News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-07-25
SOMEWHAT STRANGE.
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE,
Queer Facts and Thrilling Ad-
ventures Which Show That Truth
is Stranger Than Fiction.

Queer Facts and Thrilling Ad
ventures Which Show That Trutl
is Stranger Than Fiction.
The cleverness of an English rasca
has excited the envy of all the rascal
IN Paris, who, with typical Partisan
egotlsm, have long claimed to be TIN
cleverest rascals in the world. Tn
English rascal in question was pro
fesslonal London pick-pocket. Short,
before the French Exposition opened
he bought small hotel in Paris on tn,
lnstaliment plan. The purchase pric,
OF the hotel was $4,000, and the frs
and only installment which the English
man paid was $4,000. The Englishmal
bought few pieces of cheap Englisl
iurnIture for his new house, equipped
an English bar, and then advertised ia
and wide for English boarders durin!
the exposition. His prices were SO loT
that he soon filed his house. Ever,
one of his dodgers was warned by -;
placard over his bed that the Landlord
would not be responsible for the loss O
any valuables which had not been de
posted in the hotel safe. Of course the
safe deposits increased with the popu
iarlty of the hotel, and both reached
high-water mark two days before the
second installment of s., 900 on the pur.
chase price of the hotel fell due There
was then 5000 in British iewelry and
bank-notes in the safe. The pick-pock-
ct landlord stole every sou of it. He
concealed his plumber in his quarters In
another part of Paris, dyed his hair,
shaved his beard, put on a French suit
OF clothes, and began picking pockets
at the exposition. He was caught by
the police with his hand in the pocket
OF an English member of Parliament,
and was locked up. A police investiga-
ton led to revelation of his history.
and the recovery of the jewelry and
money which had been given him fol-
safe keeping.
Nor long ago a man named James
Hoover died in the Colorado State
Prison. He had been sentenced for
life for killing man named George
Simpson, who had once been his part
ner In various mining ventures. The
difficulty which brought about the fatal
meeting was due to the fact that Hoover
had run away with his partners earn
mgs-gold nuggets. valued at $4,000,
Before killing Simpson, Hoover had
gone to his old home in Huntingdon
county, Pennsylvania, in search of h S
parents. Being unsuccessful in his
search, and fearing to carry the stolen
treasure about with him any longer.
and it was also very heavy, he buried
1T on a farm under the roots of white
oak tree belonging to a man named
Brenneman. Then he went West, and
as stated, got into prison. This was in
1873. Just before his death he made
Will leaving the buried money to War
den Hoyt, of the penitentiary, in the
advent that he (Hoover's) father, whom
he suspected might be still living. was
not dead. He also gave the warden a
detailed plan of the spot where the gold
was buried, with an accurate description
of the surroundings. Thus equipped,
Warden Hoyt, about ten days ago, went
East, where he discovered that Hoover's
father was still alive, and together they
proceeded to the Brenneman farm in
Pennsylvania, where they found no diff
ticulty in locating the spot and securing
the long-hidden treasure.
MRs. ]. J. MURPHY, Of Birmingham,
Ala, died from disease which had been
puzzi1ng physicians for eight years. A 1
dozen of physicians had treated her, but 4
none of them were able to say what was 1
the matter. For two years past she has /
constantly suffered the most intense
pain and said she felt something grow
ing in her stomach. The doctors could
feel a hard substance in her stomach,
but could not determine what it was
The woman was too weak for an opera
ton, ana physicians from all over the
State puzzled over the case until she
her stomach the doctors found two
pounds of wood. For twenty years
Mrs. Murphy had been addicted to the /
habit of dipping snuff. She had small
wooden brushes, and would often bite
off and swallow small pieces of the
brush. These small particles of wood
vad formed solid mass in her stomach, ]
and the block weighed Just two pounds. I
The physicians say this was the cause /
of her death. 1t is the first case of the /
kind ON record. i
JAKE MORRIS, who was ianitor of the
City Hall, and who belonged to every
secret order in Atlanta, Ca, laughed
himself to death recently. He attended
the Masonic Lodge, of which he was a
that night. When he left the
lodge room he was accompanied by Prof.
Otto SPahr, who had in some way lost
his hat. He was, therefore, conn elled
to go bareheaded until he reached
q room where he was furnished
with a new hat, and left for
home about $50 o'clock. Prof
Spahr noticed that his friend laughed
immoderately, thing which he seldom
did. This was the only thing unusual
in his actions. That morn ing he was
found by the servant in the same pla e
dead. The theory is that he laughed so
immOderately as to bring on palpiti-
ton of the heart, to which he was sub
ject, and thus died.
The number of letters received by the
Bureau of Information, at Johnstown,
Penn, have fallen off considerably, but
an occasional ludicrous one turns up.
The other day long letter was re eived
from man in Kansas asking the bur-
eau to find n wife among the food suffer
ers. The writer stated that he WAS a
farmer, and owned two well-stocked
farms in the vicinity of Parsons. He is
35 years of age and wanted a good look
ing young woman between the age of
and know something about housekeep
ing. The officers of the department
have had many inqu .ries ior relics, but /
this is the first time, they say, that any
body has asked for a living one. The |
man preferred n woman who had been 1
rescued from the flood, and said he 7
would marry her within three months.
FORTY miles above New Orleans is the
old bed of the Bonnet Care crevasse. Fiji
teen years ago the Father of Waters
burst his bonds and swept through there
to Lake Pontchartrain Five years ago
the State of Louisiana, with the assist
ance of the Mississippi Valley Railroad,
rebuilt the Bonnet Care levee;-but it
could not restore altogether the condit-
ions prevailing antecedent to the Gre
vase. The river in the ten years it
passed through the swamp piled up its
sands against the big cypress forests
there. 1t has left behind buried for
est. The piled up sand has, deadened
nearly all the trees, and n shingle mill
is now at work there manufacturing
them into sliinglo with all the rapidity T.
with which that machine works.
PBoF. YIBoHow recently expressed a
conviction that mot one of twenty al
legged centenarians are in reality over
ninety years old, there being strong
in old men, as well as in old
to understate their age up to
seventy, and overstate it afterward 3"
Still that rule admits of occasional ex-
eepIOu. A white haired old Spaniard.