro ate two
bushels of dried apples on bet, refresh
ed himself at the town pump, and
burst"
A cat in Memphis has been trying to
acquire fame like that of Mrs OLeary's
COW. She overturned kerosene lamp
and succeeded in producing conhagra-
ton which destroyed three houses.
The Great Falls Journal hears of one
gentleman in that town who gave up to-
bacco New Years day, chewed gum for
two weeks candy for month, and still
fights the world. the flesh and the devil
with stick of liquorice.
Salt Lake City has now population
of about 10000, and there are scattered
throughout Utah some three hundred
small towns, settlements and mining
districts, drawing their supplies from
that city. 1t is prophesied by those ia
miliar with the country, that in five
years the population of Salt Lake will
be 100000, and that of Utah will contain
at least 100000 people.
The total loss by the Chicago fire is
now definitely stated at Sl90,000.000,
of which $90,000,000 falls upon insu-
rance companies OF this amount some
100000 has already been paid, and
the companies now in liquidation may
possibly pay $l0,000,000 more, thus
leaving balance loss of $l40,000,000.
Of the forty millions paid by insurance
companies, single agency settled six
millions.
West of the Mississippi River the
United States still owns 973,4S2, ,593
acres, distributed as follows: Missouri,
Iowa and Arkansas, 100000; Dakota
and Wyoming, 145,295,2S4; Montana,
| S6,904, ,605; Kansas 43, 14S,076 Nebras-
ka, 50, ,223, ,637; Colorado and Idaho, Ill.,
100000; New Mexico and Utah, 224,-
100000; Nevada and Arizona, 13S,000,-
600; Minnesota, 36,S76,170; Indian Ter
ritory, $4,000. e..
The old and pleasing exhibition of
"magician" standing up to be fred at
with real pistol has its perils for the
performer unless he makes sure before
hand of the man who loads the pistol.
In Texas town lately one of these
wonderful prestidigitateurs was shot and
killed before the audience because the
man who loaded the pistol slipped in a
genuine bullet instead of one furnished
by the performer that could be jammed
into powder.
There is near Knoxville, Tenn, spot
which nestles between the mountains
and rejoices in the appellation of the
Happy Valley" where we are told only
one death has occurred in twelve years
The fact would not be very remarkable
if only one person had lived in the Hap
py Valley during that period, but we
are left by the local chronicler to sur
mise that it is a populous place, in which
the people are practically immortal. If
it be so it will speedily become more
populous.
The orchestra of the Boston musical
festival will be composed of $50 first vio-
Inns, 200 second violins, $50 violas, 100
violoncellos, 100 contra BASES, 100 first
flutes, IL second flutes, II first clarionets,
IL second clarionets, 10 first oboes, ~
second oboes, 90 bassoOns, list, I'd, Sd,
and 4th), 20 French horns, "a trumpets,
IL alto trombones, IL tenor trombones,
s bass trombones, 6 bass tubas, 6 pair
tympani, 10 small drums, bass drums,
4 pair cymbals, l great drum, great
triangle-total. 1000.
An oysterman can tell the age of bi-
valves to nicely. This is not done,
however, by looking them in hemouth,
but simply by counting the successive
layers or plates overlapping each other,
of which an oyster shell is composed
These are technically termed "shoots, u
and each of them marks years growth
Up to the time of the maturity of the
oyster these shoots are regular and sue
cessive, but after that time they become
irregular, and are piled one over the
other, so that the shell becomes more
and moro thickened and bulky. Judg-
ing from the size and thickness which
some shells attain, this mollusk is capa-
BILE of attaining a patriarchal longevity
and an oyster with fifty or even three
score years upon its back may by chance
! be met with. They are in perfection
when from five to seven years old.
The Cleveland Leader mentions til,
invention in that city of a machin'
called the Patent Cat Exterminator
This is described as large sheet-iro1
cat with cylindrical attachment AM
steel claws and teeth. The motive powe
: is like that of a clock the tail i
: swelled by bellows in the interior
which also, by tremolo attachment
causes the patent cat to utter wild erie
: of defiance. The machine being dul,
wound up is placed upon the roof o
the house. Reused by its diabolica
. yells, every cat within half mil
rushes to action, sometimes from so t
100 attacking at once. Then the irol
teeth and claws begin to work wit
lightning rapidity, and all the adver
saries within six feet Of the machin
are torn to shreds. Reinforcement
: come up, only to meet like fragmentar
! destiny, and soon great heaps of haii
l toe-nails, and fiddle-strings are gathere