Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-13
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS

English fakirs paint sparrows yellow
and sell them for canaries.
London is to have Mining Exchange
separate from the Stock Exchange.
"A German peasant has been detected in
tapping telegraph wire TO cure his rheu-
matism.
"A bill "to regulate the sale Of horse
flesh for human food'' is before the English
Parliament.
Cycling has become the rage in parts Of
Spain, and large number of machines are being
shipped to Barcelona
Two Virginia youths recently fought
duel and fred A shots at each other without
either being wounded.
I'm proportion to the population, there
are more Massachusetts, people in the State Of
Iowa than in Massachusetts,.
George Cook, an inmate Of the Craw-
fordsyille, Ind. poor house, was found to have
6,25S in box under his head.
English army authorities are consider
ing project for enIisting young boys and let
ting them grow up into soldiers.
The Bishop of Gibraltar is considering
whether he shall sanction the establishment Of
an English Church at Monte Carlo.
Women are being granted permission TO
practice medicine in Russia, with the re-
strlctlon that they shall attend only women and
children.
"A seagull mistook the shining bald
head Of Alfred Hollister at Sea Bright, N. J.,
for stone the other day and dropped mussel
on 1t, cutting his scalp severely.
j. L. Davis, Of Haywood Valley, Ca,
and his l6-year-old son, made and penneo $500
boards in four days last week; cutting down
the tree, saving the blocks, and riYing the
boards.
The Lehigh Valley road has IL trains
equipped with telegraphic instruments for
transmitting messages along the road while the
train is in motion. The system has been used
with particular success by the wrecking trains
on the road.
The number of paupers in London Tex
elusive of lunatics in asylums and vagrants) on
the last day of the second week of February
was 1O7, ,056, as compared with 1l0,220 on the
and 102, $50 in 1886
"A colored nurse Of McRae, Ca, play
fully put baby in a bureau drawer to amuse
The child, of course, screamed, and everybody
became so excited thar the baby nearly smoth-
cred before anybody could regain sufficient
presence of mind to open the drawer.
One day last week Green Davis, an old
negro shoemaker of Americas, Ca, who is also
cripple, was suffering with rheumatism in one
OF his knees. The pain was so severe at the
time that he took his shoeknife and cut the
knee-cap from his leg and threw it in the fire.
Gainesville, Ga, had its first snow in
two years the other night There was breath
of air stirring, and in the morning two inches
of beautycoYered everything. The whole town
turned out to SNOWFALL and enjoy the rare sight
with degree of pleasure quite unknown to
the citizens OF the snow-clad North.
According to report from Sunderland,
Mass, there is a certain farmer down there in
very hard luck. A flock of partridge has taken
possession of his orchard and its apple buds.
They are so tame that he can't drive them
away with a club, and as the law won't permit
him to kill them, he is at the mercy of the
birds
They are talking Of having omnibuses
in London, especially for those who want to
smoke when they ride. Apparently there is a
Yankee in the scheme, for it is said the vehis
cles will be fitted up with racks of newspapers,
and also with drop-a-nickle-in-the-sloG ma
chimes that will deliver cigars, cigarettes, to-
baccO and matches.
"A remarkable scene was enacted in the
court at Columbus. o., during the trial of a suit
for damages-the outcome of little disagree
ment that lead to blows. One of the principals
took the stand and. while telling of the injuries
he received, remarked: "Why, can pull out
many of my teeth, but some Of them come out
harder than others" and reaching far back in
his mouth he produced large double masti-
Gator and held it up at arms length. With con.
siderable deliberation he set the tooth back in
the socket and said: II can't chew on my back
teeth on that side any more"
in Justices court at Bristol, Conn.,,
the other day, a dwarf, four feet in height was
tried for an assault on a six-footer weighing
200 pounds. 1t appeared in evidence that the
little fellow loaned the big fellow some fish
lines, which were kept year, and then, in re-
sponse co a suggestion for their return, cotton
twine, with bent pin hooks, was sent in their
place. The next time they met the little fell
low gave the big fellow what the neighbors
called ''lickin'," and the fish lines came back.
The defense was 'provoeation, and the Justice
dismissed the case. The admiring spectators
promptly paid the little fellows expenses.
w. c. Stokes, of Grass Valley, Cal, a
member of the society of California Pioneers,
keeps snug saloon where the old settlers con-
gEegate. The other evening San Francisco
newspaper man was toasting his toes at the
stove an old-fashioned cooking affair." when
Stokes called his attention to one of the lids,
saying: Look at that You are an old-timer
what do you see?' 1t was a picture of David
c. Broderick You are right" Stokes went
on. THAT is picture of Broderick, and it is q
better likeness OF him than are the engraVings
often seen. The picture has been there for
years. do not now recollect when first
noticed IL: but one day spilled some water on
that lid when it was hot, the water sized and
there was the picture OF Broderiek. instantly
recognized it, and SOC have all who knew him
and who have seen the picture. Rubbing and
scrubbing that stovelid does not diminish the
plainness and distinctiveness of the likeness"
The old-timers who frequent Stokes place have
been discussing whether the pictures made on
these stovelids are of spiritual origin or caused
by accidental stains ON the IRON All admire
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