NEWS: The Alleghanian; 25 Feb 1864; 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, 25 Feb 1864 Volume 5, Number 22 Washington Township Erect! A correspondent from Hemlock, this county, sends us the following items: "Old Washington township is pretty nearly redeemed from the lash of Slaveocracy. On last Friday the Union Republican Ticket was successfully elected. For Judge of Election, we elected Mr. Richard C. Trotter, a conservative Union Democrat over the regular nominee of the Democracy; for Inspector, Mr. Jesse Woodcock, a sound Republican; and for Assessor, Mr. George Tiley, also a good Republican. This is glory enough for one day. "Old Washington township is also doing nobly for the army. Since the late calls she has raised some forty volunteers counting re-enlisted men and new recruits. Capt. D. W. Fox of the 55th Regt. Pa. Vols., leave today (Monday) for Harrisburg with some thirty men. A Pop Visit Lieut. Dan D. Jones, of Co. A, 11th Penna. Reserves, whose nuptials we chronicle elsewhere was at home the beginning of the week for a couple of days. He looked as if neither sojering nor getting married particularly disagreed with him. Not content with having served three years in the army, he has re-enlisted for another term. We sincerely hope his future career may be pleasant and prosperous as his past. Quota of the County Under All Calls Through the kindness of Commissioner-of-the-Draft Harr, we are enabled to give herewith the quotas of the several sub-districts of Cambria under the President's call for 500,000 men: Allegheny 49 Carroll & Carroll boroughs 37 Susquehanna 14 Chest 10 Clearfield 20 Chest Springs Boro 4 White 23 Washington and Summit Boro 21 Munster 8 Croyle 19 Summerhill 15 Wilmore Boro 9 Richland 33 Taylor 21 Conemaugh 22 Yoder 14 Johnstown Boro 78 Cambria Boro 42 Conemaugh Boro 43 Millville Boro 50 Cambria 12 Blacklick 8 Jackson 15 Ebensburg Boro 16 Grand total, 589. In any sub-district where a draft has to be made, fifty percent will be added for exemptions. Correction In an item last week, we mentioned that a report was current here that a man had been killed, recently, in a brawl at Gallitzin, this county. The report was incorrect in one particular – the man was not killed but badly injured. He was struck several times with a pick, knocked senseless for the time being and otherwise badly used up. He is recovering and will get well. Of the nature of this "discushun" and the names of the belligerents we are totally in the dark. The man who did the damage has enlisted in the army, thus atoning in a measure for past misdeeds. Sheriff's Sales We subjoin an abstract of the real estate advertised to be sold by the Sheriff of Cambria county on Monday, 7th of March next, at one o'clock P. M.: Jonathan Robinson, Summerhill township, 439 acres and 120 perches and allowance with school house, a steam engine, boilers, machinery and apparatus thereto belonging. Samuel D. Pryce, Ebensburg, lot of ground, with two story plank house. Edward Burk, Washington township, 130 acres, 1½ acres cleared, with one and a half story plank house and large frame stable. May Ann M'Kenzie, Chest Springs, two lots of ground, with large three story plank house and frame stable. Joseph Miller, adm'r. of John Mulholland, dec'd., White township, 100 acres, 40 acres cleared with a log house and log barn. Charles Murray, Jackson township, 230 acres, 40 acres cleared with log house. John D. Kearney, Conemaugh, lot of ground, with two story plank house. William Paden, Johnstown, lot of ground, with two story plank house. William Wharton, Clearfield township, 35 acres, 5 acres cleared with log house, frame stable and sawmill. George Gates, Conemaugh township, 300 acres, 100 acres cleared with two story frame house, log barn, spring house and saw mill. William B. Darlington, Jesse J. Baily and J. Laney Darlington, White township, 1000 acres and allowance, with hereditaments and appurtenances with steam saw mill, water saw mill, grist mill, store house, blacksmith shop, stable and twelve good houses. Timothy R. Davis, Jackson township, 400 acres, 3 acres cleared with one and a half story plank house and saw mill. Peter Horner, Yoder township, 20 acres, 19 cleared, with one and a half story plank house, frame stable and blacksmith shop. Local Correspondence Johnstown, Feb. 22, 1864 The anniversary of the birth of Washington has passed away without any observance on the part of our citizens and I doubt not many were totally unaware of the important event which today commemorates. The illustrious father of his Country has for nearly a century reposed beneath the silent sod, yet his memory lives in the bosoms of millions of his countrymen and undying fame attends his name. Even the little prattler at the mother's knee is taught to reverentially lisp the name of Washington, whilst stories of his goodness and legends of those days which tried men's souls when his genius overcame all obstacles, are treasured up in the mind to be repeated to generations yet unborn. Wistfully we turn our gaze to the hero list in the bloody calendar of today, but its Washington is not yet forthcoming. Our county was congratulating itself upon having escaped the forthcoming draft, but, in mutability of all things human, our gratulations were premature. Capt. Ryckman's company, which departed for Harrisburg last week and which would have more than filled our quota, accepted a bounty of $210 from Chester county and were credited to that district. This was ten dollars more than our city fathers agreed to pay them and it is supposed their officers – for a reasonable consideration – induced them to accept it. A great deal of indignation is manifested here and petitions are circulating, praying that Gov. Curtin will not commission the officers who have thus swindled the town out of her quota. Meanwhile the "Fathers," are calling extra sessions of council, trying to devise some method to escape the impending draft. The razing of the Lutheran church, preparatory to building a new one on its site has been commenced, and as the Presbyterians and United Brethren also design building new churches during the coming season, the transient sojourner in our hill-girt city will be favorably impressed with the religious status of the community. We can already boast of a goodly number of places of worship but unfortunately the criminal list at court from term to term would look as if our piety was not reduced to practice. The municipal elections were held last week and but little interest was manifested in the result. About two-thirds of the usual vote was polled it the different wards. The weather for several days has been intensely cold, the thermometer ranging at 20 degrees below zero. Our rivers as a consequence are once more ice bound. [Signed] May Leon Daring Escape of Union Soldiers from Libby Prison The escape of one hundred and ten Union soldiers from Libby Prison, Richmond, of which number twenty-seven have arrived safely at Fortress Monroe is one of the most daring facts on record. Beside it, Morgan's escape from the Ohio penitentiary sinks into utter insignificance. The narration of their adventures reads more like a romance of the medieval ages than a plain matter of fact recital of events actually transpiring. The prisoners were engaged fifty-one days in making a tunnel commencing on New Year's Eve and only finishing the night before making their escape – 13th inst. Having managed to find access to the cellar of their prison, they commenced work, relieving one another as opportunity afforded. Their instruments were case knives, chisels and files. Twice they had to abandon their work and commence anew on account of obstructions which they could not pass. They had hoped to have availed themselves of a culvert but found in impracticable. After getting through the wall they disposed of the excavated soil by drawing it out in a spittoon which they attached to a cord. This would be filled by the party at work in the tunnel and pulled out into the cellar by their companions, who disposed of it by spreading it in shallow layers over the floor, concealing it beneath the straw. The work was necessarily very slow. So close was the atmosphere in the tunnel that they could remain in it but a few moments at a time and their candles would go out. At one time they got so near the bed of the street that a small hole about the size of a stove pipe broke through; but, fortunately, this was not observed by the guard and was a great service, admitting air, and enabling them to prosecute their work more rapidly. The tunnel, when completed, was about fifty feet long and opened into an old tobacco shed beyond the line of guards. As soon as they found the way clear they emerged slowly in small squads of two and three, sauntered off until they got clear of the guards, making their way towards the Williamsburg road by the shortest route. The darkness favored them and the fact that all the rebel soldiers whom they met were habited in the army coats of Uncle Sam, which they had stolen from the supplies sent to our prisoners by our Government, was of great help to them. Although they were attired in our army coats, as many of them had their haversacks, they found the national uniform a better disguise than if they had been provided with genuine rebel uniforms. In order to elude their pursuers whom they knew would soon be on their track, they scattered as much as possible. Many were their hardships and sufferings and frequent their narrow escapes from the rebel cavalry, who next morning were bushwhacking in every direction. Of the whole number escaping something less than thirty have come into our lines as yet. The rest were most likely recaptured. Gen. Butler however has sent out cavalry in all directions, in the hope of picking up and bringing in others who may be wandering about in the neighborhood of Fortress Monroe. There is one fact connected with this escape which deserves special mention. The prisoners unite in saying that they received the most uniform kindness from the negroes they met on their journey – those dusky beings in whose bosoms dough-face authority would have us believe there beats only a sentiment of profound esteem for the kind "Massas" and love for the "Confederacy." These negroes furnished them with food and gave them much information as ultimately enabled them to pass the rebel lines. When will the country at large learn that the black man is indeed and in truth the sincere friend of the cause of the Union and treat him accordingly? War News From a paragraph in the Richmond EXAMINDER we learn that Major White, late a member of the State Senate, has been placed in solitary confinement in Salisbury prison, N. C. for the humane treatment of Major Neber, of Gen. Morgan's command who was, it is charged, placed in a dark cell for writing a letter to some person in the confederacy in which he took the high ground that no matter whether they suffered a life-long imprisonment or die in prison, the confederate government should preserve its integrity of principle and never recognize negroes as soldiers and prisoners of war. Casting of a Twenty-Inch Rodman Gun This immense gun, the largest ever manufactured was successfully cast at Fort Pitt Foundry, Pittsburg, Pa., on the 11th inst. The weight of the metal was 180,000 pounds and the molds were filled in twenty-five minutes from the tapping of the furnaces. The gun will weigh 115,000 pounds when finished, the total length being over twenty feet, three inches, and that of the bore seventeen and a half feet. The maximum diameter will be sixty-four inches; the minimum thirty-four inches. The projectile used by this monster will be a 20 inch solid shot, 1,000 pounds weight or a shell of 775 pounds. The charge of the powder will weigh from sixty-five to eighty pounds. Preparations for manufacturing this gun were commenced as long ago as May last and the furnaces, cranes, buildings, and other appliances had to be constructed specially. The mold consisted of a flask made in four pieces, bolted and clamped together and weighing twenty-eight tons, inside of which was ten tons of sand, placed between the wooden pattern of the gun and the flask. This sand being firmly rammed down, the wooden pattern was withdrawn and the inner surface of the sand smoothed over and washed with a coating of ground coal, after which the mold was baked in the furnace. The flask and mold, being ready, were placed in a pit twenty- eight feet and a half deep at the bottom of which was a sort of grating, upon which a fire was built, so as to keep the mold very hot during the casting. Two immense cranes, each of the capacity of forty tons were used to lift the gun and the lathe made expressly to finish it is sixty feet long, costing nearly $15,000. The gun will be hung upon trunnions placed over the center of gravity, rendering its handling much easier than when supported near the breech. The outlay in manufacturing it is $3,000. The whole process of casting was accomplished in the most satisfactory manner without accident or delay of any kind, in the presence of a large number of officers and others, and the gun will be mounted probably within three months in the Narrows, below Fort Hamilton, in this harbor. Sixteen men will be able to manage it and the cost of a single discharge will be seventy-five dollars. The range is not yet ascertained but it is expected to equal that of the 15-inch guns. The design is, however, not so much to produce a long range piece as to construct one that will have enormous destructive powers. Panic Arrangements – Advertisement Sugar Kettles 10 to 40 cents Copper Kettles 3 quarts to 40 gallons Tinware All sorts and kinds Sheet Iron Ware Every variety Zinc Washboards for 25 cents, worth 37 cents Sad Irons or Smoothing Irons – all sizes and best quality, 5 to 6¼ cts. Per lb. Cooking Stoves Trimmed complete with baking arrangements, $8 to $23 Egg Stoves $4.50 to $13.00 Heating Cook Stoves $3.00 to $8.00 Bradley Cooking Stoves, Patent; Graff & Co.; Mitchell Herron & Co.; Abbot & Noble; A. J. Gallagher's and every other Pittsburg or Philadelphia manufacturer's. Stove always on hand or procured on 5 days' notice. Odd Plates and Grates for Stoves always on hand. Carbon Oil Lamps, 62 cents to $1.25 Chimneys and Wicks for Lamps always on hand Spouting: Best Quality, put up and Painted at 10 cent per foot. No extra charge for Elbows. Miner's Lamps, Oil Cans, Powder Cans, all sizes constantly on hand Coffee Mills, 37 cents to $1.25 Toasting Forks Oyster Broilers Jelly Cake Moulds Table and Tea Spoons Coal Buckets, 25½ cts. to $5.00 The above good will be furnished Wholesale or Retail at the Johnstown Stove & House Furnishing Store Canal Street Opposite the Weigh Lock Ask for Frank W. Hay's Warehouse and save twenty per cent on your purchases Either for Cash or Scrip