Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1897-11-18
Items OF Interest.
Massachusetts has more distilleries
than kentucky.

Or 1000 persons only one reaches
the age of 100 years and not more
than six that Of 65 years.
1t is said that tho potato crop is
nearer a failure at present than al
any other time since 1892.
AS a result of trial shipment
contracts have been entered into fol
the sale of Alabama coal in Mexico
The singular punishment for
bigamy in Hungary is to compel the
man to live with both wives in one
house.
The archbishop of Canterbury re.
ceives $4,000 a year and the arch
bishops of York and London each re-
ceive ElO,000.
"A French professor Is the owner
OF a collection Of 920 human heads,
representing every known race OF
people on the globe.
There are in France twenty.one
hundred and fifty female authors
and journalists, and abont seven
hundred female artists.
According to the deductions of q
Well-known astronomer we receive as
much light from the sun as could be
emitted from $50, 900 full moons.
Marc Antony gave the cook who
prepared the banquet he gave in
Cleopatra's honor a city. Julius
Cesar paid his cook $4,000 a year.
Bread as daily article of food is
used only by about one-third of the
l,5OO, 100000 people that constitute
the present population of the earth.
According to the statistics of the
Weather Bureau the property loss
from tornadoes during the last ten
years has been five times as great in
Missouri as in any other State.
The greatest of luxuries in central
Africa is salt. The long-continued
use of vegetable food in that
country creates so painful longing
tor salt that natives deprived Of it
Tor long period often show symp-
toms of insanity.
In connection with a railway COM
munication between Scotland and
Ireland it is now proposed to send
trains through tunnel which will
float at depth of 60 feet below the
surface, and shall be kept steadily in
its place by means of anchors.
The following significant extract
appears in the municipal records of
Canterbury, dated 1885: For the
expenses of bringing hereto from
Dondon, lis. Sd. !; for one and half
load of wood to burn him 2s.; for
gunpowder, Id. a stake and staple,
3d."
The omnibuses of one London
company cover just about 10000, 900
miles In the course of a Year-half
as much as is covered by the trains
Of the London and Northwestern
railway-a distance sufficient to take
them nearly three times around the
world every day.
Alaska was purchased from Russia
in 1867 for seven million two hun.
dred thousand dollars. 1t was called
" Stewards Folly" because William
IL. Seward, then Secretary of State,
negotiated the purchase; but the
sneer long since ceased to be effective,
and the purchase has yielded rich
returns.
Niagara river is said to be teeming
with goldfish, but as they are hard
to catch and bad to eat they are not
regarded as very desirable acquisi-
ton. They have been seen there
only within the past year. The fish
are said to have come from a creek
In Forest Lawn cemetery, Buffalo,
where few were placed several
years ago.
Lynching is not quite national
institution. Twentp-six States were
free from it last year. All but nine
of the one hundred and thirty-one
lynchings of 1896 occurred in the
South. Louisiana led with twenty
five, Alabama had fifteen, Tennessee
fourteen, Florida ten, Kentucky and
Georgia nine each, Texas seven,
Mississippi six, and Missouri five.
The German people who in 1916
numbered only twenty-five million,
are now more than forty-five million,
and their present rate of increase is
greatea than that of any other Euro.
pean nation. They add yearly one
hundred and fifteen to every ten
thousand of their population, while
the United Kingdom adds one hun.
dred and one to the same number,
and France only twenty-six.
Cuba's entire area is only about
equal to that of the State of Penn
syivania, yet on the island are thir-
teen million acres of primevaI
forests. where the woodman's axe
has never been heard" In these
forests which cover nearly half the
entire surface ofthe island, are found
among other timber, mahogany,
cedar, redwood, logwood, ebony,
lignum-vitte, and tree with exceed
ingly durable wood called caligua.
ran.
Electric clocks have been in use
for some years; but Russian boy,
nineteen years old and the son of a
matchmaker. has invented watch
that goes by electricity. 1t is very
simple, without springs, and has
only two wheels. Besides being
very accurate, the second hand
moves by single momentary jumps,
which renders it useful for astrono.
mers, who cannot use an ordinary
watch. 1t can also set in motion
several others Of the same kind.
1t is estimated that there are one
million blind people in the world
Latest reports show twenty-three
thousand blind persons i'm England,
or eight hundred and seventy fol
naph million In DI;.l