Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-04
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS

-4hCIC dAC nAA0
souri, that can be bought for s4 a quarter
section.
Mt. Hercules, in New Guinea, is the
highest mountain in the world. Its height Is
given as 90. 76S feet. The same authority gives
Mt. Everest 9,002 feet.
John S. Bell, Chief Of the United States
Secret Service, reports that for the year ending
June 30 there were 407 arrests for counter1elt-
ing. OF those arrested 146 were convicted, 100
dlschared, and SO cases are still nnIecl1eu.
torty-six of those arrested were 9ld onenaeIs;
a fact OF interest is that a large percenbdS6O
the counterfeiters are Italians.
AS a result of the mild winter it is said
there is a glut of eggs IN the New York mar
ket- The moderate weather has persuaded the
mems all over the country to commence laying
much earlier than usual. Some old dealers Do
heve that there will be q scarcity of eggs later
Intne summer. They believe in the theory th2b
a men lays a certain number of eggs in a year,
and II she lays more in an early warm season
she VIII lay fewer later on, or stop altogether.
Three horses had died mysteriously in
a Madras training stable. The owners, accord.
ingly. sent to Calcutta for a doctor, who should
be able to put a name to the disease, and take
measures to prevent it spreading any further.
However. as when the medico arrived the
natives had already eaten the deceased ami
mails, there was not much evidence for him to
60 upon. He is now awaiting the demise Of
the hi~ppophagists, in order that he may make
a report.
Captain L. c.. Owen, of Vineyard
Haven, Mass, has prepared and presented to
the Committee on Commerce in Washington a
chart of the Arctic Ocean, showing the location
of the loss of every whaler that has been
wrecked in that ocean. There have been IS
such losses, and So of them were nearPoins
Barrow. The chart was prepared at the re-
quest of the New Bedford Board of Trade and
of certain San Francisco firms, mainly as an
argument in favor of establishing q House Of
Refuge at Point Barrow.
"A California man borrowed a dog and
went cunning. The dog frisked about hither
and thither, hut didn't find game, and didn't
seem to want to. At last quite tired out, the
sportsman sat on a log and reviled the dog, who
didn't seem to care, but continued to frisk and
play. Presently he began digging in the ground
in a very enthusiastic way, and finally I'M
earthed a dark object. The gunner who had
been watching him in sheer disgust, sauntered
over TO see what the fool had found: 1t was an
old leather purse, and in it was $500 in gold and
81 in silver.
james Dickey owns a farm in Fannin
county, Georgia, For years the Dickey family
has cultivated it, getting what could be raised
on its thin rocky soil. Mr.. Dickey has worked
it from early boyhood. He won't work it any
longer, for a few months ago a Chicago firm
that is looking for marble in Georgia struck
tuio ". anu dllcI pIOuulUR l1lO us CT6NlCe5
and gullies, told Mr.. Dickey that they would
like to lease it for 100 years on q royalty for
every square foot of marble QuaTrfed, which
they guarantee shall reach 81, 900 a month, and
not exceed $1,000 a month, Mr.. Dickey thinks
this is good enough, and has leased his farm.
Miss Belle Macarthur, aged 20, of Haw-
leyville, Conn, has a peculiar malady which
puts her into a state of suspended animation
for several days, although her general health is
pO01 The QtLqpEg ara occasional anil tho
young woman has no warning Of their coming.
She suddenly loses all her will power, her
power of speech and the control of her muscles.
She is. in fact, to all appearances dead. and
life can be detected only by placing a mirror to
her lips to catch the moisture of her respira-
ton. While in this state her senses become
more acute. Her hearing is especially sensi-
tive, and she says the agony of knowing all that
goes on about her without any power of demon
~stration is terrible.
james McCloud, of Lodi, WIS, W n q
horse on his Dakota farm which has eight feet.
1t is perfectly formed in all respects, except
he has eight feet. Not until the pastern
or fetlock joint is reached in the descent from
the shoulder to the foot is there any apparent
between this horse and any other.
But at the pastern joint or lower end of the
shin bone the branch begins, and two perfectly
formed feet are found. one on each of the four
legs. The horse runs on the range the same as
any. and is as fast as most Of them, and all
eight feet are shod. or may be if desired. Nc
Cloud has refused $500 for a half interest in
the curiosity. but he wants 5000 outright for
the whole animal.
"A young delivery clerk in q West
Chester grocery attempted to spark a SER
girl in the kitchen the other evening.
The young woman objected, and turning OF
the gas went into another part of the house,
the would-be "masher'' in the Kitchen
- 1a rIynaco Ada unnda of rauanna ha dotor-
to kiss the girl the next time he went to
the house. The following day, after he had
emptied the basket, the grocer'S Lotharlo
seized the girl and was in a fair way to get in
his kiss when a poll parrot. who had observed
the proceeding from its perch in a cage over
head. cried out with surprising distiDctiveness:
mistress, mistress, man got Mary! man got
Mary" The young clerk let go in a hurry and
hasn't been seen around that house since.
-Coltharp and Brown, placer mining on
Snake river, near Salmon Falls, Idaho, IN
a complete skeleton of a mastodon.
It was buried about 25 feet under ground. The
place had at one time evidently been a whirl-
POOL or eddy of the river. Many large bones
lave been found there, but this last discovery
vas a perfect skeleton. it having, without
been deposited there while the hide was
ret intact. 1t was about 16 feet long, and it Is
that the pile of bones would weigh
,000 pounds or more. The tusks were between
and seven feet long. The tusks and some
# the huge molars and other bones were pre-
erved, but it was impossible to save the skele-
on entire, as soon after it was exposed it began
o rumble.
"A ghost has caused a divorce suit and
roken up a once happy family in Blount
ounty, Alabama. About five years ago James
Iartin married a Miss Noel, one of the bellies
f the county. The young couple went to live
t the old Martin home, and all went well until
bout q year ago. Mrs. Martin, naturally very
imid, heard a ghost rambling through the old
ouse one night and was badly frightened. She
Did her husband about it, but he could hear
oth1ng, he said. From that time it became q
lightly visitor at the Martin home. Mrs.
wanted to leave the old house at once.
ut her husband objected, declaring the strange
discs heard were made by rats. Several times
Irs. Martin, so she says, saw a white-robed
CURE wandering through the old house, and
bon her nerves and health began to give way
the strain. She was finally Frustrated
y her fear of the ghost. and went to the homo
I her parents to recover her health and
trength. Fear of the ghost overcame love of
usband, ana Mrs. Martin refused to live with
i'm again. Martin tried in vain to induce his
life to return to the haunted house to live, but
ne refused, and a few days ago he filed a suit
)r divorce on the ground of abandonment.