The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-02-17
The Ombardnlent.


$l,OSS, 100.
The BOmbardment.
A Versailles correspondent writes !:
During "Wednesday night Fort Valerien
fired salvo after salvo into Vile d'Avray
and st. Cloud and on Thursday morn
ing, at 4, opened a heavy fire from Mont
Rouge and Vanves, the German guns
maintaining strict silence up to 8, when
orders were received to reply to the
fire. Up to midday, 100 siege guns,
each throwing shells weighing
32 or GA pounds, and the German rified
mortars, firing $50 pound shells, opened
on the French forts. The cannonade
was maintained two hours then the
Germans only fired broadsides, the
French replying from time to time,
never throwing away shot. AT noon
firing ceased on the German side. As
the French continued to fire, orders were
given to continue the bombardment,
and at clock the cannonading be-
came incessant. Salvo after salvo was
poured upon Issy, Vanvrs and Mont
Rouge, apparently without diminishing
the vigor or accuracy of the French fire,
which, according TO all reports, commit
ted havoc among the German batteries
and gulners. The King, the Crown
to Villa Steon to witness the effect,
which did not appear to come up to
their sanguine expectations. AS far as
could be seen by telescope, no dam
age had been sustained by the barracks
in the centre of Fort Issy, against
which the German fire was directed. and
the works themselves bore no visible
traces of the heavy bombardment. The
German losses are not unimportant; up
to 2 they were seven officers and eighty
men. BY the third day the German
authorities say the bombardment will
exceed every hope and expectation.
WHERE BIRTHSTONE CONES FRoM.-At
present Sicily produces nearly all the
sulphur that the world at large uses,
exporting over 100000 tons annually
The United States consume 10000 tons
per year, and the ruling price to-day is
$45 per ton. Should the Continental
war assume the proportions that astute
heads in Europe fear, the Sicilian sup
ply, whish now only equals the actual
consumptive demand, will be exhausted
on the other side of the water, and the
United States will be unable to fill her
wants even at $50 or 500 per ton. In
fact, she will not get an ounce for love
or money, as the entire product will be
controlled abroad. Once, in 1888, when
Talk & Co., of Marseilles, contracted to
farm ont the mines, crude birthstone
was put up from $25 to 800 at one single
swoop, and that in time of peace. Eff
forts have been repeatedly made to re-
lieve the United States from the burden
imposed on her by the sulphur monop-
oily, especially as she has abundant ma
terial within her own borders, and in
the adjacent West Indies The adapta-
ton of stills and machinery, invented in
Germany and elsewhere, has thus far
been productive Of nothing positive.
One process has been very thoroughly
tested by Prof Brown, Of Princeton, and
conducted quite satisfactorily as an ex-
pertinent, saving, it is said, 90 per cent.
in labor, fuel, etc. In Texas there are
large deposits of the mineral, and vari-
Gus parties have endeavored to utilize
tilSill DiC VIC CA pSIlSi'V ti0hs POi t''ioii
to the coast, and the depth below the
surface where the material occurs, COM
bined with the high price Of labor, has
rendered all operations futile. Query
Where did the Confederates get their
sulphur from during the last war? They
made enormous amounts Of gunpowder.
In the West Indies, on the islands of
st. Vincent, Grenada, Nevis, Saba and
others, there are immense bodies of sui
phur but, then, 81 per day cannot
compete with 10 cents in getting out the
raw material. Saba, an island 10 miles
southeast of st. Thomas, has witnessed
several experiments of the kind, and it
contains an inexhaustible supply Of ore,
from which, in case of difficulty, our
supplies are likely to be drawn. Six
years ago q cargo of that product was
brought to this country, and used up in
various experimental trials.
AMERICAN AND ENGLISH IRoN.-The
London TonD,onger says: We are
running a great risk in England of be-
ing beaten by America in the manufac-
ture of axes, shovels, hoes, and other
manufactures of the kind. The Pitts
burg steel, both cast and rolled, is fully
up to the best English-in fact, to such
degree that it is not only supplanting
our produce, but in every shape of tool
it is being exported to the European
continent. American bolts and hinges
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