THE PORTLAND TRANSCRIPT, January 16,1875

                                                   MAINE MATTERS 
                                                     WASHINGTON
          Mr. N. M. Gardner, of Machias, deputy U. S. Marshal, died last week of the suicidal
     injuries inflicted one week previous. The cause was mental depression.
          The house of Benjamin White, Topsfield, was recently burnt while the family was
     absent for a short time. When they returned to get their supper the building was in ashes,
     and nothing was saved to them except what clothes they had on. The Calais Advertiser
     says that it probably caught from wood placed under the stove.
         
                                                             YORK
          Honorable J. H. Burleigh last week sent an open letter to the Secretary of the Navy,
     in which he replies to the denial of Com. Howell of certain statements made by him
     in a recent speech in  Congress. He re-affirms his original statement, gives his reasons
     for so long a time, and closes with this remark to the Secretary; I had the strongest
     regard for you personally and hoped we could sail in consort, but my experience in
     the navy yard and in the naval committee convince me that you were a more risky
     navigator than I care to follow."
          Biddeford has a last elected city treasurer. The Democrats not voting, James G.
     Garland was unanimously chosen.
         George Lee, of Bromfield, Mass., about 30 years old, committed suicide at Biddeford
     on Monday by cutting his throat with a jackknife.


          IN GENRAL.  Professor Morse say that there are probably not over 100 moose in
     Maine, where not long ago they were annually killed by the thousands. He thinks the
     species will become suddenly extinct, the conditions growing more and more unfavorable
     for it continuance. In his lecture last Saturday evening he alluded to the extinction of the
     race of giant lobster, on the coast of Maine. Fisher have thrown back the small lobster
     found in their traps, destroying only the large ones, till now the race of large lobsters
     is nearly extinct.
     The following patents have been issued to Maine inventors: J/ A. Knight, Auburn, map
     drawers and exhibitors; H. H. Harvey, Augusta, brush handles.