El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-30
Neighbour
hood Notes
TEXAS.
SUED HIS EX-SWEETHEART.

SUED HIS EX-SWEETHEART.
A novel and interesting suit has Just
been decided in justice court at Hon
ey Lrove. young man and a young
woman living in the country Il few
miles from that place were the liti-
giants. The young man sued out
writ of SequeStratiOn to recover Il gold
watch from the young woman and
she contested the right of property.
claiming that it was given to her by
the young man. From the testimony
adduced at the trial it appears that
the young couple had been engaged to
be married and that the young man
had promised the young woman a
birthday present. He said she wrote
him a letter telling him that she
would like for him to purchase the
watch in question, and that she would
like to wear it before the wedding. The
watch was purchased and soon after
the engagement was broken. Then the
young man wanted the watch returned
to him and the young woman refused
to return it, hence the resort to legal
proceedings. The only question consid-
cred at the trial was whether the young
man gave or loaned the watch to his
sweetheart, the young man claiming
he only loaned it to her, while the
young woman claimed he gave it to
her. The court decided the case in
favor of the young man and he got
back his watch.
AN ENTERPRISING HEN.
A dispatch from Mckinney tells an
unusual story of hen who travelled
extensively. yet attended strictly to
business. Some hay in the back part
of a buggy belonging to Mrs. w. A.
Straughan, of Ardath, attracted the at
tention of one of her hens and she
made nest in it. In due time a nest
full of eggs was deposited and the old
hen settled down to the weary task
of Matching them. In the meantime the
buggy was kept in use 1t went it's
usual errandS over the community with
the hen in the back end of the bed.
Whether the buggy went to church
and stood out in the grove, while the
preacher propounded the gospel. or
was taken to market loaded with gar
den products piled around the old hen,
she staid with it and continued bust
ness at the old stand or rather the old
set. Finally one morning when the
hired hand pulled out the buggy to
hitch up the old family horse he heard
the music of many downy chicks who
first saw the light in buggy bed.
They were removed and the old hen
seems awfully proud of them whether
no other hen ever did or not.
NEW TEXAS FIND.
4 dispatch from Rio Grande City
says that an immense deposit of a
strange gaseous substance which close
ly resembles clay has been discovered
near there. Pieces of the substance
ignite quickly and give out strong
flame which burns for a remarkably
long period. 1t is claimed by local
scientists that the substance is either
an unknown mineral or that it is Or
binary clay highly charged with nat
ural gas. In either case the value of
the earthly deposit as fuel is inestim-
able, as it covers many thousands of
acres and is of great depth. Samples
of it have been sent to DR.. w. B. Phil
Ups. professor of field geology of the |
state university at Austin, but he has
not yet made any report upon it. He |
says he understands that there is an |
abundance of natural gas to be found |
in the locality where the peculiar clay |
exists.
A REASONABLE IDEA.
John NJ. Bradley, a citizen of Pitts
burg, puts two and two together and |
comes to a conclusion that may be |
worth something to every city in the
south. He says that scientists have
demonstrated that mosquitoes carry
disease germs and cause epidemicS of |
yellow fever and other undesirable all
ments and. that it has been noticed that
the Lucas oil geyser has killed or driv-
en- away every mosquito for miles
around it. His plan is to put UP an
artificial geyser of oil from this well
on different sides of town so that
no matter which way the wind blows
il would carry the oil fumes over the
city and drive out the mosquitoes.
The oil would fall into reservoir and
be pumped back into the fountain
again and the thing would not be very
expensive. He has sent his ideas TO
state health officer Blunt and hopes
to see the matter tested.
PRISONERS ESCAPE
- Seven prisoners in Jail at Fl. Worth
made dash for liberty and gained it,
but not all kept it. When the assist
ant jailer entered the jail at .. m.
to give orders for the night. two or
three prisoners jumped onto him and
overpowered him. They took his pis-
toll locked him in a cell, walked leis-
urely down stairs, unlocked the front
door and walked into the street, car
rying the keys with them. They then
turned and ran for the timber back of
the Jail along the Trinity river, but
were SO closely pursued by officers that
four of them were captured in short
time. Three of them were still missing
at last report. Most of them have
been tried and were waiting to be
to the penitentiary to serve
terms ranging from two to eight years,
the highest crime being theft. Several
shots were exchanged but no one was