North Carolina Newspapers

Spirits Turpentin e POBLIBHSD AT- 'TLMIIlsrG-TOlT. 1ST. O., $1 .50 a Tear, in advance. 8SSSS8SSSSSSSS8SS as'g'gassgg'g'g'g'gggg'gj' S8SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSS888SS8 83888888888883888 SSSSSSSSSSS3SSSS3 SSSSSS888S88888S8 3 eo a t- o ri so i- oo 8S88S8'S8S888S8S8S 3So8S833338SS3S38 rojooiooiro6o50jjrojjigggg a ea-i - -- -- -- -- - - - 3" ------------- OS, Entered at the Post Office, at Wilmington, N. CM as second-class matter.J Subscription Price. The subscription price of the WEKK Star is as follows : . S inple Copy 1 year, postage paid, $1.50 " 6 months. " " it g it tt tt 1.00 .50 TIIK ALUEMtliLK NKCTIO. Whilst the mineral sections of Westeru North Carolina have for years attracted the attention of the miners and speculators; of the North and many investments 'Iiavc been made, other sections have been some what overlooked. Eastern North Catoliua that fertile and wonder ful watered country Ijing in the imsi and known as the Albemarle n gion, i well worth attention, and eooner r later will attract desirable immigrants just as it did in the -ailier history- of our State. Any one who has ever travelled thiough the Urge section east of J.icknon and extending . to Elizabeth Citv, ami from Ed" ecu in be to Pas (juoiank, must have wondered at the richness of soil, the beaut of teetit i, the wouderiui arrangements of naiurt', with its sounds and rivers and outlet to the ocean. ' Why all this btmi li.es not teem with wealth is - - Mmei'.hitii to be astounded at. What iiiiiMt ik-im 1 il u n ut r i tf na I It u t i u i- i ' elier, i. great r facilitier of.coniiuUti ititHMi with the nier world rail- roail.i and V T wiii li e ah Jegrajih.x. Tliene they iniigh North Carolina Ji.i- 1-M(t! very, veiy little to devi'lnp i- I Hid of coin and wine tin- E'VT'.f the South .It, is n von i r i mm tax uiyers f tii u .n i . -I". rfji-ii t. c im i ' ;t ii 1 . l l-.llt un l r laxation i liuil-i" u. " '-r --oi.mijj wIm ii ill ir'iii wa m c i i i : -1 y i el I'ioke-1 iml neyli ctnl. iu a belter time is coming- is - - I -H--ar at hand. In a short time the railroad from Elizibeth City to Nor foik, Va., will have been completed. Already there is telegraphic commu nication from various towns with the great centres!. After awhile the mail facilities will be better and the news papers the great patrons and agen cies of civilization will extend their area of conquest and be more sought after. The peojJle of that attractive section are unusually hospitable and kindly. They know how to entertain strangers aud to make them feel that they are among' true North Caro linians ''native and to the manner horn." In the Norfolk Virginian of a few days ago there was reproduced in part the letter of a tourist concern ing Eastern North Carolina, and we propose to give some of the observa tions a larger hearing. The writer, like all intelligent, observant, stran gers, was much impressed with what he saw with the uncommon induce ments held pat to the settler. It is a broad region 'but little, known to those who dwell elsewhere. We quote : "A few shrewd ones have worked it quietly for several years. These waters are oue grand, oyster bed. There ia a big fortune in these oyster beds, not to Metik of the thousands of ao.tph nt nncnlti- vutvd truck land, which yields 1,000 per ceut. profit i a early peas and potatoes." The Nautical Gazette, copying this, was pleased to add : - The day is not far distant when thou sands of tons of steam and sailing vessels wHl tind steady and lucrative employment in these inland waters, whose shores" when developed wij return many hundred-fold tiie investments made in this section. Young men seeking future homes wou'd do well to visit these walets " Alt S 1 VI 1 W - ml.li.li . . m rm- w. n a-n Ik close neighbor to. this fertile co.untry that in the! future must flow with : milk and honey, is kind enough to cnnRrm what. a aa'iA on it trtnTH - I "It can, with but slight effort, be made a perfect garden spot. Peas can be produced a early as in Florida; strawberries as early almost as in ' South Carolina; potatoes, lurnips," tomatoes, melons, and . all the articles of truck can be raised and shipped to the markets of Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia. ! Boston and Providence. where the ptices are highest. Rice can also be successfully cultivated, and the crop III II II IUI 1 17 . II A II A II X II I 7V ' II ' 11 VOL. XII. now being hntveit-dj in the vicinity of New Berne is eatimiti d at lix y thout-and bushels. Again, the pea crop) is planted early in FeJiruary an I gtherrd in April, when the same land cmi he immediately planted in cotton, whieh is picked iu October thus giving l o markeuble crops annually." So this naturally well favored land prormsf s to be j no longer neglected, is very specially Its past history cared for by Mr, Moore in his re cent history of our State, and its peo ple havK "united, we are glad to know, in iesolving to take care of them selves in the future. With all that modern science and inventive genius and "go" can furnish the Albemarle region will blossom as the rose and flourish as Egypt! does after one of the file's inundatious. Twelve years ago we were seated in the late Judge : Heath's law office in Memphis, Tennessee. Me was not a native North jCaroliuian, - bat he had pent his manhood in the Eden ton portion of the State. A few years before we met him iu Memphis he had left the old State and sought a home among strangers. We sat and talked of our Stale -of old times and of the men of the past. The eye of the able and then aging jurist filled with tears and with tremulous speech he said tendeily 'Ah, sir, I would rather lo-day be living in the Albemarle section of North Carolina than anywhere else upon God's green earth." . Our feelings were respon sive so far as North Carolina was i concerned. Temporarily, we were away from our people and our heart yearned again for the simple habits and the warm hearts aud the touoh of the friendly hands of those among whom wh had been reared. We turned with longing-eyes to the hills of our childhood, and to the skies that look bluer and lovelier and brighter to us thai the fckies of other lands. We couli) enter fully into Judge Heath's feelings. In two or three years that able man, bioken in for tune and iu heaith, relurued to North Carolina, Inn not to the beautiful land of the bys and the 'rivers for which ins heart longed so tenderly, but t th- mountains that look eter nal; there to lay himself down to die. oieep in peace, thou loyal, true- heai it d adopted; ton of North Caro lina, Hitd may gratitude and affection reir t ihy m inory a fhaft to tell of tiiv vinuts andiihy devotion! KOK PIC ESI- It KM X. given the matter of electoral system that ; chn.i- in !hej ;i u i nun ii. tiuiiiuy us to speas posi tively :-iierniiig it. The present hyctein, when viewed superficially at least, has the appearance of being needlessly cumbrous. Why should not the people vote directly for Pres ident and Vice-President, just as they do for any ether officers ? Why should men hold the highest offices in the land to which they have never been elected by a majority of the qualified voters? 1 Mi. Lincoln lacked hundreds of thousands of votes' of i j having a majority of the votes cast. Mr. Garfield is a minority President elect. ' , j ' - It has happened, as in California, that owing to the unpopularity of one of the electoral candidates, Gen. Hancock lost a vote that would have settled the question if the . scenes of 1876 had been' repeated. No doubt there were good 'and satisfactory-rea-sous for the adoption of the electoral system at the! time, but do those rea sons hold now ? i Ilayet hey not been removed by the changes that have been wrought in the .progress of events ? Under the present system a candidate,chosen by the people really, may be defeated through a mere clerical blunder or through purposed neglect. We have f not considered the subject in all of its bearings and will not now attempt to dogmatize about it, or to say emphatically as our final judgment that the system ought to be changed. But we will content ourselves with the opinioD, that according to our present under standing, there is much reason to abolish the electoral system and adopt one that promises to give more satisfaction to all concerned.; The matter should be considered in a purely non-partisan light.; Sooner or later the Republican party is as apt to be damaged quite s much by the retention of the electoral system as any other party j. and the evils of the system and theie are evils in it beyond question ought to be con sidered without party passion. We find the following in the Balti more Gazette : ; "The truth is the electoral college is an antiquated formality which has no power ii .I T il sj r i r a nii i P W L v MY HiV. I WILMINGTON, N for good, and, aa we have intimated, may have great power for evil; Originally it was intended to be a deliberative body, the electors being supposed to exercise a cer tain amount of discretion! in determining their choice. .As a matter of fact, bow ever, the elector is purely, a formal and perfunctory personage his duty being sim ply to cast his vote for President in the manner indicated by his constituency. For all practical purposes the people might just aa well vote directly for President and Vice-President, and . if this method of determining the result were adopted the chances of making mistakes such as that which occurred Indiana would be greatly diminished, while the loss of a vote owing to the unpopularity of a candidate for elector, as happened in California, would be impossible." . ' We suppose that before another Presidential election the subject will be thoroughly discussed. From a free and full discussion all the points necessary to arrive fat a judicious and safe conclusion may be evolved. THB PUBLIC-SCHOOL IN NEW BNGtAItD A FAlIiTJHE. We make it a point; to read nearly everything we see from the pen of Richard Grant White. As a critic of Shakespeare he ranks with the first.' His fame is European. Mr. Rolfe, in his admirable edition of the i great dramatist, says if he were to be restricted to one edition of Shakes peare he would prefer White's. But Mr. White is not only a very able critic, but' be is a most instructive and enjoyable writer. His papers on England are quite delightful, whilst his two books on the English lan guage are valuable and edifying. Mr. White has a very significant paper in the December number of the North American Review, entitled "The Public School Failure." Com ing from a Northern writer of so much influence and celebrity the pa per is most noticeable. But we do not purpose dealing with but one point he raises. It is a point that years ago we touched uponMn these columns, and we are glad to find ourselves sustained by the large ob servation and extended inquiry of so acute and able an author. The point raised is that education is not a pre ventive or cure oficrime. Such enthusi asts and religious agnostics,as the late Horace Manu believed that education was the great panacea of the age the universal catholicon. Educate the people intellectually aud crime would disappear. We insisted then, and insist now, that moral training is more necessary thau mere intellectual training. This is not the opinion of such very able writers as Buckle aud men of his school, but it appear to be sound, nevertheless. But let us see what Richard Gr.mt White has to say about the effects of education upon public morals. Let us see if education alone is the great corrective of vice and crime. Let us see if crime is more prevalent in the ignorant or in the more highly edu cated States. What says Mr. White, one of the ablest of Northern litera ry men? We quote from page 547, and the extract is long but it will pay the reader richly. He says: I "For the census returns show that crime, immorality, and insanity are greater in proportion to population in those com munities which have been long under the influence of the public school system than they are in those wMch have been without it. The system, be it remembered, is of -New England origin, and the New England States have been longest under its influence. The States south of the Potomac are those which were longest without it; and, indeed, in them it has hardly yet obtained favor or foothold. . Let us compare the statistics of population, of literacy and illiteracy, and of crime in these two classes of States, care fully eliminating from our calculation the influence of foreign immigrationjupon the: criminal record of the Northern States, which the particularity of the census re turns enables us to do. The comparison is between the native white populations of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hamp shire, Vermont, Maine, and Rhode Island on the one band, and the same population of Delaware, Viriginia,- Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia on the other. These are all original States of the Union, Maine excepted; but Maine was always a part of New England. "The census Of 1860 shows that the New England States bad a native white popula tion 2.665,945 in number, and of these there were but 8,543 adults who could not read and write. The six Southern States men tioned above had 3,181,969 native white in habitants, among whom there were 262,802 adults who could not read and write. In the New England States, therefore, the na tive whites who could not read and write were in the proportion of one to 312, while J in the six Southern States the proportion of wholly illiterate whites was one to -12 Now, it ignorance is the mother of vice, of crime, of wretchedness, and of all that goes to make up bad citizens, the excess of the criminal classes in the Southern States should have been in something like the pro portion of 312 to 12. But it was not so. On the contrary, the proportional excess of crime, of pauperism, of suicide, and of in sanity (and among the native white inhabi tants, be it remembered) was very much greater in the New England States; for in 1860 they had in their prisons 2,459 crimi nals, while the six Southern States had but 477. New England society, formed under the public school system, produced one na tive white criminal to every 1,084 inhabi tants; while the Southern States, which had been almost entirely withouut that system, produced only one to every 6,670 a dispro portion of more than six to One I The New England States had one publicly supported pauper -to every 13,285 of the population; . but the others had only one to every 56,584. The Census of 1860 has no record of insan-. ity;bnt that of 1870 shows in New England one insane person of those born and living C., FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1880. in the several States to every 800 native born inhabitants; but in the six Southern States in question only one to every 1,682 native inhabitants. Strange fd say.foremost in this jsad record stand Massachusetts and Connecticut, which , have rhad common schools': since 1647 and 1650 Respectively, as was remarked in. the beginning of this article! the former producing one native -white criminal to every 649 native white in habitants; the latter, one to every 845." i ti ¬ lt you would make education re formatory you must have the educa tion of the head and of the heart go hand in hand. Education can not be relied! upon as a corrective of immo rality land vice unless children are trained in the lessons of virtue and honbr and truth. 2Ir. jWhite says that the statistics he adduces do not show that " knowledge it incompat ible with virtue, thrift, good citizen ship, and happiness," or, on the Other j hand, "that ignorance isjrther motheY of vice." He thinks the statistics show that " ignorance has no neces' sary connection with vice." This is true,qoublless, but one thing must be not overlooked. Ignorance is gene rally the result of extreme poverty, and the conditions of extreme pover ty are such that vice is a plant which is more apt to spring up in such soil and to thrive with more rankness f i than in other and altogether different eurroundings. The mistake in education, as it pre vails in the North, it strikes us, is, that jit has been relied upon as the great and, almost, only instrument for elevating man. Give him education of mind, and the theory is, you will improve and purify the natural man and make him superior to the temp tations of crime and gross immorality. But t has not worked out that way, as Mr. White shows. What then? We think you must make education and religion work together. The chil dren of the land must be taught that there is a God who will not regard sin With allowance, who rewards the good and punishes severely and inex orably the vicious. If man shall be lifted up aud rendered j virtuous and pure it must be by other instrumen talities than the mere education of the intellect. Some of the most vi cious men of the world have been highly intellectual and cultured Mr. White says that because of the failure of the common school system it dots not follow that it 'kT not a reformatory agent" that "its influ ence is not to make men good and thrifty and happy" that "it. is not adapted to produce the best govern ment of the people." " He says, how ever, that there is a remedy for the failure or short-comings. And what is jthe, remedy ? It is not, as you might' suppose and we believe to be the true solution to teach children fnoral truths to instil into their yofung and ductile minds lessons of vir tue and religion, and to bring them, if possible, under the influence of true piety, but his cure all is to limit teaching in the common schools to the strictly elementary studies to reading, spelling, writing and the common rules of practical arithmetic. Remit, he says, "all education higher than this to parents, the natural guardians and earthly providence of children." j We have not space to pursue the subject further. We suggest one capital objection to this remedy. In nine oases out of ten among the parents they are unfitted to play the part assigned them. They are not , qualified to impart that "higher edu cation" whether of the mind or the heart whether it be to lead them to God and the highest morality, or even to the insufficient waters of science and literature. , 'IHK fflAN WHO WBlTBSHlinSRLF A FOOL, i j When the New York Sun gets hold of the rascality of an official it never forgets it or forgives it. It took after that chief of "Fools," one Albion W. Tourgee, whilom a Judge in North Carolina, concerning cer tain revelations made before the Fraud Commission, in which it ap peared that the popular slanderer of the South had been bribed in at least two instances, and now it repeats it and asks for an explanation. We drew attention to its first editorjal at the time, and we copy to-day what it said recently. But the Stalwart organs are as silent as death on the subject. They ev er heard; they never will hear that Tourgee is a fraud and a bribe-taker. But even if they knew all that Tourgee was guilty of whilst in North Carolina, including his boarding at Tanceyville with ne groes, and his escapade in Granville as the law partner of one Horsford, and his bribe-taking at the hands of Swepson through the corrnptionibt Littlefield, it would be all the same. They would not respect him any the less, or be less willing to credit every slander he circulates in books against the people he helped to rob in 1868 and 1869. - This Tourgee is very smart. He has ability with the pen, and he is acute and sharp, j Ha knows how to feather his ne6t. He has always known how to do this. When he wrote those lying letters to the Northern papers giving monstrous accounts of the barbarities practiced by North Carolinians upon the poor negroes and the hapless Quakers, and said he had seen the, dead bodies' of oyer twenty of the latter as they were taken from a mill-pond intowhich they had been hurled and where they had been drowned, be was feathering his nest. " And when, after, plucking the goose and killing it, and then packing his little carpet-bag he wended his way whence he came upon his mis sion of plunder and slander, and be gan to ply his vocation of traduction and travesty, he i was feathering his nest still. But it was abuse of the South that constituted the staple of production and that would sell "like hot cakes," so what cared Tourgee or his admirers ? But we did not purpose writing a dozen lines, but wished merely to copy what the Sun said, which was as follows : "The Springfield Republican calls Mr. Albion VV. Tourgee to account for some misrepresentations in one of his political romances. The point seems to be well taken. Mr. Tourgee should correct his book in accordance with truth. There is another matter, however, of more import ance to Mr. Tourgee, respecting which he would do well to offer an early explanation. We refer to certain allegations, set forth officially in document number eleven, pub lished by the Legislature of North Caro lina, under an act passed in 1877 appoint ing a commission to inquire into charges of corruption and fraud brought against vari ous officials of the State. . According to the report of this commission, made upon the evidence Uken before it, Mr- Tourgee does not enjoy that cleanness of his hands which might qualify him to sit in judgment upon other men." Well said, Mr. un. In North Carolina there is a consentient opin ion as to the bad character of Tour gee. That he is a corrupt, dangerous and smart fellow there is no doubt in I me mma or. any aecem citizen ot mis State. DID IV PASS f The Insane Asylum, of South Carolina, has not sufficient accom modation, and the demand for places is increasing all the time. Gov. Hagood makes two recommendations, in his inaugural, concerning this State institution, that is not without interest. He argues, first, that none should be supported as insane pau pers who are not really paupers, i. e., have no means of their own and no relatives responsible for their sup port; and, secondly, that those.insane persons who are really paupers should be supported at the expense of -the counties sending them. He does not, however, propose that the tax-payers shall be required to support the institution, and then if they should be overtaken with in sanity should have to pay in addi tion for any benefits to be derived from it. Gov. Hagood is not up to our North Carolina way of doing things. But by the way, what became of that insane amendment that was so blindly voted for by so many tens of thousands? We suppose it became a law, but we have not seen the vote. The time may come yet, before the last chapter of the State's history is written, when it will be seen that the provisions of that amendment are not as wise precisely as was appre hended by its friends. The framers did not build as wisely, it may be, as they supposed. Judge Shenck has been indicted by the Grand Jury of Pamlico coun ty for gross neglect of duty. That is right, if Judge Schenck is really, guilty; if Judges do not attend to their business give them the law. Under Radical rule there was the grossest neglect, and sometimes the grossest oppression and corruption, and yet we do not remember that they were ever punished or presented. They ought to have been broken of their ofhees. The English Laureate has publish ed a small volume of poems contain ing several short poems, among oth ers, that are already known to read ers through the magazines, and were copied into the Stab. ' The most of them are fine and worthy of the great singer. NO.7, Criminal court. oitue vs. kj. a. urant, charged with re sisting an officer. Motion by State upon affidavit filed for removal. Motion resisted by defendant upon affidavit tiled Motion granted and cause removed to Peader county for trial, and set for 10 o'clock on Wednesday morning of the first term. Wit nesses recognized and defendant required to give bond in the sum of $100 for his ap pearance. . j State vs. J. hi. Grant, charced with dis orderly conduct. Same, action as above, and same security required and given.; State vs. w. tt. (ioodman. charged ' with assault and battery, in the arrest of J. T. Edens, as heretofore stated. Dsfeodant found guilty. i ! State vs. Kick JJeitoss, charged with as sault and battery. I Case on trial. j ; In the case of Mary Ann Davis, colored, charged with a nuisance, in using profane and obscene language on the street, on trial Wednesday night, defendant was found guilty. J - Tlx FaitTrt)a-HoWbnoTet. Some idea may be given of the fepetd at tained by , the trains connected, witk the fast mail yia the Atlantic Coast Line by stating that, in coming South the time is as follows: From New York to Wilmington, 17 hours and 35 minutes; from Fhiladel hia to Wilmington, 15 hours and 5 minutes; from Baltimore to Wilmington, 12 hours and 30 minutes; from Washington to Wil mington, 11 hours and 10 minutes, and from Richmond to Wilmington, 7 hours and 35 minutes, j One of the first trains after the fast mail schedule went into effect, made the dis tance between Weldon and this city 162 miles in precisely 4 hours, making an average of a fraction over 40 mites per hour. If that is not getting over the ground in a hurry we should like to known what is. j . Mr. W. J. Hand, of j Rocky Point, Pender county, who was in tffe city yesterday, had in his possession a potato, grown on his place, which "takes the rag off the bush," being somewhat in the shape of a still-worm, and straightened out would measure two feet in length . DURHAM IN FLAJtlEy Slxteeu Scores ana Factories Burned. Raleigh; Visitor, Nov. 1. ! It is with deep regret that we learn of a terrible conflagration in our sis ter town of Durham, which com menced this morning about 1 o'clock. We give what particulars we have received up to the hour of going to press. From a private dispatch we get the following: j "Conflagration commenced at 1 o'clock. Sixteen stores and factories burned. Loss over $200,000." From reliable sources wo learn the following further intelligence: j One half of the business part of the town is burned. About fourteen house&Jn . all aretqtally destroyed.. Day's oldt factoryrjow" 6ccupiSd by Thurber & Co. of New York, is the only factory ! destroyed. It was a wooden structure in the middle of the town. Cooper & Lunceford's warehouse is destroyed, with 400 hogsheads of tobacco burned or dam aged. The total net loss cannot now be estimated, as much of the property was insured. It is not exaotly known how the fire originated, but it started in a drinking shop. The fire at 9.30 o'clock this morn ing was still burning, but under con trol. There 13 great excitement in the town, and it is hard to get the correct news or extent of damage. Blackweil, it is thought, is not dam aged at all. The hotel escaped dam age. It was raining during the fire, which fact doubtless saved much property. The estimate and . state ment above given may be changed somewhat from further developments, but, in the main, are correct. No lives lost. Chang, the giant, is in New York. He is nine feet high, with proper development. The Sun thus de scribes him : 'He is gigantic. As he sat there smiling and nodding, his thoroughly Chinese face looked fully as broad as an ordinary man's shoulders, and as long, if not longer, than a flour barrel. His cheek-bones bulge out, and are as large as a full-sized orange. He is thirty-three years old, is the son of a wealthy silk and tea merchant in Peking, where he was born, is well educated, speaks, reads and writes English, German, French, Italian and Spanish, and is thoroughly courteous and gentlemanly. With Chang is his 'secretary,' a bustling, busy, earnest little Frenchman named Neaud, who looks upon the giant with admiration and delight." Blanop Dossett' Testimony. Richmond Christian Advocate. Dying words of Bishop Doggetl: "I claim to have liyed above reproach as a preacher of the gospel. I never was ambitious for office in the church, but I have been ambitious, so to speak, to preach the gospel in the best possible manner in the compass of my ability. I have loved to preach the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ, and oh! bow I have fen joyed it ! The gospel which I have preached to others is my comfort and support now." "As I get near to the gates of the city, the prospect is grand. The idea that I shall pass over and land oh the eternal shore is unspeak ably sublime, aud all through Jesus Christ my Lord ; yes, through Jesus Christ my Lord. I believe in Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God, that," said he (in a sort of parenthe sis), "is my doctrine; the Eternal Son of God, who loved me, and gave him self for me." The "Kurttels" are beginning to put in tin ir appearance at Raleigh. The -Honoiahlc" wilbe along in a few wetks . Dock . McRae, ' colored, broke into a house near Laurinburg on Sui.Ja ; was.arrested for his crime on Monday niid brought to jail onTuesday then on Fri day was tried, convicted and sentenced t. the Penitentiary for four yrnra. - Ail ia lets than a week. Rockingham Spirit A wl.i e rann in Granville stole uu Mti.l, uighi aud caught thirty-nine lashes on I'liuiscay at the whipping potit, which una Ucwti Star. . Wilson Adoance: The South truer says the oldtst Odd Fellow ia tiiu State is again dead. This time ii ia Mr. John Taylor, of Goidsboro. We believe the oldest Odd Fellow in the Slate ia 11. B. Lawrence, of Nash couaty. V?e lenrii tbat Mr. G. E. Matthews, of Rocky Potut has failid. Liabilities $70,000. Mr! J. Michael made an assignment last Satur day to E. Barnes, Jr. Liabilities about $7,000. Raleigh Recorder: ltev. F. U. Woodward, former pastor of the M E vjuutwu ui .cjiizsoeiu Vliy, JM. Kj.t Wns charged with heresy in the Virginia Cou ference and at his own request dUmits d from the body. Gov. W W. Holdcn and Mr. E. J. Hale, of New Yoik n writme inten-eling letters to the Chaiiotic Democrat They are giving sketches f men forty and fifty years ago. We Imvb read i he . letters with pleasai nn.l oroti. aud hope that they will cootii uj to lumUu these pleasant reminiscences. - Raliegh News-Observer : It is needless to say that much money hits been' sunk by the owners of DemociaMc news J papers established, at Raleigh. We know of no political paper, tbat has made )o ii ends meet since 1866, unless the News did so when it bad the public printing in 1873 74. Withiut. going into detail, it may therefore be nssumed that the owners of the News and Observer fet I a great in er est in obtaining this work, heretofore con sidered the legitimate reward of the estob lished party paper. Durham Plant : A neero man wane attempting to go aown in a well ou the premises of Dr. Johnson, Monday, for the purpose of cleaning it out, fell a dist . : t . ance of thirty-five feet. : A fiiend of tbe unsorluuate man standing near by, seeing the fearful accident, hastened to tbe reecue of his supposed dead comrade. He was dis covered to be alive, and was drawn nearly to tbe top, when be was again precipitated to tbe bottom of the well. He was finally drawn up, and seemed to be a little excited. very muddy, but not injured. Charlotte Observer : It is re ported here that a young man named Thos. Broom, living in tbe vicinity of Matthews' Station in this county, accidentally shot himseir, day before yesterday, from which be shortly afterwards died. The Sucerin- dent of the Chester & Lenoir Narrow Gaturn Railroad reports to a South Carolina paper concerning the progress of the work of cob- ' Btruction on tbat road, that the bridge over tbe south f ork, lour miles beyond Dallas, is about completed, and trains can pats over it within the next few days. There is about one mile of grading to do between Dallas and Lincolnton, and with tbe iron now on hand the company has sufficient funds to buy enough for completing tbe road to the latter point. Raleigh. Visitor: We hope our friends throughout the Slate will send iu their names as fast as possible for our weekly edition, which will appear the flist Wednesday iu January next. It will be a twenty four column paper. We are glad to learn that Mr. Joseph B. Batcbelor, Jr., of this city, has received his commis sion as Lieutenant of Infantry in tbe United Stales Army. He has been assigned to tbe 24th Infantry. A prominent man of this city took it into his head tbat to cat a horse was a big thing and the more be thought of it tbe more determined be be- fameto-do,it.JFour weeks ago he com mencea tne tasK ana ended yeeteraay, making jusi one hundred meals, and is sun living, i i ana neaitDy, ana Bays be will eat a mule next. T71 . Ml- T7I nrt r ayeiievuie jzicammer: ine Star ought to recollect that the upper Cape Fear "is moving in that direction." We have a tobacco factory in Fayetteville, of which tbe proptietots are Messrs. Huske & Whitted, who make good qualities- of chewing tobacco, and a very fine article or smoking tobacco. One of the pleasant- esl features and most beautiful sights con nected with the Jb air was tbe attendance of the Graded School on Friday, to the num ber of three or four hundred pupils. They ranged from beautiful young ladies of six teen or eighteen years of age, ugly but stalwart young men of about thr same age, down through the intermediate sUges, to little toddling boys and maidens all with beautiful banners and devices, marching in procession; a fair happy threcg. Charlotte Observer: The Raleigh News-Observer says that on last Saturday the Rockingbam, Mock&ville & Western Railroad Company was chartered at Raleigh under tbe general Railroad law of the State and all the necessary papers filed in the office of the Secretary of Stale, as pre scribed by law. . Tbe road is to extend from the State 'ine, near Danville, through Leaksville, Mocksville and Siateaville, The road will be built to Madison immedi- ately. Major Nicholls, of New York, the engineer in charge, will commence the sur vey in a-few days. The fast mail rtneon't hpinr ii a tnv nearer Tlalfiiffh- Wa are as far away from our State capital as from those of Virginia and Georgia Perhaps tbe only editor of a secular newspaper who is a delegate to the North Carolina Conference, is from Charlotte, and he is stopping at a hotel and paying his own bills. Charlotte is now nine hours from Richmond, Atlanta, Augusta and Raleigh, and will soon be only nine hours from Wilmington. The total of tha bullion assays at the Charlotte Branch Mint for November is $7,698 17. A number of persons in and around Charlotte hnvA aeonrpA frnm th RtntA Rnnerinlftnd - ent of Fish and Fisheries the promise of a lot of German carp. f Asheville News: Notwithstand ing the assertion that tbe building of the pushed with energy," we still say that the Ducktown branch will not be built by the present management. By the tefepf the sale to the Best Syndicate the tbjjfit to ba completed to I'aiat Rock by the 1st of July, 1881, and an equal amount of work is to bo done on tbe Ducktown branch. Up to this time only two miles of road has been com pleted by Best & Co., and on that two miles a greater part of the grading had been done. The road is not completed to the, Asheville depot but stops at the Swannanoa depot, two miles from the contemplated site of the Asheville depot. A gentleman who lives on the Ducktown branch told jus the other day that tbe hands had been taken off that portion of the road, but for what purpose be did not know. Chapel Hill letter: Tbe Slate Experiment Station is again iu full operation. Dr. Dabney, tbe newly appointed Director, has assumed tbe duties of bis position, and Chief Assistant Phillips is at his poet. Tbe corps of workers for this year is as follows: Director, Charles W. Dabney, Pb. D.; As sistant Chemists. W. B. Phillips,' Ph: B,, and James C. Taylor, B. S.; Stenographer, A. D. Mickle. Although extensively ad vertised I doubt if many people of the State understand or appreciate this branch of tbe Department of Agriculture: Not only are free analyses offered of aU-cbemicakr- em ployed iu agriculture, but of all drugs and foods offered for sale which may be fraud M H K I f T 1 1 I . I 1 1 I 1 1 . im U1IUB lUlllUBU U U1.IUK ulently adulterated