Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-20
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

mel have been excaVated.
The King Of Italy has sent to King
Menelk carved wooden throne q feet
Ice in the Penobscot river, in Maine, is
three feet thick. Icemen are expecting the
best crop for years.
William Gwynn, Of Napa, Cal, carries
2 watch that Is more than 100 years old. 1t
keeps nrstrato time.
-One million dollars Of gold coin weighs
S6S5 pounds avolFdupois, and 81 600 900 of silver
coin weighs o,s20S pounds aYoirdupois.
After AZ years Of assiduous labor Mrs.
8. Lizzie Weaver, Bridgeton, N. J.. woman,
has Just nnished a crazy guilt of 30 075 patches.
"A new French invention is a smoke
bomb, intended TO be fred into the ranks Of the
enemy who uses smOkelsas powder, and OBJ
seure his view.
John Bruidschat, Of Holland CITY, Mich,
bought horse one day for four bushels of ear
corn and sold It the next day for u bushels Of
rye. How much did he maker
The rise Of the price of ivory nav be
described by the statement that the treat cut-
lery firm in Sheffield. Rodgers & Sons. used 70
pay 5000 per ton. but they have lately paid
fI,So, and in some special cases as high as
-Burglars recently broke into house in
London, but obtained little booty for their
pains. A newspaper, in giving an account Of
the anair, spoke OF much valuable property
they overlooked. Acting on this hint the
rascals paid . second visit and made a great
haul. They left a note expressing their Obiiza-
tons to the newspaper reporter.
"A three-storY wagon was captured al
Martinsville, Md, q few days since. The first
story under the running gear was a chicken
coop Of live chickens, the second sandwiched
between the first and third and hidden from
the third was laden with tobacco and fodder
for sale At figures much above the market
prices.
Frogs are improving with the rest Of the
world, and are evidently developing capabiIity
for turning the tables on their persecutors One
of the frogs put into the snake cage at the
Worcester (Mass.) Natural History Museum,
to be swallowed, turned sEalloWer and ''sb-
sorbed" 50 much black snake that the latter
died after being pulled from the jaws Of the
nghhng frog.
The Sahara desert is said to be grow
ing. The fertile strip Of Egypt is less
than it was within historic times, and the
sands are invading Tunis. A French scientific
commissioner reports to his GoVernment that
the whole southern part of Tunis IS gradually
becoming desiccated. The commissioner, Mr..
ing the oasis Of the desert from extinction.
Sufficient water cannot be obtained by any
means to support vegetation.
AN interesting case has been concluded
before the Austrian Court OF Appeal At the
funeral of the Grown Prince the Mayor Of
Horitz, in Bohemia, called together the Town
Council to pass a vote Of coincidence with the
imperial house. After having addressed the
Town councillors the Mayor asked them to
1f fho1r wfof
except one Councillor, who remained seated
This was regarded as an offense to q member Of
the imperial family and it has been punished
with two months Imprisonment
"A drunken farmer came near wrecking
a Battle Creek Bank the other day. He fooled
around the saloons after selling his wheat until
about P. NJ, and then tried to deposit his
money. but Of course, found the bank closed.
In his befuddled condition he could only inter-
pret the case in one way; so he climbed into his
wagon and told every man he met on the way
home that the bank had gone up. The next
morning an excited crowd Of farmers hurried to
town, and 1t took heap Of talk to explain the
bank.
"A remarkable phenomenon was wit
messed on Morgan street, San Francisco, the
other morning. 1t was nothing more or less
than shower of small crabs. They ranged in
size from that of dime to dollar piece. In
front of a barber shop a bootblack named
Tony Ambrosia was engaged in cleaning spit
toons. With terrific Whoop he left the work,
when when the shower Of tiny erustaceans from the
clouds descended, filing the euspidors, calling
On all the saints In the calendar to save him.
Several Of the creeping creatures were secured
0y newspaper man, who placed them at the
disposal OF the Academy Of Science.
The marble man." with whose dis
'0yery an Australia has been ringing. turns
'ut to be clever fraud instead of an ancient
ossil. An impeeuniOus Italian conceived the
brilliant idea Of its production, which, with the
Of confederates, he was able to
larry out. A slab OF marble was obtained
from the quarries and cut into something like
.he shape Of a man, and two oconfederates-well
buried the "fossip deep down
N the earth, where they triumphantly found 1t
IN the following day. Local eredulity was
squal to the occasion, and the Italian regarded
MS marble man" as sure fortune, as, no
toubt It would have turned out TO be had not
he scruples of one Of the confederates led him
% confess the fraud.
The hottest region on the earth is on the
southwestern coast Of Persia, where Persia
)orders the gulf of the same name. For 40
days in the months Of July and
August the thermometer has been known not
% fall lower than 1902. night or day, and to
,ften run up as high as 1850 in the afternoon.
1t Bahrin, in the center of the torrid part Of
he tOrrid belt, as though 1t were natures liz
ention to make the region as unbearable as
)0ssible. no water can be obtained from dig
ling wells 100, 200, or even 500 feet deep, yet
numerous population contriYe
o live there, thanks to copiOus springs. which
lreak forth from the bottom Of the gulf more
han mile from shore. The water from these
prings is obtained by divers, who DnYe to the
'ottom and fill goatskin bags with The cooling
Iquid and sell it for q living. The source Of
hese submarine fountains Is thought to be in
be green hill OF Osman, some 500 or 800 miles
way.
Bear hunting is attended with extraor-
mary success in Austria and Hungary this
ear. The aristoeratic hunting club IN Hun
airy bagged 20 bears and one wolf in the Szol-
ok country, three bears were killed near the
Ldelsberg Grotto, Count Windisch Graetz shot
mother in the Tyrol, and in the SonnenthaI
eyond TRENT Two bears were killed. Here is
the custom to tie lamb to tree stump in
forest clearing. and the hunters remain con-
ealed on the leeWard side that the bear may
OF scent them. During zone OF the last bear
UNITS in Hungary young lawyer missed the
ear, who then attacked him, and q terrible
Ombat followed, which must have ended IA
lily to the man had he not succeeded in insert
e his loaded rifle into the beasts Jaws and
len firing. He was found badly hurt by the
nimars claws. In Galicia very large bear
as hit with small shot and only slightly hurt,
nd he tore the huntsman to pieces and hurt
lree drivers before he could be killed.