Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-06
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

II
By a mad dog is supposed to have poisoned =
whole family near Malta Bend, Mo-, and it is
thought they will all die.
Farmer Becker, of Coolbaugh, Luzerne
county, found BOO pound bear under his hay
/ stack few days ago. He and his son, strap
I ping young fellow OFF, had tussle with it and
after hard fight they killed it.
AT Coto Donana, on the GuadslquiVir,
Spain, party Of ten with guns, in "A days, shot
IS stays. 3 wild pigs. foxes. 2E wild geese, 7l3
wild ducks. 402 snipe, 161 psrtridges 36 rabbits,
haTes, quail, 10 woodcock and bittern. To
| tai, ,654 head.
Bears aud wolves have become such
nuisance this winter in the Department of Orel,
| in Russia, that the military have been asked to
turn in and help hunt them. They have invaded
the farms almost nightly and carried Of cattle
from the barns.
"A dog belonging to Harvey Skean, of
Pottstown, pays regular visits, almost daily, 70
the graves of the three little children of his
owner, inferred at Pottstown Cemetery, and
scratches upon the graves. He and the children
were playmates.
"A French woman has got up a public
contest, the proceeds of which are to be de-
voted to the relief Of the sufferers from the
Antwerp IRE, in which the prize 10 to be
awarded to the woman who speaks the most
words in an hour.
Mime. Olympic Audouard q famous
French champion Of woman's rights has Just
dled at Nice. She was SO years old and had
Deen married earlyin life to a MarseilIes notary,
from whom she separated after few months,
and spent some time in travelling about Europe.
AIIerward she wrote a book and started a re-
view, which became so lively that the Imperial
government mterfered with a prohibition of
| any political writing in it. She then came to
America and was somewhat conspicuous here
denVered lectures, and wrote book on Utah
and the Mormons. After her return to France
she adopted spiritualism as hobby.
The new English composite gun vessel
Thrush left Sheerness on Saturday for the on
cial trials of her machinery in the North Sea.
The trial was of eight hours duration, and was
OF most satisfactory character, there being a
total absence of hot engine bearings or prim-
irg of the boilers. The engines developed
SO46 horse power, which was A5 horse power
more than contracted for. The Sparrow sister
ship to the Thrush, also underwent her natural
draught trial in the North Sea, with equally
successful results. With mean of l21 pounds
OF steam, the engines worked 1871 revolutions
per minute, and developed S0S.9 horse power.
"A statue eommemorating a touching lit
tie episode in the life Of the late German EN-
peror, Frederick, is about to be ere cred at
Kaiserslauten. When Frederick was Crown
Prince he visited one Of the orphan asylums Of
that town. Among the children was sickly
and sad-faced little boy. Frederick noticed
to become his godfather. The child, TO whom
caTeSs was a stranger, appeared somewhat
frightened at hrst, but soon got over bis difi-
Guilty and began to play with the Princes med
ais and decorations. The statue in question
will represent the Prince with baby in his
arms, and the youngster tugging at his cor
dons and crosses.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company's
officials have in contemplation the erection Of
an interesting monument near BordentoWn, N.
I -
railroad laid in New Jersey. A portion of the
monument will be made Of the original spikes
and plates Of the first section Of the road.
which have been carefully preserved for this
purpose. The section of the railroad men
toned belonged TO the old Camden and Amboy
Railroad, and Is now operated by the PenDsyl-
vania Railroad Company. Isaac Dripps, the
engineer who ran the first train over this road,
is still living, hale and hearty, and is enthusl-
astic over the proposed monument Mr.. Dripps
recently visited this place to point out the exact
spot where the road was commenced.
"A rat plague in the fen district Of Lin
colnshire causes mucn uneaslness among the
formers. Enormous destruction has been
wrought in all directions. The runs in the
stacks are as large as rabbit burrows, and in
many instances half the produce Of some
crops has been destroyed. The woodwork Of
the buildings has been gnawed through,
while the holes in the drain banks are so numer-
Gus as to form vast h0neyeOmb. The potato
and mangold pits have been attacked, and the
young plants in the fields, such as wheat and
beans, are seriously eaten away. Many at
tempts have been made to check the ravages,
and, although very large number of rats have
been killed, they appear almost as numerous
as ever.
"A Police Inspector named Meune has
just been tried in Paris for obtaining money
under false pretences. His principal victims
were people seeking divorces. To the husbands
he invariably warned the women of the pro-
ceedngs which were about to be instituted
against them His dealings with a certain
tradesman led to his arrest. This victim was
about to embark in political career, and haV-
ing had certain little financial delinquencies
marked down against him, Meune promised to
make matters square for him at the Prefecture
of Police. For these good offices the trades
man paid f20, but. to his horror, he found that.
instead of being ''whtewashed," the newspa-
pers opposed to him in politics were publishing
catalogues of his commercial crimes He ac-
cordingly had the fraudulent inspector ar
rested. Meune was condemned to three years.
imprisonment.
The postmaster at Rundsls, Pa, new
man, has been boycotted. When the old post
master was ousted three-fourths of the patrons
of the office gave an order on the new post
master to deliver their mail to a son of the old
postmaster, who took it to his fathers store,
where it was distributed in the old postof1ce
boxes anu L0e0 UellVeTe0. In6Se proceedings
did not hurt the finances of the new postmaster
and saved him considerable trouble, but as his
compensation is based on the number of
stamps cancelled, the boycott was extended to
outgoing mail, which was accepted at the old
store and delivered to the mail carrier, who
mailed it at the nearest office on his route.
Last week postofice inspector spent night
at Rundels and read little law to the boy
eotters, and notified the mail carrier that he
must not receive mail from persons along his
route, but the boycott isstill on. The revenues
of the boycOtted office were reduced to less
than 81 for the past quarter, allowing the sum
of about 4cents day for compensation
"A new fiber plant has been discovered
on the isle of Trinidad which promises to be an
improvement on ramie. 1t was found by an
agriculturist named T. ]. st. Hill, who has
called it 'maholtine," but whose scientific
is Abutilou periplocifolium. The
great thing with this plant is that the ribbons
at nearly all times of the year are easily de-
tached from the wooden portion by simply
stripping them with the hand, and therefore
machine is not required as for
ramie, When it is known how readily the
stems allow themselves to be deprived of their
coating of bark and fiber it will be seen what
an advantage this simple fact gives the new
product over many of the fiber producing
plants All that is required is to cut the STEMS
which are fully ten feet long. split the bark at
the larger end and strip of the bark from end
to end without stopping. fortunately the
stems have no side branches. Samples submitted
to London brokers were favOrably reported on
and were valued at from Ell to E20 per ton.
THE BEST THAT'S GOING,