The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-03-28
Foreign Miscellany.

Dispatches from Annesiey Bay say that letters
from the British captiv-s had been received at the
advance post OF the army. having been brought in
secretly by native messengers. The letters were
dated Magnolia, February ith. and show that the
prisoners were still confined in the fort and were
carefully guarded Though in great fear of the
vengeance of the King. they were as well treated
as their condition as prisoners would permit All
were aliv- and in good health. The letters give
intelligence Of the King. and show that he had left
Magnolia in a great rage against Theodore. IL is
believed he would turn his army against the
Abyssinisn monarch IS soon as the British soldiers
arrived
LONDON. Feb. l5-La;e advices do not confirm
the Abyssinian intelligence sent last evening. A
despatch to-day states that no movements of the
Egyptian Corps have occurred. Much of the news
from Abyssinia is 10 be received with caution.
DR.. II. w. RussELL has accepted the most re-
sponsible and influential outside position connect
cd with the London Times, and is about TO pro-
coed to Paris as its own regular correspondent.
In his new character DIR. Russell will be able to
influence the foreign policy of the Empire to some
extent, for the British press takes It's tone on
many questions from the Paris letters of the Thun-
dercr. The Times proprietOrs conduct their Paris
Office on a scale of great magniicence. The salary
il $4,000 n year in gold. besides n splendidly
furnished house, carriages, wines, servants and
secretaries, In its saloons the most celebrated
statesmen and wits of France and Europe assemble
and are entertained, and the correspondent thus
CLEANS from original sources the current news of
the day. DIR. O'Meara, an Irishman of culture
and literary attainments, has for q number of
years filled this position.
ABEAUTTUL PAssAGE.-The following '.Reveries
of a Bachelor" are by TX Marvel:
\ poor man without some sort of religion is at
best a poor reprobate, the football of destiny, with
no tie linking him to infnity and the wondrous
eternity that is even worse-a flame without heat,
n rainbow without color, a flower without per-
fume. y man may in some sort tie his hopes and
his honors to this weak, shifting ground tackle,
IN his husiDpSs Or the ,rnrE hur a rn,n With
out thst anchor called faith, is a drift and a wreck
y man may clumsily continue a sort of moral re-
sponsibility out of relation to mankind, but n wo-
man in her comparatively isolated sphere, where
affection and not purpose is the controlling motive,
can find no basis in any other system or right
action but that OF faith. \ man may crnze his
brain or his thoughts to truthfulness, in such poor
harborage as fame and reputation may stretch be-
fore him, but n woman-where can she put her
hopes in storms ifnot in heaven ? And the sweet
truthfulness-that abiding love-that enduring
hope mellowing every page and scene ~oflife-light-
ing them with pleasant radiance, when the worlds
storms break like an army with cannon ? Who
can bestow it's all but holy soul tied to what is
stronger than an army with cannon ? Who had en-
joyed the love n Christian mother but will echo
the thought with energy, and hallow 1t with q tear?
Terrible KEROSENE AccIDESr.-Saturday last
Daniel Erb, his wife and three children, who re-
side in the western part of German township, went
on q visit to Jonathan Mast, residing two miles
east of Farmersyille, in German town ship who
has n family consisting of himself, his wife and
two children. \ child of John Helmuth was pre-
sent. During the evening a lamp i'm which they
were burning Aurora oil, sold as nonexplosive,
became low. Mr.. Mast lighted a candle, and ex-
tinguishcd the light from the lamp for the purpose
Of filing it. His son, a child ofabout nine years,
was holdin; the candle while the father filed the
lamp from u two gallon jug, and, by some misnap,
lighted the oil, which exploded, blowing the jug
TO pieces. and Immediately developed the room in
flames, the ten persons all being in the room at
the time. AL were Immediately made helpless,
except Mr.. Erb, who exerted himselft to the utmost
to save the others from death. He succeeded in
getting Mr.. Mast, and perhaps ono others, from
tire house, and ran to Mr.. Stuber's about a quarter
of n mile distant, for help. His way could be
plainly traced afterward by blood and pieces of
flesh, which fell from his body. Timely assistance
saved the building, and, it is hoped, some of the
inmates. Mr.. Mast lived about an hour and a
half after the accident, and his little son some
longer. Both were buried on Monday. One of
the childrcn-Mr. Helmuth's son-died on Mon
day night. OF the remaining seven. all were a
live ON Tuesday; but three of them cannot live,
and i it is feared all will die. This is the most ter
rible accident that has ever occurred in this coun-
ty.-Hohaes Co. CO., Farmer.
ANOTHER VICTIM OF THE GAMING TABLE.-On
Monday evening, in pursuance OF the requirements
of u telegram from Messrs. Heath and Jones, de-
tectivcs, Boston, Sergeant Tom Moore and
Detective Horace Elliott, arrested at the Sherman
House n man named William NJ. Betz, on charges
of swindling and various minor offences. lie was
taken to the ArInory, and there now remains
awaiting n requisition from the Gov. of Massa-
c~l;nsetts, when he will be sent on for examination
and trial. The life of the man has been an event.
full one. He was once immensely wealthy, with
grand prospects of becoming n millionaire, but n
fatal habit, like the charm of a serpent, led him
to the EXTREMIST impccuniosity and disgrace. and
robbed him of n beautiful and loving wife. That
habit, acquired in n moment, perhaps, was gam
bling, and mt the gambling table he threw away his
gold like chaff to the winds, until, in the bitter
end, he found that there's a bottom to every
purse. His money flown, he resorted to dishonor-
able means for obtaining more, and after victim
izing numerous persons, he is at last in the hands
Of the police.
Last Autumn he was engaged in an extensive
manufacturing enterprise in Brooklyn, n. Y,
and for u time, by means of earnest application to
business became very well to do. Finally he was
drawn deep into the vortex of depravity, and but
weeks passed by before he had sacrificed his
dollar at the green board. He had a devoted
pure influence ne was restrained from ruin
lng himself before. His father-in-law, perceiving
in him the clements of success, If his passion for
gaming could be curbcd, took him into partner
ship, and for n while he showed favorable signs
reformation. But his familiarity with the
exciting chances of the gambling table returned,
md he became a bankrupt.
His partner discarded him, and his poor wife,
for lack of the bare necessities of life, was COM
PEELED to return TO her father. At this stage, the
and outcast began his career of swind-
ing. Parties whom he met in Boston, Albany,
and other Eastern cities, are said to have been
Sictimized extensively by him, his modus operand
being to borrow large sums of money by false
and gambling away all he received. =
Certain very bold tranactions of his, which reliev-
ID a number of gentlemen in the East Of amounts
IF money, too large TO comfortably lose, caused
his arrest. lie fed to the city. was traced here,
md is now reaping the fruit of his irrationalities. I
Chicago Republican,. !