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K*»> JES> VOLUME XIV. RE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION. * * . , t .. u - . - < . ? • . TUESDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 20, 1881. == °A PRICE 5 CENTS. THE DARK MONDAY THAT BORE DISASTER TO THE PEO PLE OF MICHIGAN. The Coming of the Pillar of Fire and Smoke.—The Fright of the People—The Wild Side of a Me* niae—Conrtiac the Beaeh—Plishtof Wild Animal.—The Charred Hemalm. desolate waste of country full of the ashes of pros perity, and crowded with sick, wounded and dU- counwed humanity, whose tears and groans must open the heart of sympathy in every corner of the country'. Turn which way they will, they see black ruin and utter desolation; THE PAULDING TRAGEDY. Detroit Free Press Correspondence. On .Saturday, the 3d instant, along the eastern shore of Michigan a thin cloud of smoke rested over the forests and gave the lake a hazy look. On Sunday this cloud was thicker. Cattle and horses had a wild, excited look, and fowls acted in a strange manner. For ten day* post fires had been burning in Sani lac, Huron and Tuscola counties, but no one appre hended any danger. Farmers had set fire to slash ings to clear the ground for fall wheat, hut this happens every fall, und the fact that not a drop of water had fallen in from fifty to seventy days was not considered by those who saw the smoke clouds and replied that there was no danger. There was danger. Ilehind thnt pall of smoke was a greater enemy than an earthquake, and it had a tornado ut its hock and 200 miles of forest in the front. Monday morning the smoke cloud was thicker. Far out In the lake It settled down utitil lamps on shipboard had to lie lighted to see the compass, and there was a weirdness about it which made sailors fear. At noon, on land, no midnight was ever darker. LamjM were powerless to light even a small room. All buxlnesN was suspended in the streets of the towns, and In the country the fanners gathered their wives and children about them, aud whispered that it was the coming of judgment. Hot waves swept through the forests and over the farms, parching the green leaves ns if they had been placed in hot ovens. Hmoke was everywhere— thick, bitter smoke, which blinded men aud suflbented children in their mother's arms. From noon until 3 o'clock a strange terror held the peo ple in Its grip. Then, all of a sudden, the heavens took lire, or so it seemed to hundreds. In some localities It camo witli the sound of thunder. In others it was preceded by a terrible roaring, ns if a tidal wave were sweeping over the country. Al most at the same minute the flumes appeared iu every spot over a district of country thirty miles broad by a hundred In length. A billow of flame tap thirty—forty, and in some places sixty feet high, fanned liy n hot and brisk southwest wind, rolled over this tracl? und left be hind it the charred bodies of hundreds of people, thousands of live stock, and one can hardly tell how many homes. Thu very air wns in flame. A gas formed nhend of the wall of flames, and this snapped uml erarkled and scorched and withered and left green leaves os dry as powder. At Illchmondvllle, ten miles above Sanilac, one hundred riud fifty people had comfortable homes, stacks of lmy and grain, teams, cows, pigs, sheep and no fear of the tire which they knew was burn iug a mile nway. At i! o’clock the flumes rushed out of the woods, 1 called the fences, ran across Imre fields, and swallowed every huusc but two und toasted alive a dozen iieoplc. It is lmrdly forty rods to the beach of the lake, and yet many ]ieoplc had not time to reach the water. Others reached it with clothing on fire nnd fares and hands blistered. Thu houses did not bum singly, but one billow of flame seized nil ut once, and reduced them to nothing in ten minutes. The two buildings saved were spared by the flames—not saved by the hand of man. The flames swept each side of them, as if mercifully in tending to leave some landmark of the hamlet and some place to shelter women and children and the sick. Forty families in and around' this hamlet CTCC!.lUj. , Y>U!Th i 1 u.tpe end situ; kg for thsMr Seona reached St, to remain iu the water for hours, while others fell on the highway aud were burned to a crisp. There was no time to save anything from the houses, and when 1 rode through the district, families which liutadny before had been possessed of plenty, were not the owner of a knife or spoon. Women were barehead ed ami barefooted, children still worse oil', and bare headed men sat on the ]airehed ground aud won dered If God had not forsaken them. A terrible cyclone struck this district with the flames and I saw ninny and many a spot where the billow of tire jumped a clean half mile out of the forest to rlutch house or bum. The rearing and crashing were awful. Horses ran here nnd there, neighing and almost screaming in tlieir terror; cows and oxen plunged and bellowed, and the most sav age dogs were so overcome liy fear thnt they run back into the blazing houses and died in the flames. In this awful confusion, with trees crashing down before the cyclone, and houses being unroofed by its terrible power, while a great billow of tlame came sweeping on ns fast us a horse could gallop, fathers nnd mothers were called upon to save each other nnd their children. The highways were lines of tire, ltivcrs and creeks were do' ditches. The only ehnneu to escape was to rush for- the ojien Helds, and yet in the open fields, men, women and children were burned to cinder. Those who pre served their thought through the terrible confusion preceding the appearance of the flames seized the woolen blankets, wet them thoroughly, and drew these over them as they crouched down on the plowed ground, and where this plan was followed their lives were generally saved. In some coses people lay out in the fields fourteen long hours be fore it was safe to rise up. To one riding through the distriet it seems miracu lous that a single soul escaiied. The fire swept through the green trees the same as the dry. It ran through fields of com with a speed of twenty miles an hour, nnd fields of green clover were swept as bare ns a floor. Hark and gloomy swamps, tilled with ponds of stagnant water, mid the home for years of wild eats, beats and snakes were struck and shriveled and burned almost In a flush. Over the parched meadows the flames ran faster than a liorse could gallop. Horses did gallop before it. but were overtaken and left roosting on the ground. It seemed ns if every hope and avenue of escape were cut oil’, nnd yet hundreds of lives were spared. Peo ple spent ten to twenty hours in ditches and ponds, or in fields under wet blankets, having their hair singed, their limbs blistered and' their clolhiug bunted off piece by piece. A mile north of where the old man Goodrich lived wns a family which had a crazy son. When the smoke begun to darken the country he began to get excited, and on the dark day, two hours before tlie flames came, he mounted a horse and galloped up and down the country, crying out that the last ■day had come, nnd that the earth was to be swept clean. latter he was seen nishing headlong to wards the flames, whooping nnd cheering, and no doubt he perished first of all. The horse Itself seemed to partake of the rider’s spirit, and his shrill neighs answered the cheers of the rider. People felt the heat while the fire was yet miles nwav. It withered the leaves of trees standing two miles from the path of the fiery serpent. The very earth took fire in hundreds of places, and blazed up as If the fire were feasting on cord wood. The stoutest log buildings stood up only n few minutes. The fire seemed to catch them at every comer at once, and after a whirl and a roar nothing would lie left. Seven miles off tlie beaeh, at Forrester, sailors found the heat uncomfortable. Where some houses nnd bams were burned we could not find oven a blackened stick. Every log, beam and board was reduced to fine ashes. The people who sought the beaeh had still to en dure much of the heat and all of the smoke. Wad ing out up to their shoulders they were safe from the flames, but sisirks und cinders fell like a snow storm nnd the smoke was suffocating. The birds not caught in the woods were carried out to sea and dmwncd. and the waves have washed thousands of them ashore. Squirrels, rabbits and such small animals stood no show at all, but deer and bear sought the beaeh and the company of human be ings. In one case a man leaped from n ' bluff iuto the lake and found himself close behind a large bear. They remained in company under the bank nearly all night, and the bear seemed oshnmblc as a dog. In another instance two of the animals came out of the forest and stood close to a well from which a famier was drawing water to dash over his house, and they were with him for two hours before they deemed it K rudent to jog along. Deer came out and sought ic companionship of cattle and horses, and paid no attention to persons rushing past them.' Half enough coffins t o bury the dead could not have been got into the burned district in a week, gome wore buried with neither coifin nor shroud, while others had rude boxes as their last receptacle. In beyond CnreonviHe. in one case, the coran was made'of roof-boards taken from a shed, sawed up with a crew-cut saw, and fastened together with nails taken from the ashes of the victim’s burned The dead are buried, but there is left a horribly Aaather Arrow at of the DIBralty aid its Orlfii. Yesterday a Constitution representative met a gentleman from near Douglasville who was ac quainted with the particulars of the Mitchell-Cook shooting affray, which occurred between Douglos- villc and Powder Springs Friday morning. You sec.” said the gentleman, “the parties wcreJ F Cook, his step-son JocMahathy, William Mitchell, his son and a man named Nottingham. For years past there has been an old difficulty be tween Mitchell nnd Cook and on more than one oc casion the tragedy of yesterday came near being enacted, but both men were men of standing and friends kept them apart. Mitchell lived on a farm in Douglas county and Cook In Paulding county. Their farms udjoin and this was the cause of the original difficulty. I can’t tell you the particulars but It was something about u line fence that caused the first fuss. On last Mon day Cook found a lot of Mitchell’s hogs in his com field and drove them out. Mitchell happened to see Cook driving his hogs away, and made an assault upon him. He was ac companied by a young man named Nottingham who was working for him. and the two were too much for Cook, who was compelled to abandon the buttle field. This renewed the old difficulty, aud Cook swore he would lie revenged. Last Friday morning Cook again found Mitchell's hogs in Ills corn field. He sent Mitchell word that they were there and then went home and armed himself with an old musket loaded witli shot and ball, Acconi|Ninied by his step-son, Joe Mahathr. Cook then went hack to the coni field for the purpose of driving the dings out, but was met bv Mitchell, his son, aged about eigh teen years, anil Nottingham. The sight of the trio did not frighten Cook und his son, und they went for the hogs in gallant style, but the Mitchells came to the defense of their property, anil a general fight ensued, it scorns that Nottingham, who was u stout young man, rushed at Cook, who told him to go away, but with threats, Nottingham contin ued his advance until Cook fired. Cook’s aim was good, and Nottingham fell dead with a dozen holes through liis heart. The elder Mitchell then struck Cook with a stone knock ing him down. As soon as Cook fell Mitchell jumped upon him anil began stubbing him with a knife. Mahathy, Cook's stepson, then picked up the musket uml struck the elder Mitchell two fear- ful blows over the head with it, crushing tlie skull terribly. When the battle wins over Nottingham was dead, Cook wns badly wounded having received three ugly knife cuts, and Mitchell wus uncon scious. As soon as possible the wounded men were removed to their homes where Dr. Pool, of Doiiglasfllle.uutl IJr Cotton, of Powder Sprinjpi visited them. Cook's woundsiire pronounced seri ous but It is believed that he will soon recover. Mitchell's injuriesare thought to be fatal. The gun was a heavy weapon and the skull was so badly crushed that the brain oozed ont. The affair occurred in Paulding county and the coroner held an luqueatyeaterday over the body of Nottingham. After a careful Investigation avenlict of justifiable homicide was rendered. Tlie affair has created the wildest excitement. A TERRIBLE DISASTER. METHODS OF THE MOQUIS, WHOSE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES ARE WEIRD AND STRANGE. An Almost Unknown Tribe of Indians Brought to Light, and Their Peculiar Religious Hites De scribed — The Snake ss a Charmer and an Object of Worship. A Panic Caused by a Fire—Hundreds Trampled Under Foot, Kansas City, September 15.—A terrible disaster occurred at the fair grounds this afternoon, result ing in tlie destruction of the main hall and all sur rounding buildings. A fire broke out in the west end of the main hall at 3:45 p.m. At that hour the hall was densely crowded, and at once a panic seized upon the multitude. All efforts to quiet the excited and terror-stricken jieople were of uo avail, und in the confusion they rushed hither and thither, trampling each other down, while shrieks, groans and cries filled the air. Aii im mense heavy black cloud of smoke came from the building In vast volumes und settled like a pall over the grounds, which were literally black with the moving mass of humanity, estimated at "JO,000 peo ple. A strong wind was blowing, and the lire spread with wonderful rapidity, quickly communi cating to the surrounding buildings. In an almost inercd'biy s'v -rt ”1 a*e iLtlail •ASvmir with all its contents, was an unsightly heap of ashes. The flumes leaped across the avenue to Newspaper row, quickly swallowing up the buildings of tlie Times, Journal and Mail, tlie secretary's ofiicc and a number of refreshment stands in that vicinity. They next attacked tlie grand stand iu which not less than 12.000 people were seated watching the races. People lied in terror before the advancing fire. Many fell uml were trampled upon, and a large number were ninimed ana mutilated. The confusion was indescribable. A panic had seized upon the vast multitude, and it seemed impossible to quiet their fours. There were no facilities for extinguishing the fire ut hand, and it did not stop until there was no more material for It to feed upon. The fire department went to the grounds, but could not reach there iu time to be of any service. It had to lay 1,500 feet of hose to get water. The money, etc., of the association was sav ed from the secretary's ofiice. Power hall, the fine nrt gallery* and stalls with the horses were saved. Tlie fire started from a pile of rubbish lying on the ground oustide the west entrance of the main hull. A party of young fellows were standing iu the door way smoking, nnd the fire is supjioscd to have been started by one of them throwing a cigarette stub into a pile of shavings. It is believed there wns no loss iif life and no one is reported missing up to the present time. The losses will foot up fully SoO.OUO. FEMALE FRAILTIES Chicaoo, September 16.—First Lieutenant Jolin-G Bourke, Third cavalry United States army, and aide-de-camp to General Crook, was one of the aft- cers selected by Lieutenant-General Sheridan so4pc months since to make investigations into the habjfs, etc., of the Indinns living within or contiguous n the military division of Missouri. The district as signed Lieutenant Bourke was the southern half & the division, the northern portion being allotted to Captain W p Clarke, Second cavalry. Bourko his penetrated into a country never before traversed by a white man, nnd has written to General Sheridan h long letter which contains a graphic account of a curious und horrible religious ceremony among the remote and almost unknown' Indian tribe, the Moquis of northeastern Arizona. They have an apostle whose Identity has been preserved since they were first seen and partially described by Span ish Catholic missionaries in 1636. The rite referred to is the snake-dance. Lieutenant Bourke says the Moquis had the pro cession divided into two parts, one of the choristers and gourd rattlers, the other of forty-eight meu and children, twenty-four of whom carried snakes anil the other twenty-four acted ns attendants, fanning the snakes with eagle feathers. The horrible reii- tlles were carried both in hauds and in the moiil* It was a loathsome sight to see the long file of nak-'i men carrying these monsters between thi ? teeth and tramping around a long ciir 'o to the accompaniment of a funeral dlige of rattles and monotonous chantin, After a snake had been thus carried around tree circle, it was deposited in a sacred log of cottonwood sapling, covered with buffalo robes, and its pla j taken by another. Thus it was not hard to calm - late the number used, which was not far from o; 6 hundred—rather over than under; and half i>e number were rattlesnakes. The procession en ten. 1 through an arcade, marching in a line of arrow- heads four times around the grand circle, cmbrac; ing both the sacred lodge and the sacred rock, and then formed in two single ranks, the chor isters facing toward the precipice nnd the dancers facing the sacred lodge The ‘‘high priest,” as 1 call him. took statiou rectly in front of the sacred lodge, aud between It and the sacred rock, which latter is a grim lookh.z pile of weather-worn sandstone 20 or 30 feet high, having a slight resemblance to a human head. At the foot of It Is a niche, in whieli is a piece of black stone, bearing a very vague ap pearance of the human trunk; at the base of this idol are many votive offerings to propitiate the deity to send plentiful rains, and as the procession files arou.nl the little plaza, the “high priest ' sprinkles the ground with water, using un earthed bowl and on eagle’s feather us a spriuklet- A second medicine man twirls a peculiar sling and makes a noise like the falling of copious showers. When the two lines are halted facing each other, the dancers, who nre at first provided with eagle feathers, wave them gently downward to the right und left, while the choristers s’,lake their rattles, making a noise like rattlesnakes, aud at th same time sing a low nnd not unmusical chan-. When this Is finished the “high priest” holds thy bowl toward thesacred lodge, utters a low but auilt ble praver nnd sprinkles the ground again wlA water. The singing and feather-waving are ro peatej and the first scene is over. Nothing at all horrible has occurred yet. But n time is last before the second part of the ceietMnj commences. The clioristc.s remain in their jilaet-f with the "high priest,” while the druil cers, two by two aud arm iu arm, tmiu i witli measured tread in a long elicle, embmeiar the sacred points already mentioned. Your blor \ like this of the one class of schools depopulating the other. There will always be room for both. The danger, and the only possible danger, to the public school system is that there will in time come a demand for a division of the public school fund, and that a portion of it be allotted to the support of sectarian schools. That danger is of necessity very remote. It is fully as remote as is the possibility that a majority of the people of this country wifi become ltoman Catholics. Occasionally there is some man weak enough to propose such a scheme, but it is so extremely visionary os to be repudiated by all Catholic laymen. In fact, there is a legal prohibition of any expenditure of any monev raised by taxation for any purpose in aid of anv school or church, or for any sectarian purpose: and this pro hibition, in addition to being an expression of uni versal public sentiment, is recorded irrepealably in the constitution of every state in the union. The school system of the Homan Catholic church is evidently designed to so educate the routhof that denomination in tlie faith of the church that they will when they grow up adhere to it. It is designed to be preventive and preservative, and as a met* matter of church policy will undoubtedly do much toward that end; but so long as there is no attempt to make the public a part)' to that policy we suppose the public have nothing to say about it. further than that other denominations may undertake a like work in their own behalf. THE MURDERED CONVICT. A TALE OF THE MOST UNPARAL LELED BRUTALITY. The True*Pacts of the Penitentiary Horror on the Marietta and North Georgia Railroad.-Beaten, Bruised. Mangled and Mutilated in Such a Manner aa Would Shame Savages. DAZED CHRISTIANCY. He Is Challenged to Mortal Combat, but Considerately Declines. Washington, September 17.—Since ex-Minister Christiancy returned from Peru, he has in several interviews reflected upon his wife, and pronounced all her testimony in the divorce case perjury. This amused the Indignation of Dr F Litgenbell, brother of Mrs Christiancy, and yesterday he called upon Christiancy, but the latterrefused to see him. Sub sequently Dr Lugenbell sent Christiancy by mail the followingletter: To Hon J P Christiancy—Sir: Unless you preferto confine yourself lo assaults upon women, to warfare in print, and to similar methods involving no phys ical danger, you will please meet me at any spot in Virginia, which you may designate, within twenty miles of Washington. Anv communication ad dressed tome in the care of J. Eieholz, 316 D street, northwest, will reach me. It will be wise to accept my proposition. Respectfully, T. Lugenbell. Christancy wrote a reply saying : Having no special ambition to acquire notoriety by assassina tion, in which it seems I have the misfortune to differ from you, and not believing that the mode vou propose is the best for ascertaining the truth, though, perhaps, as satisfactory as some methods of procedure recently adopted in thiscountry, it occurs to me that the best manner of answering your letter is by an emphatic silence so far as relates to the special inntters therein set forth, but without admitting the truth of the charges, leaving you to carry out at your own time and in your own way the implied threat contained in the last sentence of that note, of the wisdom of which I cannot accept, even on your assurance. Seeking on my part only such protection as the laws of my country afford, I am, yours truly, J P Christiancy. Lugenbell’s letter wns a plain challenge, and this afternoon Christiancy applied for a warrant against Lucenbell, who lives in Virginia. While ex-Minister Christiancy, who is a guest at the National hotel, was absent fron his room this morning, hts door was forced open by thieves and a box containing S6,000 worth of jewelry and dia monds wns lined. The box had recently arrived from Peru nnd it is thought the thieves followed it from New York to this city. The jewelry and dia monds did not belong to the ex-minister, but were placed in his custody as United States minister for safe keeping. There is no clue to the thieves. GEORGIA CROP NEWS. Crops in Jasper county are not good. Crops are good from Cedartown to Rome. Crops are exceedingly good in Carroll county. Crops good in Haralson and Paulding counties. Sumter county will make an average cotton crop. The cotton crop around Hampton will be about half The sugar cane] crop of Stewart county looks well. Harris county will sow a larger area in grain than usual. A good com crop in the upper part of Oconee county. [Jiiops are better titan first reported in Cobb GItIimc Rise to Numerous Family Jars. Washington, September 16.—A sensational *eno was witnessed on New York avenue, near Four teenth street, this city, to-day. Colonel Boyd, who annually publishes the Washington business direc tory, wus walking down New York avenue with a handsqme young lady. Suddenly a carriage was pulled «p at the curbing immediately opposite the couple, mid Mrs Boyil, wife of Colonel Boyd, jumped out of it. She produced a cowhide and began to lash the young lady who was with Boyd unmercifully. The young lady ran. Mrs Boyd following, but bystanders interfered after a few strokes had been administered. Then Boyd, at the command of his wife, entered tlie carriage with her nnd was driven home. Boyd has charge of one of the divisions of the census, and several ladies are employed under him. It is said he has been over attentive to two or three of these ladies, and especially to one of them. His attentions to this one aroused his wife’s jealousy, and she has been watching the pair. To day. just after Boyd met the young lady, his wife made the descent npou them ns described. Whether there is to be any divorce or damage suits hasn’t yet been developed. Chicago, September 16.—Benjamin Beatty, of Newberry, Clermont county, Ohio, last night shot Dr J F Abrams, a practicing physi cian of that place, on account of his suspicions of too great an intimacy between Abrams and Mis Beatty. The shot took effect in the face, the ball lodging in the neck. It is supposed to be fatal. Chicago, September 16—An extraordinary divorce case began in tlie superior court to-day. Mrs Elizabeth Faloy modestly asks a divorce from two husbands. . In 1868 she married Dents Faloy. of Lynn. Mass, but in 1872 he deserted her; two years later Edward Hines told her Faloy was dead, and persuaded her to marry him. Subsequently she teamed that Faloy was not only living in Quincy. Mass, but was married to another woman and had several children. Mrs Faloy therefore asks to be released from Faloy because of his gross violation of marriage vows, aud from Hines because she could not legally contract marriage when she mar ried him. The ease is unique iu tlie history of divorce suits. THE ASSEMBLED METHODISTS. rliills as you see held liy the men on the left -n county. of nil kinds wriggling and writhing win , ->>}, half the cotton crop of Walton couiitv seems to a JSl 'iWlWSTS count on this part of tlie busiuess. Snakes urc car ried in the hail and in the mouth, and us I have al ready said some of the rattlesnakes were so large, over five feet, that tlie dancer could not grasp the whole , diameter iu his mouth. As the procession filed past the squaws, the latter threw com meal before them onjthe ground..Thus snakes when thrown to the earth showed themselves in the must cases to be extremely vicious and struck at any one coming near. In such an event a little comment was thrown upon them, and the assistant running up funned them with the eagle feathers until they coiled up, and then he quickly seized them back of ilicheati. After all the snakes had been put under the buffalo robe covering the sacred lodge, there was another prayer and the second scene ended. The third scene commenced almost immediately and was as follows; The snakes were seized* by ones, twos and linlf dozens aud thrown into the circle, where they were covered over with eoromea. Tlie signal was given and a number of fleet young men grabbed the snakes in handfuls, ran at full speed down the almost vertical paths in the face of the mesa, and upon reaching its foot let them go free to the north, the south, the east and west. Tlie young men then came back at full run, dashed through the crowd and on to one of the estafas, where we were told that they had to swal low a potion to indueeScopious vomiting and to undergo other treatment to neutralize any bites thev may have received. Of one thing I nm assured; the Moquis medicine meu know more aliout snakes titan any people on the earth, the Asiatic snake channels not excepted. --U hccipen 1M " Walker county will make more com than she did last year. The sweet potato crop of DeKalb county is not promising. Young Rawlins has the brag cotton patch in Tel fair county. Sumter county jHU make an average yield of top crop cotton. Baldwin county will make more com than she did last year. The colored people in Oglethorpe county arc buying up land. Fayette county will make a little more than half a crop of cotton. J L Edmondson, of Spring Place, is the com grow er of Ills county. V A Hamby, of Cobb county, makes and raises all of his provisions. Gordon county will not make more than half crop of com and cotton. A little doubt about more than half a cotton crop around Byron. Half crops of com and cotton will be made in Montgomery county. Caterpillars are injuring the top crop of cotton in Washington county. Large quantities of hay will be saYed by many Henry county fanners. Oglethorpe county willmakea little over half an average crop of cotton. SENATOR HILL’S CONDITION. A DImimIoii of the Power of the Pre*»- London, September 16.—Tlie ecumenical Metho dist conference passed a resolution In favor of in ternational arbitration. The session of the ecumenical conference to-day was occupied In the discussion of the use of the I iress for the advancement of Christianity, embrac- ng clauses on periodical publications of every grade for adults, juvenile literature, the daily press, and the use to be made of it by the church, etc. Mr Matshail. of Vicksburg. Mississippi, recom mended the establishment of a well endowed church newspaper, which, he said, would do as much for the church as great universities. He praised the American press for the willingness with which it did the work of the church by reporting church services. The subject caused considerable difference of opinion. Bishop Holland McTyeire said religions newspa pers were too narrow-minded. M r Gibson condemned the tone of the secular press in America. The balance of opinion seemed to favor the pro motion of religions newspapers. He In Improving Rapidly and Will Soon be Home- Then Will Try Eureka Springs. Advices'rceeived at this office from Senator Hill inform us that he is rallying rapidly from the effects of the late operation and will probably be able to leave the hospital and return to Atlanta in about ten days. As soon as Mr. Hill recovers from tho fatigue of his journey home, he will go to Eureka springs and try the famed waters for a permanent cure. At present no one can tell whether or not this can be effected. It Is about given up that the knife cannot effect a radical cure, but those who know best are confident that Eureka can do it. Mr. Hill wrote a letter since tire operation to Mr. C. D. Hill, now in this city, and the handwriting i natural and bold, and shows that the powerfu vigor of the senator has already brought hun out of the prostration following the knife. He has not spoken yet since the operation, but it is not thought that his' speech will be permanently affected, us only about one-fourth of his tongue has been re moved. The Murdered^ ConTtct. ( Columbus Enquirer. This calls loudly for a reform in the management of convicts. It is true that they are sent to the pen itentiary as a mode of punishment, but the law pre scribes how the punishment shall be executed. It is said that the company that employed this convict is in no way responsible for his death, and that it is entirely on"the nands of Phillips. If the company is in no way responsible what protection lias the state and what protection has the convict from any bloodhound whom the company mav see proper to employ as an over seer? There is a very grave responsibility resting somewhere, and it seems that Phillips is not a re sponsible character. Who, then, is to blame for this? If the company employ a man of brutal character, thev should be' held to account for his acts. While we 'do not hold that they are accessory to the mur der of Mathews, their position is certainly a very grave unenviable one. If the convicts are to be taken anil beaten to death by a brute, and none re sponsible for it,then the earlier the system is abolish ed the more humane it will be. The Catholic School System. Chicago Tribune. The advice of the bishop of Georgia to the Roman Catholic people of that state is to send the children to school, and always to send them to the schools established by the church wherever they can be found, and, further, to labor to the extent of their ability and means toestablishsuchschoolswherever possible. This has always been the policy of that church, and the fidelity with which it has been ad hered to in all parts of the country is shown in the great array of sectarian schools of all grades now in operation. . _ It is claimed and asserted that the successful exe cution of this policy is a menace to the American system of common schools, and that the establish ment of sectarian schools is full of danger to the public schools. Just at this time, there are not schools enough —public, sectarian, and private—to accommodate the children who would like to attend them. The children of this city who attend the sectarian schools could not, if they would, find room in the public schools. There is, therefore, no immediate danger in a forever increasing country The rice crop of Liberty county, will be fearfully cut off by the late storm. • Murrain is playing havoc with the cattle on Sand Mountain, Dade county. At least two-thirds of a cotton crop will he made down about Montezuma. Caterpillars are injuring the cotton in some lo calities in Morgan county. The cotton crop in the valley In Dade county will exceed any previous year. The largest portion of the cotton crop in Houston county has been gathered. The cotton crop around Cross Keys district, DeKulb county, is an average one. Sheep farming pays 63 percent average profit on the investment in Georgia. Farmers in Cobb county are cutting and saving a great deal of hay this season. It is estimated that oue-lialf the'cotton crop of Polk county is already picked. Farmers around Lexington pay 60 cents for cotton picking and board the pickers Caterpillars are damaging the cotton between HayneviUe and Hawkinsviile. Many sections of Dooly county, will make more com than they have for several years. The genuine cotton caterpillar is putting in its work in some places in Talbot county. S T Murray, of Dooly county, has already picked five boles of cotton from five acres of land. Colonel WH Willis, of Oglethorpe county, has cleared 62,000 on dried peaches this season. There will be an average of one bale of cotton to every four acres throughout Wilkes county. The drouth still continues in Putnam county. The crops of peas and potatoes will be short. Corn and cotton crops of Chattooga county are much better than at one time calculated on. Stewart county will have a larger acreage in oats and other small grain this fall than ever before. Farmers about Hollingsworth, Banks count)', are offering SO cents a day and board to cotton pickers. Mr T McGee, of Harris county, has three acres of cotton for which he refused 1,500 pounds of lint cottop. On twenty-five acres of laud the Barnes brothers, of Baldwin county, will make three hundred bush els of com. J. C. Whitaker, on river lands in Baldwin county, will make 5,000 bushels of com. Half this quantity will supply his farm. Mr D J Henderson, of Irwin county, has just gathered seventy-five bushels of com from an acre and a fourth of land. . Mr Joe Cofeb, of Gooscpond, Oglethorpe county, has sold his place to a colored man for 200 bales of cotton on twenty years’ time. Mr J P Fears, of Morgan county, will make plen ty of corn to do him, and his cotton crop is as good as that of any of his neighbors. Miss Salue McRae, of Walton county, had gath ered and sold four bales of cotton by the 27th of August. She will have cotton on exhibition in Atlanta. A number of newspapers in this state are telling fanners to sow turnips and plenty of grain. The Constitution tells them that, looking over the state this season, while dry weather injured many crops, a large number of farms suffered for work. Drouth did not injure a very great number of well worked crops. For several days the public lias been greatly ex cited over the death of Mathews, the convict, at the Ball Ground convict camp, on the Marietta and North Georgia railroad, and The Constitution has made every possible effort to obtain the true history of the case. Last night at the car shed a represen tative of the paper spied Mr. Frank Haralson as he alighted from the train which brotigh him in from Canton, where he has been for the post week inves tigating the affair. As soon os Mr. Haralson, wliusc mission was known to the reporter, alighted he was button-holed for an interview. “Just back from Canton?” asked the reporter. “Yes,” replied Mr. Haralson. “Well, how did you come out?” “All right.” “When did yon leave town on this mission?” “I left here Friday last and went direct to camp, near Bull Ground'in Cherokee county; Dr. Raines was with me; we were directed to go by Governor Colquitt to investigate the causes leading to the death of John Mathews alios John Massey,a convict, whose recent death had been reported to the gov ernor.” “What did you find when you reached Ball Ground?” "Soon after reaching Ball Ground camp I ascer tained that Mathews's death was generally attribu ted to harsh treatment at the hands of Charles D Phillips, Jr. Phillips is a son of Dr. Phillips of Clarkesville, Georgia, and a nephew of General William Phillips. For soma time past he has been a section boss un the Marietta and North Georgia railroad, and as such his duties were to superintend a squad of the convicts working on that road. Among the convicts under his care was a boy by the name of John Mathews, but known in the camps os John Massey. He was sent from Hall county last spring for burglary and had been in the chain gang about six months. On Wednes day, August 31, early ill the morning, John Massey went out with a dump cart and made a break to get away from the camp, but wns fired at by the guard. The shot missed its mark and Massey continued his llight for about three hundred yards, when he was met by Mr Spears, the sheriff of the county, who happened to be in that neighborhood, and hearing the report of the gun sturted towards tlie camp to investigate. Seeing Mathews attired iu the convict garb running from the camp, Mr Spears halted him, mid in a short time Mr Charles D Phillips, Jr, came to the pluce where tlie sheriff aud Mathews were, mid immediately the three started back to the works. They had not gone far when Phillips took a brush and struck Mathews with it and told him to hurry up. They went on to die works and after a short while Phillips struck Mathews about fifteen blows across tlie back with a strap. Not very long- after this Phillips again gave Mathews about 35 lushes on his naked back, anil then again in a short while gave him 35 lushes more on his nuked back, making three beatings before dinner. All of these whippings happened within about two hours. According to tlie evi dence as given in by one of the guards, aud which you here see, these whip pings did not include the “toppings” Mathews received during the day as he pussed Phillips. How many top i Phillips gave him during the day the witness could not tell. Mathews was carried to camps that night with the rest of the prisoners where he remained duriug the night, and was again taken to the wo.ks the next morning, Thursday, Septemlier 1, with the rest of tlie squad under Phillips's, care. Before dinner time Mathews was whipped again by Phillips. This time Phillips gave him ubout twenty lushes. After the whipping the squad went to dinner and witnesses could not tell whether Mathews ate anything. When they started back to the works after dinner Mr Cowart, one of the guards. swore. thnt Mathews reeled us lie went on his way to the works; After reaching the works Mathews wns assigned to his duty, which was loading wheelbarrows, but accord ing to the evidence of the guard, he would, after gathering the dirt on his shovel, throw it into an other shovel instead of the wheelbarrow, thus show ing that his mind was derauged. Phillips saw this and approaching Mathews asked what he was put ting that dirt in. Mathews replied, “I am putting it into a wheelbarrow.” Phillips then struck him with a lash aud again asked him where he was put ting the dirt. To this question Mathews said it was a shovel, and began putting the dirt into the wheel barrow, but iu a few seconds resumed his erratic work of filling one shovel with another. Phillips seeing this, approached Mathews and struck him with a lash again and agai.i. Mathews said it was a wheelbarrow that he was loading. All this time Mathews was complaining of being sick, but Phil lips paid no attention to the complaints mid put Mathews to using the piek. Phillips asserted that he believed Mathews was feigning sickness. While using the pick Mathews continued his complaints, saying that he was unable to work. Phillips then made him get down on his knees and put his face against the bank of the cut. He then took Mathews’s pick-axe, aud driving one point into the bank ciose to Mathews’sneck, placed the handle across his neck so as to hold him to the ground in this uncomfort able condition, and compelled him to remain so for twenty-five minutes. \\ hile the convict was in ibis position Phillips ordered oneof theconvictstogound get a bucket of peas and some bread. When the mes senger returned Mathews was released from his dis agreeable position und supplied with thepeusand bread. When the bucket was set before Mathews he dipped both hands into it and filled the one with pees and the other with bread, which he crammed Into his mouth so rapidly that those who saw it knew that he was crazy. While eating he fell over, and was found in an unconscious condition by Phillips when he went to him, but instead of lifting the poor fellow up, Phillips began pounding him again with the strap. After laying on the hush sev eral times, Phillips realized Mathews's true condi tion, aud calling some of the convicts to him, or dered them to take the peas and bread out of Math ews's mouth. The poor fellow’s mouth was full,and was emptied by the convicts inserting tlieir fingers into it and forcing the contents out. After his mouth was emptied, Phillips put the strap around iiis neck and jerked him into a sitting position. He then called fora wheelbarrow into which Mathews was put, but when the boy started to roll him to the camp. Phillips caught hold of one of the handles and dumped the eonviet out on the ground. This failed to arouse him, and Mathews wasaguin placed in the wheelbarrow and rolled to the camps, where he was pluceil in his bunk in an unconscious condi tion and where he remained until the next Friday evening when death closed the scene aud Mathews’s sufferings were over.” “Was there no physician all this time? ‘.‘Yes. Dr. Hawkins, the physician in charge of the camps, met him as he was being rolled into tlie camp made an examination of his condition and prescrib ed ten grains of bromide of potassium to bo given in two doses. The physician visited him again Thursday night about 11 o’clock and found him iu tlie same unconscious condition. He then gave him a toddy and left him. On Friday he again visited him, but did nothing beyond witnessing his agonv. About sundown Friday evening his patient died. On Saturday morning he examined the body at the earnest solicitation of W. W. Phillips, who "was in charge of tlie camp, and reported to him that Mathews’s death had been caused by heart disease, and gave a certificate to that effect.” “Did you examine the body?” “Yes. We had the body unearthed and held an inquest.” . “Wliat facts did you ascertain?’ “The body was so decomposed, having been under ground eight days, that we could not tell what its condition was when buried, hut from the evidence before the coroner, it was clearly shown that John Mathewseame to his death from cruel treatment at the hands of Charles D Phillips, Jr.” “How do you reconcile Dr Hawkins’s certificate and the conclusion you have reached?” “I am satisfied from all I could learn that Dr Hawkins, when he gave that certificate, did not know what lie does now. In other words, he knew nothing of Mathews, except the condition he was in when lie first saw him, and the facts related in his certificate were based upon no personal knowledge but merely upon hearsay.” “Where is Phillips?’’ “Charles Phillips, you mean, ne left the campson Sunday night after Mathews's death, and has not been heard of since, as far as I ean learn.” •Well, what will be the end of the tragedy?” disobedience to the expressed orders of the company for which he was working. Orders and agreements entered into between Charles D Phillips, Jr, and tlie Marietta nnd North Georgia railroad company, and signed by Charles H Phillips, show that what he did was in direct violation of written orders and agree ments, and therefore the company is not responsi ble for the death of Mathews. Captain W W Phil lips, who has charge of the camp, gave me all the informational! his possession andjentlercd me every service he could to reneh n correct conclusion in this matter. In fact. General Phillips nnd Mr M Mc- Kinny, who have ch trge of tlie commission and the sick, did all in their power to aid me in the in vestigation, and the information received from them enabled me greatly to arrive at the conclusion I have reached. The testimony of Mr McKiuny iind Captain W W Phillips, together with facts that they knew nothing of before they were sworn to by other witnesses at the inquest, show beyond all doubt the truthfulness of the charge against Phillips. 1 tell yon now, and the evidence shows it? that the company is not responsible for the death of Mathews. With this exception of the mistreat ment of Mathews, from all I could find, from con victs, and from other sources, that the convicts in that camp are humanely treated, well fed anil well clothed.’' “When will yourreport be made to the governor?’ ’ “I will submit my report to the governor to morrow evening, together with all the papers con nected with the matter.” “Will you represent the state when the case Is called iu tlie Cherokee court?” “My connection with the ease closes now unless otherwise ordered by the governor or legislature.” "How is public feeling?” “You mean, can Phillips get a fair trial? Yes, lie can, in Cherokee county. The people of that coun ty will give him justice. But here is tlie evidence token before the coroner's inquest, anil you can form your own opinion,” concluded Mr. Haralson, handing the reporter a huge bundle of papers. “The grand jury of Cherokee county yesterday found a true hill against Charles D Phillips, Jr. charging him with murder, and the evidence will demonstrate beyond all doubt that Mathews was wilfully murdered.” “What was the nature of the testimony before the grand jury?,’ “It was much stronger and more conclusive than that before the coroner, and will convict Phillips of the murder of Mathews in any court or country.” “Who Is to blame in this death?” PUBLIC EDUCATION. The Enthusiasm of State School Commissioner Orr Worked Up. Yesterday a Constitution reporter met State School Commissioner Orr, anil by the happy beam ing of his face saw that something pleasant was re volving in his brain. After a cordial handshake the progressive educator said: "I tell you that our people don’t appreciate the value of the National teachers’ convention recently held here. I thought wheu it met that it would di> more than anything thnt lias recently happened to make the people of the north know us butter, mid like us better, and now I am quite sure that X was right.” “What has convinced you, doctor?" “Why, one tiling is the speech which Dr Wicker- sham recently made at the meeting of the state teachers’ association of Pennsylvania before 300 teachers. l»r Wlckersliam was for sixteen years the state school superintendent of Pennsylvania, and is one of the most progressive educators in the country. Besides this he is a man of powerful in fluence in his state. He came within a few votes of going to the United States senate recently, and was nea iy nominated for governor by the convention which put out tlie present Governor Hoyt. He is n northern man, a union man and a strong republican, and I think these facts make this speech of his u magnificent tribute toAtlanto, to Georgia and-to the south. Here are some passages from nls speech which want you to give to the people.” Said Dr. Wickersham: “ Up at Chautauqua last summer there were several of the southern states represented. About twelve or fifteen teachers and school officers came up from Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky ami Texas. They all united in the most earnest petitions that tlie national association should hold a meeting in the south. They said: Our people want to see the friends of education from the north. They want to hear them. They want to become acquainted with them—fraternize with them. We accepted tlieir in vitation nnd went down south. I have just returned from there, and I mil prepared to give some little account of tlie experiment. Atlanta city is in northern Georgia, as you all know. 1 was there in 1806: it wps a perfect desolation then, as well as the whole country around, it has grown up since that time Into a beautiful city of 45,1100 people. “The members of the association were rejoiced to see that the platform of the hall in which wo met was decorated witli the good old flag we so much love. The governor of the state delivered an address of welcome, anil United States Senulor Brown favored tlie association with some excellent remarks. A great banquet was given us, attended by 500 or 600 people. The legislature, which is now in session there, extended to the members of the association tlie privileges of tlieir hulls. The city furnished carriages free to all. . members of th*. Is sly w-i 1 .*: "ir rt” for a drive nil nbcut the city and the iiitrenclnnents outside of the city. The welcome given us by the people there y*us very hearty. They seemed glad to see us among them. “I want to lay here, too, that tlie men who' now manage the school affairs in the south—state super intendents and the leading teachers—are among tlie ablest, most learned, most zealous educational men I have ever met anywhere. This may lie con sidered. remarkable, but such is the fact. They are generally graduates of colleges. They are men who have expended a good deal of time in tlie study of school atfairs, and they are remarkably zealous. Now, I was surprised ut this, and yet I am not com mending them too highly. I never met anywhere, at any time, a body of educational officers superior to those tlmt are now in command of tlie common school army in the states of tlie south. They are doing a good work all over that country. “One thing more 1 must mention. Near the clos ing of our association I was very much surprised to receive a pressing invitation given by the senate and house of representatives, through a committee, to address them on tlie subject of education. A yankce, a northern man, a man, too, who had worn a sword in tlie war against them, being invited to ad dress a southern legislature oiv the subject of free schools! Two other gentlemen were invited to speak with me. We met in the house of repre sentatives. A large number of senators and members were present, and tlie house was filled with citizens. Speaking under such circum stances, I was determined not to lower the common school flag I hud borne so many years in tlie north, a single hair’s breadth. I told them: ‘I have not one face to show you here and at the .south another. I have preached, as you know, the doctrine of com mon schools in its most radical shape. What I mean by a system of common schools is to provide an ed ucation free, everywhere, impartial to every child in thecountry, white or black, red or yellow.’ I went on in this way to elaborate the system. For the first fifteen «r twenty minutes they listened at tentively, leaned forward in their seats to catch the words as they came from my lips. Then they began to applaud a little, and by and by a lit tle more. I hail not spoken ten minutes longer un til applause followed almost every sentence. When I wus ready to sit down, cries came from all parts of tlie house, ‘Gooul’ ‘goon!’ I went on a while longer, aud when I finally closed, the applause con tinued at least three minutes. “In all my life, I never anywhere made an ad dress that seemed so produce more marked effect. And this wns in Georgia. “I want to say just one other thing,because I feel it to lie justiee to these people that I should say it: I am strongly of the impression thnt the great, wide chasm whieh lias separatcl the »wo sections for so long a time is drawing closer together, and that the great wound from whieh rivers of blooil have flowed in the juist is about to be healed, and that we are to have a better, a greater, grander union under one flag in the future, thun we have had iu the past.” SUICIDE IN CALHOUN. Judge Foster Kills Himself at Ills Home In Calhoun. Judge Thomas A Foster, of Calhoun, committed suicide yesterday at his home by shooting himself twice with a pistol. The particulars of the affair so far are meagre,nnd although the cause for the rash doad is yet un - known, it is generally believed that business trouble was at the bottom. Judge Foster was one of the leading citizens of Gordon county nnd was well known throughout the state in mercantile circles. He was bom in north east Georgia, but removed to Calhoun about 1856, where he formed a partnership witli Mr J M Harlan, and this has been the leading mercantile firm in Calhoun since that time. He was at one time judge of the inferior court of Gordon county, and as such won a name for impartial justice that has ever since clung to him. He was a business man of elegant qualifications, and had amassed quite a fortune, but it Is thought that severe re verses have visited him lately, depressing him to such an extent that he became temporarily insane. He leaves a wife and three ,children. His wife Is a sister of General A. C. Atlanta. Gariington, formerly of Everybody 1* Coming. Baltimore Gazette. All the great cities of the north_ nnd west nre reaching out eager and very industrious arms At- lantoward. Notone of them has so natural and equitable a claim as Baltimore has; but they may each secure a larger share of the benefits if Balti more fold her arms in indolence, while busy fin gers of New York and Boston are spinning the golden web wherewith to reap huge harvests fn the fields where they could but meagerly glean if Balti more’s business men enter upon the work aright. But there fare reasons for fearing that they will snatch the prize from our grasp. We may pride us on our brilliancy, and on our consonance with southern tastes and aims, but we should not forget Nobody is to blame in this matter but Charles D I the teaching of the fable concerning the race be- Phillips, jr, himself, what he did was in direct * tween the hare and the tortoise.