Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1893-04-15
SOMEW HAT STRANGE.
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE.
Queer Facts and Thrilling Adven-
lures Which Show That Truth Is
Stranger Than Fiction.


Stranger Than Fiction.
CHANCELLOR McGnL, Judge of the
prorogative court of New jersey, has
filed an opinion revoking q probate he
had previously granted on pretended
will of George P. Gordon, the late mil
lionaire printing press manufactures of
Railway. The judges decision in effect
declares the will forgery, and the SEN
sational feature of the evidence upon
which the decision is based was the dis
covery in the red ink used, in what was
asserted to be the original draft of the
will made in 1868, chemical not in
vented until 1874, and not imported to
this country until after that. The chem
ical is eosne. 1t is commonly used now
in the manufacture of red ink, and is the
substance which gives req ink its bronze
coat, which is noticeable where the ink
has been used in writing, but is more
noticeable on the edge of inkstands and
on pens and rulers. A will offered for
probate soon after the death of Gordon
was not probated, owing to the discovery
that the witnesses had not signed it in
each others presence. The principal
benefciaries, however. under that will,
the widow and daughter of Gordon,
agreed to division of the estate, which
was satisfactory to the other heirs at law,
and the matter apparently was settled.
But retired lawyer, named Henry 9.
Adams, came forward with a will which
he said he had drawn for Gordon in
t. Il
terlineations in red ink. 1t contained
provision that the Adams farm was to be
purchased for $32, 600. Experts ex-
amined the will and found the red ink
to have contained eosine, which was not
discovered till 1874. On this testimony
probate was refused.
EXPEDITION Island is no more. Your
map shows it lying on the northwest
coast of Australia, about twenty-five
miles from the mainland. When it
fourished in all its glory, as it has since
time out of memory, it was a beautiful
tract of land, thirteen miles long and one
and half or two miles broad The
Swedish trader Laemstrom visited it
early in the spring of 1892, and the Dutch
naturalists of the Thignig gathered rare
botanical specimens and collected many
hundred sets OF eggs, to say nothing of
the many other objects of natural history,
during the months of May and June last
year. A vessel was sailing in those parts
quite recently when the officers remarked
the absence of the island. The captain
ordered that soundings be made. All
around thousands of feet of water was
found. Finally, upon observing that there
were no signs of breakers on the former
site of the island, he ordered that they
sail directly across where the island had
formerly been. Soundings were again
taken, which resulted in finding that the
island had only sunk to depth Of 49
feet below the surface. 1t was one of
the largest islands on the Australian
Coast and its sudden subsistence is
mystery.
A RECENT incident related in Russian
correspondence indicates that the hard
ships of Siberian exiles are by no means
over when their sentences expire. A
little girl of ten recently appeared before
Il
with petition in her hand asking aid
for her starving self alone. Her father,
it was learned, had been an official, and
for some o1fense or suspicion of offense
was sent to Siberia. When his term ex-
pired he was told to get home as best he
might. His wife was i'll and he was
penniless. He wheeled her in barrow
all the way from Siberia to Yaroslav,
the journey occupying many months, and
the little girl trudged on foot beside the
barrow begging aims on the road. Ar
rived in Yaroslav, the wife was so sick
they could 90 no farther. The father
could obtain no work, and was asked to
sell his little girl into servitude. AS q
last resort the unfortunate man sent her
to the Governor. The Governor could
do nothing, but the townspeople heard
cf the case, and subscription was opened
for the sufferers.
Two or three of the Oldest houses in
the United States are standing in and
about the fishing village of Port Penn on
the Delaware River in Newcastle county
Delaware. The main portion of the Dill
worth homestead, occupied by family
descended from a British post-captain,
who Economically married during the
Revolution the daughter of the patriot
Governor Alrich, is nearly 200 years old,
and an earlier part of the dwelling is
supposed to be half century older. Ivy
Lodge, the charming old Stewart home
stead, occupied by descendants of that
Sir William Stewart who forgot home
and title to become pioneer in the new
world is lozenge-shaped brick dwell
ling of the Revolutionary period. A
picturesque story-and-a-half cottage in
the rear Of Ivy Lodge is much older.
There has been Doctor David Stewart
practising medicine at Port Penn for 200
years.
THE pluckiest school teacher in Con
necticut, and as pretty us she is brave,
Is Miss Ellie Walcott of Newtown. She
teaches a small district school in Land.
End, two miles from the Hawleyvillc
station on the Housatouic Railroad. She
lives In Newtown and goes to Hawley.
Vile on the train every morning On
the day Of a recent blizzard, she found
that there would be no train, owing 10
the road being blockaded with snow.
Wrapping her cloak closely about her,
plnulng her skirt up 10 the height OF her
knees, with a pair OF rubber boots ou
a - "a u a