Part 10
Rameses II, who now serves as a peep-show in the Cairo Museum and as an ad for cigarettes, was once a “ten-billionaire.” Ford, Rockefeller, Croesus, and others, were only pikers when compared with the “sunset glory of the royal dynasties of Egypt.”
The most famous of the Pharaohs conquered all the kings from Nubia to Syria and exacted great tribute from them. He exploited the gold mines of Nubia for the benefit of his own purse during a period of 67 years. The entire known world of that time contributed to his great wealth and magnificence.
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THE CRAWLING FISH
This crawling fish is a native of Asia, and is remarkable for its apparent disregard of certain natural laws. This singular creature has long been noted for its powers of voluntarily leaving the failing streams, ascending the banks, and proceeding over dry land toward some spot where its unerring instinct tells it that water is yet to be found. They sometimes cover a distance of a mile or more, and can live for a period of a week out of water.
On opening the head of the “Anabas Scandens” it will be found that the bones are much enlarged and modified into a series of labyrinthine cells and duplications, so that they retain a large amount of water in the interstices, and prevent the gill-membranes from becoming dry.
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THE HARD RIDING SQUIRE
Squire Osbaldeston was the most famous sportsman in the world one hundred years ago. The sporting annals of his time are filled with the various events of horsemanship of the doughty old gent. He was of the hard-riding and hard-drinking school of country gentlemen, and when he died he left a legacy of riding records that has never been beaten to this day.
* * *
THE TRACER BULLET
Death will find a way.
One day early in February, 1928, A. V. Bonham, of Cotter, Arkansas, saw smoke.
He was startled to learn that it was his own house. It seems that Bonham’s little 12-year-old son had used kerosene to start a fire and an explosion followed which set the house in flames.
With the aid of neighbors, Bonham removed most of his household goods. But he overlooked his loaded revolver which reposed in a bureau drawer.
As Bonham stood sadly watching the hungry flames, the report of a pistol rang out. Mack Medley, a neighbor, felt something strike his cap and at the same instant Bonham cried out “I am shot,” and clutching his breast, he staggered a few steps and fell dead.
The heat had exploded Bonham’s own gun and the bullet had found its mark.
* * *
GERMAN INSECT POWER.
There was a plague of fleas in Münster, Germany in 1670. The High Court of Münster, upon complaint of the burghers, summoned the fleas to appear before it for disorderly conduct. As the fleas disobeyed the summons, they were found guilty, disfranchised and banished for 10 years. The language of the Court decree is very pompous and treats the culprits with withering anger.
* * *
“Dear Rip:
Believe it or not? Where do they charge more for a one way ticket than for a round trip? Answer: San Pedro to Los Angeles, Cal., on the Pacific Electric. Men in uniform get special rate of fifty cents round trip and must pay fifty-two cents for a one way ticket.
Heinie Miller.”
* * *
A REMARKABLE RUNNER
Mensen Ernst, the Norwegian cross-country runner, was unquestionably the greatest long-distance foot racer that ever lived. The records set up by this tireless Scandinavian in Europe during the early part of the last century have never been equalled. The Indian or Arab has never lived that could keep in sight of him.
Note a few of his records.
Mensen Ernst ran from Paris to Moscow in two weeks. He ran over poor roads, in all kinds of weather, and swam 13 big rivers on the way, yet he averaged 125 miles a day!
He averaged 95 miles a day for 59 days in a race from Constantinople to Calcutta, and return. He swam rivers, crossed deserts, and endured dangers and suffered the blazing sun on his way across Anatolia, Persia, Afghanistan, and India--a distance of 5,625 miles.
_Ref: Life of Mensen Ernst. Pub. by Rieck, Norway._
* * *
CATCHING THE SAME FISH TWICE
This unusual happening in the gentle art of angling is explained in the affidavit of E. C. Wolf, of Big Springs, Neb., an eyewitness.
“World-Herald, April 17, 1928. Omaha, Neb.
Gentlemen:
July 24, 1926 at 10 A. M., Mr. O. T. Wertz, Chappell, Neb., while fishing in Jumbo Reservoir, which is three miles in diameter, in Colorado, hooked a perch but gut attached to hook broke and fish was lost. The same afternoon this fish was caught by him over half a mile distant from where he hooked it in forenoon, with hook in mouth.
Yours truly, E. C. Wolf.”
* * *
“ONE LONG HOP”
A Chinese baby born in Chicago, Sept. 14, 1927, was so named in honor of Lindbergh.
* * *
Karl Kmetty, a lieutenant in the Hungarian army (1919), convicted of 280 different crimes, sued a Budapest editor for libel.
* * *
As a class, the actors have supplied the largest number of Saints. St. Genest, St. Ardaleon, St. Porphyre, St. Pelagie.
* * *
Heinrich Noste, an Austrian musician, can play tunes on the piano with his tongue.
* * *
Eberhard Wagenes, of London, called his wife a liar 10,000 times for which a statuary fine of $75 was paid.
* * *
Mme. Marie Ollivier, of Hondschoote, Flanders, who committed bigamy, was sentenced to wear two pair of pants around her neck for life.
_Ref.: “Registre des sentences criminelles exécutées à Hondschoote sous le règne de Phillippe II.”_
* * *
The Grand Inquisitor Peter Arbuez, who burned 40,000 people at the stake, was made a Saint by the Pope in 1860.
* * *
A QUEEN CROWNED AFTER DEATH
Iñez de Castro, beloved wife of Pedro I of Portugal, became Queen of Portugal after she was dead.
She was assassinated at the instigation of her father-in-law, the King of Portugal, who had other marriage plans for his son. Three years later, when Don Pedro ascended the throne, he had the body of Iñez taken from the grave, placed upon a magnificent throne, arrayed in all the robes of royalty, and crowned “Queen of Portugal” with full ceremony. One fleshless hand held the sceptre and in the other was the orb of royalty while the assembled court did her homage as if she were a living queen.
* * *
Oliver Cromwell was hanged after he was dead.
* * *
The posthumous trial of Pope Formosus is famous. Pope Stephen VII (896-897), for some political reason, had the body of Pope Formosus exhumed and arraigned for trial. A legal defender was appointed and the entire trial was conducted according to the laws of the living. Pope Stephen appeared in person as the prosecutor and won his case, whereupon the body of Formosus was stripped of the papal robes and insignia, mutilated, and thrown into the Tiber.
* * *
The Cid, noted Spanish warrior, led his troops to battle after his death.
In the eleventh book of the “Chronicle of the Cid,” Southey relates that the embalmed body of the Spanish warrior was placed in the saddle, according to his wish, and at the head of his army advanced to battle against King Bucar and his countless hosts of Moors ... winning a great victory.
* * *
Benjamin Franklin invented the harmonica.
* * *
There was never a famous twin.
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* * *
THE KAISERPOKAL
The most celebrated of all drinks is the drinking of the Kaiserpokal. In fact, it is still celebrated each year with a festival.
In 1616, during the Thirty Years’ War, Burgomaster Nusch of Rothenburg on the Tauber saved himself and his city by draining in a single draught the huge stein of seven pints of wine.
Each year the city of Rothenburg commemorates that occasion with a celebration and the present mayor takes a long and ceremonious drink from the same stein--the Kaiserpokal--that Herr Nusch used.
* * *
A COUGH IN THE CAR LOAD
In 1851, during Napoleon III’s coup d’état, when an aide reported that the mob was facing the Imperial Guard, Count de St. Arnaud, who was just troubled with a cough, exclaimed, “ma sacrée toux!” (my damned cough!). This the aide understood to mean, “massacrez tous” (massacre everybody). The order to fire was given and thousands of human lives were lost.
* * *
HOT DOG
The wonder “weenie” of all time was stuffed by the German Butcher’s Guild for their celebration in Koenigsberg in 1601.
This hot dog was more than half a mile long--exactly 3,001 feet--and required the efforts of 103 butchers to carry it on parade. It weighed 885 pounds and was later equally distributed among the members of the guild at the banquet table.
* * *
FLAMING YOUTH
Charlie Pardie, of Albuquerque, got lit up one night and had a hot time.
No wonder.
He drank 15 cans of canned heat in 24 hours.
* * *
“O P Q R S T”
The above letters were sent by Hué in 1867, and were correctly interpreted by the French to read “Au Pecu arresté”--Arrested at Pecu.
* * *
All the books of both the Bible and the Talmud contain no more than 6,654 different words--including derivatives.
* * *
GEORGE WASHINGTON WAS _NOT_ THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
This is a statement from my daily “Believe It or Not” stint that also caused my readers to doubt--and the mail man to stagger.
Who was the first President--if not Washington?
A man of whom you have never heard--John Hanson, of Maryland.
Although there had been meetings of the Continental Congress from 1774 on, it was not until 1781, when Maryland finally signed the Articles of Confederation, that a union of all the original 13 states became an actuality.
John Hanson, who signed for Maryland, was then elected President of the United States in Congress Assembled, 1781.
George Washington, himself, addressed Hanson as President of the United States in his reply to the latter’s message of thanks upon the occasion of the victory of Yorktown.
_Ref.: Fiske’s “Critical Periods of American History,” Senator Dollivar’s speech in the Senate, 1910._
* * *
THE HEN THAT BECAME A ROOSTER
This apparent impossibility has happened many times. The particular hen chicken that I saw lived, laid eggs, and cackled in its home in a Pennsylvania poultry yard for several years before it manifested anything unusual. Then its owner noticed new sprouting feathers, bright hackles, and the growth of a long drooping tail, and most surprising of all--three full-sized spurs grew on each leg.
The owner, Dr. M. S. Gillespie, brought the bird to the Natural Science Halls of the Brooklyn Museum where the sex-changed chicken was exhibited for some time.
This freak of nature is by no means unprecedented. It is caused by specific changes in the physiological processes--frequently the product of abdominal tuberculosis.
_I refer you to Brooklyn Museum Quarterly, October, 1927, and to George P. Engelhardt, Curator, Dept. Natural Sciences, Brooklyn Museum._
* * *
THE MAN OF CHAINS
This Faquir--once a familiar sight in the city of Lahore (India)--was dressed entirely in a mass of heavy chains weighing more than 600 pounds.
He was a Mohammedan. “Sahib Allah Shah” was his name he said, but when you consider the meaning of the words it is obviously an egotistical assertion. The Punjab public called him the “Jingling Faker” and made considerable fuss over him as he slowly crawled along under his self-imposed burden.
“Sankal-Walah”--the “Man of Chains,” was an adopted surname, and it became him very well. He began collecting this chain suit of armor when quite a young man--gradually welding on the links and chains, bit by bit, until his groaning load--at the time of his death--weighed 670 pounds.
He had borne this burden for the last 13 years of his life.
* * *
A FLEET CAPTURED BY CAVALRY
The entire Dutch fleet, ice-bound in the Zuyder Zee, was captured by the French Hussars under Pichegru who galloped across the frozen sea. The Dutch ships were powerful, but, alas--immovable and became easy prey to a charge of cavalry! The result was that the government of the Netherlands collapsed, and Holland was forcibly allied to France (1795).
* * *
“IF YOU WOULD SEE HIS MONUMENT, LOOK AROUND”
The above inscription is placed in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, to the memory of Sir Christopher Wren, who built it.
* * *
MOTHER GOOSE
“Mother Goose” was a real character, and not an imaginary person as has been supposed.
Her maiden name was Elizabeth Foster, and she was born in Boston in 1665. She married Isaac Goose in 1693, and her famous rhymes were written for her grandchildren.
* * *
THE GHOST SHIP
The Gloucester fishing schooner, “Columbia,” went to the bottom in a hurricane in August, 1927, with her crew of 20 men. On the following New Year’s Day, Capt. Myhre, on the “Ventosta,” while dragging the bottom of the sea, caught something with his trawls and suddenly there rose to the surface the battered remains of a dead ship. For a few minutes the “Columbia,” with masts erect, remained suspended before the eyes of the startled seamen. Then as suddenly as she had cleft the waves, she disappeared from sight as the 3-inch cables which had hauled her to the surface parted.
* * *
WHAT PRICE PRIVACY
Francesca Nortyuege, famous reformer of Dièze, who died in France in 1903, left her fortune to her niece with the proviso that, for the sake of decency, she keep her goldfish always clothed in tights.
* * *
T I P
Comes from the initials of the words “To Insure Promptness.”
* * *
HE WHO LAUGHED LAST
Chalchas the Greek died from laughter when the day that was predicted to be his death day came around and the prediction did not seem to materialize.
* * *
A YEAR AND A DAY
A Japanese child is one year old the day it is born.
* * *
Dr. Schmeckegut (taste good) changed his name to Dr. Schmeckebesser (I taste better) in Vienna.
* * *
A case that has been in the Courts since 999. In that year, a wealthy land owner who expected the world to end in 1000, donated the mountain of San Tisone, near Naples, to the Convent of the same name. The world did not perish of course and the owner claimed to cancel his donation. At present the two communities of Ravella and Lettera are still disputing ownership. For 929 years testimony has been taken with never a decision.
* * *
THE SHORTEST POEM IN THE WORLD
“Hired. Tired? Fired!”
* * *
When I printed the above poem a number of readers called my attention to this one which is even shorter. It is entitled:
“Lines Written on the Antiquity of Microbes”
“Adam Had ’Em”
* * *
EVEN UP
Patrick and Eleanor Grady, of Crookhaven (near Cork, Ireland) were born in 1796 in the same house on the same day--were married on the same day--and on the same day fell sick and died on the same day at the ages of 96--leaving 96 descendants.
* * *
IT’S NOT THE HEAT--IT’S THE HUMIDITY!
The thermometer registered 158.8 degrees Fahrenheit in the Oasis of Toauregs, in Northern Africa, 1927.
* * *
THE MORNING AFTER
Herr Reinach, of Vienna, placed a 25-pound cake of ice on his head and allowed it to remain there until it melted. 1928.
* * *
THE JAKUCK WEATHER REPORT
The temperature in Jakuck, Siberia, varied 256.6 degrees in the season of 1928. The thermometer rose from 154.4 below zero to 102.2 degrees above.
* * *
THE FOUNTAIN OF BLOOD
In the center of the village of Vertud (Dept. de Gracias) between San Salvador and Guatemala, there is a fountain--“Mina de Sangre”--which ejects a red liquid that coagulates like blood.
_“Apuntamientos sobre Centro America,” Squier._
* * *
Princess Anthony Kohary, of Hungary, the last of her line, was officially appointed a man. 1889.
* * *
A COMMA THAT SAVED A HUMAN LIFE
Maria Feodorewna accidentally caught sight of the following note appended to the bottom of a death warrant. It was in the handwriting of her husband, Alexander III. It read as follows:
“Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia.”
Maria transposed the comma so that it read:
“Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia.” Whereupon the convict was released a free man.
* * *
Professor Netomeff, an Assyriologist, who wrote a book about Nebuchadnezzar, the ancient King of Babylon, was sentenced to perpetual exile in Siberia because the caption of his book, “Nebuchadnezzar,” was the same in the Russian language as “Ne boch ad ne tzar” Which meant “No God and no Tzar.”
* * *
The name of the letter “Q” is the French word “queue”--a tail. In other words, a “Q” is an “O” with a tail.
* * *
Cyrus, King of Persia, knew the name of every soldier in his army by heart.
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Themistocles could call all of the 20,000 inhabitants at Athens by their first names.
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Rev. W. B. Hogg, of El Paso, Texas, memorized the Bible.
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Mrs. Wilhelmine Alff, of Cherokee, Iowa, attended the movies every night for 8 years. 2,927 consecutive evenings.
* * *
Joseph Conrad, famous master of the English language, could not speak a word of it at the age of twenty-five.
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The fiancé of Miss Matilde John, of London, died in 1795. She died 89 years later of a broken heart.
* * *
Señora Salomea Wolf had the portrait of her husband tattooed on her tongue to atone for nagging him to death. Jerez, Spain, 1927.
* * *
The editor of The Torch, Central Lake, Mich., assures me that the following paragraph which appeared in his newspaper is nothing but the truth.
“Seven years ago a farmer in Iowa hung his vest on a fence in the barnyard. A calf chewed up a pocket in the garment in which was a gold watch. Last week the animal, a staid old milk cow, was butchered for beef, and the timepiece was found in such a position between the lungs of the cow that respiration--the closing in and filling of the lungs--kept the stemwinder wound up, and the watch had lost but four minutes in the seven years.”
* * *
Hastings, Minn. Dec. 18, 1927.
“My Dear Mr. Ripley:
I have a little item for “Believe It or Not.”
A gentleman from my home town by the name of Carl (Tiger) Franklin can swallow three (3) eggs in the shell and cough them up one at a time without breaking the shells.
In my travels into the far corners of the world, this is the only case I ever heard of or seen of this kind. I think this might be mentioned in your “Believe It or Not” section of the papers.
Yours truly, Wm. Tenner.”
* * *
Herman Heidegger, of London, could call from memory the wording of all the signs along both sides of the street for 10 blocks after once walking past to observe them.
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Porson, the Greek scholar, could recite the complete works of Milton--backward and forward.
* * *
La Croze could repeat 12 verses in 12 unknown languages after hearing them read aloud once.
* * *
Arlinin, the Neapolitan, recited 15,350 lines from Dante without a moment’s pause.
* * *
Gambetta, the great Tribune, had a wonderful memory. Among other mental feats was his ability to repeat the Book of Ruth word for word backward. He was able to do the same with all the works of Victor Hugo and Ossian.
* * *
The LAUGHING JACKASS IS A BIRD
THE WORD-- ‘PERSONALITY’ CONTAINS 1307 OTHER WORDS
WILL LEA--of Texas AGE 67 IS STILL A CONTORTIONIST
BLUB BLUB
GUS SUNDSTROM--N.Y.A.C. SWAM 100 YARDS UNDER WATER --without using his arms.]
* * *
THE MENTAL FREAK
Dr. Charles Bernstein, superintendent of the Rome State School for the Feeble-minded, tells me of a remarkable mental freak who is an inmate of the school at the present time.
“Barney” is 43 years old physically, but his mental age is 6 years. He is unable to read or write, and speaks very indistinctly with a very limited vocabulary, yet he gives instantly the day of the week on which any date falls on either in years past or years to come. Barney never saw a calendar. Several psychologists of note have studied his case but are entirely unable to fathom his mental state.”
* * *
THE WILL OF AKBAR THE GREAT
“Every man should have four wives; a Hindoo to bear children, a Persian for conversation, an Afghan to keep house, and a Turk to beat up as an example to the others.”
* * *
EASY COME EASY GO
Sultan Murad IV inherited 240 wives when he assumed the throne of Turkey. He decided to dispense with their help by the simple expedient of putting each wife in a sack and tossing them one by one into the Bosphorus.
* * *
Alexander Richter, placed a wreath on his own grave every week for 60 years. He disappeared, and when he returned he found that the body of a drowned man had been buried as his own under his name.
* * *
Each of the five husbands of Frau Irmgard Bruns, of Berlin, committed suicide. 1928.
* * *
Frank Damek, of Chicago, compiled a complete deck of cards by picking them up from time to time in the street! After 10 years he was 15 cards short. It was another 20 years before he finally completed his deck, in 1890.
* * *
THE CRUISE OF THE SKELETONS
“While cruising near the coastline of Punta Arenas (Chile) the British sailing ship ‘Johnson’ sighted what appeared to be a boat with sails floating in the wind. The British signals eliciting no response, the craft was approached and it was noticed that masts and sails were covered with some kind of green moss, and that the vessel seemed abandoned by its crew. Upon boarding it the skeleton of a man was discovered beneath the helm. The deck was decayed to such an extent that it gave under the footsteps. Three more skeletons were found near a panel, ten were found in the crew’s quarters, and six on the bridge. Upon the ravaged prow of the vessel, the words _Marlborough Glasgow_ could still be discerned. The Marlborough left Littleton, N. Z. in January 1890, with a cargo of wool and frozen mutton, and a crew of 23 men under command of Captain Hird. It was last seen on its regular course in the Straits of Magellan. In April 1890 an unsuccessful search for the vessel was made. There were also a few passengers on board and one woman.”
_Reported by the official Agence Havas on Nov. 26, 1913 and by Wellington (New Zealand) Evening Post of Nov. 13, 1913._
* * *
THE MAN WHO DRANK HIMSELF TO DEATH
The surgeon Dr. Politman, a native of Lorraine, died at the age of 140, having been drunk each day since he was 25 years old. On the eve of his death he performed a major surgical operation successfully.
_I refer you Dr. W. Rullman’s “Die natürliche Lebensdauer des Menschen” which ran in the “Vossische Zeitung” of Berlin, March 12 and 13, 1916._
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A GOOD LISTENER