The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-06
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


tons in connection with the great fish
cries in Albemarle Sound has sprung up
lately in the shipment OF sturgeon rOes 10
Germany. says the New York sun The
last report Of the state labor commits
siOner Of North Carolina shows that 100
boats and 30 fishermen are now engaged
in this branch OF the fishery industry IN
those waters The fishermen make an
average OF 80 a week during tne snor.
season The report says that the largest
fishing seines in the world are on Abe
marie Sound. one being a mile ana half
long. The seines are hauled in by steam
power, and last season one of the big
seines landed $500 behring's and 2,5Ol
shad.
Among the new patents recently taken
out in Germany, which are directly or in
directly connected with bicycle. are the
following notable ones: A leather tool
box to mt under the saddle. being invisible
from the outside. and closed with a spring
lock. A wheel with exchangeable spOkes.
A bicycle tire made OF leather, without
a seam, joined by splitting and cement
ing together the joints The fastening
of handles without cement by wedge
driven into the tubing, which is further
expanded by the introduction of a screw.
A tire made of elastic felt, rolled up
around a small rubber center tube anG
cemented together. A folding cover OF
OilclOth for the cycle, to protect it dur
ing transportation or while standing in
a room. An elastic tire for wheels con-
sisting of a mixture of soft rubber and
cork covered by braided leather straps.
A handle bar for wheels made of one
ing carved to suit individual taste. An
attachment to bicycle, to turn 1t into
an lce-saliing wheel, consisting OF two
slides joined to the frame, and a belt
supplied with spikes to be strapped over
the rear wheel
To what extent a labor-saving device
can be made to effect an economy has
been very strikingly demonstrated in the
case of one of the large electric Hum
mating companies. says Casters Month
ly, which recently concluded to fit up each
one Of its light poles with clock switch
ing device, designed to automatically
throw into and out of circuit each of the
lights at certain hours of the evening and
morning. and thus TO supplant the SER
vices of the men hitherto employed to
make the rounds of the poles and do the
same thing by hand. The company had
at the time 500 arc lights in use for street
illumination. The lights were 400 feet
apart, and the City contract specified
that they all had TO be turned on not
later than fifteen minutes beyond a GER
tain hour of the evening and might be
against turned off not cartier than fifteen
minutes before certain other hour in the
morning. Experience had shown that a
man could walk about 1000 feet in a fif-
teen-minute interval. and turn on or Oft
the ten lights within that distance, so
that, for the whole 800 lights. the ser
vices of sixty men were required, which
could not be secured for less than 81
per week per man, entailing thus the eX-
penditure of $3.50 per week, or 81, 4S0 per
year. The Clock-switching devices which
did the same work cost $3.50 apiece, max
ing total for the 500 poles. of only $500.
which investment. of course. will not be
a yearly recurring one. What the saw
ing effected by the automatic switches
viii be may be left to the readers own
calculation. The whole affords a lesson
in central station economics in which sta
ton superindents ought to find something
decidedly interesting.
-Four miles from Pineville, Macdonald
county, on the grounds of ]. l.. Parish.
is a freak of nature so curious, that if l
had not seen it with my own eyes. I
could scarcely have believed il possible
says a writer in the Bonneville (NIo.) Dem
ocrat on the bank of the Elk river
rises a large tree that towers high above
the neighboring trees. At the ground a
solid buttressed trunk appears from eight
TO ten feet IN diameter. little higher
than mans head this trunk divides into
four lesser trunks, the two smaller of
which are in themselves fair sized trees,
While the other two are far above the
average size. Here comes in the queer
part of the story. OF these divergent
trunks the two large ones are respectively
an elm and a sycamore, while the two
Above the union of the common trunk
each tree in leaf, branch and bark is
seems a homogeneous whole. l would not
presume to say that close examination
would not show in the bark of different
sections of the trunk those peculiarties
that distinguish the bark of one tree from
that Of the other. but certainly these
characteristics do no appear on cursory
examination, nor are there lines of join
ture visible where the four trunks Goa
leSce l doubt if any one can point to a
stranger growth than this-two syca-
mores, an oak and an elm, all growing
from one common trunk. This meeting
together of four youthful tree trunks as
they thickened with age is occasionally
seen, but this is an unusually fine illus
tration. Each tree must, however form
its own bark-that is to say, no one Of
them has been wholly enveloped by an
other. Hence, a careful Investigation
ought to disclose a slight line where the
incurving bark of each original tree
meets.
The military punishments of that day
We're terrible, says Chambers Journal.
The Duke of Cumberland's general orders
contain on three consecutive days sem
fences of 500, 500 and 800 lashes for thiey-
ing, 'mutinous expressions and 'inso-
lent behavior" Three days afterward a
sentence of 1000 lashes'' is recorded it
is fair to say the men deserved to die;
but death would have been a mercifui
punishment. A martinez of that day
might be and was terrible tyrant to
his men. Strange, out-of-the-way punish
ments were inflicted for trifiing offenses
without adding one iota to the efficiency
of the army. The soldier might either be
horse" In 'picketing" the culprit's ma
ked heel rested on a sharpened stake
driven into the ground, his right wrist
and right leg being drawn up as high as
they could be to hook fixed in an adj
joining post. The whole weight of the
body rested on the sharpened stake
which, though it did not break the skin
inflicted exquisite torture; the only means
of alienation was to rest the weight on
the wrist, the pain of which soon became
uncomfortable. Soldiers were frequently
sentenced to stand on the pickett for a
quarter of an hour; and in the cavalry
1t was often inflicted by order of the
tial. The back of the horse was formed
of planks so arranged as to form a
sharp ridge eight or nine feet long The
legs (six or seven feet in lengthy rested
on stand moving upon wheels; to com
plete the resemblance a rough wooden
head and tail were added. The Offender
was placed on the back with is hands
tied behind him; and to increase the pun
ishment a heavy musket was not infre-
ant xrf ind to ! - 1or~-