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The Nashville Dispatch. Vol. IV Nashville, Tennessee Sunday, February 11, 1866. No. 253 News of the Day. A special to the Times says the receipts from internal revenue from July 1st, 1865, to February 1st, 1866, reached $200, 939,968,091 being $934,604.50 per day, and it is estimated that, under the present system the receipts to July 1st, 1866, will amount to $300,000,000. A Washington dispatch of the 9th says The President to-day transmitted to the House communications from the Secretary of War and the Attorney General, in reply to a resolution requesting him, if not incompatible with the public interest, to furnish any report or reports made by the Judge Advocate General or any other officer of the government as to the grounds or facts of the accusations on which Davis, Clay, Jr., Mallory, and David L. Yulee, or either of them, are held in confinement. Horace Greeley has been elected president of the American Institute, New York. A Washington special to the Tribune says the 1st and 2d regular United States colored cavalry, lately doing duty at Brazos and Brownsville, Texas, have been ordered to City Point, Va, where, on the 15th inst., they are to be paid off and mustered out she service. Inducements will be held out by the Freedmen's Bureau to have these returning veterans locate on government lands in Florida, securing comfortable houses at a nominal price. A Paris letter to the Herald says of the opening of the French Legislatif: The ceremony was remarkable, from the fact that for the first time the Prince Imperial, instead of coming in with the Empress as a child, and remaining with her in the tribune, occupied a place on the right of the Emperor, as heir to the throne of France, the Prince Napoleon occupying a seat on the left. The Emperor was evidently very anxious to know the impression his speech created among the American community in Paris. This morning in a conversation with an American professional gentleman, who is greatly in his confidence, he asked him what was the feeling among the Americans relative to that portion of his speech relating to the United States and Mexico, and, upon being informed that it was highly favorable, his majesty replied that he was very glad of it, as it was his intention and desire, in the preparation of his discourse, to assure the United States Government that his feelings toward it were of the most friendly nature. A New Orleans dispatch of the 8th inst. says: General Canby to-day issued an or-der prohibiting the city government, created by and acting under military authority, from alienating or in any manner disposing of real estate or other property belonging to the city; or granting any franchise or right to corporations or individuals for a term extending beyond such period as the city government may be re-organized and re-established under and in conformity to the constitution and laws of the State. A grant will be subject to any rights and interests of the General Government which may be involved, and shall not extend be-yond the time when the question in relation to those rights and interests may be determined by competent authority. General Weitzel, says the same dispatch, arrived from the Rio Grande to-day. He leaves to-morrow for Cincinnati. He expresses the opinion that the country watered by the Rio Grande is not worth going to war about. He says it is very difficult to preserve strict neutrality on the Rio Grande, but officers in the army there concur in his opinion as to the inutility of a war with Mexico. The Chicago Republicans says that Ellen O'Mahony, Head Centress of the Fenian Sisterhood, who is now in Ireland, is not, as would be inferred from her name, any relation of John O'Mahony. She was form-erly Principal of the Quincy (Ill.) High School, and afterward atught[[typo]] in the Chicago public schools. In September, 1865, she resigned to devote herself to the Fenian cause. The New York Times' Washington special says: Intelligence received from Richmond is to the effect that John Minor Botts is at the head of the movement of certain Union men for the removal of Gov. Pierpont. An act has been passed by the lower House of the Kentucky Legislature, authorizing the intermarriage of negroes and mulattoes, and legalizing the relation of those who have heretofore, or do now live together as husband and wife. The latter, however, are required to appear before the Clerk of the County Court, where they reside, and declare that they have been, and desire to continue living together as husband and wife. The same act makes it a criminal offense, punishable by confinement in the penitentiary, not less that five years, for any white person to marry a negro or mulatto. Those shall be deemed negroes who are of pure good blood, and those descended from a negro to the third generation, inclusive, though one ancestor of each generation may have been a white person. A Washington special to the New York Express says: "It is rumored here, and believed, that the President will soon issue a proclamation declaring the rebellion at an end, the war over, and the Constitution and Government restored in all the States of the Union." A Washington dispatch of the 9th inst. says: The amendatory Freemen's Bureau Bill, having passed both Houses, will soon be presented to the President for his signature. The bill, as it stands, does not restrict the operations of the Bureau to the States in which the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus was suspended on the 1st instant, as annulled by the House, but disagreed to by the Senate. It is of general application. A St. Louis dispatch of the 8th inst. says: General Sweeney, Fenian Secretary of War, issued a special order to-day relieving General Curbey, Assistant Inspector General of Missouri, and appointing Captain Thomas Riley as his successor. - The American Consul at Liverpool states that the cattle plague is rather on the increase than otherwise. During the week ending January 20, nine thousand two hundred and forty-three cases were reported to the authorities; thus far upward of seventy thousand cattle have either died with the plague or been killed after taking it. The Consul says: "This, in reality, forms but a small proportion of the actual loss; for hundreds of cases are never reported, and thousands are slaughtered prematurely and hurried to market before the plague attacks them." BY TELEGRAPH. - Washington News. New York, Feb. 10.--The Tribune's special says: The committee from the Virginia Legislature, in Washington, organized yesterday, selecting Speaker Baldwin as Chairman. The President was informed early in the morning of their presence, but the meeting of the Cabinet being continued until 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, by appointment the committee will be received at the White House at 10 o'clock today. A telegram was received yesterday by the Secretary of the Treasurer relative to the admission of several horse just arrived in port from Ireland. The Secretary gave his permission for their landing. The Birmingham, (England) Association for the relief of the destitute freedmen in the United States, has just contributed another cargo of goods to General Howard for distribution, and the Secretary of the Treasury has ordered their admission into port free of duty. A ball was given in Washington last night by Marquis Montbalon, the French Minister, which was attended by a large number of eminent citizens and army and navy officers, also foreigners of distinction. The World's Washington special says: The Canadian officials, before they left, threw out some hints that if the reciprocity treaty were allowed to expire without some motion on the question of the fisheries, it might lead to serious difficulties. Under treaty stipulation, if the reciprocity treaty expires, we are limited to a very small bargain in the waters, and if our fisherman go beyond that limit they will be forced back. The Times' Washington special says: Collectors throughout the Southern States have been receiving for payment of duties, 7.30 notes, from which the coupons have been detached. These notes are, in those states, received as currency. In answer to a letter from the Collector for the First District of Texas, addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. McCallooh says: "Congress alone having the power to regulate the lawful money of the United States, and having decided of what it shall be constituted, and that nothing but lawful money shall be received in payment of dues, the Secretary of the Treasury has not power to receive 7.30 notes in payment of dues because they are not lawful money." - Spanish-Chilian News New York, Feb.10,-Late advices state that in Spain the news of the capture of the Spanish steamer Canadargua by the Chilians [typo] has caused the most violent ferment. A warlike address has been voted by the Certoz. Institutions have been dispatched to the Spanish Admiral to avenge the national honor, and the Madrid papers absolutely foam with rage. One of the mildest of these journals asserts that Spain puts up with insults from nobody, and is not bound to show consideration for any country in the world. A more violent contemporary demands that whenever a palace or a hut, inhabited by the bastard children of Spain, wherever these homicide may be seen, there must the Spanish shell fall; whilst a provincial paper gravely warns France, England and the United States to stand aside, for whoever comes between Spain and her foes is Spain's foe. The Chillian meeting lately held in New York had called forth lively fears in Spain for the safety of Cuba, and the general excitement has been further augmented by the appearance on the Spanish coast of two iron-clad frigates, supposed to be the rams recently supplied by Alabama Laird to the Chilian government. The Madrid correspondent of the London Times says the war is not only with one or two of the Republics; is not merely against a confederacy of all South and Central America, but it may soon have to be waged with Spain's own subjects of the Antilles, and with those Yankee sympathizers, those loose and desperate adventurers of the North and South who would undertake to scale heaven for employment, and who, even if they cannot embroil their country in a war in support of the Monroe doctrine, will place men and means enough at the disposal of Spain's enemies to make them more than a match for her power. It is possible that these two iron-clads in Spanish waters may be only to show what Young America may do in the way of energy, spirit an enterprise. New York, Feb. 10 - The Panama correspondent of the Herald says: The combined Peruvian and Chilian fleet is under orders to commence immediate hostilities against Spain. Callao is strongly fortified with heavy guns, including eight Blakeys cast steel three hundred pounders. The Monitor Victoria and ram Loa are also in port. Some of the batteries are officered by Americans who had experience in the late war. The Peruvian war steamer Calloa, at Panama repairing, will soon leave to join her consorts. The correspondent also says four iron clads that will leave England before the declaration of war reaches there will either attack Cuba or carry war to the ports of Spain and attempt the destruction of the naval arsenal at Farrel. General Kilpatrick left Calloa for Valparaiso in an English mail packet. The United States steamer Wateree remains at Callao. A number of ex-Confederate officers have been engaged for the Chilian navy, and ten had left Panama in a Chilean war steamer. The Tribune's Panama correspondent says a cargo of torpedoes and other infernal machines for the destruction of the Spanish Fleet had arrived at Callao. It was purchased in New York by an agent of the Chilean Government. Catesby Jones, late of the Rebel navy, was in Panama enroute to Chili where he was to have a naval commission. Miscellaneous Items Discontinued, New York, Feb. 10. - General Hocker has ordered the following Military Districts to be discontinued: New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, Main and Northern and Western New York. The Virginia Delegation. Washington, Feb 10. - The delegation from the Virginia legislature, intrusted[typo] with delivering to the President of the United States the resolution from the General Assembly, indorsing his policy, were received this morning. Mr. Baldwin read the resolutions and followed them FILE [[stamp]] BUREAU R.F.& A.L. WASHINGTON (date stamp unreadable) [[/stamp]] with an address to the President, expressive of the firm will of Virginia to stand by the principles they declare, and to afford hearty co-operation with the President in his wise and just policy. he declared that the people of Virginia, and her representatives, accept the result in good faith, and do the part required of them. They recognized the Government; its constitution as their constitution, their duties and their rights it promises. In speaking of the freedmen, he said the people of Virginia had no feeling but that of the kindest sympathy and good will, and to treat them with injustice would be as much in opposition to their feelings as to their interests. At the conclusion of Mr. Baldwin's remarks, the President responded, thanking them for the compliment, expressing the gratification he felt at meeting so many intelligent, responsible and respectable men from Virginia. Mystery Solved. Boston. Feb. 10 - The mystery surrounding the robbery of the National Bank of Concord, Maine, on the 25th of September last, has been partially revealed through the agency and the efficient efforts of a detective a few days since. The robbers were captured. Habeus Corpus to be Restored. New York, Feb. 10 - The Post's Washington special says: Rumors are current but not generally credited, that the President will soon issue a proclamation restoring the writ of habeus corpus to all States, and declaring that peace is re-stored. __________________ General Fisk. General Clinton B. Fisk arrived in the city yesterday from Washington. His name hs, of late, been somewhat prominently before the public in connection with certain reported statements of his, made in Cincinnati, concerning outrages on the freedmen in Kentucky. The statement which has elicited so much comment and denunciation was to the effect that the town of Lexington, and under the shadow of Henry Clay's monument, sixteen negroes were shamefully abused and lacerated, two or three of them having had their eyes put out. The General authorizes us to say that he made no such statement. He even asserts that these outrages did not take place in the county in which Lexington is situated, but were perpetrated in counties surrounding. Hearing of General Fisk's visit to Lexington, a large number of freedmen from the surrounding country flocked into town to make known their grievances. The General insists very positively that among them were the negroes referred to, who presented such a shocking appearance as to excite his heartiest indignation. The Cincinnati paper makes him say that the outrages were perpetrated in Lexington, while his remarks were that abuses were committed elsewhere, and those maltreated made their complaints to him in that town. On the question of the ill-treatment of the freedmen in various parts of Kentucky, General Fisk says the has never exaggerated a particle, and that he has abundant evidence to sustain his assertions. Compared to Kentucky, he thinks Tennessee a model of propriety, law and order, the foreign memorialists to the contrary notwithstanding. He says that in three months he does not receive as many complaints of outrages on the freedmen in this State, as come swarming in from Kentucky in three days. ___________________ Ministerial Stipends. Henry Ward Beecher, D.D. has his sorrows like lesser mortals. He is the elected shepherd of a flock the most of whom have money in their purses. they indulge in the highest style of aristocratic devotion. The seats are cushioned with swan's down and the hymn-books are bound in most unreproachable velvet. The high places in the synagogue are occupied by millionaires and monkey kings. The canaille modestly locate upon uncomfortable benches in the aisle, or give an attend ear to a dispensed gospel from the remote back districts of the vestibule. Mr. Beecher is a good preacher, says the Philadelphia Telegraph, and for many years past has been one of the most popular pulpit orators of this country. We are gratified to know that his intellectual gifts have not been without pecuniary appreciation. We believe that he at present enjoys a comfortable salary, of $8,000 per annum, a sum which we do not object to, for "the laborer is worthy of his hire", and in every condition of life the best hands bring the highest wages. But Mr. Beecher has discovered that his miserable pittance is insufficient to his wants, and that if sinners will have the gospel preached to them, they must be prepared to pay for the luxury. Mr. Beecher announced to his congregation that he stood in need of an assistant, so that his multiferious lecturing engagements at $200 per night shall not be seriously interfered with. The arrangement will then be that some youthful but aspiring ecclesiastic will be hired at a per diem to pray with the dying and console the sorrow-stricken. He will, to some extent, resemble the country curate of the time of Charles II, as described by Macaulay, who oscillated from the table of the layman where he said grace over food from which he was required to abstain and bless horses which he was never requested to bestride. The associate pastor of Plymouth Church will be required to do the weekly drudgery; assist the sexton in his responsible duties during the weekly and evening services: operate the furnace bellows when the important functionary that attends to that duty is absent from sickness or any unavoidable cause, and carry round the parish the bills for pew rent and contingent expenses. The principal will thus be enabled to imitate Satan, as described by Job, and "go to and fro, and up and down" doubtless to the instruction and amusement, but certainly to his own personal amusement. Paul, has, perhaps, as good an example of an apostle as any mentioned in sacred liturgy, but he seldom lectured, and never asked for an associate. We are not informed as to what his annual salary was; it may be that he could not afford the luxury as easily as our modern primate can, but we are quite sure he performed his ministerial duties about as satisfactorily as the majority of his modern professional brethren. However, Plymouth Church is rich and no doubt is able to stand the expense of a sub-pastor. Quite a number of God-fearing and honest Christian men are able to discharge all the duties of a pastoral for a salary considerably under $1,000 per annum, and yet find time to till the soil, look after the interests of their congregation, kneel at the bedside of disease or death, and on that small stipend imitate the good old parson whom the wordsmith has immortalized - "allure to brighter worlds and lead the way." ___________________________ The Tennessee, an Pacific Railroad from Nashville to Knoxville. To the Editor of the Nashville Dispatch It must afford the friends of the above road pleasure to learn that the charter for it passed the Senate this day, with great unanimity and without debate. May it be so in the House of Representatives, as we believe it will. The proposition to build this road as a link of the great national thoroughfare from Washington City, to El Paso, and from thence to the Pacific coast, has already had the effect to awaken a general interest in it. Capitalists are looking at the maps and studying topography of the proposed route to see the important connections it must meet, both east and west. They have learned the statistical fact, that all great train roads, running east and west, pay better dividends than those running north and south. The reason is, that the motion on the great body of travel and commerce is westward. Then, it is not demonstrated that the passes of the Rocky Mountains by the southern route, are far more easy, cheap, safe and pleasant than the more northern routes. This is considered by northern men, who have personal knowledge of the different routes proposed. Then again, the northern routes will always be interrupted by snow and ice, which will not occur on the southern route; hence, this will always be the most popular winter route. Mr. Editor, we see other good effects upon the railroad interests of the South, by the discretions and communications through yours and other journals of the State. One is the movement in earnest to finish the railroad from Memphis to Little Rock; another is the straightening of the route from Nashville to Memphis; another is the extension of the Northwestern road to Hickman, Kentucky, which will give Nashville a direct line to St. Louis; another is the completion of the Edgefield and Kentucky road to Henderson; on the Ohio, which will give us direct canal and railroad communication with the lakes and cities of the Northwest; another is the project of a direct line from Nashville to Cincinnati by the way of Danville, Ky.; and still another is the extension of the Tennessee and Pacific Route direct from Knoxville to Asheville, N.C., and thence, but a direct line to the Atlantic ocean. All these great interests herein stimulated by the proposition to routes of the Tennessee and Pacific railroad from Nashville to Knoxville - all of which will have so many branches and feeders to our great Atlantic road. "What every body says must be so," is a trite saying, but true. If so, The Tennessee and Pacific road from Nashville to Knoxville will be built; and, if built, Nashville becomes a great petroleum, mineral and manufacturing center. If not built, in two months, Nashville will be found standing on the side track, and in three years will so decline that grass will grow in it's streets. It therefore becomes every man who has any State pride, or money pride, to take hold of this noble enterprise and see it to its completion. John P. Campbell Nashville, Feb 10, 1866 ________________________ Miss Mabel Baldwin, a graduate of Baldwin University, at Berea, Ohio, has filled the position of Professor of the Greek and Latin Languages in the Baker University in Kentucky for the past year. She is only twenty three years old. Letter from President Johnson - The Political Campaign in 1860. From the Milwaukie Wisconsin The following letter from President Johnson to Hon. George W. Jones, formerly a member of the Congress from Tennessee, has fallen into our hands, having been captured at the South. As it was written at the opening of the campaign of 1860, it will be read with interest, especially as it gives an insight into the schemings of the democratic leaders of that day for the Presidency: Washington City, March 13, 1860: Friend Jones: I have received and just read your historic account of the compromise of 1860, as published in the Lincoln Journal. It is concise, clear and conclusive - the most so of any explanation I have ever read on the subject. You will please accept my thanks for the copy you sent me, and I think I shall make good use of it in a short time. You, no doubt, have seen Davis and Brown's resolutions in reference to the power of Congress over the subject of slavery in the territories, and the passage of a slave code, etc. Davis is trying to cut under Brown, but, in fact, it is the same thing. For my own part, I can see no good that is to come out of them at this time, except division and distraction of the democratic party, in the shape of abstract principles, or the mere passage of the resolutions by the Senate, I think it is not part of its official duty. If the Senate assumes the prerogative of putting the slavery plank into the democratic platform which is to be adopted at Charlestown, I do not see any good reason why it should not make a whole, and hand it over to the convention in a complete and perfect form, and save the convention the trouble of performing the work; and then go one step further, and nominate the candidate of the party, and make the people take the nomination without regard of his being acceptable or not. I confess that I am sick and tired of proceedings of this kind. The whole Senate, both sides, I think, are aspirants for the Presidency at this time, and how many outside the Senate the Lord only knows. And in the means employed to be President the interest and will of the people seem to be the last thing though of or consulted. Douglas and friends are making a desperate effort, and he will go into convention stronger than any one man. Some here, who assume to be posted up in matters of this kind, say that he cannot be nominated, and if nominated, cannot be elected, and that he will, when he ascertains this fact, become magnanimous from necessity, and withdraw from the contest, and dictate the nomination, and leaving himself a living candidate with some chance of success in 1864; that he would prefer a course of that kind to success before the convention in November. If Douglas cannot be nominated, the nomination will fall upon some Southern man, and that Southern man will be the man who can come nearest to carrying Douglas's strength, and who is most acceptable to his friends in Convention. The man, not the strongest man in the South, but the man who can carry the South and is acceptable to the Northwestern and Northern democracy, is the man in the South who will get the nomination, if it falls upon a Southern man. My opinion is now that if the Convention incorporate some new planks into the platform, and the friends of Mr. Douglas find he cannot be nominated, they will withdraw, and make an independent nomination, and run him upon their own hook. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi is burning up with ambition, and is nearer consumed by an internal heat than any man I ever saw, except John Slidell, of Louisiana. What Jeff will do if he is not nominated, God only knows. Old Buck seems for the candidates by turns - sometimes for one and then for another, and so on. I think he is always for the weakest man, until he comes to run up, and then is for the next weakest, hoping that they will be strong enough to defeat a nomination, and then it will devolve upon the convention to nominate him, yet he disbelieves it all the time. Seward, I am satisfied, will now become the nominee of the Black Republican party; if not, the party will be broken up, for the great bulk of it is for him; and they intend to make extraordinary effort to secure his election. I thought some little time back, that they would be driven into the nomination of some other candidate, but have changed that opinion now. I hope you will go to the convention; you can, no doubt, do much good there, and might save the party from taking some imprudent steps which might prove fatal. I have never seen the time when you were so much needed in the House of Representatives as at the present time. I did not sit down to write you a letter, but to thank you for the article referred to. I am your friend, Andrew Johnson ____________________________ Or the great cotton basin within the parallelogram formed by the Arkansas river on the north, the Mississippi on the east, Bayou Bartholemew on the west, and the Louisiana line on the south, embracing the valuable cotton-growing districts of Red Fork, Amos and Bartholemew bayous, not one-eighth in cultivation, and wild lands in any of these districts can be purchased at the ordinary prices of from five to fifteen dollars per acre, the customary terms being one-third or one-half cash. ____________________________ The cattle disease is spreading in all parts of Holland, notwithstanding the precautions taken by the authorities to prevent the admission of diseased cattle into the country. The regulations issued by the government on the subject are but little adhered to, and in some places active resistance is made to the officials who attempt to enforce them. At Hagestein the peasants rose against the troops, and were only put down by the arrival of reinforcements. ______________________________ The Comptroller of the Currency holds under advisement the proposition to introduce in the market three dollar notes of the national currency. The Washington Chronicle says: It is presumed, in consequence of the opposition of banking companies to the issue of such circulation, that the Comptroller will decide against the issue of notes in that denomination. An Extraordinary Ghost Story - Inexplicable Phenomena - A Haunted House. The following narrative is taken from the Erie (Pa) Dispatch of the 5th inst.: We mentioned a day or two since the existence in our midst of a veritable haunted house, or, at least one which has gained that reputation; whether rightfully or not we leave our readers to judge. We have made acquaintance of the owner of the house, and last evening we were invited to observe for ourselves the strange appearances. We sat for nearly an hour in conversation, and at last began to despair at seeing anything of an extraordinary nature. All at once a child's rocking chair, which stood within a few feet of us, commenced rocking - very gently at first, and then violently. We leaned forward to touch it, when it suddenly removed itself out of our reach and stopped. At the same moment the gentleman touched our arm and said, "Look in the glass." The mirror to which he called attention was quite large, and stood between two windows. Turning toward it, we saw the surface assuming a singular appearance, precisely the same as if one were breathing upon it. "You can see it better with less light," said Mr.----, and he turned the gas down. In a few moments the indistinct outline of a human arm appeared, small, white and delicate, reaching out from the darkness which enveloped it, with a sort of entreating, beckoning motion. This lasted perhaps two or three minutes and then slowly disappeared. "You will see no more to night," said Mr. ---. "The manifestation, if one may call them so, always end with that. Some nights they last two or three hours. They come and go without any apparent reason. We first came aware of something singular about the house nearly ten years ago. The noises have been irregular - sometimes making themselves heard every night, and then remaining quiet for months. We can in no manner account for the phenomena, nor do we try. Sometimes, by the sound of footsteps, one would imagine the room filled. Often steps go up and down stairs without visible bodies accompanying them. Furniture is changed from one room to another. No injury has ever been done, however, to any article. We think that by paying no attention to whatever it is, the trouble will soon cease. If you care to pursue your investigations further, you are welcome at any time to do so," So ended our first visit - and though we were somewhat startled, we are not altogether convinced. On Monday night, another visit was made and we went with a full determination to unmask the trick, if trick it were, or to fully satisfy ourselves of its supernatural origin. Our nature is not a particularly credulous one, and we had been fortifying our belief between visits by reading Lewis' "Book of Remarkable Impostures," which contains an account of things far more wonderful than anything we had seen. The room was of ordinary size, and contained, besides the usual complement of chairs, a sofa, two tables and a whet-not, with a few books, ambrotypes, etc, lying thereon. On the walls hung several photographs in dark, oval frames, and one or two engravings. Between two of the windows was the mirror mentioned in our former article. There were two doors in the room - the one through which we had entered and another, which we found, on opening, to lead into a small bedroom. At this juncture, we heard steps in the hall, and made haste to regain our seat. The door then opened softly, but, to our surprise, no one entered. Some five minutes elapsed, and as the fire was low and the evening chilly, we arose and closed it. We had scarcely regained our seat when, to our inexpressible astonishment, the door again flew open, and with considerable force, and the noise of feet in the hall was loud, as if some one were vigorously wiping a pair of very dirty boots on the mat. Determined to see, we stepped to the door and looked out. The noise ceased immediately, and no one was visible. We confess to a sort of queer feeling as we stepped back into the lighted parlor, which as not at all lessened by seeing the door close slowly after us. And here we noticed something stranger yet. During the brief space of time we had been from the room - scarcely half a minute - the sofa had been removed to the opposite side of the room, and a table put in its place. If we had not boasted to several of our friends of the thorough investigation we were bound to make, we should at this period have taken our hat and left. Distinct sounds of footsteps could be heard in the room in which we were, together with a strange sound which we can best compare to pouring water from one pail into another. At last the noise ceased. After waiting some time, and hearing nothing further, we rose to leave. Just then a sound like the fall of a heavy body above startled us. "You may have the opportunity of listening more, " said he. "Listen!" Stepping into the hall we heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs in the upper story, coming down slowly step by step then along the passage to the head of the stairs near which we stood. Determined, whatever it might be, to see or feel it, and emboldened by the presence of our host, we took our stand immediately at the foot, by the bannister, and awaited its coming. There was a pause for a moment, and then the steps again commenced the descent. By the sound it seems as if some grown person were leading a little child, hesitating at each step, and helping it along. As the last stair was reached, an icy chilliness seemed to pervade the atmosphere, piercing to the very marrow. Then the sound passed into the parlor, and the door closed. __________ A PETITION, numerously signed and extensively circulated among loyal Virginians, has been presented to both Houses of Congress, praying for a territorial government for that State, under the immediate control of the National Administration. The petitioners refer to General Schurz's report as being faithful and true, and pray that the military may not be removed from the State, else every loyal man therein will have to seek safety in flight. _____________ Fiske's Bulletin, a thorough Union paper, and Government organ, at Galveston Texas, denounces Gen. Howard's management of the Freedmen's Bureau, and speaks of him as a religious hypocrite.
Transcription Notes:
Really interesting transcription. To the reviewer: GREAT ghost story in column 6!
