From the March 12, 1887, edition of The Daily Morning Astorian:

• Couch Clinton has a centipede on exhibition, caught in a bunch of bananas and preserved in alcohol. The animal is thus in excellent spirits.

Note: This isn’t as weird as it sounds. A South Yorkshire Times article dated July 30, 1955, mentions a grocer who found a giant 5-inch centipede while unpacking bunches of bananas. It was still alive and would likely reach 9 inches long when full-grown.

• About 2 o’clock yesterday morning, above the moaning of the wind and the dashing of the tide, Officer Whalen heard the cries of some human in distress and, running to the Olney Street wharf, was just in time to save a young Russian who had fallen off, and who was prevented from drowning only by his luck of falling on a floating piece of wood, and the timely arrival of Officer Whalen.

Note: In 1887, the Olney Street wharf was approximately the bottom of 12th Street. Unfortunately, falling into the river was not an uncommon occurrence.

• “Ten Nights in a Bar Room” is being played in interior towns. There was a gentleman among our visitors yesterday who stated that he could play a night in 10 bar rooms and who had every appearance of having just completed a successful engagement.

Note: “Ten Nights in a Bar Room” was a popular vaudeville melodrama, based on an 1854 tragedy and temperance novel about the evils of booze by T. S. Arthur.