New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-10-31
LnrrnR FRoM AroRILn,
Correspondence of KEN o, orescent,l .........-
MOBILE, Monday, Oct. 20, 1866,

the past Two or lllee mOnInSy various ClasSes ol
fevers have prevailed to a most alarming extent.
The cases of congestye and bilious fevers have
been so numerous that to Judge from the official
reports and the sallow, feeble invalids creeping
about town, one might suppose at least third of |
the population had been attacked. The dreaded |
but less dangerous dengue, or "break-bone |
fever" is most common of ALL and nobody pre-
tends to remember q time when these maladies |
were so universal and viru1ent. During the past
week there was an unusual increase of mortality,
the city sexton reporting 81 interments against
some 80 odd in the previous week. Since the
close of the war about half the deaths reported
are of blacks, their style of living huddled
together by dozens in unventilated rooms, or
sleeping in the open air and eating unwholesome
food and starving alternately, rendering them
specially subject TO bowel complaints and fevers.
1t was generally supposed that we had little or
no cholera here, and the public were surprised
by the report of eight deaths last week from that
disease.
A BONE OF CONTENTION
Has arisen regarding the extension and widening
of Government street, rather the correcting the
line of the north side, which involves a serious
amount of cutting down of lots removing build
ings etc., and Consequently also involving nu-
| merous exaggerated claims against the city for
! damages OF course much real estate in the
| neiGhborhood OF these alterations is enhanced in
| value by the Improvement of the street, and the
| Times newspaper characterizes the measure as q
| scheme to improve private property at the eX-
pense Of the city treasury. In defense of the city
authorities the Advertiser takes up the Cudge
and explains that their action is in obedience to
law of the legislature of 1920 requiring the width
| and boundaries OF Government street to conform
| to an old Spanish survey; which, the Times says,
| hqs never been produced. There does not appear
| 70 ba tha has fppnp nOGsibln hPtWapO these two
\ ably7conducted Journals, the controversies which
| frequently arise between them being touched with
quite an unnecessary degree of acerbity, though
not going beyond the ret0rt courteous. 4
4 SHOT HIMSELF.
| A well-know gentleman of this city shot him.
self few days ago with pistol. He put the
muzzle to his head, just aft OF the starboard ear
and blazed away but the bullet, for some cause,
| or other, did no serious damage beyond stunning
| him for time, and perhaps knocked out OF hi:
brain the erotchet that made him think this life
intolerable. 1t appears strange that even the
/ poorest marksman should fail to make a cente
shot under such highly favorable circumstances
but suppose he turned his head at the critca
moment, to take aim, which would seem to b.
quite unnecessary with target so near. 1t j
stated that the hasty gentleman (who Is now quit
recovered) was moved to this attempt at leap il
the dark, by financial troubles, and the near ap
proach of his wedding day. lack of green
backs s hardly a sufficient reason for premature
departure to the next world, where there cerainl,
are none, but man nstghC thus escape matri
mony, as there, we are told, there is neithe
marrying nor giving inmarrlage. Although th
occurrence was known to everybody here, where
everybody knows q little Of everything that oc
ours, it was kept outof the papers, and therefore
| shall not give his name, for the reason that pub
licity might offend him, and a person so read
with his pistol as to take pop at his own cranum
might take pop at mine, with as little sCrupl
and more effect, ...
BUSINESS,
With the exception of unusually large receipts Q
cotton recently remains at zero in allits branches
and to the ordinary observer shows no sign O
, speedy termination. The most lively busines
! 5done seems to be at the auction establishments
some of which are in full blast regularly twice il
the twenty-four hours, knocking down to the high
est bidders all manner Of odds and ends, from dr.
goods and ready-made clothing to Peter Funl
Ijewelry "forty-three carats fine,n as heard on
of the auctioneers vociferously assure his blaci
and white crowd of customers. The article which
he held aloft and lavished his eloquence upon wa
|, a ponderous locket at the end of chain of pro
portionate dimensions, and the volubIe salesman
was Mortified, and announced himself ruined Whel
compelled to knock it down at the price of dolla
and half
NO LEGAL STANDARD OF VALUE FOR GREENBAcks
In a case tried last Friday in the criminal court
litwas decided that greenback currency has n
stealing a bale of cotton Upon the amount Q
the theft depended the degree of punishment
above Sl0O, Imprisonment in the penitentiary;
under 500, a term ofimprsonment in the count
jail and fine of not more than $500. The eottoi
was valued at $l25, but the court decided tina
its worth specie could alone be considered am
the jury assessing that at s83, the thief ESCAPED
J the penitentiary. Moral: Be thoroughly postet
upon the money market before you steal any
thing,
OF ADJUSTMENTS
|. We have had, and are likely to have, a surfeit-
two theaters, circus and negro minstre
! troupe. This week comes Max Strakosch wit
his Italian opera troupe, which had weeks sue
cessful run here last winter. They open to.nigh
with Ernani," and after performing week
go to New Orleans, where the opera-goers doubt
less remember some of them very we'll.
A thunderstorm, accompanied by furious win
and torrents of rain, broke over the city astnigh
making up in violence for the past three or fou
weeks of placid weather. The storm must hay
! been much heavier elsewhere, for during abou
half an hour there was an unbroken roar of deer
! toned thunder, sounding like great battle or
distant waterfall, and accompanied by an incessar
! blaze ofalightning. To-day the skies are ovel
cast and we shall probably have more rain, wine
: ing up with a nOrther and the most borea
weathers. G. W. s.