THE CHARLOTTE MESS ENG
VOL. IV. NO. 3.
THE
Charlotte Messenger
IN PUBLISHED
Every Saturday,
AT
CHARLOTTE, N. C.
In the Interests of the Colored People
of the Country.
Able anti well known writers will contrib
ute to its columns from different parts of the
country, and it will contain the latest Gen
eral News of the day.
The Messenger is a first-class newspaper
and will not allow itcroonal abuse in its col
umns. It is not fectarinn or ]«nrtisan, but
wi-lependent—dealing fairly by all. It re
serves the right to fritiois© the shortcomings
of nil public officials— commending the
worthy, and recommending for election such
inun os in its opinion are l»est suited to serve
»Im' interests of the jieople.
It is intended to supply the long felt need
of n newspaper to advocate the rights and
defend the interests of the Negro-American,
especially in the Piedmont section of the
Oirolinas.
SUBSCRIPTIONS;
{Always in ytdttmcw.)
1 year - - * $1 50
y months - -1 00
t‘> months - 75
4 months 50
o months - - >4O
Address,
W.C. SMITH, Charlotte NC,
It is stated that the habit of drinking
al»sinthe is more common to-day in this
country than it ever was before. Os its
evil effects one writer says: The poor
wretches given up to absinthe drinking
suffer from a peculiar train of nervou 8
symptoms, the most prominent of which
is epilepsy of a remarkably severe char
acter. The last moments of the absinthe
drinker arc truly horrible. Absinthe,
lieddes alcohol, contains several ethereal
oils, of whieli the most important is the
oil of wormwood. It lias often been ob
served that the use of this beverage re
sults in disorders widely differing from
tho e caused by alcohol alone, and the
oil of wormwood has produced in ani
mals tetanic convulsions similar to the
epileptic form of convulsions which af
fect absinthe drinkers.
China will shortly have a stamped
coinage forthe first time in her history,
the Messrs. Heaton of Birmingham hav
ing concluded a contract after protracted
negotiations, for furnishing coin pressei
and nil the apparatus of a mint, which
will set up in Chinn within a year. Hith
erto the coins in circulation have been
*ma!l brass tokens, roughly cast in sand
about the size of a half-penny and per
forated with a square hole by which they
* rest rung together. They are of infin
tesimat value, being equal to one thou
sandth of a dollar or five shillings Eng
lish. The currency of higher value is of
«ilverin the form of balls and bars, the
value of which is calculated by weight.
There is a!so some paper currency, and
Mexican dollar; hive circulated freely.
The new machines will turn out the dol
lar and three lesser coins in silver, equal
to 1-10 »•> part of a dollar. The presses
will turn nit 2. #OO,OOO per day of the
tnlucof $12**,250. The brass coins will
retain the square hole, which has pre
vailed from time immemorial, this being
a point which Chinese conservative*
could not forego.
An international exhibition is to be
opened in Melbourne on August 1, 188#,
toiekbrate the centenary of the founding
of New South Wales, the first Australian
colony. Aside from the growth of
America, there it nothing more remark
able than the growth of Australia in all
that relates to the population, production
and the general distribution of wealth.
From a penal colony—inhabited at first
by those true patriots who left their
country for their country's^ood—it has
developed into a great nation, in which
the arts, commerce and education are in
hopeful process of development. borne
slight idea of its marvelous growth may
be gained when it is known that during
the year 1885 Australia, with a popu
lation of 3,500,000, imported from Great
firitain alone goods to the amount of
♦105,000,000; that the aggregate
e ngth of railroads opened for
tariff amounts to 7,700 miles, and
that when the lines of rail now in
:oumc of construction shall have been
'omplctcd th'*y will reach a total
length of 10,000 miles. Communication
oetween this country and Australia is
klso rapidly growing, and a number of
American industrial and manufacturing
estahlinhments have now thriving agencies
in it* chief cities; so that the proposed
exhibition will doubtless be taken ad
vantage of by many of our manufac
turers ax offering an opportunity for
making the peopte of the antipodes
better acquainted with our natural re
sources and with the products of our in
ventive skill and general progress.
THE SUMMER DAYS.
The summer days are long and sweet
Ob, sweet and long!
We sit and list at Nature's feet
Unto her song.
We dream and dream through days so rare,
Oh, life is sweet!
With birds and flowers and tender air,
And sunshine deep
Fair youth and tove go hand in hand,
In life's bright spring;
tx>ve uses well his magic wand
Sweet spoils to bring.
Young hearts, be happy while ye may,
For youth is fleet;
The path lies not again this way
For thy swift feet.
Then dream and sing thy happy song
Through suramertide;
Mirth, innocence and joy belong
And with thee bide.
—Sarah P. McLean , in the Current.
A SONG OF THE SUNSET LAND.
In the far-off hills of tho sunset land;
In tho land where the long gross bends and
quivers,
Where the ghosts of night and morning stand
By the gleams and dreams of the lonely
rivers,
Where the brown sedge waving, stoops and
shivers
At the water's edge in the sunset land.
Through the trackless paths of the sunset
land;
Wh?re the silence broods in a dream un
broken,
And the days slip by like grains of sand,
Where the song unsung and the word un
spoken,
Seem like a part of a namless token
Os the wild gray wastes of the sunset land.
On the snow-clad peaks of the sunset land;
As they ris? in the clouds so near to heaven
In shadowy vastness, stern and grand,
Where gaunt old pines by the lightning
riven,
Moan in the wind, through their branches
driven.
On the crags and cliffs of the sunset land.
’Mid the rolling plains of the sunset land,
Where the echoes drift on the tufted
heather
In the wake of breezes swe?t and bland;
Where the shadows go in a troop together
Across the haze of the fair June weather
In the grassy dells of the sunset land.
By the wand’ring streams of the sunset land,
Where the ripples rise ‘mid the tall reeds
bending
And float away to an unknown strand;
And th l * shade and the sunlight slow de
scending
Fall where the voice of the waters blend
ing
Bings of the sunset land.
—Ernest McGaffey. in Inter-Ocean.
ALL BUT HANGED.
The story of a man who is reprieved
while standing on the scaffold with the
noose about his neck, must always thrill.
The fact of any one standing in the pres
ence of death fora moment has a strange
fascination about it, and his fellow men
are anxious to know whnt his thoughts
and feelings were ns he expected to be
ushered into eternity. It has been my ill
luck to look squarely into the eyes of
grim death on several occasions, and my
good luck to preserve my life against the
fate which seemed to hunger for it; and
some of the incidents may prove interest
ing to the general reader.
During the siege of Torktown by Mc-
Clellan I was detailed from my company
to do scout work. While my reports no
doubt went to the commander himself,
I reported directly to a division com
mander, whom I never met without
being forced to notice the fact that he
was the worse for liquor. Later on in the
war there was a chief of scouts, but at
this time there were half a dozen of us
taking orders direct from this General
and reporting lwck to him in person. On
my third trip I was very nearly captured
by the Confederates, and in the squeezo
I got rid of all my papers, including the
pass which 'gave me entrance and exit
to the Federal lines. Therefore, when I
finally reached the Federal picket post I
had nothing by which to identify myself.
The officer in command of the reserve
picket post was a smart Aleck, who
thought to add to his importance by re
fusing to believe my story and sending
me to the headquarters of the brigade.
There I was regarded os a veritable
Confederate spy, and the General in com
mand was extremely pompous in his de
meanor toward me. I can remember
the conversation as vividly as if it took
plve y»«leolay, By the time I reached
hia tent my arms had been tied behind
me, and I was looked upon as a very
dangerous fellow.
“Bo you arc the spy captured down
there at the picket I” shouted the General
as I stood before him.
“I am no spy, sir,” I replied.
“Oh, no, of course not; but don’t you
talk back to me, you infernal tratror!
Who sent you spying into our camp!"
“I am a Union soldier, sir, and be
long to "
“Shut up, you scoundrel I Don’t
CHARLOTTE, N. C., SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1887
think that you cau stnnd there and lie to
me. What rebel command do you be
long to?”
“None, sir. lam a Union scout, and
Was detailed ”
“Stop!” he shouted, while his face
gtew crimson. “While the truth may
not help you, I hntc to see you stand ill
Iho presence of death with a lie upon
your lips. Guard, remove him.”
I was taken away and confined in a
gnard house, but not for long. In about
an hour I was taken to another tent itt
the same encampment, and I entered
ft to find four or five general officers pres
eht. It was to he a drum-head court
martial. As I afterward learned, a re
port of my capture had been sent to
headquarters, and McClellan had replied:
“ Try him by drum-head court martial,
and if found guilty hang him at sunrise. ”
A drum-hrad court martial is a dignified
farce. It is convened to convict. The
idea ia that the victim is guilty, but must
be disposed of according to the regula
tions of the War Department. The fact
that I openly and boldly approached the
Union picket, and that I was coming
from the Confederate lines, carried no
weight in my favor. The officer of the
picket said I was certainly a spy, and that
settled it. When they finally conde
scended to heat my explanation, I gave
my name, and stated that the General
to whom I made my reports would
identify me. I stood in neither awe nor
fear, knowing how easily I could be
identified. Some of the members of the
court were opposed to giving me this
chance for my life, but it was finally de
cided to despatch an orderly and adjourn
the court for an hour. I was con
ducted back to the guard house to wait,
and when again taken before the officers
I expected to be discharged without de
lay. You can therefore imagine my
feelings when I was informed that Gen.
——utterly repudiated me. My regiment
ami! company were a dozen miles away,
and I felt that it would be useless to ask
further delay. In ten miuntes I was
found guilty, and sentenced to execution
at sunrise, and before midnight a scaffold
had been prepared.
Why had Gen. denied my identity?
The only excuse I could offer for him was
thnt he was drunk when the Messenger
reached him, and such proved to be the
case. Roused from his stupid sleep, he
had winked and blinked at the com
munication and made out a portion of it,
and then flung it down with the assertion
that he knew no one of my name. The
gallows was erected within a few rods of
where I was confined. Some beams and
boards were taken from an abandoned
house, and the structure was a very rude
affair. I could plainly hear every blow
struck, and the fellows engaged in put
ting it up seemed to want me to overhear
their unfeeling remarks. About an hour
before daylight a curious change took
place in me. I began to wonder if I was
really the man I claimed to be, and it
wasn’t fifteen minutes before I had come
to the conclusion that I was some one
else—in fact, a confederate spy, as they
declared. This idea took such firm
lodgment in my mind that I would have
honestly denied my real identity. I felt
that I had been fairly tried and honestly
convicted, and that I ought to suffer
’death. There was no particular terror in
the idea. The only thought about hang,
ing which made me cringe was the fall
through the trap. It seemed to me as I
reflected on it that the pain would be
something awful, but I was consoled at
the same time witli the reflection that it
would soon be over.
Half an hour beiore sunrise 1 was
brought out and escorted to the foot of
the gallows. If I remember right there
was about half a company of infantry on
the ground. Only a few of the soldiers
in camp were out to witness the pro
ceedings. They had graciously provided
me with spiritual consolation in the pres
ence of a chaplain, but, though the good
man talked to me for ten minutes, I did
not hear one word in twenty he uttered.
I was all the time wondering how long
before it would be over, and every
minute of delay made me impatient.
When the time came for me to mount the
scaffold I was really glad of it. There
was nothing in the sight of the dangling
rope to chill me. I took my place on the
trap, the chaplain uttered a prayer, and
then a soldier quickly tied my elbows
and ankles and pulled a cap over my
head. It was a matter of seconds now,
and I said to myself:
“It is coming now—good-by to all—it
will soon be over.”
They had to cut a ropo underneath to
spring the trap. My sense of hearing was
so acute that I located the man who
stood with an axe ready to do his service
at a given signal, and I heard him
whisper to himself:
“Why, in God’s name, do they keep
the nun so long in suspense?”
“Then I began to count one—two—
three, and so on, and had got up to nine,
when I heard a shouting not far away,
and mingled with it the sound of horses
coming at a gallop.
“Don’t cut that rope!” commanded
the officer in charge, and I said to my
self :
“Something has gone wrong, and there
will be a further delay. Perhaps lam to
be shot. That would he an easier way
to die.”
There was some loud talk around me,
two or three people came up the ladder
to the platform, and directly a hand
pulled the cap off my head and a voice
said:
“Captain, there is some terrible mistake
here. This is Roberts, one of my scouts.”
“But you did not know him last
bight?”
“I know him now, and you will release
him at once.”
It was Gen. . As he awoke from
his drunken sleep at an early hour a dim
remembrance of the message crept into
his mind, and he rolled out of bed and
found the inquiry sent by the court
martial. He could not remember what
word he had sent in reply, but he jumped
into his clothes and then into the saddle,
and he came just in time to prevent t
military murder. What was the effect
of this close call? Well, I went to the
hospital for two weeks with a fever, and
it was a full month before I was posi
tively certain of my identity. —New York
Sun. ;
Samantha’s Medical Adviser.
The following is an extract from the
amusing book, “Samantha at Saratoga,”
by Josiah Allen’s wife: The idee would
keep a say in’ to me: “Saratoga is one of
the most beautiful places in our native
land. The waters will help you, the in
spirin’ music, and elegance and gay en
joyment you will find there, will sort a
uplift you. You had better go there on
a tower;” and agin it sez: “Mebby it will
help Josiah’s corns.”
And old Dr. Gale a happenin’ in at
about that time, I asked him about it.
(he doctored me when I wuz a baby, and
I have helped ’em for years. Good old
creetur, he don’t get along as well as he
ort to. I/jontown is a healthy place).
I told him about my strong desire to go
to Saratoga, and I asked him plain if he
thought the water would help my
pardner’s corns. And he looked dretful
wise and he riz up and walked across the
floor 2 and fro several times, probably
3 times to, and the same number «f
times fro, with his arms crossed back
under the skirt of his coat and his eye
brows knit in deep thought, before he
answered me. Finely he said that mod
ern science had not fully demonstrated
yet the direct bearing of water on corn.
In some eases it might and probably did
stimulate ’em to greater luxuriance, and
then again a great flow of water might
retard their growth.
• Sez I, anxiously: “Then you’d advise
me to go there with him?” .
“Yes,” sez he: “on the hull, I advise
you to go.”
Them words I reported to Josiah, and
sez lin anxious axents: “Dr. Gale ad
vises us to go.”
And Josiah sez: “1 guess I sha’n’t mind
what that old fool sez. ”
A Sun-Dial’s Motto.
Some years since in the “Temple” was
a vertical sun-dial with the motto: “Be
gone about you business.” It is stated
that this very appropriate motto was the
result of the following blunder: When
the dial was erected the benchers were
applied to for a motto. They desired
the builder’s man to call at the library at
a certain hour on a certain day, when he
should receive instructions. But they
forgot the whole matter. The appointed
day and hour the builder’s man called at
the library and found only a lawyer in
close study over a law book. The man
stated the cause of his intrusion, which
suited so badly the lawyer’s time and
leisure that he bid the man, sharply “Be
gone about your business.” The lawyer’s
testy reply was duly painted in big let
ters upon the dial, and was considered so
apposit that it was allowed not only to
remain, but was considered to beasap
proprintc a motto as could be chosen.—
Chicago Tribune.
III Photo#.
A “wrinkle" just now is to have yout
photograph taken on a dark background.
Where the features are suited to the
strong contrast a highly classical looking
picture is the result. In most cases, how
over, this contrast is too trying. For the
average plain man or woman there are
intermediate shades, which are quite ef
fective, but it is very difficult to get th<
right one in each instance without ex
perimenting at considerable expense.
These shades are in general a bright cof
fee color,-and the particular tone which
is most desirable is within the modifica
tions of this color.— Brooklyn Citiun,
THE HOME DOCTOR.
Best Time to Bathe.
It is best to bathe just before going to
bed, says the I.ondon I/met), as any dan
ger of catching cold is thus avoided, and
the complexion is improved by keeping
warm for several hours after leaving the
bath. A couple of pounds of bran put
into a thin bag and then in the-bath tub
is excellent for softening the skin. It
should be left to soak in a small quantity
of water several hours before being used.
r
Salt n Cure Tor Falling Hair.
“I am very glad of the opportunity
given me by the query to thank “Notes
and Queries’ for the recommendation of
dry salt as a cure for falling hair. My
hair had come out frightfully for
months, so that I dreaded touching it
with a brush. Thinking thnt salt could
do no harm, anyway, and remembering
the benefit always derived from sea air
and bathing, I tried it, and was surprised
at the result, for after three applications
—putting it on at night and brushing
and shakine it out in the morning—not
one hair came out with the most vigor
ous brushing. I have used it three or four
times a week since the middle of Novem
ber, and notice a perceptible thickening
of my hair and no disagreeable results
whatever. The treatment might not be
so beneficial to every one, of course, but
I have written this fully, feeling that I
could hardly say too much in praise of
what has been so suscessful with my
self.” —Boston Transcript.
Demons In the Sick Boom.
The lemon is a fruit much used in the
sick room, and, many times, unwisely.
Lemonade being a very refreshing and
agreeable drink, is easily taken in excess
by persons suffering from fevers, a fact
which should not be forgotten. In ty
phoid fever, for instance, its immoderate
use would be attended with danger, in
ducing, as it might, additional derange
ment in an already inflamed intestinal
mucous membrane. In all inflammatory
diseases of the stomach and bow
els lemonade should only be given
after the attending physician has
sanctioned its use. During the past few
years lemon juice has become quite pop
ular in the management of diphtheriafrom
the supposed action on the membranous
deposit in the throat. There have also
been attributed to the juice marked vir
tues in the functional derangement of the
liver, commonly called “bilious dis
orders.” Some persons so affected have
found benefft from its persistent use.
The symptoms of others, however, have
been aggravated by it. —Boston Herald.
To Allay Vomiting.
At this season of the year diseases of
which persistent vomiting is one of the
important symptoms are exceedingly
common. In summer complaint especial
ly, the stomach is often so excessively
irritable that everything taken excites
immediate vomiting. In such cases
prompt measures of relief are required.
The vomiting is then almost always at
tended with great thirst, and, as a rule,
water or other drinks are freely given by
those who have the patients in charge.
Where much is taken into the stomach,
even if it be simply water, the vomiting
is sure to persist. Therefore, the most
important thing to do is to give that
organ opportunity to rest, for a time at
least. Nourishment should be entirely
dispensed with, if necessary, even for
twenty-four hours. Experience has
shown that such a privation is borne
well by infants even less than a year old,
and it is certainly better than to con
tinue to give them food that is thrown
up again as often as it is taken. To re
duce the irritability of the stomach, and
to allay the thirst as well, ice pellets ar
advised. If ice water is allowed at all, it
must be restricted to teaspoonful doses.
When it is proper to give nourishment,
milk and limewater in equal parts is the
first to be given Thnt, also, should be
limited to teaspoonful doses; One tea
spooful may be given every fifteen or
twenty minute#. If it is retained, the
interval between the doses may be
gradually shortened until such iflnall
quantities can be safely allowed every
two or three minutes. Then the doae
may be increased to a dessertspoonful at
long intervals, and, after a time, to a
tablespoonful, then to a wineglassful, and
so on. By this method nearly all cases
of vomiting due to irritability of the
stomach of recent origin can be allayed
in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
Under all circumstance*, even light food
is forbidden in such cases for at least
three days after the vomiting has oeased,
and even then it should be selected with
exceeding care, and given in gradually
increasing quantiles.— Boston Herald.
A San Francisco exchange tell* that in
California there are at least 4,000 vinc
groWcrs, and the area planted in vine* if
not less than 100,000 acres.
Terms. $1.50 per Mm Single Copy 5 cents.
rvn.
“What can I use to clean carpets f
Use your husband.— Danrille Breete.
It was the lady who thought she was
going to swoon who had a faint suspicion.
Orange mobs arc dangerous and so are
wango seeds. And so are orange blos
10ms, too, Sometimes.— Life.
There is no change in the style of fish
ing tackle this year, except that the jug
das more body and not quite so much
neck.— Rochester Express.
Coins with the magic date 1837 are in
high demand in London. By the way,
any coins with any date are equally popu
lar over here.— Boston Herald.
Little Willie, when he first saw his baby
cousin, gazed on the tiny thing for a mo
ment in awed silence and theq whispered:
“Mamma, is he a her?”—Wide Awake.
Young Student Physician (to chaiity
patient)—“l—l think you must have a—a
—some kind of a—a fever; but—our
class has only gone as far as convulsions.
I’ll come in again in a week."—Harper's
Bazar.
“Old Mother Peter she went to the
metre to see how much gas she had
burned; she danced a cotillion when she
read seven million, and her mind was
forever o’er-turned.”— Cincinnati Tele-
Tram.
There is an old retainer of a family hr
the Western Addition who is always com
plaining. “Well, Tim, how are you to
day?” asked the lady of the house.
* Bure, ma’atn, an’ I’m not well at all, at
all.” “What’s the matter!” “ Sorry ax
me knows, ma’am, but I was thinkin’,
ma’am, if you had any old medicines
about the house as you didn’t want, I’d
be mighty oblceged to yez for thim.
—San Francisco Chronicle.
Wonderful, if True.
Giles Busby, a Toledo fishmonger, was
cleaning a whiteflsh last Monday, and in
the larger intestines he found a diamond
riog. The ring had engraved upon
its inner surface “J. A. 8., Chicago,
’69." Busby forwarded the ring to the
Chief of Police in this City. Yesterday
Mrs. Julia A Lennox of 12 Lennox place,
identified and recovered tho ring. She
tells an interesting story of itslosa. In 1869
she, as Miss Bennett, became engaged to
Mr. Lennox, and he gave her this dia
mond ring for which he paid $450. Upon
their bridal trip in 1871 Mrs. Lennox lost
this ring; while she was washing her
hands in the toilet-room of the Pull
man car the ring slipped from her fin
ger and dropped through the waste-pipe.
As the train happened to be crossing the
bridge over the St. Lawrence River, near
Montreal, just at tho time, the bereaved
bride had no hope of recovering the ring,
There are no whiteflsh in the Bt. Law
rence; the theory is that a small fish
seized upon the ring, and at some future
time this small fish, while cruising about
the lakes, fell a prey to the whiteflsh in
which the long-lost ring was discovered.
Giles Busby, the Toledo fishmonger, re
ceived from Mr. Lonnox a check for SIOO
for his honesty.— Chicago News.
A Ghost Guards the Cave.
In the Squaw Peak Range, Arizona, ii
a cave which no prospector has the nervt
to attempt to explore on account of ii
being guarded by a ghost. In the en
trance sits a thing that looks like thi
corpse of an Indian woman. In 1868 <
party of whites found the cave filled wit!
Tonto Indiana, whom they attacked anc
murdered. Since then no one has hoc
the courage to try to enter the cave be
cause of the thing that sits in its door
Last week George Matthews and hit
partner, named McClond, being in thi
range, concluded to have a look at thi
Squaw Cave, not having any faith ii
the stories told of it. The cave is situatec
under the highest butte of the Squav
Peak Range. They found it and jus
took one look at the thing sitting in it:
mouth. The Herald says: “Matthew:
declares there is not enough money ii
. Maricopa County to pay him So go then
again, and his partner, McCloud, has no»
stopped running since—at least he has nn<
been seen since that time.— Virginic
(Nev.) Enterprise.
Charms Against Rhsnmatlsm.
Men carry queer rheumatism fetiches in
their pockets. Washington Hesing has
been lugging s potato around in the dark
recesses of hi* pantaloons for the past ftvs
years or more. The “spud” weighed
half a pound when Washington put it
into his pocket, but it is shriveled up
now, and looks like an ancient quid ol
tobacco. It has been with its owner in
thirteen countries, snd has lived in th#
same hole with the coin of as many na
tions. Mr. Hesing would not part with
the potato for a dozen bushels of Jun#
wheat. — Chicago Herald.
ER