Miscellaneous Extracts.

Hastings Standard, Issue 234, 30 January 1897, Page 3

Miscellaneous Extracts.

A DIVE FROM A RUNNING TRAIN.

Brims, the diver who was tho other day frustrated by railway officials in his design to i'.unp from tin- top of a moving train into the Thame,-!, but vowed a vow that be would perform the feat in spite of all opposition, has fulfilled his intention, selecting the same locality as before—the West London Exiention Bridge He and a few frien*®*again took tickets from Chelsea to Batte-r.-ea. but this time the affair was kept as quiet as possible in order to prevent the railway authorities from taking measures for preventing the foolish and foolhardy leap. Nevertheless, a considerable crowd of spectators, who had got the tip, assembled on lbe river bank at Battersea to witness the feat. When the train came steaming along, Burns was seen eittiag on the top of a carriage in the centre. Once fairlyfon he rose to his feet, and, taking a header over the parapet, fell gracefully into the river. On rising to the surface, he struck out for a boat lying some distance away, and was rowed ashore none the worse for his daring venture.

A BAND OF ROBBERS

Quite in a commonplace way a writer in Canton mentions that on the night of November 2nd about 260 robbers made an attack at a place named Tin-tau-hu, in the prefecture of Loi-chow. The robbers came by long-boats. About seventy shops and thirty family houses were robbed. Two policemen who opposed the robbers were fatally shot. The robbers carried away eight small girls and booty to the value of about lG.OOOdols. They next devoted their attention to a pawnshop in the neighborhood. The shop people had made all preparations, and the fortune of the robbers was this time turned, and they were fired at from the front and the back by the shop people and the policemen, and were obliged to withdraw, leaving three of their number prisoners. The captives were brought before the local magistrate, who sentenced them to death. The same band of robbers made an attack on a place named Pak-ba-hu in broad daylight on November Bth. They painted their faces black, so that they could not be recognised, and plundered all the houses and got away scot free without meeting any opposition. A good many wealthy families have removed from the disturbed place to safer localities.

LIQUOR PILLS

It would appear that the dram drinker will soon be able to take his " nip " in the form of a pilule carried in his vest pocket. The fertility of the inventive brain, says the writer in a Bordeaux medical journal, is at once amazing and inconceivable. An engineer has recently contrived to prepare what he calls " a concentrated essence of vinic plants, the best of all methods for producing an exquisite wine." According to the prospectus issued by this ingenious person, two of his tablets, costing from 8 francs 50 centimes, are sufficient to yield 110 litres of a liquor containing all the qualities of natural wine, from which it is practically indistinguishable. Not only does the compound possess a most agreeable flavor and a delicate aroma; it is likewise unrivalled as a refresher of the slightly damaged wines that are customarily used diluted. The fresh taste and freedom from acidity of this pseudo-wine lead to its being constantly mistaken for a genuine claret of the most approved vintage. The process of converting the tablets into wine is simplicity itself. They have merely to be boiled in a little water, the decoction when sufficiently cooked being further dilated and sweetened to taste.

A MILL AIS STORY.

An old friend of the late President of the Royal Academy sends the Daily Chronicle the following anecdote, which has not, he believes, appeared before in print. It was one that Millais himself was occasionally induced to repeat, and the correspondent gives it in the late President's own words :

" I found myself seated one evening at a rather grand dinner next to a very pretty gushing girl, to whom I had not been introduced. Shetiredintoconversation directly she had finished her soup, and, as it was May, began with the inevitable question, • 1 suppose you've been to the Academy I replied that I had. ' And did you notice the Millais's "? Didn't you think they were awful daubs > I can't imagine how such things ever get hung ' She was going on gaily in the same strain, while I sat silent, when suddenly the amused smiles of those round her and the significant hush brought her to a sudden stop. She colored rather painfully, and whispered to me in a frightened voice : 4 For Heaven's sake what have I done ? Have I said anything dreadful ? Do tell me •Not now,' I replied. 4 eat your dinner in peace, and I'll tell you by-and-bye.' She did so rather miserably, vainly trying to extract from me at intervals what the matter was. and when dessert came I filled up her gla>s with champMu and told her to gulp it down v«y quickly when I counted three. She obeyed without protest, and I took the opportunity when she couldn't speak to say : ' Well, I MitUii*. But lets be friends.' "