The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-07-25

pnblicans An excellent Life Of Sew
mour and Blair is about to be issued
! by Richardson & Co., No. 4 Bond
street, which should be extensively
circulated. It will contain several
chapters on the Reconstruction Com
yentions, from the pen of Salem
butcher, Esq, well-known South
ern writer, now engaged on the
editorial staff of the World. ~
There has never been o canvass in
which the Democratic party have
had such complete advantages in the
arguments to be discussed before the
people, as the issue now present. To
call reconstruction success-as the
Chicago platform does-to invoke an
era of peace, as Grant does, when all
men know that reconstruction is q
villainous cheat and failure, and
Grant aad his bayonets alone stand,
end have stood, in the way of peace
for three years. To prate of econo-
my, when one-fourth the public debt
of Great Britain will barely pay the
expense of o years administration; to
promises justice and equality to oil
men, when white men are disfran-
chised at the South, and negroes are
elected to office, while they are not
allowed to votein many States of the
North, are all, empty mookeries,
which cam no longer deceive the
people. - St III &{
The last week will long be remem-
bered for the intensity Of the heat,
and terrible fatality to man and
beast. Eight hundred and thirty
three deaths were reported from sum,
stroke in the city, and many died
whose names have not reached the
authorities. Persons were stricken
down in the streets-at their work in.
the docks and alleys-and many who
survived the perils of the sun, we're
suffocated at night, and found dead
in their beds. The morgue-the
dead house of the unknown-has
been crowded daily with the bodies
of those picked up on the streets.
The scenes at that gloomy house of
death, have been enough to melt q
heart of adamant. The dead bodies
are arranged on marble tables, and
streams of water ore kept pouring on
the face and chest. Carbonic acid is
freely used to delay decomposition.
Ii they are not called for until past
recognition, they are deposited in
collins and removed into an adjoin-
ing room, where jets: of water wash
away the swarms of maggots that ooze
out from the coffins. At length they
are rolled down the pier, and sent to
the graveyard. I cannot convey an
adequate impression of the horrors
of this terrible place, or of the agony
and despair of those who crowd its
portals in search of missing loved
ones. Most of those brought to the
morgne, are of the lower classes,
though there are many exceptions,
in the persons of strangers, or even
of citizens who die suddenly on the
streets. 1t is enough to make one
sigh for the serene scenes of rural
life, to see the suffering and death
incident to the pursuit of business in
the sweltering confines of the city.
The remorseless exactions of capital,
and necessities of business, know no
exemption from the daily tread-mill.
Nor is there as much care for human
life among many employers, as O
humane owner would exercise for his
beast. Half the deaths that have
occurred during the last week. might
have been avoided by small expendi-
lures for awnings for laborers, and q
little timely remission of labor. But
necessity knows no law; and capital
Is, too often, law unto itself. -..4 !
The losses to the life insurance
companies, from the unusual number
of sudden deaths all over the coun-
try, have been very great; and the
benefits, of these institutions are
forcibly illustrated in the relief af-
forded to the survivors of those sud.
denly stricken down. The lahoring
classes are very generally looking to
life insurance as means of leaving
something for their families, and the
increase of these companies is among
the business marvels of the day.
The "Knickerhocker Life" of this
city, has doubled its business every
year since 1865, and its receipts for
premiums last year were So, 600, 900.
This Company has paid especial at
tention to business in the South, and
has several local directories there,
with powers almost identical with the
home board. There is directory at
Savannah, Ga, of which A. Wilbur,
Ean 10 tho ooarf Tho. L