THE VOL. IV. NO. 31. THE Charlotte Messenger IS PUBLISHED Every Saturday, AT CHARLOTTE, N. C. In the Interests of the Colored People of the Country. Able nn>l well-known writers will eontrib nte to its columns from different parts of the country, nnd it will contain thejlatest Gen eral News of the day. Ths Messenger Is a first class newspaper and will not allow personal abuse in its col umns. Ttw not sectarian or partisan, but independent—dealing fairly by nil. It re serves the right to criticise the shortcomings of all public officials—commending the worthy, and recommending for election such meu as in its opinion ore best suited to serve the interests of the people. It is intended hi supply the long felt need of a newspaper to advocate the rights and defend the inter-sts of the Negro American, especially in the Piedmont section of the Carolines. SUBSCRIPTIONS: {Always in Advance.) 1 year - - - fl 50 8 months - - - 100 6 months - - 75 3 mom hs - 50 2 months - 36 Single Copy - 5 Address, W.C. SMITH Charlotte NC, Grew a Beard After Death. About thirteen years ago Hal Clayton, one of the best known gamblers on the coast, died here of a fever. He was rich, and his remains were placed in a costly metallic casket with a glass case and consigned to a handsome tom I*. His wife, who was frantic with grief, placed her diamonds on his shirt-front. The stones were valued at SBOO. Fearful lest the gems would be taken from the Tault Bhc placed a watch at the tomb, and it was maintained for many weeks. Clay ton was a Southerner, and the body was disposed of above ground. A few days ago George Dobbs, who has the care of the cemetery, was pos sessed with a curiosity to visit llal Clay ton’s tomb, and securing the keys of the vault took a look at the remains, lie was astonished to find that Clayton's beard and mustache had grown under the glass case to such an client that they readied below his knees. The beard was a rich brown color, extending in wavy masses over the body and having a Perfectly healthy appearance, as it might have had on a living inan. The heard had been growing in this way f< r thirteen years. Clayton had a romantic life. He was engaged to a handsome young girl in the Eolith ami left her to seek his fortune. Bhe became tired of his absence, and, setting out to find him, drifted homeless and friendless from one mining camp to another. After years of this life she met her foimer lover, but was so changed by her wandering life that he refused to marry her. After his repudiation of his old sweetheart he became sick, and when lying at death's door she came to his bedside and nursed him hark to health. Filled with gratitude at her de votion, he renewed the affection of his youth and married her. H4ic proved a devoted wife, and when he died she built at large expense the vault where his re mains now lie, and in which his beard has been growing all these years. Whether the diamonds are on lrs shirt front is not known, as the beard hides the body from the knees up. Carson (Noe.) Appeal. Chinese Table Etiqnetta. As soon as the guests are seated on the mats, two, ami sometimes three, small, low tables are brought to each. On the one immediately m fiont of him the guest finds seven little covered bowls. On the second tat.le will lie five other bowls. The third, a very small table, should bold three bowl**. Take up the chopsticks with the right hand, re move the cover of the rice howl with the same band, transfer it to the left, and place it to the left of the table. Then remove the cover of the bean soup and place it on the rice rover. Next take up the rice bowl with the right hand, pir-s it to the left, and cat two mouthful* with the chop stick**, and then clrink once from the soup * owl. Anri so on. with the other dishes— never omitting to cat some rice between ear h mouthful of meat, fish and vege tables, unless you forg"t which i? your mouth and which is your right hand, or have become so giddy that you ran not tell your left hand fr m a chop-stick or your rice lw*wl from your third table.— Chisago Tribute. _ Da Hraz,n, the African explorer, says the upper Congo region teems with ivo»y. He found large rpiantities of tusks In some of the village-, and they were oftes offered to him for small quantities of liaads. While he was floating down the river he «aw in eight dsys \QZ elephants lon* the bank. CHARLOTTE MESSENGER. TELEGRAPHIC TICKS THE SOUTHERN STATES. News Collected by Wire and Mall From All Fori* of Dixie. NORTH CAROLINA. Four hundred anrl one farmers’ allian ces have been organized in North Caro lina. An incendiary burned the residence of Mrs. Saunders, in Beaufort county. A reward is offered and efforts to capture him arc being made. Rev. R. G. Pearson, the famous revi valist, will hold meetings in Ncwberne for the next fortnight. He goes to Wil mington March 18th, to remain a month. Calvin Stockton, colored, has been ar rested at Winston charged with having caused the death of George Harris by striking him upon the head with a stick. Adeline Allen, a negro woman tried at Winston, N. C., for murdering her in fant by drowning it in a mill-|>ond, has taen convicted of murder, with recom mendation for mercy. Mike Cook and William Lending, the negroes charged with burning the town J of Oxford, will lie tried at the next term of Durham Superior Court, the case hav ing been moved there from Granville county. Joseph Dortch and Seabwy Sasser, ne groes, have been arrested at Goldsboro for robbing John G. Coxe, a prominent farmer, on the ridgeway near that place. They “held up'’ Coxe and got all his money. Within the next two years the North Carolina State hoard of education con templates doing a good deal iu the way of drainage and opening of the vast bodies of lands it holds, aggregating very nearly 800,000 acres. The North Carolina Colored Teachers' association meets in Raleigh June 12th, at Shaw university. The programme is very complete. The meeting continues six days. Rev. Joseph C. Price is presi dent of the association. Miss Josephine Williams was burned to death at her mother's residence near Raleigh. She caught fire in the house and rushed out. Whcu the family caught her, all her clothing, save her shoes, had been burned off. A gold mine in Lincoln county has just been sold to English capitalists, and other party of Englishmen, who not long ago bought the noted Christian min** in Montgomery, arc preparing to s|M*nd three hundred thousand dollars in its de velopment. Last week three men were arrested in Iredell county on the charge of having assassinated Abraham Barker in his moth er's house. Another man, named Wil liam Hepler, has been arrested charged with complicity in the same offetisc, and is in jail at Statesville. A colored man, while engaged in cut ting down trees near Charlotte was caught under a falling tree, and instant ly killcl. A similar accident occurred al out the same time, another colored | man being caught under a falling I tree and probably fatally wounded. At Salisbury, N. C., Johnson A Ram j say’s tobacco factory was burned, with 1 all its machinery and stock of tobacco. ! The latter was insured. There was no insurante on the buildings, the tobacco being property of J. L. Herrick. At one time the town was in danger of de struction. At Elizabeth City, N. C., unknown )M*rsons entered the dental office of J. H. White and robl»cd him of all his dental instruments ami appaiatus, ami tried to set fire to the building by turning over the stove, after putting kerosene and )ia|tcr on the floor. But strange to say it was only |*artially burned. Governor Scales has commuted the death sentence of Adeline Allen, a color ed woman, to imprisonment for life in the |w*nitentiary. She murdered her in fant child last autumn by throwing it into a mill |wnd near Winston. The ap plication for commutation of sentence was signed by the judge, solicitor and jury. Revenue officers, finding some irregu larities going on at the bonded distillery of J. B. England & Co., near Morganton, seized the distillery with all the fixtures and 175 gallons of whiskey. Storekeeper I). F Denton and all the distillery firm were held in a bond of three bundled dollars each for appearance Indore the commissioner. The roaring noise in the wells in the vicinity of Glen wood. Johnston county N. C.. continues. The same phenome non is now reported in Duplin county. At nearly regular intervals, one well there RUiA. The anti-prohibitionists of Baldwin county have withdrawn their petition for an election. Mis. Todd, a sister-in-law of Mrs. Ab raham Lincoln, i 3 stopping at the Central hotel in Valdosta. Mr. Robert Moody of Glynn county, was killed by the lever of a timber cart. The lever came down on him while sit ing on the tongue, and split Ins head rqien, killng him instantly. The Albany Ga. street railroad is an as Mired fact. About $15,000 of the $25,000 required has been subscribed. The first tramway will extend from the union de- I h>t up Washington and Broad streets to the mineral artesian well. At the sawmill of W. C. Gentry, Mr- SolTord had his arm cut off at the elbow. : ||* was handling lumber and fell against , the saw while il was in motion . I Th< negro Tom Marsh, who forged sev eral money orders on some of the leading ; merchants of Chipley, has been raptured and handled by proper authorities. Tliir | ty dollars reward will lie paid as soon as decided by a conviction in the siqicrior ■ court. [ Tin* ncgr.i, Tom Marsh, the boss forger, ■ w hile taing carried to the county jail by | Constable Hardy, at Chipley, leap*-*I from the train while in full s|>ree. The last heard of him he was tagging some lof his negro friends to loose his hands. They refused to do so. An additional | reward of $25 has been issued by Mayor Tucker. Wes Brinkley has tarn arrestod in Rus -1 sell county charged of placing obstruct ions on the Mobile and Girard railroad track. Sheriff Bellamy, who is one of the most vigilant officers, says he heard of the at tempted wreck by accident and did not obtain the facts from the railroad author ities, although an employe of the road was approached upon the subject. There are six negro prisoners confined in the Russel county jail, charged with attempt ing to wreck trains oil this road. In Mitchell andDoughcrty coun ies,the acreage in melons has increased from two to three hundred per cent, If this increase is general throughout the melon growing sections, the growers may expect a glut in the markets, and in that event the melon crop will prove as unsatisfactory as the cotton crop. Bethune Jones, of Mclledgeville, was bitten by a mad dog last September, and has suffered none scarcely until a few days ago when he ta*gan to complain, and soon afterwards was thrown into vio lent spasms and fits. It is now ascertained that he has hvdrophohia and is not ex pected to live. SOUTHERN ITEMS. Fire at Ocala, Fla., burned about a dozen business houses and residences, and caused a loss of about $60,000; in surance is about $30,000. The cause of the fire is unknown. F. D. Pourport, confidential clerk of Adolph Schrieber, treasurer of the New Orleans Cotton Exchange, is a defaulter for $23,000. Two brothers named Smith were killed in an attempt to arrest an Irdian at Bcn tonville, Ark. NORTH, EAST AND WEST D. R. Locke, better known as Petro lenm V. Nash)', editor of the Toledo Blade, is dead. The United States Senate has con firmed the nomination of Alex McCue to be Assistant Treasurer at New York. Near New Orleans seven out of eight colored persons crossing the Mississippi in a skiff were drowned. Thirteen prisoners escaped from the jail at Newark, Ohio, by digging through the floor. Two had been sentenced to the penitentiary. A family consisting of father, mother and daughter, at Camden, N. J.. are dead of tiichinocis. The poisoned pork was eaten two weeks ago. The City of Pekin, arrived at San Francisco from China and Japan, is the fifth steamer of that line in succession with smallpox on board. In Chicago Ralph Lee was convicted of the attempted assassination of his step-father, the hanker Rawson, and sen tenced to eighteen months iu the county jail. Ninety per cent of the insurance com panies in New York have signed a docu ment looking to the re-establishment of the old Insurance tariff in that city, which means an increase of rates. Startling statistics are published in re gard to the Western and Northwestern railroad rate war. Over the whole terri tory involved the eompanies affected have lost in two weeks in the neighbor hood of $2,000,000. Th** jury in the case of August Hctzke, at Chicago, 111., charged with beating to death with a strap his little step son, Max Gilman, returned a verdict this morning finding the prisoner guilty, and fixing the penalty at death. Eight firemen were caught under the falling wall of a burning building, at New Brunswick, N. J., and were seri ously injured, and another of the same company was run over by an engine. Two of the firemen will die. The fire was of small imi»ortancc. At St. Alban's, Vermont, fire broke m t about midnight in the St. Alban's hospital. Th** hospital was completely gutted, and two out of eight patients wvrv Miffocated. There was no male help present, and no special provisions had been made against fire. (’aiihc or Cotton Fires. A New York letter says: The national board of lire and marine underwriters have investigated the recent cotton tires, and have decided that the fault must be laid to the planters. The underwriters contend that the sewing of hales is so faully that large spaces are left which expose th** cotton to danger from fires. The underwriters invited a committee from the Cotton Exchange to meet them yesterday evening. They notified the cotton men of the results of their inves tigation, and stated that they would shortly issue rules and regulations which must be adhered to in baling cotton if planters and shippers wanted insurance. Th«* cotton men agreed fully with the underwriters, and at the next meeting of the Exchange they will recommend that cotton not baled according to th** forth coming rules shall not be dealt in upon the exchange. He Cut u Swell. The assistant postmaster at El Paso Del Norte, Texas, has tacn arrested for j mail robbery. He abstracted, at various times, valuable articles from letters pass ing through the office, among them some diamonds intended for President Profino Diaz, in the city of Mexico. Nineteen diamonds, valued at SIO,OOO, have been recovered by th** officers making the ar rest, and a eluc has been found to others that were pawned or given away. The i name of the culprit is Flo wry, and lie has moved in the swell circles of society until now. It was known to the |mst office authorities for so sic months past that there was something wrong iu the El Paso office, hut no tangible proof could ta* obtained until the day of hu arrest. WASHINGTON GOSSIP FROM UNCLE SAMS’ CAP ITOL. What oar Bnny Law Maker* are Dolnu. CongreMMloiinl and Ollier New*. A bill appropriating $50,000 for a pub lic building at Roanoke, Va., was passed A petition was presented to the Senate by Mr. Blair. It contained 15,000 names and had been circulated by the W. C. T. U., and the Knights of Labor. It is in favor of legislation for the better protec tion of women and girls. Mr. Blair said that the traffic in young girls in the great cities had become so notorious and in famous ns to secure signers from all parts of the country to this petion. The bill to exempt American coast wise sailing vessels, piloted by their licensed masters or by United Slates pilots, from the obligation to pay State pilots for services which are not actually rendered, was defeated by the House Committee on Merchant Marine. The committee has given considerable atten tion to the matter, and heard many per sons who were interested, and the di vision was so close that an aye and no vote was necessary to determine the com mittee’s feeling. Persistent efforts have been made for twenty-three years past to secure the passage of such a bill, and last year they had so far succeeded as to se cure the favorable report of the measure from the committee. Mr. Hatch will pre sent the report to the House. The End of the Strike. The miners of Shenandoah, Pa., met in Bobbin’s Opera-House to act on the order for resumption of work. The room could not accommodate them, although almost two thousand persons gained ad mission. Two votes were taken, the first being almost unanimously against going to work. After addresses by James Brennan, of the joint committee, James Masked and others, who stated that the strike was lost as fought so far, that many families were starving, witn no hope of speedy | relief, and that the offer made was fair and reasonable, a second vote was taken and resumption was agreed to. It is un derstood that the Lehigh Valley Compa ny has agreed to the same terms as the Reading Company, and that work will also be resumed at their collieries there this week MINERS FOLLW SUIT. At a meeting of the Knights of Labor held at Ashland, Pa , it was decided to obey the instructions to return to work. The Earth ('racked. A remarkable phenomenon manifested itself near Akron, Ohio, the other morning. People in th** vicinity of the seat of trouble were thrown out of tad, and windows and ceilings crumbled, while the earth rooked, the convulsions ; being preceded by terrific reports of an explosion. A great fissure in the earth is the only sign of the strange occurrence. People fled from their houses and the greatest excitement prevailed, Hereditary Tricks. A ease is on record of a man who pos sess*;*! the habit of sleeping on his back with the right leg crossed over the left, llis (laughter, w h Ic still an infant in the cradle, exhibited the same peculiarity. The poss.bility of imitation, conscious or unconscious, is here obviously excluded. A case has been icportcd to the w riter of a man who had the habit of alternately flexing and extend ng his great toe while lying in bed. llis gr.in Ison developed Ine same habit, though quite ignorant, of his grandfather’s peculiarity. Riliot records a curious instance of a domestic servant who exhibited an incapable vice of loquacity. Slu* talked incessantly to any one who would listen, to animals, to inanimate objects, and even to herself. When upbraid d with her folly, she said it was not her fault, as Iter father had possessed just the same habit, and had almost driven her mother distracted by it. Cltamher't Journal. A Youthrtil Weather Prophet. The six-year o’d son of a Kentucky man is acquirin'' notoriety as a weather i prophet. The clrld is small for his ago, I and cannot vet talk plainly, but has de veloped barometrical powers to a won - | derful degree. Since be was four years | old his parents, wh * are respectable and reliable people, declare that be hut fore told every rain.hail storm or snowstorm, find even the light showers and sprinkles so plentiful in the spring of tin* year, tine day recently,while the sun was Ida - 1 ing down with intense heat, tin* child rain; into the hoo-e. from the yard,where he had tacit inten ly gazing at the heavens, and predicted a heavy rain storm, to be fotlowd by a pro me fall of hail. In the afternoon his prophreywas verified by a heavy storm. —Cnicagg Just Hut It Is Done. Speaking with a young lady a gentle man mentioned that lie had faded to keep abreast of the scientific advance of the age. **. or instance.” It** said, ‘’l don’t know at all how the incandescent electric light,which is now used in soma buddings and milway cars, is pro cured.” “Oh, it’s very simple,” said the lady. “You just turn a button and the light appears at once. n —/*/#i 'adrlpltia Tele graph. There were op.imm linnets of cotton •C'«l oil produced last year, of which ( hcago took .1)0.0 at barrels, t ln* bulk it it licing used by the lard ivliusr*/ Term $1.50 per Aim Single Copy 5 cents. NEWS AND NOTES FOR WOMEN. Blondes choose very light colors foi th'*ir street toilet^. A very new bracelet is a mere thread of gold set with a rough emerald. Diamond hairpins, jeweled both at point and head, are now fashionable. Pale and deep tan plush skirts are worn with dresses of various colors and fubrics. Cloth gowns of pale suede hare white nioiie vests and a trimming of golden heaver. Young ladies trim their black silk gowns very effectively with silver and cut jet gimps. The Princes? of Wales is forty-three, hut she makes up so well as to pass for sweet sixteen. Dainty home toilets are almost inva riably made with a belted corsage of some description. Bonnets of dark-green velvet are spangled with jet and trimmed with black moire ribbon. Cashmere bonnets, with pinked edges and caps sewn inside, are in vogue for babies and little girls. In a recent publication a woman an nounces that she is the only woman infi del Iccttucr in the world. Very new di aperies are straight breidtbs, showing their selvage?, which are further a* ceil ted by a lining of pirot ribbon. The oldest old maid in the country is Miss Betsy Sargent, of Centerbury, New Hautpshiie. the was one hundred years old last July. Oxvdized silver lace-pins in the form of a turkey’s claw are popular. Another new design repicsents a silver log with a tiny gold frog upon it. The wife of Don. M. Dickinson, the new l ostinaUer-Gcneral, i» a handsome woman, tall, with auburn hair, clear complexion, and large dark eyes. White ribbon, folded, or birely show ing the edge and ending in a tiny bow outside, i* still the fashion for the neck and sleeves of dark woolen gowns. The Primes:? of Wales, it has been re ported, has a velvet basque tr.mined with black 'Ong-haired fur. Basques, it need liardly be told, are now in fashion. The contour of the head is best dis played by a low coil of hair. If one has a Grecian profile, the small, high Psyche knot is becoming, as well as fashionable. Skirts of cross barred Bengaline and watered silk are fashionably worn with polonaises or basques and draperies of cashmere of harmonious or contrasting shades. The St. Louis llcpuhli'an, having dis covered that the belles of that town are growing thinner, expresses a fear that the women will ultimately disappear al together. With costumes of light tan camel’s hair, nothing is so stylish as a long wrap of gray blue cloth, edged with nioiiflon fur. and accompanied by a cloth bonnet of like hue. The Chicago News, without mincing matters, admits that ‘ the genuine Chicago complexion is undeniably grimy,” and that “few C hicago women ever have really clean face*.” Miss Louisa Corbin, a niece of Austin Corbin, now at Nice, has become en gaged to Mr. Horace Walpole, nephew and heir of Lord Orford. The wedding will be in London in May. ( ollars, frills, jabots, fichus, plastrons, vests —every shape, form aud color of net, lace, ribbon, or muslin, is now ad missible for neckwear, but care must be used to fit them to their occasion. All the sjMits of the leopard may now he had upon a walking hat d'rcct from I ondou, ami a good part of them upon the bands and loops, now the accepted garniture for brown felt hats and bon nets. The Baroness Burdctte-Coutts and other philan hropists, of London, are perfecting plans for furnishing work shops and sewing machine* where poor seamstresses can go and use the machines lor small cost. 4 Fashion insists on the absolute aban donment of black stocking* and patent leather slipper* with evening dress. Only one kind, and that the color of the tan suede glove, can ta worn, and stockings mid slippers must match. It is au interesting fact that although the appointment of Vilas i»» the Secretaryship of the Interior is eon idered a piormton it causes Mrs. \ il is 10 move down one place in tbs line of cabinet ladie* at the White House re ceptions. The “high art” craze in London and Laris has about done away with the tight sleeve, iu which the arm had quite the effect *»? a Miusagc mil, though it is questioned if some of the draped, sloshed ami puffed attars that rcp'ace it are not even more of monstrosities. White and go *1 is throughout a favor ite combination. Young matrons par t cularly a lcct evening gowns of white broad loth, flannel or chuddar cloth, heavily cm * bed with gold—silver, too, sometime*--and th** Luc y further ap pear* in both h its and bonnet*. An “ Auti*C'olibacy Insurance Com pany” bas lieen established in Doumark, iu which young women taxinning at the ago of |.i can insure themselves fora tri ling sum. If they mairy ihey forfeit all claims, but i* they remain spinsters until 10 they aie entitled to a sninll an nuity. Two startling, not to say romantic, event* have transpired at Vassar College niuce-thf; opening of ihe picsent school year. One young lady, who was passing herself off ns * being still in the market,” was discovered to have taen married for J ionic time. Another fair damsel fell ' into the college lake ami was rescued by a handsome artist who was riding by. Professor Virchow. In his new wort, declare* that cancer ia curable.