Fred. Douglas, the black speaker, gave a lecture on Wednesday evening before the local literary society in the Choral Hall. The lecture was very good and the meeting well attended.
Mr. Z. Moss, the colored barber on Pearl Street, normally a very peaceful and calm man, wanted to give himself on Tuesday evening the pleasure of a buggy ride. While turning around at the corner of 2nd and Main Street the carriage lost its balance and Mr. Moss was without ceremony dumped on his head. We've heard that he only hurt his hip and limped back to his barbershop.
One evening last week our neighbor on the left side, the saloon owner Tim O'Brien, had his laundry stolen off the clothesline, his wife having left them hanging overnight in the courtyard. Our clever police discovered the robbery quickly and also the thief or thieves. It was a pair of black kids 15 and 16 years old who had stolen the washing and brought it to another black family named Matthews who live on the prairie. During the house search the items were found and all of the participants were brought in front of His Honor Police Judge Hubbard, who undertook a hearing to establish the facts. After talking back and forth, the kids admitted to the robbery, but the receivers of the stolen goods tried to deny it, and they were fined $25, which they paid. The boys received a couple of week's free board in the county jail. As the judge asked the older of the two boys about the reasons for the theft, the boy answered after very little thought: "he did it to show the victim that it was really a stupid habit to leave the laundry overnight on the line!"