The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-31
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Travellers in Mexico must have often
remarked the singular beauty of the ia
cade of the Cathedral of Chihuahua. 1t
is said to be the work of an artist who
under sentence of death for some crime
or another, was promised that he would
not be put to death until his work was
| completed For twenty-one years he work.
ed cutting into the stbne the beautiful i'm
agery Of his brain, always under the sur
VIGILANCE of armed sentinels. At last he
broke down, and was obliged to notify the
authorities that he could do no more and
was ready to die. Then came pardon but
it was too late. He died shortly after
ward. Though it is only 200 years ago
since the cathedral was built, the sculpe
tors name has been completely forgotten;
| only the magnificent sculptures and the
tradition of how they were made remain
| ing.
Mrs. Rudolph Neuman, wife of the old
time Clark street gambler, who shot him
self In Omaha recently, yesterday made
known the exact contents of the letter
| found by his side and addressed to her.
| For ten years Neuman had worked 20
perfect brace faro box so the dealer
could control the cases. To win with the
brace box now in use a confederate is
needed. He applied electricity to the
| cess. Practical experiments with the ap-
paratus showed it to be absolutely accu-
rate. 1t was composed of an ordinary
| faro box fitted with a drop slide, an or
| binary 'casekeeper' and a maze of wires
buried in the woodwork of the table I'M
der the layout In the delicate connec-
| tions between the box and the 'casekeep-
err the secret of the affair exists. Neu-
man had gone to Deadwood from Chicago
at the request of a syndicate of gamblers,
who were to purchase the invention for
100000. But he lost the model and all
the papers while drunk. He got a clew
to the thieves in Omaha, and followed
them until satisfied he could never secure
the invention, and then ended all by send
ing a bullet through his brain. With
Neuman died the secret of how to bring
electricity to the aid of the brace faro
game"
In the Arabian tales a story is told
about a magnetic mountain which at
tracts irresistibly all ships, and when they
come near quite extracts every particle
of iron from them, even to the nails Such
mountain exists in reality although not
quite as dangerous in it's activity as the
one mentioned in the oriental fairy tale.
The island of Bornholm, in the Baltic, be-
longing to Denmark, consists almost en-
tirely of magnetic, and it's magnetic in
tors of these waters, and also much feared
by them, not on account of the possibility
of its extracting the nails from their ships,
but because of it's influence on the mag
netic needle, which makes the steering of
a ship almost impossible. This influence
is felt even at a distance of ten miles, and
when this island is sighted all mariners on
the Baltic discontinue steering their
course by the magnetic needle, but turn
to well-known light houses and other
helps to direct their course. Between Born
holm and the mainland there is bank of
rock under water, which is very danger
Gus to navigation, because it being con-
stantly submerged, vessels have frequent
ly been wrecked at that point The mag
netic influence of that ore bank is so pow
erful that a magnetic needle suspended
freely in boat over the bank will point
down and if not disturbed will remain in
a perfectly perpendicular line
The remarkable assertion is made by
member of the Alaska Historical Socie-
ty, writing in Forest and Stream, that
perhaps the mastodons remains of which
have been found in well-preserved con-
dition in various parts of Alaska and
Siberia, are not yet entirely extinct, as
has hitherto been believed. but that al
most conclusive evidence to the contrary
has recently been brought to light. Trad
ers and intelligent Indians profess to
have seen these animals, as well as their
| huge footprints, and a naturalist who
is the editor of the Juneau News, has
collected considerable other testimony to
their existence. The location of the mas
todon country according to the sketch
map of a member of the dominion survey,
is about midway between Mt. st. Elias
and the Yukon river, and 100 miles due
north from St. Elias and less than that
from old Fort Selkirk and the mouth of
RI r-iy 10 7uap
the gold mines are located. 1t has been a
we'll known fact that the EskimoS have
traded in the tusks and bones of this ami
NAL for centuries, and great deposits of
these have been found, while Arctic eX-
plorers have even fed their dogs on their
| carcasses preserved in the ice, supposed
ly from prehistoric times. The district re-
ported to be thus inhabited is very high
and well supplied with moss, grass and
fodder in unlimited quantities. as well as
plenty of water, and consequently it is ar
gued that whatever natural force may
have destroyed and buried the immense
numbers whose remains are found in
great masses in this particular section,
was probably free from it's effects, which
accounts for the existence of a remnant
of the race.
1t is generally supposed that rain wa
ter, at any rate before it reaches the
earth, is absolutely pure. This is not
true. In England, for instance, all the
rain water contains, on the average, two
grains of salt for each gallon. Besides.
1t washes the air of dust and particles of
all sorts in its descent. Rain water is
not very palatable, and If used for drink
ing should be stored in stone or slate els
terms under ground 1t is claimed that
no river in England is long enough to
purify itself from the sewerage that tails
into 1t. London, nevertheless, is depend
ent on the Thames for much of it's water
and daily draws up nearly one-third of the
whole river. This water is filtered of
course, supposedly through fine sand,
then coarser sand and gravel below, but
1t is feared that, as the sediment has
grown, the water has been trickling first
through a layer of mud, which Is almost
a 1elly-like mass Of living organizations
These germs seize on and oxidize all or
ganic matter completely and are them
selves so incapable Of penetrating the lay
err of sand beneath that the water thus
filtered is far purer than that passed
through the purest sand. Water is hard
or soft, according to the lime and magne-
stun salts it contains If not more than
ct, aty,st a.