Decatur Eagle, Volume 10, Number 51, Decatur, Adams County, 29 March 1867 — Page 1

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VOL. 10.

CEL’’ .91 JBL lELi J DECATUR EAGLE, WSVED EVERY FRIDAY MORNING, BY A. J. HILL. PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR. OFFICE On Monroe Street in the second «tnry of the building, formerly occupied by Jesse Niblick as a Shoe Store. Terms of Subscription: One copv one y car ' in a< l Tan:e > If paid within the year. 2,00 If not paid until the year has expired, 2.50 rrPapera delivered by carrier, twenty tire seut s additional will be charged. ITN<> paper " ill be discontinued until all srrerages are paid, except at the option of the publisher Rates of Advertising: Ona column, one ye»t, JfiO.OO One-half column, one year 35,00 One fourth column one year, 20,00 Less than one fourth column, proportions. r ates will be charged. Legal Advertisements: O ne square [the spare of ten lines brevier] one insertion, |1.50 Each subsequent insertion. 50 jj’No advertisement will be considered less than one square; over one square will be counted and charged as two; over two as three, Ac. ijj-Local notices fifteen cents a line tor each ' n *l^Religious and Educational notices or advertisements, may be contracted for at lower rates, by application at the office. Ij* De at li sand Marriages published as news —free JOB PRINTING. We are prepared to do ill kinds of Plain and Fancy Job Pgnting, at the most reasonable rates. Giv us a call, we feel confident that satisfaction can be given ■ _________ , A gay and festive preacher in Richmond is now undergoing tl.e slow torment of a curch trial oo a charge of having promised to mary twelve different women. In a country graveyard, in New Jersey. there i“ a plain s-.one erected over the grave of a young lady, with only this inscription upon it; •’Julia Adams died of thin shoes, April 13th, 1239, aged 18.

The agricultural products ot California •re now worth more than the gold crop. Thia is an indication of substancial prosperity- Gold is good, but after all, not as “good as wheat" Au Ohio editor refused to speak to the tost “Woman.’’on the ground that woman was able to speak for lit rot if, and any man who undertook to do it for her would get into trouble. A shoemaker in Richmond finished a pair of shoes seventeen and a half inches long and five inches and a half w le, or a negro man, He will have ’ l ll 0 1 the forks of a road to find a bool-jsc*. A member of the Kansas Senate who had t been- pretty strongly advocating fema.s ( suffrage, got a letter from his wde the other day. Sam, dont make a fool o. yourself 1” _____ A doctor’s wife attempted to move him by her tears. ‘-Ann,’’ said he “tears are useless. I have anal)zed them. They contain a little phopbate of lime some cholorate of sodium and water.” A little gid, four years old, was recently called as a witness m » P° lice court, and in answer to the quetion a=> b what became of little girls who told I ilshoods' sheinocently replied that they were “sent to bed. An honest Irishman, observing the bearers of his wife’s coffin begin-Uo-o trol, reproved them by calling out:" Aisy nisy, ye tbaives o’ the woiid. why ye making a toil of a pleasure'. A family of nine persons resided up«n • farm in Derby, Nev.’ Hampshire for a period of fifty three years, during whic time there wa» neither a birth, deata,j c marriage in the family; neither did t icy during the time puts letter in the post office, or take one out, or take a ne paper. When a Spainyard eats a peach or pear by the roadside, wherever he is he digs a hole in the ground with Lis ftpcovers the seed. Consequently, c • over Spain, bv the roadsid and «’ fruit in great . Sn<} «• over free. Let this praclc® be imitated in our country.

“Our Country's Good shall ever be our Aim-Willing to Praise and not afraid to Blame.”

The Clothes Line Telegraph. Iu the early part of 186 S, when the Union army was encamped at Falmouth and picketing the Rappahanock, the utmost tact and ingenuity were displayed by tne scouts and videttes in gaining a knowledge of contemplated movements on either side, and here, as at various other times, the schrudeness of the African camp attendants was very remarkable. One circumstance, in particular shows ■ how quick the race ate in learning theart !of communicating by signals.

There came into the Union lines a negro from a farm on the other side of' the river, known by the n .me of DabIney, who was found to possesa a remarkably clear knowledge of the topography of the whole region; and he was employed as cook and body servant at beadquar* , ters. When he first saw our systems of jar;ny telegraphs, the idea interested ! him intensely, and he begged the op■eratois to explain the signs to him. They J did so, and lound that he could understand and remembur ths meaning of tho various movements as well as any ol his brethren of paler hue. Not long after, bis wife, who had come with him, expressed a gieat anxiety to be ■ allowed to go over to iheotberside r-s servant to a secesh woman,’ whom General, i [looker was about sending over to her friends. The request was granted.! ■ Dabney’s wife went across the Rappahannock, and in a few days was duly installed as laundress at the headquarters of a prominent reLei General. Dabney, her husband, on the north bank, was soon found to be wonderfully well in- ! formed as to all the rebel plans. Within ■ ian hour of the time that a movement of: any kind was projected, oreven discussed i I among the rebel Generals, Hooker knew | which corps was moving or about to move, in what direction, how long they ; had been on tho march; and in what force; and all this knowledge came! through Dabney, aud bis reports all I turned out to be true. I Yet Dabney was never absent, and , never talked with the scouts, and seemed ! to be always taken up with his dut.es as. cook and groom at headquarters. How he obtained bis information re- ■ mained (or some time a puzzle to the , Uuion officers. At length, upon much ■ solicitation, he unfolded bls marvellous secret to one of our officers.

Taking him to a point where a dear view could be obtained of Fredericksburg, ho pointed out a little cabin in the suburbs near the river Lank, and asked him if he saw that clothes line with clothes hanging on it to dry. .•Well,’’ said he, “that clothes line i,lls me in half an hour just what goes on at Lee’s headquarters. You seamy wife over there; she washes for the officers, and cooks and waits around, and as soon as she herns about any movement or anything going on, she comes down and moves the clothes on the line.so that I ct'ti understand it in » minute. 1 That there gray shirt is Longsl.eets, f when he lakes it off means he’s 9n ‘ J Jin about Richmond. That wmte go “ e means Hill, and * hen she “ O L%!‘ shinP® 811 , f t ha line, Hill’s up to the western. I corps has moved up the stream. - is Stonewall; he’s down on the H g ht now.and if ho moves she will move Dabney ceme m end Thev’re ju«t waking believe. . E officer went out to look at the i line telecraph through his field i c .° * ° There bad been quite a shifting S 1“- 8, , R nionz the army flannels. üßitiow .do'vou know but there is something m it? b]anketß p i n - but what of it?” the of ’ !IC ‘AVhv, that’s her way of ® ah:B £J’*' fiahtrspjand when she . pms the doth. I “ISgasthe two armies lay watch-i lU(t each other oh line' JelDabney, with £ „ e ofth e ’<* I Hooker's scouts-

DECATUR, ADAMS COUNTY, INDIANA, MARCH 29,1867.

From the Bicbmond Times. A Few Words of Advice* It has been the fortune es the writer of this article, for twenty years, to enjoy the confidence, end to actively co-operate .in every measura which concerned the , honor and interes’s of Virginia, with a class of politicians who have never been unfaithful to the South nor to thiir native State in the hour of peril. Through good and evil repute, in prosperity as I well as in adversity, in peace as well as 'in war, these honored, ablo and high j toned Virginia gentlemen have labored ; ceaselessly to defend and maintain the ] rights of the State against the centralzing influences of the General GovernI ment. But the disastrous termination ;of our struggle for independence shattered, from parapa* to eornar stone, the ; edifice of State rights, and the military fact has swept away every trace of State sovereignty and reared upon the ruins of the civil and political liberties of the people of Virginia an absolute military despotism. As a disarmed and defeated people, held by the law of the imperious bayonet, we have survived to mourn all those radiant and glorious principles which, for sixty years, placed Virginia I in tho very front rank of political power. I They fell wounded unto death upon tbe ' battle fields of a four years civil war, snd I no’rf the will o( the conqueror has temiporarily annihilated ten Southern-States. We mourn these terrible calamities oft war, but yet we live. The fortune is! dark snd gloomy, but yet wo are fathers husbandsand citizens—oo, ‘inhabitants’! of a proud old Commonwealth, whosehistory, tradition and two centuries of tglory and greataessare immottal. Wet are net exiles, and whether disfranchised I lor net we have duties to perform from ■ | which, as men, we can not and must not I shrink. We must not gratify the eno-1 tnies of law, order, and the supremacy of ( the white race, by imitating the sullen of Achilles, and surrender ourselves to supiueness and inactivity. Neither, in the event of the still more terrible outrages of confiscation and disfranchisement, must we permit our maligners and slanderers to impute to our “apathy," • i upracticable crotchets” and “abstraction” those possible acts of barbarity which may deprive helpless widows and orphans of the protection of a shelter! from the wind and rain.

The opinion is rapidly gaining ground in Virginia that our unhappy people, who are now powerless and impoverished, may be spared-much wretchedness and misery by a prompt call for a convention. As negro suffrage and the call of a convention arc as inevitable us death, public eentiment runs strongly in favor of ' prompt action by the Stats government in preference to calls from evil-disposed, proscriptive and demoralized white men. We think, in view of our postrate con-1 dition and the uncertainty of relief from the Supreme Court, that much respect] should be paid to this popular belief. We trust, therefore, that those with wbctn we have always co operated will not permit ] their natural and laudable feelings of indignation at the merciless legislation of ' Congress to place them in a false postlt i on .° Unless the way sure and speedilvreiiao'eur afflicted State lie? ‘ very dear before them. trU9t t* lfU : they will not interfere with the control of j what is inevitable bv those in whose in-1 tegrity and patriotism all piace confi-l dence. _ | We honor, we revere the heroic, noble i 'and splendid efforts of these gentlemen to save their beloved State from the B <rony of draining to tho dregs the bitter cup which the victor has presented to a “conquered people,’’ but-vrn victis. if by our inaction tho unscrupulous and > merciless tyrants, like those who have ui-’.de a Pandemonium m Tennessee,, should make Virginia equal! hideous, w« { should find that, terrible as our condition | now is, there is “in the lowest depth a] still lower deep to which the hell we bui i w «eema a heaven. Crinoline and were on which a St. Lome merchant was wrecked.

The Appalling Flood in the Tennessee River—Damage ta the Railroads. Tho Nashville correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette writes as follows under dare of the 13th: The flood in the Tennessee river is perfectly appalling. The country about Stevenson, Bridgeport and Chattanooga is a vast lake. Since last Friday not a word was received from Chattanooga until to day, when a message, broughtby a special courier to Bridgeport by skiff and boat, was sent over the lines to Colonel Innets, Superintendent of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. Ibis dispatch makes no mention of tho conditions of the inhabitants of the city, except that the Mayor, with a posse ol men, and a lot of soldiers, were gathering food for the hungry people from the loaded freight cars that were swimming in the water ten and twelve feet above the depot. It states that on yesterday the water was twelve feet deep in front of the Crutchfield House, and up to the rcof of the porch of the Chattanooga depot; a'so; that soma of the cars were floating off, and that many houses were standing ct an angle of forty fivo degrees, and Others were floating away. The water in the lowest portion of the city must be twenty-five feet deep. The condition of tho inhabitants la certainly appalling: but whether any of them have been ! drowned, the dispatch does not state. The great bridge at London, on tho Knoxville and Chattanooga Railroad, ! has been swept away, and a considers'ble portion of the bridge at BridgeI port.

Wild minors are in circulation respecting the drowning of many of the inhabitants along the river, but they all need confirmation. Colonel Inness says that the damage done to tho railroads must be immense, but that no estimate of it can be made at present. It will require months to put the roads in East Tennessee, Northern Alabama and Georgia in good condition. Tho low grounds about Nashville are all under water. North ofthe Cipitol only tha roofs of some of the bouses can be seen. More than a thousand people in the city have been driven from their homes. The river is now at a stand still, and will probably commence receding to□ioht. Tha weather here has become very cold, and we had a most disagreeablesnow storm this afternoon. General Carlin, assistant commissioner of the bureau, is making efforts to provide liberal relief (or the suffering inhabitants on the Tennessee. A Goon Thing on ths Journal —A correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial telh the following excellent joke upon the editor of the Louisville Journal:

I The following took place in the Kentucky Legislature a (ewdays ago; A member from one ofbur mountain counths, full of conservatism and a strong advocate of the Louisvilla Journal, each morning as be would take his seat in the House, as buisiness opened, would commence reading his favorite ! neper, and about the same moment some ’memuC." move to dispense with the 1 -ailing of the ’ hco cur moaQ - ' tain membt.‘. r would lay do,. r * his paper. IHe stood this fo.’ some time, rising from hie seat Ono morning after i the usual motion, be exclaimeci .at ‘he ; top of his voice: “Mr. Speaker I've sot here in my seat fur mor'n a Week, and submitted to the tyranny of this Ilutise. Somebody, every morning, moves to dispense with the reading ofthe “journal,” and I’ve I lost every paper I’ve bought for a week : by it, and no man has ever moved to ’- <i »nvns9 with the Democrat or Com- ‘ ’ Mr. Sneaker, I won’t merciai, anu, . „ . stand it any longer. Mr. nea ® r Hero the balance was lost in the gv.l eral laughter. I “ The last project to rei«C v ® way involves au expenditure of B^o,•> 000.

Importance of Advertising. There are hundreds of thousands of business men who could state facts in their own experience corresponding sub stantially with those referred to by the Pntsbuag Gazette in the foliowiog paragraph; In a brief interview with one of our most liberal patrons, a few days since, we inquired his exprience of the policy ot advertiseing. We regard his answer as oteworthy, and commend it to the consideration of others. He suid the same kind of buisiness in which he is engaged has been carried on at tha same for ten years by another prcdcctssor. That these men gave diligent attention to their buisiness, were sober and frugal but spent nothing for advertiseing. They were just barely able to eke out an tx istence. That l.e bought out the concern ten years ago, and begun debtor lor tbe whole establishment. He fell poor and only expended fifty dollars per annum in each of the buisiness papers the first year; that subsequently he increased his expenses to several thousend dollars annually for advertising, and the result has demonstrated its wonderful utility, and he is today worth $175,000, and bis annual profits are constantly increasing. Aw Astlvm for Printers—A St a GBSTION FOR ITS ACCOMPI.ISHMi.ST — The announcement that accompanied the publicatio i of the will left by Charlss F. Browkb, (Artemus Ward.) to the effect that his property —some $60,000 —shall be appropriated to the founding of an asylum for printers, has drawn from the Chicago Trtiane a practical suggestion as follows: We propose that tbe craft in all parts of tho country, by a united resolve, provide that there be retained by the foreman of each newspaper and printing office, from the earnings of the journeymen, a sum equal to five mills upon each dollar of his weekly bill. This small tax of one-half cent on the dollar, should be paid over to a local treasurer weekly, and by him forward to a general treasurer to be invested until such time as the asslum fund will bo available. The tax is a small one to each person, but in ten years’ time, if properly invested with its earnings, would constitute a fund equal to the establishment aud endowment of an asylum equal to the demands of the craft, and worthy of the men whose infirmities of body may make them its inmates. Victor Emauuel a Victim of a Woman’s Wills.

There is a scandal current in Florence which tells how a certain king was outwitted by a women. It seems be has lived with a Piedmontese lady some tn famille, and has three olive branches with the bar sinster on their escutcheon. About a year ago he received a telegram from the lady's confessor, telling him if he wished to see her once more he must not delay; she was in ex iremis. All ngree that Vicloris kind hearted, so he took a special train for Turin; entered the chamber filled with all the paraphernalia of death, confessor included—found the lady scarcely able to speak, tut who contrived to whisper she could dot die happy until her peace was made with heaven. This meant marriage. The good natured king, in knowing tbs'- she was dying, consented. They were mairied, He returned to Florcnee, mourning the loss of the fair Roosian. in a Wv' ek afur ti)o ll ,y arrived in Flor ' v'i „ ' ■'» in health and beauty, to enoe, bloomn.., ~ , > , , king' s table in the take her place at the » “ Patti place. Here was a v. n,l P tlal not looked for, but of course that cv.’’' d not be; so she lives a short distance from the city in great style. A skillfull workman in the old world making costly velvets or rich silks, laboring from twelve to sixt"'" nonrß a day, receives about vwefvo abilling. a week. _ "Financial irregulari'ies" is a new term for gross fraud.

Counting the Cost.

One of tho important considerations in connection with the reconstruction bill recen’ly become a law of Congress—and one that does not seem to have been vividly realized by Congress—is the cost of establishing and maintaining military government in the ten unreconstructed States of the South. If we undertake to govern the conquered States by military law and at the point of the bayonet, we must do i'. throughly. If we assume by military power to protect the four million blacks in insurrectionary States from out' rages nt the hands of the six million whites, we must havs au ample supply of tho needful instrumentalities —that is tossy of soldiers. With the small army now in service, wo have not a great many more troops than are wanted to look after the Indians and take care of the property of the Govirnment in the various forts and arsenals. Since the course of Congress toward the Southern States unrepresented in Congress has been defined," the General of the army"( Giant) has consulted all the military commaoders in the South as to number of men required to execute tho law, as must be done if it is not permitted lo become a dead letter. The responses are highly interesting. The number of troops called f-r is one hundred audfifty thousand. We must therefore, making allowances for exaggerations. raise an army of one hundred thousand men, that we may occupy and possess the Southern Tcritories in good sty Ic. In the present condition of the currency it is a very moderate estimate that the American soldiers costs one thousand dollars per annum We must in consequence, increase our military estimate for the next fiscal year at least one hundred millions. The Fortieth Congress will be unfaithful to the Thirty-ninth, if it fails to call out the tioops and raise the money. Whether it will be necessary to have a conscription we are not prepared to decide. We suppose not, however. But beyond a doubt, there will be taxes to pay. Military government for the South is not only a strong medicine for that refractory section, hut a costly one. Present appearance are that there have been several mistakes made, among them tha disbandment of the great Union armies after the surrender of Lee.— Cincinnati Commercial.

. The Social Evil. The Indianapolis correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial furnishes the fol- ' lowing phase of social morals in thia city. “ A society for the reclamation of fallen women, operating on the New York plan, has been formed by some ot the philanthropic ladies and gentlemen of this city. A home for fallen women hns been organized, and a board of visiters appointed, who go about distributing good advice and healthy tracts. As yet the tract systetn of treatment has been barren 'of tangibl results, but the fair missionaries arc sanguine that the good seed has not been sown in vain. A day or two since a benevolent lady called upon one of the most noted harlots of tho city, at her place of buisiness, and had a long conversation with her. The fallen angel poured out the story of her woes —the old story of confiding trust, heartlessly betrayed, tho impossibility of a return to the path of rectitude, and the cruel alternative of suicide starvation or a life of prostitution. She wept upon tho bosome of her kind friend, and promised to close up her buisincss-u aa soon as the Legislature adjourned—and lead a life of strict hastily in the future, is s commentary on her good tions h> ftn illustration lhe weakness’of human t ‘ B C"" 60 , 11 * re " ported i’-” rte loartu! Mfl S. dalen h “ ..’ent on to Chicago for a Geeli invoice of fallen angels, The social evil is a stubborn problem, which has puzzled wiser heads than those well disposed philanthropists, and I am afraid it will never be eradicated or materially mitigated by the tract system.

NO. 51.