The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-19
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

ALONG with the tangle over the presi--
cency. France might have had the novelty
Of q revolution by telephone. The Duke
OF Orleans. who was in readiness at Do
phone between England and Paris for
twenty-four hours.
Two men digging a well eight miles east
Of Quincy, Ill. recently suddenly disap-
peaTed after going down twelve feet It
was found they had struck an under
ground lake The bottom could not be
reached with any rope at hand. The men.
however, were rescued, and a full explor-
alton Of the natural wonder viii be made.
In regard to the fresh-water ponds
OF shoals of green water" which were
discovered in the Gulf of Mexico IN 1894
says writer in the St Louis Republic
/ have gathered the following facts: The
hrst and larger of the two is only about
ten miles from the mouth OF the Misss-
slppi and is believed TO be an immense
spring such as would result from the
ylS.HllS 9l an undef6Iound river This
heher Is based on the fact that az about
the center Of the pond or fresh-Water
patch there is sand cone-the gulf water
Al the apex or the cone being only 81 feet
deep, while in all directions from il the
depth is from go to 500 feet. The other
! fresh-water patch is about twenty-five
miles from the mouth of the Mississippi.
IN Y degrees south latitude, s. degrees
ana - minutes west The best theory
tnat mas been advanced to account for
them is that they are the mouths of
enormous underground and submarine
| rivers, which have their sources in the
ROCKY Mountains. Such underground riv-
ers have been tapped at many points in
I Ie1as, Indian TERRITORY and Kansas,
and an old sea captain, engaged in Cen
lidl american trade says that the fact
OF such streams bursting forth in the
bottom OF the gulf has been known for a
century.
farmers of western Kansas brave the
blizzards are admirably adapted to the
purpose, says the New York Post. 1t
should also be said that they are the cool
est or dwellings, during the heated term
Inc manner Of construction is as follows.
Ihe farmer cuts the slabs Of sod for
Dulldlnss purposes just as sod is cut for
/ transplanting grass. The buffalo grass in
/ digenOus TO the Western Kansas country
FLOWS Tho SIX, IKE a thick mat Of tough heritage.
Inc slabs OF this sod, about 15x24 inches
| and four inches thick, hold together with
/ the consistency of felt They are laid in
| courses ike building stone and pressed
! closely together and the roof is made of
/ tmbers and frequently matched The in
| side Is then smoothed with the native lime.
| Whlch makes an excellent plaster. This
coat OF lime is sometimes applied outside
! also, but usually these sod houses present
/ natural dun color like the winter prairie.
/ IN some cases the floor is made by exca-
| Natlng a Few feet and tramping the ground
sold with horses; otherwise a reg lar Wo d
! floor is laid. The window and door frames
are fitted as in building stone houses. The
! sod house contains frequently only one
/ room, but some have two and even three
/ rooms The sod house lasts about five
| years.
Gen. Hazen. in a recent interview. saws:
! The lowest natural temperature ever re
corded was taken in a balloon at an alti-
tude OF ten miles. 1t was 104 degrees below
/ zero me balloon was the AerOphile
| which ascended from Paris under the gui-
| dance of Gustave Hermite. The lowest
/ temperature ever recorded on earth was
/ taken at Werchojansk, In the interior of
/ Siberia, Jan. 10, 1885. 1t was 80 degrees
ana fraction below zero Wercholansk
| is in the latitude of the pole of cold. There
/ the earth is frozen to a depth of about 100
/ feet, and in the warmest season it never
/ thaws. The highest temperature recorded
| Is IA degrees and fraction, taken in Al
| geria, July II, 1879. The lowest tempera-
ture on record in the United States is "a
degrees below zero, at Tobacco Garden.
! n. u. Greedy, the Arctic explorer, has
| probably experienced a wider range of
| temperature than any other living man.
He recorded 66 degrees below zero at Fort
/ Congor IN Lady FRANKLIN bay. on anoth-
| er occasion, in the Maricopa desert of Ari-
iona, his thermometer in the shade ran
( up to ia above A lucifer match dropped
upon the burning sands of the Sahara will
| catch fire. 1t is very difficult. even with
| the finest thermometers, to get accurate
records of extreme temperatures, and on
that account such observations in general
are to be regarded as only approximately
| correct.
Though the death penalty was practically
| abolished in Belgium over thirty years
ago, the punishment of those convicted of
| capital crimes is SO awful that none has
yet been able to endure it more than three
| years, says the New York World. Another
| curious thing is that little Belgium, until
| recently, had two public executioners.
| while but one was sufficient for her vaster
| neighbor, France-Diebler, otherwise
known as Monsieur de Paris" The king
of the Belgiums recently ordered the re-
tirement on a pension of S37 francs of the
executor of high works" (as he is euphon-
iously termeD, who was stationed at
Liege The eXecutioner at Brussels still
holds his place. The duties of public exc
cuuOner in Belgium are singular, but not
arduous. The~courts still continue to SEN
tence malefactors to death, but the guillo-
| dr.1a Nv ffo1a
which is posted a copy of the sentence.
| Much ceremony is observed in affixing this
document. A troop of gerdarmes with
their imposing helmets plumed with horse
hair, is drawn up about the place of exc
cution, WHICH they gravely guard with
saberS drawn, while the red-robed exec11-
toner mounts the steps, nails up the de-
cree OF the court, and after a moment
takes IT down again. But the condemned
man might more mercifully have persisted
by the axe or rope. He is placed in a dun
geon so constructed that from the mo-
ment he enters it he will never hear the
sound OF human voices nor see a living be-
ing. His food is passed in through a Slid
ing panel IN the door of his cell Not one
81 these prisoners has been able to survive
TINS confinement more than three years
y German, residing for the present in
New Aork, sends the following satirical
letter to thaSun of that city: You code
contains about nine foolish laws 10 every
good one, and legislative bodies are
continually adding to the former It hac
come to pass now that, after taking care
VI pOuy anu 1lliltu VI llle clllH6nS IN a gen.
eral way the lawmakers are going to at
tend to the minor details. They will reg
ulate the wages and salaries of the ctr
zenS, the hours of work and sleep, the
size and form of hats the color, cut and
lining of clothes; and the court reporter
of the near future will have to send copy
like the following: John Doolittle was
fined SO by Justice Cohn in the Essex
Market Police court for exhibiting his
legs in light blue pants, color prohibited
by law. Mr.. Oldhog, the venerable mer-
chant, was sent to the Island for thirty
days by the same court. The brim of his
hat exceeded the legal width by one-quar-
ter of an inch. Miss Melpomene Hunter
seems TO have a supreme disregard for
law. She was caught yesterday by Police
man Dusthead wearing a pair of brown
shoes with high heels, while yellow ones
with green tips and low heels are obliga-
tory. When the offensive shoes We're be-
ing condscated the justice was shocked
10 find that her stockings were also OF
an unlawful design. 1t being her third Of
Tense, the court gave her the fun penalty
of the law. Mrs BloOdgOOd had her SER
cont eyirl Selma I,Oreuzea. arrested be-