Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1859-06-25
WHOLE NUMBER 4g6.


ges, cheaply built and very profitable to
their owners;) whence the land rises into
rolling sandy ridges, some Of them thinly
wooded up their sides with Whiteand Burr
Oak. Thence we strike the. old.fashioned
deep, black prairie again---most inviting to
the cultivator, but not so grateful to the
| traveller, Just after q soaking rain--and
passing the stakes and ruinohs cabin or SO
Of one or two stiIlborn cities, We reach the
Big Blue, which here joins the Kansas from
the North. 1t is nearly as wide as the
Kansas or Kaw at Lawrence, but Of course
neither so swift nor so deep. It is far
clearer, even just after heavy shower, than
the Kansas, as is strikingly evinced az end
below the junction, where the two streams
run for some distance side by side in the
same channel without mingling.
The Big Blue rises near the Platte, 10
what is now Nebraska, but which will be
included in Kansas il the Platte is made
her northern boundary, as il seems likely
to be. 1 understand that there is q good
deal of settlement already along its course
and on its tributaries, though Judge from
the relative purity of its water that some
portion of this region must be less fertile
than the portions Of Kansas have seen.
Manhattan is an embryo city Of perhaps
100 houses, of which several were unroofed
and three or four utterly destroyed by q
tornado on the wild night ] passed at At
Gibson (15th inst) So violent was the
tempest that large sign-board was car-
ried across the Blue and thrown down fuls
ly half a mile from the spot at which It was
taken up; and other heavy articles haze
not since been found. Several families de.
prived Of home and shelter by the hurri.
cane are temporarily lodged in the base
ment of the new hotel Just erected here
three-story building, 55 feet by 33, with
| limestone walls and black walnut fiuishssg
an establishment Of which there is ur-
gent need. The city Is located on the fat,
deep bottom in the forks Of the rivers, with
high limestone bluff, affording capital
material for building just behind it. The
Kansas comes hither from the Southwest.
and has Fort Riley and its large military
reservation fifteen miles distant on its north
bank, with the intended City of Ogden just
east and Junction City" just west Of it,
at the forks of the Kansas, whence its more
northerly branch is known as the Republi.
can and its moro southerly as the Smoky
Hill.
At Junction City, is newspaper--the
most westerly, presume in Kansas, apart
from the Pixies Peak region-founded aud
kept alive by an army sutler, and of course
Democratic" in its inculcations. In op-
position to it, The ManhattGn Express is
about to be issued here by an italian ex.
lie and devotee of Universal Liberty, who
will of course sustain the Republican cause.
| spoke here last evening in the midst Of
another gathering tempest. which burst in
rain as closed, and it continued to flash
and roll all night, with considerable rain,
and is cloudy and blowing gale to-day
1 fear we shall be stopped by high water
on the Plains.
| had hoped to sum up my impressions
of Kansas in this letter, but that would
make it too long Let me close with an
incident which is currently reported through
out this region as havingreeehtly taken place
at crossing of the Big Blue known as
Marysville (of course not the Marysville
of Bull Creek) some 60 miles north of this
place.
A party of dishear tened gold-seekers, it
is said, were returning from the Plains, and
came to this ferry, which they insisted on
crossing without payment, saying they had
no money. The ferryman refused to take
them over until aid-(another account
says he asked th em an exorbitant price)-
when they attempted to take his boat and
put themselves whereupon he drew
his revolver, they drawing almost at the
same instant. He was Of course Piddled
with balls, and fell dead, but not till he
had either killed or severely wouEded FIVE
of his aSsailants.
One more illustration Of Border fife A
quarrel recently arose about a 'claim'-that
fruitful source Of trays and lawsuits in new
setttlements-on one Of the creeks q few
miles from this place. The stronger party,
composed of several who are known here
as bad fellows, told the resident he must
leave, which be, in fear for his life, consen-
ted to do. His wife, however, more reso-
lutte, resolved 60 hold possession, and bade
them defiance, turning as she did so to go
into the house and bar the door AS she
turred, she was fired at and fatally wound
ed She died two hours thereafter, having
first made statement of the affair, which
was taken down from her dying lips. The
adverse party came down at once TO the
nearest Justice and told their story, expect
ing to clear their leader, who fred the fa-
tai shot; but the Justice, after hearing them
through, considered that it implicated the
wh ole party five and consequently held
them to answer to the charge Of murder.
H.G.
DESCENT OF AN IMMENSE MErEoRIc BoDY
IN OswEGo CoyNrY.-Tbe 0swego PaAa-
L. 4; ,o.,,os;l,lo for tl,o fslloxv;,,s, sra