l)c mcs New BloomfictiX 3a. An Incident of the War. DURING the siege of Fort.Wngner in 1803 the following dood of daring was performed by John Stray, a private in the New York Volunteers. General Gilmore had taken steps to re duce the fort by regular siege and hnd es tablished a parallel of guns which was doing good work. Unfortunately, during a night attack on tho Union works the rebels succeeded in driving thein from their position and spiking the guns in the battory. This was a serious check, as the rebel sharpshooters, ensconcing themselves in rifle pits, effectually Btopped further progress on the part of the engineor corps. One of the spiked guns, a 200 pounder Parrott, completely raked the rifle-pitB,and it was of the utmost importance that it should be brought into action ; but every attempt made by the Union men to effect this met with a murderous volley from the vigilant rebel marksmen. In this difficulty the chief of ordnance called for volunteers to restore the piece to service. ' To do this it was necessary to mount the cannon and drill out the spike ob structing the vent while the foe were dil ligently occupied, on their part, in picking off the venturesome workman from his perch. As no one seemed ambitious to undertake the venture, the chief of ordi nance, Colonel Mordiceai, applied to Stray, who, besides being a skillful machinist, had given proof on several occasions of un usual cooluess and daring. At the request of the colonel he inspected the gun, but the shower of bullets which greeted his appearance was not calculated to encourage him, and he reported that he did not think any one could live long enough on the cannon to unspike it ; and having a wife and young children, he was not desirous of making the effort. With out trying to influence him against his in clinations, the colonel replied that if he were willing to make the attempt and should be killed, he (the colonel) would see that his family were provided for. This promise decided Stray, and he con cluded to try and achieve the feat. At nightfall he went forth on- his perilous er rand, armed simply with a brace and bits. Straddling the breech of the monstrous piece, and couching as low as possible, he plied the drill vigorously. No sooner had he began to work than the enemy per ceived him, and flash after flash succeeded from their rifle-pits. It is one thing to exhibit prowess amid the clash and rush of battle, fired by the contagion of enthusi astic comrades, another to brave death singly and deliberately. Stray Could see, as he worked, the long rifle pits of the rebels, not a hundred yards distant, ablaze with the light of fifty rifles, and feel the wind of their bullets as they whistled past him. Occasionlly one struck the cannon, at he noticed by the peculiar chirp of the impact. Favored partly by the obscurity and more by good luck, he remained un scathed, save by one skin-scraping shot. In fifteen minutes it seemed to him afi hour the vent was olear. . As the gun was loaded, a lanyard and primer were passed up to . him, and . these affixed, he slipped juickly off. The rebels seeing him drop imagined they had shot him, and set up a yell of exultation, which was suddenly checked as a discharge of grape scattered death among them. The rifle-pits were at once abandoned, and our sappers and min ers enabled to proceed without any further interruption. The captain of the battery reported twenty-two lead marks from bul lets that had struck the piece. . ' In reward for this exploit, Stray was of fered a second lieutenancy, but being a modest man, and not fitted by education for the position, he declined it and was satisfied to accept ' the appointment of master mechanlo in the ordnance depart ment. .I. This was by no means the only adven ture of peril that Stray was engaged in during the war, and his history would make a readable volume. lie was pre sented by Major General Gilmore with the bronze medal for valorous conduct, of which I believe but thirty-nine in all were ever distributed. Stray is now an engineer employed in a factory in Jersey City. He is a short, thick set man of fifty or so, with a gray beard fringing a quiet but doterm edcountenanoe. Many a less deserving name will be handed down to posterity, to become illustrious with time, than that of this obscure hero, John Stray. Freaks of a Lnoatlo. A story is told of a French gentleman, who, haying lost the bulk of his property through the rascalities of friends to whom he trusted, crowDed it all by the loss of his mental balance, and for the remainder ' of his days found his only delight in riding in omnlbusses and passing fares fioru passen gers to the driver, taking care when change was returned to add to it a sou or two from his own pocket and watch the effect on the receiver. In nine cases out of ten as the story goes, the passenger, counting over his change and finding the driver had cheated himself, would look bewildered for a moment and then pocket the money with a quiet chuckle. " The special delight of the lunatic was in satisfying himself in this way that ntus-tenths of his fellow-men were dishonest if they only bad the oppor tunity; ' v ! ' Tricking a Smuggler. WHILE two detectives were examin ing the passengers on a newly ar rived steamer, they come across a jew who was a passenger In the steamer, but he was very sick. The passage had been very stormy and he was not much of a sailor ; but, notwithstanding his illness, he seemed very anxious to land as soon as he could. Both officers remarked this, and asked him if he were ill. ! . .. '. ' , ' " I feel terribly," answered Moses, " I am dying ! Indeed, I'm very bad." " Sea-siok ?" asked the detective. "Shocking," replied the jew. And he seemed indeed to be suffering much from a severe pain in the stomach. ." Come with me," said the detective. "You are an old practitioner. We must search you before you go ashore. . Well or ill, no matter." Bo the jew had to go into the captains cabin noUnt tolent. His clothes were searched, but nothing found. He com plained of the rough treatment and said : "You did not think to be able to catoh me twice, did you ?" (for he had onee before fallen into the hands of the police for smug gling) and then be made a ludicrous effort to laugh at his own joke. Then he rubbed his stomach, writhed with pain, and seem ed every moment to be getting worse. But he dressed himself again, and was even going on deck to leave the ship, when the detective ordered him to wait, at the same time calling the steward. The latter came and the officer immediately told him to fotch the doctor, for, said he, " we have here a very sick man." ; . The officer spoke to the doctor about it outside of the cabin. "Doctor," said the former in a confidential tone, "I have within here a jew diamond smuggler who is very ill ; he is one of your passengers, just arrived from Europe." And then he whispered into the doctor's ear something of his suspicions. " I wish that you would prescribe for him a good strong purging mixture; which will act well without hurt ing him. But give him such a dose as will clear out his stomach in fifteen min utes. ' Can you do that ?" " I understand," laughingly replied the doctor, who was an honest man, and in his heart opposed to smuggling. "I will make him up something suitable; and it shall not hurt him either." , ' Five minutes afterwards, in came the deteotive with a dose of calomel and croton oil for the sick man. ' He was indeed very unwell, ho was pale as death and turning about with pain. But he refused to take the medicine offered to htm. He was "not going to let himself be doctored on board the ship," only at borne, and there he would be willing to have medical assistance. ' " Take it," said the detective, "it will do you good." 1 "But I will not." " Then we will pour It down your throat by force every drop of It," answered the officer with determination. " I have some thing more to do than to stand here by the hour trying to cure you. Will you take it willingly, or shall we pour it down your throat?" V " It is a great deal too much, Indeed it la," groaned the jew, as he looked with hesitation into the glass held towards him. "Down with it," shouted the officer, and the fellow seeing that no kind of refu sal would help him, gulped and gulped, and gulped it down till the greater portion was taken; but all the time making ex ceedingly wry faces. " Now, you ungrateful curmudgeon, stay here till the medicine has acted and cured you of your sudden illuess. But take a lesson. I know you, and your game is played out. Mark that. With these words the detective moved away. ' ' " Go to the devil," was the answer that overtook him from his patient as he was going. The detective loft the jew under the care of his companion, to whom he gave final orders to report within an hour the effect of the medicine. The dose acted well; be fore the hour had expired the officer gave his report, and diamonds to the value of 14,000 were recovered, which the medicine brought to light. The smugglor had swal lowed them ten minutes before the officers had met with him. Romance of Captivity. A letter from Iowa gives the following bit of romance in real life : " George Hen derson left Ottumwa in 1807 to cross the plains to California, and was captured by the Shoshone Indians. . He was taken to New .Mexico, and has been there slnoe. He married an Indian woman, and she assisted him to escape, and persisted In coming with him. He has a wife, to whom he was married but a short time before he went away, residing near Ottumwa. " His father was killed in the war. The family had given him up for dead, and the meeting on his arrival at home was affecting. The mother recognized him as he stepped in at the gate, though he was dressed in tlie In dian costume and bronzed to nearly the color of a savage. Ho is now forty-two years old, six foot one inch in height, and as straight as an arrow. The Indian wife seems de voted to him, but freely and fully recog nizes the just rights of his first wife, who has so long mourned her husband as dead, and surrenders all her claims upon ilm in behalf of the white woman." A Perplexed Legislator. , A gentleman who occupied a seat In the upper branch of the New York Legislature, but at the time was a momber of the As sembly, relates the following: Perkins was as honest a man as ever Bet a foot In Albany. Monoy wouldn't buy him and I knew it, but I thought I would have a little fun with him, so I went down to his room one evening and said,. .," Per kins, ' what do you think of tlfat under ground railroad bill? Are you going to vote for it?" "Well," said Perkins, " I haven't made up my mind yet, exactly. I am inclined to think it Is a good bill, but why do you ask?" - "I thought you were in favor of It," said I, " and as long as you have concludod to vote for it, I just wanted to say to you that the meri interested in it are paying five hundred dollars for votes, and as it is oom ing up on its final passage to-morrow, you can just was well have the money as not ; you'll voto for the bill anyway," , . ; : M Vote for the bill 1" I'U be hanged first," oried'the irate Perkins. " No, sir. If improper means are being taken , to pass this thing as you say, I for one, will, vote against it every time. Yon can put we down "no."' ' ..,; . , .. t jnfl "0,1 don't care anything about . the bill," said I. "I was only trying to. .do you a favor, and I think I can yet. for to tell the truth, the rival companies are all here in full force and are moving heaven and earth to defeat it. They are paying the same amount for ' noes,' and as long as you are bound to vote that way, I'll get you the five hundred dollars all the same." " Can such things be ?" exclaimed Per kins, raising from his seat and tearing up and down the room in a whirlwind of right eous wrath and virtuous indignation. What a state of things ; this is 1 A plague on both of your houses, I won't vote at all." "All right," said I, "I'll get you the five hundred dollars for being absent." . And as the jolly Senator brought to mind the horror of perpl exity in which this last proposition involved old Perkins, he roar ed with laughter. -'fit . , , ' : Suicide Incidents. ' " Some of the scientific men of our day are trying to ' ascertain if a thoroughly sane person ever commits suicide. These gen tlemen meet with difficulties, some of the chief of which arise from the impossibility of placing the suicides themselves on the witness stand. They find it impossible to get any but inferential evidence of . a self destroyed man, as to his mental statns at the time he killed himself. ' Some queer facts have been brought to light however. One man had been told by a fortune teller that he would die in three weeks, and having a great horror of death, he took a dose of strychnine to escape it. That man was clearly of unsound mind. His visit to the fortuno-teller showed that. Another case almost the reverse of the above, occurred in Paris. A man bent on suicide climbed up the parapet of a bridge over the Seine, was about to jump into the river, when a sentry pointed his musket at him and threatened to shoot him dead unless he immediately came. down. Sin gularly enough, this man at once came down, instead of staying on the parapet and achieving doath at the hands of the sentry without committing suicide. Was that man in his right mind? A still more singular case was that of an old bachelor, who In a momont of weak ness entered into marriage engagement. On coming to what he called his right mind, this unfortunate roan resolved to escape the consequence of his folly by committing self-destruction. Thus resolved, he had his razor aimed at his jugular vein, when word came that his fiance bad eloped with young er and handsomer man. Here was unex pected deliverance ; but now nlark the vagaries of a perturbed mind ? Jealousy of his rival succeeded to horror of his betro thal, and after writing a plain statement of his grievances, the bachelor resumed his razor and out his throat. Uod for Illm. ' Laxlies traveling through Canada by rail are often greatly annoyed by having their lufcgaKe unnecessarily searched, but one of the officials recently got his deserts. It happened that a Yankee school teacher on her way from Kansas to Vermont passed through the Dominion, with a trunk pack ed to busting with nothing contraband. When the officer demanded her key she beggod him not to open it, assuring him it had come through from Kansas, contained simply clothes and books, and was so full that it would be very troublesome to repack it. But he sternly demanded the key, and maliciously pulled everything out to the very bottom; then finding her assertions true he' returned the key, and advised her " to hurry up and get the traps back," as the train would soon move. "What is that to me," said the quick-witted woman. " I have a check for that trunk, and hold the Grand Trunk Railway responsible for it safe delivery. I will not take the key, and you may do as you please with the trunk. Report says that official was very weary and rod in the face, and rather pro fane ens be finished packing that trunk. ' What we want to Know. ' I ii. ; A Scientific paper says! " If a man had an ' arm long enough to reach to the sun, and were to touch that body with his fin ger, he could nevor find out whether it was hot or cold, for he would be dead before the sensation arrived at headquarters, which would require a hundred years." This is very interesting and highly Impor tant. But now we want to know what it would cost that man annually for coat sleeves; how long it would take him to put on a clean shirt, the number of centuries ho would have to expend to feel in his pocket for his handkerchief, and whether he could ever hope to part his hair prop erly while his arm had only one elbow. When light is thrown on these branches of the subject, we shall be better prepared to doclde whether, to advise our readers to let their arms grow to that length or hot. ' ' Origin of Penny Postage. An English lecturer recently told his au dience that Mr. Rowland Hill saw a poor woman' whose , husband was away, look earnestly at the outside of a letter from him and then declined to take it, as the postage was too great. , He expressed his sympathy, but when the postman was gone she explainod that the letter was all out side ; her husband and she had agreed on signs and tokens to be conveyed by lines and dots and variations of the address, so that she could ' thus learn without fee that he was well or ill, was coming home soon, or wished her to come to him, or would send her money next week, and so on. The future reformer thought it a pity the poor should be driven to such shifts, and accordingly preached penny postage. This; the' lecturer asserted, was the origin ' of cheap postage. ' "' ' Compromising the Cloth. A very wicked anecdote, but one passa ble as piece of ludicrous news, 14 told by the Green Bay (Wis.) Advocate, of an ex emplary clergyman and respectable elderly lawyer of a neighboring oity : While on their Way, about two miles from that oity, to attend a dying man, their buggy broke down, and they started on afoot. A lady, coming along with a two-seated, open bug gy, invited them to ride, which they accept ed, the minister taking the front seat with the fair driver. She drove them into town, and dashed up and down the prinoipal street, making a great sensation, setting the people on the walks into loud guffaws. They didn't discover until afterward that she was a woman noted for much wicked ness and little virtue. Which Should Bear the Loss 1 ' ' One friend, a merchant, proposes to another, and underwriter, to insure his ship, lost or not lost, which ought soon ar rive. The underwriter hesitates, takes the policy home, and says, "I will return it to-morrow, signed or unsigned." Early in the morning the merchant receives intelli gence of the loss of his vessel. He knows his religious brother, and sends a clork (who Is ignorant of the loss) to say, Neigh bor A. Informs thee that If thou hast not underwritten, thou needest not do it." The underwriter draws the inference that the vessel is safe. He has not actually signed, but, pretending to look for the policy, contrives to sign it by stealth, and says to the clork, " Toll thy master I had signed." ' . 1 The Tautology of Legal Jargon. Some idea of the tautology of legal for mula may be gathered from the following specimen, wherein; if a man wishes to give another an orange, instead of saying, "I give you that orange," he must sot forth his " act and head" thus:" I give you all and singular, my estate and interost, right, title, and claim, and ' advantage of, in and to that orange, with all its rind, skin, juice, pulp, and pips, and all right and advan tages therein, with full power to bite, out, suck, or otherwise oat tho same orange, or give the same away, with or without it rind, skin, juice, pulp, and pips, anything heretofore or hereinafter, or in any other deed of deeds, instrument or instruments, of what kind or nature soever, to the con trary in anywise notwithstanding." ' Four Hood Habits. There were four good habits a wise man earnestly recommended in his counsels, and which he considered to be essentially neces sary for the management of tomporal con cerns ; and these are, punctuality, accu racy, steadiness, and despatch. Without the first of these, time is wasted ; without the second, mistakes the most hurtful to our own credit and Interest and that of others may be committed ; without the third, nothing can be well done ; and with out the fourth, opportunities rjf great ad vantage are lost, which it is Impossible to recall. , f37 A Vermont boy is in luck. The school-teacher was just going to " baste" him when the , lightning struok the house, and in bis excitement the teacher forgot al about the intended thrashing. i (W An old lady in a town of Worcester oonnty lately refused the . gift of a load of wood from a tree struck by lightning, through fear that some of the " fluid" might remain in the wood, aud cause dis aster to hor kitchen stove. ' TEItltY' COUNTY Real Estate, Insurance,. AND 4 CLAIM A.O ENCY. LEWIS TOTTER & CO., Real Ertatt Brokers, Insurance, t Claim Agtn. Now Illooinfield, Pa. WEINVtTE the attention of buyers and sell ers to the advantage we offer them In pur chasing or disposing ot real estate through our of fice. We have a very large list of deslrab property, consisting of farms, town property, mills, store and tavern stands, and real estate of any descrip tion which we are prepared to offer at great bar gains. We advertise our property very extensive ly; and use all our efforts, skill, and dllllgnoe to effect a sale. We make no charges unless th property Is sold while registered with us. Wo alsc draw up deeds, bonds, mortgages, andall legal pa pers at moderate rates. . Some of the best, cheapest, and most reliable fire, life, and cattle Insurance companies In the United States are represented at this agency. Property Insured either on the oash or mutual1 plan, and perpetually at S4 and 15 per thousand. Tensions, bounties, and all kinds oi war claims, collected. There are thousands of soldiers and heirs ot soldiers who are entitled to pensions and bounty, who have never made application. Sol diers, If you were wounded, ruptured, oroontract ed a disease In the service from which you are dis abled, you are entitled to a pension. When widows of soldiers die or marry, the minor children are entitled to the pension. Parties having any business to transact In onr line, are respectfully Invited to give us a call, as we are confident we can render satisfaction lu any branch of our business. MNo charge for Information. 201y LEWIS POTTER sj CO. New Millinery Goods A.t Newport, Pa. I BEG to Inform the nubile that I have Just re turned from Philadelphia, with a lul assort ment of the latest styles of MILLINERY GOODS, HATS AND BONNETS, RIBBONS, FRENCH FLOWERS FEATHERS, CHIGNONS, LACK CAPES, , .. ., NOTIONS, And all articles usually found in a first-class Mil. llnery Establishment. All orders promptly at tended to. - We will sell all goods as Cheap as cau be got elsewhere. DRESS-MAKING done to order and tn the la test style, as I get the latest Fashions from New Vork every month. Cohering done to order, lm all widths. I will warrant all my work to give sat lsfactluu. All work done as low as possible. ANNIE ICKES, Cherry Street, near the Station, W 13 Newport. Pa. CARLISLE CARRIAGE FACTORY. A. B. SHERK has a large lot of second-hand work on hand, which he will sell cheap in order w inane rwui lor new worK, FOU THE SPRING TRADE. He has. also,' the best lot ot NEW WORK ON HAND. You can always see different stylet. The material Is not in question any more, for It Is the best used. If you want satisfaction In style, quality and price, go to this shop before purchasing elsewhere. There is no Mrm that has a better Trade, or sella more in Cumberland aud Perry eouutles. REPAIRING AND PAINTING promptly attended to. Factory Corner of South and Pitt Streets, . dp CARLISLE, PA. Farmers Take Notice, T HE subscriber oilers for Sale THRESHING MACHINES. JACKS and HORSE POWER, , With Tumbling Shaft, and Side-Gearing, Warrant ed to give satisfaction in speedy and perfect threshing, light draft and durability, on reasona ble terms. Also . PLOUGHS Of Superior Make. CORN 8HELLEHS, KETTLES. STOVES. s . scoops . AND ALL CASTINGS made at a country Foundry. Also, A GOOD MILL SCREW, in excellent order, for sale at a low rate. I refer those wiHhlng to buy to John Adams,. Samuel hhunmn, John fiorlen, Ross Honch, at lekesburg. Jacob Shoemaker & Hon, Elliotts burgs Thomas Morrow, Loysville; John Fllckine er, Jacob Ulcklnger, Centre. 62013 . ' . - , SAMUEL LIGGETT, lekesburg, May 14. 1872. JN8UKE IN THE . MUTUAL . LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY o NEW YORK. F. S. Winston, President. The oldest and strongest Company In the United. States. Assets over 145,000,000 In cash. 8. A. SHULER. Agent. Liverpool, Pa. 8 44 13t. WtttVJKJU MUTUAL POLICY HOLDERS. The PennjylTanla- Central Insurance Company having had but llttlo loss during the past vear, the animal assessment on Mutual Tolicy-hoI'ders will not exceed 60 per cent, on the usual one year cash rates, which would be emial to a dividend of 40 per cent, as calculated in Stock Companies, or a deduction of 2 per cent., on the notes below the f usual assessment ; and as tho Company has over aio.ooo III premium notes, the whole amount ered led to mutual policy-holders, over cash rules, will amount to II.Oijo. Had the same policyholders in surccl in a Stock Company, at the usual rate, they would have paid (4,000 more than It has cost tliem, iu this Company. Vet some of our neighbor agents are running about crying Fraud 1 Fraud r and declare that a mutual company must fall. Hut they don't say how many stock companies are falling every year, or how many worthless slock companies ara lopreneuted Ip. Ferry County to-day. It Ik a well known fact that a Mutual Company cannot break, , r JAMFS H. CRIER, 1 ' 25tf '. Seo'y of Penli'a Central Insurance Co. 1. H. GIJiVlM. j, n. OIPV1N J Jtf. CIKVIW SON, '. " . CommiMMlon 31 creliuntis, . NO. B, SPEAR'S WHARF, It a 1 A 1 in o r .' 91 d . M.W will pay strict attention to the sale of all kihils of country produce, and remit the amounts promptly. . , iSiilJ
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers