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the slightest degree—as would, be the
L e with the strongest known spirit. In
so confined an area; it would rise slightly
at the sides of the glass, from attraction.
This did not. , ,
I took out the cork to try how he
would smell.
“Don’t, Tom, don’t ; it’s so cold,” he
cried, piteously; “cork me, there’s a dear
friend, cork me quickly, or I shall evapo
rate, goodness knows where.”
“Mark,” I said severely, having com
plied with his request, ‘you are an im
postor. You are a phantasm of the brain,
or of the stomach. You either represent
the ill effects of that bit of ‘hatchis’ I was
so foolish as take tvo months ago, or you
are the ill-digested dinner I took to-day
with you and your wife.”
“I am no impostor, Tom,” he answer
ed, 4 l’w an unfortunate reality. I’m per
sistent and coherent; and independent of
your will. And I’ve been a most unfor
tunate reality without the ghost of an
external idea ever since Volt served me
this scurvy trick. You didn’t dine with
me to-day, Tom. I don’t appreciate
dinners in my fluid state. You dined
with Volt and with my wife.”
“Nonsense, Mark, Volt is dead, and
vouaud I buried him.”
“Tom, you don’t understand. Will you
promise to listen, and not interrupt me
any more ? I want to lay my case before
you for a legal opinion !”
Having rubbed my eyes, pinched my
self and trod on a most painful bunion
which I keep for such emergencies, to
prove I was not dreaming, I consented
to listen to the bottle, which proceeded to
deliver itself of this painful narrative :
“You are aware that Mr. Volt and I
meditated making an exchange of extern
al ideas—bodies —; pro tem. Well, after
nearly a month’s dietary, to bring our
susceptibilities to the requisite degree of
fineness, we met in this laboratory for the
purpose of carrying out the experiment.
Before proceeding to business, Mr. Volt
informed me that, in case of fatal results
to himself, he had left me the tower and
all its contents by de?d of gift. This
was very generous, as it appeared to
me, but not very reassuring. We then
got our still nnder way, and produced a
great quantity of the violet vapor of iodic
ether. When we had become thoroagLly
impregnated with its fumes, we each
took a stiff dose of ‘hatchis.’ Now,
whether Mr. Volt through contriving to
sit nearer than I did to the heating ap
paratus which gave out the vapor, inhal
ed more of it in the time than I, or how
otherwise it took place, 1 do not know ;
but it is certain that he managed to distil
the spirit out of his body some minutes
before I was ready to leave mine. The
consequence was, that while his body
remained empty, waiting for its new
tenant, his essence wandered about the
room. ‘Be quick, for it’s awfully chilly,’
his essence said to me. “I am as quick
as I can be,’ I retorted. As soon as ever
I felt myself loose, I disengaged myself
from my external idea. And I had no
sooner done this than Mr. Volt took posses
sion of if; for I heard him say to me, in my
old voice, ‘All right, Mark ; I’m in ;
how are you getting on ?” You will
scarcely credit the baseness of that man;
but how do you think he had occupied
the time till I was ready ? If you will
believe me, he had gone over to his empty
body and poured a pint and a half of
laudanum down his throat, and killed it,
so as to leave me no where to go to ! I
could have cried with vexation*; but being
vapor already, I did’nt like to, in case of
injuring myself I made several vigor
ous attempts to condense back into my
own body ; but my body was only made
to accommodate one, and Mr. Volt more
than fitted it already. This accounts for
its puffing out, and being soo smooth and
slick, now he occupies it: it being a little
tight for him. “What is to become of
me ■ ’ I cried. Mr. Volt, who was pret
ty comfortably settled in my body by this
time, replied we will soon settle that, and
he went and fetched a great cold sheet of
glass—rgh ! —and condensed me into this
nquid state and poured me into this
phial. You see why the rascal made his
property over to me. It was only in or
.ol when he had stolen my body,
II ! jight enjoy himself. Now in all your
professional experience, did you ever
with a case like mine ?”
( |Never, I returned.
ery well, then. What is my remedy
111 iQ w against Mr. Volt ?”
'Really,” I said, “there is no precedent
c° by. I don’t see what you can
Mr. Volt with.
, Charge him with!” he retorted,
saarply. “Why, with every crime in the
book. Begin with common as-
Isn’t it a common assault to beat
“ to a jelly ?”
“Jdf course it is.”
1 hen how much more to reduce a
‘“an to a fluid state ? What would he
got ior the common assault ?”
r . ,^ Fa ne °i forty shillings and
wStS. °
“And when he has paid that, can’t you
charge him with felony ? Isn’t it a felony
to steal wooden legs and arms?”
“Undoubtedly.”
“Then how much the more to steal real
legs and arms. He has got all mine.
What would he get for that ?”
“Not more than a twelve month—it
being his first offence—if convicted,” I
said, with marked emphasis on the “if.”
“You can charge him next with forgery,
can’t you ? Presuming on stealing my
body, he has forged my name to cheques
on my banking account, besides embez
zling the moneys in my cash-box.”
“That is an unquestionable offence.”
“How much for the forgery ?” he
asked.
“About seven years’ transportation.”
“Then, again he is living with my
wife ; it’s bigamy, and good for two years,
at least.”
“Scarcely bigamy on his part,” I said,
“since, if your story stood in evidenct
your wife would be the bigamist,
she having two husbands, whereas Mr.
Volt is not a married man.”
“That’s unfortunate; but you can make*
him a correspondent, can’t you and get
damages out of him, and then prosecute
him for paying the damages out of my
money ? And then you can charge him
with suicide, for killing his own body.
What’s the punishment for that ?”
•‘Only to be buried and he has been
that; or, if he has not, then he is not
dead, and cannot be charged with the of
fence.”
“Make it murder, then. Indict him
under the name of Stedburn, to save
trouble and charge him with the murder
of Mr. Volt ; when he had been sen
tenced get him recommended to mercy,
and transported for life, so that he may
come back with a ticket-of-leave some
day, and be sued in the civil courts un
der a writ of ejectment for wrongly hold
ing possession of my body.”
“All this is very well, my dear Mark,”
I iaid *if you could only prove your case,
but I am very much afraid you have no
locus standi. The question is, could
you, as a bottle, give such evidence on
these indictments as would satisfy a
jury?”
I heard the bottle murmur some re
ply, and then I became concious of noth
ing but the strange veil-like misty rain,
and looking through this veil where it
drew away thin and transparant, I saw
my own body asleep on a couch in Mr.
Volt’s laboratory, with Mark Stedburn
beside it, loosening my necktie and shirt
collar and sprinkling water on my face.
Then the veil shriveled up and was gone,
and I was sitting on the sofa with Mark’s
hand on my pulse.
“You’re all right now, old fellow, eh ?”
he said, kindly.
“Let me go back to London, Mark. I
have had such queer ideas since Mr.
Volt’s funeral that I don’t feel myself.”
“Funeral! Why, here is Mr. Volt.
Do you know how long you slept under
the ‘hatchis’ ?”
“I woke once, I know two months ago,
and weut to London. l r on haven’t given
me that stuff again *nce I came back,
have you ?” I stammered in doubt.
“You hid one dose precisely ten
minutes ago, and it is now nine o’clock
to the minute,” said Mark, holding up his
watch in confirmation. ‘‘Singular pre
paration, is it not ?”
“I hope,” said Mr. Volt, “you are now
thoroughly convinced of the reality of
the impressions produced by ‘hatchis.’
They were sequent and recurrent, 1 be
lieve, as those to which you restrict the
term reality; were they not ! And they
took place independently of your will. I
think ?”
“Quite so,” I rejoined, “but still, they
differed from reality in this important
particular, that whereas phantasy told me
you had committed suicide, I wake up to
find you resolutely and persistently
alive.”
Mr. Volt much wished to argue this
point, but Mark insisted that our time was
out, and dragged me away from the tower
to his house to supper.
“But he surely is not sane ?”
“He is only mad on one point,” return
ed Mark, “and I humor him in that for
the sake of his intelligence in other re
spects ; hut rest assured that, although
we frequently exchange ideas, in the
common acceptation of the phrase, I have
no earthly intention of exchanging out
ward ideas with Mr. Volt, in his sense of
the term.’’
lamp pews.
IRELAND.
Passenger traffic on all Irish railways
is very bad this year.
The Minister of War has lately stated
in the House of Commons that the
Government had determined not to call
out the Irish militia for training this
year.
>miiii ©i sis s©un.
The duty on probate on the will of the
late Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, which
was paid in Dublin, on February 19th
amounted to the large sum of £16,500 for
stamp duty alone.
It is estimated that the total number
of ejectments actually executed in Ire
land in 1867, was as many as 4,866.
There were 3,270 probates of will and
administrations issued in Ireland in the
year 1867.
The Lord Lieutenant has appointed
Sir James Power, Bart., Merrien-square,
Dublin, and Edermine House, Enniscor
thy, a deputy Lieutenant for the city of
Dublin, in the room of Sir John King
ston James, Bart., deceased.
If Margaret Meagher, otherwise Dock
rell, alias Lee, alias Foley, and the heirs
of the following persons who died in
America, will apply to the undersigned,
they may hear news to their advantage :
Edward J. Creed, James Holmes, George
Wilson, Thomas Brown, William Smith,
John Day, John M’Coy, Francis Perry,
George Bositor, James Whitney, William
Mitchell, John Gorman (a native of Wa
terford), Joseph Meade and William Col
lins.—Patrick Kelly, No. 15 Harbor
Hill, Queenstown —Dublin Irishman.
Dublin.— During the past week a man
died in the South Union Workhouse,
named Matthew Pheton, at the very ad
vanced age of 108 years. The deceased
had been in good health up to the day of
his death, and had occasionally worked
at his trade, as a carpenter, until quite
recently. A week befere his death he
told his daughter, herself an aged woman,
with whom he resided in Fisher’s Lane,
that for the first time in his life, he
felt unwell, and therefore he would go
into the workhouse to die, that she
might be spared the expense of bury
ing him from her slender means. Ac
cordingly he went to that institution,
where he died in a very few days. The
old man retained his intellect and in
telligence, which were remarkable, to
frhe last. One of his reminiscences was
a recollection of seeing Lord Edward
fiitzgerald drag’ged out of the house
102 Thomas street, in which he had
been arrested, bleeding from the wounds
which had been inflicted on him in his
struggle with his captors. Pheton, who,
at that time, resided in Hoey’s Court,
formed one of the crowd which was at
tracted by the spectacle.
[Freeman, Feb. 21th.
Kildare.— On February 20, the Kil
dare Hounds met at Hollywood, a place
situate amidst some of that beautiful
scenery which abounds about the neigh
hood of Ballymore-Eustace. There was
an average attendance of hunting men,
amongst whom were : Sir Edward Ken
nedy, Bart., Master; Baron de Robeck,
Right Hon. W. H. F. Cogan, M. P.; Sir
James Higginson, Bart.; Richard Moore,
Esq.; George Booth, Esq.; Richard
Mansfield, Esq. ; Captain Tuthill, Robert
Kennedy, Esq.; Captain Hon. R. Dillon,
Edward Hornidge, Esq ; Miss Roberts,
W. Cromer Roberts, Esq., and Miss
Roberts; Edward Fitzgerald, Esq.; Wil
liam Forbes, Esq.; J. D. R. Lynch, Esq.,
and E. A. Lynch, Flsq.; D. O’Connor
Henchy, Esq.; Charles P. Hoffman,
Esq.
Galway.— The following property in
this county was recently sold in the
Landed Estates Court: Estate of John
De Burgh Lynch, owner; exparte Thos.
Coramins, petitioner; and of Belinda
Lynch and John De Burgh Lynch, own
ers and petitioners. The dwelling house
in Flood street, Galway, known as “The
Mayoralty House,” held from year to
year; yearly rent £3O. Sold to Mr. Bla
quiere, solicitor, in trust, for £405. So
licitor Mr. R. Stephens Estate of Cole
man Robert Broughton—Lot I—lnnis
lacken, 129a *2r 36p; net rental, £l9l
15s. 9d.; held in fee simple. Ad journed
for want of sufficient bidding. Solicitor
Mr. Mecredy.
Meatm. —At Slane Fair, held there on
February 19th, there was a large attend
ance. In the beef department there were
many large lots exhibited, and nearly all
were disposed of early in the day (mostly
for export) to buyers from Drogheda,
Dublin, and Dundalk; fine beef realizing
£4 per cwt., and in some cases a shade
over it, middling from £3 ss. to £3 15s.
per cwt. There was a fair supply of
mutton, for which there was an active
demand, well-finished sheep bringing
fully 9d. per lb. Os store cattle there
was rather a small show* of an inferior
description, bidders asking very high
prices.
Tipperary.— The following property
in this county was recently sold in the
Landed Estate Court : Estate of Fred
erick Bridge, owner and partitioner.—
Part of the lands of Carrick, held in fee
farm, containing 352a. 2r. 36p ; net an
nual value, £173 17s. Bd. Sold to
Dean Wolseley for £2,800. Cathcarth
and Hemphill, solicitors.
aterfori).— There was a very
attendance at the February fair; stock
was in pretty good condition, and on the
whole the fair was considered excellent.
Prices were—milch cows rated from
£lO to £l6 each; springers from £lO to
£18; three year olds, in calf, £9 to £l4*
strippers, £8 to £l2; yearlings, £4 to
£7 10s.; fat sheep, 30s. to 505.; bacon
pigs, 60s. to 635. per cwt. stores from
40s. to 60s. each; bonhams, 20s. to 355.
Koscommon.— The Spring continues
more characteristic than was the Winter
—it is rather colder, with the usual sup
ply of showers and sunshine. The ground
is not yet sufficiently dry for receiving
the seed, but everything will be ad
vanced when the time has arrived. The
fairs continue good, and it is hoped that
a reaction in favor of farmers will short
ly ensue. Messenger, February 20.
Louth.— There was a good supply of
cattle at Ardee Fair, on February 24th,
tor which there was a brisk demand.
Springers and milch cows sold from £l2
to £lB each; three year old heifers and
bullocks from £8 to £ll each; two year
olds fiom £6 to £9 each; yearlings £3
to £4 each Supply of beef good. Store
cattle not much looked for. The sup
ply of sheep small, demand good at high
prices. A large number of pigs; all
sold early in the day at over 565. per
cwt. Owing to the severity of the day
the fair was over early.
Ihe mild weather experienced some
days since has vanished, and has been
succeeded by violent storms and heavy
rain. Yesterday was very inclement,
and to-day there has been some storm
and drenching showers. —Dundalk Dem
ocrat, Feb. 27.
Wexford.— The impressive and beau
tiful ceremony of Ordination took place
on February 21, in the chapel attached
to the Convent of the Sisters of Mercy,
Wexford, the recipient of the sacred Or
der of Priesthood being the Rev. Patrick
M. Furlong, Professor in St. Peter’s
College, Wexford.
A\ icklow. — At a late meeting of the
Town Commissioners of Wicklow, the
following resolution was proposed by Mr.
John Hayden : “That a lease of Bay
view House and premises, including the
giound in front lately allotted, be given
to the Rev. Mr. O’Doherty, P. P., in
trust for the Nuns, for the use of the
Convent and school, for the longest legal
period, on condition of the proposed out
lay of £I,OOO, which they undertake to
make in buildings and improvements.”
Mr. Edward Doolittle seconded this re
solution, which was passed unanimously.
Kilkenny.— The opening plowing
match of the Kilkenny Farming society
took place on the 18th February, at
Danesfort, five miles from the “fairie
citie,” in afield known as the Old Race
course. The weather was charming, the
attendance extremely large, and the ut
most interest evinced in the proceedings,
which were of the most encouraging
character. Amongst those present were
tue Marquis of Ormond, President of the
Society; Col. the Right Hon. W. F.
Tjghe, Woodstock; George Reade, Esq.,
Lieut. Dunbar, Mr. Baldwin, Inspector
of Agricultural Schools; T. Lystcr, Hon.
Sec. of the Society; R. Howard, J. Wil
lott, Aid. P. Meagher, J. Sexton, W.
Keuealy, Kilkenny Journal ; Arthur
M’Mahon, M. Murphy, S. Hunt, Car
rick-on-Suir, &c*
The mystery attending the wholesale
destruction of sheep at Chatsworth, near
Castlecomer. which we lately referred to,
has not yet been cleared up. No sheep
have since been killed in a similar man
ner in the district, bot a strict watch has
been kept at night, which is supposed to
have prevented a recurrence of the at
tacks on the flocks in the locality, from
whatever quarter it might have come.
On one night, the persons watching Mr.
Bradley’s sheep—lie having before lost
15 in one night, as we have already re
ported—had reason to believe that some
mischievous animal or reptile had got
amongst them, as the flock suddenly
tooK alarm, and ran in various directions
from a certain point, manifesting the ut
most terror.— Journal, February 20.
Spe<*al Correspondence of the Banner of the South.
ST- PATRICK’S DAY IN KNOXVILLE-
Dear Banner:
Learning that you have no regular
correspondent at this place, I thought I
would just give you a few items from
this burg. St. Patrick’s Day was cele
brated here for the first time, by some of
our Irish citizens. A procession was
formed at the City Hall, at 11 o’clock
A.M., consisting of thirty young Fenians
with uniforms of red caps, green jack
ets, aud black pants; then the Brass
Band; next, a carriage drawn by four
horses, containing Father Finigan and
Capt. O’Conner; then came the Iliber
niau Benevolent Society, numbering
nineteen men; then a large wagon deco-
rated with the National colors of Ireland
and America, with thirty-two girls re
presenting the thirty-two Counties of
Ireland, accompanied by a Maid of Erin
and the Goddess of Liberty; their
Aids were mounted; then about sixty
men on foot; then the Omnibus contain
ing the City Council; the most unpleas
ant part of the scene was the two Negro
Aldermen in the same ’bus—one of them,
particularly, has a very striking appear
ance; he is as black as jet, weighs about
two hundred and twenty-five pounds,
and has only one eye ; then came the
Fountaiu Fire Company, No. 1, with
their Steam Engine, drawn by four
horses, the Company pulling their Hose
Carriage, and the rear was brought up by
some buggies. Flags and Banners were
displayed in all parts of the Procession.
Thomas Ridge, was Chief Marshal, as
sisted by W. B. Smith, and three or
four Aids; the whole procession number
ing about one hundred men. The pro
cession then marched to the Catholic
Church, where Father Finigan delivered
an address appropriate to the day. The
procession then formed again, and march
ed through all the principal streets,
and returned back to the Church at 2
o’clock, P. M., where it dispersed.
There was a ball at night at the Frank
lin Hotel, where everybody seemed to en
joy themselves.
Our City is growing very rapidly.
There was quite a number of business
houses built last Summer, besides a large
number of dwellings. The Catholic
Church was also enlarged considerably;
but the congregation is growing so fast,
that it is as crowded now as it was before
it was enlarged.
We had a very large fire on the night
of the Bth inst., in the centre of the City;
there was three large buildings burned
down. Men are now at work cleaning
away the ruins. New buildings will be
erected immediately. There will be a
great many more buildings erected this
Summer. Knoxville, it is thought, will
be a thriving place, if the new Railroads
were finished, which would make a di
rect route from Cincinnati, Ohip, to
Charleston, S. C.; but no one can tell
when they will be finished, because the
largest elephant that was ever on the
American continent has trod on the
Treasury of Tennessee, and the Militia
are still stamping away at it, hut it is
all to preserve Loyalty. Loyalty.
From the Griffin (Ga.) Star.
An Interesting Occasion and a In
tellectual Treat.— On Wednesday
last, the Hibernian Society of Atlanta,
celebrated the Aniversary of St. Patricks
day in that city. The orator of the day
was Judge 0. A. Lochrane, and the ad
dress was delivered in the Hall of the
House of Representatives, which was
densely packed with ladies and gentle
men, many of whom were Irish men
and women. This Society is one of
the most ancient of Irish organizations
in this couitry, and its principal objects
are of a benevolent nature, tending to the
amelioration of Irishmen, both in America
and the old world. The Society, clothed
in an elegant regalia, and headed by their
President, that glorious Irishman, John
Flynn, and the venerable Vice-President
Tim Burke, filed into the hall at twelve
o’clock. And for one hour the orator of
the day held the vast concourse spell
bound by his eloquence. Seldom has it
been our good fortune to enjoy such a
rare treat. —The silvery tones of voice,
the beautiful classic illusions, the touch
ing tribute to Irish character, were
matchless. The orator spoke of the un
dying love ol* liberty which everywhere
distinguished the true Irishman all over
the world, and as we gazed into the
glistening eyes and glowing faces of
these Irish men and women present, we
felt the truth and justice of the tribute,
lie spoke of Irish gallantry and bravery,
alluding in particlar to Meagher and
Cleburne, When the name of the latter
illustrious chieftain was mentioned, the
whole building shook with applause. llis
familiarity with Irish character enabled
him tojtouch the springs of emotion in ev
ery Irish heart. His representation of
the emigrants leaving his native land for
America, was beautiful beyond descrip-
tion. But we have not time nor space
to do justice to this extraordinary address.
The occasion was one well calculated to
bind Irish hearts still closer together,
and to cause their American brethren to
still more respect the Irish element in
our midst.
We love the Irish. They come to this
j country to work, to thrive, and to be hap
py; an( l they shall ever have an honest
welcome at our hands. We need them
here in the South, and when the auspic
ious day shall arrive that America can as
sist their adopted country men in freeing
from the traldom of oppression the glori
ous land of the Shamrock, we will
give the honest Irishman a helping hand
to realize the darling hope of his life—
the freedom of his native Erin,
3