Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-09
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

Berlin, with 1, ,315-6OO people, has only
9s,seO dwellings.
"A locomotive is running on the Chicago
and Alton road which consumes its own
smoke.
When the japanese hitch horse in
the street they accomplish it by tying his
| forelegs together.
Columbia, NO., is said to be the only
city in the United States whose census fig
ures are even thousands. The city has 400
! people.
| An orange tree only four inches high at
| Yuba City has borne this season a perfectly
formed orange about the size Of an ordinary
| currant-
| "A rattlesnake was recently killed in
| Orange county, Cal, that measured 20 feet
| in length and six feet in circumference. It
| had 27 rattles.
WHAT'S in a Name?-A fve-pound bass
is the largest fish ever taken from Lake
mauchoggogungamaug, near
Winsted, Conn.
An odd invention, manufactured at the
suggestion of New York lady, is an enam-
eled orange which opens and discloses q
watch in one half and purse in the other.
MIR. HI. E. Wells, of Inlay City. Mich,
who enlisted in q Michigan regiment and
was captured during the war, has not shaved
since he left Andersonville prison His
beared is now five feet nine inches in length.
George Rohrbach, Reading youngster
of years. weighs 100 pounds, and is 40 inches
around the chest-an inch more than his
father. George at birth weighed 16 pounds,
and a year and a half later tipped the scales
at % pounds.
A resident of Ansonia, Conn. declares
that it always rains there on the 25th Of
July. He says that his family has kept a
record of the weather for 100 years. and in
all that time there hasn't been a July % on
which 1t didn't rain.
"A barefoot girl of Big Stone, Tenn,
while gathering ginseng one day recently,
suddenly found herself in a rattlesnakes
den. When the battle was over she counted
63 dead reptiles about her, having escaped
herself without a scratch.
Huntington, Conn, had patriotic
festival in honor of the withdrawal of the
criminal suit against two boys for ringing
the church bell on July l. There were over
5000 people present. A band was engaged,
various speeches made and banquet given.
John Geiss, Michigan blacksmith,
got his foot tangled in q rope attached to a
balloon at Wenonah Beach on Saginaw Bay.
He called to the folks to hold him when the
balloon went up, but they could not. How
ever, he got his feet untangled before he had
ing in soft sand. he escaped injury.
Vegetation in the Alps recedes down.
ward from year to year. Formerly Alpine
roses grew at an altitude of 1900 feet. Now
they are seldom found higher than 6 500 feet
and are at that height stunted. BeecheS
have gone down to 1000 feet. Various ber-
ries, which once fourished 800 feet above
sea level, do not grow in higher attitudes
now than $500 feet.
1t is reported from Panama that a mon
ster shark was captured in the harbor there
recently. II measured nearly "a feet in
length and was four feet in diameter at its
greatest width. The skin was about a half
Inch thick. 1t was captured by q harpoon
thrown by fireman on the steamer Bolivar,
while in the vicinity of Toboga Island, and
the steamer was completely turned round
by the powerful fish when 1t was first made
fast.
"A man named White, while fishing near
public bath house in the Ohio at Cincin-
natl, felt a tug at his net that almost jerked
it from his hands. He exerted all his
strength, and brought his catch to the sur
face. 1t was boy, who lay exhausted and
senseless on the fsherman's ropes. The boy
was soon brought ashore, and, after hard
work, resuscitated. 1t was then ascertained
that he had been sucked under at the bath
house.
West fremont, Me-, has 5-year-old
heroine. Her name is Nettfe Lunt, and
during her mothers absence a gust of wind
blew some clothes from a rack on the stove,
and they caught fire. Nettie promptly sens
her sister Bebe, aged 3, after her mother.
Nettie then shut all the doors and windows
to prevent draft, and went calmly to work
to subdue the flames, which she held at bay
until help arrived. The Bar Harbor Record
says her dress caught fire, but she had the
presence of mind to put this out and still
keep at work, and no doubt saved the home
from ashes.
"A st. Bernard dog became involved in
q quarrel with two ours at Eighth and Ship
ley streets, Wilmington, Del, the other day.
The ours snapped and growled at the canine
bully, which turned and made the little fell
lows "Kfyi." Another dog, which. was
watching the row, saw that the ours were
getting the worst of the fight, and imme-
diately started for help. At Whiteman's
livery stable he found three collies and an
other large dog to whom the situation was
quickly explained by barks. The four stable
dogs maze a dash for the corner. When the
st. Bernard saw the reinforcements coming
he found that he had important business in
the direction of Market street The ours
thanked the collies for their timely aid by
wagging their tails, and the collies went
back to the stable.
For some reason or other the average
colored jockey is so brimful of superstition
that he can hardly get down to weight.
Jack Crittenden, the welI-known Pennsyl-
vania colored jockey, now living at Glouces-
ter, would rather lose every race for year
than see snake or bullfrog. The stable
boys discovered this the other day and one
of them placed dead snake in Jacks bunk.
The poor little fellow, when he touched the
reptile, grew ashy in his pallor flew
out of his stable into the night, and no in
ducement strong enough has been found for
his return. He firmly believes that the
dead snake was an evil omen, and that he is
hoodooed. Yesterday somebody slyly placed
a dead frog in Jacks pocket. The Jockey
firmly believes that the frog jumped into
his pocket and died. To prevent O recur-
renee of this kind he cut every one of his
pockets out yesterday afternoon and sewed
up the openings