The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-01
ITEMS OF INTEREST,

Roof tiles are made in Warsowi,
STA, of thin wood sheets which are ga
on one another 50 that the grain of
wood is crossed. A thin, elastic PLATED
wood is thus obtained, which cannot NJ
any accident be twisted out of shall
These tiles resist the action Of the weatV
er very well, after they have received 4
application of pitch; they will even stanl
boiling in water for, several hours. Thu
weight of a roofing of these tiles. is twelve
pounds per square yard. They can be rem
dered fireproof by saturauon with potas-
SUM silicate Soluble glass; "A
1T is singular how varied is the super
stition regarding the color green in differ
ent countries e 1t is the national color OF
the Irish, and the imperial green OF
France is the perpetuation of the royal
color of the old Merovingian kings. How
different is the sentiment toward the color
in Scotland. There it is held in the ut
most aversion, if not fear. With some OF
the clans particularly the Caithness men,
it is considered fatal. With this clan the
superstition is altogether born of the re-
suits of Flodden field, where the Caithness
men wore the color. 1t is also considered
unlucky by the Ogilvie and Grahame clans
the latter telling a story of an old man
who was thrown from his horse and killed
in a fox chase because he had a green
lash in his riding whip.
All sorts and conditions of witnesses
appear In some of our court cases, but we
have, thank goodness, progressed beyond
the custom of allowing animals to appear
in such capacity In Switzerland and Sa-
voy It was the law that if the tenant OF
a house kill an intruder between sunset
and sunrise 1t was justifable homicide. 1t
was recognized, however, that this law
might be used to cover up real crime.
A man, living alone, might entice some
one to his house and there murder him. as
serting afterward that the killing was done
in defense of life and property. So, under
these circumstances, he was obliged to
produce a cat, dog chicken. or something
that would testify TO his innocence. I'm
der oath the man made declaration in
his own defense. If the animals did not
contradict him he was as he was proven an
innocent man.
Somewhere in the south, says the Pitts
burg Dispatch, there is said to be an an
cient porcelain mug upon which is en-
graved: George Washington, Esq, Gen
eral-in-Chief of the United States Army
and Marshal of France" The mug re-
calls the fact so little known, that Wash
ington really was an officer in the armies
of the King of France. How the illus
trious champion of Yorktown received
that title arose in the following way
When old Count Rochambeau came to this
country, it was speedily made known thai
he could not serve under Washington, as
the old lieutenant general could only be-
commanded by the king in person, or {
marshal of France. A way out of thS
difficulty was found by Col. Laurens, whC
suggested that King Louis make Wash
90 al do I7,.oy O. "a,
done, and some of the auxiliaries so ad
dressed Washington at Yorktown.
An extraordinary case of suspended an
mation was that of Sir Hugh Acland Of
Devonshire, who was supposed to have
died of a fever, says an exchange. In ac
cordance with the usual custom the body
was laid out and a watch set over it, the
+ latter in this instance a nurse and two
footmen of the household AS a comfort
er during the long vigil of the night the
watching party was given a bottle o
brandy. Becoming rather mellow as The
result of too frequent dalliance with the
bottle one of the footmen remarked that
as his master had been very fond o.
brandy during his life, he ought to have
some now that he was dead. No soone1
was the remark made than the footmar
undertook to force q good-sized noggin o.
the drink down Sir Hugh's throat.
gurgling sound, followed by a spasmodit
movement of the neck and chest was tht
result. upon which all the watchers in
| continently took to their heels. The clam
or awakened some of the people of tn,
household, and they found Sir Hugh sit
ting upright and wondering what was tn,
matter. The supposed dead man lived fo
many years afterward, and bequeathed K
| the footman who had made him drink
| handsome annuity.