Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1856-04-15

! Clly Register, with an order Tor the cofhn. On
carrying this grave article of furniture to the
house, the supposed dead man was found sitting
| up in his bed, with a woman (his wife, in a
chair at his side. It appeared, on explanation,
that after the funeral arrangements had all
been made, the dying man suddenly revived,
and began TO grow better very fast, with some
| prospects Of ultimate recovery. SO that all Of
the preparations for wake and funeral were
Immediately abandoned. a Il
.....Ihe Science of Optics turned Police
Officer Professor Ehrenberg, the microscop
list, has been successfully employed by a Prus-
sian railroad company to supply evidence for
the detection Of a thief A keg Of specie had
been emptied upon the line of the road, refled
with sand, and sent on its way. The company
applied to the Professor to know whereabouts
on the road that sand came from. He asked
for samples from all the, stations-examine
them with his microscope-and traced positive
ly one of them to one Of the stations. The
field of detective inquiry thus narrowed was
Immediately occupied by the agents of the pc.
lice, and the stolen treasure in short time
traced to one of the employees Of the road.
....... Remarkable Ro66ery.--The Royal plate
of Great Britain was recently stolen under sin
gular circumstances -" Notwithstanding the
prompt and vigorous inquiry which has been
made through the various police offices and
other sources, not the slightest clue has been
obtained that might lead to the tracing of the
stolen plate, or the means by which it was taken
from the wagon. The robbery was affected in
the space Of five minutes, while the FIVE men
employed to guard the plate we're standing in
front Of the bar drinking a pot Of beer, which
Baily, the guard, paid for. Its supposed that
the thieves were well acquainted with the
means used for the removal of the Royal plate,
and that they may have been in the habit of
following the wagon with a cart, looking out
for any chance that might occur on the road,
either by the men stopping to drink, or any
other circumstances which would admit of
their taking advantage of it.
...... An arrest under the Firginia hspec-
ton LaW.-Last Saturday week the new law
for searching vessels went into operation.
Captain Clark, of the pilot boat, boarded the
schooner Hannah and Abigail in Hampton
Roads, and finding young negro on board
who had neither pass nor free papers, took the
responsibility Of bringing the schooner back to
to Norfolk. It appeared on examination,
however, that the boy was free, and the vessel
and captain we're therefore released.
49,. Destitution IN 7eras.-So shocking is
the condition of the roads between Indianola
and the Gulf Coast of Texas, that -four
was worth twenty-five dollars a barrel at the
latest advices, and at some other places in that
section it could not be bought at all. A govern
ment train was lately occupied twelve days in
effecting passage from Victoria to Goliad.
1 ...... Butter from Tree-On the banks of
the river Niger, in Africa, they have q tree
called the Shea, from which excellent butter is
obtained. The tree is like our oak, and the
fruit somewhat resembles the Spanish olive
The kernel of the fruit is dried in the sun and
then boiled, and the butter thus obtained is
whittier, frmer, and of richer flavor than that
which is obtained from the cow, besides keeping
sweet year without salt The growth and
preparation Of this article is one of the leading
objects of African industry, and constitutes the
main article of their inland commerce.
From the Topographic Advertiser.
MEANNEss.
It is said that Pope the Poet (who charac-
terized the majestic Bacon as the meannest
of mankind") was himself SO parsimonious as
to write his poems on scraps of paper, the
backs of letters received by him, &c. but the
following, quoted in Wilson's Treatise on Pune
tuation from an English paper, is an instance
of economical meanness which we hope will
never find a parallel
"The late Sharon Turner, author of the
History Of the Anglo-Saxons, who received
three hundred year from Government as
literary pension, wrote the third volume Of his
Sacred History of the World upon paper
which did not cost him a farthing The copy
consisted Of torn and angular fragments of
letters and notes; of covers of periodicals-
gray drab, or green-written in thick, round
hand over small print; Of shreds of curling
paper, unctuous with pomatnn or bears
grease ; and Of the white wrappers in which
his proofs we're sent from the printers The
paper, sometimes as thin as bank-note was
written on both sides !; and was so sodden with
ink plastered on with a pen worn to a stump,
that hours were frequently wasted in discover
ing on which side OF it certain sentences we're
written. Men condemned to work on it saw
their dinner vanishing in illimitable perspec-
tive; and frst-rate hands groaned over it a
whole day for tenpence. One poor fellow as
sured the writer Of this paper, that he could
not earn enough upon it to pay his rent, and
that he had seven mouths to gil besides his
own. In the hope Of mending matters in some
degree, slips Of stout white paper were sent
frequently with the proofs; but the good gen.
tleman could not afford to use them, and they
never came back as copy"
We were in snow-drift last winter which it
took four locomotives to pull us out Of; but a
forty-locomotive team could not pull SO mean
an author out Of the miry pit of his meanness
n, A