The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-16 00:00:00

A DOUBTFUL STORY.

Among the arrivals at this port yesterday was
that of the schooner B. D. Pitts, Capt. D. Corson,
from Charleston on the 24th. The Pitts was pur-
chased by her Northern owners last winter, but as she
was obliged to leave this port before the legal transfer
could be made, she made her last trip to the South
under her old papers, according to which she hails
from Tappahanock, Virginia. This circumstance
was all that enabled the captain to take his vessel
out of the port of Charleston, as on the 20th all
Northern vessels were seized and appropriated to
the uses of the Negro Confederacy.- -From Cap-
tain Corson we have gained many important par-
ticulars. He states that there is not a month's
provisions in the city, and, of course, they are re-
ceiving no accessions. Flour on the 22d he con-
tracted for at 8 dols. per barrel, but, neglecting to
theo
send for it that,day, he was obliged on the 23d to
3 divisions dole, i n
hadtl
P24ayholulrsti.°lsT"
The price
price
of
all havingrisen
other
trebled during the last two or three months.
The Sunday before he left, the 20th, about 3,000
Volunteers entered the city, but were irarae•
diately sent north to Virginia, and the gene-
ral impression then was that they would
send about the same number north every
week. Captain Corson doubted their ability
to obtain the supply. The South Carolinians are
boasting very loudly over their victory at Sumter,
and are confident that within 20 days—the next 10
days—they will be in possession of Washington.
Bets are freely offered in regard to it. The general
impression seemed to be that the task of whipping
the North would be mere child's play. Many of
the firms of Charleston are at work fitting out pri-
vateers, and some six or seven are now under way
among others is the steamer Nashville, late of the
New York and Charleston line. The crew of the
Nashville came to this port in the B. D. Pitts.
Among other passengers were two deserters from
the rebel forces. Capt. Corson also brought with
him :a man named James Tracey, who, with his
wife and family, were driven out of the State for
refusing to take up arms in the rebel army. He
is an Irishman by birth, but has been in this coun-
try about 42 years, 12 of which he served in the
army—part of the time in the Florida war,
under Scott. For some years he has been
in South Carolina, where he owned a plantation
of 1,500 acres, valued, with the stock, &c., at about
15,000 dols. Having served under the American flag,
would not enlist in the Negro Confederacy army to
fight against it. On the Gth of April a meeting of
citizens was held, at which he was warned to leave
the city within ten days. On the 14th, while he was
absent from home, in Columbia, a mob, headed by
a ruffian named Hoffman, who presided in the meet-
ing on the 6th, during a pelting rain, attacked his
house and turned the family out of doors. They
chased the wife and youngest child through the
woods on their horses, and finally captured them;
then having captured Tracey and his eldest son, a
young man of 21, they stripped them and gave to
the former 500 lashes, and latter 250 lashes with a
raw hide, changing executioners as they grew tired.
The punishment was so severe that their backs were
covered with blood, and blood also issued from
their noses and mouths. After this they tied the
whole family hand and foot, and, tossing them into
carts, carried them 160 miles to Charleston, where
they were thrust into the gaol without money,
with only the clothes they had on, and accorded
the privilege to go "to that nigger Lincoln—
their nigger brother Lincoln—if they could find
any one to take them. Captain Corson heard their
story and brought them with him. Of course, the
family is almost entirely destitute, but the lather
and son declare that they want to enlist the first
opportunity. They will remain on the schooner for
a few days, where any committee can find them,
and we would suggest that a small portion of any
money that has been raised for the Volunteer
cause should be donated to equipping these two
men, who from comparative affluence have by the
traitors and rebels at the South been reduced to
penury and want. They carry with them the
wounds of the rebel lash, and their case is certainly
worthy of immediate consideration.—New York
Courier and Inquirer.

THE MAILS.

MAILS DUB.

Australia, Ceylon, and Mauritius (via South-
ampton) .. May 19.
Do. (via Marseilles) May 13.
Brazil and Cape Verde June 4.
Buenos Ayres, Monte Video, &c.
Cuba and Mexico .. May 29.
Canada, &c. (via L'derry) .. May 15.
Cape of Good Hope, &c. .. June 1.
China, Penang, and Singapore (via: S'ampton) May 19.
Do (via Marseilles) May 13.
Gibraltar (via Southampton) .. .. May 19.
India (Calcutta), Ceylon, &c. (via Southampton) May 19.
Do. (via Marseilles) May 13.
India (Bombay), (via Southampton) .. .. May 26.
Do. (via Marseilles) .. .. May 20.
-_ • • .. May 11.

Lisbon

- - - - -
Malta, Egypt, and Aden (via Southampton) .. May 11.
Do. (via Marseilles) .. June 4.
Vigo, and Oporto .. „ „ „ May 11.
United States, California, &c. May 15.
Western Coast of Africa, Madeira, Tenerife .. Overdue.
West Indies and Pacific, Carthagena, Cuba, &c. May 14.

General de Brigade Grezy has just died at
Bourges, aged 57.

At Monaco last week the bank of the public
gaming-table was three times broken, the total loss being
about 200,000 fr. The managers have consequently been
obliged to return to the system of having the double zero
instead of one, as last winter.

MILITIA SURGEONS.—A return of the sums
actually paid to militia surgeons and civil practitioners for
the medical examination of recruits for the household
brigade and line, including the recruits for the Indian army,
shows that there were thus paid, in 1857-8, £5,120 9s. 6d.;
in 18589, £5,038 15s. ; and in 1859-60, £3,400 4s.
EXPORT OF GOLD TO AMERICA.—The Liver-
pool, New York, and Philadelphia Steamship Company's
screw steamer Etna sailed yesterday from Liverpool for
New York. She took out 30 cabin passengers, and had also
on board £298,746 in gold on freight. It is understood that
already arrangements have been made for the shipment of
a large amount by the America on Saturday.
The failure was announced yesterday morning of
the Peterborough, Oundle, and Thrapston Bank of Messrs.
D. Yorke and Co. This bank was established 59 years
ago, and enjoyed an authorised note issue of £12,545. The
liabilities are not supposed to be very extensive. Mr.
Yorke, of the firm of Yorke and Eland, of Thrapston and
Kettering, is in no way connected with the firm.
FAILURE IN THE IRON TRADE.—BIRMINGHAM,
May 15.—A failure has to-day been announced in connec-
tion with the iron trade of this district. Mr. George
Thompson, of the Crookhay Ironworks, has filed his peti-
tion under the private arrangement clauses in this Bank-
ruptcy Court. His liabilities are estimated at between
£50,000 and £60,000. Mr. Thompson was formerly mana-
ger to the New British Iron Company at Corngreaves.
MURDER IN FRANCE.—AU account was given ill
January of an old man, named Huet, of Carrieres-Saint-
Denis, having been murdered in his house, an isolated one,
in which he lived alone, and of his drawers and
having been ransacked of everything of value—also
police having subsequently arrested at Rueil, a Para "
butcher, named Ballagny, on suspicion of hfiving to committed_
and take
trial for the
the crime. Yesterday this man was brought
viniignhdto
wo f; the
given et-Oise. It
of January,
mapupreaderredbetfhoe.rteotnhethCeou9rtth,ofloAths:
and that no answer was
bgodeinergs hboemiheglalteocksaewd, ao-ao—nlif°eggethanhoetf
nothing was seen of old Hutt
eves I" and a number of the
linattherisdeeayll,aorn.asessoeftet_bhniceeddrivi:p.
reared
over the gar-
given to knocks at the do,oTrh:e
to
11 el
ts.t 11th,
ao,
enterft s nti :e
byt7h2 aeti 12th e
them
mhbgoourt
as
ladder .
aasnfaounvditlhyinhgis
d take to flight across the fields. H
ent a man was seen to jump
He was ptu.-
dead at the bottom of
bila:::tuntielethtecits!iln2l;B,
1
the wild not be captured. The house ha ' g been
with his skull smashed inby blows from a
cravat tied tightly
round his neck. The state of the drawers showed
that he had been murdered for the sake of robbery,
but what was taken could not be ascertained; it
is supposed, however, that part of the booty was a
sum of 3,000 fr. The police on inquiry learned that late in
the night in question a man had gone to a house of ill fame
at Rueil, and had remained there until the next morning.
This man resembled the one who had been seen to run from
Huet's house, and the police soon ascertained that he was
Ballagny. Moreover, a bundle containing articles in dress
was found in Iluet's garden ; it had evidently been aban-
doned by the man who had taken to flight; those articles,
one of which was a goat-skin coat, were recognised as Bal-
lagny's, Ia presence of these facts the man not only made
no attempt to deny his guilt, but he gave details of the
crime ; among other things he said it was in the evening of
the 10th that he had committed it, and that he had re-
mained in the house, eating, drinking, and sleeping until
the night of the 12th. The jury declared him guilty, and
the Court condemned him to death.
A POSER.—Precocious Pupil : " Please, Miss
Jones, what is the meaning of suburbs ?" Governess
(who is extensively erinolined) : " The outskirts of
place, my dear." Pupil (seising Miss J. by the d 77.1
" When, Miss Jones, ige these ow subuxbar—Bin 4