The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-18
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

What is believed to he Viking corpse
has been dug up in a peat bog at Damen-
dorf, in Schles wig, and placed in the Kiei
Museum. II was well preserved had red
hair and was clothed in coarse woolan
clothing. with sandals on the feet. Kiei
experts think that It was buried fifteen
hundred years ago.
George w. Waters, an American, who
has been living for a number of years in
Santiago, Chill, and who is now visiting
this country, SAID in discussing South
American affairs with a Washington
newspaper man: There isn't much pa
triotism there, or rather there isn't much
patriotism as we Americans understand
the meaning of the word. The South Amer
lean will fight If his flag is insulted, his
reasons being twofold: He's rather ticklish
of his honor, and then he'd rather fight
than eat What the republics lack is civic
atriotisn1-pa triotism that will cause the
citizen 10 subordinate self 10 the public
interest. The South American politician
is ept to look upon public office as
private snap, and such thing as exposure
doesn't worry him so long as he escapes
punishment. and he usually does"
-England's new torpedo boat Viper,
which is worked on the turbine prin-
ciple, reached a speed of forty-three miles
an hour in a trial trip on Friday, which
Is away ahead of anything done by
steam when used in the ordinary way
says the Philadelphia Press. The inven-
tor claims for the turbine system that it
gives double the horsepower of steam in
the. same space and saves one-third the
weight, while among its other advan-
tages he. reckons cleanliness in the engine
room anp absence of vibration, the latter
tending to prolong the life of the vessel.
If all these claims. in addition to the great
speed, can he substantiated in larger
vessels, as he says they can, a new
method of propulsion on the water is at
the service of mankind and is certain to
be largely. if not generally, adopted.
"A document OF some interest was en-
tered for record at the Franklin penn }
County Court House a few days ago. 1t
is deed conveying to Judge jeremiah S.
Black 240 acres of land near Mercerburg
by President James Buchanan. The con-
| veyance was made in June, 1853 after Mr.
Buchanan had retired from office, together
with Judge Black who was in Buchan-
ans Cabinet, first as Attorney General
and then as Secretary of State. The price
paid for the land by Judge Black was
S5,624. A story connected with this trans
| fer of realty, says che Chambersburg
Penn) Valley Spirit showed the conf
dence that Judge Black had in Mr.. Buch-
anan. The President wanted TO sell the
land 30 the Judge, who said he would
| take it without seeing it. Presidenes
| Buchanan insisted, however, that he go
to Franklin county and see the property
Judge Black went to Chambersburg and
| stayed a few days with friends, after
which he returned to his home at York,
and made the purchase without having
seen the land.
More than $15.OOO,00O worth of the old
! fashioned fractional paper currency is
still outstanding. and, though some of It
| has doub less been destroyed, the bulk
| of it is held by collectors and private in
| Gividuals, says the Philadelphia Satur-
! day Post. Every now and then some old
| person dies and the heirs, finding a guam
! THY of the 'shinplasters" in a disused
! pocketbook or some other hiding place,
| send them to Washington to be redeemed.
| Occasionally. TOO, banks forward quite a
| lot of the notes in unbroken Sheets just
| as they got them many years ago. AT
| first these sheets had TO be cut apart with
| Sc ssoIs, but ate ward they We're per-
| forated like postage stamps, so as to be
| torn apart. Not long ago the treasury
received handkerchief full of this cur
| rency. of the first issue, each note being
| signed by Treasurer Spinner with his own
a
| tional paper comes in for redemption each
! year. and me of the best of it is saved
out by the department to be given away
in response to applications from colec-
tors.
The comparative ineffectiveness of the
rifle fire of the British soldiers in South
amount of comment in England, says the
| New York Tribune. A Bisey expert,
| writing in the Daily Mail, notes that in
the British army voiey firing is cultivated
| to a large extent. He says that it is be-
lieved TO regulate the expenditure of am
munition, to compel each soldier to, fire
| coolly with properly adjusted sight, and
| 10 enable the commander to direct his fire
| at the desired point. The same write,
| however, says that Burnham the Ameri-
| can scout, called attention to the fact that
| the Beers would duck" when they saw
| the smoke of a Volley, and rise to fire
| after ii had passed over them. The truth
is that volley firing cannot be used to adj
| vantage except against men in masses and
at moderate ranges. American tactics
however, prefer the use of maya zine fire
at short ranges and at the critical moment
of attack or defense. The English employ
ment of the volley is part of the service
of the Queen. and which have received
some PRETTY severe shocks in the course OF
the war in South Africa.
| "A dispatch from San Francisco says
News comes from Corea that while
| China is in throes of a great crisis the
hermit kingdom is mainly exercised over
| the Royal Cemetery because the soul OF
| the murdered Queen can't sleep in peace
/ in its present quarters. Last year the
| electric railroad was opened from Seou
to the Royal Cemetery, five miles away
| NoW Harry r. Bostwick OF San Fran
cisco, who built the electric road, has just
| signed a contract to build an imperial
| highway over which the tombs and mas
| siVe sepulchres in the cemetery may bs
moved TO a point fifteen miles further ir
| the country. This removal is due 10 pre-
| dictions of astrologers that the young
| queens spirit would never rest easily in
| the present cemetery. The King paid nc
! attention to these predictions for whole
| year. but now he has been brought to
terms by astrologers and compelled tc
obey their will Instead of removing her
body the King has decreed that the whole
| cemetery shall be moved. Bostwick will
| build fifteen miles of roadway thirty feet
wide. and a like length of trolley road
| This roadway and railway extension to-
| gether will cost round million dollars
10 say nothing of expense of rebuilding
structures which are 10 be torn down.
The dispatch printed recently giving
a brief account of the target practice OF
the battleship Texas must have puzzled