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VOL. I.
the cabinet
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Miscellaneous.
“~~*CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET
•Dorothy, said lehabod, pale and
trembling to his wife, Dorothy, I have
a secret,* and if 1 thought you would
keep it inviolable, I would not hesitate
to reveal it to you> but oh, Dorothy,
woman.
•Why, lehabod, it must certainly be
a secret of great importance, for you
are in a woeful agitation. You know
husband, you can place implicit confi
dence in your wife. Have I ever giv
en you occasion to doubt my fidelity.
•Never, never, Dorothy,* but the
secret 1 have to communicate is one
that requires more than ordinary
faithfulness and prudence to prevent
you from divulging it. Oh dear,* 1
shudder when 1 think on‘t.?
• Why husband, do you know how
your lips tremble and your eyes roll?
What is the matter? lehabod! you
surely cannot mistrust the confidence
of one who vowed at the altar to be
faithful to you. Come, unbosom
youself.
•May I rely on your fidelity.
•lehabod, you know you may,
•Well then, —we are both to be ru
ined!—undone!—l have committed
murder!
•Murder!
•Yes, murder?—and have buried
him at the foot of a tree in the orchard!
‘Oh! awful! lehabod. Committed
murder! Then indeed we are ruined,
arid our children with us?
‘lehabod left the room, and Doro
thy hurried off to her neighbour's.
M rs. Prattle observed a great change
in Dorotby*s countenance, and in her
general appearance; so great as to
cause her to inquire into the cause of
it.
•Oh! Mrs. Prattle, said Dorothy, I
•m ruined for ever!
•Mercy! Dorothy, how gloomy you
look! What—has turned up to make
you look so dejected? Why how you
sigh; woman. Tell me the cause.
•I wish I might, Mrs. Prattle; but
the occasion of my unhappiness is a se
cret which I am not permitted to di
vulge.
•Oh! you may tell me, Dorothy—
I shall never speak of it again.
*Wel| you promise never to reveal
It to any person living?
•You know, Dorothy, I never tell
secrets.
•Well Mrs. Prattle—l sarcely dare
gay it—my husband has committed
murder, and hurried him at the foot
of a tree in the orchard—he told me
of it, himself. For Heavems sake
don*t name it to any one.
• ‘Murder!—your husband commit
ted murder! —Indeed, indeed Doro
thy, you have reason to think your
selfruiued!—Poor thing! 1 pity you
from the bottom of iny heart.
‘Dorothy went home weeping and
wringing her hands and Mrs. Prattle,
leaving her dough half kneaded, and
her infant crying in the cradle hasten
ed to hold a tete a-tete with Mrs
Tellall. Soon after this last confiab
was ended, the report of Ichabod's
having committed murder became
general, and the disclosure of the
fact was traced to his wife Dorothy.
Process was immediately issued a
gainst him by a magistrate, before
whom and in the presence of a multi
tude of anxious spectators, he gave
the following explanation;
Rural Cabinet.
Won onion. April 18, 18*9.
•My ject, s .iu ji iittooti, *i .me
course 1 have pursued, was to test my
wifes capability of keeping a secret.
I have committed murder in as much
as I killed a toad,and hurried it at the
foot of a tree in my own orchard.
How far my wife is capable of keep
ing a secret, has been sufli iently pro
ved; and with respect to the murder,
those who feel an interest in it, are at
liberty to inspect the body.’
DUELLING EXTRAORDINARY.
Mr. Bragg hid drawn so largely
upon the belief of a company by sto
ries of transactions to which he pre
tended to have, been an eye witness,
that several of its members could not
help expressing their doubts. The
narrator was affronted, and insisted
on the truth of what he had been re
lating with the more warmth, since
Major Johnson espoused his cause.
This circumstance excited not a little
astonishment, as the major was just,
ly accounted a man of excellent,
understanding, and particularly te
naeiofts of truth. The surprise of all
present was greatly augmented when
he thus addressed them:
‘lndeed, in my opinion, Mr. Bragg
has abundant reason to be angry.-as it
frequently happens, that nothing
seems more improbable than truth, as
I can attest from my own experience
When I was a student at Jena, I once
went with Baron Zitzerling, with
whom I was intimately a r qu, inted, to
Weimar, in order to attend the per
formance of The Maid of Orleans ,
the theatre of that city. The
part of the heroine was assigned to
Madame Wolf, and she acted it with
such ability, that 1 could not forbear
several times loudly expressing my
admiration. This offended the baron,
whose partiality for another actress
would not acknowledge the superior
talents of the universal fovourite.
We qtiarelled, and adj >u ned to the
neighbouring park. Favoured by
the full moon, the duel began, and I
shot the baron dead on the spot/
‘But,* observed one ol the company,
•where did you get fire arms at su> h a
short, notice.
‘No interruption, if you please,’
answered the major in an angry tone.
• me proceed, every thing will be
explained by and by.— Well then, as
1 said, 1 shot B iron Zozerting dead.
This circumstance ie tdered it the
more necessary for me to quit not on
ly Weimar, but all Saxony, because
the Zitzerliugs, as every body knows,
are a very ancient family.*
♦Avery ancient family!’ rej *ined
one. l atn sure I never heard of
them before.’
•That may be: but if I am to pro
ceed, let me bpg once for alt that I
may not be interrupted, as the conclu
siou will clear up every apparent ob- 1
scurity in the story.’
This address, bordering so closely 1
on rudeness made the company stare
at one another: the nrnjor seemed to
take no notice of this, and turning
to Mr. Bragg alone, he thus continu
ed:—
*1 hastened ba< k to Jena, picked
up my things with all possible expedi-1
tion, and travelled post to the Austri
an capital. On my arrival at Vienna j
1 repaired to the Appollo Hall, which
had just then begun to be a fashion a- j
bh* place of resort. My administra
tion of the happy execution of the
singular idea in which this new insti
tution originated, had not yet come to
words, when a young man rudely
pushed through the numerous assem
bly, and half >u‘ >f breath, thus ad
dressed me;
♦Pray,sir, arc not you Mr. John
son?*
*Yes, Sir,, at y<i ir service.*
• Did you no’ shoot Baron Zitzer-j
ling in a <!u-l at Weimar?’
Yes, I did.*
• Baron Zitzerling was my brother;
I most have satisfaction for his death,
and request you to meet me with pis
to’s at four o'clock to-morrow morn
ing in the Prater.*
‘With great pleasure,’ I replied;
and mounting my horse next morning,
found my antagonist at the entrance.
I followed him into a retired ally; we
fired, and I shot him dead.
•I was certainly very sorry to be
obliged to leave the pleasures of Vien
na so soon on account of this affair.
It was, however, absolutely necessary
for tny safety that ( should be gone.
To avoid any farther interruption of
the kind, I determined this time upon
a more distant journey; .traver
sed part of Italy, and never stop
ped till f rearhed Rome, One day
as I stood absorbed in admiration
before the cascade of Tivoli, a young
man suddenly tapped me on the shoul
der with the question—
‘Pray, sir, are not you Mr. John
son?’
‘Yeq,sir, at your service.’
•Have you not shot two Barons Zit
zerling* in duels, one at Weimar and
the other at Vienna?*
•Yes, I have.’
The Barons Zitzerling were my
j brothers; I must have satisfaction for
1 their deaths, and request you to ex
change shots with me in yonder field.*
‘With pleasure, said I, and
followed him. We fired, and I shot
him dead.
‘I now posted away to Paris. The
day after my arrival, I went to see
1 the Museum, when a young man came
up to eie, and said—
• Pray, sir, gre not you Mr. John
son.
•Yes, 9ir, at your service.
•Have yon not shot three Barons
Zitzerbog in duels; one at Weimar,
one at Vienna; and one at Rome?
j ‘Y 81 I gve.
j ‘The Borons Zitzerling were my
brothers; I must have satisfaction for
j their deaths, and rquest you to mee’
me this afternoon, at three o'clock
: precisely, at the end of the Bois de
Boulogne, with pistols.
’ ‘With great pleasure, said 1; and
in the afternoon away 1 rod**. My
antagonist was already there; we fired
and I shot him dead.
‘As 1 had no wish whatever to send
any more Zi'z**rling9 sto the other
world, I determined to leave the con
tinent for good, that I might not be a
gain disturbed by the surviving rela
tions. and hurrying to Calais, em
barked there and arrived safe at Do
ver. It seemed indeed as if these re
lations, or at least their knowledge of
my rencounters with the family, had
not reached London, for.there 1 lived
some time without a challenge from
any of the breed. One day, however,
just when 1 was playing a game at
chess at White's, I happened to look
up, and was so confounded by the ap
pearance of a young man opposite,
who kept his eyes stedfastly fixed up
on me, that I made a wrong move
and thus had well nigh lost all tin
advantages of which my position affr
ded the fairest prospect.
•Sir, said I, springing up, ‘why d<*
you stare at me so incessantly?
♦Pray, sir, he asked, are not you
Mr. Johnson.
• Yes, sir, at your service.
•Have you not shot four Barons
Zitzerling in duels; one at Weimar,
one at Vienna, one at Rome, and on*
at Paris?
•I have.
‘The Barons Zitzerling were my
brothers; 1 must have satisfa* tion for
| their deaths. Come out of the room
with ine, that we may exihange
shots. °
‘With great pleasure, said I, ‘only
letine finish my game, and then we‘ll
settle this bagatelle immediately.
♦He agreed, and when the game
was over, I stepped with him into a
back room; we fired, and——.*
‘And shot him dead?’ impatiently
cried Mr. Bragg with a smile, while
the major stopped to sneeze.
‘No, I beg your pardon,* rejoined
the major, *it was be that shot me
dead.
Powers of the Inferior Courts,
The following synopsis of the pow
ers and duties attached by law to the
justices of the inferior courts of this
State, is taken from the Savannah
Georgian, and to which we have ad
ded other powers and duties which
arc embraced in several acts passed
at the last session of the Legislature,
Journal.
1. The Inferior Courts have concur
rent jurisdiction with the superior, in all
civil cases; except tho.e iespecting ti
tles to lands. Const State Geo. art. iii.
sec. 1.
2. Thp powers of a court of ordinary
are vested in the inferior courts of each
county, with jurisdiction and authority to
hear and detetmine all such matters and
things as appertain or relate to estates of
deceased persons, whether testate or in
testate. Const, art. iii sec. 6. Prince‘a
Digest, 156—68.
3. The custody of infants, idiots, and
lunatics, is committed, by our laws, to
the inferior court, with power to bind
out orphans, and to control the estates of
insane persons, lb. 61. 72
4. Overseers of the poor are appointed
by the justices of this court, all of whom,
conjointly, may levy a poor tax, not ex
ceeding one eighth of the general lax of
the county, annually, lb. 158-72.
5. The justices of the inferior court
preside at the trial of slaves and of free
persons of color, in capital cases. Ib. Di
gest, 450 —LamarS Digest 14.
6. This court may admit aliens to be*
come naturaliz and citizens of the United
States. IngorsolPs Digest, 18—25.
7. Upon a recommendation of two
thirds of the grand jury, this court may
impose and levy a tax, not exceeding 50
per cent >n the general State tax, f<*r
county purposes. Laws of 1821, page
115.
8 On the representation of two thirds
of this court, any Clerk, Sheriff, Coronor
or Surveyor, may be removed from office
by the Governor. Prince's Digest. 120.
9 A majority of this court may fill va
cancies in the offices of the two Clerks
and the Sheriff. Ib. 122.
10. In certain cases the appointment
of vendue masters and lumber measurers,
is vested in the justices of the interior
court. Ib.
11. This court may grant tavern li
censes, and establish tavern rates. Ib.
487.
12. The inferior courts are empower
ed to order the laying out of pub’ic-roads,
and to order the building and keeping in
repair of the public buildings.—lb. 399.
13. The inferior courts are authorized
to establish ferries and bridges, and such
rates for crossing thereat as may seem
reasonable, lb. 400—6
14. The appointment of Commission?
.•rs of the public roads, is also vested in
this court, Ib. 402.
15. This court has power and author
by to hear and determine in all matters
relative to roads and bridges, &ic. either
during term, or while sitting for ordinary
nurposes, or at any special meeting. Ib.
406.
16. It is the duty of the inferior court
to take and to sue certain bonds. To
take and 9ue bonds from vendue roasters.
Prince‘B Digest, page 26.
The justices of the peace to take bond,
in cases of bastard children, and the infe
rior courts to aae on the bond lb 51* To
No. 46.