The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1893-08-17
SOMEWHAT STRANGE.
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE.
Queer Facts and Thrilling Adven-
lures Which Show That Truth is
Stranger Than Fiction.

MISS NELLIE HOLGATE, clerk at Seat
| tie, Washington, had an extraordinary
adventure recently, according to her own
account. A month ago she went out
| alone in a boat for a row on Lake Wash
| ington, and the next morning the boat
was found empty, her hat and cloak were
| found in the water, and it was supposed
that she was drowned. AS she had
large insurance on her life, there was
suspicion that she was not dead, and the
search for her body was prosecuted for
long time. A few days ago she returned
to Seattle, and said that while she was
rowing, man and woman, who were on
the shore of the lake, called her. Sup
posing that they were acquaintances,
she rowed ashore, when the man pulled
her boat upon the bank and demanded
her money and her watch. He then
forced her to get into wagon with him
and the woman, and threatening her with
death if she called the attention of any
body they might chance to meet They
travelled by out-of-the-way roads until
they reached a ranch near Poca-
tello, Idaho, where they went to a
house to escape storm which was rag
ing. In the morning the people of the
ranch told her that her companions had
gone off without her, whereupon she told
her story, and they kindly assisted her to
return home.
! For many years Heidelburg University
has had the honor of owning the largest
barrel or "tun," as they call it, in the
world. They have had the honor, al
though it does not really belong to them,
for Arizona has barrel that makes theirs
fade into insignifcance. The one at
Heidelberg will not hold liquid, neither
will the one in Arizona. In this they
are the same, but are different in many
other ways. Arizona's barrel is the work
of nature, and it is on peak of noun
tain, about five miles from Aguas Calien-
tas, which is in the Catalina Mountains,
about sixteen miles from a railroad. The
barrel is one of those peculiar rock for
nations, and is about 200 feet high, and
the top of it is at least 1000 feet above
the valley. 1t can be seen for miles be-
fore the traveller gets to it, and its ap-
pearance is most deceiving- 1t requires
no effort of the Imagination to see the
large utensil of Bacchus perched on its
peak with glass under a faucet as il
ready to be filled. A large fissure in 6
certain spot forms bunghole. 1t doe:
not look like a barrel unless seer
from the plain; on all other sides it is
simply rugged rock. 1t is soft gran
ite formation of volcanic origin, and is
crumbling to pieces all the time. 1t is
so soft that half dozen men with picks
could knock it to pieces in few days.
The strangest case on record in the
history of criminal law in Texas has just
come to light. On December IL, 1899,
! Peter Meggs was convicted at Anderson,
/ Grimes County, on purely circumstan-
tial evidence of the murder of Michael
Ferry and sentenced to life term in
the State Penitentiary at Huntsville.
Two or three months after his arrival
there Ferry bobbed up in Western Texas,
where he was arrested for committing a
felony. tried and convicted and sentenced
to a short term in the same penltentiary
where his supposed slayer was confined.
The men recognized each other imme-
diately, but Ferry, being legally dead.
cannot testify in behalf of Meggs, and
the latter, being convict, cannot tes-
tify in his own behalf The matter has
been brought to the notice of firm OF
Galveston lawyers, one of whom is Con-
gresham Gresham, and they will summon
six citizens of Hampstead, where Ferry
is we'll known, to proceed to the peni-
tentiary to identify him. This being
done. steps will be taken to secure par
don for him from Governor Hogg in
order that he may testify in behalf of
Meegs. and thus secure the latter's re-
lease.
A SOUTH AFRICAN paper says that
man named Gleeson, who was sergeant
in the British army in India during the
| mutiny. and who died last December,
told his son-in-law, Mr. Hughes, of Pre-
toria, Transvaal, that during the Indian
war he, with two Others, murdered the
| King of Dude and stole the crown jew
els, which he buried near the spot where
the crime was committed. The two
| other looters were killed during the war.
| The day after the looting the Thirty
second regiment was ordered away, and
the Town was handed back to the enemy,
so that there was no time to secure the
Jewels. Since Gleeson's death Hughes
has been communicating with the Indian
government through the editor OF an
Indian journal, and as all the facts and
descriptions coincide, Hughes leaves
shortly for India to show the spot where
the treasure is buried near the battle
/ field. One diamond in the crown is sup
posed to be the Yellowstone to the IA
nous Koh-i-noor, now in the possession
of Queen Victoria, by whom it was sur
rendered by "The Lion of the Pun
jaub."
RATHER novel sight was seen on the
streets of Baltimore, Nd, the other day
The trolley on one of the large electric
cars on Lexington street became en-
tangled with the wire, and the entire
trolley apparatus was torn off the top OF
the car. The accident happened at a
time when travel over the road was un-
usually heavy, and it was necessary to
prevent blocka e. Lineman William
Scott was equal to the occasion. He
procured piece of insulated wire, and
after stripping each end of the insulating
material, connected one end through the
car roof. and standing OF the top of the