The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1827-09-12


f Administration, of more than ten MouSant,
and to have elected a Senate, consisting Of
80 members, with majority of four or five
and House of Representatives, consist
ing of 100 members, with majority, not
much, if any, short of 20, in favor Of the
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES election turning al
most universally upon the national question
SLAVERY. The state Of Society, in the
States where Slavery prevails to considera-
bic extent, must be dreadful, and such as our
readers can have but little idea Of The ten
dency OF Slavery, naturally, is, to harden the
neart and give ferocity to the character
which 1t otherwise would not possess. The
truth OF this does not depend on abstract rea-
sonlng alone facts prove it. The southern pa
pers are continually burthencd with accounts
OF tracases, assassinations and murders, many
! OF them of the most aggravated character To
what other cause can this be attributed than
the one we have assigned it to /? And to the
same cause the violent and outrageous pro-
ceedings at elections, such for instance as
those exhibited at the election in Kentucky,
may be traced
we copy below one of the many instances
OF barbarous assassination which have lately
reached US in the papers, and we do it merely
in illustration Of the foregoing remarks 1t is
from the Charleston Mercury, where it is pub
lished in the form of a letter from Collcton.
S. C.
On the night Of the 9Th jan last, as Capt.
Priester, of this district, was amusing him
self with his Violin, he was shot from his
| piazza door. The assailant used musket
Capt, z. received eleven buck shot, several
of which went through his body, and three
SO nearly through his back bone, that the
spine of his back was fractured. From
that period to the present, he has utterly
lost all feeling, from the pit of the stomach,
downwards, all hope of his recovery had
been abandoned.-The person who shot
him was committed to JAIL were he still re-
mains untried. Capt. P. was opposed to
his being tried, under the conviction that
he was put up to it by others.-The citizens,
however, were only waiting until Capt P.
should expire, which was daily and even
momently expected, in order to have the
offender tried. But horrible to relate,
while this unhappy man was thus lying in
this wretched state, in which he had been
for sach length of time, he was again
brutally fired at, helpless and Gying as he
was, on the night of the 10th Aug. Three
buckshot entered his head, and nearly
twice as many his right arm and shoulder.
He was shot in his bed, the wretch having
cautiously watched his opportunity, when
the door was open, and 10 one in the room.
This is the fourth man who has been shot
in our settlement within the last three wears.
and not one of the Williams have been
brought to ustice.-This horrid barbaritv
has created great excitement. Our citizens
are now in the pursuit of the offender.
MERMAIDs. We have ever considered the
accounts of this animal as entirely fabulous
but others put implicit faith in them. For the
qualification of such we publish the following
from late English paper, without further
comment.
The following is an extract of letter
received on Sunday last from our cores
pondent at st. Columb =" Within these
last two or three days there have been
several mermaids seen on the rocks at Ire
nance, in the parish of Marwan. The
facts are from undoubted authority. One
evening this week a man had made an
appointment to meet another person on
the beach to catch sprats. He went out
about ten O'Clock at night, and coming
near point which runs into the sea, he
heard screeching noise proceeding from
a large cavern which is left by the tide
at low water, but which has some deep
pools lit, and communicates with the sea
by another outlet He thought it was the
person he had appointed to meet, and called
out to him, but his astonisment is not to be
described when on going up he saw some
thing in the shape of human figure star
ing on him, with long hair hanging all
about it.-He ran away, thinking, as he
says, that he had seen the devil. The
next day, some men being on the cliffs
near this place, saw three creatures of the
same description. The following day five
were seen. The persons who saw the last
| five describes them thus THE mer-
maids were about forty feet below the men
(who stood on the Cliff and were lying on
a rock, separated from the land some yards
by deep water two of them were large,
about four feet and half TO FIVE feet long,
and those appeared to be sleeping on the
rock, the other small ones were swimming
about, and went off once to sea and then
came back again. We flung stones at
them, but they would not move off. The
large ones seemed TO be lying ON their
faces; their upper parts were like those OF
human beings, and black or dark coloured,
with very long hair and terminating in a fin,
like fish. The sea would sometimes wash
over them, and then leave them dry again.
Their movements seemed to be slow. The
hair of these mermaids extended to a di S.
lance of nine or ten feet.
AURORA BoREALIs. We had splendid dis
plays of tho Aurora Borealis again on the eve
nings Of the 9Th and 9th instants. We believe
J it is common for this phenomenon TO be accom-
panied with dark appearance, somewhat re-