NEWS: The Alleghanian; 17 Dec 1863; Ebensburg, Cambria Cnty., PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Patty Millich Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ _________________________________________ The Alleghanian Ebensburg, Pa. Thursday, 17 Dec 1863 Volume 5, Number 12 Railroad Collision – Fearful Peril We were a witness of a railroad collision on our way to Ebensburg Tuesday morning which, although it resulted in but slight damage to person or property, involved the most fearful peril we ever saw. At Lilly's station (Cambria co.), the mail train east was stopped by a freight train on the track ahead of it, awaiting the passage west of the Philadelphia Express which was then due but reported behind time. The Conductor of the eastward train, not knowing how long he would have to wait, and not being satisfied to detain his train, being already some minutes behind time, concluded to switch the trains and proceed. Accordingly he moved his train from the South to the North track of the switch intending to let the freight train back down below the switch and thus allow him to back again onto the South track ahead of the freight and proceed. He had got his train on the North track and the freight was about half over the switch when the Express appeared at the cut above coming down under full headway. The conductor instantly signaled his engineer to back down the North track far enough to give the coming train time and space to check up. This, the latter attempted to do promptly but before he could get his train in motion, the down train was close upon him and a fearful collision seemed imminent if not inevitable. The engineer, fireman and flagman on the down train jumped from their engine and were seen tumbling along the ties of the parallel track, seeing which, the engineer and fireman on the up train leaped from their engine, which by this time was getting under headway under a full head of steam. The engines came together with a slight concussion – the cow catcher on the down engine running under that of the other, by which it was pressed down among the ties, several of which it broke and splintered, while it was in turn torn and twisted into a crooked, shapeless bunch of iron. This assisted in checking the speed of the down train, while it added to the momentum of the other. The down train did not run over a hundred yards after the collision until it stopped, while the other sped away from the scene with increasing velocity. And now came to those who had witnessed these incidents, a knowledge of the appalling peril of those still on board the retreating eastward train – the great peril of the occasion. Their train was backing down the grade, under a full head of steam; without an engineer! And all on board unconscious of the fact! The thought of their possible and probably fate was terrible to those who stood around. In a short time, however, the whistle was heard and in a few minutes more the train hove in sight, all right. And for this gratifying act the passengers and their friends were indebted to the presence of mind and courage of the baggage Master – Mr. Edward Pitcairn – let his name be spoken with respect! Discovering what was the matter, he crawled up the side of his car to the top, upon which he ran and over the Express car and the tank, to the engine, of which he had knowledge enough to reverse, apply the patent brakes and thus stop the train. But for him there is no telling what would have been the fate of the train and its three carloads of passengers. He deserves promotion and we hope soon to meet him in charge of a train or hear of him in some other more responsible and lucrative situation. The excitement over, attention was turned to the condition of the men who were seen to jump from the approaching train. Although the engineer, fireman and we believe, flagman and an employee on the sleeping car, who had been foolish enough to jump off, were found to be pretty severely bruised, cut and jarred, none of them had any bones broken and they were not fatally hurt. The only damage done to the engine was the complete demolition of the cow-catcher on the one and the slight twisting of the other. After collecting the scattered passengers, both trains proceeded, all feeling that they had narrowly escaped through a fearful peril and were glad the matter was no worse. [From the JOHNSTOWN TRIBUNE, 11th inst.] Com'th. Vs. James J. Kaylor – Murder Two bills of indictment were laid before the Grand Inquest of this county last week, one charging James J. Kaylor, Steward of the Cambria county Poor House, with the murder of Samuel Gregory, a pauper and the other charging him with the murder of Zachariah Morris, also a pauper. The first of these was returned "a true bill;" the other was ignored. The case wherein a bill had been found was brought to trial on Friday evening. Great difficulty was experienced in seating a jury and the panel was exhausted when only four or five had been accepted and sworn in. By calling on spectators, however, the requisite number was ultimately obtained and the case proceeded. The trial attracted considerable attention and the Court room was thronged during its continuance. We did not take notes of the evidence but will endeavor to give from memory the principal points elicited. Michael Devlin, the prosecutor, was called and sworn. He testified that, in 1861, he was an inmate of the Cambria county Poor House. In October of that year, he saw Kaylor, the defendant, strike Gregory over the head with an iron poker, knocking him down, breaking his jaw, witness thought, and raising a large bruise immediately under his eye. He never spoke, ate or left his bed after he received the blow and died in the course of two or three days. Gregory was insane and was confined in a cell, chained to the floor at the time of the alleged occurrence. Devlin told defendant that an inquest ought to be held on the murdered man; whereupon defendant locked him (Devlin) up in a cell, feeding him on bread and water for a week and threatening to continue the punishment unless he retracted the charge that Gregory had been murdered. Witness refused to do so and ultimately succeeded in making his escape from the institution to which he has never since returned as a pauper. Jacob Oakline, Thomas Rees and Thos. Nester, paupers, all testified to seeing the bruise on Gregory's face before he died, and to the fact that he was unable to eat or speak after receiving the blow which produced it. They all agreed in saying that he died in two or three days after the alleged violence had been offered deceased. D. H. Roberts, Esq., testified that the prosecutor in the present case made information before him about two years ago charging Kaylor with the murder of Gregory but no action of account taken in the premises. John O'Harro, farmer for the Poor House, testified that he arranged matters for the funeral of Gregory after the death of the latter. He saw the face of deceased and was positive there was no bruise whatever thereon. He furthermore said that deceased did not die until the expiration of two weeks after the date when it was alleged by Devlin and others that Kaylor had struck him. Two young woman domestics employed in the Poor House in 1861 corroborated the testimony of the preceding witness. One of them stated that Gregory was subject to epilepsy and that during the two weeks when he could neither speak nor eat he "went on in one fit after another until he died," he dying in a fit. Michael M'Guire, Poor House Director during 1861, testified that Devlin, the prosecutor, boarded with him several months after the occurrence of the alleged murder. He (Devlin) told witnesses that Gregory had been killed but averred that it was an inmate of the Poor House named Meade who had killed him. He further made the threat that he would be avenged on defendant for some alleged wrong inflicted if it cost the County $600 to do it. Wm. Douglass, Poor House Director during 1861, testified that Gregory was insane while in the Poor House – that he was violently insane – and that it was in conformity with his orders that he was chained to the floor. Jacob Horner, Director of the Poor in 1861, testified that he knew Gregory, who was hopelessly crazy. This we believe to be the most important portion of all the testimony elicited. Without waiting for the counsel to put in their pleas, the Judge proceeded to charge the jury. After reviewing the evidence and weighing well its more salient points, he said that the Commonwealth had signally failed to make out her case. The prosecutor, upon whose evidence more particularly a conviction was looked for, in his story in relation to the alleged murder had contradicted himself in that at one time he said Kaylor killed Gregory and at another that Meade had killed him. He was therefore unworthy of credence. On the other hand, several respectable witnesses positively swore that no marks of violence were visible on the person of Gregory after his death, one even declaring that epilepsy was the direct cause of his death. In view of these facts, the Judge said, it was the plain duty of the jury to acquit the defendant. Accordingly without leaving their seats in the box, the jury declared their verdict to be that James J. Kaylor, the defendant, was not guilty of the awful crime attributed to him. The Commonwealth in the case was represented by District Attorney Noon, and the defense by Messrs. Kittell, Magehan and Johnston. Lieut. Peter Kaylor In the first report of casualties in the fight at Ringgold, Georgia, Lieut. Peter Kaylor, of the 28th Penna. Vols., was put down as "mortally wounded." Subsequent reports, however, state that he is "wounded in the leg" upon which the hope is based that he may not be injured beyond the possibility of recovery. Lieut. K is a native of this county and has been in the service over two years. He was badly wounded at Chancellorville and fell into the hands of the rebels by whom he was paroled and sent North. On recovering he again joined his company and again is he reported wounded, not mortally we sincerely hope, for a braver man or truer patriot than Lieut. Kaylor never raised sword in defense of our common country. An Old Tree D. Peelor, Civil Engineer (and late clerk in the Surveyor General's Department of Pennsylvania), who is engaged surveying on the Allegheny Mountains, informs the editor of the Mifflintown SENTINEL that on the top of the Laurel Hill, in Cambria county, he found a white oak tree cut down, measuring fourteen and a half feet in circumference and whose age is four hundred and ten years. According to this age, which was shown by the number of circles in the bark, the tree must have been a sapling forty years before Columbus discovered America. Fatal Disease The Hollidaysburg STANDARD says that a terrible disease, said to be malignant diphtheria or scarlet fever, prevails to an alarming extent in Clearfield and White townships, Cambria county, and adjoining Blair county. In one family seven out of eight members have died of the disease – in another, five out of six – and there is scarcely a family in the neighborhood which does not mourn the loss of one or more of its members. Over two hundred persons are said to have died of the disease within a month. Local Correspondence Johnstown, Dec. 14, 1863 Last week I noticed on our streets the familiar faces of Col. Jacob M. Campbell of the 54th P. V., and James Herrington, chief Bugler in the same regiment. Both look extremely well and report their regiment generally in the same hygienic condition. A burlesque theatrical representation interspersed with the best vocal and instrumental music which are to be found in this neighborhood is to take place at Union Hall on Saturday evening next, for the benefit of destitute soldiers' families. It promises to be quite an affair and as the object is a very worthy one it will doubtless be well attended. The Fair for the benefit of the new Catholic church commences on Christmas Eve and, as preparations have been made on quite an extensive scale, it will probably be the event of the holiday season. The young ladies under whose auspices the Fair is to be held extend a cordial invitation to their Ebensburg friends to call down during Christmas week, with the assurance that they will pay the closest attention to all such visitors. Mr. Ellis Williams, having transferred the theatre of his operations from New York to this city has been doing quite an extensive business latterly in the line of confidence operations. He succeeded in bleeding a number of his friends here to various sums, amounting in the aggregate to over a hundred dollars and after hiring a carriage and pair, smashing the former and running the latter almost to death, he found it convenient to make a sudden exit by way of the Somerset road, for parts unknown, leaving a number of disconsolate friends to mourn his untimely departure. Our streets on Friday and Saturday were in a very slippery condition and it was almost unsafe for pedestrians to walk the sidewalks. Quite a number of serious falls occurred, among which was that of a lady in Kernville whose arm was broken by slipping and falling upon the curbstone. At present writing, the weather is as pleasant as a spring day. Yours, [Signed] May Leon Court Proceedings Gum Smith and George Cupp, the two young men from Johnstown charged with horse-stealing, were tried for the offense last week and acquitted. To several minor charges pending against them, such as riot, assault and battery &c., they plead guilty and were sentenced by the court to pay a fine of $15 each and costs of prosecution and to undergo an imprisonment of two months in the county jail. Com. vs. Isaac Wike: Assault and battery on the body of Capt. William R. Hughes, at Wilmore, on last election day. Verdict, not guilty and prosecutor and defendant to each pay half the costs. Com. vs. John Beers: Assault and battery upon Samuel Donley in White township, on election day. Guilty and sentenced to pay a fine of $1 and costs of prosecution. Court adjourned on Saturday at noon. The attendance throughout the week was large. Sloped Ben Rodgers, the young man who was locked up for aiding in the escape of Smith and Cupp from our county jail on Monday week, and was subsequently let out on bail, has evaded justice by sloping for parts unknown. Lily Mills Colliery This is the name of a new coal-bank lately opened by Wm. Tiley, Jr., upon lands of Mr. James Conrad at Lily station, this county, P. R. R. The vein is four feet six inches thick and the coal of first-rate quality. War News The Richmond papers contain a dispatch stating that Breckinridge and Bragg were serenaded at Dalton on the 2d. The great traitor is therefore not dead as reported. A bill has been introduced into Congress providing for the increase of the pay of non-commissioned officers to twenty dollars per month and privates to sixteen dollars. Gen. Meade has not been superseded in the command of the Army of the Potomac, all assertions to the contrary notwithstanding. The President is slowly recovered from his recent severe illness. The Army of the Potomac is represented to be going into winter quarters. Draft Exemptions The enormous number of drafted men who escaped military duty by reason of physical infirmity has produced a change in the regulations of the Provost Marshal General. A new list of causes of exemption is published wherein the catalogue of available maladies is considerably reduced. Near-sighted men, who flatter themselves that their deficient eyesight, formed a perpetual bar against the imposition of military obligations, are suddenly and helplessly bereft of the consolation derived from the infliction of "myopia," for, under the new rule, myopic individuals who are really too near-sighted for efficient field service are transferred to the Invalid Corps. "Near sightedness does not exempt," is the stern decree of the Marshall; hence, spectacles will not be so popular hereafter. Fat men, however, who are a proverbially jolly people, have new cause for good humor for it is ordained that "abdomens grossly protuberant" or "excessive obesity" are sufficient for exemption from any draft. Imbeciles, insane, epileptic and paralytic persons are of course exempt, but the list of maladies through the possession of which a drafted man may evade military duty is so closely restricted and defined that the next draft will produce a larger proportion of serviceable soldiers than the last. Examining surgeons are also required to report the number of men rejected under each of the forty-one sections of the new set of regulations from which it is to be inferred that a very curious official record of the comparative soundness of American constitutions may hereafter see the light. Crowning of the Dome of the Capitol At twelve o'clock noon on the 2d inst., the "Statue of Freedom," the crowning feature of the dome of the capitol was raised to its place in the presence of a large gathering of people. This statue is nineteen feet six inches high and weighs nearly fifteen thousand pounds. It is composed entirely of bronze and is constructed in five sections, the weight of the heaviest of which is 4,740 pounds. The statue has been washed with an acid which causes a slight oxidation thus producing a rich and uniform bronze that which will never change. The "State of Freedom" was modeled in plaster by Crawford, the lamented eminent sculptor, for which model, the price of three thousand dollars was paid and was cast at the foundry of Clark Mills Esq., at Bladensburg. The entire cost of this great work of art is from twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars. The height of the iron work above the basement floor of the capitol including the crowning statue is 287 feet. A word or two in reference to the dome of the capitol may not be uninteresting to our readers. The old dome was built of wood. The outer and inner shells were not concentric and while the inner was, in proportions, a copy of that of the Pantheon of Agrippa at Rome, though much inferior in size, the outer dome was higher in proportion than that of the Pantheon. Its flammable nature and its narrow escape at the time the library was burnt in 1851 called the attention of Congress to it and it was finally resolved to replace it by a dome of iron, entirely fire proof. The new dome in its proportions resembles the modern rather than the antique structures of this character. Instead of the low and flat outlines of the Pantheon of Rome and the St. Sophia of Constantinople, the design is a slight structure, decorated with columns and pilasters, rich cornices and entablatures springing up toward the sky and supporting, at the height of nearly three hundred feet above the ground of the eastern square, and three hundred and seventy two feet above the western gate, the colossal statue of which we have spoken. The interior diameter of the dome is ninety-six feet. The galleries afford a fine view of the interior and of the exterior, the views stretching many miles down the Potomac. The structure is double and between the exterior and in the interior shells a spiral staircase will afford access to the very summit. The general outline of this structure resembles that of the dome of St. Peter's of Rome; St. Paul's of London; and St. Genevieve and of the Invalides of Paris; and of the last great work of the kind erected in modern times, that of the Russian National church, the Cathedral of St. Isaac's at St. Petersburg, which is also partly built of iron. The exterior diameter of the perisbytian circular colonnade is 124 feet 9 inches. The columns of the peristyle are 27 feet in height and weigh 12,000 pounds each. Piracy A daring act of piracy was committed on Monday week off Cape Cod. The steamer, Chesapeake, was seized by Secession passengers, 17 in number who went on board at New York. The chief engineer and mate were wounded, the second engineer was killed and thrown overboard; the Captain and crew were landed at St. John's., N. B. The steamer than sailed in an easterly direction and was subsequently seen alongside another vessel. It is supposed that she took on aboard a supply of coal from her. The steamer and cargo were valued at $180,000. The steamer sailed from New York on Saturday, at 4 p. m., and was one of the regular line plying between New York and Portland. It was the Chesapeake that captured Capt. Reed and his party when they attempted to run away with the cutter, Cushing, from the harbor of Portland. The Collector at Portland has asked for authority to send the gunboat, Agawam, after the Chesapeake. Dispatches from Washington state that vigorous measures have already taken to capture the pirates, the Agawam and other vessels being ordered in pursuit. The Draft Proclamation by the Governor Headquarters, Pa. Militia Harrisburg, Dec. 10, 1863 The President of the United States having, by his communication of the 9th inst., in response to propositions submitted to him, relating to the recruiting service in Pennsylvania, under his call of October 17th for 300,000 men, approved of so much thereof as is comprised under the following points, it is ordered – That the recruitment of volunteers for the various regiments now in the field will be conducted accordingly, viz.: I. Details, for recruiting service in the State will be made of officers of Pennsylvania regiments in the field, whose term of service expires in 1864. To facilitate the recruiting of the quota such appointment of officers in the field will be made by the Governor, where practicable, on the recommendation of duly authorized Committees, representing cities, boroughs and townships to recruit for their several localities. These recommendations should not, however, be made indiscriminately, but with due regard to the character of the person named and his ability to perform the important duties of the post. II. When practicable, old regiments will be returned to the State to be recruited. III. The volunteers who shall be enlisted will remain under the control of the Governor at such camps or rendezvous and under such commanders as he may designate and until ready to be sent to their regiments in accordance with General Orders No. 75 of 1862. IV. Premiums not exceeding twenty-five dollars for veterans and fifteen dollars for new recruits will be paid to officers detailed for recruiting service from regiments in the field when the recruits are accepted by the United States. Payment to be made by Lt. Col. Bomford, U. S. A., Acting Assistant Provost Marshal General. V. Volunteers furnished by cities and other localities will be duly credited on the draft fixed for January 5, 1864 – and also all such volunteers as may have been mustered into the service of the United States since the draft, the number so credited to be detached from their proportion of the quota assigned the States under recent call. Information regarding the quotas of counties, cities, townships or wards can be procured on application to the respective District Provost Marshals. VI. Authority will be given to officers detached for recruiting service from regiments in the field, to raise complete companies of infantry to be sent to such regiments in the field as may have less than their proper number of company organizations. VII. Colored volunteers for the colored regiments of Pennsylvania will be accepted as a part of the quota and also such as have been mustered into the service of the United States since the draft, to be credited to cities and other localities on their proportion of the State's quota under recent call. VIII. Camps of rendezvous will be established at proper localities in charge of commandants and skillful surgeons to be appointed by the Governor. IX. To every recruit who is a Veteran Volunteer as defined in General Orders of the War Department of June 25, 1863, No. 191, for recruiting Veteran Volunteers, one month's pay in advance and a bounty and premium of $402; and to all other recruits, not veterans, accepted and enlisted as required in existing orders, one month's pay in advance and in addition a bounty and premium of $302 will be paid. The short time now remaining, within which to fill the quota of the State by enlistments and thus avoid the impending draft, admonishes the loyal citizens of the importance of providing by local bounties the strongest inducements to volunteers. Municipalities of other States by this means are sending from Pennsylvania the able-bodied men who should replenish their own regiments. Pennsylvania, with a deficiency less proportionately than any adjacent Commonwealth, should show by her promptness and alacrity now her ability to maintain the high position she has heretofore and still occupies among her sister States in contributing to suppress this rebellion. By order of: A. G. Curtin, Governor and Commander-in-Chief A. L. Russell, Adjutant Gen. Penna.