Thursday, January 17, 1901
A man fell into the water tank last week and was hurt. He was at work on the top of it and fell to the bottom bruising himself considerably. To add to his discomfort, no sooner had he landed and hurt himself because there was no water to break his fall, the water came pouring in from the pumps and came near drowning him.
If the new tank keeps leaking until warm weather, the citizens of Marlinton will be favored with the luxury of an ideal shower bath to cool them off and refresh them after the arduous toils of the long summer days.
Friday evening, the sound of an explosion was heard and felt in Marlinton. It was learned afterwards that it was an explosion of dynamite at Falling Spring, 32 miles by the railway. A large boulder had fallen on the track and delayed the passenger train going down. Twenty-five sticks of dynamite were placed on top of the boulder and plastered over with mud. The stone was completely shattered and the train proceeded after a delay of 15 minutes.
The present winter is a very remarkable one for its mildness. We have had no snow this winter. Folks are getting a little uneasy about their supply of ice for next summer. We have had more bright days than usually falls our lot. This is the mildest winter since 1892-3.
A few cases of smallpox are breaking out again in this county on Droop Mountain, and a few cases are reported in the brush section of Edray district. Everyone should be vaccinated who has not already rendered himself immune to the disease.
Whooping cough has made its appearance in the families of Uriah Bird and Jeff Killingsworth, east Marlinton. There seems to be no danger of its spreading as the parents are carefully isolating their children.
THE ORGANIST
There is a certain church in this county which has had an organ for about 20 years, and the position of organist has been supplied from the young ladies of the congregation. The peculiar part about it is that none of the young ladies have held the position of organist but for a very short time because shortly after a young lady begins to play on that organ in the face of the congregation, she gets married. This has happened without exception in some 15 or 20 cases…
PARALYZED
In every large town like Marlinton, there are a number of men who occasionally make a night of it and solace themselves with alcoholic joys. Paralysis is a terrible thing. It makes you feel so bad the next morning. A party of men were courting this sort of paralysis the other night in this town when one of them suddenly declared that there was something terrible the matter with him, that he could not shut his eyes. His boon companions gathered around him in alarm. The victim’s eyes were wide open, and he was struggling with muscles commonly known as orbicularis palpebrarum whose sacred duty it is to close the eye.
The eyes of the victim were wide open placidly staring at the faces of the men who were inquiring into the matter. The victim was making tremendous effort, straining every nerve to contract the orbicularis palpebrarum, without effect. The victim placidly stared until he went to sleep and the next day the olfactory muscle had resumed its function.
It is thought that the trouble was brought on by too frequent doses of a certain liquid known as an eye opener.
GOULD MILLIONS
The Countess Castellane who was left very well-to-do by her late father Jay Gould, is practically bankrupt, as it is estimated that she is in debt to the amount of $4,000,000, which has been incurred since she married a fortune hunting insignificant European Count.
It is thus that the large fortunes which are made by the financiers are dissipated and given back to the public from which they were gleaned. It is part of the plan. Every dog has his day, and the wealth of the millionaire comes back to the people as surely as time cures all things.
STATE FLOWER
The time has arrived when we should adopt a State Flower. The Rhododendron is suggested as being one of the most beautiful and widely distributed of the West Virginia plants, and a suitable one to adopt as a State Flower.
That is no bad idea and the choice is correct. The rhododendron, Greek for “rose tree” is more commonly known as big laurel…
