Indiana State Sentinel, Volume 24, Number 38, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 May 1875 — Page 2

THE INDIANA STATE SENTINEL THURSDAY, MAY 13 1875,

A PARABLU. UY MA CRICK F. EGAS. lie''otrope andjasmlne flowers, liergsrnont made tangled bowers For Titanla's tiny court IToney-suckle and snap-dragons, ijly-cnps their Knowjr flassona Fall of dew and fairy tport. These he saw. Then looked around For the flowers he had not found Thought-flowers he loved the best. Sweet-bearted roses swnng In air, Roses crimson, and gold and fair; Kare they were, but not his Quest. And yet he lingered not In vain To watch and wait Is oft to gain : Ji'a trn, say what you please ! For Just within a wallnel ring Of briars, with sharp and wanplsh sting. Lay pensive-eyed heartsease. While their velvet petals betokened. Ol briar alines and thorns he reckoned And longed, yet turned away. And thusfrompaln.be, coward, drew; Sach pain ! at worst a scratch or two, And. fearing to bo boldiy true. Recoiled, and bore his whole life throug No heartsease from that day.

PENANCE. lie kissed me, and I knew 'twas wrong; For he wai neither kith nor kin; 'wioae do penance very long For such a tiny little sin? lie pressed my hand ; that wasn't right ; Why will men have such wicked ways? Jt wasn 't for a minute quite Bat In It there were days and days. There's mischief in the moon, I know, I'm positive I saw her wink When I requested him to go; I meant it, too 1 almost think. But, after all, I'm not to blame ; He took the kiss; I do think men Ate quite without the sense of shame 1 wonder when he'll come ajalu? STORY OF THE DELUGE, NOAH'S UNFORTUNATE HABIT. THE REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES OF MR. SMITH. TJITBRE8TINO particulars respecting ihr TRANSLATION OF THE ASSYRIAN TABLETS 15 THE BF.ITI3H MUSEUM NEWLY DISCOVERED FACT'S ABOUT THE FLOOD AND KOAH, TOGETHER WITH SOME LIGHT ON THE HISTORY OF THE SENATOR FROM MAINE AND THE SETTLEMENT OF BROOKLYN A TERRIBLE TALK I NFOLDED. The Boston correspondent of the New York San writes concerning the developments resultant Jfrom the discovery of the key to the mysterious Inscriptions on the tablets unearthed at the ruins of ancient Assyrian cities in the Orient: Mr. Jacob Rounds, of London, one of the assistant curators of the British Museum, in a private letter to a distinguished Orientalist of this city, gives soine interesting particulars regarding the progress which has been made in the arrangement and translation of tt9 sculptured tablets andlaterescoctiles, brought from Assyria and Cbaldsa by Mr. George Smith. The results of the past three cr four months are gratifying in the extreme. The work which was begun three quarters of a century ago by Urotetend, and pursued by archaeologists like Risk, St. Martin, Klaproth, Oppert and the ind9fatirable Rawlinson, each of whom was satisfied if be carried it forward a single step, has been poshed far and fast by Mr. George Smith and his scholarly associates. The AssyrioBabylonian cuneiform?, the third and most complicated branch of the trilory, may fairly bs said to have found their CE Jipus. The riddles of Accad and of Sumir are read at last. The epigraphs on tablets dug from the earth and rubbish ol the Ninevite mounds are now translated by Mr. George Sovtb as readily as Profossor Whitney .translates Greek, or a fifth form schoolboy the fable of the man and the viper. It is not man' years since the learned Witte declared that the-e ephencgraphic characters arranged so neatly upon the slab of gray alabaster, or the carefully prepared eurlace of clay like specimen arrow heads io the museum of some ancient war departnoect were entirely without alphabetic significance., mere whimsical ormment, or perhaps the trail of worm?. But their exegesis has been perfected. The moubdi of Nirnrod, and Kouyui-jik, and Khorsabad, and Nebbi Yunus nave yielded up their jreciou3 treasure?, and are now revealing, page by page, THE EARLY HISTORY OF OUR GLOBE. Mr. Smith and Mr. Rounds are both confirmed in the belief, first entertained by "Westergaarde, that the cuneiform character li closely akin to tba Egyptian demotic; and also that its alphabat which contaios over four hundred signs, somo sylliblc, somo phonstic, and same ideographic is of the most complicated and arbitrary nature. As already Intimated ,t he description which Mr. Smith and his co-laborers hive deciphered are in the primitive or Babylonian character, which is much more obscure tban either cl its successors and modifications, the so called Persian and Median cunei. The slabs ot the greatest iLterest and importance were tb9 found buried in the famous Kouyucjiknound. first opened ia 1S43 by M- Paul Kmile Botta, and subsequently exported by Layard himself. Tr.e inscript.ODs are mostly upon clay, and teem to have constituted the walls of the great library of Assnrbanipal in Sennacherib's palace. Sennacherib was probably a monarch of a nautical turn of mind, for a large portion of tte inscriptions illustrate the history of the flood and thi -voyage of Noah, or of Njab, his Assyrian counterpart, who also correspjnds, in some particulars, with the Deucalion of the Grecian mjtbs. Piec by piece, r.nd fragment by fragment, the diluvian narrative has beeu worked out until it etands complete, a distinct episode ia the vast ep'.c which Mr. George Smith is engaged in reconstructing Mr. Rounds may certainly be p rdoned foi the naturally enthusiastic terms in which Let peaks of these labors. And well msy he be proud. These men in the British Mosenta are successfully compiling, Lrick by brick, what they clai'm to be a complete encyelcpteiU o; sacred and profane history, beginning with THE CONCEPTISN OF HATTER, and the biith of mind. Their extraordinary researches have placed them upon a pedes tal ol authority, from which they now gravely pronounce their approval of the Holy .Scriptures, and even stoop to pat Moses on the head, and to tell him that hi Inspired version was very nearly correct. Bo graphic is the account of the adventures of Nyab, or Noah as he may more conveniently b9 called; so clear is the synopsis of hia method of navigation? so startling are the newly discovered facts regarding the ark and its pisiengers. that I am term ted to avail mveelf of the kind perm'ssion of the Boston sivaut who has the honor to be Mr. Round's esteemed correspondent, and to transcribe FTTif. .! t:Ml, for the benefit of vour readers, the extraordinary story of the liood as told by the Assyrian cuneiforms cryptograms for four thousand years until the jreniuaoi a Smith unveiled the mystery ot their meaning. Mr. Smith ascertains from these Inscriptions that when Noah began to

1 prevailing opinion was that he was either

a lunatic or a tnrewa pecaianr uu v imposed, by his glowing predictions and ap pearance of periect sincerity, so to uepre eiste real estate that he might buy, through his brokers, to anv extent at prices mereiy nominal, K.ven after the low lands were submoreed, and it was apparent that there was to be a more than usually wet season, Noah's wicked neighbors were arcustoraed to gather lor no othr purpose than, to decide the ungainly architecture of the Ark anri to niiBstion its sailins oualities. They wem not want In ir who asserted that the tMn vnniii mil over at the first puff of wind like a too heavy freighted tub. Si rwtnnlA came, from far and near to witness and lansa at the discomfiture of the aged natriarnh. Rut there was no occasion for ridicule. THE ARK FLOATED LIKE A CORK. Noah dropped his c?nter board and stood at th helm wavlnz firracelul adieus to his wicked contemporaries, while the good vessel caught a fresh southerly breeze and moved off like a thlnz of life. There is nothing whatever In the Assyrian account to confirm the tradition that Noah accelerated the motion of the Ark by raising his own coat tails. Th:s would have been an unnecessary as well as aa undignified proceeding. The tall house on deck atlbrdsd sufficient resistance to the wind to drive the Ark along at a very respectable ra!e of speed. After the first novelty of the situation had worn off, and there was no longer the satisfaction of kindly but firmly refusing applications for passage, and seeing the lately derhive people scrambling lor high land, only to be eventually caugut by and swallowed up in the roaring waters, the voyage was a vexatious and disagreeable one. The Ark at the best was an unwieldy cralt. She fell off from the wind frlghtiully, and almost invariably mlsfed stays. Every choppy sea hammered roughly upon her flat bottom, making all on board so sea-sick as to wish that they too bad been wicked, and sunk with the crowd. Inside the miserable shanty which served for a cabin, birds, bsasts, and human beings were huddled promiscuously together. One of the deluge tablets says, not without a touch of pathos: "It was extremely uncomfortable amakharsyar to sleep with a Bengal tiger glaring at one from a corner, and a hedgehog nestled up close against one's bare legs. But it was positively dangerous when the elephaut became restless, or the polar bear took offense at some fancied slight. I will not anticipate Mr. Smith's detailed account of the cruise of the Ark. He has gathered data for A COMPLETE CHART OF XOAU's COURSE daring the many months of the voyage. The tortuous natura of tae route pursued and the eccentricity of Noah's great circle sailing are proof that the venerable naviga tor, under tho daprasdn ; lnfla9cco of his surrounding!, had frequent recourse to ardent spirits, an infirmity over which we, his descendants, should drop the veil of charity and of silence. The most astounding dis covery ot all, however, is a batch of t ihlits giving an actual and litsrai transcript Irom Noah's logbook The journal of the voyage which Noah, a3 a prudent navigator, doubtless kept with considerable caro was probably bequeathed to Saem, eldest born a id executive officer ot tho ark. Por tions of the log, it may be, ware banded down fiotn generation to generation among the Semitic tribes; and Mr. Rounds docs not hesitate to exore-is his opinion that these tablets in the British Museum wero copied directly from the original entries made in the ship's book by Noah or Shem. lie sends to bis Boston correspondent early proofs ot some ot the lithographic fac similes which are to illustrato Mr. Smith's torthcomin r work, "An Exhaustive History of the Flood en J ol the Noachic Voyage." I have made a rough sketch of the inscription upon one tablet, which contains intelligence of especial importance to Americans. tiere is inserted what wouid seem to be an elaborate charcoal sketch ot the New York sewerage system. Expressed in the English character, this inscription would read as fol lows: .... dabyarv saka ormodzi .... lraharvam athura 'uvatish .... kta rish thyar avaina nyasadavram akanaus mana frabara gathava Hambl Ilaualn khaysathryam nam Buhmi . . . pasava ki hi baga Jethjtbs paruvnam oazarka kbsayarsba .... Such progress has been made in theint?rpretation ot THE ARAMAIC DIALECTS that it is comparatively an easy matter for Mr. Rounds to put this into our vernacular, which he does as follows, supplying certain hiatuses in the inscription where the con nection is obvious: Scow "Ask," Latitude 41 15', Longi tude Water falling rapidly. Ate our last pterodactyl yesterday Hambl Hamln Hannibal llamlin! down with scurvy. Mut put him ashore.. Thcks. 7m. fi tter ale and mastodons a'l gone. Mrs. Japbeth's bad another pair of twins. All well. Tue importance of this scrap of diluviau hUtory can hardly be overestimated. It throws light on three or four points which have beeu little understood hitherto. Having viewed the subject in ail iti bearings, and having compared the extract here quoted with numberless other passages wtiich I have not time to give, Mr. Smith and Mr. Rounds arrive at the following important conclusions. 1. Wnen this entry was made in the log book by Noah (or Shem) the ark nas somewhere off the coast of Mine. Tne-latitude warrants this inference; the longitudo is unfortunately wanting. Parallel proof that Noah visited the shores of North America is to bo found in the old ballad, founded on a Rabbinical tradition, where mention is made ot Barnega;. The singular error which locates Ararat just three miles south of Itarnegit 13 doubtless due to Koine confusion in Noah's logarithmsthe natural result ot his unfortunate personal habis. 2 "Ate our last pterodactvl yesterday. B.ttcr ale aud mastodons ail gone." There we have a simple solution of a problem which has long puzzled science. Tue prov.s'on stowad away in the ark did not prove sufficient fir the unexpectedly protracted voyae. liar J pushed for fod, Noah aud his family were obliged to fall back on the live stock. They dovoured the largor aud more esculent animals in tho collodion. The only living specimens of the ietayosaurus, the dodo, the Silurian, the pleisosaurus, the mastodon, wero eatod up oy THE HUXORY EXCURSIONISTS. We can there tore explain the extinction of a certain species which, as geology teaches us, exi-ted in antediluvian times. Were this revelation the only result of Mr Smith's researches, he would not have dug in vain Mr. Rounds justly observes that this allusion to bitter ale affords strong presumptive evidence that this entry in the log was made by the hand of no other tban Ncah hlmselii III. The allnsion to the Interesting Increase of Japbeth's famby shows that woman noble woman, who always rl?e3 to the occasion was doing her utmost to repair the breaches made in the earth's population by tbo whelming waters. The phrase "hi b3ga" may possibly signify triplets; but Mr. Smith, with that conservatism and repugnance to sensation which ever characterize the true archaeologist, prefers to be on the safe side, and call it twins. IV. We now come to a conclusion which ia as fctartling as it is Inevitable. It con nects the Hon. Hannibal Hamlin with the duuvUn epocJiLnd thn w-- VeLw

flood. Antiquarians have long suapectod taat the similiar'.ty between the names Him and Hamlin was tomethlnz more than a coincidence. Tte industry ct a Smith has discovered among the Assyrian ruins the medial link which maks the connection perfectly apparent. Ham, the second son of Noah, is spoken ot in these records from Konyurjik as Hambl Ilamln; and no candid uiind can lail to see that the extreni3 antiquity of the senator from Maine is thus very clearly established. "Hambl Hamln down with the scurvy. Must put him ashore." Buhmi literally signifies earth, dirt; and the phrase nam Bulml is often used in these descriptions in the sense of to put iu the earth, or bury. This can hardly be the meaning here, however, for the Ark was still afloat. Nam Bulmi C3n therefore hardly be constructed otherwise than "put a3hore." Note the significance. The Ark ia oeating up and down OFF THE COAST OK MAINE,

walling for a nor'west wind. Poor Ham, or Hambi Ilamln, as he should properly be called, has reason to regret his weakness for maritime excursions and naval junket ing parties. The lack of fresh vegetables and a steady diet of corned mastodon, have told upon his system. Poor Hambl! When he wa3 collector of a Mediterranean port just before the flood, be was accustomed to have green peas and asparagus franked him daily from the Garden of Eden. But now the franking privilege has been abrogated, and the Garden ol Eden is fully forty fathoms under thp brine. Everything is salt. His swarthy face grows pale and haggard. His clawhammer coat droops upon an attenuated frame. Hs chews his cheroot moodily as be stands upon tho hurricane deck of tho Ark with his thumbs in his vest pocket, and thinks that be can hold office on this earth but little longer. His gums beia to so.'ten. He ebons the ravages of the scurvy. And Noah therefore, after considerable argument for Hambl is reluctant to get out of fny place be has once got itto nam Babrai's bim puts him ashore. Wo have no farther recoid of Hambl Hamln, but it is perfectly reasonable to assume that after being landed on the rocky coast of Maine, be subsisted upon huckleberries until sufficiently recovered from the scurvy, then sailed up the Penobscot upon a log, founded the ancient village of Ham-den, which be named after himself, and was immediately elected to some public position. In Mr. Round' long and profoundly interesting communication I have, I fear, an embarras de richess. From the many curious legendi which Mr. Smith has deciphered I shall select only one more, and shall deal briefly with that. It Is the story of an opposition ark. At the t'me of the flood there lived a certain merchant named Brith,who had achieved a competence In THE RETAIL GROCERY BCSIXES3. Id fact be was an antedclnviaa millionaire. Brith bad been converted from heathenism by the exceedingly effective preaching of Noab, but bad subsequently backslidden. When it began to thunder and lightning, however, and to grow black In the north west, Brith professed recurring symptoms of piety. He came down to the gangway plank of the Ark and applied for pass i fco ior lilmself and family. Noab, who was checking off the animals on the back of an o d tax bill, stsrnly relusad toenteitain any such idea. Brith had recently defeated him for the Common Council. The worthy grocer's raony now stood him In good stead. He did tae nior, sensible thing possible under thacircuimtaucss. He built, an ark for himelf, painted In big let ters along its side the words: "The Only Safe Plan of Universal Navigation!'' aud named it the Toad. The Toad was fashioned after the model of the Ark, and there boing no copyright in tho3e days, Noah could only hope that it might prove unseaworthy. In thä Toad, Brith embarse I his wile Briatha, Lis two daughter?, Phesar and Barren, his sons in-law, Lampra and Pinnyish, and a Felect assortment of beairta hardly inferior to that collected by Noab himself. Lampra and Pinnysb, sly dogs, persuaded fifty of tho most baautilul women they could find to come along with them. Brith was not ko good a sailor as Noab. He put to sea lull forty days too soon. He lost bis dead reckoning and beat around the ocean for the space ot seven years and a quarter, living mostly upon the rats that intested the Toad. Brith had foolishly neglected to provision his cralt for a long voyage. After this protracted sailing, the pisengers and crew of the Toad managed to make a landing oue rainy evening, and took ashore with themselves, their baggage, and a coon and a dromedary, the sole surviving RELICS OF THEIR PROUD MENAGERIE. Once on terra fit ma, the three men separated, having drawn up a tripartite covenant of perpetual amity and divided up the stock of wives. Brith took IS, Lampra took IS, and Pinnyisb, who seems to have been an easy-going sort of fellow, too lazy to quarrel, bad to be satisfied with the seventeen that remained. 'J ablets frcm Nebbi Yunus, t brow some light on tho interesting question as to the landing place ot this party. Kaayaita, certaiuly means Island, and Dyinim, undeniably signifies Long. Perhapa, therefore, Mr. Rounds is justified In bis opinion that the Toad dropped anchor In Wallabout Bay, and that Brooklyn and the Piymouth society owe their origin to this singular expedition. Here is seme seasonable fashion gossip. The ladies have all got the neuralgia in their shoul Jers from wearing spring clothe?, and many new dresses are supplemented across the bscks by porous plasters, and next to a vest front a mustard poultice is generally most worn. Young ladies alternate bet ween a necklace for street wear, and a flannel rag lor the bouse. Diamonds are worn in the ears with ranch effect abroad, bat a lock of c .t'.on and a little roast onion is tbo usul adornment at hom. Pearl powder is applied to the shoulders for full drees, but camphorated oil and hartshorn liniment aro considered very pretty also by the suflerer. Silk stocking, with colored clockicgi, are the things for low-slashed shoes, but pails of hot musttrd water and warm bricks are also much worn on the feet. Shakespeare's birthday will be celebrated this year with more than ordinary state. Mr. Charles Flower, of Stratford on-Avon, has given a site for the building of a memorial theatre; liberal donations have been contributed and a birthday performance is to take place at " Drurv Lane," London, on the 231 infct. It Is hoped that tte foundation stone of the memorial theatie will be laid on the poet's Dirtbday. There are also contemplated a Snakespesreen library, an art gallery, and a dramalio college. Was it Leslie Coombs that killed Tecumseh? No. Never a Coomb disturbed that red man's hair. Chicago Inter-Ocean. Nor did Tecumseh ever disturb, that Coombs' hair, for never did red man ever have half a chance. But Leslie reraerrbers as if it were but yesterday, how that stalwart savage looked as he eyed him over bis left shoulder, as be swiftly sought shelter in a lar-off and secluded spot. Some wicked iconociat has wrenched off the tail of the beautiful cast-iron dog In lW)drnff Place, Indianapolis. Courier-

THE CLAIRVOYANT WITNESS.

From the Brooklyn Argus. Ilf r eyes they were black as bloes, With a peculiar stare. That eeem-d to be directed at A something in tLe air. The Judge he looke l, tho lawyer looked, The audience, one and all, Iiut only paw some spiders that Were spinning on the wall. Then the mysterious witness spoäe, (A snaking loose her ear) "I see a voice you can not seeHear tights you cn not hear." "A shadowy host encamped roand About ns everywhere; There 're dozens on the Judge's bench. And millions la the air." Then at tha lawyer qnlck she glanced ( Hin drops Hood on her brow), "The straubst form lever saw Is standing by jou now." ' (reit Ties ven, ma'am !" alarmed he cried, "What spirit may that bar" "A spirit with hurpoou tail, And hoofs and horrs," said 6he. TO BE AVOIDED. DETECTIVES AND DESPERADOES. THE JA MRS Ü9YS AND PISKF.RTON'S DETECTlVfS B)11I FACTIONS ARB DARING. DCS PRATK AND LAWLESS. The latest from tho scene of the doings of the James boys and tho detectires of Allan Pinkerlou is thus given lu a ttl?ra'jQ to the Chicago Times tvo or thres day3 since: Tho 8Fp.etc.o?ion and excitement in western Missouri, and particularly in Clay cout ty, has increase 1 sinca I telegraphed the Tini3e Irom Liberty a few days ago, ol tba circumstances attrjdmg the kiiiing of Daniel Askew, and of the warnings received by otlier parties supposed to have been implicated in the inldnig'at attack upon the farm house of Mrs. Samuels last winter. The wlo'.e county is aroused, and a clash with bloodshed is looked for almost every day. Pinkerton, within the past month, or since the killing cf Askew, has redoubled bis efforts to get hold of the Janeaes, but has nisde a radical change In his tactics. With headquarters in Kansas City, his men are searching for 6very bit ot valuab'.e information respecting Frank and Jesse James and their friends in Clay and Jackson counties. Hs has now 16 men at work down here, raiding out from Kansas City on the diffdrent railroad lines. Most ot them are already spotted and as well known as the Times correspondent, who has made himself thoroughly lamiliar with the country and the people, and has yet lo receive the first insult or threat Irom even the most partisan inhabitant of the aforetime bloody debatable ground of THE JAYHAWKER AND THE GCEBBIIXA. In these days of excitement, when every pair of coat tails dangled over a six shooter, and every stranger bacomes an object of suspicion, I have gone over Clay county, meeting with nothing but good treatment, because the papers have time and ajain copied from The Times the news about the Jameses, finding simply facts stated without prejudice or coloring. They don't take many papers here, but when Tne Chicago Times with something about the Jams?es comes down.it goes through half ajiundrei families, and then everybody who has read it talks about it. l'iakerton has stopped sending his men out through the country and locating them on farms, mere is one or more ol them now in every town in this part of the state, and all they can pick up is sent to Kansas City by cipher and then a general message is lorwarded to Chicago. I fell in with one of theso detectives the other day, and under the influence of a little corn juice, be talked freely. "This is to go no lurther,"he said, "but I don't mind telling you that wo made that attack on the Samuels house list winter. Neither Billy Pinkei ton nor the old man was down. It wasn't the otiginal plan at all, but the old man thought that it was the bast way. lie and Billy had some words and disagreed about if. Billy wouldn't have anything to do with the attack, and doesn't take much interest in working up the case now, although bo advises and the old man pays more attention to him than he did before that miserable fiasco. "Who puts up for all this work," I interrogated. "Well, the Adams Express company does moat ot it, and then you see the old man has a pride in the raattar. His blood is up. and be asks nothing but expenses lle'll paid. FOLIXW THESE FELLOWS TO THE DEATH if the corf oration can stand the cost, And then you see the railroad officials are instructed to show us every facility. We go all over the country on passes, and whenever the timo com 23 to strike a blow we shall have a clear track and all the special trains we need, jast as we did last winter." "You are still confident V "Ola yes. We are bound to get them. That express company will epeud almost their last dollar, acd besides they'vo grat faith in Pinkerton. You remember the Keno gang and how they were wiped out? We did taat and were In a"t the lynching, although that last s a secret, you know. The old man has no idea now ot capturing the James boys alive. The plan now is to get them located and kill them. We are gettiDg in with somt of their best Irien Js gradually, and money will do almo.it anything." With tbis my talkative detective shut up like a c'am and declined to b9 pumped any further. This daugeroui excitement in Clay county has not been a little increased by the actron of some ot the papers cf the state, which, without suggesting recourse or remedy, assail tne peoplo of Clay county ior permitting the Jameses to exist among them, and suflorlog the murder ot Askew to go unavenged. I have visited in the iuisu diate neighborhood of the Samuels and Askews, and Had tbai the murder of the farmer is enveloped in a great deal of inyt ary. There was working upon Askew' farm a man named Jack Ladd, who had been there a ions time, was on lamiliar terms with all the neighborhood, and oiten visited the Samuels larm house, which is only a quarter or a mile or so acrots the fields from Askews. This man was Boactar tjpbtths detectives, and gave information to Sam Hardwick, Pinkerton's attorney and aid in Liberty. It was througa his information that Pinkerton was led into making the attack which resulted so unsuccesslully. He met one squad ot the attacking party, concealed them in Askew 'a hay-stacks, and then led them at tbo appointed time, over to the farm-house. Whether Askew knew of what was going on and consented to Ladd'a operations, is a mystery. Ladd says that be did, that he himself tolJ Askew as fast as the plans were laid. Askew, on the other hand, before his death, most strenuously denied that be had any knowledge ot Ladd'a work. This man Ladd le t the county with the detectives and went to Iowa. lie afterward came down Into Missouri, and at a good, safe distance has been watching the progress ot events. He bad been talking about the affair and hinting of what he could tell If he wished, and this came to the ears of some of Pinkerton's meu. They went to him and pretty effectually frightened him into silence. He, however, told them that while he was working for them be had told Askew of everything' going on, and that Askew was about to make an open avowal of all he knew about iue midnight attack upon tho Samuels toinej the

killing of the child and the maiming of Mrs. Samuels. A week a:ter this Askew was

killed. I talked with numbers of the neigh bors and one or tv cf the members of Mr. Askew'. family, and thv iuclir.e to the ba Her that in souse wi v ho mot bis doath at the hands of the dreaded detr-clivea or their allies. Having acted "on the S'iuare" with these people, whatever tir bins in seeking information on this all-absorbing topic of the james ooy.your coi respondent appealed to an ma couieuera'e, wnoru he had some reason to believe was on friendly TERMS WITH THE OUTLAWS, and boldly asked ior an interview with them wherever they might be. "I'd take you to Jesse in a minute if I could," eaid ne, 'jewels tne most talkative or the boy?, and he'd give you a toap of information which would make some mighty interesting reading. He'd lik to talk with you, I snow, lbfse Missouri papers, most ol them, have lied on the boys and printed all sortsof ttaff. But the truth is, it would be a two weeks ride down through Kansas and the nation, and not altogether safe, seeing those Chovennes are or! on the war path again, it's near about planting time, too. 1 11 tell you what I will do, though. Oae of the boys has just come up from the cattle range, and h9 saw Frank, and Je3-ie not more han three weks a?o. Neither of the boys has been home tince just after the de tectives killed little Archie Samuels, but alter the cattle drive, and when tio leaves net out good, it you're down here then I think I can üx you an 'interview, as you 011 it, with the outlaws." So we role over into Jackson couuty two weeks ao, and, at the bouse of a farmer known to be Irleudiy, your correspondent was madj acqjiintid with one of QuantreH'sold guerilla, h bushwhacker during the war and now a bullwhacksr. Pinkerton's men kno him, although thPy spotted him without any help from oif, and tfcoy are watching him. They hope, by following bi3 movement.-, to get a cluo S3 to the whereabouts. Ha bad j'ist coaio up, hs sjIJ, from the cittlo range on the bead wat rs ct the Akans.)a, and when hs left, Frank and Jes?o James were both there. He had just HEAF.D OF THE ASH EW MURDER, b it said it was an Impossibility for Jesse or Frank to have done it, for he bad been with them constantly for nearly a month tending cattle. Whatever their friends m'ght have done, he was certain the boys had not had auy hand ia it. They were very bitter, he said,about the attack made on their mother's home and refused to ?.ay much about it. When he left them they were about 120 miles southwest of Pueblo, the country was occupied by ranches, and everv herdsman wrh an ontlaw or a desperat 3 borderer. Titoy were all banded together, he said, and auouii'erof the law would stand about as much show among them as a keg of powder in a burning boue. I asked him if tho Jame3e3 were likely to come back to Clay county before long. "Not until tn leaves get out, At any rate," be replied. When the folugs i3 out in full they could come and go, and nobodv, not eve.i their old comrades, would know it. I in quired at:er the Yonngors, and he said Jesse James told bira ho had .not seen Cole or Jim for over a j-ear, but had heard that they were in Mexico, over near the Pacific coast either in Sanalva or Sonera. He kIsd 83id that there was no doubt among the colon'7.3d borderers that Arthur McCoy had died, and been buried near the San Marcos river. The conversation then turned upon other noted desperadoes, and the old bush whacker talked long into tho mhtofthe secret history of Quantrell, Todd, Bill Anderson, and other- famous guerillas, giving much interesting information which I hops to lay before the readers of the lims upon some future occasion. REVENUE REFORM. A RATTLING OF DRY B0NE3. WHY DOUGLASS STEPPED DOWN AND OUT AN INVESTIGATION THAT CAN BUT DEAR FRuns. The retiring of Commissioner Douglass fronl the Ravenuo Department is to be followed by other reforms, while the retiring gentleman is to be kindly cared for by a charitable executive. For particulars the reader is referred to the subjoined special from the Washington correspondent of the Chicago Tribune: "Mr. Douglas, your resignation is requested, as the position you hold has been tendered to Ex Senator Pratt, who hs accepted the gams." These words, spoken by the secretary of the treasury to Mr. Douglass, until yesterday commit-sioner of internal revenue, were the firat intimation that Douglass had that he was removed. There have for some weeks been rumors ot a prospective change in the chief of the internal revenue bureau. The tact that the friends of Douglass mentioned him ia conr ection with the prospActive vacancy on the bench of the Court of Claims, and with the probable vacancy in the Western United States Judicial District of Pennsylvania, strengthened these rumors, but it was not expected that the change would come so soon, or that Douglass could be removed, except to be appointed to some other place. The persons who alone know the real reasons for the change do not make them public. Tho president, however, is represented as authority for the siatsment that the removal was not occasioned through anj acts impugning Douglass's official or peraoual integrity. There is, of course, a medley of rumors concerting the cause for the change. The following are some of them: Sam Brd was "too unanimous" lor Postmaster-General Jewel); DOUOLVS3 HAS BKSN " TOO INTIM ATE " for Secretary Bristow. Douglass was an old friend of Bristow while the latter was solicitor of the department of justica, and has, perhaps, made loo frequent boests of this intimacy. The congressnan here say tha Douglass was not enougn of a politician and that he const intly refused to permit his bureau to be used for political purposes a charge for which Secretary Bristow would certainly not have an officer removed. The southern carpetbag senators have always bean opposed to Douglass for the reason that he would not lend his best detective to them for the purpose of hunting Ku-Klux, unless he was so ordered by a higher power. There have been minor differences between Doug ass and Bristow. The decision of Douglass by which the stamp printing was sent to New York and three hundred women thrown out of employment was not approved by Bristow. The recent action of Douglass in detailing reveuue officers to search tho btnks for uncanceled stamps was without the knowledge of the secretary and without his approval. Bristow construed the law as giving the jurisdiction or such mat lers to the controller of tho currency, and thought that Douglass's speed in rushing into print was calculated to injure the department by advertising an antagonism and conflicting jurisdiction between two important bureaus. Some republican congressmen here also say that Douglass COQUETTED TOO MUCH WITH THE DEMOCRATS ; that he was continually seeking the favor of leading democrats and c! republicans who hang upon thd verge of the party. There Is souaetbing more serious going onln connec tion with the internal revenue affairs of the country than the removal of Commissioner Douglass, and It is just to Douglass to state

that he has not been connected with it even by the slightest indiscretion. For six weeks the president and secretary of the treasury have been conducting with the utmost secrecy an investigation Into the methods of the manufacture and saloof distilled spirits Tbis Investigation has been superintended by Secretary Bristow in person, asd by the uioit trusted eonfiiential social agents iu the service. Secretary Bristol's frequent visits to New York have had reference to this Inquiry. The basis of the investigation has been the remarkablo fact that high wines cau be purchased in open market ia NewYork and New Orleans lor considerably less than the cost of production, including the government tax. This fact has excited the surprise of the president and of Secretary Bristow, and they determined to discover the cause. On account ot the great mystery in which the Investigation is involved, tho exact situation cannot be stated, but it is positively known that the president aud Secretary Bristow are convinced that there has been an immense system of illicit dif-tillation. This is for the most part confined to Western distillers. Illicit whlskv bas become so common that the special "detectives report that it is regularly known among- d?lers as extras. The following ordor recently made by a large house to a WESTERN DISTILLERY FIRM, Is probably a sarrple of many others: "Sand us a good miny extra", we can taske use of more of them." Two of the spec; 8g mis charged with thi inquiry have made lull reports upon th'.s su-Ject. The result of their inquiries is srrmmari:?! in what precedes, is is not unlikely th.t further result will be the numerous removals in the service. Pratt, of Indiana, is known Irom his career in the Sonate. He U said to bo a lawyer of good ability. Hi3 friendsto illustrate his cha act eristic bor.eä: v. say that, in the days of tha frsnkirg privilege, he would not ue the frank fvir tnv private business not even letters to bis family. A cuiious incident of the Doug!as3 aiministrütion is made public bv his removal. GenButler last winter introduced a resolution making inquiry whether the portraits of living persons were b?ing engraved at the treasury to be placed upon internal revenue ttainp?. It vas rumored at the time that the resolution was designed to check the engraving for such purposes ot the portraits of some beautiful women of the day. There hsd been a precedent for such artistic endesvors during a former administration of the Internal Revenue Bureau. It turns out, however that the resolution was designed to prevent the face of the indurated bourbon, James B. Beck, of Kentucky, from being transmitted to posterity on whisky stamps. The portraits of several other living persons had been engraved for similar purposes, including one of Commissioner Douglas himself. The resolution accomplished Us purpose.

THE LIQUOR LAW. THB OPINION OF JUDGE IX)NO OF THE VIOO CR1MINAL COURT ON THE STATUS OF THE SAME. lion. Thomas B. Long, one of the most scholarly and ablest lawyers of the Terre Haute bar, has furnished the Evening Ga zette of that city with the subjoined state ment of his views of the status of the liquor law ot this sUte. The fict that he is judge of the Vigo Criminal Court a J 1s weight to his opinion, though not ollieially rendered.. He says: A question exists among parlies ir.terested, whether a permit to sell intoxi cating liquor. procured under thelaw koown as the Bixttr bill entities the bolder to make such sales for the period of one year Irom th date of the permit, or whether the act of March 17, 1S7Ö, repealing the Baxter bill,doe3 net by such ap peal annul all permits granted under it, and make it necessary for all parties to procure licenses at the Juno sessions ol the board of commissioners. There is a provision in the constitution of Indiacatbat "no law impairing the obligation of contracts shall ev&r be passed;" and it is uoon the construe tlon of th-s provision that the foregoing question must he determined. Had the Baxter bill required the applicant for license to pay a certain sum into the counter treasury lor the use ot the common school fund, the question whether the permit, would bo a contract within the meaning of the constitution might be less difficult to determine, a3 there would then appear to be a consideration paid by the bolder ot t W permit for the right therein guaranteed bim; but even in suca a case, the Supreme Court of Ohio were inclined to the opinion that the lecisla'ure, by a repeal of the law, could deprive the holder of the license of all rights thereunder, which theyquilitied no further than with the dictum that "common honesty would require that the money obtained for it should be refunded, in case ot its revocation." Hirn vs. the state of Ohio, 1 Ohio St. It. 21. Where, however, no sum of money is paid into the public treasury by the person receiving a license, and no money whatever i3 paid except the fee 01 the officer issuing it. thereseems to be but little doubt io THE RULINOS OF TUB COURTS. The Court ol Appeals of Neve York, iu commenting upon a law similar to ths one now under consideration, eays that, while it is trno tbat, in term, It revokes licenses granted under a previous law, yr-t, that It no encroachment upon any right secured to the citizen as inviolable by the fundamental law. "These lico:;scs to sell liquors are cot contracts between the stateand the persons licensed, giviDg the latter vested rights, protected on general principles by the constitution ot the United States against subsequent legislation ; noraretaey property in auy leg tier constitutional seose. They have neither the qualities of a contract or c it propezty, but are merely temporary permits to do what otherwise would be an offense against a general law." Metropolitan Board of Excise ve. Barrin, 34, New York, G07. It bas also been held by the Supreme Court of Massachusetts that a license to retail spirituous liquorn, trrantd for one year,and for the issuing of which the holder ta paid one dollar to the clerk cf the board, ai required by the statute, is not a contract, and is annulled by the passage, witLin tho year, ot a statute prohibiting all sales of intoxicating liquor, except ia certain cases not witblu euch license. The. court in tbis opinion emphatically observod: "Tto whole argument of the counsel for the plaintiff is " founded oa a fillacy. A license authoriz'ng a person to retsil intoxicating liquors does not create any contract between bim and the government."' Ci' ier vs. Kurby, 5, Gray, f 97. Although there are some decisions on the other side ol the question, tbo current of the authorities seems to be as above. I can do no more than guess at what mav be the ruling ot our Supreme Court upon this question, cor can I say how far, if at all, my own views may be changed by a full acd thorough presents' tlon of it. I only give this statement to thepubllc tbat all parties interested may take proper counsol. and so govern themselves a to be salely within the letter and spirit of the law. Tnos. It. Long. Here aro some of tho devious ways and wanderings of a love letter: A Boston lady while in Paris two years ago, sent a letter toner sweetheart, a ship cspuiü, addressing it to St. Helena. It missed the wanderer and followed bim about the world, finally returning to Paris, where the captain's banker forwarded it to Boston. 15 reached him one evening as be was bouncing a six weeks' old baby on bis knee, he having married the writer of the letter a year ago. That letter could not have followed him more persistently if it bad been a dun.