Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-01-18

Island Institution, near, Boston, have been
suddenly taken ill from the effects Of poison,
supposed; to be arsenic, which was administered
either in the food or water, butby whom Is I'M
known. :: With the exception Of one OF the ma
irons, It il believed all will recover The symp-
toms of, those affected are similar to those man,
Tested by the persons poisoned at the National
Hotel in Washington some years ago.
+ - 1t is: said that Commissioners Rollins has
recommended to tho President the, suspension
of upwards ot twenty collectors and assessors
for malfeasanee :in.ofice, and among the mum
Terra prominent collector in one Of the South
aern States, who, it is alleg ed, are engaged IN
defrauding the government in the collection OF
the revenue. i = il 4 s:i Us5
Wednesday afternoon an unknown man en-
tered the National Bank of. the Republic, 10
New York, land managed to take possession Of
$l5,000 worth Of government and railroad
bonds, which, he found. near the cashier
window. He succeeded in making his escape
from the building before the alarm was given.
1t appears from official data that the 6nan-
cial condition Of the Southern railroad compa-
MES during the winter Of 1865 and 1866! owing
to the desolation and impoverished condition OF
the country through which they. pass, did lot
warrant q rigid enforcement of the terms ofp ur-
chase on the part of the government ,yst$Ss'
Gen. Hancock has issued au important order
to the registers of voters, advising them that
the law, fairly interpreted, must be their guide
in determining the qualifcatio of voters, and
not Gen. Sheridan's construction thereof, as
set forth in his printed memoranda OF quaihH
cations, issued in May 1867. 1. s ~ - =
Tue Radical Convention Of Louisiana on
Tuesday nominated +. E: Dumas (eolored) for
Lieutenant Governor of the State. He after
wards declined on the ground that the noml
nation was without his consent, and Oscar y.
Dunn (colored) of New Orleans, was nomina-
}tedin his stead. e.t
A duel was fought on Thursday near iPater-
son. NJ, between a New York merchant,
named Pemberton, and a Wall street bank
clerk. The former was wounded in the head.
The cause Of this affair was difficulty, which
occurred at a ball, relative to a lady.
An attempt was recently made at the Opera
House in Buffalo, n Y. to eject a colored
man and his wife, who took seats in the body
of the house and would not gointo the gal
lery legal proceedings hare been COM
menced. 49,, -.s...5..s,.4 ..il73,g--g SFss.
A serious accident occurred on the Allegheny
Valley railroad on Tuesday, ten miles west OF
Franklin, in Venango county, Pa caused by
the collision OF two gravel trains; Three men
were killed, seventeen severely injured and the
engines badly damaged. .z 1870 rs...l "a, -
Mr.. Hamilton, the new Senator from Nd,
will not take his seat in the Senate till March,
1869, and in the meantime the State wi con !:
tinue to have the services OF Mr.. johnson, by
whom she is now represented In the Senate. 90
Belle Boyd Harding was divoced Yesterday
from Samuel Harding, by the n. Supreme.
Court :. .st4isz l31r@.s. al (. sbsaiY9 : VI
There we're obstructive fires on Thursday
night in Chicago and Cincinnati.
THE MILITARY TRIBUNALS BEFORE THE
SUPREME CoURT.-The MeArdle case, from
Mississippi, was brought up yesterday. The,
motion to advance this cause on the docket
was resisted by Senator Trumbull and Judge
Hughes, at tie request Of the Wsr Depart
ment. The Attorney General having, as the
legal adviser of the President, set his face:
against military trials OF civilians, hecould not
stultiiy himself by appearing as their defender.
Judge Trumbull and his associate resisted
the motion on the ground that it WAS unneces
sary, and Involved political considerations. -
They contended that the case was not crlml-
nal one, and did not, therefore, come under the
rule Of the court or the act OF Congress, which
authorized the hearing out Of its regular place
on the docket S'i ~ 2 ..6s
Judge Black, with. an eloquence that COM
| manded death-like stiffness, and cogency
that carried universal conviction, showed that
| this was criminal case. Here was a man
arrested by the military authorities and charg-
ed with an alleged criminal offence, who was
likely to be punished by "a military court, and
had applied for writ OF habeas corpus, IN
order to avert punishment by tribunal un-
known to the law The uniform usage Of the
\ court and the enactment of Congress required
] that such case should be heard in advance OF
any merely civil cause. In this view, all the
i military power, authorizing this arrest, even
felonious murders, and he wanted to know If
the Court could take the responsibility OF post
poning decision for three years in case OF
4 such .transcendant importance. But if that
/ authority was moderated by this Court, 1t it
even decided that for one half of this Republic,
maone imperial domain, rivalling Europe in it's
iestic proportions and 10 its exhaustless re-
sources, the provision of tho Constitution re-
quiringa jury trial to the citizen was dead
f letter, the country should know at the earliest
moment that we were living no longer in land
4 of liberty, but Of despotism. 1t was UMPIRE
4 cedented to resist such motion. The Milligsn
case, which was precisely analogous to this,
had been advanced without any question being
) raised about it, AID though the Court might
be viiifed as it had been before, he called
upon them to dothsir duty. The speech of
Judge Black was brief, but it was conclusive,
aud model Of forensic eloquence. What the
, result will be remains to be seen, as the deei.
sion, according to custom, was reserved. No
ttonal lntel2tgencer.