Newspaper Page Text
CONSTITUTIONALIST.
ATJGKLJSTA. Q-A.
SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 10, 1869
The medicme working.
It seems that Mr. Stephens’ discussion
with Judge Nicholas has Involved him in
quite an extensive correspondence, particu
larly at the Worth. Several of his letters
in response to communications of this sort
have been published. We doubt not this
has been done without any authority from
• him and without his having the least idea
that such use would be made of them when
they were written. But it shows an
awakening spirit in that section of the coun
try and the-eagerness with which the pub
lic now seizes upon all discussions relating
to the position of the Government. This
is certainly a good sign. We give below
one of these letters from Mr. Stephens in
reply to a correspondent who had enclosed
to him an article on Reconstruction,
with a request to have his views about it.
This correspondent, it seems, was a war
Democrat. This letter of Mr. Stephens
we cut from the Yonkers (N. Y.) Gazette ,
and suppose that our readers will take
quite as much interest in its perusal as the
readers of that journal:
Liberty Hale, >
Crawford ville, Ga., 19th June, 1869.$
My Dear Sir : Your kind and highly
appreciated favor of the 10th instant, was
received a few days ago, but I have not
been able to acknowledge it sooner. lam
in bad condition physically. I can barely
sit up. I can neither walk nor stand with
out aids of some sort. I have been almost
helpless for more than four months. This
is the result of injuries in the hip from the
falling of a gate upon me early in February
last.
I need not assure you that I read with
deep interest the newspaper article enclosed
in your letter. Though I take no active
part in politics now, nor ever expect to
again, even if life and health should permit,
yet no one living, perhaps, watches more
closely aud views with more profound in
terest than I do, the general course of
public affairs.
What is said in that article is all correct
as far as it goes. But, my dear sir, allow
me to say, that it does not go to the bot
tom of the questions involved. It does not
probe the ulcer to the core.
For my general views upqn.aU these mat
ters, I must refer you to a letter I address
ed to The National Intelligencer, of the 4th
of this month, and published in that paper
on the 9th. There can be no cure of the
disease until its real cause is not only un
derstood, but removed. The cause of all
these late troubles in our land, and of all
those gross usurpations you speak of, is
the departure of the Government from the
primary laws of its existence. The only
practical living issue before the people of
this country now, is one between federal
republicanism and imperialism—constitu
tional liberty and monarchy. There is no
middle ground; no half way house between
them. The people must choose between
them, and take one or the other side of this
question. The one carries with it State
sovereignty and constitutional liberty—
the other carries with it consolidation and
despotism. There is no hope for this coun
try but In a thorough repudiation of the
whole principles upon which the late war
was inaugurated aud waged against the
Southern States. The very idea of main
taining a Union of States by force is per
fectly paradoxical and absurd. These are
my views briefly and frankly as well as
earnestly given. I know aud feel perfectly
assured that in their soundness and correct
ness lies the only hope of constitutional
liberty on this continent. Whether the
people will be able or disposed to under
stand the truth and appreciate it iu time to
secure themselves from impending ruin or
not Ido not know. I am exceedingly ap
prehensive that they will not, but that they
Will go on In their delnslon about saving
the Union and putting down the rebellion until
their doom is sealed.
For your letter I sincerely thank you
From the patriotic sentiments pervading
the article it enclosed, I know you appre
ciate the dangers. As Paul said to Agrippa,
so say I to you, “ believest thou the prophets ;
I know that, thou believest.” I know that
you believe in the teachings of the fathers
of our republic ! Then be it known to you
that our only hope is in their teachings !
The Union is the foundation of our safety.
But what sort of a union ? The Union of
sovereign Stales —which cannot be main
tained by force, but by voluntary consent
secured by justice.
Yours, truly,
Alexander H. Stephens.
THE CHJNESE PROBLEM.
We may not want the Mongols, that is,
many of us may not want them; but they
are coming in spite of every protest. The
Northern Radicals are organizing compa
nies to introduce them into the South, and
Southern Democrats are about to attend a
convention at Memphis called for the very
purpose of encouraging this kind of immir
gration. There is an agency at St. Louis
and the people of Alabama talk of estab
lishing something similar in their midst.
The Honorable John Townsend, of South
Carolina, has already, we believe,'moved in
this matter, and numbers of planters all
over the South are anxious to follow suit.
The St. Louis agency announced that it
was ready to contract for the delivery of
fifty thousand Chinese •laborers. Gen
eral B’okrest has already closed for ohe
thousand to fill a railroad contract which
he has undertaken. The Memphis Conven
tion will be stocked with enterprising capi
talists from Yankee-land, willing to con
tract for any number of Celestials. The
leading Chinese operator will also be there.
With the pressure from all sides, it is diffi
cult to see how the yellow races are to be
kept aloof. The Yankees are eager to turn
a penny in bringing them over. The South
ern planters are also willing to have them
come- Beside this, the Asiatic hive is begin
ning to swarm, and, with the laws prevailing
in this land of equality, it will be simply im
possible to prevent a large portion of these
busy human bees from settling on the glo
rious tree of loyalty and liberty. Os course,
the North is rather placid at the idea of
pointing this new species of labor in a
Southerly direction. The Herald , indeed,
thinks it will be a great gain for the South
and issues a certificate of good behavior
and accomplishments, thus :
“ Nearly two hundred thousand Chinese
have already poured in through the Golden
Gate, and to-day they dig the mines and
the canals, build the railroads, till the vine
yards and the gardens, fill the household
duties of cooks, laundry men and male ser
vants, throng in the factories, the fouhde
ries, the mills and the machine shops, and
are ready to undertake any kind of labor,
heavy or light. In fact, to them is due the
great revolution in production' in Caliior
nia, which enablfes home industry and skill
to supply every public want anti contribute
to the rapidly increasing wealth of the
community. They are industrious to a
high degree, frugal and shrewd in business,
keen in finance and will create wealth where
others would starve. Their intellectual
culture is of a high order, and the moral
precepts of their faith asai a high
degree with those of the Chm tian religion.
On the other hand, the Californians seem
to be either very oblivious of or very un
grateful for these blessings, since they have
never ceased persecuting John Chinaman
as seldom was mortal man persecuted before*
But John, apparently, gets used to mal
treatment and has so thrived in spite of it
that his luck has attracted thousands of
his countrymen to dare the worst that op
pression can give, certain that their fibre
is tough enough to endure it aud their
thirst^of acquisitiveness sufficiently im
mortal to make them possessors of “demui
tion cash.” The Californians object to
them because they have an instinctive and
God-given aversion to familiarity with an
incongruous people. They are perfectly
willing, no doubt, to enslave their toil;
but the probable action the XVth
Amendment fills them with horror, lest
this arbitrary control should pass away,
and, thus passing, make a Coolie as good
as the best citizen of San Francisco. The
Radical doctrines are beginning to bear
fruit aud California is the gateway through
which some of this fruit is to be brought
to market. If the land is to be crowded
with heathen and mongrel races ; and if
these are to be grafted on the original po
litical stock, why then the future is full of
peril and fhli of blood. The great, the
stupendous crime of Abolition and Radi
calism will be seen in its true light when
this disastrous future shall have come.
The Chinese question settles the negro
question; but when Asia is represented in
America by millions instead of thousands,
the Chinese question will have to be settled
also. Meanwhile, the Pig-tails are coming
and the XVth Amendment marches by
their side.
[From the Richmond Whig, Jaly 3.
The Late Col. James R. Branch.
There is, perhaps, not one of onr city
readers who has not ere this heard of the
blow that this whole community sustained
yesterday in the death of our beloved fel
low-citizen, Colonel James R. Branch. The
circumstances of his death are detailed else
where in our columns, and we have not the
heart to repeat them here. Ycoterday »«
was in the very flower of manhood and in
the fulness of health, with the promise of a
bright and honomble future, the head of a
happy and devoted household, and the cen
tre of a circle of warm anchadmiring friends.
To-day he is cold in death. The hopes and
the struggles of life are over, and all the
tender ties that connected him with his own
immediate family and with a numerous cir
cle of relatives and friends have been sev
ered.
There was not in this whole community
one more fitted for public usefulness than
Colonel Branch. Full of public spirit, of a
bright ancl active mind, and ardent and en
thusiastic, he was ever ready to bestow his
time, talents and means upon all useful en
terprises. He was regarded as one of our
most rising citizens. We had all marked
out for him a future happy and honorable
to himself and full of blessing ta us. But
an unforeseen disaster has suddenly dashed
all of our hopes and his aspirations, and
caused eyes that yesterday brightened as
they fell upon him to All with tears to-day,
as they fall upon those familiar scenes from
which he has disappeared forever.
Such a shock as this has rarely been ex
perienced by this community. Os the blow
sustained by that sacred home circle, of
which he was the ornament, we cannot
venture to speak. If sympathy can allevi
ate their grief, the tears of thousands min
gle with their own.
Col. Branch, whose popularity in this
city was almost universal, was running as
a candidate for the State Senate on the
Walker ticket, and all of his energies were
enlisted in his canvass. The high estimate
placed upon his abilities caused his name
to be put at the head of ‘that ticket. He
was an active and influential member of
the State Central Committee from 1867 to
the time of his death. His public course in
all the trying scenes through which we
have passed since the close of the war, was
In the highest degree creditable to him. Ail
of his sentiments were generous and patri
otic. His dearest wish was to see Virginia
relieved from her sufferings and restored to
her proper place in the Union, and there
was no concession, no sacrifice that he
would not have made to secure those ends.
Such was the spirit, such were the motives
that impelled him to enter the canvass and
to engage in those political labors which
he so cheerfully underwent. We had all
looked forward to the near future as prom
ising him an honorable career in the ser
vice us Ills beloved State. Sot he has been
snatched from us just as his honors were
ripening. It seems a cold philosophy, but
it is a necessary one, which teaches us that
in politics, as in war, when a comrade falls
we must close the ranks and hurry on. But
there are other and dearer relations of life
to which no such philosophy applies. A
vacancy in them is a vacancy lor ever.
TnE COLORED WALKER BARBECUE—TERRI
BLE DISASTER.
Yesterday forenoon we could not but re
mark how bright and beautiful everything
appeared. Good news came in from every
quarter, and the people, who have long
been unaccustomed to hope for better times,
wore cheerful faces, indicative of light
hearts. The colored Walker men were
busy in their preparations for their barbe
cue, which was to come oft’ on Vauxhall’s
Island, and their white friends, foremost
among whom was Col. James Branch, now
no more, were active in aiding them to
make it a great success. Clad in their
best clothing, and proud of the independent
stand they had taken against proscrip
tion and bigotry, our colored Walker
friends repaired to Yauxhall’s with light
and hopeful hearts. The crowd continued
to increase—the whites mingling freely
with the blacks—and preparations for din
ner and social enjoyment progressed. The
band played its liveliest airs, and soon in
Mayo’s Island, above Vauxhall’s, and sepa
rated from it by a portion of the river some
forty feet in width, the merry dance was
about to commence.
About half-past three o’clock the crowd
on Vauhall’s became auxious to go over to
Mayo’s or Kitchen Island, where prepara
tions for dinner were going on, but were
kept back by policeman Thomas Kirkham,
who said his orders were to require tickets
of all who crossed the bridge. This state
of things was reported to Colonel Branch
’by John Clark* and some others, and he at
once went on the bridge and gave orders to
the officer to permit all of them to go over,
as they had shown their tickets at the
bridge leading from Mayo’s bridge to Yaux
hall’s. Some twenty, at most, thereupon
attempted hastily to cross, and only suc
ceeded in proceeding a few yards when she
chains by which the bridge was suspended
parted. The bridge at once broke down,
precipitating all on it pell-mell into the
stream, and here a scene of horror follow
ed, which it saddens us to recount. The
policeman was struck upon the head by
the falling timbers and instantly killed.—
Col. Branch fell into the water, and a piece
of timber fell upon his breast, but neither
the fall nor the weight of the timber stun
ed him, as he seized the chain, a part of
which, in its rebound after parting, wrapped
about liis neck, kept his bead above water,
and-cried for help.
No sooner had the crowd who witnessed
the terrible and unexpected disaster recov
ered from the shock which it occasioned,
than black and white, regardless of person
al safety, leaped into the current to rescue
their unfortunate brothers. In the confu
sion whieh necessarily followed, Colonel
Branch lost his hold and was drowed before
help could reach him. We say he was
drowned, because there was no fracture of
his skull and only slight wounds about his
head and free. Robert Ashby, white, in
falling, was struck upon the head by a piece
of timber, which literally parted his skull
and inflicted a mortal wound upon him.
Robert Lotsey, white, also received a frac
ture of the external table of the skull on
the back part of his head. Peter Campbell,
colored, had his skull fractured on the right
side, and was paralyzed on the left side of
his body, Abram Hall, colored, In leaping
into the stream to rescue his drowning
fellows, had his shoulder dislocated. John
Morris aud Alexander Shepherd, both white,
were but slightly hurt, the former about
the loins.
Colonel Branch remained in the water
five minutes or more, and when his body
was rescued, life was already extinct,
although shortly afterwards It was thought
he breathed faintly. Ashby and L-otsey
were speedily gotten out of the water, but
•both were insensible. The others were
with less difficulty rescued.
BRAVE MEN. :
Among the br&ve men who, at the risk of
their own lives, leaped into the stream as
above- stated, were Squire Bob Allen,
Abram Hall, colored, Isaac Hatcher, col
orfed, Wm. Peasley, detective O’Dwyer,
Win. K. Sledd, Alberi*Cooke, colored, and
others, whose names we could not learn iu
the confusion which prevailed. Tiieir braye
deeds, however, are none the less creditable
to their good hearts because their names,
for the reasons given, are not published.
the victims of the disaster.
Colonel James R. Branch, whose untime
ly death the city now mourns, was a native
of Petersburg, where he was born in 1829.
During the war he commanded first a bat
tery and then a regiment of artillery, and
since the termination of hostilities has been
in business in this city as a member of the
well known banking house of Thomas
Branch & Cos., the senior member of which
was his father. He was the Conservative
nominee on the Senatorial ticket for this
district, and had done more than almost
any other man in the city to attract our
people to its support. One of the best and
most energetic of our business men, he car
ried into politics a life and zeal that was
absolutely contagious. It was in fact his
activity in everything connected with the
cause in which his whole heart and soul
were enlisted that carried him where he
lost his life. Well may Richmond sorrow
over the death of such a son, for she can ill
afford to lose him in this day of her need
and trial.
Colonel Branch leaves a wife and six
children to mourn the loss of a devoted hus
* band and a kind and affectionate father.
In their sad bereavement they have the
sympathy of a whole community.
[From the Richmond Whig, July Sth.
IN MEMORIAM.
The Late James R. Branch.
TRIBUTES TO HIS MEMORY.
RESOLUTIONS OF THE CONSERVATIVE STATE
CENTRAL COMMITTEE-REMARKS OF PAT
RICK HENRY AYLETT, ESQ—MARKS OF RE
SPECT BY THE CORN AND FLOUR EX
CHANGE, RICHMOND AND HENRICO CON
SEBTATirB oojcMiTTEfiH, *c. — RESOLU
TIONS OF THE TOBACCO ASSOCIATION—
CONDOLENCE WITH THE BEREAVED FAMI
LY-TRIBUTES OF THE PETERSBURG PA
PERS.
On Saturday, the Conservative State Cen
tral Committee was convened at their
rooms, on Main street, to pay a proper
tribute of respect to their departed fellow
member, Colonel James R. Branch, the cir
cumstances of whose untimely death are
known to our readers.
RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT.
Mr. P. H. Aylett offered the lollowing pre
amble and resolutions, which were unani
mously adopted:
In the death of onr beloved friend and
associate, James R. Branch, we suffer a.be
reavment too deep ancl sorrowful for words
to express. Snatched from our side in the
midst of the greatest contest in which we
were jointly engaged, whilst his desires
were as warm and his hopes as eager as our
own, it does, indeed, most feelingly tell us
“ what shadows we are and what shadows
we pursue.”
How he tolled in that work—how un
spairingiy he devoted time, talents and
means to its success, we best know, but
his city, his State and his people, must
acknowledge to him a debt of gratitude
which now, alas! can never be repaid.—
And let it be known and remembered that
his life was lost in a magnanimous effort
for the restoration of social peace, in the
endeavor to call back an erring and de
luded race to the paths of interest and duty.
But it is the severing of our personal rela
tions with him that afflicts us with the
keenest sorrow. We miss and shall miss
forever the bright and genial smile, the
cordial salutations, the sagacious counsel,
the frank, but well-considered speech, and
all those out-speaking evidences of solid,
manly worth, which charmed while they so
endeared him to us, his near associates.
To his afflicted father and brethren, and
to that dear home circle, of which he was
the pride, the ornament and stay, we tender
our deepest and warmest sympathies. Our
hearts bleed for them. Wemingle our tears
with theirs.
Resolved, That we will iu a body attend
the funeral of our friend, and wear for him
the usual badge ot mourning for thirty
days.
REMARKS OF MR. AYLETT.
Mr. Aylett, in moving the adoption ol
these resolutions, said that the sudden and
terrible calamity which has cast a glooin
over our city, and carried grief unutterable
into households lately so happy, has also
deprived this committee of one of its most
able, patriotic and distinguished members.
Not only do we mourn in the untimely death
of Col. James R Branch, a friend, who was
endeared to us by many generous, manly
and chivalrous traits of quality—not only
are onr hearts bleeding for the noble old
father, who has lost his pride aud first born,
and for that wife who has been made deso
late by an irreparable loss—and for those
children who are now fatherless—but we
mourn his death as a great public calamity.
The brief life of the deceased, who, so full
of examples of bravery, public spirit and
patriotism, that it is a radiant example for
the imitation of all, when the welfare of his
State and section demanded it, there, was
no sacrifice which he was not ready to
make.
When the honor of his State called her
sons co the field he was among the first to
go so th and fearlessly expose his life in the
perilous front of battle. When the wounds
and accidents of war disabled and forced
him from the field, his splendid public spirit
and radiant patriotism were still felt until
defeat furled forever the banners of the
late Confederacy. His State no longer de
manding his services in the field, he became
a resident of this city, and at once won
honor and distinction as one of our most
far-sighted, public-spirited and intelligent
business men and capitalists. He was fore
most among those enterprising men who,
casting his fortunes into a city shattered,
torn und half consumed by the casualties of
civil war, rebuilt its ruined streets, and
placed capital within the reach of labor.—
His exertions in the establishment of that
Merchants’ Exchange which has become
the pride of our city, and his well directed,
persistent and able efforts to extend the
trade ,and commerce of Richmond, are
known to all.
But, continued Mr. Aylett, his skill and
bravery as a soldier, and his sagacity and
acuteness as a business man, while placing
him High upon the rolls of Virginia’s honor
ed dead, will not prove Colonel Branch’s
highest claims to the love and admiration
'of posterity. What he has done daring the
last two years, and more especially his la
borers for the past month, entitle him to
something more euduring than mere monu
mental marble and bronze.
Like that soldier who guarded the bridge
when Rome was beleaguered by hosts of
barbarian enemies, and who became immor
tal by the heroic performance of a great
duty, Colonel Branch perished in the per
formance of a duty as worthy of honor as
that of the soldier who dies upon the battle
field.
If it shall please God to crown our great
struggle for Peace, Honor, and Equal
Rights with victory, the historian will
award high meed of praise to the patriotic
men who, like Colonel Branch (and the
President of this committee) were the Car
nots —the Organizers of Victory. If Vir
ginia shall, on the 6th of July, cast off the
malign influences which are crashing her,
and peace and prosperity shall again bless
our people, much of our success will be due
to those who, when apathy and despair op
pressed and fettered all classes, devoted
their time, talents, and energies to organiz
ing and arousing the masses to the great
work of State regeneration.
Those to whom I address these words,
said Mr. Ayle.t, best know what an able,
energetic and indefatigable coadjutor the
distinguished chairman of this committee
and the rest of us had in Colonel Branch.
This work he performed unselfishly and un
ambitiously, for when he neither sought or
desired it; the admiration and gratitude of
the people of this district thrust upon him
a nomination for the Senate. With talents
for debate of a very high order, and with a
style of popular eloquence, brilliant, effec
tive and captivating, he kept his great
talents modestly concealed, while his en
ergy, his zeal and his entreaties called to
the front many who were in no way his
superiors. Without the aid of Col. Branch’s
great executive talents the Conservative
party would not to-day have been cheered
by the prospect of speedy and brilliant vic
tory.
There was something, said Mr. Aylett,
peculiarly touching and characteristic in
the circumstances attending his sadden
death. He ardently desired the restoration
of kindly relations between the two races
in this city, and deplored the wicked in
fluences by which that relation had been
disturbed. He entertained for the colored
race feelings of the warmest esteem, and
always asserted that they were not to be
blamed for the attitude of hostility which
they occupied towards their best friends.
Long before he expected or desired the
slightest personal advantage from the res
toration of the kindly relations which once
existed between the two races in Virginia,
he was earnest in his entreaties to the
prominent speakers of the ’ Conservative
party to appeal to the good sense and rea
'son of the colored people. The peace and
prosperity of the State which he loved so
ardently depended upon the political har
mony of two races whose fate bound them
together for better or for worse. And he per
ished in a noble effort to bring aboat this
happy result, and when he fell into the
foaming flood, wounded unto death by the
timbers of the broken bridge, among those
who most imperilled their lives to save him
was a colored citizen, whose efforts to
unite the two races in bonds of indissoluble
friendship had but a few moments, before
the terrible accident received the warmest
commendations of the deceased.
Looking to the noble purpose that in
spired this gentleman, who will hesitate to
award to him the highest honors which a
mourning and gratelul people pay to the
memory of the hero who gives up his life to
make his State happy and prosperous.
While we weep with his family, the dark
est hour of their agony and adversity
should be cheered and the load of their
grief lightened by the thought that the
dutiful son aud affectionate husband and
father who has been snatched from them by
death, leaves a memory which a State will
honor ;<s proudly as though he had fallen
when his valor flashed in the front of battle.
MEETING OF THE CORN AND FLOUR EX-
CHANGE ASSOCIATION..
The Corn and Flour Exchange Associa
tion of the city of Richmond met on Satur
day, 3d inst., to consider the action proper
to be taken with reference to the untimely
»odri en ip SS of one of its most honored
members, and adopted unanimously th« fol
lowing resolutions:
1. Resolved, That the death of Colonel
James R. Branch is a calamity to the whole
State of Virginia.
2. Resolved, That this Association has
lost a most enterprising and useful niember,
whose efforts were mainly instrumental iu
founding the institution, and whose loss
will long be felt and deplored.
3. Resolved, That we attend his funeral
in a body.
4. Resolved, That a copy of these resolu
tions be sent to the family of the deceased,
and the same be published in the city
papers.
11. E. C. Baskervill, Chairman. ■
P. G. Coghlan, Secretary.
After the adoption of the above resolu
tions, the members of the Association re
solved themselves into a meeting of citi
zens, and in a most feeling manner gave
expression to their sorrow for the other suf
ferers also by the accident which cost thfe
lamented Colonel Branch his life, and their
deep and heartfelt condolence with their
families.
RICHMOND AND HENRICO CONSERVATIVE
COMMITTEES.
At a meeting of the Richmond and Hen
rico Conservative Committee, held on the
2d inst., the following resolutions were
moved and unanimously adopted :
1. That in the untimely and sudden death
of Gol. James R. Branch, the jnemoers of
this committee have not only lost an es
teemed friend, but this community and the
State he loved so well have been bereft of
a trusty and valued citizen, whose devotion
to the intereses of this city and the welfare
of the State has been most signally illus
trated in every hour either of prosperity or
peril.
2. That this committee will attend his
funeral iu a body, and will wear the usual
badge of mourning for thirty days.
3. That this committee also expresses its
sympathy not only with the living sufferers
by the same sad accident that removed
Colonel Branch from our midst, but also
with the families of those who lost their
lives.
4. That the proceedings of this meeting
be published in the journals of this city,
and a copy thereof be communicated to the
family of the deceased.
T. W. MoCahce, Chairman.
JP. G. Coghlan, Secretary.
TOBACCO ASSOCIATION.
At a called meeting of the Tobacco As
sociation, held in their Exchange (this
morning} July 3d, 1869, E. O. Nolting,
President, in the chair.
The President, on taking the chair, said
that it was his painful duty to announce to
the Trade the sad intelligence of the sud
den death of pur esteemed friend.and asso
ciate, Col. James R. Branch.
On motion ot Mr. James A. Scott, a com
mittee of three were appointed, by the
chair, to report suitable resolutions for the
meeting
The chair appointed the following com
mittee : James A. Scott, D. T. Williams and
Col. Peyton Wise.
The committee retired, and upon their
return reported the following resolutions
which were unanimously adopted :
Whereas, it has pleased an All-wise
Providence to remove suddenly from our
midst our esteemed friend and feliow asso
ciate. Colonel James? R. Branch, of the
house of Messrs Thos. Branch* Cos., there
fore,
Resolved, That we bow with humility and
resignation to this dispensation, knowing
that God’s ways are not as man’s ways;
that he does not willingly afflict the sons of
men, and that we cannot and must not pre‘
judge events, but leave all things to His
diviue will and control; yet we have the
sacred privilege of mingling our tears and
sympathies with his family, aud showing
our appreciation and respect for the mem
ory of our deceased friend and companion.
2. Resolved, That in the death of Col.
Branch we have lost au esteemed associate
and society an.honored aud useful member.
3. Resolved, That we will attend, his
funeral iu a body.
4. Resolved, That we tender to the family
of our deceased companion our heartfelt
sympathy in this their sad bereavement.
5. Resolved, That a copy of these resolu
tions be sent to the family of Colonel Branch;
to his father, Thomas Branch, Esq., express
sive of our sympathy, and be published in
the city papers.
The President appointed the following
pall-bearers: James A.Scott and D. T. Wil
liams.
On motion, the meeting adjourned.
E. O. Nolting, President.
R. A. Mills, Secretary. ... $
TRIBUTE fiY THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE*
Ht a meeting of the Board of Directors,
held on Saturday, July 3, 1869, the follow
ing preamble and resolutions were unani
mously adopted:
u Whereas, By a mysterious dispensatioa
of Divine Providence, to which we can onl j
bow in humble submission, we are called te
mourn the sudden death of our belovea
friend and associate, Col. James R. Branch
in the midst of his years and his usefulness
and the natural impulses of our affectiot
prompt us to recall and commemorate hit
virtues; be it
Resolved, That we shall ever respect and
revere the memory of our departed friend
and bear in remembrance those high quali
ties which adorned his walk in public and
in private life—his energy and public
spirit as a citizen and associate at this
Board—his geniality and sincerity as a
companion—his kindness and devotion in
all the relations of home—and his charity
to all men.
Resolved, That We unite our warmest
sympathies with the deeper sorrow of those
who mourn the loss of a faithful and de
voted son, husband and father.
Resolved, That these resolutions be re
corded and a copy of them be sent by the
Secretary to the family of Colonel Branch
and that this Board will attend his funeral
in a body.
"David I. Burr, President.
P. G. Coghlan, Secretary.
A resolution was adopted appointing
David I. Burr, Esq., and John Purcell, Esq.
pall-bearers.
COLONEL BRANCH’S FUNERAL.
Owing to the fact that our paper goes to
press Saturday night, we cannot give an
account of Colonel Branch’s funeral until
to-morrow.
PETERSBURG PATS HER TRIBUTE.
Petersburg, the native city of Col.
Branch, heard of his sad death with a feel
ing of undescribable sorrow, and her la
mentation found eloquent expression In the
touching obituaries from the pen of the
gifted editors of the Index and JBxpress
which we append. 1
. t“8 a S ecl to bring his
friendsof that city to his fuueral_ an d the
railroad company put the fare so low that
even the poorer of its citizens who ever
found a friend in him were enabled to at
tend#
_ lFrom the Index.
Would that feeling did not intervene
that the shrinking of sorrow from public
gazadid not forbid expression—then might
we indite a fitting lament for our untimely
dead The cold conventionality of type
ttejettled phrase of professional routine’
, J B*, COnvey to tllis comm unity an echo
of t eir lament. A pall of sorrow has fall*
en 1 j«08s our path of hope ; there will be
glooji in the accomplishment of desire, the
drapery of mourning around the eagles of
vichf'y, the mingling of cypress with the
ollv<* boughs of peace. A true man hns
gonefrorn ns, an honest heart, a willing
hah4 have ceased to labor for the common
we<& On the eve of triumph, in the noon
dayOf usefulness, there has fallen a Vir
gintfn without fear and above reproach.
Our'people will sorrow for James R. Branch
—w»h sorrow too deep for empty w<sr«ls.
With them, and with those upon whom the
bloW falls heaviest, we mourn.
From the Express.
The telegraph last evening conveyed an
announcement that shocked this communi
ty to its very centre, for one of the most
cherished and trusted sous of Petersburg
had pas sed suddenly from a life of active
and pervading usefulness, to the land where
the good are at rest. The telegram received
at this office, brought the sadening intelli
gence that Colonel James R. Branch had
been killed by the fall of a bridge.
Colonel Branch, the son of our respected
fellow citizen, Thomas Branch, commanded
inthe Confederate service an artillery bat
talion which he had raised and equipped
himself; and no battalion did more efficient
satVlbe than his. Asa business man he
Eid high among the highest and best, *
s a man he was the peer of the
t; large hearted' and liberal in
iwß, and of that loftiness of character
larks the nobleman of nature,
gloom caused by this casualty pre
the whole city of Richmond, for we
3 by passengers by the last train that
the stores had all closed as soon as the fact
was made known. Petersburg joins Rich
mond to-day in this bereavement, and the
wail that the one utters will find its echo
in the hearts of thecitizeusof this city.
—
. The Corn Question.—One of our lead
ing grain and provision houses iu Macon
received yesterday the following :
St. Louis, July 3,1869.
Gentlemen: You no doubt have observ
ed the steady advance in our corn market.
To-day and yesterday we made purchases
at for choice St. Charles, white, and
89<@90 for mixed white, and 80@84 for
'mixed and yellow, for choice grades. We
much fear figures will go still higher. We
have not been mistaken in our judgment
this season so far, and think now we have
good cause for notilying our friends that
further advances may be looked for. Flour
very scarce. So much that orders for X
and XX aud superflnes can’t be filled, even
an advance of 60 cents per barrel.
Respectfully,
Marmadukr Brown.
The circular of Coates & Alden, of the
same date, quotes the agricultural depart
ment monthly report for May and June as
follows:
*• Cotton. —The high prices have stimu
lated the business of cotton growing. New
operators have flocked into it; old planta
tions have enlarged their boundaries, aud
the indications are that prices will decline.
An increase of twenty-five per cent when in
bale», will yield, no increase in dollars, and the
profits of the culture, as of yore, will be absorb
ed in the purchase of corn arm bacon, which
should be raised and cured at home."
We think the Southern planters, when
they thus see even the corn dealers of St.
Louis admonish them to raise their own
bread and wheat might well dispense with
further argument. Corn and wheat are
destined to be high. Fortunately the corn
crop of this year will be far more abundant
than we had any right to expect, and, no
doubt, many of our planters will raise a
sufficiency for their own consumption. But
as to the general average, we have no doubt-
Cfeorgla will be short at least eight or ten
millions of bushels.
[Macon Telegraph.
Revenue Seizures.—The Internal Re
venue officers came down upon some of our
whisky and tobacco merchants yesterday
with all the stunning effects of a pile of
brick from a four-story scaffold. It seems
that a secret detective agent of the Govern
ment has been in the city for the last two
or three weeks, spotting certain houses and
merchants that he thought were defraud
ing the Government, and after he had made
out his list of delinquents, he turned it over
to the local revenue agent, who proceeded,
yesterday, to confiscate a large quantity of
tobacco, cigars and whisky, found in the
hands of several of our most prominent and
reliable dealers.
We understand that about sixty indict
ments were entered against these merchants,
and several of them placed under bond.—
Until further developments are made, we
suppress names; but we must say that we
are sure the revenue laws are so complicat
ed that it would take a Philadelphia lawyer
to understand them sufficiently to comply
with their demands We know that the
property of one or two merchants was seiz
ed yesterday who, like ourselves, were per
fectly ignorant of what the law requires in
every particular, and would have cheerfully
complied with its demands if they had only
known what they were.
[Macon Telegraph, Bth.
From Monroe County.—' The Monroe
Advertiser , of the 7th instant, prints the fol-.
lowing:
The crops continue to promise well. In
deed, we are told on every hand that the
prospects for a large crop in this county
are better than fora number of years before;
and it is quite likely that there has never
been a period in the history of this county
when the seasons have been so generally
propitious as ior the past six mouths. A
general satisfaction is manifest in the face
of our farmers, and they are working with
a will. A great many have laid by their
corn, and consider it as good as made.
Cotton is healthy and vigorous, and, unless
some unforeseen disaster cuts it short, will
yield a large crop.
A subscriber in Jasper county informed
us yesterday that the crops in his section
have had no rain since the 24th ult.
If the dry spell continues another week, it
will result in serious injury to both corn
and cotton, though, as yet, both crops are
looking well.
Death by Drowning. —We learn that a
young man—whose name has not transpir
ed—leaped from the end of the ferry boat
at Key’s Ferry, on the Ocmulgee, one day
last week and was drowned. The body
was found after a search of four hours.
Those present at the tim£. express the opin
ion that the leap was taken with the inten
tion of committing suicide. We have heard
no cause assigned.
Railroad Extensions.—We are inform
ed that the Central Railroad Company con
templates the immediate extension of the
branch of the Southwestern Railroad be
tween Smithville and Albany, from Alba
ny down to Newton, Baker county, and
that a surveying party will leave this city
on Monday next, to select the most practi
cable route for the extension. The party
will survey on one side of the Flint river
in going from Albany to Newton, and on
the other side in returning, when estimates
of the two lines will be made out, and the
immediate construction of that one will
begin which is declared to be the cheapest
and most practicable.
When tlie surveyors shall have complet
ed this work, they will immediately pro
ceed to Fort Gaines and survey for an ex
tension of .the Cuthbert and Fort Gaines
branch road, from the latter point to Abbe
ville, Henry county, Ala. Both of these
extensions are very nearly of the same
length, about 23 miles each, and both pass
through very productive cotton regions.
They are to be built at the earliest possi
ble day. . A A
We apprehend that the Albany and New
ton extension Will,'to some extent, break
into -the arrangements of the Thomasville
and Albany Road, but we do not exactly
know how seriously it may affect its con
struction, if at all, —Macon Telegraph,
Edgefield Items.
From the Edgefield (S. C.) Advertiser, of
the 7th, we extract the following items:
Daily Mail. —From this time forth (for
ever more, we hope) we are to have a daily
mail. The old tri-weekly contract has ex
pired; aud a uew order of things has begun
as regards mail and postal matters. Mr.
D. L. Turner is our mail contractor, Mr.
Wilson Grice is our postmaster.
Executive Clemency.— We are pleased
to announce that old Mr. Andrew Moyer,
tried at the June term of Court for the
murder of John Autrey, found guilty of
manslaughter, and sentenced to two years
imprisonment in the penitentiary, has, upon
a petition from many of our best citizens,
endorsed by the presiding judge, been par
doned by Gov. Scott. On Thursday last
he was released fron jail and returned to
his family.
Protracted Meeting at Mount Ta
bor.—We are requested to announce that
the members qf the Mount Tabor Baptist
Church, assisted by Rev. A. P. Norris, and
perhaps other ministers, will hold religious
meetings at that church, commencing on
Saturday before the third Sunday in this
month, and continue them for several days.
/Ministers and all interested are invited to
attend.
Shooting Affray in the Dark Corner.
—-Un Wednesday last, near Tucker’s, in the
Dark Corner, a citizen of that region,
named Wm. Towles, was shot and seriously
wounded. It seems that a man by the
name of Truit was driving a wagon along
the road, when Towles suddenly stepped
up and knocked down one of his mules.—
Upon this Truit shot Towles and wounded
him seriously in the stomach. It turns out
that Towles mistook Truit for some other
man against whom he had a grudge. At
last accounts, Towles was doing well.
An Ugly Piece of Business. —On the
nightof the 25th of May last, after the elec
tion for Coroner at Pleasant Lane, a negro
man named Reuben Bmyly, living on the
plantation of Ransom Mimmerman, Esq.,
was very severely beaten by parties still
unknown. On Wednesday last, this negro
died. A coroner’s inquest was held upon
the body, by Lemuel Corley, Esq., and the
verdict rendered, was, if we mistake not,
that the deceased came to his death from
the effects of the beating received on the
25th of May. Several gentlemen of the
Pleasant Lane neighborhood are being im
plicated, by the reports of negroes, in this
affair; but as yet no arrests have been
made.
The Case of Martha Harris for
Passing Forged and Counterfeit
Money.— Our friends of the Augusta press
have been misinformed in regard to the pro
ceedings in this .case. Martha Harris, a
bright mulatto woman, and a resident of
this city, was arrested not long since for
passing forged and counterfeit money, and
on Monday last her case came up before
the United States Commissioner, W. B.
Smith, when, waiving an examination, she
was required to give bond in the sum of
$1,500 for her appearance at court to an
swer the charges against her. Gen. L. J.
Gartrell and Mayor Hulsey appeared as
her counsel. We learn that she made some
confessions —affirming her own innocence
of any attempt at fraud—which implicated
a party or parties in Washington City and
Philadelphia by whom she avers she was
imposed upon. Turner, the Postmaster at
Macon, appeared here as a subpoenaed wit
ness in her behalf. He was neither arrest
ed nor “put in irons.” He reached this
city early on Monday morning, and re
mained here during the day, perambulating
at pleasure the streets of our city. What
may grow out of the arrest of the woman,
Martha Harris, implicating others, we arc
not prepared to say. The arrest of the par
ties she has implicated may bring to light
that which is yet hidden, in regard to those
of whom she has evidently been either an
accomplice or an instrument to put the
forged and counterfeit money in circula
tion.—Atlanta Intelligencer, Bth.
A Heart-Rending Spectacle. —On last
Saturday, the 3d inst., as a lumber train
was passing this place, going down, Rich
ard Myddlcton, a little boy of ten years of
age, from Savannah, oil a visit to his rela
tives here, attempted to jump from the
warehouse platform to the train while in
was in motion—missed his footing—fell be
tween the cars and was literally ground up
from his hips downward. He survived
only a few hours. He was the son of Jas.
W. Mjflddleton, formerly of Savannah. His
remains were taken to his widowed mother
the same day. ,
If this is not a salutary warning to those
boys who make a constant practice of
jumping on and off the train while in mo
tion, we don’t know what cau be.
[ Valdosta Times.
Severe Electric Shock to Several
Young Ladies.— During the thunderstorm
on Monday last, several of the pupils at
the Sumter (S. C.) Institute, of which Mrs.
Laura A. Browne is principal, experienced
a severe shock of electricity, prostrating
them upon the floor. Miss Cecilia Moise,
daughter of Mr. C. H. Moise, was very
much prostrated, her hands and feet be
coming rigid and cold. Prompt use of hot
water to the feet, and rubbing the hands
and arms with brandy, restored circulation,
and next morning she was much better.—
Miss Ada Lyon, a ward of Mr.E. W. Moise,
was very strangely affected. She did not
feel any discomfort until about two hours
after the shock, when she was seized with,
such alarming symptoms as to cause con
siderable uneasiness. She is now fully re
covered. Several other young ladies re
ceived shocks more or less severe. The
lightning appears to have run down the
lightning rod, glanced through the school
room and out at the opposite window. The
house escaped injury.
The Cartersville and Van Wert
Railroad.— Some anxiety, colored some
what with curiosity, is being manifested by
the people along the projected line of the
Cartersville and Van Wert Railroad, to
know, why this enterprise is not pushed
forward with more vigor. Some have
already expressed doubt and misgivings as
to its final consummation, and think that
the tardiness of its movement is an indica
tion of probable abandonment or failure.
We have it from the lips of the President
of the Board of Directors, Major Cooper,
that the idea of failure has never been en
tertained for a moment; but that they have
met with opposition in the right of way
entirely unexpected and unanticipated by
the Board. And that if they had all the
tools and hands to go to work at once, they
have not, as yet, been able to see their way
out of the town of Cartersville, and that
must be settled before a lick can be struck
towards Shoveling dirt or breaking ground
even. —Cartersville Express.
Dead.— On Sunday night, the Rev.\John
Long, of Thomasville, North Carolina, a
Methodist minister, began preaching so
quite a good audience in Wesley Chapel,
(Mr. Kimball’s,) very suddenly his voice be
came thick and his face livid, and at the
solicitation of Mr. Kimball, he sat down. —
Mr. Kimball concluded the services, after
dismissing the congregation he discovered
that Mr. Long was quite ill. He was re
moved to the residence -of Mr. Kimball,
medical attention was called in, but in vain.
He died Monday morning about 5 o’clock.
Mr. Long was bnried on Wednesday morn
ing with Masonic honors. We learn that
his age was fifty-five or six. He had been
boarding at the Calhoun House for four or
five weeks, and was quiet and unassuming
in his manners. —Atlanta Intelligencer.
A Warning.— A Western paper gives the
following warning which it would do well
to heed:
“ The people at this season should look
out for the large worm which infests the
tomato vines. Its sting is deadly poison.
It is of a green color, two or three inches
loug, and as large as a man’s finger. At
Red Creek, Wayne county, a few days ago,
a servant girl, while gathering tomatoes,
received a puncture from one of these
worms, which created a sensation similar
to that of a bee sting. In a short time the
poison penetrated to every part of her
system, and she was thrown into spasms
which ended in death.”
Atlanta and West Point Railroad.—
On Tuesday, at a meeting of the directors
of the above road, held in this city* a divi
dend of $4 per share was declared for the
past six month**. Under the skillful manage
ment of Col. Grant, the road maintains its
usual healthy and prosperous condition.
[Atlanta Intelligeneer,
Gone to Europe.— Mr. B. 11. Micou left
for Europe last Wednesday, to purchase
new machinery for the Tallassee Manufac
turing Company, which is being enlarged
to double its present capacity. The wood
and brick work is now being rapidly done,
aud will be completed in a few weeks more.
This • factory js one of the best managed
corporations in the country.
[Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, Bth.
Earthquakes. —The Huntsville (Ala.)
Democrat, of. the 2d inst., says that at 2,2
o’clock, that morning, the citizens there
were aroused from their slumbers by the
shock of an earthquake, which lasted about
fifteen seconds. It was also felt 8- few miles
from the city.
At the same hour, says the Nashville
Union and American, a similar shock was
vpry sensibly felt in Edgefield, which con
tinued for several minutes. But, strange
to say, was not felt in Nashville.
Railroad Accident. —A collision occur
red on the Greenville aud Columbia Rail
road, near Alston, yesterday morning,
about half-past 8 o’clock, between the up
passenger train and a train having Ames’
circus and menagerie aboard. The loco
motives were somewhat damaged, but, for
tunately, only one person was injured, (a
man named William Wilson, connect
ed with the circus), aud he is not consider
ed dangerously hurt.
[Columbia (ft. (7.) Phoenix, vth.
The Legal . Shebiff. —The Warrenton
Clipper, of the 7th, says :
“ Judge Garnett Andrews decided, in
Chambers, on Monday last, at Washington,
Ga., that John Raley is the legal, and only,
sheriff of Warren county* This decision
puts somebody in a precarious fix. Bul
lock won’t feed 4 Chap ’ much longer, and
we soon hope to hear of some county hav
ing that privilege.
Anew circus trick just introduced in
Paris is for a man to leap from a height of
eighty feet and bound back again to the
original spot. The performer Is fastened
to an elastic cord.
BY TELEGRAPH.
| Associated Press Dispatcfaes
WASHINGTON.
Washington, July B—Noon.—Grant has
expressed to several gentlemen satisfaction
with the result, and gratification with the
peacefulness of the Virginia election.
The proclamation for the Mississippi and
Texas elections is expected to-day. Ames
and Reynolds will be instructed against
partiality toward either party in the pre
liminaries to the elections.
Georgians here are urging the establish
ment, partially to be supported by the
Government, of an asylum for the aged and
infirm negroes in that State. It is stated
that Howard supports the scheme.
Tiie Cubans here are merry over the re
ported capture of three powder mills at Na
il ua. The patriots, they say, have no pow
der mill.
The Secretary of the Treasury Co-day is
sued an order transferring the laboratory
buildings at Macon to the Georgia State
Agricultural Society, to hold until the Ist
of January.
Washington, July 9.—P. M.—Revenue
to-day, $690,000.
General Banks has gone to Europe.
Governof- Flanders, of Louisiana, is at
Willard’s.
The British Legation is at Newport.
Patent Commissioner Fisher, lias return
ed.
Silas I). Wood, Collector Fourth Texas
Revenue District, was qualified to-day.
Motley has neither made nor received
propositions regarding Alabama claims.
Woll'ord and Jenks, of Mississippi, visit
ed tiie President to-day.. They have as
surances of utter impartiality in the ap
proaching contest, so far as the administra
tion is concerned, and haveas.suranees that
the commanding general will be restrained
from any show of partiality. A free and
unbiased contest between the people, pro
vided violence and ruffianism be avoided,
is all the administration requires. It will
only interfere in behalf of peace.
Gen. John Cochrane will accept the Reve
nue Collectorship of the Sixth New York
District, if any national bank will keep
open for him. Boutwell is arranging to
have Cochrane’s deposits reserved to the
close of his business hours.
Cuban partizans have the followiug
advices, received in this city from Neuvitas
and Puerto Principe to the 27th ultimo,
and from Puerto del Padre and Las Tunas
to the 26th: There has been no movement
of a decided character in either district.
The Spaniards have been reinforced at
Neuvitas and are thus enabled to retain
possession of the railroad from that city to
Puerto Principe aud give succor to the
garrison of the latter named city, which is
threatened by the Cubans under General
Quesada. In the Puerto del Padre dis
trict there ha ve been several skirmishes.—
The health of the Cuban army is reported
to be very good, and that it is rapidly in
creasing in numbers and effectiveness.—
There is great anxiety to know the views
of the United States Government aud the
position it will occupy in the contest.
The Navy Department has advices that
Guperon, with his gunboat Telegrafo, is
molestiug American vessels in the Carra
bian Sea.
Grant thinks Mississippi and Texas will
follow Virginia’s lead.
The health of Rawlins, Secretary of
War, is not feeble.
The election in Mississippi will probably
not occur until the fourth Tuesday in
November. This will throw this election
after those of Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Nothing definite has transpired regard
ing Texas election, but it is thought it will
be equally remote.
Cabinet lasted until three o’clock. The
discussion was.'spirited. Boutwell’s policy,
favoring extreme views regarding a par
tial retention of disfranchisement and de
lay until after important Northern elec
tions, prevailed. Tiie friends of Hamilton,
in Texas, are indignant at the proposed de
lay which will keep those States out of the
Union until late in the year.
FOREIGN.
Havana, July 9.—Troop:; under Vali
nasda have captured the rebel entrenched
camp at Naguo, together with powder
mills and a quantity of war material, form
ing a complete arsenal.
Captain General Deßodas has issued a
proclamation closing all the ports on the
east end of the island except Sagur, Cafbar
ieu, Neuvitas, Gibara, Baracoa, Guantan
amo, Hani-Aig-o de Cuba, Manzanillo, Santa
Cruz, Sas!f ( Trmidaa and Ciehfticsw. Tea
sels and their crews, if armed, engaged in
bringing fillibusters to Cuba, are declared
pirates.
London. July 9.—The action of the
Lords on the Irish bill creates intense ex
citement. Bright and Gladstone answer
evasively to letters urging the recommence
ment of the Reform League agitation, and
express hope that the Lords will ultimately
yield.
Paris, July 9.—Political combination
continnes. The Emperor has decided to
give way to the Chambers and change the
system of Government.
Brest, July 9.—The Great Eastern is
1,734 knots out. Officers expected to reach
shoal soundings to-day.
NEW YORk.
New York, July 9. —Goodwin’s tobacco
factory at Brooklyn was adzed by revenue
officers.
No warrants have been yet issued against
brokers or money lenders, but the grand
jury is still taking evidence, and large
number of well known brokers have been
summoned.
Small pox has materially abated ai the
city. .
VIRGINIA.
Richmond, July 9.—Eighty-four counties
give 23,000 majority for Walker.
. MARINE NEWS.
Charleston, July 9.—Arrived: Schr.
Zeta Psi, from Belfast, Me.
. Sailed: M. Margaret and Lucy, for Prov
idence.
Savannah, July 9.—Cleared: Katie Ban
gor, for Jacksonville.
Wilmington, July 9.—Cleared: Steamers
J. W. Evermau, for New York; Lucille,
fo* Baltimore,
Local News.
The Turner Affair.— On Tuesday
morning last, we reported the arrest of
Turner, the Macon postmaster, as impli
cated in the passage of spurious hills on the
Fourth National Bank of New Jersey,
in connection with a mulatto woman, Ma
rion Harris, who had previously been ar
rested in Atlanta at the instance of mer
chants of tiiis city. In that report, we
stated that Turner was placed in irons and
carried to Atlanta by United States Mar
shal Smythe, Captain Tim Murphy, of At
lanta, aud Lieutenant E. B. Purcell, of the
Augusta Police.
We have since observed tkat'the Atlanta
Intelligencer denies that Turner was under,
arrest in Atlanta. The Macon Telegraph
also contains the substance of an inter
view had with Turner, in which he most
positively and unequivocally denied his ar
rest, and that the woman Harris, so far as
he knows, never made any such charges
against him. Inasmuch as we published
the announcement of this arrest, we esteem
it nothing but common justice to present
the denials made by and for Turner.
In doing this, however, we are called
upon in our own justification, to indicate
the source from which we derived the in
formation upon which our statement of
the affair was predicated.- We made
the declaration upon information given
us by a gentleman in whom we had
frequent occasion to repose confidence in the
collection of news items, and whose pre
vious information had never misled us in
the least essential of fact. He gave us the
statement as based upon personal knowl
edge, and we gave it to the public with full
confidence in its correctness, and not with
any desire to pander to a taste for the sen
sational or startling, much less to inflict
a positive injustice upon Turner, even
though perfectly obnoxious to us.
Our advices now are, that Turner is
discharging the duties of postmaster; that
the woman, Harris, who had been released
on bail of $1,500, has been re-arrested by
an officer of the United States Government
and imprisoned, in default of $5,000 bail.
Judge Hook’s House Burned.— We re
gret to report that the residence of J udge
J. S. Hook, on the Milledgeville road,
about three miles from the city, was com
pletely destroyed by fire, yesterday about
12 o’clock. Our Information is, that the
fire is presumed to have been the result of
accident, having originated in the kitchen,
located near the dwelling. It is said to
have caught from a stove pipe. Judge
Hook, we learn, saved the greater part of
his furniture. The premises, we believe,
are the property of Dr. L. A. Dugas.
Judge Hook was in attendance on the
Superior Court, and received the first inti
mations of his misfortune in the court
room.
Salaries of City Officers. —We are
gratified to learn from a source which we
consider entirely reliable, that the Com
mittee of the City Council having under con
sideration the increase of the salaries of city
officers, police and employees, have ar
ranged the ratio of increase, and that it
will lie at least fifteen per cent, above the
present salaries. And what is yet further
gratifying is, that when adopted by Coun
cil, it will be retroactive in its character,
extending back to the first of June. We
are glad that our city finances are in a
condition to justify this increase of sala
ries to a class of officials who have dis
charged their duties with so' much satis
faction to the citizens, and such general
fidelity to the trusts reposed in them.
Assault and Battery on His Wife.
Elijah T. Bennett was before Justices Mc-
Andrew aud Maher, yesterday, charged
witli assault and battery upon the person
of his wife, Mary Bennett. A. D. Picquet,
Esq., conducted the prosecution, and W.
Milo Olin, Esq., represented the defense.—
After an investigation of the case, the de
fendant was fined $25 and costs, or thirty
days in jail, and accepted the latter alter
native for lack of the necessary “ stamps.”
The Valdosta TiMES.-By the announce
ment in the last number of this excellent
weekly journal, we are informed that it
will be continued under the management
and proprietorship-of P. C. Pendleton, Jr.,
son of the late Major P. C. Pendleton.
Mr. L. W. Andrews, late associate editor,
retires, having been called to fill the Presi
dency of the Thomasville (N. C.) Female
College. We wish the Times prosperity
under its new management.
Obtaining Goods Under False Rep
resentations.—At the instance of J. J.
Pearce, Elijah B. Cates was before Justice
Ells, yesterday, on a charge of misdemean
or, in obtaining goods under false repre
sentations. The defendant waived an ex
amination, and was held to bail in the sum
of SSOO for his appearance at the January
term of the Superior Court.
The Georgia Teachers’ Association
will hold its regular meeting in Atlanta
on Wednesday, the 11th of August. Teach
ers throughout the State, whether mem
bers of the Assoeiatiou or not, are respect
fully and earnestly invited to attend. H.
H. Tucker, D, D., President of Mercer
University, is President of the Association.
Should Not be Done. —Wc are inform
ed tligt some of our citizens have recently,
after trimming their gardens, thrown into
the street trimmings of the ivy. Cattle
have devoured this vine, and, as a conse
quence, several Valuable have tu« f L
Exercise discretion in this matter, and do
not turn your clippings iuto the street.
Editorial Change— Mr. A. W. Reese,
who has, for more than two years, con
ducted the Macon Journal and Messenger
with great ability, retires from his edito
rial position to give place to Gen. Win. M.
Browne. Gen. B. is one of the most ac
complished publicists in this country, and
will undoubtedly make his mark in the
journalism of the State.
Death of an Old Citizen of Colum
bia.—The Columbia Plianix, of yesterday,
reports the death, on Thursday, of Mr.
John J. Rawls, who for forty-nine years has
been a resident of Columbia. He was born
on Broad river, a few miles above Colum
bia, on the 31st day of May, 1800; the fam
ily removed to that city a short time after
wards, where Mr. R. has steadily resided.
He leaves an extensive family and many
friends to mourn his loss.
Flourishing Town —The Columbus
(Ga.) Sun, speaking of Union Springs, Ala.,
says the place has rapidly grown. It has
now sixteen lawyers and eighteen doctors.
All are flourishing, and so is the town.
Day Sokooi. Visitor— Messrs. Prather
& Shecut, of Madison, have become the
publishers of this little weekly for the
young folks, retaining Mr. Martin V. Cal
vin as editor. The first number from their
press has been received, and presents a,
creditable appearance.