The Bedford gazette. (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, August 10, 1855, Image 1

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Hl' EO. IV. BOWTIAI.
NEW SERIES.
* Select |Joctrn.
The following beautiful and touching jwem, >o ex
pressive ofthe great worth of a good woman, was
placed in our hands after a warm and animated dis
cussion upon this subject, by a young lady of this
place. Alter reading it we were compelled to ac
knowledge, that woman, in her proper sphere, it a
ogieat blessing."—[. F. !..]
The Worth ol* W ontnsi.
FROM THE f.TRMAX OF St'll II.EF.R.
Honored l>e woman ! she beams on the sight,
Graceful and fair, like a beam ol light;
sratters around her. wherever she strays,
Hoses of bliss on our thorn-covered ways ;
Koses of-Paradi-e, sent from above,
To be gathered and twined in a garland of Love.
Man, on passion's stormy ocean,
Tos-ed by surges mountain high,
Courts the hurricane's commotio*,
Spurns at reason's feeble cry.
I.oud the tempest roars around him,
Louder still it roars within.
Flashing lights of hope confound im,
Stuns with life's incessant dm.
Woman invites liiin with bliss in her smile,
Tocease from his toil and to be happy * while
Whispering wooingly—come to my bower—
Go not in search ot the phantom ol power—
Honor and wealth are illusory—come !
Happiness dwells uitLe temples of home.
Man. with fury stern and savage,
Persecuted his brother mail,
Reckless it he hle or ravage,
Action. action—still his plan.
Now creating—now destroying.
Ceaseless wishes tear his breast ?
Ever spewing—ne'er enjevirrg ;
Still to he; but never ble-I.
Won an. contented in silent repose,
! i jnvs in its beauty life's flower as-it blows,
Am! waters and tends it with innocent heart.
Far richer than man with his treasure.-, of arts
Ami wi-er by far in the circles confined.
Than he with his science arid lights of the mrmL
Coldly to himself sufficing.
Alan disdains the geiitlei arts,
Knoweth not the bliss arising
From the interchange of hearts.
Slow ly through hi- bosom stealing,
Flows the genial current en,
Till by age's frost congealing,
It is hardened into stone.
She. like the harp that instinctive?)- rings.
As the night breathing zephyr Soft sighs on the springs,
Jte.ponds to each impiil-e with ready reply,
Whether sorrow or pleasure her sympathy try ;
Am! tear drops and smiles on her countenance play,
hike sunshine and showers of a morning May.
Through the range of man's dominion
Terror is the ruling word —
And the standard of opinion 1
Is the temper of the sword.
Strife exults, and pity blu-hifig.
From the scene departing flies,
Where, to battle rnailly rushing,
Brother upon brother dies.
AVsman rommands with a milder control
Mierules try enchantment the realms of thesonh.
A< -he glmrces around in the Fight ol her smile,
fhe war of the pa-mon is hushed for a while;
I he dtscord, content from hi- tiify to cea-p,
ivepo-es enhanced -onthe pillows■!"pcac?.
TIIE BEDFORD MZETTET
lli'riibrtf, Aug'. 10, 1 £•?•>.
HOPELESSLY WIPED!
II c make the following extract from, the
•Vf us, of the 2d inxf. the leading K. .V. paper
in Philadelphia The Crash is coming. DF
MOCII. ITS, stand from under :
"Concerted and harmonious action Irettveen
the Americans and VY'higs throughout the Slate
rs new hardly possible, however desirable, and
lor this the Americans are in fault. Had they
abandoned their secret conclaves, dud at an
early day determined upon making open nomi
nations, and jrermitting every one to participate
an making them who desired to act with their
organization, there would have been no move
ment made to re-organize the Whig party, and,
as a consequence, the Americans, with the aid
and support of Whigs, would have triumphed
in the State. Going on, however, in their ex
clusive policy,expecting the Whigs to support
their candidates, and yet refusing them any par
ticipation in selecting them, has produced a
deep leelingof hostility to their secret organiza
tion, even among those who, though not belong
,n 2 to it hitherto, acted with them and suppor
ted tlwir nominees. A Whig State Convention
Las accordingly heen called, to nominate a can
diate for Canal Commissioner, and active efforts
are being made in all parts of the State to re
'Tsranize the Whig party, and to rally the
frigs in support of their own distinctive or
ganization. In Washington, Allegheny, Erie,
Lebanon, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Frank
lin, Huntingdon, .Mifflin, Blair, Cambria, Brad
ford and other counties, steps have already been
taken to form distinctive Whig county tick+ds.
be Loco Locos,on the other hand, are alieady
'biidat work, and though much embarrassed by
' urls and dissensions, will make a desperate
struggle to regain their lost ascendancy in the
State. J
p , at an etrly day, as early as May last,
•ndeavored to impress upon our American
riends, the importance, if not absolute necessity
hanging their tactics, and urged them by all
argument* we could, to abandon their exclu
• u and secret policy, nnd to open wide the
"' r a '' vv ho might desire to co-operate with
In, rti, but who could not and would not do so
a:> unga.they remained a Secret Order, Many
of our Whig cotemporaries, and a number of
those of the American (tarty,did the same thing,
hut our joint advice was disregarded, and those
who had the control of the organization deter
mined to continue to pursue an exclusive poli
cy, which, we are satisfied, and, we douht not,
many of them now are, has not only driven
off'hundreds but thousands from their support.
It is in truth, as the Tillage Record stales, that
the opposition to the Americans, among the
Whigs who now seek to effect a distinctive
organization, is "not to the principles proclaim
ed in the abstract; but to tfie secret meetings
and the alleged arbitrary dominion of the ma
jority over the minority. Freedom of thought
and freedom of action at e the lile of republican
ism : tlie opposite is despotism. No tree people
will relinquish their independence."
From the C/tambersburg Whig.
RETRIIUTIVK JUSTICE.
It is now only a question of time as to the
demise of the Charubersburg Council of Know-
Nothings, under the lead of STUAUGWGII, EVS
TER,~STitEALV Co., and also as to the death of
their little croaking organ. It matters • little
whether they die now—in four weeks, in four
months or four years hence, lor they are to all
intents and purposes dead already. The Coun
cil is deserted, for the very good reason that
reputable mm cannot now go there without be
ing implicated in the villainy we have so thor
oughly exposed ; ant! we know that scores, who
even yielded a passive obedience to lire Order
, until the little croaker swept its black shadow
of dishonor over the whole organization bv re
vealing its secrets to shelter its falsehoods on
other issues, have publicly announced that they
cannot longer be connected with such a Coun
cil or such an organ. They have therefore
withdrawn—some b\ formal communication ad- j
dressed to the President, and many more with
out honoring the organization so much as to ;
own that they owed it any allegiance. They
think, and justly too. that the Council as a
bod v has forfeited all-claims upon honorable and j
upright members, by the deep, damning evi
dence of guilt that blots iis records, and they
now have it to the creatures who are the au
thors of its infamy. President STCMBAUOII
may still preside regularly for a while over the
ruins lie and his kindred spirits have wrought,
but the deserted ball cannot again be thronged ;
with honorable men ;on the contrary the great
mass of the party will vindicate themselves by i
seeking the first opportunity to crush the lead
j ers, wlto have involved the organization in dis
i grace to gratify their fiendish malice or advance
! their business and political interests. It is
, therefor-* morally .ami politically dead—dead! ;
—and the most charitable inscription we could
place over its remains to tell that it once exist
ed, is—"7'//e itnlanelu victim of heartless vil
lainy ."'
The iittle organ, too, Ivas s-vn its days of half;
prosperity and must soon wither into the noth- :
ingness its weakness invites, and which its awk
ward scoundrelism will vet welcome as a re
fuge froth the returning wave of justice. It has
lent itself to every disgraceful action that this
Council has been guilty o|—and naturally
enough, too, for the Council was its nurse and
shield, and it trad to obey'its masters. It did not
pretend to claim the support of an intelligent
public on its own merits : but it was ever the
whining beggar in tbe Council room, through
its avowed confidential friends, and relied upon
the decrees of the Order to foice oath-bound
members to save it from an earl v and unhonor
ed grave, it was the lined apologist of Itie as
sassins who dragged the names of honorable
men before the Council, without authority, for
the avow"d purpose of' sacrificing them here
and disgracing them abroad hv an official false
hood : and it was the cringing merficant that put
forward irresponsible lickspittles to strike down
others, against whose moral, personal or politi
cal standing no plausible objection could be
urged, merely lor the purpose of making the
part v minister to its pressing necessities.
The issue was clearlv and distinctly trade
the party must force its members by decrees and
resolutions to support it, independent of its mer
its, and so debase itself as to strike systemati
cally at the business prosperity of others, which
was earned hv patient toil, or the little tiling
must die: and humiliating as was the petition to
come from creatures professing manhood, the
few unscrupulous leaders who controlled the
Council stooped and crawled to accommodate it.
It hoped thereby to live, and grew vain and in
solent on the Council's alms: but now the
Council is about to pay the inevitable penalty of
its prostitution, and the recoil sweeps the little
organ in its course. It is virtually dead dead!
Hundreds who have been inllueticed by various
considerations to support!!, have sickened at its
insolence and revolted at the indellible mark of
infamy that has been stamped upon it by the ir
resistable power of truth : and plead, beg and
wriggle as it may, that sense of honor and jus
tice that is intuitive in the popular heart, will
quietly hut surely and speedily visit it with that
disgrace it has so blindly courted. It may
make convulsive demonstrations of life, hut
(hey will prove only the violent throes of
dissolution. Its oath-bound friends in this place,
who gave it life at the cost of honor, have been
driven from their own works hy the stern de
mands of justice, and without them it has no tri
bunal at which to cringe arid plead its wants—
no refuge from (he poisoned shaft it aimed at
others, but which has been returned with ten
fold force to rankle in the heart fhat sent it.—
It is dead—dead! and the only inscription
that even charity could give to tell that it had
existed, is— untimely viclim of its own
heartless villainy V*
We need not point the moral of this lesson
it is too clearly apparent to admit ol doubt.—
However dishonor and injustice may seem to
triumph for a season, there is a retributive stroke
that must surely follow in their train : a-ml nev
er was this truth felt more keenly than by the
little croaker and his fellow tricksters who
have been partners in its crimes. Knowing as
we do that the great mass ot the Know-Nothing
party, as well as of any other party, are sin
cere in I heir convictions and honest in their
purposes, we doubt not that they will be start
led at the disgraceful intrigues of their leaders
in this Council and of their accredited organ,
but the evidence is too overwhelming to admit
even of palliation, and they will join in the
general revolt and pronounce the death sen
tence that popular indignation lias passed upon
them, to lie but a feeble vindication of public
and private rights after such an unbroken series
ol moral and political attrocities. Let the dy
ing live in peace, and let the dead repose—
truth, honor and justice have been fully vindica
ted !
From the Chambersburg Whig.
Philadelphia North American, Dai
ly News. Bucks County Intelligencer, Norris
town Free Press, Delaware County Republican,
Lancaster Examiner, York Republican, Carlisle
Herald, Gettysburg Sentinel, Lewistown Ga
zette, Easton Whig, Beaver Argus, Pittsburg
Gazette, and a number of other Whig journals,
have recently given unmistakeabie signs of hos
tility to a secret, sworn political party : and
the result most likely will be a distinct Whig
Slate organization and Whig organizations in a
majority of the counties. Should this lie the
case, as every indication now points to, the
Democracy are morally certain to elect their
State ticket and an overwhelming majority of
the next Legislature. We see no hope that
anything short ol defeat, and it may be annihi
lation, will make the.leaders of the Know-noth
ings give tip their hopes of spoils• and thus,
with the great mass of the party honest and
earnest in their desire to promote the principles
of the Whig and American parties, they are
likely to he disgracefully defeated bv the dem
agogues who have managed to get positions as
leaders, and who are determined to rule the
organization for their own personal benefit or
destroy it.
Sam has his Misgivings.
The Oharlestowr. (Virginia) Free Press, a de
voted champion of "Sain," has the following
gloomy paragraph :
"The folly of their opponents often restores
to the democracy the ascendency which the
faithlessness and corruption ofTheir leaders had
lost. Just so it is likely to be HI the next pres
idential canvass, unless (he oreat body of con
servatives in the country shall unite upon some
scheme of sound national policy. In the late
know-nothing convention at Philadelphia a pro
position was adopted which miKt unquestionably
defeat toe opposition, and give ascendency again
to the democracy. It is the proposition to in
sist upon the restoration of the Missouri Com
promise—a matter totally impracticable, except
on sectional grounds, which must destroy the
Union itself. Ex-Governor Johnston seems to
have been the master-spirit in this movement,
and he will effect precisely the same result
which he did in 1852'by the introduction ol the
slave question."
THE KNOW Norruxt; PLATFORM. —The Wash
ington Globe discusses the Nativist Platform in
a style peculiar to itself. The plain blunt
-sense and irrepressible humor of John C. liives
art- visible to the naked eye, all over the sub
joined paragraphs:
The first clause solemnly acknowledges the
existence of an "Almighty Being who rules the
Gniveise," which, until we saw that confession
of faith M'e supposed was acknowledged every
where, bv all men and parties and (actions—
hy the American party even, until this mani
festation ot a solicitude to show to the world
that whatever else it mav he, it is not atheist i
cai. This is an instance of overdoing the thing
—of overacting a part . for this solemn annun
ciation seems to he as much Hie child nf hy
pocn-y as the child of religion. Why assert
so solemnly and so formally what nohodv would
have questioned if they had been silent, unless
sacred things are to be invoked tor unhallowed
purposes, or unless conscience, which makes
cowards ol all men, Mas not smiling then and
there on the Know*-Nothing oracles? The
draughtsman of that first clause must be a rea
der of Shakspeare, we think, and had iri his
mind that celebrated (mike officer Captain Dog
berry, M ho in "Much Ado About Nothing" savs
some tilings singularly co-incidental with the
first clause of the platform :
"Dogberry—Masters, do vou serve God ?
"Conrad and Boraehio—Yes, sir, we hope
"Dogberry— Write down—that thev hope
they serve (Jed—and write God first; lor God
forlend but God should go before such vil
lains !"
So the platform makers wrote God first, and
like Conrad and Horachio would fain make the
world believe they serve him also. We do not
apply the word vi I loins to the Know-Nothings,
he it observed. For some of them whom we
know we have personally much respect : for
their political opinions and for their platform
none.
Knotv-Xolbiitgism in ISOO and 1535,
We continue onr extracts from Dnane's Au
rora of ISOO. The American people cannot
too seriously reflect upon the warning which
Wese extracts aflord, and especially upon the
similarity between the enemies of Jefferson and
the enemies of the democratic party at the
present day:
From the Aurora, December 27, 1800.
While we were forbidden even the consola
tion of complaint by the terrors of a sedition law,
and talent, integrity, and learning were kept at
a distance from our shores by an alien law, pub
lic virtue shall no more tie scouted, nor public
economy counted a crime.
From the Aurora, December 19, 1800.
General Lafayette is said to be coming hith
er as the ambassador of France. The King ol
Freedom of Thought aud Opfnion.
BEDFORD, PA. FRIDAY MORNING, AUG. 10, 1855.
Great Britain was the true and sole cause of:
lafayetts's incarceration in a German dungeon,
it w ■as done at that tyrant's special request. We
can, therefore, easily account for the uneasiness
indicated at a man so honored, and who had so
large a share in the battles of our indedpen
dente, coming hither as the messenger of amity
and peace.
The hatred of Lafayette in England is one of
the best foundations upon which to insure him
credit. The writer of this article heard Corn
wall is in the remote region of Bengal utter an
ejaculation at the misfortunes of Lafayette : that
Cornwall is, who is so extalKd for virtues, one
ot which lie does not possess, either in private
or in public, said, on hearing of his unhappy
situation: "Poll! I'm glad of it: I'm glad of it!
that fellow, always meddling in troubled waters,
is now paying for American adventures : I wish
they'd bang him:" was uttered to Colonel (now
General) Musgrave, in the hearing of more than
twenty persons, several of whom afterwards ex
pressed their contempt for the littleness and un
soldierly temper which it betrayed.
From the Aurora, October 2T, ISOO
What has produced these changes '! A na
turalization law twice as long as that which the
King of Great Britain imposed upon us. The
proposition of Mr. Rose and others to commit
the powers of Congress in regard to the votes
ot Hie presidential electors into the bauds of the
Chief Justice of the United States and six sena
tors and six representatives, without control.—
The evidence of Mr. Jefferson's attachment
and great utility to the cause of religious liber
ty, which has heen particularly influential in
Maryland.
Corrcspondence of the Lancaster Intelligencer.
The campaign in Kentucky is beginning to
wax warm,and the excitement is running high.
Hundreds are daily leaving the dark-lantern
order, and by the day of* election they will be
few and far between, who acknowledge their
connection with such a corrupt and anti-Amer
ican banditti. The Louisville Courier —(a few
weeks since the organ of the Know-Nothing
party of Kentucky)—has withdraw n all con
nection and support from the order, and now
daily "pitches in" to the midnight gang with
all the bitterness and sarcasm its editor can
command. It say*the Know-Nothing war upon
the Catholic religion is a war upon American
Freedom, and the columns of that journal can
never he used for such a crusade. Amh as to
the political bearings of Know-Nothingism, the
Courier —notwithstanding its editor was one
of tile fir.-t, in the State, to pull the wool ovei
tln? eyes of its- readers, and help hitild tip the
MB, intolerant, prescriptive, anti-chj istian and
unconstitutional order, thus delivers himself in
withdrawing from the party he assisted in giv
ing life and notoriety. The editor says :
"The political hearings of Know-Nothingism
are intolerant, bigoted, prescriptive, and de
nouiical. They sharpen the dagger for every
one who ei'her cannot, or w ill not ptonounce
Shibboleth according to their method. But we
cannot help believing that when the people
come to understand the intolerant, prescriptive,
and persecuting principles and practices of these
enemies of'civil and religious liberty, they will
sweep their present organization from political
existence, as the often sweep away unendurable
All men who claim to be free should
show their freedom bv breaking the collar these
men have fastened on their necks."
Desperate Indian Fight in Te\as.
The "Charles Morgan," with later dates from
Texas, arrived at New Orleans on die 21st.—
The following is among her items :
On Saturday evening, June 30, some fifteen
Indians surrounded the house of Mr. \\ estlull,
who is well known to most of our citizens, and
who lives in the Leona, some 3"> miles below
Fort Inge, and in this county. The attack was
made immediately upon Mr. West fall while he
was absent (rem the house, leaving at the time
no occupants in it but a Frenchman named
Louis, and a large dog.
It seems that the Indians had been lying in
wait for some time,-and took this opportunity to
attack him. Mr. Westfall, however, succeed
ed in getting hack to his house, wounded in a
dangerous manner —the bail striking him in the
left breast and high up, and coming out at his
back under the opposite shoulder. He fastened
the door, and the Indians then commenced an
attack on the house.
Louis and Westlall now exchanged shots with
them in rapid succession; but Westfall was last
failing from loss of blood. Louis approached an
aperture in the M all in order to make sure aim,
and Mas shot through the heart. The faithful
dog, on seeing Louis fall, and the blood stream
ing from his body, became frantic with rage,
and rushing out of the small aperture, sprang u
mong the Indians, seized one and tore every
garment from his body, and was on the eve of
killing him, when he was shot and overpowered
hv the demons in human shape that surrounded
him.
Poor dog, lie has nohlv sacrificed his life in
defence of his master. YY'ell may the poet say:
Nfy dog, the trustiest of his kind
With gratitude inflames my mind.
Westfall, overpowered by the loss of blood,
could onlv support himself now by holding to
the wall of the house; but nothing daunted, he
tore a large aperture in the wall and stuck his
gun out, in order to keep up appearances.
The Indians, no doubt, thinking they would
have a long siege, and many of them being se
verely wounded, Jelt, taking u'ith them all the
horses belonging to the ranch. It was now
night, and Westfall remembers of crawling to
his bed, which was the last consciousness he
had until Sunday evening, M'hen he found him
self lying on his bed covered with blood that
had come from the wound and from his mouth,
but he was not able to come horn his bed until
Monday, when from the stench of the dead body
in the room, he found something must be done.
With great efforts he succeeded iu dragging
the dead body about 20 feet, but could get no
further. At sunset on Monday evening he
started towards Fort Inge for assistance : but
succeeded that night in getting only four miles
—and on Wednesday evening he arrived at a
house in the v icinity of Fort Inge, where he pro
cured assistance and is still alive,and his physi
cian has strong hopes of his recovery.
Mr. West fall is a man of strong frame and
extraordinary constitution, which accounts for
his remarkable escape. He is a terror to the
Indians, and is known on the frontier by the
name of "Leather Stocking." The Indians with
out doubt were the Lipans, who commit their
murders, plundering, ike.,and then take shelter
in Mexico.
A Tragedy at Coney Island.
A sad accident occurred on Wednesday, at
Coney Island, N. Y., where a number of persons
from W illiamsburg were bathing. The Herald
says :
AH passed off" pleasantly until a cry was
raised, "the undertow !" "the undertow !'" and
on looking towards the ocean the company saw
with dismay five of their party drifting out to
sea. Great confusion immediately prevailed,
and efforts were made to procure a boat, hut
none could be found for a mile either way along
the beach. No other resource being left, the
doors of the bathing houses were torn off and
slioved out after the persons in the-water, and
two of them were saved thereby.
But the most melancholy part of this story re
mains to be told. It appears the difficulty ori
ginated by a young ladv named Mary Ann Elli
ott getting beyond her depth, and feeling the
undertow taking her out she screamed out, "I
arn sinking, save me!" Her father, Rev. John
Elliott, who uas in the water, seeing the dan
ger of his child, swam towards her: but lie fore
reaching the spot where she was, he was also
taken with the current and drifted out to sea and
soon sank. He rose once to the surface and
threw his arms wildly in the air, then sank a-
gain and was seen no more.
The peril of Miss Elliott was also seen by a
Mr. Thomas Gibbons, the affianced husband of
the lady, who immediately waded and swain to
where she was struggling in the water, and stic
deeded in holding her up for some time. The
greatest excitement prevailed at the moment the
tragedy was being enacted, and no one seemed
able to offer anv assistance. The couple were
horne out rapidly and those on the shore gave
them up for lost, when it was seen that Mr.
Gibbons had secured a piece of timber, and had
seized it for support, but it was not large enough
to uphold bolh, and Mr. Gibbons disengaged
himself from Miss Elliott and told her to grasp
the suspenders of his bathing dress behind, while
he held on to the wood. This she did for a
but, with a true woman's devotion, seeing t hat
her lover was sinking, and fearing that he would
drown, she suppressed in that moment of peril,
when the hoirors of death were clustering a
round her, the selfish instinct of her nature for
life, and let go her hold, though he begged her
lor (Kid's and her own sake to never mind him,
hut herseif. She soon sank and was seen no
more. Mr. Gibbons was fortunately drifted
towards a point on the Island where he found
a foothold, and was dragged ashore by means of
ropes.
Two other persons, Mr. Henry Boyd, jr.,and
a Miss Eastman, were also caught in the same
current, but fortunately managed to secure one
of the hoards floating about and were towed to
wards the shore. Miss Eastman had sank once
or twice, and was so overcome bv terror and
her injuries that it is feared she will not recover.
Sin 1 was taken to the Ocean House, and now lies
there in a dangerous condition. Mr. Boyd es
caped unhurt.
This melancholy affair caused deep feeling on
the Island, and the self-devotion exhibited by
the unfortunate girl was the theme of many
an admiring eulogy. She was quite voting, and
said to be of rare beauty ot person and amiabili
ty of disposition. It will be a heavy blow to
her relatives in YYilliamsburg. Her lather, who
was drowned, was a local preacher in the Meth
odist church, and Mas much respected for his
many virtues.
Ship Itr.prdcff by Dead Locusts.
The following incident is related by Mr. J. S.
Buckingham, in his recently published "Auto
biography
At length the M'ind shifted to the southeast,
and then south, with a suffocating heat this
being the sirocco of the Levant : and blowing
over the great Lvbian and Numidian deserts,
comes charged with hot and sulphurous vapours,
causing a most disagreeable sensation of a sti
ffing and oppressive kind. On the third day af
ter this shift of wind, and when we were well
up abreast of Sicily, but nearer to the African
shore, u e were surprised one morning at seeing
all the headmost vessels of the fleet arrested in
their course by some obstacle which impeded the
progress of each ship as she came up with it, till
the entire convoy formed an almost straight line.
On looking over the ship's side, there was seen a
thick mass ol blown matter which it was diffi
cult to sail through with all canvass spread : it
appearing to be between the consistency of oil
and tar, or melted butter and honey. Buckets
full ol it were drawn up on deck tor inspection,
but all that we could perceive was that it was
some animal matter in a state of decay, and
emitting a most disagreeable odor. Sending the
buck-ts deeper, however, by attaching weights
to their bottom, so as to bring up some of the
lower strata, we perceived the legs, wings, and
half-putrid bodies of brown locusts in a less ad
vanced state of decomposition than the brown
oily mass of the surface ; and we concluded, of
course, that the whole mass was composed of the
same material.
Desirous of learning the extent of the space
occupied bv it, I went to the foretop-mnst cross
trees with a glass, and sweeping tlie horizon
ahead and on each side of us, I perceived that
it extended as tar as the eye could reach to the
east, north, and south, which presented one solid
and unbroken mass of smooth brown surface :
while to the west the opon sea presented the
TEftliS, S 9 PER YEAR.
VOL XXIII, NO. 52.
' deep blue which distinguishes the waters of tlie
Mediterranean. The conclusion was, that some
vast flight of locusts, passing from Atrica to
Europe, had encountered a contrary wind in
their passage, and had fallen exhausted into thp
sea, and were there gradually decaying in the
state in which we found them. Such flights of
locusts have trom time to time been recorded in
history, as marking the devastation everywhere
caused by their numbers.
We were heartily glad to get through this
mass of animal putrefaction by a strong breeze
from the west, to which every ship crowded all
the sail she could spread ; and by daylight on
the follow ing morning we had the gratification
of being once more in the pure element of water,
which seemed douhlv beautiful after the brown
surface we had so receutly traversed.
From Ihe Chicago Tribune, July 27
Attempt at Wholesale Murder—Arrest of
the Villains.
About a week ago the super iriletidant of track
repairs from Laporte to Chicago, Mr. Oakley,
finding one section of his beat was not kept in
proper shape, determined to dismiss the whole
gang of men on the section, and accordingly did
so, and from the talk of the men when dischar
ged, promptly reported to the general superin
tendent, Col. James Moore, at Adrien, he was
afraid there might !>e trouble on the section
near Baileytown, Indiana.
Col. Moore immediately communicated his
suspicious to Pinkerton & Co., who forthwith
concentrated their detective force in that neigh
borhood, under the personal supervision of Pink
erton himself. From the movement of things
on Monday evening last, Mr. Pinkerton was led
to place an additional force of railroad men a
long the track from Miller's station to Calumet.
The night was dark and rainy, just the kind of
a night for such demons to go to work.
Stealthily the watch stole along the track—
every nook and cranny was carefully searched,
and under a bridge at Baileytown a claw-bar,
such as is used for drawing spikes, was lound.
As one iiad been missing upon this section when
the men were discharged, who, w hen question
ed by Mr. Oakley as to where it was, denied all
knowledge of it, Mi. Pinkerton took up a po
sition so as to watch if any one came for it.
About eleven o'clock two men were observed
to come cautiously up the track ; a short con
versation in whisper was held, and one of them
took the ciaw-bar from its hiding place and
proceeded with his confederate east ujKn the
track, closely followed by Mr. P. and the others
barefooted. The country in this region is wild
and unsettled, and on arriving at a favorite
place near where the track crosses the Calumet
river, undoubted ly selected by them for its dan
gerousness, they went to work with the bar,
drew the spikes and slid the rails on one side,
making a perfi-ct switch.
During the time they were at work, Pinker
tori and his men lay within a few feet of them.
As they started to teturn, one of them observing
something dark to lay by the track, stopped to
pick it up. It provpd to lie only Mr. P. him
self, who immediately sprang to his feet and
seized the villain by the throat. The fiend
lbught luslilv, but the other men coming up,
P. passed him over to them and put alter the
other, who, with speed of lightning was fleeing
west upon the track.
Finding he was going to be distanced, Pink
erton, as dernier resort, fired upon him, when
the villain hailed and fired at Pinkerton, and
again fled, but this time ran directly into the
hands ol the reserved force, placed west on the
track, and who, hearing the firing, w ere has
tening to the scene.
Me was immediately captured and brought
hack to where the other prisoner was, when,
slipping out of his coat and leaving it in the
hands of the officer, he wheeled upon Mr. P.,
struck him a violent blow, knocking him into
the ditch, and ran up the hank like a bird and
disappeared in the woods, and although closely
followed by the men, aided by the darkness
made his escape.
He is probably dangerously wounded, as blood
was found next morning upon the (rack and in
the wood. The wound is supposed to be some
where about tile body, as P's hands were all
covered with blood JO the scuflie. The other
prisoner fought violently until securely ironed,
when he was conveyed to Calumet, a little over
three miles.
He proved to be an Irishman named Peter
Welsh: snvs the one who made his escape was
also a discharged track hand.
Welsh strongly protests his innocence, al
though seen in the very commission of the act.
An express and mail train was due at the
point where the rails were moved, within half
an hour, and it is truly fearful to calculate what
might have been the loss of life if the depreda
tions had not been discovered.
On the arrival of this, a man was dispatched
by .Mr. P. to Chicago, to his partner, Mr. Back
er, who dis|iatclted some more detectives to
scour the woods laying between the Michigan
Southern Railroads, and at daylight an energet
ic effort was made in every direction from Cal
umet to find the ruffian.
At the latest reports he had been tracked to
Michigan city and thence west. Skillful offi
cers are on his track, and there can he but lit
tle doubt of his arrest in a few davs.
Welsh has been committed bv Squire Thom
as, of Calumet, to Valparaiso jail for ten days
to await an examination and give time to se
cure his conn ade.
The track upon the Michigan Southern road
is now perfectly safe, and the arrest of this scoun
drel and the careful watch that is constantly
kept upon this road, will prevent any further
trouble on the road.
Hon. Neal Dow has recently been made life
member of the -'Seamen's Friend Society."—
Boston Telegraph.
He ought to be called a death member since
lie lately caused the death of a sailor.—.V. 11.
Patriot.