The Portland daily press., 1875-11-13

Mr.. Samuel Plimsolls object in visiting the
Black Sea ports is to see that the English Con
suls carry out the instructions of the Board of
Trade coucernr the loading of grain vessels.
In letter to friend and sympathzer in Eng
land, Mr. Plmsoll refers in terms Of high com.
mendation to the American and Canadian reg
ulations 10 this respect, which he says have
probably been the means Of saving many lives.
Capt Paul Boynton will next attempt trip
of 300 miles down the Rhine, which he expects
to make without leaving the water. 1t should
be understood that Mr.. Merriman, not Capt.
BoyDton, is the inventor and proprietor OF the
life-saving suit. Mr.. Merriman is now in
America for the purpose of selling the suit,
and it is said he has made some arrangements
with our Navy Department for its general
adoption on government vessels
A farmer in Seymour, Ind, while examining
his corn crib the other day, came across small
jug, whose mouth was stopped by the body of a
rat which had tried to get in but had stuck fast.
On breaking the jug, he found four other rats
inside, all alive. The latter had evidently
crawled il, eaten till their sides were stuffed
out, and then found it impossible to crawl out
again.
Mr. S. Putze q citizen of Martinsville, Va.
has chair which originally belonged to Napo
leon Bonaparte, and was purchased by Presi-
dent Monroe at the Palace Of the Tuilleries,
Paris. The piece of furniture was given by
President Monroe to Gen. jackson, who made
present of it to Mr.. John Reid, his second in
the duel with Charles Dickinson in 1906, in
which the latter person was killed and Jackson
was severly wounded. Since 1906 the chair has
passed through the possession of number of
owners before reaching Mr. Putzel.
Dr.. Joseph p. Thompson says Admiral Far.
ragut once remarked to him. Il would never
go into battle in an iroL-clad. Icould not
handle my men nor nspirit them. Ii ball
strikes wooden ship, it sends a few splinters
around. two or three poor fellows are killed or
wounded, but the hoe is SOON stopped, the deck
cleared. and the fight goes on. But in an iron
clad the men feel from the first that they are
in their coffiD. for they know if hoe is knock
ed ia her side she must sink, and it is much
harder TO get up their spirits for the fight Give
me good ship os oak aud put the iron into the
men,"
Peter Curley, who is now in the Washington
county Jail, at Montpelier, as the supposed
leader of the Barre Bank robbers, is said to be
one of the most brilliant criminals on record.
He is of fine appearance, gentlemanly in de-
meanor, well educated and fine musician, es'
pecially on the piano De has amassed several
hundred thousand dollars in the burglary busi-
ness by planning his own exploits and furnish
ing his paid men with the best outfits, and has
always bought himself off whenever caught;
but it looks now as though he had reached the
end of his rope, from the queer reason that he
failed to get anything from the bank, and thus
has nothing to restore or to use as the basis OF
compromise, according to his usual habit.
His first arrest was for a robbery in West Troy,
when he took $4,000 10 cash and government
bonds from safe ia the Roy shawl factory. He
was not punished, however. and the facility
with which he got out of that difficulty has
since been repeated often. He is supposed to
have been the leader in eleven bank robberies.