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Valley Spirit: January 15, 1868 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

The Bolters Brought to Terms
(Column 01)

Summary: The state legislature met recently. A radical majority controls the lawmaking body. Nine "incorruptible patriots" bolted the chamber upon nomination of Elisha B. Davis of Philadelphia as speaker, but later swung into line and supported his nomination.

Geary Snubbed
(Column 01)

Summary: The State Convention of the "Boys in Blue" overwhelmingly elected Andrew Curtin for Vice President over Geary. "Like republics, soldiers are ungrateful. The valiant warrior has been set aside, snubbed by his gallant comrades, to give place to a man who never smelled powder upon the battlefield."

Losses of the Border Counties
(Column 02)

Summary: The newspaper demands that the legislative representative of Franklin County get the legislature to issue damage payments for those who suffered losses from Confederate raids. The editors call on the people of the county to agitate for the same. They Repeatedly stress the loyalty and sacrifice of the people of the county and that reparation payments are not only fair but just.

Full Text of Article:

We call the attention of our representative in the Legislature to the article which we publish to-day, taken from the Valley Sentinel, entitled "The War--What the Government should do--What the People Want." We know that he has the disposition to do everything in his power towards procuring some remuneration for the losses which the people of the border counties have sustained by the war. We call upon him to agitate the subject. There is a duty incumbent upon the representatives of the border counties, and that is, to keep before the people of the Commonwealth, until their mouths are stopped by payment, the fact that this section of the State was overrun, and its inhabitants plundered for the sole reason that it was most accessible to the enemy. The raids that were made upon us, the invasion, and the terrible conflagration which laid Chambersburg in ashes, have impoverished many of our citizens, and imposed loads of debt upon others, under which they will stagger into their graves. Our misfortunes and calamity were the salvation of the rest of the State. Surely, there ought to be a general disposition to appropriate money to relieve us of our burdens.

And, notwithstanding our misfortunes and losses, our people paid their share of taxation without a murmur. They contributed their fall quotas of men to the ranks of the Army. They were "loyal" to the government of the United States. They did not falter in their allegiance to the State. The State owed them protection. It did not, or could not extend it. Ought it not, now, out of the common treasury, eagerly pay the losses sustained by reason of its failure, whether owing to neglect or inability, to afford us the requisite protection? this subject demands agitation, AGITATION, AGITATION! Let our representative put the ball in motion.

Radical Desperation
(Column 03)

Summary: Outlines and denounces the recent move by Radicals to transfer the power to remove district commanders from President Johnson to General Grant. The paper also abhors a bill prepared by the Judiciary Committee to require a 2/3 majority by the Supreme Court to pass decisions on reconstruction bills. The editor considers both these moves infamous and desperate schemes to keep Radicals in power by usurping proper government protocol.

Full Text of Article:

The Radicals are becoming more desperate every day. They seem determined to strain the patience of the people to its utmost limit. Wherever they discover a weak place in their infamous reconstruction bills, they set themselves to work to bolster it up. Their whole reconstruction scheme has in this way become a patched up job. They are now bent on taking the power of removal of the district commanders from the President and lodging it in General Grant. The Constitution makes the President, by virtue of his office, commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, but a bill has just been introduced into the House which, if passed, will rob him of all authority over his subordinates and leave them free to overturn republican governments as fast as they please and erect military despotisms upon their ruins.

And this bill not only seeks to rob the President of this his rightful power, but in one sentence, it wipes out all the civil governments now existing in the late rebel states. It refuses to recognize them as valid and legal and seeks not only to usurp the province of the Judiciary, but to subordinate that co-ordinate branch of the government to it, by declaring that the Judiciary shall not recognize them as legal.--Could fanaticism go further? yes, strange as it may seem it can.

Cases are now pending before the Supreme Court of the United States which involve the constitutionality of the reconstruction laws passed by Congress. Rumors are afloat that that high body is likely to frustrate the whole infamous scheme of the Radicals by declaring their reconstruction laws unconstitutional. So nervous and fearful have they become under the operation of these reports, that a telegram to a Radical paper informs us, that the Judiciary Committee is preparing a bill which provides that two thirds of all the Judges of the Supreme Court shall be necessary to render a decision, instead of a bare majority as the law, as it now stands, requires. These men are bold and bad enough to upset our whole system of government in order to accomplish their nefarious objects which the people have branded with the seal of their condemnation. To them, written constitutions solemnly enacted laws, time honored customs and republican institutions are nothing. They respect not the rights of the coordinate departments of our government.--They would infringe upon the authority of the Executive and the Judiciary. Nay more, they are confessedly "acting outside of the Constitution.

Forbearance will ere long cease to be a virtue, and these revolutionary designs, if persisted in, must be met by a majestic uprising of the people in behalf of popular government.

The Governor's Message
(Column 03)

Summary: The paper comments on the governor's "exceptional" confession of radical corruption in the state legislature.

The War--What the Government Should Do--What the People Want
(Column 04)

Summary: Article calling for the entire nation to share in the expense of paying for losses sustained in the war in both the North and the South.

Origin of Article: Valley Sentinel

Festival
(Column 01)

Summary: The Fayetteville Union Sabbath School will hold a festival in Fayetteville's Town Hall to raise money for a library.

Hotel Sold
(Column 01)

Summary: William Rupert of Fayetteville purchased Chambersburg's Washington House from Jacob Sellers for $12,000.
(Names in announcement: William Rupert, Jacob Sellers)

Lectures by Dr. Talmage
(Column 01)

Summary: Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage of Philadelphia lectured in Chambersburg's Repository Hall to raise money to benefit the Baptist Church. His lecture on "the Grumbler" proved "a delicious treat." Attendance was so low, however, that no money was raised.

Graeffenberg Springs Sold
(Column 01)

Summary: Samuel Secrist of Quincy purchased the popular "watering place" ten miles east of Chambersburg from Daniel Miller. Graeffenberg Springs is "a very desirable place of resort during the Summer months. The wild romantic scenery, its proximity to the mountains, the excellent properties of its water, the beautiful stream winding its way through the mountain filled with speckled trout--all these would certainly attract numerous visitors if they could be assured that they would be made comfortable when in-doors."
(Names in announcement: Samuel Secrist, Daniel Miller)

Horse Thieves About
(Column 02)

Summary: A horse was stolen from the stable of Lawrence Berger of Hamilton.
(Names in announcement: Lawrence Berger)

Chambersburg Manufacturing and Building Association
(Column 02)

Summary: The Chambersburg Manufacturing and Building Association, which employs "about fifteen hands" and plans to increase that number to "twenty or twenty five," elected officers at its most recent meeting.
(Names in announcement: Samuel Myers, Henry Shepler, W. F. Eyster, Michael Ebersole, Calvin Gilbert, Thomas Carlisle)

Lectures for the Poor
(Column 02)

Summary: Rev. S. H. C. Smith delivered a lecture at the Court House to raise money to benefit the poor. "The lecturer dwelt upon the duties of the community in the way of general benevolence, referring eloquently and pointedly to duties very frequently overlooked." The Chambersburg Coronet Band also performed. $63.56 was raised and entrusted to treasurer Jacob S. Nixon to apply to "the wants of the poor and suffering." Irving Magee will give the next lecture in the series.
(Names in announcement: Rev. S. H. C. Smith, Jacob S. Nixon, Irving Magee)

Married
(Column 02)

Summary: John A. Rebuck and Miss Mary Jane Eckenrode, both of Shippensburg, were married on January 1st by the Rev. J. Hassler.
(Names in announcement: John A. Rebuck, Mary Jane Eckenrode, Rev. J. Hassler)

Married
(Column 02)

Summary: Aaron F. Snoer and Miss Sarah Shoemaker, both of Lurgan, were married on December 26th by the Rev. J. Halfleigh.
(Names in announcement: Aaron F. Snoer, Sarah Shoemaker, Rev. J. Halfleigh)

Married
(Column 02)

Summary: Jacob Wetzel, of Franklin County, and Miss Elizabeth Baylor of Adams, were married in Waynesboro on December 26th by the Rev. H. Stonehouse.
(Names in announcement: Jacob Wetzel, Elizabeth Baylor, Rev. H. Stonehouse)

Married
(Column 02)

Summary: George Hocklander and Mrs. Isabella Finaprock, both of Antrim, were married on January 2nd by the Rev. W. F. Eyster.
(Names in announcement: George Hocklander, Isabella Finaprock, Rev. W. F. Eyster)

Married
(Column 02)

Summary: J. Frank Rhodes and Miss Mellie J. Holliday, daughter of Samuel Holliday, were married on January 8th by the Rev. William A. West. All hail from Dry Run.
(Names in announcement: J. Frank Rhodes, Mellie J. Holliday, Samuel Holliday, William A. West)

Died
(Column 02)

Summary: John M. C. Mills, aged 51 years, died in Shady Grove on January 1st.
(Names in announcement: John M. C. Mills)

Died
(Column 02)

Summary: Henry Grove died at age 45 on December 27th in Shady Grove.
(Names in announcement: Henry Grove)

Died
(Column 02)

Summary: Philip Overcash died in his residence near the Canebrake School House on January 6th. He was 84 years old.
(Names in announcement: Philip Overcash)

Died
(Column 02)

Summary: William W. Weaver of Chambersburg died on Januray 6th at age 22.
(Names in announcement: William W. Weaver)

Died
(Column 02)

Summary: Jane Palmer died in Chambersburg on January 9th. She was 54 years old.
(Names in announcement: Jane Palmer)

Died
(Column 02)

Summary: John N. Rhoades, son of Benjamin and Mary Rhoades, died in Chambersburg on December 31st. He was 13 years old. "Why weep for our little Johnny, that he's laid in the tomb?/Why weep that he's gone to a happier land?/Tis true that the flower was cut ere its bloom,/But still it will grow in a pleasanter strand./Why weep for our friend in the blue vault of heaven/On snowy white wings ever more will he move,/The giver has given but what he had given,/He's nestled him to his bosom in love."
(Names in announcement: John N. Rhoades, Benjamin Rhoades, Mary Rhoades)