The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-19
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

vember last she paid hurried visit to her
business premises, and while there lost
the diamond from a favorite ring. Search
was made everywhere for the precious
stone The shop was given an extra
sweep, the dust placed in a hair sieve
and washed, but not a trace of the lost
jewel was got. Concluding that the dia-
mond was gone for good, the ring was
reset and the loss almost forgotten, when
the owners daughter, who had accom-
panied her to the shop on the occasion,
remarked, mother, there's something in
the heel Of my right boot which catches
the carpet every step take" See what
1t is" was the reply; and there, firmly
embedded in the solid leather was the
missing diamond. Singularly enough, dur
ing the past,two months the young lady
had been at the country and walked over
the hard macadamized roads. Diamond,
in no way injured, and boot-heel, are to
join the heirlooms of the family.
Hitherto that invaluable substance as
bestos was familiar to us only in the crate
of the gas stove Its advantages in that
direction are undoubted, but there are a
thousand and one other uses to which it
may be put. Asbestos can be reduced
to pulp, and from it can be made a
very good quality of writing paper, in
valuable for deeds, records, charters and
such things as must be kept for many
years. Heavy cardboard is also made.
Boxes made from cardboard can be used
for the preservation from fire Of valua-
BILE papers. One of the last applications
of asbestos is to the manufacture of wall
paper. This does away with the tedious
lathing and plastering. One coat of the
asbestos plaster laid on the bricks them
selves and smoothed over will give a
smooth, hard wall. through which neither
cold nor heat can penetrate. Decorations
ceilings Of q c
Many designs are now obtainable. They
are found in many large ocean steamships,
where it is desirable to secure beauty with
immunity from fire.
women are not good detectives" says
an experienced New York official ITO
begin with, there are many places to
which a woman cannot go without ex-
citing suspicion, and this defeats her OBJ
ject at the outset; but beyond this a wo-
man is united by nature for detective
work. In the first place, she jumps at
conclusion and acts on it in opposition
to all human probabilities, possibilities
and reason. AS a rule, a woman does not
reason. She looks on a thing as she wants
it to be or thinks it ought to be, and will
follow that theory. She is led by preiu-
dices, favors or sympathies, regardless of
facts. As a detective she is sometimes
success in entrapping a man, but her
work generally ends in a blunder which
betrays her She is perSevering only when
moved by passion She does not look at a
case dispassionately She at once de-
cides that he or she is guilty or innocent
and works on that theory. A woman en-
joys the mysterious, and she is so elated
at her position as detective that she is
unable to conceal her identity or the Sc
cret investigation of Il case. Women are
even failures in running down criminals
of their own sex. A woman criminal
will mislead a woman detective by work
ing on her vanity credulity or sympathy:
and, worst of alb if the detective is at
tractive and the man criminal handsome
well, man is better for detective work {"
"A Frenchman naturally thinks the
Partisan detectives the best, says the
Hartford Times. Englishmen swear by
the shrewdness of Scotland Yard men.
and Americans, of course, swear by the
New York detectives. After three years
residence in China, says a traveller, 1 do
not think either of the three bodies are
entitled to the credit given them. The
Chinese beat them all. They are at one
time the most expert thieves, and at an
| other the most skilled detectives in the
world. A Chinaman can steal your watch
| while you are looking at it, and he can
catch the man who stole it, if it happens
| to be some other man than himself, when
| a French detective could not. | have
| the Chinese which would startle even
| Lecocq. 1t is impossible for an evil-doer
| to long elude the Chinese detectives
| They scent a crime and follow it to the
| last before the civilized detectives would
| know of it. The Chinese detective force
is secret body, and the best organized
| in the world. They have an eye upon
every man, woman and child, foreign or
| native, in China, and in addition watch
over each other. Informers are encoIlr-
| aged and collision is impossible The
head of the Chinese police is not known,
! but there is one, and a very active one
! too. l have heard that the present head
was once an ambassador to European
! country, but really 1 do not believe thar
| anyone knows who he is. There are said
! to be over $4,000 men under him and his
assistants, who control the various dis
| tricts.
1t is said by the engineers who con-
| Quoted the laying of the Amazon river ca
BILE to Manaos, says Popular Science. that
| the difficulties of their enterprise would
have been almost insuperabe if the ord
| mary methods of sounding had had to be
| relied upon. There were no charts to go
! by, the river bottom was constantly shift
ing, and the softness of the soil, mostly
| alluvial clay, would allow the lead to sink
| into 1t for several feet. An electric de-
vice, ntly named a submarine sentinel
was suspended from the cableship and set
at say five fathoms. So long as there was
no signal from the sentinel" the engin-
eer could steam ahead without fear; but
the moment the ship got into water shall
lower than the gauge fixed upon, the
| sounder gave an alarm. and special reck-
onings were taken. A somewhat simpler
| device having the same end in view. has
been invented, the idea, being TO have it
used as a substitute for the hand lead
| as vessel approaches q coast or shoal
in darkness or fog, when the captain is
doubtful of his bearings. The apparatus
consists of a metallic cylinder having a
water-tight chamber. Within the cham
Der works piston, upon the outer edge
of which is heavy ball. When the an
paratus is swinging clear in the water
the weight of this bali keeps omen an
electric circuit; but, as soon as the sound
err touches the bottom, the circuit is clos
ed, and the current, conveyed by wires
running in the cable by which the sound
er is attached TO the ship rings a bell in
any department Of the ship. The cost of
the device is quite moderate, and its in
ventor claims that its operation is simple
and pure.