EXTRACTS.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 678, 30 June 1870, Page 3

EXTRACTS.

A Modern Bluebeard.—Dr Wm. D. Potts, alias Duvall, an old resident of Newark, New Jersey, has been convicted of the murder of his fourth wife, at Janesville, "Wisconsin. Dr Potts is a native of New Jersey, and born near Trenton. At the age of 14 he was known as the " Boy Preacher," and continued in the ministry until 30 years of age, when he engaged in the practice of medicine. Dr Potts came to reside in Newark ten years ago, and opened a botanic dispensary at No. 140 Broad street. He had lived in Trenton, where his first wife, a young lady of Plainfield, had died suddenly of mercurial rheumatism of the heart. The first Mrs Potts was dead about a year when the doctor moved to Newark. He professed to cure persons of diseases by the laying on of hands ; gave out that he was the " seventh son of the seventh son ;" and by these pretensions and by his botanic dispensary, succeeded in carrying on a profitable business. He dressed in black, had a heavy heard, and long, well cared for hair. He soon made the acquaintance of a young woman of wealth, and married her, much against the wishes of her relatives. Mrs Potts brought upon her husband a considerable property, which he squandered. After his marriage he lived four years in Newark, and was forced to leave because of the suspicion which the death of the second wife aroused in the minds of his neighbors. She was found one morning lying dead at the foot of the stairs leading to her room, and was buried without any satisfactory account being given of her death. The doctor then went to Buffalo, changed his name to Duvall, and married a Miss Kate King, who died two years ago without apparent cause. About one year ago he married a Miss Elizabeth Moore, of Janesville, Wisconsin. After living with her six months, she was in turn killed, her death having been the result of poison administered by her husband, and under the pretence of giving her a medical preparation. Upon his trial for this murder the doctor testified on his own behalf, and gave an explanation of all the circumstances surrounding the death of his wife. The jury found him guilty of the charge, and the judge sentenced him to the State prison for the term of his natural life.— New York Tribune, April 24.

Sir Charles Lyell, when in the United States, received the following advice from a friend:—"When you are racing with an opposition steamboat, or chasing her, and the other passengers are cheering the captain, who is sitting in the safety-valve to keep it down with his weight, go as far as you can from the engiue, and lose no time, especially if you hear the captain exclaim, 'Fire up, boys—put on the resin!' Should a servant call out, ' Those gentlemen who have not paid their passage will please go to the ladies' cabin!' Obey the summons without a moment's delay, for then an explosionmay be apprehended. ' Why to the ladies' cabin ?' said I.— * Because it is the end of the boat, and they are getting anxious for the personal security of those who have not yet paid their dollars, being, of course, indifferent about the rest. Therefore, never pay in advance, for should you fall overboard during the race, and the watch cries out to the captain, ' A Eassenger overboard!' he will ask, as he paid has passage ?' and if he receives an answer in the affirmative, he will call out, 'Go ahead!' " James Selby Lewis, formerly a London compositor, has turned out to be the rightful heir-at-law to the Whaddon Hall estates in Buckinghamshire. The rents of these estates have been received by a trustee under the Court of Chancery since 1772, and the principal and interest are now nearly three millions sterling. A. Minnesota juror addressed a note to the judge, in which he styled him, Onerable jug. A Baltimore husband remonstrated with his wife by pouring hot soup down her back. " None but the brave deserve the fair," —and none but the brave can live with some of them.

A Negro, in Columbia, has painted a picture of heaven. It represents an apple dumpling fenced in with sausages.