Gossip Of The Day

Geobge AnPEED Townsend is authority for the statement that Mr. Abell, of the Baltimore Sun, is tho richcst nowspaper publisher in Amorica, not exceptng Bennett or Childs. Mr. J. H. Nicolay, who was for some years private sccrotary of Abraham Lin cohi, is writing a lifo of the luto dent. He claims üut it will eontain ! more extended and authentic details of Mr. Lincoln's life thon have heretofore been published. Ohikf Enginekk Wood, U. S. N., has filed a caveat on an invention, cousistiug of a power derived by the agenoy of bonio acid gas obtaiued by means of j electricity and galvanism. Wood claims there aro great possibüities in his motive i power. Yiue-President Wilson bas been oounscled by his medical advisers to abandon his intention to lecture this ! sou, as it vrould prove too serio'is a strain on his coustitution if iindortaken in addition to his official duties and the completion of his book. It Las been proposed to put a stop to I body-snatching by interring with tlie corpse a quantity of somo oxplosive terial, sucli as nitro-glycerine, dnoling or the like. Tho general adoption of this plan would make it unprofitable for ins urance companies wlio take risks on the lives of medical students and t ioniste. Dn. Lindehman, Director of the Mint Bureau, is now porfecting measrnes for the coinage of pilvec pieces to take the place of the fractional currency now in circulation. It is a big job, and will require 120,000,000 dimes, 40,000,000 quarters, and 30,000,000 half dollars toreplace the notes of these denominations. It will take about two years to coin the ! 120,000,000 dimes, unless all other work is suspended at the mint. Capt. Webb, tlie marvelous swiinmer ! who lately crossed the English channel by a slieer exereise of muscle, has beeu I examined by a distiiiguislied surgeon, who reporta the resulta in the iMncet. The Captain is said to be 5 feet 8 inches ia height ; weight, 203 pounds ; I rneasure, ál inches ; biceps, 13i inches ; j forearm, U inches. One remarkable thing about the Captain's physical devolopment is his weight, which is extraordinary for an athlete, and shows, as the surgeon says, the presence of considerable other tissue boside muscle. Mn. JIivcke, one of the two St. Louis lawyers who recontly fought a bloodless i duel, writos a ferocious card to one of the ; local papers in whieh he denies that he j had a pair of slippers in his dauntless i brenst to protect him from bullets, and ndtis : "On the occasion of the duel between me and Grismore I bared my I bosom and received his üre without flinching, as auy man would do who is I as brave as the point of a sword. Grismore, on the contrary, thought himself dead, and had to be straightened out by copious draughts of crooked whisky. " We are to have a royal visitor next ycar, who will be heartily welcoined - Dom Pedro II., Emperor of Brazil, who has secured the sanction of his Chamber of Doputies to a proposed absence of eighteen months in Europe and the ' United States, taking in the Philadelphia j centennial, of eourse. Dom Pedro has proved himself the most intelligent ruler ' that South America has ever seen, and ' Brazil has made steady and rapid ress through his reign. He lias always ! shown himsclf a warm friend of the j United States, and a very hearty respect for the man has grown up on our part. The folly of placing loaded fire-arms in tho hands of f ools received a sad tration at Beaver Dam, Wis., the other day. A young man, living with a farmer namod Allen, took a musket and ! started for a neighboring farm to secure a job of threshing. As he entered the house on his return he playfully pointed fiy gnn at Miss AlleD, saying, "Iwill ahoot you." The gun was fired, the contonts entering her. body above the left hmg, making au opening large enough to adniit a man's fist, resulting j in instant death. Miss Allen was 23 years oíd and a very estimable young j lady. It is a pity there is no law by ] which 6uch lunaties can be punished. Severati years ago Gen. McClellan was appointed Ohief Engineer of the Doek, Departmont of New York city, and he began the oonstruction of a system by driviug piles and placing thereon heavy rocks. In 1873 McClelkn resigned, and was suoceoded by Gen. C!has. i K. Graham, who made material alterations in the jilans of McClellan, and a recent examüiation has shown that the docks built by Graham are practically worthless. Work has been discontinued in consequence. The Doek CommisBionera were originally authorized to spend $3,000,000 annually in the conBtruction of these works, which sum, it is ncny dsBerted, would have been practically wasted. Thirtï-o.ne years ago Albert Hall, a traveling salesman of New York city, deserted his wife and two children, and nothing was afterward leamed of him uutil a few weeks sinoe, when he called on his former wife in a very cavalier manner, to fiud that af ter a lapse of ten years Hiie liad married a second time, and to a roore constant spouse. One of the children he had abandoned was yet living; and the futher of four children. Hall, Sr., gave no account of his wanderings, save to say that he had done a little of everything except diinkiug and getting noarried. After tarrying a few days in the neighborhood of his old home he departed in a mysterious nianuer, without notice and without farewell. Now that the treaty negotiations for the purchase or lease of the Black Hills country have failed, the question naturally irises, What is tne government going to do about it? It is bound by the terms of tho treaty of 1869 to keep the white? out of tho Bioux reservation, which is resorvt d exclusively for Indian occupation. Will it act in good faith, an drive out the miuers who are already diggiDg for gold in the vidnity of ney's Peak, and keep all others out, or will it permit tho frontier adventurers to ■viólate the treaty and precipítate a border war ? It is quito probable that the government will be powerloas to prevent ernigration to that secticn eutirely, bat it can, to a great extent, keep tho terras of the covonont intact. The long and shocking catalogue of fiendish murders recorded in the criminal aunáis of this country furnish no parullel to the tragedy rocontly enactei at Penibroke, in the State of Now Hampehire. The details ef the horror sound more like the creation of a vivid irnagination than actual, living oceurrencee, and as we rend tliem it seems ahnost imposBÍblo of belief that thero could exist a being born of woman capablo of such a foul and unnatural d'.'ed. The victim of this murder - Miss Josio Longmaid, a pretty and accomplished girl of 17years, and, as wo are told, a general favorito in the community - left tho houno of her father in the morning, as was her wont, to attend the Pembroke Acaderny, a rnile and a half distant, but it appoars she never reached her destination. Failing to return, as usual, in the evening, search was instituted, and her headless body was found in a clump of bushes near the roadside, shockiiigly muti'ated, and her clothing torn to slireds and satnrated with blood. A few foet from the body was the hat, neatly trimmed with flowers, which tho murdered girl had worn. The lining on the right aide at the back had two large stains of blood, which seem to indicate that sho had beeu struck and wounded on tlie head. The next morning a large party continued the search for the head, which was found about soventy-five rods from where tho body had lain, in the same piece of woods. Near by lay an oak stick stamed with blood, with which the poor girl had evidontly been clubbed to death. The head, when found, was wi ;pped in the wator-proof cloak which Miss Longmaid had worn when startiug for school. The head had been cut clearly off, as if severed by a sharp instrument, and physieiiins who examined the remains are unanimous in the opinión that decapitation was performed beforo life was extinct. She rnight have been unconscious, or partly so, when the villain put tho murderous knife to her throat. This conclusión is arrivod atbecause of tho profuse ovidence of her having bied freely.