The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1869-08-04
Som scrszs Or Mou4narD4s surrnsrlrIos.-s. s

sonE SCENES or MoHAAaEDAs sUpERsrIr1os.-S
J Cox, Esq, writing from Algiers says:
Mahmoud insists on our going up into the old cit
to see some 9ohammedan rites. The devil himself
: an Agerine dervish. These are not the dancing
whirling dervishes Of Constantnople There are sey
eral secs Of Mosems peculiar to Morocco and Algers
a think there are seven. believe Mahmoud belong
this one. He did not like to confess it, but ga,
him, as we entered, quietly salute the chief dervis
with peculiar embrace and kiss.
To this performance the ladies went; but they ha.
to go upstairs into of the galleries of the nne
quadrangular court of the Moorish house among th
Moorish women. Several natonaites were repre-
sented in crowd Expectation was on tpoe to Sc,
and hear. It was hot night and the was clost
and full of people. Some two dozen Moors were pres
ent. It is dark in the room; only two dim candles
and charcoal fire, which smculdered in skillet The
object OF the latter appeared to be to warm up the
drums which the deryshes beat, and which, when the
sheep got loose, they heat the FIRE make
it tight. Perhaps there some fumes in the skill
let to make the dervishes devilish While our ladies
above were taking Coffee very black and sweet in nice
little China cups in the galleries. with their Arab host
esses sweat down stairs leaning expecant in the
dark against the White-washed walls against the p
lars of the court.
/ THE DANCE
Now the chief begins He chants passages of the
Koran, while, standing around him semi -circularly a
half dozen respond with whining tones Others
with their drums, sit croaslegged in row, befor lit
tie stand with two long, lighted wax tapers mono.
tonous drum chorus begins; then a long haired der.
wish bounds up like as if shot in the
rear, and, being up, brother unbnds his garments
and spreads out his hair and then he jumps up gently
at first, keeping time to the music His head bows as
his body sways then faster and faster till his hair
flies around wildly and his hands swinging nsanely
He is Joined by another who is more staid The last
looks as if he ought to know better. The first one,
exhausted, falls down in epilepsy and is carried out.
No. is Joined by No. 8; then No. appears and by
this time No. l reappears, and the quadruped-for
they are like brutal fouregged nondescript-are all
at it. No. having worked himself wild again stops
moment. The Others STOP A brother appears from
behind with N
REDHoT BAR or IRON
No. laps it with his tongue. see it smoke My
blood runs ciy He saps the incandescent iron with
hand and foot. Then the minsterinp brother offers
him to eat some delicate stems or pieces of glass He
crunched them and swallowed them His digestion is
excellent. If it had been candy he could not have
relshed it more Then No. g. the intelligent, stoops
and has
A LONG WIRE RUN THROUGH HIS TONGUE
and out OF each cheek, protruding four inches He
snarls meanwhile like Gagged hyena Then No. 8,
who has been rather quiescen commences to snap and
bark like hungry dog-eyes popping out, and face
all savage and imbruted. Barked!-he howled he
growled. Finally, the minstering brother comes out
with one of the thick leaves CT the prcky pear foot
long, in form Of elipse an inch thick and full of
thorns; all the dervishes drop down all tours and
are biting at it. and into it. and crunching it.
THE FROTH OF THEIR MAD MOUTHS
Hang to the green pckles and slavers the green rnd
Ugh! What more? No. 4, in an ecstacy of fanatic
diabolism, swallows scorpion. Whether they have
taken out the poison whether the aatus so enor
mously exciting that poison is nnoxous, or what, God
knows? We summon Mahmoud in haste beckon our
ladies from above in the dark, and seek relief and
breath in the narrow Streets Upon this internal orgy
we have nothing to comment. 1t is near making the
human wild animal as anything can be.
stockholders meeting Of the Opelousas Railroad
Company was yesterday held in the Governors parlor
for the purpose among other things, of considering
made by the Chattanooga Railroad Company
to lease the graded track of the former company from
Berwicks Bay TO Vermion. This portion Of the
road and the franchises were not included in the re-
cent sale to Mr.. Morgan. We did not learn the par
tculars Of the offer, but learn there was division of
sentiment among the stockholders on the subject.
Governor Warmoth favored the acceptance of the offer
while Mayor Conway was opposed to it. Nothing def
mite was determined upon. There will probably be
another meeting for further consideration OF the sub
ect @ 4t@
Without being informed as to the hopes or inten.
ions OF the nominal board of directors of the whlom
)pelousas Railroad Company seems to US that the
pest disposition they make Of the wreck of their
franchises, would be to lease or sell them on the best
erns possible to some strong bona fde CORPORATION
nat Is bound to run road to the Texas line and be-
'ond the sound of whose locomotive will ere Ionp
waken the echoes Of the Texas forests and valleys
No one entertans hope that the present Opelousas
railroad Company, the successors to their rights
md interests, will ever build another mile of track or
construct another car If they consult the interests
i the community, they will gladly surrender obliea
ions which they are powerless to fulfill
Republican, 23d
ANDREW JOHNSON AND MRS SURRATT-In arguing
application writ of fabras corpus lu The case
# young Ketchum, in New York court last week
having been stated to the court that Ketchum con.
ldered bis punishment just and did wish to escape
y q technicality-the attorney for young Ketchnm
,orbid conscientious feeling, and not in a condition
D decide FOR himself. The counsel added:
" de compared the state of mind of Ketchum to
nat OF Preston King, who, to all appearances in his
rdnary health, was so worked by the thought that
e had been the cause of the accession of President
ohnson that he committed suicide"
This is new version Of Preston Kings suicide and
ne hard to understand, except upon the assumption
lat ne was Implicated in the assassination of Lincoln
he common rumor extensively circulated at the time
presented that King impelled by remorse for his
art the trial OF the consprators and especially Of
rs surratt, to fill his pockets with lead and walk into
re Hudson On the day Of execution, when the
dge had granted writ Of habeas corpus for Mrs.
nrrat it was reported that johnson was made drunk
ID kept under lock and key BY King and Kansas Lane
no also went crazy and put end to his existence
J their nstrumentaity, aided and abetted BY Holt
I'd Stanton, the recommendation to mercy, by the
'urt, never reached johnson, and proclamation, in
8 name, was issued declaring martial law and the
lllity OF the writ of habeas corpus That King and
ane we're goaded BY conscience for the part they
IRE in this atrocious murder that life became noler
lie. such.~as the general rumor at the time. Ex-
resident johnson has been persstenty misrepre
nted on account of the execution OF Mrs. Surratt,
d we agree with the Richmond Wing in the sugges-
N that justice to himself and the public alike make
proper that he should explain how and by whom the
oclamation of martial law issued on the day of
re-. Surratts execution and how it happened that be
sregared the recommendation to mercy by the mill
" court We feel confident that this whole affair Is
sceptible of an easy explanation so far as ex-Presi
mt johnson is concerned, and we hope he will give
at an early day. (N Z. Sun, July 10. I
Boy SHoT AND KILLED -- Yesterday morning
cholas Ryan, boy four and half years old, was
led by being shot in the back Of the head by col
ed boy, Willie johnson, seventeen years Of age in
chen near the house Of his parents, on the corner
First and Dryades streets. It seems that the little
low went in the house where the negro boy was
oking something and what happened between them
vet a myaterv