The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-11-11
TOWN GOSSIP.

TOWN GOSSIP.
petite, bright-eyed and black-haired
little woman smiled on small party Of
gentlemen last evening at The Helena when
they entered the parlors for brief inter.
view. She was Mrs. Abbott, now famous
as the Georgia strong woman, and she il
indeed strong but it is not the physical
strength that has made great the well
known actor John L. Sullivan. In the
course of an entertaining chat Mrs. Abbott
was compelled to admit that she did no,
know wherein her power consisted but she
knew that she possessed itand this was after.
ward made evident by several very salts
factory tests. She is as bright as she il
strong and is always more than willing to
talk about her almost supernatural power
1t will be remembered that Lulu Herst
startled the scientific world a few years ago
by her exhibitions of a strange and
marvellous force. This has since left her
and she is now back in Georgia at her old
home, which curiously enough is only ten
miles from Milledgeville, where Mrs Abbott
WAS raised. So far as is known these are
the only women of the kind, and yet there
are points of striking difference in the exhi-
billions Of the power. But what is tue pow
er! Is it magnetism, electricity, or hypnot-
ism2 DR.. William A. Hammond. the famous
New York physician, says it is the latter,
and as far as human knowledge goes he
should know. Mrs. Abbott was under his
charge for several months, and she thinks
he is wrong. because in all of her cxperi-
ments her hands never come in contact
with the human body.
~
Perhaps the most interesting experiment.
given last evening was the following: Two
gentlemen sat in hardwood chair. The
third placed his hands on the arms. Then
Mrs. Abbott placed her hands on his to
make evident that no physical force was
used. In moment a shock of electricity
was felt by the odd man coming from her
hands, and the next moment the chair with
the two heavy men began to rise from the
floor. 1t was simply unexplainable, but
there were other equally interesting expert
ments. For instance. while holding bill
lard cue on two fingers, three men tried to
bear it down. They did not move it frac-
ton of an inch, though their greatest
strength was e1erted. This is but part of
an exhibition given in public. She claims
to lift 1900 pounds as easily as one, and her
strength seems to increase rather than
diminish. %
~
Mrs. Abbott says she possessed this pow
er from childhood, and in this connection
tells of the first time it was made known.
She was little four-year old girl and had
not yet learned to walk because of her weak
ankles. One day she was sitting by chair
on which a man was seated. Suddenly she
grasped the chair by the round. pulled it
to her and giving it push sent the man
sprawling on the carpet. She was married
when thirteen years old and is now twenty
six, but never commenced giving public ex-
hibitions until year and half ago. She
was called a fraud until the greatest spec
ialists had examined her case and given 1t
up as one of the mysteries of nature. 1t is
undoubtedly an ele electromagnetic power of
some sort. Her exhibitions differ from
those of Miss Hurst in that she makes no
muscular efforts. While the latter's power
is similar she exerted physical strength and
was often compelled to rest for several
days after exhibitions. Mrs. Abbott has
missed but one performance and that was
in Michigan town, where it rained during
an entire day. The atmosphere SO affected
her that she was unable to summon the
force.
w
Frank Gibbons. the we'll known represen-
tative of st. Paul grocery house, makes
certain explanations which may interest
Housewives. 1t refers to the recent great
rise in certain lines of groceries which, how
ever, must not be accounted for by the
Mckinley bill. For instance, the prices on
nearly all dried fruits have advanced nearly
100 per cent. This is because of the general
failure of the fruit crop and especially ap-
Piles. The apple crop in all sections of the
United States is q failure with the excep-
ton of about a hundred square miles in
Missouri. The consequence is that dried
apples have advanced from seven to 20
cents. and the rises in other fruits are cor
responding. Then again, the corn crop is
short. This raises the price of glucose
which again sends syrups up. The short
age Of crop III California has caused all of
the large buyers to send detectives to watch
the growers. Contracts for the crops were
made months before and when it became
apparent that there would be shortage
the growers began to quietly gather in to
take advantage of the rise IN piices. Then
the detectives appeared on the scene to
watch matters.
-
By the way. what is a crop failure? It is
likely that this matter will soon be de-
termined in court, as MIR. Gibbons firm
has law suit now pending on this very
question. 1t is relative to contract con-
ditional upon the failure of crop. just
where to draw the lines between a crop, a
short crop, half crop and failure, is a
delicate matter which never, 80 far as is
known, has been settled in court. As even
tyro can see, Thousand and one ques-
tions may arise on this point. One gentle
man well up in prices, says that a crop is a
failure when it fails to reach the average,
and another says that half crop is fail
ure. Here is another point. The Della
ware peach crop is called failure but
peaches are shipped to that state where
they receive Delaware labels and are then
sent out into the country. This matter
may involve proving the identity of q gen.
uine Delaware peach after it is canned.
The entire question will doubtless prove
interesting when it comes before Judge
Hunts court.
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