Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-04
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

| FLOORS OF rubber, claimed TO De as dura-
Bile as asphalt end cheaper. are being tried
i in Germany.
"A tramp stole a razor and opened up a
shop in q boxcar near the firebrick works
| at Mexico, Mo. He shaved 25 men in half
day, pocketed 81 so, and again took the
| road
1t would take all the Lancashire cotton
| factories 400 years to spin a thread long
enough to reach the nearest star at the pres
| ent rate of production of about 155, 900 900
miles per day.
"A resident of Minneapolis has fallen
heir to three big fortunes very recently.
| The smallest of the three ismore than $4,000.
and is from relatives totally unknown to
the lucky man.
Two immense gum trees, which tower
over 100 feet above n little church in Guate-
mala, are so feet in circumference, and have
pushed the foundations of the church out
of place by their strong roots.
The grave of Brigham Young is covered
by plain and inconspicuous slab of granite.
1t lies in an inclosed city lot in Salt Lake
City. surrounded by a low iron fence. Afew
of the prophets wives lie buried near by.
Statistics on the Hebrew population of
the world show that there are {, ,3O1 $50 in
Europe. 394, 900 in Asia, 5O7 800 in Africa, 2s5-
200 in America, Is, 500 in Australia and 500
in New Zealand, making total of ], ,4O4, $50.
king Kalakaua's effects have been sold
at auction. The Queen bought his boat
house at 81, COL while $. NJ. Damon, her hus
band, bouhgt the dead king arm chair, pay
ing 80 for it. The total proceeds of the sale
were only little more than $500.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company is
about to put on a new train to be known by
the name of the "Illindopany Special" This
mongrei word is conglomeration of the
first letters of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Penn
sylvania and New York, the States through
which the train will run.
"A 3-year-old gray-hair seal weighing
about so pounds was caught the other day in
a salmon seine near The Dalles, in Oregon.
Another seal, said to be twice as large as the
one described above, was caught in one of
the fish wheels of Winans Bros on the
Washington side of the river. 1t is seldom
that seals follow their prey so far up the
river.
The Government of Spain has granted to
two merchants in Angola Africa, the exclu-
sive privilege for ten years, of exporting
from the Province of Angola a new indus
trial product invented by them and ex-
tracted from common tubercule, which has
not yet been scientifically classified for any
industrial purpose. The product is to be ap-
piled to the tanning of hides.
AN English paper offers an answer to a
question often spoken: The Authors So
ciety is asking why the publishers don't cut
the edges of their three-volume novels. The
answer is simple. Nine-tenths of the public
buy book by its appearance, and "Pater-
noster Row" loves "a fat book" Now if the
edges wer cut. a thicker and moro expensive
paper Is needed to produce the same bulk
than II the edges were lett uncut.
"A prominent official of the Reading
Railrad addressed porter on the train as
John" The latter said: 81 beg yo' paw
IN pvoh I, it ;e
to call me 'potah,' and that title, sab, will
answer to. You have not an acquaintance
with me, sab, that warrants you calling me
by my Christian name, sab, although if you
not John, sah-I will be happy to give you
my cahd, sah." The official was overcome.
&C. b. Winn, of Albany, Ore, cap
tured peculiar looking moth the other day,
and being somewhat of naturalist himself,
he sent it to Prof. f. L. Washburn, entomol-
ogist, at the State Agricultural College, at
Corvallis. 1t was beautiful specimen. .resem-
bling in size full-plumaged butterfly The
professor, in acknowledging the receipt of
the specimen, said it was an American silk
worm, telea polyphemus, which is not COM
mon enough in this country to be Of
economic value.
"A curious mass of metal was found in
the heart of burning pine stump in the
yard of Mr.. j. NJ. Richey, Is miles from Che
welah, Ore. 1t is not often that metal of any
kind is melted out of old stumps of trees,
but such was the case when Mr.. Richey set
fire to this stump. He saw the melted lead
dripping down from the heart of the stump.
and the specimen now on exhibition was
dug from the ashes. 1t is supposed that the
tree had been used asa target some years
ago by the Indians, and had been shot full
of lead.
The neighbors of James Striebel, Of
Brownstown, Ind, are inclined to believe
that he is an object, even in his grave, OF
the divine vengeance. Striebel was killed
by lightning last summer just after he had
shouted out a ablasphemous curse at the ele-
ments. His friends buried him and erected
n stone monument nine feet high to his
memory. A few nights ago this monument
was struck by thunderbolt and shivered
into pieces, and the superstitious people are
much exercised over the circumstance
power that rules the universe.
Willie Carroll, of Augusta, Ca, was a
page in the House of Representatives at
Washington for four years. His salary was
S75 month. Last year he gave it up to learn
electricitv. He went to Augusta and started
with the electric road there at $50 month
to learn the business. 1t was not six months
before he was in charge of the operating de-
partment of the road at a good salary. He
has just given that up to go to Chattanooga
ana take charge of the electric roads there
at handsome salary. One years study of
electricity, In practlcal way, starting at the
bottom, has placed him in a position to earn
q salary equal to thatof Judge of the Su-
perior Court
Wichita, Kan, hasn't as big boom
on now as it had two or three years ago,
though it is still a bustling town of $4,000 in
habitants. Among its interesting features
are its institutions of learning, which
haven't much past or present, but great
future. There is Fairmount College, which
the Congregationalists put up at a cost of
500 OO0 1t hasn't any students yet. Wichita
University was built by the Lutherans at a
cost of 500 000 and is in operation The
Presby yterians have fine site for a college,
but prudently refrain from building Just vet.
Garfield University is to be one OF the big
things of the West when finished. 1t will
cover an acre and half of land and will ac-
$500 students. At present it
a much smaller number,
however.