Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-03
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

Ice is selling for 25 cents per 100 pounds
at Macon. Ca.
Canada claims to be larger BY 500, 900
square miles than the United States, including
Alaska.
SO much snow has fallen in Switzerland
this summer that it has put stop to mountain
climbing.
1t is said that coyotes have killed more
J than 600 lambs on one ranch near Napa, Cal,
I since last fall.
Apples 10 and II inches in circumfer-
ence are raised in Southern Florida. They are
said to be of fine favor and juicy.
"A bolt Of lightning in a Kansas town
recently struck house and set it on IRE, and
at the same time touched OF the fire alarm.
Ivan Ivanovitch, aged 1O5 years, has
just departed Shis life in Russia, after having
gone to bed drunk every blessed night for 81
years.
The form of real estate deeds has been
reduced from three pages TO one in New York,
and the cost of recording from 81 IS to 90 cents
and 81 each.
The second International congress of be-
levers in cremation will soon meet in Berlin.
The first congress of 10 delegates took place in
Dresden in 1875.
The other day a man over at Inde-
pendence (Kan.) was fined 81 for whipping his
wife, and the same day another citizen Of thas
place was placed under bond of s., 900 for sell.
ing whisky.
"A trial has been made at Civita
Vecchia of a nautical ball invented by signor
Balsamelle. It is seven feet in diameter. and
! can hold four persons. When closed it sinks,
and is steered and propelled under water by
rudder and screw.
For some days past the clay diggers in
Brown & Clark's brickyard. at Grand Rapids,
have been bothered by wet ground. While at
work yesterday vein Of water was struck that
| fairly gushed from the ground, overhowing
| everything Since then it has been flowing at
| the rate Of $1,000 barrels an hour, and the
| Grand Rapids people think they have struck IL
rich. The water is cold and pure and the sup
| ply seems inexhaustible.
The remains of the bones of 23O French
soldiers who died at Berlin of the wounds or
| injuries received in the i'll fated Russian eaUl-
paign of 1872 were moved into new grave
| few days ago. When they were first buried
| they were all put in one large grave. Some
| years later Prussia wanted the space for new
barracks, and the remains were removed to
more convenient place. Now another new bar
racks is to be built above their second resting
place, and once again they have had to move
on"
York Beach, Me-, has ready for use a
marine railway, the invention Of one of the
prominent residents of the town. 1t is con-
structed somewhat after the style of truss
bridge, only that the bottom and lower half OF
the sides are planked up so that 1t can be hlled
with stone to prevent its floating or moving
| about. A floating device for bathing is at
tached to the extreme or water end, where
| persons who cannot swim may go into water
| many times over their heads without the posi-
| btltty OF an accident.
There are more ducks in the Chinese
Empire. says an authority, than in all the
world outside Of it. They are kept by the
Celestials on every farm, on the private roads,
on the public roads. on streets of cities, and on
all the lakes. ponds, rivers, streams and brooks
in the country. Every Chinese boat also con-
| tains batch of them. There are innumerable
| Matching establishments all through the EN-
| pire, many of which are said to turn out about
| $1,000 young ducks every year. Salted and
smoked duck and ducks eggs constitute two OF
| the most common and important articles Of
| diet in China.
| Cyrus Booker, who killed himself near
| Saginaw yesterday left this bit of ghastly con-
| ISOLATION TO his parentsi "Dear Father and
Mother-I am tired of life. 1t has lost its
charms for me. / have nothing to live for, no
one to care for and no one cares for me.
Therefore, l shall seek rest in the grave. Don's
| say it was foolish to commit such an act for
| you know not my heart, and you are not COM
| petent to judge. Don't say he was insane, for
| my mind is as clear as yours Don't mourn I0r
| me- l shall be much better on, and prefer q
| suicides grave rather than life of misery.
| Forget and forgive your unhappy son, Cyrus"
Several months ago a chewing gum
factory at Cleveland, O., conceived the idea Of
making new brand of gum, wrapping 1t in
imitation S. greenbacks, and calling it Green
back Chewing Gum" 1t was put on the mar
ket and made hit large lots Deing sold A
Government detective, who chews gum, bought
| a stick of the brand, and he at once saw in the
| imitation s5 bill violation of the statutes OF
| the United States. He notified the Treasury
Department at Washington of his discovery,
| and this telegram was sent out to all the dis
| trict secret service officers: "'Greenback
| Chewing Gum has a wrapper that is a violation
| of section 5,430. Suppress it" Large seix-
| ures of the article were made, and the sale
| stopped.
j. W. Funk, farmer Of Hayw orth, ILL.,,
is one of the IA 900 inventors who are competing
for the prize of sl26, 600 offered by the Govern
ment of New South Wales for the trap which
may be decided to be the most likely to be ef-
tective in Kidding that country of its fearful
pest of crop-destroying rabbits. He has re-
ceived letter from Australia saying that the
committee which is to decide the matter has
loUked with favor upon his model, and inviting
him to visit Australia and demonstrate the
in a few weeks. The trap is simple and cheap.
It Is a device to dump the rabbits one at a
time into pit by means of q platform swung
on pivots below a suspended bait In trap OF
similar device he caught 81 rabbits In one night
in n cornfiald