Dud

In Middletown, Md., while hoeing his garden. William H. Keller unearthed an eight-inch dud shell, probably fired in the battle of South Mountain, 1862. Twenty-five years ago William H. Keller's brother John was killed when his plough struck a similar shell.

Fine

In Stonington. Conn., fined $25 for reckless driving. Walter A. Shaw, student, last June paid with a check upon which he subsequently stopped payment. Stonington officials instituted search for Student Shaw. When they found him last week, Student Shaw had to pay his fine and the costs of finding him: $711.56.

Observer

In Coney Island, N. Y., after bathing and donning a pressed suit, Edward Koren, 23, sat down and wrote until asphyxiated by gas. "It is just a little after 6:30 p. m I just turned on the gas. I am going to another world and I am afraid to live in this one. Good by. The blood is beginning to pound on my temples. It does not hurt. It is getting warm. I can feel my heart working fast, fast, fast. My head is in trouble now. I am getting a little bit dizzy now. The gas does not smell unpleasantly. I picked this chair because it is comfortable to sit in while the gas is on. Just sitting back and relaxing. It won't be long now. I want to be buried in these clothes. I am going going, going. Ha! ha! . . ." The note ended in an undecipherable scrawl.

Urchins

In Clarksburg, W. Va., the management of the local baseball club had holes cut in the fence of the park just large enough to permit urchins to squirm through, but not large enough for gamins.

Considerate

In Milwaukee, John Roback, tippler, took off his shoes, pushed his automobile down the street. Interrogated by Officer Tewes, he explained: "I'm in no shape to drive this thing. I thought it would be safer for traffic if I'd push it. I took off my shoes to keep my footsteps from bothering people."

Bet

In Bradford, England, so sure was bookmaker Harry Ball that a horse named Gold Meter would not win the Harewood Plate last October that he cried: "-L-5 a week for life to half a crown!" Snapped Frank Waite. bookmaker's clerk: "I'll take that bet!" Gold Meter won. Last week Tattersall's committee settled the ensuing dispute by awarding Clerk Waite -L-5 a week for one year (about $966), or odds of 2.080 to 1. An insurance company quoted the life annuity at -L-4.873 (about $17,942), or odds of 38,989 to 1.*

*Highest official odds recorded for English race tracks since the use of the totalisator: 3,410 to 1 paid on Coole, winner of the Saturday Selling Hurdle at Haydock Park in 1929.

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