Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 November 1877 — Page 2

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General News Summary.

„ . ■*** wUTOBWR. O* the 19th, the Aenste confirmed tire noinlnattoMof Hon. John M. Steven* u United State* MBototer to Norway, and that of Hon. Ma Dffirete a* Public Printer at Washing Un. Tn aaanto ante to UmArwj Appropriation tlB wan adapted by the Hooae of RepraaenuUrva, on tb« 19th, and the (dll prosed. The Army, according to the action of the liouae, is reduced to 90,000 men, and fonr regiment* are to be atotloaed on the Bio Qrandc. Tn cotton return* to the Department of Ajptonltnre, made the first week In Novcm ber, indicate about 4 percent, redaction of the aggregate oOaat year, even If future picking to gold be a* farorable aa that of 1870. Deumations of the Ponca Indiana have recently been in Washington and bad Interview* with the Government officials. They were informed that they ant return to the Indian Territory, but that they might select better land if they do not like their preaent location. The Indians expressed themselves as resolved to do as instructed by the President, but were evidently greatly disappointed at the result of the interview. Pajwrorjrr Hath, on the 16th, nominated Benjamin P. Peixotto, of California, to be Cooaai-Oeneral at St. Petersburg. TMI KAUT. Tux Pennsylvania Supreme Court has decided that the Qrand Jury cannot compel State officials to appear and divulge official information la respect to the cause of the July riots. Mbs. Lkßau, a married daughter of the late Commodore Vanderbilt, has instituted new proceedings to contest the will of her father. The contest began in the New Tork Surrogate Court on the 13th. The trial promises to be highly sensational In New Tork City, on the 14th, Robert L. Case, President of the Security Life and Annu tty Insurance Company, was convicted of perjury in swearing to the annual statement of the Company for 1875, and was remanded for sentence. A TSBKinc explosion of Are-damp occurred iu a colliery near Scranton, Pa., on the morning of tbelSth. Several men and boys were severely, and some of them fatally, injured. Tn official vote cast at the late election in Pennsylvania is as follows: For Supreme Judge, Bterrctt(Rep.), 344,480; Trunkey (Dcm.), 351,000; Bartley (Greenback), 51,583; Winter (Pro.), 9,809. Trunkey’s plurality,6,s3o. For State Treasurer, Hart (Rep.), 341,816; Noyes (Dem.), 961,717; Wright (Greenback), 53,854; Oorvett (Pro.), 2,827. Noyes’ plurality, 0,001. For Auditor-General, Schell (Dem.) had a plurality of 8,968. Tn Bending (Pa.) Savings Bank, having deposits to the amount of nearly $1,000,000, suspended on the 16th. Liabilities not stated. When this suspension was announced, the banking bouse of Buahong & Brother (deposits between SBOO,OOO and $400,000) and the Dime Savings Bank, of the same place, also dosed their door* Gold dosed in New Tork, on Nov. 16th. at 102*. The following were the dosing quotations for produce: No. 2 Chicago Sprite! Wheat, $1.81*01.32; No. 2 Milwaukee, $1.32*01.33*. Oats, Western and State, 85040 c. Coro, Western Mixed, 02*@63c. Pork, Mesa, $14.25. Lard, $8.62*. Flour, Good to Choice, $5.80(36.00; Winter Wheat, $6.6606.75. Cattle, 8)4(311 He for Good to Extra. Sheep, $4.0005.00. Hogs, $4,750 4.85. At East Liberty, Pa., on Nov. 16th, Cattle brought: Best, $5.0006.25; Medium, $4.25 04.75; Common, $3.7504.00. Hogs sold —Porkers, $4.0004.36; Philadelphia*, $4,400 4.80. Sheep brought $3.5005.00 —according to quality. At Baltimore, Md., on Nov. 16th, Cattle brought: Best, $5.12*05.8734; Medium, $3.25 04.37*. Hogs sold at $0.2506.37* for Good. Sheep were quoted at $4.0003 00 for Good. VHT Alfß SOUTH. Congressman Shall* has been convicted, by a South Carolina State Court, of mlsfeas a nee and malfeasance in office while a member of the State Legislature of Bouth CarolinaT«b Treasurer of Clermont County, Ohio, was lately robbed of $34,000. Tu North Point Dock Bonded Warehouse in San Francisco, was burned on the afternoon of the 12th. Loss, $300,000. Ex-Uxmo States Marshal Shaffexhekoer, of Colorado, who was sent* to Prison for robbing the Government of $40,000 by means of false vouchers, has been pardoned by the President. The Receiver of the suspended State Savings Institution, of Chicago, has submitted a report, from which he estimates that depositors will receive about 40 per cent, of their deposits. According to official returns received at the office of the Secretary of State up to the evening of the 13th, the Indications were that the majority of Smith (Rep.) for Governor of Wisconsin would somewhat exceed 10,000.v

TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS’ worth of property waa destroyed by Are on Fourth street, near the Chamber of Commerce building, 8C Louis, on the morning of the 14th. It is announced, on the authority of Gen. PhD Sheridan, that the annual reunion of the Army of the Cumberland, which was appointed to be held at Cincinnati, on the 12th and 13th <rf Per usher next, will be postponed until the compieitoc of the equestrian statue to Gen. George H. Thomas, when it wfll be held at A rm broke out in the large dry-goods esUtilMimrwf of TUM, Letter A Co., on State street, Chicago, about eight o'clock on the evening of the 14th. The Semes rapidly spread on the flfth Soar of the building, and, notwltbaianding Immediate efforts were made by the Are hpstmest to extinguish the conflagraupper doors of the structure were euttnijr destroyed, together with the contents. l®** In property waa estimated at about Two ireats were killed and several cthsrs asrteusty ttjnred. Rarlt on the morning of the Uth, the body of HmL Wia. g. Coolbangh, President of the Fj** oo B *“ k ’ °* ®bk*go, waa found th ® 04 *** Donglae Monument, in thatdty with « pistol-shot Jn the head. A Coroner'* Jury decided that the auieide waa committed while Mr. Codbaugh waa temporarily insane. Bank Exarttoer Watson, in a card published on the afternoon of that day, states that the bank was exceptionally strong, and that financial troubles did not, in his opinion, lead Mr. Coolbangh to shoot himKIL

From returns received and estimates on the 14th, it was believed that Plllsbury (Rep), tor Governor of Minnesota, would have a majority of shout 17,000. In the Senate the lapubUesas would have 10 majority, and in the House, 20. In Wisconsin, the indications were that Smith (Hep.), for Governor, would have about 10,000 majority. The Legislature would be divided, politically, as follows: Senate —Republicans, 31; Democrats, 11 Aaspmbly—Kepublicana, 48; Democrats, 49; Green backers, 7; Independents, 3; Socialist, 1. JVB6M Moore, of the Superior Court of Cask Qosuty, 111., has decided that the stockholders of the insolvent savings banks of Chicago, *>■<«■£ individually liable, the money must be paid to the Receivers for the benefit of the hem!*' creditor* as a whole. .1 - - ...

Bivbbb ahocka of earthquake wore experienced at Stoux City, lowa, Omaha, Neb., Topeka and Atchlaou, Kan., and other Western localities, on the morning of the 15th. Considerable excitement was caused at some points, but no serious damage is reported. lx Chicago, on Nov. 16th, Spring Wheat No. 9 closed at $1.0801.08* caah. Cash corn closed at 45*c for No. 9. Caah Oats No. 9 sold at 25*c; and 96 *c seller November. Rye No. 2, 54*c. Barley No. 2,61 c. Caah Mesa Pork closed at $12.25. Lard, $7.89*. Beaves-Extra brought $5.9606.50: Choice, $4.6004.90; Good, $4.0004.40; Medium Grades, $3.8008.80; Butchers’ Stock, $25006.00; Stock Cattle, etc., $26503.40. Hog* brought $4.4004.75 for Good to Choice. Sheep sold at $2.87*04.00 for Poor to Choice.

rOKKIGN IirTRUIOIRCB. Aoooki>i>« to London telegrams of the 13th, heavy fighting had been going on at Plevna daring the preceding two days. A Pakis telegram of the 13th say* the Great Power* had, without exception, advised Marnhal MaeMahnn to adopt a conciliator)' courae In dealing with the Republicans. A boot of armed men eroaeed the Pyrcncce into Spain, on the 13th, with the intention of precipitating a rebellion. The Italian Government, ha* stationed a strong guard around the Vatican to prevent any pillaging that might follow the announcement of the death of the Pope. A COXOTAWTINOFUt telegram of the 13th says the Russians recommenced the attack on Erxcroum on the 11th. \ Sn.EiMAN Pasha has been appointed Com-mander-in-Chief of the Turkish Annies in Roumelta. A Cettiiue dispatch of the 19th says the Montenegrins had that day captured tilt Turkish Fort commanding the Town of Autlvari. , Kekvi a has replied to the Porte’s demand for the withdrawal of her troops from the Turkish, frontier, that she can on no account leave her people without adequate military protection. A declaration of war was expected to follow this reply. CrrriSJK telegrams of the 14th report further victories by the Montenegrins. Spus jol being vigorously Inimbarded, and several outl)> ing forts hod fallen into the hands of the insurgents'. There was no force at Antlrari or Scutari large enough to oppose them. Acoaxdisg to Erxcroum dispatches of the 14th, Kars was being vigorously bombarded preparatory to an assault. A demand has licon made by the Russians for the surrender of Erxcroum, but it had been contemptuously refused.

A Constantinople telegram of the 14th aays the Russian* who traversed Uetropol Pas*, near Orchanla, hod been repulsed by a Turkish corps of observation, with the loss of 450 men. A Rome (Italy) telegram of the 14th says the black Rmall-pox was frightfully prevalent in the Vatican, and it was feared that the gathering of the conclave directly after the death of the Pope might be prevented. The Marqui* Antinorl, reader of the Italian expedition for the exploration of Central Africa, is dead. Signor Chlarlnl, his assistant, is a prisoner In Abyssinia. , There was great excitement In the French Chamber Of Deputies, on the 14th, over the discussion of a resolution to investigate alleged election abuses. The statement was made that the President had threatened to dissolve the Chamber a second time In case of an adverse vote, an act which the Republicans loudly protested would be a most offensive coup d'etat, and one that would justify revolution. Tile Prince of Montenegro has invited Greece to co-operate in the invasion of Albania. ■-'", Russian administration has been Introduced in the region round about Erxeroum, ami a Military Governor appointed. A Pohedin telegram of the 15th says the Russians bad that day made a formal demand for the surrender of Plevna. Osman Pasha declined to yield the position. In the French Chamber of Deputies, on the 15th, after bitter personal speeches by the Duke dc Broglie and Gambrtta, the resolution of inquiry into alleged election abuses was adopted by a vote of 320 to 203. Ex-Premier Gladstone has been elected Lord Rector of Glasgow University over Lord Northcote. Viensa dispatches of the 15th say the Russians had only 25,000 men engaged in the investment of Erzeroum.

According to official returns, published on the 16th, the Russian losses in killed, wounded and missing, from the commencement of the war to Jfov. 7, arc 64,863. Thk Paris Monifeur of the 16th announced the resignation of the Dcßroglie Ministry, and the acceptance of the same by President MacMahon. Up to the morning of the 17th, the President had failed to organize a new Cabinet. The gorilla Pongo, which has recently been exhibited in London, died, a few days ago, at Berlin, without any preceding Indications of illness. This was the only specimen of the gorilla in Europe. XLV. CONGRESS—SPECIAL SESSION. The Senate was not in session on the 10th. In the House, the Army Appropriation bill waa considered in Committee of the Whole, and, after the adoption of sundry amendments, the House adjourned. In the Senate, on the 12th, Mr. Voorhee was sworn in as Senator from Indiana.... Hr. Booth was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Pensions in place of Mr. Wadleigh. Bills were introduced—to establish a Department of Commerce; to remit taxes on insolvent savings banks: providing for the survey of an inland water ronte from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic ... A resolution was offered directing inquiry into the expediency of constructing defensive works along the Rio Grande. . The report of the Secretary of the Navy, detailingthe expenditures of his Department from 1780 to 1876, was received and referred.

In the House, the Army Appropriation bill was taken npand the amendments agreed to in Committee of the Whole generally adopted, by a vote of 13S to 127. that relating to reducing the rank and pay of staff-officers alone being rejected. by 123t0 131 After the reading of a letter from the Secretary of War in relation to enlistments since July 1,1877, and a lengthy discussion thereon ,tbe bul as amended passed without division Bills were introduced—to amend the law in relation to mailable matter of the third class; designating the first Monday in Januanr as the tune for the meeting of Congress; to reduce the number of military cadets; to pay for all cotton seized after May 28. 1866; to refund the tax on cotton collected from 1863 to 1868; forbidding by Constitutional amendment the payment of daima arising out of the late rebellion, etc.... A resolution was adopted calling for information as to the disposition of the indemnity paid by Bonin for the Vimnius executions in November 1873. , In the Senate, on the 13th, several bills were 9 introduced, among which waa one regelating the distillation and rectification of spirits, and one aotbcrinng the election of aDelegate from the Indian Territory. . . . A resolution was adopted calling upon the President for information in respect to the Nex Pernes War, the nwmberoftives lost,ete. :.71k resolution in re* card to the management of the Pacific Railroad

was called op and diacaaned at length by Mr. Ctudfoeand others The Army Appropriation bill waa taken op and referred Among the resolution# offered was one authorizing a Com* mission to arrange for reciprocity with Mexico. ~~ In the House, a bill was introduced to facilitate land and water transportation of freight and passengers... Resolutions were offered directing inquiry into the expediency of to emigrate from the East to the West; directing the Committee on Bank-ey-Appropriation bill was passed without di- ™*°?. Th* bill to repeal the Resumption act waa discussed without reaching a vote. The bill ti> enable Indians to become ratiaensof the United States was reported from Committee, with amendments, in the Henate, on pnbUctauUmtlKßtatea.tf Pl, Lomsuna and Florida. "iTISe House bul making appropriations for the support of the Arms' was reported from Committee and placed “the caimdsr • A communication was pre-

•rated from the President inckafing the report of the Beeretary of Htete in reply to the resolution in regard to the reecue of imeonen, by an armrd band f nun Mexico, from the Jail in wait County. Tea., in August last .. Mr. Voorheea was appointed to Ail the TAennrjson the Oommittee on Pensions, orrasionod by the resignation of Mr. Dsris. and also the vacancy on the Committee on Transportation Routes to the Heahosrd. occasioned by the the resignation of Mr. Haunders. In the House, a resolution was adopted instructing the Judiciary Committee to inquire into the facts of the imprisonment of Robert Hmalls (colored), a member of the House from Month Carolina, and to report whether such imprisonment is, or (a not, a violation of the Constitutional privilege of the House .... A resolution for the final adjonrnment of the special acaau.n of Congrcns, on the Zid, was reported from Committee. The Bill for the repeal of the Bpeeie Resumption act was further delisted and several amendment* were offered. In the Senate, on the 15th, a remonstrance of the forty-five National Banka of Boston against the isunnge of the bill for the remonetisation of silver was presented and referred The House bill providing for certain deficiencies in the pay of the Navy and Marine Corps, and for other purposea, wn* passed without amendment A Joint resolution was introduced and referred, proposing an amendment to the Conntitntion providing for a tribunal by Hqite* for the decision or nil contested issues arising in the choice of Electors for President and Vice-President... .The Army Appropriation hill was considered, and amendments were agreed to. one of which limits the Army to 2(1.(100 men instead of 2U,0(10 as provided by the House, and the hill ns amended was then passed. Bills were introduced and referred in the House—providing for tlie payment of duties on imports in gold, silver and legal-tender notes: iiroviding for cheap transportation between tide-water on-the Atlantic and the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys: for the construction of a railway from New York to Council liinffs, lowa. The hill for the repeal of the Resumption act was further considered, several amendments being offered and debated. In the Senate, on the 16th, a bill wan introduced and referred repealing the act authorizing the coinage of the twenty-cent silver pieces. • ; A resolution was agreed to calling for information respecting the seizure of logs, lumber and naval stores suspected of having been taken from public lands in the Htntcs of Alalsvma, Florida and Mississippi. .. .The resolution providing for the appointment of a Bpecinl Committee to inquire into alleged discrepancies in the hooks and accounts of the Treasury Department was called up nnd debated at considerable length, a substitute and an amendment being offered.... Adjourned to the 9th. ifIn the, House, a bill was reported to accept the invitation from France to take part in the eoming Paris Exposition, and appropriating ♦150,000 therefor, whieh hill, together with a substitute appropriating ♦fiO.UOOonly, was referred. A rewdntion was adopted directing the Military Committee to inquire into the strength of the cavalry and infantry regiments of the Army, how many regiments are employed upon the Texas frontier, the character of the troops employed there, etc.... A Deficiency bill appropriating #1,5G0.62:t wiui reported... Tne bill to repeal the Resumption act was further debated. Hn evening session being held for tliat purpose.

How the Voting is Done in Paris.

Toward noon I inet a friend at the Case do la Paix and went wjth him to his voting place. It was against the law for any but voters to go in; but my friend took the responsibility of seeing me through. We walked up to the Rue de la Fayette and turned into the buildings called the Cite d’Antin. There was no sign of a crowd or of excitement. Near the door which led to the voting-room stood half-a-dozen men with their hands full of tickets. They wore no badges or ribbons, and were innocent of those graceful aprons with which our fellow-citizens sometimes decorate their manly forms on similar occasions. They did not come to greet us, but stood in the way as if ready to hand tickets rather than solicitious. We each took a ticket of both kinds—large, square papers, bearing the names respectively of E. Ilaguin, the Conservative and official candidate, and of tlie late President of the Ghamber, Jules Grevy. We were in Mi Thiers’ arrondissement. No one questioned us as we advanced or came hurriedly forward, armed with a took and pencil, to ask our names. No banners invited votes from us and admiration from the gamins of the neighborhood. No stickers tempted the “unreliable” and “disloyal ” into the paths of them that scratch. All was peace and quiet and great decorum. We traversed an entry and entered a room. Three or four well-appearing men stood near a table atfwhich another sat. My friend handed his paper—“ carte (felecieur" —to the sitting individual, who examined it critically and compared the signature on it with one which my friend then wrote in the book. This done the ticket was stamped, and we walked into the next room and took our places in the line. About a dozen men stood in single file, advancing slowly, paper in hand. Behind a long table sat three or four individuals with books, a huge square box and a pile of cut corners of electors’ cards in front of them. The voter advanced in his turn ‘and gave his name. The books was examined, the name and number found—the number

written on the ballot—the ballot deposited in the box, a corner cut off of the elector’s ticket with a pair of scissors, and we departed with a “ Bonjour, Messieurs." Such is the method of voting. The checks against frauds you see, are many, and I presume there is no such thing as personation or repeating, I was struck with the neatness of the proceeding and with the appearance of those who superintended it officially. From six to six this scene was being enacted all througli France, with a quiet and a decorum that was certainly, admirable. It is quite likely that where improper interference with the ballot begins with us it ends in France. There the “work” is put in effectually before the voter goes to the poll. lam credibly informed that it is elsewhere otherwise. Intimidation beforehand is the French method; mutilation afterward, the American, They believe in the ounce of prevention; we in the pound of cure. They prescribe a “counterirritant” before the attack; we rely on a “ mild alterative?’ afterward. The systems are different, but each admirable of its kind; it is not “ for the likes of me” to say which is the most worthy of a great and enlightened Nation.— Cor. Philadelphia Times. ' ... ; . ; -zz3

Seven Thousand Lakes in Minnesota.

We have caused the meandered lakes in all the township plats to be counted, and there are in the actually surveyed portions of the State just 4,999 meandered lujces. Calling them 5,000 in number, and from reliable data in this office we find that these lakes average HOO acres, each this gives us an equivlent of 1,500,000 acres of water in the surveyed portions of the State. Now,, computing the lakes, in the unsurveyed portions of the State from reliable data in possession of tlie office, we lind that there are 2,000 more which make 7,000 in all. The number of lakes in a town is much greater in the unsurveyed portions of the State than in that already surveyed. They are found also to average greater acres. We find we are compelled to estimate -the 2,0C0 lakes in the unsurveyed portion at 600 acres each, which gives us an additional water area of 1,200,000 acres, making a total of water area on the surveyed lands of 2,700,000 acres of water within the limits of the State. This does not embrace the vast water areas included within thfe protected boundary lines of the State in Lake Superior and Lake of the Woods and along the great water stretches of the international line.—Sl. Paul Pioneer-Press.

■UCKLLAHEOUN ITEMS. —Turkey seems to be resting on her ewers. - ” -Base-ball was a losing game all around in the season just closed. —When a great talkc’r travels by boat some persons are bound to be overbored. • —At the present time nearly every shop in Brooklyn is lit with kerosene Instead of gas. —Laun-dresses will wash, and, despite the cool weather, they are still wornout with hard work. —Tice ilnds that farmers cannot be pleased entirely with any article of weather he may produce. —The New Orleans Times devotes a column to show why the cent should, be a circulating coin in that cKy. —A New York banker says that , not one business man in four can tell a counterfeit bill from a good one. —Frizzes don’t hold ont well in damp weather, unless they are natural ones, when they corkscrew up extra well. —ln the morning, cold and gray, Wrap we (or the loved and lost: Darling Himso-plants in the way Of an unexpected frost. —Burlington Hawk-Eye. —A black-walnut child’s high-chair was what papa inquired tor. lie probably wanted it for a chip of the old block. —Mrs. N. Dover is a fashionable milliner at Yazoo City, Miss. She endeavors to do the best she can for her customers. —The Port Chester Journal advises starving people to eat grass. Grass contains 8o per cent, of nutriment, and is easy to get. —Petroleum has been found in Italy, and lamp explosions will become possible in the sunny land without drawing on American oil wells.

—The New York World wants some vne to point out a woman practical joker, declaring that such an article is rarer than a female atheist. —The editor who saw a lady making for the only empty seat in a ear, found himself “crowded out to make room for more interesting matter.” —Some one suggests that the Londoners place Cleopatra’s Needle in Threadneedle street. But wouldn’t it be just as proper to stick, it in the outskirts?— Norristown Herald. , —A lot of Frenchmen, Prussians and Englishmen chiselled their names upon an ancient Egyptian tomb, and over them all an indignant savant has engraved, “ A list of fools.” —Speaking of the Black Hills editors as poker players, the Deadwood Miner says if a fence-rail was to be put up as a blind, the editors are so poor that not one of them could straddle it. —Some one has said that “ Prudence in the morning is success in the evening.” But, like the veriiication of many other proverbs, that depends upon what a man wants to do.—A'. O. Ticayune. —Every woman who marries should have some idea of cookery; but the truth is that nine in ten who marry cannot tell whether icicles should be cooked with their jackets on or not.— N. Y. Herald.

—The Manchester Union explains, for the benefit of the New Hampshire populace, that “an obelisk is a tail, four-sided pillar, gradually tapering as it rises, and cut off at the top in the form of a flat pyramid.” —When Thompson’s boy found his toy savings bank empty and his father well off for small change, the only satisfaction he could get was: “My sbn, the only safe investment is stock in a snow-shovel company.” —The active transitive verb to hornswoggle is Missouri property. The St. Louis Journal employs it in blasphemous attestation of its otherwise unheeded word. “May we be 'everlastingly hornswoggled,” it says, “if,” etc.— N. T. Graphic. —John Ruskin says, in his latest lecture, that war in civilized countries is wholly the fault of women, and adds that if course of war, instead of unroonng houses and ravaging fields, merely broke china upon drawing-room tables, no war would last a week.

—A Rochester milkman has lost two lady customers because a newspaper charged him with putting aqua pura in his milk. They said they had all they could do to stand the water he put in, but now that he was caught adding that nasty drug they wanted no more. —Things will never consist in this world. The Lexington (Ky.) Gazette says the dry weather is impeding the sowing of wheat, while the Lexington (Va.) Gazette says the wet weather is impeding the sowing of wheat. Between tho two we don’t see how any wheat is to be sown.— Louisville Cour-ier-Journal. —Benevolent Boston has a new notion. She intends, to establish lunch closets at the public schools where each of the pupils can have a cup of vrjilk and a piece of bread and butter at recess. If the children are consulted about the matter they will admit that thiß cupboard business is the one element of success that the schools have long lacked.— Detroit Free Press. —An Ohio couple recently quarreled, and in the beat of the moment the man Eacked his carpet-bag and left the ouse—forever, as he informed his wife. At a short distance from the house he found that he had forgotten his tobacco-box. He accordingly returned, filled his mouth with the fragrant weed, its influence causing him to look upon his wife with kinder eyes, and in another moment a reconciliation had been effected. This shows that a man can learn to love tobacco better than his wife.

A Strange Story.

Thirty-three years ago a family named Benton, consisting of father, mother, son and daughter, resided in one of the Western States near a small town called Blank. The father was wealthy and lived in style, and his daughter Mabel, a child between two and three years of age, was always elegantly dressed, and George, the son, a boy of seven, was preparing to enter an Eastern school. One day little Mabel disappeared, and her parents never heard of her again, although they spent thousands of dollars in searching for her. The heart-broken mother died soon after the loss of her darling, and the father wandered over this country apd Europe, and finally settled in New York, where he died. George grew to manhood, and the memory of his lost sister was almost effaced from his mind. In his twenty-seventh year, while visiting a married friend, he fell in love with the governess of his friend’s children, a beautiful girl of about twentythree, and after some months they were married and lived happily for five or six years, a boy and girl being born to them during that time. By the' death of an uncle in San Francisco George was left a considerable

fortune, and the lawyer who conveyed the intelligence to him also stated that his sisters career had been traced. ' A tramp on his 4cath-bed in a St. Louis Police-Station confessed that he and two companions had stolen little Mabel Benton for her clothes and a locket which she wore, and that she had con tinued with them for several years, when her bright, pretty face attracted the attention of a kind-hearted lady in Ohio, who adopted her and sent her to school, where she remained until her patroness died. Mabel then became a teacher in a large school in Cincinnati, but as her health began to fail she applied for a position as governess, and was now in the family of Mr. M., or at least that was the last place he had heard of her being in. “ What was the name of the family she was with?” asked George. “M was the answer. “ What name did my sister have?” Mabel Ferris. 1 “ My God!” cried George, in agony. “ She has been my wife for five years.” Upon further investigation thisproved to be the truth, and the girl nearly went < crazy, as she was a devout Episcopalian. A separation ensued, all property being equally divided. The children were placed with friends, as neither parent could bear the sight of what was to them the fruit of a crime against God and man. The poor girl is still living in a quiet city in New England, while the husband and brother, after spending all his property save a few hundred dollars in dissipatfon. shut himself oft from all communication with his friends, and is to-day a poor farmer in thi 9 County of Garrett, among strangers, and where few know his sadly remarkable story.— Oakland. (Mo.) Cor. Wheeling Register.

More Direct Importation.

It is now a little over seven years since the Congress of the United States passedalaw portation to interior ports, partly by land. Before that time all imports had to pay duty at the place where they left the water. New York and the East generally opposed the new law bitterly. The then Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Boutwell, was unfavorable to it. Biit it finally passed. For its passage especial credit is due to Hon. N. B. Judd, of Jthis city. After its passage it was for some time so hampered by restrictions and department rules as to be a dead letter, very nearly; but it is how in good working order, doing great good to interior cities. But it falls very far short of accomplishing, as it now stands, all the benefits the system is capable of eorfferring upon the public. 1 A movement is being made to secure such supplemental action on the part of Congress as experience has shown to be necessary. The cities designated in the original to be vested with the privilege of transportation in bond, beside the seaport towns of the Atlantic and Pacific, are eight cities of the interior, namely, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Louisville, Cleveland, Toledo and Evansville, Ind. Indianapolis should have been substituted for the latter. The business-men of these cities, and of the towns with which they sustain commercial relations, have circulated and are circulating a petition praying Congress to so amend the law that the term “ vehicle” used in it may include safes and trunks for the conveyance and transportation of imported merchandise, the same to be of such size, and description as the Treasury Department may see fit to designate. The principal clause of the bill orafted and forming a part of the petition runs as follows:

Sue. 3. That the privileges relating immediate transportation without appraisement, conferred by sections of the said Revised Statutes, from twenty-nine hundred and ninety (2,990) to twenty-nine hundred and ninetynine (2,999), both included, shall be extended to any and all packages of merchandise (excepting the articles excluded therefrom by sail section twenty-nine hundred and ninety (2,990), as amended by section two (2) of tills act), which may be contained in any packed package, wherever it shall appear by the invoice or bill of lading and manifest, that such packages are consigned to, and destined for, cither of the ports mentioned in section twen-ty-nine hundred and ninety-seven (2,997) of the said Revised Statutes, and in subsequent acts extending the same privileges to other ports, and every entry shall embrace all the packages imported by or consigned to any one party which may be destined to any one of the ports so mentioned. The remainder of the packages embraced in any such packed packages, not intended for immediate transportation, as herein provided, may be entered at the port of first arrival in the mannernow provided by law for the entry of imported merchandise generally, at the ports of first arrival. The plain English of this is to enable small shipments. As the law now stands, direct interior imports are confined to large shipments, loaded in cars or compartments of vessels, not opened between first and final port of entry. The petition states, and correctly, too, that “what is needed in addition is-the

right to carry merchandise of this character in small quantities, under Treasury locks, in proper safes, or packing trunks, of such kind and description as may be oreseribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, which safes or trunks can be readily transferred from one car or boat to another car or boat and delivered at dift'erent ports of entry, as contents may require.” In other words, the express companies should be allowed to do a foreign business. This would be safe to the Government, as these companies could and would be under bonds ample to cover every contingency and prevent the privilege from being the occasion of smuggling. In fact, so far from facilitating smuggling, it would be the most effective check devisable upon it. At the present time vast amounts of dutiable foreign goods are imported in driblets without paying duty. - They come in the trunks of travelers and in every surreptitious way known to smugglers. In a largo proportion of cases, the person ordering the goods would prefer to pay the duty and have them come in a regular, responsible and business-like way, if it could be done without interminable delays and vexatious extra charges. The effect is to practically prohibit regular importation, except on the part of heavy merchants. The petition states that a large foreign business is springing up of this character:

Consignor* abroad deliver to a carrier small packages for transmission to the United States, which, for safety and convenience, are packed into one package for the purpose of shipment to this country.,,-The invoice will show the contents of each package making up the packed package, but the manifest will show only “ one packed package” for one consignee at first port of entry. Under the law as it now stands such packed package cannot he opened at the port pf arrival, and the contents, as addressed, forwarded without appraisement. This cruel injustice to the general public of the interior ought to be remedied. There is no good reason why the facilities for getting goods from one point in this country to another, now enjoyed, should not be extended to foreign countries. Congress should prepare the way for it by suitable legislation, and the express companies should do the rest They could establish and maintain agencies abroad as well as at home. Packages could be sent on the

C. O. D. principle from I ondon to Chicago, and the rights of all the parties, including the Government of the United States, could be protected effectively. Such a bill passed the last House of Representatives, but failed in the Senate for want of time. We hope it will become a law before spring, in time for the smaller and more numerous class of merchants to avail themselves of its privileges, and thus escape their present bondage to the few heavy firms able to import by the car-load; also in time to furnish a lawful substitute for the usual private smuggling before the next season of traveling begins. —Chicago Evening Journal.

INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS.

—A New York young woman named Louisa A. Bowen has shown great skill in handling a base-ball bat She knocked a burglar’s brains out with one. —A Boston swindler has made thousands of dollars in New England by staying at hotels over night in the guise of a traveling salesman, by previous arrangement with a confederate, letters containing worthless checks and pretended directions from an employer, and inducing the landlords to cash the checks. His easy, business-like manner, and the simplicity of the fraud enabled him to succeed in nearly every instance.

—Mr. E. A. Ebarle, an actor of exEeriencc, became strangely at fault in is part in an Albany theater a few nights ago. At length he advanced to the footlights and said: “ I don’t know what is the matter with me, but I certainly am not drunk—l never drink anything intoxicating. I was perfect in my part at rehearsal this morning, but now I cannot recall a word of it.” He retired, and another actor read the rest of his part. His trouble was paralysis of the brain, and there is not much hope of his recovery’. —William Stevens of Clay County, Ala., has squatted on a mountain tract and built himself a log cabin, where he resides contentedly with his rille, wife, eight kids and 100 goats. The goats are hardy and prolific; he shoots them when he wants .meat, or leather for shoes; has their milk for milk, butter and cheese; exchanges kid flesh for meal with a miller at the foot of the mountain; sells his surplus animals yearly for clothing, hats, ■ etc., and claims that he is the best-fed, bestclothed, best-shod and best-humored man in the county. —The cotton-picking season is an unfortunate time for negro children. The New Orleans Times says that last year there were no less than fourteen cabins burned up, together with some twenty children whom their parents locked inside while they picked cotton in the fields. The business has begun for the present season; the second case occurred on the Cook plantation, in East Feliciana, a few days ago,when two colored children, locked in a cabin, were burned to death. It is said that there has not been a year since the war in which a dozen of these casualties have not taken place in Louisiana. —On a recent Saturday morning Mrs. Way, of Mechanicsville, N. Y., arose from bed and taking four children with her, proceeded to the creek, and threw the little ones in. She then jumped in herself. The eldest child, a girl, succeeded in getting out and ran to the house. Her father was yet asleep, and she awoke him, saying: “Mother threw all of us into the creek and then jumped in herself.” As soon as possible Mr. Way followed his little daughter to the creek and some neighbors, joined him on the road. With the assistance rendered by the neighbors, Mr. Way succeeded in rescuing his wife and one of the children, but two of the little ones were drowned. Mrs. Way has been thought for some time to be slightly insane, but not sufficiently so to be deprived of her liberty

The Secret of an Old Cellar.

New must in an old collar is as treacherous as new wine in an old bottle. Three weeks ago two travelers who were breakfasting in an inn at Little Coureelles, near Paris, called for a bottle of wine, and the innkeeper sent a servant into the cellar to fetch it. After waiting a long time for the girl to return, the housekeeper went down stairs to find out what was the matter. She likewise failed to return with the wine, and as the travelers were now impatient, the innkeeper himself made the descent into the cellar, but was not seen again. One of the travelers rose from the break-fast-table in alarm, and ran down the cellar stairs to ascertain what had happened, and his companion waited in vain for his reappearance. There was now only one man in the tavern, and he ’Was too wise to vanish from the scene as abruptly as the rest had done. He ran into the street and called in the neighbors. One of these, a physician, ventured as far as the door of the cellar, and pushed it open so as to give egress to the noxious gases imprisoned there. After the cellar had been partially ventilated the neighbors found on the floor the bodies of the four persons who had disappeared so mysteriously? Three of them were restored to con sciousness, but the girl, who had led the way, died. On the previous evening the innkeeper had left a vat of must in the cellar, and the carbonic acid gas emitted from the fermenting liquid had doisoned the air.— Exchunoe.

A Noble Pair of Brothers.

In the Town of Wells, Me., there are two brothers, one seventy-seven, the other seventy-two years of age, weighing nearly SUO pounds and measuring in height about twelve feet six inches combined, living about four miles from North Berwick, in the vicinity of Bragdon & West’s mill. What is remarkable about these two men is that they were born in the house they now live in, and never went away from home. Both are married and have families. They have always lived on this place, and never divided any property, never kept any accounts, never quarreled, never had any hard words or disagreements. The farm contains upward of 500 acres of land, over. 350 of which are heavily timbered. Tteir timber and wood tract is nearly a mile square, extending from their house, which sets isolated and In from the main road, back to the Boston and Maine track. There are hundreds of trees upward of a hundred feet high, and somfe of which measure from four to five feet in diameter at the butt. There are no such trees in this section of Maine as are owned by “ Jack & Oliver,” as they are known far and near. Their children, when they go to the store fqr goods, say to the merchant: “Charge to father/’ " Well, who Is father?” “ Why, Jack & Oliver —boston Globe. New Yore is still exercised about swill milk. Why don’t she try the udder kind?

“ THANKSGIVING” HISTORY.

The New England origin of Thanksgiving Day is disputed in Brodhoad’s “ History of New York,” which cites several Thanksgiving proclamations of Dutch Colonial Governors, who were not likely to follow Connecticut or Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth. In truth, two lines of traditional observance may be traced in the Colonies of New England and New Netherlands, and it is possible that both streams havo their source in the low countries of Holland. Probably the original idea is given in the Hebrew “feast of tabernacles,” or “feast of ingathering at the close of the year.” The earliest Thanksgiving Day in America which has been put on record is, without doubt, that namecNtp Elder Brewster’s well-known letter, when, after the first harvest at Plymouth, in 1621, Gov. Bradford sent four men out fowling, that they “ might after a more special manner reioice together.” The appointment of the fowlers seems to have been official, and the Thanksgiving turkey has this ancient and honorable ancestry, but whether there was a formal appointment of the day does not appear so plainly. It may have been evolved by a natural process from the jpy at% good harvest from that rugged virgin soil. The earliest-recorded appointment of a Thanksgiving Day was two years later. In July, 1628, there had been an unfavorable season, and a long drought threatened famine; so a day of fasting and praver was appointed, and, in the midst of its sad ami prayerful observ - ance, the rain came, and came abundantly, so that Massasoit and other Indians, who were present, were amazed, and the Governor appointed a day of thanksgiving for the answer to prayer. Then those praying men gathered in the Fort Church, and Elder Brewster preachcil a sermon, which, whatever other faults it had, was certainly not short. There was a like change of Fast Day into Thanksgiving, in Charlestown, in 1631, when the blessing was not rain, but the arrival of a ship with supplies. In 1633 there was a joint observance of a day in Boston and Plymouth, upon the recommendation of Gov. Winthrop to his own Colony, and his invitation to the neighbor Colony. Then the Colonial records show official appointments of such days in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, in 1634, 1637, 1638 and 1639; and in the Plymouth Colony in 1651, 1668, 1680, 1689 and 1690; and the form of the proclamation in 1680 shows that the custom had then become annual, instead of the special occasional Thanksgiving of the beginning, and from an uncertain place all around the year, had settled down to a fixed home in the late autumn or early winter. That custom, once fixed in New Enf;lahd, held on with such honor, that _hc adoption and preservation of the institution, if not its invention, may justly be claimed by the land of pump-kin-pie. The Dutch Governors of New Amsterdam appointed occasional Days of Thanksgiving in 1644, 1645, 1655 and 1664; and the English Governors followed their example in 1755 and 1760; and the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, in its prayer-book, ratified in 1789, recommends for Thanksgiving Day the first Thursday in November, unless some other day be appointed by the civil authorities. There were also occasional recommendations by other religious bodies, but no regular annual recommendation by the Governor of New York before 1817. From that time the observance gradually crept southward and westward, and in 1855 Gov. Johnson, of Virginia, adopted it; and though in 1857 Gov. Wise, of Virginia, rejected it, saying that he was unauthorized to interfere in religious matters, in 1868 a Thanksgiving Day was proclaimed in eight of the Southern States. The Western States had long before followed the lead of New England. The day had thus naturally grown to be a National institution, of almost universal observance, when the civil war brought to sudden ripeness this, along with many other tendencies, and President Lincoln put upon it the seal of his official proclamation. In this he onl]* returned to the custom of the Revolution, during which great struggle the day was annually recommended ny the Continental Congress, which also ordered a general thanksgiving for peace, in 1784. Washington issued two thanksgiving proclamations, in 1789 and in 1795; and Madison issued one upon the declaration of peace in 1815. President Lincoln’s first proclamation was in 1862, on account of tne first important victory of the National arms. He issued a similar recommendation in 1863, and in that year began the Presidential proclamation of the annual Thanksgiving Day in November.— Rev. Franklin Noble, in N. Y. Observer.

A Terrified Negress.

Something occurred in the Repubtiedn building recently which was decidedly funny, and which created at first not a little excitement. A woman entered the hall leading to the elevator, the door of which was open, and stopped in under the impression, as subsequently appeared, that it led to another series of steps. As she entered, the elevator-bov, as a matter of course, closed the door and started the elevator. As he did so and the concern began moving upward, he became in an instant the worst startled boy in all St. Louis. That colored woman leaped to her feet, glared at the walls gliding past. and, with a terrific scream, hurleu herself at the transom over the door. Failing to get through, she plunged about the elevator, with every breath emitting shrieks long enough and loud enough to wake the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. People rushed from tne different floors to the elevator way under the impression that a ghastly tragedy was going on in open daylight. People ran in from the street to be present at, if not to prevent, the scene of blood. It was a terrible moment. Meanwhile the frightened elevator-boy had reversed his conveyance and reached the bottom again, where he flung open the door with an alacrity retttarkable—at least In an elevator-boy. The colored woman bounded out like a shot, still shrieking with double-loon power, and never ceased her yells until out on the sidewalk and at a safe distance -from the infernal machine. Then her expressions of gratitude at her remarkable escape were*touching. “Dey didn't catch here in dere trap ter take poah niggahs to dere disseetin’-room! No, sanT Bress de Lord!” And she started off down the street, fully ponvinced that she had just missed a horrible death and subsequent cutting-up.— Bt. Louis Republican. An old bachelor explains the equrage of the Turks by saying that a man with more than one wife ought to be willing to face death at any time.