The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-24 00:00:00

A RECENT NEGRO HUNT.

On Saturday night, November 12, a negro man,
the psoperty of a gentleman of Woodford County,
Kentucky, encamped at a strawyard on the farm of
Mr. Samuel Leechman, in Carroll County, and to
protect himself from the weather, built a fire from
the rails that surrounded the straw stack, leaving
the premises as soon as the first streaks of dawn
broke over the mountain tops. Mr. Leechman, on
arising, discovered the smoke up at the strawstack,
and went to ascertain the cause. On arriving at the
spot he soon discovered that some one had spent
the night there, and as snow had fallen he had no
difficulty in tracing the footsteps of a man. It
readily occurred to him that the tracks were those
of a runaway negro. He tracked him by the house
of his neighbour (Mr. Craig), and seeing Mr. Craig
in the yard, informed him he was pursuing a run-
away, would he not join him P—to which Mr. Craig
readily consented, after procuring arms, &o. The
trail wended its way through the farm of Mr. Bar-
ratt, who also joined in pursuit. The track from
here led straight to the Ohio river, but the negro,
being hotly pursued, turned back to the hills,
hoping to elude his pursuers in the winding defiles
of the Kentucky cliffs. This he nearly succeeded
in doing by walking some distance in the bottom
of a meandering stream ; but as all things have an
end, so did the stream have a beginning, at the
source of which his tracks again became percep-
tible. Here, for the first time, they discovered him
standing on a high elevation above them, but he
immediately disappeared over the hills. The track
now being broad and plain, the pursuit was pro-
portionately rapid. From hero the negro made
directly for the Kentucky river, with his white
pursuers close on his heels. Arriving on the bank,
he paused a moment, but seeing them coming up
to seize him, he ran out on a log that projected into
the river some. 20 feet, and turned at bay upon his
enemies, exclaiming, " Gentlemen, I will not be
taken alive. The first man who comes out on this
after me will witness the ball pass through my own
brain" (at the same time presenting the muzzle
of a pistol to his head). The party in
pursuit were struck with the determined
expression that his countenance seemed to
manifest, and for a while paused to parley with
him. But all to no effect, however. He re-
peated he would kill himself if they attempted to
come out after him. Two of the men determined
to test his valour, cocked their pistols, and com-
menced walking the log towards him ; but their
feet had not more than touched the log when he
pulled the trigger and fell into the water. They
immediately caught him before he sank and dragged
him to the shore. On examining the wound they
found that the ball had entered through the parie-
tal bone, and ranged upward and outward. During
the examination he commenced breathing, labo-
riously at first, after a while more regularly, finally
opened his eyes, and expressed deep regret at his
failure. He still survives, but can hardly be ex-
pected to recover.— Vevay (Indiana) News.

IMMORALITY OF THE FRENCH STAGE.

•

The Imperial Court decided, on Wednesday, re-
versing a judgment of the Tribunal of Commerce,
that an actress under age was entitled to set aside a
theatrical engagement entered into without the
consent of her father, on the ground that it was
manifestly disadvantageous to herself, and that the
mere non-interference of the father was not a suffi-
cient tacit consent. The circumstances of this case
are curious, and throw a strange light upon the
system on which actresses are engaged in certain
Paris theatres. The appellant, whose real name is
Mdlle. Antoinette Jathiot, but whose appellation
on the playbills was Antonia de Savy, is an ex-
tremely pretty girl, who appeared when very young
on the boards of the Porte St. Martin and the
Varieties. Some time since, when about 20 years
old, she signed an engagement with the managers
of the Palais Royal Theatre for two years, at a salary
of 1,200 f. for the first year, and I,Boof. for the second.
Out of this miserable pay, about 4f. a day on an ave-
rage, she was bound to.fiud herself in " linen, stock-
ings, shoes, head-dresses, and all theatrical cos-
tumes requisite for her parts, except foreign cos-
tumes totally different from anything habitually
worn in France." Besides this, she was liable to
fines for a greatvariety of stage offences, and in case
of the breach of any part of her engagement, was to
pay a sum of 10,000 f. by way of liquidated damages.
M. G. Chaix d'Est Ange, her counsel, said that such
an agreement as this, which loft no margin for her
subsistence, and which any actress must be mad to
sign, was a palpable imposition upon her youth and
inexperience, and could not be supported against a
minor in a court of law. But it was answeredon the
other side that neither the managers of the theatre
nor the young lady herself ever expected that she
was to gain her living on the stage; that although
legally under age, she was old in experience as a
member of the demi-monde; that her real profession
was that of a " Dame aux Camelias," the profits of
which profession were most materally increased by
the opportunity
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while mademoiselle occupied splendid apartments in
the Passage Saulnier, kept her carriage and servants,
and habitually spent 6,000 f. or B,ooof. a year upon
her toilette alone. It was even said that the known
fact of her having a great many handsome dresses
was one of the circumstances which induced the
management to engage her. These arguments sue-
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the suit. But the Court of Appeal, adopting the
view of M. l'Avocat-Goneral Moreau, that the
Court could not in any way sanction such an im-
moral notion as, that the terms of the contract
were not disadvantageous for the minor, because
it was known that she got her living in a way that
could not be avowed, set it aside, reversed the ver-
dict awarding damages against her, and ordered
the managers of the Palais Royal to pay all the
costs.

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE
RAILWAY.—On Thursday evening an accident, unfortu-
nately resulting fatally, occurred in connexion with the
six p.m. train from Wallsall to Birmingham. Between
Newton-road and Perry Barr the tyre of one of the wheels
flew off; and, having fractured some planks in the bottom
of the carriage to which it belonged, this appears to have
alarmed one of the passengers to such an extent that he
jumped out. Two of the carriages and the guard's van were
thrown off the rails? but those who were travelling in them
were fortunately unmjured, and no injury was occasioned to
the line. The delay that was necessitated by the occurrence
prevented the arrival of the Liverpool express and other
trains in Birminghfina:for nearly two hours. When disco-
vered, the poor felldw who jumped out of the train was in-
sensible, and appeared to be badly injured internally, and
in a short time he expired.