Welsh of Harpers Ferry

Evidence Category: Alexandria Gazette

  • Ice Sinks Skiff In Potomac; 3 dead.

    LOST CROSSING RIVER.

    Huge Cake of Ice Sinks Skiff in Potomac.

    Harper’s Ferry, W. Va., Jan. 24– Three men were drowned early yesterday morning below Knott’s Island while crossing the Potomac river to their work at the Bakerton quarries.

    They were William S. Grimm; his son, Raymond Grimm, and Richard Shaw, all of Dargan, Md.

    There were about a dozen men in the party, who, with lanterns, were lighting their way to their way to their work. When they came to the river, where they had skiffs on which to cross, the victims, with another son of William Grimm’s, Jess, who was rescued, were the first to push out in their boat. 

    The channel had frozen during the night and the men used a long pole with which to break the ice and pull the boat along. Five men in a second boat followed directly after the first. When the boats were midstream, where there is an eddy that never freezes, a huge cake of ice bore down upon them, sinking the first boat and crushing in the side of the boat behind.

    Jess Grimm was in the rear of the boat that was sunk and was rescued by those in the boat following. The men left on the bank jumped into their skiffs and rescued those in the damaged boat, who were working desperately to keep afloat by bailing.

  • Henry Brown arrested for attempted assault of Mrs. W. Shiffler.

    ATTACKED BY A NEGRO.

    Henry Brown, colored, was arrested in Martinsburg, W. Va. Friday night on information furnished by the officials of Page county, Va., for an alleged attempt to criminally assault Mrs. William Shiffler, a young white woman, residing two miles from Shenandoah City. The attempted assault occurred on February 28 at the home of a colored woman, about a half-mile from the residence of Mrs. Shiffler. The latter had gone to the home of the colored women to purchase some sauerkraut, and Brown followed and attacked her while the colored woman was in the cellar. The colored woman, attracted by the screams of Mrs. Shiffler, hastened to her assistance and the two woman succeeded in beating Brown off. Brown fled, pursued by a posse of infuriated farmers. He worked in the stone quarries at Bakerton, Jefferson county, until Thursday, when he went to Martinsburg.

    The sheriff of Page county, Va., arrived at Martinsburg Saturday and took Brown back to the scene of his crime. Page county officials say that Brown served a term of four years in the Virginia penitentiary for a similar offense, and that the assault upon Mrs. Shiffler was the second he had committed upon white women since his release from the penitentiary.

  • Servant Burns Engle Home

    THE DEVILISH DEED OF A COLORED GIRL.— About three years ago Mr. Jesse A. Engle, the teacher of the public school at Bakerton, W. Va., built himself a handsome dwelling house on a beautiful site overlooking the Potomac at Rattling Spring, between Bakerton and Harper’s Ferry. Last Friday afternoon the dwelling was set afire by a colored servant girl and completely destroyed. A couple of months ago Mr. Engle got the girl, who was fourteen years old, from an institution at Washington. She became dissatisfied and wanted to return to Washington, but was not allowed to do so. On Friday afternoon Mrs. Engle saw the girl coming down the stairs with a box of matches in her hand. Her suspicions were aroused and she ran up stairs. She found that a fire had been kindled in the garret and had gained so much headway she could do nothing to save the house. An alarm was given, causing the neighbors to hastily gather, and a large part of the furniture was saved. The dwelling, however, was burned to the ground, together with Mr. Engle’s supply of bacon, a lot of corn that was stored in a room over the kitchen, and some other articles. In the meantime the girl had stolen away. She went to Harper’s Ferry, with the intention of taking a train for Washington, but was arrested there Saturday and taken to jail at Charlestown. – Shepherdstown Register.

  • C&O Canal from Harpers Ferry to Shenandoah Lock to be opened.

    Public Notice.
    IS hereby given that the navigation through the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, from the head of the Harper’s Ferry Falls to the Shenandoah Lock, will be opened for the passage of boats, rafts, &c. on the first day of October next.

    By this arrangement, the navigation of the Potomac, which has been for some time interrupted at this point, will be transferred to the Canal, and boats will be enabled to pass the Harper’s Ferry Falls, and resume the river navigation above and below them as formerly.

    It is confidently expected that in less than two weeks after the admission of the water, as above noticed, the whole extent of the navigation from Harper’s Ferry to the Basin between Georgetown and Washington City, will be opened to the public; of which timely notice will be given.

    ALFRED CRUGER, Engineer.
    Harper’s Ferry, September 23, 1833.
    oct 1–3w

  • Canal navigable within the month.

    The distance of Williamsport above Harper’s Ferry, by the Canal line, is about forty miles.– Up to Harper’s Ferry, the Canal is expected to be made navigable within the month which begins this day, or, at farthest, in the early part of next month; and by the next Spring, it now appears, the Canal will have been opened and made navigable forty-eight miles further– in all, about one hundred and eight miles from Georgetown, or one hundred and ten miles from the Capitol of the United States, near the foot of which the City Canal passes on its way to the Anacostia (or Eastern Branch) River. Prosper the noble work! — Nat. Int.

  • Cholera Surrounding Harpers Ferry

    THE CHOLERA.
    Health of the City.– The deaths in this city last week were only SEVENTEEN, one of which was of malignant Cholera.– Boston Gaz.
    —

    In another column we publish the weekly report, which has been so anxiously looked for, since the Board of Health have ceased to make a daily report: it shows, conclusively, that the thousand alarming rumors in relation to the health of the city circulated a few days past are altogether unfounded. The total deaths for the week ending on Saturday last, at 3 A.M. are 324, of which 138 were by malignant Cholera. Let us look a little more narrowly into the report. The following is a statement of the interments for the first four days of last week, viz:
    On Sunday 26th, August 45 by Cholera 25
    On Monday, 27th ” 65 do 15
    On Tuesday, 28th ” 42 do 15
    On Wednes. 29th ” 38 do 18
    On Thursday, 30th ” average 45 do 15
    On Friday, 31st ” average 45 do 15
    On Saturday, Sept. 1st average 54 do 15
    Total Inspector’s Report [total deaths] 324 [total deaths cholera [138]

    To show the state of the health of the city since Cholera first appeared among us, we make the following recapitulation of the city Inspector’s weekly reports:

    For the week end’g 14th July 510, of Cholera 336.
    ” ” 21st ” 887 do 716
    ” ” 28th ” 879 do 689
    ” ” 4th Aug. 580 do 383
    ” ” 11th ” 467 do 281
    ” ” 18th ” 444 do 222
    ” ” 25th ” 391 do 178
    ” ” 1st Sept. 324 do 138
    Total deaths in 8 weeks. 4482, of Chol. 2943
    [New York Mercantile.]
    —

    BALTIMORE, Sept. 5.
    The Board of Health report 21 deaths by Cholera, for the 24 hours ending at 10 o’clock this morning, — 9 white, and 12 colored persons.
    —
    WASHINGTON, Sept. 6.
    Report of Cholera cases by the Board of Health for the 24 hours, ending at noon on Wednesday:

    Central Hospital.
    NEW CASES.
    7 white men, intemperate
    5 do do temperate
    Total, 12– Deaths 5.
    Remaining from last report 11. Cured 1
    Foreigners: English 1, Dutch 6, French 1, Irish 4.

    Western Hospital.
    1 white man, intemperate
    1 do woman, do

    Eastern Hospital.
    1 white man, intemperate
    1 colored do do— 1 death

    Private Practice.
    New cases: 22 white, 9 colored. Total 30; deaths. 5
    TOTAL: New Cases: 46 — Deaths 11.
    —

    Extract of a letter to the Editors of the National Intelligencer, dated
    LEESBURG, (Va.) Sept. 3, 1832.
    “The reports of the existence of the Cholera, and of its mortality along the line of the Canal are greatly exaggerated. On Monday last the four sections (12 miles) immediately above the Point of Rocks, afforded, out of 266 men, but two cases of indisposition, and those were of the most ordinary bilious fever. From thence to the head of Harper’s Ferry falls (14 miles) all the contractors and laborers were in good health, except that a single death had occurred on that day, of a person who had been taken sick in church, at Harper’s Ferry, the day (Sunday) preceeding. On my return there, last Saturday, it had been ascertained that this was a case of cholera; and in the interim fourteen deaths had occurred on the three sections at, or immediately above, and below the bridge. All these cases were of the prevailing epidemic, it is now confidently believed; but till Saturday, the disease was confined to the shanties on these sections.– On that day the driver of the hearse, which took the dead to their graves, was himself taken, and yesterday (Sunday) he died. The Priest who attended to the sick and the dying was also taken, but was much relieved on being immediately bled. Finally, one of the Physicians was seized with the disorder early on Sunday, and I left him ill. As I came down the line, through the infected sections, I found no case of any disease whatever, and many of the laborers still remained, and some were in a state of apparent intoxication. The alarm produced by the mortality, (for all had died who were taken except the Priest and Physician, remaining at the town across the bridge,) had spread some distance below; and the Contractor of the entrance at the defile of Harper’s Ferry falls, who told me he had neither lost a hand nor had one sick since he had been at work on the line, had discharged his hands, and left the line of the canal with his family for Chambersburg. On reaching the sections immediately above Point of Rocks, ten miles below the place to which I have adverted, I found the reports from Harper’s Ferry greatly magnified; and learnt that, on the preceding day, two cases of Cholera, both terminating fatally had occurred on the section next the Point.

    “On the intermediate sections, and on those above the Harper’s Ferry falls, uncommonly good health prevailed, throughout the line of the canal, where probably fifteen hundred persons were at work during the last week.

    “From the facts which I gathered, my own belief is, that the disease is not contagious; that it is an endemic, which fastens on those predisposed to its influence; and that after death, the air of the confined apartments of the diseased becomes contaminated, so that those whose constitutions had before resisted the malady, become obnoxious to its influence. Even this effect may be prevented by proper guards. A young gentleman, one of the assistant engineers on the line of canal, whose office was at Harper’s Ferry, with an intrepid benevolence worthy of all praise, nursed and comforted the dying, and laid out, it may be said, the deceased for interment, when no pious hand was stretched out by others for their relief. He used the spirits of camphor freely during these sad, but to others seemingly dangerous offices; and not only escaped unhurt, but has never been in better health during his four years service on the canal. It should not offend his delicacy to say, that he is of Connecticut, a graduate of New Haven, Mr. Charles B. Fisk. He informed me that the general health of the valley of the Potomac had, within his knowledge, never been so good as during the present autumn. In a few days, it is to be hoped, that the labor on the deserted sections may be safely resumed, after which, by the provision of comfortable quarters and proper nurses for the sick, the laborers will be sure of being properly taken care of, if the disease returns; and by ceasing to be fatal, it will lose nearly all its terrors for the living. This provision, both policy and humanity require from the Canal Company and its Officers.”

  • Harpers Ferry to Lynch’s Farm under contract (canal).

    The Canal Contracts.– We are enabled to state (says the Williamsport Banner) that the letting of the canal contracts closed on Thursday last, and that the whole distance between Harper’s Ferry and Samuel Lynch’s farm, including the great dam, has been placed under contract, which, when fulfilled, will complete the navigation to the mouth of the Opequon. Joseph Hollamn, Esq. of this town, has obtained the contract for the construction of the dam at Galloway’s Mill.

  • 150 Hands At Harpers Ferry Canal

    The Canal.– We are glad to see the work up on teh Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, progressing so rapidly.– There are now engaged, near Harpers Ferry, probably not less than 150 hands– the excavations are in brisk progress, and the preparations for the locks and dams are going on quite actively. In another year we hope to see the boats plying cheerly along the magnificent scenery of the mountains.– Virginia Free Press

  • Canal Company Receiving Proposals Near Harpers Ferry

    Office of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company.
    WASHINGTON, January 9, 1832.

    Proposals will be received at this Office as follows.

    1st For the construction of a Dam across the Potomac River near “Harper’s Ferry,” and for the construction of a Stone Aqueduct across Catoctin Creek, until the 31st day of January instant

    2nd For the excavation, embankment, and walling of twelve miles of Canal, extending from the 84th section of the Canal near to the “Point of Rocks,” to Harper’s Ferry, in sections of about half a mile each, and for the construction of four Stone Lift Locks and one Guard Lock, and several Culverts on the same portion of Canal, until the 17th day of February next.

    3d For the excavation embankment, and walling of forty miles of Canal, extending from Harper’s Ferry to Williamsport, and for the construction of the necessary Locks, Aqueducts, Culverts, and Dams, until the 30th day of March next.

    The plan and specification of the Dam and Aqueduct will be exhibited after the 15th instant, and the contracts will be declared at the Canal Office in this City, on the 1st day of February next.

    The plan and specification of the other work below Harper’s Ferry, will be exhibited at the Canal Office after the 28th instant, and the contract will be declared at Harper’s Ferry on the 23d day of February next.

    The plan and specification of the work between Harper’s Ferry and Williamsport will be exhibited at the Canal Office after the 10th day of March next and the contracts will be declared at Shepherdstown, in Virginia, on the 4th day of April following.

    Blank forms of proposals will be furnished, on application to this Office.
    JOHN P. INGLE,
    Clerk of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Co.
    jan 12–eo28thFeb

  • Opinion of the C&O Canal

    From the Harper’s Ferry Free Press.
    CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL.

    Mr. Gallaher:– From present appearances, I am led to fear for the reputation of this great work Its enemies are busily engaged in circulating reports derogatory to its character and the interest of those concerned. Feeling well assured of the immense benefit of a water communication from the interior to the waters of the Atlantic, I would suggest, for the consideration of the community, the propriety of constructing a slackwater navigation from the Point of Rocks until the Canal passes the parts contested for by the Rail Road Company. Indeed, I am led to hhe believe that a slack-water navigation would be the most beneficial to the public, and much less expensive to the Canal Company, than any other mode of improvement. The fall from Harpers Ferry to the Point of Rocks, is, (agreeable to the best of my recollection,) about 30 ft. and by dams, locks, &c. can be made perfectly safe for the passage of boats either ascending or descending at any stage of the river; and there-by evade the immense expense of excavation of rock and the formation of embankments, which must occur if a Canal is built independently of the river. It would also do away the danger and delay subject to an independent Canal, from breaks, &c. &c.

    If you think the foregoing remarks worthy of the attention to the public, you are at liberty to publish them. Yours, CLINTON, Jr.