Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1880-02-23
GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

?. T. Barnum has contributed $1,000 |
to the Irish relief fund.
Mrs. Tweed, widow of William NJ.
Tweed, died on Friday last, in Paris.
Navigation between New York and
Poughkeepsie is again open and the ice
north is hourly expected to break up.
The committee to guard against fam
inc in Ireland next year have purchased
100000 worth of potatoes for distribu-
tion there.
The ship owners and agents at Mon
treal are making vast preparations for
competing with Boston and New York
for the cattle and grain trade next Spring
and Summer.
A company has been organized at
Boston to construct railroad from Cairo
Egypt, through Port Said and Damascus
to connect with the Euphrates Valley
road to be built by an English company.
Agents of two hundred families of
Philadelphia Quakers have negotiated
for 10000 acres of land in Cottonwood
county. Minnesota, and the Friends are
expected to become actual settlers in the
spring.
Edison is hard at work at Menlo Park
getting his lamps ready for the electric
light with which he proposes to illumi-
nate Paris. He says that it will be the
most eloquent answer he can give to his
French critics.
The first through freight train over
the Grand Trunk railway from Chicago
to Portland left the former city on Sat-
urday. 1t consisted of large consign-
ment of grain for England which will
be shipped by ocean steamer from Port
land.
Wholesome competition has sprung
up between the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company and the Pacific Railroads.
The steamship company reduced rates
between New York and San Francisco
to $40 and $50 for cabin and steerage
passengers, and the railroad companies
announce a reduction to 500 for first
class. SO for second class, and S45 for
third class, or reduction of $50, $50
and $40 respectively. The reduction
will undoubtedly largely increase travel,
so that the railroads will really lose
nothing, while the travelling public be.
/ tween the Atlantic and Pacific will bt
greatly benefited.
Counterfeit half dollars are becoming
plenty Those observed are chiefly will
the dates 1857, 1875 and 1877. Th,
dies are good, but the weight is noticea
bly, lighter than the genuine coin. Man,
/ of those of the date 1875 show sligh
e flaw under the talons of the eagle, ant
! the letter F in the word "half, imme
diately under it, is also imperfect
Those of 1867 and 1875 are copied iron
: the half dollar of the Philadelphia mint
S and that of 1877 both from the miDts a
n Philadelphia and San Francisco. Ii
!. the size and regularity of the letter
and the numerals the false coin show
) no difference from the real, but the rim
/ is a little sharper than the genuine.
) Frank Dillingham;, the murderer, die
b Sunday forenoon from the effects of tn
: pistol shot in the head. inflicted immed
r. ately after killing his aunt. He wa
arraigned for the crime Saturday, whe
he plead not guilty, after which his mer
tai condition began to be greatly dis
turbed and he seemed to realize tn
e enormity of his crime, and after bein
n taken to his cell he exhibited great Ell
y element and agony of mind. The prs
: oner made no confession before he dice
: Had the case come to trial, however,
= would have been shown that the prison
q er first shot Mrs. Dillingham; from be
4 hind, while she was sitting in a chair
n with the pistol close to her head, the
4 tied rope around her neck to stop he
groans and outcries, after he had bee
- unable to do SO by striking her on tt
d head with hammer, and that no GU
e. rage was committed.