MISCELLANEOUS.

Grey River Argus, Issue 73, 30 June 1866, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

A pair of boots worth £1200 sterling must be as valuable, one would think, as the fabulous seven-league boots ; but we (" Ballarat Times") hear that a pair of such value was given away in Ballarat not long ago. When Sir William Don shares were being given away by holders,, who feared to hold what then was worthless, and yet entailed liability, the story goes that a poor shareholder gave twelve Bhares^ for 9 pair of boots. The man who gave the boots for the twelve shares — so goes the story further— realised when the shares ran up to £100, and is gone home with his little fortune." The work of raising the sunken veßsels in the harbor of Sebastupol was continued during the past year. There have been already recovered thirty-six tons of copper, ninety tons of iron, 1200 cannons, 400 balls, 12,000 cast-iron ballast pigs, 100 chain cables, and a vast quantity of miscellaneous stores, A Wonderful Bullet. —l had just Veen ordering our men not to waste their ammunition, aud to fire oijy when they saw the person of a Yankee completely exposed, when close at hand I heard the dull thud of a bullet striking home, and turning round saw one of our soldiers, a gallant young fellow whom I knew well, throw up his arms and fall heavily to the ground. Dismounting at once, I Hastened to his side; but findirg that,the ball had struck him right in the middle of the forehead I regarded him as a corpse, and deemed all further assistance wholly unnecessary. Not many minutes had elapsed, however, before the apparently dead man began, to move, and when the surgeon, who had already arrived, poured some brandy down his throat, to our infinite amazement he opened his eyes. Afew hours later, miraculous to relate, when the bleeding from the wound had ceased, he had recovered sufficiently from the severe shock to . return to his post of duty.' According to 1 the surgeonV statement the ball, striking obliquely, had glanced, passing between cuticle and skull, all around the head, emerging at last from the very place it had first entered. — Blackwood's Magazine. Sensational Advertising. — The "Round Table," of the 30th December, has a story of a theatrical agent which is certainly unique. Miss Lucilla Western, an actress of the sensational school, being about to produce at Philadelphia a hew drama, called "Atonement, or the Child Stealer," instructed her agent, an Alfred Cassidy, to take the necessary steps to call attention to her intended operations ; whereupon Mr Cassidy startled the inhabitants of that quiet city by an advertisement of the "Hue and Cry" style, calling upon the citizens to look out for a child stealer, a "woman about twentyfour years of age, who, having sold her own child in England, forwhich offence she had been transported, was about, it was to be in : ferred, to replace her lost " treasure" by a "raid" among the juvenile population of Philadelphia. The advertisement concluded | with the expression of a hope that the suspected culprit might be discovered, and j Drought" before the public for the observation of both parents and children. For ten days, it is said, a panic prevailed among the fathers and mothers, which was finally allayed by the announcement that the advertisement was merely a device to draw attention to the forthcoming dramatic performance. Upon thiß the district attorney waxed wroth, and summoned Mr Cassidy to appear before the Court of Quarter Session, where the defendant's counsel sought to establish that his client had been guilty of no indictable offence ; but the judge set aside his argument by declaring that "to do an act which is calculated to spread terror and alarm through the community, such act not being based upon any real circumstance,.; is a common nuisance, and indictable as such." So Mr Cassidy will be put upon his trial, the whole proceedings of which may form an interesting chapter for some future collection on the romance of advertising.— -Trvhner's American and Oriental Literary Record. • A Nabrow Escape. —What very nearly amounted to a shocking tragedy, reminding one not a little of the famous old story of the bride and the chest, took place at Oxford on Tuesday. At the handsome Randolph Hotel in that city, lately built, two men and a boy employed on the premises, from fun and curiosity, we believe, got into a very care-fully-constructed fire-proof plate chest. Another servant, also in fun, little thinking what he was doing, closed the door. It fastened with a spring-lock, and the horrified Victims found themselves enclosed in an airtight box about three feet square by six feet high. It is difficult to understand how three persons could have squeezed themselves into such a place, for there was only just standing room ; but such is the fact. Their cries . soon alarmed the establishment, and at last the key was found ; but, as might be expected in the confusion, under the agonised efforts of . the frightened man who had shut

the door, it broke in the lock. There was now nothing for it but to .break in, but the extraordinary strength of the door resisted every effort of sledge-hammers wielded by powerful men working for the life of their fellow creatures. The escape of the prisoners was only effected, after having been immured for more than half an hour, by breaking through the wall with proper mason's tools. The boy had fainted; and one of the men was bleeding at the nose and mouth ; the other had not yet begun to suffer visibly, though much distressed. A very few minutes more — it is said not more than five — and some, if not all, must have perished. Considerable crowds collected round the hotel both at the time and afterwards. — Churchman. A novel idea has been started in America. Some enterprising inventors are making mould boards for ploughs of glass. It is stated that" they have been tested on the j prairies with practical success. We have glass mangles in England, and considering the peculiar characteristics of the material, the only wonder is that it has not been more generally utalised. It is well adapted for many constructive purposes. Jockeys and tiikir Employers. — A squabble between the Marquis of Hastings and Grimshaw, the jockey, 1 has given the uninitiated an insight into the duties and earnings of the small men who ride for the great stakes of the English turf. Lord Bastings was Grimshaw's first master— i.e., when his lordship started a horse for a race Grimshaw was bound to ride the animal, being at liberty, when his first master did not. want him, to ride for anybody else who would employ and pay him. For this service Lord Hastings gave Grimshaw a retaining fee of L6OO a-year, paying him besides L 5 for each race won and L 3 for each rate lost, and his travelling expenses. The jockey s income from these aources.and from presents made i^jbJm by backers of winners ridden b*y him is computed to have been between L2OOO and L3OOO a-year. But a jockey's life is laborious, dangerous, and often brief. In order to obtain eminence in the profession, clear brains, strict honesty and sobriety, and a stout heart, with a very lean and active habit of body, are required. We read last week of a lad being called upon to "waste" seven pounds in twenty-four hours, and doing it. The young animals which jockeys have to ride are often vicious and difficult to manage, and the temptations to which their honesty is exposed are extreme. Lord Hastings dismissed Grimshaw because he refused to ride a colt which he deemed unsafe.— Pall Mall Gazette. .....r : " A Chinaman Murdered and Burnt. — We learn from Mr Commissioner Johnson that a horrible murder was committed on Thursday night,, at Spring Creek, near Sofala, upon the body of a Chinaman. It appears that a man, residing in a tent about fifty yards from that of deceased, went to the police camp about one o'clock yesterday morning, and reported that a Chinaman near him had been attacked, and he believed murdered, by a short thick-set man in a peajacket. He had heard the cries of the Chinaman for help, followed by the report of a gunshot, and. shortly afterwards saw the Chinamen's tent in flames ; but he was afraid to go near the place lest his own life should be jeopardised. The police immediately proceeded to the spot indicated, and discovered amongst the embers the charred remains of the murdered Chinaman. The affair is at present wrapped in mystery. Mr Commissioner Johnson, who returned to Bathurst yesterday, left instructions with Mr. Sub-Commissioner Brisden to hold at once a magisterial inquiry into the circumstances of the murder; It is supposed that the deceased was a "man who, a short time ago, found a large nugget, and was known to have, sold it for L7O, or thereabout, and kept the money in his possession rather than deposit it in a bank, as he was strongly advised to do, and that he has been foully murdered for sake of the money.— Bathurst Times, June 2.