KNOXVILLE JOURNAL.
KNOXVILLE, GEORGIA.
The French Council has taken off the
Legion of Honor list 157 persons who se¬
cured their crosses fraudulently, and has
suspended sixty-six others pending a
more thorough examination.
A redwood tree recently felled near
Humboldt, Col., measured 1G feet in di¬
ameter one way and 20 feet in the other
at the stump. It was 200 feet long,
tapering to a diameter of 8 feet, and con¬
tained enough timbei to construct a small
village. _
Dr.William A. Hammond,(he eminent
New York physician, is about to publish
a paper, in which he maintains that there
is no physiological necessity for death,
and that but for ignorance or disregard
of natural laws and conditions man
would never die.
One case of advertising for a wife has
turned out well, moralizes the New York
Mail and Express, and it was an interna¬
tional match at that. Miss Gold, of Sus¬
sex, in England, agreed in that way to
marry a Alississippi farmer l amed
Mitchell, and started for this country on
the ship Scholten. In the wreck of that
steamer Miss Gold behaved so bravely
that Mit. hell thought she was worth
going to England for, and so they were
married at the bride’s home.
David Dudley Field has been impress
ing upon a Congressional committee
what he believes to be the unwisdom ol
going to Europe for our State names
when we are so rich in the musical words
of the Indian. New York, he said, was
just about the worst name that could
have been selected for an American
State. President Lincoln, he thought,
ought to have insisted that West Vir¬
ginia was too poor a name with which
to admit a new State, when Cumberland
and Kanawha were so available; and in¬
stead of New Alexico we should have had
Montezuma. Wherefore he hopes that
hereafter we will have no such misnam
ings when Territories apply for State¬
hood.
In 1887 the South made a larger corn
crop than ever before. Fortunate as this
would be under any circumstances,” ob¬
serves ■ the Manufacturer ’* llecord ol
Baltimore, ‘ ‘it was exceedingly fortunate
in view of the extremely short crop in
the West and the consequent high prices.
The increase in the South’s 1887 corn
crop over that of 1886 will keep at leaat
$30,000,000 in that section that would
would otherwise have gone West. As
the planting season returns it becomes of
great importance that Southern farmers
should be urged to plant more largely
than ever of corn. Before another crop
is raised the West will be almost bare of
corn, and stocks will be at such a low
point than an unusually heavy crop for
the whole country would be so greatly
needed to supply the deficiency of 1887
and to meet current wants that prices
would still continue high, even if the
yield be very large. It is very im¬
portant, therefore, not only for the good
of the South in general, but especially
for the prosperity of the farmers that
they would again raise a large crop.
The South ought to do even better in
this line than last year, and Southern
fanners will make a serious mistake if
they do not plant for a large crop of
corn and also of*oats. We believe that
every paper in the South would do well
to urge this matter upon it readers.”
The census of tenement-house population
in New York City has been completed by the
health officers, who have inspected 31,534
100 tenements, families, and find that they contain 200,
including 1,016,325 persons.
Confederate money and bonds find a
ready sale at good prices in Nashville
and some other Southern cities, records
the New York World. Many of the
purchasers are curiosity seekers, who
buy the bills for relics, but there are
many other buyers who invent in the
notes in the fond hope that they Shay
some day be redeemed.
The last Chinese “census” was in
1887, and the population was 319,383,-
500 for China proper, or 200 to the
square mile. For the Empire, 382,429,-
572, or an average of 85 to the square
mile. Rhode Island has 255, Massachu¬
setts 221, New Jersey 161, Connecticut
128, New York 106 to the square mile.
England has nearly 500. China is a very
sparsely settled country by comparison.
According to the St. James Gazette,
the British Viceroy of India rules more
subjects than the Emperor of Russia,
the President of the United States, and
the President of the French republic,
taken together; he has more real oppor¬
tunities of usefulness than President
Carnot or President Cleveland, and his
outward state and dignity in his domin¬
ions are scarcely less than that of the
Czar himself.
Prof. Blaisdell, of Beloit College,
Wisconsin, has given to the Regents of
Mount Yernon a small volume entitledi
“A View of the War,” which once be¬
longed to George Washington. One of
the fly leaves bears the following inscrip¬
tion in Lord Erskine’s handwriting,
addressed to Washington: “It has been
my good fortune through life to be asso¬
ciated with the most talented and dis¬
tinguished men of Europe; but you,
sir, are the only human being for whom
I ever felt a reverential awe, totally un¬
like anything I ever felt for any other
of the human race.”
Substitute for the Chestnut Bell.
A Philadelphia Gall reporter by acci¬
dent had a glimpse of “the latest” sub¬
stitute for the chestnut bell. Standing
near him, at the corner of Eighth and
Chestnut streets, was a group of men,
one of whom was engaged in spinning followed a
yarn, and a shout of laughter,
immediately by a query of “Where d’ye
get it?” attracted his attention just in
time for him to see a portion of an in¬
nocent, respectable looking necktie worn
by one of them slip back into its proper
position and thus cover a card upon
which is inscribed: “You tell it nice” or
any other appropriate slang phrase which
the wearer wishes to place there, a set
of them being sold with the tie. The
owner had to explain the intricacies of
the novelty for the benefit of his friends,
and they all started off to make an in¬
vestment.
A Mighty Ivory Idol.
The great event of this year’s celebra¬
tion of the Chinese New Year in San
Francisco is the introduction to office of
the mighty ivory joss of the Shin Si
Gear Society. The society lost many
members last summer by the murderous
assaults of a rival faction and concluded
that their old joss was unpropitious. brand
They accordingly obtained a new
ivory god from Pekin, who came through
free of duty and was formally installed
the deity of the Shin Si Gear band of
idolatrous highbinders. through The new China¬ god
was first carried in state
town. in chair The of ivory ebony and inlaid gold with deity.reclined silver and
a
bronze, over which a splendid raining tiger hard skin the
was thrown. As it was
great joss had to be protected, and six
coolies in blue silken tunics with orange
sashes held over his head an ample
canopy of yellow and crimson silk.
Robert Porter, an eccentric citizen of
Stoughton, Mass, aged sixty-five, has for
twenty-five years bathed every day in an
open spring on his farm. One morning
last winter he took his customary degrees plunge
when the mercury was fifteen
below zero, and claimed to enjoy it.
During the last sixteen years 25,000
sailors on British ships have been lost at
eta.
Australia now exports oranges to Eng¬
land.
FORT LAFAYETTE.
LIFE IN A NOTED PRISON DUR¬
ING THE LATE WAR.
The Prisoners—Blockade Runners
—A Desperate Escape — The
Fate of Colonel Zarvona,
“the French Lady.”
Of all the prisoners confined at Lafay
ette the blockade runners were the most
dangerous and gave considerable trouble,
During the war some three or four hue
dred of them were brought to Lafayette,
but not more than forty atone time. One
day they were ordered to police their
quarters and rep'ied that if the other
prisoners were made to do the same they
would, otherwise they would not. As
very strict discipline was necessary they
were all handcuffed. Two hours later
the executive officer visited them to as
certain if they were ready to obey the
order given them, and to his surprise
found that every one of them had sue
ceeded in removing his handcuffs. Not
knowing in of how far he would be sustained
with case extreme judgment, severity, this officer,
rare tried another plan
and reasoned with them on the foolish
ness of their course. They were com
plotely nonplused at being met in such
a treatment, manner, and anticipating the very different
affair ended in their
agreeing given to obey in future the orders
them.
One of these men, a native of New
Orleans, informed Colonel Burke, the
Commandant, that he did not intend to
remain long, and that he would leave
when it suited him. He very nearly
made good his boast. A basket of apples
was sent to him one day, which, after
examination by an officer to see that it
contained nothing contraband, was
turned over to the prisoner. One dark,
stormy night, iiot long afterward, this
prisoner picked the lock which fastened
the iron grating over the embrasure and
crawled through to the outside of the
fort. The sentinel on that post heard
the noise, and called out: “Halt, there,
or I will blow your head off!” and ad
vanced on the escaping man with his
musket at full cock. The prisoner saw
that his opportunity for escape was gone
unless he could bribe the sentinel and
offered him $50 and his gold watch, but
the sentinel declined the offer and
shouted lustily for the corporal of the
guard. The corporal, hastening to the
scene, took charge of the prisoner,
marched him back into the fort, hand
cuffed him and placed him in solitary
confinement, where he remained until
When he was searched he
had on a new life preserver and in his
pockets were found $50 in gold and a
gold which watch. The innocent looking basket
had contained the apples was then
re-examined and found to have a double
bottom, secreted in which receptacle had been
the life preserver, watch and
money, a file ar.d two pieces of wire of
peculiar construction. His plans had
been well laid for escape. He had a
brother who was the captain of a power¬
ful tug in New York harbor, from whom
he had received the basket of apples and
with whom he had arranged that at a
given and with time he was to escape from the fort
the aid of the life preserver
swim to a small boat which the Captain
would have m waiting to convey him to
the tug near at hand
Another of the most noted prisoners
was a Colonel Thomas alias Zarvona, who
in the early part of the war commanded
a Zouave regiment in the Southern army
and late obtained the sobriquet of 1 ‘the
French Lady.” In the early summer of
1863, just before the great battle of "Get¬
tysburg, he made his way, disguised,
into the citv of Baltimore, and with some
bold outsiders of Lee’s army conceived
the plan of capturing Fort McHenry,
situated a few miles below the city. As
a volunteered necessary preliminary to this plan he
to go down the harbor dis¬
guised the as a woman, and thoroughly in¬
spect bright fort and its armament. One
afternoon a steamer touched at
Fort McHenry with a party of ladies de¬
sirous of visiting the fort. The officer
of the day courteously volunteered to
escort them, especially as one of the
number was a fascinating French woman,
whose broken English and chatty, agree¬
able manners made her the life of the
party. After they satisfied their curiosity
and returned to the steamer to leave lor
Baltimore the officer who accompanied
them detected something suspicious
about “the French Lady” and reported it
to the commanding officer. Before the
steamer could get away a guard was sent
to search it thoroughly. The ladies ap-
peared French much frightened, not and visible, the charm¬
ing after woman was but
found a stowed long and exciting search waE
away in the hold of the
vessel, and was ignominiously draeged I
out, with skirts, cloak and bonnet grimy i
with coal to dust, Fort and Lafayette shortly afterward 1 j
was sent for safekeep
ing. Colonel I j
Zarvona was a prisoner in La
fayette nearly three years' and of course f
received many visits from friends, who
to from relieve time the to time brought him delicacies ! !
monotony of the army ra- !
tion which was the daily food of the
prisoners. Among other articles of food i I
brought him-were a dozen small tin cans \
of fruit, the tops of which screwed on
instead of being soldered in the usual
manner, and as fast as he emptied them
he would carefully refasten the tops and ,
secrete them under his bed. As Zar
vona hart always behaved well during his
confinement, Colonel Burke granted,
without hesitation, his re juest to pnr
chase a liDen table cloth and two silk
liankerchiefs from the prisoners’ sutler,
Watching linen his opportunity he cut up the
tablecloth and covered the cans so
as to make them water tight, and with
the two silk handkerchiefs to fasten
them around his body constructed au ad
mirable lite preserver. The prisoners
were allowed to visit the closets outside
of the fort, singly, under charge of a
eruard up to nine o’clock at night. Short- I I
ly before that hour one very dark and I
foggy night, Zarvona put on the life
preserver, drew his cloak about him and I
called for the guard to accompany him
to the sea walk. The guard, armed
with a loaded musket, escorted him
outside the fort to the edge of the wall,
when Zarvona threw off his coat and I
sprang overboard. Instead of shooting
him, as was his duty, the guard called
for the Corporal. The tide r,- a s running
out very swiftly, and before the barge
could be lowered into the water Zarvona
had drifted quite a distance and was
trying to reach the shore at Fort Hamil- ,
ton, but was unable to make any head
way but surely against drifted the seething tide, and slowly
out to sea. The boat's
crew, which was kept in training to pur
sue any hastily prisoner lowered who attempted to es
cape, the barge and
pulled lustily for the Fort Hamilton side
of the bay to intercept Zarvona, if pos¬
sible, but the fog hid him from view,
and after a long and fruitless search the
crew returned and reported to the com
mandant that the prisoner had made
good tried his escape. Military The unlucky guard
was by a Court Martial for
allowing the prisoner to escape and
served a three-years’ sentence at hard
labor, with ball and chain, at one of
the forts in the harbor,
boats The next morning, as one of the pilot
was cruising outside of Sandy
Hook, the lookout saw an object fioat
ing closer, on proved the water, the which, on coming
to be body of a man,
with his head under water, and around
his legs above the knees wa3 a strange
bundle fastened with two strips of red
silk. Poor Zarvona! His life preserver
had belied its name and proved his de
stroyer .—Brooklyn Eagle.
Sagacity of Animals,
A St. Bernard dog at Muscatine, la.,
rescued a two-year-old from two angry
fighting boars toward which the
youngster was unsuspectingly toddling,
A half-grown & deer at ladies, Oroville, butting Cal.,
attacked two young
savagely with its horns. They suc
cee ded in tying Utles it to a tree with a halter,
but their were in a badly de¬
mor alized condition,
The female of a pair of affectionate
marmosets died. It w.os some time be¬
fore her mate could convince himself that
she was dead, bat when he did he re¬
fused all food, and in three days died of
sorrow.
A sick cat in a Missouri town walked
into a drug store, and after snuffing
around among the jars and packages
picked out a paper of catnip and gnawed
it open. Every day she returned for
some of it until cured.
A frog in a New Haven aquarium has
been trained to lie on his back in the
approaches water, feigning with death until his master his
hand. a piece of meat in
The frog makes a jump, secures
the meat and swims off with it.
Such marriages as those of Martin
Kujawski and Anna Takowska, in South
Bend, Indiana, and of Edmund Szcze
pankkiewicz and Fannie Kuzinska, in
Philadelphia, which have just been re¬
corded, are commendable. They reduce
the unutterable horror of four such names
one-half by making them only two hence¬
forth. — Chicago Tiibune.
