Strangest Fresh-water Fish.
George Welscher, who lives in Illinois, opposite Commerce, Mo., caught a strange-looking fish in the Mississippi River the other day. He had been told that if one would break the ice near the shore and drop a baited hook in the water, he could sure catch fish. He decided to try it, and had only been fishing a few minutes when he landed a queer specimen, to describe it mildly. It had a head like a dog’s, but the body was like a fish. Where the fins should be it had something like wings, which it could open and close. It had a tail similar to a cat’s, with fur on it like a cat’s, and on which the water seemed to have no effect.
Near the end of the tail there were three prongs, each having a different color of fur on them—one blue, one white, and the other a shade of yellow. It had a tusk about two inches long in its mouth. Its eyes were in the tip of its tail, and instead of having two eyes, it had three. Welscher said he had no trouble landing the fish, and as soon as landed it began to bark like a dog.
Saved Russian from Big Bear.
Andy Williams, an employee of the Gagen Lumber and Cedar Company, of Gagen, Wis., in one of their camps, two miles from this village, killed what is thought to be the largest bear ever seen in this vicinity, it weighing nearly 500 pounds.
A Russian who was swamping out logs suddenly aroused a monster bear, and, in his excitement, accidentally hit bruin on the head. The bear, furious at being struck, made for the Russian, who was now fleeing down the road at his utmost speed. The Russ no doubt imagined that his end was near and that there was at least one Russian who would never get back across the big pond to face a German gun. He probably never would have if Andy Williams hadn’t come to his rescue and dispatched the bear with an ax.
They went back and found three cubs in a hollow log, and they are now getting the best of care at the camp.
Tiny Locomotive is Wonder in Details.
A perfect model of an oil-burning railway locomotive, forty-two inches long, is to be put on exhibition at the Panama-Pacific Exposition. Arthur H. Johnson, of Seattle, Wash., who built the model, has been requested by the San Francisco authorities to enter the locomotive as an exhibit, and he has consented.
Johnson, who is a young electrician, spent three years in making the model to try out an invention of his on the fire box. The engine is equipped with air brakes, an electric-light system, and everything else that a modern locomotive has. The boiler has been tested out at 150 pounds working pressure.