Shower of fish and man's shirt set on fire by the sun

IRISH TIMES ODDITIES/A LOST RING: A gold inscribed ring, which was lost 35 years ago, has been found in a shipment of tobacco…

IRISH TIMES ODDITIES/A LOST RING:A gold inscribed ring, which was lost 35 years ago, has been found in a shipment of tobacco in Belfast and was returned to the owner in Springfield, Kentucky. Mr CC Bell, a tobacco dealer, of Springfield, had been presented with the ring by his wife nearly 70 years ago. He lost the ring and offered a reward, writes Allen Foster

Hogsheads of Robertson County tobacco were shipped from WH Simmons and Co at Springfield to Europe about a year ago, being later sold to a leaf manufacturer in Ireland. The Bell ring was found in the tobacco. A Mr Cummings, of the Belfast firm, went to Springfield and delivered the ring to Mr Bell's relatives personally.

September 6th, 1931

MAN'S SHIRT SET ON FIRE BY SUN

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A Danish glove-maker, Mr S Longhi, died in hospital yesterday from burns which were caused by sunlight focused through his spectacles, setting fire to his shirt.

He collapsed from heat in his garden and his spectacles caught in a branch above him. Neighbours were attracted by smoke and found him with his clothes alight.

July 7th, 1953

SHOWER OF FISH

A remarkable occurrence is reported from Co Down. During a thunderstorm yesterday dozens of small fish fell on the roof of a bungalow at the farm of Mr James McMaster, Drumhirk, near Comber. Some of them were about two inches long, and they were of a reddish colour.

There is no river in the immediate neighbourhood, the nearest stretch being Strangford Lough, about two miles away.

Prof Gregg Wilson, of Queens University, Belfast, interviewed on the subject, said that such occurrences had been reported, not infrequently in Great Britain, but so far as he knew this was the first of the kind in Ireland.

May 30th, 1928

PARENTS FOUND AFTER FIVE YEARS

After five years' unceasing efforts by the Red Cross Society a Russian girl, Galina Bogatiroff, who disappeared as a baby during the Bolshevik Revolution nearly 16 years ago, has been restored to her parents. She has just passed through Sydney on her way to New Zealand, where the parents now live. When the revolution broke out the Bogatiroff family fled, but eventually they had to abandon Galina because she could not stand the hardships of the flight. They left her in the care of some friendly strangers, and pushed on for 400 miles through desolate, snow-covered country, until they reached the frontier. In 1928 they sought the aid of the New Zealand Red Cross to find the child. The matter was taken up in Paris and Moscow, and nearly four years later she was traced to Strentensk, in Siberia. Prolonged diplomatic negotiations eventually resulted in her being allowed by the Soviet authorities to leave the USSR.

February 14th, 1934

THE WRONG CAP

There was no red cap on the platform of Melegnano station, Italy, yesterday, so the Milan-Bologna train was delayed for 18 minutes. The driver protested because the stationmaster wore a black and gold cap. He took his orders only from red-caped stationmasters, he said, folding his arms. The deputy stationmaster, in a red cap, flagged the train out.

March 4th, 1950