“It is the biggest bell in the city. It weighs four thousand pounds. It was presented to the Grace Street Presbyterian Church by David Sinton in 1891. We called it ‘Big Sam,’ and the first time he spoke he shook the tower so hard all feared it would come down. The vibrations were so great that it was decided not to ring it again, and, being useless, an effort was made to sell it. The city bought it for the Blues armory in November, 1909, but the acoustics there made it impossible to operate the striker, and finally it was transferred to the new First Regiment Armory and installed in the tower.” “Well, how about this midnight business on Christmas Eve? I would like to know,” said the scribe, “because it may be that I won’t be here.” “I was directed to make the necessary connections so that it will strike the hours, both day and night, and automatically strike all alarms of fire, military, and special calls. It should be ready to strike the midnight hour Christmas Eve.” “Will you have the honor of starting the apparatus that strikes the first call?” Chief Thompson was asked. “No,” he replied quietly. “I told you that every one connected with the haunted bell is dead. I shall sublet the contract of making the connections. Now, possibly you, being a newspaper man and one used to dangers, will----” “No, sir; I positively will not! Good night!” Serenade for Newlyweds. William Munn was married at Corry, Pa., on a recent evening, and while the wedding supper was in progress a party of serenaders arrived. To make the affair interesting, Munn’s friends set off several sticks of dynamite. The charge shattered every window in the house, and the bride and groom and several of the guests were hurled from the chairs upon which they were sitting. To avoid arrest, the serenaders paid all of the damages. Strange Animal in His Trap. Jerome Redmond, known all over the Northwest for his skill in trapping, recently captured a strange animal in Lake Sixteen, Cheboygan County, Michigan. It resembles an otter, only its body is more like a serpent. It has two front legs, and its tail is shaped like that of a fish. Running the full length of its back is a ridge with teeth like a saw’s. Redmond has been offered one hundred dollars for it by the local taxidermist, but refused the offer. The animal measures eight inches from tip to tip. Bars Whipping from School. Corporal punishment has been abolished in the public schools at St. Louis, Mo., except for extraordinary cases, as a result of the petition of George E. Dieckman, chairman of the humane society executive committee, who maintained that St. Louis was the only one of the big, progressive cities in which this “brutal and ineffective punishment” was preserved.