Miscellany: Oct. 20, 1930

Quadruplets

At Berne, Switzerland, quadruplets named Gehri, aged 50, held a reunion “before going to the cemetery,” after 26 years apart. One brother and sister had become U. S. citizens, one sister an Australian. Oscar, eldest by a few minutes, had retained his Swiss citizenship.

Ark

At Kentville, N. S., Pryor James 15 years ago built him an ark for a second flood. Recently police suspected him of illegal liquor traffic, found homebrew in the ark. Pryor James barricaded himself in his shanty, opened fire. When he appeared at the door, shotgun in hand, after an all-night siege, police shot him dead.

Sneezer

At Manhattan, John Becchio, haberdashery thief, chased into a cellar by Patrolman Frank Miller, hid in a dusty corner. Patrolman Miller searched futilely, was about to give up when Becchio sneezed.

Theodolite

In Chicago, Chris Longhini, Gogebic (Mich.) trapper and woodsman, remembered news-pictures he had seen of gangsters and photographers with tripod cameras. Seeing a surveyor pointing a theodolite his way Woodsman Longhini decided it was a cameraman mistaking him for a gangster. He charged, smashed the theodolite, punched the surveyor. In court he paid $400 for the ruined instrument.

Evolution

At Evanston, Ill., A. J. Robinson was released from custody when he promised no more to threaten death to Professor Ernest Laurer of Northwestern University. Declared Robinson: “My daughter, Roslyn, attended Professor Laurer’s class in history five years ago. He taught her the theory of evolution. . . . She began to brood over it and that led to a nervous breakdown and death. I blame him for her death.”

Hexer

In Greensburg. Pa.. Clifford Jones, Negro hex doctor, told two clients that their husbands had other wives. Enraged, the women went home, soundly thrashed their mates. Police arrested Hexer Jones, charged him with obtaining money under false pretences.

Cominis

At The Dalles, Ore., Louis Comini, granite worker, awaited the birth of Theodore Roosevelt Comini to add to his other sons—Leo McKinley. Abraham Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge Comini. “But right along with Theodore Roosevelt Comini was little Mussolini Comini,” said Louis Comini later.