The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-02-19
THE DAILY DISPATCH,
A MOMENT OF Ho X X . X.
sYAs ARMY urrfcKR

BYAN ARMY oFTfcER
"a, not nroro,e to tell A story either Of romance
or Of sentiment, bu, siuply parrate 40 ineidert
rhIen happened to myself in the fall ct 49,.
r.s hound westward 10 the city of New York.
Tho CITY was crowded with strangers Afser up-
..a,sf,i applications at several hotels at last
obtained todg,pgs st ---s, kept on the European
,l.n Here was obliged to content myself with
q chamber ON the fourth foor, oddly enough ar.
.aaa In some respects, as. upon going to It after
unoInc for the purpose Of changing my travel
.tsined dress noticed the room had no window,
,ri,h the exception of square opening in the
% All through which air and light were admitted
the Bowery theatre, reaching my apartment
on returning, about ha'f-past twelve O'Clock at
uisht
when abou. stepping into bed observed the
wicket opeu, and o thought struck me TO take
look into the adj lining apartment Why it was
know not; perhaps a sense Of my own insecure
~ sc.uated me.
go: upon q chair and gazsd through & window
Into the chamber. No was there. TWAS fur =
nished like my own. A lamp was burniug upon
The tsb ., and upon the table was Tying bolster,
q whet tone, and pair CT large false whtskeis
Well thou sht 1, these are rather queer articles
of wardrobe After glance at the PREMISE r.
anything but easy. / huaiy got into bed hrs'
placi ~ the lamp on the DOT a. the foot; ana ek'
amining my pistol, laid 1t carefully uaher my
head At irst though q1ite fa;igued coula h"'
AlpeD. Aud when n1 GOEs my uEta"'
e,sy and troubled Macbeth had been the play 81
the theatre and witches and black whskers, ban
auo's ghost with pistol, hoslters aud the hhe III
teres.iug visitors, were the companions Vi my
dreamy thoughts. 49,,
aroused by q some what singular noise ga listen
ing, 1t evidently proceeded from the next room
II could be iikened to nothing had ever neaio; IL
WAC low but regular and metallic in Its sound-so
20 express il, such sound, for instance, as might
be made in cutting glass with q diamond. Sud-
denly thought If the MILESTONE on the table, and
AZ the same moment became convinced the noise
was that of a knife being shatpened My bed was
placed in the diagonal corner of the room from the
wicket aud had been lying with By back to the
latter / turned in the bed as noiselessy as pos
sible to face the wicket, grasping my pistol.
The lamp was burning dimly, and all was as still
as death.
As my eye fell upon the window, 1t encountered
fret q hand placed upon the sill, then rose by de,
grees q head with pair CT glttering black eyes,
great heavy whiskers, and large sharp knife be-
tween his teeth. l think / possess the ordinary
courage of man. but must confess the blood in
my veins seemed to curdle As / viewed he appari-
ton Quick IS lightning, sprang up in the bed,
and pointing my pistol. cried out, Ii you move
muscle from your position, you're dead man
The eyes glared, the head remaining, however, IS
described, the man not ut:ering syllable, got out
of bed and with pistol still presented and eyes
fixed on bis, backed to the bell rope and pulled
Il violently. Iu q few nom eDts servant came up.
called to him TO bring police officer there is
something serious gong on here In a moment
the passage was filled with the inmates Of the
house La saor. time star made his appear
Rnce, and took the mao into custody The lands
lord said he had arrived that evening without bag
gage.
The next day gentleman claimed the supposed
assassin as his brother, maniac, whom be had
been conducting to the insane liam III Phiia1el-
pbia and who had escaped FROM him while in that
city. He had made his way to New York, and
with the well known cunning Of mailman, hsd
mapsg red to avoid detection Isuppose the power
of the eye-for kept mine fixed on bis-had r -
strained him, otherwise he could easily have mas.
tered me 10 a moment. Since then, whilst 10 8
strange place, have been careful to examine and
secure my chamber before retiring.
COLLISION AT SEA-Narrop Escape The col
ision of the ship Great Western with an unknown
ship, between Georges shoals and Nantucket or
the night of the 9th inst has been noticed:
The Great Western arrived at New York or
Thursday, In tow of the steamer Menemou San
ford in q crippled condition. She had lost hel
mainmast, mizzen topmast, and some of the for
ward yards, with ell the spars and sails attached
and was otherwise damaged In her upper works
A very dense fog had enveloped the ship through
the day, which the nigh t rendered quite impene-
trabe, so that objects could not be discerned hall
the ships length The ship by the wind, with
good breeze, and the passengers were all below
in their bertha when, all of sudden the bowspIit
of q large ship was seen peering through the dark
ness; captain uFOer saw the apparitl8n, but had
only time TO utter a loud command for every man
TO take care of himself when the cra h folio wed
The stranger came quartering On TO the Great
Western, from forward, striking her exactly amid.
ships, the starboard side, her bowsprit rst en-.
cOunteriDg the mainms st, which was broken into
four pieces and carried over the weather rail-tns
maintopmast coming down endwise aud passing
through the deck the starboard side breakins
off deck beam in its descent, end ripping up til.
panks Of the deck for space of ten feet; the
yards and everything attached to the manmas
fell like an avalanche of wrecked matter upon
decs, together With the mizzen topmsst and its
yards.
The ships side was badly crushed in above the
lower deck ur Of the hesvy beams we're broken
with all the carlins between The deck was
ripped up, and the whole topwork amidships ! e
celved terrible shock. Strange to say, not per
son was killed amid this fearful crash won an
and five children slept in the berths directly under
where the topmast penetrated the de OK, but they
were not harmed; and young woman 10 an ad
joining berth was not ma lie aware of the accident
natu awakened by general scream from the
iIhtened passengers A spare main yard which
lay fore and afs l,ng the water ways, insiJe ,f
strong timber heads was broken off, and no doubt
prevented a worse disaster to The side of the ship
Not q word was exchanged between the vessels
and the unknown ship swung clear leaving the
fragments of her head work upon the decks of tae
Great Uestrn. The wreck was cleared ayay as
toon as pLs IDLE; the topmast being sawed in two
aud the lower half left between decks The hole,
in the side and on deck were covered with boards
and canvass to keep out the sea and the falling
rain and snow.
The next morning Captain Furber saw shin
without bowsprit and cutwater, which be Judged
10 oe the ship that had run into him The shin
displayed her numbers, but there being little wind
TO DO" them out he could not make them out.
HORRIBLE CRUELTY.-Milsno who attemnted
to kill the anointed king CT Naples suffered such
horrid punishment 10 this world that he deserves
at least as pleasant a hereafter as his royal tor
mentor:
He was stripped, bound hand and foot. and
hung to beam with his head downwards; he wan
tormented in this position for two hours burning
~isps OF straw being held under his head He
was also bound aud hung up by the ears, causing
him the most agonzing psias in the head and carr;
ana me ground beneath him was covered with
burning Goals SO that with lis bare feet be could
not stand. He was also tortured with alternate
applications of cold and boiling water, and his
shoulder bones pulled out OF joint with ropes
tied to his arms. Lastly, he was scourged; and
those who saw his naked body declare that the
skin was blaekened with green and yellow marks
upon 1t, hideous to behold"