The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-07
a TImE WIEN N1AeARA Ban Day.
A Remarkable Occurrences Of Nearly
Half a Century Ago.


Half a Century AGO.
From the New York Christian Advocate.
Those who have seen this tremendous
cataract will consider that it is an absurd
fable to talk Of the falls running dry. and
only worthy TO be recorded in Baron Nun
chausen's wonderful adventures. Stn,
strange and incredible as it may appear.
the truth in this case is stranger than fc-
ton.
Such an event actually occurred about
IS years ago; and there is not the faintest
trace Of a tradition that II ever occurred
before, and most certainly il never hap
pened since. I have frequently heard the
particulars from the late Bishop OF Mag
ara; also from his brother-in-law, Thomas
c. Street. Indeed, some years ago Bishop
Fuller gave an account of the wonderful
phenomenon over his own name in a Ham
iltOn paper, from which the greater part
Of the following statement is taken. It
occurred on the morning Of March 81.
ISIS. Thomas c. Street lived at that
time in the beautiful homestead over the
Islands, to which he and his sisters and
friends had access by a suspension bridge
he had erected. There was a mill at the
end of the rapids that belonged to the
Street family. On the morning in question
his miller knocked at his bedroom door
about o'clock in the morning, and told
him to get up quickly. as there was no
water in the mill-race nor in the great
river outside. He said he was startled by
the intelligence, and hurried out as soon as
he could dress himself. There before him
he saw the river channel. on whose banks
he had been born 81 years previous, al
most entirely dry.
After a hurried breakfast Mr.. Street and
his youngest sister went down about
I a.ar.aa.
itself, over which there was so little water
running, that, having provided himself
with a strong pole, they started from Ia
bic rock, and walked near the edge of the
precipice about one-third of the way
toward Goat island on the American
shore.
On the mass of rock where human foot
never before trod, Miss Street, having
tied her handkerchief on the end of the
pole, they set 1t up firmly among the
rocks. Mr.. Street said that he turned his
view toward the river below the falls and
saw the water so shallow that immense
jagged rocks stood up in such frightful
and picturesque manner that he shud-
dered when he thought Of having fire.
quently passed over them in the little
steamer Maid of the Mist. He then re-
turned home and drove along the Canada
shore about half a mile above Goat island.
Dr. Fuller did not get there until after
Z
found every one in the neighborhood
greatly excited at the wonderful event.
Mr.. Streets theory to account for the re-
! cession of the waters was this; That the
winds had been blowing down Lake Erie,
which is only about so feet deep, and had
been rushing a great deal Of water from
it over the falls, then, suddenly changing,
the wind blew violently up the river TO the
western portion of the lake. At this
juncture the ice on Lake Erie, which had
been broken by these high winds, got
iammed in the river between Buffalo and
the Canada side, and formed a dam which
kept back the waters of Lake Erie
whole day.
A writer in an English paper says that
our hapless ountryWoman, Mrs May
| brick, set the fashion in Working prison
of wearing the skirt long-that is with
train, as she wore when she entered
prison. The dresses served out to the con-
| victs are constant sources of annoyance
| to them, and many an hour is spent in
touching up or altering. At Millbank, an
| other English prison, some years since,
| female convict was discovered to be in
! possession of three tallow candles, which
/ If they had not been missed, would no
! doubt have been utilized as pomade.
| One woman created quite a sensation
| among the convicts in Working prison by
! reason of the brilliancy of the color of her
cheeks and lips. One day she became
quite friendly with a young convict to
whom she took a fancy, and during the
ten minutes chat (female convicts are al
lowed to converse with each other this
allotted time) she confided the secret. 1t
was soon all over the prison, and very
soon on most of the cheeks of the women
could be found traces of color.
The "paint'was obtained in the follow
ing ingenious manner: In the aprons that
the women were wearing there was run
ming through the pattern bright red
stripe, and this was carefully drawn out.
When unraveled and chewed in the
mouth the color or dye was released
and thus the paint was obtained which
decorated their faces and lips.
In the same prison a convict had re-
peated fainting fits. One day she was at
tackled in the chapel, and upon her re-
moval to the infirmary, she was I'M
dressed, when, to their establishment the
authorities found the fts proceeded from
tight lacing and from the effects produced
by the pieces of wood and wire which the
convict had managed to force into her
| stays in order to make her waist slen-
| der A convict will spend hours in tear
| ing out bits of wire from the window
guard, and afterward bending them into
the required shape for hairpins.
Leaves from the Bible are often torn out
to make the old-fashioned Cracker"
curls, but this practice, if found out, in
! wolves a very serious punishment. Even
the life" prisoners are not exempt from
! this desire to make the best possible APP
pearance, and they will scheme, plot and
| plan for months together in order to be-
| come possessed of a piece of broken win
| dow pane to make a looking-glass. While
out in the exercise yard a convict will
rapidly scan the ground in the hope of
| coming across piece of glass. Once pos
sessed of it she will run the risk of soil
tary confinement on bread and water diet
in order to get it into her cell. A piece
of black cloth at the back of the piece of
glass makes an excellent mirror.
TO EUROPE BY BALLOON.