CHARLOTTE MESSENGER.
VOL. I. NO. 16.
Time and the Maiden.
A little girl rock’d in a fairy boat,
By the waves of the river of life afloat,
And her golden tresses and langhter gay
Floated back on the breeze as she sped away;
And she gaily cried to the boatman gray,
“Ply faster your tardy oars, I pray,
And bear me away from this blossoming wood
To the beantifnl island of maidenhood.”
The maiden’s isle has been reached and
paesed—
Still on and beyond is her fond gaze cast, !
As she cries again to the boatman gray,
“Ply faster your tardy oars, I pray,
F< r my lover is waiting by yonder shore.
With a gilded bark and -a golden our;
Love sits at the helm to cheer and guide,
And he waiteth for me, his chosen bride.” j
Oh, love, what a beautiral freight hast thou’ j
The bark is laden from stem to prow,
And the mother gazes with loving pride
Ou her mate and the dear ones who throng her j
side;
Yet still she cries to the boatman gray,
“Ply faster your tardy oars, I pray,
For Wealth, and Fame, and Honor await
My loved ones when they shall reach man's
estate.”
And now the river is deep and wide,
And branches flow from its either side,
And the children to man and womanhood
grown,
Are launching forth in boats of their own.
Aad the mother orias,' with a sudden fear,
“Oh, tarry, gray boatman, yet longer here!
Why hurry on with such speed I pray?
You are bearing my loved ones all away.”
Again she rocks in a boat alone,
And her heart keeps time to the waves’ low i
moan,
As she feebly cries to the boatman gray,
“Ply faster your tsrdy oars, I pray,
For the dear ones have gone from my loving
care;
They have drifted out pq the eta 90 frir,
And I long to be with them and part no more
Ou the tireless waves of the golden shore.’
A LUCKY LARCENY.
Mr. Courtney was the nncle of two
nephews—the one a brother’s and the
other a sister's son. These two were
bis next of kin and legally entitled, in
case he died intestate, to inherit his
property.
Edward Horton, his dead sister’s son,
was decidedly bis favorite, and to him
the nncle decided to give the balk of
his estate.
Charles Courtney, the other nephew,
bad inherited a large fortnne from his
father, and moreover, by his uncle’s
will, was entitled to succeed to that left
to hisconsin in event of the latter dying
withont issue.
Old Mr. Courtney was one of the
kalest oi bachelors when it was sud
denly announced, not only that he was
dead, but that foul play was suspected.
A post mortem examination demon
strated that be had fallen victim to
poison, and it was circulated that the
hand that administered it was the hand
of his favoriie nephew.
The public mind was naturally both
surprised and shocked.
It was not until Edward Horton had
been folly committed for bis uncle’s
murder that I was retained to get up
the defense.
His own statement was, in substance,
this:
A physician had called in to see Mr.
Courtney on the oocasion of some ap
parent slight illness, requiring some
simple remedy, a prescription for which
was banded to the prisoner to have
made up.
This the latter carried to a well
known, competent druggist, who had it
pat up in his presence. The medicine
consisted of three white powders, each
wrapped np in a’ separate scrap of
paper, and the whole enclosed in a,
single wrapper. They were to begiven ’
at intervals of an hour, and had re- i
mained continually in the prisoner’s
possession until the tirst was adminis
tered, which was done by himself im
mediately on returning from the d ng
gisl’s. Mr. Courtney grew rapidly
woree, and when, at the expiration of
an hour, the sroond was administered,
the symptoms became so alarming that
a messt nger was dispatched for a phy
sician, who, on his arrival, declared that
the patient was suffering from the effect
of poison. An examination of the re
maining powder disclosed the fact that
it was pare arsenic. It was too late tor
any antidote to be available, and in less
than an hour death bad relieved the
snfferer. An autopsy of the body and
an analysis of the contents of the
stomach left no doubt as to the cause
of the death. The presence of the
arsenic in a necessarily fatal quantity
was indicated by every known chemical
test. It wss further admitted by the
prisoner that be alone had access to hia
ancle’s apartment, or bad bandied the
medicine from tne time it was com
pounded by the druggist till the coming
CHARLOTTE, MECKLENBURG CO., N. C., OCTOBER 7, 1882.
of Hie physician, after the second pow
der bad been administered.
The druggist, who was reputed to be
a man of extraordinary caution and
thoroughly skilled in his profession,
was ready to swear that by no possi
bility could any mistake have occurred
in compounding the medicine.
To make matters worse, it traaspired
that the amicable relations which had
existed between the uncle and his
nephew had been somewhat disturbed
I of late, by reason of an attachment of
the latter, whioh was disapproved of by
the former, who had gone so far as to
threaten to change his will unless his
wishes were respected.
“Who wis in company with yon
from the time you received the medi
cine nntil you reached your uncle’s
i house ? ” I asked the prisoner, desoer
ately groping after something to afford
a ray of hope.
“No one,” he answered, “ but my
cousin Charles, whom I met near the
druggist's, and who accompanied me
kinto the house.”
I drew from Edward the fact that
Charles saw the medicine put up,
walked with him a little way, then went
back for something—Edward awaiting
his return—then walked arm in-arm
nett-ly home, where Charles left. I
also reminded Edward that, his unole
being dead, if he also died childless,
Charles would inherit the whole of the
“He did it I—he did it 1 ” the young
man cried, in a paroxysm of excitement
too earnest to be counterfeit. “He
went to get the poison when be left me
waiting. He put it up to resemble the
druggist’s parcel, for which he substi
tuted it as we went along. Villain l—l
know it now. I carried the parcel in a
pocket on the right side of my coat,
and it was on that side he walked with
me!”
I was seated in my office on the day
preceding that fixed for the trial, in
dulging in anything but sanguine ex
pectations, when a tap at the door an
nounced a visitor. It was a detective
whom I had employed.
“ Well, what it, itS” I „f,.r
closing the door.
“ I made an arrest to day," he said,
and in the prisoner's possession I found
this overcoat.”
“WeU?r
“In one of the pockets I found
this.”
And he handed me a small parcel,
which I opened.
Inside were three papers, folded as
druggists usually put up their prescrip
tions.
“The person with whom I found this
coat,” the detective continued, “con
fesses that he stole it from a billiard
saloon, the owner having laid it aside
while playing, and the date he fixes cor
responds with Mr. Courtney’s mnrder.
But what is more important, I have
ascertained that Charles Courtney is the
owner of the coat I"
“Let us proceed at once to the drug
gist’s I” I exclaimed, springing to my
feet and snatching my hat.
We were soon there.
“Please examine the parcel,” I said,
putting it into the drnggist’s hands.
He aid so, oarefnlly opening the
papers and inspecting their contents.
They contained three white powders.
“How do they correspond with those
you put np for Mr. Conrtney, and for
which others seem to have been so
mysteriously substituted ?’’ I inquired.
“They do not correspond at all;” he
answered, “they are the same.”
“The same 1 How do you know that ?’’
“By these figures,” he answered point
ing to one of the papers. “I had made
calculations that day on the sheet of
paper, part of which I nsed in putting
np the subscriptions bought by Mr.
Edward Horton. The remainder I have
preserved, by some accident. Here it
is, and you see how this piece and the
fignres fit it.”
They did exactly, the chain of evidence
was complete.
I need hardly tell bow the trial ended.'
Charles Courtney was called by the
prosecution to prove some unimportant
points. lh“ counsel whom I had retain
ed far the defense askrd him but three
questions on cross examination:
“Had he accompanied the prisoner
from the druggist’s?"
“Had he lost an overcoat that day ?’’
“Was that it?”
The questions were very simple, bnt
the effeet upon the witness was most
remarkable. He trembled and turned
pale. He answered all these questions
in tbe affirmative, bnt in a voice soaroely
audible. Before tbe next witness was
called he slipped from tbe court and
was never beard of afterward.
With tbe testimony of the detective
and the druggist, not forgetting that
of the thief who atole the overcoat, we
made short work of wbat promised to
be a beautiful eaae of circumstantial
evidence.
The latest shads of yellow takes the
name of “four o’clook.”
FOB THE FAIB BEX.
Fashion Notes.
New cloaks are very long.
’Cloth is the correct fabric for pe
lisses.
Tournures are worn, but not uni
versally .
Rifle green is the popular color for
ulsters.
New stockings show all of the high
art colors.
Quilted satin lines more cloaks than
sateen or far.
There is an effort to revive the prin
cess style of dress.
Feather thistles appear among pew
bonnet trimmings.
Chine woolen goods and cheviot mix
tares will be much worn.
There will be no definite changes in
the outlines of the dress this fall.
Heavy repped ribbons take the name
of ottoman, and are' much nsed.
Printed cashmere is a novelty for
house wrappers, but it is not taste
ful.
Chenille fringes in lozenge pend
ants make beautiful trimmings for
wraps.
Long pile plash will in a great meas
ure take the place of furs for cloak
linings.
Richelieu ribbed and plain spun silk
stockings are in favor for ordinary
use.
Metallic threads, gold, silver, and
steel, in tinted effects, crop out in new
braids.
Fur and feather bands will be
nsed for dress as well as cloak trim
mings.
Plain or braided cloth jackets and
Jerseys will be worn with plush and
cheviot skirts.
Alligator skin slippers in various
shades of tan and fawn are novelties for
morning wear.
Ottoman plnshes have heavy repped
grounds on which are designs in thiek
and long-pile plußh.
Printed sateens with larve Son... «n
dark colored and tinted grounds are
nsed for cloak linings.
Mantles
For winter will be made both of figured
uncut velvet and of plain velvet, and
are to be worn V6ry long or very short.
Mantlets of twilled wool in small checks
of a dark color reach only to the waist
in the back, are pointed at the sides
and cross in front as a fichu, their long
straight ends extending to the knee ; a
deep velvet collar trims the pointed
neck and a velvet bow i 9 fastened at the
back. A charming model of corded
silk is drawn in at the waist like a del
man, but forms a rounded cloak at the
back, while the long, square ends in
front desoend to the hem of the dress.
It is plaited np at the sides, to fit
gracefully over the arm; the hem
turns np all aronnd and shows a wide
strip of colored velvet, which is caught
over the arm with a jet passementerie
rosette. Many df the far-lined circu
lars, which are to be worn as much as
last season, are cut with a back seam
and have openings for the arms; on
many short sleeves are inserted, sur
rounded with a wide border of fur
matching that of the collar. The Rus
sian pelisse is a long, close, tight redin
gote, has bnt few seams, and all its
fullness is massed in pleats in the mid
dle seam of the back. It is made of
diagonal wool goods, is lined with
plush or wadded silk, and is bordered
all around with soutache embroidery.
Aliort Military Jacket*
Are the novelty for earlyantnmn. They
are of dark elotb, with eontsebe braid
ing for trimmiog, and will take the
plaoe of tbe plnsh jaoket so popular last
season. They are single-breasted,
short on tbe hips, with cadet collars
and a single breast pocket.
Tke Breton Jacket
A revival of an old style, opens over a
plastron cf velvet tbe same color as the
cloth, and is covered with embroidery.
Tbe edges are ent in sanarss or points
and bordered with soutaohe and small
buttons set very close together. They
are worn with a skirt of figured silk or
wool. Deep royal cardinal Newmarket
casaquins and dark royal bine French
casaqnins will also be worn ; but most
effective and becoming of all will be
the white Watteau tunica with black
velvet basque. Very young ladies will
wear tbe Babet jackets of white serge,
trimmed with bread black velvet ribbon,
with deep collar and cuffs of velvet to
correspond.
A contemporary tells s yarn about a
setter dog which trotted up to a small
boy and dropped from bis mouth into
the boy’s band a new jaoknife which the
dog had just found. This is, however,
no oironmstanoe to the Philadelphia
dog which trotted np to a boy au4
dropped et hia feet a tin oan and a piece
of string.
The Newer Arithmetic.
The length of a certain bean blower
is one-third the length of a boy who is
four feet high when he stands on a
block five inches thick. What is the
length of the blower?
A human body weighing 160 pounds
falls fifty-five feet per second. How
long will it take a baby weighing thir
teen pounds to fall down a pair of stairs
fourteen feet high ?
Six men pnt in their capital to start a
co-operative store. What was left
after the manager got into Canada
was valued at $250, and this repre
sented one-fifth of what each man pnt
in. How much did the manager get
away with ?
The average cost of curing a sore
throat is thirty seven cents, and the
number of sore throats in this country
averages 21,000,000 per year. How
much could America spend for going
to the circus if our throats wore brass
lined ?
There are twenty-four newspaper re
porters in Louisville, and each one kills
an average of 150 cockroaches per day.
How many victims would they number
in 365 days?
A young man about to be married
figures that $8 psr week will su| port
the family in luxury and erect a five
story building out of the savings of
three years. How many days afeer his
marriage before he will tumble to bean
soup?
It costs a political candidate $25 per
bead to retain thirty loafers to slag him
through s convention and $l5O for
incidental expenses. How much is he
out altogether, and in case lie is left
how long will it take him to make
himself good by hoeing corn at $1 per
day?
In a particular field are ninety-seven
watermelons, and it is softly approached
by five colored men in search of a
woodchnck. How many times does
ninety-seven go into fi7e ?
James and Henry go fishing and
agree to divide. James has two nibbles
acd a bite from a dog, and Henry gets
two duckings and looses a twelve
u Lmi u& utn. HUilk 19 tut) auuto ui
each?
One person out of every five in the
United States has one or more corns,
and the cost of effecting a cure is $1.30.
What is the number of corn victims,
and what would be the cost of placing
every person on a sound footing ?
Every man who has arrived at the
age of 40 years has lost at least ten
umbrellas worth $1 each. Estimating
the nnmber of losers at 11,000,000, and
granting that one-third of them have
stolen seven umbrellas worth ten shil
lings eaoh, what do you make the total
loss ?
A Black Regiment-
The famous “Black Regiment” of
Arabi’s forces was the oldest in the
Egyptian army and has seen service on
American soil. It was founded by the
famous Mehemet Ali, the founder of
the present dynasty, and is composed
exclusively of blaek Soudanese and
Barbarins, none of whom are under five
feet eleven inches. It was with these
that Mehemet Ali repeatedly beat the
Turks, and it was with these again that
he defied England. These men are
hated by the Egyptians, who, being
afraid of them, have tried in vain to
disperse them and disband the regi
ment. Mehemet Ali himself, also Said
and Ismail Pashas, repeatedlv tried to
get rid of them, and when Napoleon
111., finding that Frenchmen conld not
live in Mexico, asked the Khedive to
lend him his Black Regiment, the lat
ter wus only too glad to oblige him,
hoping that by sending them across the
Atlantic he would not only gain the
friendship of the great French nation,
but would free Egypt of the terrible
blacks at the same time. The Khedive
was, however, mistaken in this, as tbe
famous Black Regiment maintained its
reputation in Mexico and fought so
glorionsly that they obtained special
terms on leaving the country.
Incredible, But True.
The rapidity with which a Texas
darkey can hide away a watermelon is
wonderful, and the number of water
melons that he is able to absorb on the
shortest notice, baffles the unmoral
system. Not long sinoe, when water
melons were fashionable, an Austin
gentleman bet a friend that a hired
colored boy could eat a forty-pound
watermelon in four minutes. The boy
was called and told the nature of the
bet. He asked permission to retire,
which was granted. On his return, he
announced his readiness to accomplish
the eclipse of the melon in the given
time.
“Why did you go away ?”
*‘l went away, boss, jess to try es I
could make de trip. Fse been practicin'
on two thiny-ponnd melons, and 1 kin
put de forty-pound melon ont’n sight
wid a minute to spare and he did it,
but he was disappointed at not getting
a steady oontraot for all day.
f. C. SMITH, PflbMer.
Dreams of the Past.
Fair dies the snnset, so golden and tender,
Wistfully charming onr spirits away;
So all the gladness and pleasures and sad
ness,
All that ia beantifnl never can stay.
Yet as the sunshine that near us at noonday
Seemed not so lovable, winsome and dear;
So all the joy and the love and the friendship,
When far away, more enchanting appear.
They who have labored well love the night’s
coming,
Gladly they wait a more beautiful morn,
AU of the good we have loved is immortal;
Out of the sunset the sunrise is bora.
When in tho twilight we long to look back
ward,
Then; oh, come back again lovely and clear,
Sweet as a sunrise that brightens forever,
Dreams of the past onco again, oh, appear t
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
At the breaking of the ground for the
Clinton and Point Caswell Railroad,
Raleigh, N. 0., fifty yonng ladies from
six counties threw the first dirt, while a
crowd of five thousand persons looked
on.
Charles S. Laurence, in jail at
Worcester for causing a railroad dis
aster, says that he is subject to fits, and
that while he is under their influence is
impelled to put obstructions on railroad
tracks.
Hansom cabs, of precisely the London
pattern, are to be introduced in Phila
delphia by the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company. Two persons may travel a
mile and a half in any direction from
the station for twenty-fire cents.
The refusal of the Archbishop of
Paris to allow the body of a man killed
in a dnel to be taken into any Roman
Catholic church, or to let a priest oon
dnet the funeral rites anywhere, is re
garded in Paris as an important reli
gions blow at duelling.
There are some sixty sassafras-oil
distilleries in Buckingham county, Va.,
ffl?.. tb IW?SSSua , e r e“acfe' ,^l"day!i;eOJj
pounds of roots and make sixty gallons
of oil, worth from $l5O to $5 per gal
lon—s27o to S3OO per day, and for the
year from $51,000 to $60,000.
Cal. McLeod Turner, who died re
cently at Raleigh, N. C., was pierced by
eleven halls at the battle of Gettysburg,
and ever since has been a complete
wreck, and his lingering so long was
deemed a miracle. He was wounded
through the lnngs, throngh the body,
was shot throngh the spine, besides
lesser wonnds. Both legs were para
lyzed, one arm partially; his shonlder
was dislooated, and many of his bones
were broken and became diseased.
IHJMOROBS.
A sad-hearted poetess asks in the
colnmns of the Philadelphia Bulletin:
“Why do we sing?” Perhaps it’s be
canse yon don’t know what the pnblio
feeling is in your immediate neighbor
hood.
When a man knms to me for advice,
I find ont the kind of advioe he wants,
and I give it to him; this satisfys him
that he and I are two az smart men az
there is living.
An easy time of it.—“l don’t want any
man’s advice,” said the man with the
big bump of self-esttem. “I do my
own thinking.” “Yes.” murmured
Fogg. “I shonld think yon might, and
not be greatly overworked either.”
A Boston paper announces that “three
dark horses aro angling for the R»pub
lican nomination for Governor.” Whioh
suggests that the codfish editor shonld
pay strict attention to the proprieties
when he undertakes to manipulate tnrf
items.
The title of the lesson was, “The
Rich Yonng Man,” and the golden text
was “One thing thon lackest.” A
teacher in the primary class asked a
little tot to repeat the two, and looking
earnestly into the young lady's faoe the
ohild said: “One thing thon lackest—
a rich yonng man.”
Newly Married,
It is said that brides and bridegrooms
seek to .eonoeal tbeir recent metamor
phosis from single to married life by
simulating either tbe demeanor of old
married people or of unmarried people.
Several years ago, it is reported, there
Las a very painful revelation of this
depravity of the newly-married. One
day a large hotel piazza was ooonpied
by whst, at first glanon, wonld have
been thought to be fifty bachelors.
Suddenly their apparent meditations
on the loneliness of single life were
broken by tbe words from a side door,
whioh came playfully from a woman’s
lips, “Hubby, dear!” Thereupon forty
nine of the loungers leaped to their
feet with amazing swiftness, and re
sponded, lovingly, “ What, my darling T