Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1889-08-08
SOMEWHAT STRANGE.
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE.
Queer Facts and Thrilling Ad-
ventures Which Show That Truth
is Stranger Than Fiction.

Sunday evening some tlme
ago, the bolt which held
~ it to the frame work broke,
and the bell clattered down the roof to
the ground. The next day it was found
to be right side up and uniniured.
When the sexton pried it over to one
side, preparatory t, having it raised by
n derrick, hundreds of honey bees flew
cut, surrounded him, and drove him in
to the lake, whence he was rescue when
nearly drowned His head was covered
with stings, and his hands and arms suf
fered severely. The bell was found to
be nearly filed with the honey. The
bees had obtained ingress and egress
through small hole in the top.
THE peculiarities of various nationali-
ties, Us shown in the methods of COM
mitting crime, formed the sub. ..ect of a
recent conversation with an official of
one of the New York city criminal courts.
'"The mot common ch rges against
Americans brought to the bar here, he
said, 'are swindling and embezz 'ement.
The young men of Irish des ent who
appear here are most frequently under
accusations of robbery or assaults with
the fists, or with pistols. The Italians
are almost invariably &C ;used of assault
with the knife or pistol. Ii a policeman
has cause to arrest an italian of the
lower class on suspicion of being con-
cerned in IN assault, he always searches
his prisoner promptly and can usually
find evidence to warrant conviction of
carrying concealed wea oons, even if the
particular assault charged is not proved.
The favorite weapon of the Ital an was
formerly the knife or poniard and that
of the col)lel man the razor, but now
both weapons have been for tie most
pa superseded by the revolver. The
Polish Jews make specially of arson,
to secure insurance money. The Ger
mans, when they commit crime, are u.s.
ually guilty of embezzlement, forgery,
or attempts at suicide. The Scandina-
vians aud the Chinese rarely appear in
q criminal court as defendants. Most
of the murders of recent years have been
committed by young men OF American
birth and foreign ancestry, who belong
to the ignoble order of 'roughs. ,"
JAMES CRADDocK, living three miles
and half south of Marshall, Mo-, has
had some experience with blacksnake,
which, no doubt, he will never forget.
Pres Sandidge, of Marshall, who was
with Mr.. Craddock, relates the following
interesting story of the encounter be-
tween the latter and the blacksnake.
We were cutting bean poles ON Mr..
Craddock's place, and while working in
the thickest of the brush, l noticed, on
looking toward my companion, that q
huge blacksnake was coiled about his
leg, and the upper portion of its body
in the iron grasp of Mr.. Craddock. II
was n very large snake, and appeared to
be about 6 feet in length. For a few
seconds there was fierce struggle be-
tween snake and man. The reptile,
with its ugly fangs protruding, made O
desperate effort to free itself from the
grasp of its victim and wrapped lis coils
still tighter about the limbs and body
of the man. 1t was all over in few
seconds, however, the snake suddenly
relaxing its coils, and with lightning
rapidity swinging its tail around, striE.
ing Mr.. Craddock with terrible force on
either side of the head, bringing the
blood and bruising him up considerably
This, of course, caused Mr.. Craddock to
release his hold on the reptile, and the
latter made n hasty retreat, not even
giving the men chance to further in.
vestigate. Craddock does not care tc
engage in "mill'' such as he took part
in that afternoon.
Six miles from Petersburg, Va, is Mr.
George w. Gatling's farm, where a re
markable phenomenon, which is excit
ing widespread int. rest, is to be seen
This phenomenon is the sinking of q
portion of the farm. The sunken area
lies within cres 'ent shaped margin
and its width at the upper end is from
500 to COO feet. The sunken territory
contains six or more acres. The decliv
ity begins Mt point about 200 feet in Q
straight line from Mr.. Gatling's dwell
ing. Land has sunk from forty to sixty
feet. The tops of trees which stood OF
the level with others are now standing
intact and come few feet only above
the level of the bluff where the sinking
has occurred. The sunken area is seam
ed with fissues of varying lengths anG
depths. The most noteworthy feature
OF the phenomenon is the formation o.
bar in the river. This bar is seventy
feet long, and in it, too, are many fiss
ures. The phenomenon was preceded
some weeks ago by something like al
I
for miles. The interest in the phenom
enon is so great that crowds OF people
go to view it every day, privilege fol
which they pay n fee of twenty-five
cents. Mr.. Gathng has leased the priv
ilege of landing excursionists ON hi
farm to party in Richmond for 81 200
SAID an old railway engineer the 9th
er day: "There are three kinds o
trains that do not want to have any
thing to do with. One is the pay train
You never know when you will overtakt
the section hands. You will be going a
the rate of forty miles an hour away yor
go around n curve, and YOU will dash by
the boss and hands, and have to go bacl
to them. There is always good dea
of talk over the wages, and much tim,
is taken up. The next unpleasant trair
to handle is an excursion train. Every
one living along the line of road knows
you from seeing you come by every day
and they think you know them as well
When on an excursion they presume
upon their friendship to endeavor to ride
on the engine. No other place will dt
them. The engineer has to refuse them
as it would amount to docking his wage
from thirty to sixty days, The complied
rs it is positively against the rules of tn,
road. The persons denied the privileg,
always feel hard about it, and look upol
the engineer as accommodating. TIL,
last and worst of all, however, is the of
ficers' train. If you run slow they So,
you are scared and fear to run fast.
you make good time they say you ar
careless and reckless, and want to xii