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Newspaper
Bristol Phenix
Location
Bristol, Rhode Island, United States of America
Date
Aug 13, 1859
Page
2
The paper opens its twenty third volume thanking readers for past kindness and promising faithful journalism in stirring times. It pledges to record momentous events, pursue social and moral reforms, and contribute to the universal emancipation, despite conflicts and sacrifices ahead.
The week has been clear with a cool southern breeze. Bristol shines with shaded streets, waters, charm rides, dam, chowders, fishing, worship houses, and fine schools. Residents foresee stately mansions as merchants retreat from city bustle.
The town eyes a busy season with construction underway at St Michael’s Church and a large addition to the Mosers Camp Brungon Sherry Sugar Refinery. An expansion to the State Jail starts next week and Pokanoket Mill will soon run at full capacity as harvests mount and repairs and winter prep keep workers busy.
Earle received a gift week crop from C. W. Bronson Kay consisting of large Jackson white potatoes. Several weighed over one pound each, grown on land manured with refuse skimmings from the Sugar Refinery, deemed potentially valuable for farmers and gardeners.
The publication notes the conclusion manuscript of a story from two Jazz issues is missing due to misplacement. The author has died, so no rewrite is possible. When found, the complete narrative will be republished.
A contract has been executed to build a new church on the site of the former St Michael's Church destroyed by Ira in December last. Dimensions and style are not yet published. further particulars are expected before the next issue.
Community notice invites residents to the Clam Cake event at Pierce's Grove in Swanzey on Wednesday the 24th inst. The Swanzey and Bristol communities are invited to attend, with reference to enjoying baked goods and social gathering.
The Camp Brunsen and Sherry firm announces major expansion with a West wing 45 by 55 feet nine stories high and a North wing 20 by 40 feet eight stories high both to be stone built. The combined facility will double in size and should finish by mid November.
The Pokanoket Steam Mill has most machinery in place and some in operation making it one of the state's finest cotton mills. Manufactured in Lowell Massachusetts, the equipment features latest improvements. Proprietor Mr. Babbitt has refitted the entire building and installed the machinery with an efficient operator team. The enterprise looks set for success and higher expectations for all involved.
The Fall Term of the State Normal School begins Tuesday the 80th inst. A special class will be formed to train teachers for district schools in the coming winter.
The 23d procession under Chief Marshal W S Swinburne will be one of Newport’s most imposing events with the mayor and committee organizing an orderly, cordial reunion. Non natives are expected to attend, weather hoped favorable, invitation extended to Mayor Cranston and committee to join the celebration.
As the issue went to press a refreshing rain fell with vivid lightning and heavy thunder. The storm was widespread with strikes in multiple towns. Several persons were killed and considerable damage to buildings and vessels occurred, though this place reported no damage.
A fisherman hooks a Balister described as a rare fish seen Wednesday after Tuesday’s catch. Gregory’s Dictionary notes the Balister as an Amphibia Nantes genus with unusual gill aperture, keeled belly, and 25 species. the Ves tula form is noted with a tri radiated back fin, typically found near Ascension Island. The observer jokes the angler lost his reckoning and fell prey to the hook.
The Enquirer explores the so called order of loafers noting its antiquity and unclear name origin. Observers describe loafers as idle figures bearing a mass of inert flesh and blood with no useful work, and privileges allowing perfect idleness, optional abstinence, and social loitering on sidewalks, street corners, and bars.
The piece critiques a supposed youth loafer order, noting idle youths aged sixteen and up as candidates. It links idleness to parental indulgence, benevolent aid, or state prison confinement, and questions the order’s admission criteria and its growing presence within society.
Four days after leaving Europe ships reach and depart Liverpool and Cronstadt while Paris and London mix talk of India and disarmament. A Belfast open air prayer meeting draws fifteen thousand to forty thousand attendees with a solemn historic air as thousands walk to the grounds and children lead a procession through town.
Englishman Dr Thomas P Ellis was arrested in New York on a charge of obtaining goods under false pretences. He had lived in Canada West and married a widow, then moved to Boston and remarried, posing as a wealthy man to acquire property. In New York he befriended Mrs Roberts and took $800 plus a diamond ring, with several others losing sums. Mrs Roberts reported losses totaling over $1,100 and a troubled husband.
The New York Evening Post reports a clever counterfeit method detected in the Metropolitan Bank money department on Friday. Counterfeit one dollar bills from various banks were altered by removing the bank name and pasting it onto torn tens and twenties, using parts of genuine notes to form new fakes. The operation appears limited to Seventh Ward Bank, Unadilla Bank, Unadilla, Flour City Bank of Rochester, and State of New York Bank of Kingston.
The island of St Thomas in Danish possession is ceded to the United States. It is about seventeen miles long and four and a half miles wide, with a fine harbor and long served as a depot for regional trade. Population estimated at twelve to thirteen thousand.
An English gentleman, unaware of his son's marriage, received a letter from someone posing as his daughter in law demanding $50. He nearly sent the money before discovering two friends in similar situations had also received phony notices, spurring him to act.
A cargo of six hundred Africans landed on the Florida coast near Tampa. The vessel was fired on and abandoned immediately after the landing. The report cites authority of Los Marshall Blackburn.
The Nassau Bahamas report notes President Buchanan gave Capt. Stewart of the Lighthouse yacht J J Finluyeun a splendid chronometer style gold watch and chain by Jules Jurgensen for aiding the barque George Thomas of New York stranded in the Bahama Bank in 1859.
Washington States reports a novel fund-raising scheme in several cities. A New York firm advertises loans with a one percent advance on the requested amount. If the application is rejected, half the percent is refunded and the other half kept as payment, an arrangement cited by police after an applicant noted as rejected no. 300 warned authorities. The scheme’s legality is unclear and applicants must understand terms before investing.
A villain tried to topple a Sciota and Hocking Valley Railway engine from a high embankment in Ohio. The plan was discovered before the passenger cars reached danger, the engine and three freight cars fell into the chasm but no casualties were reported. The near miss highlights the peril faced by railroad travelers.
A Tuesday clash at the Beach House between local North End youths and Fall River competitors left several bruised heads and black eyes. After last summer’s Fall River victory, tensions rose as the group planned a bay crossing, leading to repeated bouts with clubs and intermittent fighting throughout the day.
Taunton judge upholds Crocker defense in 1847 stock subscription dispute with Rutland and Burlington Railroad Co. Shares lost value as delivery of engines delayed. court rules contract breach valid defense. Case to be appealed to Washington and the U S Supreme Court. Taunton Gazette reports.
The ninety first annual commencement will be held Wednesday September 7. The biennial alum ni address will be delivered by Thomas A Jenckes Esq of this city, a Brown graduate from 1838. Col E G Parker of Boston will speak to the Philermonian and United Brothers Society. Mortimer Thompson of New York will read the poetry. Rev Dr R S Storra of Brooklyn will address the Missionary Inquiry Society.
In Crawfordeville Circuit Court the trial of Rev. Jonathan S. Owen for the alleged murder of his wife by strychnine poisoning concluded with a verdict of acquittal after about five hours deliberation. Brent and other citizens express dissatisfaction, though many believe him guilty.
A 5 PM Boston and Maine train from Portland struck a man walking on the track near East Kingston. The train halted, and the body, cut into pieces, was brought to town with two bottles found near it including one containing syrup.
Ten New Haven residents witnessed Monday July incident as a German man, Juln Penasler, dropped lig cuit on a table causing a loaded pistol in the picket to explode. The blast struck his near-by relative, inflicting a serious but nonfatal back wound. The man tried to shoot himself but bystanders stopped him. Future details follow.
A man named Mullen was executed by hanging in New Orleans on the 20th. He appeared cheerful and dressed in white with a blue ribbon. He ate a hearty breakfast, sent back underdone portions, and arranged his coffin the night before. He smiled on the scaffold and died quickly when the drop fell.
During yesterday's storm lightning struck the clipper Wild Pigeon at pier 45 North River. One mast shattered and carpenter Frederick Radway on deck was knocked unconscious and taken to New York hospital. Dr Cameron fought to restore him but by late evening the patient had become delirious and was placed in a straight jacket. his death may be feared.
A reader notes frequent fatal railroad crossing accidents explaining that even slow crossing of tracks by horse and cart can be deadly when trains approach. He cites a train moving hundreds of feet toward the crossing during the act of clearance, showing why drivers misjudge safety at crossings.
Since its 1840 establishment, Greenwood Cemetery has recorded 69,040 interments through July 23, reflecting a population surge in Brooklyn and its suburbs that has made the secluded site less suitable for burials.
A Rochester Union correspondent in Livingston County reports harvests ahead of expectations with ample straw and fruit berries. Weather favors full sheltering of crops and yields of twenty to twenty five bushels per acre in many fields. Some were thrashing then needing extra storage for higher than expected results with thirty to forty bushels per acre. Rye and barley show similar promising but cautious prospects.
Mr. Adam Hardway of Cohasset was killed instantly when kicked from a coach at the Old Colony House in Hingham as the heroes started. A Friday afternoon train from New London to Providence struck a passenger on the platform near Stonington. believes he will recover.
The Troy Times reports Coroner Dean of Albany closed his inquest yesterday. William White, manager of the road, testified he inspected the bridge a week before the disaster and called for a new bridge but delayed building it until he could plan the replacement. He said he never recalls being told of May 1 events amid widespread complaints about bridges and denied lacking funds for repairs.
An extraordinary series of incendiary fires in Norwich ends with the death of a man linked to threats against Mr Wheeler’s family. A wife sought legal protection, the husband abducted their child but was foiled and shot at. later found dead from a wound after a confrontation, with the coroner’s jury reporting death from an unknown cause.
New York police seized two men Putter and Clark in a Forty-fifth Street house Sunday night tied to counterfeit billy plates and paper. Authorities recovered $13 000, altering apparatus, and a large stock of bank note paper. Plates from multiple banks including New York Llagk Bank Boston Farmers Bank of Lower Canada Bank of Quebec and others listed.
A Ohio woman named Peters wife of a German died after a brief illness. Signs of life were noted after burial but the husband allowed the interment. Four hours later relatives exhumed the body, she revived and soon recovered.
The Conant Sexvey report lists 6 821 miles of Atlantic coast 8 407 miles of Gulf coast and 2 281 miles of Pacific coast totaling 12 569 miles. The Atlantic shoreline including bays is twice the Gulf extent and three times the Pacific combined. Southern states have three times as much coast as the Northern states.
The Auditor of the Post Office Department informed a judgment creditor of a mail contractor in the West that, per the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the pay of any government officer or employee cannot be legally attached even if funds are held by a third party before payment.
On Saturday afternoon Abraham Hinchman a wealthy Brooklyn gentleman was killed when he sailed through the floor of an outhouse and perished in the vault. The family were away and no aid could be rendered.
An advertisement notes Oxygenated Sitters sold in Bristol by H. N. Gifford and S. S. Drury claim to quickly and permanently relieve sick headache debility and indigestion. The copy highlights their remedy as a fast acting cure in the local market.
A Philadelphia Press summary lauds Holoway as a medical genius forging a universal dispensary across nations. It claims his pill and ointment bypass telegraphy, reaching a global audience in thirty dialects, promising universal access to cures beyond creed or color.
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