The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-02-02
MEN ABOUT TOWN.
Short Stories of Interest Gath.
cred at Random.
The Red Fish Of -Thompson's Trip to
Downieville-A Lawyer Admitted.
A Famous Linguist.

Frank Godfrey, the editor of the Paradise
of the Pacific, published at Honolulu, and
who has been stopping at the Occidental for
several days, says that tho stories of the red
fish in connection with the death of Kala-
kaua are simply inventions of the newspaper
correspondents.
''There is no truth whatever" he said,
sin the reports that the natives consider
them as the forerunners of the death of
chief AT certain seasons of the year they
appear in the harbor of Honolulu in great
numbers and are about as common as Smelt
are in San Francisco. They are small red
fish, exceedingly palatable, and are greatly
reished by the natives as an article of food.
The sharks create sad havoc among them,
and when the water is low on the bar the
former on account of their size are unable
to enter the harbor. and instead cruise back
and forth from Diamond Head to BARRIERS
Point in search of the red fish, which they
devour in large quantities. In order to es-
cape the red fish cross the bar and seek
refuge in the harbor, where they are per
fectly safe from their enemies"
THoMPsoN's FAMOUS TRIP.
"Did you ever hear of Kettle-belly Thomp-
sons famous trip from Gold Hill to Downie-
dohOu Ill stl IuC olduu LIZ
tel, last night.
"Neyer did, Ell? Why, John Gilpin and
General Sheridan were not in it with
Thompson. and the latter still lives to relate
his story. 1t was back in the SOS that
Thompson, with two companions, started on
an intensely cold winter day to walk over
the divide from Gold Hill to Downieville.
A few days previous there had been heavy
fall of snow. which lay in some places to
the depth of four or five feet, and this rem
dered travelling extremely difficult. The
journey up the eastern slope Of the noun
tains was a hard one, and when about half
the ascent had been made one of Thomp-
sons companions became exhausted, and
could proceed no further. In this dilemma
hole was aug in the snow, and the ex-
hausted man was placed In it TO keep him
from freezing until relief party could reach
him.
ga couple of miles further on a second
one gave out and Thompson cached him in
the snow, as he had done the first. Then h e
struggled on alone in order to reach his des-
tnatiOn soon as possible to secure aid.
Thompson was very stout and the exerton
sOoD began to tell on him. He succeed ed in
reaching the summit of the divide. how ever,
and there his strength deserted him CON-
pletely. Tue cold became more intense,
and, to avoid freezing, he decided to bury
himself in the snow. Finding soft place
in the snow he Sprang into 1t, drawing him
self together as he did so, and when he
struck the surface, instead OF sinking from
sight he began to roll. Faster and faster
down the mountain he went, the snow accu-
mulating like huge ball about him. The
people of Downievllle were alarmed when
they saw the huge snow ball flying down
upon them, but when it struck miner S
shanty it burst in two and Thompson
stepped out unhurt
"a relief expedition was formed and his
two companions rescued that night"
HOW HE WAS ADMITTED.
"One of the most amusing stories of the
San Francisco bar is that of John r. Jar
boes admission to practice before the Su-
preme Court" remarked a weil-known at
torney at the Palace last night
at seems that a committee, OF which the
late Judge Heydenfeldt was named as a
member, was appointed to examine Mr..
Jarb0e, and 1t was agreed TO meet IN the
evening. When the hour arrived all were
present but the Judge, and nearly an hour
was spent In waiting for him. Despairing
of his coming the other members decided to
proc eed with the business in hand, and i'm
mediately began to ply MIR. Jarboe with
questions. One or two had been answered
satisfa rtorily when II peculiarly perplexing
one was propounded, and the latter was
overheard By Judge Heydenfeldt, who at
that moment walked In at the door,
Addressing himself to the examiners, he
said: am surprised at such a question
coming from gentlemen of your understand
ing. Let me conduct this examination
HE turned abruptly to Mr.. Jarboe with
the question: Young man. can you drink
whisky cocktail?
Mr.. Jarboe biushingly replied that he
could.
"' Then you are eminently qualified to
practice in any court in California said the
Judge, with smile. Gentlemen, let US
adjourn
They made merry night of it, L am
told. and Oh the following day Judge Hey
denfeldt reported to the Supreme Court that
Mr. Jarboe had been carefully examined,
and was found to be well fitted to be ad-
mitted TO practice"
A FAMOUS LINGUIST.
"There are not three men in San Fran
cisco, probably, who can converse with that
man in his native dialect" said DR.. Gale
garis yesterday, pointing to a man who had
just passed out of his Office. "He speaks
what is known as Genoese, and it is as diff
ferent from pure Italian as is English.
There are fully a dozen dialects in Italy,
and each is an almost purely distinctive
language.
They were all mastered by Cardinal
MeZZofanti, who is now dead, and who could
speak fifty-siX dialects and languages. 1t is
related of him that while he was at the Vat
lean a traveller arrived In Rome from Asia
to be confessed, whose language no one
who met him could understand. Cardinal
Mezzofanti was sent for and found that even
he had never heard it spoken. By means of
signs he learned the strangers erraud and
that he had with him a dictionary of his
native tongue. This the Cardinal took, and
informing the Pope that he would be pre-
pared in twenty-four hours to confess the
man retired to his room. When, at the end
of the time named, he appeared and an
nounced that he was ready to proceed, it
was found that he had mastered the Ian
guage sufficiently to converse quite freely