The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-03-12
GOSSIP OF THE DAY.

In severe winters Behring's Straits are frezen
over, and animals frequently pass on the ice
from one country to another.
THE investigation into the management and
sanitary condition of the Kentucky state prison
H. laying hare revolving state Of affairs. The
prison, 80 far Ms sanitary measures are concern
Cd is regular charncl house, without yentila
ton, sewerage, ar any other improvement that
would tend 10 keep the health of the prisoners
good.
THE long pending suit brought by citizens of
Louisiana against General Neal Dow. 10 compel
payment for property which he seized for the
usc OF his troops during the war, has been de-
cldel IN the supreme Court against the plaintiffs
thus reversing the decision Of the Circuit
Court. The suit was intended TO be test case,
nd if ii had been successful not one of the
union commanders i'll the late war would have
been exempt from litigation Of this character.
Judge Clifford, of Maine, dissented from the
opinion of tho court.
IHE recently presented annual report Of the
Massachusetts state board of education had an
excellent clause III re- gard TO moral teaching in
the schools. II declares that the teacher should
study To make the daily lessons, his discipline,
and the social relation of hi pupils occa Sions
for earnest teaching III all that which pertains
10 NirtuouS life. The report adds that there
Is n feeling in the minds of many that the moral
instruction gwen is not, in all cases, of that
persistent and positive Kind which leads to a
thorough knowledge Of moral duties and 10 the
sure formation of moral character.
AorIEr and honest dog that loved folks"
the defendant described him, having bitten
woman in northampton, Mass, got his owner
INTO Lawsuit FOR damages. The defendants
counsel was in the md Of beautiful argu-
ment IN regard to the noble traits OF the dog.
when the foreman of the jury rose aud said that
the bible had hidden lis beware of dogs" but
Of no other animal showing the estimate which
the scriptures put upon the character of the
faithful and amianlc brute. Under these cir
cam stances the counsel was hardly surprised at
the jury's hrin inS in a verdict for the plaintiff
Of about e5UO.
\ COPY Of the roll in tie Tichbone case
nled hy the attorney gcneral-has been COM
p!cted, and Is nov being examined 10y Mr.. Kim
Ter, the claimants collector. The document
goes over the whole ground of the case of the
claimant from his arrest until Judgment was
pronounced upon him. The original is on sew
cral yards Of continuous parchment, and the
copy ccmrri-es l,S2i iuhoS, 5, S3s lines, and a.
GsS words. The examination will therefore take
some time, after which the attorney general has
fortnight 20 reply 10 any errors which may be
pointed ont in the original document by the
claimants solicitor
PARIS i still complaining Of unusual cold.
Some Of tie old terrors of winter in France
have gone hy forever as far a. the capital is
concerned for, however severe the frost
wolves 60 not now troop through the streets in
search of food, hut the criterion of the years
severity, the freezing of the Seine, remains the
same. This river has been frozen over only
nine times during the century, one Of the most
sudden and intense frosts of that Period Icing
that of lSG7. when the Paris aui London steam
packets worc ice-bound Just as If they had been
IA the Arctic seas. From $50 10 1914 the Seine
was annually frozen over.
An intece ting judicial DISCUSSION has recently
been rcu iCcl in Baltimore in the ease Of con-
dttional bequcSt 4 geLIleman, who died in
that c!ty some time since, left by will hous,
and LOT to his two sisters, to hold a. joint ten.
ants u long a. they remained single, but if one
married thu property wa u go 10 the other
One If them did marry, and then brought suit
again 1 her sister for half the property, claim
ing that the prol~Iuu was against the policy OF
the law on restraint of marriage. the judg,
decided the provision b be valid limitation
which termuatcl tie estate and the unmarried
sister i, thu, secured in the undivided possession
of the entire property.
THE Itahau ilag has been RAISED iii Africa.
The Nar-ship EsplataEe .aas ,aken possession Of
the BAY Of A sab. IN the Red Sea, in the name
Of the Italian government. An Italian colony
has been founded in those waters, and the az
erosion has not merely been unopI oscd by the
sultans and ulbcs Of Darrakill, but they even
prepared congratulatury reception for the
culunizers from the modern Rome Captain
kmczago aud Professor Sopeto, the leaders of
tue expedition, are tho heroes of the neighbour
hood. The Italian papers say that neither the
English nor any other European government
has offered the slightest opposition Ia the ap-
preparation.
The suit Of Buld Doblc vs.. the Southern
Ohio Fair association, of Dayton, Ohio, la,
lust been tried before the United States district
court for that district. The suit wis brought
tOrecovrr -, $50 from the association Oh a con
tract in compliance with which that amoun
was tohavc been paid for an exhibition Of spect
by Goldsmith Maid on the track Of the associa
ton, September 80, 1875. The association
claimed that il was not an exhibition of speed
he time Eeing 2:29l :, 2:2i, 2:iOl!. The plain
till made plea for judgment for a q',d'tuH
,aerds, that is, for 10 large proportion Of tn
contract price as the performance was worth, i
not the whole amount. The judge decided, a
u point Of law. that no such partition could b
l.. -, and that tha al
must stand ur fall in it, entirety. A great dca
OF expert testimony was taken as Ia the meri
of the performance, but the Jury failed to agree
THERE j. great increase IN the number q
defacrd and mutilated silver coins. II Il bC
hcved 10y the government officers who Law
been investigating the matter, that class u
unprinciplud persons are systematically III III
halt oi cutting small pieces out Of the CON
of larger denomination and selling the frae
ments thus obtained, 10y weight, to manufa'
turing jewellers. II had Ieen previously III
tced that parties had been Sati fled with cuttin
small circular holes IN the coins. or late the
have taken to cutting pieces out in the form {
triangle, the cutting bcing done by pune
or machine IL Is difficult to trace the pcrl.
tratorS of these coin defaccmcntS, the punisl
mcmt for which is imprisonment for not MOI
than two years AMI fine Of not more tia
90 600 II il thought 10y the United State
officers that If the uiIcnSc were madciinoable u
practice would cease, hut that with the law a.
now is tlrrc is little prospect OF putting sto
10 the evil.
The general o. iniou Of scientific men a. to Il
possibility Of change in the position Of Il
cartl's axis has undergone, recently, mOdifci
t..l.s t.,t
which, in the opinion of some gooloSists, Il
position of the axis itself has undergone. II
stead of the fixed law or rules as 10 the impo
sibility OF change, there is nov II divergence
Mathematical oprnion-all agreeing in the the,
rctical possibility Of a change in the gcograph
cal position of the oarths axis Of rotation beiu
effected By redistribution of matter on Il
surface, but, a Ia Tia extent of such change
there are different opinions. Some hold, for il
stance, tina the elevation Of belt twenty d
grees IN width would disl lace the axis by abo,
ten miles only; others nailtan that the olcv
tiou of Two such continents as Europe and As
would displace il by hixty-nine miles; and som
again, regard il as highly probable that d
poles my nave been. in ancient times, very 4,
from Iner present Geographical position, an
may have gradually shifted through 10, 20,
40 degrees.