The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1879-12-12

lately begged the government Tor some
remuneration for the cost Of furnishing
lodgings to 2,400 commissioned officers.
400 staff officers and 100 generals, dur
the war, at & cost two or three times
greater than the war Office allowance,
but the war office refused.
A STRANGE relic has just besn pre-
sentsd TO the state of Arkansas. 1t is q
white leather belt with the imprint
across it of bloody hand. 1t WAS worn
by Colonel Archibald Yell, who, fight.
ing desperately on the field of BuenS
Vista, got fatal wound, and in trying
to tear away the belt left red finger
marks. Colonel Yell was the first con-
gresham from Arkansas.
The report of the superintendent of
the life saving service is Hsttering bid
Tor future support and encouragement.
1t shows that on the great lakes in 1879
only one person out of PIC on board YES
sells lost his life, while only three years
ago one person in every ffty-four i'm.
periled was drowned. The amount Of
property lost was correspondingly de-
creased.
MONTENEGRO is 3 unique country in
regard to its postal business. Until
lately the mails were not sent to any of
the cities or villages, but every citizen
had TO go for his letters to the capital,
Cettinje. There has now been estab-
iished postal department, and the mail
is sent from Cettinje to four other cities.
The mail carriers travel TO these four
cities on foot three times weekly.
A PLAN is about to be carried into
eject for deepening the Seine, by which
vessels drawing nine feet of water will
reach the eastern extremity of Paris
The works will cost the city ten millions
OF francs, the expense borne by the state
and by the departments between Paris
and Havre being twenty-six millions.
OF the ten millions, one-third will be
absorbed by the locks at Suresnes, the
present lock being heightened by sixty
metres, while q second one will be con-
structed four hundred and eighty metres
long.
GERMAN statisticians have recently
published an estimate of the total
amount of capital invested in the con-
struction of railroads since Stephenson's
experimental locomotive first glided over
a double rail, revolutionizing the trans
port system of our earth. The result of
their calculations is the amazing sum of
twenty-five millisrds of france, or $751;
000, 000, 900. Theevent that inaugurated
the expenditure of such an amount as
this-nearly fifteen dollars head for
every human being inhabiting the ter
restrial globe-is worthier of celebration
BY jubilee ceremonies than the anniver.
ssry of great battle.
THE late inundation of the great plain
of Murcia, in Spain, washing away four.
htths Of the surface soil. cutting it into
assures, destroying orchards, buildings,
vineyards and gardens, and drowning
5000 people, might, it is asserted, have
ben avoided if the range of mountains
TO the north had rot been deuuded of
their trees. Had the original forests
remained, they would have absorbed a
Large portion of the sudden rainfall and
saved the plain from overflow. The
foods last summer at SEegedin, in
Hungary, are trGcesble to the same
cause. The neighboring highlands were
left shorn Of trees, without the power Of
either attracting or absorbing rains.
The new Austro German alliance has
for one of its chief objects the forma-
ton of q customs union, which il to
embrace the two empires, at all events.
There will be no customs frontier be-
tween Germany and Austro-H ungary.
1t is believed that the policy which has
been adopted includes union for this
purpose with the empires of Sweden and
Norway, Denmark, Holland, and per-
haps Switzerland. On the other hand,
there is discussion in France fer q
similar project for sbolishing the duties
between the countries of another pro-
posed alliance, to include France, Italy,
Switzerland, Belgium, and perhaps
Holland-Spain to be admitted by and
by, when further advance in civilization
has been made.
TIE growth of London in all direc-
tions continues marvellous. A number
of new towns have sprung up within the
Last three or four years. No longer ago
North End Fulham was rural district
of fields and market gardens. The I'M
derground railway opened new line to
Hammersmith, with a station at the
north end, which changed its name to
Kensington, and to-day the surrounding
area is covered with streets of we'll
house at high rents. Similarly, at the
other end of London, increased facilities
of locomotion by railway and tram car
have led to the erection of many hun
dred of small houses in South Bermonsey
or Rotterhithe. The same process goes
on steadily at Edmonton, on the north,
and at Sydenham on the south of Lon
don.
A SINGULAR case of recovery from
insanity through an injury occurred
recently in the New York homeopathic
state asylum for the insane. A male
patient, "a years old, when in a state of
violent irritation, sprang up to the gas
fixture, and, grasping the slender tube,
began swinging himself with considera-
BILE force. The fixture gave way, and
the patient fell, striking his head upon
the stone pavement. Instantly he arose,
walked out of the ward, and gave clear
account of the accident he had met
with. He had, in fact, recovered his
mind, though he suffered greatly from
the external injuries to his scalp. This
case is not alone of its kind. Some
physicians have seriously tried to raise
the question Of the application of sud-