IRISH TIMES ODDITIES:The Vevey correspondent of the Daily Mail, telegraphing on Friday, says: "The bodies of seven victims of the avalanche of Beaubois at Christmas have been recovered from the snow. Two other victims have been recovered alive after 10 days. Of one family, the father, who is over 80, alone survives. A cold snap again today makes winter sports conditions good." January 5th, 1924, writes Allen Foster
WEDDING RING LOST FOR 20 YEARS
Mrs Christopher Cleary, who had lived in Paget Square, Enniskillen, lost her wedding ring there 20 years ago. As workmen were engaged in her old home doing repairs, she told them to keep an eye out for the wedding ring which she had lost. The ring was found during the progress of the work and returned to the owner. December 21st, 1928
BURIED WITH AN I.O.U.
The Daily ChronicleParis correspondent, telegraphing on Tuesday, says: "The widow of a miser who died recently at Pau was visited a few days ago by a debtor, who said he had signed a promissory note in favour of her deceased husband. The widow searched everywhere among her papers, but could not find the note. Then she remembered that her husband had been in the habit of hiding money in his night clothing. She made an application to the police to have her husband's coffin exhumed in order to examine the clothes in which he was buried. This proved successful. The missing promissory note was there and also a bundle of banknotes of the value of £400." April 12th, 1911
BOOBY-TRAP
A bandit-trap for the bank lobby, designed to drop a hold-up man through the floor and keep him in custody, has been patented in the United States. Mr Louis A Turanso, of Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, received the patent last week. His invention provides a switch enabling the bank teller to photograph and record what goes on. Pressing another button, explosive charges open the floor panels above a padded enclosure, which is higher than a human body. The floor closes again, but leaves an observation window and a port for tear gas. April 19th, 1967
BIRD CAUSES JET TO RETURN:
A New York-bound Aer Lingus Boeing 707 jet airliner, with 98 passengers on board, made an emergency landing at Dublin airport yesterday, 20 minutes after taking off. Five minutes after becoming airborne, the jet ran into a flock of birds, and one was sucked into an engine, stopping it. Fire-engines stood by when the plane returned, but it landed safely. Passengers were transferred to another aircraft, and took off again two hours behind schedule. November 7th, 1966
DON THE TALKING DOG
Don, the talking dog, owned by Herr Ebera, a gamekeeper on the Royal preserves of Theerhutte, has been subjected to a thorough examination by a scientific commission. The commission has come to the conclusion that the dog undeniably possesses the gift of repeating words bearing in most cases complete resemblance to the sounds produced by the human voice.
They found, says the Hamburg correspondent of the Daily Mail, that the setter utters the words "haben" (want), "hunger" (hunger), "kuchen" (cakes), "ja" (yes), and "nein" (no), clearly and unmistakably, and pronounces his name, Don, with the utmost plainness.
Since first attracting public attention, Don has added a seventh word to his vocabulary, "rube" (quiet), which he speaks in answer to a question, or whenever other dogs are disturbingly noisy to his vicinity. The commission emphasises that Don's words are not growls or barks, but constitute for all practical purposes actual "speech". January 1st, 1911
Culled from the digital archive of The Irish Times, available online at www.irishtimes.com