Newspaper Page Text
EST ABLISHED 1799.1 Sff-R
Augusta Constitutionalist
DAILY $6 par year
TRI-WEEKLY $4 44
WEEKLY S2 44 44
Cheaf ast and Beat Political, Local
aafcl General News Paper in the
•Southern States.
BY TELE6BAFH
• —TO THE—
CONSTITUTIONALIST.
Associated Press Dispatches.
FROM WASHINGTON.
GRANT’S BULL AGAINST THE
COMET.
The Troops in Washington—Crooked
Electors—Mad Wells’ Damning Let
ters—The Commission Plodding
Along.
Washington, February 3. —The trans
fer of troops hence to Fortress Monroe
has been countermanded.
Before the Powers and Privileges
Committee, Daniel W. Downes, elector
for Wisconsin, did not think examining
Surgeou of the Pension Office disquali
fied him. He held that position when
elected and when he voted for Hayes.
The official fee is two dollars in each
case.
Maddox produced the letter ad
dressed to Hon. J. It. West sealed aud
another addressed to himself. They
were in an envelope addressed to
by Judge A. Walker, and had
been in the custody of Jack Wharton,
Adjutant Generalbf Louisiana under
Kellogg, .The committee sent for Sena
tor West, who will his letter in
the presence o{ the committee. .
“New Orleans, November, 20, 187 G.
“J. H. Maddoj :
“Dear Sir— Understandingthe politi
cal condition of matters here from as
sociation with both political parties,
and a friend of the President, a Gov
ernment officer, would it not be con
sidered a part of your to go at
once to Washington with as little de
lay as possible, and place before the
President the condition and the pend
ing daugeis of the situation. Should
you conclude upon prompt action in
the premises, allow me to commend
you to Senator West, who is my friend,
aud witli whom you will freely commu
nicate request. Yours, very|truly.
“J. Madison Wells.
Senator West appeared, and at the
regret of the committee opened the
letter addressed to him and immedi
ately withdrew.
“New Orleans, Nov. 21.
“My Dear Senator—l regret much
not seeing you when here. I wanted
to say much to you which would be at
least imprudent to put oc, paper. I
trust, however, to meet you in Wash- J
ington as soon as the canvass is over
which is now upon U3. Our du
ties, as returning officers, have aug
mented the magnitude of the destiny
of the two great parties—may I say
the nation. I fully comprehend the
situation, as well as my duty to the
greatest living general, U. S. Grant;
and not, with my consent, shall this
oppressed people be governed by his
paroled prisoners, aided by their white
livered cowardsof the North. Let me, my
esteemed sir, warn you of the danger.
Millions have been sent here and wiil
be used in the interest of Tilden, aud
unless some counter movement is made
it will be impossible for me or auy other
individual to arrest its productive re
sults. The gentleman presenting this
letter is fully aware of the moves, and,
if you allow, will communicate freely.
See our friends and act promptly or
the result will be disastrous. A hint
to the wise. Strictly private aud confi
dential. Yours, very truly,
“J. Madison Wells.
“To J. R. West, Washington, D. C.”
Washington, February 3.—The Elec
toral Commission Court allowed coun
sel to iile evidence. The question of
its reception will be decided hereafter.
Two hours are allowed for discussion
whether the Commission shall contiue
itself to the matter laid before it by
the President of the Senate.
Iu the preliminary struggle (he Re
publicans argue to eoutine the Demo
crats to enlarge the scope of investiga
tion.
In the Senate, during the morning
hour, a number Y>f bills of a private
character were repoited from various
committees ami placed on the calendar.
Col. Henry J. Hunt has been ordered
to join his regiment at Charleston.
South Carolina.
It is alleged that Jacob Yon Herder,
Republican elector of Michigan, is not
a citizen of the United States. He has
been summoned by the Powers and
Privileges Committee.
Nothing of interest. Most of the day
was consumed in Committee of the
Whole on the Legislative, Judicial and
Executive Appropriation bill, which
was passed.
The Preffden ,’s fiuaicial message
was referred to the Committee of Ways
and Means.
Recess until 10 o’clock Monday.
In the Senate the Post Office bill was
reported, appropriating a quarter of a
iniliicu to enable the Postmaster Gen
eral to obtain proper facilities from
great trunk railroads for postal rail
way service.
Recess to 10 o’clock Monday.
Confirmation Mrs. Sumner, post
mistress, Sherman, Texas.
The vote in the House, on increasing
the President’s salary to $50,000 was,
yeas, 47 ; nays, 126. The salaries of
Senators and Representatives remain
unchanged.
President's Message.
Washington, February 3,1877.
To the Senate and House of Representa
tives :
By the act of Congress, approved
January 14, 1875, to provide for the re
sumption of specie payment, the first
of January, 1879, is fixed as the date
when such resumption is to begin. It
may not be desirable to fix an earlier
date when it shall actually become
obligatory upon the Government to
redeem its outstanding legal tender
notes in coin on presentation; but it
is certainly most desirable, and will
prove most beneficial to every pe
cuniary interest of the country, to
hasten the day when the paper circula
tion of the country and the gold coin
shall have equal values. At a later day,
if currency and coin should retain
ffljc -Augusta Constitutionalist
equal values.it might become advisable
to authorizaor direct resumption. 1 be
lieve time has come when by a
simple act of the legislative blanch of
the Government this most desirable
result can be attained. lam strength
ened in this view by the course trade
has taken in the last two years and by
the strength of the credit of the United
States at home and abroad. For the
fiscal year ending June 30th, 1876, the
exports of the United States exceeded
the imports by $120,213,but our exports
include $40,569,622 of specie and bul
lion in excess of imports of the same
commodities. For the six months of
the present fiscal year, from July Ist.,
1876, to Januaryjlst., 1877, the excess of
exports over imports amounted to
$107,544,869, and the imports of specie
and bullion exceeded the exports of
the precious metal by $6,192,147. In
the same time the actual excess of
exports over imports for the six
months, exclusive of specie and
bullion amounted to 113,737,040 dol
lars, showing. for the time
being, the accumulation of specie and
bullion in the country amounting to
more than six millions of dollars. In
addition to the national products of
these metals for the same period, a
total increase of gold and silver for the
six months is not far short of sixty
millions of dollars. It is very evidc it
that unless this great increase of the
precious metals can be utilized at hoi e
in such a way as to make
it in some manner remunerative
to the holders, it must seek a
foreign market as surely as would any
other product of the soil or the manu
factory. Auy legislation which will
keep coin and bullion at home will, in
my judgment, soon bring about practi
cal resumption, and will add the coin
or the country to the circulating me
dium, thus securing a healthy inflation
of a sound currency to the great ad
vantage of every egitimate business
interest.
The act to provide for the resurnp
sion of specie payment, authorized the
Secretary oT the Treasuryto issue bonds
of either ot the descriptions named iu
the act of Congress, approved July 4,
1870, entitled an act to authorize the re
funding or the national debt for not
less than par in gold, with the present
value of four aud a half per cent, bonds.
In the markets of the world they
could be exchanged at par for gold, thus
strengthening the Treasury to meet re
sumption and to keep the excessof coin
over demand. Pending its permanent
use as a circulating medium at homo
all that would further be required
would be to reduce the volume of legal
notes in circulation, and to accomplish
this I would suggest an act authoiiz
ing the Secretary of the Treasury to
issue four percent, bonds with forty
years to run before maturity, to be ex
changed for legal tender notes
whenever presented in sums of fifty
dollars or any multiple thereof;
the whole amount or such bonds, how
ever, not to exceed $150,000,006, To
Increase the home demand for such
bonds, I would recommend that they
be available for deposit in the Uuited
States Treasury for banking purposes,
under the various provisions of law re
lating to national banks. I would
suggest further, that national banks be
required to retain a certain per cent, of
the coin interest received by them
from the bonds deposited with
the Tr-asurtxy to secure theif circu
lation. I would also recommend the
repeal of the third section of the joint
resolution Tor the issue of silver coin,
approved July 22, 1876. limiting the
subsidiary coiu and fractional currency
to $50,000,000. I am satisfied that if
Congress will enact some such law as
will accomplish the end suggested,
they will give a relief to the country
instant in its effects, and for which
they will receive the gratitude of the
whole people. U. S. Grant.
Executive Mansion, Feb. 3, 1877.
The Commission Adjourned to 10 a. m.
Monday—Six Hundred Printers Dis
charged.
The Privileges and Elections Com
mittee examined T. j. Leicester, Presi
dent of the Hinds county Board of
Registers. Leicester had furuishec
duplicate keys to the ballot boxes to
fifteen persons. Don’t know that they
were used; supposed the idea was to
take out Republican and put iu Demo
cratic ballots.
Senator West on opening the letter
said he had never seen it before and
recognized it as Weils’ handwriting,
and he recognized Wells all through
the letter. Maddox continued and told
Gov. Wells that he had not delivered
the letter to West. Wells jumped up
and said he was delighted, that the let
ter had been troubling him ever since
he wrote it.
Howe’s Louisiana Committee con
tinued Littlefield’s cross -examination.
Nothing was elicited beyond elabora
tions.
In the Electoral Commission, Me.-
rick, Evans, O’Conor and Matthews
each spoke on the admission of evi
dence, when the Commission adj >urn
ed to 10 o’clock a. m., Monday, when a
decision on this point wiil be reached.
The Public Printer has discharged
six hundred hands and suspended
Congressional printing, except the
Record. His funds are exhausted, and
it is a misdemeanor to contract debts.
Governor Wells wili tell his story
Mondaj'.
Argument of Democratic and Repub
lican Counsel on the Florida Issue—
The Commission Adjourns to Mon
day.
The Commission was called to order
by Judge Clifford, the Presiding Jus
tice.
After a few remarks by the Presid
ing Justice, as to the order of pro
cedure to be observed, to the effect
that, in his view, it would be in order
for the Democratic counsel to present
in a brief the reason why the Hayes
and Wheeler electoral certificate should
not be received, and that the Republi
can counsel might follow with reasons
why the Tilden and Hendricks certifi
cate ought not to be received.
O’Conor, of the Democratic counsel,
arose and proceeded to address the
Commission. He said he would ad
dress himself to what seemed most
pertinent in the Florida case, and would
offer proof why the first certificate
(Hayes aud Wheeler) should not be
counted.
Evarts, of the counsel for the Hayes
and Wheeler electors, said that if the
order of procedure suggested bv the
presiding Justice should be followed,
it was the fiist intimation the counsel
on bis side had had of it, and they
would not be prepared to go on to-day
The Presiding Justice stated that his
remarks were iu the nature of a sug
gestion, and did not embody a ruling of
the Commission.
O’Conor, after a few preliminary re
marks as to what he thought should be
the method of procedure, read a brief
setting forth wbat he thought ought to
be submited as evidence. lie said that
on December sixth last the electors for
Hayes and Wheeler and for Tilden and
Hendricks met and cast their votes,
and transmitted the same to the seat of
Government. Both sets of electors com
plied with the requirements of law.
A writ of quo warranto was servedj on
the Hayes electors on that dav before
tney canvassed the vote, which even
tuated in a judgment against them and
in favor of the Tilden and Hendricks
electors on the 27th day of January,
1877. He then reviewed the action of
the courts of Florida, and of the Leg
islature ordering a re-canvass of the
votes, and said the Canvassing Board,
without warrant, threw out the whole
of the returns from Manatee county,
and a part of the returns from Hamil
ton, Jackson and Monroe counties. In
conclusion he referred to the ineligibili
ty of Humphreys, one of the Hayes
electors, who was a United States ship
ping commissioner.
Judge Black, of the Democratic
counsel, arose to make a suggestion as
to the method of procedure. He be
lieved that he had the right to sug
gest what evidence should be presented
and to speak on that point.
The presiding Justice said no evi
dence was before the Commission.
After a colloquy between the coun
sel and members or the Commission,
Senator Thurman asked the Hayes
and Wheeler counsel what objection
there could be to receiving all the evi
dence suggested by Mr. O’Conor, sub
ject to objections.
Mr. Erarts briefly gave his reasons
for objecting to the method of intro
ducing evidence proposed by the op
posing counsel.
Judge Black insisted upon it, that
the evidence suggested by Mr. O’Con
or, had already been taken by the two
Houses of Congress. Committees were
sent to Florida; took evidence, had it
printed, and made it a part of this
case. That taken by the House |was
submitted to the House after a fierce
struggle, filibustering lasting half the
night. He could not conceive any
thing more unjust than to compel them
to submit evideuce piecemeal. Wheu
a party flies a bill in a court of equity,
he may put in all the evidence he
chooses, and the same Is true of the
party filing an answer. The evideuce
cannot be rejected, but must be ac
cepted as a part of the record.
While Judge Black was speaking,
two special artists on the spot were
busily engaged sketching the scene.
The Presiding Justice said Judge
Black had exhausted the fifteen min
utes allowed him.
Justice Miller moved that the coun
sel on either side have two hours in
which to discuss the objection of Mr.
Evarts, as to whether any other evi
dence than that laid before the two
Houses of Congress by the President
pro tempore ot the Senate should be re
ceived by the Commission.
Senator Thurman thought the argu
ment ought to go further and embrace
the admisibility of testimony taken by
either of the two Houses. The ques
tion should not be narrowed down to
the papers presented from Florida by
the President jjro tempore of the Senate
to the Houses of Congress.
Representative Garfield desired the
motion of Justice Miller to be enlarged
so as to embrace au argument as to
the scope of the power of the Com
mission iu the premises.
Representative Hoar
stituu* ror Justice Milled Wp< / q
amended by Mr Garfield, b
it, and Justice Field renewed iff*'
The prosiding Justice put the ques
tion on Justice Field’s substitute, and
it was lost.
The motion of Justice Miller, as
amended, was then adopted.
Evarts suggested that each side
have three hours, instead of two, and
the Commission accepted the sugges
tion.
Evarts suggested that counsel have
more time to prepare their arguments,
aud the Commission took a recess until
12:30 p. m.
Ou reassembling the Commission
agreed to hear one of the counsel ou
each side to-day, aud two others on
Monday.
Mr. O’Conor said he presumed the
three houis allowed each side might
be divided among counsel as they
might agree, aud the presiding officer
said that was the understanding.
Judge Black asked if he might make
some general remarks, and let Mr.
Merrick go into the details of the case.
The Commission finally decided that
three couLsel might speak, provided
they did not exceed three hours.
Mr. Merrick, of Washington, opened
tiie discussion for the Democratic side.
He considered it clearly the duty of the
Commission to go to the root of the
difficulty by regarding, as it must, he
thought, regard, the testimony of the
House Committee on Florida as evi
dence in the case. He read from the
Act creating the Commission to show
that its powers were ample for the pur
pose, and argued that every considera
tion of law and of equity required them
to inquire into the action of the Re
turning Board, tainted, as it palpably
was, with fraud. He cited the quo
warranto case of Drew vs. Stearns, and
others, in support of his view.
He was followed by Mr. Stanley Mat
thews for the Republicans, who main
tained, substantially, that the act of
any board constituted by law. or hav
ing apparently legal title, could not be
set aside after ouster, aud this upon
the ground of public policy.
Mr. E W. Stoughton followed, also
for the Republicans. He spoke to the
question of the equity of the acts of
the Governor of Florida, and denied
the right of the Commission to go be
hind the returns of the State Board of
Canvassers.
It is expected that on Monday morn
ing Mr. Evarts will finish for the Re
publicans and Mr. J. Black or Mr.
Chas. O’Conor for the Democrats on
'the question of what in the shape of
testimony is before the Commission, if
any is properly before it, and what are
the powers of the Commission in the
premises.
The Commission cannot possibly
have Florida in condition to
submit its action on it to the House in
joint session before Wednesday after
noon.
Merrick then opened the argument.
Wells Requests an Examination.
J. Madison Wells submitted to the
Committee on Privileges and Powers
the following letter :
“The testimony of J. H. Maddox
having been taken by the committee in
reference to alleged conversations be
tween bim aud myself, and certain let
ters having been produced, I most re
spectfully insist that my testimony in
relation to those matters should be
taken without delay. I feel that it is
due to me that what I may desire to
say on that subject should be known
to the commiftee immediately, and that
the facis should go to the country with
those letters.
“There is nothing in connection with
my conduct as a member of the Re
turning Board, or as au individual,
AUGUSTA. GA.. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1877.
touching the subject under considera
tion, which I desire to withhold. On
the contrary, I am anxious that the
whole of these facts shall be known. I
also desire to be interrogated in rela
tion to the matters testified to by the
witness Littlefield, affeetiog me, and I
most respectfully protest against fur
ther delay in the matter of my examin
ation.
[Signed] “J. Madison Wells.”
The Committee decided to examine
Mr. Wells on Monday next.
The Committee of Powers and Priv
ileges have three unwilling witnesses,
who, it has transpired, must substan
tiate Littlefield and Maddox.
It is very cloudy weather with the
Louisiana Returning Board.
MR. STEPHENS’ HEALTH.
He is Visited by the President —He
Realizes His Condition—His Views
on the Political Situation.
Washington, February 3, midnight.—
Hon. Alexander H. Stephens’ condi
tion to-day has been more quiet, but
he is gradually growing weak.
At five o’clock this p. m., President
Grant and his son Ulysses called to
pay their respects to Georgia’s grea*
Commoner. As the President entered’
his room Mr. Stephens spoke in a clear
and distinct tone saying, “How do you
do, Gen. Grant ?”
The President, stepping to his bed
side and taking him by the hand, which
he had extended from under the cover
with some difficulty, said, “How are
you, Mr. Stephens?” to which Mr.
Stephens replied : “I am sinking, Gen
eral. My physicians do not admit tbit,
I know ; but I know that I am sinking
and will not be here many days longer.”
Mr. Stephens then asked after the
health of Mrs. Grant, and, observing
Lieutenant Grant, reached out his
baud, and calling him by name, said he
was glad to see him. He then asked
the President if all the members of his
family were with him, to which the
President replied, “All, save my
youngest son, who is at College.”
The conversation here turned upon
the political condition of the country,
wheu Mr. Stephens remarked, “I feel
that the crisis has passed. I have f*!t
deeply for my country, for I desired
that the succession to the Presidency
should be a peaceable one.”
To this the President replied, “Yes, I
have felt confident that it would -be
since the passage of the bill creating
the Commission.”
Mr. Stephens then remarked, “We
have all made mistakes in our time.”
“Yes,” said Geo. Grant, presuming
Mr. Stephens alluded to his remark to
tiffs effect in his late annual message
to Congress, “and but four weeks more
aud we shall be scattered. lam anxi
ous for the hour to come that shall re
lieve me of the anxieties and responsi
bilities of my position.”
At this point the President r**sf' to
take leave of Mr. Stephens, and, taking
him warmly by the hand, assured him
that lie would call and see him again,
aud hoped that when he did so that he
would find him better.
Mrs. Coleman, the daughter
late Senator Johu J. Crittenden, or
Kentucky, was present.
FROM NEW \ORK.
“Busted”--FligLt of
for Russia [
Compound Acid Pfiospfiate.
Compound Acid ' f tir M
‘“oiling man, has gone
iuto voluntary bankruptcy, liabilities
nearly a quarter of a million.
August Quack, of Quack & Burger,
cotton brokers, is reported to have fled
after losing the firm’s money in unfor
tunate speculations.
Over a quarter of million pounds of
powder for Russia arrived over the
Erie Railroad within a week. Eight
more car loads are expected.
Hon. David E. Butler.
Editor Constitutionalist : The ques
tion as to who shall succeed Hon. Ben
jamin H. Hill as Representative in the
Congress of tiie Uuited States, from
the Ninth District, is very naturally
one of deep concern to every good and
intelligent citizen. Never more strong
ly than now has the determination ol
the people manifested itseff to put into
offices of trust and honor the very best
men only—men who are the living em
bodiment of the now spirit of the
South, aud who, understanding thor
oughly the necessities and wishes of
their constituency, have the ability
aud firmness to maintain the people’s
cause.
The man’s personal worth must stamp
him as fit for the people’s confidence.
He must speak for the masses, and be
one of them iu heart, in soul and in
every purpose. With such men in Con
gress—with integrity and honesty, and
unbaudable truth aud sincere aims to
take the place of the mere politician—
what shall prevent us from being, what
we ought to be, the most prosperous,
powerful and happy people on earth?
These thoughts, the spirit of which I
believe lies in the breast of every true
man, brings me to the consideration of
the claims of the man, above all men,
best fitted by nature and circumstances
to represent the masses of the Ninth
District iu the next Congress. I refer
to the worthy, universally esteemed,
distinguished Georgian, Hon. David E.
Butler, of Morgan.
Almost everybody iu the State knows
him. He has been called to fill many
positions of high honor and trust, yet
never seeking office. He is one of
the rare men whom the office seeks, il
lustrating a virtue of the times as
unique as it is commendable. His life
has been an eventful one, crowded with
duty, brightened by the love and the
confidence of his neighbors, and filling
many high offices of responsibility that
demand executive ability and faultless
experience.
In talent, honesty, purity of charac
ter and patriotism, fie has no superiors.
Many or our . best people wish Col.
Butler to succeed Mr. Hill, honestly
believing him to be the best represen
tative man that the people of this Dis
trict can sen! to Washington; that he
is nearer to the great heart of the peo
ple; that his manly and consistent
course, his Christian rectitude, his em
inent administrative qualities, and his
hearty soul-wedded affinity with the
farming and social relations of the
masses, have endeared him to every
good citizen of the globe, and that
Georgia could not have a fairer repre
sentative of its new-born energies, its
necessities and its triumphs, at the
Capital of the Union, thaa the plain,
unassuming, gentle-hearted and clever
brained farmer, David E. Butler. The
Ninth could hoaor herself in having
him.
The Constitutionalist is the medium
of communication with a large section
of our District. Numbers of our peo
ple read, support and value it, because
of its many excellencies. Hence the
privilege of presenting the claims of
Hon. D. E. Butler through your columns
is asked by yours respectfully,
Franklin.
j GLASS THAT WON’T SMASH.
uNAILS DRIVEN WITH LIMP CHIM
NEYS AND TUMBLERS.
i How the De La Bastie Process Has
Been Developed in Brooklyn.
IN. Y. World.|
A little over a year ago attention
i waa drawn in America to the fact that
Mods. A. de la Bastie was producing
,toughened glass at his glass foundry,
near Paris, by means of a process the
I details of which he did not at first
make public. A number of specimens
were brought to this country and ex
periments were made with them.
The gejuineness of the specimens
was at first doubted, so incredible did
the results of these experiments seem
to many. It was thought they were of
some substance resembling glass, which
could be thrown around the room,
dashed against the floor, jumped on,
and knocked about generally. It was
argued that in the nature of things,
and in the light of the experience of
many generations of mankind, when
you dropped a chjnk of iron weighing
two or three pounds on a sheet of glass
a quarter of an inch thick the glass
would break, and that, therefore, when
you dropped such a chunk on such a
sheet of what M. de la Bastie offered
as glass, and it did not break, you were
justified in thinking that it was not glass.
No hypothesis of what the substance
might be was offered by the skeptics,
but the existence of some plausible
scheme for the conversion of dollars
into francs was suspected, and the gen
eral public looked with some little
curiosity for the time when proposi
tions for the embarkation of American
capital should be made.
Scientists, however, were a number
of them convinced that a valuable pro
cess had been discovered. Among
others, Prof. Egleston and Prof. Chan
dler experimented carefully with the
Do La Bastie glass, and found that
while it was not adapted to the manu
facture of anvils and hammers, it was
really very different from ordinary
glass. Still the number of specimens
at hand was so small that they were
forced to wait before formulating the
difference, or deciding to remodel the
similes of the world.
In December, 1875, the first patent
on the process of producing the glass
was taken out in France, and it was
then fouud that the process consisted
in annealing the glass by plunging it
into a bath of oil or oily substance. A
reissue of the patent was obtained in
1876, and care was taken to obtain pat
ents not ouly in Fiance, but in Eng
land, Germany, Austria, France, Bel
gium, Russia, Spain, Italy, Portugal
and the United States.
No proposition to American capital
ists was made, but, on the contrary, M.
Ernest de la Chapelle, a cousin of the
patentee, came to this country, and in
January, 1876, started a Jouudry in
Brooklyn, in which he began the manu
facture of glassware under the patent.
The works were unfortunately de
stroyed by fire in June last, and much
of the result of his labor was lost. Iu
the latter part of September, however,,
he was ngaiu under way, and although
he lost one season by the fire he now
has the business of manufacturing iu
full operation.
a vnsit to t i-J - "idrv, which is in
_ jj-i.Dption, -
--•* *sl“°° • " “ 36.00
factured In esu?fi$ I< Yho same mififtier
as all glassware, and is subjected to
the toughening process afterwards.
This process is apparently a simple
one. As only one kind of goods is as
yet manufactured for sale, that is
lamp chimneys, there is no variety in
the process. A workman, having in his
hand a pole about eight feet long, with
a knob on the end of the size of a
lamp burner, fits a chimney on the
knob and plunges it into the flame of a
furnace. He withdraws it twice or
thrice, that it may not heat too quick
ly, turning the pole rapidly the while,
and when the glass reaches a red heat
quickly shoots it into oue of a dozen
small baths fixed on a revolving table,
and seizes another chimney.
A boy keeps the revolving table al
ways in position, and as the chimneys
come around to him, having been the
proper time in the bath, he takes them
out to bo dried, sorted, cleaned and
packed.
“The bath lias to be of just the right
temperature,” explained the foreman.
“When we first began making chim
neys it was found that they were very
liable to explode, and after experiment
ing for a considerable time we found
that it was because the bath was too
hot or too cold. In either case the
process of auneaiing is imperfect. Now
we find that by working these tables
at just the rate at which they are now
running the baths are kept at the right
temperature by the immersion of the
red-hot glass.”
“Is the explosion dangerous?”
“Oh ! no. The glass simply shatters.
There is no force to make missiles of
the particles. But we have obviated
that now.”
“What is in the bath ?”
“Oil or tallow. Any greasy sub
will do. The proportions of material
that we use we have determined by ex
periment. At first we used linseed oil.
Then we mixed in mutton tallow, and
found that it was an improvement aud
we used for a while equal proportions
of each. Then, one day we happened
to be short of the oil, and we used
more of tho tallow than of the oil, and
fouud that it was just as good. Then
we tried all tallow, and found it equally
good.”
M. de Chapelle is very confident that
he is engaged in a business that has a
great future before it. He applied sev
eral tests to his goods to show the re
porter their quality, and smiled com
placently at the triumphant manner in
which they bade defiance to the rules of
natural philosophy.
“This,” said he, taking a handsome
chimney In his hand, “is as good a
chimney as is made anywhere iu the
United States—except hero. You see
the workmanship aud material are
both beautiful. And here,” taking up
another precisely similar in appear
ance, “is one of the same kind that has
been treated by our process.”
Placing them on burning lamps, side
by side, he waited until they were thor
oughly heated, and taking a wet brush
he sprinkled water on each. That
which he had treated by the Do La
Bastie process was not affected, but
the other cracked instantly.
“That is the great test of a chimney,”
he explained. “Nine out of ten that
break, break by the sudden change of
temperature, produced either by drafts
of cold air or by moisture. And that
test my chimneys stand perfectly. As
to knocking them around, this is not
so much of a test”—dashing one on the
floor “because chimneys don’t get
knocked around so much.”
“Still, that might be considered a se
vere test,” suggested the reporter, pick
ing up the uninjured chimney.
“Do you think so ?” said M. la Cha
pelle, smiling. “Here, Jean,” calling to
a young Frenchman, “Drive a few nails
with one of the chimneys.”
The workman picked up a handful
of French nails aud one of the chim
neys that lay near him and began
driving the nails one by one into solid
pine planking.
“That is merely a trick,” explained
the proprietor. “Very likely, my chim
neys would not all stand such a test.
But what will you ? A lamp chimney
is not made to drive nails. Glass is not
wrought iron. The test of a chimney
U to subject it to a sudden change of
temperature, and you have seen how
they stand that test. It does not so
much enhance the value of a lamp
chimney to be able to jump on it with
out breaking it.” And he suited the
action to the word. "But it does en
hance its value to make it capable of
standing sudden cold or moisture.”
“ I have begun with the manufacture
of a single article,” he explained “be
cause I wanted first to be able to make
oue thing perfectly before making
other thiugs. Aud I have, I think, ac
complished that. I have sold already
about $150,000 worth of my goods,
and, as evidence of the success I have
had in their manufacture, I will show
you letters from some of my cus
tomers.”
A number of these letters were
shown, highly laudatory In their na
ture. Among them was one from Mr.
Butler, the President of the Sixth Ave
nue Railroad Company, on which line
the chimneys have been used for a con
siderable length of time, and one from
Mr. Chaffaugeon, a manufacturer in
Hoboken, who uses a large number of
lamps iu his factory. Mr. Chaffangeon
wrote that while there was formerly a
breakage of six or seven chimneys a
night in his factory, there had only
been six broken iu the twenty-one days
that he had been using the new chim
neys.
“What is the comparative cost of
your chimneys?” asked the reporter.
“It’s a little difficult to reduce it to a
percentage, as the difference differs in
the different kinds of goods. But the
average excess of the cost of mine over
ordinary chimneys I should think was
about sixty per cent. But of course if
they out-last a dozen ordinary ones
they are tho cheapest.
“I have been experimenting on other
goods,” said he, “and I have some sam
ples that I have made here as well as
some that M. Muzard has just brought
over from France. He has lately been
at our factory in Belgium and comes
direct from the one in France, which is
used mostly for experimenting, and
brings some new processes.”
M. Muzard hereupon produced a
number of tumblers, plates and finger
glasses, which ho recklessly clashed
together much after the fashion of the
coffee-and-cake saloon waiter, and
finished up by dashing the whole lot
on the floor some ten feet away from
him. They rebounded and rolled in
all directions, but not one was broken,
He jumped on them and they did not
crack, aud taking them up one by one,
he threw several on the floor with his
whole strength, but failed to damage
them.
“Why not make pots and kettles, or
policemen’s clubs, or artificial checks
for life insurance agents and inexpe
rienced newspaper men, or anything
of that kind?” asked the reporter.
“Pots aud kettles, perhaps,” said M.
la Chapelle. “But I say nothing of
that at present 1 wish to make per
fectly whatever I offer for sale, and I
am ouly now coming to the table
crockery. Kitchen utensils must be
very strong. My glass is not steel,
see!”
And he threw a small plate against
the brick wall. I shattered into a
thousand pieces.
“The philosophy of tl\e toughening
process is very simple,” he explained.
“If you take an ordinary piece of glass
and scratch it with a diamond it will
snap easily. The reason is that you
have cut through the outside shell,
which is very hard. You will notice
that our lamp chimneys are rather
thick. We find that while it does not
answer any good purpose to have them
very thick, it does not do to have them
thin. The process we put our glass
through simply thickens tho hard shell.
You will notice that the fragments of a
broken chimney of our make, while
they are tougher than ordinary frag
ments of glass, are not nearly as tough
as a complete chimney. This harden
ing of the glass or thickening of the
hard surface also decreases its con
ducting properties. Ordinary glass is
a poor conductor, but our glass is a
much poorer one. It is an easy matter
for us to treat any piece of glass by
our process, whether it bo cut or blown
glass, and the effect is the same. We
can treat the most fragile wine glass
so as to make it much stronger, but of
course, beißg so thin, such a glass
w’ould still be very liable to breakage.
But one of tho most valuable applica
tions of the pateut I conceive to be the
toughGniDg of window glass and vault
cover and sky-light glass.”
And he took out a pane of corrugat
ed glass three-eighths of an inch thick
and about eight inches by twenty-four
Leaning it up against 'his desk, he
dropped a five-pound iron weight from
a height of about three feet on the ob
lique surface, and the weight bounded
off.
“Professor Chandler found,” he said,
“that a sheet of the prepared glass
similar to one of ordinary glass that
would be broken by the fall of a pound
weight one foot, would stand the fall of
tho same weight five feet without
breaking.”
The application of this invention
seems almost endless. It has been
found that photographers’ piates are
equally sensitive to the sun’s rays af
terbeing subjected to the De La B 18-
tie process, and no one who has suf
fered from the loss of a “negative,”
will fail to see the importance of this
fact. How the proverbial queen of tho
kitchen will regard the introduction of
unbreakable glassware is problemati
cal. to say the least, but to the long
suffering head of tho household along
vista of economy opens at once.
FROM MOBILE.
Decision in a Railroad Suit.
Mobile, February 3. The United
States Circuit court, for the fifth cir
cuit, and southern district of Alabama,
Hon. John Bruce presiding, has ren
dered a decree affirming the title of
Morris Ketchum as trustee under the
fit st mortgage of the Mobile and Ohio
railroad comyany. The opinion is very
elaborate and will be published in a
few days.
Hawkinsville Dispatch : On Sunday
evening last a man was killed near Du
bois (Station No. 14), in Dodge county.
As related to us, the circumstances at
tending the killing justify the act. The
man is represented to have been a des
perate character. An inquest was held,
and the verdict of the jury was that
the man came to his death at the hands
of an unknown persoQ,
BEECHER’S FRIEND PALMER.
ANTECEDENTS. AFFINITIEB. BE
LIEFS, AND REPUTATION.
Magnetic Doctor, Communist, and
Itinerant Preacher—Exhorting Ne
groes to Arson—What Chamberlain
and Elliott Think of Him-His Wife
a Witness for Beecher. *
IN. Y. Sun.l
On last Saturday evening the breth
ren of the Clerical Union met at Henry
Ward Beecher’s house, and Frederick
A. Palmer came also. He was intro
duced to the Plymouth pastor as a
pious preacher who had been laboring
among the negroes of the South, and
had many thrilling experiences of
cruelty and oppression to narrate. The
glib Palmer left the impression ou
Beecher that he had been denied an op
portunity to tell the story of the poor
negro’s sufferings. He further en
listed Beecher’s regard by reminding
him that his wife, Elizabeth La Pierre
Palmer, had testified for him in Tilton
against Beecher. The result was an in
vitation to lecture before Beecher’s
flock. The lecture was announced
from his pulpit on Sunday.
On Friday evening the pastor was in
his seat as usual. Brother John Wins
low went to his side and spoke to him
a few momenta earnestly, evidently put
ting a flea in his ear about his new
acquaintance. A look of surprise
spread over face, and has
tily taking up his slouch hat and his
heavy cape, he called to Mr. Halliday
to take charge of the meeting, and
hurried out. It was afterwards ex
plained that he went to intercept Dr.
Palmer, and to keep him away from
the meeting ; but, on learning that the
magnotio physician’s lecture was fuller
of figures or speech than matters or
fact, he deemed it best to let him go
ahead. Accordingly, when he returned
to the lecture room with Dr. Palmer,
he introduced him, saying that the wis
dom of a speech ou the topic announced
at this exciting time had been ques
tioned ; but, a3 Dr. Palmer had come
expecting to speak, the invitation would
not be withdrawn.
Palmer is six feet two or three inches
tall, as straight as an Indian, has black
hair and eyes, black, curling moustache
and imperial, and in dress is a pink of
neatness. His words fall melodiously
from his lips. He spoke from a pile of
manuscript, in turning which he used
both hands in a graceful sweep of the
pages, taking care to show glossy cuffs
fastened with white buttons, and a lit
tle finger delicately tinged with gold.
From hie first utterance, “I stand to
night in the witness box of the uni
verse, willing and not afraid to tell
what I know,” his audience expected a
thrilling story of midnight marauders
dismembering negroes in lonely
swamp3 ; but the speaker went on to
simply depict the evils of tho institu
tion of slavery, describing the master
with wife and beautiful daughters liv
ing in luxury off the earnings of the
poor drudges who worked among the
cotton and the cane. This was his
strain for the first half hour.
At length he reached modern times.
He said that he could tell of his own
hairbreadth escapes ; how his life had
been almost providentially saved ; how
his wire had warned him of the assas
sin’s pistol; how they had clasped
hands at night In the shadow of a
magnolia tree ana prayed God to de
liver them from the hr nd of the mur
derer. But he didn’t tell these thiugs
any more specifically. He rattled on
with glib tongue until he was at the
end of the manuscript. Then he
dropped into poetry, and closed. He
hadn’t given his audience a single fact,
and his only allusion to the present
condition of thiugs in the South was
the remark that ho would not pause to
recount his experiences in Columbia,
where he was a member of the only
legislative body proper.
At the close of the meeting, which
Mr. J. B. Murray, at a reporter’s re
quest, asked the tearful brother Shear
man if the speaker was not the hus
band of Mrs. Palmer, the witness,
Brother Shearman, said, “Yes;” but
when a reporter asked him the same
question, he said, “You will please ex
cuse me,” and darted off, after request
ing Mr. Murray not to repeat what he
had told him.
It isn’t often that lecturer and sudi
ence are so perfectly suited to each
other. As the “doctor” himself would
say, the conditions were harmonious.
Ha is a Plymouth Church sort of a
r uan.
Three years ago he was doing busi
ness in this city as a “magnetic physi
cian.” He still retains the title, prac
tices more or less among the unfor
tunate negroes of his neighborhood,
aud is the patentee of “Palmer’s Escu
lapian Magnetic Remedies.” His ca
reer in New York was not uneventful.
He won the affections of his landlady, a
Mrs. La Pierre, otherwise Daniels. A
few days after obtaining a divorce from
her former husband she became Mrs.
Palmer. A clairvoyant, bealiQg medi
um, and patentee of a stocking-sus
pender, she is beat remembered here
abouts as the fluent witness for the
defence in the Beecher case. She tes
tified that she had seen Tilton and Mrs.
Woodhall kiss each other; had seen
them sitting on a sofa together, his
arm around her waist, and heard a
conversation to the effect that Tilton
was to head the Spiritualist movement
in this country, aud that the Golden
Age and Mrs. Woodhull’s paper were
to be co isolidated as an organ fo * that
, purpose. She told Mr. Beach, on cross
examination, that she was a spiritual
medium, and that while he had been
speakLig she saw the spirit of a young
lady hoveriug about his head. She
claimed to be able to see the acts peo
ple have committed during their lives,
as they were photographed on their
souls ; she was enabled to read as
clearly what is written on the soul of a
mao or woman as Mr. Beach could
read the page of a book. Mrs. Palmer’s
testimouy was pronounced false by
both Tilton and Mrs. Woodhuil.
In the early winter of 1874, Palmer
was a member of the Workingmen’s
Committee of Safety. He did not per
sonally take part, however, in the (so
called) Tompkins square riot.
About two years ago Mr. J. H. Key
ser, the historical plumber, invested
$5,000 in South Carolina real estate,
aud shortly after installed Palmer as
agent. It is understood in Aiken that
ttie property has since been transferred
to Palmer. His principal employments
trotn the first seem to have been har
ranguing the negroes and writing cock
and-bull stories of intimidation for
Northern Republican consumption.
One of his neighbors, a lawyer of Intel
ligence and character, has furnished
this account of him :
At one time he was a temperance
lecturer. Now, from the regularity
with which he drives his wife up every
day to an Aiken beer saloon, it may
fairly be presumed that he has seen
the error of hia course aud repented.
SIX DOLLARS A YEAR
He is a strong believer in spiiiiualism
ani is ouu of the free-love school in
| theory and pructice. I am told that
3ome years ago he went to Florida, and
married the daughter of a wealthy
man, but, finding out after his mar
riage, and after he had got possession
P °? orty ’ that was not his
affinity, he separated from her. went
North again, and met his present wife,
i. aimer is also an advocate of woman
aDd ia the Secretary of the
United Party, a communistic associa
tion, the object of which is to redistri
bute accumulated and accumulating
wealth by a system of graduated taxa
tion, charging from one-quarter per
cent, on estates between two and ten
thousand dollars to fifty per cent, on
aeonSV “i 008 ° r over; P r °Perty under
S4UUU to be exempt from taxation
In conversation with gentlemen here
Palmer has announced his belief that
he is in part the son of Christ. He
behexes in a kind of transmigration,
and iuforraed one gentleman that Na
poleon Bonaparte was formerly Esau
He said the reason, why he came to
South Carolina and allied himself with
the Republican party was, that the ne
be more oaail Y impressed
with his views, more easily unified, and
that through them he hoped to get
into Position, and make this State the
first field for putting in operation the
theories of the “United Party.”
Though not a preacher by profession
and refused admission into his pulpit
by a colored Radical minister of his
town he goes all over the country and
knowing the superstitious and reli
gious impressibility of the people, has
continually been preaching to them
under tho guise of a minister of tho
gospel, all his theories of freo love
spiritualism and oomtnuuism. filling
their ignorant hearts with discontent
and evil imaginings. Is it to be won
dered at that, with such harangues
however cunningly and warily made’
Aiken county, heretofore entirely free
rom such disgiaces, should, since this
Palmers advent, have had over thirty
gin houses, barns aud private dwell
ings burnt down by negro incendiaries 9
One prominent Republican said to
me to-day that he believed Palmar to
be a lunatic ; that Chamberlain had
confessed fears as to his vicious influ
ence, and that Elliott had said he was
demoralizing the ignorant classes with
his revolutionary doctrines. Another
said . ‘He is a firebrand and an incen
diary creature in this community.”
As to any danger to his own life his
accounts are gross and willful misre
presentations.
I aimer says he has never used aoy
anguage or done anything that could
be called incendiary. At the Radical
County Convention he said, in the hear
ing or many gentlemen, that any
colored man who voted the Democratic
ticket should be tied to the whipping
post and whipped, or words to that
effect.
Another respectable and respected
citizen of Aiken writes :
The evil which such men as Fred A.
Palmer do umong the ignorant and im
pressionable negro population cannot
be realized by tnose not intimately ac
quainted with affairs at the South,
io-day a young negro man informed
me that he was at a meeting held at
1 aimer farm last summer, when some
forty or fifty blacks were present—
mostly members of the negro militia
company—and not another white man
ou the ground. Palmer urged them to
t esort to tho torch, and burn down
houses and barns, if their political
lights were interfered with bv tho
whites.
Parson Talmage on the Doctors.
Cicero said there was nothing ia
which men so approached the gods as
in the cure of other men. God has
honored this profession all the way
through, from the days when the good
Samaritan worked kindness and health
with his hellebore and politics, down
to last week’s autopsy. The profession
is a noble one. The doctors for cen
turies have honored God and fought
back death with their keen scalpels
It one would see what tho doctors have
done for madmen, for one example,
let us look two centuries back into
dungeons, cold, clammy, rotten with
prisoners chained to the walls, filthy,
uattod and abandoned—and now turn
to our Bloomiugdale, rich as a palace
curtaiued, carpeted aud sofaed, and
luxurious enough for priuces. There
was a time wheo Jenner was derided,
and when small wits caricatured him
riding on a cow and circulated the re
! P°rt that as the result of his opera
' tiops horns had actually growu out on
j the foreheads of innocent people, and
I that other innocent people had be-
I come so demented as always to bo
obliged to chew cuds. And then
j chloroform, that heaven descended
! mercy of God—it was Sir James Y.
Simpson who gave us that. Blessed bo
! God for that wet sponge or phial by
means of which we may have a clinic
in a nursery. Alas for battlefields
without chloroform! The soldier-boy,
after a few breathings from that magic
spoDge, forgets his gunshot wound
and|bis shattered limbs, and dreams
under the knife, of peace and home
and heaven. The child wakes up from
an operation which, unaided, human
Dature could not bear, and says
‘Father, what.s the matter, what’s’
Doctor been here for?’ Doctors now in
the courtroom with unerring chemi
cal analysis; doctors understanding
aud praiticiug hygiene, so that now
we read, as in a dream, the tales writ
ten upon those monuments in ancient
cities, which tell of the plague and of
merciful visitors stumbling across the
graves of those they came to save.
What have the doctors not done for
longevity? From the time of Adam
the span of life diminished until it
measured thirty and forty and then
fifty years. But in the sixteenth cen-
I tury medical science came in, and
i then the longevity rose again, and now
the average of life is forty years, and
it will be fifty aud sixty and seventy.
The time is not far distant when a man
will have no right to die before nine
! ty, and perhaps the centennial babv
will not bo exceptional in living to ono
j hundred yeara
THE ICE.
The Thaw at St. Louis—Breaking a
Bridge.
St. Louis, February 3.—The ice burst
before noon. Navigation, after fifty
six days’suspension, has been resumed.
N > damage.
Logansport, Ikd., February 3.—A
span of the railroad bridge crossing
the Wabash at this point has been
swept away by ice.
Anew mill is being moved to Thom
son.
About one dozen suicides have oc
curred in Atlanta within the past two
years.
Corn sold at five cents a grain in
Gainesville the past week,