Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Thursday, May 16, 1901
How Chance Agencies Convey Stray Brutes From One Locality to Another.
The manner in which animals may be conveyed from one area or region to another by what may be called chance agencies, has always formed a subject of much interest in the eyes of naturalists. The same opinions may be expressed of the dispersal of plants, says the London Chronicle. Darwin found over 80 seeds in a little clod of earth attached to the leg of a migrating bird, and we can readily imagine how such agencies serve to widen the distribution of life. Sir C. Lyell gives an instance of a pig-an animal popularly believed to be anything but adept at swimming-being found far out at sea bravely making its way toward some haven of rest. Such animals as tortoises may easily be conveyed on driftwood over long tracts of ocean. A recent report of the Indian marine survey gives a case in point. A female leopard was brought down the Moulmein river and came aboard a cargo steamer. Then she swam to land and was thereafter dispatched. Snakes were also found on the floats of the paddlewheels of the surveying steamer, having been carried down by the flood.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Published in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, February 25, 1871
They have a remarkable cow in Alpens, Michigan. The Pioneer, of that place, says: “The other day Mr. Wilkenbury’s cow entered Mrs. Sprague’s kitchen, while she was absent, by bursting open the door, ate the bread off the table, emptied a jar of preserves and gobbled them up, then went into the bedroom, pulled the clothes from the bed and commenced eating the straw from the tick. Mrs. Sprague, coming home, was obliged to call Mrs. Salsbury to assist in expelling the marauder.”
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Published in the Chicago Daily Tribune, Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, August 2, 1879
Richmond [Va.] Dispatch.
The late Isaac White; of Farmington, Albemarle County, told me the following, which he got from Mrs. Marks. Meriwether Lewis, who first explored the Upper Missouri, the Rocky Mountains, and Oregon had started one afternoon to cross the Blue Ridge, and when near the summit was arrested by the spectacle of two snakes-a black and a rattlesnake- in the narrow road he was traveling. They were in coil, with upraised heads, darting out their tongues, and each intently gazing on the other. Suddenly the rattlesnake uncoiled and took to flight, but in an instant the black snake pursued and caught him by the neck, and quick as thought twined around him from head to tail, constricting him with a force that made the bones crack audibly. Then he lay motionless for some time, when, as if he thought his prey was dead, he began slowly to unwind. He had about half completed this process when the tail of the rattlesnake gave a slight quiver. As speedily as before the black whipped around him, gave another crushing hug, breaking bones as before, and again lay motionless, and for a longer time. Then more cautiously unwinding, he found the rattlesnake entirely dead, and began to swallow him. He had about half completed this operation when night began to come, and Mr. Lewis went on his way, not wishing to be belated in the mountains. Upon his return both snakes had disappeared.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Published in the Chicago Daily Tribune, Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, August 2, 1879
Reno [Nev.] Gazette.
Two pair of deer horns, interlocked so closely that they cannot be wrenched apart, were shown in Reno last night. Their owner is on his way East, and is taking them with him as a curiosity. The horns were found attached to the skeletons of two bucks, near Honey Lake. A man named Wade Fairchild came upon them the latter part of last month while traveling over the mountains. The skeletons of elk, moose, and deer, in pairs, with horns inextricably interlocked, are sometimes found in the same way, though rarely. It is well known that the males of the deer family fight desperately during the “calling” season. What a battle that must have been near the shores of Honey Lake, years ago! Fancy the two bucks, their antlers firmly locked, fighting until worn out with exhausstion. Then the vain afforts to get free. At last came starvation with all its pangs. Perhaps one died first, and the survivor remained fast to the dead body, until death came to him in turn, and relieved him of his tortures. And the doe, the cause of that terrible tragedy, probably browsed around tranquilly all the time until he died, and then left the neighborhood to look for a suitor that could keep himself free from entanglements.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Published in the Lake County Independent, Libertyville, Illinois on Friday, October 1, 1897
Escorted by Sharks, He Paddles His Sepulchral Canoe.
Some curious details of the life of the French convicts at Cayenne, Guyane, and the Safety Islands are given by M. Paul Mimande in a volume which he has just published in Paris, entitled ‘Foreats et Proserits.” After describing all the most famous criminals at present in the penal colonies, the auther deals with marvelous escapes and attemps to escape.
Perhaps the most remarkable of them all is that of the assassin Lupi, who went to sea in a coffin. He managed to get some nails, tar and cotton, and one dark night he got into the coffin shed. He selected a fine, stanch and seaworthy coffin, fastened the lid, in order to turn it into a deck, leaving a cockpit sufficient to enable him to crawl in. he calked all the joints as well as he could, and when this work was finished he made a pair of paddles out of two planks. Then he brought out his craft with great precaution. Without much difficulty he reached the water’s edge. There he launched his bark and crawled on board. Assisted by the tide, he paddled his sepulchral craft. Silently and slowly he proceeded, in the hope of reaching either Venezuela or British Guinea.
Now, 150 nautical miles in a coffin did not constitute a very tempting enterprise, but Lupi was full of confidence. At the penitentiary it was soon discovered that he was missing. No boat had been taken away. The boats are always well guarded, and nobody ever dreamed for a moment that any man would go the sea in a coffin. It was thought that he had either committed suicide or concealed himself somewhere nearby.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, for Lupi, the steamer Abeille, returning from the Antilles, off Paramaribo, came close to him. The captain noticed an object that looked like a piece of wreckage around which a flock of seagulls were circling and screaming. Naturally that excited his attention. He steered the boat in the direction of the object. As he came close to it his curiosity was increased. The thing which at first he took to be a piece of wreckage turned out to be a coffin, and in addition to its noisy winged escort it was accompanied by two guards that traveled on either side of it like mounted escorts at the doors of an official carriage. These two guards were enormous sharks, whose great dorsal fins from time to time seemed to touch the sides of the box. The captain of the Abeille stopped the vessel and ordered a boat to be launched and manned. When the boat approached the coffin the birds continued to hover about, but the sharks went down. The men in the boat looked into the box, and what was their astonishment to find a man in it half drowned and almost in a fainting condition. They hauled him into the boat and took him on board the vessel, and a few hours later he was in irons in his cell.
Unseaworthy boats are sometimes called coffins, but Lupi is perhaps the only man who ever went to sea in a genuine coffin.-New York Sun.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Friday, November 24, 1922
Although Covered With the Insects He Got Rid of Them by Stratagem.
An Uncanny Experience
Charles Ross, inspector for the state highway department had an uncanny experience in Lake County a few weeks ago. While driving on Waukegan road he saw a man standing near the edge of the road, looking in the opposite direction. Mr. Ross honked his horn but the man only moved a little nearer the edge and continued to gaze down the road. The inspector drove past and wondered if the man was crazy. He had the windshield open to get the air. Suddenly a big swarm of bees loomed up within a few feet ahead of him. Mr. Ross was unable to stop and a second later the insects were dashed through the windshield. They literally covered his body. The bees crawled all over his face, over his eyelids and almost drove him frantic. Mr. Ross realized that if he attempted to brush them off they probably would sting him to death. So he kept on driving, stepping on the gas, a little at a time until he was going maximum speed. The wind came through the windshield so strong that one by one the bees were blown away. After driving about half a mile in this manner all the bees had disappeared. He said afterward that it was the most nerve racking experience he ever had.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Friday, June 9, 1922
By International News Service.
Hardisty, Alberta, June 9.-Farmers in the Battle River valley [north of here, are awaiting the arrival of poison from Edmonton to destroy millions of grasshoppers that are menacing their crops. Hundreds of loads of straw are being burned to keep the pests away from the crops until the poison arrives. Considerable damage to crops already has been done by the insects.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Tuesday, February 21, 1922
Locusts in immense swarms which covered the permanent way and brought the engine to a standstill held up a train on the Groaff Reinet line, South Africa, for two hours. Passengers and officials, by sweeping steadily with improvised brooms for two hours, continued partially to clear the line to allow the journey being resumed. The insects were a couple of feet deep in places.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Friday, March 25, 1898
Rapid Decline of One of the Ugliest Beasts on Earth.
Florida tourists note a sharp advance in the price of alligator material, and also in the raw material in life. This is owing to the large decrease in the supply. Diminutive live alligators have advanced from 25 cents each to 50 cents, and larger ones in proportion; in some instances a greater per cent, is charged for the full-grown reptiles, for they are much scarcer than are the baby alligators.
This is because of the sportsman and his deadly gun, who shoots the saurian out of mere wantonness and a desire to make a record. The Seminole Indians also conduct a war of extermination against the alligators, but as they kill for revenue only they are, in a measure, excusable. They also trap the smaller ones, from the tiny babe 10 or 12 inches in length to the “youngster” of two, three or four feet.
The baby ‘gators are boxed by the curio dealers and sold to ladies who affect great interest in the ugly things for pets. As the ‘gators only live on air and muddy water and an occasional chunk of meat every three or four days, they are not troublesome. The Indians, knowing the scarcity of alligators in all of the Florida streams, have imitated the paleface curio dealer and charge more for their ‘gators.
The baby alligators, while not valuable for their small hides, are killed by the hundreds and mounted. Some serve as thermometers- the tube running up the back. Another curio is a baby alligator standing upon his hind feet and playing a violin with its forefeet. Others are arrayed as waiters offering some article for sale or holding a lamp to light visitors to a tank holding a 16- foot or 18-foot live saurian.
Alligators three or four feet in length, mounted serve as grotesque advertisements and appear to be “so Natural” that the stranger is frequently in doubt whether “the thing is alive” or not, and make a detour in order to be on the safe side.
Very few colored people are successful in catching large alligators. There seems to be a mutual distrust and antipathy on both sides. While the alligator is not always looking for a fight, but desires to be let alone, he will fight a “negro” on sight. As soon as he spies a negro he will dive and rise at about the proper place and land him, or rather sweep him in, if within reaching distance. Not so in the case of white hunters. The alligator will swim away, unless its young is attacked, and then it will crawl out on shore and use its huge tail as a battering ram. One stroke will knock a man senseless.
The scarcity of the alligator crop is now a live issue, and this is one of Florida’s attractions it is urged that something be done to stop this wholesale slaughter. It is possible that the next Legislature will come to the rescue of the friendless alligators.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Friday, November 3, 1922
Three Million Prairie Dogs are Wiped Out in 20 Counties in Colorado.
By Michael F. Dacey, International News Service, Staff Correspondent
Denver, Nov. 3-Sixty tons of poison oats, scattered over farm lands in twenty Colorado counties, has resulted in the distruction of three million prairie dogs, with a saving estimated at approximately $500,000 to farmers of the state, according to Joseph Keyes, director of rodent control of the United States Biological Survey.
The work of rodent extermination will be extended into thirty counties of the state next year, and will include pocket gophers as well as prairie dogs, Keyes said.
It is generally admitted that it costs one dollar a year to feed one prairie dog,” Keyes said, “which would make this year’s campaign represent a saving of $3,000,000 to the state of Colorado, minus the trivial cost of the poison potion. However, in our official report, which probably errs a little on the side of conservatism, it will be said that the poisoning of the 3,000,000 prairie dogs prevented destruction of crops and damage to agriculture to the extent of $5000,000.
Retirement into hibernation this month of the prairie dog has brought about a period of inactivity in the work of extermination, during which time plans will be completed for continuing and extending the work next year.
The war on the pocket gopher, which is active the year round, and causes much damage by tunneling the soil, will consist chiefly of placing a pipe through the soil into his tunnel and dropping a piece of poisoned vegetable into it.