THE WAR OF THE KEtilLA 1I0X.
,1?! Historical Sketch by the Hon. D. L. Swain,
bany the substance of kit Address before the
X. C. Educational Association in June last.
It is about a century since the causes which gave
rise to the War of the Regulation excited commo
tions in the northern district, and especially in the
interior portions of North Carolina. In September,
1770, the Regulator expelled the bench and the
bat from Hillsborough, occupied the court-house,
possessed themselves of the records, organised a
mock tribunal, demolished the house, aud inflicted
merited chastisement upon the register of the
county of Orange, committed other excesses, and
were for a time dominant throughout the country,
fr..m the Neuse to the Catawba. The Battle of
Alamance was fought on the 16th of May, 1771,
and excited no inconsiderable degree of attention
in the sister provinces, and in the mother country.
Until very recently, however, no attempt has been
made to compile a history of these events, and no
portion of our annals has been less understood, or
the subject of greater misapprehension and misrep
resentation. The late Dr. Mitchell, shortly after his appoint
ment to a professorship in the University, had his
attention attracted to the subject, and collected
valuable materials for its elucidation printed,
written, and traditional. These were subsequently
transferred to the Rev. Eli W. Caruthers, and, in
connection with the fruit of his own long continued,
patient and diligent researches, were, in 1842, giv
en to the public, in his valuable work on the life
and character of Rev. David Caldwell, D. D.
This volume, in due time, received the favorable
notice of Mr. Bancroft, the American Historian;
and the subsequent residence of the latter at the
Court of St. James, enabled him to add very mate
rially to the stock of information which had been
obtained on this side of the Atlantic. Mr. Ban
croft's summary, founded in a great degree upon
record evidence, affords ample confirmation of the
view which Caruthers had presented of thecharac
ter of the prominent persons who figured in the
contest, and of the causes which produced the re
bellion. Recent examinations of records, which
had hitherto escaped observation, have placed it in
our power to supply additional illustrations. A
portion of these, which have not merely never been
printed, but discovered in files which had not been
opened during the last half century, will now be
exhibited for the first time.
The materials for the composition of a history
of the Regulation, at present accessible, if not am
ple, are very considerable. Fifty years ago, com
paratively little was known upon the subject, and
it is not until very recently that such an amount
of knowledge has been obtained, as to enable the
his'orian to present a clear, continuous and reliable
narrative of the leading incidents.
In addition to cotemporaneous notices, gleaned
from English and American newspapers and maga
zines, we have two histories, written and published
one in 1770, and the other in 1771 which set
forth the leading facts in which Herman Husband
was a participant, from the beginning of the rebel
lion, until within a few months of the Battle of
Alatnonce.
Of the more important of these publications
"An Impartial Relation of the First Rise and Cause
of the Present Difficulties in Public Affairs in the
Province of North Carolina," but a single perfect
ropy is supposed to be extant. It is preserved
among the collection of the Rev. Dr. Hawks, the
Historian of North Carolina, and exhibits evidence
on the title page of its having been at one time the
property of (Jeneral Thomas Person, of Regulation,
as well a? Revolutionary notoriety. Thjj pamphlet
was written by Herman llu.band, and published
anonymously and without imprint in 1770. No
printer in North Carolina would have ventured
fueh a pubheatii n during the arbitrary adminis
tration of Gov. Tr3'on. It is a neat octavo, of about
100 pages, much the greater and more valuable
portions of which have been reproduced in the se
cond volume of Wheeler's Historical Sketches of
North Carolina, pp. 301 330.
'I he second pamphlet is entitled, "A Fan for
Fanning and a Touchstone to Tryon ; containing
an impartial account of the rise and progress of the
so much ta!ked-of Regulation in North Carolina
By RegttllM. Boston Printed and Sold at the
Printing-office, Opposite the seat of William Vassal,
Esq., at the head of Queen Street, 1771." The
only original copies of this pamphlet, of which we
have any knowledge, belong to Mr. Bancroft and
Col. Force. It was re-published, some years since,
through the agency of Col. Wheeler, in the North
Carolina Standard and the Greensborough Pa
triot, and was, during the last year, reproduced in
the pages of the University Magazine. Gov. Try -on's
Letter Book, recently copied for the State,
from the original in the library of Harvard Univer
sity, supplies very copious illustrations ot the view
in which the rebellion was regarded and represent
ed by the royal government.
The pages of Williamson and Martin may be
consulted with advantage. The former, though
ordinarily the more meagre and less reliable of the
two, owing to his residence in the northern district,
exhibits in various instances the more accurate ac
count of the remote, as well as the immediate caus
es of the rebellion. Both wrote under great mis
conception with respect to the extent of country
in which the commotions prevailed, and the char
acter of the insurgents; and especially towards the
close of the contest.
A very brief reference to the previous history of
the province may be necessary to render subse
quent details intelligible.
.In 17J0,the Lords Proprietors, with the exception
of Lord Carteret, surrendered Carolina to the
Crown. He, with a shrewdness which was char
acteristic, yielded the sovereignty, but retained the
soil. The charters of Charles II conveyed to the
regal proprietors seven and a half degrees of latitude,
extending from the southern boundary of Virginia,
36 deg. 30 min. on the north, to the 29th parallel
on the south, and from the Atlantic on the east to
the Pacific on the west.
In 1741, George II, by the Great deed of Grant,
conveyed to George Lord Carteret nearly a degree
of latitude, (56 nautical, or 60 statute miles.) the
northern boundary of which was the southern
boundary of Virginia, and the southern, the parallel
line 31 deg. 31 min. This line began on the sea
shore, near the house of Thomas Wallis, ran thence
due west something more than nine miles north
of Bath, almost directly through Washington, some
distance north of Snow Hill, in Green, and a little
north of Smlthfiold, in Johnston. It constitutes
at the present time the southern boundary of
Chatham, Randolph. Davidson, Rowan and Iredell,
may be traced about four miles north of Lincolnton,
and near the dividing line between Rutherford and
McDowell. As represented on Cooke's Map, it
would if extended to Tennessee, be almost con
terminous with the southern boundary of Buncombe,
in a direct line with Waynesville, and approximate
very closely the northern boundary of Cherokee.
The Grant ordinarily spoken of as the Granville
Patent, covered quite two-thirds of the present
State of North-Carulina. In 1607, it was divided
into thirteen of the twenty-nine counties; and
contained two-thirds of the taxable inhabitants in
the province. Entries for land within its borders
were made in "the Granville Office," while all j
titles for land south of the Granville line were
derived immediately from the Crown. The Gran
ville Office was closed from 1765 to 1774, and no
settler during that period was able to obtain a
title to the premises he occupied. It was re-opened
in the latter year, and continued open until the
Revolution. In the trial of the suit instituted
about the beginningof the century, for this immense
tract of country, the title of Earl Granville was
admitted to have been incontestible, aa late as the
12th February, 1776. The suit was decided
against him by Judge Potter in 1806, in the
Circuit Court ot the United States, was removed
by writ of error to the Supreme Court of the
United States, and owing to the death of the
plaintiffs counsel, Phillip Barton Key, and the
subsequent death of the Earl, was, in 1817, stricken
from the docket for the want of a prosecution bond.
At the beginning, and nearly to the close of the
Regulation, (1770,) Guilford, Chatham, Rocking
ham and a considerable portion of Wake, were
included within the boundaries of Orange. Ran
dolph, Caswell and Person were not carved out of it
until after the adoption of the State Constitution.
Alamance was created in 1848. The Regulators
Were less numerousithin the present boundaries
of Orange than in any other portion of the original
county. Alamance, Guilford and Randolph were
their strong holds.
The white population of the province at the
beginning of Governor Tryon's administration was
about 10,000. Slaves and free persons of color
may have Uumbeied 40,000. All free males at
the age of sixteen and upwards were taxable. The
free polls were equal in number to one-fourth of
the free population, or half the number of free
males, 45,000. The slaves given in for taxation,
ought to have been, but probably were not, more
than equal in number to half the slave population,
or 20,000. Computing six persons to a family, the
number of white families may be estimated at
30,000.
The public debt, in outstanding bills of credit,
is stated by Williamson to have amounted to
.75,032 4s 6. These were a lawful tender at
the rate of 133 to 100. The sterling value was
in the proportion of two to one. Hie sinking fund
was a poll tax of one shilling, and a duty of four
pence per gallon on imported wines and spirits.
The public debt to be met substantially by a poll
tax, was about equal to 2 10s. on each head of a
family.
The quit rents of those residents within the boun
daries of the Granville Patent were payable to his
Lordship's agent, and in the southern district at
the office of the Crown. The former owed semi
allegiance to Lord Granville, and may well be
supposed to have been regarded and treated with
less favor than the immediate tenants of the King.
Such was undoubtedly the case.
From the date of ' the great deed of grant," in
1744, to the dawn of the Revolution in 1774, the
'inequality of representation, the great extent of
the western counties, difficulties in procuring titles
to lands, frauds practiced by Lord Granville's
deputies, superadded to the extortions and pecula
tions of the crown officers, were unceasing subjects
of complaint, throughout two-thirds of the northern
district.
As early as 1756, we find Lord Granville writing
to his agent, Francis Corbin, as follows: "Great
and frequent complaints are transmitted to me of
the persons you employ to receive entries and make
surveys in the back counties. It is their extortions,
and not the regular fees of office, which is the
cause of clamor from my tenants. Insinuations
are made, too, as if these extortions were connived
at by my agents; for otherwise, it is said, they
could not be committed so repeatedly and so
barefacedly."
In 1759, a company of ten or fifteen men from
Halifax crossed the Chowan river, proceeded to
the house of Corbin, some miles below Edenton,
made him their prisoner, and carried him, in the
tiight, to Enfield. He was detained for some days,
until he entered into a bond, with eight sureties,
in the sum of eight thousand pounds, to produce
his books within three weeks, and return all the
money he had received in excess of the regular
fees to which lie was entitled. Instead of producing
the books within the stipulated time, he instituted
suit against four of the rioters. The defendants
refused to give bail, and were committed to prison.
The indignant and enraged populace cut down the
jail door on the following day, and liberated the
prisoners. Corbin, a short time thereafter, dismissed
the suit and paid the costs. Such were the
premonitory symptoms of the Regulation.
In a letter from Gov. Tryon, dated 4th July,
1767, to the Earl of Shelburn, he states that '-upon
a medium, the sheriffs have embezzled more than
one-half the public monies ordered to be raised and
collected by them. It is estimated that the sheriffs'
arrears amount to forty thousand pounds proclama
tion money, not five thousand of which will possi
bly ever come into the Treasury; as in many in
stances, the sheriffs and their secureties are cither
insolvent or retreated out of the province."
The Stamp Act received the royal signature on
the 25th of March, 1765. It contained fifty-five
sections, and embraced in its multifarious provi
sions a range and extent of actions rarely appre
hended in our day. No one of the thirteen provin
ces was more unanimously opposed to it than North
Carolina, and nowhere was this opposition more
manifest and decided, than throughout the boun
daries of the Granville Patent.
Every species of instrument by which property,
real or personal, might be conveyed, every written
evidence of debt, every paper used in commercial
transactions in the commercial marts, or in neigh
borhood traffic, was subject, to onerous impositions.
Among the most odious exactions were taxes
upon knowledge. The duties upon newspapers
and pamphlets were not merely greater in amount
than the cost of such publications at present, but
so great, that if levied now, would in a year
limit the issue of the periodical press to a third of
the present number, and convert the newspaper,
almost a necessity of life, into a luxury to be en
joyed only by the rich.
Every pamphlet or paper containing a half sheet
or less, was charged with a cent. If larger than a
half sheet, and not greater than a whole sheet, two
cents. Pamphlets and papers larger than a sheet,
and not exceeding six sheets in quarto, or twenty
sheets in folio, a quarter of a dollar for every sheet
of any kind of paper contained in each printed
copy. Every advertisement in a newspaper, half
a dollar. Counting-house almanacs, four, and
pamphlet almanacs, eight cents each. College
diplomas ten dollars.
The duties on every paper used in legal pro
ceedings, declaration, plea, rejoinder, affidavit, &c,
must inevitably have closed the courts of justice
to ordinary suitors.
The scarcity of a circulating medium, if the
people had not risen en masse to oppose it, would
have rendered the enforcement of the Act abso
lutely impossible. There was no straw to make
brick. Chief Justice Ilasell, a zealous and en
lightened loyalist, wrote to Governor Tryon from
Salisbury, under date of 25th April, 1767, that
"in the progress of his circuit, he found the in
habitants of the back country quiet, but not one
advocate for the stamp duty, and scarce any specie
circulating among them." Less than a year there
after (2d February, 1768,) we find Gov. Tryon
WESTERN DEMOCEAT, CHARLOTTE,
writing to the Earl Shelburn as follows: " 1 shall
take the liberty, my Lord, to represent to you two
or three causes ot the inconvenience this country
is under, for the want of a greater medium of
trade. The distresses the public in general, and
many families in particular, experience, proceed
in some measure, from the receivers of the public
taxes being frequently under an obligation to dis
train for the taxes levied in support of govern
ment. These effects put up to sale, cannot always
purchase money, from its scarcity, sufficient to
answer the taxes demanded; yet, perhaps by the
sale, the owner will be greatly distressed, if not
ruined."
The Stamp Act, though oppressive in the number
and amount of its exactions, was not unwise in princi
ple. It would have operated with comparative equali
ty upon all classes of the communitj-. The maritime
and more opulent districts would have yielded much
the larger proportion of revenue to the royal exchequer.
The merchant, the planter and the capitalist, would
have been taxed in a ratio corresponding with the ex
tent of their operations.
The provincial system of taxation was as unwise as
it was oppressive, and it was oppressive in a degree
not ordinarily understood, because never experienced
by the masses since the Revolution. It was unequal in
its effect on different sections of the country, and not
less unequal in its operation upon individuals iu the
same section.
The maritime districts were populous and wealthy
as compared with the interior: the south western es
pecially, as contrasted with the northwestern portion
of the province. With the exception of a small reve
nue derived from imported liquors, the expenses of the
government were defrayed by a poll tax. The poorest
man, not absolutely a pauper, contributed the same
amount with the richest, and in all countries, at all
times, the poor and those in moderate circumstances
constitute the great numerical majority.
The same inequality prevailed in relation to quit
rents. Three shillings sterling (seventy-five cts.) were
paid to the King in the southern, and to Lord Granville
in the northern tier of counties, on every hundred acres
of land, without respect to improvements, situation, or
fertility.
It will be easy to illustrate the oppression then en
dured by the Regulator, by a comparison of the Rela
tive amount of taxes paid by a freeholder in 17t9 and
1359. Take the case of the head of a family of six
persons, with a freehold of 1000 acres, worth, what
few freeholds were worth at that day, ;i dollar an acre.
All males then above the age of 16 paid poll tax; the
range is now narrowed to between 21 and 45. The
proportion of polls in a family was more than 2 to 6;
at present. 1 to 6. On the 21st of June, 1768, Gov.
Tryon wrote to a committee of Regulators as follow s:
''As you want to be satisfied what is the amount of the
tax for the public service, I am to inform you that it is
seven shillings a taxable, besides the county and parish
taxes, the particulars of which I will give to Mr Hun
ter." What were the rates of county taxation at that
time we have no means of ascertaining, and can there
fore enter into no computation of comparative amounts.
The quit rents on 1000 acres of land in 1767, amounted
to $7 50; the public tax on two polts at 87 cents each,
$1 75; vestry tax on two polls 2; making the aggre
gate amount $11 25. At present, under the greatly
increased rates of taxation, rendered necessary by our
extended system of internal improvement, a freeholder,
under similar circumstances, would pay on land valued
at $1000, $2 one and a half polls, $1 20 in all
$3 20. Tor a quarter of a century previous to entering
upon the construction of railroads, the State tax of a
freeholder, in like condition, would have been 60 cents
on his land, and 30 cents poll tax; in all about one
thirteenth of the amount required of the Regulator
ninety years ago.
The statements of Governor Tryon, with respect to
the scarcity of money, and the difficulty of obtaining
the requisite amount to pay taxes, will secure credence
for the following narrative :
Joseph McPherson, who in 1819 resided near Salem,
informed the late Dr Mitchell, of the University, that
he removed from the neighborhood of Wilmington to
Chatham in 1765, fought with the Regulators at the
Battle of Alamance, aud at the beginning of the Revo
lution removed to the county of Stokes, w here he then
lived. He stated that during the period of the Regula
tion, '"he went with his father to Cross Creek, now
Fayetteville, w ith a load of wheat of 40 bushels. They
could get five shillings per bushel, but of this only one
shilling was paid in money ; or they could get a bushel
of salt for a bushel of wheat. On their return thej' had
40 shillings cash aud were able to pay their tax, which
was more than any other in the settlement could do."
Caruthers, in his Life of Caldwell, appends the follow
ing averment to MePherson's statement : "Several old
men in this county have given me a similar account of
the price of wheat, as well as some other articles, and
they added that if they could save 40 shillings, or five
dollars, iu money, for 40 bushels of wheat, they thought
they were doing a first rate business."
If" the Provincial system of taxation was unwise and
oppressive, the Principle which regulated public expen
diture was not less absurd and iniquitous. Salaries
were nominally small, but, in almost every instance,
foes of indefinite and unknown amount were connected
with salaries. The fees to which the Governor was
lawfully entitled on marriage licenses, and licenses to
keepers of ordinaries and tippling houses, must, in the
aggregate, greatly have exceeded the salary allowed to
the Chief Magistrate at t he present day. Judges, clerks,
sheriffs, and all the officers connected with the adminis
tration of justice were compensated for their services,
in whole or in part, by fees. It is impossible, in the
nature of things, that everj' department of the govern
ment should not have become corrupt under such a sys
tem, and that all became so there is conclusive proof.
The expenditure of the public money, moreover, was
in inverse ratio to population and taxation. Two-thirds
of the voters resided in, and two-thirds of the taxes
proceeded from, the Granville Patent. The northern
tier of counties was the minority in the provincial legis
lature, nevertheless, two-thirds of the public patronage
were dispensed by the representatives of one-third of
the tax-payers.
Enfeebled by ill-health and advanced age. Governor
Dobbs obtained permission in July, 1764, to visit the
mother country. On the 10th October, Lieut. Col. Wil
liam Tryon arrived at Brunswick with a commission
and instructions to assume the duties of the executive
department, during the absence of the Governor, and
with the expectation of succeeding him at an early day.
He found the province in an unquiet state. The extor
tions practiced by clerks, sheriffs, nttornies, and other
officers, had sown the seeds of the Regulation broadest,
especially in Granville, Orange, Anson, and Rowan.
Governor Dobbs was engaged in an unpleasant contro
versy with the Provincial Legislature, in relation to
the prerogative right which he claimed to appoint a
public printer, and the restrictions upon trade appre
hended as the natural result of the Stamp Act. From
tliee troubles he was relieved by death, on the1 28th
March, in the following year, in the 82d year of his age.
It is apparent that Col. Tryon, from the first day of
his arrival, had been awaiting the departure of" Gover
nor Dobbs with great impatience; and the equanimity
with which he sustained himself on hearing of his
death, is thinly veiled by the terms in which he an
nounced the event to the Earl of Halifax :
"Wilmington, 2 April. 1765.
"Last Thursday Governor Dobbs retired from the
strife and carei of this world. Two days before his
death he was busily employed in packing up his books
for his passage to England. His physician had no oth
er means to prevent his fatiguing himself, than by tell
ing him he had better prepare himself for a much lon
ger voyage. I have got into my possession the seal of
the province, and many public papers. The orders and
instructions from your Lordship shall be obeyed with
all possible dispatch. As my pation, my Lord, I hope
you will allow me to call on your Lordship's goodness,
to forward his Majesty's most gracious promise to ap
point me Governor to his Province."
Tryon held at this time a commission as Lieut. Colo
nel in the QueeW's Guards, and had accepted the ap
pointment of Lieut. Governor of North Carolina, with
the distiuct understanding that he was to retain his
rank in the army without disparagement. He was a
gentleman of address, tact and courage, of more than
ordinary ability, but passionate, unrelenting and narrow-minded.
He was now embarking upon a sea of
troubles that might well have appalled the clearest
head and stoutest heart. The Regulators were to be
quieted or subdued. The Stamp Act was to be execu
ted, or it authors foiled and disgraced. The whole
amount of specie in the Province would not have ena
bled the inhabitants to pay the stamp duties, and the
home government obstinately refused permission to emit
paper money. The Regulators, known as yet as The
Mob, were arrayed in the northern portion of the Prov
ince, against the extortion and malpractices of the offi
cers of government, and the entire population excited
to madness against the system of internal duties with
which they were menaced by the mother country.
TO BE COJJTIXIED.
Foreign Intelligence.
The Vanderbilt has arrived with London dates
to Thursday the 15th.
It was stated in London, that Spain had returned
an evasive answer to the question asked by Eng
land touching the concentration of troops in the
neighborhood of Gibraltar.
A Florence correspondent of the London Times
says that it was reported that Pope Pius 9th had
received extreme unction, a sacrament adminis
tered to the dying.
Advices received at Madrid from Tangier, state
that in consequence of the agitation caused by the
' death of the Emperor of Morocco, all the foreign
; Consuls at that place had barricaded their houses
; and armed theit defendants AH the Christians
in the Empire were leaving in haste. Another
account states that the families of the Consuls had
taken refuge on board of a Spanish steamer.
The Florence correspondent of the London Times
says that a treaty was signed on the 26th of Au
gust between the Papal government and the Queen
of Spain, by which the latter engages to occupy
the Roman States with her troops, when the French
forces are withdrawn
It is reported that Schamyl has been taken priso
ner and sent to St. Petersburg.
Austria is making great concessions to her Pro
testant subjects.
Some of the Madrid journals had published ar
ticles on the necessity of taking Gibraltar from the
English, no matter by what means.
The feed pipe of the Steamship Great Eastern
exploded on the 9th inst., off Hastings, (Eng.) kill
ing five firemen and wounding others. The fit
tings and decorations of the grand saloon were torn
to pieces. The shock was great. It will take
three weeks and five thousand pounds to repair
damages.
The China mail had reached London, bringing
full details of the conflict near Pekin. The pro
portion of officers wounded there was very large.
Rear Admiral Hope was very seriously wounded.
The Chinese war has been renewed. The Chi
nese had erected new forts mounting nine hundred
guns at the mouth of the Pieho, and also barrica
ded the entrance of that river. As the allied fleet
with the ambassadors on board appcoached, the
forts were unmasked and poured a terrific and de
structive fire upon the fleet. Three gun-boats
were destroyed.
The English landed a thousand men, upon whom
the forts poured a hurricane of shot, shell and
rockets, producing terrible havoc. Five hundred
out of a thousand allies were killed or wounded.
Many boats with wounded were struck and swamp
ed. Every shot told. Russian features were dis
tinctly visible at the Chinese guns.
The Times says that Government had decided
upon dispatching to China immediately several ad
ditional steam and sail frigates, together with a
large reinforcement of troops. Orders had already
been despatched to the naval rendezvous for enlist
ing men, and in order to expedite matters, the
coast guard were to be called on to volunteer.
Mercantile letters from China generally concur
in the view that hostilities there will not cause any
material interruption of the tea trade The natives
of Shanghai were much annoyed at what had hap
pened; consequently no ill feeling was anticipated
but still it was believed that England would
have to send out a very large naval and military
fbrce. and perhaps to blockade several ports in or
der to bring the Emperor to submission.
A PAST YOUNG MAN.
A clerk in the Fulton Bank, New York, at a
salary of SI ,000, has been detected in purloining
01,000 from that institution. He took large
sums of money from the Rank to indulge his fash
ionable follies, kept a fine stable of horses, in which
he established another man as the reputed owner,
in order to avoid attracting suspicion, and lavished
large sums of money in a manner inconsistent with
a married man. lie also expended large sums of
money in lottery tickets, in the hope, probably, of
drawing prizes by which he might replace the
money he had taken from the funds of the Rank.
His father, who is cashier in the Bank, it is sup
posed, will make good his son's peculations, but it
will beat the expense of his own impoverishment.
The New York Times, after stating that Lane,
who received a yearly salary of $900, is a married
man, and that he and his wife lived with his father,
relates the following:
After Lane's arrest, on Tuesday afternoon, he
accompanied the officers to a house which he had
hired at No. 280 West Nineteenth street, at an
annual rent of S1,000. Here they were intro
duced to a young woman, named Meserole, with
whom the prisoner stated he had been living for
three or four years, on terms of most familiar inti
macy. The mother and brother of the young wo
man also reside in the same house. Lane con
versed quite unhesitatingly with the officers upon
his affairs. He said that this establishment, which
was magnificently furnished, had cost him a vast
sum of money, and his annual expenditures for its
support had been about 2,000, though, to avoid
exposure, all his bills were made out in the name
of Andrew J. Sparks, a friend of his. After the
introduction to the young woman, officer King re
lated to her the nature of the business on which he
had called, telling her he would be obliged if she
would pass over to him the valuable jewelry which
Lane had previously admitted to have been bouaht
with the fur.ds of the bank, and presented to her.
The lady, without hesitation, acceded to the de
mand, and going to the fire-place, which appeared
to be the repository for her valuables, she produced
her jewel-case. In it were a diamond cross, which
had cost 1,000, one pair of gold bracelets, worth
475 each, another pair of gold linked bracelets,
five diamond rings, a pair of diamond ear-rings, a
gold watch set with diamonds, and other jewelry,
in all worth between five and six thousand dollars.
Next Lane guided the officers to his private stable
in Lexington avenue, near Twenty-first street.
Here he showed them four fine horses, valued at
0,000 one of them alone having cost 1,300 to
transport from Maine, where it had been purchased.
In addition to the horses were quite a variety of
elegant equipages double carriages and single
wagons, fancy sleighs and expensive harness. This
property had all been purchased in the name of
Air. parks, for the reason before mentioned.
Lane stated that he had frequently tried these
animals on the road, but had never yet met their
equals at a trot. The officers wondered that tha
sportsman's taste of the prisoner had never led him
! to purchase a yacht. He had often thought of that
j he said, but truth to tell, the time he could devote'
without fear of detection to his illicit amusements,
was so short that the pleasure of yachting had to
j be necessarily foregone. Calling next to the resi
dence of Mr. Sparks, a trunk found there was
seized by the officers. Lane had placed it there
It contained drafts, securities, and accounts be
longing to the Fulton Rank, but whether of value
or not, failed to transpire. Lane also told the offi
cers that he had expended a large amount of money
ot late in the purchase of lottery tickets A short
time ago he invested in one day 1,000, and upon
anotutr occasion for two weeks every day he bought
oV smlt250- He dw a prize
of o,000, and that had been all th 1 T.
speculation had made him. Disgusted at his ill
I fortune, he relinquished the amusement.
1ST. C.
TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS ON THE
PLAINS.
Two Men subsisting on Grasshoppers and Buffalo bona.
We find the following in the Manhattan (Kansas)
! Express :
News recently reached Fort Riley by two soldiers
who came in on express duty from Praine.Dog
creek, that two men who had started for Pike s
Peak were lying in a starving condition at one of
the distant unoccupied stations of the late express
company of Jones & Russell. The soldiers reported
that if adequate means were sent to their relief, it
was still possible that they might be found alive,
although they were left in a delirous and feeble
condition. 1st Lieut. Charles Griffin and two
others were immediately despatched with what
limited means the quarter-master at the post could
furnish. The philanthropic mission reached its
destination on the third day. Both father and son
were found even in a worse condition than repre
sented. They had been at the station eight days
before they were relieved by the small quantity of
tea, bacon and bread that the sergeant, who first
discovered them, could spare, who gave strict
injunctions to eat very sparingly else death would
ensue, they being so weak that they could scarcely
stand up without holding on to the door.
It appears that they had lived on grasshoppers,
and mildewed corn picked up from among the
excrements left by the animals which had fed at
the station. Providentially, a few young sprouts
of corn were found to be springing up about the
station, and a dried skull of a buffalo had been
thrown aside. They caught from twenty to thirty
grasshoppers every morning while the dew was
still on the grass, until they became too faint to
procure this scanty supply of food, which they had
to husband, in order to make a stew of grasshoppers,
buffalo hides and young corn stalks, in a small tin
cup, to eat at night, to promote sleep and prevent
delirium. Thus they sustained life until they
obtained the cupful of tea, (about a quarter of a
pound,) two loaves of bread, and a pound or two
of bacon, left by the sergeant. When found by
31r Griffin, they were too debilitated to be imme
diately moved. He accordingly left private Machier
to take care of them, and went on another day's
ride to repair his wagon, which had been broken
at the camp Prairie Dog Creek.
The father states that his name is Mr W. Frost,
that he is fifty years old, and that his son Thomas
Frost, who was with him, is seventeen years old,
the eldest of six children the five others behind
at Pottsville, Pa.
;
BANK OF NORTH-CAROLINA.
At a meeting of the Directors of this institution,
held in Raleigh on Saturday the 24th inst., the
following branches were established, to be put in
operation on the 1st of November next : Wilming
ton, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Tarborough, Windsor,
Milton, and Morganton.
The Directors at Wilmington are John Dawson,
President; Gilbert Potter, J. H. Dickson, E. P.
Hall, and D. A. Lamont Officers: W. Reston,
Cashier; W. D. Smith, Teller; J. R. Wright,
Discount Clerk and Rook-keeper.
Directors at Charlotte: John Irwin, President;
A. C. Steele, J. H. Carson, W. J. Hayes, and W.
F. Phifer. Officers : T. W. Dewey, Cashier; S.
E. Relk, Teller and Clerk.
Directors at Fayetteville: A. W Steele, Presi
dent; Ceo. McNeill, E. L. Pemberron, S, J. Hins
dale, and Ceo. Lauder. Officers H. C. Lucas,
Cashier; W Huske, Teller; W. L. Rose, Book
keeper and Discount Clerk.
No Directors appointed at Tarborough. Officers:
V. Chapman, Cashier; W. S. Baker, Tclfer and
Clerk. k
Directors at Windsor: Jonathan S. Tayloe, Pres
ident; David Outlaw, J. E. Fanning, Lewis Thomp
son, J. C. Walton. Officers : L. S. Webb, Cash
ier ; E. Webb, Clerk.
Directors at Milton : Samuel Watkins, President;
Geo. A. Smith, M. McGehee, John Wilson, Geo.
W. Thompson. W. R. Hill, Cashier.
Directors at Morganton : T. G. Walton, Presi
dent ; Dr. S. Tate, W M. Walton, J. Rutherford,
and W. C. Erwin. No officers appointed at present.
The following officers were appointed at the
Principal Rank, Raleigh, G. W. Mordecai having
been heretofore appointed President, and C- Dewey,
Cashier, to-wit: W. E. Anderson, Teller; Jordan
Womble, jr., Discount Clerk and Book-keeper;
Seaton Gales, Clerk. Raleigh Standard.
A
Ohio.
Business-Like Elopement. The
Courier, tells the following' storv:
Alton,
On the forks ot Wood River, there has lived for
... r
ten years past an honest German named Henry
Webber, a happy husband and father of six chil
dren. Last week, on going home to dinner, he
was surprised told his team hitchdd to his wagon,
the household furniture loaded in the wagon, in
which were also the wife and six children, all ready
to start. On inquiring what all this meant, his
hired man, also a German, gave Webber to under
stand that it was none of his business, and present
ed a six-shooter at Webber, jumped into the wagon
and deliberately drove off, since which Webber has
had no tidings of his wife, children, horses, wagon
or household furniture. Webber had not the
slightest, reason to believe hiwife unfaithful, or
that she was in any decree dissatisfied. He mar
ried her after a strictly business fashion. Some
twelve years ago, while acting as flour packer for
Wise & Lea, he thought he 0ught to get married.
Too much occupied iu business to court a wife, he
wrote to a female friend in SL Louis, whom he had
known in Germany, to selefct a wife for him. In
a few days his St. Louis friend replied to him, sta
tins that she had made jrfie selection, and re nest
ed him to come down am a given day and marry
the woman selected. I On the day appointed he
went to St. Louis, saj the woman, married her,
and returned with he to this city the same eve
ning, and ever since he has lived happily with her.
Her departure was as business-like as her marriage.
re was as
XYGKN
OXYGftNATED BITTERS.
5Cr Read the fbflowing letter from Caleb Parker, Esq.,
of Concoid, N. H., la man honoied and esteemed by all who
know hun: i
Gentlemen: YVih no disposition to make my name con
spicuous, 1 take ihe opportunity to state io the afrlicttd the
benefit 1 have deprived from the use of Or. Green's oxygen
ated Bitters, and' to recomme.id them to others. For two
years I have beetii troubled with indigestion and its attend
ant evils, such a flatulency, constipation, severe attacks of
diarrhoea, accompanied with water brash t the stomach,
which reduced ;e in flesh, strength and spirits, so low that
i was nearly uunttea tor oueiness, iroin I Be use ol the
Ox. genated fritters I obtained immediate relief, having no
return of wier brash after taking the first portion. I can
truly say that I consider the OAyignated bitters the best tome
extant. Respectfully, CALEB PARKER.
Fur sals by E. NYE HUTCHISON & CO., Charlotte.
OctoAer 4.
OCT Physicians are generally I- th to speak a word in praise
of what are called "patient med cines." Indeed, it is an
article in the code of medical ethics, that a physician who
sanctions the use of patent mtoVn-rs ( ai i o be a mem
ber of the National Association. But there are exceptions
to the most stringent rules, and many of the disciples of
Esculapnis ha it actually been compelled, by the facts, to
if commend the use ot Dr. J. Hosteler's Stomach Bitters,
kr those diseases which are particularly prevalent during
ihe summer and fall. They have ascertained that there a'e
,no remedies in the pharmacopta which can compare with
h s w Miderfut compound for derangement of the system
Thousands of families resi ling along the low ground of the
Western and Southern rivers, are now convinced thai they
have found a mndicine peculiarly adapted to their ailments,
while in other portions of the country, duriuf the summer
mon'hs, the demand for the article is equally large.
Sold by druggists and dealers generally, everywhere.
F.r sale in Charlotte by E. NYE HUTCHISON A CO
September 6.
Method to Increase the Size of Fruit,.
solution of copperas applied to apples, &c '"ft
said by a French author, will cause them to'cJ
much larger than usual. It should be eruployj
three or four times during the season, comment
when the fruit first sets, and being repeated y
periods before the fruit begins maturing, fi,
applications should be made after sunset never
in a sunshiny day. Sulphate of iron, (copperas)
it is well known, induces rapidity of absorption
The use of sulphate of iron has been prescribed
a specific against the black knot in plum trees. ft
must be applied after the kuot has been removed
by excision.
State ot Jf. Carolina in ion rouufy.
Court of Pleat and Quarter Sessions July Term, '
The Securities of Joshua Sikes, dee'd, late Sheriff 0f
Union county, having returned into Court for sale the
following Tracts of Land for arrearages of Tag for
the years 1854-55, to-wit.
One tract belonging to Arnold Falks, containing 113
acres, lying on Lane's Creek.
One tract belonging to John H Plyler, containin.
108 acres, lying on Lynche'8 creek.
One tract belonging to Jonathan William?, conti8.
ing 100 acres, lying on Meadow Branch.
One tract belonging to James A Dunn, containing 64
acres, lying on Negro-head creek.
One tract belonging to John D Caskcy, containing 50
acres, lying on Rea's Fork.
One tract belonging to Aaron Mullis, containing 200
acres, lying on Richardson's creek.
One tract belonging to William Brantly, contaiuio
152 acres, lying on Gourdvine creek.
One tract belonging to Charles Austin's heirs, con.
taming 40 acres, lying on Richardson's creek.
One tract belonging to John McCollum; containing
200 acres, lying on Richardson's creek.
One tract belonging to Wm C Tarlton, containing loo
acres, lying on Rocky River.
One tract belonging to P W Groot, containing K3
acres, lying on Crooked creek.
One tract belonging to the Marion Gold Mine Com
pany, containing 50 acres, on Duck creek.
One tract listed as the Alexander land, containing
200 acres, on Twelve mile creek.
One tract belonging to James Collins, containing 98
acres, on Negro-head creek.
One tract belonging to John M Liles, containing 300
acres, on Crooked creek.
One tract belonging to Thomas Durham, containing
100 acres, on Twelve mile creek.
One tract belonging to J Clark Davis, containing 129
acres, on Twelve mile creek.
One tract belonging to John K Harrison, containing
500 acres, on Crooked creek.
AND it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court
that the above named persons reside beyond the limit
of this State; it is therefore ordered by thv Court tbt
publication be made for six successive weeks in the
Western Democrat, notifying said non-residents to &p
prar and answer according to law.
Witness, J. F. Hough, Clerk of our said Court at
office in Monroe, the first Monday in July A. I). 185&,
and in the 84th year of American Independence.
80-Gt J. F. HOUGH, Clerk.
H. B. WILLIAMS & 0.
HAVE just received a large supply of superior IU0
COFFEE, imported direct to Wilmington, N. C.
Also, a large supply of TEA, imperial and gunpowder;
Coffee-SUGARS, the best article.
September 20, 1 859.
JUST RECEIVED, a superior article of HAMS,
made and cured in Pennsylvania a new article
in this market. H. B. WILLIAMS & CO.
Sept. 20, 1859.
A GOOD supply of Tennessee BACON, cheap for
cash. H. B. WILLIAMS & CO.
NEGROES WANTED.
I want to buy Negro Boys and Girls from 1 2 to )S
years old, for which the highest prices iu casli nilAe
paid.
May 17, 1859 SAML. A. HARRIS.
School Notice.
THE Third Session of Sharon Acadrmv willhf
opened on the FIRST MONDAY in SEPTEMBER
Terms per Session of Five Months :
English Branches $ 1 50
Latin, Greek, Geometry, Surveying. &c, 12 50
Good board can be obtained in the neighborhood of
the Academy at $7 per month.
H. K. REID.
Aug. 30, 1859. tf
FISHER & BURROUGHS
ARE NOW RECEIVING THEIR STOCK OF
GOODS,
And to meet the LARGE INCREASE OF
THEIR TRADE, have laid in a much larger
Stock than usual ! !
ID" It will be complete in all articles, of
DRESS GOODS,
HOUSE FURNISHING GOODS
Rugs and Oil Cloths,
NEGRO CLOTHS,
HATS,
Shelf Hardware,
Anvils, Bellows,
IRON & STEEL,
Straw Cutter, Corn Sheller
An examination of the above Stock is re
spectfully solicited.
Sept. 27. 2m