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Newspaper
Quincy Whig
Location
Quincy, Illinois, United States of America
Date
Dec 13, 1856
Page
1
From Washington and Europe, reports detail political maneuvers over Whitfield’s status, a postponed House vote, and a reassignment of clerical staff. The issue divides lawmakers as signals of 1850s party discord persist, while international notes cover treaties, cables, and unrest in Spain and Naples.
Garrick Dramatic Association states their amateur company will stage its first performance on or about the 26th inst at City Hall. The programme includes The Idiot Witness and The Mummies or the Liquor of Life. Full attendance requested. further notices to follow.
Citizens are invited to inspect a newly fitted cellar and oyster saloon at the Quincy House. Proprietor M. W. Suazr offers top quality oysters in raw, stewed, or fried forms and promises first rate service. Parsons Jewelry showcases elegant new styles, hoping for busy crowds and holiday sales.
Between 11 000 and 12 000 hogs have been slaughtered in Quincy up to the present time. Rates remain about as heretofore. There will probably be no change until navigation resumes.
Saturday night entry at Dr C H Monrow’s drug store, small cash missing. Citizens urged to watch for burglars as reports of crime rise. Also notes a New Zealand cannibalism joke from a London paper and New York City tay levy estimate of over seven million dollars for the coming year.
The Manchester Union details Melvin Power a Farmington milkman accused of extensive forgeries. It outlines forged papers worth up to 250000 with lawsuits over 65000, and notes identities from Victor and Canandaigua. Power, 30, operated milk and cattle dealings to Rochester, owning about 1100 acres encumbered by mortgages and judgments totaling near 100000. Debts likely exceed 110000 to 120000, with creditors losing at least 60000 to 70000.
A gale drove the Schooner Chas Howard ashore five miles north of the piers around 9 pm Tuesday. A rescue party including Capt Gras C L Bissell N K Fairbank Isaac Walker and others saved the captain and four sailors, dragging a half drowned man from wreckage and delivering them to shore near midnight. The ship’s crew wore near death from cold but survived.
The Fifth Judicial District judge rules that municipal corporations may not subscribe to stocks or issue bonds to pay them. Such actions are an overreach of government power over private property and cannot be delegated by the Legislature. The case moves to the Court of Appeals for review.
The next Congress will include 150 members, 68 from the current, 9 from earlier, and 7 to 3 new entrants. Joshua R. Giddings of Ohio continues as the oldest member, elected a tenth time. The 77 past and present members hold 275 years of experience, with several states listing a majority of incumbents and old hands shaping the new body.
A compact survey of famed authors and their trials, noting Homer, Terence, Coethius, Paul Pognese, Tasso, Commoens, Bacon, Raleigh, Milton, Otway, Lee, Dryden, Steele, Goldsmith, Richard Savage, Butler, and Chatterton, all enduring poverty, debt, or destitution despite talent.
Washington gossip from the Baltimore Patriot criticizes or entertains the idea of a Buchanan Polk alliance and a potential marriage to Mrs Polk, with doubts about publication of Polk diaries. Market notes report slow farmer sales, few operators like Miller & Hunt, pork prices softening across major markets.
The Santa Fe mail reports Kiowa raids near Las Vegas with stock theft and corn fields burned. Two young women were assaulted in a separate incident. Gov Merriwether criticized for alleged neglect. Gold prospects on the Gila noted. Congressional figure claims he paid votes for bills.
A Peoria District contested House seat hinges on clerical error in ballots. Calvin M Eastman vs Calvin L Eastman confusion left 280 votes uncounted, likely changing the outcome. The Chicago Tribune notes Eastman should have his seat as per law and precedent, while the House will decide. Also noted are Sunday school growth and Col Titus departing Kansas for Nicaragua with filibuster fame.
A stern critique contrasts Gov Adams South Carolina message with Pierce. The piece calls Pierce ultra southern and hostile to freedom, denouncing his administration and urging honest men to speak out. It condemns his policies, notes public opinion lashes him, and hopes never to see him in office again.
The rapid river receding with ice has halted boating. Several boats, including the St. May, Swallow, and Winchester, have grounded at or near Hannibal, with others reported in the same predicament further downriver.
An 80 year old friend offers a hickory cane as a token of gratitude for zeal in the Republican cause. The note praises liberty, press freedom, and steadfast defense of human liberty. It invokes historical lines urging a free press pledged to religion, liberty and law.
Illinois electors met at the state capitol in Springfield and elected James Buchanan for president and John C. Breckenridge for vice president with eleven votes each. Charles H. Constable presided, A. M. Herrington served as secretary, and J. P. Richmond was chosen messenger to bear the vote to Washington. Reports also note bold wolves near Monticello Township and mass land warrants statistics for October 1855, totaling 5 602 warrants over 742,000 acres.
The Quincy Library Lecture Committee announces its annual domestic lecture series to benefit the public library. Despite calls for foreign lecturers, the committee declined due to estimated costs and higher ticket prices that would exclude long-time supporters. The history shows the library began in 1841 with 64 stockholders at $5, now housing 2,840 volumes. last year revenue was 340 dollars, with 175 spent on books. shares cost 75 cents semiannually, and subscribers pay 1 dollar every six months, with about six thousand books drawn annually.
Mr Zistsrenatan erects a two story building on Spring street to house a brass foundry and to manufacture his Smut Mill on a larger scale. He plans the entire corner to be occupied by Mr Zimmerman as a foundry in time.
A commission merchant stated yesterday that hundreds of tons of freight sit in St Louis awaiting onward movement mainly for merchants along the railroad line. With water higher and freights down, many had hoped for relief, but if the present conditions persist these goods must stay in St Louis or be moved by rail at great expense.
The river continues to fall rapidly and water appears to be running out of its banks. Heating ice suggests a channel change toward the shore, which, if it persists, could help the bar along the levee shorten and stabilize over time.
A seven oclock smokebill issued from the county jail Calaboose behind the court house. Firemen extinguished the flames after two prisoners were found unconscious. one inmate died, likely a German man, identified by no one. He was arrested for a street disturbance and locked up for safe keeping. The jail suffered trifling damage and will be repaired. The article also notes female medical college students in Philadelphia and a Georgia murder tied to jealousy.
A detailed account recalls a telegraph inspector’s near disaster in a long tunnel, where he narrowly avoided being crushed by an oncoming passenger train while his dog whimpered at his feet. He later joined shouting workers after long, frightening hours in darkness, then recounts a fatal Halshay Moor Tunnel accident where one worker was cut to pieces as two trains passed from opposite directions.
An Ohio correspondent debunks the smoke theory of Indian Summer, attributing mild late-season warmth and atmospheric haze to a lack of aerial currents as surface heat wanes from August. Water vapor and burning wood odor mingle in the still air, while chimney smoke adds a familiar scent without rising.
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