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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Governor Johnson , of Tennessee , and forty other passengers "were severely injured . The severity of the weather at New York has rendered trade very dormant . There is an increased demand for money , and -the market is firmer , though rates are not materially changed .
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AN AMERICAN MURDER . New York is at the present time greatly agitated by a very extraordinary murder which has recently been . committed there . The particulars are thus related by the Times American , correspondent :- —• " A Dr . Harvey Burdell was found during Saturday , the 31 st of January , dead in his room , at 31 , Bondstreet , strangled , with fifteen stabs in different parts of his body . The murder must have been , committed in the night of Friday , the 30 th , but no alarm was heard in the house . There had been no forcible entry , and , as no property upon him or in the room , was touched , plunder could not hare been the object . The deceased was a surgeon-dentist , in good practice ; he was wealthy
dence ; nothing but suspicion that points at the man Eckel . The excitement this murder has caused is very great among all classes , and / or the moment nothing else is thought or spoken of . Not the least singular part of the inquiry is the mode in which it is conducted . The coroner into whose hands it has fallen is evidently incapable of the duty , and degrades hi 3 functions by indecent jesting with the witnesses . "
, and the house , in one of the best streets in the city , was his own . As suspicion from tte first did not extend beyond the house itself , every inmate of it was put under arrest as a beginning , and the coroner ' s inquiry , although it has not yet fixed the guilt on any one person , has revealed a state of things in that one dwelling unrivalled in any romance . Burdell was the owner of the house and lived in it , but was not its master . He had in an evil hour become acquainted with a ' wateringplace' widow named Cunningham , cruising at Saratoga and elsewhere , to whom the wealthy bachelor fell a prey . He installed her in the house , first as a lodger only , next as tenant ; she established there a lover , -who became lord of the establishment , and two daughters , one of whom
introduced a lover into the premises also . While living in the house , the widow brought an action against the doctor for breach of promise of marriage , which he compromised by a written promise of constant ' friendship , ' and something more definite—a lease of the house . Then comes the most extraordinary part of the transactions . A few days after the action was jut an end to , the widow procured some man to personate the doctor , and to that man , whoever he was , was regularly married in October last by the minister of the Dutch Reformed church . While obtaining , as far as the law and registers are concerned , the position of Burdell ' s wife , he , quite unconscious of the singular fraud , lived on very bad terms with her and the whole of the inmates she
had gathered round him ; there were constant quarrels , and gradually he felt such fear and hatred of the woman , or some of those about her , that he expressed to a friend his terror that something would , happen . He said , however , he was always armed , and . would ' rough it out till May , ' when he had taken legal steps to put an end to the occupancy or the lease . The foreboding of the unhappy man was realized ; on the night of the 31 st of January , without any previous threat or quarrel stronger than the ordinary indications of ill-will , he was murdered . The present supposition is that the man who personated Burdell , and was married in his name to the woman Cunningham , was her paramour , living- in the house—a man named Eckel- The minister who performed the ceremony fully identifies the woman , but cannot speak so confidently of the man . He thought at
the time he had false whiskers on , but the suspicion was not strong enough to induce him to make any remark . By the aid of a wig ; and these false whiskers , it is believed Eckel passed himself as the deceased on the occasion , so that for some months Burdell had been living -with the man who had been married to his own tenant in his own name . The evidence on this point reads more like a bit of audacious comedy than the horrible tragedy it has turned out to be . The plan was deeply laid , and , could Burdell have been got rid of quietly , would in all probability have succeeded . On the proof of the marriage being established—and the certificate and evidence of theclergyman would have been conclusive—the widow , in the name of Burdell , would hav « claimed a third of the deceased ' s property , which amounts altogether to 100 , 000 dollars . The previous action for breach of promise , and
me on parties were known to have been , would have explained the marriage ; and the question of the personal identity of the deceased would not have been raised . Sucli a singular complication of affairs as that in Burdell ' house could not have gone on long without discovery , but what hastened the blow is not known . The intention of the murderer appears to have been frustrated by a desperate resistance on the part of the victim . The attempt to strangle him must have failed , and tlic knife been used in a violent struggle . Whether his death was meant to appear as a suicide , or how it would have been explained , can only be conjectured ; one supposition is that the body would have been placed in tlio street , to ba found ' garottcd , ' that mode of robbery having lately been extensively practised in New York . But tho garottern never mangle their victims in so frightrul a manner . No nttempt bad been made to remove or conceal tlie body , which Mas found while the rest of the family -was at ' breakfast by the doctor ' s boy , who did not live in the house . The inquiry has discovered motives enough for the murder , but as to whoso hand committed it there ia yet no cvi-
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THE ORIENT . INDIA . A second division of troops for service in Persia is being organized at Bombay . Sir James Outram is to be the Commander-in-Chief of the English army in the dominions of the Shah , General Stalker dropping to the command of the First Division . The cavalry , artillery , and the engineer department of the army , are also to be augmented . Great animation prevails , and Sir James Outram and staff are already on their way to the seat of the war . According to an extraordinary rumour , Sir James has been ordered to levy troops in Persia itself .
PERSIA . Intelligence from Teheran , of the 7 th January , state 3 that the enrolment of troops , and the departure of Generals Ferlate Khan and Mirza Mebemed Khan for Farsistan , have been the occasion of gTand fetes . Troops have been sent from Farsistan , from Kerman , and from Arabistan , against the English . Reinforcements have been sent from Khorasan to the Cabul frontier . Seven thousand English have embarked at Bombay for the Persian Gnlf . Four thousand English and 1000 Sepoys have entered Cabul , and are to march with the AfFghans upon Herat .
1 ••^^¦ ^¦^^¦¦^¦ ^¦¦ iHiHMaVMHiHM mHB arrange the difference relative to Canton . Governor Yeh had been degraded , and the Emperor had promised a pardon to the rebels . The Chinese at Hongkong had formed a desi gn to set fire to the town , bat the English were on their guard . The former seemed determined to assume the offensive . Some junks attacked the mail steamer Thistle , and several of the crew were killed . "
Dost Mahommed has been visiting Sir John Lawrence , by whom he was received with much military honour . They have been conferring on public affairs , but the result of their deliberations is not yet known . From Herat it is reported that the Persians are busily engaged in strengthening the defences . Two deaths are recorded of Englishmen settled in India—Mr . Bushby , the Resident at Hyderabad , who expired of apoplexy on the 29 th . of December , and Dr . Straker , C . B ., Physician-General to the Bombay forces . Partly , it is said , owing to the exertions of the first of these gentlemen , the Nizam has sanctioned the abolition of slavery in his dominions . A few troops are to be despatched from India to China ; but the drain of European regiments from the country seems to be causing some alarm .
The Penal Code , based substantially upon Mr . Macaulay ' s suggestions , has been read a second time . — An improvement in . trade is reported from various parts of India . "A most painful interest , " says the Bombay Tt 7 nes , "has been widely excited by the statement that the wives and children of the 2 nd Europeans , left behind at Hydrabad when the men marched down to Kurrachee for embarkation to Persia three months ago , have experienced the most cruel neglect from the authorities . They are said to have been left in the most utter destitution , and , out of one hundred and twenty-four women and children , twenty-eight sank and died within sis weeks . "
Kurrachee has been again visited by two shocks o f earthquake . —The neighbourhood of the powder works at Mazagon has been afflicted with a sudden and very sharp attack of cholera .
CHINA . Further intelligence with respect to the late hostilities ia contained in the letters and papers received by the last mail ; but it does not add much to our knowledge . Some banditti have taken possession of a large village near " W"hampoa , where they have committed depredations ; and attempts have been made to injure our ships of war by sending down on them boats filled wit'h . gunpowder , but without success . Mr . Cowper , senior , has been kidnapped , and no trace of him had been obtained
at the latest dates . At Hongkong there have been no disturbances , and precautions have been taken agains their occurrence . Alarm has been occasioned at Amoy by powerful pirate fleets cruising in the neighbourhood . An English steamer has gone after them . The Viceroy Yeh shows no desire to come to terms ; and the American Commissioner at Macao has issued a circular , intimating gre at dissatisfaction with that official ' s assurances with respect to the United States . Trade is almost suspended , on account of the disturbed state of affairs .
Wa read in the letter of the Times Hong-Kong correspondent : — "At Canton , the foreign factories have been burnt to the ground . The fire commenced about eleven , i \ m ., on the 14 th of December , and , although every effort was made to arrest the flames , it proved utterly useless , and all the houses were destroyed , with the exception of one , which has since been gutted by the Chinese . It was the result of a well planned nnd executed scheme on the part of the Chinese . The lire broko out simultaneously nt different points , nnd wn . s aided by combustibles , fire-balls arid rockets , thrown from the
suburbs . Many Chinese houses were also burnt , Ono of the small postal steamers was attacked between Canton and the liogiic on the night of the 22 nd of December , by a large fleet of mandarin junks , and bad a narrow escape from capture . Tho pilot nnd one of tlio crow were killed , and two other . s wounded . A lorclm , winch she was towing , hail to be cast off , and was captured , proving a rich prixc , us . sho was laden with goods and valuables , removed from the Canton warehouses at much rink nnd expense . Before being cuat off her crow were taken on board the stcaincr . "
A despatch from Trieste , dated February the 13 th , says : —" According to tho news from Hongkong , ol the 110 th of December , comniirisionerfl - \ vero expected to arrive in February , sent by tho Emperor of China to
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IRELAND . Attempted Assassination . —A shot was fired , on the evening of Thursday week , from behind a holly bush "bordering -the highroad near Ballinasloe , at a Mr . George Harrison , a farmer from Northumberland , and a tenant of Colonel Maberly , who has purchased some land in that locality which was recently in the Encumbered Estates Court . Mr . Harrison escaped unhurt , and the would-be assassin made off . The latter . is supposed to be some cottager who has received notice to quit . The Irish in / America . —An Irishman writes from K " e \ v Orleans to one of the Limerick papers , to say that America is " no country for an . Irishman any longer . " He states that Irishmen are insulted , persecuted , and even mutdered , by " fanatical Americans . " It should be recollected , however , on the other hand , that the Irish in America are the cause of frequent tumults and drunken disturbances . A Roman Catholic Scrutije op Conscience .- —In a case before the Prerogative Court , Dublin , last Saturday , one of the -witnesses , the Kev . Mr . O'Farrell , a Eoman Catholic priest , objected to being sworn on the Protestant version of the Bible , and wished to be allowed to substitute the- Douay version . Judge Eadcliffa would not allow of this ; and the priest was then sworn on the Protestant translation , but under protest .
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LOUIS BLANC ON THE TRENCH ELECTIONS . We are sure that the following letter , communicated to us by M . Louis Blanc , will be read with an interest commensurate with the importance of the points at issue : " Help thyself , and God will kelp thee " This is my first answer to all such as , from various quarters ., put to me the question , " What is to be done at the forthcoming elections in France ?" The French people having been reduced by Louis Bonaparte himself to the unhappy choice © f being trampled upon or having recourse against violence to force , who can deny that its case is one of natural selfdefence ? If , therefore , insurrection were at present likety to succeed , I would not hesitate to cry out , " Dp , up , and at them !"
The fact is , that to those who all over Europe pant for liberty , and used to adtnire the heroic exertions of France , it is a matter of astonishment that , After sustaining so many prodigious struggles and shedding torrents of blood , in order to bo free , she should have come to crouch under despotism . Oh , if Franco could but know how low she has sunk in tlio estimation of Europe ! French soldiers proved as gallant as ever in the battle-fields of the Crimea ; but warlike wonders are not enough to retrieve the character of an enslaved nation . They are nothing- better than a purple mantle cast over a skeleton . In ancient Koine , it was for the vile gladiators , not for the soldiers , to say , Ctesar , morituri te salutant . Why then was it asserted in the
imperial bulletins that , at the storming of tho Malakoff , the French soldiers , instead of shouting Vive In France f shouted Vive VKinpercur ? Tho fact was denied , but in whispers , and Europe believes it . So , even our military glory lias ceased to bo our own . Where there was a nation , there remains ono single man ! Alas 3 it is this amazing humiliation of tho fatherland that makes the hours of exile so bitter . There ia nothing in poverty which manly hearts arc not able to endure , and living far from all that is held dear on earth ia a sacrifice which , grievous ns it is , any honest man must always be prepared- to make to freedom . But never , never did wo expect to have cvory day to blush with uliamo on hearing foreigners nay contemptuously that the Fronch arc 13 t for slavery , since they mibmit to it .
However , we do not Hhut our eyes to tho extraordinary difficulties of the situation ; wo know , that disarmed Paris lk \ s tuirrounded with bayonets ; that n lynx-eyed police lurks everywhere ; that to the gagging of tho prcHH in added the suspension of every free intercourse ; that , the nation , buried in a HuffocaUng atmosphere , ia scarcely permitted to brcatlic ; and that it iB
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February 21 , 1857 . ] THE LEADER . 173
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 21, 1857, page 173, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2181/page/5/
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