The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1874-08-15

s. ~ s. -. : - -. -.
mother, who was very frank in her an
swers to their questions. She said /
her husband was butcher, and
lis now. a lugger IN the market,
and that when She was pregnant
with Jesse she often went to the slaughter
housesto see the killing of animals, in
which she took particular delight. and she
had even assisted her husband in the work.
No sooner had Jesse grown large enough
to haEe knife in his hands than he was
continually usingit, thrusting it into piec-
es of sWood, and when he. was older, into
pieces Of meat In his fathers market.
There seems to be no doubt that he was
affected Just as other children, though iHsa
different way. - - sss.@s =.
sA Boston dispatch of the 10th says that
the boy Jesse Pomeroy has made the fol-
I lowing confession of the murder OF. Katie
Cufran :ssas sszz 8A ~ ssaes sFsszssszszasS /,
ssIaopened my mothers store, on the
morning of March l8, at half past a9sss The
Curran girl came in for papers. L
told her there was store down stairs.
She went down to about the middle of the
cellar, and stood facing Broadway. 1 fol-
lowed her, put my left arm about her
-my knife in nay right hand cut her throat.
then dragged her to and behind the wa
ter-closet, laying her head furthermost up
| the place, and put some stones and ashes
\ ON the body. I took the ashes from box
in the cellar. | sent q boy to Hoyt &
Lawrence's near by and bought the. knife
week before for twenty-five cents. The
4 knife was taken. from me when / was ar
rested. When was in the cellar I heard
my brother at the inside door, which had
| locked after the girl came in. | ran up
! stairs and found him going toward the eel
lar in Mitehells part. He came back.
| Two girls worked in the store for mother.
4 They usually got there about o'clock !;
mother came later. NY brother Charles
and took turns in opening the store uil-
| til about April. My mother and brother
never knew anything about the affair. !
| forgot to tell you that washed my hands
and knife, which were bloody. at the wa
ter pipeso So
| AsstiH later dispatch says that Jesse
| Pomeroy has confessed that he murdered
| the boy Miller on the I'D of April last, de-
seribing IN detail how the murder was
Committed. This is the crime for the
commission of which he was first arrested.
The Mound Builders Of the Mississippi
sssse Valley.
| s.s Ns-E H5ss As----~eszessz ss=
The June number of the Southern Mag
| az;ae contains suggestive article on 1.-The
archaeological aspect of the lowlands OF
the Mississippi - written by Col. Louis J.
| DuPre of Memphis. In this article 1T IS
shown that so long as the system of con-
tinaous leyees along the Mississippi is per-
severed in, the inevitable overtlows will be
/ more sudden and the cTevasses more dlsas-
4 trous. Unless there be drains or canals,
by which the swollen waters can run of,
1 the river will at last break through or rise
/. over its banks, exposing the whole M1ssls-
sippi valley. season after season, to losses
tsueh as those which have led TO the inter
ventien of Congress to save thousands OF
refugees from perishing by starvation.
Phe mound builders, who have left traces
/ of their handiwork along the shores of the
Father of Waters, excavated a canal, one
hundred feet wide, from point just be-
How Cape Girardeau 10 the head waters OF
/ the White and st. Francis Rivers. Its OBJ
vious paFpase was the diversion OF q large
volume of the superintendent water OF
the Mississippi into smaller tributary
streams. At intervals of twentysor thirty
4 miles are other canals, still plainly defined,
parallel with the first, and designed to rem
i der overfIows harmless. These canals also
solved forthe mound builders the problem
of cheap transportation. They were Toe
i wise to aid the river in upheaylng It's
4 banks, as is done IN these latter days OF
4 less knowledge. The system of drainage
4 which, they ~adepted forty eenturies OF
4 moresago iss in Col. DuPEe's opinion, the
!. only one. that can now be safely adopted
But more can be said of the mound-build-
) erss than that they cut drains and canals
Not far from Qsceola, Ark, the brick
{ abutmentslef q bridge have been unearth
ed. In many places there are artifieaa
lakes paved with adobe. Instead of teuse
, inn their farms the n1oHnd-builders raised
them above the high-water mark.
), Very few of the mounds which give
their name to the extinct race of highly
, civilized. Americans have been explored
.bnt copper and bronze implements, urn
/ Eand vases of terra eetta, andin one in
; stance anidol efbronze has beea found
/ Whence came these people whose defell
tsive earthworks are found on the Missls
J sippf, beginning at a point seventy mile
{ above Memphis 3 There are earthen wallis
J defning parable kilograms and dltches, ant
j circular forts and long defensive lines
!, From these. It isasJrmised, the mound
] builders were driven back untiLthe fina
struggle for existence, which took plae
five miles above the confluence of Iittl
: Red and White Rivers. $50 "A broad, deel
j ditch. connects the two streams, and burie'
| within, it is said, are nyriads OF skele
I tons, There was no survivor. The 8
E lence of oblivion swept over them an'
2 their houses ssaszzsszs.sss 80 ssz.zazssss
. Col. DuPre has been engaged for year
e | i'm attempting to determine who and VIVA
E the mound builders were. By patient il
I fyestigatiUn and leomparison, and by PEI
.Assenai examination of the mounds and
lstbe remains of cities and fortific lions, &
: -lnaIs. farms and the like, he has obtained
E ffund of information, which, with his tnef
Ell ries eoncerning the lost race, is IN cotlTs
e sof preparation for the press. 1t would ?
5, s,ldifficuft to find a subject of greater 1Iltel
!, est, egensin these utilitaTian times, ina
Ell ,fl,a, ,fraeino out of the history Of an Amel
r ican apeopae who rose to enninenee an
osisssaySesfs asUays thousands of wears ago.