Indianapolis Journal, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 November 1884 — Page 9

OLGA MOROSOFFS ESCAPE. An Episode of Nihilism. in Cornhill Magazine. In November, 1879, Olga fell into the hands of the police. It should be explained that when these succeed in arresting a Nihilist they always cleave in the apartments of the captured person a \few men to take into custody any ono who may come to see that person. In our language, this •is called a trap. Owing to the Russian habit of arranging everything at home and not in the cases, as in Europe, the Nihilists are often compelled to go to each others houses, and thus these traps become fatal. In order to diminish the risk, safety signals are generally placed in the windows, and are taken away at the first sound of the police. But, owing to the negligence of the Nihilists themselves, accustomed as Alley are to danger, and so occupied that they •.sometimes have not time to cat a mouthful all day long, the absence of theso signals is often disregarded, or attributed to some combination of circumstances —the difficulty, or perhaps the ‘topographical impossibility, of placing signals in many apartments in such a manner that they can be seen from a distance. This measure of public security frequently, therefore, does not answer its purpose, and a good half of all the Nihilists who have fallen into the hands of the government have been caught in these very traps. A precisely similar misfortune happened to Olga, and the worst of it was it wa3 in the house of Alexander Kviatkovskv,- one of the Terrorist leaders, where the police found a perfect magazine of dynamite, bombs and similar things, together with a plan of the Winter Palace, which, after the explosion there, led to his capital conviction. As may readily be believed, the police would regard with anything but favorable eyes evory one who came to the house of such a man. Directly she entered, Olga was immediately seized by two policemen, in order to prevent her from defending herself. She, however, displayed not the slightest desire to do so. She feigned surprise, astonishment, and invented there and then the story that, she had come to see some dressmakers (who had. in fact, their names on a door-place below, and occupied the upper floor) for the purpose of ordering sorae•tfaing, but had mistaken the door: that she did not know what they wanted with her: and wished to return to her husband, etc.; the usual subterfuges to which the police ■are accustomed to turn a deaf ear. But Olga *1 ayed her part so well that the pristav, or head of the police of the district, was really inclined to believe her. He told her that anyhow, if she did not wish to be immediately taken to prison, she must give her name and conduct him to her own house. Olga gave the first name which came into her mind, which naturall enough was not that under which she was residing in the capital, but as to her place of residence she declared, with every demonstration of profound despair, that she could not, and would not, take him there or say where it was. The pristav insisted, and, upon her reiterated refusal, observed to the poor simple thing that "her obstinacy was not only prejudicial to her. but even useless, as, knowing her name, he would have no difficulty in sending someone to the Adressni Stol, and obtaining her address. Struck by this unanswerable argument, Olga said she would take him to her house. No sooner had she descended into the street, accompanied by the pristav and some of his subalterns, than Olga met a friend. Madame Maria A., who was going to Kviatkovsky’s. where a meeting of Terrorists had actually been fixed for that very day. It was to this chance meet ing that the Terrorists owed their escape from the very grave danger which threatened them; J£or the windows of Kviatkovsky’s rooms were so placed that it was impossible to see any signals there from the street Naturally enough the two friends made no sign to indicate that they were acquainted with each other, but Madame Maria A., on seing Olga with the police, ran in all haste to inform her friends of the arrest of their companion, about which there could be no doubt. The first to be warned was Nicholas Morosoff. as the police in a short time would undoubtedly go to his house and make the customary search. Olga felt certain that this was precisely what her friend would do, and therefore her sole object now was to delay her custodians so as to give Morosoff timo to “clear” his rooms (that is to say, destroy or take away papers and every thing compromising), and to get away himself. It was this that she was anxious about, for he had been accused by the traitor Goldenberg of having taken part in the mining work connected with the Moscow attempt, and by the Russian law was liable to the penalty of death. Greatly emboldened by this lucky meeting with her friend. Olga, without saying a word, conducted the police to the Ismailovsky Polk, one of the quarters of the town most remote from the place of her arrest, which was in the Nevsky district. They found the street and the house indicated to them. The entered and sum mowed the dvornik (doorkeeper), who has to be present at every search made. Then caine the inevitable explanation. The dvornik said that he did not know the lady, and that she did not lodge in that house. Upon hearing this statement Olga covered her face with her hands, and again gave way to despair. She sobbingly admitted that she had deceived them from fear of her husband, who was very harsh, that 6he had not given her real name and address, and wound up by begging them to let her go home. “What’s the use of all this, madam?” ex claimed the pristav, ‘Don't you see that you are doing yourself harm by these tricks? I’ll forgive you this time, because of your inexperience, but. take care you don’t do it again, and lead us at once to your house, or otherwise you will repent it.” After much hesitation, Olga resolved to obey the injunctions of the pristav. She gave her name, and said she lived in one of the lines of the Vasili Ostroy. It took an hour to reach the place. At last they arrived at the house indicated. Hero precisely the same scene with the dvornik was repeated. Then the pristav lost all patience, and wanted to take her away to prison at once, without making a search in her house. Upon hearing the pristav’s harsh announcement, Olga flung heuself into an arm-chair and had a violent attack of hysterics. The}’ fetched some water and sprinkled her face with it to revive her. When she had somewhat recovered the pristav ordered her to rise and go at once to the prison of the district. Her hysterical attack reconi menced. But the pristav would stand no more nonsense, and told her to get up. or otherwise ho would have her taken away in a cab by main force. The despair of the poor lady was now at its height “Listen!” she exclaimed. “I will tell you everything now.” And she began the story of her life and marriage. e>he was the daughter of a rustic, and she named the province and tlio village. Up to the age of six teen she remained with her father and looked after the sheep. But one day an engineer, her future husband.who was at work upon a branch line of railway, came to stop in the house, lie fell in iove with her, took her to town, placed her with his aunt, and had teachers to educate her, as she was illiterate and knew nothing. Then he married her, and they lived very hap pily together for four years; but he had since become discontented, rough, irritable, and she feared that he loved her no longer; but she loved him as much as ever, as she owed everything to him, and could not be ungrateful. Then she •aid that he would be dreadfully angry with her and would perhaps drive her away if she ■went, to the house in charge of the police; that it would be a scandal; that he would think she had stolen something, and so on. All this and much more of the same kind, with endless details and repetitions, did Olga narrate, interrupting her story from time to time by sighs, exclamations and tears. She wept in very truth, and her tears fell copiously, as she assured me when she laughingly described this scene to me afterward. I thought at the time that she would havo made a very good actress. The pristav, though impatient, continued to listen. He was vexed at the idea of returning with onipty hands, and he hoped this time at all events her story would lead to something. Then, too. he had not the slightest suspicion, and would have Liken his oath that tlw woman lie had arrested was a poor, simple creature,who had fallen iuto his hands without having done anything whatever, as so frequently happen in

Russia, where houses are searched on the slightest suspicion. When Olga had finished her story the pristav began to console her. He said that her husband would certainly pardon her when he heard her explanation; that the same tiling might happen to any one, and so on. Ogla resisted for a while, and asked the pristav to promise that he would assure her husband she had done nothing wrong; and more to the same effect. The pristave promised everything, in order to bring the matter to an end, and this time Olga proceeded toward her real residence. She had gainsd three hours and a half; for her arrest took place at about 2 o’clock, and she did not reach her own home until about half past 5. She had no doubt that Morosoff had got away, and after having “cleared” the rooms had thrice as much time as he required for tlio operation. Having ascended the stairs, accompanied by the dvorniks and the police she rang the bell. The door opened and the party entered, first the ante-chamber, then the sitting-room. There was a terrible surprise awaited her. Morosoff in person was seated at a table, in his dressinggown, with a pencil in his hand and a pen in his ear. Olga fell into hysterics. This time they were real, not simulated. How was it that he had remained in the house? The lady previously mentioned had not failed to hasten at once and inform Morosoff, whom she found at homo with three or four friends. At the announcement of the arrest of Olga they all had but one idea —that of remaining where yiov were, of arming themselves, and of awaiting her arrival, in order to rescuo her by main force. But Morosoff energetically opposed this proposal. He said, and rightly said, that it. presented more dangers than advantages, for the police being in numbers and reinforced by the dvorniks of the house, who aro all a species of police agents of inferior grade, the attempt at the best would result in the liberation of one person at the cost of several others. His view prevailed, and the plan, which was more generous than prudefit, was abandoned. Tho rooms were at Mice “cleared” with the utmost rapidity, so that the fate of the person arrested, which was sure to be a hard one and was inevitable, should not bo rendered more grievous. When all was ready and they were about to leave, Morosoff staggered his friends by acquainting them with tne plan he had thought of. He would remaiu in the house alone and await the arrival of the police. They thought he had lost his senses; for everybody knew, and no better than himself, that, with the terrible accusation hanging over his head, if once arrested it would be all over with him. But he said he hoped it would not come to that—nay. he expected to get clear off with Olga, and in any case, would share her fate. They would escape or perish together. His friends heard him an nounce this determination with mingled feelings of grief, astonishment and admiration. Neither entreaties nor remonstrances could shake his determination. He was firm, and remained at home after saying farewell to his friends, who took leave of him as of a man on the point of death. He had drawn up his plan, which, by the suggestion of some mysterious instinct perfectly harmonized with that of Olga, although they had never in any way arranged the matter. He also had determined to feign innocence, and had arranged everything in such a manner as to make it seem as though he were the most peaceful of citizens. As he lived under the false passport of an engineer, lie covered his table with a heap of plans of various dimensions, and, having put on his dressing-gown and slippers, sot diligently to work to copy one, while waiting the arrival of his unwelcome guests. It was in this guise and engaged in this inno cent occupation that he was surprised by the notice. The scene which followed may easily be imagined. Olga flung her arms round his neck, and poured forth a stream of broken words, exclamations, excuses and complaints of those men who had arrested her because she wished to call upon her milliner. In the midst, however, of these exclamations, she whispered in his ear, “Have you not been warned?” “Yes,” lie replied in the same manner, “everything is in order. Don’t be alarmed.” Meanwhile he played tho part of an affectionate husband mortified by this scandal. After a little scolding and then a little consolation, he turned to tho pristav and asked him for an explanation, as he could not quite understand what had happened from the disconnected words of his wife. Tho pristav politely told him the whole story. The engineer appeared greatly surprised and grieved, and could not retrain from somewhat bitterly censuring his wife for her unpardonable imprudence. The pristav, who was evidently reassured by the aspect of the husband and of the whole household, declared nevertheless that he must make a search,

“Hope you will excuse me, sir,” he added, “but I am obliged to do it; it is my duty.” “I willingly submit to the law,” nobly replied the engineer. Thereupon he pointed to the room, so as to indicate that the pristav was free to search it thoroughly, and having lit a candle with his own hand, for at that hour in St. Petersburg it was already dark, he quietly opened the door of the adjoining room, which was his own little place. The search was made. Certainly not a single scrap of paper was found, written or printed, which smelt of Nihilism. ‘ By rights, I ought to take the lady to prison,” said the pristav, when he had finished his search, “especially as her previous behavior was anything but what it ought to have been; but I won't do that. I will simply keep you under arrest here until your passports have been verified. You see, sir,” he added, “we police officers are not quite so bad as the Nihilists make us out.” “There are always honest men in every occupation, ” replied the engineer with a gracious bow. More compliments of the same kind, which I need not repeat, were exchanged between them, and the pristav went away with most of his men, well impressed with such a polite and pleasant reception. He left, however, a guard in the kitchen, with strict injunctions not to lose sight of the host and hostess, until further orders. Morosoff and Olga were alone. The first act of the comedy they had improvised had met with complete success. But the storm was far from having blown over. The verification of their passports would show that they were false. The inevitable consequence would be a warrant for their arrest, which might he issued at any moment if the verification were made by a means of the telegraph. The sentinel, rigid, motionless, with his sword by his side and his revolver in his belt was seated in the kitchen, which was at the back, exactly opposite the outer door, so that it was impossible to approach the door without being seen by him. For several hours they racked their brains and discussed, in a low voice, various plans of escape. To free themselves by main force was not to be thought of. No arms bad been left in the place, tor they had been purposely takon away. Yet without weapons, bow could they grapple with this big, sturdy fellow, armed as he was I They hoped as the hours passed on he would fall asleep. But this hope was not realized. When, ut about halfpast 10, Morosoff, under the pretext of going into his little room, which was used for various domestic purposes, passed near the kitchen, he saw the man still at his post, with his eyes wide open, attentive and vigilant as at first. Yet when Morosoff returned, Olga would have declared that the way was quite clear, and that had nothing to do but to leave, so beaming were bis eyes. lie had, in fact, found what he wanted—a plan simple andrUsfe. The little room opened into the small corridor which served as a sort of ante-chamber, and its door Hanked that of the kitchen. In returning to the sittiug room, Morosoff observed that when the door of the little room was wide open it completely shut out the view of the kitchen, and consequently hid from the policeman the outer door, ami also that of the sittingroom. It would be possible, therefore, at a given moment, to pass through the ante-chamber without being seen by the sentinel. But this could not be done unless someone came and opened the door of the little room. Neither Olga nor Morosini could do this, for if. under some pretext. they opened it. they would of conrse have to leave it open. This would immediately cause suspicion, and the policeman would run after them and catch them, perhaps, before they had descended the staircase. Could they trust the landlady? The temptation to do so wigfereal. If she consented to assist them, success be considered certain. But if she refuseo! Who could guarantee that, from fear of being punished as an accomplice, she would not and reveal everything to the police? Os course she did not suspect iu the least what kind of people her lodgers were. Nothing, therefore, was said to her, but they hoped, nevertheless, to have her unconscious as sUtance, and it was upon that Morosoff had based his plan. About 11 o clock she went into the little room, where the pump was placed, to get the water to fill the kitchen cistern for next day’s consumption. As the room was very small, she

TILE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, ISS4.

generally left one of the two pails in tho corridor while slio filled the other with water, and, of course obliged to leave the door open. Everything thus depended upon the position in which she placed her pail. An inch or two one side or the other would decide their fate; for it was only when the door of the little room was wide open that it shut out the view of tho kitchen and concealed the end of the ante-chaniber. If not wide open, part of tho outer door could be seen. Thero remained half an hour before tho decisive moment, which both employed in preparing for flight. Their wraps were hanging up in the wardrobe in tho ante-chamber. They had, therefore, to put on what they had with them in the sitting room. Morosoff put on a light summer overcoat. Olga threw over her. shoulders a woolen scarf, to protect her somewhat from the cold. In order to deaden as much as possible the sounds of their hasty footsteps, which might arouse the attention of the sentinel in tho profound silence of tho night, both of them put on their goloshes, which, being elastic, made but little noise. They had to put them on next to their stockings, although it was not parsicularly agreeable at that season, for they were in their slippers, their shoes having been purposely sent into the kitchen to he cleaned for the following day, in order to remove all suspicion respecting their intentions. Everything being prepared, they remained in readiness, listened to every sound made by the landlady. At last came the clanging of empty pails. She went to tho little room, threw open the door, and began her work. The moment had arrived. Morosoff cast a hasty glance. Oh, horror! The empty pail scarcely projected beyond the threshold, and tho door was at a very acute angle, so that even from the door of tho little sitting room where they were, part of the interior of the kitchen could be seen. He turned toward Olga, who was standing behind him, holding her breath, and made an energetic sign in the negative. A few minutes passed, which seemed like hours. The pumping ceased; the pail was lull. She was about to place it on the floor. Both stretched their necks and advanced a step, being unable to control the anxiety of their suspense. This timo the heavy pail banged against the door and forced it back on its hinges, a stream of water being spilt. The view of the kitchen was completely shut out, but another disaster had occurred. Overbalanced by the heavy weight, the landlady had come half out into the corridor. “She has seen us,” whispered Morosoff, falling back pale as death. “No,” replied Olga, excitedly; and she was right. The landlady disappeared into the little room, and a moment afterward recohimeucod her clattering work. Without losing a moment, without even turning round, Morosoff gave the signal to his companion by a firm grip of the hand, and both issued forth, hastily passed through the corrider softly opened the door, and found themselves upon tho landing of the staircase. With cautious steps they descended and were in the street ill-clad but very light of heart A quarter of an hour afterward they were in a house where they had been anxiously awaited by their friends, who welcomed them with a joy more easy to imagine than to describe. In their own iibode their flight was not discovered until late into the morning, when tho landlady came to do the room.

GEN. WASHINGTON S APPEARANCE. A Feu Picture of the Father of His Country— His Mode of JLife. Letter in Cleveland Leader. An old gentleman whom I met above the Braddock Hotel told me he had for years heard George Washington Custis talk of his adopted father. Said ho: “Custis looked up to Washington as a god. He described him as straight as an American Indian, and as free in his walk as the savage. From the stories I have heard of Washington I have tried to picture him in my mind’s eye. He was a tall man. padded with muscle. He was six feet two in his shoes, and he weighed 210 pounds in his prime. He wore about No. 11 shoes, and had gloves three times as large as the average. His hands were so large that they were a curiosity, .and his whole frame was bony and large-jointed. He had a broad chest, but not a full one. It was rather hollow, and he was troubled in his last days with a cough. His mouth was firm, and his lower jaw gripped the upper with a determined grin. In later years he lost his teeth, ana the false ones he got did not fit well, and pushed out his lower lip. He had ey n s of cold light grey, which could look stern and angry upon occasion, and which seldom smiled. He was as wide at the hips as at the shoulders, and k*pt his straightness of stature to the last He had large legs and was a good rider and runner. You have heard the stories of his wonderful strength of arm and how ho threw stones wide distances. His nose was rather thick and coarse. I have never heard that it had a blossom on it. He was rather fastidious as to his dress, though he wore plain clothes when not on military* duly. He always shaved himself, but had a servant to comb and tie his hair every morniDg. I have heard Mr. Curtis say that he rose very early at Mt, Vernon, often before daybreak, and as early as 4a. m. He would, at sunrise, go -> his stables and look at his blooded horses. When he came back he had a light brekfast of corn cakes, honey and tea. or something of that sort, and then he ate nothing more until dinner. I am speaking of his later years. After breakfast he rode over his estate, and at 3 had returned and was dressed for dinner. Dinner was a big meal at Mt. Vernon, and Washington ate nothing after it. He usually drank five glasses of Maderia wine at desert, but I have never heard of his being drunk. Ho was not opposed to the moderate use of liquor, and when he was first elected to the House of Burgesses of Virginia, among the items of his election expenses wore a hogshead and a barrel of whisky, thirty-five gallons of ,wine and forty gallons of beer. In tho Virginia House he did not cut a great figure. He was not much of a speaker, but he was popular or lie could not have held his place for fifteen years, as he did. I have understood that he treated his slaves very well, but that he made them work and would allow no foolishness among them. Washington liked the theater, and was fond of dancing in early life ” “Do you think he was a religious man?” “No,” was the reply, “I do not. lie was a church member, you know, and a vestryman, but the vestry in those days was a semi-political and charitable board. I have heard old citizens say that Washington would often leave the church before tho services were over. Communion, you know, is served at the last of the service. The fact that Washington slighted communion is evidence to my mind that he was not a Christian of the cast-iron kind. Another evidence is the fact that he had no preacher at his bedside during his last sickness. He was sick, you know, for several days, and there must have been ample time to have got a preacher if he had desired it. He was thoroughly conscious until the last, and it is said that he timed his pulse as long as the breath was in his body. As it left him his hand dropped from his wrist and he sank back dead. During his last hours ho gave the most minute directions as to business matters, directing his wife to go and get the two wills which he had made and burn tho one which he wished annulled. He directed that his corpse be kept for three days, and Tobias Lear, his private secretary, says among his last words were those in regard to his burial. He died on Saturday night, and on the next Wednesday he was buried in a walnut coffin lined with lead. Many years after this his body was changed from this box to the marble tomb in which it now lies.

How a Taunt Originated. Atlanta Constitution, New Jersey is sometimes jocularly referred to as a foreign country by persons who do not know the origin of their little joke. After the downfall of the first Napoleon, his brother Joseph, who had been King of Spain, and his nephew, Prince Murat, took refuge in the United States, bringing with them great wealth. Joseph tried to induce several States to pass an act to enable him, as an alien, to hold real estate, but they all refused. Finally the New Jersey Legislature granted to him Murat the privilege of purchasing land. They bought a tract at Bordentown, built magnificent dwellings and fitted them up in royal style with pictures, sculptures, etc. Joseph Bonaparte’s residence was the finest in America. He was liberal with his money and made many friends. The Philadelphians were envious of the good fortune of the Jersey men in securing the two millionaires, and taunted them with being “foreigners.” and with importing the King of Spain to rule over thorn. The taunt stuck, and is still repeated by many people who have no idea or how riginated. Ayer’s Cathaitic Pills contain no calomel, nor any injurious substance whatever. They combine curative vegetable properties only.

THE MIGNONETTE CANNIBALS. The Right of a Man to Kill Ilis Follow to Save His Own Life—A Novel Question. London Standard. At the Exeter assizes, yesterday, Mr. Baron Huddleston, in charging the grand jury, alluded at considerable length to the circumstances and the law bearing on tho charge against Captain Thomas Dudley and Edwin Stephens, the master and mate of the yacht Mignonette, who are accused of the murder of a boy named Parker on tho high seas. The judge said the Mignonette, a yacht of nineteen tons, was being sent out to Australia, and the prisoner, Dudley, a man of .exemplary character, great experience and courage, applied for and obtained the place of master on board of her. She sailed from Southampton for Sidney on the 19th of May, the crew consisting of Dudley, Stephens, Brooks, an ablebodied seaman, and Parker, a boy about seventeen or eighteen. They touched at Madeira crossed the equator, where they foil into very foul weather, and when about sixteen miles from the Cape of Good Hope, on the sth of July, in a very severe storm, the Mignonette’s starboard quarter was smashed by a huge sea, and her side knocked in. The captain endeavored to obtain from tho cabin some means of sustenance to put on board the boat, which was lowered, but the Mignonette went down before lie was able to obtain more than two one-pound tins of turnips. The three men and the boy wore left in the boat without anything to drink, and with nothing to eat except the two tins of turnips. On the fourth day they managed to catch a small turtle, upon which they subsisted for a few days, and this was the only food they had up to the twentieth day, when the occurrence took place out of which this charge arose. By the eleventh or twelfth day the turtle was entirely consumed, and for the next eight days they had nothing to eat. They had no fresh water, and from time to time only succeeded in catching some few drops of rain in their oilskin coats. On the eighteenth day, having been seven days without food and five without water, the three men discussed the question what was to be done if no succor came, and considered whether one would not have to be sacrificed for the purpose of affording food for the rest. The captain suggested that this sould be decided by the drawing of lots, but it was not agreed to. Indeed. Brooks seemed to have sternly dissented from it. Tho boy Parker, who was not then ill, did not seem to have been consulted. Captain Dudley, in one of his many statements, all of Mhich agree, said that on the day before they killed the boy he proposed to Stephens and Brooks that they should cast lots who should die for the maintenance of the others, but they would not agree to it. Brooks refused, saying that he did not wish anybody to kill him. Dudley and Stephens talked over the number of their families, and Dudley suggested that it would be better that they should kill the boy Parker in order that their lives might be saved. Dudley further said: “If there is no vessel in sight by to-morrow morning, I think we had better kill the lad.”

“No vessel appearing on tho following morning, I made signs to Stephens and to Brooks that we had better do it, but they seemed to have no heart to do it, so I went to the boy, who was lying at the bottom of the boat with his arms over his face. I took out my knife, first offering a prayer to God to forgive us for what we were about to do, and for the rash act, that our souls might be saved, and I said to the boy: ‘Richard, your time has come.’ The boy said: ‘What, me. sir?’ I said: ‘Yes. my boy.’ I then put my knife in there [pointing to the side of his neck, opposite to the side over which he had his arm.]” The captain, in his statement, went into details of the cannibalism of the three men. This statement made by Dudley was not substantially varied in any of his other statements, nor was it contradicted by the deposition of Stephens, or the evidence of Brooks, who would be called as a witness. Brooks clearly took no part in the death of the boy. Dudley* Stephens, and Brooks fed upon the body for the next few days; on the twenty-fourth day they were picked up by a German bark, the Montezuma, in a fearful state of prostration, and ultimately brought to Falmouth. The judge continued: It seems clear that the taking away of the boy’s life was carefully considered. and amounted to a case of deliberate homicide. 1 must now tell you what I consider to be the law as applicable to this case. It is a matter that has undergone considerable discussion, and it has been said that it comes within a class of cases where the killing of another is excusable on the ground of necessity. I can find no authority for that proposition in the recognized treatises on the criminal law', and I know of no such law in the law of England. Baron Puffendorf, in his “Law' of Nature and Nations,” mentions a case where s ven Englishmen, tossed on the ocean without meat or drink, killed ono of their number on whom the lot fell, and who had (as he says) the courage not to be dissatisfied, assuaging in some measure with his body their intolerable and almost famished condition, whom, when they at last came to shore, the judges absolved of the crime of murder. Although ho says the sailors were English sailors, he does not say where the case was tried, or of what Nation were the judges. “Seigler upon Grotius,” giving this relation, is of opinion that the men were all guilty of a great sin for conspiring against the life of one of the company, and (if it should happen) everyone against, his own. I can find no trustworthy report of this oase, and. for reasons w hich I shall refer to presently, I cannot consider it* an authority binding on me. There is an American case, “Commonwealth vs. Holmes,” reported in 1 Wall, ir., in which sailors threw passengers overbaard to lighten a boat, and it was held that the sailors ought to have been thrown overboard first, unless they were required to work the boat, and that at all events the particular persons to be sacrificed ought to have been decided by ballot, by which, I suppose. they mean by lots. I cannot subscribe to the authority of this case; besides, it would be inapplicable to the present, because here the notion of deciding by lots was neglected. The learned American judge, in giving his reasons, said the selection should be by lot, as it would bo an appeal to providence to choose the victim. Such a reason would seem almost to verge upon the blasphemous. 1 cannot hut considor that the taking of human life by appealing to the doctrine of chance would really seem to increase the deliberation with which the act had been committed. That American case, however, was a charge not of murder, but of manslaughter, on the ground of the failure on the part of the prisoners to discharge the statutory duty of preserving tho life of a passenger. The question has been considered by the criminal code bill commissioners—a very high authority—in their report, in which, discussing this doctrine, they say: “Casuits have for centuries amused themselves, and may amuse themselves for centuries to come, by speculation as to the moral duty of two persons in the w'ater struggling for the possession of a plank capable of supporting only one. If ever a case should come for decision in a court of justice, which is improbable, it may be found that the particular circumstances render it easy of solution. “We certainly are not prepared to suggest that necessity should in every case be a justification. We are equally unprepared to suggest that necessity should in no case be a defense. We judge it better to leave such questions to be dealt with when, if over, they arise in practice, by applying tho principles of law to the circumstances of the particular case.” My brother Stephen, in his “History of tho Criminal Law,” observes that this doctrine is one of the curiosities of the law, and, so far as he is aware, is a subject on which the law of Englaud is so vague that if cases raising the question should ever occur, the judges would practically be able to lay down any rule which they considered expedient I do not derive much assistance from either of the cases, or from the report of the criminal code commissioners; and I am therefore obliged to tell you what, in my judgment, after careful consideration. I deem to be the law of England. Deliberate homicide can be justifiable or excusable only under certain well-recognized heads—cases where men are put to death by order of a legally constituted tribunal, in pursuance of a legal sentence; cases where the killing is in advancement of public justice, as, forinstanco, criminals escaping from justice, resisting their lawful apprehension. Another case is enumerated by Blackstone where homicide is committed for the prevention of any forcible and atrocious crime; again, when men in the discharge of their duty to their country,

and in the service of their queen, kill any of the enemies of their queen and country and. lastly, where an individual acting in the reasonable apprehension of receiving injury to himself causes the death of another. It is obvious that this case falls under none of these heads. The illustration found in the writers upon civil law, which is alluded to in “Cicero de Officiis,” and mentioned in Bacon, and which is quoted in some works as the ground of the doctrine of necessity, is placed by Blackstone under the latter head of self defense. lie says: “Where two persons being shipwrecked and getting on the same plank, but finding it not able to save them both, one of them thrusts the other from it, whereby he is drowned, he who thus preserves his own life at the expense of another man's is excusable, from unavoidable necessity and the principle of self-defense, since their both remaining on the same weak plank is a mutual though innocent attempt upon and endangering of each other’s life.” But Sir William Blackstone, in another part of the chapter, points out that under no circumstances can an mnocent man be slain for the purpose of saving the life of another who is not his assailant, ami he says: “Therefore, though a man be violently assaulted, and hath no other possible means of escaping death but by killing an innocent person, this fear and force should not acquit of murder; for he ought rather to die himself than to escape by the murder of an innocent. But in such a case liejs permitted to kill the assailant, for there the law of uature and self-defense (its primary canon) hath made him his own protector.” Bishop, a high American authority, supports this view, and it is the more important as he refers to the American case to which I have before alluded. It is impossible to say that the act of Dudley and Stephens was an act of self-defense. Parker, at the bottom of the boat, was not endangering their lives by act of his. The boat could hold them all, and the motive for killing him was not for the purpose of lightening the boat, but for the purpose of eating him, which they could do when dead, but not while living. What really imperilled their lives was not the Dresence of Parker, but the absence of food and drink. It could not be doubted for a moment that if Parker was possessed of a weapon of defense, say a revolver, he would have been perfectly justified in taking the life of the captain, who was on the point of killing him, which shows clearly that the act of the captain was unjustifiable. It may be said that the selection of the boy, as indeed Dpdly seems to have said, was better, because his stako in society, having no children at all, was less than theirs; but if such reasoning is to be allowed for a moment, then, according to Cicero’s test, that, under such circumstances of emergency the man who is to be sacrificed is to be the man who would be the least likely to do benefit to the republic, Parker, as a young man, might be likely to live longer and be of more service to the republic than the others. Such reasoning must be always more ingenious than correct. Nor can it bo urged for a moment that the state of Parker’s health, who is alleged to have been failing by reason of his drinking sea water, would justify it. No person is permitted, ac cording to the law of this country, to accelerate the death of another. Besides, if once this doctrine of necessity is to be admitted, why was Parker elected rather than the other three? One would have imagined that the state of his health and the misery in which he was at the time would have obtained for him more consideration at their hands.

However, it is idle to lose one’s self in speculations of this description. I am bound to tell you that if you are satisfied that the boy’s death was caused or accelerated by the act of Dudley, or by Dudley and Stephens, this is a case of deliberate homicide, neither justifiable nor excusable. The crime is murder, and you, therefore, ought to find a true bill for that offense against both the prisoners. You will, per haps, be good enough to say whether, with reference to the mate Stephens, there is evidence which will satisfy you that he was abetting, or aiding, or sanctioning the conduct of Dudley. In his statutory examination, on oath, he says the master selected Parker as being the weakest; that he (Stephens) agreed to this, and that the master accordingly killed tho lad. Unless you disbelieve him you will find a true bill against him as well as Dudley. I may say that Capt Dudley seems to have made no secret of what had taken place, and to have voluntarily furnished all the evidence against himself, ai though it is quito true that the course taken by tho magistrates, very properly, in making Brooks a witness, supplies, also, evidence for the prosecution, this case having taken place on the high seas, and being a case of Bitish subjects, is one which by statue is able to be tried here. No person who has read the details of this painful case but must be filled with the deepest compassion for the unhappy men who are placed in this frightful position. 1 have only, in this preliminary stage, to tell you what the law is. But if you should feel yourselves bound to find the bill, 1 shall then take care that the matter shall be placed in a form for further consideration if it becomes necessary. I think lam bound to do this after the reports of the cases I have mentioned in Puffendorff. the American cases, and the report of the criminal law commissioners. The matter may then be carefully argued, and if there is any such doctrine as that suggested, the prisoners will have the benefit of it. If there is not, it will enable them under the peculiar circumstances of this melancholy case, to appeal to the mercy of the crown, in which,by the Constitution of the country, as a great lawyer points out, is vested the power of pardoning particular objects of compassion, and softening the law in cases of particular hardship. WONDERFUL NASSAU. A Singular Island Where Vegetation Never Dies and Grain Fields Are Unknown, Reliobotli Sunday Herald. It is curious to think that, in a country where vegetation never dies and everything is perpet ually green, the people have never seen a field of grain or a haystack, have never watched the earth turn over and under by a plow; never heard the click of a harvester or the hum of a threshing machine; never listened to the murmuring of a brook, or watched tho flow of a river. These things are unknown in Nassau. No grain is raised there; there is no field big enough to make it worth while for one thing, and where the land has been cleared, and broken, and made productive, it is too rich in its capacity to raise more valuable things. There is very little grass. Here and there are little patches of it, but almost always where it has been sown and carefully cultivated. All the flour used has to be imported. As most of the horses come from America, so their lmy and feed is takeu from here, too, except such green stuff as they pick up incidentally.’ Our modern farm machines, being unnecessary there, are unknown and unheard of. There are no rivers, and in traveling over almost all parts of tho island of New Providence I do not remember to have seen even the smallest brooklet. But it is anything but barren, anything but desolate. Take a field there that is nothing but a solid mass of coral ro.oK and limestone, and if let alone for a year or two it becomes so covered with all sorts of vegetation that no man could tell whether the bottom of it was sand or clay, or rock, or what. If land is not carefully cultivated all the time it soon disappears beneath the growth of trees and bushes. A barren rock in less than two years becomes a flower garden if let alone. It is a common saying that the land had to be tilled witli a pickaxe, and trees and vegetables set out with crowbars. There is good clay soil on some parts of the island. Some of the pineapple fields were of rich red clay, strong enough to raise grain or anything planted in them. But they were exceptions. Only here and thero is red clay found, and all the rest is rock. Napoleon's Meanness. London Truth. The selection from the letters and dispatches of the first Napoleon, which haM just been published, with explanatory notes by Mr. Denis Bingham, is very interesting reading, for they form an excellent and authentic record of an extraordinary man, who was a singular mixture of the greatest talents and of ihe meanest qualities. Napoleon is often reproached for his lies, and the phrase “menteur comme un bulletin” was invented to characterize his official mode of announcing his military successes. This I havo always thought unfair, for the object of a general is to deceive his opponent in many matters, and if this can be done by means of a bulletin, why should he not adopt this method? The worst trait in Napoleon was his jealousy of his own generals, and his persistent endervors to lessen their services in order to aggrandize his own. A matter of choice—whether to suffer, uninterruptedly. with a cough, or to invest 25 cents for I)r. Bull's Cough Syrup and cure it.

HONORS TO HI .HE. PATTI. Incidents of tho Celebration of tho Twenty* Fifth Anniversary of Ilor Debut. New York World, At the close of the last act of the opera of “Martha,” last evening, the curtain failed to fall. The village maiden chorus girls and Ihe gallant country swains of the male chorus, who were gracefully posed for a brief final tableau, looked at first surprised, then amazed, and finally horrified. The vast audience kept its seat. Os course, a good many nooplo were aware that there was to be an after-show, but there were not a few persons present who didn’t know what had happened or was about to happen. Mme. Patti was gracefully embarrassed. She wore tho pretty costume allotted to Martha, in tho village scenes, and she put her ungloved hands over eyes and smiled through the inserstices of her dainty fingers. This unexpected tableau continued for a moment or more, and ‘hen thero was a noisy rattle of snaro drums; the back scene shifted, and the splendid Seventh Regiment band, led by Cuppa, marched out upon the stage, the villagers making room by crowding to the wings on either 6ide of the stage. This more or less surprising affair was got up to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Adelina Patti’s operatic debuto in New York. To tell the truth, it was too late. Mine. Patti having made her first appearance at tlio Academy of Music on the evening of Nov. 24,1859. Patti’s debuto was made in the opera of “Lucia di Lammermoor,” and it is somewhat surprising that Colonel Mapleson, with his excellent ideas concerning the general fitness of things, did not select “Lucia" for last night’s performance. As the people in the theater caught sight of the Seventh’s crack band, and as tho significance of the occasion began to dawn upon them a storm of applause arose from all portions of tho house. Cuppa raised his baton, and the band played an inspiriting march. The melody of this march is said to have originated in* the pretty and musical head of the great diva herself. She composed the air n year or two ago at the time a benefit (which never occurred) was proposed for Sig. Barilli. It was only recently scored for a full band; in fact it was scored expressly for the event of last evening. At tlio conclusion of the march Patti stepped grace fully to the front of thestago with eyes directed to tho blushing leader of the band said: “My dear friends, its twenty five years ago since I sung here for the first time. The reception you have given me to night is a tribute I shall never forget. It overwhelms me. lam so overwhelmed I can say nothing more.” At these pretty declarations the audience fairly shrieked with delight Ladies stood up in their seats and waved their handkerchiefs and the army of young men shouted “Bravo?" Mme. Patti turned to Scalchiand kissed her upon the cheek. She then shook hands with Cuppa, bowed sweetly to tlio members of the band, kissed her hands to the audience and ran away to her dressing room. In the mean time Police Captain Clinchy, whose sympathies with tho celebration of Patti’s artistictic triumph were fullv enlisted, ’vas doing his best with a squad of officers to expedite tho clearing of Fourteenth street, ifc order that room might be made for the formation of a triumphal procession, which was to escort the great queen of song to her hotel. It was a long time, however, despite the efforts of the police, before the carriages in waitine for the enormous ami fashionable audience had all picked rip their wealthy loads and clattered away, and the hour was close upon midnight when Mme. Patti, ac companied by Sig. Nicolini and her maid, came out of the Academy and entered a close carriage drawn by lour white horses. A platoon of mounted police cleared the way for the carriage, and fifty torch bearers fell m behind the police. The Seventh’s band headed tho procession. During these preparations Col. Mapleson was flying about the street in a white-checked ulster which flapped madly in tho breeze, and in a state of mind which can more easily he imagined than described. The gallant Colonel had expected himself to head the procession, mounted on a properly becoming saddle horse. He pranced upon the sidewalk and frothed at the mouth, but his promised steed failed to arrive, and the procession started without him. It is, perhaps, safe to venture the assertion that this was the first time in his eventful career that tho gallant Colonel was left. Following Patti’s coach and four was a big wagon, from which, on the line of march from the Academy to the Windsor Hotel, there was a continuous shooting off of Homan candles. This wagon also contained iron basins of powder, which, when ignited, made the streets brilliant with manv-colored lights. The route was up Broadway to Twenty-third street, thence to Madison avenue, to Forty second street, then to Fifth avenue, and terminated at the Windsor, in the vicinity of which establishment, cannons were fired with a noise and a rapidity which quite unnerved the great songstress. Hurrying into the hotel, Mme Patti repaired at once to her apartments, which are upon the ground floor fronting upon Fifth avenue. The band took its station under her windows, and, amid the shoutings of an immense multitude in the street, played a potpourri from “Traviata," the “Flor di Primavera” waltz—which is said to have been composed by Patti ten years ago—the sextet from "Lucia,” and the national air, “America," which brought this somewhat remarkable occasion to an end. Mine Patti disappointed the hungry crowd in the street by merely bowing her acknowledgements of the serenade from the window. The multitude had evidently expected that she would sit on the window sill and sing a verse or two of “Way Down Upon the Scwanco River,” but for some reason she did not, and the crowd, after repeated cheers, finally dispersed.

Coolness in a Trying Situation. Every Otlu'r Saturday. The coolness and self-possession of that very remarkable man, Sergeant S. Prentiss, was strikingly illustrated in the following anecdote of his second duel with the late Henry S. Foote (General Foote),which is taken from his memoir by his brother. The meeting occurred on the right bank of the Mississippi river, opposite Vicksburg, and at the first fire Mr. Prentiss’s pistol, snapped, wliilo General Foote missed, shooting over him. This increased the eagerness of the largo crowd assembled to witness the affair to such a degree that they* pressed up on each side of the line until there was loft quite a narrow space, scarcely room enough for the pas sage of the balls. After the parties had resumed their positions, pistols in hand and triggers set awaiting the word for a second fire, everything being as still as death, Mr. Prentiss observed a little boy, who. anxious to see “tho fun,” was climbing a sapling in his rear, and said to him. “My son, you had l>ettor take care; General Foote is shooting rather wild.” Henry Clay’s Style in Congress. Ben: Perley I’ooro. Mr Clay made a good Secretary of State; but his place was in Congress, for he was formed by nature for a popular orator. Ho was tall and thin, with a rather small head and gray eyes, which peered forth less voluminously than would have been expected in one possessing eminent controi of language. His nose was straight, his upper lip long and his under jaw light. His mouth, of generous width, straight when he was silent, and curving upward at the corners when he spoko or smiled, was singularly* graceful, in dieating, more than any other feature, the olas tic play of his mind. When he enchained large audiences, his fmatures were lighted up by* a win niug smile, tho gestures of his long amis wer e graceful, and tho gentle accents of his mellow voice were persuasive and winning. Yet there has never been a more imperious despot in political affairs than Mr. Clay*. Ho regarded himself as the head-center of his party “I/etnt, e’est moi”—and he wanted eveiything utilized for his advancement Senator Anthony's Taking Qualttie*. Wnfdilngton Letter. Ono of Ins senatorial colleagues, who knew him intimately, said, to-day: “He was one of that class of men who go through life gently and easily*, without any trouble to themselves, treading in their pathway only on flowers, getting everything, giving nothing beyond pleasant words and smiles. In the twenty five years that ho sat in the Senate he probably received more invitations than any other member of that body, and was never known to extend one. Presents wero showered upon him. None were given by him. ami, as if to make amends for keeping everything he got in his life, he seemed to have remembered all his friends in his will, for it hns been noted that no man that could not take possessions with him has over scattered them further and wider among the circle of his friends. Had rheumatism four years—took half a bottle of Alhlophoro*. and have not. had a pain since.” E. D. Hitchcock, WVsivillo, Conn.

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