THE PORTLAND TRANSCRIPT, April 27,1867

                                                       MATTERS IN MAINE

          On Wednesday week, the skate and chisel factory of C. A. Williams & Co., at
     Skowhegan was destroyed by a fire caused by the carelessness of a workman who
     to enlarge the hole in  an alcohol barrel with a red hot poker!  Three of the female
     operatives were injured by the explosion that ensued, one of them very seriously,
     and the building was set on fire. Loss from $12,000 to $16,000; insured for $6,000.
     The Press, from which we gather these facts, says that one of the workman left his
     coat, in the pocket was a wallet containing $50.00, hanging up in the building, and
     after the fire the coat was found reduced to cinders, but the pocket, money and
     wallet were untouched.
          The Oxford Democrat gives the following singular case;
     Samuel B. Wing, aged about thirty, a soldier was wounded in the battle of
     Spottsylvania. His right arm was raised at the moment, and the ball entered near
     his elbow, passed up and entered the right lung where it lodged. Ten months
     after, he coughed up a piece of his blouse one inch by 1/2 in size; and a piece of
     the lining 1 1/8 by 3/4. Two years and nine months after, he raised a piece of bone
     3/4 by 1/8. He can feel the ball sometime in the lung now. He has not been able to go
     from his room since the wound until recently, but in now improving in health and
     gaining strength. He resides at North Turner.
          In Cornish on Thursday week, as we learn from the Press, the house, barn and
     out-buildings of Mr. William F. Allen, were destroyed by fire, together with twenty-
     four head of cattle, one horse, one colt, twelve sheep, fifteen lambs, a quantity of
     hay, corn and wheat, fifty bushels of oats, one hundred bushels of potatoes, twenty
     barrels of cider, wagon, sleigh and harness, and all the household goods, except two
     beds. Insured for $800.  Mr. Allen's neighbor generously came forward and purchased
     a barn which they removed to his place and raised some hundreds of dollars besides.
          The inmates of the Chelsea Military Asylum rebelled against General Everett,
     last week, because he punished one of their number for getting intoxicated and
     becoming boisterous. The General was obliged to send to the Augusta Arsenal for
     a guard, and has also sent to the War Department for a detachment of troops to
     protect the institution.
          The Shipbuilders Convention, held in this city last week, took measures to
     induce Congress to grant relief from the onerous taxation which weighs so heavily
     on this branch of industry. Honorable N. G. Hichborn was appointed agent to lay
     before Congress the grievances and burdens under which shipbuilders and owners
     now labor.
          The whole Board of Trustees of the State College of Agriculture and
     Mechanic Arts now stands as follows:
          Samuel P. Dyke, of Bath; Abner Coburn, of Skowhegan; Lyndon Oaks of
     Garland' Isaiah Stetson of Bangor; William Wingate of Bangor; Nathaniel
     Wilson of Orono; George P. Sewell, of Oldtown.
          The Sprague's have purchased additional land and other property at Augusta
     to the amount of more than $80,000. The whole amount of property purchased
     by them is nearly $150,000.  They now own nearly a mile on both sides of the
     river, embracing about 50 acres.
          A fire in Brunswick on Tuesday week, destroyed Campbell's stable, together
     with horses, carriages and harnesses. The stable and woodshed of Mrs. M. G.
     Merryman were also burned, and her house with that of J. Lufkin was considerably
     damaged. Loss $5,800; mostly covered by insurance.
          On the 27th ult., Ella J., a daughter of Nicholas Smith of Harmony, being left
     in charge of the house fell asleep in her chair near the stove, when her clothes took
     fire, and she was so severely burned that she survived but twelve hours. She was
    fifteen years old.
          On Saturday week, as we learn from the Belfast Age,  Mr.  Martin B.Hunt,
     of Belmont ate his dinner, in his usual health, pushed back his chair from the
     table, took up a newspaper, and almost immediately died, apparently without
     a struggle.
          The Lewiston Journal contains the following paragraph in its list of recent deaths:
          "Auburn-April 2nd, Mr. Cromwell P. Hunton, aged 54 years; February 16th John
     aged 7 years; March 22nd Lua E. (?) , aged 13 years; March 30 Herbert, aged 24
     years; children of Cromwell P. Hunton."
          Mr. M. Freeman, of Orrington, was attacked a few evening since  on the road by
     three men, who knocked him down, robbed him of a small sum of money, beat him
     severely and then left him for dead. His friends found him lying insensible in the road
     at three o'clock the next morning.
         The "Nutshell" is the title of a tiny sheet, edited by Eva Oaksmith and published by
     Jessic L. Thurston, of this city. The girls make a very pretty curtsey in the public, and
     say they expect some very polite bows in return.
         On Saturday 13th, as Stephen Hinkley, Esq., of Gorham, was standing in a wagon
     the horse suddenly stared, throwing Mr. Hinkley on the tailboard of the vehicle, and
     injuring him so severely that he died on Friday week.
          The Farmington Chronicle says that on Tuesday weeks, as Mr. L. S. Jacobs was
     carrying lumber into his mill, he slipped on the ice, and fell, breaking one bone in
     his leg and spraining his ancle (as spelled.)