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

court at Gallipolis, o., has awarded
verdict Of $500 TO the guardian OF a man who
was bit on the head in a fight with the de-
PENDANT and rendered insane by the blow
! This Is the first case Of the kind on record in
the Buckeye state.
There were 1872, 276 cycles used for pleasure
solely in France last year, fact disclosed
| through the collection OF the tax imposed
upon them. The proportion Of bicycles and
| trlcycles is not stated. Cycles used by trades
men LOT purely business purposes are exempt
from the tax
America has been wondeTstricken by the
great variety Of performances Of hu man os-
triches, but the palm must he given to a Lon
dener. who died this week a martyr to his
profession, says the New York sun. The
! autopsy brought to light bullet, twenty or
| thirty pieces OF cork. twenty pieces of tinfoil.
a piece OF string Is inches long with corks
| tied 10 each end, and a piece of leather
| inches long with hooks in it. One hook and
piece Of tinfoil had perforated the mans in
testines and caused death. He had been
accustomed to swallowing chains sovereign
purses, coins. pipe stems. newspapers and so
on. The JuryS verdict was death from mis-
adventure.
In the log houses built by our pioneer fore
fathers there could often DO heard in the
night when perfect quiet prevailed. a peculiar
phenomenon known as the death watch. saws
the P1ttsburg Dispatch. This would be heard
| somewhere in the wall, as one lay in bed, and
ing Of a watch Ticzee, ticzee, tickee the
sounds would common e aud when perha ps a
doZ IN or twenty ticks had been given, there
was silence The tic6s might re resumed
again an thus at intervals continue as long
as one cared to listen. By may persons this
ticking in the night was heard with supersti-
tlous dread as betokentng or prcgnosticating
! death. The sound was really Dy diminu-
| tive wood beetle that had bur
rowed in a log. but whether this peculiar tick
| ing was the result Of action involved in per-
toratlon or was the mating call or prompted
by'still other motives has never Teen made
| clear 1t is not known that this death watch
/ has his habitation in modern home Struct-
| ures and the creature probably does not per
| forate into timbers of such small dimensions
as form the sides of frame houses. AS the
sound itself must be near the listener, in the
wall near the ear, it would not be heard if in
the sllIS or heavier timber elsewhere, but it
was an ofttime night accom- paniment to the
wakeful person who listened in the structures
that are now no more
The first data on conjugal condition in the
United States ever gathered by the govern
ment is given in census bulletin just made
tnhlic. II shows that OF q total population Of
6Z b22,25 in 1890 almost three-ffthS were sin
gle, little more than one-third married and
not quite one-twentieth widowed. The di-
Vorced Constituted a small fraction of / per
cent. he actual numbers of the classes are
as follows: Single, 81. I29, sol; married. p
331 .424; widowed, 297O052; divorced. 120 800,
ard unknown, 7O2l4. The males constituted
over 81 per cent. Of the total population. OF
81, $50 males in the country 10 945 $40 were
single, II ,20j 228 married, 815, 437 widowed and
40, l0l divorced. OF the females II, 1888 9SS or
over 90 per cent, were single, ll,l26, 1875 mar
rled, 2,l54 6l5 widowed and 1855 divorced.
The proportion of widows says the re-
port was nearly three times as great
as of widowers, indicating that q
greater portion OF widowers remarry
than widows, while figures show that
divorced men have remarked to a greater ex-
tent than divorced women. OF the married
males there were % out of 11290,OOS Under Is
years of age, 74S out of ). 104 SOB between 20
and q years. LIS $50 out OF 2.425, 664 between
30 and "a years aud $50 925 out of ]. 233. 71g Is
years and over. OF married females there
D were l.4ll out OF 1882 1872 under Is years 3l3-
1888 out of 3,3OS S52 from Is to 10 years ,444 ZIP
out OF 3,09l783 from 20to - years, sos, C64
out OF 1929. 4R6 from 25 to % years, l.7l7 204
out OF 1852 966 from 80 to "a years 2 69s 266 out
OF 3,346,O3l from % to A years. 1,796079 out Of
243O,878 from is to 81 years, 905, 627 out of
1897 from 55 to ca years and AIS, 800 out of
1,l83,569 65 years and over
A package containing black diamonds of
the vtlue of $4,000 was handed over the
counter a the Laclede hotel yesterday after
noon, says the st. Louis Republic An inter
esting feature of the transaction involves the
telling of an old story. In the middle of last
August Mr. Billings, of New York came to
the Lindell Hotel as the agent of Importer
Dessau, of New York, one of the few men in
the world who handle black diamonds He
had in small hand satchel a stock of stones
of the value of $40 900. In the course of his
visit here Mr. Billings had a good time, and
he lost the package or had it stolen from him
He raised great h1llabaloO about it through
the newspapers, and in day and half
Mr.. DeSSau came on from New York
In vast excitement. About the time of Mr.
Dessau's arrival the diamonds turned up
They had been found by some one who did
not appreciate their value, and so they were
sent back TO the address that was marked on
the case. The only wonder at the time was
that the finder did not throw the
into the street or dump the little black stones
out in order to have the pretty leather case in
which they were kept. But the package got
safely back, and Mr.. Billings wiped several
large beads OF perspiration from his brow and
took his first long breath for a week
MT Dessau Is not represented on
Billings. His agent is Fred Buckley, a
small man, who keeps his hands on his
pockets all Of the time that he has the dia-
mondS with him. The package is about the
same as that which Mr.. Billings lost here last
fall. OF course, many of the stones of that
time have been sold but a good many of the
originals are still in it. Additions have been
made SO that the package is now worth
$4,000 The value of these black diamonds is
not generally known. They are, not used as
Jewelry. They are placed in the points of the
drills used for proSpectors in the west and
they cost y great deal of money. They are
coal black, and as hard as anything that has
yet been discovered,
The notices, Keep off the grass" posted in
public squares or on unfenced swards, are not
so much forbidding to children who would
play upon them as to older persons, who. in
the hurry OF life, would make crossing paths
because OF the instructive impulse of pedes.
trlans to cut off corners in seeking the short
est distance to points of destination saws
L1pplncotts. Paths are the beginning of
roads. Man is a social animal and. In his
intercourse with his height ors for either
pleasure or trade. will make the shortest cnt
to get at them. These cuts are soon worn into
paths.
Undoubtedly the first paths or trails
in America we're made by the Indians in their
tribal communications, in trips to their hunt
ing grounds, and latec N visits 10 their trad
ing posts Of the white men. In hilly and
mountainous regions these trails were di-
rected over the high grounds or the passes
through them and thence to the fordable
places in streams, or else they followed the
SUBMITS OF mountain ranges or the valleys
lying between them The conversion Of
the foot-trail into a horse-trail de-
manded more air than of earth work
The forests were many and dense
Overhanging branches, obstructive trees an !
swinging vines had to be chopped awav or
bumped heads, skinned legs and dismantling
OF pack train would have been inevitable Oc
caslonally fallen trees and rocks in fords had
TO be removed; sometimes an ascent too steen
for horses had to be avoided. 1t was not until
the necessity for the wheeled carrier arose
that what is now called public road came
into existence The poles of the Indians
wlgwam dragged behind their ponies when
they carried their household effects and re-
CURED no wider path than the family loads