The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-04
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


Tom L. johnson, the trolley car mag
nate Of Brooklyn and Cleveland, who was
going 10 reIinquish his business enterprls-
es. aud devote his millions to the develop
ment of the single tax theory. IS IN Lon
DON and credited with The intention OF go
ing into elecuic rapid transit for the Eng
fish metropolis. lie viii go before par4ia-
ment. il IS said. with plans for dong things
On large scale.
England is wiling to make consider
able sacrifices to retain Gibraltar, says the
New York Commercial Advertiser. A new
battery has recently been made on the
highest point of the rock, and the shells,
Weighing four and five hundred pounds,
are taken up by narrow pain, on par
row drawn by q male ana guided by
man. Frequently. il is said, mule and bar
row and man have fallen over the side OF
the cliff; but instead Of an outcry against
the dangerous practice, the English grave
ly congratulate themselves that the acci-
dents have not taken more serious form,
considering that these shells are charged
with powerful doses of Lyddite-' Inc
whole top of Gibraltar might have been
blown off.
Among the hospital patients of DR..
Lucas ChamDionniere is a man seven feet
four inches in hight, says a Paris CORE
spondent of che London Telegraph. He is
q years old and is still growing. He
takes after his father who was seven feet
eight, whereas his mother was of short
stature. AT the age of Is he was youth
below middle hight, but after an Illness he
grew four inches in a few days. A Sec
Ond illness produced another RAPID increase
of hight. After this he had several sue
cessive attacks of debi.itating com,
plant. On recovery he invariably found
he had grown several inches, till, when
al q, he went to serve in the army ne
had reached seven feet. He was the
youngest of twelve children. and. fortu-
nately for them, he is the tallest OF them
all by a foot or so.
An offertory bag in an English rural
church was recently found to contain a
very rare specimen of seventeenth CEN
fury token made of copper, which had APP
paTenuy been dropped inco the receptacle
in mistake for a farthing. The euro was
valued by a local dealer at fourteen shih-
ings. A description of the article ana tne
circumstances under which it was found
were affixed 10 the church porch, but the
donor seemed ashamed to turn uD ana eX-
plain matters. A few days afterward the
clergyman received a typewriter letter
from an address a long distance from the
church stating that if The token Were sent
to *. Y. u care of the householder, a
remittance Of half a sovereign would Pc
received in exchange. II was duly sent IN
a registered letter. and a postal order Tor
ten shlllngs arrived in return.
The horse hair used in making violin
and other similar bows is imported from
Germany, says the New York SUM- a
considerable part of the hair thus I'M
ported, however, coming originally from
Russia. Horse hair for these purposes IS
white and black; the black is the heavier
and stronger, and this is used IN mahlns
bows for bass viols, because it bltes the
big strings better In preparing tie hdlr
for use in bowmaking the white hair
used for violin bows is beached TO bring
1t to its final whiteness. The STANDARD
violin bow is twenty-nine inches III length;
Iar1rra h.av ~ n Shorter
bows are used by young persons; but the
bow commonly seen in the hands of a Vio-
lin player is twenty-nine inches long
Horse hair for violin bows is imported in
various lengths, but mostly in lengths Of
thirty-siX inches. Hair sufficient for one
bow is put together in what IS called a
hank; the hanks are tied up in bundles OF
a dozen hanks; these are bundled IN
crosses, and the gross bundles are put to-
gether in great crosses in which shape
the hair is imported. There are grades
and qualities of the horse hair, but the
best is not very costly A hank of the best
white hair can be bought for 20 cents; it
might cost 80 cents more to have it put
into the bow. To rehair bass Viol bow
costs more, the bulk of hair required being
greater.
An archaeological find of great Import
ance is reported from the city of Pollen
"a, in Southern Italy, says the Chicago
Record. While several laborers were
filling a field at Irsina they discovered
what they considered TO be an ancient
tomb, containing a bronze vase. They
opened the vase and found within it no
less than 5000 silver coins. The first
impression seems to have been to keep
the thing secret and to divide the ricn
windfal But better feelings prevailed,
either through sheer honesty or through
the fear of the law regarding treasure
trove, which is most stringest in Italy.
field, was notified. and the vase and all
its contents are now in possession of
the authorities at Polenza. The coins
seem to have been little used, some of
them apparently never in circulation ut
ell, being as bright and fresh as when
first struck. Each OF them weighs ex-
acty five grammeS. A few bear the i'm
preston of the legendary she-wolf and
probably belong to the roman republi-
can era. The others have the image of
one of the earlier Caesars as far down
as C4audius, about a dozen showing the
mead or a god, perhaps Mercury. On
the reverse all have Inscriptions which
Will, no doubt, be most interesting to
numismatists. The field in which the
treasure was found is now being cultivat-
ed as never before since Aeneas landed in
Latium.
Months not a few have passed since
the war with Spain began, but still cur
soldiers in the field are complaining bit
teriy of the inferiority Of their weapons
TO those of the emmy. says the New York
Times. 1t was Illuminating enough when
the foes were Spaniards; something hard
er to bear than humiliation is involved
now that our antagonists are the half or
wholly naked natives of the Philippines
member of Company H, Tenth Penn
sylVania Regiment writes under date Of
April y: I'VE fought our way from Ma
Mia to Malolos with the old Springfield
while the insurgents were armed princi-
paliy with Mausers, which are up-to-date
long range rifles. Every charge we made
was under q heavy fire that we could not
answer, because our guns would not carry
20 the enemy. When we would get with
in range the insurgents would 'vamose, ,
leaving their works, but not until they
had inflicted loss on us, because they We're
better armed That is wei worth read
ing twice. Does it not show that if the
attacking Americans had been able to
shoot as far as the Fiipinos. the dead
and wounded on our side would have been
very much less numerous than they were?
The same letter says: "All this time the
guns that were afterward issued TO US
We're lying in the city i'm boxes. Then
when we received the twenty-five to the
company, we We're ordered back to do
guard duty here at Cavite, and the Iowa.
boys, armed with the Old Springfeds
We're ordered TO the front" AS comment
on these mysteries the writer only adds
There were certainly some things done
that we cannot understand" There be
people whose reflections would have taken
another form than that
AT the head Of vegetable foods is