St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1891-09-26
SOMEWHAT STRANGE.
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE
Queer Episodes and Thrilling Adven
lures Which Show that Truth Is
Stranger than Fiction.

Queer Episodes and Thrilling Adven-
lures Which Show that Truth Is
Stranger than Fiction.
THE Rev. J. Murray, in his work on
the creation, relates that on one occasion
an acquaintance of his was out shooting
ducks. On reaching bend of the
stream he saw six wild geese out Of range.
lie crouched down in the hope that they
would presently come nearer. While
thus concerted he observed a fox steal
ing down 10 the bank, on reaching which
he remained m0tionlcss with his ewes
fixed on the geese. AZ length he re
tired, but presently appeared carrying in
his mouth very large bundle of moss.
He entered the wafer silently, sank him
self, and then, keeping the moss above
the water. himself concealed, he f0ated
among the geese. Suddenly one Of them
was drawn under the wafer, and the fox
soon appeared on the hank with the
goose On his back. Close to the waters
edge he found hole, caused by the up
roofing of u tree. This hole he cleared
ont and enlarged, placed the goose at
the bottom of it, and covered his prize
with leaves and dry litter, of which there
was abundance close at hand. The fox
then took his departure. and the inter
cstcd watcher went to the hole and re-
moved the goose, taking. care to restore
things TO their former appearance. Then
he resolved to observe what followed.
In about half an hour the fox returned
III company with another. They went
straight to the place where the goose
had been buried and removed the earth
No goose there. They stood looking at
each other for some time. and then sud
denly the second fox attacked the other
most furiously, as if cnraged by having
a trick played upon him.
WINoSA, Mimi, is stirred up over the
awakening Of Herman Harms, known as
the Minnesota sleeper, who has been tax
ing n sixteen years nap. He Is very
much emaciatcd, but appears to be en-
tirely rational and there is hope that he
may recover. The case is q most peculiar
and uncommon one one that has batled
the skill of the best physicians. 1t is
also one that presents a vast field for re-
search. Mr.. Hams lives On farm a
few miles north of St. Charles, Mimi
He was born in Germany in 1888. He
was married to Miss BuSeman in 1863,
and his faithful wife has guarded him
through all these years OF torpidity.
Some sixteen wears ago he was attacked
by fever and had intense pains shoot
ing through his head. His physician
recommended him to move to a colder
climate-Minnecota. lie accordingly
moved to Minnesota thirteen years ago.
During his stay in Illinois he did no.
sleep all the time. but since he came to
Winona he has slept all of the time ex-
cept al interval OF a year an a half be-
ginning with 1881 and two months Of
1889 and 1880. When he was sleeping
he could only be awakened by his wife
touching him on the head. Calling had
no effect on him. lie took no nourish-
ment at all to speak of and then only
condition. >.
JAMES CARSON, hunter and trapper,
has tAka2 70 Hebron, Neb., a large num-
Der of patrifactions from the Bad Lands.
There are fish, bugs and reptiles in large
quantities, but the most curious of all is
the perfect petrifaction of a human
skull and that of some sort of flying
snake. The conformation of the skull
is perfect, the sutures in the bones being
plainly visible The interior is of solid
rock and it weighs about fifteen pounds.
The head is rather larger than the head
of the ordinary man, measuring nine and
three fourths inches in its largest diam
eter. The forehead is heavy, but the
back of the head is fiat. The flying rep
tile is perfect in formation, being about
four feet long, with two legs, and evil
dences that at one time wings grew at the
back. The head is elongated and it evil
IDENTIFY had bill like a bird. Carson
says that these petrifactions were found
in an almost inaccessible part of the Bad
Lands, and he had reason to believe that
there is rich field there for some one
who understands the value of the find.
The head of fish was sticking out of
the shale, and in an idle moment he dug
it out. This led him to make an inves-
tigation and he found perfect mine of
the specimens.
PROFESSOR THOMAS J. MURRAY of
New York tells wonderful story of the
results of his kindness to a common
house fly: "For two weeks the fly flew
around my house without much notice
being taken of him; then he began to
make advances and soon permitted me to
handle his wings. We called him
Dick; at breakfast every morning
Dick was fed sugar to his hearts con-
tent, and would sit on my finger and
corkscrew his legs and rub his head.
Presently made endeavors to teach him
various tricks, which, at first, were some
what of q failure. Soon he had adj
vanccd in the art until he would allow
me to lift him up on toothpick. Soon
after | could place two of the little
splnters under him and by deal Of pa
thence and coaxing induce him to stand
on his hind legs. Then again | could
place him on the table and have him
Jump over them successfully, like cir
Gus rider Jumps the hurdles. One of the
most singular habits he has is to fly at
my finger like bantam cock at an enemy
whenever he becomes enraged.'
A FEW days ago 3 gentleman visited a
large foundry in Chicago and noticed a
number of Polish girls lifting chunks of
rosin from one barrel to another. "What
is the object Of thatN' he asked the su-
perintendent. ut seems to me you
might transfer that rosin much more
quickly" sob, that's all right" he
answered. 1--WE have them do this work
for awhile to harden their hands before
they undertake to handle rough and
heavy castings The girls themselves
never suspect that the work they are
doing is not needed. They are working
here now in good faith, as you see, ana
not one of them is quick wittcd enough
to suggest that there is better way to
transfer Several barrels of rosin across