The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1869-08-31

own claims, but quick to recognize those
Of others He was not an orator, for
his voice was pitched in a high key and
strongly inclined to whining tone,
but his matter was always SO pertinent,
well arranged, and instructive, that he
was, in spite Of his natural defects, a
most effective speaker. az yer -. -. :. a..
81 In his early life Judge Mcdonald oc-
casionaliy appeared in the pulpit as an
evangelist of the faith then known as
the New Light Of which Barton Stone,
Of KY, was the chief advocate, and
) which was the precursor of the present
! christian denomination. He was for a
time associated with Jesse Mavity, a
] gentlemen. quite well known in Southern
Indiana, at that early day, as man of
consid erable eloquence and ability. As
not unfrequenty happens with acute
and inquiring minds, young Mcdonald
!. saw what he thought irreconcilabie in
consistencies in the teachings Of rev ella
ton, and he became skeptical. We do
not think he ever relapsed into down.
S right Deism, but his religious views
were confused and uncertain, and he
was too Indifferent to take the trouble
8 to clear them up even to himself. But
that be felt a consciou sness that he had
! not let go all ID holds on the Bible and
Christianity was occasionally evinced
by some. casual remark that showed
j more than he suspected of his thoughts.
Once, while he was in attendance on the
Legislature, about the time he was re-
elected Judge of the Tenth Circuit, he
2 remarked to minister who bad spoken
of his religious, or rather irreligious
views. 'Ah, my dear sir, you know that
every planet must sometimes pass thro'
: the exact spot at which it started on it's
course, and 1, too, may yet come back
to that starting point in my views He
did. He realized the truth of Bacon
aphorism, Thinking m ay lead man to
infdelity, but thinking more deeply
9willlead him back to Chri stianity again.
As he thought more profoundly of the
arguments that shook his younger in
feebleness and came back, as he had
predicted, 'to the. point at which he
started He became q thoroughly and
sincerely pious man. devout in all his
Christian fidelity and ZEAL In his later
z years. he gave much thought to the sub
ject of 'Spiritualism,' and was COM
plete convert to the doctrine of the
presence and action of the spirits Of the
departed in our present visible life.- He
took prominent part in the recent
Spiritual Convention in this city, and
] there expressed his entire faith in the
spiritual origin of certain phenomena
! exhibited by the mediums, thus afford
ing another illustration Of the truth
that the, ID extreme of infdelity is far
more apt to change to the extreme of
credulity, when it changes at all, than
it is to the moderate convictions of
Judgment that has never been shaken.
In. the last days of his illness, we are
informed, he became doubtful of the
doctrine and abandoned it, -sss1i sfs
The Fort Wayne Democrat OF the 18th
gives this account o! two awful acct
dents occurring almost simultaneously
Rinthe same family, by, which one child
was killed and another terribly injured: =
= "A little girl, daughter of Adam We
Der, residing on Montg omery street,
met with very serious accide this
i morning about ten O'Clock. She was
standing on a picket fence, and by a
q mis- step fell, striking one of the sharp
2 pointed pickets, which inflicted deep
and , CHASTITY wound in her abdomen,
from which her bowels protruded. Af>
ter this accident occurred, the mother
of the little girl sent her two sons, aged
respectively nine and twelve years, .af-
ter the uncle, who was working in the
/ Toledo, Wabash & Western railway
shops. When they got to the railroad
train Of three freight cars and ca
boose was moving down the road, and
one Of. the boys made an att empt, to get
on, but was warned off by the engineer
The train moved a little further and
coupled on another caboose,4 and had
started up when the boys, thinking they
could reach the shops much quicker by
riding, Jumped on. After going some
distance, the elder boy, who was hang.
ing on by an iron hook at the side of the
car, thought he would ,alight, and
swinging his feet under the oar, fell to
the ground, his feet falling across the
track, He turned lover once or twice,
but could not extricate himself before
one of the trucks passed over, almost
severing his feet just above the ankles
He was taken to ahouse and physician
/ called. He fingered in great agony a
5 few hours, when death came to his re
lief. No blame is attached to the men