Litchfield enquirer., 1877-12-06

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 the builders of America. Their children,
 though drifted far westward by ''the course oi
 empire, 'arise up and call her blessed" .. LYONS, IOWA, Nov. 26, 1877. EDITOR ENQUIRER We are still weather.
 bound" In my last, stated that the equinox 1 had held sway most of the time since October | 3d, and it would not be much of an exaggera- l tion to repeat the statement. To the best of
 my recollection, the roads in the country have
 not been dry since, and most of the time there
 has been almost an embargo on wagon nav l igation." The result has been very damaging 1 to trade, and in connection with heavy losses
 to our farmers by the hog cholera and other
 causes, trade is very much depressed more so
 than we have experienced for years. The re- suit is telling on the banks and trade-centers
 powerfully, as the recent failures indicate.
 There was falling off in Chicago of over twenty millions of dollars on the clearing
 house sales, last month, from the corresponding month last year. The Colebaugh suicide add ed to the shaky feeling in bank circles, so that In addition'to the banks that have gone under, it is feared that other banks will go to the wall that otherwise might have weathered the storm. The mystery of the suicide is still im- penetrable. It is believed the family could throw light on the subject if they would. A letter was deposited in the family box early in the evening of the night of his demise that created great consternation in the family, and they were searching for him most of the night. It is thought by many that strong drink and domestic infelicity had much to do with the causes of his suicide. An acquaintance of mine said he was with him in our State Senate nearly twenty y-five years ago, and while he was "a prince of good fellows he was then a hard drinker, that Grimes was then the Re- publican governor, and Colebaugh a rabid Democrat, yet they roomed together and were the best of friends
 The earthquake which gave the western part of our state, with Kansas and Nebraska, a shaking up some days since, came to the surface in Nebraska, where it tore up part of mans farm, piling up the dirt in some places fifteen feet high, and in other places leaving Assures of unknown depth, part of them filled with water. The effect on individuals differed widely. According to the Chicago Journal, it broke off lawyers argument in Omaha in the middle-the only instance on record of the kind, short of the death of judge or juror while man from California was awakened by his wife and urged to get up, as there were burglars in the house. He listened moment and told his wife to go to sleep again-it was nothing but an earthquake.
 The recent articles in the N. Y. Times against Western mortgages has stirred up quite commotion; and able and earnest protests are sent in to the press for publication. One man claims to have loaned out over five millions and half of dollars since 1861, and has only had to foreclose on $134, 0O0-a pretty good showing considering the iuctuating times since.
 An item of importance to any one concerned has frequently appeared in our papers, and. as others of your readers besides the Misses Mitchells of Washington may be interested in early land titles in Iowa, clip the following from the Chicago Journal written from Des Moines, which speaks for itself
 *s LAND TITLES.
 have already several times called attention to defective land titles in this State, and es- pecially of purchasers of Government land, and every county paper in the State should re- peat the warning to it's readers that all such purchasers who hold only the Receivers cer tificate of purchase have no title whatever to their land. That there are thousands of such instances is evident from the fact that over %, ,OOO patent-deeds are now in the Govern ment Land Office in this city, some of them thirty years old; and of these there are thou sands in which the description is unlike the certificate of purchase held by the parties named, and which is a most serious error Every purchaser of Government land or gran tee of such purchase should secure the patent deed at once and place it on record, that errors, where they exist may be corrected before it involves expensive litigation.
 In this connection a similar condition of affairs has recently been disclosed in the Gen eral State Land Office, where land has been purchased from the State The purchasers have received certificate of payment flom the Register of the Land Office, which certificate they lay away in some secluded place, and never present it for redemption and to receive their patent. In many instances this is de- layed until the purchaser dies, or sells to another, and his grantee will present the cer- tificate, the purchaser. having died in the meantime. In all such cases the title will fail, as the law requires that the patent can only be j issued to the original purchaser, and the courts have decided that a patent issued to dead man conveys no title to anybody, and is there fore void Purchasers of land from the State. therefore (and there are thousands of theml, who are holding only certificates of purchase should secure their patents for the protection of their families; for if they die, their title vanishes
 deem this one of the most important mat ters which can be brought to the public mind. and one which demands the attention of the press in the State. The interests involved are immense, and are not realized by those most directly affected. Every wife and child of the holder Of GOvernment or State land should see to t that the patent-deed therefor is in their possession.
 There is another matter that is creating good deal of excitement in the West, and Chi cago and other papers are writing editorials on
 COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS AFTER JUDGE HUB a
 The travelling salesmen are terribly incensed against Judge Hubbard ot Marshalltown, for his philippic on drummers, delivered before the Supreme Court, and have determined to hunt him down. They are holding meetings all over the West, and resoluting that they will use all their power to divert trade and traffic from the Chicago and Northwestern
 Speaking of hog cholera. heard man say that three of his hogs were sick when he butchered but he put them in and "they went through all riRht.5 It does not give hankering after pork, to feel that this was hardly exceptional case. but the cholera s discovered among fat hcgs they