Valley Spirit

--On Wednesday morning last one of the workmen employed at the Straw Paper Manufactory of J. Heyser, Esq., at this place, accidently fell into one of the large vessels used for steaming straw and was scalded in a most horrible manner. From the account given of the occurrence, by the man, it would appear that he struggled in the boiling lime water some five or six minutes, there being no one present to assist him out, and that after gaining the edge of the vessel he fell back again into the heated liquid and received a second scalding. His body, legs, and left arm, are scalded in the most shocking manner, the skin being stripped off the greater portion of the surface and the flesh deeply burnt. The extent and severity of the scalding renders his recovery very improbable. Mr. Heyser had the injured man at once removed to his home, in the most careful manner, and has ever since been unremitting in his humane attentions--supplying every necessity and comfort that the condition of the man, or his family, requires.

--It gives us great pleasure to announce to our patrons and the traveling public generally that this road is fully completed between our town and Greencastle, and that a train of Cars, for carrying passengers and freight, commenced running, regularly on Monday last. The train will leave the Depot of the Cumberland Valley Railroad at 11 o'clock and 25 minutes each morning, immediately after the arrival of the first train from Harrisburg, and arrive at Greencastle at 12 o'clock and 10 minutes--noon.--Leaving Greencastle at 1 o'clock and 40 minutes it will reach here again at 2 o'clock and 20 minutes in time to connect with the second train for Harrisburg. All persons desiring to get into the cars must go to the C. V. R. R. Depot, as the train will not stop at any of the streets in town. The owners of the road confidently expect to have it fully completed to Hagerstown by the 1st of March. The rails were all laid some weeks since, and there are only about six or seven miles yet to ballast. Considerable delay has been caused by the company concluding to ballast it with stone, instead of earth. Had the latter material been used the road might have been finished several months since, and quite a large sum of money saved; but the company, wisely we think, concluded to use stone instead of earth for ballast. It will cost them more at present but the additional outlay will be more than made up by its greater durability, and adaptation to the purposed designed. This road when completed, will have no superior in the Union, in any respect. The road bed is firmly packed by the settling of twenty years--the bridges are of the best dressed stone--the route almost straight, and the grades very easy. It will no doubt, when regularly run with two trains of passengers and freight cars each way, daily, prove a great convenience to the people of this country and Washington County, Maryland, and we trust that it may well remunerate those who have embarked their capital in its construction. But we regret to see that the company, in the outset, are about to violate the law in an important particular. We allude to the charges for carrying passengers. According to the schedule published passengers to Marion--six miles distant will be charged 25 cents--and to Greencastle--11 miles distant 40 cents. Now the 14th Section of the Act incorporating the Franklin Railroad Company, approved March 12, 1832, says that the rates for transportation shall be "on all goods &c., any sum not exceeding four cents per mile, per ton for toll, and three cents per ton per mile for transportation, and for the transportation of passengers not exceeding three cents per mile for each passenger." This restriction has never been repealed that we know of, and the very last Act passed in relation to this road--the Act too under which the Company is not organized--approved the 3d day of February 1859--says in Section 3d, that the company shall have all the rights and privileges, and be subjected to all the restrictions imposed upon the Franklin Railroad Company, the Chambersburg and Hagerstown Railroad Company, and the Chambersburg, Greencastle, and Hagerstown Railroad Company. These several Companies are all the same viz:--The old Franklin Railroad Company--and all of them, so far as we can find by a close examination of the legislation in their favor, are prohibited charging more than three cents per mile for carrying passengers. The legal fare, therefore, to Marion could not be over 18 cents--nor to Greencastle 33 cents.--We doubt not, however, that the traveling public would willingly stand 20 cents to Marion and 35 cents to Greencastle, but more ought not to be demanded of them. The 5 cents excess will be as good to the traveler as to the company, and in a year will amount to quite a large sum, which our people have more right to than this corporation.

We cannot see why this increased rate is demanded. It is as far to Shippensburg as it is to Greencastle, and yet but 35 cents are charged to the former place, while 40 are asked to the latter. The owners of the Franklin Railroad cannot urge the expenditure they have made and the poor prospect of its being remunerative. They should bear in mind that this road cost the people of our county nearly $100,000 twenty years ago, and that they have derived no benefit from it since--that it was sold to its present owners for $5,500, when the iron upon it was worth more than double that sum. They should, therefore, ask no more than the law allows for discharging a public duty voluntarily assumed. We go in for holding Corporations to a strict accountability in all matters--small as well as great--for where they get in a finger they are apt to thrust in the whole hand, and if in the present instance they find the people refuse to pay their demands, or resort to the Court for redress, they cannot under the circumstances think hard of them for so doing.