Three negroes assaulted and robbed Mrs. Charles BIDDLE at her isolated farm home near Burlington, N.J., early on Tuesday morning. The cunning fiends watched for the departure of Mr. BIDDLE, who left with milk and produce for the market, and as soon as he had left they went to the house and at the point of a revolver demanded the money or the life of the farmer's wife. In her desperation she consented to give them all the money in the house $13, with the hope that they would cease further molestation. After the scoundrels had obtained the money they drove the unfortunate woman upstairs and bound her after which they assaulted her. The scoundrels then fled. After some time Mrs. BIDDLE succeeded in bursting her bonds and then fled to a neighbor for protection. As soon as the facts of the atrocious crime became known, the public rose as one man and started to hunt down the criminals. One of them was secured near Burlington and is lodged in jail. He confessed the crime and has been identified by Mrs. BIDDLE. Two others escaped the vigilance of the manhunters, but were on Thursday arrested near Columbia, Lancaster county. They also confessed their part in the crime. Mrs. BIDDLE is in a state of collapse and the people of Burlington county are in such a state of frenzy that it is feared the trio will be lynched as soon as the two are brought from Pennsylvania to New Jersey.
In taking a pleasure trip on Sunday, while driving down the hill at Finland, the hip strap of the harness on the horse driven by Val. TRUMBORE, of Pennsburg, broke, this allowed the breeching to drop when the horse commenced to kick and made a short turn, upsetting the carriage and spilling out the occupants, Mr. TRUMBORE, Miss Mabel KOCH, Mrs. Martin KAPP and Miss KAPP. The entire party were scratched and bruised while the horse, which fell when the carriage was overturned, had the hipbone broken and the carriage was demolished. The horse belonged to Oswin TRUMBORE and the carriage to C.A. KNEULE, of Pennsburg.
Adam S. SCHULTZ, a 12-year-old boy, of Hereford, saw a black snake crawl into an old stump. The boy had a hoe in his hands and with this he tore away a part of the stump and found the snake in a bed of soft material, resembling cotton. The snake showed fight and the boy dispatched it in short order. Hardly had he accomplished this task when the mate of the killed reptile made its appearance. With renewed courage the lad made an attack on the new arrival. He succeeded in his efforts and in a short time he had his victims lying side by side, the first measuring five and the second six feet.
The members of the New Goshenhoppen Reformed Sunday School, of near East Greenville, on Sunday made the arrangements for the holding of their annual celebration. It will be held on Saturday August 13, in Joel SCHULTZ's grove, near East Greenville. The Citizen's Band, of East Greenville, will furnish a musical entertainment during the afternoon. The arrangements committee will have an ample supply of refreshments, such as ice cream, candies soft drinks and watermelon, on hand which they will sell for the benefit of the school.
Joseph GAUGLER, of East Macungie, aged 91 years, celebrated the fourth of July by working in the harvest field in the forenoon while the afternoon was devoted to cherry picking.
The popular Allen Camp, of Allentown, has arrived here Saturday morning with the 10.22 train. After their arrival and all their camping supplies had been unloaded on the milk truck, a snapshot was taken of it together with all the members of the club, after which Mr. LEESER, our landlord, was summoned to convey their goods to the camping grounds. Pitching tents and getting the ground in shape was immediately taken up when a number of the club went for some poles which were needed, they struck with their first surprise in their new place. It being another club whose whereabouts was unknown. The other club consisted of seven pole cats, the latter were not aware that they were the second club on the ground, but however made an attempt to claim their own by the use of rifles, shot guns, daggers and table forks and of course being somewhat in proportion as the Russians are to the Japs, the former seven got it where the chicken got the axe. The latter are claiming their new ground is having a perfume all week which was not expected when the skirmish began. After this was over, the cutting of poles and pitching of tents was resumed and finished at about 4 o'clock in the evening. Next on the program was the preparation for supper. This was finished and served after which preparations were made for the evening, after which a number of visitors from the vicinity arrived who were entertained by the club by a masquerade parade and music on the banjo, guitar and mouth organ. Later the parade proceeded to the village of Palm, where a "water-vell" performance was rendered, represented by two clowns, a farmer, a Jew, and a preacher. This was followed by refreshments and a number of comic songs to which music was given by GLASSER and YODER, after which the parade proceeded to their camping grounds where immense fireworks were displayed until a later hour. There were some new arrivals the next morning, Sunday. The following were visitors for the day: Mrs. Wendell SIMON, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. SIMON, Mr. and Mrs. E. SCHMOYER, Mr. E. SIMON, who took dinner and supper with them. The day was very quietly but pleasantly spent. The following morning, Monday, a fishing expedition was on the program which was executed by M. KISTLER and E.M. METZGER, who met with fair luck. They brought back thirty-two good sized frogs which were prepared and enjoyed for supper that evening. The day was generally spent by setting off fireworks and shooting connected with the flag raising. The following were the day and evening guests: Rev. E.D. BOYER, of Lafayette, Ind.; Mr. and Mrs. Allen CONRAD, Mr. and Mrs. John MOYER, Mr. and Mrs. H.Z. HEIST, Mr. and Mrs. J.W. BUTZ, Wm. HOFFMAN, Miss Jennie HAAS, Henry E. HANGEN. Another masquerade parade was enjoyed during the evening and music and comic songs by CLEVER and GLASSER, also singing by the ALLEN Quartette. Tuesday was spent in regular camping life, fishing and hunting being the main object for the day. Numerous fish were secured by the fishers; also three ground hogs by the hunters. They were served the following day. Wednesday was ladie's day, and the following arrived with the 7.25 train: Mrs. FILLMAN, Mrs. H.J. ROTH, Miss Mabel ROTH, Mr. J.J. KISTLER, Howard KISTLER, Mrs. J. ECKERT, Mrs. A.C. ROTH, Mrs. E. METZGER, Miss Lena FOX, Mrs. Jacob GLASSER, Miss Sue GLASSER, of Kutztown; Mrs. E.J. KISTLER, Mrs. Martha WIEDER, of Emaus. All these ladies took dinner in camp and enjoyed themselves exceedingly during the day. All kinds of refreshments were served during the entire day.
Three hundred persons were poisoned at Lykens, Wiconisco, Tower City, Williamstown and Coal Dale, Schuylkill county, on Monday by eating poisoned ice cream from the same maker. Local doctors were in great demand and none of the cases resulted fatally. In a number of instances entire families were stricken. Physicians said the poison was caused by refreezing and rethawing of the milk and cream used to make the ice cream, or by the use of impure milk.
Judge William F. SOLLY handed down adjudications in the following estates of this vicinity on Saturday: Anna BARNDT, Frederick. Amount $1233.34; Lavina RENNINGER, Upper Hanover. Amount, $1027.90; Jacob NESTER, Douglass; Rachel HUNSICKER, a minor. Amount, $207.08; Caroline KNEULE, Pennsburg. Amount, $632.71; Jonas HARLEY, Upper Salford. Amount $4661.65. A petition for an order of sale was presented in the estate of Samuel M. SCHOENLY.
D.R. HERBINE, the furniture dealer of East Greenville, has started a couch club. The members composing it pay one dollar a week. They are worth $15 and the first lucky one gets his couch for one dollar.
In addition to his duties as proprietor of a hotel, Levi J.R. KRICK, of Reading, devotes much time to the collection of curiosities and relics. Among his collections are a grandfather's clock, a hundred and fifty years old and a peck of old coins.
Lieut. R.J. HERMAN, of Kutztown, who recently graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, will leave for the Philippine Islands in September, and will become a lieutenant in the regular army in the 53rd Regiment of Infantry now located in Manila.
While raking hay with a two horse rake the team became unmanageable and Mrs. Catherine SNYDER, of Krumsville, Berks county, was thrown to the ground and had a hip and several ribs fractured. The plucky woman held on to the lines and was dragged some distance.
Rev. E.E.S. JOHNSON, of the First Schwenkfeldian church, Philadelphia, will on Sunday morning preach his final sermon before going to Germany to follow the Historical work of the denomination, at Kraussdale.
John F. WEYAND, of Pennsburg, was last Friday morning, paid $20 by the county commissioners, as a reward for the apprehension of August STETTLER, a horse thief, who was convicted at the last term of Criminal Court.
While visiting his uncle William SHOODY, Clarence LAW fell in front of a mowing machine on Monday, at Pottstown and was fearfully injured. One leg was completely cut off by the knives.
At a special meeting of the Macungie School Board held on Monday, W.H. MATTES, for the past three years principal of the schools of Stowe and for the eight years preceding, principal of the East Greenville schools, was elected to the principalship of the boroughs schools.
The famous Ringgold Band, of Reading, has reached the age of 52 years. Obe ERMALD is the only survivor of the original members.
The horse of Oswin TRUMBORE which was hurt on Sunday in an accident at Finland, was at a consultation of Drs. BAUM, of Trumbauersville and DANGLER, of Norristown, pronounced incurable on Friday morning. The horse is insured in the Pennsburg Mutual Horse Insurance Company. The Company will have to take the matter in hand on decision of the doctors.
The oldest constable of Berks county, Samuel OHMACHT, of Ruscomb Manor township, has presented his resignation after serving for almost thirty years. The retiring officer is 74 years old.
Professar Alvin E. WAGNER has resigned as supervising principal of the schools of Upper Gwynedd township to accept a similar position in the Schools of Mauch Chunk.
Allen S. MOLL, of Corning, has a field of exceptionally tall rye. Some of the stalks measure 6 feet, 9 inches. Mr. MOLL says it is the result of good Democratic soil and indicative of the Democratic majorities this fall.
The Lower Merion township auditors have been requested to investigate and report what damage Mrs. Charles WHEELER, of "Pembroke," sustained by the loss of 11 sheep killed and 21 injured by dogs.
H.E. BECK, of Yorkanna, York county, and Margaret E. GUY, of Harrisburg, were married on Friday. The bride is a negress and the groom is white.
S.B. ELLIOTT, of Reynoldsville, was appointed by Governor PENNYPACKER, a member of the State Forestry Commission, vice Albert L. HOPKINS, Lock Haven, resigned.
At an "Old Folks' Dinner" at the home of A.J. BERNHART, Pottstown, those present were George KEIM, aged 90; Mrs. Keziah WELLS, aged 84; Jonathan KEIM, aged 87, and Mrs. Franklin B. TAYLOR, aged 88.
James MULROVEY and wife, of Glenside, who struggled hard to raise a large family, are entertaining one of their daughters who years ago married a poor young man. The young couple after various kinds of luck went to Alaska and their succeeded in striking a rich claim. Immediately upon making their fortune the daughter left for the home of her poor aged parents and provided liberally for them, placing funds at their disposal that will enable them to live in comfort for the remainder of their lives.
Antonio BUIORTIRO, of Edge Hill, was dragged a mile over a hard road and across a railroad crossing by a horse on Sunday evening. He died a few minutes after the animal was stopped. The man was pasturing his horse in a meadow. He tied one end of a long rope around his ankle and fastened the other end to the horse's halter, to prevent the animal from getting out of his sight. A train frightened the horse. BUIORTIRO's head was split open, his body horribly lacerated and his clothes torn from the body.
Howard, the young son of U.G. LOUX, of Geryville, had the misfortune to step into an iron garden rake on Friday of last week. The rake was used by some of the other children to pull down the limbs of a cherry tree and was lying upside down on the ground when the little boy stepped on and one of the teeth penetrated his foot through and through. Dr. W.H. STETLER, of Spinnerstown, was immediately summoned and dressed the wound.
A seventeen months old child of Mr. and Mrs. Ezra ALLENBACH, of Philadelphia, is suffering from a severe attack of small-pox at the home of its grandparents, Rev. and Mrs. W.B. FOX, of Sumneytown. Mr. and Mrs. ALLENBACH and family came from their home last Friday to spend a vacation with the parents of Mrs. ALLENBACH, Rev. and Mrs. FOX. The child seemed to be complaining slightly and during the past few days small-pox developed in their most virulent form.
St. Paul's Luther League enjoyed a rare treat last Sunday evening in St. Paul's Lutheran church, near Pennsburg in having present Prof. ROTHERMEL, principal of the State Normal School, Kutztown, and Rev. Harvey WELKER, of Bluffton, Ind. Both gentlemen made excellent addresses. Those who were absent from the services missed a great opportunity.
Two Norristown boys while swimming in the Schuylkill were drowned. The younger one Dominick BROVOSKI, aged 9, got beyond his depth and went down in sight of an elder brother. Aaron ZOBOLOSKY, 10 years old, jumped into six feet of water in the Swede street dam, Norristown, and sank to his death.
Philip SNYDER, aged 14 years, living near Martinsville, York county, is the architect and builder of a two-story frame house. The lad purchased the lot, built the foundation, and is now rearing the superstructure. He is doing all the work himself. Young SNYDER is of the average size for a boy of his age, but is above the average in strength and activity.
Thomas SLAWYER, of Coatesville, climbed a tree to pick cherries while on a visit to his daughter at Compassville. In picking cherries he was stricken with vertigo and fell on a limb to which his daughter lashed him with a clothes line until she could summon aid to remove him safely. The man was rescued with out suffaring bodily injury.
The County Commissioners of Montgomery on Tuesday awarded the contract for building 14,400 feet of new road on the Byberry Road in Moreland township to J.R. SHANLEY who was the lowest bidder at $17,450. This is the first road to be built in this county under the recent act of the assembly.
Stephen SCHROYER, of Pottstown, while picking cherries fell from a breaking limb and was impaled on a fence 15 feet below. The pales penetrated his clothing and flesh, holding him head downward until he managed to release himself. No bones were broken but the man is badly injured.
An eight-year-old son of S.S. BRUBAKER of near Mt. Joy was dragged to death on Monday morning while assisting in driving a heavy wagon. While applying the brake the boy fell and his head caught between the block and the hind wheel. He was dragged to death before help could reach him.
Governor WARFIELD, of Maryland, in his address to the gradnating class of the high school, of Wilmington, Delaware, last week, said: "Don't do the foolish thing some do of getting married early in life. I have three daughters and will not give my consent to any one to marry before she is 28."
Because of many accidents at Pottsville last year and some fatalities from tetanus, Fourth of July fireworks have been tabooed. Promiment citizens urged Mayor SMITH to enforce an old borough ordinance imposing a fine of $4 for every cracker, squib or rocket sold or fired in the town's limits.
At the election held on Sunday for a pastor for Trinity Reformed Church, Spinnerstown and Chestnut Hill Church, Rev. J.O. OSWALD, of Weisenberg, Lehigh County, was unaminously elected. The vote polled was the largest ever cast by this charge.
The three year old daughter of George MAY, of Norristown, was killed on Monday by falling off a porch and fracturing her skull. The fall was occasioned by the sudden explosion of a cannon cracker which startled the child and caused her to lose her balance.
The new proprietor of the Red Hill Hotel, Charles F. MOTZ, who took possession last week, has a very large stock of the finest liquors for both private and Medicinal use. Mr. MOTZ has followed the wholesale liquor business for a number of years and knows what he handles.
A rose stalk grafted on a crab apple tree in the yard of Paul E. KAHLER, of Reading, is creating much curiosity. The rose stalk is expected to bloom.
It is a frequent and true saying that one-half the world knows little of how the other half lives, and there are only a few veterans of farm life, that are still able to tell us the many incidents of the life on the farm in "Ye Olden Times." How many of the readers of Town and Country who have seen their first sunset on a farm, that do not wish time and again, that they could go back to their boyhood days and roam barefooted in the dusty country road or the narrow pasture lane, his head covered with his familiar old strawhat, whose brim was spoiled while destroying the nest of some bumble bees. Such innocent days of yore, when you and I lay cooing in our little red trundle bed, or roamed through the fields of ripened grain, when we heard the click of the old German scythe, cutting away Grandfather's clover during a mid-summer day. How our hearts would throb with gladness, if such a change could be made, and what we have left is only sweet remembrance of our own experience, or the hearsay of some old friends who are now spending their reclining years in our midst and who are still able to tell us, how they and their ancestors used to farm, fifty to one hundred years ago. Throughout the counties of Montgomery, Berks and Lehigh, farm veterans who have turned the eightieth milestone of their lives, are met now and then, but they are few indeed. Among such, there is probably not another couple throughout the entire settlement of the Pennsylvania Germans, who have had so varied an experience of farm life through a greater part of three score years and whose reminiscences are more entertaining, than those of Mr. William WEYAND and his wife Rebecca (picture), who live a few miles beyond Sassamansville, where they still show to their neighbors and friends that not only the young graduate of a farm school is able to raise good crops, but that the veteran of "Ye Good Old Days" is the young man's worthy competitor. Mr. and Mrs. WEYAND are one of the oldest farming couples in Montgomery county, who both are still actively engaged with the tillage of the soil, and what they and several others, whose experience has been just as varied, have experienced, is worth reproduction in clear type, as the tale those old timers unfold, is new to the younger generation, while it brings back the days of youth to those in the Perkiomen Valley whose hair are tinged with a silver lining. When those old veterans were boys and girls, they did not think of using an alarm clock with electrical appliances to boist them out of their sweet repose, but bright and early when the hands of the clock pointed to the figure four in the morning, they awoke and did their chores around the barn and after eating a five o'clock breakfast, they and a squad of fifteen to twenty men, each equipped with an old German scythe, started for the long narrow meadows and in this manner not only the meadow grass as cut, but all the clover and timothy were mowed in a similar manner. Oh, that sound still rings in my ear, when we boys stood alongside of that old familiar "dengel stouck" - an anvil of a peculiar shape, upon which with the aid of a 'dengel hummer' also a peculiar shaped hammer, we used to beat that old German scythe until we had the required thickness and the blade equipped with a sharpened edge. In that period the young man who understood to sharpen his German scythe was considered a perfect mower; as he, who did not understand to keep his scythe in a cutting condition was also unable to mow. The sharpening of the scythe was often done in the early morning and on rainy days and during such days you could not pass a farm house, where the sound of the anvil did not reverberate through your ears. Those old fashioned scythe are now and then seen on the older farms and nothwithstanding, that they belong to past generations, they are still considered of better quality and keener edge than the Yankee affair of an English scythe, where you have to buy a dozen, before you are able to get one that will be of good service, for more than a year or two. Now that the grass was cut, we did not have the means as you and I have today, to hitch our horse in the hay-tedder, hay-rake or hay-loader, but we simple grasped our rough and ready hands around an old hickory rake, such as are still made and used at the present time at such places where modern machinery is still found unpracticable. From morn till night we raked, men and women, and the sight of a score of us boys and girls in the fields was a merry sight indeed. It showed good fellowship and their was happiness all around. When it came to hauling the hay home, the women did the loading and the raking, while the older men used the forks and lifted the hay upon the hay wagons. When the unloading part had to be done, we had no modern ideas as you see in every barn, where with a twist and twirl and the power of a horse a load is unloaded into the haymow in five minutes, but with our brawny arms and hands; with the aid of forks we rolled one forkful after another into the haymow, while the little boys and girls tramped it down with their barefeet, now and then you heard a howl when ones toes came into close contact with thorns or another touched a hornet that slumbered in the hay. Haymaking was hardly over before the rye and wheat got a golden tinge, and those old fashioned sickles were brought into use which had been resting for a year on the garret, and many of those who today number their years of life among the eighties, know how their parents cut all their grain with this antiquated instrument. From ten to twenty men would enter the harvest field, each equipped with a sickle and in this manner all the grain was cut. Later however came the cradle and its advent was considered just as marvelous, as when the self-binder superseded the self-rake. At the time the cradle was swung to and fro, the cradlers were generally followed by women who tied the grain into sheaves, and we have still some of the older women among us, who, although past the four score mark, can tie a better sheaf than the young son or daughter of the farmers of today; who at this later period do not get a chance to learn the art on account of the exclusive use of the self binder. When the same was cut and tied into sheaves, it was put on shocks and left on the fields for a number of days and sometimes a week, if the weather looked favorable. No grain was cut in the morning and housed in the barn by twilight, as is now done, and of course you found no damaged flour in grandmothers' flourbin and her bread was the pride of all. At that time farmers had no idea of cutting their wheat one day and hauling the same to the mill the next day. Harvest time generally lasted four weeks, as then all farm machinery was unknown in this section of the country. Just fifty years ago, the farmers in this vicinity had an inventor in their very midst, who probably made the first machine to cut grain. It was built on the style where an extra man was needed to drop the grain, when enough was gathered for one sheaf. Just across the Montgomery county line, in Berks county, can yet be seen the foundation walls, where the first grain cutting machine was manufactured in Pennsylvania and in the Patent Office at Washington, can still be seen the model of Benjamin YEAKEL's first idea. So successful was the work done by this machine, that the demand for it became enormous, and during one single year one hundred and thirty of those machines were manufactured, giving employment to twenty-five persons the entire year. Each machine was sold for $100.00. For many years this grain cutting machine was found on nearly every farm in the upper end of Montgomery county and lower end of Lehigh, as well as some parts of Berks county. Soon other inventors brought forth new ideas and one pattern after another followed, till finally the selfbinder made itself welcome on nearly every farm. No YEAKEL machine is known to be in existence, and if there is still one stored away on some old farm, the writer would be pleased to hear from the party, so a photo could be secured of this invention of one of the early minds of genius of our early forefathers. Those heroes of these early days, although some of them still using the cradle on the hillside fields, would gladly revive those old days of cutting grain, not that it would be deemed a cheaper or better way, than what is now used, but to bring back old reminiscence, and to see who was still able to sharpen an old German scythe; use the sickle, or swing the cradle to and fro to perfection. The older farmers say the lessening of labor on the farms of our eastern counties of the State cannot be appreciated except by those, who have had experience on farms fifty or sixty years ago, that is, by a fair comparison of the present with the past.
Solomon CRESSMAN, of near Coopersburg, came near being the victim of a clever swindler. A salesman claiming to represent a phonograph company from Minneapolis, the other day called at Mr. CRESSMAN's home and presented a tempting offer to sell a $20 phonograph for $2, as an inducement to take the agency. He also was to receive free a six-foot horn and 16 records. These inducements served as a bait and were finally accepted by CRESSMAN, who signed a contract. A few days later salesman No. 2 arrived to settle, and informed CRESSMAN that he signed an order for $380 worth of talking machines, but would settle provided he pay all expenses of shipping, amounting to over $50. Mr. CRESSMAN said he had not that amount and wanted to go to Coopersburg and see about it. This the agent refused to do, but decided to square accounts for $30. Mr. CRESSMAN still did not decide to pay, but drove to Squire HARING and presented his case. The squire soon told CRESSMAN he was being swindled and should not pay.
The Dieterich family will hold their reunion this year on Saturday, August 13th, in the noted pleasure ground at Kutztown, Pa. All the Dieterichs and relatives through inter-marriage, are urgently requested to be present. More than four hundred Dietrichs assembled at Lenhartsville, Pa., last year, and formed themselves into a permanent organization for the purpose of collecting information for the publication of a family history. The Officers of the Association have arranged for the reproduction of the Family Coat-of-Arms in its exact design and colors in the form of a Souvenir Badge, consisting of a gilt bar and ribbon with suitable inscription, the Coat-of-Arms being reproduced on a celluloid medallion, 1 1/2 inches in diameter, surrounded by a neat gilt rim. A badge will be presented to each member of the Association attending the Reunion.
A young man representing himself as a son of a millionaire manufacturer in New York, was in Lehighton and Laury last week, where he spent money freely and had worthless checks cashed. He gave his name as Russell in Lehighton and Tintel at Laury's. While at a hotel at Laury's he induced a lady to get a check book of the Second National Bank, Allentown, ostensibly for the hotel keeper. This he took with him when he left, and forged checks for $40 and $15 have come from Newark, which he circulated under the name of P.A. SAMES. He is not over 20 years old, very boyish looking, and about 5 feet 4 inches in height.
While iceman HEIMBACH, of the firm of SCHWEINHARD and HEIMBACH was delivering ice on Tuesday morning, his team which was not hitched to a post ran away down fourth street towards the American House. Fortunately a number of men saw them coming and caught them as they had crossed the railroad tracks. The team had not crossed the tracks a minute and a half before a shifter drilled cars across the roadway. If the runaway had occurred so much later the entire team would have been demolished.
Wreck of an Ocean Liner that Costs 646 Lives - Only 128 Persons Saved Ship Strikes Rock and Sinks Within Short Time - Mostly Emigrants on Board - Over 200 Children on Deck When Fatal Vessel Sinks Beneath the Waves
Out of 774 people on the Danish Steamer Norge which left Copenhagen on June 22 for New York, 646 were lost on June 28 about 290 miles west of the coast of Scotland where the steamer struck a rock and went down. The Norge carried 694 steerage passengers and nine second class, the others on board being the crew. The steerage passenger list was made up of Sweeds, Danes, Finns, Russians and Norwegians who were on their way to settle in the United States. At 7 o'clock on the morning of June 28 the steamer enveloped in a hazy mist, struck a rock well known to sailors. At the time of striking most of the people on board were still asleep, but the rasping noise and the sudden shock aroused all on board and in a very short time the deck became a maddening crowd of humanity. The vessel was backed off and the waters rushed into the hold and it at once was apparent to all that the vessel was doomed. An effort was made to launch the life boats and two boats were crushed to pieces and their occupants went down. Finally the excited people aboard succeeded in launching three boats and getting them off with a small number of the passengers. By this time the ship had been settling so that the deck was only a few feet above the level of the sea. The now terrified passengers became panic stricken and engaged in prayer and blasphemy while the more than two hundred children on board set up a shriek that will never be forgotten by those who had the misfortune to hear it. Finally at 12 minutes after the time the vessel struck the fatal rock the deck settled beneath the sea, carrying along its living freight to the dark unknown. Every effort has been made to recover the bodies of the unfortunate and nearly all have been washed ashore. Only 128 of the people of the ill-fated vessel succeeded in escaping with their lives.
The oldest citizen of Oley, Berks county, William LAUCKS, died on Tuesday. It was his boast that he cast his first vote for Andrew JACKSON, voted 19 times for President, and as he expressed it, "hit it 17 times."
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