The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1872-03-15
NEWS ITEMS.

NEWS ITEMS.
The Union Pacific is again bIockaded.
Gov. Holden, of North Carolina, has been
offered and refused the mission to Peru.
The Kansas Legislature has passed a. bib
abolishing the death penalty in that State.
Imprisonment for life is to be the sentence for
murder hereafter
VIM. Foster, tine condemned car hook muir
derer in New York, has resigned nearly all
hope of freprieve, and is nerving himself to un-
dergo his sentence on the 22d inst.
A boy of five summers, out West, recently
while at his devotions, surprised the family by
praying that he might have sixty brothers and
one hundred sisters He went to bed without
his supper.
The Cleveland lottery scheme, for the erec-
ton of an Opera House, has been abandoned.
The originators of it were threatened with
prosecution, and legal suasion accomplished
what could not be done by moral suasiOn.
Even Dom Piatts CapitGb which is any
thing but a friend of the administration, re-
proaches Sumner and Schurz for the blunder
in the French arms business. 1t is now uni
versally understood that the whole thing was
trumped up for purely partisan purposes.
The prospects for justice on Stokes, the
murderer of Fisk, are improving. The at
sempt to quash the indictment on the ground
that it was illegally found by an illegal grand
jury, has fallen through, IN the decision of
Judge CardOzO that the grand jury was legal
and its indictments good.
The public debt statement for February
shows decrease for the month of twelve mil
lions, three hundred and ninety-one thousand,
four hundred and fifty dollars. Total decrease
of the public debt from March l, 1869, to
March l, 1872, two hundred and ninety-nine
millions, six hundred and forty-nine thousand,
seven hundred and sixty-two dollars, $685.
649,762) Not bad exhibit for the admins
tration.
The Tribune has descended to all the mean,
petty arts OF the demagogue, in its attempts to
compass the defeat of President Grant before
the next National Convention One of its
methods is TO represent the utterances of
journals of its ilk, as the fair representations
of current political opinion. This is about as
fair as to take the statement of a strongly pre-
JUDGED person as showing the drift OF opinion
in any community on given subject.
In the House at Columbus on Thursday of
last week, the Constitutional Convention bill
came up as the regular order, but no progress
was made in settling The differences of opin-
ion as to the time of holding the election of
members or the Convention. A motion to fix
the elections on the first Monday in May was
lost; and motion to postpone the vote shared
the same fate. Mr.. Steele offered an amend
ment that the election be held in April, 1873,
but no further vote was had before adjourn
ment. We hope that Mr.. Steele's motion may
prevail.
A morbid craving for the sensational is one
Of the distinguishing characteristics of the
present age. So thoroughly does it pervade
the world that even science seems to have at
length been brought under its influence
which is illustrated in prophecy recently ut
tered by a Geneva astronomer, Professor Ptan-
tamour, to the effect that the earth is to be
crushed by a huge comet at O'Clock, P. Il,
Greenwich time, on the 18th of August, next,
This thrilling prediction has already given
rise to profuse discussion among the European
magazines and reviews, and ad7ices from
across the Atlantic nfor m Us of the people
taking it so much to heart
The Committee on Custom House frauds
have examined Generals Porter and Babcock,
and their testimony clearly shows, not only
that the President had no part in attempting
to control Murphy in the matter of appoint
ments to the New York Custom House, but
that he specifically disclaimed any urpose to
influence that gentleman at all. Furthermore,
that he expressly disavowed Leet's purpose to
secure the general order business, and disap-
proved it entirely. 1t seems little curious
that such evidence should have been at all
necessary, and the fact that it was proves con-
clusively the animts Of the entire investiga-
ton. The discovery of abuses connected with
the New York Custom House was right and
proper. The attempt to swerve the investiga-
ton from its legitimate purpose was not right
The Washington correspondent of the Phil
adelphia Stltday Dispatch in his letter to that
paper, disposes of the New York Sans SLAM
ders upon Hon. Geo. NJ. Robson, Secretary
of the Navy as follows: "The articles of the
New York Siss are laughed at in Washing
ton by all who understand the subject of con-
tracts and purchases in the navy. Navy con-
tracts are made by the bureaus, and not by
the head of the department, and the idea of
general purchasing or supplying agent is nd
iculous, as the navy agencies were abolished
several years ago, and all purchases are now
made by the paymasters in the different cities.
The Jolly Secretary lives quietly here in a
hired house, and gives no entertainments ex-
espt dinners, the pretence of his great wealth |
is without real or apparent foundation. The |
statement that he is large holder of real es-
tate in this city is certainly false-fOr I have
examined the records since March 4, 1869, and /
find no conveyance to him from any one Of
foot Of ground