The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-12-27

All Of which, obviously. interested and
amazed New York: and that fact alone
Is worthy Of giving the incident .
place high up on the list Of queer
events Of the departing year.
Other Cities Take Notice.
But ''lil oil New Yawk" makes still
one more bid for fame in this respect.
Actually-there are hundreds who saw
Theoretically giddy Gotham has po-
licemen who have been seen running!
Fat ones. too. and they really ran!
Last May. along with other police re-
forms, someone with an ingrowing
crouch made a point that all fat po-
licemen on the force should prove they
could really run and thereby reduce
their weight.
So. one night. eleven Of the "foin-
est and latest set out to run q race
around the entire circuit Of Central
Park. a distance Of seven and one-half
miles. The winner, with a big wet
sponge in his mouth. finished in nifty
two minutes-by his own watch. But
all along the way 25O-lb. coppers
could be seen in various stages Of col
lapse. hanging on and over park
benches. gasping for breath. groaning
OI C61l1u8 0OWA tSE1AOA0 1n<6A00AS1AVAAO
upon the head Of the individual who
wanted to prove they could put one
foot in front Of the other faster than
a walk.
An eminent surgeon of Stockbridge.
Mass, while on a fishing trip. had a
narrow escape from death last May
that might well be labelled ''improb-
able'' had 1t been utilized in q fiction
story. Sunk in quicksand nearly to
his waist, he shook his rod and line
clear and made a cast for his life at
the limb Of a tree some fifty feet away.
The tackle caught and held.
Then steadily. slowly, with infinite
patience. hand over hand along the
stout, silken trout line, he managed to
pull himself out of the Quicksand to
an old log. There he waited all night
long until. in the morning. a party Of
Boy Scouts came along and rescued
him.
A Strange Superstition.
Like a scene from tho Middle Ages.
when trial by battle" was the ac-
cepted method of an accused for prov
ing his innocence, was that of . duel
between an italian and his wife in
Denver, Col. last July. The husband
accused his wife Of unfaithfulness
and she straightway demanded the
chance to prove herself innocent by
nghting a duel with him with knives.
Doubtless, as in the ages OF the past.
she felt that some unknown power
would strengthen the arm and heart
OF the person wrongly accused. AL
F-ways. according to the ancient super
stition. the accused. II innocent.
would triumph: but. If guilty. would
fall before the righteous attack OF the
accuser. Both husband and wife were
badly cut up when the police finally
broke down the door and separated
them.
The hobble skirt. after all. It seems.
has its uses Last October a beauu-
full young Pittsburgh. Pa. woman.
richly gowned in one of the new skirts.
walked out to the middle OF a bridge
over the Monongahela river ana
Jumped overheard. Striking the water
seventy-five feet below. she sank only
half her length and then. buoyed up
NV the air under her skirt (the silt"
being under water, Of course) re-
mained afioat. Even though she made
desperate efforts to sink herself. the
improvised Nfe-preserver did It's un-
expected duty and she was finally res
cued by a passing rowboat.
Cupid indeed takes strange means
to bring about his ends. Last May q
New London. Conn. man Journeyed to
Moberly, Mo-, to claim the hand OF
a maid who. more than a year be-
fore, had written her name and ad-
dress on an egg. Despite the cold
storage life the egg must have led
the writing on its shell was not OBJ
liberated.
And even though the egg itself
should have been a reminder that. at
seventy-five cents q dozen. married
life Ii nowadays considerable Of a
financial undertaking. the future
bridegroom noticed "the handwriting
on the wall" Of the egg as he was
! about to break it for breakfast. wrote