Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1870-09-10
A Railroad Excursion.
I Written Tor the Alexandria Gazette.

Washington and Philadelphia, we-there were two
OF us-lcit dear old Alcxadria, after ourtrip
than ever-on Thurs day morning, in special train,
provided for the purpose, for Front Royal, in War
rcn county, to attend the breaking OF ground the
projected railroad that is to be built from some point
on The upper Potomac to Salem, in Roanoke county
-"ovcr the hills and far away
TO an Impractical eye it looks like q difficult Job,
getting over and around those high hills but moth
ing is impossible in these days. and as the soraors
OF the occasion asserted that nature had marked out
this Identical route as the for an s'air line' and
as art knows no obstacles in her march,, the road
may DC completed, only our faith is not strong as
some peoples, and if the 'sntiatory preliminarics"
are TO be taken as an augury of the success of the
"grand enterprise" it will be very apt to fall short
OF Its ultimate destination, just the chickens and
other provsions-but particularly the chickens
fell short OF appeasing the ravcnous appetes of the
croWd, which, from appearance, was much more
interested in the success of the repast tnan Of the
road, and which paid no respect TO persons as we
testify from the black look cast at US by one Of
the gentler sex, who, with loaf Of bread in either
hand, surmouncd by pyramid composed Of meat,
chicken, pie, grapes and peaches several inches in
height, Indignantly inquired Of one Of us-strug-
Cling in vain with the surgng crowd, in quest Of
something" to eat, We were not particular-'Why
the men had been let in OIL the womcn," who, she
thought, "wcre to be fed trst.''
y fence divided the tables from the commons.
and upon the top of this stood rather venerable
but seedy looking individual, who, IN order to
courage the Invited guests, kept shouting, at the
top OF his voice.. to few colored women, under
tent, short distance of, 'RoLL the chickens ~
"RoLL on the meats ~ But 1t was of no use, the
number and capacity of the crowd had not been
properly estimated, and the 'provisons'' fell far
short OF the actual demand, which led to some dis
scnsion, and finally ended in fight between q
couple OF spiruously inclined young men, in which
the wife OF one became involved, and ended in
Shipe's being clicked up where his friend said lie
In n hp
get nobody to so on his bond, several of such insru-
ments having been broken on previous OCCASIONS
Right amusing was it to see Shipcs friends commits
Grating the fate of his comradc, and with peculiar
twist Of his body, in imitation of letter S. appeal
ing to few bystandcrs to know why Shipc "don't
be like mc.''
One Of the 'invtcd," forgetting the danger of in
tcrlcring between and wife, attempted 10 take
the part Of the fair one but for his pains had his
linen buster torn into shreds, was knocked about
| considerably, and came out of the melee much
abused man-minus his coat.
The manners of some Of the s'guesLs" were some
what striking and peculiar; for instance, slender
maiden, with black streak under one eye, was
sitting in the midst of the asscmblage, the arm
of stawart beau, first tcndery, then passonatcly,
cncirc!ing her waist, both rejoicing in their nno-
cencc, and unconscious Of the astonished gaze Of
the wondering crowd.
| The attire of some Of the males was refreshingy
loose while the ladies, dscardng hoops, seemed 10
the tropical birds. There was good deal OF beau
ty-thcn there was good deal that was not-but
poor things it wasn't their fault. There was also
Il great scarcity of whskey;-some wine-some
brandy-but very little whiskey-tIough, judging
from appearances, a GOOD deal was walking about
loose. On the train, excepting the private TASKS,
there was none, and box, carefully fastened ana
mystcriously marked, sitting in one Of the cars, was
the object Of marked considerations but alas for hu
man hopes and expectations, when it reached its
destination it was found TO contain only-ICE.
The various delegations, mingling with the croWd
became separated, and had no more attention paid
them individually, than if they were like other peo-
| r,c-ndccd, not go much-and the astOnishcd and
indignant expression assumed, occasionally, by Il
dignltary or distinguished guest' who found out
that il was root hog or die, was sufficient to cX-
cite the risibtcs of the most stOica.
When the rcpast spread, ard before any an
nouncement was made of the fact, the crowd began
to 'sfal in" and when it was over, 10 there stood
many waiting in anxious expectation that some
thing nice was in rescrvcthc never arrived
the guests departed disgu5ted-and, as usual,
modest merit failed 70 meet its reward.
Throwing the first dirt was the occasion Of some
udicrous incidents: for instance when the LII GOV
crnor, not much addicted to the use Of the pick,
made two desperate attempts TO penetrate
| and uphcavc the Il ardcned earth, he was informed
that his services would not command fifty cents a
day-that he wasn't use to it, &C.. and when MIR.
Mcclure took the shovel and threw out the earth
lOoscncd by the pick, his cXertions applaudcd,
aud he rated at sixty cents day, told that he
would make good railroad hand, &c.
One of tho orators, in his enthusiasm, asserted
that he into the valley without violating
| TIC Nth commandment, including everything, oil
course, at which there blushing from the la
dies, tterng from the maid servants, and, what is
a little singular. a bray from 4 Wholesome OF the
men shook their heads Another speaker declared
that this bcA ullul valley could contain the popu
lation of the entire Chinese cmpre"-to which
there were dcmurers.
There were several impromptu poems on Front
Roya-thc OK that was not roasted alive and other
interesting episodes all tending to make the day
pass of asrccaby. The only regrets expressed were
ut the scarcity of chickens and absences OF ''corn
juicc'-and it is better that the latter should have
been scarce. Bucks brandy was good enough, but
of course everybody could not have bottlc-there
were too many people. Tie people were kind, but
appeared TO be exceedingly tenacious Of their rights
at the table, which is not TO be wondered at. The
water is little hard, and rye and corn are not the
staple products Of that county.
On the whole it was very pleasant trip, only
little delayed by the prolonged session Of the
s'Boarl.:'
The road and the country visited made but little
out Of the cXcurSoniss-and ''vcc versa it is qucs
tonablc whether the visitors made anything but the
free ride, for it very troublesome getting any
thing TO cat in that crowd. and two old excursion
lists, the train, were heard resolving that they
would try and be at the ''feast at the finishing of
the road. 9.
\ Man ROASTED TO DEATH. During the
progress OF the fire on South Howard street
Baltimore, on Thursday afternoon, The painful
rumor was circulated that VIM. Jones, en-
nlrycd rs foreman in he establishment OF
Ehrnan l. BerSch, had persisted in the flames
After dusk, search was made Tor his remains
in the rufus of the paning uilI. The firemen
worked with coinmendab.c zeal until near
eleven clock, when they were compelled to
dasist, having become almost blinded by the
heat and smoke. Yesterday morning the char
red remains of what was human being were
exhumcd in the northwestern portion Of the
building. The corpse was so shrivcllcd up
That Identification was imposs Die but there IS
no question tina: it Was that OF the unfortunate
man Jones. 4 more sickening sight than that
presented by the corpse cannot be lmagincd.-
The head had been completely burned off.
The haniS and feet we're also burned off and the
flesh roasted to crisr the muscles in the back