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The Huron Expositor, 1879-12-19, Page 11879, 300DS. 7}RING 'MAINS their House. to -day. (101)(18, Man- ry, Gloves, Staple ried Ninmed Hats, and up. and Hats kaver Mantles 1111 25Q up. plea positively Dolmans, are clearing prL•ea which hat we carry x.s to the very ilete Steck we Epular prices, rtmeiit amply ;nter Gloves, Wool Goods, t,-ck to select 0 thoroughly -4 their prices tIni-u those ALE. Ithe whole a Boys' and mts, beauti- Thisia the. $1;,75e :eters, newest St be excel- : R SUITS=. its to select beat ma- :ap. and1.-outlis' A_II iit the prices Ca,11„ s. :lits., PiaitL `,."8Only. rs in DRY - — only one of :them as well be extended the entire NT.—VeflO iand Mrs. E. )gether with rostratowith nor himself nd, although Ls not can- to attend to family. By be noticed zee died a. t accounts a tIittle hopes overv. The are likely to )ered that a, .1\1r. Turner ill, and that died. Con- . have been it is new was Coa- te c aUSG was lig suspect - ti, qui were, 1, aud that have since ;iv results to and that td with the ha., beeu may not be 1. is direct- , -o fur caps All Clothing S-=9. Seal, t,.r. with hues in Als)L fan 7tti,m, Seal, Plush and Ar:...!q variety t vies with or goodsaro i be seen to be n about to spect them HAMA ct THIRTEENTH YEAR. WHOLE NUMBER, 62a. 1 SEAFORTH, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1879, ,S? H 1 LL B ROTH ERS. SEAFORTH, ONTARIO. We take pleasure in thanking the public for the hearty way in which they have responded to our circular. ,THE LARGE BUSINESS That has been done in our House dur- ing the, past two weeks shows that our Opening:Weeks tell of CHEAP GOODS AND PLEASED CUS1OMERS. While we are thus convinced -that we have satisfied a.11 who have given us a call, that we sell TH EAPEST IN -TOWN. We propose to do still more, and intend to sell during the next month COODS AT SUCH TEMPTINC PRICES As will not fail to satisfy the closest buyers. - DRESS GOODS AT COST. WINCEYS AT COST. MANTLES AT COST: SHAWLS AT COST. CLOTHS AT 'COST. CLOTHING AT COST. HATS AND CAPS AT COST. BUFFALO ROBES AT C OST SROCERIES CHEAPER THAN EVER Rememlier the Place —Opposite the Commercial Hotel. HILL BROTHERS, Main Street, Seaforth. { McIMAN BROS., Ilublishers. $1.50 a Year, in Advance. THE CONDITION OF MEMPHIS. THE INVESTIGATIONS OF TilE -NATIONAL BOARD OF HEALTH—A. TALK WITH ONE OF THE EXAMINING PHYS IICIANS— How THE CITY ELLS BEEN CONVERTED INTO A PLAGUE SPOT—HOW THE NA- TIONAL BOARD OF HEALTH PROPOSE TO DEAL WITH IT. NEw Yo, Dpeeraber 12, 1879. The National Board of Health during, the last six weeks has been investigating the present condition of the yellow- fever plague' spot, Memphis, and h s gathered - the most extetasive informati n with re- gard to the causes -which increased the disease in that city, with the assistance of large and. competent corps of United States inepectors and civil engineers. They have examined every -house in the place from garret to cellar, every yard, street and alley, and. now know the con- dition of Memphis iu all its parts. The Board called upon some of the most eminent physicians of the country to visit Memphis and act as counsel to aid itt discoverina the best plan to cleause Memphis and to provide effectively 'against the recurrence of the dreaded epidemic. Among others, one of the most experienced physicia,ns of this city, whose name is preminently con - 'meted with the New -York State Coun- ty and City Health organizations, was invited to take part in the investigation as an expert, and consalt with the board. He has just returned to this city, aird'- on Tuesday he spoke in effoct as follows to your correspondent: The natural advantages for drainage in Memphis are excellent—better than these. of New York. It should be one of the best drained citie„A in the country, whereas it is not drained at all. Every one knows that it sits on a bluff which slopes down to the Mississippi River on one side and to the gullied strearn, the Bayou Gayoso, on the other. This Ba- you Gayoso is blamed for all the sick- ness that has occurred in that city; for there is thrown garbage and all con7 -ceivable species of filth; but there are miniature- Bayou Gayosos in almost every street, alley and byway in Mem- phis, which are infinitely more detri- mental to the public health than the Bayou Gayoso. The Bayou , Gayoso could easily be sewered aud drained just like our covered sewers, its side grassed and Sloped, and then it would be an ornanieut rather than amoffence. Memphis is dirtier than I ever heard or dreamed of—dirtier than Havana, which is saying much. The puly recleaning feature is that they have throwu the swill and garbage into the river eince the frost last touched the city. Bet all the rest of the fl!th goes into the streets, "which are never swept. The greate-e and most disgusting sanitary d.efee: is that the large stores of the city, w -.oh can be &muted by the hundreds. have no proper closets -at all, but simply _provide as substitutes pits in the cellars. From one to four such pits can be found in hundreds of 1 the larger stores. Over many of • the stores people live. The blocks of ground on which the,stores stand are complete- ly covered by the buildings, and this, I suppose, Was the reason why the cellars were used. in this manner. From the cellars arise the disease -generating atlas which fill the buildings and come out through the sidewalk gratings, shaking the finger of death in the faces of pass- ers by. These stores and wholesale es- teblishmente are owned, of course, by _ the largest capitalists and property- holders—the rich then—of the city. They are the great cause of the epii- demic. One man owns some 'of the largest stores in the city; in the cellar of which are a number of these pits. He has no sanitary arrangements even in his private home. He owns hun- dreds of negro shanties which rent from $1 to $5 a mbuth, and are absolutely destitute of sanitary provision. He is probably worth more thau millian of dollars. The filthiness and meanness of such men in great part brought the plague upon Memphis. These are the ceases of the sickness. The usual position for the vaultfor private houses with grounds is 20 er 30 feet away from the wells. Soakage takes place, and the conta,minated well water is always used for cooking and washing and. often for drinking. The city has inadequate waterworks to con- vey some of the splendid water from the Wolf River to the city, but there are no sewers, no closet system. Every time the Mississippi rises the Bayou Gayoso overflows into the -Wolf, contaminating the entire water supply of the city, and the people drink the water just the same. An epidemic is, therefore, augmented by a rise of the Mississippi. Very little bedding, clothing, Mini - tare, carpets, etc., used by yellow fever patients has been destroyed. Store- room upOn storeroom is stacked with mattresses saturated with the poison of fever patients,. and. carpets, sofas and chairs stuffed with yellow fever germs. The inhabitants are too mean to burn up an old infected blanket. If they were let alone they Nebula use these filthy things. They want the use. States to supply theni with new furni- ture and blankets and bedding. They have brought it all on thenaselVes by de- liberately preparing a pest -hole to -live in. One would expect cleaner habits from savages thauthey have practised. The better class of negroes in the mule stables are the cleanest People of Memphis. Pure earth, pure air, and pure water are the great sanitary requirements. Afeitiphis gets plenty of pure air. The streets are broad, but there is pestilence in it because of the city's `filth. The -Wolf River, water is among the best that has been analyzed, and if the water works were moved two or three miles up the river from their present position the city water supply would be pure always. The earth of Memphis is good clay and gravel, but every inch of ground under -Memphis has been con- taminated by its careless inhabitants. They want, first of all, several thousand brooms with which to sweep the cellars, streets, yards and alleys, and an ade- quate number of shovels, hoes and dirt carts to remove the sweepings. The inhabitants should be taught washing, scrubbing and cleaning as children are taught the alphabet. The street gut- ters should be put in order. They are now all of wood—except a few feet in isolated places—which is everywhere decayed and broken in, and many of the gutters are simply earth trenches two or three feet deep, filled with filth, decomposing water, etc. There arethousands of bales of cotton lying in Memphis at present in the gut- ters and dirty streets. They are saturated with yellow and. malarial fever poison, and will take it wherever they go. Eighteeu men in the employ of -the Iowa Central, who handled them, died of the yellow feaer. I saw Memphis while I was there literally wake up from the dead. Hotels with three or four persons in them were filled in a day. Empty streets became full of carts, and cotton was flying about every- where. If the citizens are let alone they will surely sell and send off the contaminated cotton of which I have spokeu. Caricatures ucw appear in the shop windcws making fun of persons who established quarantines against Memphis cotton. They do not think anything about'scatterine the disease. If the National Health Board has its way, an epidemic will not revisit Mem- phis. It is decided definitely to stamp it out. The National Board will re- commead iu its report the Waring sys- tem of sewerage and drainage, which is doubtless the best, , cheapest and simplest for a small city, and least like- ly to get out of order, and this system, at a cost of $250,000, will probably be put into Memphis. They cannot easily get this system outof order, and we know that they would. destroy in a short time anything which could be in- jured. The whole cost of cleansing and redeeming the city will be $1,000,000, and the United States cau and will do the work by spring. The investiga- tions are completed. The cleansing work will begin as soon as the cold weather .sets in. Memphis says she can pay only $100,000 toward the work. Tennessee should pay the rest,but if she refuses the adioining States will be ap.- pealed to. IfLthey do not furnish the money. forthwith, the United States will in all probability think that it is best to advance the funds: At Memphis they have yellowfeverthe year round. They had a dozen cases in six days while I was there that they did not re- port: Even when frost is in the ground, if you close up a building and light a fire you will get disease, because it is in the houses. The air of the place now is likely to make intermit- tent fever, 'measles, smallpox, scarlet fever, malarial fever, or any disease epidemic. If you put a spark of any disease into the place, it will flash it over the city like fire on a prairie. I have not exaggerated these facts one heir's breadth, as you will see when you read the report of the National Board. of Health. • Canada. An old resident of Port Hope, Mr. Archibald Sands, died recently, aged 78 years. —A new Presbyterian church is to be opened at Selkirk, Manitoba, about the end of this month. —Six gentlemen of Toledo, Ohio, have visited Madoc to prospect in iron ore mining, and others are expected. — Measles are very prevalent in Tor- onto. Thirty two children are down with the disease in the Girl's Home. — John McKinnon, who for the last year or two ran a threshing machine itt the neighborhood. of Teeswater, skipped out last week, leaving a large number of unpaid accounts behind him. —A terrible 'explosion of dynamite took place at Tangeir, a gold mining district sixty miles from Halifax, on the eastern coast. One man was killed instantly aud two more were so fear- fully mangled that they cannot live: —Some specimens of ore containing a large percentage of lead and some silver have been taken -out of the mountain range running through Grimsby. A couple of mining experts who have seen the specimens pronounce them valuabl e. —Mr. Angus Morrison has received $2,000 from the Grand Trunk Railway for injuries received at the Credit Val- ley accident in Toronto, which happen- ed some mouths ago. Mr. John Mc- Nabb receives $450, and Mr. Samuel Beattie $650. —Col. Force, who was deputed to survey the Neebish Rapid, near Sault Ste. Marie, and Rondea,u Harbor, has recommended in his report that in order to make the former channel- perfectly safe, it be deepened fifteen feet, and made 300 feet wider. The work is es- timated.to cost over $30,000. —At Cobourg, Thursday night of last week, a stranger attending Court there entered the Arlington Hotel and called for a drink. Mr. Herbert Stanton, the clerk, refused to attend to his wants, whereupon the stranger drew a revolver and shot at Mr. Stanton, but fortunate- ly missed. his victim, and shattered a plate glass mirror. —The fastest time on record was made at a walking match in Brantford one day last .wcek. The contestants were named Quirk and Clark; the lat- ter making 100 yards in 91 seconds. The fastest hundred yards recorded. time to date is k seconds, made thirty- five years ago by George Seward, an Englishman, on a turnpike road at Hammersmith. ' -1--T-The parties who broke into Mr. McLean's store iu Teeswater, a short time ago, and blew open his safe, are ideutified as being the same partiesevho burglarized Secord's store in Lucknow the following evening. They were ar2 rested in Listowel and brought back to. Lucknow. At the examination they proved to be two notorious characters named McDowell and Whelan, both ,• well known by the city police authori- ties as daring and desperate men. They were sent to Walkerton for trial, where no doubt they will get their just deserts. —The fine iren bridge on the Credit Valley line, over the Grand River at Galt, is about completed. It is one of the finest structures of the kind in the Pravince. — An old man has been complained of in one of the Walkerton churches for annoying the congregation by letting his cane fall on the floor. Some peo- ple are very easily disturbed in their de- votions. —Mr. C. Gifford, of Oshawa, has offered to match ten men from the township of Whitby against a like num- ber from Clark and Darlington, in a pigeon shooting match, ten birds each man, for $50 a side. —At the Edinburgh cattle show, held on the 10th inst., a Durham heifer bred at Guelph, Ontario, was exhibited by Mr. Beattie,- and took tho first prize in her class, besides standing well for the cup offered for the best animal in the show. She will also be exhibited at the Carlisle show. -7The good people of Walkerton are still in a ferment about their High School. The trouble now is that the trustees have engaged to pay the new High School teacher, Dr. Morrison, $1,200, instead. ef $1,100, the sum mentioued in their advertisement for applicants. . —Mr. G-eo. S. Wait, of South Dum- fries, sold to Mr. George C. Clemens his farm, it being part of lots 3 and 4, 4th concession, South Dumfries, 85 acees, for the snug little sum of $8,000, or over $94 per acre. The farm is well under -drained and in the best, of condi- tion, with good house and barns. —Mr. Joseph Brown, of Dundas, has the largest willow ware factory in the Dominion. Mr. Brown has about forty acres of land, twelve acres of which sentenced to two years in the Pro- vincial Penitentiary for each offence, the senteuces to run concurrently. Gibson is respectably connected, and has previously borne a good character. —Mr. George E. Murphy, Town Clerk of Petrone, disappeared'mysteri- ously last week from Sarnia, and- his, nephew on Monday received a despatch from Chicago informing 'him that Mr. Murphy is there ill, in the care of the Masons, to whose order he belongs., —A man named Daniel Winger, /Ilia siding in Harwich, fell out of a wagon and injured his spine to such a degree that he died a few days afterward. • The deceased was seated on a barrel in the wagon, when the horses starting, the barrel suddenly rolled back and he fell over the back board. He leaves a wife and eleven children to mourn their sad loss. _ —A by-law was submitted to the electors of G-uelph on Friday for the purpose of irocuring $25,000 in addi- tion to the $ 5,000 previously voted for waterworks. There was considerable feeling, owing to the fact that all the, money previously voted had been spent without, apparently, a full account be- ing made public. The by-law was car- ried by a substantial majority. —The improvements on. the Midland Railway are being energetically pushed forward. That pertion of the line between Lindsay and Beaverton will be relaid with the steel. tails lately purchas- ed by Mr. Cox. Since the rise in the price of. the 4,000 tons of steel rails ordered by the President of the road, cpuld not be purchased now for $20,000 more than the figure agreed upon when they were ordered,. —The extraordinary sight of a goose alive and eating with its head cut off may be seeneat Watford, in the posses- sion of Mr. Baker, of the Baker House. It is fed through the gullet, is able to walk and takes its food quite naturally under the circumstances, appears other - are now under willow crop, aud be sup- wise to feel happy. Physicians think plies with the raw material all the lead- it may live for an indefinite time. It ing manufacturers in his line in Ontarica is of the Bramah variety. The circum- ilacluding the Government workship at tance is very extraordinary, but is the Brantford Asylum. This factory cruel and unnatural. 4 was established about eight years ego. —That schooner load of nitro-glycer- -John Ross Robertson, proprietor of ine has been landed at Sandwich. near the Toronto Telegram, the other night the sulphur springs, and. now the peo- purchased at Coates' auction rooms the Masonic diploma of Souter Johnnie, Burns' friend in Tam O'Shanter, for ple in that vicinity are frantic to have it taken away. A petition to the coun- cil is going the rounds for that purpose. 4178. In the copier of the diploma is A shed has been erected on the banks fastened a lock of Highland Mary's Of the sulphur springs canal to hold the hair. The certificate bears the seal of Vessel's cargo, and the latter is large St. James' Lodge, Ayr, Scotland, and enough to blow a hole hall a mile deep 6th October, 1790. It is looked on as in the ground if it should take a notion the oldesi. Masonic relic in existence. to go off. Better dump it in the river, —Some enterprising parties in Ham- and done with it. ilton are sending out a ship load of —Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd Wilson, of manufactures to Australia. The cargo Newcastle,passed their Golden Wedding is to consisl of a number of houses on Sunday, the 30th of November. packed like shooks and complete from They were born and brought up in basement to roof, ready to be erected Yorkshire, England, and on the 30th of the moment they are landed. They Nov., 1829 they were married in East - can be rented at about $200 apiece. rington Church. In 1832 they emigrat- They can be shipped at a good profit, ed. to Canada, and settled in the Town - material and wages being lower in ship of Hope, near the town • of Port Canada than in Australia. The barque Hope. In 1845, they emoved to the will also take a number of oarriages and. Township of Clark, and. in 1874 they organs. retired from the business of farrniug and — A couple of young fellows from located in -New Castle, where they , now Crieff took a trip over the Credit Valley I reside. • Railway to Toronto one day lately. ' —A few days ago a you're man of On returning they happened to remain Ottawa while at the Russel House door, in a car that was to be left behind, and imagined he had met a friendjust corn - their mistake was not discovered until ing out, and. extending his hand greeted the train had left. The two worthies him with " How do you do Mr. McNeil?' The gentleman who was accosted, smil- ed and suggested that there must be a mistake somewhere. "My name is Winter, not McNeil," said he. "Well, hang it." said the other, Give us a then decided. that rather than wait 24 hours at Streetsville, they would walk home—a distance of between 20 and 30 miles. This they did, blessing the Credit 'Valley at almost every step. —On Tuesday night of last week a shake anyhow, my name is Snow." brakesman named Jones, of Belleville, The appropriateness of the meeting so fell off a freight car on a train going struck the two gentlemen that they ex - east, two miles west of the Trenton changed cards and retired for cigars. station. He was not missed until the —A man named Watson, of Massa - train arrived at Belleville. Word was chusetts, has become purchaser of the sent back to Trenton and search made, Shogornoc property in New Brnnswick. when the remains were found com- The property was purchased with a pletely cut upearms and legs lying in view of erecting mills for the extraction different directions. It had been rain- of liquid of hemlock bark, this being ing and freezing, and the tops of the one, of the very best hemlock locations cars were covered with glare ice. in New Brunswick. The number of —The plowmen of Huron I township ares in the property is twelve thou - lately issued a challenge to he • plow- seal. Mr. Watson is having a -million men of York, for a match, N hich the feet of sawn logs put into the stream latter have accepted, onthe following this winter, and has contracted for a conditions: The match to coesists of 12 million and a half of shingles to be de - plowmen on each side, the amount to liVered . at Canterbury station. The be for $2,500, half of which amount price said to have been paid for the is to be subscribed by ach county. mill and lanais $12,000. The men of York express heir willing- —The ineuest on the exhumed bodies ness to either give or alIolv reasonable of the murdered man Brown and his expenses. Go in, yeom n of Huron daughter, of West Winchester, wasleld and sustain the repute ion of the on Saturday. The marks on the body Western peninsula. of the girl were closely examined with a view to discovering whet er they were inflicted with an axe or ith the knife recentlylound in the cel ar. An inspection of photographs of er eyea, evealed objects, he was e or by — The other night in -Sarnia a stranger, name unknown, was placed in a cell for prisoners at his own request, and upon a plea of vagrancy. He was found dead next morning. - During the taken a few hours after death, nicht be contrived to upset the pe- the presence of two indistinct from which it is inferred that murdered either in the da,yti troleum lamp, and it is supposed he was asphyxiated, as there was no venti- lation to the cell. An inquest was lamplight. No object whate er was held upon the remains in the morning, visible in the eyes of the oldee when the jury returned a verdict to the Suspicion still continues to be !directed effect that deceased did. from want, ex- to the mother of young Brown as his posure and suffocation the latter being accomplice in the crime, and be has caused thrqugh want f ventilation in been arrested. ° the prisoners cell. --s,A most heart-rending case was to - —Alex. ibson, of Princeton, was be seen at the Police Court, in Port tried at the Police Court, Brantford, on Hope,, Monday morning last week. A Thursday, or having in his possession young woman named Mary Troy, alias a gold chai stolen froin Mr. Miller, of Beatty, was charged with keeping an Princeton, last October. Mr. ,Miller's improper house on - Protestant residence a Princeton was entered by When she was arrested, she was in a thieves on abbath evening in October, most beastly state of intoxication, and when the f mily were at church. Silver bore races of over indulgence when at plate, napkin rings, gold , ebain and the ]?elice Court. She said she was other articles, valued at about $300, 28 years of age, and. it was evident that. were stolen. No clue to the thieves at one time she was more than ordinari- could be found until Wednesday, when ly good looking, by her side stood a Gibson offered- a gold ohain for sale in little boy about five or six years of age, a jewellery store in ! London. The and very few minutes he would say to jeweller having had the chain before, -her: ° identified it as Mr. Miller's immediate- more ly and sent for the police. Before they heav arrived Gibson cleared out, but was af- terwards -captured some distance north , of Brantford. His trial came off at ! Brantford on Monday. He was also I charged with having stolen an overcoat, Befo I and was found guilty in both cases and that "'ISIama;don't diuk whiekey no I don't like it—I want to go to n," but the poor abandoned crea- ture as heedless to the appeals of the Mail innocent at her side. After hear- ing the evidence, the Police Magistrate sente ced her to three months in gaol. e she was taken away, she said her friends lived in Belleville - 4 that they were wealthy and respectable, and that she had not always led an aban- doned life. It was as piteous a case as the authorities ever had to deal with. —Last Friday night Mr. Archibald McDonald's saw mill, in the second concession of Elderslie, was destroyed by fire. Loss, about $1,200; insured for a small amount. .How the fire originated is not known. —Saturday afternoon a man named Stevens, who has a job of grading a section of the Port Dover and Huron Railway near •Chesley, got badly hurt by a tree falling on him. Very poor hopes are entertained of his recovery. —A. magnificent new Presbyteriau Church in Brockville, which cost about $30,000, and which seats 1,000 people, was the other day dedieated to divine service. Nearly $1,000 was raised by collectiou at th.e opening services. — On two occasions recently, and in two different churches; the pastors of Burford had to stop and. reprove the younger portion of their audience for misbehavior. This does net sound well for the youths of Burford. —On the premises of Mr. Wm. Werry, Selina, Durham county, Mr. Alexander McLauchlin, with one of L. D. Sawyer's machines, threshed 40 bushels and 6 pounds of clover seed in 7 hours and 20 minutes. This is a feat worthy of I notice. — While Donald McDougald, of the - 6th concession, Plympton, was boring for water last week, when at the depth of 120 feet, 20 feet of which was drilled into rock, struck gas and water, which overflowed and. filled ditches so as to run for two miles. —Dr. McLellan paid a visit of in- spection. to Owen Sound High School a few days ago. When passing through the yard he the morning, he was rather startled by a snow -ball striking him on the head. The culprit got out of it by declaring the snew-ball was "not in- tended for him." —Last Sunday in Penetanguisheiae, While a number of young people were put on the bay skating, a young man named Joseph Gendon and a young fp,irl named Amelia Coutie, while cross- ing a weak part of the ice, broke through, and although a number of people were with them on the ice, be- fore they could render them any assis- tance they were both drowned. —The annual report submitted at the last meeting of the Dominion Grange, shows -that since last year 55 subordin- ate and four district granges have been organized, making in all 766 subordin- ate and. 51 division granges. The addition to the membership is about 1,500, and the removals by d.eath and other causes about 1,100. The Order now numbers about 36,000 members in good standing. —One evening lately Mr. Henry Rim - mel, mason, of Berlin, while blowing his nose burst a blood vessel on hisfore- head, when the_ blood immediately gush- ed forth from the nose, eyes and. ears with great forceenearly suffocating the poor man. A medical gentleman was immediately called in, and after a good deal of difficulty succeeded in arresting the flow of blood, and Mr. Kimmel who , was for a time in4reat danger, is now recovering. — Mr. B. Hartoock, of Mariposa; Victoria County, killled theother day a calf eight mouths and three weeks old, weighing when dressed 320 pounds. The hind -quarters brought $5 per 100 lbs. and the fore -quarters $4; the ` hide brought $4; and the head, tallowl $1.59, making over $20 for the animal. It has -been fattening caily five weeks ..but of course was always in good con- dition. — Mr. Audrew Colvin of Delaware, Ont., writes to the Paris Transcript, that for over 40 years he was an inveterate stammerer. Recently he placed himself under Professor Suther- land's treatment at London, and in one hour was cured aa efiectually as if he had never been afflicted. And he has had no trouble since. This is joy- ful news for stammerers. —The residence of Mrs. Gunn, Owen Sound, was entirely destroyed by fire on Saturday, 8th inst. The fire broke out about ten O'clock p. m. The bossof the building and its contents was al- most complete. Mrs. Gunu has been a great sufferer, having lost her- husband and one daughter by death, also having a case of severe sickness. Her house was also struck' with lightning. All these calamities happefted within the space of three years. —A young man went to sleep in Hand's billiard parlor. Petrolia, a few nights, ago, and another yomig man, just to have some fun, took a rifle in the room used. for shooting at a tar- get, which he supposed was unloaded, and placed the muzzle of it alongside the ear of the sleeper, and pulled the trigger. , The bullet cut a fuerove through his hair and went through the top of his hat. —A terrific explosion, which alarmed the - whole neighborhood and shook every building for miles around, oc- curred. last Friday night on Fox Island, in the river near Amherstburg. A large quantity of nitro-glycerine and, Mica powder for blasting purposes was stored on the Island, which by some means exploded. The place where the, magazine stood is now a hole sixty feet in diameter and fifteersfeet deep. The shock was distinctly felt forty miles distant. —A young woman named Elizabeth Wells, daughter of Me. James Wells, Beet Williams, was married on the 19th of November last to Mr. Lot Willey. A few days after marriage she was visited with a severe attack of neuralgia, in the head, when Dr. Stevenson, of Strath- roy; was. called. to her assistance. At first hepronounced it a simple case, and said she would in all probability be around in a few days. But on the 3rd inst. the doctor was sent for, and pro- nounced her case rather serious, seeing that it turned to congestion on the brain. Another doctor was called in, but could do nothing for the unfortu- nate woman. She died on the 5th inst., a bride of sixteen days. Much sympathy is felt for the bereaved friends. —A most vicious and unaccountable abduction took place in Toronto on Wednesday night of last -week.- Mrs. Deal, Mother of the yeung men who at- tempted to kidnap Mr. Jaffrey some • time ago, was walking quietly alone Jarvis street about seen o'clock in the. evening, when she was suddenly seized by two men. After throwing a shawl over her head, containing chforoform, they placed her in It baggy where a woman was seated, and drove her as far BA Avenue Road, Yorleville. The chloro- form stupefied her at first, but she re- covered after driving a few miles, and by some means escaped out -of the hands of her captors on Avenue Road. She had several struggles before getting free, during which her clothes were com- pletely torn off. She finally got clear and ran into the porch of tlae residence of Mr. John Macdonald, ex -M. P., and. that gentleman ordered.•his coachman to drive her home. Mrs. Deal was not indecently assaulted, nor was she rob- bed, and no explanation can be given of the abduction. She has since been confined to bed and' is suffering from nervous prostration. The matter has been placed in the hands of detectives: —The record of Mr. George Hum- phreys, wagon -maker, at Lotus, in Manvers township, is so remarkable a one that it deserves the fullest publicity. Mr. Humphreys was born in Cavan, Ireland, just 52 years ago and his wife was born m the towns -14 of Cavan, Canada, about the same year. Since he was twenty years of age be has been married, and a member of L. 0. L. No. 79. He turns the scales at 180 pounds and his better and heavier half at 200. He has earned. $5 per day, in Fares Fonudry, -wooding plows, and his quickest feat in this direction was wooding a plow in -40 minutes. Ten years since he comp!etely wooded a threshing machine itt ten days, and out of the rough wood, without the readymade hubs and spokes of the present day, he turned out a complete set of wagon wheels in 20 hours. But the most startling portion of his and. his wife's record is yet to come. They bave been married just 32 years, and are the parents of 19 children, 16 of whom are now living. There have been as he himself expresses it, "four pairs itt the lot." The youngest is five years of age, so that they have all been born to their parents in 27 years, This prolific and happy couple, have 29 grand children, and are now only 52 years of ace, and are apparently in the best of robust health. Perth Items. The DeceMber Fair at Listowel was one of the most successful of the season. —The town of Listowel is trying the experiment of a free Saturday market. —One firm of wheat buyers in E3t. Marys, Messrs. Carter •ct Son, have been buying from 2,000 to 3,000 bushels a day. —The church at Avonton has lately *been re -roofed and. lathed and plastered. anew, also the beating apparatus much improved. —Mr. James Trove, M. P., has sea the Poole farm Morning ton township, to Mr. George Shearer, of Musselburgh, for the sum of $5,800. —The fashionable parlor concert style of raising money for church pur- pbses has been adopted by the ladies of Knox Chetah, Mitchell. —Mr. john Skinner, of Mitchell, has rented his' green house and lands attached. to Messrs. Gowans & Jackson. The former is an experienced florist.' —Mr. L. Cruttendonrwho has occu- pied the position of town- clerk in St. Marys for the past seventeen years, is about to resign on account of olcl age. —Mitchell has a set of young vaga- bonds roving the streets, whose iaaorals would be greatly improved. by a. term of years in the Penetaugnishene-Reforma- tory. —Mr. W. G. Hay, of Listqwelesold, the other day, a farm of 100acres, in the township of Howick, to Mr. John Wringler, of Wallace, for the sum of $3,000. —Mr. Robert Large, jr.'just now on a visit to his friends at Poole, comes from the Black Mlle Dakota, and speaks highly of that region as a mining country. =Wife beating has become the favor- ite amusement of a certain class in Stratford. This kind of sport ought al- ways to be followed up by the "cat -o" - nine -tails." —On account of the number of sheep worried. recently, the Logan Council have decided to put a tax of three °dol- lars for each dog more than one kept by ,every farmer or householder. —Mr. B. Sarvis has been engaged. by the Listowel Public School to teach vocal music in the schools for the year 1880, at a salary of $20O; two days in each week to be devoted to his pupils. —That fire -scourged hamlet, Mill- bank, has again suffered from the de- vouring element. This time the Rob iRoy Hotel, stables and shed, have been ;consumed, and. Mr. Wm. Mitchell; the 'proprietor, is the loser,by some la undreds of dollars. —Two little boys, sons of Mr. Pierce, of Mitchell, had a narrow escape from danger a. few days ago. They were seated in a wagon, when the horses be- ing untied started off, running furiously down the street. Fortunately the ani- mals were stopped before any accident happened. —Mr. Edward Stiles, of Mitchell, has returned from his trip to the North- west, and speaks itt high tenme of the climate and fertility of the soil in: that part of the Dominion. He has made sales of a large number of wagous and implements through Manitoba and the Northwest.