The offices are closed, to-day, in honor of Washington's birth-day. But it is a fast day; meal selling for $40 per bushel. Money will not be so abundant a month hence! All my turnip-greens were killed by the frost. The mercury was, on Friday, 5° above zero; to-day it is 40°. Sowed a small bed of curled Savoy cabbage; and saved the early York in my half barrel hot-bed by bringing it into the parlor, where there was fire.
A letter from Lieut.-Col. R. A. Alston, Decatur, Ga., says Capt.—— ——, one of Gen. Morgan's secret agents, has just arrived there, after spending several months in the North, and reports that Lincoln cannot recruit his armies by draft, or any other mode, unless they achieve some signal success in the spring campaign. He says, moreover, that there is a perfect organization, all over the North, for the purpose of revolution and the expulsion or death of the Abolitionists and free negroes; and of this organization Generals ——, ——, and —— —— —— are the military leaders. Col. A. asks permission of the Secretary of War to go into Southern Illinois, where, he is confident, if he cannot contribute to precipitate civil war, he can, at least, bring out thousands of men who will fight for the Southern cause.
Dispatches from Gen. Lee show that nearly every regiment in his army has re-enlisted for the war.
The body guard of the President has been dispersed.
Here is the sequel to the history of the Jew whose goods brought such fabulous prices at auction a few weeks ago:
A Heavy Robbery — A former citizen of Richmond stripped of all his goods
and chattels.—A few weeks
ago, Mr. Lewis Hyman, who had for some years carried on a successful and
profitable trade in jewelry in the City of Richmond, disposed of his effects
with a view of quitting the Confederacy and finding a home in some land where
his services were less likely to be required in the tented field. Having
settled up his business affairs to his own satisfaction, he applied for and
obtained a passport from the Assistant Secretary of War, to enable him to pass
our lines. He first took the Southern route, hoping to run out from Wilmington
to Nassau; but delays occurring, he returned to Richmond. From this point he
went to Staunton, determined to make his exit from the country by the Valley
route. All went on smoothly enough until he had passed Woodstock, in Shenandoah
County. Between that point and Strasburg he was attacked by a band of robbers
and stripped of everything he possessed of value, embracing a heavy amount of
money and a large and valuable assortment of jewelry. We have heard his loss
estimated at from $175,000 to $200,000. His passport was not taken from him,
and after the robbery he was allowed to proceed on his journey—minus the
essential means of traveling. It is stated that some of the jewelry taken from
him has already made its appearance in the Richmond market.
P.
S.—Since writing the above, we have had an interview with Mr. Jacob Ezekiel,
who states that the party of Mr. Hyman consisted of Lewis Hyman, wife and
child, Madam Son and husband, and H. C. Ezekiel; and the presumption is that if
one was robbed, all shared the same fate. Mr. E. thinks that the amount in
possession of the whole party would not exceed $100,000. On Friday last two men
called upon Mr. Ezekiel, at his place of business in this city, and exhibited a
parchment, in Hebrew characters, which they represented was captured on a train
on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. This story, Mr. Ezekiel thinks, is
incorrect, from the fact that he received a letter from his son, then at
Woodstock, dated subsequent to the capture of the train on that road; and he is
satisfied that the articles shown him belonged to some of the parties above
mentioned.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 153
