Crawfordsville Review, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 1 May 1858 — Page 1

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jteut IX, NO. 41.

*A irrn.E yqffo by Alice Cary, *e are rare ajtoi of«ur reader* will likd.' I(uuiiv*j^

1111

ballad, andfifty

jjtMiaaVftfef* -*"vof diy thoy-Mt md Ulked, 'in thciroM hotu»by theftea- »,,./•

ThoweiibO^beaten Solomon,

Andh^gbod wtfcf"MaT8«lco. •^v-^

•'••.•sW-y-

"Tho «ori looked like a ship," bo Mid, "That |s jicarly comc to land That al sitting beam, liko a plank pasbod^at *T® take aboard some band." ^ris-

And when at long^b, the gold-backed clouds Cronched ita ilia dark, from view, He said, "It wilfbe a stormy night *,•.

May

the good ^hip weather through}"

At lust tho old wife, Marsalee, Coald Win no apsvering word The ship was gone, the plank hauled in, *5

And Solomon fjraB aboard. :r

BURNING OF THE STEAMERS OCEAN SPRAY,KEOKUK AND STAR OF THE

WEST, AT ST. IX)UI8.

20 or 30 Lives Lost

Tie Fire tfce result of Racine, and of the reckleM use of Tarpentine in the Furnace.

TJic steamer Ocean Spray took fire on Thursday afternoon, the 22d nit., about 5 o'clock, about five miles above St. Louis, in or near Sawyer'sbcnd, above Magazine I point, and was burned to the water's edge.

She left St. Louis at her regular hour, beI tween fourimd five o'clock, on her way to I Peoria, onthe Illinois river. At the same I time, thcHannibal City, one of the regu-

lar Keokuk packets, also dropped out, and

:i:

both boats started up- the river on a race, the OccanSpray having about one hundred yards thc.'start, both boats Ijiaving a number of passengers. A'

The following statements pf, persons on board atthe time, wc take from the St. Louis Democrat I 51 STATEMKTFT OF MR. T. W. BRANDON, SQirriKQ

CLERK OF TIIK IIOUSB 0£ HJKNNING 4 WOOD-ituir,-6T. LOUISV Mr. Brandon went on board the Ocean *•:. Spray, for the purpose of attending to the

Khipmcut of about .200 bags of salt which the boat was to take on board, near Belcher's sugar '"refinery. After, however, both boats wore out in the stream, and the" race had fairly begun, the captain informed Mr. Brandon that lie could not stop for the j-v calt, and would have to carry him UtfHfo

Alton, for he wanted to beat thcjfttnmbal Pity, winch boat was at thl^tmic gaining vm tlic'S^ntj^p^LbJifM^fon states that he t-e'aW see the firemen on the Hannibal City breaking up rosin and casting it into the furnaco.s. When the boats were rounding the point above the cit}-, they were very clogc^ogether, the Keokuk packet having steadily gained'Upon h6r rival,'sfnd almost coming alongside.

At this juncture, the fires of the Ocean Spray were fed with rosin and turpentine, and with the increase of steam she was just beginning to gain upon her competitor, when the alarm of fire was heard.— Mr. Brandon says he became alarmed at the heat of the boilers, ami thinking there WAS sonic danger of an explosion, went up ji on tho humcan deck, and passed back unil he was ovqi* the ladies'cabin, lie says there was Considerable ^excitement on board, and many were extremely anxious to bet, on the succcss.of their boat. He •1 says lie had been standing over the ladies' cabin but a few miputes, when he was startied by a faint cry of "lire!" coming very indistinctly from the forward part of the boat. This ery was immediately followed .Vi by several shouts, and casting his eve to^yrard the pilot house, he saw the pilot give the wheel a very sudden turn, and noticed that the boat," which was about twenty yards out in tho stream, began to head for shore. AC this the confusion was great, and the cries of the passengers began to lie fearful and agonizing. The women and children, crated with alarm, were heard in the cabin below, while the hoarse shouting of the men in front made the moment most terrible. Ilis first impulse directed him to rush forwards IIo ran to the wheel-

house steps, and had placed one foot on I the first step, when a rush of flames and «moke from below drove him back then I ran along tho ipof until just forward of the 1 pilot-house, and before Mje boat had struck I tho shore, jumped for his life, landing safely on the shorc, somewhat shocked and numbed from the fall, but not seriously hurt.

-.1

Just as ho landed, a heavy trunk passed over his head and knocked his cap off.— Having, recovered his full powers, he began to throw into the riTfer sticks of wood, which ho gathered from log-heap near the spot. While'doing this he was the witness of some of the iuost agoniziug scenes. The head of the boat having struck the shore with much violence, and the wheels still being kept in motion she began to shove along and up the bank until her further progress was. arrested by the steamer Keokuk, which was lying up at that point for repairs. The movement of the wheels, and the strong wind blowing at the time, seemed to force .the stern of the boat out from the shore and up the stream, which resulted in the.rtorc speedy burning of the after part of tl& boat, and made &e escape of tho ladies*and children more perilous than before. «..

The Hannibal City, seeing the smoke land conjecturing the causo, dropped off towards tao Illinois shore, and manning her yawl sint it over to assist those who were compelled to jump in the water, hs 'f

Tli^ yawl, also, of the Ocean SpraV was mannea, but became ,80 unmanageable by reason of the numbers that clung to it, that it drifted dowir the stream a hundred yards before: landing, though it w&s not more'thta tini yufds from the shore.

Mr. Brandos jBay8 the men, as a general thing, jumped, and reached the shoro safcly( though ne saw four of them haofging to one ,log out in the river. Three of them7 were otf the upper side of it and one onth wer. The log kept turningover abd over the man op the lower side, ontil

i',- becoming ei: it,samk Iow

ted with ^tg.djpjrta to the sumce atid was

He alio saw a lady wfe was endeavoring to keep herself, up bj^f-'snlsill piece 'of a boatd fiot more than.Jffobt square. Hfer dress for a time, seetnfd to bufly her but becoming thoroughly^lmturated, the piece of wood was insufficient. She would sink almost below the sj^Jnace, and then by a strong effort, straighten her "body, throw back her head and ttiffen her arms, but all of no avail. She

VJknk and was seen no

more. -./V Mr. Brandon saw that the spectacle from the qjiore was mst heart-rending. The ladies at first iriljn to save' their baggage, some of them tlupwing in their trunks and then jumping Tttr after them others were concerned onu^or themselves and'their children, andMn wildly about screaming and crying foiv help. As the flames approached, iHojf swung themselves down from the guafds, while one or two were seen to slid^4own the ropes and* posts at the rear. §j[ow many were sunk or lost cannot be ascertained, nor even guessed at now. latere were some fiftecn'or twenty women ton board, and some eight or, ten are all tha^, are thought to be naved.0 ,,,

SeveraT'horses, which were fastened in stalls behind the wheel-house, were burned up. ,The kickings, ravings, and humanlike cries of these poor brutes, as the flames wrapped them around, are described as most terrible and afflicting.

Aft^r" the upper part of the boat had nearly been consumed, an explosion of a keg of powder took place in the hold, which added to the consternation of those on shore. Mr. Brandon describes one woman who was buoyed up in the water by. her clothing, until she floated down against the Star of the West, where she was assisted by a gentleman, who extended her alAg sapling or pole, to which she clung, until some gallant Irishman swam in and rescued her. I

Mr. Brandon says he saw one faniim of a man, his wife, and two little girls, ^vho all got off safe, but were lamenting thtf loss of titeir little boy, who they said was burned up. He also saw the body of at deck banJ pulled out below the Star of the West. Life was extinct.

STATEMEN3 OF MR. J. H. DENISOl^-HOW

"THE BOAT WAS SET FIRE, if

Mr. Benison is from Lynchbuij^" Ohio,-? and .Was on his way to Florence 'ou the Illinois river. He had a trunk containing money and articles of apparel jralucd at $1,0(M), which was lost. He sifys when the lioat started out the Hannibal City backefl out just behipd her, .miLwhen un"Jcr"Woodr ficadwa}', she was about a hundred yards in the rear. Ho says that whon the Ocean Spray was within about a mile of where she toolffire, she saw the

Hannibal City gaining on her, and the command was given to put turpentine in the furnaces, lie says lie had been very much interested in the racc, and had taken a position in front, where the steps came down together, so? that lie could'see^tlftJtn-'firing* up. They first threw in rosin, and then the mate suggested turpentine.

The captain was by when the order was given, and some of the men went down into the hold and brought up a barrel of turpentine, which had been consigned to some person in l'eoria. Tho men took an axe and split a hoL" in tho head of the barrel and then, under the orders of the mate, dipped the fluid out and threw it over the coal that was lying by. This was not expeditious enough, and the head of the barrel was knocked in, and a bucket with a piece of rope to it was used to dip out the turpentine. The barrel at this time was standing not more than six feet from the furnace doors. After dipping •with the buckct and sprinlding the coal, sticks of wood were taken up and their ends plunged into the barrel, and then laid down between the barrel and furnace.— While lying there, ouc of the firemen in pulling out lfls rake jerked a live coal, as is supposed, on the wood, when it was immediately iguitcd, and blazed up furious-

Thc mate swore at the men and ordered them to throw water on the fire. The water seemed to drive the flames to the barrel, which was soon all ablaze. The mate grew furious, and cursing the hands, ordered them to cast the barrel overboard.— In attempting to do this the barrel teas upset, apd tho burning fluid in an iustant spread all over the deck, and poured in fiery torrents down into the hold. At this the cry of fire was shouted, and the alarm became general. "i,"

Mr. Doniston says he immediately ran up stairs for his baggage, which was in the stateroom No. 26. lie dragged his trunk and carpet-sack as far as the clerk's office when he saw the flames coming in at tlie door in front of them. He "dropped his trunk and umbrella, and made a dash for the stairway through the flames. Somehow, lie says, he reached the bottom of the stairs, but'not without having his hair and eyebrows pretty badly singed. Here, at the forward dbek, lie found a crowd of men all waiting for the boat to strike to shore. He jumped when the rest did, and lahdiug safely he began to throw in the river all the pieces of wood or logs he-could gather on tho shore. While on the shore he saw the Women rushing over the top of the boat, some on the hurricane roof, and some, even with their children up on the tcxas. all imploring for help and screaming from the fright -of the moinent. He saw one mother bring three children to the edge of the hurricane roof, the oldest being probably about ten years old. She first' caught her youngest in her arms, and gave it*a desperate fling. It struck the shore with great violence, And must hare been sejriously injured.' The second child she could not throw so.far^andlitfeU in the water, where its little hands,- paddling above the surface,' arrested the attention of some gentlemen Vho reached in and saved it.— The third child, being so heavy, fell farther from shore, and would probably have drowned but for some noble«hearted man, who having witnessed tho efforts of the.heroic mother, plunged in headforemost, and brought the child to the eurfooe and to the shore. The mother, afterwards. Jeaped in the water and was reseqed. uii

Mr. Deniaton says tome four

ror

L- W».» ~-".'WVV'-»

five wo-

men were found clinging to one woman Who was clinnng on to the rudder of the-Star pf the West. 7 I

The captain, clerk, pilots and mates .were saved. All the cabin boys but one, called Hank, were saved.

He saw some poor Irishman sitting otf a log crying over the loss of- his brother. Mr. Dcniston relates "that while the flames were raging, he saw sotMe poor woman at the railing just in front of the wheel house. Those on shore shouted to her' to jump, which she attempted .to do, but» was caught by her~ clothing, and swung in under the railing, "dpwn into the engine-room, where all was one bjaze of fire.

Mr. Deniston thinks there cannot have been less** than twenty lives lost. He thinks there was some 60 or 70 passengers in all, and a good'many of these deck passengers.- \.

THE LIFE PRESERVERS.

The state-rooms were all supplied, properly with life preservers, very few, if any at all,, of which seemed to have been used. The lightning-like speed withwhich the flames sped along the boats, may have prevented any access to fh?m by the alarmed passengers and crew, who had run hither and thither in order to see from whence the flames proceeded.,

THE BOOKS A*D THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS.

Mr. llussell, the clerk, made an attempt to secure the hooks, but failed. He supposes the number of cabin passengers to have been between 30 and 40. One of 'them was named J. M. Davidson, of Leivistown, Ills. There were also J. McCroskcy and lady, of Rushvillc, Ills., who were saved.

HOW THE KEOKUK WAS BURNED.

The starboard wheel of the Ocean Spray, after she reached the bank, continued to revolve and brought her close to the stern of and a little between the Keokuk and the shore. There she remained until tho fire was thoroughly communicate the Keokuk.

The latter was secured to the shore by strong chains. She burned to the water's edge, and now lies-sunk, at the bank.— There was probably nobody on board but a watchman, and he doubtless escaped

PERSONS SAVED.

Waldo Marsh, captain John llussell. first clerk J. M. Salisbury, second cierK Walker Leitcli, pilot Hugh Davis, pilot Wm. Spargotrnnd-StepheiuSpargpc. cngincers Daniel Wolff, mate George WdlffT steward Matthias Cousin Jjar-kecper colored, chambermaid --^gk(colorcd,) porter, believed to be.

STAR OF THE WEST WAS BURNED.

-of-t.hn West, which

waslyin" about three hundrcdyaiS?, the Keotuk, c3capcd the fire until 10 o'clock, ou Thursday evening, when the hull of tho Keokuk, which had burned loose from its moorings, came floating down past the Star of the West. The watchman of the boat and several members of the Mound Fire Company, were a board ,-an rle^ th e-' burniii'g-'-hull'was passing, did everything in their power to save the boat, and supposed they had succeeded.

About ten minutes after the burning wrcck had passed, fire broke out in theaf-tcr-part of the cabin of the Star of the West, and in a short time the boat was burned to the water's edge. Some old trees and brush near the boat had taken, fire from the Keokuk, and one report had it, that the fire on the Star of the West was communicated from these, but it is more likely that the hull of tho Keokuk, in passing, left sparks and burning cinders enough in some hidden quarter of the boat to set her in a blaze. VALUATION AND INSURANCE OF THE OCEAN

SPRAY, STAR OF TIIE WEST AND KEOKUK. The Ocean Spray was owned by Capt. Waldo Marsh, and was accounted one of the fastest boats on the western rivers.— She was built one year ago, at a cost of $36,000, and was insured in Pittsburgh to the amount of $10,500. Another policy of insurance for $1,000 expired on the 4th of the present mouth.

The Keokuk was built three years ago, and was considered worth $30,000, the cost of her construction havii^becn $50, 000. She was owned by tho Keokuk Packet Company, and insured in St. Louis offices, for $10,000, against fire only. She was laying up for repairs, and was taken to the vicinity where she was burned, as S] place where she, would be safe against Jire.

The Star of the West was owned by Capt. 31. Ohlman, her commander Lawrence Ohlman, pilot and Messrs. Wm. II. Pearson, Espy & Duffer, all of St. Louis. She was valued at from $28,000 to $30,000, and insured for $16,000, as follows: In the Eureka, of Pittsburgh, $5,000 Monongahela, of Pittsburgh, $4, 000 Citizens' of Pittsburgh, $4,000 Globe, of St. Louis, $2,000 and United States,of St. Louis, $1,000.

She was a very good Missouri River packet—laid up for a short time—but was to have come down to the landing yesterday to resume business in the Missouri.

SWEARING EXTRAORDINARY.—The Colana True Republican tells a story about a Justice of the Peace, not far from Mud Springs, who, while trying a case lately between a negro- and Chinaman, was called upon as witness in the case. He insisted upon' "swaring himself," and administered the following oath to himself:... "I solemnly sware myself, before myself in the presence of God Almighty, that I will tell the truth in the case now in hearing, wherein the nigger am on one side, and the Chinaman on the.other, and if I don't tell the truth, I hope. I shall never sec my wife and children again. -Amen.'-. dx''0k

A PECUNIARY SHOWER.—One day last week, says the Peorja Union, a poor .feU low. of Mendota, 111., who has had his Tips and 'downs in the world, received notice from his attorney that-he-had by a decision of a court in Texas, become the possessor, of $2,500. The next day he received intelligence that he "was-likely to be the recipient of $17,000—depending, however, upon contingencies which are more than likely to occur. The third day he received the intelligence that gold had been'found near some land of which he wis owner in Iowa. It never rains, but what it pours.

THE:WHEAT CROP Jlt,YgR6IlfI A The editor of the Wytheyille Times, who has recently traversed -aMost the en tire length of the valley "of "Virginia, gives the following very cheering account of the prospects of: the wheat crop:

The writer of these lines h& within the last few weeks traveled over a-large portion of Virginia, including the val|ey: from the Maryland line to this point, and from what he'saw, arid all the information he could gain on the subject during his travels, he is inclined to believe that the present wheat crop will be the most abundapt ever harvested in the State. For the last three or more years the crop in the 'vattey has been almost a complete failure, bht now the prospect for a heavy yield is ^exceedingly fine. In the large wheat raiang counties of Shenandoah, Rockingham, Augusta, Rockbridge, ic., the wheat is quite forward, and is looking remarkably well.— :-The same may be said Of^nost of the cbunties on the line "of the Virgihia and Tennessee Railroad, and" also of those along the South side Richmond and Danville and Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroads:-

Indeed nowhere that we have been have we heard any ^serious complaints, and everywhere tho whfeat is looking-- unusually well.

The editorof the "^bingdon Democrat says: All along the road betitoppn Abingdon and Jeffersonville, in Tazewe*County, wc were struck vfith the fine apjffcirance of the wheat.

FRANCE AND ENGLANDPEi.CE.

Some time since a paragraph was aflbat containing tho prediction that "in less than six months from that dafie France and England would be engaged^ in war with each other." A London correspondent of a at at a

The newspaper war between France and England, like the diplomatic, has mainly died away. Between the respective sovereigns of the two countries th&ro are ohar-' ming proofs of a complete entente cordiule. Victoria has, so they say, written an autograph letter to Louis Napoleon, saying how »iiO:dote%on him—in a political sense. And it maybe she ii"visitto him inMay, at Comp6igne §and he, may be, wilfccall on-., her at -Qfborne. And meantime, as a pretty token"wf-peace^and good-will, she has justrsent Bim ^beautiful nine-pounder, which.pie|e of complimentary artillery was exhibited'and lecbefore the Emperor, and Emt^e court-yard of the Tui for the purpose.

English major sent -j/h

Wg.

[From the Dublin Evening Post.]

LORD IIOSSH'S ALLEGED PllEDlC-

^X^ESSI^IIE VT.

For some months past idle rumors have prevailed to the effect that the Earl Rosse has declared it as his belief that the approaching summer would be one of the hottest seasons ever witnessed in Ireland. Upon this absurd report another was founded, that the noble Earl had erected houses for the shelter of his cattle from the expected tropical heat of the summer and that many gentlemen, relying upon the distinguished reputation of Lord,Rosse as an astronomer, had followed his example in preparing accommodation to stall-feed their stock during the hot season. It is a lamontablo evidence of credulity, even among educated people, that all these ridiculous tales were believed by many.—But there arc now completely disposed of in the following communication, which we have received this morning from Lord Rosse:

THE CASTLE, Parsontown, 3Iar. 25. Lord Rosse presents his compliments to the editor of the Evening Post, and having observed a quotation from the Limerick Reporter in which his name is associated with some conjectures as to the approaching season, he begs to say that he has never expressed any opinion on that subject.

8ST The Boston Post learns that it is becoming a general practice in New York, to exact "sworn statements" of assets and liabilities from buyers, where a concern is 'not" thoroughly known -to bo«.strong and wealthy.

It will not always do to follow the

examples of illustrious men. To illustrate this, we will give the following story, told by a newspaper writer of himself: "When young, he had read the well known story of George Washington's love of truth, and the father's love of the noble principle of his sou, so well manifested on the occasion reforred to, of George's cutting down the cherry tree, acknowledging his transgressing, and receiving a full and free pardon, besides praise arid kind caresses from his father. So Jim, actuated by so noble an example, thought he would try the example on. He supplied himself with the hatchet, and going into his father's orchard, cut down some choice fruit trees. He then coolly sat down to await the old man's coming and as soon as he made his appearance, marched up to him with a very important air and acknowledged the deed, expecting the next thing on the programme-to be tears, benediction and embraces from the offended parent. But sad to relate, instead of this, the old gentleman caught up a hickory and gave him an 'all-fired lamming.'

A Frenchman named Gaultier gave

an exhibition at Philadelphia a few days ago of a machine for burning up a hostile fleet approaching a city. The experiment, which was on a small .scale, consisted of pouring into the Delaware a composition somewhat similar to burning fluid and then setting it on fire by,casting upon it burning material from a small hand pump.— The fire burned for a short time with great intensity,.at the same,time throwing -off Tolutiles of blaok Smoko, -A

IST'A fashionable young lady! cowhided a elerkln a Philadelphia binker'! office Tuesday,^alleging .that she &id been'insnlted.1 Whetherhet. character stood, better after the operation, is left to thetpublic to determine.

--f^wertM an.-.

CRAWFORDSYILLE, ^MONTGOMERY?. COUNTY, INDIANA, MAI 1858, WHOLE NUMBER 821.

FREE LOVE IN 68IO.

The alarming progress which Free Love doctrine's are making in Ohio is indicated by the fact that at a recent election in Berlin Heights, the Free Love party elected its entire ticket in the face of the most strenuous opposition of the sane men left in that'locality. In view of this and other facts the Cleveland Herald says:

The case of Berlin is a sad one, and the respectable portion of its inhabitants arc entitled to the sympathy of all good citizens. It is one of the most charming towns in Ohio, has an intelligent, upright, and virtuous population, who are grieved beyond 'endurance by the existence among them of a sect which propagates doctrines the most revolting, and practice what they preach. The good people of the town will be forced to sacrifice their property, rupture the tics which bind them to their chosen homes, and find elsewhere the comforts, they had hoped there to enjoy, or a public sentiment must be brought to bear upon those who would -turn that beautiful place into a brothel, and force them to leave the spot their presence pollutes.

People, other than those.daily in contact with this moral Free Love leprosy at Berlin, little dream of the foot-hold gained in Erie county. Four acres on the Heights —as lovely a spot as nature boasts—is now devoted to the purposes of this association. When the "Water Cure" was consumed, the fraternity gathered in the barn, which was temporarily fitted up*. Since then, various shanties have been erected and building^ is progressing with such rapidity that five houses have been erected withiu four weeks,

Active measures arc in progress to' rer" build upon the site of the "Water Cure" ^institution to be known as "Love Cure." Here persons of both sexes can comc, and finding their affinities, pair with each other. This is the treatment., and we proclaim it, disgusting as it is, that the people of Northern Oh|o may know the full extent of this moral pestilence. Carriages run to and from the "Cnrc" to the depot regularly, and the arrival&^and departures are of daily occurrence. i-

The "association" nithibers about thirty, and an accession is to bcvinade of about 40 within tho noxt six months.\ This association, has. a paper callcd the "Age of Freedom," issued-weekly, and.not only sent to such as order, but it is slipped night under the doors of the villagers, anU left upon their door sills, and the decent *portion of that community are sadly grieved that such midnight prowlers arc thus attempting to undermine the virtue of their sous and daughters. From the copy of the foreJJS, we select one entire'paragraph, so thaTttKtc^-eftft^bo no charge of perverting its meaning by1?0&jmg-itJrow-the context. It reads thus:

"MARRIAGE IS THE SLAVERY OF: WOMAN —Free Love is the freedom ~ai/l*~equality of Woman and Man Polygamy is Mifrriaae multiplied FREE LOVE IS MARRIAGE ABOLISHED

No wonder the women of Berlin, indignant beyond self-control, met the monster who was transporting his vile coition to the post-office, and seizing his papers burned them in the public street. What woman who has a daughter will rebuke these mothers? What father who has a sou would come to the rescuc of such a career of moral filth

Such is the state of matters at Berlin, and with perfect plainness of speech we have deemed it our duty to discuss them.

Republican members of Con

gress who voted for the Crittcndon-Mont-gomcry substitude for the Senate Kansas bill, will, we apprehend, have rather a difficult account to settle with the more ultra of their constituents. Having pledged themselves on all occasion that they would never vote for or consent to the formation of a slave State out of any territory "dedicated to freedom by the Missouri compromise," even though every inhabitant of the proposed State should ask for admission with slavery, they have already violated that pledge, and voted to admit Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution, provided the people of Kansas give a vote approving of that instrument.

We will ntft charge the Republicans with being either honest or consistent in giving this vote. We doubt whether they were cither. But they were clear sighted enough to know that the only true.- policy, of the country is that enunciated iu the compromise measures of 1850 and in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, of permitting the people to decide for themselves the nature of their domestic institutions—slavery included,—and they therefore did not wish to place themselves in a position which must inevitably lead them to defeat. They also unquestionably had another' object in view. Seeing the clamor raised in curtain Democratic quarters against every Democrat who should be found voting with themselves, they believed that by stepping upon the popular sovereignty platform they would thereby drive Democrats from it. This was a smart trick, and gives promise of niQrc success than wo had supposed possible. Wo daily take up Democratic apers which charge the Republican meiiiers of Congress with having abandoned their platform, and come over to the Democratic side of the popular sovereignty question, and in the same breath charge Democrats with abandoning their principles because they are found voting with the Republicans! We cannot understand logic, unless it is that a portion of the Democratic party are willing to surrender their platform at the first summons of the Republicans. To this we are nof willing to assent, at least not till it is ordered by a general council of war in the shape of a National convention,—iVciff Albany Lcd-

FATAL CIRCUMCISION.—RN New York, on Tuesday, application was made at the proper office for a permit to bury the remains of a child, which had died suddenly- The. child was of Jcwiah parents, and its death was caused by bleeding after-cucumcision, The casjoras referred to the Coroner, and its investigation is expected tqjeUcit some curious facts as-to the administration of this barbarous rite of the Hebrew rcligiou.

•THE ATROCITIES IN INDIA. JEt appears, by a recent debate in the House of Commons, that the atrocities ascribed to the Sepoys in the Indian war were the veriest inventions of the English officers in the foreign service. Instead of the outrage, torture and mutilation of the wives and children of-these officers, it "is ascertained that the Sepoys were in the habit of protecting and sending them to the posts and garrisous occupied by their friends. Lord Canning, the head of the Indian government, issued instructions that a distinction should be made between the Sepoy who rose in mutiny, murdered*loi8* ccrs, eommitted outrages oh women, tc., and him who, being left, without any European officers to advise and cnoouragc him, yielded to the force of example and joined in the movement. But these instructions provoked a howl of indignation both from the English in India arid tho English at home. "Let not the people of .England," writes a subaltern officer in a published letter read during the debate, "be the least alarmed at lhc proclamations of the Gov-ernor-Gcne'ral, or any one else. Wc do not care a straw for them."

A magistrate of Agra is described as hanging men with his own hands, and then shooting at them with his revolver. Another magistrate boasts of having already hanged niuoty-five, and hopos the next day to make up the rouiyl hundred. Two young officers shot a 3Iohainmcdan apiece for scowling at them, and. a court of inquiry justified the act. In every village where the telegraph posts or wires are found injured, the head man is hanged. The prisoners brought into camp by the natives, at from thirty to fifty rupees a head, arc hanged, shot or blown away from the guns.— Every Sepoy without a discharge is hung as soon as taken, and not only that, but the same measure of vengeance is dealt out to every man concealing a Sepoy, or guilty of ig given them food or communicated them. Whenever a detachment of English troops appear, a bloody assize, it seems, is held, one village boing laid waste after another, and the head men shot in cool blood, on the sole ground that they had "set aside their allegiance"—in other words, have "done something to favor, or are suspected of having done something to favor, the re-establishment of tho rule which the English had overthrown." -r_Thus,. according- to authentic documents and reliable information produced in the British House of Commons, the horrible inhumanities imputed to the Sepoys turn out, in most cases, to be the inhuman inventions of English officers.

SAD EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING.

We arMndcbted, says the Iowa Citizen, to Mr. B. J.'Head, of Prairie City, for the oilowing conimunibation:

a severe thunder storm, the house rah&m Minich, one mile north of PrairiejCity, was struck by lightning while the family were seated around the fire.— Immanuel Minich was instantly killed, the fluid striking him on the-head, mangling it in a shocking manner. Abraham was also knocked down', his right ear was severed from his head, and he was burnt and bruised so, there is no hope of his recovery.— One of {i span of horses hitched to a wagon at a distance of twonty paces from the house, was also instantly killed. Abraham's wifelfcd a little girl about ten years of age were "also stunned, and when the woman became conscious, she discovered the clothes of her husband and brother-in-law to be on fire. She crawled to them and extinguished the flames, and remained with them until morning, before any of the neighbors knew anything of the occurrence.

{ST'Tlic following strange affair is recorded in the last Rio Janeiro papors: In a boarding school, kept by a French woman, was a girl less than 12 years of age, named Correa, heiress to a fortune of 600,000f. An Itallian adventurer, named Judice, who got his living as a hawker, resolved to marry the girl, and had recourse to this stratagem: lie went to the Bishop of Rio Janeiro, a pious but credulous man, and said that having for some time living with a woman' not his wife, ho wished to regularize his position by marrying her and, as-it was important to have the mar* riage performed at once, without publicity, he solicited a license. The Bishop granted the liccnse, and, ou the man's declaration, put in it the woman's name as Cor-, rea. The Italian then went to the* boarding school, and said lie was sent by the girl's mother to take her home, as she wished to indulge her with a visit to the theatre. The school-mistress imprudently gave up tlie child to him, and he took her at once to the church moutioncd in tho license and had himself married to her.— The next day he wrote to the girl's mother to inform her of tlie marriage. The poor mother, in indignation, immediately communicated with the police, air' the}' at once took the girl from the man, and gave her up to her mother. The affair has created an immense sensation at Rio, "but what the upshot of it will be remains to be seen.

8®* Several men of wealth in iCcw York, Buffalo and Chicago, says the Movement, a new paper just started in New York, liavo i& in contemplation to establish somewhere in the West a leviathan farm, of from one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand acres. Their object is to do

A STRANGE, EVENTFUL HISTORY. The Evarisville Journal ot Monday cootains the following strange story of tho homeless, wretched death of a man who was once distinguished, as a physician iti the highestsociety of England:

A week ago on Saturday, tho steamer Union brought from "Green River an apparently poor and affflctcd inpn, past tho age of eighty. One eye had been destroy-r ed by a cancer, and the. other by. sympathy was "so swollen and affccted as to be sightless.- .One leg was panflyjed, and the poor sufferer seemed utterly helpless^ destitute and friendless. No- one knew whence hp came, nor whither he was bound except from the desire he expressed to be taken to 3Iemphis. As the Union wa.4 goiijg no further down tlie river he was taken from the steamerand placed on Messrs^. O'Riley fc Co.'s wharf-boat, on the deck of which he lav, unattended and 'nncared for, from Saturday evening till.. Sunday afternoon, when'his condition became kuown to Dr. A. C. Halfock, our good Samaritan,. who' visifod him, and found him in a most afflicted condition—helpless, blind, suffering with pain, and a riiifid wandering i& delirium. The-Doctor, by intercession 't| with old "Aunt Hannah," the bfack nurie, induced her to give up her only "bed, and take him in and attend upon him. He wis

bathed, clean clothes were procured tor him, and his cauccr dressed. He refused, medicine—appeared to have a perfect professional knowledge of the nature of his disease and condition 9aid there was nf medicine that could help htm, and that he only wantod care and quiet. He remained with his faithful nurse, who was unremit* ting in her attentions day and night by him, and -was visited daily by Drs. Hallock and Casselberry, who ministered to his necessities. Tho progress of his disease was rapid, and he sunk fast under its effects, and on Thursday .night ho expired alone in the house of the good negro woman who had given him shelter, with no friend or clergy to sooth his spirit in its last mortal agony. He was respectfully buried by the Sons of Tompcranco in tho Oak Hill Comctry. .i

card of invitation from'the Lord Mayor and Mayoress of London to .dine at the Mansion House on tlie 12th pf 3Iay, the year omitted. But the papers which he seems to have deemed ihe most precious arc a package of letters from Captain Parry, the great Arctic explorer, with whom he seems to have enjoyed a free and cordial intimacy. It appears that the deoeascd had rendered some useful service, as a chemist, and from knowcldgc lie had gained in the Hudson Bay Company's servicc, in the manufacture of pemican for the exploring expedition—for which Captain Parry gives him much praise, and the Admirality voted him an acknowledgment of JCIOO. Captain Parry invites him in free and faiuilliar terms to call at l£ house in London, and at another time to visit him on board the llecla, at the Nore, before sailing. Tho notes and letters of the celebrated explorer are interesting and valuable as autographs.

Among his effects, found since his death, were two large and beautiful gold medal* awarded to "Doctor John Pocock Ilolmcs by medical societies for his valuable inventions of obstcrical and surgical instruments." There are also a-large number of letters from eminent professional men —from the nobility, and medical and scientific societies, acknowledging the receipts of "Doctor John P. Holmes' very valuable and able treatise on consumption and asthtfia." There are two cards of invitation to Doctor J. P. Holmes- and lady to dine 'at Guild Hall, on the ocoasion when Queen Victoria honored the Mayor and Common Council with her presoncc.

There are letters from eminent and highly rcspcctablc gentlemen in Tennessee and Miss'iKsippi, whose friendship and intimacy he has enjoyed, and whose esteem for him is expressed in their correspondence in very flattering terms. He appears at one timo to have resided* near Nashville,, in Tennessee and from other papers wc are fed to suppose he has been residing recently with the community of Shakers at West Union, not far from Bowling (/reen, in Kentucky.

Whcthor he had just' withdrawn 'from them whon ho arrived here, or why he should liavo left them in the afflicted and helpless condition in which lie was founu, is not explained by his papers, nor did he give those who took care of him any explanation before his death neither did he give them any account of himself, nor tell of the strange vicissitudes by which he in his old age had been cast among strangers a homeless and friendless wanderer. In his last moments he spoke of a sister, but gave no clue to her name or residencc.-

for agriculture, by the use of combined ]$cfore his death he committed his funds, which he had kept concealed-about his person, amounting.**) about $250 to Dr.

wealth and the power of machinery, what has been done in the past half century by the railroad and the factory to supersede the old stage-coach and the spinning-wheel. They will organize the vast tract into two rivalized establishments, with, a military |JtJ duly administered upon, and after the organization of labor, -gigantio machinery, expenses are paid the balance will be sent to plow, plant, reap and render harvests, and vast herds of horses, sheep and cattle of the most "elect stock, and the cultivation of fruit and grains on a grand scale,

Porur-—" .ATioN OF AUSTRALIA.—According to the last census, the aggregate population of the'Australian colonies amounted on the 1st of July, 1857, to 1,043,000, of which number Victoria contained 414,000 New Sonth Wales 300,000 South" Australia 105,000 Tasmania 80,000 West Australia 14,000 New Zealand 130,000v

Hallock, but left no instructions in regard to thcdisnosal of them. His other effects were of little or no value. His estate will

to his friends. Ho was evidently a man of correct habits and great intelligence* By what misfortuues he, who had enjoyed high professional reputation, and had been the associate and friend of eminent men, was left homeless and poor, and died at last alone in tho shanty of a poor^negra nurse, is unknown. It is a painful lesson of the sad vicissitudes of life. -V •».—— |®*Tho last 'excuse for criuoline is, that the "weaker vossels" need much hoop, ing.

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On examining his effects after his death,

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apers

were found which proved him to been Dr. John Pocock Holmes, a member of the College of Surgeons of .• Loudon. Among them was an original certificate of Sir Astley Cooper, testifying, to his qualifications as a surgeon, with nuj merous testimonials from other eminent surgeons of his ability and faithfulness as a member of their profession. It appeared from other original papers that he, had been, previous to 18*27, sixtoon. years a surgeon in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company, at various posts on this continent. In 1827 lie was a practicing surgeon in London, holding intercourse with' the most eminent men. Among the papers ho Ttjg*:1 h, jnrj ^ftf"^re is a

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