Litchfield enquirer., 1879-05-22
LYONS. IOWA. May 10 1a7QE

I Ed Enq.-While your reporters indicite
 most all kinds of weather with you; here it
 is distressingly pleasant; though the nights Ire
 too cold and frosty for fruit and flowers, to ay
 nothing of gardens. It is said to be the drpst spring we have had since '51. Corn does lot sprout, and other crops are suffering.
 The river has never been SO low at this sa- son of the year within the memory of the "dd- est inhabitant." This is the time for high ya ter Nine or ten years ago. about this tine.
 passengers in our horse cars had to get upon the seats with ten or twelve inches of waer running through the cars in places, and lgs could be foated most anywhere 1; but now lis within thirty inches of low water mark, aid eighteen and half feet below high waer mark. Nearly all the saw mills on the riier are shut down for want of logs, and thousaris of men idle, at time when they all anticipt- ed work. This is especially aggravating to the mill men, as the prospect for the seaon was unusually fattering. The strike ammg the sailors in Chicago, freights and other nat ters were all favorable to our lumber men and they anticipated rich harvest, this season i; but the present outlook is exceedingly dnbi- ous. It is so dry in the logging regions that it will require heavy rains to soak up the ground and fill the streams sufficiently to float logs. There has been sharp advance in the price of grain. It is claimed that few men hold nearly all the No. 3 Speculative grade) of wheat in the West, and can control the mar ket at their pleasure. Corn which could be bought in some parts of our state, last Fall, foi ten cents bushelis selling here for thirty five 1 think mentioned the fact in my correspon dence, then, and that there was money to be made, for any one who could buy and hold It for rise.
 I saw brief dispatch in our Chicago papers in relation to the New Preston Hill tragedy the fuller account, which felt sure we should get in your paper, and am under obligation to your correspondent for his fought to say Der to keep up the joke?1 prompt and interesting account of the terrible affair. Most old cti zens will be reminded of the tragedy of Ralel- 10 near the same spot; who, if 1 remember aright was arrested within stones throw If of the birth place and residence of Egbet Cogswell, and it must have made deep i'm pression on his beyish mind. Whether it hal anything to do with shaping his mind for thi. tragedy,i it is impossible to say, but there is lit tie question but that the prevalence of so much crime so fanliiarizes the mind with it, that t! ceases to become so terrible as it onsht antiT can but think that the cheap dime novel liteL ature that has flooded the country the last de cade or two, is responsible for no little portion of the tidal wave of crime that is sweeping. over our land. Tragedies in high as we'll as low life are becoming fearfully prevalent. One of Chicagos rich and prosperous merchants was coolly shot to death in open daylight, the other day. Booth was shot at in a crowded theatre by a Burlington man and last week, three suicides occurred in the latter place in one day.
 There is story going the rounds of the pa- pers, not so tragical, but only failing to be- come so ''by the skin of the teeth" As the story goes, the engineer and fireman of long eastward bound passenger train got into fight In the melee, unbeknown to them, the throt- tie valve was thrown wide open, the train took a sudden leap and started eff like mad, the tel egraph poles began to look like picket fences, the passengers were tossed hither and thlther amid the widest excitement, the conductor yanked and jerked the bell-rope till it seemed likely to break. Just then it occurred to h1m that they were nearing station where anoth- CT train had the right of way, and they were to be side tracked, and the truth flashed upon him that something had happened at tise f,out, and that they were runaway train. As may be imagined, it did not take longer than necessary for that conductor to find his way to the engine, to shut off steam, and to apply the air brakes: He stopped the train, just in time to avoid the impending accident, when up jumped the fireman from one corner of the tender where he had held the engineer down in limbo, afraid to let him up for fear the fel- low would kill him, and all unconscious of the speed they had been making.
 One other item, and close. A notorious horse thief in the western part of the State, the other day, took the loan of halter with a fine horse attached. Soon after the sheriff and darkey started in pursuit, and overlook the thief, but found him so much better armed and mounted than themselves that they con- sidered discretion the better part of valor, and pretended to be travellers going out to Kansas prospecting. They all rode along together, chatting for some time, when they came to a pond of ducks. The sheriff suggested that they try their hands at duck shooting, but the thief did net Humble" though he tried shot or two. After awhile they ran into covey of prairie chickens. The darkey claimed to be a good shot and asked the loan of the thief's pistol half minute. Being little off his guard, the fellow handed him the pistol and quick as thought, found it leveled at his own head, with tho exclamation from the darkey ''Youre the chicken! Throw up your hands" The thief said it was the worst sell he had ever had played on him.
 P. s. The glorious news has reached us that heavy rains in the logging regions have let the logs out, and soon there will be activi- ty all along the line. Some of the mills are preparing to run night and day, whereat there IS great rejoicing. A, B. West Cornwall.
 On Friday evening last, we experienced the