The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-15
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


OsAo VI ~
Officials of the Campania, when il
arrived at Queenstown from New York
a few days ago. reported that when
south of Nova Scotia a bird was OBJ
served flying toward the ship. 1t was
followed by a number of sea gulls
which were endeaVoring to catch the
stranger. However. the bird managed
to evade its pursuers and, oVertaEing
the Campania fell exhausted on the
deck. On examination it was found to
be snowy owl measuring thirty-eight
and one-half inches from tip to tip of
the wings.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany has made new departure. The
increasing scarcity of timber suitable
for railway ties and the failure OF
substitutes for wood in the roadbed
have led the Pennsylvania into for
estry experiment. One hundred acroes
of land have been planted with $4,000
young locusts. The locust is rapid
grower, and, moreover, the timber Is
durable under the exposed conditions OF
ties The company intends to plant
1000 acres of ground in locusts to
provide for future construction. and re-
newal of it's roadbed.
The field artillery of the United
States army is soon to be equipped with
new rapid fire recoil guns, and the
five batteries at Fort Riley will be
the first to be supplied with the new
armament. The guns are now being
manufactured in Dusseldorf, Germany,
by the Ehrhardt Company. This Ger
man pattern was tested at Fort Riley,
a little more than year ago with
six other guns of modern type. 1t was
also tested at Sandy Hook, N. Y. The
guns will be equipped with cylinders,
the air pressure in which will dis
pose of the recoil in firing.
Officers of the Ordnance Depart
ment have made several trips in the
suburbs of Washington on the new
automobile battery wagon and forge
recently made for the army. They have
ridden up and down all the steep hills
in that vicinity, and over the toughest
roads they could find, and are very
well satisfied with the performance of
the big machine 1t is provided with
a winch, to pull the wagon up particu-
larly steep grades, but so far it has
not been found necessary to use it on
any of the roads in that vicinity. A
practical demonstration of the portable
forge and machine shop was made at
the cavalry post at Fort Myer few
days ago in the manufacture of horse
shoes. etc. 1t is intended to send the
wagon with a battery of field artillery
on a practice march into the country
in the spring.
Considerable sensation has been
made in Paris by the appearance in
the Gil Bias of an article entitled 1.-THE
Greatness and Decadence of the Ger
man Army" The author is evidently
very familiar with conditions in that
service. The points he makes are that
the general discomfort and spirit of
revolt in labor circles is extending to
the army, being taken there by the
youths from the towns and cities. BY
them it is communicated to the youth
from the country, who, at the end of
their service, take it home with them.
The immediate results are seen in the
increasing unwillingness of the youth
of the country to join the colors, for
they know beforehand the severe treat
ment they are likely to receive. The
author says, also, that the average
German officer is not only lacking in
enthusiasm in his duties, but is actual
ly cold toward them, accepting them
as the dulleSt routine.
1t seems probable that the tall
less Manx cats originally came from
Cornwall. They managed to survive
longer as a distinct breed in the Isle
of Man than in Cornwall, the predomi-
nance of the common tailed cat being
of course, aided in the latter district
by the fact that, although remote, it
is part of the mainland of England,
whereas new cats could be carried to
the Isle of Man only by sea. The
ManX cat which first attracted mod
ern attention was a very different ami
NAL from the variously colored speci-
mems which now take prizes at cat
shows. 1t was always of the color of
hare and had fur like a hare Like
hare, too, it always moved its hind
legs together. It's chief food was crabs
caught on the beach and when trans
ported inland from the seacoasts it
very seldom, If ever survived long
No cat of this kind has been seen for
many years in the Isle of Man, though
there are plenty of tallless cats, its
crossed descendants, to be purchased
there. Wherever 1t originally came
from, the Cornish or Manx cat was
more nearly separate species than
any kind OF show cat now existing.
1t was seacoast animal, with fur.
color, absence Of tail and method of
loocmotion. obviously adapted by the
inheritance of ages to it's habit of
catching crabs and other small life
behind the ebbing tide.
"A remarkable story printed in a
Manila paper-not altogether the best
of authority, those papers, for Ameri-
can doings in the Philippines-is to the
effect that one of our cavalry officers
at Jolo followed up the summary ex-
ecution of "juramentado" by throw
ing the mans naked body into a pit
slaughtering pig suspended over it.
and then dropping the dead animal up
on the dead man and heaping dirt
over both-all to the intense horror
and rage of a Moro multitude looking
on, says the New York Times. This,
II 1t really happened was a pretty
grisly business, and a pretty barbar-
Gus one, too, but before condemning it
for those reasons or because it in
suited the dead and outraged the reli-
gious feelings of the natives, one
should remember the circumstances
and inquire whether the results sought
could have been attained as prompt
ly in any other way. A "juramentado"
according to our understanding, is a
fanatical native who has excited him
self into determination to devote a
brief remainder of his life to the kill
ing Of those whom he regards as en-
emies. He expects to be killed him
SELF and always is, but he also ex-
poets that if he manages to destroy
from one to a dozen infidels before his
desperate rush is StOpped an atarpitv