JACKSONVILLE, Sept. 28.--An altercation took place here today at 12:30 between D. C. Courtenay and Mat Shannon, which resulted in the instant death of Shannon. There had been bad feeling between the two men, and the evidence at the inquest showed that Shannon made the attack. The affray took place in the doorway of Bilger & Maegly's store, where Courtenay and another man were seated. Shannon approached and after abusive language struck at Courtenay. While making the second blow he slipped and fell on Courtenay, who drew a self-cocking pistol and shot him twice rapidly, the first shot striking the abdomen and the second near the corner of the mouth, ranging upward into the brain. Death was instantaneous. Shannon was a blacksmith and leaves a family. Courtenay is in jail and will be examined tomorrow.

    (This correspondence should have been published last week, but failed to arrive in time.)
TO THE READERS OF THE NEW NORTHWEST:
    The sad news that the great calamity which for eighty days had brooded over the entire world with its wings of sadness had at last culminated in the death of the nation's patient has paralyzed business for the week, even in this remote part of the great domain over which James A. Garfield had been called to preside as its chief magistrate. The news reached Jacksonville at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, the 20th instant. All business was at once suspended. Stores, hotels and dwellings were festooned in mourning, and preparations for the final obsequies occupied everybody's time and thoughts.
    The undersigned had lectured on the previous evening, in presence of a large and respectful auditory, and had afterward been the recipient of a band serenade, which made a universal sensation until superseded by the startling, though not unexpected, announcement that the nation was in mourning.
    The city council called a meeting on Tuesday evening, and elected a committee of arrangements for the purpose of observing the obsequies on a large scale on the forthcoming funeral day. The women of Jacksonville then decided to hold a memorial service, or woman's condolence meeting, which convened on Wednesday evening in Holt's Hall, and was largely attended by the very best people. Mrs. N. A. Dowell, wife of Judge B. F. Dowell, founder of the Jacksonville Sentinel, presided at the meeting, and made the opening address. This lady frequently distinguished herself during her husband's absences from home while the Sentinel was in his possession by conducting that journal with the vigor and ability of an editor to the manor born. The paper was Republican in politics, and she is said to have proved herself able to "out-Herod Herod" in waging an aggressive campaign against the Democratic hosts that menaced her. Partisan strife is happily slumbering now, and Democrats and Republicans pass good-natured jokes at each other's expense over their former differences, and the result is harmony.
    Of the committee of ladies who managed the women's condolence meeting, and to whom, with Mrs. Dowell's aid as presiding officer, its success was attributable, are Mrs. J. McCully, Mrs. W. J. Plymale, Mrs. E. Kinney, Miss A. Ross, Mrs. Kubli, Auntie Ganung (a venerable lady in gray hair and snowy cap border whose years and grace rendered her conspicuous among the younger occupants of the platform), Mrs. J. A. Cardwell and daughters, Madame Holt, and many others, whose names we cannot now recall. Though unaccustomed to presiding over public assemblies, Mrs. Dowell proved equal to the occasion in every particular. Her address was characterized by appropriateness, feeling, and faultless diction, and would have reflected credit upon any famous woman of the East. Rev. B. J. Sharp, pastor of the M.E. church, officiated as chaplain, and the excellent brass band of Jacksonville, of which Professor Smith is an able and obliging leader, favored the meeting with funeral music, as sweet and sad as it was welcome and appropriate. The following resolutions, read by Miss Isa McCully, were unanimously adopted:
    WHEREAS, In times of a common calamity, women, equally with men, are interested in giving expression to the grief that on an occasion like the present involuntarily wells up from every overburdened heart; therefore,
    Resolved, That we, ladies of Jacksonville, though far removed from the funeral pageant that guards the body of our nation's dead, have hearts that beat in unison with the nation's woe, and our sighs are wafted from the land of the setting sun to the far-off shores of the Atlantic seas, where they mingle with the sobs of the millions of other mourners whose bereavement brings us together in the wail of a common lamentation, cementing us anew in one great family that knows no North or South or East or West or black or white or male or female, bond or free.
    WHEREAS, President James A. Garfield, the honored head of this mighty nation, has been stricken down by the red hand of an assassin whose name and character inspire every mother's heart with shuddering and horror; therefore,
    Resolved, That we will teach our sons to speak the cowardly murderer's name with contempt and loathing, and our daughters to contemplate his memory with scorn and disgust.
    Resolved, That our hearts have throbbed in pitying unison with the conjugal woes of the faithful wife of our martyred President during the long period of public suspense that has at last ended in the universal calamity that we have convened to mourn.
    Resolved, That we tender our sincerest condolence to the bereaved widow of the nation's honored dead, and point her with trembling fingers toward the Better Land, where murderers cannot enter, and where she may one day join her loving husband in a blessed reunion that no assassin's bullet can destroy.
    Resolved, That we remember with emulation the spirit of heroism that prompted the estimable mother of our martyred President to protect him and her three other helpless children through the long years of her lonely widowhood, bringing them up in the ways of usefulness by her own perseverance, and leading her illustrious son to fame through her own intelligent faithfulness.
    Resolved, That we tender sympathy and condolence to the President's venerable mother. May the Angel of Mercy speak peace to her anguish-stricken heart and the Angels of Love and Hope lead her safely on through the remainder of her journey toward her nearby haven of eternal rest.
    Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to the wife and the mother of our martyred President.
    Your correspondent was then accorded an hour's hearing, of which we can only say that it came from the heart, and was received by the large assembly in a manner thoroughly satisfactory to ourself and friends. A funeral dirge concluded the exercises, and all retired to their homes profoundly impressed by the national calamity that has draped the world in mourning.
    Our own physical indisposition, added to the suspension of business and general grief attendant upon the death of the President, has hindered us much in the discharge of usual duties and retarded the dispatch of regular business, and we are obliged to leave Jacksonville for the present without having taken note of its different enterprises, as we hope to do on our return.
    Thursday, the 22nd, and we take the stage for Ashland. Our fellow passenger is Rev. Mr. Chapman, pastor of the M.E. church in Corvallis, in whom we are pleased to find a progressive thinker and courteous gentleman, awake to the intellectual demands of the age, and of course a consistent Christian. It was mainly through the efforts of this gentleman in securing subscriptions that the Ashland Academy became the property of the Conference and is now in a flourishing condition.
    We reached Ashland after a three hours' ride and took refuge in Houck's well-kept hotel, where Mrs. Houck, one of the most amiable of landladies, made us welcome by her cozy fireside. On the morrow we repaired to the hospitable home of Mr. and Mrs. J. Thompson, where we were taken in charge by the good wife, who proceeded at once to administer hygienic remedies with such success that when Saturday dawned we were able to assist the bright young girls of the beautiful town in draping the Presbyterian church for a woman's memorial service, which was held in the evening in the presence of a very large congregation. Mrs. J. McCall, wife of one of Ashland's leading merchants, presided at this meeting, and though, like Mrs. Dowell, she was wholly unused to taking such positions, her manner was that of a veteran in the service. Her address, though brief, was logical, telling, feeling and appropriate, and many eyes were bathed in tears as she depicted, in beautiful and impressive language, the sorrowful scenes in the sick chamber, the deathbed agonies of the assassinated President, and the heart-rending emotions of the faithful wife and aged mother of the nation's illustrious dead. Mr. Fraley officiated as chaplain, and a well-trained choir, under the supervision of Mr. Willits and Miss Scott, discoursed appropriate music, Miss Wagner presiding at the organ. Resolutions of condolence, analogous to those offered by the ladies of Jacksonville, were read by Miss Kate Thornton and unanimously adopted, after which came an hour's talk by the undersigned, which was received amidst the profoundest and most impressive silence. The choir sang "America," Rev. Mr. Royal pronounced the benediction, and the great congregation dispersed to their homes, while we repaired to our room at the hotel to write this letter and wrestle unsuccessfully with the fickle tyrant, sleep.
New Northwest, Portland, October 6, 1881, page 1


    Farmers of Southern Oregon went largely into the business of raising sorghum last season, and the results are represented to be very satisfactory.
The Clinton Public, Clinton, Illinois, November 11, 1881, page 2