The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1884-05-01
STATE PRESS.

There were forty-eight deaths at Pen
8acola in the three months ending March
81.
Apalachicola Tribune: Last Friday
there were 100000 feet of timber
brought to this market for Munro Clary
& Co."
It is reported that a white man has
been telling the negroes of Suwannee
county that Lincoln will be the Repubi
can Presidential nominee, and that they
must see that he is elected even if they
have to fight for it.
Pensacola Advance-Gazette We
learn of the most brutal occurrence on
record, which took place at Millview on
Friday night last, in which a negro by
the name of Charles Davenport showed
that his heart was made Of stone. From
what we can learn, it seems that Daven-
port was driving a young mustang in a
wagon and because the animal became
stubborn and would not move, he delib-
erately took a stave and beat it to death.
He was arrested on the charge of cruelty
to animals, and will be tried before JUS
tice Bagby.
Lake City correspondence Savannah
News, April 26: "A subscriber and
reader of the News informs me that three
small ponds near his farm were perfectly
dry eighteen months up to January last,
when the rains filled them with water to
the depth of about thirty inches. Two
of the ponds abound with cat, trout and
perch fish of all sizes up to foot in
length. The third pond has no sign of a
fish in it. Neither pond has any inlet or
outlet, and how the fish got there is the
mystery.
Live Oak Bulletin: At the last term
woman, under the name of Mary Will
liams, was arraigned and convicted of
larceny. She was sentenced to the State
prison for eight months-the sentence
being light on account of her sex. On
last Thursday was a week she arrived at
the convict camps under charge of Mr.
Wilder, whose duty it is to go for and re-
Ceive the prisoners sentenced to the State
prison. She was placed in the yard of
the camps with the other female COnvictS
and put to such light work as is general
ly done by the women of the institution.
On Saturday strange rumors in regard to
the sex of the new convict reached Capt.
Powells ears, and he caused an investi-
{ 10 hn do 10
, liams turned out to be a man. He then
? made full confession, giving his true
name as Ben Turner, and says he was
5 raised Ou a plantation near Monticello, in
, Jefferson county. He had often played
the role of a female in Jacksonville,
, where he says there was a gang engaged
+ in stealing and pilfering. They would
go out at night dressed in mems clothes,
and steal what they could, and next day,
as females, would promenade the streets
and spy out the grounds for another
nights work"
The following is from the Escambia
county grand jury presentments regard
ing crime at Pensacola ''With regard to
bawdy houses, the existence of many Of
which upon our principal thoroughfares
is notorious, we desire to state that. al
though we have had before us and ex-
amined many persons from among all
shades and classes of society. we have
failed to eXtort from any person whatever
sufficient evidence upon which we might
frame any information for investigation
by your court. We have labored earn
estly to ferret out and bring to punish
q ment the keepers of these places. but we
have not been sustained or aided by those
from whom we had right to expect as
sistance, and we feel and fear that grand
' juries are 'pOwerless to accomplish any
reform in this direction, and unless pub
lie sentiment can restrain the great
wrong, the evil will continue a check to
our growth and prosperity. and a burn
ing disgrace to our city" Crime in the
county is reported diminished It is re-
commended that the County Commits
sioners build a new jail 1--WE find that
' there have, during the last year, been
. many under-valuations of personal es-
1t tate in making returns to the Tax Asses
Il sor, and to prevent in the future fraudu-
lent assessments, or to provide a way of
bringing to punishment those making
= false returns of PERSONALITY, we recon-
o mend that the Tax Assessor shall here
d after require every person, when render
1t ing his statement Of personal estate, tc
n make oath before him to the value of the
estate as rendered. While upon the city's
investigation, we learned that the Board
4 of Aldermen had been negligent in its
D. supervision of the offices of the city
4 government; that the Auditing Com
le mittee of the board has not for many
le months examined or attempted to audit
II the accounts of the disbursing officers OF
+ the city"