smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

A remarkable case OF civil damage
came up in the circuit court at Pough.
kccpsie, N. Y, before Justice Ii. Bar.
nard and associates 1t is entitled Nixon
against McCabo. Some time in Novem-
Der last the husband of the plaintiff went
into grocery in Matteawan kept by one
Michael McCabe, and drank apple whisky
five times, and soon after went out and
died by the roadside. His widow brought
this suit for damages. The first witness
called was Edward Light. He testified
to having known the deceased for twelve
years; saw him the day before he died !;
he was sober then; they went to Nc.
Cabos saloon in Matteawan, and McCabe
was there in person they called for apple
whisky, and both took drink soon after
they took another drink with two other
men, and then again and again, till
deceased had drank four timos, and on
top Of whisky deceased took glass of
beer, which mado five drinks, and then
witness and deceased went out; Nixon
began to stagger, and witness almost
carried him along; finally deceased said
to witness : "Leave me and | will come
on afterward;" witness left him under
cedar tree. and did not see him again
until after he was dead.


DIR. Wilson, physician, testified that
he saw Nixon the next morning after his
death at his home. DR.. Schenck was
there also we came to the conclusion
that he died Of congestion of the brain !;
overdoses Of alcoholic fluid will produce
it; my opinion is that five large glasses
of liquor might cause death with such o
man as Nixon Mr.. Light was recalled
and testified that each of the five drinks
filled two thirds OF an ordinary glass
DR.. John p. Schenck testified among
other things that he saw Nixon dead in
the Matteawan road smelled alcohol
about him; examined his body and saw
no indications Of any injuries. Witness
would not soy that in his opinion the
drinks deceased took caused his death,
nor that they did not; he would say that
If man drank enough to cause him to
stagger and lose his speech and lay down
and die that intoxication was the cause of
his death. William Thorne. counsel for
the defense, moved for non. suit on the
ground that no positive proof exists that
death was the result of the liquor taken
The court denied the motion, asserting
that the jury must decide whether the
liquor caused death. His honor at the
start directed the jury not to allow the
question ofthe harshness of the law to have
any influence upon them, and then he
cited the Civil Damage bill in detail, and
referred freely to the charge made in the
complaint. Ho told them it was for them
to decide whether the liquor drank by
the deceased was the cause of his death,
and reiterated the evidence on that point.
The jury retired, and after deliberation
returned a verdict of $500 damages,
with an allowance of FIVE per cent. for
the plaintiff,
Year: 1876

The Indian Mail has the following {:
In the marriage market an Indian civil.
ian used to be reckoned as worth 9300 q
year, dead or alive. The nominal value
of Bombay civilians now bids fair to
rise yet higher, although the real value
will remain much as it was, in view of
the growing cheapness of money. Owing
to the fourishing state Of their widows
fund. it has been proposed that e400 in.
stead of G300 per annum should be the
pension granted TO all ladies who come
on the fund as widows after the first of
July, 1876. This, says an Indian jour.
nal, will be equal to q marriage settle.
ment. in the ordinary manner, of 912,.
OOC in consuls-a sum which not one
man in twenty belonging to the upper
and middle professional classes is able
to settle on his wife when he marries,
A counter proposition, which is even
more liberal than the former one, is also
going round for signature, to the effect
that all the widows now on the fund
should also get the increased pension, and
to this amendment there is said to be
little or no opposition. AS widows on
the Bombay civil fund forfeit half their
pension if they marry again, it follows
that each of these ladies who takes unto
hersel husband will have 9200 q year
to help in keeping up her new home. That
sum is equal to settlement of $4,000
or so in consuls, and it is not every lady,
whether widow or maid, who can com.
mand SO useful a dowry. Thus the new
regulation will not only raise the value Of
Bombay civil servants as husbands, but
also Of the widows they leave behind
them,
Year: 1876

DR.. McUosh, president of Princeton
College, has written a long communica.
tion to the New York World combating
the position Of those scientific men who
maintain that the idea Of personal Gre
ator is not necessary in accounting fol
the development Of the earth and its
occupants. We are inclined to think that
the class of men referred to is mostly
imaginary. The champions of the theory
Of evolution do not in general hold this
position, and Professor Huxley, in his
recent lectures in New York, explicitly
declarnd that he dealt only with the or.
der and succession of development in
nature and not with its final cause. Be.
cause study of nature refutes the by.
pothesis that the world was created in
its present condition by fat of the AL.
mighty, and shows that it has been built
up by process of evolution which may
be traced back through long ages and
because speculation carries this process
back until it resolves all the universe into
a mass Of vapor which contained the DO.
tency Of every form of life, it does not
by any means follow that o creative Be.
ing is an unnecessary conception.


The theory of evolution, so far from
eliminating the Creator from his universe,
makes his constant presence appear all the
more necessary. 1t is just as difficult to
conceive that matter in lis most primitive
nebulous form should exist and be en-.
dowed with forces that set it going upon
process Of evolution through which the
successive stages of development we're
attained, including the appearance of
constantly improving forms Of life. with.
out an intelligent designer and director,
as to conceive that the world should have
sprung into being all OF once without u
Creator. The work of creation has been
going on for untold ages, and is, perhaps,
not yet complete. From the beginning
there have been evidences of design and
of method which exclude the idea of
chance, or the mere operation of force
upon matter. Take the evolution theory
in all its breadth and depth, aud it seems
to US that it involves the necessity of o
constant intelligent pressure to supply
that unknown and unknowable element
without which we cannot account for
anything. We may show the order of
development and prove that there have
been no sudden spasms of creative en-.
ergy, but that does not account for the
wonderful processes which We are study.
ing. We may say that they come from
tho steady operation of natural forces
upon matter, but yet the origin of those
forces and that matter and the direction
Of their operation to the production of
results which VIC trace are unaccounted
for. We must, after all, fall back upon
Creator, and we marvel moro and more
at His infinite wisdom and the perfection
Of His plan of creation, the more we study
His handiwork. Old and crude concep.
tions of his methods may be displaced,
but belief in His existence is just as nee.
essary to an understanding of evolution
as to compression of Millions theory of
the creation, boston Globe.
Year: 1876

Not another glass "Only beer do
you say? Beware all that gives pleasure
to your palate in that glass Of beer is al
cohol. 1t is the same whether in Leer.
wine or whiskey 1t is the demon that
biteth like serpent and stingcth like al
adder, that tickles your palate in the beer.
Do you want the proof2 Watch the beer
drinker. He wants pint for a drink,
while the other wants "ihimbleful" OF
whiskey. In each case The alcohol is
about equal, in pint of beer, or the or.
dinary whiskey drinker. Boil the beer
for half an hour, then taste the nourish-
ment left in the cup, and you will find
why you drink beer. Stop our young
men from drinking beer and We shall
soon have nation Of sober men instead Of
q nation of drunkards. 1t was the little
opening that increased with frightful ra


pidity that caused the Mill River disaster.
So the beginning of the drink curse is
frequently "only beer" ending in fear.
ful wreck of all that makes man.
Year: 1876

"The prisoner at the bar" said the
prosecuting counsel at recent murder
trial sis most clearly proved guilty of the
awful charge preferred against him.
The garments from which he has vainly
tried to oblitcratc the stains Of gore, are
mute though eloquent witnesses of his
guilt" Hold on there" said the prison.
er; "I'm entitled to fair trial, and this
shaking Of the bloody shirt agin man
amt no fair shake"
Year: 1876

The Chinese always leave.a meal at a
grave that dead person may eat on the
way to eternity. In former times it was
customary in Nevada to leave the food
exposed, and the loafers who watched
from a neighboring clump of brush were
wont to regale themselves with these
dainties. Nothing is so pleasant, says
the Virginia City Chronicle "as to see
a crowd Of hoodlums seated on a now.
made Chinese grave going through free
lunch, drinking the diseased's good health
in his own rice brandy, Now, however,
the Chinese place guard over the grave
until night, after which the wild animals
and birds get the benefit Of the repast.
Year: 1876

The National Rifle Association has issued
its prospectuses of the three meetings for this
ycar-the spring, the fall and the Centennial
contests. Naturally the widest interest will
centre in the latter. OF the three matches
therein the International Long Range Match,
open to teams of eight from any country, for
the championship of the world, is by far tho
most important The ranges are eight hun
dred, nine hundredand one thousand yards,
with thirty shots at each distance, or double
the number fired in previous international
competitions. Fifteen shots are 20 be fired
at each range on the first day and the same
number on the second day, thus bringing
the strain of eye, nerve and muscle for one
day within the limits of endurance. although
applying very exquisite test to the skill
and physical forces Of tho rihcmcn.
Each team will fire seven hundred
and twenty shots, aud contest Of
such Titanic proportions cannot fail to
furnish n result which will be decisive.
Here, then, is a match TO make the mouths
honors. If Sir Lucius O'Triggcr lived in our
day he would become so enthusiastic over il
that he would cross the Atlantic q dozen
times for the chance of seeing the Centen-
NAL trophy anywhere within rifle shot Of
Blunderbus Hall. We are already assured
of having first class teams from Scotland and
Canada. Ireland will undoubtedly respond.
and when England reads the enticing form
of the match we shall be very much aston
ished if she does not waive All her objections.
which are founded on a Misunderstanding Of
her own creation, and fall into line at Creed
moor next September. The spirit Of Jack
Absolute will effcctually oover up any spook
Year: 1876

the President when he attempted to serve
the country AZ the expense Of their patronage.
All these developments Of crime in the various
parts of the country. ''whiskey rings" in the
West. sugar rings" in the South, railroad
rings" In the East. all these manifestations
~ decay IN national virtue. beginning with
the appointment Of vagabond relatives Of the
President 20 plunder soldiers on the Plains
and ending with the disgrace of Babcock and
the impeachment of Belknap, are to be at
tributed 10 the ambition Of the President,
sustained and strengthened by the Senate.


Seeing these things wo may ask 'Have we
reached that period in our national life
which may be said 20 mark the beginning of
decay ?" Far be il from us to intrude un-
pleasant thoughts upon the patriotic mind
OF the country at time when we are to re-
light the camp fires of the Revolution, which
burned so brightly a century ago. But what
would those firm and stern patriots who
gathered about the blazing fagots in the
dark hours have thought if some prophetic
vision had shown them what we all see now
Might not their hearts have failed? Might
il not have been said ''bettar old England
with her crazy king and her taxes than
Republic which will bring forth such fruits
in a short century ?" These are thoughts
worthy of the deepest attention even in a
time that we propose by general consent to
devote 10 the veneration Of our ancestors
and the glorifcation Of ourselves. What is
the remedy? IL is not in political contro-
versy, in the success or failure of any one
party. The century which has blossomed
into these pernicious results has been largely
given to the political domination of the
democratic party-a party whose record is
tainted with as many crimes and follies as
the republican, party which began the
evils of which we now complain when it al
lowed Jackson to treat the Presidency as a
captured Indian camp, to be plundered by
himself and his friends. 1t is not in poll
tics that we are to find a remedy, but in our
selves. Let us as people look these mis-
fortunes in the face and, rising above party,
put an end to the rule Of men, democrats
and republicans, who have given as the
ripest development of their career n Tweed
as the master of New York and Belknap
as Secretary of War.
Year: 1876

that could for a moment be taken for the
ghost Of Bob Acres. The Rivals" as il will
be played at Creedmoor will be such pure
sport that nothing should prevent the chill
dren of the English actors who performed in
the great drama hundred years ago from
adding the crack of their pieces to the
friendly rife dialogue of next fall.


The National Rifle Association should fol-
low up the work it has so well begun by
putting the range into first class condition.
In the first place the iron targets should be
changed at once for the more accurate cam
vas targets. Telegraphic communication
should be made between the targets and the
firing points. There should be no question
about these improvements but how soon
they can be made. The spring meeting will
open on the 25th of May, and we observe
that in the mid-range matches rifles are
handicapped by distance; thus scores on
military rifles are to be made at five
hundred, on special military at six
hundred, and on sporting rifles at seven
hundred yards. In the mid-rnnge match of
the Centennial contest the handicapping is
military rifles at five hundred, and
all other rifles at six hundred yards
We are at loss to know why
the distinction is made between these
matches If allowances are 10 be made
at all for differences in patterns of
rifes-and we doubt the feasibility of
doing it fairly in all cases-perhaps the dis
tance test is the best, but making differ
ence of two hundred yards between one
pattern of rifle and another is ridiculous
The allowance of one hundred yards, as in
the Centennial mid-range match, is ample
at second class target and if three classes
are necessary let the distance against
special military rifles be not more than fifty
yards.
Year: 1876

Given "Uncle Dick" Schell, Theodore L.
Tomlinson and ex-Speaker Mcclure as the
leading spirits of financial convention,
what will the product be? Here you have
an alarming combination of "puts and
calls" windy Communism and shillelah.
Shake them in a pot boil them down, serve
up the mess and you have dish which may
be seen in another column, where the res
olutions of the Greenback Convention at
Syracuse yesterday are published. Uncle
Dick, with his dear old smiling face, must
have presided there in q Pickwickian blaze
of glory Tomlinson, who presents the odd
political picture of French Communist
whig, must, in his ''brief address," have ut
tered strings of rag baby sublimity that made
Uncle Dick look forward to the millennial
period when one bootblack shall say to
another, 81 bet ye a million of Uncle Dicks
dollars, and then pay them if he loses. As
to the redoubtable jeremiah, we have no
doubt that he made Uncle Dick feel a glow
of warlike enthusiasm, as during his two
hours speech he brought his stuffed shil-
lelah down upon the heads of bloated bond
holders, jingling capitalists, hard money
democrats and other public enemies. No
wonder they fired hundred guns in honor
of General jackson; they had to burn
powder to get off their enthusiasm
somehow, and perhaps the mystic Tomlin-
son saw subtle connection between Old
Hickory and hickory hams, whence by
wooden nutmegs he could slide down the
creased pole of his imagination to rag
money.


The conventionists of yesterday call them
selves democrats of the toughest kind. They
will call State Convention to send rag baby
delegates to st. Louis, where Mcclure will
thunder with his shillelah at the doors of the
Democratic Convention until the rag babies
within open wide the portals, and letting in
Tomlnson and Uncle Dick, hurl incon-
tinently forth every New Yorker branded by
a hard-mopey die with the name of Sammy
Tilden. But the resolutions of yesterday
Gold and silver, those denominations of an
effete mercantile system, fit only to make
nose rings for cannibals are merely men
toned because it is necessary to condemn
them. Paper is the only thing of fixed
value, gold, unlike paper, being a whimsical
commodity that rises and falls in price
according to the supply. Silver indeed,
is such base stuff that you can buy tons of
it with note-of-hand-and collateral. But
the base wheedling sixth resolution, meant
as bait to the Press All, Uncle Dick, we
did not think you were such SLY old in
sinuator
Year: 1876

sons why they should continue. On6
is that the reduction is a mere device, q
trap If the people put aside their lamps,
abandon their Indignation and take to gas
once more the first convenient or plausible
pretext will be seized for putting up the
price again, and the companies will stand
more arrogantly than ever on the assump-
ton that the people cannot do without
them. Another reason is that the reduc-
tions are absurdly small-a mere drop in the
bucket Instead of ten cents a thousand
the reduction should be from fifty cents to
one dollar thousand, and the people should
persist in the kerosene movement until the
companies would be glad to get customers
at such q reduction on present prices.
Eight thousand cubic feet of gas can
be made from one ton of coal, and al
two dollars and half thousand the COM
panies thus get for the product of one ton
of coal twenty dollars 1t is not supposable
that the gas companies are victims to the
coal combinations as the people are and il
is q very liberal allowance to count that the
coal costs them five dollars ton delivered
at their yards. In the difference between
the cost of coal to the companies and the
price of gas there is, therefore, room fol
stupendous profits, and those profits must
be reduced not by ten cents, but by far
more important figure. But even if the COM
panies should satisfy the people by an ade-
quate reduction in the price of gas what
satisfaction will they give for the thefts prac-
tised under the cover of that mechanical
pickpocket, the meter?
Year: 1876

We print in another column n detailed his
which have lately shocked and disgusted the
country The scene of these transactions is
so distant that remoteness may have its usual
effect in bunting public interest, and the
perpetrators perhaps relied on this very re-
moteness to cover up and conceal their mis-
doings. The company which, six or seven
years ago, was awarded monopoly of the
fur trade in Alaska is making money by mill
ions, and could have afforded to pay
roundly forAthe illegal favoritism by which
it was put in possession of its bonanza By
law this lucrative monopoly was required to
be given to those who would make the high
est bid for it; but, in defiance of law
and against the official opinions of
two successive Attorney Generals, Secre-
tary Boutwell, awarded it to the par
ties making the lowest bid. Nobody
knows the reason for Mr.. Boutwell's illegal
decision; but anybody who examines the
facts will see that it is decision for which
the favored party could have afforded 10 pay
a large sum of money. 1t is certain that the
bid most favorable to the government was
rejected, and that the Alaska Commercial
Company, which put in the lowest bid, was
awarded the privilege for twenty years, in
defiance of law and of the official opinions of
Attorney General Hoar and Attorney General
Akerman. 1t is the plain duty of Congress
to investigate Mr.. Boutwell, and give him an
opportunity to explain that illegal transac-
tion and clear himself of the suspicious
which naturally arise out of the facts. The
detailed statements supported by docu-
mentary proofs, which we print this morn
ing place the ex-Secretary in light in
which he cannot afford to stand.
Year: 1876

If the disgraceful Belknap exposure had
republican victory in New Hampshire would
not need explanation. Up to the time Of the
exposure the political tide had been setting
strongly against the democratic party both
before the meeting of Congress and since.
The tidal wave" receded early last year,
the loss by the democrats of the great States
of Ohio and Pennsylvania and the heavy
diminution of their majority in New York
being conspicuous proofs. The democratic
tide was running out when Congress assem-
bled, and everything which happened in
that body up to the exposure of Belknap
lowered the party in popular estimation.
Their divisions and imbecility on the cur
rency question disgusted the country,
and the supreme folly of Mr.. Hill, of Geor-
gia, in giving the republicans an opportunity
to revive and inhame the passions of the
war, put the democratic party in such pre-
dicament that humiliating defeat in New
Hampshire was inevitable as matters stood
previous to the testimony of Marsh before
the Committee on the Expenditures of the
War Department The New Hampshire
democrats felt this, and were making an
apathetic and hopeless canvass when the
sudden disgrace of Belknap stimulated them
to activity. The event proves that the Bel
knap exposure had no political effect. Bel
knap's fall did not inspire confidence in the
democratic party, and the people of New
Hampshire did not quite see the wisdom of
jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire.
They deemed it ''better to suffer the ills we
have than fly to others we know not of. !" The
impeachment of Belknap has been so mis-
managed as to blunt the effect of his
exposure, and the damaging charges
made against prominent democrats
have deprived the party of the po-
litical capital it might otherwise have
made out of the fall of President Grants
Secretary of War. When the pot party goes
into political canvass with the kettle party
neither votes nor confidence can be gained
by the pot calling the kettle black


The democratic party has great deal both
to learn and to unlearn before it can enter
tain any reasonable hopes in the Presiden-
tial election. 1t needs to make an entire
change of base, but it is pretty late in the
day to make such a change in the face of the
enemy, even if the party would unanimously
consent to it. The country would gladly
fling out the republican party if it saw any
chance of putting the government in better
hands, but the people have no faith in the
democratic leaders, for the good reason that
they deserve none. They are doing some
service as detectives, but detectives are not
necessarily statesmen, nor even honest men;
otherwise the maxim of ''set thief to catch
a thief" would never have gained acceptance.
Year: 1876

NINE FAILURES N ONE DAY and sixteen on
the whole fortnightly settlement are an
nounced from London. If Uncle Dick was
there with his paper dollars he would prop
up the financial structure. but would scorn
20 hear them called sovereign" remedy.
Year: 1876

About Dom Pedro a gentleman writes
as in a private letter: ''YOu would let
the Emperor severely alone in the United
States, If you knew how utterly he dsg
tests entertainments and pUblicities
ali kinds At home he never takes more
than twenty minutes for dinner except
on the day when he invites the Portu-
guese Ambassador 10 celebrate the birth
day of the King of Portugal. Then he
gives that august Diplomatic functionary
ten minutes extra time to feed. So tell
my dear cOuntrymen 10 handle their
splendid American Emperor with tender
consideration for these indrmatiesi if they
wish him to carry back TO Brazil agreea-
bic recOllections of his flying journey to
the great Republic