Connecticut western news., 1875-06-11


 The Pitts6eld Shooting Case.-The case of shooting in Pittsield, to which we alluded week or two since, and in which an Ashley Falls boy was engaged, was brought before the District Court there last week, and the following testimony was given, which we copy from the Pittsfeld Eagle:
 Dr. Jorles testified to the injuries receiv- ed by Dawley, saying that the bullet pene- trated the stomach, spleen and kidney, and was taken out about three inches from the spinal column, where it was lodged about an inch below the skin, having nearly gone entirely through the body. The doctor thought Dawley had been worse the past few days than he was soon after the wound was received, as some of the worst of his earliest symptoms had returned. George Hines, E. Hines, Charles Wilbur, William and John O'Connell, Albert Hubbard, Thomas Hopper and others were witnesses for the prosecution, and Will Root testified to Van Deusen's confession to him in the lookup. The evidence of the accused him. self was of the greatest interest. Van Deu- sen and his party insisted that as they were driving away from Fuller's they were as sailed by volley of stones, one of which struck him. Mack, the most troublesome youth in the party, was determined to get out of the carriage and fight. but Van Deu- sen held him in bis seat, and, to frighten off the stone throwers, and without aiming or intending to hit anybody he fired it. Van Deusen appeared very well on the stand, and impressed most people with a belief n his story. Connors and Mack, who were with him at the time of the shooting, confirmed his account of it, and they were discharged. Van Deusen was held in $6O0o, reduction of $40OO from the amount of bonds he has been under here tofore, and he was again committed to jail to await the grand jury's action in July.
 The Grasshopper Plague.-MR. EDITOR: We are receiving daily accounts of the ravages of the grasshoppers and of their steady advance north. south and east of their limits one year ago At this present time we have reports of their extending over tract of country many hundred miles in extent. As yet they are but one-third grown and wingless. What will be the state of affairs when this vast horde take up their line of march and their ranks in creased by successive hatchings, as they continue to do during the season, if the first advance guard are now rendering the fair est portions of Missouri, Kansas. Nebraska and Iowa desolate. -..-.
 If this state of things continues for year or two mere, thousands of square miles of the finest farming country in the world will be made barren waste and uninhab- itable for man. l see no reason why the country desolated must not become depop- ulated. We living at the east, remote from the locality of the plague, do not perhaps have realizing sense of the consequences that must necessarily follow; but if we re- fleet that the ravaged district is in the heart of the bread producing region of our coun- try that the bread we daily eat is made
 from wheat and corn raised in the very To- cality now wasted, we can realize it's seri- ousness. In all times when great calaml ties visit people, after the first shock ii over they naturally examine into the cause Have we done SO in this case? Differen theories may and will be advanced, some ludicrous in their folly and unreasonable ness others more practical from their pos |, ! eihlo common eensa
 May not the cause be found in part o whole to be in consequence of the long , continued wholesale destruction of tn prairie birds. For years and years ever, mode that the cunning of man could devis has been used for their destruction. Thou sands of them have been destroyed fo their feathers alone, that we might hay ,, comfortable couches te repose upon, and , think l am safe in saying that thousands o 2 car loads have been caught and sent eas
 for our indulgence. Ihave known one sin gle station where, for years in succession
 (snd even now for ought I know) will game from the western prairies, by man
 car loads each year, have been sent an
 gathered by dealers for shipping to othe
 points for sale.
 refer to State Line station, junction o B the Housatonic railroad with the Bosto ] and Albany road, where barns and shed are hired, or have been, to store them an g hold them for future delivery. That r. only one station, and an unimportant on l at that compared to all the eastern an }. western cities, whose markets have been 8 t bountifully stocked with the coveted game a Not only are they killed and sent to mar
 ket for present use, but during the col y weather and deep snows of winter they al d taken and packed in air tight cases or ba l. reIs and allowed to freeze hard, when th j. packages, by many car loads at time, a1 y packed in straw in large buildings and ker Q in good condition for market long after th o shipping season closes. In that way lare n profits are realized on choice game out C l. season.
 ,t Are we net beginning to pay the fearf' ). price for this indulgence TwentY-f1 a years ago Missouri. Kansas, Nebraska an
 Iowa seemed like one vast poultry faru n Wild geese, turkeys, ducks, pigeons, pra I rie hens, partridges and many other inse' Is eating birds did abound on every han, e. Were not the grasshoppers of the plail t. created for their support, or were not Il in prairie birds created to destroy and keep in check the productions of tue insect world 10 At any rate they were so placed one to flu nit nish food for the other.
 ,d For the last thirty years man has wage e. a ceaseless warfare against the feather in tribes. while the insect races have contil a- ued to multiply in the direct ratio or il