Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-09
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

"A mule, 45 years old, does a little serv-
ice tor Georgia physician, who has had him
since 1849.
"A Chinese theatrical troupe has been
organized at Portland, Ore. to make tour Of
the United States.
I'm the gravel on farm near Van
Buren. o.. recently, an Indian skeleton was nm
earthed, with jar and some Wampum shells.
A wild turkey was killed in Madison
county Florida, recently which weighed IS
pounds. One of its drumsticks lasted the fam
lily for TWO or three Gays.
"A Toccoa, Ga, paper announces the ar
rival Of William Bowers. whose name will go
% sscrgan. 1iSoTy ~ho 7ossa for Abraham Lincoln
1850.
"A Georgia paper records the death Of
Moses Austin, eoIored, of Butts county, age llo
years. The most wonderful part of the item,
however, is that he never saw George wash
ington.
Sumter county, Georgia, had the most
destructive hail storm it had ever seen last
week. The hail was said to be the size Of hens
Eggs, and the fruit trees, corn and COTTON were
utterly destroyed.
j. w. Griffin, living near Rochelle,
Ga, has been bitten twice by rattlesnakes. He
says he can cure any snake bite. In 1887 he
Killed 377 snakes, and the next year 362 He
expects bigger record this year.
San Antonio, Tex, people suffered .
short-l1Ved water famine last week. owing to
Dreak In the machinery at the pumping station.
Water was sold along the streets at cents per
bucket, but, as it was drawn from q stream into
Whleh several sewers empty, there was little
demand for it.
In a Tarrytown sanitarium is a petrifed
prehistoric lizard, IL feet and 1 inch long, 10
fnchaa broad ak tho ahOuldar- o,,1 o fv,ob,as
the head, and weighing 300 pounds Its color
10 gray and its substance sandstone The speci-
men, which Is almost perfect, was exhumed on
the shore Of Charlestown Lake five miles from
Farmersville, Province of Ontario. in July last.
John B. Huard, of Fall River, Mass,
on going to his heneoop, which is situated
under his barn, espied a rat turned on its back,
balancing an egg, while another was engaged
in pulling the rat by the tail along toward
hole in the wall Mr.. Huard obtained a gun
and fired charge of scatter-shot killing both
animals. One weighed pound and half and
the other two pounds.
Two dogs, a Newfoundland belonging
to John Halland, and q fox hound owned by a
man named Mason. fought at the shore Of
Highland Lake. near Winsted, Conn, the other
afternoon. The fight ended by the big New
foundland dragging the hound into the lake
and holding his head under water until he was
dead. The fox hound was worth $50. and
land dog. which was the aggressor, for the
value Of the drowned hound.
An unusually large number of Vipers
infest the neighborhood Of Wardnen Wood,
Newington, England, near there, where several
Of these dangerous reptiles have been killed
during the past few days. No less than ten
vipers, including one or two snakes-the less
dangerous specimen of its species-nave been
killed, and the cottagers who live in the neigh
h0rhO0d VIII
dead, from which they extract OIL which they
declare to be sure antidote to bite from a
viper.
-Sug and Raspberry Williamson, while
ploughing one afternoon lately near Abbey
vile, Ca, came across an adder about II inches
long. The circumference of the snake some
where near the middle of its body being out Of
proportion, the boys decided to make an exam
ination. They gave the snake gentle tap on
the head, and large toad was vomited from its
hot, airless resting place. To all appearances
the toad was dead, and was pitched into .
fence corner. About sundown, however, when
they looked to see what had become Of their
unfortunate victim. To their surprise the frog
was batting its eyes and getting ready for its
nightly hop, as If anxious to swallow some
thing ITSELF
The returns for accidents on the rail-
ways of the United Kingdom during the year
killed and 594 injured, as against 25 passetgers
killed and 5SS injured in 1887. There we
injuries from other causes than those d
collisions and mechanical defects. OF ser
of the companies there were 3Sg death
2 100 injuries. FiftY-three persons perish, -
grade crossings. The total is nearly 1000
and aOO0 injured in connection one W
another with the railway system. There were
35 collisions between passenger trains and "a
between passenger and freight trains. There
II
longing to engines In 1872 the railway deaths
were ! in 100000 passengers carried. Its
now In 70, 100000.
The Farriers' Company, in order to pros
mote progress in their art, have arranged with
the Royal Agricultural Society to hold horses
shoeing competition at the forthcoming show
at Windsor. The works of old writers on the
subject of horseshoeing afford interesting
study. Xenophon never mentions horseshoes.
He recommended only a stone flooring in the
stables to harden the hoofs, as did also Virgil.
Perhaps the first mention of an iron horseshoe
occurs IN connection with Childrich, who lived
A. d. 48l, and from drawing of thar shoe 1t is
apparent that it did not differ materially from
the shoe of the present day. In the middle Of
Of France, advocated half-moon shoe, or tip,
in order to bring the frog on the ground, q the
ory which has its advocates to-day.
The great tun designed to hold CHAINS
pagne IN the Paris Exposition and now being
dragged along the roads toward its destination
by II yokes of oxen recalls the history of the
tun of Heidelberg. The first was begun in 1913,
and was made to contain A pipes. Another, be,
gun in 1859 and, finished in three years, had !
diameter of Is feet and held I28 English hogs.
heads. A third was made to hold 800 hogs
heads, in 1854, and was destroyed By the French
four years later. The one which at present Is
away and, according to LOngfellow,
Is next to the Alhambra one of the most mag.
nifcent ruins of the Middle Ages" was begun
IN l75l and was capable Of holding 2S3 900 bot
replenished. At every vintage the grape grow
ers used to meet and dance on its top. It was
"A feet high and SO feet in its longest diameter.
The biggest watts, however, have never figured
IN history. In one English brewery there is
TASK said to be capable of holding twice al
much as the tun Of Heidelberg. 1t Is SO feet In
diameter and 40 feet high.