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tit Address all Letters to the CONSTITU
TIONALIST office, AUGUSTA, GA.
FROM NEW YORK.
A Suit Commenced—Trial Postponed
—Reduced Freight Rates —Inquest
on the Body of the Murdered Jew
ess.
New Yobk, December 22.—The suit
of the people of the State vs. Wm. C.
Kingsley, A. C. Keeny, Wm. A. Fowler,
E. J. Lowber and A. M. Bliss, alledged
as fraudulently obtaining §456,125 from
the city of Brooklyn in the Hempstead
reservoir job, has been commenced.
The trial of C. L. Lawrence, indicted
for complicity in silk smuggling, has
been postponed to the next term.
The reduced rates of freights West
went into effect to-day.
The inquest on the body of Sarah
Alexander, the murdered Jewess, has
been concluded. The prisoner, Ruben
stein, was present with his counsel
The jury, after a half hour’s delibera-’
tion, found the murdered girl came to
her death by violence at the hands of
Pesach N. Rubenstein, and that the
death of the child was consequent upon
that of its mother.
Pox, the Pantomimist, Adjudged a
Lunatic.
The Sheriff’s jury, at Boston, have
pronounced Geo. L. Fox, the panto
mimist, a lunatic, and he has been
committed to an asylum. Mr. Fox j
leaves a wife and young daughter in a 1
most destitute condition.
CRIMES AND CASUALTIES.
Pennsylvania Desperadoes—lncendia- j
ry Fires—Shooting—Poisoning—II- j
licit Distillers.
Pottsville, Penn., December 22.
The special police of the Reading Rail- 1
road Company are guarding the tracks j
aDd trains in the vicinity of Mount
Carmel, to-day, being called there sud
denly to protect the company’s proper
ty In consequence of the appearance of
a gang of desperadoes, who boarded a
passenger train last night and fired on j
the conductor and brakeman, hittiug I
the latter in the leg, and then com
menced beating the conductor. Several
passengers came to their rescue and j
succeeded in driving them from the J
car. The excitement is intense. Al- !
though great efforts have been made,
no arrests have as yet been effected.
Patterson, N. J., December 22.—The
Catholic Church at Passaic was burnt
to-day, by an incendiary. Loss, §15,000.
Detroit, December 22. —The convent
buildings and a grist and shingle mill,
at Cross Village, with their contents,
were burned.
Philadelphia, December 22.—Catha- j
vine Zurgley, shot through the head by j
her husband, is dead.
Baltimore, December 22.—Elizabeth !
Eitman, a little child, and John Henry
Lauterbaek, aged nineteen, died this
inoruiug from eating pound cake
bought at a confectionery shop in this
city.
Pittsburg, December 22. —John L.
Hoffman, Conrad Hoffman and William
Bowers, comprising the firm of Hoff
man & Cos., distillers at Butler, Butler
county, have been arrested and were
brought here to-day, charged with
illicit distilling. Alexander Harvey
and David King, are also under arrest,
the former charged with frauds in con
nection with distilling, and the latter
with fraudulently using warehouse
bonds.
Boston, December 22.—An explosion
occurred in South Boston in which a '
Jarge number were*wounded and sev
eral killed. The large gas main run
ning under Federal street bridge to
South Boston, along the water’s edge, j
under the pavement on Federal street ;
exploded, making a loud report and j
tearing up the pavement one hundred l
and fifty feet. The street was thronged
with people at the time and many were
buried under the debris. Crosby’s
giaiu warehouse was badly shattered
and wall have to be taken down. The
foreman was instantly killed. It is
supposed that several persons were
blown into the water. Several of the
dead have already been taken out. The
wildest rumors prevail.
WASHINGTON.
The Fort Sung Affair—Postal News—
The President Visits.
Washington, December 22. —The
commission to investigate the Second j
Comptroller's office regarding the Fort
Sugg Tennessee affair, concluded the
testimony and are making a report.
The commissioners are entirely re
ticent. The report will probably reach
the Secretary early next week. Great j
interest attaches to the report.
ihe Postmaster General has ordered
mails on the new line of Ward & Cos.,
between New York and the ports of
St. lago and Cieufuegos, commencing
December 30th, and monthly thereaf
ter. The European mails leave New
York on the 25th iuft.. on the Elysia, of
the Anchor Line.
The President has gone to New York
to attend the New England Society
dinner.
Minor Telegrams.
St. Paul, Minn., December 22.—Rev.
John Ireland was consecrated Coadju
ter Bishop of the Roman Catholic
Church for the diocese of St. Paul.
There was great ceremony.
Westchester, Pa., December 22.
The Bank of Brandywine, in this city,
closed doors to-day. The directors
are in session. No particulars.
Milford, December 22.—T0-day at
noon the thermometer indicated sixty
eight degrees in the shade, and ex
posed to the sun, eighty-three degrees.
Such a day at this season of the year
is beyond the recollection of the oldest
inhabitants.
Chicago, December 22.—The state
ment of the Directors of the Commer
cial Loan Company is inaccurate. The
assets, which can be made available
sooner or later, are about §405,000.
There is §IOO,OOO due the company,
which cannot be collected. Probably
eighty-five cents will be paid. The
company did a large deposit business.
The suspension will fall heavily on the
poor.
San Francisco, December 22. —Owing
to the severe strictures of the Victoria
press on the loss of the steamship Pa
cific, Messrs. Goodall, Nelson & Perkins
announce their intention of withdraw
ing their ships from that line.
An Assemblyman from San Francisco
has introduced a resolution asking the
appointment of a legislative committee
to devise means to prevent in future
similar disasters to the loss of the Pa
cific. He supported the resolution in a
speech referring to the loss on the coast
in the past few years of ten steamers
and one thousand and five hundred
Jives.
There are said to be four hundred
schools in Wurtemburg where pupils
draw from nature—mostly from bar
pels.
'Xlj.e QLigugk CpnstHuiionaUsi
Established 1799.
FOREIGN DISPATCHES.
Various Items from Various Quartrrs
of the Globe.
Washington, December 22.—The Em
peror of Brazil will probably leave for
the United States in April. He will
visit the Centennial and travel exten
sively over the country. The Emperor’s
daughter D. Isabel will act as regent
during his absence.
Havana, December 22.—A number of
the highest military officials in Cuba
have requested Capt. Gen. Valmaseda
to sign an order allowing them to leave
ihe Island and return to Spain with
him. He has refused.
Lisbon, December 22.—A Portugese
guDboat has been ordered to St.
Thomas, in the Gulf of Guinea, on ac
count of a negro insurrection.
Madrid, December 22.—Gen. Cabal
lero de Rodas. formerly Captain-Gen
eral of Cuba, is dead.
Gen. Echagne has been appointed to
the command of the army of the Left.
London, December 22.—The Standard
publishes a telegram from Paris an
nouncing that Prince Pierre Bonaparte
has issued an address as a candidate
for the Chamber of Deputies, from
Corsica.
Rome, December 22.—Dispatches
from Naples report the eruption of
Mount Vesuvius increasing. Extensive
eruptions are expected.
London, December 22.—1 t is stated
there is reason to believe that twenty
boys perished in the flames and were
burnt at the training ship Goliath.
FROM CHARLESTON.
Message to Gov. Chamberlain.
Charleston, December 22 —The
Presidents of all the National and
State banks in Charleston, together 1
with the principal mercantile firms,
joined in sending the following dis- -
patch to Gov. Chamberlain to-night:
“Irrespective of party, desiring
peace and protection for per
sons and property and believing
that a blow has been struck
in the late judicial election,
threatening ruin to the people of the !
State, we tender you, for this commu-’
nity and the State, our thanks for your
action in refusing to sign the commis
sions. We thank you, and will do all
we can to sustain you in what you h ive
done.”
Lyinau Beecher and the “Greek
Slave.”
[Christian at Work.]
The clergymen of Cincinnati had
formed a clerical union, composed of
ministers of all denominations, which
met every week for the discussion of
questions pertaining to the welfare of
the church and the community. At
that time Power’s “Greek Slave” had
been imported from Daly, and was
about to be placed on exhibition in the
city, which was the former home of the
artist, where he commenced his profes
sion by making wax figures. Among
his earliest productions was the “In
fernal Regions,” which‘nightly attract
ed vast crowds to witness its horrors.
A roaring furnace, flashes of lightning,
huge serpents issuing from rocky
caves, grinning skeletons gnashing
their teeth, aud every terrible sight
and sound that the imagination
could conceive had been invented.
One would have scarcely thought
that the same mind could have
created such images of beauty as A
afterwards did in the “Eve,” “Fgeria,
and other beautiful works of art. In
regard to the “Greek Slave,” it became
a question as to the propriety of mem
bers of the church attending the exhi
bition. The question of theatres, cir
cuses ana other exhibitions had been
discussed aud they had all been ruled
out of the list of Christian amuse
ments. Now, anew question was
brought before the Association, a
world-renowned work of art in the
shape of a nude female chained to a
block. Du Buff’s “Eve,” which had
previously been exhibited, and was
considered of great merit, had been
denounced as of immoral tendency.
The Clerical Union, before pronouncing
upon the “Greek Slave,” thought
proper to appoint a committee to ex
amine and report upon the same.
One of the members of the Union,
who had been a practicing physician,
denounced it anatomically as an impure
representation of the human form, and
calculated to minister to a prurient
taste. Others thought “to the pure all
things are pure,” aud no evil could ro
sult from looking upon the human form
represented in chaste marble. One of
the members was an amateur artist,
aud had in his s' udy a fine collection of
works of art. Dr. M was enthu
siastic in its praise, and any one, ho
thought, was destitute of aesthetic cul
ture who would oppose its exhibition;
and, whatever, the decision might be,
he would recommend his friends to see
it, believing that it would tend to the
cultivation of a pure and refined taste.
The committee consisted of Dr. Beech
er and the writer. We accordingly
visited the room where the statue
was on private exhibition to artists and
gentlemen of the press. Silently the
Doctor viewed the figure from all points
with the critical exactness of a Paris in
deciding who was the fairest of the
Here, however, there was no
'comparison. The silent statue stood
alone to be juged on its own merits.
After having satisfied himself suffici
ently to a make a faithful report, we
were on the point of leaving, when the
proprietor of the exhibition recogniz
ing the distinguish visitor, asked him
what he thought of the “Greek Slave.”
He instantly replied: “I think you had
better put some clothes on her; I fear
she will take cold.” It was then mid
winter and the weather was intensely
: cold. At the next meeting of the Union
the Doctor made a report, in which he
stated it as the opinion of the commit
tee that “it certainly would nottnerease
the purity and piety of the people to
visit the show; but, said he, “if we in
terdict our people we shall only iq
crease their desire to see it, as in the
i case of our mother Eve, for,” said he,
‘ if there had been no interdict in re
gard to the tree of knowledge of good
and evil it would be standing untouched
to the present time. Such is our na
ture, even in a pure state, that what Is
prohibited becomes at once an object
of interest and desire. We had better
let it alone and giyp qo advice in re
gard to it.”
Harrisburg, Penn., December 22.
The representatives of seven synods of
different religious denominations of
Pennsylvania are in session here, to
consider the best means of preventing
the desecration of the Sabbath, and
preserving the Lord’s Day as one
appointed for rest.
It is reported that Santa Claus will
put nothing in striped stockings.
In 1840 the first experiment in pho
tography was made in Paris by Da
guerre.
AUGUSTA. GA.. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23,1875.
C’OL. LAMAR ASSAULTED.
[Savannah News, Dec. 22d.j
During Monday evening, an occur
rence at the Court House, shortly after
the adjournment of the Superior Court,
was generally discussed, and by many
with considerable feeling. It was stated
that as the Solicitor General was walk
ing out of the corrider at the President
street entrance, he was approached by
Mr. Philip M. Russell, Jr., who, it is
alleged, was accompanied by several
members of his family, and who, after
some abusive language, struck him in
the face. The only two witnesses to the
attack, besides those concerned, that
we encountered, were very reticent, and
hence we decided to make no mention
of the affair until it should be brought
before the court, which course, we
learned, would be pursued.
The matter of the assault was brought
to the attention of Judge Tompkins, of
the Superior Court, yesterday, and the
following is a verbatim report of the
proceedings, which will enable the pub
lic to form an opinion regarding the
affair.
Upon the opening of the court, after
the usual preliminaries, Col. Albert R.
Lamar, the Solicitor General, arose aud
said :
May it please the Court: Before the
grand jury retires I desire, in my place
and as the first officer of this court, to
make the following statement;
Yesterday, as I left the court room
during a recess, I was assailed on ac
count of official aGtion by Philip M.
Russell, Jr., Isaac Bussell, Warren Rus
sell, Jr., Warren Russell, Sr.,R. Wayne
Russell, Philip M. Russell, Sr., and
Thos. J. Sheftall. I was followed by
these parties from the court room and
accosted on the street just at the court
house house door. I was abused by
Phillip M. Russell. Jr., in the most op
probious terms, and struck in the face
by the same man, while the balance
stood around with their hands upon
their arms. If I had attempted to use
the privilege that the law accorded me j
on this occasion, I had not been here *
now to make this statement to the
court. If I had yielded to the impul
ses of a man, and of the moment, I j
would not now be here. If the pre
meditated attempt to assassinate me
had been successful,it would have been
only accomplished in order that crime
and criminals might go unwhipped of
justice. The only hands ever laid upon
me, even in anger or reproof, save this
man’s, have long since been stilled by
death, and in the deep humiliation
which I feel I have but this consolation
—that a father and a mother are not
here to share it.
If I had yielded to the impulses of a
man when time for preparation had
been given, and had sunk the officer
in the man, I would have been ar
raigned at the bar of this court to-day
for the violation of that law which I
have solemnly sworn to maintain and
uphold.
I have determined, if your Honor
please, at my own instance, and by the
advice of wiser and cooler heads than
my own, to ask that the majesty of the
law be vindicated in its officer rather
than that an officer of the law should
attempt to vindicate the sanctity of
the law in his own person.
As Judge Tompkins turned to ad
dress the jury, Mr. Philip M. Russell, j
Jr., arose and said :
May it please the court
Judge Tompkins—l desire to hear
nothing.
Mr. Isaac Russell—lf your Honor
please, I
Judge Tompkins—No argument is
necessarj’. I desire to hear none.
Turning, then, to the grand jury,
Judge Tompkins charged them as fol
lows :
Mr. Foreman and Gentleman, of the
Grand Jury:
Your atteution and that of the court
having been in this solemn and un
usual manner called to the offense
charged upon certain parties, four of
whom are attorneys at law, it becomes
your duty, and more—your privilege,
indeed—to investigate the charge. It
is neither for me nor a petit jury now
to say anything concerning this grave
charge ; but it is for you, under your
oaths as grand jurors, fully to investi
gate it. You have sworn, as grand
jurors, to take cognizance of all such
matters and things as are brought to
your attention, either by the State’s of
ficer or otherwise. This matter has
been brought to your attention in a
very unusual and impressive way by
the highest prosecuting officer of the
district. He has risen in his place in
court and charged certain parties with
assailing him for the reason that he
had prosecuted properly, and perhaps
vigorously, where the law demanded it.
If, as prosecuting officer of this
court, the learned Solicitor General
had so far forgotten himself as to have
'persecuted, under color of his office,
the highest and most able magistrate
in the State, and a member of the
highest and most respected family in
the city, still it would have been an un
mitigated and outrageous offense for
him to have been assaulted in the way
in which he says it occurred, for the
laws and doors of this court were open
to the person persecuted, and he
should have come here and gone be
fore you for redress. This statement
of facts having been made known to
you by the Solicitor General, it is your
duty to investigate the charges, and to
call him and such other witnesses as
he may designate, and, if the allega
tions be true, to make a presentment
for riot. Gentlemen, Ido not leave it
to your discretion or sense of justice,
but, as the highest officer of this court,
1 charge you that it is your duty to
make this investigation.
Whatever may be the result of your
investigation is another matter, or
what the petit jury may do after a bill
is found is another matter. But if such
things as the Solicitor General has laid
to the charge of these persons are to
be tolerated in this community, we
might as well raze the walls of this
coqrt house, let the officers of the law
resign, and turn over the administra
tion of criminal jystice in this county
to other hands, The jury may retire.
Mr. T. R. Mills, Jr. —May it please
your Honor, I would like to confer with
a member of the grand jury in regard
to another case.
Judge Tompkins—Mr. Mills, your
request is most inopportune. Let the
jury retire.
A reference to the regular court
proceedings will show that the parties
named yidve specially presented by the
grand jury on the charge of riot. They
appeared in court after the present
ments were read and tendered bonds in
the sum of §I,OOO each for appearance
at trial, Subsequently they were ar
rested on u peace warrant issued by
Judge Tompkins at the instance of Col.
Lamar, aud gave bonds also in this
case.
An irreverent lowa boy describes cro
quet as “nothing but ‘shinny’ with its
Society clothes on.”
“CRUCIBLE.”
Ex-Mayor A. Oakes Hall’s Debut on
the New York Stage.
New York Herald. Dec. 19.
The Park Theatre was thronged last
night by an audience full of curiosity
to see the new play of “Crucible,” and
witness the debut of Mr. A. Oakey Hall
as an actor. The occasion was one of
great interest, for the appearance on
the stage of a man (ike Mr. Hall is
something not often ieen, and the re
| suit was wholly unexpected. The plot
of the piece is weak, ai;d the language
stilted, aud if the piiucipal character
was in the hands of any one else it
would enjoy a very brief run. Mr. Hall’s
appearance before the footlights was
warmly greeted, and hp seemed quite
at home in his new vocation during the
first act, but as the action of the piece
progressed he apparently lost that poise
so essential to success* in the dramatic
art, while the scope of his character
really gave him very ijttle opportunity
for the display of dfamatic fire and
power. There were no Wrong nor thril
ling situations to strike the spectators
or fasten their attention, while the de
noument is so tamely wrought out that
it became meaningless and insipid. The
dialogue is at times witty and crisp,
and there are a few good scenes. The
nervousness of a first tfight was natu
rally against Mr. Halt in making any
decided impression, bat with time he
will, no doubt, achieve what all his
friends desire—success.
The audience was peculiar, and not
at } all like those usually seen at a
theatre on a “first” night. Two rows
of the seats in the parquet were occu
pied by actors, and behind them were I
many seats, occupied[by members of i
the legal profession of all grades. Both '
of these classes came;to satisfy their !
curiosity—the first to criticize one who i
had often critized them —while the le- !
gal luminaries were there to satisfy 1
themselves whether the successful
lawyer would prove a Successful actor.
This portion of the audience was pro
bably the most severe critics present.
Scattered over the parquet could be
seen many well knofm journalistic
faces, and they, too!j were critical,
though disposed to bo kind and con
siderate to one thek might claim
as a member of (their Guild.—
The theatrical managers present of
course came to judgej for themselves
of the merits of th?i new play and
the new actor, and it. Was curious to
notice the looks they exchanged as the
piece progressed. Thy liberal sprin
kling of politicians throughout every
part of the house wa’> also another
notable featu"e of the audience, and
they were unsparing in their comments
as the curtain fell for the last time.
But the call for Mr. Hal’ and the de- |
maud for a speech was : a hearty aud j
electrical one, for all seemed anxious
to hear from him softie remarks in ‘
reference to the play aftd the new de
parture he had made in life. When
Mr. Hall came before j,he curtain he I
seemed to be embarrassed aud nerv
ous, which was only natural under the
circumstances. Twirling his cap in
his fingers, he said : f
“I have begun to-night to be no
longer a speech-maker, ? excepting in so
far as I speak the wo> ds written by
others; I now ask your consent to al
low me to fulfill my Words. But I
thank you—l thank yoji with a very
full heart. lam now ijo longer here a
convict, except, as I fei;r, in your esti
mation.” (
An Efficient Missionary.
• [Detroit Free‘Press.]
Saturday morning sandy haired
young man, six feet tljree inches high
and looking almost like a walking
shadow, called at the jpentral Station,
and after solemnly blowing his nose, he
remarked: i
“This is an awful wiefeed town.”
“Well, there are sorfie wicked people
here,” replied the Captjiin.
“Vice and malice wajk hand in hand
up and down every street and avenue,”
continued the stranger as he doubled
up and sat down.
“Well, I’m sorry,” Replied the Cap
tain. “I wish everybody would be good
enough to melt away ejad dissolve in a
blaze of glory. !
“But the wicked shall be rebuked,”
said the stranger as lie put his foot
down, “and the minions of Satan shall
be put to flight. j
“I want a ticket tej that entertain
ment when it conies dff,” smiled the
Captain. (
“I have walked far t(f meet Satan and
conquer,” replied the stranger. “Point
me out the wickedest Und vilest quar
ter of the city, and tUero will I take
my stand and do battlel”
“You’d better husk jyour own corn
and let wickedness alobe,” replied the
Captain. “What brougjit you here aud
where are you going ?”j
“My friend, the Lord'sent me here to
battle against wickedness, and I’ll fight
till I die. I want tcyjo right out and
find the strongholds Satan and deal
them sturdy blows unj.il they cry for
quarter and victory is iliine.”
After borrowing a chew of tobacco
the stranger left the station and soon
made his appearance At a saloon on
Beaubien street. *
“Here doth Satan re(gn,” he said to
the bullet-headed man behind the coun
ter. j
“No whiskey without the cash,” re
plied the bar-tender. \
“Whiskey! whiskey! j you degraded
minion of Satan!” replied the tall man.
“Know ye that I have come hereto
canter Satan out of th s place, and let
in the light of knowie ige and good
ness!”
“Slidel” growled the barkeeper, point
ing to the door. .
“Thrice dyed in wickedness,' pledge
me that you will at oncj; turn from the
evil of your ways!” snouted the tall
man, as he danced aroifnd.
“Here you go,” said *he bar-tender,
making a rush at him. ‘
But he didn’t go. ]-£e knocked the
man of drinks into a corner, and kicked
him after he was dowin, and when a
crowd gathered he stood on the steps
and said; i
“Ye wicked and qq'lioious, I have
come among you to finock Satan off
his feet, and I’ll purify this town or
perish in the attempt!”^
The police took him! to the station,
and to-morrow he will be judged ac
cording to the deeds dftne in the body.
———~
We should every nig|t call ourselves
to an account: What infirmity have I
mastered to-day? Wlfat passion op
posed* What temptations resisted?
What virtue acquired ; ; Qur vices will
abate of themselves if tfhey are brought
every day to the shrift,-—[Ametr.
She was a beautiful Creole, and
young into the bargain and, as she sat
in a New Orleans horse-car some fiend
in human shape tried fo cut off her
hair, and actually escaped with one of
her long black tresses. It was a hair
breadth escape.
PHENOMENA OF DEAD FACES.
There is no longer any doubt of the
fact that the faces of the dead change
iu expression even as do those of the
living. The subject is a ghastly one,
and should perhaps only be treated by
a Poe, a Hawthorne, or a Victor Hugo;
but it has a side of human and scien
tific interest—one which the physician
and the philosopher should examine.
It may bear upon that dreadful and
not sufficiently investigated subject of
j premature interments, and upon the
propriety of cremation, and of willow
basket coffins, which last subject
brought together a'gay and fashionable
crowd at Stafford House, and gave rise
in London to innumerable witty epi
grams, rather lighter than the occasion
demanded. Here is one of them :
When I start for the Styx, (and nobody
knows
How the message will come), must I
quietly yield,
< And be sent by express like a lot of old
clothes?
Or be packed up in moss, like a present of
game,
In a wicker-work coffin of cheapest design—
While on a wired tag is iny ago and my
name!
(Oh! bless me, ye gods, if that isn’t fame!)
If 1 were old Charon my place I’d resign
Ere I’d ferry across—no matter who’d
ask it—
Such a badly-packed, badly-filled, rickety
basket.’’
However, the author of the above
did not contemplate, perhaps, the pos
sibility of his supposedly rigid face
smiling at his own wit when old Charon
should refuse him as freight or ex
pressage, even as petite vitesse or oth
wlse.
But dead faces do smile—they blush,
as did Charlotte Corday’s after her
head was cut off; and the annals of the
French Revolution are full of horrible
stories of eyes which winked, shed
tears, or shot angry glances, and of
lips which smiled, scornfully or resign
edly, ere they kissed the fatal basket
into which they were tumbled. The
explanation of this was, that the guil
lotine’s sharp and sudden administra
tion left the brain well charged with
blood, and it could continue its func
tions for a dreadful moment after the
body had ceased to belong to it. If
this is the guillotine is by far the
most cruel of all the arts of decapita
tion. The Spanish garrote, which by
one fell screw in the back of the neck
paralyzes all sensation at once, is far
more merciful, although no ore who
has been subjected to its tender mer
cies has ever come hack to tell us if
there bo not one instant of intense ag
ony, as there probably is.
However, to return to the phenom
ena, all who have looked upon the
faces of the dead have beon struck
with that change of expression which
comes over thorn in twenty-four hours.
That glorified and happy look! It is,
thank God, almost always a happy ex
pression—one which seems to say that
the words of the prayer book were well
chosen, and that “he rests from his la
bors.” Byron refers to if, in his im
mortal way, in the well known lines:
“He who hath bent him o’er the dead,
Ere the first day of death is fled,
The first dark day of nothingness,
The last of danger and distress,
(Before decay’s effacing lingers
Have swept the lines where beauty lingers,)
And marked the mild, angelic air,
The rapture of repose that’s there.
* -x- * * *
So fair, so calm, so softly sealed,
The first, last look by death revealed.”
All this is well known, and has done
much to strengthen the Christian’s
hope, and to enable us, who have
buried our dearest treasures, to combat
the Giant Despair; but there has come
another and a more difficult problem
to solve —one which revives the old tra
ditions of ghouls and vampires; one
'vhieh was not pleasant to contemplate
at dead of night, and that is that the
dead have been seen to smile.
It came first from the battle-field, or,
rather, the most startling of recent an
ecdotes on the subject was that of a
aurse at Sanger’s Station during our
.ate war, who declared that two dead
men whom she had laid out the night
before had smiled perceptibly amid
their cerements as a wounded sutler
was narrating some of his wrongs.
Now, the idea of a sutler having any
wrongs, of having done otherwise than j
perpetuate them, was au idea calcula- j
ted to create a smile beneath the ribs
of Death; but the surgeon was very
much struck by the gravity with which
the nurse told the story, and he looked
at her with some anxiety, for he
thought she had gone insane from over
work. She was not a hired nurse, but
a lady volunteer, and of remarkable
coolness and intelligence.
She, however, bore his scrutiny calm
ly, aud begged of him to examine
the two dead soldiers before they were
consigned to hasty and inhospitable
graves. He did, aud found them quite
dead. She always adhered to her story,
and does to this day.
The next anecdote is perhaps as re
markable. It comes from a Western
city, aud has been mentioned in one or
two medical works. This story is of
a lady of about thirty-eight years of
age, a remarkably beautiful woman,
aud the mother of four children, three
sons and a daughter. She had suffered
much from the unreasonable jealousy
of her husband, who, although he loved
her much, had one of those ungovern
ably jealous temperaments which Han
nah More has delineated in her charac
ter of De Montfort, in the “Flays of
the Passions.” She was a woman of
remarkable propriety of conduct and
patient with his infirmity; an excess of
goodness not often found in the inno
cent, who are not fond of being sus
pected, as a general rule,
Her best friend and constant defend
er was the sister of her husband and
the wife of the family physician. It
. was to her interference that the poor
lady owed what peace she enjoyed for
the last few years of her life. She was
attacked by heart disease and suffered
greatly, but was able to go about and
to drive out for several months. Dur
ing the progress of this illness her hus
band took up a terrible jealousy of the
family physician, his own brotherdn
law, a fact which h® did not communi
cate to his sister, the physician’s wife.
One day the poor invalid, while driv
ing, felt a paroxysm of pain coming on,
and told her coachman to drive to the
house of the doctor. He did so. She
got out, went in, and finding him with
other patients in his office, received a
draught of digitalis, or some other
well-known remedy, at his hands, and
partially recovered. But having to
leave her immediately to take care of
the other patients, he called his wife
and left her in charge of her sistep-in
jaw, tejling her to take care of her and
see her to her carriage as she was in a
precarious condition. The two ladies
talked together for half an hour, when
the sufferer arose and declared her in
tention of going home. She had just
got to the door of her carriage when
she fell dead on the sidewalk. She was
of course brought back to the doctor’s
office, where, after every effort to re
suscitate her had failed, her husband
was sent for and her limbs were com
posed ia death.
When the jealous man arrived his
fury knew no bounds. He accused the
dead in opprobrious terms; he accused
the doctor of having ruined his domes
tic peace; he raved like a madman; nay,
he even refused to have the remains
brougbt to his own house, and declared
that his wife might be buried in the
streets for all he cared. This awful
scene was ended by the arrival of the
eldest son, a young man of remarkable
character, decision and energy. He
took his father home and locked him
up and caused the remains of his moth
er to be also brought home, and made
arrangements for her burial.
On the second day after her death,
as she lay in her coffin, her children
weeping around her, and her husband,
pale and haggard, the greatest sufferer
of all, stood at her feet, the doctor’s
wife, the sister-in-law arrived. It seems
that she had fainted from the shock of
seeing her sister die, aud had herself
been carried off to her own room, so
that she had not known of the dread
ful scene in the doctor’s office, nor of
her brother’s new access of fury; so
she began quite unconsciously to tell
him and the children of her last con
versation with their mother. As she
did so the poor jealous maniac began
to tremble aud relent. “Were you with '
her during that visit to your husband’s i
office?” said he.
“Yes. every moment,” said the loyal
woman.
They all looked at the dead woman; j
as they did so the rigid mouth relaxed j
and the two rows of white teeth be- j
came visible; the smile grew; it was
sarcastic and mocking, but it was a
smile; the husband looked at it with
eyes which started from his head; the
youngest boy fell down in a fit; the !
eldest son, still remarkable for his self
possession, put his hand on the cold,
pale brow.
“Are you alive, dear mamma?” said
he; the smile changed; it grew iufiuitely
tender and sweet, and the mouth closed
as it had opened, mysteriously.
He ran out of the room, exclaiming,
“She lives ! I will go for the Doctor.” ;
During this time one witness remain- ;
ed chained, as he afterward said, to his I
post of observation, it was tho second i
son, a boy of fifteen. The father had j
moved to pick up the poor youngest
boy who had fallen in a fit; the aunt!
was consoling the youngest child, a girl,
yet too young to understand the dread
ful scene, yet destined to be haunted
by it for life; so that their accounts of
the phenomenon were various and
somewhat contradictory. But The
second boy, Theodore, did not take
his eye from his mother’s face. He and
Augustine, the eldest, confirmed each
other’s statements to the doctor, aud
Theodore said that as the smile died
away a slight shudder seemed to pass
over the face.
The doctor found her to be quite
dead, and after, of course, every pre
caution being taken agaiDst premature
interment, she was buried in her grave,
where, let us hope, she rest in peace.
It would seem as if that smile was the
dead womau’s revenge, as if she said :
“My spirit shrunk not to sustain
The searching throes of ceaseless pain.”
. . “Then let life go to him who gave.
I have not quailed to danger’s brow
When high and happy, need I now?”
The next best authenticated story
comes from tho records of the Franco-
Frussian war.
It seems that one of the red cross
nurses, one of those Mercy Merricks,
perhaps, with whom Wilkie Collins has
made us familiar, had among her pa
tients a young man, an exceedingly
handsome young fellow, whose nation
ality she could not find out. He was
in the Prussian uniform, yet not, she
thought, a Prussian. He had been
struck by a spent ball, they supposed,
aud was paralyzed and speechless. Oc
casionally he would open his eyes and
gaze at her with a troubled expression,
and she noticed that the eyes were
very beautiful, black, aud soft as vel
vet. In her ministrations she got to
understand the language of these poor
eyes, aud found out when he was
pleased or disappointed at what she
was doing. One day she took up
his coat, and feeling in the pocket
she fouud a letter; she looked at
him aud the eyes said “read it.”
It gave her the key to tho situ
ation, and she derived the idea that he
could hear and understand her if she
talked to him, so she would sit and
talk and ask questions, and he would
answer with his eyes. She got at the
idea that he was a young English diplo
mat, who had been sent down to the
scene of war to protect someone; that
he had been received into the Prussian
Army as a favor to facilitate his work;
that he was engaged in this work when
he was struck down. She had much to
do, this Mercy Merrick with her red
cross, but she found time every few
hours to come back to her patieut and
to tell him the story of Saarbruek, of
Strasbourg, of Sedan, and to find from
the shifting lustre in his eyes if he
were pleased or saddened. One day
she took up his watch and chain and
examined his seal. The eyes grew pain
fully bright and auxious; the idea
struck her that she would take the im
pression in wax. She did so, and fouud
the motto and crest of a well known
English family. Then she sat down
and wrote a letter home, for she, too,
was English.
The patient lingered and listened,
but never spoke. He grew better, how
ever, and could smile; a singular uqfile,
brilfiant, eloquent and fascinating. It
went to the heart of the red cross
nurse. Perhaps she had suffered, and
loved, and waited, and hoped, and had
knowy the anguish of hope deferred.
The poor paralysed hand gained finally
a little power, aud one evening as she
took it ia her warm, energetic, gener
ous palm it gave a feeble pressure.
Sympathy is a famous physician. He
has oured many otherwise mortally
wounded.
But, alas! he was not to cure the
young English diplomat. One night, as
the red cross nurse lay down to her
well-earned sleep, the male attendant
who had care of the paralyzed Eng
lishman came and kqockedat her door.
“He iß*dying,” said he, “and his eyes
are very wild.”
She dressed herself and went to him.
The unspoken language between those
two had become a spiritual communi
cation, She read his thoughts. Did he
wish to have a lock of his hair cut ?
Yes, for her; his watch and chain, and
a certain ring on it, were to be returned,
when sfie could find tfie owner, and his
charge—the work which he had to do
when he was strioken down—she must
find out if it were done, and if he was
known to have been faithful to the end;
yes, she would do it all.
And he gave her one wonderfql look,
a look which was actress; one smile,
fike suqlight; his bright eyes said more
gratitude in one glance than lips could
say in a month; then came a film over
them and they went out forever.
The next day as tfie red cross qqrse
New Series—Vol. 28, No. 120
stood looking at his dead face, an Eng
lish physician arrived.
“I am looking for young Estcourt,”
said he, “the man of whom you have
written to England, who owned this
motto and seal.”
“There he is,” said she quietly.
“Poor fellow, poor fellow; a hard
case,” said the physician. “Do you
know his story? Sent over to protect
two eminent ladies, one a princess, who
got caught in a country house here be
tween the two armies. Russian com
plications and all that sort of thing.
He behav&d singularly well, showed
enormous tact, courage, and chivalry
too, for one of them fell desperately in
love with him. He was taking them
toward Beriin where they wished to
go, when he was struck down by a
French ball; a party of stragglers sur
rounded them, set 'on probably by a
i cousin of his, who has always been his
foe.”
“Did the women escape?” said the
red cross nurse.
“Yes; and are full of anxiety to hear
of their preserver and friend,” said the
| Doctor.
The nurse laid her hand on the dead
man’s forehead. “I wish he could have
lived to hear it,” said she.
And as she said that the dead man
smiled—that smile which she knew
so well—and, strong-hearted woman
though she was, she fainted and fell on
the floor.
When she came to herself the Doctor
t was holding some hartshorn to her nos
trils.
“It was not imagination!” said she.
| t “No,” said he, shaking his head, “it
j was a miracle.”
The annals of cholera years, of the
plague, of other epidemic diseases, are
full of curious stories of the supposed
dead, and we seem as yet to have fear
fully little of that line of demarcation
which marks the dead from the living.
Those surgeons who go on battle fields
have many curious stories to tell of the
phenomena of dead faces, and to those
who have only the ordinary sad expe
rience of sorrow there is much that is
wonderful about it,/The sudden growth
or resemblances, as that of a child to
one parent or another, sometimes an
entire change of face, as if the person
ality had been changed—all these
things have struok the observer often.
That mask of death called catalepsy
produces that change also. One young
girl, subject to this mysterious disease,
would become so like an intimate friend
that all her family were struck by it.
They were totally unlike when well,
but as she came out of her fit she would
immediately begin talking of this friend.
It seemed as if her own spirit had va
cated her body and that of her friend
had taken its plaoe.
A young German Countess, who had
beautiful hair, died of a lingering dis
ease, and was burled at her own re
quest with the long golden hair lying
loosely about her like a veil. A few
years afterward her remains were ex
amined, and the long hair was found to
have been carefully braided as German
girls braid their hair, and what was
still more inexplicable, the ends were
tied with some blue satin ribnon which
a sister remembered had been attached
to some garlands whioh lay on the cof
fln. The German painter, Leutz, had
either seen this braided hair or had
heard of it in the town where it occur
red, and had been deeply impressed by
it. The only oonjeoture had been, of
oourse, that the poor girl was buried
alive, but that was hardly possible, for
the features were in a singular state of
preservation and very composed, the
hands folded on the breast, aud the
shroud in perfect order. Nor would a
woman braid her hair (an act calling
for great composure) if she found her
self buried alive. Being German hair,
it probably braided itself,
Another phenomenon, more easily
explained by physical reasons, is the
fact that dead faces blush. It is not
common, but probably has happened
within the experience'of most physi
cians, that color oomea back to lip and
cheek for a few hours, even after the
palor of death has asserted itself. It
is said to have occurred iu the oase of
Philip La Bel, whom poor crazy Joanua
carried about so long, and adored so
hopelessly; perhaps it was one resson
why she could not believe him head.
Of course, this has found its way into
poetry, and there i3 au old story of ;
Provence, in the dialect, dating baok 1
as far as Glemenee Isaure and the j
golden violet, of a young girl's corpse
blushing when her lover entered the
room.
But the saddest of all phenomena is
the most common one—the marble
rigidity, the mask of death. Nothing
can so stun the senses or chill the
heart as that.; hut the subject de
mands attention as one of those, un
usually repellant, it is true, but, like
the philosophy of dreams, not suffi
ciently understood. Though iutimately
connected with our imperfectly de
veloped possibilities, both as intolleo
tual and physical machines, whose
springs are hidden, whose abnormal
developments--as in the strength
which fever gives, or the sharpened
power of ear or eye under the influ
ence of strong nervous excitement,
the power of going without food wheD
disease supports the frame—all show
remarkable reserve of forces not sus
pected in health ; and the more curious
and not so well-defined extraneous
powers of the mind—variously desig
nated as magnetism, clairvoyance, and
the like—aU point to the fact that the
animal we call man is a very mysteri
ous and as yet imperfeotly compre
hended thing, and that we have yet to
find out a great deal about our own
human nature—both when it lives,
which is the greatest of miracles, and
when it dies, which Is a lesser one.
Wagner’s Terrible Failure.
[Paris Correspondence of the New York
. Herald. |
“The music of the future” has failed
at Vienna. That Is, Wagner, after
bringing out the “New Tannhauser”
and “Lohengrin,” discovers that the
Wagnerian revival has resulted in a
loss of $5,000. The people who were
opposed to Wagner were many more
than those who were in his favor,
though he was by no means without
a very turbulent support. But while
Wagner professed in all humility to be
devoted merely to the pleasure of the
Viennese,* he and his wife disgusted
every one with their arrogance and
their insulting treatment of the artists.
They professed to stand somewhere in
a position between the singers and the
orohestra ; but realiy displeased both.
The first nights were well patronized,
but the attendance soon fell off.
The anti-Wagnerian party, under the
load of Speidel, who yallecT the ballet
music of the ■>‘New Tannhauser” re
voking, have a great triumph. It is
by no means certain now that Wagner
will in May next return to Vienna to
bring out the unabbreviated “Die
Meistersanger.”
— t mm i
An old maid out in Indiana olaims to
be vergin’ qu to 130,
To Advertisers and Subscribers.
1
On AND after this date (April 21, 1875.) all
editions of the Constitutionalist will be sent
free of postage.
A.I.VEBTISEMENTB must be paid for when han
ded in, unless otherwise stipulated.
,w
P^itel 7 O b rdor“ itt6d at OUr risk by E *cres
Coeksspondknce invited from all sources,
and valuable special news pasd for If used.
Rejected Communications will not be re
turned, and no notice taken of anonymous
letters, or articles written on both sides.
GEORGIA GENERAL NEWS.
Finnegan, the Columbus murderer, is
sick.
The Memorial Association of Colum
bus had a concert on Monday which re
alized nearly 0300.
The total number of bales of cotton
received at Covington depot from Sep
tember Ist to December 18th, 1874,
was 6,419 , and from September Ist to’
December 18th, 1875, 7,105. Excess
for this year, 686.
It is hard to understand the “true
inwardness” of the action of the En
quirer-Sun of Columbus, in copying
items from the Constitutionalist and
giving credit for them to our Broad
street contemporary.
Jos. F. Comer, of Clrrke county,
with two colored boys, made this year
upon thirty acres of land thirty bales
of cotton, sixty barrels of corn, two
hundred bushels of potatoes, one hun
dred and twenty bushels of wheat.
At a meeting of Macon Lodge No. 5,
F. A. M., held last night, the following
officers were elected: J. \y T . Truman,
W. M., James Boon, S. W., B. Lowen
thal, J. W., Joseph E. Wells, Sr., Treas
urer, T. L. Messenburg, Secretary, R.
F. Burden, S. D., F. E. Saunders. J. D.
C. H. Freeman, Tyler.
The Rome Courier nominates Gen.
W. Montgomery Gardner, of Rome,
for State Treasurer. By electing him,
the Courier says the Legislature would
perform a grateful act of justice to a
gallant and faithful officer, who gave
up his profession in the old army to
devote his life and services to his na
tive State.
Luddeu & Bates, of Savannah, en
deavored to attach the baggage of the
Do Bar Company for the rent of a
piano, hired by a company of which
D’Orsay Ogden was agent five years
ago. The draft was on an open ac
count and barred by the statute of
limitation, so the justice decided.
Mount Vernon Lodge, No. 22, A. F.
M., of Athens, has chosen the followin o '
officers : S. C. Dobbs, W. M.; H. C.
Briant, S. W.; J, W. Brown, J. W.; Y. H.
Wynn, Treasurer; 1. M. Kenney, Secre
tary; G. Jaoobs, S. D.; J. R. Crane, J.
D.; R. S. Blackwell and Thos. R. Wil
liams, Stewards; J. G. McCurdy, Tyler-
Rev. E. D. Stone, Chaplain.
L. W. Downs, of Oconee county,
made this year eighty-one bales
of cotton with nine mules, one
thousand and eighty bushels of
corn, and meat enough for
the white families of the place; besides
clearing up land, fencing and ditching
a farm entirely out of repair. The
work was commenced February Ist,
the farm having come into this gentle
man’s possession only a short while
before.
Macon Telegraph: Wo saw, at the
Macon and Brunswick shops, the
wreck of the engino which exploded
just below Buzzard Roost, on the 10th
of the present month. It is the worst
wreck that we ever saw, and one that
it is impossible to describe. There is
scarcely a fragment of the boiler left
attached to the engine. Many of the
flues were torn out. while others ap
pear t,o have not been moved. One of
the axles was wrenched off, and a
driving wheel was turned completely
over, with the flange on the outside of
the track, and none of the connections
were broken, but simply twisted by the
somersault which the wheel had made.
SOUTH CAROLINA NEWS.
James Herriott used a knife on
Robert Blake recently, iu Columbia,
aud ran away.
Columbia Union- Herald: We are au
thorized to statd that the reward
offered by the Charlotte, Columbia aud
Augusta Railroad Company for the
arrest of engineer James Fetner has
been paid by the Company,
An editorial in the Greenville News,
on “ the situation,” concludes as fol
lows : We have come to that point
where these things must stop—where
order must be restored to society—
where the white man must assert him
self—where the negro must bend or
break before the race that never yet
has suffered itself brought under the
domination of another. There is no
more room for soft talk in this matter.
We must say to the colored race give
way or die. We cannot, as a raco, al
low misguided slaves of yesterday in
the hands of scoundrels, so declared
before mankind, to rule over us. We
canno t escape the terrors of the situa
tion, if we would. It is made up for
us, and we must meet it with every in
stinct of civilized man, every incentive
of honorable exiatenoe, and are sworn
to an inexorable self-defense by every
guerdon that awaits honest manhood,
and every shame that shows us, for
ail time, the whipped menials of scoun
drels and ex-slaves.
Bores.
In Hark Twain’s preface to his
“Sketches,” he says he is not intending
to make an advertisement, “but be
cause these things seemed instructive.”
If it vsrere possible to instruct some in
the merely palpable and needful pro
prieties of life, it would be a most
worthy charity and public benefit to
endow and incorporate a company
whoso charter should empower it to
employ a force, invested with police
powers, aud charged with the special
duty of arresting offenders and reading
and expounding to them Twain’s
“Office Bore.” And about now, when
doors are intended to keep out the
cold, and stoves to heat rooms to a
comfortable temperature, it is that the
thing is most needed. For it avails
nothing that, “Everybody shuts the
door but you,” and, “Please don’t spit
upon the stove,” are posted so con
spicuously as not to be escaped, '
The only people whose dull sensibil
ities and native vulgarity make such
uotices necessary are the last to attend
to them. Such intolerable asses never
reflect upon the inconvenience it makes
to leave a door open. And they will
sit by the hour and eject streams of to
bacco juice upon a heated stove, pleas
ed at the hissing replies and drinking
in the sickening fumes with which
their disgusting habit is filling the
room, oblivious of every law of decen
cy. politeness, health, and all the while
"Please don’t,” etc., staring them in the
face. These same are they who col
lect in front of business houses,
churches wad street corners, and spit,
and sptt, and spit, until a reeking pool
of their nauseous effluvia, disgusting
to the sight and befouling to the con
tact, renders the place only less in
viting than a promenade along an
open sewer.— Nasdville American.
—i ■ i
An old bachelor, who writes concern
ing the manner of bringing up children,
has discovered that a child can write
as well with the left hand -as with the
right—before learning to writs with
either hand.