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THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION, NOVEMBER 1, 1881.
TREASURY TYCOONS.
HOW THE CONTINGENT FUND HAS
BEEN USED.
A Republican Organ Charging that Part of the Coat
of a Banquet to John Sherman waa Credited
to n Purchas" of Candles???Painting a Pri
vate House at Government Expense.
Washington, October 23.???The Sunday Ga
zette, an administration orpin, lias to-day
another installment of its continued story re
garding ???The Treasury Tycoons." The Ga
zette writer has the following concerning the
alleged operations of the present Chief Clerk
Power:
???When Power liecamo chief clerk he sent
for Custodian Pitney, and told him that the
system for the conduct of that office devised
by Upton would contirue to lie the rule. This
meant that the purchase of goods, regardless
of the statutes, from ring merchants, and
the duplication of warrants in payment of cer
tain purchases, would continue. Custodian
Pitney refused to lie a party to the continuance
of this system unless he received a written or
der for the execution of each irregularity. This
demand was acceded to by Power, and the or
ders were made from time to time, as occasion
required. The system thus continued until
the exodus of Sherman and the advent of
Windom. The ring thought it the proper
thing to do to give Sherman a farewell ban
quet in the basement of the treasury build
ing. No cxjiense was spared to make the oc
casion one to be remembered by the ???greatest
living financier,??? who was about to depart.
'The gloom of his Chicago reverse was to be
??? illuminated by the loyalty of the bureaucrats,
who saw in him so much that was admirable;
and power, true to the long settled policy of
the ring to make somobody else pay, imme
diately assessed the ring merchants $25 apiece
which netted ahandsomesum, but not nearly
enough to pay the cost of the affair. The bal
ance was jiaid out of the contingent fund of
the treasury department, and the public
money so illegally disbursed was credited on
the books to a large purchase of sperm candles
???forty-live boxes.
???When Windom became secretary, and on
the day he first entered his office, he found on
his desk a magnificent floral shield, etc., the
gifts of Power. So beautiful were these ar
ticles that Mr. Windom caused them to be
photographed, and he distributed the pictures
among his friends. It may afford Mr. Win
dom a peculiar sensation to lcam that Power???s
gifts to him cost $25, and were paid for out of
the contingent fund of the treasury depart
ment, the amount being credited to a pur
chase of pot plants. Saul, the florist, made
the shield, etc., for Power, and charged $50
for them, but when he found that it was in
tended for the new secretary of the treasury
he generously came down one-half.
???When the so-called Pitney investigation,
was ordered, Power, swift to scent danger to
Iiimself, went to Windom intending to betray
liis associates should it seem necessary to do
so. Windom had more confidence in Power
than he had in Upton, and accordingly gave
Power the appointment of the committee and
the conduct of the investigation. Having
selected a committee to suit his needs, he|
sent for Pitney, told him of what was coining,
and successfully liesought him to tell nothing,
by assuring him that the ring would stand or
fall together. He also prevailed upon Pitney
to surrender the many written orders Pitney
had received from him in authoriza
tion of irregular transactions.- After get
ting these orders in his hands, Power became
master of the situation, and he so con
ducted the investigation as to shield all ex
cept Pitney, whom from the first he intend
ed to make, and made, the scapegoat of the
ring. The investigation progressed far enough
to send Pitney out of the treasury depart
ment a disgraced man, disgraced for
obeying the written orders of his
official superiors. Power and Upton
were the authors of all the irregularities
iu the custodian???s office, and they are still in
the treasury department. A merchant who
wanted to get in the ring told me that he had
frequently offered Pitney presents as a means
to such end, but that Pitney always refused
ids proffered gifts because of his inability to
do what the merchant desired, and that he
frankly told him that Upton and Power ex
erted sole control in such matters.
???As to the duplication of warrants in pay
ment of certain purchases, the modus oper
and! was like the following: The custodian,
Pitney, would prepare the warrants for the
payment of goods purchased, and lay them
on the desk of Power. The clerk in Power???s
office, whose duty it was to examine such
papers, observed that at brief Intervals war
rants for goods for which warrants had been
previously passed and paid were regularly
presented. Satisfying himself that he was
hot mistaken, the clerk rei>orted his grave
discovery to Power. The fact was denied
hy _ Power, but he instructed Pitney
to thereafter bring all his warrants directly to
him for approval, and such papers never went
through the hands of any of Power's clerks
after that time. Comment on this matter is
unnecessary.
"The latter part of last winter or early last
spring. Power, in violation of the statute that
prohibits the purchase of more than $30 worth
of books l>y any department head without
specific appropriation, purchased for the
treasury department library twenty-five
bound ' volumes of Harper's Magazine, old
books, from Third Auditor of the Treasury
Edwin \V. Kneightley, paving therefor $122.50
from the contingent fund???an average of
nearly $5 a volume for second-hand books,
worth not more than a$l a volume in second
hand book stores. Hut this is not all. The
volumes never reached the library of the
treasury department, and nooneexeept Pow
er knows where they went and are. Third
Auditor Kneightley wrote to the person for
whom he sold the books, a man living in
Michigan, as follows:
??????Washington, I>. C.. March S, ISSl.???I disposed of
the books for 8122.50. On live volumes he threw off
fifty cents per volume. I would have wrote yon be
fore. hut the bustle of the inauguration prevented
me from doing so."
The Gazette says: ???It is a fact which,Lam-
phore, appointment clerk, will not attempt to
dispute, that he had his house painted, inside
and out, and the floors oiled by an employe of
the treasury department, who did the work
during office hours, and all the material used
was the property of the United States." It
may lie noted that the above statements are
not ???democratic lies,??? but are charges appear
ing in a republican paper.
Ixs the Hounding Rliton.
Bi>nmn*k Tribune.
The passengers on last evening's train from
the Yellowstone had lut'experience exceeding;
ly rare. When about two miles from Senti
nel Butte, the deviding line between Montana
and Dakota, a herd of sixteen buffalo nvere
seen a short distance ahead, witliin easv ritle
range. There were several soldiers on board
with army rifles, and numerous small re
volvers were also pointed toward tjie excited
bison. A perfect volley of lead was poured
into the herd, but to no'efleot. They bounded
away over the divide, and were soon out of
sight. The passengers had no sooner begun a dis
cussion of what they had seen in years gone liv
than a danger signal from the locomotive
brought every one to the look-out. A herd of
twenty or thirty buffalo were making directly
for the train; and, fearing the engine would
strike them and he thrown from the track,
the air brakes were set, and the train nearly
brought to a standstill, while the buffalo
crossed the track a few feet aliead. Every gun
was again leveled. Such excitement cannot
lie described. Bullets flew in every direction,
some striking the ground as near as ten feet
from the train, others raising tiic dust a mile
distent. The train moved on slowly, and
the volleys of lead continued to pour
from the guns of the excited passengers.
Finally the smoke cleared away and the buf
falo could be seen aliout half a mile away,
trotting along as unconcerned as though they
had never seen a railroad train. The disgusted
passengers drew in their weapons and spent
the rest of the day arguing as to the probable
amount of lead that a buffalo will carry before
lie will weaken. Pictures of railroad trains
passing through herds of buffalo are numer
ous, but the actual experience is one of which
the pastengers may feel proud. They were
probably but straggling bands from the main
herd, which is forty or fifty miles north of the
track. From Sentinel Butte east to Pleasant
Valley (Dickingson) at least 500 antelopes
were seen, which is but a daily occurrence.
Verily, the North Pacific is the sportman???s
paradise.
SMALL-POX.
??? Gradual Spread of the Dreaded Dlieax.
Memphis Appeal.
Small-pox, which appeared in this country
for the first time after a considerable interval
in New York and San Antonio in 1879, has
gradually spread throughout the northern
states, until it has assumed epidemic propor
tions in many places. In its onward march
it has at last reached the Ohio river, ijnd
it is feared will extend southward
during the coming winter. Already
Cincinnati, Covington and Newport
have been invaded by the loatlisoiue pes
tilence. What precautions are our health
authorities taking to avert it from this com
munity? We have had no casesof the disease
since 1873, and during this time a large unpro
tected class has accumulated among us. Com
petent authority estimates at least 20,000, out
of our total of 35,000 residents, to be suscep
tible to the disease if exposed to its contagion.
Of this number, two-thirds, or over 10,000,
would, in the light of previous epidemics, be
attacked beforethe scourge had run its course.
In Philadelphia, a recent epidemic, in which
there were 25,000 cases, has been shown
to have cost the city$21,848,750, or an average
of about $874 each.' The conditions of the two
cities vary materially; but it will not be out
of the way to assume that a case of small-pox
in Memphis will cost at least half as much as
one in Philadelphia. If this be correct, then
10,000 cases spread over the next twelve or
eighteen months means a loss to this city of
nearly seven million dollars. The ounce??? of
prevention was never more sorely needed
than in this ease, and could never hope to be
more strikingly valuable. Five thousand dol
lars judiciously expended within the next 30
days would make this community small-pox-
proof. Has the sanitary association???if not
the board of health???no duty in the premises?
A Had Character Out of the Way.
Rome Courier.
From persons residing in the neighborhood,
we gather the particulars of the killing of a
man in Cherokee county, Ala., last Friday.
The facts, as near as we could get them, are
as follows: A few days previous to last Fri
day, a man by the name of William Rober
son, alias Bill Johnson, severely beat without
cause, the little son of a citizen of Cherokee
county. The father sued out a warrant against
this man, and placed it in the hands J. B.
Davis, and Joe Reed, sheriff's deputies, to be
executed. They found their man in McCoy???s
grocery, a saloon on Coosa river, about thirty
miles below this city, opposite Sterling land
ing. The officers told Roberson they bad a
warrant for his arrest, and as soon as lie learned
this, he resisted and attempted to draw his
pistol, but before he bad time toget it out, Mr.
Davis fired on hiin.with a shotgun, inflicting
a wound, from which lie died next morning.
Roberson was known to be a desperate charac
ter, and lmd not the deputy sheriff been too
quick for bint lie would have doubtless done
serious damage with his pistol. Mr. Davis is
fully exonerated from all blame in the
mutter by the entire community, for
it was clear lie acted in self-de
fense. After the shooting Roberson ad
mitted that lie had traveled under an assumed
name, and said to his attending physician:
???If I die, you may say when you see riicgoing
off in my coffin,???there goes a man who says
he has killed six s???s of b s during his life
time?????? It is said of this fellow that he once
shot a negro preacher while he was delivering
a sermon.
A MISSING CHILD.
DETAILS OF A LITTLE BOY???S SUDDEN
DISAPPEARANCE.
A North Carolina Farmer with His W ife Goins to the
Woods to ???Rive??? Boards. Take a little Four-
Tear.Old with Them. Who Mysteriously
Disappears???A Fruitless Search.
A REMARKABLE PROJECT.
Special Correspondence Constitution.
Asheville, N. C., October 22.???There is now
going on in the northern part of this. Bun
combe, county, a search for a child whose
mysterious disappearance baffles all conjec
ture. The universal interest manifested by
the neighbors of the missing boy, and the ex
tent and thoroughness of the search make it
an incident likely to arrest the attention of
every one supplied with a fellow-feeling for
unfortunate humanity. The circumstances of
the loss, as stated to your correspondent by
one of the searchers, are substantially as fol
lows:
On Tuesday morning, the 18th instant, David
Ballew, his wife and child???the latter a boy
about four years of age, wentout to the woods
one quarter of a mile distant from their cabin
???the parents for the purpose of ???riving???
boards, and the child because there was no
one at the house to keep it company At
about 11 o???clock a.m. the wife suggests that
she must go home and prepare dinner.
The husband assents. Mrs. Ballew starts in
the direction of the house to which leads an
undeviating country road. She had proceed
ed only some fifty or seventy-five yards when
the boy began crying to go with her. The
father, after an effort to pacify him, told him
to go on with his mother. Just then as the
child started on in the???direction of his mother
and home, Air. Ballew halloed to his wife to
come back and help him turn a log. Mrs. B.
who had then gotten a hundred yards or more
away, returned to the plaee where they had
been at work and passed the child on the way
still sobbing as it walked homeward. Hav
ing spent some minutes in aiding her husband
Mrs. Ballew again started towards home, ex
pecting to overtake the child. She reached
the cabin, however, without seeing the child,
and asked two neighbors who had just come
over to see her husband if they had seen it.
On receiving a negative response the
mother rushed back to look for
the missing boy. Such is the story
as told by the parents. Then it was that the
search began in earnest, and among others,
the informant of your correspondent came
to aid his troubled friends. He says that they
prosecuted their fruitless search until night
fall, their numbers being constantly augment
ed by fresh arrivals of interested neighbors.
As the darkness of the mountains??? night
closed in upon the anxious searchers, they
gathered fagots and lightwood with which for
miles around the hillsides were bespangled,
like the dark sky above with its thousands of
trembling chandeliers. For the subsequent
days and nights has the weary search contin
ued. But no trace of the lost boy has yet
been found save the little tracks made by his
bare feet in the road towards home.
How long the search will continue we can
not tell. The sleepless parents listen like the
father and mother of Charlie Ross, but like
them,seem doomed to hear naught of their lost
loved one. Any further particulars that may
come to light will be given you.
A Suit or Clothe* Mode From the Seed Cotton In a
Sin etc I>oj.
The Williraantie linen company, in conjunction
with the Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine com
pany, propose to do the most remarkeble thing ever
accomplished in industrial history.
An amount of cotton will be picked this morning
from the fields adjoining the exposition grounds.
As soon as picked it will be ginned and
cleaned. The lint will then be spun upon the Wil-
limantic machinery and woven upon looms in their
exhibit. The cloth will then be taken to the dye
house and dved a rich black. It will then be taken
to the Wheeler & Wilson exhibit, where it will be
cut into two suits by tailors, who will be on hand.
The suits will be cut in the most fashionable style???
the coats swallow tail. All will be lined through
out with handsome silk furnished by Chen?
Bros. The suits will be made for GovemorCoiquitt,
if Georgia, and Governor Bigelow, of Connecticut,
who will wear tnem at the receptions of to-night.
We shall watch the progress of this experiment _ . ----- ,, - .
from the first step to the last with great interest and ts cajiable ( o^nidum.^ sufi,-
will report its details carefully. It is absolutely _ world. It now contains one half the population
IN SESSION.
The Mt**t**lppl Klvcr Improvement Convention.,
St. Loris, October 2a???The Mississippi river
improvement convention met at the Grand
opera house at lialf-past 11 o???clock this morn
ing. About 500 delegates were present front
all the states in the Mississippi valley.
Michael McEnnis, president of the local ex
ecutive committee, called the convention to
order. The secretary of the executive com
mittee then read the call for the convention,
after which t Mr. McEnnis spoke, and in the
course of his address said:
It Is strange that at this lute day there should be
a necessity for calling the jieople of this valley to
gether to urge upon congress the duty and obliga
tion to enact measures for the improvement of the
Mississippi and its navigable tributaries. The peo
ple of the United States are famous for their public
spirit and enterprise. Every subject involving the
welfare of the people has received due attention
except alone the question that has brought us to
gether. This valley of ours iucludes eighteen states
without parallel. The cotton will be followed
through its various stages by an immense crowd of
spectators.
William the Conqueror.
New York World.
Mahone must Vie more than mortal if his bosom
does not throb with pride at the position he occu
pies. Last year Commissioner Green B. Kaum
issued a stern warning to his subordinates in Vir
ginia that if any of them were found working or
talking for Mahone and repudiation their instant
dismissal would follow. Commissioner Kaum has
just gone to Virginia to take the stump for Mahone
and repudiation. Eighteen months ago the Vir
ginia republicans declared for Grant and declined
to countenance Mahone, the Times, then an infu
riated Grant organ, remarking that they
could better nfiord to be defeated than
to succeed by a union with a set of unscrupulous
demagogues and repudiators.??? Now General Grant
has knuckled under and come out for Mahone and
repudiation; there is not a republican of promi
nence in Virginia outside of the Mahone ranks, and
the Times, though it swears most terribly under its
breath, is actively supporting the ???union with a set
of unscrupulous demagogues and repudiators.???
The Tribune, which used to denounce with much
warmth ???all the covert schemes for swindling the
creditors of the state,??? now regards Mahone
as a rather nobler specimen of the Virginian
than Washington was. The republican sen
ators from Dawes up have been shuddering for years
over repudiation, plantation manners, duelling,
and so on, and Mahouc lias not only made them
M AD-STONES.
An Illinois Physician** Account of How lie Come to
ltcllcvc In Their Eflleacy.
Correspondence New York Sun.
We have two reputed niad-stones in Jersey
county. One belongs to Jacob Lurton, Esq.,
of Newbern. It appears to be a fossil coral.
It is somewhat concave on one side and con
vex on the other, slightly porous, of a grayish
color, and about an inch across. It is sai r d to
be one-lmlf of the original, which drew so
hard upon the bite of a dog that it broke in
two. It is applied to the wound, and it ad
heres so tightly that it will take off a piece of
the skin if one tries to remove it by force. It
will drep off??? in a few hours, and it is then
boiled in sweet milk, after which it will ad
here to the wound again. After a few days
of treatment it will not stick, even if you
make a fresh wound.
The other stone is owned by Judge I???liineas
Eldridge, of Brighton, Macoupin county. It
is about half an inch square, an inch and a
half long. It looks like a piece of black slate
with a high polish. It is applied like the
other stone, but to extract the poison after it
has fallen off it is put into hot, weak lye,
made of wood ashes, and for several minutes
it will send out bubbles of air or gas, that
conic out of the stone and rise to the top of
the fluid. When it ceases to bubble it is
taken out and rubbed dry with warm ashe
and again applied.
In the year 1840, I believe, one of Jack
Gorin???s sons, a lad of twelve years, was bitten
by a mad dog in several places upon both
hands. My brother and I, both being physi
cians, and naturally skeptical concerning mad
stones, went several miles to see this boy. We
found him with both mad stones adhering to
the wounds. We found the tongue white and
velvety, the skin sallow, and a peculiar con
tracted pulse of 110. In a short time the boy
regained his usual health. He was evidently
under excitement when we visited him. The
stones adhered in this case about eight day
the black stone sticking for about two days
after the other would no longer act. Horses,
hogs and geese bitten by the same dog went
mad, but the boy recovered. The next
cases I saw in which these stones were
tried were those of Mat Irvin and Miss Nancy
Wat ton. of Delhi. These young people were
bitten in 1807, I believe, in several places on
the legs and arms. The stones were sent for
and used in the usual way. I had a chance
to see the daily use of them, as I resided in
Delhi at the time. They both got well and
are now living in that vicinity. The dog that
bit these young people was undoubtedly rabid
and stock bitten by it died of hydrophobia.
These are the only reputed mad-stones I
ever saw, and their efficacy in the three cases
under mv own notice, and the similar state
ments of persons of undoubted veracity, have
removed my disbelief in the virtue of mad^
stones. L. C. Washburn, M. D.
Fieldon, 111., September 29.
BREVITIES.
Tiif. death is announced,of Rnffaglle^IonJ^I
Hie celebrated Italian sculptor, at the age of sixtv-
three vears.
A Vermont farmer, whose cow chewed up
his pocket-book containing 8225, has asked Treas
urer GilHUan to reimburse him for his loss.
The queen business pays. The private for
tune of Queen Victoria amounts to 8S0,000,000, and
her annual income is 83,250,000. And yet she com
menced life a poor girl.
Stump speakers in Virginia find hard work
in towns where they are obliged to make two
speeches and fight two duels each day, and keep
allother appointments.
In a recent meeting of the academy of
soienee in Paris, a communication was read from a
man who announced that he had discovered a mode
of inoculating vines as u protection against the at
tacks of the phylloxera. >
A paper in Chicago having said that that
city uses 70.000,000 gallons of water daily, the Balti
more American remarks that ???half of thatumount
is made into beer and the other half is used to
seald the bristles off of hogs.???
Damascus is the oldest city in the world,
and the street called Strait, in which it is said Paul
prayed, still runs through the city, and the yearly
caravans come and go through the plaee just as
they did one thousand years ago.
In the German town of Herxlieim there
were sueh hordes of mice that a reward of a fourth
of a cent for every one killed was offered by the
municipal authorities. Under this stimulus proof
has been furnished within a short time of the death
of over 340,000.
Chicago water has to be boiled before it is
tit to drink. It is mighty inconvenient fora thirsty
Chicagoan to have to wait in a saloon until the bar
tender boils him a glass of water, so he surmounts
the difficulty by calling fora glass of whisky,which
doesn???t require any conking. The Chicago intellect
is equal to any emergency.
Thousands of girls in Germany, Norway
and Switzerland cultivate their hair as carefully as
a farmer would his crops: and once a year, when
the hair merchant, generally an old woman, comes
around, there is a lively time shearing. Swiss girls
have the finest hair, and the prices vary from twen
ty-live cents to thirty-five dollars an ounce.
One of the curiosities of the sensational
advertising of subjects for preaching is seen iu the
announcement of a Brooklyn sermon for the even
ing. The concluding part of the advertisement
reads: ??? ???Thus saith the Lord.??? Take Tompkins
cars at Grand street ferry.??? Another queer adver
tisement is intended to attract people to South
Brooklyn, and concludes by saying, ??? ???Lost sheep.???
Take Third avenue cars.???
Mrs. Campbell, the wife of Alexander
Campbell, founder of the Christian church, of
which President Garfield was a member, is a strik
ing looking woman of eighty years. Her hair is as
black, her eyes as bright, as in her youth, and her
mental activity is remarkable. She reads and
writes often until past midnight, and is now en
gaged upon a volume of reminiscences of her hus
band.
of the United States, and could sustain ten times
the number of its inhabitants, and now yields a sur-
plus of production that has turned the balance of
trade iu our favor, and made us creditor
instead of debtor to the nation. Our duty
is plain and imperative, and we must
go before congress with overwhelming proof of the
necessities of improving these rivers by deepening
the channels, removing obstacles and giving us a
free outlet to the gulf.
Mr. Henry Hitchcock next delivered tiie
address of welcome; he said in the course of
his speech:
You are told that 90 per cent of corn. S7 per cent
of wheat and 43 per cent of oats produced in lssoin
the United States came from tile Mississippi valley.
The millions of bushels of grain grown upon more
than one and a half million of square miles means
prosperous and happy families. The improvement
of the Mississippi is no new project, but it is now
"ywell understood and an increasing eur-
generally
rent of public opinion is rushing it on.
The appointment of Governor Crittenden as
chairman was received with cheers. He de
livered quite a long address. He dwelt upon
the magnitude of the Mississippi valley and
the percentage of the entire agricultural
products of the country received within its
borders and showed the absolute necessity of a
thorough improvement of the great water
way running through it, in order that these
products may be carried cheap to thesea. Upon
the question of improving the Mississippi
nominate and stand by Gorham, but has compelled ??ver without reference to its tributaries, he
them to make Ihcir tight on Riddleberger, repudia-1 , u ; .
tionist and fire-eater. Even at Mahone???s nod Sena-!, not thy smaller question govern the
tor Davis, bearing all his weight of adipose lightly Iar ser one. I have seen whilst a member of con
as a flower, has skipped down from the fence and gresL evils of. ???omnibus, appropriation bills for
fallen in line behind him. Mahone may well be tbe improvement of our livens and harbors. Much
pardoned for cherishing an exalted opinion of Spud is always embodied In those bills;
himself; they have all ???surrendered to Mahone.??? *???? an infinite amount of demagoguery
and waste ot money. It should
be stopped before the evil grows too large. There
are too many unnuvigahle and unwatered streams
iu those bills inserted by interested politicians for
local purposes. Abolish the evil and assert the
independence of the great stream and its truly
navigable tributaries. Then victory worthy of ah
American congress will have been accomplished
and the money of the people will he judiciously
expended. Enough, money is wasted on these
small streams to perform a large part if not the
whole of the desired work on the Mississippi river.
Such foolishness should be stopped at once.
May this convention strike the key note not only
in suppressing sueh an evil, but also in marking
out a line of policy by which our senators and rep
resentatives in congress are to be governed ill their
future appropriation bills.
ONE OF THE OLD GUARD.
A Veteran IVho Declare* the United State* a Despotic
Country.
Decatur, Ind., October 20.???Two weeks ago
Officer Mitchell, of Greensboro, Pa., quietly
arrested an old man in Fort'Wayne, and hur
ried off with him to Greensboro, to answer the
charge of burglary, whqreby it was alleged
that he had obtained the sum of $2,500 from
the trunk of Mr. George Granlee.
???My name is Joseph Brovinski,??? he said. ???I
am a native of Poland, and am legal heir to a
very large estate near Warsaw. I was born in
1789, and will be 92 years of age on the 12tli
day tif next December. I fought for the great
Napoleon, in Pontutowski???s command, unil
that prince was drowned at Leipsic, when I
was transferred at my request to Colonel Gar-
don???s command, in Marshal Groucliv???s corps,
and hence was deterred from taking part in
the immediate battle of Waterloo. After Na
poleon was banished I remained in France
about four years, during which time my father
died. Soon after his death his estates were
seized, and although I have tried every con
ceivable plan to get some portion of their
value, I failed, amt they are to-day held by a
Russian nobleman. Caulincourt, through the
friends liorhaciMinido while-minister to Russia,
made every effort to encompass my object for
me, but without success.
In 1859 I came to America and associated
myself witli Dr. Inskip of Alleghany as a veto
rinary surgeon. 1 was from that time until
1868 periodically in Alleghany and Jersy
City; at this latter date I lost all the money 1
had, and in 1870 was arrested in Erie for lar
ceny and sent to the western penitentiary of
Pennsylvania. I served my time and went
out in 1873 a broken down old man. I did
not give my proper name there, but I am
proud to say that I was the only Polander
in that prison. It was my inten
tion to procure assistance through the
French consul of New York, and return
to France, where 1 have a son living,
but I was deterred hy various considerations.
I went to Philadelphia and lived there, prac
ticing as veterinary surgeon, until last Au
gust, when I received a considerable amount
of money. I went to Greenesboro, and while
there met two men who hud known me iu
prison, and it was through them that sus
picion was attached to me. They failed to
make any case against me, and 1 am on my
way to Chicago. 1 expect to go hack to
France in November, and I shall never, never
leave her shores again. Next to Russia, the
United States government is tiie most des
potic in the world.???
and windows and shutters were rattlinft. Return
ed iu an hour; found my wife very uneasy; raid
she had been so all evening. .She said Mr. Ross
had called, sent by Mr. Ludlow, to have ns
join them at the exposition. Deceased said
she answered the bell and found Mr. Ross
Shut the door too soon; perhaps offended him"
Said she heard a buck door open as she closed the
frontdoor. I paid no attention to her uneasiness
We ittissed a most pleasant evening. She read me
a story. We retired at 11 p. 111. I was awake per
haps an hour. Heard a door softly opening, i
listened a moment: decided not to awaken de
ceased, and slipped out of bed as gently ami quiellv
as I could. There was no light. 1 went to a desk
at the foot of the bed to look for my pistol. Some
things lmd been jiacked in a drawer, and I
had difficulty iu tindiug it, and went to her
side of the bed to ask her, but did not dis
turb her, and went back to look again. This time I
found the pistol. I stepped in the sitting room.
Found door, which I had locked and bolted, was
wide open, and the gas on tiie floor below turned
on full. I felt the socket which the bolt shoots into,
and found it loose. Never noticed this before. It
looked like a former attempt at burgliuy. When
the doors were open and gas turned on went back
to bed to tell my wife, but thought it a shame to
wake her,and for the third time turned back without
disturbing her. I supposed my wife was in bed. I
heard a noise down stairs. Thought it
burglars. Thought they had heard
me and would escape. 1 went to
the front window, leaned out to fire upon them as
they passed out of the front door; was at the win
dow a half minute, und looked back ami saw that
the gas below was turned off. 1 decided the burg
lars were in the house, and started toward the hall
door to go downstairs. When half way across the
room I suddenly sa iv something indistinct appear
at the door. The room was very dark and the hall
still darker. I could not see shape or form, it was.
so dark, but was sure something was there, and I
aimed and fired. Susie???s voice said, ???Oh, Andrew,
you have hurt me so bad,??? and 1 knew what 1 had
done. I instantly lighted tlio gas iu the sitting-
room, ran to my wife, assisted iter to the bed-room,
turned on the gas, saw the wound, und told her of
it. Did not think the wound dangerous; she did
not faint. I left her there and went for a surgeon,
as no one else was there. Before going for the doc
tor Susie told me how it happened; said she had
gotten out of bed gently, so as not to wake me.
She had put out the gas down stairs, come upstairs,
ami had gone Into the little room (for some pur
pose) at the head of the stairs, and had just come:
out to enter tiie sitting-room. slui saw
me running across the room from the win
dow toward tile door with my pistol, ami she was
frightened: said 1 looked dangerous, and tliut she
tried to spring back into the little room; said, ??? Why
vourcom???was going to say,???Why arc you coming????
1 tired simultaneously just us she began lo speak,
and did not hear her. 1 never was jealous of my
wife. She was a perfect lady. My wife and 1
thought tiie wouud was not fatal, and slieespecially
eharged me not to let either her mother or mine
know of it, for she said it would worry them to
death. I wrote to tier brother the full particulars,
telling him of her request. 1 ulso wrote fully to I)r.
Whittaker, also to Mrs. Jenkins.???
The coroner rendered a verdict to tiie effect
that Mrs. Van Bibber came to iter deatli at the
hands of her husband, but lie was unable to
determine from tiie testimony whether tiie
shooting was done accidentally or otherwise.
Wnttcr*on on David Dull*.
Louisville Courier-Journal.
Oh, you perfidious old man! You never shall
make love to us again. And don???t you wink and
leer, Mr. D. It won???t do any good. Your stomach
is too big to be holiest. You look like a porpoise,
and it???s a mercy how any one was ever deceived by
you. Goto! Goto! You are little better than one
of the wicked, and you stay out o???nights, and
there???s no knowing the company you keep. You
didn???t expect it? Fiddlestick! Black Jack lias been
flattering your fat vanity with smutty jokes and
promises for a fortnight. Eh? You don???t deserve
! That you don???t, you old sinner. You think
it very line sitting up there in your ruffles???puffing
and blowing like a hippopotamus???but you are
only the laughing stock of the senate and the
country. Come, none o??? that! No ogling, if you
please! The democratic party is not, that sort of a
girl. Go on, old chair-warmer, go on. All this
comes from tiie fact that the broadest tiling about
you is the seat of your pantaloons!
A Monitor Piece of Ordnance.
Reading. Fa., October 25.???The Haskell multi
charge cannon, weighing 56,000 pounds, was success
fully cast here to-day. It is claimed that this enor
mous piece of ordnance will carry a ball of 150
pounds weight a distance of twelve miles. It is
undoubtedly a great work, and the distance it will
cover in throwing a shot has never been equaled in
litis or any other country. The gun is of ritled
pattern, neatly and strongly molded, and is greatly
admired bv all who have had an opportunity of
seeing it. It will probably be tested at an early
day.
An Order lo Po*traa*tcr*.
Washington, October 25.???The postmaster gen
eral has issued the following order: ???The statutes
of certain of the states having provided that deposi
tions before officers properly authorized shall be
treated as having been in official custody when re
ceived through tiie United Suites mail, provided a
certificate of its receipt from the officer taking the
evidence is given by the postmaster at the office of
mailing, it is therefore expected that postmasters
receiving depositions for mailing will, in a spirit of
comity, sign the formal receipt contemplated by
the law of the state for use in whose court the depo
sition is taken.???
Vanderbilt In the South.
The following is the substance of a long
article in the Cincinnati Gazette:
???The Ohio railway can be made a very val
uable feeder to tiie New York Central system,
and is well worth capturing for that purpose
alone, hut Mr. Vanderbilt wants it for a pur
pose other than that, lie is thoroughly con
vinced that the south and southwest are the
_ , ..... . fields for railway enterprise, and tiie fact that
The Talc or lahnion. Wealth L,*t on nn tn E n.h the clyde Erlanger, Cole, Huntington and
^ rr.i f nm the Louisville and Nashville company are
M il.mlm.ton Del.. October 2b.???A special from ??? making both reputation and money in their
Lewes to the Morning _.ews, dated Siuurday, sajs |Sc j lem cs f or covering the south with their
that the International submarine diving company, I systems of roads has made tiie New York
organized two years ago by capitalists in I???hiladel-1 Central???s owner a little bit jealous of them,
phia to search for the Debraak, an English sloop-of- and lie proposes to enter that field himself
SEEKING FOR SUNKEN MILLIONS.
Mrs. Garfield will spend the winter in
Cleveland, haring rented the residence of Colonel
W. II. Harris, of Euclid avenue. On Wednesday
she was presented with a memorial of flowers and
immortelles as a tribute to the memory of the late
president. The device was a ladder six feet in
height, its base resting on a miniature canal boat.
At the top are a crown, a Masonic cross and a union
shield with a dove of peace perched on it.
Chicago Tribune.
Mr. Tra-Brown, tlio enterprising real estate
man states tiutt he could and would suv a
good word for the St. Jacobs Oil. which had
cured him of a severe attack of inflammatory
rheumatism that all other treatments hail
failed even to allav.
A Proof of Ui. Inunttr-
New Haven Register.
The mere fact that Guiteau borrowed a silk um
brella and returned it is strong evidence otpnranitv.
but that he carried it to the republican headquar
ters and succeeded in getting it safe back apiin is
The Treasury Investigation.
Washington, October 25.???The report of the in
vestigation into the accounts of the treasury custo
dian, which was called for by Senator Sherman,
was sent to the senate by Secretary Windom yester
day. None of the testimony accompanies the re
port, but it shows that the office of ???custodian,???
whose duty it was to make disbursements for the
contingent expenses of the treasury, was created
without a warrant of law: that only on rare occa
sions was the law observed which required adver
tising before contracts are given out, and that there
were no books kept showing the stock on hand, nor
an inventory of it taken, although both were pre
scribed bv law After giving a detailed account of
the irregularitiesand abuses discovered the com
mittee say: ???We think the system at present in
vogue very loose and liable to great abuse, and in
our opinion it ought to be materially changed.???
Nothing can be plainer, from the exposures em
bodied in tiie report, that a change in such a svs-
tem is imperative: whilst nothing could be tender
er or more pathetically considerate than the ex
pressions of the committee on the subject.
Dreadful Paroxysm* of Asthma.
???I was having dreadful paroxysms of Asth
ma when tiie <.omi>ound Oxygen came. I
am very grateful to inform you that in that
| resjiect I am greatly relieved.??? Treaties on
! ???Compound Oxygen??? sent free. Drs. Starkey
Sf P on???m<Lt*fe 1109??? UH Girard Street, Phiiadei-
Icsely insane persons. ??? phia, Pennsylvania
war which foundered in a storm off Lewes, this
state, June 10.170S, has discovered evidences of the
missing vessel. According to papers in possession
of Samuel S. McCracken, a pilot, whose grandfather
was the only survivor and who was engaged iu pilot
ing tiie vessel into harbor, about 852.000, (XX) of specie
aud jewels went down with her. The money was
taken by tiie Debraak from an intercepted Spanish
fleet while on her way to Halifax, England, from a
successful cruise on the Spanish main. With the
specie 200 prisoners were taken. When the vessel
foundered tiie prisoners were in irons on the lower
deck aud were all lost. Captain James Drew, who
commanded tiie vessel and whose body was recov
ered two days following, lies buried in St. Peter???s
churchyard???at Lewes. Two years after the wreck
the British 1 government sent two frigates to
raise the Debraak, but without success.
McCracken says that the Debraak lies in fifteen fath
oms of water. The divers toundaloug, irregular
ridge about 15 feet high, IS feet wide and 00 feet
long. On each side are piles of loose stone, sup
posed to be the ballast thrown from frigates in tiie
effort to raise the wreck in 1S00. Rough weather
uteifering with further operations, the company
was compelled to postpone the search, and on
Wednesday the divers returned to Philadelphia.
The work, however, will be vigorously pushed for
ward as soon as favorable w?? ather sets in.
The MI**I**lpp! Valley Comml*??Ion.
St. Louis. October 26.???The Mississippi valley
states commission, a i>ernninent organization, com
posed aP present of three representatives from each
of tiie seventeen valley states, appointed for life by
the governors of those states, met at its rooms in
the Merchants??? exchange building here to-duv.
Hon. Eugene Underwood, of Louisville, Ky., presi
dent, was in the chair, and regular Secretary Platbe
Walker, of Minnessota, was present. No business
was transacted, but the commission, about thirty
members of which are delegates to the Mississippi
river convention, will meet again to-morrow. This
convention was organized three yeans ago for the
purpose of collecting statistics, devising plans of
memorializing congress for tiie improvement of the
Mississippi river arid its tributaries. It will observe
the action of the river convention.
The Election of Shobcr.
Washington. October 25.???With reference to Mr.
Edmunds getting in ahead with his resolution
making Chief Clerk Sltober acting secretary of the
senate. Senator Pendleton says: ???The maneuver
is quite in keeping with the republican tactics.
Every movement iu the organization of tbe senate
nas been in that direction. The republicans dead
locked the senate last spring for two months in or
der to vindicate the nght of the majority to rule
aud vet thev now abandon the field without a
thought of the great principle for which they then
fought. Thev have not the courage to come to a
vote for their caucus nominees, Gorham aud Kid-
antl compete for tiie control of tiie traffic.
Both he and Mr. Devcreux told the writer
a few days ago that tiie object in securing con
trol of the Ohio railway was to give the Cen
tral a line of its own to St. Louis, and that
tiie Cincinnati connection is looked upon
merely as a part of what is to he itis New Or
leans line. New Orleans, they both said, is
the objective point, and Mr. Vanderbilt will
not rest until he is able to run his own ears
over his own lines from New York to that
city. In answer to a question as to how he
proposed to get from Cincinnati to New
Orleans, a direct answer was evaded, but
enough was gathered from what was said to
warrant tiie a-sertion that a move will be
made to capture tiie lirlanger lines. It is be
lieved hy Mr. Devereux certainly, and most
likely by Mr.. Vanderbilt, that tbe Erlanger
folks' will very soon find that railroading in
America is by no means a sure and profitable
business, and that it a failure to gather the
expected yield should occur, they would he
only too glad to unload. If fact, one of
tiie gentlemen referred to openly declared
that lie confidently expected that
tiie Erlanger syndicate would go to pieces al
most on tiie approach of a panic in American
business circles. Then, said lie, the Cincinnati
Southern, and the other lines which are now,
or may be at that time, under tiie control of
the syndicate, would be almost certain to drop
into the New York Central???s basket, In fact,
Mr. V. and Mr. D. are all ready and prepared
for an event of that kind to take place in the
ncai* future, and very much sooner, they be
lieve, than the public think for.???
MISTAKEN FOR A BURGLAR.
Mr. Vanttlbber Tells How He Came to Shoot IIU
Wife.
Andrew VanBibber, of Cincinnati, testified
before Coroner Rendigs, of that city, on Fri
day, and related how he came to shoot his
wife, Susannah Nancy VanBibber, aged 29
years. lie said:
???I was bom in this city in November, 1813. was
married to Susannah Nancy McArthur, in Februa
ry, 1*7:;. On Thursday night last returned home at
7:45 o???clock. Wanted deceased to go to the exposi
tion with me, but she heard me say it was meeting
??? ---- - . . ??? night for the Grand Army of the Kepul lie, and told
dleberger, though this is of course an abandonment me to go und see the boys, and we would go to the
of them.??? exposition the next night. The night was dark
A Mysterious Murder In Suvunnnh.
Savannah, October 25.???The dead body of
the fireman of the British steamer Inthros,
was found on the street here Sunday morning.
His throat was cut. The murdered man was
five feet live inches high, with gray eyes, light
hair and mustache, and a slight goatee. He
was dressed iu dark pants, two dark woolen
striped shirts, a black vest, dark blue coat and
a pair of knitted drawers. On his left arm
was found marked with India ink, a fish and
a wine glass, while on his right ???J. I*. 1871,???
was found pricked in with the same ink. Suit-
sequent investigation developed the fact that
he was the fireman of the British steamship
Inthros, which arrived here front l???ort Royal
a few days ago, and is now lying in this port.
All that lias as yet been developed regard
ing the murder is that the murdered man had
been at a dance the night before and it is
thought that while there a difficulty ensued
between him and others present, and that lie
was afterwards set upon and killed. - When
found he was black in the face,and his tongue
was protruding as if he had been choked, and
further investigation revealed the fact that
his throat was cut. There is little doubt,
therefore, that he was first badly choked and
then murdered. It was found 'impossible to
hold an inquest on the remains yesterday, so,
by order of the coroner, the body was taken
out to Laurel Grove cemetery.' where
now lying awaiting an inquest to-day, at "
which other facts tending to solve the mys
tery will be actuated.
Six men known to have been in company
with the murdered man have been arrested
on suspicion of being connected with the
crime. Their names are Charles Thompson,
Henry Bass, Peter Carr, Joint McBride, John
King and Charley , all white. Of these
Henry Bass, who is a sailor on the British
steamship Venice, also in port, was arrested
hy Sergeant Killourhy, of the police force,
just as he was about to enter his ship. When
taken in charge his clothing was covered with
blood, and circumstances point to him as
either the murderer, or as having been inti
mately connected with the crime. Other per
sons are also known to have been too much
mixed up in it to he permitted to go at large,
and hist night preparations were being made
for their arrest, and they doubtless are at tills
moment keeping company with their com
rades at the barracks.
THE ATLANTA CANAL.
IVhut Hie Survey hu* Demonstrated???A Perfectly
Feu.lMe Project.
In conversation with Mr. Kimball on yesterday lie-
said:
???We have just about completed the survey of the
Atlanta and Gainesville canal.???
???What is the result of the survev????
???It has demonstrated that the canal is perfectly
feasible und that it can be dug at very much less,
cost Ilian we had dared to hotie. The survey has
been made at a cost of but little more than one
thousand dollars in the most thorough and accurate
manner, and it shows that we can build a canal
that will give Atlanta all the water she needs,
for. tiie city and ten thousand horse
power between here and tiie Chattahoochee ut a
cost of less than two million and a half dollars."
??? Call the money be raised to build il????
???There is not tiie slightest doubt of it. It can be
demonstrated in tiie plainest manner that the in
come front the rent of water-power and from water
for the city would pay a handsome dividend on the-
money invested. As the city grew larger and man
ufactories were added, it would become an exceed
ingly valuable property. I think the money can be
raised til very short order, and as soon as the affairs
of tiie exposition are off my shoulders I shall
to work ut it in earnest, and there
reason why we should not have'
June.???
. soon!???
... . already had eorrespomlenec with
leading capitalists in New York, and I know that
everything is nr>e for the project. We ought to be
able to start in six months from to-day, but wheth
er we start m six or twelve months you mav rest as
sured of one thing???I promised th*e jieopie of At
lanta, in an address at the Gordon banquet several
months ago, that I would take hold of tnecanal and
never rest until I had the water of tiie Chattahoo
chee flowing into and through Atlanta. I have
never yet tailed to consummate any enterprise that
I gave mv promise to, and I don???t think 1 ever had
an easier job than buildingthe Atlanta canal. You
need not be afraid that I will not do it.???
the rising waters.
The MI**!**t I>I> t still Dreuktnc Levee*.
Chicago,, October 26.???A dispatch front
Keokuk reports "a continued alarming rise-
in the Mississippi river. The town of Alexan
dria is completely inundated. The city levee
near there broke and the water was overflow
ing the \\ abash railway embankment in the
southern part of the city. A number of citi
zens have gone to Warsaw and Keokuk for
protection. It is believed there is much dan
ger of increased floods at. Quincy, Illinois, as
the water is still very high.
Quincy, 111., October 26.???The Mississippi
river at this place is now higher than at any
time since 1851. The running of trains on the-
Quincy, Alton and St. Louis branch of the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad lias
had to be abandoned tin account of the weak-
entng of the bridge over Curtis creek, one
nttle south of this city. Trainsare running to
and from Hannibal via Tahnira, over the
Hanibal and St. Joe railroad.
. Keokuk. Iowa, October 26.???-The alarming
rise tn the Mississippi river still continues.
Official Vote of Ohio.
O ?: tober 26.???The following is the
a^ le f e s,8le for governor; Foster,.
Owt w 'i' Boo*"alter, democrat, 2SS.4267
6 330 ??? I ??? rohibl,lom st. 10,597; Zita, greeubacker,
is no reason wny we should not
commenced digging before the first of next Ji
???5 on feel sure that it will be started that sc
???Ido. I have already hud correspondence