IRISH TIMES ODDITIES:Culled from the archuives of The Irish TimesA Cavan surgeon found some strange objects when he opened the abdomen of a labourer.
DEAD MAN ASKS FOR A DRINK
While being brought to Mexico City in an automobile from Ixtapalapa state where he was found hanging to a telegraph pole, Maximino Valganon, supposed to be a corpse, sat up and demanded a drink. The two men accompanying him became panic stricken and fled. Valganon was found by a peasant, who cut him down and turned over the body to the police. He is in a serious condition, unable to tell what led to the hanging.
27 September 1929
A STRABANE HOAX
Merchants and others in Strabane were hoaxed the other night when a telephone message was received in the town that an important lecture was being delivered by an American visitor in the Y.M.C.A. rooms, Derry, that night, and extending a hearty invitation to any Strabane men. The man who got the message informed the others, and the party left by the first available bus for Derry. When they arrived in Derry they found that they had been hoaxed, and were lucky to get a late bus back to Strabane.
28 February 1928
BULLET WOUNDS SIX MEN
Six men were wounded by a single bullet on the target range of the 'Sixth Fifty' Infantry in San Juan, Porto Rico, when a rifle which was being cleaned by a soldier was accidentally discharged. The bullet wounded one private in the abdomen, struck another on the right knee, was deflected from a rifle, and hit a third in the neck, then struck a captain and a lieutenant in turn, and finally lodged in the hip of a fourth private.
6 April 1926
BABOON'S ESCAPADE
A baboon which escaped from premises at Barnet belonging to Messrs. Chapman, animal dealers, entered Barnet Police Court when the magistrates were not sitting, and, after visiting the court room, took refuge below in a cell. Here it climbed to the ventilating grating near the roof, and for some time defied capture. Finally two keepers caught it in a net, and carried it back to its cage.
20 August 1924
A MIRAGE
A mirage has been witnessed from Grimsby. The Humber is six miles wide there, and the land beyond was apparently lifted high heavenwards, and reversed.
Trees inland appeared growing upside down. The Spurn Lighthouse was reversed. The North Sea appeared with large steamers masts and funnels downwards. The Oldest Grimsby mariners recall a similar sight many years ago.
17 April 1909
IRISHMAN SWALLOWED CYCLE TOOLS
A 'Human Ostrich' case, in which a man swallowed strange objects, is described in this week's British Medical Journal by Dr. G. I. C. McMullan, of Co. Cavan. He tells of a 24-year-old labourer who, on being operated upon, was found to have in his abdomen almost the entire contents of a bicycle tool-bag. After the surgeon had removed a 5-inch long spanner, a 3-inch long tension spring, a 3 1/2-inch long steel twist drill, and a 5-inch long bicycle axle, the patient remarked some hours later: 'I am afraid there is a bit of a hacksaw yet'. The broken hacksaw was recovered by feeding the patient cotton-wool sandwiches. Dr. McMullan says that the patient made an excellent recovery.
9 February 1951
DUPLICATE IN TRIPLICATE
Mrs. N.A. Sorrenson has given birth in Wellington, New South Wales, to her third consecutive set of twins.
9 November 1949