ITEMS BY THE MAIL,

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1762, 28 March 1874, Page 2

ITEMS BY THE MAIL,

An amusing exposure of spiritualistic humbugTis made by: Viscount Amberley in the current number of the "Fortnightly Review." .... He : attended a secwice at the .' r ¥ous(By''ofy.Mr' v 'Forßterj a noted 'medium in New York; aud'' thus describes what occurred : — " Spirits appeared readily enough, but all.. their answers %vere utterly and absurdly wrong! 1 ' Nay, I was even favored with a visit frqnvthe • spirit ..of a heroine of fiction, for having ,_ written down, the name of a deceased' | ' relation and bf Diana Vernoh. [ K was *' the latter 'who appeared,' and who rwas . V stated by Mr'Forster to be quite ready to . ;> communicate." The Viscount adds that ••' "during all the )sewnce,- that, eminent medium was, endeavoring to. guess .afe our past historics — what relations we had lost, what country we were rpf, and so forth ; and had any of his very 'numerous guesses been right, had wer.betrayed' emotion at the presence of anjTohe of the spirits he saw, he would have gone ( on, guided' by : . - our interest to further particulars about "'1 them" . :; .. ; , ..... ...;.; : . .., ;i A remarkably " muscular Christian" is at the present time living at Providence, Rhode Jsland. His muscular powers, according to the Provideiice Star; are quite '' "■■ as prodigous as those possessed by hint' '■' "who in olden times bore off on his>: ;; shoulders the "gates 'of "Gaza." When a youth he 1 was wont r to shoulder, a- barrel; of flour with his feet inside of a peck measure;— On one occasion, on Stevens's. wharf, as the! result of a banter that she;- / could not shoulder an anchor weighing 5501 b, he raised it to his shoulders, carried it through another wharf, then ascended the step 3of the United States Hotel, bore . , it in triumph through that establishment^- ', and finally brought it back to Stevens's , J wharf, where he deposited it in the scale for weighing^ The whole distance he traversed with the anchor on his back was 400 yards, and the feat was considered so marvellous that it was placed on the town, record, where it ; may now be; seenby [; the. incredulous. On another occasion a dozen men were- tugging at a hogshead of molasses lying on its bilge, endeavoring to , , place it on end, when " he qrdered them, aside, and lifted; it as though .it were' a f feather. Though now 57 year's old^. he, IS;' ready at any time on a wage,r to lift to his shoulder a barrel of. fjburr ; -This powerful gentleman is at ppesent an '-'Qut-and-out ""i teetotaler," but in • old' ; daya was very * much the,reverse. He has been known.,-,, toißtand at the bar of the old Park House I; and drink 32 glasses of spirituous liquids " without once turning round." : On one occasion,; in company with a friend, he . made "a night of it," sitting down to half a barrel- of beer, all of which tie con- . slimed before the morning. Yet ho person ,' ; ever saw him in the gutter, or even stagger^' ' ' from the effects of his . mighty potation's. . It was his boast that, in the 'days of his youth, "he could outdrink any man-in- ■ Rhode Island. : • 7 Tip telegraph from Para, Pernambuco, and Bahia, to Rio, has been successfully/ laid. Its inauguration was celebrated oh x the 23rd of December, • in: the presence of the Emperor of Brazil. It will be somewhat startling to. ordi: nary humanity,, which is usually content - to commence its class'cal studies between ten and twelve years of age, to §nd that Mr J. S.. M.ill's study of Greek began at - the mature age of three. When his* eighth I birthday came . round he had read all*-' Herqtodiis, and the greater 1 part of i^eno^ ) phon, I^uqian, and Plato } and had, be* sides, begun the study of Ilatiri' and English literature.,. .Between his eleventh and twelfth year tie wrote, a history of ttie Roman Constitution which wbmd J ha v&' filled an octavb ■volume, and ' r aa'-ih this production he ardently defended the Agrarian Laws and the' Plebeian partypwe-can — see that the democratic, tendencies he exhibited during his political career were as much the result of his training and his :' early surroundings, as of his own inde- A pendent thought/- : ' Since Mr Hawkins has been. engaged in his reply 'oh the Tichborhe casej large crowds of sympathisers with the i Claims .-; ant have assembled outside the court to » hiss him. Inspector Denning, took the best precautions that lay in his^poweron January 16 to prevent a repetition of the scene. At various points-^close to the Deauery, Westminster, next: to , ; Storey's Gate,. St. James's P.ark, and in the new foreign' Qffice buildings, now facing Parliament street— reserved men were placed^ ready to act in ci^se o\ emergencjvbut sooner had he done so than louxl cries of " Hawkins j Hawkins !" were heard \ attd -' then the people, who had been Btaring for the loarned ; gentleman in an opposite direction, took up the cry, and rushed along over the graces by the side of Westminster Abbey. With admirable discipline the police constables stationed

at various points ran to Mr Hawkins, who was at the time moving rapidly along, and he was well surrounded by them. In their headlong rush the crowd, which had *t first recognised the learned gentleman found themselves at the Westminster School Monument before they knew; that the learned leader for the Crown had been placed safely in a cab by Inspector Denning, and was being rapidly driven along Victoria street, the cab for some distance being almost surrounded by some twenty constables ruuuing by its side and behind it. Four arrests were made of young men who were charged with inciting to a breach of the peace. Several people had bloody mouths and noses from blows by the police ; and it was long after half-past four before the excitement at Westminster cooled down.