The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-03-28

erel and herring are gradually dis
appearing. For the last few seasons
the trawlers have gone to sea only to
return with empty nets. The result is
felt particularly in the quaint town of
Peel, whose ruined castle furnished
much romance for Scott in "Peveril
of the Peak" but, sturdy and proud,
! like the Breton folk, Manxmen have
endured the pinch of poverty without
public murmur. Peel has also been
hit hard by a recent storm. The break
away and promenade, which were in
tended to make the place attractive
as a seaside resort, are damaged and
fine new church has been almost
destroyed.
The Fishery Board of Scotland has
experimental upon the migration of
salmon to determine if the fish return,
year after year, to the same river. A
metal tag bearing "a number is attach
ed to specimens that are subsequently
freed. The last report of the board re-
cites that twenty-four salmon so mark
ed were caught during the next season.
Of these twenty-four, nineteen were
taken in the same river in which they
had been set free during the preceding
season: four were caught in waters
|. close to their birthplace, and only one
| i'll distant waters. This latter specimen
was taken 500 miles away from the
place where it was set free-in Nor
way. Salmon, remember, then, and
have an acute sense of direction: as
well as preferences of marked char
acter,
"A strange way of testing the in
nocence of an accused person is en-
ployed in India" said a Philadelphia
dealer in hides who lately returned
from Madras. They haul the man up
and give him mouthful of dry rice
to chew. / don't suppose you ever
chewed dry rice? Well, it is hard work
It takes a deal of chewing to get it
nasticated into a glutinuous mass,
like gum, and that is the condition
that the accused is required to get it
into within ten minutes. If you are
calm and not afraid, you succeed, but
if you are nervous and scared you
fail. For it seems that fear has
strong effect upon the salivary glands;
it prevents them from secreting saliva
The mouth of a badly frightened per-
son is always dry as bone. 1t re-
quires tremendous flow of saliva to
chew dry rice, and therefore the scared
prisoner inevitably fails in this test. 1t
isn't, of course, test employed in the
courts of big towns. 1t belongs to the
interior, less enlightened villages
Mrs. Ashton, of New Albany, Ind,
according to the Chicago Record-Her-
aid, has been the wife of four veter-
ans of the Civil War and has been
granted pensions as the widow of three
OF them Commissioner Ware has been
investigating her case, and finds that
it is without parallel. Her first hus-
band served four years as a private in
an Indiana regiment, and contracted
rheumatism, from which he died in
1876. Two years later she applied for
a pension, which was granted, and she
continued to draw it until 1882 when
she married another veteran, and her
pension stopped. Husband No. 2 lived
Tor hve years. Upon his death she
made her second application. and was
granted pension as his widow, which
she continued to receive until she mar
ried for the third time, when the Pen
sion Bureau was promptly notified of
her third matrimonial venture and her
name was again dropped from the
rolls. In 1889 for the third time she
applied for pension, representing that
husband No. 3, who was a captain,
had died from wounds received in the
service. Her name was again added to
the list without delay, because exper-
fence had fought her how to prepare
her application and the evidence to
sustain it; but in 1896 along came Mai
Ashton, also Union veteran, who in
vited her to share his fortunes, and
again she reported her new matrimon-
ial alliance to the pension office. Hus-
band No. is still living.