The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-01-02
News aud Other Items

The S11,0 raised for the Custer monument
has been divided among the widow and chill
dren.
Florida has yourg lady named Neuralgia
Dimple. Her mother found it on medicine
bottle and was captivated with it.
A man in Keokuk has cut out and pasted in
scrap.book accounts of HOO different boiler
explosions, and now he wants to sell the collec-
ton for $500.
Indianapolis reports the death of Moses Ma
gruder, colored, and LOG, son of the reputed orig
inal ''Uncle Tom," and bought and sold 80 times
as slave.
The Massachusetts census report for 1875 con-
tains some curious findings, For instance, there
are 106 'ladies" in the state and 29S gentle
men," Then there are nine gamblers, three
"hermits," three "loafers," ten pedestrians"
and one ''prze6ghter."
New York wants its funerals cheaper. The
cheapest respectable burial the average under
taker will give an adult is $254, it cost Shook &
Palmer $7S5 to bury actors Burroughs and Muir
dock, and a poor Irish woman who buries her
baby is charged $500.
Henry Murdoch, the actor, who met such a
tragical fate, is described as having been de-
fOtCu W uio uuOlucl. ~ was July u1
the keenest personal discomforts, the denial TO
himself of necessares even, thet he sent each
week of his life to her the sum which made her
comfortable. In or out of engagement it was
always the same.
According to the returns received at the
Washington bureau of agriculture, the corn
crop of the United States this year was 1885,
900, 900 bushels. At an average price Of forty
cents per bushel, this crop would be worth
$518, 900, 900. The estimated yield of our gold
and silver mines for the year is S85, $50 000 The
corn crop alone, therefore, was more than six
times as valuable as the entire product of gold
and silver.
A Nevada paper boasts that there are on the
Comstock lode more saloons in proportion to
the population than in any other place on the
continent Every month there Is prize fight
and every Sunday there is a town show, horse
race, a fight between bulldog and wildcat,
a cockfght, or something else that is entertain
ing Faro keno, chuck-a-luck, or roulette can
be found in every other saloon
1t is said that Cardinal McClosky $ health has
grown steadily worse ever since his accession to
the highest position 10 the American Catholic
church. His illness, according to the physi-
clans, is peculiar. The publicity attending his
high position is in every way against his in
stincts, and the responsibilities attending his
duties as Cardinal bear heavily upon Kim. At
| his age the burden weighs very heavily. He
was greatly exhausted after saying mass on
Christmas Day.
Wheeler H Peckham confirms the report
| that an arrangement had been made for the
return of Peter B. Sweeney in order to appear
at the TRIAL of the $7,OOO,o0O suit An agree
ment has been signed by him, the district at
| torney, the corporation counsel and attorney
general, that if Sweeney shall appear at this
| trial no proceedings civil or criminal, shall be
begun against him during its progress, or for
| thirty days afterward. This was sssented to by
| Sweeny counsel. 1t is probable that the trial
| will not take place till February, and the time
| of Sweeney's return is uncertain. he was IL in
| Paris when last heard from.
| The Ashtabula disaster calls to mird the IAN
| COLA horror''-an accident very similar in char
acter and extent-which occurred on the same
railroad, about 100 miles east of Ashtabua, on
the 18th of December, 1867. In this case 20
people were killed and 40 wounded. The train
was New York express, due in Buffalo at
/ IL As D. m. The ext to the rear car was thrown
| from the track Just before entering bridge,
and, just as it was nearly across a second car
was thrown off, and both rolled down so feet
| embankment to the ice below. One of the cars
was burned up, and what people in it were not
crushed by the fall perished in the flames. Al
! most everybody in the other car escaped.