Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-09-07
NEWS ITEMS.

-Fearfully dry and hot In Arizona.
Thermometer lO7, crops ruined, aud many
sheep dying.
The mortality among the colored pop
ulation of Memphis in 1876 was proportion
ately four times as great as that among the
whites.
The large cities of Canada do not seem
to be recovering from the depression in real
estate. In Montreal a large lot of land on
Cray street, for which three years ago eigh-
~ cents per square foot was refused, sold
last week at twenty-thtee aud oDe-half
conts.
The patriotic women of Circassia arc
selling their hair in order to provide funds
for the wounded soldiers. Some of their
,resses, four feet two inches long, have al
ready been sold in London.
With the Jews, next Saturday is New
Years Day, the advent Of 563s, which, ac-
cording TO their belief, is the age of The
world. New Years Dag is most faithfully
kept by all Jews, from the highest to the
lowest, throughout the world.
twithstanding its latitude, Montreal
has the highest death rate Of any city in
Canada or the Northern United States. In
July the mortality was at the rate of So to
the thousand, or nearly twice as great as
the prevailing average of Northern cities.
brigham Young was "lhriny," even in
planning his funeral arrangements. He
did not want his funeral expenses swollen
by the purchase OF mourning attire for the
numerous Mrs. Youngs, but be had no OBJ
lection to their wearing black dresses If
they happened to have them.
New Orleans is talking Of new aud
shorter cut to sea by ship canal cut
through TO Barataria bay, an estuary OF the
sea that penetrates far into the land on the
south coast of Louisiana. The distance
from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico by
this route would be only So miles, and the
cost of digging the canal about S, OOO, 900.
The Cincinnati Enquirer arithmetic
man figures Brigham Young insolveni. He
len eighteen widows and 100000 worth
of property. Each widow is entitled to a
third Of his estate as dover. Eighteen
thirds of six millions would be thirty-six
millions. So his estate will only pay about
sixteen per cent. on the dowerl
An agreement has been completed be-
tween the Western Union and the Atlantic
and Pacific Telegraph companies by which
a practical consolidation has been effected,
the receipts TO be pooled, the latter compa-
ny drawing one-eghth. Rates of telegraph
ing, especially where they have been great
ly reduced by active competition, will
doubtless be advanced.
San Francisco estimates the damage
done TO the Chinese quarter during the re-
cent anti-Chinese excitement there, at $l25,-
0O0 and claims that the United States Gov
eminent is responsible for Injuries inflicted
upon resident foreigners, and ought to pay
all but 81, 900 of this little bill. That rea-
soning is more ingenious than sound.
brigham Young's fatal illness, accord
ing 10 the Mormons, was caused by too free
indulgence in green corn. According 10 q
Gentle paper it was chaerin and alarm
caused by the discovery that the census OF
faithful Mormons in Salt Lake, which had
just been completed, showed that only 5000
members of the church could be depended
upon, his belief being that there were at
least 10000.
The famine in the Shan Tung districts
of China has attained a fearful extent and
intensity. Widows have sold themselves
as slaves to obtain food, and fathers have
given away their daughters as slaves and
concubines TO keep them from dying of
hunger. The very thatch Of the houses, the
bark of the trees, and the MOSES on stones
have been eaten, and no living Thing but
man remains in the fields.
Visitors to the top Of Mount Washing
ton within the last few weeks have been re-
ward ed with some wonderful sights. One
afternoon rainbow two thousand feet be-
low the passengers who were coming down
by railroad was an unusual phenomenon,
as we'll as a most brilliant one. That same
night a halo about the moon appeared 10
the observers on the summit to be almost
within their very grasp.
"A Mount Washington dispatch, dated
Sept. 3, says: A heavy snow-storm COM
menced here at s o'clock this morning.
The ermometer indicated so at the hotels
at the base of the mountain, where it was
raining hard. This is the first snow-storm
on the summit of Mount Washington since
the 22d of June. The month just passed is
the first August without a snow-storm here
for a number of years.
Last Wednesday afternoon a young
man named Wales Weaver of Alstead,
n. H., was riding with a man named N. b.
Howard, a butcher of the Same place.
Young Weaver was driving and when
near the residence of John S. Walker, about
q mile from the village, he reached over the
dasher and struck the horse with the fiat OF
his hand, when the horse Immediately
kicked clear above the dasher, planting his
foot in the pit of young Viewers stomach,
and injuring him so severely that he lived
but a short time.
Still some vicious idiots persist in send
ing envelopes full OF Colorado beetles TO
Great Britain. The Glasgow Herald says
A letter from America which reached the
Glasgow Post Office on Wednesday evening
WAS found 10 contain about hundred Colo
RADIO beetles, all alert and hungry. The YER
min we're put out Of existence and their
hateful remains were transmitted TO Lon
don for interment in the Home Office.
-Ts prevent fires in the suow-sheds on
the Central Pacific railroad, the managers
have devised complete fire telegraph sys-
tenn with an alarm-box every mile. Track
walkers patrol the road day and night. A
LOFTY tower has also been erected on noun
tain 10000 feet high, commanding with tele-
scopes view of the line from Blue Canon
TO the Summit, and from this observers
will constantly watch the road, having tel
egraphic communication with the fire train
at Cisco, which is always ready to set out
for con1agration.
The Hyers troup of coloIed singers
lately stopped at the Grand hotel at Indi-
annapolis, and after eating for several DAYS