Morris tribune., 1907-04-20
HANGING smuaalers.

II has not DcCu 50 NcIy iOAS SAsSS -
was custom in England to hang
smugglers on gibbets arranged along
the coast and to tar their bodies, 50
that they might last long time and
be warning to other cuiprits. SO re-
Gently as 1922 three men thus coated
could have been seen hanging before
Dover castle. This embalming process
was sometimes used on other criminals.
Thus John Painter, who fired the dock
yards at Portsmouth in 1776, was
hanged and then coated with tar.
From time to time the process was re-
peated. His body lasted fourteen years.
Trajan's Wall.
The Danube was for a time suffi-
cient protection against the Scythians.
but soon better defense was needed,
and Trajan devised and carried out a
complete system of frontier posts from
Ratisbon to Belgrade. At Belgrade the
forts became fortresses, the earthworks
became a wall, and the whole mighty
fertilization turned away from the
Danube river. Between Belgrade and
the Black sea there were ninety six
forts of large size and hundreds of
little castles, while the whole line Of
Traian's wall traversed distance of
LOO miles and inclosed 5000 castles.
The WhirIisis Spider.
Various curious lodges are employed
by insects for Guiding their perse-
cutors, but none more curious than the
whirligg spiders. He has immensely
long legs and when approached begins
spinning around at such terrific speed
that it is actually impossible to see
him. All that Is visible is a slight mist
on the web. For twenty seconds at a
time this spider will keep up his fam
tastic eyolutions.
Tough Crowd.
A cub reporter was recently detailed
by his office to cover an assignment
where he was thrown in contact with
a number of police reporters. He re-
turned to the Office and was solicitous-
ly asked by his associates how he liked
the work. "Oh, very nicely" remarked
the young man, "but those reporters
are the toughest literary gentlemen l
ever met."-Boston Herald.
Never-never Land.
The Australian of the cities speaks
of the rest of his continent as "the
bush" The dwellers in the agricul-
tural country speak of the district far
Their inland as the black country"
Those themselves in the back country
have behind them land partly I'M
known and therefore attractive to the
adventurous, which they call the "Nev-
er-never d."-LOndon Saturday Re-
view.
The Fiery Serpents.
The fiery serpents mentioned as hav~
ing been sent to bite the Jews during
their wanderngs in the wilderness are
said by some commentators to have
been so called not from their appear
ance but because their bite occasioned
high fever and intense Inflammation.
There is a common species of sand
viper in parts of Arabia whose biting
occasions the same symptoms today
st. James Gazette.
Elastic.
The elastic used for garters and
many other purposes is made by weav
ing threads of rubber, cut by ma
chinery, into the material used In the
manufacture The weaving is done by
special process which permits the
elastic to lengthen without impairing
the fabric. Lengthwise threads of
cotton or silk are woven very slack,
as otherwise they would prevent the
stretching of the rubber.
A Worried Woman.
Mrs. Meek-Of course am worried.
AS a dutiful wife l can't help feeling
so, for am sure my husband is keep
ing something from me, and l shan't
he content until / know what it is.
Mrs. Freak-My husband is keeping
something from me. too, and | am
worried because l know what 1t Is.
Mrs. Meek-lndeed! What is it? Mrs.
Freak-Its money.-San Francisco Ar
gonaut.
In some bedding belonging to an
old woman who died in an English
workhouse the purchaser found bag
containing jewelry and a note for
$500 deposited in Liverpool bank
thirty-five years ago. The honest finder
Informed the woman's relatives in Car.
diff Of the discovery.
AS an example of Norwegian hon.
esty Lord Edward Spencer Churchill
in lecture told story of how he and
his friends left a silver spoon in one
of the little station houses by mistake.
Two years afterward when they passed
by the house again the silver spoon
was brought to them.
The earliest mention OF the serpent
in the Scriptures describes him as
more subtle than any beast Of the
field" a reputation which he has not
kept up to the present day, for the
serpent has less brains in proportion to
his bulk than any other creature on
the face of the earth.