The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-13
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


long They belong to an extinct race o. AM
mails that once roamed the prairies.
! In orderto avoid setting fire to the pampas
by sparks from its locomotives. the Buenos
Ayres Great Southern railroad has been ex-
perlmenting successfully with petroleum as
locomotive fuel, the intention being to substi-
tute petroleum for coal II practicable.
Indiana has turned out various sorts OF
freaks lately, but the capture OF a wild man
in the forest near Bourbon recently has ex-
cited the most general interest. The man is
described as being feet inches in hight
very muscular. clad only in the sheepSkin
breech clOut and armed with a club and
rusty case knife. He has long flowing hair
but his whiskers are merely bristles two
inches in length. Small black eyes sparkle
through the hair hanging over his face. and
his hands and feet bear more resemblance to
feline paws Than to hose of q human being,
his hands having but four phalanges, each
having claw nearly an inch in length. He
Is now confined in a corn crib on farm of one
OF his captOrS.
A Montana paper records the finding by
MIR. Norwood. of Granite Creek. of an enor
nous amethyst. His attention was first at
tracted to it by the brilliant play OF colors as
the sunlight fell upon it. The stone weighs
twelve pounds and measures nine inches
through It's largest diameter and five through
It's smallest The color takes the most beau
tltul shade, violet blue and pinkish pur
pie, IN one heXagOnal prism, which will meas
uI6 ABOUT IOuT luCQSS. y variety OF blQtS are
shown through the balance Of the stone ac-
cording to the mixture of peroxide OF manga
neSe when 1t was formed. This particular
| specimen is of the hardest variety Of quartz
| or rock crystal, cutting plate glass almost as
neatly as diamond.
Considerable excitement has been caused
in North Behar, India, by the fact that all the
| mango trees throughout several districts
have been smeared with a mixture of mud
| and oflhe hairs Of some animal. The mean
ing of the phenomenon and the agency by
which 1t has been effected have baffed all in
| quiry. The ignorant peasantry believe that
the very sacred temple at Janakpur, In
Nepaul has disappeared, and that the mud
| Is that OF large tank formed by its subsi-
dence. The officials are puzzled. some con-
Slderlng that the smear.n of tn trees IS a
| secret sign connected with COW protection
movement, others asserting II to be a
| means adopted by the BrahminS to advertise
the Janakpur temple and so to attract pill
grlms thither The incident is an example Of
| the strange scares which occasionally are es-
tabllShed among the lower classes of natives
1t eXcites attention because it and other &C.
currences in North Behar have given rise TO
a feeling of unrest coupled with wild rumorS.
In India it is difficult TO determine the exact
significance of popular aRltations of this
kind AS a rule they subside without any Sc
nous consequences. but the lessons OF the
mutlny are not yet forgotten and the British
authorities are said to be making a cautious
| bnt thorough investigation,
The superstition of the Turks is nowhere
so apparent as in their fear of the
evil eye" says the Century Jugs
placed around the edge of the room or
| an old Sho filled with garlic and blue beets
| (blue glass balls or ringsl are a sure guard
| against this illusion. Whenever a pretty
| child is playing upon the street the passers-
| by will say Oh what an ugly child" for
| fear of melting the evil spirit against it's
| beauty. i he peasant classes in Turkey are
| OF course, the most slperStitiouS because they
| are the most ignorant They have no educa-
| ton whatever, and can Meth er read nor
| write. STEAMBOAT is the only great city Of
| which they know. Paris is a term signifying
| the whole outside world. An American mis-
| sionary was once asked: In what part
| of Paris is America" Yet it can be said
| that they are generally honest and aIways
| patient. They earn from about 10 8 cents a
day. This will furnish them with ekmek and
| plan, ana that Is all they expect. They eat
meat only on feast days and then only NUT
| ton. The taxgatherer is their only grievanl :;
! they look upon him as ne tessary evil. They
| have no idea of being ground down under tn e
| oppressors iron heel. Yet they are happy be-
| cause they are contented and have no envy
| The poorer, the more Ignorant Turk is the
better he seems to be. AS he gets money and
ern civilization he deteriorates.
The fauna OF the Dismal Swamp is peculiar.
| says the Washington Star. The trees being
mostly juniper, cypress and black gum, there
are few which bear nuts, and so there are not
many tree squirrels. OF course, rodents of
species which live underground are absent
Bears are very abundant, and hundreds of
them are killed every year within the limits
Of the great moraSs. There are considera BILE
numbers of horned cattle-the progeny of in
divlduals which have escaped from domestic
herds They are mostly small and black
| They are extremely wild, and when hunted
are often dangerous to the sportsman. Com
| bats between the bulls and bears are said to
| he frequent. The method adopted by the bear
In these tights is to spring upon the back of
| the BULL neck and rend the muscles which
| support the head thus rendering the horns
| harmless. The cattle are occasionally en-
| ticed out into the cultivated fields by offer
| ings of salt, and are led to Join civil
| lied herds. During the old slave days a con
| siderable part Of the Dismal Swamp was
drained by bitches. These were dug wher.
ever they happened to be wanted and W tn
out any general system. If the same amount
of labor had been devoted to one cOmprehen-
Sive scheme covering the entire region il
would have sufhced to redeem the whole OF
the swamp to agriculture. Doubtless this
will be accomplished eventually. 1t Is reck-
oned that the achievement would render an
area available for tillage which would pro
duce Sl6.000,0J0 of value per annum. The
reclaimed land yields from so to 100 bush
els Of shelled corn per acre. II is enormously
rich, the soil being an accumulation Of vege-
table matter deposited through centuries on
centuries. Whereas in an ordinary forest
the products OF decay are steadily absorbed
by the atmosphere and carried away, IN a
swamp they are retained.
An official of the PENNSYLVANIA lines. who
recently spent several weeks in Europe
gives some interesting information regarding
the London and Northwestern railway This
is the Oldest and wealthlest of English roads
but he says English roads are not up to
American roads in travelling facilities. He
adds that an idea of the magnitude of this
road may be gathered from the fact that the
company has working capital of over 1885
00J ,0OO an annual revenue OF S5S5O0 900 and
an expenditure of about S32 900 900: it oper-
ates 200 m les of road it CONVEYS yearly 63 o.
100000 passengers and 81 $50 900 tons of freight
and minerals; 1t employs 81 600 people, Is 500
of whom are in the locomotive department; it
owns ,25O passenger cars, So 900 freight cars
2,'5 engines, 10 steamships and $500 horses.
4 he numUer of stations on the line is 500:
there are $1,000 signal levers in opera.
ton and 17001 signal lamps lighted
every night; the total mileage run bv the
| company engines collectively In one day is
1TO.562 miles, and during the whole wear g. q
5OOO0O miles. The safety OF the passengers is
the first and foremost consideration of the
directors and the companys officials; the
trains are equipped with the vac lum brake
and the line is worked throughout on the an
solute block system: each OF the signal boxes
IS In electrical communication with those on
either side, and no train is allowed to pass a
signal box until the preceding train has
passed out OF the Sc stion in advance and that
section is perfectly clear. The permanent wav
IS OF the most perfect build, and all tunnels
bridges and Yiaducts are constructed with
solldlty and thoroughness, while throughout
the main portion lowing to the large tram cl
four distinct tracks of steel rails are con tim.
allV in use. The eXDreSs trains run Al a 70 -