MISCELLANY.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 28, 25 May 1870, Page 3

MISCELLANY.

A Weaken oratw, speaking of ona of ihs Ball Ban mom of war, aaid :~" The Fedecak raft so fast that the hard tack rattled in their stomachs iiko beans in a abest-iron pan." . Tha increasing age of Calcraft (the hangman) has rendered it desir* 2&ft> that & successor to his unenviable post be provided. The fact that there was likely "io bea vacancy in this department of public service having become generally known, ■as many as 134 candidates applied for the office It is said to be a common custom among Cornish miners to marry and emigrate within a week of the performance of the solemn contract On Sunday, at St. Agues, a miner named Joseph Kinsman .anaUfied one Florence Mitchell, and on Monday he quitted Cornwall for America, leaving his wife at home. American papers state that every train ■on the Pacific Railroad has now cars attached with a Bpecial supply of fuel, food, lights, and blankets, so that in case of accident, a fight with snow or drifts, or other ■causa of extended delay, there will be plenty to spare of everything needed for comfort. It is stated that the Grand Trunk Railroad has a new patent snow plough that has asweep of 17 feet It throws the snow •completely away from the region of the track by means of wings that can be •expanded 'at pleasure, which will sometimes throw the snow across the fences. It is made very heavy, so as not to be thrown from the track, and has a room *nd store inside of it for the men required to manage it

There ia nothing bo sickening as tha presentation of a limp hand which cannot ■return a grasp. Never put much trust in its owner; for he is either meanly cunning, *r contemptibly feeble-minded. And be cautious, also, of your enthusiastic wringers, ■who grasp your hand like a vice, upon first interview, and throw an expression of beaming delight into their faces, intended to make you believe that the greatest object of their life is accomplished in meeting you. Believe rather in the warm hearty •hake; whore the forks of the thumlis and first fingers meet each other, and the very wriat is almost in the grasp, without squeezing all the blood away from the hand for five minutes afterwards, and pressing the •lingers togothec like figs in a drum. The ■nian who does this, and looks you well in •thtt fao« at the same time, has not much harm about him. An Anokland evening paper of the 19th nil eontains a facetious paragraph con■eorning a man who fell down in thostreet, «nd was taken to the footpath by persons anpposing him to be under the "influence •vi Jiquor. Before the paper was issued •She man was dead. He was left at the aide of tho path, supporting himself by the !f»uc*, until two ladies who were passing, Miore observant than those who had placed him there, saw that he was dying. He expired in a very few minutes, and Subsequent ■examination proved the cause of his death to have been rupturo of the heart. There was ao trace of liquor in his body. No ono appears to have known him ;'he had no money on his person, nor anything ahowing his name or occupation. One of the witnesses at the inquest believed him t? he a man known as " Portugese Charley," but there was no reason for supposing him to be a foreigner. Tho following ia his description :—Height, about 5 feet 10 inches ; stout built, about 50 years of age, brown eyes, hair gray but originally dark, a little bald, tattoed on right arm "with Royal arras, and on left with Crucifixion. He was well clothed. The jury returned a verdict of " Died by the visitation of God." The Sord relates the following incident, which happened at Flessingue, in Holland : —A wife, exasperated by the continual drunkenness of her husband, threatened him with death. Some days ago, she attempted to put her threut into execution. There was an attic above the sitting-room. To this she ascended, and making a hole in . the door, she passed a rope through it, one end of which fell into the room below, while the other remained fastened in the

Attic. Sho then descended, made a slip-knot in the rope, and awaited her husband's re'j turn. He at last arrived, and was much | aurprised to receive no reproaches on his I badVgWuct. The husband, whose sus- * piciifcs were aroused, let himself fall into a chair, and appeared to sleep profoundly. After some snoring, he felt a ropo passed round his neck. He thon understood the little trick that wag going to be played ' ' upon him, but did not move. His wife went up to the attic; and taking advanf, tege of this moment's respite, the drunkard ti relieved himself of the rope, and fastened H it to the foot of the stove, which soon went ■ up to the ceiling with a frightful noise, H The wife, thinking the noise was caused by ■L ,tbe fruitlem) struggles pf her husband, ran Vg \ the police-office todcclare that she had Bj »^5^ er husband hung. The police lloil naat *, an & ft candle wur lighted, Wf* I \*V °*ck at * nb spectacle which >'i jft%flentod iteelf. The stove was swinging iit ; gracefully in *pa«e, and the htisband sat V \ gravely smoking his pipe, Instead of a W suicide, an attempt to murder was estab- ■ '|?«hf(! Rgftffftfi id* wHV, who *w nriTsilO' 1 ! < iiM f Jr.i