The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1889-02-01
STRAY BITS.

J. F. Irwin, of oswego. N. Y. paid $4,000
for Bible.
One Of the business colleges in Cleveland
has department of phrenology.
There are laws against using profane Ian.
guage by telephone in all states except Con-
necticut.
A barber at Suez, Ari., while shaving a
man was seized with an attack of homicidal
mania and cut his customers throat from
ear to ear.
At Denison, Tex, q belated passenger
emptied his revolver at the train that had
not waited for him, and was promptly taken
in hand by the police.
There Is said to be only one survivor of
a once powerful Indian tribe in California
When he dies the language spoken by the
tribe will become extinct
Honesty is sometimes rewarded. A New
Orleans lad found a valuable sachel, and,
upon taking it to the owner, who had adver-
tised the loss, was made happy with a brand
new 800 bill
Professional burglars are going the rounds
Of the country towns just now 1t is their
usual summer hegira, and the guardians of
the peace should be on the watch for such I'M
welcome visitors
Less than one-half of the senators now in
Office were born in the states which they rep
resent. Americans seldom emigrate out of
the country, but they do great deal of emf
grating about in their own land
The managers of a western railroad which
is experimenting with natural gas believe
that it may yet prove not only the cheapest
Of fuel for the locomotive, but excellent for
heating as well as lighting the cars
American authors are more read than the
English in Japan. Last year 81, 900 English
and 49, 900 American books were imported
into that country, SO that the old question,
"Who reads an American bookp was fairly
answered.
The Zilvern Kruis, the first Dutch man of
war to enter the Golden Gate in fifteen years,
is lying off San Francisco She is training
ship on her way to Japan, China and the
Dutch colonies in India, where she will make
a prolonged stay.
Miss Eliza Bliss, of Rehoboth, Conn, sup
piled tramp with meal. While she was
preparing the food the tramp sang Nearer,
My God, to Thee" and at the same time
stole the lady's pocketbook and S25 from
her bureau drawer.
The new Inman steamship, the City of New
York, Is warranted by her builders to be
unsuitable. That is, one condition laid down
in the contract by the company was that she
should be unsuitable, although she is of iron
and has capacity of 10, 500 tons.
New England man has beaten the green
goods sawdust men at their own game. He
got one Of their circulars, and in reply asked
for sample of their goods. They sent him
genuine 81 bill, and the gentleman of New
England stopped the correspondence then
and there.
As wedding party was driving through
the streets of a Pennsylvania town ON their
way to the church at which the ceremony
was to be performed, the carriages drove
over little girl, killing her immediately.
The arrest of the party prevented the mar
riage, and it has been postponed.
The smallest circular saw in practical use
is a tiny disc about the size of British shl-
ling, which Is employed for cutting the Sits
in gold pens. These saws are about as thick
as ordinary paper, and revolve some four
thousand times per minute The high veloc-
ity keeps them rigid, notwithstanding the
thinnesS.
London bankers have for a long time been
seeking to obtain an additional fifteen min
utes of grace to get their checks through the
clearing house after the!!close Of business each
day. The clearing house has finally cons
coded five minutes, and it is said that the
bankers welcome even this as an almost in,
estimable boon.
Near North Adams, Mass, two girls Of s
and 10 went out after May flowers and lost
their way in the woods. Some time after
dark they stumbled upon farm house and
asked shelter, but were refused, so they were
forced to remain all night in the woods, and
were found by the SEARCHING party at morn.
ing half dead from cold, fright and exhaus
ton.
A Montana newspaper says that the days
Of staging in the hills are rapidly departing
Steam is fast taking the place Of horse and
mule power, and Pullman coaches are crowd
ing out the swayback stages Of old The
noted Northwestern Transportation COM
pany has begun to dispose OF its plant, and
is preparing to hunt for business on the rap
idly receding frontier.
The five stones erected to mark "Mason
and Dixon's line" between Maryland and
Pennsylvania have just had their aonual
visitation by commissioners, who report one
In good condition, one lost, one broken, one
dislodged by mining operations, and the fifth,
which bears on one side the arms of Pennsyl-
vania, on the other those Of Lord Baltimore
badly damaged by vandal relic hunters
A cobra bite has been cured Dr. Richards,
as reported by Che India Daily News, was
handling a cobra with the intention Of ex-
tracing some poison, when he was bitten on
the finger. He Immediately cut it open to
the bone above the wound, and applied per
manganate Of potash, put on lgature and
hurried off for advice. Another doctor
opened the wound and cauterized it with
nitric acid and DR. Richards has recnxered