Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-07-11

Penn, and professional snake hunter.
I" 1t may not die at all. / have known
a rat to die within six minutes after re-
ceiving the fangs of RATHER IN his
neck, and have known one, again, to
| live "A hours after being struck. l
never knew of but one thing to recover
after being bitten by rattlesnake with
out being treated for the bite, and that
was a bantam hen. | exposed her to a
rattlesnake l had in box, and he
struck her at once. That seemed TO
enrage the pugnacious little hen, and
she pitched into the snake so fiercely
that she drove him into a corner, bleed
| ing like a stuck pig. The excited little
fowl would certainly have killed the
snake if had let her alone, but the
RATHER was valuable specimen, and |
took the hen away. She scratched
around for an hour as if nothing had
occurred, when suddenly she keeled
over with a curious squawk. / sur
posed, of course, that she was done for,
the poison having got its work in at
last, but she lived three days in q
stupor, and then gradually got well.
THERE is in the possession of Mr.. s.
r. Shoemaker of Wyoming, Tenn, a
curious relic of Western border life.
This is none other than a huge Colts
revolver, once the property of the motor
! ious highwayman and desperate, Jesse
James. The weapon has a history.
During the fight Of Jesse and his gang
with a squad of cowboys and Indians,
which took place about midway between
Veneita and where McAllister, Indian
Territory, now stands, one Bill Connors,
a half breed Indian interpreter and gov
eminent detective, saw the revolver fall
out of Jesse's scabbard, and hastily
picked it up. The weapon was favor
tie with Jesse, he having carried it with
him all through the war, and rs soon as
he discovered his loss he returned to
search for it, but was, of course, unsuc-
cessful, as Connors had it well concealed.
1t remained in the latter's possession
until 1886, when it was given by him to
George West, the well known actor, Of
"Uncle Toms Cabin" fame, who in turn
presented it TO Mr.. Shoemaker. The
revolver is villainous looking weapon,
with barrel nine inches long, and ON
the stock is roughly carved the letter
"H which stands for Jesse's alias of
Howard, under which he was at that
time passing.
AT a recent trial of Chinese gamblers
in Phi adelphia, the most solemn of
Chinese oaths, cutting off the head of a
live chicken, was administered by In
terpreter Chew to Yung Bung, awitness
for the defence. Interpreter Chew
spread n white tablecloth on the floor in
front of the witness stand and one of
the Cinnamon was sent for the chicken.
During his absence Chew lighted score
of incense sticks, which, together with
two sacred Chinese candles, were placed
III spittoon on the bar. The chicken
was brought into court and placed on
the white cloth. A butcher knife was
placed in Yung Bung's hand and Inter
prefer Chew administered the oath,
which was written in blood on yellow
paper The oath was TO the effect that
the witness stomach should burst and
that his entire family should die if he
lied in his evidence. Yung Bung step
ped from the witness stand with the
knife tightly clutched in his hand. 1t
required about twenty blows of the knife
to sever the chickens head. The wit
ness then signed the oath with the
blood of the chicken, and the paper was
consumed in the sacred fire.
A CURIOUS old law, giving the Seigneur
right of expulsion, has been revived IN
the island of Sark, which is yearly Wis
tied by a large number Of English,
French and American tourists. A Jer-
sew man who rents land there having, it
is stated, made himself very officious as
regards the prosecution of visitors for
trespass while walking across his fields
in the direction Of the well known Gouil-
lot Caves, was a few days ago, at the
conclusion OF a case which he brought
before the Sark Court against party of
visitors for trespass, ordered by the
Seigneur to quit the island with hisfam-
ilv and belongings within forty-efght
hours. The term, however, has since
been extended to six weeks to enable him
to arrange his affairs before leaving
This power of expulsion is exercised un-
der statute of Queen Anne, which en-
acts that the Seigneur may at any time
expel from the island any person who
shall render himself obnoxious to the
community and nuisance to his neigh
bors. A similar power of expulsion
from Guernsey and Jersey is vested in
the respective ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of
those islands.
LIGHTNING nearly broke mp house
keeping for Josiah Buell. in Hebron,
Conn, a few days ago. A fr1sky bolt
climbedinto his home through cham
Der window, skipped down the back
ctaiYe with an ease horn aODarentlv OF
familiarity with the premises, tore off
four slabs OF plaster from the kitchen
wall, lifted door off its hinges, and
laid it carefully on the floor, removed
six covers from the range, opened the
pantry door and set the pie plates whirl-
ing, and then whisked out to the pig
pen. There we're four persons in the
house, and not one suspected that cleo
tricity had dropped in for social call
until Josiah visited the kitchen. A few
minutes later he went to the pigpen.
His 30O-pound Chester county pig lay
on its back. its legs uplifted, and CULVER