FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14327, 24 March 1910, Page 6

FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

INTERESTING ITEMS. I'- '•:*! •' SENSATIONAL AND AMUSING. s . : ;;•• [']■-. ?. t\-, : 1 .<;• ... .•.• f * Thk following items are taken from thei.Jl§j|j American files to hand by the. last mail f DIAMOND DOG-COLLAR. ,i. '■ Dixie, the 11-year-old black-aiid-tan ; :beSftl ! longing to Arthur Wallenhorst, was ( (says I • a Baltimore despatch) the guest of honour ; at a- banquet given by his owner in,, I honour of liis birthday, and the recipient" |. of a collar of diamonds estimated to bo f worth 15,000 dollars. Wallenhorst is very/%' fond of his dog, which has accompanied yj~ him on his various travels abroad. Recent*. % ly Dixie got into an argument with a cat £ and lost one eye.' But this misfortune • only ■ ircreased his master's regard, j.aSllkjg the dinner and collar were given as- a token of increased affection. The dia- \f mond collar contains 700 stones, varying in weight from a sixteenth to a full carat,. 15.] ,It is substantially made and aranged in such a way -as to rest close to the breast of ; the dog.' Though Dixie got none of f . the terrapin that was served to the other guests at the banquet, he did get some chicken bones, and was made the subject"-, of post-prandial oratory. • , }y/. FREEZING, BUT TURNED AWAY. : " The Rev. W. F. Bostick, a graduate'.' divinity student at the University of ".-'. Chicago, probably will have to have both feet cut off because of his courageous effort to walk 12 miles through a driving ' snowstorm one Sunday night recently, "to -'-la celebration of the little Baptist Church at Yorkville. The physician at Yorkville says there is little ; hope of saving them. A pathetic feature of the case is that Mr. Bostick; was turned away from, the door of a farmer's house at which he, - had applied for shelter and assistance, • after he had become exhausted, and feltr|=|?|| that he was freezing. BURNING FOR FIFTY YEARS. There is a prospect that the fire which V has been burning for 50 years in a mine-||| at Summit . Hill, Pa., at last will be extinguished. The mine contains one of the most valuable deposits of coal in the anthracile region, and millions of dollars have been spent in vain efforts to put out the | fire, which, has been burning fiercely all||ff these years. A Scranton, Pa., construct'i'til tion company, which bad the contract for||j|| extinguishing the fire, has completed its, work. The company occupied a year in, building a concrete wall 15ft thick. This' extended far below the mass of burning'^' l coal, and • it is thought the" work • has j hads||| the T effect of conquering the fire, but this . will not be settled .- positively for some time. >:•: Old-time miners are of ; the opipifeS ion, however, that the heat of the fire will r: . be- so intense as to eat through the con.-,' j ' crete and continue its way down into 1 the gj|| Panther Creek Valley. ; - - . y v STOPPED THE TRAIN. : . 41 ' Fritzi Scheff, the, comic opera -singer,' stopped ; one of Mrs. E. .H. Harriman s , . passenger trains in the heart of the Ari- ; zona Desert, while she. took a bath. The train was running fast, and rocking a good deal, ■so that ; when Miss?Scheff attempting! to' take, her morning ablution the water insisted on hitting ' the ceiling of her private | car. This vfras too , much. The conductor : \ was notified, and stopped Ins train on theirs'*: .first siding, which' happened to be Stein's"'Pass. He telegraphed to the despatches | that he would have to have now running^ x ' : orders, as Miss' Scheff insisted on : ing there until- her bath :was; finished. The order was complied with, as Miss Schds*r«jff| I was paying for the train. '• ' " — DEAD AFTER FIGHT,' WITH —S! TURKEY. I Harry Colfiesh, a man of 2 61, is dead at the home" of his brother, Kerwin Colfiesh,', in North McKeesport; "as; the result of a struggle with a big turkey, says •• ac' telegram from v Pittsburgh. When- Colflesh attempted; to - cut •• off ; the ; bird's f head/;' he missed the first stroke, and was - knocked •" V down a flight ; of steps. - Several ribs were broken, and he was otherwise internally injured. -■■ ■■ 1 'jt FOUND FATHER DISSECTED. : .After a search of more than five months ; (if for , his father, William 'A. ; Balestier, : a J/fe survivor of the Confederate army (whose 7, cousin is . the wife of Rudyard Kipling},' Jo Harry Balestier was led by a dream to the medical department of Tulane Unfc |, versity : (6ays a Orleans message), to, | ;be confronted with Ine dismembered body of the elder man on the dissecting table. 1 - - k Students were gathered around ' the table? V;;;' and; the head was in an upright position. Balestier ' gathered the - portions together, and the funeral: took place from- the home." '"l* William v Balestier .-■• dropped out of sight f. J on June 2. The son; recently I dreamed V"« that his father had been killed and eaten"' by cannibals. He secured the aid -oP de : ;' : 4v4 tectives, and learned that the father had been committed to the house of detentioir p§| oh the charge •of . insanity, and X •from there :to the charity hospital. At neither place did he make his identity • known. ; : Death occurred ;on December' : lo, ; ;?V\ and th^fthospital authorities followed ttKeJlisfe usual custom, . and sent the unclaimed | body to the medical college. ' <- DANCED A JIG AT 100. y. >| DANCED A JIG AT 100. .< William Redmond, Oakhurst's oldesi ; - r j resident, danced a jig on his 100 th birth-"" j day. The old man, who comes from Re voluticnary stock, was born'at Tuckahoe» r ||| N.J. Until last September he was under the impression .that he was only 98, 'p the discovery of the lost - family , Bible revealed his ' true age. 'ftln : honour of f Redmond's birthday,' Miss Mary? E. G whose home "he lives, planned a : birthd&Jr. ■ 1 \ party, and the whole neighbourhood, eluding the village parson, was ;invite4?J^^ Uncle Billy, as he is known, made a trip ,'. { - to Brooklyn alone last June and visited' v , k ,i relatives. He walked , the Brooklyn bridge.' He used tobacco and liquor ; until ; hejH??fr4fe 80. "I chewed my last plug of - tobacco about 20-odd years ago,'', he :• said. '"To* " bacco never did me any !■ good.. only roads-, me nervous. I did hate to give up drinkr ? ing an occasional sip of whisky, buthave got along just' as well without it, ana. am happy." • lp — "■ WOMEN DIE TO SAVE J .MEN^gM Filing at a sheriff's posse to give 'tw® |l a men time to escape, Mrs. Charles Danicw-j. and .her daughter;, were shot--to death ■ the doorway of their home near by the sheriff's aids (states a from Williamson, W., Va.). ' The men aW the husband of ..Mrs.- Daniels anbrother. The shooting grew out of family -feud between .the Christians w« Danielses on the bofder of Kentucky^,JOfa West, Virginia. ; : : The Christians li vbu the Mingo county, West Virginia,-a o ®", the Danielses in Pike; county, \ KentucKy* About'' three' weeks before George tian ventured to the Kentucky side, was slain by Jim Daniels. Christian an jjjp Daniels were brothers-in-law and '°. 1 ? 1 - e „e ! ly had ' been allies.;);- After ' the de Christian • the .two ; families ' tana.-i----friends became involved. The Clidjtli, 1 got - warrants for. Jim Daniels aaa ,vv brother Charles, and led a posse 01'jjpp|p county officers to the home of the Wan.," family. When" the officers approached -j house Mrs. Daniels and her daughterPtj^ic&jhgpL ed fire with riflas. One of the P^ e . bers was shot ,in the arm. r l he;Cw|,. fired, and after; Mrs. Daniels was 16-year-old daughter stood over and fired ; upon i the posse • until s '' e £ . dead, pierced by three. bullets. 1 ? cers closed in, but found, that hy, ing their . lives • the ? mother and had enabled the men to escape.. - " \-|