The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-10-11
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

found nine of the varmints in one big
gum tree.
A man in Aecomae county, Virginia,
is the father of nineteen children-eight
pairs and three aces, as the local pa
per expresses it.
A Mexican county, Pennsylvania,
physician, who desired to register I'M
der the new law, had praeticed twenty
years, but could not write his own
name.
1t is said that the captives taken by
Bou-Armema are very numerous, and
that he has with him twenty thousand
horsemen, well supplied with provisions
and modern arms.
The Russian government has recent
~ issued a map of the country to the
northeast of Persia, in which the bound
airy of Russian territory is so marked
as to take in Merv and its district.
Pap" Stewart, an aged and infrm
colored man, of Harrisburg, Pa, heav-
lily insured in the mutual assessment
companies, is literally supplied with
bad liquors by the spectators who are
longing for his death.
Out of Dc, 900 tenements occupied by
the Partisan poor, there are but 1000
whose tenants are able to pay an annu-
al rent of more than $40. On the
other hand, nearly 1000 chambers are
let for 800 year.
The slave trade is flourishing in the
Soudan. 1t is stated that no fewer
than fifty or sixty thousand negroes are
still annually conveyed to the Turkish
and Egyptian ports of the Red sea,
where they are disposed of to dealers
from all parts of the sultan's dominions.
Gen. o. o. Howard is: changing the
standard of discipline at West Point.
He believes that the boys should be
schooled in the rough life of a soldier,
keeps them hard at work, and makes
them live in tents like their superiors
on the western plains. Some of the
poor fellows won't even know how to
waltz when they settle down in Wash
ington.
A Cleveland reporter, whose salary
is liable to be raised, thus describes the
surroundings of a man who had hung
himself: 'sAn owl hooted lonesomely;
an old clock on the shelf licked with
terror; dog howled; it was midnight
outside; the wind sighed; a cat crouched
on the cold hearth in fear, and sound
like the laugh of a maniac came from
the garnet"
There are forty-fve thousand per-
sons engaged in the manufacture of
pottery in England and Wales. The
death-rate among the males is 38 per
cent. higher than among the male ele-
ment at large. In the lungs of a pot
ter who recently died of consumption
were found 48 per cent. of silica, Is of
alumina, and of oxide of iron-ar-
ticies of constant use in his business.
The Texas newspapers are advis
ing the people of that state to cultivate
the eucalyptus. A large part of that
states wide area is free from trees.
The eucalyptus is valuable not only for
its wood, but also because it is a de-
Tense against malaria. An attempt
was made to introduce it in southern
Georgia several years ago, but the tree
succumbed to the cold winter of 1867.
1t has been very successfully cultivated
in California.
Near Florence, Muscogee county, Ga,
two negro women had a goose stolen
from them, and suspecting a negro
woman who lived near them. they went
to her house and demanded the goose,
when she denied having taken it, but
the sisters would not be convinced, and
beat her numerically. Upon releasing
her she procured q razor and fell upon
places, killing one outright, and mort
ally wounding the other.
According TO an emigrant from Oran,
who was questioned by correspondent
of the Di0, Bou-Amema is an Ara
gonese who escaped from the prison of
Tarragona many years ago, and who
has since lived in the interior of Africa,
acquiring by his daring and his clever
ness immense power over the Arabs,
who regard him as a holy man and
obey him blindly. He is supposed to
have been now about forty years in
Africa, and to have been during that
time a mere ordinary robber and bandit.
A parliamentary return issued re-
Gently shows the number of English
troops now stationed in Natal and the
Transvaal to be: Four regiments OF
cavalry, with strength of 1898 OF all
ranks; three batteries of artillery, BOZ
men; two companies of royal engI-
neers, 342 men; nine battalions and
five companies of infantry Gncludlng
mounted infantry, 1882 men; two
companies commissariat and transport
corps, 302 men; 119 men of the ordl-
nance staff corps, and 322 of the army
hospital corps-making total OF H.
677 men of all arms.
John Maloney, the soldier who, in
1922, saved the life of the little Princess
Victoria, has issued a pamphlet COM
planning that one who saved the life OF
the queen ought not at the age OF 81 to
be dependent for support on military
pension of sixpence day. The young
princess was driving in kensington
gardens when the pony ran away and
turned over the carriage, and the prIn-
cess would probably have been killed
had not Maloney rushed forward ana
prasped her. He attended the child to
the palace, where he received guinea
and the thanks of the duchess OF hent.
There seems to be fatality about
"pet'' places. Newstead has twice
changed hands since Lord Byron
death. Rydal Mount has been spoiled
by careless tenants; Abbottsford -
hawked about as ga desirable autumn
residence Gad's hill has been sold,
and its contents dispersed; and now
Lord Carlingford has decided to sell
Strawberry hill, SO that IN spite o.
Horace Walpole having "tasked the IN
genuity of conveyancers 10 Tie up MS
villa in the strictest settlements 70
prevent it passing out of the Wade
grave family. it will change hands In
less than century after his death.
After taking his wife home from
neighboring dance, and seeing ner 10
bed, Gabriel Latery, OF St LOUIS re-
turned to enjoy the terpsichorean oe-
lights about daylight. Shortly alter
ward Mrs. Latery awoke. and' as sne
supposed, saw her husband ABOUT tne
room, so she told him to hurry up ano
come to bed. Thus invited. the per,
l.<,U sr-rN1sG a