The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-30
OUT OF THE ORDINARY.

1 OUT OF THE
The wonderful part of the Maxim gun is
| that 1t has only one barrel, ana yet IL can
discharge six hundred shots in one minute.
The Crystal Palace Sydenham, England
accommodates more people than any other
building in the world. 1t VIII holo lUVVVo
! people.
Tobacco was discovered in San Domingo
in 1896; in Yucatan by the Spaniards in 100
| 1t was introduced into France in l5o', ana
into England i'll 1883.
The Oldest city in the world is Nippur
the colder Bel Of Babylon. The 7, founda-
have lately been unearthed.
The richest baby in the world is the Grand
Duchess. Olga, the two-year-old daughter OF
| the Car and CZarna. The week she was
| born $500 900 was settled on her.
Wooden shoes in France are produced to
the extent of about 4,OOO,O 900 pairs yearly.
They are made in Alsace and Barriers by
The police statistics of Paris show that
| in twenty-one cases of robbery, accom-
| panied by murder, the average amount Sc
| cured was only SIG, and all the aSSaSSinS
| were guillotined
Marriage in Spain takes place by day or
| at night, according to the fortune OF the
young people or their station in life If well
| to do, the ceremony comes or IN the early
| part of the morning.
The sudden changes of climates encoun-
I tered by soldiers when troops are moved
| from one quarter of the world to another
| are estimated as increasing the annual NOR
tality of Europe by fifty thousand men.
Impaling was used as a punishment in
cuted were four Arab sheikhs who had re-
| belled They were impaled at the four cor
| ners of the Bagdad bridge. One of them
| lived for nine days.
| tells us how a bough of holly planted near
| a dwelling house keeps off lightning. or cast
into water makes 1t become ice, or thrown
| at any beast causes 1t to return to the spot
where it is required to be.
| The Norway rat, instead of migrating an
nually. only does SO once in every eleven
| years. NaturaliStS attribute this move
ment to some inherited memory of flight
to escape an expected cataclysm; but this
seems somewhat far-fetched.
Only seven commissions were granted to
non-commissioned officers in the British
army last year. Fourteen were given III
1896 20 in 1895 and Is in 1894 Lord Wolse-
ley, the commander-in-chief, objects
strongly to promotion from ranks.
Bicycle stands similar to cab stands are
to be started in Berlin. 1t is proposed to
put $50 on hire in various parts of the city,
of l penny for twenty minutes during the
day and twice that sum at night.
The Arabs of the Nubian desert supposed
they knew all about their country, but an
engineer recently bored a we'll seventy -five
miles from the Nile and one thousand feet
above the river and found an abundant sup
ply of water at depth of hfty-Six feet.
The legal hangings in the United States
for the year just past have aggregated 128-.
| an increase of six over 1896. The executions
were distributed as to sections and races as
follows: In the South So; in the North, 46;
whites, p; negroes, 81; Indians, 3; Chi
nese, 2.
Everyone familiar with Longfellow''s
'Hiawatha" remembers the references to
the famous red pipestone quarry, which is
situated at the extreme eastern boundary
of South Dakota. This is the only quarry
of the kind known to exist on the American
continent.
In Columbia, the first capital Of the Re
public of Texas, are many relics. There is
the Capitol building, now crumbling,
tumbling shanty. worth not more than 500.
Opposite it is group OF three oak trees
under which the Texas Declaration or In
dependence was read.
The normal peanut crop is 100000 bushels,
and Americans are SO fond of the nut that
they spend upon it S1OOO0.OtO a year. Chem
lists say the peanut contains 90 per cent. or
fat and over 80 per cent of nourishing COM
pounds and 1t is commended by physicians
as an article of food.
A Rumford Falls (Me.) merchant, who had
been sending clothing and other supplies to
poor family in town, attended theater in
that town the other evening and was sur
prised to see the objects OF his benef1cence--
father mother and four children-aH Occu-
plying reserved seats
The last instance of boiling to death took
place in Persia in 1890. The offender, guilty
Of stealing state revenues, was put into a
caldron of cold water, which was slowly
heated to the boiling point His bones
were distributed as a warning among the
provisional tax collectors.
Freezing will not injure a newly-patented
water pipe, which has a yielding core in the
center, strong enough to Withstand the
force of the water under natural pressure,
but which collapseS as the ice expands, and
prevents bursting, the core charging again
as the water thaws and the pressure is re-
moved.
Some high structures: Washington Monu-
ment 555 feet: City Hall, Philadelphia. 537
feet inches; Cologne Cathedral, 80 feet;
Strasburg Cathedral, 468 feet; St Peters,
Rome AS feet; st. Stephens Cathedral,
Vienna, AL feet; st. Rollox's works, Glas
Cow, 43O feet; Salisbury Cathedral, England.
4O4 feet.
The first English newspaper was the Eng
lish Mercury. pamphlet-shaped. issued in
Queen Elizabeths reign. The Gazette of
Venice was the original model of the mod
ern newspaper. The Acta Diurna Days
Doings), published in the latter days of the
Roman empire, was the first newspaper the
world ever had.
Situated in the eastern spurs of the APP
ennines is the old republic of San Morino.
1t has an area of thirty-nine square miles
and population of six thousand. 1t is
governed by a council of sixty, elected for
life. 1t has standing army of $50 men.
The people dress just as they did in 1892,
and there are no shops in the country.
The shooting fish is a native of the East
Indies 1t has a hollow cylindrical beak.
When 1t spies fly sitting on the plants
that grow in shallow water, with remarka-
BILE dexterity it elects out of its tubular
mouth a single drop of water, which sell
dom misses it's aim, and striking the fly
into the water, the fish makes 1t its prey.
Marriage. according to DR.. Schwartz. of
Berlin. is the most important factor in
longevity. OF every two hundred persons
who reach the age Of forty years 125 are
married and seventy-five unmarried. At
sixty years the proportions are forty-eight
to TWENTY-FIVE; at seventy. twenty-seven to
eleven and at ninety years, nine to three.
Fifty centennarians had all been married.
The doctor asserts that the rate of NOR
tally for husbands and wives between the
ages of thirty and forty-five years is IS per
cent. while that for unmarried persons is
20 per cent.
Snake Dances Fake.