Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1879 — Page 1

shq fflemocratiq A. DEMOCRATIC NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY, ST FAMES W. McEWEN. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. One copy one yearW-M One copy «ix monthsl.N One copy throe months. . M EV~Adv«rtislng rates on application

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

FOREIGN NEWS In Russia a ukase has been issued instructing the Minister of Finance to issues 5-per-cent interest loan at 92>£ for the amount of 300,000,000 of rubles to cover the expenses of the late war. Four Nihilists were executed by hanging at Kieff on the 2d cf June. A dispatch from St. Petersburg says an attempt to blow up the court where the military tribunal is sitting in Kieff has been discovered and frustrated. Certain females of the royal family of Burmab, for whose safety the British Government stipulated, have been placed in irons, and will probably be starved. By an overwhelming majority of 372 to 33, the French Chamber of Deputies has voted to annul the election of Blanqui, the Communistic convict, to a seat in that body. The death of the head of the house of Rothschild, Baron Lionel Nathan, is chronicled in London dispatches. He was a grandson of the founder of the family, and succeeded his father, Nathan, as head of the London branch on the latter’s death, in 1836. He was born in November, 1808, and was the first professor of the Hebrew faith ever admitted to a ■eat in the English House of Commons, the standing orders of the House requiring an official oatti “on the faith of a Christian” being revoked in his favor in 1858, after he had been successively elected and rejected in 1847, 1849, 1852 and 1857. The police of St. Petersburg are to bo armed with revolvers. Reports from Cashmere of the progress of the famine in that romantic valley grow worse and worse. Measures are being pressed forward for the relief of the starving population, and 3,500 tons of grain are on th* way from India. A committee of the German Bundesrath has reported in favor of the assumption of control over railroad freight rates by th* imperial Government Mr. White, the new American Minister to Germany,, has arrived at Berlin. The German press welcome him as an appropriate successor to Bayard Taylor. An overflow of the river Po, in Italy, has caused great destruction of grain and fruit crops. Germany has resolved to propose the joint interference of the European powers to end the South American war, or the improper and inhuman manner in which it is carried on by the belligerents. Spain has demanded satisfaction from Han Domingo for the shooting of two Generals at Puerto Plata who had sought the protection of the Spanish representative. Solovieff, the assassin who attempted the life of the Emperor of Russia, on the 14th of April last, has just been executed at St Petersburg.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. 11l aw t. Small-pox has broken out at Saratoga, N. Y. The extensive variety establishment of 8. Barnum A Sons, Buffalo, N. ¥., burned Inst week., Loss, $250,000; insurance, $200,000. Pardee Hall, one of {he Lafayette College buildings at Easton, Pa. ,■ has been destroyed by fire. Loss, $250,000; insurance, $120,000. A telegram from Island Pond, Vt., says that “ a medical examination and investigation of the poisoning cases at Newark, Vt., to-day resulted in showing that diphtheria was the cause of the terrible mortality, aggravated by poisoned water. Diphtheria in a mild form had been in the vicinity, and four cases wer* known to exist, so that water poisoned by barnyard drainage and putrid carcasses of dead animals was just the thing to feed the disease into the development of the terrible disaster. Eleven deaths have occurred. The others will recover.” By the explosion of a boiler in a brickyard at Freedom, Pa., John Bryan and Frank Mathany were instantly killed, and John Powell and Frank Bryan fatally, and D. Grim, W. Erwin and Joseph McDermott seriously injured. Low water caused the accident. A negro named Swingler was executed at Chambersburg, Pa., on the sth iust., for the murder of John Anderson (colored) in December last. In the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, last week, resolutions were offered for the expulsion of Representatives Petroff, Smith, and Rumberger, the three members accused by the Riot Bribery Committee of having corruptly solicited members to vote for the $4,000,(X)0 bill. In each case a majority vote was recorded in favor of expulsion, but, as it requires two-thirds of the members to expel, the accused members escaped the penalty which the investigating committee proposed to inflict. Felix McCann, an old man of 70 years, was executed at Norwich, N. Y., on the 6th of June, for the murder of J. M. Hatch, in December last.

During a storm at Asbury Park, N. J., the house of the Rev. George Clark was struck by lightning and two painters killed. At Rochester, N. Y., Peter Peters murdered his wife and then committed suicide. At Philadelphia, Edward Parr has been sentenced to death for the murder of his daughter, Mrs. Susan Irwin. West. At Salt Lake, Utah, the other day, Judge Emerson sentenced John Miles, polygamist, to pay a fine of SIOO and be confined in the Nebraska penitentiary for five years. During the proceedings Miles impertinently requested not to be lectured, and asked no mercy of the court. This case has attracted unusual attention, from the fact of its being the second conviction under the laws of the United States, and that Miles was to marry three young women at the same time, with the advice and consent of John Taylor, President of the Mormon Church. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of the Territory. At Ottumwa, lowa, on Sunday Evening, the Ist inst, Gen. James Shields, late United States Senator from Missouri, died suddenly. On the Sabbath he had appeared in his usual health, ate a hearty supper at 6 o’clock, and wrote several letters, but just before retiring complained of a pain in his chest, and soon thereafter said to his niece that he was dying, and in thirty minutes he expired, sitting in his chair, and remaining conscious to the last R. L. Squiers, .convicted of murder in the first degree, committed suicide at Colusa, Cal., by cutting his throat with a razor. His wife took the razor to him. A shocking calamity occurred at Cincinnati, the other day. A force of laborers were at work clearing the rubbish out of a arge five-story building that had been partially gutted by fire. The walls gave way burying the unfortunate men beneath the ruins, killing six of them and seriously injuring others. The steamer Yellowstone was recently sunk in the Yellowstone river, by striking a

The Democratic Sentinel.

JAS, W. McEWEN Editor.

VOLUME 111.

rock in crossing over Buffalo rapids. The loss on boat and cargo is $50,000. Three renegade Cheyennes, who shot and killed private Bader and wounded Signal Sergt. Kennedy, while en route to Fort Keogh, Mont, and who were turned over to the civil authorities at Miles City, Mont, to answer the charge of murder, were sentenced, the other day,to be hanged on the 7th of next July. The same evening two of them committed suicide by hanging in the cells of the guard-house at Fort Keogh. The Episcopal Diocese Convention, in session at Detroit last week, elected Rev. Dr. 8. 8. Harris, of Chicago, to fill the vacancy caused by the displacement of Bishop McCoskry. Information received by the Indian Bureau at Washington from Fort Belknap states that 800 lodges of Sitting Bull’s Indians are reported south of the British line. They have not as yet committed any acts of direct hostility. A dispatch from Santa Fe, New Mexico, reports that “some United States soldiers of the Fifteenth Infantry, stationed at Fort Bliss, crossed the international boundary to Paso del Norte and got into a row with the Mexicans, in which two soldiers were killed and several wounded before they could recross the Rio Grande.” Lecocq’s charming opera of “ The Little Duke” is the attraction this week at McVicker’s Chicago Theater, with some really good singers and actors in the leading roles. The whole cast will be very strong, and the opera will be put on the stage in superb style. The work will be given without mutilation, in which respect it will differ from previous representations, and it may be added that it will also be given with a regard to decency which has not always characterized its performance. Two highwaymen perpetrated a bold robbery in Chicago, a few days ago. Two messengers were sent from the Illinois Central railroad office to one of the banks with a package of money. While walking along Washington street, in the very heart of the city, they were attacked by two footpads. The messenger who carried the package was knocked down with a sand-club, while his companion was blinded with pepper; the package, containing about $9,000, was seized, and before the passers-by could realize the nature of the transaction the thieves, with the money, had driven out of sight in a buggy which was waiting for them. South. A Nashville dispatch reports that United States Deputy Revenue Collector James M. Davis and six men were waylaid and killed by illicit distillers near Smithfield, Tenn. The report, heretofore mentioned, that a Deputy Marshal and six men had been murdered by moonshiners in East Tennessee was without foundation The revenue posse was fired upon by the crooks, but no one was hurt. At Rohrersville, Washington county, Md., Lewis 8. Miller, aged 15, shot and killed Charles Norris, about the same age. Miller had been teased by the boys, who called him nicknames. He procured a musket, loaded it, followed the boys, and shot Norris, who died instantly. There were two executions in Mis souri on Friday, the 6th of June. John Bland, aged 23, was hanged at St. Catherines, for the murder of Elijah Ward, his brother-in-law, in September last, and a negro named Monroe Guy was executed at Hillsboro for killing Aaron McPete in December last. The - Arkansas editors will make an excursion to Chicago and the Northwest about the 1 st of J uly.

FEDERAL FINANCE. (PUBLIC DEBT. Public Debt.— The public-debt statement issued June 2 is as follows: Six per cent, b0nd55354,910,150 Five per cent, b0nd5692,445,550 Four and a half per cent. bonds 250,000,060 Four per cent, bonds 627.334.800 Refunding certificates... 28,723,660 Navy pension fund 14,000,000 Total coin bonds $1,967,414,760 Matured debts 55.306.660 Legal tenders 346,742.546 Certificates of deposit.... 2'1,795.000 Fractional currency 15,874 777 Gold and silver certificates 17,780,660 Total without interest 462,499.643 Total debt $2,429,014,403 Total Interest 27,859,362 Cash in treasury 430,591,297 Debt less cash in trea5ury52,027,182,468 Increase during May 62,250 Decrease since June 30,1878 8,604,363 CURRENT LIABILITIES. Interest due and unpaids 5,126,876 Debt on which interest has ceased.... 55,306.660 Interest thereon 2.070.977 Gold and silver certificates 17,780,660 United States notes held for redemption of certificates of deposit 26,795,000 United States notes held for redemp tion of fractional currency. 5,408 It 6 Called bonds not matured for whiui 4 per cent, bonds have been issued... 169,771.060 Cash balance available June 2, 1879.. 145,331,958 Totals 430,591,297 AVAILABLE ASSETS. Cash in treasury's 430,591,297 Bonds issued to the Pacific Railroad Companies, interest payable in lawful money: Principal outstanding.. $ 64.623.512 Interest accrued and not yet paid 1,615,587 Interest paid by the United States.... 41,773,745 Interest repaid by transportation of mails, etc 11,177,435 Balance of interest paid by the United States 80.596.8C9 STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL OPERATIONS FOB FOURTEEN YEARS. Numerous inquiries having been made as to the financial operations of the Government, the Secretary of the Treasury has published the following statemant showing the changes in the public debt, the annual interest charge, etc.: Reduction of the Interest-Bearing Debt. Total interestbearing debt at the bigbest point, Aug. 31, 186552,381,530,294 Total interest-beat’3g debt when the present refunding operations shall have been completed (Vug. 1,1879). 1,797.643,700 Reduction of interest-bearing debt from the highest point 583,886,594 Annual interest charge, highest point, Aug. 31,1865 159,977,697 Animal interest charge, when ”he present refunding operations are completed (Aug. 1, 1879) 83,773,778 Reduction in annual interest charge.. 76,203,919 Reduction of the Total Debt. Debt less cash in treasury, highest point, Aug. 31,1865 $2,756,431,571 Debt less cash in tieasury, June 1, 1879 2,037,182.468 Reduction of total debt 719.249,163 Reduction of debt since March 1,1877. 61.598,674 Bonds Refunded /Since if arch 1, 1877. Loan of 1858. 5 per cents 260,000 Ten-forties of 1864, 5 per cent 194,566,300 Annual interest charge 9,741,815 Five-twenties of 1865, 6 per cent 100.486,050 Consols of 1865, 6 per cent 202.663,100 Consols of 1'66, 6 per cent 310.622.750 Consols of 1868, 6 per cent 37.473,800 Annual interest charge 39,071,742 Total amount of loans 816.022,000 Total annual interest charge 48,813,057 In place of the above bonds there will be issued when the present refunding operations are completed, which will not be later than Aug. 1, 1879 .bonds as follows: Federal loan of 1891, 4’s per centsl3s,ooo,ooo Annual interest charge 6,075,000 Funded loan of 19u7, including refunding certificates, 4 per cents 711,622,000 Annual interest charge 28,440,880 total amount 846,02.',060 Total annual interest charge 34,515,880 Making an annual saving hereafter in the interest charge on account of refunding operations since March 1, 1877- 14,297,177 Bonds have been sold for resumption purposes since March 1,1877, the interest on which represents an annual cost of coin reserve as follows: Funded loan of 1891, per cent.

RENSSELAER, JASPER COUNTY, INDIANA, FRIDAY, JUNE 13,1879.

Annual interest charge 2,925,000 Funded loan of 1907. 4 per cent 25.000,000 Annual interest charge 1,000.000 Total amount 90,000,000 Total annual interest charge 3,925,000 Making the net annual saving in interest through the refunding and resumption operations since March 1,1877, of 10,372,177 In addition to the above bonds, there were issued in 1878, to replace coin used in payment of the Halifax award, 4 per cent bonds of 1907, amounting to $5,500,000. [Note. —In preparing this memorandum the maximum limit of the issue of 4 per cent bonds and certificates is stated when the refunding transactions are completed and the full returns received. The amount may be somewhat smaller, making the interest charge correspondingly less.] BEFUNDING CERTIFICATES. The Secretary of the Treasury has given notice that the $lO refunding certificates will now be received at the department for conversion into 4-per-cent bonds. Refunding certificates forwarded for conversion, and 4-per-cent bonds issned therefor, must be transmitted without risk or expense to the Government. Packages should be marked “refunding certificates,” and addressed to the Treasurer of the United States, and applications should specify the denomination of the bonds desired; also whether coupon or registered, and for the latter the full name and postoffice address of the person should be given. WASHINGTON NOTES. Judge Dillon, of the Eighth judicial circuit of the United States, has tendered his resignation to the President, and it is definitely fixed that he is to be succeeded by Secretary of War McCrary. The President has nominated Simon B. Conover, of Florida, to be Collector of Internal Revenue in the District of Florida. Nothing will be done at this session by the House Military Committee, it is said, with the Fitz-John Porter case.

MISCELLANEOUS GLEANINGS. For the upper lake region, during the month of June, winds blowing from the southwest or southeast, or from directions between those points, are found to be the winds most likely to be followed by ram. Winds blowing from the north or west, or from directions between those points, are found to be winds least likely to be followed by rain. The Duke of Argyll arrived at New York by steamer from Scotland last week. He comes on a visit to his son, the Canadian Governor General. Austrian Minister Kasson and Russian Minister Stoughton are home on leave of absence.

POLITICAL POINTS. The Maine Greenbackers assembled in convention at Portland, on the 3d inst., and nominated Joseph H. Smith for Governor, on the first ballot The following gentlemen have been mentioned as most likely to succeed Mr. McCrary in the War Department: Ex-Senator Ramsey, of Minnesota; Gov. Hartranft, of Pennsylvania; Gov. McCormick, of Arizona; ard Gen. John B. Hawley, of Illinois, now Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. It is not probable that any appointment will be made before fall. The Ohio Democratic State Convention convened at Columbus on the 4th inst., the number of delegates present being the largest that has attended any Democratic State Convention since the war. Gen. James B. Steedman, of Toledo, presided. Gen. Thomas Ewing was nominated for Governor on the second ballot. The remainder of the ticket is as follows: Lieutenent Governor, A. V. Rice; Treasurer, Anthony Howells; Auditor, Charles Reemelin; Judge of the Supreme Court, W. J. Gilmore; Attorney General, Isaiah Pillars; member of the Board of Public Works, Patrick O’Marah. The Greenbaekers of Ohio also held their State Convention at Columbus on the 4th, and placed the following ticket in the field: lor Governor, Gen. A. Saunders Piatt; Lieutenant Governor, Hugo Preyor; Auditor, Andrew Rev; Treasurer, Charles Jenkins; Supreme Judge, A. M. Jackson; Attorney General, James C. Crogan; Member of the Board of Public Works, George W. Platt. At a Workingmen's State Convention, held at San Francisco, Cal., and presided over by Denis Kearney, a full ticket for State officers was nominated, headed by William F. White, of Monterey county, for Governor.

DOINGS IN CONGRESS. The Senate, on the 2d inst., passed the bill making appropriations for tne construction, etc., of certain works on the Great Kanawha and Kentucky rivers; also the bill to authorize the Secretary of War to furnish condemned ordnance for raillncr around the monument to Col. Robert L. McCook, of the Ninth Ohio volunteers, at Cincinnati. There was a sharp partisan debate between Messrs. Thurman and Wallace on one side, and Messrs. Edmunds and Blaine on the other, regarding the conduct of the committee on alleged frauds in the late election, of which Mr. Wallace is Chairman, in publishing in pamphlet form a portion of the testimony, and sending it out for publication. Mr. Edmunds charged the committee with partisan unfairness. Mr. Thurman defended the action of the committee, and said they had only followed Republican precedent. In the House, a few bills were introduced, among others one by Mr, Springer, prohibiting any soldier stationed within two miles of any place where a special or general election of Representative in Congress is being held from leaving his barracks for any purpose except that of relieving guard or casting his vote on the day of election. The bill for the appointment of a Mississippi River Commission, and appropriating $175,000 to meet its expenses, was passed. Columbus Upson, successor to the late Gustav Schleicher, was sworn in as Representative from the State of Texas, taking the modified oath. Mr. Wright, Chairman of the Labor Commit-' tee, moved to suspend the rules and adopt a resolution appropriating $2,000 for the expenses of that committee. Agreed to. A resolution was passed appropriating $20,000 to provide for representation of the United States at the International Exhibit on to be held at Sidney and Melbourne. Australia, in 1879-’BO. The Republican Senators he'd a caucus for the purpose of taking action concerning Mr. Bayard’s bill to repeal sections 820 and 821 Revised Statutes. The first of these sections prescribes the jurors’ test oath. There was a practical unanimity of opinion in the caucus that this section should be repealed. The other section authorizes Judges of the United States courts to exercise their own discretion in regard to challenges of persons drawn as jurors who have participated in the Rebellion. The opinion of the caucus was. that this section had never been abused, and is not likely to be, and, therefore, it should stand. The Senate, on the 3d inst, passed the House bill establishing post routes, and the House bill extending the time for the payment of pre emptors on public lands in Minnesota and Dakota. In executive session of the Senate all the pending nominations, some 300 in number, appoint! rents and promotions in the army, were confirmed in masse. The nomination of Secretary McCrary as Judge Dillon’s successor was sentin by the President, and was referred in the usual course. In the House, Mr. Cox made a speech in favor of the repeal of the jurors’ test oath. No business was transacted whatever, the Republicans continuing their tatties to prevent consideration of the bill relative to the removal of cases from State to Federal courts. The Democratic members of the House and Senate met id joint caucus in the afternoon to receive the report of the Joint Advisory Committ-e in regard to the appropriation bills. After several hours had been devoted to its consideration It was adopted with substantial unanimity. 'I he appropriation bills, prepared in accordance with this plan, are to be reported without delay. In the Senate, on the 4th inet,, Mr. Bayard, from the Judiciary Committee, reported vlth an amendment, the Senate bill repealing sections 820 s2l at the lievpeq Statutes (which prescribe

“A Firm Adherence to Correct Principles.”

the jurors’ test oath, etc.). Ordered printed and placed on the calendar. In the House, the Senate amendments to the House Grasshopper bill (extending the time of payment by pre-emptors) were agreed to, and the bill passed. A resolution was adopted directing an investigation into the affairs of the Ocean National Bank of New York and the German National Bank of Chicago. The report of the Committee for the Investigation of .Expenditures in the State Department, in so far as it relates to George F. Seward, Minister to China, was referred to the Judiciary Committ e for action. The House voted an appropriation of $9,235 to the widow of the late Representative Rueh Clark, of lowa, and $ 10,MXI to the widow of the late Representative Gustav Schleicher, of Texas. The bill reported by Mr. Bayard from the Judiciary Committee relating to juries and the repeal of sections tOl, 820, and 821 of the Revised Statutes, was taken up by the Senate, on the Sth inst., and Messrs. Hampton and Bayard delivered speeches in support of the bill. Mr. Edmunds moved to amend the bill by adding the following: “That no citizen possessing all other qualifications which are or may be prescribed by law shall be disqualified for service as a grind or petit juror in any court of the United States or any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Any officer or other person charged with any duty in the selection or examination of jurors who shall exclude or fail to examine any citizen for the cause aforesaid, shall, on conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and fined not more than $5,000.” After a long and sharp debate, in which Messrs. Edmunds, Conkling, Blaine. Thurman and Hill were the chief participants, the amendment was vo.ed dou a. Other amendments offered by the Republicans were also rejected. When the main question was reached a postponement was agreed to, at the request of Mr. ’Edmunds. In the House, much time was consumed in consideration of bills reported from the Committee on Printing. A bill for the election of a Congressional Printer was reported but not admitted, tho point of order being raised that it was not such a bill as the committee was privi’eged to report at any time. The bill to prevent the exportation of diseased cattle and the spread of infectious or contagious diseases among domestic animals, win discussed without action.——With a special message, the President sent to both houses of Co - yress the proceedings anl report of the b< d of officers convened for the re-exami /ion of the Fitz-John Porter case. The Presto .says: “I have given to this report such an ex» xation as satisfies me that I ought to lay the proi /ings and conclusions of the board before Cc zess, as I am without the power, in the absent Al legislation, to act upon the recommencatio of tho report, further thfln submit'ing the same io • * • Congress, and for such action as in your wisdom shall seem expedient and inst.” At a meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, held on the 6th inst.. it was decided, by a vote of 4 to 3, to postpone action 'on the Warner Silver bill until December next. There was considerable feeling among the silver men over the action of the committee, and when the Senate met Mr. Coke offered a resolution to discharge the com mittee from further consideration of the bill, and to declare the bill before the Senate for action. Messrs. Edmunds, Whyte xud others objected, and the resolution went over 'I he Senate then took up, and, after a sharp debate, passed the bill repealing the jurors’ test oath -yeas. 28; nays, 16—a strict party vote.——The Aiiny Appropriation bill was reported to the House. It is substantially the same as the vetoed bill, except the sixth section. for which i- substituted a clause providing that no money appropriated in this act is appropriated, or shall be paid, for the subsistence, equipment, transportation or compensation of any poriion of the army of the United States to be used as a police force to keep the peace at the polls 'at any election held within any State. There was no session of the Senate on the 7th inst., and little or nothing was done in the House, the day being devoted to the bill making additional appropriations for the Postoffice Department, which was finally passed.

PERSONAL GOSSIP.

Wilkie Collins is coming to visit America this season. Washington (Pa.) College is Senator Blaine’s Alma Mater. Asa Packer left a will so drawn up that it can’t be contested. . Ben Butler owns 20,000 acres of land in Polk county, Wis. Vice President Wheeler has no living relative nearer than a cousin. Senator Hill’s smelting works in Colorado jire paying $1,000,000 a year. Senator Williams, of Kentucky, was educated at Oxford (Ohio) College. John Brown’s revolver has been presented to the Kansas Historical Society. Senator McMillan, of Minnesota graduated from DuQuesne (Pa.) College. Senator Cockrell, of Missouri, is a graduate of Chapel Hill (Mo.) College. The English Sir Garnet Wolseley has started for the garnet fields of strife in Africa. Ex-Senator Sargent, of California, is feeble, and has gone to Oregon for his health. The Republican nominee for next Governor of Ohio, Hon. Charles Foster, is 51 years old. Gambetta dwells in a magnificent house, keeps the finest horses and best cooks in Paris. Transylvania (Ky.) University has two graduates in the Senate—Beck, of Kentucky, and Vest, of Missouri. The African fever has kept young Napoleon ou his bunk ever since he went down to intimidate the Zulus. Jenny Lind for a long time cherished the hope of seeing her own artistic glory revived in the person of her child, but she has given up the idea. Henry Seligman, the eminent New York banker, began life by working for the late Asa Packer for 50 cents a day. Three poets have been selected for centennial honors in Great Britain— Shakspeare for England, Burns for Scotland, and Moore for Ireland. Senator Hampton is described as being yet unused to doing without his amputated limb, and as standing erect with great difficulty. He is an agreeable public speaker, having a pleasant voice and distinct enunciation. An exchange directs attention to the fact that a number of original Abolitionists of even greater age than William Lloyd Garrison, who was 75 when he died, survive him. Dr. William H. Furness, of Philadelphia, is now in his 78th year; Lucretia Mott in her 87th; Calvin E. Stowe, 77; Lydia Maria Childs, over 77; Ralph Waldo Emerson, just 76. Besides these, there are Dr. Cheever, Oliver Johnson, Wendell Phillips, Samuel May, Henry B. Stanton, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Drs. Chapin and Bellows, Parker Pilsbury, and Stephen Foster, all pretty well advanced in years.

Morbid Curiosity Among Ladies.

There is a report current that certain fashionable ladies of New York are in the habit of visiting the lecture rooms attached to some of our medical colleges, at the invitation of their student friends there, to witness surgical operations performed on patients, and those sometimes of the most painful description. Our elite are not studying medicine, but, according to the rumor, attend, influenced by a certain morbid curiosity, if not enjoyment, to witness these painful spectacles. After this Paris may no longer claim to be the head center of jaded pleasure-seekers after new excitement. — New York Graphic. A wealthy lad of New York has left the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals a bequest of $25,000. " 1 •

THE NORDENSKJOLD EXPEDITION.

Through the Arctic to India—A Great Geographical Problem Solved. One of the greatest geographical problems of the last four centuries, says the Chicago Journal, has at length been solved. Even before Columbus set out to reach India by sailing westward, the thought of discovering a passage around Europe and Asia, by sailing to the north and east, had inspired more than one navigator to make attempts in this direction. While jubilant Americans were celebrating the Fourth of July, 1878, Prof. Nordenskjold anchor at Gothenburg, and set forth to reach Behring straits, and finally India, by sailing through the Arctic. The dispatch from Yatutsk, received from St. Petersburg last week, assures us that the Vega, with the expedition all in good health, had then arrived in Behring straits, and that after a brief stay Prof. Nordenskjold would sail for Japan, China and India, and return to Europe via the Suez canal. Some of the most thrilling narratives in the history of maritime adventure record the struggles of Prof. Nordenskjold’s predecessors in attempts to find this passage. Many of them persisted in their daring endeavors. There is evidence that as early as 890 of our era, a bold Norway navigator named Och ter sailed around the North cape of Europe and eastward as far as the mouth of the River Kola. The last great expedition planned by Sebastian Cabot, after he had skirted North and South America in two vain attempts to find a passage to the East Indies, was one directed to the same object by circumnavigating Europe and Asia. He was too old to accompany the expedition, but it set forth, and ended in disaster.

Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor, under the auspices of the Muscovy Company, of London, in 1853, sailed no further than Nova Zembla. Willoughby's vessel was lost with all on board. Chancellor and his vessel barely escaped back to Europe. In 1856 the same company dispatched Stephen Burroughs, who pushed eastward to the .Kara sea, lying east of Nova Zembla. Three vessels were sent out by the Dutch in 1594, one of which crossed the Kara sea to the mouth of the great Siberian river Obi. In the letter part of the sixteenth century Russian navigators explored the northern coast of Russia in Europe and Asia, sailing from Archangel to the Obi river, and thence eastward to the river Yenesei. It was not until 1630 that a party reached the mouth of the Lena, and then not by sea, but by sledges overland. By similar means the river Kolima was reached in 1644. Then the spirit of discovery slumbered until it revived under Peter the Great. Under this energetic sovereign the celebrated Dane, Vitas Behring, entered the Russian service. He made several Arctic voyages with but trifling results, but in 1728 he began an overland survey of the northeast coast of Siberia, in which he penetrated to the eastern extremity of Asia, East cape, and looked eastward over the broad straits that now bear his name. Through such means as these the general outline of the Arctic shores of Europe and Asia became tolerably well known to geographers before Nordenskjold set out, but no voyager had ever sailed the length of this entire coast, and many disbelieved that such a feat was possible, until now the triumph of this renowned scientist and navigator puts an end to doubt and ranks him with the-immortal Columbus and Vasco de Gama.

In June, 1875, Prof. Nordenskjold, under the aus ices of that enterprising merchant, Oscar Dickson, of Gothenburg, made an exploring and trading voyage to the mouth of the Yenesei. Such were the results of this able navigator's previous experience and study of the seasons and currents of these seas, that he astonished all Europe by making the voyage from North cape to Nova Zembla in six days; ' halted to make three exploiations of the interior of that island; crossed the dreadful Sea of Kara with comparative ease, and anchored in the mouth of the Yenesei Aug. 15. On the return his vessel made the voyage from that dit t int, hyperborean river tojHammerfest, Norway, in only ten days. Again, in 1876, leaving Tromsoe on the 25th of July, he reached Nova Zembla in less than five days, and, after some delay in the Karasea, anchored at the mouth of the Yenesei on the anniversary of the day he had reached there in the year before; this time only twenty days from Tromsoe. He disposed of his cargo at a fair profit, and, after eighteen days in harbor, returned to Hammerfest within seven weeks of his setting forth. Emboldened by success, he applied to King Oscar, of Sweden and Norway, himself one of the greatest geographers of the age, for assistance to make a more extended voyage. The King and Mr. Alexander Sibiriakoff contributed £B,OOO, to which his old patron, Mr. Dickson, added £12,000, and, on July 4, 1878, the gallant explorer turned his prow into the fierce face of the Arctic, to win, if possible, for this nineteenth century the honor sought in vain by the centuries gone by. This time he was provided with a steam whaling vessel, the Vega, and accompanied by a large staff of navy and scientific officers detached from the service of various European countries, all eager to have a share in the discoveries of this remarkable Captain. They left Tromsoe July 25; reached the Yenesei Aug. 6; rested there three days, then boldly ventured around the dreaded North cape of Asia, never rounded by sailing craft before, and came to anchor in the mouth of the far-off Lena on Aug. 27. The good news filled the heart of every geographer in all lands with rejoicings, and congratulations to King Oscar and Mr. Dickson poured in from every court and scientific academy in Europe and America. After Sept. 25 nothing was heard from the Vega, until in January word came from Yakutsk that she was caught in th.e ice only forty miles east of East cape. Since then all has been anxious silence, which had begun to yield to sad forebodings of disaster. Mr. Bennett, of the New York Herald, volunteered to send his famous vessel, the Jeannette, in search of Nordenskjold, and she was about to start from San Francisco when the good tidings came which relieves the world of all anxiety. If this age is not wonder-hardened, Prof. Nordenskjold will be welcomed

back to Europe with such marks of honor as have been accorded to no other discoverer of this era, not even the heroic Stanley.

CURRENT CURIOSITIES.

A party of curiosity hunters opened an Indian mound near Albany, the other day, and found a variety of human bones, skulls, etc., one mound disclosing a sort of sarcophagus, -with layers of charcoal, dam shells and other peculiar burial accompaniments. A Vermont paper says that a few Sundays ago, while Mrs. Mary Fulford, of Peacham, was playing the organ in church, she was taken with a partial paralytic shock, and was unable to take her hands from the key-board, keeping one chord going until the choir was compelled to stop. In an hour after the service she seemed to be as well as ever. A lady in Madrid, Me., was in a house which was struck by lightning. A valuable gold watch she wore stopped at the time, and, although jewelers have repeatedly examined it and pronounced it perfect in every particular, it cannot be made to move. It is so charged with electricity that watch-makers say no part of it can ever be made to do duty if taken out and put into another set of works. John G. McCabe was drowned in Philadelphia several months ago. Ee wore an oilskin coat and high-top boots. A man’s body similarly attired was subsequently found floating off Woodbury, and Mrs. McCabe, identifying it as that of her husband, had it brought to Philadelphia and buried. The other day another body in an oilskin coat and high-top boots was taken out of the water at Wilmington, and Mrs. McCabe, believing it to be her husband’s, has buried it beside the first one. Corbin Kendrick and some other freedmen found, near Buena Vista, Ga., a hawk lying on its back near the road. The ground for several feet around showed signs of a desperate struggle. A snake was coiled around the hawk, and was holding it perfectly still and apparently in the agonies of death. Kendrick tried to kill both snake and hawk by shooting them, but the shot broke only one wing of the hawk. The snake was then struck with a stick. As soon as its coil was broken the serpent sprung at the man who had struck it, and then went back to the hawk. The hawk arose and seized the snake by the head, and the negroes killed the serpent. For several weeks a great revival has been in progress at several of the colored churches in Petersburg, Va., resulting in the conversion of several hundred persons. On last Sunday afternoon fifty-four of the converts were baptized in the canal. Among the candidates for immersion were Burwell Lancaster, about 21 years of age, who from his birth had been deaf and dumb. Before taking him into the water the officiating minister wrote the baptismal vow on a slate, which the mute read. Then he was immersed. On reaching the shore the mute, to the astonishment of all present, cried out “ Thank God! ” and then became mute again. The incident is a most remarkable one, and has made a great impression on the negroes, who are very much excited and concerned over such a sudden and brief cure.

We clip the following curious dog story from the Bridgeport (Ct.) Farmer: “ Engineer Bronson, of the Housatonic railroad, says that his experience one day last week gave him the impression that the dog-days were coming on this year ahead of time. Between Brookfield-and New Milford, on the up trip, the engine struck a large dog, and, as Bronson at first supposed, left his fragments strewn along the track; but, on reaching the next station, it was found that the dog had, in some mysterious way, been landed on the locomotive trucks, and was then perched there alive. When the train stopped at Falls Village the animal was hauled out, and then there was dieclosed the astonishing fact that he had not received even a scratch. It was a large dog weighing about seventy-five pounds, and was at once adopted by the stationagent, who already prizes the beast* very highly. Recently, the head of Frank Tolles, the leader of a band of highwaymen, was borne into Cheyenne, Wy. T., and exhibited to a jubilant crowd. When the people had taken a good look at it, it was buried in a prairie in the outskirts of the town. In passing over the prairie a few evenings ago, G. P. Clark saw the skull dancing along and bobbing up and down among th a cactus bushes. Cold chills struck him. When he reached Cheyenne he was as white as a sheet. Everybody scoffed at his story; but a few men were induced to go out and take a look. They, too, saw the skull flitting hither and thither. The next morning a large crowd went out to investigate. There again was the moving skull. The boldest in the party approached. All at once a little prairie-dog bounded from the skull and shot away into his hole near by. It hadappropriated the highwayman’s head for a resting place. The most remarkable case which has come before the Chicago courts for years was disposed of in a few minutes in the Criminal Court. It was that of a man who had been for several years employed as book Keeper for a mercantile firm in the city, and who plundered his employers so ingeniously and persistently that they were compelled to retire from business, without a suspicion of the nature of their losses, the thieving clerk buying from them with their own money what he had not already stolen. The chance discovery of an error in the books completely broke the courage of the culprit, and he voluntarily confessed, was immediately indicted, arrested, and, on arraignment, entered a plea of guilty, and was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. There were none of the customary incidents of riotous living in the case. The stolen money was systematically invested, and a portion of it used in buying out the thief’s plundered employers. Om May 5, says the Norwich Bulletin, we noticed the fact that a Brahma hen belonging to Mr. H. R. Gardner, of Bean Hill, had laid an egg measuring 7| inches round and 8± inches in oval circumference. Subsequent to that date the egg was pierced by Mr. George S Ford, at the end, and blown, that the shell might be preserved, when it was discovert d that there was inclosed within the outer shell a second egg, twothirds as large as the first, with a shell ipucb harder. That was also punctured

$1.50 ner Annum.,

NUMBER 18.

and the contents drawn, which showed it to be a perfect egg. The outside egg contained no yelk, holding only the albumen in which the inner egg was inclosed. Mr. Ford has now an egg within an egg, which is as puzzling to hen fanciers as the question “whether the egg preceded the hen, or the hen the egg, originally,” is to country debating clubs. Was there ever a like phenomenon before?

Ship Canals.

Since the opening of the Suez canal, ten years ago, various enterprises of the same kind, and in some cases of equal importance, have been projected in different parts of the world. The Russian Government has twice considered the possibility of uniting the Caspian and the Black sea by a canal between the two great rivers of the Caucasus, buMhe difference of level, and the absence of any definite prospects of commercial advantage, seem to have caused its Onal abandonment. Another canal has been projected for the purpose of rendering Central Asia mere accessible, by turning the Oxns once more into the Caspian sea, through the channel from which it was diverted by Octai Khan in the thirteenth century, though it may be doubted whether the already diminished stream could cover this extra distance without becoming absolutely nnnavigablb higher up. Several important canals for purposes of irrigation have been set on foot in Northern India, and one, at least, partially completed. M. De Lcssups has eclipsed his former exploit by the colossal project of pouring the Atlantic upon the Sahara desart, though it seems probable that this scheme, from various causes, can be only partially accomplished, if at all, The Darien ship cenal, now under consideration, is perhaps the most important of all; but, like many other great modern achievements, it has merely revived a conception several centuries old. The first suggestion of it originated with Vasco Nunez de Balbac, a Spanish explorer, who was the first to reach the Pacific shore in the reign of Charles V. The Suez canal was begun by Pharaoh-Necho, under whom, as Herodotus tell us, “ 120,000 Egyptians perished in digging this passage.” The Mont Ceuis tunnel was at least partially anticipated by the rockrending exploits of Hannibal to 215 B. C. The circumnavigation of Africa was the idea of Xerxes, and the overland route to India was that of Alexander the Great.— New York paper.

The Bulgarians.

Lady Stangford, writing to the Edinburgh Scotsman, on the condition of the Bulgarians, says: “The most salient characteristic of the Bulgarian everywhere, of the educated and uneducated alike, is what is vulgarly called ‘cheek the most offensive self-confidence, the most superb self-estimation. Their nature is at present at a very low level; the bulk of the nation is profoundly ignorant, brutal, and untruthful; nor are they particularly affectionate or amiable. Yet, notwithstanding this unlovable character, there is a mass of solid good stuff which can be carved into virtues byand by—that is, with time, patience, and discipline. These they must have; these they must be taught. Unlike the Turk, the Bulgarian is not at all lawloving. He can be beaten into submission, however, by his new masters, who have already silently sent two large batches of Bulgarians, w’hose patriotic aspirations were a little too lofty, to the mines of Siberia. When occasion requires, the whips of the Cossacks are freely plied upon the backs of the newly liberated, and the common phrase of the Russian officers in speaking of their new proteges is, “We have got these pigs, and we mean to drive them.”

Mount Etna.

The eruptions of Mount Etna, though less frequent than those of Vesuvius, are far more violent. Its great size—the height of the cone being nearly 11,000 feet, and its circumference eighty-seven miles—renders the overflow of its lava a very formidable affair. During one of the earlier eruptions the lava, when checked by the walls of Catania, fifty feet in height, accumulated till it actually overflowed them and devastated the entire town. On this occasion a peasant, cut off by a stream of lava that encircled the rock on which he stood, escaped by leaping upon a bowlder that had fallen into the burning stream and thence springing on to the other bank, with no other injury than the loss of the whole skin of his face by the intense heat. The earliest recorded eruption of Etna is one mentioned by Diodorus Siculus, as coeval with the Trojan war. The next are three eruptions referred to by Thucydides, 425 and 475 B. C., and one at an earlier time not specified. These, added to the later recorded eruptions to the present time, make seventy in all. The most important are those of 11G9, 1669, 1755, 1787, 1792,1852 and 1868.

Learning Dutch.

The new Queen of Holland is said to have had a good deal ot trouble in learning the language of her adopted country. Before her marriage a learned university don was dispatched to teach her Dutch, and made up his mind that he ought to import the refined language of his native literature rather then the ordinary colloquial Dutch. So he proceeded to teach his pupil the more orthodox but practically obsolete language, and the young lady made such excellent progress that before the day of the wedding she was quite proficient in what she supposed to be the language of her new subjects. What must have been her surprise to find that all her best efforts to converse with burgomasters and humbler folk who came out to do her honor were as complete failures as if they had been addressed to the hearers in high German? The unfortunate lady has had to devote her honeymoon to acquiring a second Dutch language, of which she never suspected the existence.

Stimulants Used by the Race.

It is estimated that coffee, both beans and leaves, is drank by 60,000,000 of the human family. Tea of all kinds is used by 500,000,000 and opium by 400,000,000; alcohol, in its various forms, by 500.000,000 of the human race. Tobacco is probably used by at least 700,000,000 or 800,000,000. These startling facts indicate a large proportion of the race using some substances that are either stimulants or narcotics. The work of the physiologist, in the future, will be to determine the true place in nature of these substances, and indicate where their us« ends and abqse begins.

gtemocratic guntinef JOB PRINTING OFFICE Has better tadUtiea than any office tn Korthwectci* Indiana for the execution of all branches of •TOB FRI3XTT XJSTCSr. PROMPTNESS A SPECIALTY. Anything, from a Dodger to a Price-List, or from a pamphlet to a Poster, black or colored, plain or fancy, SATISFACTION GUARANTEED.

INDIANA ITEMS.

A girl in Adams county, 16 years old, weighs 325 pounds. A Greensburg man had twelve hogs killed by lightning the other night. Hancock county has 5,769 children between the ages of 6 and 21 years. The Lawrence Agricultural Society will hold its fair Sept. 9 to 13, inclusive. William Nichols,Trustee of Nineveh township, Johnson county, died recently. James Martin, a native of Belfast, Ireland, died at Rushville, the other day, aged 104 years. The new City Directory of Terre Haute, just out, shows a population of 11,743 males and 11,453 females. A Harrison county man has a chicken with three eyes aud four teeth, the latter being where the bill should be. Lam Ingram, late Clerk of Clark county, • now a resident of Dennison, Tex., has become dangerously insane. Rose Blake, a colored woman, w’as struck by lightning aud instantly killed recently, at Evansville. She was sitting in the doorway. Dr. S. C. McClure, late clerk in the Southern prison, has been appointed assistant surgeon at the Louisville Eye and Ear Infirmary. The Indiana Episcopalians held their annual convention at Fort Wayne last week, Bishop Talbott presiding. Gov. Hendricks delivered an address. Prof. W t . A. Jones, President of the State Normal School, is compelled by ill-health to insist upon the acceptance of his resignation tendered last fall. Supt. Churchman, of the Blind Asylum, has tendered his resignation, to take effect Sept. 1, the board agreeing to continue his salary until Oct 1. Scarlet fever is prevailing extensively at Millville, in Henry county. Sixty cases occurred to date in the town and vicinity. A number of deaths have resulted. A. C. Lindemuth, of Richmond, has presented his fine collection of fossi’s to Earlham College. The cabinet will be placed in the Museum of Natural History. The members of the Senior and Junior classes of Hanover, who spent last week in a scientific tour through West Nirginia, report a pleasant and profitable time. The County Treasurer’s safe, at Delphi, was broken open and robbed the other night. As far as known tho thieves secured S9OO in cash belonging to the Treasurer, John Vance, and about $3,000 belonging to the county. The other day while the wife of White Morris, who lives west of Rushville, was washing clothes, her infant child, aged about 1 year, fell into a tub of boiling water, scalding it in a horrible manner. The child will die. Gov. Williams has issued his procclamation, notifying the people that the laws passed at the last session of the Legislature, without the emergency clause, are in force. The following are the titles of the new laws: An act providing for submission of constitutional amendments; the Legislative apportionment; act regulating setting of corner stones in highways; an act concerning interest and usury; an actconcerning prisoners in jail, requiting that they be kept at labor; authorizing transfer of Indiana’s title to Antietam National Cemetery to the United States; general appropriation from Nov. 1 next for two years; allowing Sheriffs and constables to follow and arrest fugitives from justice into adjoining counties; denning Tenth and Twelfth judicial circuits; authorizing guardians to settle estates of deceased wards; defining burglary and other crimes; an act concerning Wabash and Erie pateitis; an act authorizing surrender of city charters; authorizing cities and towns to issue bonds foe of funding their indebtedness: providing for appeals in proceeding for annexation of teiriioiy to towns and cities; an act relative to sui nlus school revenue in cities and towns; todiv.de N ate into Congressional districts; regulating presentation of claims against counties; enabling County Commissioners to dispose of uncalled-for allowances; touching contempts of court; concerning trial of civil causes; abolishing the fourth Superior Judge of Marion county; relative to issuing letters testamentary; regulating the practice of dentistry; amending section 18o' tire statute of descents; amending section 12 of d : voice act of lb<3; defining time for holding general elections; providing for homestead and exemption; fix’ng fees and salaries; authorizing prosecution by affidavit and information; preventing manufacture and sale of adulterated fertilizers; amending fish law; authorizing Justices to require additional re plevin bail; providing for security and payment of laboring men; defining libel; concerning dissection of human bodies; concerning married women: preventing mortgagor s of goods from disposing of proper ty; providing for tho inspection of petroleum oils; amending ode of practice relative to receivers; amending section 397 of civil code relative to costs; relative to legal publications; for vacating public squares; authorizing County Commissioners to grant relief in certain cases: requiring railroad companies to sound whistles; providing for punishment of persons in possession of property stolen in another State; relative to election of Road Supervisors; authorizing incorporated towns to pay for street lighting; amending section 30 of the charter of Evansville; concerning trusts and powers; relative to farmers’insurance associations; for protection of wild game; amending section 2 of act of 1864 defining competent winesses; for establishing workhouses.

Anecdote of Garrison.

Oliver Johnson, writing to the New York Tribune, tells this story of the late William Lloyd Garrison: On one occasion, when returning from an anti-slavery convention in Philadelphia, he fell into conversation on board the steamer with a slaveholder. The whole subject of slavery was discussed between them, Mr. Garrison keeping perfectly cool, but plying the stranger with convincing logic and strong appeals to conscience. Mr. Garrison retired at length, and aby stander of less discretion, resuming the argument on the antislavery side,waxed hot and denunciatory; when the slaveholder said: “Why do you not talk coolly and candidly as that other gentleman did? It is a pleasure to discuss the question with a reasonable man like him, but you are as fierce and unreasonable as Garrison himself.” “Did you ever see Garrison?” inquired the interlocutor of the slaveholder. “No, but I have read his paper and know him to be a wild fanatic.’’ “Let me tell you, then, that it was William Lloyd Garrison with whom you were talking just now, and who, you sav, was so candid and sweet-tempe’ed.” The slaveholder would not believe it till he was c mvioced of tbetruih by the Captain of the steamer, who assured him that he had indeed been conversing with the fanatical editor of The Liberator, and had commended him for his “sweet reasonableness” in discussion. Nails grow more rapidly in children than in adults, and faster in summer than in winter. Those of the right hand grow faster than those of the left, and in proportion to the length of the fingers. Those of the middle finger are therefore the quickest in growth.