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Sketches of Southern
Literature.
Southern W riters and Authors.
THE PAST AND PRESENT.
NOG.
Bf JUDGE WILLIAM ARCHER COCKE,
of Florida.
Author of the Constitutional History of United States
and Common and Civil Lau> in United Stales.
In Southern State history, we hare very good
works on North Carolina, by Ramsay, and another
by Foot. W. G. Simms has written a history of
South Carolina, which, though somewhat upon the
school bo )k order, is still a very good and readable
work.
t There has been written by John H. Wheeler, of
North Carolina, “ Historical Sketches of North
Carolina from 1584 to 1851.” It embraces sketches
of her Statesmen, Jurists, Lawyers, Divines, and
Soldiers. The arrangement of the work is by
counties in alphabetical order. It also treats his
tory in that style which introduces ns to the do
mesticity of a people, which the literary taste of
the community ought to appreciate and encourage.
A curious volume of Slate history |is found in
the Annals of Tennessee,—a name suggested for
the State by Andrew Jackson—extending to the end
of the eighteenth century; comprising its settle
ment as the Watauga Association from 1769 to
1777. A part of North Carolina from 1777 to
1784. The State of Franklin, from 1784 to 1788.
A part of North Carolina from 1738 to 1792. The
Territory of the United States from 1790 to
1796. And the State of Tennessee from 1796 to
1800, by J. G. M. Ramsay, A M., M.D., who was
Corresponding Secretary of the Tennessee Histori
cal and Antiquarian Society, and one of (he first
born sons of the State. The early civil and politi
cal history of this State, presents a romantic and
fruitful subject for investigation; beginning with
a feeble and remote settlement of hunters disso
ciated from Virginia and North Carolina, by a di
rect mountain. The Watauga Association, in its
rude unlettered garb, laid the foundation, from
which arose the sovereign State of Tennessse.
The history of the Valley, by Samuel Kerchival,
commencing in 1732; and the history of the early
settlement and Indian wars of Western Virginia,
from 1700 to 1791, are very well written, and in
teresting works. The former comes down with
some important State documents. The latter em
braces a shorter period, but contains more brilliant
narrative and stirring events.
In historic literature we have other works of
merit. From Alabama, has been produced an in
teresting history of the State, by Col. Pickett;
abounding in local events, and full of statistics.
From Mississippi; we have a sprightly State
history from the pen of John F. II. Claiborne; a
native of Natchez, but educated in Virginia, and
a member from his native State to the United
States House of Representatives, from 1835 to ’38.
He has also published a hightoned, and well exe
cuted memoir of the statesman, general, and jurist,
John A. Quitman, whose kindness of heart, and
manner, united with talent, integrity, and cour
age, whether on the bench, in the Senate, or the
battle-field, won the admiration of his country
men.
Buckingham Smith has offered to the litera
ture of the South a very lively and entertaining
history of Florida; in which is gathered many
startling incidents of its early Spanish settlements,
and Indian wars.
The Southwest presents an attractive theme for
the literary pen; from St. Augustine to the upper
waters of the Mississippi, there are documents,
and traditions, inviting the attention, and wooing
the labor of the elite, in French and Spanish, yet
to be woven in many romantic, but truthful chap,
ters of history. Long before the Pilgrims had
landed at Plymouth, or the chivalrous Cavalier
had touched the savage wilds of Virginia, Span
ish enterprise had occupied the greater portion of
that territory, now embraced within the States of
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and
Florida. It was that part of North America which
was first settled by Europeans. As early as 1512,
Juan Ponce de Leon, the bold Cavalier, the dis
tinguished companion of Columbus, discovered the
peninsular of Florida, on the day of the Pascua
Florida, which gave rise to the name which the
Spaniards applied to all the Southern portion of
North America.
Ih this connection we refer the reader to the in
teresting sketches of the pilgrimage of DeSoto,
and essays on the history of Alabama by Judge
A. B. Meek, of Mobile, who was the first to
trace the route of DeSoto through the South
west, which has not only been received as authen
tic, but as the basis of all subsequent history upon
this subject.
Meek is a classic and brilliant writer of histori-
cal sketches, and often throws the drapery of the
muses around the details of simple narrative,
without obscuring the truthfulness of history.
The works of the Hon. John C. Calhoun will
stand an enduring monument of political and phi-
losophical literature, without an equal in this
country or in England. His first volume contains
a very profound disquisition on government, which
shows the philosophy and mental power of one
among the first statesmen the world has pro
duced. It also contains a paper of great power
on the constitution and government of the United
States; though we cannot at all times agree with
the author, perhaps, had his life been spared to
the present day, he would have seen that there
was no theory or plan by which the Constitution
of the United States could have been made to ope
rate for any length of time, with ordinary justice
or ordinary success. It has required but a brief
period to develop its utter failure, and we can
now see that the very moment the ship of State
was launched, it carried the torch and the powder
that would blow it to atoms. _ .
“ The Lost Principle,” is the title of a political
work, published under the signature of Barbarossa.
It is known to be from the pen of a very able and
accomplished Virginian, John Scott, of Fuquier.
While we differ with the author in the views he
has advanced, we consider it a work of great
thought and power. Its object was to prove that
•‘The Lost Principle” was the political equili
brium established by the Constitution of the United
States, between the North and the South, when
the government first went into operation. The
writer has argued every point made with great
ability but, as we have elsewhere contended, we
do not believe a political equilibrium was attempt
ed, or even attainable, under the constitutional
connection of the United States, but that sec
tional preponderance of one portion or the other,
wag the legitimate result of a union, that should
never have existed. This work, well gotten up by
a Southern publisher, is a valuable contribution to
the political literature of the South, and places
the author in a high position among our writers.
Hugh Swinton Legare, of South Carolina, was
the most elegant and accomplished scholar the
South has yet produced. The North has not had
his equal, even in Everett “ the bright consummate
flower of American literature, as Wendall Phil
lips was pleased to designate him. Legare had
every opportunity for a most complete education,
he used with untiring energy. He gradu
al the University of South Carolina, and
commenced the study of law under Mitchell King.
He afterwards visited Europe, and for several
years studied at the Universities of Paris and Ed
inburgh. He spent some time in traveling in
France, Germany and other portions of the Con
tinent. He was deeply read in the classics, and
master of many modern languages; with science
and philosophy he was equally familiar. But
amidst all this varied learning, he still fonnd time
to make himself one of the most finished Jurists
that modern times has yet produced; as eminent
in letters as Sir William Blackstone, or Lord
Stowell, and the equal of either in the accomplish
ments of the bar. He had a strong passion for
the principles of the civil law, and an equal ad
miration for its learning. His great ambition was
to be a master of the civil law, and after practic
ing his profession in Charleston until he stood at
the head of the South Carolina b »r, he went abroad
in a diplomatic capacity; and at Brussels, where
he resided, devoted himself anew to the study of
civil law, with a view to make it subservient to
the great object of his life, the expansion of the
common law, and the forcing into it the enlarged
and liberal principles af the Roman jurisprudence.
It was during the summer preceding his death,
that he communicated to Judge Story his in ten
tion of translating Heineccius’s Elements, for he
wished, as he said, to entice the American lawyer
to the study of the civil law.
Judge Story said he was about accomplishing
the great object of his professional ambition; for
his arguments before the Supreme Court were
crowded with the principles of Roman law,
wrought into the texture of the common law with
great suocess. It is impossible to do justice to
Legare in a mere sketch. His arguments as pre
sented in the Reports of the Supreme Court, stand
as luminous monuments to his learning, ability and
refined culture.
His miscellaneous papers which have been pub
lished in two large volumes, show the elegant
scholar—the pure, rich classic writer in a degree
as near perfection as has been ever attained.
Here we may speak of the “Southern Review,”
which, sustained by such men as Cooper, Grimke,
Elliott, Hooper, Drayton, Haynes, Nott, and Le
gare, attained, in profound learning, elegant scho
larship, lofty and generous criticism, a position
not inferior to the Edinburgh itself. It had be
come so favorably known in Europe, that many of
its articles were translated into other languages,
and read with delight by the enlightened scholars
of England and the Continent.
Among the papers of this author, distinguished
With him came the great founder of Methodism
in America, John Wesley, who planted his stand
ard on this island, and thus speaks of their object:
“It is not to gain riches and honor, but to live
wholly to the glory of God, as we have come in the
serene hour of peace, when the floods of contro
versy have subsided, to sow the gospel seeds.”
John Bartrum visited St. Simon’s Island in
1774, anifthus makes a record of his repast with a
friend: “Our rural table was spread under the
shadow of oaks, palms and sweet bays, fanned by
the lively, salubrious breezes wafted from the
spicy groves; our music was the responsive love
lays of the painted nonpareil and the alert, gay
mockingbird ; while the brilliant humming-bird
darted through the flowery groves, suspended in
air drinking nectar from the blooms of the golden
Jassmiue, Lonicera, Andromeda and Azalia.”
As we approach Fernandina, we are nearing
historic ground, where is located Dungenness,
once a most charming and attractive place, situa
ted near the Southern extremity of Cumberland
Island, the former home of Nathaniel Green, of
revolutionary fame, where his last days were spent
in quietude, of which pleasant period he thus
speaks :
“The beautiful birds that sing around me morn
ing and evening, the mild and balmy atmosphere,”
together with the flower garden, seemed to have
constituted the happy close of his eventful career.”
The English planted an olive grove on this is
land that succeeded as well as though the trees were
indigenous. They used the fruit in making pickles,
which were considered very fine. It is this tree
which the Christian should love and venerate, even
to the “hoary dimness” of its delicate foliage,
subdued and faint of hue, as if the “ashes of the
Gethsemane agony had been ca-tupon it forever.”
It was the foot of Mount Olives, beneath the
shadow of the trees from which it derives its name,
that was selected for the most wonderful of scenes,
“the Savior’s Passion.”
The good and the wild olive tree will both flour
ish in this climate. The wild olive blooms in
March, producing a profusion of pink-tinted white
star-shaped flowers, while its polished ever-green
verdure remains all the year, affording a compact
and beautiful shade. It was these trees which
furnished the apostle Paul with one of his most
powerful allegories. On this island was seen
growing, before the war, a scuppernong grape
vine, about three hundred years old, supposed to
have been planted by the Spanish missionaries.
It had always been pronounced a prolific bearer,
producing two thousand pounds of fruit per an-
in literature and philosophy, we would call atten- i num, and covering three acres of ground.
I inn In Thp flnn nf i I n linn n.1 Hiutnrv nf flrppnp ” ! IT— nil . 1.* ........ ? 1 ; .1. , If..
tion to “ The Constitutional History of Greece,
“Demosthenes, the Man, the Statesman, the Ora
tor;” “ The Origin, the History and Influence of
Roman Legislation;” “Roman Literature;” “Kent’s
Commentaries;” “ Cicero de Republics;” “ Clas
sical Learning;” “ The Public Economy of Athens;”
“ Codifications Dr. Aguessean,” as equal in classio
learning and taste, in style and philosophy to any
productions of the knd in the English language.
IN FLORIDA.
Petals Plucked irom a
,, Clime.
Sunny
Savannah; the Inland Route to Florida—
Pass St. Simon’s Island—Frederica
Settled bg Wesley—Cumberland Island
the Home of Nathaniel Green—Olives
—Ihe Scuppernong Grapevine—Dun
genness, the Burial Place of Light
Horse—Harry Lee—Source of the St:
Mary’s Rivet—The Home of the Yam-
assee Indians.
January 1st, 1878.
A trip to Florida during the winter season is
now the popular move for everyone, whether inva
lid or not; one living in close proximity as Atlanta
cannot resist the temptation. It is pleasant to go
via Savannah, for this city by the sea has many
attractions. The present site of Savannah is where
Gen. Oglethorpe was met in 1733 by the Yama-
craw Indians, when, after landing, they presented
him a buffalo skin, on the inside of which was
painted the head and plumage of an eagle, accom
panied with the following address:
“The feathers of the eagle,” said the Chief,
“are soft, and signify love, the buffalo skin is
warm, the emblem of protection, therefore, ‘love
and protect our families.’ ”
Oglethorpe, in coming to America, was stimu
lated with the desire of finding a home for the op
pressed piotestants and bankrupt gentlemen of
England. After adjusting terms with the Indians,
he proceeded to lay out the city of Savannah, with
the greatest regularity. It then contained ten
public squares of two acres each, in ail of which
were trees, walks and a pump. The number of
squares has now been increased to twenty-four,
with granite walks which are swept daily. For
syth Park is on a more extended plan than these
small squares, containing a large fountain, fine
flowers, magnolia trees, etc.
Pulaski Square is named for Count Pulaski, who
was mortally wounded during the American Revo
lution, while in an engagement on the ground
where the Central depot now stands. He died
on board the brig Wasp as she was leaving Tybee
for Charleston, when his body was consigned to
the sea. The citizens of Georgia, through their
munificent bequests, have erected in Monterey
Square, a monument to Count Pulaski, the corner
stone of which was laid when Gen. LaFayette vis
ited America for the last time.
The magnificently sombre and unique Cemetery
of Bonaventure, has been too often described, to
need another pen-stroke to aid in calling up a pic
ture of those weirdly beautiful grounds—the ranks
of immense moss-hung live oaks with interlacing
branches extending far and wide, their deep
shadows flung across the white tombs at their
feet. These beautiful grounds, named Bonaven
ture, which means in Spanish, “Coming good,”
once belonged to the T tnall family, but have long
since been purchased and consecrated as the home
of the dead.
Travelers, in leaving Savannah for Florida, can
go by sea or the inland route. Many prefer the
latter, on account of avoiding sea-sickness, the
passage being made between sounds, inlets and
islands before Fernandina is reached. The inland
steamers are first-class in every respect, ana the
long marsh grass contains many of those colossal
lizards called alligators; they crawl about fear
lessly in their hiding places, while the swamp
blackbird whistles sweetly for us as we glide along
so quietly that we are scarcely conscious of any
movement, though ten miles an hour is our pro
rata of speed.
We are now close to St. Simon’s Island, where
Gen. Oglethorpe, in 1736, began another settlement
called Frederica. On this equably tempered island,
they began a town, built a fort with four bastions
to protect their palmetto cabins, which the histo
rian relates, “appeared like a camp with bowers,
covered with leaves of a pleasing color.” Natu
ral paths and arbors were here as if formed by the
hand of art; while the ripe grapes were hanging
in festoons of a royal purple color.
The settlements made by Oglethorpe were the
first formed in this portion of the country, with
the true spirit of improvem mt and permanent
colonization.
Here rests all that remains of Light Horse Har
ry Lee, the gifted and honored dead. Here his
lamp of life flickered before being extinguished.
He died March 25, 1818. The devastations of the
late war have fearfully invaded this once sacred
retreat. Silent though it be, there are memories
lingering here still vocal amid the mutations of
fortune and the desolations of war—memories
which carry the heart back to happy days and pe
culiar excellencies which come not again.
When Getferal R. E. Lee last visited Savannah,
the burial place of his illustrious parent was not
forgotten. It was the only tribute of respect
which his great heart could bestow—the last mis
sion of love he was able to perform. Did he then
think that before spring should return again,
decked in her gay robes, that his own grave
would be visited by weeping hundreds, and loaded
with the loving tribute of flowers ?
AVe next pass the mouth of St. Mary’s River,
the source of which is a vast lake, where dwelt
the far-famed beautiful Indian women, or daugh
ters of the sun. These were the last of the Yem-
assee tribe, who had entrenched themselves here
for protection, all efforts t<\ pursue them being
like the enchanted lands, wttik -acceded as they
were approached. Silvia Sunshine.
Happenings Here and There.
Willie Matthews, eighteen years of age, was
killed by the accidental discharge of his gun
last week.
Dr. A. C. Demoux, of Vermont, has myster
iously disappeared from Liberty, Va. Foul
play is suspected.
The body of Mrs. Adeline Murray, interred
in Hendersonville, N. C., is petrified.
A car load of nitro-glycerine exploded at Mar
quette, 111., killing seven men and throwing the
locomotive fifty feet from the track.
A Nashville negro robbed a cattle dealer
recently of $325 in cash and $1,500 in checks.
James Fry was shot and killed at Morristown,
Tennessee, by Nancy Simpson, his step-daugh
ter.
James Cooper shot and killed Head Giles, a
desperado at Malvern, Ark., recently, in self-
defence.
Anas Dagnon died in France recently, at the
age of 117.
An elderly lady gave the Treasurer of the
Foreign Missionary Society, at Nashville, $650
for the Mission cause, but refused to give her
name.
John Magnus cremated himself in one of the
coke ovens of the Tennessee Coal & R. R. Comp
any at Tracy city, Tenn.
Dan Buckerell, brakeman on the Nashville,
Chattanooga and Saint Louis R. It., fell from a
conductor’s cab near Christiana, crushing his
skull into the brain. He will recover.
J. N. Puckett, aged eighteen, was killed re
cently in Hickman County, Tenn., by the acci
dental discharge of his gun.
James Smith shot and killed Lem Rose-
borough at Normandy, Tenn., recently. They
quarrelled about some corn.
Richard Jasper, colored, threw a four pound
weight at the little child of B. AViller at Willow
Chute, Bossier Parish, La., fracturing her skull.
The daughter and only child of W. M. Abney
of Cedar Bluff, La., was drowned in Red River
recently.
A mad dog was killed in Natchez, Miss., on
Christmas day.
J. M. Clark, Post-Master at Hernando, Miss.,
was garroted by three white men recently, and
robhed of $630.
A man named Hardwick, shot and killed C.
H. Maddox near Coldwater, Miss., recently.
Fairview, Ky., is afflicted with measles and
mud.
Mrs. Lucas made an unsuccessful attempt at
suicide in Salisbury, N. C., recently.
The father of Miss Winindger, who was killed
in Norfolk, Va., by her insane lover, died a few
days ago of grief.
John Haddock, at Ferndale, Penn., stabbed
his lady-love, Miss Lizzie Davis, with a butcher
knife, on New Years Day, and then shot and
killed her. He then killed himself.
A colored man in Philadelphia was sentenced
to five years imprisonment for shooting his
wife.
The Chinese massacred 15,000 men, women
and children at the Kashgarian town of Manas.
Rev. C. Y. Steptoe, of Brandy Station, Culp
epper County, Va., recently drank some corro
sive sublimate by mistake for whiskey, and died
a few days afterwards.
Mrs. Charles Gentry was burned to death re
cently near Liberty lulls, Va.
Ballard Drake, post-master at Ten Mile, W.
Va., has been jailed for robbing the mail of $300.
Diphtheria is prevailing in Fayetteville, Va.
The mother-in-law finds a defender in the
San Francisco Mail, which says: “If old Adam
had had a mother-in-law to look after him and
his wife, it is more than probable that to this
very day we might have been able to caper about
in the light and airy costume of our first ps>
rents.”
Movements in Southern Society.
Gen. AV. s. Harney is on a visit to New
Orleans.
Tbe Sodality Dramatie Association of Mem
phis presented “ First Love ”on the night of the
7th.
Miss Ella Bolling, the most popular belle of
Memphis, was married on the 2d to John
Poston.
Miss Banksmith, of Memphis, is on a visit to
Evansville, Indiana.
The first marriage license issued in Giles
County, Tenn., was dated March 8, 1800, and
issued to A Laughlin and Lucinda Menifee.
Mrs. Laughlin is still living and will be 100
years old in August.
Miss Viola Porter, of Central City, Dakota,
has adopted the stage as her profession.
In the recent tournament at Slabtown, S. C.,
Thomas Guyton, Knight of Beaverdam, was the
successful Knight, and crowned Miss Lizzie
Smith, Queen of Love and Beauty.
Giles Johnston, aged seventeen, was married
near Danville, Va., recently, to Alice Richard
son, aged eleven.
Mosby Paine and Miss Mary Morris were
married in Lynchburg, Va., recently.
Two “lads” in Raleigh, N. C., drew straws
to find out which should take the girl.
Eighty-four marriage licenses were issued in
Pittsylvania County, Va., in December.
Mrs. Craig, of Nashville, recently assisted in a
grand concert at Knoxville.
Miss Whitman, of Dalton, is a fine pianist.
Dr. A. W. Bivings was married recently in
Dalton, Ga., to Miss Lizzie M. Green, daughter
of Gen. Duff Green.
Misses Ivie Duke, Florence Kesee, and Mattie
Beach, of Clarksville, Tenn., are on a visit to
friends in Todd County.
Miss Susie Dortch, of Clarksville, Tenn., is
spending the winter in Pennsylvania.
The Misses Abernathy, of Pulaski, are on a
visit to Mends in Clarksville, Tenn.
Miss Cummings, of Nashville, and Miss Hal-
lie Hahn, of Louisville, are visiting friends in
Guthrie, Tenn.
Miss Ella B. AValker, of Union Springs, Ala.,
is on a visit to Miss Mollie Clar’ - of Vicksburg,
Miss.
Thomas Lord, aged 84, was recently married
in New York to Mrs. AV. W. Hicks, aged 43. O,
Lord !
Miss Emma Calloway, of AVheatville, is on a
visit to Dangerfield, Texas.
MissBirdie Johnson has returned to Lafayette,
Ga.
Miss Lula McCraw has returned to AVarrenton
N. C. from hc-r visit to Raleigh.
Miss Sue White of AVarrenton N. C. is on a
visit to Petersburg.
Miss Lucy Phelps of Hopkinsville Ky is on a
visit to her brother in Louisville.
The St' Louis Journal contained five columns
of announcements of New Year calls.
L. S. Overman has been appointed private
secretary of Gov. Vance of North Carolina.
The Enzelian and Pnilomathesian society of
AVake Forest College N. C. celebrate their 43 an-
niversery on the 15th of Febuary.
Miss Lizzie Townes of Oxford Miss, is on a visit
to friends in Milan Tenn.
At a “mum” party in Milan Tenn. Miss Ella
Herron was voted the handsomest lady and
Gran Barrow the hansomest man.
Dr. R. L. Madison of Lexington Va. is on a
visit to Southern Georgia for his health.
Gen. Jubal Early has retusned to Lynchburg
Va.
R, S. Jeffries, of Atlanta, was married to Miss
Hattie Gould, of Augusta, on the 9tb.
S. B. McConnico and Miss Adele Jackson, of
New Orleans, were married on the third.
J. N. Fain, of the firm oi Stewart & Fain, and
Miss Virginia AVatts, of Atlanta, were married
on the tenth.
Hugh H. Gordon and Miss Carrie Williams,
sister of C. H. AVilliams, of the Tribune, were
married in Atlanta on the eighth.
Miss Alice Thomas, of Athens, is on a visit to
Augusta.
Miss Cornelia Johnson, of Columbus, is in
Augusta.
Miss Mary Breckenridge, daughter of Gen
John C. Breckenridge, was recently married, in
New York, so Anson Maltby.
Miss Mamie Shoemaker is the Austin, Texas,
correspondent of the Indianapolis Sentinel.
Gainesville (Ga) landlords are noted for hand
some daughters.
A HORRIBLE TALE.
Five Mexicans Burned to Death for Practicing
Witchcraft.
A Mexican correspondent declares that an auto
da fe. worthy of the days of Torquemada, has been
recently celebrated in the village of St. James, in
the district of Concordeo. For six months a man
named Sylvester Zacharias had been bewitched,
and having drank three glasses of holy water to
“drive out the devil,” he denounced Jos. Bonilla
and Diego Lugo as having bewitched him. These
two persons were denounced to tbe prefect, and
being arrested, Judge Murino, a member of the
Supreme Court of Justice, ordered them to be
burned alive. At 7 o’clock in the morning the
witch and the wizard were bound to the stake,
which stood in the centre of a hillock of faggots,
about sixty persons, armed with long Mexican
knives, surrounding these criminals. “As soon as
the fire reached the witches,” says the official re
port sent to the prefect of Concordeo, “they cried
out for their gods to be sent to them (probably their
soothsaying o>* conjuring paraphernalia;. The fire
was extinguished and these ‘gods’ brought. As
soon as they had them in their hands they de
nounced three other persons as accomplices, and
these having been compelled to mount the pile, all
five were then burned to death.”
A Fiend Indeed.—A series of frightful murders
have been committed at St. Jean du Gard by a man
named Emile Dumas. The assassin is twenty-eight
years of age, and has only been married ten
months. He had been in the habit of quarreling
with his wife and her relations, and the crime was
the result of a dispute which he had with the lat
ter a few days ago. Going to the house where his
father and mother, two very old people, lived, he
attacked them with a hatchet. Taking advantage
of a moment when his mother was bent over the
fire attending to her cooking, he struck her a blow
in the neck with his deadly instrument, which al
most severed the head from the shoulders. Turn-
to tho old man, he treated him in a similar manner,
and then disfigured the bodies with a knife. Pro
ceeding to his own house, after having taken pre
cautions to prevent the crime from beiug discovered
for the moment, Dumas concealed himself and
awaited the arrival of his brother-in-law, whom
he stabbed in the groin, but fortunately without a
fatal result. His next victim was his wife. She
had run up to him when he engaged in a struggle
with her brother, and was struck down by a series
of blows from the same knife which had wounded
her relative. The poor woman did not survive the
murderous attack above a few minutes. After ac
complishing these crimes, Dumas took refuge in a
barn, where he was first discovered by the police.
On being confronted with the corpses, he expressed
no repentanee or regret for what he had done.
Dumas has since succeeded in hanging himself in
the prison of Alais.
There is nothing more mortifying to a man
who is anxious to be published as a hero than to
seize a drowning woman by the hair and then
have the hair come off
THE BUSY WORLD.
All Around In Dixie and Elsewhere.
Denison, Texas, has uniformed police.
Dr. B. F. Graves, of Waco, Texas, paid $250-'
for a mad stone. At that price the stone ought
not to get mad.
A Poland China hog, in Denison, Texas,
weighed 745 pounds.
A Williamson county, Texas, farm produced
95 bushels of oats and 30 bushels of wheat per
acre.
Sam Wilts, of Cairo, Texas, dug up $2,700 of
old Mexican coins.
Freestone county, Texas, subscribes $50,000
to the railroad from Palestine to Fairfield.
Gen. Gano has organized a Christian church
at Taylorsville, Texas.
Wiley Sykes, of Northampton county, Va.,
raised last year twenty-seven 450 pound bales of
cotton, and twenty-eight barrels of corn with
one horse.
W. H. Wise, Democrat, has been elected to the
legislature from Caddo Parish, La., by 360 ma
jority over R. J. Looney, Republican.
_ The Governor of Kentucky favors single ses
sions of the legislature of sixty days.
J. C. Flood, Nevada, gave $6,000 Christmas to
charitable institutions—a flood of benevolence.
The Knights of Liberty, is the name of a new
labor and more currency organization. They
have a branch in every State.
A Poland China sow, of Milan, Tenn., dropped
36 pigs itftea months.
L. H. Coe was convicted of assault and batte
ry in killing M. M. Beach, in Memphis, and
fined $55.
J. C. Miller and his youngost son, from three
acres of cotton last year, gathered 4,902 pounds
of seed cotton.
California capitalists have expended $600,000
in the Black Hills, this season.
J. L. Sneed, of Arrington, Va., killed thirty-
four hogs that netted him 7,368 pounds.
Humboldt, Tenn., voted a free-school tax of
$2 poll and 25 cents on the $100 of property by
a vote of 140 for to 80 against.
“Elm Grove” farm, in Monroe county, Mis
souri, was sold by Jeff. Bridgford to R. B. Pal
mer, of Chicago for $32,000.
Thirty families from Alton, Illinois, have set
tled in Newton county, Mo.
The salaries of the preachers in the Alabama
Methodist Conference aggregate $60,000.
The Mississippi legislature met in Jackson on
the 8th.
It is proposed to drain Big Swamp, in
Lowndes county, Ala., which will open up 10,-
000 acres of rich laud.
There is a congregation of Mormons in Butler
county, Ala.
Elijah Bentley,-Jr., of Haralson county, Ga.,
has an ear of corn eighteen inches long.
Frank Little, of Atlanta, is working the Hol
land gold mine, near Tallapoosa, Ga.
Prof. Morgan H. Looney has a school of 100
pupils, iu Marshal, Texas.
The Dallas and Wichita railroad has been
completed to Trinity Mills, Texas.
The debt of Marion county, Texas, amonnts
to $199,626.
A colony of 200 Germans is negotiating for
20,000 acres of land in the neighborhood of
San Antonio, Texas.
Galveston, Texas, has a population of 40,000;
San Antonio, has 20,000; Dallas, Texas, has 16,-
000; Houston, Texas, has 15,000; Austin, Texas,
has 15,000.
The State Grange, of West Virginia, wants
Congress to allow the producers of tobacco to
sell it how, when and to whom they please.
Price obtained a verdict of $15,000 against
the Meridian and Vicksburg railroad for dama
ges.
The paper mill at West Point, Nebraska, is
turning out wrapping paper.
The first wagon has just been made at the Ne
braska penitentiary.
S.ilina, Kansas, with 2,500 inhabitants has
seven churches.
There are 150,000 Chinese in California.
Hayne Folk, of Newberry, S. C., killed a hawk
measuring four feet six inches from tip to tip.
Senator Eustis, of Louisiana, gets $20,000
back pay and $3,000 mileage.
The Upper Mississippi, for the first time in 30
years, was open for navigation at Christmas.
A college has been organized in Salem City,
Arkansas, to be called Buckner College in honor
of Rev. H. F. Buckner.
Four baskets of ripe strawberries were exhib
ited iu Philadelphia, on the last day of 1877.
An Ayrshire calf, one week old, at Anderson,
S. C., weighed 112 pounds.
A man in Central City, Dakota, offers $10 re
ward for information as to who stole his saw
buck.
The State Treasurer of Tennessee has paid out
$75,000 of the school fund.
The City Council of Gainesville, recently cre
mated $980 of mutilated city change bills.
Richmond, Va., paid in 1877, $1,001,094 07
taxes, State, city and federal.
Judge John N Lyle, a native of Virginia, has
become editor-in-chief of the San Antonio (Tex
as) Daily Herald.
There are 1163 convicts in the Virginia peni-
tention. There are 91 colored and five white
females in it.
John B. Craig has leased the Richmond Honse
at Gainesville, Ga.
Judge Hill’s decision, in Mississippi, lifts
$300,000 of bonds off of Lowndes county.
The Alabama Great Southern railroad has
been mortgaged to the Farmer’s Loan and Trust
company, of New York, to secure a loan of $1,-
750,000.
PERSONALS.
William M. Evarts has subscribed $250, Ethan
Allen $100, and D. F. Appleton $50, for the pres
ervation of the Old South Church, Boston.
The Rev. Edward Abbott, who retired from his
editorship of the “ Congregationalism” a short
time ago, is about to become a member of the Pro
testant Episcopal Church.
Whittier says: “ It is not true, as has been said,
that I dash off my writing rapidly, and send it to
the printer without any correction. I don’t be
lieve anybody does that, or has a right to do it.”
Mrs. L. Wolfe, one of the wealthiest residents
of Newport, has just purchased the celebrated
painting, “ The Holy Family,” by Knauss. The
price paid was $20,000. This painting was or
dered by the empress of Russia, but declined by
her on account of the breaking out of the war.
Mr. Richard H. Ilayes, son of the President, it
is understood, will enter upon the practice of the
law, in this city, early ia January. It will be re
membered that young Mr. Grant, the second son
of the ex-President, is now a member of one of
the law firms of this city.—N. Y. Ex.
Senator Ben. Hill, in accepting an invitation to
address the Teni essee newspaper men next June,
says: “ I really desire to address a press associa
tion, because there is no power in this country ca
pable of doing so much good, and really doing so
much evil, as the press of this day.”
Mr. Raskin announcos a great discovery in hit
paper, “ Fors.” He has found out that music and
precise dancing” are among the most potent
safeguards of morality. All the young hopefuls
trained under the auspices of the St. George So-
oiety are in consequence to be drilled from early
inthucy in these accomplishments, and Mr. Ruskin
has no doubt of results.