St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1894-01-27
STRANGE.
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE.

lures Which Show That Truth
Stranger Than Fiction.
THE proprietor of a cigar shop il
Philadelphia, died of black diphtheria
few days ago, and that the danger of con
tagon might be avoided, his body, in it
coffin, was placed in the show window 0
his store during the funeral services
that his friends might pass by on the out
side. All the neighbors tlocked to Sc
the somewhat uncanny spectacle.
IT may not be generally known tina
Paris is the greatest postage stamp mar
ket in the world. There is a regula
bourse held every Thursday and Snnda,
in corner of the Champs EIysees, where
hundreds of men, women end boys con
gregate with their postage stamp album
and packages of stamps for sale and ex
change. 1t is said that thousands o.
francs change hands there every market
day.
THE town of Hart, Ca, boasts {
notable specimen of the albino negro
The man was once pure black, but fol
years his skin has been changing unit
now he is white all over with for the ex
ccption of a few dark spots. Not only
is he white, but much winter than most
white men, his changed skin being of 6
clear, milky whitcness. The TRANSFORMED
ton has been natural and unattended by
any pain or Inconvenience.
Posi- OFFICE officials in Portland, Me-,
were surprised to have among the mail
deposited there a day or two ago a
registered letter that would have gone
f.. The usual ten cent fee and postage
b 1t re Il stamp of the four dollar de-
Incarnation. The stamp collecting fad
was suggested as an explanation, the
stamp that had been used being regarded
by its enthusiasts as more valuable than
an uncanceled one.
FARMER CUsnNAN, of Chenango
County, N. Y, thinks we are going to
have very severe winter, for the fol-
lowing reasons: Corn husks are very
thick; hogs melt runs jagged; the
breastbone of May goose shows spots
resembling the canals Of Mars; the ducks
are flying in L shaped instead of v
shaped t1ocks, and green frogs are chang
ing their skins and seeking springs for
winter quarters.
A FAMILY residing in Washington, Ga,
was considerably shocked during an cleo
trical storm short time ago by the
striking the telegraph and cleo
trio light wires which pass the house.
After the storm had subsidized it was as
certained that a large fig bush in the
garden had been struck, and hen and
three chickens, which had sought shelter
under tue broad leaves, killed. The
were found under the hen, which
was sitting in a natural position, with not
@ feather ruttled.
'How French!' was probably the ex-
clamation Of most people when they read
of the dramatic suicide of the young
at Clichy, France, the other day.
While the train conveying the Russian
visitors to Versailles was crossing the
Seine she stood on PARALLEL bridge
waving French and Russian flags, and,
shouting, I" | see and I die. Long live
sussia" she jumped into the river and
vas drowned. When her body was re-
covered it was found that she was clothed |
'nly in garments made out of French
nd Russian flags.
BALTIMORE has blind boatman. His
oat was stolen by some worthless fell
ows the other day, and subsequently
bandoned and picked up. He claimed
+, and when told that he must identify
did so, not by telling its color and
lodel, as a man with good eyes might
o, but by giving the positions of all the
ails and the chunks in the boat, where
plinters had been knocked off, and so
n. Then, being admitted, he went all
yer it with his careful touch. finally
aid: "Yes, it is NINE" and rowed
way, successfully avoiding the dozens
other boats, tugs, etc., that were NOV
~ around.
A TERRIBLE ballooning accident is re-
Orted from Piedmont. An acronaut
AIMED Charbonnet, who was married on
Wcdnes lay, subsequently assembled in
balloon with his bride, with the inten-
on of making a wedding trip in this
anner across the Alps. The pair were
by another aeronaut to :
sist in the navigation of the balloon, !
I'd the start was made under favorable ,
but in the evening, when !
the vicinity of Ceres. north of Turin,
went wrong with the balloon. -,
descended with great velocity, and '
tally struck the ground with terrible =,
rec. Charbonnet was killed, and his g
fe and the assistant were both serious !
injured. {
Up till five or six years ago it was an /
usual thing to find woman who i
loked cigarette of an evening. Now h
is so common, SO the English papers
sure us, that nearly all women count 4
long their acquaintances one or two
,men who smoke either internationally
regularly. Advanced clubs find it f
cessary to set apart ladies' smoking d
om. The report that one of the rail
y companies has found it expedient o
reserve a smoking carriage for the
neft of lady smokers is premature but e
s believed that before many years it
| be no more extraordinary to see a o
man smoke than to see a woman play
f or tennis. o.
l MYSTERIOUS affair is reported from
iIlicothe, Mo. Judge Johnson died
hat place the other day, at the age of
Years. He was one or the pIonh pc
zens, ard man OF great influence n
community. Before his death he
lain in state of Inconsistencies for
considerable time. Saturday night he
sed up and said to those atanding by B
t his eldest son Samuel johnson, who
ided in Colorado, was standing by his >,
lside, but would not speak to him. :
-eral times the old man spoke into va -,
cy, as though some one was beside r
;, and finally turned over in his bed
died. The next day telegram az .,
ed saying that the son ha9 died at the -
y hour that his father claimed to see =,
, at his badci6 az