The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1870-07-14
WIN. LOUGHRIDGE.
Greeley's Penmanship

Mr, M. Is. Castle, as most lecturers
know, is the thrifty president Of a
bank at Sandwich, ILL.,, and the active
manager of the lyceum in that town.
He lately wrote letter inviting Mr..
Greeley to lecture there in tho next
sessions course. Mr.. Greeley's reply
was in handwriting which, the
editor of the Sandwich Gazette says,
it would be no sin to worship, as
there is nothing on earth, or sea, or
heaven, like unto it. Several experts
tried to road it, with varying results.
One bought it was an editorial on
the riff, and tho figure 60 in it lc-
ferre . to the duty on pig iron.-.
Another thought it had reference to
tho Mcfarland trial. Finally Mr..
Castle translated it as follows:
"Dear Sir:-I am available and
will come. 1t will DO s60-next
February Sd. AS to other lectures,
it seems that l must decline, except
in your Immediate vicinity-if l do
net come in February"
The rest of the letter looked as if
somebody had smashed q bottle of
ink on it and tried to wipo it off with
a curry-comb. But Mr.. G., having
SO large q latitude to guess IN, read it
as an acceptance, and answered:
Sandwich, Ill, May IL, 20.
Horace Greeley, New York Tribune !:
Dear Sir Your acceptance of
our invitation to lecture before our
association next winter, came to hand
this morning. Your penmanship
not being the plainest, it took some
time to translate it, but we succeeded
and would say your time cd Of Feb.
ruary) and terms $500 are entirely
satisfactory. As you suggest, we
may be able to get yon other engage
ments in the immediate vicinity. If
SO, we will advise you.
Very respectfully, M. B. CASTLE.
About a week afterward there
went to Sandwich the following
indignant response, very legibly
written
sNew York Tribune, May 10.
Dear Sir-I haveyours Of the 18th
inst. I did not write you that I could
lecture for you the Sd of February,
or any other day.
Yours, Horace Greeley.
NJ. B. Castle, Sandwich, Illinois.
1t thus turned out that Mr.. Gree
ley's original letter, which Mr.. Castle
blundered in dceiphering, was as
follows:
New York Tribune, May 8, 10.
Dear Sir am overworked and
growing old. / shall be sixty next
February Sd. On the whole, it seems
that 1 must decline to lecture hence.
forth, except in this Immediate vicin.
ity, if / do at all. Ican not promise
to visit Illinois on that errand-ccr-
tainly not now.
Yours, Horace Greeley.
NJ. B. Castle, Sandwich, Illinois,
Brooklyn Onion.
HEAVY RoBBERY.-The safo in
Thomas Woods banking house, OPP
posite the Lair House, was robbed
on Monday afternoon last, of two
boxes, containing notes, mortgages
and othor papers Of tho value of one
hundred thousand dollars. Tho sup
position is that tho thief gained &C
cess to The Office by going up tho
front stairway leading to the Dis
patch Office, and then passing down
a back stairway to the rear, while
the persons connected with the es-
tablishmcnt wero quietly seated in
the shade in front. The safe door
standing open, of course, made it an
easy matter for the thief to secure
tho two boxes, which he doubtless
supposed contained money. One of
the boxes contained the private
papers of NJ. S. Scudder, including
we understand, some 7-30 bonds.
The contents OF the other box be-
longing to Mr.. Wood. whose loss.
however, will be small, as they werc
mostly notes secured by mortgage,
duly recorded He offers o reward
of 81 600 for the boxes and contents,
and will ask no questions. The
robbery was not discovered until
yesterday morning on opening tho
safe at tho commencement Of bust.
ness. Several parties arc on the
lookout for Che thicf.-Lafayette
(lnd.) Journal.
At the Chicago Stock Yards, thore
were sold for city consumption, last
week, ia calves, 1859 cattle, 1877
hogs, aud 2,592 sheep, and since Jan
uary last, for the same purpose, ID,
02o calves, 81 ,65l cattle, 1924 hogs
and 96,461 sheep.