The Portland daily press., 1869-05-24
q wno1n FAiffInY 0aAzrp.--A most ettra.

A WHOLE FAstmY CaAzED. "a most extra
ordinary and terrible affair has recently oc-
Cured in Alexander county, Virginia. A
family named Land, living there, consisted of
father, mother, two sons and two daughters
of mature age, besides two small children.
They were very poor and of feeble intellect,
but were harmless people of strong religious
convictions Not long since protracted
meeting was held in an adjoining town which
all the grown people attended. The meeting
continued many days, the three preachers en-
gagged in it holding a continuous service from
morning till night, with only short intermis-
sions for taking food. The feeble minds OF the
members of the Land family were SO much
excited in the course of these meeting that
they became demented upon returning home
The mother and of the daughters each claimed
to be God. Extraordinary scenes followed
The work of the family was neglected, strange
and horrible rites were performed, and each
day the excitement increased. At length a
dispute occurred between the mother and the
daughter as 10 which was the Almighty, in the
course of which the former denounced the
latter as the Devil and commanded the
father and sons to shoot her. This they
did, afterwards burning the body of the
dead woman on funeral pile by the high
way. Subsequently the survivors of the fami-
ly weTe arrested and lodged in Jail, where they
were all shut up in one room. Here the two
sons choked their mother until she died. Upon
the trial of the father and two sons large
number of medical experts were examined
and the preponderance of testimony being to
the effect that the accused were insane, they
were all acquitted. The greatest excitement
prevailed in the neighborhood where these
events occurred.
COSTLY QUALIFICATION OF SECRETARY 8
VANrTY.-Senator Sumner, in conversation
some time ago, said he was curious to know
the amount of the Atlantic cable bill contract
cd by Mr.. Seward in conducting his cores
pondence with Reverdy johnson during the
negotiations of the Alabama claims treaty. A
single item in that bill has recently been
brought to light through the refusal of the
State Department to pay for it. 1t amounts to
tie modest little sum of $40 900 in gold. This,
it is alleged, was for single cipher dispatch
sent by Mr.. Seward to London 1t appears
that the Cable Company allured Mr.. Seward
into giving them considerable business by the
promise that they would make a liberal dis
count on his messages. The thing pleased
Seward. He liked to sit in the State Depart
ment and dictate by Telegraph what he
wished done in London. He became rhetori-
cal and even verbose in his Dispatches
They were to be sent at cheap rate,
and he thought he could afford to spread
himself When the bill came to be paid Mr..
Seward grumbled at it. 1t was too high. The
company, he averred, had charged him full
commercial rates, instead of making any dis
count. In short, he refused to pay the bill,
and it was bequeathed as one of the bad debts
of Andrew Johnson's administration. The
Gable Company has started anew to see what
can be done under this administration. They
have put the little bill into the hands Of one
Simon Stevens for collection. Simon used to
figure about old Thad while he lived, and the
impression got abroad that he was relative of
the old man, and, therefore, person Of some
influence. But this was mistake. Simon
showed this little account to Secretary Fish,
but the Governor did not feel like paying
Stewards bills. He then went to the President,
who, after looking at it through cloud of
tobacco smoke, said it had better 60 to Hoar
for an opinion