Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper/Volume 18/Number 450/Epitome of the Week

EPITOME OF THE WEEK.

Domestic.—The proceeding instituted by Judge Barnard against Horace Greeley for contempt was brought to a close on the 28th ult., by Mr. Greeley appearing in Court, and answering the interrogatories about his editorship and proprietorship of the Tribune. He protested against the jurisdiction of the Court, and against the whole proceedings is illegal, but admitted he was the responsible editor of the Tribune, and was willing to take the consequence of whatever contempt had been shown in the case. Judge Barnard said in substance, that the object of the proceedings was to correct the growing evil of abuse heaped upon public men by certain newspapers with which they differed in politics, expressing himself satisfied with Mr. Greeley's answers to the interrogatories, and ordered him to be discharged.

——— Tailors working on custom work are liable to pay the tax on manufactured articles, according to a decision lately given in the United States District Court at New Haven. This decision is highly important, as the principle covers a number of other occupations which have hitherto been regarded as exempt from taxation.

——— The net proceeds of the Cincinnati Sanitary Fair are officially stated at $234,500.

——— Shirt collars of linen, cotton, paper and steel, are common, but to this catalogue are now to be added shirt collars made from vulcanized India rubber. The new invention has just been patented in England.

——— It is rumored in Washington that Postmaster-General Blair will follow up his dismissal of Mr. Watson, a radical Republican clerk in his department, by similar acts—he having resolved to make war on Mr. Chase's friends.

——— The President, in a communication to Congress, states that Gen. Blair is a Major-General in the service of the United States, and that he had an understanding with Gen. Blair and Gen. Schonck, last fall, that they should not lose their places in the army by taking their seats in Congress.

——— The Pennsylvania Convention assembled last week in Philadelphia, and elected Simon Cameron and a strong Lincoln delegation to the Baltimore Republican Convention. Resolutions were passed against the adjournment of the Convention and in favor of Mr. Lincoln's nomination.

——— The stage fares on certain city routes were recently raised from six cents to 10 cents. They were reduced to the former rate of six cents on Monday, May 2. A daily parade of empty stages is not a paying business, as the proprietors have found out. The Board of Aldermen adopted a resolution that a Committee be appointed to inquire into the expediency of selling at public auction the right to carry passengers in omnibusses or coaches in this city. This looks like retaliation.

——— The school district of Moscow, Wisconsin, containing 101 inhabitants, over half of them under 15 years of age, has sent 26 men to the war, some of whom have re-enlisted. Help is so scarce that a good deal of land will have to go uncultivated.

——— The following battle-flags of New York veteran regiments were deposited in the Bureau of 8 Military Statistics of the State on April 20: The 110th, 112th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 32d, 34th, 37th, 38th, 59th, 61st, 64th, 75th, 76th, 77th, 80th, 91st, 96th, 97th, 104th, 130th, 146th, 177th. 3d Artillery, 7th Battery N. Y, V., 11th Battery F. Y.V.

——— The annual meeting of the Religious Society of Progressive Friends will be held at Longwood, near Hamorton, Chester county, Pa., on Thursday, June 2, commencing at 10 o'clock. The meeting will probably continue for three days.

——— Mayor Henry, of Philadelphia, has ordered the ringing of the State House belt on every fire to be discontinued. The firemen are now summoned by telegraph only, and the new method is said to answer extremely well.

——— The police of Portland, Maine, have been very active in recovering from wreckers much property washed from the wreck of the Bohemian. Among other goods was a large stock of bogus jewellery, which was all washed ashore in one cove, henceforward to be called Jewellery Cove. Most of it was spoiled by sea water.

Western.—There is considerable uneasiness in the Western press concerning the coming campaign—several of the leading editors evidently having had their faith shaken in the War Department by recent events in the South-West. One says: "We have lost all faith in the military sagacity of a Government which leaves Kentucky at the mercy of a rebel raider like Forrest."

Southern.—The prices in Georgia and Alabama are—gold, $30 for $1; corn meal, $25 per bushel; meats, $4 per pound; butter, $10 per pound; milk, $2 per quart; flour, $200 per barrel; coffee, $25 per pound. No articles of any kind are sold for less than $6 or $10. If the purchaser has a note of either, he can buy, if not, he must do without. Articles like knives, forks, spoons, cups of all kinds, are not to be had.

——— The Southern press is jubilant over the recent disasters to our arms in Florida, Red river and North Carolina, From the tone of their articles we should infer that the rebel leaders have resolved upon some definite plan which, if carried out, will bring on a decisive campaign. Their journals make many allusions to what they expect to accomplish on the water—implying that they have been busy in building rams and gunboats. The recent events at Plymouth lend these suspicions considerable countenance.

Military.—Adjt.-Gen. Schouler, of Massachusetts, reports that that State has furnished 69,893 three years' volunteers; 17,744 nine months' men; and 3,742 three month men, since the beginning or the war. Total, 91,379.

Personal.—Rev. Calvin Webster, sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for enticing slaves from Kentucky, and who had served 12 years of the time, has been pardoned by Lieut.-Gov. Jacobs.

——— Mrs. Gen. Fremont is at the Revere House, Boston. She is on a visit, with her children, to her many friends in that vicinity.

——— King Victor Emanuel, who is a great friend of the chase, has received 20 stags from California. They cost, voyage and all, little less than $600 a-piece.

——— Gen. Hallock is said to be an applicant for Chief of the Engineer Bureau, made vacant by the death of Gen. Totten.

——— The golden wedding of Mr. Joel and Mrs. Abigail Converse, of Lyme, Conn., was celebrated on Monday, April 11, in the presence of a large party of relatives and friends. Many elegant and valuable presents were bestowed upon the venerable couple, and the occasion was a very happy one.

Obituary.—James Holbrook, the well-known special agent of the Post-Office Department, died at Brooklyn, Conn., on the 28th April, of consumption.

——— Mr. Edward D. Riley, Chief of Police of Jersey City, died at his residence, in Montgomery street, on the 28th April, of consumption, after an illness of nearly four months. Mr. Riley was a native of Jersey City, 33 years of age, and was an upright and highly-esteemed citizen. In 1861 he was elected a member of the Common Council; in the fall of the same year he was elected to the Legislature; and in the following spring was elected Chief of Police for three years.

——— Commodore William D. Porter died on Sunday morning, May 1, in New York. He was born in Louisiana, was appointed from the State of Massachusetts, entering the service Jan. 1, 1823, saw 15 years sea duty, over 5 years shore duty, and was 20 years unemployed. He was between 50 and 60 years of age at the time of his death. He leaves a wife, who was with him at the time of his death, one daughter, who is in Richmond, and two sons, who are in the Confederate service.

——— Com. Charles W. Flusser, who was recently killed in such a peculiar manner in the fight with the rebel ram Roanoke, was a native of Kentucky. He was one of the most promising young officers of the American navy. Brave and accomplished, of high moral character and elegance of manner, he was one of the most genial and companionable men we ever met with. His gallantry was always conspicuous. The writer of this was on board the gunboat Commodore Perry with him, at the furious bombardment of the rebel forts on Roanoke island, and there witnessed the bravery with which he ran his vessel close under the guns of the fort, and raked its batteries from his bow and stern pivot 9-inch guns.

——— The reported death of Col. Lewis Benedict is confirmed by letters from Grand Ecore, near the scene of the engagement. He was pierced by five balls and instantly killed, while gallantly leading his brigade in the final charge. Lewis Benedict was born in Albany, Sept. 2, 1817. He graduated at Williams' College, and studied law, in Canandaigua, with John C. Spencer. After his admission to the bar he became a partner of Marcus T. Reynolds, of Albany. He was Judge-Advocate-General on the staff of Govs. Young and Fish; was subsequently elected to the office of Surrogate of the county and also to the Assembly of the State. When the war broke out he was still engaged in the practice of the law, but, determining to give his services to his country, in June, 1861, he was commissioned as Lieut.-Col. of the 73d regiment, Excelsior Brigade, with which regiment he went into the Peninsular campaign, shared its earlier hardships, and fought bravely at Williamsburg, where he was captured. He was taken to Richmond, where, and at Salisbury, N.C., he was the companion of Cols. Corcoran, Wilcox, etc. After an imprisonment of several months he was exchanged, and in Sept., 1862 (one month after his exchange), he was commissioned Colonel of the 162d (3d Metropolitan regiment. In October the regiment proceeded to New Orleans. In January, 1803, he was designated Acting-Brigadier, and in that capacity was actively employed, rendering important service previous to the siege of Port Hudson, where he was conspicuous in most of the terrible fights during that memorable siege. He was foremost in the fearful slaughter of June 14, and when it was decided to storm the fort Col. Benedict was given command of the 2d battalion, selected to serve as the forlorn hope.

Accidents and Offences.—A married woman, named Leesman, has eloped from St. Louis with a young men and $13,000 in certificates of deposit in the German Savings Bank, they being made out in her name, but belonging to her husband. She is supposed to have gone to New Orleans.

——— A boat containing five persons has been drawn over the upper dam at Little Falls, N.Y., and all were drowned, their bodies passing down the rapids and not having been found. The party consisted of Mr. Vaughan and his son, Mr. J.P. Casler and two lads, named McHenry and Carr.

——— The bogus Capt. Sanford, who succeeded in marrying a Palmyra, N. Y., girl, she supposing that he was her lover, whose courtship had been conducted by letter alone, turns out to have had other wives already. He has been given up by the military to the civil authorities.

——— Ten vessels this year have been lost from the Gloucester fishing fleet, valued at $46,000; 78 men have perished with them, leaving 31 widows and 48 fatherless children.

——— Lieut. Burns, who absconded from Louisville with $13,000, Government money, has been arrested at Montreal, C. W.

Foreign—The Sultan has appointed two Christian members of the Grand Council, and others have been promoted to high official positions. This liberal tendency on his part is a mark of progress, which predicts well for Turkey.

——— The Italian frigate Re Galantuomo, which recently sailed from this port, and was subsequently spoken at sea when in a supposed sinking condition, is not lost, as was reported, but has arrived at Terceira, one of the Azore islands. Her gods were thrown overboard during the bad weather which prevailed on the voyage.

Art, Science and Literature.—Mr. Sprague has presented to the Senate the memorial of our Consul at Vienna, recommending the purchase by the United States of the invention of Dr. Aner, Superintendent of the Imperial paper mills and printing establishment of Austria, to make paper and linen out of corn husks and leaves.

——— A woman has, for the first time in England, passed a first medical examination. She had applied to the University of London and of St. Andrews, to the College of Surgeons of London and of Edinburgh, and to the College of Physicians of Edinburgh—but all in vain. Each of these learned bodies refused to allow her to compete for the degree which would have given her a legal qualification to labor in the cure of humen ills, and finally she appealed to Apothecaries Hall, and having been examined in anatomy, physiology, chemistry, botany and materia media—which she had studied for the prescribed five years—was successful in passing. A further course of 18 months study is required, when, if proved duly qualified, she will receive a licence to practise.

Chit-Chat—A little daughter of the owner of a coal mine in Pennsylvania was inquisitive as to the nature of hell, upon which her father represented it to be a large gulf of fire of the most prodigious extent. "Pa," said she, "couldn't you get the devil to buy coal of you?" He's been speculating on it.

——— A man in Cleveland, Ohio, fell asleep at church a Sunday or two ago, and woke just as the minister began to read in a loud voice the lesson of Scripture which begins: "Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they find it." Jumping to his feet in great excitement, the merchant stretched his arm and shook his book to the astonished minister, exclaiming: "I'll take five hundred shares!"

——— A Newburyport sugar merchant heard a few days since that sugar had gone up two cents, and telling no one what he was going to do, immediately rushed off and bought the whole stock of another merchant at 21 cents. He was so delighted with the operation that he treated the clerks all round on his return, and then learned that a man as clever as himself had bought all his stock at 20 cents while he was away.