The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-07-19
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Senator Clark of Wyoming is making
arrangements for base ball match be-
tween the House and Senate. to t1,5e
place when the tariff bill IS in conference
The game will be played on the ball park
at Washington and the proceeds wiz be
devoted 10 some charitable purpose in the
District Of Columbia.
The stag was altogether the most
highly priced animal of the chase, ana
his antlers. if they were of great size or
showed any abnormity in their growth,
We're the most treasured trophies Of the
hunt, says the Century, When potentates
made one another presents, these usually
consisted of some famous deer head for
these Nimrods not only We'd with one
another in the quantity of game they laid
low, but also regarding their collections
of antlers. upon which enormous sums
were spent. For the famous sixty-siX
tined head killed in 1896 BY the elector OF
Brandenburg, and which is still preserved
al the castle of Muritzburg, near Ores
den, it is said thar the elector of SaXony
gave a company Of the tallest grenadiers
in his army. For an abnormal thirty
siXpont head one of the Dukes of Wur>
temberg gave a whole village, with its
inhabitants, land. houses and church, in
Guiding even the parsons prebend, as the
chroniclers does not forget to mention. A
Duke of Pomerania offered for a celebrat-
ed thirty-two-t head, which he was
anxious to have for his collection, a sum
which would correspond to $4,000 of our
present money, and what is more. his bid
was refused. Upon the spots where great
stays were killed monuments were erect
ed; and in more than one instance monas-
teries and closters were founded in such
localities, as we'll as in those where some
great Nimrod had escaped mortal danger.
Farmers in the vicinity of Lock
Springs Mo, have been greatly harassed
for several weeks through depredations on
their chickens and pigs and the mystery
was not solved till recently, when Newton
McCrary started on the trail of what APP
peared TO be a monster snake, says the
st. Louis Globe-Democrat. He Travelled
a distance of two miles, when he came to
the banks of the Grand river, where it ap-
peared the reptile entered the water. A
search of the vicinity later on rewarded
McCrary for his persistence. Apparent
ly asleep, after having dispa tched several
full-grown chickens, lay a reptile of such
monstrous proportions that the man was
transf1xed with fear. His courage re-
turning McCrary sent a charge of buck
shot into the head of the reptile, and pre-
cipitately fed. The contortons of the
snake as it dashed its tail and body against
the ground and trees added to the fears Of
the now thoroughly terrified man. Sum-
moning the assistance of netghbors, Nc
Crary cautiously led back an armed party
when, to his satisfaction. the life of the
reptile was found to be extinct. 1t meas
ured sixteen feet, and the body was as
large as an ordinary stovepipe The spec
les of the reptile is not known, although it
looks very much like a python. Early in
the spring it was seen several miles fur
Their up the Grand river, but reports of
the terrified spectators were not generally
credited
The otter is becoming very rare in
Southern California, says the California
| correspondence of the New York Tribune.
Forty or fifty years ago it was taken in
goodly numbers, but now it is confined
to the outer islands of this region, where
high winds prevail and the water is too
rough for any one but the most intrepid
hunters. On the windward side of Canta
| Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Nicolas and San
| Clemente Islands, the valuable little ami
NAL is yet to be found. The otter hunters
generally cruise about in a small sehoon-
| er, which lies off shore while they go in
shore in a double-ended small boat, con-
| structed with a view to riding heavy seas.
This craft is rowed along outside of the
kelp. the man in the bow, with rifle in
I
the round, cat-like head of the otter that
| is liable to appear at any moment. The
| little animal is very shy, and is away at
the slightest alarm. They lie on the kelp
and play with their young, tossing them
in the air or riding with them on the
| swells. The writer saw a white otter a
| few years ago at Santa Catalina Island.
1t was among the dark fronds of kelp, and
| when it thrust up it's head it was a very
| conspicuous object. There was a heavy
sea beating on the inhosptable rocks, but
| the boat was allowed to drift In as far as
| safely permitted, where the little creature
| could be observed. 1t lodged in and out
| behind the rocks, watching the boat with
| the greatest curiosity, and perhaps dis
| may. When approached too near, it dived
| and disappeared. The danger and diff
| Guilty in otter hunting can hardly be APP
| preciated. The boat is never STILL rising
| and falling upon high seas, and the hunter
| must watch his opportunity to shoot the
| little animal before it can escape, and
| then catch 1t before it sinks. Numbers
| of offers are stin caught, but the danger
| and hardships entailed render it an UNI
| profitable business. In Northern Califor-
mia the otter hunters have singular obser-
! walton poles at various points, where men
| are raised high above the water, who sig
| nal TO the canoe when an otter appears,
Or if it is within reach, shoot at it.
-AllOuS AHt lucas AOI ulAliLHlS the ell
ergy of the sea waves recorded at the pat
ent office is one by Terence Duffy of San
Francisco. says the Boston Transcript. He
| proposes to harness the ocean so as to
make it store compressed air. The rolling
| and pitching Of a ship built according to
| his plan operates a number of air pumps,
| which force air into reservoirs. From
| the reservoirs 1t is conducted by pipes TO
| the engines, as required for propelling the
vessel, for generating electricity for Light
| ing, etc, and for taking In and ischarging
cargo. r. 5. Delvan OF Newark, N. j.,
| has patented a plan for surrounding a
vessel with floats. The floats are connect
| ed with the plungers OF air-pumps in such
a manner that the motion of the waves
congresses air In receivers. The COM
pressed air thus accumulated is used to
propel the ship. A California inventor,
named John Gambetta, proposes to swing
| from the mast OF a snip a gigantic pen
dulum, the oscillations OF which are ex-