Litchfield enquirer., 1857-09-03

Park SC ldom presents such of misery as it did this for enoon. There were nearly hundred returned flbusters, living monuments of Walkers rash exdedtion, halfnaked half starved, half dead fever and ague worn exhibiting themselves to ex- cite sympathy and pecuniary aid. Most of them had shoes some had but half pair Of pantaloons, some half shirt, others none, some with no cover ing for the head others with hat rim but These poor creatures are in most wretched condi- ton, and many of them far from home and friends. These who induced them to go to the standard of Walk CT are the slowest to move to their relief. They pick up few shillngs from citizens shocked at their condition but considerable sum will be required to save them from the premature grave that now threatens them.
 The Collins Axe Company of this State has ssued thirty six English manufactores for initiating its trade marks, and has been successful. ! COLCHESTER, Ct, August 9, 1857. | Last Sabbath evening August 23 about 6 clock, thunder-cloud of very angry and threatening as- pect came sweeping our borough from the ". \. w., and startled us by a single bolt which it threw into our midst. Nearly two hundred persons had assembled in the First Congregational church of this place at third service and were just beginnin. to dsperse to their homes. when as they were pass ing through the entrance hall and the porch and . II, came down right among them crashing thunder bolt of tremendous power, like the explosion of a bursting cannon It followed the liyhtning-rod down to within about ten feet of the ground twherc the rod seems to have been disconnected, then eav ing the conductor, it passed into the entrance hall pitching the sexton several feet against a stove striking two women prostrate wounding and blister i ing them from hip to toe tearing one shoe from each to tatters then seizing girls bonnet it pass ed round the wire both in front and rear cuns,lminr . almost thread if ;+ the bonnet, burning the flesh severely under the chin where the two eXtremties of the wire met and then passed down the right arm, leaving several severe injuries upon it.
 nor, as IS believed. permanently injured The main current of the electricity passed under the flag of the porch, and there separated into four or five i branches, going in different directions under the stone steps, and so out on the ground ke so many tire-bas in front of the church and what is won- dertu the whole space in the hall and porch and in front of the church was crowded with people and none seriously injured.
 The aggregate capital stock of the railroads in the United States is three hundred and eigbtv-6ve millions; and the aggregate bonded debt at least four hundred millions. The New York Eoeninq Post very pertnently asks :-
 1 Where and how is all this immense debt disposed :, ihe stock Is mostly in the hands of individuals at
 
 als, associations and insttutions-a large proportion abroad. In every city there are piles of bonds on saie ranging in price from twenty cents on the dol lar and upwards but very few comparatively with 1 Tn b per cent of par. There is not town or vil- i laSc on CoitonS latest map of the United States where any person who could be supposed to have in- herted or laid by few hundred dollars has hot been sought and persecued into the purchase of stock or bonds Tn some railroad no widow of scanty means who has not been attered by the high rate of inter- | a vii af ort rfco fl,n dollar no banker who has not yielded to similar temptations not one who has escaped ruin by fol- lowing the advice of his railroad friends no trustee ot estates or of public funds, money agents no doctor no poor clergymen no clerk, no merchant or mechanic, or farmer. who has not been waylaid and beset in spite of all his efforts keep out of the way. Citizens have mortgaged their houses farm cts have subscribed their LndS and public office IFS have pawned their salaries to buy bonds From all these quarters they have been sent for sale to New York, the holdergettng tired of doing without in terest or becoming alarmed for their safety. They are here now, in patches of tens tiftcs and thous andS waiting for customers who will be fools enough to buy. They in London, in the little towns of Germany and Switzerland among the Scotch hills and the Swedish icebergs; and they arc everywhere in a state of deplorabe discredt, with some bright exceptions The regular payment of interest is no surety to the owner that the bond is safe, because he sees if he reads the newspapers that the course 1 of railway management is waste, and prospective disaster. He knows that the chances of a bond be- ing paid at maturity by any other method than that of renewal at loss of 20 30 per cent. are very few and that the longer he holds the less likely is he to sell at a reasonable price,
 Railroad stocks are in condition than the bonds but their depression is compensated for by the agricultural and mineral resources which have been developed Beyond this it is financially fact of great importance that the loss incurred on the stock of railroads is, to a great extent q Hiug aiready passed. Probably amount not less than two hundred and fifty millions of dollars tout of the three hundred and cighty-fve has actually been charged off long ago the books of the real losers It is not among the reckoned assets of comncr- cial business. All that it could do towards causing bankruptcy in trade has been done. Every success sive holder of stock has borne his share of the de- prcciation It has thus been spread over an inn mense surface. It no longer constitutes any part of the capital with which now carry on their affairs The same is doubtless true of the loss by bonds to d great extent The country has taken the load on its back, and bears it.
 Nevertheless, there is matter for grave reflection in the present posture of the railway business It does not stop, and with system of credit It will not stop. The bulk increases every day If we should cancel from books all our stock We have yet four hundred millions of bonds to take care ot which the first renewal flor it is idle to talk of their redemption will be increased to five hundred millions. Then We have new stream of stock is sung from the eXhaustless source of credit, which is to be bought at some price, Our railway debt grows, and is represented in many forms common
 
 convertible andTincome bonds, farm bonds, land grant bonds, privileges, chattcl mortgages and so forth These are sold transferred, hypothecated, cancelled and re-issued. They constitute our rail- road financial currency. What they. in effect, but circulation, verily as bank bills Like them, they may be forged and thrown into the market.
 The Post urges Central Registration Office some what analogous to the clearing house system of the banks which shall keep proper records of all rail- way bonds emitted. The scheme might work in England. but with our Sl States, would be found impracticable here.
 Mrs. Margaret Burdell, widow of MT. John Bur dell and sister-naw of the late Dr. Harvey Burdell was appointed guardian of her three children, last week, upon filing the usual bond. These children arc among the heirs of the late Dr. Burde, and this out of letters of administration upon the estate ill their behalf.