Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1863-01-09

The debt of Missouri is $27,000,000
nearly all for railroads. -....
Prof Agassiz donates the proceeds Of his
| lectures to the relief of the soldiers. aEl
| Wolves are reported making sad havoc
with the sheep folds in Pembroke, Maine.
A hospital suili ;iently larg to accommodate
one thousand soldiers j. to be built at Madi.
son, Ind. .7H.
The Russian Government has rendered its
aid to the Emperor of China in putting down
among his subjects. .... ~
Sassacus is the name Of a new war
steamer launched at the Portsmouth, N. H.,
navy yard We pray this new steamer may
prove seucy cuss to the rebels and pirates.
The rebels are congratulating themselves
over q new manufacture Of socks for soldiers,
madeo Of cotton and cowhair. They are said
to be soft and durable, and possess the advant-
age Of not getting wet easily. BIS .'-
Among the odd things ofthc day, are thea
tres, negro minstrelsy, and all sorts of amuse-
ments, as rife as ever in Richmond, Nash
VILE, Memphis, and all other centres of the
war. -....-
Gen. Tom Thumb IS still living at Bridge
port, Conn, where he personally attends to
his comfortable estate, leases his houses, col
lects his rents, ana transacts all his own busi-
ness like other men. ekeeps his yacht and
his horses, carries firearms, made, of course,
expressly for him. 1aa h'.'. lsH
The St. Louis Republican estimates the
loss in slaves in Missouri at $4,000, divided
as follows: Western border counties, 4.2l6;
other southwest counties, 2,035; southeast
ern counties, $40; other exposed counties,
1850; remainder of the STATE, 4,2l9. In
1860 there were $4,000 slaves in the State,
so that the present number is 97,010.
1t has been discovered that the Govern.
ment has been victimized to the extent Of at
least $700,000 in the city Of New York, by
fraudulent contracts for the sustenance of re-
cruits. Not only were bills altered to extent
amounts by adding cyphers, thus multiplying
them by tens and hundreds, but bogus claims
were made, and signed by fictitious names.
The trial Of Wm Hopp, for the murder of
his wife, Martha Hopp, at Paw-paw, ILL.,, in
June last, is now progressing in Chicago.-
1t is "a singular case. as the pair had lived to-
gether twenty-five years and had thirteen
children. Yet the husband grew jealous at
this late day, and, after considerable ill-treat-
ment, the murder was committed in an alter
cation between the parties. The ground of
defense set blythe lawyers was insanity. The
jury however found verdict of guilty.
Particulars of the capture of the steam
ship Ariel by the Alabama, show that Semmes,
when he had taken the vessel, hardly knew
what to do with her. She had $50 persons
on board, whom he could not take to any
port, and dared not leave to starve in any
uninhabited district. To have transferred
them to his own vessel would have been
equally impossible. He, therefore, released
the Ariel on bond Of s123 600 on the ship,
$l25,000 on the cargo, and $4,000 on the
freight.
A case has been decided recently in Penn
sylvania, which is Of Importance to the travel
ing public 1t is to the effect that if rail
road conductors require it Of apassenger, the
latter is bound to make change; that the con-
ductcr is not bound to take the fare out of
note larger in amount, and furnish change to
passenger that the Offering of such larger
note is not legal tender of the fare and that,
if the passenger refuses to make p1yment in
any other manner, upon refusal of the con-
ductor to change the proffered bill, the latter
has a right to eject him from the train,
using no more force than is necessary.