Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1873-02-04
Large Fire in Washington.
Burning Of the National 7Aeatre-7he I'm.
periul Hotel Flooded.


WAsHINGros, January %, 1s73.-The
National Theatre, situated on 4 street, be-
tween Thirteenth and Fourteenth, caught fire
about | l O'Clock this morning, during prepa>
rations for the rehearsal of the comic opera of
"Lrs Bavards" by Mrs. Oates's troupe It is
said that spark from stove below the stage
caught to some light material near by. and
soon reached the flies, where the flames were
first seen by the carpenter. They soon caught
the light drapery aud framework of the inte>
rior OF the theatre. and almost as soon AZ the
alarm was spread the fire had made too much
progress within the building to allow of any
stand against it being mnde there
The fremen were quickly on the ground.
and DISPLAYED not Gully intprpidty but yrea,
skill and discretion, but the light m.terial
which was subjected to the flames rendered
vain their efforts to save the building, and,
with the exception of the front walls, it was
SOON mass Of ruins, and at 129 O'Clock the
fire was over.
None of the buildings. except the theatre,
were, however. burned The fremcn seeing
early that it was impossible to save the thea
ire, devoted all their efforts to the surrounds
ing buildings. with nearly complete success
The Imperial Hotel, aaj"inpg the theatre on
the west, was considerably dnmaged. but the
injury Inflicted on the buildings to the east
ward was inconsiderable.
The theatre on this site was burned on the
night of the 9Th Of March, 1915. the niyht
after the inauguration of President Polk tho
fire breaking out during the performance of
the play Of Beauty and the Beast.
The house was afterwards rebuilt for the ad
vent of Jenny Lind The Jenny Lind"
building was burned on the afternoon Of Feb
ruarv 9Th. 1857, and Mt that time Alessrs.
knnkel, Ford and Monkey were the lessees.
and Miss Fanny Morant manager
Th" theatre was again rebuilt in the spring
of 1862.
A LIGHT SENTENcE.-Noah Brummett is
a Eo"nshoro peda.ngue who has money loaned
at interest, and although as fund of rcauir.e
the news as any creature living he was never
known to spend five cents toward supporting
the press until last week The OH FsN,,c
tells the following story of how this old Wax
t"rd Sqneers for years sponged his reading off
an cnt"rprising news dealer Of that place
Mr.. Welty. This gentleman put up with
Brumme.t as long as n.tnre could stand il and
then presented him bill of SO for ten mouths
reading at thirty cents per month. Of course
Noah was virtuonsly indignant at the outrage.
But he had to pay it, with ninty cents added
with cost. and it was light sentence for so
mean and contemfiblc an offence. We have
desire to see Noah Brummettee Wen bet
he is loud t,iker, vehement exhorter
and earnest politician and heavy dealer IN
morals. Pass the old snrnnee around aud let
us look st him IIiHinmSport Pilot.
We judge from the above thar he is the
same old coon who was employed as teacher
ct public school. at Bunker Hill ip this
county three or four years ago. He was a
blatant radical, besides being guilty of many
other dirty tricks -JKur'inslurg Statesman.
BLACK SNow.-The kcokuk (Iowa) Con
stitution of the 18th says: '.On last Tuesday
afternoon commenced the great, snow storm
OF the winter, aud the greatest storm of the
Vest tor many years. 1t continued until
Wednesday afternoon; then set in u furious
wind, which took the snow from the hills and
piled it up in the valleys. On Thursday
morning the inhabt,nts OF the northern por-
ton OF this State. wien they awUke were not
little surprised at seeing the earth covered
with black instead Of white garment, as it
was on the night before. THIS strange and
unnatural phenomenon is accounted for on the
suppo>ltl"n that after the wind had swert the
snow oil the hills then the dry earth was taken
up aud scattered over the face Of the snow.
giving it this peculiar coluring. This would
be satisfactory explanation il this unusual
appearance had been confined to localities,
but accounts say it was general
TIE ANTI-fKANKIAG BlLI.-The bill. as
it finally passed both houses of Congress, is as
follows:
"Be 1t enacted, dc, That the franking
privilege be, and the same is hereby, abolished
from and after the LIST of July A d. 1873.
and that enceforth all off cal correspondence.
OF Whatever nature, and all other maiable
matter, sent from addressed t. any officer
OF the government or person now authorized
t" trank such matter shall be chargeable with
the same rates OF post rye as may be lawfully
imposed upon like matter sent by or addressed
to other persons. Provided, that no compeu
sation or allowance shall now or hereafter be
made to Senators, members aud delegates of
the lionse Of Representatives on account of
postage"
= Mr.. Il. B. Hollis of Darkesville, who. it
Will be remembered, met with the misfortune
to be badly frozen, some time ago, va. COM
PEELED TO have all The fingers of his left hand
amputa'ed on last Thursday. We are Informed
that 1T will be necessary to ampntate the fin
gers OF the other hand. Mr. Il. has the svm-
pathy OF the whole community in his terrible
calamity artins1mcg .S;ntesman
"A brakesman on the Orange and Alex
andria railroad named Birch, who lived near
Strasburg, Va: was killed near Clifton Station
on Monday week by the cars running over