The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1890-08-09
SOMEWHAT STRANGE.
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE.
Queer Episodes andThrilling Advea
lures Which Show that Truth is
Stranger than Fiction.

|
Miss CYRESA ALICE BeYD. aged 10
years, whose parents reside in Yolo
county, Cal, died under peculiar cir
cumstances. A few weeks ago she was
visiting friends in San Francisco. and
while there had her ears pierced. She
was very particular to urge that white
SILK be inserted in the puncture, but the
Unread used contained some coloring
matter. A day or so after the operation
Miss Boyd returned to her parents home
IN lolo. Within a few days she expe-
rienced soreness about the ears, but did
not regard the matter as of much conse
| quenco. One day she and her sister
happened to be out in shower and Miss
Boyd took cold. The effect of the expo
sure began to manifest itself in her ears,
already swollen and sore. Then she
became alarmed, and upon her fathers
advice, she came to Sacramento to secure
medical attention. Her ears swelled
rapidly, the sweAing extending to her
face. and finally one of her eyes was
closed completely. Erysipelas set in,
blood poisoning followed, and then it
was evident that her life was beyond the
power of saving.
In the desert of Cobb, which divides
the mountainous snow-clad plateau of
| Thibet from the milder regions of Asia,
travellers assert that they have heard
sounds high up in the sky as of the clash
| of arms or of musical martial instruments.
Ii travellers fall to the rear or get separa-
ted from the caravsn, they hear them
selves called by name. If they go after
the voice that summons them they lose
themselves in the desert. Sometimes
they hear the tramp of horses, and taking
1t for that of their caravan, are drawn
away and wander from the right course
and become hopelessly lost. The old
| Venetian traveller Marco Polo mentions
these mysterious sounds, and says that
they are produced by the spirits that
haunt the desert. They are, however,
otherwise applicable. On a vast plain
the ear loses the faculty of judging direc-
ton and distance of sounds; it fails to
possess, so to speak, acoustic. retrospective
When a man has dropped away from the
caravan his comrades call to him; but he
cannot distinguish the direction whence
their voices come, and he goes astray after
them.
THE climax is soon to be reached in
| case so dramatic in its details as to seem
almost impossible. In Savanna, n. Y,
forty years ago boy named Hiram
Gregg, the eldest Of Il very large family
! OF children, was stolen from his parents
: Mir. and Mrs. Robert Gregg. The boy
was last seen on the banks of a creek and
his parents supposed he was drowned.
After dragging the stream they gave him
up as lost. They moved to Rock Island.
ILL.,, and the father, who died there few
years ago, was one of the pioneers of the
community. The other day it was
learned indirectly that the missing mem
Der of the family is living at Richardson
Wis, under the name of G. A. Gage.
The name was given him by his abductor.
an inscriptions woman who kidnapped
him to avengc herself on his parents,
with whom she had had trouble. She
brought the boy up in ignorance of his
real name, and he only learned it a few
weeks ago. He will reach Rock Island,
4 man forty-three years of age and mar
ried. The woman who kidnapped him
left him when he married.
ABOUT - o'clock on recent night
James Clemens, prominent young
farmer, who lives Just outside of Athens,
Ga, swallowed silver dollar. Clemens
was lying across bed at his nome and
had dollar in his mouth. Being very
tired, he suddenly dropped off to sleep.
] He awoke very soon afterwards with "A
most excruciating pain, and it was devel-
Oped that he had swallowed the money.
He arose Immediately and went to
Athens. DR.. W. A. Carlton endeavOred
70 draw the dollar from the throat by
means of an instrument, but owing to
the nervous condition of the patient he
was forced to postpone the operation I'M
til next day. The money had passed
down the throat and lodged in the Pso-
| phagus. Next morning the doctor re-
turned to his patient. accompanied by
Dr. John Gerdine. Clemens was placed
/ under the influence of ether. and after a
| difficult and dangerous operation the dol
lar was brought up through the mouth.
A DAUGHTER of Edison Perkins, of
Litchficld, Conn. narrowly escaped be-
ing bitten by a poisonous snake the other
/ day. The snake was a siSsing, or fiat
! head adder and was the largest ever
sea around here. II measured three
feet in length and was five inches around
Vt the largest part. Miss Perkins was
charmed by the reptile, which had caught
/ her eye, and she could move neither hand
nor foot Sh" went into the woods with
! her brother 10 gather ar5utus. The
brother took a gun with him and was
| looking out for woodchucks He wan
dered away from his sister and when he
returned saw the snake with Its head
erect creeping toward his sister, and he
/ shot fhp rpntilp Miss Perkins SAWS she