AMERICAN ITEMS.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 835, 31 March 1871, Page 2

AMERICAN ITEMS.

[PROM THE SAN" FKANCISCQ PAPERS.]' Just as a porter commenced waking the passengers for the"' Southern' train at the Spottiswood Hotel, Richmond, on Dec. 23, he discovered it on fire in the lower floor. An effort waa immediately ma.de to wake up the guests, and the 1 scene goon became indescribable. Men "commenced rushing about trying to i'save- their baggage, and the women, nearly naked and barefooted, were seen 'fleeing into]: the snow-covered streets; The. steam, engines were promptly on hand, .but.- the water .being frozen^ it was some time before it could be; thrown - on the building. ' The flames spread tosuch an extent that escape by the staircase was cut off, and 'the guests com- i menced leaping from the windows. P. P. Clarke, the steward of/the hotel, leaped . from the third story, receiving fatal injuries. . A! most fearful, scene of disaster then followed. Mrs Emily Cornelius, the housekeeper, appeared at the window of. the fifth story, with one or two ladies, screaming "help, help." The fire (jonipany's ladders were put up, but the ;firernen failed to reach the windows by jtwo stories. While the firemen were endeavoring to lengthen the ladders, the crying women disappeared in =the thick, smoke, and were soon lost, the room brightening up a moment' after with flames.^ Up to noon to-day only the burned' whose names are known, are Erasmus Ross, Mrs Emily Cornelius, S.W. Robinson, Samuel Hines. The register is consumed; and it'i^im--possible,to give the names of the strangers who may be lost. Several are believed to have; perished,' as there i are about a dozen unclaimed trunks belonging to persons from New ITork Land pther northern cities, j , The weather is intensely cold, so; much so that the telegraph wires in front of. the burning building were covered with ice, and the steamers .were encased in ice an inch thick. - : Among the , remarkable escapes was that of C, Shifter, attached to the office of the State' Printer, who' was in the fourth story and escaped by dropping , from one window cornice to another until he reached the ground. • He was rbadly burned. The correspondent of the : iVeu*York Herald had a narrow escape. Guests lostall their clothing, and the ladies had to walk barefoot over the snow to places Of shelter. ; ■'■'■ " : : :; The Marysville Appeal of December 22---has the annexed account of mining in progress about Smartsville : — The. large amount of blasting powder that has been shipped during the past : few weeks to the, various mining companies at Smartsville, Sucker Flat, and Timbuctoo,: have necessarily excited some little interest in regard to the work now going on there. Of this we can give but a very incomplete report, but can at least satisfy the public I mind as to the use to be made of at least a considerable portion of this blasting material, and at the same time give some little idea of the work going on on some of the claims. The Blue Point, Milling Company are regarded a3 one of the most enterprising i>f the many, claims located on Sucker Flat. For the past four years thuy hnvu little except in tunnelling sind, ..now \\wXc labor in this direction is about corn; i ; !od/ During this- time, under i;i-.' : -.parin tendency of R. L. Crary, a tunnel 2100 ft in length has been made, and K the, powder drifts at the interior end of " this are just now completed. The flume connected with 'the tunnel is over a mile in length. The powder drifts are seventeen feet from the

surface, aad- into them, as sooxfaa received, will be placed 2500 kegs of blacky powder. The blast will be the 'largest ever made in the world, and, if successful,' it is estimated that over 33,000 tons of earth will be loosened. The -work thus far on these claims has cost the company something over 150,000 dollars. The blast will probably be made during the first week in January next, and they --will no doubt commence-wash-ing immediately after. . " The United^Siatte'EcoitimMbj 4 good authority. in all. matters of .trade. and' Tuwnei^'flays"^^ with business, affairsnin this city and throughout the United States know that there has been no period in a series of years when there was : sq^great a depression of trade 'and- bo; .mwh real difficulty for business men to^Suslain their positions;/ Nor is this depressionconfinodjio mercantile circles. It extends M farmers, iplantera, mechanics and the enlire industrial; community. , From all parta of the country we hear the same ; complaints ..of the scarcity of, money, and of, t]te difficulty of makin^.and of cp'jied^^ payments. Indeed, it is probable thalrat~no -period since, the financial, panic -of 1857 have* ; the; .people suffered., more f fjrpm straitened means, or beep, fprced, to economise on a shorter allowance' of com. modities. Of course, there is 'no 'down- < right poverty among any class, but.-, there is an absence of the abUJty to obtain' the comforts, and even, luxuries/ to which our more, fayqred population, jhavj been accustomed. The Economist >i^^a^x^B that this depression is due to over-taxa-tion', 1 ' to the gold-hoarding I policyH of/ithe Government, and. to;, excessive tariff duties. _..--'- ■;■■? ;- '■•£ A married woTnarijceoratly eloped from Pittston Pa., with a single man named Jenkins, who boarded ihth'etamiry^^Hd took with her a quantity of' money -*be- . longing to her husband; . :Hdr?better half soon after ascertained that the jjuilty.pajr were at Bethlehem. On obtaining the necessary papers for- their arfest he pro- " ceeded at once' to the place^vhere^ne found them registered" as husband and wife. He had them arrested and returned to Pittsjfcpn, whißn.he took ti&wife home, and her companion was. committed to prison. , After arriving home the woman informed her husband that she had ceased to love Mroi ! and that all her; affectiong were dentered on Jenkins. Hearing fins, the husband, with a magnanimity scarcely credible, hurried away, got. Jenkins released, brought him before 'his Tiafe'jf and there and then 'compromised: 1 ma'tters'-^as follows ,;— The. wife -was to be"all6wed°to keep one dress and a change ofunder'eiothing^,, .V,^^Jenkuis,,waß.^.t<ugiveL Jft^nimons all his cto^ing^xcept one suit. The two were thelvfoHeavSjtown immediately agreeing never •tq return.. matters finally adjusted, and the e;wemng train bore tfenlovers from PittstoiTto parts unknown.' .• y;.\\; r ;\ ( -/^ ■-. +■><)'<? Railroad track-laying on the Northern Pacific; Railroad) ia .jgtill progressing west of the junction, andjwill continue as fast as possible all; r winter. j.Twenty-4yjß miles are now laid. Grading progresses; uninterruptedly beyond the end of -the traofi, and from the' Mississippi iiver^ west 'qn^Ehe western division, ... There^ are about^OOO men employed 'along the line. Sixty miles have been >graded west from the^uncjapn. At the close of the' month !00' miles^of grading will be finished and forty miles of track laid. There are parties of engineers at work, continually between the Red river and the Missouri, making surveys, profile, and; location*; 5 and>ffom the Pacifio ocean eastward the greajriwjbrk is being mapped and profiled preparatory to construction;' '' The most remarkable feature of the work on the Northern Pacific Railroad, will be that it will not cease' alT the' winter^ { - ; ■'■' A Eos Angeles paper is J ''glacMfo *cc that .most;of out" citizens, have ufc&d sense . enough to. return to the use of the bowie- ; David G. Gurnet, who r was the ; first President of the Republic at Texas, died at Galyeston on the sth instant, aged £3 years. In pursuit of health in J he visited Texas, and resided with the friendly Indians. Then, under Mirandes, he fought for liberty, in South America, and returned to become the first ißresident of the Texas Republic, to'-wnich position he was elected by the convention, which framed the constitution of the Republic, on the 17th day of March, 1836. , ■ :,,-.. .., , . The telegraph reiterates the ,.. n,ews already received from Mexico by private letljersji concerning the politioali'situation in that Republic. The., canvass for r the Presidential election of 1871 has already commenced in earnest, and the contest .promises to be a.lively one., At present there are but two .candidates prominently in-vthe- field. -, s !?h^jeu i .!aie.^P,o^4^ iito Juarez, the. present President^ and Senof - Lerdo de Tejadajthe preseAt'Minißfer of r " Relacipnes.E^trangeros," or Secretary of State. President Juarez is np^M by the Aztic qr. native element io- the population, arid represents the parlor moderate progressionists, ..while Lerdo, who is of pure Spanish descent, and opposed to foreign immigration and innovations of all kinds, is supported by the Conservatives. The old Church Party which so 'often overthrew the Presidents of Mexico finder the old order of things, practically 'diej^ with Miramon— its old champion .and ablest leader— and Maxiinillian at Oju'aretero, and cannot now put a candidate of its .own in the field, but as the least of what it regarded as two evils, will support Lerdo, as against Juarez, who has warred against it so persistently, an&jraccessfiilly for'years.; •'. v >: .:,.■. .."■;- : .- Eeok,uk, Chief of the, Sacs and.Foxe3, numbering 700, wKo ..occupy the Deep Fork country, west: of the Arkansas, .- says that they: are going to build a large schoolhouse, aud intend to "live like white people." 1 ■'■■'-: .■'-'"-■- ■'■•-'...- O A Nebraska Indian, educated for the .ministry, has lost his .license to jpreiwh in consequence of his mistaking the golden rule for a tomahawk. A bad boy called him names, and the lsev. Mr^Lp killed arid scalped 'him,' ' . ' I | A citizen of Pittsburg, who brought a suit against the Board of Health for 20QQ dollars danaages ; for; the, forcible removal (of his daughter, whiie" suffering from small-pox, to the pest-house, where, as alleged, she died from exposure and want of care,' has recovered 1350 dollars. An attempt is still being made in Boston to secure for the students of the Female Medical ■College'- the right" to visit the female wards of the City Hospital. The agitation of the matter was begun in 1865, and up to date the obstinacy of the hospital officials has been invincible.