Mm VT"-r vrP-n II :i III i " ' . , tlt'' ViJi VOL. XT. STEAV 13LOOMFIEL.3D, TUESDAY, .TUNE 2(J, 1877. NO. 20. a ij i 43 ini THE TIMES. An Independent family Newspaper, is punr.isiiKD bvkiit Tuesday nr F.31011TIME11 & CO. Subscription Price. Within the Comity, II 25 " " " Hlx nmiitlis n Out of tlio County, liiclnclliiK postntse, 1M " " " six mouths ." 85 Invariably In Advance I W Advertising rates furnished upon application. clet Tocti'v. SITTING AROUND. They are sitting around upon barrels and chairs, Discussing their own and their, neighbor's affairs, And the look of content that Is seen on each faco Booms to (ay, " I ha vo found my appropriate place," Bitting around. In bar-rooms and groceries calmly they Bit, And serenely chew borrowed tobacco, and spit, While the storlei they tell, and the Jokes that they crack Show tholr hearts have grown hard and un doubtedly black, AVhllo sitting around. The " sitter around" is a man of no means, And his face wouldu't pass for a quart of whito beans, Yet he somehow or other contrives to exist, And Is frequently . seen with a drlDk In his AVhllo sitting around. THE PARSON'S STORIES. LAST week I told of a marriage where the daughter feared the mother and now I will tell of a ease where the tables were turned, and a mother ran away to be married unknown to her daughter. " I want you to marry us," an ordinary-looking man said when I went to my front door one afternoon In reply to a demand for my presence ; "and there is the license," he added. " With pleasure," I replied. " Please bring in the lady," for I saw he wished to be married on the spot, and was in a great hurry. " She can't come in," ho said ; " she came a horseback with me, and we are in a desperate haste, l'loase come down never mind your hat and marry us on our horses. You see we are in such a hurry," I went down to my gate, some sixty feet from the front door for we lived in the suburbs of the town and, sure enough, there was a woman there on horseback in a calico dress and a deep sun-bonnet, holding her companion's horse by the bridle as' he got on. " I will not marry you in the street," I said. " Ride at least into my yard ;" and I went in. Now, there was a hedge of boU d'etre, or Osage orange, along my front fence twenty feet high. I had in terwoven the branches over the gate, so that we had to stoop in entering on foot. Of course it was impossible to ride on horseback through the close and thorny barrier, and I went up to the bousejeav ing them to do as they pleased. Fastening their horses very reluctantly, they came into the house. I made a swift ceremony of it. The bridegroom forgot to pay me my fee which was perhaps his revenge upon me for my obstinacy and mount ing their horses they were soon out of Bight. Hurdly were they gone before a young girl rode up on a pony to the gate, jump, ed off and ran in, exclaiming, " Oh, am I too late V" She was nothing but an ordinary country-girl, not at all pretty, much freckled evidently used to hard work, adorned with the duplicate of the calico dress and gingham sun-bonnet worn by her moth er. The ladies of my household took pity on the poor thing as she sank upon the matting in the hall, weeping and lamenting. She had ridden hard, wag very dusty and thirsty, and it ' was im possible not to sympathize wkh her. It was easy to Imagine her story before she told it . " My mother is a poor, sickly woman. She is almost worked to death already since father died," she sobbed. " We llvo out along the road on a little place keep chickens and things. Why there's a little baby In the cradle not a year old Hub we call him and there's four more of us, all girls." " What on earth did the man want to marry her for V" one of my family ask ed, for we saw that thoy all belonged to the class known as " poor while folks," with whom the negroes had as little to do, except to sell stolen chickens to them for whiskey, as possible. " What in ducementwhat did the nion wunlV was asked. " lie wanted her to work tut hlni. lie has got no nigger, and that was the only way he could get one," was the reply. " You see, he lives near us," the poor girl proceeded, rocking hurself to and fro as she sat on the floor, and already sunk Into the stony sorrow which seem ed to be her normal condition, "and he worked his other wife to death not six months ogo four months. There he was with six little children, and lie the laziest man that ever lived., lie's too lazy to patch his roof to keep out the water, and half his children are always down with ague or something. The weeds is higher than his corn. All he cares for Is a patch of tobacco in a cor ner of his place, and that Is for his own smoking. The caster-oil weeds are taller than his chimney almost, and he raises gooherpeas, only his hogs always root 'em up, for his fence Is always down. He's got an old cow, and she hooks, and he wants my mammy to milk her for him, I suppose. He's the meanest white man living I" the girl added. " But why did you not persuade your mother" I began. " Beg her not, you mean1" tho girl said. " I never did nothing else. I said, ilOh, mammy, mammy I please don't ! Look at poor little Bub. All he wants old Parkins, they call him is to make a nigger of you.' Beg? I've been down at her knees crying and begging all this last week. And she is such a good, good mother, such a hard, hard working woman when her ague will let her. I knew what he meant when I saw them horses hitched to his fenco this morning. But, you see, little Bub was having tho fever after his chill was crying for water. ' You run to t,he spring, Marthy,' she said to me mam my says, says she 'and I'll quiet Bub till you come back.' I ran every step of the way there and back, never thinking; but when I come back she was gone I Bub was crying fit to kill ; but I catched up Bill that's our pony in the stubble-field, and I jumped on, and I holler ed to a neighbor as I rode by, ' Please to run over for a moment to Bub!' and I rode as hard as I could What did you do It for V" she said to mo with sudden ferocity. " You might ha' known bet ter ! No, I won't have anything to eat under this here roof. I want to get back to little Bub. and you a minister tool" " Ah me I" I thought as she mounted her poor scrub of a pony and rode weari ly off, "this is not the first time I feel after a marriage as Jack Ketch feels, or ought to feel, after an execution ; and I am afraid it will not be the liftt time I feel so." JOHN WILKES BOOTH. THE NEWEST STOKY ABOUT HIS BURIAL. AFTER a lapse of twelve years there are still those who doubt that John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Lincoln, suffered death for his great crime. From time to time his presence has been re ported in various quarters and currency given to statements-of his recognition in Cuba, Italy, South America, and even in different sections of the United States, by those who had known him profes sionally and otherwise before and during the war. Others admitting his death claim to know the last resting place of his remains. For a number of years some ladies of Baltimore are said to have annually decorated with floral offerings a grave In the vicinity of that city in which the bones of Booth are supposed to lie. A correspondent of the Cincin nati Enquirer states that ho Is burled In the soil of Maryland between two lofty mountain - ranges and predicts that a monument will yet be erected to perpetuate his memory. That these several theories are fallacious, that Booth met his death in the manner officially reported at the time, and that his body was forever hidden from sight In a se questered place, known only to those to whom the duly of secreting It was en trusted Is generally accepted. And yet there Is nn air of mystery hanging about the fate of this noted criminal that Invests with interest what ever may tend to the final solution of all remaining doubts. It has been ascertained that Captain Oliver P. Leslie, now of Pittsburgh, pos sessed personal knowledge of fuels and circumstances connected with the great tragedy and Its subsequent events, a re porter of tho Pittsburgh Telegraph call ed. on him and received from him an ac count of tho scenes of which he was an eye-witness. Captain Leslie was one of the earliest friends of Mr. Lincoln's youth, and it so hapiened that he was In tho vicinity of Ford's theatre on tho night when he received his death wound, and was one of the few who had reached the door when the President was brought out on his litter, and carried across tho street to Bennett's, where ho died. Capt. Leslie says that ho hud often seen Booth act In Cincinnati, and at other points und had boarded with hi m at tho Metropolitan Hotel, in Washington, for weeks before the close of his career. In the corridors of the hotel ho fre quently saw Booth put his hands Into his box-cout pockets and pull them out filled with gold, exclaiming, " I havo made two thousand dollars In ' He' spec ulations and I will strike a lead In less than a month that will bring mo in a million." This was about ten days previous to the assassination and Capt. Leslie says bis attention was attracted to the circumstunco by its repetition and by subsequent events. From his previous knowledge of the man's personal appearance, he is posi tive beyond doubt that tho dead body of John Wilkes Booth, which was brought from tho scene, of death by Col. and Lieut. Baker, was on tho monitor Mon tauk at 5 o'clock on tho morning after he was killed by Boston Corbett, and that it remained there under guard for about forty-two hours thereafter. After the body was placed on the boat, a guard of six naval oillcers, of whom Captain Leslie was one, was set to watch it. Capt. Leslie and Captain Willoughby were In the same relief, and served two hours on and four hours off while the body remained on board the monitor. While these men were standing guard the multitude was allowed to view the body, passing on the stern of tho Mon tauk by a bridge of scows, and off at tho bow in the same manner, after looking at the remains for a few seconds. Among these were many persons, who had known Booth more or less intimately, including about three hundred actors. The Captain relates the Instance of a large, fine-looking man, having the ap pearance of an army officer, who, in passing, placed the palm of his hand on the forehead of the dead assassin, and invoked the most frightful imprecation on the soul of the departed. During the time the body lay on tho Montauk several propositions were made for the final disposition of the body, which were voted upon by the five hun dred or one thousand officers aboard. Of these Captain Leslie remembers but two of three of the more remarkable. One was that two of the wildest steeds that could be obtained should be har nessed together and chained to Booth's heels and taken to the Bladensburg duelling ground, and there turned loose to run until the body was dragged to pieces. A gentleman who had the appearance of a foreign officer proposed that a tower should be built from three hundred to five hundred feet high, and that thereon should be placed a cauldron, In which the body should lie until It was wasted away by the sun and storm, and de stroyed by the birds of the air. It was also suggested that this tower should be left standing for ages as a memorial of the Infamous deed of the murderer. These and other propositions were rejected, and it was finally agreed to deliver the body to the two Bakers who captured the traitor, to dispose of in suen manner as they might be di rected. The body, which at the end of the forty-two hours It had lain on board the Montauk was in an advanced state of decomposition, was accordingly giv en Into the custody of the Bakers, who were required to take the following oath. "You, gentlemen, bolnir already sworn officers of tho United States do further swear that you will take the dead body of John Wilkes Booth, and dispose of It In a manner known only to youi selves, and that you never will communicate to any others the whereabouts or disposi tion of the body, either by words, signs, hieroglyphics, or In any other manner, and that you- will not talk of It your selves, least you be overheard." The oath was administered by the Pro vost Marshal, Captain Stone, addressing the Bakers, added ; " and not desecrate loyal soil with his body." The remains were then taken away, and their dispo sition Is of course only a matter of spec ulation. Captain Leslie, however, is of the Im pression that they were sunk in a lake some twelve miles in width and forty to sixty feet in depth, seven miles below Alexandria, Virginia, known as the 'Alligator Pockets." Ho states that about two hundred pounds of hawser chain was on the deck of the Montauk near the body at the time he stood watch and he was of the opinion that this was afterwards used to sink the body in the "Alligator Pockets." In confirmation of this theory, Captain Lesliestates that Murphy, who served as a pilot with Lieutenant Baker for twelve years, and knew that the latter had thoroughly measured the water in this lake when shooting alligators, said that he knew tho body was sunk in those waters. A DUTCHMAN'S LICENSE. SEVERAL YEARS AGO there dwelt and for ought I know there still dwells an old Dutchman on the line of the Erie canal ; very Illiterate, but very fond of money, and, by some chance or other, pretty well supplied with it. It was rumored, however, that he was not over-scrupulous at times how he made It and the following Incident goes to sub stantiate tho charge : There came to his house one day an awkward looking Individual, betraying in every turn and gesture that he hailed whence wooden nutmegs anil other Yankee commodities arg brought to market. "How do, Squire?" was Jonathan's salutation, squirting a gill of tobacco juice Inside the door, by way of u more definite announcement that lie was " round." " Valk in,mlue frient," said the Dutch man. In stalked Jonathan, peeping on all sides, and finally settled his six feet be the same more or less of llesh' and bones in a chair near the chimney cor ner. ' " Squire," he said, ufter a pause, pro ducing a jack knife and chipping off a Xlece from the boot jack that lay behind him, " I've a notion somehow or t'oth er to be arter gwine to the far West ; but darn my picter if it ain't a long way thar, and I kinder guess I'm on the wrong track." And he went on whit tling, eyeing the Dutchman occasionally from beneath the half disjointed front piece to his plush cap. . "You goesh vest, eh?" exclaimed Mynheer ; " veil, you ish on the right roat, my frient ; but have you got a 11 ehense to go vest ?" " Liclnse!" cried Jonathan, suspend ing his whittling; " I ain't got the first one, and what's more, cap'n, I ain't never heern of the thing afore uuther." "Veil, veil," said the Dutchman, " that vou't do at all. You musht have a llcherise to go vest, for because they von't let you shettle out thero without vone." " How you talk !" was the Yankee's ejaculation, deeply oouuerned at this piece of intelligence. s Pat is the truth.mine frieut,' pursued the Dutchman ; " but I have lieheuaes to shell don't you vaut to puy vou, my frient?" " Can't dodge it iu no way, can I ?"' exclaimed the raw one. " How much '11 the tarnal critter come to?" he asked, producing a weazel skin iu an a alarm ing state of depletion. "Only tew tollars, dat'sh all, mine frieut," said the operator, rubbing his hands and rising to receive the fee. ' Well, I suppose I've got to deu It, anyhow, cap'n," remarked Jonathan, "shelling out the pewter," piece by piece, until he had counted out into the Dutchman's greedy palm two " halves" and " four quarters," leaving a balance In the weazel of three " York shillings," a " dime" and two " reds." "Down with tho document, Squire," ho cried, shoving the skin into his breeches pocket, and rising. " Veil, mine good veller, snld Dutchy, "Inln't got my spectacles, and you writes, don't you ?" "Just like a school marm, old chop," replied Jonathan. "Veil, den, you writes won," said Mynheer, " for yourself, putting down your name, for to go vest and shettle there, and I'll sblgn It. Come up to the table, inlsther, and I shall give you do pen and paper." The writing materials were produced ; Jonathan threw his plush cap on the floor, seized the old grey goose quill in the Ink-born, tried Its point on bis thumbnail; crouching his head until his right ear almost touched tho paper, he drew his tongue out Its whole length -and wrote. When he had closed the ' scroll he threw himself back In hischair to scan tho production and see If It was all right. "That's the talk," he cried at length, i These are presents is to Inform all it may concern as how Jeddydiar Doosenberry is hereby and herein entitled to go to the fur West, and take up land, be the same more or less, and squat thereupon, for having paid me in hand the sum of tew dollars, lawful currency, as license for so gwlnc West and squatting thar." "Dat's it!" exclaimed the Dutch man. " Wall, Squire," cried the Yankee; " put your fist thar." The license man did as he requested, and signed his name to the writing. " Jeddydiar," as be called himself,took the paper, folded it very carefully as boys foot up a puzzle, and desposited it in his vest pocket among an assortment of old " chews" of tobacco, gun-flints, matches and other articles too numerous to mention. Then rising,he exclaimed : " Squire, I'm much obliged to ye for this 'ere piece of counsel. It takes a feller nine lives to keep track of the new kinks that turn up in the law. Good bye to ye." " Good-bye, good-bye," cried the Dutchman, and the victim went off',. I whistling " Yankee Doodle." A week had elapsed after the transac- I tion we have just chronicled, and our I Dutch acquaintance had about forgotten j It, when a merchant of the village call- cd upon him saying: " Mr. S. if it is convenient, I should like the amount of the order which yoa: sent me the other day, which I paid to a man by the name of Doosenberry." ' . "An orter!" cried the Dutchman, utterly upset by the demand. " I never give an orter to nobody." ' f " But here It is," continued the mer chant, producing an order duly signed, requesting him to pay " Jeddydiar Doosenberry" twenty-live dollars In goods. Dutchy saw at a glance he was sold, paid up like a man, and has never oper ated in licenses since. A Surprise Party Surprised. Surprise parties are still in vogue and very popular. So the young people of thought, and one day they decided to surprise old Grandpa and Grandma Dorking, who had a large house and long parlor, and a fine piano,' and just the nicest place for a grand party in the State. And they packed their bas kets and harnessed their horses and went over to the Dorking mansion, fifty strong, bouud to have a delightful Eight of it. But old Mrs. Dorking looked out of the window in her night-cap, and wanted to know "where the fire was ?" And old Mr. Dorking brought out his double-barrelled shot-gun and got ready to shoot the burglars. And when the bravest of the iarty a wouiau explain ed to old Mr. Dorking that they were not desperadoes, but on innocent surprise party, and that they had baskets of cold chicken, biscuit, and jelly along with, them, old Mrs. Dorking said that if she wanted a party, she could find the vict ual:., and old Mr. Dorking said that wheu he wanted to see his neighbors he generally iuvlted them, and got ready to 6hoot again and the youug people of drove away, very much of the optulon that surprise parties were not very popular in that neighborhood.