Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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w . ;- - -; v- ABBEVILLE PRESS AND BANNER. | BY HUGH WILSON. ABBEVILLE, S. C.. WEDNESDAY. MAKCH 5, 1884. NO. 36. VOLUME XXVIII. /JW THE BOATMAN'S SONG. Fly. fly, my bark, across the sea; Th,^ sun is on the wane, Tho la.U beam lingers mistfully Upon the steeple vane; The reapers are leaving the fieMs of grain, And a f ice Is pr> ssed on the window pane. Fly, fly, my bark, across the sea; Dim shadows veil the strand, And twilight unes glide hazily Across the sea acd sand; But I see a form in tho doorway stand, And looking this way with a shading hand. Fly, fly, my bark, across the sea; Leave wind, and wave and roar; The time has come for you and me To lay aside the oar. There is rest for thee on the starlit shore, And a kiss for me at the open door. ?Clarence T. L'rmy, in the Continent. THE .NEW TEACHER. "That is the new school-house, is it?" inquired Miss Alice Hay, the "newteacher," as the farmer's plodding little team passed by a little white house standing endwise to the road, inclosed in a rather dilapidated fence. "Yes, that's where you'll hold forth," I'm afeered you won't hold out long, fin we've got the toughest set of boys in the State, and Uncle Zeke gave a kind of { cackling little laugh as he thought of the ^ timid, demure little damsel at his side controlling the boys of Bear Creek school. "But don't the directors expel them when they are beyond the control of the teacher?" asked Alice, her heart beginning to sink at the prospect before her. "Expel 'em! no, we never expel nobody; if a teacher can't boss the school we just let it boss him; it ain't our tijrht, an' the school here generally, bosses the teacher, an' thar's been some pretty good men licked in that school-house by the boys." "I did not know the school was so unTuly," said poor Alice, wishing heartily that she had hired out as a washerwoman instead of trying to teach the savages of Bear Creek. '(Ak ?i?a11 if u'an'f Kn c r\ Itorl V/AI) V?Cilj UltUUt ll ?vu V W ovr this winter; thar's Jim Turner, he's one of the toughest of 'em; he'll be twentyone in a month and you'll get rid of him; but thar's the Brindlev boys, they're mighty nigh as bad." Poor Alice listened with a sinking heart. The cold, hard duties before her were dreary enough at best; but to go alone and unknown into a strange neighborhood to teach her first school and to be met at the outset by such dark prophecies made her feel homeless indeea. She was naturally a timid, shrinking little thing, and if she had possessed anywhere on the whole broad earth a roof to shelter her she would have turned back from Bear Creek school even then. But she had no home. Her mother had died when she was but 14, and she had kent > house for her father two years when he died, leaviner her all alone. Before he died he advised her to spend the little sum he would be able to leave her in fitting herself for a teacher, and Alice had fnlfilled his directions so literally that when she had completed her course of study at the normal school she had barely ten dollars leftv and when she paid Uncle Zeke for hauling her and her little trunk from the nearest railroad town to the district where shn was to teach, she had but five dollars ioft. On Monday morning as she started for the school-house she felt as if she was going to the scaffold. Iler course of pedagogics in the normal institute had included no such a problem as this school promised to be, and if it were not for very shame she would have given her single five-dollar bill to any one to take her back to the railroad and pay her fare to L., the town where she had attended school. When she arrive d at the school-house about twenty or thirty pupils were grouped around talking, but a spell of silence fell upon them as she walked up and saluted them with a " good morning, " which was more like the chirp of a frightened bird than anything else. As she unlocked the door and entered what she had already begun to regard as a chamber of torture, two or three slowly followed her into the room, and depositing their books upon the whittled aesks, took seats and fixed their eyes upon her with a stare that did not help to strengthen her nerves. All the rules and regulations of her ''Theory and Practice of Opening School npon the First Day" seemed to vanish and leave hor brain whirring in dizzy ^ helplessness. She tried to think of some cheerful remark, but her brain refused to form the thought and her tongue clove to the roof of her mouth, bhe could see in tbe faces of her pupils, most of whom were now in the school-room, that they were aware of her fright and enjoyed it thoroughly. By a strong effort she partially recovered herself and bravely resisted the temotation to lean her head on the desk and have a good cry. She felt that she must do something or faint, so she rang tfte bell, though it lacked fifteen minutes to nine. She then began taking down the names and ages of her pupils, ana by the time this was completed she began to feel more at ease. She then began examining the pupils ?n the different branches in order to assign them to their proper classes. She had finished the examination in all the branches except the advanced reading class, which was principally composed of grown girls and young men, among whom was the terrible Jim Turner, of whom she had been warned. Several of the members of the class had read, and it was now the turn of Moses Bradley, a huge, heavy-set fellow, with small, malicious eyes and a general air of ruffianism. "When he was called upon to read he did not rise from his seat, but began to read in a thick, indistinct voice from a book hidden in his lap. L "Mr. Bradley, will you please stand up when you read asked Alice. 1 "I kin read just as well settin' down," replied the fellow, with a dogged air. " But it is one of the rules in a reading class to stand up to read,'' said Alice, her heart quaking with fear as she foresaw the incipient rebellion. ! "I reckon you will have to make a L, new rule for me then," impudently anHE swered Mose, glancing sideways at his companions with a grin of triumph, r "If you do not obey me I shall be k obliged to punish you," said Alice, bravely, though she could scarcely stand up. "I guess all the punishment you couhl do wouldn't break any of my bones," rcSlied the ruffian, leering at her iuipuently. "But I can break your bones /or you in half a minute, and I'll do it if you don't stand up and read as the teacher asked you to," said a voice at the other 1 end of the class, and Alice looked in that direction and saw Jim Turner step from the class and face the astonished Mose. Mose's insolent manner abated in an in9tant, his face turned pale and he muttered something about not being "bossed by other boys," but he stood up as he was commanded. i I!<.a v AilL'U IUU1U uavu JV1?>CU Iicr VUUI1<J champion for very gratitude, but she mustered all the dignity she could command and said: "Mr. Turner, I cannot allow you to interfere in the management of my school; take your seat." The youth obeyed without a word, but 1 kept his eye on Mose, as if watching for any delinquency. After this little epi gode the exercises proceeded without hilt terruption till noon. Alice had no appetite for dinner. She B leaned her throbbing head upon the desk B and wondered wearily how long she could K endure this. I She was aroused by one of the little B girls running up to her, exclaiming: B "Teacher, teacher, the big boys are fightI ing!" She lollowed the child, exclaimB-'?. ing. " Oh, why did I ever come into such a den of wild beasts?" At the rear of the I school-house stood Jim Turner engaged in a hand-to-hand combat with Mose Bradley and his two brothers, both of r whom were grown. As Alice stepped I around the corner Jim sent Mose reeling I to the earth and then turned like a lion I upon his remaining two assailants. They B rushed at him from two sides, but Jim B was aa active as a panther, and Bill Brad| ley fey as if flhot from a left-handed; blow, and his brother Tom followed bin. in an instant. By this time Mose had secured a ball-bat and rushed upon Jim, but the latter evaded tho blow, and wrenching the bat from his hand knocked Mose headlong with a blow of his fist. As the discomfited trio arose Jim laughed lightly, and asked them ''how they liked it as far as they had got," picked up the bat he had taken from Mose, and called out, ' Come on, boys, let's have a game of ball." The combat ended so quickly that Alice had no chance to interfere, but she felt that it would not do to let this open violation of school rules pass unpunished, so she rang the bell. When the mi nils were assembled she called the cul prits up to the desk, and asked what tho fight was about, and who began it. The Bradleys stood sullen and silent, but Jim answered, "I would rather not tell what it was about, but I began it by knocking Mose Bradley down."' Alice knew the fight was the result of Jim's espousal of her cause in the reading class, and her i voice faltered asshesaid: "Then I shall have to punish you; hold out your hand." Jim obeyed her instantly. She took up the ruler with a trembling hand and , began the punishment. Jim's face never changcd a muscle. The look upon it was one of quiet obedience, in which there was no trace of either bravado or ( sullenness. As Alice inflicted the blows upon the hand so quietly held out to her, Ihc thought rushed upon her mind that . she was smiting the only hand that had been raised to befriend her in that lawess region. Her face grew pale, the blows fell fal- J teringly, the tears began to run down her ( cheeks, the ruler fell from her hand, she sank into her scat, buried her face in her hands, and burst into a storm of sobs. ' Then Jim's countenance changcd. His lit) quivered, he dashed his hands across ' ' * * * ? ^ i -i; 1 ins eyes to clear tnera 01 unnatural uim ness, ami the great lump in liis throat ' seemed to ehoke him. A chuckle from 1 Mose Bradley recalled his self-possession, however, and he took a step or two toward the latter with eyes that fairly blazed with hot indignation. Mose rapidly retreated a step or two, and his chuckle died an untimely death, and for a full minute silence reigned over the schooi-room. At last Alice raised her head and in a broken voice dismissed the pupils to the play-ground. As the children passed out she heard some say: " So you got a whipping after all, Jim," and Jims reply: ' Yes, and I got enough to pass some of it around if anybody is anxious about it." At 1 o'clock Alice rang the bell with a feeling of utter despair; but no school ever moved more smoothlv than did her school that afternoon. Quiet obedience, i study, good lessons and respectful atten- \ tion were universal. But Alice had de- ? termined to quit the school: she felt as if , she would rather be the poorest washer- < woman than to be badgered, bullied and ] tortured for months at a time by a set of < brutal ruffians, whose parents emploved < * -v _ i * ner ior me soie purpose ui cuuunug iuio ( martyrdom. f So when Alice locked the school-liouse { door that evening it was with a mingled t feeling of relief and humiliation that she started to offer her resignation to the di- g rectors. As she left the school house she saw Jim Turner a few yards ahead of her, j walking rapidly toward home. She r called his name, and he stopped and respectfully waited until she had overtaken t him. "Mr. Turner," she said, "lam < going away in the morning, and I wish 1 to thank you for your brave defense of me at the school to-day, and to ask your i forgiveness for the punishment I so un- j justly inflicted on you," and in her i earnestness Alice held out her little ] trembling hand, and .Tim instantly i grasped it. ] "I have nothing to forgive," said he; 1 "you could not do otherwise and neither ] could I; but you are surely not intending j to quit the school ?" t "Yes,"answered Alice, "I would rather "? * 'I t 1 aie tnan pass tnrougii rnree mourns ui i snch scenes as I have to-day." j "But you will have no more trouble; j there is no one in the school that would be at all likely to give you trouble, ex- ^ cept the Bradley boys, and as long as I ] am there I will answer for their good behavior." j At last Jim's eloquence prevailed and j Alice finally consented to teach a week j longer, and at the end of that l.vme she de- ^ cided to stay, for never did a school move along more smoothly. At her request j Jim was allowed fo remain during the , term and as soon as it closed he went to ] college. t Alice taught the Bear Creek school ( successfully for three Years, but in the end j Uncle Zeke's prediction was verified, for i Jim Turner came back and broke up the j school. He married the teacher. I f A Pennsylvania Nimrod. ? A letter from Milford, Penn., to the , New York Tribune contains the following: For fifty years or more the Greenings have enjoyed a widespread reputation. "Old Jerry," the father of the family, is seventy-five years old, but he is as straight as a flagstaff, and looks no more than forty-five. For sixty years he has hunted in the Pike county forests, and he knows every acre of ground between the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. In appearance he i3 rather striking. A shaggy, grizzled beard covers his face, his sharp, blue eyes gleam beneath heavy eye-brows, and his physique is that of an athlete. He will hunt all day, tramping through snow a foot deep, anil, if need be, wading ice-bound streams with bare feet and trousers rolled up to the knee. Since he has been a "backwoodsman" he has killed 304 bears and 1,133 deer, beside a number of beaver, wolves, wildcats, panthers and smaller game. lie thinks no more of a hand-to-hand en counter with a wounded bear or a fourpronged buck than he would of cleaning his gun; in tact, he would prefer a "scrimmage" with the- animals to anything?except, perhaps, the villainous whisky of this region. Many are the tales told of the old man's daring. In November, 1878, lie entered a boar's cave and after capturing two cubs had a desperate hand-to-hand light with their mother, who appeared upon the scene just as Jerry was leaving the cave. In 1849 he was upset from a boat, in Pawkill pond, by an infuriated buck which he was pursuing, and nearly drowned. A few years later another wounded deer chased him up a tree where he remained until he was nearly frozen to death, when help arrived. His cscapes, as told by himself, would fill a volume and would make intoresting reading. He talks in a dialcct peculiar to the region,and indulges in many aphorisms. Labor Unions Among the Chinese. It may not be generally known that amon<f the Chinese of San Francisco there exist labors unions, but such is the fact. Among those now active in Chinatown are a union of sewers, who were recently on a strike for ten-hour shifts, which point they carried; one of first ciass cooks; an express wagon pruivutivi.union, which fixes the price to he charged within the limits of Chinatown, and shoe- , makers' and cigar-makers' unions. There is also a union of laundrymen. which provides for the observance of Monday as a holiday for wash-house employes, takes up collections for the burial of its dead members, and has a sexton and a cook of its own to attend to the matter of supplying hog meat and other edibles for the knapsack of the departed traveler. Many of the laundries have also adopted the American method of delivering.clothes in wagons, instead of carryingoaskets. These simple features show that the Chinese are to some extent adopting American methods; and the next decade may witness the coolie with a tight-waisted Seymour coat, sucking a little bamboo cane and glaring at the passing females through one eyeglass on Market street.? 3m Francisco Post. The ship canal between the Baltic sea and the German ocean will, it is estimated, save a journey of 600 miles for a vessel making a trip between either of those waters, as the circumnavigation of the peninsula of Jutland will be unnecessary. In all, the proposed canal will be only some fifty miles?or about half that of the Suez canal?extending from Gluckstadt to Kiel. SELECT SIFTINGS. Cows are still used to drag the plow in Central Germany. There is said to be three cents' worth of gold in every ton of sea-water. Tne game of draw-poker was invented about 1846 or 1847 by a noted Tennessee turfman named Kirkman. The English sent all their fine goods to be dyed in Holland until the seventeenth century, when the art was brought to them. Tonoftia flin rirnfucanr nf mnoiP. on whose traditional adventures Goethe founded his poem, lived about the end of the fifteenth century. Amber is a fossil resin, and is now known to be the resinous exudation from several species of extinct coniferous trees. Most of the amber of commerce is obtained from the shores of the Baltic. In early times the method of executing criminals in Holland was to confine them solely to the use of bread in which no salt was contained, and which ultimately occasioned death by engendering a fatal form of disease. The word meerschaum is a German compound, and means sea-foam. It is a mineral, and resembles chalk. It is found in Turkey Greece, and Spain, where it is usually found in veins, as other minerals are. The reason why a passing train causes the jarring of a building near by is that the train jars the ground over which it passes, which is communicated to the building. This is felt to a greater decree in the winter, when the ground is frozen solid, than in the summer, when !he ground, being light and soft, does not so easily transmit the jarring motion :jiven it by the train. M. du Sommerad, the director of the T>ot*iu Ttroe nno flfiv in ft ^iay uiuwuiu, V* 4. "ijo, ? v.^ ... ~ ostaurant in St. Denis, when he noticed langing on the wall a copper drinpinginn of unusual shape. lie looked at it iosely, and saw under a thick layer of ust and smut engraved letters. Without jomment he bought it of the surprised >wner. It proved to be the plate from Louis XIV.'s coffin. It bears the united irras of France and Navarre, surrounded .>y the collar of the order of St. Louis, ;wo angels as supporters, and the inscripion: "Here lies the noble and mighty Prince King Louis the Fourteenth, King >f France and Navarre, etc. Requieicat n pace." It was probably torn from the coffin in 1793, when the mob broke into he burial place of the Bourbon kings at 5t. Denis. An Offhand Rhymer. There used to be considerable lumber jusiness done on Merrymeeting bay, and here lived a noted character on the bay ihore, named?say Johnny Jones, who vas noted for the handy way in which he ould make a rhyme. He used to steal ogs from a certain man, who was justice thp npfire and cut them ud into shin *les. His arrest was caused and he was onvicted, and bail was wanted /or his tppearance at a higher court, but he wouldn't get it, so he appealed to the jusice to go his bail. "If you will make me a rhyme I will," :aid the justice. He agreed to, but said he must make it "rom his boat. So he got into the boat tnd took up his paddle. "Now, Johnny, for the rhyme," said ;he justice, who was afraid he might deceive him. But Johnny was true to his promise and gave him this one: " As true as I am in this boat, and rou nre on the shore, I have stole forty logs from you, and I'll steal forty more," ind away he went. They used to elect flogreeves at a town meeting, officers ivhose business it was to impound stray nogs; they also acted as fence viewers. Well, they elected a fellow named Doughty, whom old Johnny didn't like. Is soon as they voted Johnny got up md got off the following: "It appears very strange to my weak trains, that men should be possessed, to iass a vote to choose a shoat to govern ill the rest." A professor at Bowdoin, it is said, javc him a suit of clothes for that hyme. Johnny picked up a canoe one day on he bay and put it in his boom. A man lamed Hunter, of Topsham, heard of j ;he find and declared he was going down o get the canoe, although it was not his. Johnny heard of it, and was on the ookout for the enemy's approach. It vas on a bright moonlight night that Hunter started to fulfill his oath. He mlocked the boom and proceeded to the ;anoe and stepped into it. Just at that noment Johnny stepped out from some )irches that grew by the shore, gun in land, and spoke as follows: "If you get that I'll pawn my hat. i'll stand not to dispute you. I have jot both powder and good shot, and I twear by gad I'll shoot you." The canoe was not taken.?Bath {Me.) Times. Mortality In Armies. A learned professor of the university it Pavia has compiled and publishad a <tatistical account of the proportionate lumber of deaths in European armies. Ele finds that in every 10,000 men the jomparative mortality amounts to only ifty-seven in Prussian armies, whereas in ;he English it is eighty-four and in the French ninety-two, while in the Austrian ind Italian it rises as high as 112 and 116. This very moderate number recorded to the credit of Prussia is the riore remarkable inasmuch as it is said :o have been ascertained that in her irrnies a considerable number of deaths ire the result of suicide. There are, tiowever, some other very curious anamjlies in the table thus made out. For iustance, the tendency of soldiers to die ippears to increase almost in inverse proportion to the rate of mortality *mong civilians. Thus, among the latter, the number of deaths in every 10,000 imounts to 217 in England, 244 in Prance, and 269 in Prussia. This would make it appear that in the last-mentioned country the warriors arc about five times less likely to die than the civil population; whereas, in France and Eneland thev are suly twice as unlikely to pay the debt of nature. The professor is obliged to infer [rom this that the sanitary conditions under which Prussian soldiers live are very fur more satisfactory than those of military lift in England or France. But it may be suggested that some other important considerations ought to be admitted in explaining the difference between the three armies. French, and itill more especially British soldiers, are exposed to all sorts of risks in the unhealthy districts to which they are liable to be sent, even in times of peace, where13 Germany, with its lack of colonies, lias no occasion to send the children of the Fatherland to such outlandish and uncomfortable quarters. But this explanation still leaves it an open question why the Prussian ho3ts should be so much more healthy tiian tne Austrian, which enjoy n similar immunity.?1/mlun Time*. Great Seal of the United States. Secretary Frelingliuysen says that the last great seal of the United States, used to attest the documents of the State department, was not in strict accordance with the design of 1782. He gives the following description of what the coatof-arms should be: Arms }>aly of thirteen pieces, argent and gules, in a chief azure: the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle displayed proper, holding in its dexter talon an olivo Iranch, and in his sinister a bunch of thirteen arrows, all proper, and in his beak a scroll inscribed "E PI iribus Unum." For the cro-t over the head of the eagle, which appears above the escutcheon, a glory, or breaking through a cloud proper and surrounding thirteen stars forming a constellation argent on an azure field. Reverse?A pyramid unfinished, in the zenith an eyo and a triangle surrounded with a glory proper. Over the eye are the^e words: "Ammit Coeptic." On the base of the pyramid the numeral letters MDCCLXXVT. and underneath the following motto: "Novusordose clarum." Ran Both Ways. During the examination of a witness as to the locality of the stairs in tho house, the counsel asked him: "Which way did the stairs run?" The witness, a noted wag, replied: "Oneway they ran up stairs, and the other way they ran down stairs." The learned counsel winked his eye, and then took a look at I tho ceiling. I RUNNING THE BLOCKADE. ! EXCITING EPISODE IN THE CAREER OF A BLOCKADE RUNNER. t Eucapc and Final Capture of the Con- f fed-rate Steamer Susanna ? The . 1 Commander'* story. "It was about 11 o'clock in the fore- :? noon some time along in the fall of 1805 i ?in the month of October, I think it ' was?that I ran the blockade in Galvcs- ] ton harbor, in command of the 9tcamcr f Susanna, with a cargo of arms and am- i munition for the Confederate govern- j ' ment." The speaker, says the Savannah (Ga.) j Neics, was a medium-sized, square-built i ? ?? !? Atwio nnrl Anfnpnii rm/1 1 mail, mill uuujj-ocu ujts nuu features. ' I have read the account in the Sunday JVeic.i," he continued, "of the striking chase at sea, and the story of the remarkable escape of a Confederate 9teamer at Galveston. I was in command of that ship at the time.'' I The reporter recognized at once an old ! Savannahan, Captain Charles W. Austin, i who is now in the government employ, j and who figured in many thrilling ad- | ventures in the war, but came out without a scar. " You had a narrow escape, Captain; but tell us something about the affair." "As I said, it was some time in the fall of 18G3. I had made four or five successful trips from Havana, bringing arms and munitions of war, but this trip nearly wound me up. The Susanna, 1 I which the writer in the Xeics referred to ' 1 as a privateer, was a stanch, trim-built ! iron vessel, with a capacity for from , 1,400 to 1,800 bales of cotton, and with . i an average speed of about fifteen knots i ' an hour. She was built in England, on j J the Clyde, as a blockade runner, and lay | } low in the water, with her long, black ; I hull hardly visible except in broad day- ! ? light. She was about 22.'5 feet long by ! j thirty beam, and being a new vessel, I j , *r?lf AMiiftl tr\ ntrut.mnfr in n. r.hnsp. I < We left Havana with a crew of twenty- 1 seven men, well officered by men who J knew their business. We had fine , weather and calculated to make land in- i side the blockade under cover of night i between 1 and 3 o'clock in the morning. However, as luck would have it, an ac- j cident at sea?the giving way of some of i ( our machinery?detained us several hours ! < and brought us to land in open daylight, ! about 6 o'clock in the morning. By this ' 5 time we were in plain sight of the block- I j ading squadron, but as yet were unob- | served. ! ' "The entrance to the harbor was filled I ( with gunboats It was near the close of j ( the war, and the blockade at other points i on thp const, haviner been raised, the Fed- i c eral cruisers were concentrated at Galves- j ton. The situation was a perilous one, j and there was but one thing left to be ! done. If we could evade the enemy until : nightfall, and then pass the squadron and ! enter the harbor unobserved, we would be all right. Calling the men all to the , bridge 1 gave them their orders, and the j ship was soon heading toward land. We j stood well to the eastward, close under shore, with the intention of secreting ourselves until night. We were yet some distance out, and hauling in rapidly, when about 8 o'clock I discovered a cruiser bearing down upon us. All hope of making land was then abandoned, and the only chancc for escape was to put to sea. Having full confidence in my men, and Knowing the speed of my ehip, I did not fear the result. f "Calling to the engineer through the pipe, I discovered that after making a twelve hours' run off shore and back again, I would not have coal enough to carry me back to Havana, as there was r none to be had in Galveston. I was in a : quandary; but no time was to be lost, j 'Give her full head,' I shouted to the j engineer, and casting my glass across the ! harbor, I saw the Federal cruisers pre paring for action. There was only one alternative, and in forlorn hope I took the desperate chance of running the squadron and breaking the blockado. It was then about noon. I headed the ship i for Galveston and passed over the outer 1 bar into the swash or beach channel, 0 hauling in fouth by west in the teeth of e the guns on the gunboat Sominole, which had already opened fire. At this point the chase began, and for an hour we ran under a heavy fire from the guns of three of the squadron, which were bearing down on us all the time. e " 'Push her hard,' I shouted again to a the engineer. 'All right, sir,' came the c reply, and the huge black columns of r smoke that poured out our funnels and t lay in clouds on the water, the throbbing j of the engine in the hold, the straining t of the wheels as they flew along, plow- 1 ing the water and leaving a track of boil- j J ing, foaming sea, far astern, told that he , was doing his duty. It was an exciting i time, but every man was at his post, ana f not a word was spoken. The shell 1 whizzed over and splashed and drenched our deeks as they fell close under our ' sides. Two solid shots passed through our funnels as I stood on the bridge, and the fragment of a shell shattered our bow above water, but otherwise we were unhurt. I could watch the movements I of the men on the cruisers through my { glass, as I stood on the bridge, between the flashing of the guns and the clearing , away of the smoke. " We were even now about half a mile i distant from each other and about a mile | from the shore. ' All right below V I : inquired again through the pipe. All j right, sir;' was the answer, and the ship ; rushed through the water as the shot fell j thick and fast, but the chase was about ! up. The bar was between us and the gun-boats, aud the distance grew greater ! as the channel widened. In ten minutes j more we were out of their reach, and, running the ship under Pelicant Point, we were under cover of our own guns, sheltered from the enemy's. "We were now safe. The open bay was before us, with the white sand hills j beyond. The fleet was lying below about i two miles, and the fort and the wharves along the city were lined with thousands of spectators who had witnessed the chase, and who received us with open arms." " It was a nip-and-the-bounce, captain," remarked the reporter. "IIow did you feel with the shells bursting about you ?" " Well, about as I do now," was the reply, as the complacent captain stood with his hands in his pockets, quietly smoking his cigar. "True, there were about 200 pounds of powder under the bridge wftere 1 stooa, uui u s an m ? life-time. There's no use getting ex- j cited.'' " "We lay in port about eighteen days," I he resumed, "dischargingour cargo, and j reloaded with cotton, when we again put to sea and passed the squadron without j being molested or interfered with. Everything went smooth until about j j sixty miles off Cuba, when we broke our j crank pin, and so disabled wire picked j up by the Federal cruiser Metacomet. i commanded by Captain Sewett, and , taken to Philadelphia. I was tried there 1 in the Federal courts, and the Susanna was condemned as a government prize." The Seminole which figured in the j I above affair was employed by the United ! ! States government during the war in j ; cruising along the South Atlantic and j j Gulf coast in search of the many enter- | < prising blockaders with which the coast ( and West India waters were infested, j , She captured and assisted in the capture ! , of a number of vessels, in which several < Savannah citizens were interested at that time. After the war she was sold to the Nickerson line, and ran as a merchant steamer between Boston and Savannah for a number of years. I How a Diver Sees. 1 Tt rlpnonds imon the water about see ing. Ordinarily you have light enough j at forty feet to see your way about, and in Southern waters you can see well , sixty or seventy feet; everything being j ] as clear as possible. But they have, the ! electric light now, so a diver can take it j ; down to almost any distance from the j surface. In building the Mississippi ( bridge we used candles in the cylinders, | and under a pressure of 100 feet they ' would burn down about three times as | fast as they would ashore, and at eighty j feet, when you blew the candle on* it ( would light right up again. The experi- ( ment was tried at 108 feet and thirteen times the candle w as blown out. relighting : itself immediately; so you see pressure is ( a curious sort of thing.? Cincinnati En- j quirer. SUMMARY OF CONGRESS Senate. T?e Senate received a joint resolution from Olitri ftskirnr C'oncrress to establish a government inspection of mipirtxl meats, and if, when that is done, our neats bo still exclude 1 from France and 3ormany, thaf, retaliatory law-) bo ptis-ed... Tlie c m-nitteeon public lands repcrteJ adversely the bill providing for the llrrgation >f lands in the arid regioas A jill appropriating $10.50;) to comnleto the itatue of Admiral Dupont, of the navy, was aassed, and also a bill providing for the renoval of the Ut? Indians from Colora lo to Utah....Mr. Harrison introduced a bill to iivide Dakota Into two parts, erecting tho lortheni part into a Territory to be known is Northern Dakota, with th? capital at Bisnarck, and providing for tho admission of ;he soul hern part iirotho Union as a S'ato ....The consideration of the bill providing for national bank c rculation was resumed. Mr. Morrill,from the co nmittee on finance, *e[)ortod adversely tho bill authorizing the mvment of customs duties in legal tmder lotes, but askod that in deference to he vi-h of another Senat >r. it be placed ou the calendar. It was so placed. Mr. Morril ilso reported advorsely the b 11 providing 'or the retirement of small legal tender lotes: also, adversely, the bill authorizing ;he secretary of thetreamry to make final ldjustment of claims of foreign stoa-nsnip jompanies arising trom the ill ?gal action of ;ontiage dues. The last two bills were in Icfitiitely postponed Air. ciair introduces i bill ti> amend the pension laws ? Th'*Sonite further considered the bill to provide for ;he i^sue of circulation to national banks. Houm* Mr. Doi-sheimer moved to suspend the rules and make the bill granting copyright to citizens of foreign countries a special order for February 27. Mr. Deuster said tho effect )f tho bill would be to make books dear and :o tax our people for the benefit of foreign authors. It would also throw out of employment men who were engaged in making reprints of foreign authors. Mr. Shace believed in internationa' copyright, but was opposed to tho bill in its nresent simp?. Mr. Kelley wished to have ^he bill fixed for a later date in order to hear xuthors, publishers and bookmakers. Mr. Dorsheimer's motion was lost The bill for ihe retirement of the trado dollar was made ispecia' orbr for Mavh 11. Mr. Tow u;hend said ho was opp isad to tho bill. Tho ;rade dollar had circulated at par until the sankers repudiated it, and the merchants refused to receive it. It immed acelv depreciated to eighty cents on the dollar, and went into the han Is of jobbers in New York, ivho now wish to have it exchange:! at par. A bill was passed relieving from the jharge of desertion soldiers who served through the war, but who, being absent from iheir command when it was mustered out, lid not receive an honorable discharge.... A. bill was passed fixing tho postage on transient newspapers at one cent for four ounces. ? The House voted to hold night sessions on Fridays to consider pension bills. The House spent all night in a filibustering session. From 5 o'clock at night until y 1* fhft rvtrtwiirtrr thora WAc A rlpft. Unfair wins to the fact that the Republicans defined to vote on a motion to fix a day Tor ho consideration of the bill to pe sijn Mexi:an veterans, and the survivors of some inlian wars. At about 8 o'clock A. M., an ex!it ng discussion was bnught nb >ut by a motion, ma le by Mr. Lamb, of Indiana, to fine VIr. Brumm, of Pennsylvania, five dollars for eaving the House after tiie contest of the :vening hal begun. An angry debate folowod, principally particpat d in by Messrs. Miscock, Morrison, Tucker, Head and Hunt \t one time Mr. Hiscock was standing full in front of the Shaker's desk, where lie was surrounded by an excited crowd of adherents ind opponent^, and the services ot the serjeant-at-arms had to be called into re juisiion in order to secure some degree of order, finally, Mr. Brumm explained that he had jeen misunderstood as saying that he had not eft the House until the filibustering was >egun. He had left before that time. Mr. Lamb then withdrew his motion, and Mr. Urumm wasexcused. At 8:1*) a quorum havng been obtained a motion to in ike th?> bill he special order for the 131st was carried by .75 yeas to 35 nays, and the House then auourned. Willi Y FIR I? DAMP U LlliU LI I i J.1V.1J uitiiii Terrible Explosion in a Pennsylvania Mine. Nineteen Bodies Brought to the Surface?Fearful Scen?s, The little village of West Leisenring. four niles north of Unioutown, Penn., was t .e ther morning the scene of the most terrific xpksion ever known in that region. TI12 'onnellsville Coal and Iron com any, of diich Judge Leisenring, of Mauch Chunk, 3 president, has '-'00 coke ovens there, which iave been in operation about a year. The rorks give employment to about 100 mon, ind quite a little town has sprung up, named ifter the president of the company. The oal is obtained by means of a shaft, which each's the inino at a distance of 500 feet rom the surfnce. On the morning of the disaster a part of he force, who had worked during i he night, eft tho mine a litt'e after 3 o'clock, and eventy others took their places, making the lsual morning shift At about 0.30 o'clock( vhile the men were digging, suddenly and without warning, there occurred an explo ;ion mat mous tu? juutc m mvij h|w nent and th^ew the men into the utmost :onsternation. Tbc scene of the explosion was in an apartnent fully 8iM feet from the bottom of the ;haft ami, therefore, ab>ut 1,'iOO feet from he oj>ening at the surface; yet the report vas heard outside fur a considerable di tance, i'id the concussio i wa so great that the rop >f the derrick, 100 feet high, was knocked of)'. The awful scene that ensued anion; the ?rror-striken miners cannot bo described. Ml their lamp wero blown out, and they ;vere left in darkness and confusion. They lad not time to recover from the shock >efore they found themselves unable jo breathe. The explosion, which .vas caused by firedamp, a term ,vhich miners apply to the light 'arbinated hydrogen, or coal gas, that issues 'rom crevice- in r o.'s of mines, left the nine filled with afterdamp, which contains 10 oxygen, a id renders ii impossible for life ;o b3 susta tie 1 for any time. This afterlamp is densest in the upper part of mines, ind the men, therefore, congregated near ;h_* bottim. But even hare they did not long ind relief. Of all the men who wero in the heading ivhere the explosion occurred Dick Balsley ilone escaped to tell the awful story. When :he explosion came and all the lights were blown out. Balsley was just changing his Nothing. He at once wound part of his lothes tightly around his face and mouth to keep the foul air from choking him,'and :ave the rest of his garments to his companion, With instructions to t iko the same precautions. He th'.-n started for the main entrance,bidding his com 'anion to follow. They ran over the bodies of men and over shattered wagons. They could see nothing, but could i !.. ?? '"i- ?li'inrr man Prosflntlv. urur mo kh?i? ?v?e ?? Bulsley's companion protested that they were not going in the ri^'ht direction, and turned hack and perished. Balsley pushed on until lie finally saw light an 1 was taken our. His ?scai?e is regarded by exjierienced miners as one of the most marvelous on record. Ho ?ays that some of the men kept their heads under water us long as they could, and would [ hange from water to after-dainp until finally they succum! ed. When the explosion became known the families of the miners gathered ab nit the shaft and awaited developments in breath less sus[>ense. Paisley's sto y pave them little ground to hope that any of them could l^e got out alive. So dangerous was the nfterJamp that it ?vas fully two hours before any volunteers could enter the mines. Many were on hand realy to make a search, but were unable to d > so until all hope of rescuing the unfortunates alive had Bed. It was about 8 oVLck when the first i)ody was brought out. It was tnat of Micnal Kipke, a Hungarian, whose wife and two .ittle children were wailing and weeping it the shaft. His face bore no marks of violence aud he had evidently died from suffocation. The work of recovering the bodies then ivent on rapi Hy, it being done by wi'ling volunteers, aud at noon nineteen bjdies had been carried outof the shaft. The company's books were then examined and the roll called It was found tbat all the men were accounted for. The work proceeded with quietness and order, amid the subdued sobs aud wringing of hands of tho ?nef-stricken families. The bodies were taken to ti eir homes near by and lai I out. Nearly every one of tho nineteen victims left w.vos and children. Mo->t of the dead bore no visible mark of violence and lied from suffocation. GLEANINGS. There are :i,.jOO working wora?n in Chicago. Peach trees are in bloom at San Diego r<ot America supplies tho world with turpentine. Fresh cucumbers are fifty cents apiece in Now York. The Modocs now number twenty-six families of ItHJ persons. Boston lias a cremation society almost ready for business. Japan has 4,733 miles of telegraph and twenty-two miles of rai way. M Dk Lessefs predicts that tho Panama canal will be opened before ISSS. A thug in India has recently b en convicted of the poisoning of ninety-six victims. In a single year the enormous sum of *'27,XX),000 was paid out by Americans for matchWithin ten years the Northern Pacific railroad has broken down two financiers, Jay Cooke and Henry Villard. It is thought that the great Sioux Indian reservation of 33,000 square miles will soon L>e thrown open to settlement. " A TERRIBLE TORNADO. Qreat Loss of L^e in Five Southern States. Thousands of H uses Desiroyed-HundreJs of People Killed, ThoStatesof Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina and Ixnii iana have been visited by one of the most destructive storms ever seen in the South. Thousands of houses were destroyed in an instant, hundreds of ! persons lost their lives, a id many more were injured. The tornadi was particularly so. vere in Georgia and Alabama. An Atlanta (Ga.) dispat' h .-ays: One million dollars' worth of property, 5,000 houses, and :.U0 to 4' 0 lives aro the forfo t j aid to tho terrible storm. Forming in the valley of the 1 hattahooehe, it spread ill*0 a fan shape in Columbus, one arm running into A aba;i a. until interrupted by the Red mountains, thence across to Cave Springs, Rome, and Canton, and, deflecting a little southerly, to Athens, it demo!I ished prop rty in Banks, JackI em iinrl Mn;iwnn counties. Another arm shot through Carrol and Chattahoochee counties, killing n anv iK>op!e, and another arm crossing the State from Columbus to Columbia, 1 asse 1 through the town of Ninety-six, S. C., and thence to the ocean. From all three arms many smaller torna loes formed, which ran up the valleys, carrying with them death and desolation. Oxmore lost ten to fifteen lives, Six persons were killed at Leeds. In Rome and its vicinity the calamity was distressing. The storm began at abuit o'clock, and continued at intervals until Broad street, for several souares, wai completely flooded. Signs ana awnings flew in all directions. Tho rainfall wa? tremendous, and there was a heavy fall of hail. In Ease Rome the frame residence of \V. S. Crane was completely demolished, and about 1,000 residences were destroyed in the county. A number of small frame houses in the upper portion of the city were demolished. Advices ric ived from Cave Spring report a great loss of life. Mr. Gil.iard and his son wero killed by falling beams. Two negroes were abo killed, Mrs. Hoke wa- seriou ly injured. The family of Mr. Ford were all seriously hurt and several will die. One the line of the East Tennessee railroad below Cave Spring great less of life is also reported. Everywhere fences, barns and outhouses were demolished. In Cherokee and Jasper counties, far removed from communication, the disaster was frightful. With n a space of two miles twenty-two persons were killed and twentyfive wounded, many of whom will die. Seven miles above Canton, a school had been dismissed on account of the threatening osi>ecr of the weather. Some of the children on their way home stopped in a house to e*capetheiaiu. The storm struck the houso, ; blowing it down and killing ten children and j wounding a number of others. No one can " " 4- I lorm any luea 01 ine oxluuu ui mo u<jstruction that tha storm has wrought in the mountain counties of Georgia. It swept over a wide track, and left a pathway of ruin behind it. A strip cf timber four miles across was completely leveled, making it look as though an immense mowinz machine had bean run through it. Trees that had stood tor nearly a hundred years, the largest caks and hickories, were snapped off like straws or pulled out by the roots. Everything that was high enough to catch the torce of the wind was twisted off. and immense trunks and branches of trees are piled helter skelter over tbe faca of the eartn. The st'rm struck the track at Tates, and extended from there to Ka-^r, a distance of about three miles. It had been raining all day, and at about 2 P. M. the rain came down in torrents and washed off the whole face of the country. Ait3r that the e came a calm, a id everything wasquiet and peacelul. Suddenly the people of Tates heard a deep, rumbling sound, like distant thunder or an immenw waterfa I. (Juick as a , flash, and without a second's warning, | the storm struck. The trees swayed, snapped, and went crashing to the i ground; house* went over, and in a half I minutes' tiini the quiit little town of Tates, | with its halt do/en families, bad not a house I left stand ng. The inhabitants were thrown ' out into the storm, and their household furniture, beds, clothing, papers, etc., went flying through the air. 1 In Franklin ono-negro was tilled and | several oth.T negroes and whites have been i badly wounded. Many houses Were blown j down, anJ the trce< and fenc.*s have com- | plelely blockaded the roads. Other white ; families living on the farm of F. S. Moore are all missing:, and all buildings of every kind on the place were blown hway. Tho hail at Newnan, Ga., wa< severo, some of the .stones measuring twj anl a half and three inches in diameter. All window panes tl:at were ex|>osed were shattered. Tho tornado pa<S2d over Haddocks, on the Macon and Brunswick railroad, about 4:150 r. m. Eleven persons were killed and a number wounded, and there was great destruction of pro erty. Two are reported killed in Norwood. Warrenton narrowly escaped. The torna lo pa sed arouad the town, and was alarming to all who saw it. It played havoc about a mile outside. It tore Kenzie's place to pieces, oven breaking all his furniture, and left not a ve?tigeof his bouse. | Mrs. Kenzie's collar bono was broken and , her shoulder dislocated. A little fur her on J toward Coma K it tore an-. Avery s nouse. 1 on widow Jonesp' lac, all to pieces, ki lieu one child, carried another chili 10J yards, and left Mr. and Mrs. Avery unharmed. At Indian Springs, 6a., there was tha heaviest hail storm ever known, and for half an hour stones fell as thick a; rain drops until the ground w.-.s perfectly white with them. The first ten minutes the hailstones were small, but they continued to increase in size until they measured nine inches in circumference by actual measurement. The stones were in shapes of full blown rosei, dahlias, and crystals. The damage done was very treat. Many persons wore injured, holes were made i 1 roofs, limbs of trees wore torn off, and glass was shattered. In the vicinity of Charlotte, N. C., the torna-lo destroyed property and caused death in every direction. A settle nent of twentyfive houses was razed to the ground, and eleven i>ersons?three white and eight colored ? were killeJ. A Wilmington (N. C.) dispatch says that the storm passed throu ;h four counties, causing loss of life and great destruction of property. Chester, S. C., was visited by the storm, and the roofs of many buildings torn off. and several buildings wholly or partially destroyed. A Birmingham (Ala.) dispatch says that a large number of |>ersons in the Catawba valley were killel an I immense ilamage was done to property. At Jea-t tea persons were known to have ljst their five's, and many of those injured were not expected to recover. Much damage was done by the tornado in and abjut Clinton, I a. Trees and fences for miles were blown down, and ono man was Lillfd bv a falling tree. WHIRLED TO DEATH, A Vivid Tornado Scene?Six Dead and 'llircc Wounded ill One Iflousc, A diVpatch from Jasper, Ga , describing the terrible effects of the tornado, says that it came in sight seven miles to the right of that town. "It went over the mountains and out of sight eight miles from Jasper. It was in sight five minutes. The devastated route was from half a mile to three milei acros?.) "In its five minutes' trip over that fifteen miles strip of country twenty persons were killed. The scenes that the tornado left in its track are beyond description. One nee?'i to stand in the midst of tbo demolished forests and see the destruction of life ami properly to form an idea of the extent of the damage. Near where the cyclone was fir.~t seen from Jasper three brothers have lived for years. Their names are John, Peter and Levi Cogle. They are all prosperous fanners, owning noud lands and run .in? an extensive government di-tillery. They live within a stone's throw of ea n other, and hive good, comfortable houses. Levi Cogle lived in a large twostory house, sitting upon the crest ol a liill overlooking the valley. South westward from his liouso was an owning. No trees or hills were in the way, ami the residence stood right iu the pathway of the tornado. In the house were his wife and fi/e children aud three hired men?William ti rover, Will.am lierren and Alonzo Wright. Ti e tornado whisked over the mountain and into the \ alley, where it paused .o gather iis to ces. Then, settling down, it wlil/./ed toward the house of Levi Cogle, and literally tore it into a miuon piece*. im-io n-> ? crash ami a clatter, and the air was fi led with Hying timbers, pans, furniture, feuth ers, curii, wheat, 1 elding. chickens and, in fact, everything that tlie place held. Mr. Cogle wai at the residence ot his brother just outside the fury of the storm, and when he saw the tornado comimr ho started toward his hoaso. before ho reached it lie was forced to cling to the underurush to keep from blowing away. As soon as the torn ?do had gono,*he went to where a moment before his house stood, and a heartrending spectacle met his gaze. His wife and two rhiidr-11 were lound one huudrel jards away, dead. Further on thive other children, one a baby eight.-cn months old, were picked up in an almo>t d^ing condition. Two of them bal been blown three hundred yards. Scattered about in the wcods were the three men? lirover, lierreu and Wright?all dead, one with a huge tree across his '*xly. Tliu, in a moment in that house six fx. sons were killed and three others dangeroui y injured. The distressed husband and laiher, in the midst of his demolished home and dtad and dying fumily, was wild with grief. The dead bodies ai d the injured children were taken to the house of Air. Wesley L'ogle, and one messenger went for shruuds for six, and another went for surgeons for three, huch a visitation rarely fulls to the lot of one man." Hall.?The Rev. Dr. John Hall, of New York, receives $30,000 a year salary, beside a house rent free, and 15,000 for a weekly column In the Ledger from Robert Bonner.' j NEWS SUMMARY. , Eastern and Middle States. a A fire in Philadelphia destroyed a large | warehouse for storing flour. After the s flames were rubdued a towering wall that t had boon left standing fell upon an adioinin; a residence, crushing it to pieces. Julward t Curran was killed at his wife's side, and the other inmates of the house had a narrow es- e cape from death. r The International and Eastern Telegraph s company, with a capital of #">,000,000, was incorporated in Albany, N. Y. j Considerable interest wis aroused by the registration of a ten-nrillion-dollar mort- f gage in the offices of forty different town a clerks in a direct lino across the State of ( Connecticut by t :e Bankers' and Merchants s Telegraph company. j Wun.cipal elections in Pennsylvania resulted in the success of tho Republican can- j di la o for mayor in Philadelphia, Harris- s burg, Pitt burg, Allentow.i, Lancaster and t Allegheny City, and of the Democratic can- , didato in Wilfiamsport, Chester and fc'cranton. Realin* elected twenty-eight Demo- , crats and twenty-three Republicans to the j common council. j Five case; of suicide and several sulden t dpaths were reporiea me oiuer uuv m ncrv t York city. Last year's coal product, as reported by the mine inspector of the Pennsylvania middle district, was a< follows: Lchgta Valley Coal company, 04,770,015 toii?; Lehigh and Wilkes* barre company, 175,110,735 tons; Delaware and Hudson, 135,781,055 tons; Susquehanna, 111,9:12 0 5; Wyoming Valley companies, 45,549,600 tons; miscellanoous companies. 234,400,06') ton^. Tho number of persons actuary employed in mining coal was 17,833. These figures show an excess of more than CM),000 tons and more than 3,000 employes over the previous year. By an explosion of fire damp in a mine near Uniontown, Penn., nineteen miners were r killed, and others had a narrow escape from suffocati. n. After being twice buried and twice disin- ] terred, and after 11,000 miles of stranze wan1 derii^s, the bodies of the ten heroes of the lost Jeaniiette have once more reached the la id from which they went forth to death. 1 The steamship Frisia arrived at New York with the remains of Lieutenant Commander i George W. LeLong; Jerome J. Collins, i met-oro'ogist of the expedition; Dr. James M. Ambler, surgeon; Walter Lea, George { Washington Boyd, Henry Hansen Knaacir, : Carl Augustus Gort^, Adolf Dressier and ISelse Ivorson, seamen, and Ah Sam, cook. / The remains of Collins wero sent to Cork, Ireland, those of Boyd to Alexandria, Va., < and thoso of Dr. Ambler to Philadelphia. Tho remains of the others wero buried at Woodlawn cemetery, near New York. < s i South and West. George P. Curry, a banker and cotton manufacturer of Augusta, Ga., has failed t for about $\!00,000. | 1 ^ Indians at the Poplar Creek and Wolf j . i omu agencies in .Lunula are u.ying ui , hunger owing to the s^rcity of game and ? the insufficiency ot' the government rations. s Of i),00(J does ow ed by the Wolf Point Indians a year ago all have been eaten, as well as mnny of their horsey and a similar sra'e 1 of affairs exists at the other agency. Several deaths from s arvation have occurred. 1 The Red and tno White rivers in Arkansas overflowed their banks, and the cou itry was c turned nto a va t sea Hundreds of fami- j 1' lies were driven from their homes, many , s houses were washed away, a id thousands of f cattle were drowned. During the floods in the Ohio valley many , ? towns were completely sub merged. From P the relief boats moving along the Ohio an I | fc its tributaries, to relieve the necessities of i 1 the peop'e. nothing but water on either side I t as far as the eye could reach was to be seen. I Reubkn Hart and wife (colored), residing | 1 three miles from Crockett, Texas, went to , ' church at night, and left six children at home E asleep, with the door loc'<eJ. At 10 o'clock a the house was discovered to bo on fire, and I it burned so quie'dy that it was impossible | to favc it or the children, every one of whom 1 C was Durue i 15 ueaiu. ins eiueaii >vus a uuy t thirteen years old. Jf A FREIGHT train left the track near New i J Philadelphia. Ohio, oa account of a mis- 1 {)laie i switch, and a second section follow- t ng ran nto'its rear, demolishing twenty- [ t tw.) (arsand two engines, and killing four ; t persons. t Heavy Siiow storms have prevailed 111 Da- {j kota and Southern Minnesota, and the rail- 1 roads have been blockaded. ? A cyclone which struck Amberson's, Ala., demolished nearly every house in . town. Fourteen persons wore reported killed. J The South has been visited by a tornado r which destroyed thousands of houses and j j, killofl hundre Is of people in Georgia, Ala- t baitia. North and South Carolina, Louisiana K and Mississippi. | Q Tiie breaking of a dam 011 the Los Angeles I river produce ! the most disastrous flood ever I t exfierience.i in California. The lower part ! ^ of Los Angeles was completely inundated, I j, and forty buildings were swept away. Hun- j, dreds of families were obi ged to abandon \ c their homes a id seek shelter on the , y hills. The loss amounts to $l.r)0,000. From ( Los Angeles to Mo.ave, a distance of 100 j, miles, hardly a mile of the South -rn Pacific j track remains in place, and ea<t to San j . Gorgonio, eighty mi es, the devastation is j ? equally great. The L'auiornia noutnern roau from Colton to Han Diego is also wasted | out. Travel in all direction-! is suspended. | " It will probably be two months before coin- ' ? muniiatioii can be properly established. Re- j * ports leceived from towns in the Southern | ? portion of the San Joaquin valley announce! j * the hi aviest floods ever known. Washinifton. ? Captain A. W. Kirkland has been selected to command the Greely relief expedition. and twelve line officers' will be needed, six for each vessel. During January 12,015 emigrants arrive 1 i 1 in the United States. The coinn ittees on education of the two ' Houses met jointly to hear arguments in r favor of the pas?a?e of a bill extending j national aid to the States for educational 1 * Surposes. They were addressed by Dr. j n -. J. Orr, of Georgia: J. C. Scarborough, | j, of North Carolina; A. Coward, of South Car- I . olina: A. J. Rickoff, of New York; J. M. !}] Holcombe, of Inliana; the Rev. T. IV. Hick- j . nell, representing a committee appointed by J1 the Inter-State Educational convention at j f' Louisville, and C. C. Fainter, secretary of | J the National Educational committee. A resolution introduced by Represen'a- i tive Ochiltree in the House of Repress ta- ' tl tives on the recent death or Herr ' j, Lasker, the German statesman, who died j J suddenly in >tw York, ha. been returned to , 0 our government by Prince Bismarck, with ; f, the statement that it cannot bo received, j Various opinions have been expressed con- j e ce ruing Bismarck's action. Following is the , j. resolution in full as passed by the House: a " Resolved, That this House has he ird with I j deep regret of the death of the eminent Ger- j 0 man statesman, Edward Lacker. That his I e oss is not alone to bo mouru -<1 by the people j of his native land, where his firm n and constant exposition of and devotion i AV to free and liberal ideas have mate- i t( rialy advance 1 the social, political and Sl i?c momic con-lifi > n of th >s> people, but by ' ]< tho lovers of liberty throughout the world. ' That a copy of t lis resolution bj forwarded | ^ to tne family of the deceased, as well as to j rj the minister of the United States resident at I c( the cauita! of the German empire, to lw by | 0| him ommunicated through the legitimate | ^ channel to tho presid nfj ofll 'er of the legis- I lative body, of which he was a member.'' I Cl The demnnd for ?1 and $2 notes is on the j lx inprpn<5/?_ while the suddIv is practically ex- | n< hausted, ami the issue" of these notes has been suspended until Congress appropriates P money to print an udditional supply. a The mnd'c-il examination of Captain W. t' A. Kirkland, who had been selected to com- r< mand the Greely relief expedition, showed 111 that his physical co dit'on was not quite !T sound enourb to waria it his being assigned * charge of the expe lit:o i, and therefore Secretary Ch-indler selectei Commander W. S. S':h!ey instead. The secretary of war received numerous t'-legrams s-howin* most satisfactory progr ss in the work of relief to the flood suf- 1' ferers along the Ohio river and its tributaries. y( The President nominated C. S. Palmer, of Vermont, to be associate justice of the su- n prcme court of Dakota; Max Weber, of New York, to be consul of the United States ,, at Nantes; II. B. Trist, of the District of Columbia, to be consul of the United States at Mozambique. ^ Senator Dawes lias been authorized by the Senate committee on Indian atF lirs to r< favorably report a bill providing for the punish men. of trespassers on Indian lands I yi bv impri.-onment for one year or $500 line, j or both. This is specially intende I to keep Payne and his followers out of the Uklahania land--. Senator Plumb has ret orted to the Sen- V( ate an original bill trom the committer on a ;ri'u'ture, makiivi the department of agriculture an executive department, whose " chief officer shall bj the secretary of agrk-ul- " ture. The Senate has passed a bill making au annual appropriation to provide arms for u the militia. Hie lull appropriates ?'*).),UiX). | The House lias passed a joint resolution f( appro nating $r>i>,Oii(t to be expended among the Indians tor e lucational purposes. a Foreign, h A rot AL commission has been appoint? 1 to inquire into the condition of the dwell ings of t he poor in Great Hritaiu. The ci:n- * mission includes Cardinal Manning, several 11 delegate.? from workingmen's associations and a number of Irish an I S -otch members b of parliam-nt. Sir Cnanos Dilko is chair ' ? man of the commission. ti General Gohdon, after a long and dangerous journey, arrived safely in Khartoum is and had a proclamation |>ostol recognizing w El Mahfl, the False I'rophet, as Sultan of b Kodofan, remitting half the taxes, and g placing no restriction on tho slave tra le. The Arabs of Khattoum express great satis- 0 faction. ti Jhk Anameso minister of war is im- ri plicated in the murders of many Christians n that have taken platv in Anam since Janu ary. A Chinese viceroy, prior to tho cap- ai ture of Sontay by tiie French ordered tho si Black Flags to murder every Christian foun</ .h in the city. Ifl Peace negotiations between Chili and Boivia have been suspended Sixty Irish members of the British par iament of all shades of politics have signed I memorial to Mr. Gladstone asking that the >urchase clause of the land act be amended 0 a-: to authorize the government to advance lie whole of the purchase money to tenanto, md extend the period for the repayment of he money. An explosion of gunpowder in a hardware stablishment at London, Canada, killed two nen, fatally injured the third and wrecked everal buildings. The first sugar refinery ever established II Cuba is about to be^in work. From fear of assassins, the False Prophet ias surrounded himself with a life guard. Visitors aro permitted to approach him only >n all fours, and even then must remain at 1 considerable distance from his sacred >or.son. Gladstone has bean sustained in the British house of commons, the motion to eonuro tho government for its policy in Egypt jeing defeated after debate by a vote of 311 lays to 2(i:2 yeas. Advices from Tokar state that 200 of the Egyptian garrison made a sortie, attacked he enemy ana killel and wounded several of hem. They also captured a number of catle and camels. An expedition of troops for he relief of Tokar was sent out, well provisoned and heavily armed, under command of ieneral Graham. Bradlaugh, who has given the British >ar!iameut so much trouble J>y refusing to &ke the prescribed oath of omce, ror wnicn 10 was refused his seat, has again been electid?for the fourth time?a member of the iousw of common? fro.n Northampton, reviving 4,(W1 votes to 8,60.5 for his opponent A dispatch from Berlin asserts that mturalizea German-American citizens who et nrn to Germany are again being rigorously objected to military dutv. It says, too, that ho German foreign office ignores Unlied States Minister Sargent, and conducts all ieurotiations directly with Washington. * MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC, Dion Boucicault will play an engagenent of three weeks in New York in March. Lotta has bought the copyright of the lew operetta, "Nell Gwynue, for production n America. Minnie Palmer, now playing a successful mgagemsnt in London, returns to America lext season to make a tour of the country. Pauline Lucca is to appear at the Imperial Dpera-house. Vienna, as the heroine in Pon:hielh's "Gioconda, and is now studying ho part M. Jules Claretie has written a five-act comedy entitled "L'Americaine," in which he satirizes the influence of Americans on French nanners. In 1SS3 2.51 dramatic compositions and wenty-two operas were addressed' to the general intendant of theatres at Berlin for icceptance. An opera company that recently appeared n l'eru, Ind., on a cold night, found tne hall loccollhat the fairies in ''lolanthe" wore eal skins and overshoes. Mr. Abbey will re:ire from the manazen:ent of the Metropolitan Opera-house in S*ew\ork. The opera season there has proven an artistic success, but a financial ailure. Mr. Henry E. Abbey is now Raid to have in foot a grand theatrical scheme which ooks to the pooling of a nu.nber of the best tars in the country, iucluling Edwin Booth, or a combination season. Salvayre's operaof ''Richard IIL," which las been produced at St. Petersburg with Teat success, is really a free adaptation of iha ospeare's tragedy set to music. It is, lowever, too Wagnerian, it is said, to please he French. Raymond's new play, "For Congress," has made a hit. In it he takes the part of Air. uimber,"a politician or the moaera chool. The character is said to fit him like . glove, and there i3 no end of fun in the lerformance. There aie 343 theatres in Great Britain )f this number thirty-seven are in London, leven in Liverpool, live in Edinburgh, and our each in Glasgow, Blackburn, Blackpool, lamsgate, and Stockton-on-Tees. In Irelaud here are only ten, including music halls. Lawrence Barrett will open in London ^.pril 14 in " Yorick's Love." It is his intenion to remove his family to Germany, where hey will reside permanently. Mrs. Barrett lesires to live near her married daughter. Jr. Barrett will return to America in Au;ust, and will act during the season^returnng to Europe each year. Bret Harte, speaking about dramatizing lis stories, says: "I'll Jeava that to some me who has a tougher hide than I. A man leeds more nerve and fewer nerves thau I iave got to dance attendance on actors and heatrical mar.azera with a play. I have lever tried it, but I know people who have lid I onvy none of them their experience. Foreign papers are calling attention tc he large number of talented singers prouce.l in America. One reason of the superarity of America over Europe, they claim, > that the ranks of the singers receive remits from all social circles in America, vhile in Paris even a course of studies at the Conservatory is looked upon with suspicion iy the high r classes It is some years ago when Bartley Camptell first said: "In this country I have found he playwright living in a garret and the acor living in a villa at Long Branch. The nan who makes the play is treated like a ioor relation by the player. When I went to 'uris I found the actor living in a garret t.d the playwri;rnc in a villa. I think thn iaitley Campbell has done more than any i her American dramatist to-bring about the uw condition in which both actor and playtiaker can reside at Long Branch.?Nym Irinkle. BISMAKCK'S SEASONS, Vhy He Returned tlie Lacker Reno* lutlon*, Fawed by the House. A great breeze was created by Bismarck'* eturn of the resolutions of sympathy with he German reichstag and family of the Geraan state-man, Lasker, who died recintlyin few York. These resolutions were introduced i Congress by Representative Ochiltree, ol 'exa.s, and a copy was ordered to be tent to he president of the reichstag and to the umily of Herr Lasker. Upon their presenatiori to Prince Bismarck for transmission a the president of the reichs'a; he returned hem with the following explanation: " Any recognition in a foreign country of he personal qualities of a Herman, especial: wiien made by so important a body as the fou?e of Representatives, is gratifying to ur national feelings. I should have grateully accepted the communication made by linister Sargent, and should have asked tho mperor to enmower me to present it to the teichstag, if the resolution had not contained* n opinion regarding the object and effect of [er 1 asker s politira activity, wnith was , po ed to my convictions. According to my i!>erie)ice of the jx)!itical economic develop- j ient of the German people I cannot recogize th? opinion as one which events I have icnessed would justify. I should not venture ) oppose my judgment to the opinion of ich an illustrious body as the House of Representatives if I had not, by more thau i:rty years' active participation in th* in rn:il jwlicy of Germany, gained an expeenco which justified me in attaching a srtain va'ue to my judgment in questions ! hom<! affairs. I cannot determine to ask le emperor for the necesary power to comiuiiica:e the resolution to the Reichstag beuise J should have officially to advocate ~ art nninuin ivhinh T onn. LTIUI C 01lt7 CUi|Aii vt u.i VI/imwo I.M.V*. ?OT.. 3t recognize as correct." A Berlin dispatch says that the action of rince Bismarck in returning to tho Amerim Congress its resolution of sym?athy at le deatn of Herr Lasker, intended for the iiehstag, continues to excite much comlent The fr onds of the deceased statesan in the reichsta? propose to demand of rince Bisniarckan explanation of his course. UNUSUALLY OLD PEOPLE John* Rit-ey, of Frederick county, Va., is >7 years old. w. J. Barlow, of Live Oak, Fla., is 103 nm?cnf nctn Khoda Howard, of Owiagsville, Ky., is years old. Luther IIolden, of Waterford, Conn., Is ^ 3'eurs old. A mos Dennis died recently at Rldgeville, . C., in his I0>th year. Mrs. Martha Crickett, of Liberty, Me., cently died in her 104th year. Charles Harder, of Staten Island, is 103 i*ar old. Ho has a son aged eighty. Ciiari.es Fielder, a farmer of Clinton, S. ., has lived 10:5 years. He is a bachelor. Nicholas Boley, a pensioner of the war of <1:2, died recently at Boone, Ky., in his 100th ear. A belle in Washington seventy years ago as Mrs. Jessie McGee, who has just die 1 in linois, aged 101. Every communion Sunday Mrs. Annie ord'.n, of Blutfton, S. C., walks four miles >church She is 111. Christian Cooper, who lives in the house irmerly the residence of Robert Fulton, in liviiigston, N. Y., is 110 years of age. Mrs. Daniel Buck, of Wethersfield, Vt., mi Sirs. Ueorire Travis, of Canistoo, N. Y., uve celebrated their hundredth birthdays. Akteii being blind for twenty years, Mrs, osephine lA-'jMitria died at \\ atertown, N. aged 101. Her husband recently died at je a^e of 100. At lilythtwood, eighteen miles from Columia. S. (J., Andrew McCIellan, aged 112, rejntly married Martha Wilson, a widow of vo i ty-seven. Miss Sakha Phillips, of Norwood, R I., km) vears old. She does her own houseork, brings her fuel from the woo Is on her nek and saws it herself, and reads without lasse-i. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are the natnas T triplets still living at the age of seventy.vo vears. They are tlio children of Cathane "Kile, of Richland township, Penn., who y.'ently died, aged ninety-eight. Jacob Millikkx, of Dunstan, Me., 0:1 the iiniver a:y of his 100th birthday made a tizular confession: "I voted for Thomas pfTerson for his second term, although 1 t -ked two months of my majority." LATER MEWS. H Salmi Morse, who gained considerable notoriety in New York some tim? ago by sirenuous but unavailing attempts to produce the Passion Play, which depicts the death of Christ, committed suicide in the metropolis ^4 ?H by drowning. Mayor Edson refused to give . > Mr. Morse a license to produce the Passion Play, and a large number of suits for unpAid H| salaries, brought l.y performers whom the de- " .aSB ceased had engaged, were pending. At the time of his death a melodrama written by iijAMH Morse was being played at one of the New York theatres. ? .1 j. T.i? XTtr Two colored me 1 in jan at umaiwu, ** * } s for assaulting a woman, were taken out by ' a furious mob and hanged. . '' B. F. Barnes, a prominent citi2en of H Booche, Wis., killed his wife an 1 cut hi* own throat. Protracted illness in tbe family ii . assigned as the cause. El Five pony-stealing Piegan Indians had a rWm flfl pitchea battle in Montana with their pursu-, . ers?four Crow Indians and seven whito men. Four Piegans and two white men were killed and two other whites wounded. vajSB '9j Secretary Foloer has issued the 12 th ' r'A?? j^E call for bonds. The call is for the redemption of $10,OX),000 in bonds of the three per JB cent, loan of 1882. H The agricultural appropriation bill, a* ; completed by the House committee onagri- ^ culture, appropriates $4;X),5:)0?an increase H of about $34,( 00 over the la<t appropriation. - H The bill makes an appropriation of $3,000 fuz the propagation of the tea plant. H At a meeting of the Democratic Natior.al . committee in the Arlington hotel, Washing* ton, held for the purpose of naming the t'me and place to hold the national conven- ' tion for the nomination of candidate) for President and Vice-President, everj State was represented cither by a mem ' ber of the committer or a proxy. W. H. Bnrnum, of Connecticut,presided,and Frederic O. Prince, of Massachusetts waj secretary. A motion was adopted that the vlar^B Democrats of each organized Territory and H of the District of Columbia be invited ts send two delegates to the national conven- jjoiW lion, upon me uuru uouul vw^agu n? boIected as the place to hold the national can- V'^^H vention, that city receiving twenty-one votes to seventeen for St. Louis. Thi date for the convention is July 8. After issuing the call for the convention the committee aljourned to meet next in Chicago on The National Greenback Labor party has issued a call for a national convention to bo : J held in Indianapolis, on Wednesday, May 28, 1884. At a State convention of the Indiana . Greenbackers in Indianapolis a full tiiket? ' ' H headed by H. G. Leonard for governor, was nominated, and twenty-three resolutions af" ' uzjfg fl firming the principles of the Greenback- . ''^^1 Labor party were aidopted as a platform. fl The London Times, in an article on the '9 Lasker incident, implies that dislike of the country which deprives Germany of thou- . rfl sands of conscript* is the basis of Bismarck's action, and that Mr. Sargent's resignation would strain the relations or Germany and ' ".M the Uated States. After holding out for weeks against the attacks of El Mahdi's forces the town of '% >Jj3S Tokar surrendered to El Mahdi's rebefc be- H fore it could be relieved by General Gra- >'^3 ham's expedition. The news was brought to " f Suakim bv five soldiers who bad escaped , from Tokar. It was stated that only the soldiers at Tokar who had families had sorrendered, while the o'.hers attempted to reach Suakim. I'pon reception of the news ' ' ' j in London great excitement ensued and a K special cabinet meeting wai called. El ' ' ^^91 Mahdi appointed bis brother, Ali Yussuf' governor of Barfour, and ordered him to levy 7,000 meji, and march to Kordofan to . reinforce the mai 1 body of El Mahdl's fl General Gordon' announced that after restoring order in Khartoum ho would pro. ceed to Kordofan, to interview the False Usman Digma, the leader of the rebels in "J| the vicinity of Suakim is exciting bis followers by quoting the Koran, saying tbat El Mahdi, the False Prophet, is divinely inspired' ' - I and requires little food and clotning. Nine sailors belonging to the British bark ' I Ada Barton, from St. John, N. B., abandoned at sea in a waterlogged condition, were Bismarck's action in returning the Lasker I resolutions of sympathy to the American . -V"^H Congress has excited much discussion among I the papers of Germany, the government organs praising and the opposition press con- 9 demning the German chancellor's course. I Mr. Sargent, the American representative at fl Berlin, is also bitterly at'.a-ked nnl vehe- .'. I mently defended by Gt rman ] aj)ers for tha tart which lie has taken in the matter. LATER CONGRESSIONAL NEWS* | The Senate passed the bill making it a -^9 felony, punishable by three years' imprison- 1 ment and $1,000 fine, to falsely personate ffnvfirnment officers or employes with intent to defraud Most of the day was spent in debate on Mr. Morgan's amendmeut permitti g national banks to deposit bonds of tho separate States as security for circulation, 1 and finally Mr. Morgan withdrew it, having introduce 1 the same proposition asanorigi- I na! bill On motion of Mr. Sherman a 1 joint resolution was passad appropriating - r&k $10,000 to enable the committee on privileges | and elections to carry on its investigations. - JaB Houw> A communication was received from tho 1 President, transmitting a statement from j the secretary of state to the effect that the I Briti-h government liad [.presented tho I stenmsh p Alert to the United States for usa i on tho Greely relief expedition. The i~eai- J ingof Secretary Frelinghuysen's statement, ~$a at the request of Mr. Randall, disclosed that in the search for vessels suitable for the ex- j pedition now preparing for Greely's relief, MUm attention had been directed to the Alert, and that Minister Lowell had been instructed oH| to inquire whether she could be spared by the British government; that Minister Lowell was told the British government had not forgotten the action of the United State3 in the matter of the Resolute, a British vessel which hud lx?en abandoned in th? m Arctic regions, discovered and brought -'<j to this country by American sea men, purchased from them by tho American government, repaired and then returned to Great Britain; that the British government, in recognition of this courtesy, ha<l now given the Alert to the United States un" J conditionally, with all her equipment; thai ' in response to this "graceful and opportune net of courtesy on the part of her niajesty'( j government,'' Secretary hreimguuyseii uuu telegraphed to Minister Lowell that thij j evidence of sympathy "receives tho highosl I appreciation of the President, as it will thai . . l of the people of the United States," etc Mr. Kandall askeU unanimous consent thai the communication 1)6 spread upon th< journal of the House, and that it bj referred to the committee on foreign affairs with the object of having a more formal and appropriate recognition of the act of the Hritisi . government. Mr. Kinnerty objected, and Mr. :jsj Itandall then put hi - re juest in tho form ol * rT-j amotion, which was agreed to, Mes-rs. Fin nerty, of Illinois, ami noomson, m huh York, voting in the negative?The military < academy appropriation bill, and the poel route bill, with Senate amendments, were passed. PROMINENT PEOPLE, Lyman.?Mr. D. H. Lyman, the new second assistant post mslor-geieral, is a devoted checker-player, au I is re.arded a-> a high authority un the various j i\>b!em; on that interesting game. Laxsdowxe.?Before huvin* Montreal, after the ice carnival, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Cana a's governor-general. sent a I,ri.,.r tllft , -.! letter ro me c >1 iJurui. <>? r, -? n.'ty's hispiralitv and inclosing a che.'k tor to bo distribute I anionj pubUs clnritie--. Gkant.?General G: ant, says a New York letter, will never bo a wet. ma:i a.ai i, and it isdoubtiul if lie will ever a-ain go ?ut of the house. General Grant, himseif, says tliat bisiiijury is slowly improving, 1 nit that p'.eurisy ami rheumat.sm have kept him in his room, and part of the tune in his b;d. Newell.?In a detailed review of the history of the Life-Saving Service, published in the Tacoma (\V. T.) Ledger, Governor William A. Newell, of Washington Territory, stoutly maintains his title to be regarded as tho originator of that noblo institution? , . J, "with which," he says, "I had rather beassociated as the inventor and first advocate, than to be the possessor of all the gory honors) of tho world." ?