South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1875-08-13

vince II by sending to this city deIega-
tons from every locality on the 9th. 90
that thorough organization extending
in every direction, FOR the purpose OF
carrying out in the most feasible man
ner. the desired object. may be perfect
3D. Wheeling r e9is,er.
HARrER's Fern "A correspondent
OF the Cincinnati Commercial has revi.
we'd old and interesting "reminiscences
Of this quite celebrated locality. He
writes: ae' '-
Well, to inpart Information TO all who
are DESTROYS, and save them asking 45
questions a minute, when they pass the
Ferry, / will go back TO the time when
this romantic spot was bowling wilder
ness, the silence Of the eternal hills bro
ken only by the rumble of the Potomac
and the Shenandoah, rs they rush to
each others embrace. and roll to the
ocean.
Robert Harper was n carpenter and
house builder, living one hundred and
Atty years ago in Philadelphia. In l747
he was employed to build q church by
the early settlers in the neighborhood
of what is now Winchester, Virginia.
Making his was TO that point, through
the almost trackless country, he was nj
Frederick, Maryland, told that ho could
save distance by taking route through
place called 1.-The Hole" where the
two rivers met. And that was the first
that Robert Harper saw of Harper's
Ferry. Conld he have looked down the
vista Of time century and a quarter,
what emotions would have filed his
kindly Quaker hoart. Perhaps he would
have declined To establish = ferry there,
and link his naino with spot that was
to drink mp so much hnman blood.
At Tho Hole" Harper found one sol
ltary person, anian named Stevens who
hal squatted on This corner ofthe almost
linitless Fairfax estate. Harper was
SO delighted with. the scenery and the
prospect Ola fair business return by es-
tahlishfng ferry and directing travel
this way, that he bought ont Stevens for
fifty pounds sterling. got Quit claim
deed from Lord Fairfax, who did not
seem ID have high opinion or that sec
ton x the wilderness, aud settled down
to the ferry business, having FIRST built
the church at Winchester.
And this was the origin or IIarpsr's
/, Ferry. When then \ single small boat
barely large enough to hold horse and
wagon, did the business, now = hun
dred trains day thunder past.
Harper conducted the ferry until 1882
when he died and WAS buried. A small
settlement or rather rude people had
grown mp around him, and he must have
thought that the place would have some
considerable population, for he donated
TO the village ten acres for cemetery,
and was himselfbnried in tho centreof it.
looked for his grave but could not
end it. The scourge OF war has popu-
lated the little enclosure until graves
have been dug on graves, the rude little
headstones Knocked over and whole sec.
tons closed a. anKnown,
KEAAnKABLE FnEAK or EfouTSrSo.
The Fredericksburg HerchI learns
from the West Point SIR that on Satur-
day week, during tho storm, as DIR. G..
Anderson, OF King g. Queen, was walk
ing through his yard, he received
shock from lightning such ~ is not OF.
ten experienced. 4 hole was burnt
through the top or his hat and consid-
cradle protuberance produced on the
top OF his head but beyond this no da-
mage Was done. lie was not even rem.
dered senseless and was caught before
he fell. Jf
A DEUGGIsr ACCIDENTALLY PorsoSs
llrAsELF,--Isaac W. Ketcham. q drug.
gist doing business in Bellevue. ". j.
died on Wednesday night OF last week
from the effects Of poison taken by mis-.
take. He hal been unusually busy all
day and did not have time to 90 home TO
his supper. About 3 o'clock ne felt faint
and went into his rear Office 70 take
drink Of whisky. Without looking At
the bottle which contained the LIQUID he
placed it TO his lips and took a draueht.
Before lac had swallowed much he dis.
covered that il was not whisky. and look.
ing at the label on the bottle found that
1t contained aconito, n deadly poison.
He ran into the street and called 10
physician who was passing at the time.
The doctor gave him eight ounces OF
brandy, aud few minutes Afterwards
tincture OF digtalis, which afforded him
temporary relief Ills pulse beat very
rapidly, reaching 100 q minute. He then
became numb and his pulse BEGAN 20 de-
crease, when the physician applied a gal
vauic battery, but the unfortunate man
continued TO sink until 8 O'Clock, when
he died The whisky and the tincture
OF aoonito wore kept in bottles which
were precisely alike, aud stood side bv
side, Mr.. ketcham was twenty-nine
years old.
TVAbout thirty feet Of roof OF the
Big Bend tunnel, on the Chesapeake and
Ohio railroad. in Virginia, fell in on
Tuesday morning last, while a freight
train was passing through. The engine
was crushed, the fireman killed and the
cuUingar hall, f,f,,,oI