Entries Tagged 'Weird Stuff' ↓

Second Engineer Wilson De Hart, of the fated steamer Longfellow, lives with his wife and children at 126 West Eighth street, and was among the saved, says Louisville Courier-Journal. His wife dreamed Wednesday night that the boat was lost with all on board and it preyed so on her mind all day Thursday that she tried to persuade her husband not to make the trip. After bidding him good-by on the boat she told the chief engineer, Dan Halley, of her dream, and with tears in her eyes, begged that he endeavor to influence her husband to remain at home, as she knew the boat would be lost. On learning of the accident she ran almost all the way to Promley in her endeavor to keep pace with the floating wreck, and was almost wild with grief before the news of her husband’s rescue reached her, and she then refused to be convinced until he was brought to her.

[tags]Ann Arbor Register, April, 1895[/tags]

Over 25 head of cattle were killed by lightning in a most remarkable way in Finnis county, Kan. A herd of 800 were being moved to another pasture and for a part of the distance were driven through a narrow lane hedged in by a wire fence. While in this narrow passage a thunderstorm overtook them and a bolt of lightning descended and struck a fence post, felling the wire for 200 yards. Every head of cattle that was crowded against the wire was killed.

[tags]Ann Arbor Register, August, 1895[/tags]

Mr. Noah Brooks, who is publishing a series of personal reminiscences of Lincoln in the Century, tells the following strange story:

On the day mentioned, Lincoln narrated an incident the particulars of which I wrote out and printed directly after. These are his own words, ad nearly as they could then be recalled:

“It was just after my election in 1860, when the news had been coming in thick and fast all day and there had been a great ‘hurrah, boys,’ so that I was well tired out and went home to rest, throwing myself down on a lounge in my chamber. Opposite where I lay was a bureau with a swinging glass upon it (and here he got up an placed furniture to illustrate the position), and looking in that glass I saw myself reflected nearly at full length; but my face, I noticed, had two separate and distinct images, the tip of the nose of one being about three inches from the tip of the other. I was a little bothered, perhaps startled, and got up and looked in the glass, but the illusion vanished. On lying down again, I saw it a second time, plainer, if possible, than before, and then I noticed that one of the faces was a little paler, say five shades–than the other. I got up, and the thing melted away, and I went off and in the excitement of the hour forgot all about it–nearly, but not quite, for the thing would once in a while come up, and give me a little pang as if something uncomfortable had happened.

“When I went home that night I told my wife about it, and a few days afterwards I made the experiment again when (with a laugh), sure enough the thing came again; but I never succeeded in bringing the ghost back after that, though I once tried very industriously to show it to my wife. She was somewhat worried about it. She though it was a ’sign’ that I was to be elected to a second term of office and that the paleness of the face was an omen that I should not see life through the last term.”

That is a very remarkable story–a coincidence, we may say, to which some significance was given by the cruel death of the president soon after the beginning of his second term. I told Mrs. Lincoln the story, and asked her if she remembered the details. She expressed surprise that Mr. Lincoln was willing to say anything about it, as he had up to that time refrained from mentioning the incident to anybody and as she was firm in her belief that the optical illusion (which it certainly was) was a warning, I never again referred to the subject to either the president or his wife.

Subsequently, Lincoln’s version of the story was confirmed by Private Secretary John Hay, who, however, was of the opinion that the illusion had been seen on the day of Lincoln’s first nomination, and not, as I have said, on the day of his first election.

[tags]Ann Arbor Register, April, 1895[/tags]

The people of this neighborhood are very much alarmed over the fact that a monster snake has been seen at large on the outskirts of the town for a number of days, and it is feared that somebody will be attacked by the serpent before it is killed or captured.

The monster was first seen about three weeks ago by Justice Veltor. Since then it has been seen at intervals by I. W. Valentine, superintendent of the Baptist Union Sunday School, and by Dr. Oliver Jones. The latter chased the snake into the woods in an effort to capture it, but was unsuccessful.

All agreed that the snake is about fourteen feet in length, with a body as big around as a pail. Its head is diamond-shaped, and the top is surmounted by a crest that is shaped like a crown.

Some time ago, Dr. Wood, a resident of this place, died, but before his death he liberated a number of large snakes which he held captive. The snake which has been seen is believed to be one of them. The monster is referred to by the people hearabouts as the “King of Snakes.”

[tags]Ann Arbor Register, September, 1895[/tags]

Some boys were playing on the site of the McNulty homestead in Alton, Ill., which has lately been graded off to conform to a new grade of Beacon street, they found a skeleton and a sword. The skeleton was found first, and it was presumed to be that of an Indian, as it is quite common to unearth such remains in this vicinity. However, when the sword was found a new phase was put on the matter. The latter is of the rapier type, and the blade is a half inch wide and of the very finest steel. The handle was inlaid with a metal which proved to be copper. The copper was inlaid to form letters, which are in Roman. On one side of the sword handle are the letters “L. I. N. B. U. R. G. O., 17,” all in capitals. On the reverse side appear these letters and figures: “1 (or I.), S. S.,” and a little to the right the following: “C. H. V. I. Z., I. N.” No explanation can be made regarding the inscriptions or their meaning. The most reasonable presumption is that the sword belonged to some member of Father Marquette’s party, when they were here several hundred years ago; that this person died and was buried with his sword at the place where both skeleton and sword were found.

Uncle Sam acquired some new territory in the Pacific a few weeks ago in a novel manner. It was not acquired by conquest, annexation or purchase, but was a gift from nature herself who pushed it up from the depths of the Pacific ocean and gave it unasked. Geologists say that nature is constantly giving and taking land after this fashion; that some portions of the earth are steadily subsiding and others rising; some coast lines are advancing and others receding. New Jersey is gradually losing territory along the coast, while in other regions new land is being added to the area of the United States. But the usual progress is slow. Once in a while a new island is lifted suddenly out of the sea by volcanic action, and this practically, is what occurred off the coast of California several weeks ago when about 35,000 square yards of rock was added to one of the Santa Barbara islands with a suddenness that surprised the people living on the island. Not only was new land added to the island, but that already existing was moved around in an embarrassing manner. Buildings erected in the shelter of the cliffs, with a seaward exposure, were lifted up forty or fifty feet to the level of the plateau and twisted around so as to face directly inland.

The Santa Barbara group of islands lies about sixty miles off the coast of California, in about the latitude of Los Angles. The island of San Miguel, to which the new land has been added, is one of the smaller islands, and is owned by Capt. W. G. Waters, who has a big sheep ranch on it. The only living people on the island are Capt. Waters and his sheep herders and laborers. Some of the islands of the groups are noted for their scenic beauties, but San Miguel is bleak and comparatively uninteresting. It is plainly of volcanic origin, and it is said that at various times within the last half century stretches of the cliffs along the southern shore of the island have fallen away and been swallowed up in the sea. But no one knows of any land having been given back by the ocean before the event of the second week in March. Capt. Waters was [on?] the island when the earthquake eruption, or whatever it was, occurred. He took the information to the mainland, and the San Francisco Examiner sent a correspondent to San Miguel to get all the facts and some pictures of the new territory of the United States. The picture and information here given are from the Examiner articles.

Capt. Waters lives in his ranch house on the southwest side of the island, a considerable distance from the point where the new land was added. On the night when the disturbance occurred he was sitting in his house reading. He felt the earth shiver, but as earthquakes are not uncommon thereabout he took little notice of the occurrence. The next morning he started out around the beach toward his boathouse to look for his sloop, which was due from the mainland. When he neared the harbor and the place where his boathouse had been he had to rub his eyes because of the remarkable appearance of the surroundings. The beach had disappeared, and where a bay of placid water had been rose a huge mass of broken cliffs. He climbed up on the high ground overlooking the bay, and there on the plateau, forty feet or more above the water line and three hundred feet inland, were the boathouse and sheep corral which the previous evening had been right on the water’s edge. On reaching the boathouse he found another surprise. The building stood as firm as ever, but whereas it had recently faced seaward it was now turned almost completely around and faced almost directly away from the bay. The tracks of the sheep were still plainly visible on the ground, but instead of being on the left side of the boat house, where the path had always been, they were now on the right.

He walked out on the top of the newly formed cliffs toward the water, and found the great mass of rock still trembling and swaying. There was a sound of grinding and churning, and every now and then a chuck of rock would settle a little. The mass was evidently still adjusting itself in its new position. The buoy to which his sloop was moored when in harbor was formerly 400 feet from the sandy beach. Now it was about 100 feet from the abrupt face of the new cliffs. He set up some posts to serve as marks by which to observe any further changes and withdrew to more solid ground. The next morning he found that in its readjustment the land had moved seaward twelve or fifteen feet, and the mass of new land seems quiet and permanently settled. Then Capt. Waters went to the mainland and told of the happenings on San Miguel, and a day or two later some scientific men with surveyors’ instruments and camera went over and verified his story.

For a week a reign of terror has existed here, owing to the invasion of the town by an army of rattlesnakes, says a Tavarez (Fla.) dispatch to the St. Louis Globe Democrat. The reptiles are of all ages and sizes and have practically taken possession of the town. No woman or child dares venture out of doors, and when the men go out their legs are incased in stout leather leggings which reach to the thighs and are armed with clubs with which to dispatch the serpents. The advance guard of this army of rattlers appeared just a week ago, and since then the snakes have come in such numbers that it is estimated that there are now 1,000 within the corporate limits of the town. Last Sunday as Mayor Yorke and his family were going to church they met the advance guard. It consisted of two old rattlers about five feet long, each with twelve rattles and a button, and a dozen smaller reptiles. The mayor an his family beat a retreat, and the city’s magistrate called for neighbors to assist him in dispatching the reptiles. This brood was killed, but before it was done shouts from different quarters of the town announced the approach of more snakes. Since then the men have been busy killing the reptiles. It is said that 400 snakes have been killed and still the town is full of them. Their warning rattle is heard at all hours and on all sides. The dogs made a gallant fight against the reptilian army, but nearly all have been bitten and are dead. Several horses have also died of snake bites. So far no person has been bitten, though there have been several narrow escapes. Mrs. Sallie Jacobs had the most remarkable escape. While washing linen in the yard she put her 2-year-old baby in a dry-goods box near by. Soon Mrs. Jacobs heard the baby laughing and looking around was horrified to see an immense rattler coiled behind the box. The mother rushed for the baby and the snake struck at her, fastening its fangs in her clothing. Her screams brought her husband, who killed the rattler. The snakes came from a hammock at the foot of St. Clair Abrams avenue. The council has voted an appropriation, and the hammock will be cleared and the home of the snakes destroyed.

It goes till it is stopped. There is in the window of a store on Post Street, between Montgomery and Kearney, a small apparatus constructed almost entirely of glass that is attracting a great deal of attention, and there is not one who looks at it but exclaims: “Perpetual motion!” The inventor of the apparatus is C. F. A. Sturts, who is a practical watchmaker. “I do not call it perpetual motion,” he said yesterday; “it is only an illustration of a scientific problem, but it is as near as perpetual motion will ever be reached. As you can see, the apparatus rests on glass uprights. It is in the shape of a hub with eight arms or spokes, as you might term them. The whole is one piece of glass; the arms, which are hollow cylinders, are part of the hub. The outer ends of the cylinders are solid, but at the inner end there is a small opening. In each cylinder there are two highly polished steel balls a quarter of an inch in diameter, as round as human ingenuity can make them, and each of the same exact weight. The shaft which rests up on the upright is also part of the wheel. When the wheel had been constructed and the balls put in place the air was extracted, just as the air is extracted from an electric light bulb. The reason of this was to allow the little balls to roll in the cylinders without resistance. The little machine was set perfectly level and allowed to turn. The principle is gravity, and the wheel will keep on running until I stop it,” said Mr. Sturts to the San Francisco Call representative. “I will add that it has no power, but just enough to move itself, and that it is not moved by electricity, magnetism or any other outside force.”