Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-01
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS
The Bank Of France has at the present

/ G1cAAa
$3.50 oOQ. 900 in gold in its cellars.
"A black snake feet 81 inches long was
killed on Christmas near Mount Holly, n. J..
by George W. Craig.
Francis Christian, Of Muskegon, Mich,
was 100 years old the other day. His mother
lived to be 1O4 and he has q cousin who is now
in his Tooth year.
Last summer the Queen of Italy at
tanned the loftiest point ever reached BY a
European sovereign, by the ascent Of the
Breithorn, l3, TS5 feet.
The Empress Frederick has given orders
to have her castle at Cromburg put in tele-
phonic connection with the opera house at
Frankfort. so that she may hear the music in
her own home.
AN eagle attacked a peacock on the
farm of Henry Huber, near Barsboo, Wis
A,boy who tried to drive the bird away was at
tackled in turn and was badly hurt. Two men.
who finally came to the lads assistance, cap
tured the eagle. which measured feet from
wing tip to wing tip.
AN Englishman who came to this couu-
try 30 years ago. leaving wife at home, to
whom he soon after ceased writing, was amazed
Sunday at his boarding house in Cohoes, N. Y.
oy coming face to face with her. They eyed
each other for moment and then embraced.
She had been searching for years for him, going
Miss Martha Kah, of Cheyenne county,
Nebraska, is the only representative left OF the
missionary party established at Mandy, in the
French Congo, by Bishop William Taylor.
Though living wholly without white eompan-
ions IN one Of the most uncivilised parts Of
west Africa, she is too busy to repine over her
lot. She not only teaches school, but supports
herself by keeping up the plantation opened
Wnen the mission was started.
The first apple tree ever planted IN
Washington Territory can yet be seen alive
and vigorous on the home placs of William
Higgins, at Nesquany. 1t was planted by his
brother-in-law, DR.. W. 8. ToImie in 1850 The
doctor at that time was agent for the Hudson
Bay Company. who occupied that portion Of
Washington under the belief that the line Of
the British possessions went nearly az far
south as the Columbia river.
"A great discovery of fossil footprints has
Just been made at Bosworths quarry in Hol-
yoke, Mass. Here is a clean surface of shale
about l0Ox4O feet, on which are seen about zoo
tracks. Nearly all of them are in rows, the long
est one containing IL tracks. The tracks are
from six to eight inches in length, and were
probably made by a reptile that, If it had front,
feet seldom used them. This is, without doubt,
the largest uncoVering of tracks for many
years.
The weather this winter is much lika
that of the weather of 1879 if the memory Of
fault. Mr.. Ward remembers that the fall and
early winter of 1929 were very similar to the
present. He made grass butter that year until
January, 1880. and the weather was unusually
mild, but winter set in on the 9th of that
month, and four foot snow fell, which lay,
with frequent additions, until the following
April and for four days there was no eommu.
nication between Camden and Philadelphia.
John o. Foering, Chief Grain Inspector
Of the Philadelphia Commercial Exchange,
who recently made a tour of Investigation in
the Western corn belt, has been so impressed
with the magnitude of the corn crop that he
has dropped into a little calculation that shows
the crop to be pretty nearly large enough to
stretch girdle of freight cars around the
globe. Mr.. Foering says the crop of 200O.0O0-
900 bushels will require 1883 333 cars for its
transportation, and as the average length Of q
car is 35 feet, the entire length OF this man,
moth corn train would be 1866, ,665 feet, or
22.096 miles.
There are 1000 diamond cutters out Of
work IN Amsterdam alone. At meeting Of
more than 1000 of them recently held there, NJ.
Van Praag attributed the want of work chiefly
to the high prices of raw diamonds, and next
to the tendency of the jewellers to trade in raw
diamonds instead of devoting themselves to
their preparation for the market The speaker
counseled either the establishment of q work
ingmen's company, with 800 grinding stones
and capital OF 10000 forms, or the transfer
raw diamonds and the owners OF the diamond
fields were living.
MIR. W. B. Lockwood, who resides west
of Jefferson City, tells good true snake story.
Last Saturday workmen on Mr.. Daniel Wade's
farm, on the river and eight miles above town,
were engaged in excayating along the south
ern side of a ledge Of rock for some purpose,
and in their operations unearthed nest Of
snakes. The serpents were not very torpid,
and made things pretty lively for the men, but
they seized clubs and began a war Of extermi-
nation and soon laid out the last one. They
then counted up and found 38 reptiles mad
been killed. They were mostly black snakes,
some of them very large, measuring seven feet
in length and as thick through as mans arm.
According to paper read by Mr.. Gif-
fen before the Royal Statistical Society re-
Gently the accumulated wealth Of the United
Kingdom up to the year 1875 was, in round
numbers, worth 10000 million pounds sterling.
This would give E270 to every person in the
three Kingdoms, or an average Of e., $50 per
family. The estimate is a valuation Of the
United Kingdom as "a going concern"-Whieh
1T present is. Mr.. Giffen confesses that the
totals are somewhat bewildering. but is quite
certain that some such figures are about the
mark. Taking the countries separately,
England has s308 per head of property, Scot
and E243 and Ireland 693 Comparing the three
thus: Wealth per head of the population in the
United Kingdom, E270; in France, El9Oi in the
United States, fl60.
"A Kansas City lady has most unique
banner IL is as beautiful as it is unique. and is
priced by its owner for its beauty and oddity.
It is made OF the skin of an enormous rattle
make, with a background of plush. The snake
kin was sent the lady by friend who lives In
Texas 1t is beautifully tanned, the back being
,olored and covered with spots resembling
mall scales, which on the background Of plush
ook for all the world like mosaic. The skin is
,Ver five feet long without the head and tail,
md Il rattles denoted its age. In the widest
part the skin is nine inches in width, thus show
ng that in life the rightful owner Of the skin
which now adorns the lady's parlor must have
,een an ugly customer. A letter which pre-
,eded the present states that belts made OF rat
lesnake skins are much worn by the young la
lies of Texas, aud are common article Of