The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-22
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


Hotel. Anhul, on the occasion Of the in
terInent Of the late admirable's remains.
Competition is very keen in the gold
mines Of the Transvaal. Some twenty
four monkeys were recently put 10 work
as day "a Dorers in the mine operated By
capt Z. Moss Of Boston. Their work Is
so satisfactory THAI their services are ac-
eepted in place Of ordinary Workmeu-
Capt. Moss recently published an account
or ms remarkable monkey miners in the
Boston Evening Transcript. He says the
twenty -FOUR nolhe4s 60 lLle WOIh OF
seven able-bOd.ed men and they do some
OF the work more satisfactorily. There
are besides, no strikes or other labor trOu-
Dies among these new workmen. The
monkeys work is the gathering OF sma d
pieces OF quartz which they carefully Pile
into little heaps. Their sharp eyes detect
the small gold-bearing pieces OF quartz,
~ nich an ordinary workman would pass
over, ana they are exceedingly sklllful
and quick in picking them up. Capt Moss
gold he had two pet monkeys which con-
family followed MIN about the mine. One
day he noticed that they were busily en-
gagged ia gathering up little bits of quartz
ana carefully placing them in piles They
seemed TO enjoy this work very much. IL
ala not take the captain long 10 learn their
value as labOrers and so the monkey gang
was q { once increased. The monkeys that
have had experience IN the mines teach
the new monkeys how 10 do the work.
Medical science in these days is as
powerless to cope with the mysterious
black death as it was in the middle ages,
when the pesulence swept over the world.
Ii follows trades routes and its breaking
out IN China would necessarily be heard
of with apprehension in all parts of the
world that trade with that country.
Within memory of the present gener.--
ton entire districts of Asia have been
stricken with the pestilence, while only
nVe years ago there was an outbreak of
the black death in Hong Kong which
compelled the governor to drive off more
than two-thirds of the surviving Chinese
ana burn there houses in hope of arrest
ing its progress. 1t disappears as sue
denly as it comes. Thus, five years ago
IL descended on a Persian city and van
isned abruptly al the end of six days,
leaving 40 per cent. Of the inhabitants
dead and all the animals killed. Europe
first heard of the black death in l347,
when, after sweeping over Asia il was
brought through the Black Sea to Con
stantlnople and from there taken by ship
70 all ports of the Mediterranean in
cyprus almost all the population were
destroyed while in Venice 10000 people
SeVen-tenths of the inhabitants, died
Iceland did not escape and the terrible
p!asue was carried in remote colonies in
greenland, which We're so devastated
that their very sites are obliterated 1t
Is supposed wandering Esquimaux carried
the disease INTO America, this accounting
Tor the disappearance of the ScandaneV-
ian colonies said to have existed along
our Atlantic seaboard some hundreds Of
years before Columbus came over.
The shah was the eighteenth sover-
e-gn or head of state assassinated in
this century says the London News. It
was the Emperor Paul murdered in 1Q01
by palace consplrators, who led off Next
came the sultan Selim, in 1905 There was
lnen long interval, extending to 1921
When Capodistrias, president of the pro-
Nlsluhdl government OF Greece, was shot
at and then dispatched by a blow from
a yaldShan al Nauplia. At the end of
another interval extending to 1854 the
arft a.E-. I III.
turn of transatlantic presidents began
with the president of Haiti in 1859 The
south American series included Col Bal
Ia, president of Peru, in 1872; Moreno
president of Ecuador, in the same year
ana his successor, Gutierrez in 1873
PRESIDENT Lincoln was the first North
American president to be assassinated;
Abdul Aziz was bled to death in a warm
bath in 1874; President Garfield was shot
IN 1880, and Alexander l blown up in 1881
Carnot was murdered in the midst of
civic fest.vity al Lyons The Queen Of
Cofea was the last TO be added to the
black list Four Deys of Algiers were
murdered IN this century. The executed
monarch were Murat Iturbide, and Maxi
milan of Austria, each and all of whom
tempted fate. The king most often and
most seriously shot at was Louis Phil
Hppe, who somehow was never hurt by
his would-be assasstns. The most des-
perate attempt was by Fieschi, the Cor
slcan, VINO operated with an Internal
machine. He was once fired upon at such
close quarters that the flash Of the pistol
set fire TO the bonnet of Queen Marie
Amelie, who sat beside him in a car
riage. But one serious attempt was made
to assassinate Napoleon I; 1t was with
an Internal machine. Napoleon III had
two narrow escapes. One was when the
Orsini bombs exploded round his car
riage, and the other was in the Bots de
BOulOgne, when a ball meant for his
guest, Alexander I, whizzed by his ear
and shot his aide-de-camp's horse.
1t is said King Menelek of Abyssinia
I -.
stored in his dominions he will not OBJ
ject to a committee of European scientists
making an examination of the vaults of
the cathedral church of AXum, where
from forgotten time the monarchs of
Abyssinia have been crowned. Tradition
gives wonderful accounts of the treasures
hidden in these vaults. it being claimed
that the ark of the covenant the tables
ments, the seVen-branched candlestick
which figured in the holy of HOLES at Je-
rusalem's temple, besides quantity of
ancient manuscript is concealed in these
vaults. 1t is no vague tradition, but an
accurately specific story, how these things
came to be placed in this temple The
founder of the present dynasty came to
Abyssinia from Jerusalem. He was Men
elek, the son of Solomon and the Queen
of Sheba, educated in Jerusalem, and flee
ing from there when Jerusalem and the
temple were sacked by Shushak, King of
Egypt. Menelek carried with him in his
fight the treasures of the temple in or
placed them in the huge granite pile of
the Axum temple, which antedates the
Christian era, and is still well preserved
1t is also believed the present Menelek
will open to scientists the treasures of
the sacred island of Zebra Sinan, which
is reputed sacred throughout the Moslem
world, because. Notwithstanding the wars
which for the last 1880 years have been
waged in Abyssinia, the island has always
been spared by Christian and infidel alike
This island is inhabited and guarded by
n fa 10
all the Abyssinian clergy. After taking
up their residence on the island they are
never permitted to leave it, and, until
two years ago, when Menelek, accompa-
MED by strong body-guard, paid it
visit. a layman's foot had never touched
its shores. The vaults of the monastery
are of enormous size and they are filled
with papyri, parchments and books of all
descriptions. 1t is believed the books were
sent there al the time of the Nlohamme-
dan invasion of Abyssinia and that they
are remnants of the famed library of Al
eXandria.
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