The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-03-31
TREE 10000 YEARS OLD.
Giant of PrehistOric Times I'm.
earthed in England.

earthed in England.
An extraordinary discovery, and one
which is just now exciting considerable
interest in antiquarian circles in Lam
cashire and Cheshire, has been made at
Stockport. During the excavations in
the construction of sewage work for
the town some workmen came across
what has since proved to be massive
oak tree, with two immense branches.
Prof. Boyd Dawkins, the well-known
antiquary, is of opinion that the tree
is one of the giants of prehistoric
times, and he says that the tree is GER
tainly 10000 years old. The corpora
tion of Stockport are at a loss what to
do with the gigantic fossil, which is
supposed to weigh about 40 tons, and
as it is necessary that it should be re-
moved proposal has been made to
blow it up with dynamite. This has
aroused the indignation of large Sec
ton of the public. who presented the
following petition to the corporations:
THAT there is valuable tree of old
oak at present lying upon and exposed
in the gravel on and within their prop
erty; that the quality in color, grain
and solidity is better than any that can
be bought in the open market; that for
artistic work alone it is greatly to be
treasured, for nothing in this country
is at present grown which can come up
to it's dimensions; that it contains
within itself sufficient material to make
the furniture for any public building
or town hall which may be erected for
the public benefit within our borough;
that it only requires lifting from it's
bed, which in the opinion of competent
geologists may be roughly estimated
as $1,000 years of occupations; that pri-
vate effort has failed to achieve its re-
moval; that it's destruction would be q
public loss and an artistic calamity;
that your representatives in council
be and are hereby requested to con-
serve for the borough this grant of ma
ture to her sons and daughters, whose
signatures are hereby affixed"
The corporation have reserved their
decision, and in the meantime efforts
are being made by local antiquarians
and others to bring pressure to bear
| upon the council to preserve the tree
for the benefit of the town and the
country. 1t is believed that no discov-
| cry of such Importance has hitherto
been made in this country, and this be-
ing so it is hoped that those interested
in such matters throughout the coun-
| try will lend assistance toward pre-
serving the tree.-London News.
The kanaka and the Mule.
| can interesting incident happened
when | was in Honolulu" said Senator
Morgan. "You know the natives are
magnificent swimmers. They take to
the water like ducks. One day cargo
of mules was being carried on barge
to steamer lying off shore, when one
of the mules jumped overheard and
made for the shore. When he landed
on the beach he looked around, and,
seeing all the other mules still being
carried toward the steamer, he went
into the surf again and started in the
direction of the barge. After he had
gone some distance great wave came
along and turned him over. When he
righted himself he was absolutely
wild, and blindly headed out for mid
ocean. The men on the barge watched
him for awhile, and then the captain
asked if it was proposed to let the ami
NAL drown. Quick as fash one of the
Kanakas sprang overheard, swan at
a tangent to intercept the mule, and
reaching the animal, climbed upon his
back, and by clever tactics directed the
animal to the steamer, riding him like
u centaur in the water all the way
Washington Post