BLOWN OFF THE MAP.

ON THE lht 01? APRIL. A despatch to the New York Herald from Pittsburg, dated 2nd April, says : —Credulous Pittsburg was alarmed yesterday 'by a report from the Pacific coast in which it was declared that San Francisco had been blown off the map by a Japanese fleet, Oakland had been levelled, some American vessels had been sunk just outside the entrance to the Golden Gate, and that gigantic aerial monsters were ciossing the Rockies, hurling bombs on the earth below and leaving devastation and ruin in their wake. The report reached Pittsburg about 2 o'clock through the medium of the early edition of a facetious afternoon newspaper which appeared on the street with flaring red headlines telling of the invasion. Within half an hour after the "news" appeared upon the streets the down-town thoioughiares were black with people. Ihe street in front of the publication office of the paper was one seething mass of humanity, fighting and struggling to get wit/Tin reading distance of the bulletin boards. "Roosevelt is Hurrying Back," the second bulletin read. "Seized the Hamburg, Deposed the Captain and Took Command. Turned Ship's Prow, Vessel now Headed for the United States and Will Bring Help. Flurry at Capital." So great had the crowd become at this lime that extra police had been called to keep order. Men clawed at each other, tore clothes and fought. To make matters worse, one lone Chinaman sauntered down the street. He was not a Japanese, but he was yellow, aud the mob was in a mood to vent its spite. But John Chinaman saw them coming and he is possibly running yet. George Cole, one of the city detectives, took the matter so seriously that he started the formation of a volunteer military company among the members of the police force. Then the repetition of the date, Ist April, in the bulletins struck the crowd and gradually the war cloud dissipated, leaving the same old pall of smoke over the Smoky City. V __