Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1893-04-22

| strings SeVerat TIMES WHICH a het vas
touched He knew thst this was be-
cause something was the matter with the
hammer-tapes. the purpose of which is
to hold the hammers so that they shall
strike the strings but once. He found
that every one Of the eighty odd pieces
of tape had disappeared and the mouse's
nest was soon discovered. 1t was a
bunch large as ones fist, composed of
the missing tapes, chewed into pulpy
mass. The mice generally enter piano
by climbing up along the pedal shafts,
and almost invariably make use of the
hammer tapes for their nests.
A STRANGE case of imbecility is re-
ported from the public schools at Ali
ance, Ohio. State School Commissioner
o. T. Corson is in receipt of letter
| from G. G.. Davidson, superintendent OF
the Alliance schools, inquiring what can
be done with one of their pupils. IL is
stated that the pupil referred to is boy
who has been attending school for seven
years, and yet is unable to read or write.
In conversation and appearance the boy
/ would impress an observer as being pos
sessed of unusual intelligence. Yet he
is absolutely unable to learn anything.
In this connection Doctor Doren, of the
imbecile asylum, relates an incident of
how -year-old child was attracted
by a drum used by a strolling minstrel
band and performed the feat of walking,
which it had never before attempted.
THE only man who, it is said, ever es-
capped from Moyamensing Prison, Penn
sylvania, died recently in Frankford.
There was an execution at the prison
the day he escaped and the door of his
cell was left open. While the con
demned man was on the scaffoid the
occupant of the CELL who had not yet
been convicted and was consequently
dressed in his own clothes, walked out
and stood among the jurymen and others.
Noticing that they had left their hats in
the office of the prison. he went to the
office, made the excuse that he could
not bear to see a man hanged and, pick
ing up hat belonging to visitor, sig
nifed his intention of getting little
outside air. The obliging clerk on duty
opened the door and the quondam
prisoner walked out and was soon out
of the state. He was not rearrcsted.
SINCE the great caves of this country
were turned into show places close
watch has to be kept on visitors to pre-
vent their annexation of stalactites,
"cave acorns," gypsum crystals, and
other curious and beautiful formations.
Not even the broken stalactites lying
about the floor can be appropriated, for
these are gathered and sold by the owners
or lessees of these holes in the ground.
The slabs cut from cross sections of
stalagmites are beautiful when polished,
as they show concentric bands of brown,
yellow, gray, cream, and greenish, white,
like agates.
A ZIG bear chased Peter Hanes, an old
man of sixty years, through the woods
in Clarke county, Wash, the other day,
and was close at his coat tails when he
ran into the clearing of a neighbor named
Mccoy. AS both neared the house the
door opened and Mrs. Mccoy appeared
with a rifle in her hands, promptly let
drive at the bear, and bowled him over
dead Then the ungrateful Peter
claimed the hide, as the finder of the
|
as compromise it was agreed that he
and his rescuer divide the proceeds of
its sale.
AN ice-foe. which carried away a
couple of sportsmen from the neighbor-
hood of Odessa, was subsequently driven
by southerly wind over against Otcha-
koff where the fsherfoll1 discovered the
frozen corpses lying close together on
the ice and still guarded by a faithful
and alf-famished dog, which had made
no attempt to reach the shore. The ami
NAL had apparently preserved its exist
ence on some of the wild duck shot by
its unfortunate owners.
MICE have caused CONGREGATIONS by
nibbling matches, and lined their nest,
with fractional banknotes, but yield the
palm of destructiveness to the California
gophers, with their penchant for under
mining dams, and the Australian rabbits,
whose depredations are estimated tC
aggregate So, 500, 600 a year.
A RESIDENT of Mobile, Ala. has q
strong affection for pet cat. The ami
NAL is said to be twenty seven years old
has no teeth, and is also blind. The
owner cares for it as attentively as
though the cat were child, feeding it
constantly on raw oysters, of which the
cat seems very fond.
New GUINEA has the credit of pro
ducing the only venomous bird know
to ornithologists-the Roir N'Dood o.
BIRD of Death" There is no antidot'
to the bite of this bird, which causes
excruciating pains in every part of The
body, loss OF sight, commissions, lock jaw
and certain death within two hours.