The Opelousas courier., 1894-06-02
SOMEWHAT STRANGE.
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE.

EVERYDAY LIFE.
Queer Facts and Thrilling Adven-
lures which Show that Truth is
Stranger Than Fiction.
A WRITER in a Vienna daily paper
gives a realistic picture of the man
ner in which many persons living
along the banks of the Danube make
q living. He says that every year
hundreds of corpses floating down
the river are pulled ashore and robbed,
after which they are thrown back in
TO the water. "Year after year."
says the writer, Hundreds of ~lifeless
bodies-the mortal remains of sui
cides, victims of crime and victims
OF accidents-Nse to the surface of
the Danube, art swept along with the
current and washed up ON the land
on n bank or the other. Here they
are discovered by the 'hyenas' who
rifle the corpses, and then, as a rule,
kick them back on the waves, after
which no human being worries about
them more Thousands of people
vanish from the scene in this man
ner, no n yer learning what fate
befel them. Blood-curdling crimes
remain undiscovered, and the uncer-
tainty whether a man is dead Or will
return again to his family and friends
is often fraught with heavy losses to
tie latter. No mound marks the
spot where these unfortunate people
rest; they are struck out of the roll
call of humanity; no trace reveals
the course Of their last long journey;
they have simply vanished from the
world like the lost wanderer in the
desert who is buried beneath enor-
nous sand waves, or like the fam
ished traveller in the wilderness whose
body becomes the food of birds Of
prey. And yet we are living in Eu-
rope"
THOMAS JENNINGS, of Pittsburg,
possesses a COW that discounts all the
billygoats in the city for a taste for
old rubbish, but she hasn't good
digestive organs. She is a blooded
COW and has not been used to a diet
of umbrellas and old cans. But dur
ing a late storm, while hay was
scarce, she ate an umbrella. One
day she vas taken i'll. It is supposed
that the umbrella opened after the
COW had swallowed it. At all events,
one side of the bovine became much
enlarged and the owner called in DR..
Coleman, a veterinary surgeon, to
diagnose the case. This morning he
paid his patient a visit and found an
abscess in the right side of the ami
NAL, near the shoulder. He was con-
WINGED that something had entered
the abscess, and by the use of his
pincers he succeeded in catching
hold of and pulling out one of the ribs
Of the umbrella. 1t was tw%enty-four
inches in length, and attached to it
was the brace, eighteen inches in
length. Another examination fol-
lowed and another rib was taken out.
Again inserting his probe, the doctor
came upon a soft substance which he
felt certain was the lining of the lung
of the cow. He gave a pull, and was
rewarded in bringing out the cover of
an umbrella, % by "a inches. An
other rib was also secured. The ami
NAL is still living and will doubtless
recover, although the doctor is of the
opinion that there are still other ribs
under the skin.
"THE strangest test of will power
md endurance ever made" said E.
D. Gonsauls, of the City of Mexico,
twas in Mexico, the characters par
ticipating being a Mexican girl and
an American man. They were lovers,
and the girls parents refused their
consent to any union, insisting that
she should marry a wealthy Mexican
sutton. At the suggestion of the
girl they agreed to die together, and
to test the strength aud endurance of
each others love they chose a means
of suicide unlike any ever dreamed of
before. Food and fruit were
placed on a table in the centre of a
room occupied by both, the girl hay
ing escaped from her home, but being
unwilling to elope with her lover. 1t
was agreed that they should starve to
death with plenty before them, and
should either succumb to nature and
partake Of the food then both were
released from the bond of death, and
there should be an everlasting sepa-
ration. For twelve days they endured
the pangs of hunger without a
murmur or a thought of wayering
from their purpose to die together.
The twelfth day the father of the girl
discovered her whereabouts, and,
breaking the door, they were carried
out, too faint to stand alone. It
took them several days to recover
their strength, and when they did
they were married. This is a true
statement, and the American isliying
with his Mexican wife to-day"
A MOST remarkable case Of theft
was in Whitfield County, Georgia.
A family living in the country left
their home for a few months visit.
When the family returned there was
no house, no barn, no stables and no
fences, while a large hole had been
dug where the house had formerly
stood. Suspicion pointed to a man
who occupied an adjoining farm, and
after a rigid examination it was
learned that he had first entered the
house and stolen the cook stove.
Then he took some other articles.
His next move was to take the bal
ance of the furniture to town and sell
~ Ho fbon concentrated the fences