In Pensacola, James Burleson, 13 months old, and Ida Bell Vann, 18 months, picked up objects that in color resembled chocolate candy, chewed down on them. The objects--fireworks, known as "dancing devils"-- exploded. Badly wounded, the children bled to death.

In Vienna, Prof. Maximilian Langster, famed mesmerist, advertised that he would perform feats of hypnotism "hitherto unattempted." A "big crowd" marched to his theatre. There a policeman smilingly agreed to submit to Langster's eye. Having hypnotized him, the professor handed the policeman a stick, said: "This is a revolver. Shoot!" In a daze the policeman threw away the stick, seized his own revolver, shot three of the audience. He then leaped from the stage, attacked the spectators, seized several, herded them together, told them they were under arrest, drove them before him to the police station.

Prof. Langster and the policeman were held.

At Csongrad, Hungary, Jewish women gave a charity ball. Unbeknownst to them, several members of the "Awakening Hungarians," a Budapest organization with pronounced views on Hungarian independence, entered the hall. At the height of the festivities, an "Awakening Hungarian" rolled a bomb across the dance floor. One Jewish woman was killed, 50 were injured.

In a small village near Zurich, Switzerland, on Christmas Eve, was held an outdoor religious service. All the inhabitants, except one old man, attended. He "has killed by an avalanche, in which 20 homes were destroyed.

In Manhattan, Henry Cohen, aged 79, was blackballed for membership in the Jolly Young Men's Club (an intramural organization in the 167th Street Home for the Aged) on the grounds that he was "too young."

In England, two men "astonished the countryside" by taking an automobile ride together. They were Charles Dunbar, aged 19, weight 616 pounds; Harold Pyott, aged 35, weight 24 pounds. Mr. Pyott claims to be "the smallest man in the world."