Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-09-11
SOMEWHAT STRANGE.
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE

Queer Episodes and Thrilling Adven-
lures Which Show that Truth is
Stranger than Fiction.
/ TIE Philadelphia Press has the follow
ing: Talking about thunder storms and
the freaks of lightning" said little
man at the Colonnade last night, II saw
something in the West that made my
hair curl. There was man in the town
who had been in trance for about two
weeks, and the doctors could do nothing
to arouse him from the stupor. They
used all sorts of galvanic batteries, but
without avail, so finally they hitched a
telegraph wire around his body and con-
cluded that the shock from that would
either kill or cure him. Well, the man
got the shock, and the doctors decided
that it had killed him. All arrangements
for his burial were made. The day set
for the funeral was nasty one. 1t was
raining hard, and the thunder and light
ming were playing havoc. As the funeral
procession went down the road toward
the cemetery there was terrific flash of
lightning. The hearse had been struck.
The mourners all jumped out of their
carriages and ran to the hearse. The
driver was stone dead on the box. But
the shock brought the dead to life, and
the man who was to be buried rolled out
of the casket as sound as a dollar Nature
had succeeded where science had scored
failure. The supposed dead man took
off his funeral suit and traded clothes
with the driver. The latter was placed
in the heaIse and the resurrected man
drove 10 the cemetery, where he helped
to bury the poor driver in the grave
which was intended for himself"
A COUPLE Of British Columbia creek
fishermen report a curious story I'm the
Victoria Standard. They made a trip
toward San Juan Island. Though there
was nice fresh breeze it wa, still mile
from the rthwestcrn ind of the island,
and the boat found herself at once in very
smooth water. There was absolutely not
breath Of wind and there was scarcely
a ripple on the water, while at distance
the sea was rough. Accustomed as they
are to the sea they had never seen such
phenomenon. When they were regarding
the smooth surface there rose at once,
short distance ahead of the boat, an i'm
mense waterspout, and quickly ascending
to height of about eighty feet almost
Immediately began working toward the
boat. Injured to hardship, and almost
constantly facing danger in one form or
another, fishermen are not easily alarmed;
but when the great pillar Of swirling
water began to approach In direct line
toward the boat, the hearts Of the men
almost stood still. As there was abso-
lutely not breath Of wind nothing could
be done to avoid what appeared to be
almost certain death, and the two men
could only stand by and await their fate
But again an unexpected thing happened.
The spout, instead of striking the boat,
suddenly began TO retreat in the same di-
rection from which it came, and, when
apparently in the same place where it
rose, suddenly collapsed with a great
splash. The fresh breeze arose immedi-
ately aud the dead calm disappeared.
Mr.. Verify SMITH, living in the Elev-
enth Ward of that parish, went fishing
on Mud Creek, Terra Bonnie, La, and
had the following strange experience;
Mr.. Smith was using minnows for bait
and was fishing with rod and reel,
upon which there were some 400 feet Of
very strong line. The minnow upon the
hook being near the surface of the water
attracted the notice of a passing king
fisher, who swooped down and at once
swallowed the minnow and the hook.
Mr. Smith proceeded to let out line and
the kingfisher was affording fine sport
when all'at once large hawk concluded
TO take part in the fun, and at once
caught the kingdsher in its claws, and at
the same time getting the line so entan-
gled about its wings, as to cause both
hawk and kingfisher to fall in the water.
BY this time some 800 feet of line had
been run off the reel, and when the birds
fell upon the water they were quickly
carried by the current around a bend in
the creek and hidden from the view OF
the astonished Mr.. Smith. Attempting
TO reel up his line Mr. Smith discovered |
that it was fast, and upon going down
the stream and around the bend Of the
creek, was astonished to find that seven |
foot alligator had swallowed both birds !
and was fast upon the hook. Procuring
a heavy stick Mr.. Smith succeeded in |
stunning the ''gater" and hauling him
ashore.
AN affair that will materially retard (
the growth of the ''woman suffrage" idea I
in Nebraska has just occurred in Dakota
County, Neb. County Clerk Twohig
made business trip East, and /
during his absence the robe of official
duties fell upon the shoulders Of Miss
Lou Hirsch, his charming deputy. A day
or two after his departure James Teller,
an odd character in the county, drove up
to the clerks Office with lot of ground
squirrel scalps and ears, and represented
to the innocent and confding lady that
they were the ears of wolves which he
had slaughtered in the county. The I'M
lady official promptly paid
into the honest appearing hunters hands
the legal bounty for wolf scalps-$S a
amounting in all to considerably
over 500. Teller Immediately immi-
grated to South Dakota. Ii was not nm