Newspaper Page Text
(Efitottttic ant)
W UDN LSDAY JUNE 3, 1874.
THE HARTWELL RAILROAD.
The Directors of the Augusta and
Hartwell Railroad have issued a call for
the remaining installment of the assess
ment upon the capital stock called for
several years ago. It will be remember
ed that ten percent, was called for and
two per cent, paid—leaving eight per
cent, unpaid. We hope the stockhold
ers will promptly respond. If they do
the outstanding indebtedness of the
company can be liquidated, the charter
relieved from all liabilities, and work
upon this important line commenced.
From what we can learn vigorous efforts
are making to get the road out of all its
difficulties, which we hope will be suc
cessful. When this is accomplished
then the people of Augusta must aid the
company to the extent of their ability.
It deserves, and should receive, a liber
al subscription, and we think that when
the road is rescued from its present em
barrassments there will be no difficulty
about the matter.
rome bonds.
The city of Rome proposes to get rid
of a heavy bonded debt in a very simple
manner—namely, by repudiating it.—
The citizens allege that all the issues of
bonds were made without authority of
law, and decline to pay them or to re
cognize their validity. A bill has been
filed by the tax payers and a temporary
injunction issued to restrain the pay
ment of the coupons of the following
bonds—all, we believe, which have been
issued by the corporation :
Issued for Fire Purposes 80,000
Issued for Water Works 100,000
Issued for Stock in Memphis
Branch Railroad 100,000
Issued for Stock in North and
South Railroad 100,000
Issued for Redeeming City Cur- __
reney 65,000
Issued fur Liquidating Floating
Debt 40,000
$410,000
We understand that considerably
more than a hundred thousand dollars
of these bonds have been sold to citi
zens of Augusta, and, as may well be im
agined, a lively interest is felt iu the
suit. A motion for a permanent injunc
tion will be argued on the 20th of June.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.
The Baltimore American is a paper
avowedly and strongly Republican, and
has heretofore been a warm and consist
ent supporter of the worst measures of
that party. But it shows strong symp
toms of disaffection in its comments up
on the civil rights bill which passed the
United States Senate last Saturday morn
ing. Os course it does not question the
power of Congress to frame such in
iquitous legislation ; nor does it doubt,
the justice of the measure. But. it
thinks that such a statute is inexpedi
ent and impolitic, and will do the class
in whoso interest it has been ostensibly
pressed more harm than good. It says,
and its words are significant:
‘‘Wo ore of the opinion that the
“ masses of the white people in the
“ Southern States are opposed to all the
“ provisions of the bill, and they will
“ refuse to assist in its enforcement,
“ Where the local sentiment is hostile
“ to a statute it becomes inoperative
and void. Although tho United States
“ Courts have jurisdiction in all cases
“ growing out of tho violation of the
“ proposed law, it will be impossible to
“ punish any considerable number of
“ those who refuse to obey it. For one
“ hotel keeper that will bo held to ac
“ count for refusing lodging and meals
“ to colored travelers, a thousand will
“ escape without punishment. Those
“ who arc prosecuted and fined will be
“ considered martyrs by their neigh
“ bors, and very probably some of the
“ States will undertake to pay all the
“ fines that may be imposed on any citi
“ zen who resists the law, and even pay
“ tho expenses incurred by tho defend
“ nuts when summoned into tho United
“ States Courts, as Maryland has done
“ in the case of such of her Registers of
“ voters as disregard tho enforcement
“ act. Considerations like these make
“ us doubt the expediency of the bill.”
The American it correct in its state
ment that tho masses of the white peo
plo of the Southern States are opposed
to the bill. The Southern whites are
an unit in their opposition to a measure
which is fraught with so much mischief
to them and to their section, haws
must reflect public sentiment, or else
their enforcement is impossible. Crimi
nal statutes which seek the punishment
of a whole people will remain inopera
tive unless backed by an army more
powerful than that people. No man
who violates the provisions of this bill
will deem himself a criminal, nor will
his neighbors consider the act. a crime.
The prosecution of such an offense will
be termed persecution, and the punish
ment inflicted considered martyrdom.
It will cause a feeling of hostility be
tween the two races to spring up which
will not pass away with this generation,'
and which cannot but produce disas
trous effects to both parties to the con
test. During the past four years politi
cal bitterness lias gradually been dying
out in the Southern States. The rela
tions between the two races have with
each succeeding year become more
friendly in their character. Time—the
gieat healer—wasdoiug his work rapidly
and effectually. But we fear that which
lias been done in this direction will be
undone, and that troubles, greater tlinu
any we have before experienced, will
ensue when this bill has beeu proclaimed
a law.
The American touches upon one no
tably bad effect of the measure:
“If the effect of the bill will lie to de
stroy the public schools in the South
•« eru States, we think that Congress
“ ought to hesitate long before making
“it a law. Were we thoroughly con
evinced that the civil rights bill as it
“ stands would put out these feeble
•< lights that now twinkle along the dark
“ horiton, we should add our protest to
“ those that have already beeu made
“ against its passage. Bather than run
“ the risk, we think it would be better
“ that the House of Representatives
“ should strike out the clause relating
“ to common schools.”
The American need have no doubt
upon this point. So certain as the civil
richt.s bill becomes a law just so certain
will the common school systems of
MarylaiiJ. Virginia. North Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky,
Missouri and Texas be swept away, and
the colored people of those States be left
to educate themselves as best they may.
Congress could not have devised a bet
ter or safer plan for keeping the blacks
us the South iu tho degrading boudage
•rt ignorance than that which it has
adapted.
We hope that the House of Represen
tatives will take these things into con
sideration, and that the Republican ma
jority in that branch of Congress will
hesitate before they strike a deadly
blow at the interests, not of the South
ern whites, but at the uatcrests of the
Southern blacks.
Congress is evidently determined to
ro-esi ahlish that dishonest nuisance
the fracking privilege. The members
in favor oi the have commenced
operations by throwing a sop to Cerbe
rus in the shape a bribe to the prqps.
A bill restoring the' tree exchange of
newspapers and their ree delivery to
subscribers has been fa reported
upon by the committee and proba
bly pass. This will be the .entering
wedge. Afterwards will come •**»"' so ~
called Congressional privilege,
will convert the postal service of
country into an electioneering rnacfc ine
for the politicians of both parties.
The Bibb County Agricultural Society
has been presented with a eopy of Web
ster's Dictionary. The Society is going
to plant it in the park.
THE BENEFITS OF PISCICULTURE
We learn from the Rochester (New
York) Democrat, that shad are selling
in that city ior fifty cents per pair, or
at the rate of sixpence per pound. This
resnit is due to the intelligent legisla
tion of the State, and to the good man
agement of the fish commissioners—one
of whom is Hon. HobaTio Seymour—
and the skill of their Superintendent,
Mr. Seth Green. The shad which two
or three years ago were beginning to
get scarce are now plentiful, and the
supply is so large and the price so small,
that they are brought within the reach
of the poorest citizen. The work of the
commissioners has not been confined to
the propagation of shad alone. When
they commenced operations the risers
and lakes of the State had been almost
entirely depleted of fish. Now they are
full of shad, trout, bass and salmon, and
millions of young fish are hatched out
everv year in the State spawning houses
and put. into the streams. Mr. Green
visited Augusta a year or two ago, and
made a thorough examination of the Sa
vannah and its fisheries. W e wish he
could be employed to thoroughly stock
that river with shad.
MIXED SCHOOLS.
The Columbia Union thinks that the
“Georgia Bourbons” are exercising
themselves very unnecessarily upon the
question of mixed schools and the Civil
Rights bill. The Union says that
though the bill declares the public edu
cational institutions shall be thrown
opeu to the blacks under penalty of fine
and imprisonment, the colored people of
Georgia do not desire to educate their
children with the whites; that there is
not the slighest necessity for abolishing
the common school system, as the
whites and blacks can be taught sepa
rately, notwithstanding the act, and
nothing will be said or done about it.
The Union is a staunch Radical paper
and stands by all the obnoxious
measures of its party, but it cannot
speak for the whole party. It can only
answer for the disgraceful and disgust
ing remnant of that organization which
rules and robs unfortunate South Caro
lina. When it assumes to speak for the
Radical party of the country it is at
tempting to cover more eggs than it will
ever be able to hatch out. Georgia can
not continue her present system if she
would. The principal object of the bill
is mixed schools. The provision pro
viding for the education of the two
races was adhered to pertinaciously and
pressed with vigor. Mr. Boutwell de
clared that the only way in which to
blot out all the prejudices and passions
of caste was by education in common;
that the lesson of equality learned in
the schools would never be forgotten.
Senator Saroent, of California, a Re
publican, and a friend of tho bill, of
fered an amendment proposing to per
mit just what the Columbia Union
says can be done without permission—
the education of the two race3 in differ
ent schools. Ilia party voted down the
amendment by a large majority, and in
sisted upon the original section. If the
teachers employed by the State of Geor
gia attempt to keep up the present sys
tem of separate schools, and shall re
fuse a colored child admission to a white
school, they will be punished by one
year’s imprisonment and a fineof a thou
sand dollars. The people of thP State
have been willing that the blacks should
enjoy all the educational privil iges af
forded the whites—indeed, it was for
the benefit of the former that the com
mon school system was adopted, for be
fore the war it was unknown and unne
cessary. There is an equal division of
the money, though the tuxes from which
the funds are raised are paid almost ex
clusively by the whites. The schools
for the blaeks are as numerous and as
good as those furnished the whites. The
standard of scholarship is as high nnd
the instruction as thorough. But they
are not willing to send their children to
the same schools with negroes, and they
will close all the school houses support
ed in whole or iu part by the public
funds. This will be the first fruits of
Civil Rights.
The Union says that Georgia dare not
take such a step, because the whites of
the State need education as badly as do
the negroes. The Union speaks with
its accustomed inaccuracy, and its sneer
is without point, because devoid of
truth. It is no reproach to the negroes
that they are ignorant, because it is
from no fault of theirs that they are un
educated ; but at the same time there is
no necessity for comparisons without
foundation. Tho whites did very well
without free schools prior to 1868, and
they cun get along just as well without
them now. At all events, it is better to
have no schools than mixed schools.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.
Although the Civil Rights bill passed
the Senate by a two-tliirds majority,
and though a tost vote showed a ma
jority iu its favor iu the House nearly
as large, the indications of the last few
days seem to foreshadow that the meas
■ ure will not become a laiv. The Wash
ington newspaper correspondents—those
Cbnuected with Republican as well as
with Democratic journals—nearly all
write that the House will not act upon
the bill during the present session ; and
while these gentlemen as a class are
not very reliable, still where all of them
agree upon a statement some faith
can be placed iu their assertions. They
say that if the bill comes before the
House it will pass, as the Republicans
are afraid to oppose it, but that they
will keep it iu the committee room until
adjournment. Several of the Southern
Republicans, especially those who owe
their election to a combination of white
and colored votes, regard it with dis
; favor, because they say its passage will
j drive every white Radical out of the
j party and into the ranks of the Pemo
-1 eracy, thus defeating the election of
i Republicans except iu those districts
where the blacks have a large nn-
I merical majority. Others of the
| party are fearful that the bill, instead of
i benetitting the Southern negroes, would
j really work them mischief by breaking
j up the free schools iu all the States ex
! cept iWth Carolina, Louisiana and Mis
j sissippi, where tue blacks rule, but
| which have been plundered to such an
, extent that there will soon be nothing
’ left for educational purposes. These
i point to tho agitation of the subject
which has already commenced in Vir
ginia, Tennessee and Georgia, and which
shows that the success of this measure
| will be the signal for closing every free
■ school now in operation in those States.
Still a third class are fearful that the
passage of the bill will injure their party
iu the North and West as well as in the
South. The people of New York, Penn
sylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio
, a 'ad Indiana are as bitterly opposed to
civii rights as the South, and resent just
as quickly ihe attempt of a colored man
to enter their fashionable hotels and
places of amusemeut. The Republi
cans of the North are willing enough to
J force social equality upon the Southern
people, but they do not relish the dose
themselves. For these reasons it seems
probable that now when it has eome to
j the pinfh a large number of the Bepsb-
I lu*m? would prefer to let the matter
! alone if tlpey can find any loop-hole of
! escape. The eoUcgt method evasion
| which suggests itself w manage the
| bushetsss of the House in such » way
‘ that the tail BO t be reached, Xhc j
motion to tod* * Sp oat of its order;
1 failed, more than twenty Jjbspablican j
i members absenting tharaselves iu orsjtar
to ensure its defeat. In about three [
weeks Congress, under the joint resolu
tion which it has adopted, will adjourn
and the most important billa of the'
&c&;ion —finance, tariff, etc.—still re
mote £o be acted upon. Civil rights,
therefore, con easily be kept in the j
back-g'ound, and the Republicans can j
go to their constituents, like Orator ■
PtTF, with “two tones” to their voice, j
To the men and brothers in the South J
they can declare that they did every
thing in their power to legislate them
into an equality with the white people;
that the bill which was to place them
by the s : de of white women in hotels,
cars, steamboats, and theatres; which
was to mix the children of the two races
in the public schools, was pressed and
championed by “the party;” that after
a long contest and a bitter struggle with
the Democrats it was passed by the
Senate; unfortunately, however, it reach
ed the House near the close of the ses
sion, too late for action, and had to lie
over for another year. Like the bill
they can then “lie over” to the North
ern or white wing of the party and
assure their New York and New Jersey
constituents that by careful manage
ment they have staved off social equali
ty until 1876, and that no further dan
ger need be apprehended.
Others again seem to think that in the
unlikely event of the bill being pressed
in earnest that the Democrats, bv a
skillful use of parliamentary tactics, can
prevent action upon it so long as enough
Republicans dodge to deprive that party
of its two-thirds majority. At all events
the prospect seems much brighter for
the South than it did a few days ago,
and while it is not well to be too san
guine of favorable results we can at
least take courage and hope for the best.
WHAT FINANCIAL MEN ARE SAY
ING.
From the table published in the last
Financial Chronicle, based on the
statistics of 1870, it appears that the
wealth per head in Georgia is $226 47;
taxation upon each SI,OOO (true value),
$9 79; taxation per head, $2 21. In
Alabama it appears that the wealth per
head is $202 46; taxation upon each
SI,OOO (true value), sl3 87; taxation per
head, $2 99.
* The Financial Chronicle adds: “It
will be noticed that in those Southern
States where the government is honest
taxation is small, and it is only neces
sary that this purifying process be ex
tended and the power in each State placed
in the hands of the tax payers to bring
down taxation in other States.”
CIVIL RIGHTS, AND DOUGLAS
AND LINCOLN.
In view of recent events at Washing
ton, it is proper to refresh our memories
occasionally, and show how bravely we
are moving onward and upward to per
fection. Since Abraham Lincoln is the
great exemplar of Republicanism, and
Douglas of Northern Democratic states
manship, we reproduce what both these
men were accustomed to say :
I hold that this Government was made
on the white basis, by white men, for
the benefit of white men, and their pos
terity forever, and should be adminis
tered by white men, and none others.
I do not believe that the Almighty made
the negro capable of self-government.—
Stephen A. Douglas.
I am not, nor never have been, in
favor of making voters or jurors of ne
groes, nor qualifying them to hold office,
nor intermarrying them with white peo
ple; and I will say in addition to this,
that there is a physical difference be
tween the white and black races which,
I believe, will forever forbid the two
races living together on terms of social
and political equality; and, inasmuch
as they cannot live, while they do re
main together, there must be a position
of superior ami inferior, and I, as much
as any other man, am in favor of hav
ing this superior position assigned to
the white race. —Abraham Lincoln.
THE PRESIDENT AND THE RING.
Tho President still clings tenaciously
to the iinfamous ring of plunderers
which preys upon the people of the Dis
trict of Columbia. Nothing could show
more plainly his determination to shield
Boss Siieperd and his band than his
removal of one Cluss—an engineer and
member of the Board of Public Works.
It has been under cover of tho opera
tions of this department that most of
the stealing has been done. In his ex
amination by the Congressional Investi
gating Committee, Cluss revealed the
secrets of the swindlers and gave the
modus operandi of the thefts. Greatly
enraged at the treachery of thair con
federate, Shepeiid and Company ap
pealed to the President to dismiss him
from office and place some other man in
his position. The President readily
yielded to the wishes of the ring and
Mr. Cluss now finds that his indiscre
tion has cost him his situation. Gen
eral Grant’s conduct in relation to these
District frauds is one of the worst
features of his whole administration.
Blinded by his regard for their princi
pal author and liis associates, he has
never hesitated to endorse any one of
the many villianous acts which they
have perpetrated.
NO USE SWEARING ABOUT IT!
We are as much opposed to the Civil
Rights bill as any journalist in Georgia,
but we have got too much religion to
swear about it. The editor of the At
lanta Commonwealth hasn’t. Hero is
an extract from a leader, in which he
goes for the monstrosity with unbated
pen :
Negro hotels will have to close before
the more fashionable and better ap
pointed ones of tho whites. Negro
schools, which cost tho pious Howard
so many prayers, will be abandoned to
the “poor white trash,” and the curly
headed darlings of the nation will seek
a higher perch for their aspiring ambi
tious. Dusky damsels will have to
droop their blubber lips in pensive neg
lect, while the fastidious Sambo is cast
ing sheep's eyes upon the snowy charms
of a God damn schoolmarm.
We cannot too strongly express our
disapproval of such language. We ad
mire vigor of style and forcible writing,
but we can not stand the double-bar
reled expletives of our contemporary. If
the swearing had been done on any other
subject wo should feel it our duty to
call the attention of the Press Associa
tion to the matter. But as the Civil
Rights bill is provocative of profanity,
we shall let it pass. Like Rip Van
Winkle’s drink, this time shall not
“couutj” but don’t do it again, Mr.
Commonwealth. Os course the editor
has tried to get out of the scrape by
writing in pencil, on the margin of the
paper sent to this office, “quon,' 3 and
connecting it by a line with “damn,”
but this is too thin. Besides, its just as
wicked and atrocious to call a woman a
“quon-damn” schoolmarm &3 it is to
denominate the injured female a “God
damn” schoolmarm. We shall also hear
something in the next issue of careless
compositors and imbecile proof readers,
but this won’t do either. The thing
is too patent for that sort of an explana
tion to answer. Printers and proof
readers do not make all the mistakes
in a paper, and most of them are pious
men, who couldn't manage an oath even
if it was in the copy.
The mysterious appearance in But
j ler's possession of the letter written by
j Representative Fostee to Representative
j Woodford recalls a similar success of
Ben’s during the famous struggle over
the nomination of Simmons, when the
! contents of the telegraphic dispatches
to Representative Pierce, then leading
the fight of all the respectability of
Massachusetts against Bctleb, some
how came to the knowledge of the latter
earlier, if anything, than to Pierv-e. An
inquiry into the means by which he ob
tained these dispatches discovered the
fact that he had 'an expert who listened
to the messages as they were taken by
the operator, and straightway carried
the Cfws to Butler. The question now
is wither Be" keeps an army of experts
so find qj* , 7 ha* biS opponents are
doing, and whether tciem'- or '
larceny was the means to ge-.
cure Foster letter.
The Presbyterians of this country are
seriously agitating a plan for au
menical Council of their body of Chris
tians—a Pan-Presbyterian council for
all Christendom. The names of promi
nent and judicious men, who are com
mitted to the enterprise, are numerous
and weighty enough to give it a good
prospect of success.
SENATOR NORWOOD.
How He Snatched Butler Baldheaded.
We make the following extracts from
Senator Norwood’s remarkable speech
on civil rights. Criticising Ben Butler’s
speech in the House of Representatives,
be said:
“The Republican party has often as
sured ns that in the late war ‘the colored
troops fought nobly,’and the Senator
from New Jersey repeated the declara
tion in our hearing on yesterday. It is
true, that interwoven with the dreadful
realities of that struggle, there is much
of fiction and romantic episode; many
imaginary instances of inspiring hero
ism, displayed by the colored troops.—
Fact and fiction are lamentably mingled
in inextricable confusion. But there is
one exceptionable instance of daring and
of death, and so notably established on
the testimony of a single eye-witness,
that the Senate must remember it, and it
is worthy of recounting even in t his august
presence. I see that the quick percep
tion and historic learning of this body
have already anticipated my discovery,
and I would even now forego the thrill
ing narration, but for the fear that some
future Munchansen might charge me
with prejudice against the objects of the
Judiciary Committee’s special devotion,
should I decline to furnish so valuable
a contribution to his peculiar style and
, school of history. I refer, as you know,
to the Balaklava charge, made by the
colored troops, at the witching hour of
dawn, on empty stomachs—bayonets fix
ed, nipples uncovered—and under com
mand of a general of renown, on the29th
of September, 1864, at New Market
Heights. The historian—who was the
general then commanding, and who
seems to have been the only survivor of
those colored troops—tells us the story
’with charming simplicity, and with the
eloquence of unbridled fancy. He says,
that being himself in the rear, where he
intended to remain, and wholly uncer
tain whether the charge would be feebly
to the front or with frantic heroism to
the rear, he ordered, as a precaution for
personal security, the nipples of the
guns to be uncapped, and offering up
tho prayer of Falstaff, “God, keep lead
out of me,” he gave the order “Charge!”
[Laughter.] He says that there fell,
within a parallelogram just ten feet
wide and three hundred yards in length,
the exact number of five hundred and
forty-three of liis colored associates, or
one man to every twenty and three
tenths inches ; that as soon as they fell,
mounted on his fiery Pegasus, like
feathered or “Harry” Mercury, he
marched solitary and alone to one end
of that slaughtered heap, and fixing one
eye weepingly pendent over the dead,
and cocking the othe: fiercely on the
enemy—the one tearful as Niobe’s, the
other glowing like fiery Mars—he rode,
with arms akimbo, through that paral
lelogram, over that hecatomb of liis
companions, to the farther end—his
horse meanwhile dancing a minuet in
the benevolent endeavor to find ground
on which to plant its reverential feet.
This was an exploit worthy of deifica
tion. Pity it is, it had not been per
formed in the pre-Homerie or Hesiodic
age, as that generation, so appreciative
of horse gymnastics, would have deified
and translated the heroic actor, and he
would now be enjoying the beantitude
of hero worship in the constellation of
Aries or Taurus ; or, happier still, he
and that horse might now be a bright,
particular constellation in themselves,
under the proper name of Equus-anthro
pos, which lovers, at parting, would de
signate to gaze upon at the tender hour
“whe" twilight dews are falling fast,”
and renew their vows of devotion. But
why that humane general should have
ridden that tender-hearted horse over
the dead bodies of his colored associates,
instead of making a brilliant flank move
ment along that geometric holocaust,
such as only he can when moving on a
custom house, I have fatigued my imagi
nation iu vain to endeavor to discover,
Perhaps, like Mrs. Malaprop, lie was
trying to ascertain the “perpendiculars”
of the slaughter ; perhaps it was to ac
commodate the angle of his vision; per
haps to test the sensibilities of that
horse. But conjecture is all in vain. It
was simply one of those direct forward
movements over the bodies of one’s
friends, so often witnessed in jaolitical
strategy, and never known in military
tactics, that it must remain a moral
wonder until lapse of time, and oft re
peating shall consecrate it as a truth, or
until some cruel OBlipus shall rise to
solve the riddle and destroy its artful
inventor.
But gallant as was that fatal charge,
and heroic and solemn as was that peril
ous equestrian exploit, they pale into
paltriness in presence of the sublime se
quel to this military evolution as given
in the simple story of this historian. He
says that having finished that horse
couranto —consisting of a coupee, then
a high step, then a balance—he sounded
a solemn halt, faced mournfully about,
fixed liis eyes again as already described,
gave the order, “Attention, General!”
and, in chronic absence of the Bible,
drew from liis holster-case a pocket edi
tion of the Massachusetts Pilgrim’s Pro
gress, issued under the Maine liquor
law, and kissing one end devoutly with
his face turned upward, he administered
to himself a solemn, corporal, and gen
eral oafcli, that so long as liis surviving
colored companions would vote to make
him Governor of Massachusetts, or a
Representative in Congress, he would
Spasmodically devote the idle moments
of the remainder of his political and
official life to a feeble effort to secure to
them the great constitutional right to
attend, “without distinction of race,
color, or previous condition of servi
tude,” every theatre, circus, and menag
erie in the United States of America and
the Territories thereof. He then sealed
his oath by pressing liis feverish lips
once more to the bibulous end of that
cherished volume, and calling in the eye
which had meanwhile stood sentinel on
the enemy, he dismissed himself from
the parade.
A CHEST OF GOLD.
Tlie Bnrierl Doubloons of Mexican
Banditti Found in a Beautiful Val
ley by a Texau Baptist.
[Letter to New York Snn.]
For several years past there has been
a strange story published in many of
the local papers of the State in regard
to buried treasure in this part of the
country. About twenty miles above
Belton there is a largo spring, whence
issues one of the most beautiful streams
in the world, which for a distance of 20
miles meanders through a rich and
fertile valley, about two miles in width,
surrounded by a range of mountains ou
which there is cedar brakes almost im
penetrable to man. This valley is
known far and near as Noland’s Valley,
and is celebrated for its springs of pure
water, the fertility of the soil, and its
many peculiarly shaped mounds.
About fifteen years ago an old Mexi
can greaser named Antonia came into
this section cf the country, and hired
himself as a laborer to a gentleman of
the vicinity. He was about fifty years
of age, and one of the most eccentric
individuals in the country. Every spare
moment he could get he was prowling
around through mountain and valley,
apparently in search of aomething, but
when questioned he gave evasive replies.
At that early day this country was but j
thinly inhabited, aud the citizens were
troubled very much by horse thieves.—
The Mexican’s conduct was so peculiar
that the citizens began to look on him
with suspicion, thinking he was a spy
for some band of thieves, locating the
whereabouts of the best houses, and
finding gaps through the mountains to
pilot the thieves iu and out. He was
frequently absent a day or two at a time,
and when questioned would give very
unsatisfactory answers. Suspicion with
a Texan amounts to guilt, and a few of
the neighbors arrested Antonia for the
purpose of compelling him to divulge all
he knew about the horse thieves. The par- 1
ty proceeded to administer lynch law.—
He was hanged three times, until life
was nearly extinct, but not a word
could be forced from him in “ re
gard to the horse thieves. When he ;
revived sufficiently, he told them the :
following story : He said that about j
twenty years ago he belonged to a band
of Mexican robbers, whose retreat was
about twenty miles from here, among
the mountains on Leon river. One day,
while tl;e rest of the baud were on an
expedition, he and a comrade conceived
the bold design of robbing them and
hiding the treasure until the robbers
■ were dispersed, when they would return
and get the gold. Hesaid there were four
: cedar boxes, containing $100,0(10 each,
all in Spanish doubloons, which they
placed on pack mules and transported
’ to this valley, and buried in four very
■ peculiarly shaped mounds. His partner
had been killed in Mexico at a fandango,
and he had bean confined in a Mexican
prison until this time. He said he had
j been searching the valley over for (he
mounds where the money was concealed,
but so manv years had elapsed that he
. could uot find the marks he had left to
designate fh,§ pj-ace. el 7 ,°f
! party placed o4y coufideDCe in Ins nar
, rative, and after a severe wa3ii« atiog he
was allowed to go ffM ( with i&srrgc:
; tioas to leave the country forthwith.
xT e never bean seen or heard of in
*r. «• the since,
this pen lue
Tour correspondent was one of the
party who arrested the c r ~ Mexican, and
was inclined to give some to
the story, but to turn out and seek to*
the tao&ey among so many mounds
without anv knowledge of the exact
locality, was' like looking for a Medle in
a hav stack. There are bnt few htie now
who ever heard the tale, and the oldest
settlers have almost let it slip from
memory. A day or two ago a citizen of
this valley was in need of some clay to i
danb an old fashioned stick and earth
chimney, and as clay is a very scarce
article here, he concluded to open one
of the mounds and try the earth for that
purpose. He opened a hole about three
feet deep, where he iound a strong cedar
box with iron bands. The bands were
almost eaten up with rust, qnd were easily
removed by hand. With the sharp point
of the pick the box was pressed open,
and found to contain 6,250 Spauish
doubloorfc, almost SIOO,OOO. He pro
cured a wagon and removed the treas
ure to Belton and deposited it in the
bank of Sinclair & Cos. He made no
secret of the discovery, aud the greatest
excitement now prevails. Adventurers
are scattered through the valley with
spade and pick digging into every
mound and turning over every peculiarly
shaped rock. The old Mexican’s story
is revived with a hundred variations.
Some of the land owners have stationed
sentinels around their premises, while
the laborers are searching for the hid
den treasure.
The lucky finder is a man by the
name of Brandon, who had never heard
the old Mexican’s story. He has a
large family, and was already in good
circumstances. He is a strict member
of the Baptist church, aud has already
given SIO,OOO to the church for the pur
pose of building a large church and
school house iu his neighborhood.
A FAMOUS BRIGAND SHOT.
Vasquez. the California Outlaw, Hunt
ed Down—A History of His Robbe
ries aud Murders—The Price Set
Upon His Head, Dead or Alive—Clev
er Ruse of His Captors—Pluck aud
Coolness of Vasquez.
For many years past a bold and law
less gang of brigands under the leader
ship of Tiburcia Vasquez, the most
noted outlaw since the days of Joaquin
Murieta, have infested Southern Cali
fornia, and have struck terror to the citi
zens by their daring highway robberies
and brutal murders. On more than one
occasion Vasquez and four or five of his
men dashed into small villages, robbed
the stores and dwellings, stripped the
eitizens of their watches, jewelry and
money, and then rode leasurely away,
carrying their booty. Such was the re
putation of the leader of the bandits for
desperate bravery and bloody ferocity
that the villagers chose rather to submit
to his robberies than to run the risk of
attacking him.
Periodically the authorities, aroused
by some atrocity of more than usual
magnitude, would fit out expeditions
against Vasquez and his baud; but his
ingenuity aud activity, up to within a
short time, were always equal to any
emergency, and the long rides of sheriffs
and their posses were taken in vain. The
bandit, besides having safe retreats in
mountain fastnesses, canons,
had made numerous friends among the
native Californians of Mexican desceut
(to which class he himself belonged),
and with them was always enabled to
obtain food and shelter when closely
pursued.
BLOODY EXPLOITS.
Probably the bloodiest of tho exploits
of Vasquez was at Hollister, on the 26fcli
of August, 1873. It is known as the
Tres Pinos tragedy. According to the
report of the San Francisco Chronicle,
Vasquez on this occasion, assisted by
six companions, robbed Snyder’s store
of five hundred dollars cash, tobacco,
provisions and dry goods, and then es
caped with their booty. While the rob
bery was going on within doors Vasquez
stood on guard at the entrance. A Por
tuguese sheep herder, not knowing wliat
was going on within, came to the door
and was in the act of passing in when
Vasquez shot him twice, causing almost
instant death. George Redford, a team
ster, was watering his horses in front of
the store. Vasquez ordered him to lie
down, but the unfortunate man being
deaf did not hear the order. Seeing a
revolver levelled at him he started on a
run for the stable, but before lie reached
that refuge a ball from Vasquez’s pistol
pierced his head and killed him instant
ly. Haley, another teamster, was knock
ed down by the butt of the bandit’s pis
tol, but escaped with his life, as did L.
Sclierrer, at whom Vasquez fired twice.
Scherrer took refuge in Davidson’s Ho
tel, followed by Vasquez, who shot the
unfortunate landlord, who fell back dead
iu the arms of his wife.
In December last Vasquez and seven
followers made a descent upon King
ston, Fresno county, and in spite of the
desultory attack on the part of the
citizens carried off $2,000 in money and
a large amount of jewelry—the property
of thirty-five men whom they bound and
robbed. Vasquez on this occasion was
armed with four navy revolvers.
On the 16th of April Vasquez and his
baud once more, and for the last time,
brought themselves into public promi
nence. On that day the great bandit
aud four followers dismounted at the
residence of Alexander liepetto, at the
old Mission San Gabriel, six miles from
Los Angeles, pretending to be sheep
shearers, and asking for employment.
After conversing a few minutes they
covered Repetto and his son, a mere
boy, with their revolvers, and demand
ed
ALL THE MONEY IN THE HOUSE.
The boy brought SBO in coin. Then
they tied the old man to a tree and
gave him his choice, either to be shot
or to give them SBOO. Accepting the
latter alternative, the old man was un
tied and wrote a check on a Los An
geles bhnk, the boy being sent for the
cash. His conduct at the bank excited
suspicion, and although his fear pre
vented his telling of the presence of the
robbers, a sheriff and posse rode to the
! house after him. The boy threw the
money upon the table, and an alarm be
ing then given of the approach of the
baudits, one of their number seized the
bag of gold, and all escaped.
Shortly after the Tres Pinos tragedy
Governor Booth offered a reward of
$3,000 for Vasquez alive, or $2,000 dead,
and on May Btli he increased the amount
to SS,OOO alive aud $6,000 dead. This
excited emulation among the thief takers,
and no less than four expeditions were
fitted out early this mouth for the pur
suit and capture of Vasquez.
One of these expeditions was com
manded by Under Sheriff H. M. Mitch
ell, of Los Angeles, and was composed
of six well armed aud well mounted
men. It was dispatched by Sheriff Row
land on certain information that Vas
quez was at the house of Greek George,
a Mexican of bad character, in Aliso
Canon, in the Cajunga Range, and left
Los Angeles at 1:30, a. m., May 14th.
At 10, a. m., the party reached the ca
non, and four of them were detailed to
attack Greek George’s house. The other
two reconnoitered a little hamlet near
by, where it was thought that Vasquez
might possibly have hidden himself.
THE ATTACK.
The party of attack seized a wagon
which passed through the canon while
they lay in ambush there, aud conceal
ing themselves in the wagon box, or
dered the driver to convey them to the
house of Greek George, under penalty
of death should he give an alarm. The
house was in the shape of an L, and sur
rounded by a dense growth of mustard,
averaging six feet high. Near it was a
thicket of willows, in which several
horses were concealed. Arrived within
one hundred yards of the house, tbe
party dismounted, spread out right and
left like skirmishers, and plunged into
the mustard thicket. Those in front
soon reached the front door, which they
battered down. Vasquez was within, but,
ever on the alert, he jumped out of a
narrow window. As lie touched the
ground and started for the grove, he was
brought down by a shot from the
Chronicle's correspondent., and in a mo
ment was surrounded by others of the
party. Desperately wounded as he was,
lie did not for a moment lose his cool
ness, bnt smilingly saluted bis captors,
and in bis broken English said: “You
are good men. I ought not try to
escape !” He was wounded in the head
and leg, but not mortally, and was taken
to Los Angeles. His horses, arms, am
munition and other accoutrements were
captured.
Vasquez was born in Monterey, thir
tv-five years ago, is 5 feet 51 inches
high, has black hair, dark eyes, and
regular features, excepting that his left
eye is slightly sunken. He is noted for
desperate bravery, and seems to have
emulated the British highwaymen of the
ancient school, wtio smiled sweetly while
their hands were exploring the pockets
of their victims, or searching for valu
ables in the boot of the coach.
National Becoming State Banks.—
1 One of the signs of the times is the de
; termination of numbers of national
banks to withdraw from national bank
ing and go into business under State
laws. No less than five of this
kind, in the interior of Illinois nnd In
diana, are reported in the Chicago
i Tribune. Taxation of their capital is so
large, aDd the profit on their eircula
j lion is infinitesimal, that there is no
' good reason why they should remain
under the national banking law. In a
country town where there is only one
bank it is sure of all the business,
whether it be national or State. By
withdrawing their bonds, national banks
can ‘ low fealige a large premium on
them,' ami M# % heavy taxa
tion. | __
Newspaper mistakes are scarcely un
avoidable. Every issue of many jour
nals involves tbe placing of 150,000
type*. Out of that number some will
Be wrongly placed, in spite of the best
of care. A Pittsburg paper made a rath
er ridiculous blunder lately, and yet
there was onlv one letter out of place.
The editor said “the Legislature pasted
(passed) the bill over the Governors
head.”
HOW" A NOBLE WOMANffAS GOAD
ED TO DEATH BY SLANDER.
[Memphis Appeal.]
There never was a truer, more gener
ous woman than she, the sad story of
whose life and death is recited by
“Gath.” She once sat through a week
by the bedside of a Southern stranger’s
dying child, or bore it about in her ach
ing arms through long nights of weary,
waking hours, till death came. She
went with the crazed, helpless mother
to the grave, in a laud of strangers, and
soothed with tenderest sympathy and
tears the helpless mother’s anguish.—
Cognizant of these facts in the history of
this admirable woman, we reproduce the
story which George Alfred Townsend
recites in the Chicago Tribune :
“Mrs. Edward M. McCook, formerly
Mary Thompson, of Peoria, Illinois, is
dying at this moment*—a sad sight for
a woman of brilliant beauty, warm heart
and social and intellectual culture. She
was literally hounded to death by the
chivalrous politicians of Colorado, and
such vagrant and corrupt newspaper
writers here in Washington as could be
hired to assail everything that her hus
band held pure and holy. Her husband
was a Major-General of cavalry—one
of the seven McCooks, brothers and
cousins, who went out at the beginning
of the war, from the region of Steuben
ville, Ohio. The old man was shot by
guerrillas. One of the sons was mur
dered by a claim-jumper at Yaukton,
Dakota; and the chivalrous Territorial
grand jury failed to indict the assassin
for murder. But they and he Were bet
ter than the murderers of this dying wo
man, who said yesterday, to her hus
band : “Teddy, they have killed me;
but forgive them.” Other McCooks are
in the regular army and navy; one is a
Presbyterian clergyman at Philadelphia.
They are steady, self-reliant, successful
men, of the Scotch-Irish race. Edward
M. McCook w r as minister to the Sand
wich Islands, and Governor of Colorado
for a full term. He and his brother fell
in love at the same time with Miss
Thompson, while she was at boarding
school at Philadelphia. (She was remark
able for enamel-skin, perfectly natural,
with roses in it, and her large and beauti
ful dark eyes, and luxuriant, gold-color
ed hair. Educated, vivacious, and adap
ted to public life, she was the social ad
miration wherever her husband went,
and her descent was, in a measure, emi
nent. She was the grand-niece of Charles
Thompson, Secretary of the Continental
and Federal Congress, and also of Ben
jamin Thompson, Count Rumford, the
celebrated statesman and savant. Her
father, Sylvester Thompson, of Peoria,
was the step-brother of the daughter of
Oliver Wolcott, Mrs. Knowltou, who is
still living in Washington. Governor
McCook was very proud of his wife. His
enemies began by saying that she had
influence with Mrs. Grant, and a more
mysterious influence with the President
himself; and that she was another Mrs.
Williams. The little chap with a seared
white face, who sends drivel to the
Chicago limes, was about the only per
son capable of abusing this young and
interesting lady in this way. Governor
McCook made haste to send his wife to
Brooklyn; but this evidence of sensibili
ty only sh wed the slanderers that
they were on the right course, and the
shafts of cowardly venom were continued
upon this poor, weak creature, than
whom no man alive ever had a purer
wife, sister, or mother. Although of a
consumptive tendency, she did not die
in the natural course of that disease.
She died of typhoid pneumonia, the
fever coming first, and of a shatter
ed nervous system, the result of
trouble, fright, and sleeplessness.—
Just as the fever found her, she crawled
back to Washington to die in her hus
band’s sight. Removed from Willard’s
Hotel to the residence of her husband’s
old comrade, General Morgan Smith,
Mrs. McCook showed by her incoherent
utterances that every malicious arrow
was sticking in her brain. Her hus
band, whose love for her was the vital
principle of his existence, sat up hv day
and night until his hard head also ap
peared to yield to exhaustion and grief,
and he was scarcely lucid, so that they
led him in and out like a child. Her
lad, six years old, hardly aware of the
nature of death, was present when Dr.
Walker administered the consolation of
religion. It was to me the saddest
scene in political life, to see this woman
bitten by asps, who will have to answer
for it more than they know.
*Mra. McCook has since died.
MOSES, TIIE ARTFUL DODGER.
The Radical Big Wigs Determine to
Stand by Moses Lest lie Turn the
State Over to the Conservatives.
[Special Dispatch to the News and Courier.]
Orangeburg, May 28, 1874.
The trial of Moses for grand larceny
and breach of trust excites the most ab
sorbing interest. Judge Graham is still
here. Solicitor Buttz arrived this after
noon. Humbert, who is to be the chief
witness for the State, is still here, and
in a conversation with the reporter of
the News and Courier said he intended
to stick and tell all he knew ; that ef
forts had been made by the friends of
Moses to get him to absent himself from
the State, but he refused to do so. It
is generally known now that Moses will
not appear for trial. A caucus was held
in Columbia on Tuesday,at which Melton,
Chamberlain, Elliott and other prominent
leaders were present. The situation
was freely discussed, and it is said that
the caucus agreed that Moses deserved
to be indicted, but that in view of the
fact that he threatened to turn over the
State to the Conservatives by appoint
ing Conservative commissioners of elec
tion, they deemed it inexpedient to
abandon him. Moses finally agreed to
give up his hopes for a ronomination,
and thereupon the caucus agreed to
stand by him. In accordance with this
plan C. C. Puller, the receiver of the
Bank of the State, came here yesterday
and was closeted with Judge Graham a
long time. After the interview he tele
graphed to Columbia, and then went on
to Charleston. Puller’s object was to
get Graham to grant an order for a
change of venue, and it is said that the
ring threatened to call the Legislature
together and impeach him uuless he
granted the order transferring the trial
of Moses to Columbia. Graham told
him he would grant the order if the
parties made the proper showing.
It is pretty well understood now that
Moses will not be here. Chamberlain
and Elliott, his lawyers, will appear and
move for a change of venue, and trans
fer the trial to Columbia, and the
greatest pressure will be brought to
bear upon Graham to make him grant
the order. Buttz will oppose the mo
tion, and claim that he is prepared to
show that the Court can’t entertain the
motion until Moses presents himself in
Court to stand his trial.
A number of leading Radicals from
all sections of the State are here. If
Moses can get his case transferred to
Columbia, he is sure of acquittal, be
cause Dennis, his chum and confrere in
the State House furniture frauds, is
jury commissioner, and has power to
summons special juries. Moses would
then'be tried by the very militia whom
he called to defend him against arrest.
Vidette.
HENNESSEK.
An Important Circular from the Su
perintendent of Public Instruction
No Further Contracts to be Made
With Teachers for the Present.
The following circular was issued yes
terday by the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction :
Dep’t of Public Instruction, f
State Superintendent’s Office, > j
Nashville, May 27, 1871. \ j
lo County Superintendents and Public J
School Directors throughout the State \
of Tennessee :
The civil rights bill, now pending be
fore the United States Congress, in its
provisions concerning public schools, is
in direct conflict with the la w of Tennes
see, under which the public school sys
tem of the State is organized, and by
which its officers are governed. It is
furthermore in conflict with the 12th
section of Artiole II of the Constitution
of Tennessee, which provides: “No
school established or aided under this
section shall allow white and negro
children to be received as scholars to
gether in the same school,” So that
what the bill commands, our State Con
stitution and public school law forbid.
That bill has already passed the Senate,
and all the indications point to its pas
sage by the House of Representatives.
in view of the fact that, in many of
the counties, schools, now closed,
are expected to be reopened for the
Summer session in the month of June;
and inasmuch as it is desirable to avoid
as far as possible the embarrassment
that will necessarily follow the enact
ment of the civil rights bill, I deem it
the part of prudence to suggest that,
for the present and until further ad- j
vised, no new contracts with teachers, :
for either white or colored schools, be 1
entered into by School Directors. By
observing this suggestion, much com- j
plication and unnecessary expense may ,
be avoided.
Should the civil rights bill fail to
pass, then no serious barm can have re
sulted from this admonition. Should it
beeutije 3 law, in its present shape, then
further iqst|motiqqs from this office will
l>ecome necessary, and will be promptly
given. Very respectfully,
John M. Fleming,
State Superintendent.
J. J. Smith is credited by the Georgia
Forester with having a wife and child in
Berrien county and a wife, by recent ac
quisition, in Thomas county, and wants
him handed around.
LETTER FROM MIDDLE GEORGIA.
[special correspondence chronicle
AND SENTINEL.]
Macon, May 28th, 1874.
Hotel Rights and Civil Rights—Con
vention of Landlords.
In the event the Civil Rights bill now
pending before the House of Represen
tatives becomes a law, the hotel keepers
of Macon propose to call a convention of
the landlords of the State, to meet here
at early day, to take such action as will
protect them in the rights of their
property. When we look into the pro
visions of this proposed law it will at
once be seen that m class of persons
will be more seriously, if not more
ruinously, affected than the keepers
of our hotels, iuus, and boarding
houses. It will at once be grant
ed that negroes cannot be admit
ted upon terms of equality to their
houses; that if they are no white people
will go there—for there is scarcely a
white man or white woman in the United
States to-day who would willingly to sit at
the same table with an African, and cer
tainly none who would sleep in the same
bed and wash out of the same bowl.
The vital point with them, therefore, is
to devise some scheme to evade the law.
They entertain no doubt about negroes
making many persistent efforts to gain
admission, not that they really care to
do so, but with the hope that they will
be refused and give them a chance of
raising the §SOO out of the proprietor, as
stipulated by the provisions of this
the most infernal bill ever enacted
since the birth of the devil. In
this proposed convention a protec
tive union might bo formed and a
common fund pledged with which to
tight the .law in every way and in every
form which can be devised. They can
also frame a petition to the Legislature
to so change the license law that a hotel
will no longer be known as such, but
transformed into a private residence, in
to private infirmaries, into private hos
pitals, into anything which will defeat
the devilish machinations of the Radi
cal party to destroy the value of their
property. They are obliged to either
successfully resist it or close their do rs,
and in order to do this effectually they
had better get together and fall upon
one plan of action. Any one alnfost
knows the years oi toil and trouble and
the immense outlay of money it takes to
found a first class popular hotel. Hun
dreds of men break at the business where
one is successful. It is not a question
of brains or fnoney, or both combined.
A man may be a philosopher, wit, poet,
sage, statesman, lawyer and doctor and
yet “not know how to keep a hotel,” and
a graver question than ever yet puzzled
landlord now comes up; which is to keep
one contrary to the law of a Radical
Congress. Many landlords have suc
cessfully gone through with abstruse
propositions in connection with their
business, but I doubt if any of them are
ready with a perfect plan to defeat this
invasion of their rights. I think it will
take the combined wit of them all as
sembled in solemn conclave to do it.
AVliat is Thought of the Stephens-HilJ
Matter.
The opinion expressed hero is that
Mr. Hill has got the best of Mr. Ste
phens in the controversy between them.
That the array of facts and evidence
brought out is decidedly on his side,
and that he has handled them with far
more masterly tact than Mr. Stephens.
Confederate army officers say that they
can fully appreciate the assertion of Mr.
Hill that the course of Governor Brown
and Mr. Stephens had more to do with
the depletion of their ranks than the
Yankees. I heard a cavalry Captain to
day say that it was impossible for him
to lead a conscript into a light after it
was known that Stephens and Biown had
declared the law unconstitutional—that
such, men always carried these docu
ments in their pockets and held them as
of higher authority than the Confeder
ate Congress.
Dry Weather—'The Country Suffering
for Rain.
We have now had no rain in twenty
five days, and at the moment of writing
there is not a sign of a cloud to be seen
in any direction. The dust in the streets
is getting intolerable. The therm; me
ter is over ninety in the shade to-day,
and yesterday in one counting room it
rose to one hundred and two. If you
don’t call that hot weather for May,
what is it? While it is heavy upon the
flesh, iit is just the thing for cotton.
Corn received such a shove oft’ by all
those rains we were complaining so much
of the other day that this drouth will
not effect it materially for some time yet,
and before then we may have a good
rain. One or two good showers would
set thecrop beyond the reach of disaster.
Decline in Corn.
The market has broken down. Mixed
is offering to-day at $1 07; white, $1 15.
It was the other day $1 15 and
§1 20. Bacon sides, 11] and steady
at the figure. There are very light
stocks of either on the market, and a
want of confidence in the prevailing
rates.
What Is Thought of Civil Rights.
The bill passed bv the Senate con
tinues the topic of conveisation in every
knot and circle. Macon has a magnifi
cent common school system, which has
just began to work well.. She will see
it thrown away with sincere regret, but
just as sure as the bill passes into a law,
the public schools will be stopped that
very day. Indeed, the grand jury just
adjourned granted the power to the
Board of County Commissioners to levy
a tax of $25,000 for their support for the
ensuing year, but expressly declared
that if the Civil Rights bill passed Con
gress no tax at all must be called for for
that purpose. This action of the grand
jury meets the full and free approbation
of every white tax payer in Bibb coun
ty, representing 95 per cent, of all the
taxable wealth we have.
The truth is, the great majority of the
negroes themselves did not want nnd
never asked Congress to pass this meas
ure. They knew then and know now
that it will never be enforced; that it will
instead of confering advantages upon
their race take away the most valuable
they now have—the inestimable one of
educating their children at the expense
of the public. Born of violence, living
and existing upon blood and passion,
the Radical pai ty is now sorely pressed
for material upon which to run. Its grand
present objective point is to stir up riots
and an actual conflict of races at the
South. The bill in question is a Presi
dential card, played by a party pressed
to the wall and in straits of desperation.
Jean Valjean.
GLOOMY CROP PROSPECTS.
Jefferson, Jackson Cos., Ga., )
May 27. 1874. \
To the Editors of the Chronicle and
Sentinel:
The heavy and long continued rains
during March and April have been suc
ceeded by four weeks of excessively
drying sun and winds. The March winds
this year are two months behind time.
Since the 6th of May they have not
ceased to blow. The times must he out
of joint. The packing ruins the Ist of
May, followed by the drying suns and
winds since, have so baked the earth
that stiff lands are almost as hard as a
stone, and cannot be plowed, and cotton
cannot come up. I hear much com
plaint of bad stands of cotton. Oats
are not growing for the want of mois
ture. Rust is generally upon the blades
of wheat; otherwise wheat is quite
promising. Much of it is beginning to
assume the yellow tint of maturity. Two
weeks more will make or mar the crop.
The rust of the blades will injure the
grains more or less, even if the rust
should not attack the stalk. Indeed,
with these drying winds there is not
much danger of rust upon the stalk at
this late day. If it does not rain soon
the oat crop, which is largo, will be al
most an entire failure. Farmers uni
versally pronounce the present the most
unpropiiious Spring within the scope of
their recollections. More anon.
Jackson.
A plot of ground -at Cypress Hill
Cemetery, Brooklyn, has been present
ed to the journalistic fraternity of New
York for the use of such members as
may die poor in the pursuit of their
profession. The ground is beautifully
situated, and lias been gratefully ac
cepted by the New York Association of
Journalists, whose intention is to have
the ground graded and decorated, and a
wall of granite enclose it.* It has also
been decided to erect a testimonial, hav
ing slabs sufficient to accommodate the
names of those who may be interred in
the ground. At an early day the ground
will be dedicated with the conventional
services, in which H. W. Beecher, Wil
liam C. Bryant and several prominent
journalist will take part.
The freedom of the press in Germany
is thus illustrated, and is by no means
one of unfrequent occurrence in that
country. The editorial staff, composi
tors, etc., of the Westfulischc Zietung,
were taken before the Chief of Police in
Bochum, and each man had to undergo a
strict examination, in order that the
writer of anarticle in tjie Zietung, which
gave offense to the police authorities,
might be discovered. They failed, how
ever, to elicit the desired information.
Last Tuesday a bank of 200,000
bushels of coal, valued at ten ocnts per
bushed, caught fire at the Etna Iron
Works and was still burning at last ac
counts.
Cotton near Columbus is greatly im
proving under the influence of the warm
weather.
WASIIIAGTOiV IVEWS.
Congressional,
Washington, May 29.—The House is
considering the Dili for a reduction of
the army.
In the Senate, Sherman from the
Finance Committee, reported back the
moiety bill with amendments and gave
notice ho would call it up on Tuesdav
next.
The Committee on Privileges and
Elections, by a strict party vote, was dis
charged from further considering Sykes
vs. Spencer, in the Alabama Senatorial
contest. This confirms Spencer in his
seat.
In the Senate, the negroes dwelling
among the Chickasaw and Choctaws
represent that they are slaves and peti
tion to come here by delegation. The
Committee on Finance reported back
the House bill to amend customs and
revenue laws and to repeal moities with
several amendments, and gave notice
that they would ask the Senate to pro
ceed to its consideration on Tuesday.
Hamilton, of Maryland, from the
Committee on Privileges and Elections,
reported a resolution to pay Francis W.
Sykes, into contestant for a seat as
Senator from Alabama, $8,374 —salary
of Senator from March 4th, 1873, to date
—laid over at the request of Conkliug.
The Committee on Finance reported ad
versely on the resolution of the Senate
directing the committee to inquire into
the expediency of allowing the producer
of tobacco to sell to other than licensed
dealer, and the committee was discharg
ed from its further consideration. A
committee of conference was appointed
upon currency, as follows: Morton,
Sherman, Merrimon. Davis called up
the bill to authorize the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad Company to construct a
branch ami to change the location of its
road within the District of Columbia.
He submitted an amendment, providing
that the whole of the branch road to be
constructed in tho District should be
outside the City of Washington—agreed
to, and tho bill was passed. Adjourned
to Monday.
The House passed the bill for the
gradual reduction of the army by a rate
of 119 to 104. It fixes the number of
cavalry regiments at nine, artillery at
four, and infantry at 20, and requires
tHe consolidation of existing regiments.
Tho House also disposed of the Senate
amendments to the legislative appropri
ation bill. No session to-morrow on ac
count of its being Decoration Day.
Miscellaneous.
Butler offered an amendment that the
headquarters of the army shall not be
moved from Washington during peace,
which was defeated.
Morton, in an interview with Govoimor
Hebert to-day, said that anew election
in Louisiana was dead.
Butler, from the Judiciary Committee,
has permission to report on Monday,
with the understanding that he shall not
tamper with civil rights. It is conjec
tured that he will report a bill suspend
ing Federal Judges during impeach
ment proceedings, but tho best lawyers
hold that such action is utterly outside
of the Constitution. Butler don’t care.
The Finances.
Washington, May 30. —The Confer
ence Committee on the finance bill held
a long session to-day, but adjourned till
Monday without coming to a conclusion
on any point. They, however, discussed
the situation, including the President’s
position, and several of them intimated
that it would bo well toavoid, if possible,
the passage of any bill which would be
vetoed. One of the members of the
committee expressed the opinion to a
private citizen that it did not seem prob
able that any finance bill would be
passed this session.
FOREIGN NEWS.
The Nineteenth Century.
Paris, May 29. —The Minister of the
Interior has issued an order prohibiting
the sale in Paris of the Nineteenth Cen
tury (newspaper), because it is offensive
to public morality.
Spanish Affairs.
London, May 29.—A dispatch to the
Standard says General Concha has
seized the heights near Artaban and the
roads leading from Biscay by way of
Villareal and Gurnboa. The army of
Don Cailos consequently abandoned
Durango and retired into Guipuzcoa.
It is reported that the Carlists have re
ceived twenty Krupp steel cannon, and
are reogamzing their forces.
The Pope.
Vienna, May 29.—Dispatches from
Rome represent the condition of the
Holy Father as serious.
Abandoned.
Halifax, May 29.—The ship Alfred
of Dram men, from Pensacola for Liver
pool, was abandoned at sea. The crew
was saved.
ltoinau Glimpses.
Rome, May 39.—The Voce Diver ita
confirms tho reports of the Pope’s re
covery from illness. Cardinal Vauni
celli Casoni is dead. The Italian Par
liament will probably he dissolved in
August. Tho Deputies of the Left will
then issue ail address to the nation. It
is thought the Pope will sanction the
participation of Catholics in tho next
general election.
SPECULATING IN DEATH.
The Decease of the President of the
Pennsylvania Central and Its Effect.
PiiiLtDELPiirA, May 28.—John Edgar
Thompson, President of the Pennsylva
nia Railway Company, died last night
after a protracted illness, at his resi
dence in this city. His death created a
sensation, though from the nature of
his illness such a result was feared. The
doors of the Pennsplvauia Railroad
office are draped with mourning. A
meeting of tho Board of Directors is
cdlled for to-morrow morning to take
action. The expectation is that Thomas
A. Scott will be selected to fill the va
cancy.
New York, May 28.—Tho Post says
New York speculators have for several
weeks been short in Philadelphia of
Pennsylvania Railroad stock, making
their sales on the calculation that the
illness of J. Edgar Thompson would
prove fatal. His death encouraged them
to attempt to break the market. The
stock closed yesterday at 47] @4B. On
orders from these speculators to sell
10,900 shares the price this morning was
broken to 47J. After the sales the price
recovered to47g, and is yet several points
above the average at which they are
short in Wall street. There has been a
rumor that Amasa Stone, Cleveland Di
rector of the Lake Shore Railroad, is to
retire from the Board. This was used
to depress Lake Shore stock.
GEORGIA ITEMS.
Sandersville is clamoring for a beef
market.
The Atlanta lawyers had a pic-nic at
Stone Mountain yesterday.
Work on the railroad from Elberton
to Toccoa has been commenced.
The Atlanta Constitution classes meet
ings of the City Council among the
amusements.
Mrs. L. A. Pinkard, of Oglethorpe
county, died on the evening of the 20th
iust., aged 70 years.
A number of Savannah merchants
have, agreed to close their stores at 0, p.
w., during the month of June.
A young white woman of Dooly coun
ty has been arrested and imprisoned oil
the charge of having destroyed her
child immediately after its birth.
The action of the Governor in com
muting the sentence of America Burden
from death to imprisonment for life is
fully approved in Elbert county.
Cotton in Ogethorpe county is dwarfish
and sickly and in many instances the
stand is not very good. There is pros
pect of a fair wheat crop and oats are
promising.
A blast went off prematurely in a well
in Elberton, the other day, and made
the well digger, a darkey, think the end
of the world had come. Ho received
but little injury, however.
The Barnesville Gazette says: The
first flour made from the new crop of
wheat that we have heard of was brought
in by that clever and whole-souled gen
tleman, Mr. J. W. Hamil, of this coun
ty, on yesterday. Mr. If. finished cut
ting ins brag patch (three acres) on the
23d instant, and on yesterday brought
in a lot and had it ground at the mill oi
Mr. John Means, in this place. It made
thirty-eight pounds of head or first
quality flour per bushel, which is about
three pounds above the average yield.
The MJcon Telegraph and Messenger
says : A gang of negro boys, for a week
or more, have been collecting at the up
per end of Plum street for the purpose
of insulting girls us they return from
the High School. It is a daily occur
rence for the foulest and most indecent
language to be used to these girls—
some of whom are almost young ladies.
In some instances they have been
tripped and thrown to the ground, and
it is a very common thing for them to
he driven entirely from the sidewalk.—
This is an outrage that will not long be
submitted to, and unless those who con
trol these negro striplings teach them to
behave themselves, the lesson will be
taught them in a most unpleasant man
ner. The hoys who are in the habit of
insulting these school girls are about
grown—certainly largo enough to know
how to behave themselves bettter, and
we warn them now to desist at once, or
they will be forced to tuke the severest
consequences. A policeman should be
assigned to duty on that street at once.
LETTER FROM SOUTH GEORGIA.
[special • CORRESPONDENCE chronicle
AND SINTINEL. 1
Savannah, May 29, 1874.
Farming Out Couvicls.
It is generally conceded that, the re
cent Legislature made a most egregious
blunder in passing the act to “farm out”
the Htate convicts. You have already
been apprized, through tlie columns of
your exchanges, of some of the evil re
sults of this measure, but the half is not
yet told. For this, however, the lessees
are not to blame, they have a, perfect
right under the law to farm or hire out
these convicts wherever they could, but
the question arises was tho Legislature
justified in pa sing such an act ? Ts it
constitutional? Was it wise, prudent,
or politic? To the latter there is no
need of reply. Tho hellish crimes that
have already bean perpetrated by theso
criminals furnish an emphatic attes
tation of the folly, nay worse than
folly, of the measure. Does not its
adoption-practically nullify the sentence
of the Judge? Let us see. Here, for
instance, is the case of Westmoreland.
This man was tried, convicted of a
crime and sentenced to tho penitentiary
f. >r ten years at hard labor. Under this
ac‘ lie is “ farmed out,” and if the re
ports that I seo bo true, he is having a
very comfortable time and as much lib
erty as the majority of men. Is this
man serving out the senteuoo imposed
upon him by the Judge? It seems not.
While his freedom may in some meas
ure ho restricted, it is certain that
he is not paying tho penalty
of tho crime of which ho was convicted
by a jury of his peers, either by hard
labor or confinement in the penitentiary.
By this arrangement it would, there
fore, seem that this punishment is miti
gated in no iucousidei able degree. Such
being the case, was not the Legislature
guilty of an unconstitutional act in
passing a law which in its effects renders
inoperative the judgments of the Courts ?
Theso thoughts are brought to my
mind by a conversation 1 had a few
days since with a gentleman from
Washington county who was in Sa
vannah on business. He informed me
that there was no feeling of security
or peace in the section where these con
victs were hired. That among the ladies
especially the greatest terror existed,
and they were absolutely afraid to ven
ture beyond the shadows of their homes
even in daylight. It is 'evident then
that through the instrumentality of tho
law, the peace, safety and happiness of
communities are threatened, if not scori
fied, where these convicts are hired.
There certainly should have been suffi
eienfAvisdom in the Legislature to havo
devised other mode of disposing of the
convicts than turning them loose, as it
were, upon tho people—through tho
provisions of an act that lias proven so
odious.
A Radical Dodge.
As I intimated in my last, the Radi
cals are secretly working to accomplish
a plan by which they will be enabled,
through fraud and villainy, to secure a
partial victory in tho elections for coun
ty officers, members of the Legisla
ture, &e. This object is apparent
in tho effort that lias been made
to force tho County Commissioners
to establish additional precincts in tho
county. This would be as unneceessary
as it is unwise, and wonld.be productive
only of trouble, disorder, and possibly
bloodshed, it is only necessary to refer
to the record of the disgraceful scenes,
the murderous outrages of 18(58, to
divine what would be the inevitable re
sult of a multiplication of voting pre
cincts in this county. As it is, with tho
votiug done at the Court House, order
is maintained, fraud prevented, and a
fair election secured. The scheming
Radicals know this, and hence have been
endeavoring by every covert means in
their power to overthrow this system,
and by multiplying the precincts or
rather in having them established at
isolated places, where the subservient
negroes, their tools and dupes, can have
everything their own way. The grand
jury of the county meets on Monday, and
it is rumored that a s!rong effort will bo
made liy several mean Radicals, who
aro among them, to have introduced a
recommendation to the County Commis
sioners to re-establish (he old voting
precincts. This accomplished, would
benefit none save the carpet-baggers and
tho meanest, most despicable of all
earthly creatures, the scalawags, who
hope to be elevated into political posi
tion through tho crimes and outrages of
their negro dupes. Fortunately, how
ever, the Board of Couuty Commis
sioners is composed of men of intelli
gence, courage and firmness, and it is
not probable they wiil adopt tho recom
mendation should it be made, it is
mysteriously rumored that certain dis
appointed candidates at tho late election
are covertly lending their influence to
this nefarious scheme in hope of obtain
ing reward from the Radicals in the event
of success. This rumor is too unde
fined at present to admit of any com
ments, but your correspondent proposes
to keep a vigilant lookout, and if the
reports resolve themselves into anything
tangible or definite, will assuredly give
the facts and expose the parties.
Tlio Regatta.
Tho result of tho rowing races on
Thursday afternoon has doubtless been
telegraphed you. A Charleston crew has
won a victory in Georgia waters and
carried off the champion flag. Thus it
will bo seen that the victory of the Char
leston boys over Savannah crews at their
late regatta wus not entirely duo to a
knowledge of and familiarity with tho
course, as was alleged by some enthusi
astic friends of the vanquished crew. Su
perior muscle and training have accom
plished it and nothing else. The victory
was a fair one and the Charleston hoys
deserve all honor. It is to bo hoped
that after two signal defeats the
Savannah crews, if they proposo to
keep up aquatic sports, will put them
selves in thorough training before tho
next contest and determine to recover
their lost laurels.
Firemen as Jurymen.
The intimation by Judge Bartlett that
firemen were not exempt from jury duty
has created quite a stir among some of
the red shirts, who are rather tenacious
of their privileges. A special meeting
of the department was called on Friday
night, when a series of indignant resolu
tions were rushed through, instructing
tho Chief that if Judge Bartlett at
tempted to compel any fireman to servo
as a juror, to secure counsel at onco and
contest his authority in tho premises,
and if necessary curry the case to tho
Supreme Court. Now, this action
strongly resembles a* tempest in a teu
pot, and there is just about as much
necessity for it as there was for tho pas
sage of a resolution condemning tho
City Council for refusing to uppropiiato
money for a parade. The matter is one
entirely with tho companies, all of which
are chartered organizations and fully em
powered to protect the individual rights
of tho members. Again, it is not be
lieved that Judge Bartlett intended to
test tho question at all, and ouly threw
out the intimation to scare up some of
the laggards who seek to avoid jury duty
on every and any plea.
Minor Rots.
The regatta hall at the Masonic Tem
ple last evening, the closing event of tlio
season, was a magnificent affair. The
chief feature was the presentation of the
champion flag to the Palmetto crew by
Miss Ella Myers. * * * Sixteen per
sons were slightly poisoned a few days
since by eating canned fruits. Nothing
serious, but a badly scared party, The
Chamber of Commerce have disposed of
their reading room property, furniture,
Ac., at auction, for 8630. The original
cost was $1,400. Largo numbers of
eattlo are being shipped to Savannah
from Live Oak, Florida. Gavroche.
John 13. Gorman, in the last Taibotton
Stundard, gives the following informa
tion derived from President Brown, of
the State Road : Since the lease from
the State was effected by the present
lessees, 80 miles of new rail have been
laid, 400 new cars constructed, 20 new
cars purchased, and three new bridges
built. Ju addition to this immense out
lay, nearly all the old cars have been
repaired, incurring a great expense.
One million of dollars in three years anil
four mouths have been paid by the
Treasurer, Colonel Morrill, over to the
State as rental, in every instance
promptly at the end of each month.
During the Summer months the road
does not pay expenses, there being no
back freights transported. As yet no
dividend has been declared, but, with
fair prospects expected, after the road
is putin thorough trim, something over
expenses will be declared as dividends.
A bridegroom seventy years of age
and a bride of sixty-five summers, are
reported in one of the eastern counties.
The telegraphic expenses of the addi
tional weather reports recently ordered
i«r Savannah amohnt to between $3,000
and $4,000 per annum,
A boat containing six negroes was
capsized by a steam tug in the Savannah
river, near Savanuah, last Wednesday,
and two of the party were drowned.
An Atlanta constable lias been con
victed of misdemeanor and sentenced to
pay a fine of S6OO and costs, to be paid
in tlmee days, or in default thereof to be
imprisoned in the county chain gang for
the space of twelve months.
The Cuthbert Appeal reports the
death of Mr. J. T. B. Turner, an old
citizen of that place, last Friday. Also
the death of Louis Guild, a young son
of Dr. Guild, of Cuthbert, who fell
from a window at Arlington last Tues
day, and was instantly killed.