MISCELLANEA.

Wanganui Herald, Volume III, Issue 510, 20 January 1869, Page 2

MISCELLANEA.

- The following lines on hippophagy come from the pen of that perennial joker, Mr Charles Matthews :—"lf horseflesh won't suffice to feed the masses, the next resource will certainly be asses; and heaven only knows where that will end, some people won't have left a single friend." —The Orchestra.

Imperial Troops.—lt would seem that England has not utterly cast off her wayward child, New Zealand, and contemplates, at all events, the possibility of rendering her some aid in her time of need, orders having been forwarded by the Imperial authorities at Auckland to have the Upper and Lower Mount Cook Barracks placed in a state of repair suitable for the accommodation of troops.- —Evening Post.

A pigeon flying race has taken place, in which twelve London pigeon fanciers agreed to fly a sweepstakes of one guinea each. The pigeons were tossed up at stipulated periods at intervals of five minutes, and on their arrival home were produced at Southwark bridge. The bird found to have accomplished the distance in the least time declared to be the winner. The quickest pigeon/ a blue skimim, the property of Mr H. Brooks, performed the route in two hours and six minutes, the second pigeon.occupied two hours and eleven minutes, and two other birds came the distance in two and a quarter hours. The distance is about eig-hty miles, and the winning pigeon must have flown at the rate of. one mile in one and a half minute. The weather was hazy and the air heavy to fly through, and a drizzling rain impeded the progress of the pigeons.

A Fearful Story of Grime and Depravity.—George Tinsley, alias Wash Stewart, ■of Walker County, Texas, has confessed that he murdered on the night of the 13th October, at Calhorm's Ferry, Charles Hall, ferryman, hi« wife, a stranger named Murray, and a little girl, sister to Mr Hairs wife. He says': << I first murdered Charles Hall while going from the cowpen to the ferry,, half way down the bank of the river, with a large hickory stick. His wife, attracted by the noise, ran to his assistance, and she met fhe same fate* as her husband. I then dragged both bodies into the river and started up the bank towards the house, and was met by a. stranger, who asked me if Mr Hall was at home, and if he could get some water. I.drew for him the water, and while he was drinking I struck him on the head with the same stick. I then went into, the house, and the little girl asked me where her sister and Mr Hall were. I told her they were at the ferry, and while she was going in that direction, at the corn^: of the stable, I also struck heiMph the same stick, and she fell dead*. ~ I then threw the stick under the hou*e, returned to where I killed the stimger, threw him into the well, c^P"ied the little girl over and threw her in also. I then robbed the house of everything worth carrying away —money, tobacco, bedclothing, &c.; then saddled up Hall's horse, tied on the tohacco, bedding, &c, and started with both Hall's and the stranger's horses for my father's, some twelve miles distant. Arriving home, my mother and her children assisted me in unpacking and carrying into the house the bedding, tobacco, &c ,; then staked out both horses and went to the house, where mother and Amy, my sister, cooked supper for me. Then went to bed. Got up Monday morning and assisted my father in gathering corn. I carried with me from the ferry Mr Hall's slut, and on Thursday following, my mother killed her with an axe. She also, assisted by my sister Laura, helped me to bury the bed-clothing and Mr Hall's saddle. I put the money, 3,244 dols., which I took out of Hall's .trunk, in a clothes box, and mother took it from there and buried it. On Tuesday evening 1., left home about sun-down, and mother took the money from where she had buried it, and gave to me 1.50 dols. I was finally arrested at Red Top, while packing cotton."