Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-03-30
THE NEWS BRIEF.

There was an unprecedentedly heavy fall
of snow iu some parts Of North Carolina last
Sunday and Monday, and on Sunday snow
fell all day at Petersburg, Va
In the armory at La Crosse Wis, last
Sunday, Louis May placed a supposed empty
shell in a rifle and pointed the gun at Frank
Mahar, who assumed tragic attitude, with
his hand on his heart. An instant later bull
let was sent through Mahars head, killing
him. He was the favorite candidate for a
West Point cadetship. Both boys were aged
II years
The ST. Paul Press says the sngulary
favorable conditions under which the ice is
breaking up and the snow melting throughout
the whole upper Mississippi and Missouri val
leys have relieved all fears of a repetition of
the destructive floods Of last spring. a month
ago all the conditions existed that caused the
extraordinary floods of 1881, but the thawing
process has been so gradual as to avert all dan
ger.
The bodies of - Of the miners drowned
in the Diamond mine near Braidwood, ILL.,,
have been recovered and identified Four
were found lying on great pile of rocks, one
upon his face with his coat thrown over his
head, another entirely buried by rock, only
his feet being visible, and third apart from
the rest on the floor of the tunnel, held down
by a large stone. The search is attended with
great danger from the liability Of the roof to
cave in
The first train over the Northern Pacific
railroad reached Bozeman, Mont, the highest
point on the line, last week Thursday. The
event was enthusiastically celebrated.
On Tuesday night Frank Sturgis, fireman
on the New York d New England road, fell at
Hyde Park between the engine and tender,
u. 1 L. L i 4
quarter of mile over the sleepers When
found he was dead and his body shockingly
mangled.
John Mays l-year-old son fatally shot his
brother and sister, aged respectively l and .,
at Racine, Wis, Monday, and two children of
John Hershty were fatally shot near Bloom
ington, ILL.,. Sunday, by one of their brothers.
Rev. Mr.. Hicks of Washington, d. c.,
Guiteau's spiritual adviser, has sued the Balti-
more American for S35, 900 damages for say
ing that he disposed of Guiteau's bones for
money.
The fancy ball given by Mr.. and Mrs. W.
X. Vanderbilt in their new Fifth-avenue New
York; house last Monday night was the most
brilliant and gorgeous entertainment ever
given in New York. The house itself, seen
under blaze of light and kindled into splen-
dor everywhere by masses of flowers and a
moving throng of the most varied and mag.
nfcent costumes, was fitting framework fol
the succession Of dazzling pictures which the
evening presented At a little after eleven
O'Clock, to the strains of Gilmore's band, the
six quadriles, in which nearly 100 men and
women took part, were formed in order in the
gymnasium and began to move in glitterinl
procession down the grand stairway anc
through the hall Winding through the mot
ley crowd of princes, monks, cavaliers, high
landers, queens, kings, dairy maids, bull
fighters knights, brigands and mobiles, the
procession swept into the grand dining hall
converted for the night into ball ROOM anc
the dancing began. Mrs. W. X. Vanderbilt
wore the costume of q Venetian princess
taken from a picture by Cabanel, her hus
band appeared as the Duke de Guise, anC
Cornelius Vanderbilt as Louis XVI. Tn
diamonds were numbered by the 500 900 il
value, and the floral decorations alone cos
/ 500
FOREIGN.
While the service in st. Pauls cathedral
London, was in progress last Saturday,
well dressed man ran up the altar steps will
his hat on, leaped upon the altar and dashet
the cross candlesticks vases and flowers t.
the ground. The Dean and several of tn
choristers secured the man after o struggl
and gave him into the custody of the police
In the excitement many persons left tn
church, Mortified at the sight.
A despatch to the Daily Telegraph from
Vienna says that several villages at the foo
of Mount Ararat have been destroyed b.
snow avalanches. 1t is stated that $50 pei
sons have been killed and 100 injured.
Mount Etna has been in state of actiy
eruption. new crater has opened, and th
lava threatened to overwhelm Nicolosi an
other villages. The people in the threstene
places left their homes. There are eleve
assures in the mountain. On Monday Ii
eruption had subsidized, and all danger WI
over.
"A despatch from Geneva says that IL
emigration from Switzerland 10 America
assuming alarming proportions. Several di
tricts are fest becoming depopulated. III
exodus is owing to bad harvests and Amer
can competition. The Swiss consul in Ne
York, however, declares the report untrue.
The later dispatches show that it is ger
orally acknowledged in England, as the r,
suit of the police Investigations, that Lac
Florence Dixie has either been guilty of
very gross attempt at imposture, or has bee
the victim of a kind of hysterical delusion.