The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-22 00:00:00

A Heartless Impostor.

per annum.
MARYPORT AND CARLISLE.
The report of the directors states that the receipts
for the half-year ending the 30th June last amounted
to £39,483, against £42,597 in the corresponding
half of 1866, showing a decrease of £3,114. The
expenditure amount to £16,924 against £17,289 for
the corresponding half of 1866, showing a decrease
of £365. The balance for the half-year, of car-
rying £373 to the credit of the contingency account,
was £18,446, which enabled the directors to recom-
mend a dividend on the ordinary shares at the rate
of 71 per cent. per annum, and on the preference
shares according to their respective guarantees. The
cost of renewing the Curnmersdale Viaduct, amount-
ing to £2,737, would be paid out of revenue, but
being a large and exceptional expenditure it was not
desirable to charge the whole against the income of
one half-year. The continued absence of commer-
cial confidence and consequent depression of trade
continued to affect the traffic receipts. The Der-
went branch had been opened for public traffic, and
was realising the expectations of the directors. All
payments due to the contractor for the construction
of the line had been discharged. Contract agree-
ments had been settled with all the landed proprie-
tors except four. The greater proportion of the
land had been paid for and conveyed to the com-
pany. The directors observed with satisfaction the
recommendation of the Royal Commission on Rail-
ways, "that in order t 3 meet the irregularities in
the local taxition of railways means should be de-
vised by which some public authority, such as the
Poor Law Board, should make the assessment on an
applied which would relieve
equitable principle. It was therefore hoped that a
remedy might now be
railway companies from the burdens entailed on
them by the present unfair mode of assessment. The
capital account to the 30th of June showed that
£712,591 had been expended.

SOUTH YOIIKSHIRE.
The report of the directors stated that the expen-
diture on capital account for the half-year had been
£24,420. The gross traffic receipts from traffic and
rents from the railways and navigation for the half-
yearr
rents,
n ts, had
interestb een
charges,£lll,2oB.
a and
dThe
guaranteea moundt psaypaebr lceebn.yt
the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire to cover
dividends amounted to £71,043. The £3,250 charged
againbsetencacpxitpaelnwded.
as for works in course of construc-
tion. . The capital account showed that £3,207,811
had

A FATAL FIGIIT BETWEEN WOREMEN.—On Mon-
day two men, Finnis and WIT ugh, employed in a cigar
manufactory, in Manchester, quarrelled and went into a
field to tight. After several rounds Finnis received a vio-
lent blow behind the ear, when be fell and expired. During
the confusion that prevailed Waugh escaped.
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Messrs. BELLOT DES MINIERES' pamphlet, a,
though treating on American railways in general,
has special reference to the American Central Line;
for which they are general contractors. This mag-
nificent undertaking is, in truth, a direct continua-
tion of the Union Pacific Railway, carrying that
road in a straight line from Omaha city into Ohio.
It is being worked in three divisions ; that of In-
diana extending from Fort Wayne to the Illinois
State Line 126 miles—that of Illinois extending
from the State Liue to New Boston on the Missis-
sippi River 186 miles ; and that of lowa from the
Mississippi to the Missouri 273 miles, giving a total
lerigth of 585 miles. Of this 125 miles are graded and
ready for rails, and as many more partially completed.
The main point contended for in this pamphlet is that
the richest States of the Union are Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, and lowa. Of these Illinois is the queen,
being perhaps the most fertile and productive piece
of land in the world. The system of carriage by
which the unequalled wealth of this and theadjoin-
ing States is conveyed to market has been a mis-
take, though forced on the people by circumstances
they could not control. A glance at the map will
show that the natural outlets were by the lakes and
the connecting rivers to the North, and the Missis-
sippi to the South. Thus Chicago to the North,
and St. Louis to the South, became the great em-
poriums, and the direction taken by the railways
traversed the State North and South. It is certain
however, that the true direction of traffic is
West to East. The authors do not hesitate to state
that Chicago is a failure, which will be fully
apparent when the American Central Line is com-
pleted. This road crosses the numerous lines intersect-
ing Indiana and Illinois on their way to Lake Michi-
gan, where they deliver annually in the warehouses of
Chicago about 50,000,000 bushels of grain. These
warehouses become choked, as for half the year the
outlet by the Lakes is barred by ice. The route by
water is circuitous, dilatory, and insecure, and the
charges for breaking bulk and storing accumulate
so rapidly as to deprive the producer of a large por-
tion of his gains. A bushel of corn from the Mis-
sissippi river to Chicago costs 25 cents, two cents
are added for transshipment, and 65 for freight to
New York—total, 92. By this railway the same
corn can be carried direct from the Mississippi
river to New York for sixty cents. From Galva
(Illinois), one of the stations on this road, the Bur-
lington and Quincey Railway charges $l4 for carry-
ing a ton of broom corn to Chicago. When there,
it is no nearer New York, Philadelphia, or Boston
than at Galva. On arrival at Chicago it breaks
bulk, has to be stored, or at once transshipped, each
move adding to the expense before it reaches the
consumer. Thus it is maintained that a vast ad-
vantage will be secured by running a road direct
through these rich and level States, on an air line
due east and west, which is the natural course for
American traffic. So productive are these States—
especially that of Illinois—that the lines having
their terminus at Chicago, though trusting wholly
to local traffic turned ,in a wrong direction, pay
handsome dividends. This being the case, it must
follow that the local traffic of a line taking the
course of the American Central must be still more
productive. But this railway does not depend upon
local traffic for its returns. It will be but a main
line of the world's highway from New York to San
Francisco—from London to Ilong Kong. It is not
easy to realise the revolution that will be worked
in the tide of travel when the road is finished across
the American continent. On the one hand lie
China and Japan peopled with their 400 millions ;
on the other, the great empires of Europe, and
between these extremities a trade has arisen which
as yet is merely in its infancy. Japan, North
Eastern China, Australia, and New Zealand will
be brought much nearer to the centres of civilisa-
tion, and a boon we cannot as yet estimate will be
conferred on the world. That this railway, in
common with the other links, will reap a rich har-
vest cannot be doubted ; and we do not consider
that the authors exaggerate the advantages when
they assert that the through traffic will be the
grandest on any line, while the local traffic will be
the most profitable. Basing calculations on an
estimate so large, the way is formed 100 feet wide,
with the intention of laying down seven tracks if
hereafter required. The impression left on the mind
of the profits is such as to make a greedy man's
mouth water, and the authors fear to state them,
evidently dreading a charge of exaggeration. But
though they do not openly estimate they do not
hesitate to state that there are railways in America
which pay to the original stockholder over 40 per
cent., and there is no railway in America that will pay
as large a dividend as the American Central. The
facts in support of this startling assertion are very
strong, consisting of an elaboration of the points
we have generalised. There are, however, some
special advantages on which we have not touched
arising from the nature of the States traversed by
the line. The main feature is a perfectly level
way. The second great advantage is the absence
of rivers, the Illinois being the only stream of
magnitude which intercepts the course. We do not
include the Mississippi, which there is no intention
of bridging. It is asserted—and this will, per-
haps, convey to the English mind the best idea—
that the construction of the whole line of 585 miles,
filly equipped, will not cost as much as a single
one of some of the London Railway Stations. We
have, then, a grand result at a comparatively small
cost, mainly owing to natural advantages, and in a
smaller degree to the application of common sense
to dearly-bought experience. The American system
has run into the opposite extreme to the English
system. It may be a nice point to decide which
error is the greater, as constructing so frail a road
that it cannot bear the traffic offered, or building
one with grand stations and magnificent bridges
which cannot return a cent to the original pro-
prietors. if a line is tunnelled and bridged for one
track, and it ig afterwardo found that two or even

The Glasgow Herald says :—" A person calling
himself James Walters, an Englishman, professing
to be a travelling lace merchant, known in Glasgow
from having made occasional purchases of lace here,
and also in Aberdeen, found his way recently to a
town not a hundred miles from the latter city, and

took lodgings in the house of a respectable unmarried
female, where he remained for several weeks. He
employed his time to some purpose, for he succeeded
in effecting a lodgment in her heart as well as in
her house, and made a proposal of marriage,
which was accepted. lie managed this by dint
of great plausibility, and by representations
which were, unfortunately, believed to be true.
He seems to have been an adept in attacking the

sensibilities of the female heart, for he, as it now

turns out, feigned illness for some time, so as to
become an object of sympathy and attention, know-
ing, doubtless, that " pity melts the heart to love."
Banns of marriage were duly proclaimed in the
parish church, and th© confiding bride-to-be ad-
vanced to her successful wooer some £2O for
clothes and other articles preparatory to the mar-
riage. She was naturally anxious to be married
in her own house ; but a strange whim had ap-

parently taken possession of the now convalescent
bridegroom, for he expressed a strong wish to be
married by the Rev. Dr. Taylor, of the U.P.
Church, in this city, as that gentleman, accord-
ing to the statement of the veracious vendor
of lace, was a particular friend of his. It is hard
to shake a woman's confidence when once it is
fixed, and the lady did, what probably a good
many others similarly placed would have done—
she consented. Before leaving for Glasgow she
endorsed a deposit receipt for £2O, with the view
of cashing it in one of the local banks; but as it
happened to be a bank holiday, she put it in her
pocket-book, intending, if it were necessary, to get
it cashed in Glasgow. This was not unobserved by
Walters, who managed to possess himself of the
receipt before the train arrived in Glasgow by ab-
stracting it from her box. On leaving the railway
station the lady expressed her anxiety that they should
at once go to Dr. Taylor and have the ceremony
performed ; but this was not exactly the intention
of Mr. Walters. He stated that the rev. doctor
might he from home, and to save her the fatigue of
walking to his house to no purpose, it might be, he
would in the meantime go himself and make the
necessary arrangements if he were at home, and re-
turn to a refreshment-room to which he had taken
her, and where she was to await his return. The fel-
low never came back, but left his unsuspecting victim
penniless in a strange city to find her way back as
she best might. In her distress she applied to Mr.
Miller, of the Guardian Society, who took a state-
ment from her, and furnished her with means to get
home. The deposit receipt has been traced and
payment stopped. Walters had gone to a re-
spectable wholesale house in this city and bought
lace to the amount of some £l4, which he received
on handing over the deposit receipt, getting the
difference in cash. Of course the house referred to
had not the least suspicion of the way in which the
document had been obtained. Mr. Miller having
furnished the necessary information to the Pro-
curator-Fiscal, a warrant was immediately issued
for the apprehension of Walters, but as yet he has
not turned up. Walters is about 30 years of age,
and is believed to be a married man. He ought to
be well known in the eastern and northern counties,
as it is understood he called upon private families
with lace and articles of a similar description."