Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1890-10-09
SOMEWHAT STRANGE.
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE

ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE
Queer Episodes and Thrilling Adven-
lures Which Show that Truth is
Stranger than Fiction.
THREE years ago a family named Dell
came to Morristown, Penn, from Ger
many. They were to tell their friends
and neighbors, named Wagner, shortly
after their arrival, whether it would be
advisable for them to come also. Shortly
afterward, and for long time, the Wag-
ners received glowing descriptions of
America and urging them strongly to
come. These letters were ostensibly
written by the Dells. Finally, they con-
Guided to send their daughter Margaret
toverify these reports and help them to
JOIN her. When she arrived at Norris
town she discovered that the Dells-
whom she could not find-had not writ
ten to her family, but that the letters
urging them to come were written by q
rejected lover named Thomas Smith, who
took this means to be revenged on his
obdurate sweetheart. Nothing daunted
the plucky Margaret sought and obtained
employment at a low salary in family as
servant. Thinking she could earn more by
so doing she afterward donned male attire,
purchased an outfit and secured work in
Dartzells limestone quarry. There she
was known as Nick Deibert. No one
suspected her sex. But as she would not
Join the men in their orgies on pay day
She was eventually suspected of being a
spy and the cause of the discharge of two
men. Finally, at the end of five months,
the men demanded her peremptory dis
missal on that ground.
Margaret, taking in the situation, told
her story to Superintendent Ellsworth
and revealed her sex. She resumed her
feminine attire while the men were sent
for and told of their mistake and of the
girls vicissitudes. Their wrath forth
with changed to sympathy and purse of
500 was presented to her right there and
then. With this and $3.50 she had saved
she intends to send for her parents.
A STRANGE account of the travels of
diamond recently came to light in the
South African diamond fields, says the
Jewellers Weekly. The authorities,
although they have a record of nearly all
the valuable gems ever found IN the
fields, know nothing of the one that is
the subject of this inquiry, except what
has been revealed by the efforts of the
alleged owner to establish his claim. The
claimant is seaman on the Drummond
Castle, one of the fleet of steamships ply
ing between England and the Cape of
Good Hope. He asserts that in 1888.
while in st. Paul de Loando, he found
= the stone, which he kept as an attractive
pebble. He often showed the stone to
his messmates, but one day missed it un-
der circumstances that caused him to
believe that fellow sailor had stolen it.
Subsequently he saw an account of a
large diamond alleged to have reached
the London market by indirection. 1t
was described as Clipped and having
flaw in it, which reminded him of some
of the peculiarities of his lost pebble.
He was afterward favored with view of
the diamond, and at once pronounced it
the pebble that had mysteriously been
taken from his possession. The claimant
alleges that the stone was sold by the
thief at Port Elizabeth to merchant,
who is reported to have realized fabu-
lous sum upon it. The seaman has taken
the necessary steps to establish his title
to the gem, and if his proofs are as con
vincing as his story is remarkable he will
probably recover it. 1t is unfortunate,
however, that the authorities arc in
clined to disbelieve the story of the tar.
THE Manhattan Elevated Railway of
New York City, has just avoided a cur
ious suit for damages by paying small
sum to the aggrieved person. Not many
weeks ago an old gentleman, with bundles
in both hands and ticket between his lips,
toiled up the stairs on an elevated rail
way station, and hurrying along toward
his train attempted to deposit his ticket
by simply opening his mouth over the
ticket choppers box and trusting the
rest to gravity. But gravity did its work
too we'll, for not only did the ticket fall
in, but along with it fell his false teeth.
The old gentleman, amid the unsym-
pathetic grins of the assembled crowd,
set down his bundles and vainly endeav-
ored to fish out the teeth. Then an officer
of the station came to his aid with bent
wire, but the teeth refused to bite, and
while the old gentleman was looking
around for some bait with which to tempt
his lost property the impatient ticket
chopper pumped the teeth and sundry
accumulated tickets into the hidden
bowels of his box, and the old gentleman
went on his way in an unpleasant state
of mind. In due time his complain. in
writing reached headquarters, and now
by the advice of counsel the company has
paid for one set of false teeth.
THERE was recently an 1S-year
girl visiting in Keokuk, Iowa, who is
seven feet and eight and one-half inches
tall and weighs 232 pounds. Her name
is Ella Ewing, and she is known as the
Missouri Giantess. She was accompanied
by her father and mother, Mr.. and Mrs.
Benjamin Ewing. She was born in
Scotland county, Mo-, in 1872, and she is
the only child of her parents. Up to the
age of Miss Ella was an ordinary child,
but after that she began developing
rapidly and has not yet attained her full
growth.
She has an aversion to publicity, and alb
solutcly refuses to be exhibited as a curl
osity. Large sums have been offered her
parents by showmen, but all have been
declined. Some idea of her immensity
can be obtained from the fact that it
takes twenty yards of cloth, double
width, to make her dress, while her
mother only requires nine. Her father is
feet inch in height, and her mother
only feet inches, and none of her rel
atives on either side has been noted for
unusual size.
THE retirement of the eccentric Couu-
+nee Sorolta Nav to the nI1ipt Of n home