The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-16
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

omy has been made at the Georgetown College
Observatory. By means Of an instrument called
the photochronograph a star is caused TO record
with absolute accuracy the time of its own tran
sit across the meridian, tnuS eliminating all per
sonal errors.
Few KNOW how bananas sold from handcarts
are rlpened says the St. Louis Globe Democrat.
This business is almost exclusively in the
hands of Italians. who buy the punches when
they are green, they are cheaper when in
that condition than after they have been
ripened by time. Toe purchaser then proceeds
to apply the forcing process. The bananas are
cut from the central stem and laid in layers on
a mattress A blanket is then thrown over
th I'M and the owner makes this his couch. A
man with large and corpulent family has a
distinct advantage over his rivals in trade, as
he cau hatch out a great many more ripe ban
an9S from the green fruit than one who has
only himself to depend upon. The process is
much more rapid than the usual method of
allowing the fruit to hang uatil it is in proper
condition. When sales are brisk have known
Italians to keep their families in bed all day,
ripening their stock in trade Some experts
claim to be able to tell by the odOr whether
fruit has been ripened by Italians, but this has
always appeared to me to be without adequate
proof
CERTAIN active business man has discovered
new use for the theater. says the New York
Recorder. He is an inveterate theater goer
and a well known first-nighter at both dramatic
and operate events. It has always surprised
comparatively little about theatrical matters
despite his generous patronage of the drama
lie explained this to a questioning friend the
other night. 81 never 90 to the theater" he
said. Ito hear the play or the opera, simply
go there to think over my business. There is
something in the performances, of whatsoever
character they may be, that enables me to dis
tract my mind completely from all my sur
roundings. No one can break in upon me as
they can do if AN at home, and can sit and
give myself over completely to the consider
~ nEG la OF arfC
IS going on. tell you" he added enthusiast
tically. Il have thought out some of my best
business schemes while sitting in the glare of
the foothghts. l owe a great deal of my
fortune to the advantages of the theaters."
IN ONE of the rolling machine manufactures
in Fitchburg, Mass, there is a process in sue
cessful operation for forging articles by roll
ing, the rolling work being done between fat
bars working vertically, and having the form
cut into or raised upon the face According to
a published description of this esta blshment
and of the method in question, an extensive
business is done in making track bolts by this
means the head and threads being rolled hot
ana, In especial, the process of rolling threads
has been worked out to a great nicely the
product being as clean and accurate, and it is
alleged, the thread is much stronger
than II It were cut. 1t appears that there
are quite a number of articles used in car con.
structiOn that may be made to advantage in
this manner, and, in the making of pins for the
standard brake rigging degree of finish is at
tanned equal IN accuracy to lathe turning In
Deed this rolling process, in its adaptation to
accomplish more accurate work, is necessarily
superior, for the thickness of any article is reg
uIated bY the distance the movable bars are
kept apart. and this distance can be regulated
as closely as ordinary calipers can be set II
is also stated that the threads of the rolled
track bolts thus produced are SO strong that
they cannot be stripped by using an ordinary
track wrench.
THERE was lively time at the Buffalo CITY
hall Saturday morning 1t looked very much as
if Buffalo had been taken by the British for her
majesty's colors were floating at the top of one
of the flag poles in front Of the hall as freely
and proudly as though Johnny Bull really owned
the town. II was discovered by an empkoye of
the street department. He was on bis way to
work, and when he first discovered the union
JACK floating at the top of the pole he
had been paced there by the
weather office. crowd of men soon collected
and when it was discovered that il was the
British flag floating haughtily in their very
faces there was no small degree of excitement
and some very emphatic language One man
started on run for the Sixty-ffth regiment
arsenal and another TO notify police heldouar-
ters. But before they returned the crowd be-
came augmented TO not less than 100 men, who
became enra2ed and indignant The men
yelied ana finally 10y cmed the flag staff and
pulled the offensive emblem down. 1t was i'm
medlately torn into Shreds by the maddened
MOB. II was large silk flag of excellent man
ufacture. How it came there no one can ex
plain, but from the manner in which it was
fastened to the ropes it seems quite evident
that 1t was hoisted by some one who under
stood the business.
THERE isn't any city in the country where
pools are bought on base ball so extensively as
the business is done in Boston, said Fred
Glider, Chicago gambler AT the big pool
rooms here during the base ball season the
amount of money put up on base ball pools is
really surprising. On a good day something
lke e9,gOo have been PLAYED in one big pool
room that | could mention. The people who
frequent the pools are of all sorts and condi-
tons. There are sixteen combinations that can
be played on four clubs. and tue pools often
pay twenty-seYen TO one when the short enders
win. and the figure has run as high as fifty TO
one. The most playing is done on dos and
don IS. That's the name, and 1t means that the
people who 90 into the combinations bet
that clubs will win or won't. Sometimes
| the tail end clubs win, and then the
people that had the short end are happy In
these pool rooms you'll have some very curious
and interesting characters. Everybody bets
on base ball, from the man that comes in from
a nara Gay work to the dignihed man of bust
ness t1at doesn't care so much for the money
| as he does for the glory of winning. He bets
| on principle suppose In a season there are a
| good many thousands of dollars that are lost
and won on these pools A dollar buys pool.
| and the pool may win several hundred dollars
| Ii only few 5ple have the pool the individ-
| ual profit is pretty good. There isn't any
! other city N the country where such pools are
sold TO any extent, but in Boston they are all
| the go"
| A SMALL fishing schooner has Just returned TO
Tacoma, Wash, from trip along the coast and
brought with it party of three, being father.
son and daughter, who had an experience which
rarely falls to the lot of any one and which
they will not care to have repeated. The party
Is William Buchanan, his son Tom and his
daughter Nellie. Five weeks ago they started
on cruise along the coast in a small Yacht
taxing pleasure trip. They were provided
I with guns, ammunition and fishing tackle and
expected to have fortnight's sport and then
| return east. Miss Nellie was as
expert with the gun and rod as either
| her father or brother, and all three were
good sailors. About sixty miles south
sudden squat drove their yacht out 70 sea
ana wrecked the vessel on one of the small
| Islands about twenty miles off the coast Mr.
! Buchanan was badly bruised by being dashed
| against the rocks and Tom had his right arm
| broken IN similar way. hiss Nellie was the
| only one OF the party who received no lniurv
and II Is 10 this TACT alone that any of them are
allNe' Inc guns ammunition and fishing tackle
| were ali saved and Miss Nellie cared for her
| wounded relatives and then started out To pet
them something to eat. The island is out of
the way Of travel and in consequence not a
| vessel was seen for two weeks During ali this
time the Young lady hunted and fished. aud
was SO successful that they did not
| pass one day without food The
| island Is so fiat and barren that un-
less vessel gets close to it the people on board
cannon See it, They conld not use the little
Wooa they found for signal fires, for they were
AFRAID Chere would not be enough to serve for
COOKING their food. A storm had sent them on
Inc lslaLld and similar occurrence saved Them