Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-03
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

"A Howell, Miss, boy, IA years of age,
has been sentenced to PRISON for horse stealing.
"A South Macon, Ca, minister deliv-
cred two sermons and married four couples
last Sunday.
| The total number of marriages upon
Friday in England is only 2 per cent of the
whole number, showing the extent of supersti-
tion in regard to the day.
| Little Joe Gebhardt, a truanr pupil at
the Davenport school, New Haven. Conn, was
SO severely whipped by Principal Lewis thatit
brought on epilepsy and he died.
"A watermelon trust has been formed in
Georgia which controls the product of 200
acres They will also do commission busi-
| ness, and endeavor 20 handle the entire South
ern melon crop.
The sad monotony of life in Sacca-
rappa, Me-, undertaker's room was varied last
week, when a man walked in and wanted to
make arrangements for his own funeral saying
that he contemplated suicide.
R. H. Dustin, of Tunbridge, Vt, has
book that is nearly 200 years old, it having been
printed in Boston "at the corner of the Prison
lane in 1891. 1t is "The Life of the Renowned
John Elliot" by Cotton Mather
There is great demand :or metal fur
niture in Australia, not only for household use,
but in places of business, schoolhouses, etc.
white ant, which eats all kinds OF wood.
On little boathouse on the North river
this sign is displayed: "Sandworms and all
summer drinks for sale" And near the foot of
Wall street, N. Y, sign with the following
legend may be seen: Umbrella Hospital"
AN exploring party sent out by the
Seattle Press to Alaska six months ago has re-
turned. They report having suffered terribly
during the winter from snow and high water,
but they found rich country and evidence Of
ancient inhabitants
The train which recently carried the
Emperor of Japan to Nagoya made. it is said,
the best record ever reported over a Japanese
road 1t traversed the distance OF 226 miles.
between Tokyo and Nagoya, in S1a hours, in
cluding stoppages.
"A monster crab was landed in q net
from wharf in San Diego last Thursday by
l. c. Bragg. The body measured 16 inches
across, while the spread of the nippers was SO
inches. This giant crustacean was ornamented
with barnacles of i've years growth
"A young colored girl of Hiawatha who
is very i'll and who does not expect to recover,
had herself carried to the African Methodist
church Of which she is a member, and after the
services called all of her friends around her
and asked them to meet her in heaven
M. FerrarI, son of the Duchess Of Gal
liera, is an enthusiastic postage-stamp col
lector, and his private collection is roughly
valued at 100000. And yet he has been known
to negotiate the loan of a stamp from his
mother, the Duchess, when he wanted to post
letter.
M. Splitter, of Paris, is dead, at the age
of IA. He was the most remarkable example
of the born collector in our age. He began
life with nothing and has ended it the owner
of a collection of works of art valued at 20 0O0-
600 francs The ROthschilds were patrons of
Splitter.
"A novel method Of plowing was that re-
Gently adopted by colored man in North Car
olina. His steer refused to work when hltched
TO the pillow. and thereupon he hitched it to a
cart and fastened the plow behind the cart. He
proceeded TO ploW the steer without any fur
ther trouble.
Farming operations in the vicinity of
Egypt, Miss, are greatly retarded by crawfish,
which burrow in the fields and keep the sur
face broken and wet. They bore underground
TO the depth of two or three feet so that the
hogs cannot get at them, else they would not
live to do any damage.
Mrs. Martha Lumpkin, of Upson coun-
ty, Ga, is now in her 9Sth year, and enjoys good
health. When she was 95 years of age she knit
65 pairs of socks and pieced up three nice quilts
during the year. she has over 400 children,
grandchildren and great-grandehildren, and
now has "a of the fourth generation.
An ear of corn on exhibition at San
Luis Obispo. Cal, IS described as being in the
exact form of human hand; the wrist, palm,
thumb and fingers being all perfect. 1t is COW
cred with small grains to near the tips Of the
fingers, which are bare prongs of cobs, giving
the hand the appearance or being clad In q nit
Rats abound In great numbers at a
storehouse in Rochelle, Ga. It seems that goods
had gone missing, and one day last week the
clerk discovered that the rats, and not bur-
inO ham n a Ar
pairs of hose and socks, besides lot of other
goods from two rat beds in the boxing of the
house.
English religious papers frequently
sneer at this country because marriage which
is lawful in one State may be unlawful in
other State But a similar condition of things
exists in Great Britain. In England, for in
stance marriage with a deceased wife's sister
is illegal, while in the Island OF Jersey such q
marriage Is valid.
"A ghost of very aggraVating ways re-
sides somewhere in Brooks county. Ga. tis
often seen on the public roads even in the day
time. 1t is seemingly 10 feet high, and dresses
in black, with white hood aud shoes. 1t follows
horsemen and moves very rapidly, and is gener-
ally seen about dusk. 1t has terrorized many
persons in that section.
"A new French clock contains novel
application of the magnet. The clock is shaped
like tambourine, with circle of hewers
pointed on its head. Around the circle two
bees crawl the larger one requiring Il hours to
complete its circuit while the smaller one
makes it every hour. Different flowers repre-
sent the hours, and the bees, which are Of iron,
are moved by two magnets behind the head Of
the tambourine.
A wife was sold for a shilling recently
by a German workman in Silesia, though the
loving husband stipulated that she was to re-
turn to him in two years. A year after the
bargain was struck the workman summoned
the purchaser to pay 15s for the set of false
teeth which his wife was wearing, and which
he had forgotten to include in the contract.
Her purchaser objected and called in the
police, who formally sanctioned the original
bargain, and disalloved the first husbands
claim.
Several years ago William A. Walters
was buried in Stone Chapel Cemetery in Hunt
inydon county, Maryland. In 1855 the body
was exhumed for the purpose of removing it TO
WillIamsport for reinterment. On reaching the
coffin the diggers found the joints and cracks
in the box matted and covered with hair. On
ODenine the casket the hair on the head was
found to be nearly two feet long, and the
whiskers nearly foot. Persons who were
nresent when Walters was first buried say that
his face was clean shaven and his hair cut
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