Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-01-11
Florida Affairs.

On Thursday afternoon last a colored man
Of Jacksonville By the name Of Ed Patterson,
while engaged in loading live oak on the
schooner Annie L. McKeen, received injuries
which it is thought will prove fatal The
Union lays he was in the hold OF the vessel,
and, vhile stopping over attempting to guide
roller upon which a large stick OF timber
was being moved, the roller slipped out and
struck him on the chin, knocking him sense
less Dr.. Livingston was called, AMI, upon
examination, found that the windpipe had
been torn almost in two. and the bone near the .
root of the tongue dislocate1 Al last reports,
the man was still alive AMI doing as well as
could be expected.
On wednesday morning severe wind passed
over portion Of Leon county, doing some
damage to fences. etc. The Tallahassee FIOri-
diaa says: Mr.. Thomas J. Roberts, in the
CentreyiIe neghborhood, about eleven miles
north Of Tallahassee, had q fine new barn
blown down aud utterly wrecked. number
OF animals were stabbed therein, and four
mules and one horss were killed by the falling
building. causing loss Of some six hundred
dollars. The barn was the property Of Mr.
Hall, a neish5or. This is the worst disaster
caused by the gale We have heard Of
From all We can gather from cur Florida
exchanges, it seems that the recent cold SPELL
which extended throughout the State, did no
materialinjlry to the old orange trees. though
the fruit was greatly damaged. The young
trees were somewhat injured, however, as
were ths more delicate fruits and vegetables
The mora hardy Of these latter escaped
The cause OF the failure Of the Jacksonville
sun and Press was thai it could not hold up
under the load OF mortgages with which it was
burdenei Mr. Il. B. McCallum, of the Union,
has suits now pending against the defunct
journal.
The case Of Ben Bird, convicted of the muir
der OF Robert Nelson. in Jacksonville, was
called up in that city in the Circuit Court last +
Tuesday. His attorney stated that motion
FOR new trial had been made, upon the
grounds that the verdict was not in accordance +
with the evidence; that during the trial two
Of the jurors had left the court room alone. I
etc The Judge, after reviewing the evidence /
in the case, denied the motion for new trial
He then asked the prisoner if he had anything
TO say why Judgment should not be pronounced. 4
The prisoner calmly denied his guilt and went
so far as to say that ne did not even have a
pistol during tn. riot in which the murder was
committed. and asked the mercy of the court.
The court then pronounced the sentence. It .
was that Bird should be hung by the neck until (
dead, upon such day as should be fixed by the
Governor
The poisoned water has disappeared from
Tampa Bay and there are 10 further reports of /
fish dying The water above Tampa Bay has
not been affected at all.
The Tampa Tribune says: "Chipco, the old
Seminole Chief, was in town this week He
was accompanied by an Indian boy, the son of +
Tallahassee, and young negress 10 or Il years .
Of age. The latter could not speak English"
According TO the Hamilt0n County Times, a
minister. while performing the marriage cere- 4
ulony recently, at point not a hundred miles
from Jaspe-. got the service badly mixed. He
wanted the bride 10 say, "and leaving him
cleave unto all others as long as ye both shall
live 1t IS hoped that the bride was fortunate
enough to discover and correct the mistake be-
fore she pledged herself to such an unheard Of
contract.
Says the No -ticelIo Constitution: "a
rolOred man named Jesse Sanders, living near
Panther Creek. about mile and a half north 4
west Of town, was discovered in his cabin on
last Thursday morning cold IN death 1t is re- I.
ported that he was poorly protected against
the extreme cold weather that prevailed
during tn previous night, and that he actually
froze to death. No doubt the unfortunate man 4
suffered from the cold, but we do not believe +
II was the cause Of his death. He was afflicted .
with eT ilepsy. and it is probable c-nne TO his .
death from said cause He was alone in the
cabin, ard appears 10 have been an outcast
from relations and fri=nds
Saws the Palatka Herald: Gentlemen con-
nected with our railroad affairs spent day or
two here this week. From Mr.. Boar man we
learn that General Varnum has taken the con- T
tract TO grade twenty miles from Palatka
westward. General Narnum is here with a
W hands for the purpose of stalking out the /
route for his contract After holidays. one
hundred hands, or more, VIII be put upon the f
road at once, and at least three hundred will 4
be employed in the course Of this month. So 4
far. things look encouraging for Putnam coun-
ty, and the county site, Palatka-
Fernandina Express The effects of the .
severe cold OF last week. upon vegetation 4
generally is plainly visible IN this city and \
along the Transit Railroad. Orange trees, .
though probably not seriously injured. are f
considerably nipped, and will lose the present 4
growth OF foliage We noticed this result. as .
far south as Gainesville, on the road, and even
st MicanOFy the leaves are considerably .
wllted On Orange Lake. however, no damage E
az al seems to have been sustained. The trees
are as green and vigorous looking as before
the freeza and the owners of groves feel that
there is no place like Orange Lake. The
general opinion is that even tie present crop. j
though frozen, IS not seriously injured, and
large quantities are being daily shipped from
the lake Messrs. Bishop and Harris contem-
pla'e shipping 500 boxes per day for the next
three weeks
Tampa Guardian: I'VE hope by This time
next year, that the whistle Of the iron horse
from some OF the many railroads talked OF TO Z
Tampa viii greet the ears OF our citizens. We
do hope that our business men throughout the
couutTy will see the great importance OF such
enterprise, and will lead all their energies
and capital to bring this much neeSed blessing
within the bounds Of this city. With a rail
road 70 Tampa. in two years the whole South
ern country would be teeming with immigra-
tion. and open up one of the best fruit pro-
ducing portions Of the State thus giving quick
frar al f0r IA n
fruit. he Gainesville, Ocala and Charlotte
HarbOr Railroad Company, it is said. com
menced work on the 27th instant, and we have
reason TO believe that this company did COM
mence on that day. from the conversation we
had receRtly with their agent, Ar. c. A Board
man"
the Pensacola AdUdnce says: Through I
Sheriff Hutch nson we learn that few days .
since an attempt was made on the part of sew
eral colored men in Molno 20 lynch white
man Of that place but were frustrated in their +
nefarious purpose by the timely alarm OF the /
party attacked end the subsequent Nlellant 4
action Of the law officers. Since the occur
reuce Pete johnson. the ringleader, mas been I
arrested By Sheriff Hutchinson, was tired De-
fore Justice, found guilty, and IN aefault OF 4
bail remsnded TO the county JAIL Wnere ne now Z
abides ia sweet contemplation Of his past and /
future career. This attempt to lynch man 4
on a mere prstext took place on the S0th 'nlt
but thus far Pete is the only one IN the I
clutches of the law We learn from good au- Z
thority, however. that the balance implicated /
are eagerly sought and that anyone furnishing
evidence which vii lead TO their Apprehension I
and conviction will be handsomely rewarded.
Jacksonville U-ntOn: Sunday afternoon Mr.. 7
J. W Neal found the body Of a cOlOred man IN !
his field about mile north of this city. The I
body appeared to have been lying there sew I
eraf days and the hogs had so mutilated lt
that recognition was impossible. Mr. Neal re- /
norfed the fact to his wife who stated that on
Thursday afternoon she saw two colored men !
cross the fence just below the house and pro-
ceed in the direction of where the body was !.
found She said that each of the men carried
small tin buckets Near the dead mans body
vas found a tin bucket similar TO those carried
by the two men reported as being seen BY Mrs:
Neal Mr. Neal came to the city and report ed
the fact to the authorities. Upon an order
T,,uffra Tor-aau Mr. Oak brought the body