GIBSON PEACOCK. Editor. VOLUME XXI.—-NO. Mi. THE EVENING BJJIsIIETIN ' PUBLISHED EVERY EVESETO . (Sundays cxoeptedV AT THI NEW BVUETIN BinunNO, GOT CLeatnni Street, FUilndclylila. gr me EVENING BULLETIN ASSOCIATION. OIBBONPEAOOCK. I ‘ EOPBI WALLACE, r. L. FBTOBRSTON. THO& ,f. WILLIAMSON. CASPER SOLDER, Jm, FRANCIS WELLS. Tbs BuLUrrtH la served to.subscribers in the city at U eents per week, phyablo to tho camera, or B 8 per annum. CARSON.—Suddenly on. the . 12th Instant, Thomas B. Carson. in theWthyearof blaaeo. The reUtirerand friends of the family ere. Invited to ettend tho funeral. from bis late residence. No. 609 North Thirteenth street on Saturday afternoon, the lfith •* South Laurel ilia »• thetMyMjroifiiia age, 8 tastanWmnee T. Faus.ett, in Cbto Cathedral Cemetery. M & Li ” tocott ' <>*&> The relatives and friends are Invited to attend the at ten o'clock, from the residence of her son-in-law, Geo, B. Kerfoot, No. 028 rfuttonwood street. To proceed to Laurel nM • ]ht3*}‘ *nf r Mhort but severe yww£w N ■ Wilo “ Mr ‘ WnL e * 1 * ta **“ ‘ relatives modi rieride are respectfully intfted to . street. «•» JJW „ «? Invited to attend the funeral, on BtrtbAsy, the Mthinsf.. at 13 o’clock, noon, from the residence of her husband, York Road, corner of Chelten tiSVKSSft county. W Hm W«Si-gls@f VE!i,l)aDKEBBEa 80 BYRE ts LANDELL, - Fourth and Aloh atreehg SPECIAL NOTICES. «®“ MR. CHARLES DICKENS’S FAREWELL READINGS. CONCERT HALL. An Ofiice for the sale of RESERVED SEATff has been o;*?ned at CHAftLE* B. SMITH’S, GENERAL STATIONER. Jf#. 109 South Third Ilreet, near Chestaot, V here Seats can be procured for either of tho two FARE WELL READINGS at TWO DOLLARS each. fettUrp • ARTISTS’ FUND SOCIETY, Galleries 13,‘J I Chestnut St. Tb* EtUUHta of Fchnify and Barth will he free to the rablic. Open daily from 9 A. M. to 6 P. M. •0* . REV, JAMES BOGAS, COLLECTING AGENT of the American Union Commission of Pennsylvania and New Jersey,bavin* lost or had taken from his pocket hie commission as collecting agent, hereby notifies Ihe . puhlic that be has closed hts labors for said Society, and (bat any person presenting said commission must be re. gardtda# tn Impostor. » {opposite New YorkKendngton Depot i, indulge of the olstere of Bt Francis. Accident c*m* received If brought Immediately after -icrpHon «Injury. Lying-in caaaa received at a moderate rate of board.. Free medical and surgical advice liven on Wednesday and Satpjdo}- Afternoons, between < and 6o*clb. fol2-tlrp jO*> OFFICE 09 THE DELAWARE COAL COM ' . - . Pho-adelihia, February 13,1863. The Annual Meeting of the Btoefcholdrrsof this Cam pan v.and an Election for Directore, will be held at No. 518>'alnut street, on WEDNESDAY, the: loth day of ilarch next at U o'clock A. .M. fc-18,30t* J. R. WHITE. President. tat- .hall voitno mevs Christian absocia tlon, No. ISIO Che-mat Street. _ SCIENTIFIC LECTURES. Thursday,* February 13, Hr. W. W. KEEN, “Brain and Nervous System," Illustrated with extensive models and diagrams. Febinary 2(1, Rev. E. R. BKADLE.D.D.. “Mol. losean Life." fel33t.n>i ■o* OFFICE OF THE LEHIQH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. _ , , Philadelphia. January SO, 1868. Tills Company la prepared, to purchase its Loan duo in 1870, at 3 >ar. . _ SOLOMON SHEPHERD, Trcaaurer. laSVtfrp No. 123 South second Street. HTx . 0.-8. FOWLEB»B LAST \>AY OF PHRENO* logical examin*tlonß%nd ad v ice 4* to be*rt huaineaf. iu«niasc«, children, Ac. 9 ; V!■ Pans*-A CSlimpie of ihc IfOzri&lct.tive m«cii9*ioii ttpMpo# of Uie Army BUI [C'orresronfleiica of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.] Tap. Bing. “La Stance! A vos places, Sfcs mnrs! La Seance! La Seance!" While the deputies move, to a rapid music formed of the above sounds, towards their places, wc of the upper tier are craning over and'criti cising them. The deputies require a good deal of tapping, a violent agitation of the silver dinner bell, and a great many sharp announcements from the ushers, before they can be got to settle leisurely Into their seats. And, mean while, we of our circle are much interested in their gait and movement, their manner of conversing among themselves, the pairings and selections they form. “There is Monsieur the Minister of State, Ronher, already In his place. Don’t you see?—the heavy bourgeois in a velvet cap, In the front range, second sofa from th(i right, in effect the fifth man from the extremity of the curve.” “Tiensl How? That great pig? I had al ways figured Kouher as a monsieur shent-le-man." (There is everito be found, In such a crowd, the supremely ignorant man contrasted with his friend who Is perfectly omniscient) I “Cher, he is an Auvergnat. See how he buries bis cbin in his arms, and bis arms in his bosom. In reality he is as bald as my knee, but he gathers the locks from his temples and heaps them on his head. You may see a long ,one escaping from under his toque. How like a grocer ho appears, with the velvet forced down to his nose!” Rouber in the photographs, and in the courtly portrait by Cabanel, which figured at the Expo sition, is a kind of Olympian Jove, broad, serene, irrefragable ■ But this rapid silhouette cut by my incisive neighbors has a good deal more of the likeness. The famous mouthpiece of the Tnile rie6 is a burly, swollen, clumsy sort of a mouth piece, in the appreciation of the difficult Pa risians. The mouthpiece talks, moreover, with a certain provincial accent which is very.trying to them. After oneßof his groat speeches an ad miring friend of the majority once exclaimed,— “'Tis Demosthenes!” “Yes," returned some cue, “but Demosthenes before the pebbles.’ Ronher, on the whole, struck me like a somewhat less rustical Dr. Johnson, inspired by a some what less respectable toryism. In the intervals of business he conversed with members who grouped around him, all pertaining however to the seats marked Commusairet dti Goucernement. When others were speaking, he tapped # little testily with his paporknlte. When tnirtrjed fo speak himself, he plucked off the velvet cap. allowing the lock noticed by my friend to stray down his back like some belated form of pigtail, and rolled forward to tbe tribune, where he poured forHi his prompt prologue and apology with a great deal of unctuous facility. On one of the seats behind him was planted the Minister of War, Marshal Kiel, for whom ti* present discussion was a fete. In the course of proceedings he spoko in answer to M. Garnler ' P. s-.j, ids words having the same cut, dried and brushed effect that belonged to his face and mien. These two government representatives were tbe ■ only members of the majority who excited the least interest among my fellojv-spectators. The right side of the chamber, is prin cipally pervaded by that best-known, least hated, most indispensable member, so familiar to all large parliaments, the voting member. He has sold hip tongue for a piece of cardboard, which he drops, whenever he is told to, into a globular urn with a vacant mouth, and that is the sole sign made by the voting member. Ses sions pass, ministries rise and fall, storms of opinion pass and shatter the popular mind, but the monumental calm of the voting member is never disturbed. While he can lift his arm to the votive box, bis peace is, enduring and his silence sure. But. the opposition benches were peopled with fiery spirits, the troublers of the State, tameless under repression, the leaven of the time. These we looked up and pointed out to each other with unwearied .avidity. We magnified o’ur favorites, applauded our representatives, uttered distrustful comments on those who keep too much on the fence. The young and valiant Bethmont had our complete sympathy; M. Ollivler, the husky, rough-headed and legal looking pleader who constantly chills where he might convince, attracted it less, and was pronounced unsafe, opaque, and puzzling; and M. Thlere, "with ail our re.*f epect for his books (which we had none of ub read), had too' recently emerged from hl s speech applauding the Italian invasion to be com pletely to our taste. For my own part,however, the constant silence of the scholarly historian was greatly a matter of regret He broke it, however, on neither 6f the occasions when I was in attendance, but sat in his place with the prim precision of a wax statue of Mme. Tussand’s; his shining frock-coat buttoned across bis breast, his accurate spectacles squared and gleaming, his white hair gathered to a point ald James Buchanan,and all his alert little figure constrained to silence. In the neighborhood of M. Thiers are grouped the places of three famous standard-bearers, Jules tfavre, Gamier-Pages and Glois-Bizoin. Favre, the achieved orator, whom the critical Proudhon has pronounced miraculous, wears, with his grizzly valance of a beard, very much the air of some of our Western senators at home —orators born, who have rushed out from the backwoods to petrify pedants and vindicate liberty, His large frame and frank, rough face might be seen in a chalr oFbuf own Senate with out attracting a suspicion oftheir being from the outre-mer. I fancied I recognized the typical vlsago which freedom gives to her beloved dis ciple.' Jel3lsl*autn>s The old man at his side,Hth well-combed locks clinging to the outline of his head and then springing out like a brush against his shoulders, lS hie friend endowed with eter nal youth, that transfigures a frail body, this faithful soldier marches through the tangled and annoying polities of the day with the faith, honor and enthusiasm of another age. An astute, foxy-looking man on the next range, with an iron-gray bristly bdard defending, eti chevaux defrm, a wide and lean mouth, is. the whip of the majority, the ever-puhgent Glais- Blzoin. His stinging little orations, enforced with angniar gestures of the left hand, cannot be said to be heard, for they are, always 'inter rupted. But they come out, with energetic ,dta tinctnesp, in the morning paper. . q Immediately behind sit two prominent jour- ’ nalists: M. Gudroult, of tho Opinion’ Nationals, ’ **dJff, Bavin; of the Bitck. Tho latter is be* HASH ' STEPS# vxxxu. rt* r I * i ‘ii'9 * PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1868. llcvcd to be in receipt, by the by, within a few days, of a political letter from Prince Napoleon; each a fall expression of liberal opinions that the editor, is restrained from publishing It by con siderations of prudence. In the same neighborhood sits Picard, dHother originator of stinging little pellets in the shape of interrogations. I fonnd him tall, loosely strung, with a rather flabby cheek and a rather fluffy head of brown hair. He is- a valiant enemy of M. Haussmann, of boulevards, Csesarism, cen tralisation and the rest of it. j Enfant Pkbdu, Tbe Steel Bail Question. Messrs. Editors: In a former communication on this subject it was Stated that good steel rails could, when cold, be bent at light angles, or even doubled up without fracture. This, to many un accustomed to dealing with steel, seems para doxical, as their whole experience (perhaps ex- to theuseofa penknife, razor,-or some other hardened and tempered tool) has taught them exactly the opposite. If it is only remembered, however, that with the uso of iron of certain known properties, infused with a small percentage of carbon, steel can be made of so mild a nature as to be capable of being manipulated into any shape in which iron is used, the assertion will at once be understood. Ofeonremftls needless to state that steel rails are never hardened or tempered, this process being applied only to cutting tools, springs, &c. The dlscoveiy of what is known as the Pneu matic or Bessemer process of converting Pig Iron into Steel, by blowing a volume of atmospheric air through the molten iron, and depriving it of the most of its Impurities and carbon, by the affinity which the oxygen of the atmogphore has for the carbon of the iron, and thus forming carbonic acid gas and oxide, is generally so well understood as to hardly need , any explanation to those most interested In our subject. Oa the perfection of this process, however, entirely de-, giends the safety of Steel Bails. It was at first asserted by Bessemer that steel could be made tbuß from the*cheape»t qualities of English Pig Iron. It is very true, a molten metal was made of the material named, but when made it was found ,to be entirely worth less as steel, for ordinary use as such. The slightest proportion of phosphorus beyond a mere trace, for example, was found to utterly ruin the quality of tbo steel. So, also, was diffi culty encountered in the prevalence of sulphur in some ores, and of many foreign materials, which gradually narrowed down the limits of the va riety of ores and pie iron, until it is now an ac knowledged fagl tbat but very few descriptions will answer for making good steel by either the Bessemer or by the crucible process. Such being the fact in these times of “cheapening,” although the demand arises from all side 3 for reducing ex penditures on our railways, is It not a bad policy to insist on reducing the already extremclv low figures of rails, both, of iron and steel and yet expect the best material? I . question wh'-ther at this time any iron rail makers, either in England or In our own land, are doing more than paying expenses, and many, , no doubt, are loeiDg mouey on each ton sold. Steel rails have been reduced fully 625 oer ton within a twelvemonth, and It is now asserted by the best of the foreign makers that they have reached the point when the question of profit ceases t# be considered by them. Yet, in the face of this, there are new makers springing up who do not hesitate to. accept still lower figures (as we are informed), and just here will come the danger. Neither capitalists nor 'manufacturers arc prone to throw away their hard-earned dol lars or pounds sterling, when any way to 'save them and continue their bnsiuess can be devised; hente comes the temptation-to the manufac turer to use e. cheap material when pressed to the wall rather than see his competitors carry away his trade which he, perhaps has so long striven for. True there are many manufacturers who rise superior to these temptations, and struggle on vear after year until they conquer by intrinsic merit all opposition; of this class we have not a few in Philadelphia, and in Pennsylvania a still greater number. That the Iron rail business has been peculiarly open to these temptations, the large importations of almost worthless Foreign Rails have taught us to our cost; too ofteh we have been paid in bonds which have been of about as much value as the cinder rolled into the shape of rails which have been sentus; but the tearful responsibility of the management which has authorized the laying of such fails has never fet been bronght home fothoso at wlioEe door it lies. How long the people will permit themselves to be carried over the ‘‘very jaws of death ” in their daily transit from city to city upon rails which have been laid-down without even a test being made of their soundness or quality, it is bard to tell, as we are a long-suffering people proverbially. Onr English cousins show more regard to human suffering, On the rail at least, and we would do well to copy them in this par ticular. All the leading English roads, as wen as . the Continental Railways, test their rails by letting fall a heavy drop, or “monkey.” as it is called, on a certain number of rafis in each thousand, so as to ascertain the resistance of the rail to tbo shock; ajyLaa-a-rule, when the test rails (which are taken from the lot) fail, tho entire lot is rejected. In testing steel rails the monkey usu ally weighs a ton. and it falls from 15 to 20 feet on a portion of rail lying between rests 3 to 4 feet apart, according to agreement. If it deflects greatly under this blow it is deemed' too soft, or if it breaks it condemns the lot, unless farther tests show that the breakage is exceptional. The tests of iron rails are of course much less severe, a 6 the iron would not stand such terrible punisli mg. The test weight for the iron varies, but is usually about 450 pounds, and it falls about 10 leet, on rails placed on rests about 4 feet apart. Let me now ask how many of onr railway contractors or managers demand such tests in this ebuntry ? I venture but little in saving that .with some few most honorable exceptions-the test system is as unknown here as it is unprae ticcd, and yet our Yankee lives are worth as much to us and to the world, perhaps, as those of our British cousins. If a maker wllfullv places on the market a bad rail he is morally a first-class wholesale murderer, and should be held to the strictest accountability as such so for as the law can touch him. Why wo should not permit a builder to put up a defective building, or ran a steamboat with a defective boiler, and yet - allow contractors to put almost certain death right un der our feet, in the shape of defective rails, has always been to me one of those mvsterious in consistencies which we American people over look or wink at almost dally. - 1 It is very true that no system of testing rails can ever be made entirely reliable, but the I methods stated are perhaps the nearest to giving practical results which we can hope for at this ' time, and without these no rails should be laid down in any country. So Impressed^were the Board of Oireetors ot one of onr largest coal roads in this State with the necessity of this testing system Mng applied to their purchase of Engiishsteel. rails, that when supplying themselves with 6,000 tons, they sent an engineer over at the Suggestion of the writer of this article, to examine and test the entire shipment in the usual manner adopted by the English roads. Tbat they will reap the benefit to the' future -of this cautious attention to the demands of. the age no one can doubt, audit is to be hoped that they will not be alone in their practice. -In one point a difficulty in regard to defective rails arises which is a.uttle troublesome to regulate with our S resent laws. ‘ Whilst we have inspectors to see tat no steamers shall be ran; whose boilers will not petss flietr criticisms, and public wardens who examine to see that no decayed meats or vegeta bles are exposed for sale, wbat law have we to prevent any oneffom re-Belllng condemned rails whlch aro oven known to be utterly worthless? Some mercenary creature will be found to buy at a pricer,-pr Some Innocent victim will be sold stltktto reUx, and then comes a odlwuy*a&M&rir > 1" r -‘sin 'i'-r' / u i"v' ‘ 11' T\ -v / Sifc l 7 ’ OUR WHOLE COUNTRY. ilw nantoiiHttl ia Deyioitmni. Referring to the recent murder trial in Doyles town, Pa.* the Trenton American says: Some of our readers may remember the arrest of a- colored man in this elty by thename Of Abraham Brown, charged with .the murder of Benjamin Hogeland, also colored, not far from Uomsvllle. The negro was brought up for trial on Tuesday last. : District Attorney Cope opened the case oh the part of the prosecution, stating that on the 15 th of October last, Abloom Brown, the prisoner at the bar, jnst before sunset, came to the bouse of Benjamin Hogeland, in thq village of Tyburn, below Morrisville, where the deceased kept a small shop. He had raised a crop of com, busked it, and that morning had started to Trenton to dispose of it. Brown accompanied blmto this city. after Brown was seen in Trenton with Hogeland’s team in his posses sion. Mrs. Hogeland next met her husband on, the road coming back on foot and alone. He came to his house, and not finding Brown, he and a man named Jack Hill went back after him. The thtee met at the foot of a bill near Morrisville, when Hogeland ac costed Brown and said, I want you to payme for mycara. He took np a whip out of the wagon, and raised it as if to strike Brown with it; when Brown took hold of one end of it, ho was then pulled out Of the wagon by Hogeland; when Brown picked np a porter bottle which Hogeland had let fell, and threw it at him, striking Hoge land with it on the breast. Hill then interfered, and caused them to stop their Quarreling; he timing charge of the the team while they walked on to the bouse. When they got there, Hogeland again insisted upon Brown paying him for his com, when Brown pulled out some hind of a postige stamp which he afterwards returned to his pocket. Hogeland then commenced carrying in some po tatoes, when Brown took hold of a bag contain ing them and started away with it. When Ho"e land came out and observed this he went alter Brown, caDght. up to him near the bam, took hold of the Bag, when Brown turned suddenly around and plunged a dirk knife to his heart. Hogeland came towards the house, crying out, “Jackey, he has stabbed me!” which he re peated three times, staggered into the shop, eat down,-and then saying, “I am gone now!” al most immediately expired. Brown immedi ately ran off to his home, changed his clothes, and under cover of darkness crossed the Dela ware; and made his way to the farm house of a man named Hart,hear the village of Pdnnlngtou, in New Jersey, where he hired out to work at busking* and where the officers in pursuit found and arrested, him, when he said ho had been four years in the rebel armv, and had never been in Tyburn In his life. He wascoi mltted to jail in this city, identified as the assailant of Hogeland, and on a requisition from Gov- Geary was taken to Doylestown for trial. The jury returned a verdict of guiltv of murder id the second degree, and the Court sentenced him to eleven years in the Eastern Penitentiary. Horrible Tragedy in Canada—An In »ane notber murders ner Five Chil dren Withan Axe—Sickening- Details. [From the Pembroke (Canada) Observer, Feb. 7.] Seldom does itlall to the lot of Canadian jour nalists to have to chronic!e?an occurrence equal ling In horror and magnitude that which we are about faintly to describe.. In the township of Alice, near the town of Pembroke, Ont, live, or rather lived, a German family by the name of Webber. The family consisted of the father—a tailor, who earned his, living by working round among his neighbors— his wile and six children. The father Is said to be a peaceable and Industrious man, and his wife had the repntation of being a kind and aS'ection ate mother, though some years before she had exhibited symptoms of insanity; two daughters, ihe eldest about fifteen or sixteen years of age! and four sons; made up their family. On Friday last, Hist ult, the father beic'g out at work, the eldest daughter went out to milk the cows, but before she got through was called into the houte by her mother. On reaching there the was startled to find her mother standing.in the entrance with an axe, and re marking to her, “They are aildead,” or words to that efiect; bqt on looking into the heueo, the horrible sight of her younger sister and brothers lying around the room, gashed and bleeding, met her eyes, and she fled in wild terror to one of the neighbors, It was said that the mother was making demonstrations to make her a vic tim also, bnt she got out other wav in time to prevent it. Word of thehorrlble affair was soon afterwards received in Pembroke, when Dr. Mc- Kensie, coroner, repaired 'to the place, and held an inqnest at once, after which the woman was conveyed to the jail in Pembroke, to await fnriher proceedings on the part of the authorities. Three ot the children were dead when the coro ner arrived at the scene of the tragedy, another died while the inqnest was being held. Four of them were buried on Sunday last. Insanity, as will at once; be inferred, was the cause of this awful and nimatural act. About (eh years ago, while yet in Germany, her husband tells of her killing a cow with an axe, in a similar frenzy. Up io Friday lasfctbe derangement in her mind seems to have slept, and there appears to have been 410 danger apprehended by her Mends of violence on her part; on the contrary, those who know her speak of the great amount of affection and ten derness the always manifested for her children. On the morning in question the children, it is bo lieved from the circumstances gathered, hod just got up out of bed, and were standing round the stove, when the old demon of insanity retnrned with redoubled power, and urged the wretched woman to the committal of the most unnatural act the mind can conceive. The axe was,seized, and rapidly the deadly blows descended on the heads of the devoted children, cleaving tholr skulls and scattering their brains In a horrible manner. Thospectacle on entering the scenepf the butchery, when the inqnest commenced, is described os' sickening and pitiable in ; the extreme. Three of the children were .already, cold in. death,, and the other two, barely alive, were,lying where they had fallen, with the ghastly wounds m their hoads, pre cluding the possibility of recovery. One of these yet alive, had, in addition, part of one hand cut off, tho littlo thing having, probably, on the same principle that men catch at straws,” mechanically clasped its band over its head to ward off tho descending blow. After the inquest,the coroner, Dr. McKenzie,commlttedthe womanto the county jail in Pembroke, when dha now Is awaiting the farther action of the legal authorities. Bluce her, commitment thewntched being has cometo her npual senses, but save & tew half meaningless expressions, has said very little In connection with the affair, and is dot, apparently disposed Wspeak at all on- tho sub ject. Her mental agony appears to be>exesMdv'> us evinced by moaoiogr aa&reu&taff tho! ' ' . ' .* 4 * ii *Of ft,W U ,\ii X witii its dozens of lives lost, and poor wretches ‘ maimed for life. Shouid'not condemned rallß fall nnder the ban of tho law as much as comdemned bollem or ancient meat? At least, should not tho officers, of the law go so far as to cut up con demned rails at the owner’s expense, when notified that such rails are in existence? Awidc door is opened, I know, by such an idea, and one which we Americans arc very loth to look at, as It in terferes we say with private rights, and forms d government test for quality in the material which we make; but the argument Is equally ?<*“ “> the Inspection of steamers atkl boilers, and do not railroads carry even a greater burden of humanity than steamers? It may therefore' become a question, -whether the guardians of the : public safety should not bo authorized to follow up such condemned material, until its shape la changed Into something by which murder cannot be so readily effected as in the laying down and use of condemned reila of any kind. Pknn-. CRIME. learn that one of the children is still living—the one with themniilated hand—though it cannot recover, so dreadful Is the wound inflicted. Desperate Feat of n Convict, [Prom the Harrhbnrg Telegraph o£ the lath. J About six o'clock ycsterdnv morning, as the Erie mall train South was-approaching North nmbeiland, and when within three miles of that station, a convict, in charge of the Sheriff 1 of Tioga county, leaped from the train while going at the rate of twenty miles an hour. The fellow had his legs chained together and must have sustained considerable injury. The Sher iff's Deputy proceeded on his way lo Phila delphia with tho remaining five convicts, all sentenced for long terms, for arson, at the last session of the Tioga connty sessions, while the Sheriff and a poßse of men left Northumberland immediately after the train stopped, to hunt the escaped desperado. ■The Sheriff aria his bird had not passed through Harrisburg- up to a late hdor this morning. No doubt the convict was either killed or badly injured. DISASTERS. EniotlM ®f Paraffine Oil Work® in ■- Brooklyn—Two men Bornetf w Deaf band One Fatally Injured. About half-past tep o'clock last night a still In the paraffine oil works of ganrael Richardson, In Nelson street, near Colombia, North Brooklyn, exploded and completely destroyed a portion of the onilding. Throe men employ od on the premises were engaged at the time of the fire in watching the stills, of which five out of seven were in operation. The chief Stillman, named John Brough, was first discovered after the ex plosion. His body was in a terribly mangled condition, and perfectly unrecognizable. The means by which ne was identified was his watch, his clothes, boots and hair being all burned off, and his entrails protruding from his body. His remains were taken from the burning mass by Assistant Engineer Dowd, J. M. Cur ran, foreman of Engine 16, and James' Dowd, of the same company, who con veyed them to the. Forty-third precinct station- deceased leaves a wife and four children, residing in Columbia street Another man, named Conroy, employed in the Bame es tablishment as assistant stiUtnan, was so dread fully burned that his recovery is deemed impos sible. He was promptly conveyed to the City Hospital by direction of roundsman Brumley, of the Forty-third Police Precinct Stiff another man, whose name could not be ascertained, was bnried in the ruins and burned to death. His body had not been recovered at a late hour. The explosion, it appears, was canEed by the flame of a candle coming in contact with gas es caping from the stills. The candle was brought into the room by one of the unfortunate men. The damage to tbe structure amonnta to about SSOO.—iV. y. herald. Singular Hallroad Accident. Some time during the forenoon of Monday last two freight trains left Williamsport for Elmira, in convoy. When within sixteen miles of Elmira something became deranged about the engine of the first rialn, which had some twelve cars attached, and the engineer stopped his machine to make an examination. While investigating the delect, the rear train—a long and heavy one—was. heard rapidly approaching. ■ The engineer of train No. 1 sprang to his “throttle,” giving the iocomolive a faff head of steam, when both himself and fireman leaped to the ground as the near train collided. The shock of thecoUislon and the “wide open" throttle of No. X engine caused the loco motive to spring forward, breaking loose from the tender, indulging in a regular “John Gilpin” stampede, sans Engineer-driver and fireman mak&g 16 miles in K less than no time,” pitching head-foremost into, and running half- way through an empty sleeping car, bn the main track at Elmira,, setting fire to it, and literally de stroying furniture, fixtures and everything else, “stripping Xhe rampant locomotive,” as our Elmira correspondent terms it—“from pilot to fire-box.” The “sieener” belonged to the Cen tral Transportion Company, and the engine to the Northern Central Railway Company. This most singular occurrence created qtute a sensa tion in Elmira, and hundreds of people flocked to to see the rampant iron'horse placed hors du combat at his own instance, or rather, from a combination of unforseen circum stances.— Harrisburg Telegraph. 12th. A Near Dam in the Delaware. The Newark Advertiser of yesterday contains the following account of a project for damming the Delaware river: The Trenton Board of Trade held a meeting on Monday night, to allow Mr. Henry C. Spaulding to explain the advantages ot the bill proposing to dam the Delaware and establish slack-water navi gation. Mr. J. A. Roebling presided. Mr. Spaulding’s plan seems to/ be not only to make the Delaware navigable,' bnt ta con nect it, / via .Cayuga Lake, in New York, with Lake Ontario. Leaving Lake Ontario, we sup pose, at Bog Sidus Bay, a very fine harbor, these are no considerable difficulties in canal ling to Cayuga Lake. Thence to Ithaca the lake would be always navigable, except in winter. From that point it is proposed -to reach the Delaware, and there seems to be the difficulty. The valley of the.' Bu6(juehanna, or that of the Chenango, and the intervening hffls> must be crossed, Mr. Spaulding says, by a series of in clined planes. The Delawure once reached, it can be made navigable, of course. Mr. Roebling gave the plan his endorsement. He says it is a great and commendable under taking and far more national in its character than yie Niagara Ship Canal. • very plump and juicy simpleton, “Hon. James F. Babcock, of Ne w Haven, in his speech before the Connecticut Democratic Con vention, said that f as to, Presidential candidates, he preferred the beat man,_ “whether he be Eng lish, of Connecticut, or Hancock, Pendleton, or Seymour, or Sheridan, whose bugle biaat' you have just heard [great sensation!—ah ! what did I say ? Sheridan ! No; I mean General Stan bery.” At this particular point the great Bab cock was overeomo by his feelings, and sank down in silence and abasement.—£c. —Herman Grimm, the German novelist, on whoso romance and “irresistible powers” Bav ard Taylor recently bestowed such enthusiastic encomiums, claims to have recelvod from Dr. Becker, private Secretary of the Princess Alice, Qpesn Victoria's second daughter, a piaster cast of William Shakespeare, taken immediately after blb death. This cast is said to huvo been a long time, in posHtßriSH" of a distinguished family which presented it a year or two ago to the Princess Alice. —A professor of medicine at the Vienna Uni ), verslty has succeeded m saving the lives of many cholera patients, who had alreadv been given up by tho other physicians, by tho so-called transfu sion process. The blood of healthy young men orwomen is infused into the veins of the pati ents to the extent of abont twenty ounces. In many instances the success was alinoßt Immedi ate. The face of the patient assumed a more na tural appearanco daring the operation, the pnlse grew more normal, and the pattent was entirely well, though fertile yet, In the course of Asti few fiogre. ■•■■■■■■■■. —Mr.'Rogers has cast in plaster his new Work, which he calls “Tho. Council of War." ,Thu group is ' * - Grant ' are Rtvi an easy Grant r bia flngi direct tfr bjnfc'tha •wUU'tbfei - titer. ( e. i. ]?aiysßK PRICE THREE CENTS. facts Ann rAHom. . — E S" Nog is now a novelfy in fashion abtePa nslan society. , •- ; —Gladstone is contributing to Good Words a, series of articles on “Ecco Homp." —leap-year halls arc quite common in the West, and leap-year sleigh rides in the East ?;J 1!l P er says G»»t most of Queen' Isabella s children arc very Illiterate. beredanerronthr Philadelphia plan. " Lolfwisconl^ 66 *** *“* Winnebago. ♦'i,r£.SS eb f c , p W. ransonc of the members of p^nrSlat” nC al leBsß,atnre “a pschydhrmK —Java must bo'a pleasant place for arestderice From 180 to 180 personß aireMlled thereby timers by crocodUes 804 nearly MH^ny —Two young women of Vienna lately walked ms a 2k r ,ln > both fell exhausted on the floor; and both have since died of heart disease. R^ n^i^ Paria ' vicinity of the PMaia Royal, or the new Grand Opera, britaui from' hlrt y. t ?, fiftv the point, in the West, of timing divorce suits. One. has been panted in Terre Haute, Indiana, to a mimite from the time the trial began.-—the beat time yet made. —Proiessor Newman, of University, College, London, has rendered Longfellow’s 1 “ Hiawatha * into verse. Here are two lines: ‘ ‘ E finibus Oggibbawaiarum, E sedibus Dacotarum.” . —By a recent accident to a wood-chopper in Pennsylvania bo deep a gash wasoutinhlapreaet the workings of his heart canheplaliur ee«n. This case parallels one that used to be told in all the school physiologies. Xhe man Is in a. fair way to recover. —A New York husband save -“ Whereas, the wife of Peter Smith has left hl» bed and board the public are cautioned against trusting bar, a* he will pay no debts of her ce " N. g.— The best of garden seed sold tr ' iy t Smith at the sign of the GoldcnHain, —Two old gentlemen wetwtswwiina, other upon their habits of Intemperance. .At yon ever, neighbor,” said one, “see me with more than I could carry. s " “No. indeed." was the reply, “but I have seen yon when von bad better go twice for it.” —A little girl seeking celestial Information, asked her mother: “Have angels wings?" The unsuspecting mamma, full of memories of pic tures and traditions, answered: “Certainly they have ?” Straightway young inquisitive sprung her trap: “Then why did they want a ladder to get down to Jacob?” ■ —A country editor,'noticing the decease of -a: wealthy gentleman; observes: “He has died re gretted by a numerous circle of friends, and leaving a widow as disconsolate as any widow need be who has obtained the uncontrolled pos session oi five thousand per annum. More twenty young men have sent letters of condo lence to her. —A captain in the Prussian service, stationed at Posen, who fell violently in love with a. young actress of excellent character, named Walmore! threatened to kill first her and then himself if she did not reciprocate his affection,and although ebe In terror wrote to the colonel of the reglmentfov protection, the captaln ehot her ondbroke hoc arm and then blew out his own brains. , —M. Dusautoyer, the publisher of the. Epoque. used to be a merchant tailor. The editor of the Voys having lately ridiculed him on account of his having madfe liveries, the ex-tailor replied tartly that a man who made liveries was cer tainly better than a man who wears liveries; The editor of the Pays did not seem to .like the reply. •• —ln one of our civil courts, to-day, the counsel for the plaintiff took occasion to comment some what severely upon tpe “generoslty” of the ex posing cllentana concluded his closing argument in the following eloquent strain: “Generosity Jn turn, gentlemen! f should as soon think of fishing in the sky with an anchor, and expect e bite from the ghost of Joiee Hetb, as to fihd generosity in him?'— Boston fottrna&i : —The Denver News describes a novel‘enter tainment there: “A series of religions dances, as practiced among the Indians in the days of Mon - tezuma, arid handed down to the present day la tradition. The dances were performed by fif teen Mexicans, who were dressed insults of many colors, their faces covered with masks, accord ing to cnetom, while they made music from an instrument more primitive than melodious—the gourd shell,” —lt is related that when Commodore Biddle was paying a visit to a Japanese junk in Jeddo bay, in 1816, a sentry pushed him back luto hla 1 gig, as he waß clambering over the bulwarks. Ibe commodore’s official wrath was kindled, he. returned to his ship and sent a peremptory, de«i mand for an apology and indemnity for tbo fajk-- - •• suit. The reply waa retnrned as speedily as the. circumstances would admit, that the sentry had’ acted without otdera, but that his heath which hud been already cut off, waa at the commodore r »" . service. ‘ e 7-Tho young Dnke do Luynes, whowaa.At the ! ~ tlme of his immensely wealthy gtfimlntthwU” death, whose sole heir he is, a private la: tty),first■■ battalion of Papal Zouaves, haaroturaed to - France and entered upon his- new position', ■; Ne» 1 t • sc oner had ho arrived in France ttumhe wirote a letter to the Pope, to whom he announced that hehad senthlmalltttylftitvsypaji’Bprb-kent, , New Ycar’a presentWjmjftStiid to consist oftwta' splendid batteries of, rify# carmen. Pius IX. fu Send' replied thoyfftitigfEtijJjc. ~Th e sopp]pb»MFi/d' not refuse , < ’ •*