Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-09

The Presbyterians Of East Florida met at
Crescent City on last Thursday evening
Three new churches were placed on the roll
VIZ: those Of Interlachen. of Eustls and of
kavenswood. Rev. VIM. X. Tully was elected
commissioner TO the general assembly to be
held at Saratoga, \. Y, IN May.
The st. Augustine Press saws: s.The East
Florida Land and Produce Company have
purchased OF Mr.. Bradford the old mill site on
~. Sebastian river, and propose to Immediate
~ commence the erection of a large mill. the
cost OF which, with its machinery andsadjoin-
ing wharf, will be in the neighbOrhOOd of S35,
900 or 100000"
st. Johns county's fifteen delegates to the
republican state Convention, to meet at 81.
Augustine on the Both inst, are the following:
John q. Long, +. Z. Witsell, IL. IL. Williams,
De Witt Webb, d. NJ. Pappv. George At
wood, John PapinO, }. o. Shultes. George
Adams, stephen Benjamin, +. a. Pappy, K.
]. Houston, J. IA. Ralney, {. f johnson and
Charles Brown.
Saturdays st. Augustine Press says: 'Our
citizens viii be pleased to learn that the loca-
tion Of the new state Deaf and Dumb Asy-
lum has at length been decided upon. and
that st. Augustine is the town TO be benefited
thereby. Capt. +. f. Vail has donated five
acres Of land on which to build, and work is
10 be commenced Immediately. Some 5000
have been appropriated for the worthy object
and more 10 follow.
Yesterdays Jacksonville Times Union saws:
"a stock company has been organized in this
CITY Wllulu LuC past lew QaEs, with capital
OF one million dollars, to purchase the patent
power. R. n Ellis has recently visited
Massachusetts, and made some experiments
with this power, which showed a saving in
fuel Of over As per cent. The officers Of the
company, who were elected at the meeting
held yesterday. are President, ,ex- Gov. Geo. r.
Drew; Vice President, Maj. William }. Har-
ksheimer; Treasurer, Hon. J. G. Greeley:
Secretary, Rev. c. G. Mclean; Consulting
Engineer, X. y. Ellis. The company controls
the patent for the States Of Virginia. West
Virginia, North and South Carolina. Georgia
and Florida, and under the articles of incOr-
pOration in all of the above named States it
Is stipulated that the headquarters of the com
pany are 10 be IN this city. The officers of the
company decline to give nyfurther infOrma-
lion al present, prefeTrlng to wait until they
give their power trial test on the river.
They say lt can be applied to any boiler with
q surface condenser, and Is perfectly safe"
Mondays Jacksonville Hera1d says: "A
reliable gentleman of this city, just returned
from Tampa. brings us the graphic details OF
a thrilling drama recently enacted in South
Florida. Ralph Wilingham has been for
many years one of the wealthiest and most
desperate cattle kings of South Florida His
career has been wild and chequered. but al
ways successful. His wealth Is said to be
enormous. Those who know state that he
has two huge chests fun Of shining Span
ish doublOons. hidden away in one of his for
tilted cabins in the wilderness. He is the ter
ror Of the hissImmee region. Five bloody
murders are on his hands and a reward Of
$500 is outstanding for his delivery to the
authorities, dead or alive. \ few days since
Ralph WllliDgham and his handsome wife
boarded the trading steamer Gertrude, Capt.
Pearce, Of the kissmmee river and con
tributing lakes. Capt. Pearce treated
the desperate with civility, and the
two sal down to dinner. Will
lingham suddenly turned to his host and said
''What right have you to fit up and run
trading steamer on this river, anyhow? Why
can't do IT." The Captain good humOredly
replied that he had been permitted to do so
IN peace for long time, and to end the pend
ing controversy rose from the table. stepped
out of the saloon, and was about to give some
direction to one Of the men below. Turning
suddenly he beheld the desperate of the kis-
slmmee standing over him with a huge cary
ing knife raised with deadly intent. Cant.
Pearce evaded the deadly thrust of the knife
and grappled the sinewy pirate, who would
no doubt have overcome him but for the
prompt and gallant interference of several
members OF the crew, who, after q des-
perate and bloody struggle succeeded
IN dlsarming and binding Winingham.
In the lower part of the boat was
Redding Parker, brOther-in-laW of willing
ham 5 and desperate himself. As soon as
Parker learned of Wlllingham's misfortune
he made a desperate effort to effect his re-
lease, and small mutiny was imminent on
the boat until Parker, too, was quelled.
Parker then demanded to be allowed to get
OF the boat, but permission was refused
Watching his opportunity he eyaded his guard.
suddenly plunged into the kissimmee, swan
ashore and escaped into the swamp. The Ger
trude put on extra steam, made good time to
hisslmmee, where Captain Pearce, with his
valuable prisoner, boarded the South Florida
train for Orlando, the county seat, to claim
his rich reward. And thus the career OF one
of the richest, most desperate and most pic
turesque of South FlOrida's cattle kings is
brought to temporary halt Let us see il
ms doubloons will avail to give him back his
freedom,