The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-20 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

(From the Anglo-American nmes.)

On the night of the 9th of January, at Memphis,
a notorious thief, named Jim Burns, was arrested
while effecting an entrance into the dry goods
store of H. bunts and Co. He was conveyed to
gaol, and on entering his cell discovered another
prisoner, named M'Carthy, lying asleep, and as-
saulted him, nearly strangling him. M'Carthy,
frenzied with pain, assaulted Burns in turn, and be-
fore the guards could interfere gouged Burns' eyes
out of their sockets. On the 7th January an affray
occurred at Dyersburg, West Tennessee. The
sheriff, Parkington, attempted to arrest an old man
named Duncan on the street. Duncan drew a pis-
tol and fired, shooting off the thumb of the sheriff.
His son, who was standing near, drew his pistol
and tired, killing Duncan. A son of the latter
coning up fired, killing young Parkington in-
stantly. The sheriff seeing his son killed, drew his
pistol and shot young Duncan through the heart.
fhe most intense excitement followed. Owing to
the numerous 'relations of both parties, further
trouble is apprehended.
On the evening of the 10th January, three boys
of the village of Amherst, Massachusetts, and three
students of the Agricultural College, attacked, in
the College dormitory, Clarence E. Brown, a mem-
ber and janitor of the institution. It appears that
Cook, one of the village boys, had been removed
from the College, and suspeciiug Brown to have
reported him, he determined thus to revenge him-
self. The plan was to induce Brown to open his
door, when the party were to rush in and administer
the punishment with raw hides. One knocked at
the door, but Brown being in bed refused him ad-
They went into the back room, and get-
ting access to the bedroom ventilator, broke all the
glass. By a skeleton key they managed to open the
door, when Brown attacked them with a stove wrench,
and drove his assailants into an adjoining room.
Feeling sure he had no pistols, they returned with
more confidence. The door was broken open, and
Brown was seized by three on one side and ono on
the other, and brought to the floor. His only wea-
pon was a small cabinetmaker's chisel, with which
he slashed right and left, stabbing one in four
places, another in three, and three others (among
whom was Cook) iu one. This .dispersed the party;
and as Graves was going down stairs he slipped,
and so violently struck his head that there is small
chance of his recovery, the others are progress-
ing favourably. Young Brown is from Florence,
of excellent character; and President Clark so fully
endorses the course he pursued, that he has pre-
sented him with a scholarship, of which the annual
income is $204. The Springfield Republican says
very inconsistently, that, " If the College authorities
do not introduce a reform among the students,
every Christain parent sending a son to college
will need to add hereafter to the Bible and Prayer
Book a Smith and Weeson revolver and a dirk
knife, with instructions to use as occasion requires:"
The trial of Gen. George W. Cole at Albany for the
murder of L. Harris Hiscock, the seducer of his wife,
was appointed to commence on Monday, Jan. 27,
and its progress and developments will be awaited
with the deepest interest. The defence claim to be
confident of an acquittal, and to have secured tes-
timony which will startle the public and show Mr.
Hiscock to have been a libertLe of the most corrupt
and abandoned sort, the despoiler of the virtue of
many others than the udortunate woman for whom
he was sacrificed. The legal talent engaged is of
the highest order, and the professional interest in
the trial will be fully equal to that of the general
public. IVe learn by the last mail that the trial
has been postponed.
A IN ashington telegram, of the 26th ult., says :
—" The new treaty between the Feejee Islands and the
United States has just been received at the Department of
State. It is rather vague in point of stipulation and eccen-
tric in form, consisting simply of an immense tooth of a
whale, richly variegated in colour, at the ends of which is
attached a strongly twisted grass cord, which serves as a
handle, or as binding the treaty. The naval agent
who delivered the tooth was instructed to say to the
President that it was a treaty by which the King of the
Feejees mortgaged his island to the United States for the
payment of the instalments or indemnity duo to the
United States, to continue for three years; the President,
on his part, to agree to prevent the rival Feejee King
from levying war against the legitimate Sovereign
during the continuance of the m trtgage. On being
asked how the treaty was to b., ratified and exchangeJ,
the agent said his instructions were that if the
President accepts the tooth, then the treaty is
established. lf he declines the treaty, he is to return the
tooth to the King of the Feejee Islands. The treaty or
tooth was wrapped in a rude cloth, made from the inner
bark of a tree, without skinning or weaving. It is not
known whether this irregular treaty will be sent to the Se-
nate for ratification. Seine years ago three seamen deserted
from a United States vessel, and took shelter on the Feejee
Islands. An officer went in search of them, and appealed to
the authorities there to assist in their capture. After
much prevarication the King admitted that the deserters
had been eaten by his people. A demand was at that
time made for indemnity, when the Sovereign a,reed to
give a stipulated sum. One of the'inst•dments was paid
(perhaps 20 years ago). and the object of the present
treaty, or tooth arrangement, is forwarded by the King
as an evidence of his good faitn, and to show that he
has not forgotten his pecuniary obligation.
A correspondent of the New York 'limes, writing
from Lynchburg, in Virginia, says :—" I think the
Southern correspondent of Northern journals have run
into much extravagances in describing the condition of
affairs in the Southern States —at least so far as our supplies
of provisions are concerned. There is no scarcity of bread
and meat in Virginia, and I do not credit the intimation that
there is any very alarming scarcity of provisions in the
other Southern States. There is doubtless distress in locali-
ties, and among the poorer classes, here and there ; but
when the terms starvation and famine are used, I think I
have reason to protest my incredulity. Remember, that

►nission.

we have a four months' remedy for starvation, in our in-
digenous crop of Indian corn. In large portions of the
Gulf States they may plant this crop in early spring, and
it ripens in four months. For more than a month
before maturing it is a nutritious and delight-
ful food for man and beast. The correspon-
dents alluded to rather indicate a prospective famine
than an existing one ; but this benignant gift of Indian
corn dispels all fear of starvation lying in wait for us in
the future. In many and large districts of the South this
plant grows to an abundant yield, and is cultivated at a
minimum cost of labour, and two crops may be made in the
year. if you would know the secret of the rapid increase
of our late slave population, and our unrivalled success in
the growth of cotton before the war,- it will be found in the
extraordinary qualities of this crop of Indian corn, which
gave bread to three-fourths of the Southern population,
an,t upon which were reared and fattened the animals
which supplied us with meat. It was this crop which
enabled us to compete successfully with the rice-fed " free
labourers" of India in the production of cotton.

The New York Independent says :—The Union
League Club, which rendered such important services to
the nation during the war, awl whose elegant rooms on
Union-square were the ecene of so many patriotic demon-
strations, has taken a ten years' lease of the very spacious
building on Madison-square, which was first de-
signed as a residence for its builder, Mr. Leo-
nard W. Jerome, and afterwards changed into a club-
house for the New York Jockey Club. When the Union
League Club rented the Parish Mausicn, on Union-square,
on a five years' lease, at a rental of $5,000 a year, it was
considered a very high rent; but now the present owner
of the house demands $1.8,000 a year for the renewal of
the lease, and Mr. A. T. Stewart, who ought to know the
value of up-town property, says the price is cheap.
Among the lecturers iu New York this winter
is a seceding Shaker, who gives humorous lectures on
the ways of the disciples of Anu Lee.
Edgar A. Poe's autograph is thus advertised by
Horace Greeley. He says :—" A gushing youth once wrote
me to this effect : Dear Sir, —Among your literary trea-
sures you have doubtless preserved several autographs
of our country's late lamented poet, Edgar A Poe. If
so, and you can spare one, please enclose it to me, and
receive the thanks of yours, truly.' I promptly responded
as follows: 'Dear Sir,--Among my literary treasures
there happens to be exactly one -autograph of our coun-
try's late lamented poet, Edgar A. Poe. It is his note
of hand for $5O, with my endorsemest across the back.
It cost mo exactly $5O 75c (including protest), and you
may have it for half that amount.—Yours, respectfully.'
That autograph, I regret to say, remains on my han Is,
and is still for sale at the original price, despite the
lapse of time, and the depreciation of our currency."
ACADEMY OF MU,IC. The last Japanese company,
which has been kindly permitted to leave their native laud
by the unexampled generosity of the great Tycoon, are
holding forth at the Academy, and are emphatically the Japs
of all Japs. They do more difficult feats, wear more gor-
geous dresses, make more frightful noises, and are more
singularly hideous than any Orientals we have ever met iu
the course of our life. Au elderly hyena who plumes him-
self upon the name of Ila-;/a-tic kee, is one of the most ex-
traordinary and peculiar performers for public pence and
patronage that has been inflicted upon us fora long Period.