Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-21
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS

Missouri buys her convicts 81, 900 worth
Of tobacco year.
More water is consumed in Philadel-
phia than in London
The silver in the world is valued as
g, 200, 900 if the price is 81 an ounce.
The State Departments answer to Italy
cost the latter for cable message 1887 So
A Chicago paper. in advertising big
footed woman. puts great stress on the fact that
she is from Ohio.
The plug hat is said to be rapidly re-
placing the native headgear among the man
darins Of China.
An aerolite exactly the shape of hu-
man foot is reported to have fallen from the
SKY near Macon, Ga.
The Model Coffee House, Philadelphia,
which has seating capacity of 1000. is the
largest in the country.
The aggregate number of wife murders
by drunken husbands in the United States since
January l, 1885, is 1904,
"A mule belonging TO a farmer near Bel
ton, Tex. ate his owners coat in the pocket OF
which was an envelope containing S5l2
The railroads of Brazil and other South
American countries are said to pay much larger
wages than the railroads of this country.
"A Connecticut man has gone into the
business of propagating sewer rats. He sells
their skins TO kid" glove manufacturers.
"A farmer OF Henry county, Ga, claims
that for Is years he has partaken of nothing
In the shape of food or drink except butter
milk.
-Four colored men, three Cinnamon, a
Malay, a Maori and three Mexicans, all natural
lied citizens. of course. served on a Texas jury
in murder case recently.
An Indian chief visiting Chicago was
so impressed with the beauties Of false teeth
that he had his sound natural ones extracted
and complete false set inserted.
The juice of half lemon to each pot
full IS recommended to editors as good for pre-
venting the solidlfyIng and caking of paste. II
some contemporary will try this and let as know
the result we will be obliged
Native amateur photographers are said
to be very plentiful in Siam. So plentiful are
templated to pass laws for their suppression,
making their amusement capital crime.
A small iron safe containing about
s12, 000 worth of diamonds and other precious
stones was dredged up from hesbottom Of the
bay at San Francisco the other day. The
settings of the jewelry are in the sixteenth
century style.
recently opened near Wooster O.. there was
found musical instrument closely resembling
the modern mouth-organ. As the mound was
built by prehistoric men, the discovery Is OF
great interest
Chloride Of gold is used to produce the
beautiful purple of Cassius. compound Of tin
and gold of uncertain composition. but yield
ing magnificent ruby color when melted into
glass. A hundredth OF a grain will deeply color
a cubic inch Of glass.
The value of sealskins shipped from
Alaska to London during the % years of Amsri-
can occupancy fooss up nearly s33 000, 900. while
the total value of all other products during the
same period does not quite reach $50 OO0, 900, Of
which more than one-half or $4,000, 900, repre-
sents furs of various kinds, chief among which
is that of the sea otter.
Italians stand pre-eminent In Europe in
the number of killings. Taking the convictions
for homicide in Italy during 1883, the last tabu-
lated, there were sos for every 1000 inhabi-
tanrs. while in Austria there were but 2:l5; in
Germany. 0S0 and in England 0.40. Ten italian
murders for every German and 20 for every
English is certainly a remarkable showing.
"A resident of Cambridge City, Ind,
labors under the hallucinatlon that it is sinful
to talk. Coming into possession Of farm he
sold it for $1,000 and invested the money in
pocket editions of the Bible, and he gave
copies TO every person whom ue noL Until all
were gone. To any question his answer will
be. Lords willing" so be it" or "Be it So"
The average number of American pat
ents issued yearly is about 10000 Compared
with tine number issued in any other country
this is very large. England. which comes near
est TO US, only issues about 800 TO 5.OUO year,
and its system is very much more lax than ours.
Patents are issued without any conditions as to
novelty or merits and not applications in 100
are rejected In Prussia the number granted
icI Iasa Nj Ra1o frxO0
The importation OF rough and uncut
diamonds in 1880 amounted to sl29, POT in 1889
to $3.50. 1877, and the total for the decade was
So, ,IS3, ,629 while in 1889 there were imported
s443, ,s96 worth, showing that there was 81 per
cent more cutting in 1889 than in 1880, but
markedly more in 1882 and 1888. The imports
of diamonds and other stones not set, during
the past four years are given as follows: 1886,
50 254 1885, 1887, sl06S6 4OS; 1888. So $50; 1889,
sll, 1888.
"A railroad of international importance
has been projected, the funds for building
which will be derived in large measure from an
enormous concession granted by Mexico The
plan is to build from Deming. New Mexico, 40
miles from the international boundary, to some
port on the Gulf of California; also to extend
the line from Deming via Albuquerque TO Salt
Lake City. Utah. Mr.. John w. Young, son of
Brigham Young. who has for many years been
a railroad builder, has the concession, and will
a British syndicate that has contracted to ad-
vance s50.0 900 as the money may be needed
on the bonds of the companp.
The employees relief fund of the Penn
sylvania Railroad Company In 1890 had the
large income of S531 564 II. in addition to sl49-
l56 S6 already on hand. OF this grand total of
$780, 40 81 there was disbursed to the families
of employees In death benefits and for sickness
ana accidents the sum of S466, 294 II and for ex-
penses S69 53S 0l.leavng balance Of Sl44, 56S S.
The company contributed S75,5ll and the re-
mainder of the receipts were from the small
monthly fee paid by the employees and from in
terest on investments. The number OF persons
death benefits was 34l, making
average in each case of $500 q There were T.
984 members of the fund at the close of the
year.
"A great amount of railroad building
Is going on all over Switzerland, sparing
mountain, no valley, and it is surprising to find
that this most difficult of all countries for rail-
road engineering, should possess relatively
more railways than the New England States.
In the latter there is one kilometer of railways
to every IL square kiometers of land; in Swirz-
srland one TO every IL square kilometers; in
other words, the New England States are four
md half times larger than Switzerland, and
nave but three times more railways. although
IN Switzerland one-half of the country is oc-
,upied by the highest mountain ranges Of
Europe. The receipts average in the New
meter; in Switzerland, $500, which difference
srawr al