davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08
Governor Ramsey, q. >. S.

Our duplicate friend, Governor and
Senator ALEXANDER RAMSEY, is one of the
keenest fnanciers of our State. He
knows which side his bread is buttered as
soon as he gets it spread. He takes care
of Minnesota, at the small charge of Five
Dollars day. He attends to the United
States, at Ten Dollars day. He makes
a trip to Washington, Senatorially, and
furnishes his "advice and consent " to the
President, for the trifing mileage of
Eighteen Hundred Dollars. As Governor,
he journeys into Kentucky, Tennessee,
and Arkansas, looks into the condition of
our soldiers, incidentally, and into his cot
ton operations, particularly, and charges
his expenses to the State. The Governor
is cute. The Senator is shrewd. The
Governor and Senator, combined, are so
dueced smart that they come very near
making ALEXANDER RAMSEY a public swim
dler.
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08
s. BllIy'' Wilson and Some Of his
XOuaves in Trouble.

Our New Orleans correspondent, writ
ing on the 10th instant furnishes the fol-
lowing:
From gentleman who has just arrived
here from DonaldsOnville, learn that Col.
William Wilson and several of the line of
fcers of the Sixth New York are under
arrest at Baton Rouge, and that twenty
four privates are in prison at Donaldson
vile, two of whom have been sentenced to
be shot The origin of the difficulty seems
to have been the well-filled whiskey can
teens of the men. The liquor was obtain
ed at Baton Rouge on the 25th ultimo,
while embarking for Donaldsonville on the
steamer Morning Light. The bar on
board the steamer was broken open by the
soldiers, who attempted in fit of drunk
enness, to throw General Dwight over
board. Colonel Wilson made every at
tempt in his power to quell the outbreak,
but was unsuccessful. The arrests of Off
GERS were made under the charge of inetfi-
cheney and INSTRUMENTATION. The sum of
500 is to be deducted from the pay of
the privates of the regiment for damages
done to the steamer
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08
France and the South.

A Paris correspondent of the New York
Herald, writes from the former city on the
7th inst:
If any reliance is to be placed upon the
statements of men high in authority in the
French government, there is now no earth
ly hope to the South from French inter-
vention, the Emperor having entirely
abandoned the idea which he once enter
tanned and, satisfied that in very short
time, if not interfered with, the federal
government will succeed in crushing out
the last spark of the rebellion. have it
from most unquestionable authority that
such statement was made only the day
before yesterday by one who should know,
if any other than myself may, the ideas of
the Emperor.
The determination now exhibited in the
matter, the reaction in the ranks of the
Democratic party, the fall in gold and ex-
change, have all had a very decided effect
here upon the people, and the "powers
that be-" aid convinced them that the
bottom of the rebellion must soon fall out,
while the loyal States, which the seces-
sion agents in Europe have always taken
such particular pains to represent as on the
verge of disintegration, are more friendly
united and stronger than ever. Indeed
hear that such is the disgust of Mr.. Slidell
at the present attitude of affairs that he is
now in favor of the abandonment of his
mission and Mr.. Mason's by the 1st ofJune
next, in case by that time the confeder-
acy is not recognized by England and
France, and that he has so advised his
government.
Again the same writer says upon the
10th:
The feeling of confidence in the ulti-
mate and indeed rapidly approaching sue
cess Of the federal cause, is increasing here
day by day, and a good stunning victory
somewhere would enable MIR. Aspinwall,
who is now in England for the purpose of
negotiating loan of 800, 700, to OBJ
tain every dollar of it in France, in case he
fails among our neutral friends, the Brit
ishers.
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08
The Tax Question I'm Rebe,ao,
From John B. Thompson's correspondence with the
Jackson. Miss. Anneal 49, ~

From John B. Thompson's correspondence with the
jackson, Miss, Appeal.
RICHMOND, March 80, 1863.-The tax
bill, as published in the Examiner of this
morning, carries CONSERVATION to tile
whole mercantile community. Half the
merchants and manufacturers talk of dis
continuing their business. Were the d.
rect Confederate tax all they had to pay,
they might bear up under the burden, but
the state tax is yet more oppressive, and
when the city tax is added, the camels
back, in many instances, must break, and
no hope for it. The business of auc-
pioneering has proved so profitable
within the last few months that every
body was turning auctioneer, and many
new houses have been started week.
ly. When this class of persons are called
upon to pay, in addition to their licenses,
two and half per cent. on the gross
amount of their sales, the number of SELL
ers will most probably dwindle consider
ably. The retailers of spirituous liquors
are mulcted in license of one hundred
dollars, and required to hand over five per
cent. of their gross amount of sales, fact
in which we might rejoice if it were at all
likely to diminish the traffic of the bar
rooms, but these people can pay anything
or theatres there are so few in the Con-
federacy that the very high levy upon
them is not likely to bring in large rev.
enue, otherwise five per cent on all re.
ceipts, with $500 license, would be very
important thing for Mr. Memminger. The
receipts of the new theatre'in this city are
hardly less than twelve hundred dollars
nightly-here is matter of three hundred
and sixty dollars week-so that if there
were many such places of entertainment,
their combined contributions would go
far to pay the expenses of all our armies.
But the most Onerous burden of all in the
tax bill is that imposed upon the bankers,
who must pay five hundred dollars license
and 20 per cent. upon their gross profits,
nearly one-third of all they make in the
prosecution of their banking operations
If this does not drive the money-changers
out of the capital, then these gentlemen
must be exceedingly patriotic, or making
fortunes monthly by the sale of gold and
silver, and the dealings of the stock ex-
change. 1t is thousand pities the tax bill
could not reach the unlicensed bankers,
whose financial labors are conducted by
gaslight in secret apartments, with bits of
ivory and the ordinary playing cards
One per cent. upon the gross receipts of
two or three establishments in Richmond,
would enable Mr.. Mallory to buy half
dozen ironclad English steam frigates for
the navy. 1t is true that the tax bill has
not, as yet, passed the Senate, but it will
hardly be modified there by any tighten
ing of the burdens imposed in the House,
and our people had best make up their
ness.
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08

The Press, in announcing the resigna-
ton of Col. SANBoRN, of the Fourth regi-
ment, hints that the cause was his nom
confirmation by the Senate as Brigadier
General, to which office he had been NOM
mated by the President. We trust that
this was not the sole reason No one has
failed to observe the gross injustice which
has been perpetrated during the whole
course of the war by the Administration,
in advancing the most transparent charla-
tans and humbugs to the highest positions.
The appointments of CAss1Us NJ. CLAY, G.
q. WAsHBURNE, and CARL SCHURz, as Ma
jor Generals, and DICK BUSTED and scores
of the same stamp as Brigadiers, while in
finitely better soldiers and purer patriots,
who have fought nobly on many fields,
have been kept in subordinate positions,
were outrages that have been condemned
without stint by Republicans as we'll as
Democrats. The public have no, been
blind to such acts of injustice, and have
not been slow to recognize and honor true
merit; and for these reasons Col. SANBORN
would have sustained his reputation much
better to have remained at the head of his
regiment during the whole war, than to
have resigned because his services were
not Adequately rewarded by the Admins
tratiOn.
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08
a Public EsenefactOr.

The La Crosse Democrat pays the fol-
lowing tribute TO citizen of St. Paul,
whose enterprise and public spirit is gen.
orally appreciated by the people of this
State:
Capt. w. S. Davidson, President of the La
Crosse and st. Paul Packet Company, is in
town on business pertaining to the model line
of boats he is connected with. 1t is but short
time since he came among us, o stranger and
almost without means-now he is at the head
Of one of the best steamboat lines Oh the river
and known far and wide. A man of untirlng
energy and ambition he knows not the word
fail With the foresight characteristic ofmodel
business men he saw the wants OF the north
west and has filled them. Thousands OF farm
ers north and west of this point can and 90
thank Capt. Davidson for the marketing faclll'
ties they enjoy. The country never appreciates
the work of such men, who, while others are
waiting for SOC ething to turn up, 60 to work
and turn up something for themselves.
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08

The following is the official announce
ment of the birth eff a daughter to the
Princess Louis of Hesse, nee the Princess
Alice of Great Britain and Ireland:
WINDSOR CASTLE, April Bier Royal
Highness Princess Louis of Hesse (Prin-
cess Alice of Great Britain and Ireland)
gave birth to Princess at a quarter before
5 O'Clock this morning. Her Majesty the
Queen was with the Princess constantly
during the night. In the room with the
Princess at the birth of the child were Her
Majesty the Queen, His Royal Highness
Prince Louis of Hesse, Sir Charles Locock,
DR.. Fare, and the nurses, and in the next
room Sir J. Clark. In an adjoining apart
ment were Viscount Sydney, Lord Cham
berlain, Sir George Grey, Secretary of
State for the War Department., and Baron
de Ricou, head of the household of His
Royal Highness Prince Charles of Hesse.
Intelligence. of the happy event was i'm
mediately transmitted by telegraph to the
Grand Duke and the Court of Hesse Darn
stadt, and to the various members of the
royal family. The following was the bull
letin issued:
WINDSOR CASTLE, April 5.
Her Royal Highness, the Princess Louis
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08

The fiery, fussy and irrepressible Gen.
HENRY A. WISE has several times hereto
fore been under disgrace for his blunders
and failures as a rebel military leader. He
was chased out of Western Virginia, and
turned upon his confederate, Gen. FLOYD !;
and, by way of even handed justice, the
one was sent off by JEFF. DAVIS into North
Carolina and the other into Tennessee.
Next, WISE ran away from Roanoke Island
and FLOYD from Fort Donelson, and both
were under cloud again for some time.
But, to give WISE another chance, he was
lately sent against Williamsburg, and,
failing there at Fort Magruder, he has
again been superseded. And so we shall
probably not hear of General WISE again
till the end of the war. He is great
spouter, but a poor fighter
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08
DeserteYss Stories.

Deserters who have lately arrived within
the lines of our Army of the Cumberland,
state that nothing but the sternest military
discipline restraints the rebel troops from
Tennessee and Kentucky from leaving the
ranks in body. The mountains of Geor-
gia and the Carolinas are full of deserters
and refugees from CONSUMPTION, between
whom and the rebel authorities frequent
generally to be taken with considerable al
lOWance
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08
Our Relations with Eagland.

When the Press come ont short time
since with flaming appeal for a war with
England, as the most atfectual means Of
uniting the North, and Of suppressing the
rebellion, we took occasion to condemn the
utterance of such sentiments and to show
that war with England at this time would
result in the dissolution Of the Union. and
the triumph of the Southern Confederacy.
We are gratifed to learn that these
sentiments have found prompt and decided
expression all through the country, especi-
ally among that class of journals supposed
to be more Immediately responsible for the
acts of the Administration, and in some
measure to reflect its views. This express
sion comedies with that evoked at an ear
lier day by the Trent difficulty, but is much
more spontaneous. We select two leading
Republican journals as opponents of what
may be considered the popular view: The
Cincinnati Gazette says:
The American people have enough on their
hands without undertaking war with Eng
land. Such we believe to be the universal SEN
timent of the supporters of the government
But in the way of reprisal, or salts
faction, there is laid up for us in the future, by
the neutrality precedents set by England, a
satisfaction and retribution, without cost, far
greater than we could get by war.
Next to the Chicago Tribune, which
sometimes is favored with special revela-
tons from Washington, apparently with
official sanction:
The glibness and easy confidence with which
many journals of the West talk of a war with
Great Britain are painful. War may come.
The English government is our deadly foe. 1t
is permitting such acts every day that are am
pie justification for any reprisals that we choose
to make. But because she is the aggressOr
and because the depredations upon our COM
merce, at which she connives, are, in an inter-
national point of view simply atrOcious, war
is none the less q calamity than if our
cruisers had provoked it, and we pray our
rulers to exhaust the resources of diplomacy,
and to appeal, after that. to the justice of man
before they make hostilities inevitable.
These are important as serving to indi-
cate that while this government may have
no disposition to submit to injury from a
foreign power, it is disposed to make
great temporary sacrifices rather thar
hazard the consequences of further politi-
cal complications, and that claims for re-
dress may be referred for settlement, if
not through diplomacy, then by arms.
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08
Letter from John @. whi,.ier.


At . late meeting Of citizens of all par
ties in Amesbury, Mass, q letter was read
from the poet WHrrrEn, from which we
extract the following passage:
Iregard it as, of the utmost Importance
that, in this hour of trial, men Of all par
ties should remember only that they are
American citizens. The life of the coun-
try is at stake, and however we may com
tinue, to call ourselves, there are really
but two parties-the party Of loyal men
and the party of traitors. For myself, I
can say in all sincerity, that I am more
than ready to lay aside whatever of merely
party feeling and prejudice I may have
entertained, and act cordially with all
loyal men, who are willing to act with me.
And at time like this, we owe undivided
allegiance to our country. We were
Americon citizens before we were Repub-
licans or Democrats-and it matters little
who is in or out of office, so that the
country is saved.
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08
Horrible Crime-.A Man Murdered bv
/n> NJ his Wife and Son.

The murder of Job Brooks, near Bur-
lington, N. j., in which his son, Charles
Brooks, and his son-in-law, Timothy Ridg-
way, are implicated, promises to be one of
the most remarkable in all the annals of
crime In addition to the implication of
the son and son -in-law, his wife is now &C
cused by the son-in-law of having con-
ssplred with the son to kill the old man.
'idgway says that, on specified evening,
ne went to the barn to feed his horse, and
was followed by his mother-in-law, when
ne said to her that he would like to know
VINO committed the murder She replied
she was afraid Charles Cher SOM did it, as
she had heard him say his will was good,
if he only dare. She then told Ridgway
to come to her. We give the rest of the
story in Ridgway's own language:
1 went to her, and she remarked she
would tell me, but for the world must
say nothing about it. l promised her I
would never mention it. She then replied.
If you ever name it l will take from YOU
all your goods, such as furniture that gave
you, and Sarah Ann shall not live with
you. She further remarked that she would
put the property out, and the money would
keep herself and Sarah Ann.
She then said, you know the night of
the murder, when you and Sarah met me
down by the bridge. Charles and herself
intended to catch her husband, but could
not. She said that as soon as Sarah and
myself left her house, after our return
there, she started out, and went down to
the bridge, and waited there until Charles
and his father came up from church.
She further said her husband asked
what she was doing there. She replied
she was looking for her ducks: she was
afraid they would lay there and she would
not get the eggs. He replied he thought
it was pretty time Of night to be looking
for her ducks; and as the father walked
on, Charley stepped up behind him and
knocked him down with club. And she
handed him (Charles) the knife, and he
stuck it in his throat, and she helped to
carry him to the ditch.
They both then started for home. She
said that she did not stop him from going
after KeSiah Garwood.
[She said it was done with a knife
that her husband fixed for her to stick
chickens with, and, a knife being produced,
Ridgeway states that it was the knife used
by Mrs. Brooks for the purpose above
stated
The reason l did not make the foregO-
ing statement in my previous examination,
was on account of my wife.
Some time ago my mother-in-law ac-
cused the deceased Of going after Kesiah
Garwood, and he struck her. At another
time she accused him of going after Re-
becca White; he then threw a bowl of
tomatoes at her.
Keturah Ann Brooks, widow of the
murdered man, was arrested and lodged
in jail
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08

IRISH EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES.
1t is stated in the Cork E,caneiner that
the number of persons who have left Ker-
ny for the United States during the last
fortnight of March, exceeded all that had
emigrated during the two previous years.
Almost every morning crowds of persons,
principally of the farming clrss, were seen
taking their departure from the railway
station, Killarney, on their way to Queens
town for America They rush out from
the country (says the E.caminey) as they
would from contagion, fearing that by
remaining in it they may be reduced to
pauperism, and then become permanent
inmates of the workhouse. 1t appears
that large sums of money have been sent
over from America lately by the relatives
of persons in that part of the country, and
in many cases tickets have been enclosed
in the letters for the passage across the
Atlantic.
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08
A Grave Charge.

Major General KEYEs, in his letter to
the Union League, makes some statements
worthy Of official Investigations:
trust your speakers will draw, in part, the
matter of their discourses from the testimony
of veterans, who are now in the field. Let
them tell why our armies have not been hurled
against the enemy, when opportunities, now
lost, presented themselves
From NE they may learn that we have had
men in command, surrounding and confiding
in men like themselves, and there still remain
in position of influence men, in the army, who
have some other purpose in view besides over
coming the enemy. They remember the rebels
to fear something from them when the war is
done.
A Major General who accuses his brother
officers, in general terms, of treason, we
should say is eligible for the witness stand.
Let General KEYEs be made to testify
The good of the service demands it.
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08
The XaZoO Expedition.
WHAT DAMAGE WAS DONE TO THE REBEL

WHAT DAMAGE WAS DONE TO THE REBELS.
A letter from Helena to the Philadelphia
Press says, in reference to the Yazoo Pass
expedition
The expedition is SO far great success
in this, that it has entirely destroyed all
prospects for crops OF any kind on the
Yazoo Pass, on the Coldwater, and on the
Tallahatche. In addition to the above
very important item, all the cotton, cotton
gins, plantation houses and negro quarters;
all the corn and all the cattle, and all the
fences on these streams were utterly de-
strOyed; besides the rebel loss in killed
and wounded, and in prisoners, and from
desertion, was very considerable. Their
greatest loss, however, was in the very
large amount of cotton they destroyed to
keep us from getting it, and the loss Of
great number of their negroes, who were
brought out under the provisions of the
Presidents Proclamation, and the COM
plete decentralization of what were left.
A portion of the negroes that the Yazoo
Pass expedition caused to leave their mas
tiers, are now drilling at this point as Fed
eral soldiers.
The breaking of the levees in getting
into the pass, will destroy all the country
adjacent to our route, and will render the
whole upper portion of the State of Miss
issippi SO sickly, that it will be impossible
for their armies to remain in the localities
we have just visited. The same may be
said of all the Lake Providence country
and that of Vicksburg, and in fact of all
the States on the Mississippi river, for the
levees are broken from Memphis to New
Orleans, and cannot soon be repaired, for
the negroes won't work, and the southern
chivalry have not only to fight the Yankees
but starvation.
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08
South Carolina.

The Port Royal Neoc South, of April
18th, gives much prominence editorially
to the following paragraph: "The rein
forcements now ordered, and on their way
from the North, will soon elevate this De-
partment to the first rank in public inter-
est and military Importance. We are not
at liberty to give further indications, but
this much is certain, that the gray-backs
along the southern coast are about to have
some lively and interesting times"
The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08
Gen. Banks, Success,

The success of Gen. BANKS, in his Louis
lana expedition, is regarded by the militia
ry authorities in Washington as of the
highest Importance. In connection with
the movements of the gunboat fleet on the
Mississippi, it is supposed that the expedi-
ton of Gen. BANKS will render it necessa-
ry for the rebel forces occupying the
stronghold upon that river to fall back up
on some new base of supplies, as their
communications with Texas and the Gulf
OF Mexico, through which they have been
receiving large amount of provisions and