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KNOXVILLE JOURNAL.
KNOXVILLE, GEORGIA.
The difficulty that just now stares •
good many people in the face, writes
James Payn in the Independent , is how to
apply the machinery (mental or other¬
wise) they possess, and which circsm
stances have rendered no longer remu
nerative, to other uses, The British
farmer has to turn his attention to mak¬
ing jams. A rare of example of luck in
this way has befallen the largest quill
manufactory in the world. When steel
pens came into vogue its death-bell seemed
to have sounded; wheu all of a sudden
“a happy thought ” indeed occurred to
its proprietor—“ Toothpicks! 1 The
establishment is transformed iuto a tooth¬
pick mill and now turns out 20,000,000
quills per annum.
Senator Turpie, of Indiana, has in¬
troduced a bill into the United States
Senate to provide for a sort of “direc¬
tory” of the most skilled mechanics and
artisans in all parts of the country. The
bill makes it the duty of the Commis¬
sioner of Labor annually to compile from
the best and most authentic sources, and
to prepare and publish a book to be
called the “Register of Labor,” to be of
the size of the Army and Navy Registers
combined, to contain the names and ad¬
dresses of persons of known excellence
in their vicinity in any line of skilled
labor or mechanism, the names to be
taken in proportion to population from
the different States aud Territories. Only
names of persons actually engaged in.
the manual work of the respective call¬
ings are to be published.
Allen G. Thurman and the mimbei
thirteen, declares the New York Graphic,
have a remarkable association, which be¬
gan with bis birth on the 13th of No
vember, in the year 1813, four figures
which constitute the number thirteeu.
His name counts up thirteen letters, and
the title of the office for which he has
been named contains the same number,
while by adding the day of his last
nomination—7th of June—to the num¬
ber of the month, the product is again
thirteen. The election takes place No¬
vember sixth (thirteen letters), and his
symbol, “Tbe Red Bandana,” still
further carries out the coincidence,
though this is upset by the use of the
double “n” in spelling the last word.
And these examples do not exhaust the
combination.
Eggs of the Arctic Tern.
A writer in the Oologht gives an inter¬
esting account of an egging excursion to
Pumpkin Island: “As we neared the
shore, Arctic terns rose from the rocks
by hundreds, with screeches that were
intended, perhaps, to drive us from their
abode. Before I left the island I had
collected 170 sets of eggs; 170 sets con¬
tained 3 eggs each, 2 sets contained 4
eggs each, and 4 sets ^mtained 2 each.
I did not findasingle stet that contained
nitre than 4 eggs. I found the average
size of the eggs to be 1.04 by 1.20. The
nests were composed of a few pieces of
grass and seaweed; some sets were
placed on fisherman the bare that rock. I learned
from a as many as 500
eggs had been taken a few days before
by persons who lived along the coast. I
asked him what they did with them,
and he answered that they would go on
the island and smash a!’, the eggs they
could find, and a day or two after they
would go on and gather all the eggs
they could. The smashing was done so
that there would be noDe but fresh
eggs. I again asked him what they did
with them, and he said they used them
for all the purposes for which civilized
people use hen’s eggs.”
You ate light, Julius Henry, a man
may smile and smile and be a Prohibi¬
tionist still, but the average mau who
smiles and smiles is more like a whiskey
still ,—New York Sun.
A FIERCE CONTEST.
A FURIOUS BATTLE BETWEEN
SHARKS AND ALLIGATORS.
The Ocean Bloodhounds Attack the
’Gators—How the Rush was
Avoided — Survivors Two
Sharks and One ’Gator.
Last week, says the 8t. Louis Globe
Demo-rat , a contest was witnessed by a
hunting Florida, party, on the Indian River,
that they describe as being ex¬
the citing in the extreme. While fi.shing at
mouth of a small creek their atten¬
tion was suddenly attracted by a furious
splashing about and plunging in the water
a Quarter of a mile from shore.
Hastily pulling up their anchor they
rowed out to investigate. On reaching
the scene of disturbance they saw, to
their astonishment, five or six alligators
and as many “man-eating” sharks en¬
gaged in a deadly tight. The maddened
brutes were too fren. ied with rage to
notice the spectators and a good view
was hud of the affray.
The sharks, from appearances, had
come up unawares on the saurians and
had taken them by surprise. Two of the
latter had lost ea h a foreleg. But they
were all fighting furiously, snapping at
the sharks with their ugly, wide opened
jauv and using their tails to as good an
desirious advantage as possible. But they seemed
of getting away from the man •
eaters, and at every chance they moved
further out iuto the river. However,
the wondering spectators, who thought
the ’gators were afraid of tlieir oppo¬
nents, soon saw that the saurians knew a
thing the or two. A few rods further on
water shoaled to some three feet or
less, and gliding on to th : s the ’gators
seemed to be perfectly satisfied. The
sharks were rather bothered by this state
of affairs at first, as they preferred deep
water, where they could dive and turn
over, in order to get their cruel, big
mouth fixed on a choice bit of alligator
flesh. The latter, as soon as they reached
this shallow place, remained quiet, only
watching and their foes, who swam round
round them, unable to make a deci
sive blow. The blood flowing from the
wounded ’gators seemed to° make the
sharks fairly crazy, however and in
few moments thev plunged in ferociously,
with wide open jaws.
The scene that ensued, say the eye
witnesses, was beyond all descrintion
The two were about evenly matched and
each animal seemed to select one pqrtic
ular antagonist and engage in a deadly
embrace.
The ocean bloodhounds endeavored to
seize the forepaws of the ’gators, while
the ’gators, fully aware of the powerful
jaws of their antagonists, carefully
avoided their rushes, and, in turn, with
awful openness of jaw, tried to secure a
mouthful of shank steak. The two
dashed at one another in the wildest kind
of fury, their eyes gleaming with fero¬
ciousness and anger, while the tails of
the saurians threshed the water into
white foam in their wild sweeps at then
foes. The crunching of bones, the tear¬
ing, the ripping sound of giving fiesli and
sullen roars of pain and rage from
the wounded ’gators all combined to ren¬
der the combat most exciting. The
sharks seemed to be fully aware of the
folly of trying to cut through the thick,
mail-like armor of their opponents, and,
like skilful gladiators, tried to upset the
’gators, tected so as to get at their soft, unpro¬
under sides. But this the latter
resisted with all their might, hugging
the sandy bottom close and raising high
their heads, with open jaws, displaying
sets of long, cruel-looking teeth as they
snapped at their opponents.
The sharks made frequent feints,dash¬
ing within in ferociously, checking themselves
a foot, as it seemed, of the noses
of their enemies, and then, as the latter
snapped at them, attenuating to dodge in
under their jaws and seize their fore¬
paws, which is one of the ’gators most
vulnerable parts. Several of them suc¬
ceeded in this, and then the combatants
would become almost invisible in the
foam raised by the furious struggle of
the two mighty denizens of the water.
If the shark missed, the saurian’s power¬
ful jaw would descend upon the shark’s
back, aud his cruel teeth would be im¬
bedded into the flesh, aud then, with a
snap and a jerk, the sickening sound of
tearing flesh would be heard, as a huge
piece and furious would fish. be torn out of the plunging
The blood from tbe wounded animals
dyed the waters red for rods and its
taste seemed to render the combatants
perfectly wild with fury. Their rushes
became more and more furious, and it
seemed to be a fight to the finish only t*
end with the death of all. The indi¬
vidual cases were remarkable for their
ferociousness. Here was seea a ’gator
in a semi-ludicrous situation, half
sitting and fore as it were, with his head
uttering legs out of the water
roars of rage as he endeavored
vainly to grasp the shark in his jaws,
while his long claws were ripping up
the latter in a manner that made him
thresh and churn the water with his
Hail in a most violent manner. The
shark had forced his way under the
’gator and by seizing him in an unpro¬
tected part of his body had him at his
mercy.
Near by would be seen a huge man
eater struggling to break away from the
fierce grip that his enemy had secured on
his shoulder, the flail-like tails of both
raising The columns of water high in the air.
his ’gator held on with a bulldog grip,
the fiery eyes gleaming as i he enjoyed
fun, while every now and then he
would savagely shake his victim as a cat
would a huge rat. In another case both
would be seen to have secured good
holds, each engaged in tearing huge
mouthfuls of flesh from his antagonist,
their fury and anger seemingly in¬
creased by the pain from their wounds.
Still another shark had forced his way
under a huge old ’gator, and had man¬
aged to get a good hold on his tail
in his massive jaws: the other
had seized the shark’s tail
in his own capacious jaws, while his
sharp claws were lipping up the man
eater in the most approved style. Both
the were threshing their tails furiously in
vain endeavor to get rid of their
antagonist, historic but it seemed a case like unto
the Kilkenny cats.
For fully half an hour this sanguinary
contest continued, and then only two
’gators and one shark were left of the
fighters. Both the former had lost both
forepaws each and one of them the
greater the portion of his tail, while the rover
of ocean seemed to be well satisfied
with his share of the fight, having lost a
good portion of his big under jaw; his
sides and back also showed the deep fur
made , , b tbe - The
r ? ws y gator’s , claws.
three survivors of the conflict remained
^l 11 for several minutes eyeing one an
other > but none seemed to have any
stomach for another round. Finally,
after a sbort lnt erval, the shark turned
tail and moved off into deep water,
while the two saurians struck out for the
flats - Tbe blInters rowed to the spot
afterward, dead and they say the bodies of the
reptiles showed the fury of the en
counter - Paws and tails were bitten off
and huge pieces of flesh were taken out—
erne of the dead sharks having the bone
ex P osed from his head to the tail, it
bein S racked as clean as if a knife had
cut ofI tbe fle3h - The largest ’gator
measured 15 feet 8 inches long, the head
alone measuring (i leet, with a width and
openness of jaw in proportion,
A Hoop Snake Killed.
A genuine hoop snake has been cap
tured by George Milton, a farmer, and i3
now on exhibition at Floris, Iowa. It
is about 15 inches in length, is streaked
with black aud white with a spiked tail,
and is of a bronzed color on top of its
head. Between the eyes is a small socket
in which the end of the spike tail fits
when coiled up like a hoop. Mr. Milton
was in the field plowing when he saw an
object like a hoop roll down and strike
his plow beam with its tail. He saw
that it was a snake, and when it at¬
tempted to roll away he struck it on the
head with a club and killed the reptile.
Mr. in Ramsey, a druggist, is has preserved
it alcohol. It a reptile rarely seen
in this country. This species of snake is
said to be more poisonous than the rattle¬
snake .—New York Times.
Theatrical Annoyances in Japan.
Japanese theatres naturally have then
peculiarities, A person jj.uailiar with
them says a very singular custom pre¬
vails of allowing a visitor for a small
extra foe to stand up, and the unfortun¬
ate individual behind him has no right
to remonstrate or to rise and try to get a
peer) at the stage. He may hear, but he
cannot see. Another peculiarity is that
the extravagantly disposed visitor may
purchase the right to sit upon the stage
wherever he likes, and the actors go on
with their parts in apparent unconscious¬
ness of his presence. Our authority
says he has seen a broad-sword combat
fougbt all around a visitor, who showed
no disposition to move.— Chicago Herald.
The Boston Globe decides that the ex¬
pression “grammatical error” is correct
English.
NOBODY’S DARLING.
The Blood-Curdling Stories a Cow
boy Evangelist Tells.
[From the St. Paul Pioneer.]
The announcement that Charles W.
Hiltz, the “converted cowboy,” was to
speak at the young men’s meeting at
Westminster attracted Church rather yesterday after- |
noon than usual. Anybody a larger audience
who supposed
from the announcement that Mr. Hiltz..
is any “spring chicken” in the cowboy
business was very much mistaken. He
is still a young man, and although he
has an honest face he has a square jaw
and a general look on his “mug” that:
would seem to indicate that he could be'
a pretty dangerous sort of a cowboy if'
he wanted to be. But he isn’t a cow¬
boy any more. been For engaged some nineteen,
months he has in evan¬
gelistic work, in which he is very ear¬
nest and efficiect.
The story he told yesterday was sim¬
ple and straightforward, and all the
more graphic and impressive on that ac¬
count. It was a brief occount of his‘
life up to the present time. He was
born in Baltimore, aud ran away from'
home at a very early age. At the end of
two years lie was so bad that when he
went home nobody but his mother
would His have father anything advertised to do with in him. the*
own him
papers. From that time he rapidly grew
more hand tough against and desperate, and as his
was every man and every
man’s hand was against him, he got the
name of “Nobody ’b Darling,” which he
bore up to the time of his conversion..
He finally drifted out on the plains,
where for many years he found a con¬
genial field for his eccentricities. He
worked on ranches and he drove
stage, but it got so he couldn’t keep a
place more than two weeks. He was
fighting had and experiences. drinking all tlie He time, and
many was many
times chased by the Indians and some- i
times chased them. Sometimes, too, he
would sleep out on the plains with only
the howling winds and howling coyotes,
for
His simple accounts of some of his
fights were quite place refreshing. For in¬
stance, at one where he went to
work lie got into a fight with one of the
men the first meal. He picked the fel¬
low up and threw him into the "middle
of the table, and followed him with
such force that the table was split in
two, down and men, victuals, and all came
on the floor, where they had it out
together. He didn’t work long at that
place. He must have been a formidable
his sight in those days, with his long hair,,
rough beard, his big white hat on.
which was written his name, “Nobody’s
Darling,” in letters so large that they hi!"
could be read rods away. And all
garb was in keeping. As lie roamed
about, swearing horrible oaths, it was
enough to drive terror to the heart of a
timid man. And even those who were
terribly with courageous didn’t hanker after
a tussle “Nobody’s Darling.” In
this garb and without doffing any of his
personal characteristics, by some un
cantrollable impulse—divine guidance
he now considers it—became “East” all
the way to Iowa. He made a big sen¬
sation wherever he went.
For instance, he would go into a store
and pass down the whole length of its
swearing so horribly that the citizens,
were struck dumb with terror. In one.
place that he was in the Methodists were
holding it a camp meeting, or, as he ex¬
pressed at the time, “raising hell and 1
keeping sleep.” a fellow from getting any
But he got to going to the
meetings, and He at one of them he was
converted. tried to get up and say
something, down but he couldn’t, and so first got
and cried like a baby. The
tears he had shed since childhood.
Since that time he has been in the
work, and has had good success in get¬
ting converts. As he was rather an im¬
petuous cowboy, so he is an ardent
evangelist. from His experiences in going
town to town are very trying, or
would be if he didn’t have the gospel
to comfort and sustain him. As it is,
he can bear to be spit upon, or put out
of saloons, or ordered from town, or
any thing else. He says he wouldn’t ex¬
change terial wealth what he of has the got for all the ma¬
universe. Mr.
Hiltz’s language still smacks of the
plains somewhat, but he is evidently
very sincere and earnest.
An editorial in the Missionary Herald for
June on “The Liquor Traffic with Africa,”
contains a table showing the exports of in¬
toxicants from Boston to Africa for five years
•-1883-7—amounted valued at 11,106,824. to 3,500,000 gallons,
