Ex-mayor, Once Rich, Begs Dime and Dies.
Frank A. McGowan, former mayor of Trenton, N. J., died in a hospital in Hoboken, to which he had been taken after begging a dime from a policeman. He was reputed to have had at one time a fortune of more than three million dollars. Cerebral hemorrhage was given as the cause of death.
Shows Curious Potato Vine.
A potato vine that is bearing potatos on the vine above ground as well as below it, is the latest thing in freak vines in Bethany, Mo. The queer vine has been[Pg 62] exhibited by Johnson Hogan, of this place, who found it only recently in his potato patch. At each joint of the vine there is a well-formed potato, and there was also an unusually large number of potatos attached to the roots.
Metal from ’62 Taken Out of Hand.
Doctor D. R. Peters, of Mount Sterling, Ill., has removed from one of the fingers on one hand of J. P. Amonett a small piece of metal that he had received in the battle of Shiloh in the Civil War in 1862. The metal has been troubling Amonett lately, and he decided to have it removed. He said it seemed several times larger than it was.
Sleeps One Year and Expires.
After sleeping almost continuously for one year, Henry Mankey, a trooper during the Civil War, died in Columbus, Ohio. Physicians say the case is without parallel in medical annals. Mankey was seventy-four years old. The long sleep was held to be due to an injury.
Champion Woman Swimmer.
Miss Constance Meyer, champion woman swimmer of Portland, Ore., and one of the best on the Pacific coast, knew nothing about swimming three years ago. One day she attempted to cross a stream on horseback. The horse was unable to carry her across and she slipped into the water and held to his tail. Fortunately, he got to the shore with her, but Miss Meyer made up her mind that she must learn to swim. She began at the Portland Y. W. C. A., and soon became so proficient that she entered outdoor contests. When the national-championship contests at the San Francisco Exposition were announced recently, Miss Meyer was sent from Portland.
“Learn to swim,” is her advice to every girl. “It is good for your health and may get you out of danger some time.”
Toadstools Kill Two.
Carlo Muzzareller and Dominic Mulano are dead, and ten other persons are seriously ill in West Franklin, Ill., as the result of including toadstools in a picnic luncheon. Little hope is held out for the recovery of the sick.
Many Ill from Rabbit Meat.
As a result of eating rabbits that had eaten loco weed, several score persons in Kenna, N. M., and the surrounding farming community were severely ill. Physicians were at a loss to account for the epidemic till they learned that every person who was ill had recently eaten rabbit meat. Rabbits and loco weed are extraordinarily plentiful this year, and hunters say that thousands of rabbits are locoed.
Fifty Thousand Dollars for Each Foot Lost.
Miss Daisy B. James, who had been a dancer at the Winter Garden in New York, values each of her lost feet at fifty thousand dollars.
She filed an action in the New Jersey Supreme Court, in Newark, N. J., for one hundred thousand dollars against the Lackawanna Railroad. Miss James was in such haste to board a train in East Orange on June 10th last that[Pg 63] she ran under the closed gates. As the train drew into the station, the air suction caught her wide taffeta skirts and sucked her under the cars. Both legs were cut off.
Trapping Arizona Monkeys.
Trapping monkeys is the latest industry to spring into prominence in Arizona. Several citizens of Parker, Ariz., have formed the Colorado River Monkey Company, with the intention of trapping and marketing a colony of several hundred monkeys known to exist in Cunningham Pass, an almost inaccessible cañon located northeast of this place.
There was a big gold excitement at the Pass in 1882. Among those who rushed in was an Italian organ grinder with a pair of monkeys. The monkeys escaped and have been multiplying ever since, in spite of the depredations of coyotes and other predatory animals.
Never Again for Johnny.
Johnny Williams, ten-year-old son of John N. Williams, of Big Laurel, Va., declares that he will never swing on another grapevine until he has carefully examined both ends.
A few days ago Johnny was out in the woods with some other boys and they found a grapevine, which, by cutting it off near the ground, would make a swing that they could take hold of and swing far out over a deep ravine.
Johnny was the most fearless in the bunch, so he grabbed onto the vine as soon as it was cut loose and swung out over the hollow. The other end of the vine had not taken hold of the limbs of the tree sufficiently to hold his weight, and he fell, taking the vine with him. He would have been dashed to death against the rocks below if he had not landed in the top of a beech tree. He caught onto a limb and held there until he could get a better balance, but the worst part was still to come, for the beech was a very tall one and there was no limbs for sixty feet above the ground. So there the boy had to sit for five long hours until men came with ladders and brought him down.
Pigeons Break World’s Record.
Claim of a new world’s record for flight by homing pigeons was made by the Fort Worth Pigeon Fanciers’ Association. Four birds liberated at New Orleans, covered the 579 miles to Fort Worth in fourteen hours, maintaining an average of forty-one miles an hour.
Large Mound on Man’s Head.
Contractor Charles S. Wilcox’s thick “two-story” fedora saved him from instant death when a carpenter on the fifth floor of a new building, in Lansing, Mich., dropped a hammer on his head. Wilcox was on the first floor. The blow made him imitate a merry-go-round, but he finally got control and kept his balance. At present he is wearing a big mound beneath his life-saving hat.
Can’t Catch Weasel Asleep.
U. S. Liphart, a farmer near Windsor, Pa., will receive bounty for trapping a weasel in his trousers. He has forwarded the head of the animal to the commissioner’s office, together with an affidavit made before Justice D. A. Heindel.[Pg 64]
Liphart was plowing when he noticed the weasel chasing a chipmunk. He went to the rescue, and the weasel turned on him and made a dart for his pantaloon leg, ascending rapidly. When it got as far as the knee, Liphart seized it and choked the life out of it.
Breaks Dentistry Records.
Mrs. James Seever, of Atchison, Kan., had twenty-five of her teeth pulled by a dentist, and did not take an anæsthetic. She did not become nervous or hysterical during the ordeal, and went home unassisted.
Vest Will Urge Big Navy.
The Navy League will send over the country to lecture in behalf of a greater navy Alexander S. Vest, son of former Senator George Graham Vest, Missouri, the last surviving member of the Congress of the Confederate States of America and an intimate friend of Jefferson Davis.
Feeding the Two-headed Calf.
Fed through rubber tubing, the two-headed calf at the country home of Tom van Swearington, in Shenandoah, Iowa, has been kept alive since its birth, a fortnight ago, and has strength enough to almost stand alone now. The freak of nature has attracted a great deal of attention.
Animal Horns and Antlers.
A record of the conditions of the deer, moose, and elk in the zoölogical park of New York City proves that their formidable-looking horns and antlers, which are newly acquired each year, are grown within four months. The old horns are dropped in the spring. The largest elk in the zoo lost both his antlers last year nine hours apart, on March 21st. By June 21st, the full-length antler had grown, although it was still soft or “in the velvet.”
The dropping of the horn leaves a small circle of skull exposed. Within a week this is covered with brown skin. Then a round knob appears, resembling a tomato except in color. It soon begins to lengthen out into the horns which are to come, the growth sometimes amounting to nearly an inch in a day. When soft and growing, the horns are full of blood. After they have reached their full length, they begin to harden. By October the velvet has been worn off by rubbing against tree trunks and the horns are hard and smooth.
Tragic Dream Comes True.
Fulfilled premonitions constitute no small part of the lore of the mountains of southwest Virginia. The following story which was added to this lore recently was related by an old lady, Mrs. Richard Mullins, of Haddonfield, Va., whose word is to be relied upon.
Two men by the name of Fleming, who were cutting timber for a lumber concern, were boarding at Mrs. Mullin’s. Finally their work was almost completed and the two men, whose first names were Clinton and Walter, saw that they could finish the work in another day.
The following night Mrs. Mullins dreamed that she saw a tree fall on Walter, crushing him to a shapeless mass. She related the dream next morning, but the men apparently gave it no consideration and walked to their work with light hearts. They were working near the house, and about one o’clock that afternoon Mrs. Mul[Pg 65]lins was startled by the screams from Clinton, and she hurried to the place. There she found that a tree had fallen on Walter and killed him instantly.
Shot Through Brain, Lives.
With a bullet through his brain, physicians say Clay Brewster, aged fourteen, of Hoisington, Kan., will live. Young Brewster was accidentally shot in the left eye, three weeks ago, the shot passing through the cerebrum of the brain and coming out at the top of the head. The bullet was removed. He has regained consciousness and makes his wants known by signs, being unable to talk.
Kills Rat with Blow of Fist.
Thomas Dean, a Sunbury, Pa., man, was awakened from sleep by a pain in his right hand. He found three of his fingers bleeding. Turning his head on the pillow, he discovered a huge rat sitting on the pillow, and, Dean said, “apparently grinning in fiendish delight at what he had done to the hand.”
With a crushing blow from his fist he struck the rat and sent it against the side of the room. The rodent fell dead. Dean weighed it and found its weight to be three pounds.
As proof of the occurrence, Dean showed the rat’s body, unmarked, to his friends. Doctors cauterized the wounds.
Three-ring Movies Latest Idea.
“Three-ring movies” are the latest. Three film plays are shown at one time on three screens. This is at the Grand Central Palace in New York.
If you don’t care for the comedy on the screen to the left, you can look at the romantic play in the center screen, or at the thriller on the screen to the right.
The chief advantage is that when you go in to see your favorite hero of the movies, who is billed on the posters outside, or go in to see a certain comedy, you aren’t compelled to sit waiting through a program of pictures you don’t care about particularly. It is an arrangement for busy folk who drop into a movie theater at the noon hour.
Wed Editor to Muzzle Her.
Miss Sadie Velle Fenton, of Denver, Col., Vassar graduate and the youngest woman editor in the United States, says that she has had to refuse numerous matrimonial offers from men who proposed mainly for the reason that they desired to control the editorial policy of her paper, the Logansport Times, published in the Indiana town of that name, and having the reputation of being the oldest local prohibition paper in America.
“I’ve had lots of proposals since I’ve been editing the paper,” said Miss Fenton, “but they have been from men who wanted to marry me because they would like to edit the paper. Several of these were from men who did not believe in my views on prohibition and suffrage, and evidently thought the quickest way to correct them would be to marry me.”
Two-story House Disappears.
Without warning, a two-story house, occupied by Andrew Lappi and his family on the site of the Colby mine, near Bessemer, Mich., suddenly sank into the earth[Pg 66] and dropped the depth of the shaft. The family was away at the time, and, on returning, failed to find their house. A large stretch of country has been undermined in this vicinity, and several families are moving to other localities.
Costs Extra Cent for Show.
As soon as proper arrangements are made by the board of control of Montreal, Canada, for collecting the tax, every patron of a place of amusement will be obliged to add one cent to the cost of his theater ticket. The city council gave third reading of the necessary bylaw, based on the authority secured at the last session of the legislature.
“The words ‘place of amusement’ shall mean and include theater, a moving-picture hall, an amusement hall, concert hall, circus, playground, race course, skating rink, and any other place in the city where any exhibition or entertainment whatsoever is given and an entrance fee collected,” explains the ordinance.
The tax is imposed on each person admitted into any place of amusement, even if such person is admitted with a complimentary card or ticket.
How Much Silver is Wasted.
A greater amount of pure silver is used each year in this country in photography and photo-engraving than for any other purpose except the coinage of the United States. By the methods in general use only about ten per cent of the silver consumed in these industries is actually utilized. The remainder is simply wasted in the solutions which are thrown daily into the sinks to go out through the drain pipes.
Several schemes for conserving this waste are now being considered. One consists in saving the solutions in jars and barrels to be refined or evaporated to regain the silver. Another method, which is really quite practical, is to utilize the silver wasted in the fixing bath for silver plating.
The process is so simple that it can readily be carried on even by an amateur. The liquid is strained or filtered and placed in a hard-rubber box. An ordinary galvanic cell is attached by copper wires to a copper plate in one end of the receptacle. The articles to be plated should be well cleaned and placed in the solution opposite the copper plate. The silver will begin to deposit immediately. Fifteen or twenty minutes will suffice for a thorough plating. In most photographic establishments enough silver solution is thrown away each day to plate a couple of dozen spoons or forks.
Dog with Only Two Legs Left.
Carmargo, in Dewey County, Okla., has dogs—big dogs, little dogs, and, in fact, all kinds of dogs, but one in particular is somewhat of an oddity. This is a dog that travels on two legs.
Several months ago a dog belonging to Mr. Storey, section foreman, was run over by a train and two of his legs cut off. For some time he was unable to move around, but now has recovered so that he can navigate quite handily. The two legs on which he is forced to walk are both on one side. He not only walks, but can also run, and seems to be about as well able to get around as a dog with four good legs.[Pg 68][Pg 67]
The Nick Carter Stories
ISSUED EVERY SATURDAY BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS
When it comes to detective stories worth while, the Nick Carter Stories contain the only ones that should be considered. They are not overdrawn tales of bloodshed. They rather show the working of one of the finest minds ever conceived by a writer. The name of Nick Carter is familiar all over the world, for the stories of his adventures may be read in twenty languages. No other stories have withstood the severe test of time so well as those contained in the Nick Carter Stories. It proves conclusively that they are the best. We give herewith a list of some of the back numbers in print. You can have your news dealer order them, or they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt of the price in money or postage stamps.[Pg 69]
730—The Torn Card.
731—Under Desperation’s Spur.
732—The Connecting Link.
733—The Abduction Syndicate.
738—A Plot Within a Plot.
739—The Dead Accomplice.
746—The Secret Entrance.
747—The Cavern Mystery.
748—The Disappearing Fortune.
749—A Voice from the Past.
752—The Spider’s Web.
753—The Man With a Crutch.
754—The Rajah’s Regalia.
755—Saved from Death.
756—The Man Inside.
757—Out for Vengeance.
758—The Poisons of Exili.
759—The Antique Vial.
760—The House of Slumber.
761—A Double Identity.
762—“The Mocker’s” Stratagem.
763—The Man that Came Back.
764—The Tracks in the Snow.
765—The Babbington Case.
766—The Masters of Millions.
767—The Blue Stain.
768—The Lost Clew.
770—The Turn of a Card.
771—A Message in the Dust.
772—A Royal Flush.
774—The Great Buddha Beryl.
775—The Vanishing Heiress.
776—The Unfinished Letter.
777—A Difficult Trail.
782—A Woman’s Stratagem.
783—The Cliff Castle Affair.
784—A Prisoner of the Tomb.
785—A Resourceful Foe.
789—The Great Hotel Tragedies.
795—Zanoni, the Transfigured.
796—The Lure of Gold.
797—The Man With a Chest.
798—A Shadowed Life.
799—The Secret Agent.
800—A Plot for a Crown.
801—The Red Button.
802—Up Against It.
803—The Gold Certificate.
804—Jack Wise’s Hurry Call.
805—Nick Carter’s Ocean Chase.
807—Nick Carter’s Advertisement.
808—The Kregoff Necklace.
811—Nick Carter and the Nihilists.
812—Nick Carter and the Convict Gang.
813—Nick Carter and the Guilty Governor.
814—The Triangled Coin.
815—Ninety-nine—and One.
816—Coin Number 77.
NEW SERIES
NICK CARTER STORIES
1—The Man from Nowhere.
2—The Face at the Window.
3—A Fight for a Million.
4—Nick Carter’s Land Office.
5—Nick Carter and the Professor.
6—Nick Carter as a Mill Hand.
7—A Single Clew.
8—The Emerald Snake.
9—The Currie Outfit.
10—Nick Carter and the Kidnaped Heiress.
11—Nick Carter Strikes Oil.
12—Nick Carter’s Hunt for a Treasure.
[Pg 70]13—A Mystery of the Highway.
14—The Silent Passenger.
15—Jack Dreen’s Secret.
16—Nick Carter’s Pipe Line Case.
17—Nick Carter and the Gold Thieves.
18—Nick Carter’s Auto Chase.
19—The Corrigan Inheritance.
20—The Keen Eye of Denton.
21—The Spider’s Parlor.
22—Nick Carter’s Quick Guess.
23—Nick Carter and the Murderess.
24—Nick Carter and the Pay Car.
25—The Stolen Antique.
26—The Crook League.
27—An English Cracksman.
28—Nick Carter’s Still Hunt.
29—Nick Carter’s Electric Shock.
30—Nick Carter and the Stolen Duchess.
31—The Purple Spot.
32—The Stolen Groom.
33—The Inverted Cross.
34—Nick Carter and Keno McCall.
35—Nick Carter’s Death Trap.
36—Nick Carter’s Siamese Puzzle.
37—The Man Outside.
38—The Death Chamber.
39—The Wind and the Wire.
40—Nick Carter’s Three Cornered Chase.
41—Dazaar, the Arch-Fiend.
42—The Queen of the Seven.
43—Crossed Wires.
44—A Crimson Clew.
45—The Third Man.
46—The Sign of the Dagger.
47—The Devil Worshipers.
48—The Cross of Daggers.
49—At Risk of Life.
50—The Deeper Game.
51—The Code Message.
52—The Last of the Seven.
53—Ten-Ichi, the Wonderful.
54—The Secret Order of Associated Crooks.
55—The Golden Hair Clew.
56—Back From the Dead.
57—Through Dark Ways.
58—When Aces Were Trumps.
59—The Gambler’s Last Hand.
60—The Murder at Linden Fells.
61—A Game for Millions.
62—Under Cover.
63—The Last Call.
64—Mercedes Danton’s Double.
65—The Millionaire’s Nemesis.
66—A Princess of the Underworld.
67—The Crook’s Blind.
68—The Fatal Hour.
69—Blood Money.
70—A Queen of Her Kind.
71—Isabel Benton’s Trump Card.
72—A Princess of Hades.
73—A Prince of Plotters.
74—The Crook’s Double.
75—For Life and Honor.
76—A Compact With Dazaar.
77—In the Shadow of Dazaar.
78—The Crime of a Money King.
79—Birds of Prey.
80—The Unknown Dead.
81—The Severed Hand.
82—The Terrible Game of Millions.
83—A Dead Man’s Power.
84—The Secrets of an Old House.
85—The Wolf Within.
86—The Yellow Coupon.
87—In the Toils.
88—The Stolen Radium.
[Pg 71]89—A Crime in Paradise.
90—Behind Prison Bars.
91—The Blind Man’s Daughter.
92—On the Brink of Ruin.
93—Letter of Fire.
94—The $100,000 Kiss.
95—Outlaws of the Militia.
96—The Opium-Runners.
97—In Record Time.
98—The Wag-Nuk Clew.
99—The Middle Link.
100—The Crystal Maze.
101—A New Serpent in Eden.
102—The Auburn Sensation.
103—A Dying Chance.
104—The Gargoni Girdle.
105—Twice in Jeopardy.
106—The Ghost Launch.
107—Up in the Air.
108—The Girl Prisoner.
109—The Red Plague.
110—The Arson Trust.
111—The King of the Firebugs.
112—“Lifter’s” of the Lofts.
113—French Jimmie and His Forty Thieves.
114—The Death Plot.
115—The Evil Formula.
116—The Blue Button.
117—The Deadly Parallel.
118—The Vivisectionists.
119—The Stolen Brain.
120—An Uncanny Revenge.
121—The Call of Death.
122—The Suicide.
123—Half a Million Ransom.
124—The Girl Kidnaper.
125—The Pirate Yacht.
126—The Crime of the White Hand.
127—Found in the Jungle.
128—Six Men in a Loop.
129—The Jewels of Wat Chang.
130—The Crime in the Tower.
131—The Fatal Message.
132—Broken Bars.
133—Won by Magic.
134—The Secret of Shangore.
135—Straight to the Goal.
136—The Man They Held Back.
137—The Seal of Gijon.
138—The Traitors of the Tropics.
139—The Pressing Peril.
140—The Melting-Pot.
141—The Duplicate Night.
142—The Edge of a Crime.
143—The Sultan’s Pearls.
144—The Clew of the White Collar.
145—An Unsolved Mystery.
146—Paying the Price.
147—On Death’s Trail.
148—The Mark of Cain.
Dated July 17th, 1915.
149—A Network of Crime.
Dated July 24th, 1915.
150—The House of Fear.
Dated July 31st, 1915.
151—The Mystery of the Crossed Needles.
Dated August 7th, 1915.
152—The Forced Crime.
Dated August 14th, 1915.
153—The Doom of Sang Tu.
Dated August 21st, 1915.
154—The Mask of Death.
Dated August 28th, 1915.
155—The Gordon Elopement.
Dated Sept. 4th, 1915.
156—Blood Will Tell.
PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY. If you want any back numbers of our weeklies and cannot procure them from your news dealer, they can be obtained direct from this office. Postage stamps taken the same as money.
STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Ave., NEW YORK CITY