Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1866-12-21
NEWS or THE d. ?.
$50 sAop the very age and body Of the times

A terrible calamity occurred at Memphis
yesterday morning. The confectionery estab-
lishment of Joseph Specht, took fire between
three and four o'clock About twenty-five
persons were asleep in the third and fourth
stones Of the building. The fire, which orgl-
mated 10 the cellar from some unknown cause,
filled the upper stories with smoke and the
fumes of burning charcoal, while the flames
in part cut off egress by the stairs. Fourteen
persons were sufocated in their rooms, or lost
their lives in attempting to escape BY leaplng
from the windows.
In the Circuit Court of st. Mary's county,
Md, last week, J ohm 81. Sothoron indicted
for manslaughter, was acquitted. Mr.. Sotb-
oron, it will be remembered, killed federal
lieutenant, named Reuben Price, in the early
part of the war, who approached him armed
and in a threatening manner, and got into
some difficulty with him about the slaves OF
Sothoron, whom the lieutenant and some SOL
diers were Selling to take off, Sothoron lied
South, and his farm was taken possession Of
but has been since restored, and the testimony
it is understood, went to prove his action II
self-detensc.
Col. Bomford, commanding the u. s. mill
tary forces in North Carolina, intertered te
prevent sheriff from inficting corporea pun
ishment on prison negro yesterday morning
Judge Fowle has ordered the indictment OF al
military officers concerned in the transaction
The negro was returned after receiving elgh
lashcs, and the soldiers left the ground. In
dictments will be issued against the officers. -
The negro will be whipped tomorrow, ant
Judge Fowle has called upon the Governor tt
carry out the laws of the State.
A fire broke out yesterday in the hat stor
of H. Rothstine, on Broadway, New York
whose loss is estimated at $4,000, insured 70
500 O0O Hamphill, Hamlin & Co., carpe
dealers, lose $4,000, fully insured; Loul
Schiele & Co., corset dealers, lost sl25,000
insured for sl2O, 900; Morris Jacobson, deale
in clocks, lost So 1000. The building owne
by T. F. Speiry, was damaged to the amour
Of $4,000.
/ The Washington Correspondent Of the Ne5
York World states that an application has bee
made before Chief Justice Chase for a writ O
: habess corpus in the case Of Dr. Mudd, VIII
Was convicted by q military commission, sittln
a: Washington, Of being privy to the assassoa
ton Of Mr.. Lincoln, and sent, with others, t
the Dry Tortugas Hon. Revcrdy johnson
said to be retained in the case.
An investigation into the circumstances q
the alleged loss Of some $4,000 on the Nc7
Yorl, train last week, by Hon. Caleb Lyon
Governor of Idahoe, will take place in FEY
days. Gov. Lyon asserts that the lost fund
belonged To- the government: that he we
bringing it here to deliver to the Secretary
the Treasury as q balance due from him to tn
United States
Ofthc condition of affairs in New York
Horace Greeley writes to an applicant tor
situation: ''New York is just entering upo
the interesting process of starving out two hun
dred thousand people whom war and irredeem
able paper have driven hither. 1t is impossl
BILE to receive and employ more till these ar
gone
The military commission met again III Rich
moud Yesterday DR.. Watson's counsel, state
that the defence was not ready for trial. Th
commission has adjourned until Saturday. A
application has been made to one Of the assc
ciate Judges of the United States Suprem
Court for writ Of habeas corpus.
4 barn on the farm of ]. H. Cordrey, a
Chafin's Bluff, on James river, few mile
below Richmond, Va, was burnt on Monda
night, with its contents, consisting OF scVe
hundred and fifty barrels of corn. shucks
fodder, farm implements, &c. No insurance
Lewis H. Weichman, who, was one Of tn
principal witnesses in the case of Payne, Atze
rodt, Herrold, Mrs. Surratt and others, wa
before the grand jury yesterday, to give his ties
timony as to the completely Of John Surratt il
the murder of President Lincoln.
It is proposed that the vessels shall carr
petroleum, that their carrying capacity shall b
Of twenty-five hundred barrels each, and tina
they shall make three trips each season.
President Roberts, of the Fenian Brother
hood, has issued card to the Fenians o
America for Christmas dinner for the Fenial
prisoners in Canada.
The merchants Of Erie, Pennsylvania, ar
making efforts to get UP line of vessels di
rect from that port to Europe via the Lakes
The constitutional amendment was rejected
yesterday by the South Carolina House 0
Representatives by 95 to l.
CONGRESS- the Senate yesterday, Mr.
johnson, of Maryland, called attention to :