The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-10-19
From the Centennial City.
PmlLApELrnA. Oct. Is. 1877.

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 10, 1877.
MEssRs. EprToRs.-Gradually the
days shorten and the shadows lengthcn.
The crickcis have about ceased their
nocturnal and autumnal notes. The
lcahcred songsters have nearly all
flown southwark, with the exception of
the little gray twittcring English spar
rows. which remain the whole year.
enivening the frosty mornings of Jan
uary aud February with their early
songs. The New England bobolink has
lately been soiourning here, en- route
for Georgia and the Carolinas. They
stop hereabouts about two months in
the fall. flying ilocks, feeding on the
seeds of rank vegetable on the low
lands, called the reed bush, and are call
ed the reed bird. They are now about
marshaling their forces and flying to-
ward the sunny South. When there
they are called the rice bird. When
+. here they appear in in gray attire,
having dotted their Yankee skunk color
ed dress, and are nearly, if not entirely,
mute, having ceased uttering the un-
pronounceable clog Latin" they have
been accustomed to peal forth in the
New England meadows in the early
summer. They are regarded here as a
rare dish, being killed by hundreds by
unfeeling sportsmen. | am not sufii-
ciently versed in the science of ornithol-
ogy to know much ofther habits at the
South, or whether they are slain for use
in the culinary department.
The Bliss trial. at which limited in
my last, has closed, the trial occupying
: nearly two weeks, resulting in disa-
greement of the jury, eleven for con-
viction, one for acquittal. If ever de-
ccption was unmasked and the hum
buggery of undertaking spiritualism
was shown up in as clear light as a
MONDAY sun could produce, it was dur
ing this trial; but through the igno-
rance or obstinacy of one man Justice
was defeated. and that man chatter ~
There is an old maxim that "Not every
man can make hat" and il must be
equally true. if not more so, that not
= every man is qualified to, or should. sit
rs II juror. ! claim 10 be, or TO have
> been, a halter myself by an early pro-
icssion, but away with such hat-makers
that would not he convinced though
one should rise from the dead. When
: will that part of our jurisprudence be
3 amended that requires jury to be a
unit, either for conviction or acquittal
As the juridical system is now consti-
,, tutcd one man can thwart the ends of
justice by acquitting the guilty or con-
victing the innocent, overriding OF
annulling the opinions and judgment OF
= his elder Ompeers-virtually and com.
plctely opening the door for the cxer-
else of the "snc man power" without
let or hindrancc. After the disagree.
ment of the jury, the wonderful mate
rializer was Immediately put under ar.
rest on the charge of bigamy for having
a legal wife in Boston and bogus one
/. in Philadelphia. Ills legal wife came
on TO this city during the trial and con.
fronted the spiritualstic seancer on the
witness stand. The sudden and mex-
pected appearance of his lawful wife
caused not only his spiritual element to
, quail, but his material parsonage to
,, shake and his face to whitcn. Perhaps
he may be acquitted of the latter charge
by the twelfth man, rs il is more than
: possible that 'fools may not all
: be dead vet Judge Briggs, before
, charging the jury, said to them, that
,, ''although it was not his province tC
try the prisoner, yet he was not Gig.
ure head" and possessed the legal right
to say, and would say, fever there was
one" Wendell. Phillips Bowman, Esq,
the leading lawyer for Bliss, and one OF
the most eloquent members of the Phil.
adelphia bar. has been declared under
arrest for an alleged tampering with
: the jury, or causing it TO be done. Sc
the end is not yet.
, On the 4th inst. the one hundrcdth
anniversary of of the battle of German.
| l.I.
the rain fell in torrents the entire after.
noon, the descendants of the partici.
pants of that cvcntful day were not 10
be deferred from carving ont the pro.
, gramme to the letter. A great military
civic and industrial parade was made
: the procession being about two and q
: half miles in length, comprising over
six thousand persons, ''all wet to the
. skin" AT sunrise salute of one hun.
! dred guns was fired by the keystone
, Battery. AT "a. NJ. the old Independ
:. ence Hall bell, which has been hung in
the steeple of the new town hall, was
rung hundred strokes, McClury's cor.
:, net band of forty-four pieces meanwhile
playing the "Star Spangled Banner
: | do not refer to the old cracked bel
!, that pealed forth the first anthem OF
liberty that vibrated OH American air
-, no; that relic remains in the National
Museum in the west wing of Indepen
dence Hall, and will remain there a.
long as the stars and stripes float from
:. the flag staff that surmOunts that sacred
: editice, but the bell that succeeded the
! honored one just referred to. Within
the last six months another bell, weigh
ing thirteen thousand pounds, has beer
lung in the belfry, II gift of a Mr.. Sew
bert, wealthy citizen of this city. Blu
TO return to Germantown, at lively,
O'Clock, noon, the procession moved
Gen. Wagner remarking that ''the,
sprinkled the streets the day befor,
three times, but ii was labor lost" Tn,
g, battle of Germantown was commanded
II by Gen. Washington in person, assisted
= by Generals Sullivan, Green, Knox
Il Wayne-or "AIad Anthony" as he wa
IS called-Count Pulaski, and other patri
otto officers of the Revolutionary war.
kecly's motor, of which much ha
Il been published lately, has been examin
n ed by a board of supposed scientist
V within short time, and in advance O
IS a trial is pronounced a failure and tina
IS what kecly proposes il will do is con
G trary TO any known laws of mechanics
v science or philosophy. Mr.. Keelv ha,
e already announced that when the ma
5 chine was perfected he could drive
train of cars from this city to New Yorl
with one quart of water. The only in
Is stance have heard of n trial of il
II strength being made was about yea
2, since, when, as IL friend of mine, Will
1t passing mp 10th street, was opposite TN
e building in which il was being con
IT structed, he heard a report, and at tn
Is same instant a massive wooden plu.
o buzzed close past his head and wa
II stopped in its flight by the walls of
IS brick residence on the opposite side O
e the street. lie remarked that he imme
= diately called into requisition wha