St. Landry democrat., 1893-09-30
SOMEWHAT STRANGE.
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE.
queer Facts and Thrilling Adven-
lures Which Show That Trutb IL

! Stranger Andn FICTION.
ON small island in the extreme south
OF the island empire of Japan, where E
few thousand peasants and fishermen live
ID isolation, are two curious little vii
lagos, and in these are two schoohouse.
with romantic history, saws the Illustra
| ted News. They represent unselfsl
kindness, gratitude, international good
| WILL missionary spirit, and practical
sense in its manifestation In Septem-
Der, 1885, the American bark Cashmere
was wrecked in cyclone some two hun
dred miles off the japanese coast Seven
sailors in the only ships boat that was
saved reached this island after intense
suffering, while three sailors and the cap
tain S little son remained on the wreck.
1t drltted so near to the coast that they
escaped on a raft and reached village
near that inhabited by the seven sailors.
| All were nearly dead from exposure and
iamine, but the Japanese islanders
treated them with such kindness that all
recovered, and on arriving at San Fran
CISCO were earnest i'll asking that some
F., thang be done to award their benefactors.
4 Horace F. Cutter of San Francisco. pre-
l
! signed, and presented in Congress by
| 'senator Jones, of Nevada. The govern
mept sent gold medals to the principal
rescuers, and $1,000 was voted to the two
vhlages-Anjio and Isaki. On the rec
osamendatlon of Minister Swift the
! money was used to endow two schools,
and photographs of the two buildings
Eave recently been forwarded to Mr.. Cut
I ter: The island is Tancga-Sima, thirty
miles from the main island of kin-Sin
ana the native photographer had to travel
sevcnty-tive miles from Kagoshima to
| take the pictures. They are quite up
to the standard of San Francisco art,
and were paid for by the Japanese gov
eminent. In each village the people
have set up monument by the school
house "to commemorate the goodness If
the people of the United States.''
JUDGE J. B. BOWMAN, who lives near
marlborough, Ky, gave correspondent
an account Of wonderful snake fight
that he recently witnessed. He was
going through a strip of woodland on
the way to his wheat field, when his at
tention was attracted by peculiar noise
near his pathway. Looking in the drec-
ton whence the sound proceeded he OBJ
served blacksnake and rattesnake
tHined together in deadly combat. The
Hacksnake was wound about its venom
tous enemy, endeaeoring to squeeze the
life out of him. The judge became an
eager spectator of the novel combat.
Ever and anon the rattesnake would
bite the blacksnake. Then a remarkable
thing would occur. The blacksnake, IS
soon as bitten, would uncoil him
self, dart for small bush and bite off
one OF the leaves. He would moisten it
IN his mouth, press out the Juice, apply
it to the bitten place and then return to
his enemy again. This was repeated
several times until finally the blacksnake
squeezed the life out of the rattler.
Judge Bowman says he never kills black
snakes. He says it is their mission and
one they greatly enjoy, to destroy all the
venomous serpents they can find. The
Judge has pet blacksnake that stays in
his barn and keeps away all the rats and
mice.
AN accident so peculiar that similar
one rarely comes into the scope of a
physicians practice came to the attention
of Doctor Wagner, of Bridgeport, w.
Va, few days ago. Thomas Lowry. a |
miner, was working entirely alone in a
coal mine owned by Clark Patterson, out !
from the National pike short distance. |
A large ledge of soapstone fell on Mr..
Lowry, breaking his thigh and bruising
his body most painfully in many places |
The stone falling on him put out his
light, leaving him. far in the mine in
darkness. He could not reach the
matches to relight his lamp, but after
painful Intellectual efforts the wounded |
man finally got hold of his drill, which
lay at some distance. and pried the
heavy stone from his broken limb. The
coal cart was some distance away, but he
succeeded in lifting his broken leg into
it, aud with his we'll limb guided the
car to the mouth of the bank, where he
called for help. Doctor Wagner, who
dressed the Injuries, says he has seldom
known of such an exhibition of nerve.
MARTIN URToN and Will Meadows
tell the champion snake story of the sea-
ton, says the Banning Cali Herald.
While in the fields they heard a commo-
ton in the grain and soon saw two
snakes writhing and twisting in mortal
combat. On closer view it proved to be
q rattlesnake and a red racer fighting for
dear life. The racer had the rattlers
neck in his mouth and was making an
heroic effort to swallow him. They
struggled for some time, and at last the
'attlesnake's head began to disappear
Town the throat of the racer. He twist
I'd and ratified furiously, but of no avail
le was "strictly in it, with a vengeance.
When about two thirds of the RATHER
lad disappeared, the two men caught
oo>h snakes and tried to take them to
own, but the racer became angry at be-
ng disturbed, and after several efforts
1t last disgorged his repast.
In Windham County, Connecticut,
ives Hulitt Hazewell, who for twenty
i've years has made his home among the l
branches of an ancient chestnut tree on |
farm owned by him. He has the repu- t
alton of being well off, and his residence {
Il the treetop is the result of bet made {
n 1868 that Horatio Seymour would be '
lected President. Hazewells house I
ests in the forks of several large limbs I
bout twenty feet from the ground, and i
as we'll built as if it had been intended i
0 stand on the ground. The eccentric a
OCCUPANT has made friends with the birds
nd squirrels of the neighborhood, and f
I summer they 60 in and out of the tee t
yelling at will. i
THE other night shop on one of the y