The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-03-05
At their Old Tricks Again.

Nashua Gazette of last November L copied 1t
,,orbot;,n ct HteYdtim, and with it l make re
quest of you to publish it in the DAILY PRESS,
and if it is not correct will you please give the
true figures: ,..
The Washington Patriot says that on the Dist
of july, 1868, Mr.. Boutwell, stated in the House
of Representatives that the debt had been re-
duced between April, 1865, and January, 1868,
one thousand and sirty million dollars. Accord
ing to the public debt statement it has been
further reduced since March l. 1871, $273, 49,
81 90, making a total reduction, according to
the Secretary of the Treasury, of over 81, 349,-
0OO0 900 in the last six years.
On the thirtieth of June, 1865, the total debt
S2,6S0,5H 1863 "a
Deduct from this the reduction stat
ed by the Sec of the Treas, viz, 81 9s
and the total debt should be, $3.50, 1896, s11 76
But according to the public debt statement of
the first instant it is $2,361 051 ,S42 81, dis
crepancy of over thousand million dollars
precisely 81, 030, 153, 1856 05.
Over billion dollars has been lost or stolen,
II BoutwelPs statement is correct.
Mr.. Editor, 1 believe there is something be-
hind all this that can be explained; at any
rate l have all faith in the present administra-
ton and also IN Mr.. Boutwell,.
MORE LIGHT.
Before the Presidential campaign is over we
have no doubt that the Democracy will put in
circulation thousands of "gross, open, palpa-
BILE" lies like that which troubles our cores
pondent. The simple explanation is this: The
sum mentioned by Mr.. Boutwell, was that vast
floating debt never funded, which was paid
shortly after the close of the war. The great
er part of it was never included in any formal
public debt statement, such as are now pub
lished. The reduction of the public debt
mentioned in these statements has reference to
the reduction from the maximum funded debt
in the spring of 1865. The statement that
'over billion dollars has been lost if Bout
wells statement is correct" is not only with
out foundation, but is stark idiocy, such as any
reputable paper ought to be ashamed of.-ED
The DIX ISLAND TRAGEdY.-The account
first received of the Dix Island tragedy was in
some respects erroneous. The murderer s name
is Barney Little, and he was not supposed to be
jealous of improper communications to his
wife, but he was suspicious of attempts by
some of the workmen who were his fellow
townsmen to ALLEVIATE the members of his fam
lily from him by means of their letters home.
He appears to have had no particular quarrel
with young White on this account, and Little
and White boarded at the house of one Dolan
and roomed together in one room, containing
three beds and occupied also by four others.
Little did not go to work Saturday morning nor
did he come down to dinner, but remained in his
room. He had become incensed against some
of his fellow workmen by the suspicion that
they had tempered with his trunk White went
to his room after dinner and when the bell rang
the hired girl spoke to him and received a re-
Spouse, and Immediately heard two pistol shots
and an exclamation of pain. She gave the
alarm and directly after young White appeared
at the door leading from the staircase and fell
dead in the kitchen. A crowd gathered but did
not dare to go to the chamber as Little was
armed and forbade their approach They par
leyed with him nearly two hours, during which
they heard him fire several shots when he fin
ally threw down his pistol and gave himself up.
He was found sitting on the bed covered with
blood with two pistol shot wounds on the neck
and face, one in the left side and several wounds
inflicted with pocket knife in his abdomen
None of these wounds however will prove NOR
tai, it is thought Little was taken to Rockland
and lodged at the police quarters and will be in
dicted at the March session of the Supreme
Judicial Court if he survives. Whites body
has also been taken to Rockland to await the
order of his friends. Little expresses no con-
triton for his shocking crime ia % s
A LUDICRoUs BLUNDER.-It will be remem-
bered that the other day, in the United States
Senate, Mr.. Chandler of Michigan, made a We
har ,arta tI,o&
ties were engaged in forging his frank to docu-
ments of opposition members of Congress, hav-
ing the laugh turned against him by another
Senator, who likewise complained that some
one had been using his frank to send to his con-
stituents one of Chambers speeches. This
strange misapplication of privilege of doubt
full utility proves not to have been a device of
the enemy, but the result of funny blunder,
which the Washington Chronicle relates as fol-
lows: #N
The Committee on Contingent Expenses,
after grave and solemn investigation, find that
a number of thousands of speeches of various
Senators were sent to a lady to be folded and
put in envelopes. She innocently did her work
promiscuously, piled them all into one heap and
then carefully counted out the number for each.
Imagine Chandler proudly Thanking Blar's
anti-Ku Klux speech and Schurz's attack on
the Administration to the red-hot Republican
supporters in Michigan, while Blair complac-
emily loads the mails for Democrats of his own
stamp with Morton's speech styling him "the
political offspring of Schurz," and Schurz
meanwhile hurrying off in all directions Conk-
ling excoriation of himself in the recent de-
bate. Think too, of the effect of Chambers
scorching review of the Democratic party and
its record upon o 'dyed-n-the-w ooI' jeff
Davis Democrat of Southern Missouri An at
tack of cholera is feeble comparison.
We do not know quite how far this has gone,
but far enough, it is clear, to make as much
fuss as swapping couple of thousand babies
THE ALLEGED KANSAS BRIBERY CASES.
The Boston Aduertiser very justly says:
The report of the investigating committee of
the Kansas legislature on the senatorial cleo
tons in that State reveals the most dsgraceful
and intolerable scandal that has been develop
ed outside of New York city. Washington dis
patches intimate that the two Senators from
Kansas implicated intend to assume q bravado
air, and disregard the whole matter on the
ground that the testimony against them was
not evident. 1t will not do. 1t is the duty of
the Senate to take it up, to inquire seriously
and thoroughly into the whole affair and if the
very explicit statements of the committee or
one-tenth part of them shall be found true, to
expel Pomeroy and Caldwell inStdnter Two
Senators, an ex-senator. an ex-member of the
House and an Ex-Governor are plainly and
tersely charged with corruption in q report
signed unanimously to a committee drawn from
both parties; any if the specific offences alleg-
ed are not just, they deserve the most searching
investigation.
THE SIGNAL SERvIcE.-The Gloucester Id
certiser thus bears testimony to the value of the
repOrtS of the Sional Service P,,reau whoso