The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-02-06
FOREIGN WAITS.


FOREIGN WAITS.
4 GERMAN explorer has found what he
thinks to he an imitation OF statue OF
Helen of Troy.
A NUMBER Of StrausbrrS ahopkcepers
have been fined ten marks each for plac-
ing French emblcms on their goods.
A BosToN pickpocket appealed from Il
sentence OF four months, and the new
trial sent him to the state prison for four
years.
AN exchange says n French duel con-
sists of n challenge, ride to some re-
tired spot, two pistol shots in the mir and
n wine supper.
IT is said that owing to natures still
ness and the clear air and silence pcrvad-
ing the Arctic regions, sermon strongly
delivered can be heard ut distance Of
two miles.
LONDON had u phenomenal fog few
days before Christmas. For nearly IN
hour it was literally impossible for pc
destrian to see two yards ahead unless he
had a lantern.
In England they don't "make hay
while the sun Shines" They have a
heater or dryer to which the new mown
grass is brought and reduced to the
keeping condition in very short time.
A RECENT fire at the Palazzo Sforza
Cesarini in Rome destroyed II valuable
library of 1000 volumes. In the same fire
n picture by Vandyck, for which SO 200
had been refused, besides pictures by
Guido REM and Poussin, were consumed.
IT is stated that grave-digger has
Just been arrested III Prussia on charge
of roasting the bodies confined to his
tender care for the purpose of obtaining
the fat, which he sold to some dealers in
the suburbs of the town in which he
lived.
WHEELBARRows are IN very little de-
mand in Brazil, lowing to the almost
universal practice Of carrying burdens on
the head" Not long ago the American
consul saw sturdy negro carrying Il
wbeelbarrow on his head through the
streets of Rio de Janeiro.
CONTINUED improvement is reported
from I'LL parts of England in the most
important industries Of the country.
Ship-building on the Tyne and Tees is
active. The wages of Golfers, miners
and iron-workcrs have been raised, and
the railroad employees are asking for All
advance. The timber trade is particu-
lnrly brisk in the north of England.
The unusual cold in the north of
tlocks of wild ducks, making for the less
inclement quarters Of the Pontlne
marshes in Italy. They arc seen and
heard passing over Rome in the early
morning, flying low, and have afforded
such abundant sport and spoil that they
are carried about the streets in Guanti-
ties.
A POLICEMAN on his beat near Bootie,
in England, recently was startled by
he regarded as an apparition. Before
him figure drapcd III white fitted over
the frozen ground. SummoninS up
up courage to approach it, the constable,
10 his establishment, found that he was
in the presence of n lady fast asleep and
in the slendercst attire. He spoke TO
her, when she fell TO the ground. Think
ing that she had fallen into u fit, the Of
ticer lifted her up, but still she remained
asleep. He eventually aroused her, and
then found that she had been dreaming,
and had wandered in her night-dress
fully half mile from home.
TIE severity OF German rule i'll Alsacc-
Lorraine may be judged from two recent
occurrences ut Strasburg. a tobacconist
was sentenced to fine and Imprisonment
for selling cigarettes III tricolored wrap
pers on which were printed the words
"Sonvcnir Rationale" At the same
time n man was sent to Jail for CRITICS.
ing Il speech of Bismarck in the hearing
of few people i'll coflcc-house. The
man said, after reading the speech in q
newspaper, that ga streetsweeper could
make rs good speech as that" This
expression was held by the court to
amount to IN insult to the imperial
chancellor.
TIE long-lOst calculating machine has
been recovered. Leibnitz invented and
constructed it during his stay i'll Paris i'll
1872. 1t could add, subtract, divide,
and multiply, and was the wonder of the
lime. This machine became the proper
ty of the Hanover Public Library, but
tong ago disappeared from among it's
treasures. All that was known about its
disappearance WIS that it had once been
sent to an instrument maker ut Coffin
gen to be repaired. 1t has now turned
up again in the Gottingcn library, and
through the efforts of the librarian has
again come into the possession OF the
library.
A Somnambulist's Deadly Deed.
The unconscious and fatal shooting of
Mrs. Helen j. Ward in Boston, q few
days ago, by her daughter, has been the
cause of much comment. But it does
not approach III marvelousness the case
of the boy Fits, of this city. Some
years ago this boy was stopping with
family, friends of his parents, i'll New
Hampshire. One night he arose i'll his
sleep, got out of the house, the doors OF
which it was thought had been securely
fastened, went more than half n mile, on
his way crossing stream which, We be-
licvc, he was obliged to bridge with q
board that he somewhere found (but of
this we are not quite surc), and went to
the house of boy Of about his own age,
with whom no had been playing the pre-
yious afternoon. In shed he got an
axe, made his way up stairs, and through
several rooms, TO tho bed where his
friend was sleeping, and with the axe in.
hictcd several blows ON the head and
face of the boy, from which it was sup.
posed he could not recover. The lad
escaped from the house, went back over
the same road he came, to his home, and
was found in his bed in the morning
asleep and unconscious of what he Ind
done. The victim of the somnambulist
is still alive, but young Fits died a year
or two after. This strange affair, which
is susceptible of confirmation from many
sources, entirely eclipses the Ward trag-
edy, and is IN evidence of tho unaccount-
ability of people for acts committed in
their sleep. (Qass.) Mail.
A YOUNG man ut Lodi, Tenn, not
otherwise particular about his dress, de-
veloped O strange concern Us to neckties.
He bought them by the dozen, spent
hour after hour selecting them, and
chose the brightest colors. The mania
grew upon him, until at length there
was no reason to doubt his insanity upon
that point, and he was finally sent to an
asylum.