IRISH TIMES ODDITIES:A selection of quirky tales from the
Irish Times Archives.
THE COBRA’S VENGEANCE
A strange story of a cobra’s revenge comes from the village of Madampe, writes Reuter’s Colombo Correspondent.
Two schoolboys were on their way to school when they noticed a huge cobra trying to swallow a hare. Anxious to save the hare one of the boys held the cobra down with a long stick while the other daringly snatched the hare away and let it loose.
They then continued on their way to school. As they were returning home the waiting cobra slithered from its hiding place and struck one of them several times. He was carried home unconscious and later died.
November 14th, 1934
ANIMAL SENSE
A dog, ship’s mascot for nearly four years, deserted, along with the ship’s cat, just before the Norwegian ship Florentine, left Manila on a voyage on which she sank.
March 21st, 1951
A ROSSLARE MIRAGE
Holiday-makers at Rosslare witnessed a remarkable sight when a mirage, showing a complete picture in the sky, was seen in the early hours of yesterday morning. The spectacle appeared to be the village of Blackwater, about fifteen miles northwards along the coast. The weather was perfectly clear at the time and the sea calm as a mirror.
September 3rd, 1938
NO HANDS
A “Club of Opponents of Handshaking” has been founded by 100 people at Laibach, Austria, reports the Deutsche Allegmeine Zeitung.
They are specially opposed to fellow-workers shaking hands every time they go to lunch (states Reuter), and they disapprove of men raising their hats.
January 22nd, 1935
MAN MUST GET ANOTHER NAME
Ali, a Turk believed to have been killed in the Balkan War of 1911, returned to Istanbul here a few days ago, writes Reuter. He went straight to the house where he used to live, and to his delight heard his wife’s voice talking to someone. But his delight changed to horror when he heard a strange man’s voice answer her.
He went in and found his wife, who had given him up for dead 23 years ago, had married again. Not wishing to break up her home, he consulted a lawyer, and on his advice decided to apply for a new name, as “officially” he has ceased to exist. The explanation of his long absence is that he was severely wounded and suffered from loss of memory for many years. A shock he suffered recently suddenly restored his memory, and he took the first train back to Turkey from the Bulgarian town where he had lived since the war.
June 19th, 1934
BASS DEVOURS OYSTERS
Mr Vernon Bass ate 588 oysters in 17 minutes and 32 seconds on Sunday and claimed a world record, in Sarasota, Florida. The old record, as reported in the Guinness Book of Records, was 500 oysters downed in 48 minutes, seven seconds in 1972 by a man in Yorkshire.
Mr Bass far outdistanced the 15 other men, two women and one schoolboy who had entered the contest staged by Mr Walt Wallin, owner of Walt’s Raw Oyster Bar and Restaurant.
Mr Bass (48), said he entered the contest with the hope of having a forum to present his views on a move by a Sarasota County School Board to close down the school in the small nearby community of Osprey, where he lives, and bus the children to other schools.
November 28th, 1975