The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-16
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


STA had been photographed in six diff
ferent positions, and the pictures were
duly circulated among the police de-
partments. The chief of one of these
wrote to headquarters a few days aft
er the issue of the set of portraits, and
stated: Sir, have duly received the
portrait of the six miscreants whose
capture is desired. have arrested
five of them, and the sixth is under
observation, and will be secured
shortly"
An interesting study of the condi-
tons of leprosy in South Africa has
been made by Dr. Hutchinson of Lon
don, a surgeon and physician, whose
reputation among practitioners all over
the world is excellent. He now believes
that the primary cause of the disease
in that part of the world is in a great
many cases the eating of badly cured
salt fish Similar conclusions have been
announced by medical men of distinc-
ton after leprosy investigations in
other countries. The leper almost ev-
erywhere is the victim of poisonous
food or of the virus conveyed by a
sufferer already infected.
Lawyers will hardly find wireless
telegraphy so productive of fees as was
the telephone, litigation over which
put millions into their pockets, says
the New York Press. Prof Bell had
a strenuous time. He took the first
working model of his instrument to
John A. Logan and offered BLACK
Jack" a half interest for $500, say
telegraph and that there would be mil
lions in it. Logan replied: Il dare
say your machine works perfectly, but
who would want to talk through such
a thing as that, anyway? l advise you
to save your money, young man." Bell
then offered a tenth interest to an ex-
aminer in the patent offices for 800
cash. 1t was refused. That tenth in
terest was worth $1,600,000 in fifteen
years. The giant intellect that refused
it is still examining patents.
"A curious example of superstition
was made public the other day in the
law courts of Berlin. A tree growing
opposite the gateway of a farmer was
noticed to be whitening away. 1t was
found that a deep hole had been bored
in it. AS the tree somewhat incom-
NODDED the entrance to the farmers
house he was charged with the deed
and fined. He, however, appealed and
succeeded in proving that the hole had
been bored by some superstitious per-
son who believed that if illness attacks
household it can be driven away by
'burying" it in a healthy tree. A hole
is bored in the tree and all kinds of
medicines are buried in the hole, which
is then carefully stopped up, amid the
singing of weird incantations. This
could have been done by any supersti-
tious person in the neighborhood, the
farmer pointed out. The judge acquit-
ted him.
The Site and Rock Society of Ger
mantown. says the Philadelphia
Record, is rejoicing over the gift it re-
ceived last week of a chair and a rock.
The chair, which is over two hundred
years old, belonged to William Penn,
and the rock, which is much older than
the chair, is the one on which George
Washington stood while he directed the
battle of Germantown Two maiden
women were the donors of these relics,
two sisters, whose old and picturesque
house is crowded from drawing room
to attic with other relics no less inter-
esting and rare. Where the sisters live
is not to be told, for they are daily
worried by strangers as it is, and if the
fame of their really invaluable collec-
ton were to be any further spread
abroad-if the brass knocker of their
door were to be struck oftener than 1T
is by sightseers-the VeXation of these
women would be inconceivably great.
Cleveland has a novelty in an au-
tomobile dog ambulance just put into
service. There are automobile ambu
lances for human beings in several
cities of the United States, but this
is undoubtedly the first automobile
ambulance for dogs in the world. AL
though this odd vehicle is principally
for dogs, it also has an apartment for
l..
The ambulance responds to calls from
all parts of the city, where dogs be-
come dangerously i'll or badly injured.
! The calls come in over both of the
telephone systems of the city and Oft
en- there will be as many as a dozen
calls in twenty-four hours. When this
ambulance comes tearing down the
street to administer aid to a suffering
dog or a precious cat, and people clear
the track as they would for an ambu-
lance engaged in attention to unfoF-
tunate members of the human family.
1t is claimed that the automobile dog
ambulance is creating a sentiment of
the lower forms of creation. This new
ambulance is owned by DIR. w. f.
Staniforth, who once ran for the Ohio
Legislature upon a humane" plank.
--On the steamship Haverford, which
reached this port from Liverpool last
week and sailed again yesterday, came
aged William Schinnick, his wife and
their fourteen children, says the Phila-
delphia Record. The Schinmicks are
Swedes and travelled in the steerage.
All the fourteen children are unmar-
ried, and range in age from five years
to fifty-hve. Such a wide diversity of
age as this among brothers and sisters
has probably never before been
equalled Another tremendous family
mans-Johannes the father; Anna, the
mother, and eight children, the oldest
of them six years of age, the youngest
one. Thrice have the Scheuermans
been blessed with twins. Eight chill
dren crowded into five years make a
record quite as extraordinary as four
teen children stretching over fifty
years, and the Scheuermans and the
Schinmicks had many a talk and conn
parison upon the passage over.
The Persians have an ordnance fac
tory at Teheran under the charge of
German officers which turns out excel
lent work. German machinery is used
by means of which 100000 to 500. 900
Mauser cartridges may be produced
daily. Factories are also to be estab-
lished shortly for the manufacture of
sidearms.
"A Child of the City once upon a
time was sent into the country by
well-intentional persons, but she did
not appreciate rural delights, and soon
returned to her native element of brick
and tagging, says the New York Post