The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 14, 1808.

RAILWAY AND OTHER COMPANIES.

FRENCH RAILWAY RECEIPTS.

The aggregate traffic receipts on the six princi-
pal railway systems in France, including old and
new lines, from the Ist of January to the 30th of
December, 1867, both dates inclusive, amounted, on
9,065 miles, to £25,593,397, showing an increase of
£1,880,230, and of 433 miles. The traffic receipts
on the Paris and Mediterranean Railway amounted
on 2,331 miles, to £8,338,386, against £7,736,183,
on 2,183 miles, showing an increase of £602,203 ;
the traffic receipts on the Paris and Orleans Rail-
way amounted, on 1,851 miles, to £4,213,372,
against £4,062,049, on 1,812 miles, showing an
increase of £151,323 ; on the Eastern of France
Railway the traffic receipts amounted, on 1,650
miles, to £4,182,782, against £3,923,443, on 1,594
miles, showing an increase of £259,339 ; on the
Northern of France the traffic receipts amounted,
on 870 miles, to £3,721,951, against £3,297,496,
on 788 miles, showing an increase of £424,455 ; ou
the Western of France Railway the traffic receipts
amounted, on 1,301 miles, to £3,370,272, against
£2,986,093, on 1,245 miles, showing an increase of
£384,179 ; and on the Southern of France the
traffic receipts amounted, on 1,062 miles, to
£1,766,634, against £1,707,903, on 1,010 miles,
showing'an increase of £58,731 ; making the aggre-
gate receipts, as above, £25,593,397, against
£23,713,167, showing an increase of £1,880,230.

5 per Cent., the Fitchburg Railroad $4 per share,
and the Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation A 2
per share.

The Springfield Republican says :--" A new rail-
way project has been commenced by Connecticut
and New York capitalists, under the name of the
Erie and New England Railway Company, by
which Derby will be connected with Turner's sta-
tion on the Erie Roads by as direct a line as possible,
not probably over 40 miles long, and ready and di-
rect communication thus opened from New Haven
to the Pennsylvania coal fields. N. D. Sperry and
Charles Atwater, of New Haven, have been chosen
directors of the company, and Col. M. 0. Davidson
appointed chief engineer to conduct the surveys in
Connecticut. The corporation is backed by New
York capitalists, and enough money for the preli-
minary operations has already been secured. The
new movement is designed to take the Boston,
Hartford, and Erie -R►ailroad to the Hudson from
'Willimantic, through New Haven, instead of Hart-
ford, and by a route which is said to be 21 miles
shorter.

Ward and Broad, of Hartford, have contracted
to build the bridge of the Boston, Hartford,
and Erie Railroad, crossing the Quinebaug
near Putnam. It will be a very expensive and im-
portant piece of work.

The Everett manufacturing company of Lawrence
has declared a dividend of 5 per cent. The Cocheco
manufacturing company of Dover, New Hampshire,
has declared a dividend of $4O a share. The Stark
mills at Manchester divide $5O per share paid out
of funded profits. The Hartford and New Haven
has declared a quarterly dividend
The New York city National
roafitlrhoraede
pcoermpeaennyt.
banks are generally declaring 5 and 6 per cent.
semi-annual dividends. The Shore Line Railroad
has declared a dividend of 3 per cent., and the
Norwich and Worcester the same. The Boston and
Providence 5 R-A- cent. ; the Old Colony and New-
port 3 per cent., though netting 4 on the six
months ; the Vermont and Massachussets, $1 50.
The New York Tribune has lately divided $lO,OOO
to its stockholders—sloo per share—the first in a
year and a half, after large investments in real
estate and other permanent improvements.
The following January Semi-Annual Dividends
have been declared by the New York City Banks :
—Marine National 6 per cent., Eighth National 5,
Fifth National 5, New York National 5, Irving
_National 4, Ninth National 5, Mechanics' National
5, Citizens' National 5, Shoe and Leather National
5, Merchants' National 5, Second National 5, Bank
of New York National 5, Bull's Head 4, Atlantic
National 5, Market National 5, Hanover National
5, Chatham National 6, Metropolitan National 6,
Importers' and Traders 5, North River 5, Fourth
National 5, Tenth National 5. Grocers' National 5.

Seventeen incendiary fires have occurred at
Northampton, Massachusetts, within six months,
most of which, it is believed, were caused by them.
Kingsley is said to be their leader. He was ar-
rested before the war, charged with similar crimes,
but no direct evidence could be obtained against
him. He enlisted, and while campaigning, not a
single incendiary fire occurred in the town. The
now mill of the American Print Works at Fall
river was also burnt on the 15th by an incen-
diary fire. It was one of the first structures of the
kind in the country, and its loss will be a great
blow to the industry of th city, 500 hands being
thrown out of employment

The negro fomenter of insurrection in Alabama,
Shorter, has been convicted and sent to prison for
six months, but he escaped from gaol. The Stan-
dard's correspondent says the evidence in his exa-
mination showed that he was furnished with funds
by parties in the North to go South and create a
disturbance.

Iu Greenville, Alabama, a negro asked a white
woman to marry him ; she refused, and he shot her.
Mr. Nethercutt was murdered near Newbern, North
Carolina, and his wife shockingly abused. Num-
bers of murders of negroes by negroes are also re-
ported.
The House of Representatives has lost two of its
members, the one by murder*, the other by suicide.
The Hon. C.S. Hamilton, of Ohio, was killed on the
22d December by an insane son, who struck him on
the head with a plank while engaged in feeding his
cattle. The maniac then pursued his mother with
an axe, and failing to catch her, severely wounded
his brcther, and having cleared the neighbourhood

covered his father's body with corn-stalks. Mr.
Hamilton was a Republican, and was elected for
the Eighth District of his State, October, 1866.
On the 24th December the steamship Raleigh,

from New York for New Orleans, when about 20
miles off the Carolina coast, caught fire and was
totally destroyed. The conflagration broke out at
noon, and in five minutes the whole steamer was in
flames. The boats were lowered, and 31 of the pas-
sengers and crew are known to be saved, but the
commander, Captain Marslunan, and many more
are missing. Eighteen persons arrived at Charles-
ton on a tug, and 13 more in the third boat reached
Kiowa inlet. Tugs from Charleston were sent to

cruize on the scene of disaster, but failed to pick up
any of the missing. The Raleigh was a long side-
*heel steamer belonging to the Atlantic Coast Mer-
chants' Steamship Company, and was worth 175,000
dollars, and was partly insured. The total logs is
estimated at 409,000 dollars, but uo account of her
cargo has been received, as the purser has all the
papers with him. The following are among those
who safely reached the shore :—Purser M'Manus

and his wife ; D. B. Rice, chief engineer ; Margaret
Murths, stewardess ; Capt. N. R. Mills, officer of

the New York police ; C. W. Bartlett, chief officer ;
Gordon Young, second officer ; Chas. Smith, quar-
termaster ; C. P. Marchman, Jr., son of the cap-
tain ; Dr. J. Cass, Lawrence Sweeney, Jas. Brad-

ley, John Sloan, and Angelo Girragan, passengers,
and seven of the crew.

The lion. Elijah llise, of Kentucky, shot him-

self, declaring, as a letter in his pocket signified,
that he could not look upon the destruction of the
American Republic. The hallucination of this un-
fortunate gentleman has led to a most lamentable

act, as the probabilities favour the chance that the

man who is to live to see the end of the American
Republic would have a very lengthened existence.
A fire occurred in the Cumberland county poor-
house, Pennsylvania, which destroyed that portion
of the building in which the coloured people and
insane were confined, and a white man, and a-white
woman, and a negro were burned to death. The
white man, who was insane, was chained to the
floor, and in that position was literally roasted alive.
A locomotive exploded at Reading, in the same
State, Dec. 23, killing a fireman and an engineer. A
patient in the Illinois State insane•asylum, at Jack-
sonville, named Nicholson, was beaten to death
with the leg of a table by Peter Alichael, another.
inmate.

As two policeman were running to an alarm of
tiro in Haverhill, Monday morning, Dec. 23, about
two o'clock, they. heard a noise in the Merrimack
National Bank, then a report, and saw a flash in
the building. Policeman Burnham ran into the
bank room, and was shot dead by a burglar, who
had just made an abortive attempt to open the bank
vault by blowing up the lock of the outer door. Officer
Burnham was a man much respected as a citizen,
and had been in the police force but a short time,
having been detailed on account of the recent
numerous petty robberies. The fire is supposed to
have Leen done by the burglars, it being in a paint
shop not far off, to divert attention. No one has
been arrested.

Policeman John Fenton, of Memphis, Tennessee,
while attempting to arrest three drunken men on
Christmas-day, was shot and mortally wounded,
and a German lad named Joseph Schiller was killed
by a stray shot. The assassins were arrested and
held for trial. A negro boy named Boswell was
shot in the head, and instantly killed, by another
boy ; and some dozen persons, mostly negroes, were
accidentally shot during the day by promiscuous
firing of pistols.

George Harcourt, an Englishman of good family,
disappeared mysteriously from St. Paul, Minne-
sota. Mr. Harcourt proceeded, from a drug store
at St. Louis, to St. Paul, t) accept an offer made
to him by one Masters, of a surgeon's position in an
expedition about to be formed. A man named Van
Soler, who had previously made Mr. Harcourt's
acquaintance, accompanied him from St. Paul on
the 18th August, 1865, on a fishing excursion. On
that evening Van Solon returned, declaring that
Harcourt had robbed him and decamped. This
was widely published, and Harcourt's property' was
sold, and the proceeds appropriated by Van Solen.
Six days after a corpse was found in the river near
St. Paul's, and after a coroner's inquest was in-
terred. As Harconrt's friends heard nothing fur-
ther of him they became uneasy, and wrote to Van
Solen, whose reply was seen to be in the handwrit-
ing of Masters, whose communication, offering the
post, Harcourt had forwarded to his mother. In-
quiries were instituted, Van Solen arrested, and
the case is now being tried. The skeleton of the
body found in the river was produced in court,
which the counsel declares can be shown to be that
of Harcourt.

'The wholesale theft reported in our last, of which
a bank messenger was the victim, has had a more
agreeable denouement than generally expected. On
Christmas morning a lad entered the chief police
office in New York and gave the superintendent a
parcel, which he said contained a Christmas present.
Upon opening it he found all the checks, drafts,
and other papers, to the amount of $3,683,439,
which had been stolen from the bank messenger.
The thieves, afraid to attempt their negotiation on
account of the precautions taken, had adopted this
novel mode of returning them to their owners, the
Bank of the State of New York.

If Mr. Hepworth Dixon had gone far enough
West he might have changed his opinion and given another
sketch of Western morality than that supplied by Denver.
In the Reese River Reveille we iind a Dr. Todd and a Mrs.
Ada Hoyt Fop; free lovers and spiritualists, shown
up in no measured terms by a brother editor, who
considers it his duty to follow thesa spiritualists and
expose them :—" We .can conceive no more disgusting
exhibition than that afforded to the citizens of Washoe
lust Sunday evening, when Todd preached that ►natri=
!Reny inaugurated a family Hell upon Earth, and Foye
exhibited the beauties of Free Love by hugging his spiri-
tual affinity in public."
LADVERYISRMENT.]—Avoiii Medicines: they always aggravate
chronic complaints: but Du Barry's delicious health-restoring
Revalenta Arabica Food, which yields three times the nourish-
ment of th 3 best meat, saves 50 times its cost in other remedies,
and invariably restores perfect digestion, strong nerves, sound
lungs, healthy liver, pure blood, refreshing sleep, functional
regularity, ane energy to the most disordered or enfeebled. We
extract a few cut of 68,000 cures ;—" The Pope's health restored
by Du Barry's Food. Cure No. 63,413. "Rome, July 21, 1866.
—The health of the Holy Father is excellent, especially since,
abandoning all other remedies, he has confined himself entirely
to Du Barry's Revalenta Arabica Food, of which he consumes
a plateful at every meal. It has produced a surprisingly bene-
ficial effect on his health, and his Holiness cannot praise this excel
lent food too highly." From the "Gazette du Midi, July 25 Cure
No. 58,216, of the Marchioness de Brehan,
.of seven years' liver
complaint, wasting away, debility, nervousness, with a nervous
palpitation all over, had digestion, constant sleeplessness, and
the most intolerable nervous agitation.." Cure No. 1,771; Lord
Stuart de Decies, Lord Lieutenant of Waterford, of many years'
dyspepsia. No. 49,832: " Fifty years' indescribable agony from
dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency,
spasms, sickness, and vomiting.—Maria Joly."—Cure No.
46,270: Mr. James Roberts, of Frimley, Surrey, of 30 years'
diseased lungs, spitting of blood, liver derangement, and
partial deafness. Important Caution.—Beware of the many
unsavoury and more than sloppy imitations to which, without
authority, Baron Liebig's name is most audaciously attached.
In tins at ls. lid.; 1 lb., 2s 9d. 2 lbs., 4s. 60 ; 5 lbs., lls. ;
12 lbs., 225.; 24 lbs., 405.— BARRY Du BARRY and Co., No. 77,
Aegent-street, London; also Fortnam and Mason, 182 Piccadilly ;
and at 61, Grazeclaurch-street; 4, Cheapside; 63, 150, and 289,
Oxford-street; 330 Strand; and all grocers and chemists,

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE,

~ ~~.

(From the i'Vewnzarket Correspondent of the Racing Times.)
The appearance of the entries for the Spring Handicaps
indicates the near approach of the racing season, and as
soon as the handicappers have cut out the work for the
prophets, touts, and tipsters, they will all have cer-
tainties for their subscribers, indeed several of them can
already prophesy the winner of the. Chester Cup ; but I
think the flats aro not so plentiful as they were some few
years back, when
.bookmakers were able to get some
hundreds on a Chester Cup book long beforof Christmas.
My advice to backers of horses is to wait and
not throw their money away, and when the weights
are out not to be tempted by the allurements held
out by those who pretend to have the winners of all the
spring handicaps ; and I promise the readers of the Racing
Times to keep them from backing a lot of worthless horses,
if they will only follow my advice, and I think the public
will give me credit for speaking out very freely last year,
telling them• plainly that such and such great favou-
rites had no earthly chance of winning, and it never
canto off once against me all through the
year. Mr. Topham will, no doubt, be first
in the field with his Chester Cup Handicap; be
has 140 horses to put together, so as to give them all
an equal chance of winning, and I don't know a man more
capable of performing such an arduous duty. There are
very few Newmarket horses entered at Chester, as I can
only count fifteen from all the large stables at head-quar-
ters. Blanton has three—Tormentor, Duke of York, and
Demonstration; the two former were going to win races
all last year, but did not. Tormentor was never a first-class
mare, although she won the Oaks ; but there were a lot of bad
ones behind her, and time gave us proof that they were a lot
of rips. Tho Duke of York is a delicate horse to train, and
notat all suited to the Chester course. Demonstration will,
I have no doubt, pay his way this year, as he can stay, and
will make a useful handicap horse, but more of him anon-
Bloss has Blinkhoolie and Knight of the Garter. The
latter could not get the Chester Cup course with any
weight, a mile and a half being quite as much as he likes.
Blinkhoolie is a useful horse, but not such a clipper as
his Cesarewitch backers made out, when they took seven to
four about him. Indeed I heard Mr. Chaplin tell the
Admiral that he laid a bookmaker seven hundred to four
against him, but, of course, it was hedging money.
Joseph'Dawson has Numa Pompilius and
-Knight Errant
engaged. The former was first favourite for the Good-
wood Stakes last year at one time, but he is a had horse,
as I told your readers before the race, and his
trial with the Peer makes him a worse horse than
I thought him to be. Lord Stamford's horse was tried
with him before the Liverpool Cup, and won his trial so
easily that his lordship backed him for a large stake, but he
ran just as I told your readers he would do—nearly last.
Knight Errant is a useful horse, but I think a mile and a
half is about the distance he likes. Mat Dawson has only
two in—not three, as we are told by a contemporary—as
Prince Regent has joined Fred. Bates's string long since ;
therefore he has only the Northampton Stakes winner and
Contempt. Miss Havelock is about the worst snare that
over did win the Northampton Stakes, and Mr. Wood sold
her well when he got 1,500 guineas for her ; and I was
quite right when I stated at the time that she was not
worth half the money, as Madame Cleopatra could always
beat her at oven weights when Peter Price had them both.
Tile same nobleman gave 3,500 guineas for Challenge,
and matched him against Julius for another thousand,
besides backing him for the St. Leger for a few thousands
more. I was quite correct when I stated at the time
that the Marquis would find out he was a very dear horse,
and not worth one quarter of the money—indeed it would
take the Bank of England to keep up a racing stud purchased
at such a rate. There has been a great deal written and said
about the largo amount of money it cost to buy the Earl
in at the late Danebury sale, and that his noble owner has
such a high opinion of him that ho would not part with
him at any price ; but it will be seen before the end of this
year that he is not worth half the money, for whenever he
met a racehorse ho was always beat. The class of horses
he boat in his first three wins, if they were all put up by
auction to-morrow, would not realise six thousand pounds
and I am determined, as long as lam capable of forming
an opinion for myself, I shall always adhere to my own
judgment ofshorses, heedless of whatever may be said or
written by others ; and I am quite sure the Earl is an
overrated horse, and has no earthly chance of winning
the Derby whilst Lady Elizabeth, Rosicrucian, or Pace
keep all right. But to return to the Chester Cup. Tom
Dawson has twelve entered, and the best of his on the day
will be worth backing; and the same may be said about
John Day's lot. Lowe has four very:useful animals entered,
Feodor, Chivalry; Y.ardarin, and Aggravator; and as they
tbheeloynggettowmelelL,who know what they are about, should
they will be a dangerous lot on the day.
Hughes has three yearlings, Ackworth, Planet, and Red-
cap; the former has already found his way into the
betting at 50 to 1, but I really don't know what weight ho
could win with, and if Mr. Topham has no better opinion
of Ackworth than I have he is sure to get well in. The
time the Danebury stable backed bins was with
Cannon up, and ho was easily defeated by a had
horse. lam quite sure he has lost all form, and the
public will be deceived if they look out for another Flash-
in-the-Pan with Ackworth. Planet is as slow as a man,
and the public saw enough of Redcap last year. Bates
has Grand Cross, Cork Jacket, Clarice, and Prince Regent.
The two former are very moderate, and Clarice is a
wretch, although she lost the Duko of Hamilton the City
and Suburban, for if Tom Parr had not brought her to
Newmarket to try her with Wild Agnes, the latter
would have cantered in at Epsom, her running after-
wards proving that she could have given any weight to
the winner. I see last year's winner is entered, and backed
again. We are told she is the best mare in England, bar
Achievement, and that the Squire lost the Goodwood Cup
by not running her. Now in my opinion this is all rub-
bish,.for surely it was no great performance for a four-
year-old to win a Chester Cup with 7st on her back; and
what on earth did she beat in the Leamington Stakes ?
Pintail and Edinburgh were second and third—both very
bad animals, especially the latter, Who can beat nothing
over two miles, for a mile is his favourite distance,
When Beeswing ran in the Doncaster Cup she was backed
by her owner, was last in the race, and Hermit was only
running her at 121 b for the year ; and from the manner he
beat her in the race either he or Achievement could
have given her 141bs and beat her. I could select
nfi
of ttyw ht
no rws etst
with
from y
iNt,he ei
h
tand Chester Camu
quite
entriess ure
tthhea
acsosu 1d
of
handicap horses we had running last year, with afew
exceptions, were the worst I ever remember. Let us
hope, for the honour of the English thoroughbreds,
that we shall have seine good three year olds this year,
and I shall be fully prepared to see some of them win the
spring handicaps, and not allow them to be carried off by
such duffers as Miss Havelock and Endsleigh.

ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE IN•
TERIORS OF THEATRES.

Are the interiors of our theatres constructed on the
best principle ? A proprietor or lessee would answer
Yes !
unless it can be proved that a greater number
of spectators can be crammed into the same space;
but having no interest in the profits of such estab-
lishments—merely forming part and parcel of the
public—our reply is, No! Let us view the subject
in this general light. LA us imagine ourselves to
be the temporary possessor of a central stall, near
the orchestra, in one of our principal play-houses,
and record the impression left upon our mind
by an inspection of the auditorium during
an interval in the performance. We extend
our gaze over the gentle rising rows of chairs

—over the steeper gradients of the more elevated pit
to mark that in the latter- the audience is more
closely packed, and much confined as it becomes
lost in the obscurity of the overhanging dress circle.
We incline our head backwards, looking from
boxes to boxes, from gallery to gallery, to note
that in all of these the spectators, on some back
bench, seem with their heads to touch the low ceil-
ing (which is the flooring of a tier above), and
serve as caryatides for its support, the upper gods
having the honour to uphold the covering dome.

Finally, we direct our vision towards the wings to
behold ladies and gentlemen peering out of small
apertures—•like so many cooing pigeons from their

nests—constructed one over the other from the
basement to the roof. We resume our seat, and,

however soft may ba its padding—nay, were we
even at perfect ease, a sense of oppression steals over
us from our inspection, which makes us conscious
of being in the close vicinity of confined
and suffixing humanity. As this is our impression
from blow, let us ascend to the open boxes—to the
galleries. No matter where, we find ourselves be-
neath a low roof, well knowing that immediately
beneath are several stages of similarly constructed
receptacles, singularly well adapted for the promo-
_

tion of perspiration in the patrons of the drama.
Nor does our direct downward gaze excite any sen-

thnent of envy, for there beneath, in the open area,
society seems to be so herded together as to take
the appearance of a vast impactment of barbers'
rude blocks exhibiting chignons and back hair amidst
a rising vapour of animal steam ; and (as part of
the general public—a mere vulgar fraction) we
come to the conclusion that, in a modern
theatre, one cannot obtain a tithe of the freedom of
respiration, of movement, and of general comfort
which a beast enjoys at a Smithfield cattle show
when held at the Agricultural Hall, Islington. In
these temples of dramatic art, on crowded nights,
discomfort reigns paramount ; humanity fills every
seat below, and all standing room around ; huma-
nity lines the
_walls to vaulted roof, perched on

narrow shelves or crammed into be-curtained holes,
and every one feels as hived in with an over-s warm
of his own species.

How different are most of our concert rooms !
How different was the late St. Martin's Ball ! There,
the single balcony was so slight, in proportion to
the space of the interior, that its additional num-
bers were not felt. There, ventilation was ever
secured, and one could listen in case and comfort,
devoil of all sensation of oppression—all thought
of captivity. Wisely has Mr. German Reed re-
tained all the advantages of a concert-room in his
transformation of St. George's Hall into an opera-
house. lie has made no attempt to heighten the
roof or give the interior its usual horse-shoe form
of circling galleries, and many in consequence may
affirm it to be no theatre ? We cavil not at such
want of distinction. Let it be the concert-room
still, with the addition of a stage—a stage, how-
ever, suitable to its object, and it is, nevertheless,
the most comfortable building for witnessing a
dramatic performance in London. We sincerely
wish a similar one was exclusively at the disposal of
our amateur friends. --Racing Times and Amateur
Dramatic Chronicle.