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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Advocate, 1906-8-30, Page 2WIEN NATURE IS ANGRY UPHEAVALS Ve STAGGERED MAMMY. 'Appalling Earthquake at Lisbon on November 1, 170, when 00,000 Lives Were Lost. Europe is very often referred to as the "lucky continent," because it seldom euffere from the most terrible of Deane Nature's kices. Still, even Europe holds What Fe, hi mane,- respects, the world's reeord in the matter of earthquakes. Fele more appalling than the recent upheaval at San Francisco was the dis- aster at Lisbon au November 1st, 17r.)5. It seemed all the more terrible, becauee the morning on which the great succes- sion of shooks ooino was gloriously height and ttalm. Churcheswere filled, Parks endpromenades were gay with the thousandte. of people out to enjoy the weather, and everything and every- body seemed to be at peace. The crowds of people were rather sur- prised, but by no means alarmed, at heering a hollow, thunder -like sound welch eeemed to come from the centre of the eity. "Someone firing a. big gun," e few people explained. IN A GALVANIC GRIP. rence tOok plaCe less than thirty years ago, namely, the great tidal wave which struck the Gay of Gereetal on 001,00 314, 1870. It destroyed over 100,000 lives on, the etreteir °I io,w ground east Qt the .0anges delta. , Another great drowning 'disaster, but caused in a very different manner, was the one at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, eome sixteen years ago, when a deluge of rain resulted in We bursting of a huge reservoir and the loss of 6,000 lives. MIXED DisAsrEns. The great, Krakatoa disaster of Aug- ust, 1$83, was, in its after-effects, the most remarkable ever recorded. From May the Volcano on the island bad been spouting showers of ashes; in August the orator walls and part, of the ocean bed fell in, fully two-thirds of the island also sinking out of sight. Two small islands were thus created, but they sub- sequently disappeared. At the same time a gigantic ocean wave dashed down upon the neighbor- ing coasts of Java and Sumatra, destroy- ing 300 villages and 36,500 lives. It then swept round the entire globe, being felt a second time at Java after its journey of some 25,000 nines. The dust cast up by the explosion of the volcano caused weird sun -glows of marvellous beauty throughout the world for over three years. Within a few seconds, however, the true explanation. was forthcoming. The whole city suddenly gave a convulsive jerk, as though it had just laid hold of a galvanic battery. Buildings crump- led up and crashed into each other with a terrifying clatter, and in less than three minutes 30,000 people perishedl For several minutes longer the shocks continued to come. and in Lisbon and its neighborhood nearly 60,000 lives were lost on that fateful morning. Daring the convulsions the extraor- dinary spectacle was .seeri of 6 waterless Lisbon Harbor, for the sea retired well beyond the bar, which was left high and dry, only to roll in again directly afterwards as a wave sixty feet high. People rushed for safety to a massive marble quay; but It was a poor refuge, for the quay and everything upon it was suddenly swallowed by a great abyss, which yawned and closed again, engulfing for ever a large number of boats and small ships. This same earthquake reached Loch Lomond, in Scotland. the water of that lake rapidly and mysteriously rising twenty-eight inches. and then falling egain below, the normal level. RECORD WHIRL OF FLAME. It is just four years since the holo- caust in Martinique startled the whole of the civilized world. The more re- cent outburst of Vesuvius was scarcely worth mentioning by comparison. In the early part of May, 1902, Mount Pelee began to throw burning cinders into the city of St. Pierre, and into smaller towns and villages within reach. This "peppering" performance lasted a few days, but at eight o'clock one morning there came an awful roar and an explo- sion which were heard for 300 miles around. A vast, whirling cloud of smoke, big- ger than the mountain itself; shot from the crater, and rushed down on the city and the bay. Close after the smoke came O still bigger volume of fire, which swept down upon St. Pierre without the slight- est warning of its approach, destroy- ing the entire city and every one of its 26,000 inhabitants in less than five min- utes. Not a single person who was in St. Pierre at the time of the explosion lived to tell the tale, save a negro, who was in his prison cell. Nearly all the sbippmg at St. Pierre was caught in that, unparalleled whirl of fire and re- duced to ashes. KING ALFONSO PLAYS PRANKS. How - a Washerwoman's Doubts Were Removed. During one of their short trips from San Sebastian, King Alfonso and his Young , Queen had a little adventure among the washerwomen at ,Arqueta, who were eating Weir lunch by the side of a brook at which the royal motor - ear had come to a stop. 'The King, 01 his free, boyish way, began to chat with the wornen, and when, in reply to his query, they professed ignorance of his identity, he announced, eI am the Ring." Laughingly, one of the women, who evidently thought he was making fun of her, replied that he could not be Xing Alfonso, for she had seen His Majesty at Pamplona, and he was handeomer than the man who stood before her. Ring Alioneo laughed at the 'doubtful compliment, and, giving a coin to the woman, asked her if she recognized him from the likeness. At length she was convinced she was in the presence of the King, and though she dkl not return to the subject of His Majesty's looks, she and her companions warmly expressed their admire:Lion for the beauty of the young Queen. The King replied that he had not travelled so fax for a bride to return with one who could not be admired by all his subjects. A young draper's clerk at Estella in his enthusiasm became the centre of an incident which mig,a have -ad exciting consequences. As the King and Queen were driving slowly along the promefte ade he rushed close to the carriage to take a good look at the royal couple, holding the keys of his master's prem- ises in his hands the while. The King, acting on one of his humorous im- pulses, snatched the keys, the pace of the car was quickened and the over- enthusiastic youth was left lamenting and wondering how he should explain to his master that the Ring had pur- loined his keys. The King's quick per- ception saved the youth from being mis- taken for an assailant. RISKS THAT JUDGES RUN LIAM'S TO DANGER IN TOE DIS- CHARGE OF IIIS DUTIES, The Risks Attendant on His COW(' Are Greater Than the Public Hear Of. There is 'tunny a criminal judge Upon the Bench who has. not at one Wire or another been the recipient of. threaten- ing letter's /from ,prisoners or theit friends witIi whom their eentences have made them unpopular, Med one or two of them might be seed, to use a hack. neyed pliraet, to have at times "carried their lives in their hands," says Lon- don Tit -Bits, There were notable instances of this during ehe period of the "agrarian" mimes in Ireland mariy 'years ago. Judges and magistrates were openly threatened and went about in constant fear of assassination, arid more than one was known to wear a .chain -mail shirt under his clothing. • One of the most threatened judges at that period was Justice Lawson. For a long time, owing to , ,the warnings ee had received, he never walked out of doors without being accompanied by two retired soldiere and a couple cf detectives, and his precautions proved to have been wisely taken. One evening . when hewas walking througll one of the squares in Dublin a ruflianly-looking man was noticed to ee following the juege. As he drew nearer to him the detectives closed up, and at the critical moment they sprang upon the miscreant, .ancl after a struggle suc- ceeded in wrenching Leone him China has probably been more heavily ernitten by the eccentricities of Nature than any other part of the world. Per- haps it is because she holds herself so rigidly aloof from the world that the world remembers so little of her trou- bles. The Yellow River—Hoang Ho—is known as "China's Sorrow." In some parts or its course its bed is higher than the great plain through which it passes. It has completely changed its course eine times in 2,500 -years, and it fre- quently overflows and carries death and destruction to large tracts of country. In 1887 this majestic river excelled it- self. It burst through its banks in the province of Ho-nan, and, transforming itself into a vast inland sea, destroyed not thousands, but millions of lives! The Chinese Government has vainly tried to regulate the course of this terrible river. HOW TIDAL WAVES ATTACK. The. tidal wave is another weapon which Mother Nature delights to use when in one of her destructive moods. She made one of her biggest efforts in this directionless than six years ago. On September 8th, 1900, one of the big- gest .storms which ever afflicted the United States broke out upon the Texan coast, and a monster tidal wave raced down upon Galveston, which was a town of 40,000 inhabitants. Galveston stood—as the new Galves- ton, indeed, stands to-day—upon a sandy leland which nowhere. rises mare than a Sew feet above sea -level. The island m in the Gulf of Mexico, which, norm- ally, is almost tideless. Under the in- ftuence of strong winds, however, the SCO in the Gulf has been known to rise seven feet within a few minutes, and on the OCCEISIM1 under notice are entire town of Galveston wes submerged by a wall of water 'which wrecked every- thing in its path. , 100,000 DEATHS IN A DAY. Luckily, most of the people of Calves - having seen the coming of the storm, and knowing the clanger of Weir lowlying islend, had just suceeeded 10 malting their escape tothe mainland. Nevertheless, neerly 5,000 persons per- ished' in Galveston alone, and the total %another of deaths in the entire stricken district, was estimated at 12.0(0. The bridges which connected the island with the mainlaend wet° all swept away, and ever 150 Sailing vessels, which Chemed to he lying off the coast, were wreck- ett. :the Texas cotton Crop was ruined lue the -Some aufrietine. A eh -near but fat more terrible occur's. - WOMEN BEST IN PHYSICAL FEAT. Trick Easy for Females Impossible for Masculine Athletes. Man may claim for himself the physi- cal prowess of his race, but there is a surprise in store for him. In the gym- nasium anywhere; any woman may a.c- complish easily a muscular feat which not the greatest athlete in the world may do. . It is a simple experiment that may be made in any ,parlor. The prerequisites A SEVEN -CHAMBERED REVOLVER, loaded in every barrel, with which. ne was about to shoet the judge. For this dastardly attempt he was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. A case that had a more tragic ending occurred many years ago in Calcutta. The Acting Chief austice,'Sie Charles Norman, had just, arrived at the court, and was about to enter, when a man who had been Standing near went up to him and suddenly slabbed 0101 tothe heart. Great indignatioii was felt ate the murder, for the judge was very popular in legal and social circles. The murderer was shortly afterwards tried and executed, and though' there were various theories as to the reason for the crime no satisfactory' explanation of it was ever forthcoming. The narrow eseape from death that Sir George Jessel, a- former Master of the Rolls, had on one *exciting occa- sion is still remembered among the legal Profession. Early one morning a gentle- man in clerical garb went to the Rolls Court and inquired of the usher when the judge was likely to arrive. On be- ing informed he took up his station out- side the coine and patiently awaited leis lordship's coming. A few minutes later Sir George Jessel drove up in a han- som. Scarcely had he alighted when the stranger' stepped forward ead, produc- ing a pistol, FIRED IT POINT-BLANK at the judge's head. The Master of the P,olls, though somewhat alarmed, es- caped injury, and as bis assailant's pis- tol was a single -barrelled one no second shot could be fired. The mao then handed his card to the judge. It bore the name of a clergy- man who had brought a case into the Appeal Court, where Sir George Jessel had decided against him, and this de- cision had so incensed him that he had resolved to kill the judge. He was after- wards pronounced insane. "Just wait till I some out again, you old villain, and rn make it hot for you 1" shouted a truculent-loolcing pri- soner whom a well-known judge, had just sentenced to three years' hard labor for a brutal attack upon a police - constable. "The day of my release," he added. 1011) had, during his brilliant career, 50010 very uunerving eaperiene,es. For severed months he was followed about in the streets of London by 4 man whet for reasons of les own, had conceived a hatred of aim, and Whe ultimately threatened his life. Every morniee for months We man would, wait outside the judges house until ho came out, and then, following him to the eourt, would take a seat therein until a &sea, afterwards following him home again in the evening. If he drove in a carriage, or tooka hansome to escepe the num would take another and Pursue him. This perseCution contineed until one day he was taken before a magistrate for ' threatening Justice Hawkins's tile, and was bound over he heavy reco,g- nizances to keep the peace, after which he was seen no more. - BITS OF KNOWLEDGE. Nuggets of Information About 'Most Everything. The frigate bird flies at the rate cf 300 mile.s an hour. area stretch of perpendicular wall, so "will be the day of your death 1" that the baseboard will not project be- "Ohl" said his lordship, motioning to yond its line, a. chair tipped over; and a careful observance of the rules of the contest. In order to get the upright surface in the wall it may be necessary to go to a door -facing. Standing in front of it, place the tip of one shoe against the up- right surface of the floor level; put the other foot behind the first foot, with the toe touching the heel; then place the first, foot alongside the other foot close up, with the heels firmly on the floor and the knees together. In this upright standing posture, the length of two feet from the wall, bend forward at right angles from the hips until the top of the head is resting firm- ly against the wall, supporting the body and presenting as nearly as possible a back line that is at right angles to the legs. In this position have some one place a chair in front of the contestant, which shall be tipped over on its face, between the knees and the wall, and placed so that it will balance when the person shall pick it up by the lower rung and crosspiece at the back. Let the experi- menter pick the chair up in this way, holding to this position first taken, bring the bacle of We chair firmly up against ale chest. and then, without letting the head drop Or the heels rise, and holding the chair close to tee chest, bring head and trunk and chair rigidly up to the upright position, No man can do this. To tiny woman, no mailer how slight her muscular de- velopment, ihe action is as easy as that proverbial "falling off a log," Not only cian the man notrise with the incubus of the chair. but in this position, leaving his arms relaxed and hanging pendent he may find it impossible to Nee with- out smashing his face into the wall, w[-ntng TAx8s ARE UNKNOWN. Orea, in Sweden, had, in the courSe of a generation, sold $5.750,000 worth or trees, end by mean's of Michels aa - planate; has provided for a similar in- come every thirty years, In cense- quenee of the development of this corn - merged wealth there are ne loxes. Rail. ways and telephones are rite, and so are the school-house5,. teething, and 'ratty abet things. the warder; then, wait a momen I'm in no great hurry for that day to corne; I think I will put it off a little longer." And he altered the sentence to one of five years' penal servitude. "I have had that fellow before me several times." he remarked subse- quently to a friend. "He has threatened me more than once,, and I never sen- tence him without feeling A SORT OF PRESENTIMENT The flounder is an industrious fish, and lays 7,000,000 eggs in a year. Wood yields one-fourth the heat of coal; charcoal about the same heat as coal. e New Mexico has a great desert, thirty miles long and, ten miles wide, a glistening white gypsum. The tobacco monopoly has yielded the Austrian Government the enormous net profit of $25,000,000 for one year. A scientist states that the height and weight of school children increase with the size of the houses in which they live. The Welsh National Eisteddfod is the biggest open-air concert in the world. At least 20,000 people attend it every year. Negro graves in South America are sometimes curiously garnished with the banes of medicine used by the departed in their final illness. It is steted that the healthiest trade in the world is that of dye -making from coal -tar. The average life of a. tar - worker is eighty-six years. Something like one in every five of Britain's population is depositor in the Post Office Savings Bank, the aver- age deposit being about £15. The priests and monks of Italy live longer than any other professional men in that country. Fifty-seven per cent. live beyond three score and ten. If a servant in Germany falls ill her mistress is not allowed to discharge her, but must pay 50 cents a day for her hospital expenses until she is perfectly well. Every good Sikh prefers to die upon the bare -ground. Regardless of rank or age rio rug must intervene between him and: the earth when he breathes his that one of these days he will lie in wait for me and take his revenge." What would have been one of the rnost startling and dramatic murders that have ever talcen place came very near to happening a few years ago, when the criminal, Solomon Barmash, was tried for the notorious bank.not6 forgeries. As will be remembered Bar - mash shot himself in his cell at New- gate tater his trial, and the revolver was actually concealed about hart at the moment when he stood In the dock to receive from Mr. Justice Darling his sentence of fifteen years' penal servi- tude. It was his intention (so a well-known detective recently informed the writer), if, as he expected, he received a heavy sentence, to shoot tha judge who gave it him dead upon. the Bence! His nerve, however, providentially failed him -at the eritical moment, and the weapon afterwards served to terminate his own 111 15. unpopular sentence in a case that has aroused great inflate interest has on mere than one occasion nearly resulted in the lynching of the judge by the ex- ellAccIfteprtilopuelaedee,sth s entence passed upon Mrs, Florence Maybriek -for poisoning her intsband with arsenic, the judge, Mr. Iustice Stephen, had a 'narrow es - sI being Vety roughly used, if not of being killed. last. Germany's army on a peace footing has 63,000 b.orses with the cavalry and 36,000 with the artillery. Every horse in the German Empire is registered and available for service. The number of horses slaughtered for food in public abattoirs in Germany during 1905 was 15.522 more than in 1904, the numbers being 96,834 W 1905 against 81,312 in 1904. Nearly all the Bibles sent to Uganda are bound in tin in order to guard against the voracious African ants, which frequently completele devour the ordinary covers of books. The Japanese army is recruited by conscription, but only twenty -live of the strongest and healthiest are picked out of every hundred men called up for ser- vice ;• the remainder are sent into the reserve. It is said that there are two great treasure.hoards on Cocos Island, one a pirate's pluader, estimated at anything between $30,000,000 and $60,000,000; another called "Keating's treasure,' said to be worth $15.000,000. Every Tibetan family is compelled to devote its- first-born male child to a monastic life. Soon after birth the child is taken to a Buddhist monastery, to be thenceforth brought up and trained in priestly mysteries. An inhabitant of Farmoutiers, France, has left a legacy sufficient to provide prizes of 25fr. each yearly for the two most polite scholars—male and fernale—of the town. The winners are to be elected by ballot of their school- fellows. Vienna is to have the largest and finest illuminated fountain in the world. The' illuminating power will equal 900,000,000 candles. It includes twenty-seven' immense reflectors capa- ble of giving seventy variations in light effects every seventeen seconds. Mount Sangay is the most active volcano in the world. It is situated in Ecuador, is 17,1201t. in height, and has been in constant activity since 1728. The sounds of ite eruptions are sometimes heard in Quito, 150 miles distant, and once 267 reports were counted in one hour. • GREAT BATHERS. Of all the Europeans the Russians are most addicted to the bath. In St. Petersburg there are vast vapor bathe, to which the poorer people repair by thousands every Satarday night, carry- ing clean towels and briehen twigs. While lying upon the marble slabs in the baths they flog eaeh other severely with the twigs, afterwards standing round red-hot stoves and pouring pail- fuls of ice -water over one another. The flogging stimulates the circulation, and when the reaction canes after the ice - water performance the bathers lie about in a condition of ecstacy—a sort of nerv- ous interxicatien. The ancient liOntans were extravagantly fond of bathing. They got their notions abOut the bath as a luxury from the Graeae, and at one time there were nearly nine hundred publie bathing establishments. The bathers sat on Melee benches belew the surface Of the Water, around the edges Of the basins, steeping themselves with dull knives of metal and ivory, and taking oceasiorita plunges inte the water. Dissipated Minims voutdeepnd whole days in the bath, seeking relief front overendulgenee in eating and drinking the. 'night before. Everybody, even the emperor, need these blahs, which wore ()POE) to fIVOITOYte Wil0 OtIOSO to pay the price of admission, , ATA RAILWAY ACCIDENT F011EIMAN 013 'I'llE WRECKING CREW TELLS WHAT IS,DONE, The Outfit, Consisting of Seven Cars, l§ Always In 'Readiness tor Action, eYee, .alent a story of how we clear [MEV Wrecks 1' • "Well," says the old wrecking fore- , nian "perhape it is after a hard day's work, ore the ''rip tracks,' repairing broken down ears; for usually the Wreeking crew is made up of ten of the oar repair men. "Every man knows exactly where the Wreeking outfitis—on by the round- house whore the night crew iS doing all it on to hurry along eie fire .and the rising steam pressure of the engine that is to take the outfit On its errand iif mercy. "This 'entlite if it is modern, consists et e steam derrick car, With steam al- ways up, 'Weighing in the neighborhoed of e60,000 pounds, with a lifting capacity of ,Sixty -ave tons. AN EXASPERATED CROWD, enraged at, what they considered an un- just sentence', surrounded the judge's carriage, arid with oriee of "Mob hire!" and "Lynch him!" tried With all their might to overturn. it. The pollee, how- ever, closed areuhd it just in time, rind succeeded in avertingwhat might have been a. vetoes catastrophe. Justice tlaweine now Lord Gawp - "Behind the derrick comes the 'truck.' car. It contains extra' trucks to be used under derailed cars or car bodies whose trucks have been ruined. Next comes the blocking car, loaded down with all necessary blocking and timber. "Then there is the track supply car, equipped witle, all the necessary track material, such. as ties and rails. The tool car is Inc next in order. • This car- ries jacks of all descriptions, from a 6- 10ch pony jack to a. 40 -ton hydraulic. It is loaded also with bars, chisels,. hammers, wrenches, dope buckets, packing spoons, lines, tackles and blocks, night and day signals, tarpau- lins for covering merchandise anti stretchers, blankets and sheets for THE INJURED AND THE DEAD. . "Next is the cook and bunk car, and finally the cabooSe. The former has n range, a refrigerator and a stock cf food thee will keep. It has bunks for eighteen or twenty men. This train, or 'outfit,' as it is called, is always coupled together and stored on a side track. "The first thing that a wrecking fore- man does on being called is to get into communication witi the chief train despatcher and find out all the particu- lars possible. If it is a merchandise 'wreck, empty freight cars are taken along into which can be transferred such freight and grain as can be saved. "He also finds out, as near as he can lustwherethe wreck lies and how badly it is piled. If it is a passenger wreck— why, of course, it is a case of get there as quickly as possible, wondering all the time who the dead and injured are and what new scene of awfulness will be confronted. "The wrecking outfit has the right of way over all trains between the starl- ing point and the place where the wreck occurs. Passenger, stock and freight are all side.tracked. "A .• stop, .is Made at the station or siding neareet the wreck. Here the steam derrick Is switched eohead of the engine, with the rest of the °befit coupled , behind. • On arriving at the wreck a men is stationed at the front end Ofethe -crane whose duty it is to give signals to the engineer of.,,the der- ric.,k,...veliettrer to raise,' lower OR TO SWING THE CRANE. e"The first -thine a wrecking foreman does after finding out where the in- jured are and, getting them :loose is to figure On working a ' passageway through the wreck and replacing the track as the debris is cleared. If the wreck is a bad one and there is the chance a temporary track is built around theemess that. Waft may be re- sumed as soon as possible. "Cars that are 'damaged to 'the extent tif- $100 are dragged into the ditch, all the track and ,air -brake rigging taken from them and the body 'of the car set eare., Alt 01 the iron parts are after - weeds loaded on to flat cars, often even the'boilete ef .the locomotive. 'Thisscrap is taken to the shop to be repaired and used over again. "Even freight wrecks can present a terrible appearance. One of the worst of these I ever saw was forty-five loads of wheat, the products of many a hun- elred acres, piled forty feet high and ex- tending frbm right of way fence to right of way fence—a regular hill of gold, which took one solid' weelee work to clear away. Carload after carload of 'wheat had to be loaded by basket into new cars—while many tons of bent and twisted iron and heap upon heap 6f ashes told a silent story of the wreck. "One time we went out to pick up a stock wreck of eleven cars. These, next to passenger wrecks, are the Werst to handle. This particelar wreck was one of great confusion. The penned .cattle were bellowing frightfully. On each side and far over toward the fence lay , cam beyond their Qapaeity and Until they break down. Employ only exper- ieneed Men, and when such Men Make inistake.s and trouble is the result—. keep them; do not 'can' them, for nine chances out of ten they will never make the same mistake again. We all learn by experience, therefore the man who ea.s made a mistake is a safer man for all concerned, than one Who has not." FACTS FROM EVERYWIIERE. Interesting Items From the Word's Four Quarters. In all 240,000 different species of in- sects are known to exist on the earth. Kangaroos readily leap from sixty to seVenty feet. The greatest recorded leap of a horse is thirty-seven feet. In Bohemia courtsbips are almormal- ly long. In that country engagements frequently lest from fifteen to -twenty years. Japan's chrysanthemum flag Is proba- bly the oldest national banner in exis- tence. That of Denmark is the oldest among European nateons. A leading Swiss scientist declared that the Rontgen rays can be so applied that white horses became black, He is now experimenting on old gentlemen's beards. Some harps have been discovered in Egyptian tombs the strings of which, in several instances, were intact, and gave forth distinct sounds after an estimated silence of 3,000 years. When a fortnight old the oyster is not much larger than the head of a pin. At the end of lour years' growth it is fit, for the market. Oysters live to the age of from 12 to 15 years. Clo.a is now being successfully made from wood. Strips of fine-grained wood are boiled and crushed between rollers, and the filaments are spun into threads, from which cloth can be woven in the usual way. • The rose is the emblem of secrecy in Greece, and was formerly hung over the table where guests were enter- tained, In token thee nothing heard there was to be repeated. Hence the ex- pression "subetteete ' Statisticians estimate that twenty-two ares of land are necessary to sustain one rnan on fresh meat. The same space of lahd if devoted to wheat, culture would feed ee people; if to oats, 88; potatoes, Indian corn and rice, 176; and if to the plantain, or banana, over 6,000 people. The sacred fires of India have not all been extinguished. The most ancient which still exists was consecrated twelve centuries ago in commemoration of the voyage made by the Parsees when they emigrated „from Persia to India. The fire is fed five times every twenty.: four hours with sandal evood and other fragrant material, combined with very dry fuel. In felling a large tree some days ago in Cirencester, GIOUCeStenshire, Eng- land, a bird's nest containing four eggs was discovered inclosed in a hollow near the heart, of the trunk. The, sap rings showed that nearly a century has elapsed since the eggs were laid, and it was obvious that the hollow had closed automatically. The eggs were intaetr but slightly faded. A German statistician has made a eareful investigation to discover in which countries the greatest age is ate Mined. The German Empire, with 55,- 000,000 population, has but 78 subjects who are more than 100 years old. France with. fewer than 40,000,000, has 113 persons who have passed their hun- dredth birthday. England has 146; -Scotland, 46; Denmark, 2; Belgium, 5; Sweden, 10; end Norway, with 2,000,- 000 inhabitants, 23. Switzerland does not boast a single centenarian, but Spain. with about 18.000,000 population, has 410. The most amazing .figures come from that troublesome and tur- bulent region known as the Balkan Peninsula. Servia has 573 persorie who ire rnore Gum 100 years old; Roumania, 1,084, and Bulgaria, 3,883. In .other words, Bulgaria has a centenarian every 1,000 inhabitants, and thus holds theinternational record for old people. in f8.92 alone there died 10 Bulgaria 350 persons who had exceeded the century. DEAD Oli INJURED STOCK. . "Now there 10 nothing -that makes these western steers so angry as the smell of blood, and add to that injury and the terrible excitement of a wreck and you have a Combination that makes the poor animals fairly crazy. Woe to the man who gets close to a head or the heels of a struggling beast. The cars 'were piled in such a way that, we were tompelled to rip the tops off. "Then men crawled out along the wreckage, fastened lines about the horns, and with the tad of the derrick the animals were finally dragged loose. Those in the car that were badly in- jured were killed by a lolow on the head 'veith a sledge, while the others were rounded up by men on horseback and herded into the fieldto be finally driven to the first stock clutte and there re- loaded. . "Yes. passenger wrecks ore, without a doubt, the very werst—and it can be geld of thenn as of war, they ate any- thing but cob}, "The leseone wrecks should tetich "Never to hike clonncee. Never make men work longee than nature intended they should. Equip all roads with every safety device kriowie for safe tree) %molting, Make the Vain order- sys, tem ae sionple as possible. Stop toadied A DOUBLE MASQUERADE. Story Ok a Bank Robber and a Detective. "A MEM and a woman," said the police chief, "occupied a compartment of a Pullman. In a desolate place, the train speeding like lightning along, the man said to the woman : • "'Madam, I will ask you to look out of the window a few minutes; I am go- ing to make some changes in my ap- parel.' "Certainly, sir,' said the woman, politely. "Two or three minutes, filled with odd, rustling noises, passed. Then the man said: ,e"Now, madam, I am finished.' 'She looked at him, and behold. he had transformed himself into a dashing girl, heavily veiled, fashionably dressed and with ride and beautiful blonde hair. "Some moments later, in her turn, the lady said : "'Now, sir, or madam, which ever you are, I'll •ask you also to look out of the window. I have some changes to make in my own dress.' "The other complied, and, when Ire was permitted to Withdraw Ms gaze from the passing 'landscape, what Ives his surprise to find the lady changed .into a man. He gave a loud laugh. "'11 seems,' he said, 'that eve are both& fugitives, Hence we shoteld be pale. I am a bank rqbber. What are you?' "I,' 6aid- the Other, 'am Detective Hawke, of San Francisoo, and for three days in female attire I have been she - dewing you. Wrists together, elm% se that I may noW slip the nippers on! "Thus:" concluded the police chit, "did my friend tittevice arrest the nolo* ious Jack Graereo in '79. It woe tiWell neate,st arrest, froth the nxelodramio standpoint, Of the, year."—Los Aageles Throes, Shoplifters Should go intO a, stem And take sornethieg feee Whet% twitter with them.