UTILIZATION OF DOG POWER.

The State Department of the United States has decided that the dog should be set to work. Accordingly it will give to the people a report upon that subject, showing how much work the dog can do, the kind of service in which he may be profitably employed, and to what extent he is now industriously engaged in various countries of the world, says the Record-Union.

The truth is that the dog is far more a worker than most people give him credit for being, and it is also true that we employ him less than any other peoples, except only those of the Orient. He should be made to do some of the load drawing and burden carry – as in northern lands, in Switzerland and Alpine sections. He should be made use of as a motive power in small mills, as in England, Scotland and some German States. He can be made to carry messages, to stand guard, to draw vehicles as in Belgium and he can do much labor now put upon the horse as can be witnessed in Antwerp and Brussels.

Certainly we in America have not utilized dog power as we might have done and now should do. It is cheap power, faithful power; it calls for less care and attention than most other animal power: it calls for less output of original capital. These are the ideas entertained by the State Department probably, since it has detrmined to quicken public attention on the subject of using the dog as a draft animal. The occasion for this new interest is, of course, the demand for stout curs of all orders for use in Alaska, and the new mining sections of British North America.

Tramps Have a Prize Fight.

POTTSVILLE, July 19.—A gang of forty tramps camped on the mountain side near this place for some time past and preying upon the town, have separated into hostile gangs, and about midnight last night their differences were adjusted by a single combat, “Dutch John” and “Indiana” having a prize fight on the highway by the light of a great bonfire and with their fellow-vagrants looking on. The police plainly saw the contest but regarded it as out of their bailiwick and did not interfere.

The two men fought savagely for eleven rounds, “Dutch John,” the heavier of the two, constantly weakening in the presence of his younger and lighter antagonist. In the eleventh round “Indiana” dealt him a terrific blow and John fell senseless. He had to be carried a quarter of a mile down the rugged mountain side and bathed in the canal before he regained consciousness.

IS THERE A MEANER MAN ALIVE?

FAIRHAVEN, Vt., Feb. 4. —This town now claims the meanest man in the United States. Two of his family were taken ill recently, and a week or so ago one of them died, while the death of the other, who had remembered the old man to the extent of $20,000, was expected. The old man went to the undertaker and drove a sharp bargain for two coffins at a reduction under the retail price. One was used, but the other remains in the best room covered up with a sheet, while the relative is still living and gives promise of recovering, in which case the old man will keep his coffin and doubtless lose the $20,000.

THE HOUSE IS HAUNTED.

Crockery Broken and Articles of Furniture Thrown Around by Invisible Powers.

Special Despatch to THE PRESS

ALBANY, May 23.—Mrs. Sylvia Husted, an aged woman lying near Greenville, Greene County, has caused a great deal of excitement in that village by her stories of uncanny happenings about her house. These stories are corraborated by her son and his two children, who live with her, and by some of her neighbors.

In the yard is a large pile of broken crockery, which Mrs. Husted says was thrown from the shelves when no one was near, and nearly every pane of glass has been broken, so she claims, by articles of furniture flying about and by invisible missiles. A reporter from this city, who visited the place, saw a number of reputable witnesses who claimed to have seen a tea kettle rise from the stove and upset upon the floor, lamps thrown from shelves, several pans of milk leap from their shelves in the pantry and spill their contents on the floor, and tables and chairs move about the house. All of these manifestations occur at night.

He Still Lives.

TOLEDO, Ohio, Sept. 20.—The Commercial Telegraph of yesterday morning published a singular story, which in substance is that thirteen years ago Thomas Hubbell, a farmer residing in Monclava township, in the country, was supposed to have died and was buried. A few years ago his friends received a letter signed in the dead man’s name, saying he is alive and would soon visit them. Recently a second letter of the same character was received. This caused an examination of the grave and the casket was found to be empty. An explanation of the mystery is said to be that the grave was robbed and the body sent to a medical college in Michigan. It was then discovered that the man was not dead, but his mind being affected by disease he could give no information concerning his friends and was placed in an asylum, where he subsequently recovered. A brother of the resurrected man has gone to Michigan to investigate the matter. The widow of Hubbell married again several years ago.

A Graveyard Outrage.

BRISTOL, Tenn., August 20.—Ira Mullins, a moonshiner, was recently murdered, together with his whole family, and the bodies were buried. Yesterday a dynamite cartridge was exploded in a hole near the graves and the bodies blown in all directions.

A GHASTLY WEDDING.

To Drive Away the Spirit World a Nebraska Man Is Married Over His Former
Wife’s Grave.

Special Despatch to THE PRESS.

HOMER, Neb., June 14.—James Henderson, a stock raiser and ranche [sic] owner near here, has just contracted one of the ghastliest marriages on record. He was a widower, his first wife having been dead not more than six months. Within three weeks after her death he was paying court to pretty Sallie Means, a poor seamstress of this city. The courtship progressed favorably, ending in the marriage spoken of.

Henderson is a Spiritualist and believes in communications, spirit rappings, etc. Ten days before the arrngements [sic] for the second union had been fully completed, he received a spirit message. It told him that the spirit of his first wife was in a perturbed state. His approaching union being the cause. Another communication told him that he was liable to be haunted.

To propitiate the wounded spirit and lay the “haunt,” Henderson and Miss Means were married at midnight in the graveyard in which his first wife was buried, clasping hands across her grave. This Henderson claims is a sure check upon developing ghosts with a tendency to walk at hours when honest folks of flesh and blood are asleep.

Exposure and fright at the strange ordeal she was obliged to undergo have combined to keep the strangely-made bride in bed since the ceremony.

Fined for Contempt.

On Saturday afternoon Swan Anderson was so unfortunate as to go into the Superior Court room during the progress of the Maxwell trial, in an intoxicated condition. Sheriff Bransford was on the witness stand at the time, Deputy Larison, however, being present. Swan made himself welcome, took the Sheriff’s seat, placed his feet upon the bar of justice, and proceeded to enjoy the legal proceedings then in progress. When the Sheriff left the witness stand he and his deputy, with considerable effort, ejected the offender. Thereupon, the Court made an order citing Anderson to appear Monday morning at 9:30 to show cause why he should not be fined for contempt.

At that hour Swan was on hand. He duly recognized that the Judge held four aces and that the hour had come when he should repent of his sins. So he made an [sic] humble apology to the Court, who after administering a dignified, but pointed lecture, imposed a fine of only $30. This was cheerfully paid by Swan, who says he is sorry the incident occurred. He considers it a good and cheap lesson.—Plumas National Bulletin