North Carolina Newspapers

THE CHARLOTTE MESSENG VOL. IV. NO. 32. THE Charlotte Messenger 18 PUBLISHED Every Saturday, AT CHARLOTTE, N. C. In the Interest* of the Colored People of the Country. Able and well known writers will contrib Hte to its columns from different parts of the country, and it will contain thejatest Gen eral News of the day. The Messenger is a first-class newspaper and will not allow personal abuse in its col umns. Itis not sectarian or partisan, but independent—dealing fairly by all. 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 are best suited to serve the interests of the people. It is intended to supply the long felt need ™, a newspaper to advocate the rights and defend the interests of the Negro-American, especially in the Piedmont section of the Carolines. * SUBSCRIPTIONS: [Aluiciyt in Advance.) 1 year - - tl SO a months - - - 100 6 months - - 75 8 months - - - 50 2 months - - - 36 Single Copy - - 5 Address, W. C. SMITH Charlotte NC, Probably one of the oldest meeting houses in the world is the Bangund C hurch in Norway, the age of which is 800 years. The pagoda-like structure is covered with shingles and an inch oi two of tar. Runic inscriptions, interest ing to scholars, are on the building. Out of fifty-three palatial residences In Paris inspected by a government sani tary engineer, forty-seven were found to have such defective plumbing that the health of the occupants was constantly threatened. It b agreed by those who have made the matter a study that the United States is ten years ahead of any other country on sanitary matters. It is the custom of people who live it the Northwest lo declare that although the cold of that region is extremely severe when measured by the tber mometer, it really causes less suffering) than the variable temperature of lowei latitudes. This is all very well as a mat ter of humorous conversation on a warn summer day, but its force as an argu ment is materially injured by the oimbh blizzard whirh destroys hundreds oi lives. In every country there is sou.e special drawback to the sheep industry. Her* we have dogs and wolves. In Australia rabbits eat nearly all the grass, and leave the pastures as bare as Oi l Mother Hub bard's cupboard. In New Zealand the great enemy of sheep is a large green parrot. It lights on a sheep and devour* its living flesh. After it has eaten its fill it flies away. But, as a rule,the wound* it makes never heal. The N"rth Chinn Han d of recent date says that persons who doubt the barbarity of some of the Chinese punish ments “ line only to walk into the city of Shanghai this morning, a few minutes' task, and they will find one of the most revolting of these punishments in full operation, and its infliction applauded by all the Chinese who know of it.” The criminal, one Koh, is a hardened ruffian, who has passed the greater part of the past ten years in jail. The specific offence for which he was being punished was his habit of blackmailing the new prisoners w ho were put in jail with him. He was suspended in a cage about five feet high, with his head through the top in a wooden collar, so that he could not reach it with his ban Is. His feet, which were loaded with chains, were so faf from the bottom that he could only just touch it when standing on tiptoe. Here he was condemned to stand, without food or water, just inside the outer gate of the magistrate’s yamen, the sport of hundreds, until death put an end to hifl sufferings. The writer suggests that a photograph of the cage and its occupant would be a telling frontispiece to the Marquis Tseng's recent article on the “▲wakening of China.” TELEGRAPHIC TICKS THE SOUTHERN STATES. New* Collected by Wire and ninll From All I'arlMof Dixie* NORTH CAROLINA. All arrangements have been completed for the immediate erection of a cotton mill at Salisbury. The capital stock is $150,000. Davis Brinkley and Charles Lawrence, young white men of Catawba county, who are charged with burglary, have been taken to Charlotte jail for safe keep ing, rumors being in circulation at New ton of •», threatened lynching and also rescue by their friends. L. L. rolk, State Secretary of the Farmers’ Alliance, reports that there are four hundred and thirty-six alliances in North Carolina, with sixteen thousand live hundred members. The Auditor’s report will show that there arc forty-nine railways in North Carolina. Two of these are exempt from taxation. Near Battleboro, a few nights ago, W. I. House was struck by the mail train while he was sitting on the track ap parently asleep. His injuries are very serious. It is learned that several suits for dam ages in large amounts are to be instituted against the Chester and Lenoir Narrow Gauge; Railway. These grew out of an accident near Hickory a few weeks since, wherein the train fell through the trestle and all was burned. William Ellis, a young white man, has made a confession that he robbed the postoffice at Floral College, Robertson county. He stated that he had hidden the stolen property, money, stamps and registered letters, in the church near by. His statement was true, and the property has nearly all been recovered. An attempt was made some days ago to wreck the train on the Scotland Neck Braneh Railway, near Fillery. The switch leading to the gravel pit was opened by force, the train ran into the pit, wrecking six flat cars and two box cars. The passenger ears did not leave the rails, but several passengers were se verely shaken up. In Winnsboro in the case of the State versus Charles Veal, charged with as sault with outrageous intent, the jury, after a half hour’s deliberation, returned a verdict of guilty, and the Judge sen tenced him to ten years at hard labor in the panitentiary. There are to he many interesting fea tures at the Craven county fish, oyster and game fair, which comes off on the 13th, I4th, and 15th of March. A tour nament, a street parade of one of the most efficient fire departments iiflthe south and a glsss ball and clay pigeon shooting. Special low rates over railroad and steam boat lines in the state, and excursion rates from points north have been secur ed. Joe Berry, a noted negro desperado, was killed by the superintendent of the state penitentiary farm, near Columbia. He was evidently intent on robbery, if not on murder. Mr. Davis, the superin tendent, on his approach ordered him to halt, but the warning was unheeded. After he was shot, Berry ran some dis tance. He was a terror to the neighbor hood and his death by violence occasions little surprise or regret. HOI'TII CAROLINA. George Siins, who is wanted by the Atlanta officers far larceny, has been ar rested at Greenville by Detective Schlap back. About six miles from Abbeville a negro about twenty-one years old, named Jas. Wharton, shot a small negro boy 12 years old, named Nathan MeClin ton. The hall went in at the right shoul der, but it has not been found yet by the attending physician. The doctor consid ers the wound mortal. There was no ap parent cause for the shooting. A war rant has been issued, and it is thought that Wharton will be arrested. A curious complication has arisen in a murder case pending in Lexington coun ty, in S. C. Dixon Addy was con victed of manslaughter in killing Joseph Swvgert at a political barbecue in INBO. He appealed to the supreme court and got. a new trial. When the ease was called up at Lexington, it was discovered that the indictment and other pa|»crs were lost. The ease caunot be tried without the indictment, nor can a new indictment be written out until a nolle prosequi be entered and written on the old paper itself. It looks imw as if Addy can never be tried again, and there is considerable talk about it. Nobody undertakes to guess who abstracted the papers, but the suspic ion is that some friend of Addy did it to help him exit of his very bad case. His lawyers art; men of high characters, and there is no sus picion whatever of them. GEORGIA. The monument to them memory of the late Bishop Pierce will Ik* erected in Hpurta on the Ist of next September. The citizens of Sugar Valley arrested Henry Kinnebrew, a negro house-breaker, and brought him to Calhoun with a chain around his neck hist week. Their ' ex|M;rience with a former prisoner taught I them the lesson that it would not do to I trust a prisoner, and hence the chain. CHARLOTTE, N. C., SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 1888. Two miles north of Crayfish Springs, on the Chattanooga, Rome and Columbus Railroad, Jess McGugin and Taylor Camp, both colored, quarreled about a bridle. McGugin got his pistol and shot Camp through the heart. Camp died in stantly. McGugin lias skipped the country. A little negro girl on Dr. Steve Jack son’s place, in Oconee county, was burned to death by her clothing taking fire while in the house. She ran out, but before the flames could be extin guished she was so badly burned that she died in a short time. Southern Briefs. Two copies of the Cleveland issue of the Sanford Fla. Journal will be printed on satin, and presented to President and Mrs. Cleveland as a souvenir of their vis it to the Gate City of South Florida. An attempt was made to rob the St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas express train at Kingsland, Ark. It is said that the messenger locked the doors but the rob bers smashed them in and robbed the ear of two thousand dollars. A special to the Galveston, Tex. News from Tenaha says: ‘ Tom Forsyth, the murderer of Treasurer Hill, was taken from the Panola connty jail by a mob of two hundred men and hanged. Mr. Davenport teacher of a public school at Rome, Miss., expelled one or two pu pils recently. Friends of the teacher on the one hand and those of the expelled parties on the other met at the schoolhouse, and, after matters were thought to be satisfactorily arranged, some difficulty occurred. James Bailey, Jr., fired six charges from his pistol, instantly killing R. A. Rutledge and fatally wounding his son. NORTH, EAST AND WEST The sheet mill of the Reading Pa. iron works has suspended, throwing 275 men out of employment. Smallpox is reported as raging in Ha vana. Two thousand deaths occurred from the dreaded disease between May last and January, 1888. It is rumored at Washington that Gen eral John Newton, superintendent of public works, is to be appointed super intendent of the coast survey. Work on the new’ gunboat Yorkton and a dynamite crusier, at Cramp's ship yard, Philadelphia, has progressed so rapidly that they will be launched with in a month. Eighteen men were injured by the ex plosion of dynamite in a rock cut on Fourth street, Duluth, Minn. The roof of a nearly completed hotel at Kansas city, Mo., collapsed and crushed through eight stories to the ground. One workman was killed and about a dozen injured. At Salimanca. N, Y., the second larg est fires that ever occurred in the town broke out at 12.30 o’clock yesterday morning. The buildings burned were the Opera House block, post office, Nies’s block and other buildings. Loss, $75,000; insurance, $35,000. Five shares of the New York Sun Pub lishing Company, par value SI,OOO each, were sold at the New York Real Estate Exchange for $3,350 each. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has de clared inoperative the law enacted by the last legislature, which permitted habit ual drunkards to be confined in an asy lum not to cxeede two years. A slight shock of earthquake was felt at San Francisco, Cal., the other day. The shock is also reported from several points north of that city, where it was more severe and caused persons to rush from their houses in alarm. Governor Green, of New Jersey, has vetoed the local option high license bill which the Republicans had passed as a caucus measure. HONORING A GOOD MAN. Funeral ol Hr. Corroriiii-Mr*. Cleveland AtienilH (he Service*. The funeral of Mr. W. W. Corcoran took place late from his residence in Washington. D. C. In accor dance with the wish of the de ceased the ceremonies were simple and devoid of all ostentation. Among the floral tributes was a large pillow sent by Mrs. Cleveland. The services were con fined to the form laid down in the Epis copal ritual. There was no address. Rev. Dr. Leonard, pastor of St. John’s Church, conducted the services with the assistance of Bishop Parcl and Rev. Dr. Stuart, of Christ church, Georgetown. Mrs. Cleveland was nreseut during the services and her carriage was in long dra pery, which followed the remains to the grave. She was escorted bv Seeretary Endicott and stood during the services in the house very near tin* head of the casket. Chief Justice Waite, Senators Harbour, Eustis and many other persons of note, were assembled in the parlors of tin;.mansion during the service. There was a large representation present of va rious organizations with which the de ceased was connected, and which lie had aided. Upon the arrival of the funeral cortege at Hill Cemctary, the casket was placed in the chapel, and it will 1m; placed in the vault, |ncxt to one containing the remains of Mrs. Cor coran. A touching incident was the presellco at the grave and the singing of the children of the City orphan asylum. It may hoof scientific interest to know thut a wife with a cold can make it very warm for her husband. WASHINGTON GOSSIP FROM UNCLE SAMS’ CAP ITOL Wit at our Duns’ Lnw Makers nri* Doing. Congressional and Other New*. Orders have been issued for the dis continuance es a number of signal ser vice stations. Pensacola, Fla. , is the only one in the South. The remainder are in the North and Northwest. The scarcity of money is the cause. The bill to appropriate an additional $75,000 for the Chattanooga public buildiug has passed the committe of the whole. This gives Chattanooga an ap propriation in all of $275,000. There are now’ only five public buildings on the calendar ahead of Mr. Grimes’, and his will be voted on in the house about Tues day or Wednesday. Mr. Grimes has many friends in the house and, this to gether with the true merit in the bill makes its passage doubly assured. The eivel service commissioner gives notice that it will hold examinations for applicants for positions in departmental service at Washington, who, in addition to ordinary clerical attainments, have a knowledge of stenography and type writing at the following times and pla ces in the south: Birmingham, Ala., Thursday, March 8; Chattanooga, Tcnn., Saturday, March 10; Knoxville, Tenn., Tuesday, Mcrch 13; Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, March 13; Memphis, Tenn., Thursday, March 15. The President has signed an order placing employees of the civil service commission in the classified departmental service. This is the first act of tin; Pres ided under the new rules and regula tions, and it is understood to be prelimi nary to an order placing under civil ser vice rules the Inter-State commerce com mission, the Indian school service and all other commissions and bureaus which were organized independent of the exec utive departments at Washington, as contemplated by the new rules. The will of the late W. W. Corccran has been filed ami admitted to prohaie. The only public bequests arc SIOO,OOO to the Corcoran art gallery, to which Mr. Corcoran had already given $1,500,000; $50,000 to the Louise Home, to which Mr. Corcoran gave in his life half a mil lion dollars; $5,000 each to the three orphan asylums of the district, and $3,- 000 to the Little Sisters of the Poor. He makes many bequests, ranging from SIOO to $15,000, lo relatives, personal friends and servants. The remainder of the es tate is left in trust for his three grand children. The Proud and Lima Irons Japs. The nature of the soil is such that it produces most luxuriantly. The skies are rich with rains and dews. The yields of rice, tea and cotton are often more than sixty fold. Surely nature has smiled propitiously upon this land of 150,000 square miles, with some thirty-eight I millions of people. The sea, land and sky conspire to render it romantic and sublime. But as the sojourner comes in contact w’ith the people, hearing their myths and fables as to their pedigree,and learning from history whence they are believed to have sprung, he is soon con vinced that they are a rar eof romance and chivalry. They delight to dwell upon the past, recounting their heroes. Wonderful stories they will tell you of their Mikados. Nearly every city of any size will point you to its written history, and every province to its encyclopedia of the treasured past. Neither will they fail to inform you of their first written Bible, pro bleed in the sixth century, consisting of three largo volumes, the first treating of the creation, the events and centuries of the holy age; the sec ond and third of the history of the Mi kados from 0(50 to 1288 of the Christian era. Then with enthusiasm they will recount the victories ami achievements of lylyasu from ihe sixteenth century and on to the present time. They will refer you to Jcmmu Ten no, their first im perial ruler or Mikado, who was the fifth in descent from the Sun goddess, and therefore divine,as all the other Mikados have been, from the fart that they have descended from him, making the pres ent one the 123 d in direct lineage.—Bos ton Jcurna!. The Wiml Lifts a Train. Mr. C. W. Woodward, a traveling man hailing from New York, related an interesting story yesterday of a trip from Buffalo to this city in the storm Thurs day night. Il« is a guest at the Forest City house, and narrated his experience to a small circle of friends. “After leaving Dunkirk,” he said, “the wind was so severe that we proceeded along at a snail’s pace. At times the force of the hurricane lifted one side of the train several inches from the track, and then it would descend to the rails again with a startling thump. We were asked by the conductor to sit on one side of tin* cars to balance them. A number of Cleveland passengers left the train at Erie, preferring to remain in that city over night rather than to risk riding any further. It was the first time in seven teen years’ traveling that 1 was ever alarmed in a railway train.”— Cleveland leader. Content vs. Discontent. One, satisfied with what must lie her lot— Twas not a corner lot—wrenoly meant Never to wander from her humble rot, MmL* beautiful by wise and sweet content And one, dissatisfied with all he had. Rove;! from bis place into the world's mad whirl. What did he flndf Welt, it was not so bad The fellow found that lottajje and that girl —77 k Century. Cannibal Island Unrrency. Mr. Walter Coote has described some curious moneys of the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands. On one of the isl ands he noticed a neatly-kept house, which he was told was the money house. Enteriug it, he found a number of maps hanging from the roof, beneath which a fire was constantly kept up, under the effect of which they become covered with a black, glistening coating ami adorned with festoons of soot. It was a man’s business to keep the fire always burning, and so low as not to scorch the maps. A well-colored map i 9 worth about as much as a well-grown, vigorous boar. This is the strangest of all kinds of money, for it must never be taken from the money house, even when the title of it is trans ferred from one own* rto another. The inhabitants of Santa Cruz Island use for money, ropc-cnds, about an inch thick, and ornamented with scarlet feathers, which are worn about the waist.. The traveler could not obtain new coins of this kind, but found them current every where. The specimens he bought were already old, and the feathers grown dingy. The money of the Solomon Isl ands consisted of neatly-worked pieces of shell of about the size of our shirt buttons. They are strung on strings about four yards long, ami are distin guished under the names of red and white money. Dog-teeth are of higher value, and comparable to our gold coins. They are usually worn on a string around the neck. Mr. Coote saw a necklace of this kind that was valued at about SIOO. Marble rings are also worn for orna ments, and as valuable money. A Whistlin? Language. At a meeting of the Berlin Anthropo logical {Society, Lieutenant Qucdcnfeldt lectured on the whistle language used on the Gomero Island. During some months' stay in the Canary Archipelago the lecturer was able to learn the nature of this language, whic h is a sort of pen dant to the drum language of Cameroon. There are no fixed whistles or signals. The Gomero can carry on any conversa tion by means of whistling, and be un derstood by the person with whom he is conversing a mile off. The whistling is quite articulate, and is a kind of trans lation of common speech into whistling, each syllable having its peculiar tone, so that even foreign words can be whistled. The vowels i and y are more loudly whistled than a, o and u; and if a con sonant; is at the end of a word, for ex ample,* “Juan,** the a is wh'stled in a rising tone. The Gomero either uses liis fingers or his lips when whistling. The practice is only common on the Go mero Island, and is not found in the other six islands of the Archipelago. The reason may he the peculiar geological construction of the island, which is tra versed by many deep ravines and gullies, which run out in all directions from the central plateau. They are not bridged, and can often only be crossed with great difficulty; so that people who live very near to each other in a straight line, have to make a circnit of hours when they wish to meet. Whisllii g has therefore become an excellent means of communi cation, and gradually assumed the pro portion of a true substitute for speech. She Drought the Road to Terms. The second railway built in this coun try, we believe, was a short line of tw’cnty miles from Niagara Falls to Lock port, the track made of wooden g'-antling or string pieces with strap iron laid on top for rails. By the way, these often turned up one end and, catching above the wheel, caine piercing up through the bottom of the car. The engines cf those days were of course very weak in power. On this railroad was a light grade for a few hundred feet. Near this lived a widow woman who had a large fat hog whic h one clay got upon the track and was killed. The railway people refused to pay her for it. on the ground that the liog had no business on the road. She had the lard tried out, and after failing to get anything from the railway, she spread this lard libe rally upon the rails for a considerable distance along the as cending grade. The engine having then no “sanding” arrangement, it was unable to climb the grade; and as often as they sprinkled sand on the trac k by hand and had passed by, she swept it off and ap plied more lard. The result was, the railway company paid her all she asked for the hog.— Prairi- Farmer. About Canary Birds. How many of our readers are aware I that a cauary has four notes to his song? Indeed, according to the Detroit Free, ! pre *, dealers, after listening to the sing -1 ing for a moment, are able totcdl whether 1 the singer i« German or American. These four uotes are the water note, i which is a rippiing, attractive bit of I warbling like the murmur of a rill; a j flute note, clear and ringing; the I whistling note, of the same class, but ! very much finer, and the rolling note, j which is a continuous melody, rising I and falling only to rise again. It is in I the last-named note that the American birds fail. They cannot hold it. Another difference between the two is i that the German canaries are night sing l era they will sing until the light is ex | tinguislicd. But American biids put | their heads uuder their wings with dark, ttess. The Retort Courteous. “Como and dine with me to-day, I Grindstone,” said Kiljordan, •• the bill of ; fare will just suit you. Calves' brains is the principal dish.” “IT! come, Kiljordan,’* said Grind j stone, “in order that you may have one man at the tablo who can eat calves' brains without making a cannibal of ; himself.” —Chicago Tribune, Terns. $1.50 ncr Aim Single Copy 5 cents. THE SONG OF THE FOOL Within my sanctum snug I sit, And watch the* world go round and round; My ink is dry, my pen is split, My pen and scissors can’t bo found. Ah! joy for mo, my work is dropped, N For who can work without his tools! True, as you say, my pay is stopped. But money is not good for fools. So foolish hero I sit and dream Within my sanctum’s scanty bound; I touch no pen to thought or theme. But watch the world go round and round. With sweat and struggle, toil and pain, From dawn of day to set of sun, With lust of power and gre*od of gain, W ith battles lost and victories won, With hate and fear and bitter strife, With treacherous blow and angry wound, While I, the fool, in happier life, Just watch the world go round and round. —Hubert J. Burdette. HUMOR OF THE DAY. Risings arc treated so summarily in Russia that even yeast is afraid to do its duty. When a physician loses his skill it naturally follows that he is out of prac tice*. —Men hunt Tratder. How would it work for the women suf fragists to colonize and govern the terri tory of No Man's I.and? Schools of herring arc striking in to ward the American shore. They obeyed the orders of the swimming delegate. After all, it is perhaps appropriate that physicians' prescriptions should be writ ten in Latin, a dead language. —Pittsburg Chronicle. In view of his preference for a “shining mark,” it is a little strange that death doesn’t capture more bootblacks. —Dantr ville Breeze. AVben a washerwoman changes her place of residence one may nsk her “where she hangs out now” without using slang. An Illinois man who went fishing with Lincoln fifty years ago threatens to sue the Century Magazine foi not printiug his picture. — Life. Now does each side in Congress Declare in hpt ferment. That the other eyes the .surplus With burglarious intent. -Tid-BUn. A burglar in Harlem look, among other things, a cornet belonging to an amateur, and the neighbors are trying to raise a fund of $500,000 to bribe the thief to return some night ami carry off the amateur. —Nno York Time\ Oh. sad is the touch of a vanished hand, And the sound of a voice that is still; Ami sa«l is the winter without any ice The ice dealer’s house to fill. But sadd»*st of all the things I know Is the toboggan slide without any snow. — Courier-Journal. Chicago Lady ito husband) - “My dear, did you think to order a ton oi coal to day?” Husband—“ Yes.” Chicago l ady “And my shoes?” Husband —“Yes, and” (peering out of the window) “there is a truck hacking up to the floor now, but it’s too dark to see whether it has the coal or the shoes.” —ll rrjer's Bazar. Why wouldn’t it Ik; a good idea if somebody should get up a code of signals showing how people feel, thus saving much wind in asking “How are you?” and kindred questions? There might be a white lapel button for “ITetty well,” a red one for “80-so,” and a blue one for “I feel like the deuce.” They could easily be made quite as trustworthy as the weather signals, and would fill a long felt want. —Boston Transcript, Big European Armies. “The bloated armaments of the great military powers of Europe” display their proportions in a very striking manner in Colonel Vogt’s work on “The European Armies of the Present.” The mobilized strength of France is set down at 2,051,* 458 troops, exclusive of the territorial army, which is equally large: that oi Russia at 1,022,405; Germany, 1,402,600, and Austro-Hungary, 1,035,055. Tha military strength of Italy his now at tained propottions that would have been deemed incredible ten years ago. In cluding militia, it is all ged to amount to 2,38 L 332 men. If, however, a similar inclusion be made in the case of Russia, the military strength of that power will probably be found to exceed even that of the French Republic. Compared with these figures, the numerical propot tions of the British army is small. Including the militia and volunteers, as wfcP. as the Indian army, that nation can just muster 781,070 troops; and these have to serve for the defense of territory distributed over a very much wider area than that ruled by any of the other powers. Two Interesting Price Lists. All manufactured articles, says the Current , have fallen greatly in price since the dawn of the industrial era, and the purchasing power of money has con sequently been greatly increased. The following table affords a fair idea of the reduction which took plai u in the price of a few ne«ostary article in daily use between the years 1820 and 1860: 1830 1860 Boot* per pair. $ 014 1*2.21 Show ‘ 1.25 109 Stock*..g* per pair W! .445 Calico per yard .35 .105 Cotton Cloth per yard 415 .118 Flannel “ «»7 .405 Sheeting “ V-'I .134 Shirting “ ........ .386 ,10? Flour per barrel ...... 11.07 8.03 Indisu moal per bu*hel ........ 1.35 .983 Coffee per pound 256 *M# Molasses per gallon 851 .413 Fait per bushel B*l .66® Sugar per pound I*l .®j§ Tea “ 1.18 .5*3 Burning Oilsand Fluids per gal 1.37 1.05 ER.