American citizen., 1877-11-03
HERE AND THERE.

that the drought has cost California
$50, 100000.
ONE of the most dangerous practices
of the times, says DIR. Maury,is drinking
from a vessel used for public drinking
in hotel, railroad car or depot.
A WOMAN in Wareham, Mass, being
distrustful of savings banks, has hidden
away in her house 800 silver half dimes,
the result of many years of saving. She
has two bank accounts, but says she
keeps a reserve in case of the banks
failure.
A MAN whose manner did not indicate
insanity ordered a steak in a Sacramento
restaurant. He deliberately cut off a
piece of the meat, four inches by two in
size, and tried to swallow it whole. 1t
stuck in his throat and choked him to
death.
ATLANTA offer to Georgia is, if she
is selected as the permanent capital, to
give the State any ten acres of unoccu-
pied ground in or near the city, or the
City Hall lot of five acres in the heart of
the city, and to build Capitol as fine as
the one at Milledgeville.
THOMAS T. PRENTIs, United States
Consul to the Seychelle Islands, made
Miss Thayer, of Waitsfield, Vt, believe
for six years that he intended to marry
her. Recently he returned to Waitsfeld
with a wife and two children. Miss
Thayer has brought suit for damages.
IT is said, in an article in Harper's
Monthly, by writer who has lived ten
years in Alaska, that the land there is
worthless, and the seal fisheries likely
to soon be exhausted. There are, ac-
cording to this authority, only 100 white
persons in the country.
IF you belong to the 6" TONES, you
must give up note paper, and use large
elegant cards, about four inches by
three. You are at liberty to write on
both sides of the cardboard. The
envelope fits closely over the card, and
has a monogram in color on the back.
THE Davenport Democrat says an
other outrageous swindIe is working its
way into Iowa. The plan is to give a
farmer 50 rods of new fence, if he will
put it up along the road where it will
be seen and serve as an advertisement,
get him to sign an order, etc.
THUS far the dramatic season
throughout the country has been finan-
cially bad Out of 40 travelling COM
panies that started from New York in
September, the San says that seven
have already collapsed, while many
more are struggling along on the verge
of going to pieces, and very few of them
are doing well.
IT is related of young man en-
gagged temporarily to act as private Sec
retary to a certain railroad official in
Pittsburg, that he made a special effort
to be early the first morning, reaching
the office at O'Clock. To his surprise
he found his chief there, about to light
his second cigar, having finished his
mail and read the morning papers.
Well, young man, " said Mr.. -, 'I'd
like to know wwhere you have been spend
ing the forenoon?'h
A SECRET drawer in an old bureau in
New Orleans was found to contain an
explosive machine, intended to demol-
ish any body, but the owner attempted
an opening. Age had destroyed the
effectiveness of the device, however, so
that when the drawer was pulled out
there was no explosion. The contents
consisted of old papers, of no value or
interest, and it is supposed that the ar
rangement was a result of somebody's
insanity. @
WHERE there are reasons to suspect
that water is contaminated by sewage
/ impurities a convenient test, known as
the g sugar test, may be applied. A
half pint of the water should be placed
in a clear, colorless, glass-stoppered
bottle. Put in few grains of the best
white Iump-sugar, and expose the bottle
to the daylight in the window of warm
room. Ii the water is pure it should
! not become turbid even after week IS
exposure If it becomes cloudy and
turbid there is reason to believe your
| suspicious are correct.
L AN ingenious use of carrier-pigeons
is on record. They were employed in
Belgium to smuggle tobacco into France
Each bird carried from ten to fifteen
grammes of the weed, and two dozen
pigeons per day were regularly dis
/ patched How long the new industry
had been established is not stated; but
one day it came to grief. A bird wa;
too heavily loaded, and he dropped witt
his burden, exhausted, into the Seine
A police inquiry resulted, and the whole
business was exposed.
FERNANDINA, Florida, has a large
sea-bull, Manatee, or Lamantin. 1t wa:
captured near st. Lucie, on Indian Riv-
.er, is 10 feet in length, and is estimated
/ to weigh about 1000 pounds The
i Manatee, or sea-cow, once numerous il
South Florida, is now comparatively 8
rare animal. Its food consists of ma
rine plants and alge. They are mann
] mails, and the females show great affec
ton for their calves. The Manatee i;
perfectly gentle, and submits quietly tc
the handling of his keeper.
DEACON DUNCAN, who has abscondeC
from San Francisco with about a millioI
dollars, out of which he swindled a saw
ings bank, was for many years leadel
in church affairs. In 1869 the SaI
Francisco EUenirag Tribune accused hin
of being a fraud, and the editor, Majo
Stratman, was indicted on charge o
libel, and through the deacon's influence