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TIMELY TOPICS.
A bath kb heroic act is that o! Spain,
dying of internecine straggles, to go
Into thfrsasAstiog a loss of $7,00n ; fl00
to indemnify Porto Hicane for the loss
of their emancipated slaver.
The y*llow fever is at Pensacola, It <
is unusually early for this dreaded man
ifeetation. In some of the mo3t de
vastating yellow fever seasons the dis
ease has not shown itself on the gulf
oo let until September.
Thb plague, or Black Death, has
twaked from.its thirty years sleep in the
east, and is reported to be spreading
with rapidity in Asia. Abont eighty
five years ago, it desolated Bnssia, and
one hundred and fifty years have passed
since it ravaged mid almost depopn
lated some parts of Europe,
Thb postoffioe department has sent
to the department of-,justice the names
of thirty-nine mail Contractors who are
to be prosecuted for failure to perform
servioe after their bids were acoepted.
The contraots were relet by the gov
ernment, and the difference between
the amount paid and the bids, for the
thirty-nine routes, was $417,087, whioh
is the amount of damages claimed
against the delinquent bidders.
Thb German minister of finance re
ports a deficiency in the Budget for this
year of $6,000,000, and the tax on beer
is to be raised—a proceeding whioh will
be immensely unpopular in Germany,
Where everybody consumes largely of
the ruby liquid. Such a large defloienoy
as $6,000,000 would seem singular, with
the millions whioh have been paid by
Franoe, were it not apparent that Ger
many has been putting all her money
into,her armies.
Thb Boston Journal of Chemistry re
grets that the millers use all their
finest, soundest wheat for fine flour, and
the poorest for Graham or brown bread,
a general name given to mixtures of
bran and spoiled flour. “What we
need is good, sweet, whole wheat flour
finely ground, and put up secure
ly for family use, and any western mil
ler who will give his earnest attention
to furnishing suoh flour will realize a
fortune speedily; securing the most
xmtritive principles the Creator has
stored up for man’s food.”
Thb substance of Jno. D. Lee’s oon-
fession is that thirty Mormons, with the
assistance of a largenumber of Indians,
deooyed emigrants from their entrench
ment by a flag of truce; that all were
murdered except seventeen children;
that the deed was done under orders of
the leaders of the Mormon Church;
that he took news of the massacre to
Brigham Young, who deplored the
transaction, and said it would bring
disaster upon the Mormon people. The
statement of Lee, so far as known, only
confirms previous reports in regard to
the massacre.
Thb clerical newspapers in Franoe
speculate on the causes of the great
flood with some asperity. It appears
that the municipal oouncil of Toulonae
recently refused to ereet a statue to
4 ‘the glorious and miraculous shep
herdess of Pibrac,” and one of theoounr
cilora said; “We prefers fountain/ 1
Whereupon the Gazette de Nimes now
remarks, “God has fulfilled the wish of
tiiiv*;”. fiwU^rsfels C-GUUCliCrS s2u K.-U- —
fountain to the capital of Laguedoo
which they little expected. Had the
town voted the required sum Divine
Providence,” says the editor, “wonld
never have treated Toulouse so se
verely.” It is understood that the
bishop of Chartres is ot the came
opinion.
to son.
O Hope I
The committee appointed by the
Delaware Fruit Growers’ convention to
oonfexwith the steamship companies in
regard to the shipment of peaches to
Liverpool have reported that they called
upon the authorities of the American
steamship company, and they favored
the project. The company wonld allow
the growers to fit up the steerage for
ward cabin with their refrigerators,
whioh can bo done with five hundred
dollars for eaoh vessel. This portion of
the ship would hold 25,000 or 30,000
baskets, and a compartment immedi-
diately underneath could be fitted up
whioh would carry 6,000 additional.
They would charge the growers for the
shipment of this amount of fruit to
Liverpool about two thousand dollars,
and give them the privilege of sending
out an agent free of charge with each
consignment.
The July returns to the department
of agriculture shows that the acreage in
oom is about three per cent, greater
than last year. New England has in
creased her acreage about eleven per
eent. and the Paoifio states about one
per oent. All the great oom growing
regions have increased acreage—Mid
ele states two per bent., South Atlantic
states three per cent Gulf states, in
land southern states, twelve per oent,
states north of Ohio seven, west of the
Mississippi fourteen per oent The
condition of the crop is below an aver
age in the New England and South At
lantic states. The minimum condition,
eighty-two per emit, being in Bhode
Island, Florida and Alabama are also
below the average, but other Golf
states and inland southern states are
abont the maximum, 112 in Mississippi.
All ' other states except Missouri, 103
are below the average, the minimum
eighty-two being in Wisconsin.
Deceive me that I a» believe tbee;
For I know tliet the flake will follow
On tbe airy my of the swallow, i
That the drift,eban lie where the my blowe
And the Icicle hang from the stem of the roe*,—
O Hope I—so more t
OHopet
Beguile yet awhile;
Deceive me end l will believe thee,
Though I know that the flake must follow .
On the airy way of the swallow,
That (he drift ranst lie where the lily blows
O hoi>»: —"nee =;ore i
—John Vance Cheney.
MOUNTAIN MEADOW MASSACRE.
That most insufferable of all idiots,
the practical joker, does not always
escape on earth the wrath that is laid
up for him. There lived and taught
school in St James parish, Louisiana,
recently, a man by the name of Bow
den, a well-meaning person, but af
flicted with that peculiar sense of
humor whioh is sure to get somebody
or other into trouble sooner or later.
One of his most successful jokes was
that of displaying advertising bills
printed in imitation of greenbaoks, and
offering to bet hundreds ana thousands
of dollars with people who didn’t fcrnw
Sines the first of June, wheat has! ** «as ti.- a— —
advanced ihiriy-tiireo ccata in the
Testimony Elicited the Firtt Day of the Trial—
How the Butcher was Planned and Executed,
At the opening of the trial of the
Mormons implicated in the Mountain
Meadow massacre, at Beaver, Utah.
Robert Kays testified as follows: Came
to Utah October 2, 1857, through
Mountain Mealows saw piles of bodies
of woman and children, piled promis
cuously; there were sixty or seventy
bodies; the children were from two
months old to twelve years; the. smaller
were tom by wolves and crows; some of
the bodies were shot, some had their
throats oat, some stabbed, and all were
tom by wolves except one woman, who
laid a little way off, and appeared as' if
asleep, a ball hole in her left side; it
appeared the bodies were dead fifteen
days; seven of us saw it. Piles of men’s
bodies were further on; didn’t go to see
them; no clothing on the bodies, except
one sock on the leg of one man; none
were scalped.
Assatel Bennett called: Was at the
Meadows Deoember, 1857; saw the
bones there; horrible sight; skeletons of
women and children; curls, long tresses
hair, dried blood; children 10 to 12
years; some skulls had flesh dried
on; the bodies had been covered
up; wolves evidently dug them up
Phillip Linger Smith, a defendant of
San Bemandi, California, called: Pros
ecution entered nolle prosequi as to
himself. Lived in Cedar oity from
1852 to 1857. Was at the massacre in
September, 1857; heard of the em
igrants coming. The people were for
bidden to trade with them; felt bad
abont it; saw a few of teem at Cedar;
heard rumors of troub^pSmday. It
was the custom to have meetings of the
president and oounril, bishop and
oouncil and high oouncil. The matter
came np for dismission as to their de
struction. Haight, Higbee, Morrill,
Allen, Mills, myself and others were
there. Some brethem opposed their
destruction. * I did. Haight jumped
up and broke up the meeting, l asked
what would be the consequences of
suoh an aot. Then Haight get mad.
The Indians were to destroy them. On
Monday. Higbee, White and I met;
same subject again. I opposed the de
struction. Haight relented, and told
White and I to go ahead and tell the
people the emigrants should go through
safe. We did so, and on the road we
met John D. Lee. We told where we
were going, and he replied I h*ve
something to say about that matter;
we passed the emigrants at Iron Springs;
next morning we passed them again;
as we came back they had twenty or
thirty wagons; over a hundred people,
old men, middle aged men, old wo
men, middle aged women, youths and
ohildren; near home I met Ira
Alien; he said the emigrants’
doom was sealed, the die east for de
struction ; three days after Haight sent
for me, and said orders had oome from
camp; didn’t get along, wanted rein
forcements; that he had been to Prowin,
and got farther orders from Colonel W.
H. Dame to finish the massacre, to de
coy and spare only small ohildren who
could not tell the tale. I went off, met
Allen, our first runner, and others,
iiigbod said: you are ordered
dren and wounded went on ahead with
John D. Lee. The soldiers had to be
all ready to shoot at the word. When
the word halt came the soldiers fired.
I fired ODoe; don’t know if I killed a
man;net all killed at the first fire.
Saw the women afterward dead, with
their throats cut. I saw, as I came np
to them, a man kill a;
The
Mmivuvu xxx uujiiiin /*!« Sraf. ;
then thrown in single file, with the sol-
diers along side. The emigrants were
congratulating themselves on their
safety from the Indians. At last John
M. Higbee came and ordered my squad
to fire. Lee, like the rest, had firearms,
No emigrants were allowed to escape;
saw soldiers on horses to take on wing
those who ran; saw a man ran; saw Bill
start on a horse and kill him, and a
wounded man beg for life. Higbee oat
his throat. I was told to gather up the
little ohildren. I went, and saw a
woman running toward the men, crying,
“ My husband, my husband ! ” A
soldier shot her in the back, and she
fell dead.
Post Office Points.
The following late rulings by the
postoffice department in regard to mail
matter will be found of interest to-
every one engaged in mercantile pur
suits :
When paokages of merchandise or
samples of merchandise are wrapped so
as to prevent examination, or have any
writing upon them except the address,
it is the duty of the postmaster to rate
them up with letter postage, to be col
lected on delivery. Samples may be
marked in pencil or ink with letters or
figures by which they are to be dis
tinguished in a descriptive letter or in
voice (each separately) Without subject
ing the package to letter postage.
An address may be written on a cir
cular, but any other writing thereon
except the mere correction of a typo
graphical error, would render it sub
ject to letter postage.
It is the duty of a postmaster when
mail matter is sent to his office through
mistake, to forward it to its destination.
Book manuscript, when so wrapped)
as to admit of examination, is oharge-
with prepayment of postage afr
rates of thira-olass matter, viz: (me oent
limited to
Chicago market. If the reports at hand
are reliable, the wheat crop of Europe
will be almost an entire failure, and
consequently •’ the demand upon our
produots will be unprecedented. This
will ensure the producer good paying
prioee for tbe produots of bis farm for
at least a year to oome. While Great
Britain and the continent may suffer,
the people-of America will be greatly
bsoefited. Just when the advance in
prioee will oease it would be hazardous
to predict,
offensive smell coming from an out
house led to a search for the cause, and
the corpse of Bowden was found
.beneath the floor and under a oovering
of corn husks, where it was rapidly
decaying. A Swedish plantation hand,
who had seen him displaying his imita
tion bills, had mistaken him for a per
son of large and available means, and
had murdered him for his money. The
Swede is now a fugitive,’and he feels
doubly the weight of the joke, for he
got no money, and the Governor has
offered $1,000 for his arrest.
liucu. ouu equipped; so I went; Hop-
kins, Higbee, John Willis and oam
Purdy went along; had two baggage
waggons; got to Hamplen’s ranehe in
the night, three miles from emigrants;
there met Lee and others from the gen
eral camp, where the largest number of
men were; then found the emigrants
not all killed. Bateman or Lee went
out with a white flag. A man from the
emigrants met them. Lee and a man
set down on the grass and had a talk;
don’t know what they talked. Lee went
with the man into the intrenchments.
After some hours they came out and the
emigrants came out with their wounded
in wagons ahead. The wounded were
those hurt in the three days previous
an ounce or fraction thereof,
four pounds in weight.
Paper with writing on it, should not
be used as wrappers for newspapers, as
this would subject the packages to letter
postage.
To entitle regular subscribers to re
ceive newspapers free of postage, they
must reside in the county where each
papers are printed and published.
Mail matter inolosed in sealed en
velopes with the corners notched, ie
subject to letter rates of postage.
A postmaster is required to examine
all printed matter, or third-olass matter,
lassing through his office, to see that it
s charged with proper rates of postage
and to detect frand. Matter contained
in a sealed envelope notched at the
comers cannot be satisfactorily ex
amined without destroying the wrapper.
Prepaid letters must be forwarded
from one postoffice to another at the re
quest of the party addressed without
additional charge of postage; but let
ters having been once delivered accord
ing to their address require postage at
the prepaid rate when returned to the
office for forwarding. *
Packages containing liquids, or any
other matter liable to deface or destroy
the contents of the mails, or hurt the
person of any one connected with the
service, should be exoluded' from the
mails; but sealed packages deposited in
‘ postoffice, prepaid at letter rates of
stage, in the absence of any positive
owledee of their contents, forwarded
out, t<> their destination.
Unsealed circulars denosited in a
letter-carrier office for focal delivery
through the box or general delivery, or by
earners, are subject to a postage of one
oent eaoh circular, to be prepaid by
stamp affixed. L. and B., page 61,
seo. 99.
—The duke of Sutherland is the
largest land-owner in Great Britain,
owning in one county—Sutherland—1,-,
176,340 acres, while his wife owns 149,-
879 acres in the county of Boss. He
ought to be called the duke of AUtbe-
land,
—A belle at Saratoga wean diamonds
on her rimes.